April 22, 2025 • 22 mins
As we conclude our Jesus the Redeemer series, Pastor Zach's Easter sermon from Luke 24:1–12 centers on the resurrection of Jesus and its significance. Pastor Zach emphasizes three key points: It happened, it had to happen, and it happened for you. He explains that the resurrection is not just a metaphor but a historical event with eyewitness testimony, fulfilling what Jesus said must happen for our salvation. The message ultimately invites each person, no matter their past, to find forgiveness and confidence in the risen Christ, holding onto the “receipt” of his resurrection as proof that their debt has been paid.
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(00:03):
Luke 24, verse one to verse 12.
But on the first day of the week,at early dawn,
they went to the tomb, taking the spicesthey had prepared,
and they found the stonerolled away from the tomb.
But when they went in, they did not findthe body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were perplexed about this.
Behold,two men stood by them in dazzling apparel,
(00:27):
and as they were frightenedand bowed their faces to the ground.
The men said to them,why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told you,while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified,and on the third day rise.
(00:48):
And they remembered his words.
And returning from the tomb,
they told all these things to the 11,and to all the rest.
Now it was Mary Magdaleneand Joanna and Mary the mother of James,
and the other women with them,who told these things to the apostles.
But these words seem to them an idle tale.
And they did not believe them.
(01:09):
The Peter rose and ran to the tomb.
Stooping and looking in,he saw the linen cloth by themselves.
And he went home,marveling at what had happened.
Well, good morning,
and welcome to the Easter serviceshere at Christ Communion Chapel.
My name is Zach.
I'm one of the pastors here, and I'mso glad that we get to be part
(01:32):
of your family's Easter weekend.
You know, Easter, of course,is a major holiday in the Christian faith,
a major holiday for a lot of people.
And the holidaystend to mean rhythm and repetition.
If your family is like mine,there are certain things you do every year
at Easter, maybe certain things you eat,certain activities you participate,
(01:55):
and some of you are probably herethis weekend
because someone in your familynot so lovingly
reminded youthat we go to church on Easter weekend.
Holidays are times of rhythmand repetition, but that also can mean
there are times in dangerof going a little stale
if you do the same things yearin and year out,
(02:17):
you can get kind of overly comfortablewith it.
They can losea little bit of their luster.
And in some ways, our goalhere at the Easter weekend service
is to make surethat doesn't happen to you with Easter.
Let me give you an illustration.
Describe what I mean.
Every day I come home from workor wherever I've been.
(02:41):
As soon as I hit the door,sometimes even before,
my six year old daughterElla, will come from wherever she is
screaming to the door saying, daddy'shome, daddy's home, daddy's home.
My teenagers. Not so much.
But Ella is very
excited that, there, you got to reallyhave your head on a swivel.
(03:03):
She can come from anywhere.
Now imagine if we came from the same placeyou and I,
we walk into my homeand Ella comes running.
Daddy, daddy,daddy and gives me a big hug.
And you look at meand you say, oh, that's so sweet.
And I say, you know what?
It gets a little old after a while,a little stale.
You would know instantly.
(03:24):
The problem isn't with that amazingsix year old girl
being excited that her dad's home,something is off in my heart.
Listen, we don't want that to be you.
Easter is a time where we celebrate
some incredible things,some amazing things.
Things that should pick you up andand arrest your attention.
(03:44):
And if that isn't you this weekend,then let's give it a shot
for the next 20 minutes or so of seeingif we can't get you there to to get there,
would you would you open your Bibleto Luke chapter 24?
We're going to look at the versesthat were just so beautifully
read, Luke 24 but if you have your iPhoneor your tablet,
however you want to get there,
and hey, if you're here this weekendand it's been a while
(04:07):
since you've been in church,maybe you didn't think to bring a Bible or
you don't know your way around the Bible.
I want you to know that
every verse I referenceis going to be on the screen behind me.
But if you want to hold somethingand follow along,
there's a Bible in the pewin front of you.
And I preach from one of those Biblesjust so that I can tell you
that today's reading is on page831, in the upper right hand side.
(04:29):
And I'mso glad, by the way, that you're here.
And I want you to know everything I have
to say this morning is as much for youas it is for anybody.
