It all seems so hard to understand. But, it had to happen for sinners to be saved. First humility, pain, and death. Next, resurrection glory, honor, and life.
Why The Cross and Resurrection?
Philippians 2:6-11
(Preached on Resurrection Sunday)Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Please turn to Philippians 2:6-11. As we continue our verse by verse gleaning from Philippians this Resurrection Sunday morning, we have providentially arrived at a passage that deals with this day that has been set aside to celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord. Last week we focused upon 2:1-2. This week we are in 5-11. Coming into this passage, we have seen that Paul has been exhorting the Christians. We who are saved, have been given certain things for the united body-life that God wants out of His church. They are saved people things. What are saved people things? They are things like encouragement, comfort from love, fellowship of the Spirit, affection, and compassion in Christ. We have these things--in Christ. Therefore, we should go on. We should do them. We should go on to nurture unitedness together where we are intent on one purpose instead of our own agendas. We must treat the body like Christ treats His body. We should be doing all we can to be likeminded in the faith. We need to make sure we are trying to be likeminded based on God's word. We must maintain the same love to all Christians around us, even if we don't like them; even if they irritate us. We must seek to be one in soul, focused on one purpose. We need to be looking into them. Why? We need to be looking inside their hearts because that is where we see our crucified and resurrected Christ Who lives in our other members spiritually. It is practicing body-life where we recognize Christ in the rest of the body that we so proudly recognize in ourselves in salvation. And it is humbleness. Real humbleness is the modest, yet power-packed staple of walking the worthy walk. This is what Paul has been talking about as He urges us to really seek out the good of others by thinking of ourselves in a certain way. This thinking is the mind of Christ way. To make sure we really get the point in a profound manner, Paul gives one of the greatest sermon illustrations ever given. Paul says to have this humble, others-oriented, mind in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. This takes us right into our passage. Please read it with me starting with Christ Jesus at the end of verse 5,
"... Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11
Please prepare your hearts for this special sermon for this Resurrection Sunday. The theme is in the form of a very important two part question:
Why The Cross and Resurrection?
[pray]
There are so many puzzles and riddles in this world. There are things that God has created that perplex us. They might be things like fascinating sea creatures, or intriguing places off in the middle of a tropical jungle somewhere, or in a cave; like in a desert canyon. It could be anything in this room. It might be aspects of the way God designed our own selves. There are so many puzzles about our very ability to think and conceptualize. Emotions are mysterious; where our face muscles raise up and we show our teeth and we let out a strange universal language that has no meaning other than it registers that something is funny (whatever funny is supposed to be anyway). We call it laughing. Or, there is crying. It's another universal language. Instead of the face raising up, it droops down in the same direction that tears flow. Weeping is the language of hurt, pain, and sorrow. The shortest verse in the Bible is,
"Jesus wept." John 11:35
The language of that little verse speaks volumes, but how can we comprehend the infinite depth of it? We know a little bit about these things, but there is still a lot of wonder that surrounds them. In our world, history is also puzzling. There are unknown details about why God has ordained certain elements of history to occur as they have. History is just each moment, just one moment later--right? And each moment goes quickly. The past is not here anymore. So we know it as history. We know it dimly because it is gone, and all the details are fuzzy. Some of the details of history are forgotten, but most are simply unknown to anyone but God. People who are unsaved, come up with all kinds of theories concerning these things. They come up with all kinds of theories concerning God's creation. Some of the things they suggest and suppose are wrong. Sometimes, they recognize aspects of God's puzzling creation that have been revealed. It is the apparent things, like self consciousness, pain, joy, hunger, eating, communicating, reproduction, and things like this. They know about these things because they experience them. Research, and discoveries bring things to light and they become known to a point. But it is always only to a point: The seemingly endless details are unknown, perplexing. When it comes to God, and when it comes to humanity, the Scriptures proclaim that the person who is born in sin, and does not have the Spirit of God living inside, is also called the natural man. God tells us that such people are in what is called the sinful flesh. They are not in the Holy Spirit, so they can not spiritually appraise anything in respect to the things of God. They are people who do
