HE IS RISEN
THE RISEN SAVIOR
What is Easter? Here are the four parallel Gospel narratives of what Easter really is about.
Matt 28: 1-20
Mark 16: 1-16
Luke 24:1-53
John 20:1-31
On March 27, 1994, on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the Goshen United Methodist Church just outside Piedmont, AL was struck by an F4 tornado. It struck just as the youth choir gathered at the front of the church to begin their Palm Sunday performance. Palm Sunday is the memorial holiday for when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a colt. The people awaiting Him as Lord and King threw down palm branches before him to make a way for his entry. In the Goshen church tornado, the building was destroyed and 19 people inside the church died along with 86 people being injured. The Pastor lost her 4-year old daughter.
By the end of the week, the pastor began getting phone calls wanting to know if there would be church service on the next Sunday, Easter Sunday. She said, “Yes, there will be church”. I think many people who do not have a stable meaningful relationship with God, might find it hard to understand the members of Goshen United Methodist Church going ahead with scheduled services only a week following such a tragic incident. Can you feel the grief and despair of the survivors of that tragic event? I believe the same feelings were present with those who had a relationship with Jesus following his crucifixion at Calvary. Jesus died. The One who these people put all their hope in. These good people in Alabama, I am sure had many plans and hopes for the future with their loved ones who died that day in the Goshen church.
If we look at Mary, Jesus’ mother on that day of Jesus death, we can realize the piercing of her heart with pain as her son was truly beaten and crucified and died upon the cross. Stripped of his garments, his hands and feet driven through with nails, not sharp pointed nails as we think of today, but blunt spikes forced through his hands and feet. I've never had a child to die. I can’t begin to imagine the loss of Mary the mother of Jesus, or the parents of the dead children at the Goshen church. I pray I never have to experience the death of a child.
Peter gave up all he knew of life to follow Jesus. Peter walked on the water at Jesus’ call. Peter looked on as Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Peter was at the transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus washed Peter’s feet at the last supper. Peter was in the Garden of Gasthemane as Jesus prayed. Then, Peter denied Jesus leading up to that day on Calvary. How could Peter have felt that day when Jesus died on the cross?
I think all of us in this room have one thing in common. The death of someone we loved. Someone we had planned on being in our life for longer than they were. Maybe even someone close who we let down right before their death. It does hurt. There is real pain. But it happens. There is unbearable pain. Death of a loved one can bring hopelessness and despair.
The pastor and many others at the Goshen church experienced it. Mary, the mother of Jesus experienced it. Peter, the follower of Jesus experienced it. Many of us in this room today have experienced it. But I come today on this Easter Sunday to give us all Hope. Hope of a risen savior, Jesus Christ.
I read the resurrection accounts of the four Gospels. The folks at the Goshen United Methodist Church went on to have church the following Easter Sunday, only days after the tragic tornado. And we too can go on, believing in a risen Christ. It never ceases to give me joy as I read Matt 28:6 - “He is not here for He is risen, as He said”.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.” In other words, Paul understands that unless Christ did indeed rise from the dead, the whole Christian religion is a mockery because it is in vain. Unless we serve a risen Savior Who conquered sin, the grave, and death, we shouldn’t even bother with Christianity. But since Christ did rise from the dead, His (capital “H”) death is effective to save us, and His resurrection enables both He and us to have victory over the grave and spiritual death. In the cross we are forgiven, and through the resurrection we have the hope of eternal life. The cross and the resurrection are a package deal. The resurrection gives validity, certainty, and proof that Jesus was Who He said He was: God. The resurrection also serves to give us confidence that we can, through obedience to the Word, live forever and be raised to enjoy eternal life with Jesus. The resurrection makes the gospel truly good news.
King Solomon in Ecc 1:9 looked all around him at all his great possessions and all the kingdom he had acquired and said, “Vanity, all that is under the sun is vanity”. I think we need to learn a lesson from King Solomon and look to the one above and beyond the sun for our refuge. It is He and He alone who grants eternal life, eternal life that exceeds all things under the sun.
Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We need to be careful when we present the gospel that we remember the rest of the story. Not only did Jesus require belief in him. Not only did Jesus die for our sins on the cross, but He was buried, and raised from the dead. He proved that He was God and that sin, the grave, and death were conquered once and for all. In fact, when we come to Christ for salvation, we should follow the commands of this verse, acknowledging Christ as our Lord, implying that we have turned from our sins and sought His forgiveness, and believing that He was raised from the dead, likewise, we must repent of our sin, be baptized in his name, and seek to receive the Holy Ghost. We don’t serve a dead Savior but a risen One. In fact, once we receive his spirit, Christ Himself takes up residence within us, guaranteeing our future inheritance with Him in heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14), as long as we continue to follow him.
