April 9, 2023 EASTER
Luke 24:1-12
“Light of a New Dawn”
Service Overview: The resurrection is about more than just an historical figure rising from the dead, it’s about a new reality and life available to all. The Light of all mankind has defeated sin and death once and for all!
Memory Verse for the Week:
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”” John 8:12 (NIV)
Background Insights:
- All the gospels stress the significance of the women as the first witnesses of the empty tomb. This is hardly likely to be a fictional invention, in a society where women were not generally regarded as credible witnesses, especially as the singling out of the women for this honor detracts from the prestige of the male disciples. (R.T France, The New International Commentary: Matthew, 1098)
- If someone in the first century had wanted to invent a story about people seeing Jesus they wouldn’t have dreamed of giving the star part to a woman. Let alone Mary Magdalene. (N.T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2, 147)
- It is quite clear that without the belief in the resurrection the Christian faith could not have come into being. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. Even had they continued to remember Jesus as their beloved teacher, His crucifixion would have forever silenced any hopes of His being the Messiah. The cross would have remained the sad and shameful end to His career. (William Lane Craig, The Son Rises, 128)
- The Gospels do not present the resurrection of Jesus in the manner of apologetics, with arguments arranged to prove each main point, but rather as a shocking intrusion that no one was expecting, least of all Jesus’ timorous disciples. (Phillip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 213)
- The resurrection is the hinge on which all Christianity turns. It’s the foundation on which everything else rests, the capstone that holds everything else about Christianity together. Which means—crucially—that when Christians assert that Jesus rose from the dead, they are making a historical claim, not a religious one. (Greg Gilbert, Who Is Jesus?, 125)
- These are the evidences for the resurrection. The body had disappeared. The graveclothes remained undisturbed. The Lord was seen. And the disciples were changed. There is no adequate explanation of these phenomena other than the great Christian affirmation ‘the Lord is risen indeed’. (John Stott, Basic Christianity, 59)
- The resurrection proves that Jesus Christ is what He claimed to be, the very Son of God. He had told His disciples that He would be raised from the dead, but they had not grasped the meaning of this truth (Mark 9:9–10, 31; 10:34). Even the women who came early to the tomb did not expect to see Him alive. In fact, they had purchased spices to complete the anointing that Joseph and Nicodemus had so hastily begun. (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, 134)
What did Jesus’ death and resurrection make possible?
- A payment for the debt we couldn’t pay.
(Ps. 51:5; 28:13; Rom. 3:23, 25; 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 2:17; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 2:2; 4:10)
The debt was so great, that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it. (Anselm)
The good news is that God Himself has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of His justice without condemning the whole human race. Hell is one way to settle accounts with sinners and uphold his justice. But there is another way. The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God. And what is this wisdom? The death of the Son of God for sinners! (John Piper, Desiring God, 59)
- Peace in ways we needed it most.
(John 16:33; Acts 10:36; Rom. 5:1, 10; 6:23; Eph. 1:7; 2:14-15; Col. 1:20; 3:14-17)
God requires satisfaction because He is holiness, but He makes satisfaction because He is love. (A.H. Strong, Systematic Theology, 298)
The Gospel is the good news that the just and gracious Creator of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful men and women and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that everyone who turns from their sin and themselves and trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord will be reconciled to God forever. (David Platt, Secret Church conference 2015)
- A life where death no longer has the last word.
(John 3:16; 6:40; 11:26; Rom. 6:23; 14:8; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 21:4)
The Christian doctrine is a doctrine not of Immortality but of Resurrection. The difference is profound. The method of all non-Christian systems is to seek an escape from the evils and misery of life. Christianity seeks no escape, but accepts these at their worst, and makes them the material of its triumphant joy. That is the special significance in this connection of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Stoics teach an indifference to death; the Gospel teaches victory over it. (William Temple, Nature, Man and God, 461)
Every other religion in the world is the religion of “do,” but …Christianity alone is the religion of “done.” (Mark Dever, The Day of Atonement, 46)
It is a poor thing to fear that which is inevitable. (Tertullian)
the Resurrection has placed a glorious crown upon all of Christ’s sufferings! (A.W. Tozer, Renewed Day by Day, Christianity Today, v. 40, n. 4)
The resurrection of Jesus offers to man both God and immortality. It is almost too wonderful, too incredible to believe. But the facts are there. God has revealed Himself in history, and the evidence is there for all to see. (William Lane Craig, The Son Rises, 143)
So in light of the resurrection…
A. Your past no longer need define you.
(John 3:3; Rom. 6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:1-3, 4:17-24; Col. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:9)
On the basis of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God can freely forgive man, for the penalty has been paid by God Himself. But again, God does not force this pardon on anyone. We are not puppets. God offers forgiveness to us; it is up to us to accept or reject. (William Lane Craig, The Son Rises, 148)
Today. This day. In the stink of it. The throes of it, Jesus makes a miracle out of it. When others nail you to the cross of your past, He swings open the door to your future. Paradise. Jesus treats your shame-filled days with grace. (Max Lucado, Great Day Every Day, 17)
