Why Easter Matters

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Why Easter Matters  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  18:26
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First in a series of sermons on Easters Importance in our lives.

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Heavenly Father we pray this morning that you would Pour Out Among Us a full measure of your promise Holy Spirit to bless the speaking in the hearing of your word on men.

Why Easter matters? A good question. I mean we celebrated every year it bumps around on my calendar. It never seems to hold a steady day. and it seems like it's the same thing every year. And yet it is by far one of the most important days in all of history. It is one of the days that merits extra attention. It merits someone looking extra hard at it. And so this year we begin a four-week sermon series on why Easter matters so that we get it real clear on our head why it matters so that on Easter Sunday we can come and celebrate like never before because hopefully we will know Easter is important. Today we look at the fact that Eastern tells us that Jesus is who he claimed to be.

Why does that matter and who did he claim to be? Well, we'll talk a little bit more about this a great quote from CS Lewis a man who is merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell.

I never thought of Jesus as being a poached egg.

But I do think that we really are left with some great questions about the claims that Jesus made the extraordinary claims. Even Paul relates the same thought when he said and if Christ had not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

We certainly don't want a useless fate or an empty fee. So we go back we can go all the way back to the beginning. We can go back to the garden and we can see the great work of God in the promise of God. But I don't think there is a moment in history that show captures this nature of God's compassion and care and Rescue. As happens at the sacrifice of Isaac.

God calls Abraham and says to him to offer up his one and only son Isaac. Sunny long for waited for dreamt about it finally come.

And Abraham, my guess is without Sarah's permission or even advice. Takes his son Isaac. Honor Scott and takes him up to the mountain sacrifice. They're in the midst of that sacrifice as Abraham draws his sword to kill his son. an angel interrupts just hold it. Your faithfulness is proof enough for me. You honor God? And then it says God will provide a lamb. And they're in the thicket was a ram caught by his horns was offered up. That was that first glimpse of what was yet to come in that Lamb of God, that would come Among Us. They're all kinds of pictures of him in the Old Testament. We see Moses lifting up that serpent in the wilderness and putting it on a pole because the people who were not listening to God, we're being played by snakes as God's Wrath against them.

Moses was instructed by God to Fashion the bronze Serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up. And when the people would look and believe they would be healed.

John would later write that just as Moses was lifted up just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so the son of man must be lifted up, but whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Our readings this morning from Isaiah talked about the healing that's going to be done in his name there rescue that's going to come through relief to God's people people of captivity.

life and Hope then Jesus is born. He comes into the world and he begins to teach and he begins to make wild claims. Wild claims that we still cling to today. Jesus says to the sister of Lazarus. I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live even though he dies. That's quite a claim. He's claiming to have power over death itself.

She looks at him and says. Lord I know he's going to rise again. And he says no, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having life in me. That in me is resurrection in life right now right here have any demonstrated so boldly when you raises Lazarus from the tomb and we all know what Havoc that reached around Jerusalem. Slots continue to find a way to do away with this one who would make such radical claims?

Later, we hear of Jesus entering the temple they began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple. He came in with a whip and overturn tables and was chasing them out. And let me guess there were a couple questions that day. There were more than a few people that said hey, what are you doing who gives you the right to do this to come into the temple and turn over these tables and Chase everyone away. They wanted to know that was uncalled for unseen. No one had ever done that before.

Jesus makes yet another claim. It is written. He says my house will be a House of Prayer, but you have me to den of robbers. my house my house My house they said this is God's house. So here in no uncertain terms, Jesus claims. I am God. This is my dwelling. This is my home. And you will not treat it like this.

These are extraordinary claims. Catch us claiming to be a good person. No, he's claiming to be. God

Jesus answered I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.

We all know that there were a plethora of gods in the day of Jesus as there had been since the gods of Egypt Egypt. They had a God for everything. I got I got a Monday and got him Tuesday and got a rainy days and good whether they had a God for everything and things hadn't changed in the Roman world. It was full of God's a Pantheon of gods. We're just about anything you can imagine and things you can't even imagine and Jesus comes into this pantheistic world preaching not just to the Jews who had a clear understanding of monotheism one God. But he comes to the world and he says I am the only way. I'm not one of many a truth. No, I am the way. The truth and the life no one. Comes to the father but through me. extraordinary claims

later revealed they were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way and his disciples were astonished while those following were afraid again. If you took the 12 aside and told them what was going to happen to ship. We are going up to Jerusalem. He said the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him spit on him flog him and kill him three days later. He will rise.

