What the Resurrection Means for Me

Matthew 28:10 ESV

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Today, we who are of the Christian faith, recognize a very significant event. And that event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, this event, the resurrection of Jesus, He raising Himself from the dead through His own power is indeed a significant event… but how significant is it?

Well, I don’t know if I can rightly measure how significant the resurrection of Jesus is, all I can say is that it is literally the most significant event that has ever taken place in the entire course of history.

But what does this event mean for those of us who are Christians? What does it mean for those who are not Christians? What is it that we as Christians should do because of this event? And what is it that non-Christians should do because of this event?

I hope that God graciously enables me to answer all four of these questions today, in our Easter message, as it is my hope and my desire to bring forth to you, the plain, straightforward, politically incorrect, God glorifying Gospel of Jesus Christ today.

When we look at our reading for today; Matthew 28:10, and the verses that come before it, we see that a whole lot has happened in just a few short verses.

Humanity had done its worst and crucified the Lord of Glory, the sinless Son of God. His body was then removed from the cross on which was He crucified, and then laid in a tomb. It seemed like this was the end of Jesus of Nazareth.

But then three days later, Jesus raises Himself from the dead. And when He had risen, an angel of God descended from Heaven and rolled away the giant stone that had guarded the tomb.

When this happened, the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb from potential invaders trembled with fear, fell to the ground, and then lay there as though they were dead.

But when three of Jesus’ followers; Mary Magdalene, another woman named Mary, and Salome, the mother of James and John came to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, they too saw this angel of God. The stone had been rolled away and the angel was sitting upon it.

And if you look back at verse 5 of this 28thchapter of Matthew, you’ll notice that this angel tells these women to not be afraid.

Well, after going away from this angel, the resurrected Jesus appears to them! Literally standing before them in His resurrected body! And at this they fall at His feet and worship Him.

But then, as we see in the beginning of our reading for this morning, Jesus tells these women what the angel had already told them, when He says to these women:

*Matthew 28:10a ESV

10a …Do not be afraid

Jesus tells these women to not be afraid… But why would they be afraid? Well, in answering this question, we will also answer the question that I asked earlier when I asked what the resurrection of Jesus means for those who are not Christians.

You see, being born in sin, man is naturally estranged from God because sin and evil in general is the polar opposite of God. And because sin and evil are the opposite of God, God is then opposed to sin and evil, and sin and evil is opposed to God.

Well, like I said, everyone is born in sin and is naturally evil, therefore, everyone who is born is naturally opposed to God and God is naturally opposed to everyone who is born.

Now, the only way that someone can go from being opposed to God to being saved by God is if God graciously gives that person a new heart i.e. becomes a Christian.

So, this tells us that the only way we can be saved by God is if we become a Christian.

Now, with Jesus rising from the dead, this tells us that He defeated death, and that ultimately, He will win in the end.

So, when we ask what the resurrection means to those who are not Christians and who will die not being Christians, we can say that the resurrection seals their fate.

We can confidently say that because they are opposed to God and God is opposed to them, and because God proved through the resurrection of Jesus that He will ultimately prevail, that they will then perish for eternity unless they become saved by God by becoming Christians.

So, those who are not saved certainly have good reason to be afraid.

But Jesus tells these women in our reading to not be afraid. Now, these women were just as human as we are today and like I said, humanity is naturally opposed to God and God is naturally opposed to humanity, so why should they not be afraid?

Well, the brief answer to this question is because they were Christians.

You see, the reason why the non-Christian should fear the fact that Jesus rose from the dead is because it means that God wins. And the reason why the saved Christian should not fear the fact that Jesus rose from dead is because it means… that God wins.

You see, what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means to the one who is saved is that the salvation that Jesus gave to you is not just wishful thinking, it means that what He said He was going to, He did.

It means that when He says that He will save you when you place your trust in Him, that He will indeed save you, and He raising Himself from the dead backs up every word of that as it shows that He has the power to do what He says He will do.

And so, for those of us who are saved, though we are naturally opposed to God and God is naturally opposed to us, still, because we are saved, we no longer have to be afraid, because God has reconciled us to Himself.

And so, for those of us who are truly born-again Christians, the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t mean, “Oh no! God wins!” it means, “Hallelujah! God wins!”

So, for the non-Christian, the resurrection means, “Be afraid” but for the saved, born-again Christian, the resurrection means, “I now have nothing to fear!”

So, now that we’ve answered what the resurrection means to those who are saved and to those who are not saved, we now ask, what should those who are saved do about it, and also, what should those who are not saved do about it.

Well, in order to answer what those who are saved should do about the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead, let’s look at what Jesus told these three women to do once they themselves were made aware of this fact.

Jesus told these women:

*Matthew 28:10b ESV

10b go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Jesus tells these women, “Now that you have heard the news that I have risen from the dead, now that you have seen with your own two eyes that I have risen from the dead, tell someone about it!”

Like I said a little bit ago, for the Christian, the resurrection of Jesus means that God has graciously given you new life. New, spiritual, eternal life.

In a nutshell, it means that you have been changed completely, that you are a brand-new person.

And so, just like these women, the command that Jesus gives to us is, “Tell someone about it!”

Tell someone that what absolutely no one else could do for you, God did! And tell that person that what God did for you, He can do for them, and that He sent you to tell them that.

So, what we who are saved should do about the fact that Jesus has raised Himself from the dead is tell someone else about it.

But what should the non-Christian, the unsaved person, the one who is still opposed to God do about the fact that Jesus has raised Himself from the dead?

The same thing that all of us who are Christians today did when we heard about it: believe and repent.

If there be any among us here this morning who is not a saved, born-again Christian, or if there be any watching today who is not a saved, born-again Christian, when I say believe, what I mean is believe not only that Jesus raised Himself from the dead, but also believe that He is powerful enough to save even you from the eternal consequences of yoursin.

And if there be any among us here this morning who is not a saved, born-again Christian, or if there be any watching today who is not a saved, born-again Christian, when I say repent, what I mean is recognize the fact that you are naturally opposed to God and that God is naturally opposed to you and regret that you have ever been opposed to such a good and holy God and beg Him to reconcile you to Himself.

And so, if that is you today, if you have heard these words, if you have heard about the glorious truth that Jesus has raised Himself from the dead, then believe it my friend, and repent by repeating after me in prayer…

(Prayer)

*Lord’s Supper Image

For those of you who prayed that prayer in faith, believing, then right now you have the unspeakable privilege of partaking in the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is not just something that Christians do; it is an ordinance of the Church. What that means is that it is something that Jesus Himself has ordained, has commanded those who believe to partake in.

And when a believer in Christ partakes in the Lord’s Supper, the Lord effectively and graciously blesses us and increases our faith in Him, thus feeling more confident in His power and more assured in our salvation.

Therefore, for those of us here today who believe, the Lord invites you to take part in His Supper, to receive, to benefit, to be drawn closer in communion with Him.

The original Lord’s Supper is recorded for us in all four Gospels. And in Matthew’s Gospel, it tells us:

*Matthew 26:26 KJV

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

Beloved, let us take and eat…

And in the following two verses, we read:

*Matthew 26:27-28 KJV

27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Beloves, let us too, drink…

* O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above