Children of the Resurrection - Ed Kropf

Greet each one in Jesus' name this morning. Greetings in

the name of the one that said that he was

dead and is alive again forevermore. We're grateful to be

here this morning in remembrance of Jesus rising from the dead.

It's good to be here worship with you again. Don't

seem like we get over here very often anymore for

some reason, but we're glad to be here and be

with you again this morning. My mind kind of felt

like it went a lot of directions here with thinking

of the resurrection and the title of the message, and

we'll get to that a little bit later. Here is

Children of the Resurrection, and that's taken from a verse

in Luke. We'll get too later. But Jesus said, and

John eleven, verse twenty five, Jesus said, I'm the Resurrection

and the life he that believeth in me, though he

were dead, he yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth

and believeth in me shall never die. Believe us thou this,

and do we believe that this morning in our lives

and the experiences that we have went through in our lives.

And I was even before I was asked to share

this morning. I was thinking that for some reason, when

we were here for my mom's funeral and overre those

experiences that that and we were there was death. We were,

you know, thinking about death, and for some reason I

had a burden to come back and have the opportunity

to share on the resurrection with you here. And for

some reason in God's timing, it took ten years for

that to happen. But we're grateful to be here. We're grateful,

and I guess if I am asked to stand before

a group of people, don't think there's anything that I

would rather do than share on the resurrection of the

dead this morning. The hope that we have of eternal life.

The one thing that has come to me in the

last couple of years when when we think of holidays

and Christmas, we spend a lot of time and we

think about Christmas, and I think it's it's right that

we think about the birth of our Lord. But you know,

the birth of Christ was just the beginning of his

work here on earth, and today we are looking at

the fulfillment of that work of Jesus here on earth,

the fulfillment the death and the resurrection from the dead

that we have here the power to live above sin.

And we think of the setting of those verses. We

have Jesus standing by the grave of one of his

dear friends, of Lazarus, and remember that this is before

Christ direction from the dead, and Lazarus is still dead

in the tomb. I think it's easy for us to

maybe not get the full impact of that being as

we look back on that story. But if you have

ever stood next to the grave of one of your

loved ones, and maybe one that you feel was taken

before their time in human terms, and maybe you get

a sense of what Martha felt there as she stood

by the grave of her brother, the hopelessness and the

questions why, why did this happen? And how do we

move forward from here? And I think that this is

a common question for man of all times to face,

even back in the day of job. The days of job,

Job says if a man die, will he live again?

And death, you know, is a curtain between us and

the next life, and we really don't have Maybe we

just have a glimpse of what happens beyond beyond death,

and we wonder about that. But I'd like to first

of all turn this morning to Job chapter nineteen, Job,

I believe answers his own own question here. If a

man die, will he live again? Job chapter nineteen, verse

twenty five. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and

he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet

and my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall

see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another,

though my reiins be consumed within me. And I believe

we have here faith that looks beyond the grave. Job says,

I know that there's life beyond the grave. I know

that my Redeemer lives, and even though my body will

will rot in the ground, that I will live, and

that I will see my Redeemer face to faith, I said.

Going back to that verse in John, Jesus says that

I am the resurrection. I'm the one that has the

power over death. I'm the one that has the power

to raise people from the dead. And I am also

I'm the life. I'm the very one that gives you

life and the one that can bring you back to life,

and the one that can give you spiritual life, eternal life.

I'd like to go to Luke, chapter twenty for the

verse that I got my title from, and I just

like to read this, and we'll come back to that

later this morning Luke twenty, verse thirty six, And it says,

neither can they die anymore, for they are equal unto

the angels. And are the children of God being the

children of the resurrection? This morning? Who are the children

of the resurrection? What does it say about me and

my self if I am a child of the resurrection?

And how do we become a chill a child of

the resurrection. It's like to keep those thoughts in your mind.

Liked to go to Matthew twenty eight and read the

account of the resurrection there Matthew twenty eight, verse one.

