He Has Risen

Matthew reaches its triumphant climax with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

To think of Jesus without the resurrection reduces Jesus to just another prophet, a guru, perhaps a miracle worker. But right at the beginning of this Gospel as Matthew begins to write it, he says in chapter 1 verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. This is not merely Jesus, he is the Christ, he is the Son of God, he is God incarnate. And in chapter 1, Matthew reminds us that he's given this name Jesus, this wonderful name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

So it is a historical fact that Jesus died, he was buried, and he rose from the dead. And the wonder of the Gospel is that this living Christ enters into a living and an eternal relationship with his disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit. So the Christian faith must never be reduced, as it sometimes is, to do this or don't do that. The Christian faith is understanding that there is nothing, please hear me, there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. And we depend for our salvation, for the forgiveness of sins, for eternal life, not on what we have done or ever will do, but on what God has accomplished in his Son, Jesus Christ, through his death, through his burial, and as we'll see today, his resurrection. And by faith, we receive then what God in Christ has done. And we then live a life of faith, a life day by day, depending on God's power and grace. Now we've come almost to the end of Matthew, certainly the last chapter, Matthew chapter 28. And if you have your Bible, I invite you to turn there, Matthew 28, the first Gospel. Matthew and Mark and Luke are what we call the synoptic Gospels, and they were written within thirty years of the death of Jesus.

Think of that. Within thirty years of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are writing the Gospels that we have. These are accurate accounts of what actually happened, far better than the historical documents of any other religion, as we would call them our founding documents. The Roman historian Tacitus, the Jewish historian Josephus, they themselves write of the death, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Historical facts. The Christian faith is not based on some whim, it's not based on some ideology, it's based on historical fact that this man, God incarnate, came and died on the cross for our sins, and he was buried, and as we'll see today and as we've been singing, he was raised from the dead. Let me read with you Matthew 28, we're going to read the first 15 verses, Matthew 28, verses 1 through 15. 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, his clothing white as snow, and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men, but the angel said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified, he's not here, for he has risen as he said, come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold he's 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 the disciples, and behold Jesus met them and said, greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me. While they were going behold some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place and when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, tell people, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep, and if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So they took the money and did as they were directed, and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. He has risen as he said. Christ has risen as he said. Now I want us first of all to understand the basic point that we see throughout the Gospel and is reinforced here that the resurrection assures us that Jesus is Lord, that he is the Christ, that he is the Son of God. Matthew begins his Gospel by telling us that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Messiah, long promised Messiah, and the resurrection assures us that Jesus is no ordinary man. He is the Lord, he is the Christ. Many religions and many people can talk about Jesus.

You talk to a cult, you talk to those of other religions and they will be quite happy to talk about Jesus. But to those of us who love Jesus Christ, to those of us who are following him, he is not just Jesus. He is Jesus.

That's a beautiful name. The name means Saviour, but he's more than Jesus. Matthew is telling us he is the Christ, he is the Messiah, he is the Son of God, he is God incarnate. To those of us who love Jesus, he is our Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our King. Matthew has been repeatedly telling us that Jesus comes and announces that the Kingdom of God is at hand. He is the King, not only the King of the Jews, he's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is our Saviour, our magnificent Lord Jesus Christ.

And say our friends who are not following Jesus, well, why do you think Jesus is different from any other religious figure? The bodily resurrection of Jesus, please understand, the bodily resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. We saw a couple of weeks ago as we looked at the end of Matthew chapter 27, that when Jesus is buried, when he's put in that tomb, not only is there a great stone rolled over it, it is secured, it is sealed, it is guarded.

And when these women come on the first day of the week, what do they see? That the stone was rolled away. No wonder the guards were like dead men as they stood keeping watch and the angel, like lightning, comes and descends from heaven, rolls away the stone and sits on it as if to say, do you think you can stop us? I think Matthew must have had a sense of humor that he records and the angel sat on it. And the stone was rolled away, of course, not to let Jesus out, but to prove to these women and others that the tomb was empty. No problem to God to remove a great stone. The angel comes, moves it and sits on it and says, you know this verse 6, he is not here for he has risen as he said.

I want to emphasize that today. He has risen as he said, come see the place where he lay, verse 6. And the enemies of Jesus, of course, could never produce the body of Jesus. They had to fabricate the storage, you notice how they had to bribe the guards, the concocted story that the disciples had come and stolen the body and to help them spread this fake news, this disinformation, they had to bribe them.

Unlike the guards, there was no need for the women to be afraid. Matthew records the names of the women to support the veracity of their evidence. These women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, are the first human witnesses of the empty tomb and the risen Christ.

Compelling evidence. Women in the first century were disregarded when it came to evidence in the court. But here are the facts, that the first human eyewitnesses, that the tomb was empty that Lord's day and that Jesus was risen with these two women. The men must wait until the Lord appears to them in Galilee, as we read in verse 10. So the proof, the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the Christ is based on the historical fact, the historical evidence that this man, Jesus, was put in a tomb and that he, on that first Lord's day, bodily rose from the dead. And the fact of the resurrection then must always, I repeat, must always be central to the gospel. The gospel is not that Jesus is your friend and will help you get through life. The gospel is not that Jesus is there to help you fulfill your little petty dreams. That's not the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again and is based on historical fact. Turn with me to the book of Acts as we see the early apostles. What do they preach?

They preach crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection. Acts chapter 2, verse 22. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. New Testament, Acts 2, verse 22, men of Israel, hear these words.

Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost in the center of Jerusalem. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourself know. They've seen the miracles of Jesus. This Jesus, get it, the one that you just called Jesus, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. This was in God's eternal plan. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Notice verse 24, God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Verse 27, Peter quotes from Psalm 16, verse 27, you will not abandon my soul in Hades or let your holy one see corruption. Verse 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. You think you're just crucifying a man called Jesus?

Absolutely not. He was bodily raised from the dead and that proves that the one you crucified God raised up and has made him both Lord and Christ. This is central to the Gospel.

I trust you believe it. There is no salvation apart from believing the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Paul says in Romans 10, 9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. And in the great resurrection chapter, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 14, if Christ has not been raised, can you imagine if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. If Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead and preaching in vain and your faith, if you believe in this, is in vain, it's hopeless.

It's a joke. Verse 17, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Sin, the great human dilemma. How are we going to have forgiveness of sins? Only one way, through receiving Christ as our Savior who died for our sins.

There can be no compromise on this. There can be no fudging of the Gospel to make it more palatable to people. People today want to reduce sin even from the church. If you have no sin, you don't need a Savior, Augustine said. If you believe what you like in the Gospel and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe but yourself. Isn't that right? You want to change the Gospel?

You want to make it more user-friendly as we're sometimes told? Absolutely not. If you change the Gospel, you no longer have the Gospel. You have a false Gospel. And rather than believing in the Word of God, you're believing in yourself. No, if Jesus were not raised from the dead, the whole of Christianity collapses.

It can be completely rejected. Yes, there are many, many religious figures. There are many people in human history who have done wonderful things and have been kind and have given great insight into living and to philosophy and wonderful discoveries.

That is true. But there's only one man who came from heaven to earth, the God-man, who is Jesus, who is the Christ, who is the Son of God, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates the uniqueness of Jesus. So when you're speaking to your friends who don't believe, and they try and tell you you're bigoted because you're saying Jesus is the only way, ask them this question, who else has come from heaven to earth, died for our sins, was bodily raised from the dead, and has returned to heaven, and is alive forevermore?

No other person than our Lord Jesus Christ. So it assures us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Secondly, and this is important, the resurrection assures us that Jesus can be trusted. The resurrection assures us that Jesus can be trusted.

You say, why do you say that? Because several times Jesus predicted not only his death by cruel men, but predicted his resurrection. I've got on this slide there a number of references in Matthew. We're not going to read them all, but in Matthew chapter 16, the first reference there, this is where Peter declares and says to Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then shortly after, in verse 21 of Matthew 16, we've seen this before, Matthew records from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem. Why must he go to Jerusalem?

The place of death, the place of crucifixion. He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised. There is a prediction of his resurrection on the third day. Chapter 17, verse 23, and as they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day. Now when Jesus says something, he's going to do it. That's why the angel said in our passage, Matthew 28, verse 6, he is not here, for he has risen as he said.

Come see the place where he lay. So there are these various references in the gospel to our Lord Jesus Christ saying he was going to be killed and he was going to be resurrected. Christ has risen.

He rose from the dead as he said. Now that means and re-emphasizes and underlines this important truth in the Christian faith that God can always be trusted. You are not always trustworthy.

You have promised things and not delivered on them. Events out of your control, you changed your mind, you forgot what God says he will do. God never, ever breaks his Word. Jesus says in John 10, Scripture cannot be broken. Paul says that it's impossible for God to lie. Christ predicts I'm going to be raised the third day, and the angel says now, he has risen as he said. I want to say something very, very practical that impacts every single one of us. Trust in God's Word ends needless anxiety and fear.

