What does the Resurrection of Jesus Have to Do with Us? What are the implications for humanity?

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

The Resurrection: Part 1

What does the Resurrection of Jesus Have to Do with Us? What are the implications for humanity?

While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. It is through Jesus’ death and Resurrection that we are able realize God’s Grace of Salvation from our sins and to gain our Eternal Life. Holy Week is all about God’s Grace; Jesus’ death on the cross; Jesus Resurrection; and our Salvation. All sinners need what Jesus did on the cross for us.

Jesus was dead. He was crucified on the cross because He claimed to be the Messiah – the Christ, and the Jewish leaders wanted Him dead. The Roman leaders wanted Jesus dead because he claimed to be a king. After Jesus was crucified, He was buried and sealed in a tomb under watch by Roman guard unit.

On the Sunday of Holy Week, some of the women go to Jesus’ tomb; but they find the seal broken; the stone rolled away; and the tomb empty. An Angel in the tomb tells the women that Jesus is no longer dead; He has risen. The women tell Peter and John, and Peter and John run to the tomb to find it empty. After Peter and John leave, the women return to the tomb and find two Angels in the tomb; and then Jesus appears to Mary who, initially, does not recognize Jesus. Jesus tells Mary to go tell the other Apostles that He is alive.  Jesus appears to two people traveling the road on Sunday; and then Jesus appears again, after the Resurrection, to the Apostles in a closed room. The Apostle Thomas is not present, but Jesus reappears to the Apostles with Thomas present; Thomas proclaims to Jesus after doubting Jesus’ Resurrection: “my Lord and my God!”.

Over next forty days, Jesus appears to hundreds of people.  Lastly, Jesus appears to the Apostles, on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus gave them the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus appearances to people, after His death and Resurrection, proved to these people that He was who He said He was – the Son of God and the Messiah. With Jesus’ Resurrection, He arises from death as the Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!”.

Sometime later and after His Ascension into Heaven, Jesus appears to Saul on the Road to Damascus where Saul was going to continue his retribution against followers of Jesus. Saul is converted to a follower of Jesus and Saul the persecutor becomes the great Apostle Paul, and Paul had several encounters with Jesus over the years. Jesus is alive!

While people did not expect Jesus’ Resurrection, whenever He spoke of His impending death, Jesus always mentioned His Resurrection (Matthew 16:21). Even after Jesus’ three predictions of His death and Resurrection, the Apostles did not understand or accept Jesus predictions – the Resurrection was unexpected. The Resurrection did occur because Jesus was alive and died on the cross, and His life after His Resurrection is well documented. However, if there were no Resurrection of Jesus, there would be no Christianity, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.". What is the point in following Jesus without His Resurrection? However, there was a Resurrection of Jesus, and His Resurrection is the point!

Fast forwarding two thousand years to today, what does the Resurrection of Jesus mean to us? The primary implications of the Resurrection on us and humanity today is the forgiveness of our sins – we can be forgiven only because of God’s Grace and the Resurrection, which made Jesus’ death matter and provide us a path to a continuing personal relationship with God.

Jesus is alive on this Easter and since His Resurrection. Jesus has been alive for us through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit who permits our personal and eternal relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe.  However, these incredible gifts necessitate our sin confessions and our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Jesus was Resurrected from death as the Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!”, as the Apostle John tells us in John 1:29-30: “The next day he {John the Baptizer} saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’".

He is Risen, and He is alive!

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 28:18-20; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22; Matthew 20:18; Acts 4:2; Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:14-19.

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WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Do the Issues and Fears of Today Cause You to Ask: “Am I Going To Heaven”?”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

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