EASTER SUNDAY
VICTORY
DR. JIM DIXON
MARCH 31, 2002
1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-8; 49-57
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that comes at a cost too great. This expression “Pyrrhic victory” comes from the Greek King Pyrrhus who was the cousin of Alexander the Great. King Pyrrhus won two victories over Roman armies, but in both cases the cost was too great. The year was 281 BC when King Pyrrhus brought his Greek armies to meet the Roman armies at Heraclea. The Roman armies were led by the Counsel Laevinus, and they were vast, but King Pyrrhus won that battle because he had elephants and he had mounted cavalry. Nevertheless, he lost half of his army in that battle. He was hoping that the Romans would sign a treaty and the Greeks and the Romans could live at peace, but it was not to be.
The next year, in the year 280 BC, King Pyrrhus fought the Romans again at the Battle of Asculum. Again, he was victorious, but this time he lost virtually his entire army. Afterwards, when he was congratulated for his two victories over the Romans, he said these words: “One more such victory and I shall be utterly undone.” A Pyrrhic victory.
Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world on Good Friday. It would be a Pyrrhic victory were it not for Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world on Good Friday; the cost would be too great were it not for Easter Sunday. If there were no Easter Sunday, Jesus Christ would remain buried in the ground. His disciples would have been scattered and disillusioned. But we are gathered here this morning because of Easter Sunday. He is risen, and He is risen indeed.
Today, I want us to examine what theologians call the two-fold victory of Christ. We will examine this very briefly. The first of the two-fold victories of Christ is His victory over sin. Jesus Christ won the victory over sin. Of course, this looks back to Good Friday and to the cross when Jesus Christ bore the sin of the world.
At the conclusion of the service today and at the conclusion of this message, our choir is going to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. The Hallelujah Chorus was written by the German composer George Frederick Handel. The British people referred to him as “that German nincompoop.” But he was given an offer by a charity organization in the city of Dublin. They offered to give him a lucrative commission if he would write an Easter oratorio and if he would present it at a benefit concert. He was told that the proceeds from that benefit concert would go to free people in debtor’s prison. George Frederick Handel went into his house and for 24 days he did not come out. During that time, he oftentimes went without sleep. He went without food. He never had a more spiritual experience in his life. He testified that when he came to the moment when he wrote the Hallelujah Chorus, in that moment he did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body. He was so enraptured. He said in that moment he saw heaven open and the glory of the Son of God. In 24 days he wrote one of the greatest masterpieces in music history.
The concert was such a success in Dublin that 142 people were set free. The proceeds went to free 142 people from debtor’s prison. When you hear the Hallelujah Chorus today, you should remember that, apart from Christ, we are all debtors. We are all in bondage to sin, and in the sight of a Holy God we have accrued a massive debt of sin. But, you see, Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for sin and to set us free. The name Jesus means Savior. The angel announced to Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.” He was born to die, and He went to the cross and He bore your sin upon His body and He bore my sin upon His body as He died in substitutionary atonement for the sin of the world. When we receive Him as Savior and Lord, in that very moment, all of our sin is forgiven—past, present, and future. All of our sin is forgiven the moment we embrace Christ as Savior and Lord.
I know some of you have journeyed to the city of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is a massive city, an urban center of 13,500,000 people—the second largest city in Brazil, the ninth largest city in the world. It is a vast center of finance and of trade and transportation. Rio de Janeiro has a beautiful and great harbor. It also has one of the greatest statues in the world, a vast statue that stands high on a hill looking down over the city of Rio de Janeiro. That statue is called Christo Redentor, Christ the Redeemer. The statue portrays Christ standing over the city of Rio de Janeiro, His arms outstretched. Christ the Redeemer, looking down on 13.5 million people and offering them redemption. The statue is so vast that His arms are extended 63 feet across as He offers redemption to the 13 million people of that city.
We should picture Christ standing over every city all over the world offering redemption , His arms outstretched. He stands over Fiddler’s Green this morning. His arms are outstretched. He offers redemption. The word “redeem” means “to buy back.” We have been captured by sin and He wants to buy us back. He wants us for Himself. When we receive Him as Savior and Lord, He does redeem us, and we are forgiven all of our sin.