But howeveryou're getting to Luke chapter 24,
let me hold out to you an outline I'mgoing to use to guide our time together.
Three points.
Very simple.
They go like thisI want to show you it happened.
(04:49):
It had to happen and it happened for you.
Okay? It happened.
It had to happen.
And it happened for you. Right?
Let me start with the first one.It happened.
Now, you might have noticedwhen the verses were being read
that they read as historical narrative.
They're they're are retellingof historical events.
(05:12):
That's important that that is the wayLuke is writing.
That's what he's trying to do to describe
things that actually took place.
Luke's gospel is a historical account
of the life and the deathand the resurrection of Jesus.
Don't take my word for that.
Listen to what Luke saysat the very beginning of his gospel
(05:35):
about whathe's trying to do. This is what he says,
inasmuch as many have under taken
to compile a narrative of the thingsthat have been accomplished among us,
just as thosewho from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the wordhave it, have delivered them to us.
It seemed good to me also, having followedall things closely for some time,
(06:00):
passed to right and orderly accountfor you, most excellent Theophilus,
that you may have certainty concerningthe things that you have been taught.
Do you see the language?
He says?
I'm writing an orderly accountso that you might have certainty.
That's the kind of language you would useif you're writing
(06:22):
a historical account of actual events.
Now, I say that because I think there'sa kind of modern presupposition people
bring with them to the gospels,to the story of Jesus's resurrection,
and that is thatwe should not read these things literally,
but they're not intended to be readliterally.
(06:43):
They're not intended to be readhistorically.
They're they're metaphor,they're allegory, they're fiction.
They're inspirational but not literal.
But that isn't what Luke is saying.
You can argue that Luke is lying.
You can make the casethat he's writing something he knows
not to be true,to convince us to believe it.
(07:06):
That's plausible.
But you really can't fictionalize itor or allegories it or make it metaphor
for inspiration because he's saying,no, no, no, no, this actually took place.
The resurrection actually happened.
And what he's doing reallyis dangling a thread in front of us.
(07:26):
He's saying, listen, I'mtelling you that Jesus literally lived.
He literally died,and he literally rose from the dead.
You should look into it.
That's what he's saying.
You should pull on the threadto see if there's anything there.
And it's interesting to methat I think most modern
(07:48):
people think that if they were to pullon the thread of the resurrection,
if they were to explore the historicityof the resurrection of Jesus,
that there wouldn't be much there actuallynothing could be further from the truth.
Let me illustrate my point.
You see, I have this stack of books here.
Don't worry,I'm not going to read from any of them.
(08:08):
Okay?
I just want to make a point.
Like, for example, this book was writtenby an investigative journalist
whose wife became a Christian,and he didn't like that.
So he said, well, I'man investigative journalist.
Here's what I'll do.
I will disprove Christianityusing all my professional skills
so that my wife will stop beinga Christian and stop going to church.
(08:30):
The result of that investigationis this book
and that guy now being a professingChristian.
This book was written by one of theforemost theologians of the 20th century,
who dedicated the bulk of his careerand life
to looking into the resurrection of Jesus,to anchoring it in history,
not just from the Bible, butfrom all kinds of first century sources.
(08:54):
You can see it's not a light read.
These two are about how the resurrectionof Jesus
in just one century, without the internet,without television, without airplanes,
or any of the things that we have changedthe Roman Empire.
These two are about how the resurrectionhas shaped Western civilization.
(09:16):
This one is about how the resurrectiongave birth to what you know
as modern science.
This one is how the resurrection
have given birth to what you knowand I know as justice.
My point is this somany people will say, pastor,
if Jesus is the only wayto have a relationship with God,
if he's the only way to be forgiven,then what happens to people
(09:40):
who have never heard of Jesus?
That's a great question.That's a fair question.
It's a questionwe've answered before in sermons here.
We'll answer it againbecause it's such a good question.
But you know, that question in some waysis inherently
irrelevant to everyone here in this room.
Let me ask a more pressing questionfor you and for I.
(10:01):
If Jesus Christ is the Son of God,who literally and historic,
he lived and died and rose from the dead,if one day we will die
and stand before him in judgment,then what excuse will we
who have the internet,an Amazon, and a library card
have for not
exploring whether or not it's true?
