The Importance of the Resurrection

Well, greetings in the name of our risen Lord. I generally, when I try to go to the Lord for something to preach, it's always normally something that I've seen in Scripture, or that the Lord has been showing me. And for some reason lately, it seems as though I have been going after... Well, Dennis asked me to preach for his wedding, so that's an assigned topic.

And now I figured it was just the right thing to do, to have an assigned topic today. And so I'm going to give it a go. We're going to see how that goes.

But the title of the sermon is The Importance of the Resurrection. I want to give a couple of facts here that are interesting, that I found interesting about how the early church practiced this day. The early church held a high reverence for Sunday.

It was the first day of the week. It was the Lord's Day, they called it. And they considered it a day of celebration, a day that they celebrated the resurrection every week.

In fact, so much so, I remember reading writings that they said, don't even fast on that day. Like you can fast any other day, but don't fast on Sunday, because that's a day that we rejoice, that we remember Jesus rose from the dead. And they had interesting traditions like that.

They had the tradition that when they would greet each other, they would say, he is risen, and everybody would repeat, he is risen indeed. They had an interesting tradition where, well, for them, we call it Easter today. Many of us, you know, you'll hear the term Easter, but for them, they called it, I think, Jeremy, do we pronounce it Pascha? Pascha.

That's how the early church fathers would have talked about it. And they held it at a pretty high regard. In fact, the very first council in the Council of Nicaea, one of the topics on the agenda was, when are we going to celebrate Easter or Pascha for them? And that word Pascha means Passover.

And they actually came up with some decisions. It's going to be, they established it should not follow the Jewish calendar, but it should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. And so that should come anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th.

Later, they couldn't really agree. And even the Orthodox Church went with, I think it's the Julian calendar, and the Western Church went with the Gregorian calendar. So they actually celebrated different times.

I think it's May 5th for the Eastern Orthodox Church when they actually will celebrate this day. But all to show this is a very important day to them. In fact, sometimes I kind of, I felt sad as I was looking into this a little bit.

I think one of the, what do you want to say, repercussions of the Reformation was cast out all tradition, you know, throw out anything. And it's interesting reading how they would. I was reading how they would fast.

They called it Lent. They would fast for like 40 days up until this day. And then last night, they would have stayed up all night long.

And they would have gotten together and they would have prayed. It said they would have read the law and the prophets. And then the morning, everybody who was ready to be baptized would have been dressed in white.

And they would have all been baptized. And then they would have celebrated. And you've probably heard of the Easter egg thing going on.

I read somewhere, I know there's probably all this controversy, but just I'm trying to show how important it was, that during that fast, you couldn't even eat eggs during that time. So on that Sunday morning, they would pass out eggs, which kind of gave a new birth and life. And also they would say it represented the tomb.

You know, you crack it open. Anyway, so all of these interesting traditions made it a very important day to them. And that's the point I'm trying to make.

And sadly, sometimes when we don't have traditions, we just, you know, pass it over. Whatever day Jesus died, you know, we all worked. And, you know, today we all, you know, come and hear a good message and move on.

But, you know, it was a big deal for them. This was, every Sunday was the celebration of the Lord's Day. And then today was the once a year big celebration.

You know, it's kind of like, think about Amos. He died and think about how he, how when his anniversary comes, people want to go give flowers. They want to tell stories.

They want to look at pictures. That was what it was for the early church too. And I wonder how much, how important is the Lord's Day to us? How important is this Resurrection Day, Pascha? You know, Jesus died, right before he died, that he had the last supper with his disciples.

And that was the Passover meal. And then he was crucified. And in that Passover, it represented that God had instructed every household to select a year old male lamb without any defect and apply some blood to the doorposts and the sides.

And God said that when he saw the lamb's blood on the door frame of the house, he would pass over and he would not permit the destroyer, that angel, to enter. And any home without the blood of the lamb would have their firstborn son struck down. And it's interesting through the whole New Testament how even Paul himself in Corinthians says Jesus was our Passover.

He was our lamb. And he was like that. He symbolizes the blood over the doorposts.

John the Baptist said, Behold the lamb of God. And in Revelation, it says he was standing like a lamb that had been slain. Peter himself said, With the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot.

And so these pictures, these symbologies of Jesus as that perfect lamb. Another interesting fact. Man, I'm going to give a lot of interesting facts.

Eusebius said that he received polycarp. You probably remember polycarp. He was one of the early, early guys.

He received the tradition of practicing this from John himself. He actually practiced it with him. Let's move on.

I will read you this quick quote. Break your fast when it's daybreak. This is from an early Christian writing.

When it's daybreak of the first day of the week, which is the Lord's day, from the evening until the cock crows, keep awake, assemble together in the church, watch and pray, entreat God, and when you sit up all night, read the law, prophets and the Psalms until the cock crows. Baptize your catechumens. Those are the people being ready to be brought into the church, and read the gospel with fear and trembling, and speak to the people such things as will assist their salvation.

And from that point on, leave off your fasting and rejoice. Keep a festival for Jesus Christ. The pledge of our resurrection is risen from the dead.

So what I thought is, you know, what would we do as I thought about this? What did the early church do? And I thought it would be fitting, if we have time for some thoughts afterwards, but I thought it would be fitting to read the accounts of the resurrection. Now I thought Bob was going to do it. He thought he was going to read it this morning.

I thought, well, this will be interesting. But thankfully he didn't. What I did is I went, and this is Jeremy King's Harmony, so if I messed it up, sorry.

But I took all of the gospel accounts and then also Acts, and I tried to combine them the best I could, so we could just read it all in one big flow. And I did it from the ESV so that we could kind of understand it, and it would be more like a story. So let's just listen to this.

Children, listen. This is about Jesus and how right after he died, you can imagine what the apostles and the disciples were thinking. Here he's dead.

He's been put into a tomb. He's been gruesomely crucified and then poked on the side and then taken down and put into a tomb. And they're all wondering, is he even going to live? Is this whole thing we thought over with? It was all just a farce.

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the sown from the door of the sepulcher? And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the very great stone. By the way, they think that thing was probably about 3,000 pounds.

It's a big cylinder cut. They say it's probably about that. Obviously it was big because they knew they couldn't move it.

And the angel just sat on that big old stone. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes was white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.

And entering into the sepulcher, the ladies saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment. And they were afraid. But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the man said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee.

The son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and crucified on the third day. And they remembered his words. Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold, he is going back before you to Galilee.

There you will see him. See, I have told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb with trembling astonishment and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.

When they were going, behold, some of the guards went into the city and told the chief press all the priests that all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, Tell people his disciples came at night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So they took the money and they did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. But these things, these words seem like an idle tale, seem like just a crazy story. And they did not believe them.

Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon and the other disciple. Whenever you see that, that's John. And the one whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him.

So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he did not go in.

Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen clothes lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen clothes, but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciples who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes marveling at what had happened.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus is laying, one at the head and one at the foot. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener? She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him, in Aramaic, Rabbani, which means teacher. Somehow just the way he called her, she knew it was him.

And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. And Jesus said, Do not be afraid. He said, Do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord and that he has said these things to her. That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And when they were talking with each other about all these things that have been happening, talking about Jesus and how he had died and was crucified, while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from knowing who he was.

And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking, said sad. Then one of them named Cleopas answered, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the thing that happened here in these last days? And he said to them, What things? And they said, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man, he was a prophet. He was mighty in his works and his word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and they crucified him.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and beside all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us.

They were at the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women and said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

This is Jesus talking. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets? He interpreted them all the scripture and the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going and he acted as if you were going to go on further, but they urged him strongly saying stay with us for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.

So we went in to stay with them. And when he was at table with them, he took the bread and he blessed it and he broke it and he gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight. And they said to each other, did not our hearts burn with us within us while we talked with him on the road and he opened us to the scriptures and they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and they found the 11 apostles and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon and they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them after he broke the bread.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples for fear of the Jews as they were talking about these things, Jesus came in and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your heart? See my hands, see my feet, that it is myself.

Touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet and he rebuked them for their unbelief and their hardness of heart because they had not believed the things they saw after he had risen. And while they still disbelieved for joy, they were marveling.

He said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of grilled fish and he took it and ate before them. As the father has sent me, even so I sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Ghost.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. And if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin was now with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see his hands and the mark of the nails and place my fingers in the mark of the nails and place my hands in his side, I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and put your hand in my side. Wow. Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet they believe. He's talking about everyone here in this room.

