This sermon emphasizes the importance of humbling oneself, dying to the old nature, and embracing the resurrection life in Christ. It highlights the need to let go of pride, idols, and vanities, and to seek a transformed life through humility and sacrifice, drawing parallels to the resurrection of Jesus and the change it brings. The speaker urges listeners to embrace the risen life in Christ, which brings hope, fruitfulness, and a positive impact on others.

Now, friends, if you will please turn with me to that portion which we read earlier in the book of Luke. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ had to rebuke his disciples very severely, in fact, because he noticed that, did I say Luke 22? No, sorry, it's 24. And the twenty-fifth verse, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? Now, you know that the disciples were cast down. You could think of them as I thought of the disciples last night. I said how expectantly some of them, those women, were waiting for the morning, the dawning of the day, because they had only seen Jesus buried hurriedly, seeing that the Sabbath was approaching. And so, with what expectancy and what, you know, melancholy and sorrow, they anticipated that time when they would once again try to embalm the body of Jesus. Now, as for the disciples, they were so forlorn, they had given up hope. You know, folks, when people can't face adversity, my mother used to say, I have to supply faith, supply faith. See, we were four children. Not that I had a great deal of faith, don't you misunderstand me. But my mother used to say, I have to supply faith to the children. Yes, we saw an unflappable mother, a mother who would always talk positively, never with the feeling or wringing her hands or talking about her needs or anything of the sort. Now, the disciples, of course, were so forlorn, they began to tell the Lord Jesus, hey, are you only a stranger in Jerusalem? He seemed like a stranger. They could not imagine that Jesus was alive. Sometimes our circumstances make us almost say, hey, is God listening? Does he hear my prayer? Is he there? You know, folks, at that time, at such times, you must stand heavily upon the Word of God. It's the Word. It's the Word. You must be full of God's Word. That's what the devil deprives you of. No time to study God's Word. No time to meditate on God's Word. You know, the riches which God has got for us, as we ponder his Word, he reveals his truth to us. So, my friends, you know, as a cricket player, I had to be out in the game for five hours. Mark you, just a short break for lunch, a light lunch, and another break for a cup of tea or something like that. But the match goes on, and you would say, oh, spending five hours, and the next day, again, another five hours, until the play runs out. Oh, well, we did it very energetically, with expectancy. We wanted to win the match. We didn't complain. We did get a few knocks, and we were left tired and weary after the game, but that did not matter. There was a next game to play. So, in the matter of games, we are ready to spend our strength, our best energy, but it's a game. Life is not a game. The tragedies of life are not a game. They are realities. Depth is not a game. A lost soul is not a game. You know, a Shakespearean actor was speaking to a preacher one day, and the actor said to the preacher, you make the things which are real, unreal, and we actors make the things which are unreal, real. Isn't that a tragedy? So, so many people are to be found in their churches this morning. How many carry away with them the reality of the resurrection? All right, they enjoy the service, the music, and all that, but how many of them, into their battles and adversities, carry away the consciousness, my Lord is risen? You know, friends, as I was walking through Jerusalem with my, they were all little tots, little children at that time, and as I was walking on that dusty road, small road, I saw a little sign which said, to Calvary. So, I said, here we go. So, I entered that alley, and it led me to a porch, an entrance porch, in which one or two people, the keeper and his friend or some, were sitting, and I walked into the garden, and the garden tomb, just like it is described in the Bible, outside the city gates. The walls of Jerusalem were barely a hundred yards away, and I could see, and I knelt down, where the Lord was supposed to have been crucified, outside the city gates. What a revered moment, and then, a short distance away, was the garden tomb, with that opening. I went in, we knelt down again, and praised God for the open tomb, but it struck me, there's not a scripture here. So, I said, I must send a special scripture, so that all the visitors, and pilgrims, and others who come here will be able to read it. So, I ordered a special scripture text, against a white background, with bold, black letters, He is not here, He is risen. When I sent that to the garden tomb, and the British chaplain protested, he said, Oh, some people may be offended at this scripture. I said, Huh, such a man ought not to be put in charge of the garden tomb. However, you