2017 study by BBC said that 25% of British Christians did not believe in the resurrection of Christ!
The cross, through suffering of Christ, should drive us to our knees, knowing the sacrifice that was made for us. The resurrection, therefore, should lift us up, justified to rise again as new creations.
Luke 24: 1-8
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
Set the stage
What is the meaning of the Resurrection?
1. Fulfillment of all that Jesus said would happen.
Matthew 12:40
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 16:21
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Matthew 17:9
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Without the resurrection, Jesus would just have been a martyr, the same as so many others, to be pitied. But He is so much more because of the resurrection.
The resurrection is a sign that Jesus’ sacrifice was acceptable to God, that he is now seated at the right hand of the father and will come again. We serve a LIVING SAVIOR!
Our faith is based on the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15: 12-19
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
2. Our Justification is based on the Resurrection
Romans 4:25
25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Justification means “to be put right with”. Sin separated us from God. We are deserving of His wrath.
Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Jesus was needed to step in to correct this situation, nothing short would have fixed it. Nothing we could ever do would bring us back, we needed His sacrifice. Our sins died with Him.
But the resurrection brings us back to God. Christ was justified through resurrection. He said “it is finished” on the cross. He never said “I am finished”!
Romans 5: 18-19
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
3. The Resurrection became the foundation of the Church.
The scattered were gathered.
Matthew 26: 31-32
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
31 Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’[a]
32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
None of the disciples were waiting for resurrection. Even though it was predicted through the Old Testament, and by Jesus himself, Jesus needed to appear before His disciples for it to become evident to them. This changed their lives, from fear to boldness, from despair to hope. What happened after the resurrection is the beginning of the Church.
4. The resurrection is the model for living a sacrificial life.
Understanding the concept of dying to self and becoming a new creation in God. Our purpose on this earth was given meaning. We are to take up our cross and follow Him.Romans 6: 5-8
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him
5. Jesus conquered death.
Death is the enemy of all mankind, the result of a sinful world. The mortality rate is 100%. Jesus conquered death.Romans 6:9-11
. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Death could no longer hold Jesus, and it can no longer hold us. We don’t need to fear death, because we no longer fear judgement.
Maggie
Our death brings reunion with God, Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
6. The resurrection of Jesus is the hope of every believer.
1 Peter 1:3-4
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.
Through the resurrection of Jesus, we have been brought into the family of God. We are children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, heirs to an everlasting life.
John 11: 25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Do you believe?
“God has taken away everything we worship “God said, ‘you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don't want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can't go to church.’
“Maybe we don't need a vaccine. “Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the ONLY thing in the world that really matters. Jesus.”
Hulk Hogan
2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”