The Reasons for Jesus’ Resurrection

Easter Weekend
Perry Duggar

April 8 & 9, 2023

Introduction: Thanks for spending part of Easter weekend at Brookwood.

• Matthew 28:1-9

A. In today’s message, we will examine Reasons for Jesus’ Resurrection.

• The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus comprise the core events of Christianity, which occurred according to New Testament scholars, the first week of April, in AD 30 or 33. (Apr.5,’33)
• Today we will focus on what the resurrection revealed or proved.
• Theme verse: Matthew 28:6 (NLT)- “… He is risen from the dead, just as He said…”

B. Jesus was raised from the dead to…

1. Prove my forgiveness. (Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:16-20; 1 Timothy 3:16)

• Romans 4:25 (NLT)—He was handed over to die [through crucifixion] because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God. [Paraphrase of LXX of Isaiah 53:12; words may have been an early Christian confession (statement of faith) or hymn.]
• God handed [His Son] over to die because of the sins we have committed. [Acts 4:27-28]
• For God to remain just, the sins of all who would ever be forgiven had to be punished fully, completely, perfectly.
• Offenses against an eternal being (God the Father) required the death of an eternal being (God the Son) as punishment.
• [R]aised to life to make us right with God means Jesus being restored to life proved our forgiveness was secured.
• Jesus’ crucifixion accomplished our forgiveness, but His resurrection proved that our forgiveness (our redemption) was accomplished—that His sacrifice was accepted!
• Christianity is unique as a world religion, because it has a living Savior!
• 1 Corinthians 15:17 (NLT)— And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.
• If Jesus had any sins of His own, He could not have died for ours, and would not have been raised from the dead.
• He would have died and remained buried as punishment for His own sins.
• Jesus was not merely a wise teacher, pointing the way; He was a sacrifice, providing the way to salvation through the sacrifice of Himself!
• If He hadn’t been raised, we would have wondered whether we had been forgiven, and spent our lives insecure and uncertain, striving for a salvation that we could never attain.
• Without His resurrection, we would be in doubt about the sufficiency of Jesus’ death.
• Jesus took our sin; we receive His righteousness by trusting in His sacrifice!
• When I rely on Jesus’ sacrifice for my forgiveness, I am fully pardoned, my sins are erased, expunged, forgotten, by God, so I can now enter fully into relationship with Him.
• APP.: Have you relied on Jesus’ sacrifice for you, so your sins are forgiven?

Jesus was raised from the dead to…

2. Provide power for new life. (Romans 6:4-8; Philippians 3:8-11; Colossians 2:12-13)

• Romans 6:4a (NLT)— For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. …
• This verse does not refer to water baptism; rather, it signifies being immersed into Christ by placing our faith in Him, so that we are united and identified with Him.
• When He died, we had become part of Him, so our old sinful selves died with Him. (Water baptism symbolizes this spiritual reality.)
• 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)— He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• Romans 6:4b (NLT)— And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. [lit., to walk in newness of life]
• We are also united with Him in His resurrection, so there is a new quality and character to our lives; we are different people because we have been born again, regenerated.
• Romans 6:5 (NLT)— Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was.
• We were raised with Jesus by the Spirit into a new life!
• It is impossible for us to live the way we did before we were raised anew! [That’s revival!]
• We were reborn into a relationship with God which makes us holy (justification) and beckons us to become holy as our intimacy with God grows (sanctification).
• Philippians 3:10 (NLT)— I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. … [Resurrection power increases as our intimacy intensifies.]
• We have the spiritual power to reject sinful desires, refuse harmful temptations, resist hurting others, refrain from selfishness, to stop making excuses, to start making changes!
• APP.: Are you experiencing the resurrection power that enables you to change?

Jesus was raised from the dead to…

3. Promise my resurrection. (John 5:26-29; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:21-23,42-44,53)

• 1 Corinthians 6:14 (NLT)— And God will raise us from the dead by His power, just as He raised our Lord from the dead.
• As God raised the body of Jesus from the tomb, so He will raise the bodies of His people from the grave through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• John 5:26,28–29 (NLT)— ²⁶ “The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted that same life-giving power to His Son. … ²⁸ Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, ²⁹ and they will rise again. Those who have done good [believing in the Son] will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil [rejected the Son] will rise to experience judgment.”
• We aren’t saved by our works, but they do provide the basis for divine judgment.
• God judges people based on their deeds, because they reveal the condition of their hearts.
• Works reveal the presence or absence of salvation, but do not produce it.
• They are evidence of salvation, not its cause.
• The souls of believers who have died are now in heaven with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8); the souls of unbelievers are in hades (Luke 16:22-23).
• Both will be called from the grave and given resurrected bodies appropriate for eternity, but for different ends.
• Paul wrote about the nature of the resurrected body for believers.
• 1 Corinthians 15:42–44 (NLT)— ⁴² It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. ⁴³ Our bodies are buried in brokenness [dishonor, shame, sin nature], but they will be raised in glory [dignity, honor, like God]. They are buried in weakness [frailty, sickness], but they will be raised in strength [miraculous power, might] . ⁴⁴ They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual [supernatural] bodies.
• 1 Corinthians 15:53 (NLT)— For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
• These glorified, immortal, heavenly, bodies will be different, better, than the ones we inhabit now on earth, but they will still be our bodies; we’ll retain our distinct identities. (Ex.: Elijah and Moses on Mount of Transfiguration; Matthew 17:1-9; Luke 9:28-36.)
• I don’t know what we’ll look like in heaven, but I do know that our appearance won’t matter to us because our attention will be focused on the One who showed His love for us by dying in our place, so we can live with Him in eternity.
• We can have hope of eternal life, believing we will pass from this life into God’s presence where we will remain until Jesus calls our bodies from the grave.
• John 11:25–26 (NLT) [Memory verse]— ²⁵ Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. ²⁶ Everyone who lives in Me and believes in me will never ever die. …”
• APP.: Do you believe?