(10:24):
Every Easter is God's invitation
to you to pull on the thread,
to look for yourself, to examinewhether or not
there is reason to believethat Jesus Christ
has risen from the dead.
Now, I know you might be thinking, well,okay, let's just say for a second I assume
that if I read one or more of these books,I would be convinced.
(10:47):
Let's just say that Jesus did literallylive and die and raise from the dead.
So what?
I mean, good for him,
but what's that got to do with me?
Well, that's actually my second point.
Not just that it happened,but that it had to happen.
That it had to happen.
Look at what the text says in versesfive through eight.
(11:09):
You'll hearthis must language, verse five.
And as they were
frightened and bowed,their faces to the ground,
the men said to them,why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told youwhile he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men,
(11:33):
and be crucified,and on the third day rise.
And they remember his words.
That's a reference to an earlier statementJesus made in Luke
922 when he says this,this is Jesus talking.
The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chiefpriests and scribes, and be killed.
(11:56):
And on the third day raise.
You see, the Bible isn't just sayingthat Jesus lived and died
and rose from the dead.
It's saying that he needed to do it,that there's something essential
about it, something essentialfor you and essential for me.
And to unpack that,you really need to read the New Testament.
(12:17):
That's what it's about.
But there's this one linein the New Testament, in Second
Corinthians five,that sums it all up in a single sentence.
Here's what it says for our sake.
He made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in himwe might become the righteousness of God.
(12:39):
Let me give you three words
that will help you understandthe significance of Easter all over again.
Or maybe for the first time,the first is payment.
Is it the Bible says thatdeath is not just a biological reality.
It's not just a chemical realityor a physiological reality
(13:00):
that death is most fundamentallya spiritual reality.
That God made a good worldand we rebelled against him.
We ignored him.
We lived without reference to him.
So our world is broken. We are broken.
And a consequence of that brokennessis that we die.
(13:21):
It's that we die.
You and I will die and face the judgmentof God as a consequence of our sin.
But the Bible also tells usthat God sent Jesus,
who knew no sin,who had no debt to pay, no death
that was waiting for him,no need to fear judgment.
Jesus cameand lived righteously in our place
(13:45):
so that he could go to the cross and diesacrificially on our behalf.
Jesus becomes our sin on the cross.
He comes up under the anger and wrathand judgment of God
righteously on mefor the way I've broken the world.
Jesus places himselfbetween God and me as part of God's plan,
(14:08):
so that when Jesus diesand says it is finished,
what he means isthat the payment has been made.
He dies not for his sin, but for mine.
That's what Jesus his death is all about.
But when Jesus dies,it's entirely possible
(14:29):
that he will die for his own sin,that he'll stay dead
the way you and I will stay dead,because he deserved to die.
Like when the judge sentencedyou, sentences you to prison for a crime.
You don't just go the first dayyou stay there.
That's the penalty.
That's why you and I die and stay dead.
(14:50):
So when Jesus dies, the assumption ishe's just like the rest of us.
That's why the second word I want you tothink of is not just payment, but receipt.
Because when Jesus on the thirdday rises from the dead,
what he's saying is thatdeath had no claim on him.
He didn't owe death.He didn't owe judgment.
(15:11):
He didn't die because he was a sinner.
He died not for his sin, but for ours.
When he raisesfrom the dead on Easter Sunday,
that is the proofthat God has accepted his death on our
behalf.
Which leads me to my third word, which isconfidence, payment, receipt, confidence.
(15:33):
Let me illustrate this for you.
I'm sure you've had this experiencewhere you notice when you're
walking into Walmart or Target or Costco,that the person at the door
checking receipts is feelingpretty aggressive that day.
You just noticethey are stopping and searching everybody.
And when that happens,I really don't like to be embarrassed.
(15:54):
Plus, I'm a I'm a pastorand I don't want people thinking
I'm shoplifting a toaster oven.
So when I notice they're being aggressive,I will walk out towards the exit with,
with the item I purchased in one handand my receipt in the other hand
is kind of flapping in the breeze.Just saying.
Hey, here it is. Look here,I paid for this.
Now, I will admit that sometimesI'm feeling ornery, and I
(16:16):
tucked the receipt in my back pocketjust to see if they'll ask me.
So when they stop saying I'm sorry, sir,did you pay for that?
