04-04-2021 – Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

April 4th, 2021

various verses

“Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life”

Read Mark 2:1-11…
1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.
2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.
3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.
4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.
5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?
10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”--He said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”

It says (verse 5), Jesus “saw their faith,” and said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” It was clear to everyone that the man’s greatest need was to be able to walk, to be healed of his paralysis; but Jesus basically says, ‘I have healed your spirit, forgiving your sins.’ This man has just received eternal life, but he still can’t walk.

Some religious leaders hearing Jesus’ statement about forgiving sins, consider this to be blasphemy, for only God can forgive sins.

Many of the Jews at that time, believed diseases and afflictions were the result of one’s own sin, i.e., this man's paralysis was caused by his sin. Jesus confronts the Jews (verse 9) saying, “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?

Anyone could say to you, “your sins are forgiven,” but who could verify whether or not it had happened? But to say, “Get up... and walk” that miracle was proved and witnessed by all who were there.

By healing the paralytic, Jesus validated His claim and authority to grant forgiveness; for just as sure as there was physical healing, there was also spiritual healing, the forgiveness of sins.

The emphasis in this event is not the healing of this man’s body, but the healing of this man’s spirit. So, how does this relate to the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Well, we are told in the Scriptures that Jesus came to take upon Himself our punishment for sin’s penalty.

Read Isaiah 53:3-12…
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

He was despised and rejected by men… pierced for our sins; the punishment that brought us peace with God was poured out on Him, and by His shed blood we are spiritually healed, for He has paid the penalty for all our sins. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was put to death; and yet He came out of the grave alive.

What if we only had proof of Christ’s death, but no resurrection? If you had been the paralytic man spoken of in Mark chapter 2, it would be like Jesus saying to you, “your sins are forgiven, really, trust Me!” But there is no way for you to know if that is true, until after you die and wake up either in heaven or in hell.

But, if along with saying to you, “your sins are forgiven,” Jesus also said, “now, to prove that you have received forgiveness, and that I have such authority, ‘I say to you, get up and walk, you are healed of your paralysis,’” if indeed you could now walk, you would also know that you had received forgiveness for your sins.

In John’s vision (Revelation 1:17-18), he records the Lord’s words, “I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.”

Revelation 1:17-18
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ sovereignly confirms and declares that Jesus, through His own shed blood, did in fact take the punishment for our sins, and therefore, we have forgiveness and eternal life!

1Peter 3:18
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Listen, Jesus died on a Friday and was placed in a tomb before sundown, and on Sunday morning His body was missing; He had risen from the dead!

Read Matthew 28:1-15…
1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.
4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.
6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.
7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.
9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
11 Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.
12 And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
13 and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’
14 And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.”
15 And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.

If Jesus did not rise from the grave, as He said He would, yet His body was missing, then, someone had to take His body away. But who could have done that? There are three groups of men we must consider:

1. The Jewish Leaders: They didn’t want Christ’s body removed from the tomb; for a missing body could be perceived as a resurrected body.

Read Matthew 27:62-65…
62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,
63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’
64 Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.”

The Jewish leaders pressured Pilate to put a seal on the tomb and a Roman guard unit there to keep the body in the grave, for Jesus had said (Matthew 27:63), “after three days I will rise again.”

2. The Roman Guards: These elite soldiers were stationed at the tomb, to make sure Jesus’ body stayed put. Moving the body or allowing it to be taken, was punishable by death; therefore, they made sure Jesus’ body remained in the tomb, but then, they had never faced one of God’s mighty angels, like the one who rolled away the stone, and at this sight they fainted with fear.

3. Jesus’ Disciples: This group of mostly fishermen wouldn’t dare move the body and falsify Christ’s resurrection; for if they knew Jesus did not rise from the dead, they had no hope of eternal life, and it would have been better for them to quickly and quietly get out of the area, and deny ever knowing Him.

So, why would the Disciples continue to proclaim the risen Lord, if it were not true? And why would the Jewish leaders have to bribe the Roman soldiers to spread the “stolen body” story, if it were indeed true?

Jesus had told His disciples on several occasions, that He would be rejected, arrested, put to death, buried, and on the third day He would rise from the grave, according to God’s sovereign plan, purpose, and foretelling.

Mark 8:31
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Matthew 17:22-23
22 And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;
23 and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

Luke 24:44-48
44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,
47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.

John 14:1-3
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:29
29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.

After His resurrection, before ascending back into heaven, Jesus appeared many times to His followers; we will study those events next Sunday morning. The only reasonable explanation for the empty tomb is that which is repeatedly taught in the Scriptures: Jesus rose from the grave, by His own divine power and authority (John 10:17-18).

John 10:17-18
17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

Christ's death provided forgiveness; His resurrection demonstrated eternal life (John 11:25-26).

John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Moments later, going to where Lazarus lay buried, Jesus said (John 11:39-44).

John 11:39-44
39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Do you see what just happened? Jesus loosed Lazarus from the bonds of death, demonstrating that he indeed had eternal life, for Lazarus belonged to the Lord.

Hebrews 9:27
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

Matthew 25:46 Jesus says, that those who reject Him, “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous [those who receive Him, go away] into eternal life.” Let that sink into your mind and heart for a moment.

Matthew 25:46
46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Listen, the resurrection is not just an event, it is a Person. Jesus is the Son of God, and all authority rests in Him. Resurrection to eternal life is through Him. The greatest hope that we have, and that we celebrate today, on this sacred holiday, is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior, is the Resurrection and the Life.

1John 5:11-13
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Christ alone is “the Resurrection and the Life,” He experienced death for us, bearing our sins on the Cross; and yet, He now lives, having been raised from the dead on the third day; and so we can know that we have eternal life in Him!

Today, we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior from the dead. Our celebration isn’t only looking back at some event in the distant past, or looking forward to some event in the distant (or maybe not so distant) future —Christ’s resurrection should impact our lives every single day.

God wants us to know that Jesus Himself is the divine hope for everyone who places their trust in Him. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

Remember, after He made that declaration, He asked Martha, "Do you believe this?” And so today, on Easter Sunday, as we end our study, I need to ask you a similar question:

Do you believe in and confess Jesus Christ as Lord?

Do you have the assurance in your heart [your spirit] that you belong to the Savior and that you will live, even if you die, before He returns?

Take a moment, earnestly consider your relationship with God through Christ.

For [God] says (2Corinthians 6:2),
2 for He says,
“AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.”
Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”--

If you know that you have eternal life, praise God, Hallelujah!

But if you are unsure that you have salvation through Jesus Christ, please, I urge you, settle this issue right now, right here.

If you know that you have eternal life, praise God, Hallelujah! But if you are unsure that you have salvation through Jesus Christ, please, I urge you, settle this issue right now, right here.

Admit to God that you are a sinner (we all are).

Repent of your sins, asking God to forgive you (He turns no one away).

Believe in Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior - that He died for your sins, and rose from the grave to proclaim victory over death and judgement.

Having received forgiveness for your sins and eternal life, follow Him by prayerfully reading God’s Word daily, obeying what you understand, as you live your life for Him.

Participate in a Bible Believing, Teaching, and Practicing Church, as a member of Christ’s Body, serving through word and deed, as if serving the Lord Himself.

Jesus Christ, is the Only Way, the Only Truth, the Only Life, from God!

He is the Resurrection and the Life,

for He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

Pastor Mike Hale
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