Again, For the First Time
Notes
Transcript
Easter Sunday is one of those days where many people get their first look at the inside of a church.
Easter is traditionally the one day out the year that we feel the most comfortable inviting others, and those who would never go to church for some reason feel more comfortable to do so on easter.
Easter is the day that many individuals have put their faith in Christ
They come through the doors of a church for the first time, here the message of the gospel preached, and they believe in him.
And sometimes as believers, I think it would be good to think about what that visitor sees and understands.
What does the person who has never been in a church before, or maybe ever read a Bible, what does their development look like coming into the world of the church.
Now let me take it a step further.
What if, someone, just picked up a Bible, and started reading, with zero backstory, zero bias, nothing, just like if they were to pick up a new release book off the shelf.
They had never heard the name Jesus, they didn’t know what the Church was, nothing.
How far would it take them?
Do you think they would get to the same place we are?
Well let’s see
Not really sure whether they would open to a preface, or maybe an intro from the author, they would find these words.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
It’s a definitive statement
It’s clear from the beginning this is no fictional book trying to entertain an audience.
It reads like a history textbook with the authority of a legal document
And so he continues
And he reads about how this God created every single thing, but he would notice that the God indicates he is not alone in this process.
Like in Genesis 1:26, where he discusses the creation of man.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So as this individual has not even gotten through the first chapter of the first book, he has uncovered the main characters here.
There is God (which appears to include more than just 1 being)
And there is now mankind, which is made in his image
And this story is looking pretty good so far, mankind is living in this perfect garden, they just have one rule, they are ruling over all things, it looks great.
And then the conflict comes...
They break the one rule.
They bring what the Bible calls sin into the world, evil, wickedness, disobedience to God, and it destroys everything.
Now lets say our person reading this is still thinking he is reading a fiction novel, at this point he is probably looking at the rest of the book and thinking, there really shouldn’t be much of a story left right?
Like this God did all this for his creation and they can’t even follow one rule, like maybe God just wiped them both out and started again and that is the rest of the story.
So he continues.....
And he gets right to the part where he expects the God to wipe them out, and this is the moment he knows for sure, this isn’t any fiction story, because it would just be plain bad writing for our simple minds to take in....
Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
Now the clothing is important but that isn’t what I want you to focus on, I want you to notice where the clothes come from
God makes tunics of skins, animal hides. So he takes the life of an innocent animal, and covers up their sin with it’s hide.
This has changed everything. God isn’t going to destroy these people for their sin, he is taking the initiative on his own to cover them from the effects of their disobedience, through a sacrifice.
And as they would read on into Genesis 4 they would find this same idea come up again.
God would require an offering from the 2 sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able.
And Cain would bring a plant harvest as an offering, and God would be unhappy with him, but them Able would bring a sacrifice.
And God would be pleased
Again we are seeing this pattern of innocent animals being killed from the hands of the sinner to glorify God
And while the person would read through the stories of Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob what does he find, sacrifices, after sacrifices, after sacrifices.
It is the consistent theme.
Yes the stories would be interested, and varied.
They would read about war and miracles and power and nations collapsing and being built, but there is on consistent them that through all of that, God continues to require, and they all continue to practice, sacrifices. Taking a innocent animals, and laying it on alter to give to God.
But things would change when they would get to the story of a man named Moses, standing on top of a mountain, receiving what would be called, the law.
And this law would be for the descendents of Abraham, the Jewish people, who Moses was leading to the promised land, only for them, and it would included dietary restrictions, and medical practices, and judiciary procedures, all sorts of practical things for their benefit and their spiritual guidance.
But there would be one aspect of this law that would take center stage to all the rest, this aspect was the foundation to the whole law, you guessed it.… sacrifices
God took what mankind had been doing since the time of creation, and he put parameters on it.
And it would be around this point that the person reading through would have a clear understanding of who the Israelite people were, who Abraham was, all that, but there is one consistent string from the beginning that is holding this whole thing together, and that was the sacrifices.
