Satisfaction Guranteed--Easter Sunday sermon

“Satisfaction Guaranteed”
Isaiah 53:10-12
Easter Sunday
April 8, 2007

He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!
He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!
He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!

+ Grace, mercy, and peace be unto all of you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. +

Isaiah 53:10-12: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

PRAYER:
Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we come to You this day with thankful hearts, for You have given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You for sending Him to live a perfect life on earth and to make the perfect sacrifice. We thank You that because He lives, we shall live also—not just here on earth, but with You in Your everlasting kingdom. And now may the words of my mouth and the meditation in our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

On this holiest day of the church year the Scriptures bring us a message of great comfort and joy: satisfaction is now guaranteed. In fact, the Scriptures assure as that on this Easter Sunday, we have a triple guarantee of satisfaction.

1.) God the Father is satisfied with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sin. The resurrection of our Lord guarantees the Father’s satisfaction.
2.) Jesus Christ Himself is satisfied with His own work. On Easter morning He reaped the reward of His suffering. His resurrection is the Father’s affirmation that His Son succeeded and that His Son should be well satisfied.
3.) All of us, here today have great reason to be satisfied. We are satisfied because we are justified. Christ has earned for us forgiveness, righteousness, and victory. He has restored us to the good graces of our heavenly Father.

Easter Sunday guarantees that the Father is now satisfied. Without the work of His Son, God the Father would never have been satisfied with us. God’s demands on us would have remained unmet. Certain prerequisite conditions would never have been fulfilled.

God has high standards. In fact, His standard is perfection: “You shall be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “You shall be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Perfection is too high of a standard for us to achieve.

We so often fail to even satisfy the expectations of people whose standards are far less than perfect. How often you have disappointed your boss by not getting the job done on time or by not doing it right (the first time, or ever)? How often have you failed to satisfy your spouse and children by not spending enough time with them and not loving them wholeheartedly? How often have we let down a friend who was counting on us? If we so often disappoint others who do not expect us to be perfect, think of how many more times—and to what greater degree—we fail to satisfy the God whose standard is perfection.

Our shortcomings are not excusable simply because they are common to all humanity. Throughout Isaiah 53 God repeatedly refers to our shortcomings as sin, iniquity, and transgression. For our offenses against God, we deserve damnation to hell forever.

God’s anger at our sin merits severe punishment, and God has indeed given out that punishment—but not to us. God was pleased to crush Jesus severely. Heaped upon Jesus Christ were all of our iniquities and transgressions—all the ways and all the times we have failed to satisfy God and failed our fellow man.

During the six weeks of Lent and Holy Week, we have examined what God’s servant has done for us:

“Who Has Believed?” On Ash Wednesday, we pondered how Christ overcame unbelief and skepticism, and powerfully rescued all humanity. He is the arm of the Lord, strong to save!

Appearances Can Be Deceiving. Judged by outward appearances, the crucified Christ held no attraction. But He took upon Himself the ugliness of our sin, that we might be gloriously clothed in His righteousness before God.

“By His Wounds We Are Healed.” We mortals are characterized by sickness and disease. Christ was familiar with sickness, smitten and afflicted, Christ was pierced for our transgressions. The wounds in His body, now risen, promise is the healing of bodily resurrection.

Stray Sheep. We all like sheep have gone astray. We are lost and vulnerable to the wolf. The Good Shepherd became a sheep and laid down His life to bring us back into the fold of salvation.

Knowing When to Keep Quiet. Countless are our sins of speech especially against the 2nd, 4th, and 8th Commandments. A silent lamb led to the slaughter, Jesus kept quiet when He could have spoken out. By suffering and dying in silence, He atoned for all our talk.

Is There No Justice? Travesties and miscarriages of justice are all around us. Christ suffered the greatest injustice of all: stricken for our transgressions, He was cut off from the land of the living. Through Him, God has accomplished His own plan of justice: our justification by grace alone.

Bloodbath. The sprinkling of blood of sacrificed animals on the people ratified the old covenant, and the people were forgiven. On Maundy Thursday, Christ instituted a new covenant in His own blood. His body and blood, given and shed for us, are given us in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of our sins.

A Rich Burial. Christ died “with wicked men.” But then His state of humiliation was over. The Father provided for His Son an honorable burial, in a grave owned by a “rich man.” By His temporary rest in the grave, Christ has sanctified our graves and made them temporary. The internment of every Christian is a rich burial with the wealth of forgiveness and the treasured promise of bodily resurrection.

In all of those ways, we see how Jesus Christ was the faithful, obedient Servant who never failed to satisfy His heavenly Father. Through Him, the Lord’s desire was accomplished. On this Easter Sunday, God proved to the world that He was completely satisfied—satisfied with His Son and satisfied with each of us baptized believers in His Son.

God the Father is not the only one who is satisfied; Jesus Christ is satisfied too. Our text promised that after Christ would take away our sin, “He will see seed, He will live long….He will see the result of His soul’s suffering and be satisfied.”

What a feeling it must have been for our Lord Jesus Christ! For 33 years He had lived in humility and obedience, rarely revealing that He is indeed God the Son, possessor of heavenly glory. He was flogged, beaten, crucified—out of love for us. But now His suffering is over forevermore! Today, Jesus rose from the grave triumphant, knowing that He has conquered sin, death, and the devil for eternity! The battle is over! The war is won! Victory is His! How satisfied Jesus must have been that first Easter morning!

Our text mentions two results. 1.) Jesus Christ "will live long.” He has burst the bonds of death! Death no longer has any hold on Him! 2.) Jesus “will see seed.” By the power of His resurrection, we are reborn by water and the Spirit, baptized children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, adopted heirs of all God’s promises. Jesus is satisfied knowing that He has procured a royal multitude, a kingdom of priests.

That makes us satisfied too. We derive our satisfaction as Christians from the events of this day.

What does Easter mean to you personally? Is it just another holiday, the time to color eggs and talk to kids about a bunny? Does Easter make a difference in your life during the rest of the year that because of what Jesus has done for you, you desire to come to church week after week so that your faith is strengthened through God’s Word and Sacraments? Does Easter give you true, lasting satisfaction?

So many products in the stores are advertised with the phrase “satisfaction guaranteed.” Offers for magazines tell us that our satisfaction is guaranteed because we can cancel our subscription at any time. Lawn mowers, snow blowers, and power tools come with warranties guaranteeing that if they break down, the manufacturer will repair or replace them to our satisfaction. But so often these products do not give us satisfaction or live up to their guarantees.

Easter is different. Easter is not a human product, nor is it something God is trying to sell in order to turn a profit. Easter satisfaction is something God gives to us free of charge. It comes already fully guaranteed by Christ’s resurrection. God has already made good on His promise today.

In our text, God says about His faithful Servant, “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.” God has given Jesus Christ His reward for winning the victory over sin, death, and the devil. Our Lord shares His reward with many others. He gives us a portion of His prize. He gives us His own perfect righteousness; He gives us new and eternal life; and He gives us the promise that our frail bodies will be raised incorruptible on the Last Day. These are blessings and promises that we receive in the Lord’s Supper today.

Easter grants us the triple guarantee: God the Father is satisfied with the work of His Son. Jesus Christ now sees the fruits of His labor and is satisfied. We are joyfully satisfied with the salvation Easter day brings to us. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!
He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!
He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Amen.

+ The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our risen Lord. Amen. +