Michael Youssef - Stopping the Resurrection?
Sometimes I find that the enemies of Christ are far less confused about who Christ is than the professing Christians. The enemies of Christ know the truth about Christ better than so many people who are sitting in the pews. The enemies of Christ understand the message of Christ far better than some who claim to be religious. I have no doubt that there are some at the sound of my voice who are watching around the world probably are saying, «Michael, how can you make such a statement»? But then ask yourself, just ask yourself the question, why would anyone absolutely and militantly forbid the mention of the name of Jesus in public unless they fear the power of Jesus?
Ask yourself, why would anyone zealously try to remove the crosses from public life unless they believe in the power of the cross? The religious leaders in the first century, after they crucified him, they went to this atheist Italian governor who was governing Judea and Samaria by the name of Pontius Pilate. What did they want from him? They basically asked him to stop the resurrection. He sentenced Jesus, now they want him to stop the resurrection, because they feared the power of the resurrection. They said, «Please seal the new tomb of Christ, and place guards 24/7». Okay, I want you to think with me, these religious fanatics, first of all, they wanted Christ crucified. Then they watched him crucify. They saw him bleeding to death on the cross. They saw him die on the cross. They saw him buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb.
Now you would think now they’ve got all their goals accomplished, needed to get on with life. But not so. After all, Jesus’s own disciples cut and run. They were hiding and shivering in their sandals. But oh no, not these shrewd, fanatic, religious fanatics who hated the truth, who hated Jesus. Now, get this, because I want you to think with me, okay? They believed Jesus’s teaching more than his disciples. Are you with me? They believed Jesus’s promise to conquer death more than his disciples did. They trusted his promise that he will rise again on the third day more than his disciples did. Can you see the incredible ludicrousness here? Can you see it?
So, they took the unprecedented step of going to Pontius Pilate, the governor, and asked him, «Please seal the tomb. Get that red wax with the stamp of the emperor on it. Seal the tomb. And for good measure, put guards around 24/7». Matthew 27:62 and 63. «The next day, after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate». Verse 63, «'Sir, ' they said, 'we remember that while he was still alive, '» so they know he’s dead, okay? They know he’s dead. «And so they said, 'We remember he said when he was still alive, that deceiver said, „On the third day, I’ll rise again“.'» Can you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it?
The non-believers in Jesus believed the promise of Jesus more than the frightened disciples. Please, please focus with me here on how the enemies of Christ believed Christ. They feared the resurrection. They feared the power of the resurrection. How the enemies of Christ remembered well the promise of Christ. They said, «He promised to rise from the dead, so help us to stop the resurrection». What would the Roman Governor do in the face of this apparent insanity? He said, «Well, go ahead, go ahead. We’ll seal the tomb, and we’ll place the guards 24/7». Just as the hymn said, «Vainly, they watched his bed, Jesus my Savior. Vainly they sealed the tomb, Jesus my Lord».
Oh, my beloved friends, the Bible is not an amusing book. It really isn’t. The Bible is a very serious book. The Bible deals with some very important life and death issues, like where will you spend eternity? But the Bible also is a very honest book. Where the Bible reports the situation in life, sometimes it appears to be funny and amusing, because the Bible reflects this situation honestly, without embellishing them, without modifying them. And these religious leaders who hated Jesus, they believed what Jesus said, what he promised, that he’s going to rise again on the third day. And yet his own disciples who walked with him and talked with him literally almost day and night for over three years, they were hiding behind locked doors.
I believe that Pilate was laughing at these religious zealots, or he did it just to mock their paranoia. Oh, beloved, we should encourage everyone, every one of us who know and love Jesus, we must be encouraged to have pity, to have pity upon those who reject Christ as the only Savior, to have pity on those who reject God’s only one plan of salvation. Take pity on those who mock the cross and the power of the cross. We take pity on those who hate Bible believing Christians, those who persecute Bible believing Christians. Why am I saying this? Because they are terrified of the power of the resurrection, and we need to be sympathetic, we need to be compassionate. The very thing that lifts us up to the very height of heaven, they fear. The very thing that comforts us, they hate. The very powerful living, they resent.
