INTRODUCTION
This is a wonderful day! This is a special day in which we celebrate life!
When I was a kid, my favorite holiday was Christmas because I got presents!
When I was a kid we celebrated Easter at my house, we would make our annual trip to church and we would get a bunch of candy. I really liked to candy stuff, but I did not enjoy the church part too much.
After I became a Christian, my whole perspective started to change. I realized the real significance of the holiday. Easter was not about being forced to go to church, it was not about a big bunny and candy, it was about God displaying His love for me by sending His son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins.
This holiday is one that no other religion can celebrate. If you are a Muslim, your leader Mohammed died June 8, 632 AD at the age of 61. Millions of people go to the tomb, which his body occupies to this day.
All of the leaders of the manmade religions have either died or will die only Jesus, the one and only Son of God has defeated death.
Today we celebrate the victory that we can have through Jesus.
I cannot understand why a person would want to put their hopes of heaven in a dead person? Jesus defeated death. 1CO 15:55-56 says, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one event that has changed history like no other is the resurrection of Jesus, the way people worshipped, the way society treated women, and the lives that have been changed are a just a few things that changed because of the power of the resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus is the single most important event in the history of mankind because Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that if resurrection were not true, then our preaching would be in vain, our faith would be in vain, we would be false witnesses of God.
In verse 19 he says, If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
After I became a Christian, I finally began to understand the significance of the Easter holiday. Words cannot describe how I feel about what God did for me by sending Jesus to die for my sins. Jesus has changed my life and my destiny. It is because of the power of the resurrection that I have been blessed. I thank God that when we celebrate this holiday we do not have a tomb to go visit.
Today I want us to look at the power of the resurrection.
SERMON
The resurrection has..
I. THE POWER TO CHANGE LIVES
1PETER 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1. Being born again.
Have you ever wished you could just start again? Jesus gives us that chance when give our lives to Him.
2CO 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
How may times have you wanted to change your life, or how many times have you seen people you knew needed to change their life? I fully believe that the only way a person can truly change their life is by through Jesus.
Peter tells us that because of the resurrection of Jesus, we too have the opportunity to start anew. Paul tells us in the 2 Corinthians passage that when we are in Christ we are a new creature, a new person, we do not have to be shackled to the past.
2. Examples of changed lives
When you look in the bible, you see people who before the resurrection, we scared to death, the disciples who walked with Jesus for three years were hiding in fear when they crucified Jesus.
They did not understand who Jesus was. Peter denied Jesus three times before the morning came. Thomas did not think that Jesus was going to come back and when He did, he did not believe until He touched Jesus himself.
James, the brother of Jesus did not believe Jesus at first. In John 7:5 we find that his brothers we more or less mocking Jesus. JOHN 7:5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him. We know that James was one of His brothers from MATTHEW 13:55 which says, "Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
After the resurrection, we find James preaching with the other Apostles and he was an important part of the church. James, the brother of Jesus wrote the book of James, he called himself a bondservant of the Lord. Jude who was another brother of Jesus wrote the book of Jude and he called himself a bondservant of the Lord also!
What can we attribute the chance of heart that James had? 1CO 15:7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. James was not one of the 12, Jesus appeared to him and it changed his life.
Peter, the one who denied Jesus because he was afraid for his life and within days, we find Peter bolding proclaiming Christ in public, what changed this man from being a coward to fearlessly preaching Christ and eventually dying a martyrs death? 1CO 15:5 and that He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.
I could spend all day on this point because Jesus has changed so many lives. You are looking at a person Jesus has changed. He can do this because of the power of the resurrection. Had Jesus not defeated death, he would not have been able to do anything for me, defeating death proved Him to be the Son of God.
The only way for a person to truly change from the inside is though Jesus living in them.
The resurrection has..
II. THE POWER TO HEAL RELATIONSHIPS
Because Jesus has the power to change our lives, because of the implications of the resurrection, He can heal relationships.
Remember Peter, who denied Jesus when he was afraid. In the Gospel of Mark when the women entered the empty tomb, an angel told them that Jesus had risen. Then he told them the following in Mark 16:7: "But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ’He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’"
Jesus knew that Peter turned his back on Him when He was about to die, but Jesus wanted to heal the relationship with Peter. Had Jesus never risen from the dead, who knows what would have happened to Peter, the guilt may have killed him.
I have seen marital relationships that were healed because of Jesus and the effect that Jesus had on the lives of those who were having trouble, Jesus can heal parent-child relationships. Jesus can do this because His bones are not laying dead in some tomb, but because He is risen and He is now at the right hand of God!
THE GREATEST RELATIONSHIP THAT JESUS CAN HEAL IS THAT BETWEEN MAN AND GOD.
We are either with God or against God, there is no middle ground. You either belong to God or you do not. When we commit our first sin, we die spiritually. JAMES 1:15 says, “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
When we sin, we fracture the relationship with God, Jesus can restore that relationship! We will talk about in a couple of minutes.
The resurrection has..
III. THE POWER TO CLEANSE US
One of the ways that Jesus can restore our relationship with God is because He can forgive our sins.
Romans 6:6 says, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
When Peter was preaching his sermon to the Jews who participated in the crucifixion of Jesus, they wanted to know what they needed to do to be saved. Peter told them in Acts 2:38 "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter told them that part of the process of salvation is the forgiveness of sins.
God wipes your slate clean when you give your life to Jesus. By the way you notice that the Jews were not disputing the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
One sin keeps us from God, Jesus because of the power of the resurrection can repair the damage of sin in our life.
Once you belong to Jesus, the cleansing continues. 1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
READ TITUS 2:11-15
You no longer have to live in guilt, that is what Satan wants you to do because guilt will paralyze you and keep you from the cross of Jesus. Your guilt will be like a ball and chain that you will carry with you. Jesus wants to remove the ball and chain from you and set you free to love Him and serve Him!
The resurrection has..
IV. THE POWER TO SAVE
Frank Peretti tells the story of a family driving on vacation and a bumblebee flew into the car. One of the children was deathly allergic to bee stings, in fact he had nearly died from one. The allergist warned the family that another such sting could be fatal.
Of course the boy became hysterical. The quick-thinking father pulled off of the road and caught the bee in his hand, and the boy relaxed.
But after a moment, with a grimace on his face the dad let the bee go. Once again the boy became upset and jumped into the backseat trying to get away from the bee. But the dad, calmed him saying, "Don’t worry, son. You don’t have to be afraid."
And the father showed his son the palm of his hand that was beginning to swell, and revealed the stinger. The dad said, It’s okay. Now all he can do is buzz. This is what could have killed you, but I took the sting away.
TS-So did Jesus. That’s why Paul could say, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 And because of Christ’s resurrection, to the Christian, all death can do is buzz.
Because of the resurrection, we too can be saved from the sting of death.
A dead person cannot save you. Jesus defeated death. We will all die physically, but death will not be the end for us.
Listen to Romans 6:1-9 with me.
CONCLUSION
In 1 Corinthians 15 we see what Easter is all about. Listen to this in verses one through four.
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
If you take the resurrection out of Christianity, then you have nothing, Paul states that later in the chapter.
Today, if you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, then you really have no logical choice than to surrender your life to Jesus today.
I cannot think of a better day than today for you to give your life to Jesus as we celebrate the day He gave His life for you.
Jesus could have gotten off the cross, God could have saved Him, Jesus could have refused, but He didn’t, He freely gave Himself up for you. Do not let that sacrifice go to waste. Come to Jesus today.
Because of the power of the resurrection, Jesus has the power to change your life, He has the power to heal your relationships with man and God, He has to power to cleanse you and to save you.
