1 00:00:01,640 --> 00:00:05,200 So I read an article this week and the author was complaining 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:06,880 about coming to worship on Easter. 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,320 His complaint was he said the problem is that all the 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,960 preachers do is talk about Jesus being raised from the dead. 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:16,200 I thought, well, there's somebody that missed some Sunday 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:20,200 school classes along the way. We too are going to speak of 7 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,560 Jesus raising from the dead. And so does our text here at the 8 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,920 Apostle Peter as he preaches to a congregation and he says these 9 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:33,080 words, blessed be the Godfather of our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,880 according to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,800 into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ 12 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,800 from the dead. Once again, blessed be the 13 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,440 Godfather of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great 14 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,960 mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope 15 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,560 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:57,600 And this is the word of the Lord. 17 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,600 Thanks be to God. Dear gracious Father, we do pray 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,720 that you would use that very same power, the power of the 19 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,400 resurrection here amongst us this day, that we would know the 20 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,280 reality of what you have spoken to us and our lives be changed 21 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:13,280 and transformed by it. Lord, make it so. 22 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,440 We pray in your son's name we ask, Amen. 23 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:24,400 Please proceeded first Peter one verse 3. 24 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,680 Now, to be fair to that author of the article, what he was 25 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,480 saying was that preachers only end up talking about the 26 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,760 historical realities of the resurrection. 27 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:40,320 They give great defenses of the realities of what took place 28 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,600 2000 years ago, and they focus upon that. 29 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,840 And of course, it's cosmic influence and the impact of that 30 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,280 across the board. And what the author was saying 31 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,040 is what we need is to hear more of what the actual scriptures 32 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,080 say about the resurrection and how the resurrection isn't just 33 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:57,880 a historical reality, though it is. 34 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,800 And it's not just a cosmic changing, life altering event, 35 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,960 though it is, but how it impacts us as individuals, how it 36 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,360 influences us as individuals, every one of us. 37 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,720 And so the author was making a broader point here of saying, 38 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,240 look, when we talk about the resurrection, we should talk 39 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,840 about it within the context that the Scripture itself does. 40 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,600 And that was wonderfully captured here by the apostle 41 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,320 Peter. As the Peter does the exact same 42 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,560 thing. His focus is different than in 43 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,800 the book of Acts. If you read the book of Acts, as 44 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,440 Peter preaches, Peter very frequently talks about the 45 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,600 cosmic realities and the historical effect of Christ's 46 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:40,480 resurrection. It's an important, essential 47 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,760 thing to what Peter is, that getting out in his message. 48 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,680 But here in this text, the focus is less upon the historical 49 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:53,000 realities and more upon the influence of that reality. 50 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,840 And so today what we're going to do is going to look exactly, 51 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,560 we're going to follow Peter's model here for us to talk not 52 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,400 simply about the reality of the resurrection, but its influence 53 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,040 and impact upon our lives. You can see this here in the 54 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:10,520 text in which I just read here. According to His great mercy, He 55 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,840 has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the 56 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,760 resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 57 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,360 Notice the back end of that passage, that verse, everything 58 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,680 about that verse is predicated, is built around the means or the 59 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,920 instrumentality or the tool, the effectiveness of the 60 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:32,440 resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 61 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,400 In other words, here that Peter is assuming the reality, he of 62 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,920 course experienced the reality of Jesus's resurrection. 63 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,280 And here he is not saying let's look at the realities of that 64 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,120 resurrection. He's saying let's look at the 65 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,360 impact of that reality. What's the impact of the 66 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,800 resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 67 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,040 And here we see that is set up as a tool or a means to an end, 68 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,880 an effective tool to the end. When I was much younger in high 69 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,920 school, I got my first scientific calculator. 70 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,680 It was a Texas Instrument 35, if I remember correctly. 71 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,240 And this, the calculator was just marvelous. 72 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,160 It was able to do logarithms, differential equations, 73 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:20,120 integrals, and and the derivatives like it mapped out 74 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,000 matrices. It was a marvelous calculator. 75 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,600 The reality is it was a wonderful tool that I had 76 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,520 absolutely no use for. I was in high school, I didn't 77 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,200 take any of those classes. I had no use. 78 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:33,400 And so, but I knew it was a marvelous tool. 79 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,200 And so I spent lots of time focusing on the calculator. 80 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,960 I played with all the buttons. I pushed all the buttons and I 81 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,040 saw it do different things, not knowing what it was doing but 82 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,120 being utterly amazed at what it was. 83 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,080 But it was utterly useless in my life until numerous years later 84 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,760 when I suddenly were taking higher math courses that 85 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,760 actually enabled the use of that calculator and enabled benefited 86 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,840 from it. So often, so many of us focus 87 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:00,600 upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the exact same way. 88 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:04,080 We recognize that it's a powerful, life changing, cosmic 89 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,440 altering event. And indeed it is. 90 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:08,840 It is the central event in all of history. 