Resurrection Sunday: Fulfilling The Plan of Salvation

Good morning, happy Resurrection day, First fruits, Easter, or whatever you want to call it. I think the most fitting is definitely Resurrection day…as that is what we are celebrating this morning. What an honor it is to bring you God’s Word today. This is our 2nd Easter together…so that is good. I will let you in on a little secret, there is a lot of pressure on pastors to preform well on Easter Sunday…not only that, but to find a way to present the story of the resurrection in a unique way that no one has ever heard…well, good luck with that I say! It’s easy for churches to get caught up in putting on a show on these major holidays-rather than keeping their focus on whats important…so, that’s what we are going to do this morning, focus on what is important.

This week, I want to focus on the covenant aspect of the death and resurrection of Christ. Most of us are well aware that Christ was born, died and rose again…that’s pretty standard Christian stuff…but many of us do not know or we do not think about the significance of the covenant aspect of Christ.

LET’S PRAY!

Part 1: The Plan In Action

Hundreds of years ago, on July 24, 1725 a guy named John was born. Early in John’s life his mother, who was a very devout Christian died of tuberculosis. John’s father, also named John was a ship captain for England. It is said that growing up, John was a very disobedient child. His father was always gone at sea, often for months at a time. When John got old enough, be began to take to the seas with his dad. John loved sailing, it’s where he felt at home. In 1745, when John was only 20 years old, he was a crew member on the H. M.S. Harwich, a ship out of England. The ship was headed to the West Indies. Upon approaching their docking site a huge storm rose up and damaged the ship terribly. When the storm died down, the captain sent John and some other member of the crew to take the life boats and row a shore. When John reached the shore, they were attacked. John was taken captive, he was shackled and forced to live as a slave for a year. During this year, he underwent terrible cruelty. His captors were eventually forced to give him up when his dad sent out a search party to look for him. According to the story, upon arriving back at England, he was stripped of his rank from the Navy and publicly flogged for desertion…even though he had been held captive, against his will. Later in his life, when John would write about this experience, he said that it was during this time he decided he wanted nothing to do with God, so he set out to live as sinful a life as possible and to pay back society for the way he had been treated.

Fast forward a couple of years, John was able to secure his own ship, sailing in service of the crown of England. Now, back in those days, what career could a guy choose to inflict the most damage on people…the captain of the Greyhound, a slave trading vessel. John was responsible to sailing to Africa, capturing the Africans, men, women, kids, whoever they could get their hands on and bring them back to England or the newly emerging colonies in North America. John was good at his job. Later on, when recalling these years of his life, he said that the women slaves were treated the worse and were often raped during the entire journey. John went on to say that during these years, he had absolutely 0 conviction that what he was doing was wrong.

All of this would begin to change on March 21, 1748 as violent storm broke out along the coast of Southern Africa. John’s ship, the Greyhound was caught up in this storm. The ship was badly damaged and no matter how much the crew tried to bale, the water just kept pouring in. In addition, the wind was so bad, John was unable to steer the vessel, as the wind would blow him away from the wheel. He had his crew tie his hands to the wheel. It was during this storm that John began to rethink some of his life choices and later remarked that it was during these hours that he first believed that God was real.

Eventually, John would become a pastor and a song writer. When taking about his former life, John would often refer to himself as a wretch…which was the lowest of the low back then. In 1772, as John was looking back on his life as a slave trader, he began to write what would become his most famous hymn. John died at 82 years old in 1807, the same year England passed its ban on slave trading. This was due in large part to John Newton who wrote a book detailing the horrors of the practice of slave trading. As John was getting older and loosing his memory, he said: I can only remember 2 things: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.

These are the words that John wrote down in 1772:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now I'm found Was blind but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come This grace that brought me safe thus far And grace will lead me home

I’m sure you all recognize the song Amazing Grace. It was written by John Newton in 1772. I will be the first to admit that I have done some pretty low down dirty stuff back in the day, but I do not hold a candle to John Newton. Why or how could God choose to redeem a soul like John Newton?

