JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY
April 9, 2023 – Easter Sunday – 1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-58
INTRO.: Jesus is risen! Risen, indeed! Jesus’ resurrection victory is our victory. Today, every day, we celebrate the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises. Adam and Eve sinned. The Lord God promised a Savior to pay the price for sin. Jesus lived. Died. Rose again. Victory. Today, every day, we celebrate the fulfillment of the Lord’s power. Jesus defeated death. Victory. Promises and power foretold. Fulfilled. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave! I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Grave, where is your destruction?" (HOSEA 13:14). JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY. I. Death is swallowed up in victory. II. Always thankful for our salvation.
I. DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.
A. Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is the resurrection chapter of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Christ’s physical resurrection was already being challenged. Even rejected by some.
2. No resurrection meant that faith was futile, empty. No resurrection = still in one’s sins.
3. Guards paid to lie about the empty tomb. Lies and rumors challenged Jesus’ victory.
B. Verse 54. The Lord reminded early believers about their physical and spiritual bodies.
1. The mortal, physical body would put on the immortal, spiritual body. Eternal life. Victory.
2. Scripture would be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” Death completely defeated.
C. Verse 55a. Question: “Death, where is your victory?” Death’s victory gone. Swallowed up. Victory.
D. Jesus’ victory is our victory. Good Friday looked like the end for Jesus. Death. Burial. But that was only a small part of the Lord’s bigger plan. The victory of Jesus had just begun. Out of the darkness on Good Friday comes the brilliant sunrise of Easter Sunday. Resurrection day. Jesus had once visited the home of Mary and Martha Lazarus from the dead. Jesus visited with Martha concerning the resurrection. "Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?’" (JOHN 11:25, 26). Martha answered yes, she believed in the resurrection. Our answer is the same: “YES!” The Holy Spirit gives us faith to know, believe, and confess: “YES, I believe in the resurrection!” Jesus’ victory is ours.
E. Jesus’ victory is our victory. Jesus’ resurrection is the powerful truth for our comfort. Our strength. Hope. Peace. Gifts from the Holy Spirit who calls us to faith. Enlightens us to believe. Jesus’ victory over death is a permanent blessing for each and every believer. We will all face death. We all sin. We die. We do not and cannot escape either one. But the Lord is with us. Always. “He has swallowed up death forever! The LORD God will wipe away the tears from every face. He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth. For the LORD has spoken" (ISAIAH 25:8). Once again, Scripture declares death is “swallowed up forever!” Anything swallowed up is gone. No longer present. Our victory.
F. Again, and again and again Scripture clearly teaches the truth about the defeat of death. Once and for all. By Christ Jesus. For sinners. For forgiveness. "…it (God’s grace) has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 TIMOTHY 1:10). Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s Good News. Our perishable bodies will put on imperishability. Our mortal bodies put on immortality. Death is swallowed up in victory. People want to live forever. Jesus makes the impossible possible. Jesus gives us eternal life. Free gift of God’s love for sinners. Victory.
JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY. Death is swallowed up forever.
II. ALWAYS THANKFUL FOR OUR SALVATION.
A. Verse 55. Death where is victory? Gone. Swallowed up in victory. Death where is sting?
1. Verse 56. Sting of death is in sin. The soul that sins is the one who dies. All sin. All die.
2. Power of sin is the law. Law only condemns. Never saves. Powerful condemnation. Sting.
B. Verse 57. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Gospel power.
1. Thanks to God. Only one who can and will and does save. Victory over death.
2. Thanks to God gives us the victory. Gift of salvation – free. Cannot earn, deserve or buy.
3. Thanks to God for his gift given through the Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus’ victory won for us.
C. Verse 58. Final encouragement for these early Christian believers to stand firm, remain steadfast.
1. They faced many challenges in Corinth. The city was a center for false god worship, temples.
2. God’s truth was their truth. The victory of Jesus’ resurrection was their sure hope. Victory.
D. The end of Jesus’ earthly life in Holy Week did not seem victorious. Jesus was betrayed with a kiss. Falsely arrested. Tried. Not really convicted. Still, the crowd chose Barabbas to be released rather than Jesus. Barabbas was a murder. Rioter. Jesus was crucified on the cross. Died. Buried. The end. Or so thought his enemies and religious leaders of the day. Even his disciples hid out in fear. Not the life of a champion. All of it was God’s perfect plan. A plan of salvation down to the very day and time for Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil to take place. "Therefore, since the children share flesh and blood, he also shared the same flesh and blood, so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of death (that is, the Devil)" (HEBREWS 2:14). The power of Satan is destroyed. Death defeated. Victory!
E. Jesus’ victory is our victory. God’s amazing grace for his creation. Even more amazing for his children. Believers. How do we come to know God’s love for us? His forgiveness? It is not on our own. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts. What we know, believe, and confess is the gift of faith freely given to us. It is the strength of the Lord Jesus alive and well in each one of us. Divine power. "…everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith" (1 JOHN 5:4). We flee from earthly lusts. We say no to worldly distractions. Victory!
F. By God’s great love our lives are changed forever. Jesus lived his entire earthly life for us. To die for us. Jesus was the only person ever born for the purpose of dying. We die. But that is not our purpose in life. We life in the shadow of God’s great love. Jesus’ death. Resurrection. Victory. Our reaction?!? Thankfulness. We would be thankful for anyone we knew who lived and died for us. Even more so are we thankful that God’s very own Son lived and died for us. Rose again. Forgives freely and fully. "And everything you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (COLOSSIANS 3:17). Jesus gives us his victory over sin, Satan, and also death.
CONCL.: We ought to ask every day, “Why me?” Why has the Holy Spirit opened my eyes, ears, and hearts to see, hear, and believe? Amazing grace. Jesus was victorious. Gives us his victory. Death is swallowed up in victory. We are always thankful for our eternal salvation. In fact, we are much, much more the mere winners. Champions. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (ROMANS 8:37). JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY! Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
EASTER SUNDAY readings: JONAH. 2:2-9, 10; 1 COR. 15:1-11; MATT. 28:1-10; (PSALM 118)
SERVICES: 8:00am @ McCook (Sun) / 10:30am @ Redeemer (Sun) / NCF 1:00 Min. (Sat) & 12:00 Med. (Sun)
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