The Passover Lamb

Thank you all so much for coming.

Our desire with this program has been to present to you the reality of Jesus’ death and Resurrection from a different perspective.

Here at Grace Church, we believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. It is a real event that really happened. Without it, there can be no salvation, no eternal life, and no hope.

With that thought in mind we must ask the question, did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Let me recap what we have presented and then extend an invitation to you.

Lee Strobel, author of the case for Christ, defends the resurrection of Jesus using 4 E’s.

Execution Of Jesus

Jesus was dead after being crucified. There is no evidence anywhere of anyone having ever survived Roman crucifixion. I will talk a little more about this later.

Early Accounts

There is a creed of the early church that came into existence only month’s after Jesus’ death. This indicates that Jesus’ death was not a legend, but a historical fact.

Empty Tomb

Even Jesus’ opponents admitted it was empty. They said the disciples stole the body. Everyone admitted it was empty. The Romans had no motive to steal it, they wanted Jesus dead. The Jewish leaders had no motive to steal it, they wanted Jesus to stay dead. The Disciples didn’t have opportunity or means to steal the body.

Eyewitnesses

9 ancient sources inside and outside the NT confirming the disciples testimony about seeing the risen Jesus. 7 sources, 6 outside the Bible, confirm that the disciples suffered for their faith.

Jesus really died and really rose from the dead. The question is, what will we do about it?

Let me recap what we have presented and then extend an invitation to you.

We began this evening/morning by being reminded of the death of Jesus Christ.

Many people know the Friday before Easter as “good Friday”. Why do we call it “good Friday?” Because we believe this is the day Jesus was crucified.

The video we started with asked the question “Is that my Cross He’s taking to Calvary?” We will examine that thought a little more thoroughly in a few minutes.

Over and over again the song in the video said “behold the Lamb”.

says (S).

John 1:29 NKJV

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

This was emphasized in our first drama as Benjamin arrives in Jerusalem to find the festive atmosphere missing. He had expected to find rejoicing and instead found Samuel in mourning.

Benjamin knew the traditions about the Passover. But he had no idea that the Messiah would be offered for sin as the final Passover Lamb.

Samuel expressed his confusion about how the Messiah could be both conqueror and Savior now that Jesus was dead.

Titus Andronicus then shared with us how he had seen Jesus heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and even raise the dead.

Titus was present at Jesus’ Crucifixion. He saw this man willingly give up his life and he declared that this man was the Son of God.

We heard a poem depicting the nightmarish cruelty of the crucifixion.

The emotional torment of the angry mob. The whipping He received. Being nailed to the Cross and pierced by a spear. Jesus was cruelly abused and mistreated.

Our scene then shifted to another eyewitness account, that of Peter.

Peter was there when Jesus was arrested. He tried to fight back, but his attempt was almost laughable. Peter and John went to Jesus’ trial where Peter denied Jesus three times.

He and the other disciples hid themselves in fear.

Jesus died. This much we learned from the eyewitnesses.

But then with Naomi, we got a flicker of hope.

Naomi had seen Jesus raise a boy from the dead. In the midst of her grief over Jesus’ own death she has this thought, “If He could heal so many who were sick, or blind, or lame, and He could even raise those who were dead, was it possible, through the power of God, that He could raise Himself back to life?”

In our second drama when Samuel comes to claim the body of his wife’s sister’s husband, we learn that Jesus had already been buried.

As the scene closes we learn that the tomb of Jesus was empty!

Jesus had truly died. He was killed by professionals. These soldiers knew their job and they knew that failing to do their job would result in their own death. When the spear pierced Jesus’ side blood and water came out demonstrating that He was truly dead.

Then, Jesus was prepared for burial. The Jewish method of burial at the time was to wind cloth around the body while packing it with a mixture of ointment and spice. The resulting wrappings weighed around 100lbs. Even if Jesus had survived the crucifixion, and He didn’t. But if He had, the burial process would have killed Him in His weakened state. Then He was sealed in a tomb for 3 days. If Jesus had somehow survived the crucifixion and the burial, His wounds left unattended would have killed him.

Jesus was dead. He was buried. Yet now His tomb was empty.

We saw in the video that he appeared to Mary and others.

In the final drama Amos and Cleopas head to tell the other disciples that they too had met the risen Lord.

Jesus is the lamb of God. He was sacrificed to pay for sin. In the first video the song asked, is that my Cross He’s taking to calvary?

Why did Jesus die? He died for sin.

Peter, who ran in fear, who denied Jesus, later wrote these words, (S).

1 Peter 1:18–19 NKJV

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Jesus, as the spotless Lamb of God, died for our sin.

But He didn’t stay dead.

As we saw and heard, He rose from the dead!

That is what Easter is all about. It is about the resurrection of Jesus.

Here at Grace Church, we believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. It is a real event that really happened. Without it, there can be no salvation, no eternal life, and no hope.

With that thought in mind we must ask the question, did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Lee Strobel, author of the case for Christ, defends the resurrection of Jesus using 4 E’s.

Execution Of Jesus

Jesus was dead after being crucified. There is no evidence anywhere of anyone having ever survived Roman crucifixion. We already talked about this. Jesus was dead.

Early Accounts

There is a creed of the early church that came into existence only month’s after Jesus’ death. This indicates that Jesus’ death was not a legend, but a historical fact.

Empty Tomb

Even Jesus’ opponents admitted it was empty. They said the disciples stole the body. Everyone admitted it was empty. The Romans had no motive to steal Jesus’ body, they wanted Jesus dead. The Jewish leaders had no motive to steal it, they wanted Jesus to stay dead. The Disciples didn’t have opportunity or means to steal the body. The tomb is empty because Jesus rose!

Eyewitnesses

9 ancient sources inside and outside the NT confirming the disciples testimony about seeing the risen Jesus. 7 sources, 6 outside the Bible, confirm that the disciples suffered for their faith. Something dramatic had to happen for 12 men who ran in fear to stand for truth to the death.

Jesus really died and really rose from the dead. The question is, what will we do about it?

Here at Grace Church we don’t want you to only know about Jesus. We want to invite you to have a personal relationship with Him.

Let me tell you how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. The one who died and rose again to save you.

First, we need to know that we are sinners. (S).

Romans 3:23 NKJV

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

This means that if we tell one lie, take one thing that doesn’t belong to us, or think one hateful thought, we have sinned. Our sin violates God’s standard of perfection. Therefore, sin has a penalty.

(S).

Romans 6:23 NKJV

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

The penalty for sin is death. But God has provided a way through Jesus Christ for us to have life!

What did Jesus do so that we could have life? He died for us. (S).

Romans 5:8 NKJV

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is some of what we have seen tonight. To have this life that Jesus died to give you, to have a relationship with Him, you have to trust Him.

says (S).

says (S).

Romans 10:9 NKJV

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.

If you have never before trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, we want to invite you to do that today.

Jesus, the passover lamb, was sacrificed to take away our sin. All we have to do to be forgiven and have a relationship with God is believe in Jesus. Believe that He died for our sin, that He was buried, and that He rose again.

Good Friday is all about Jesus paying the penalty for sin. Easter Sunday, or as some prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday, is the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead.

He is risen! (S)

#170 “One Day”