Easter 2023
Notes
Transcript
04-09-2023
This morning as we gather early in the morning we gather to celebrate something that has never happened before
Yes Jesus raised people from death before but no one has ever defeated death before to come back to lie and never die again
Sunrise Service
Easter is usually celebrated by the coloring of Easter eggs and the hiding and finding of Easter eggs
This morning we come to celebrate Easter
In doing some looking I found this according to the History Channel
“The egg, an ancient symbol of new life, has been associated with pagan festivals celebrating spring. From a Christian perspective, Easter eggs are said to represent Jesus' emergence from the tomb and resurrection.”
Wether you dye eggs or not the true meaning behind the celebration of Easter is exactly what happened some 2000 yrs ago on that 3rd morning
Let me set the sense for you
And please when I say set the scene this is not a movie scene or an idea of what happened but what actually and truly happened
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.
1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
We see immediately after the Sabbath was over these women come to finish the burial process for Jesus
Church lets just state the obvious, it is as if they missed exactly what Jesus said Himself
17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
Jesus’s own words said that He would be raised up on the 3rd day
The sabbath was “The seventh day of the week that was set apart by God for rest.”
It was a time that no work outside of extreme circumstances would be allowed
Jesus was buried in a hurry because the Sabbath was about to start and so they couldn’t finish the burial process for Jesus
And since Jesus was a friend of theirs, they wanted to do the honorable and lovely thing right and take care of finishing the burial process
They show up to do so and something is wrong
Something is different
The stone that was there just a few short days ago is not been rolled away
2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.
Mark records they even talked about who was going to roll this very large stone away
They came anticipating to have to open the tomb
Again church its like they forgot the simple words of Jesus
I wonder how often we forget the simple words of Jesus
Darn I say it church I wonder how often we miss the miracles and the God sized work because we don’t really believe it will happen much like the ladies going to the grave that 1st Easter Morning so long ago
They come to the grave
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” 8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
I love Lukes account
The angel asks them why are you looking for the a living person among dead
Don’t you remember that He said while he was with you earlier just about a week ago that He would have to suffer things and be arrested and die and then the 3rd day raise from the dead
And then the light bulb turns on
The OHHHHH YEA HE DID SAY THAT
Church This morning we celebrate the fact that His TOMB is empty
There is no one in there
Church the empty tomb means that the God of the universe
The God that gives you and I life is no longer dead
Church the empty tomb means our debt of sin has been paid
Church the empty tomb means that you and I can have life through a personal relationship with Christ
Do you understand how important the empty tomb is for you and I even today
The God we sing about
The God we worship
The God we pray to is no longer in there
The stone was rolled away not so that Jesus could get out but so that you and I could look in and see it was in fact empty
The fact that the tomb is empty changes everything
It means that He did really defeat death and come back to life
When the Angel asked them why do you seek the living among the dead, it was an honest question
They were really looking for a dead man
10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Paul says otherwise in his letter to timothy
That Jesus is in fact alive and is no longer dead
As we have said this morning church that changes everything
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Church this is why the empty tomb changes everything
It means because of Jesus and only through Jesus I can have life
You can have life this morning because Jesus defeated death and the tomb is empty
His death paid our debt of sin and through Christ we can stand before God just as if we had never sinned because of Jesus’s death
And because of His resurrection we can now have life
It is only through a personal relationship with Jesus that you and I can have forgiveness and true life
CLOSING
As we call the band up
Maybe that is you this morning
Maybe for the first time you understand that the empty tomb changed things forever
And if that is you
I would invite you to the front this morning to meet with someone
They will show you through scripture how you can repent this morning and believe in Jesus and be saved
Or maybe this morning you already have a personal relationship and because of the empty tomb God is calling you to be bold with the Gospel Message to the lost
Or maybe this morning you simple need to spend sometime in prayer at the altar