Easter Sermon Notes
Remember What He Said
Scripture: Luke 24:1-8 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, 54-58
To listen to this sermon, click here on April 9 and click on link for sermons
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I. Don’t you remember what I said ….
A. Words we have all heard
B. Luke 24:5-6 – The 2 men/angels to the women at the tomb
Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here! He has risen!
Remember how He told you …
C. The women had already forgotten
When reminded by the angel
=> 24:8 Then they remembered His words
D. Regarding His death and rising
Matt 16:21, Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34, and Luke 9:22
Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
E. Regarding His Resurrection
Matthew 22:31-32
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am not God of the dead, but of the living.
John 11:24
I am the resurrection and the life.
II. Paul writing to the Corinthian Church
A. 1 Corinthians 15
Reminds us of the reason for the season
What are we celebrating today
Everyday within the church
The resurrection of Jesus
B. He reminds them to believe in 15:1
The good news that I proclaimed to you,
which you in turn received,
in which also you stand,
And by which you are saved,
C. ==> theological discourse on the resurrection …
3 sections in 1 Corinthians 15
1. 1-11 – The Truthfulness of the Gospel
2. 12-24 – The Resurrection of the Dead
3. 35-58 – The Resurrection of the Body
D. Crescendo of chapter 15 is reached in verses 54-57
When he speaks of the victory of the cross
Listen to Paul’s summary about
what the resurrection of Jesus means for us:
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
E. The resurrection of Jesus represents the two victories of the cross
Over two powers/realities which deeply affect our daily lives
1. Over the power of sin to cause our spiritual death
2. Over the power of physical death to end our life
III. The Resurrection gives us victory over Sin
A. Sin has incredible power over us
In Romans Paul tells us about the realities of sin
Romans 3:23 – All sin and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 6:23 – The wages of sin is death
B. While we like to argue about what sin does to us,
We all know deep within our souls
What sin does to us, to our relationships, to our lives
And to our relationship with God
C. Sin destroys life,
it weighs down life,
it takes life away,
it kills life
D. While we may bravo in our sin when committing it
We regret our sin when is shatters our life
E. Examples of sin destroying life
1. Zacchaeus – the tax collector
Cheated and greedy, loathed by the people
Found forgiveness and restoration in Jesus
2. Former Illinois Governor – Rod Blagojevich
Now serving 14 years for corruption as governor
Affect on his 2 daughters
I will guarantee you sin is weighing him down
3. The Woman caught in adultery
Leaders wanted to stone her to death
Have you ever been in room
When spouse reveals/confesses adultery to spouse and family
Looks could kill – pain, anger, grief
Weeping of regret for sin … Weighs down heavy
4. Even unintended sins ==> deep regret
Elderly priest – Good Friday – ran over 5 parishioners,
killed one, imagine the weight on him
9 year old playing with gun kills his twin –
Imagine the weight on his shoulders
and father who left gun loaded and available
F. Anyone who says sin is
without consequence without victims is deceived
G. Every sinner prays for a do-over
All of us in this room have done something we regret
It hurts … It pains … It weighs us down
H. The wages of sin is death
But because Jesus died for us
Took on the death of our sins
And because he rose from the dead
The death of our sins has been removed
==> why Paul proclaims
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?….
But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. At Easter … because of Jesus’ death resurrection
We celebrate the forgiveness of our sins
The removal of the wages of sin from us
J. This news, this fact, causes many in the church
to move from lamenting
to singing and rejoicing
Examples:
1. African-american spirituals:
2. The American spiritual
3. Those whose lives have been broken by sin
shame us in our ho-humness of Easter Hallelujahs
Friday at Rockford Rescue Mission
Weeping, wailing, dancing, shouting
Genuine joy … lives saved by God’s grace
K. If it weren’t for Easter … The resurrection
We couldn’t sing these songs
IV. Resurrection gives us victory over death at the end of this life
A. As believers and by God’s grace
We share in Jesus’ resurrection
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
B. I have spent much of my ministry with people as they deal with death
C. Death not only ==> grief and sadness
it also ==> anxiety, worry, fear in all of us
What comes after death?
Is death the end?
Is this all there is to life?
D. Jewish faith places emphasis on remembering
Because no belief in an after-life
Jesus teaching about resurrection, an after life
was something people had never heard
People do not simply live on in the memories of others
there is life after our physical, earthly death
E. Easter – Jesus’ resurrection
Is more than Jesus telling us
It is Jesus proving for us that
There is more to life on earth
than death at the end of the day
F. Paul said in Philippians 1:21
For me to die is gain, for me to live is lost
G. Jesus’ resurrection becomes
The resurrection of our bodies after death
The gift of life eternal
The communion of the saints
H. Life in and of itself is hard
For most people in most cultures
Negro spirituals sung while toiling in the fields as slaves
Joyously sing of resurrection and better heavenly world
Three most moving ones are:
The Gospel train’s comin’
Swing low, sweet chariot
Soon and very soon.
V. These two victories of the cross
A. The forgiveness of sins
The resurrection of the body
Are not victories everyone will celebrate
B. Do not be fooled by sentimentality that says
the forgiveness of sins
the resurrection of the body
is for anyone
We love to say …
Pastor, you know
the friendly neighbor, the nice lady down the street
their spouse, the caring coach, my good muslim neighbor
they’ll be heaven!
Won’t they?
C. We may wish it, but scripture teaches differently
Scripture teaches – Only for those who believe in JC
will share in the victories won by Jesus in His resurrection
D. These victories are for those who believe
In Jesus as God’s Son, as Lord and Savior.
As the two angels at the tomb said to the two women:
Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee:
This is what Jesus said:
Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned
John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Jesus to Martha in John 11:25-26
Reveals the importance of belief
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?”
John wrote his gospel so we might believe and be saved
John 1:6-7 => belief
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
John 20:30-31
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
VI. The Easter Invitation
A. Easter is a celebration
For believers and followers
B. Not only is Easter a time for celebration
But it is a time for commitment
for recommitment
C. Perhaps
You have taken the Lord for granted
Jesus died for me but I am going to do what I want
You have fallen away
Placed distance between you and Jesus
You know you have not been a faithful follower
D. Now, today is the time
To commit yourself to the Lord
To accept Him as Savior and Lord
To recommit yourself to follow him
If you have not professed your faith in Jesus
as God’s Son, as your Lord and Savior …
If you have not repented and confessed your sins
asking for God’s forgiveness through Jesus …
Do so now, today
so that Jesus’ resurrection, His victories
Over the power of sin to cause your spiritual death
Over the power of physical death to end your life
will be yours
Do so now,
so that Jesus’ resurrection and forgiveness
will be your resurrection and forgiveness
Paul put it this way:
This is the good news that I proclaimed to you,
which you in turn received,
in which also you stand,
And by which you are saved
That Christ died for our sins
That Jesus was buried
That he was raised on the third day
Just as He said,
in accordance with the Scriptures.
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