Winning Against Death

As much as we try to avoid it, death is inevitable. All of us, from the greatest to the least, must pass through this gateway into the life to come. Death has been called the last enemy and only one man ever conquered this fearful foe. Today, a celebration of the triumph of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Stay with us. From Chicago, this is a very special Moody Church Hour, a weekly service of worship and teaching under the ministry of Dr. Erwin Lutzer. On this Resurrection Sunday, join us for the glorious Music of Easter and an inspiring message on winning against death.

Pastor Lutzer comes now to open our service. He is risen. He is risen indeed.

I love the passage of scripture where the angel says, come and see the place where the Lord lay. We are here today, friends, to affirm that we are backing a winner. The Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, won a victory over Satan and death, and we follow in his triumph. We are so glad that you are here today, and you know the risen Christ is among us. And we want to invite you to open your heart to him, to recognize his presence, to allow him through his word and through the beautiful music that has been prepared to speak to your heart. We are here today for one purpose only, and that is to exalt the man who is now in glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, God and King.

Would you stand with me for the invocation, the reading of the scripture, and then we shall sing together. Let's all stand together as we affirm the strength and power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Father, today we come to you in triumph because of Jesus. We thank you for his death, and we thank you for his resurrection. We thank you, Father, for his eternal triumph. We thank you for his invitation in our lives to not only give thanks to him, but to receive him so that we shall be with him forever. Direct our thoughts, Lord, we pray, to that day so many years ago when you were raised from the dead and a message was sent to the whole world that Christ is Lord. We pray in his name. Amen.

Amen. And now we listen to the scripture. Our first scripture reading this morning is from Matthew chapter 28 and John chapter 20.

Would you please follow along in your bulletin as I read? Now after the Sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow, and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who is crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said, Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples, and behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. . . . . . . . . . . . As we read from Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 10, I invite you to join me on the bold print.

This is the word of the Lord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .