#135 Welcome Home #4

Two Guys Who Saved Easter

True story from a tax accountant about a guy who wanted to declare the loss of his Lincoln Navigator SUV on his tax return. The accountant told the man that insurance usually takes care of things like that and wondered what happened.
Here is the story. In the winter some guys decided to go fishing on the lake. It was frozen, so they parked the SUV at the edge of the lake and instead of going out on the ice to make a hole, they lit a stick of dynamite with a long-burning fuse and threw it out to break the ice open.
• Unfortunately, the dog thought it was a stick and went out after it.
• Fortunately, the dog retrieved it in record time and started back.
• Unfortunately, when they yelled at the dog to drop it, the dog ran under the SUV with the stick of dynamite in its mouth.
• Fortunately, the dog got burned on the muffler, came out from under the vehicle, leaving the dynamite behind.
• Unfortunately, the dynamite went off, transforming the SUV from a useful vehicle into a pile of junk.
That is supposed to be a true story. YOU BELIEVE THAT!

If you can believe all of that, you won’t have any trouble believing the resurrection of Jesus!

This day is a big deal for us folks!

I Corinthians 15:17,19
“If Christ be not raised, your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins”
“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied”

1 Peter 3:18 (NLT)
“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God.”

John 19:38-42
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. (Romans would not let you have the body of a criminal … Dump … Gehenna … Bribe a soldier) So he came and took the body of Jesus. 39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. (He is really dead)41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. (No one else in there … not coming up out of the dump) 42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

Luke 23:50 – 24-12
50 Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. 51 He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting[o] for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. 54 That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.
55 And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them,[a] came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. (They didn’t think the men did it right)  2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly[b] perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” 8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying[c] by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

Look at the back story on these two guys Nick and Joe.

Nicodemus is selected to go secretly and ask some questions.
How can we know we are in the Kingdom of God?
It’s not behaving, it is believing. It’s not my effort, it is an act of God.

John 3:1-18
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
“Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (It Is Spiritual  — Not physical /     Not emotional  / Not intellectual / Not moral) 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (It is Sovereign — Born of God)
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  (It is Supernatural) 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.[a] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[b] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

ANOTHER TIME — Nic almost came out for Jesus
John 7:49-53
Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night,[j] being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”
52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen[k] out of Galilee.” And everyone went to his own house.”

THESE TWO WERE INVOLVED IN THE WHOLE PROCESS
EVERY CONVERSATION … ALL THE DECISIONS ….  Gethsemene … The trial …ALL THE WAY TO THE CROSS

Then … standing in the crowd at the cross … it all made perfect sense. Moses the snake and pole.
All the memorizing since they were children.
They found their place in the BOOK!

Isaiah 53:1-8
“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”

Isaiah 53:9
“And they[a] made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.”

That’s when they went to Pilate. Not to a soldier but openly to the one who gave authority for the death!!
THEY WENT PIBLIC WITH THERE FAITH
THEY FOUND THERE DESTINY IN THE BOOK

He needed a Tomb that was never used. He was really dead. Really buried.
Made way for a clear declaration of the RESURRECTION!!!

Acts 17:31 “he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

John 3:18
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Romans 10:9
“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

That Jesus Christ is risen from the dead is the central theme of the Christian faith.
If Jesus had only lived for us as a good example we would still be in our sin.
If Jesus had only died for us we would still be in our sin.
Jesus is risen from the dead!

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