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Apr 20, 2025

Resurrection Guarantees

Preacher: John Repsold

Category: Easter

Keywords: power, change, futility, fruitfulness, rewards, guarantee, resurrection body, judgements

Summary:

The resurrection of Jesus guarantees, according to the Bible, so many things for so many people. This message looks at a couple of the iron-clad guarantees that Jesus' resurrection gives to first, the whole world and secondly, Christ-followers in particular.

Detail:

Resurrection Guarantees

April 20, 2025

Fellowship Question:  What are you grateful that Jesus’ resurrection has changed?

Intro:  I like guarantees, at least the ones that really hold up. 

ILL:  Recently I was 20 feet up in an old apple tree doing some pruning when a fellow came by offering to seal-coat my driveway.  Since he had laid it for me, I figured he knew what he was talking about.  So, he gave me a verbal quote and I agreed to the project.  But when he invoiced me on the project, the price was 25-45% higher than the range he had quoted me.  Silly me.  I figured that a man’s word was his bond.  Not much of a guarantee. 

            Today we’re celebrating undoubtedly human history’s most amazing “guarantee” of all time.  It is more expansive than the universe itself.  It is more certain than the person sitting next to you today.  It contains more good for you than all the blessings of the good people you’ll be privileged to have in your entire life on this earth.  You see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave 3 days after His death is THE greatest guarantee of all time, for all people, all the time. 

            My intent today is not to convince you of the resurrection of Jesus 2,000 years ago.  You can go back to other messages we’ve given on other Easters for that evidence.  Suffice it to say that, if you are willing to look honestly and openly at the historical evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus, you will probably find the evidence overwhelming and convincing.  If you don’t, it will probably be because you don’t want to believe the evidence because you don’t want to have to grapple with the implications of a God who loves you that much and is that powerful. 

            What I do want to focus on today is just a handful of the  many things that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead guarantees for you.  Some of them are guarantees for everyone that has ever lived.  Most of them…and the most blessed of them… are guarantees for Christ followers—those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

            But let’s start with a couple of guarantees the Jesus’ resurrection has for everyone who has ever lived in this world. 

Guarantees for Everyone from the Resurrection of Jesus

  1. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees every human being’s resurrection.

From infants who miscarried in the womb or Methuselah who lived to be 969 years old, the Bible tells us that the resurrection of Jesus is the proof-positive that every human being will rise from the dead in the end.  Listen to 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 about the matter:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

Jesus himself spoke about a universal resurrection in John 5.

25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live….

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

The Apostle John makes a clear distinction between the resurrection of believers and unbelievers in Revelation 20:4-5--He speaks of the redeemed who “…came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.”  So, while every human being to have ever been created will be resurrected, they will not all rise at the same time. 

The Apostle Paul speaks of this when talking about the return of the Lord Jesus in 1st Thessalonians 4: 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

[1st resurrection = 3 stages: 1.) the dead saints at Christ’s death/resurrection according to Mt. 27:51-52, 2.) the second coming of Christ acc. to 1 Thess. 4 and, 3) the return of Christ after the Great Tribulation to set up his reign on earth (Rev. 7—144k before the Millennium).]

  1. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees that there will be a judgment for everyone.

Acts 17:31—For he [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man [Jesus] he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

            It’s funny how humans love and hate the idea of divine judgment.  We love it when we see some horrible evil that causes any normal human being with an informed conscience to recoil at the atrocity.  We want those who have perpetrated genocide or human slavery or sex-trafficking or torture to have to answer for their evils.  We would like to see that happen in to some just degree in this life.  But whether it does or doesn’t, there is something very troubling about people never answering for evil, either now or in eternity.

            But most of us also feel either a little uneasy or downright terrified about having to answer to a holy, perfectly just God for the evil we know exists in our own lives.  We want those “other evil people” to face God’s justice.  But none of us really wants to be on the receiving end of God’s justice for our sins and failings, right? 

            Please listen carefully.  Every person who is “in Christ” by faith in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for us will never face God’s judging justice over their sins and evil.  Jesus already took that divine justice on himself at the cross we commemorated on Good Friday and the Lord’s Table today.  Divine justice was served; Jesus took it for you and me on the cross.  Acceptance of Jesus and what he did for us changed us from enemies to friends of God.  It moved us from darkness to light, from condemnation to grace.  That’s why your personal response to Jesus is the most important choice you will ever make in life.  It seals your eternal destiny. 

