He has Risen.
He has Risen Indeed !
1 Corinthians 15: 1 - 8
15 Now let me remind you, brothers, of what the Gospel really is, for it has not changed—it is the same Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is squarely built upon this wonderful message; 2 and it is this Good News that saves you if you still firmly believe it, unless of course you never really believed it in the first place.
3 I passed on to you right from the first what had been told to me, that Christ died for our sins just as the Scriptures said he would, 4 and that he was buried, and that three days afterwards he arose from the grave just as the prophets foretold. 5 He was seen by Peter and later by the rest of “the Twelve.”[a] 6 After that he was seen by more than five hundred Christian brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. 7 Then James saw him, and later all the apostles. 8 Last of all I saw him too,
Point to Ponder: How do you embrace the Easter Story?
Do we embrace the depth of the story or have we become to comfortable / familiar with the elements of the Cross and Christ resurrection?
Have we fallen into the “Disney Trap”? Where we treat Easter like a fairy tale. As with all stories; the Easter account has the elements of all great literature. It has characters (villain, victims, & a hero) with a plot comprised of conflict and resolution.
The difference between the Easter Story and fairy tells is found in the Reality of Easter.
Jesus is real, he really died but rose again in three days. The difference between the Easter story and one found in a Disney Book is that our Hero lives and sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. Our hero redeemed us not only from calamity but gave us power over the calamity of sin through His blood shed upon the cross and His Spirit taking residence in our hearts.
Transition
We often turn to the Gospels to encounter Easter but the story begins long before what is recorded in the New Testament. Please turn with me to the first book of the Bible.
Connecting with the Word:
Genesis 2 (NIV)
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
15 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 3 (NIV)
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LordGod among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Connection Point
1. The Reality of Easter is that we were created for fellowship with God.
A. The Problem of Sin.
Point to Ponder: Sin separated us from perfect fellowship with God.
B. The Weight of Sin.
i. The weight of sin for mankind.
Shame, guilt, & feelings of worthlessness, etc.
Pride, rebellion, & selfishness / self-righteousness.
ii. The weight of sin for Jesus.
Jesus took on the weight of our sin, the sins of the entire world.
The sins of the Patriarchs and the evil men of the Old Testament.
The sins of those who condemned and crucified him.
Jesus took on the sins of the monsters of modern history.
Jesus willingly took on our sins that the burden, penalty, curse may be lifted from us.
Point to Ponder: He became our sacrifice / atonement.
21 For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us! 2 Corinthians 5: 21
iii. The remedy for Sin.
The remedy for sin is the righteousness of God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
The righteousness of God offered the only remedy for sin, we needed a perfect sacrifice that we may be forgiven.
2. The Reality of Easter is that we serve a Risen Savior.
12 But tell me this! Since you believe what we preach, that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying that dead people will never come back to life again? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ must still be dead. 14 And if he is still dead, then all our preaching is useless and your trust in God is empty, worthless, hopeless; 15 and we apostles are all liars because we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, and of course that isn’t true if the dead do not come back to life again. 16 If they don’t, then Christ is still dead, 17 and you are very foolish to keep on trusting God to save you, and you are still under condemnation for your sins; 18 in that case, all Christians who have died are lost! 19 And if being a Christian is of value to us only now in this life, we are the most miserable of creatures. 20 But the fact is that Christ did actually rise from the dead and has become the first of millions[b] who will come back to life again someday. 21 Death came into the world because of what one man (Adam) did, and it is because of what this other man (Christ) has done that now there is the resurrection from the dead. 22 Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, being members of his sinful race, and wherever there is sin, death results. But all who are related to Christ will rise again. 23 Each, however, in his own turn: Christ rose first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will become alive again. 1 Corinthians 15
A. Jesus is Alive.
i. His death provided an atonement for sin.
ii. His resurrection provided us victory over the power of sin… death.
Conclusion
The reality of Easter is revealed to us through the unconditional love of God. He is calling you into a right relationship with him