I can say, as a matter of fact, I did.
The point is, you
proceed towards the exit with confidence,because if somebody asks you
if the bill has been paid,you can prove that it has been friends.
Jesus came to die for our sin.
(16:40):
He rose from the dead as proofthat God has accepted it,
so that if we will grab hold of himin faith, we can live and die
with the confidencethat comes from knowing
the bill has been paid.
Friends, God doesn't want you to liveanother minute with anxiety over
(17:00):
whether or not he loves you, overwhether or not you can be forgiven, over
whether or notyou can be included in what he is doing.
Jesus has come to pay the bill.
His resurrection is proofthat the bill has been paid.
And God, even this morning, wantsto hand you a receipt so that you can live
and die, saying, when they stop meat the gates of judgment,
(17:23):
I will have flapping in the breezethe proof that I have been forgiven,
that I am accepted because of Jesus.
That's the significance of Easter
payment, receipt and confidence.
But even as I say that, I know there aresome here this weekend who will say,
(17:44):
that sounds so amazing, pastor,that sounds so wonderful.
It couldn't possibly be for me.
And what you mean is,
you know, your debt is too great.
You say,if you knew why my marriage ended,
if you knew why my family doesn'tspeak to me.
(18:04):
If you knew, pastor, why I came in alonethis Easter
weekend, you would know thathe might have done that for some people.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't.
He shouldn't do that for me.
That's why I want you to know.
My thirdpoint is not just that it happened
and it had to happen,but that it happened for you.
One of my family's Eastertraditions is an Easter egg hunt.
(18:28):
You probably do somethingpretty similar now.
Easter egg hunts are primarilyan athletic enterprise, okay?
The bigger and taller and fasterand stronger you are,
the more likelyyou are to fill your basket with eggs.
And now I have a six year old daughter.
Ally told you about her.
And so what
I try to do, because I have older kidswho are going to get all the eggs, is
(18:52):
I will take one egg and I'll hide itsuper low to the ground.
I pick a colorful one like purple,
and I'll put it below a benchright there on the open out the ground
and I'll I'll go back towhere they're going to start.
And I'll say to Allah,when you turn the corner,
there's a little purple egg down thereat the bottom under the bench.
That one's for you.
And she'll say, okay, daddy.
And then I look at my teenagersand I say, if you touch that egg, you die.
(19:21):
And when she rounds that
corner and sees that egg,she knows there's something there for her.
By the way, that's where the term Easteregg in movies and television comes from.
You know, when the director drops a littlesomething in there for the superfans
and she kind of winks at you and says,hey, I know you're watching
and this is for you.
Would it surprise you that in this storythere's an Easter egg for you?
(19:45):
If you notice,at the very end of this passage,
we're told one guy goes to the tomb,one guy has to see it for himself.
And that guy is Peter.
Peter. Why? Peter?
Well, because just a chapter ago,at Jesus's most crucial moment, Peter
betrayed him.
Peter denied him
in the most crucial moment of Jesus'slife, Peter proved to be an absolute
(20:08):
phony, an absolute fraud, the worstkind of phony, the worst kind of fraud,
an overconfidentreligious phony, the worst.
But you see, God wants you to knowthat there was room
at the empty tomb for Peter,because there is for you to.
Don't you see that's a little Easter eggthat God is putting on the ground.
(20:30):
And he's saying,I know what happened to your marriage.
I know why you're alone.
I know about your guilt.
I know about your shame.
But hey, when you round the corner,underneath the bench is a little purple
egg for you
friends.
God doesn't want you to go one more Easter
without knowing that you can be forgiven,
(20:53):
without knowing that his love and powercan rescue you
and change youand secure your future forever with him.
Don't live with anxiety.
Live and die with the confidence
of holding that
receipt of Jesus in your hands.
(21:14):
Let me pray for us.
Father God,thank you so much for the resurrection.
Thank you for the proofthat Jesus really was our atoning
sacrifice, that his life countsfor our righteousness,
that his death counts for our atonementand our judgment.
That his resurrectionis the proof that you have accepted
(21:36):
what he's doneand through him accepted us.
God, there are some here
this weekend who needed to hear that againbecause it had lost its luster.
May it shine brighter than it everhas for us.
