There are two things you wonder about a person based on the promises they make.  Do they have the power to accomplish what they promised, and can they be trusted to use that power to keep the promise, or will they forget about it and move on to something else out of lack of discipline, lack of care, or flat out lack of character, as in if it’s no longer beneficial to them to keep it then they will not do it.

 At the end of my sophomore year in High School, I decided to run for Vice President of our class.  During the campaign, I gave a speech announcing I was going to book a cruise for our Sr. Class trip.  I had never been to the Caribbean, nor had I been on a cruise, nor had the vast majority of my graduating class.  Hampton was a blue-collar, working-class, middle-income community.  It wasn’t a poor community, but it also wasn’t one where people could afford to fly to the Caribbean or go on a cruise.  But I’m a confident visionary guy, and I had no reason to believe we couldn’t do something big with our graduating class, something that we may never get to do the rest of our lives, something we all saw on TV and assumed was out of reach for people like us.  I wanted to take our class somewhere they never imagined they could go; to do something bigger and better than they ever thought possible.

I won the election, and because I wasn’t kidding around or simply saying whatever to get people to vote for me, I started working on it before school finished.  I was dead serious with my intention to make that cruise happen.  I never used the phrase “I promise,” but nothing in my language didn’t point to it.  Although I was only 15 years old, I had every intention of doing exactly what I said I would, and I had no thought that I couldn’t.

The first thing I did was get out the Yellow Pages, look up some travel agents, and start making phone calls.  I also spoke with the teacher who, after our junior year, would be our senior class faculty advisor, so she could go ahead and start helping me make this thing happen.  She was super excited to see me getting after it and signed me up for a variety of mailing lists with companies that book trips for High School graduating classes.   Nobody had ever attempted anything like this at my school.  Information started coming in during the summer, and I soon began having conversations with our principal and making calls to officials at the city school system's administration offices.

Now, here’s the deal.  I’m the kind of guy that total ignorance never seems to cause any hesitation, lack of confidence, or diluted expectations!  So, with total confidence that I was going to make this happen, I kept poking away at it, calling around, reading the brochures that came in, and dreaming about how cool it would be to have hundreds of my graduating class on a big boat for a week in the Caribbean.

However, after a couple of months with little to no response from Hampton City School officials, I finally found out why.  The school board didn’t allow such trips and had no intention of engaging with me on the matter.  The reason I couldn’t get anywhere with any of the school board officials was that it took a few months for them to realize I wasn’t kidding.  After basically ignoring my calls, they finally realized this soon-to-be junior at Bethel High School wasn’t kidding around and that they needed to officially shut it down, or I was going to start promoting an actual trip to my student body when school started back!  I was told there was no way, no how, that it would be allowed under any circumstances, nor would there be any meetings to even consider it.  It was dead on arrival!

FYI – Over the years, I’ve been blessed to go to the Caribbean a few times.  I still haven’t been on a cruise, but at 52 years old, I have zero desire to go on one!  The idea of being on a boat with 1,000’s of people crawling all over me sounds like the opposite of a vacation!  I would much rather stay in a little house somewhere on a beach, with the sound of waves, or in the mountains, with the sound of a creek, as the only consistent sound I hear!   Now that’s a vacation!

Ok, so what’s my point in this story?  It wasn’t to put ideas in your head for a vacation, but to make you think about promises.

Once it became clear that there was no pathway to success, I began to reflect on what had taken place.  Nothing like that had ever been done for students in our area, so I don’t think anybody who voted for me would have been willing to place a financial wager that it would happen anyway.  As a matter of fact, decades later, you probably can’t find one person in my graduating class who even remembers me saying, as a sophomore running for vice president of our Jr Class, that I was even going to make this happen.  I think all they heard was an enthusiastic, energizing speech from a guy people considered likable and respectable, and, as such, voted for me.  But for me, I knew I made a promise, and I didn’t deliver, so I spent a noticeable amount of time reflecting on it and, in so doing, realized three things about promises:

To keep a promise, you have to have the character, authority, and POWER to keep it.

 In my case, there was no lack of character on my part.  I had zero inclination to do anything but make it happen, and I attacked it with absolute vigor; I simply had no authority or power to make it happen!  My overconfidence as a person never led me to imagine that I might not be able to do something like this.  It wasn’t like I said, “I’m going to take us all to the moon.”  Millions of people go on cruises every year.  Ships leave out of port daily!  But, my total lack of knowledge that there could ever be a policy in our school system against such a thing, coupled with the fact that I had never planned a trip for anybody that couldn’t be achieved on bicycle and completed before the street lights came on, created the perfect storm for me to confidently and persuasively say I was going to do something that I had no clue at all had zero chance of working!