Couldn't have been more clear. Couldn't have spelled it out more for the disciples what was going to happen and even in the midst of those words? I think Satan was kind of deafening them. To those words because they just didn't listen.

But he knew and who can make those kinds of claims. Oh, yeah, you could make a claim that people aren't going to like you that they're going to have problems with you. You may be able to make the claim they're going to arrest you and you know, how you could get that to happen. You just go kill a Roman guard you get a rest and I mean that's not hard to do so you could have made some of those claims but he's make specific claims about what's going to happen to him before they come and they are claims that are completely and 100% under his control because he has already claimed. I am God.

And I know how this thing goes down. And I'm the one. Calls the shots here.

Reason the father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. The story doesn't end in is that he tells them directly? I am going to take my own life up. Are they seen him raise others. They saw him raise a boy and nothing kills a good funeral like a resurrection. And now he says I'm going to raise myself. That was definitely a new trick. No Prophet had ever done that.

No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up. Again this command I received from my father.

He has clear Authority and calls his authority as a direct gift from God the Father in Heaven every Jew room knew who he was talking about.

I didn't stop there.

Jesus comes post-resurrection and says to his disciples Authority and Heaven and Earth has been given to me.

He claims to be God declares to be able to give life to those who are dead. And now he says in fact, I claim all authority over everything. Everything you can dream. Hope or imagine or not even imagine. It's mine. It belongs to me. I have authority over it and I can do with it as I please.

That's a bold claim.

The Bold claim is dimmed. In comparison with the reality that we read in Scripture.

That fateful morning the Angels said to the women do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He's not here. Is risen just as he said come and see the place where they lay him. And go quickly and tell his disciples he is risen from the dead and he is going ahead of you into Galilee and there you will see him now. I have told you. Can almost see the Angel going done with my job that's what I was sent to do. He's risen. He's not here. I'm not surprised you are now go tell others.

That was fake news. Everything that God had said was now coming true. Not just everything that Jesus had said everything the prophets had said everything Abraham at everything everything that was said in the garden. All of the Prophecies of scripture recorded over thousands of years had now come true.

Jesus is risen from the dead.

So Jesus begins to make his appearances.

He appears to the women at the tomb. Supported in several of the gospels doesn't stop there. He also appears to Peter. Here's to two Travelers on their way to Emmaus the appears in the upper room to the disciples to show them twice once Thomas isn't there. He makes a second appearance just to bring Thomas into the world and let him know. Yes. I am alive the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

I just stop there. Paul writes after that he appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters at the same time most of whom are still living though some have fallen asleep.

We don't have to just take scriptures word for it. The writings of the day the historians of the day all say something that happened there were reports of seeing Jesus everywhere and people were laying down their life for this belief.

I don't need to convince you of the reality of Jesus resurrection what I'm sure to tell you today, is that his resurrection matters.

Jesus did rise from the dead Easter matters because Jesus is who he said he is. He is the Son of God to whom is given all authority and all power and all Dominion. Who sang about it in that great Revelation Song closed and thunder and rainbows? This God is going to return in a mighty spectacular way.

He wasn't the only one who called himself God. Terrapin people for Generations Millennia that have been calling themselves God the Caesars they claim to be God. Buddha he claimed to be God Muhammad. He claimed to be a messenger directly sent from God and claimed for himself God and divine characteristics and qualities.

Will a couple things you probably should take a look at?

Anyone know what that is, and that's Nero's tomb. Breeze Barry that one there. That's a Buddhist to that's where he's buried.

That one there. That's mohammed's tomb. That's where he's buried. This one here. That's Jesus to oh, yeah, nobody's home. Unlike any other God of any other religion he is the only one who has risen from the dead why because he was the only one who was God. He was the only one who could back up his words with evidence with claim with power and authority it matters because Easter declares that everything Jesus said of himself is true. He really is the son of God.

CS Lewis rights you can shut him up for a fool you could spit on him and kill him as a demon if you like. You can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. Let's not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. No, he proved without a shadow of a doubt that he was all that he claimed to be. He was God. Come to this Earth as a man died and rose again. And he gave evidence that everything he ever spoke was true.

Why Easter matters? Because Jesus claimed to be who he was and that was God. But for us that the scratches the surface of why Easter matters because now that statement that Jesus is God that he claims Authority for everything. He said opens the floodgates. It so next week. We will look at another reason that Easter matters. Again, we know that everything Jesus said is true and if that is true, and we trusted to be so than Easter matters because my past is Forgiven. And we're going to look at that next week. And what that means?

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