91 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:13,120 It is the most central event that has ever taken place. 92 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,800 And it shapes and guides the whole entire history, but it 93 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,960 also shapes and guides your entire life. 94 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,760 And what Peter's emphasis here is, he says, take a look at this 95 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,360 resurrection from the dead. And it is through the 96 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,720 resurrection of the dead that certain things happen. 97 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,880 What takes place It is through the resurrection of the dead 98 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,880 that he has caused us to be born again into a living hope. 99 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,920 We have hope because of the resurrection of the dead. 100 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,400 That's that's his emphasis, he says. 101 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,320 Because of the resurrection of the dead, we have hope. 102 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,720 Now we have to talk about the nature of hope a little bit 103 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,840 because again, it's so frequently mischaracterized in 104 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:59,720 our society as wishful thinking or daydreaming or just imagining 105 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:01,920 a good outcome or something along those lines. 106 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,720 And that is never the way scriptures portrayed the 107 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,680 doctrine of hope. Hope is a confident assurance in 108 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,520 what God is doing in the future, a confident assurance of what 109 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,800 God is doing in the future. I read number books a long time 110 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:20,080 ago in my formative years. I read some books about PO WS in 111 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,800 Vietnam in particular, and I read about the torture and the 112 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,560 suffering that they went through and the pain that took place and 113 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:33,320 the survival character of the PO WS and the unifying theme, The 114 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,320 mark, The characteristic that defined if the PO WS were going 115 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,920 to survive the torture and how they were going to survive the 116 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,320 torture was not their strength of body. 117 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:44,800 It wasn't even their strength of mind. 118 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:50,280 It was the ability for the PO WS to hold on to and maintain hope. 119 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,080 This is a wonderfully portrayed characteristic in PO WS 120 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:57,840 throughout the world and throughout world history that 121 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:01,280 one of the things that torturers try to do so often is remove the 122 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:04,160 concept of hope. But for particularly the 123 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,520 American PO WS in Vietnam, those who were able to maintain the 124 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,120 thought that there is, that the US has not forgotten about them, 125 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,360 that there is still an opportunity, a possibility for 126 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,920 this war to end, for them to be returned home. 127 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,280 That hope motivated them and kept so many of them alive. 128 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:23,720 Life. That's the nature of hope that 129 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,480 we are talking about here, A confident assurance that what 130 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,480 God is doing in the future. But notice that it's not just a 131 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,560 hope. In the text we're told not just 132 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,520 that he has caused us to be born into a hope through the 133 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,280 resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, but because of 134 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:44,960 the resurrection of Jesus Christ into the dead, we are born into 135 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,760 a living hope. Now, what do we mean by living 136 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:49,000 hope? We don't mean that hope is 137 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,720 somehow animated with arms and legs and moves around or 138 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:56,080 something like that. No, hope that is living is a 139 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,480 living, is a characteristic of something that has power, that 140 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:05,360 has possibility, that has potential, that has an 141 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,320 opportunity to do something. Think of a battery. 142 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,880 Battery has life in it when it still can do something. 143 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:13,520 Not when it has arms and legs and moves around. 144 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,840 Not when it's animated, but rather when it has the ability 145 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,080 to do something. It still has some life in it. 146 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,680 A dead battery is one that has no potential at all. 147 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,120 It can't do anything. It just sits there. 148 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,480 And so often the nature of hope that is expressed in Christian 149 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,960 life sometimes is a dead hope. It's a it's a hope that doesn't 150 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,159 do anything. It's a hope where we say, yeah, 151 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:37,760 OK, we're we know it's out there. 152 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,400 We know it's a possibility. But that's not what the 153 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:44,000 Scriptures call us to here. Because of the resurrection from 154 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,560 the dead, we don't just have a formalized hope where we say, 155 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:50,120 well, we know that Jesus is coming at the end of time. 156 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,040 We know that death has been defeated. 157 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:53,680 We realize all those kind of things. 158 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,920 No, we have a living hope. This hope is something that 159 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,520 motivates, that moves, that changes, that transforms us. 160 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,720 Every Christian in this room, every Christian across the globe 161 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:10,880 should be motivated by living a life of living hope, a hope that 162 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,720 is manifested, that shows itself, that demonstrates it, 163 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:18,120 that, that, that, that reveals itself to the world around us 164 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,760 and to our own hearts. And if you're not living that 165 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:29,800 way, if you're not living with a living hope, you've got to ask 166 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,040 yourself what Peter would say about that. 167 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,000 For we have a living hope through the means of the 168 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,480 resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 169 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,640 Christ has raised from the dead, He has called us to be his 170 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,920 followers, and he has granted to us a living hope. 171 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:50,720 Now what does that living hope look like? 172 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,760 There are over 100 passages in the New Testament that speak of 173 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,960 the resurrection, and a whole lot of them talk about the 174 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,960 historical reality of it. A lot of those texts talk about 175 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,960 the cosmic influence and impact of the resurrection. 