All right, welcome back, parents.
Well, we're in a season of our lives, Jason and I with
grandchildren now that when our kids and our grandkids are
together, like for a holiday or something.
And the, the sound of, of them visiting, right, is, is a
beautiful sound. And so I have this sense
sometimes, especially during a break, sometimes I'll just stand
here and to hear you guys visiting and enjoying being
together. I think the heart of God being a
father kind of just enjoys his kids being together in the, in
the house, right, And all the hustle and the bustle of it.
So I just, I always want you to be mindful that, that sometimes
we'll talk about the music part of the services, like, Oh,
that's the worship part. But my encouragement too is that
no, I mean you getting in your car on your way here, that's
worship. And then you walk in and you
interact with others, you see others, you connect, you don't
sneak in. Our our church is hard to sneak
in and just find a seat, right? That's you Like some churches,
you can kind of sneak in and not talk to anybody.
OK, I hope that that doesn't happen here.
I don't think it does, right. So my sense is that, OK, then we
sing and that's worship. And then even the announcements,
believe it or not, it's like this is the business of church,
right? Other times to connect every
part of what we're doing. This is kind of our liturgy.
Maybe some of you grew up in a church that was liturgical,
right? And it had certain kind of
ancient traditions. Well, we don't have so many
ancient traditions necessarily, but but our liturgy is coffee
and doughnuts and visiting and singing and a break.
The 5 minute break is part of our liturgy.
And I must say that I even teaching it, that 5 minute break
kind of gives you a minute just kind of rest your head.
And then we get to dig in deep to the word of God, right?
And certainly our attention and an honoring and admiration in
awe of God's word. That's part of our worship.
It's all part of our liturgy. So God's enjoying his children
being together in the house when we're together.
Now, if you have your Bibles on this Easter Sunday morning,
please take them and turn to the New Testament, to the book of
Luke, about the 80% through your Bible.
If you're new to the Bible, the New Testament, find that.
And then you have Matthew. Mark, Luke and John are the four
accounts of the story of the life of Jesus.
And then it goes on to Acts, which is the history of the
early church, and then letters that early church leaders sent
to church as an individual. So we're going to be in Luke
chapter 24. Again, notes are on the back
table each week if you're new to our church, I, I print out
pretty detailed notes that you could take home with you and
hopefully remember what we studied on Sunday morning.
So those are available to you. Either pick them up now or on
your way out. I'm reading to you from Luke
chapter 24. This is Luke's account of the
resurrection Sunday morning, and this is what he says.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went
to the tomb taking spices that they had prepared, and they
found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
They found Jesus resurrected on that Sunday morning.
And we celebrate it today. Now this morning, I want to talk
to you about the resurrections, not the resurrection, but the
resurrections. And I'll explain that to you in
a minute. Let me pray for us, God.
I personally feel like like Christmas and Easter are just
the most important, important messages of a calendar year.
So this morning I stand before you and before this church
saying, please God, speak to us about how enormous the
resurrections are in our lives and in history.
So our hearts are open as an act of worship and we're eager to to
grow and our understanding of your truth and your word.
So we lean in, our hearts are open, our minds are ready.
Jesus, Holy Spirit, speak to us through your word.
We pray in Jesus name and everyone loudly together said,
Amen. So we're talking this morning
about the resurrections, and when I say resurrections, what
I'm saying is that it's plural. Of course, we're here today to
celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but we're also here today
to celebrate the resurrections that we will experience because
of his resurrection. His resurrection leads to
eternal resurrections in US and we we experience resurrection
here on earth in our lifetime. Now that's the point of baptism.
When we come to faith in Jesus, we are, we become alive
spiritually. Jesus called it born again like
we, we, we, we are resurrected. And This is why baptism is what
it is. When you're baptized and
Christians are encouraged, if you come to faith in Jesus, it's
a command be baptized. Why?
Because we're putting on display out outward what has happened
inside of us. And so the idea of baptism is
that when you go under the water, you're cleansed for one.
But then when you come out of the water, you're resurrected in
Christ, right? So we celebrate that
resurrection at the point of our salvation, but then we will also
celebrate the resurrection eternally.
And I want to unpack that for you this morning.
I want to connect the resurrection Jesus on that first
Sunday to the resurrections that happen in our lives and will
happen in our lives to come. So what about the resurrection?
Well, according to Paul, the resurrection and the well, the
death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus are of
first importance. This is why the confessions are
so important. And and This is why we try, I
try to find songs that feel like an apostles creed of sorts,
because the things that are most important to us as Christians we
should be mindful of. And I must tell you, sadly, that
a lot of churches tend to find like little niche corners of
theology, a little thing and it sets them apart differently.
So maybe it's the the way they dress or they would take
something that yes is important, but ultimately what is of first
importance. So a lot of churches are built
around like 1 little thing in their theological spectrum and
they go, this is where they make it more important than it is.
OK, hear me out on this. Paul says that some truths are
of first importances. So the things that a lot of
churches disagree about and divide them, well, I don't think
it's honoring to God. But I must tell you, theology
and doctrine and orthodoxy is so important to me.
But I do it in the context of saying, OK, what is the first
importance? And if you find a church in
there, again, it's sometimes you'll go to a church.
You're like, I didn't even know that that argument existed.
I don't even know the Christians disagreed about that.
But this church then will kind of focus on this place of
disagreement. So at our church, we say we're
interdenominational. And what does that mean?
You could come to our church and think you're still a Catholic if
you want to, or Methodist or Pentecostal or Charismatic or
Baptist. See, we rally around the things
that are of first importance. And this is not watering down
the truth of God's Word. It's leaning in to the example
that Paul gives when he says these things are a first
importance. So where does he say this?
In First Corinthians 15, Paul's writing to the Church of Corinth
and he says to them, now I would remind you, brothers of the
gospel, what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of
the love of Jesus displayed at the cross and the burial and the
resurrection. The good news is that we can
receive acceptance and forgiveness and relationship
with God. That is the gospel.
It's good news, he says. I remind you of the gospel I
preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
and by which you are being saved.
If you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you
believed in vain. So he's saying, hold fast.
If you hold fast, then he said otherwise you believe in vain,
right? So hold fast to these truths.
So what are the things he preached to them, and what does
he want them to hold fast to? What he's going to tell us for I
delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with Scripture.
What is the first importance? Jesus died.
He didn't faint, He didn't swoon, He didn't go into a coma.
He died, and this is the point of the ancient creeds that say
that Jesus descended into hell. Did Jesus go to a place with
fire and brimstone? Some people think that no,
that's not what happened. The ancient creeds were saying
he descended into hell, meaning Hades or death.
It's a way of saying he died, OK?
Not that he literally went to his body to the place of
torment, OK? It's just saying he died and
this is of utmost first importance in our faith, OK?
What else? He died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures. That he was buried, It had been
prophesied, Jesus talked about it, that he would be, he would
rebuild his temple in three days and that he was raised on the
third day in accordance with Scripture.
So Christ died, was buried and raised.
This is a first importance. This is how important the
resurrection is. And then what else?
And that he appeared to Cephas, meaning Peter.
Peter who was one of his disciples.
Peter, you remember, was a fisherman and you, if you know
the story, you'll remember that Jesus raises his disciples up
and Peter is somewhat the one who often take risks and he
walks on water, sinks it a little while later, but he he
gets out of the boat. And so Peter though denies Jesus
eaten, knowing Jesus on the night that Jesus was betrayed
and arrested on that Thursday night.
So Peter was the denier. He was also the rock, though
Jesus said. Peter had a revelation When
Jesus said who do people say that I am?
They said, well some a prophet, some a teacher.
And Jesus said, but who do you say that I am?
And Peter said the Christ Son of God, and Jesus said upon this
rock meaning upon this truth, I'll build my church.
Some people in certain Christian traditions think that when Jesus
said that to Peter, that he was meeting Peter on you, I'll build
my church. He didn't mean that.
He meant on this revelation that you have, that I am the Christ,
the Messiah. I'll build my church.
And then Peter was also a rival to Paul sometimes.
So what's beautiful and 1st importance, Paul's saying, hey,
this rival that I have, I want you to know that Jesus appeared
to him and Jesus was going to build his church again upon this
revelation that Peter had. This is the first importance
that Jesus is the Messiah that had been prophesied about.
What else is the first importance?
That he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most
of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Now, why is this the first importance?
This is the stuff that Paul preach, right?
He says, focus on these things. When Paul is saying Jesus
appeared to 500 people, he's saying there's historical
evidence for the resurrection. It's not a myth.
It's not a fairy tale. People saw Jesus.
He appeared again to over 500 people.
