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Jesus. You’ve probably heard of Him before right? He’s the most famous person in history. His name is the most recognized name in all of history. Jesus is Famous, but He is also famously mistaken.
Many times in Scripture when Jesus appeared, spoke, or did a miracle, people would ask “Who is this?” He was often not recognized or mistaken.
After His death on the Cross, on the third day He rose again. One of His followers, Mary Magdalene, was the first to see the Fully Alive Jesus who had defeated Death, Hell, & the Grave. But even she did not recognize the Lord…
Do we recognize Him? Who is this Resurrection & Life?
Easter Plano Irving North Dallas Texas
Who is this 1 – The Resurrection & Life
Sermon Notes By Chris Fluitt
**Bumper Video –
“You know the name, but do you know the man?
You know his story, but have you really captured his heart…? His purpose?
Is He clearly seen by you?
You know.. but look again… stare for a while and ask… “Who is this?””
Who is this?
Welcome to Redemption Church on this Resurrection Sunday. My name is Chris Fluitt, I’m the lead pastor and I’m excited to talk to you about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus = Famous
Jesus is the most known- person in human history. There are more books written about Jesus than any other person. And of course Jesus has his own book which is a best seller… You’ve heard of the Bible right? It’s the all-time best seller… They no longer put it on the weekly best sellers list because the Bible is always the #1 best selling book every week. It’s just a given… Jesus is Famous.
Jesus has followers…
According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, in 2010 there were 2.18 billion Christians around the world. Over a third of the population…
TWITTER
Jesus has more followers than Kay Perry, Justin Bieber, Barrack Obama, Lady Gaga… In fact add all of them together and the number of followers don’t come close…
Jesus has more followers on the earth right now than everyone using twitter. Hashtage #JesusIsFamous
Jesus = Famous – I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.
But.. This Jesus, although known throughout the world isn’t always recognized when He appears? This Jesus who everyone knows of is often misunderstood misrepresented…
In the Bible when Jesus appears, speaks, or does a miracle, people are usually left asking… “Who is this?”
We think the same thing happens today… Perhaps you were told God is a God of hate, but then you met Jesus. Perhaps you were told Jesus would never receive you if you did *Fill in the blank* sin, but then you met Jesus and you found out He will always receive you and embrace you when you come to Him. Perhaps you grew up knowing that “Yes Jesus loves me the bible tells me so…”, but then you experienced that love and you realized it was greater than you ever imagined.
Although his name and description are recognizable… Jesus’ identity is often not recognized… Jesus is the most known … yet most mistaken person in history. Jesus is famously mistaken
Many times Jesus very clearly and directly told people he would die and rise again…
Here is an example…
Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.(NIV)
How much clearer can someone be? He told them he was going to die… He told who would do it, where they would do it, he told them it would be on a cross… and he told them on the 3rd day he would rise again.
So when he died… just like he said, where he said, and who he said… You would think they would recognize this? “Wait this happened just like Jesus said it would… He died on a cross… in Jerusalem… at the hands of His own people… it’s been 3 days… maybe we should go check on him!?”
It’s not every day that someone looks at you and tells you how they are going to die… It’s even rarer for them to tell you “oh yeah… and in 3 days I will come back to life!” I THINK YOU WOULD REMEMBER THAT CONVERSATION!
Nope – Jesus is heard but very rarely understood. (must be frustrating)
Let’s read the passage in John 20 that tells us about the resurrection…
John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.(NIV)
John 20:2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”(NIV)
John 20:3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.(NIV)
John 20:4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.(NIV)
John 20:5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.(NIV)
John 20:6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,(NIV)
John 20:7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.(NIV)
John 20:8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.(NIV)
John 20:9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)(NIV)
John 20:10 Then the disciples went back to their homes,(NIV)
John 20:11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb(NIV)
John 20:12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.(NIV)
John 20:13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”(NIV)
John 20:14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.(NIV)
John 20:15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”(NIV)
John 20:16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).(NIV)
Let’s talk about Mary Magdalene for a moment. She clearly knew Jesus.
Luke 8:2 declares that Jesus cast 7 demons out of her. She is close enough in following Jesus that she is one of the few people mentioned to be at the crucifixion near the cross of Christ. And Mary Magdalene is the 1st person to see a resurrected Jesus…
Someone that knows Jesus… is well acquainted with Him and seen His miracles up close… who Cared enough to stand and witness the gruesome punishment of the cross… How would you expect her to respond to seeing Jesus alive and risen from the grave?
John 20:12 she looks in the tomb and sees two Angels and no dead body…
Then she turns around and she sees Jesus but doesn’t recognize Him.. John 20:14
Even weirder… She thinks he is a gardener there to tend the grave site. John 20:15
Jesus is famously mistaken
Why does someone who obviously knows Jesus not recognize Him?
We have no reason to think Jesus was wearing a disguise or hiding. He was there in plain sight…
The only reason I can think of is this… Mary came looking for a dead body. She looked in that tomb for a dead body. She came to pay remembrance for what use to be great but now was no more… And when she saw a resurrected Lord in front of her, because she came expecting a dead body, she saw a gardener instead of the messiah.
