Living Hope, Life in His Name: Easter 2026

 Welcome to another episode of the Carpefeide Podcast where if the shoe fits you wear it and if the truth hurts you bear it. I am Justin Gruber and I am Jesse Gruber and today we hope you will seize the faith. He is risen indeed, amen to that. Ordinarily this is just a reminder for everybody, normally at church we'd be going over our memory verses. That means you are on your own. We are not going to go over our memory verses today but you have to remember to go over your memory verses or else you will be a week behind in studying the memory verses. So go over your memory verses. I am going to teach us briefly from the scriptures today to encourage our hearts. The title of our sermon this morning is the Living Hope, Life in His Name, Living Hope, Life in His Name. If you have the notes in front of you you will see the scripture there. That is because I knew this would happen. You feel that wind, feel that breeze. It would be hard to use a paper copy of the Bible this morning. But we are going to spend some time celebrating the resurrection and indeed what the resurrection means for us. So, Living Hope, Life in His Name, I am going to read to you from 1 Peter to start our service off. Verse 3 says this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The reminder here is that in Jesus Christ is a Living Hope. The world offers a shadow. It is a temporal hope that the world offers. It is a dead hope. It does not reach past tomorrow. When you think about the hope that we have everyone is created as an image bearer of God. He has blessed all of us, every person with a consciousness, with the actual breath of life. In doing so, we as image bears can perceive of hope, but temporal hope does not live. It only goes to the next moments, to the next day. When you think about everyone that is hoped in this world, those that don't have the hope of the Living God, the Living Hope, what you realize is they are constantly pushing into the things that they can do, the things that they can gain, the things that they have. But in Christ we have the Living Hope. It is found in Christ. It doesn't just reach to tomorrow. It reaches through tomorrow into eternity. That is what Living Hope does. Those that place their hope in the wealth that they accumulate or the things that they can accomplish with their actions. Often find themselves at the end of their life realizing those things were meaningless. You see shifts. Shifts in so many of the people that have been bullworks of culture building and bullworks of technological advancements. By the end of their lives you find them giving away their wealth, sharing it. Why? Because they realize their wealth is not going to go with them. Even though they pressed every day for the hope of this world, there is nothing more past the grave for them. But in Christ we have a Living Hope that goes from this moment on into eternity. And our Living Hope comes through a Living Savior. It is the resurrected Christ that allows our hope to extend into eternity, to draw us deeper still into the Kingdom of God. And that caused me to take us to an untraditional Easter morning passage. But the reality of what it would mean if Christ didn't resurrect. What does that mean? To even contemplate a tomb that still held the body. If Christ hadn't been resurrected, there is no hope. Why is Easter Sunday? Resurrection Sunday. The seminal, the highest of heights for the Church of Christ. It is the highest point because if the tomb is full, there is no hope. I take you to 1 Corinthians 15. Here Paul is speaking to us. And Paul is speaking specifically of resurrection. And what the resurrection must mean, not what it can mean. Starting in verse 12 in chapter 15 he says this. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. Your faith also is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Then those also have fallen asleep in Christ, apparent. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pinnied. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, what a phrase Paul is wrapping up there. What he means in that phrase. If Christ is only hope in this life, then he says we are most to be pitted. Because we don't hope in Christ just for this life. Yes, certainly for this life. Most definitely beyond it to eternity. That is why we hope in Christ. We live not for tomorrow, but for the eternal kingdom of God our Father. If Christ is just for this life and think of what Paul is saying here, this is Paul who thought he was doing the work of God by persecuting those that were in Christ. This is Saul who was a terrorist against the early church who sought to bind them to put them in chains, to see them stoned. He believed that was how he worshiped God. But Paul here is saying, I have seen Christ. He appeared to me as clear as he was writing these words. Paul had seen Christ before him. And Paul's words to Paul's, Christ's words to Saul then were, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul's response clearly was Lord. Lord, he said God, God, I see you. Here you are. What do