            But for those “outside of Christ”—those who have rejected His offer of exchanging your sin for His perfect, righteous life and record, you will be judged both for the evil you have engaged in in this life and the good you have done.  But it won’t be a balancing of good against evil; it will be an accountability for all evil and recognition of whatever good was mixed in. 

            This is what the Bible refers to as “The Great White Throne Judgment”.  It is a judgment in which no one will be declared righteous or merit eternal life with God.  It is a judgment in which everyone will be separated from the life of God forever but will experience that separation differently according to the good and evil they DID. 

  • For UNBELIEVERS: Revelation 20-- 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 

15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

But for those who are “in Christ”, there is no “judgment” in the sense of answering for sin.  There is an examination for rewards, called “The Bema Seat judgment.” 

  • For BELIEVERS: Found in Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10—For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 

Paul also refers to this “judgment” in 1 Cor. 3:10-15 when he talks about our works as believers being tried by fire (not us) at this judgment.  The “gold, silver, precious stone”-good-works that are done in Christ will produce some sort of “reward.”  But the wasted life, fleshly life, empty, self-serving works we engage in even as believers will be burned up and there will be some sense of “loss” though we will still experience eternal salvation in Jesus. 

Romans 14:10—You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

This term is taken from the Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed (cf. 2 Tim. 2:5). The victor of a given event who participated according to the rules was led by the judge to the platform called the Bema. There the laurel wreath was placed on his head as a symbol of victory (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-25).  Rev. 22:12—reward promised when Christ returns. 

Summary:  So the resurrection of Jesus we celebrate today guarantees 1.) that we ALL will be given resurrected bodies in the future, just at different times, depending on your acceptance or rejection of Jesus.

2.) that we all will experience an assessment or judgment of our lives from God, just in very different ways, depending on your acceptance or rejection of Jesus. 

APP: 

  • For those outside Christ today: that should strike a holy fear, a troubling conviction of sin and a longing to get right with God.  2 Peter 3:9—God doesn’t want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance.  John 3:17-18-- 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 
  • For those of us in Christ by submissive faith in Jesus: Christ’s resurrection should bring holy passion to walk in Christ and live by the Spirit.  It should fan the flame of zeal to engage in as many “good works” that He has prepared for us to do in this life.  And it should move us every day to experience the power of His resurrection in our new life with Him and the fellowship of His sufferings in our trials of life (Phil. 3:10). 

Guarantees for Christ-followers through the resurrection of Jesus

Since virtually everything that we have as children of God flows from the death and resurrection of Jesus, I’ll just single out two guarantees this morning.  If you are at all in doubt of how essential His resurrection is to our entire faith, go back and read 1 Corinthians 15:12-28. 

  1. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees that we have a living, productive faith that saves us from our sin. 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17

14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead….

How do you feel when you’ve done a project that results in great productivity and fulfillment verses one that ends up being useless and a complete waste of time? 

ILL:  Gardening:  Spending 2-3 months planting, nurturing, tending seedlings that create months of color, produce and food vs. frying them in 3 hours after all that work.

--Learning to play a sport or instrument, hone a skill or ability that gives you a lifetime of fulfilling experiences/emotions/ relationships vs. dedicating 10 years of your life only to suffer an injury that robs you of ever doing that again?  ILL: playing cello >> deep emotion of music; joy of playing with small groups and orchestras that traveled all over the U.S. and even world; blessing of bringing beauty to others.

The resurrection of Jesus guarantees that all the time, effort, tears, struggling, discipline, suffering and serving you and I have done in this Christian life is filled with purpose, significance, meaning and value.  Just as certain as the resurrection of Jesus is, so certain is the value, meaning and purpose of every act of faith in our faith-walk. 

We may not feel it every day, but many times we will.  Just as great marriages may not feel the amazing power of love every day, the same is true of our union with Christ.  But just as great marriages DO experience days of deep love, affection, friendship and encouragement, so do many experiences and days in Christ. That relationship moves us to the core of our soul.  It enriches and deepens our lives.  It fills us with emotions that no other relationship or experience in life can bring. 

When Paul says that, without the resurrection of Jesus, we are “still in our sins,” that’s enough truth to propel us into a lifetime and eternity of grateful love and service to God.  Just imagine for a moment WHO and WHERE you would be if you were “still in your sins.” 

  • Bob?
  • Me?—Probably dead from suicide…or guilt and shame… depression…destroyed marriage or family…disconnected from the people I now love because of selfishness and drivenness/perfectionism/anger/bitterness.
  • You? Just extrapolate out the various sins Christ has delivered and rescued you from and you can practically see what a futile, wrecked life you would be leading. 

