back to index2017-04-02 Life In The Resurrection
00:00:00.000 |
Alright, well it's a joy to be here again to Preaching God's Word. 00:00:09.560 |
I got a chance to meet with Pastor Peter and he told me about everything that happened. 00:00:16.240 |
All the last minute construction that you guys had to do and then, man, I felt so bad 00:00:25.560 |
I told him, "Hey, I'll take you out to get some Tommy's burger." 00:00:32.840 |
So we're going to grab some burgers and try to encourage him in that way. 00:00:37.320 |
But I got a chance to hang out with Sam Cho and he told me that several of you guys came 00:00:43.720 |
in the middle of the week after work and worked all the way through the night and then went 00:00:48.340 |
to work again, came back, and then worked at the church. 00:00:55.880 |
I heard about that and I was just immensely encouraged, immensely encouraged by the body 00:01:02.200 |
It is clear that you guys love the Lord and that you love each other. 00:01:07.800 |
It's more than just having a building, but the community here, that's what it's really 00:01:13.720 |
This is just a place where this community can meet. 00:01:16.160 |
I'm grateful that you guys have this and I'm sure you guys are going to use it for the 00:01:24.240 |
I was talking with James Hong and this is almost, this is like mega church status right 00:01:32.480 |
And I was preaching the first service and I could kind of see myself on the periphery. 00:01:38.000 |
My hands are like wailing and I'm like, "Oh man, that's really annoying. 00:01:48.280 |
Anyways, today I was thinking about, it's really cool. 00:01:53.280 |
Pastor Peter just kind of lets me preach on whatever I want to preach on. 00:01:57.240 |
And so I decided to preach on my hobby horse. 00:01:59.600 |
And if you guys have known me for a few years, you guys know my hobby horse is the resurrection. 00:02:05.600 |
It impacted me and really changed the way that I have understood my salvation or at 00:02:15.800 |
And so I wanted to kind of share that with you today as well. 00:02:19.020 |
So if you guys have, if I've known you for some time and you guys heard my preaching, 00:02:22.720 |
this might be redundant, but may you still be blessed. 00:02:27.080 |
We're going to be talking about the resurrection. 00:02:28.440 |
And today our passage that I selected was 1 Corinthians 15, but this is not a passage 00:02:34.120 |
I'm going to be expositing, but I felt like it touched upon the subject and the importance 00:02:41.240 |
And so that we can kind of like jump, jump from here and get into the theology of the 00:02:45.880 |
significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:02:48.320 |
So read with me 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and let's read verse 15, verse 12 to 19 once more. 00:02:57.640 |
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there 00:03:01.680 |
is no resurrection of the dead, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even 00:03:08.240 |
If Christ has not been raised, even then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in 00:03:13.080 |
We're even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised 00:03:20.080 |
If it is true that the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ 00:03:26.160 |
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 00:03:32.480 |
Then also, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 00:03:36.280 |
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 00:03:42.640 |
Let's join me in prayer before we get into the preaching of God's word. 00:03:46.160 |
Dear God, we are grateful for our opportunity to get into your word to study the theology 00:03:54.560 |
And I pray that as we come to dive into this truth that we will come to appreciate and 00:03:59.040 |
love it just as much as we do the crucifixion, the cross of our savior. 00:04:04.720 |
Help me to rightfully divide the word of truth to speak clear, speak with clarity and 00:04:09.760 |
I pray for the congregation that they would receive this lesson and worship you. 00:04:16.280 |
May it be a people who worship you for what you have done for us in the gospel. 00:04:21.760 |
Now you got to think about the resurrection and what it is. 00:04:37.200 |
And yet 2000 years ago, number of people have testified to this reality. 00:04:44.160 |
A man by the name of Matthew in Matthew chapter 28 verse 1 through 6. 00:04:47.600 |
He says, "Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 00:04:54.280 |
And behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven 00:04:58.360 |
and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 00:05:00.920 |
His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 00:05:03.920 |
And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. 00:05:07.200 |
But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who 00:05:17.000 |
Mark records the same thing and he says in Mark chapter 16 verse 6, "And he, that is 00:05:24.760 |
You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. 00:05:32.640 |
A physician by the name of Luke gives a record of two men who interacted with the resurrected 00:05:36.440 |
Jesus and this is what they said when they realized that they saw the Lord. 00:05:40.440 |
