4-9-23 - The Resurrected King Is Returning

In your Bibles, if you would look with me to Revelation chapter number one today, Revelation chapter number one.

And when you find your place, if you would stand as we honor God's glorious word, we're going to read verse one down to verse number eight today. The Bible tells us in Revelation chapter number one, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant, John, who bear record of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written there in for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness.

They're good to have a faithful witness in a world of deception and the first begotten of the dead. He is the first risen of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth and him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and that made us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. For seven says behold he cometh. It's actually in a tense in the Greek which you could word it behold he is on his way with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so. Amen. And then Christ speaks and says I am Alpha and Omega.

That's the first in the last letters of the Greek alphabet. The beginning and the ending sayeth the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the almighty father we thank you for your glorious word today. Our hearts are humbled by the greatness of our God. We worship you Jesus Christ your worth our time to come and to sing and to stand and to focus on your truth.

What I pray that you would do a great work in the hearts of your people not only in Xenia and lighthouse and other churches but all around the world Lord May Christ be put on display through the preaching of the cross and the resurrection and we worship your glorious son Jesus Christ this day we pray if anyone doesn't know the Lord that today would be the day of their salvation we ask it in Jesus name and God's people said man you may be seated today. As we look across the landscape of America. Sometimes we wish what we saw wasn't really there right. We don't see a country moving in a good direction. Schools are being shot up innocent children and teachers being killed. Drugs are rampant in our schools and streets and both young and old sexual perversion is out of control. Children today are being taught that sexual perversion is normal.

America also which was the greatest lending nation on the planet in the 1970s has now become the greatest in debt nation that has ever existed on planet Earth. We have cities also that have turned into war zones in this country. Cities like Chicago have last year alone 2600 shootings. And even today for our big days we we always have security but today is we have a police officer parked their car out front just to make sure people know that this is a protected facility. Right. And aren't we thankful for our police officers. Amen.

Give them guys a hand. Wouldn't it be nice today when you're leaving slip that officer out there. If everybody slipped him a five dollar bill that'd be a blessing for him with it.

Reach in that pocket and bless that guy. We appreciate these guys you know facing things in Chicago six hundred ninety five murders last year. We're living in a world that is under the rule of the evil one. Revelation twelve nine says that Satan deceives the whole world. When Satan is bound in hell revelation twenty verse three says they cast him into a bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season. Revelation twenty verse seven says when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and guess what he does immediately and shall go out to deceive the nations. When you look across the span of this world Satan is actively at work in the leadership of those nations unbeknownst to them but he is working deceivingly. First John five nineteen tells us the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one. The Bible is also clear you need to understand this the world will not get better.

Do you hear me? The United States is not on course according to the scriptures to be turned around. God can do whatever he wants.

We could see an incredible revival break out. But second Timothy three thirteen and many other passages tell us that according to the last times things will get worse. It tells us in the last days evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. The defining factor of the world in the last days will be a world that is deceived. Do you ever look across America and think that is this nation deceived? How many leaders are just deceived?

Sitting in deception? I mean if you want to know if the media is ever lying all you do is have to just watch their lips if they begin to speak it is like they are not telling the truth right there. I mean lies and deceptions they want to promote what they can promote.

We just heard this last week people who took the boosters and the COVID shots to have a higher mortality rate than those who did not. Seems like that doesn't hit the media very often does it? We live in a world of lies and deception. Leadership in this country over the years has also used situations for their own gain. It's pretty sad when the leadership of the country goes to Tennessee not to go to the funerals or to support those victims who died but to try to promote gun control.

Ask the Indians how it went when their guns were given up. I don't think we're deceived on that are we? So is there hope for a nation that is blind and just spiraling out of control into sin?

Totally deceived getting worse and worse and the answer is yes. The Lord Jesus Christ when ascending into heaven according to Acts chapter one the angel said ye men of Galilee why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Jesus told his disciples that he would go and prepare a place for them in John 14 three and he said if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself.

You know what they do during Jewish marriages is the husband would go away prepare a home when the home was prepared he would come back there would be a marriage and he would marry his wife and then bring her to his home. Jesus is the groom the church is the bride and he's going to prepare a place and he's going to come and receive us the church and rapture us up and we will be with him forever in a glorious heaven. If it if this earth was created in six days and he rested on the seventh what do you think the glories of heaven will be since he's been working on it for the last two thousand years?

No wonder he calls it paradise. But the Bible tells us he is returning even as we observed the Lord's Supper last Sunday the Bible says you observe the Lord's Supper and as you do this you do show the Lord's death till he comes. Titus 2 13 Paul says looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. And so the book of Revelation opens up and you say why would you preach on the book? Some of you are probably thinking why are we going to Revelation 1 on Easter? Because you need to understand it is the resurrection that guarantees the Lord's returning. Christ is coming back. He is returning. Jesus Christ is coming back.

He is going to return and that return could be very very soon. I could rabbit trail right now on a message for about an hour just in my soul of things that I know that are going on that are pointing to Christ's soon return. The world is primed for the Lord's return. There's nothing in the Bible that has to happen for him to come back.

