Calvary Chapel Staten Island

Guest (Male): In times like these, we all need a word of encouragement. From pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado comes the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast. With over 40 years of ministry and more than 145 million books sold in 50 languages, Max shares the greatest story ever told: the living Savior who brings hope for a lifetime.

Through rich biblical insight and heartfelt storytelling, you'll be reminded that God is always near, always for you, and always in you. Listen to the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast, where hope meets your day. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest (Female): Hello, and welcome to God in Our City, the daily edition. Your host and Bible teacher is Pastor Dave Watson. Pastor Dave has been the pastor of Calvary Chapel on Staten Island for 35 years. In addition, he is the co-founder and president of the New York Institute for Biblical Studies.

To receive a special downloadable gift from Pastor Dave, please go to calvarychapelsi.org/gioc. That's calvarychapelsi.org/gioc. Now here's Pastor Dave and our show.

Pastor Dave Watson: Hello, welcome again to our broadcast. As Ali said, my name is Pastor Dave Watson, pastor of Calvary Chapel on Staten Island, as well as the host of this broadcast, as well as the president and one of the founders of the New York Institute for Biblical Studies. It's a privilege to be with you today.

I'm hoping and praying that this series that we're doing over Holy Week will be an incredible blessing to you. We are spending our time trying to answer the question: What do we find in an empty tomb? Looking at that closely. If you're looking for what we normally do here, we normally work through a book of the Bible.

This week, we're being a little topical, focusing on this one topic because it is Holy Week. It is that week that we think about Jesus and His resurrection more than perhaps the other times that we talk about it. So we're going to spend our time focusing on Him, focusing on this particular theme: what do you find in an empty tomb?

We have a study guide for this for you at calvarychapelsi.org/gioc. You'll find the study guide there. The Proverbs stuff is still up if you want to download it, but we're going to be back to that next week. But we felt like you needed a study guide for this particular series.

While you're there at calvarychapelsi.org, would you please consider making a gift to God in Our City? There's a spot there to give. We've still got some free stuff up there. Anything you want: the Proverbs journal, the Proverbs study guides. All of that is there for you. Please take advantage of it as a free download as this is.

But while you're there, if you'd consider making a gift to God in Our City, every gift is appreciated, every gift is needed, every gift makes a difference, and every gift is tax-deductible. So if you would consider doing that, we will be eternally grateful, which means we probably never can actually pay you back.

As we have walked through this week, we've looked at a different gospel account of the resurrection each day. Today, we're going to look at Luke 24:1-9. Tomorrow, we'll look at John, and on Friday, we'll look at 1 Corinthians 15. But Luke chapter 24, verses 1-9 will be our verses for today. Are you ready? Here we go.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

"He is not here but has risen. Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." And they remembered His words and, returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to the rest. Let us pray.

Lord, thanks for Your word. Thanks for the incredible reminder it is of all that You have done for us because of Jesus. Thank You for the reality of His resurrection and the truth that we have that we can live out every single day regarding His resurrection, that it makes a difference in us today, makes a difference in us tomorrow, it makes a difference in our life.

So help us, Lord, as we focus on the difference it makes. Help us as we think about all that You have done for us. Help us, Lord, to be people who are absolutely overwhelmed by Your love, Your grace, and what You have provided for us in Christ Jesus. Lord, there are many of our listeners who perhaps are struggling right now.

It's Holy Week, but it feels like an unholy week to them. Please, Lord, help them to experience Your forgiveness, Your hope, Your strength, Your hand reaching out to them and bringing them back to Yourself. May this be a time, Lord, that they come back to You. Lord, be our teacher now even in these moments.

Through Your Holy Spirit, help us to learn the truths we need to learn today. In Jesus's name, amen. Amen. So, we're talking about what we find in an empty tomb, and we've already had a pretty thorough study, haven't we? We talked about our very first week. What we find in the empty tomb is what? It's faith.

