Introduction: Welcome to Calvary Albuquerque. We pursue the God who is passionately pursuing a lost world; we do this with one another, through worship, by the Word, to the world.
Skip Heitzig: Isn't it amazing to think that we are joining thousands of congregations around the globe in different time zones, different cultures, different languages, all proclaiming to the same Savior and Lord, that Jesus Christ conquered the grave. [applause] I was just texted by a friend of mine in Scotland who's watching this live. In fact, I've been told that four or five other countries and 38 states are tuning in right now to our live webcast of this service. So we're being joined by a big congregation. [cheers and applause] What news, what message is there worth shouting about? What proclamation or announcement demands that we raise the level of our voice and make a loud proclamation?
Well, I can think of a few. If your neighbor's house was burning down. My neighbor's house a couple of years ago across the street caught on fire. And somebody ran out into the street and with a loud voice; made an announcement of warning that the house was burning down and we better do something about it. I can think of another occasion when we might want to raise our voice. In this very stadium when our team makes a touchdown, we go crazy and we shout and we root for our home team. Or here's another one: what if you won the lottery? I don't think we could keep you quiet for very long. I think you'd want to shout it out and say it loud.
I read a story about a man in New York. He was a landscaper in New York. He was cleaning up after Superstorm Sandy, cleaning wet leaves into a bag. As he was cleaning up the leaves, he noticed among the leaves what looked to be like a lottery ticket. Indeed it was. He took it home, dried it out, and took it to a lottery office on Long Island. They had to wait, of course, the mandatory waiting period of one year to see if anybody claimed the ticket. Nobody claimed it. That man was awarded 1 million dollars. Now, after taxes he only got about half of that, but he won a million dollars, $500,000 he cashed in on, and he proclaimed it loudly.
Well, here's news worth shouting about: the one guy who claimed that he could give people everlasting life was killed, but he got back up and rose from the dead changing the world forever. [applause] There's an old saying that says, "You can't keep a good man down." On Easter we say, "You can't keep the God-man down." He's alive. He's risen from the dead. The theme this year is, as you can see, "Say It Loud!" And why did we choose that theme? It's actually part of the theme of Psalm 22 where Jesus on the cross it was predicted would cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It's a psalm that predicts the suffering Savior.
It begins in that Psalm with the anguish of the cross, the humiliation, the pain, the degradation of crucifixion. But as the Psalm goes on, it changes completely. It goes from the anguish of the cross to the accomplishment of the cross. And at the very end of that psalm it reads: "They will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born, that he has done this." You see, in that Psalm the psalmist anticipates an ever growing number of people throughout history who would become believers and would worship God and make a declaration. And as the people and as the crowd, as the group gets bigger and bigger, the volume would get louder and louder. And that's exactly what has happened.
When Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples, the followers of Christ turned up the volume of their message. Three hundred times the New Testament speaks of the resurrection of Christ. It was the theme of all the apostles who preached the gospel. So we have something to sing and to shout about, and that's why we do it. You know, the most famous clock in the world is in London, England. It's called Big---what is it? Big Ben. Big Ben, the most famous clock in the world, the chimes, the musical chimes in Big Ben correspond to the fifth and sixth measure of Handel's "Messiah" in the phrase that says, and "I know that my Redeemer lives."
They've chosen the four musical notes of that little saying that says, "I know my Redeemer lives." So think about it this way: all the people in London set their watches and navigate their day by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. [applause] Most of them don't even know it. My advice to you this morning, to all of us, is that we navigate our lives by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are four notes that we ought to play, and here they are: come, see, go, tell. Come, see, go, tell. Say it with me---come, see, go, tell. Those are the four notes. Those are the four directions that the angels give to the women when they come to the tomb. It's in Matthew 28.
It says, "Now after the Sabbath, on first day of the week as it began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it." Now just a heads-up here, the stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out, it was rolled away to let people in. "His countenance was like lightning; his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said.
"'Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and indeed he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him. Behold, I have told you.' So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and they ran to bring his disciples word." The first note, the first word, the first command: "Come." "Come," that's a word of invitation. "Come." Now there would be a lot that would keep them from coming into that tomb. First of all, fear, natural fear. You know, graveyards are spooky places. They're not like, "Let's go hang out and have lunch at the cemetery." They're just kind of spooky to go to, especially when it's dark.
