Resurrection: Redemption Ratified
Text: Matt.28: 1-8; I Cor.15: 14
Intro: What a wonderful time of year is spring. Everything around us begins to awaken from its winter sleep, and bud forth with new and vibrant life.
Spring is my mother’s favorite season. She gets all enthused when the grass and trees begin turning green, and the flowers begin to grow and show their beautiful faces. The pleasant temperatures and gentle breezes of spring always seemed to revitalize my mom; at least when she was younger, they did. She finds it a little harder to be revitalized these days. But she still loves spring, because to her, it means life.
It’s befitting I think, that we celebrate Easter during the season when life springs forth anew. New life is exactly what Easter is all about, for Christ died on the Cross for the sins of the world, was buried in a tomb, and came forth alive on the third day. And He lives forevermore.
Easter is perhaps the most important holiday we observe as Christians. As important as Christ’s virgin birth and vicarious death were, they would have ultimately been meaningless without His resurrection from the tomb. Everything we believe about salvation and the Savior hinges on the resurrection. It is this idea we want to deal with today.
Theme: The resurrection confirms:
I. THE DEITY OF CHRIST
NOTE: If you have assumed that the majority of Americans believe Jesus was God in the flesh, you would be mistaken:
In a 1983 Gallup poll, Americans were asked, “Who do you think Jesus is?” 70% of those interviewed said Jesus was not just another man. 42% stated Jesus was God among men. 27% felt Jesus was only human, but divinely called. 9% [stated] Jesus was divine because he embodied the best of humanity. Also, 81% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians.
Gallup Poll.
A. His Deity Was Proclaimed By Many.
1. Isaiah proclaimed His deity.
Matt.1: 23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Quoted from Isa.7: 14)
Isa.9: 6b “…and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
2. Thomas proclaimed His deity.
John 20: 28 “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
3. Demons proclaimed His deity.
Luke 4: 41 “And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.”
4. Angels proclaimed His deity.
Luke 2: 11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
5. Jesus Himself proclaimed His deity.
John 10: 30 “I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.”
6. God the Father proclaimed His deity.
Heb.1: 8 “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.”
B. His Deity Was Prominent In His Ministry.
1. He is unchanging (immutable).
Heb.13: 8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
NOTE: There’s an interesting story that illustrates this point:
When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels, was a university student, he lived in a boarding house. Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly, retired music teacher, who was infirm and unable to leave the apartment.
Douglas said that every morning they had a ritual they would go through together. He would come down the steps, open the old man’s door, and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork; tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, THAT is middle C!”
The old man had discovered one thing upon which he could depend, one constant reality in his life, one “still point in a turning world.” For Christians, the one “still point in a turning world,” the one absolute of which there is no shadow of turning, is Jesus Christ.
Source Unknown.
2. He is truth.
John 14: 6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
3. He is love.
John 15: 13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
4. He is holy.
Luke 1: 35b “…therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee (the Christ) shall be called the Son of God.”
Heb.7: 26 “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;”
5. He is eternal.
John 1: 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 17: 5 “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
6. He is omnipresent.
John 3: 13 “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
7. He is omniscient.
Matt.9: 4 “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?”
8. He is omnipotent.
Matt.28: 18 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”
Heb.1: 1 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
9. He is self-existent.
John 1: 4 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
II. THE DECLARATIONS OF CHRIST
A. He Promised Redemption.
Matt.26: 28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
NOTE: Have you ever heard the story about the little boy who lost his boat?
The Boy Who Lost His Boat
Tom carried his new boat to the edge of the river. He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. How smoothly the boat sailed! Tom sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built. Suddenly a strong current caught the boat. Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke. The little boat raced downstream.
Tom ran along the sandy shore as fast as he could. But his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, Tom sadly went home.
A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see—sure enough—it was his!
Tom hurried to the store manager: “Sir, that’s my boat in your window! I made it!”
“Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you’ll have to buy it for one dollar.”
Tom ran home and counted all his money. Exactly one dollar! When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter. “Here’s the money for my boat.” As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, “Now you’re twice mine. First, I made you, and now I bought you.”
Good News Publishers, Westchester, IL.
B. He Predicted His Own Resurrection.
John 2: 19 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple (His body), and in three days I will raise it up.”
John 10: 17 “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
C. He Promised The Saints’ Resurrection.
John 14: 19b “…because I live, ye shall live also.”
Rom.8: 11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
III. THE DEDICATION OF CHRISTIANS
I Cor.15: 3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
………………………………………………………………………
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
A. Our Preaching Is Not Vain.
I Cor.15: 13 “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”
B. Our Witness Is Not Valueless.
I Cor.15: 15 “Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:”
C. Our Faith Is Not Void.
I Cor.15: 17 “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”
Theme: The resurrection confirms:
I. THE DEITY OF CHRIST
II. THE DECLARATIONS OF CHRIST
III. THE DEDICATION OF CHRISTIANS