There's no prophecies that need to be fulfilled. We see in Revelation 1 7 it opens up. It's the apocalypsis of Jesus Christo the revelation it's it's it's from the word apocalypsis it means the lifting of the curtain the apocalypse the unveiling of Jesus Christ and it tells us in verse 7 behold he cometh with clouds and then it says and every eye shall see him and they that pierced him his coming will be so transcendently glorious that every eye on the earth will be able to see him in some way and also those in the abyss will also be able to see him. Revelation 22 not only not only is Revelation open with speaking of his coming but it closes by saying this in Revelation 22 the last chapter it says he which testified these things saith surely I come quickly amen and john says even so come Lord Jesus isn't that what we say to Lord come Lord come our king will return you need to understand he will destroy satan who is the usurper satan will be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20 verse 10 says in the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. One of the most stirring pages in English history tells of the conquest and crusades of King Richard who they called the lion-hearted while Richard was away trouncing Saladin his kingdom fell on bad times his sly graceless brother John usurped the throne and misruled in his place his kingdom the people of England suffered longing for the return of the rightful king and praying it would be soon and then one day King Richard returned around the glittering coming many tales are told woven into legends of England stuff like Robin Hood John's castle tumbled like nine pins great Richard laid claim to his throne and no one dared to stand in his way history records that the people began to shout they began to ring bells and and they began to chant long leave the king because the lion has returned and you need to understand that one day a king greater than Richard will lay claim to a kingdom much greater than England because earth has been under the hold of a usurper and satan will be vanquished and all those who've missed managed this world and those who've rejected Christ lordship they will be crushed under the glory of his own presence you need to understand Jesus Christ is coming back he is returning you need to know that you'll never be able to leave today saying pastor Josh didn't warn us these things were going to happen I'm telling you he's coming he is coming the world will not continue spiraling on forever like this today the world is reflecting on the most incredible event that has ever happened in human history 2,000 years ago there was one who came said he was God claimed he would die and rise again three days later he rose again three days later and that is the single greatest event in human history only to be eclipsed by the second coming of Christ and you need to understand there are 300 prophecies that directly speak in the Bible about Jesus's first coming guess how many he fulfilled every single one you know how many there are of his second coming there's five times more scripture that speaks about his second coming than his first coming and if he fulfilled every single one of the 324 prophecies of his first coming do you think he's going to fulfill all 1,500 verses of his second coming you better believe it he's coming friends today's message is the resurrected king is returning we're going to look at an impossible prophecy totally impossible it's an undeniable resurrection and a guaranteed return you know men have long sought to know what the future holds people read horoscopes tarot cards they call psychic hotlines sometimes I think who gives into that I mean they'll hire somebody to rub their big toe and tell them their future you don't want to get it made off your big toe all right better ways to figure that one out there's only one who can declare the end from the beginning it's the God of the Bible Isaiah 46 verse 9 says this remember the former things of old God says for I am God and there is none else how many gods are there God says no one else I am God and there is none like me what makes you so different he says I declare the end from the beginning from ancient times things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand I will do all my pleasure you need to understand today sometimes you'll say oh there's all these religions in the world how do we know which one's correct well you say that because you've not studied it that's why you say that I've studied it and I know why I don't believe in Islam I know why I don't believe in Hinduism I know why I'm not a Buddhist I know why I could dialogue on that for quite a while but I can tell you this there is no religion in the world that prophesied of their Messiah's coming like the Bible has you know how many prophecies are about Muhammad's first coming you know how many zero there's not one thing written about his first coming there's over 324 specific prophecies of Christ coming absolutely impossible written thousands sometimes of years before he was even born it's impossible the crucifix was detailed in Psalms 22 hundreds of years before the Persians even created crucifixion says they'll pierce my hands and feet how did they know that we have dug up manuscripts dated 100 BC that were written back then before all of that happened detailing that no there's nothing like the Bible there is nothing like the Bible Jesus Christ claimed the most unique prophecies you will find it anywhere Muhammad never said how he died Buddha was never prophesied to come he never said how he died none of these guys Jesus said this I'm going to go to Jerusalem I will be crucified I will be scourged these are the same these are the exact people who I will be rejected by I will be crucified and to validate what I say is true of all that I've taught of all that I've done and who I am I will raise my own dead body back from the grave now just consider if you're a follower of Jesus you would do the same thing I would do it was nice meeting you we would leave I'm being honest if I lived back then I would say this guy has lost his mind this is that's impossible you don't predict your own death and then if you are going to die you can't raise your that's impossible that's absurd at the highest level the only people who say stuff like that are the people who drink too much Nyquil or something dish detergent unless you can do it unless you can pull it off and you just need to understand like Jesus said this over and over and over and over he just kept saying it Matthew 16 21 from that time forth began Jesus to show in his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem suffer many things of the elders chief priests scribes be killed and be raised again the third day the next chapter 17 verse 9 and as they came down from the mountain Jesus charged them saying tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen from the dead verse 22 same chapter and while they abode in Galilee Jesus said unto them the Son of Man shall be betrayed in the hands of men I'm going to be betrayed how did you know that because he knows it and the Son of Man shall be betrayed and they shall kill him and the third day he shall be raised again