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THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    Today is what man refers to as “Easter Sunday.”

1.      It is supposed to be the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection.

2.      NOTE:  This is a man-made celebration.  There is not one Scripture in the Bible that authorizes the celebration of the day called Easter.

 

B.      For Christians, every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ

1.      Luke 24:1-3

 

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.  And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.  And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

 

2.      Two men in shining garments appeared to the woman and spoke to them (Luke 24:5b-6a).

 

Why seek ye the living among the dead?  He is not here, but he is risen.

 

C.     When Easter comes, preachers in the churches of Christ will do one of two things.

1.      They will not preach on the subject so as not to seem to conform to the world.

2.      Others will preach on it because the minds of so many are on the subject.

3.      I have done both.  Today, we will address the subject:  “The Power of the Resurrection.”

 

I.                   THE POWER TO BRING LIFE FROM DEATH

 

A.    The word “resurrection” literally means “to stand again.”

1.      When a person dies, he lies down because life is gone from the body.

2.      Resurrection restores life and the body is able to stand again.

 

B.      Jesus actually died.

1.      Jesus commended His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46).

2.      The soldier at the cross saw that Jesus was dead and made it sure by piercing Jesus’ side with a sword (John 19:33-34).

3.      Pilate had the death of Jesus confirmed by the centurion (Mark 15:44-45a).

 

And Pilate marveled if he were already dead:  and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.  And when he knew it of the centurion…

 

4.      Jesus was laid on a cold piece of stone in the sepulcher where He slept the sleep of death (Matt. 27:59-60).

 

C.     Three days later everything changed.  He that was dead arose with life in His body.

1.      He was no longer cold.  He was warm.

2.      He was no longer confined by the grave.  He was freed from the tomb.

3.      He was no longer lying down.  He was walking.

4.      He was no longer silent.  He was speaking.

5.      He was no longer defeated.  He was victorious.

 

 

6.      Matthew 28:9

 

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.  And they came and held him by the feed, and worshipped him.

 

D.    We could have called this the power to bring defeat from victory.

a.      At the cross, Satan thought that he had won the battle.  The Son of God was dead.

b.      Victory was conquered on that third day when Jesus rose from the grave.

 

II.                THE POWER TO BRING FAITH FROM DOUBT

 

A.    What has happened?  What do we do?  We thought he was the one.  We must be careful.

Let’s go back to our nets.

 

B.      These are the words of doubt that came from the apostles following the Lord’s death. 

 

C.     The resurrection changed all of that.  The greatest example of faith being restored is found in the apostle Thomas. 

1.      He was not at the first appearance of Jesus to the apostles (John 20:24).

2.      They disciples tried to tell him about the Lord’s resurrection, but he doubted (John 20:25).

3.      Jesus appeared to him the one week later.  Seeing the resurrected Lord produced abundant faith within him (John 20:27-28).

 

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hand; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side:  and be not faithless, but believing.  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

 

D.    Paul tells us that Jesus as declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4).  That fact filled the hearts of the disciples with an indestructible faith that would be with them as they went forth to conquer the world.

 

III.             THE POWER TO BRING COURAGE FROM FEAR

 

A.    When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of His disciples forsook Him and fled (Mark 14:50).

 

B.      Following Jesus’ death and burial, they locked themselves behind closed doors because of their fear of the Jews (John 20:19).

 

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews…

 

C.     After the resurrection, the disciples changed. 

1.      They were no longer weak, fearful men. 

2.      Now they were bold proclaimers of the gospel.

3.      They were men who were willing to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.

 

D.    Example:  Peter and John before the Sanhedrin council of the Jews (Acts 4:10-13)

 

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole.  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.  Neither is there salvation in any other:  for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled, and they took knowledge of them, that had been with Jesus.

 

IV.             THE POWER TO BRING OBEDIENCE FROM REBELLIION

 

A.    This seems to be a pretty bold declaration.  Remember, however, that the resurrection takes one from doubt to faith.  From faith to obedience is not a big jump.

 

B.      The primary example of this is Saul of Tarsus.

1.      Acts 9:1 opens with his rebellion against the Christ.

 

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord…

 

2.      We all are familiar with the account.  On the road to Damascus, he sees the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:4-5).

3.      Immediately upon hearing this was Jesus he asked an interesting question (Acts 9:6).

 

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

 

a.      Faith was in his heart.  He had seen and talked with Jesus.

b.      Now he wanted to know what he needed to do.  His rebellion was turned into obedience. 

c.       When Ananias came to him, he complied fully with the demand put upon him (Acts 26:19).

 

Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.

 

V.                THE POWER TO BRING SALVATION FROM SIN

 

A.    Sinners are outside of Christ.  They are dead in trespasses and sins. 

 

B.      Because Jesus came forth from the grave, His death was made effective.  Had He merely died, His shed blood would account for nothing.  He would have been just another man.

 

C.     Now, in Christ, we are cleansed from sin.

We are made alive in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:1, 5).

 

And you hath he quicken, who were dead in trespasses and sins…Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved).

 

VI.             THE POWER TO BRING HOPE FROM DESPAIR

 

A.    When Jesus died, all hope was lost. 

1.      This was supposed to be the Messiah.

2.      This was supposed to be the King of the Jews.

3.      This was supposed to be the salvation of Israel.

4.      See Luke 24:21

 

But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel…

 

5.      But, He was dead.

6.      There was no hope.  There was only despair.

 

B.      The resurrection changed all of that.  Peter writes about it in I Peter 1:3.

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

1.      Peter said hope had been born again within them.

2.      It is described as a lively, that is, a living hope.

3.      How did it come?  By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

a.      A risen Savior squashed despair.

b.      A risen Savior replaced despair with hope, living hope.

c.       There was once again deep desire and earnest expectation in the hearts of the apostles of Jesus Christ.

 

VII.          THE POWER TO BRING LIFE FROM DEATH

 

A.    Some might say:  “Victor, you have already covered this point.”

1.      In that point, we spoke only of Jesus.

2.      Now, I want to make application of it to our lives.

 

B.      Because Jesus lives on after death, so shall we.

1.      In I Corinthians 15:20, Paul describes Jesus as “the firstfruits of them that slept.”

a.      The term comes from the harvest of Israel.

b.      They would bring the firstfruits to God.

c.       These were a promise of more to come.

d.      Jesus was the first to come forth from the grave never to die again.  He is the firstfruits.  He is the promise of more to come.

2.      I Corinthians 15:21-23

 

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  But every man in his own order:  Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are his at his coming.

 

a.      Yes, all of us will die.  And, all us will be raised. 

b.      How do we know?  Because Jesus came forth from the grave.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    My friends, Jesus lives.  He has had victory over the grave.

 

B.      If you truly study His resurrection honestly, you will be convinced of the facts.  You, too, will know that Jesus was raised from the dead. 

1.      That thought involves faith.

2.      That faith should propel you to obey the Christ in all things

 

C.     Those who do will find salvation and eternal life (Heb. 5:9).

 

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.