Beyond Easter

Tomorrow, many will, no doubt, celebrate the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Easter is a highly celebrated occasion all around the world. For the Christian, it is rightfully a celebration which should focus on the greatest act of compassion - ever! An event which is a fundamental basis for our faith. For many, it is a time of focus on the purpose and hope that we have from this one event.

It is truly something to be happy about, for it was the greatest expression of love in all of eternity. Let us ask ourselves today, "Could we show Him how happy and thankful we are by focusing on the most important thing to Him?" And so, as we plan to celebrate Easter Sunday, let us consider what was and is today, most important to the One we are celebrating.

Jesus was asked in the hours just before He went to the cross, "Teacher, which kind of commandment is great and important in the Law?" And He replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." And then He said, "This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Like many of you, I want to express to The Lord some way, how much it means to me, what He did - so that mankind could, again, become children of God. But as His "children"... isn't it like us to pull up a beautiful flower from the carefully tilled garden... drag it into the kitchen and say, "I love you". Or, to shine Daddy's shoes for him, but lace them up backwards, and say' "I love you"... we mean well, but I think you see what I mean... We struggle to love a God that is Himself, Love!

Our Father Loves us so much, my Friends! He knows how much we want to love Him today... but as "The Author and Finisher" of our Faith, I believe He would rather we allow Him to express His love to us, today... right now... with something from His Word which reveals a great mystery! When this Word is illuminated within us, His Love will flow back to Him in such a way that truly gives great honor to the event we are about to celebrate.

Before we get into The Word, I want us to consider three words. The first word is CONFIDENCE. Confidence is, full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing.

The second word is ASSURANCE. Assurance is the thing that gives confidence, a positive declaration intended to give confidence. A promise or pledge; guaranty; surety. Full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty: to act in the assurance of success, freedom from timidity.

The third word is SALVATION. salvation is the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc. It is the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc. It is also a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc. In regard to the event we are about to celebrate, salvation is deliverance from the power and penalty of sin... it's... redemption.

Three words! We know these words... but, what do they have to do with Death, Burial, and Resurrection? Now let's go to the Word of God!

"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]" John 16:33

Here, in this verse, Jesus relates to us, our first word - Confidence. He has just told His disciples, that He is going away for a short while... come back for a little bit... and then go prepare a place for them. We know He is talking about His death, burial, and resurrection.

He has just told them that when He goes, He will send The Holy Spirit. He goes on in chapter 16 to describe the work of The Holy Spirit which is the union and communion that The Holy Spirit provides between Jesus and those He was talking to, while He (Jesus) is away. And now, He says that He has told them these things so they may have confidence. In 1 John 4, we find another interesting set of verses concerning the work of The Holy Spirit which also will relate to our word, confidence.

"In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]... "I John 4:17.

There is our word again... Confidence! God is telling us, that, the union and communion we have with Christ, through The Holy Spirit is producing LOVE with us. This LOVE, is being brought to completion and attains perfection with us. But look at the purpose of this love. He says, "that we may have confidence for the day of judgment"! You see the amplified has added our other word, "assurance"... and for good reason, but I don't want to get ahead of this issue of confidence.

In verse 17, we see that The Holy Spirit should be filling us, and then using LOVE, to bring about a "confidence" in us, toward the day of judgment. He is talking about a confidence in our "salvation"... Our third word.

Christian, Are we CONFIDENT in our SALVATION? Do we march through the trials of the week feeling "saved"... and by Thursday, feel that, well, maybe we're not so saved... maybe, we've really done it this time and lost that eternal destiny! Let's stop here, for just a moment and think on all that God has done in History to bring man back to Himself... and since we are about to celebrate Easter, let's center our focus on the work of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Ok, now read these next 3 verses while keeping how much God loves us in mind, while you listen to what He says.

John 5:24 "I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life."

Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now listen to me... "Your friend", whom Christ has made me to Love you, also! THE MEASURE OF YOUR CONFIDENCE IN WHAT GOD SAYS IN THESE VERSES IS TIED TO HOW MUCH YOU UNDERSTAND HIS LOVE FOR US. That is the Confidence that God wants us to have today.

Now let's look at "assurance"... Why is this an important word today?

"Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]." Hebrews 11:1

Do you see our word there... It's related to faith. It is, as I said earlier, what brings the confidence we need in our "salvation". I like how the Amplified says, "the title deed"... we have that. Hold it up today... wave it to the devil, my friends... This is the mystery I see missing from many in the body of Christ today. Let's continue, just a little more before we end this Word from God. Listen,...

"Because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world righteously (justly) by a Man Whom He has destined and appointed for that task, and He has made this credible and given conviction and assurance and evidence to everyone by raising Him from the dead" Acts 17:31.

Now, we know the "man" Paul is referring to here is Jesus... both from the "capital" M, and from the context in and around this verse. And what should be noted is that Jesus has earned the task of judgment! Here, we see that through what Jesus did to earn this appointment, God has given conviction and "assurance" and evidence to everyone by raising Him from the dead. So, what God did with Christ at Calvary should be the assurance for you and I to have this confidence in our salvation.

Listen to Jesus, as He talks to His Father and Our creator, God.

"For the [uttered] words that You gave Me I have given them; and they have received and accepted [them] and have come to know positively and in reality [to believe with absolute assurance] that I came forth from Your presence, and they have believed and are convinced that You did send Me" John 17:8.

Absolute Assurance? Oh yes, my friends. Let's put all of this together now and hear what we can do today, to celebrate this one - greatest expression of God's love.

"Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water" Hebrews 10:22.

Salvation! Our third word today... Dear Christian, you remember that day... that night... that moment you reached the end of yourself... that moment when you had "had enough"! That was the last straw... You couldn't go any longer, like that! You had all of this world that you ever wanted to see again, and you surrendered... You gave your life to Christ! You remember how you felt Him come into your heart?

What God wants from you today is to have that CONFIDENCE in your SALVATION. What God allowed Jesus to do through His Death, Burial, and Resurrection is our ASSURANCE that we have. The Holy Spirit, we read earlier, is the source of God's love and the mystery is that God's love is to bring about a "confidence" in us, toward the day of judgment.

This is just one more reason Jesus said that love is the most important thing. This is why we study God's Word about Love. We have seen how looking at God's Word through the "lens of love"... Seeing that love is the context of ALL of The Word... it has opened His Word up to us, even more so. Through God's love, we see, that it is through His Love that we are brought into the ASSURANCE and a CONFIDENCE of our SALVATION.

How can I show God how much I love Him... I can't... Except by believing in His Word today! He's already doing the rest. Amen?

I love you.
Preston