The Blessing of the Ressurection
Notes
Transcript
The Blessing of the Resurrection
The Blessing of the Resurrection
Good morning my friends, I hope and pray your week has been a great one.
I hope that you took time this week to reflect on the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord.
We are at the most special time for Christianity, it is the very pinnacle of Christian faith.
Resurrection Sunday!
You see all that Jesus did would be incomplete if He had not raised from the dead, but the resurrection completes the work of God.
His death, burial and resurrection not only teaches us of His atoning sacrifice for our sin, but His resurrection ensures our resurrection. He is the first fruits of the dead, his life means we will follow in like manner.
And so today we remember and celebrate God’s great love for us.
So this morning, I want to take you I Peter chapter 1, and verses 3-9. Now this will be a little different type of a Easter message, but this is where God directed me to share with you.
So lets look at our text....
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
So this morning, simply let me remind you what Jesus did for us....
Think about His death, burial and resurrection as we walk through the Scriptures, ask God to speak to you, to move in you and draw you closer to Him.
So this morning, remember these things...
1. His Great Mercy....
Friends, I think you would agree with me, God loves us! And we have the joy of experiencing that love, that wonderful love because of His mercy.
Mercy is a unique word, Here is what it means - compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.
You see we deserved punishment, we deserved death. Now you might be sitting there saying wow..preacher, wait just a minute. I don’t deserve death, I have lived a pretty good life.
But we know that we are sinners, because of Adam’s sin, sin came to everyone.
We have all sinned… God tells us this in Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But here is where it is wonderful, we deserved punishment, we deserved death but God extended mercy to us. That is His action, and it has nothing to do with us or our ability. It is all God.
And this is what God planned, what he purposed.. One of the most complex thoughts is God knew when we created man, that man would fail but He purposed, planned to send the son.. God planned it before creation was made..
Why would God do this… He loved us even before creation.
Think of it like this, did you love your children before then were born? Sure you did.. so God did with us.
So in His mercy, God provided the sacrifice for our sin.
Jesus and His disciples where in the Garden of Gethsemane that Thursday evening, they had been praying when Judas led those even men to take him, and arrest Him.
The took him to the High Priest and unjustly accused him, sent him to Pilate for condemnation, Pilate sent him to Herod and Herod sent him back to Pilate. Finally Pilate washed his hands of the matter and because of their insistence, he condemned Jesus to death per their wishes.
So Jesus that night is beaten, the flesh ripped from his bones as the cat of nine tails was used upon Him, They placed a crown of thrones upon His head and finally they crucified Him Listen to John 19.....
16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
They crucified Jesus. He hung on the cross for 9 hours,
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?”
It is at that hour, that Jesus bore our sins upon His own life, the ugliness of sin he carried and became our propitiation , our sacrifice for sin. He took our place and shed his blood… and he died in our place.
You see, we deserved death as being guilty before God, but Jesus stepped in and took our place and by his life and in his death Jesus atoned for our sin.
That is mercy my friends…
We deserved one thing, but at Peter says in verse 3… according to His great mercy… we received life.
Let me ask you a question, Have you received that Mercy..
You see,we all are guilty and without God’s mercy, we have nothing?
Now consider this second thought…Not only His great mercy. Peter tells us we have a living hope.
2. A Living Hope....
Friends, they didn’t kill Jesus that faithful day, No! He laid down his life. Matthew 27 verse 50 tells us that “...he yielded up His Spirit...”, He laid aside His life voluntarily. He did that for you!
And when Jesus laid down his life that day the Bible tells us that the curtain in the Temple was torn in to, from top to bottom, and also, many of the saints who were dead returned to life as a testimony of God’s great work, you can see that in Matthew chapter 27.
As the day was drawing toward a close, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two secret disciples (they were part of the ruling religious group) came and took the body of Jesus down and quickly prepared it, burying Him in a empty tomb before the Passover began...
And there Jesus lay, 3 days in the tomb.
But on the third day… He rose from the dead.
You see my friends that morning, on the first day of the week as Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to finish the work of preparing His body,.
