Easter
Sunrise Bible Study
April
8, 2012
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the
broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a
decision
After the death
of Jesus on the cross, the disciples were devastated.
Their world had
collapsed.
But within a few weeks, things changed.
Big time.
A man who was
known as “Doubting Thomas” became a believer.
A man who had
denied knowing Jesus became a preacher.
This morning I want to look at what happened to make
things change. I think there were
two specific things that made a dramatic change in the disciples.
During this service I want to focus on the resurrection itself and how it
changed things.
During the 9 & 11 services I will focus on how the resurrection gives
us the power to change.
Thomas
Before the resurrection, the
disciple named Thomas was a doubter, a skeptic.
He was a man who wanted proof before he would believe.
He lived by the adage,
“Show me, and I’ll believe”.
After the resurrection … well
when Jesus first appeared to the disciples on the evening of that first Easter
Sunday, Thomas wasn’t present.
We don’t know why he wasn’t there.
When Thomas heard what had happened while he was gone, he couldn’t believe
what the others were saying.
(Jn 20:25 NKJV) The other
disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them,
“Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the
print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
John records
that after Jesus appeared to Thomas and asked Thomas to look and touch Him …
(Jn 20:28–29 NKJV) —28 And Thomas answered and said to
Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed.”
Play Jerusalem
to India map clip.
Church history tells us that Thomas went on to take the gospel on to the
land of Parthia and all the way to India.
That’s about 2700 miles on ancient roads.
Possibly farther than any other disciple.
One account has recorded
that Thomas had somewhere
near 17,000 converts.
Quite a life for someone who doubted.
What changed? Jesus rose from the
dead. Thomas saw Him. Thomas believed.
Peter
Before the resurrection, Peter
had experienced a crisis in his faith.
Even though Peter boldly told Jesus that even though others might fall
away, Peter would never deny Jesus – yet on the night of Jesus’ arrest there was Peter, denying Jesus
not once, not twice, but three times.
Peter had even
been intimidated by a young servant girl.
After the resurrection, things changed.
Peter found himself preaching the gospel to thousands.
On the day of
Pentecost, Peter preached to a huge crowd of people and 3,000 people made a
choice to follow Jesus. (Acts
2:14)
Peter even
preached to those who arrested and crucified Jesus. (Acts
4)
Peter wouldn’t travel quite so far as Thomas. He would eventually end up in Rome, a mere
1500 miles (as a bird flies) away.
What was the
one constant theme in all of Peter’s messages? The
resurrection.
On the day of Pentecost:
(Ac 2:23b–24 NKJV) —23 Him, being
delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by
lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that He should be held by it.
After healing the lame man:
(Ac 3:14–15
NKJV) —14 But you
denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to
you, 15 and killed the
Prince of life, whom God raised
from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
In explaining himself before the Sanhedrin:
(Ac 4:10 NKJV) let it be
known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
Just about every message we have recorded of Peter’s talks about the
resurrection. It’s interesting that
Peter seemed to talk so often, so much about the resurrection, when we
sometimes only tend to talk about it at Easter.
Why does the resurrection
change everything?
Let me give you three of many reasons:
1. Jesus is alive.
He is not some long gone figure of history.
He came back from the dead. After
forty days He ascended into heaven.
He is still alive.
When I was in college, there was a hymn that we used to sing that was one
of my favorites:
The first verse goes like this:
I serve a risen Savior,
He's in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He's always near.
The Chorus goes like this:
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.
2. Sin has been paid
for.
Paul tells us something wonderful about the death and resurrection of
Jesus:
(Ro 4:25 NKJV) who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our
justification.
The idea is this – Jesus
was put to death because of our sin. He
died in our place.
The Bible tells us that we are all sinners
(Ro 3:23 NKJV) for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Bible tells us that the penalty for our sin is a death sentence.
(Ro 6:23 NKJV) For the
wages of sin is death…
In a sense, the cross that Jesus died on was originally reserved for
us. Yet Jesus took our place and paid
for our sin.
He paid a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we
couldn’t pay.
