The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Friend, I want you to know something. Jesus died, but he rose again. You and I are going to die, but we're going to live forever. And we need to know the significance of his death and his resurrection.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. Today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Here's Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: You have an outline if you'd like to follow along and write in. You're certainly welcome to do so. I think it would help you to stay with me. Line A, Jesus is crucified. The cross in the ancient world speaks of unspeakable shame, despicable shame.

Anyone who was on a cross, any person who was nailed to a cross was considered to be under a curse, that the curse of God Almighty was on that person. That was the mindset, that was the common opinion of all people. Everyone who hung on a cross, nailed to a cross was considered to be under a curse. The cross was the cruelest of all deaths, the most shameful. Utter ignominy.

The cross of Jesus Christ. The cross, no one knows just exactly when it was invented, but it was believed to have been invented in ancient times, in undated history, by semi-barbarics who lived in oriental lands. The cross, we know it became used by the Romans to crucify people and as an act of capital punishment. But the cross in modern times, look up here. Look at the cross now. Isn't it beautiful?

But it was the most ugly, detestable, fearsome looking. You see, it was the means of capital punishment. Now today, we would either have a gallows here, or we'd have a little electric chair here, perhaps. Electric chair. It was just an instrument or a gas chamber. We might have a gas chamber on the communion table. This was just a means of capital punishment, but it was the cruelest means of capital punishment.

But today, it is haloed in glory. I see men with lapel pins, little crosses. I see ladies with chains and a necklace, beautiful cross. I see crosses engraved on communion altars and pulpits and pews. I see crosses on church steeples. Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross." We love the cross. We sing about it, we celebrate it, we wear it, we decorate our homes, our churches, even our person with crosses. The cross, how beautiful it has become.

To the believer, the cross is the gateway to heaven. The cross to the believer is the power of God unto salvation. We thank God for the cross. It was on a cross that Jesus was crucified. And it was a terrible death that he died because he loves you, because he loves me. You are the sinner, I'm the sinner. He did nothing wrong. He did everything right, but he took our place as the drama said. That's where I should have been.

I'm the one that did all of the sinning. He is the one haloed in glory, the perfect, pure Son of God in love. Well, Jesus was crucified for our sins. Point B in your outline here, he was buried. After the agony was over, men separated that dead body from that dead wood. It's as the Apostles' Creed says: he was crucified, dead, and buried. Dead. Jesus was dead.

Listen, friend, Christianity was dead also. Faith was dead. You know one of the biggest proofs, the greatest proofs that Christ has risen from the dead? It's the Christian church. The Christian church is all over the world, and it continues to grow after the passing of 2,000 years. It has not diminished; it is more popular today than ever before.

The Christian church is the evidence to the whole world that Jesus rose from the dead. The evidence that Jesus rose from the dead is you being here this morning. You have the evidence in your own heart. You're here, Jesus is here, alive from the dead. Well, he was taken down from the cross. He was put in a tomb. A man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea, who was a member of the Sanhedrin, a member of that council that insisted on the death of Jesus.

Now here's a paradox. I'm a little bit perplexed about it all. I'm not sure about what I'm going to tell you now, but I've tried to reason this through. Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate and requests the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead. He wanted this to be attested to the death of Jesus by the centurion. The centurion told Pilate indeed he's dead. He died after about six hours on the cross.

Then the body of Jesus was released to Joseph of Arimathea. Now Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin that insisted that he be crucified. The Sanhedrin, the city council which was the Supreme Court of Judaism in that day, are the ones that kept insisting and motivating the crowd to cry out, "Crucify him, crucify him." Well, Joseph of Arimathea was a prominent member of that council.

Now I don't understand fully why Joseph was the one that went back and wanted the body of Jesus when he was a member of the council that wanted him put to death. But the scripture says this about Joseph: that he was a good man, a righteous man, he was a Jew, but he was a Jew that was looking for the Kingdom of God. There was sincerity in his heart that God was coming, that the Messiah was coming, and righteousness was going to come to the earth. And he was honestly, sincerely looking.

So now Jesus is brought in, he's arrested, brought into the council chambers. All night long, he went through the trial, and Joseph of Arimathea, where was he? Why wasn't he speaking up? Why was he not objecting? Well, the reason was he wasn't quite sure that Jesus was perhaps the Christ, or maybe he was an impostor. But he wanted to be sure. Joseph of Arimathea did not want to make a mistake.

Now, here's what I think happened. This was a private trial. They had broken the law. The Sanhedrin had broken the law because every trial that has to do with capital punishment must be public. Even to this day, it must be public. Why you can get on the television and you can see the trials that are going on. But even in that day, it must be public, but they made it private.

Well, no one was there to see and to hear what was going on in all these accusations. How then do we get the story in the Bible? The disciples were not allowed to be in there. No one was allowed to witness that trial. The only conclusion I can come to was that Joseph of Arimathea was there taking the facts, listening to the accusations, listening to the lies, recording the laws that were being broken by his own council.