you mean I'm persecuting you? And Christ before him said, as much as you persecute my people, you persecute me. Paul knew that Christ had resurrected. In fact, the very next verse in 1 Corinthians, I didn't include, says, but Christ is alive, but Christ has resurrected. Paul knew this. He had seen him. It wasn't a game for Paul. That's why he has a new name. No longer was he Saul. He was Paul. He was the Paul that would give his life for the reality that Christ resurrected, that the tomb was empty. Paul knew he did not need to be pitted, but Paul knew that if we did not understand and place our hope in the resurrection of Christ, there was worthless faith and vanity in preaching, but Paul gave his life to preach. It was not worthless. It was not vain. The tomb is empty and Christ indeed has resurrected. And this is why ultimately there is life only and clearly through the name of Jesus Christ. There is life in his name. When it comes to doubting the resurrection, the quintessential name that we think of is Thomas. Doubting Thomas, we call him. Few or few know him as did him as the twin. That was actually how he was truly known. We refer to Thomas as the doubting disciple, doubting Thomas. Why? Because we know that Thomas struggled with actually believing the resurrection had occurred. And so we refer to him as doubting Thomas. We call him doubting Thomas, but it doesn't seem very fair. I think we can all relate to what doubt is. The shaking of faith. To struggling to accept what we in our mortal temporal states can't actually fathom the resurrection from the dead. I heard this week that Thomas himself was described as a believer with doubts rather than a doubter who came to believe. And I think this seems clearly true. Paul wasn't a doubter who came to believe. Paul changed my, changed my characters. Thomas wasn't a doubter who came to believe in the Christ. Thomas was a believer. Thomas was a believer in Christ who struggled with doubts. He struggled to wrap his mind on how the man he had followed. Indeed, the man he had spent his life with had gone to the cross, had been crucified, had been buried, and yet was alive. It's a hard one to believe. It's a hard one to understand. But the story of Thomas itself reminds us of the honesty of scripture and the kindness of our God who treats us graciously even with our doubts. Thomas expressed out, but with Paul expressed about the necessity of the resurrection, this was really the whole game. If there was no resurrection, then faith in Christ is worthless. Without the resurrection, there was nothing. And Thomas' feelings were natural. He believed Jesus. He followed Jesus, but he had seen Jesus die. He had seen Jesus buried. But it is the resurrection that lends the power to everything Christ had ever said would be done. The empty tomb itself was the thing we needed so that we don't just have hope for tomorrow. We have a living hope in a living Christ that carries us into the Kingdom of God and on forever. The story of John 20, verse 24-31, here is what we read of Thomas. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didamus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord in that you hear the echoing of Paul as he did in Corinthians. But he sat unto them, unless I see his hands, the imprint of the nails, and put my fingers into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. The doubting, the doubting present in Thomas, thinking that perhaps his brothers that he had walked with were just so exuberant, perhaps they had some sort of exhilarating moment where they thought they saw the Christ. And Thomas says, unless I see the Christ, I will not believe. After eight days, his disciples were again inside, note that there was a time lapse. Paul, Thomas says these words, and there's eight days that go by. Eight days where the other disciples are rejoicing or even talking mysteriously, what does it mean that Christ is alive, that the tomb is empty, that he has resurrected, and here we have Thomas, these eight days, sitting in what is the most natural thing, wondering if he has placed his faith rightly. Contemplating whether the tomb is truly empty, whether or not it was not some grand plan, as even the Jewish leaders said that he has body had been stolen. Eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them, and Jesus came. The door is having been shut. This is, click this is key, this is Jesus walking into a room because he doesn't need a door. The resurrected Christ just shows up. The doors having been shut, and he stood there in their midst and said, peace be with you. And then he said to Thomas, right? Jesus shows up here now for the expressed purpose of loving Thomas. Why else does he show up here? He says peace be with you. Look, set Thomas, and he says to him because he says, sorry, reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here your hand and put it into my side and do not be unbelieving but believing. When Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God, and Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. In this moment, Christ shows up