Preached by Gregory W. Lee
EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE -- 23 March 2008
-- if you would, please listen as I read from Hosea 6
1. "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
2. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
3. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
-- the prophet Hosea was a contemporary of Amos -- and he ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel
-- as you remember, the nation of Israel was split into two after the death of Solomon -- ten tribes followed Jereboam and set up a new kingdom in the north -- they called this new kingdom Israel or Ephraim and they set up Samaria as their capitol city
-- the other two tribes remained true to the royal line of David and lived in the south -- they called their kingdom Judah -- and Jerusalem was their capitol
-- Hosea was God's messenger during the final days of the kingdom of Israel and it was a wicked and vile period with unrelieved anarchy, violence, and disaster -- the government was in a constant state of upheaval, with king after king being assassinated and with the throne being usurped by their murderer
-- spiritually, it was even worse -- the people had stopped worshiping the Lord God Almighty -- and had prostituted themselves with other gods -- they worshiped golden calves at Bethel and Dan -- and they offered sacrifices to the wicked gods Baal and Ashtaroth
-- but even though they left Him -- even though they strayed after foreign gods and sinned against Him -- God still loved them
-- they were His chosen people -- the apple of His eye -- and He longed for them to return to Him -- to repent of their wicked ways -- to stop worshiping false gods -- and to enter again into the covenant relationship with Him
-- time and time again, God called out to the Israelites through His prophets -- telling them to stop what they were doing and to return to Him -- but the people refused to listen and kept doing what was evil in God's eyes
-- finally, in Hosea Chapter 5, God warned the nation of Israel that if they kept on, that they would have to pay the price of their wickedness -- God would tear them apart -- He would carry them out of the land -- and He would turn His face from them until they admitted their guilt and repented of their sin and turned to Him again
-- not long after the prophet Hosea uttered those words, the nation of Assyria declared war on Israel -- they laid siege against the capitol city of Samaria and eventually conquered it and took the Israelites back to Assyria as slaves -- the Israelites were paying the price for their sins
-- as the Israelites were led into captivity to Assyria, they could see no hope of salvation -- they couldn't figure out how to get out of this mess that they had made -- they were reaping the consequence of their sin and their false gods couldn't save them
-- their only hope lay in the grace and mercy of God Himself
-- let me read verse 1 again -- 1. "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
-- the Bible tells us that there is a cost to sinning -- because of our sins, we are deserving of the judgment of God -- we are deserving of the punishment of God -- and that punishment is spiritual death -- eternal separation from God
-- the price must be paid -- there is no way around it -- the perfect law of God must be fulfilled
-- but, because we were unable to pay the price ourself -- because there was no way for us to fulfill the law of God and pay the penalty for sin ourself -- God Himself stepped in and Jesus took our place, taking our punishment for us
-- even though He was perfect and sinless -- even though He had done nothing wrong -- Jesus allowed Himself to be taken captive by the High Priest -- He allowed Himself to be punished and whipped and flogged by the Romans -- He took upon Himself the injuries that we deserved
-- Isaiah 53 says, "He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows -- He was pierced for our transgressions -- He was crushed for our iniquities -- the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him -- and by His wounds we are healed"
-- Jesus paid the price for our sins with His very own body and blood -- He died on the cross for us -- He paid the penalty for our sins and our disobedience in order to bring us back into fellowship with the Father again
-- verse 2
2. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
-- from the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, we found ourselves in captivity to sin and to death -- just like the Israelites were bound and held captive by the Assyrians -- we were bound and held captive to sin and to death
-- but Jesus went to the cross in our place to redeem us -- with His own body and blood, He paid the price of our ransom to free us from our slavery
-- and so, after He died in our place, He rose again on the third day to revive us -- to restore us -- and to reconcile us to the Father
-- verse 3
3. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
-- so how do we respond to this mighty act of God on our behalf -- how do we respond to what Jesus did for us on the cross?
-- this verse clearly tells us -- we acknowledge the Lord -- we acknowledge His mercy and grace -- we bear witness to the death and resurrection of Christ
-- this means that we receive Him as our Lord and Savior -- that we identify with Him in His suffering and death -- and that we share with others the good news of the gospel of Christ
-- and it means that we look forward to His return -- this verse reminds us of the second coming of Christ -- it tells us that as surely as the sun rises, that Jesus will come again -- that He will appear before us and that His grace and His mercy and His goodness will pour out on us like the rains that bring life to the earth
-- you know, on that first Easter Sunday, the disciples didn't know what we know -- they didn't know that Jesus had gone to the cross for them -- they didn't know that He had paid the price for their sins with His own body and blood -- they didn't know that He had ransomed them from captivity to sin and death
-- all they knew was that their leader was gone -- that Jesus had been tortured and crucified and died -- and that He was buried in a borrowed tomb
-- all they knew was that Jesus was dead -- their hope was dead -- and all they had dreamed and believed about Jesus was dead too
-- they had heard that Mary Magdelene and the other women had gone to the tomb and found it empty -- and they knew that Peter and John had gone there, too, and found it in the same way -- but they didn't know how or why or what it meant
-- so the disciples scattered and hid in fear from more persecution -- while some of the disciples hid in the upper room -- others did the only thing that made sense to them -- they left Jerusalem
-- two of the disciples who left headed out of Jerusalem towards the village of Emmaus -- a small town about seven miles from Jerusalem
-- and as they were walking along, discussing what had happened to Jesus -- a stranger met them on the road and began to walk with them and shared with them how the events of the day were prophesied in scripture -- how the Messiah had to suffer and die and then would rise again on the third day
-- when they made it to the village of Emmaus, Cleopas and the other disciple urged the stranger to stop and stay with them for the night -- so He went in and stayed with them
-- let me read you the rest of this passage from Luke 24
30. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
31. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
32. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
33. They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together
-- when the stranger took the bread, gave thanks for it, broke it, and gave it to them, the men realized that the stranger was Jesus and that it was His body and His blood that had been given for them on the cross to pay the penalty for their sins and to free them from their bondage to sin and to death
-- in the simple act of sharing in Holy Communion -- in the simple act of breaking bread together and partaking of the wine -- we find Jesus revealed to us just as He was revealed to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus and just as He was revealed to the Israelites who looked to Him for salvation while they were held captive in Assyria
-- for that reason, I want us to take a few moments this morning, as the sun is rising against an empty cross and as we join together to celebrate an empty tomb and a risen Savior, to share together in the sacrament of Holy Communion
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