It says in Luke chapter 24 verse 33 to 35, "And they rose that same hour and returned 00:05:46.200 |
And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together saying, 'The 00:05:50.520 |
Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.' 00:05:54.240 |
Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking 00:06:00.720 |
Jesus also appeared to his disciple John and in John chapter 20 verse 24 to 28 it says, 00:06:06.160 |
"Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 00:06:11.120 |
So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' 00:06:13.720 |
But he said to them, 'Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger 00:06:18.120 |
into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.' 00:06:24.480 |
Eight days later his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. 00:06:27.520 |
And although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace 00:06:32.040 |
Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand 00:06:45.320 |
And then there's another man by the name of Josephus, a first century Jewish historian. 00:06:50.280 |
He gives a record of the resurrection as well. 00:06:53.080 |
He says, "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a 00:07:00.280 |
A teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. 00:07:03.080 |
He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. 00:07:07.920 |
And when Pilate at the suggestion of principal men amongst them had condemned him to the 00:07:12.800 |
cross, those that loved him at first did not forsake him for he appeared to them alive 00:07:19.640 |
As the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning 00:07:23.560 |
him and the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day." 00:07:33.680 |
After being crucified upon the cross, Jesus Christ was buried in the tomb. 00:07:38.480 |
Three days later he resurrected from the dead. 00:07:41.320 |
The message, the event was so radical, it was so staggering that people could not stop 00:07:44.920 |
talking about this man who came back from the dead. 00:07:48.520 |
In the Roman historian Suetonius, he says this. 00:07:51.200 |
He says the Jews, he that is Emperor Claudius, the Jews he expelled from Rome. 00:07:56.920 |
Since they were constantly in rebellion at the instigation of Christus. 00:08:04.920 |
Everybody was talking about this man who clearly died upon the cross and then resurrected from 00:08:11.440 |
Even those who weren't immediate followers of Jesus Christ. 00:08:15.200 |
It could not be pushed away as some kind of human fabrication because more than a few 00:08:18.880 |
people were claiming that they saw Jesus alive. 00:08:21.400 |
It was hundreds, normal, sound thinking people saying that I saw Jesus. 00:08:31.680 |
And it wasn't just a sheer number of people that factored into the authentication of this 00:08:37.260 |
These Christians were putting their life on the line. 00:08:45.480 |
Now the question, the question that we must ask ourselves is this. 00:08:58.240 |
My problem for many years as I began to study this, take my faith more seriously and through 00:09:04.520 |
my years in seminary and my year, the beginning years of my ministry, my pastoral ministry 00:09:18.000 |
If Christ did not resurrect from the dead, we are still in our sins. 00:09:22.000 |
We would be damned if Christ did not resurrect from the dead. 00:09:24.440 |
I knew biblically it was necessary, but logically I didn't know how it fit into the scheme of 00:09:35.000 |
If you're a Christian, you believe in what we call substitutionary atonement or double 00:09:38.860 |
I'm sure you guys have been taught this at your church or here at Berean. 00:09:43.380 |
If you're a Christian, if you don't know the terms, you at least believe in it. 00:09:49.280 |
Because we have sinned against God, we deserve to be damned. 00:09:51.580 |
The wages of sin is death, Romans chapter 6 verse 23. 00:09:55.700 |
But Jesus Christ, what he did was he took our sins upon himself and then he ended up 00:10:09.140 |
He gave us his righteousness so that by his righteousness we live. 00:10:12.500 |
So I thought about this and I was thinking, okay, my sins are given to Jesus. 00:10:35.920 |
It doesn't seem like his crucifixion is sufficient. 00:10:40.600 |
It seems like Calvary is enough for the security of our redemption. 00:10:44.400 |
So why did Christ have to resurrect from the dead? 00:10:47.120 |
Now I've heard people say, well Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead as proof. 00:10:53.960 |
Proof that the work of Calvary was sufficient. 00:11:00.680 |
And when I heard that I just kind of squirmed a little bit. 00:11:04.960 |
Because what's the implication if the resurrection is simply a proof? 00:11:12.900 |
If it's just proving the necessity of the cross and it's just showing the sufficiency 00:11:17.960 |
of the cross for the security of our salvation, then the resurrection is not necessary. 00:11:23.620 |
God might as well have just opened up the heavens and said, hey look, the cross, it's 00:11:33.240 |
When we read the Bible, we not only read about the death of Christ, but we also read about 00:11:39.280 |
When we read about the gospel proclamation, we not only read about the death of Christ, 00:11:42.600 |
but we read about the resurrection of Christ. 00:11:44.680 |
Peter says in Acts chapter 2, 32, this Jesus God raised up and of that we all are witnesses. 00:11:53.320 |
Acts chapter 4, 10, it says, "Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel 00:11:56.960 |
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the 00:12:03.120 |
Acts chapter 13, verse 34, "And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no 00:12:08.040 |
more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and 00:12:14.160 |
First Peter chapter 1, 21, "Who through him are all our believers in God, who raised him 00:12:24.120 |
It is the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is necessary for our salvation. 00:12:30.000 |
Because the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are essential components of the 00:12:33.000 |
gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for the salvation 00:12:38.080 |
And that's why the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 17, "And if 00:12:42.120 |
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." 00:12:47.000 |
Romans 4, 25, it says this, "Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." 00:12:55.280 |
Yeah he died for our justification but the text says here he was raised for our justification. 00:12:59.880 |
And so we come back to the question, what does it do? 00:13:11.320 |
I looked through my commentaries, looked through my systematic theologies, looked through the 00:13:14.960 |
books that I had, went through the library trying to find the answer, what does the resurrection 00:13:21.920 |
And dude, I could not find a satisfactory answer. 00:13:33.560 |
And the systematic theology books that I came across, the commentaries did not help at least 00:13:42.040 |
And I came across this little book by Richard Gaffin and he said this because he came across 00:13:51.280 |
He says, "Charles Hodge's systematic theology devotes four pages to the resurrection in 00:13:57.320 |
contrast to the lengthy treatment of atonement, approximately 35 pages. 00:14:03.040 |
Shedd dogmatic theology passes directly from a discussion of vicarious atonement to regeneration. 00:14:09.000 |
The major writings of B.B. Warfield in this area concentrate exclusively upon the death 00:14:15.640 |
The approach of Lewis Burkhoff's systematic theology is similar to that of Hodge. 00:14:20.440 |
After a brief discussion of the resurrection, like four pages, he moves on to a lengthy 00:14:25.200 |
treatment of atonement, approximately 40 pages. 00:14:28.440 |
The approaches of Abraham Cooper, Didactem dogmatic locus de Christo par secunda, and 00:14:34.360 |
Hermann Bavink, Gerform Merdedammaty provides no significant exception to this general pattern." 00:14:39.760 |
I never know how to pronounce those German words. 00:14:51.640 |
And even in our day and age, we don't hear much about the resurrection. 00:14:58.400 |
You have books like The Cross and Salvation, Cross Center Life, Preaching the Cross, The 00:15:02.680 |
Cross of Christ, Proclaiming Cross Center Theology, and so on and so forth. 00:15:07.320 |
All these books about the cross, all these books about Calvary, but hardly any books 00:15:14.640 |
And so today, what we're going to do is answer the question, "What does the resurrection 00:15:34.480 |
And I hope it not only blows your mind away, but it instills a heart of worship towards 00:15:46.920 |
And so I want you guys to know the profundity of the resurrection so that we might grow 00:16:23.320 |
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 00:16:26.080 |
By no means, how can we who died to sin still live in it? 00:16:29.880 |
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were also baptized 00:16:34.440 |
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was 00:16:37.840 |
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. 00:16:41.960 |
But we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with 00:16:47.080 |
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be 00:16:50.840 |
brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 00:16:54.360 |
For one who has died has been set free from sin. 00:16:56.960 |
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 00:17:00.640 |
We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. 00:17:06.800 |
Once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 00:17:12.120 |
Now in order to understand this passage and the significance of the resurrection, it is 00:17:22.540 |
We can't understand how God saves us unless we first understand what he saves us from. 00:17:29.440 |
We can't understand how he saves us unless we know what he saves us from. 00:17:33.480 |
If I were to ask you, what is the fundamental problem of man, what would you say? 00:17:41.360 |
This is not rhetorical, this is more interactive. 00:17:47.240 |
So if I say what is the fundamental problem, immediately what do you think? 00:18:01.880 |
So sin, but what's more fundamental than sin? 00:18:08.680 |
What is the fundamental problem of the individual man besides sin? 00:18:36.240 |
I would say that results from the sin and the problem that I'm thinking about. 00:18:42.440 |
