The Importance of the Resurrection

I like to turn your attention for a few minutes to John, chapter 20, if you would turn there. There's a parallel to the passage in Luke that was read this morning, so I won't read the whole passage. I want us to look at just three verses in this passage. In verses 19 through 23, that's actually five verses, isn't it? That's what I want to look at, three little sections in these five verses. How do Christ's disciples respond to the resurrection?

What is it exactly that Jesus Christ has called us to do in light of the resurrection? In light of the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead after going to the cross, taking our place and paying the penalty for sin so that he could bring us into a relationship with the living God as his sons and daughters. How are we to respond?

Well, I want you to notice, as you turn there to John, chapter 20, to these words. On the evening of that day, that is the day of his resurrection, this first Sunday morning of the life of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on that, on 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. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them, peace be with you as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld. These words that Jesus says to his disciples on this resurrection day as he comes to be with them and to appear before them for the first time. They see him in his resurrection body. Notice these three things that he does. He first of all says, I want you to rejoice in my presence.

Jesus comes to be with him. I was asking my wife this morning, what she would do if she found out that her father had been raised from the dead. What would you do? If somebody very close to who has died, if you heard they had been raised from the dead, what would you do?

Well, you would want to be with him, wouldn't you? And so Jesus comes and he is with his disciples. And notice what it says in this verse, that he comes and the doors are locked. Why are the doors locked?

Well, he tells you in the verse, the doors are locked because of their fear of the Jews. That is their fear of the leadership of Israel who had crucified Jesus. They were out to get them.

And so because of that fear, they locked the doors. But God had a different reason for having them locked the doors. And that was so that Jesus in appearing before them could demonstrate to them something that was very important. And that was the very nature of his resurrection body. That just as he had passed through the grave close in the tomb, he now passes through the walls and appears before them in their midst so they could see who he was. And he certainly got their attention when he greets them.

And as he comes into their midst, notice he has their attention. And what does he say? He tells them something very important because you have to remember who this is that he's speaking to. He's speaking to his band of disciples who had abandoned him. When Jesus was arrested and it became clear that he was going to be crucified, put to death, all of his disciples fled in fear. They abandoned him.

And now he comes. What will he say to them? Is he going to rebuke them? No, he says, peace be with you. In fact, he repeats this greeting three times throughout this text here. And it's very significant because they would later remember his words the last time they were with him before he was crucified.

And those words were, my peace I am giving to you. Do not let your heart be fearful. Other hearts had been very fearful. And they had very little peace. In fact, they totally lacked peace.

But now Jesus comes into their midst. And the presence of this resurrected Savior is what gives them peace. He brings peace to them. There's a very significant word. In the Bible, the word peace is a redemptive term. It doesn't just mean the hostility of, or the removal of hostilities or cessation of hostilities.

It means a sense of deep well-being when things are the way they are supposed to be. In fact, this is one of the key words in the Bible throughout the Old and New Testament that describe what it's going to be like when Christ comes back and the kingdom of God comes in its fullness upon this earth that the people of God are going to enjoy the peace of God. And so when Jesus brings this greetings, peace be unto you. It is a proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on this first what we now refer to as Easter Sunday morning. Jesus says, my peace I am giving to you because I'm giving to you myself this resurrected Savior.

And so he comes to them and he speaks to them. And now he begins to reveal himself to them. Luke says in his account, you heard read this morning, that they were startled and frightened thinking that they had saw a ghost. They were filled with fear because the last time they saw him, he was a suffering beaten Savior upon a cross. It's an incredible description of Jesus, 700 years before the events of the cross in Isaiah chapter 53 where we're told that Jesus suffered such abuse when they took him to the cross that he didn't even look like a man. He was beaten severely but now he appears before them, raised from the dead.

And he's not a ghost. He's a man. And he begins to reveal himself to them. Notice in verse 20, it says that he showed them both his hands and his side. In other words, his wounds. Yes, this is the same man who had hung on the cross.

He wants to force them to grasp what became a central confession of the church and that is that the risen Lord is none other than the crucified Savior. This is not another person. This is the one who went to the cross for us, who is now in his glory, who's been raised from the dead. And their response to his personal presence, notice what it is. And this is what our response is to be as believers, as disciples of Jesus Christ. The disciples then rejoice when they saw the Lord.

They rejoice. A very powerful word. And it's given in such a way that it says they broke out in rejoicing. It was as though for the first time all of that Jesus had said to them about his death and his resurrection came to bear upon their hearts and they begin to rejoice greatly. He had told them, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.

And now he has come to them. And the realization begins to seek, sink in. It is a time for joy for them. Jesus had said earlier in this same book, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. That is when he's arrested and crucified. You will grieve.

But then he says, but your grief will be turned into joy. I will see you again. And your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you. If you have Jesus, you have joy. That's just a fact. The person who has the Lord Jesus Christ living in them, the people of God who have the person of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling among them have the joy of the Lord.

Easter is really like Christmas. You know, there's an expression that Christians use, that church goers you, it's called C and E church attenders. That means Christmas and Easter church attenders. And we probably have some of those here today. And typically what churches do is they put together programs so they can really hammer people like that. You know, you get them in the building, maybe have a kids program, you get them here twice a year, and then you got them sitting in the seat so then you can really nail them to the wall.

But there's something so important about the resurrection of Jesus Christ of believers that I want to speak to you believers today. Those of you who are disciples of Jesus Christ, those of you who are apprentices of Christ, followers of Christ, that's who Jesus appeared to. In Acts chapter 10 when Peter is preaching the gospel to the house of Cornelius, he said when Jesus rose again, he didn't appear to everyone.

But he appeared to a group that was going to be his official witnesses to the world that Jesus Christ is alive, that he's been raised from the dead, which implies that he died for our sins. And that we are to say to the whole world there is a living Savior who has died for sinners and everyone who comes to this Savior comes to life and forgiveness and relationship with the living God. You see, Christ is among us believers and that's the reason we meet all the time as we come together to worship this living Christ who is alive and very involved in our daily lives and we come together to worship him and sing corporately. It's just an overflow of the life that we live every day because the living Savior has appeared and we rejoice in His presence. There is nothing that fills our hearts like the presence of Jesus Christ. In fact, we are told in the Scriptures that God sent the Holy Spirit for this primary purpose and that is to mediate the presence of Jesus Christ to His people.

God has given you the Holy Spirit so you can live in the awareness that Christ is with you. We as the people of God and we come together and worship the living God, we expect that the Holy Spirit will mediate. That is make real the presence of Jesus Christ among us so that when we sing, we sing from our hearts. It really doesn't matter whether you're in Uganda singing with the Ugandan Christians or you're in Oklahoma singing with the Okie Christians, that's my roots, or if you're somewhere else. The thing is when you are with believers and they're singing the praises of the living Christ, it's because the Spirit of God has made him very real to them. We worship in response to a living Christ and the Holy Spirit of God has brought him into our midst and continues to do that in a very real way.

We experience the Shalom, the peace of God, because Christ has been raised in the dead. Jesus wants us to rejoice in His presence. Do you live like Jesus has been raised in the dead? Do you live your daily life in light of the fact that He's been raised in the dead and you live in His presence? That the Spirit of God has come and come believer to take up residence in your life and to mediate the very personal presence of Jesus Christ to you through all that you go through in life. Do you live like that?

That's the way Christ wants you to live. He wants you to live in light of the fact that not only is He alive, but He is very present in your life. And then secondly, He says, pursue my purpose. Notice verse 21 in this text, John writes, Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. He repeats it again, as the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you. One of the consequences of the resurrection of Jesus Christ at every single believer without exception, every person who comes to rest their faith in Jesus Christ is on a mission.

We are a mission church. We exist in order to accomplish the mission that Jesus Christ has sent us on. And Jesus says to them, just as the Father sent me, I'm sending you. I fulfill the mission upon which I was sent. And now I'm sending you to continue that very same mission. His greeting here, peace be with you, is like saying to them, mission accomplished.

