The Ressurection

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Christ is risen. Amen. It's a, within the church, it's a well -known call and a response because the resurrection of Christ is central to who we are as Christians and for the
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God whom we worship. So when I say something like this, even if it is not the tradition within our church, it's something that you all know.
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When I say Christ is risen, you respond, He is risen indeed. There is no question about it.
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It is the foundation upon which our faith is built on. Now, last week we celebrated the
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Resurrection Sunday and I'm sure that is still heavy on all your minds as you remember the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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And so this Sunday, I decided to do a little study on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we'll look at different scriptures.
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I have a few things planned. We'll see how far we get this morning. But when you and I talk about the resurrection, that's a given.
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That is something that is rock solid and core in our belief. But if the same thing, if you were to go and say
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Christ is risen to your neighbors who do not know Christ, what might be some of the responses that you would get?
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That's what you believe. So as far as you're concerned, you might believe this, but we don't believe that it's true.
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What else? Prove it. I don't see men rising from the dead and you're making an extraordinary claim and I'm not willing to believe something that I just can't see with my eyes.
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And Jesus said something about that, didn't he? When he was talking about Lazarus and the rich man.
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Even if a man were to rise from the dead, they will not believe. And what did he point to? He said they have
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Moses and the prophets. He was pointing to scripture. They already have the scriptures.
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And if they don't trust in the word of God, neither will they trust it if they were to see with their own eyes. And although they ask for proof, that's not what they really need, is it?
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Good. What else you might hear from unbelieving people when you talk about the resurrection?
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Maybe it happened, but it happened a long time back. But what does the resurrection of one man have as an impact on my life today?
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There was one more there. So someone who maybe has heard the
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Christian doctrines and probably even submitted to it as a young person grows up and says, oh, no, that's for little kids, not for those who can think.
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So now, having said all of these things, from a Christian perspective, what evidence do you and I have to believe in the resurrection?
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Is it just because our parents told us about the resurrection, that we say, oh, you know, my parents believed, so I believe?
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Or is there something... Amen, that's exactly what
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I was looking for. I can always count on Bruce. So when we look at the evidence and proof, there is the written testimony of people who did see with their eyes, people whose eyes not just were open physically, but spiritually, who recognized that this was not just a man who died and rose up, but this is the very son of God who rose not just for himself, but in order to accomplish your salvation and mine.
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So we do have that evidence. And I think it's very easy for people to discount the scriptures, but the scriptures are indeed the proof that we have.
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And this is exactly what God has provided for you and for me to rest our faith upon.
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So today we are gonna do a few things. As you look at the gospels, the end of all of the gospels have the resurrection accounts.
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This is the central event, as I said, in the life of Christ, he came here to accomplish redemption, and that was accomplished on the cross, and it was vindicated when he rose from the dead.
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So we're gonna look at a few of these texts. And in fact, I might want someone to read the
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Matthew account, Matthew 28, one to the end, as we begin this dive into the scriptures.
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But as one of you is thinking, do I wanna be the one to read? Here's a few words. We have the gospels that are just replete with all these evidences of the resurrection of Christ.
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We have the book of Acts that begins with the event of Christ's resurrection and his ascension.
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And the entire book of Acts is filled with the power of the young church that goes by the power of the resurrection.
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Christ has risen from the dead and he provides the Holy Spirit, and it is a testimony to the resurrection of Christ that these people take out into the world.
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And then you have the New Testament that is all around the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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It's all about Jesus Christ who died, who rose again, and because of whom you too may have life.
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And obviously the last book, Revelation, talks about this Christ who has gone up into heaven, who will one day come back and rule.
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So there is a grand scheme in the New Testament and the resurrection is pervasive throughout all of it.
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So with that, let's get into Matthew 28. We'll just read the whole chapter. Can I have a loud and clear volunteer for Matthew 28?
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All right, Eric, thank you.
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So here you have one account in the gospel of Matthew and Matthew records those specific events that he wants us to hear.
