The Cross has Power over Death - Easter Sunday

Hi, I'm Mason, and I wanted to share how the cross has given me power over death. Back in May of last year, my wife, Cody and I found out that we were expecting our first child. One of the things we were most excited is to find out the gender of our baby. And so at our first doctor's visit, we did a blood test that could tell us the gender of a little sooner than the traditional route. And with that comes a test for certain genetic defects as well. When my wife got the results, she opened the email and noticed it was a flag on the results for something called Triceme 18. Through some Google research and talks with doctors, we discovered that this was something that was likely going to be fatal, that most babies with Triceme 18 didn't make it past a year of life. At 29 weeks, my wife went into labor with our daughter, and so we raced to the hospital, and we got there, about 15 minutes later after pulling into the hospital, our daughter, Oakley Grace, was born. When she arrived, the doctors tried to intubate her and were unsuccessful. So at that point, we knew that our time with her was going to be shorten, so our goal then was to soak up as much time as we could with her. And God was gracious, and he gave us 14 hours with our little girl before she went to be with Jesus We would often ask God, whyhy us, why our daughter. There were times that we spent deeply studying the character of God that we see in Scripture, to get a better grasp of why a God we know loves us and cares deeply about us could let something like this happen to us. There were many passages in scripture that were a comfort during this time, one of which I found to be most comforting was words that Jesus himself spoke the night before he was crucified. Jesus is in the garden, praying to the Father, knowing what he is about to experience. And he asks the Father, if there's any other way that we could do this. If there's any way that this cup could pass from me, yet not my will, but your will be done." That was a prayer that we both found ourselves praying. Not at the beginning, thatram months and months of struggling and time in community with other believers and in prayer, we found ourselves able to pray that same prayer. After we lost our daughter, there was a lot of questions in our minds. Why did this happen to us? What would she have been like? What would her favorite food have have been? What would she have done for a job? How many kids would she have had? The one thing we never had to worry about is where she was. We knew the second she took her last breath here on Earth, she was with her Savior. And though she never uttered a word, she now sings praises to our God. and she never took a step, but yet she ran that day into the arms of Jesus. And we know that because of what Jesus did for us on the cross that we'll see her again one day. And ultimately, it's that hope that got us through this, that we knew that whatever happened, that didn't matter, 'cause our time here under our Earth is so short, and we know that we'll have eternity with God because of what Jesus did on the cross. The clouds of death hang over this world. And we can try to push it away as much as possible, try to ignore it as much as possible. But when death comes to the door and we hear that knock, we answer it. We wish, right, that we could put out the no solicitation sign, that we could live in one of those neighborhoods where you driveive in, and just says, "No solicitors, don't come knocking on my house as door door uninvited." Or if we hear the knock, maybe we could just go and hide somewhere in the house. Maybe you've done that when the salesman came to your door and said, "I'm not here. Turn the lights off. They'll go away." Death won't go away. Death just unlocks the door and comes in to our house. He comes in to our home. Death comes into our life and shatters it. and we feel it, we can't run from it. We can't hide from it because death has the keys to our house in that way. There are people here today, some of you who have heard that knock recently. You've had that door open for you, like Mason and Cody, and Brenda Fox, who we saw her video a few weeks ago. There's others here who you remember the knock from years ago. The memory is still there, and there's yet others who you haven't heard that knock at your own door, but you have heard it at the door of a neighbor. You have a friend. We are all aware of this. We say things like, "He has gone the way of all the earth, or ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. It's the reality of this fallen, broken world that death happens. But we're here today. We gather today, Christians all over the world are gathering today to say death doesn't get the final say, that God has redeemed his creation, and he's done so through the resurrection of his son, Jesus Jesus Christ. If you remember nothing else of what I say today, remember this the power of the cross over death. Jesus' cross has power over death. The Roman implement of torture. a Roman device meant to end life was a device that God used to give eternal life to the world. Jesus enters into our despair, in our brokenness. He becomes human. God himself becomes human, so that we could be set free from sin and death. Jesus enters into the belly of the beast and defeats the enemy there, taking away the keys to the house And he now has those keys. And he says he will make all things new. Often, here at Northland, I'll say, to understand what the Bible saying in this place, we have to go back to the beginning of the story and see what happened, but today, we need to go to the end of the story. If you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter 2. 