The following is a manuscript of the sermon presented by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023 at our West University Baptist campus. To view the sermon in full, check out the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDguu7V8yEU

“He is Risen!  He is Risen, Indeed!  He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!”

How many of you will have some sort of Reese’s Easter Candy?

• An Egg?
• Some Reeses Pieces?
• Or a Reese’s Peanut Butter Bunny?

Harry Reese’s Persistence

The most popular candy on planet Earth not surprisingly is the Reese’s Cup, but the back story of this perfect recipe finds its most prominent ingredient from the heart of its creator, H. B. Reese.

Harry Reese was not originally a confectioner, in fact the very trade that would one day become his legacy was the same trade that devastated his life. Reese worked for The Hershey Company in Chocolate Town, USA, also known as Hershey, Pennsylvania. He worked as the manager of the Round Barn for the Hershey Company.

This position in the company provided security, stability, and sufficient income for his large family. In 1919 the Round Barn was closed in an effort to save money. Harry Reese found himself the father and provider of ten with no job.

It is not hard to imagine that this was a devastating blow to the man. It was likely the kind of sucker punch to the gut that would defeat someone, but Harry Reese chose to take this bitter reality and find a sweet solution. Because of his position as manager of the Round Barn he learned many valuable skills of what it took to create chocolate.

Several attempts were made in his own home kitchen before the fateful day when the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter would at last come to be. The Reese’s Cup soon became a local favorite and it caught the attention of the Hershey Company. Hershey’s sought a partnership with Reese, supplying the chocolate for his chocolate peanut butter cups.

Hershey’s would buy the H.B. Reese company after Harry Reese’s death, with his descendants still receiving a percentage of its earnings to this day, showing his legacy lives on.

It would appear at one point in Reese’s life that his story was reaching towards tragedy, but that was not the end of his story. Act two of his story proved to be the comeback from the setback, but it only happened because the mold was broken in his life of a typical story.

We love a great comeback story, don’t we?  There is something about it that is so compelling!  When we see it happen in real life, we rejoice and we say, “Did you see that?”

Well, today, my friends, we are here to celebrate the comeback of all comebacks—the resurrection of Jesus from the dead!

And it’s a comeback with the deepest of meanings and implications.

We’ve been looking at the Top 5 Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die.

The Top 5 Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die

#5: To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners

#4: To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us

#3: To Ransom People from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation

#2: To Call us to Follow His Example of Lowliness and Costly Love

#1: To Secure our Resurrection from the Dead

Look at the words of Jesus from John 11.

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…

This claim is before Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s at the moment in the Gospels where he raises Lazarus from the dead…and he is telling Lazarus’ sister, Mary, that in him is resurrection.

His promise to her, and the Scripture’s promise to us, is Resurrection.

Let’s look at Luke’s account of the resurrection, in Luke 24:1-12.

Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.⁵ And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸ And they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Now, that’s a comeback!  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest comeback in all of history.

It’s so meaningful, that the Apostle Paul says it this way:

1 Corinthians 15:17

 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

The Apostle Paul here is saying, if the resurrection isn’t true, we are all just wasting our time.  But if it is true, then it has HUGE ramifications for our lives.

So, what does the Bible teach about Resurrection? In other words, why is this so significant for us?

The Resurrection of Jesus…

1. Declares the work of Salvation to be Complete
2. Gives us a great hope and an amazing future
3. Fuels our lives today

I. The Resurrection of Jesus…Declares the Work of Salvation to be Complete

Think of some of the most famous championship trophies…

There is the Stanley Cup

This weekend, the Master’s Golf Tournament is taking place, and depending on the weather, we may see a champion don a new Green Jacket today, or tomorrow.

Then there is this trophy…