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And then when you look at the other three gospels, you have other details that they provide. So we have a book which looks like your hymnal, but I'm pretty sure it's available for sale in the bookstore.
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It's called the Harmony of the Gospels. And one of the wonderful things that that book does is it takes all the different accounts from the beginning to the end of each of the gospels and then puts them in chronological order.
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So one of the things last week I was doing with my family was going through this. So let me just walk through this in a few minutes so that way you have all the different events in your mind in addition to this chronological account in Matthew, how the other events fit in.
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So I'm gonna start this off by a few things. So the first one is actually Matthew 28 verse one.
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So if you have Matthew 28, you can still keep it there where the tomb is being visited by the women. The women are getting there and in verses two to four, you see the next event, which is the stone being rolled away.
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And then when the women get here, they found the tomb to be empty. And that's verses five to eight.
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Now, after this, there is an account that is not there in Matthew. What do you think happens from your memory of your other gospel?
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What's the next event after the tomb is found empty by the women?
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It's close, it's close. You're going one step ahead, Peggy. Good, they both happened, but they happened a little bit later.
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In fact, you can all turn to Luke 24. Yes, Janet. The angel is there. That's actually part of this verse that we saw.
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So five to eight, we still have the angels where the women come, that's excellent. So if you go to Matthew 24, verses one to eight is the section where the women find the tomb empty.
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But the next thing is where Mary goes and calls John and Peter. So they are the ones who now come running and Mary quite likely comes back with them.
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But that's not there in the account, but we can infer that later. So verses nine through 12 of Luke, you see the account of Peter and John coming.
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In fact, you see that in John 22 to 10 as well, where the two disciples run, one outruns the other, but doesn't go in.
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So you have that account, Peter and John. And after that comes, I don't know who, one of you said this,
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Mary meeting Jesus. So she sees Jesus outside, doesn't know who he is.
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And that you see again in the gospel of John. Now, after that, you have another account, which sometimes we may not chronologically see this.
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It is back in Matthew 28, verses nine to 10, the appearance to the other women.
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So you have this appearance to Mary, and then you have the appearance of Jesus to the other women as well.
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Now, after that comes the soldiers. And once again, talking about proof, what greater proof than to be a soldier who sees the angel and the resurrection, the only eyewitnesses, if you will, but for the sake of money would be willing to spread a lie, a lie that was started in 30
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AD, that stayed possibly until 60 AD, 30 years later among the people, because that was the one that was spread abroad.
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So that's Matthew 28. Now, the rest of the stuff we can find between Luke and John.
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So after the soldiers account comes the appearance to the, like Peggy said, the disciples traveling to Emmaus.
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So you see that in Luke 24, 13 to 32. And then they then come to the disciples and tell them, we have seen the
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Lord. So that's the first time that disciples hear about it. Now, the next account after that is what?
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This should be easy. The disciples have heard from Mary. They have, two of them have gone seen.
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Now they've heard the two witnesses from Emmaus. What's the next account?
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Jesus visits the disciples, the 10 who are assembled. And that you see in Luke 24, 36 to 43.
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And you also see that in John, John chapter 20. And of course, our one missing disciple will not believe until he does something.
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And I need to put my hand in the wounds in order to believe. And Jesus comes again.
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So first he appears to the 10, then a week later he appears to all 11 of them.
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And what does Thomas say when he sees Jesus? My Lord and my
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God, he does not need to touch as he said he would. And Jesus says, how blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.
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And such are we. And we thank God for the grace that we would trust in a risen God that we have not seen with our eyes.
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So after this, you have again in John 21, the appearance to the seven disciples who are out fishing.
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And now, until now, you're looking at things in the Judean region. Now you're going back to Galilee where the angel said, so he's up there.
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And then he appears again to the 11 in Galilee, looking at our Matthew account, verses 16 to 20.
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Now after this, there is one more account which is not there in the Gospels. It is there in 1 Corinthians 15 .6
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and 15 .7, where he also appeared to James, who is Jesus' physical brother, not the disciple.
