Series: The Importance of…
The Importance of Easter
INTRO: Thank you for coming to worship with us today. Continuing with our series, “The Importance of…” Today is Easter Sunday. It is today that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. He literally was dead, but even now He lives. He was not in the tomb. He was gone. It is today, we need to see the Importance of Easter.
For many of us we have heard the Easter Story for so many years, it is not as special as it should be to us. Let me sum the happenings of the Passion Week.
Christ came to Jerusalem in triumph, yet full of humility (as I preached last week). He prepared for the final days of His ministry and time here on earth. He had the Last Supper with them shortly before Judas Iscariot betrayed Him.
He was tried by a corrupt and illegal “court” that was not able to take His life. He appeared before Pilate after being shuffled around in the darkness and eventually He was condemned to die on the cross to placate the religious leaders of Israel. He was crucified on the cross, a horrible death. He died on the cross for you and I that we might have eternal life.
Here is the key…He did not stay dead! He arose again and lives today, and will live forever.
So the resurrection of Christ has happened, it has opened a door of opportunity for each of us, and we should use that opportunity this day.
Today, we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection. He lives. He truly lives.
Okay, let us get started.
John 3:13-16(NKJV) 13No one
has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the
Son of Man who is in heaven.
14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up,
15that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal
life.
16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
First I want to look at God’s
Infirmity of sin in our lives
Isaiah 64:6(KJV) 6But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Romans 3:23(KJV) 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Destructive lifestyle
Inescapableness of sin’s penalty
Romans 6:23(KJV) 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Along with the…
Inability to save self
Insufficiency of our works and goodness to save us
Ephesians
2:8-10(KJV) 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Impartiality
Isaiah 53:6(NKJV) 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Illustration of God’s great love for each of us – vs 16
Promise of resurrection
Initiates hope
Important at most for each of us
Impossible with man
John
2:19-21(NKJV) 19Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up.”
20Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this
temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Indisputable – seen by…
1
Corinthians 15:1-11(NKJV) 1Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which
I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I
preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures,
5and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of
whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due
time.
9For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me
was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me.
11Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so
you believed.
Inescapable
1
Corinthians 15:12-22(NKJV) 12Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from
the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not
risen.
14And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and
your faith is also empty.
15Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have
testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact
the dead do not rise.
16For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
17And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins!
18Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the
most pitiable.
20But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21For since by man came death, by Man also came the
resurrection of the dead.
22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
John 3:17-21(NKJV) 17For God
did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved.
18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God.
19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to
the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may
be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
In Christ (alone) – 17, 18
Interested in the light – 19 - 21
Luke 11:10(KJV) 10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Incorporate the Lord and His ways - 21
Isaiah 55:7(KJV) 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Hebrews 12:1(KJV) 1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Influenced by His love – 21a
Indentured to the Lord
Path of rejection
Inhospitable to God and His ways
Iniquity and evil ways
Indentured to sin and Satan and in their minds without hope
Romans 6:23(KJV) 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Inherent nature (Adamic nature)
Romans 5:12(NKJV) 12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
As I begin to close today, let us look at the…
Positive revelation or result of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection
One hope exists in the light of the Gospel (Good News)
And if we chose Him– if we will call upon Him as our Savior and Lord …
We can live forever because of His sacrificial death
Interim can be a great time as well
It gets no better than knowing Him and being free from sin and its cost
He is risen indeed!
Gary Marcum – New Beginnings Church – 040410am_Easter