Sermon Tone Analysis

A lot can happen in three days!

OPENING

Easter is such a wonderful time of the year!

When I was growing up, I would usually get one of those chocolate bunnies for Easter.

Most of the time it was one of the hallow ones.

Those were great.

But every once in a while I would get one of the solid ones and it would take me all week to gnaw my way through that thing!

But my absolute favorite Easter candy of all time is the Cadbury Creme Egg!

If you don’t know what a Cadbury Creme Egg is, it is a chocolate egg that is filled with the Holy Ghost!

If you’ve never had one I promise you it will change your life.

It will also change your glucose levels!

But we know that Easter is about more than candy, eggs, and bunnies.

Easter is a wonderful time of the year when we emphasize the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and we celebrate the empty tomb!

Jesus fully surrendered Himself to the will of God the Father and willingly laid down His life for us and died on an old rugged cross.

He was buried in a borrowed tomb.

But the good news of Easter is He didn’t stay buried!

HE GOT UP!

SCRIPTURE

MESSAGE

Easter is all about Jesus!

It is about proclaiming the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

The word gospel means “good news.”

So the Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul defines the Gospel message as:

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and

He was buried, and

He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

So the Gospel, or the good news, of Jesus Christ revolves around His death, burial, and resurrection.

Christ Died for Our Sins

The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary is central to the Gospel.

As we talked about last week, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey on Palm Sunday knowing full well that He would be crucified on a cross by the end of the week.

During that week He had a passover meal with His 12 disciples and then went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

He prayed in agony in the Garden until His sweat became as great drops of blood.

He asked the Father to let the cup of suffering pass from Him, but said, “Nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done.”

He was betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver, the average cost for a slave in that day.

He was arrested and falsely accused.

He was betrayed by some in the crowd that had shouted, “Hosanna!”

just a few days earlier.

The crowds now shouted, “Crucify Him!”

He was abandoned by His closest disciples.

He was scourged.

He was beaten.

He was ridiculed.

He was condemned to die.

He walked up Calvary’s hill and was nailed to an old rugged cross.

He cried out, “It is finished!”

Then He said, “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit” and He gave up the ghost and died.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins.

God the Father laid on Jesus the guilt and wrath that our sins deserved and Jesus bore it in Himself perfectly, totally satisfying the wrath of God in our place!

Jesus was lifted up on the cross.

He was suspended between Heaven and earth.

He had said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.”

As Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness and all those who looked upon it were healed of the plague, now all who look upon Jesus and the cross, and place their faith in Him as Savior, are spiritually healed from the effects of sin.

The wrath and judgment of God on sin no longer apply.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus!

Our sins have been forgiven!

The price of our redemption has been paid in full!

The wrath of God has been lifted off of us!

We have been set free by the blood of Jesus!

Jesus died for your sins!

When He was on the cross, you were on His mind!

He shed His blood for you!

And His blood will never lose its power!

Just one drop of His precious blood is enough to wash away your sins and grant you everlasting life!

And all you have to do is acknowledge you’re a sinner, believe in Jesus and what He did at the cross as the only source of salvation, and confess Him as Lord and Savior of your life!

He Was Buried

We may not often think of the burial of Jesus as part of the Gospel, but it is.

It is important for several reasons.

First, obviously you don’t bury someone who is not dead.

Jesus died on the Cross.

The Roman soldiers confirmed He was dead.

The followers of Jesus who came and took His body down from the cross confirmed He was dead.

This wasn’t some elaborate hoax as some suggest.

Jesus didn’t play possum on the cross so He could fake a resurrection.

Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a borrowed tomb.

Second, Jesus’ burial also fulfilled Scripture.

Jesus was buried in the tomb of a rich man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea.

Jesus had also said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.”

He had also said:

Jesus prophesied that He would be dead for three days and three nights.

They laid Him in the tomb.

They rolled a stone in front of the entrance.

They posted guard at the tomb to make sure the disciples didn’t steal the body of Jesus and claim a false resurrection.

They should have paid closer attention to what Jesus said.

He was only going to need the tomb for three days!

He wasn’t staying there any longer than that!

He Rose Again the Third Day

On the third day, He got up!

Sometime early on Sunday morning, the stone was rolled away.

The power of God flooded the tomb.

Suddenly, the body of Jesus, the same body that was beaten, nailed to a cross, pierced in the side, and laid it the tomb began to move.

He got up!

He laid aside the grave clothes.

And He walked out of the tomb in victory; demonstrating His power over sin and death!

Some of His followers showed up the next day expecting Jesus to still be in the tomb.

He wasn’t in the tomb when they arrived that morning, because He got up!

The tomb is still empty today, because He got up!

You can visit the tomb in Jerusalem where many believe is the actual tomb where He was buried, but you won’t find Him there, because He got up.

You won’t find his remains anywhere, like Mohammed's, or Buddha’s, because He got up!

He got up and walked out of the tomb, alive!