In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to

dawn tour the first day of the week, came Mary

Magalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold,

there was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the

Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the

stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance

was like lightning in his raiment, white as snow. And

for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became

his dead men. And the Angel answered and said into

the women, fear not ye, for I know the ye

seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for

he has risen, as he said, Come and see the

place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell

us disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold,

he goeth forth before you into Galilee. There show you

see him. I have told you. And they departed quickly

from the seculcher with fear and great joy, and it'd

run to bring his disciples word. And if you have

thought and felt how the sisters of Lazarus felt by

the grave of their brother there, think how much more

discouraged the disciples and the believers that Jesus felt after

his death. And as one of the men on the

road to Immaeas said, we thought he was the one

that would redeem Israel. We thought we had hope here,

and now that hope was gone. They were discouraged. They

thought life had come to an end for them. And

now these women were coming to the tomb to anoint

the body. Probably they were going to spend time weeping

there and remembering. And we have a great event here,

and it says the earthquake. And if you think about

this as the second time, I think the brother read

that in devotion this morning. This is the second time

that they had an earthquake here in just three days here.

And I thought about back when Israel was in the

wilderness and the spirit of the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai,

the earth, the earth shook. And when the presence of

the Lord comes in glory, the earth shakes before him.

We have the presence of God here with his son

rising from the dead. We have the Angel in white

raiment and bright with the glory of God, rolling back

the stone, not to let Jesus out, but to let

us see in so we could see that Jesus was

already gone from the tomb. And what would your thoughts

be as you come to the tomb and you are

coming to weep before a man, before the tomb of

a man that you loved, and your world is falling apart,

And you come and the tomb is empty, the grave

clothes are lying there, and you're told he is not here.

But has risen. Go tell that disciples that he has

risen from the dead. Think of the glory the gladness

of heart that as you realize that He is no

longer here. And it took them a while for that

to soak into their consciousness, like I think it would

for any of us that He has risen. Like to

turn to First Corinthians, chapter fifteen, begin reading in verse twelve. Now,

if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead,

how'll says some among you that there is no resurrection

of the dead. But if there be no resurrection of

the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ

be not risen, then is our preaching vein? And your

faith is also vain? Yeah, and we are found false

witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that

he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up. If

so be that the dead rise not. For if the

dead rise not, then is not Christ raised? And if

Christ be not raised, your faith is vain here? Or

yet in your sins, then they also which are falling

asleep in Christ, are perished. If in this life only

we have hope in Christ, we are of all men

most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead

and become the first fruits of them that slept? And

apparently there were those there that we're doubting that Christ

had actually risen from the dead, And I'm not sure

what they were thinking or believing there. But we have

Paul here giving proof that the resurrection had happened and

the importance of it in our lives today. And I

wonder why you would want to doubt that Christ rice

rose from the dead. I think I want to believe

in a God that is able to do miraculous things,

to do above and beyond what we what we ask

or think. But if you need proof of the resurrection,

I have just quickly five five proofs here, and if

you dig I think there's more than this. But we have,

first of all the fact that the guards were still alive,

and as I understand Roman law that that a if

the prison, if a guard failed in their duty, they

were to be put to death. You also have the

empty tomb, and that is a great, a great proof

that the tomb is empty. You also have the testimony

of those who saw Jesus after his resurrection, and then

you have the change in the lives of the disciples.

And I don't think maybe we need to go much

further than that. If you if you think about what

Dad said, how they forsake Jesus and and and ran

and hid after his his day, going from that to

boldly proclaiming him after the Holy Spirit came in their lives.

I think that's about all the proof we need of

a changed heart that Christ rose from the dead. And

then beyond that, we have their willingness to give their

lives for his cause, to be willing to put to

death for this fact that they believed. And we don't

give our lives. I don't believe for something that we

don't believe in. And as this passage says, the resurrection

is central, it's core to our belief in God. And

if Jesus did not raise from the dead, how do

you know that he wasn't just another criminal that died

that was crucified on the cross. And if Jesus did

not rise from the dead, he is a liar because

he said that he would rise from the dead in

three days. And so all that we believe, all that

we hold dear, all of this is to none effect.

