Easter 2026 | The Resurrection Changes Everything

I want to say "Hello" to all of the people sitting in the Chapel and the Town Center right now. I know we're in two different places, but we're the same church celebrating the same King today. I'll start just by sharing this with you. A couple of weeks ago over spring break, I took a father/son trip with my oldest son Noah, and we had a great time. I always love the chance to get individual time with one of my sons.

On the last night of our trip, I decided we needed to eat one last good meal, so I turned to a chain restaurant that I knew I could count on. That chain restaurant might surprise you, but the chain restaurant I turned to in this moment was Benihana. The reason I turned to Benihana is I am a sucker for the show at Benihana. I love it every time. I've seen the show several times. Every single time, I know exactly what's coming, and I always look forward to it, and I'm impressed by it every single time.

If you're not familiar with the show, it starts with the ceremonial spinning of the spatulas. Every single time, I have the same thought. "What if this time it slips?" Every time, I have that thought. Then there's the fried rice heart where the chef shapes the rice into a heart, then sticks the spatula under the rice and pumps it up and down to simulate a heart beating, which is always a crowd favorite.

Then, of course, as you know, there's the onion volcano where he stacks onions on top of each other and lights them on fire. The real chefs don't stop at the volcano. They then separate out the onion slices, pull out a train whistle, blow it, and make a choo-choo train. That's when you know you have a good chef at Benihana. I love it. I genuinely look forward to it every time, and even though I know what's coming, I'm always impressed.

This particular time, when Noah and I went to eat, as we're watching the chef work… And I was proud of this chef. He brought his A-game. I looked across our hibachi table at this family of four that was sitting across from us, and while the chef is doing his thing, every member of the family is just looking at their screens. The dad was playing a game across three phones. I watched him walk to the table. He walked from the front of the restaurant with three phones just like this. I was like, "Respect, dude. You're using all fingers right now, which is crazy."

The dad was doing that, the mom was on her screen, and then their two kids had their tablets propped up on the table and were watching them while the chef was doing his thing. So, the whole time the chef is working, they're just not interested. Occasionally, the mom would look up, look at the chef, clap a little, and go back to her phone.

The reason I tell you that is when we gather on Easter, I would imagine the majority of the people in the room know what they're going to get when they come to a service. I'd be surprised if a good majority of the room is shocked that we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. You know that's what we're here to do. We're here to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Even though you know what to expect, my hope is that every single year, you would be amazed all over again at the wonderful reality that Jesus Christ didn't just die for you; he rose for you. I hope that this year, right now…not because of me, not because of the band, but because of Christ…your heart would be stirred with affection for him.

Look. If you're new to church, if this is your first time to come into an Easter service, and you're really not clear on Christ and what he has done and what is available to you because he died and rose from the dead, my hope today is that you would be truly amazed that you have a Lord and Savior who loved you, gave his life for you, and conquered the grave for you.

But my fear is that there would be some people here today in this room, in the Chapel, and in the Town Center who would be physically present but would never even give Jesus a chance. Like, you would walk into this place already having drawn a conclusion that Jesus Christ isn't worth your time, so you would go this entire hour and never, figuratively speaking, look up and just see if Jesus Christ is worth considering.

Maybe you're here because you're just trying to be a good team player and it wasn't worth the fight this morning. If that's you, I'm glad you made it, but let me just beg you. Let me invite you to look up, to just look up and consider, "Is Jesus Christ worth it?" So, I just want to invite everyone to pray right now. We do this every time we gather as a church.

I want to invite you right now to just pause and pray for yourself. Would you just pray this simple prayer? "God, would you speak to me today?" Would you pray that for yourself? Then, would you pray it for the people around you, your family and friends? Just ask God to speak to them as well. Then, would you pray for me and ask God to speak through me to you?

Lord, I do pray that you would speak to our hearts, and I pray that every person here at Watermark and around our city would see Jesus clearly today and respond with amazement. We love you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Let me just tell you where we're going this morning. We're going to unpack four realities. First, we're going to talk about the proof of the resurrection. If you're here today and you're a skeptic…you are really not okay with this idea that Jesus rose from the dead…that's going to hopefully be helpful to you that we're just going to talk about the proof of the resurrection.

And if Jesus Christ did, in fact, rise from the dead, we need to behold the person of the resurrection and the power of the resurrection, and then we'll finish by talking about the people of the resurrection, the people who experience the life and joy that come from knowing Jesus Christ. So, that's where we're going.

