What's So Important About the Resurrection
Tom Shrader concludes a four-part evangelistic series by making the case that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin of Christianity, drawing extensively from 1 Corinthians 15 to show that without it, faith is empty and meaningless. He walks through the historical evidence for the resurrection, explains how it validates Jesus' claim to be God, and grounds salvation in grace through faith rather than human effort or moral reformation. The message closes with baptism testimonies that illustrate how repentance and trust in Christ transforms lives from the inside out.
“My problem isn't my circumstance, my problem is my heart. God saves sinners, so the question was, what else must you do, and the answer is nothing.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: How to Know (2006)
Recorded: 2006 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 54 min
Themes: resurrection, salvation, faith, grace, evidence for christianity, hope, repentance, baptism, seeker, new believer, doubting faith, considering baptism, skeptic, young adult, searching for meaning, grieving loss
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 1 Corinthians 15:56, 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, Acts 2:24, Matthew 12:38-40, Ephesians 2:8-9, Ephesians 1:3-5, John 3:36, John 5:24, Romans 5:1, Titus 3:5, Romans 10:9, Romans 10:11, 1 John 5:11, John 10:27-28, Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:38-39, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 2 Corinthians 5:21
Theological Themes: resurrection of christ, soteriology, justification by faith, 1 corinthians 15, apologetics, historical evidence, regeneration, atonement
Full Transcript
Welcome Back and Series Context
As I worked my way around the room today, a whole bunch of you said welcome back and mentioned you hoped I was feeling better. Last week was a planned absence — that was Chris dealing with the da Vinci cold. The week before, I had been bragging over the last couple of years about how I just never get sick. I've missed three Sundays in the last six months, which is remarkable given that I hadn't missed any Sundays in 20 years. So God hates the proud and makes them sick, apparently.
I got up about 11 o'clock that night and then about one o'clock and said I could do this — showered and got cleaned up — but by four o'clock I became convinced there was no way I could give you 15 uninterrupted minutes. It was an ugly sight. I called Chris Mueller at 3:46 in the morning, and he said, "Hey, no problem." I said, "Well, good for you." So Chris was here the last two weeks, and I'm thankful for that.
One of the things that made my absence awkward — and the reason I was so determined to be here — is that it was Mother's Day, and one of the special things we had planned for Mother's Day was to announce that my daughter Sarah is pregnant. We're really excited about that. You don't need to applaud for me; I didn't do anything. I paid for the wedding.
It's really interesting, and if I could just reflect for a moment: I made the comment to somebody the other day that we're kind of exactly where we were last year. Susan just had chemo again the other day, and we're right in the slot we were last year. Haley last year was due on December 13th, and Braden was born on November 25th. Sarah is due this year on December 14th. So it's kind of like Groundhog Day for us all over again — some of it good and some of it not so good. Continue to pray for us if you would. Susan wasn't feeling great yesterday, so I'm not sure if she made it to the conference center this morning. Please continue to pray for her.
The Most Important Session in This Series
I would normally ask you at this point to open your Bibles to a specific passage, and we'll be in some passages here shortly. But let me first remind you what we're doing, because a second reason I was so sad to miss May 21st is that we have completed three of four sessions in a series that is really important. It seemed like everything was building toward a crescendo, and then it didn't happen. I feel awful about that, but God is sovereign and He obviously knows what He's doing.
A few years ago I got into Civil War material. I'm not a Civil War buff exactly — I've read some things, and I'm mostly amused by how deeply people get into it. Some would argue, probably convincingly, that the Civil War is the most important event in the history of the United States of America. If you were to hone down further and identify the most important event of the Civil War, many people would say the Battle of Gettysburg. And if you were to ask what the most important moment of the Battle of Gettysburg was, many would say Pickett's Charge.
Here is the comparison I want to draw. The series we are doing right now is the most important series we will ever do in the history of East Valley Bible Church. And if you were to ask what the most important session within this series is, I would tell you it is the one we are going to look at today — the Pickett's Charge of this series.