If Christ did not rise from the dead. In the

death of Christ, we have the atonement for our sins.

But in the resurrection of Christ we have the hope

of eternal life and the power to live above sin.

And I don't believe that just the atonement is going

to carry us through if we don't have the resurrection

to help us live above sin. And it says we

are yet in our sins. It says our faith is vain,

and our hope of seeing our loved ones again those

that have passed on faithfully, that hope is gone if

the resurrection did not happen. Like to go back to

that passage in Luke chapter twenty, begin reading in verse

thirty four, and Jesus answering said into them the children

of this world Mary and are given and married. But

they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world

and the resurrection from the dead. Neither Mary nor are

given in marriage. Neither can they die anymore, for they

are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God,

being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead

are raised. Even Moses showed at the bush whom he

called the Lord, the Lord, the God of Abraham and

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For

he is not a god of the dead, but of

the living, for all live unto him. And this is

following account where the leaders came to try to trick Jesus.

They had the story of a woman that would have

married seven times. And we have heard Jesus saying marriage

is necessary here in this world for the continuation of

the human race. But in the resurrection, in the next life,

when we are raised from the dead to eternal life,

marriage is not necessary because we do not die, we

live forever, we don't die, we don't get old. And

so the children of God are children of the resurrection.

And as the children of God, we are given eternal life,

given eternal life as the angels of God. And even

beyond that, because the angels were always serve God and

they were not redeemed, and so we have extra And

so this also account. This assumes that there are those

who are not the children of the Resurrection. And so

I believe this follows that we are given a choice

as to who we are going to follow. We need

to choose between life or death, the resurrection or or death,

and we choose who we are going to follow in that.

And so as children of God, we are going to

act in a way that is pleasing to God. We

are going to obey his commands and follow in steps.

And maybe I'll just break a little bit here. But

I as I thought of your Sonay school lesson this

morning and the study you're starting into, I think it's

this is a very fitting morning to begin that study

if we think of the resurrection of Christ and the

power to live above sin and new life. And I

have and it's in the back of you I looked.

It's in the back of the book that you're studying,

the Schleitheim Confession, which was the first one that I

believe it was written in fifteen twenty seven. And this

is a partial quote here, but this is on baptism.

Baptism should be given and there's some more there, and

it says, and to all who walk in the resurrection

of Jesus Christ and wish to be buried with him

and death so that they may be resurrected with Him.

And when I think of walking, I think of a

continuing process. Our our walk with God, our conversion e

experience in our life with God is not just something

that happens once, but it's continued steps and it's growth,

and it's something that we need to do every day.

And walking in the resurrection is just as important today

as it was five hundred years ago. And it wasn't

enough for those five hundred years ago, and it wasn't

enough for our grandparents to be walking the resurrection. It's

got to be us today walking in the resurrection in

our lives as well. I think we all, or many

of us, desire that life we want if we read

about this, we want that power of the resurrection, I believe,

I believe we all would enjoy the kind of life

that comes from that. Before resurrection, there is death. It

has to be that way without and before we can

live for Christ, we have to die to elf before

that can happen. And I have heard of those that

call maybe a physical ailment or something that a hindrance

we have as bearing our cross, and maybe there's a

side to that, but I don't think that says it

all into these people that lived in this era taking

up the cross. And I'll just read I think it

was read in Matthew, but Luke's Acount Luke nine twenty

three says, and if any man will come after me,

let him deny himself, let him take up his cross

daily and follow me. And to these people, except for

maybe the man that bore Jesus cross. Taking up your

cross meant that you were heading to death. Death was

just hours down the road, and you were not coming

back from this alive. And this wasn't just something that

inconvenienced and we're made walking harder. This was the road

to death. And so for us today, taking up our

cross daily is a process that we have to go

that we know when we take up this cross that

we are putting, that we know that our self is

going to die. And the interesting thing is is in

our eternal life, we die so that life can come forth.

John twelve twenty four, Jesus says, very verily, I say

it to you, except a corn, if we fall into

the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,

it bringeth forth much fruit. And we think about the

beauty that results from death. And you know, usually garden

seeds aren't really necessarily something that good to look at.

