Spiritual Resurrection

what is the gospel ? (one sentence)

34 references to crucified in NT

21 are in the gospels as narrative

the remainder are mostly contexts which identify Christ to non-believers

or means of believers to identify with Christ as death to old nature or fellowshipping in His suffering

1Cor. 1:23 but we preach ^1aChrist crucified, ^bto Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles ^cfoolishness,

(in the context of what seems foolish to man is wise to God, what seems like defeat is actually victory)

1Cor. 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except ^aJesus Christ, and Him crucified.

(same contrast of perceived weakness as proof of strength)

Acts 1:22 ^abeginning ¹with the baptism of John until the day that He ^bwas taken up from us — one of these must become a ^cwitness with us of His resurrection.”

Acts 4:2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming ^1ain Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Acts 4:33 And ^awith great power the apostles were giving ^btestimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

Acts 17:18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were ¹conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would ^athis ²idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,” — because he was preaching ^bJesus and the resurrection.

or this one statement which ^aI shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

Acts 26:23 ^1athat ²the Christ was ³to suffer, and ¹that ^bby reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim ^clight both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

Rom. 1:4 who was declared ^athe Son of God with power ¹by the resurrection from the dead, according to the ²Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Rom. 6:5 For ^aif we have become ¹united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ²in the likeness of His resurrection,

1Cor. 15:12 ¶ Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there ^ais no resurrection of the dead?

1Cor. 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;

1Cor. 15:21 For since ^aby a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

1Cor. 15:42 ¶ ^aSo also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown ^1ba perishable body, it is raised ^2can imperishable body;

one could look at many of these verses and say these are referring to the past resurrection of Christ, and the future resurrection of His followers

Phil. 3:10 that I may ^aknow Him and ^bthe power of His resurrection and ^1cthe fellowship of His sufferings, being ^dconformed to His death;

Phil. 3:11 ¹in order that I may ^aattain to the resurrection from the dead.

his reference to “power of His resurrection is included with fellowship of His sufferings and being conformed to His death

(as present concerns and processes … not future)

2Tim. 2:18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that ^athe resurrection has already taken place, and they upset ^bthe faith of some.

Heb. 6:2 of ^ainstruction about washings and ^blaying on of hands, and the ^cresurrection of the dead and ^ceternal judgment.

Heb. 11:35 ^aWomen received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their ¹release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

1Pet. 1:3 ¶ ^aBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ^baccording to His great mercy ^chas caused us to be born again to ^da living hope through the ^eresurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pet. 3:21 ^aCorresponding to that, baptism now saves you — ^bnot the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God ¹for a ^cgood conscience — through ^dthe resurrection of Jesus Christ,

It is expected, commonly assumed, that Easter Sunday sermons are to be properly based upon the resurrection of Christ. After all, what is the christian faith without such a rising from the dead of the Messiah ?

I do not mean to take away from such a miraculous event or pivotal moment for the history and future of mankind in regard to the Risen Savior. 

I will say, however, that stopping there, saying “He is risen indeed” and going home with warm smiles and comfort in acknowledging that “death has lost it’s sting” is not and should not be the end of involvement in this event.

Our involvement, as we shall see, is far deeper than the “telling of the story”. (much like comparing the receiving of a gift only to stare at the shiny foil paper wrapping and bows, to the proper response of opening the gift box to find practical, usable gift inside)

Let me share a thought I shared in our men’s group on Tuesday night.

If I was standing in front of you and told you that, earlier that day, I had been hit and run over by a logging truck …

You’d say “no way! Look at you. There’s not a mark on you and you’d be flat as a pizza. Those things weigh 80,000 lbs loaded. Dave, that’s impossible to have an encounter with a logging truck and show no marks”

And you’d be right in calling me a liar (there’s no way I can “meet” a logging truck in motion and not be “altered” by the experience)

Strange then that I hear so many say “I know God” or “I believe in God” and yet persist in living an unchanged life

If no one can survive an encounter with a logging truck without being changed by it, how can someone not be changed after meeting God (who is so much greater than a truck and states endlessly in His Word how He desires to change the heart and mind of each person who believes.