Reviewing Where We've Been
Let me remind you how we got here. The first week we asked the question: what's the matter with people? And the answer is sin. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all equally guilty before God, and the wage of sin is death — meaning separation. We are all sinners naturally, and unless God intervenes, unless something changes, we will continue at war with Him throughout our lives. I know it's 2006, but the Bible teaches nonetheless that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.
The second week we talked about what's so special about Jesus. Seven billion people are on the planet now, and they say perhaps seven billion have already lived and died. Of these fourteen billion people, what separates Jesus from everyone else? The answer is that He was God. He did miracles — the lame would walk, the blind would see, and the dead would rise. He claimed to be the Messiah, the One who came to deliver us from our sin.
The third week we talked about what was behind the death of Jesus. That Jesus died is a historical fact — it is indisputable, and nobody seems to want to argue it. Nobody is walking through Palestine looking for a 2,000-year-old man, so the fact that He lived is established by the fact that He died. But was there anything more to His death than just that? And the answer is yes. Scripture tells us that He died for our sin.
The theological term is substitutionary atoning death — He died in your place. The wage of sin is death. That is what you deserve. You deserve hell, you deserve punishment, you deserve judgment. That doesn't sound right in today's world, does it? Talk to people around you and they don't speak that way about God anymore. They talk about God as a God of love and all these great things. God is a God of love — but this is really important — because God loves, He...
The Point of This Series
Today is the pivotal charge of this series — by that I mean the most important thing. If you don't get this right today, then nothing else really matters. You can come and listen to all sorts of messages, but if you don't get this one right, if this isn't something that at the end of the day you see is true and respond to, then the rest of it is really a waste of time.
I am a doctrine guy. I like doctrine, but I like doctrine for a purpose, and that purpose is application. I had a chance to teach Tuesday night at the 7-10 ministry — a twenty-something group — and I loved being with those young men and women. I love talking to them about the fact that life is difficult. Have you noticed that? That's not too hard to see. Life is just difficult.
I think, by the way, that this is by design. I think God does not want life to be simple for you and me as Christians. I think He is constantly bringing circumstances in that throw us off balance, that keep us circumstantially needy so that we will stay dependent upon Him. Because when everything is smooth, what do I need Him for? If everything is going well, I don't need Him.
That is why He gives me my daily bread and not a lifetime of bread. If He gave me a lifetime of bread, I would probably blow it once or twice and never bother to thank Him again. But when I am getting daily bread, I am daily needy. I understand that need, I respond to that need, and when I see Him meet it, there is a sense of gratitude that there would not be otherwise.
Doctrine Has Real-World Application
So there is the doctrine: here is this world that is difficult, and here is our answer. God is in control. God is sovereign. God forgives sins. God does not change. God causes all things to work together for good. God loves His people. That is all doctrine.
But that doctrine has huge ramifications, because in the midst of times when everything is going sideways, I can say, no, no, everything is all right — because God is in control, God is sovereign, God forgives sin, God will never leave me or forsake me. It is all about Him.
You may be here today on a mission of self-discovery. I am not even sure what that means other than for you to think even more about yourself than you do now. But if you are on a mission of self-discovery, I can help you. The fastest way to discover who you are is to discover who He is.
When I understand who God is and how He works — and I cannot do that apart from this Word, by the way; I can understand that He exists apart from this Word, but I will never understand who He is apart from it — all of a sudden I find myself saying, oh yes, that is how I fit. That is who I am. That is where I will find meaning, purpose, direction, and significance. That is why doctrine is so important.
The Bad News Must Come Before the Good News
After the first week of this series, some of you were a little frustrated with me and could not resist the temptation to tell me so. You said that it was too negative, that it was not uplifting, that you came to be encouraged and I did not encourage you. And I understand that concern.
But here is the thing: I do not know how to be encouraging and give you the good news of the gospel until you first understand the bad news. That is what you have to understand first. We are going to use a term today like "saved." I remember the very first time I heard that term, the question was: saved from what? Rescued from what? I didn't know I was lost. If I don't know the bad news, I am never going to respond to the good news.