And when he says that some had fallen asleep, in this context,
he's saying some have died and many, many of the early
followers of Jesus were martyred because of their belief in the
resurrection and the lordship of Jesus, right?
So these are the first importance.
Verse 7. Then he appeared to James, then
to all the apostles, last of all to 1 untimely born.
He appeared also to me. So watch this.
This is the first importance. Paul is saying he appeared to
James, who was the brother of Jesus and the pastor in
Jerusalem. And then he says he's being
comical in the way here. He says last of all, as to 1
untimely born, He appeared also to me.
He was like, I'm untimely born. You know, early on Paul was
trying to martyr Christians to kill them.
And he says, and Jesus appeared to me.
I've seen him personally. These things are of first
importance according to Paul and what he preached, not a whole
bunch of little fringe doctrines on the side.
OK, so he's given. So when you read the writings of
Paul, know that, OK, these are the things that he thinks were
most important. Now, the resurrection,
resurrected Jesus again, had been seen by many, and many
would lose their lives, as we said, in this belief in the
resurrection. And this shows how committed
they were to their belief in it. They gave their lives believing
and proclaiming the resurrection.
This morning we get to come to church and we have freedom and
we're not being, you know, tortured or arrested or
crucified because of our belief in the resurrection.
The early church, their commitment to it, was so great
that many of them laid down their lives.
Now you need to know that the resurrection of Jesus is
incomparable. What?
What do I mean by that? There's no other resurrected
person who, who or Jesus was man 100% man, 100% God.
He is the only resurrected 1 And you might say, well, what about
Lazarus? And what about Gyrus's daughter?
Remember Jesus resuscitated Lazarus and Gyrus's daughter,
right? She was ill.
Sometimes we think of, oh, Lazarus was resurrected.
No, Lazarus was dead for a few days in the tomb.
But the Bible says he started to stink, right?
And so Jesus resuscitates him, but Lazarus is going to die
someday in the future. And Jairus's daughter, she's
I'll Jesus resuscitates her. She lives who knows how long,
but she eventually also is going to face death.
But watch this. Jesus is resurrected.
And what that means is that when he gave his life for us on on
Calvary, he was buried. When he resurrected himself,
He's never going to face death again.
And this is what will happen with us who follow Jesus, who've
given our lives to him. We will be resurrected, not just
resuscitated. We will be resurrected in a
physical body. We're not going to float around
in heaven, just spirit. No, our bodies like Jesus will
be resurrected fully and we will never again face death.
And that makes the resurrection of Jesus unique and different.
Yeah. In the notes, if you have them
this week, I put some squiggly lines in between sections.
I'm calling these turn signals. Sometimes it's like, OK, I'm
taking a turn here. So I want you to know, OK, we
just finished one idea. Now I'm going on to the next
one. OK.
So I want to show you John's accounts of that resurrection
center. Let's let's visit how John, the
apostle John explains what happened that morning.
All right, John 20, starting in verse one now on the first day
of the week, and Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early.
And Mary Magdalene, you'll remember, was a woman of ill
repute. She was a woman who would not
have been very respected and was coming out of some really
troubled behaviors, ungodly. And Jesus goes out of his way to
bring her to an awareness of his love for her.
And it's so magnificent that on this Sunday morning, who is it
that is going to the tomb is going to discover that the stone
has been rolled away in John's the, you know, this love
disciple of Jesus, But he's saying it was Mary Magdalene.
It's so beautiful to think that Jesus was going to use her in a,
in a profoundly historic way as the first to see the tomb empty
on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb
early while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been
taken away from the tomb. And she was going because she
was going to put spices and prepare Jesus's body for
continued burial, right? So it's to keep his body from
decaying and smelling, if you will, right?
So she found the stone roll away when she got there.
Now, you must know that when the stone is rolled away, it's not
so that Jesus can get out, because Jesus can walk through
walls. Jesus can transcend time and
space, so the tomb is open so that we can get in.
It's God's way of saying, hey, here's evidence.
I'm going to help you believe because believing sometimes it's
difficult, but God rolls stones away and says, come on in and
see that it's real and see what has happened.
OK, so, so she ran and she went to Simon Peter, the other
disciple, the one whom Jesus loves.
So I hear John is saying she ran to Peter, the one who denied
Jesus. And John doesn't call himself
John in his gospel. He calls himself sometimes the
other disciple or the one that Jesus loved and said to them,
they've taken the Lord of the two men.
We do not know where they have laid him.