How can we know that He paid our debt?
Because
He rose from the dead.
He proved that our debt was paid for because He made it out of prison.
His resurrection proved that He paid for our sins.
Have you taken advantage of what Jesus has to offer to you?
He offers you forgiveness for every sin that you’ve ever committed.
All He asks of you is that you believe.
(Jn 3:16 NKJV) For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life.
3. There is life after
death.
We can think of death as being so final.
Yet for those loved ones of our who who have believed in Jesus and have died, it’s not over.
They are actually alive in heaven with Jesus. There is life after death.
There is also life after other kinds of death as well.
The loss of a loved one.
The loss of a job.
The death of a vision
It doesn’t have to be over.
Thomas and Peter thought it was all over on that Friday afternoon.
It wasn’t over.
Pray to receive Christ.
In the morning services I am going to be talking about the work of the Holy
Spirit to put the power of the resurrection into our lives – the power to
change.
Have you ever got “stuck”, thinking that some things will never change?
Sometimes things can change. God
wants to help us change.
Prep
(Ro 4:22–25
NKJV) —22 And
therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed to him, 24 but also
for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, 25 who was
delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
He was raised from the dead to show
that our sins had indeed been paid for.
(Ro 10:9
NKJV) that if you confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God
has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Ro 13:10–11
NKJV) —10 Love
does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the
law. 11 And do this,
knowing the time, that now it is high
time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than
when we first believed.
(Eph 5:8–14
NKJV) —8 For you
were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light 9 (for the fruit of
the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are
done by them in secret. 13 But all
things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest
is light. 14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the
dead, And Christ will give you light.”
A believer who has
committed “deeds of darkness,” is to wake
up and rise from the dead since
he was involved with the deeds of evildoers. Christ’s shining on him speaks of
His approval, an indication that he is discerning and following what is
pleasing to the Lord (Eph. 5:10).
Something different has happened,
something never before done.
Look at the content of the messages
that Peter spoke in the book of Acts:
On the day of Pentecost, when the
Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, there were some strange phenomena
occurring – sounds like a rushing wind, tongues of fire on the heads of the
believers, and the church speaking God’s of the wonderful works of God in a
multitude of languages. A crowd began to
gather, and Peter stood up to explain what was going on. At the very heart of his message was the
resurrection:
(Ac 2:22–32
NKJV) —22 “Men of
Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by
miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you
yourselves also know— 23 Him,
being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be
held by it. 25 For David says
concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord
always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my
tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in
hope. 27 For You will not
leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow
Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have
made known to me the ways of life; You
will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ 29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with
us to this day. 30 Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit
on his throne, 31 he,
foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul
was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
(Ac 3:6
NKJV) —6 Then
Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise
up and walk.”
rise up – egeiro
– to arouse from sleep, to awake; to arouse from the sleep of death, to
recall the dead to life; to cause to rise from a seat or bed etc.
This is a pretty common Greek
word. It’s used for all sorts of things,
things as simple as getting up off your chair.
It’s also one of several words used
to describe resurrection, rising from the dead.
Jesus used it:
(Mt
16:21 NKJV) From that time Jesus began to show to His
disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
(Mt
17:23 NKJV) —23 and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were
exceedingly sorrowful.
(Mt 28:6–7
NKJV) —6 He is
not here; for He is risen, as
He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed
He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have
told you.”
(Ac 3:12–16
NKJV) —12 So when
Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you
marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or
godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant
Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was
determined to let Him go. 14 But you
denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to
you, 15 and killed the
Prince of life, whom God raised
from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man
strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him
has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
(Ac 4:1–2
NKJV) —1 Now as
they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the
Sadducees came upon them, 2 being
greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
(Ac 4:8–12
NKJV) —8 Then
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and
elders of Israel: 9 If we
this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what
means he has been made well, 10 let it
be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you
whole. 11 This is the ‘stone
which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
(Ac 5:29–32
NKJV) —29 But
Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God
rather than men. 30 The God
of our fathers raised up
Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31 Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince
and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also
is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”