and they were exceeding sorry Matthew 20 verse 18 behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the chief priests and scribes and they shall condemn him to death then he gets even more detailed shall deliver me to the Gentiles to mock and discourage and to crucify and the third day they'll write all rise again Matthew 26 31 he gets even more detailed then saith Jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night it's here guys like this night it's coming for it will it is written I will smite the shepherd the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad but after I'm risen again I will go before you into Galilee it's just unbelievable this is this is impossible language it's so impossible that when when the disciples heard it the first time listen to what Peter does Matthew 16 22 then Peter took him began to rebuke him saying be far from the Lord this shall not be unto you you can't die it's impossible because obviously there's resurrection you can't no they couldn't accept it Mark 9 10 it says they kept saying within themselves questioning one with another what the rising of the dead should mean like is this a parable what's he even talking about Mark 16 verse 9 through 13 what's interesting is after he rose from the dead he appeared to women so like you need to understand that women in those days under Roman Greek and Jewish culture were not they did not view them as credible witnesses among Jews they would not even allow women to testify in a court of law that that's how low of a view they had of women you have to ask yourself why were women the first ones that Jesus chose to show himself being resurrected to they're the first witnesses I can tell you this if men wrote the Bible that would have been the very last thing they ever would have done they that would have that would have never been sold if you're trying to promote a hoax you would not you would not do what the culture would not have believed the reason that it says that women were the ones that were first witnesses because that's factually what happened and God does things like that to show you what he did you know when Luke 24 11 when the women came to the men and told them this look what it says in Luke 24 11 and their words seem to them as idle tales and they believe them not they didn't believe the women there's no way it's true listen how Thomas who was a disciple of Christ responds when he hears Jesus rose from the dead John 20 verse 25 the other disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the Lord but he said unto him except I shall see in his hands the printed nails put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe it this is impossible you need to understand they had no faith in Jesus being able to pull this off so did Jesus predict his death did he yes and did the disciples believe that he could rise from the dead okay that's where you answer ready let's try that again did Jesus Christ say he was going to die did the disciples believe he would rise again now that that's so so it's it's an impossible it's an impossible prophecy you and I wouldn't believe that either and the second thing we see is an undeniable resurrection again I said earlier I believe that without doubt the greatest event that has ever happened in human history is the resurrection of Jesus Christ the world is defined by that one day for for in rising from the dead Christ validated that he is God in flesh his message is true he can save others he will rule the world and he is coming again and it is a fact of history as we will see the resurrection is so verifiably true the only people who will reject it are those who choose to not receive it but anybody who looks at it with an open heart I'm telling you you'll walk away and you'll believe it so how do we know the Lord rose from the dead is there evidence for the resurrection well let me get a little technical this morning as we walk through some of these things the resurrection of Jesus Christ is indeed a fact of history Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday his body was taken according to Jewish burial customs they wrapped him in linen cloth then they would take 60 to a hundred pounds of a gummy substance and rub on those cloths as they wound them around Jesus's dead body then they took the Lord's body and placed him into a carved out tomb a rock face which is on the side of a hill and they would they would they bury him there a massive stone that weighed around two tons or 4000 pounds was then rolled with a lever system against the entrance of the tomb I've been at that exact location and it was designed to keep people from getting into those tombs the Jewish authorities in accordance with with what they knew Jesus they knew Jesus said he would rise again from the dead three days later so according to Matthew 27 they went to pilot and said we know this deceiver said he'll rise again and so we we don't want the disciples come and steal his body away and say that he rose from the dead so she says can we have we have some Roman soldiers to guard the tomb and pilot says go make it as sure as you want yes you can so they took Roman guards and they guarded the tomb for that week weekend you need to understand that according to history Roman soldiers were extremely fearful of their superiors because if they did not do all that was required of them they would face certain death like they you didn't just lose your job you lost your life for example like if you're a Roman soldier and you're guarding a criminal they would if you got away if you escaped they would they would not only kill the guy that escaped but they would take that Roman soldier strip him naked start a fire with his own clothes and burn him alive and Roman Roman soldiers would have to watch that the Dr. George Curry a student of Roman military discipline wrote that quote the fear of punishment produced flawless attention to duty especially in night watches these men knew their life was on the line the Romans also had placed a Roman seal on the Jew on Jesus's tomb which was a stamp that warned people not to mess with that tomb if you mess with that Roman seal the wrath of Rome will come against you like if you broke a Roman seal the equivalence of the CIA and the FBI would of Rome would come after you when they found you they would crucify you upside down for breaking a Roman seal people fear Rome and you also need to understand when you went to Jerusalem because it was under Roman control you would see crucifixions everywhere crucifixion is beyond horrifying like like the electric chair would be like one of the greatest deaths compared to being crucified drowning would be a great relief from crucifixion the people who've studied the crew crucifixion from John Hopkins University said the crucifixion is just a symphony of pain pierce your medial nerve and just in your hands and feet and the pain and the suffering you die of ox fixation because you hang there you can breathe in but you can't breathe out so you have to push yourself up on that those nails to exhale and you collapse back down and sometimes they would suffer even for days in that state unbelievable agony in the midst of all of that you have 12 disciples one of