The risen Savior
Easter 2019
Luke 24:1-12
Prayer-
Father, on this day of celebration, I am praying that we not forget what you have done for us. May we not miss your resurrection as a way for each of us to experience our own resurrection and freedom from sin and from death. Today would you speak to each of us in a way that would draw us closer to yourself and energize our souls that we not forget our kingdom responsibility and our kingdom mindset as a believer. In Jesus name. Amen.
Introduction-
This morning we celebrate! He has risen indeed!
We celebrate that we have a God that cares enough for each one of us to go to the cross, endure the suffering, and was resurrected by our heavenly Father that we might experience eternal life.
No other religions serve a risen savior.
Only Christians-Christ like believers that follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ have the assurance of heaven because of what Christ did for us.
It is inclusive and exclusive. Inclusive that all are invited to the savior, exclusive in the fact that only those that have asked Him into their lives as savior will be redeemed and forgiven.
I love my District Superintendent Kerry Willis. He wrote an article for Holiness Today a few years ago and I want to reference a portion of it.
He is my pastor. He is the pastor to your pastor and gives me encouragement to be the encourager. He is the one that understands the toughness of the Job.
No one understood what Jesus went through for each of us.
No one understands the job of a pastor if you have never done it.
No one understands what it is like to be a single mother unless they are one.
It is the reason that the Son of the living God came to this earth to experience what it was like to be man yet God- that is more than my brain can comprehend.
But He did it without sin and He redeemed mankind.
The article pastor Kerry wrote was entitled “yet.”
He asked the question to the reader Have you reached yet yet?
Just like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, His blood sweating intense prayer ended “Not my will, but your will be done!”
There has to be a point of surrender that your will bow to the will of Jesus to experience the resurrection power of Jesus Christ for your life.
At some point you will have to turn your sinful life over to Jesus the sinless one to be able to receive what the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was meant to do for your life.
Scripture- Luke 24:1-12 Read from the Bible
The road to the resurrection-
The road to the resurrection started with a God that cared enough for us to come to this wicked world and want to redeem us. (Christmas) (Birth of our savior)
To prophecy ahead of time so that there would be a recorded account of what was to happen and what it would mean to mankind. (witnesses)
To read of the passion He had that lead to his death burial, and resurrection.
Those that did everything they could to get him to the cross, to kill him.
To later find out it was His plan all around. They didn’t kill him, He gave His life.
The devil surely would not have put him to death if he knew that the death and resurrection would bring eternal life to those that accepted him as their sacrifice for their sins.
He thought death was the end of Jesus and that death would be an end to you and I.
Jesus said that the last enemy you and I will face is death. But because of my crucifixion and resurrection, I have defeated that foe in your life.
He went to the cross alone so that you will never have to die alone.
He says that He will hold your hand.
I believe that we do not die alone. I believe He is there with us.
(7) “The Son of man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
They found the stone rolled away.
The women had come to the tomb and then realized that they might not get in until they got there and found it open.
They had expected a body they would perfume and spice to get ready for burial.
They went in and found the tomb empty.
Two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”
“He is not here: he is risen!”
“Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee.”
Whoa! That ought to get somebody excited!
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even thou he dies.”
Some say that the disciples stole the body
In fact when the body was resurrected, the Roman Guards were paid to lie and say that the disciples stole the body
Some say that Jesus never really died on the cross, so he just healed from his wounds.
The witnesses were just “Seeing things”
I think the evidence is clear. I think that for a seeking heart, the Holy Spirit of God gives us conformation of the truth of His resurrection.
I think as much as we want a God that forgives our sins that we must know and understand how our sins are forgiven.
The resurrection of Jesus is a fundamental and essential doctrine of Christianity.
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are not forgiven, we are not saved, we would die in our sins.
Christianity does not stand without the virgin birth of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.
1 Cor. 15:14-
“And if Christ has not been raised, than our preaching is vain, your faith is vain.”
Our faith would be worthless without Christ resurrection.
There are some things that we can disagree about, but this is not one of them.
Listen to me-
The resurrection is why we are here today. It is why we come to church every Sunday. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope, courage, and strength.
Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15:3
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”
The bottom line of Easter is the resurrection of Christ- there are some critical benchmarks- Apostle Paul calls “First importance”
Christ died for your sins
Christ died and was buried.
He was resurrected on the third day.
He appeared to witnesses
The fate of all humanity hangs are these benchmarks.
You have to settle that between you and the Lord.
I believe as believers do not die alone. He will be with us.
I believe that the Holy Spirit of God bears witness to our spirit that what is said of the resurrection is truth that we can hold unto in faith.
I think the problem today is not wither we believe He died for our sins- I believe today that the problem is most want salvation without transformation!
We want the benefits without paying the cost of being a follower of Christ.
What the resurrection means to us
1 Peter 1:3-8 Read from the Bible
Proves the authenticity of Christ as the Son of the living God
Resurrection proves the value of Christ work on the cross and our justification is what He did on our behalf by faith.
It assures our salvation through His blood shed and His resurrection.
It is the basis of our sanctification- “Set apart” because Christ was victorious over sin and death, we as believers by faith are set apart by our identification with Him.
What will you do with His resurrection?
That is the question you have to answer this morning.
Question: "Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important?"
The importance of the resurrection of Christ has an impact on our service to the Lord now. Paul ends his discourse on resurrection with these words: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Because we know we will be resurrected to new life, we can endure persecution and danger for Christ’s sake (verses 30–32), just as our Lord did. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, thousands of Christian martyrs through history have willingly traded their earthly lives for everlasting life and the promise of resurrection.
The resurrection is the triumphant and glorious victory for every believer.
Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). And He is coming again! The dead in Christ will be raised up, and those who are alive at His coming will be changed and receive new, glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
Today I want to get personal with you and yes, put you on the spot.
I want to ask you a question that you MUST answer. The answer to this question is a matter of life and death.
In Matthew 27 we find Jesus standing trial before Pilate. Christ has been betrayed by Judas and arrested by the Roman soldiers. He is now facing Pilate who thinks he holds Jesus’ fate in his hands. Unbeknownst to him, what Pilate really holds in his hands is his own fate. As Pilate is sitting on the judge’s seat with Jesus standing nearby, he asks a question that should cause each of us to stop and think.
Matthew 27:22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
Today I want to ask you, “What are you going to do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”
There are only two answers to this question.
You either accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life or you reject Him as Lord and Savior. There is no ‘I’ll think about it later’ option.
If you choose to ‘think about it later’, then you have rejected Christ.
Do you understand the implication of choosing to reject Christ?
We are never told anywhere in the Bible that Pilate became a believer in Jesus, but let me assure you, if he continued to reject Christ as Savior, a split second after he passed from this world, he became a believer in Christ. Unfortunately, at that point, it was too late.
He had made his choice in this life and he discovered that in the next life the consequences of that choice were not pleasant. Eternity in hell—everlasting torment—total rejection—complete aloneness—utter abandonment.
What if you choose to accept Christ? Is that the end? Absolutely not.
Once we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we must then decide how we will answer that same question on a daily basis. “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?”
Do I put Him in a ‘Sunday’ box and pull Him out when I go to church.
Do I spend time in Bible study or do I let my Bible gather dust on the table?
Do I get alone with God in prayer and really get to know Him or do I turn on the TV or radio to fill the silence?
Do I go to church or do I go to the golf course or grocery store?
Do I choose to clean up my language or do I allow filth to spew from my mouth?
Do I encourage and support other Christians or do I have the attitude of ‘I don’t want to get involved’?
Again I ask you the question that you must answer. “What shall YOU do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?
He can change your life- If you do not know Him as Lord and savior, today you can do that- you can put your trust in Him today- in a moment we will pray-
For a lot of us, we know him as savior, but He is not Lord of our lives- He wants to be Lord and savior of our lives- That is where the transformation happens.
I am going to ask the hard question- Do you know him as your personal savior? If not, I am going to ask you to do that by acknowledge him as savior by raising your hand and asking Him into your life. Would you do that this morning?
I am also going to ask those that have asked Jesus to be savior of their lives but He is not Lord of your lives to recommit to Him this morning- To say to the Lord that you want a transformation- you want him to change you from the inside out.
Those that raised their hands, we are going to pray- I am going to ask the congregation to join us in that prayer as a sign of a unified body of believers.
Can God change your life? Can this Easter be life changing for you?
