Resurrection Sunday

He is risen. If you were here Friday night for our tenebrae service, our good Friday service, we left this past Friday night in silent darkness pondering the reality of the crucifixion and the death of Jesus. He was a somber time to reflect on the death of our Savior, a death he died in our stead, for our salvation. I pray you do not overlook that truth and that you are trusting in his atoning death and his resurrection life. As the old preacher said, it is Friday but Sunday is coming. Well it is Sunday and Christ is risen from the dead. So let us rejoice and be glad for we serve a risen Savior. The unresolved service on Friday night is resolved this morning with the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the gospel of Christ, the good news, the good news that Jesus came, Jesus died, Jesus was buried, but on the third day he rose again from the grave, defeating sin and death. He ascended to the Father and he lives forevermore, always to make intercession for us even until he comes again. Father, by your Holy Spirit and dwelling your people, open our hearts, open our eyes, open our ears, that your world would have entrance, that by your Spirit you would mold us and shape us, that you would do what you have promised to do in your Word, that is to conform us to the very image of the Son of glory, that we would be a people, your church in the earth, to give glorious witness to Christ, to a world in darkness. Father, make our light shine bright. And keep us salty so that we will not lose our flavor so that we would make a difference wherever you choose for us to touch this world and the people in it. Father, we ask this that you would be glorified in Jesus' name, amen. Today our text is in Matthew 28 verses 1 through 8. We're going to take a detour away from Acts this morning, but we're not changing the subject. Matthew 28 verses 1 through 8, hear the Word of the Lord. Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb and behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing, his wideest snow and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who must crucified. He is not here for he is risen. As he said, come, see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee and there you will see him behold I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word. This is the word of the Lord. So immediately following the crucifixion of Christ and the darkness of that day, the apostles and other disciples of Jesus were in disarray. Their hopes had been dashed, their Messiah had been crucified, their king deposed and exposed on a cross for all to see and all to mock. They were not only dismayed but they feared for their own lives, hiding out and unsure of what was next, yet something changed them. It was the resurrection. The resurrection changed them and it changes men still today. The resurrection is key. The resurrection of Christ is key but so is the resulting promise of resurrection for all of those who belong to Christ. All those who by grace put their trust in Christ hold the promise of a bodily resurrection that is immortal, incorruptible and eternal in Him. That's the doctrine of the resurrection is key to the gospel. There is no good news if there is no resurrection. It was the reality of the resurrection and the resurrected Christ that transformed a fearful and defeated collection of disciples into a prayerful and victorious church. The first evangelist of the resurrection were the women who had gone to the tomb early that morning of the third day. The third day after his crucifixion the first day of the week which is today. Sunday is the first day of the week. The reason we worship on Sunday is because that is the day that Jesus was raised from the grave raised from the dead never to die again, never to taste death again. A new day, a new beginning, a new creation. Upon encountering an angel at the empty tomb and then the risen Lord Himself they ran to bring His disciples good news. The tomb is empty. He is risen. The doctrine of the resurrection is key to the Christian faith as is the cross. In fact when we speak of the cross the resurrection is implied and when we speak of the resurrection the cross is implied. In terms of the gospel you cannot have one without the other. Through the cross of Christ came the resurrection of Christ. You cannot have a resurrection unless you have a death. Both the cross and the resurrection are eternally linked together. The life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is at the heart of the gospel. It is the gospel. There is no good news apart from these bad rock doctrines of our faith. Paul writes in Galatians 2.20 that he had been crucified with Christ as we all must be. If you have been crucified with Christ you too have been raised up spiritually in his resurrection. And as a result of that truth one day all who are in Christ will be raised up bodily just as Christ was raised up in a glorified body. This morning I went by the cemetery to my wife's grave and when we put her in the ground we said and I say this every time I do a funeral and every time I do an internment at a cemetery. I tell the family I tell the loved ones we're planning a seed today and when you plan a seed I don't care what kind of seed it is if it's a vegetable seed or a flower seed or a tree seed. When you plant a seed you plant it with the expectation that it will produce life. Well when