Introduction

We have two key passages this morning… the first is John 14:19 in which Jesus Prophecies his own death and resurrection… but in this prophecy, notice the promise at the end…

John 14:19 ESV  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 

Luke 24:1-7 ESV  But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.  (2)  And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  (3)  but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  (4)  While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.  (5)  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?  (6)  He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,  (7)  that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

• Today is Resurrection Sunday! The day we celebrate the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
  • HE IS RISEN!
• Because the truth is, we don’t serve a God on a cross… they took Him down from that cross… they wrapped Him in burial cloths, and they put Him in a tomb…
  • But he didn’t stay in that tomb!
    • HE IS RISEN!
• But today’s sermon isn’t for Jesus, because He has already gotten out of the tomb… today’s sermon is for you!

• Get up out of that Tomb church! Let’s pray, then I will tell you what I am talking about.

• To understand what I mean by “Get up out of that tomb” you need to understand this first point… The Resurrection is For You.

Point One – The Resurrection is For You

1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,  (5)  who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Romans 6:3-11 ESV  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  (4)  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  (6)  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  (7)  For one who has died has been set free from sin.  (8)  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  (9)  We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  (10)  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.  (11)  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

John 14:19 ESV  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 

• Listen saints: WE LIVE BECAUSE HE LIVES!
  • Because He walked out of the tomb, we can walk out of the Tomb.
  • Because He conquered death, we too conquer death.
  • Because He defeated sin, we can defeat sin in our lives, through His resurrection we can do all of this and more!
  • BECAUSE HE LIVES WE LIVE!
• Yes, the resurrection was for Him… He rose, and is now alive, and now sits at the right hand of the father…
  • But he was the first to be resurrected, not the last…

1 Corinthians 15:20-22 ESV  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  (21)  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  (22)  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

• Because of Christs resurrection we too can live! We can die to ourselves and be resurrected into a newness of life in Christ Jesus…
  • What does that mean for us? It means Life and Life more abundantly!

John 10:10 ESV  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

• Listen the Bible is chalk full of promises for believers in Christ…
  • Here are just a few promises that come through YOUR resurrection in Christ Jesus…
  • God Promises us:
    • our salvation, and with that comes eternal life and adoption into His family.
    • He promises us His help and guidance,
    • wisdom,
    • peace, joy, and love,
    • he promises us riches in heaven and provision on Earth
    • He says He will give us strength and power,
    • And that He will deliver us…
      • Deliver us from enemies, from danger, and even from temptation,
    • He says that he will Heal us and that He will renew us.
• Saints, here me, the Resurrection is not just for Christ…
  • The Resurrection is for you!
  • You should be living in all of these things, and more!
• Yet knowing all of this, I can still hear the protest of some saints… “But pastor… why… I have given my life to Christ… and I have felt some of these things before… but if I am honest… I don’t see many of these promises in my life… why?”
  • And I believe you when you say that, saint… because you are here…
    • You are here because you KNOW God is real… you have experienced some if this before… but it just seems so foreign in your life right now…
    • What do you need to do to be walking in these promises again?
    • YOU NEED TO GET UP OUT OF THAT TOMB

Point Two – You Have to Leave the Tomb

• That’s my second point this morning, you have to leave the tomb!

1 John 1:7 ESV  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

• WALK IN THE LIGHT AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT.
  • YOU CAN’T BE WALKING IN THE LIGHT IF YOU ARE LAYING IN THE TOMB.
    • Let me say that again church…
  • YOU CAN’T BE WALKING IN THE LIGHT IF YOU ARE LAYING THE TOMB.
    • The tomb is dark and the bed is hard…
    • If you are still laying in the tomb, then no wonder you are not living a life full of the riches of God.
• What do I mean by that?
  • I mean this saints…
    • Some of y’all’s only problem is that you just need to get up and start walking.
    • You just need to get out of your head and really, truly start living in victory.
  • You need to make a conscience decision… “Today I am going to reign with Christ! I am going to walk with Him and I am going to break out of this dark, confusing, depressing tomb that I have chosen to live in for so long… and I am going to CHOOSE victory!

