A Death Defying Act

Lighthouse Bible Church

Sunday April 12, 2020

 

A Death Defying Act

The resurrection of Christ

 

We have all read and heard about the events leading up to the resurrection, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, the trials He endured by the priests, Pilate and Herod , the flogging and crown of thorns by the soldiers.

 

We remember His painful suffering and death on the cross to pay the price for the sins of man then His burial in the tomb and finally His miraculous resurrection.

 

Today we will focus on Christ’s resurrection and what it means for us as believers and how it can challenge unbelievers to make a decision for Christ.

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was perfect just as our heavenly Father designed it to fulfill His plan to save mankind, to defeat sin, Satan, the world and death.

 

Jesus’ resurrection is at the very core of the gospel of Christianity and is prophesied in the gospels.

One of the unique facts about Jesus Christ is that he prophesied his own death and resurrection. One example is found in MAT 20:17-19, also LUK 9:22.

 

 

MAT 20:17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them,

 

 

MAT 20:18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,

 

 

MAT 20:19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up."

 

 

LUK 9:22 saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day."

 

 

Prophesy fulfilled in:

MAT 28:1-10

MAR 16:6-14,

MAT 16:21; MAT 17:22-23; MAT 20:17-19,

 

JOH 2:22; JOH 21:14

 

 

 

 

 

Through the death on the cross and resurrection of Christ God provides us the following:

A New Life in Christ

Sin’s power is broken

Sin can no longer control us and hold us in bondage.

 

 

ROM 6:3-7

(Believers are placed in Christ by God through the baptism by the Holy Spirit that happens at the moment of faith in Christ.)

 

 

 

A New Nature

We can now share Life with Christ through resurrection.

Our old sin nature is dead and we have new, changed life in God.

 

 

ROM 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

ROM 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

 

ROM 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

ROM 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 

 

2PE 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

 

A New Freedom

The resurrection proclaims VICTORY over death

We are no longer bound by sin and can give ourselves freely to God.

We are free to choose our master Christ over sin

 

ROM 6:14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

ROM 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

ROM 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

 

And to reiterate verse 7 tells us we are free from slavery to sin because we are identified with Christ in His death as in:

ROM 6:7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

 

 

 

Through faith that God’s Word is true, we can accept Romans 8:16-17: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

 

Through Christ’s resurrection, it is possible for us to become joint heirs with Him. What an awesome gift! This means we too can defeat eternal death and be resurrected with a new life and spiritual body when our physical body dies.

 

 

And Paul writes of Abraham giving glory to God, (for the seemingly impossible blessing of Isaac)

in ROM 4:21-25

Meaning that Abraham had faith in God that His promise would come true.

 

 

The power of the resurrection operates in our lives when we face a terrible situation such as severe injury, illness or death as we see in:

2Cor 1:8-10

 

Charles Spurgeon wrote about the resurrection: “The Lord Jesus suffered for the believer as his substitute, and virtually each saved one died in Christ, who represented him.

 

The believer rose in Christ by virtue of the eternal union which exists between the saint and his Savior. Therefore the believer continues to live, for the Lord has said, ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ . . . .O my hearer,

 

if you are not in Christ you have nothing. Out of Christ you are in the wilderness: with him you are in a paradise.

 

In Christ, believers possess all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and grace, and power, and love.

 

All things are yours, if you are Christ's. From our union to Christ follows our sanctification: we cannot follow after sin, for Christ does not follow after it.

 

He died unto sin once, and we are henceforth dead to it. He is risen by the glory of the Father, and we are risen with him into righteousness, and acceptance, and joy.”

 

 

 

So then it is promised to all believers that they will be resurrected just as Christ was resurrected.

1CO 6:14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

 

 

1CO 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

1CO 15:21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

1CO 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

 

 

1CO 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

 

2CO 4:14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

 

 

EPH 2:4-7

 

COL 3:1-4

 

1PE 1:18-21

 

 

So what we understand from all this is that God the Father in eternity past planned for Christ to be crucified to atone for the sins of mankind, and then resurrected and seated at the Fathers right hand.

 

 

 

This was all determined by God in Eternity past!

ROM 8:29 For those whom He foreknew (believers), He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He (Christ) would be the firstborn among many brethren;

 

 

1PE 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1PE 1:4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

 

 

 

We share in His death by being dead to sin and we share in His resurrection by our confidence in our own resurrection and eternal life.

 

 

The results of the resurrection of Christ pour across time. Its power changes our lives forever. Its impact will spread all the way to the end of the ages when God the Father has defeated all His enemies.

 

 

Because Christ lives, the Scripture says, we will live also. Indeed, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be transformed into physical resurrected bodies like unto His resurrected body.

 

So as Christians we are called to look up to Jesus and ahead to His coming at the Rapture. Keep your mind filled with the fact that he is ALIVE and will come for us one day in the future.

 

 

My good friend and chief estimator, Paul had a little reminder taped on his computer That said KLUJICS. Which means keep looking up Jesus is coming soon.

Now that is GOOD NEWS!