Success and Failure Blog

Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 13:34-35 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Matthew 16:21: From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Matthew 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Mark 9:9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.

Mark 14:28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.

John 2:19-22 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Luke 24:45-46 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Luke 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

Acts 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;

1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Luke 24:34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

Matthew 28:16-17 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

1 Corinthians 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

1 Corinthians 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me(Paul) also, as of one born out of due time.

Luke 24:4-7 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

Acts 1:22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

Acts 3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Acts 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

2 Timothy 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Matthew 22:29-32 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Matthew 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Ezekiel 37:1-10 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: …

1 Peter 3:21:There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ


2 Timothy 2:18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.


John 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Easter as we know it consists of several things.  One, the honor to the Lord for giving up His son for our sins.  Two, the selflessness of Jesus as He gave up His own life and returned to sit at the right hand of the Father.  Three, family gathering.  Four, commercialism:  Easter candy, baskets, presents, decorations.  Five, fun for children:  hunting eggs, the Easter bunny, special (and sometimes elaborate) feasts, Easter programs in which to participate at church.

This year my kids are too old for the egg hunts, Easter basket surprises, and sitting on the Easter bunny’s lap for a holiday photo.  What they aren’t too old for is church.  One of my gifts this Easter is that my children are in church.  My son and his wife are with the in-laws.  My daughter is with the boyfriend, whose father is a pastor of a church nearby.  It’s not that I’m surprised that they are in church, but my son works out of town and sometimes out of state.  He doesn’t always make it to church services.  In my opinion, he especially needed the service this morning to renew his closeness to God.

My husband is recovering from dental surgery, so I’m home in case he needs me.  My decision was to watch church on television.  Yes, I have scoffed at such activity in the past.  But since I didn’t make it to church in person, I am grateful that there is indeed church on television.

One reason I’m grateful this Easter is because of an unexpected gift.  God spoke to me during the service I had waited several hours to hear.  There is a favorite pastor I like to listen to and watch.  I forgot what time his service appeared, so I went through two services waiting on his broadcast.  I was about to give up when I noticed that he was up next.

My unexpected gift was a release of tears, always a relief.   The pastor spoke of pain as a way for the Lord to reach us.  I have often reached out to others who were suffering in pain, hoping to reach them, hoping to relieve their burdens in whatever way I was capable.  I wanted them to know that the Lord is here through our pain.   But, of course, when it came to my own pain, even though I knew better…….I had begun to wonder if the Lord was here for me during my pain.  He assured me, through His wondrous ability to speak through another person, that He is indeed here for me through my pain.  It touched me.  I cried.  I recognized the unexpected Easter gift God sent to me.  Thank you, God, for touching me with your unexpected gift.  I should know better than to wonder, but it sure is nice to be reminded when I need that special touch to keep me going.

To non-Christians, it may seem odd to worship a man on a cross.  That’s because they only look at the outside.  Following the lies of the world, they don’t realize the incredible price that had to be paid for sin.  And, they don’t realize there are many confessions that Jesus is the Christ – the Son of the living God.

Does the cross seem gross?  If you saw “The Passion of the Christ,” you’d know. Indeed, to paraphrase part of Isaiah 53, He was without any real beauty that we should treasure Him when we saw Him.  He is a man of sorrows, well-acquainted with grief.  He was despised and rejected while here on Earth, and just as then, even now, people turn their faces at Him. (Isaiah 52:2-3)  God understands that to look just at the outside, it seems very bloody.  But, just as much in life, the outside is not the whole story.

See, it’s not just about a man on a cross.  There were other men hung on crosses; that was the traditional Roman form of execution.  Jesus Christ was crucified with 2 of them, in fact.  One on the left cursed and reviled Him.  However, the one on the right realized the truth.

The penalty for sin

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)  What that means is that we earn death for our sin.  It’s not just physical death, it’s spiritual death.

Think of how horrible spiritual death is.  It’s torment forever in a place call hell. God never wants anyone to go there.  But, that spiritual death is what we earn because of sin.

You may ask, “What is sin?”  Sin falling short of the mark of perfection.  It’s anything we say, think or do that displeases God.