But the person reading this would have a subtle tension throughout the reading, that would solidify at this moment, and that is this question, why? What’s the reason for all these innocent animals to die, and if there is a reason, why doesn’t God just tell us.
____________________________
You ever ask God why?
Why did you let this happen, why didn’t you do this?
You aren’t really questioning God’s choice you just was want to know the reasoning?
Isaiah 55:8–9 ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Sometimes it can feel belittling as we see God working, or maybe not working, or we read through scripture to just get more and more confused and we just wonder God one sentence would really clear things up.
BUT CAN I TELL YOU THAT THE PERSON READING THE BIBLE UP TO THIS POINT WITH NO OUTSIDE UNDERSTANDING WOULD BE FEELING THE SAME WAY WHEN THEY ASK THE QUESTION..… WHY DOESN’T GOD JUST TELL US THE REASON FOR ALL THIS?
WHY DO SO MAN INNOCENT ANIMALS HAVE TO DIE, AND HE KEEPS READING OVER THE SPAN OF DECADES AND CENTURIES, AND THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS KEEP DYING IN THE PLACE OF THE SINNER, AND HE STARTS WONDERING WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH
IF ONE OF THESE WAS GOING TO DO IT THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO HIT THE MARK BY NOW AND NOTHING WILL COVER UP THE SIN, SO ITS OBVIOUS SOMETHING HAS TO BE COMING TO FIX ALL THIS RIGHT?
And if he is really paying attention. He would start to notice there are actually two strings that are running through the very beginning to this point.
The sacrifices are one common presence, but he would also start noticing this subtle image of a future victory, or conquering, or something
Maybe he remembers back in the beginning when he read about mankind bringing sin into the world, there was this somewhat cryptic verse.....
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.””
And then maybe it would click when he thinks back to the story about Abraham, where God told him to sacrifice his son, and when Isaac asks where the sacrifice was, Abraham says that God would provide a lamb, but then when God stops the sacrifice he doesn’t send a lamb, he sends a ram.
Like Abraham new something everyone else didn't
And then all the pieces start to fall together when he realizes that when God told the Israelites to sacrifice an animal and put the blood on the doorpost during the plagues on Egypt, what animal’s blood are they to use, a lamb
And all these two strings of this sacrificial lamb somehow bring some future victory, and the presence of continual sacrifices have intertwined within NEARLY EVERY SINGLE MAJOR STORY IN THIS BOOK SO FAR IN SOME WAY
And then he hits a screeching halt, when in the middle of some somewhat monotonous prophetic talk of doom and destruction on Israel because of their sin, this falls out on the page...
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.
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.
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.
I could see this person reading through Isaiah and maybe reading this, and then stopping, going back, and quickly trying to search through the context to see what they missed
LIKE I MISSED IT, THE WHOLE SHEEP PICTURE THE SACRIFICES, IT SAYS HERE THAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT A PERSON THAT SERVED AS A SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF MAN, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER SACRIFICE DID, BUT THIS ONE SOMEONE PAID FOR IT ALL
BUT I DON’T REMEMBER SEEING THAT ANYWHERE?
DID I MISS IT?
And they might fumble back through, trying to find the story of the sacrificial lamb, that they maybe missed and it’s not there.
So they keep reading, and the book just sort of goes back to the same type of thing
Lots of doom and destruction to Israel, not really any change, and at some point the reader would understanding that this is talking about something that would happen, he just hasn’t got there yet, and so he keeps reading
And he keeps seeing the pictures of the lamb, and the sacrifices, and something interesting starts to happen
If he is this dialed in, he starts to really get an understanding of the yearning of the Israelite people for the savior
He would really start to feel for men like Isaiah who says
Isaiah 64:1 “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—”
Or men like David who this deliverer would eventually come from his line when he says
Psalm 85:6–7 “Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, And grant us Your salvation.”
