The Hope Of The World

HE IS RISEN!  Welcome! 

Introduction

John 1:1-5,14 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Who is Jesus? It all comes down to this question… Many think Jesus is a great teacher, He was just a rabbi, Others like to think that Jesus was a moral philosopher, Some see Jesus as a revolutionary, fighting the system.  Some today think that Jesus was just a man, and God’s spirit came upon him.  

But the biblical narrative is different.  The Bible says that The word became flesh.   Jesus is God.  There has never been a time he has not been, and there will never be a time he is not.  In the book of Revelation, He says, “I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.”

Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.  The Godman. The Hope of the World 

• • Sunday – Triumphant entry (hosanna -A prayer for Divine help, Literally-Save us!)
  • Monday – Cleaned the temple, Knowing full well, that the temple is about to be made obsolete
  • Tuesday – cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit (more on this later)
  • Thursday – The Last Supper (this is my body, a new covenant in my blood)
  • Friday – On Friday, God Died.
  • Saturday – Silence (it seemed like Satan had won, the creator had become creation only to fall)  

• But Sunday came, and death was swallowed up in victory. Let’s relive the events that happened that morning

Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Payment for Sin

• • I love talking about Jesus, but first I need to talk to you about you.  Let’s start with me… I am going to ask you a question, you can be honest, we are in church.  AM I A SINNER?
    • YES 
  • Now you, I am asking kindly, nicely, I love you, ARE YOU A SINNER?
    • YES 
      • We have so many problems in our world, but under all the problems, there is one problem. The Bible calls that sin. Had we not sinned against God, rebelled against God, separated from God, there would be no problems without that problem. That is the root cause, sin, of all the other problems. There would be no death or destruction or dying or decay. There would be no tears and no funerals and no wars.
  • Solving the sin problem
    • We are sinners by nature and by choice.
      • We sin in action. We sin in inaction. We sin in our words, and our works. We sin in our motives, we sin in our minds, we all sin…all the time. All of us are guilty
        • Our conscience bears witness to our sins.  
          • Some of us feel guilty, ashamed, disgusted with ourselves. 
          • Some of us have shifted blame, made excuses, and denied it.  
            • But even those in our culture have come to the same conclusion – “nobody’s perfect”
            • Everybody is a sinner.  
    • Lots of people try to solve sin by choosing better, asking questions like, “how do i change my behavior?”  But that never works until we solve the sin nature problem.  
      • Jesus Cursing the fig tree
        • An apple tree will always make apples, that is its nature.  A peach tree always makes peaches, that is its nature.  A sinner always bears poisonous sinful fruit, that is our nature
          • In order to bear a different type of fruit, you need God to make you into a new creation.  

• The only way to solve the sin problem is through Jesus!

• Have you ever wondered what makes Good Friday so good?  Why should it matter to you 2000 years later what happened on that Friday?  
  • Jesus says in John 14:6 – “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
    • That is an astounding claim.  I would argue that it is the most astounding claim anyone has ever made in all of human history. In a world of many ways, Jesus was claiming to be the only way to God.  We have all turned to our own ways.  It separates us from God, and makes us guilty before Him.  
      • Jesus is saying that He is the only way to be saved from God’s Judgment.
        • He is denying the claim that all religions are the same… like different paths up the mountain… you can’t choose your favorite religion like you choose your favorite ice cream.  

• Jesus has always known what was coming.  Jesus has known from eternity past that he would die on the cross for the sins of mankind. 
  • He was aware as he was creating the planets, and setting the earth on its axis.  
  • He was aware as he crafted the trees that he would one day hang on one.  
    • And yet he said in Deuteronomy 21 – Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree
      • He was cursed so we could be blessed.
  • He was aware as he grew the thorn bushes that his crown would consist of them.  
    • Abraham almost sacrificed his son on the altar until God provided a sacrificial ram ensnared by the head in a thorn bush.  Knowing that his own son would one day be sacrificed ensnared by the head with thorns 
  • He was aware as he formed Adam that Adam’s actions would be the death of him.
    • Adam was a representative for all mankind.  The first of us.  The best of us.  Untainted and unmarred by sin.  Pure, Holy, unblemished, “very good”.
      • Yet he fell, just as you and I fall.  Adam was not enough.  So God himself came down, (condescended) born as a man, to be our perfect representative
    • Romans 5:12-14 – Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
      • What Adam could not do, Jesus Did.  He is the true and better Adam, He is our new representative. 

Victory Over Death

• David Burnette – We do not approach the crucifixion as those who have no hope.  It’s healthy for us to be reminded of the seriousness of our sin, and to be arrested by its dreadful consequences, but we shouldn’t treat Good Friday as if we don’t know what comes next. The empty tomb should hang over the entire day, reminding us that Christ’s suffering wasn’t pointless, that his enemies did not get the best of him, that the Father did not abandon him, that our sin debt is not still outstanding, and that Jesus is no longer suffering for our rebellion. In other words, we should think about the cross with the resurrection in mind.  
• And today is Sunday, and He has Risen!  
  • Today, billions of Christians around the world gather together to worship Jesus Christ.  For Christians this is the holiest day of the year. In addition, it is the biggest, the largest, the longest lasting, movement in the history of the world. That means that you are a part of the biggest movement in the history of the globe this morning.
    • There has never been more Christians than there are today.
      • In 1910 – 600 million Christians in the world.  Today there are 2.6 billion. 
        • And if you are not a part of that movement, my prayer is that you would join it today.  
  • Here is how.  Real simple…
    • Repent – Turn away from your sin, see your sin as God sees it.  Wicked, evil, disgusting.  Don’t cling to it, don’t defend it, don’t justify it. Turn from it, and turn to Jesus.  It is for your sin that Jesus died. 
      • Romans 7:24-25a -Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
    • Believe – Place your faith in the finished work of Christ.  You can’t just believe it mentally, you have to trust in him.
      • Like jumping out of a plane.  You may believe your parachute will open but until you jump you haven’t placed your faith in it. 
        • Once you have jumped, you aren’t getting back into the plane.  It’s ride or die with Jesus.  But don’t worry He’s God, and he’s got you.  You are safer with Christ than you ever were in that plane.
          • Romans 10:13 – For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
• This doesn’t happen through good deeds, or actions; it doesn’t happen through your own willpower.  You don’t get to heaven by earning brownie points with God.  It isn’t about your good deeds outweighing your bad ones.  
  • Let’s go back to the analogy of the tree
    • The fruit of your life is good works, fruit does no good for the tree itself, but only good for those who receive the fruit, who taste it. Who plant its seeds in their own lives.
      • The fruit does not make the tree healthier, or stronger, or more righteous, it is simply evidence of health and strength and righteousness.  That is what good works are.
  • It only happens by abandoning your righteousness, and taking Jesus’ instead.  He lived perfectly, he took your sins, gave you his righteousness.
    • He died on Friday, and the resurrection on Sunday is proof that God has accepted Jesus’ death as the payment for our sins. 

Alive Forevermore

• The Story isn’t over!
  • The Already, Not Yet
    • Christians will tell you, we’re not perfect, but we are new. We’re not who we were. We’re not yet who we will be. But we’re getting closer every day to the perfect version of us that Jesus is always working on.
    • And when He comes back and He judges evil doers and He brings an end to the curse and He raises the dead from the grave, you’re going to be filled with joy in the presence of Jesus forever and ever!

• He did the work, but we enjoy the benefits!  That is the gospel of Christ.

• Revelation 1:17b-18 – “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
  • Never again will Jesus taste death. Never again will we need another sacrifice.  He died and is now alive forevermore.