Easter Sunday For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever and Ever. Amen
Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In today’s Epistle, your Father in heaven wants you to know that Christ’s eternal victory over death and sin is now yours. Why is it yours? Because “God… gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Translated a little more tightly: “God IS GIVING us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Dear Christian friends, Many years ago, while I was still living in New York State (NOT New York City) I knew a man who had an artesian well on his land. An artesian well is not a freshwater spring. An artesian well is a well that you bore into the ground, only to discover that the natural water pressure underground pushes the water up to the surface without the help of a pump. Once you punch it into the ground, an artesian well starts to flow with water that keeps on flowing. My friend in New York State was absolutely tickled to know that he owned an artesian well. Not only did he have a constant, effortless supply of fresh water for his family, but my friend also had something to brag about—and he did. Everyone got to hear the good news of my friend’s artesian well, and everyone got to see my friend grin and chuckle with delight as he told about it. Today is Easter Sunday. Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) When God your Father talks to you about Christ’s resurrection in today’s Epistle, He describes Christ’s resurrection as if Christ’s resurrection were an artesian well—not a well flowing with water for your house, but Christ’s resurrection is an artesian well of forgiveness of sins and victory over death flowing continually and eternally for you. “Thanks be to God, who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” • God does NOT say here today that He HAS GIVEN you the victory, as if your victory over sin and death is merely a past event. Make no mistake about it: your victory over sin and death is indeed a past event. Your victory over sin and death is roughly two thousand years older than you, having been fully accomplished for you by the death of your Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. Thanks be to God, Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) When Christ arose, already fulfilled for you was the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? • Again, God does NOT say to you in today’s Epistle that He HAS GIVEN you the victory, as if your victory over sin and death is merely the past event of your Baptism. Make no mistake about it: your personal victory over sin and death most certainly came to you and wrapped itself around you on the day you were baptized. God means it when He says to you in Romans chapter 6 that you were baptized into Christ’s death so that you may likewise be joined by Baptism to Christ’s resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). Simply stated, your Baptism is God’s personal message, individually delivered to you, that Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) When you were baptized, personally fulfilled for you was the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? • “Thanks be to God, who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” With these Words, God is NOT telling you that He WILL GIVE you the victory, as if you victory over sin and death is something that merely waits for you in the future. Most assuredly and without any doubt, your victory over sin and death indeed waits for you in the future, when Christ shall return in great glory and raise you and all the dead. God has made Himself abundantly clear in today’s Epistle: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Simply stated, we could think of our Lord’s return on the last day as a final Easter service, in which we shall rejoice, once and for all, Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) Mark it well, Christians! God does NOT say to you in today’s Epistle that He HAS GIVEN you the victory or that He WILL GIVE you the victory, as true as both of those expressions are. But what does your Father say to you today? He says, “Thanks be to God, who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” With these Words, God your Father wants you to think of your victory over sin and death, not merely as your past or your future, but also as your present. God wants you to know that the gift and benefit of Christ’s resurrection serves you moment-to-moment, day-in-and-day-out, for the full scope of your life! There is never a time when God is NOT giving you the victory of Christ over sin and death, devil and grave. Like an artesian well that continually flows with water up from the ground, the resurrection of your Lord Jesus Christ continually flows with gifts and benefits for you. • First the hole was punched into the ground. This happened when “Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1). Why had the stone been taken away? Because Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) • Then the water began to well up and flow with life-giving abundance for you. This first happened when you were baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), in accordance with our Lord’s promise and desire. • Once the artesian water of Christ’s resurrection began to flow, it continues to flow unabated and uninterrupted for you. That is why God so carefully says to you today that He IS GIVING you Christ’s victory, past and present and future, uninterrupted and without end. This is the preaching of the Word; this is the absolution that is spoken to you; this is the Holy Communion and the on-going, present reality benefit of your Baptism. In these things, God is giving you “the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” • Man, did my friend in New York used to brag and chuckle about his artesian well. “I always have water,” he would say. “I’ll never run out,” he would say. “I’m set for life,” he would say. How much more can you and I chuckle and boast about the resurrection of our Lord? o You always have the resurrection of your Christ, now and forever! o You will never run out of all the artesian goodness that flows continually into your life, because of Christ’s resurrection! o You are set for life because Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Happy Easter, Christians! Chuckle and brag and speak “Thanks… to God, who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