The resurrection of Jesus rescued us from that fate…our sins.  In its place He gave us a “faith” that has marked and filled our lives with the work of God himself, the fruit of the Spirit of God itself, the significance of ‘good works in Christ’ that will somehow not only last for eternity but become the raw materials of heavenly worship and work in the world to come. 

  1. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees that we have the resurrection power of the God who brings life out of death at work in us.

Romans 6:3-4: 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Ephesians 1:19-21-- 8 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

            The resurrection power of God is both very physical and spiritual, psychological and mental, temporal and eternal.

  • Physical: the word of God calls us to believe in a very physical, corporal resurrection of Jesus.  His BODY did not decay, says the Scriptures (Acts 2:27).  And it wasn’t just brought back to life in order to die again, as was the case with Lazarus.  It was replaced with an incorruptible, unfading, impossible-to-age body fit not only for unending life in this world but the next. 

ILL:  I recently heard an interview with a modern N.T. scholar on the Shroud of Turin, Dr. Jeremiah Johnston, President of Christian Thinkers Society.  I’m not a scientist or an expert, but the evidence seems pretty compelling that this shroud is the genuine burial cloth used on Jesus.  One of the fascinating things about that shroud is that over 60 experts in over 60 different disciplines have spent thousands of hours…literally years of most of their lives…studying different aspects of the shroud like forensics, hematology, dust and pollens, photography, light, etc.  These scientists now know that the shroud was imprinted with a photo negative image of Christ in a flash of energy.  (Go on the internet and look at some of the results.)  Scientists who are experts in the field of light and energy spent 5 years studying the shroud.  They concluded that if it had been a slow energy burst, the shroud would have burned and disintegrated.  But the amount of electromagnetic energy and radiation required to make the image made and preserved in the cloth was 34 thousand trillion watts of energy…and it happened in 1/40th of a billionth of a second. You could say that…God took the first selfie!   

It should not surprise is that there is physical evidence for a massive amount of electrical energy at the moment of the resurrection.  After all, God recreated an entire human body from immaterial matter, giving it, not just biological life, but immortal life! 

If God did that with Christ’s resurrected body, is it any wonder that we’re invited to PRAY for bodily healing?  Any wonder we’re told to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God”?  Since the resurrection was a physical demonstration of God’s power, should that same power in us not occasionally manifest in physical healing or strengthening or miracles in human bodies? 

  • Spiritual: “above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked….”  We live in a world awash in spiritual powers.  You will either be subject to the powers of darkness or The Power of Light.  I want to be on the side that is most powerful.  The evidence of the powers of darkness are all around us.  We heard about some of them during our Missions Conference.  We see some of them on our streets and in the newspaper and hospitals and mental institutions and slums of our country.  But there is not a spiritual power in the universe that has overcome Jesus Christ.  What he suffered in the crucifixion was as a determined victor, not an unfortunate victim.  What he demonstrated in casting out demons and rising from the dead was that whatever the spiritual darkness, the light of Christ is greater.  APP:  what dark forces are you up against?  You better have Jesus…and when you do, you better not give into that darkness.  Jesus is just waiting to demonstrate his resurrection power in your darkness.
  • We could go on and talk about mental and emotional conditions that need power. ILL:  Some of us here were in a conference in Seattle about a month ago where we listened to a panel of 4 people who had been in the lesbian, the gay, the transgender lifestyles for years…and then met Christ.  Every one of them experienced the power of Christ to not only deliver them from the grip of distorted and disordered desires but to equip them with divinely ordered desires, in several cases marriages and families, and in every case godly relationships and deep, meaningful and fulfilling life in God they had never dreamed of before the power of Christ invaded their lives. 

This is the power of God we celebrate today.  This is the divine guarantee that the resurrection of Jesus offers to every one of us and every person we will ever meet. 

CLOSE:

  • Do you know the resurrected Jesus today? Have you put your faith and trust in Him to forgive your sins, save your soul and invade your life from now into eternity?  [Call to faith in Jesus.]
  • Where do you want to see the resurrection power of Jesus bring life into your experience? Do you need to see His power spiritually? In your mental or emotional life? In some desire or besetting sin or relational trainwreck?  Or in some concrete, physical aspect of your life?  The same power of God that raised Jesus from that tomb 2,000 years ago is waiting for you to call out to God.  [Call to reach out to Jesus for resurrection power in some aspect of your life.  Bow, tell God, lift your hand up to him as a physical expression of your desire.]

BENEDICTION:  Hebrew 13:20-21

20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.