Daybreak and Glory. Easter 2026.

Introduction

He has risen! (He has risen indeed).

thank you for being here with us this Easter Sunday as we gather to remember and celebrate that we have a savior in Jesus Christ who beat sin, death, and the grave. And then, in the greatest scandal in all of history, took that salvation and handed it over to us.

We are here to celebrate and worship a God who gets us. Who sees us. Who knows us and doesn’t shirk back from how great we are not but begs us come closer because he loves us so dearly.

Tension

This love is unprecedented and incalculable, humbling and life altering, attractive and redeeming.

And above all, costly.

Last week we discussed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, a week that started with celebration and ended in crucifixion and death. Let us start this morning by recapping the great salvation we receive at the great cost of Christ.

Matthew 27:45–66 ESV

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. 62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

Jesus, the one and only son of God was dead and buried. His movement felled by a death blow. His followers fractured and scattered to the wind. His enemies emboldened and celebrating. His words, drowned out by weeping and shock. His body broken. His message of the coming kingdom in jeopardy from all that heard and couldn’t understand what would happen now.

Irony abounds as we describe this as “good Friday.” What could be good about such a day, baptized in the darkest dark ever to land on the calendar.

I think back on some of the dark nights, perhaps you’ve had your share too.

I will admit there were times and unfortunately seasons of my life when it felt like Satan had my number and apparently a gps location directly to my location to send all manners of evil to come and find me.

then there are the days that I know too well and have come to dread when I soberly think upon them. Days when evil didn’t have to hunt me down or find me out because I was in league with it. I was perpetrating wrongs upon others or outright joining in on things that would sully the name of Jesus.

To be honest, I’m not sure which weighs heavier to me at this point in my life. The seasons of darkness or the darkness that I know that still lives inside of me. Hurting others happens to all of us from time to time but what keeps you up at night is the wrong you did on purpose. That darkness sticks to our ribs defiantly, refusing to give up the fight, making it’s way into our marrow.

Its when I reflect on those times that I try and reflect on what that Friday evening must have felt like. In all of the captured time in still frames locked within your mind, what picture would stay burned into your mind?

Jesus broken body?

The sight of the crowds dissipating like those fleeing from the scene of the crime?

Them pulling his body off the cross?

The torn veil in the temple?

The uprooted tombs or their former owners walking around town?

The darkness settling over the land?

I find it particularly helpful for me to sit in the quiet un-comfortability of such moments in the scriptures and walk in the shoes, as it where, of the men and women who smelled the smells and heard the sounds, and saw with their own eyes the reality of the day.

Jesus, the darling of heaven was dead. He was gone. Now, behind, left only a broken vessel of the man he had been and all around sunk into despair and mourning.

And friends, The most bitter of all the pills that I could ask you to join me in swallowing when we consider the cross, and the pain, and the blood poured out on the hillside is this: I was done for you.

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Take heart and take hope.

While you were at your worst, Christ gave you his absolute best.

While you were diving head first into a lake of your own awful, sinfully heading towards a cliff of your own demise, Jesus took pity upon you and your sad state, and crawled upon a cross that you and I rightfully deserved, so that we wouldn’t have to pay the price for our utter failure.

Scripture is clear as it is blunt about this fact: everyone of us is sinner by our very nature.

No one has to teach your kids to sin, and isn’t it funny how most children master two words before most others: “NO” and “Mine”.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All, all, all, and I do mean all, of us have sinned and fallen way low of the standard of goodness, holiness, righteousness, love, selflessness, and glory set for us. We all mess up. We all go astray. We all demand things our own way.

I was in the mall one day walking through the halls from shop to shop when I saw a young boy by one of the kiosks, and as I happened upon the scene of some grand tragic affair I saw only the after math of what must have been a blow up of epic proportions. I surmised quickly that he had wanted one of the useless cheap toys on the shelf and that his mother had apparently said no. He responded by grabbing the toy and running off with it anyway, yelling through his angry tears, “MINE MINe MINe!” As his mother came to take it back to the booth, he hurled himself down to the tiled floor with a smack and a thud and his lungs erupted at 10x the sound, “NOOOOOO”. This kid wasn’t going to take it lying down. Well maybe he was at the moment, but when he got back up his spirited protest would win over his mother. That is, unless his mother was cut from the same cloth as my own. At which case, they would never find your body.

Friends, we have all been that red faced boy screaming to the sky, to others, to the world, to God, to ourselves, “MINNNNNNNEEEEE”. NOOOOO. Red in the face ready to die on the hill of getting it our way. We all know the familiar taste of our own ick and the reality of this sinful way that lives with in us.

We are all sinners, everyone.

I challenge you here this morning to not rush out of this awkward truth and sprint your mind to more pleasant things. Sit in this truth a bit longer friend, because you need to feel truth’s sting. Even a salted wound still lets you know through the pain that we are wounded and in need of care.

Take heart though, for verse 8 points to the care for such a deep wound.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Before you were lovely.

Before you cleaned up your act.

Before you got rid of your baggage.

Before you got sobber.

Before you made amends.

Before all the things you did to try and fix you the best you could...

Jesus saw you in all your unlovliness and chose to die for you anyway. Jesus went through all that pain, and all that suffering to buy you as a prize that you were not. That is not to say that Jesus was wrong or mistaken in his choice only that He valued you enough to pay his life to win yours.

Again, think on that. Simmer in that with me friends. In the pools of your greatest shames and failures Jesus gave himself for you there. Such is God’s love for you that he gave his life for you while you where still red in the face screaming, MINE, NO, My way Lord. I Hate you Lord. I know better Lord. YOu’re no God of mine.

While you were against him, he was for you.

And were that alone the truth of the Word for us to marinate upon it would be enough to cause us to pause our hearts and still our minds and take notice.

But, that alone is not why we gather today to celebrate. We don’t just gather to remember the death and burial of a good man who loved us enough to die in our place.

We gather to worship, to magnify, to glory in, to adore, to revere, to devote ourselves to, and honor with all that we have, not a man in a grave, but a God who walked out of one.

Truth

Matthew 28:1–20 ESV

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went 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 and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel 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 has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Jesus was killed, yes. Jesus was buried, yes. Jesus was a dead man for 3 days, yes. But Friday gave way to Sunday, a Sunday changed everything. Sunday his lung breathed life again. Sunday his muscled filled as his heart beat life again. His spilled blood coursed through sleeping veins again. Sunday Jesus beat death like a bad habit with a baseball bat like it owned him money. Sunday saw death die and for the first time, there was made a way for life to change the destiny of all of those who were destined for destruction.

Sunday, saved me. When Jesus crawled out of that grave my eternal destiny changed. I was stuck in darkness, with no hope, no future, no promise, and no way out. But Christ broke those chains for me, and friends, he offers the same to you today.

For those of you in Christ, hear the promise that the scriptures holds out for you.

Matthew 28:1–20 ESV

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 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.”

Landing

Lord’s Super

1 Corinthians 11:27–29 ESV

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Prayer.

Bread

Pray for Bread

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Eat the Bread

Juice

Pray for the juice

1 Corinthians 11:25–26 ESV

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.