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And then finally, you have appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem. You see that both in Acts chapter one, verses three to eight, and also
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Luke 24, 44 to 49. And finally, you have the ascension.
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Once again, you see the ascension in Acts and also in Luke 24. Just a passing comment.
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I deliberately didn't talk about Mark because ending of Mark is not there in the older manuscripts so we don't take them as scriptural.
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So you have Mark, the resurrection account from Mark 16, one to eight, but from nine through 20 is helpful as a source, but we don't use this authoritatively as a scriptures.
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All right, so with that, just a quick overview. So many of those accounts should now be fresh in your mind.
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And with that, let's now get into our lesson for today. There's plenty of evidence in the scriptures, and then you can make a conclusive case on an argument from these evidences as you're speaking to unbelievers.
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People would say, oh, you know, they just made this story up, did they? Would you die for a story you really made up?
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I doubt it. And these men not only saw Jesus Christ, not only lived for that, they even died for it.
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And the ministry they did was in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that's the very same power that you and I have today.
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So before we look at how the resurrection impacts our lives, let's look at the nature of Christ's resurrection.
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So let me begin by asking the question, was Jesus the first person to be raised from the dead?
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No. So can you think of some other people who were raised from the dead? Lazarus, widow's son, the widow of Nain.
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That's right, Jairus' daughter, the synagogue leader, yes.
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And we have other even Old Testament accounts of resurrection. So let's just take
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Lazarus for a moment. In what ways is the resurrection of Jesus different than the resurrection of Lazarus?
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Right. Okay, excellent.
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Exactly. So the nature of the resurrection was back to the same kind of life.
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Bruce, excellent.
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Yeah. Oh, the number of days. Yeah, good.
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Right, almost everyone else died from physical, natural causes, but here Jesus was murdered, wasn't it?
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That's right, there's an intent to the death of Jesus that the others, although in Lazarus' case, this death was for the glory of God, but it was, that's right, that he would arise.
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Excellent. Very good. I think two of the things, what
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Brian said and what you said will probably table for a little later. I wanna address those, those are important.
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The wounds of Christ still remain. Now, what I wanna center on is what
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Mike just said. The nature of Lazarus' resurrection is very different than the nature of Jesus' resurrection.
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It goes into what Bruce was talking about, the kind of body that he received. So in Lazarus' case, he was resurrected.
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It was confounding to the Jewish authorities because here they saw all the miracles, they just couldn't refute the miracles he did, and here he was claiming to be
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God and that, in their minds, was a blasphemy. They just couldn't connect the work of God that was done by Jesus and the claims of God that authenticated, that were authenticated by these works, and instead they said, we need to kill him, and then when they see
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Jesus, they basically form a council in John 11 and 12, and then that pretty much makes, they not only wanna kill
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Jesus, they wanna kill Lazarus again. He's dead, he's risen, we'll just keep killing him till people forget about him.
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But Lazarus did die. He rose again physically, where Jesus demonstrated who he was, he is the resurrection and the life, but Lazarus would die again.
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He would still face ailment like you and I did, and he would die again. So would everyone else who was resurrected before, but the nature of Jesus' resurrection is unique because while he did receive a physical resurrection, we're gonna focus a lot on the physical aspect of his resurrection, there was something even more.
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There was a glorious body that he inherited, a body that is free from weakness, free from pain, free from death, it will not die anymore.
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There is a categorical difference, a new quality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that's different than everyone else, and that's particularly significant for us because that is the kind of resurrection you and I are gonna look forward to.
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But before we do that, let me talk about this term first fruits. In 1
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Corinthians 15, verse 20 and 23, Jesus is called the first fruits.
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Can someone throw out what that means? What is the word first fruit means in the context of Jesus' resurrection or even in general first fruits on its own?
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1 Corinthians 15 just talk about that, the new Adam, but that's not, that in some ways you can theologically extend that.
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But then in a more simpler term, what does the word first fruits you think mean? That's right, so we will begin with that.