Absent that bad news, the good news does not have a whole lot of punch to it, and it quickly loses what God truly has in mind. So what we are going to do today is address these issues through questions, as we have done the last three weeks. We have a dozen of them today, and I think we will work through them fairly quickly.
The Resurrection Chapter
You will notice that 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is really important today, so I want to invite you to turn there — we will be in it probably half the time. If you were to put a title on 1 Corinthians 15, you would call it the resurrection chapter. Last week we talked about Jesus' death, and this week we talk about the fact that He demonstrated victory over sin. So it makes sense to begin to see resurrection here.
Question One: How Did Jesus Demonstrate Victory Over Sin?
Here is the first question: How did Jesus demonstrate victory over sin? The answer is that He rose from the dead. Jesus demonstrated that sin had no control over Him. He was victorious over it in that He rose from the dead.
"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who were asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also comes the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ will all be made alive." — 1 Corinthians 15:20–22
When Adam sinned, he plunged us all into ruin. When Adam sinned, you and I were sent with him into that sin. And we want to scream, "That's not fair! I don't like one man doing it and everyone else getting the blame." The problem with that argument is that you are not going to like the other side either, because Jesus rose from the dead —
Victory Over Death
You and I have that righteousness imputed to us. We didn't deserve it. We didn't do it. He rose from the dead, and He demonstrates His victory over sin in the midst of this. Look at verse 56: "The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us victory." We have conquered this.
In Acts chapter 2, verse 24, Peter is delivering this powerful sermon and he says that God raised up Jesus from the dead, "putting an end to the agony of death." Jesus' death and then resurrection put an end to the agony of death. Now, I know people who have died physically very anguishing, agonizing deaths — godly men and women. I've been to the hospital where people have been sick over an extended period of time, especially with something like a cancer that slowly begins to attack their body. Visiting them over a period of months and watching all of the pain and all the anguish and all the agony.
Am I supposed to walk in there and say, "Let me remind you that Acts chapter 2, verse 24 says God put an end to the agony of death — what is all of this?" Obviously, Peter is not talking about the end of physical agony. The number one fear we are told that people have is the fear of death — the agony of the uncertainty after this life. Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Is there nothing? Jesus died and rose again, putting an end to the agony of death, meaning we can now know for certain that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We can deal with the number one fear that people have.
I don't have to fear death anymore. The dying process may be difficult, but I don't have to fear death. I don't have to wonder about the unknown.
Two Kinds of Dying
You see this contrast as you watch people who really know Christ and people who don't know Christ as they die. Some of you have friends, maybe relatives, who aren't followers of Christ, and as you see them get sick and as you see them die, there is not a peace there. There is a bitterness, an anger, and oftentimes a hostility. As you read about some of the great atheists of all time as they get to the end of their lives, there is a real bitterness and doubt and questioning about all that they have taught and all that they have suggested.
Compare that, on the other hand, with somebody who knows Christ. Maybe the most graphic illustration of this I have ever seen was when Mike Nothom Sr. died. When Mike Nothom Sr. got sick it was pretty clear that, although the process of dying took a couple of years, when he was at the end of his life I happened to be there the afternoon before he died. He knew he was going to die, and there was a smile on his face and a sense of peace and serenity that I had never seen before — certainly not in him, but I don't know if I have ever experienced anything like it.
We were sitting in the room when the doctor said — and this is exactly what the doctor said — "When you go to sleep this next time, you will not wake up. This will be it." The family was each allowed a special time with him, and I was privileged enough to have a time with him. I saw peace and serenity and joy. Why? Because he knew he had victory over death. Oh, death, where is your sting? There isn't any, if I know Christ.
The Sign Jesus Promised
Here is the second question: what sign did Jesus say would validate His claims? In Matthew chapter 12, verse 38, the scribes and the Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
The sign Jesus pointed to was the sign of the resurrection. I don't remember where I first read this and it is not original with me, but I love the phrase: the resurrection is God's amen to "It is finished." The sign is the resurrection, and it validates His claim. What was His claim? His claim was that He was God — not just another man, not merely a teacher, not merely a role model or an example, not a messenger from God, but that He was God. And Jesus' own words said the resurrection would validate that claim.