So John, it's so funny. He nicknamed himself, right?
He calls himself the disciple of Jesus loved.
Wouldn't you love to nickname yourself if you could come up
with any nickname? Poor doubting Thomas, right?
He, he was given a nickname, right?
I don't think he would have picked that one, right?
So but John, he gives himself his own nickname and he calls
himself that five times. And you could see those in your
notes. So the beautiful thing in John
calling himself this is to oh, to be that confident in the love
of God for you. What if you introduced yourself
to people, said hi, I'm Kurt and I'm loved by God.
I'm loved so greatly by Jesus. This is how John is introducing
himself. It's not arrogance or it's
really just confidence in the love that Jesus had for him.
Continuing verse 3. So Peter went out with the other
disciples, beating John, and they were going toward the tomb.
Both of them were running together, but the other disciple
outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
John mentions that he ran faster than Peter, which is a great
part of the story, right? Because he's real.
And but then when they get to the tomb, watch what happens and
stooping to look in, John saw the linen cloth lying there, but
he did not go in. He doesn't enter the tomb,
right? It's curious.
But then Simon Peter, who ran slower, he got there following
him, and he went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloth lying
there. This is the heart of God for us,
right? Because I think Jesus ordained
the steps of that morning. Peter was heartbroken.
He had betrayed Jesus. He had sinned horribly.
He was defeated. And Jesus welcomes.
He's the first one in. And it just shows again the
magnificent scandalous love of God for those who have failed
and those who've wrecked things. So Peter, now this is going to
start the process of him continuing to believe and watch
it says. And the face cloth which had
been on Jesus head, not lying with the linen cloth, but folded
up in a place by itself. So why is it important that John
is pointing out that that the face cloth of Jesus was folded
in the tomb? Well, for one, it shows that it
wasn't a robbery. The body wasn't robbed and it
wasn't like an explosion. Maybe you think of the
resurrection like couple like dynamite going off or something,
right And just, you know, chaos everywhere.
No, watch this. Jesus just woke up.
He just woke up. He just resurrected himself.
And it's funny if my mom, I'm sure mom's watching this
morning. My mom.
One of the things, and I appreciate this so greatly, is
that when we were growing up, there was a big thing to to make
your bed. Right, make your bed first thing
in the morning. It's a great way to start your
day. And a couple years ago I saw a
naval commander who wrote a book and I think it was in the title,
the idea, right? It's like start your day,
whatever it was, It's like, so make your bed.
It's just I'm to this day really obsessed with, I like to make
the bed as soon as we can. Sometimes I'm ready to make it
before Jason wants to make it. So, but I got to, you know, it's
ingrained in me, right? So what maybe Mary taught Jesus
this, right, Because here Jesus, what does he do?
He gets up and he folds the linen cloth in a neat way that's
recognizable. He just wakes up.
OK. Verse 8 Then the other disciple
would reach the tomb first also went in, and he saw and he
believed Peter. Peter entering the tomb gave
John faith to do the same. And verse 9 For as yet they did
not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.
Jesus had told them what was going to happen, but they didn't
understand it, right? I mean, it was so obvious, but
they missed it. And I, I, I call to say as of
yet moment in, in our lives, there are things that you might
look back and go, oh man, when I was 20, as of yet, I didn't
understand. And then your understanding of
the gospel and God's love and truth, you grow in them, right?
And there might be some things in your life right now where
your thinking is off. And if you'd be open to say,
God, direct me and show me where in my life do do I need to
adjust? Where am I?
Where have I started to believe something untrue about me or
about you, God? And so John is looking back and
he would have been an old man at this time looking back, writing
the story. And he's looking back.
And so just great. He's saying as of yet at that
time, I still didn't get it. He gets it later.
But early on, even after those three years with Jesus, his
understanding was still limited. Now I'm taking a turn here.
I want you to know that his resurrection again will lead to
our resurrections. And this is the point of the
death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus.
The point was the resurrections of those who choose to follow
Christ, the resurrection of Jesus, and our upcoming new
resurrections enable Jesus watch this to endure the cross.
Maybe you want to just like how is Jesus able to endure such
torture and hurt and betrayal? Well, Hebrews explains how he
got through it. Verse 2 of chapter 12 of
Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews is saying we're looking to
Jesus, who was the founder and perfector of our faith, move for
the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
You might read that and think, oh, OK, the joy that set was set
before Jesus was, oh, he got to sit at the right hand of God.
But that's not what Paul is saying.
And other passages will even display this.
Paul is saying that Jesus looked ahead to his resurrection and he
looked ahead to our resurrections and looking ahead
enabled him to endure the pain of the cross.
OK the resurrection of him and his followers for the joy set
before him he endured. Romans 8 he talks about this in
verse 18. He says, for I consider that the
the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
OK, The glory that is to be revealed to us is the
resurrected Christ eternally with God.
So how do we get through? How do we endure?
How do we get through the heartache and the tragedies of
life? Well, Paul is saying you get
through the tragedies of your life the same way that Jesus got
through the cross. And that is looking ahead to the
glory that is set before us. And the glory that is ahead of
us as Christians is the resurrection, not of Jesus.
That's in the past. It's our resurrections to come.
OK? Paul talks about this also in
2nd Corinthians 4, verse 17. He says for this light momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison. When we are resurrected, it will
be eternal and it will be on comparison.
And this is what gets us through the light momentary afflictions.
And verse 18, he says as we look not to the things that are seen,
but for the things that are unseen, for the things that are
seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are
eternal. When Paul says the things that
are seen are transient, he means they're temporary.
What you see now is temporary, but in the resurrected state
that you will be in, it will be eternal.
It will not fade. And it's an awareness of
resurrection or eternity with God that enables us again to get
through affliction. Paul talks about it again at
First Corinthians 15. He says, behold, I tell you a
mystery. We shall not all fall asleep,
but we shall all be changed. And when he's saying we shall
all be changed, I mean, he's saying we'll all be resurrected.
To change equals resurrection. And he's saying it in the
context of saying, hey, this is a mystery.
I don't quite understand it. Paul has such great
understanding about so many things, but it's understanding
of the return of Jesus. It's a little mysterious, right?
So anytime that you hear people talk about the return of Jesus,
just know that Paul himself said it's a mystery, so approach it
from that way. Now he's saying not all will
die, but all will be changed. When Jesus returns, those who
are alive will go to be with him, right?
And then we will receive again the resurrected body.
He says in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last
trumpet, For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed.
So at this point, I haven't hear intentional songs.
I'm watching the clock. But some years ago I had a
friend, his name was Nate Trotsky.
He's, he's a Major League Baseball coach now and he had a
school in California where I live and he was a musician and
he asked me to write some baseball songs with him, right.
And so I wrote songs about baseball.
I don't know anything about baseball.
And it convicted me. I thought, OK, if I'm writing
songs about baseball, there are some things in our Christian
truths that I've not written about yet.
So I wanted to, I made a list of songs I wanted to write.
I wanted to write a communion song.
I wanted to write a blessing song, which I wrote.
It's called May the Lord and I. And I wanted to write a song
from this passage. I'm like, OK, if I can write
baseball songs, I can write. So I wrote a song called At the
Trumpet Sound. At the Trumpet Sound, You can
find it, it's on YouTube. I look like I'm 18 and it was
only like 20 years ago. So I've aged a lot since then.
But so, but the idea was like, listen carefully.
I'll tell you a mystery. We will not all fall asleep, but
we'll all be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
We will rise to be with him. We will meet him in the sky
glorified. Something I can't remember.
But at the trumpet sound. At the trumpet sound.
Tears will all be lost away. No more doubt.
Or I can't remember the words. You'll have to go see it.
OK. I forget lyrics to songs I write
even. OK, So go find it.
OK. But I wanted to write a song
about this passage. So Paul is saying watch this
when? And this is really important to
understand. Get this.
Our bodies will be renewed. It's a mystery.
And those who die, where do they go?
You have loved ones that have maybe passed.
Where are they now is a question.
Well, here's what I think Jesus said to the man on the cross.
You will be with me today in paradise.
And there's lots of biblical president to say that.
Watch this. When people die, their spirit
goes to be with God. Their spirit goes to be with
God, but they're not. They're resurrected body.
They're not in it yet, but at the resurrection, at the
resurrection, we will get our bodies back and they will be
perfected. They will be in perfect state,
right? But for now, their spirit is
with God. So your loved ones who know
Jesus, they're with God, but they will get their resurrected
body. OK, That's important to know.
So watch this, Paul says, for the perishable body must put on
the imperishable, right? Our bodies right now are
perishing, but he says your perishing body will put on
imperishable. And you think about perishables
at the grocery store, for this mortal body must put on
immortality. We're mortal now, but our
bodies, we're not going to float around in heaven like this
little spirit ghost thing. No, we're going to get a body
and it's going to be immortal, 54 says.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts
on immortality, immortality then shall come to pass.
The saying that is written, death is swallowed up in
victory. Oh death, where is your victory?
Oh death, where is your sting? Now it's really important to
know where the then is. So he says when the imperishable
puts on or when the perishable puts on imperishable and
mortality, immortality, then we'll say to death, where is
your sting? This is widely misunderstood by
a lot of Christians because they think, oh, we get to say that
now. Death, where's your sting?
Death, you got no sting. You got no sting.
It's like, no, death still hurts.
And if you've lost a loved one, if you've lost someone you love
and somebody goes, oh, death, where's your sting?
And you go, I forget it, man. Death stings.
It still hurts. Why?
Because we're not yet to that last resurrection, right?
Paul's saying at the trumpet sound right at the return of
Jesus, when we're resurrected and perishable puts on and
perishable, at that point, then we'll say to death, where is
your sting? But right now we still live in
perishable bodies and we still face death.
But at the resurrection at the last, then we'll say to death,
where is your sting? Now, Jesus had talked about his
resurrection and he talked about the other resurrection that
Paul's talking about the the resurrection of all of those who
know Christ, right? And here are some occasions
where he talked about it. He talked about in John Chapter
11 to the sister Martha of Lazarus.
OK, and I'm going to move through this part just quickly
if you're looking at the notes, but she said that Jesus, I
believe in the she said, I believe in the resurrection of
the on the last day. OK, so Jesus says, you know, do
you believe in the resurrection? She says, yes, I believe in the
resurrection on the last day. This is the little resurrection
that Paul's talking about. She's not saying to Jesus, I
believe in your resurrection to come.
I believe there will be a resurrection of the followers of
Jesus to come. And why does she believe this?
Because she had heard Jesus talk about it.
OK, Jesus talked about in Luke chapter 14, he talks about this
resurrection to come in verse 12.
He said, He said also to the man who had invited him, When you
give a dinner, this is a When you give a dinner or a banquet,
this was a religious leader Jesus was talking to.
He said do not invite your friends or your brothers or your
relatives or its neighbors, lest they also invite you in return
and you be repaid. But when you give a feast,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you
will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will
be repaid at the resurrection of the just When you do good.
Don't just do it for those who can pay you back.
Do it for those who can't pay you back, and then you'll
receive your reward at the last resurrection, the resurrection
of the just. So the resurrection of the just.
Well, who are the just? That becomes a question.
There's going to be a resurrection of the just.
Who are they? Romans 425 Paul says he's
Speaking of Jesus and he says who was delivered up for our
trespasses and raised for our justification?
Why was Jesus raised? What was the point of his
resurrection? Our justification and the
justification that we receive because of the resurrection of
Jesus, it makes us part of the just.
Now we are in the family, the gathering of the just, those
who've been justified by Jesus. Jesus says there will be a
resurrection of the just those who are justified and Paul talks
about it in Romans 3 also he says for all fall short of the
glory of God. Everybody, everybody, none of us
are good enough to earn the love relationship with God.
None of us but what happens all of sin fallen short but verse 24
and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. You and I are justified.
Justified equals salvation. Justification equals salvation.
We receive this Paul says because of the resurrection of
Jesus. Now you need to know that on the
cross where Jesus was. He's looking ahead to his
resurrection and the resurrection of the just.
And three of the Gospel writers point out that Jesus was mocked
on the cross. And how was he mocked?
They mocked him saying save yourself in Matthew 2739.
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and
saying you were you who would destroy the temple and rebuild
it in three days. Save yourself.
If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross, save
yourself. He'd said He could rebuild his
body, his temple, in three days. So they're mocking him because
of it. And in verse 42, he saved
others. He cannot save himself.
He's the king of Israel there. They go on and on and Mount Mark
points the same thing out in Mark 15.
They were mocking and saying, come on, save yourself, save
yourself. And they even said if you save
yourself, we'll believe in you. If you save yourself, then we'll
believe. The ironic thing was that if
Jesus would have saved himself, then we couldn't have been saved
ours, our being saved, our salvation is because he was
willing to not save himself. And this is important to know
because this is sometimes again, they were they were twisted in
their thinking. If you save yourself, don't
believe in you. They missed it.
