1
00:00:03,153 --> 00:00:06,272
Luke 24, verse one to verse 12.

2
00:00:06,890 --> 00:00:09,626
But on the first day of the week,
at early dawn,

3
00:00:09,626 --> 00:00:12,862
they went to the tomb, taking the spices
they had prepared,

4
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,683
and they found the stone
rolled away from the tomb.

5
00:00:16,883 --> 00:00:20,303
But when they went in, they did not find
the body of the Lord Jesus.

6
00:00:21,204 --> 00:00:23,123
While they were perplexed about this.

7
00:00:23,123 --> 00:00:26,609
Behold,
two men stood by them in dazzling apparel,

8
00:00:27,227 --> 00:00:30,230
and as they were frightened
and bowed their faces to the ground.

9
00:00:30,747 --> 00:00:34,434
The men said to them,
why do you seek the living among the dead?

10
00:00:35,101 --> 00:00:37,737
He is not here, but has risen.

11
00:00:37,737 --> 00:00:40,740
Remember how he told you,
while he was still in Galilee,

12
00:00:40,857 --> 00:00:44,477
that the Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men,

13
00:00:44,778 --> 00:00:47,964
and be crucified,
and on the third day rise.

14
00:00:48,865 --> 00:00:50,717
And they remembered his words.

15
00:00:50,717 --> 00:00:52,352
And returning from the tomb,

16
00:00:52,352 --> 00:00:55,338
they told all these things to the 11,
and to all the rest.

17
00:00:55,889 --> 00:01:00,243
Now it was Mary Magdalene
and Joanna and Mary the mother of James,

18
00:01:00,510 --> 00:01:03,630
and the other women with them,
who told these things to the apostles.

19
00:01:04,431 --> 00:01:07,167
But these words seem to them an idle tale.

20
00:01:07,167 --> 00:01:09,352
And they did not believe them.

21
00:01:09,352 --> 00:01:12,272
The Peter rose and ran to the tomb.

22
00:01:12,272 --> 00:01:16,793
Stooping and looking in,
he saw the linen cloth by themselves.

23
00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,829
And he went home,
marveling at what had happened.

24
00:01:23,099 --> 00:01:23,817
Well, good morning,

25
00:01:23,817 --> 00:01:27,620
and welcome to the Easter services
here at Christ Communion Chapel.

26
00:01:27,654 --> 00:01:28,588
My name is Zach.

27
00:01:28,588 --> 00:01:32,542
I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm
so glad that we get to be part

28
00:01:32,809 --> 00:01:35,812
of your family's Easter weekend.

29
00:01:35,879 --> 00:01:39,499
You know, Easter, of course,
is a major holiday in the Christian faith,

30
00:01:39,566 --> 00:01:42,202
a major holiday for a lot of people.

31
00:01:42,202 --> 00:01:46,489
And the holidays
tend to mean rhythm and repetition.

32
00:01:47,090 --> 00:01:51,111
If your family is like mine,
there are certain things you do every year

33
00:01:51,111 --> 00:01:55,582
at Easter, maybe certain things you eat,
certain activities you participate,

34
00:01:55,582 --> 00:01:58,284
and some of you are probably here
this weekend

35
00:01:58,284 --> 00:02:01,171
because someone in your family
not so lovingly

36
00:02:01,171 --> 00:02:04,891
reminded you
that we go to church on Easter weekend.

37
00:02:05,391 --> 00:02:10,547
Holidays are times of rhythm
and repetition, but that also can mean

38
00:02:10,547 --> 00:02:13,766
there are times in danger
of going a little stale

39
00:02:14,367 --> 00:02:17,720
if you do the same things year
in and year out,

40
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,857
you can get kind of overly comfortable
with it.

41
00:02:20,874 --> 00:02:24,444
They can lose
a little bit of their luster.

42
00:02:24,627 --> 00:02:28,381
And in some ways, our goal
here at the Easter weekend service

43
00:02:28,398 --> 00:02:32,785
is to make sure
that doesn't happen to you with Easter.

44
00:02:33,119 --> 00:02:35,121
Let me give you an illustration.

45
00:02:35,121 --> 00:02:36,890
Describe what I mean.

46
00:02:36,890 --> 00:02:40,910
Every day I come home from work
or wherever I've been.

47
00:02:41,311 --> 00:02:44,964
As soon as I hit the door,
sometimes even before,

48
00:02:45,348 --> 00:02:49,519
my six year old daughter
Ella, will come from wherever she is

49
00:02:49,519 --> 00:02:54,958
screaming to the door saying, daddy's
home, daddy's home, daddy's home.

