Easter Service
Sermon Transcription:
I want to start off today by continuing our Good Friday story as we left that service somewhat unfinished. The service had quite a special anointing in which the Lord really allowed to see something of the depth of the pain in God's heart as he had to turn away from his son, surrender him into the hands of Sinners, and pay the price to save you and me from Eternal death.
Here we pick up the story in Mark chapter 16: 1- 15, "Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices that they may come and anoint him very early in the morning on the first day of the week. They came to the tomb when the sun had risen and they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the Stone from the door of the Tomb for us?" But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he said to you." So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
After that, he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later, he appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table, and he rebuked their unbelief and the hardness of their heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to Every Creature."
So here we have the end chapter, if you will, of this story. Christ being raised from the grave not being offended with anyone that has a hard time seeing the Risen Lord beyond the cross and an open grave. He doesn't rebuke them; he rebukes their unbelief and gives them one more time something to believe and to hold on to. This is the kind of men and this is the kind of followers that he says to now, "You go into the world and preach the gospel, the good news, to everyone that I did not stay in the grave, that I am the Lord Jesus Christ, that the father has sent his son, and that sins are paid for."
Now, we speak a lot about the importance of the Cross, especially in the last weeks. We've stood still by the Journey To The Cross this Friday and the journey into the grave. But it is really my heart today that the eyes of every person's heart here may see really the resurrection. And that's where our title comes from: the miracle life.
Romans 4, verse 23 to the first verse of chapter 5. "Now it was written not for his sake alone that it is imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses or our sins and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Now, there's an incredible need to understand the importance and the depth of the Resurrection. Again, we stand still by the cross an awful lot of time, and it's a good place to stand still. But in order to see the empty grave with the eyes of your heart and understand what that really means for your life, there's a lot of people, including the disciples that walked with Jesus face to face; they couldn't wrap their head around it. And Jesus had told them, "I will raise from the dead. Jesus had told them it'll be three days. Jesus had told them the son of man has come to suffer and to be killed by Sinners. He had told them all of it. They had heard this story even before it took place, yet they could not really wrap their head around it. They'd seen the cross; they'd understood the suffering caused by sin. Peter had seen himself betray Jesus. But the Open Grave, that really took another revelation of Christ himself before they could see it, before they could understand it.
Let me read to you again verse 25: "Who was delivered up because of our offenses or our sins and was raised because of our justification." or for our justification. Delivered because of sin and raised because of our justification. In the death and in the suffering of Jesus, you become forgiven, church. When Jesus took on all of your sin, when Jesus allowed humankind, if you will, to nail him to the Cross, he did that in order for your sins to be paid for, for all of your sin to be washed away. But his resurrection testifies of our justification and that is very, very different. That word justification means acquitted or innocent. Acquitted from a crime means that case can never be brought up again. You can never be tried for that crime ever again. Innocent, you know what that means? That means that you have never done the things that you're being accused of. That is what the word teaches us. In his death, we receive forgiveness of all of the past sins. In his resurrection, we become justified, even though we're still in sin, meaning you still make mistakes sometimes. You abuse the Forgiveness of the Cross, and you choose wrong or choose poorly or choose very consciously wrong. But because of the Open Grave, because of the Resurrection, you are justified in your sin. You are innocent in your sin. You are acquitted in your sin.
Why is this so significant? Why do we celebrate the resurrection in many cases somewhat bigger than Good Friday, the cross? Why do we celebrate the Open Grave so much? Again, in his death, death, I am forgiven for sin. But because of the Resurrection, I am justified in my sin. When you have struggles in your life, every person has struggles in their life. They are areas where Jesus is showing you you're not really living, speaking, behaving, or walking yet the way I would really like for you to walk. And you're feeling it. Now you may feel like you can't make a difference. You may not feel condemned at all, because the Holy Spirit is showing it to you. The enemy is not beating you to death or trying to beat you to death with guilt. But the Holy Spirit is showing you, "That's not my plan for your life. That's not how I want you to walk. That's a struggle." We know the right thing to do or we know the right life to live or we know the right thing to say or we know when we should be keeping our mouth shut. We just don't always do it right, allowing us to see that. That's what the Holy Spirit does. And now we have an opportunity to run to prayer and say, "Lord, I don't know how to do this thing, but I'm willing." Those are struggles in our life. But in the midst of your struggle, because of the Open Grave, you are justified. It is an incredible thing to sometimes abuse Grace, to sometimes still struggle, to sometimes do wrong or to sometimes be overcome or catch yourself doing the wrong thing even before you thought about it, to know that in the midst of that, I am justified. I'm justified in my sin. I'm forgiven. I'm acquitted. I am innocent.