Don’t miss this, don’t miss this. These haters of Jesus did not fear the disciples. Oh, no, no, no, they did not fear the disciples at all. They saw them run like jackrabbits. Bunch of motley fishermen. Oh, but they feared the resurrection. They feared the resurrection. And that’s exactly what today the deniers of the resurrection of Jesus fear the most. The religious enemies of Christ saw Jesus heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, make the deaf hear and the lame walk, he touched and healed the lepers of their diseases, he raised the dead, and they could not doubt the power of Jesus to rise from the dead. They did not doubt it. They feared it, didn’t doubt it.
And so, Pilate tried to humor them and sealed the tomb, placed the guards, but the eyewitness account says that there was an earthquake. Then an angel came from heaven, and his appearance was like lightning. He rolled the stone, so much so that these big, burly, Roman, Italian soldiers, they were terrified and shook and became like dead. The seal is broken, the tomb is empty, the guards are scattered. Christ had risen from the dead. Amen, and give God glory. Amen. What these religious leaders feared came upon them. And so, as soon as the news of the resurrection reached every portals of the Roman powers, they try to stop the resurrection too in a different way for 300 years. But back to Jerusalem, these religious fanatics, what would they do? They bribed the guards. «Here’s some money, go and lie and say the disciples came and stole him».
Imagine the insult that these big boys have when you say these ragtag of fishermen came, and we just really couldn’t do anything about it. Huh? Think about it. It was a fake story, and it stunk up to high heaven. Listen to me. When the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus, the disciples spent 40 days walking and talking with the resurrected Jesus. They were empowered and emboldened by the resurrection. They could not keep their mouths shut. They could not keep quiet about the great news of the resurrection. So, what these religious leaders try to do, they try to kill them. They couldn’t stop the resurrection, but they can kill the ones who testify to the resurrection.
Here’s one of many ironies, just listen to it. Among one of those religious fanatics, there was a distinguished young rabbi. He was a member of Sanhedrin, he was a member of the Supreme Court of the rabbis. He rose to prominence and fame for his hate, yes, hate and deadly zeal against those who kept on proclaiming the great news of the resurrection. When they could not stop the resurrection, what do they do now? Well, intimidate, imprison, even eliminate the believers who testify to the resurrection, those who live in the power of the resurrection.
So, this young rabbi known for his ability to do horrible things, terrible things to the believers in Jesus and the resurrection testifiers, his name was Saul of Tarsus, and he was determined to stamp out Christians from the whole region, not just in Jerusalem, but all, all, all the areas actually where they had no jurisdiction. But he takes a summit, a warrant, arrest warrant from the high priest, and he travels all the way to Damascus on a horseback, because that’s a long distance. It’s not a short distance. Now that his bosses have failed to stop the resurrection, they wanted to kill everyone who witnessed the resurrection. Little did they know, little did Saul of Tarsus know that he’s kicking against goads.
Do you know what the goad is? It’s a very sharp metal edge, and imagine trying to kick a metal sharp edge. All you’re gonna do is bleed, bleed. He was kicking his goads. Hear me right, please. Inside Saul of Tarsus’s mind was an internal war going on. In fact, his outward resistance can only be explained by his inward struggle. Some of you here right now and some of you watching around the world are absolutely fighting hard and trying to silence the voice of the resurrected Jesus. Even as you’re listening to me now, some of you right here and watching around the world have an internal war inside of you, and you’re refusing to submit to the resurrected Jesus. Some of you are internally trying to seal your mind and your heart from hearing the voice of the resurrected Jesus, even though he may be speaking to you right now. Some of you are placing guards on your minds and on your hearts to keep Jesus from coming into your life with his resurrection power.