50
00:02:55,308 --> 00:02:57,227
My teenagers. Not so much.

51
00:02:58,194 --> 00:02:59,279
But Ella is very

52
00:02:59,279 --> 00:03:03,082
excited that, there, you got to really
have your head on a swivel.

53
00:03:03,082 --> 00:03:05,301
She can come from anywhere.

54
00:03:05,301 --> 00:03:08,688
Now imagine if we came from the same place
you and I,

55
00:03:08,688 --> 00:03:11,691
we walk into my home
and Ella comes running.

56
00:03:11,691 --> 00:03:14,310
Daddy, daddy,
daddy and gives me a big hug.

57
00:03:14,310 --> 00:03:16,946
And you look at me
and you say, oh, that's so sweet.

58
00:03:16,946 --> 00:03:17,997
And I say, you know what?

59
00:03:17,997 --> 00:03:21,718
It gets a little old after a while,
a little stale.

60
00:03:22,769 --> 00:03:24,287
You would know instantly.

61
00:03:24,287 --> 00:03:27,540
The problem isn't with that amazing
six year old girl

62
00:03:27,557 --> 00:03:31,878
being excited that her dad's home,
something is off in my heart.

63
00:03:31,878 --> 00:03:34,881
Listen, we don't want that to be you.

64
00:03:34,981 --> 00:03:37,016
Easter is a time where we celebrate

65
00:03:37,016 --> 00:03:40,053
some incredible things,
some amazing things.

66
00:03:40,053 --> 00:03:44,507
Things that should pick you up and
and arrest your attention.

67
00:03:44,507 --> 00:03:47,760
And if that isn't you this weekend,
then let's give it a shot

68
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,548
for the next 20 minutes or so of seeing
if we can't get you there to to get there,

69
00:03:52,548 --> 00:03:56,269
would you would you open your Bible
to Luke chapter 24?

70
00:03:56,269 --> 00:03:58,938
We're going to look at the verses
that were just so beautifully

71
00:03:58,938 --> 00:04:02,508
read, Luke 24 but if you have your iPhone
or your tablet,

72
00:04:02,508 --> 00:04:03,893
however you want to get there,

73
00:04:03,893 --> 00:04:06,896
and hey, if you're here this weekend
and it's been a while

74
00:04:07,347 --> 00:04:10,400
since you've been in church,
maybe you didn't think to bring a Bible or

75
00:04:10,466 --> 00:04:12,001
you don't know your way around the Bible.

76
00:04:12,001 --> 00:04:12,719
I want you to know that

77
00:04:12,719 --> 00:04:17,073
every verse I reference
is going to be on the screen behind me.

78
00:04:17,357 --> 00:04:19,826
But if you want to hold something
and follow along,

79
00:04:19,826 --> 00:04:22,278
there's a Bible in the pew
in front of you.

80
00:04:22,278 --> 00:04:25,281
And I preach from one of those Bibles
just so that I can tell you

81
00:04:25,581 --> 00:04:29,786
that today's reading is on page
831, in the upper right hand side.

82
00:04:29,786 --> 00:04:31,738
And I'm
so glad, by the way, that you're here.

83
00:04:31,738 --> 00:04:33,806
And I want you to know everything I have

84
00:04:33,806 --> 00:04:37,343
to say this morning is as much for you
as it is for anybody.

85
00:04:37,794 --> 00:04:41,147
But however
you're getting to Luke chapter 24,

86
00:04:41,180 --> 00:04:45,201
let me hold out to you an outline I'm
going to use to guide our time together.

87
00:04:45,201 --> 00:04:45,918
Three points.

88
00:04:45,918 --> 00:04:46,519
Very simple.

89
00:04:46,519 --> 00:04:49,522
They go like this
I want to show you it happened.

90
00:04:49,922 --> 00:04:53,092
It had to happen and it happened for you.

91
00:04:53,192 --> 00:04:54,677
Okay? It happened.

92
00:04:54,677 --> 00:04:55,945
It had to happen.

93
00:04:55,945 --> 00:04:57,897
And it happened for you. Right?

94
00:04:57,897 --> 00:05:00,867
Let me start with the first one.
It happened.

95
00:05:00,867 --> 00:05:04,487
Now, you might have noticed
when the verses were being read

96
00:05:04,487 --> 00:05:08,341
that they read as historical narrative.

97
00:05:08,358 --> 00:05:12,295
They're they're are retelling
of historical events.