But yes, that is an issue that does get resolved through the gospel. 00:18:59.000 |
Yes, it's an ugly, nasty sin, but I would say fundamental. 00:19:07.720 |
Disobedience, I would say is a way of describing sin. 00:19:13.720 |
So this is really good because now we're trying to think very precisely of the realm of this 00:19:17.960 |
category of transgression and sin and just what's messed up with us. 00:19:33.080 |
The problem is not only with what we have done. 00:19:43.320 |
You have to understand the problem before we can understand the solution. 00:19:47.480 |
The problem is not only with what we have done, but it is with who we are. 00:19:51.080 |
The problem is not only with the fact that we sin. 00:19:58.240 |
Have you guys watched that YouTube clip with John Piper where they get a clip of his sermon 00:20:06.480 |
and they play the soundtrack of Michael Jackson's "Bad"? 00:20:13.560 |
But it's great because there's a clip from John Piper's sermon and he says something 00:20:36.880 |
And then when he says, "I am bad," the Michael Jackson soundtrack comes on. 00:21:08.840 |
The problem is not only with what we do, but the problem is with who we are. 00:21:13.360 |
And so Colossians chapter 2 verse 13, listen to this. 00:21:15.840 |
"And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh." 00:21:23.520 |
And then it says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3, "We were by nature children of wrath like 00:21:44.920 |
"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. 00:21:49.760 |
But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 00:21:53.800 |
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life 00:21:58.440 |
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. 00:22:05.520 |
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." 00:22:08.760 |
The problem of man is fundamentally lies at the core of who he is. 00:22:20.560 |
It's because we're fornicators that we desecrate the marriage bed. 00:22:24.960 |
It's because we are drunkards that we get drunk. 00:22:26.960 |
Because we're materialists that we can worship money. 00:22:36.120 |
And because you are a transgressor, because you are a sinner, you sin. 00:22:39.520 |
The Bible goes even further to offend our senses. 00:22:41.480 |
It says, "Because you have sinned and because you are a sinner, you deserve to be damned 00:22:49.120 |
It's because of who you are, a spiritually dead man, a man who by nature is a child of 00:22:53.640 |
wrath, a man who is in the flesh, that you transgress the commands of God. 00:22:57.720 |
And because you transgress the laws of God, you deserve to be judged to hell. 00:23:02.320 |
Now if you understand that, that's why you understand the cross is so beautiful. 00:23:07.920 |
The Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself our sins. 00:23:11.920 |
He took upon himself our transgressions, our lust, our bitterness, our anger, our gossip, 00:23:18.920 |
He took upon himself our shame, our perverse thoughts, our black hearts. 00:23:23.120 |
He's taken everything upon himself and he died the death that we were supposed to die. 00:23:28.080 |
The Father looked upon his Son and he saw the sins of the world upon him and he crushed 00:23:32.280 |
his Son because righteousness cannot stand before sin. 00:23:36.480 |
And Christ became sin on our behalf because of his love for you, because of the Father's 00:24:04.160 |
I'm still a man who has a mind that is hostile towards God. 00:24:08.920 |
I'm a man who cannot submit to the law of God. 00:24:17.840 |
The question that should resound within the Christian is, yes, Lord, you took care of 00:24:21.040 |
my sins upon the cross, but what about who I am? 00:24:36.640 |
You want to take care of the problem of who you are? 00:24:42.720 |
If your hand causes you to sin, what do you do? 00:24:47.400 |
If your eye causes you to sin, what do you do? 00:24:51.280 |
If your life is found to be corrupt, what do you do? 00:24:56.240 |
Now you guys should be thinking, your head should be spinning. 00:25:00.720 |
If I go back to the grave, I'm not coming back up. 00:25:24.320 |
And three days later he resurrected from the dead. 00:25:33.360 |
First Corinthians 15 verse 55, "O death, where is your victory? 00:25:40.840 |
So the answer to the problem of dying lies in Christ. 00:25:46.400 |
The secret to the answer, the solution, is in Him. 00:25:51.400 |
The Canadian scientist G.B. Hardy, he said this, "When I look at religion, I have two 00:25:58.120 |
And two, if they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death? 00:26:01.800 |
I checked the tomb of Buddha and it was occupied. 00:26:03.480 |
I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was occupied. 00:26:05.640 |
I checked the tomb of Muhammad and it was occupied. 00:26:07.760 |
I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty. 00:26:14.080 |
I asked the second question, did he make a way for me to do it? 00:26:18.400 |
And I opened the Bible and discovered that he said, because I live, ye shall live also." 00:26:24.720 |
There is one who died and resurrected from the dead. 00:26:27.360 |
And he made a way for us to experience the same thing. 00:26:30.560 |
