Richard Ellis Talks

Guest (Male): Today on Richard Ellis Talks!

Richard Ellis: I know some really nice people and this makes people nuts. You're telling me the nicest old lady I've ever met who gives money to charity won't make it into heaven unless she believes in Jesus? That's what the deal is. Because if you could be nice enough and give enough money to charity, then Jesus wasted his time coming in the first place.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're so grateful you tuned into the program. Richard wants to share with you some encouragement, words of hope, and probably a laugh or two. In today's complicated, busy life, that's exactly what's needed.

Richard's talks are always straight from the Bible, filled with truth. Now, you may not be able to hang out with us for the entire program, but you can always pick it back up at our website, richardellis.com. In fact, you can find all of Richard's talks right there waiting just for you, richardellis.com. So, with today's topic, here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is Resurrection. The interesting thing about Christians and talking about resurrection from the dead is one thing, but we talk about it in terms of the resurrection. Because there is a resurrection, the only one that I know of, and the reason it is the resurrection is that without this specific guy dying and being buried and raised from the dead, you have nothing.

You say, "Don't all dogs and nice people end up in heaven?" Not a chance. Cats for sure don't, but dogs I don't know about. This is not about being nice. This is about Jesus, and we'll talk about this a little bit more.

I know some really nice people and this makes people nuts. You're telling me the nicest old lady I've ever met who gives money to charity won't make it into heaven unless she believes in Jesus? That's what the deal is. Because if you could be nice enough and give enough money to charity, then Jesus wasted his time coming in the first place.

Why would he come down here if we could get there by ourselves? The point is we can't make it. No matter how much I try, no matter how good I am, I fall short, and I miss the target. Only one man has come and hit the target. Now here's one of the sad things about Good Friday, which is only good for us, not so good for Jesus, except that he obeyed the Father and was willing to die there on that cross.

Three criminals died that day. You say that doesn't sound right. Well, that's what they thought. You can't get crucified just for fun. They thought he was a criminal. The Jews certainly thought he was a criminal and that he got what he deserved. No, he got what we deserved. Were three criminals crucified there that day? Two criminals died; one happened to be the Messiah.

But what is horrible about what happened that day is all the garbage that the two on the outside had done, and you and me and Hitler and everybody else who ever lived got dumped on the man in the middle. All the sin, all the pain, and all the heinous things that have ever been done got dumped on Jesus. There is no way I have the vocabulary—nobody does—to explain to you what really went down that day on the cross when Jesus died.

He's just not some other guy who died. He suffered and died on that cross and took my place. I'm the one who deserved to die. You say, "I don't believe that." That's where it starts getting crazy. Because until you believe that... and people say, "But you're narrow-minded." I'm going to die narrow-minded because I don't have any other message for you.

I have no other religious guy. I have nobody else who lived a sinless life, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried, and then raised from the dead. Where is your God? Is your God alive? 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's jump in at verse 1. This is Paul, by his own admission, the last of the apostles.

Verse 1, he says, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand." This gospel, this good news, this is the story I delivered to you. "By which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received."

I gave you what I got and this is what I got: "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at one time," a gathering of five hundred people and boom, he shows up, "of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep." Some have died since then.

"After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." I don't even deserve to be called an apostle because I was trying to get Christians killed.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am." Can you say that? You say, "Forget the grace of God, I am what I am because I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps, I'm a self-made man, self-made woman, I don't need God, Jesus, anybody." You say you're not saying it that way. You may be living it that way. Paul says, "By the grace of God I am what I am." Without that, I'd be nothing.

"And His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed." Now something was going on and you'll see what he starts writing here and speaking about. He says, "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?"

Somebody says, "I don't believe that." Now lest you say, "I believe Jesus was a great teacher, maybe a Messiah, I do believe the whole part, clearly, okay, I don't have a problem with him dying on the cross, a lot of people died on the cross, so he died on the cross and he was buried, but you're losing me on this raised from the dead thing."

What's the purpose? Why do you need to get him raised from the dead? It's not possible. Maybe he was resuscitated, maybe he was just in a coma. Maybe it was something else. I just can't get my head around this raised from the dead thing. Now here is why it is such a vital part of this. Paul goes on in verse 13. He says, "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen."

"And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty." There's a good chance if Jesus doesn't come back, everybody listening to my voice today is going to die. You know it. You say don't talk about it so much, don't be so morbid. It's not about being morbid, it's about packing your bags. It's about being ready to go. It's coming.

You say no it's not, I'm 20. I sat this week for two hours with a young man who's 30-ish, and two weeks ago his brother just dropped dead of a heart attack. Big old strong... this guy's in a wheelchair and his brother was just a mountain of a man, high blood pressure, something they didn't catch and bam, he dropped dead.

You say that's not happening to me. Sooner or later even as an old person, you are going to die. You've got to have an answer. The peace for me about Jesus being raised from the dead is every once in a while I get a little freaked out about the dying thing, honestly. It's not that I don't know where I'm going, I don't want to die, really. I don't want to leave yet.

I'd like to see my kids grow up, I'd like to spend some more time with my wife. It's just human practical stuff. But I know as sure as I'm standing here, today could be my day. And it's a scary valley to walk through if you walk through it by yourself. But I don't have to walk through that valley by myself because my Jesus has already been down that valley, the valley of the shadow of death.

So I don't have to fear any evil. It's like going through a shadow. It can't touch me. I need a Savior, I need a God, I need someone to follow and trust and to believe in who's conquered the stuff I got no answers for. And I did not and will never have an answer for death apart from Jesus. You say, "I believe you just die and that's it." Hey, knock yourself out, take a run at that.

What if you're wrong? Let me read you a song. There's a Christian singer by the name of Nicole Nordeman. She and her husband used to come to this church. I married them, and I happen to know the guy that this song is written about who was hardcore, not going to believe, and didn't get it.

This is the song she wrote about him trying to reach him. And then the chorus she says this: "But what if you're wrong? What if there's more? What if there's hope you never dreamed of hoping for? What if you jump and just close your eyes? What if the arms that catch you catch you by surprise? What if he's more than enough? What if it's love?"

"What if you dig? What if you dig way deep, way down deeper than your simple-minded friends? What if you dig? What if you find a thousand more unanswered questions down inside? That's all you find. What if you pick apart the logic and begin to poke the holes? What if the crown of thorns is no more than folklore that must be told and retold?"

"You've been running as fast as you can, you've been looking for a place you can land for so long, but what if you're wrong? What if you jump? What if you close your eyes? What if the arms that catch you catch you by surprise? What if he's more than enough? What if it's love?"

What if you're wrong? What if there is something to this? Now let me just jump in the middle of this message and this is specifically to people who may not really believe anything. Let me tell you part of how I know there's a God. Because I have sat where you sit and I have listened to this message, and it's not just the words that were spoken that I heard.

I heard rattling in the inside of my soul. I felt the God of the universe impressing upon me the need for himself and a struggle, a fight, a battle going on for little old me. I was a kid when it happened. The same old story. And the Holy Spirit of God moves on you and simply says this: "It's me, I'm here, and it's true, and this is what you've been looking for."

I can't make that happen. And what happened to me on that day was there was that voice, there was that presence of God chasing after me, pulling at me. But there was another force in the same moment, someone else saying, "Get out of here, get away from this, you don't need this, you're okay, you can do it by yourself, get away from this."

As a little bitty kid, I realized there were two forces: God and somebody else were fighting over my little soul and I had to pick a lane, I had to make a decision. I had to choose which of those I would trust and follow. In my little bitty brain and my little simple way, I realized God loved me, that the story was true and I needed him and I took a stand and I said, "Yes, God, yes."

This is unexplainable. Now here's all I'm telling you. If there's nothing to this, what in the world is going on with you right now? Explain that. Pray to your statues, see if you get that feeling. It's not happening. Because this is about a living God. This is about an alive God. This is about a raised from the dead God.

Keep reading with me back in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Verse 14 again: "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty," or vain you may have, or meaningless. "Yes, we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise."

So now all preachers are a bunch of liars telling people that Jesus raised from the dead. I can give you all the evidence, and you'd still have to believe the evidence because it's written down. Soldiers guarding the tomb were put there, and the Jews said secure the tomb so they won't steal the body and say he was raised from the dead.