That is an extraordinary claim — and really, anyone could make it. You could say you are God; I could say I am God. But somewhere along the way someone is going to say, "Prove it." It seems to me that if you are truly God, there ought to be some evidence of that. Jesus performed signs and wonders all through His life, all pointing to who He was, but then He died and He rose again, and that kind of ends the discussion.
The Resurrection and the Christian Faith
Here is the next question: how important is the resurrection to Christianity? The Apostle Paul gives great logic on this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 13: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."
The word "vain" here does not mean conceited. It means useless, of no value — it would describe a piece of fruit so rotten that you could not eat it. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then this whole preaching exercise, this whole church experience, your faith and my faith, is just rotten. It has no value and it does not mean anything, because if Jesus did not rise from the dead —
Attacking the Right Target
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is just a joke, and we are all right to say that. If you are here today and you want to bring down the Christian faith, and you have decided that is the reason you are here on this earth — to disprove Christianity — not only will I say to you, go for it, I will tell you even where to attack. Attack the resurrection. Because if you disprove the resurrection, the rest of this stuff means nothing. Exactly what Paul says: if Christ did not rise from the dead, then we are not going to rise from the dead, and if Jesus never rose from the dead, then the preaching, the church, the faith, is absolutely a waste of time.
Here is the deal, though. You can work and work and work at disproving the resurrection, but you will never do it. Here is why: it is a historic fact. You can take it to the bank. God put in place all of these safeguards to ensure that there is only one conclusion on that first Easter morning — the tomb is empty. The only question is how it got that way.
The Theories That Fall Apart
There have been all sorts of theories through the years, and every once in a while someone comes along thinking they have a new one, but they are all essentially the same. One of my favorites is the swoon theory — the idea that Jesus was beaten and crucified, placed in the tomb, wrapped in burial cloths, and then somehow resuscitated Himself, shook loose of the grave clothes, mustered the strength to move a two-thousand-pound stone, and went waddling out past a brigade of elite Roman soldiers trained to guard that very tomb. That takes quite a bit of faith, I think.
Then there is the theory that somebody stole the body. Who? I think that is a fair question. Not the Jews — the Jews did not want the body gone. Not the Romans. Remember, the Romans placed Him in the tomb, and this is where God's grace is so evident: the Romans sealed the tomb, putting the full authority of Rome behind it, declaring that anyone who tampered with it would be killed. Then they stationed the elite Roman guard in front of it around the clock to make sure the body was not stolen.
The disciples or followers of Jesus might seem like logical candidates, but neither is a likely explanation. When Jesus died, they were filled with remorse and sorrow, asking, "What are we going to do?" They were not hatching a plot to steal the body. In fact, when the resurrected Christ appeared to them, they could hardly believe it. There is only one answer: He was dead, they buried Him, all the safeguards were put in place, and God raised Him on the third day. That act validated His claim — that He is God come in the flesh — and it is the linchpin of the Christian faith.
How Important Is the Resurrection to You?
That is the macro view. Now let us narrow it down. We have been asking how important the resurrection is to Christianity. Now we ask something more personal: how important is the resurrection to you? We are not talking in hypotheticals about others anymore. We are talking about you.
For the third time already in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you." And then he gives us the gospel in a nutshell in verses 3 through 5: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." He then appeared to others — five hundred of them. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is God's amen to Jesus's declaration, "It is finished." That is the good news. That is the gospel.
The Bad News Must Come Before the Good News
Over the years I have been to dozens of these breakfasts, lunches, and gatherings where they bring in a speaker — often a famous athlete, a successful businessman, or someone recognizable — and they have that person come and share a testimony about what God has done in their life. Of the last ten of these I attended, nine of them, the speaker never once used the word sin. It goes something like this: "I had this business, I worked really hard, I was successful, made a lot of money, had a lot of stuff — a big house, a bunch of cars, a pretty wife, kids — I had all of this. But I was empty. Something was missing. Something wasn't there. But now I have Jesus, and my life is fulfilled. And you need Him too."
