Acts 1:1-3
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
 
The 40 days of “Risen-es" when Jesus conquered death and began “Living Beyond The Grave” are so important…

Easter isn’t the end of the story... its really just the middle…
 
Mark 16:2-4
2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away
 
The stone wasn’t rolled away for Christ to get out… it was rolled away for us to come in…

Come in and see that the grave and death are nothing to fear…
 
Hebrews 2:14-15
that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
 
On Easter fear lost its grip on us… and LOVE grabbed ahold of us…

1.  A meeting at the coffin
 
Luke 24:1-6
1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen!
 
These women show up for a meeting at the coffin on Sunday morning and two angels or witnesses ask them “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”… “He is not here, He is risen!”…
 
See they came to mourn and anoint a dead body but that isn’t the plan Jesus had for Himself or for us…
 
We don’t come to a coffin or tomb to mourn we come to the house of God to rejoice and live life with the resurrected King!…
 
2.  You’re going the wrong way
 
Luke 24:13-40
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. 17 And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" 18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?" 19 And He said to them, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see." 25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.29 But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went in to stay with them.30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"

I love that after the resurrection Jesus thinks these 2 guys going the wrong way are important enough to track down and redirect…  Jesus also thinks you are important enough to track down and redirect…
 
How does He redirect them?… With His word… Verse 27 says… 27And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself…
 
He illuminates His word then He has communion with them and they realize who He is…
 
3.  Waiters & Waders
 
John 21:1-14
1 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No."6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. 7Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. 9 Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have just caught." 11 Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?"--knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. 14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

Waiting in between appearances is hard if we don’t understand the in between time…
 
Verse 3 says… 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also.”…
 
#3 is calling Waiters vs. Waders because Waiters actively wait on those they are serving but waders go back into familiar waters and wade around until the next wave comes in…
 
Peter and the disciples went back to their old way of life after all they had seen and done and witnessed and even though they were professional fishermen they caught nothing…
 
Once you have begun “Living Beyond The Grave” there is no more life back on the other side of the grave…

The series is titled “Living Beyond The Grave” and the 2 prayers we started the series with are so clearly relevant today…
 
1.  Lord let us beware of a Christianity where You do all the dying…
 
2.  Lord let us also beware of a Christianity where You do all the “Living Beyond The Grave”…
 
All over the world this morning people are asking the question that matters most…  Who is Jesus?…
 
The Bible... This amazing book tells us that He healed… but why?…
 
It tells us that He displayed power over nature… but why?…
 
It tells us that He confirmed the presence of angels and demons… but why?... 
 
Everything Jesus did and said was to prepare hearts and minds for a coming kingdom…
 
When Jesus first begins to teach and preach listen to what Matthew 4:23 says…
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
 
So the idea is that the focus is on the gospel or truth of the kingdom and the healing and power and authority is an evidence for the validity of what Jesus said…
 
Hebrews 11:37-40
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
 
God says… From Adam to Abraham to this very day My love restrains me because I’m waiting for more of you to come to Me…
 
All of them will be “perfected” and “Live Beyond The Grave” but not apart from us…
 
The bible essentially tells the story of who God is and who we are and the truth of His kingdom and how citizenship is obtained only through death…
 
Remember…
 
Beware of a Christianity where Jesus does all the dying…
 
So the 1st part of the question Easter answers is why did Jesus have to come and why did He have to die…
 
The 2nd part of the question is why did He have to rise?…
 
Jesus was talking to a group that believed in God but they did not believe in resurrection…
 
In Mark 12:26-27 Jesus says…
concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”
 
He is the God of the living not the dead and believing in Him is not enough… We have to understand and believe in resurrection…
 
Luke 16:19-31
19 "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' 27 Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' 29 Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.
 
Wow… I love this because Abraham says the place people find salvation is in the scriptures rather than appearances from those who have risen from the grave…
 
So many people are waiting for Jesus to appear to them and then they will believe but the bible says we have to believe and then we will see…
 
Romans 10:17
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
 
But we still haven’t answered the Easter question of why Jesus had to rise…
 
1 Corinthians 15:16-26
if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
 
1.  If Christ doesn’t rise we are still in our sins…
 
2.  If Christ doesn’t rise death his not destroyed… it actually has had victory over the sinless One…
 
So Jesus had to come and Jesus had to die and Jesus had to rise!!!  This is the gospel…
 
Matthew 27:45-50
45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" 47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. 49 The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him." 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
 
On Easter Jesus yielded up His Spirit…
 
To yield is to give someone else the “right-of-way”…
 
He laid His life down for us and gave us the “right-of-way” to proceed in His righteousness…
 
His life was anything but taken from Him…
 
John 10:17-18
I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again
 
Matthew 27:50-54
50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
 
Easter is the beginning of Christians literally “Living Beyond The Grave”…
 
The bible says that for 40 days after His resurrection Jesus went around teaching again about the kingdom of heaven…
 
It’s crazy to think about what that must have been like for all that saw and heard him but what an amazing testimony it must have been for people who had lost loved ones to see them again “Living Beyond The Grave”…
 
There is a power in the resurrection of Jesus that is beyond calculation and beyond control…
 
I know that nothing surprises God but I feel like in this moment the eternity changing, love overflowing, death defeating power of God was just too powerful to be restrained…

 Jesus redefines "Joy" as living in the present with a confirmed vision of the future... a future with limitless love and life...
 
That future is beyond the grave and Jesus is literally the definition of "Living Beyond the Grave”…
 
The one thing required to begin "Living Beyond The Grave" is death...
 
Quote:  A.W. Tozer
“In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross. If he refuses the cross he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today. We want to be saved but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of Mansoul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar, but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.”
 
I have 2 prayers to start this series…
 
1.  Lord let us beware of a Christianity where You do all the dying…
 
2.  Lord let us also beware of a Christianity where You do all the “Living Beyond The Grave”…

"3 people walk up to a casket" and the first says "I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these"...
 
The second says "I'll get in but that’s as far as I’ll go”...
 
The third says "I see things I've never seen before on the other side of this casket so if "through" this casket is the only way to get there then so be it"...
 
1.   Those who have yet to die and think life is found before the grave
 
Matthew 26:14-25
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him. 17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" 18 And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples." ' "19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. 20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 21 Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." 22 And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" 23 He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. 24 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." 25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it."
 
See Judas came right up to the casket and said “I wouldn’t be caught dead in there”…
 
He was “WITH” Christ but never “IN” Christ…
 
He took the money because he thought life could be found on this side of the casket…
 
There are still many who are close but will sell out Jesus for a few dollars…
 
Or sex with a man or woman who is not their spouse…
 
Or to hold on to lies or anger or unforgiveness…
 
Jesus offers life but it only comes through death and many will say “I wouldn’t be caught dead in there”… This is “close” enough for me thank you very much…
 
Judas eventually realizes what he had done and he knew that He did not have Jesus in his heart and look what happens…
 
Matthew 27:1-9
1 When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. 2 And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood." 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced
 
He hanged himself because he wanted to die but it was too late…
 
His death didn’t lead to “Living Beyond The Grave” it lead to a place more dreadful than the desperation and depravity he was trying to escape here…
 
Everyone who lives for this side of the grave dies in misery and fear…

I hope you listen to the rest of this message and that you are encouraged to ensure you aren't a part of a Christianity where Christ does all the dying or where He does all the "Living Beyond The Grave"...