Eph 1:13-14 - In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
When we trust God, we begin to walk in faith. Our first step is repentance. Repentance is as far as John the Baptist could lead people. John the Baptist did not have the Holy Ghost. If you sit under a Pastor who does not have the Holy Ghost dwelling within him, he can only lead you to repentance. John’s baptism was unto repentance. If your pastor does not baptize you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sin, to fulfill the remission, the washing away of sin, then you are only being baptized unto repentance. We must be baptized in his name to identify, to take on that name, to have the power and authority of that name. John the Baptist is quoted by John the Revelator, in John 1:23:
John 1:23 - He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
He’s the one crying in the wilderness, drawing people out unto repentance and to a belief in God. He is calling out to make straight the way of the Lord, to prepare a way for the Lord, so He can finish the salvation process. John the Baptist and those being baptized by him did not have the infilling of the Holy Ghost. How do I know? Because the Bible says that the Holy Ghost was not given until Jesus was glorified. There is a difference in the Spirit moving on someone, and the Spirit indwelling, infilling, residing in someone.
Now if you know your Bible, we are told that the Holy Ghost moved upon people in the OT (several examples, Saul, Moses, different leaders and judges, and kings) and even upon John the Baptist while still in his mother’s womb. God’s spirit did move on people, but no one was filled with the Spirit until Jesus was glorified.
John 7:38-39 – He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
I probably already said it, but I need to say it again here; so many people get hung up on the verses that say “He that believeth on Jesus shall be saved”…and that’s where they stop….but there is more scripture to add to that. We just read it in John 7:38 – (as the scripture hath said).
John the Baptist told the crowds in Matt 3:11 and it is recorded again in Luke 3:16:
Matt 3:11 - I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Acts 19:2-6 - He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Our salvation is only sealed upon receiving the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, which is another step of salvation which comes after we believe. Jesus death, burial, and resurrection is the good news, the Gospel. We have to apply that same good news, that same gospel to our lives, We die in repentance, we are buried with him in a watery grave in baptism, and we arise to a newness of life, a type of the resurrection, through the infilling of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live for Him, our salvation is sealed, sealed to receive the inheritance, eternal life with Him. Until that day when Jesus returns to gather His church, those who have His Spirit, we have an earnest, a down payment, a touch of what we will experience with him throughout eternity.
We can, even now, be spiritually seated with Christ in the heavenly places if we have been raised with Him.
Eph 2:6-10 - But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Let’s look at what Paul said to the people in the church at Ephesus…remember, he is talking to a people that have completed the full plan of salvation. Paul said in verse 5, even when we were dead in sins, He has quickened us together with Christ…..God loved us and called us even when we were yet sinners.
Rom 5:8 - But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
But God does not leave us in sin, if we believe and repent and fulfill His Biblical plan of salvation. Verse 6 says, “He has raised us up”, he has resurrected us to a newness of life through the infilling of the Holy Ghost, Christ’s Spirit in us. Verse 6 says, to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus””, Jesus tells us how in John 14:
John 14:15-21 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
The resurrection has great implications for Christians and for how we communicate the gospel message. Jesus is alive, and if we want to be alive with Him also, we need to die with Him in repentance, be buried with him in a watery grave through baptism, and then be raised with Him through the infilling of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 6:4 – Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
This we do by asking His forgiveness, repenting of our sin, dying with Him, being baptized in his name, buried with Him by baptism…the scripture says it. Then it says, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also should walk in a newness of life”. We cannot be raised from the dead until we have been buried with Him, under His Name, and then we can be raised up….by receiving the Holy Ghost, and believing that He died for our sins and rose again.
Jesus told Martha, Lazarus’ sister:
John 11:23-26 - Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Jesus says, He that believeth in me, “”though he were dead””(buried in a grave), yet (now that that has taken place, after these things…shall he live (receive the Holy Ghost, Jesus spirit inside them. Then he even repeats and says, “He that liveth and believeth shall never die.
I pray today that someone has heard the voice of this preacher today. God has only one plan of salvation. That only plan is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Gospel is that he died on a cross, was buried 3-days, and rose again. Jesus requires us to ‘follow Him’. And we will rise with Him.
What is Easter? Here are the four parallel Gospel narratives of what Easter really is about.
Matt 28: 1-20
Mark 16: 1-16
Luke 24:1-53
John 20:1-31
On March 27, 1994, on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the Goshen United Methodist Church just outside Piedmont, AL was struck by an F4 tornado. It struck just as the youth choir gathered at the front of the church to begin their Palm Sunday performance. Palm Sunday is the memorial holiday for when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a colt. The people awaiting Him as Lord and King threw down palm branches before him to make a way for his entry. In the Goshen church tornado, the building was destroyed and 19 people inside the church died along with 86 people being injured. The Pastor lost her 4-year old daughter.
By the end of the week, the pastor began getting phone calls wanting to know if there would be church service on the next Sunday, Easter Sunday. She said, “Yes, there will be church”. I think many people who do not have a stable meaningful relationship with God, might find it hard to understand the members of Goshen United Methodist Church going ahead with scheduled services only a week following such a tragic incident. Can you feel the grief and despair of the survivors of that tragic event? I believe the same feelings were present with those who had a relationship with Jesus following his crucifixion at Calvary. Jesus died. The One who these people put all their hope in. These good people in Alabama, I am sure had many plans and hopes for the future with their loved ones who died that day in the Goshen church.
If we look at Mary, Jesus’ mother on that day of Jesus death, we can realize the piercing of her heart with pain as her son was truly beaten and crucified and died upon the cross. Stripped of his garments, his hands and feet driven through with nails, not sharp pointed nails as we think of today, but blunt spikes forced through his hands and feet. I've never had a child to die. I can’t begin to imagine the loss of Mary the mother of Jesus, or the parents of the dead children at the Goshen church. I pray I never have to experience the death of a child.
Peter gave up all he knew of life to follow Jesus. Peter walked on the water at Jesus’ call. Peter looked on as Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Peter was at the transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus washed Peter’s feet at the last supper. Peter was in the Garden of Gasthemane as Jesus prayed. Then, Peter denied Jesus leading up to that day on Calvary. How could Peter have felt that day when Jesus died on the cross?
I think all of us in this room have one thing in common. The death of someone we loved. Someone we had planned on being in our life for longer than they were. Maybe even someone close who we let down right before their death. It does hurt. There is real pain. But it happens. There is unbearable pain. Death of a loved one can bring hopelessness and despair.
The pastor and many others at the Goshen church experienced it. Mary, the mother of Jesus experienced it. Peter, the follower of Jesus experienced it. Many of us in this room today have experienced it. But I come today on this Easter Sunday to give us all Hope. Hope of a risen savior, Jesus Christ.
I read the resurrection accounts of the four Gospels. The folks at the Goshen United Methodist Church went on to have church the following Easter Sunday, only days after the tragic tornado. And we too can go on, believing in a risen Christ. It never ceases to give me joy as I read Matt 28:6 - “He is not here for He is risen, as He said”.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.” In other words, Paul understands that unless Christ did indeed rise from the dead, the whole Christian religion is a mockery because it is in vain. Unless we serve a risen Savior Who conquered sin, the grave, and death, we shouldn’t even bother with Christianity. But since Christ did rise from the dead, His (capital “H”) death is effective to save us, and His resurrection enables both He and us to have victory over the grave and spiritual death. In the cross we are forgiven, and through the resurrection we have the hope of eternal life. The cross and the resurrection are a package deal. The resurrection gives validity, certainty, and proof that Jesus was Who He said He was: God. The resurrection also serves to give us confidence that we can, through obedience to the Word, live forever and be raised to enjoy eternal life with Jesus. The resurrection makes the gospel truly good news.
King Solomon in Ecc 1:9 looked all around him at all his great possessions and all the kingdom he had acquired and said, “Vanity, all that is under the sun is vanity”. I think we need to learn a lesson from King Solomon and look to the one above and beyond the sun for our refuge. It is He and He alone who grants eternal life, eternal life that exceeds all things under the sun.
Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We need to be careful when we present the gospel that we remember the rest of the story. Not only did Jesus require belief in him. Not only did Jesus die for our sins on the cross, but He was buried, and raised from the dead. He proved that He was God and that sin, the grave, and death were conquered once and for all. In fact, when we come to Christ for salvation, we should follow the commands of this verse, acknowledging Christ as our Lord, implying that we have turned from our sins and sought His forgiveness, and believing that He was raised from the dead, likewise, we must repent of our sin, be baptized in his name, and seek to receive the Holy Ghost. We don’t serve a dead Savior but a risen One. In fact, once we receive his spirit, Christ Himself takes up residence within us, guaranteeing our future inheritance with Him in heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14), as long as we continue to follow him.
Eph 1:13-14 - In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
When we trust God, we begin to walk in faith. Our first step is repentance. Repentance is as far as John the Baptist could lead people. John the Baptist did not have the Holy Ghost. If you sit under a Pastor who does not have the Holy Ghost dwelling within him, he can only lead you to repentance. John’s baptism was unto repentance. If your pastor does not baptize you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sin, to fulfill the remission, the washing away of sin, then you are only being baptized unto repentance. We must be baptized in his name to identify, to take on that name, to have the power and authority of that name. John the Baptist is quoted by John the Revelator, in John 1:23:
John 1:23 - He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
He’s the one crying in the wilderness, drawing people out unto repentance and to a belief in God. He is calling out to make straight the way of the Lord, to prepare a way for the Lord, so He can finish the salvation process. John the Baptist and those being baptized by him did not have the infilling of the Holy Ghost. How do I know? Because the Bible says that the Holy Ghost was not given until Jesus was glorified. There is a difference in the Spirit moving on someone, and the Spirit indwelling, infilling, residing in someone.
Now if you know your Bible, we are told that the Holy Ghost moved upon people in the OT (several examples, Saul, Moses, different leaders and judges, and kings) and even upon John the Baptist while still in his mother’s womb. God’s spirit did move on people, but no one was filled with the Spirit until Jesus was glorified.
John 7:38-39 – He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
I probably already said it, but I need to say it again here; so many people get hung up on the verses that say “He that believeth on Jesus shall be saved”…and that’s where they stop….but there is more scripture to add to that. We just read it in John 7:38 – (as the scripture hath said).
John the Baptist told the crowds in Matt 3:11 and it is recorded again in Luke 3:16:
Matt 3:11 - I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Acts 19:2-6 - He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Our salvation is only sealed upon receiving the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, which is another step of salvation which comes after we believe. Jesus death, burial, and resurrection is the good news, the Gospel. We have to apply that same good news, that same gospel to our lives, We die in repentance, we are buried with him in a watery grave in baptism, and we arise to a newness of life, a type of the resurrection, through the infilling of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live for Him, our salvation is sealed, sealed to receive the inheritance, eternal life with Him. Until that day when Jesus returns to gather His church, those who have His Spirit, we have an earnest, a down payment, a touch of what we will experience with him throughout eternity.
We can, even now, be spiritually seated with Christ in the heavenly places if we have been raised with Him.
Eph 2:6-10 - But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Let’s look at what Paul said to the people in the church at Ephesus…remember, he is talking to a people that have completed the full plan of salvation. Paul said in verse 5, even when we were dead in sins, He has quickened us together with Christ…..God loved us and called us even when we were yet sinners.
Rom 5:8 - But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
But God does not leave us in sin, if we believe and repent and fulfill His Biblical plan of salvation. Verse 6 says, “He has raised us up”, he has resurrected us to a newness of life through the infilling of the Holy Ghost, Christ’s Spirit in us. Verse 6 says, to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus””, Jesus tells us how in John 14:
John 14:15-21 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
The resurrection has great implications for Christians and for how we communicate the gospel message. Jesus is alive, and if we want to be alive with Him also, we need to die with Him in repentance, be buried with him in a watery grave through baptism, and then be raised with Him through the infilling of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 6:4 – Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
This we do by asking His forgiveness, repenting of our sin, dying with Him, being baptized in his name, buried with Him by baptism…the scripture says it. Then it says, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also should walk in a newness of life”. We cannot be raised from the dead until we have been buried with Him, under His Name, and then we can be raised up….by receiving the Holy Ghost, and believing that He died for our sins and rose again.
Jesus told Martha, Lazarus’ sister:
John 11:23-26 - Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Jesus says, He that believeth in me, “”though he were dead””(buried in a grave), yet (now that that has taken place, after these things…shall he live (receive the Holy Ghost, Jesus spirit inside them. Then he even repeats and says, “He that liveth and believeth shall never die.
I pray today that someone has heard the voice of this preacher today. God has only one plan of salvation. That only plan is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Gospel is that he died on a cross, was buried 3-days, and rose again. Jesus requires us to ‘follow Him’. And we will rise with Him.