We have a basis for what we believe: the resurrection of Christ. It gives us an apologia; it gives us a reason for what we believe, for the hope that is in us. But beyond that, not only do we have a reason for faith, we have a reason for hope. We have hope. Not as we sorrow, but not as others who have no hope.

We have a hope that is sustaining, it's living, it's daily because of the resurrection of Christ. So we have faith, we have hope, and we have peace. We have peace with God because of what Jesus did for us. We know that God is for us. We know that God is not against us. He's forgiven us, and He's for us.

And then we also have, and this brings us to our first point of today, we have change. We have change. We can experience life change because of Jesus, not just reformation, but also transformation. If anyone be in Christ, what? They're a new creation. It's not simply that I can try harder because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It's not simply I can tweak myself along the edges because of Jesus. It's more than that. It's that my life is changed because of the resurrected Christ. Some of this you can't fully explain or possibly understand. On October 7th, 1973, I came to a personal faith in Christ on a dock in Schroon Lake, New York.

On that day, on that dock, I admitted that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. I admitted that I couldn't save myself and I didn't deserve eternal life. I recognized that Jesus had died for me and risen again, and on that dock, I invited Christ into my life to be my Savior and my Lord. I wanted to follow Him from that day forward.

What happened at that point? Well, theologically, lots of stuff. But most of it I could not have explained then and would have trouble explaining fully now. But what happened was I was born again. I was saved. I went from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, and it's all because Jesus is alive.

I became a different person. A different person. And if you've never experienced salvation in that way, if your salvation experience is, "I'm trying harder. I think it's right that Jesus is who He said He is. I'm going to try harder," you're missing it. You're missing it. It's placing your faith fully and completely in Christ and Christ alone, and something miraculous happens.

We experience change because of the empty tomb. We find change in Christ. Listen to the words of Romans chapter 6, verses 4 and 5. It says, "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be in the likeness of His resurrection." But note what it says: it is because of the resurrection of Christ that we walk in newness of life. That we're new people. That we're different people. We're now to live that out. We are to live that out, but it is because of what He has done in the resurrection.

We can, because of the resurrection, because of the empty tomb, we can experience a new life. John 14:19. He says, "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me." And then He says, "Because I live, you will live also." It's speaking there of our new life.

And Jesus is telling His disciples, "You're going to have this new life." Wait a second, they followed Jesus. Yep. Wait a second, they knew the teachings of Jesus. Yep. Wait a second, they were eyewitnesses. What made the difference? The difference was the fact that Jesus lives. Jesus lives.

The world doesn't see Him anymore. He's dead, but He physically rose again, and because of that, He lives, and because He lives, we shall live also. That's where the song "Because He Lives," made famous by the Gaithers, comes from. It comes from this one thought in John 14:19.

Because I live, you will live also. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, right? Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because He lives, I know the future, and I can face it. Life is worth the living just because He lives. And then we can experience transformation. Not only do we experience a new life, we experience transformation.

2 Corinthians 5:14 and 15 puts it this way: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." Wow. I don't have to be my own selfish pig.

I don't have to live for me. Because of Jesus, I can be transformed, and I can live for Him. I can live for Him every single day as I live in the truth, the reality of the resurrection of Christ. So what do we find in an empty tomb? Well, we find faith, we find hope, we find peace, we find change, and we find victory.

We find victory. What are we talking about here with victory? Well, because of the empty tomb, we can find victory in Christ. It talks about Jesus in Ephesians 1:20 and 22. It says about God's power that He worked it in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.

Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church. Note where Jesus is positionally via the resurrection.

Because of the power of God, God raised Him up from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. And Jesus is far above all powers, all principalities, all dominions. He's far above all the angelic realm. He's far above all the spiritual realm. And He is Lord.

And He's head over the church. And equally important, He's head over you and me. Jesus reigns over every person and every thing. In the book of Philippians, the second chapter, the 9th through the 11th verses, we read this incredible statement about Jesus. Jesus is said to have come incarnate, become man in the flesh.