Here is the problem with that. The problem was not that you had a nice house and cars and family. The problem was that you are a sinner and your sin has separated you from God. You have to deliver the bad news before you can share the good news. When that step is skipped, you end up with people checking boxes and walking aisles simply because something feels missing in their life. They find something there for a moment, and then a month later they have even more problems than before and they say, "I tried Jesus for thirty days and He didn't work." That happens because they never came to Him on the right grounds. The ground is not merely that you feel empty — though you are empty.
Saved by Grace, Not by Works
My sin has separated me from God. So whether I have a big house or a little house or no house, I'm going to be miserable. Not because of my housing condition, but because of my heart condition. My problem isn't my circumstance, my problem is my heart. So you have all of these big banquets with all these people talking about Jesus is good and Jesus is great and He'll make you fulfilled, and they never give you the bad news. You have to have the bad news. He died for your sin. That's what you need more than anything else.
That your life is in turmoil is fine, but it has nothing to do with your balance sheet. It has everything to do with your heart. You don't fix your balance sheet to get it fixed — you fix your heart. And you can't do that. That's the whole point. Isn't it interesting how it all comes together?
Question Five: What Does It Take to Embrace the Message of Christ?
How important is the resurrection and death of Jesus Christ to you? It is as essential to you as it is to the faith. Here is question five: what does it take to embrace the message of Christ? It takes faith. And what is important for us to understand is that this faith is a gift.
Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 — verses you will come back to over and over again, because they are cornerstones. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast." What saved me? Grace. By grace I have been saved through faith, and that faith is not of myself — it is a gift of God. So if someone says, "I am saved by my faith," the fuller answer is this: I am saved by grace, and the evidence of God's saving grace is the faith that I proclaim and declare.
We are even going to ask you to respond today. But your ability to respond, the desire to respond, and the response itself are all based on grace — not based on you. That is why you can sit down with two people who are antagonistic or questioning the faith, have one person share the gospel with them, and one person says yes while the other says no. I have always been intrigued by why one person says yes and the other says no. It has nothing to do with the receiver or the sender. It is not that one person is smarter, better educated, or has a better background, or that the other has a harder heart. It is that God opened the eyes of one person and did not open the eyes of the other.
That is why evangelism is not about saving souls — evangelism is about proclaiming the truth. The saving of souls is left to God. You cannot win anyone to Christ. You can proclaim the gospel, and when you have proclaimed the gospel and lived a life that validates your testimony, you are done. Mission accomplished for you. Whether that person responds or not has nothing to do with you and everything to do with God.
That is why Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundations of the earth, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." He did it all. He saved me. God saves sinners.
And as if there were any question, verse 9 says it is "not a result of works" — not a result of anything you did do, will do, could do, or should do. You cannot do it. To embrace the message of Christ means to believe you are who God says you are, that Jesus is who He said He is, and then to plan your life and death accordingly. You believe that He rose from the dead. You believe you are a sinner separated from Him by your sin, and that Jesus is the only solution. That is what it means to embrace this message.
Question Six: What Happens When We Place Our Trust in Christ?
Now look at question six: what happens to us when we place our trust in Jesus Christ? John chapter 3, verse 36: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life." The moment I believe in Him, I have eternal life. I possess it, I own it, it is mine. "He who does not obey the Son will not see life."
And then John 5:24: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My words and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but passes out of death into life." Romans chapter 5, verse 1: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ."
So two things happen the moment I put my faith and trust in Christ. Number one, I am saved — I have eternal life, and I will spend eternity in heaven. Number two, this life here becomes a whole lot sweeter. Did you catch that? "Having been justified, we have peace with God." Not the absence of turmoil, but the presence of God.
