I remember the first day that it was delivered. We found the perfect spot in the house for it, then we sat admiring it’s beauty and smiled at each other as it chimed it’s melody for us every hour, half hour, and even every quarter hour. This was great and even somewhat endearing until bedtime.

The first week of being awakened during the night every fifteen minutes was almost more than I could endure. But like most everything else when you become accustomed to it, you don’t even notice it anymore. Now, I sleep throughout the night without paying any attention to the old grandfather clock’s faithfulness to let me know what hour it is.

As Christians we dare not become accustomed to the timely warnings of our faithful Father and not recognize the hour in which we live. Like the frog in the kettle many people are slowly put to sleep by this world’s assurance that things continue as they always have, the Lord delays his coming …enjoy your sleep!

Jesus said, ”watch therefore for you don’t know not what day or hour your Lord will come.” In fact he said “it would be in an hour when you do not expect him.” Our Father is faithful in keeping us informed concerning the time of the coming of his dear son. If you will pay attention you will hear the ticking of our heavenly Father’s clock…”it’s about to strike the midnight hour.”

    In the sixteenth century a young man studied to become a lawyer. As part of his studies, he studied the law of God. As he studied the demands of this holy God, he was filled with dread for he knew he could never meet those righteous demands.

    In his fear of God’s wrath, he sought to appease God by giving up his desired profession and becoming a monk. As a monk he subjected himself to many discomforts, trying to punish himself for his sins against God. He deprived himself of food and other comforts. He struggeled daily with the question odf how a holy God could not punish him for his sins and that God to remain just.  

    One day, he discovered what Paul said in Romans 1:17, “…the just shall live by faith.” As he saw we do not have to satisfy God to be declared just, but only believe what Christ has done already, he said it was as if the gates of paradise swung open.

    On October 31, 1517 over 480 years ago, this same young man marched up the steps to the castle church door in Whittenberg, Germany. There he nailed his “95 Theses” for discussion of disagreements he found in Scripture with the Roman church.

    As the blows of his hammer echoed, they reverberated with the sound of chains falling from long burdened hearts that had been bound by a system of works-righteousness for salvation.

    Martin Luther’s discovery of the gospel began what we call the “Protestant Reformation” and we are still reaping today the benefits of what was accomplished in that tremendous work of God that led to the recovery of the authority of scriptures and we are the desendants of that great heritage.

As I began to deliver my message to our congregation at the Connection Church of Arlington I couldn’t help but rejoice in the scripture I was reading from Ephesians 2:6 ” And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the “incomparable riches” of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boost.”

Justification by faith through Christ Jesus. Only God in His great love for us could deliver such a concept to such an undeserving humanity. Who can measure His love for us?

 

“Believer” is indeed the correct word for the followers of Christ. It’s true, believing that Jesus has risen from the dead is a monumental task for some folks. There are even some theologians who struggle with, and try to explain away, the miracle of Christ’s resurrection. The truth is, “Christianity will not work without the resurrection of Christ!”

You remember Thomas refused to believe that Jesus was risen from the dead as the other disciples had said until he saw for himself. Jesus was quite direct with Thomas after revealing his resurrection on another occasion. He said to Thomas,  “Because you have seen me, you believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” 

Our very salvation is totally dependant upon our believing in the resurrection. In Romans ten and verse 9 Paul declares, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” You see, for the Christian, without believing in the resurrection there is no salvation.

Stop and think for a moment how important the act of believing is. For instance, Jesus himself said, ( John 3:16 ) “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

What Christianity presents to mankind and asks us to accept will be nothing less than being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. We (believers) are the people Jesus was talking about when he said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.”  Even though we have not seen, or experienced, we believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection of Christ, the  Ascention of Christ to God’s right hand, in the Rapture of the Church at Christ’s Second Coming, and in Heaven where Jesus said he would prepare for us a place.

I have no problem believing every word the bible says. It is a faith walk. We walk by faith and not by sight. Yes, I’m a believer! And you can become a believer too. All you have to do is confess Jesus as the Lord of your life, and believe that he has been raised from the dead. You see, it’s with your heart that you believe. You are saying from your heart that “Jesus is my Master!” The fact is, you’re not doing anything, you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation! With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud, “God has set everything right between him and me!” (Romans 10:9-13 The Message Bible)

So, how important is the resurrection? The answer can be found this Sunday at 11:15 AM. You have a special invitation to join us …We’ll be looking for you this Resurrection Sunday Morning at The Connection Church of Arlington.