Who is this
Mary had a “Who is this?” moment.
Even though he had clearly told her about His death… Even though He had directly told her about His resurrection… she looked at the Lord and saw a gardener.
Is it possible that we do the same thing? After all the things we have heard and received from Jesus… do we sometimes encounter Him and not recognize Him?
The Resurrection
This wasn’t the 1st time people had seen a resurrection from the hands of Jesus. There was lazarus… The friend of Jesus who became sick and died before Jesus could come to him. Lazarus had been in the tomb for 4 days by the time Jesus had returned from travel.
John 11:21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.(NIV)
John 11:22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”(NIV)
John 11:23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”(NIV)
John 11:24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”(NIV)
We do this… We look at God… We look at Jesus… and say “If you…” and then when God talks to us we say “I know..”
If you had been here… I know he will rise again later…
Martha’s conversation shows us that she had no idea who she was talking to… Jesus healed people without being in the room with them. (Matthew 8 – The Centurion’s servant)
If she knew she was talking to the God of all wisdom she wouldn’t have cut him off with a dismissive “I know…”
Martha and her family needed a Who is this moment.
Martha said “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She says… Jesus, I believe in the resurrection.. but here is the response of the savior…
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;(NIV)
John 11:26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”(NIV)
I’m talking to people right now who probably believe in a resurrection… I mean you are in church on Resurrection Sunday… I’ve got a hunch that you believe that Jesus rose from the grave. Hopefully you believe this… if you don’t we would love to talk to you about it.
And hopefully you believe that because you trust and obey Jesus, and because he defeated death, hell, and the grave… you too can have a resurrection. Martha believed this… but Jesus says I AM THE RESURRECTION. This is a Who is this moment.
The resurrection isn’t a thing that happens to you… The resurrection is a who…. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life! (John 11:25)
We make the mistake of treating the resurrection as a what… instead of a who. Religion has sometimes guilted people into the idea of a resurrection… Something like this…
The resurrection is what will happen if I… go to church… say my prayers… stop sinning… take communion…
That’s treating the resurrection like a what… But if Jesus is the resurrection… You experience the resurrection as you know WHO Jesus is.
You don’t have to wait til you die to experience the resurrection.. When you meet Jesus you start experiencing the resurrection – He starts bring you to life.
Some of you have felt that before. You remember when you first started believing, when you said a prayer, when you repented and felt His Spirit… That was the resurrection power of the savior bringing you to life.
Who is this Resurrection & Life?
Jesus is the Resurrection & Life! He died on a cross but raised himself from the grave on a Sunday morning.
Jesus walks up to a tomb where Lazarus has been dead for 4 days and he speaks “Lazarus, Come forth” and that body that was dead received life again.
That wasn’t a thing that happened – That was a WHO that happened! Jesus happened.
Jesus’s resurrection wasn’t just for Jesus
Jesus was sinless. He defeated sin and the curse of sin – death. It makes sense how He could rise again, because death could really lay claim to this sinless man.
So Jesus could resurrect himself… but we definitely can’t resurrect ourselves.
The good news is Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just for Jesus! The story of the resurrection isn’t a story we tell to remember that one guy who rose from the dead… remember that one guy who lived the sinless life…
The story of Jesus’ resurrection is our resurrection story. It’s the story of us having victory over death, hell, and the grave.
Matthew 27:50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.(NIV)
Matthew 27:51 …The earth shook and the rocks split.
Matthew 27:52 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.(NIV)
Matthew 27:53 They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.(NIV)
Jesus’s resurrection wasn’t just for Jesus
As Jesus breathed his last breath other’s where being resurrected from their graves. The tombs of others broke open because it wasn’t just about Jesus’ conquering of death… Through Him we can all conquer death!
MUSICIAN
So we believe in the resurrection. Do we know anyone that has been dead and brought back to life?
My friend and Redemption Church’s friend, Pastor David Fuller died a few weeks ago. He had a pulmonary embolism – several blood clots hit his lungs. His wife Iwana did compressions on his chest for several minutes… no signs of life. The EMT got their and got a pulse back.. only to lose it several times. They finally got his heart going and got him to the hospital where he was placed in a coma.
So far we have a resuscitation… not a resurrection.
Do you believe in a literal resurrection?
The neurologist told the family David Fuller would likely never come out of the coma… And if he did come out of the coma he would likely be a vegetable… There was not much reason to hope.
We believe in a literal resurrection.. not a resuscitation but a resurrection.
Last Sunday morning David Fuller woke up from his coma. The nurse asked him his name – He said David.
Doctors came running to the room because they just had to see it for themselves.
DAVID FULLER VID
Pastor Fuller was in his home church this morning celebrating the Resurrection and the Life.
Need a resurrection?
Are you alive today? Is your hope alive? Is your heart alive? Are your dreams alive?
You can have a resurrection today because the resurrection isn’t a what, but a Who! And that who is here right now.
Do you see Him? Do you realize who He is? He is the Resurrection and the Life.
Easter Plano Irving North Dallas Texas