"... not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to [such people]; and [they] cannot understand [the things of the Spirit of God], because [such things] are spiritually appraised." 1 Corinthians 2:14
The things of the Spirit of God remain perplexing, and somewhat invisible, to the natural man, woman, boy and girl. They are born in sin, and in sin, their hearts are blinded to what God says, and they are lost. Further, they do not even recognize that their hearts are blind, sinful, and lost. In other words, they might think that they know and understand the One true Living God, in all His radiant glory, but they, as Paul says in Romans 1:19-20, only know about Him through what He has made. They know God by His Creative Work, but they do not honor Him as God or give thanks. Instead, they are futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart is darkened. It is not until their hearts are completely opened to God that they see Him spiritually. Seeing God spiritually is when He finally shines forth all of the light of His true Color in radiant glory into our hearts, and then we see His color, and we see that it is beautiful. It makes sense. And we know it is right, and we fall in love with it. This reminds me of Bob Edens. Bob Edens' life is studied in medical schools all over the world. Bob was born blind. All his life, he had heard about light. He had heard about colors. He had it explained to him in such detail that he knew about it, but he lived in black darkness, so he did not know it intimately. Bob had been blind for fifty years. When he was 51 years old, he had surgery. As a result, Bob Edens was able to see for the first time. And so, for the first time, Bob saw what was so perplexing to him beforehand. Finally it all made sense. Edens said;
"I never would have dreamed that yellow is so…so yellow. I don't have the words, I'm amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color. I just can't believe red. I can't wait to get up each day to see what I can see. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing lights. You could never know how wonderful everything is. I saw some bees the other day, and they were magnificent. I saw a truck drive by in the rain and throw a spray in the air. It was marvelous. And did I mention, I saw a falling leaf just drifting through the air?"--Bob Edens
I thought it was interesting that Mr. Eden's said;
"You could never know how wonderful everything is."
This is the way it is with physical sight. This is the way it is with spiritual sight. While a heart is blinded by sin, it can never know how wonderful the true God really is. And folks, we are all born into this world with this exact same sin problem. All of us are conceived and grow, and are born with darkened hearts that are blind, sinful, and lost spiritually. We do not honor the One true God. Until God rescues any of us from this problem, we chase after false gods. We call blue "red," and red "yellow." We will even call darkness, "light." Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, New Agers, Wiccans, Satanists, secular humanists, gnostics, agnostics, atheists, and even people who claim they don't care--all of them honor something, but they do not believe in, and worship, the true God Who is described in the Bible. Since the One true God is a mystery to them, they create false gods in their own image. Therefore, all the various gods of the world are created in the image of sin. The height of this deception is when people proclaim that they are god. Like Lydia, (who was the first Philippian that the One true God miraculously saved), God opens hearts to understand and see the light;
"The Lord opened [Lydia's] heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." Acts 16:14
Paul related the important details of the gospel of God and Christ to Lydia's ears. But it was God Who opened up her heart, and shined the colorful details into it. God made the news into good news. The mystery of the good news, was no longer a mystery to Lydia. Once enlightened by God, the hidden things and perplexing things of God are seen. This is the beautiful work of God in this world to save that which was lost. Once saved, God continues to reveal more. God's children must grow by the milk of the word which unveils more knowledge in layers. It is where our saved minds are transformed by the renewing of God's word, Romans 12:1-2. So, what is important for us to know this morning is that,
God reveals to the opened heart what it needs to know for salvation.
Further,
God reveals what we need for spiritual growth in our short stay on this planet.