Or men like Habakkuk who are crying out asking God to come through on the promises
Habakkuk 1:2 “O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save.”
The person would start to resonate with them, and he would probably ask the same question, why cant we see the fulfillment of all this?
And then he hits a page that looks a little different as he flips through. Its mostly blank, with a just a few words in the middle.
It says The New Testament
A little confused, he flips over the page to a new book called Matthew, and its a genealogy of some guy named and titled, Jesus Christ
This name doesn’t mean anything to him, but as he starts reading he sees all these names of the people he just read about...
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, All the kings, they are all there
And then it gets to this verse....
Matthew 1:16 “And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.”
The name Jesus means nothing to him, and the title Christ, doesn’t really either, but he knows this man is definitely special
So he keeps reading, and he immediately notices something is different about this new Testament, because they are pointing backward now....
Matthew 1:22–23 “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.””
All the pieces are starting to fall together, and they strings are starting to come to and end.
He realizes that this child is the final point on the string, this is the prophesied one, this is the savior, from all the way back in Genesis where God promised one day that victory would come over sin,
but remember there was the other string, the one about the lamb and the sacrifice, and they seem to be intertwined.
And as he is putting all this together he notices one interesting detail, the first place on the earth this baby touches when he is born, is the feeding trough he is laid in, among animals.
And I think the reader is starting to get the full picture now
He notices this single message, continues to resonate about what was coming....
“Repent for the kingdom of heaven as it hand”
This wild man named John the Baptist is preaching it, Jesus is preaching it, and the reader wonders what does this mean what is coming
The savior, the lamb is here, but he appears pretty normal, what are they waiting for?
And throughout his ministry, the reader would find Jesus clearly showing that he is not just a savior or a messiah, but he the son of God, and God himself in the flesh
And it would be at the baptism of Jesus where that one missing piece all the way back from Genesis now makes sense.
Who was the US God was referencing back during creation? Well its the triune nature of God, the father, the son, and the spirit, they are all there at the baptism, it all makes sense now
This man isn’t just a man, he is God himself, GOD HIMSELF CAME TO EARTH TO SERVE AS THIS SAVIOR, THIS LAMB, but how?
Hints would be left here and there, but then he would get to the end of Matthew and he would read about how Jesus is betrayed by one his own and is arrested for blasphemy.
He is tried, and sentenced to death, and I think the reader now is starting to see this is what everything was pointing to
He is whipped and beaten, just like Isaiah said
He is led up to be killed, silent, just like a lamb would be, just like Isaiah said
He is mocked and ridiculed, and a crown of thorns placed on his head
He is nailed to a cross, a Roman torture and execution tool, and raised up to die in front of everyone
And then he dies
And all sorts of crazy things happen....
The temple veil tears
People are raising from the dead
Earthquakes are happening
There is darkness
And then nothing.
Sin doesn’t just go away.
The world doesn’t become perfect.
Jesus’s body is taken down and buried.
And the reader may be wondering, I see a lot more to the book still but the main character died with a third of the book still left, what is going to happen?
Like we get he served as the sacrifice, that he was the lamb, he paid for the sins of the world, all that. BUT RIGHT NOW HE ISN’T ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE ANIMALS, THEY ALL WERE KILLED TOO, LIKE WHAT’S THE POINT
ANOTHER INNOCENT LAMB OFFERED AS A SACRIFICE, HOW IS THIS ONE ANY DIFFERENT?
And then they read Matthew 28:1-8
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. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
HERE IS THE VICTORY, HE DIDN’T JUST DIE LIKE ALL THE REST, HE CONQUERED DEATH ITSELF!
