Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22
Equipped-Final Part - Part 5
Sunday services March 27th
Inro: The final piece of the equipment and the most important one, is the central tenant of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot be equipped to follow after God, if you don’t have a basic understanding of the actual gospel, the good news of Christ and what that actually means.
Today we are going to talk about the core of the bible. The central focus and theme of all history and human existence is the resurrection.
Before we go deeper in the book of John I would like to give this warning.
12But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
1st Corinthians 15:1-19
Without the resurrection of Christ all of this is worthless; a scam, a travesty and a blasphemy. Without the veracity of this event called the resurrection all the things that we are doing a completely worthless.
Without the resurrection you are dead in sin.
Without the resurrection you will never see loved ones again in heaven.
Without the resurrection your life is a weak pitiful short existence that will lead to the grave.
Without the resurrection you are not healed.
Without the resurrection you are condemned.
The resurrection is of such vital importance
However the book of John was written so that you may believe in your heart and in your mind that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and is alive forever more!
If you are not moved by the story of the resurrection than I am not sure if you can claim you are a Christian.
Today I want to offer you the narrative of the resurrection and want to allow you to see the truth in it. This book was written so that you may believe. May this Sunday and through this sermon its purpose be accomplished.
T/S: All history hinges on the resurrection. So does the book of John
1. The Surprise that shouldn’t have been. (John 20:1-10)
1Now 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. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Exp: The story begins early Sunday morning. (This is why we celebrate on Sunday) It opens with Mary Magdalene and other women coming to the tomb in order to bring spices and incense to anoint and embalm the body of Jesus. My first impression is what did they actually expect? I am sure that they were aware of the presence of the guards at the tomb. They could have been arrested for showing up and asking for entry to the tomb. Not to mention that the tomb had been sealed by order of the high priest. This was a risky endeavor that could have cost them their lives or their freedom.
However when they approached the tomb, they noticed quite quickly that the stone and seal were broken and that the tomb had been opened.
The thing is that we know what happened but they didn’t. They thought the worst, and who could blame them? They must have thought that the high priest or the Romans had kidnapped the body and humiliated it. (This was the common practice for crucifixion victims.
So Mary runs home and gets Peter and John and tells them that someone has taken the body of Jesus. John and Peter run (John runs faster (Explain why details are important)) to the tomb. John sees the grave open and gets freaked out and doesn’t go in. Peter being Peter walks in and sees the burial garments of Christ. Both of these men are perplexed, although they had heard Jesus predict his resurrection they were still shocked to see it right in front of their eyes.
Ill: This story is full of unexpected twists and changes. Just the idea of God redeeming himself to mankind by dying on the cross, and the resurrection is the greatest plot twist in history. Mankind’s redemption bought on a bloody cross?
App: The resurrection is the central theme of scripture. The response of the people in the story is absolute surprise, astonishment and eventually overwhelming joy. It is almost comical that the disciples were surprised at all. Jesus predicted that he was going to die and rise again many times. (See verse 9)
Matthew 16:21
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Luke 9:22
22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Mark 9:3131 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
Matthew 20:17 (He even says he was going to be crucified)
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
The reason they were surprised is because they didn’t completely believe. (Although who could blame them for doubting)
Isn’t this us sometimes, we claim to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and defeated sin, death, and disease. But many times we don’t live like that is true. We believe on some level, but it only goes part of the way.
But the resurrection should put to death all of our doubts because is Jesus truly rose from the dead that what are our problems compared to that? The cross was the check written for our salvation, the resurrection was that check clearing.
T/S: Bottom Line
God keeps his promises! Always!
2. The Garden and the Gardener (John 20:11-18)
11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,b “Rabboni!” (Which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Exp: Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb weeping. She had lost her savior and her God. Remember her condition, the bible says that before she had met Christ she had been possessed by 7 demons. (Luke 8:2) Before Christ this woman was bound by the enemy and captured by sin. She must have been a wreck to behold. I am sure that we would have probably put her in the insane asylum. But Jesus stooped down and restored her and healed her and set her free from the enemy. She was all in; she even followed Jesus to the cross, on pain of death.
The Death of Jesus meant that her newfound freedom was in jeopardy if Jesus was dead then her joy was utterly destroyed.
Through her tears she sees someone but doesn’t recognize him. He asks her why she is crying. (My experience is that no woman likes to be asked why they are crying)
Ill: She couldn’t see Jesus even though he was right in front of her. Her tears, and her hurt, and even her distraction kept her for a moment from recognizing God.