If you have a Bible, I want to invite you to turn with me to Acts, chapter 5. If you're just visiting today, our church family has been journeying through the book of Acts. The book of Acts unpacks the explosion of Christianity in the first century. We're looking at a story today where the apostles are arrested by a wealthy religious political group known as the Sadducees. The Sadducees are very relevant to Easter because they didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead.

They arrest the apostles because they believe the apostles are staking their lives on a lie and are preaching for other people to do the same. They believe that Christians are intellectually ignorant, gullible, brainwashed people. Some of y'all are like, "I think I could be a good Sadducee," because you might feel the same way about Christians. What I want to do is look at what the apostles say, the defense they give when they're standing in court. Here's what they say. Acts 5:27-32:

"And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, 'We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.'"

If you're tuned out right now, tune back in, because what we find in this short defense are the essential claims of Christianity. Let's just be clear. The essential claims of Christianity are not "Work hard to be a good person. Prioritize church in your life. You need to vote for this particular candidate."

The essential claims of Christianity are Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead. In dying on a cross, Jesus Christ was making payment for your sin and mine. He was being punished in our place. Through rising from the dead, Jesus Christ was making a way for us to be completely forgiven by God of anything we have done, are doing, or will do, and he has made a way for us to live with God forever. Those are the essential claims of Christianity.

Now, what I want you to see is in their defense, according to the apostles, we are only able to experience forgiveness of sins because Christ was raised from the dead and exalted by God. Don't miss what I'm telling you right now. If there is no resurrection of Jesus, there is no good news for us in Jesus. The Christian faith crumbles to the ground if Christ is not raised from the dead. If there's no resurrection of Jesus, there is no good news for us in Jesus. If that's true, it would be really helpful if there is some proof that Christ did, in fact, rise from the dead.

So, let's talk about the proof of the resurrection. What I really appreciate is in the apostles' defense, they sow seeds that have grown over the last 2,000 years, so now there is good proof we can look at that would lead us to believe that Christ did, in fact, rise from the dead. I'll unpack it for you in three E's.

The first E is the execution of Jesus. We see that in their defense. They say in verse 30, "The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree." The apostles asserted that Jesus Christ died, was executed, specifically by crucifixion. What's really helpful is there are several first-century non-Christian sources, such as Josephus and Tacitus, who are just a few of the many non-Christian sources that actually confirm what the apostles asserted, that Jesus Christ did, in fact, die by crucifixion.

That's really helpful that there are first-century non-Christian sources that would agree with this. If you were to put all of those sources together, they would affirm facts such as Jesus lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar, he had a brother named James, he was called the Christ or Messiah by some, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, his disciples believed he rose from the dead, and Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome.

One of my sons came home from school, and he was talking about a conversation he had with other kids at school. There were kids at his school saying they didn't believe Jesus Christ even existed. Some people in this world would believe that Jesus is just kind of a tale that's told, but for you to have that mindset is to stand on the wrong side of history, because history would say, from first-century non-Christian sources, that Jesus Christ didn't just truly exist but was, in fact, executed by crucifixion. But not just that. His followers really believed he rose from the dead.

Those non-Christian sources might not agree with the apostles, but those non-Christian sources would affirm that Jesus Christ's followers believed he rose from the dead and that they had eyewitness experiences. That's the second E: eyewitness experiences. That's why, in verse 32, they said, "And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

So, if the apostles asserted that they had seen the resurrected Christ, and if first-century non-Christian sources would affirm that the apostles believed they had seen the resurrected Christ, then the question we should ask is…Were they lying? Is there any evidence we could look at that would help us discern whether they were lying or not?

Something that's important to note is the disciples had nothing to gain from living a lie. If Jesus truly was dead, yet they were advocating that he was alive, they had nothing to gain from that. They didn't get power. They didn't get prestige. Even this story goes to show… Do you know what they got for it? They got arrested. They got persecuted for it. Tradition would tell us that 11 of the 12 disciples actually went on to be martyred for their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you think about it, Peter already showed us, before Christ was crucified, that he was willing to deny Jesus Christ to save his own life, yet here we see him in Acts, chapter 5, with a newfound boldness. Even Peter is saying in verse 29, "We must obey God rather than men." What led to the newfound boldness, a willingness to give his life for Jesus? It's plausible that he had actually seen the resurrected Christ.

