Apr. 20, 2025

God Fixed our Problem!  (Easter, 2025)

Introduction - Today we celebrate what is the greatest event in all of human history, the resurrection of Jesus!   

Matthew 28:1-9 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” 8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.” NLT

Jesus’ triumph over death was the mightiest thing ever to happen in the entire universe.  It defied the universal human experience in which all humans eventually die.  No one has ever defied this universal law except Jesus.  No other religion or religious figure can claim to have risen from the dead.  

Jesus’ death and resurrection solved a big problem for us:  It made us righteous.  All people were created to be loved by God and to love Him in return. It was to be an endless, ongoing relationship full of joy and blessing for both. When the earliest man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, chose to listen to the advice of Satan and deliberately disobey God, the trust within the relationship was broken.  They, and all humans, became unrighteous.  Adam and Eve were cast out of their perfect home in the Garden of Eden and entered life as we know it, in which a curse was placed upon them, the earth and everything on it.  Work, meant to be a joyful, creative partnership, was now a painful toil, even to get food to eat.  

Romans 3:10 “No one is righteous—not even one.” (Quoted from Psalm 14:1-3) NLT

We can see the love of God evidenced from this critical point in human history onward.  God never gave up on man, but provided skins to cover Adam and Eve.  This foreshadowed His plan to save mankind from the eventual punishment of death, which we deserved, by a perfect sacrifice, life for life.  This came in the form of His perfect son, Jesus, whom He gave in order to perfectly and satisfy His righteous anger toward man.     

Adam’s kin became very sinful over the following centuries. Scholars figure that the earth’s population was around 1 billion people at that time so that by the time Noah was alive, God was sorry he made man.  He sent a flood to kill all mankind and animals except for a representative few.  These He preserved in a large boat called “Noah’s ark.”  All the flood victims had been given ample opportunity to recognize God.  God knew each one of them and their children and knew that not one would ever turn to Him.  Thus, He killed them, preserving only Noah and his family (8 persons) alive to restart the human race.  From information in ancient texts and biblical references, the Flood occurred around 4,373 years ago, or 2457 BC. We are not precisely told where all the victims of the flood are. They are certainly separated from God, probably in hell. 

By contrast, Noah and his family were made righteous.  This happened because God credited or “imputed” the value of the sacrifice of Jesus, which He absolutely knew would happen, to Noah and His family, who demonstrated faith by building the ark. They did not even know who Jesus would be.  Noah and his family displayed faith, which is always some sort of  response to God’s attempt to reach every human (which He perfectly does) through some evidence in the creation or some direct communication.  All humans are made perfectly aware of His presence! In Noah’s case, God spoke to Him and told him to build an ark.

I would like to stop here and think about us Christians, living today, for a bit.  We ask ourselves, more than we’d like to admit, that we wonder if we are actually going to heaven.  Usually we place ourselves in one of three categories, with a corresponding result:

• I’m a mess; I really messed up my life; I’m not redeemable - You don’t grasp the unconditional love of God for you.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, He still loves you.  
• I’m okay, I’ve made some mistakes, but haven’t broken laws or done anything real bad. I try to do good. -  Your motivation is probably to avoid problems; You’ll occupy yourself with your own interests.  God’s interests will be secondary. 
• I’m really pretty good; I have kept all the rules, I’ve been a squeaky-clean Christian - Hope it’s true; just be careful not to rely on your own skill or strength.  Kingdom work must be done by the Spirit of God.  

The problem with all of these views is that they are based on our performance (are you a 50%er, a 75%er, a 100%er?).  None of these have ever mattered as far as getting to heaven is concerned. God has fixed this problem for all mankind, from Noah through to you and me right now.  God has a better approach to saving mankind.  It is based upon love:

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. NASB. 

Jesus’ rising from the dead meant that the curse of permanent, universal death for all mankind due to sin was overcome. A perfect sacrifice had been made and accepted.  In a supernatural show of power, death, th universal evidence of the curse, was overcome.  In doing so, JESUS MADE US RIGHTEOUS! GOD MADE US ACCEPTABLE!  GOD FIXED OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM!  If He had not risen, all of us, and all before us, would perish like the people in the flood. 

Conclusion - We are now living in the age of the church, long after the ages in which Noah lived.  Righteousness, which is our ticket to heaven, has been provided by the finished sacrifice of Jesus.  God is now teaching His church, as the universe watches, the power of His type of LOVE, called agape in the Greek language.  This love empowers us far better than the mere desire to avoid problems or a reliance on our own strength, or remorse, or anything we’ve ever tried to live by.  It was so important that He told one of the most successful early churches (Ephesus) about it:

Revelation 2:4,7 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first…7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. NLT

Let’s have ears to hear! Our worst problem has been taken care of.  Now, Love is what God wants!