I have done what I said I would do. And I've done it in preparation so that now you can go into the world and proclaim this message. His commission, he says, is as the Father has sent me, I'm sending you. You see the connection? There is a direct connection between the mission of Jesus Christ and the mission of his followers. It's only the followers of Christ that have a mission from God, and that mission is the very same mission that Jesus Christ has come into this world to accomplish.

This expression that the Father has sent me became a very significant thing in the Gospels. In fact, there was a pool in Jerusalem, and that pool of Salam actually meant the pool of sent one. It was a prophetic name because it spoke of the one who was coming. The reason Jesus came into the world is because of Father sent him. The reason that we go into the world is because Jesus Christ has sent us.

Now, when you look at the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's a couple things about him being sent. That's very significant because it describes to us the nature of our own mission as the followers of Jesus Christ. First of all, it's accomplished through perfect obedience to the Father's will. Jesus says over and over again, I'm doing what I'm doing in obedience to the Father's command. In fact, there's a very poignant picture in John 4 when Jesus meets up with a woman at the well. A woman whose life had been devastated.

She had had seven men that she had lived with, some of them were her husband, and she was living with a man now who was not her husband, seven failures. And he says to her, he says to his disciples, and they come back and see him speaking to her, and completing his mission by sharing the truth of the Gospel that came in with this woman. And now he looks like he's energized, and just before they had left, he looked like he was about to faint from not having any food. And Jesus says to his disciples, an unusual thing, he says, my food is to do the will of the Father. There's a will of God, motivated you in that way, there's a will of Christ, this mission that you have been sent on, the idea of engaging in this mission, giving your life to this mission, does it energize you and feed your soul? Could you say that's my food and my drink?

That's what Christ wants to produce in his people. A sense of mission in which we understand there is a direct parallel between the coming of Jesus Christ sent by the Father and the going of the Church sent by the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of our mission is the same as the purpose of the mission of Jesus Christ, and that is redemption. We're sent on a mission for the purpose of redemption to reconcile an alienated world from the living God by taking the gospel into the world and proclaiming it and living it. Notice this parallel, Jesus was sent by his Father into the world to reveal the Father and save the world. And he did it all in the power of the Holy Spirit.

One of the most amazing things about the gospel account is that this Son of God, who is the eternal Son of God, eternal deity, and yet he did everything he did in the power of the Holy Spirit. Notice this, his disciples are sent by Jesus into the world to reveal him through the gospel in the power of the same Holy Spirit. You see the parallel that just as Christ was sent into the world to accomplish a mission, we have been sent into the world to accomplish a mission in the power of the same Holy Spirit. And then notice this, Jesus was sent by the Father. He was given the Spirit without measure, we are told, without limitation. And the Spirit of God sealed and sanctified him.

That is, set him apart for this mission alone. If there was ever a man, and he was, who lived in this world, who lived out and fulfilled his mission, it was the Lord Jesus Christ. In 33 and a half years, Jesus fulfilled his mission when he was on the cross and he said it is finished. That was a very true statement. He had accomplished his task. He fulfilled the mission.

Perfect obedience and dependence upon the Father was the means by which he accomplished this task. Now notice the parallel. We have been born of the Father. Every believer here, everyone who's rested his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a follower of Christ, a disciple of Jesus Christ. You were born of the Father and you were sent by the Son.

Now maybe you haven't been aware of this. There's a lot of Christians who aren't. Sometimes our emphasis is so much on the forgiveness of sins that we forget that what God has done in salvation is not just to forgive our sins, but it's to bring us into the family. It is to make us children of God and it's to send us on a mission and there is no such thing as a disciple of Jesus Christ who's not been sent on this mission. We are sent ones just like our Lord and we have been given the Spirit who seals us and sanctifies us. We are told in the New Testament and we are growing in obedience and independence upon our Lord.

