Resurrection Sunday 2023
Resurrection Sunday 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
Introduction:
This morning like every morning we are given another opportunity to worship our great God. And what makes this morning in particular special is the fact that it is when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead throughout the world. “HE HAS RISEN”
This morning I not only want to walk through part of the resurrection story but also challenge each of us here this morning to, as the Bible puts it, “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
This morning will be broken up into three parts:
Part 1: What are we celebrating?
Part 2: What does this mean for us?
Part 3: What are we called to do in light of this truth?
Part 1: what we are celebrating
Part 1: what we are celebrating
The crucifixion of Christ was truly a dark time. As Kurt and Steven taught on for our Good Friday service, the events leading up to the crucifixion and the crucifixion itself was extremely brutal.
Jesus had been proclaiming the gospel throughout Israel for 3 years during His earthly ministry:
14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
All the while, what He was proclaiming was being confirmed through sign and wonders. Through miracles. Yet the Messiah was rejected...
Jesus would be wrongly accused by the Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, religious rulers, even by the high priest and the high priest’s father-in-law. And what boggles my mind is that He was accused and rejected by the very people who should have recognized Him to be the Messiah.
Jesus would even be betrayed by a close friend, Judas. And the rest of His disciples, men that He lived life with for 3 years, all fled from Him.
Jesus would endure so much, leading up to the cross: beatings, mockings, and whipping with leather thongs tipped with balls of metal and shards of bone. His skin was flayed off, and blood dripped off His head from the long thorns beaten into His scalp.
And this is just leading up to the crucifixion.
The cross itself was a whole other ordeal.
Jesus after going through all those beating was required to carry the instrument of His death. Which He would receive help from a man named Simon of Cyrene. After arriving Jesus would then be nailed to the cross. Once on the cross, He had the choice of resting His weight on the spikes driven into His hands or pushing up on the spikes in HIs feet and being able to breath.
How one would die on the cross was through asphyxiation… or also known as suffocation.
The people that celebrated Him a week earlier now taunt Him and mock Him while on the cross.
It says in John 19:30
30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
This is the greatest act of love. Nothing comes close to this moment.
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Yet here is the real kicker… We were not His friends… but His enemies. Because of our open rebellion against Him. That is what makes these two verses so incredible.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Family do you not see what the Word of God stated… We were sinners and as Colossians 1:21 we were also alienated and His enemies!
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
As to the question posed earlier: Today what are we celebrating and why? Here is the answer.
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—
We are celebrating the fact that the Son of God didn’t stay dead. But was resurrected three days later.
HE IS RISEN!
This is what we are celebrating.
Part 2: what does this mean for us
Part 2: what does this mean for us
I want us to see something really important, after Jesus was resurrected. He would reveal Himself to different people before meeting His disciples in Galilee. Two of His followers were on their way to a village called Emmaus. Let’s look at this passage:
15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19 And He said to them, “What things?”
So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”
Cleopas stated was what was believed by the disciples, “He who was going to redeem Israel.” They thought Jesus was going to establish Israel as the ruling nation of the whole earth. And that they would be given authority, ruling and reigning alongside Jesus. They did not realize that He had not come to physically redeem Israel, but spiritually redeem the whole world.
This is still a common occurrence that still happens to this day. Misunderstand the true purpose of why Jesus came to the earth.
From the very beginning, all the way back to Genesis 1 and God creating all things. He knew that mankind specifically Adam would sin against Him. It wasn’t a surprise for God. Because He is God He knew what He was doing… shocking I know.
God would send His Son Jesus Christ to the earth to restore the relationship between God and man. Why did it need to be restored?
Family, it didn’t take us long at all to rebel and trespass against God. In fact in the Bible it only took us three chapters before all of mankind steeped in sin.
Sin means: Missing the mark. [[Example of God’s perfect standard and our attempt]]
Easter Sunday is a day that we get to celebrate not only the resurrection of Jesus but also the Gospel message.
Gospel means: the good news. For us Christians it is the good news unto salvation.
What is the Gospel:
What is the Gospel:
(Accountability)Everybody is accountable to God:
Genesis 1:1 is crucial for us to understand, thankfully it’s quite simple. God is the Creator of all things. Therefore as His created beings we are accountable to God.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The way that God reveals Himself to us today is through His Word. And what you have is truly the preserved Word of God. And what it says about who God is essential for us to grasp and understand.
