1. Most people refer today as "Easter Sunday." Many of us prefer "Resurrection Sunday."
2. Actually, every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday because our Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and that is why we worship on the first day of the week.
3. William Evans said, “The Lord’s Day is not the original Sabbath. Who dared change it? For what reason, and on what ground was it changed? Ponder the tenacity with which the Jews held on to their Sabbath given in Eden and made known amid the thunders of Sinai. Recall how Jews would sooner die than fight on the Sabbath day (cf. Titus’ invasion of Jerusalem on the Sabbath). The Jews never celebrated the birthdays of great men; they celebrated events, like the Passover. Yet in the New Testament times we find Jews, changing their time-honored seventh day to the first day of the week, and contrary to all precedent, calling that day after a man – the Lord’s Day. Here is an effect, a tremendous effect; what was its cause? We cannot have an effect without a cause. The resurrection of our Lord was the cause for this great change in the day of worship” – The Great Doctrines of the Bible.
4. Some people mistakenly believe that Christians should keep the Jewish sabbath. But according to the New Testament the apostolic church did not keep the Jewish sabbath. They started worshipping on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week -- the day Jesus rose from the dead.
5. Acts 20:7 says, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them..."
6. By the way, the rest of that verse says, " Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."
7. First Corinthians 16:1 and 2 says, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."
8. In Revelation 1:10, the apostle John wrote these words from the Isle of Patmos, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day..."
9. The Lord's Day is Sunday, not Saturday. And the Lord's Day is all day from morning till evening. That is why it is important to keep it as a day of rest, and to be in church for all of its services, including Sunday School and evening worship.
10. This morning we will look at the events surrounding the first Resurrection Sunday -- the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. I Cor. 15:1-4).

I. THE DEATH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

1. Luke 23:46 says, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
2. Matthew 27:50 says He "yielded up the ghost."
3. Mark 15:37 says, "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost."
4. John 19:30 says our Lord said, "It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."
5. These Scriptures remind us that Jesus died by His own volition. That is why He said in Luke 24:46, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
6. That is why Jesus said in John 10:17 and 18, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."
7. Our Lord's death was voluntary. Furthermore, our Lord's death was substitutionary (cf. I Peter 2:24; 3:18).
8. Our Lord's death was voluntary; our Lord's death was substitutionary; and our Lord's death was prophesied. One thousand years beforehand, David described our Lord's crucifixion: "They pierced my hands and my feet" (Psalm 22:16).
9. Seven hundred years before the cross, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
10. Five hundred years before the crucifixion, the prophet Zechariah wrote, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10).
11. John 19:37 refers to Zechariah's prophecy.
12. Our Lord's death was voluntary; our Lord's death was substitutionary; our Lord's death was prophesied; and our Lord's death was redemptive.
13. Colossians 1:14 says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."
14. Furthermore, not only is our Lord's death voluntary; substitutionary; prophesied; and redemptive; it is also attractive.
15. Some may be surprised at this statement. After all Isaiah 53:2 and 3 says, "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
16. But consider our Lord's words in John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John adds these words in the next verse, "This he said, signifying what death he should die."
17. R.A. Torrey said, "The death of Christ is the world's great magnet, drawing all men to Him. There are many who will resist that drawing to their own ruin."
18. Spurgeon said, "Preach Christ and men will be drawn to Him, for so the text says, 'I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.' They are held back by Satan, but the Cross will draw them. They are held back by despair, but the Cross will attract them. They are held back by lack of desire, but the Cross will breed desire. They are held back by love of sin, but the Cross will make them hate the sin that crucified the Savior."
19. Our Lord's death is attractive, not only to those of us who are saved, but even to those who are not saved.
20. Consider Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ." Based upon his own testimony, Mr. Gibson is not saved. He is a Roman Catholic, and does not profess to be saved. I read that his film earned $370,782,930! Obviously many people are attracted to the death of Christ.
21. Recently, Bill O'Reilly wrote a book about the death of Christ. Like Mel Gibson, Mr. O'Reilly is also an unsaved, worldly Roman Catholic. This book will undoubtedly become a best-seller, and the book is going to be adapted for television.
22. George Bennard wrote that beautiful hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross."

                    O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
                    Has a wondrous attraction for me;
                    For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
                    To bear it to dark Calvary.

23. The hymnwriter said the old rugged cross "has a wondrous attraction for me." And though in a certain sense it is "despised by the world," it has the power to attract many sinners.
24. Furthermore, it is interesting to notice how many worldly people wear crosses around their neck!

II. THE BURIAL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (LUKE 24:50-54).

1. We emphasize our Lord's vicarious death -- and we should. Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
2. The apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 15:3, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures..."
3. But remember, Paul goes on to say in verse 4, "And that he was buried..."
4. In Romans 6, Paul gives a beautiful illustration of the significance of baptism when he says, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death..."
5. By the way, only immersion is the proper picture of burial. I have never seen anyone buried by sprinkling or pouring a handful of dirt on his head!
6. In Luke 23, we have some details regarding our Lord's burial. Joseph of Arimathaea was a "counsellor" (23:50). Mark 15:43 says he was "an honourable counsellor"
7. Luke 23:50 also says Joseph "was a good man, and a just."
8. Luke 23:51 says he "waited for the kingdom of God."
9. So the man who had the great privilege of burying our Lord is described as "honorable, good, just, and waiting for the kingdom of God."
10. Our Lord was crucified between two thieves, but it was a good man that buried Him. Luke 23:52 says Joseph went to Pontius Pilate and asked permission to bury Jesus. Permission was granted, and verse 53 says Joseph took our Lord's body down off the cross, "and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid."

III. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

1. The faithful, devoted women arrived at the tomb very early on that first Easter Sunday morning. They were eager to anoint our Lord's body with spices and ointments (Luke 24:1; cf. 23:56).
2. But when they arrived, "they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre" (Luke 24:2).
3. They were "much perplexed," but the "two men in shining garments" assured them that Jesus was alive (24:3-7) Luke 24:23 and John 20:12 tell us these two men were angels.
4. The angels reminded the women (they are identified in Luke 24:10) that our Lord had told them He would be resurrected (24:6-9).
5. In fact, our Lord had predicted His resurrection many times.
6. In John 2:19, He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
7. In John 10:18, our Lord said, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."
8. I heard a story about a chaplain who was making the rounds in a hospital, and he stopped to talk to a young soldier who was badly wounded in battle. The chaplain said, “You have lost an arm for a noble cause." “No,” said the young soldier, “I did not lose it – I gave it.” And so it is with Jesus (John 10:15, 17, 18).
9. Our Lord said in Matthew 20:28, "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
10. Galatians 1:4 says Christ "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father."
11. Referring to the resurrection of Christ, and particularly our Lord's words in John 10:18, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "I do not know whether I can convey my own thought to you. What strikes me very forcibly is this—no mere man going to his grave could say, 'I have power to take my life again.' The departure of life leaves the man necessarily powerless—he cannot restore himself to life. Behold the sacred body of Jesus embalmed in spices and wrapped about with linen. It is laid within the sealed and guarded tomb—how can it come back to life? Yet Jesus said, 'I have power to take My life again.' And He proved it...The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was, in itself, a marvelous display of power. To raise the dead body of our Lord from the tomb was as great a work as the creation."

CONCLUSION:

1. One of our members found a J.W. flyer, which referred to our Lord's resurrection as a "spiritual resurrection."
2. There is no such thing as a "spiritual resurrection."
3. Only a body can be resurrected!
4. If the Lord Jesus had not rose from the dead, we would not be here this morning.
5. If the Lord Jesus had not rose from the dead, there would have been no evidence that the sin question had been settled.
6. The empty tomb and the risen Saviour are proof of the efficacy of our Lord's work on the cross.
7. Hebrews 7:25 says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."