because Thomas doubts and Christ, Jesus wants Thomas's faith to be unshakable. And then in his infinite, glorious wisdom records for us that he loves us in our doubt. He shows up to Thomas for no other reason than Thomas may be able to say he has seen the living Christ. He has not died. He lives on. That's a loving God. God knows you will struggle. God knows that it will be hard. God shows up. Always. Even when we are doubting. John writes on in verse 30, therefore many other signs, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Why? Why did he show up to Thomas so that they could be written down and so that you and I may believe that Jesus is alive? The tomb is empty and our Savior lives. He rules and reigns at the right hand of God, sustains everything with the power of his Word. And so our hope is not in our own ability. It's in the living God, the living Christ, our hope itself is alive, alive towards eternity. And John concludes saying this, and that believing you may have life in his name. Life today, life now, life tomorrow, life eternal, because that is the God who we serve, living alive today, ruling, reigning, powerful. That's what the resurrection means. That's what the resurrection gives us. When it comes to Thomas, church history reports that he carries the gospel into India, where in 72 AD he was martyred for his faith at the end of his spear. Thomas doubted and Jesus answered his doubts. And Thomas gave his life to carry the news of Christ to people he did not know in a land that was not his own, because he was just a sojourner. He was living with active, real, eternal hope for the kingdom of God, who he was a citizen of. That's what the empty tune means. It is carrying forward a living hope that this world does not offer us. And it cannot offer us for this world has been tainted by sin. Doubting led to faith and faith led to life in believing there was life in Jesus name. If Christ is not resurrected, then we're here vainly talking about the glorious resurrected son of God. We're here talking about a faith that does not lead to salvation. It does not lead to eternity, but Christ has resurrected. And go on to the days where we have to take our sin and put it on the blood of goats and bulls. No, it is the savior of God. God became man to shed his life, his blood of tones. And now the altar of God has only the blood of Christ on it. Perfect, pure, complete, sufficient sacrifice. Not just for your sin, but for my sin, but for all the world's sin. That's why we preach so that they may know and find salvation in the name of Christ, because in his name there is life. We have living hope because of the resurrection, because our savior is not dead for he has risen and he has risen that you may have life in his name. So we may begin eternity now and celebrate our living hope by engaging in the life that is found in Jesus. That is why we gather. So I gather every Sunday. It is always for the living hope of a living savior that he has given us that we may carry it forward and celebrate the living hope of Jesus Christ. We do not need to worry. We do not need to be anxious because we know that in tomorrow is the living hope carrying us through to eternity. That we will stand with God rejoicing and worshiping holy, blameless because he has died for us and he lives. It is because he lives that we celebrate the resurrection. It is because he lives that this is the pinnacle of the worship of the church resurrection Sunday. As many gather to celebrate the resurrection today, they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When you think about that, when you fathom that, there is no one else that has built his church from millennia now, but Christ has, because he loves us and because he lives. The response portion of our service is where we draw a time to be able to pray, to thank God for his salvation, to thank him for what he has given us in his word. And in our response today, we will do just that. I offer you a time to pray, to rejoice, to thank the Lord that he lives and that we are saved to a living hope because he lives. And as you do that today, certainly there is repentance, a turning from sin, where we do not find a need to do things to be saved, to do things to be forgiven, we find the blood of the living Son of God. And so repent, repent of your sin, pray to God for his repentance and know that when you pray to God for repentance, you find immediate forgiveness and complete restoration in the blood of the living Christ. Additionally, today we will have communion, you will be able to pray, and then come up and gather, grabbing either the grape juice or the white wine and a piece of matza. And we will celebrate this morning, the broken body and the shed blood of the resurrected Christ as a tone for our sin. I offer you now this time of respond, to spend in prayer to God. And as you finish your prayer, please come up, if you are in Christ, if Christ is your Savior, come up and partake of communion. I will lead us together in that, after a time of prayer, we will lead in communion together. Let us do that now.