Easter: The Resurrections (Luke 24) | 4/5/2026

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

Luke 24 · chapter mention

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

Luke 24 · chapter mention

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

John 11 · chapter mention

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

Luke 14 · chapter mention

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.