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Weekly sermon 4-19-09 Resurrected
Last week is considered, by most Christian religious faiths, as the most important message of the year. I honestly believe that it is a very important message. The death and resurrection of Christ is the most important thing that has ever happened to mankind. Christ came for one purpose, to bridge a gap between sinful man and Holy God. He died for the purpose of giving His life so that man could live, to conquer hell, and rose to show He defeated death and paved a way for us to have a personal relationship with Him and His Father.
As you can see that is a very important message for the future of the Christian's afterlife. To me there is another message that is just as equally important. The message that I am talking about is our own resurrection. How can we be resurrected if we have not yet died? For Christ to have resurrected, He had to first have died. We are lucky in this regard. We can obtain full resurrection before we have to die. How is this possible? Follow along with me for a for a few.
We will look at a few passages of scripture to better understand what it is that I am talking about. Turn with me if you will to Colossians 3:1, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Paul is writing here about something that should be very important to us all. We can see from the scripture above, WE were risen with Christ. This passage starts with a vital fact of spiritual life. The very first word in the above scripture is "IF" translated from the Greek "EI", and the NIV version translates this more correctly as "since". There is not an IF we be risen in Christ, but SINCE we be risen in Christ. This brings a whole new meaning to this verse for us. Since we be risen in Christ, we are to seek the things which are above. The next word we need to look at in this passage of scripture is "seek". The word "seek" was translated from the Greek word "ζεητεῖτε" meaning to constantly seek. Since we are risen in Christ, we should be constantly seeking the things above. This verse describes the new life that is ours when we receive Christ as Lord and accept His sacrifice on our behalf. Paul stated it this way in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
We must first understand one thing about our physical lives. Our bodies are already dead. That is a bold statement but true. Romans 8:10, "And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness." Our bodies are nothing more than a vessel to carry our souls. If we consider our bodies already dead and our souls, as what is alive, then we will fully understand what I am trying to explain. The flesh we call our bodies will turn back to the dust from which it came, but our souls will live forever. The thing we must understand is where we are going to allow our souls to live and how to get our souls to that point.
Let us look and understand what has happened to us when Christ was here in the flesh and what responsibility is required from us the get our souls to the point I was talking about. Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-6, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4)Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5)For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (6)Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
What is it that Paul is saying here? That as we were all baptized in Christ's death, buried with Him, in this baptism, and risen by the glory of His Father, we are now risen in His likeness, crucified of our sins, and never to sin again. Paul showed here that when Jesus was raised by His Father's glory, He was risen in a new life. As I have stated before, Jesus came as man, lived as servant, died as Saviour, and rose as Lord. Christ rose as Lord, a new life. Since we have died with Him and rose with Him, we have rose in a new life. A new life by faith of the Son of God.
Christ never lived His life for what was on earth but for His Father's will. Since we have risen to the likeness of Christ, we would live our life in the same manner. We should never allow ourselves to be tempted by the things of this world, but keep our focus on the things above. Matthew 6:19-21, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (20)But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 2(1)For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Notice here that it states what I am talking about, laying up our treasures in Heaven where they can not be destroyed, verses on earth where they can. More importantly notice the last verse, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also". If you love the things of the world, you will stay in this world, but if you love the things of Heaven, you will be in Heaven. Paul says in Colossians 3:2, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." You affection is your heart.
Next thing we must understand is, where we are to go from here. Paul says we are to mortify the flesh. Colossians 3:5, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" The word mortify is from the Greek meaning to kill. We are to kill our flesh daily to the sins of the flesh in order to keep our souls in the true graces of God. How are we to stay in the graces of God. We stay in these graces by doing God's will. Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." The sins of the flesh have never been the will of God. If the sins are not the will of God, then we would not be doing the will of God if we were following the ways of the world.
We now understand we have died in Christ, risen with Him, and through faith, live in His likeness. We have seen that we must kill our flesh from sin and do the will of God. This is all an inward feeling we have and now we must do a few outward things. First we must change our outward appearance. I am not talking about how we look physically, but our outward actions that reflect our outward appearance. Colossians 3:8-11, "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (9)Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (10)And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (11)Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." We can see here that we are to rid ourselves of our old ways, "put off the old man", and become new in Christ, "put on the new man". We think some sins are not bad because they seem harmless, such as lying. As we can see here that a whole verse was devoted to lying, a seemingly harmless sin. This shows us that one sin is no greater or smaller than the other. We are to treat all as if they were ourselves. As it states Christ is in all an is all.
Next we must confess our sins, Luke 12:8, "Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:", claiming Christ as Lord of our lives we shall be saved, Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
We have just discussed how to be resurrected in Christ, live in His likeness, do the will of God, and receive salvation. If you have never beeeb a part of this and you would like to, then all you have to do is say a simple prayer with me.
Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Stone
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