Now when it comes to the Bible, there are some promises in it, that for many might sound even more outlandish and impossible than me as a 15 year old son of a shipyard worker, living in a blue collar community, attending a giant high school in a public school system that had zero intention of acknowledging my existence much less my idea, thinking that I was going to plan a cruise for the hundreds of people in my graduating class!  And believe it or not, the most outlandish, ridiculous-sounding promises came right out of the mouth of Jesus Himself.

The following are five examples of ridiculous-sounding promises that Jesus made!

 The first example of a ridiculous-sounding promise that Jesus made is,

The promise of eternal life after

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,” (John 11:25)

 The second example of a ridiculous-sounding promise that Jesus made is,

 The promise that He would come a second

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)

39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Luke 12:39–40)

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1–3)

 The third example of a ridiculous-sounding promise that Jesus made is,

 The promise we would be resurrected from the dead and receive a new body!

 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29)

 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:40-42)

 Note: Ultimately, they were questioning His character, authority, and power to do what He said He would do!  John then records this,

 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (John 6:43-47)

 The fourth example of a ridiculous-sounding promise that Jesus made is,

The promise of a perfect new earth where all in Him will live in perfectly righteous and holy love forever.

27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:27-30)

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

Let’s be honest.These things sound absolutely ridiculous!  So how can we believe in them?  I don’t think anybody would reasonably question Christ’s sincerity or character in making these promises, but there is no doubt that everybody has questioned His power to do it. So, where is the proof that Christ has the character to not make promises He can’t keep?  Where is the proof He has the power and authority to keep promises like these? Where’s the proof that He wasn’t an ignorant 15-year-old high school sophomore saying really exciting things that everybody wants but has no power to accomplish them?

Well, to those that are new to the Bible, there’s another ridiculous-sounding promise that Jesus made, so ridiculous, yet so relevant to the promises I’ve already mentioned that, if He accomplished it, there would be no reason at all to doubt his character and power to accomplish all the other promises He made!

 The fifth example of a ridiculous-sounding promise that Jesus made is,

 The promise that He would be killed and then on the third day rise from the grave.

Talk about specific!On at least three different occasions, Jesus clearly and bluntly stated he would be killed and yet on the third day rise from the grave.  In addition, there were all kinds of other occasions where Jesus metaphorically referred to it.

 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21–23)

 30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:30–32)

 31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” (Luke 18:31–33)

Now we need to realize that Jesus didn’t just promise he would die; that’s a promise we will all keep!Rather, he pointed to very specific things that would happen in his death!

 Finally, Jesus not only bluntly told his disciples what was going to happen, but he also metaphorically declared it to people who were not his disciples. For instance, we read this in the Gospel of John,

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. (John 2:18-21)

 Elsewhere in the Gospels, we read of Jesus pointing out that He would be killed on a cross.  For instance, the call to take up your cross and follow Him in Matthew 16:24 points to the fact that He, too, will carry a cross, and in John 12:32-33, where He promised that when He is lifted up He would draw people to Himself, was a reference not of being praised but of being crucified!

 But, to the main point of this sermon, what could be any more outlandish than predicting something as specific as how He would be killed by people, be buried, and on the third day come back to life and walk out of the grave, and that they would see him ascend into heaven?  And listen, even if there was an inkling of belief in the disciples that they would see these things happen, it all died when they saw the utter brutality and helpless humiliation of His death.

In 2024, when the 58-year-old Mike Tyson fought Jake Paul, all of us Gen X’ers knew he was going to lose the fight, but we also had this thing in us that thought he would win as well!  If you saw the fight, Tyson landed a couple of decent punches in the first round that got our hopes up.  There was a flash that said he might just knock out Jake Paul after all!  But as each round passed, the hopes of Mike winning vanished, and we all soon found ourselves just hoping he didn’t get knocked out!  In the eight-round fight, Paul landed 78 punches to Tyson’s 18!

With that in mind.  The disciples watched the crowds that had just days prior been in total euphoria about his entrance into Jerusalem, shouting for him to be crucified.  They watched their fearless leader, who had calmed the storms and cast out demons, be beaten like a dog.  They saw him spat on and cursed at.  They saw the flesh ripped from his body as they whipped him with a cat of nine tails.  They saw him drag his cross down the via de la Rosa with so little energy left that a Roman soldier had to get somebody else to carry it for him the rest of the way.  They saw him stripped of his clothing, nailed to a cross, and then hung up in the air to suffocate to death as a symbol of Roman dominance and authority.  They saw a Roman soldier, put a spear into his body that caused blood and water to gush out in a manner that left no doubt he was dead.  They took his lifeless, trashed, torn-to-pieces body off a cross, wrapped it in burial cloth, put it in a tomb, and rolled a stone in front of it so nothing could get in or out.