And there are those that camein this weekend who have never believed,
never grabbed hold of God, that evenright now they might be saying, God,
(21:56):
if any of this,if all of this is true, would you show me
God? Would you do for them?
What?
No sermon or musicor anything else can do?
Would you open their hearts and mindsto the reality of Jesus and His name?
We pray. Amen.
Luke 24, verse one to verse 12.
But on the first day of the week,at early dawn,
they went to the tomb, taking the spicesthey had prepared,
and they found the stonerolled away from the tomb.
But when they went in, they did not findthe body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were perplexed about this.
Behold,two men stood by them in dazzling apparel,
(00:27):
and as they were frightenedand bowed their faces to the ground.
The men said to them,why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told you,while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified,and on the third day rise.
(00:48):
And they remembered his words.
And returning from the tomb,
they told all these things to the 11,and to all the rest.
Now it was Mary Magdaleneand Joanna and Mary the mother of James,
and the other women with them,who told these things to the apostles.
But these words seem to them an idle tale.
And they did not believe them.
(01:09):
The Peter rose and ran to the tomb.
Stooping and looking in,he saw the linen cloth by themselves.
And he went home,marveling at what had happened.
Well, good morning,
and welcome to the Easter serviceshere at Christ Communion Chapel.
My name is Zach.
I'm one of the pastors here, and I'mso glad that we get to be part
(01:32):
of your family's Easter weekend.
You know, Easter, of course,is a major holiday in the Christian faith,
a major holiday for a lot of people.
And the holidaystend to mean rhythm and repetition.
If your family is like mine,there are certain things you do every year
at Easter, maybe certain things you eat,certain activities you participate,
(01:55):
and some of you are probably herethis weekend
because someone in your familynot so lovingly
reminded youthat we go to church on Easter weekend.
Holidays are times of rhythmand repetition, but that also can mean
there are times in dangerof going a little stale
if you do the same things yearin and year out,
(02:17):
you can get kind of overly comfortablewith it.
They can losea little bit of their luster.
And in some ways, our goalhere at the Easter weekend service
is to make surethat doesn't happen to you with Easter.
Let me give you an illustration.
Describe what I mean.
Every day I come home from workor wherever I've been.
(02:41):
As soon as I hit the door,sometimes even before,
my six year old daughterElla, will come from wherever she is
screaming to the door saying, daddy'shome, daddy's home, daddy's home.
My teenagers. Not so much.
But Ella is very
excited that, there, you got to reallyhave your head on a swivel.
(03:03):
She can come from anywhere.
Now imagine if we came from the same placeyou and I,
we walk into my homeand Ella comes running.
Daddy, daddy,daddy and gives me a big hug.
And you look at meand you say, oh, that's so sweet.
And I say, you know what?
It gets a little old after a while,a little stale.
You would know instantly.
(03:24):
The problem isn't with that amazingsix year old girl
being excited that her dad's home,something is off in my heart.
Listen, we don't want that to be you.
Easter is a time where we celebrate
some incredible things,some amazing things.
Things that should pick you up andand arrest your attention.
(03:44):
And if that isn't you this weekend,then let's give it a shot
for the next 20 minutes or so of seeingif we can't get you there to to get there,
would you would you open your Bibleto Luke chapter 24?
We're going to look at the versesthat were just so beautifully
read, Luke 24 but if you have your iPhoneor your tablet,
however you want to get there,
and hey, if you're here this weekendand it's been a while
(04:07):
since you've been in church,maybe you didn't think to bring a Bible or
you don't know your way around the Bible.
I want you to know that
every verse I referenceis going to be on the screen behind me.
But if you want to hold somethingand follow along,
there's a Bible in the pewin front of you.
And I preach from one of those Biblesjust so that I can tell you
that today's reading is on page831, in the upper right hand side.
(04:29):
And I'mso glad, by the way, that you're here.
And I want you to know everything I have
to say this morning is as much for youas it is for anybody.
But howeveryou're getting to Luke chapter 24,
let me hold out to you an outline I'mgoing to use to guide our time together.
Three points.
Very simple.
They go like thisI want to show you it happened.
(04:49):
It had to happen and it happened for you.
Okay? It happened.
It had to happen.
And it happened for you. Right?
Let me start with the first one.It happened.
