The Complete Easter Story

I know I make comments about songs from time to time, probably a little more than I need to, but I don't know if you know that one. There is a redeemer. That one's a very, very good one. If you take note of who wrote that, it was written by a lady named Melody Green. Her husband was Keith Green. He was a pretty famous contemporary Christian artist in the late '70s and early '80s. He died a very young age. I think he was 28. But he wrote some very powerful Christian music. It's a little dated if you go back and listen to it, but it's very powerful, very worshipful.

Every so often in my Christian journey, I cycle back through Keith Green's music and some of the songs his wife wrote. That's one of them that has lived throughout the decades. It's sung often in churches. I like that one. It was very fitting. I enjoy that in worship. If you would take your Bible, turn back to Acts 2. I said earlier we're going to be in verses 22 to 36. I will mention a few other verses, but we're going to be right here in these verses. We're going to divide most of these verses, not all of them. And I look forward to what we're going to look at and study this morning.

Now, I don't know if you're like me, but I have favorite Bible passages for certain times of the year. And when it comes to favorite Bible passages for Easter, besides 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, Acts chapter 2, and these verses are some of my favorite for Easter. You might not know it, but 1 Corinthians chapter 15 should be at the top of all of our lists when it comes to favorite Easter passages. Now that's because 1 Corinthians 15 is the most extensive treatment of the resurrection in the Bible. And that's because Paul deals with the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of the believer.

I have preached often from 1 Corinthians 15 at Easter, and I'll revisit that passage, those portions of Scripture in the future. But you may ask, why in the world would these passages in Acts chapter 2 be some of my favorite for Easter? Well, there are two or three reasons, and I thought about those this weekend quite a bit. First of all, here in Acts 2, we have the birth of the church. We should relate to that. We live in the era, in the time of the church, and right here we have the birth of the church.

And then second, we have Peter preaching on the great day of Pentecost, and that was the greatest sermon in many ways that's ever been preached because the church was launched and so many souls came into the kingdom. You can call this the first sermon ever preached in the church era. But then third, and the most important reason, we clearly have Peter preaching on the resurrection of Jesus. I read it earlier, you probably noticed that. But there's much more that he taught on that relates to Easter. And this is what we have going on in Acts chapter 2.

To all of the Jews that were gathered there on the day of Pentecost, Peter was preaching Christ as the promised Messiah of God. He was preaching that Christ had been crucified and resurrected. I read that earlier. But he was preaching more. Peter was preaching that Christ was crucified, resurrected, and exalted to the very right hand of God the Father. And he hits the climax of his sermon by saying that Jesus was made by God both Lord and Christ. That's in verse 36. And this is what I call the complete Easter story. Now let that sink in for a minute. The complete Easter story. I like titles. This is the title of the message.

The complete Easter story. Now out of these verses, I want us to see three things that are a must if we're going to know the complete Easter story, if we're going to live the complete Easter story, and if we're going to teach the complete Easter story. Now I know we read our verses earlier in our scripture reading, but as we progress through the message, we're going to go back and read these verses. So we'll go back and forth and I want you to follow me because I believe you're going to see this complete Easter story just come to the surface. Now the first thing I want us to see is this. Number one, Christ was crucified.

We see this in verse 23. Christ was crucified. I'll read verse 22 because this is the beginning of Peter's sermon. He's addressing all of the Jews there. He says, "Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works, wonders, and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know." Now what is he saying? You knew and you know all about Jesus and all that he did in his ministry.

Verse 23, "This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." Now with just a little observation here, we can see that the cross was central to Peter's message on that day. It's right at the beginning of his sermon. Truthfully the crucifixion of Christ was central in all of the New Testament teaching, especially as they declared to the lost world. And it must be today. But notice how Peter explains how the crucifixion happened. First Peter says that Christ was delivered.

You see that in your copy of God's Word, the New American, the King James, the English Standard all use this word delivered. Now this word delivered, it means to be surrendered to or it means to be delivered into the hands of one's enemies. The commentator Albert Barnes says, and I'm quoting, "Jesus was surrendered or given up to his enemies by those who should have been his protectors." Now think about that for a minute. Jesus was delivered up to his enemies by those who should have been his protectors. That would have been Judas. That would have been the Jewish religious leaders, even the entire Jewish people.

