 And happy Easter morning. This is the big day. This is the day when everything changed, when history changed. There's not a single day in human history more significant than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And right now, I just wanna remind you that all over the planet, believers are gathering in all kinds of different churches. Some of them in massive cathedrals and some of them in grass huts. Some of them in their backyards of Cuba sitting in white lawn chairs. And some of them in bunkers in Ukraine where they are all together in different languages and in different cultures and in different situations singing the same song, which is Christ, the Lord is risen today. What began with a handful at an empty tomb is now a worldwide movement that has been transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ. We are part, we are part of that. And I just remind us of that because otherwise we can just get into a mode of thinking that this is just us. This is what we do in the spring. We pass out little tweets and Cadbury eggs and Reese's peanut butter cups and we go to church and we dress in pastel colors and then we go watch NBA playoffs and then we move on. But I want you to know it's so much bigger than that. This is the day when Christ, our victory, rose from the dead. We're so glad that you're joining us. This morning I want to invite you if you do have a Bible with you, which I hope you do. If not, it will come up on the screens to turn with me to Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two. We're gonna read these words from the apostle Paul to the church at Colise reminding us of what took place at the cross and at the resurrection. And here's what he says beginning in verse 13. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. And this he set aside nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in it, which is the cross. And when it says that he's raised us up together with him, he's talking about Jesus and he's talking about the resurrection, that when Christ was raised, those of us who have placed our faith in Christ as our savior, we were also raised to the newness of life with him. But it's because of what took place on Friday that the power and the victory of the resurrection has such a ramification upon each of our lives individually because here's what we need to know. Every single one of us come to the resurrection of Christ with a different vantage point. All of us have to deal and we have to grapple with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's just what do you do with what took place on that first Easter morning? Some of us might come and as they did on that first resurrection morning, we peer into the empty tomb and we might walk away going, yeah, it's a great story, but it doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't change my life. Others of us might come to the tomb like many of the disciples did. We might come and look at the empty tomb and doubt. But others of us come to the tomb and we believe the report that Christ is risen from the grave, but here's what you cannot do. You cannot look at Jesus at the cross and his resurrection and have no perspective. This morning, my hope is that if you are one who believes like many of us are, we're here today because we're celebrating and worshiping him. And by the way, Easter is not just one day on a calendar where we celebrate the resurrection and then like the beautiful runner on our table for Easter dinner, we fold it up and put it away. Every day is Easter Sunday for every Christian. Every day because Christ, his resurrection impacts and changes our lives every single day. You might come to the resurrection and you might look at it and you might doubt. And I would say to you that there's so much powerful, historical and secular reason to believe as well as the scriptures themselves and the eyewitnesses accounts to believe on Jesus as risen from the dead. Lee Strobel has written an incredible book. He's been here many times, his book called The Case for Christ where an atheist trained in law at Yale and then a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter investigates the claims of Christ's resurrection and does it from the vantage point of an atheist but turns out to become a believer because there's so much evidence for the resurrection. But one thing that you cannot do with the resurrection is you cannot walk by it passively and not have a perspective. Today, I wanna talk to you about why Christ's resurrection is actually our victory. And I've entitled this message, Christ's Victor which in Latin means Christ the Victor or literally Christ our victory. Why is it that Christ at his resurrection, Jesus Christ not only was victorious over the grave but becomes your victory? You know, one of the most famous passages that is preached on Easter Sunday is 1 Corinthians 15 or chapter 15 verse 55 and it says this, oh death where is your sting? Oh grave where is your victory? Have you ever heard that verse before? In fact, you might be familiar with it. It's sung many, many times in many different hymns. Oh death where is your sting? Oh grave where is your victory? When I was contemplating that question that scripture asks the Holy Spirit just highlighted he says, I'll tell you where the victory of the grave is. It's no longer in the grave. Jesus went into the grave but on the