21, that's the very last book of the Bible. Open up at the very end and flip back, and you'll find Revelation, chapter 21. Pace 1041 of our houses Bible. And we're going to see that Jesus makes all things new. Read along with me. It's also on the screen. John, who was best friends with Jesus when he was on these earth, is on the island of Patmus when he writes this letter. He had been exiled for believing in Jesus. And Jesus comes to him and says, "I'm going to show you what's going to happen in the future." And this is towards the end of that letter And he says, "T I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God Him himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. For the former things have passed away. John sees this vision of a new heavens in a new earth. If you're from my generation, you'll remember the show Extreme Home Makeover. It's one of the first kind of refurbbs shows. Now they have whole channels dedicated to just watching people take old, dilapidated houses, and the worst the house is, the more exciting it is to see a new thing come out, a house where no one could live in that was condemned. These people come in and they renovate it, they renew it, and people can move in. John says, "I saw a new heavens and a new earth. cause the former ones had passed away, this broken one that we live in, that we feel and see, isn't the way it was meant to be. Isn't the way God created it, that it's fallen. It that it had passed away, and he says, "And the sea was no more. So don't get nervous if you're a big beach fan, if you like going to the ocean and hanging out. John isn't saying here that there won't be that. In the Bible, the ocean ocean the sea, was a symbol of chaos. In Genesis 1, it's the chaotic waters that God then tames and makes. in Genesis 6, it's the flood. Daniel 7, is from the sea that the beast, this fallen empire, comes out into the world. And so when John says,The sea is no more, it's not that there's not a coastline. It's that there's no more disruption. There's no more chaos. There's no more darkness darkness in this world from which evil could arise. It's been tamed, it's been defeated, it's been removed. And he says, I saw this city, which is a symbol of the the Church of God's people coming down from heaven to dwell, like a bride adorned for her husband. We get the privilege, occasionally here at Northland to do weddings, and they come walking down the aisle. You've been to the wedding, right? The grooms up here looking nervous, fidgeting a bit, then the music starts, and everyone turns, and the bride comes walking down. And there's this excitement, this hope of new life for this couple, a new dwelling together. We also have here at Northland, on occasion. It's not a bride that comes down the album, a casket, a funeral. And when that casket comes down, it's sadness and sorrow and loss, but John says, I saw God's bride coming down to the earth, adorned, and he will be their people. He will be their God." And then he says, he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Our tears of grief, our tears of sorrow, are the testimony that we give to this fallenen world, that it's not the way that God intended it, our brokenness, and our heart shows that it says, "God is going to come and wipe away every tear from our eyes. There'll be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying. But there'll be no more death." And we read that, and if we're honest with ourselves, "If I'm honest, I do it. times go.That sounds like so much fiction. It's too good to be true. That can't be right right. That can't happen. Really? No more pain, no more's'cause we experience it so deeply, it's so real in this life, and it's gone Who can accomplish that? Who can make that happen? It sounds like this utopian fantasy that we say just to get through the day. To get through the grief. Who's gonna make this happen? I don't know anyone when I look around me in this room, none of us can make it happen. None of our politicians, none of our leaders, none of our scientists can make that happen. Keep reading with me, though, in verse 5, because John tells us who's gonna make that happen and he who was seated on the throne said, "Bhold, I am making all things new." Also, he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. Whose can accomplish this? It's the alpha and in the Omega, the God who created everything. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphab. That's. our A. Omega is the last letter, That's our Z. He's saying, "I'm the A and the Z, the beginning, and the end. He's the one who created everything, this entire universe, and he's the one for whom it was created. He says, "I'm the one that can fix things. The very one who created it. We don't put our trust in ourselves, or in any other human being, except God, the Son, who became human to save us. And he said, "It is done, very similar language to what Jesus said on the cross Right before he died. He said, "It is finished. His job of coming to this earth to bear the burden of my sin and my guilt on himself, so that I can be set free, so that you can be set free. He says, "It is done." He says, "If you're thirsty, come and drink." It's the same words he said in John 7, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink Whoever believes in me as a scripture has said, "O of his heart will flow rivers off living water. He says, "Come and drink from the water of life without payment. None of us has enough money to buy them.. But Jesus has given his own life so that we can. He says, "Just come and drink, come follow me. Jesus makes all things new, but how has he accomplished this? Flip back to the first chapter of Revelation with me." And you'll see this vision that John has as he's on the island of Patus. He said he was worshiping, and Jesus appears to him in verses 12 to 18, we read this, and we find out that Jesus holds the keys of death in Hades. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands We learned later in the book that these lampstands are symbols of the churches, seven churches that John's sending this letter to, but it also represents the whole church. He says,I saw these lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a Son of Man, that's Jesus's favorite name for himself. It's his clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice like the roar of many waters. And his right handy held held seven stars. That's another symbol of the churches. And from his mouth came a sharp two edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. What a weird picture if you just read it, white hair, flaming eyes, a long rowe of a golden sash, bronze legs. He's got a sword coming out of his mouth. This image that John sees, he would have had had a recollection of. It comes from the Old Testament. I'll put a thing up here. You can get your phone out and take a picture, if you want to look these up later, or if you want to just write on the connect card, send me that thing, I'll show you. All of the imagery that John gives, he's pulling from Daniel and Ezekiel and this idea of who God is. And Daniel Ezekiel, this was a picture of God, and what God was doing. And Daniel was saying, "I saw Jesus." John is saying, "I saw Jesus, and he looked like this. This powerful, glowing eyes of flame penetrating. He said, "This is who I saw." In in verse 17, "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. This is John who hung out with Jesus for three years, who went fishing with him, who ate meals with him, reclined at the last Supper with him, hung out, talked, laughed with Jesus. This is the John who, on the last day of Jesus's life as he hung on the cross, he saw him defeated, humiliated crucified by the Romans, mocked by the Jewish leadership. It's the same Jesus, who looks at John and says, to his mom, "Mom, John's going to take care of you now." Now he sees him in all his glory and all his power, glowing magnificent. He says, "I fell like I was dead.. The overwhelming power of Christ in his resurrected state, having defeated dead. He said, like I was dead, but look what Jesus says, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of death in Hades." He says, I am the first and the last Jesus claiming to be God. He says, "And I am alive, I'm the living one, but I died. He says, he did die.. And I'm alive forevermore now, never to die again. When he came back from the dead. It wasn't a fiction. It wasn't John writing, saying, I sure wish Jesus was alive. He's alive in my heart, I guess." He was saying, "No, Jesus physically came back from the dead If he didn't, death's not defeated. Death is still undefeated if Jesus stayed in the the grave, but death has been defeated. In fact, Jesus tells John, "I have the keys of death and Hades." For some of you, you've had the experience of owning your first home, and you went through the whole process, you got to get a mortgage, you got to sign the mortgage, you got to do all the paperwork. And then at some point, I said,kay, all the paperwork signed, and at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, I get possession of my house and they give you the keys, probably two keys dangling on a little ring. And at 4 p.m. you turn the lock and you walk in. and you're like, this is mine. I have possession of this. I have authority over this thing. I have the keys that open the door. It's not just a fantasy on Zillow, as you were looking at pictures of a house. It's yours now. Jesus says, "I have the keys of death and Hades. Hades was a name that they gave in scripture for the graveve. It's like the Supermax spiritual prison of the universe. It's the spiritual Alcatraz. No one gets out But Jesus says, "I have the keys." Jesus, when he went into the grave, got the keys of death and Hades. So he has authority over it. He has possession over it. He has control over over it. He doesn't have a mortgage, by the way, like most of us, trying to pay it off to the bank. He owns it clean. He owns it completely. Through his death, he took the keys of death and Hades. But who did he take these from? I mean, what happened? Flipped to Hebrews, a little further back, not too many many books, just a few books back. Hebrews chapter 2, we read that Jesus took the keys of death and Hades from the devil. But the devil had these keys. And that's why death's able to come into our house, come into our home, come into our life, and shatter it, but not forever, because of what Jesus has done Hebrews chapter 2,:1 14 and 15, "Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, that's us us humans. He himself, that's Jesus, likewise partook of the same things. God, the Son, the second person in the Trenity, became human and took on a body and a mind, emotions, entered into the brokenness of this world without himself being broken, and die for us, it says,Look, that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death. That is the dead devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. The Bible teaches us that God created a good world in the beginning, and that Adam and Eve rebelled against God, turned their back on God, and that the devil who had come in to tempt them got control of this world. He got the