God Says Yes

Easter Sunday

April 12, 2009

Albertville, MN

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Rev. Michael A. Trask

2Corinthians 1:20

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him

Very very early in the morning, Just after sunrise, while the dew still clinging to the trees and the tufts of grass that jutted up here and there along the path, the women made their way to place where their beloved teacher had been laid. They aimed to provide just one last work of service to him and anoint his remains. They might have felt bad about the rushed burial that had taken place before and now they came to set things right.

But then they remembered, a great stone had been rolled in front of the tomb, How would they move it? But, no sooner had they mentioned it they arrived and noticed that the great stone has been rolled away! This was rather curious. As they entered the tomb, there was this young fellow dressed in a white robe sitting there. “Don’t be alarmed” He said, (the standard angel greeting when at first they meet up with human beings: Since angels tend to reflect the glory of God, people are not prepared to see them and they are frightened when they do.

Such was the case of these women on this first Easter. They fled from the tomb, and at first said nothing to anyone because they were so afraid. they were “trembling” and “Bewildered” as the Gospel says

But they didn’t get away without being the very first people on earth to hear the most important news ever to be reported! “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.” said the angel. In other words, “yes you came to the right place. This is the right tomb, You’re not mistaken” And then the most important news: “He is risen!”

He is Risen! These words were not merely important to these women who were good friends of Jesus; not merely important to the 11 remaining disciples; not merely important to the crowds who had eagerly listened to his words. Those words are the most important words that anybody in any time or in any place can ever hear or say.

A lot of superlatives there! Usually when somebody utters so many superlatives, we squint our eyes and become suspicious. And you’re right to be that way. But don’t squint too hard. I want you think with me a little bit this morning. Think with me and I will show that my description of his resurrection in such superlative terms is not misplaced. Here’s what I want you to do: I want you to scour your memories for the explicit promises that God has made in his word to you and to me and to all who trust in Whohim.

Think now! What has he promised us? What has he promised us? I’ll start listing some things and you can tick them off in your head.

God has promised us. First and foremost a life that will not end! Jesus said “Whoever lives and believes in me will live even though he dies” (John 11:25) That is a pretty big promise! The complete elimination of the greatest bane on humanity!

God has promised to remove our guilt. He actually puts it this way “And all their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 10:17) He promises to forgive and to forget our sins. With the understanding that we too can forget them....this would a a release from the guilt that would otherwise cling to our souls and embitter Our lives

God has promised to hear our prayers. Yes. Jesus said “Ask anything in my name.” (John 16:23) We have privilege of being able to talk to to God...and his promise to listen.

God has promised us that no matter what happens in our lives here on earth he will take it and use it for our ultimate good. The Apostle Paul said “God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him.” (Rom. 8:28)

Let’s summarize what we’ve listed: Life forever, freedom from guilt, a God who will listen to you, and the confidence that everything will turn out for you no matter what might happen. These are his promises.

Now we are ready to hear a most interesting piece of scripture. It says: For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. (2Cor. 1:20) Ah, yes, We’re almost there; almost to the point of understanding everything!

Think back now through the promises that we mentioned. Did you notice something about each of them? Did you notice that they can only be fulfilled as a result of the forgiveness of our sins?

Think of the first one: life eternal....why didn’t we live eternally in the first place? Because we’re sinners. Death is the result of sin..

Think of the second one: freedom from guilt. Why didn’t we live without guilt in the first place? because we are guilty. We’re sinners and we can’t stop sinning. We know this.

Think of the third one: he will hear our prayers. Why didn’t he hear our prayers in the first place? Since sin is an affront to God and rejection of God it made it impossible for us to talk to him.

And now the forth one: God causing all things to work together for our good, why wasn’t that so? Because sin has so broken our world that we cannot help but be broken along with it. It happens as Forest Gump said.

So how could God promise all these these things to us, knowing that our sins would prevent us from ever receiving them? Here’s how: He would take away our sins! He would send his Son, his only Son Jesus to the cross to die for the sins of the whole world! That’s why Jesus went to the cross. He himself had no sin he went there because of our sins. He suffered and he died.

And now we are back to those most important words that anyone anywhere in anytime will ever hear or say or speak: “He is Risen!” What does that mean? It means that he successfully and fully paid the price for our sins. If he hadn’t he would have stayed in the ground and would even now be suffering for them in hell. The fact that he rose means that he did what he came to do and that he was completely successful. Our salvation wasn’t half done; it wasn’t 2/3’s done; it was completely done. Nothing more is required.

So YES Our sins are forgiven; YES we will live forever; YES we can be free from guilt; YES, we can pray and be heard and YES we can be certain that no matter what happens God will use it for our good.

Let’s hear that verse again “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘YES’ in Christ” Amen to that! Actually that’s what the rest of this verse says, listen to this: “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘yes’ in Christ, and so through him, the amen is spoken by us to glory of God.” Amen’s a word that means “truly” or “this is true” “Or Yeah, I believe this!” When we say Amen at the end of a prayer we are expressing our belief that God will keep his promise to hear us. And the resurrection of Jesus shows us we have ever reason to believe he will keep his promises. So by the resurrection of his Son God said “YES” and God’s people say “AMEN.” By the Resurrection of Jesus God said “YES” and God’s People say “AMEN.