we plant a body those who die in Christ those who die in faith. When you plant them in the ground you're planning a seed that will one day spring forth in new life this is the promise of the resurrection. It's why the church it's why the apostles it's why the disciples were transformed after they saw their resurrected Lord. So as a result of that truth the truth of the resurrection one day all who are in Christ will be raised up bodily just as Christ was raised up in a glorified body. The doctrine of the resurrection is not only about us being raised up spiritually the doctrine of the resurrection rooted in the reality of the resurrection of Christ guarantees that one day our mortal bodies will put on immortality our corruption will put on in corruption and we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 51 through 54. The doctrine of the resurrection means that Christ is the first fruits of resurrection. All who are in Christ will one day follow after him in glorious bodily resurrection free forever from sin and death you and I cannot imagine what that day and what that life will be like but it is what is promised to us in Christ and you will live that promise one day in Christ. In that day we will not be floating around in heaven in ethereal spiritual bodies like ghosts which we often think of when we think about going to heaven and we think about dying. In that day it will not be like that at all. In fact we will be ruling and reigning with Christ on a solid earth this earth in solid glorified bodies partaking of the solid joys of the new heaven and the new earth. The power of resurrection is the power of the church. If there is no resurrection there is no power in our Christian faith. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit came as a result of the ascension of the resurrected Lord of glory. Therefore the power of the church to be witnesses to Christ is bound to the power of the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. It is the same spirit that dwells in you. If Jesus is not who He claimed to be, if He is not the Christ the Son of the living God, if He is not the King who comes in the name of the Lord, if He is not the Messiah then He is not Lord of all and He is not risen from the dead. Here is good news. Christ is risen from the dead and He is Lord of all. We have hope not only in this life but eternally in the next. And even though Jesus foretold His resurrection, His death was so brutally real, His resurrection was hard for His disciples to immediately believe. Without the resurrection we have no good news, we have no Christian faith, without the resurrection we have no hope in this life or beyond. As the apostle writes, if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men the most pitiable. We would indeed be most pitiable if Christ were not risen, but Paul continues with these words, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for Corinthians 1520. We serve a risen Savior. He is risen indeed. The fact that Christ is risen means He is Lord of all. Christ was not just revived from the dead as Lazarus was and every other person before Him who was ever raised from the dead, all of those people died again. As the first fruits of resurrection is risen from the dead and He will never die again. Paul and Roman 6.9 writes concerning the resurrected Christ, knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. Furthermore His resurrection means that death no longer has dominion over you if you are in Christ. Those who belong to Christ have the same promise of victory over death in His resurrection lie through faith in Him. Through death Christ destroyed Him who had the power of death. That is the devil. For this reason Son of God was manifest to destroy the works of the devil and He did just that. Through Christ's victory over death He has released those who have been subject to bondage through fear of death. And Christ because of the resurrection we no longer need to be bound by the fear of death. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Christ Corinthians 15, 25 and 26. Death is not destroyed yet. Death is not ultimately destroyed yet but death has been defeated. I want to read to you the words of Douglas McElvy. We read these in our Tenibre service but they are so powerful. We live in a world where death is all around us all the time. And we see death and we hear about death and we read about death and we experience death around us. It fills our world to the point that we may think that the resurrection and Christ defeating death and having conquered death and the enemy, all of his enemies. Perhaps it is just a myth. Perhaps it is just a story I wish was true but how can it be when there is so much death and destruction all around us will listen to these words from His liturgy of praise for Christ who conquered death. I quote, every longing of our souls, every molecule of our physical bodies is crying out for, yearning for, reaching for, tilted toward the irresistible gravity of your being and your glory. We wait your speaking of the word that will roll up death like an old disintegrating scroll, bind it with iron bands and cast it into the flames. Christ alone will wear the crown. Christ alone is worthy of the name above all names. All sorrows we endure for now are about the rattling gasp that signals death's defeat. Christ's heel is planted on death's neck. Death cannot breathe and this space in which we grieve is but the long exhale of death's last expiring breath. This age of passing sorrows is but the long death rattle of death itself. The outcome bears no hint of doubt. The work is done, the victory is won so death will be undone. All works of death are undone and we whose lives are hid with Christ in God will rise to live eternal everyone. You have made all things well. Oh Christ. Close quote. Hear me church. Death is a defeated foe. Christ is Lord over all. He is Lord even over death. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. His resurrection means that Jesus Christ is just that. He is Lord of all period full stop. His Lordship is not conditional. It is absolute. When we say Jesus is Lord of all it means Jesus is Lord over all. The Lord Jesus sits above all things and God has placed all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church which is his body. The fullness of him who fills all in all. If you are in Christ do you know who you are? You are the church. If you are in Christ and you are the church do you know where you are? You are seated with him in the heavenly places even though you are sitting in this seat right here in Taylor Texas. You have a position with Jesus seated in heavenly places. You are called his body. How many of you have feet? Feet are part of your body. Do you know what the Bible says? God the Father placed under the feet of Jesus? All things. If the feet are part of the body and you are the body of Christ and all things are placed under the feet of Jesus guess what that means for you and for me. As the body of Christ it means I am seated with Christ and all things are under me because I am under Christ and I have been made part of his body. Having been raised with Christ by grace through faith in him we are seated with him in the heavenly places of Ephesians 2.6. As his body we also have been seated with him above all things which have been placed under his feet. Jesus Christ is Lord over every square inch of this earth and over every square centimeter of the cosmos. Jesus himself said that all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth Matthew 28-18. That means he is Lord over all including the nations that he has inherited in his victory over sin and death and the devil. Christ has inherited all the nations and he will judge them all past, present and future. This was confirmed by Peter when he spoke concerning Christ in Acts 10-42. We looked at this last week. Peter says it is he who was ordained by God to be judge and Lord of all in his resurrection from the dead. It was he who was ordained by God to be judge, I am sorry, of the living and the dead and God confirmed the authority of Christ as judge and Lord of all in his resurrection from the dead. Why is Jesus given the authority to judge the living and the dead because he is the resurrected Lord of all, King of all, judge of all? Not only has Jesus inherited the nations, Psalm 28, but his promise to his overcoming church is that he will give power over the nations to his church, Revelation 226. The gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church, Matthew 16-18, but we have already been given the victory through Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord of glory, truly He is Lord of all. When you are tempted to believe that you do not have the victory because your circumstances seem to have defeated you and we do have those circumstances in our life. Sometimes our circumstances look like anything but victory, but if you ever find yourself in that place, remember Jesus and remember the cross because as his disciples watched him die that excruciating death on the cross, I promise you that watching Jesus die on the cross, his body did not even look human. It was so disfigured. Do you know that looked like anything but victory? You have to scripture tells us that through death he defeated the one who had the power of death, the devil. Through death Jesus won the ultimate victory in your life and my life. When our lives don't feel very victorious, don't look very victorious. Remember, it doesn't matter what it looks like. It doesn't even matter what it feels like. What matters is God's promise and even in the most, even in the situation in the circumstance that most looked like defeat, the creator of heaven and earth dying on a cross. If there is anything that must look like defeat, that had to be it. Yeah, it was not defeat. It was the most glorious victory that has ever been accomplished. Bar none. You may feel defeated. You may look defeated, but in Christ you are not defeated. Jesus knows how to snatch defeat out of its place and give you victory. You are victorious in Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord. Not only has Jesus inherited the nations, but he promises that the gates of hell, the gates of Haiti, will not prevail against his church. Through humble obedience, even unto death on the cross, Jesus Christ was given the name which is above every other name. As His disciples, we are called to the same humble obedience, knowing our resurrected Lord has given to us the authority of His exalted name. We are given that name and that authority to go forth and disciple the nations that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth, not just those on earth, but those in heaven. Not only that, but Paul writes and under the earth. Even those in prison souls awaiting the judgment will