them who betrayed Jesus one who denied the leading disciple Peter denied that he even knew Jesus cursed I don't even know the man and then the other guys ran off so what happens well three days later after Jesus is dead in light of all of that the tomb is empty on the third day factually historically that tomb has been empty the bible is clear that the tomb was empty on the third day listen to the bible's account matthew 28 verse 1 says in the end of the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other mayor to see the sepulcher behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door sat upon it his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow imperative words there they're like let me it just it was like lightning I don't know what else he would say it was it would look like snow so bright and for fear of him the keepers these are the roman soldiers they shook and became his dead men it just they collapsed and the angel answered and said into the women fear you not for I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified notice verse 6 let's read verse 6 together he is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the lord lay isn't that something and then he tells him and go quickly and tell the disciples that he is risen from the dead and behold he goes before to you in the galley there shall you see him lo I have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy did run and bring the disciples word this account is in all four gospels in mark 16 luke 24 and in john 20 you say well that's the bible I mean the bible is going to say he rose from the dead josh I mean that's the disciples are going to say that oh the bible does say that he rose from the dead and the bible is an accurate reflection of history but you need to understand that there are also jewish and roman sources that admit that the tomb was empty the greatest jewish historian is josephus he was not a christian but he wrote in josephus his antiquities that the tomb was empty a compilation of 5th century jewish writings called the toledoth jeshu also speaks of that and then roman historian tacitus who hated christians lived from 55 to 120 ad in his annals also right of the empty tomb dr paul mauer a brilliant historian author and professor of ancient history at western michigan university calls this quote positive evidence from a hostile source he says it's the strongest kind of historical evidence in essence this means that if a source admits a fact decidedly not in its favor then the fact is genuine it is in fact the resurrection of the lord jesus christ when he appeared to soul of tarsus that caused soul to become a believer dr paul mauer says no shred of evidence has yet been discovered from literary sources epography which is study of ancient inscriptions archaeology that would disprove christ's tomb being empty on the first easter end quote you need to understand also that the evidence is so strong that it has caused committed atheists to walk away as a believer men like lee strobel who was a graduate from harvard university or yale law school he was an investigative journalist and writer for the chicago tribune he thought his life was over when his agnostic wife became a christian not it wasn't not that it was bad enough that she was agnostic but now she's become a believer and he was he was just so upset but after a while he said i began to see the changes in her that it wasn't worse she actually got better and and so he took his skill sets as a lawyer investigative journalist and and he began to apply that to the bible he literally spent two years researching the claims of scripture all around the world and he said this what i learned rocked me to my core and after two years of investigating he said the evidence was so overwhelming that he became a believer because he said it was logically true he said he wrote down all the reasons why he would not believe in jesus and all the reasons that he should and he said it was just no comparison j warner wallace is one of america's leading cold case criminal criminologist homicide detectives he's a lead detective on nbc's dateline by the age of 35 he was a hardened outspoken atheist who decided to take his skill sets and dealing with cold cases and murder investigations and apply them to the bible to see if the bible was trustworthy again he's a committed atheist but his skill sets were a were of such that he could come to a crime scene that just didn't have good leads they were it was a cold scene and he could find things that most people could not find and he could research with the small amount of resources and determine if something was true reliable or trustworthy let me give you a small example of this years ago it's probably been about 15 18 years ago there was a my brother and i started a church in chillicothe ohio and there was a young there was a teenager in the church at the time who was just a ornery kid and he had stolen several things from the church and we believed that he had done this but we didn't have like a video or anything we just it's like it's got to be him i mean he's the only one out there but he denied it his dad denied he would his son would ever little little his little son would never do that his son was like six foot so we said well let's do a polygraph let's do a polygraph and so we hired a detective and we said why don't you just he said he said i could he said i'll give this kid a test i'll ask him just 12 questions on these papers and uh and he fills out the answers and he says and this detective said i i can tell you with certainty if this kid's telling the truth or not so we had the kid fill these papers out he turns them into the investigator within a couple hours a guy calls back and says there's a 98 chance that kid stole those things we went to his dad and to him and said this is what the guy said the kid broke down crying and said i did i stole it you and i don't have those skill sets there's some people that do they know what to look for they know the questions asked they know how to figure that out when when jay warner wallace applied his skill sets to the new testament it it blew him away he said he said he became a christian as a result of it he wrote a book entitled cold case christianity and he said this the one thing that i love about being as a christian is it's verifiably true he said it's verifiably true he goes on and he writes about the resurrection and he said there's only three main reasons why somebody would like make something up like a resurrection or something like that you do it for power for money or for sex there's nothing else that's the only reason they do it it's all the only and he said when you anytime somebody wants to like deceive people they they create a hoax they they lie about something they always do it for money for power for sex when you look in the bible and you study history they didn't become popular they become hated all the christians were hated they were hated by jews and romans they didn't get money most of them became absolutely impoverished and poor and they didn't do it for sex because they preached purity all the time they they they they were up held and they pushed against the cultural sexual