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In the Old Testament, so you have the first fruits, so which is the first fruit? So we have spring, the first crop of your harvest that comes out, the first grapes that come out, you bring them as an offering to God.
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God is the one who's giving you this harvest and he will give you the final harvest which comes out a little later, but the very first fruits that come, you give back to God because God is the one who's provided you the harvest in the first place.
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And the first fruits, whatever fruit it was that you bring is representative of all the other fruit that is to follow.
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So if you had the grapes that came out first, you can be pretty sure that the fruit that's gonna come up later is gonna be like the fruit that was first, that came out first, that are offered as a first fruit.
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Likewise, when Jesus is talked about as the first fruit, he has risen from the dead in a new way that is exactly like how you and I will one day be resurrected.
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So when we look at Christ, we can say, this is how my resurrection is also going to be. Now let's now get into a little bit of,
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I hate to say the speculation, but we're gonna infer some data from the scriptures, what the scriptures talk about Jesus Christ after the resurrection, and what can we learn about the resurrection body or the nature or the quality of this resurrection?
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I'm borrowing a lot of this basically from Grudem. So if you want to study this more, we
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I'm sure we have Grudem's systematic theology. It's one of the chapters in his book. He does a great job of talking about this.
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So let's talk about the resurrection body. Recognition or non -recognition of the body of Jesus.
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So we know that it was the same physical body just transformed into this glorious body.
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There is some connection. But before we talk about the connection, let's talk about what makes it hard for us to see the connection.
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Some of the disciples who saw Jesus didn't recognize him. Can you think of who were some of the disciples who didn't recognize
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Jesus when they saw him risen? Those on the rose to Emmaus, what was going on there?
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They're walking, Jesus comes alongside. They think he is just a fellow traveler. And in fact, the only one who doesn't know what's going on in Jerusalem.
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You know, what are you talking about? Jesus asked them and they're talking with them for a long time. And he's actually explaining the scriptures to them.
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And through it all, they still don't get it. And when do they finally recognize that this was
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Jesus? When he broke the bed right at the very end, when they have him stay and they say, you know, eat with us and Jesus does.
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And when he breaks the bread, they see. Now there is something that qualifies that passage that talks about why they didn't see and why they saw.
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Do you remember what the Bible says? Very good.
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Luke 24, 16 says this, their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
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And again, their eyes were opened and then they see. There seems to be something very unique about their eyes.
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The problem was not really with Jesus. It was their eyes were just hazy, if you will, until Jesus revealed himself to them.
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So that's the first one account. What's the other account where someone doesn't recognize Jesus? Excellent.
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So what happens there? That's right. That's right.
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Let's talk a little bit about what could have been some of the details that we have in the scriptures that she didn't recognize.
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She, like you said, she could have been crying. She was obviously in distress. I don't know where they have taken my
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Lord. She would go and tell John and Peter. She's obviously in distress. What other reasons do we have from the text?
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And I think that you can very clearly infer she was not going there anticipating the risen Christ.
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She was pretty certain, you know, we are here to embalm him. We are looking for the body of Christ, the resurrected
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Christ although he had prophesied this, he had foretold this, that was just completely out of their mind and Mary as well.
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She was there, in her mind, she was not expecting a risen Christ. So even when she saw, she didn't really think.
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What else can we think of? Clothing?
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Possibly. Possibly, yeah, it doesn't say, but possible. Okay. What the text does say is this.
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It says, it was still quite dark. This was John 20, 14 to 16.
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And with all of the other factors put in, he was probably crouching because it says when he calls her, he stands up.
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So he's not fully visible to her in some state or form. So it's dark, she's not expecting.
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He's probably a little bit in the distance like a gardener doing something. And so she assumes he is a gardener.
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And then Jesus calls her. I mean, it should remind you of John 10. My sheep hear my voice.
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There is an intimacy in which he calls her and then she responds with Rabboni and she knows immediately that this is
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Jesus. And it's not like, you know, are you Jesus? You know, are we uncertain? That was just, this is the
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Lord and she knew it. So those are two cases where we have where people didn't recognize him. But most of the other cases where Jesus appears, the disciples had no problem at all.