know how delighted I was recently, when two of our brothers, a brother and sister from Ireland, said to me, we took a picture underneath that scripture, He is not here, He is risen. So, I was delighted and thrilled, that my effort was not in vain, and it was finally put up there, for people to know, that this is not like the tomb of Muhammad, it's an empty tomb, the Lord is risen. So, just imagine, these downcast men, as they walk to Emmaus, and all their ponderings, and all their recriminations, or sorrows, were being voiced aloud to Jesus. So, He said, Oh fools, what could He call them? You know, my dear friends, when we play around, and not heed the resurrection, that's the height of foolishness. Here is our only hope, the hope of the whole world, and instead of the resurrection, we make some little trifling thing, a big idol in its place, or worship it, or revere it, or treasure it, or hold fast to it, and think, Oh, this is going to give me joy. At the moment of death, your idol will not stand before you, either the resurrected Savior will stand before you. Or, as some of these nurses report, how terribly people go through such emotions when they die without Jesus Christ. The nurse who took care of Voltaire, that atheist who said he would destroy the Bible, she said, I will never nurse anybody through death, again, who does not know Jesus. So terrible was the death of that famous atheist. So, here is America tottering between atheism and the scientific community. Ah, they don't mind the tradition, I suppose. But, the whole legislative, the house, was called to enact that bill on the Lord's Day. What if some of them had said, Hey, we are not coming, we are rather going to the house of worship. We didn't have men of such character. Ah, what a tragedy. You know, if you read the life of John Adams, you know, second president, in national crisis, when he was traveling by horseback from New England, up where he was, down to the seat of government. It was a long journey by horseback. Suddenly, when the Lord's Day would come, he would just tether his horse and take the day of rest. My dear friends, that this bill was enacted on the Lord's Day, and perhaps there was one member of the house who remarked about this. There might have been a few others. However, they were quarreled, collared and quarreled. Come on, sign the bill. My dear friends, I don't know how many of these lawmakers are worshiping the Lord this morning, but such a sea change has taken place in our day over this nation, and feverishly mosques and temples are being built and idols installed. Is the Lord risen? We are fools and slow of heart, slow of heart, slow to sacrifice, slow to love, slow to protest evil and transgression of God's word. And now, my dear friends, when Jesus said, you fools and slow of heart to believe all that the scripture and the prophets have said, that thus it was written, thus it behoved Christ to rise again the third day. So, when they, when the Lord disappeared, what did they say to each other? Thirty-second verse. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way? You know, when the word of God ceases to burn within you, something has gone, something has gone. I wonder how many gallons of gasoline some of you spent coming from Washington, 20, 30, maybe 50, 50 gallons. And during these 48 hours at the retreat, do you know some of us have used, all of us have used 4,200 gallons of blood, 4,200 gallons of blood for you and me to function. Am I not grateful for that great pump? I am, that it pumps 2,100 gallons every 24 hours. My dear friends, now, must not that heart of ours burn at the word of Jesus? Did not our heart burn within us when we heard his word? Now, you know, not only does the word of God burn within us, the word of God does much more. If you turn to Romans, the sixth chapter and the sixth verse, Romans chapter six and verse six, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from henceforth we should not serve sin, see, the fifth verse is, if we be planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, you see. Now, to what extent, to what depths has the resurrection taken effect in your life? You see, resurrection, of course, implies death. First, you need death before you talk of the resurrection. Now, how does the cross apply to us? It brings death to the old nature. Sometimes I find that pride never seems to die. You know, our reactions, I can't take it, kind of stuff. You see, pride, is there no death to that old nature of pride? You know, actually, in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians and the 15th chapter, again, St. Paul uses, thou fool, 15, 36, that which thou sowest is not brought alive, except it die. Of course, when you sow a seed of wheat, you don't expect to see it in its own form. All of us have learnt in the schools of how a bean seed germinates. You put a little bean seed in a jar of water, and then when it germinates, first comes the radical, then comes the plumeal, and the bean seed disappears after a while. It's dead. If it doesn't die, you don't have the bean creeper. So, the Bible says, thou