We haven't arrived as Jesus had, but that's where we're headed. That's the mark of growth in the Christian life. You are becoming more dependent upon this living Savior. Some Christians are, some Christians, after they live the Christian life of a while, they're kind of confused. They can't understand why they feel less competent now than they did when they first came to faith in Christ. You've often met young believers who just freshly come into the faith and they feel like they could turn the world upside down and you meet them 15 years later and they're kind of wringing their hands wondering how they're going to accomplish anything for the living God.

Why is that? Well, it's because as we mature, we become more and more aware of how totally and completely dependent upon the living Christ we really are and he's alive and he is with us and he has promised us very specifically in regard to this mission that he has sent us upon that he will be with us until the end of the age so that we might complete the mission that he has sent us upon. We have a mission and what follows immediately that is the forgiveness of sins puts this commission into its central context. We are living as sent ones in this world.

Now notice the third thing. He tells him in verses 22 and 23 that they are to rest and labor in his promises. Let me just say something about that. That sounds a little weird. How do you rest in labor? Isn't there aren't those opposites?

If you're resting then you're not laboring are you? If you're laboring you're not resting and yet that is exactly what we are called to to rest and at the same time to labor in the promises of the living Christ. We rest because we no longer work in order to earn a place before God. Our labor is no more designed by us, intended by us to somehow gain a place of acceptance before the living God. We come to rest in the promise of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross but we also labor. We also sweat the Christian life, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone but the Christian life is a blessed life of labor.

In fact one of the most common words used in the New Testament means to work to the point of exhaustion when it talks about ministry. When it talks about fulfilling this calling that you've been called to, to be an emissary of Jesus Christ, takes a lot of sweat and some blood and a whole lot of tears to accomplish the mission upon which you have been sent but he has promised. He's made us promises and notice what these promises are.

First of all he has promised us the powerful Holy Spirit. We are told in verse 22 and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit. What in the world do you make of this verse? You that are biblically literate, you read the Bible right away you should see something here. Jesus has promised that he's going to pour out the Spirit when he has ascended to the Father on the day of Pentecost that was fulfilled and yet he hasn't ascended yet and yet he breathes on them and says receive the Holy Spirit.

He's told them repeatedly over and over again when I go back to the Father I'll send the Spirit and now at this moment he breathes on them and says receive the Holy Spirit and when we look at this in its context we discover you know they weren't changed all that much from this point on until the day of Pentecost they were afraid they continued to be fearful Thomas had to see his wounds himself with his own eyes in order to believe they drift back into their old employment they go back and start up their fishing business again and they continue to jockey for a position among one another who's going to be the greatest

but after the day of Pentecost we see a glorious change we see the demonstration of the power of God they're joyful and exuberant in their witness their bold and courageous in the way they proclaim the gospel they're no longer hiding even though their lives are threatened even though that the entire bunch all of them except Judas who abandoned them all of them die for the gospel of Jesus Christ they refuse not to proclaim this truth they become so bold what's the difference well what is Jesus doing here when he breathes on them and says receive the Holy Spirit

well he's doing the same thing that we see several other places where we have a sign a picture a pointer to the coming reality which is imminent what he is saying to them that I'm going to give you the spirit this assignment I am giving you is going to be done only in the power of the Holy Spirit that I'm going to give to you and it's going to be a personal gift from me to you it is the promise of the Father the Spirit is going to come in power and he's going to enable you to do this work that I am calling you to

you know it's a scary thing to take the seriously most people hear this over and over again Christians are like this that we sit under the preaching of the Word and the teaching of the Word for a few years and pretty soon these things that used to frighten us no longer do not because we're doing them just because we've become calloused about them there are a lot of Christians who never even it never crosses their mind that they've been sent on a mission why do people what is so different about Christian marriage for example than a non-Christian marriage

