The King is Alive Easter 2021
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Introduction...
Introduction...
Good morning....
He Is Risen....... (He Is Risen Indeed - Response)
Lets pray together.... Prayer requests...
I want to encourage you stand with me this morning and lets go to the back of our hymnals and look at responsive reading number _______________
I hope you are well today my friends, what a wonderful week we have enjoyed, there as been sunshine and rain, cold and warm weather… and through it all we have remembered the passion week of Jesus.
And that is our theme today...
It is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus....
This is the greatest story the world has ever had a chance to witness and be a part of … Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, came to earth of redeem people from their sins...
In doing so my friends, We have life, eternal life.
So this morning I want us to examine this passage and build off of it, ...
So let me share these passages with you..
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So lets begin this morning, we have looked at what Peter and Paul have testified about as they ministered to people in different places in our world. They shared that Jesus came to deal with sin, to bring us life and forgiveness.
So I want to begin with a topic you should know well my friends, but it is important for us as we open this message about Jesus.
1. Jesus Became Flesh...
1. Jesus Became Flesh...
When we think about Easter and our celebration we must consider that Jesus became flesh
We must remember just how great His love was for us. The inhabitants of this world....past, present and future. I say that because Jesus had to leave heaven, He had to be transformed into our likeness… He became flesh. This plan was the purpose of God to redeem us unto himself.
So let me share some passages with you.. First is John 1:1 and 14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
There is the great truth that we talk about at Christmas, Jesus came into the world, the Son of God was born into flesh.
I love that God tells us that “He dwelt among us” the Greek there literally means He pitched his tent among us… It means he lived here, He set up His dwelling place with us.
How wonderful.... Moses in the Old Testament asked God to show him His glory… and here He has blessed humanity and came to us, living among us that He might redeem the world unto himself.
Can you just imagine this my friends, God loved us so much that He was willing to allow the Son to enter into the boundaries of humanity, to be both fully God and yet fully man at the same time.
Jesus did this to save us… listen to Galatians 4:4-5...
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
I love this, He came and was made like us to redeem us. Man was under the law, the law is good, the law helps us walk uprightly before God. But it is limiting, The law while helps us to walk upright, it also reveals our failures, our short comings…
We know what we are to do, how we were supposed to live but we struggled to do it…sin ruled in us.... So while under the condemnation of the law, Jesus came and redeemed us.
God would send His Son into the world to be an atonement for sin. Do you remember John the Baptist confession as he saw Jesus coming to him… John 1:29
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
The Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world… Jesus redeemed us.
Literally bought us back from sin and has freed us.
He became flesh to redeem us from the flesh and the curse of sin.... He was made like us in every way, yet without sin. He gave his life to redeem us from this life of sin.
So we remember His entrance into the world… He became flesh to be the sacrifice for sin.
And this brings me to my second thought for you today....
2. Jesus Was Crucified.
2. Jesus Was Crucified.
The night before the crucifixion, Jesus meet with His disciples in the Upper Room, and there He shared a last meal with them.
And there He did his best to prepare them before heading to the garden of Gethsemane.... Listen to His words in John 14, verses 1-3
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
What beautiful words, Don’t let your hearts be troubled.... Jesus knew their world was about to be turned upside down, they would soon be scattered… He wanted them to remain steadfast and not loose heart, to not loose faith.
Just as you have trusted in the Father, so trust in me as well. The Father’s house has many rooms, I am going to prepare a place for you…
The cross would finish all that the Father had set into motion, the cross would enable mankind to once again walk with God, to know Him and one day stand in His presence face to face as they did before the fall of man.
Matthew 27:33-38 tells us....
33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.
They led Jesus outside of the city, beaten and bruised, whipped and bloody and they crucified our Lord. The scene is a terrible one my friends.
Now the Bible tells us from the 6th hour, which was 6 hours after his crucifixion, at 12 noon, darkness covered the face of the earth. It’s not cloudy, for even in clouds the sun’s light is seen, but here it is as if it is night time, it is dark.
The world is covered with darkness, and Jesus cries out my God, My God, why have you forsaken me..Matthew 27:46
Here is one of the most heart breaking pictures my friends, Jesus is separated from the Father. Sin has divided them as Jesus takes our place, our punishment upon his own shoulders.
Listen to 2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Consider this my friends, Jesus is the sinless, perfect Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity and it is here that Jesus takes our sin, our shame upon his whole life.
