Sermon
Resurrection
Sunday 2024
Today is the day set apart in the Church calendar
to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the
Atonement of all who know they need atonement for their sins, Jesus the
Redeemer of all who want to be redeemed.
But even from that first resurrection day, liars
and seducers and scoffers and mockers of all that is holy have tried to refute
the historical and undeniable evidence that Jesus rose from death. They’ve come
up with all kinds of preposterous reasons the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’
resurrection are false. Many of you have heard some of the attempts to
discredit the truth: The disciples went to the wrong tomb; Jesus never really
died on the cross; The disciples stole the body of Jesus and said He’d come back
to life.
Each of those absurd rationales is easily
shredded when we look at both the historical and biblical evidence. I won’t
spend much time examining that evidence now – perhaps at a later time, I will.
But for now, just consider these simple points:
If the disciples had gone to the wrong tomb, the
Pharisees and the Romans would have immediately brought everyone to the correct
tomb and put to rest the resurrection story.
Second, to believe Jesus didn’t really die is
really laughable. I mean, the Roman soldier stuck his spear into Jesus’ heart!
That’s why blood and water seeped from the wound because the tissue surrounding
the heart – called the pericardial space – is full of a clear fluid that can
look like water. The fluid protects the beating heart from causing friction
with each lub-dub. And, of course, the heart itself is full of blood. So, when
the spear pierced Jesus’ heart, blood and what looked like water oozed from the
wound – which is exactly what the biblical record tells us happened. You’ll
find that account in John 19:34.
And as for the idea that the disciples stole the
body – history tells us that each of the disciples – except for John who was
exiled to a salt mine – each died horrible martyrs’ deaths. To choose to
believe those men willingly went to their painful deaths for what they each knew
was a lie is an embarrassingly pathetic thought at best.
By the way,
does it not seem odd to you that those who saw the resurrected Christ only a couple
of days after His merciless beating, flogging, and crucifixion – and having had
a Roman spear thrust into His heart – does it not seem odd that when Mary and
the others saw Him, that NO ONE thought He looked beat up, disfigured, bloodied,
and tortured?
I mean, He
looked pretty much NORMAL. Why? Because He was now in his glorified Body – just
like the one you and I will have if we die in Christ.
Mary Magdalene
thought He was a simple gardener. The two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24)
thought He was your average stranger walking along the road. Those in the upper
room when Jesus suddenly appeared said NOTHING about His physical appearance
other to mention of the scars in His hands and side.
Why? Because He was now in his
glorified Body – just like the one you and I will have if we die in Christ.
Now, it shouldn’t require a medical degree to realize a human body
does not appear ‘normal’ after what the malicious Roman soldiers inflicted on
Jesus. Their flogging left wide strips of skin hanging from His back and side
and buttocks. Their scourging exposed His ribs, and probably portions of His
diaphragm, intestines, and other organs. Historians tell us many people died
from the flogging before they even got to the cross.
But, enough of that for now. Let’s
move on to what really happened on Resurrection Sunday because what really
happened is critically applicable to our own lives and our own eventual deaths.
Here is how John recorded the event:
(John 20:1ff) Now on the
first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb,
while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away
from the tomb. So she ran and came to
Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them,
“They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they
have laid Him.”
“So, Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going
to the tomb. The two were running
together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the
tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he
saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb;
and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which
had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in
a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb
then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as
yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again
from the dead. So the disciples went away
again to their own homes.
“But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she
wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and
one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to
them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they
have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned
around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was
Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if
you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him
away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to
Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).
I’ve been walking with Jesus for 51 years. And in
those 51 years I’ve heard at least 51 Easter sermons. But many of you have been
walking with Christ for a lot longer than I – God bless you. And in your own
60, 70, and even 90 years, you’ve heard a lot more Easter sermons than I have.
So, what can I say today that you haven’t already
heard? Probably not much. HOWEVER, just as when we read a text of scripture 100
times and the Holy Spirit highlights something new about that text for us on
the 101st time, so I ask Him that He will today use something I say to
sharpen your focus – and MINE – to a truth about the Resurrection of Jesus;
Something we’ve forgotten, or unveil an element about His resurrection in a way
we’ve never before considered.
The disciples – not just the 11, but ALL of them – were despondent.
And they were frightened. They were terrified. It would not be wrong to say they
were living through the darkest days of their lives. They believed
darkness had overcome Light. But they didn’t yet know the truth of what John
would later write:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that
has been made. In him was life, and that life
was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and
the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5, NIV)
They didn’t know on that Friday, nor the following
day, Saturday – they didn’t know Sunday was coming. If they had, they’d have
been able to make at least some application to themselves of the
prophecy in Isaiah: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” (Isaiah 9:2)
Before we move on, we need to ask ourselves if there is some
personal application of that resurrection text in John’s gospel, and the
prophecy of Isaiah – to OUR life today on Easter Sunday? Is some darkness
overshadowing you? Some despondency? Some melancholy? Have things not turned
out as we expected, and as we hoped? Are we close to despair – especially at
our ages and after so many of our expectations have NOT come to fruition – are we
close to despair as darkness tries to overshadow our life? Has hope dwindled to
barely a dying flicker?