If you have truly met God, then you would be changed. 

If you have not been changed, then you have not yet met Him.

Let us look at Eph 2:1-10

Eph. 2:1 ¶ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

Eph. 2:2 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.

Eph. 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Eph. 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

Eph. 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Eph. 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Eph. 2:7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Eph. 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Eph. 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

if I compare various translations and inject a little greek, I come away with the following:

Eph. 2:1 ¶ you were stagnant corpses in your disobedience and opposition to God, (both in mistakes and deliberate choices)

Eph. 2:2 you cooperatively let the world system tell you how to live, how to react, how to pridefully ignore God’s laws, under authority of that chief of rebellion against God, satan himself, his spirit that is now working in all those who live disobediently.

Eph. 2:3 we lived just like them, indulging every desire of our rebellious nature (in the flesh and of the mind), living under the wrath of God, opposed to Him and it felt quite natural, it came easy, it was who we were and we enjoyed it.

Eph. 2:4 But God, the God willing to hold back the punishment we justly deserved, the God who humbly serves those whom He created and desiring to do so with commitment and promise,

Eph. 2:5 even when we were stagnant corpses in your disobedience and opposition to God, brought us back to life, together,  through and in His Son (for we have been saved by His serving love as a gift we do not deserve),

Eph. 2:6 and raised us up with Him in this new life, a life that both comes from Christ and places us in Christ, a gift that even seated us with Him in the heavenly places as co-heirs, receiving His life, His authority, and His acceptance of the Father.

Eph. 2:7 so that in the generations, centuries, even eons to follow,  God would show the overflowing abundance of His blessings toward us in His Son, our Savior.

Eph. 2:8 For it is through the unmerited kindness of God that you have been rescued from His wrath and brought back to true life.

Eph. 2:9 not as a result of anything you or I could have done (as if we could brag about helping God bring corpses back to life).

Eph. 2:10 because we are the craftsmanship of His hands, the hands of Christ, formed as a good work that we would do good works that He planned out in advance for us to do, to glorify Him in thanks.

Paul’s first prison epistle, written to the saints in Ephesus (and by association of the body of Christ, all of us who are chosen in Him).

He speaks to those who are redeemed with His blood, called children of God

verses 1-3  (before)

• outline the natural fallen state of mankind. A state into which every human being on this planet is born into,
• the condition of being dead. (stagnant, putrid corpses, walking about in their rot, serving no purpose but existing to rot further)

verses 4-10  (after)

• outline the supernatural risen state of believers. A state into which every believer is born again
• the condition of being resurrected (renewed in heart and mind, walking with purpose, serving the Creator) 
• the reason and purpose for each resurrection 
• and the credit for the resurrector
• the what we become, the why we become, and the Who does it all.

Let’s talk about this Idea of walking dead.

1 Cor 2:14 “natural man does not understand the things of God) they are foolishness to him.

That’s why Jesus said being born again (regenerated from above) was a requirement to enter heaven 

animated corpses (sounds silly in real life)

but is a spiritual sense, a very real spiritual sense, that is exactly what we are doing.

instead of killing them with swords or guns, we use a spiritual sword and bring them back to life.
(most have a basic familiarity with guns)

the bullet does the change to the zombie but just as a lead bullet must be jacketed to penetrate

so must the word of God be jacketed, with humility and love to be able to penetrate deepest.

Eph 2:1-10 is like reading a gospel version of Ezekiel 37
except the prophet speaking the bones to life is Jesus Himself.

 

our Saviour raised three dead persons in the NT (excluding Himself)

The first was the young maiden, the daughter of Jairus, who, when she lay on her bed dead, rose up to life at the single utterance of Christ, “Talitha cumi!” 

• Matt 9  , Mark 5
• barely died
• still lovely to look upon
• appeared simply sleeping if not to notice she was not breathing anymore.