What is important this Resurrection Sunday morning, is that God has revealed beautiful details about the most beautiful event in all of history. God has revealed why-- Why the cross and resurrection. So, right in the middle of Paul's point in our Philippians text, Paul references the greatest act of love in history, where
"... Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, [which is a slave] and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
So, this leads us to focus upon the question: Why the Cross? We think about this humble action, and we see that Christ existed in eternity past in the form of God. We think of this, and we know that it is bigger than big. Jesus, as the eternal Son, had equality with God in all ways. But then, the Majesty, glory, honor, and respect, that God has, and deserves as the Master and Creator, was held loosely for a short period of time. Folks, that is already incomprehensible humility. And though we quote the Scripture, and though we say it, and though we affirm it, it is still, so, so perplexing. But, God has given us enough revelation to understand what we need to know with opened hearts illumined by the Spirit. One thing we know in this revelation of God, is that God's intelligence, power, and love is giant. God, in His infinite knowledge, and wisdom, and love, knew that the events surrounding Christ's earthly days leading up to, and going into, His ministry of the cross, had to be this way. So God, determined it in eternity past. And so it had to happen; and it did. Before God determined, and spoke the world into existence, God knew that He would create a man, and He would create a woman from that man. God also knew that,
"just as through [that] one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all [people], because all sinned--" Romans 5:12
God knew that Adam and Eve would sin, even before He created them. God knows all the facts. God shares enough of the facts with us. He shares the necessary facts. God tells us what sin is, where it came from. He tells us the deadly, horrible, result of sin. In fact, we experience it every single day. We all know how wicked the world is. We all know our own hearts. We know our secret thoughts. Every single person is well aquatinted with their sin. Coming right into our Philippians passage, God identifies sin for us. He says it is selfishness and empty conceit in Philippians 2:3. Selfishness and conceit are the two partners in crime who have vexed mankind from the beginning: Also known by their aliases: Pride and self-centeredness. Lack of love for God, and for others, is also there in the bedrock of sin. Sin permeates these things. Paul describes manifestations of sin in Galatians in a way that puts flesh and bones to it,
"19 the deeds of the [sinful] flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Galatians 5:19-21
When a heart is opened to see, all of these kinds of things are some of the first things it sees with clarity. Yes, the opened heart sees Jesus, and salvation by grace through faith. But first it must be opened to see how wretched it truly is. It must see why it needs to be saved from, and what it is saved from. This list is a bunch of manifestations of sin, and yet the list can go on in a seemingly endless flow. But I want us to notice the consequence. It is more revelation. Those who are lost because they remain completely in the flesh (who practice these things as an affinity attribute of their lostness),
"... will not inherit the kingdom of God."
This revelation is also part of the heart opening experience. Until people see this truth with their heart, they live in sin thinking that they are in a godlike kingdom. It is the kingdom of eat drink and be merry--
After all, tomorrow (someday) we're all going to die.
Let's live it up now, because there might not be a tomorrow.
It's my life, I'll do what I want to do.
Who are you to tell me that what I am doing is wrong?
The problem is that every one of us has inherited sin, and in our sin, everything we want to do comes from a sinful self that slaps God in the face with our thoughts and actions. We are alive--and we all realize this--but as slaves of sin, we are all destined to perish in eternal death. And here is the problem:
Nobody can truthfully say that they do not have sin, or they do not sin, or that they don't do any of the things that the Bible lists as manifestations of sin.
We all inherited sin, and God reveals to us that
"... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23
People who are lost don't recognize this from God's perspective. They do not realize that they are living a lie, believing a lie, and confessing a lie that ignores what God is really saying. It is the lie that presses the crown of thorns down on Christ Jesus' head. Lost in the sin that keeps the good news a mystery, they do not know that
"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
[They do not know that]
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[They do not know that]
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10
But, God has revealed this to us. He has revealed to us that all people are sinners who are separated from Him in their unsaved condition. If they are not changed, saved, rescued, then they are not people of God. They are not God's true children. They have not been cleansed. They are unrighteous. As such, they will perish when they die. They will experience God's judgment. They will drink the bitter cup of His wrath forever. And even though they look clean, or they look successful, or they look good, or they look spiritual, they are dead in their trespasses and sin and they are lost. Even though they do good things, they are separated from God by sin and are perishing. Even if it was just only one micro-molecule of sin hidden in the bottom of their heart at the subatomic level, it is enough to separate them from the Holy Pure Righteous God of Love (because He sees it). All sin, no matter how small, is really a bottomless pit that separates us from God. All unsaved people exist with this separating pit as an inheritance. All people sin, and they manifest it daily. Sin is a deep, deep black hole between us and God. Further, even though lost people think they are worshipping God, (yet it is a false god), they will still perish in their sins. They will still be separated from the One True God forever. Even though lost people might claim to be God's people, they will still perish. Even though lost people might go to church, they will still perish. Jesus said, (concerning the lost sheep of the house of Israel who thought they were saved, yet really rejected God), that on the day of judgment, Christ will say,
"... I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice Lawlessness.'" Matthew 7:21
Any sin, no matter how small, (by the way), is lawlessness. There are people who are lost in their sin, who will stand before the Lord in the afterlife judgment and claim that they were on His side in this life, but God has always known their true hearts. He will not be fooled. He will simply tell them that their hearts were always void of Him. They perish in their sins, rejecting God's way of salvation from sin--which is the cross of Christ. This is why the cross. Without the cross, and without salvation through it, people,
"will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power," 2 Thessalonians 1:9
No lost sinner is immune from this fate. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All who are not rescued by Christ, have inherited death and eternal destruction from Adam. Saved people die too, but after they die, they will spiritually live forever. This is why they are called saved. The big question this morning is: Why the cross and resurrection? A big question for each of us personally, is,
Am I saved?