The Peace of God: Harold Hughes
I love to read biographies, and I especially enjoy Christian biographies — particularly those where someone struggles and struggles and struggles before coming to faith. There is a man whose name almost none of you will recognize. His name is Harold Hughes. He was a truck driver, and he once sat in his bathtub with a shotgun in his mouth, ready to end his life. Six years later, he was the governor of Iowa. A little time after that, he was a United States senator from Iowa. And he wrote a book —
Peace With God and the Peace of God
Harold Hughes tells his story in *The Man from Ida Grove*. He is sitting in his bathtub with a shotgun in his mouth, convinced his life is a waste and trying to work out how to end it. He decides not to. Instead, he repents and comes to Christ in repentance and faith. And here is what he says — what all these men say: "That night, I had the first good night's sleep I've had in decades." Why? Because he had peace with God.
This is really important. All of us desire the peace of God — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. That is what we want more than anything else. But we will never have the peace of God until we have peace with God. We go out trying to get peace of mind. There are financial services advertisements on television promising you peace of mind — but that peace will come and go and falter.
When we have peace with God, we then have the peace of God. This is not the cessation of hostilities in a human sense. It does not mean everything will be smooth — that your kids will always be healthy, your relationships will be easy, you will always have a job, or you will get the promotion. It simply means that for the rest of your life, even in the midst of your struggles, God is in there with you. You have peace with Him, and therefore you have the peace of God.
This is not the absence of turmoil. In fact, many of you would say you have had more problems since you came to Christ than before — more difficulties, more challenges. And that is by design. God simply does not want us to have smooth sailing. He does not want that for us.
Question Seven: What Else Must You Do to Receive Salvation?
That brings us to the seventh question: what else must you do to receive salvation from God? The answer is nothing. Titus 3:5 says He saves us — "not on the basis of deeds which were done in righteousness, but according to His mercy." Focus on those first three words: He saves us.
I was never a good student and never cared much about school. One of the things the nuns who educated me in Catholic grade school, high school, and college made a very big deal of was diagramming sentences. I never fully understood why it mattered — but God may have put me there just for this one moment, because here is a three-word sentence: God saves sinners.
God is the noun — the subject, the actor. *Saves* is the verb — the predicate, the action. And you and I are the direct object. The best thing you can be in a sentence is a direct object, because you have no responsibility. You are the recipient. God saves sinners.
So the question was, what else must you do — and the answer is nothing. If someone asks whether you are going to heaven and your answer includes the words *did*, *do*, *gave*, or *went* — if there is any of that in there — then what you have described is pure religion. Pure religion says, "I will work." Biblical Christianity says, "God will do it." We believe in Biblical Christianity. God saved you.
If this is new to you and it sounds like predestination and election, every even-numbered year in September I teach a series titled *God's Plan for Salvation*, and we will be covering that again right after vacation. If you cannot wait until then, the recordings are available and can be found online as well. But the point stands: God saved you. There is nothing else you could do.
Question Eight: How Do We Express Our Desire to Receive Salvation?
Question eight: how do we express our desire to receive salvation? You tell Him. Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Believe that God raised Him, and confess that Jesus is Lord — that He is who He said He was.
Virtually every month when we hold Connect One, the class for those who are new to the church, someone asks why we do not do altar calls at East Valley Bible Church. The answer is simply that an altar call is a means, not a requirement.
The Difference Between a Transaction and a Transformation
Many people would go back and say they walked an aisle, went to a breakfast and checked a box, prayed a prayer with somebody, or used the Four Spiritual Laws. Those are avenues people use, but even organizations like the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association have acknowledged that as many as nine out of ten people who come forward at a crusade are not Christians. I deal with people all the time whose lives are a mess, and when I say, "Oh, you're a Christian," they say, "Yeah, I went to a breakfast once and checked a box," or "I went to a summer camp," or "I went to a Young Life camp." Hell is filled with people who walked aisles and checked boxes and did all of that.
This is not a transaction that includes us. This is a transaction between you and God. You don't need me, you don't need a priest. How do you express it? You cry out to Him.