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So the first one is in the 11 disciples in Jerusalem, Luke 24, 33 and 37,
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Jesus comes in. The only thing it says is they were startled and frightened. And as we would be, especially if you're not sure that this is the resurrected, he looks like Jesus, but he can be, you know, and their main thoughts was, is this a ghost?
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Because, you know, we know that Jesus died. He was on the cross, he was buried, but this person looks like Jesus, but this is the ghost of Jesus.
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There was superstitions going on in Israel at that time. And they actually, one of the times when
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Jesus walks in the water, that's the same thing they had startled fear that this was a ghost. And how does
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Jesus dispel that fear that he was not a ghost? He eats, he's gonna demonstrate that this is not just an ethereal spirit that is just passing through, but this is a physical in the sense that we understand it, except it is also something more.
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And so he takes the bought food and he eats it. And it actually, he's able to consume physical matter, just like you and I would, that there is not just a spiritual resurrection, but it is a true physical resurrection of the body.
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Now, so basically everything else where Jesus appears, there's no question at all about this is
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Jesus whom we see. And there's a continuity between the body of Jesus Christ before he died and the body of Jesus when he was resurrected, that he was understood to be who he was, except in those cases of darkness, as well as where their eyes were prevented from seeing him.
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Now, there's probably also some differences between the body of Jesus before and after the resurrection, not just in the glorified sense, but also in the physical sense.
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So for example, we maybe we'll talk about this. We had the scars, right? Jesus shows the scars to Thomas, the hands, the feet and the side to show that this was the very
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Jesus that was crucified. Now, were those the only scars that Jesus had when he went to the cross?
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What other scars might he have had? The crown of thorns, and then what other?
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They had hit him on the face, marred him there. I'm sorry.
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The spear on the side, yeah, that wound still remains. Peggy, you were saying? His back, he was flogged.
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So his body was in tatters. Yeah, and when we look at the, that's right, he was disfigured.
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Sometimes we as evangelicals, we focus so much on the spiritual weight of the suffering of Jesus Christ, and we should, because that purchased our atonement.
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The wrath of God against sin was poured upon him. We don't wanna forget the physical horror that Jesus went through as well.
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He basically probably, well, let me not get distracted. So here we have the body of Jesus.
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If you look at Isaiah 53, he was marred, disfigured, you know, past recognition. They had basically beat this
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Jesus Christ into a pulp. And when Jesus rises up, I don't think that was what they were seeing.
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They were seeing some scars that were left behind to demonstrate the atonement that was accomplished, and those are the five scars that are seen.
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And even in heaven, Jesus bears those as a reminder of the work that was accomplished on the cross.
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So there is some discontinuity because the body is restored, not just in the frailty and the brokenness that it was in before the cross, but actually after the resurrection.
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It is glorious and now takes on the full sense of the glorious body.
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So with that, let's come to the interesting part.
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I think Bruce mentioned this. Jesus could appear and disappear out of sight.
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How do you like that for a glorified body? So we have a couple of accounts.
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First one is in Emmaus, where after the breaking of the bread, he disappears. And then you also have the disciples who are afraid of the
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Jews and their doors are shut. It could either mean shut or locked, the term that is used there, but either way, it is firmly fastened and Jesus comes there in their midst.
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There are a lot of theories about what really happened there. I'd like to hear what theories we have at BBC.
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So how do you think Jesus appeared in their midst? Any takers,
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Bob? Excellent, so let me start there because I think
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I was very curious about how I would walk through walls before.
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The Bible doesn't say he walked through the walls. He could have, but it doesn't say he did. So it is possibly one of the ways, but I don't think that's necessarily the primary means because we wanna remember again, because as someone who believes in the soul and the spirit, my tendency is always to heavily weigh on the spirit that I just float around wherever I go.
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But we need to remember that Jesus' resurrection is physical, it is a glorified body, but it is actually a physical body.