1 Corinthians 15:9–11 (NASB 95)

9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Apostle Paul understood the limitlessness of God’s grace, offered up to those who open the door to His knocking. Paul calls himself “the chief of all sinners” in

1 Timothy 1:15 (NASB 95)

15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Just like my question about John Newton, why would God choose a guy like Saul of Tarsus to spread the message of salvation? Because God is in the business of offering life to those who offer up death to everyone around them? You see, God did not choose John Newton or Paul or you and I because we have somehow earned his grace. I think this is why many people struggle with the idea of a “terrible” person making a confession of faith at the end of their lives. They think: How can all of that bad stuff be erased, just because the person is perhaps, all of a sudden afraid of dying. How could the Lord forgive that person, yet, take another person who was kind and generous, faithful to their spouse…yet was unwilling to submit their life to Christ…one person seemingly hurt no one, or at least did so in a minimal way, while the first person caused all manner of destruction throughout their life. The one who caused destruction goes to heaven, while the other doesn’t. Society in general looks at that and calls it “unfair” and unjust…and according to human standards, it does appear so....but there is an important distinctions between the two people: one accepted the unconditional grace, provided by the cross, the other did not. This is why we say that the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ provides unconditional grace…because a person does not have to earn it by being good enough.

In order for us to understand what the death and Resurrection of Christ meant to the early church, we must readjust the way we look at the plan of salvation. I’m not saying that the traditional way of looking at the resurrection is wrong, at all. Perhaps though, the resurrection of Christ would have meant something different to the very early Jewish Christians…perhaps the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ held a different significance, one that is largely lost to us today.

Part II: Pre-Planning

Way back when the Bible was officially divided between the period before Christ and the letters written after Christ, the men who made the cannon titled the pre-Christ era the Old Testament, then labeling the letters written after Christ was born the New Testament. We may not think much of that, but the men used the word testament for a very specific reason: the O.T. word for covenant and the N.T. word for covenant are both translated as testament. In other words, we could easily refer to the Bible as the O.C. and the N.C. -this would actually be considered more accurate than using the word testament. So, where did the idea of God making a covenant with man come from?

Genesis 3

I’m not going to take the time to read it, but it is included in the list of scriptures in the hand-out. In Genesis Chapter 3, we can read the story of the fall of man. After Adam and Eve chose to eat of the tree that God commanded them to stay away from, God put a curse on the man and woman. Why did He do this? God did this because the man and woman disobeyed God, Adam and Eve became ashamed. Because of this curse, man was separated from God. This did not catch God by surprise, God is all knowing, from the beginning of time, until the end of time. God knew that Adam and Eve would choose wrongly. From that point forward, God began, what we refer to as the plan or covenant of salvation…a way to bridge the gap between the creation and the creator. So, what exactly is a covenant?

(Covenant)

A covenant is a legally binding agreement between two parties. It is often solemnized or ratified by an oath or other means and usually places demands on one or both parties.

A solemn agreement or promise, sometimes confirmed by sacrifice or by sharing in a meal, by which two or more parties commit themselves to the rights and responsibilities demanded by their relationship and their agreed course of action, and accept the serious consequences of breaking faith.

We see the first signs of this with Noah:

Genesis 9:11

11 I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

After God flooded the earth, He made a covenant with Noah, that he would never again use water to destroy the earth. A few hundred years pass and along comes Abraham. Abraham was the next step the the covenant of salvation.

Genesis 12: 1-3

“1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.””

Then, in Genesis 17 we see that God’s covenant with Abraham is not just about Abraham, rather, it’s about establishing a lineage.

Genesis 17:1-2

“1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.””

Genesis 17:6-10

“6 “I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. 7 I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.”