perversions of the day when these when these atheists look into this they they walked away believers i mean the guy who helped me start lighthouse 13 years ago we had eight people when he started this church one of the guys who came here to help me start the church was an atheist who would make his mom cry for going to church that's how committed he was to atheism he would make her cry make fun of her when i met him i said you believe in god he says it's all i don't believe in any of that so don't heaven and hell it's just a fiction i said what do you know of the bible he said the only thing i know about the bible and jesus is what i've heard on the simpsons he was 18 i said if jesus were real would you want to believe in him he said if he was actually real he said i'd be a fool not to but i don't believe in any of it i said if you were wrong would you want to know he said yeah i would i said why don't you uh why don't you take the book that's the best-selling most influential book that's ever been written in the history of the world you know islam was the the quran was written by one guy named muhammad one guy wrote the quran 117 service chapters this book was written by 40 different authors on three different continents in three different languages over 1 500 years and has become the best-selling most influential book on planet earth who but god could have written that if god wrote a book it would have to be the bible people say oh it's changed down through the years the only people who say that they they they when somebody says something like that they've just admitted they're being ignorant not in a demeaning way i don't mean this in a bad way i mean that i know they haven't studied it they just tell on themselves i'm like you can say that but you do it with your eyes closed you're saying that with your eyes of your mind being closed because i have studied it out and i know that is so factually false like like you can you can take and verifiably research the bible men like cs lewis who was a literary genius did not believe in god the of the bible did not believe in christ he was a literary genius and he said he said i was too learned in literary criticism criticism to reject the new testament as a reliable source of history he said some people can do that but i couldn't because i i know too much and i had to accept these things because history proves that the we have too much documentation let me say this there is more evidence for the reliability of the new testament as being an accurate reflection of what was originally written than any 10 works of antiquity put together and so so cs lewis ended up becoming a believer he said because logically it's just true the people who don't accept it are the ones who choose to reject it it's like democrats wanting to prove trump's a good guy or republicans wanting to prove that biden's a good guy they're just never going to do it and some unbelievers are so hardened against christ they're not it they don't matter what the evidence is right does that make sense are democrats going to accept trump are republicans going to skip accept biden no don't don't be a hardened person against jesus christ if you do so it's at the detriment of your own soul and so so you need to understand that what is found in the scriptures of the resurrection what's found in history is verifiable acts 1 verse 3 says to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs you know jesus it says was seen 40 days speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of god he after he rose from the dead he lived among them for 40 days they saw him he taught them he he appeared at least 17 different times after his ascension first corinthians 15 says that he appeared to over 500 followers at one time serlina luco who is considered one of the greatest lawyers in british history is recorded in the guinness book of world records as the world's most successful advocate he had 245 consecutive murder acquittals he was knighted by queen elizabeth ii twice and he says the following i humbly add i have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and i'm still in active practice i've been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and i say unequivocally the evidence for the resurrection of jesus christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt and quote so why aren't you believing it if you don't today have you researched it as much as these guys are you more brilliant than warner wallace or luco the guy that's in the guinness book of world records for his investigative abilities or lee strobel did you graduate from yale did you study the scriptures in such detail that you can say logically i don't accept this for these reasons or are you rejecting christ because you love your sin and you don't want anybody that you're going to be held accountable to for your sins right you know why i didn't want to get saved when i was young growing up because i wanted sin and i didn't want to be held accountable for my sin but there came a day when i recognized that i'm going to stand before the living god who created heaven and earth and he gave us his word and he died on the cross for our sins and i don't want to go to hell and i confess christ as my lord and savior turned my life over to him and he's revolutionized my life how do you explain lighthouse how do you explain an atheist and a young preacher at 27 coming into this city preaching christ and and now we have three services with 900 some people that will gather here today how do you explain that and you what the message is you go into a city and you say you know what we're all sinners we're going to die and go to hell unless we repent and give our life to the lord jesus christ and god blows the church up and let me say we're not the bunny rabbit church we're not the easter egg church you wanna go home and do that no problem with that you can do what you want but i'm gonna tell you we preach christ dead risen and coming again that's this church we we are a bible preaching church we are a christ sinner church we're not gonna have a bunny rabbit playing at the piano today all right you know why because in a world that is dying and broken and spiraling out of control we need to be serious about eternal things don't we the day for silliness is not today i mean don't feel bad when you go home and eat that chocolate covered bunny rabbit you know probably take a couple bites myself it's so it was so overwhelming the evidence for the resurrection that the the enemies of christ have come up with some theories to explain the resurrection away you just need to know this this is this is these are the four best theories that they've come up with because it's so factual true the problem is you have an empty tomb and they've never been able to find the body they don't know where it's at jews don't know where they can never find it and the romans could never find it and then you have to answer this question what caused the disciples to go everywhere preaching that jesus rose from the dead if he didn't so one of the one of the things they say is that they stole the body the disciples stole the body okay so just imagine with me you have to believe this so these guys who were