I remember March 6th, 1980. I remember crying out and saying, "Listen, God, I've had this life for 30 years and it isn't worth much. You can have it. It's got nothing but broken relationships, heartache, booze, drugs, and junk all over it. You can have it — whatever you want. Put it on eBay, God, and see what you get for it, because it's not worth much that I can see. This is yours." I am a sinner — and that is so obvious, isn't it? If you don't see it, just ask the person next to you and they'll help you figure it out.
The Guarantee of Eternal Life
Jesus died. So what guarantee do we have that when we receive Christ, when we open our life to Him, we will actually receive Him? We have His Word. First John chapter 5, verse 11: *"This is the testimony, that he that has God has eternal life."* He who has it, possesses it.
So let me ask you a really important question — and it is not a trick question at all. When does eternal life end? If I have eternal life, by definition there is nothing that can happen here that can break it. And the next question naturally follows: is there anything that could cause God to change His mind? No. *"My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. No one can snatch them out of My hands."* That is based on His promise.
Philippians chapter 1, verse 6 puts it this way: *"He who began a good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus."* It is not a picture of me holding on to Him, but a picture of Him holding on to me.
No Limited Lifetime Warranty
I am an infomercial guy — I know that is a little unusual. I watch a good chunk of television, though there is no regular show I watch. I record the Rockford Files every day and two Seinfelds a day, and those are really the only things I watch regularly. But I watch a lot of infomercials.
I was watching one the other day and the host said of his product, "We stand behind it with a limited lifetime warranty." I do not know what that means. It is not a lifetime warranty if it is limited. It is an oxymoron — it simply does not make sense.
God does not give you a limited lifetime warranty. God says, "If I am for you, who is going to be against you?" Paul writes it this way: *"I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus."* Nothing can snatch us out of His hand.
Is There Any Other Way?
Two more questions. Is there any other avenue? The answer is no. To Thomas, Jesus said, *"I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me."* Peter says it to us this way: *"There is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which they may be saved."* No other way. It is Jesus' way, or no way.
Now, that is narrow — and I am okay with that. Some people run from that, but I am okay with it. Think about it physically: we all came into this world in a very narrow, very defined way.
I had a meeting with a person who came to see me — a really smart, highly educated, very bright person, and I am not minimizing that at all. This person said to me, "I understand you believe Jesus is the only way." We worked through that and I said yes. Then this person said, "I believe God is like the hub of a wheel, and religions are the different spokes by which we get to the hub. It does not really matter which spoke you are on, as long as that spoke ends at the God who is the hub."
I said — and I am usually pretty measured about these things — "I think that is really stupid. And because you are so smart, I am comfortable saying that to you." The reason it is stupid is that the spokes in that illustration are mutually exclusive. One says Jesus is God. Another says Jesus never existed. Another says Jesus is a great teacher but not God, a moral leader but not God. You cannot hold all of those as equally true any more than you can say two plus two equals four, and five, and six, and ten, and one hundred and sixty-eight. Two plus two is four. If you say five, you are wrong — no matter what degree you hold. It simply does not matter.
Placing Your Trust in Christ
He is the only way. There is not another way. The charge back at me was that this is so narrow. That accusation does not rattle me a great deal, because first, I did not make the rules, and second, if there is a right answer, by definition it is pretty narrow, because it is going to limit all the other possibilities.
Here is the last question — the payoff pitch, the money ball. Have you placed your trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your salvation? Romans 10:11: "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed."
You may be sitting there saying, that sounds so easy, and you do not know me. You do not know what I have done. You do not know the people I have hurt, the sin I have committed, what I am thinking at this very moment, or how awful I am. I do not know how awful you are, but God does — and I know God's grace is greater than whatever sin you have.
You may be thinking, I do not know what I was doing last night. No, I do not, but God does, and God said He will forgive you if you come to Him in repentance and faith. Some people say, God may accept me, but there are things I have to do first. Let me tell you, you are never going to get that list done.
