He is risen! Our king has risen. The grave could not hold him. As Christians, this is what’s it all about. We celebrate our Lord’s victory over sin and death. More than any other day, we are reminded of God’s power to bring life from death.

The resurrection of Christ gives us hope for the future, hope beyond the grave. Because when Jesus walked out of the grave he proclaimed that death does not have the final say.

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 15 that if Christ had not been raised, our faith is all for nothing. We can have confidence in his resurrection. That chapter in 1 Cor also tells us that after he rose he appeared to 500 followers. There’s no doubt he walked out of that tomb that fateful Sunday morning.

The Resurrection changes everything. Because he overcame death, the world, our lives are changed forever. We have hope in the promises of God. The resurrection confirms this wonderful gospel message. If Jesus died and never rose, then the sting of death has the final say. But, praise God, it’s not so!

We cling to the truth of Resurrection because through this miracle God gives everlasting hope that overcomes anything this life can bring and gives us true and everlasting hope.

Why must we cling to the truth of the resurrection today?

Acts 2:22-41 is a magnificent passage that shows the Apostle Peter standing in front of a large group of people proclaiming the truth about Jesus. 

So, Peter, a man who once denied Christ, stands boldly before the crowd and proclaims what happened to Jesus, that he is the Son of God who changed the world forever. Imagine the scene. God empowers this man, who had once cowered in the face of opposition, to preach the first Christian sermon, and perhaps the most powerful sermon in 2000 years.

After setting the stage, Peter addresses the people directly, he wants them to listen closely as he proclaims the truth about Jesus’s nature, which is very important. Peter first points to the life of Jesus. He was a man, not merely an angel sent by God, or a spirit, but a person through and through. The phrase “Jesus of Nazareth” shows us the great humility of Christ. Nazareth was a nowhere town in a nowhere place called Galilee, and everybody knew it.  Jesus left the glory of heaven to live in a humble village.

In this passage, Peter also helps us clarify something very important about the death of Christ and plan of God: 

• God’s perfect plan is greater than the wickedness of sin.

We must hold together both the truth that God's is in complete control and that humans are responsible for sin. Why is this so important? Let me tell you. 

First, if Jesus’s death was just a human tragedy, done by wicked people, then Jesus was nothing more than a victim of a crime. This would mean that God is not in control of what happened, but rather Jesus just fell prey to bad people.

So, we have to understand that Jesus’s death was part of God’s perfect plan. Now, we must understand that God is perfect and holy is never the author of evil. He allows evil to happen.

So, God chose this outcome. He chose it from eternity past. However, this doesn’t mean that the evil men weren’t responsible for their actions. If this were the case, it would mean that God turns a blind eye to evil, which he can never do. Peter says it clearly: “lawless people nailed him to the cross and killed him.” So then, God used evil men to accomplish his purpose, yet he never violated their will or took away their responsibility for their actions.

How God works brings us hope. Nothing on this earth, no human sin, no evil act, no sickness, nothing that happens on this earth can change God’s perfect plan. If the gruesome death of His own son, all that he suffered on Good Friday—if all those heinous acts are a part of God’s perfect plan; because He is in control through all that, then you bet we can trust that He has everything—every detail, every high and low in our life is under his complete control.

Acts 2:25-32 also shows us that we can cling to the resurrection because we can trust that:

• God did not abandon us, but instead He rescues us from disaster.

As the Son of God, the everlasting presence of God defines their relationship. Jesus followed God no matter what trial or temptation came His way. As the Son of God at God’s right hand, he will not be shaken.

"The right hand symbolizes protection. In a wedding ceremony, the groom stands on the right side of the bride. In the ancient world, a bodyguard stood on the right side of the one he is protecting. In that position, he could cover him with his shield and still have an arm free to fight off an enemy."   -John MacArthur

Even in the midst of pain, even though the Father could not look on his Son as he took our sin on himself, we know that wasn’t the end of the story. Yet he still experienced death to the fullest. 

This is very important to remember, and maybe easy to forget sometimes. When Jesus died, he wasn’t immediately raised to new life. He experienced death to the fullest degree. He walked through the valley of the shadow of death. He was truly in the grave, prepared for burial in all the normal ways you would prepare a dead person, and placed in a tomb like any dead person would be.

We need to remember and reflect on this truth as well. From the outside perspective, even among his disciples and closest followers, they were dejected and devastated, they had lost hope. Satan thought he had won. When all hope seemed lost; when all conventional wisdom would say otherwise… that’s when Jesus arose. Remember the old saying: “It’s always the darkest just before dawn.”