98
00:05:12,295 --> 00:05:15,932
That's important that that is the way
Luke is writing.

99
00:05:15,932 --> 00:05:19,202
That's what he's trying to do to describe

100
00:05:19,435 --> 00:05:22,221
things that actually took place.

101
00:05:22,221 --> 00:05:26,359
Luke's gospel is a historical account

102
00:05:26,693 --> 00:05:30,330
of the life and the death
and the resurrection of Jesus.

103
00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:31,831
Don't take my word for that.

104
00:05:31,831 --> 00:05:35,268
Listen to what Luke says
at the very beginning of his gospel

105
00:05:35,451 --> 00:05:37,770
about what
he's trying to do. This is what he says,

106
00:05:38,871 --> 00:05:41,991
inasmuch as many have under taken

107
00:05:42,208 --> 00:05:46,763
to compile a narrative of the things
that have been accomplished among us,

108
00:05:47,296 --> 00:05:50,600
just as those
who from the beginning were eyewitnesses

109
00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,387
and ministers of the word
have it, have delivered them to us.

110
00:05:54,721 --> 00:06:00,143
It seemed good to me also, having followed
all things closely for some time,

111
00:06:00,143 --> 00:06:05,815
passed to right and orderly account
for you, most excellent Theophilus,

112
00:06:06,115 --> 00:06:11,387
that you may have certainty concerning
the things that you have been taught.

113
00:06:11,387 --> 00:06:13,022
Do you see the language?

114
00:06:13,022 --> 00:06:13,339
He says?

115
00:06:13,339 --> 00:06:18,895
I'm writing an orderly account
so that you might have certainty.

116
00:06:18,895 --> 00:06:22,432
That's the kind of language you would use
if you're writing

117
00:06:22,432 --> 00:06:26,252
a historical account of actual events.

118
00:06:26,252 --> 00:06:31,257
Now, I say that because I think there's
a kind of modern presupposition people

119
00:06:31,257 --> 00:06:36,329
bring with them to the gospels,
to the story of Jesus's resurrection,

120
00:06:36,512 --> 00:06:40,500
and that is that
we should not read these things literally,

121
00:06:40,950 --> 00:06:43,403
but they're not intended to be read
literally.

122
00:06:43,403 --> 00:06:46,189
They're not intended to be read
historically.

123
00:06:46,189 --> 00:06:50,426
They're they're metaphor,
they're allegory, they're fiction.

124
00:06:50,426 --> 00:06:53,763
They're inspirational but not literal.

125
00:06:54,147 --> 00:06:56,999
But that isn't what Luke is saying.

126
00:06:56,999 --> 00:06:59,635
You can argue that Luke is lying.

127
00:06:59,635 --> 00:07:03,055
You can make the case
that he's writing something he knows

128
00:07:03,272 --> 00:07:06,709
not to be true,
to convince us to believe it.

129
00:07:06,709 --> 00:07:08,461
That's plausible.

130
00:07:08,461 --> 00:07:13,366
But you really can't fictionalize it
or or allegories it or make it metaphor

131
00:07:13,366 --> 00:07:18,871
for inspiration because he's saying,
no, no, no, no, this actually took place.

132
00:07:18,871 --> 00:07:21,958
The resurrection actually happened.

133
00:07:22,158 --> 00:07:26,846
And what he's doing really
is dangling a thread in front of us.

134
00:07:26,846 --> 00:07:31,584
He's saying, listen, I'm
telling you that Jesus literally lived.

135
00:07:31,584 --> 00:07:35,788
He literally died,
and he literally rose from the dead.

136
00:07:35,788 --> 00:07:38,641
You should look into it.

137
00:07:38,641 --> 00:07:39,659
That's what he's saying.

138
00:07:39,659 --> 00:07:44,881
You should pull on the thread
to see if there's anything there.

139
00:07:44,881 --> 00:07:48,267
And it's interesting to me
that I think most modern

140
00:07:48,267 --> 00:07:51,571
people think that if they were to pull
on the thread of the resurrection,

141
00:07:51,571 --> 00:07:56,509
if they were to explore the historicity
of the resurrection of Jesus,

142
00:07:56,509 --> 00:08:02,381
that there wouldn't be much there actually
nothing could be further from the truth.

143
00:08:02,398 --> 00:08:03,866
Let me illustrate my point.

144
00:08:03,866 --> 00:08:05,935
You see, I have this stack of books here.

145
00:08:05,935 --> 00:08:08,488
Don't worry,
I'm not going to read from any of them.

146
00:08:08,488 --> 00:08:09,472
Okay?

147
00:08:09,472 --> 00:08:10,857
I just want to make a point.

148
00:08:10,857 --> 00:08:14,844
Like, for example, this book was written
by an investigative journalist

149
00:08:15,261 --> 00:08:18,264
whose wife became a Christian,
and he didn't like that.

150
00:08:18,481 --> 00:08:20,600
So he said, well, I'm
an investigative journalist.

151
00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:21,717
Here's what I'll do.

152
00:08:21,717 --> 00:08:25,738
I will disprove Christianity
using all my professional skills

153
00:08:25,888 --> 00:08:30,476
so that my wife will stop being
a Christian and stop going to church.

154
00:08:30,826 --> 00:08:34,197
The result of that investigation
is this book

155
00:08:34,430 --> 00:08:38,067
and that guy now being a professing
Christian.

156
00:08:38,334 --> 00:08:42,655
This book was written by one of the
foremost theologians of the 20th century,

157
00:08:42,872 --> 00:08:45,858
who dedicated the bulk of his career
and life

158
00:08:45,858 --> 00:08:50,396
to looking into the resurrection of Jesus,
to anchoring it in history,

159
00:08:50,396 --> 00:08:54,650
not just from the Bible, but
from all kinds of first century sources.

160
00:08:54,650 --> 00:08:57,169
You can see it's not a light read.

161
00:08:57,169 --> 00:09:00,990
These two are about how the resurrection
of Jesus

162
00:09:01,224 --> 00:09:06,262
in just one century, without the internet,
without television, without airplanes,

163
00:09:06,262 --> 00:09:10,766
or any of the things that we have changed
the Roman Empire.

164
00:09:10,850 --> 00:09:16,339
These two are about how the resurrection
has shaped Western civilization.

165
00:09:16,339 --> 00:09:20,309
This one is about how the resurrection
gave birth to what you know

166
00:09:20,493 --> 00:09:21,811
as modern science.

167
00:09:21,811 --> 00:09:24,680
This one is how the resurrection

168
00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:28,551
have given birth to what you know
and I know as justice.

169
00:09:28,551 --> 00:09:33,139
My point is this so
many people will say, pastor,

170
00:09:33,139 --> 00:09:36,208
if Jesus is the only way
to have a relationship with God,

171
00:09:36,208 --> 00:09:40,112
if he's the only way to be forgiven,
then what happens to people

172
00:09:40,263 --> 00:09:42,565
who have never heard of Jesus?

173
00:09:42,565 --> 00:09:45,151
That's a great question.
That's a fair question.

174
00:09:45,151 --> 00:09:48,087
It's a question
we've answered before in sermons here.

175
00:09:48,087 --> 00:09:51,257
We'll answer it again
because it's such a good question.

176
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,627
But you know, that question in some ways
is inherently

177
00:09:54,627 --> 00:09:57,630
irrelevant to everyone here in this room.

178
00:09:57,780 --> 00:10:00,950
Let me ask a more pressing question
for you and for I.

179
00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,538
If Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
who literally and historic,

180
00:10:05,671 --> 00:10:10,593
he lived and died and rose from the dead,
if one day we will die

181
00:10:10,593 --> 00:10:14,664
and stand before him in judgment,
then what excuse will we

182
00:10:15,047 --> 00:10:18,751
who have the internet,
an Amazon, and a library card

183
00:10:19,919 --> 00:10:20,870
have for not

184
00:10:20,870 --> 00:10:23,873
exploring whether or not it's true?

185
00:10:24,140 --> 00:10:26,942
Every Easter is God's invitation

186
00:10:26,942 --> 00:10:29,929
to you to pull on the thread,

187
00:10:30,446 --> 00:10:33,899
to look for yourself, to examine
whether or not

188
00:10:33,899 --> 00:10:37,136
there is reason to believe
that Jesus Christ

189
00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,189
has risen from the dead.

190
00:10:40,189 --> 00:10:43,943
Now, I know you might be thinking, well,
okay, let's just say for a second I assume

191
00:10:43,943 --> 00:10:47,663
that if I read one or more of these books,
I would be convinced.

192
00:10:47,663 --> 00:10:53,569
Let's just say that Jesus did literally
live and die and raise from the dead.

193
00:10:53,569 --> 00:10:55,938
So what?

194
00:10:55,938 --> 00:10:57,690
I mean, good for him,

195
00:10:57,690 --> 00:11:00,359
but what's that got to do with me?

196
00:11:00,359 --> 00:11:01,911
Well, that's actually my second point.

197
00:11:01,911 --> 00:11:05,214
Not just that it happened,
but that it had to happen.

198
00:11:05,598 --> 00:11:06,382
That it had to happen.

199
00:11:06,382 --> 00:11:09,602
Look at what the text says in verses
five through eight.

200
00:11:09,602 --> 00:11:12,621
You'll hear
this must language, verse five.

201
00:11:13,706 --> 00:11:14,507
And as they were

202
00:11:14,507 --> 00:11:17,543
frightened and bowed,
their faces to the ground,

203
00:11:17,543 --> 00:11:21,797
the men said to them,
why do you seek the living among the dead?

204
00:11:22,398 --> 00:11:24,984
He is not here, but has risen.

205
00:11:24,984 --> 00:11:27,870
Remember how he told you
while he was still in Galilee,

206
00:11:27,870 --> 00:11:32,875
that the Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men,

207
00:11:33,025 --> 00:11:36,829
and be crucified,
and on the third day rise.

208
00:11:37,079 --> 00:11:39,048
And they remember his words.

209
00:11:39,048 --> 00:11:42,868
That's a reference to an earlier statement
Jesus made in Luke

210
00:11:42,868 --> 00:11:46,138
922 when he says this,
this is Jesus talking.

211
00:11:46,288 --> 00:11:50,609
The Son of Man must suffer many things

212
00:11:50,876 --> 00:11:56,148
and be rejected by the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed.

213
00:11:56,449 --> 00:11:59,402
And on the third day raise.

214
00:11:59,402 --> 00:12:02,872
You see, the Bible isn't just saying
that Jesus lived and died

215
00:12:02,872 --> 00:12:04,073
and rose from the dead.

216
00:12:04,073 --> 00:12:09,228
It's saying that he needed to do it,
that there's something essential

217
00:12:09,228 --> 00:12:13,799
about it, something essential
for you and essential for me.

218
00:12:13,916 --> 00:12:17,153
And to unpack that,
you really need to read the New Testament.

219
00:12:17,153 --> 00:12:18,571
That's what it's about.

220
00:12:18,571 --> 00:12:21,857
But there's this one line
in the New Testament, in Second

221
00:12:21,857 --> 00:12:25,377
Corinthians five,
that sums it all up in a single sentence.

222
00:12:25,377 --> 00:12:28,914
Here's what it says for our sake.

223
00:12:29,482 --> 00:12:33,652
He made him to be sin who knew no sin,

224
00:12:33,986 --> 00:12:39,358
so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.

225
00:12:39,358 --> 00:12:41,360
Let me give you three words

226
00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,798
that will help you understand
the significance of Easter all over again.

227
00:12:46,048 --> 00:12:50,002
Or maybe for the first time,
the first is payment.

228
00:12:50,669 --> 00:12:56,192
Is it the Bible says that
death is not just a biological reality.

229
00:12:56,358 --> 00:13:00,029
It's not just a chemical reality
or a physiological reality

230
00:13:00,029 --> 00:13:04,517
that death is most fundamentally
a spiritual reality.

231
00:13:04,650 --> 00:13:09,472
That God made a good world
and we rebelled against him.

232
00:13:09,472 --> 00:13:10,739
We ignored him.

233
00:13:10,739 --> 00:13:13,292
We lived without reference to him.

234
00:13:13,292 --> 00:13:16,645
So our world is broken. We are broken.

235
00:13:16,645 --> 00:13:21,267
And a consequence of that brokenness
is that we die.

236
00:13:21,984 --> 00:13:22,952
It's that we die.

237
00:13:22,952 --> 00:13:27,990
You and I will die and face the judgment
of God as a consequence of our sin.

238
00:13:27,990 --> 00:13:32,094
But the Bible also tells us
that God sent Jesus,

239
00:13:32,178 --> 00:13:37,433
who knew no sin,
who had no debt to pay, no death

240
00:13:37,433 --> 00:13:41,337
that was waiting for him,
no need to fear judgment.

241
00:13:41,337 --> 00:13:45,391
Jesus came
and lived righteously in our place

242
00:13:45,391 --> 00:13:50,396
so that he could go to the cross and die
sacrificially on our behalf.

243
00:13:50,396 --> 00:13:54,834
Jesus becomes our sin on the cross.

244
00:13:54,834 --> 00:13:59,538
He comes up under the anger and wrath
and judgment of God

245
00:13:59,672 --> 00:14:03,442
righteously on me
for the way I've broken the world.