Then he said to them, these are my words that I've spoke to you while I was still with you and everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scripture and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day he should rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. That's our job.

Go to all the nations. And what did he say? Preach the repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name. Beginning at Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of all these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed them. And he said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And he said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Make disciples of all nations.

Baptize them in the name of the father and the son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey all that I've commanded you. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved but whoever does not believe will be condemned and these things will accompany those who believe.

In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up snakes with their hands.

And if they drink any deadly poison, it won't hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover. And behold, I am with you always even until the end of the age.

And when he said these things, he blessed them and he parted from them as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took them out of their sight. And while they were gathered, gazing, sorry, into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who is taken away from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing God.

And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirm the message by accompanying signs. So that's the story of the resurrection. And as we think about it, the title I said was the importance of the resurrection.

Without Christ and the resurrection, we really should all just go home. It's the cornerstone. It's the bedrock.

It's the foundation. It's the central theme of our faith. And really everything we're doing this morning, all the head coverings on and the dresses and the nice clothes and all of that is useless if he didn't raise from the dead.

For Christians, his resurrection is the guarantee that all Christian dead will be resurrected at his return and that he has the authority to forgive us our sins. Paul said this. He said, I guess there was a rumor going around that there was no resurrection.

And he said, how do you say, some of you, that there is no resurrection? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is empty. It's vain.

And your faith is also vain. So I'm standing up here preaching in vain and everyone that came here is vain. Yea, we are all found false witnesses because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ who he didn't raise up.

And so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain.

And you are still, what does it say, in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are fallished and perished. And in this life, only we have hope in Christ.

We are all of men most miserable. So what is the resurrection? What is the importance? Why did the church, and especially the early church, make such a big deal about it? Well, if you notice, Jesus mentioned in that story we read that he had, he seemed a little frustrated with them. That they didn't seem to pick up his predictions.

And they didn't seem to understand. And he said he had opened their minds. I find it interesting that in Matthew, six times he predicted his death and resurrection.

He said, three days and three nights I'll be in the whale's belly. In Matthew 16, when he was talking to the chief priest, he says, the son of man will be delivered to be killed and he'll be raised again on the third day. I mean, so blatant.

In Matthew 17, he said, he told them, his disciples, don't tell anybody about the vision you saw until the son of man has risen from the dead. In Matthew 17 again, and they shall kill him and the third day he shall be raised again. Pretty clear.

And Matthew 20, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify and the third day he shall rise again. And lastly, Matthew 26, but after I am risen, he says. And yet, they were sad.

And yet, they somehow didn't pick it up. Somehow they couldn't remember those things. It says later, they remembered those words he had spoken.

Jesus made some pretty bold claims, as we all know. He predicted, he prophesied his own resurrection, which is a pretty amazing thing. But one of the claims he made, he said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

Do you know what else he said in relation to this? What's that? No man comes to the father but my name. What else did he say I am? I am the resurrection. Think about that.

He is the way. He is the truth. He is life.

And then he says to Mary or Martha, I am the resurrection. I am the embodiment. Not just I will be resurrected, but I am the resurrection.

Think about that statement. And he said, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. One of the amazing things we have this morning is, as we are in him and he is in us, he gives us life, it says.

And because he is the resurrection, we will be resurrected. Speaking to the Jews, he said, and this was in John, he says, we read it this morning actually. No, we didn't actually.

I shall lose nothing but should raise it up again on the last day. And I will raise him up on the last day. I will raise him up at the last day.

Over and over and over through John, he said that. He told them, destroy this temple. And in three days, I will raise it up.

Now, listen to this. He said himself in John 10, he said, therefore, if my father loved me because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man take it from me, but I lay it down of myself.

I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. So Jesus himself has the power to lay his life down and has the power to raise himself back up. That's the claim he made.

So when it happened, it was proving his authority, that he has the power to lay it down and to raise it back up. And in fact, it was such common knowledge that after he died, the chief priests were a little concerned about that. They said, sir, we remember that that deceiver talking of Jesus, while he was still alive, he said, three days I will rise again.

And so we need to do something about this. We need to make sure this doesn't happen. They were so concerned that the disciples would go steal away his body and make a story about it.

But they knew that he made that statement and they were concerned about it. And so why is this resurrection important? OK, let's get some. I see we're all a little tired.

So we're going to we're going to do a little bit different. Get your Bibles out. Glenn, you turn to Romans one and I want you to read four.

Roger, can you read Romans 14 nine? I saw a once you read Acts 10 40. We'll start with those. So the resurrection stamps God's approval.

It stamps God's approval on his on who Jesus was and the claims and the teachings he made that the commandments he put. So do you have Romans one four? Can you read that for us? So his resurrection is a declaration that he is the son of God with power. It says declared to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.

So he he was raised from the dead. And it's a proof that God has put on him that he has the authority to do that and that he is the son of God. So the first thing we can write on the board here is that he is God's son.

The resurrection is important because it proves he is God's son. Okay. Who is that? Who did I ask yet? Roger, did I ask you? Yes, please.

So what do we look? What do we learn that he has the resurrection proves in this? What word can I write here? Lord. He is the Lord. What is a Lord? Somebody give me a word.

Ruler. King. Master.

Okay. Who did I ask next? Was it you Abe? Yes. 1040 and through 42.

1040 through 1040 through 42. So how what was God approving of him? What word can I write here that by raising him from the dead? What is he now? Judge. So he is the son of God.

He is the Lord. He is our judge. Okay.

Bob, you have your Bible. Can you read Romans 425 for us? Chad, do you have yours? If you could read 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5. 425. Romans 425.

So what was he raised for? What could I write here? I'll put he is our justifier. I heard years ago justification is just as if I never did it. He forgave us in a way that as just as if I didn't do it.

He justified us. Okay. Chad, can you read that verse? It was 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5. Okay.

So it says by the resurrection. What did he do by the resurrection? Somebody. Begotten us.

Now, how do we write that? The born again-er? How about I just put redeemer? But he begot us again. He born us again. He gave us a whole new.

Well, the promise in the Old Testament said, I will come and I will write my laws in your heart. I'll put a new heart in you and I'll take away that old stone fleshly heart. And so what was Jesus doing? He, by his resurrection, he was the one that came and made that possible.

So we stand here today knowing that he is the son, the Lord, the judge, the justifier, and he is our redeemer or born again-er. However you want to say that. Preserver.

Okay. What does it say? Can you read it? Or did you just hear it? To an inheritance, corruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith and the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. And this is all made possible by the resurrection.

So we see God's stamp, his stamp of approval on Jesus by the resurrection. Why is it important? Because it shows God is saying what everything Jesus said was true. We also see in the early church, in the book of Acts, how often they preach the resurrection.

And the very first sermon Peter preached, he preached at Pentecost. And right in his sermon, in Acts 2, it says, And having loosed the pain, the agony of death, it was not possible that we should beholden of it. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God swore with an oath, according to the flesh, he would raise Christ to sit on his throne when he spake before of the resurrection of Christ.

And then he goes on and says, this Jesus hath God raised. So right in the very first sermon, what is their central theme? The resurrection of Jesus, how God raised him, how God, it said, he made him to sit on his throne. And how even the prophets spoke of the resurrection.

You can see that this theme was very important to them. The second sermon that Peter preached was to the, after they healed the lame man. And sure enough, same thing.

It comes right into, he says, you killed the prince of life. But then he says, but God raised him from the dead. And unto you first, God, having raised up his son, Jesus sent him to bless you and turn you away from your sin.

And then Peter, right? A couple chapters later, when he was interrogated by the high priest, once again, they said to him, he, Peter said to them, be it known unto you and all the people of Israel. That by this Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but God raised him from the dead. Even by him that this man.

So as they saw this man that was healed, he said, it's because of Jesus, because he was raised from the dead, that he had the power and his name could heal that man. They brought it back to, and they, they brought the blame. You killed him, but God raised him.

Then here, Peter, again, when he was, uh, after they were released from prison and they said, we told you not to preach in his name and you need to stop that. And he says, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. And that's when they said, it's better for us just to do whatever God says and not obey you, but God.

Then when Peter went to Cornelius, the first Gentile to be saved, he preached the message and he said, God raised him up on the third day and showed him openly. See, this was a central theme to Christianity and is a central theme. It's, it's what the apostles used to preach their message to prove.