Ask your self this based upon the Light of the Lord shining into your heart through His word. God says,
"... it is appointed for [everyone] to die once ...
[Then something else follows:]
... and after this comes judgment," Hebrews 9:27
The only way to be delivered from this horrible fate is to be saved spiritually. Being spiritually saved, means to be changed by a miracle of God into an everlasting child of God in Christ. Why the cross? Because,
"... one died for all [that are saved], therefore all [that are saved] died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [that one is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Salvation is a miracle, where Christ purposely died as the sacrifice for sins. Then He rose again on the behalf of those whom He saves. In Him, the saved are changed into new creatures. In Him, the saved are miracle creatures. In Him, the saved are in a new kingdom, made into living temples of the Spirit, made into members of the body of Christ. They are reconciled to the God that they were separated from in their sins and trespasses. We, who are saved, no longer recognize any saved person according to their flesh. We all recognize all saved people as miracles who are according to the Spirit. In salvation, we are God's
"... workmanship, created in Christ Jesus ..." Ephesians 2:10
God saves people in this mysterious miracle of regeneration. Regeneration is to be born again. Jesus said that you must be born again to be saved. Everyone who was born in the image of the first Adam (which is everyone) must be born again in the last Adam, God tells us that,
"'The first man, Adam, became a living soul.' The last Adam [Christ Jesus] became a life-giving spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:45
We must be changed by the miracle, in the last Adam, because while we are lost in the first Adam, we can do nothing to save ourselves--nothing. Salvation is
"... not on the basis of deeds which we have done in [supposed] righteousness, but [salvation is] according to [God's] mercy, [God's mercy manifested is the miracle, where it is] by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior," Titus 3:5-6
Everything I am sharing folks is why. It is why the hurting. It is why the foul, stinking, grotesque, death platform of the cross. For Christ to create saved people in regeneration, where He changes them from lost children of sin of the first Adam, into holy children of God in the last Adam, the cross had to happen. God reveals to us that what happened on the cross was a whole list of things, and they were all necessary to save lost sinners. Why the cross was necessary is because through it, a great purchase was made where the great price was paid in Christ's humble death. A New Covenant was established in Him. The purchase was God's acquisition of people. The New Covenant is the covenant in Christ's blood, where Christ is the actual covenant now for all whom He says. The cross of Christ, (which meant His rejection, suffering, and death as a humble bond servant), is the price that was paid to buy those whom He saves, 1 Corinthians 6:20. Through the cross, Christ,
"15... is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that purchases them ..." Hebrews 9:15
Christ's value as the God-man is infinite, perfect, and righteous. The purchase is all His work, based completely on His value in His sacrifice. This is why the cross. It is how Christ secured,
"... the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." Acts 20:28
This is why there is that glorious song sung to Him in the heavenlies,
"9 ... You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Revelation 5:9
Christ's priceless blood was shed on the cross. It is the precious substance that is so valuable that nobody can adequately appraise it. It flows beyond ethnic-racial ties. It runs through national borders. It is blood that was necessary. It is the only substance adequate enough to purchase people in salvation. Ask yourself,
Have I been bought with the blood of Christ?