Now, you might have noticedwhen the verses were being read
that they read as historical narrative.
They're they're are retellingof historical events.
(05:12):
That's important that that is the wayLuke is writing.
That's what he's trying to do to describe
things that actually took place.
Luke's gospel is a historical account
of the life and the deathand the resurrection of Jesus.
Don't take my word for that.
Listen to what Luke saysat the very beginning of his gospel
(05:35):
about whathe's trying to do. This is what he says,
inasmuch as many have under taken
to compile a narrative of the thingsthat have been accomplished among us,
just as thosewho from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the wordhave it, have delivered them to us.
It seemed good to me also, having followedall things closely for some time,
(06:00):
passed to right and orderly accountfor you, most excellent Theophilus,
that you may have certainty concerningthe things that you have been taught.
Do you see the language?
He says?
I'm writing an orderly accountso that you might have certainty.
That's the kind of language you would useif you're writing
(06:22):
a historical account of actual events.
Now, I say that because I think there'sa kind of modern presupposition people
bring with them to the gospels,to the story of Jesus's resurrection,
and that is thatwe should not read these things literally,
but they're not intended to be readliterally.
(06:43):
They're not intended to be readhistorically.
They're they're metaphor,they're allegory, they're fiction.
They're inspirational but not literal.
But that isn't what Luke is saying.
You can argue that Luke is lying.
You can make the casethat he's writing something he knows
not to be true,to convince us to believe it.
(07:06):
That's plausible.
But you really can't fictionalize itor or allegories it or make it metaphor
for inspiration because he's saying,no, no, no, no, this actually took place.
The resurrection actually happened.
And what he's doing reallyis dangling a thread in front of us.
(07:26):
He's saying, listen, I'mtelling you that Jesus literally lived.
He literally died,and he literally rose from the dead.
You should look into it.
That's what he's saying.
You should pull on the threadto see if there's anything there.
And it's interesting to methat I think most modern
(07:48):
people think that if they were to pullon the thread of the resurrection,
if they were to explore the historicityof the resurrection of Jesus,
that there wouldn't be much there actuallynothing could be further from the truth.
Let me illustrate my point.
You see, I have this stack of books here.
Don't worry,I'm not going to read from any of them.
(08:08):
Okay?
I just want to make a point.
Like, for example, this book was writtenby an investigative journalist
whose wife became a Christian,and he didn't like that.
So he said, well, I'man investigative journalist.
Here's what I'll do.
I will disprove Christianityusing all my professional skills
so that my wife will stop beinga Christian and stop going to church.
(08:30):
The result of that investigationis this book
and that guy now being a professingChristian.
This book was written by one of theforemost theologians of the 20th century,
who dedicated the bulk of his careerand life
to looking into the resurrection of Jesus,to anchoring it in history,
not just from the Bible, butfrom all kinds of first century sources.
(08:54):
You can see it's not a light read.
These two are about how the resurrectionof Jesus
in just one century, without the internet,without television, without airplanes,
or any of the things that we have changedthe Roman Empire.
These two are about how the resurrectionhas shaped Western civilization.
(09:16):
This one is about how the resurrectiongave birth to what you know
as modern science.
This one is how the resurrection
have given birth to what you knowand I know as justice.
My point is this somany people will say, pastor,
if Jesus is the only wayto have a relationship with God,
if he's the only way to be forgiven,then what happens to people
(09:40):
who have never heard of Jesus?
That's a great question.That's a fair question.
It's a questionwe've answered before in sermons here.
We'll answer it againbecause it's such a good question.
But you know, that question in some waysis inherently
irrelevant to everyone here in this room.
Let me ask a more pressing questionfor you and for I.
(10:01):
If Jesus Christ is the Son of God,who literally and historic,
he lived and died and rose from the dead,if one day we will die
and stand before him in judgment,then what excuse will we
who have the internet,an Amazon, and a library card
have for not
exploring whether or not it's true?
(10:24):
Every Easter is God's invitation
to you to pull on the thread,
to look for yourself, to examinewhether or not
there is reason to believethat Jesus Christ
has risen from the dead.
Now, I know you might be thinking, well,okay, let's just say for a second I assume
that if I read one or more of these books,I would be convinced.
(10:47):
Let's just say that Jesus did literallylive and die and raise from the dead.
