Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Of course." When we speak of something that is general accepted, or when we expect something to happen a certain way, we say, "Of course."

We can say, "Of course power-hungry politicians are going to lie in order to get elected. Of course Congress is going to raise taxes. Of course two year olds are going to throw tantrums." If we expect anything else, we are deceiving ourselves, so of course they are true.

As we gather this morning in the presence of God, the first truth we must acknowledge is that we are His creatures. We confessed this in the Nicene Creed: "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." God has given us life in this world as a free gift—we cannot have life of ourselves. From this fact, we can reach many conclusions and say, "Of course it has to be that way." Let's think about some of the "of course" 's that follow from the fact that we are God's creatures.

If God has given us life, then, of course, we must fear Him because He can take life away. If God has spoken to us through human language in the Bible, then, of course, we are obligated to listen to every Word of His with rapt attention. If we are able to comprehend God's speech to us, then, of course, our every thought, word, and deed must be directed by God's Word. If God in His Word has commanded us to love Him with perfectly loyal hearts, if He has told us to worship Him regularly at church and pray to Him constantly, then, of course, we had better do it. And if God has prohibited something in the Ten Commandments, then of course we must not do it. All those things should follow as matters of course from the fact that we are God's creatures, with no life apart from Him, and with no way of knowing Him except through the Bible.

But often we don't live that way, do we? We often don't pay attention to what God has said in His Word and instead we live by presumption and feelings and man-made opinions. We assume, "Of course I will live to see tomorrow; of course my illness will get better; of course I don't really have to go to church, since I can worship God any time I want; of course God loves me unconditionally, so there is no way I could end up in hell even through unrepentance; of course God will forgive me even if I excuse my sins rather than repent of them."

Really? Are you so sure about all of that? We must always be on the lookout for presumptuous "of course" statements. When we say "of course God will do this or that," then we are not living by faith, but instead we are living by our own ideas about who God is and what He should be doing rather than trusting how He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. When we live by such presumption, then we start to forget God and His Word and His Church and we begin to think that day to day affairs like work, school, money, food, sex, good health, and happy feelings are most in life. But when we live that way, we communicate to God, "Your plans and purposes in the world must revolve around my plans and purposes. You're your job is to make me healthy, wealthy, and happy. Of course I will fear, love, and trust in you, O God, but only as long as you keep delivering to me those worldly things that give me fulfillment and make me happy."

Repent. If God is God, then of course He is entitled to take away our lives at any moment and to judge all of our deeds against the benchmark of His perfect Law. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might," He says to you. There is no wiggle room under God's judgment of your thoughts, words, and deeds. If you want Him to judge you based on His requirements of your life, then He will let you have it that way if you prefer. If you want to stand before God and say, "I know I was a sinner, but I really tried to keep the Ten Commandments. And here are the reasons why I didn't pray every day and come to church each week. Here is a list of excuses for my sins." If you want to justify yourself before God that way, then of course He will let you try.

Repent. Of course you cannot stand up under such judgment. Of course you cannot, so repent of thinking that anything you do, think, or say can influence the Almighty God's attitude toward you. God does not give His creatures the right to tell Him how to do His job of being God. We do not get to say, "Of course it has to be this way," especially when it comes to His judging us.

But the amazing thing—and this is grace—is that in the doubtful, uncertain course of this world, there is one thing of which we can say, "Of course that happened. Of course that is true. Of course, that changes everything."

When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb of Jesus, they were thinking, "Of course Jesus will be there, dead, cold, a corpse. Of course He will be there, because dead men don't rise." But then God the Father showed that He directs the course of this world, and He shatters the expectations of our dying flesh. God finally answered the immortal question that Job asked, the question that is at the bottom of our search for meaning and peace in this life. Job asked, "If a man dies, shall he live again?"