Are you His purchased possession? If not, then you are a slave of sin--separated from God, and you will perish. But there is more: The blood of Christ shed on the cross, accomplished much more. It not only bought people, but it also covered the sins of those whom God saves. This is why we read in Romans 4, where the great prophecy of David is fulfilled in Christ,
"7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;" Romans 4:7
This is what Jesus' blood did for all whom He saves. No lawless deed can expose itself. Every single sin is blanketed with the covering blood of Jesus. His blood is the only substance powerful enough to do it. This leads me to ask another question.
Is the blood of Jesus covering your sins?
If not, then your sins are separating you from God. Uncovered, naked, exposed, you will experience eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord forever. You are lost. But there is more: Finally, in His blood sacrifice, Jesus absorbed God's wrath that sinners deserve by absorbing God's wrath in Himself for all whom He saves. His blood sacrifice is the only thing strong enough, and perfect enough, to absorb God's wrath. So,
"God displayed [Jesus Christ] publicly as a wrath absorption in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed;" Romans 3:25
Christ,
"had to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make wrath absorption for the sins of the people." Hebrews 2:17
There was no one else Who could do it.
"He Himself is the wrath absorber for our sins; ..." 1 John 2:2
This is why the cross. To do such a thing, Jesus had to humble himself beyond anything we can imagine, taking the form of willing slave, and become obedient in the greatest act of love ever displayed,
"10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the wrath absorber for our sins." 1 John 4:10
Has Christ absorbed the wrath that you deserve in your pride, selfishness, and sin that separates people from God?
Paying the high price. Covering sins, and absorbing the horrible wrath that all sinners deserve was extremely excruciating, but it was necessary. We know it from revelation, but it is still so hard to imagine the intensity of it. We think about how holy, pure, and righteous our great Creator is. He made planets, life, and us. He is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. It is so hard to imagine that along with all the intense pain, His humility involved taking our place, where,
"21 God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
Think about this: Christ never knew sin, yet He was made to be sin on behalf of people. All of these burdensome things I have shared are necessary for salvation. God fulfilled all of them to save people from lostness in sin. God did it all by emptying Himself of His majesty, glory, and respect by taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is love. So, God has told us that all of this is why the cross.
But, this is only half the story. Remember the theme of our sermon this Resurrection Sunday morning? The question is, Why The Cross and Resurrection? You see, after the cross, comes the glorious breaking forth in resurrected life. And so Paul goes on; He says that after Christ temporarily loosened His grip on all the same respect, majesty and glory that He deserved in His equality with God; spit upon with saliva from hate filled mouths that He created; His beard torn from his cheeks by mere mortals; whipped with rods, and tools of pain; mocked by smart alec, hateful people in public; stripped naked, His hands and feet had nails placed on them, and then a hammer came down and punched through skin, muscle, tendon, and bone, through the other side and down into wood to impale Him. Despised, and dishonored, He died slowly on an executioners cross where He finally succumbed to the torture while on display as a common criminal before the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After all of this, Christ triumphantly rose from the dead three days later as the life giving Savior, and living fulfillment of the purchase, the covering, and wrath absorption for the sins of the people He saves. Christ died so that we would die to the curse of sin in the first Adam. Christ was raised alive in newness of life so that people would be born again in Him to newness of life in the Holy Spirit,
"25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification." Romans 4:25
In Christ's resurrection, where He triumphed over sin and death, He lives! He lives, and He continues living as living righteousness forever and ever. And all who are in Him, will continue living in righteousness forever and ever. He is our resurrection life, and our only living righteousness that we need for life.
4... you also were made to die to the Law [of sin and death] through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God." Romans 7:4
This is why the cross, and this is why the resurrection. It was all according to God's eternal plan to save people from the curse of sin and death that was brought into the world by Adam, where before we bore nothing but poisonous sin, we now bear fruit of life for God.
3... Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 ... he was buried, ... he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ... 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man [the first Adam] came death, by a man [the Last Adam] has come also the resurrection of the dead." 1 Corinthians 15:3-21
The resurrection of the dead is the good news of God's plan to both save people, and bring glory to His Son forever and ever. The cross was necessary, but the resurrection is just as necessary. You can not have one without the other. We can't have the glory without the humility first. In His glory, Jesus conquered sin and death. But He was rejected, humiliated, and died first, to raise up afterward. And He did it, both for us, and also so that He would be highly exalted, with the name which is above every name, so that everyone will bow to Him, and everyone will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So, these are the two things:
1) Our salvation is in resurrection life where Christ lives in us as our hope of glory;
and
2) Christ's glorification is in His resurrection life, where equality with God is a thing that is eternally grasped and magnified forever through the whole plan.
Now, in Christ, God sees all who believe in the Lord for salvation through the cross and resurrection as being,
"20... crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20
This is salvation, and salvation is by faith. We were crucified with Christ on His cross. We were raised with Him out of the graves of our sin and death. He is our life. This is how God
"3... has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," Ephesians 1:3
So God wants us to know what are the riches of the glory of the inheritance of Christ that He gives to those He saves. He wants us to know what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Such wonderful blessings are in accordance with His power which is the same power He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named. God put all things in subjection under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and gave Him as head over all things, to the church, which are the people He saves, which is His body, which is the fullness of Him who fills all in all, Ephesians 1:18-23. In His resurrection, Christ is seated at the Father's right hand in heavenly places. And in our co-crucifixion with Him, we are also resurrected with Him and we are seated there to, in Him. It is the necessary progression--from curse, to the glory, where Paul finalizes his statement on all of this by saying what I will end this sermon with this morning. It is a beautiful statement on the reason why both the cross and resurrection. It is because
"1 you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. [in lost people] 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our [sinful] flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. [The children of wrath need a wrath absorber to be saved] 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might display
[meaning showcase, forever in magnified glory as the living crucified, and resurrected church of the covenant]
the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 Because by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:1-10
How beautiful it is to know that salvation is in the crucified and resurrected Christ. It is where God raises us up with Him, because we are in Him, and He is in us. In salvation, God has seated us with Him where He is seated right now--in heavenly places at the right Hand of the Father. This is why the resurrection. And all these things are why we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.
You may be here this morning and you may have thought you knew about God before. Now you realize that you have never truly known God spiritually with an open heart. Like Bob Edens, whose eyes were opened to see the glory of light and color for the first time, your eyes have been opened to see the glory of the Lord for the first time--and you know it. Now you see with spiritual eyes how wonderful everything is. You need to thank God for revealing Himself to you in His grace, and love. Like the man who was born blind that Jesus met in the ancient city of Jerusalem; Jesus miraculously opened the man's eyes, and he was able to see for the first time. Jesus asked the man if the man believed in Him. Looking at Jesus with eyes that could see for the first time,
"38 he said, 'Lord, I believe.' And he worshiped Him." John 9:38
This is what you need to do. It is like the words that we true believers sang to God in true worship of Him this morning,
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.
Do you want to be eternally spiritually saved this morning? Do you want to be a member of the body of Christ? Then believe the good news of God in Christ Jesus and worship Him. It is why the cross and resurrection. Listen as I finish in these last moments--These are the facts:
"... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
31... "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, ..." Acts 16:31
"... by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10
If you are not saved, and you want to be, then pray with me right now to receive Jesus Christ as your purchaser, sin covering, and wrath absorber of the wrath you deserve as a sinner. Receive Christ Jesus as both Lord and Savior. If you have submitted to Christ in faith, then please pray with me,
[God thank you for opening the eyes of my heart. I confess my sins. I know that I need your salvation. I know that I can not save myself. I believe that you came and died on the cross to save me from my sins. Lord, I believe. And I worship you. I turn (repent) from my old sinful self. I serve you my risen Lord in newness of life. I thank you for saving me, and keeping me, and teaching me. amen.]
If this is the day that you have repented and turned to God through Christ Jesus, by believing in Him as your Lord and Savior, then I want you to come talk to me about your faith decision.