You say, «Michael, I just made up my mind. Please don’t confuse me with the facts». I actually had somebody told me that. I pray today, I pray this Resurrection Sunday that you will have fully surrendered to Christ, to the resurrection power of Christ. As he promised and I promise you, you will never be the same. You’ll never be the same. Just like Saul of Tarsus when he failed to stomp out Jesus’s witnesses, you are not able to silence that voice. That voice is gonna haunt you. That voice is gonna be with you. My voice is gonna be with you for a long time, and I pray to God that it does, and you will not be able to drown it. You will not be able to silence it, and I testify to you, I have tried.
I remember clearly I have tried to run away from that voice, I’ve tried to drown that voice, I tried to dull that voice, I tried to appease that voice, I tried to rationalize this voice, but thank God, he did not give up on me. Thank God he would not stop pursuing until I surrendered my life. And that’s my prayer, and the prayer of many people in this place for you today. That same resurrected Jesus who called this young zealous rabbi, «Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me»? «Who are you, Lord»? «I’m Jesus, whom you are persecuting». Finally, he had to submit, he had to submit. Finally, he could not resist that loving voice of the resurrected Jesus. And I pray to God that not one person at the sound of my voice after today will keep on resisting that voice of the resurrected Jesus. «Who are you, Lord»?
Then you can say the same thing. In fact, tens of thousands of people, now millions around the world, would testify to you that you will never find real peace of mind until you submit to the resurrected Jesus. You will never experience true freedom from sin and guilt and addiction until you submit to the resurrected Jesus. You will never experience true meaningful life unless you submit to the resurrected Jesus. You will never be assured of eternity in heaven until you submit to the resurrected Jesus. Finally, when Saul of Tarsus submitted to Jesus, Jesus did not only change his life, he changed his name to Paul. Paul. After Paul’s conversion to Christ, many others have tried to seal their minds and their hearts from the resurrected Jesus, but they could not.
In fact, they’re all dead, and the resurrected Jesus still speaks today, amen. He’s risen, he’s risen. They could not seal the tomb or stop the resurrection, praise God. These despots and thousands of others have tried and could not seal the tomb of Jesus, because the tomb could not hold him. He has risen from the dead. What about you? What about you? Are you trying to seal the tomb by your own ideas of what God is like or how he should be? A lot of people make up their mind, «I want to think God to be X, Y, and Z». No, no, no, he already revealed himself. Trying to live for self and please yourself and worship yourself. You want to do your own thing, you’re trying to control your life, and you finally realize you can’t.
Oh, you say, «Oh, I’m not really hostile toward Jesus. I’m in church, after all, aren’t I»? I have great news for you today. The very power that broke the seal and overwhelmed the guards is available to you today. The power of the resurrection is available for everyone who would come and submit to him. The very voice that Saul of Tarsus heard nearly 2,000 years speaks to you today, speaking to you even right now as I am speaking. Now, you can do this. Instead of hearing the voice call, «Saul, Saul,» replace it by your name. Hear Jesus to be saying, the resurrected Jesus, calling you by name.
«John, Sue, Michael, Sam, Bill, Jenny, why are you kicking against the goads? Why are you trying to silence my voice? Why are you refusing my gracious invitation? Why are you resisting the best thing that could ever happen to you? I died your death upon the cross. I’ve paid your spiritual debt, your eternal debt in full. Oh, but then I rose again. I rose again to assure everyone who surrendered to me of their own resurrection and presence with me in heaven».
And so, let me appeal to you. I don’t know everyone. Certainly, I don’t know the hundreds of thousands of people who are watching us around the world. Lay down your defenses. Lay down your swords, lay down your guards, lay down your resistance. Come to Christ. Come to Christ, and turn to him. His voice and the voice of that resurrected Jesus is speaking to you. Don’t resist it another year. Don’t put it off. You cannot guarantee tomorrow, for only his resurrection power can give you the power for living and hope in death. Will you come to him?