HE DIED AND ROSE FROM THE DEAD, THAT WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG, THAT IS HOW THIS SACRIFICE WAS GOING TO PAY FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD, HE WOULD DIE AS THE LAMB OF GOD, PERFECT, SPOTLESS, FACING THE WRATH OF ALL GODS PUNISHMENT FOR ALL MANKIND’S SIN ON HIMSELF, TAKING ALL THAT PAYMENT AT ONCE AND HE WOULD DIE
BUT THE VICTORY WOULD COME IN THE RESURRECTION, THAT THOUGH WE WERE DEAD IN OUR SINS JUST LIKE CHRIST WAS DEAD IN THE TOMB HE ROSE AGAIN AND BROUGHT US OUR OF OUR DEATH TOO
And it is at this point this whole book makes sense. All the pictures, all the sacrifices, all the lamb imagery, all the prophecy, it all culminates to this one moment, of Jesus standing outside of a tomb, alive, having conquered death and sin itself, with the glorious promise that any who believe on his name and repent of their sins, and put their faith in him can be saved from their sin too, through his sacrifice.
The reader at this point might set the book down and just reconcile all this for a moment
He knows it would be foolish to even suggest this somehow was all fiction
He sees the proof in the prophecy
He sees the proof in the accounts of those who seen Jesus risen
There is no doubt this is true and he can feel the drawing of the Holy Spirit actively working as he reads these words
So lets say the reader decides to believe and trust in this christ to pay for his sins, what happens next?
Well you see he would go on to read about his part in all this
Oh it’s a great story, but as he ends Matthew he sees a hint that there is going to be some responsibility laid on him too, but he turns the page and what does he see, the same story again in Mark, then again Luke, then again in John.
At this point he is probably thinking I GET IT THE STORY IS TRUE IVE READ 4 SEPARATE ACCOUNTS AND THEY ALL LINE UP PERFECTLY
And finally, he turns the page to Acts and he reads about Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit working in these early believers
And he had driven by churches before but never really understood what they were, well now he does, he sees the foundation of the church, built from the ground up
But what he doesn’t see is a focus on keeping the law, or a set of rules, or a big building, or a church service, or events, or teen groups, or worship nights, in fact he doesn’t see any of those things.
Instead he sees men and women, many of them giving their lives to do one primary thing, to proclaim one central message, that this man named Jesus was the son of God, and he came to die for us, that he could pay for our sins on the cross. And he conquered death by raising from the dead. AND EVERYTHNG THEY DID CENTERED ON THAT ONE GOSPEL
And if that newly saved reader were to go find a church you know what he would find, a whole lot of focus on things that are never even mentioned in scripture, and a great lack of focus on the things that are
And I think he would struggle to find a place that fits what he read the church should be all about
I think as he tried to share the message of what he read with others he would find other Christians not doing the same
He would find he was pretty alone in wanting to share the message of the gospel
You see I think it would do us good to day to look at the news of the gospel and the resurrection of Christ through the lens of someone hearing about it for the first time.
Because we have become complacent
Another Easter Sunday
Another Resurrection Day
We’ll do it again next year
But if you were to read this for the first time again, you would see it is not an add on, or a special service… IT IS THE FOUNDATION FOR EVERYTHING
IT IS THE SOLID GROUND THAT HOLDS UP THIS CHURCH, AND OUR FAMILIES, AND MINISTRIES, AND OUR SALVATION, AND OUR HOPE, THE GOSPEL OF THE DEATH BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
1 Corinthians 15:17 “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”
1 Corinthians 15:55–57 ““O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
AND THIS EASTER I WOULD CHALLENGE YOU.
Take a minute to look at the resurrection one again for the first time
Take a minute to realize just how serious what we celebrate today is, that is the reason we have salvation and the reason we have hope at all.
It is the central point to this entire book, every single thing in the book points to the gospel of Christ
And why is that, well its pretty simple, all those other sacrifices, they died, just like Jesus, but they stayed dead.
And JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
We can leave this message on the wayside, or we can build our lives on it, and we live with this truth everyday that he didn’t rise once and it’s something to look back on and remember, but HE IS RISEN TODAY, AND HE ALWAYS WILL BE, AND ITS BECAUSE OF THAT FACT THAT WE ARE MADE ALIVE IN HIM TOO.