So we see here that Jesus was delivered into the hands of his enemies. And that leads us to an interesting question, even a debated question, who delivered Jesus? Second Peter says that Christ was delivered by men. He was delivered by Judas. We know who Judas was. He was one of the 12 disciples. Yes, we see the betrayal of Jesus by Judas in the Gospels. That was where Judas sells out Jesus for what, 30 pieces of silver? And also he was delivered by the Jews. This would have been his own people. We see the Jews press the Romans in the Gospels to crucify Jesus. We know that story. So we see that Peter says that Christ was delivered by men.

But then third, Peter also says that Christ was delivered by God. Peter plainly says that Jesus was delivered by men and by God according to God's predetermined will and plan and God's foreknowledge. Look at verse 23. This Jesus, whom you know all about, and that what he's saying to the crowds in verse 22, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and you killed by the hands of lawless men. And you see from our perspective, a human perspective, it was Judas and the Jews and the Romans who were responsible for the death of Jesus. But we should understand the entire picture.

Judas, the Jews and the Romans are responsible for the death of Jesus. But all these things were ordained of God. They were held accountable for their choices and their actions. We know that. They acted according to their will and their purposes and their will and purposes were to put Jesus to death. Of course, the Jews and the Romans had different motives in what they did, but they all desired to put Jesus to death and they did. But in the conference room of God before time and before human history, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit determined that all of these things would happen to fulfill God's redemption plan for man.

Every detail was planned. Everything happened according to God's plan and will. That is because God determined, God determined to deliver His Son Jesus into the hands of evil men for the redemption of men. But there's more. I could say it like this. There's the rest of the story. Fourth, we also see that Christ was delivered for sin. In 1 John 2, verses 1 to 2, John says, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

He," this is Jesus, "is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the world." John is simply explaining to us that Jesus was delivered up for our sin. He was the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice, or the satisfaction for our sin. The sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross perfectly satisfied the demands of God's right, just and holy punishment for sin. So Jesus literally satisfied or propitiated God's right, just and holy punishment for sin, a punishment that was rightly ours. Now notice what Peter is showing us here in this great Pentecost Day sermon.

Before he gets to the resurrection of Christ and he gets there, he starts with the crucifixion of Christ. And if you progress through the book of Acts, you will see that the crucifixion was their central message, if not the first message, even before the message of the resurrection. Now for us today, we must see that we must go to the cross before we can go to the empty tomb. And the critical mistake so many people make today is going to the empty tomb before they ever go to the cross. We must see that God couldn't have raised up Jesus until Jesus had first been delivered to the cross.

First Jesus had to be obedient to the cross before he could ever have the victory of the empty tomb. And for some of you this morning, right here in these pews, you are trying to live the victory of the empty tomb, but you haven't been to the cross and that is why your Christianity will not work. You have no victory over sin. You have no victory over death. You do not have victory over the grave. And that is because you haven't been delivered to the cross. You haven't been delivered to the cross to die. And for some of you this morning, you're a Christian. You've been to the cross. You've been crucified with Christ.

You are born again Christian, but you still have lingering sin in your life, sin you know that is there. You won't have the empty tomb victory that you need in your Christian walk until you have purposefully taken that sin to the cross every day, every hour, every minute, as much as it takes. But for us as redeemed believers, we have been converted to Christ. We've been to the cross. The Spirit of God bears witness to our spirit that we are believers. And the Word of God bears witness to us that we are believers. We can gaze into the empty tomb.

We can marvel at the resurrected Christ all because we were according to God's predetermined plan we were delivered to the cross for our salvation. So what I'm trying to show you is this. The first message of the complete Easter story is the story of the cross. We cannot bypass the cross to go straight to the empty tomb. And then number two, I want us to see that Christ was resurrected. Peter shows us that Christ was resurrected. We see this right here in verse 24 and I'm going to read on down the verse 31. Immediately Peter says God raised him up.

Finally he gives to the resurrection, loosening the pangs of death because it was impossible for him to be held by you. That would be death. And notice he transitions a little. It's going into the Old Testament. For David says concerning him, "I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life.

You will make me full of gladness with your presence." Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, King David, that he both died and was buried. And his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he, this would be David, foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh or his body see corruption or decay.