It's interesting to think about how the apostles, later in their writings, would indicate that the first witnesses of the empty tomb were women, one of which had previously been demon-possessed. I read this just this morning in Luke 24, the account of the resurrection, that the first witnesses were women. The reason that's interesting is in the first century, a woman's testimony carried no weight in a court of law.

Just think about that. If you're making it up, if it didn't really happen, yet you're trying to get a widespread audience to believe a lie, you get to choose how you lead the story. No fabricated story would intentionally start with unreliable evidence. That makes no sense. The most plausible reason for the apostles beginning with women as the first witnesses is because they were simply trying to recount what was true, what actually happened.

Another thing to consider is that the apostle Paul is widely agreed upon by both Christian and non-Christian scholars to have existed, to have been a Pharisee, to have been a persecutor of the church, and to have converted to Christianity. This is agreed upon by both Christian and non-Christian scholars. So, I want you to think about this. Think about this guy who has been historically affirmed to have existed, been a Pharisee, persecuted the church, and converted to Christianity.

Why would someone who has had a privileged position…? We're talking about someone who was paid to travel first class. He was esteemed for his intellect, and he was on a path to becoming one of the most respected and revered people of his time. Why would he then make a change and choose to live a life that resulted in him being impoverished, persecuted, and martyred? What would explain that? Well, it's plausible that the reason that change happened was because he truly encountered the resurrected Christ.

The third E to consider is the explosion of the early church. If you were to keep reading this story in Acts, chapter 5, if you were to watch how it ends, there's a man on the council named Gamaliel who stands up and addresses his peers, and he says, "Hey, guys. Hey, everybody calm down right now. Don't freak out. If this is just a fad, if God is really not in this whole Christianity thing, don't worry; it's going to fizzle out. The moment these people die, this movement is going to die. You don't need to worry about it. But if it is of God, there's nothing you can do about it."

Within one generation of the death of Christ, Christianity spread to Europe, Africa, and Asia. Think about it. The church was persecuted heavily until the fourth century. What would cause the explosion of the church? The best explanation seems to be that the disciples truly saw the risen Christ and were willing to suffer and die to make this good news known, and it exploded so much that we're here today.

Look. I'm just hitting the highlights. If you're a skeptic here today, and you want to explore proof of the resurrection further, I just want to invite you to a ministry we have at the church called Great Questions. It meets every Monday night right here at 7:30. We'd love for you to come and just explore.

If it is plausible that Jesus Christ did, in fact, rise from the dead, then we must look up and behold the person of the resurrection. I want to invite everyone to look up and see Jesus Christ, the person of the resurrection. Look at what verse 31 tells us about Jesus. "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

Do you see what it says? It says God exalted Christ at his right hand. The right hand in ancient culture was considered the position of highest favor. So, because Jesus Christ not only rose from the dead but was exalted through his resurrection and ascension, Jesus has a position that no one else in the world has. There is no one else in history like Jesus Christ.

Think about it. Every other religion's main figure is dead, but Jesus has been exalted, and the text says the apostles say he has been exalted as leader. That Greek word can be translated as prince. So, think about it. Jesus Christ not only has a position, but he has an authority that no one else in the world has because he has been exalted as leader, or prince. So, a good question for us to ask ourselves is…What authority does Jesus Christ have?

The good news is Jesus tells us what authority he has in Revelation 1. Listen to what it says in Revelation 1:17-18. John gets a vision of Jesus and says, "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not…'" This is who Jesus is. "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold…" Here it is. Here's Easter in a verse. "I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."

Do you see it? Because Jesus Christ conquered death, he has authority over death. He holds the keys to death. Jesus Christ has the authority over death. Here's why that's good news for us. Do you want to know what the number one universal fear is in the world? This isn't Timothy Ateek's opinion. This is not some fact you find on "Cutechristianfacts.com." You can Google it. The number one universal fear that transcends continents and cultures is a fear of death.

Last night, I was talking to some people, and they were like, "We thought it was a fear of public speaking." I'm like, "No. It's a fear of death." That's the number one universal fear. Different people deal with the fear of death in different ways. Some people just get hyper-focused on eating clean and working out religiously, because the thought is "If I remain healthy, I can put off death as long as possible." Sometimes that works out; sometimes it doesn't.