so scared that they fled from jesus the night of his he was taken that that they after he risen from the dead they said we didn't believe it were so brave that 11 of them got so excited that they they came and fought off those roman soldiers and stole the body away from the tomb when the roman soldiers said that's not what happened and and they buried jesus in some hidden place and then they spend the rest of their life preaching that jesus rose from the dead and do you know how all those disciples died it's not written in the bible but it's written in history peter was crucified upside down for preaching andrew his brother was crucified in an x-shaped cross john was thrown off the pinnacle of the temple because he wouldn't stop preaching jesus rose from the dead and he fell 100 feet down and they beat him to death when he hit the ground other of the disciples were flayed to death they cut them up they put them on skillets others were drugged through the streets to their bodies fell apart some were burned at the stake and they none of them recanted the story none of them history records that all of those 11 disciples judas betrayed christ hung himself the next day the other 11 so you're going to tell me that they stole the body buried it somewhere and they all said let's let's just we got to promote this hoax to our last dying breath and they went around and preached that you that's what you're going to tell me that that's insanity nobody nobody's ever done that in history but they're going to do that there that's how far people go the second thing they say they the disciples must have gone to the wrong tomb that's one of the theories if the resurrection claim was merely because they went oh he's not here he must have been risen if that if it's a geographical mistake all the jews had to do is go get the body of jesus say hey here's the body guess what christianity is over that's all they had to do where's the body then they what a third thing they say is it's hallucinations these guys had mass hallucinations i don't have time to go into this but j warner wallace would describe this in detail he says listen that's that's one of the dumbest things you could ever say there's no such thing as mass hallucination it doesn't work the only way you hallucinate is by an individual believing something will be true so much so that they envision it to be true and it doesn't happen on a mass scale it just happens so an individual at best problem is jesus appeared at least 17 different times and sometimes over 500 people you don't have mass hallucinations with 500 people he said it just it's impossible plus if they hallucinate it again you just go get the body if you're the jewish authorities you present the body christianity is over the only other thing that they say could have happened the only other alternative they say that jesus swooned it's called the swoon theory which basically teaches jesus didn't actually die on the cross he just passed out they took him off the cross and he was dehydrated blood loss but when they put him in the tomb the aromatic spices from the wrappings again it's 60 to 100 pounds of wrappings how did you get those off and uh and and he revived under the cool moist air of the uh tomb he revived and resuscitated and then he climbed out of the tomb and he appeared to the disciples and they thought he must have risen from the dead a few problems with that actually tons of problems first of all romans were expert killers like they didn't mess up on this like you die they knew how to kill you and they knew what death meant they then then jesus was pierced in his hands and feet so what he said they they used the roman flag room to whip his back which would would just many people die just from the whippings the scourgings so you're going to tell me he needed desperate medical he's all night long and then he climbs out how did he get out of the tomb anyway does he fight the guards off i mean that's insane that's so ridiculous so unless today you're willing to believe one of those theories you have to come to the conclusion jesus christ must have risen from the dead there's nothing else that explains the empty tomb and the explosion of christianity and why the disciples preached the gospel till they're dying dead dying dying breath they just kept doing it i just want you to consider this jesus jesus was born in bethlehem it's a small town in those days just a few thousand people in a manger to a virgin named mary he grew up in a small town of nazareth again just a small town in a carpenter's house he never is said in history to have owned his own home he never held an office never had a bank account never went to college never traveled more than 200 miles from his home he never led a military or a nation he was not rich he was not wealthy he wasn't oppressive he didn't start a revolution he didn't force anyone to follow him he walked almost everywhere he went he stayed with friends at around 30 years old he starts a public ministry preaching it's only three years that he does this at the end of that the tide of public popular opinion moves against him his own his closest friends bail out on him one of his friends end up betraying him he is rejected of his own nation and they condemn him to roman crucifixion they nail him between two thieves and while he's dying if that's not bad enough the roman soldiers gamble for the only possession that jesus had which was his garment when he died they buried him in a borrowed tomb out of pity from a friend that's the end of jesus's life and you need to know this out of the estimated 100 billion people that have ever been born on planet earth there has never been a human being that has impacted and influenced planet earth more than that man how do you explain that how do you explain that there's absolutely no explanation for that no one has been more you know you know there's more books if you go to the library no one has more books written about them than jesus christ you can literally nearly reproduce the entirety of the bible just by the quotations of the bible and other books in any library you pick in the world in any city our calendar is set to his birthday there's more songs sung about him than anyone who's ever lived even napoleon the great admitted i know men he says i tell you that jesus christ was no mere man between him and whoever else is in the world there is no possible term of comparison he said if socrates would enter the room we would rise and honor him but if jesus came into the room we would fall on our knees and worship him jesus christ is without debate the most influential person that's ever lived on planet earth that's a fact hg wells the great historian when asked which person left the most permanent impression on history said by this test jesus stands first i am a historian i am not a believer but i must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history jesus christ is easily the most dominant figure in all of history unquote how do you explain that the only explanation friends is jesus rose from the dead no one else has done that jesus christ is life he doesn't just give life he is life he's the only one who took death and made death his servant no one does