He is Risen!

Intro

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It is a message that has been told many times before, especially this Sunday every year. We may have heard the message before many many times and you may not want to hear it again. Maybe you have not really heard it. Today is a special day, it is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of the one true God Jesus Christ. So whether you have heard it before or not, I challenge you to listen and learn what we can from the life of Jesus. Or maybe just be encouraged by the message of Jesus which is what we call the message of the gospel.

There are 4 accounts we have of the resurrection of Jesus and they all seem to differ slightly in the order things happened. to the point where some people discount the accounts because of it. Muslims, athiests and many others say the gospel accounts are not true, in part because of the differences in between the accounts. They say that it could not have possibly happened.

But we say that The Gospels were written from different perspectives, like eyewitness testimonies. Core truths agree: Jesus lived, died, rose again. Minor differences in detail actually support authenticity—fabricated stories tend to be too perfectly consistent.

I was looking up an example of this. For example the battle of Waterloo differs in account between 3 different countries that were involved.

In 1815, the famous Battle of Waterloo changed the course of European history. Three major powers fought: the British, the French, and the Prussians. All three witnessed the same battle, but the way they told the story was very different.

The British praised Wellington and portrayed him as the heroic mastermind who saved Europe.

The French, led by a humiliated Napoleon, blamed poor communication, bad weather, or even betrayal for their defeat.

The Prussians said that if they hadn't shown up, Wellington would have lost—and they saw themselves as the real heroes.

Each side told the story in a way that put themselves in the best light. They all saw the same battlefield, but walked away with different versions of what happened.

If 10 people witnessed an account of something that happened and they all came back remembering the exact same thing and the exact same details, most people would be a little concerned that they where lying. But we can know for sure, the differing in the accounts is an okay example of people remembering different parts of the different events. What we need to learn in the accounts of the life and death of Jesus is that He came to live and die and rise again so that we could be born again in Him.

Jesus resurrection shows us that we must give our lives to Him so that we can one day rise to meet Him and be with Him. This is the message of the gospel we have recieved, that changes our ife and we need to tell others. This is the good news, He has risen!

The message of the resurrection the message of Jesus all who Jesus is and what He atught is what we call the gospel. So in order to undertsand what Easter means we need to go back little bit to before when Jesus died.

Jesus Christ was "delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). A dead Savior cannot save anybody. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is as much a part of the Gospel message as His sacrificial death on the cross (1 Cor. 15:1-8). In fact, in the Book of Acts, the church gave witness primarily to the Resurrection

so the resurrection of Jesus, as he told his disciples, the is all about access to the K of G. Through the life of Jesus we are told of the beauty and how to have access to the k of G. so we are going to look into what Jesus taught someone who was questioning life.

Born Again

We start a little before Jesus died and rose again to what he taught. We meet a pharisee called Nicodemus. The Pharisee’s questioned Jesus, they did not like Him as he challenged their false teachings. They were trying to see him dead. He was an upper middle class man who belonged to the very conservative politically minded group.

He had seen the signs that Jesus had performed and he had come for an interview to see more about this guy who did all the amazing things. Nicodemus admitted that he had to have come from God, for only God could have done the things that He has done. now we move to Jesus reply.

John 3:3 ESV

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

What it all comes down to then is entrance into the Kingdom of God.Jesus died and rose again so that we could have a way to enter the Kingdom of God. This is why we celebrate the Easter Sunday. You can not know or see the Kingdom of God unless you are born again.

What it comes down to though is How do we gain entrance into the Kingdom of God.

Many people think that as long as they are good enough then that will gain us entrance into God’s eternal Kingdom. But what the bible says is that our own righteous acts are like menstrual rags to God. Though Good acts are important, and God calls for our faith to be seen in our actions. But what the bible says is that good acts on there own are useless.

Some people don't care whether they make it into the K of G, but what they fail to realize is that Hell is not some eternal party with their friends, they wont be with any friends that make it there. The seeker sensitive movement has done a major disservice in replacing the gospel with some watered down clone of the true gospel.

Jesus went on to say a little more about the kingdom of God, he went on to prophecy about His own death

John 3:14–16 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You see, Jesus was always pointing to his death and resurrection. And that one must be born again in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for it is by Jesus that we can be born again. This is what it means to be born again.

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

reminds us that again that due to the mercy of God (not something that we deserve) we are born again into a living hope. This is what it means to be born again The hope that we have is alive and causes us to turn to Jesus even in the hardest of circumstances. what Great hope that we have that we can be born again into the Kingdom of God, Not by anything that we have done but by what Jesus does through us. We become part of a different Kingdom, we are made new.

