Easter Sunday: Celebrating the Victory of Resurrection: Luke 24:1-12, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 and 1 Corinthians 15:1–4

[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we're dedicated to encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ. Located in Ontario, Oregon, Pastor Patrick Daly preaches insightful sermons from the Word of God, offering practical applications for modern living.

[0:16] We're delighted to share this sermon with you. All right. Well, good morning everyone, and happy Easter to all of you.

[0:27] As we head to our seats, today is a great time for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[0:38] Amen? He is risen. Let's say it again. He is risen. One more time. He is risen.

[0:49] All right. Well, it's great to be here with you guys. My name is Patrick Daly, and I am the pastor here at Ontario Community Church. I'd like to welcome all of you.

[0:59] I hope that you've been warmly greeted. Man, the worship team was sounding absolutely amazing. Let's give them a round of applause for that. Oh, man. Oh, man.

[1:10] Well, we're going to go ahead and get started. We've been going on this sermon series titled, Sacred Journey from Death to Life. This has been a sermon series where we've gone over the story of Jesus Christ in the moments that lead up to Holy Week, from the temptation of Christ, right?

[1:31] Just like how we're going to be tempted to carrying our cross and knowing that we are not going to be alone in this life when we believe in the Lord. And this leads us to this Sunday, the resurrection Sunday.

[1:45] And not only has this been a time for us to focus on the sacred journey that Jesus Christ took to change the course of history for all of us, but also I pray that you will be on a spiritual journey to know the Lord and follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

[2:06] It is in believing in Christ where you are saved and you are placed on this sacred journey with Christ. And that leads us to today, where we are celebrating Easter Sunday, the time of celebration for the victory of the resurrection.

[2:21] It is Christ who conquered death and paid for our sins on the cross as the atoning sacrifice, the lamb that was slain, and the one who takes away the sins of the world.

[2:34] Can I get an amen? Amen. And so the title of our sermon today is Easter Sunday, celebrating the victory of resurrection.

[2:44] What a wonderful time for us to be together as the body of Christ to celebrate in this time, in this moment. And just like we did on Palm Sunday, we're focusing on the gospel account according to Luke.

[2:58] That'll be our verse that we'll be going over. It'll be Luke 24, but before we do any of that, what I'd like for us to do, let's turn to the Lord, let's open in a word of prayer, and let's ask God to be with us and to guide us as we go along and celebrate.

[3:14] Will you pray with me? Let's pray together. And Heavenly Father, as we gather on this resurrection Sunday, we gather in awe and in wonder and in appreciation of who you are.

[3:29] For you God, you fulfill your promises. We thank you God for sending your son, yes, sending your son to this earth, who lived, performed miracles, changed the course of history by his death, his burial and his resurrection.

[3:47] We live in this world that needs resurrection hope, and we ask that the light of your love and truth will shine in and through this community, that this love and truth will shine to our families and to the world.

[4:03] We ask, Father, that you open our hearts to live and to love like you. We ask, Father, that you open our minds to be changed about who you are, that we may repent, that we may believe in you, that we may become more like you.

[4:21] May we experience this love that comes from you, and may we fully grasp the meaning of this glorious Sunday. May we be filled with joy, with peace, with awe and with wonder as we celebrate this day together.

[4:37] May we be inspired to make decisions for you. We pray that lives will be transformed. We pray that there will be revival in this community, and that there will be transformation in our lives.

[4:50] And with those around us, our friends, our families and our neighbors, may we embrace this call to live, to love, and to witness to others about who you are.

[5:02] For yours, God, is the victory, now and forever. And we all say together, amen? Let us turn to our first reading in Scripture. I'm gonna put that on the screen.

[5:13] It's in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24. It's gonna be on page 1051 in our ESVP Bible. It's these little blue Bibles right here.

[5:24] So, 1,051, Luke chapter 24 verses one through 12. Will you read with me?

[5:45] Let's read together. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

[5:58] But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Well, they were perplexed about this. Behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

[6:09] And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen.

[6:20] Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee? That the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be what? Crucified and on the third day, what?

[6:33] Rise. And they remembered his words. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

[6:51] But these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them. But Peter, what did he do? He sit down? He rose and he what?

[7:02] He ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in and he saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened.

