Before I begin today, I want to let you know that I am doing something that I have never done before in preaching. As I was thinking and praying about this sermon today, the Lord laid it on my heart to simply give you His Word about His Son–to give you what the Bible says about Jesus. So, the words that follow are not my own. I did take a little bit of liberty in changing a few words to make clarification, but these words come from St. Paul and St. Peter those who first brought the news of Jesus to the world. I don’t know how well this will go over, but the Spirit has led me to do this so I ask for your grace and your understanding. One thing that I can assure you that this sermon will not be long, and that is no April Fools. So, let me begin.
I come before you today, my brothers and sisters, not to proclaim the mysteries of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I come to you today deciding to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I come to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation are not given with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
And so, I ask you to listen to what I say:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man who the Bible reveals to us as full of power and might; who God did many signs and wonders through while he walked the earth–as you yourselves know–this man was handed over to humankind according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, and we crucified and killed him. But God raised him up having freed him from death because it was impossible for Jesus to be held in death’s power.
Long ago, the Old Testament King David wrote about this in Psalm 16. David wrote these words, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover, my flesh will live in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”
Now, there were those who argued that David was writing this about himself, but we know that this cannot be the case. We know that David died and was buried and this his tomb exists to this day. His body experienced the corruption of death. Therefore, since David was a prophet, God gave him visions of the future. In Psalm 16, David was seeing the future Messiah who would not be abandoned to Hades and whose flesh would not experience corruption. David was speaking about the Messiah!!
And that is exactly who Jesus was!! Jesus was the Messiah who was resurrected and whose body did not experience corruption. The earliest apostles were witnesses to this, and they have passed down that witness throughout the generations to us today. And they have told us that Jesus was exalted at the right hand of God, and has received the from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has poured that Holy Spirit out so that we may both see and hear God’s Word today–we may come to believe God’s promises today.
Therefore let the entire world know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom we crucified...(Acts 2:22-36)
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death–even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)
And now, I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I am proclaiming to you and that you in turn are receiving, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I am proclaiming to you–unless you have come to believe in vain. For I am handing on to you as of first importance what I in turn have received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Throughout the centuries, he has appeared and called men and women to proclaim the good news of his death and resurrection. And, as to someone untimely born, he also called me. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:1-10) His grace toward all of us has not been in vain.
17For since we are in Christ, we are a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are those who now promote the good news for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
We are those who tell the good news for Christ. We are those who proclaim that Christ has died to make us right with God. We are those who proclaim that Christ is risen from the dead. We are those who proclaim that those who trust in Jesus work and not their own will be saved. This is our message to the world today and everyday. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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