bow the knee and will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. With every tongue they will confess to the glory of God the Father. The nations in every sense of the word ethnically, politically, geographically belong to Jesus. We are commanded to disciple them, baptize them, and teach them all that the resurrected Christ has commanded. There is no ambiguity in the command of Christ, in the great commission. Jesus is Lord of the nations. That truth is not in question period. Through His Word He has made it plain. If we have eyes to see, we will see that Jesus has commanded us His church to disciple the nations. What nation do you live in? Well, the nation that God has in His providence placed you in. The nation you live in right now is the nation you are called to disciple. Don't worry, you don't need to buy a ticket to Washington or anything like that. Just walk over to your neighbor, walk over to your brother, to your sister, to your mother, to your father, to your cousin, to that stranger that God gave you opportunity to meet. And open your mouth and let the gospel come out and tell them of the hope that they may not know of, the hope given to us in the resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. We can try to wiggle our way out of what the Word teaches. We can choose to embrace political preferences over spiritual truths. But in the end, Christ is Lord of all and His rule over the nations has been entrusted to His people. Christ cannot fail. I'm going to say that again and I want you to hear me. Christ cannot fail. Therefore, we must do our part faithfully, obediently with humility. Thus we are called to faithful obedience to our Lord and to His Word. From generation to generation, we are not to live to ourselves. We are not to live for ourselves. We're not to live for the moment. We're to live thinking of those who will come after us. That's not worrying about tomorrow. That's living knowing that there will be a tomorrow after I'm gone. And someone's going to live in that tomorrow. Our children, our grandchildren, our families that will go on beyond us. What will you do? What will I do to make preparation for that tomorrow that will still be here after I'm gone? This is the faithful obedience that we're called to, until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord fills the earth as the waters cover the sea, until every knee is bowed and every tongue has confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This begins with your own knee, with your own tongue submitted to the Lord from your own heart of faith. We serve a risen Savior. He is risen indeed. The fact that Christ is risen means that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. It means we have been empowered with the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. It means that we go forth by His Spirit in the authority of His matchless name. Therefore, we must boldly live and boldly proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord of all with all that we are. The resurrection of Christ demonstrates His victory over all of His enemies, especially death. Christ was not just revived, but He was resurrected. He is the first fruit of resurrection. He is risen and He will never die again. You have that promise in Christ of victory over death. Your body will die one day. My body will die one day. It will cease to function in this time space continuum that we live in now. But I will not die. And if you are in Christ, when your body stops functioning, you will not die. John MacArthur says this, and I love this saying, death is nothing more than a servant who will one day take me face to face to be with Jesus. That's all death can do for me. It's take me to Jesus. That's all death can do to me. It's take me to Jesus. Because in Christ, death has no dominion, has no power, has no hold on those who are in Him. Through Christ's victory over death, He has released those who have been subject to bondage through fear of death. So fear death. And Christ because of the resurrection, we no longer need to be fearful of death. It is a defeated foe. The gospel of the resurrected Christ stands alone. The Apostle Paul wrote these words in the beginning of his letter to the church Rome. In verse 16 of chapter 1, he writes these words, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God, desolvation, for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. The gospel is the power of God, desolvation, for everyone who trusts in Jesus, the resurrected Savior. Are you trusting in Jesus today, right now? Only you and God can answer that question. Christianity unlike any other religion not only gives assurance of salvation to the believer through grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, it gives hope beyond this life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Christianity, the good news of our salvation is based on the work of Christ. Our salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We are trusting in the finished work of Christ. We're trusting in someone in something other than ourself greater than ourself. We are trusting in the finished work of Christ. Our salvation is by grace alone, period. Don't add anything to that. Your salvation is not by grace and in addition to, no, your salvation is by grace alone, period. It's not of words. It's not of your words. The only work you may trust in to be saved is the work of Christ. Every other religion is based on man's work. In all other religions, it is your good or bad deeds that determine your ultimate state of being. Pick any religion you want. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, any of them. In these work-based religions, there is no concept of grace and forgiveness. There is only man trying to offset his bad deeds with more good deeds. And at the end of your life, hopefully you've done enough good deeds to not suffer something worse than what you've already suffered. And these man-centered religions, it is man working to minimize the penalty that karma or the universe or some false god will inflict on a person. And every other religion, man's bad deeds are not forgiven. They can only be offset by greater good deeds. In fact, the concept of sin and forgiveness and substitutionary atonement for sin is unique to Christianity. This is why Christ died for you to pay for the sins you could not. Since you could not pay for it, even if you were willing to do that. And I don't believe we would even be willing to do that. In Christianity, it is impossible for one to work their way or to work their sin. God does not accept our good works to pay for our sin. He created good works for us to walk in, but they don't pay for our sin. Only the work of Christ in the cross can atone for our sin. There is one thing and one thing only that can wash away our sin. It is the blood of Jesus. As the old song asks the question, what can wash away my sin? And the answer is of Jesus. The good news we celebrate today is that Jesus did not only die for our sins. But he was raised from death for our life. If Jesus simply died on the cross in our stead and he still somewhere in the tomb, that's not good news. That was a nice thing to do. The thought was nice, but it accomplished absolutely nothing. But Jesus died on the cross, poured out his blood, gave up, his life was put in a tomb and on the third day he rose again from the dead. The first fruits of resurrection ascended to the Father and sits there ever to make intercession for us. He did not only die for us, but he was raised for our life. You will live eternally somewhere, whether it's with Jesus or apart from Jesus. We are all eternal beings. The question is, will you live eternally in death separated from God, in torment, or will you live eternally in the presence of God where there is fullness of joy and pleasures at his right hand forevermore because of what Jesus did for you? Don't trust in your good deeds. Trust in the only work that can save you. That is the work of Christ. Know that Jesus did not just die for you, but he was raised for your life. And if Christ has given you life, then live your life to glorify Him. Amen? In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let us prepare to come. Here is your charge, church. None of us are worthy of the gift of salvation given to us in Jesus Christ. None of us can earn it, none deserve it. God did not choose you in Him because you are worthy or because you earned it or because you deserve it. That is true for each and every one of us. Instead, you and I are very life and our salvation are all a product of God's grace. God created you, God saved you in His love by His grace. Christ did not die because He had to. He willingly laid down His life so that He could take it up again in resurrection power. So take and take you up with Him. So take up your life and live it as such. And in Christ taking up His life and taking you with Him and doing so, He became the first fruits of resurrection and we will follow one day. For if you have been crucified with Christ, you shall also live in the newness of His resurrection. This is why the gospel is good news. It sounds too good to be true because it is too good and it is true. You are saved because God chose to save you. Your salvation is by grace alone and there is no other explanation for it. If God who predestined us to adoption his sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, that is how you and I became saved. And He made us accepted in the beloved. He made us accepted. You may have been rejected by others but God made you accepted in Jesus Christ. You may have failed in many ways as we all have and we all will in the future. Others may have also failed you in many ways. But God does not fail and God's love does not fail. God did not fail to love you and make you His very own simply because He chose to, even with all are falling down. All of us are far from perfect yet. God's love for you is perfect. It is complete. And John writes that that perfect love of God for you and for me should cast out all fear from our life. Therefore let His perfect love cast out all fear, let the power of His resurrection give you the assurance that there is no longer anything to fear. Death is defeated and you are now more than conquerors through Christ who loves you and gave Himself for you. Not only that but He ever lives to make intercession for you and that is good news. God commands that we go and we spread that good news, that we make disciples of the risen king. He is risen. He is risen indeed and amen. Amen. Let us sing our thanks to God. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him of creatures here below. Praise him above the heavenly homes. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Amen. The Lord be with you. The Lord bless you.

Matthew 28:1–8 Matthew 28:1–8