[7:13] What a powerful story from the Gospel of Luke. And in your notes here, you'll see there's kind of the outline, the breakdown of these 12 verses, right?

[7:23] Visiting the tomb with the spices. The stone is rolled away, right? The empty tomb. Then you have the two men, the angels, right? Which is fulfillment of prophecy. And then next slide, the women.

[7:35] They remembered his words and they returned to the 11. And then finally at the end here, you have Peter who ran to the tomb and marveled. So you have a basic breakdown on your notes of what exactly is going on here.

[7:50] So we'll start with the verse one, the visiting the tomb with spices, right? We start off in verse one where these people are visiting the tomb with spices that they had prepared.

[8:02] This had all occurred on the first day of the week as foretold by Christ in Luke 18. Preparing spices was part of the Jewish burial customs.

[8:13] And in your notes, you'll see that in the Gospel of John, something similar happened with Nicodemus who is bringing cloths and spices. This was something that was done not only in Luke, but also in the Gospel of John.

[8:30] So then we have verses two through three, which is the stone is rolled away, the empty tomb. Now when you think of a stone being rolled away, can you imagine the size of that stone?

[8:44] The amount of people it would take to roll a stone into place, the amount of strength that would take. I mean, how many here have picked up a very heavy stone, right?

[8:57] I'm sure we all have at one point before, right? But if you can imagine a huge stone being rolled, can one person do that? I mean, you gotta be really, really strong.

[9:09] I don't think you can do it if it's one person, but many people to do that. So it's speaking of how the stone is rolled away, there's the empty tomb. And the Gospel of Matthew actually expands on this by saying that the stone was moved away by the power of an angel in Matthew 28, verse two.

[9:27] When you think of a large stone, right? Again, the amount of people it would take to move a stone into place and out of place would just be a very difficult.

[9:37] As sealing the tomb, right? It's just, it's crazy, absolutely crazy, the amount of strength for that. So then you go into verses four through seven, right?

[9:48] Where you have the two men. This is typically viewed upon as angels, which is a fulfillment of prophecy, like what you see in Acts chapter one, verse 10. So it's talking verses four through seven.

[9:59] These two men commonly has been seen as angels. They appear on the scene. And I love the language that's using to support this. They're wearing a dazzling apparel, right? It's not like they're wearing glitter and sparkles, necessarily.

[10:12] No, they're wearing something that is bright, right? Something that is shining, so to speak. And you see that very similar in Acts chapter one, verse 10. The language that is being used is something that is shining or something that is flashing like lightning.

[10:29] And so the angels ask the question, why do you seek the living among the dead? A very interesting question that's being asked here. These angels are reminding them, those that came to the tomb, what had been done.

[10:45] It is a reminder to these people, these women as well, that, and it's a reminder for us that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of prophecy, and that he was delivered into the hands of sinful men, was crucified, died, and on the third day he rose again.

[11:02] Well, sometimes we need to be reminded of why Jesus came to earth. Sometimes we need to be reminded of why we're here. When we celebrate Easter, we're celebrating Christ's victory over death, the power over sin.

[11:19] That is why we celebrate. Because you see, as we should know in the Gospel of John, Jesus is the resurrection. Because Christ is being born as a man and dwelling among us.

[11:32] Some of you know that verse. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And it goes to show you that God has the power and the authority. Jesus foretold, as you will see in your notes, Christ keeps his promises, much like how God sees to it that prophecy is fulfilled and that God is not a liar.

[11:56] God tells the truth, just like how Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the what, the life. So this leads us to verses 8 through 11.

[12:08] The women remembered his words and returned to the 11. They returned to the 11 apostles. And it says here in the Gospel of Luke, what we've been reading, you have Mary Magdalene, you have Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James.

[12:24] Mary Magdalene is also referred to in your notes. You'll see in the Gospel of John, John chapter 20, verse 1. So they returned to the disciples and did the disciples believe them?

[12:37] Not really, right? They're kind of like, what are you talking about? So you have this scene, and it's very similar, much like the story of doubting Thomas, right?

[12:48] Where there's initial doubt. You have Jesus that's foretelling of his death, burial, and resurrection. And even in those moments, there's still doubt among those that followed Jesus.

[13:01] Can you imagine that? If you really think about seeing Christ perform miracles and doing all of this miraculous teaching and healing and yet still having doubt.