2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV  But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

• Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.
  • That imagery provokes thoughts of parades, festivals marching through town…
  • Joy, celebration, and victory!
    • Even when Paul wrote this, he was talking about how he was sad that he couldn’t find his friend…

2 Corinthians 2:12-14 ESV  When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,  (13)  my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.  (14)  But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

• In other words Paul is saying
  • “Things didn’t go the way I expected… my plans got all messed up… my spirit was not at rest… BUT! Thanks be to God because He always leads us in triumphal procession! We can march forth in victory because of Christ even when everything else seems to fail!”
• I understand, saints, that for some of you life is not the way you planned it to be…
  • Maybe you lost a loved one…
  • Maybe a divorce threw things into a tailspin…
  • Maybe your job situation isn’t where you want it to be…
  • Maybe the consequences of past sin keeps trying to drag you down…
• SO BE IT! None of that means that you can’t chose to march in TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION with Christ.
  • If this is you, if you feel like you just don’t have that joy, that victory, that life in Christ you know you are promised, and maybe even experienced before… here is what you do…
  • GET UP OUT OF THAT TOMB! TODAY! RIGHT NOW!
    • CRY OUT TO GOD! God I am sorry for letting my Circumstance define my victory!
      • YOU LORD DEFINED THE VICTORY WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF THE TOMB.
      • HELP ME TO GET OUT OF MY OWN TOMB.
      • HELP ME TO CHOOSE TO WALK WITH YOU IN THE LIGHT.
      • TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE DEFINED BY YOU!
      • I AM GOING TO START WALKING IN MY CALLING!
      • I AM GOING TO STOP LOOKING TOWARDS THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD FOR COMFORT!
      • I WANT ALL OF YOU AND NONE OF THIS WORLD!
  • You want victory? Wake up in the morning, open your Bible and tell yourself “I am going to live out whatever I read”
    • Then pray and talk to God about your upcoming day
    • Then do what God tells you to do.
  • Then do it all over again when you wake up the next day, and the next.
  • And when you feel down, pray, and seek the Lord, and read, and build yourself up by praying in the Spirit.
  • And when that get’s hard… call your discipler, and ask for help.
  • And if no one is discipling you, talk to Pastor Mike or Pastor Tina and get a discipler…
  • Because they will help pull you out of bed when you want to stay in the tomb!
• BUT WHATEVER YOU DO SAINTS, YOU JUST HAVE TO GET UP AND START WALKING.
• BUT YOU WALK HAS TO BE WITH GOD, IF HE IS NOT THERE, IT IS ALL FOR NOT… That brings me to my final point this morning… God wants to manifest in your life.

Point Three – God Wants to Manifest in Your Life

John 14:15-21 ESV  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  (16)  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  (17)  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  (18)  “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  (19)  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  (20)  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  (21)  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

• God WANT’S TO MANIFEST IN YOUR LIFE, SAINTS… But there is something we need to be doing to see that happen… let me read verse 15 and verse 21 back to back and you will probably see what I am getting at…

John 14:15 ESV  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:21 ESV  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

• Remember those promises I read earlier… let me read them again…
  • God Promises us:
    • our salvation, and with that comes eternal life and adoption into His family.
    • help and guidance,
    • wisdom,
    • peace, joy, and love,
    • riches in heaven and provision on Earth
    • strength and power, healing and renewal
    • And deliverance
      • Deliverance from enemies, from danger, and even from temptation,
• These promises are awesome! But they are not free… they are bought with a price…
  • That price was the Blood of Jesus.
• And Praise God, we don’t get up on that cross to receive these blessings and promises…
  • BUT, they are not for everyone… they are for those who love God.
  • And Jesus said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”.
• Listen, church, some people say that the biggest barrier between us and blessings is our faith…
  • They say if we only had enough faith, then God would bless us…
• But I think it is much more biblically appropriate to say that the biggest barrier between blessings and us is our obedience…
  • If we only obeyed more, we would be blessed more.
• People ask me “How do I get blessings like you have… a good marriage, a nice home, great kids… joy, peace, strength… How do I get that?”
  • The answer is simple… Get saved, that means dieing to yourself and getting born again”.
  • Then once you are born again, get up out of that tomb… start walking in the light with Christ.
  • And finally, OBEY GOD.
    • He knows what He is talking about.
      • Don’t lie…
      • Don’t lust…
      • Don’t sleep with someone you are not married to.
      • Don’t steal.
      • Don’t have senseless hate.
      • Honor your parents.
      • Go to church.
      • Give your tithes and offerings.
      • Love your neighbor as yourself.
      • Forgive others as you have been forgiven.
      • Worship God in Spirit and truth…
    • Start doing these things and WATCH how God blesses you church!
• And if you don’t know what God commands, it is because you are not reading your Bible… like I said earlier… open your word, read what it says… then prayerfully DO what it says, amen?!
  • And watch as these blessings begin to flow.

Conclusion

Luke 24:46-47 ESV  and [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  (47)  and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ESV  Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  (2)  and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.  (3)  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  (4)  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,  (5)  and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  (6)  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  (7)  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  (8)  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

1 Corinthians 15:12-23 ESV  Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  (13)  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  (14)  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  (15)  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.  (16)  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.  (17)  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  (18)  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  (19)  If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.  (20)  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  (21)  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  (22)  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  (23)  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

• Gospel Call