So God looks upon your fallen and corrupt body. 00:26:33.840 |
He looks upon you in the flesh and he tells you to do and fulfill the most radical command 00:26:42.440 |
But then he says this, trust that I will raise it back up from the dead. 00:26:49.960 |
He who gave us life when we were born will give us life again. 00:26:55.160 |
Matthew chapter 16 verse 24 to 25 says, "Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would 00:26:59.040 |
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:27:03.000 |
For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:27:06.220 |
But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." 00:27:13.920 |
But the question still remains, how does it work? 00:27:20.880 |
You've given me the solution, but tell me and show me how you arrive to that answer. 00:27:26.800 |
Romans chapter 6, let's go back to Romans chapter 6 verse 3 to 4. 00:27:45.920 |
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into 00:27:51.800 |
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was 00:27:56.720 |
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. 00:28:00.640 |
What Paul is talking about here is the efficacious power of spirit baptism. 00:28:11.680 |
Now these verses I'm giving you are, if you're taking notes, write it down. 00:28:22.320 |
It says, "For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body." 00:28:28.200 |
So that term, "for in one spirit," that can be translated as "for with one spirit." 00:28:33.640 |
For with one spirit we were all baptized into one body. 00:28:36.880 |
In the same way John baptized with water, so the Lord Jesus Christ baptizes with the 00:28:42.640 |
We're all baptized and the result of that baptism is unity in the body of Christ. 00:28:48.680 |
You get a similar teaching in Galatians 3, verse 27, which says, "For as many of you 00:28:52.840 |
as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." 00:29:03.080 |
I use hand motions and my congregation makes fun of me because it seems childish, but I 00:29:12.320 |
So children, if you're listening, this is for you as well. 00:29:19.320 |
The Bible talks about, in First Corinthians 12, 13 and Galatians 3, 27, the moment we 00:29:25.160 |
believe we were baptized with the Holy Spirit, but we were baptized into Christ. 00:29:32.800 |
So the result of spirit baptism is unity with Christ. 00:29:37.640 |
Unity is critical because if we're united to Jesus Christ, whatever happens to Jesus 00:29:47.720 |
So if Christ died, that means we in union with Christ have what? 00:29:53.240 |
If Christ resurrected from the dead, then we in union with him have been resurrected 00:30:00.160 |
This idea, this life that we have in union with Christ, that is what we call new life. 00:30:08.900 |
That's what we call a life with a circumcised heart, a life with a renewed mind. 00:30:14.200 |
When we use these terms, there's a specific truth that the apostles and the writers are 00:30:19.320 |
Regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification, they're all terms that we kind 00:30:25.040 |
But the Bible is teaching that this reality that we have in union with Jesus Christ, that 00:30:32.160 |
That is the life with the circumcised heart, with the renewed mind. 00:30:40.220 |
So the reason, how it works is through baptism, we're united with Christ, a unity, where we 00:30:56.580 |
"For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united 00:31:10.600 |
"With him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no 00:31:18.800 |
longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin." 00:31:26.600 |
How do you mortify this heart of bitterness and anger and greed? 00:31:29.360 |
You mortify it by uniting it with the Lord Jesus Christ and crucifying it upon the cross. 00:31:34.280 |
That's why the apostle Paul says in Galatians chapter 220, "I've been crucified with Christ." 00:31:48.280 |
So because I am dead, the powers that once ruled over me, the powers of sin, the powers, 00:31:53.400 |
the spiritual forces of darkness, the angelic, demonic powers that ruled over my life can 00:31:57.700 |
no longer command me what to do because I'm dead to them. 00:32:02.800 |
Have you ever talked to a dead person, tell it to do something? 00:32:05.680 |
It's not going to listen to you because it's dead. 00:32:07.920 |
So the commands that we receive from our former masters is irrelevant to us because we are 00:32:20.320 |
The life of the flesh that could not help but return to its perverse masters and abusive 00:32:23.120 |
masters is now rotting away at the cross of Calvary. 00:32:33.000 |
Jesus Christ not only died so that we might live. 00:32:44.320 |
If it ended with the cross, we'd just be united with him in dying. 00:32:54.800 |
And in our union with Jesus Christ, we have resurrected from the dead. 00:32:59.500 |
We have been raised from the grave as a new man, again, with a new mind, a renewed conscience, 00:33:10.740 |
And this life that you have could do what it couldn't do before. 00:33:14.480 |
This new life that you have in Jesus Christ, his resurrected life, can do something that 00:33:17.760 |
you could not do before, and that is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, 00:33:26.640 |