But when they arrived as this tomb, they found the stone had been rolled away. there was an empty tomb.
And listen to the angels testimony to them...
The angel testified in Matthew 28:6
6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Friends that morning, as Jesus rose, it was a guarantee.... just as He rose, we shall rise. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection on the day of His return.
This is our living hope my friends, just as Peter says here...
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Do you see what Peter says… He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
What does that mean....??
The results of God’s action is a new birth for those who come to Him by faith. The Scriptures declare that ‘all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,(Romans 10:13.)
Being born again, or born from above, having a Spiritual rebirth will result in a living hope, a genuine hope, it is sure and certain.
Just as Jesus rose, we will rise!
Just the other morning one of our men went to sleep and awake in the presence of the King. The Scriptures declare to be absent form the body is to be present with the Lord
Let me ask you my friends, do you have the assurance of salvation? Do you know that once life ends here that heaven will be your home?
If you do not, please know today you can be certain. The Scriptures declare that today, the day when you realize your need is the day of salvation.
Reach out and take hold of that living hope...
Now let me take you to just one more thought...
3. A Sure Salvation....
I want you to hear this my friends, Jesus provides a sure salvation.
Why is this important?
I’ve had so many conversations through the years, where people have said “....I hope I go to heaven...” or “.... I hope I’ve done the right things to get to heaven.”
Uncertainty is a terrible thing looking into eternity my friends.
Consider this, would you take your family and set out on a trip across the country in a car or truck “…you hoped would make it, but just wasn’t sure.”
No, you really wouldn’t. That’s why people rent cars, Why? because they want to be sure....
Peter reminds us here that what Jesus did brings us to a Sure Salvation… Lets go back to our text...
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
So lets break down Peter’s words here…
Because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, that actions that came about because of God’s mercy.
Mercy that revealed itself in love… Peter refers to it as our inheritance.
And inheritance is something that is left behind when someone dies, it is a gift from them to those they love.
God’s love has given us an inheritance.. one that Peter describes as the following..
Imperishable, - it cannot spoil
Undefiled, - it cannot be corrupted
Unfading - It cannot lost its luster or beauty .
He continues to say that it is reserved or keptfor us in heaven...
Now that word ‘kept” is really important, it is a passive verb indicating t that God himself keeps this for us, it is secure and unable to be lost.
My friends because of God’s love he sent the Son. Jesus came and bore our sin upon Himself, his own life and since he was the sinless, son of God. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for sin.
His blood shed, His life given up for us… and the result is that we who were guilty in front of God because of our sin, we have been justified, made right when we by faith called upon the name for the Lord for salvation
The Scriptures declare that His righteousness was imputed to us.
So we are made right…
Being forgiven, being a part of God’s family ensures that we share in His inheritance.
On the morning of the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection ensures our resurrection and His empty tomb is a picture of all the empty graves that will come on the day he returns..
It is ready to be revealed my friends… His coming is soon but are you ready.
Some might think this all sounds to good to be true, well one of his disciples thought that as well.
Thomas said he wouldn’t believe it unless He saw Jesus for himself. The Bible says that a few days after the resurrection, Jesus appeared again in their midst, this time just for Thomas.
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!”
Thomas knew that day and today he might not appear to you, but you feel your heart, your mind telling you that He is the Lord, and He has risen.
This morning you know Jesus is real and died for you. Then follow Him
It begins with Salvation. You know you are a sinner, that you cannot get to heaven apart from Him. Then today ask him to forgive you and invite Him into your heart and know for certain that you will see heaven.
This morning will you come..
Pray
When we talk about salvation, we think of being saved, kept from peril if you will.
Well the mercy of God, that is made manifest as a living hope as seen in the salvation that ensures our future state.
This truth is what Peter is enforcing in our text...
Peter uses the term about our future state as an “....an inheritance...” So think of this, in the Old Testament, God promised his people an inheritance.... a land in which they could dwell.
The theme continues into the New Testament as God promises His people “an Inheritance” as well. .
So look at this...
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.