Anyone know anything a little bit about worry, anxiety, concern, fear of the future? Every single one of us. Mark records in the way to the tomb, the women are talking and saying, who's going to roll away the stone? The stone had already been rolled away. God was a way ahead of them. And then he sends an angel from heaven to come and to roll back the stone and to sit on it.

God was at work. These women had heard, I'm sure, Jesus say on the third day, I'm going to be resurrected. No need for them to worry about who's going to remove the stone.

The anxiety, the concern of the women was needless. Why didn't they simply trust him? When Jesus says something, it's going to happen. What about the disciples? Why are they not there on the third day just waiting for the resurrection? They had heard Jesus say on multiple occasions that he was going to be raised from the dead. No, John tells us they're behind locked doors, hiding for fear of the Jews. The one they had followed is crucified. Their dreams have come to an end. They thought the Messianic kingdom was going to be instituted there and then and it's not. Tragic. Now the Jews are going to be after us and they're hiding in spite of the fact that Jesus had told them, I will rise again.

The fears and the concerns of the apostles and the women are completely needless. God always delivers on his promises. God can be trusted. He's a God who can do all things. And he demonstrated that he can be trusted by raising his Son from the dead on the third day.

And so today, right now, I want you to do something. I want you to claim some of the promises of God. Most of us here would say that we're followers of Jesus Christ. That means you're living by faith.

Is that true? The just shall live by faith. We have faith in coming to Christ, but we are to live by faith. Our life is to be a life of faith, isn't it? Doesn't God promise that he'll never leave you nor forsake you? Doesn't he say that?

Why don't you trust him? You're worrying what's going to happen when you're old. You're worrying what's going to happen about when you go into that, for that operation. You're worrying about this or that. You're worrying about the job interview.

You're worried and you're fretting. He's promised, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Claim that promise. Some of you face very, very difficult temptations. Perhaps a besetting sin that comes to you over and over again.

I want you to claim this promise. The Scripture promises that for every temptation, yes, every temptation there's a way of escape. God is faithful. So when you fall into sin, don't blame God. God has provided a way of escape.

You have chosen not to take it. Claim the promise. He promises that those who believe in him will have eternal life and they will never perish. What a wonderful promise that is, isn't it? If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll have eternal life and you'll never perish and no one can snatch you out of his hand that my Lord Jesus Christ has me in his hand and the Father has me in his hand and says, Jesus, I and the Father are one.

What a promise. What about Psalm 27? The Lord is my light and my salvation, therefore I will not fear. You're afraid? Afraid of tomorrow? The Lord will be your light.

You're afraid you're going to make the wrong decision about something? No need to fear. The Lord is your light.

He's your salvation. Claim the promise. Stop worrying.

Claim the promises of God. What are you anxious about? What's keeping you awake? What are you fretting about? What's your worst fears?

What are they? In the middle of an earthquake, the old woman was asked, are you afraid? She says, no. I like this. I rejoice to know that I have a God who can shake the world. We've had some really bad thunderstorms, haven't we? At least we're good and I live. I don't know if we're getting special lightning. I never thought of that one.

Maybe it's true. And it put out some of our lights. And one night we were in the back porch and right in front of us there's this tremendous lightning. Are we afraid? Or do we believe that God is with us? Let all things work together for good. And that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ establishes God's love for us, that I'm loved with an everlasting love and there's nothing in this whole universe which can take me away from my Savior. He never leaves me. He watches over me and He guides me.

But you say, John, just hold it. It sounds very well and to a certain extent I believe it, but you don't know the difficulties in my life. Anyone got any struggles in life? Any disappointments in life? Ever ask God why something happened that has really turned your world upside down? Some real disappointment, some bereavement or something.

The answer is most of us experience that, don't we? So the difficulty is how do we reconcile the providence of God on the one hand and the promises of God on the other. What do I mean by God's providence? God's providence is God's activity through His unlimited power and knowledge in fulfilling His purposes for you. Do you believe that God is writing your story?

I do. It's not the story I would have written. My story would have been very, very different.

I'd have been a multimillionaire on a little Caribbean island just about to go on my yacht and perhaps on my third or fourth wife, I don't know. As an unbeliever, of course. You want to write your own story? You ever think that?

Do you really think that you're wiser than God? So what happens? Into our life, it seems that God intervenes. Unexpected circumstances, difficulties. You wonder how that is not what I wanted.

I didn't get that promotion. I should have. Resentment, bitterness, why? On Friday, as I was thinking about this, I thought of Psalm 57 verse 2. If you don't know that verse, there's one you need to.

