Now, if you like putting puzzles together, oh you'd love trying to piece together your family genealogy. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time and energy on that. As you start climbing your family tree, you find all kinds of holes in your information, dates and places that sometimes seem contradictory, illogical.
And one place you go to solve some of the mysteries happens to be some old graveyards. I've been to a few in recent years. And sometimes the information on a tombstone or in cemetery records provides an important missing piece of the puzzle. And all along, you're hoping you'll find a king or a president...you know, someone important; hopefully, not a famous outlaw or scalawag! But you actually can find missing answers in a graveyard.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Answers in the Graveyard."
You know, actually, people have been finding answers in a graveyard for 2,000 years! Answers to the big questions - not about some ancestor, but about you! Like, why am I here? What's the point of it all? How can I have a life that matters? What happens when I die?
Now here's the wild thing: the grave where our answers begin is empty! It's Jesus' grave, and He blew the doors off His grave and off death when He walked out of that grave under His own power. That "explosion in the graveyard" on that first Easter is the single most significant event in the history of this planet, because no event has the power of this one to change eternities!
The Bible records these bottom line words from Jesus in our word for today from the Word of God: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Revelation 1:18).
Every other religious leader, prophet, teacher is in their grave today. But if you visit Jesus' grave, don't bother bringing flowers. He's gone! Death couldn't hold him. As the Bible says, "Christ Jesus...has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). Any discussion of where ultimate truth is found should end at the empty tomb of Jesus.
We're not talking about Christianity the religion here. The answers to our ultimate questions aren't in a religion - they're in a man; the Man who died to remove the penalty for our sin - that wall that separates us from the God who put us here. He went to that cross to restore us to the God who gives life its meaning. That's why Jesus said "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10).
And this is the Man who said, "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19). He promises eternal life to all those who belong to Him. But you can't give what you don't have, and only the Man who conquered death can deliver eternal life.
So if you're pinning your hopes on anything or anyone else, it's false hope. With every other belief system or spirituality on earth, you can't know if you were right until you die. But when you belong to Jesus, you're pinning your hopes on a Savior whose resurrection is not just some religious idea but a provable historic fact.
Jesus walked out of His grave so He can walk into your life today. He gave this timeless invitation: "Come to Me...and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). He's done it for millions of us across the centuries, and He is waiting to do it for you right now. Right where you are, you could say, "Jesus, I admit that I have been a sinner; I have run my own life; I deserve the penalty for that. But I believe You paid that penalty, and I am willing to stop driving my life. You drive. I am giving me to You, because You're the only One who died to pay for my sin. You're alive and I'm Yours."
Let me encourage you to go to our website. I think it will help you know you belong to Jesus before this day is over. That's ANewStory.com.
The biggest question of all - where will you spend eternity? - can be answered this very day at the feet of Jesus, who is alive; who's waiting to love you. Your search of a lifetime, my friend, is almost over.