The second was the case of the widow’s son, who was about to be carried to his tomb; and Jesus raised him up to life by saying, “Young man, I say unto thee, arise.” 

• Luke 7
• dead long enough for burial process to have been initiated
• already paled, clearly dead
• no longer pleasant to look upon but not yet disgusting (on the path of corrupting)

The third, and most memorable case, was that of Lazarus, who was not on his bed, nor on his bier, but in his tomb, ay, and corrupt too; but notwithstanding that, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the voice of his omnipotence, crying, “Lazarus, come forth,” brought him out of the tomb.

• John 11
• good and dead
• rotted, disgusting to look at, smell etc
• truly he sticks by now.

three people, each at different stages of death (very pleasant to disgusting by human standards)

yet all three are equally dead. The threshold from life to death had been crossed by all three

(just that some had gone further past the threshold,  it matters not how far.

Our world recognizes these various stages of death, the deadly effects of sin as it rots the flesh of those who are spiritually dead

Some are worse than others, some seem better than others.

but a dead body is a dead body.

(while the world only sees degrees of death (as if it made a difference)

we compare the dead to the living.

A live person walking past a line of dead people does not see them as:

(a little dead, more dead, mostly dead, really dead)

we see corpses. (at least we should)

Does our resurrected set of senses provide this input for us ?

Do we see the dead as all dead ?

Do we understand what it means to be resurrected ?

How can resurrected people be separated from the dead ?

How does seeing the unsaved as dead affect our interactions with them ?

• Don’t take their advice
• Realize that appetite is that of a dead person
• Senses of a dead person
• Conclusions of a dead person

Also means that when we experience thoughts, opinions, senses, conclusions as they do … there is a really good chance that we are not thinking with our resurrected heart and mind

Rom 12:1-2. Transformed 

2 Cor 5:

16Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

Why is Jesus’ resurrection important ?

(Isn’t His crucifixion sufficient ?) 

ROM 8:11…  same power

Rom. 8:9 ¶ However, you are not ^ain the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God ^bdwells in you. But ^cif anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Rom. 8:10 ^aIf Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ¹alive because of righteousness.

Rom. 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who ^araised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^bHe who raised ^cChrist Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ¹through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Rom. 8:12 ¶ So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —

Rom. 8:13 for ^aif you are living according to the flesh, you ¹must die; but if by the Spirit you are ^bputting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Rom. 8:14 For all who are ^abeing led by the Spirit of God, these are ^bsons of God.

Rom. 8:15 For you ^ahave not received a spirit of slavery ¹leading to fear again, but you ^bhave received ²a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “^cAbba! Father!”

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself ^atestifies with our spirit that we are ^bchildren of God,

Rom. 8:17 and if children, ^aheirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^bif indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Rom. 8:18 ¶ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^aare not worthy to be compared with the ^bglory that is to be revealed to us.

Rom. 8:19 For the ^aanxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for ^bthe revealing of the ^csons of God.

Rom. 8:20 For the creation ^awas subjected to ^bfutility, not willingly, but ^cbecause of Him who subjected it, ¹in hope

Rom. 8:21 that ^athe creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Rom. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation ^agroans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Rom. 8:23 ^aAnd not only this, but also we ourselves, having ^bthe first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves ^cgroan within ourselves, ^dwaiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, ^ethe redemption of our body.

1 Cor 6:14

Now God has not only ^araised the Lord, but ^bwill also raise us up through His power.

1 Cor 15:16-22

1Cor. 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;

1Cor. 15:17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; ^ayou are still in your sins.

1Cor. 15:18 Then those also who ^ahave fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

1Cor. 15:19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are ^aof all men most to be pitied.

1Cor. 15:20 ¶ But now Christ ^ahas been raised from the dead, the ^bfirst fruits of those who ^care asleep.

1Cor. 15:21 For since ^aby a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

1Cor. 15:22 For ^aas in Adam all die, so also in ¹Christ all will be made alive.