third day he took that victory with him out of the grave and he offers it to everyone who trust in him as their personal Lord and savior. You see the victory of the grave was 100% consistent and undefeated until Jesus defeated the grave. And when he defeated the grave he gave the victory to those who would place their trust in him. Good Friday asked the question, who is this man? But Easter Sunday answers the question by stating that Christ is our victory. Christ is the victorious one over death, hell and the grave. And Romans 6 verse nine says it like this. It says knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him for death has died. You see Easter is not just a celebration of Jesus alive but it's also a celebration of death being dead. And it says that death has died and it says he Jesus died to sin once and for all but the life that he lives he lives unto God. Jesus defeated death. When the stone was rolled away and Jesus's dead body was made alive again by the power of the Holy Spirit and he walked out of the tomb. This wasn't just an event one time in history that we look at and go look one man defeated death. You see Jesus defeated it and because he defeated it he says to all the rest of us, anyone who placed their trust in me. I don't know about you but I can trust a man who can beat death. But he said if you put your trust in me not only will it be my victory but it can be your victory. You see all the things that sent Jesus to the grave and all the things that send you and I to the grave are the very things that Jesus defeated. But before we can understand what took place at the resurrection we have to have an appreciation and an understanding of what Jesus paid for on the cross. On Good Friday Jesus allowed himself to be falsely accused, to be arrested, to be humiliated, to be crucified, to be tortured and to be killed. And the reason why he did it was not because he deserved it, he did it because we deserved it. Jesus exchanged his righteousness for our unrighteousness and his right to never die for our penalty that we had to die because the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. And in fact the reason why Jesus went to the grave and the reason why his victory is so sweet on Easter morning is because we deserve to die on the cross and to be left in the grave. But the fact that he rose again gives us brand new hope and church we are people of hope. I was sitting with my staff, my past oral team yesterday before Saturday evening service and we pray together before every service every weekend and yesterday I decided I said I'm gonna read you guys a quote from somebody that you know you will recognize their name. I want you to tell me who it is. And so I read the quote to them and I'm gonna read it to you today and the quote, it's so powerful I think it says this, it says, the victory of the cross was not apparent on Friday. It took the breaking dawn of the Sunday morning to reveal that what hell had assumed was a thwarted rescue plan of God was shockingly the time-released death blow to the powers and the rulers of hell. Isn't that powerful? So I asked my past oral team, I said guys tell me who it is. Who am I quoting and somebody said is that C.S. Lewis and I said no it's not C.S. Lewis and they said is that Tim Keller and I said no it's not Tim Keller and one of my other pastors said no I can't be Keller it's too simple and I said well yeah it's still a good quote and then they said well who is it and I said well it's me. See what happens when you can't find a right quote is you write one and then you just simply state it has been said. But I wrote this statement because as I was contemplating the connection between the cross and the resurrection this is the reality of it. On Friday Jesus died and it was not apparent what was happening. Hell thought that they had defeated love. Hell thought that they had defeated God. Hell thought that God had injected a savior into the world to save humanity from the bondage of sin, death and ultimately the destination of hell because we are guilty as charged. But what he didn't realize is it was actually a time released victory. With every lash upon Jesus' body healing was occurring. With every nail that was piercing his hands the keys of freedom were going into the lock of the human soul. And what hell thought was a death march to the cross was actually a victory march a triumph march for you and I. And it would not be fully released until Sunday morning. A.W. Tozer says this he says we understand this and acknowledge that the resurrection has placed a glorious crown upon all of Christ's suffering. Jesus is victorious and Jesus' decisive victory on the third day means this, that your history ended at the cross on Good Friday and it means that your future began on Sunday at Jesus' resurrection. Your history ends at the cross all of your sin all of the things that made you guilty and condemned before God that ended at the cross. And my friend your new life, your new beginning, your eternal life begins on Sunday at the resurrection. When he rose we rose. This is our hope. Jesus' victory becomes our victory. It says that in him God has made us alive and raised us up together with him. When Jesus rose, if you are a child of God, if you are a Christian, when he rose, you rose. He was your victory. And listen to me, if you're here today and you are not