Jesus was teaching this as he led up to his death and resurrection. Let me tell a parable of sorts to help us understand this

suppose that in Canada, at all the airports and any entrance into the country whether by land, Sea or air Entrance could only be made by people who where born in Canada to Canadians. Suppose that any privilege we have here could only be obtained by the same way, being born in Canada by Canadian parents. You can not enjoy any offices or anything like that unless you where born in Canada. Suppose then that some man should come to the country then and ask to obtain the privileges of citizenship in Canada knowing the rules are absolute and cannot be altered, you must be a born citizen to enter. The man then says, I will change my name, I will take up the name of a Canadian and give up my name to be a Canadian subject, will that admit Him. He will come to the governing authorities and say, look, I have changed my name to a good christian (Christian in name) Canadian name will that now gain me entrance into your country. No that will not they will answer. You must be shut out. But I am prepared to become an Canadian in fashion (Christian in deed church, doing good things), I will give up my native dress and dress like you guys to enter your country. I renounce my native garments, I am a Canadian in dress as well as name. He will come to the gates but they are still shut, He can not enter for He was not born here. Well, says the man, I will not only adopt the dress but I will learn the language(Christian in the way you talk and the way you act sometimes but are without a Christian heart, rotten within though clean looking without). I will give up my accent and my mother language but I will speak as you speak and act as you act. I will adopt your language. May I then not enter in? No the gate keeper will say, you may not be admitted.

So to be born again means to give your life to Jesus, to believe in Him and therefore have access to the K of G. But first Jesus had to die and rise again.

The Timeline

Just picture being one of the disciples of Jesus. You had been doing some intense training with a man you have learned is the messiah. 

He had been telling you for a while now that He came down to earth to die and rise again 3 days later to defeat sin and death. But you where never really sure how this was going to look or if it actually was going to happen. 

John 2:18–21 ESV

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Jesus was crucified as we know and laid in a tomb. 3 days later is where we pick up the story.

It is of no coincidence that Jesus first appeared to women. Some people wonder why he would have appeared to women first if He really wanted His resurrection to be believed. 

Mark 16:1 ESV

1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.

But the fact is that if the disciples really did want to steal the body of their messiah and then claim oh, He really did raise from the dead when they were actually hiding the body, they would not have had the story first told by two women. 

They would have told people of more stature in society. Women didn’t have that high of a status in society, and on their witness alone this would not have held up in court. 

Jesus again was upsetting the traditional balance of things. Their coming at the time they did shows intense devotion. Jewish tradition didn’t call for mummification so in the Palestinian climate, bodies would have started to decompose quickly. 

The two women were Mary Magdalene and Mary Mother of James, and they came with spices and perfumes to anoint the body, out of devotion and respect and also so it wouldn’t stink so bad in the tomb. 

They were on their way and were wondering who was going to roll away the stone, for it would take way more strength then they had to roll that big stone up hill. 

The guards were all fainted like dead men and Jesus was gone when the got there. Imagine their surprise. For the guards this meant certain death. 

They were scared when they spotted an angel in a white robe sitting near by. Whenever people come into contact with angels in the bible the first response out of the mouth of the angel is usually, don’t be scared. 

Maybe this is why the number of angels changes in the accounts. After all you see an angel, they are bright and scary so you are not focused so much on the number of them there but the message they tell.

As we know Jesus appeared to the Disciples, met Paul on the road and told them to go and do something with what they had seen and been told.

Things where finally starting to click for the disciples on what Jesus taught and what had all happened. Jesus was alive again. The gospel message needed to be spread.

They where told that they must be born again. They must believe Jesus is who He said He is, they must ask Him for forgiveness for all their sins and commit their lives to Him and His message. He gave them a job t all do. The Resurrection gives us all a job to do, it calls us to something which is what we are going to end with today.

So What?

We Must Be Born Again

Before Jesus death, or the acceptance of it, death is the ruler of our destinies. We are born to die; we live for the grave. A person’s life may be beautiful and prosperous, they may be a good person, but without Jesus at ends in sadness for death has dominion over them. 

Life becomes like a fading flower; it may be beautiful but it soon withers and fades away and dies until the beauty is gone and replaced with nothing. 

The bible says that in Adam all die, the punishment for sin, the sin that we are born with is death. This is the sentence of sin that is passed onto us, onto all people. One day we will all die, it is a matter of fact that this life is temporary. 

SM Lockridge said in a sermon that has been copied and turned into songs. It’s Friday Jesus is praying Peter’s a sleeping Judas is betraying But Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday He’s hanging on the cross Feeling forsaken by his Father Left alone and dying Can nobody save him? Ooooh It’s Friday But Sunday’s comin’ It’s Friday The earth trembles The sky grows dark My King yields his spirit It’s Friday Hope is lost Death has won Sin has conquered and Satan’s just a laughin’ It’s Friday Jesus is buried A soldier stands guard And a rock is rolled into place But it’s Friday It is only Friday Sunday is a comin’!

The idea is we are all born into sin, it is our sentence to die and be punished for all that we have done, and the truth is that one day we will all die. 

But we have good news! Sunday’s has come, and the good news of Easter tells us that we don’t have to stay lost, we no longer need to fear death. 

In Corinthians Paul says “o death where is your victory? Oh, death where is your sting?” I thank God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Go And share the Good News

The common theme of all who came into contact with the risen Lord, touched the scares on His body, came into His actual resurrected flesh and blood body was that He was truly alive. 

And the message they were all told to give? Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Go and tell everyone what you have seen. 

Those who came into contact with the risen Lord couldn’t wait, they ran to tell the good news. They didn’t walk they ran with the message.