weekly sermon
4-8-07
Ever Christian comes to a service on Easter Sunday expecting to hear about the resurrection of Jesus. But we have to step back and look at the beginning to the end, not just the words. Jesus knew from the moment of his birth that there would be a time for Him to die and shed His blood so that a cruel world could find salvation. But He also knew there would be a resurrection to an inheritance beyond comprehension.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
1 Peter 1:3-5
Our Father, a loving Father, of the Lord Jesus Christ was so gracious to give us a flesh of Himself to come and die for our sins. But as most gracious as He was to give us His only Son to come and die for us, His resurrection was our real hope for the eternal life we want with Him in heaven. It says here in 1 Peter, that begotten us again through His mercy unto a lively hope. The word begotten here means, "to produce as an effect", meaning produced because of an effect of His mercy, a lively hope by the resurrection. Notice how it is written here, that it was a lively hope, right here at the resurrection. We have our Saviour in a tomb and we are talking of a lively hope. The word lively meaning "full of life". Do you see this? Something once dead now coming to full of life. Our hope is now a "full of life" hope, and a resurrection of a "full of life" Lord Jesus Christ. This has got to excite more folks than just me here. Talk about living water flowing, it was flowing from every direction right here. A full of life hope. A full of life Christ. This is the reason Jesus came to us, to make us full of, and to give us, LIFE.
He shed His blood on the cross and died there for our sins, then resurrected as it says here in 1 Peter to reserve an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance for you and me. But this is only for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. You really have to look at this sinless man called Jesus. He came into a cruel world that mocked and betrayed Him to die for them. He was born of man, lived as a servant, died as a sacrifice, BUT rose as a King. And here we are sinful man as an heir to the throne of the Father. I tell all I am a son of God, I'm not THE Son of God, but "A" son of God. A son or an heir because of the resurrection. Jesus died and rose again to reserve a spot for us as sons of God. All we must do is really understand what the resurrection meant. Yes there is a true miracle that one man could come and die for the sins of this world. But to KNOW that He rose and defeated death and sin, that is what we really need to be looking towards. I totally love Jesus Christ for coming to die in my place so that I don't have to, but to know that He lived so that I could live, that is what our bible was written for. Everything in this book that we so cherish points to one thing, the living God, the God that might have died for our sins, but rose to live. The death would have been nothing without the resurrection, that is what it is all about. "I came to give you life and give it more abundantly". Why? because it is the central nerve of what this is all about, LIFE. Now as it stated in 1 Peter, this is ONLY by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Don't wait and go to that "last time" not understanding the faith unto salvation. This resurrection of Jesus was for a reason, that you might seek your salvation and collect your incorruptible, and undefiled, inheritance. Come to the Father where true living water flows and is full of life.
I never close without giving you the opportunity to look in the window of heaven and see your inheritance. If you have never seen your inheritance then just say dear Jesus come into my life and become my personal saviour and change my life that the old me may die and the new me may be resurrected in your likeness. Amen.
If you said this simple prayer and now understand a little more about the resurrection or the Christ that defeated death so that you could have life, then please drop me a line in the shout box or through my email address. We would love to rejoice your salvation with you, and send you a few things to help you with your new walk in Christ.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone