The Power of His Resurrection

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: I it was Easter this weekend. And I had started working on a sermon, totally unrelated to Easter. And Ann sent me the music for this week and asked if I was doing the closing hymn. And I was like, those are all Easter songs. I was like, hmm. So I wrote two sermons this week, or a sermon and a half. But it's a beautiful time, a time to reflect. more intentionally upon what Jesus has done for us by his life and death and resurrection. And that's exactly what we're gonna talk about today. The sermon title for today is The Power of His Resurrection. I'm have a brief word of prayer and then we will get right into it. Father, I thank you so much, Lord, that you have given us your Son to live with us, to die for us. and that even now he's in heaven, pleading his blood on our behalf. Lord, I pray that he would be lifted up today and that you would hide me behind the cross. Let your words go forth with power and draw us to you. In Jesus' name, amen. So, there's a tension in the Christian life. I don't know if you guys have recognized it, I'm sure most of you have. It's quite a tension and it can be the source of much consternation if you are ⁓ not aware of it. This tension is pretty ⁓ clearly laid forth in the Beatitudes. At the end of chapter five, after talking about the Beatitudes and going on to lift up the value of the law. He concludes chapter five by saying, be ye therefore perfect, even as your father, which is in heaven, is perfect. The Bible is pretty clear throughout its pages that there is a very high standard. that God has. The standard is so high, in fact, that the Bible calls our righteousness, our goodness, as filthy rags. That there is none of us righteous, no not one. We are all together, profitless basically is what it says, in our good deeds. The Bible also says, that in Romans chapter eight it says the carnal mind is at enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God and it can't be. So it says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. This is the tension at the heart of the Christian life. God has a standard and that standard includes everything that is right and good and just and holy. And yet, at the same exact time, simultaneously, we are ⁓ not good, not just, not holy, none of those things. Our righteousness is filthy rags, we're liars, we're cheaters, we are all together bent out of shape. And that tension is very difficult to reconcile if you don't understand the gospel. How can a God that loves me and wants me to be in heaven with him require perfection of me? Does he not know that I can't do that? How can God tell me to be perfect when I can't be perfect? How can God ask me such high standards when he knows that I can't meet those standards? And this tension is what led Paul to say, what a wretched man that I am. who can deliver me from this body of death? Because he saw, he consented that the law is good, it's just and holy, and yet I am carnal, sold under sin. The good things that I want to do, I can't do them. And the bad things that I don't wanna do, I keep doing them. What do you do about this tension in the Christian life? And we've tried, you know, in our own human wisdom to kind of make some substitutes for this, right? Some people will say, well the word there, perfect, doesn't actually mean perfect. You know, it actually means complete, mature. And that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be, you know, keeping all the commandments and doing all that kind of stuff. It just means, you know, that you're mature. And sometimes they'll say, well, you know. We're not gonna be fit for heaven until Jesus comes and all this kind of stuff and therefore, that reconciles this tension. We'll get there when we get there. And some people take it to the other extreme and say, God says it, we gotta do it. You better lift yourself up by your bootstraps, forget that gravity exists for a minute and start floating. Because you gotta get there somehow. And we have these two tensions that are created because of this. You've got the whole idea of cheap grace, right? You can't make it, so don't worry about it. And then the idea, you have to make it, so you're gonna have to make it, right? So you better try harder. Beat yourself up until you get there. And neither of these are true. And that's a problem, right? If that's not true, what is true? Why would God require something that we can't do? The Bible says that the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit wars against the flesh, and these things are contrary to each other so that you do not do the things that you want to do. And this tension is exactly why Jesus came. Because when we got ourselves into this mess, we can't get ourselves out. The very fact that we sinned against a holy God has eradicated every claim that we had to God's mercy, God's grace, God's help, in and of ourselves. We have forfeited every right we have to life itself. You see, when God created us, he didn't owe us. He didn't have any sort of obligation to create us or give us all the blessings we have, but yet in his love for us, he chose to graciously bestow upon us life, to give us a world, to grant us dominion, and yet we took that beautiful gift that God had given us in his grace and we spat upon it. And we said, yeah God, I know you gave me all these things, but I'm not gonna listen to you. I know you're my creator, I know you gave me life, but I'm not gonna listen to you. I'm gonna choose my own way. And in so doing, in sinning against God, we basically forfeited every right we had to life. Because it wasn't an obligation. And so we really separated ourselves from God and every source that we had. When doing that, we perverted our characters, we gave ourselves a natural bend towards sin and selfishness, and in so doing, we kind of ⁓ put ourselves in a downward spiral towards more and more sin and sickness and death. We've been degenerating and degrading for the past 6,000 years. In addition to that, we separated ourselves from the source of the one person who could save us, right? We separated ourselves from God, cut off the ties. The Bible's pretty clear. The day they sinned, they hid from God. God didn't change, but they did. And they didn't want to see God. They ran from him because they were afraid. And so Jesus came to do what we couldn't do. And that's beautiful. And that's what we're talking about today. Because Jesus is the answer to this tension in the Christian life. Jesus came to bridge the gulf that we had created. Jesus came to pay the price for the sins that we had committed. And Jesus came to give us power to live the life that we couldn't live. And I want to focus on two things. What Jesus gave us and what it cost him to give it. First we're going to look at what it cost him. I'm pretty sure we all know who Jesus is, right? I don't need to go into that too much. Jesus came in fulfillment of prophecies that were made. He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. As soon as there was sin, there was a savior. When Adam and Eve sinned against a holy God, they should have died in that instant. And yet Jesus stood between the condemned and the judge of the universe, and he said, I will take their place. Lay their sins on me. Give them another chance. And so the Father and the Son covenanted that Jesus would become a man and he would take the place of Adam. He would go and walk the same grounds that Adam walked. He would face the same temptations that we all face and he would overcame where we failed. He would overcome where we failed. He would face the trials that we were meant to face and overcome them where we faltered. bear the sins that we had all committed and pay the penalty for them. And he would bridge the gap that we had created to reconcile humanity and God. And in order to do this, he had to lay aside his divinity. He had to lay aside his crown to step down from the throne of the universe. He had to take on the form of a created being, flesh, the incarnation, but we can't even fathom. and come to a world, not a perfect world, a world marred with sin and death and sickness and misery and selfishness. And he came to this world in the fullness of time God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. He didn't come in a mansion, right? He came in a manger. He wasn't welcomed. He was persecuted from his birth. And yet, knowing all these things, Jesus chose to come. He lived a life of selfless love. You read throughout the gospels, his entire life was a life living to bless others, to make burdens lighter, to heal sickness and disease, to do whatever he could to minimize the suffering that we had brought upon ourselves by our sins. He showed us what life was meant to be, what humanity was meant to be if we had not rebelled against our God. and to crown it all at the end of his three and a half years of ministry of healing, teaching and preaching, going place to place, revealing God's love and God's character and preaching the gospel. He comes to the place, we call it the Garden of Gethsemane, where all of our sins are placed upon him. Every single one, every lie, every single half-truth and all of the times that we've been selfish, the times we've taken what's not ours. Everything, our idolatry, our selfishness, our covetousness, our hatred. He took it on himself. And the Bible is very clear about the effect that it had on him. as he's in this garden. The Bible says that his countenance changed. this face that was always so full of love and dignity and peace is distorted with anguish. And he's experiencing in this moment the separation that comes. between God and man because of sin. This is not just separation like social distancing. This is a ⁓ soul-rending separation. the one who was always with the Father, right? The Bible says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Before we even can fathom Jesus was with the Father in perfect unity, imagine countless eons of fellowship and love and understanding and intimacy torn apart because of what we've done. Being ripped from the one you love, shut out from their presence with the sense that they have condemned you to die because of what you've done and yet knowing at the same exact time that you did none of it. Nothing that he did put him in that place. It's what you did, what I did. And yet he comes to this place where he's suffering the anguish of soul, where he can say, soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. Because the one he loved was being separated from him. The father who was always with him, who walked with him through this life, who gave him the words to say, who gave him the strength to do the miracles that he did. The love to pour out for humanity was shut away from him because of our sins. I love the way an author says this moment. He's in this garden, he's sweating drops of blood, dealing with the anguish, this moment where he had to decide, is it worth it? Are you worth it? to take on the sins of this fallen race, is it really worth it? To be separated from my father. The moment had come, that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. Christ could even now refuse to drink this cup apportioned to guilty man. It was not too late. He could have wiped the bloody sweat from his brow and left man to perish in his iniquity. He could have said, let the guilty received the penalty for his sin, and I will go back to my father. He didn't have to do it. And in that moment, Satan, I imagine what he's saying, whispering in Jesus' ear as this burden of sin and this weight of guilt and the fear of losing fellowship with the one he loves is weighing on him. Satan just whispering in his ear, you know, they're not even gonna be thankful. Most of them aren't even gonna accept you. These people that you're dying for, what are you gonna gain from this? They don't love you. They've never done anything for you. And these disciples of yours, where are they now? They're sleeping. They're not praying with you. In a couple minutes, you know what's gonna happen. They're gonna betray you. One of them's already on their way with the mob of Roman soldiers, right? The one who professed above all others that he would never deny you, he's gonna deny you three times, right? Why? Why would you go through all of this for them? It's not worth it, Jesus. It's not worth it. And he's immensely to the point that he's sweating blood. It's a medical condition where you're under so much intense anguish and stress that the vessels in your blood, in your face burst. And so it continues, it says, the Son of God drink this bitter cup of agony and humiliation? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin to save the guilty? The words fall tremblingly from the pale lips of Jesus, ⁓ Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, unless I drink it, thy will be done. Three times he's uttered this prayer. Three times humanity has shrunk from this crowning sacrifice. But now the history of the human race comes up before the world's redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, that's you and me, would be left to perish if left to themselves. He sees the helplessness of man, and he sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before him. He beholds its impending fate, and his decision is made. Isn't that beautiful? He will save humanity at any cost. He accepts the baptism of blood that through his death, millions have the chance of everlasting life. That's what it cost. That's what it costs. For the Son of God, the one who knew no sin, to bear our sin. and wrestle with the powers of darkness alone. to give us another chance. The Bible goes on to say that after this decision was made, he would go through the most unbelievable 24 hours of injustice and persecution, torture, to end up on a cross between two thieves, a punishment that was so cruel that it was illegal for Romans to be crucified. And yet here he is. between two thieves, suffering for my sins and your sins. entering into our guilt and our darkness and separation from the Father to where he cries, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That should have been us. He felt that sin had separated him from his father and he could not see beyond the portals of the tomb. He didn't even know if he was gonna rise again at that point. And yet knowing all those things, he still did it for you and for me. He was willing to be eternally separated from the one he loved because he loved us. And if the story ended here, it would really suck, right? That would be horrible, my bad. It would be horrible. Because Jesus would have been there eternally separated from the Father. But that's why the resurrection is such good news. Because death couldn't hold him. The grave could not keep him. When I think of the resurrection in modern terms, we think just in this sense. That the resurrection is proof that the Father accepted the sacrifice of the Son. That he was able to redeem humanity. That the penalty paid, the price was sufficient. And that's good news, is it not? But there's so much more to the resurrection than just conquering death. That's huge. That we can proudly say death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? That those who have died in Christ are not dead, they're sleeping. And they're just waiting for that moment on the resurrection morning. when all of the sickness, all of the sin that has plagued their lives is gone and they arise in new immortal bodies purchased at the infinite cost of the blood of Jesus. And yet, Paul doesn't seem to see the resurrection in that light. He does, but there's so much more to the resurrection than the future. He says in Philippians chapter three, when talking about Jesus. He says... all of these things that used to be meaningful to him. He said, anyone should have confidence in the flesh, it should be me, right? A Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day, tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of Pharisees. In regards to the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, I count as loss for Christ. Paul knew something of what Jesus had done for him. And so he could say with complete honesty and zeal, I count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is through the faith of Jesus, the righteousness of God that depends on faith. And he goes on to say that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. Paul says he wants to know Jesus and he wants to know the power of his resurrection. That kind of stuck with me for a little bit and I wasn't sure what that meant. What does Paul mean by the power of the resurrection? Why does Paul want to know the power of the resurrection? But as you look through Paul's writings and you follow this line of thought, it's not the only place he mentions it. Every time almost, that Paul mentions the resurrection in relation to a present Christian life. He talks about power. In Ephesians 1, he talks about it. If you want to flip with me to Ephesians, you don't have to, it won't be long. Ephesians 1, Paul prays for the church. He says, soon as we knew that you had faith in Jesus, we have not stopped praying for you. We pray that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened, that you may know the hope of God's calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and He prays in verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. So it says this power is for us. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead. is for us. He says the same thing in the book of Romans chapter eight. If you want to turn there real quick, if you're quick. Romans chapter eight verse 11. It says, the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised Jesus from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwells in you. Therefore, brothers, we are not debtors to live for the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you will die. But if through the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. When Paul talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he talks about power. Current, present power. And that power is the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is the solution to the tension in the Christian life. Because God's standard didn't change when Jesus died. Jesus didn't die so that God can be like, okay, well, now I can let sin into heaven. No, Jesus died to get rid of sin. Sin is the cause of all of this mess. Sin is what put him on that cross. Sin is what led to his death. Sin is the cause of everything, all this problem. So why would he die to bring sin into Amen. The reason he died is to get rid of sin. And not just to get rid of sin sometime in the future, but now. Jesus died to provide not only pardon for the past, but power in the present. And it says if the spirit of Jesus is in you, it will quicken your mortal body. The resurrection is about power to live a resurrected life. So what's the problem? If this solves the tension, how does it work? How does it solve the tension, right? How do we access this power? Well, first you need the Holy Spirit. And we've had sermons on that. I'm not gonna get too into the weeds. But basically, the gist of it is you need to ask for the Holy Spirit. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. In addition to asking, you need to make room for the Holy Spirit. Right? The Holy Spirit wants to be on the throne of your heart. But if you're on the throne, he's not gonna kick you off. So you need to surrender. You need to step down from the throne. and let him take the lead in your life. And that's really where the tension is. The tension is not, God asks us to be perfect and I can't be perfect, therefore perfection doesn't matter. The real tension is God asks me to be perfect and I can't be perfect, so I need to die so that he can be perfect in me. The problem is not the lack of power, God provided that. The problem is not a lack of provision in any means. God has provided for our salvation. And when Jesus said it is finished, it was finished. There's no semicolon. But the problem is us. The problem is us. Our will is perverse and corrupt. And we don't want to surrender. We don't want someone else to be in charge. We like our sin, right? We like the things that crucified the Savior. Which is hard to say, it's very hard to say. That's very hard. To think that on some level in my carnal nature, I enjoy the things that put the Son of God to death. That's horrible. And that shows the depravity of our sinful nature. We should abhor those things, but we don't see the sinfulness of sin. And if we don't see the sinfulness of sin, why would we depart from it? It is when we see the sinfulness of sin, when we look at Jesus and see what it cost him to save us from sin, we understand just a little bit more about how sinful Sin is in God's And that alone can soften and subdue our hearts. The grace of Christ can bring us to the point where we are willing to say God take control of my life. And when we say that. He can do it. He's just waiting for you. He created the universe. You think it's hard for him to get your life together? No. But he needs your cooperation. He's not gonna work against your will. You can't change your heart, he can. You can't give him your affections, he can change, he can work on that. But he will not do any of those things if you don't ask him to. He will not change you at all unless you give him permission. And so the only problem is the will. If you will not overcome, you can't overcome. But if you will, you will. Because he's provided the power. He's provided everything. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. Hebrews 11, 6. For he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. Mark 9, 23 says, you can believe all things are possible to him who believes. With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. And I want to show you that that's exactly what God requires of us. God requires you to live an impossible life. to live a life. and just do the best you can is not enough. God doesn't want your best. If your best was good enough, Jesus didn't need to die. God wants Jesus living through you. Have any of you guys ever walked on water before? Raise of hands? No? Okay, good. Hopefully not. What? Oh, frozen water. I mean liquid water. Between 32 degrees and like 160. If you have ever walked on water, I'm impressed. Because to my understanding, walking on water is impossible, right? I think we can all say that that's impossible. But the Bible clearly says that Peter walked on water. How'd do it? Is the Bible lying? Did he not really walk on water? If Peter walked on water, how'd do it? He kept his eyes on Jesus, and he had faith that if Jesus said to walk on water, he would walk on water. Now you can say, that's impossible. Yeah, it was impossible, but he did it. And that's the entire point of the Bible. Yeah, it's impossible to overcome your sins, but you can do it. Yeah, it's impossible to live like Jesus, but you can do it. because of what Jesus went through for you, because of what he provided, your sins are paid. They're done. You confess them, you're forgiven. The death of the Son of God is sufficient to pay for every single one of them, past, present, future. That's not what you need to be concerned about. You don't need to be worried about forgiveness. If you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you. But what you do need to worry about is that you need to stop living your life. You need to let Him live. Because unless you let Him change you, you're not going to be changed. And if you're not changed, God can't let sin into heaven. So the problem is not forgiveness, the problem is transformation. All that to be said. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, this one of my favorite chapters, just in case you guys were wondering. It says, faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, gave command concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, when he was born, he was hid three months of his parents. And then it says, When he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for his season. He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of Egypt, for he had respect to the recompense of the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured seeing him who is invisible. By faith, The walls of Jericho fell down. By faith, Rahab did not perish. By faith, people quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight. Women received their dead, raised to life. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. All of these obtained a good report through faith, yet received not the promise, because God had something better in mind, that without us, they should not be made perfect. The Bible is very clear. Faith is what puts us in touch with that power. Faith says, God if you say it, I'll do it. because your word is power. You put your spirit into my life, you give me the power to live the impossible life, so all your biddings are enableings. The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. And that's what I want you to think about when you think about the resurrection. Not just the assurance that one day soon Jesus is coming back and he's gonna make all things new. That's amazing, that's great news, it is. I'm so excited for that day. I'm sick of this world. All of the sin, all the suffering, all the death. I'm only what, like 23 and I've got back pain. I'm like, ugh. And that's good news. I'm looking forward to no more sickness, no more pain, no more death. But when you think of the resurrection, don't just think about the future. Think about the present. That the fact that Jesus rose from the dead by the power of the Spirit, that same Spirit lives in you. And that Spirit gives you the power to do the impossible. It should be impossible to raise from the dead. It should be impossible to walk on water. It should be impossible to be in a fiery furnace and not be burned. The Bible is full of impossible things, but with God nothing is impossible. So stop trusting your effort. Stop depending on yourself. Stop clinging to the thing that killed your God. Surrender. And it's easier said than done. But we need to surrender. We need to believe that God means what he says. And we need to act in obedience to that word, knowing that the Holy Spirit will empower us. And that's all we gotta do. Say yes to Jesus with all our known choices. As Hebrews 13, six says, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. If that's your desire, I want you to raise your hand with me and say, yes, because Christ is risen, his power is present, and through faith, the impossible life is possible. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you have given us Jesus, for in him you have given us everything. Lord, forgive us for our shortcomings, forgive us for our unbelief, forgive us for loving this world and the things that are in this world. Forgive us for clinging to sin and selfishness, even though it's the cause of all of these problems. Lord, help us to let go. Help us to surrender to you. And as we reflect on what you've done for us this Easter, Lord, help us to take an extra look at the cross, an extra look at the suffering that you went through for us, and grant us just something deeper, just a little bit more of an understanding of what it cost to save us. give us appreciation, and help us to be loyal to you out of love. As Paul says, let the love of Christ compel us, for we are persuaded that one man died for all, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again. This we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our savior be the glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever amen

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention