The Living One Among the Dead

The Living One Among the Dead
Luke 24:1-12
April 4, 2021

HE IS RISEN!

I. The Empty Tomb

v5 Angel; Why do you seek the living among the dead?

Angels announces the most important and celebrated event in the life of the Christian; the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Romans 4:25; He who was delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was raised because of our justification.

The cross and the resurrection are joined at the hip.
The cross gives meaning to the resurrection!
The Resurrection authenticates Jesus’ work on the cross!

No verse in the Bible explains better what Jesus did on the cross than –

2 Corinthians 5:21; He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This verse has 4 key phrases and truths about what Jesus did for us on the cross

A. Christ our Passover

Phrase #1 – The Bible says God made Him who knew no sin.

It tells us the greatest person in history, Him who knew no sin, is obviously, the Lord Jesus Christ

The Bible is uncompromising in this 2 Corinthians claim that Jesus had no sin.

Hebrews 4:15; For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.

John 8:46; Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?

He is talking to His enemies here, not His friends…

• Bible tells us he frequented the temple in Jerusalem all the time, but the Bible never tells us He offered any sacrifice for His sin because He didn’t need to!

• Bible tells us Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them – but He never prayed, Father forgive me – because He didn’t have to.

I Corinthians 5:7; Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

Our Passover, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed for us!
• Passover is all about God’s judgement of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the 10th plaque, but God’s judgement passed over the Israelites who were covered by the blood of the Passover lamb on their door posts.

• In the same way, people who are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ as their only payment for sin will see that God will pass over their sin in judgement just like He did for the Israelites.

Exodus 12:5; Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

The point is for Jesus to be the Passover lamb for the entire human race, who’s blood can protect every person alive from God’s judgement for sin, He has to be without defect – without sin of any kind – exactly how the Bible says that Jesus is.

B. By His wounds we are healed

Phrase #2 – God made him who knew no sin….to become sin on our behalf.

• The greatest transaction in history – carried out by the greatest person in history – He became sin on our behalf.

Isaiah 53:6; All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.

1 Peter 2:24; and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.

He Himself bore our sins…

• A divine transaction which you and I will not ever fully understand, God took the sins of the world and transferred them onto Jesus Christ so that He paid for my sins, He paid for your sins, as He hung there on the cross.

• It’s ok if you and I never understand this fully – in order for this transaction to be mine or to be yours – you don’t have to understand it fully – we don’t have to explain it – all we have to do for this transaction to be ours – is to believe & trust it!

II. Become Righteous in God’s Sight

Phrase #3 – God made Him who knew no sin – to become sin on our behalf – – That we might become righteous in God’s sight.

• The greatest offer in history as a result of the greatest transaction in history that was made by the greatest person in history

• As unholy as we are, God offers to make us righteous in His sight.

Romans 10:4; For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 5:1; Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:19; For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

What great news of the Bible – praise God –
How can we really be righteous, even after putting our faith in Jesus, we are still utterly sinful people? True?

• How can God agree to see us as righteous when we really aren’t?

• A great question – and with a childlike illustration – it’s a lot like a super hero who has all these powers including a shield of protection.

• The Bible says the blood of Jesus, becomes a shield for us, when we hide or take refuge as our only payment for sin in God’s Holy sight.

• God chooses to offer us, when we hide behind Jesus blood, He won’t see beyond the blood.

Colossians 3:3; For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

• The perfect righteousness – donated to us, not really ours, credited to us – by the Lord Jesus Christ.

• This is the foundation for God’s plan of salvation for the human race – this is how a perfect God enabled us to have a relationship with Him now and for eternity – on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness that covers us in the sight of God!

A. Salvation is a free gift

Phrase #4 – God made Him who knew no sin – to become sin on our behalf – That we might become righteous in God’s sight through Him.

• The greatest proviso in history is only available through Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
• A proviso is a clause or stipulation which must be accepted. The bible is clear.

John 14:6; Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Acts 4:12; And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”

God does not offer to make us righteous in His sight through Buddha – through Mohammad – through Confucius or Joseph Smith – or anybody else – He only offers to do so through Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ alone.

But we live in a pluralistic world, a more tolerant and diverse world – how can you justify such a narrow position or path…?

B. Our Risen Savior makes a way for us

• Buddha’s tomb – isn’t empty…
• Confucius tomb – isn’t empty…
• Mohammad’s tomb – isn’t empty…
Nobody else’s tomb is empty – but the tomb of Jesus Christ is empty!!!

Remember earlier – one of the great purposes of the resurrection is to authenticate what Jesus Christ did on the cross as the only way to heaven that works – that will really get you there.

That’s why God raised Him from the dead, in part, so that looking at all the options people tell us; we can know which one is actually going to work.

Follow a dead Savior and you’ll end up just like him –

• But the great news of the Bible is that we don’t have a dead Savior, we have a living Savior!

• We have a Risen Savior – who’s blood is so powerful – in God’s sight – that it can cover the foulest sinners this world can produce – like you and me.

• And make us righteous in God’s sight.

You have doubts about being a sinner?
Invite the Holy Spirit to take that tour and buckle your seatbelt for what you find!

It doesn’t matter as long as we are hidden behind the blood of Jesus Christ, so in God’s sight we are righteous because of Christ.

This is what Easter is all about?
• For God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might become righteous in God’s sight through Him – then God raised Jesus from the dead to prove and authenticate it.

This offer is open to everyone.

C. Eternal life is available to everyone

Romans 10:4; For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

• It doesn’t matter what you have said, done, hurt, messed up or how often – you may be the worst person you know – but you are still part of “everyone”.

• This offer is open to everyone – can’t fix yourself, clean yourself, all you have to do is come to Christ and repent.

1 John 1:9; If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Luke 13:3; No, I tell you, but unless you [a]repent, you will all likewise perish.

He will fix you and clean you up.

Be willing to believe in and trust God in how He made a way for you to do this – through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross – to pay for your sin on the cross.

You can go from whatever condition you came in here to being righteous in God’s sight.

I’m going to pray a short prayer and I’m going to ask you to say that same prayer silently – as we pray and ask God to cover you with the blood of Christ.