I love to take pictures, and whenever I travel to different countries, I will often photograph inside the graveyards. But when I do that, because I love to read the old stones, they can get a little spooky. I remember one time I was preaching in a church over in England, and I was told that earlier members of the congregation were buried, not outside the church, but underneath the floor of the church. I just thought, "That's a little weird. I'm speaking and I'm standing on dead people right now." So, natural fear could keep them from coming to that cemetery. Another thing that would want to keep them from coming is an empty tomb. They didn't expect to see an empty tomb; they were looking for a dead man.
They wanted the pay their last respects to somebody who had died. They were looking for a corpse, but they came and found the tomb empty. That would scare them. They would wonder, "Who moved him? Has somebody stolen the body?" Also, there were guards, the Bible tells us, strong men who were guarding the tomb. They would be intimidating to a few women who would come to see guards in front of the tomb. They could have been temple guards that were Jewish or they may have been Roman guards. Either way there were between 10 and 16 men, probably armed. And the penalty for falling asleep under your watch would have been death.
So it would be intimidating and fearful to come to the tomb, but the women come, and the angel invites them to come inside. The angel says, "Come." I love the word. It's a word of invitation. Jesus never said this: "Go away. You bother me. I'm too busy." His word was always "come." Jesus always invited people to come to him, to walk with him, to follow him; and might I add, to follow him from earth all the way to heaven. He always did that. To the curious disciples when they said, "Teacher, where are you staying?" Jesus said, "Come and see." When the disciples kept the children away from Jesus, our Lord said, "Let the little children come to me . . . for such is the kingdom of God."
To the rich young executive who was curious about eternal life, Jesus said, "Come, follow me, and you will have treasure in heaven." My question is this to you: Have you obeyed this first time word, "come"? Have you come to Jesus Christ personally? If you have not made it personal, by the end of the service you're going to have an opportunity to do exactly that. So, I want you to begin to prepare your hearts to make that choice. This word is such a refreshing word, come, so refreshing, so inviting. Because you see, the religion of Jesus' day was not inviting, it was intimidating. It was not characterized by open arms, but by folded arms. It didn't welcome people, it kept people back.
I was reading a newspaper article about a very interesting rich couple in Illinois; Wadsworth, Illinois. They wanted to build an unusual home, so they built a 7,000-square-foot pyramid covered with 24-karat gold. I can't imagine it. I've seen pictures of it. They built this pyramid and they put water around it, a moat, and they were planning on putting sharks inside the moat. Would you ever want to go, like, visit them for dinner? That's one house where you say, "Kids, we're not going to trick-or-treat at that house. I don't want you falling in with the sharks." What an interesting house. Basically, they were saying, "Stay away." It wasn't an invitation for people to come.
The religious system of Jesus' day was surrounded by sharks, very intimidating. First of all, it was highly restrictive as a religious system. Do you know that there were only 6,000 Pharisees? Think of how many people are in the stadium today, maybe 20-, 25,000 people here right now. And we read about the Pharisees, every one of you has heard of a Pharisee. There were only 6,000 of them. They were a very tight group, very restrictive group. Jesus spoke of them and he said, "These people crush you with impossible religious demands, and they never lift a finger to help ease your burden." Also, this system was overprotective.
The scribes, the Pharisees, they spoke of the laws of God as a fence: "We need to protect people with the laws of God. It's a spiritual fence." But whenever you build a fence to keep people in, with that same fence you are keeping other people out. And so many people of Jesus' day felt like they were being kept out. If you went to the temple to worship 2,000 years ago, it wasn't an easy thing to do. If you were a man, there was a place for you. If you're a woman, you couldn't go to the place where the men go. If you were a Gentile, a non-Jew, you couldn't go where the men, Jewish men or Jewish women went, you were kept further back. In fact, there was even a little fence around that said, "You will die if you cross this line."
It was highly restrictive, it was overprotective, and it was also mostly negative. The system of Jesus' time, the Jewish system of Jesus' day made you feel that no matter how much you worked and how hard you tried, it was never good enough. On one occasion the Jewish leaders said to Jesus Christ, "Your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders, for they eat their foods without washing their hands." It sounds like something my mother used to say about us. On another occasion when Jesus healed a man, and that man picked up his bed and started walking---he had never done that before. He was totally healed.
