He's Alive

SERMON: 2003-10-19--es14--he-s-alive SOURCE DURATION: 00:23:28.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: The sermon begins with an introductory anecdote (segment [0]). The recording ends with segment [198], which is speech concluding a thought about Jesus' blood and righteousness, immediately followed by a sustained acoustic music interval that marks the end of the main discourse. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:19:18.560-00:23:27.780 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- It was back in 1969, as I recall, when the Americans had the first moon landing, that then President Richard Nixon enthused in a moment of hyperbole that the moon landing was the greatest event in human history since the creation of the world. I don't know how many of you remember that, but I remember thinking to myself, "I understand your excitement, this is no small accomplishment, but I beg to differ with you." Because biblically, the greatest event since the creation of the world was not the landing on the moon, but rather the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And the Apostle Paul here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tells us the centrality of the message of the resurrection when he says, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith." There's a lot of people who say, "Well, it doesn't really matter whether Christ was physically raised from the dead or not. It doesn't really matter if the resurrection happened." Paul begs to differ, he says, "The physical resurrection of Jesus is central to the reality of the Christian message because it demonstrates who he is and who God is. And because of that, it has profound implications for your life and for my life." And so as we saw in the little video clip a few moments ago, the first thing that we learn is that his resurrection means you and I can come into God's presence without fear. Listen to Hebrews 10-22, "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." The picture here is that of an Old Testament priest serving God in the tabernacle or in the temple. God is exceedingly holy, we are exceedingly sinful, and so they had to go through an elaborate cleansing ritual in order to be able to meet up with God. And throughout the course of history, the big question has been, "How can sinful human beings like you and me stand in the presence of God?" Because God is a consuming fire. What was the first thing that happened with Adam and Eve when they had fallen into sin? They felt guilt, they felt shame, they hid from God. And to this day, each one of us in the natural, apart from Christ, we shy away from God Almighty. We're afraid that He will disapprove of who we are and what we do. We're afraid that He will uncover the secrets of our lives because He sees everything everywhere. And so much of the human race continues to hide in fear from God Almighty. But see, all of that changes because of Jesus. When He died on the cross, He died to forgive our sins. But when He rose from the dead, and the distinction is really important, when He rose from the dead, He rose to present us righteous before God. Listen to these words of Paul in Romans 4, verse 25. "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." It's an interesting phrase. Justification means to be declared righteous. And in the resurrection of Jesus, we are presented righteous before God. It's not enough to have our sins forgiven, that's very important. But we must also be righteous. And because Jesus was without sin, death could not hold Him. God raised Him from the dead, brought Him into His very presence, and by faith in Christ, you and I are righteous and therefore we have courage to come into the presence of God. The book of Hebrews again puts it this way, chapter 4, verse 16. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need." The resurrection of Jesus means that we can confidently come to God as our Father. We don't have to worry about Him throwing our sins or our shame or who we are in our face so that He would turn away. Instead, He stands there with arms wide open because of Jesus and His death and His resurrection. Secondly, His resurrection means that you and I are a new creation in Christ. We are a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5.17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come." Now that's a profound verse because what does it mean to be a new creation? Well, it means to be recreated. It means to be a new person from the inside out. It means that I have new drives, I have new passions. And just as importantly for our consideration this morning, it means that I have new abilities. Because you see, the old creation comes from Adam and Eve. The old creation is polluted by sin. The old creation means that I'm prone to hate God and I'm prone to hate my neighbor. There is no one of us who doesn't feel that time and time again that the things that God asks, the thing that God demands from you and me, they seem so difficult sometimes and we're so often disappointed in here. But in Christ, I become a new creation. Christ was obedient to the Father even to the point of death. When He had to choose between His own comfort and well-being in Gethsemane, as many of us here saw on Good Friday, He chose instead to be obedient to the Father even when that led to that shameful death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name. And when by faith you and I are joined to Jesus, not only are our sins forgiven, not only do I get declared righteous before God, but I get born again. He comes to live in me through His Holy Spirit. And the life of Jesus, which loved God above all and His neighbor above Himself at all times, now comes to live within me and transforms me from the inside out. That's why the Apostle Paul can say in the book of Ephesians, "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new nature which is created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." That's also why in Colossians chapter 3, spelling this out in more detail, having pointed out how in Christ we are seated in heavenly places, he says in Colossians 3 verse 5, "Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry." And then he goes on to say, emphasizing the positive. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Notice the contrast. Put off the old, put on the new. Apart from Jesus, we can't even begin to do that. But because of Jesus, we have new life, we have new ability, and there is a new desire and passion within us to live God's way here on earth. Doesn't mean that we do it perfectly, doesn't mean that we won't often fail, but it means that when we fail, we grieve, we know that we have sinned, we know that we have fallen short, and there is a desire deep inside that says, "I want to be more and more like Jesus." His resurrection means that we are a new creation. Not only that, but his resurrection means that hope is alive in this world for you and me. Hope is alive in this world for you and me. Listen to these words of Peter and these are the words that were at the end of that little video clip, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you." He says, "We've been born anew to a living hope." What does that mean? What does it mean to be born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? Well, I think it means a couple of things. It means that no matter how bad life may go for you or me or how messed up the world may be around us, we live in the hope and expectation that God is bigger than everything that comes at us. In being raised from the dead, Jesus Christ defeated the greatest enemy of all, which is sin and death. And because Jesus is bigger than everything and bigger than anybody, and because he loves us with an everlasting love, he promises his grace and his help, and we can expect that he cares about us because he is our God of hope. Psalm 9 verse 18 puts it this way, "The needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Being born anew to a living hope means that I can live in the expectation that life is going to get better because God can do the impossible in my life and in my situation. Not only that, but it means I can live in the expectation that one day everything is going to be fixed permanently. Listen to these words from Peter, 2 Peter 3.13, "In keeping with his promise, we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." The story of the Bible is so clearly the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Many people ask, "Why is the world in the kind of mess that it is? Why isn't God doing something about it?" The answer is it wasn't God who made it a mess. He created it very good. Our forebears, Adam and Eve, and the garden rebelled against God. They turned away from Him. And all through the course of history, God has been reaching into the human race and He has been speaking through the law and the prophets that, number one, God would punish sin, but on the other hand, God would restore righteousness. And in the death of Jesus, you see the punishment that God pours out upon a world that is filled with rebellion, the punishment that was promised in the prophets. But in the resurrection of Jesus, God promises the restoration of all things because He's given the name that is above every name. And the Bible says that history is moving in a particular direction. And one day, the world as we know it will end. Christ will come on the clouds of glory with angels upon angels upon angels, and all the universe will bow before Him and declare that He is Lord indeed, and every tear will be wiped away, every broken heart will be mended, and God will be exalted as Lord over all for all eternity. That is the sure promise of Scripture. And we have it as a steadfast anchor of our souls, says the book of Hebrews. We know who wins because we have read the last chapter in the book. And not only that, but being born anew to a living hope means that for those who have tried to serve the Lord and have tried to walk it as faithfully as we can, we're going to receive a reward that is eternal. I love this verse in Hebrews, Hebrews 6 verse 10. God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love that you have showed Him. And on Corinthians chapter 15, this chapter that we've just read together, probably the first recorded instance of the resurrection of Jesus, ends with this practical exhortation. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Because Jesus lives, and there is coming a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will reign. There isn't a tear we shed for Christ's sake. There isn't a sacrifice that we make. There isn't an act of mercy that we accomplish in His name, but He's keeping track of it. And even if the world will not recognize us and even if the world doesn't care, in fact will deride us and sometimes persecute us, God is taking note. And on that final day, we not only hear those words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of my master," but God is going to distribute an inheritance that Peter says is undefiled, unfading, and imperishable. And on that day, we will know that we have made the right choice in siding with Jesus. And that's where all of this ends up. Because at the end of the day, the resurrection of Jesus demands a choice. As C.S. Lewis said so many years ago in that famous quote, "The Lord Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or He was gone." He cannot be anything short of one of those. His actions were not those of a lunatic. There is no record of His lying. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves God's approval in His life. He is who He says that He is the only one ordained of God to fix the problems of this universe. Wise men and wise women, therefore, kneel at His cross, embrace Him, and make the choice, as one of the men in the drama had to do, turn his back on the world and follow Jesus. Now, many of you here this morning are followers of the Lord Jesus. That's why you're here. And I want to encourage you to follow Him to the end, because nobody who puts their hope in Him will ever be ashamed. But it may be some of us are here, and we're kind of got a lot of wiggle room. We know about Jesus. We might even believe intellectually in Jesus. But have we knelt at His cross? Have we embraced Him? Have we owned Him? Have we put our faith in Him? Because at the end of the day, that's what God is looking for. He is the only one, the only name given under heaven among men, whereby we can be saved. And all the things that you and I look for, all the things that we hope for, God has demonstrated in Christ. And Christ is seated at the right hand of God in glory, waiting for the day when everybody in the world will have had an opportunity to respond, so that when He comes, He can destroy all that which is in rebellion over against Him, and fully embrace all those who have put their hope and their trust in Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is simply the most significant event in all of history. And I end this morning with these words, again from 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4. "For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. And we can say, 'From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.'" Praise be to God. Jesus Christ is Lord over all. Amen. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:19:18.560; remove through 00:23:28.000] ♪ Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest rain, but only trust in Jesus' name. ♪ Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest rain, but only trust in Jesus' name. Christ alone, cornerstone, weak-made stone, in the Savior's love, through the storm He is Lord, Lord of all. ♪ When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. My anchor holds within the veil. Christ alone, cornerstone, weak-made stone, in the Savior's love, through the storm He is Lord, Lord of all. ♪ He shall come with trumpet sounds. Oh, may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne, faultless to stand before the throne, cornerstone, weak-made stone, in the Savior's love, through the storm He is Lord, Lord of all. Christ alone, cornerstone, weak-made stone, in the Savior's love, through the storm He is Lord, Lord of all. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:23:28.000; resume after this marked segment]