He wrote all of this down. He was an eyewitness to it all. After the trial was over, after Jesus was put on the cross, he no doubt sat down and looked over what he had written. All the lies, all the accusations. Jesus being slapped in the face, Jesus being ridiculed, Jesus being punished. He wrote it all down. He looked it all over. He said, "He's no impostor. This man is for real."

His own testimony of Jesus, his own facts written down, convinced him. Now, isn't it interesting that two people who could not receive Jesus as Savior while he was alive indeed did receive him as Savior after he died? Who are those two people? Joseph of Arimathea and the centurion that was on Calvary hill and looked up and when Jesus said, "It is accomplished" or "It is finished," the centurion said, "Surely this was the Son of God."

Now, that man, that centurion was a heathen Roman. You know there's a lot of people today consider themselves civilized, but they still don't believe on Jesus. They don't believe on him enough to serve him, to worship him, to love him, to do his will. The world today is to a large degree very indifferent about Jesus. They do what they want to do when they want to do it, and when there is a religious holiday, they know how to act on those days.

But to follow him, to obey him, to love him, to experience him, they don't want to become fanatic about religion, do they? No. But Joseph of Arimathea did indeed accept Jesus. The centurion accepted Jesus. Jesus' own words, how true they became. He said, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men." Even Romans, even heathens, even the barbaric, even the religious, I will draw all men unto me.

Joseph of Arimathea believed on him. "Surely this man is no impostor. I witnessed it all. He's indeed the Messiah, the Christ. I'm a member of the Sanhedrin. I bow and accept him as my Lord and Savior." Isn't that wonderful? Hallelujah. I rejoice today. Don't you rejoice today in the wonderful salvation that Jesus has brought because he was lifted up and the Holy Spirit has helped you and me to see, to believe, to be convinced.

Joseph of Arimathea had the facts. He had the evidence. Well, he asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. He takes the body down, he puts the body of Jesus, the dead body of Jesus in his own tomb. He wraps the body of Jesus in linen cloths. Point C in your outline, write down the word "Risen." Jesus is risen. Now, after you write that down, turn to Luke chapter 24, verse 1 and read verse 1 with me.

Luke 24, verse 1. Together: "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb." Now, before I go on, I just want you to notice, "On the first day of the week." Now you know why we worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, because it's on Sunday he arose. And on Sunday, not only this Sunday but every Sunday is the Lord's day.

It's the day that Jesus arose. We don't worship on Saturday because Jesus was dead on Saturday. It's not a dead lifeless Christ, but a living Jesus that is alive from the dead, that defeated the worst of all enemies, death itself, and he's alive forevermore. Say hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah forevermore to Jesus. Now, notice what happened. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, something was happening.

Something mysterious, something that was completely beyond the ordinary. It was something that was quiet. It was while the world was asleep. God was at work, mysteriously, wonderfully, supernaturally in that dark tomb, that dark damp place. Almighty God was at work. The Spirit was moving. You know, I think when I read the story of the resurrection of Jesus, how very early in the morning, when no one saw what was going on, while all the world was asleep.

You know, 33 years prior to that event, something mysterious and supernatural was going on in a virgin's womb. This very Jesus was coming into history, into human history, beyond the knowledge of man. God was at work. You know, God's plan always comes true, doesn't it? It cannot be thwarted. Men may try to step in and stamp out, but God's plan always comes to pass.

It was the same power of God that stood on the edge of eternity and looked out into the darkness, chaotic world and said, "Let there be light" and there was light, and said, "Let dry land appear" and dry land appeared. It was that same power that worked in the virgin's womb, bringing about the formation of the Christ. It was that same power that worked in the tomb that brought Jesus from the dead, bringing him back to life, very early in the morning on the first day of the week.

Go to verse 2. Read verse 2 with me now. Together: "They found the stone rolled away from the tomb." Now, the women didn't roll the stone away; they found the stone already rolled away. God made it convenient for them to get inside. Now, Jesus did not need the stone rolled away to get out; he needed the stone rolled away so the women could look in and have evidence that he wasn't there, so they could see the angels and so they could see the grave clothes of Jesus.

But before they arrived, their hope was gone. Their hope was dead because Jesus was dead. Christianity was dead. Faith was dead. There was just nothing left. You know, I think of people today without Christ in their hearts. They think they're really living the abundant life, and they're getting some kicks and some thrills. But the emptiness, the times of absence, the in-between this thrill and that thrill, those times are greater than the thrills.

And then when the life is all over, everything is gone. Everything is gone when Jesus is gone. But when Jesus is there in the heart, in the life, now you have life. You have life evermore. You have life today and life abundantly, even after this life is over.

Guest (Male): We pray you were blessed by today's message. But before we go, here's a way you can receive even more. Visit us online at thehealingword.com, a place where you can connect, share your prayer requests, and know that others are praying with and for you. And while you're there, you can also listen to more messages from Pastor Jack Morris and learn more about how his ministry is reaching lives around the world with the hope of Jesus Christ.

That's thehealingword.com where faith is strengthened, prayers are lifted, and hearts are healed through the power of God's word. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message.