The Problem Is Not the Symptoms
I say to people all the time: I am strung out, I need to get clean, I need to get sober first. Listen — you can get clean and sober without Jesus. You will just be in hell clean and sober. Or someone says, I am going to get my act together first. You are just going to go to hell celibate and frustrated. Getting clean or getting sober is not your problem. Those are symptoms of a problem. Your problem is Jesus, and you need to come to Him in repentance and faith.
A Picture of New Life: Baptism
One of the great moments we have at East Valley Bible Church is tucked away on a Sunday night. It is called baptism. Baptism is when we get to celebrate with people who have come to this understanding of who they are and who God is. It is a great time of testimony. Last Sunday was baptism, and I thought, what a great way to end our discussion here than to show you a little snippet of that service.
The first person shared what life was like before knowing Christ. It started with ditching school, getting into fights, drinking, doing drugs, and being consumed by relationships and friends, thinking they were the center point of life. Getting into high school brought more of the same — partying, drinking, and joining a band with non-Christians who introduced the world in full: pornography, drugs, and the desire for women. As soon as all those things took hold, everything God had done early in life seemed to go away.
Yet there was always a feeling, a knowing, that there was a God — that He was watching over. In moments of deep sadness, there were prayers asking Him to show Himself, to reveal the truth, even without fully understanding what was being asked for. Eventually, a phone call to a brother in tears, saying he could not take it anymore and needed something, led to a meeting that same night.
The Moment of Surrender
Every passage of Scripture the brother shared directly related to what was being experienced at that time. He asked if there was a desire to pray, and they prayed together. From that point on, everything was given up to God. Thinking about God, thinking about what life could look like with God in it, and simply talking to Him — praying, asking Him to help get on the right path, to take away all the addictions — just speaking to Him as if He were right there in front of them.
Ever since then, His Spirit has been felt. Everything He has done from the inside out is confirmation that it is true — the way He has turned a life around, three months sober, with gratitude to God for everything.
The final word of testimony was this: I want everyone to know I did not know anything about the Bible or Jesus. I knew there was a Genesis and a Revelation. I had never read it, and God still saved me even though I knew nothing. You do not have to be knowledgeable. You do not have to have studied the Bible or gone to church your whole life. God is more powerful than any of that. You just have to ask Him for it, and He promises He will give it to you.
The Picture Baptism Paints
Based on that profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, baptism was administered in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:21: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." And what baptism is, is a picture that when —
we put them down in the water that they have been buried with Christ and died to sin and been raised again to new life in Him.
Sometimes I think we get so focused on our own world that we don't realize what God is doing. And God is doing a lot. You are at a place that He is really using. I love those testimonies. I love the girl saying, "I don't really know — I knew there was a Genesis and a Revelation." It is not like you need to be a master of this thing. Here is what you need to know: that you are a sinner, that your sin has separated you from God, and that Jesus Christ is the answer, and that He died.
And when that young man says he has been sober 90 days — there is a lot of life left to live. He has a community around him, he has a foundation, and he has the living God inside of him. That is available to you, too.
You may be here this morning saying you don't have a clue. You may be an older man or an older woman thinking, "Those are a bunch of young kids — I don't relate to that. Is this just for young people?" This is for sinners — all shapes and sizes, all generations, both genders. It is for everybody to come in repentance and faith, and God will save you and He will change your life.
It is not just about heaven, though that is obviously really important — it is about this earth. Everything begins to change. Your relationships are deeper and better. Everything changes, because it is no longer you living on your own. If you are sick of that, if you are tired of that, what you do is come to Him in repentance and faith.
Father, we pray that You would move in the hearts of the men and women and students who are here this morning. My heart jumps for joy when I see the testimony of those three people. I rejoice that what we are doing here makes a difference and that You are using it. God, thank You for obedient people who are all over this campus, who have a desire to equip and to encourage and to share the truth. God, I pray that the men and women and students who heard this message today, who don't know You, who did not take communion, would sit down now and say, "That makes sense." God, open their eyes and allow them to see this truth, and may their lives be changed forever. Father, we pray to You in Jesus' name. Amen.