let me tell you the difference in a Christian marriage you are a team at work in the kingdom of God that's the primary difference that you have been joined together at a covenant to accomplish the work of the kingdom together as husband and wife to form a home where Christ is central to raise children under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ that's what's different about a Christian marriage it isn't all these thousands of principles that are taught in Christian books about Christian marriage it is this one fact we have been joined together in covenant in order to accomplish the work of Jesus Christ we

are sent ones for Christ and that's why the Bible says don't be unequally yoked together with someone who doesn't have this commission because you've been sent on a mission and every Christian every single one of you who has Christ living in you who has rested your faith in him this living risen Savior you have been sent on a mission a mission

and so he breathes on them and he gives in this promise you're going to receive the Holy Spirit the same Holy Spirit who empowered me to accomplish the work of the Father I give to you in order to empower you to do the work that I'm calling you to a very symbolic act like the symbolic act of washing their feet in the upper room when Jesus knelt down and washed their feet it was a picture of the cross it was a picture of

the fact that he was going to serve them in the most humble kind of way when he hung on the cross I mean it was rejected by man and when the wrath of God was poured out upon him for our sins and the same way here when he breathes on them he is saying to them I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit who will empower you to accomplish this mission that I am sending you on you know it would be convenient to think to teach that there is a

second blessing that you don't get the Spirit until you seek the Spirit and then when you get the Spirit then you are empowered go do the work of God the problem is that isn't biblical the Bible says every one of you have rested your faith in Christ have been given the Spirit of power in order to accomplish the task the mission that you have been sent on and so you don't have to wait as they did in the upper room because when he saved you he empowered you he's given you as a resident in your life this Holy Spirit who will empower you to do his work in his way

notice the second promise and that is of an effectual gospel notice how he puts this in verse 23 he says if you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven if you withhold forgiveness from anyone it is withheld what a statement let that sink in for a moment listen to what Jesus is saying to these men if you forgive the sins of any their sins stand forgiven and if you retain the sins of any they stand unforgiven how in the world are the apostles going to remit sin and retain sin how is this possible we are told in Acts 1338 it is through the preaching

of the gospel the preaching of the good news that Jesus Christ has been raised in the dead and he says as they proclaim this message as they preach this message those who believe it will be set free from their sin and those who reject it will be bound in their sin what a what a powerful message that God has put into our hands it's why Paul says I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes and as we proclaim this message whether it's before a crowd or in a a restaurant at a table when we

proclaim and preach and preaching simply means to communicate with authority we're not guessing about the gospel it isn't up for grabs I'm not worried about what some of these select scholars say on CBS news specials about the resurrection of Jesus Christ I have no doubt in my mind about the historical reality in time space reality that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and

because he has been raised from the dead we have a responsibility to proclaim it and as we proclaim it the effect of that proclamation is either going to be setting people free or binding them in their sins have you ever thought about that that when you communicate this message the response of this message seals somebody into that one of those two ways they either their sins are remitted or they are bound what an amazing thing what a responsibility you remember the movie a Bronx tale I hope you probably didn't see it maybe you shouldn't have seen it

but it was Robert Denaro was a star of it but the main character was first introduced when he's nine years old the very early part of the movie he comes out of a Catholic church out of at the confessional booth he has been involved in something very very bad and he has discussed it with his priest and the priest has said to him me absolutely a tour you are forgiven and I absolve you and he leaves that church and in his mind he's thinking man it is great to be a Catholic I can start over again I'm free

now when we see that we know that the biblical teaching is very different because it's more wonderful and it's more joyous than that because the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ we can start over every day every day we believe this gospel every day this gospel comes to us every day we preach this gospel to us we realize that we are set free from sin and the guilt and the weight of sin we can start over every day

you know too often that boy's experience puts to shame the experience of many Protestants many people who name the name of Christ most of us know why the confessional booth is unbiblical we have a great high priest in heaven who's died for our sins we have free access to the living God we come to him confessing our sins and receiving cleansing daily as we walk in the light but the fact is that some Roman Catholics have a healthier emotional life not necessarily a spiritual life but a healthier emotional life than many of you do

because they have received release from this sense of guilt by simply going to a parish priest confessing their sin and when he says I absolve you from your sin they believe it I would say that's false faith unless they're trusting in Christ to absolve their sins

but there's a lot of believers who never feel that freedom they never feel the freedom of the gospel do you know that it doesn't have to be that way if you hear the proclamation of the gospel when you're believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and you are hearing the words you are forgiven everything in the past is forgiven your sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ who ever lives to make intercession for you you can have the joyous experience of leaving here saying boy it's great to be a Christian it is so great to be forgiven to be set free from the weight and obligation of my wrongdoing my sin and rebellion

because I've trusted in the living Christ you know no matter what is happening yesterday no matter no matter what's happened in the last hour no matter what the worst is about you the fact is if you are here today and you are breathing and you have a brain that is functioning and you hear the gospel message being proclaimed with authority because it always comes with the authority of the Holy Spirit and you believe that message it brings home to your heart this glorious good news you're forgiven you're free

because of the blood and life of the Lord Jesus Christ all your sins have been forgiven and you have been reconciled to a reconciled God you know that's glorious good news that's what Jesus is talking about here when he says you will remit sins by proclaiming this message and when this message is proclaimed through the proclamation the preaching of the gospel that we know and receive we receive forgiveness and reconciliation and new life in Christ we come to experience what this new humanity is all about Jesus demonstrated for us what real humanity is in his life and

now we can experience that ourselves through faith in this glorious gospel isn't that why you love preaching when you stop and think about a lot of your friends who are not church goers wonder what in the world keeps drawing you back to those church services where you hear preaching every week don't you get tired of that and you know mostly when they hear the word preach they'll say things like please don't preach at me and they mean you know they'll be shaking your finger at me telling them where telling me where I'm wrong and what I ought to do

let me tell you what the heart of preaching is the heart of preaching is the proclamation of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the authority of Christ himself it isn't what it is is a proclamation it's an announcement of this good news that Christ has been raised from the dead and all who come to him in faith all who bow the knee to him all who take hold of him by faith have for their sins forgiven and receive life and reconciliation see that's good news and

you know the believer loves to hear the good news because every week you begin to get weighed down with certain things in your life I had somebody talk to me yesterday and they said they were under a terrible weight that they were feeling of guilt and they said

you know what I've been looking I looked around and tried to find a church where I could go and talk to somebody and confess to them and I thought you know what we have something better than that I have a glorious announcement to tell you Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and if you will turn to him if you'll simply confess your sins to him if you'll take hold of him if you will embrace what he has done in your place your sins will be forgiven and

in fact you'll hear the voice of Jesus Christ in the proclamation of the gospel you know the difference would be a believer and an unbeliever when a believer hears the gospel they don't hear the voice of the preacher some of you listen to the radio all the time you're John MacArthur and Chuck Swendoll and this guy and that guy

but really what begins to happen is you're not hearing Chuck Swendoll and John MacArthur you're hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ aren't you as a gospel comes to bear upon your and you begin to rejoice in the truth of this gospel that you have rested your faith in that's why we love preaching that's why we're willing to focus on the gospel and hear it over and over again

because we come to it with heavy hearts and we want release we want our conscience still we want our hearts filled with joy again we want to be forgiven and that's the good news of the gospel I come up here knowing every time I come up to speak to God's people I come here knowing that this gospel that I preach is the very gospel I need to hear and I need to hear it in a new and fresh way continually God himself not man not the preacher not pastors

but God himself speaks through the gospel of Jesus Christ God speaks he uses human voices but he speaks to the heart and he says my child your sins are forgiven they're finished they're gone they're rolled away they've been cast behind my back and I can't see them any longer when you embrace the gospel of Christ it's exactly what happens the announcement comes to bear upon your heart so God would say to you Jesus would say to you go look at the cradle look at the empty tomb look at the cross and then look up to me I've been raised in the dead and I'm ever