If I were to ask any one of you right now, do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? You know, do you believe he, um, he's the son of God? Do you believe he is the Lord? You would all say yes. And then if I were to say, and maybe somebody asked you on the street, prove it to me, how, how would you prove it? How would you prove he's the Lord and the Messiah? And he's the one that we all need to bow our knee to. The apostles proved it by the resurrection.

They proved it because God stamped his approval. When Paul was at Antioch, he preached it. He said, but God raised him from the dead and he was seen of them, many of them.

And he goes on in his sermon, God has fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that he had raised up Jesus again. And it's prophesied in the second Psalm. And then he goes into this whole rant about how David prophesied about it and said, I would not leave my, uh, my, in, in Sheol or however he says it, um, your Holy one.

And then he goes on and he says, but I, it, but it known, be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And so he brings in the, the, the forgiveness because of the resurrection. Then when Paul was at Thessalonica, same thing he preaches and risen again from the dead.

And that this Jesus, whom I preached unto you is Christ. He is Christ because he is risen. Um, and then last the, the sermon on Mars Hill.

And as Paul was preaching that he once again got into the resurrection. And at the very end of it, they said, we will come back and hear about this resurrection. Um, but he said, where have you have given assurance or he has given proof unto all men that he has raised him from the dead.

How did he give proof to all men by raising him from the dead? This is how we know that what we believe is true. And so we can see here, what's the importance of the resurrection. The second importance there is that it authorizes Jesus's bold claims that he made.

And gives stamp of approval for who he said he was. Uh, and that we will give an account and that we should take it fearfully. As the early church sat up all night and they read the Psalms and they read the, the law and the prophets.

And then they baptized their catechumens and then it said they read the gospels in fear and trembling. They did that because they knew who he was and who, what his authority was. One other statement I'd like to, um, read here and then we'll quickly close.

But the other day I was out walking with my wife and, um, talking about some of these thoughts. And she just, she said this little verse, one of our favorite verses. We've even written a song to it.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. What's the importance of resurrection? Well, we know it authorizes who it, who he says he is. We know that it means each one of us here that are truly walking with him get to be raised from the dead.

We no longer have to be fearful of death. That he will raise us all when he comes back. That's one of the, the early promises that the, the church has held on to.

That, that we know that, um, he will raise us. But then another promise is this. And it's a little mysterious, but this idea of the, there's a power in the resurrection.

Not just in the future, but right now in your daily life. Um, I, I, I have a little quote here. It says Christian theology holds that through faith in the working of God, those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation.

And can hope to be physically resurrected to dwell with him in the kingdom of heaven. So there's a physical resurrection in the future, but there's a real resurrection now that should be happening in your daily life. And let's spend a little time looking at this.

If you turn to Romans, Joel, do you want to read a three through 11 for us? Romans three through 11. Uh, what's that? Six. Sorry.

Six, three through 11. That was confusing. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we die with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him.

Once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin.

So Paul uses some symbology of the resurrection of Christ and the death of Christ. He says we were baptized. Each one of us, when we took that day, when we went and we were baptized in the river, it was a symbol of going into his death.

Of being baptized with Christ into his death. And we go under the ground in a sense. And then it says that like as Christ was baptized, then he was raised.

You come out of the water. And as you come out of that water, you're raised to newness of life. And so it says we should walk in newness of life.

So the idea is when you come out of that water, it's a new beginning. It's a new birth. It's a new life.

And so his death was a picture of us putting our old man to death. Our sin nature. And then the new life coming out is a picture of the new man.

The new birth that takes place. And so it says in verse 5, we have been planted together in the likeness of his death. We shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Verse 8, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. And knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died to sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth to God. And then this is the verse right here.

Likewise, this is where we come in. Ye also reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God. And so there's almost a daily dying.

I don't know if you found that to be true. Paul himself said, I die daily. Jesus said, I take up my cross daily, unless you take up your cross daily.

So there's an idea that every day even, and even sometimes every moment, we have to find how to die with Christ in his death. And then how to allow the new man to walk in this newness of life. Or as Hebrew says, a new and living way.

And that's something that we learn to do. But there's a power. Paul said, the power of his resurrection.