He is taking our punishment and yes our death, everyone guilty of sin deserves death. But we didn’t die Jesus did..
Listen to Paul in Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He took our place, and bearing that sin upon His own body resulted in Jesus being separated from God. IN that moment when Jesus cries out, why have you forsaken me… He could not sense the Father’s presence in that moment.
You see in that moment Jesus becomes the sacrificial lamb. What are they celebrating … they are celebrating the passover… This is the event that is getting to start...
What is the Passover....???
Do you remember in the book of Exodus, it is the last plague. God is going to kill all the first born in the land but he provides a way of escape for the Jews. He tells them they are to take a lamb and kill it, and its blood was to be placed along the sides and top of the door posts.
And when the death angel came that evening, seeing the blood he would pass over those houses who had the blood on them.
We deserved death, But Jesus gave up His life,and his blood shed for us, so that we would not receive the punishment due us. He became our Passover lamb.
Jesus died for us… Scripture says that about the 9th hour (3pm), Jesus cries out… Luke 23:46
46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
They didnt take his life, he laid it down willingly, freely as an atonement for sin, a covering if you will.
So much symbolism here my friends, just as the high priest would take the blood and bring it to the mercy seat there upon the Ark of the Covenant, and the blood over cover it, atoning for the sins of the people, So Jesus did the same for us.
Listen with me
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Jesus came and died on that old rugged cross my friends. Jesus gave up His life so that we could have life.
Do you know that Jesus died for you. Do you know no matter your state, your past or present, He stands ready to forgive and to give you eternal life.
He will if you will ask Him, Lord Jesus save me, forgive me and give me eternal life.
Now just one last thought my friends...
3. He Rose on the Third Day..
3. He Rose on the Third Day..
The greatest truth the Bible holds is this my friends; On the third day Jesus rose from the dead!
That morning the Bible tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb of Jesus to finish caring for His body as it lay there in the tomb.
But that morning we know there was a earth quake and as the ladies arrived at tomb.
Let me take you to Matthew 28:1-10
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.”
Wow!
How marvelous, how wonderful my friends…
These dear ladies are so devoted to Jesus…They wanted to make sure that even in death He was so cared for… and so they go...
But arriving they are surprised to find the tomb is open, the stone that was once sealed the entrance and secured it has been rolled to the side. The tomb that was once guarded is abandoned for the guards has become fearful and ran away upon seeing the angels.
And when they arrive at the place, the stone is rolled away, the grave is open and they meet the angel of the Lord there…He is sitting on the stone..
Now think of that site, they are there, the grave is open and the angel is there… And look at what the angels says to them… look at verses 5-7
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.”
The angel knows they are startled, And he tells them… don’t be afraid. I know you come looking for Jesus, and pay attention to what the angel says next.
He is not here… He has risen… come and see the place where he lay.
Can you imagine that my friends… the Angel has been sent to meet these ladies, God the Father knows their heart, their plans and God sends the angel....Go quickly, tell them, let these faithful ladies be the first to know!
He has risen, He is not here.
You cant say anything that is better than that my friends, …
He has not here, He is risen… and what else does the angel say… come and see the place were he lay,
Just three days before, the Pharisees thought they had won, they thought they had killed Him, the Devil thought it was over, but we know Jesus wasn’t killed, he laid down his life and 3 days later He raises from the dead.
My friends, death could not keep him, the grave could keep him and Jesus laid down His life willingly as a sacrifice for sin..
The next words are important, go quickly the angel says, go and tell his brethren what has happened..so that they may rejoice, for He will see them soon as well.
Now John 20
, tells us that at the women’s testimony Peter and John the beloved ran out and ran as quickly as they could to the place where he had lain, but he as not there
Peter and John find the tomb just as they had heard from the ladies, and they were amazed. It had happened. Jesus has risen form the dead.
The reports will come in… those one the road to Emmaus will come and tell them they have seen Jesus.
And later in the day Jesus will appear to the disciples (except Thomas) and allow them to know and see that He is indeed alive and well.
And then just 8 days later Jesus will come to them again in the upper room so that Thomas may witness the truth that He is alive...
Listn to John 20:26-28
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
What a wonderful testimony to the one who was dead but now alive and now livesforever more.
And because He is life so my friends we have life as well.
I want to ask you 2 questions this morning..
1. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, have you asked Him to save you?
2. If you know Him, are you living a life that is pleasing to Him? If not change that today, ask him to forgive you and set you on a different path.
Lets pray