Maybe this is the truth you need to hear for your life today. We can trust our Savior because he’s been through the darkest times, even death. He can identify with any and every struggle we face, and even with those we love who have seen death; who are in grave right now awaiting resurrection when He returns. Jesus has been there as well. –Trust in our Savior who has experienced death to its fullest. He knows our pain; he knows our struggle and our loss. Don’t forget that!

If God can raise Jesus after he was dead, buried, and embalmed- then we must believe that he can rescue us. No one is too far away that God can’t save them. No matter what struggle or trial you find yourself in these days, no one is a lost cause with our God. He brings live from utter death. Hope when all seems hopeless.

As the passage continues, Acts 2:33-36 shows us: 

• God provides amazing hope as Jesus rules the world as King of Kings.

Because Jesus now overcame death and now sits on the throne, we have an amazing future as His children. We realize that: The best is yet to come.

The best things in this life can’t top it and the worst things in this life won’t change it--- For those of us in Christ, we have an everlasting and eternal hope because Jesus reigns! Romans 6 tells us that because Jesus was raised from death to life, we too are alive in Christ, will be raised to newness of life as we will also be resurrected with a new body, just as Christ was. We will be raised with him and seated with him for all eternity.

Our future hope gives us a secure hope for today. The hope of the resurrection overcomes the suffering and struggles we are going through right now. Paul says in 1 Cor 15 that the promise and sure hope of the resurrection swallows up the suffering and evil we go through on earth.

The pain of sin and sorrow because of death, will make the resurrection that much sweeter. This is Jesus, the king of kings, the Lord of Lord—he conquered and death forever and provides eternal and everlasting hope.

How must you respond to what God has done?

Peter shows us in the following verses. Look at verse 37:

³⁷ When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what should we do?”

I love the wording here: “and when they heard this they were pierced to the heart.” Other translations say “distressed, convicted, pricked in their heart.” The idea is that you feel something pressing on you.

The ancient Greeks used this word for horses stomping the earth with their hooves. It means you feel the weight, the seriousness, and the power of what you are hearing. For those of you who are followers of Jesus, you know what he is talking about. It is the realization: “It’s true!”

Then they asked Peter, “What shall we do? It leads to a response. What happens next? God calls each of us to: 

• Realize your brokenness which should lead you to repent.

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 When the Holy Spirit pricks our heart, when he opens our eyes to the beauty and wonder of Christ, and what he did for us, the right response, the first response is repentance. Like those gathered hearing Peter preach, we have to accept the fact that it was our sin that held him there on the cross! ---that’s the first step.

You know, sometimes the truth hurts. I imagine Peter standing before all these people and telling them, you killed Jesus. But without that bad news, there is no good news! Peter didn’t say those harsh words so that they would be condemned, but so that they would realize their sin and their utter need for a Savior. Just like those in the crowd, we are sinners in need of a Savior.

This means, we must turn from a mindset that says: “I have it all under control.” “I rule my life.” To repent means you flip that mindset on its head: “God must rule, and I must follow His lead.”

So then, we must:

• Receive God’s precious gift as you respond to His call.

³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” ⁴⁰ With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

We are called to respond to his prompting in our lives. 

Finally, look at verse 41 and see what God did that day in Jerusalem!

⁴¹ So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

Never underestimate what God can do through His spoken Word. He uses imperfect people to proclaim his message and look at the results. Let’s not assume that God can’t still work in powerful ways like this. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for a long time, and you wonder if God still works in these powerful ways. Friends, this is the same God we serve. The same Holy Spirit leads us that led his apostles. It’s the same gospel message spoken to people who still need to hear it just as much.

• Long for revival that only God can bring.

During this challenging time, people are out there asking life’s most important questions. Let’s pray that God uses this hardship in our nation and world to bring a revival in our nation and world, for God to move in spectacular ways to bring many to know him and follow Him--- to have everlasting hope that only he can give.

As I think about this pandemic, this massive disruption to our life, our economy, our world as we know it, I pray God uses it to bring a revival of hearts and lives in our community, our nation, and our world.

As believers, this is how we must pray, with hope and confidence in God’s power to save. We serve a mighty God is still in the business of transforming lives, of bringing life from the midst of death.

Let’s pray that we would look for ways to participate in his mission to save lost and broken people to know the resurrected Savior.

He is Risen, indeed!

Pastor Sam