The religious leaders, all they could say is, "It's the Sabbath day; it's not lawful for you to carry that bed." You think that would say, "I can't believe you're walking!" But they were negative. So imagine how refreshing it was when people heard Christ come along and say, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, such different words. Have you come to him? I'm glad you've come to this stadium this morning. We're glad that you are here. But have you come to Jesus Christ personally? He's open handed. He is not closed fisted. That's the first note, come. Then the angel says, "See." That's the second one, "Come and see the place where the Lord lay."
The word "see" means to perceive, to understand, to experience, or to encounter. We would say, "Come and check it out. Come and investigate this." If the first word "come" is a word of invitation, the second word "see" is a word of investigation, revelation. Come, experience, encounter, check this out. You don't say, "Come and see," if you've got something to hide; you say, "Come and see," if you have something to show other people. I want you to know something about Jesus Christ and about Christianity in general: Christianity has nothing at all to hide. We invite anyone to come and investigate the claims of Christ and see for yourself, taste and test for yourself if Jesus isn't real, alive, and able to change your life.
You personally come and check it out. Philip, one of the disciples, said to Nathanael his friend, "We have found him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote---Jesus of Nazareth." And Nathanael said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" And Philip said, "Come and see." We would say that to you this morning. If you've been living on the borders, in the shadows, even of a religious system, we would invite you to come and see for yourself, taste and experience if the Lord isn't real and can't change you. Because once you've come, you will see. You will see for yourself. Trusting Jesus Christ is not some blind leap into the abyss of religion; it's a thoughtful examination of the facts as they are presented. Come, see.
Years ago there was a man who went on a medical mission trip to China. He was a doctor, an eye surgeon. And he performed a very delicate operation removing cataracts from a man who was blind. He had a severe case of cataracts. The man walked away seeing. A few weeks later that same doctor was surprised when 48 more blind men were on his doorstep for the same surgery. They had traveled---get this---over 200 miles, all of them holding a rope led by the man who had the surgery done and could now see. He led them to the doctor who could open their eyes. All of them came that they might see, and they were led by the man who now could see.
But here's a question: What are these ladies going to see? They've come to the tomb, what is there to see? Let me suggest to you a few things. In looking at that empty tomb, they would see the humility of God. By looking inside that tomb they could see just how far God would condescend to come to this earth to die and be buried in that tomb. The Lord of all eternity, he inhabited time and space in the person of Jesus Christ. He made himself of no reputation, he made himself nothing, and he died on that cross and was buried. It shows you the humility of God. No other religion has at its heart the humiliation of its God. You see, the Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.
That's what you see when you look at that tomb. Also, in looking at that empty tomb, you would see the reality of sin. You want to see what sin will do? Look at that tomb. Sin killed Jesus Christ. "He died," the Bible says, "for our sin." Now I know that sin is not a popular subject. It's not even discussed much these days. It's mocked. It's ridiculed. People laugh at the word sin. "Yeah, right---sin." I want you to know that Jesus took sin very seriously, so serious that he left heaven, came to this earth, and bore your personal sin on his body, and he paid the price for you. The Bible says in Isaiah 53, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."
I love watching the hearing impaired as they pray and as they worship. They have a sign for Jesus. Jesus is this. They touch their hands like this. They're pointing to the sacrifice that Jesus made when those nails pierced his hands. His identity is in his sacrifice. Number three, in looking at that empty tomb, they would see the mortality of man. When you look in a grave, you know what you are looking at? You're future, your future. All of us are going to die. The Bible says, "It's appointed unto every man to die once." But there's something else in looking at an empty tomb that you would see.
You would see the victory of Christ---the humility of God, yes; the reality of sin, yes; the mortality of man, yes; but you will see the victory of Christ. And here's what the angel wanted them to see: "Come, come on, look!" You know what they saw? Nothing. That's what the angel wanted them to see, nothing. "He's not here. You can't find his body, it's gone." That's what the angel wanted them to see, the victory of Christ. "He's not here; he is risen." There's three credentials that Jesus Christ has: number one, his impact upon human history. All of human history has changed, even our calendar changed because of the coming of Christ. That's number one.
Number two, fulfilled prophecy, over three hundred predictions in the Old Testament, Jesus fulfilled them all. And number three, his resurrection. He conquered death. I'm waiting for it. [cheers and applause] There was a Muslim in North Africa who converted to Christianity. He loved Jesus Christ. God changed his life. His friends weren't excited at all that he had become a Christian. And so his family and his Muslim friends came and they said, "Why would you leave Islam and convert to Christianity?"