That may sound harsh, until you realize that God, in His perfect love, has a place for all those who choose to receive Him, called heaven.  It’s a place of perfect goodness and love.  There can be no suffering there, no tears, no pain, no heartache, no death.  Nobody can imagine the wonders that await us there.  It’s so much better than this wicked world.  Heaven is where God wants you to be.

But, because he wants us to be there, he had to do something to take away our sin.  That’s because there can be no sin in that perfect Heaven.

If we have all earned that spiritual death, though, God had to do something so we didn’t have to suffer spiritual death.  So, why the cross?  That brings us back to that thief on the right, the one who realized the truth, and asked Jesus to remember him when he came into His kingdom.

The gift of God

The thief on the cross told his fellow criminal that they were there because they deserved to be punished for their wrongdoing.  Then, he said that Jesus was there and had done nothing wrong.  He realized the truth.

Jesus wasn’t just a man.  If He had been only a man, he would have had to pay for His own sin, because all people are sinners.  He wasn’t just a man, though.

Jesus Christ was God in flesh.  He never did anything wrong.  This thief realized that.  He realized that Jesus Christ was God in flesh.  He didn’t have to suffer for His own sin, because he was without sin. Yet, He became sin, for us.  He was suffering for that thief’s sin, for the crowd’s sin, for my sin, your sin, everyone’s sin who ever lived.

Think about that.  All the people who have ever said something mean, hurt others, lied, cheated, stolen, been cruel and thoughtless, and many other things.  He was suffering for every single sin that was ever committed.

That’s a lot of sin.  That’s why He suffered so much.  He was god in flesh.  By Him were all things created, and without Him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:3)  God made this world perfect, but people brought sin into it, because God gave them free choice, whether to follow Him or not.  He knew everything, and He had every person ever – yes, you – on His mind on that cross.

The world tries to deny it, but Jesus was God.  This is shown throughout Scripture.

1. He Himself proclaimed He was God. When the Pharisees would ask, He’d always respond with something like our phrase, “You said it!’ or “You’ve got that right!”  Or, He’d give an I AM statement, using the same term God used in the Old Testament, a word so holy, they would never use it themselves, because only God could.  He said He was the Messiah to the woman at the well, also.

2. His miracles proved it.  He did things only God could do.

3. The Old Testament proclaimed it.  All the law and the prophets pointed to the many things He would do in His worldly ministry, that it would be God Himself.

4. God the Father proclaimed it, after Jesus’ baptism, and again on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus is the Son of God – the way that phrase was used, it means of the same substance.  He was, is, and always will be God.  Think of how H2O is the same, whether it’s water, ice, or water vapor.

5. His followers proclaimed it, over and over in the New Testament and afterward.

Think about it.  All any one of His disciples had to do to escape punishment was deny His resurrection.  They kept proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he rose from the dead, because they saw it with their own eyes.  For nearly 2,000 years, believers have been willing to suffer horribly because they know in their hearts the same things the apostles saw with their own eyes.  They knew that Jesus Christ had suffered horribly for the sins of mankind, died on that cross, and risen from the dead.

That’s what it’s all about. He took the penalty for your sins, and for mine. And, there is nothing we have to do – nothing we could do – to save ourselves.  It must be completely by faith that we are saved.  Faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and then rose victoriously the third day.

Jesus was 100% man.  He had to be, to die on the cross.  However, Jesus was also 100% God.  He had to be, to rise from the dead.  He did.  And because of that, we can celebrate.

Yes, it looks like a bloody mess when we consider how Jesus suffered.  But, we must never forget that sin is so awful, and must be kept out of His perfect heaven.  And, that because of that, Jesus had to suffer, and die, for the sins of the world.

Because when He hung there on that cross, suspended between Earth and Heaven, He had the sins of all the world on His shoulders.  He literally bridged the gap between man and God; he reconciled man to Himself through His death.  Then, He rose victoriously back to life!  Hence the words of that great hymn – “My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!”

I pray you have received Him as your personal Savior, by simple faith that He did that for you; so you don’t have to bear your sin anymore.