Why The Resurrection Is So Important Series

1 Cor 15

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also...

Why is the resurrection so important?

WHY IS THE RESURRECTION IMPORTANT TO CHRIST?

1. THE RESURRECTION IS important to Christ because it is A fulfilment OF PROPHECY.

Acts 2:22-32 on the day of Pentecost ... Peter said:

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

25 David said about him: (quotes from psalm 16)

“‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand,

    I will not be shaken.

26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

    my body also will rest in hope,

27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

    you will not let your holy one see decay.

Christ’s resurrection was prophesied because it was crucial to the redemptive plan of God.

Through our faith in the resurrection we’re are saved.

2. THE RESURRECTION of Christ is important because it ESTABLISHES THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST.

Matthew 28:18 when Jesus had risen from the dead, he said to his disciples: All authority....has been given to me....

In Acts 2:32-36 Peter says:

32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:

    “Sit at my right hand

35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

In Philippians 2:6–11 Paul says that since Christ emptied himself and was obedient unto death, THEREFORE God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name.

Jesus rising from the dead means that he is Lord. We are saved by believing and confessing this.

3. THE RESURRECTION is important .....ENABLED CHRIST TO BRUISE THE HEAD OF SATAN.

Gen. 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and hers; he will bruise your head,

    and you will strike his heel.”

1 John 3:8

For this purpose the son of man was made manifest...to destroy the works of the devil one.

The Resurrection allowed Christ to overcome death and Satan.

Rev 1:18I am the alpha and omega...hold the keys of death and hell

The word is hades....place of departed spirits...so Christ is in control of every sphere

He was in control of his own death

Keys speak of control and authority, possession and power

He has the power to release from death those who receive his gift of eternal life

II. WHY IS THE RESURRECTION IMPORTANT TO THE CHURCH?

1. THE RESURRECTION IS CONNECTED WITH the believers ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.

ROM. 6:3-6 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Through this new life we Exeter into the Body of Christ. We become partakers of his life.

2. THE RESURRECTION ASSURES THE CHURCH OF VICTORY.

We are part of a kingdom that never will be destroyed or overcome.

When Jesus said in Matt. 16:18 upon this rock I will build my church...he was making reference to:

Dan. 2:44 44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.