Now you may not have ever noticed or even thought about it, but right here in verse 24 we have the first public declaration of the resurrection. Besides the declaration it was made to those early believers. But actually this was the main point of Peter's argument that he was strongly wanting to make here in his sermon to all of the Jews. And that is that Jesus died on the cross and then he was actually raised up to life again. He was saying he is no longer in the grave. Now notice that Peter explains how this happened and that certain vital things did happen.

First Peter says that Christ was resurrected by God and we see this stated all throughout the book of Acts. Now I want you to follow me a few places. Right here in these pages, verse 24, we read it earlier, God raised him up, verse 32, we read this earlier as well. This Jesus, God raised up. And over in verse 15 of chapter 3, and you kill the author of life whom God raised from the dead. And then verse 36, verse 26 of chapter 3, God having raised up his servant. And then if you turn over to chapter 10, verse 40 to 41 you see the same thing. Chapter 13 verse 30, chapter 13 verse 34, chapter 17 verse 31.

Now what am I trying to show you by referencing those verses and reading those verses? All of these declarations that are made by the apostles, they all say the same thing, which is that God the Father raised God the Son. In that statement by Peter had great meaning and purpose for that day. Jesus had been delivered up to die. He was the sinless dying for the sinful. Jesus had died as the propitiation of God for the sin of men. So the sin debt was paid in full. So God the Father had to raise God the Son to prove that he was perfectly satisfied with the work of Christ on the cross and the work of redemption was complete.

And Bible scholar William McDonald says the character of God demanded his resurrection. Let me pause here before I continue in my notes. When you come to the cross and when you die, I'm talking about in your own personal salvation. When you come to the cross and when you die, God will resurrect you. The reason so many people in our religious culture never come to true saving faith is number one, they do not come to the cross to die and then number two, they do not realize that it is God that has to resurrect them. You cannot resurrect yourself to new life. So Peter says that Christ was resurrected by God.

And then second, Peter says that Christ was resurrected destroying death. Now notice what verse 24 reads. Go back to your copy of God's word. I'm going to read it in the New American Standard and I'm going to mention the English Standard, which I'm reading from. That's my copy this morning. Notice what the verse says. "And God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death." The English Standard says, "loosing the pains of death." Since it was impossible for him, that would be Jesus to be held by its power, its power, the power of death. Now notice Peter is explaining certain vital truths here.

He is saying that the agony of death was binding, but Christ has loosed. He has put to an end the binding force of death. This means that Christ was set free. He was liberated from death. He is saying that death was agonizing. This phrase "pains of death" or "agony of death" speaks of extreme suffering. This literally means birth pains. This means that Christ was set free from the sufferings of death. He is saying that this agonizing death was an impossibility for Christ. And that is because death was utterly powerless to take hold of him, which should be of no surprise to us if we know scripture.

Acts 3.15 says that Christ is the author of life. So death had no hold on him. Why? He is the author of life. John 1.4 says that in him was life and his life was the light of men. So death has no hold on him. Why? Because in him was and his life. In John 10.18 Jesus said that no man takes his life but he had the ability to lay it down and he had the authority to take it up again. So death had no hold on him. And then third Peter says that Christ was resurrected because the Old Testament prophecies said it would be. Those are those verses there, verses 25-31 where Peter is talking about David.

Some of you may not know this but those verses from verse 25-28 Peter is quoting King David and he is quoting Psalm 16 verses 8-11. In those verses God led King David to write prophetically about the Lord Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection and his glorification. And then from verses 29-31 Peter argues that King David could not have been saying those things about himself. And that is because his body, King David's body did in fact die and face corruption. His tomb was well known to all of those Jews who were listening that day. They all knew that their beloved King David had not come out of his grave. And Peter's point was this.

He was emphasizing more the fact that the crucifixion and the resurrection was God's plan for his Messiah all along because the Old Testament prophets wrote of these things. Now notice what Peter is showing us in this part of his great Pentecost day sermon. This was Peter's main argument that he wanted to make for those thousands of Jews who were listening that day, the fact that Jesus whom they had crucified had indeed been resurrected by God. And in his resurrection he, this is Jesus, destroyed the binding agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus.