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And so we don't need to necessarily jump to the conclusion that he walked through the wall. That's right.
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As the divine Jesus, even before his death was both God and man. And I liked what you just mentioned with when
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John eight, I think it is, where he claims to be, I and the father are one, they take stones and then they come to hit him.
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But he just walked out from the midst, he disappeared from their sight. Now, I think going back to what
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Bob mentioned, I would like to think of the Phillips encounter with the unit.
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So Philip didn't have a glorified body, he just had a human body, but by the spirit, he was brought,
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I mean, he was taken out when God wanted him in a different place, he goes to Samaria. So there is that event that happened.
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So that goes with what Bob was saying in terms of how he just appeared, he could have been brought there.
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You have the Mount of Transfiguration where you have Moses and Elijah and they disappear as well.
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And then more than that, I think you also have the account of the eyes of the people that don't see what they otherwise should see.
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We saw that already in Emmaus where it was closed and they couldn't see. Another account is Elisha and his servant
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Gehazi, they are there surrounded by the army of the enemy and then
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Elisha says, those who are with us are greater than those who are with them. And here you have these thousands of soldiers and it's just Elisha and the servant.
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And so Elisha prays for the servant to open his eyes and then now he sees the armies of God, the host of heaven on his side.
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So there are other ways in which you can look at this and especially the disappearance. Let me go back to that verse, sorry.
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So in Emmaus, Luke 24, 31, he disappeared from their sight. That doesn't, the sense, it's used only there and the sense in which it is used is not necessarily the way that we imagine it to be.
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The way I imagine disappeared to be is, he's here and then he becomes like a ghost or something that I can't see.
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The sense in which it was used in other places is someone who's in your line of vision and then no longer is in your line of vision.
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That's so like a charioteer who goes over a cliff or a man who falls from a place to another place where you can no longer see.
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That's a sense in which that word is used in general. But I think with these, we can pretty clearly say that, let me read what
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Grudem says. He says, the
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New Testament authors, they gave many clear indications that it was customarily physical and material, the resurrection body of Jesus Christ, even though it was a body that was perfected, made forever free from sickness, weakness, and death.
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So the physical aspect of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we do not wanna forget. Now with that said, let's now move to, oh, one more thing.
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And the reason this is emphasized is, sometimes I think we can get to tend to think like the
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Gnostics that, in some way, shape or form, this material world is inferior to the spiritual world.
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The Gnostics would just basically say the material world was evil. We wouldn't say that. But I think we need to remember, while we live in a fallen world, we are surrounded by the world that is under the curse of God and we can see evil rampant everywhere that is not necessarily inherent in the matter that God created.
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So we need to go back to Genesis 1 where God creates the six days and then when he finished everything, he saw it and what did he say it was?
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It was very good. Each day was good and then the entire physical universe that he made was very good.
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So we need to be very careful to not let those thoughts influence in the way in which we look forward to what lies ahead.
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So with that, we are, oh, one more thing. This is what Brian said. Jesus raised himself from the dead unlike Lazarus who needed
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Jesus, the life to come and give him life. And so when you look at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have two texts that talk about the resurrection.
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One which talks about Jesus himself raising him up from the dead. In fact, he wasn't even killed in one sense by the sinful men because he lays down his life and he takes it up again because he has the authority from the father.
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And then you also have texts that talk about the God, the father raising Jesus from the dead.
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So you have Acts 2, 24, Romans 6, 4 and others. So it is the father and the son involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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So with that, let's stop. We have only a few minutes, but I'll try to quickly touch on a few things so that way you can say, all right, now
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I know what to look forward to in the glorious resurrection. Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of the father.
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He ascended into heaven and he is interceding on our behalf. And one day he's gonna come back in glory and he's gonna take us, like he said to his disciples, in my father's house are many mansions.
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He is going to prepare a place for us. And if you take such a long time to prepare, okay,
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I shouldn't go there. You can be sure that the place that he has for you is a glorious place.
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And I think we need to pick some minds upon that inheritance that we have that Christ has promised us and he will take us back there.
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Maybe let me just give you a couple of terms and then we'll finish. So firstly, we know that because of Christ's resurrection, we have salvation.
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If Christ remained dead, our sins would not have been taken off of us and we would not have the hope of heaven or the hope of resurrection that Jesus proclaimed, procured for us.
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Now, when we think of our salvation, we can think of regeneration, the way in which we got new life.
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We can think of justification where we're declared not guilty. We can think of sanctification where we are being made more holy.
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And then we can look for glorification where one day we will be like him. And that I think, given what we've seen about the glorification of Jesus, we can remember.
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But let me give you a few verses so that way you can connect all of these through specific verses to your own salvation.
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So the first one is regeneration. And I'll just read this out for the sake of time. First Peter 1 .3.
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Peter says, we have been born anew. That's the regeneration that we're talking about.
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We have been born anew to a living hope. How? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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Our new birth, our new, the new being that we are, our regeneration of our old self into the new self, everything is accomplished through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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So let me just leave there. We won't expand on that for the sake of time. And then the next one I want to focus on is on justification.
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For justification, there's only one passage that directly ties the two. And that's in Romans 4 .25.
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Paul says, Jesus was put to death for our trespasses.
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That's for our sins. And was raised for our justification.
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So his resurrection procures our justification. And if you want to just think about that theological significance for a minute, when
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Jesus died, it says for our trespasses, he took our sins upon himself. He bore the wrath of God upon himself and he died.
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He was separated from the father for that sin that he bore.
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Now, how do you know that his sacrifice, his death paid the penalty of our sin?
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Is he still bearing this penalty or is that work accomplished? You know that because God was pleased with the sacrifice and he demonstrated it by raising it from the dead.
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So not only does God pour out his wrath, but God also acknowledges that this sacrifice was sufficient and adequate.
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And so that's a demonstration. And when Jesus is raised up in righteousness, we receive the righteousness of Christ as well.
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So when God sees us, he no longer sees my sin because that sin has been placed on Christ. And I now receive the righteousness of God, of Jesus Christ.
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And therefore I'm justified, which is I'm declared not guilty. And the next one is sanctification.
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And, all right, maybe
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I'll just give you this one. So 1 Corinthians 15, 58. In fact, if you wanna look at the future glorified body in more detail, you should just read that chapter.
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It's just a glorious chapter of the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection we look forward to. But at the very end of chapter 15,
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Paul says, therefore, after speaking everything about the resurrection, he says, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
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Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. The resurrection of Christ must motivate us to obey
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God. Secondly, again, in 1 Corinthians 15, 17 through 19, there is a future heavenly reward for what we do here.
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And there is a strong motivation to what we look forward to. And God is not blind to the service.
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Those of you who were here in the first service know the need for us to be, all right, you have second service people here as well.
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I won't give it away. So you have something to look forward to in heaven because of the service that you render here. And finally, there is a strong requirement to stop yielding to sin.
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And I'll give you the reference for that. Romans 6, 11, where Paul says, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ.
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And do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies and do not yield your members to sin.
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So just some things to think about. You can study this more, but in Christ we have, he is the first fruits.
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He is a glorious forerunner. He is the glorious hope, the living hope that we have for each of us who live and who will die if the
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Lord were not to return before our death. And because when we die, we know that we will be reunited with Christ in heaven and what a glorious place it will be.
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So any questions before we close? Yes. Oh, I actually skipped it.
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Thank you. So there are many references. One of the references is 1 Corinthians 6, 14, and God raised the
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Lord and will also raise us up by his power. And 2 Corinthians 4, 14 and a few others.
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And actually 1 Corinthians 15 as a whole talks about the glorified body as well. Any other questions?
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All right, let's pray. Our loving and gracious father, we thank you
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Lord for your son, our Lord and savior. We thank you for the precious, precious redemption that we have in him, the costly redemption and yet so freely given.
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We thank you for the hope that we have in heaven with you. And we pray father that while we have breath, that we would never cease to glorify you in our mortal body.