Sermons
RESURRECTED WITH GLORY
Series: The Glory of ChristRESURRECTED WITH GLORY
Pt.11 - “The Glory Of Christ”
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / April 05, 2015
In his book, Questions I Would Like To Ask God, Ravi Zacharias tells the story of
someone who called in to radio talk host Larry King (famous for his one-on-one interviews) and asked,
“If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?”
Larry King’s answer was that 4 he would like to interview Jesus Christ.
The caller asked a follow-up question: “What would you like to ask him?”.
Larry King replied, “I would ask him if he was indeed virgin-born.
The answer to that question would define history for me.”
We Christians are sometimes (perhaps more often that we care to admit) guilty of a kind of half-hearted discipleship.
If we really, really believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, should not such a belief reshape the way we live.
If Jesus was truly born of a virgin, then He was truly God among us.
If Jesus was truly “God among” us then His life and teachings are worthy of our reception.
When received with a good and honest heart, the study of the life and teachings of Jesus
will revolutionize and transform us - - working to seriously re-shape our thoughts, our speech and our behavior.
?
The same can be said of the resurrection.
If Jesus did indeed resurrect from the grave, this great truth ought to truly reshape our thinking & living.
These two momentous events (the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Christ) are so very interwoven.
Sinclair Ferguson has a wonderful series on “The Upper Room”.
(We will back-pedal in our series on The Glory Of Christ with a lesson from the upper room and the cross).
Ferguson comments on a news report about how Christmas sales were to be interpreted.
Was it a good year for the retailers or was it not so good?
The economic analyst stated that4 “the impact of Christmas would not be known until Easter”.
? This numbers-crunching guru had no idea of the theological truth that he has spoken. ?
We can’t begin to fathom The Glory of Christ by just focusing on His birth.
His life, ministry and the cross event help us begin to see His glory.
However, by the time we get to Easter His Glory becomes keenly and unmistakably apparent.
As our calendars tells us4 “Today is Sunday”.
Our English word, “Sunday”, has a pagan origin.
It is not “SONday” but “SUNday”.
Andy Deikun was a beloved brother in Christ and long-time missionary to Russia.
His parents were born in Russia and Andy spoke fluent Russian.
(Andy died of a heart-attack a couple of years ago, raking leaves in his back yard).
If Andy was still with us he would tell us that the Russian word for Sunday is “Voskresene”.
“Voskresene” is literally translated, “the day of the resurrection”.
We will never fully comprehend ATONEMENT if we fail to connect the dots between
The birth of Christ (Christmas) … The cross of Christ (Good Friday) … and The resurrection of Christ (Easter).
The Virgin birth of Jesus, by itself, would be feckless (impotent) in bringing us redemption.
And while so much of our focus, from a salvation point of view, is on The Cross of Christ,
if Christ had not risen from the tomb, our preaching and our faith would be vain (1Cor.15:14).
These are not my words but rather the inspired conclusion of the apostle Paul.
If it were not for the empty grave our faith would be empty.
From a theological point of view (redemptively-speaking),
the resurrection of Christ is God’s seal of approval that the death of Jesus has done it’s work in atoning for our sins.
The Bible states, “the wages of sin is death…” (Rom.6:23).
The resurrection of Christ broke the bonds of death by once and for all dealing with the problem of man’s sinfulness.
We’re not talking here about physical death but spiritual death (or sin-death).
The resurrection of Christ is not just a P.S. to His crucifixion, it is an exclamation point!
We will never comprehend the glory of Christ, without grasping the importance of His resurrection.
? ? ? ?
On the road to Emmaus, Lk.24:26 Jesus tells Cleopas and his companion
“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer this things and to enter into His glory.”
Peter writes (1Pet.1:10-11)
“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful
search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them
was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
Peter adds in 1Pet.1:21, “(God) raised HIM from the dead and gave Him glory.”
In Ro.6:4 Paul speaks of how “Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father.”
_______________________
This morning we will revisit the story of the resurrection of Christ.
I want us to do this by just reading the text of John’s gospel (without commentary).
Last year we read extensively from Luke’s account.
John’s gospel tells of four post-resurrection appearances by Jesus.
One to Mary Magdalene – Jn.20:14-17
Plus three other appearances to group gatherings of disciples and apostles.
? Jn.20:19f / evening of the first day
? Jn.20:26f / eight days later with Thomas present
?Jn.21:1ff / to the apostles, fishing in the sea of Galilee
After this reading from the gospel of John I will make a few closing remarks and then we will bow in prayer.
} } } Jn.20:1-20 & 24-25; 20:26-29; 21:1-11 | | |
At the birth of Jesus we celebrate why Jesus came for us;
At the cross we celebrate what Jesus did for us.
At the empty tomb we celebrate all that He has for us.
Because He was raised from the dead, we, too, can begin life anew.
“Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.”
The cross causes us to look back and be thankful.
The empty tomb allows us to look ahead with assurance.
The cross fills us with gratitude; the empty tomb fills us with confidence.
The cross means that He died for us; the empty tomb means that He lives for us.
The cross means that the old has passed away; the empty tomb declares that all things have become new.
The cross is the triumph of mercy; the empty tomb is the triumph of righteousness.
The message of the manger is that God loved us so much that He would send His only-begotten Son;
The message of the cross is that Christ has redeemed us - - “it is finished!”.
The message of the empty tomb is that “He who believes in Him shall never die!”
(adapted and altered somewhat from an Essay written by Rubel Shelly / April, 2001, Woodmont Hills LoveLines)
Our Heavenly Father,
We praise You for Your grace & mercy and for Your holiness & righteousness.
We thank You for the gift of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior - - the first-begotten from the dead.
Because of Your great love, Christ has become our saving grace.
We pledge ourselves anew on this Easter Sunday to walk by faith, trusting daily in our resurrected Lord.
Grant us insight and wisdom so that we might see the glory of Christ.
Strengthen us and raise us up so that we might shine forth brightly as genuine followers of Christ.
To You be the “glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations.”
Through Christ, our risen Lord, we pray. Amen