B. Your present can have eternal purpose and meaning.
(Jer. 29:11; Mat. 28:18-20; Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Eph. 2:10; Col. 3:1-4; 1 Peter 2:9)
Why sacrifice for the needs of others if in the end nothing we do will make any difference? If the resurrection of Jesus happened, however, that means there’s infinite hope and reason to pour ourselves out for the needs of the world. (Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, 220)
The lives of Christians today demonstrate that the resurrection is still changing people. It changes fear into love, despair into joy. The resurrection changes people from being spiritually dead to being alive to God. It changes guilty condemnation into a celebration of forgiveness and freedom. It changes anxiety into a hope that goes beyond the grave. It can change our sinful hearts so they want to follow the Lord Jesus, and the power of the resurrection is relentlessly killing sin in every true Christian. (Adrian Warnock, Raised with Christ, 13)
C. Your future can be sure and secure.
(John 3:16; 6:40; Rom. 8:11; 15:13; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; Heb. 12:28; 1 Peter 1:3; Rev. 21:4)
The Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of resurrection unto life to those who are in Him. (2015 Free Methodist Book of Discipline, 25)
In light of the fact that we must all die, the exact timing, surely, is of relatively little consequence. (D.A. Carson, How Long O Lord, 103)
Because Christ was raised from the dead, we know that the kingdom of heaven has broken into earth’s history. Our world is now headed for redemption, not disaster. God’s mighty power is at work destroying sin, creating new lives, and preparing us for Jesus’ second coming. (Bruce B. Barton, Matthew, 569)
there is peace for the past, grace for the present, and glory for the future. These are three things that every child of God ought to have. When the angels came bringing the gospel, they proclaimed, Glory to God, peace on earth, and good will towards men.” That is what the blood brings — sin covered and taken away, peace for the past, grace for the present, and glory for the future. (D.L. Moody, Twelve Select Sermons, 123)
Gospel Application…
Because of Jesus’ resurrection, resurrected life is available for all who believe.
(John 3:3; 14:6; Rom. 6:4, 23; 8:11; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 3:12; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3; 2:24)
The message of Easter is that God’s new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you’re now invited to belong to it. (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 252)
The cross stands as the final symbol that no evil exists that God cannot turn into a blessing. He is the living Alchemist who can take the dregs from the slag-heaps of life—disappointment, frustration, sorrow, disease, death, economic loss, heartache—and transform the dregs into gold. (Catherine Marshall Beyond Our Selves, 168)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- Why is it significant that women were the first witnesses of the resurrection? What other points serve to bolster the historical truth of the resurrection?
- How does Jesus’ death and resurrection offer hope to those who turn to and trust in him?
- What promises are proven true because of the resurrection? How does this offer hope?
- Who in your life needs to hear and glean hope from the truth of the resurrection?
Quotes to note…
I believe in Christianity as I believe the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 140)
It is not enough for the skeptic, then, to simply dismiss the Christian teaching about the resurrection of Jesus by saying, “It just couldn’t have happened.” He or she must face and answer all these historical questions: Why did Christianity emerge so rapidly, with such power? No other band of messianic followers in that era concluded their leader was raised from the dead—why did this group do so? No group of Jews ever worshipped a human being as God. What led them to do it? Jews did not believe in divine men or individual resurrections. What changed their worldview virtually overnight? How do you account for the hundreds of eyewitnesses to the resurrection who lived on for decades and publicly maintained their testimony, eventually giving their lives for their belief? (Tim Keller, The Reason for God, 182)
The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is more powerful than anything else we believe. By His resurrection Jesus proved He is who He says He is. Be confident in this truth. Stand on the Holy Word of God. Don’t sell the world a false bill of goods. Preach the Word. Defend the faith. Live the faith. (Charles Colson, Faith on the Line, 77)
The truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of gospel truth. The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns and without which none of the other truths would much matter. Without the resurrection, Christianity would be so much wishful thinking, taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation. (John MacArthur, 1 Corinthians, 398)
The cross is the standing evidence of the fact that holiness is a principle for which God would die. (Billy Graham, The Holy Spirit. 320)
In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross he remains on the throne. (A. W. Tozer, The Radical Cross, 100)
Death is the last weapon of the tyrant, and the point of the resurrection, despite much misunderstanding, is that death has been defeated. Resurrection is not the redescription of death; it is its overthrow and, with that, the overthrow of those whose power depends on it. (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 50)
Like everything else in Jesus’ life, the resurrection drew forth contrasting responses. Those who believed were transformed; infused with hope and courage, they went out to change the world. Those who did not believe found ways to ignore strong evidence. Jesus had predicted as much: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Phillip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 214)
God must either inflict punishment or assume it. And He chose the latter course. (Erwin Lutzer, Cries from the Cross, 100)