And in his argument he was pressing home the fact that all these things should have been no surprise to them because all of the Old Testament prophets said these things would happen. Now for us today, we must see the main point of Easter is this. We are either resurrected with Christ or we are still bound up by the shackles of death and all of the agony that comes with death. Now let me repeat that. We must see the main point of Easter is this. We are either resurrected with Christ or we are still bound up by the shackles of death and all of the agony that comes with death.

You might say, "Pastor Chris, I thought the main point of Easter was the empty tomb." Well it is, but it's more than a picture book story. It's even more than abstract truth or some misapplied truth or misapplied reality. Do you realize that's the mistake that cultural Christianity makes? Easter is nothing more than a picture book story like a Hallmark card. Easter has become just some kind of an abstract truth, an abstract reality. They might accept it as reality and truth, but it has no application to their life. That's foreign to the Scripture.

The main point of Easter is that Christ was raised by God, therefore declaring that his redemptive work on the cross was complete. And as a result, he, that's Christ, destroyed the shackles of death, even destroying the one who has the power over death, which is the devil, Hebrews 2.14. But my friend, listen. Listen close. If you've never been to the cross, if you've never been to the cross and died, then you are not set free from sin and death. You are still shackled to death and you're still shackled to the agony of death. In every way you are still in the grave, in every way your tomb is not empty.

But oh listen, if you have been to the cross and you have died together at the cross with Christ, then you have indeed been raised because of something you did? No. You have been raised by God. Yes, you've been raised by God. And that church is the main point of Easter, that Christ's tomb is empty and our tomb is empty because we have been crucified with Christ, we have been buried with Christ, and we are individually raised with Christ. So the second message of the complete Easter story is the main point of the story. Christ was resurrected and so have His people. They have been resurrected as well.

And then number three, Peter shows us that Christ was and is exalted. Christ was and is exalted. Read verse 32 and verse 33 and I'm going to come back down to verse 36 a little later on. I know I didn't read that earlier in the scripture reading. In verse 32, Peter transitions from his defense with the Old Testament and notice verse 32, "This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing now." Now here in verse 33, I want us to notice something different in the wording of our English translations that we use.

The English standard says that Christ was exalted at the right hand of God. The New American standard says the same thing. Now the King James reads, "By the right hand of God." And that's because scholars differ as to the interpretation. It can actually mean both. Let me explain what I mean. Peter says that he, Christ, was exalted by the right hand of power, God's power. You see in the Hebrew culture, the right hand was often used as a symbol of power, great power. Of course this is symbolic language because we know that God does not have hands. The point of this expression here is this.

Christ was exalted by the right hand of God which communicates that Christ was exalted by the ultimate power of God. We see the same thing in Psalm 18 verse 35. King David said to God, he's praying, "You have given me the shield of your salvation and your right hand supported me." See that strong right hand? "And your gentleness may be great." So Peter says that he was exalted by the right hand of God's power. And then second, Peter is also saying that he was exalted to the right hand of God. Not only was Jesus exalted by the power of God, he was exalted to, to the place of honor, glory, and power, which is where? At the right hand of God.

We also see this in Romans 8.34. Paul says, and I'm quoting, "Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." And not only does Peter say that Christ was exalted, but he also explained what happened at his exaltation. Here's where I want us to look at verse 36. Really it's the end of the sermon. This high concludes. Again he's addressing the house of Israel, the Jews.

Verse 36, "Let all of the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him Jesus, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now notice that Peter declares that he, Jesus, is exalted as Lord. Lord means master. Lord means sovereign. Lord means king. Lord means ruler. He is master, sovereign, king, ruler of all things, things seen and unseen. The scholar Albert Barnes says, and I'm quoting, "God had exalted him to be the king so long expected and that he had given him dominion in the heavens or, as we should say, made him ruler over all things." John MacArthur says this clearly designates Jesus as God.

Notice Peter was saying that he was exalted as Messiah. Barnes says Peter was stating that he who was the hope of their fathers had come. You notice that? Peter was stating that he who was the hope of their fathers had come and they put him to death. But that was God's plan all along because he was exalted as the promised Messiah which the Jews have been waiting for. Now notice what Peter is showing us here in this great Pentecost day sermon. Not only was Christ raised by God but he was exalted by the power of God to the right hand of God as who? As Lord and Messiah.

