The Promised Return
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Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 24:29-31
Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 24:29-31
Happy Easter!
He is risen!! He is risen indeed!
Thank you for joining us on this Easter morning!
My name is Brian McDowell and I am blessed to be the Pastor here at CCMP.
If you are a guest here, I want to personally welcome you to our church and ask please make sure to fill out the connection card in the back of the seat in front of you and take it back to connection corner for your gift. Our way of saying thank you for joining us this morning!
It is Easter Sunday and we worship a risen Savior! He is alive and that makes all of the difference! We are the only religion on earth whose messiah is still alive! Death did not defeat Jesus! His grave is empty and He is seated at the right hand of the Father today and through His life, we have life!
He promised He was going to do it!
He predicted it all and came to pass the exact way that it was prophesied through the OT prophets and the way that Jesus Himself said that it would!
Jesus told His disciples over and over again that He would be crucified and that He would raise from the dead.
The faithfulness of God is one of the very foundational truths that we cling to ask believers! Without His faithfulness, how would we know what to believe or trust?! We would have nothing!
But because our God is faithful, we can stand firm in the midst of anything the world throws at us!
God has never broken a promise! He has never not done something He said he would do!
He can not lie! And we stand firm on the honesty and faithfulness of our God!
So, on this Easter Sunday to wrap up our series called the Promise. This morning we will look a the Promised Return.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all have accounts of Jesus saying beforehand that He would be arrested, murdered and that He would rise again from the dead on the third day.
Let’s take a look at one of those accounts.
And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Ya know, there were times when the disciples didn’t really know what Jesus meant, but it would be hard to miss this one!
This is not years before hand either! Jesus is about to come into Jerusalem for the last time in His ministry! And this is what He tells His disciples!
Look, let’s just point this out. That’s exactly what happened! Exactly!
He was delivered by Judas over to the chief priest and scribes.
They did condemn Him and accuse Him of all kinds of false charges. The Jews couldn’t kill Him. So, they had to turn Him over the Roman Gentiles.
They brought Him into their barracks and the whole regiment put a purple robe on Him and a crown of thorns on His head. They punched Him, beat Him in the head with a stick, and they flogged Him with a whip called the cat of nine tails.
The Romans did force Him to carry His own cross, naked in the streets of Jerusalem. They did lay Him across the boards of the cross and they did nail His arms and His legs to the cross!
They did raise Him up in the air where He was forced to stand on a nail in order to take a breath!
He did suffer and bleed out!
He did bear the burden and the full weight of the sins of world on His shoulders!
He did suffer the full wrath of God towards sin!
And He did it all willingly! Every minutes of pain and suffering was met with the knowledge in His head that at any moment, He could have called down legions of angels to come and rescue Him!
But every minute, every second, He willed Himself to stay and to finish the work that His Father sent Him to accomplish FOR YOU!
And at the end, He said it was finished and He breathed His last. And with that last breath, He gave up His spirit and His physical life on Earth was ended.
And with His sacrifice, with His broken body, and with His blood that was poured out, He made the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of all of your sins!
His death was absolutely necessary for the forgiveness of our sins and it had to be His perfect, divine blood that made it! His blood was so perfect, so precious, so powerful enough that it satisfied the wrath of God! And it did!
Let me make this personal for a minute.
Your sins have been paid for in full!
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we (YOU!) might become the righteousness of God.”
The righteousness of God can be placed on you! Through Jesus all of your worst mistakes, all the debt that you owe to God because of your sins were nailed to that cross and your debt has been paid in full!
Somebody say amen! Praise the Lord!
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is one of the most horrific, yet beautiful acts of loving sacrifice this world has EVER seen!
And He did it because He loved you and wanted to pay for your past, present and future!
He did it because He wanted you to be free from sin!
Far too often though, we stop there! But He didn’t just stop there! He went beyond that!
Just as importantly, He rose from the dead!
Billy Graham said, “Without Jesus’ death, we have no hope of God’s forgiveness; without Jesus’ resurrection, we have no hope of eternal life. Like the two wings of an airplane, both are essential!”
Both are absolutely necessary to our hope, to our salvation, and to our eternal life!
Through His death, the veil was torn and we now have access to God. Because the wall of hostility, our sin, was destroyed.
But Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father accept THROUGH Him! Jesus not only took out the sin that stood in the way, He is the gate to God! He is way to the Father. Jesus didn’t just clear the path, He IS the path!
Ephesians tells us that “THROUGH Him with both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
Hebrews tells us that because we have this great high Priest (that is alive!!) we can with confidence draw near to the throne of grace in our time of need!
His resurrection, Him being alive today is absolutely essential to our lives and our relationships with God!
Jesus said, John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Jesus came not only to deal with the issue of sin and its consequences. Not only to pay our debts!
He came to bring life! Eternal and abundant! He came to restore access and a relationship with God, the Father!
That is what eternal life IS!
Jesus said, John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Because Jesus took care of the sin that was in the way, Jesus brought eternal life, knowing God! Having access to God!
It sounds weird to say, but I know God!
I have a relationship with Him!
I walk with Him and we talk with each other!
He shows me things in life and in His Word!
I see Him in creation!
i see Him in my children’s lifted hands in worship!
I feel Him in worship and in the sunset!
I feel His peace in a time of need!
He is my provider!
He is closer than a brother!
I know God!
I don’t know everything about Him but I know Him!
And I only know Him through Jesus Christ!
See, salvation is not a train ticket that you keep in your back pocket until its time to punch that ticket!