So, God establishes a covenant with Abraham and gives him a new name. This one is different than the covenant God made with Noah and is the next step in His plan of salvation for man. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a nation…a nation that will be blessed by God and although not known by anyone but God at the time, God is establishing a royal lineage by which the eventual new covenant will be fulfilled.

A lot of time goes by, in fact Abraham did have Isaac, who had Jacob-who fathered what we know as the 12 tribes of Israel. Honestly, the Jewish people really grew to a large population, not in Israel, but in Egypt.

Once Jacob has his kids, about 500 years go by, and we see the introduction of Moses-the next person that God uses to advance his plan of salvation for man. Now, I say God’s plan of salvation for man, but the only reason I can say that is because we have the benefit of hindsight. At the time, God was establishing a people and a nation unto himself.

So, Moses was born by a Jewish woman, but was raised in Pharaoh's household. God then uses Moses to set the Jewish people free, as they had become slaves to Egypt.

Exodus 19: 3-8

“3 Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.”

God has now separated a people unto Himself, the covenant he mad with Abraham has now come to fruition.

Now, there are 2 important things for us to understand about the covenant between God and Israel. First, in order to restore a relationship between God and His people, their sin must be cleansed. In order for this to happen, God instructed His people to make animal sacrifices, but not just any animal, the animal had to be without any blemishes. It had to be the best out of the entire flock. In this way, God is having a person sacrifice something of value, in order to keep up their end of the covenant.

Hebrews 9:22

“22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Also, is that the same covenant God made with the people of Israel in Exodus was the same covenant God made with Abraham long before. Secondly, and one of the most important things to understand about the covenant in the O.T. is that God would instruct the people to have different feast and festivals, to help them remember important events in their history. God instituted many of these, including, what we refer to as “passover.” God commanded the people of Israel to celebrate Passover to help them remember how God freed them from their Egyptian captivity. This festival was one of, if not the most important festivals. Within this celebration there is a lot of symbolism. The purpose of the symbols, like the killing of the passover lamb, was to help the people reflect on God’s deliverance…but there was also a more important purpose…to point forward toward the future covenant that God was putting in place slowly over time.

Do not forget, when man fell in the garden, that made a permanent separation between the creator and His creation. The covenant is God reestablishing relationship with His creation.

So, after God establishes the Nation of Israel, the people establish a kingdom. This is where we see King David become one of the most important figures in the entire Bible. There is a reason for this, because it is through David that God will establish the next plan in His plan of salvation.

In the book of 2nd Samuel, God promises David that his family line will always have a seat on the throne of Israel. God also hints at the future plan of bringing forward a king that will free Israel from all of their enemies, permanently.

Anyone familiar with the O.T. can see the trap that the Israelite people get into. The people will rebel against God, so God punishes them. God will bring forward a person to help deliver them from their problems…so the people will repent. After long though, the people begin to rebel again. Then, going forward in time, we come to the book of Jer. Here, God speaks through the prophet, reminding the people of the covenant God made with them, and pointing them to the future.

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

“31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””

The prophet Jeremiah, as I said, was pointing the people of Israel toward a new covenant. In addition to this, throughout the O.T. we see references to a coming King that will free Israel from their foreign captors and set them free. The people of Israel, despite their disobedience as a whole, always had a small remnant of people that stayed true to and did their best to honor their covenant with Yahweh. Mind you, sometimes this “group” was one person, while other times it was a larger number-but God always kept someone around that could help point the way forward.

PART III: The Significance of the New Covenant

By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Israel had been held captive by the Romans (who occupied their land) for around 400 years and just as before, a remnant of Jews, looking forward to the new covenant was still around. Most of the Jews, however, even the ones who had been studying the O.T. scriptures for decades had no idea what this new covenant would look like. They knew that God had promised to send someone to free them, but their idea of freedom was very limited, compared to the type of freedom that God was offering.

Jesus now enters the scene and from the very beginning, the small remnant began to recognise that this Jesus was different. For example, when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple as a baby to make the required sacrifices, two people, Simeon and Anna were there and spoke over Jesus.

Luke 2: 26-32

“26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.””

At the age of 30, Jesus entered public ministry, gathering disciples. We must remember though, not only was Jesus raised Jewish, but all of his disciples were Jewish and viewed the world and God’s plan for the world through Jewish eyes. A sizeable portion of Jesus’s ministry on this earth was trying to show the religious leaders that through Him, God was enacting this New Covenant…bringing about God’s plan of salvation for man whose seeds were sown way back in the garden of eden when man was separated from God.

As Jesus neared His death, He met with his disciples to celebrate the passover…the festival that celebrated Israel being freed from Egyptian slavery. Of course, his disciples did not understand the significance of Jesus being the passover lamb. Regardless, Jesus began speaking about this new covenant openly.

Luke 22: 14-20

“14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

It wasn’t until after Jesus died, rose from the grave and ascended to heaven that the people would begin to understand the significance of what this new covenant meant for mankind. We know this because even Peter, after Jesus rose from the dead, thought that Jesus was going to free Israel from Roman rule. In addition, those who followed Jesus really did not understand that this new covenant would include Gentiles, those who were not Jewish.

When Jesus offered himself up to be a sacrifice, He was saying: I am willing to lay down my life, my sinless, spotless, blameless life, in order to be the perfect sacrifice, in order to fulfill the obligations of the original covenant. Under the old covenant, the animal, no matter how perfect it was, had no choice in the matter. The person took the animals life. Under the New Covenant, Jesus gave His live, willingly laid it down and shed His blood. In addition, in the old covenant, once the animal was dead, that was it. Another animal would have to be chosen for the next sacrifice. This is one of the reasons why the resurrection of Christ is so important…not only did the perfect sacrifice willingly law down His life, but the curse of death, which was a result of the fall of man, had no power of Christ.

The great thing about the New Covenant, is that you and I get to be a part of it…no longer are certain people excluded based upon where they were born or what family they come from. Not only that, after Christ rose from the dead, before He went back to be with His father, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit…who is an important part of this new covenant.

John 16: 7-11

“7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

After Jesus left earth, we see the Apostle Paul enter onto the scene. Paul was a trained pharisee and had a good understanding of the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. All throughout his writings, Paul talks about the “law,” which is part of the old covenant verses faith in Christ, which is what the new covenant is all about.

Galatians 3:23-29

“23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

The reason that we set apart a particular Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Christ is because we are taking time to recognise the importance of the New Covenant. This new covenant is the fulfillment of the covenant that God established with Abraham thousands of years prior. Throughout scripture we see God pointing the way to the coming Messiah…the perfect sacrifice that will restore what was lost back in the garden of eden when man fell. It is the blood of Christ that provided forgiveness for our sins in concert with the resurrection of Christ which destroyed the curse of death…so that all who believe will have eternal life.

1 Cor. 15: 20-22

“20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

Conclusion:

For you and I today, we have the tendency to view the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ through a very individualistic lens…which it it. Christ died so that each person can have salvation, but for most of the early Jewish converts, including the disciples and Paul, the plan of salvation represented something much larger than themselves…it represented a new covenant, God sent his Son to die and rise again in order to usher in a greater plan, a more powerful covenant. Because we tend to view salvation so individually, we also view our relationship with God the same way…not as part of a covenant, which includes others…that’s why we hear people say “that’s between me and God,” way too often.

To end today, I would like to read a portion of Hebrews 8 and First Cor. 15. I believe that they really drive home the importance of what I’m trying to convey.

Hebrews 8: 7-11

“7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. 11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them.”

1 Cor. 15: 12-19

“12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 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. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

For those in this room or those who might watch this online, are you a part of this new covenant. The Bible says that you can be a part if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Christ died for your sins and was raised from the dead…then you are a part of God’s plan, God’s new covenant for man. You need to let someone know, as a big part of the New Covenant is living that life with other believers.

Let’s Pray!