a follower of Jesus, you don't just have to look at the resurrection today, you can enter into the resurrection. His victory can become your victory. What did Jesus really do at the cross that so affects us on Easter Sunday? Well, he did three things and it's written right here in Colossians chapter three. And let me share over the next few moments what I believe is so powerful about the cross and the resurrection that it ultimately can become the victory that we could never win for ourselves. Not a single one of us, but is accomplished in Christ alone at the cross. Number one, it says here that he has forgiven you, forgiven us of all of our sins and our trespasses. It says that you and I were dead in our trespasses and in the uncircumcision of our flesh, but God made us alive, having forgiven us all of our trespasses. What's a trespass? You might read that in the Bible sometimes and go, what does it mean a trespass? You might have grown up reciting the Lord's prayer, forgive us our trespasses. What does it mean to trespass? The word trespass, you can call it sin, but it's actually more than that. You see a trespass is when you cross a boundary into a territory illegally that does not belong to you. If you've ever seen signs, no trespassing. When you cross over a boundary line that does not belong to you into territory that you have no right to tread upon, that's called trespassing. And the Bible says that every single one of us have trespassed into territory that alone belongs to God. You see, God draws boundary lines and he says, don't do this. God draws boundary lines and says, this is my territory to define for you what is right, what is true, what is praiseworthy, what is excellent, what honors me, what is pleasing to others. And he says, don't cross these lines, but every single one of us have stepped over the line into territory that only belongs to God. And thus we've declared, I don't need you God and I don't need to respect your lines. I am my own leader. I am my own maker of rules and rights. And when we do that, we sin against a holy God and we are guilty as charged. When I was a elementary age child, we grew up in Kentwood, Michigan and we lived from second to fifth grade, sixth grade in an apartment. And when you're a small kid, especially in the summertime, you're looking for things to do and to explore. Well, there's not a lot of room for exploration on an apartment complex. We would explore the laundry rooms or run up and down the stairs or there was a pool house so we would go to the pool house. But you begin to look for other things to explore. Right on the edge of the apartment complex property was a vast open field. I mean, just acres and acres of land and woods and barns and old silos. But there was a barbed wire fence that separated the apartment complex from this property and there were signs posted all over that said, do not trespass. Well, how many of you think that a band of 10 or so fourth and fifth grade boys listened to that sign? No, we crossed over that barbed wire and we explored all over the place. I mean, you know, that was back in the days when your mom and dad would tell you when the street lights go on, come home. And so we would all day long and we found these old barn, an old barn and old silos. You know, we'd climb up to the top of the silos and we could have fallen down in that silo and people still would be looking for us. And we made forts, it was every boy's dream. I mean, we had a rope swing on a big rafter. We had a whole fort set up, old farming implements that was out there. It was like our clubhouse and every day in the summer we'd get on our bikes. We'd lift them over the barbed wire fence and do our, you know, our little mountain biking expedition back to the barn, trespassing until one day when we showed up and the owner of the property was waiting for us. We rode up and he came up out of the barn. He said, what are you boys doing here? We were like, oh, I don't know. And he goes, is this all your stuff up in my barn? It's like, I don't know. And he's like, you're trespassing on my land. Did you get out of here? Your parents know that you're here? No, we didn't even wait around. We got on our bikes and we hightailed it out of there. Why? Because we knew we were wrong and we continued to go back. And you know, this is what we do with God. God says, this is the line of holiness. This is the line of my law. And yet you know what we continue to do? We trespass over that line into territory that only God should tread. And it's because of that we stand before God guilty. Our pride can say, well, I'm not gonna give God any pleasure. I'm not gonna give God any excuse, but what he's looking for is humility. And when we come to him for humility, here's what Jesus did for us on the cross. It says he forgave all of our trespasses. All the times we've stepped over the line. You know, today the most powerful testimony to the resurrection of Jesus is not the forensic or the historical evidence. It's a life that's changed. It's a life that's been transformed and changed. Week in and week out through radiant stories and testimonies that we hear here and outside of the building, whether it's downtown or in Portage or on the other side of the world through a kingdom builder story. When we hear stories of people that hear the gospel and receive the forgiveness of sins, we see the