Some people just think, "You know what? I don't know what awaits on the other side of the grave, but I'm just going to commit myself to living as good a life as possible, and hopefully that's going to be advantageous to me on the other side." Other people might focus on some version of spirituality because it centers them. Other people just embrace the unknown and say, "You know what? I don't know what's waiting, so I'm just not going to think about it. I'll know when I reach death, but right now I'm just going to focus on the present."

But think about it. Jesus has authority over death. He not only died; he conquered death, and the reason Christ came was to take our fear of death and replace it with a confidence in life after death. You don't have to be one of the statistics that makes the fear of death the number one universal fear in the world, because Jesus Christ wants to replace a fear of death with a confidence in life after death. That's what he does for all those who know Jesus Christ in a personal way.

I love encountering Watermark members… I love hearing stories of or knowing people who, when they're approaching death because of some terminal illness, have no fear. Have you ever met someone like that? Like, they're battling something very intense physically, and they have all the reason in the world to be full of fear of what might await them after the grave, but instead, they're full of peace, and they actually have a little bit of this unrestrained joy that they're about to be with Jesus and everything in their life is going to be made right.

Yes, there's the sadness of leaving loved ones, yet there's this confident expectation that they're about to experience a monumental trade up. I love what D.L. Moody said. Listen to the confidence. He said, "Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now.

I shall have gone up higher, that is all; gone out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body like unto his [Jesus'] own glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever." That's the confidence that is available to every single person here.

Do you know…? And this might surprise some of you. This might cause some of you to scratch your heads. Do you know where a confidence in life after death actually begins? A confidence in life after death actually begins with an understanding that you're already dead. You're like, "What?" A confidence in life after death begins with an understanding that you're already dead. Here's what I mean by that: you have to begin to see yourself how God sees you without a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Listen to what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2. He says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins." So, at least according to the Bible, we aren't bad people who just need to be good, and we're not all born-good people who just need to focus on becoming the best version of ourselves. According to the Bible, every single person is physically alive but spiritually dead apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to be spiritually dead? It means we are incapable of meeting God's standard of perfection. Is God's standard perfection? Well, think about it. If you want to spend eternity with a perfect God in a perfect place, the standard has to be perfection. Nobody can meet that standard because nobody is perfect.

You can't give enough money to charity to change that. You can't clean your life up enough to change that. You can't deprive yourself of enough comforts to change the fact that in the eyes of a perfect God, you and I are imperfect. We are spiritually dead. We can't do anything about that. Because of that imperfection, what we deserve is eternal separation from God…hell.

But that's not the end of the story, because Jesus Christ has been exalted as Leader and Savior, which means he's a deliverer. He's a rescuer. He's the Navy SEALs who came for Captain Phillips. He's Liam Neeson chasing his daughter down in Taken. He's Andrew Garfield just wanting to save one more in Hacksaw Ridge. He is our rescuer. He is our deliverer.

How does Jesus Christ rescue those who are already spiritually dead? By dying in our place. By taking the punishment that was rightfully ours, and then rising from the dead to conquer death, to conquer sin. In doing so, he has made a way for those who are spiritually dead to be made alive with God forever. That's the person of the resurrection. That's Jesus Christ. That's the person. Now understand the power, the power of the resurrection.

It says in verse 31, "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." Do you see what it says? It says the resurrected Leader and Savior gives people repentance and forgiveness of sins. It doesn't say he rewards those people who prove they actually deserve it. No. The Leader and Savior of the world gives repentance. He gives forgiveness of sins. He reaches into the lives of those who are dead, turns us from our lives of sin, and forgives us, making us alive with God.

I want to make a connection in the text, and I'll tell you who this connection is for. This connection is for the people in the room who question if Jesus could actually forgive them. If something in you really questions if Jesus Christ truly could love you… If you're one of those people who, when you walk into church, just feel overwhelming shame, this connection I'm making is for you.

The question I want to answer from the text is…Who did the apostles say killed Jesus? Verse 30 says, "The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree." In this story, who is the you? The you is the Jewish leaders. It's the leaders of Israel. It's the Jews. Now, who did the apostles say repentance and forgiveness of sins is for?

Verse 31: "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel…" Do you see what the apostles are saying? Don't miss this connection. They're saying the ones responsible for killing Jesus can be forgiven by Jesus if they will turn to Jesus. That's pretty incredible. The same repentance and forgiveness of sins is available to all of us here today.