246
00:14:03,442 --> 00:14:08,697
Jesus places himself
between God and me as part of God's plan,

247
00:14:08,814 --> 00:14:13,135
so that when Jesus dies
and says it is finished,

248
00:14:13,135 --> 00:14:17,456
what he means is
that the payment has been made.

249
00:14:17,456 --> 00:14:21,377
He dies not for his sin, but for mine.

250
00:14:22,261 --> 00:14:25,247
That's what Jesus his death is all about.

251
00:14:25,915 --> 00:14:29,451
But when Jesus dies,
it's entirely possible

252
00:14:29,668 --> 00:14:34,557
that he will die for his own sin,
that he'll stay dead

253
00:14:34,557 --> 00:14:39,111
the way you and I will stay dead,
because he deserved to die.

254
00:14:39,111 --> 00:14:43,198
Like when the judge sentenced
you, sentences you to prison for a crime.

255
00:14:43,315 --> 00:14:46,669
You don't just go the first day
you stay there.

256
00:14:46,669 --> 00:14:48,287
That's the penalty.

257
00:14:48,287 --> 00:14:50,456
That's why you and I die and stay dead.

258
00:14:50,456 --> 00:14:55,194
So when Jesus dies, the assumption is
he's just like the rest of us.

259
00:14:55,678 --> 00:14:59,999
That's why the second word I want you to
think of is not just payment, but receipt.

260
00:15:00,532 --> 00:15:04,053
Because when Jesus on the third
day rises from the dead,

261
00:15:04,053 --> 00:15:08,274
what he's saying is that
death had no claim on him.

262
00:15:08,274 --> 00:15:11,727
He didn't owe death.
He didn't owe judgment.

263
00:15:11,727 --> 00:15:14,513
He didn't die because he was a sinner.

264
00:15:14,513 --> 00:15:17,816
He died not for his sin, but for ours.

265
00:15:17,933 --> 00:15:21,153
When he raises
from the dead on Easter Sunday,

266
00:15:21,270 --> 00:15:26,609
that is the proof
that God has accepted his death on our

267
00:15:27,559 --> 00:15:28,110
behalf.

268
00:15:28,110 --> 00:15:33,832
Which leads me to my third word, which is
confidence, payment, receipt, confidence.

269
00:15:33,832 --> 00:15:35,634
Let me illustrate this for you.

270
00:15:35,634 --> 00:15:38,687
I'm sure you've had this experience
where you notice when you're

271
00:15:38,687 --> 00:15:43,309
walking into Walmart or Target or Costco,
that the person at the door

272
00:15:43,309 --> 00:15:46,612
checking receipts is feeling
pretty aggressive that day.

273
00:15:47,630 --> 00:15:51,300
You just notice
they are stopping and searching everybody.

274
00:15:51,750 --> 00:15:54,687
And when that happens,
I really don't like to be embarrassed.

275
00:15:54,687 --> 00:15:57,289
Plus, I'm a I'm a pastor
and I don't want people thinking

276
00:15:57,289 --> 00:15:59,041
I'm shoplifting a toaster oven.

277
00:15:59,041 --> 00:16:04,430
So when I notice they're being aggressive,
I will walk out towards the exit with,

278
00:16:04,763 --> 00:16:08,384
with the item I purchased in one hand
and my receipt in the other hand

279
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,653
is kind of flapping in the breeze.
Just saying.

280
00:16:10,653 --> 00:16:13,822
Hey, here it is. Look here,
I paid for this.

281
00:16:14,039 --> 00:16:16,976
Now, I will admit that sometimes
I'm feeling ornery, and I

282
00:16:16,976 --> 00:16:20,729
tucked the receipt in my back pocket
just to see if they'll ask me.

283
00:16:20,879 --> 00:16:22,998
So when they stop saying I'm sorry, sir,
did you pay for that?

284
00:16:22,998 --> 00:16:25,651
I can say, as a matter of fact, I did.

285
00:16:27,119 --> 00:16:28,070
The point is, you

286
00:16:28,070 --> 00:16:32,341
proceed towards the exit with confidence,
because if somebody asks you

287
00:16:32,341 --> 00:16:36,211
if the bill has been paid,
you can prove that it has been friends.

288
00:16:36,211 --> 00:16:40,049
Jesus came to die for our sin.

289
00:16:40,165 --> 00:16:44,186
He rose from the dead as proof
that God has accepted it,

290
00:16:44,269 --> 00:16:49,491
so that if we will grab hold of him
in faith, we can live and die

291
00:16:49,558 --> 00:16:52,494
with the confidence
that comes from knowing

292
00:16:52,494 --> 00:16:55,497
the bill has been paid.