[13:12] And it kind of reminds me of us at times where sometimes we have doubt. But yet we should still believe. It's much like an echo or something that we should keep in mind, that the disciples who had followed Christ, there were still some that they did not believe at first.

[13:29] It's just like again for many of us. How many of us heard the Gospel message many times before we began to believe? Was it the first time?

[13:40] You don't have to raise your hand here, but I would be willing to bet that not for a lot of us it wasn't the first time. Maybe it was the 10th time or the 100th time, right? Hearing the Gospel story, hearing what Jesus has, that Christ loves us.

[13:54] And that he died for us and that he rose again on the third day. You can, I hope you don't think of how many times you were told this, but I'm sure you can think it wasn't, it was many times.

[14:07] Well, we hear it many times until we finally understand and get it. And this leads us to verse 12. Peter looks a little happy right here, right?

[14:17] Peter ran to the tomb and marveled, right? Leads us to, he runs to the tomb and marveled. This is Echoed, which you find in the Gospel of John, where there's the scene of Peter and the other disciple.

[14:31] And I've always found this very interesting that you have Peter that denied Christ three times, right? And yet he is the one that's running. He's the one that's running over to the tomb and saying like, oh man, I messed up before, right?

[14:45] You guys remember that story where Jesus says before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times or before the rooster crows the third time. You'll deny me three times. The amount of guilt that Peter must have felt, but not at this time.

[14:59] No, he's going to run on over and see what's going on here. He's going into the scene and this is what's very interesting, that the Gospel of Luke, it's all telling us about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[15:14] The fulfillment of prophecy. Is that not cause for us to celebrate in the risen Christ? It should be. And we thank God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, that He loves all of us and He sent His Son for us.

[15:30] Because I want to remind all of you, you are all made in the image of God and that God loves you. You were made with divine purpose and intentionality and God desires for you to have a relationship with Him, to believe in Him and to be saved.

[15:49] The power of the resurrection goes to show the power that God has. Because this is the Gospel message. That there is new life and there is salvation that exists in faith in Jesus Christ.

[16:03] Can I get an amen? And I'd like to go ahead and share with you another verse of what's going on. It's going to be on the screen here. Or it's not going to be on the screen here. Let's turn there.

[16:14] That's all right. It's going to be on page 1044. It's 1 Corinthians 15. 15. Am I in the wrong book?

[16:39] I am. Oh, you guys. I'm real sorry about that. Keeping you on your toes, aren't I? All right. I think there should be 1,142.

[16:53] That's really what I meant, you guys. Okay. So 1,143. Okay. So it's verses 55 through 57.

[17:10] Okay. All right. Are we there? I know there's a little confusion right there. All right. So what does it say here? Oh death, where is your victory?

[17:24] Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law.

[17:35] But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's some powerful words that kind of go with this Easter message.

[17:47] The message of the resurrection is abundantly clear that it is Jesus Christ rose from the dead, has conquered sin and death.

[17:59] What a wonderful thing about the gospel message is that it is simple. It is available for everyone who believes salvation is not just for some elitist group. It is not for people who have short hair.

[18:12] Not just for people who have short hair. Excuse me. It's for everyone. Right? Not just for the rich, not just for the poor. It's available for everyone. It is available for all those who place their trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

[18:28] To understand what this means to believe in the Lord, I have one more verse for you. It's going to be for 1 Corinthians. Hopefully the page number is right.

[18:39] 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 4, 1,142.

[18:58] So this is again 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 4. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved.

[19:12] If you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance, so this is the message, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

[19:34] That is speaking of the fulfillment of prophecy. This is the foundation of the Christian faith. It is understanding that Jesus Christ was sent here to earth to atone for our sins, that He died on the cross, that He was buried, and on the third day He rose again to fulfill the Scriptures.

[19:55] This is the beginning of Old Testament prophecy, looking at the fact that the Old Testament is pointing to Christ. That's something to think about.

[20:07] There is life that is after death. And I have to tell you that in times like this, there is hope that is for every single one of us here in this church.

[20:19] There is hope for your friends and for your family members. There is hope for your neighbor. I can tell you that in this world there is so much darkness, there is so much sin, there is so much crazy thing that is going on, but yet our hope is in the risen Christ.