My point is, after all of that, why would they even for a second believe any of the other things Jesus promised would happen?  I know He told them He would die an unjust, brutal death, but even His promises of how that would go down didn’t seem to do justice to what they had just witnessed!  The once-energized city had totally turned against Jesus.  The One they saw quiet the storms and cast out demons had been slaughtered with ease!  As they saw this brutal destruction of their hero, Jesus, it’s no wonder they abandoned any hope of His resurrection as well as anything else He promised!

Halfway through the second round of the Tyson/Paul fight, even the one in a million chance of Tyson landing a lucky punch that knocked out Paul had left my mind.  I watched the rest of the fight, hoping Paul would let off the gas enough to let Tyson survive all eight rounds!  If that’s all it took for me with Tyson, it’s no wonder the Disciples had totally disregarded the promise of Christ to rise from the dead.  At that point, everything he had ever promised sounded utterly ridiculous, that is, until Sunday came and they not only saw an empty tomb but, more importantly, saw Him alive and well!   Even if he hadn’t actually died on the cross, there is no way in the universe he could be well on the third day!  But the fact is, he had died, and they buried Him because of it!  All hope that anything Jesus had ever promised was GONE, that is, until He stood in front of them alive and well—risen!

John writes,

22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scriptureandthe word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:22)

 Did you catch what John said happened to them after the resurrection?  His resurrection eliminated any doubt about anything in the Scripture, which at that time was the Old Testament, as well as any doubt about the word, that is, the promises, Jesus made to them!

Luke summarized the events that took place after His resurrection this way at the beginning of the book of Acts,

3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” … 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:3-5, 9-11)

The angels couldn’t have summarized what we are talking about better.  In essence, they were saying, “You just saw Him physically ascend into the sky, so know this, He’s coming back in the same way, just as He promised.”  So, unlike their response when He died on the cross, this time they didn’t walk away thinking all was lost; instead, they did exactly what Jesus had told them to do!  They lived the rest of their life knowing everything He said would come to pass.

If Jesus could overcome death, and even more so, a death that completely destroyed His body and then physically ascend into Heaven just as He had promised He would do, then they had no reason to wonder if everything else He promised would come to pass!

If He said all in Him have eternal life even if they die, if He said He would resurrect our bodies just like His, if He said He was going to make all things new and that in doing so all in Him would dwell on a perfect earth in perfect love and unity with each other and Him for all eternity, then that is EXACTLY what’s going to happen!

If Jesus had the character, authority, and power over death to do what He said, then He has the character, authority, and power to be trusted with everything else He promised as well!

If we believe the resurrection of Jesus happened, then we have NO reason to doubt Christ’s power, authority, and character to fulfill His promises!  As a matter of fact, we have literally no reason to do anything but PRAISE HIM!  Easter is the biggest reason to be excited EVER because the things He promised are the most amazing things the mind could ever imagine, and, now, because of the empty tomb and a risen and ascended savior, we have no reason at all to do anything but believe He will do ALL that He promised.  If he said it … that’s it … it’s done!

So church, stop worrying and fretting about your circumstances!  Stop justifying your anxiety about tomorrow.  Stop losing heart and quitting what you have to do to press on in the situation God has placed you in.   Stop losing heart in what you have to bear, the fire and storm you have to walk through right now, because HE HAS PROMISED how it will all end, and IF HE PROMISED IT, then that’s it!  So be it! Death has been defeated, eternal life is REAL, and the One who holds the key to it all has promised eternal life to all who repent and believe in Him!

So, let’s do what only makes sense if we believe what Easter is about.  Let’s stand right now, on both campuses, let’s stand and sing praises to HIM who DOES all HE HAS PROMISED!  Let’s declare to our hearts that God is worthy to be trusted.  Let’s shout it in song that if He has declared it, then it’s done!  There is no better news than the news of Easter, so much so that if there are any tears on Easter, they should be tears of praise!  Let’s sing this GOSPEL to one another and ourselves.  Let’s declare to sin and Satan that they have not, nor will they ever win.  Let’s stand together and sing a declaration to our weak faith that we have no reason to be weak, that we have no reason to doubt.  If HE SAID IT, then it is FINISHED!!!  So be it, GOD!

6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:6-8)