You may say, "That's a little too good to be true, Pastor. You don't know the things I struggle with. You don't know how long I've been struggling with it. You don't know how many times I don't even care anymore." To believe that I am fully justified in the midst of my sin, let me take you on a journey into the gospel of the Resurrection, the gospel of the champion. I'm going to take you to Isaiah, Isaiah 42: 13, "The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man." Some translations translate that champion. "The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man. The Lord shall go forth like a champion. He shall stir up his zeal like a man of war. He shall cry aloud, yes, shout aloud. He shall prevail against his enemies." He's a champion. This is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ who would come as a mighty man, who would come as a champion, but not just to conquer the death that he was facing. He begins to explain the kind of things that he will do for the people that he is their champion, the people that he is a champion for. Let's read verse 16 together: "I will bring the Blind by a way they did not know. I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them." This is the champion who says, "I'm going to come into people's lives that cannot do this for themselves. I'm going to be their champion. I'm going to stir myself up like a man of war, who's a man of war fighting for? He's fighting for the people at home. He's fighting for the weak. He's fighting for the children. He's fighting for those that cannot fight this battle by themselves." That's what the Bible begins to describe. Our Savior as, he's a champion for those that cannot fight the battles, cannot win the victories for themselves.
The prophet Joel begins to describe so clearly what this champion is winning for his people. Let's go to Joel chapter 2. There's a great call in this book to repentance, and it almost presents an unconquerable obstacle before the promises, before the incredible rewards that this champion that God is supposed to bring into the people's lives that cannot fight themselves. There's this incredible call to repentance that is so thorough, so perfect, so deep that when I'm reading it, I know I'm not going to get to the Promises part. I can't repent like this. There's a perfect standard of repentance that is being described right here in the book right before the prophet speaks of all the aspects of the miraculous life. There's this hurdle that someone needs to get over before they can get into that miraculous life. He speaks of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit afterwards in the last days. He speaks of God giving restoration of whatever was lost. He speaks of God dealing with sin for his people so they don't have to deal with their own sins in their life. Let me read to you those conditions of that perfect repentance before God is willing to bring his people into that miraculous life.
Joel 2: 12-17, "Now therefore," says the Lord, "turn to me with all of your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So, rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babes, let the bridegroom go out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room, let the priests who minister to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, let them say, 'Spare your people, O God, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the people, 'Where is their God?'"
Here's this incredible call to repentance. It includes everyone from babies all the way down to those that minister to the Lord. Everyone in between has to show up, everyone has to weep, everyone has to cry out to the Lord, everyone has to put a stop in their schedule and come and turn to God. Church, on the best of your best days on Earth, you may just be able to do this, but you can't live like this. But you have a champion, you have a champion who has lived perfectly, you have a champion who has fulfilled this call perfectly on behalf of humankind. You have a champion who will prevail against his enemies.
Now let me show you what Christ is going to do to the devil in your life, what Christ is going to do to sin in your life because these are his enemies now. Christ has purchased you with all that you are and all that you are not, and whatever the enemy's been doing in your life is now his problem. Whatever sin is stuck in your life, he's now the enemy to those things. These things now belong to the one that has purchased you. Let me take you into Joel 2: 18-19, "Then the Lord, so after this is all accomplished, somebody needs to do this perfectly, lifelong in order for someone to enter into these scriptures, after all of this. Then afterwards, then the Lord will be zealous for his land and pity his people. The Lord will answer and say to his people, 'Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.'"
Here's the Lord saying, "I am on your side now. Now that you have a champion, now that Christ has fulfilled all that was ever necessary, he has come over that hurdle. Anyone who believes on him has become a part of his body, as a partaker of the same achievements that he has. I am now on your side. You have a champion that overcomes. You will never again find out that I'm against you. I am on your side."