And the man said, "Well, it's like this: if you're going down a road and there's a fork in the road, and you don't know which way to go, and there are two men at the fork of the road and you want to ask directions from, one is dead and one is living, which one will you ask directions from?" [cheers and applause] That's why we're here. We ask directions from the One who's alive. Come, see, and then go and tell. Say it and say it loud. Go, tell. It's great to come and see, but don't stay at the empty tomb. The angel wants their fascination to become declaration: "Now that you've come and now that you've seen, now it's time for you to go and to tell others what you have seen as you have come."
You see, we have---we have not good news, we have great news. We have the best news. We have news worth shouting. So let's not reduce the tomb to some sacred relic or some academic pursuit, let's go tell people. Let's say the message and let's say it loud. And by the way, the message is gonna get louder, because by the end of chapter 28 of Matthew, Jesus the risen Lord will say to his apostles, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." "Go and tell. Go and tell them what you have seen. Go and tell them what you have heard. Go and tell them how your life is changed. Go and tell people how an empty tomb could make for a satisfied and full life. If that is your reality, then go and tell."
Let me boil it down to this: if you are a believer this morning, then you need to go---I mean, not right now. [laughter] But if you're a believer you need to go and tell. Why? Because you have a living Savior to proclaim to a dying world. Of all people on this earth, of all women and men in this community, you have the best news story going. Don't be ashamed of it. [applause] Some years ago there was a preacher who was very famous and very effective. But he contracted a disease that started rendering parts of his body paralyzed, including his vocal cords. So the Easter before he died, his vocal cords were paralyzed, but he could still write with one of his hands.
And so he wrote a note to his daughter. And the note said this: "How terrible it is to wake up on Easter with no voice to shout 'He is risen!' "But then he said, "Worse still is to have a voice and not want to shout." That's worse. Do you have a voice? Then tell the world he's alive. So if you're a believer, go and tell. But wait, there's more. If right now you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, I don't mean that you just acknowledge his existence, if you haven't committed your life, if you haven't repented of your sins, if you haven't come to Jesus Christ personally, like we're going to give you an opportunity in just a moment, then the note for you, the command for you is to come. Come.
You've got a living Savior to receive in your dying soul. You must come first. And just as Londoners hear those four notes that ring out, "I know that my Redeemer lives," there are four notes this Easter: come, see, go, and tell. I want to close with this thought. You've all heard of President Abraham Lincoln, yes? He was a pretty good guy from what I've heard, one of our great presidents. Did you know that 22 years after President Lincoln was assassinated, a rumor began spreading that his body was not in the grave, that somebody took his body, stole it, removed it? So they actually dug up the coffin of Abraham Lincoln to make sure it was still there. You know what? It was still there. "Yup, he's dead, really dead. There's his body."
Seventeen years after that they dug it up again because those rumors still persisted. Check it out online. Both of those occasions the witnesses did these four things: they came and they saw, they went and they told. "Yup, he's dead. Yup his body is still in the grave." Now, a few days after Jesus Christ died the same kind of rumors started spreading---"His body is not in the grave"---only this time they were right. His body wasn't in the grave, and it wasn't because the body was stolen. He got up and he lives evermore! [applause] Now, President Lincoln was a great president, but if you were to call on President Lincoln today for help, you wouldn't get any help. He can't help you.
You can take a penny that has his picture on it, and say, "O President Lincoln, I'm calling out to you." It won't help. He's dead. He served his time. He paid a wonderful service to this nation, but he can't help you. He's dead. Buddha can't help you; he's dead. Muhammad can't help you; he's dead. Jesus Christ is the only one who rose from the dead, and if you call on his name there is power available to change your life. [cheers and applause] Come, see, go, tell. If you're a believer, go and tell. If you're an unbeliever, first come and check it out, investigate it. Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you for this great assembly of people all celebrating in this community, thousands of them, the great wondrous fact that because death has been conquered, the most enormous, ominous enemy of humanity, that we don't have to be afraid of anything. If death is conquered, we can live boldly and unashamedly. And if that Jesus Christ is still alive, then he has the power to change lives even today. And I pray that you would convince many more of that, in Jesus' name, amen.
Closing: What binds us together is devotion to worshiping our heavenly Father, dedication to studying his Word, and determination to proclaim our eternal hope in Jesus Christ.
For more resources from Calvary Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig visit calvaryabq.org.