Here it is. David, he's been chased by Saul. Now David has been promised that he's going to be the king, anointed by Samuel, remember? In 1 Samuel 17. And Samuel told Saul, the kingdom is going to be taken away from you and given to another David. And yet, here is David with this wonderful promise that he's going to be the king and he's being pursued by this evil man Saul over and over again, who's got this spear and he wants to put it right through David. And David is hiding in a cave. And in verse 2 he says this of Psalm 57, I cry out to God most high, to God, listen to this, who fulfills his purpose for me.

I like that. God is working all things together for good to those who love him. Do we understand all that's happening in our lives, in our nation?

No. Unexpected hurdles, difficulties, hardships, suffering, yes. But behind it all is Almighty God who is so powerful he can raise his son from the dead. So powerful that if you trust his son, he'll give you eternal life so that you will be forever with your Savior.

That's pretty impressive, isn't it? And you are wondering, and you are worrying over that situation in your little life. You're wondering what's going to happen to your business.

You're wondering what's going to happen to your health, to your family, to your career. Isn't that Paul's wing of his own argument in Romans 8? He says that he who did not spare his son for us, but he who did not spare his son but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

What a wonderful argument. Paul is saying, listen, God in a sense has done the difficult thing. He delivered his son for your salvation. He sent his son into this world to bear your sin. Do you not think then he can deal with everything else?

How much more, think of his argument, from the greater to the lesser, how much more will he not also with him graciously give us all things? God will give you and me all of the grace, all of the strength, all of the help you need to live for him one day at a time. And you're to trust him, to think of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, living God, ask you to trust Him. You are Christ's of faith.

You wonder, you cry, why? You read the Psalms of lament, why will God, has this happened? You trust God. The resurrection assures us that God can be trusted. Finally, the resurrection assures us of God's power in our lives.

It assures us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, also assures us that God can be trusted. Finally, the resurrection assures us of God's power in our lives. See, this is the gospel. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He's going to give you supernatural salvation and transformation. That's power.

Yes, you. You place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, this living Christ who's alive forevermore, He will save you, He will forgive your sins, and He will transform your life. Think of the power that raised Jesus from the dead from that cold tomb of death, victorious over the forces of darkness and evil.

These women, as we read, are totally overwhelmed at the events. Matthew says in verse 8 that they had fear and great joy. You think it's the opposite?

No. They had a, in awe of God, we would say. They realized this was awesome, and they were filled with great joy, that this one they loved was not still in the tomb, but was alive forevermore. You see, trusting the living Christ transforms all of life, and it gives us an eternal perspective, doesn't it?

What a wonderful way to live. And because, because Jesus Christ was dead and is alive, alive forevermore, He can share this life, this eternal life, this supernatural life with His followers. So a true follower of Jesus has had a personal encounter with Jesus.

He's been saved by the grace of God. Now, I think men, elders and deacons and pastors were praying this morning before the service, and we were talking and praying about those who embrace a cultural Christianity. Do you know what cultural Christianity is? That's saying, oh, I believe. Oh, I believe in Jesus. Oh, I go to church. I put my children into a Christian school. I mean, yeah, I've got, I've got a Bible.

It's not used too much, but I've got a Bible. You've got church going. You've got churchianity, but you may never have had a personal encounter with the living Christ. We are to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ, not just intellectually saying, I believe. Jesus, Calvin said it, is to embrace Christ.

Beautiful picture, that Christ comes and embraces us as it were, and we embrace Him. And when we are truly saved, the New Testament teaches us that we are now then, listen to this, united with Christ. I am in Christ, and He is in me.

I am united with Christ. Listen to Paul as he expounds this wonderful truth that you need to grasp, which will truly revolutionize your life in Colossians 3. Colossians 3, verse 1, he says, if then you have been raised with Christ, it's the if of argument, not the if of doubt. We could say, since you have been raised with Christ.

Have you? You've been raised with Christ? That's what baptism symbolizes, that we die with Christ, we're buried with Christ, we've been raised with Christ into this new life. Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory. Paul says that Christ is your life.

Is that true of you? You say, well, my family is my life, my wife is my life, my business is my life, my hobby is my life. For the Christian, no. First and foremost, our priority is Christ. Christ is our life. We seek first the kingdom of God, and now, in the beauty of the gospel, I am in Christ. Think of that unbreakable union. Do you believe that?

