Easter 2017 (Sharon FBC)
Text: 1st Corinthians 15
Well let me start off by saying I’m happy you’ve chosen to join us this morning. And I’ll tell you why I’m so happy. I’m happy because this morning, I get to tell you the greatest news ever given to mankind. You’re not going to find it on Fox or CNN or ABC. In-fact; when you watch those, or you pick up the paper… often times, all you hear is bad news. Or “fake” news… I don’t know which ones worse? But this morning, I get to share with you good news… it’s the news that Jesus is alive!
Now I don’t know how much you actually think about Jesus being raised from the dead. It’s probably not something that most of us would bring up on a daily basis. In-fact; it seems like the only time people hear about the resurrection is on Easter… or maybe at a funeral. You know, the pastor will get up there and talk about how Jesus was raised from the dead, and how if a person is a believer, they will also be raised up on the last day. But it’s just not something we hear a lot of in our day to day conversations. And I think the reason for that is because we, as human beings; tend to shrink this message of good news down to just our lives here and now. And it’s not bad to do that… it’s not bad to talk about how Jesus is changing us… how His forgiveness refreshes our spirits. It’s not bad to talk about how Jesus is working on us and in us, and through us. But I think if that’s all we do, we’re missing a key element of this Good News. Because despite what one famous TV preacher says… Your best life is not now! The only way your best life is now is if you’re not a Christian. You see; if you’re not a Christian, then yeah… this life… with all of its bad news… all of its pain and sorrow, sadness and suffering. It’s the best you can hope for. But if you ARE a Christian, your best life is yet to come.
And the Good News is… because Jesus is alive, you can have that best life… that eternal life, in the world to come. You see; salvation starts in this life, but it carries you through on to the next.
So if you’ll take your Bible’s and turn with me to 1st Corinthians 15:3 – 8 we’ll read it together (READ).
Now the guy who wrote this was named Paul. And he was writing to a church in a city called Corinth. And this church in Corinth was in bad shape. They were a group of people that were about as dysfunctional as you can get. They had people in their church who were involved in sexual sin, they had people in their church with serious marriage problems. They had people in their church who were worshiping both Jesus and other false gods. They had people in their church who were selfish, and arrogant, and prideful, and gossips. And in this letter Paul tries to help them deal with all of these things, but at the very end, he tells them, “Out of everything else I’ve written to you, I want to remind you what I told you was most important… Jesus died, and rose from the grave 3 days later.” So he says, “That’s what’s most important.” And a little bit later he explains why that’s so important. He tells them, and us, that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead… if the resurrection is just a lie, if it’s some made up story, then we are still in our sins. Let’s look at it (READ vss. 17 – 19).
So let’s look at it here. Paul says, “Jesus died… but then He rose from the dead. And He was seen alive by all kinds of witnesses… more than 500 people at one time… and if you don’t believe me, just go ask them because most of them are still around.” So he’s giving evidence for his claim right… then he says, “But if that’s not true… if Jesus didn’t rise from the grave, then our sins haven’t been forgiven. We are still lost. We’re in big, BIG, trouble!”
Ok… so why do you say that Paul? Why is it, if Jesus hasn’t been raised, we’re still in our sins and we’re not forgiven? How does Jesus being alive show us we’re forgiven of our sins?
Well; in order to understand that, we’ve got to back up some… all the way to the beginning. You see; the Bible’s really cool. It tells us how we got here. It tells us how everything was made. How the earth was formed. How mankind came into being. In-fact; it’s the only eye witness account of that. And scientists will say to you, “Well we think it was this… or we think it was that… we think it was the ‘big bang’… but we’re not really sure. That’s why we call it the ‘theory of evolution’, because we don’t really know…” And I hope that everyone here knows that a theory is just an idea… that’s why it amazes me that so many people are willing to stake eternity on just an idea… to put all their faith and trust in an idea, from men… and whats even crazier is that some of these men who want you to stake everything on their idea of where we came from, just got caught red-handed manipulating data on this so called climate change, or global warming. You know what? I think I’ll trust the God who says, “I was there when it all began… in-fact; I’m the One who made it all happen.”
So God was there when the universe was created, and God was there when human beings were created. And God made a man and a woman, and He blessed them. And the man and the woman were innocent… and they were good. But they were tricked, and they sinned… and when they sinned it opened the door and sin flooded into the world. And not only did sin come into the world, and into creation… it came into mankind… and corrupted man forever. Sin became part of our genetic code so to speak. So it wasn’t just Adam and Eve who have sin… it’s passed on to their children, and their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren… from one generation to the next. The Bible tells us that we ARE ALL born in sin. Each and every one of us is born a sinner. So going to war with North Korea, or Russia is bad news… but being born in sin is SUPER BAD NEWS! Because what that means is that each and every one of us is born at war with the very same God who created the universe.
But you’ve got to understand… God knew this was going to happen. This didn’t catch Him off guard. He already had a plan. Now the problem was; because sin was now a part of our nature, none of us would ever, EVER, accept God’s plan on our own. But God knew that was going to happen to… so He went to work, to show us how badly we needed Him. So God gave us His Law, and He sent prophets, and priests, and kings, to teach us, and help us see our need. That’s what we call the Old Testament. And it shows us that God is perfect. God is perfectly holy. He is perfectly good. And when I say ‘perfect’ what I’m saying is that EVERYTHING about Him is holy… and EVERYTHING about Him is good. There’s never any evil, or wickedness, or bad in God. And we see that He is perfectly righteous, and perfectly just. In other words; God always does what is right, and what is fair. And the Old Testament shows us what has to take place if a person is going to stand in a right relationship with God. It teaches us that since God is perfect in all ways, and in everything He does… if you and I want to be right with Him… and have a right relationship with Him… that we need to be perfect as well. But the problem is that none of us are. None of us can be. None of us will even chose to be. As a matter of fact; we’re born imperfect. So even if we tried as hard as humanly possible, we’d never meet His standards. And God says, “If you can’t meet my standards, you can’t live with Me. You can’t have a relationship with Me. In-fact; you can’t even be around Me, not because I don’t want you to… but because My holiness would totally destroy you.” If you go back to 1 Cor. 15:50, that’s what it’s saying. “Flesh and blood CANNOT inherit the Kingdom of God.”
But you know what else the Bible tells us? Yes, it tells us that God is perfectly holy, and perfectly just, and perfectly righteous, and perfectly good… but it also tells us that this God… who is perfect in all of His ways, is also merciful, and kind… and in spite of ourselves… He loves us.
And so God shows us in His Word, our need… we see His standard of perfection and we have to say, “I can’t do that God. Even at my best I still fall short.” And God says, “I know… but I love you too much to leave you like you are. I love you too much to lose you.” And that’s why in the New Testament Jesus comes. He comes from heaven, born of a virgin… so He doesn’t have the sin nature that you and I do… and He lives on this earth for 33 years. And during those 33 years He perfectly obeys God’s Law… and He perfectly meets God’s standard and God’s requirements
And after 33 years, God the Father looks at His Son Jesus and says, “You’ve done it Son! You’ve done everything that was required for a man to stand in a right relationship with Me. You’ve met all My requirements. You’ve exceeded all My standards.” And the Bible tells us that God was pleased with Jesus. But there was still the problem of our sins. Your sins and my sins. And since God is perfectly just. He can’t simply overlook them… those sins have been committed, there has to be a punishment. And Jesus… because of His great love for us. Says, “I’ll take their punishment.” And so the Son of God… who has lived a perfectly holy, and righteous, and good life goes to the cross for you and me. He’s beaten beyond recognition. He’s nailed to the cross. And He’s lifted into the air while people are laughing at Him, and spitting on Him, and cursing Him. And as Jesus is hanging on the cross. God takes your sin and mine, and He puts it on His Son. Turn with me over to 2nd Corinthians 5:20 – 21 (READ). That’s what verse 21 is saying. God places our sin on Jesus. All of it… all of our lying, our greed, our anger, our lust, our pride and selfishness, all of our sinful thoughts, all of our sinful words, all of our sinful behavior… ALL OF OUR SIN. It’s placed on Jesus. And then God judges that sin. He pours His wrath out on Jesus. Look with me at Romans 3:24 – 26 (READ). You see that word ‘propitiation’? That’s pretty much what it means… “to satisfy”. Jesus is the Iram Dei placare The One who satisfies the wrath of God.
So Jesus lives the life we should’ve lived. And He dies the death, we all should die. He takes our place and He takes our punishment, which allows God to be merciful to us. But it’s not over.
You see; Jesus has claimed, and told everyone that He is the Son of God. He’s claimed and told everyone that He is going to be our sacrifice. He’s told everyone that He has the power to forgive sin, and grant eternal life. And He’s gone to the cross… and He has died. But how do we know that all of those promises and all of those things He said… how do we know they’re true? How do we know He wasn’t just some other religious leader like Buddha or Mohammed? How do we know that He can really forgive our sins, and change our lives, and give us life eternal?
How do we know? Because after 3 days in the grave, JESUS GOT UP!
Death couldn’t hold Him. The resurrection proves that Jesus was who He said He was. It proves that Jesus did what He said He was going to do… and it proves that all who put their faith and trust in Him as Lord and Savior will be forgiven of their sins, granted eternal life, and be made right with God! Because when you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what happens is that God takes all of Jesus’ obedience… all of His right living, and faithfulness, and righteousness… and He places that into your account. All your sins were laid upon Jesus, but all His righteousness is laid upon you, when you trust Him as Savior and Lord. The Bible says that we as believers have become ‘the righteousness of God in Christ.’
And please understand this friends… that is just the beginning. “…eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
(1 Cor. 2:9).
If you will look with me quickly at the last part of this chapter (1 Cor. 15:51 – 58), I want to show you what’s coming (READ).
You see; if you’re in Christ, you also are going to be resurrected one day. One day… I don’t know when, but I believe it’s soon… God’s going to say to all those believers “Get up!” And if you’re alive, and you’re in Christ… you’re going to be changed…
THAT IS OUR FUTURE! No matter what kind of bad news is going on all around us; nothing can change this good news! And in a moment, in an instant, we’ll be changed. We’ll be like Jesus, and we’ll realize that everything you ever gave, or sacrificed, or did for Jesus in this life was sooo worth it.
And that’s why I’m so happy you’re here with us this morning. To tell you this wonderful news.
To tell you that I have a God, a Savior, a Lord, who loves me so much He gave Himself for me… and to tell you that I’m going to a far better kingdom… a land of gathering on distant shores. And to tell you that you can have that too.
CLOSING