keys. And that Jesus confronted the devil in his realm and his domain of death, he went into the belly of the beast to reclaim this, to take this from him, and now he holds it. He is the one who has set us free. He is the one who has taken the keys from the devil, and he did that by entering into his domain. This is a story, by the way, a motif that gets played out over and over in our culture. It comes from what God is doing in the world, but we love stories as humans. And often, even people who aren't thinking about it are tapping into the reality of this world, which is that God came into the belly of the beast, death itself, the realm of the devil, to defeat him and bring life out of that. If you don't believe me, I'll give you a few examples. Where did Luke Skywalker go to defeat the Empire to the Death Star, right into the belly of the beast? Where did Frodo go to destroy the ring? He went to Mount Doom and threw it right into the heart of Mordor. For all you young adult fiction readers, where did Katnus go? There you go, you get it, Trish. He went right into the heart of the Capitol to overthrow the Capitol. For all of you Gen Xers, where did Neo go to destroy the Matrix? He went right into the Matrix. And of course, Harry Potter entered the Forben Forest to defeat Voldemort into the heart of darkness to liberate all of these motifs are just ripoffs, cheap imitations of the original, which is that Jesus went into the belly of the beast to disarm Satan, to take his keys away, so that we we can have life. Jesus is the one who has the keys of death and Hades. Now, we're still living in a world where death exists. We see that in revelation to 21, that it's not done completely yet, but the victory has been won, and Jesus sets us free from the fear of death that holds us slaves. We do good in our culture to keep death at bay, to ignore it, to be entertained away by it, but the knock comes, and we know it's real. We know it's still there. Medicine doesn't keep death at bay forever. And we wonder what happens afterwards. Our culture is trying, as other cultures have throughout history, throughout time, to say, well, there is no life after life, so therefore death isn't a problem Except there is life after life, there is a thing that we exist after this life, and there's a God that we have to deal with, whether we have followed him or not, whether we've trusted him or not, whether we're living for him or not. And Jesus sets us free from that fear to say, follow him, and we know that we are right with God. The cross has power over death. 2,000 years ago, Jesus proved that. And here today at Northland Church, I want to offer two things for you to think about as we leave. And the first is this, trust Jesus with your guilt and sin, brokenness, and despair. Those are the four weeks leading up to this Easter Sunday. Jesus can take my guilt over the sins I've committed, the rebellions I've done against God, that I know I've done. And he's taken that upon himself and said, "Follow me. Trustust me, I have paid the price. He can take my sin that holds so tightly, and he can break its power so that I can live faithfully for him He can take my brokenness from my life. and redeem it. He can take our despair and help us in the midst of our grief, not to grieve as those who have no hope. Paul, when he wrote his letter to the Thessalonians, he didn't say, don't grieve. He said, "We don't grieve as those who have no hope, because we have a hope in Christ and Mason, and Cody are able to grieve the loss of their daughter because of Christ, and the hope that it's not over Brenda Fox Fox is able to grieve the loss of her son and husband because of the hope in Christ that he makes all things new. Trust Jesus will with your guilt and sin, your brokenness and despair. But really, what we're saying is this, trust the living Jesus with your life. not just the next life, but this life. He created you. He made you. He loves you. And he says, "Come follow me, I have defeated sin and death, I hold the keys of the grave." He's the only one who does Apart from Christ, there is no victory over sin and death. He's the one who holds the keys. His resurrection our celebration today of his resurrection 2,000 some years ago, physically coming out of the grave is the evidence that he has defeated death. We believe that with all of our heart. that 2,000 years ago, the God man died on a cross, and three days later, rose again, trusts him with your life. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians, 15, He says, "But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.F as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as an Adam all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. We're going to invite our band to come up, and they're going to lead us in a time of celebration, of victory, over death through, Christ. Nothing we can do that frees us from death, but what Christ has done when we put our trust in him, when we give our lives to him and say, "Save me, I rebelled against you. Save me." He says,He will, he's faithful and true to do that. So when you're facing fear and loss, or the unknown, remember this, the one who loves you. The one who died for you. He's the one that owns the house. He's the one that has the keys of sin and death. He has authority. Will, you stand with me, and I'll read one more verse from Revelation chapter 22. The end of the story is this. It's an invitation. It Says this, the spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hear say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come, let the one who desires take the water of life without price.