fool, that every seed which you sow, don't you know that it dies? And unless it dies, you don't see the resurrection, you don't see the fruitful tree coming out. Now, my dear friends, if some of us complain that there isn't enough fruit in our lives, or no fruit in our lives, let me tell you this, that's death, that being crucified with Christ has not taken effect in you, and that's why you just see a manifestation of the old nature, the old things all repeated, the old resentment, the old anger, the old pride. Some people don't know they are proud. You know, my dear friends, as I come closer to the finish line, I say I must get more humble. That's the only way. That's the way of Jesus. You know, in the second chapter of Philippians, what do you find? You find that in the seventh and eighth verses, he made himself of no reputation. Of course, the revised version says he emptied himself. He made himself of no reputation. How people, you know, are so zealous for their reputation. You know, I must be accepted. I must be honored. I must be recognized. But here we see that Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation. This deceiver said he would rise again on the third day, so let there be a special guard to seal and to keep the grave, lest somebody steal the body and say he's risen. This deceiver, after you're dead, do you like a title like that, my dear friends? Do you want your children to give you that title or your neighbors? This deceiver, and that's the title that Jesus Christ was given by the high priest. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. What more? Isn't that enough that the God of creation should be born like you and me to—he humbled himself. He took the form of a slave, but still he humbled himself to the cross, to rejection, to being spat upon. He humbled himself. You know, the trouble with this, the human heart is pride. Lucifer fell by pride. And let me tell you, if you follow that example and fall by your pride, you have learned nothing. Learned nothing. And I see that education, position, acceptance in society is only filling people with a lot of pride. That's all it is. It is not helping them to serve humbly or to follow Jesus. No. That seeing this, I say to myself, what I need is more humility. I will be more like my master. Let anybody tell me or rebuke me when they see pride in me. I don't want to be proud. I want to be humble. What I have done for Jesus is nothing. And I find that the more I humble myself, the more I see Jesus being glorified. My dear friends, these are the laws. These are the lessons which we must take from the resurrection. There is no resurrection without humbling yourself. There is no resurrection without death to the old life. No resurrection. This is no resurrection day for those who don't say, Lord, I'm ready to die to self. You won't see a change. You know, when the president was brought in with this great slogan, change, change, change, they welcome the change. And I don't know if 14 trillion debt or deficit is a welcome change. If it is a welcome change, well, you chose it. You get the government which you deserve. Well, what is the kind of change we want? Some kind of little emotional, sentimental change? Or is it a change that comes like the glorified body of Jesus? How did Jesus walk to Emmaus? Was not one of those feet nailed to the cross? And the injury that the nails and all the weight of the body had to be taken by those, by that wound? Those were glorified feet. You'll live a risen life. And that is what we need. We need it in our hearts. We need it in our families. And without this risen life, excluding this risen life, the word hope may be erased, can be erased from your vocab. There is no hope. It's the risen life in Christ that brings us hope that we will be a fruitful people. And you and I will, at the end of our lives, be able to give something positive to those around us. Let us pray. Let us tell God, Lord, I want a risen life, but you know I hate to die to my old fancies, my old idols, my old vanities, my old pride. I hate to die to my pride, but I love the risen, resurrected life. Save me, Lord. I am but a fool. O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. O my Father, have mercy upon us this resurrection morning. We want the change which the resurrection produces, not this undefined deficit-making change which people apparently have ushered in. We don't want a deficit in our lives. Thou dost make my cup. My cup runneth over. That is you. That is the new life which you give to your forlorn sheep. O my Father, visit us, for we need this visitation. We need this crucifixion with Jesus. Some of our old ways are so ugly, pride that rises within our breasts, so ugly. We don't want it. It makes for ugly situations, ugly relationships, ugly fruit. O, we don't want it. We want the resurrection, the Christ-like life. O, teach us that path of humility, good Lord. We have but a short life on earth. Help it to be a life of love, faith, and sacrifice, so that we may be a blessing to those around us. We ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen.