Why Was Christ Raised from the Dead?

We're kind of focusing on the resurrection the last couple of weeks.

And a lot of people think, well, Easter's over. You know, he rose, so what's going on?

Well, between Resurrection Sunday and Ascension Thursday, a lot went on.

So it's important to look at that 40 days from Easter Sunday to Ascension Thursday.

That's kind of what we're focusing on this time of year.

Our passage today comes from Matthew 28, 1 through 8.

After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the

other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven

and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking

for Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, he has risen just as he said.

Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples,

He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him, now I have told you.

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy,

and ran to tell his disciples.

Lord, we just come to you today, this beautiful, gorgeous Sunday morning,

and just ask you, and we don't really have to ask you because you tell us where

two or more are gathered.

You are with us, and we are so so thankful for that.

But Lord, just fill our hearts with the joy that your resurrection has brought

and the forgiveness and the hope of a future.

May we hear your words and understand them so that we can apply them to our

life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So, we're called to give reason to our hope, our hope through Jesus Christ.

But a Gateway Bible study plan that I was looking at asked the questions, what is our hope?

Eternity? Justice in the hereafter? Restoration soon made complete?

Seeing our Redeemer in His splendor? And why do we have this hope?

We have this hope because the the tomb was empty.

Jesus' crucifixion wasn't a temporary episode in his life, a past event or an

exchange for heavenly glory.

As the risen one, he bears the mark of his self-giving on the cross,

his nail-scarred hands.

Many of us today are carrying scars of wounds. It might be emotional. It might be physical.

I have surgical scars. I have scars on my knees from when I was a kid trying

to learn a bike and getting gravel stuck in them.

We all have scars that we carry, but we continue to live and carry on.

Our bones and flesh do not continue to heal and scar once they are dead.

This to me is more proof that Christ was alive once again, because he could

go to his disciples and show the scars.

If he wasn't living, how would his body have scarred?

Much has been written attempting to explain the mystery and meaning of Christ's resurrection.

One of the meanings which we will look at today is justification.

A gracious act of God is in which he grants someone a position of acceptance in his presence.

The term comes from the Roman courts and refers to a judge's action when he

declares that a particular person is not guilty, innocent, or acquitted.

It's important to remember that if Jesus evaded the physical suffering,

it wouldn't retain the crucifixion's sacrificial essence.

Sacrificial love is exemplified when one acts for another, even if it causes discomfort.

Christ was a sinless victim, treated like the worst of sinners.

I ask you today, would you be willing to do that for someone you loved?

When God justifies us as he has forgotten our sin and has removed all our condemnation

because of our faith in Jesus Christ, Romans 5.1 states.

The peace with God is not just a subjective feeling or peace of mind,

but an objective status, a new relationship with God.

It's also something hard to explain, like Liz was trying to say about the song.

How do you explain love? It's unexplainable.

The love that God has for us is so unexplainable that we can only look at it

that that he sent his son to die for us.

Imagine, you know, the impact that Christian theology would have if Christ didn't die for us.

His death signifies the depth of God's love and foundation of his justice,

and it is an honor that Christ loved us enough to suffer and die for us.

We have been given a family position before

God in which we can enjoy peace and

harmony and happiness with him the rules

that he laid out in the ten commandments his

death had to be certain for his resurrection to be

vindicated the resurrection is the

bedrock of Christianity Christianity it's not

based on fables but on historical fact which

turned timid disciples into giants of faith by Jesus's death and resurrection

God solved humankind's sin problem and made possible the forgiveness of guilty

sinners and the return to the heavenly father's home in harmony and happiness.

We can be forgiven, but not through ourselves, only through our faith in Jesus Christ.

Christ's death has given us a second chance and made us one with God.

Christ was raised from the dead to throw light on the mystery of his death on the cross.

Words cannot express what took place on Calvary.

The death of Christ on the cross is the theme throughout the New Testament,

but it's also a concise statement concerning

its meaning or significance cannot be found i know a lot of times people say

they go and see you know the passion of the christ i have to admit that is one

movie i've never seen because i cannot handle watching christ,

be whipped to the point that he was knowing that i was the guilty party that he was trying to save.

And even last, well, Easter, two weeks ago, I went to my daughter's and she

had the History Channel on and it was a really interesting program.

It was talking about, it was depicting the life of Christ and his crucifixion

and resurrection and each segment focused on a different person.

It focused on the Pharisees who were badgering Pontius Pilate and it took it

from their viewpoint of why they were doing it. It took Pontius Pilate's viewpoint.

And then when he condemned him to death and they started whipping,

I had to turn away from the television.

I could not handle it. And when we sin, we are doing that all over again to our Savior.

The death of Christ on the cross is the theme. It is the theme for this whole

Bible, both Old Old Testament and New Testament.

The disciples had difficulty understanding it.

We actually have a better viewpoint because we're seeing after the crucifixion.

But for them, it took hindsight.

They didn't have the hindsight. They were filled with despair.