[20:36] It is having confidence in Him. There is consistency that is found within the Word of God that points to Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ goes to show the love that God has for us, that God loves every single one of us, from the foundation of the earth that He knit us, that He made us.

[20:58] He desires for you, and here's the thing, all of you have a choice to make. God's not going to force you to love Him, but He's going to give you the opportunity to choose Him.

[21:11] So you need to make an active decision to believe in Him, His death, His burial, His resurrection, knowing that He came to earth, right?

[21:22] Who is Jesus to you? It goes to show the power that God has over death itself. The same God that created the heavens and the earth sent Jesus Christ to make a way for us.

[21:35] And the same God that created all of this sent His Son to atone for our sins, and He loves you. The grace that God has for us, grace is abundant and it is overflowing.

[21:52] Many of you know that our church is called Ontario Community Church. The word Ontario in Japanese, it means grace overflowing.

[22:05] And one of the things that encourages me as a pastor is the fact that when I hear the word Ontario, I think of the idea that grace is overflowing. It's an encouragement because we think of how God's grace should be, it is overflowing.

[22:22] That it is available for all of us. And it is my prayer and my hope that lives will be transformed. Lives will be changed. That people will come to know this amazing grace that God has for us.

[22:38] Grace overflowing. It's a fun fact that I learned that we have an old little history book that speaks of the church's history and what Ontario means.

[22:50] Grace overflowing. Be encouraged in knowing that today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Can you think of any other historical figure that has been resurrected from the dead?

[23:06] I know there's Lazarus, right? But I'm talking other historical figures. Abraham Lincoln. Was he raised from the dead? You think of Caesar Augustus.

[23:17] You think of your favorite athlete. Was he raised from the dead? You think of any politician that was raised from the dead. Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this, but...

[23:29] Can you think of anyone that was raised from the dead? I mean, that's the thing that is unique about Christianity is the fact that we believe in the risen Christ as opposed to if you don't know the Lord, you go to the grave.

[23:47] But in knowing the Lord, in knowing that you're saved, where do you go? You go into heaven. You only have to die once. And in not knowing the Lord, you unfortunately, there's two deaths, so to speak.

[24:02] Guys, think about that. I can't think of anyone who's been raised from the dead. I can't think of a politician. I can't think of a religious figure, except Christ.

[24:14] So when we look at Jesus up here, being raised from the dead and his arms being open for us to come to him. And this is the significance of Christianity.

[24:26] It's about what Christ has done for you. It's not about what we can do. This constant checklist, right? How many of us have a job?

[24:37] Hope we all do, right? Or you're going to school, right? There's the syllabus. It says what you have to do in order to get an A, right? There's your job description.

[24:49] It tells you what you have to do. If you don't do it, well, it's not good. It's not that way with Christianity and it's not that way with salvation. It's basically, it's as though you received a paper and it says done, paid in full, completely, taken care of.

[25:08] How many of you had a debt before? You couldn't pay it. I hate that feeling. Think all the credit card, right? I don't know, what's this interest thing, right?

[25:20] But knowing that it's paid in full, knowing that Jesus Christ did that for us is just wonderful. Because of what Christ has done for you, is this not time for us to celebrate?

[25:33] Is this not time for us to tell the world that Jesus is risen? That there is hope in Christ. Believe in the Lord and be saved.

[25:45] Then grow in faith in coming to understand what it means to be a Christian. Open your Bible and let the Word of God work in and through you. Let your mind and your heart be changed.

[25:58] And of course, in all of this, if you had a bill or your grade was just automatically marked as an A, right?

[26:09] We all love having an A, right? I mean, I hope all of us do. Or we like having a bill that's paid. If someone just wrote a check for your car or your student loan and it's completely paid for, wouldn't you want to tell people about it?

[26:27] Or would you just keep quiet and say, cool man, my car is paid off, I'm going home. No! I mean, come on, let's think about that. If you had a debt that was paid that you couldn't pay off, you would want to tell people about it.

[26:42] And so in knowing that Christ died for you and that he loves you and he wants you to believe in him and it's paid, your sins are paid for on the cross, and that Christ has power and victory over sin and over death itself, this should be encouragement for you to want to share with your friends, with your neighbor, with your family about the hope that exists in Jesus Christ.

