Last week I spoke about Jesus struggling to walk in obedience to the father. I want to continue on from there this week. It is important that we understand that it wasn't for the cross that Jesus was struggling. He more than likely knew the situation. He knew all the players and he knew he was going to be crucified. His faith wasn't focused on the crucifixion it was focused on the promises of God for after the crucifixion.
The crucifixion is wonderful. It provides for the forgiveness of our sins. The crucifixion is obedience to the law. The law says that sin can be cleansed by the shedding of blood. There is no miracle needed there except for the miracle of the provisions of the law. Except of course Jesus submitting to the will of the father and becoming the sacrifice.
Paul writes in Galatians 2: "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” You see if all you have is forgiveness of sins then the day after you are forgiven, more likely the minute after you are forgiven you will once again prove yourself to be a sinner. You see forgiveness doesn't turn you into a new creature. Forgiveness alone makes you a debt free dead man. It doesn't make you alive.
When Paul writes "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God; He is beginning to give us a bit of a glimpse in what is really going on. You see the crucifixion didn't just forgive you of your sin. If you are in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world then what the crucifixion did was kill you. The old dead you is crucified and done away with. Paul continues with verse 20: "I have been 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
I want you to understand that our only hope is in the resurrection. If God didn't extend the power to raise Christ from the dead then even though he could have forgiven our sins according to the law we would still be in the grave. Apart from the resurrection we cannot be born again into new life. Because we were dead in our transgressions: Completely dead because of our wages of our debts.
I want you to understand the importance of this. If I were to die today my life insurance policy would be enough to pay off all my debts. That would be a great thing for my children and my wife but it would not bring me back to life. The law is like that life insurance policy it provides the way for me to get my debt of sin paid for. But it doesn't provide a way for me to be brought back to life. There is no provision in the law for bringing a sacrifice back to life. There is no provision for reinstituting a new coveant. That is the extraordinary thing about the rebirth via resurrection: it is totally by faith in the power and promises of God . This is what Jesus was struggling with in the garden not whether he was going to die or not but whether God was going to raise him from the dead. Obedience to the commands of God with out the promise keeping of God means nothing. The cross apart from the resurrection is worthless to restore you to a right covenant relationship to God because you are dead to that covenant relationship.
I think that is a part of what is wrong with the church today we only believe in half the gospel. We only believe in the forgiveness of sins. We don't understand that we have been raised with Christ to new life and because of that we no longer have to be in bondage to the things of death. Most of the church in our day and age is not seeing the power of the resurrection in their every day lives. It is a myth to most of us. We don't get any better we only get forgiven.
Brothers and sisters that is not salvation. Peter on the day of Pentecost said this: "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. ...This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33"Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34"For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET. Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified." Paul writes in Romans 1 was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. And again a few verses later: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And then at the end of Romans he writes: Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And in First Corinthians Paul writes: my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
You see the Good News is meant to be powerful. Powerful enough to forgive you of all your sins but more even more: Powerful enough to raise you to new life NOW. That is where we miss it. We think the new life comes only in glory but the power of salvation is meant to be applied to your life hear and now. If all you have in this life is the forgiveness of sins then you have been gipped in the good things of God. If your God is not big enough to deliver you from the bondage of sin then he is not big enough to give you the forgiveness of sins.
We need to stop settling for pig slop to eat and go home to the father and eat the feast that has been set before us. If the God you serve isn't powerful enough to raise you from the death that is your life what ever that death looks like then you better start praying that God would give you real salvation. The time for games is over. Either this stuff is real or it isn't. Either God is big enough to deliver you from your bondage to sin or he isn't. God is big enough to deliver you from pornography. God is big enough to deliver you from hating your spouse. God is big enough to deliver you from whatever addiction you may be hiding in your heart. God is big enough to save you from yourself. You have to decide if you want to die to that or not. You have to decide if you want to be crucified or not. You have to decide if God is big enough and strong enough to raise you from the death that you so willingly embrace.
I want you to understand that if you are not willing to die you won't be raised from the dead. You can play the game all you want; you can revel in forgiveness all day long but only the resurrection will bring you into new life.
Is your God big enough to raise you to new life, real new life, not the pretend new life where you are still powerless but you pretend to be saved but real salvation? Salvation that is evident not just in your words but in the way your life is changing. Paul is pretty clear on this point: The kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
Saying you are saved and talking about scripture and the things of God is not salvation. Salvation raises you to new life. Salvation releases you from the bondage of sin not just the debt of sin. It is for Freedom that Christ set you free. When are you going to quit wrapping yourself in the chains of bondage? How long until you trust God enough to let him raise you from the death of your own appetites? By the way how is salvation going according to your rules? How is the bondage that you call salvation working out for you? Are those things that you are turning to in order to not feel the pain really turning you into a new creature or are they slowly killing you? Covering pain is not the same as being delivered from bondage.
How long are you going to try to save yourself through suicide? You killing yourself slowly through bondage to sin isn't salvation. Your only hope lies in dying with Christ and being resurrected with him. One without the other IS NOT SALVATION.
Again Paul writes: Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you believe that? Do you have faith that God is faithful to keep his promises and raise you from the death in which you abide? How long are you going to pretend? How long are you going to wear a facade of salvation without truly embracing all that salvation provides?
At the end of 1st Corinthians Paul writes: Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
There it is: If God did not raise Christ Jesus from the dead then lets go home because we have no hope. We are dead in our trespasses and sin. Paul says it clearly: If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. If Christ is not raised from the dead then we are wasting our time and the new testament is a lie. We had all better become Jews if we are going to have any hope at all.
But take hope because Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. or HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
I want you to understand something Christ is going to reign until every one of his enemies is put in subjection to him. That includes the enemies you hide in your heart. This is not a Jackson Browne world where God will just let you slide into heaven. The sins that you keep in your heart, the pet ones that you go to in times of trouble when you don't think God knows what he's doing and that your feeble attempt to save yourself is better then his; that attitude, that idolatry that you keep holding onto in case of emergencies: all of that is going to be subjected to the rule and reign of Christ eventually. Why not make it easier on yourself and give it up now? Why take the risk of possibly forfeiting the promised blessings because you loved the things that bring curses? God keeps his promises and if you refuse to bow the knee to his Lordship you will hear on the last day: depart from me you who practice lawlessness.
This is serious business. Do you trust God enough to save you from yourself? No the real question is do you really want to be saved at all?
The power of the resurrection is there waiting for you to die to yourself so you can be raised from the dead and live life to it's fullest. The choice is yours.
Today is a day of celebration. Our Lord and King sits on the throne ruling and reigning today because he was obedient to the father in all things and God highly exalted him to the position of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He rules and reigns over this planet now even if we can see it or it looks like it isn’t so the scripture tells us he is. By faith we believe in the magnificent new covenant of our God made available to us by the shed blood of Jesus. By Faith WE are raised from the dead, the wages of sin that separate us from God the Father and we will be raised from the dead on the last day. Praise be to God.
Let's pray. Father, pour out your grace upon us. Raise us in your mighty power to new covenant life. Break our bondage to sin and self. Humble us more and more and more until the only thing that is left is Jesus and his resurrection. We ask these things in the power and authority of Jesus Christ the first born of the resurrection, the Alpha and Omega, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May his reign never end until every enemy, even the ones in our own hearts are subjected to his rule and reign. So be it. Amen.
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