That's huge, isn't it? To go through life knowing that I am in Christ, and this new life and power from the resurrected Christ transforms us, we call this our sanctification, the process whereby we become more and more like Jesus. Did you notice as I read how Jesus refers to the disciples, these men who had deserted Him? Verse 10, Jesus said to them, don't be afraid, go tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me. We would have said, go tell these deserters. Go tell these chickens.

He says, go tell my brothers. Here is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we who believe in Him are now part of the family of God, that we are sons and daughters of God, and these fearful disciples are going to be transformed into the boldest of evangelists and missionaries in the first century. What was the transformation? They'd seen the resurrected Christ, and for about 40 days they had been taught by the resurrected Christ between His resurrection and His ascension, they were with Him. And then in Acts 2, the Spirit comes down and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with the living Spirit of Jesus, and now they're prepared to suffer and die.

Why? Because they have seen the resurrected Christ. He'd said, I am the resurrection and the life. He conquered death and therefore, let me say to you, He is well worth following. I followed Jesus for many years. I was thinking back to my university days at Edinburgh. I was there just a few weeks ago, and I thought of all of the debates, all of the discussions we'd had in those days with my friends, these pseudo-intellectual discussions about Marx and Lenin and Herbert Marcuse and all of that. We're going to transform the world, they thought, through socialism or Marxism or communism, and I thought, I wonder how many of them are following Marx or Lenin or Marcuse today, whose theories and philosophies have largely been discredited.

What a waste of a life, isn't it? To follow someone who's going to a dead end, no. We follow a living Christ, a one who saves us, a one who transforms us, and one then who sends us to tell others about Him. The woman in verse 8 ran to tell the disciples, we'll see in a couple of weeks in verse 19 that the disciples are commanded to go and to preach the gospel to all the nations.

This news is so wonderful that it cannot be kept to ourselves. The whole world needs to know that Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose again and that His love embraces the whole world. And that means that you and I have to go, not necessarily to Kenya with our brother and sister, perhaps, perhaps God is going to call you to go to the other end of the world, but He's certainly calling you to tell your family, to tell your neighbor, to tell your friends, to tell your colleagues at work.

You say, John, that is very difficult. Listen, with God, nothing is impossible. And I want you to take God at His word. Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That is, when God calls you to do something, He will give you all of the strength, all of the wisdom you need as you depend on Him as you live by faith. This resurrection of Jesus assures us that He's always with us in life and in death. He is our hope in life and in death.

Yes, the tomb is empty. Christ is risen as He said. C. S. Lewis writes, something perfectly new in the history of the universe had happened. Christ had defeated death.

The door which had always been locked had for the first time been forced open. Think of that mighty battle. Think of that mighty victory accomplished by our magnificent Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive. What an assurance that He is living, conquering death as He said. That means that the grave and the death for us need not be dreaded. Not only has our Lord Jesus Christ gone into death, He's conquered it. John Flavell writing in the 17th century writes, death is a dragon, the grave it's then, a place of dread and terror, but Christ goes into its then, there grapples with it, and forever overcomes it, disarms all its terror.

Flavell said, our Lord Jesus Christ is disarmed. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?

That's why when one of our loved ones dies, we grieve, we miss them terribly. But when their trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ, we rejoice that death has been conquered and that our loved ones will not stay in that grave, but to live as Christ to die is gain. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was in the tomb, His body did not experience corruption as we read. He's the first fruit of those who rise from the death. Death could not hold our Savior. Nothing can stop our Savior. And so I ask you, take all of your fears, all of your anxieties, and bring them to the Lord, and to trust Him with all of your heart.

He has risen, as He said, therefore believe in Him. Therefore trust in Him, brothers and sisters. Serve Him with all of your heart.

He's worthy of your best, and love and praise Him. And even when the hardships and difficulties come into your life, know that this great God is writing your story, and that His purposes for your life and mine will be accomplished in His perfect will. And I'm to trust Him, and you're to love Him, and you're to serve Him. Eternal God, we thank you that you're alive forevermore. We're frail mortals of faith.

Sometimes it's very weak and we doubt you and we question you. We thank you for your graciousness. We thank you for our Savior calling the disciples, my brothers. We ask now that those who don't know this Christ personally, that your Spirit will reveal their sin to them, and also will reveal the wonder of Christ dying for sins, being buried and being raised again. May hearts be open to receive the Savior. And for us, Father, may Christ truly be our hope in all of life, on the mountaintop and in the valleys. He's our hope in life and in death. Once again, we thank you for our magnificent Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him. We praise Him. We look forward when He shall come, and we shall be perfectly like Him. Meantime, Father, help us to tell others this wonderful good news that Christ is risen, as He said, and we ask it in His name. Amen.