293
00:16:55,998 --> 00:17:00,202
Friends, God doesn't want you to live
another minute with anxiety over

294
00:17:00,202 --> 00:17:03,655
whether or not he loves you, over
whether or not you can be forgiven, over

295
00:17:03,655 --> 00:17:07,710
whether or not
you can be included in what he is doing.

296
00:17:07,710 --> 00:17:10,529
Jesus has come to pay the bill.

297
00:17:10,529 --> 00:17:14,033
His resurrection is proof
that the bill has been paid.

298
00:17:14,033 --> 00:17:19,038
And God, even this morning, wants
to hand you a receipt so that you can live

299
00:17:19,038 --> 00:17:23,425
and die, saying, when they stop me
at the gates of judgment,

300
00:17:23,575 --> 00:17:28,981
I will have flapping in the breeze
the proof that I have been forgiven,

301
00:17:29,732 --> 00:17:33,802
that I am accepted because of Jesus.

302
00:17:34,369 --> 00:17:37,039
That's the significance of Easter

303
00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:40,042
payment, receipt and confidence.

304
00:17:40,826 --> 00:17:44,463
But even as I say that, I know there are
some here this weekend who will say,

305
00:17:44,463 --> 00:17:48,150
that sounds so amazing, pastor,
that sounds so wonderful.

306
00:17:48,267 --> 00:17:51,620
It couldn't possibly be for me.

307
00:17:53,038 --> 00:17:55,257
And what you mean is,

308
00:17:55,257 --> 00:17:58,460
you know, your debt is too great.

309
00:17:59,211 --> 00:18:01,613
You say,
if you knew why my marriage ended,

310
00:18:01,613 --> 00:18:04,767
if you knew why my family doesn't
speak to me.

311
00:18:04,767 --> 00:18:09,121
If you knew, pastor, why I came in alone
this Easter

312
00:18:09,121 --> 00:18:13,375
weekend, you would know that
he might have done that for some people.

313
00:18:13,375 --> 00:18:14,093
He couldn't.

314
00:18:14,093 --> 00:18:14,927
He wouldn't.

315
00:18:14,927 --> 00:18:17,546
He shouldn't do that for me.

316
00:18:17,546 --> 00:18:18,347
That's why I want you to know.

317
00:18:18,347 --> 00:18:20,732
My third
point is not just that it happened

318
00:18:20,732 --> 00:18:23,752
and it had to happen,
but that it happened for you.

319
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,891
One of my family's Easter
traditions is an Easter egg hunt.

320
00:18:28,891 --> 00:18:31,710
You probably do something
pretty similar now.

321
00:18:31,710 --> 00:18:35,931
Easter egg hunts are primarily
an athletic enterprise, okay?

322
00:18:36,331 --> 00:18:40,252
The bigger and taller and faster
and stronger you are,

323
00:18:40,252 --> 00:18:43,889
the more likely
you are to fill your basket with eggs.

324
00:18:44,072 --> 00:18:45,507
And now I have a six year old daughter.

325
00:18:45,507 --> 00:18:46,975
Ally told you about her.

326
00:18:46,975 --> 00:18:47,759
And so what

327
00:18:47,759 --> 00:18:52,381
I try to do, because I have older kids
who are going to get all the eggs, is

328
00:18:52,381 --> 00:18:56,902
I will take one egg and I'll hide it
super low to the ground.

329
00:18:56,902 --> 00:18:58,887
I pick a colorful one like purple,

330
00:18:58,887 --> 00:19:01,974
and I'll put it below a bench
right there on the open out the ground

331
00:19:01,974 --> 00:19:03,992
and I'll I'll go back to
where they're going to start.

332
00:19:03,992 --> 00:19:06,261
And I'll say to Allah,
when you turn the corner,

333
00:19:06,261 --> 00:19:09,114
there's a little purple egg down there
at the bottom under the bench.

334
00:19:09,114 --> 00:19:10,983
That one's for you.

335
00:19:10,983 --> 00:19:12,234
And she'll say, okay, daddy.

336
00:19:12,234 --> 00:19:15,687
And then I look at my teenagers
and I say, if you touch that egg, you die.

337
00:19:21,093 --> 00:19:22,644
And when she rounds that

338
00:19:22,644 --> 00:19:27,900
corner and sees that egg,
she knows there's something there for her.

339
00:19:27,900 --> 00:19:31,587
By the way, that's where the term Easter
egg in movies and television comes from.