And having been found as a man, He humbled Himself, became obedient, obedient unto death, even the death on the cross. And then Philippians 2 says, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

Did you get that? Jesus Christ is Lord. And every knee, whether that knee be in heaven, in the angelic realm, or on earth, in the earth dwell, or under the earth, in the demonic world, every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess this: Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's Jesus's position. He is the boss.

And Jesus allows us to reign with Him. Listen to the words of Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 and 4. It says, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God." It goes on to say, "When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

Now, I just want to clear something up for you here. When he says, "If then you were raised with Christ," it's not a "Maybe you were raised with Christ, maybe you weren't." It's what's called a first-class condition in Greek. And what he is saying here is, "Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God."

Jesus didn't come out of the tomb alone. We came out with Him. We were buried with Him, spiritually speaking, in His death. We were raised with Him, spiritually speaking, in His resurrection. And because of that, we are as He is, so are we in this world, 1 John says. We're with Him, as it were. We are victorious right now.

So we're told to seek the things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. We are to be heavenly-minded. We are to be spiritually-minded. And when Christ appears, and Christ is our life, we will also appear with Him in glory. We win. Do you understand that?

Do you understand that the battle is done? Excuse me, the war is done. There's still some battles to fight, but the war is done, and we are on the winning side. Not because of who we are, not because of what we've done, but because of who He is and because of what He's done. Therefore, we need to act like those who are on the winning side.

There's no need to make an apology for your Christian faith. Christianity is still the majority religion in the world in terms of there are this many people who proclaim some form of Christianity or Christendom; there are this many people who claim some form of Islam. That's not what we're talking about here.

We're talking about the end game. In the end, we are the winners. And we should act like that. We shouldn't apologize for our Christianity. We should say to people in a loving, gentle, Christ-like way, "Wouldn't you like to be on the winning team?" All you need to do is come over from where you are to where we are, and you'll be on the winning team.

We are victorious because of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51 through the end of the chapter talk about our victory. It says it in a very powerful way. He says, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, the mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

We are victorious. We're on the winning team. Death does not defeat us. The forces of darkness don't defeat us. We win. We win. In the book of Hebrews, the second chapter, the 15th verse, it talks about, really 14 and 15, it says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same thing.

That through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifetime slavery." We are free. We are victorious. We are free. We are victorious because of Jesus. What do we find in an empty tomb? Faith, hope, peace, change, victory.

Let's celebrate those, those incredible, incredible truths this Resurrection Sunday. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for what we're learning. Please help us to grow in it. Thank You for what You're teaching us. Help us, Lord, to live it out on a daily basis. Help us, Lord, to know You better. Help us, Lord, to know these truths better.

Thank You that Jesus is alive. Thank You that our lives are changed. We pray these things in His name. Amen. Amen. Thank you for joining us. Please go to calvarychapelsi.org/gioc. Calvarychapelsi.org/gioc. Take advantage of our free resources and consider making a donation to God in Our City. Hope to see you again tomorrow on another edition of the daily edition of God in Our City. God bless.

Guest (Female): Thanks for listening to God in Our City with your host, Pastor Dave Watson. We hope the show was a blessing to you. Again, to receive a downloadable gift from Pastor Dave, go to calvarychapelsi.org/gioc. That's calvarychapelsi.org/gioc.

Please check out Pastor Dave's blog at nycshepherd.com. That's nycshepherd.com. Please invite a friend and join us every weekday for another edition of God in Our City.

Guest (Male): In times like these, we all need a word of encouragement. From pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado comes the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast. With over 40 years of ministry and more than 145 million books sold in 50 languages, Max shares the greatest story ever told: the living Savior who brings hope for a lifetime.

Through rich biblical insight and heartfelt storytelling, you'll be reminded that God is always near, always for you, and always in you. Listen to the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast, where hope meets your day. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.