Seen, showing up, appearing and disappearing, all these people, changed lives. I can give you all the evidence in the world, you still have to decide whether you believe it or not. You have to do something with it. The point is the preaching is not in vain, the storytelling is not in vain; it's the truth.

Keep reading and here's why it is important still. Verse 16: "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." Now you say, "But I thought he died on the cross for my sins, so what difference does it make if he's raised from the dead?"

It's about his death, his burial and his resurrection. Dying helps, but he has to do the whole weekend. This Jesus is wanted, not dead or alive. I want him dead and alive, or he can't help me. So if you don't believe that he has been raised from the dead, then you are still in your sins, and that's what's making you crazy.

You say, "Well, I don't have sin, I just have habits, I have problems." You're going to have to start calling it what it is. If you will call it what it is, we can treat that. See, I have to get you lost before we can find you. I was having a conversation this week... as a little kid growing up as a missionary in Brazil, one day a man who lived in the farthest northwest corner in the state of Acre... Rio Branco, Acre, even Brazilians couldn't get there, you had to fly there to get there.

This way in the interior, the edge of Brazil. And he came down in a single-engine plane, there were six of us and we flew for hours and hours and hours, just horrible. So we flew up there and there was a section of the trip where you looked out the window at an ocean of jungle.

I'm not talking a patch of jungle, I'm talking as far as the eye could see every direction jungle. Now I remember as a little kid thinking, if that little engine up there does not work, even if he can glide this thing for a few minutes, it's landing down there, and down there is not good.

Because what would happen to planes that crash in the canopy of the jungle, in the Amazon jungle, is they hit the canopy and the weight of it, they drop through and disappear and you are gone. Now here's my picture of being lost. Let's say the engine stops, let's say we land in the top of the canopy, let's say we survive that, the plane drops in and I somehow climb out down some vines and end up on the jungle floor.

Let me tell you something, even if I'm alive, I'm as good as dead unless somebody finds me. I don't know what you're feeling, but I run into people all the time who are stuck in this jungle and they know as sure as they are standing wherever they're standing, if somebody doesn't come after me, I will die this way; I am lost.

And they cry out to God and nobody comes. There are no search planes, there's no rescue, there's no nobody. That is the job of the church. We are supposed to be mobilized search teams going out, looking in the canopy trying to find these people. And you say, "I don't want to offend them." They're not going to be offended; they can't figure out where we've been. Why isn't anybody looking for me?

And it's not where we chop in and climb down through the canopy and go, "Well, you stupid person, what are you doing down here?" You don't have to wag your finger and tell people they're stupid, they're lost, they already feel that way. You go, "Dude, wow. Man, you survived a terrible crash. Are you okay? I'm here to help you."

Now what person in their right mind if someone actually showed up would tell me, "Oh no, no, I'm good. I purchased this piece of property here, and we're setting up a little town and thank you for stopping by, come see us anytime, I don't need your help." That's how stupid it sounds when you stiff-arm someone who's trying to share the gospel with you.

"Oh, I'm good, I'm not lost, I was just taking a walk through the Amazon jungle." Good for you and everything, but I'm good. You get the picture? So he goes on to say, "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

Then everybody who says they believed in Jesus but died, they're just dead. I don't want to die and just be dead. I want to die and be alive. You say why is that? And people say, "My mama died a few years ago. I'd love to see my mama again. I've got an uncle I never met, he died when he was 20 before I was ever born. I'd like to meet my uncle Neal."

But you know what, there is somebody else I really, really, really want to see more than all those friends and family. I'm looking forward to the day... I don't know if I'll shake his hand or just drop to the ground, but the thing I've never gotten over is somebody died for me, and I'd like to meet that man and just kind of take his hand and look down there at those holes and just try to express my gratitude because I was lost down here and he found me.

So I believe in this stuff. Am I still a screw-up? Absolutely. Am I still mean to my kids? Not much. But I got hope. I got hope in this life. I got hope in the next life. And I can't shove this down your throat, I can't make you believe anything.

But in the Scriptures there are places where he says, "I beseech you, I beg of you, be reconciled to God." He's made everything possible. He let his own son die, be buried and raised from the dead so we could get a life. Now keep reading with me. "If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ, they're just dead."

