Resurrection Sunday: 4 FACTS for every person
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Today is Resurrection Sunday. A day in which we remember and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! Maybe you are here today and you think that it is just a myth or maybe you really do not understand the significance of this day. Maybe this day called Easter on the calendar is just a reason eat hollow chocolate bunnies and marshmallow peeps, but I assure you that it is so much more. Today, I want to look at four facts for every person and why the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ applies to You.
FACT #1: You are going to DIE
FACT #1: You are going to DIE
Yes, it is not a warm fuzzy way to begin a message, but the fact is every single person in this room will die someday. You, me, everyone around you. If this last two years has shown us is that life is very fragile and finite. Whether it has been COVID, cancer, heart attack, stroke, murder, suicide, car accident, drug overdose, old age, or countless other things. One day you and I will die. If you have never had someone close to you die, consider yourself fortunate, because someday I will die and someday you will die also.
This was not God’s plan for humanity, but we chose a different path from the one that God had intended.
One command at the beginning. One thing our great, great, great....grandparents were told not do at the very beginning.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Sure enough the one thing we cannot have we want and it had consequences. Adam and Eve, the first two people on earth did not drop dead that instant, but their bodies began to die. One day they would both physically die.
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Both made a choice and that choice had physical consequences and eternal consequences. It would ripple through every generation and it continues on.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Every person who has ever lived (with the exception of two people in the Old Testament) or will ever live will die, because of sin.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
For the wages of sin is death
The fact is we are all going to die physically, but also that sin (anything we think, say, or do that is against God’s command) also separates us from God for eternity. That wage or payment for sin for our sin is death (physical and spiritual).
This leads into our second fact.
FACT #2: You have an Eternal Soul that will live forever / Where is the Question?
FACT #2: You have an Eternal Soul that will live forever / Where is the Question?
Everyone is going to die. That is fact #1, but the second fact is you and I have a soul that will live forever. Who you are will live on for eternity. It is eternal. When you die you do not just cease to exist. When you die you do not become reincarnated and come back as an animal, plant, or another person. As the writer of Hebrews says:
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Because of sin both of our ancestors and the sin we commit every day, our eternal soul is condemned to spend eternity in hell. You might say, “I have never robbed a bank or I have never murdered anyone.” But have you ever told a lie? A white lie? Did you ever hate someone without a reason? Did you ever lust for someone? Just one sin separates us forever to a horrible, but real place called Hell.
Ultimate Questions Where Do I Go from Here?
Hell is factual. It is not something ‘invented by the church’. The Bible says more about hell than it does about heaven and leaves no doubt about its reality. It speaks of people being condemned to hell and thrown into hell.
Hell is fearful. It is described in the Bible as a place of torment; a fiery furnace; a place of everlasting burning and unquenchable fire. It is a place of suffering, with weeping and gnashing of teeth and in which there is no rest day or night. These are terrible words, but they are true. Those in hell are cut off from all good, cursed by God and banished from even the smallest help or comfort that his presence brings.
Hell is final. All the roads to hell are one-way streets. There is no exit. Between hell and heaven a great chasm has been fixed. The horror, loneliness and agony of hell are not in order to purify but to punish—for ever!
Hell is fair. The Bible tells us that God will judge the world with justice, and he is perfectly just in sending sinners to hell. After all, he is giving them what they have chosen. They reject God here; he rejects them there. They choose to live ungodly lives; he confirms their choice—for ever. God can hardly be accused of injustice or unfairness!
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
It doesn’t matter if you are moral or religious person. Paul writes:
Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
Hell is a real place and it is terrible. It is no party
“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
FACT #3: You are Alive Right Now
FACT #3: You are Alive Right Now
Check your wrist or neck. Do you have a pulse? Is there air going in and out of your nose and mouth? Good news, you are still alive at this moment. That means you still have time. How much, none of us know. You could be the youngest person in this room and be dead before sunset tonight. You could be oldest person here and still have decades on this earth. We do not know.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
“Lord, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them. “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute, I did not open my mouth, Because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor. Selah
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
FACT #4: Christ is the Answer
FACT #4: Christ is the Answer
The fact that you are going to die. The fact that your soul will live forever somewhere. The fact that you are alive now and have to make a choice is the reason for fact number four. Jesus is the Answer.
Jesus Christ’s death and burial
Jesus Christ’s death and burial
This past Friday is the day we remember and reflect on the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Jesus Christ’s Resurrection
Jesus Christ’s Resurrection
Today, we are celebrating the Resurrection, but I want you to look as Paul did as we look at the fact number 4 that Christ is the answer
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
Jesus Christ OUR HOPE OUR ONLY HOPE
Jesus Christ OUR HOPE OUR ONLY HOPE
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
We could not get there by our own strength, our own goodness, our own money. Jesus made the way. He is the Way! The Only Way!
Conclusion
Conclusion
I do not know where you stand today. God knows.