It was only after the resurrection that they comprehended his teachings.

When Jesus said to them in Luke 24, 25 through 27, 7.

How foolish are you and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was

said in all the scriptures concerning himself.

I can imagine that this was the greatest Bible study ever held,

because can you imagine Imagine attending a Bible study where Jesus was the teacher.

In fact, it's not just a New Testament story. It was foretold in the Old Testament,

and it's signified by his mention of Moses and the prophets in this scripture.

Christ was raised that he might be with his apostles and disciples.

Matthew 18, verse 20, For where two or more come together in my name, there am I with them.

Matthew 18:20

The disciples were ready to take action, cast out demons, and teach the crowds

and defend their teacher until the crucifixion.

A dead Christ could not abide as a powerful force in the midst of his disciples.

Christ promised to be with them always as they worked at fulfilling the Great Commission.

For wherever two or more are gathered in my name, praying together is an antidote for individualism.

Praying together leads to become one

which can be even more powerful

when we come together as a church

family and pray for our neighbors our sisters and brothers in christ the missionaries

we become one with god and even more powerful christ fulfilled this promise

on the day of Pentecost when he came in the Holy Spirit to dwell in and with his church.

Christ was raised from the dead to demonstrate the power with which the disciples

would work as his servants.

Ephesians 1, 19 and 20 says, And his incomparably great power for us who believe,

that power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ

when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly realms.

Paul uses these many terms to emphasize the extraordinary divine force by which Christ was raised.

It's the same power at work in and through believers. You and me, we can be strong.

The Holy Spirit would give the disciples the power they needed to carry out

Christ's redemptive mission in the world. world. Acts 1.8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior,

he leaves that same Holy Spirit with us so that we can go out and do the same

work that the disciples were called to do, to spread the word among all all humankind.

Christ rose from the dead to deliver his disciples from the fear of death,

John 11, verses 25 and 26.

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and

believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

I'm asking you today, do you believe this?

Jesus is life the cross separated the world from christ jesus is not only life

or death is impossible but he

conveys life to all believers so that death will never triumph over them,

before long the world will not see me anymore but you will see me because i live you also will live,

the life of the christian always depends on the life of christ and if you lock

him out of your life you're not going to see him you're not going to see the

many blessings he has for you,

open up your heart and let him in jesus

came to deliver us from the fear of death hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and 15

Hebrews 2:14

since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that

by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,

and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Satan's only power in death is that he induces us to sin, which brings on the

penalty of death if we die in our sinfulness.

That's the only power Satan has. Christ has absolute power over death.

Revelations 1.18 I am the living one.

I was dead and behold, I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

By his resurrection from the dead, he demonstrated his power over death and

proved the reality of immortality.

2 Timothy 1, 9-11.

Who has saved us and called us to a holy life?

Not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

But it has now been revealed through the appearing of of our Savior Christ Jesus,

who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

And of this gospel, I was appointed to a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

Salvation is by grace alone. It's not a reward program or a savings program by your own efforts.

It's not because you do something good this day, so okay, you know,

God is keeping track and you get a little hashtag for all your good things and all your bad things.

And if your good things outweigh your bad things, okay, you're saved. That's not how it works.

It's grace. And when he died on that cross, the bad things disappeared and only

the good things remained.

But for some reason, as humans, we keep carrying all those bad baggages with

us And we need to follow Christ's example and leave him behind.

He forgot him. But you know, Satan has a way of just keep reminding us of it. Kick him out.

Just remember the good things, because that's what God remembers.

In Jesus's promises, we have hope for victory over death.

Philosopher Emmanuel can't believe that the only way life is livable is if there is life after death.

If all ends in the tomb, then both Hitler and Mother Teresa ended up the same.

Could we say the same of their lives?

Let Christ become real in your heart today, because resurrection igniting in

your heart is a renewed wonder for your heart.

It's a rebirth, just as Christ was reborn when he came to life again.

Knowing there is a hereafter gives us hope. Can you imagine how dark our future

would look if there wasn't a God, if Jesus Christ didn't come to die and take away our sins?

If we didn't have that hope of life after this, what kind of future would we have?

We'd be just living day to day, waiting for it all to end.

But we do have hope because of the resurrection.

Just because Easter was two weeks ago, don't forget what Christ has done for you.

He knocks and waits for us to answer each day.

Are you answering his call? call. His call might be just to say hi to your neighbor that day.

It might be to make major change in your life.

And maybe for some, it's just recognizing who he is for the very first time.

He wants you to answer so he can reside in your heart and have an intimate relationship with you.

That's what Christianity is all about, is that intimate relationship with him

that brings us us all together as one.

Don't forget Christ's sacrifice for you on the cross.

Surrender yourself and pray God enables you to be obedient, just as Christ was in his daily life.

We want to achieve that in our daily life.

In closing, I want to say, may the Lord bless you.

May the Lord keep you. May He shine upon you and give you the peace that only He can offer. Amen.