In just a few days Israel will be celebrating 70 years since their rebirth as a nation on May 14th.

The Bible asked “can a nation be born in a day? Well Israel was born on May 14, 1948. That is the Roman calender. But the Jewish calendar the date was April 18-19. So they have already observed it. But regardless the year of Israel’s independence is 70. What does it all mean for Bible prophecy?

some of you may have seen the movie “the Apostles.” Randy Alcorn who wrote the book about heaven did a review of the movie. He said the movie was okay but one thing that he and his wife said immediately after the movie…”why are all the Christians so upset in this move? Why are they so unhappy?” Christians should be the happiest people on the face of the earth. In fact it is our happiness and joy that others will notice and want. For everyone wants joy and happiness in their lives. Why should Christians be happy???......

God is so great, so marvelous, so far beyond man that we cannot have a relationship with Him anymore in our sinful condition. We have been separated from God by our sin. Adam walked with God in His sinless state but that was all ended by his sin. So ever since then man has a blindness about God. We know Him naturally through the conscience but we don’t know anything about Him and we are unable to have a relationship with Him. But God sent His Son to the cross and His Spirit at Pentecost so that we might have our sins wiped away and so that God can reveal Himself to us.

Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Joy shall be in heaven.

Intro: All of us are interested in Heaven. We want to know what kind of a place heaven is. We seek to know from the Bible all we may about our future home. To be sure, this world is not our home. We are strangers and sojourners here. We are "looking for a city whose maker and builder is God." Note with me seven Bible facts about Heaven I found in my search that I take no credit for this outline but I thought would be very encouraging for you. Though there may be many things about heaven we are not certain of; here are seven things we can know about heaven.

The other night I drove home from playing music in a Restaurant. When I got home I noticed my Taylor guitar was missing. I panicked. I realized I left it in the parking across the street from the restaurant. I had set it beside my car and loaded my other equipment and as I loaded things in the other side of the car I forgot to go back and load the guitar. That was my $3000 Taylor that I bought 20 years ago. It was not replaceable. I was so upset I couldn’t even think of what to do. Anita said call Troy Burchett who lives walking distanced from the Restaurant. I did and he said he would walk down there. It had been almost 1 ½ since we left the parking lot. There was no word from Troy for about 30 minutes. Finally he called back and said found it sitting right where I left it. He took it home and he brought it to me Friday. I was never so relieved in my life! What I thought was lost was found! I have never been so happy to find something in my life. At the same time, never so happy and so upset with myself at the same time. But how could I let this happen? I understand lost and found a little better today than I did before this happened.

Romans 2:1 and 11-16. Excuses, are nothing more, than a reason to fail. An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie that is justified. A life that is defended by Excuses has become comfortable in defeat, it has settled for mediocrity and is destined for failure. A mother asked her son…”did you break that window?” the little boy said “well let me exlain.” “it wasn’t my fault. Jimmy threw the ball. My bat hit the ball and the ball went through the window.” “see I didn’t have anything to do with it.” We are a people who love to make excuses for what we do.

Here are some excuses children use when in trouble.

Everybody knows about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody knows about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, the question is: how much do you know of Jesus between his crucifixion and his resurrection? Where was Jesus during this time between when he was crucified and when he was bodily raised from the dead? Was he taking a nap there in the empty tomb? Did he actually go through soul sleep? Just exactly where was he and what was he doing if anything? In this passage of scripture Peter gives us "The Rest of the Story." Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter sheds light on what I believe to be a very interesting question; that is, and where was Jesus between the crucifixion and the resurrection? What was he doing between the crucifixion and the resurrection and why was he doing it?

let me give you a little hermeneutical principle this morning. Whenever you come to a difficult passage of scripture the best way to treat it is to immediately say: whatever it says what does it say about the Lord Jesus Christ? Because once you find out what it says about Jesus then you'll be able to glean some truth that will help you in your own personal life. And, so, what does the passage of scripture, whatever else it says, what does it say about the Lord Jesus and thence, what does it say to you and me? Well, I want you to notice 3 things in the text today.

I. His Vicarious Death

II. His Victorious Declaration

III. His Virtuous Departure

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Intro: The phrase “raised Him from the dead or “raised from the dead” occurs 19 times in the New Testament concerning Jesus. The New Testament leaves no doubt that Jesus was raised not from sleep, or raised from being knocked out, or raised up after passing out, or revived from a coma but Jesus Christ was raised from the DEAD! What is…..dead? That means all bodily functions that give the body life have ceased. There is no reanimation of dead tissue when life ceases. No one can do that. No power on earth can re animate dead organisms. Dead is dead! But the New Testament takes exception to that and says over and over that He was “raised from the dead.” John said it, Luke said it, Paul said it and Peter said it. What did they all say? That Jesus was “raised from the dead.” That is good news that death could not hold our Lord. But there is better news than that!

The next to last words of Jesus on the cross were the most important words ever spoken by our Lord. What were they? Why are they so important?

Stephen Hawking died last week. He was 76 years old and had ALS for 50 years. He was a Theoretical Physicist. That means he studied the why and how things work and develop in the physical world. He believed we did not need God and that science can answer everything. He believed in the Big Bang theory of creation. He was mistaken about three things. Using as a comparison of John the Baptist who was right about these three things.