Positive Changes
READ: Isaiah 53:8
CHALLENGE: Live New
Easter Sunday is a celebration of the hope that we have in Christ. Good Friday commemorates an ugly death but that led to life three days later! There is always hope.
- HOPE IN SUFFERING
v8 – By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
Isaiah 53 prophesied this about the coming Messiah. It was predicted that the coming servant would be oppressed and die. He was betrayed by a friend. He was drug away and tried! He was deafened by the shouts crucify him. He was brutally beaten and given a crown of thorns. He was nailed to a cross and had a spear pitched through his side. He would be cut off from the land of the living. He died so powerfully that even the Roman Centurion exclaimed, “Surely this was the Son of God”.
They put him in a grave! V9 – He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
He died between two thugs but was buried by a rich man in a new tomb, thus scripture was fulfilled in amazing fashion.
v11 – After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
The word, “suffering” talks about the dark side of toil. What Jesus went through was hard! In the Garden of Gethsemane He was overwhelmed with sorrow. He was sweating blood due to the weight of anguish. He died on the cross that next day. He was wrapped in burial linens with 75 lbs of spices applied. He was laid in a cold dark tomb with the door sealed with a stone and guards posted.
Sorrow and death are not easy to deal with. It’s so unpleasant! What was Mary doing when she approached the tomb on that morning of the resurrection? She went with spices to make death smell better. Our freezer died last summer. I thought a mouse had croaked in the duct work but the odor kept intensifying. Jeri went and got something out of the freezer. It was unbearable! I wish I had some spices then! I couldn’t even go in and don’t know how she did!
All they could do was to make this horrible death smell better because what else was there? No one’s coming back from that, right? They only saw the death but not the hope of a resurrected life. They certainly did not approach the tomb with hope that first Easter morning. But God did something SO much better. He brought Jesus back from the dead and that was way better than perfuming death!
Where’s your tomb? How much does the hurt stink? You may think there’s nothing you can do right? You can’t come back! Might as well make the mess smell as good as possible! Please remember that God can do something SO much better because He resurrects life!!
Isaiah prophesied that this servant, who had been killed, would see “light of life”! There is something better down the road because SUNDAY IS COMING! Jesus went from death to life even though crucified!
John 5:24 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Ephesians 2:4-5 – But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Everyone is DEAD in transgressions at some point! That’s a tomb of heartache, problems, and sorrows. Selfish sins are spiritually, emotionally, physically, and relationally destructive. However, you don’t have to stay on that side of the equation.
What a contrast – suffering to light. Death to life; that’s hope! And there’s no comparison. There is no comparison between winter and summer. One is cold, gray, snowy and nearly colorless. The other is full of life, warmth, color and light. Huge contrast.
Zeke asleep and Zeke awake are two completely different creatures. One is quiet, still, and not moving. The other is begging to go outside and jumping all over me. When you wake up spiritually you have a new life! There’s a profound difference! There’s life
(trans.) Thus we have ….
B. HOPE IN NEW REALITIES
After he suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied! Death was not His ultimate reality! Life is!! He will see light! That’s a beautiful term and closely related to “life and happiness”. The things that we want are in the light.
Winter is the most hated time of year for people and a big reason is that it’s dark! We love it between spring and fall because there’s more light than darkness. That ought to teach us something. Spiritually, it’s the same way. We’re better off in the light of God than the darkness of the world’s spiritual winter, so follow Jesus!
- REALITY OF HAPPINESS
Part of the definition of the word “light” is “happiness”. Happiness is so important to Americans that our own Declaration of Independence includes the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Joy is even part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit! Anyone remember the old children’s song. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. WHERE? Down in my heart! There is joy with God!
One of the greatest things I love about being a grandfather is hearing my grandson laugh! Joy is in that relationship. Much joy in life is relational starting with God and then going to family and friends.
You think of the community that we have here at church. I’ve seen many smiles and laughs over our awesome adventures together. Laughter and joy are the best and part of what Jesus experienced after his suffering!
Psalm 16:10-11 – because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. 11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Jesus had joy and passes it along to us! Is this your experience? The life side brings a happiness.
2. REALITY OF SATISFACTION
The word “satisfied” means “fullness”. It’s like when we’ve been fasting and then you eat, and it feels so good – you’re satisfied. God satisfies a hunger within. “A derived notion is its metaphorical sense of being satisfied spiritually with God’s good gifts”.
John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Here’s the life that Christ offers! A full one. A great one. How important is it to find satisfaction? People seem to have a lack of contentment, like some big gaping hole. Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman at a well. She was there at noon when others would not go. She was most likely an outcast but Jesus offered her living water. She didn’t understand what he was getting at so he asked her to go and get her husband and she said, I don’t have one. He said, you’re right. You’ve had five husbands and the man you’re with now, you’re not married to. He offered her living water – water that would take that spiritual thirst away!
I have found that when you seek pleasure, it’s never enough. When you seek money, it’s never enough. When you seek applause, it’s never enough. You will always thirst. Isn’t God the way to stop the thirst? Jesus would be fulfilled! You will never find happiness in addiction or immorality or greed, too many things. You’ll never find what you’re looking for.
To be able to just enjoy this life is such a spiritual blessing. To not have anything to prove. To not have to chase anything. To realize that you have all that you need. I could just spend my life hanging out with my plants and doing stuff with family and realize that I don’t need anything more than what God has already blessed me with.
These are the spoils of salvation! Revelation 21:6 – He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
You don’t have to keep running. Find your peace in Jesus Christ.
3. REALITY OF CHANGE IS POSSIBLE
…by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Romans 6:4 – 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.
A new life that means that we are free of the old person who has been dragging us down. The Bible says that we’re owned by sin, bossed by it, driven by it. We are locked in a spiritual prison cell. When we believe in Jesus we are free! People with terrible pasts and troubled lives, can be free of what’s held them down. You don’t have to keep living a life that is destroying you. Nor do you have to follow the lie that you can’t get better!
The new life means that you can run out of that grave! To claim to be a Christian is to claim to have a new life so live truly free. He bears our iniquities which means that he carries them away! They’re gone!
ILLUSTRATION:
But confess your sins and turn away from them and God will clean you up! What is Christianity at it’s core? It’s a new life and a new life is a changed life. Have you really experienced that?
As we sang in “Glorious Day” – You called my name Then I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into Your glorious day. Live free through faith.
When you awaken in the morning you have a look. Is it good or bad? Well, you have a bad taste in your mouth. Your hair is all over the place and you’re a wreck. You get up, get dressed, have some coffee, put on some make up. You look way different later. What I look like first thing in the morning is completely different from later. Pre Christ and after Christ is different!
John 11:25-26 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Do you believe this. How would we define this faith? It’s believing that Jesus is who He said He is. It’s a belief! And that belief, that faith is elevating.