that you know by the year 350 ad christianity exploded from just an estimated 1000 believers in 40 ad to 33 million believers by 350 ad how on earth do you explain that the only explanation is jesus had to have risen from the dead and they went everywhere preaching it and as a result just study it out they the romans killed christians nero took christians put him in wax and lit his garden up at night with burning christians during his parties they sewed them up in animal skins and brought them down to the coliseum and slaughtered them christians were the most hated persecuted group why did they keep going why why would you do that because they because it's true they believed it to the very core you have to ask yourself today what do you believe do you believe that we have an impossible prophecy it's an undeniable resurrection and thirdly and we're going to be done a guaranteed return because jesus rose from the dead it validates everything he said and it guarantees his second coming there are over 300 prophecies as i said of his first coming over 1500 verses that speak of his second coming and if he filled every fulfilled every one of his the prophecies of his first coming do you think he's going to come back like he said is he going to do that the apocalypsis of jesus christ the revelation of jesus christ reveals that reality you know the gospels speak about jesus's first coming and the four gospels record for us what what is known as the humiliation of christ that he came as the suffering servant as the lamb of god who came to take the sins of the world away but the book of revelation reveals how jesus is coming the second time and it's not in humiliation it's not in brokenness when jesus returns he's not returning as a lamb he's coming as a lion he will not be subjected subjected to man's judgments when he comes the second time there is no manger for jesus anymore you can keep your mangers there is no swaddling clothes there is no room for him in the end it's not there none of that's going to happen anymore he will not be subjected to hunger and thirst ever again he will not be hit he will not be bruised spit on by anyone no one's going to scoff at him ridicule him mock him no one's pulling the beard out of his face anymore he will stand before no human court no judge he's not taking any polls to see what popular opinions are no one will see himself for no one will crucify him no one will put a stripe on his back ever again no one's going to gamble for his garments because he's going to radiate like the sun the unbelieving world the last time they saw the lord was a broken naked body of a jew 33 years old hanging on a cross who had nothing but i can tell you when he returns he says behold i'm coming and every eye will see me they're going to see me in all my blazing glory jesus revealed his glory to his disciples but the world never saw it he veiled it but i'm going to tell you something he's revealing his glory to the world and the bible says the world will mourn before him revelation 19 records what's going to happen you know jesus is going to show up the second time and he's going to be holding according to revelation 5 the title deed of the earth in his hand and revelation 1911 says this and i saw heaven open to behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war what's he look like well his eyes were as a flame of fire his head were many crowns and he had a name written which no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood his name's called the word of god and the armies which were in heaven followed him that's that's the believers who are saved they're going to be with christ they're clothed in white fine linen white and clean and out of his mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword and he shall smite the nations and shall rule them with a rod of iron and he tread at the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty god and he had on his vesture and on his thigh name written king of kings and lord of lords that's who jesus is you just you will never be able to say that i went to lighthouse and you know they had they had bunnies jumping around and we did a big egg hunt a big egg drop you know and we went out and had a good time and nothing wrong with having fun nothing wrong with i want you to leave lighthouse and know that jesus jesus christ was preached that he told me the truth about christ he told us that one day jesus is coming back that jesus sits on the throne that he was crucified died was buried and rose again and one day i'm going to stand before him and if i am not saved if i'm not in right standing with god that i will fall under the judgment of the great king you've been warned because the pastor up here loves you you know it'd be real easy for me to to make this all palatable to talk to you about how god loves you and loves the world and everybody's going to go to heaven and all this stuff and try to twist the scriptures into something it doesn't say but i'm more concerned about your eternity than your friendship i'm more concerned that you would know the truth it's like a doctor if a doctor knew you had stage four cancer and he's like you know scott you have stage four cancer but and i've read the report and i knew you had stage four cancer but i'm like i don't want scott to get upset today so i'm going to tell scott scott you're healthy no you're going to live for another 30 years and then in four months he's dead because i didn't want to tell him his blood's on my hands you know what a loving pastor does a loving pastor doesn't keep people from the truth he brings them to it jesus said in luke 12 verse 40 be ye therefore ready also for the son of man comes when you think not he's coming friends he's coming jesus christ will return he's going to rapture his church up we're going to go to be with the lord the bible tells us when the rapture happens which can happen at any moment there is nothing that is keeping that from happening right now he could do it at any moment that will be followed by what's known as a seven year tribulation when hell comes to earth all hell breaks through there will be the pit of hell will be open and demon infestation will come onto this earth you can't see them but it's going to be just hell on earth judgment will fall on this planet the bible tells us all these things as they've come to pass will come to pass today you must realize that you're here for a reason i i believe that every one of you are here by divine appointment i i believe that just think like how did you end up at lighthouse today just just ask yourself that how did you end up here you're sitting in sitting in that chair think about a year ago or five years ago think about how many other places you would be than sitting right here right now hearing this you're here for this reason like god god has placed you here and he wants you to know this one day you and i will stand before god we'll give it account of our life every one of us will do that if god asks you why should i let you into heaven today what would you say to him he said why should i let you in heaven what would you say and if your answer was wrong would you want to know that it was wrong you know what the bible