The corn kernels kind of shriveled up and dried, and

flower bulbs are kind of kind of brown usually, and

they and seeds don't do much good sitting on the

shelf either. But if you plant that seed in the

ground and it dies, you get life. You get an

ear of corn with many seeds, and they taste good

at least I enjoy them. And if you plant a

certain ugly brown bulb, you get a beautiful red tulip.

And it's interesting in our lives, how long sometimes we

hold onto the ugly things and not allow them to die,

so that life and beauty can come forth. We'd rather

hang onto that ugly bulb than allow death to come

in that beautiful red flower to to come and for

all of us to enjoy. It's turned to Romans chapter six.

Probably should read the whole chapter, but I'll begin reading

in verse four. Therefore we are buried with him by

baptism into death from the dead, by the glory of

the Father. I'm sorry that, like as Christ was raised

up from the dead by the glory of the Father,

even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness

of his death, we shall be also in the likeness

of his resurrection. Knowing this that our old man is

crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,

that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that

is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be

dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live

with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead,

dieth no more death, hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once.

But in that he liveth he liveth unto God. Here

we have the result of life after death. After our

old man has been put to death, we are now

free to live for God. And the same power that

created the world, the same power that shook them out

in that mouth SINII before the Israelites. That same power

that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you

and to me this morning. Because he was raised from

the dead, we now have the power to walk in

newness of life. And I remember so well I was.

It took me, and I think God must have been

saying to me, like Jesus said to the men on

the road, to you mans o fool and slow of

heart to learn. But when that when I understood that

that that that I don't have to live and defeat,

that that I can, by the grace of God, by

the power of God working in my life, and I

don't have to fall into sin, that I don't have

to live in sin, and by the grace of God,

and by dwelling in Him, by walking in his footsteps,

we can and have victory over sin. And is there

power lacking in my life for years this morning? If

it is, has our old men been put to death?

Have we tried to come down off the cross? And remember?

Before freedom from death can take place, our flesh must

be crucified. And after death then we are free to

live for Christ. And I believe that is what freedom

in Christ is this morning, is not the liberty to

do as I please, but the freedom to live above sin.

We don't have those pressures, those things dragging us down,

but we are free that power in our lives. We

are free to live our lives in obedience and honor,

honoring to Christ going on. I have heard it said

that even without eternal life, the Christian life would be

worth it. The relationship with Christ we have here and

the peace of God in our hearts. I beg to

differ with that. I'd like to go back to one

Corinthians fifteen again. Here this morning, we are not only

we're looking back. We're looking at life today and we're

looking to the future as well. We look back on

Christ's resurrection and the power of our death. And we

look today at our lights, at the power of Christ

in our lives, being able to live above sin. We're

also looking forward to the final resurrection. Turn verse fifty one. Behold,

I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed in a moment, in

the twinkling of an eye at the last trump For

the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,

and we shall be changed. For this ruptible must put

on incorruption, and this mortal, excuse me, must put on immortality.

So in this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and

this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then she'll be

brought to pass the saying that is written, death is

swallowed up in victory o death, whereas I sting o grave,

where is I victory? The sting of death is sin,

and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks

be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord,

Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brother, and be steadfast, unmovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as

much as you know that your labor is not in

vain in the Lord. So this morning we are also

looking ahead for the reward that is is a waiting

to us. And we all face death in this life,

both our own and those that are dear to us.

And death is an enemy this morning, I believe, because

it causes separation here in our human experience, and for

some it is a final separation between those that are

children of the Resurrection and those that are children of darkness.

Death brings final separation in some of our loved ones.

We will never see us again. But for those of

us that are living with the power of Christ in

our lives, we no longer need to fear death. And

christ return takes away that sting of death for us

victory for those of us that are living already and

walking in the power of that resurrection. And so as

we keep that in mind, let us be steadfast and

unmovable and abounding in the work of the Lord. Thank God,

bless you this morning, that all