Scripture: Luke 24:1-12
All four gospels, of course, include accounts of the resurrection. But Luke’s gospel includes a fuller account of the angels’ words to these women, including the words of verses 6 and 7: “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Pay attention to those three words, “must be delivered,” especially that little word “must.” The angels don’t say, that the “Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of sinful men”; rather, he must be delivered.
In other words, the crucifixion of Jesus was a necessary part of God’s plan, from the beginning, to save humanity from their sins through faith in Christ, to give them eternal life, and to make them part of God’s family forever. That little word “must” means that not only did the resurrection happen, it also accomplished what Jesus—along with the prophets of the Old Testament—said it was going to accomplish!
In the apostle Paul’s great chapter on resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15, he argues that Jesus’ bodily resurrection implies the future resurrection of all believers. And in verses 16 and 17 of that chapter, he tells us a lot about what the resurrection of Jesus accomplishes when he writes: “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and…”
And what? “And you are still in your sins.”
“You are still in your sins”? Hold on… Who said anything about sins?
After all, if we interviewed the average “man on the street” at this moment and asked him what the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves, what would he say? He would say, “It proves that there’s an afterlife. It proves that there’s a heaven when we die.”
Well, there is an afterlife, of course, and there is heaven or Paradise when we die—it precedes future resurrection… but Paul already believes there’s an afterlife and a heaven.
Our modern question about an afterlife is important to us, of course, but that question wasn’t Paul’s most pressing question…
Paul’s most pressing question has nothing to do with the questions that so often preoccupy us in our world. The most pressing question has nothing to do, for instance, withanything happening in Russia, Ukraine, China or North Korea; it has nothing to do with tariffs, climate change, or the “culture wars”—or our job prospects, or our health, or the economy.
The most pressing question facing every single human being in our world today ought to be this: How do we get in a right relationship with the God created us and gives us life, the God to whom we owe everything? Therefore, has God done everything necessary to rescue sinful human beings like us from sin, death, and hell?
And Paul’s answer to that question is a resounding “Yes”… and the resurrection of God’s Son Jesus, as far as Paul is concerned, proves that answer!
1 Corinthians 15:17: “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins,” is another way of saying that if Christ has been raised—and he has—then we can be confident that through faith in Christ our sins are forgiven!
We can be confident that Jesus’ words from the cross are true: “It is finished.” 1 Christ has won… The debt has been paid…
We can be confident that Christ has “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” 2
We can be confident that God has “cancel[ed] the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” 3
We can be confident that “God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us…” 4
We can be confident that God has “disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” 5
We can be confident that there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 6
And we can say, along with Paul,
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 7
And if all that has happened, well… to say the least… nothing can ever be the same!
And this brings us to Point Number Three… Our New Life…
Just a couple of years ago, Rory McIlroy, whom I talked about at the top of this sermon, stood at the podium of the Los Angeles Country Club in Beverly Hills, California, after losing a tournament—a regular PGA tournament, not a major tournament—and he said the following: “I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.” 8
Last week, as we discussed, McIlroy got his hands on another major championship… big time!
But his words were insightful: “I would go through 100”—disappointing—Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.” In other words, “I could easily endure losing a nearly endless number of times if only I could only win one major victory.”
If he could only win one victory—assuming it’s the right victory—he would be set for life.
In other words, McIlroy said that he could live off of that one victory for the rest of his life!
And we can understand sentiment, right? We can understand exactly what he means! In my personal history of preaching, for example, I’ve never had more than three people at one time respond to a sermon of mine, including a gospel invitation, with a profession of faith. And here I’m not counting “confirmation Sunday”… which happens after many young people go through a months-long discipleship class…
But I love Billy Graham, you know, and there was a man who routinely had hundreds or thousands at a time come forward at each Crusade to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.
As a preacher, you think I don’t envy that kind of outward, visible success?
I am tempted—I’m not saying it’s right to feel this way—but I am tempted to say, “If something like that happened to me, I could live off that kind of victory for the rest of my life!”
Apply it to your own vocation—your own career… What kind of career success could you live off of for the rest of your life?
Apply it to the success that your children might experience. All of us parents can be ambitious for our children… all of us burst with pride at what our kids accomplish. We can easily imagine “living off of their success,” can’t we? “If my child could accomplish that kind of victory, I could live off that.” Lisa and I knew a family at our church in Alpharetta years ago whose daughter was a triple threat: she acted, she sang, and she danced—and one time she had the starring role in a Broadway musical several years ago. In the world of performing arts, it doesn’t get bigger than that, right? Did those parents ever think, “If my son or daughter could only make it to Broadway, I could live off of that victory?”
I wouldn’t blame them!
And I know we have a bunch of sports fans—including fans of that school in Athens or that school 30 miles northeast in South Carolina—whose success in football some of you might be tempted to “live off of.”
Dear brothers and sisters, friends, visitors… that ain’t nothing… Those kinds of victories are nothing… Those successes are nothing… compared to the victory that Jesus Christ won for us on the cross… which Easter Sunday confirms…
You and I can live off of his victory!
But this victory that Christ won for us isn’t simply the knowledge of something that’s been done for us. That’s what Rory McIlroy’s victory represented for him: the relief that comes from knowing that his prominent place in golf history is secure.
And that’s good! It’s glorious, like I said.
But the resurrection of Jesus Christ doesn’t simply mean knowledge that lives in our head—a memory that we can recall from time to time to feel better about some hardship that we’re currently experiencing, as if to say, “Well, things are tough right now, but because Christ was resurrected I can be confident that I, too, will get heaven and resurrection in the future.”
That kind of knowledge is incredibly good! No doubt!
But the resurrection of Jesus Christ doesn’t simply mean knowledge of new life in the future, it means power in the present because the very Spirit of God is living within us and working among us… As Romans 8:11 says:
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
This same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living within us, supplying us with power right now… the power, for example, to change… the power to be sanctified… the power tobecome holy… the power to work within us the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control… the power to know contentment both during times of plenty and times of want… the power to exchange anger, jealousy,and resentment, for instance,with greater trust in God… greater love for God… the power to set aside the superficial judgments of sinful people and instead, to rest securely in what our Father thinks of us… the power to take away fear, anxiety, and worry.
We’re emphasizing a theme in our church this year that speaks to this: Fear not, therefore…
[But maybe you think I’m spiritualizing things a bit too much… Yes, God wants to heal us spiriutally, right now… But what about physical healing? After all, we buried our dear brother Bob Evans two days ago, on Good Friday…
Literally every prayer for physical healing gets answered with a yes… The resurrection of Christ proves that, too…]
So… to say the least… the victory that Christ won for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday is a victory we can live off of!