He Is Risen: The Truth That Changes Everything

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great Mercy that we have been born again into a Living Hope because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of decay” (1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT).

Welcome back dear student, wishing you a very Joyous Resurrection Sunday! It is the highlight of our faith, for without the promise of Resurrection, faith is meaningless. "Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17).

This is where the Truth of Christianity is revealed: ‘that God so loved the world – that’s you, me and anyone who will believe in Him – that He gave His Only Begotten Son Jesus, the Christ, to die for our sins - that we who believe in Him and accept Him as Saviour and live under His Lordship, shall not die, but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). The Gospel is Good News, not bad news!

Without Jesus, we could never pay for our sins or make ourselves holy and righteous. Through His sacrifice, when He laid down His life for us, we are given the ‘Gift of Righteousness’. Salvation comes through the Name of Jesus alone!

"Salvation is found in No-One else, for there is no other Name under Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). People have strived for centuries to find other ways to get right with God, but neither money, nor good works, nor holy living, will ever make the grade. Even though the motive may be good – these things are of the flesh, not the Holy Spirit. God made the gift of Salvation simple, and free of charge.

"For by Grace you are saved, through faith: and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not by works, that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8). It costs us nothing but our surrender, for it cost Jesus everything.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus revealed Himself as the only Way to the Father (John 14:6). He was the promised Messiah – prophesied by God to man in the garden of Eden. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel” (Genesis 3:15 KJV). None of us can come to our Holy God unless we come through the Blood of Jesus.

Jesus is the Gate (John 10:9).

And the Redeemer.

“There is only One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

Only Jesus died on the Cross, and God raised Him from the dead. The grave could not hold Him, for He had never sinned (Acts 2:24). Some scoff at the Word of God, mocking believers as being foolish – but they are the fools. “The fool says in His heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1). Just because certain people deny God doesn’t mean they are right.For the Lord always confirms His Word with signs following (Mark 16:20). That’s why someone who comes to faith, turning back to God by calling upon the Name of Jesus, suddenly has no more desire for sin, immorality, or the works of flesh. Because when Jesus comes into a believer’s heart, that person’s spirit is re-connected to God’s Spirit, and a total life transformation begins from the inside out. ‘Man looks at the outward appearance, but God sees the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7).

The price for our sins has been paid dear friend - all we have to do is repent, and believe, and receive that newness of life that Jesus paid for (Romans 6:4). The disciples wrote about all that they had witnessed before, and after Jesus was raised from the dead. They all gave their lives to tell this Good News. There was no conspiracy to fool mankind, as many spoofers claim. The Truth is Jesus is not on the Cross, He’s not in the tomb – He is Alive, and He wants you to know Him forever. Hallelujah!