God's Character Sermon V: Our Faithful Redeemer Series

GOD OUR FAITHFUL REDEEMER

PROVED BY HIS RESURRECTION WHICH WAS PROVED BY HIS APPEARANCES

You might have heard it said, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating” - meaning that the true test of whether or not a claim is authentic is the end result, based on personal experience, of that which is claimed. It’s sort of like saying, “Try it, you might like it”! Which was most likely what the psalmist had in mind when he sang, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (Psalm 34) then challenged worshippers of God to a taste test: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

The challenge of “tasting and seeing” is what Jesus had in mind when he announced, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven . . . Whoever eats this bread has eternal life . . .The one who feeds on me will live because of me”. (John 6).

To “feed on” (to experience, to partake of) spiritual “bread” - which the Lord offers to people searching for new life – is to provide positive proof of truth as stated by John: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him (‘eats’ spiritual food necessary for spiritual life) should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Promised for centuries that the Lord God would send the Messiah to save the people from their sins, the incarnation (virgin birth of God the Son) occurred . . . was accompanied by the good news, “He shall save the people from their sins.”

Thus, He lived a life devoted to the saving purpose for which God sent Him; then, of necessity, He proceeded to Jerusalem for the finishing of his earthly task - the sacrificial shedding of his blood for the remission of sins. He had to die! “For, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.”

However, the Lord did not say, “Because I die, ye shall die, end of story” . . . “Whoever partakes of this spiritual bread will live, until they die” . . . “Anyone who ‘feeds on’ the Bread of Life will be disappointed”. No! “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world (to eternal death), but that the world through Him might be saved (to eternal life).”

Granted: Most of his closest followers thought his death on the cross was indeed the end of the story . . . went into hiding for fear of their lives . . . wondered if they had left all to follow him for naught . . . nevertheless considered it the right thing to do to give him a proper burial and to show their respects . . . BUT, why was Saturday such a day of depression?

Had they forgotten . . . “How Great Thou Art”? The Lord Provides . . . The Lord turned Marah into Rapha . . . The Lord protects . . . The Lord gives Peace . . . The Lord guarantees Victory . . . The Lord turns negatives into positives . . .The Lord always meant what he said? Maybe so, but, even so, all of that was about to change at the break of day on Sunday Morning - Luke 24:1-12 . . .

Lest we forget - as we are exposed to all the negatives toward Christianity - that our Lord’s Resurrection is as real today as it was that first Easter, let us here and now remember: Our Lord said what He meant, meant what He said, and proved it!

That very point was put to the depressed women who went to the tomb, planning to pour much more perfume onto the cloths that had been used to wrap the body of Jesus as if he were being mummified. (How the skeptics, agnostics, atheists of our day still strive to mummify Jesus, to dismiss Him, to dispose of Him!)

Frightened when they peered into the tomb and saw strips of cloth on a shelf in the shape of a body but no body, frightened again by the appearance of angelic beings who said to them, “He is not here, He is risen”, these very devout followers of Jesus were told by “the angel of the Lord” to remember what the Lord had told them when they were all together in Galilee!

Remember! You heard Him say: “It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day.” Now, you know He meant what He said! Folks:

The LORD is faithful . . . true to His Word! The LORD our God has proved Himself repeatedly to be the One and only God - Creator, Sustainer, Father, Redeemer. What He says He will do, He does.