Joel 2: 23-24, "Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the former reign." That word could be translated teacher of righteousness. That's your champion, Church. That's your teacher of righteousness, the spirit of Christ given to you by him, given to you because he paid for your life, and he promised, 'If you believe on me, I will pour my spirit towards you.' That is your teacher of righteousness. He's given you a teacher of righteousness. He's given you a champion faithfully, and he will cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floor shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil." In other words, he's saying now undeserved blessings are going to come upon your life. They're going to be all over your life, more than you are able to contain. They are going to overflow. What I am going to do in your life just because you have a champion, just because someone lived this perfectly, lifelong, someone who is resurrected and alive for eternity, a proof before the face of the father that there is a constant perfect life on your behalf. Now, be glad, rejoice in the Lord because he's given you a champion, and he will cause blessing to come upon your life more than you're able to contain for yourself.
It is so important to understand, Church, that you can never become any more blessed than you are when God gives you a private champion just for you, and God gives you his promises. You can never be more blessed, and you can never lose those blessings because you've been justified, even when you struggle with sin. You can't lose these blessings because to God, you are perfect. You are innocent. You're acquitted of all that stuff, that thing is done away with, that story has had its time, it's now passed and covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Joel 2: 25-26, "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be put to shame."
The Lord says, "I will restore to you the years that the locusts had eaten." In other words, the consequences that your sin brought upon your life, the room your sins made for the enemy to mess with you or establish painful things and robbery in your life, "I'm going to restore these. I'm not just going to fix it. I'm going to give you back everything that it cost you," he says. "The consequences of sin will be removed from your life, and instead, it will be restored unto you as if you had never sinned in your life, as if you'd never had any sin consequence in your life."
Then he goes on to explain, "I'm going to cause you to praise God. You don't have to do that yourself. You don't have to press into worship, teach yourself how to worship," he says. "I'm going to cause you to praise God. It is something I'm going to bring up inside of you, and you will never be put to shame again." In other words, everything that ever in your life used to cause you to feel ashamed, anything you ever did that caused you to feel like, 'I don't like to talk about that. That is kind of shameful, it's going to make me look bad,' anything that caused you to be put to shame, "I'm going to remove it from your life. All of those things you're worried about, if I believe this gospel that even in my sin I am fully justified because there's an open grave," God says, "it's been long enough that the enemy has been allowed to tear apart your heart, tear apart your mind, feed you poison through your eyes, feed you poison through your ears. It's been long enough," the Lord says. "I know my people can't do anything about it. Powerless to deal with sin in their own life," he says, "I will enter into judgment with the enemy and with your sins. The champion of heaven will prevail against his enemies. Never forget, church, when he purchased you, he purchased all of your battles, he purchased every single corner of your heart that is still harboring darkness. It's his problem now, and he's letting you know, you're justified while I'm working this out of you. You are innocent in the eyes of the Father. You are accepted from judgment, but I'm judging your sin. I'll go after it. I'm judging your enemy. I will kick him out of your life."
Hebrews 7: 25, "Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." That word "uttermost" means entirely. What is it saying? He's able to save you entirely, every area of your life, every part of your thinking, every area of your heart, every way you have ever been hurt, everything that you are afraid you are going to do in your life, every single way you believe you're going to disappoint God or disappoint people or hurt people or give yourself to sin, every single way, the word says, he can save your life entirely. There's nothing he cannot redeem. There's no battle he won't make his own. He can save your life entirely. And then that word "intercession" at the end means to stand in the gap or to pray for you or on your behalf.
Church, you are called to have a miracle life, a miracle life where any part of your life is just becoming saved, is just becoming rescued, is just becoming redeemed. You're not doing it, you're not trying it. It is because you have a champion who will prevail against his enemies, his enemies in your life, his enemies in your thinking, whatever you may be going through. That is why you will be changed entirely, and you are called to have a miracle life. Can you understand? You're called to be a man or a woman, and Jesus is full time praying for you and praying on your behalf in your life. That is the life that God is calling you to, the miracle life.
-Pastor Stan Mons