Please, all of us – including myself as I preach this
message – listen to this word from the Holy Spirit as He reminds us of the
heroes of faith listen in Hebrews 11: “All these died in faith without receiving the promises,
but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance,
and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”
To all of us here who are Christians, strangers and exiles on the earth
– Listen! Sunday’s
coming. That unalterable truth is only one of the lessons inherent in the
Resurrection of Christ from the dead. Darkness can never and will never
overcome Light. Our sovereign God has forever ensured that to be the case.
You and I might never in this life see the fulfillment of our
fervent prayers, our hopes, and our longing for the salvation of our loved ones.
We might never see in this life the fulfillment of those prayers. But never
forget this: The disciples were lost. And frightened. And hopeless. And desolate.
But they didn’t know at the time that Sunday was coming. And neither do you and
I know when OUR Sunday will dawn. But we must know this: Satan’s
darkness can never overcome Christ’s light.
Speaking of Satan – I will do that very briefly now, but
this is important – the devil certainly did NOT expect Christ to rise from the
dead. If he had, he never would have seduced Judas to do what he did. And he
never would have incited the Sanhedrin to do what they did – because in
crucifying God's Son, Satan forever lost his war over the eternal
destiny of those who would turn from his spiritual Darkness to Messiah’
spiritual Light.
Listen! God blinded even the devil to His plan. Even though
the Messianic prophecies were wide open for him to see, God blinded the Prince
of Darkness to those prophecies so that Satan would unwittingly bring those
prophecies to fulfillment. And by blinding the enemy of our souls to God's plan,
Satan’s treachery brought salvation to the world.
The resurrection undeniably demonstrates the sovereignty of
God over all creation – seen and unseen – as well as His inconceivable mercy to
embrace dead and putrefying sinners to Himself.
That’s what the unregenerate man and woman is, by the way –
spiritually dead and in a state of putrefaction. Listen to this word from St
Paul to the Ephesian Christians: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our
flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and
were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
When the apostle said they – and we – were dead in our sins, he used the
Greek word from which we get the word ‘necrotic.’
Of course, the Holy Spirit didn’t stop with those verses. Because of the
atoning death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul could continue: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love
with which He loved us, even when we
were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised
us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so
that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God.”
Resurrection. Not just of Christ, but because of Christ, you and I who
love Jesus will also experience physical resurrection to eternal life.
If you’ve ever smelled a necrotic and putrefying animal, you’ll remember
the smell. It is nauseatingly unforgettable. And so, when Jesus told those
gathered at Lazarus’ tomb to remove the stone, Martha objected, saying, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has
been dead four days.”
I’ll never forget years ago, as I jogged along the road, I
smelled the cat before I saw it. As I rounded the corner, there it was. It’s
grotesque mask of death rotting in the San Diego sun. I guessed it had been
there for days, considering how badly decomposed its body was.
Like I say, I smelled the cat before I saw it. And as I
passed it by, this strange thought dropped into my mind: No amount of cologne
would have been able to mask that scent. We could’ve dressed it up in the
finest of cat clothing, placed a gold chain around its neck – but nothing would
have removed the stench of death from that poor creature.
Isn’t that what the scoffer, the unbeliever, the mocker of Christ – isn’t that
what they try to do for themselves? As St Paul wrote, scoffers and unbelievers
are all spiritually dead and rotting in their sins.
Yet, they strive to dress themselves up as best as they can.
They dab perfume or cologne on themselves. If possible and according to their
circumstances, they add to all their finery educational degrees, they increase
their bank accounts, drive the nicest cars and live in luxurious homes . . . But
there is nothing they can do to remove their stench – the smell of spiritual
death that God can smell even on the other side of the universe.
And only God Himself can remove that stench of death – and
that only through the cleansing blood of the resurrected Jesus. When Christ
calls our names from spiritual darkness and spiritual putrefaction into His light
and life, we become to God a fragrant aroma. As St Paul tells us: (2
Corinthians 2:15-16) “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God
among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the
one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.”
Christians listening here to my voice, Jesus called you from
Death’s stench to Life’s fragrant aroma. He called you, and you responded by
confessing your need for His atoning blood sacrifice to cleanse your soul from
sin’s darkest blot.
And if you are NOT a Christian – you might be religious, but
you’ve never acknowledged to your Creator that your sins have made you unworthy
of eternal life – if you are NOT yet a Christian, then Easter Sunday –
Resurrection Sunday 2024 – is a great time to move from darkness to light, from
death to eternal life.
Everyone, listen. Please. God is calling your name. He is
calling MY name. He calls all of us – child of God or not-yet-a-child-of-God –
He calls our name again and again.
So, will you come – again and again? Confess to Him your
sins. ROUTINELY confess to Him your sins and repent. Turn from sin’s darkness
to the light that follows repentance. And so I now close this message with a
few lines from the hymn I am about to play. Let these words be part of your
prayer:
Out of my bondage,
sorrow and night, Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health, Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself, Jesus, I come to Thee.