Without it, you would not be able to love the Lord your God. 00:33:30.720 |
Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. 00:33:35.800 |
We know that Christ being raised from the dead would never die again. 00:33:39.920 |
For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. 00:33:44.360 |
The life that Jesus Christ lives, the resurrected life he lives, he lives towards God. 00:33:51.380 |
So we in union with him have a life that is now lived not towards sin, but towards God. 00:33:58.400 |
Now, before I bring things to a close, I want to address the question, "Why do we continue 00:34:10.720 |
If we have crucified the former man, the man of sin, and we have resurrected to a new life, 00:34:16.240 |
a life of glory, then why is it that we continue to sin? 00:34:20.480 |
The answer is because the death and the resurrection that we experience in union with Jesus Christ 00:34:29.320 |
And for that reason, there's a conflict between what the Bible teaches as the inner man and 00:34:37.400 |
Romans chapter 7 verse 15 to 20 says, "For I do not understand my own actions. 00:34:42.040 |
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 00:34:45.640 |
Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. 00:34:48.680 |
So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 00:34:51.640 |
For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. 00:34:54.640 |
For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 00:34:58.280 |
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 00:35:02.320 |
Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within 00:35:08.160 |
The reason why we sin is because the newly resurrected man conflicts with the remnant 00:35:16.320 |
But there is going to be a day when we will be freed from sin. 00:35:22.240 |
We are free from the power of sin through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ 00:35:26.640 |
But there will be a day when we are freed from the presence of sin, and that is a day 00:35:30.560 |
That is a day when we physically die, experience death in a physical way, and in our physical 00:35:37.720 |
death afterwards we are resurrected into a physical life, and we experience the fullness 00:35:45.760 |
So the reason why you resurrect in the end times, the rapture of the church, the reason 00:35:54.800 |
why you resurrect from the dead during the millennial kingdom and the eternal kingdom 00:35:58.880 |
of God and have these glorified bodies is because of your union with Jesus Christ. 00:36:03.280 |
Your eternal life that you have, the eternal life that we often so talk about, is profoundly 00:36:09.920 |
and essentially the life that you have in union with the Son of God. 00:36:16.680 |
The eternal life that you have after all of this is a life, it is not a life that you 00:36:23.720 |
It is a life that you have because you are united to the Son of God. 00:36:28.280 |
That is why your new life is an eternal life because the Son of God is eternal. 00:36:31.920 |
And that is why your eternal life is glorious because the resurrected life of Jesus Christ 00:36:36.840 |
And that is why the eternal life that you have is also powerful because the resurrected 00:36:42.400 |
The life that you experience in end times and for all of eternity is a life that you 00:36:47.760 |
have because of your union with the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. 00:36:51.440 |
Philippians chapter 3 verse 20 to 21, "But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we 00:36:56.160 |
await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His 00:37:00.480 |
glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself, who 00:37:05.560 |
will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body." 00:37:12.920 |
Our spiritual death and resurrection is going to culminate in a physical death and resurrection 00:37:24.600 |
And I hope it was an encouragement to you and I hope that as you begin to dive, and 00:37:38.320 |
Just like the cross, man, one message is not going to do it justice. 00:37:42.280 |
But I hope it's something that will compel you to dive more deeply into scripture regarding 00:37:46.600 |
the subject so that as you read the Word of God, as you meditate upon these truths, it 00:37:51.480 |
will elicit more love and worship from your heart towards your God. 00:37:56.280 |
And may you study this not to simply know it but to give God the glory which He deserves. 00:38:07.000 |
Dear God, we are grateful for the death of Christ and we are grateful for the resurrection 00:38:16.160 |
We are grateful for both these things because we know without either of them we will be 00:38:24.480 |
We know that through these things you have saved us. 00:38:28.040 |
I pray for us as a community, I pray for Berean, that their understanding of the things of 00:38:38.320 |
the Gospel would increase so that understanding these things that they would worship you more. 00:38:44.000 |
May they fall in love with you every day, oh God, and find out things about you that 00:38:55.800 |
Father we know that it is only by your grace, it is only by your grace that we can deepen 00:39:00.840 |
and further our affections for you so would your grace be upon us.