6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Not only is God merciful and gracious. He is also righteous and just. And this is where we segue into our next point.
(Bad News)Everybody has sinned against God:
The Bible tells us:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
I don’t have to much of arguement to reveal that there is something terribly wrong with mankind and the world. Why do we have to teach our children to be good and they are already seem to know how to be evil?
The Bible goes on to explain:
Romans 6:23a (NKJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death,
Each and everyone of us has sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. A quick test:
Have we ever told a lie? liar.
Have we every stolen something? thief.
Have we ever taken the Lord’s name in vain? blasphemer.
Have we ever look at someone and lusted after them in our hearts? adulterer.
By our own admission we are lying thieving blasphemers and adulterers at heart. If we were to stand before God on would we be innocent or guilty? Guilty! but guilty of what?
Eternal separation from God in hell. This is some terrible news, isn’t it?
But that is what makes this next point so precious.
(Good News)Jesus died on the cross for your sins… and was resurrected three days later:
This third point is the heart of the Gospel. After all this is the greatest news we could ever be given. Jesus Christ the Son of God. The only person who was truly innocent and pure, died on the cross for you and I.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
What does it mean to believe in Him?
First it means to repent and repentance is so much more than just being sorry. Too often we are only sorry because we got caught. True repentance means to turn from our sin. To do a 180 degree turn away from where we were going.
Jesus upon that cross took all the punishment that would have taken us an eternity in hell to repay. And He did that for you so that you might have an opportunity to live in a right relationship with God.
Believe and confess: The Bible states in Romans 10:9-13
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
(Hope) For those who believe and confess… They have a living hope of being with God forever in perfect communion.
We not only get to have our sins forgiven and covered… as the Bible declares that our sin is as far as the east is from the west. We get to be apart of God’s kingdom and that doesn’t start when we die and are with Him. It starts the moment we are saved.
And we will truly be with Him forever and ever.
(Response) What are you going to do with that message?
The Bible tells us in in 2 Corinthians 6:2
2 For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
It isn’t a prayer that saves a person but true repentance, belief, and confession. Each and everyone of us has been called by God to repent and turn from our sin and turn to God through Jesus Christ.
I want to give anyone who would like to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior for the first time to raise your hand.
This is because God’s Word states:
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
[I am going to challenge you: raise your hand]
I want to lead you in a pray… again the prayer isn’t what saves but the submission to Christ:
“Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus, to die on the cross for my sin. I, here and now confess that I am a sinner, and that I need your Son to be saved. I repent of my sin. And place my hope and trust in Jesus Christ your Son. And your Word says, if I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead… I will be saved. I confess and believe. Amen.”
I also want to give those of you who have in the past made a commitment to Jesus Christ but are not living up to your calling. You have backslidden and many of us have been there… it is a miserable place to be in.
We are a family here and want to make sure that our family is doing okay. There is no judgement, after all we all desperately need Jesus. But if you are backslidden and need to repent will you raise your hand?
I just want to lead you in a prayer. You are already saved. But I know that it can be hard to find the words to say:
“Father forgive me of the mess i’ve made. I repent of my sins, and I know that you are faithful and just to forgive me of my sins. Thank you for never leaving me or forsaking me. I give you myself once again. Amen.”
Communion:
Communion:
[Worship Team]
This morning we not only get to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection but we also get to remember what He has done for us through His death. And there is nothing more exciting I get to do with you all then to partake in holy communion with you all.
If you still haven’t made a decision for Christ this morning, please refrain from taking communion as it is an ordinance for believers. And if you are saved… yet still unrepentant there is no better time then to do that now… and get right with God while remembering what He has done for us.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
[Bread]
[Cup]
Part 3: The Challenge
Part 3: The Challenge
I want to leave you with this challenge.
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things.
49 “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
It is not shocking that the followers of Christ at His ascension were bewildered and awestruck. That is why these angels stated:
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
My point is that Jesus will return the same way He arrived and as believers we are to be stirred be be obedient to what He has called us to do:
“He said to them, ‘repentance and remission of sins should be preached in Him name to all nations.” or in as Matthew states:
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Family this is our call this is our mission.
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’