So what?
I mean, good for him,
but what's that got to do with me?
Well, that's actually my second point.
Not just that it happened,but that it had to happen.
That it had to happen.
Look at what the text says in versesfive through eight.
(11:09):
You'll hearthis must language, verse five.
And as they were
frightened and bowed,their faces to the ground,
the men said to them,why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told youwhile he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men,
(11:33):
and be crucified,and on the third day rise.
And they remember his words.
That's a reference to an earlier statementJesus made in Luke
922 when he says this,this is Jesus talking.
The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chiefpriests and scribes, and be killed.
(11:56):
And on the third day raise.
You see, the Bible isn't just sayingthat Jesus lived and died
and rose from the dead.
It's saying that he needed to do it,that there's something essential
about it, something essentialfor you and essential for me.
And to unpack that,you really need to read the New Testament.
(12:17):
That's what it's about.
But there's this one linein the New Testament, in Second
Corinthians five,that sums it all up in a single sentence.
Here's what it says for our sake.
He made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in himwe might become the righteousness of God.
(12:39):
Let me give you three words
that will help you understandthe significance of Easter all over again.
Or maybe for the first time,the first is payment.
Is it the Bible says thatdeath is not just a biological reality.
It's not just a chemical realityor a physiological reality
(13:00):
that death is most fundamentallya spiritual reality.
That God made a good worldand we rebelled against him.
We ignored him.
We lived without reference to him.
So our world is broken. We are broken.
And a consequence of that brokennessis that we die.
(13:21):
It's that we die.
You and I will die and face the judgmentof God as a consequence of our sin.
But the Bible also tells usthat God sent Jesus,
who knew no sin,who had no debt to pay, no death
that was waiting for him,no need to fear judgment.
Jesus cameand lived righteously in our place
(13:45):
so that he could go to the cross and diesacrificially on our behalf.
Jesus becomes our sin on the cross.
He comes up under the anger and wrathand judgment of God
righteously on mefor the way I've broken the world.
Jesus places himselfbetween God and me as part of God's plan,
(14:08):
so that when Jesus diesand says it is finished,
what he means isthat the payment has been made.
He dies not for his sin, but for mine.
That's what Jesus his death is all about.
But when Jesus dies,it's entirely possible
(14:29):
that he will die for his own sin,that he'll stay dead
the way you and I will stay dead,because he deserved to die.
Like when the judge sentencedyou, sentences you to prison for a crime.
You don't just go the first dayyou stay there.
That's the penalty.
That's why you and I die and stay dead.
(14:50):
So when Jesus dies, the assumption ishe's just like the rest of us.
That's why the second word I want you tothink of is not just payment, but receipt.
Because when Jesus on the thirdday rises from the dead,
what he's saying is thatdeath had no claim on him.
He didn't owe death.He didn't owe judgment.
(15:11):
He didn't die because he was a sinner.
He died not for his sin, but for ours.
When he raisesfrom the dead on Easter Sunday,
that is the proofthat God has accepted his death on our
behalf.
Which leads me to my third word, which isconfidence, payment, receipt, confidence.
(15:33):
Let me illustrate this for you.
I'm sure you've had this experiencewhere you notice when you're
walking into Walmart or Target or Costco,that the person at the door
checking receipts is feelingpretty aggressive that day.
You just noticethey are stopping and searching everybody.
And when that happens,I really don't like to be embarrassed.
(15:54):
Plus, I'm a I'm a pastorand I don't want people thinking
I'm shoplifting a toaster oven.
So when I notice they're being aggressive,I will walk out towards the exit with,
with the item I purchased in one handand my receipt in the other hand
is kind of flapping in the breeze.Just saying.
Hey, here it is. Look here,I paid for this.
Now, I will admit that sometimesI'm feeling ornery, and I
(16:16):
tucked the receipt in my back pocketjust to see if they'll ask me.
So when they stop saying I'm sorry, sir,did you pay for that?
I can say, as a matter of fact, I did.
The point is, you
proceed towards the exit with confidence,because if somebody asks you
if the bill has been paid,you can prove that it has been friends.
Jesus came to die for our sin.
(16:40):
He rose from the dead as proofthat God has accepted it,
so that if we will grab hold of himin faith, we can live and die
with the confidencethat comes from knowing
the bill has been paid.
