The Resurrection And The Life by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Seven Lessons Easter Teaches Us

John 11:25–26 — Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he dies, he will live again. And he who lives and believes in me will never die.”

The message of Easter — the fabric of the redemption, the way God did what he did — is not a one-off event. It is a reflection of God’s consistent nature, something that can be learned and applied to everyday life. That is why the Bible says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ.” What happened in Christ was not isolated. It was a revelation of God’s redemption package.

Lesson 1 — What the Enemy Meant for Evil, God Meant for Good

The people who were trying to stop Jesus thought they were going to stop his mission. In doing so, they ended up fulfilling it. In Acts chapter 4, the apostles declared that those who acted against Jesus did what the predetermined counsel of God had foreordained to be done. In their scheming of wickedness, the providence of God was prevailing.

• When they betrayed him — it was part of the plan.
• When they arrested him — it was part of the plan.
• When they killed him — it was part of the plan.
• When he was buried — it was part of the plan.
• And when he was raised back to life — it was the plan fulfilled.

This typology appears first in the Old Testament through Joseph, whose story is a type and shadow of Christ:

• Joseph was the beloved son who received a coat of many colors — a type of Christ, the beloved Son.
• He was sent to his brothers, who rejected, hated, and plotted to kill him — just as Israel rejected Jesus.
• Joseph was betrayed for 20 pieces of silver; Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
• Joseph was stripped of his coat; Jesus was stripped of his garment at the crucifixion.
• Joseph was cast into a pit and then prison — both metaphors of Christ’s death and burial.
• Two prisoners were with Joseph in prison. The baker was condemned and killed; the butler was released and promoted — a metaphor of the body of Christ being destroyed and Christ ascending to offer his blood and sit at the right hand of God.
• Upon his restoration, Joseph said to those who sold him: Genesis 50:20 — “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

This is a conviction to carry: whatever is being schemed against you in any arena of life, vindication is of the Lord. He knows how to lift one up.

Romans 8:18 — “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

Lesson 2 — The Lesson of Forgiveness

It takes audacity to celebrate Easter while thanking God for his unreserved forgiveness — and simultaneously holding grudges against people. At the moment of confessing faith in Jesus, every sin from birth is blotted out in one sweep by the mercy of God. That is what is being celebrated.

Ephesians 1:7 — “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Ephesians 4:32 — “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Matthew 6:12, 14–15 — The Lord’s prayer includes: “Forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Then Jesus adds: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

The free forgiveness received in Christ requires and necessitates forgiving those who have caused hurt. Jesus illustrated this with a story: a servant owed his master the equivalent of $6 billion. The master freely forgave the entire debt. That same servant then found someone who owed him five pence and threw him into prison. In the economics of heaven, whatever someone else has done to you — in comparison to what Christ forgave — is like five pence against $6 billion. That is exactly what refusing to forgive looks like from heaven’s perspective.

Whatever anyone else has done to you, in comparison to what Christ absorbed, is small.

Lesson 3 — Freedom from the Fear of Death

Hebrews 2:15 — Jesus died to deliver those who all their lifetime were subject to bondage through the fear of death.

One of the ways to demonstrate belief in the resurrection is to stop being afraid of death. Fear of death does not prevent death — it limits life. Jesus, on his way to the cross, told the women who were weeping for him: “Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves.” He truly believed that what he was about to experience was glorious. That same conviction is available to every believer.

To be a Christian is to believe the radical idea that death can be gainful. Not “can be” in theory — it is gainful, in Christ.

Philippians 1:21 — “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

The apostles lived in such a radical way that Paul said: “If there is no life after death, we are of all men most miserable. We lived here so recklessly it will only make sense if there is compensation on the other side.”

Those who have died in Christ are not in the past — they are in the future. Every prayer for resurrection is already answered. The question is only when. God may choose to raise someone immediately, or at the last day. Either way, the promise is secured.

Romans 8:18 — The sufferings of this present time, no matter how good a life one is living here, pale in comparison to the glory that shall follow.

Lesson 4 — Whosoever Believes Will Never Perish

John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus went all the way to the abyss for you. When the demons in the man at Gerasenes begged not to be sent to the abyss, they revealed something: the abyss is a place so terrible that even demons feared it. Revelation 9:1–4 — In the end of the age, the abyss is opened and its contents released upon those who do not carry the seal of God. Revelation 20 — Satan himself is bound in chains and thrown into the bottomless pit, the abyss.

Romans 10:6–7 (NKJV) — Paul presents the gospel this way: “Do not say in your heart, who shall ascend to heaven — that is to bring Christ down from above. Or who will descend into the abyss — that is to bring Christ up from the dead.” Paul implies that when Christ died, he descended into the abyss — not to suffer, but to declare to all who were there: the people you expected are not coming.

Furthermore, until Christ died and rose, no one had entered heaven. There was a place called Abraham’s bosom — a holding place for the righteous dead, separated from Hades by a great gulf, as shown in the account of the rich man and Lazarus. That was not a parable; those were named individuals in real circumstances.

When Christ died, he visited Abraham’s bosom, emptied it, and led captivity captive — marching every saint straight to heaven. Then, ascending to heaven itself for the first time as a human being, he declared the everlasting gates to be opened.

Psalm 24:7–10 — “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in.”

Christ walked confidently to the right hand of the Father and sat down. And because of identification, believers sat with him. The enemy no longer has a legal claim. The accusation has been answered once and for all.

He went to the abyss for you. He died your death so you would not have to die twice.

Lesson 5 — The Cross Is the Proof of the Father’s Love

God’s love is not measured by feelings or daily circumstances. It was proven on the cross, and that proof stands permanently.

Eddie Hall, the first person to deadlift 500 kg, was asked how he managed it. He said he imagined the weight was a car crushing his children — that if he did not lift it, they would die. Love drew from a reservoir of strength he never knew existed. When considering the length Jesus went for freedom — seven-inch nails driven through his wrists, his back already opened by flogging, a spear wound to his side that complicated his breathing, forcing him to repeatedly press his torn back against the wood just to lift himself and breathe — understand that the word excruciating did not exist before crucifixion. The crucifixion introduced a dimension of pain so new that a new word had to be coined. And he endured it willingly, by choice.

John 17 — Jesus prayed: “Father, that you may show that you love them as much as you love me.” In the crucifixion, God demonstrated that he loves each believer as much as he loves his own Son.

Jesus knows every single thing about you, forgave you freely, and loves you still.