Luke says it this way. One of the criminals who were
hanged railed at him saying are you not the Christ save yourself
and us. It's a big part of the story at
the cross. Save yourself.
But Jesus and John 1014 said I am the Good Shepherd.
I know my own, and my own know me, and just as the Father knows
me, I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
He volunteered and chose not to save himself so He could save
us. Through the resurrection we
received justification. Through the cross, we received
payment for the penalty of our sin.
But it connected with what happened on that Sunday morning
leads to us finally someday being able to be part of the
resurrection of the just. He knew all along he was going
to lay down his life and then he was going to take it back up
again. And he says this in verse 18.
No one takes it from me, meaning his life, but I lay it down on
my own accord. I have authority to lay it down
and I have authority to take it up again.
And this charge I received from my father says Jesus, Now in
your notes, I said, tying it all together.
And I put like a little bow there.
You can see that. So I'm putting a bow on this,
OK. The resurrection of Jesus is the
greatest event, and it is of first importance according to
Paul. And knowing that Jesus endured
the cross, looking ahead to his resurrection and ours to come
gives us an example of how we can get through anything that
life brings because we look ahead to the resurrection of the
just to come. So we can endure the struggles.
We can endure the heartaches. Looking ahead, looking back at
the resurrection of Jesus and looking ahead to ours to come.
These are the resurrections. Let me pray for us.
Wow, God, thank you for your truth found a word.
I love God that the way that you laid out scripture, there's so
many connecting parts of its tapestry.
Romans points to the Old Testament and Romans points to
the Gospels and the Gospels point elsewhere and the prophets
point to Jesus. It's all connected and and I
love growing in our understanding of how you did
that. And I pray that you would help
us as your followers, Jesus, to to be aware of your
resurrection, how great it made a change in all of history and
then help us to understand our resurrections to come in Jesus
name. Before we leave this morning, I
want to take just a brief moment and I want to explain to you
that in order to become a Christian that it takes an
effort on your part. You don't have to you don't have
to perform well. You don't have to do so many
good works or pay such penance really to become a follower of
Jesus. You have to confess with your
mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and then you
shall be saved according to Romans.
OK, so, so if you were maybe baptized as an infant, your
parents intentions were great, but that doesn't seal you for
becoming part of the justified by Jesus at the at the, at the
resurrection. So this morning, Easter Sunday,
2026 would be a great, great, great Sunday to say, Jesus, I
want to take that step and I want to surrender my life to you
and I want to become a follower and I want to welcome you to be
the Lord of my life and receive your forgiveness.
And what we believe is that you receive eternal life and it
starts now. You don't have to wait till you
die to receive eternal purpose in life.
You don't just endure this life. No, our our pursuit of Jesus
makes this life so much more full and meaningful and his
presence and his Holy Spirit. So this morning I want to pray
and my heart and hope would be that if you've never decided to
follow Jesus and you would decide to do it this morning and
then that you would tell somebody, you would tell a
family member, a friend that you made the decision to become a
follower of Jesus. So I'm going to pray and my
encouragement to you is echo this prayer with me.
You could pray Heavenly Father, I come to you in Jesus name and
I believe God, you're drawing me.
You're you're you want relationship with me.
And so you've gone this great lengths to do it and I see it
and so not of my own performance or hoops that I've jumped
through, but simply by believing because you've made us to
believe God, I pray that you would come into my life.
Jesus come and reign and rule me.
Fill me with your Holy Spirit and teach me in your ways Today
I make the decision to confess my faith in you and accept your
salvation and your lordship in my life.
So Jesus, come reign and rule in me.
I pray in Jesus name and everyone loudly together said
Amen. If you did make that decision, I
encourage you, tell somebody, reach out to me, tell a friend,
a family member, and we want to encourage you in your pursuit of
Jesus. Let's all stand together and
before you head out, I want to say a blessing over you.
And again, thank you for being here this morning.
So great to see you all right, if you'll prepare your heart to
receive this blessing before you go.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you and may make his
face to shine upon you. And may the joy of the Lord that
is unspeakable and full of glory, may it abound to you.
And may the peace of God that passes all understanding, may it
surprise you in the midst of all the challenges.
That life brings. And then may the mercies of the
Lord, in other words, the forgiveness of God.
That's new every morning. May it be especially new to you
and your mornings to come. And now may the Lord Jesus
Christ guard your heart and your mind, your salt and your light.
Go now and be salt and light unto the world.
You are blessed and we'll see you again soon.