Based on our experience, we can say with 100% certainty: "No. People that go into the grave don't come out again." But Easter has a different message for us. There are hundreds of witnesses that testify that a Man named Jesus died and was buried, but He does live again! Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, Peter and James and John and Paul and the five hundred witnesses mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15, those witnesses all answer Job's question by saying, "Yes. Jesus died, but now He lives!"

On Easter Sunday, God the Father sent His Holy Spirit to breathe life into the dead Jesus, to warm His cold, static blood and send that blood coursing through His veins. On Good Friday, Jesus willingly went to the cross to suffer for all of your presumptuous sins and to shed His blood to wash away your guilt. On judgment day, you won't have to come up with a list of good works that you did or a list of excuses for your sins, but you will point to the blood that was shed for you on Mt. Calvary, the blood that has been poured over you in Holy Baptism and Holy Absolution, as St. John says, "The blood of Jesus [God's] Son cleanses us from all sin". It is liberating blood! In Revelation St. John says that Jesus "has freed us from our sins by his blood". It is life-giving blood. Jesus said, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day".

That living Jesus with His living blood has changed everything, for His first disciples, and now for you. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead changed the fearful and weeping Marys into joyful witnesses of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus changed Peter from a flighty, unreliable follower of Jesus into a bold and fearless proclaimer of the Good News that Jesus has died for our sins and has risen for our justification. The resurrection of Jesus has moved His apostles and countless others over the centuries to lay down their lives in martyrdom instead of renouncing their faith in the risen Lord Jesus.

Of course dead men don't rise, but Jesus has, and what does this mean for you today? It means that you should seek to be like St. Paul, who was a witness of the risen Lord Jesus. St. Paul said to his congregation at Corinth, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified". The only reality that mattered to Paul and all the apostles was that the crucified Christ is the only Man in the whole world who has come back to life for good, and so of course, He is the only Man really worth listening to and following, and His Words to you in the Bible are the only sure and certain thing to rely on as you run out the course of your lives. Those words of Jesus bring with them the Holy Spirit, so that your faith does not rest in human wisdom but in the power of God.

The resurrection of Jesus means that the God you have sinned against and therefore should fear, turns out to be far more merciful and kind than you ever could have imagined. He has rescued you from eternal damnation by the blood of His Son and has given you new lives to live out in His church. He invites you to pray to Him without ceasing. He invites you to dwell in His house to hear His life-giving Word and to receive the life-giving body and blood of Jesus in the Lord's Supper. So why would you ever want to go back to being dead through sin and unbelief? Why would you ever cut yourselves off from the Risen Christ by neglecting His Word and the Holy Communion?

There is no real life in this world apart from a life lived as a baptized child of God who lives by faith in Christ's Word. Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life". Through faith in Christ as your Savior from sin and death, you have eternal life already. And because the crucified Christ lives forever, never to die again, and has had all authority in heaven and on earth given into His hands, that means you can take His Words as perfect, unalterable truth, and you can say, "Of course I don't know how a bit of water and a few words can wash away all my sins, but of course I can trust Jesus when He says that Baptism saves me. Of course I don't know how bread can be the true body of Jesus Christ, and wine can be the true blood of Christ, but of course it is true because the risen Lord Jesus has said it. Of course I cannot fathom my dead loved ones rising from the grave, but of course, Jesus has promised, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live".

In due course, you also will die, but if you have lived out a life of faith in Jesus as a member of Christ's Church and you have died a blessed death trusting in Christ, then in due course, you will rise again in the resurrection of the dead and enjoy the life of the world to come. As our Lord promised in our Epistle reading, "Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality".

The reason we can say, "Of course that will happen" is because the promise of resurrected eternal life comes from Mt. Calvary, where Jesus took the punishment for all our sins, and that promise comes from Easter morning, when the angel said, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said". Since Jesus Christ is risen and possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, now, whatever Jesus has said becomes a matter of course. So is His promise to forgive all of your sins and raise you to eternal life intended for you? Of course it is! Believe it! In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.