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable." Those poor little Christians think they're going to be raised from the dead. What a sad thing. Too bad for them, they don't get it. They think their Savior died and was raised from the dead, silly Christians. So nice to meet you, good luck with that.

We're just silly people who believe some crazy thing. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death," talking about Adam, "by man also came the resurrection of the dead," talking about Jesus. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."

"But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." I have a bunch more verses. So just sit and listen and I'm going to rattle these off for the sake of time. 1 Corinthians 15:32, if you're still in that passage you can get to this.

And this is Paul saying, "If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." If there is nothing to this, let's go. Let's go have dinner, let's eat, have lunch, drink, for tomorrow we die. There's nothing to this.

The tragedy is that's what most of the world is doing. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians are living the same way, not believing there's anything to this. If you really believed there was something to this, you'd live different. You'd love differently. You would share this story differently. John chapter 5. Listen to this. 5:28 and 29.

"Do not marvel; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good," in other words, the righteous here, "to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." There are two resurrections.

One you are... you're going to live forever no matter what. Now listen to me. As much as you want to say you die and that's it, you will live forever somewhere. And there's a resurrection of life, if you want life, get in on that. There is a resurrection of condemnation, in which all of your goodness is going to be judged, and if it's not enough, and it won't be, you're in a heap of trouble.

John chapter 11:25 and 26. "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" That's what he asked her, and this is my question today: Do you believe that?

Resurrection is not a thing. It is a person. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. So you don't get any of this stuff you're looking for without him. Romans 8:10: "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

We're saved not just by his death, but by his death, burial and resurrection. It is his life. Colossians 3:3 and 4: "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." And then I have to read you this out of Revelation chapter 1, verse 1.

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and, What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.'"

"Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire."

"His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters. He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead, but He laid His right hand on me, saying to me..."

"...Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."

Guest (Male): We'll get back to Richard in a moment to close out today's talk. But first, I want to share something with you about the program. Our mission is actually very simple: to take the planet. So it's our prayer that these daily talks from Richard aren't something you only hear and enjoy, but that they inspire you to share with others.

Together, we can do this. The message of the gospel is something everyone needs to hear, and that's why it's a huge priority to us, and you can join us in this important mission. Call us at 855-6-RICHARD to say you're in, or you can get on board with us through our website, richardellis.com. Well, here's Richard with some closing thoughts for us.

Richard Ellis: There's an old preacher born back in the 1800s by the name of Dwight L. Moody. Some of you have never heard of this guy, D.L. Moody, a pretty famous evangelist in America back in the day and this is what he said: "Someday you will read in the papers that Moody is dead. Don't you believe a word of it."

"At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I was born of the flesh in 1837, I was born of the Spirit in 1855. That which is born of the flesh may die, that which is born of the Spirit shall live forever." Could they write that about you? Or when you die, are you just dead? If you're born twice, you only die once, maybe. If you're only born once, you die twice. Don't be dying twice.

Now I am your witness that you are without excuse under the sound of my voice that someone has declared to you the death, the burial and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you say you didn't know, you haven't heard. You have not only heard but you have felt the presence of the living God on your very being and in your soul and you have to make a decision.

If you say you're not choosing heaven, then you are making a decision. You have chosen hell. And don't be blaming that on me or God, because I love you way too much or I wouldn't be standing here and I can assure you he loves you way more than I ever could or would.

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning in today to Richard Ellis Talks. We all have busy schedules these days, so it means the world to us that you would take this time to listen. Richard would love to know how today's talk has touched your heart, so give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD, 855-6-RICHARD.

You can also share your story with us at our website, richardellis.com. One last thing, Richard Ellis Talks is a daily program that is always expanding to reach the world with the good news of the gospel, but it also has daily costs. Being a listener-supported program like ours means we rely on the financial partnership of our listeners, which means you.

We believe that these talks with Richard are making a difference in your life, so this is how you can make a difference to ours. You can contribute by calling 855-6-RICHARD or at our website, richardellis.com. Thank you for your generosity. God bless and thanks for listening to Richard Ellis Talks.