2024-03-31 Easter

2024-03-31 What Does Easter Mean?

Intro: Does Easter mean, wearing a new change of clothes? Ham for lunch, Easter Egg hunt with the kiddos?

Link: Those are all fun things to do in celebration of Christ, but they aren’t the real meaning of Easter. Let's take a look at some phrases about Easter, to see what it is all about.

I. The Sacred As Sacrifice

Isaiah 53:1–11 (NKJV)

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the (powerful) 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.

(There was nothing to attract us to 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.

(We didn't care)

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.

(What happened to Him, was not due to His fault, but His love because of our helplessness to overcome our sin on our own)

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.

He was silent, “… as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). When they beat Him, He said nothing; when they nailed Him to the cross, He did not whimper. But when God forsook Him, He roared like a lion. It was a roar of pain.

J. Vernon McGee

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.

This man underwent this for you and me b/c He loved us, b/c there was no other way for us to be made right with God.

What good can you do to be made right with God? Nothing.

Until you come to that realization, you are destined for eternal separation from Him.

II. The Mortal Reborn Immortal

Mark 10:34 “and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And on the third day, He will rise again.”

This is the third time that Jesus told them that he would be killed and rise again on the third day.

Mark 8:31 “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Mark 9:31 “For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”

Before we judged them to quick. We most likely would have don the same thing.

Under pressure

Under stress

How many times do we go through a situation and afterwards, we say, “oh man, if only I would have done what the Bible said to do or why didn't I pray about it. Why in the moment did I forget to pray?”

III. The Fulfillment of a promise

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

IV. Though We May Run, He Pursues

2 Peter 3:9 …not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

John 4, the women at the well

Acts 9, Saul on the road to Damascus

You May Run but Jesus Pursues – How will you respond?

Instead of running away from life, we should run to God and let Him make life worth living.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Although W.W. is talking about not running from life, the same can be said about running from the one who gives us everlasting life.

V. Thought We May Betray, He is Faithful

Sometimes we betray Christ, but he is willing and ready to forgive. Judas betrayed Christ, if only he would have gone to God and asked for forgiveness. No sin is beyond God’s forgiveness.

VI. The Judge of My Soul Has Become The Lover of My Soul

Revelation 20:11-15 - Paraphrased - Great White throne judgment, sea, and hell even gave up its dead and all, small and great stood before God and he judged them. Whoever wasn’t written in the Book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

God will judge all one day

Unsaved at GWTJ, a judged like in a court that finds you guilty. Then sentencing you to eternal separation from God in Hell.

Saved, judged, not as a judge in a court but a judge in a competition to see how well you did and what your reward will be.

VII. What was the Pain of My Suffering, became the Joy of His Suffering

I was hell bound but because of His suffering & love for you, he now has joy in His suffering because you have believed in Him and now have eternal life.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

VIII. The Creator who has known my Sin is now the Savior who calls me a Friend

John 15: (9-17) 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

IX. No Longer Etched on Two Stones, His Law Now Written in Our Hearts

Romans 2:14–15 “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them”

X. No Longer live by Rule Keeping, We Now are Guided By Spirit Leading

Moses the lawgiver was given the 10 commandments from God directly. But today:

John 14:15-16 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.

Hebrews 13:6 The Lord is my helper…

XI. Death Defeated, Hope Restored, Life Renewed, Summoned as Heirs

1 Cor. 15:55-56 “O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Righteousness delivers from the sting of death, but not from the stroke of it.

Matthew Henry

Death stung himself to death when he stung Christ.

William Romaine

XII. To Live Humbly in the knowledge I am Bought with a Price, I am crucified with Christ

1 Cor. 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

XIII. Once Condemned by Mosaic Law, Now commissioned by Christ’s Love

Adam Clarke: “The strength of sin is the law. The law of God forbids all transgression and sentences those who commit it to temporal and eternal death. Sin has its controlling and binding power from the law. The law curses the transgressor, and provides no help for him; and if nothing else intervenes, he must, through it, continue ever under the empire of death.”

John 8:1-12 – Paraphrased – Adulterous women caught in act brought to Jesus. The law says to stone her. But Jesus came to overcome the law which had no mercy and grace. Jesus said he who has no sin can throw the first stone to kill her. We are all alike, we aren’t worthy of being a judge. But He was and he had compassion and forgiveness because he was compassion and forgiveness because of what He was going to do, what he did do, dying on the cross and conquering sin and the law.

The Law showed them they were not good enough on their own, Jesus showed them He was good enough on His own to conquer our sin.

XIV. To End religion, Preach Redemption of sins forgiven, for Christ has Risen

Religions such as Catholicism, Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Bhai Faith, JW, Scientology, Christian Science… All of them are just that, a religion.

It’s not about religion. Satan is tricking billions into thinking it is about our actions towards a god.

It’s not, it’s actually about our reaction towards thee God, the Son of God, Jesus and reacting to His death on the cross, accepting Him. Romans 10:9 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.

· Preach it!

· Christ is Risen!

Matthew 28 1-6 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone [a]from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. 5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Then it says they went and told others. We need to also go and tell others like they did, with great fear and great joy.

How about you, have you given up on religion and been forgiven in a relationship with Jesus Christ? Or are you coming Easter Sunday and hoping God sees that as good enough to let you into heaven? Or are you attending most Sundays, reading your Bible Monday, praying Tuesday, and hoping you’ll have a spot in Heaven? It doesn’t work that way. Romans 10:9: Confess, believe, and be saved. A,B,C.