340
00:19:31,737 --> 00:19:35,607
You know, when the director drops a little
something in there for the superfans

341
00:19:35,607 --> 00:19:38,210
and she kind of winks at you and says,
hey, I know you're watching

342
00:19:38,210 --> 00:19:39,678
and this is for you.

343
00:19:39,678 --> 00:19:44,099
Would it surprise you that in this story
there's an Easter egg for you?

344
00:19:45,684 --> 00:19:47,452
If you notice,
at the very end of this passage,

345
00:19:47,452 --> 00:19:51,590
we're told one guy goes to the tomb,
one guy has to see it for himself.

346
00:19:51,590 --> 00:19:54,593
And that guy is Peter.

347
00:19:54,743 --> 00:19:56,628
Peter. Why? Peter?

348
00:19:56,628 --> 00:20:00,682
Well, because just a chapter ago,
at Jesus's most crucial moment, Peter

349
00:20:00,949 --> 00:20:02,451
betrayed him.

350
00:20:02,451 --> 00:20:04,286
Peter denied him

351
00:20:04,286 --> 00:20:08,423
in the most crucial moment of Jesus's
life, Peter proved to be an absolute

352
00:20:08,423 --> 00:20:12,361
phony, an absolute fraud, the worst
kind of phony, the worst kind of fraud,

353
00:20:12,444 --> 00:20:16,531
an overconfident
religious phony, the worst.

354
00:20:18,467 --> 00:20:21,453
But you see, God wants you to know
that there was room

355
00:20:21,453 --> 00:20:26,642
at the empty tomb for Peter,
because there is for you to.

356
00:20:27,542 --> 00:20:30,746
Don't you see that's a little Easter egg
that God is putting on the ground.

357
00:20:30,746 --> 00:20:33,749
And he's saying,
I know what happened to your marriage.

358
00:20:33,832 --> 00:20:36,001
I know why you're alone.

359
00:20:36,001 --> 00:20:37,102
I know about your guilt.

360
00:20:37,102 --> 00:20:38,237
I know about your shame.

361
00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:43,675
But hey, when you round the corner,
underneath the bench is a little purple

362
00:20:43,675 --> 00:20:46,678
egg for you

363
00:20:47,312 --> 00:20:47,629
friends.

364
00:20:47,629 --> 00:20:50,132
God doesn't want you to go one more Easter

365
00:20:50,132 --> 00:20:53,118
without knowing that you can be forgiven,

366
00:20:53,669 --> 00:20:57,022
without knowing that his love and power
can rescue you

367
00:20:57,139 --> 00:21:02,311
and change you
and secure your future forever with him.

368
00:21:03,145 --> 00:21:06,148
Don't live with anxiety.

369
00:21:06,181 --> 00:21:09,568
Live and die with the confidence

370
00:21:10,886 --> 00:21:11,670
of holding that

371
00:21:11,670 --> 00:21:14,673
receipt of Jesus in your hands.

372
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:15,657
Let me pray for us.

373
00:21:15,657 --> 00:21:18,744
Father God,
thank you so much for the resurrection.

374
00:21:19,428 --> 00:21:23,515
Thank you for the proof
that Jesus really was our atoning

375
00:21:23,515 --> 00:21:27,302
sacrifice, that his life counts
for our righteousness,

376
00:21:27,302 --> 00:21:32,207
that his death counts for our atonement
and our judgment.

377
00:21:32,207 --> 00:21:36,328
That his resurrection
is the proof that you have accepted

378
00:21:36,328 --> 00:21:40,015
what he's done
and through him accepted us.

379
00:21:40,015 --> 00:21:41,566
God, there are some here

380
00:21:41,566 --> 00:21:45,871
this weekend who needed to hear that again
because it had lost its luster.

381
00:21:45,871 --> 00:21:49,074
May it shine brighter than it ever
has for us.

382
00:21:49,224 --> 00:21:52,611
And there are those that came
in this weekend who have never believed,

383
00:21:52,611 --> 00:21:56,631
never grabbed hold of God, that even
right now they might be saying, God,

384
00:21:56,631 --> 00:22:00,452
if any of this,
if all of this is true, would you show me

385
00:22:01,820 --> 00:22:02,971
God? Would you do for them?

386
00:22:02,971 --> 00:22:03,121
What?

387
00:22:03,121 --> 00:22:06,174
No sermon or music
or anything else can do?

388
00:22:06,174 --> 00:22:11,313
Would you open their hearts and minds
to the reality of Jesus and His name?

389
00:22:11,313 --> 00:22:12,731
We pray. Amen.