[27:05] Many of you have heard me mention the idea of the empty chair before. And I want you to see the empty pew next to you. And I want you to think of someone who could be sitting next to you, someone who needs to hear the message of hope, someone who needs to hear the gospel message.

[27:22] Because lives can be saved through the power of the gospel, amen? I'm telling you, being a Christian, knowing the Lord, knowing that you're safe and you're secure, no one can snatch you from the hand of God.

[27:44] That gives me confidence to live this life. And knowing the Lord, your life will never be the same. The Bible is full of people who are transformed by hearing the story of the resurrection.

[27:58] People like Peter, how he ran to the tomb and he marveled. James, doubting Thomas, the apostle Paul. Right? Think about it.

[28:10] And that's just in Scripture, because there are other stories of everyday people. Because here's the thing, God uses everyday people for extraordinary things.

[28:25] Many lives have been transformed by the message of the gospel. Jesus is risen and transformation will happen to you when you believe in him. The resurrection is a call for believing in the Lord and allowing God to transform your life.

[28:40] I'm here to tell you, my friends, I am not the man that I was 10 years ago. I'm not the man that I was 5 years ago. I'm not even the same man that I was a year ago. Because that goes to show you how God transforms your life, your mind, what you think of, your hearts, your ability to love, and your ability to act.

[29:00] There was a time when I didn't care about who was on the street. There was a time when I honestly would just pass someone by. But God's worked on my heart.

[29:11] It's not just me, but other people. God will work in your life. Let this be a call to believe in the Lord. Let this be an invitation for you to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[29:26] When you believe in the Lord, there's also a call for you. In believing in the Lord, you're saved. But let this also be a call to be baptized.

[29:37] Maybe you've believed in the Lord. It's a very internal and personal decision. But baptism, that's making a public proclamation for an internal decision.

[29:48] Does that make sense? It's a very personal thing to believe in the Lord. But when you want to share it with your friends and your family, that is when you get baptized.

[29:59] You invite your friends and your families and say, look, I believe in the risen Christ. Maybe this is a call for you to be baptized. Maybe this is a call for you to believe in the Lord. Maybe this is a call for you to open the Word of God.

[30:13] Maybe it's been a while. Sometimes we have dry seasons. Sometimes we do. But let this be a call for you to be transformed from the Lord.

[30:25] There is power in the resurrection. Yes, there is power in the resurrection. Amen. Knowing that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead goes to show the power of God.

[30:40] You are loved and you are welcomed here. And in your notes, the resurrection is the love, power, and grace of God manifested to us. And there's many verses if you want to check that out sometime.

[30:55] Jesus is risen. We say that together. Jesus is risen. Let's say that one more time. Jesus is risen. Alright, let's pray together.

[31:07] And Heavenly Father, we thank you for the mighty work that you have done in sending your son, Jesus the Christ. As we close this sermon together and we go into our final song, we ask that we can hold the truth of the resurrection in our minds and in our hearts.

[31:27] May our minds be changed to believe in you and upon belief. May we be encouraged to be baptized if we haven't before. May we grow in faith through your Word and may we be in Christian community.

[31:42] And of course, may we be moved to do good in the name of Jesus Christ. We are grateful God for you keeping your promises for victory over sin and for that empty tomb.

[31:56] Showing us that Jesus Christ is risen today. Hallelujah. We thank you for rolling away the stone, much like how you forgive us of our sins.

[32:10] Let us remember from today that the empty tomb is a fulfillment of your promises, your power, and your purpose. And Lord, we ask that we may sing this last song.

[32:23] For today is a happy day. It is a glorious day. May we lift up that shout of praise. May we sing to the Lord. You God are powerful because you made the heavens and the earth and you made us.

[32:39] You have victory over Ted. And may we be encouraged to share in the good news of the gospel, to be the hands and the feet in serving others.

[32:53] May we not be afraid of the gospel and may we invite others to believe in the Lord to be saved and to grow in faith in the risen Christ. It is in Jesus' mighty name that we pray. Amen.

[33:06] Amen. Thank you for tuning in to the Ontario Community Church sermon podcast. For more about our church and how you can get involved or support our mission, please visit ontariocommunitychurch.org.

[33:19] May God's blessings be with you.