The second victory of this two-fold victory of Christ is His victory over death. Jesus Christ conquered death. Now, when the Bible speaks of death, it speaks of two different types of death. The Greek word is thanatos. Sometimes this word refers to spiritual death and sometimes it refers to physical death. Physical death is the separation of the soul and the spirit from the body. Spiritual death is separation of the soul and the spirit from God. Jesus Christ offers victory over all death, victory over spiritual death and victory over physical death. When you accept Christ as your Savior and Lord, you immediately experience victory over spiritual death. Your soul and spirit in that moment are joined to God, and God will never let your soul or spirit go. You are joined to Him in this life and you are joined to Him in the life to come. You are joined to Him forever. You will never experience spiritual death if you receive Christ as your Lord and your Savior. The moment we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are also promised victory over physical death. The bodies we are in now are mortal bodies, and we must set these bodies aside.
I thank God for all of those who minister to these mortal bodies. Last Tuesday night, Barb and I went to a Craig Hospital benefit dinner, and I was asked to say the invocation. I was honored to do that because Craig Hospital is not only one of the greatest rehabilitative hospitals in the world, but it consists of a staff that really care about people. They care about these mortal bodies. When these bodies are damaged, they are there to help with love and with legitimate concern and care. They seek to help people with spinal cord injuries attain more quality in life. They seek to lessen suffering, and they seek to rehabilitate function. They are on the cutting edge of new medical studies, through which they hope to be able to offer restoration of function to people in the acute phase of spinal cord injury and even to the people in the chronic phase of spinal cord injury. We all pray that God blesses their work.
Our son Drew is in medical school at the University of Colorado. He’s preparing to be a doctor. Our daughter Heather is married to Chris. They live in the State of Washington. Chris works at a hospital where he serves as a doctor of Clinical Pharmacy. I thank God for them, that they work with these mortal bodies, that they are seeking to help. But God also wants us to understand that there’s going to come a day when we have to set these bodies aside.
Just yesterday, Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of Great Britain, the Matriarch of the House of Windsor, set her body aside at the age of 101. You see, death does not respect persons. Death comes for everyone, regardless of our socio-economic status, regardless of our race, our ethnicity, our gender, our nationality. Death comes for all of us, but Jesus Christ offers victory over death.
In our passage of scripture for today, the Bible speaks of a new body, a resurrection body offered to all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ. That body is described. We’re told that it is a heavenly body. The Greek word is epouranios, which means “fit for the heavens.” The body you have now, the mortal body, is fit for the earth. The new body will be fit for the heavens. We’re told that that new body is indestructible. The Greek word is aptharzia. It means “not subject to decay.”
These mortal bodies are, of course, subject to decay. Just yesterday when I was taking a jog, I was reminded of that as my knees began to hurt. These bodies are subject to decay. But the new body, the resurrection body, is aptharzia, indestructible, not subject to decay. We’re told that the resurrection body is powerful. The Greek word is “dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite. The mortal bodies that we have now are weak. I was reminded of that just yesterday when I was trying to lift some weights. These mortal bodies are weak, but the resurrected bodies that we are promised in Christ will be strong, powerful.
We’re told that they will be spiritual bodies. The Greek word is pneumatikos. This word does not mean “incorporeal” as though we will have no substance, but rather it simply means we will no longer be governed by the sarks, or the flesh, but rather by the Spirit. We will be governed by the Spirit. These new bodies will submit to the Spirit. We’re told that the new body that we are promised in Christ is glorious. The Greek word is doxa. It means “worthy of praise.” These are the bodies promised to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
You know, the two most famous people in history whose initials are JC would probably be Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ. It’s interesting to compare them. I mean, Julius Caesar was the first of the Caesars and the prototype of the Roman Emperors. He was an orator, a statesman, a writer, a military genius. Many historians today view Julius Caesar as the greatest man, or at least the greatest leader, in all of history.
