The Living Hope

I. The Life of Jesus in One Minute or Less

If you were offered a $1M to summarize, in 60 seconds or less, why Jesus came to be born in this world? …could you do it? Here’s my attempt:

The bad news: God created mankind who soon after being created sinned against a perfect, holy, and just God requiring God to pour out his judgement upon all who have broken his law.

The good news: God sent his only son to be born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life. He told his followers that he would die on the cross and take upon himself our sin and receive God’s punishment that we deserved.

But, God raised him from the dead on the third day; to demonstrate that he was pleased with his sacrifice. Therefore, God will grant forgiveness of sins, freedom from guilt, and the promise of eternal life to all who confess their sins and trust in Jesus Christ.

These are fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith.

The scripture reading at the beginning of the service describes a historical event and not wishful thinking, a legend, or a fairy tale.

II. God’s Message in the Resurrection

What does God want us to know on this resurrection Sunday?

What would God want us to take away from this celebration?

I will rely upon the preaching of one of Christ’s early followers - the apostle Paul.

Since God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, this is God’s message to all of humanity: Repent!

Hechos de los Apóstoles 17:30–31 NIV

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Hechos de los Apóstoles 17:30–31 NVI

Pues bien, Dios pasó por alto aquellos tiempos de tal ignorancia, pero ahora manda a todos, en todas partes, que se arrepientan. Él ha fijado un día en que juzgará al mundo con justicia, por medio del hombre que ha designado. De ello ha dado pruebas a todos al levantarlo de entre los muertos.

God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, showing that his mission was accomplished.

By raising Jesus from the dead, God was testifying to humanity - I am satisfied with the death of my son: believe in him, put your trust in him, and you shall be saved/forgiven.

Hechos de los Apóstoles 16:31 NIV

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

Hechos de los Apóstoles 16:31 NVI

—Cree en el Señor Jesús; así tú y tu familia serán salvos—le contestaron.

God’s command to humanity is very simple - Repent!

But what does this mean?

It does not mean that you simply believe that sin is wrong/bad.

It is to:

Acknowledge you have sinned against God’s perfect and holy law.

Acknowledge you have no standing before a holy and just God.

Acknowledge your good works are of little value before a holy God.

Believe that Jesus Christ took upon himself your sin, your unbelief, and your failures - so that you would be reconciled to God.

Why should I repent? The simplest answer is: because the Creator commands it! What could be simpler than that?

Hechos de los Apóstoles 17:31 NIV

For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Hechos de los Apóstoles 17:31 NVI

Él ha fijado un día en que juzgará al mundo con justicia, por medio del hombre que ha designado. De ello ha dado pruebas a todos al levantarlo de entre los muertos.

We should repent, because Jesus Christ died so that we would be forgiven.

If we leave this life without putting our trust in Jesus Christ; he will no longer be a savior, but he will be our judge.

If we fail to believe, we will be judged according to God’s law and will receive God’s just punishment for breaking his holy law.

III. How are we to respond?

You may have come to church today as 1) a long time member of this congregation, or 2) as a family member to someone in this congregation, or 3) in response to an invitation. We are so glad that you are here today.

However, we all have a decision to make based on what we’ve heard. Verses 32-34 show us three responses to this message.

Hechos de los Apóstoles 17:32–34 NIV

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Hechos de los Apóstoles 17:32–34 NVI

Cuando oyeron de la resurrección, unos se burlaron; pero otros le dijeron: —Queremos que usted nos hable en otra ocasión sobre este tema. En ese momento Pablo salió de la reunión. Algunas personas se unieron a Pablo y creyeron. Entre ellos estaba Dionisio, miembro del Areópago, también una mujer llamada Dámaris, y otros más.

You can reject this message.

You can decide that I’m crazy, that this is only my opinion.

You may even make fun of those who believe that Christianity is true or find it hard to believe that Jesus ever lived and even harder to believe that he was raised from the dead.

You can decide that you are not ready to believe but you would like to know more! This is a step in the right direction…but you must continue to move forward, take one more step.

You can respond in faith and believe declaring your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

You can listen the voice of God speaking to your heart through his word.

You can determine today to believe that Jesus died for your sin and rose from the dead.

You can believe - not simply as an intellectual exercise but truly put your faith and trust in the savior Jesus Christ.

Today, you can confess: Jesus Christ died for me, and that God raised him from the dead to assure me that I am forgiven and have received the gift of eternal life.

…and this my friends is the hope of the resurrection! …that though we will one day day; if we have believed in Jesus Christ, one day we will also be raised from the dead to be with him for all eternity.

Let’s pray:

Our Father, we confess with many others around the globe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He died for the forgiveness of our sins and now lives forevermore. We believe he has conquered death. We believe that all who trust in him will receive forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.

We pray, that we would all believe, each of us individually, that we may respond to this Gospel message saying: I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, a savior to sinners, just like me.