present he's ever living to make intercession for all who come to him in trust and faith to follow him in obedience in Acts chapter 13 verse 38 the Paul announces forgiveness of sins through belief in Jesus Christ everyone who embraces him receives forgiveness of sins and he says to them believe these facts in other words have no controversy with him if you're struggling over the facts of the gospel please talk to somebody we have a little brochure out there about the resurrection of Christ by James Kennedy that speaks in response to the attacks on the the resurrection of Christ that are constantly coming bear being

barrage with there's plenty of things to look at we'd be glad to talk to you if you're struggling over the facts of the gospel if you're struggling over the fact whether it's a fact or not that Jesus is the eternal Son of God please talk to me if you're struggling over

the fact that Jesus actually was raised in the dead please talk to me but once you come to the place where you have no controversy with those facts then turn to Christ and take hold of him by faith and what you will receive is the person and the forgiveness and the salvation that he brings Christ comes and he comes in great power in Acts chapter 3 verse 19 when Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost the birth date of the church he said repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out and that a great expression blotted out when the

times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord one time a little girl heard a message on that passage and her mother asked her what the message is about and she said it was about how Jesus bloodied out our sins on the cross that's a good translation he bloodied out our sins the shedding of the blood of Christ was to pay the penalty that was due me we're going to sing a song in a minute high and lifted up and there's a the line in the chorus

in fact let me show you the line in the chorus just a second here I want you to look at this after going through these two verses about how Jesus is above all above all kingdoms above all thrones above all wonders of the world has ever known above all wealth and treasures of the earth there there's no way to measure what you're worth O living Christ

but then notice this in the chorus after talking about the exaltation of Christ the one who is above all and then the chorus goes like this crucified this this guy Paul below she wrote this is a master of understatement listen to these words crucified laid behind a stone you lived to die rejected and alone like a rose trampled on the ground you took the fall in other words you took my place and you got what I deserved you took the fall and thought of me above all

you know that's a miraculous thing the Christ who is above all the Christ who is worth more than all the universes that could ever be heaped together thought of you above all when he went to the cross that is exactly the sentiment of Isaiah 53 when it said if he would make his soul a sin offering that he would see his seed and be satisfied that when Jesus was on the cross dying for us what satisfied him was he saw those whom he was dying for and who would be set free from sin and brought into this true and real humanity of life in relationship

with the living God so I want us to sing this in closing and I like to drive home to your hearts that this is what Jesus has called us to do in response to his resurrection as believers in Christ all of you disciples here all of you who are followers apprentices of Jesus this is what Jesus calls you to do in response of the resurrection rejoice in his presence pursue his purpose and rest and labor in his promises I tell you what this day ought to remind you of your glorious future God has called you to something wonderful when he put his hand on you

and drew you to himself I remember Steve Sandi's testimony about how he heard the gospel when it penetrated his heart about a preacher on the job an iron worker who used to just shout and talk real loud about the gospel and everybody who worked with him had to hear it

but you know what happened to him God caught Steve off guard and he began to hear the voice of God instead of an iron worker and he grabbed his heart and you know every time you proclaim this message wherever it's at if it's at work if it's in your home to your children if it's at the grocery store if it's in church when we sing his praises rest assured that at these times the living God will take the message of the gospel and begin to verbalize it with his own voice to those whom he wants to hear if you're here this morning without Christ and

God wants you to hear this message rest assured you will hear it he's able to penetrate the hardest heart and the deftest ear we are testimony to that let's pray I want you to stand with me we'll pray and then sing this last song as a guys come our father how we thank you for a risen savior that we don't go to a tomb halfway around the world to lay flowers on a grave so that we can remember our dead leader

but we are aware daily that we live in his presence that he manifests himself in our daily lives and even as we gather together today in his name we are aware that the spirit of God has made him so real to us as we think about him and sing about him and reflect upon him and we pray now that we can sing this last song as a song of praise to you that you've given your son the one who was above all and yet father he was willing to pour himself out for us we rejoice in that and we give you thanks in Jesus name amen I like to turn your attention for a