power of what took place at the cross where the trespasses and the things that are in our own hearts, our own consciences condemn us, the guilt and the shame, the times where we've stepped over the line, the times that our hearts have become hardened and yet we meet the resurrected savior and we hear the good news and we believe in it. And all of the sin and all of the guilt is stripped away. That is the greatest testimony to the power of Jesus' resurrection. The second thing that took place at the cross was it says that he has canceled our record of debt. It says that he cancels the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. So with our sins comes a written statement of our sins and our legal debt. You know, written above Jesus on the cross was the accusations made against him. But unseen to the natural eye when Jesus was on the cross was also written every sin and every legal accusation against you and me and every person who's ever lived. Because that's what the devil does. The devil stands before God like a prosecuting attorney saying, God, you are holy, but they are sinful. And here's exactly what they've done. Here's all the examples. Can you imagine somebody taking and writing a list of all the things that you have done, all the sins, all the mistakes, all the times you've missed the mark, all the decisions you've made out of pride and rebellion against what you know in your heart and in your conscience is right. Can you imagine if that was put before you today? Can you imagine how your heart would begin to sink like somebody who is under the weight of an insurmountable and unpayable debt? Imagine that list. I know we're in church. I know it's Easter, so I'm gonna get you at a moment when you know you cannot lie. How many of you know that you have missed the mark you've sinned at least one time in your life? Just raise your hand. If you're not raising your hand right now, welcome to the club. But we know really that it's more than one. Imagine that list. The Bible actually says that Lord, if you measured all of our transgressions, who could stand? Who could stand before you? And there's a lot of talk in our culture right now about canceling debt, canceling debt. Hey, we should just cancel everybody's student debt. Four trillion dollars of student debt. There's a lot of talk about bankruptcy and about the economy and about how it's impacted people's lives and it's just easier to kind of wipe out debt. But here's what I want everybody to know. I think we already know this. When you forgive people's debt, when you cancel debt, somebody pays for it. Somebody pays for it. It's either the taxpayer or people say, well, the government should just do it. Can I just remind you? The government doesn't have any money except our money. And when they give it to other people, they're the one that gets the thanks and we get the bill. When we look at forgiveness of all of our sin and all of our debt before God, it's a debt that you and I could never pay. I promise you, four trillion dollars is like a drop in the bucket compared to the sin debt that we owe to God. You will never be able to pay it back. You can't do enough good. There's nothing that you could. Somebody has to pay the debt. Well, who paid our debt? Who when Satan came before God and said, this person can't get into heaven. This person is not right before you. You are a holy God. Sin cannot enter into your presence. The soul that sins must die. And Satan like a good prosecuting attorney at the cross is condemning Jesus and what he doesn't realize is he's actually allowing the release of us because at the cross Jesus takes the bill of our debt and he cancels it. He cancels it with his own blood. He paid a debt that he did not owe. He paid a debt that no human being could ever pay because it takes a sinless man. And yet he did not deserve it but he willingly laid down his life and canceled the record of debt that is so big that we could never pay it so that you and I could receive it. And the third thing that Jesus does at the cross and is validated at the resurrection is he disarmed the rulers of hell against you. Look at this. It says in verse 15, and he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in it. He disarmed them. He disarmed them. Here's Jesus at the cross. And every demon in hell is mocking and wagging their tongue at Jesus and saying, son of God, you're dying now. Look, we've got the victory over you. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter two had the rulers of this age known what the outcome would be on the other side of Friday when Sunday rolled around, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But in the process of Jesus dying, absorbing our sin, your sin, my sin, the enemy thought he was winning had no idea that Jesus was actually disarming him, stripping him of his authority, his dignity and his power and his arsenal because the weaponry of the enemy against the human heart is condemnation. It is pride. It is deception. It is our hard hearts. It is our open rebellion against God. It is that condemnation that he continually comes back and says, God would never want you. I heard it this week. Somebody says, oh, I could never go to a radiant church. Somebody invited them to come to church. I could never go there. If I went there, God would strike me with lightning. I promise you, only sinners come through