The year was 49 BC when he brought his armies across the Rubicon, and he claimed the city of Rome for himself. Julius Caesar conquered Northern Africa. He conquered Asia Minor. He conquered Western Asia, Western Europe, and parts of Eastern Europe. He conquered most of the so called civilized world. After every victory, Julius Caesar returned to Rome, and he made what historians call his triumphal entry. At the head of his processional, there were the Roman Senators. Behind the Roman Senators, there were the trumpeters. Behind the trumpeters were carriages pulled by sacrificial oxen, laden with the spoils of war. Behind the carriages were the prisoners bound in chains. Then came Julius Caesar himself in a chariot made of gold, pulled by a team of lions, crowned in laurels. Behind Julius Caesar came the armies of Rome, each legion led by a Roman General. The crowds lined the Via Sacra as they made their way toward the Roman Forum. Tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, shouting, “Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!” “Vini, vidi, vici,” Caesar said. “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Less than a hundred years later, Jesus Christ made what historians call His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday into the Holy City of Jerusalem. He came humble and lowly, riding on a donkey. He was heading to Calvary, heading toward Golgotha. He was making His way to the cross. The crowds did not understand this as they put palm branches in the road and shouted, “Hosannah! Blessed is the King!” By any rational analysis, the triumphal entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem pales when compared to the splendor, the glory, and the majesty of Julius Caesar’s triumphal entry into the eternal city of Rome.
Yet today, Julius Caesar is a distant memory. No one honors Julius Caesar today. No one calls Julius Caesar “Lord.” But, you see, 1,900,000,000 people honor Christ this day—almost 2 billion people, one-third of the earth’s population. We rise up together—Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox, Christians—to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord! Why is that? Because Jesus Christ won the greater victory. Julius Caesar conquered nations. Jesus Christ conquered sin and death. When you receive Him as your Lord and Savior, it makes all the difference in the world.
This really isn’t about sin and death. It’s really about life. I love the words sung by Andre Crouch in that beautiful song “Because He Lives.” “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, life is worth the living, just because He lives.”
I was five years old when I asked Jesus to come into my heart and to be my Lord and my Savior. I remember clearly kneeling in the living room of our home by my mother’s side, asking Jesus to come into my heart, receiving Him as my Savior and Lord. That was more than 50 years ago. My mother just turned 89 this past year. My brothers and I went out to California to help her celebrate her 89th birthday. We rented a limousine. We had the driver bring it up to Mom’s house. My mom had never been in a limo before. She was just so excited as she got into the limousine. We drove together down to L.A. and to the wonderful restaurant where they have the greatest fish in the L.A. area. We had a great night. We had the limousine for 5 hours. We drove along the beach, the waterfront. My mom was so happy; she was so full of joy. But I have to say that my mom’s always like that. Every day she seems happy. Every day she is full of joy and has been for 89 years. Why is that? It’s because she knows her sin is forgiven her. The victory’s been won. She knows she already has victory over death. Every day is a gift. Every day is a gift to be celebrated, but she knows beyond that there is eternal life in heaven with Christ Himself.
You can have that same joy and that same knowledge and that same victory if you would receive Christ as your Savior and Lord this Easter morning.
As we close this service, I’d like to say a prayer and give you a chance to ask Jesus into your heart. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, we come to You this Easter morning and we thank You. You are Lord of Lords and You are King of Kings. You are the hope of the world. Thank You for Good Friday when You won the victory over sin and You died for each of us. We praise You for Easter Sunday when You won the victory over death and You rose triumphant. You offer victory over sin and death to each person here this morning. Lord Jesus, if there’s someone here today who’s never received You as Savior or Lord, we pray that You have called them by Your Spirit and they might say this prayer with me. “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come into my heart. I confess that I’m a sinner. I need Your grace. I need Your mercy. Thank You for dying for me. Forgive me, Lord. Wash me whiter than snow. Remove my sins from me as far as the East is from the West, and come, Lord Jesus, and sit on the throne of my heart. I want to live for You. Be my King. Give me victory, not only over sin, but give me victory over death, that I might live with You forever and forever.” Thank You, Lord Jesus, that when we pray that prayer, You do come in and we are Yours and You are ours. You never let us go. We love you Lord. We celebrate Your resurrection. We long to see You face-to-face. Thank You. We pray this in Your great and matchless name. Amen.