There's a power that Christ gives us. In fact, it says, he became a life-giving spirit. Think about that.

As he died and became a life-giving spirit. In Acts 2, it says, Peter's preaching. And he says, as Christ died, and now he's been raised.

And now he's been taken up to the right hand of God. And he now standeth there pouring out the Holy Ghost. The promised Holy Ghost.

As if this is what God's plan was. That Christ earned the right. He was the redeemer.

He was the victor to come and make a way for us to have this newness of life. And Jesus talked about that. Unless a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone.

But if it dies, it brings forth fruit. Christ came out of the grave. He brought forth fruit.

We come out of the grave. Each day, we come out of the grave. And we walk in the newness of life.

Romans 8-11. Timothy, can you read that? And Titus, can you look up Galatians 2-20? And Matt, do you have your Bible? Can you read Colossians 2-12? Romans 8-11? Yes, please. So if the Spirit of God that raised up Christ is living in us.

The same Spirit that raised him up. He will also raise us up from the dead. And he will make our bodies alive.

He will do that in the future. Jesus said we will never die. He made that comment.

But he does it now too. He does it now too. He brings life now.

He quickens our mortal bodies. Okay, who was the second person? Was it Titus, Galatians 2-20? See that daily relationship Paul lives in. He's crucified with Christ, but he's still living.

And that's that newness of life. The newness of life that came by his resurrection it said in Romans 6. Matt. There's an operation that happens when we become a new man.

I don't know where I read this last week. But sometimes we get the idea that it's just this mechanical thing. Oh, I know.

I was reading about crying out to God. And we think of this mechanical thing. If you just believe in your heart and baptize you'll be saved.

But the Bible talks so much about crying out to God. He that cries out shall be saved too. And so the idea that there's an operation.

We cry out for his mercy. We cry out that he would save us. And that he would grant us repentance.

And so this operation that takes place, it's not just automatic. We need to desire it. We need to ask for it.

And sometimes it's a normal ongoing operation. So without the resurrection Jesus is just a dead martyr who had some good ideas. But with the resurrection we can see that he's the son of God.

He's the Lord of all. He's the judge of all mankind. He is the justifier.

He justifies us and forgives us. And he is, he borns us again. He begots us again.

Gives us a new life. And he preserves us. With the redemption he's our redeemer and our friend.

And he walks with us in a new and living way. The Old Testament prophets prophesied he would rise. Jesus himself claimed he would rise.

He proved it himself by rising. And eyewitness accounts recorded it. And lastly, I think this is so important.

Every apostle died except John. Every one of them died defending the resurrection. They didn't die, they didn't go to their death and say, You know, we made that all up.

That was all a big story. They defended it. I mean, what would you do if they were putting you, ready to burn you or crucify you upside down? And they said, this is because you've been preaching this story about Jesus.

And it was all a lie. I think you'd probably think, well, maybe this isn't worth dying over. But they were willing to die for it.

And they knew it was true. They'd seen it. They said they were eyewitnesses.

They went to their end. And you see such a change in them. Look at Peter.

Look at Matthew. Look at John. Look at these men who were so carnal and fleshly.

And as they were born again at Pentecost, and that new spirit was put in them, look at their letters. Look at the way Peter writes. Look at the way John writes.

Look at the way Matthew writes. So different. God changed each one of them.

And so why is the resurrection important? Well, it's important for all these things. And it is our foundation of our faith. So I just want to encourage all of us to rejoice today and to remember that maybe we don't have all the traditions, but let's go home and think about, even today, the importance of the resurrection.

Let's pray. Lord, we want to come to you this morning and thank you for your sacrifice. And we want to thank you, Lord, that you are supreme, that you had the power to rise again.

And, Lord, we want to thank you that you did love us enough to redeem us and to justify us. And help us as we walk this narrow way to take these things seriously. Help us, Lord, to have that fear and troubling the early church had on the day of your resurrection as they read your gospel.

Lord, help us to proclaim the gospel to others and tell them that you are the Lord, that you were raised. Help us, Lord, to be convinced of your resurrection. Help us each day to walk in that power, the power of the resurrection that Paul desired so much.

Lord, I just pray a blessing over this congregation, and I thank you and bless you and praise you for your love and for what you have done. We ask and say all this in Jesus' name, amen.