And look, look how powerful Peter's pronouncement, the conclusion of his sermon is. I'm reading verse 36 again and I'm reading it in the Amplified. I love it. He says, "Therefore, let the whole house of Israel recognize beyond all doubt and acknowledge assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ the Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now for us today, I believe that seeing the exalted Christ should do several things. Seeing Christ, Lord and Messiah. But I want to touch on one. This should destroy any and all worry and anxiety.

Listen church, Christ was either exalted by the power of God to the right hand of God as Lord and Messiah or he wasn't. That needs to be repeated. You need to let that sink in. Christ was either exalted by the power of God to the right hand of God as the Lord and Messiah or he wasn't. If he was, then we should see that he reigns as Lord and Messiah and as his redeemed children, why in the world should we worry? Why should we have any anxiety about tomorrow, today or anything? We have no need to worry about health or disease, food or famine, trouble or peace, life or death, heaven or hell. Have I told you all the story of my birds this year?

I've told you the story of my birds about a year ago. It's a little marriage difficulty I'm going to be confessing with you here. I have a thing about animals I did growing up. I was the guy that always had a pet. I won't get into that. But there are some birds that make a nest in my porch every year. They used to do it on my side porch. My wife and I would have a little disagreement. She wanted me to knock the bird nest down and I just couldn't do it. So, made an awful mess. So I finally did knock the bird nest down. Well, it moved to the front porch. Last year it made a nest. I left the nest. This year they came back.

Matter of fact, the eggs have hatched and little baby birds. Even last night, Christy wanted to turn the porch light on. I said, "Don't turn the porch light on. You'll bother the birds." Yeah, I know. They'll hatch out. Matter of fact, last year they hatched out twice. I drank coffee in the mornings and watched the birds on my porch. Yeah, I know. I know. Listen. Listen close now. Because this is something some of you really need to hear. Some of you are less godly than the birds that are on my porch. And you need to let that sink in and convict you. It's because you were captivated by sin and worry.

You may even be captivated by what I would call anxious living. I'm going to read you a verse. I don't want you to turn there. You know these verses. Matthew 6, verse 25, 26. Jesus is teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. What will you eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." If I believe what that verse says, my God feeds those birds. My Lord feeds my birds.

My wife hates my birds. Is that text true or not? I know it's a silly illustration, but is it true or not? Let me go back now. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. What you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body or what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they?" You're more valuable than the birds, folks. You are.

Verse 27, "In which of you, being anxious, can add a single hour of span to your life?" Now listen to your pastor. I'm going to tell you just what you need if you're captivated by worry or even anxious living. You don't need a bird brain. You need a bird faith. Just in Christ, he was exalted by the power of God as Lord and Messiah, and he is still right there at the right end of God. He hasn't left. And listen, church, we must trust him as the exalted Lord and Messiah if North Korea invades, if the banks collapse, if we lose our health, if we have another pandemic, just fill in the blank.

And right now, there's somebody saying, "But pastor, you just don't... There's no buts. There's no buts." And look, we can't worship Christ in the victory of the empty tomb if we don't worship Christ as the exalted Lord and Messiah. You hear that? We can't worship Christ in the victory of the empty tomb if we won't worship Christ as the exalted Lord and Messiah. They can't be separated. So the third message of the complete Easter story is this. Christ was exalted to the right hand of God by the power of God as Lord and Messiah.

Now as we close our worship of Christ Jesus on the day that the church has set aside to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, I've sought to give you the complete Easter story. We must know it. We must live it and we must teach it. Christ was delivered to the cross by the hands of sinful men all according to God's full ordained will and plan. And after he was dead, he was buried in a borrowed tomb. He didn't need to keep it. He wasn't going to stay there long. But God didn't leave him on the cross or in the tomb. Warren Wiersby says the tomb was a womb out of which Jesus was born in resurrection glory.

God raised Christ on the third day, defeating the agony of death, the grave, and even destroying him that had the power of death. That is the devil. And Christ was exalted by what? By the power of God to the right hand of God as who? As Lord and Messiah. And there he reigns. So the cross is complete. The tomb is empty. The right hand of the Father is occupied and he reigns. The complete Easter story. Let's pray. We'll commit these things to the Lord. We'll sing and worship.

And then we'll look forward to a glorious, wonderful Christ-centered day and how God's going to use us in the future as we serve our Lord who is seated right there at the hand of our Father.