these doors. But there's only a savior that meets us here. You see, that's what the enemy does. He condemns us, doesn't he? He's like, oh, you gotta get your life together. You gotta pay your own debt. You're never gonna get your debt paid by yourself. Only Jesus can do that. You gotta clean yourself up a little bit. Only Jesus can do that. You gotta stop crossing the barbed wire fence. Only Jesus can do that. But the enemy is constantly there using his weapons of sin and shame and the cycle of defeat where you say, I'm gonna change. And then you don't. And then you feel condemned and you run from God and you bear your own burden. And it pushes you further and further away from God. When Jesus was on the cross, he was stripping the enemy of his authority and his power. So the enemy no longer has any weapons against you. Jesus has disarmed them all and triumphed over the devil in the cross. What kind of a victory? What kind of a victory is it when a man stretches out his arms between heaven and earth and instead of retaliating, gives up his life? How did he defeat and disarm the devil? He did it with one statement, it is finished. It is finished. I'm sure the devil scratched it and said, what does that mean? He thought Jesus was saying, this is the end. This is it for me. But what he didn't realize is Jesus was actually saying, no, it's actually the end for you, devil. Give me three days. On Friday, hell threw a party. But on Sunday, when the stone rolled away, the very gates of hell trembled and shook. As the cell in the prison doors of the race of Adam was thrown wide open and Jesus claimed victory over death, hell and the grave. Jesus is our victory. Ephesians two, verse five says, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he's made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you've been saved and raised us up together. See, this is what happened at the cross. You see, the disciples were gathered around the cross and they were the same ones two days later, two and a half days later when they came to the empty tomb and they saw that Jesus indeed was raised alive forever. The youngest of those disciples was named John. John who wrote the gospel. And when John wrote his own gospel and he gives the account of resurrection Sunday, he talks about hearing the news and running to the grave. And he also mentions that he beat Peter to the tomb. I love that. A little competitive juices flowing there. John being the youngest, probably a young adult, older teenager when Jesus calls him to leave his father's nets and to follow him. He's probably 20, 21-ish when Jesus is crucified and raised from the dead. And he's then commissioned as were the others to go and to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, the powerful, life changing, saving gospel of Jesus. And John holds the distinction of also being the last apostle of the Lamb to remain alive. You see over the next several decades, Jesus was crucified around 30, 33 AD. Over the next three to four decades, history records that all of the others were martyred for their faith. Peter was crucified in around 66 AD by Nero, crucified upside down in the city of Rome. Paul was beheaded by the same Nero. Bartholomew was shot through with arrows. Mark was pierced through with spear. Thomas would be killed and martyred at the southern tip of India. And on and on and on, all scattered around the world, laying down their lives just like Jesus had, knowing that there is no fear in death because I have eternal life through my resurrected Jesus, John being the last living apostle. And then around 90 AD, John has been arrested. They tried to kill John, they could not. So they exiled John to a rock quarry prison camp out in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea called Patmos. And while John, who's probably around 90 years old at this time, he knows he's the last living apostle. He served Jesus faithfully for all of these years. And he's probably living at a time when he's wondering, Jesus, what have I done wrong? What have I done wrong that I've not been martyred? What have I done wrong that here I am on this island? What purpose am I serving? It may have been a dark night of the soul for John, but the book of Revelation says in chapter one that when John was in the spirit on the Lord's day, which is a Sunday, a Sunday that commemorated the resurrection of Jesus, that the same Jesus that came to him on the Sea of Tiberias and told him to leave your nets and follow me, the same Jesus that he leaned against the breast of at the Last Supper, the same Jesus that had walked through the walls into the upper room on that first resurrection morning, the same Jesus that he saw departed 10 days before Pentecost, that same Jesus appeared to him on the island of Patmos with his eyes blazing like fire, his face radiating with the glory of God, and his voice sounding like the sound of many waters, stands before John and announces to him in Revelation one, verse 18, I am he who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and I have the keys of Hades and of death. Can you imagine what it must have been like to see Jesus after all of these years and to see that he's still holding the keys of Hades and of death? He still holds the keys of the grave. He still has the victory that he won at the cross of the resurrection, and he's still burning with love and passion. He had not forgotten John. He had not left him behind. He had not dissipated into the annals of history. He was still ruling and reigning and he still was our victory. I want you to know 2000 years has passed, but church Jesus is still our victory. He still has set us free from the power of the enemy. He still forgives sins. He still tears up the documents and the condemnation and the guilt that the enemy wants to use against us. This is why Jesus is our victory because Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Not all the self-help in the world can give us eternal life. Not all the self-help in the world can relieve us of our guilt and shame, but Jesus, who is our victory, has and does and listen. He still holds the keys. This morning, whatever prison door you stand behind, he still holds the keys. Whatever sentence has been leveraged against you, Jesus still holds the keys and the keys can open any prison door. He can forgive any sin. He can give eternal life to any dead soul. Jesus is Lord. Wherever you're at, Portage and Richland, would you stand to your feet with me this morning? Jesus is our Christus, victory, our victory. And to all those who believed in him and to all those who still believe in him, to them he gives the power to be called the children of God. He gives them the ability. He gives them resurrection life. Today, we're all dead in our own sin and trespasses without Jesus. Our heart is dead. We might live this life, but the grave awaits us all. Can you defeat the grave on your own? There's only one who has. And to the one who believes in Jesus, he gives that same life, gives us a brand new heart in a new beginning, washes away all of our sins and fills us with eternal life now. And he disarms the devil just as he did on Good Friday. Would you bow your heads with me all over the room? Today, I wanna ask you, what do you do with Jesus, the cross and the resurrection today? Do you believe today, if you are a Christian, a believer, how is the resurrection of Jesus impacting the way that you live every single day? Today, if you say, I don't know, I'm not a Christian. Today is a day for you to receive the greatest gift ever given, the gift of eternal life, the gift of forgiveness before God, the gift of a brand new heart. Are you bound by things that you've tried to find your freedom and victory in? Today, it's time for you to lay your tools aside and yield and surrender and bow the knee to the one alone who has defeated and can give you the victory. The Bible says that as many as believed in him, he saved. Today, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is raised from the dead. Today, you may have come to church and say, today I know I believe and today I know I want my sins forgiven. Today, I want my debt canceled. Jesus, you alone can do that, save me. Today is a resurrection day for you. And all over this room in just a moment, I'm gonna count to three and I'm gonna ask you to take a step out of the grave. I'm gonna ask you, would you hear me say three? If you know you need to get your life right with God, you need that forgiveness that I talked about. You want Jesus to fill you with eternal life, save you from your sins, set you free from all the works of the enemy and rescue you from an eternity in hell separated from God. And you say, I know that I'm not right with God, but today is a day of resurrection for me. Jesus, save me. When you hear me say three, I want you to raise your hand all over this room, hold it up and I'm gonna lead us in a prayer together. Here we go. One, two, three. Just raise it up and hold it. Today is your resurrection day. Come on, all over the room, come out of the tomb, come out of the grave, let Jesus be your victory. Yes, yes, hands all over the room. If you've not raised it, literally, we're gonna wait 15 seconds, but you will remember this day for all eternity. If you've not raised it right now, break the shackles off. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Hands all over the room. At portage as well, raise your hand. We may not see it, but God sees your hand. Your step of faith, thank you, thank you, thank you. Right now you can put your hands down. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna pray a prayer. And this is a prayer of confession and imitation. We're saying, Jesus, come and save us, forgive us, fill us with eternal life. We're all gonna pray this together, but if you raise your hands, this is your prayer to God. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, I come in Jesus' name and I confess that I have sinned, I have fallen short and I deserve death, but today I ask for life, resurrection life. I believe in Jesus, that he died on the cross, that he rose on the third day, and he is alive forevermore. Jesus, come and save me, fill me with life. Give me a new beginning, wash all my sins away and set me free from the works of the devil. From this day forward, I set my heart on following you and I turn my back on the devil, I turn my back on the world and on my sin. Today, Jesus is my victory and I am a child of God and I will never be the same in Jesus' name, amen. And amen, come on, can we just celebrate? Can we just celebrate all over this room? Jesus is our victory. Come on, he's alive, he's good, and he saves to the uttermost. Come on, let's take a few moments and let's worship Jesus together.