Pastor Dave Martin ~ Cross Creek Community Church ~ April 16, 2006

Raised to New Life!

Easter Sunday

Mt 28:1-9 (Pew Bible page 706)

Col. 3:1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. NLT

Two Questions for you to ponder this 2006 Easter Sunday...

Numerous times, Jesus Predicted His Resurrection...

Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Matthew 17:22-23 ²² When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. ²³ They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.

Matthew 20:18-19 ¹⁸ "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"

Read & Expound: Mt 28:1-9 (Pew Bible page 706)

What does the Empty Tomb mean?

1.  Jesus is who He said He was!

Matthew 26:63-64a But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." ⁶⁴ "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied...

2.  God the Father Accepted the Sacrifice!

1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 Cor. 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

Romans 1:4 “...who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I read about a girl named Jenny who grew up on a cherry orchard near Travers City, Michigan.  Her parents, a little old fashioned, tended to over react to her nose ring, her music and the way she dressed.  One night in an argument with her father, she screamed, “I hate you!  I never want to see you again!”  And that night she ran away, catching a bus to Detroit.  The second day in Detroit she met a man with the biggest car she’d ever seen.  He offered her a ride, bought her lunch and gave her a place to stay.  He even gave her some pills that made her feel better than she’d ever felt in her life.  The good life continued for about a year.  That man who she now called “boss” taught her a few things that men like and since she was under age men would pay a premium for her.  She lived in a penthouse and ordered room service whenever she wanted.  But after a year, she became ill and her boss became mean.  Soon, she was out on the streets without a penny to her name.  The little bit of money she made turning tricks all went to support her habit.  One freezing night on the street sleepless and hungry, Jenny was overwhelmed with a longing to go back home, to the cherry orchards, the warm home and her golden retriever.  Sobbing she called home three times only to get an answering machine.  The third time she said, “Mom, Dad, it’s me.  I want to come home!  I’m catching the bus and I’ll get there about midnight tomorrow night at the station.  If you’re not there I guess I'll just stay on the bus to Canada.”  On the seven-hour bus trip home Jenny began to have doubts.  “What will I say?  What will they think?  Will they even show up?  Will they even be there at the station?”  When the bus finally rolled into the small station, the driver announced, “Fifteen minutes, folks!  That’s all the time we have here.  Fifteen minutes!”  Fifteen minutes to decide her life.  She nervously checked how she looked in a little compact mirror.  As she walked into the terminal, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.  Forty people at midnight standing there.  Uncles and aunts and cousins and brothers and sisters and mom and dad and grandparents.  All of them in silly party hats and blowing silly noisemakers and holding banners and a big banner that stretched the entire terminal that said, “Welcome home!”  As her eyes filled with tears, her dad lunged forward out of the crowd to hug her.  She said, “ Oh, Dad!  I am so sorry! I” - Her dad said, I love you, we don’t have any time for apologies.  We planned a banquet for you at home.”

That is a beautiful picture of the unconditional love that God has for you.  When you come home to God and say, “God, You made me but I’ve been disconnected from You.  I’m coming home,” God throws a party and says, “Welcome home!  Welcome into My arms of love.”  He will never leave you or forsake you! 

The empty tomb speaks of God’s love & Christ’s sacrifice for you, it also speaks of...

3.  Assurance of our Future Resurrection!

John 11:25-26 ²⁵ Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John 14:19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

4.  Millions of Lives Forever Changed!

2 Cor. 5:17  What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! NLT

Why do I have Feelings of...

How can I be raised to New Life?  How can I find new direction and purpose for living?  Forgiveness of sin?

1 Peter 1:18-19 ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

You can Be Filled with New...  Purpose!  Power!  Promise!

Ephesians 3:19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. NLT

Ken and C. J. are a wonderful Christian couple.  They live in Bodaga Bay, a little town north of San Francisco.  They run a deli in a store up there.  Bodaga Bay has one homeless man, a town tramp named Garland.  Garland dressed poorly and acted a little strange and slept in the city park.  But being Christians, Ken and C.J. befriended Garland and offered him food and kind words.  When their store was broken into everyone in town accused Garland.  But Ken and C.J. knew it couldn’t have been their friend.  In fact, they prepared a very expensive gift basket for Garland and gave it to him.  The next morning the police showed up with Garland, the expensive gift basket and certain they had caught the burglar of their store.  Ken and C.J. in order to protect Garland from embarrassment said, “Oh, Garland! Thank you for bringing your basket back.  We forgot to put some stuff in it we wanted to put in it.  And by the way, here’s the change I forgot to give you.”  And Ken made up a number $38.67.  In front of the police he opened the cash register and gave him $38.67 to this homeless guy.  The police let Garland go without saying a word.  A few mornings later Garland died in the park in his sleep.  Ken and C.J. were called to the attorney’s office.  They were told that Garland had made them the sole heir in his will.  He wrote “The entire contents of my travel bag are entirely yours.”  Inside the bag was a bag of birdseed, a Bible and a bankbook.  The names on the savings account were Garland and Ken and C.J.  The last entry in the savings account was yesterday for $38.67 bringing the balance to well over three million dollars.  The bankbook had been used as a bookmarker in the Bible.  Garland had put it in the Bible in a unique place and the Bible lay open to Matthew 25:35 and the verse was underlined.  “I was hungry and you gave me food.  I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.  I was alone and away from home and you invited me into your house.  Jesus said, ‘When you did it for the least of these My people, you also did it for Me.’”

Garland had hidden wealth that nobody knew about.                                                                 ~ Rick Warren

·         When you give your life to Christ and trust Him you begin discovering His tremendous wealth!

·         Jesus left the glories of heaven to be the sacrificial Lamb of God to take our punishment at Calvary.

·         Today we serve a resurrected Savior that has wealth and power we can never fully understand.

·         When you come home and give your heart to Christ you have all the resources of heaven on your side!

·         Don’t reject the Savior or He will reject you on judgment day. 

·         Accept Him and experience a life filled with Resurrection Power!

I read about Philip, a little boy born with Down’s syndrome, who attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.

The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought Leggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table.

Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh. Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”

Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”

“Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” the student retorted. “There’s nothing there!”

I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!”

Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.

1 Peter 1:3-4 ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,

Be “Raised to New Life” in Christ!

ü       God Loves You!

ü       Jesus paid your Debt!

ü       By Faith Trust Jesus Christ!

Have you been raised to New Life?  Have you been forgiven and have assurance of heaven?

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