Salvation is not a get out of jail free card that you set to the side next to your stuff until you roll the wrong number on the dice of life!
Salvation is peace with God! Salvation is an invitation to a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ!
His death is a part of what is needed to have it. His eternal life, His pathway to the Father is the other part! Both are absolutely necessary!
Perfection is not the way. Jesus is the way!
Being a good person is not the path. Jesus is the path!
It ALL has to do with restoring our lives back to the Father and knowing Him and that is ONLY possible through not only Jesus’ death but through Jesus’ resurrection and new life!
Because knowing God, having a relationship with Him is the greatest gift I have ever recieved!
I did nothing to earn it or deserve it! I just believed in what Jesus did and what Jesus provided! I put my faith in Jesus and He did everything else!
He made me holy and blameless before God.
He adopted me as His son.
He brought redemption through His blood.
He forgave all of my trespasses.
He lavished me with the riches of His grace.
He has made known to me the mystery of His will.
He gave me an inheritance in Christ!
and He gave me a guarantee of His inheritance when I was sealed with His Holy Spirit!
I believed, I put my faith in Him, I surrendered my life to Him, and He did all of the rest!
But it take both His death and His resurrection to complete to purpose and mission of the Father sending Jesus to this earth.
And brother, sister, it is finished! It is accomplished!
This is why we celebrate Easter! God greatest work was accomplished for you and for me!
My debts are gone! The cost of my sins are paid for! I own nothing!
AND!! I now, have access to God! Something I was hopeless for without Jesus!
I can have a relationship with God!
I can know Him! And that is the meaning of life!
The abundant life comes only from Him. In Him is the promise of all fulfillment, all love, all joy, all peace, all acceptance, and all grace. Everything else is sinking sand. Wood and hay. Jesus came so that we could know God and have the fullness of abundant life.
Christians in the room, let’s go another step!, Romans 6:3-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Christian, this is what you are in Christ for! To die to yourself like Jesus did. To take up your cross daily and put to death the old self. We are united with Jesus in His death so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing! We should not be enslaved to sin! For Jesus died to set you free and your unity in His death is the way to freedom from sin and its deathly consequences!
When you were raised out of the water at your baptism, you were raised to be united with His resurrection. Into the newness of the life that He gave you though His resurrection! You can LIVE with Him!
And the life that we get to live now, we live unto God and with God and for God and knowing God!
That is what we are remembering today! Both wings of the airplane are necessary! Jesus’ death on the cross brought the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead brings you eternal life, knowing God, and abundant life, all that Jesus came to give us!
Are you flying in circles?? Maybe you’re missing a wing!
Are you repeating sins over and over again? Be united with Jesus in His death and you will begin to walk in freedom!
Are you striving for holy living, yet you feel empty inside? Run to the Father! Sit in His presence! Knowing that in Him is life! He is the source of everything good!
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
We started off by talking about the faithfulness of God and how it is one of the foundational truths that we stand on in Him!
We talked about His faithfulness in all that Jesus did!
He kept all of the prophecies! He did everything that He said that He was going to do!
He said He was going to die, how He was going to die, and that He was going to be brought back from the grave! And He did it exactly how He said He would!
Now, we have to carry His faithfulness to His word and promises not just into our lives today but into our future.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
The last chapter of the last book of the Bible says the same thing!
Revelation 22:7 ““And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.””
Revelation 22:12–13 ““Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.””
Revelation 22:20–21 “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
Jesus said that He is coming back! He is returning! He was faithful the first time to keep His word, He will be faithful the 2nd time!
We do not know when! It could be today! It could be now!
—-Our faith in what Jesus is about to do should be just as strong as our faith in what He did!
Because our God is absolutely faithful!!
to the Christian in the room, I pray that this brings you hope! I pray that this brings you peace!
One day, He will return and bring us to Him!
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
He is coming back a second time, not to deal with sin anymore! HE ALREADY DID THAT!
He is coming back to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him to come get them and bring them eternally into His presence!
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Christians in the room! Your faith in what He is about to do should be as strong as your faith in what He already did!
Be united with Christ in His death. Die to the sins in your lives and walk in the newness of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! Walk in freedom, knowing God!
Shout He is risen and celebrate a Living Savior who is your way, your path to eternal life!
Fly with both wings of salvation. And tell your neighbor, your loved you, your friend.
Now, in a room this big with this many people in here, there is guaranteed to be people in here that have never put their faith in what Jesus did. Who have never believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
So, I talk about what Jesus is going to do in His 2nd coming and you think that it doesn’t matter to you.
(LOVINGLY!!)
Can I tell you that you could not be more wrong? I say that in love, not arrogantly. But I have faith that He will return, faith enough to stand up here and tell you the truth about what Jesus also said that He would do when He returns.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
To those who followed Him and put their faith in Him with their lives, He welcomes them into eternal life prepared for them.
To those on His left, He says, Matthew 25:41 ““Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In another place, Jesus said, Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Look, you can think of me whatever you want to. But Jesus loved you enough to say these things to His disciples so that one day He could ask a pastor to stand in front of you one Easter morning and tell you these warnings. He is coming back.
This is a warning. And a warning is loving! It would be mean not give a warning, right?!
When Jesus returns, and I say “when”, He is returning to judge the world. He will welcome those in Him to eternal rest dwelling with the Father!
But those who reject Him in this life will be rejected from eternal life.
Remember, eternal life is not a ticket you pull out at His return to prove you have a seat. Eternal life is a relationship with God that starts today! It is now!
Thats why Jesus said, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”
But you CAN know Him today.
And I want to invite you!