So, here's what I want you to think about if you question if Jesus could truly forgive you. You tell me. What could be worse than being responsible for the execution of God in the flesh? What could you come up here and tell me after the service that you have done that would be worse than being responsible for the execution of God in the flesh?

Look. I don't know your story, but I do know my story, and I know God was able to reach into my life and was able to rescue and forgive me, despite my story including a seven-year battle with pornography, hypocrisy, a bunch of relationship dysfunction, insecurity, and manipulation. And I don't just know my story; I know the story of several friends here at Watermark.

Watermark is full of people God rescued and forgave despite infidelity in marriage or stealing in business or alcoholism or drug addiction or lying or abuse or being involved in witchcraft, and on and on and on. If he forgave me, he can forgive you. If he forgave us, he can forgive you. Are there any Watermark members here today who would agree with me right now?

So, I just want to close by telling you who the people of the resurrection are. Who are the people who have no fear of death, who experience complete forgiveness of sins, who are made alive now and forevermore because of Jesus Christ? The people of the resurrection are those who receive what Jesus gives. Jesus was exalted as Leader and Savior to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. The people of the resurrection are those who receive what Jesus gives.

This past week, I went into one of my son's rooms, and I noticed a pile of unopened toys on the floor of his room. Here's what you need to know. I've been looking at this pile for months, but you know when you leave something someplace long enough that you're like, "That's where that goes"? It just became its place. Now it's like, "Yeah, of course. That's where that unopened pile of toys goes. It goes slightly, almost in the middle of the floor. That's where it goes. It is put up. That's it. That's its place."

I've been looking at it for so long that I don't spend much time thinking about "What is it?" Last week, I was like, "Oh, those are birthday gifts he got all the way back in September. It's April now, and he has never opened them." I don't know how many Easter sermons you've heard, how many times you have heard that there is a gift of grace in the person of Jesus Christ available to you, but for some reason, today it's hitting different.

Some of you today just need to hear it is finally time for you to receive and actually unwrap the gift of grace that is being extended to you. Today is the day of forgiveness for you. Today is the day that you walked in here dead and you can leave here alive. Today is the day where you have no more fear of death. Why? Because Jesus Christ is reaching into your life. Jesus Christ is reaching out, saying, "I want you. I want life with you now and forevermore." If you've never put your trust in Jesus Christ, maybe today is finally the day for you.

Look. Some of you might be sitting there saying, "Look. I still have too many questions, and there's still some skepticism." That's okay, but if it's possible that Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead, you should do something about that. You should seek out answers until you're satisfied, because if he did, in fact, rise from the dead, there are eternally significant ramifications for your life. Come to Great Questions tomorrow.

Then, for the Christians in the room, some Christians might be like, "TA has been talking to unbelievers the whole time." No, I haven't. I've been talking to you. Are you living with no fear of death? Are you living with a confidence that can only come from knowing the one who is exalted as Leader and Savior? Are you walking with no shame?

Look, Christian. So many Christians carry around shame like they're towing an anchor when Christ is like, "Why do you think I went to the cross? It was to take your shame from you. There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So, Christian, if you walked in here carrying shame, you don't have to walk out with it. Leave it here.

Let me just say this. Giving yourself over to things that still reek of sin and death has no place in the life of someone who has been made alive by Jesus Christ. Do you know what the most compelling testimony to a world skeptical of Jesus Christ is? The most powerful testimony is a life, not just words but by actions, that declares, "I was dead, but now I'm alive." Why? Because he is risen indeed. Let's pray together.

If you want to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ, if you want that confidence of life after death, if you want to be forgiven of all of your sins, if you want to walk out of here alive in Christ, then I invite you right now to pray with me. You can just say, "Lord Jesus, would you come into my life today? Thank you that you died on the cross for me. Thank you that you rose from the dead for me. Would you come into my life? Would you forgive me of my sins? Would you lead me in a new life with you as my Leader and Savior?"

If you're a Christian, I just want to invite you, even right now, to bring any fear you have before Jesus. Invite Jesus into any shame you're carrying. Any areas of your life where you're still running to things that reek of sin and death, would you confess those things to him and invite his resurrection power into them? If you still have questions, if you're still skeptical, I just want to invite you to pray a really courageous prayer right now. Just say, "Lord, would you answer my questions?"

Lord Jesus, we acknowledge you. We don't just acknowledge; we celebrate that you are the one the God of our fathers raised from the dead. You are the one who has been exalted as Leader and Savior to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel and to us. We praise you and thank you for it. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen.