04/09/2023 Resurrection Responsiveness (Easter Sunday)- Audio Unavailable

Grace Place Atlanta COGBF 4700 Mitchell Street Forest Park, GA 30297 Website: atlantacogbf.org Email: info@atlantacogbf.org Phone: (404) 241-6781 Wayne D. Mack, Pastor / Pastor Wayne D. Mack Sermon Notes April 9, 2023 Resurrection Responsiveness ~ A Letter from God to Me and You Isaiah 53 1Who has believed our report? [Who has believed what we have heard? (CSB)] And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. Start Here: Happy Easter! Happy Resurrection Day! Every Easter presents a fresh opportunity for churches everywhere to focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ – that is, Christ’s coming back to life after defeating death, hell, and the grave – and then unselfishly extending that same privilege to all to experience a New Birth. Now, that’s what Easter is all about! We should never tire of celebrating the many blessings and benefits of the resurrection. Although Jesus’ resurrection should be an everyday reality – the Easter season just seems to invite preachers and congregations to be more focused and intentional about it. Likewise, with every passing Easter, it’s incumbent upon every saved or unsaved soul that is familiar with the message of Jesus’ birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection to search their own heart – in order to determine what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means to them personally. This morning, I want to read a personal letter from God entitled Resurrection Responsiveness. The letter is addressed to everyone here who has ever heard in their lifetime that Jesus was crucified and that He rose again. In a minute, I’m going to read the letter, but first let me give you some background of the letter’s content and intent. The letter explains who Jesus really was, what He came to Earth to do, how He was treated, and how He was viewed by people both then and now. Originally, God’s intent in the letter was and still is to show how cold, insensitive, and unresponsive people were toward the very Savior who was the only hope and rescuer of their doomed, dead-end lives. The letter is about mankind’s response, OUR response, or non-response to God for what He did through Jesus to give fallen man NEW LIFE and that MORE abundantly. So, in truth, the letter is about responding to the resurrection. And if you didn’t know – the resurrection is the final step in God’s plan to save man from a life of hopelessness and eternal hell. Now, you know! It was the supreme sign that Jesus got up after defeating all the powers of death, hell, and the grave. He did it for you and me so that we all could live forever and never have to die a second death. God’s Resurrection Letter spells out the importance of Jesus’ resurrection. It serves as a just-in-case measure to help those who might have missed the connection of how the resurrection ties to the cross, the shedding of blood, and eternal life. After Jesus was crucified on the cross and laid in the grave for three days – the proof of God’s power was in whether or not Jesus would or could be raised from the dead. Well, He was! He lives today. And for that reason, God demands from every man, woman, boy, and girl a response. That outcome – whether positive or negative – is called Resurrection Responsiveness. Resurrection Responsiveness means responding to God after hearing the Gospel TRUTH of Jesus’ life, purpose, death, and imminent resurrection – realizing that it was for you and me that He died and rose again. Many people over the ages have responded in faith and belief to the letter, but others in rejection. When anyone responds to the resurrection, they are responding to The Whole of Jesus – His life, His Love, His Purpose, His Humanity, His Hope, His Forgiveness, His Mistreatment and Brutality, His Rejection, His Mercy, His Longsuffering, His Forbearance, His Goodness, His Grace, His Obedience to Death, and His Salvation Plan! If Jesus hadn’t resurrected everything else would have folded. No resurrection, NO Peace, No Hope, No Salvation. More than 700 years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah penned a letter for God from God addressed to me and you [and a multitude of others] that asked some sobering questions and spelled out some heart wrenching details. In that Resurrection Letter, Isaiah’s charge was to provide a heads up of things to come. He was announcing in advance that a Savior was coming. He did this so that when such things as outlined in the letter came to full manifestation then you and I and everyone else in every generation would know how to respond. Isaiah’s Resurrection Letter was “A Call To All”. I have a copy of the letter and it’s addressed to each one of us personally. I’m confident that you also have a copy. It is found in Isaiah 53 . .. and it reads like this: (Isaiah is speaking to fellow prophets and future believers. . . Holy Greetings: 1 Who has believed our report? [Who has believed the message we have heard? (CSB)] [Who has responded to And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. Two key providential facts must be noted: The letter had to be written and delivered [it was], and the details of the letter – especially the resurrection – had to happen [it did]. Once these two things occurred, the only thing to be done was to respond. The resurrection was/is a sign that God through Jesus finished the work of salvation by paying the price with His life. Isaiah 53 spells it out. What is your response? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. What is your response? That is the question at the center of God’s letter written to the heart and soul of mankind. Imminent Response(s) . . . Matthew 27:50-54 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”. Everyone must one day reveal their response. What is your response to the resurrection. Make your response a positive one. Resurrection Responsiveness ~ A Letter from God to Me and You