That will preach
Your pain, your struggle, and your heartache can often times cloud your vision. God may be right in front of you, but you cannot see him through your pain.
But that is the beauty of the resurrection!
In our darkest moment and likewise in the darkest moment of history Jesus is in the midst!
He is in the middle of our pain; he understands your hurt, because he became one of us. (He calls us brothers!)
App: Mary didn’t comprehend the situation until Jesus said her name. MARY. Can you even imagine her joy and peace that flooded her heart? Night instantly turned to day! Her tears became tears of Joy.
He called her by name.
He calls you by name. The resurrection is not an impersonal event. It is not just a historical fact that benefits you. It affects you personally. You see because of the resurrection you can have life.
Many a believers’ life. (Yvonne, Jerry)
The promise of the resurrection is for every single person individually. The promise is this if you die with Christ you will rise with him. (We die to sin and resurrect to life)
The bible says that death has lost its sting
Bee Illustration –Little girl and her father are sitting in a room. The little girl opens the window and from outside a bee flies into the room. The little girl is terrified and cries out to her father help me! The father walks across the room and grabs the bee mid air and traps it in his hand. Then after a moment he releases the bee back into the room. The little girl is terrified again and asks why he let it go (She was still worried it would sting her). The father responds that it can longer sting her, for it had lost its sting. She was joyful but then asked why it didn’t sting him? The father then opens his hand and shows her that it did in fact sting her. The stinger was still lodged in his hand, but the bee no longer had the sting. She no longer had any fear of the sting.
The sting of death has been removed forever.
T/S: Jesus commanded her to tell his disciples what had happened.
3. Rumors of another world. (John 20:19-23)
19On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Exp: The disciples must have heard Mary, in fact another gospel says that weren’t sure if she was even telling the truth. (There had been several encounters with the disciples that day) But they were still afraid.
It is important to pause here for a moment.
This is a physical resurrection. I want to make that very clear. If the disciples wanted to claim Jesus rose from the dead spiritually; then there would be no need for fear. After all the Jewish leaders and the romans who crucified him could simply pull out the body and boom game over.
They could still believe in a spiritual resurrection and few people would have had a problem with that. But when you make the claim that Jesus rose from the dead physically, you are making a dangerous claim. The disciples knew this and were in hiding for that very reason.
The resurrection could be disproved with a body. But nobody was ever produced.
The resurrection was a complete resurrection, physical and spiritual. Jesus had truly conquered death hell and the grave.
Ill: Can you imagine the scene sitting with the disciples? (Illustrate)
Talking about the road to Emmaus
Talking about theories of how it may have happened
Talking about how Mary Magdalene may be a bit crazy
Suddenly Jesus walk through the wall and greets them.
He then does something so important. He shows them his nails prints and then proceeds to breath on them. This is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He gives them life right then and there in the room.
Back in the Garden of Eden death entered the world through sin, here in another garden Jesus rose from the dead and defeated death forever.
In Eden our spiritual life was made dead. (All of us are born dead in the spirit.)
Here Jesus raises our spirits to life. This moment is called regeneration! This is the beginning of the new world, which is to come. This is a whisper and a promise of another world and a new creation.
App: (Worship Team)
What happens next is that Thomas who was not present the first time Jesus visited his disciples a week later has an encounter with Jesus. Jesus proves himself to his disciples and to everyone, that he has risen and risen indeed.
Our response to this story will determine our fate.
At the beginning of this story I told you that your response to the resurrection is of eternal consequences.
Without the resurrection death still has its sting
Without the resurrection we are still dead in our sins.
Without the resurrection we are utterly hopeless.
T/S: But with the resurrection
We no longer have to be afraid of what tomorrow holds
We have joy
we have freedom
we have life
we have peace
we will see again those who have died in Christ
we will see Christ again in his glory
we have the holy spirit
we have adoption as sons and daughters of the living God
One last word.
The resurrection of Christ is an invitation to life. But you must make the step into the tomb and find that it is empty.
Your response determines the outcome.
You can choose to believe in the resurrection or reject it. All eternity awaits your response.
It would be wrong of me not to give an opportunity for you to make the lord who conquered death, your lord over your life.
So I do so now.
If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life it is very simple (Romans 10:9) Confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.
Belief in the resurrection is necessary to your salvation!
If that is you please come forward, and make Christ the Lord of your life.
Lets worship.