tells us that we've all sinned i'm a pastor but i'm no better than anybody in this room i'm not going to heaven because i preach or serve or anything like that the bible says in romans 3 23 we've all sinned and come short of god's glory sin is breaking god's laws like going 55 and 35 is breaking the law sin is breaking god's laws and one of god's laws says thou shall not lie anybody here ever told a lie before raise your hand okay we got a bunch of liars here today the bible says liars are friars man one of the commands says don't take god's name in vain you ever done that before taking god's name in a way that didn't honor him yeah we've done that before that's called blasphemy very serious with god one of the commands says love god with all of our heart soul mind and strength jesus put that at the very top anybody here ever put something in front of god or love something more than god yeah we'd be guilty as idolaters and the list goes on and on if you and i sinned three times a day for a year that's over a thousand offenses and after after 70 years of life a normal life we'd have over 70 000 sins so if you stood before god would you be innocent or guilty would be guilty and if we're found guilty what happens well revelation 21 8 the last book of the bible this is what god says and revelation 21 8 says but the fearful the unbelieving the abominable murderers were like well we expect them to be there and warmongers they do sexually wrong things sorcerers are into witchcraft and idolaters uh-oh and then it says this and all what does it say we just jumped into revelation 21 8 didn't we and look what happens shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death i mean this is we're not guessing at this the same jesus who said i will die buried rise again is the same jesus who said that is it true you can you can reject it you can deny it that's up to you but i'm going to tell you that's true i'm basing my eternity on the bible i'm not going to guess at this i'm not going to watch fox news or cnn or msnbc and say well i'm going to believe what they say no i'm going to believe jesus a little bit more reliable source right and so today you're going to have to ask yourself what are you going to base your eternity on now how do you get rid of your sins a question well the bible says you can't be good enough to get rid of your sin you can't be go to church enough to get rid of your sin the bible says only christ can get rid of your sin and the only way that happens is when a person repents of their sin which means here's sin and here's christ i'm turning from my sin i turn to christ i turn from unbelief to faith i believe that jesus christ died for me was buried and rose again the bible says whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life it's not just intellectual belief intellectual belief saves no one it is a salvation a belief of the will it means that you're my lord i believe you you are the lord of my life now it means that jesus you call the shots you sit in the driver's seat of my life no longer is it about me it's about what christ wants ask yourself this question who has been in the driver's seat of your life have you been sitting on the driver's seat or is christ jesus said why do you call me lord but you don't do the things that i say if you're truly saved jesus christ will lead your life it doesn't mean you're perfect but it means you're on a different road it's not the perfection of your life but it is the direction and today if you don't know christ i have men and women standing at that door and at that door i'll be down front we're just normal people man blue collar no collar white collar don't matter if you're here today you need to know christ and why don't you come today if you don't know that answer we'd have people sit down with you in the privacy of a room and show you from the bible answer any questions you have they won't pressure you to do anything it'll be up to you but you could make a decision today to call out to christ and be saved wouldn't it be great to go home today sit around with your family to meal and know that when your life's over you'll be in heaven we just buried three people in the last two days in this church you have no idea when your last day's going to be another funeral this next week you have no idea when your last day's going to be you could live for 50 more years or you can live for five more days you have no idea bible says be ready he's coming he's coming and christian i close with this i love seeing a full day today we had to add an extra service because we can't fit everybody in two services but shouldn't that be the case shouldn't that be the case don't honor jesus just on easter thank you for being here praise god for your faithfulness it's such an awesome thing to see but be here next week right honor him the lord's day the world is dying and going to hell spiraling out of control our children don't need to see us raising them up just on the ball field and playing games they need to see us raising them up in what will matter for eternity amen nothing wrong with those games do that enjoy life spend time bless those things but make sure god's at the very center amen let's all stand this morning the altar is open with heads bowed knives closed maybe you're here today and that's that's you as we you say pastor josh if i stood before god i know that i'm saved i've trusted in christ as my savior if that's your testimony would you raise your hand today as a testimony of your faith you've been saved and amen you can raise your hand if you've done that amen you can put your hands down praise god if you're if you're here today say pastor josh could you pray for me because if i stood before god i don't know if heaven's my home if jesus said why should i let you in heaven i'm not quite sure what i would say i don't know that for sure but i would love to know that for sure i would never come to you never embarrass you but if you're here today you say pastor could you pray for me because i i need to need to get saved i need to make sure of that if that's you today would you just raise your hand that i might know to pray for you friend thank you i see it thank you i see it everybody else just raise it up and i'll know to pray for you just remember me josh just i don't want to be off on this i don't want to be wrong with this thank you i saw several hands today if you're here today and that's you listen we'll be down front pull you aside in a private room and talk with you love to do that don't don't put that off don't put that off today christian maybe today you just need to recommit your life you say hey maybe you are saved but you've just been away from the lord but you need to make that commitment to christ why don't you do that today father we thank you for your word we celebrate jesus christ you alone die or buried and rose again we celebrate your greatness thank you for all the precious folks who've come out today and may your mercy rest upon them i pray for anyone today that doesn't know christ that they would be saved and for those that are saved will be just surrendered and committed our time is short on this earth and let us be busy about your business in christ's name amen