Damon Moore (4:51)
And that first word is going to be about Good Friday, my friends, which is, as some of you and some of us like to call it, is the setup for the greatest comeback in human history on this most sacred weekend. And today, on the eve of Easter, we get ready for the central event that literally split history into two B.C. and A.D. the resurrection of Jesus Christ transformed the world forever. We're talking about the ultimate rescuer, the only true savior the world has ever known. Look across every culture throughout all of human history, people have been desperate to flee oppression, to escape persecution, to break free from whatever tyrant or system is grinding them down. It's the oldest story there is. You see it in Western literature, in the great epics, and even in our modern classics, in our movies. It's always the struggle between good and evil. And at the heart of it, the desperate need for a rescuer, a hero, a savior. Easter is the celebration of the finished work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the ultimate rescuer and savior for all mankind. He didn't just talk a good game. He sacrificed his life on that cross to provide forgiveness of sin. Not partial forgiveness, not the. If you do enough good deeds, forgiveness, complete, total forgiveness. And because of that sacrifice, everyone who believes in him gets something no other religion on earth even claims to offer. A direct, personal relationship with God himself. No middleman, no endless rituals, no climbing some impossible ladder of works. That's what makes Jesus the most revolutionary figure in all of human history. No other religion was founded by a messiah who actually showed up, did what he said he would do, and then rose from the dead. Think about that. Every other founder, Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, they lived, they taught, and when they died, that was pretty much the end of the story. Anticlimactic, you might say. Their tombs are still occupied. You can visit Muhammad's grave in Medina today. Tens of thousands of people do every year. After Buddha died, nobody claimed they saw him walking around again. Same with the others. But Jesus, he came into the world as God's own son, specifically to die from man's iniquity. His death wasn't a tragic ending. It was the climax. The ultimate payment for our sins, done for the benefit of every single one of us. And then he rose. The tomb is empty. Christianity's founder is still alive. Some folks out there assume Christianity is like every other religion. Do these works, perform these rituals, and maybe God will accept you. Not so with Jesus. He said it plainly in Matthew 11:30. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. When that learned Pharisee, the Guy whose whole life was nothing but stressful do's and don'ts under the Mosaic Law, asked him him what the greatest commandment was. Jesus boiled it all down. Love God with everything you've got. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do that and you fulfilled it all. No heavy burden. Grace, Freedom. Christ is unique in every way. He was preannounced. Starting a thousand years before he was born. 18 different prophets from the 10th to the 4th centuries BC laid it all out. His birth, his life, his betrayal, his death. David, a thousand years before the cross, wrote prophetically about the crucifixion at a time when crucifixion wasn't invented yet as a form of execution. Hundreds of years later, every detail happened exactly as predicted. That's not coincidence. That's prophecy fulfilled in minute, verifiable detail. And the evidence, the evidence is overwhelming. The New Testament gives us accounts from multiple eyewitnesses who saw the risen Jesus firsthand. Ten separate appearances over 40 days, to individuals, to groups, even once, to more than 500 people at the same time. Not one person came forward to call it a hoax. Not one contradictory account. There weren't hallucinations or wishful thinking. These were men who had walked with him, seen the miracles, heard the teachings, watched him die, and then touched the risen Savior. Compare that to the so called reliable history. We accept without any question Alexander the Great. His biographies were written 400 years after he died. Virgil and Horace, centuries later. Yet nobody doubts they existed. The New Testament, written within a generation of two of the events by eyewitnesses like Matthew and John, or those close to them like Mark and Luke. There are about 25,000 ancient manuscripts preserving the deeds and teachings of Jesus. That's a thousand times more than most other classical works from the same era. That historical record for Jesus is stronger than for almost any other figure in ancient history. But here's the part that really seals it. The apostles. They weren't written in fiction. They had seen the resurrected Jesus. They knew the truth with absolute certainty. And because of that, they spent the rest of their lives proclaiming it. Even when it cost them everything. All but John died as martyrs. They were crucified, beheaded, stone thrown to lions. Nobody dies for a lie they know is false. If it was all made up, they would have folded the first time the Romans came knocking. Instead, their commitment was unbreakable. Skeptics have come to terms with this. Easter is one of the most scrutinized and best attended events in ancient history. The resurrection isn't some fairy tale. It's the single event that transformed the world forever. It turned a ragtag group of frightened disciples into bold witnesses who changed the course of civilization. It offers hope, forgiveness, and eternal life, not based on what we do, but on what he already did. So this Easter, whether you're a longtime believer or just tuning in with questions, remember this. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive. The ultimate rescuer has won. And because he lives, we can face tomorrow with confidence, knowing that the struggle between good and evil has already been decided. And that's tonight's first word.
