I love Easter! I love everything about it. I love the biblical side of Easter, and I love the modern celebratory aspects of Easter. I love watching kids find eggs, I love Peeps, and I love Cadbury eggs. I love the bright colors, I love the dressing up, and I love the pictures! Easter is great!
All of those things I just named are good and fun. However, those things are not the reason that Easter is great.
Today, I want to take a few minutes to talk about why Easter is great. The sermon title is “What’s so great about Easter?”
Join me in prayer as we continue this time together.
(prayer)
I hope you think Easter is great as well.
This morning, let’s look at four reasons that Easter is great, because it certainly is.
First, Easter is great because . . .
I. Easter reminds us that Jesus really came.
Easter reminds us that there was a real man named Jesus of Nazareth who came to the earth and really lived a human life.
The apostles believed this reality to be true, and they and others wrote about it so that the world might know about it as well.
Listen to what Luke said in Luke 1:1-4:
1 Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. 3 So it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence . . . 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.
Folks, the Scriptures record what happened with Jesus so that we know with certainty that Jesus really came.
Additionally, both Matthew and Luke provide genealogies to demonstrate the bloodline that led to the birth of Jesus.
He really was a human. He really was a Jewish man. He really lived in Israel. He really was from the line of King David. He really fulfilled the prophecies concerning His coming.
Historians, who are not even Christians, generally agree that a real man named Jesus came, lived, and died on the cross.
However, we not only believe that Jesus came; we believe that He came as the Son of God.
John the Baptizer said of Jesus in John 1:29, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
The Apostle Peter said of Jesus in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said of Himself in John 8:58, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” Abraham was ancient, and he lived on the earth way before Jesus. Yet, Jesus essentially said, “Before Abraham was, I was; I AM.” Of course, “I AM” being the name for God in the Old Testament.
Easter reminds us that Jesus is real, and He really came to the earth as the Son of God. Easter is great!
Second, Easter is great because . . .
II. Easter reminds us that Jesus really conquered death.
Easter celebrates the fact that Jesus rose from the dead in a glorious resurrection.
The entire Christian faith is based on the reality that Jesus rose to new life; he conquered death!
Folks, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we should all be doing something else right now. But we believe Jesus really conquered death by rising from the dead.
Luke 24:1-12 tells us about the resurrection of Jesus:
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. 5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.
“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. 6 “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” 8 And they remembered his words.
9 Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. 11 But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went away, amazed at what had happened.
All along, Jesus knew He would die, and all along, Jesus knew that He would live again. He really did die, and He really did rise again.
Easter is great because it reminds us that Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus knew about His coming resurrection, and He spoke about it before He was ever even crucified. He said in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.”
We hear Jesus say of Himself in Revelation 1:17-18, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
Church, Jesus holds the keys, meaning He holds power over death and the grave. Why? Because He conquered death by rising to new life!
The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus in 2 Timothy 1:10 as “ . . . our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Folks, Jesus put death to death through His resurrection, and Easter reminds us of that reality.
Third, . . .
III. Easter reminds us that Jesus really can save us.
The death and resurrection of Jesus is amazing, but how does that change our lives? How is that great for us?
Well, I’m glad you asked?
John 3:16 famously says, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
The act of Jesus coming to earth, dying on the cross, and rising from the dead can save us from our sins! Jesus took the punishment that we earned, and we can receive the righteousness and new life that He earned.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:4 “. . . just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.”
The act of Jesus rising to new life makes it possible for us also to have new spiritual life on this earth, and one day new physical life for all eternity.
The Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”
Everyone here needs to hear this truth this morning: Jesus really can save you. He is the Son of God, who came to earth, who gave His life, and who rose from the dead, so that you could be saved from the curse of sin and death.
Easter reminds us that Jesus really can save us.
Finally, Easter is great because . . .
IV. Easter reminds us that Jesus is coming again.
We know that Jesus died on the cross, we know that He was buried in the tomb, and we know that He rose to new physical life. Then, the Bible tells us what happened after that.
Listen to Acts 1:8-11, Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
Jesus miraculously went up to heaven, and He is miraculously returning one day.
When Jesus returns, He will not come as a suffering servant (as He did the first time). Rather, He will come as a conquering king, claiming victory of sin, victory over death, and victory for all those who trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sins and new life.
Paul describes this moment for us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
When Jesus returns, God will make all things right, He will make all things good, and He will make all things new.
Revelation 21:3-5 describes this for us, “Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.”
Folks, we need to be made new. We need the newness of Jesus in our lives.
Easter is great because it reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus our King, who is one day returning to make all things new.
Bottom Line: Easter is great because it reminds us that Jesus is great.
Listen, there are a lot of good things about Easter. Easter lunch is one of them, and I’m going to enjoy some good lunch with family here soon. I love celebrating. I enjoy eating the ears off of chocolate bunnies. But, listen, none of that is why Easter is great.
Easter is great because Jesus is great! He really came, He really conquered death, He really can save us, and He really is coming again.
Challenge yourself this week with this one weekly challenge.
Weekly Challenge #1 – Enjoy Easter by enjoying Jesus.
Thank Him through prayer. Search for Him in the Scriptures. Sing of Him and to Him in worship. Find Him through forgiveness.
Enjoy Jesus.
Listen to what John describes concerning the worship that Jesus, the Lamb of God, is due. Listen to Revelation 5:11-13:
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing! I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’”
Worthy is Jesus, the Lamb of God!
This week, challenge yourself to enjoy Jesus!
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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