Friends, God doesn't want you to liveanother minute with anxiety over
(17:00):
whether or not he loves you, overwhether or not you can be forgiven, over
whether or notyou can be included in what he is doing.
Jesus has come to pay the bill.
His resurrection is proofthat the bill has been paid.
And God, even this morning, wantsto hand you a receipt so that you can live
and die, saying, when they stop meat the gates of judgment,
(17:23):
I will have flapping in the breezethe proof that I have been forgiven,
that I am accepted because of Jesus.
That's the significance of Easter
payment, receipt and confidence.
But even as I say that, I know there aresome here this weekend who will say,
(17:44):
that sounds so amazing, pastor,that sounds so wonderful.
It couldn't possibly be for me.
And what you mean is,
you know, your debt is too great.
You say,if you knew why my marriage ended,
if you knew why my family doesn'tspeak to me.
(18:04):
If you knew, pastor, why I came in alonethis Easter
weekend, you would know thathe might have done that for some people.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't.
He shouldn't do that for me.
That's why I want you to know.
My thirdpoint is not just that it happened
and it had to happen,but that it happened for you.
One of my family's Eastertraditions is an Easter egg hunt.
(18:28):
You probably do somethingpretty similar now.
Easter egg hunts are primarilyan athletic enterprise, okay?
The bigger and taller and fasterand stronger you are,
the more likelyyou are to fill your basket with eggs.
And now I have a six year old daughter.
Ally told you about her.
And so what
I try to do, because I have older kidswho are going to get all the eggs, is
(18:52):
I will take one egg and I'll hide itsuper low to the ground.
I pick a colorful one like purple,
and I'll put it below a benchright there on the open out the ground
and I'll I'll go back towhere they're going to start.
And I'll say to Allah,when you turn the corner,
there's a little purple egg down thereat the bottom under the bench.
That one's for you.
And she'll say, okay, daddy.
And then I look at my teenagersand I say, if you touch that egg, you die.
(19:21):
And when she rounds that
corner and sees that egg,she knows there's something there for her.
By the way, that's where the term Easteregg in movies and television comes from.
You know, when the director drops a littlesomething in there for the superfans
and she kind of winks at you and says,hey, I know you're watching
and this is for you.
Would it surprise you that in this storythere's an Easter egg for you?
(19:45):
If you notice,at the very end of this passage,
we're told one guy goes to the tomb,one guy has to see it for himself.
And that guy is Peter.
Peter. Why? Peter?
Well, because just a chapter ago,at Jesus's most crucial moment, Peter
betrayed him.
Peter denied him
in the most crucial moment of Jesus'slife, Peter proved to be an absolute
(20:08):
phony, an absolute fraud, the worstkind of phony, the worst kind of fraud,
an overconfidentreligious phony, the worst.
But you see, God wants you to knowthat there was room
at the empty tomb for Peter,because there is for you to.
Don't you see that's a little Easter eggthat God is putting on the ground.
(20:30):
And he's saying,I know what happened to your marriage.
I know why you're alone.
I know about your guilt.
I know about your shame.
But hey, when you round the corner,underneath the bench is a little purple
egg for you
friends.
God doesn't want you to go one more Easter
without knowing that you can be forgiven,
(20:53):
without knowing that his love and powercan rescue you
and change youand secure your future forever with him.
Don't live with anxiety.
Live and die with the confidence
of holding that
receipt of Jesus in your hands.
(21:14):
Let me pray for us.
Father God,thank you so much for the resurrection.
Thank you for the proofthat Jesus really was our atoning
sacrifice, that his life countsfor our righteousness,
that his death counts for our atonementand our judgment.
That his resurrectionis the proof that you have accepted
(21:36):
what he's doneand through him accepted us.
God, there are some here
this weekend who needed to hear that againbecause it had lost its luster.
May it shine brighter than it everhas for us.
And there are those that camein this weekend who have never believed,
never grabbed hold of God, that evenright now they might be saying, God,
(21:56):
if any of this,if all of this is true, would you show me
God? Would you do for them?
What?
No sermon or musicor anything else can do?
Would you open their hearts and mindsto the reality of Jesus and His name?
We pray. Amen.
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