176 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,720 But there are many texts that do exactly what Peter does here, 177 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,960 spell out for us what it means that through the resurrection of 178 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:15,800 the dead, we are to have a living hope. 179 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:17,640 We're going to look at four of them here today. 180 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,440 We're going to start with First Corinthians 15, which by the way 181 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:25,200 is the chapter if you, if you want to understand the 182 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,560 resurrection, if, if the resurrection remains in your 183 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,680 mind, this historical event that is going to shape your life 184 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:35,880 somewhere in the future. But it's not really having that 185 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:37,920 living hope. If you sit here and you hear 186 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,960 Peter's words that we have a living hope through the 187 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:42,880 resurrection. And if you sit there and you 188 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:47,240 think, I don't know that my life models, that, I'm not sure that 189 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,880 my life is wrapped around a living. 190 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,120 It manifests, shows itself to everyone. 191 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:56,680 I'm not sure in the bad times, when things go crazy at work, 192 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,120 when my family is falling apart, I'm not sure that people would 193 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,280 look in and say there's somebody that has a living hope. 194 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,480 If you're concerned about that, spend time in First Corinthians 195 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,440 chapter 15. It is the chapter in the Bible 196 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:14,520 where you will get a wonderful picture of the realities of the 197 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:19,240 resurrection, but also this wonderful insight into its daily 198 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,920 life impact in your lives. And we begin with First 199 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:29,280 Corinthians 15 verses 54 and 55. Paul writes this when the 200 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,520 perishable puts on the imperishable, when the mortal 201 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,840 puts on immortality in the resurrection, in the 202 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,560 resurrection, then shall come to pass the saying death is 203 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:44,280 swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? 204 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:50,320 Oh death, where is your sting? It is passe to say that we live 205 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,280 in a culture of death. We absolutely do. 206 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:57,280 Our entertainment focuses so much around death. 207 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,120 Our news focuses so much around death. 208 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:02,320 Our lives focus so much around death. 209 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:06,280 Our jokes focus around death. Everything that we recognize in 210 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:10,320 our lives is modeled as shaped by the fact that in each of our 211 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,320 lives is coming an event, which is death. 212 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:17,840 And here we see the realities of the teaching that Paul puts 213 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,720 forward here, that death is swallowed up in victory because 214 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,320 of the resurrection, Because of the resurrection of Jesus 215 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,320 Christ, death is swallowed up in victory. 216 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:30,400 Now notice carefully what's being said here. 217 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,200 Death is swallowed up. It is not that death doesn't 218 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,640 happen. This is the Mary Poppins reality 219 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,600 of life. Death is swallowed up in 220 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,160 victory. A spoonful of sugar makes the 221 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,600 medicine go down, you know. And So what we have here is 222 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:48,320 you've got the death and it's persistence and it's reality, 223 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:50,760 death's reality. And yet because of the 224 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,560 resurrection, it has been swallowed up, it has been 225 00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:58,560 overcome, it has been masked, it has been emptied of its power 226 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:04,920 because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ for every 227 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,000 single person in this room. If the Lord does not come again 228 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,760 between now and your death, every one of us will experience 229 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,000 death. And yet the reality is that we 230 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,440 still maintain the truth of this statement that death has been 231 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,600 swallowed up in the victory of Jesus Christ. 232 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,480 It has been swallowed up in the victory of the resurrection. 233 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:27,800 Now that is intended to provide living hope for us. 234 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,840 If not that, then certainly the following words. 235 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,360 Oh, death, where is your victory normally? 236 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,800 Where is the victory of death apart from the resurrection of 237 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:39,400 Jesus Christ? Where's the victory of death? 238 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,160 It's not in its inevitability. Death is inevitable for all of 239 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,440 us because of the brokenness of this world. 240 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,640 Death is inevitable for all of us, those who unless those who 241 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,280 are alive when Christ comes again, death is inevitable. 242 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,680 That's not its victory. Its victory is its permanence. 243 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:05,120 Once it gets you, once it gets its hands on you, it never let's 244 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:10,960 go. Death ultimately wins everything 245 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:17,600 except by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 246 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,840 For those of us who live in living hope, we know that that's 247 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,760 not true. The death, while it will come, 248 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,880 while it will manifest itself in these terrible ways, while, 249 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,520 while it demonstrates itself on each of our lives, it will not 250 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:35,400 win the long game. Death loses its victory, its 251 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:37,560 victory. Death has no victory, not 252 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,520 because it's not going to come to us, but because it will not 253 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,320 ultimately survive the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 254 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,640 Death has lost its power over us, not because it's not coming, 255 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,600 but because it has no permanence in our lives. 256 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,040 So that's picked up again in this last line there. 257 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,280 Oh, death, where is your stain now? 258 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:02,560 My guess is that most of you, along with me, have walked with 259 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,080 people who are in the position, who are in positions of dying. 260 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:08,640 There are a number of people here that haven't had to go 261 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,640 through that at this point, and I recognize that. 262 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,720 But probably for most of the people in the room, we have 263 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:16,600 walked through people in stages of grief as they are going 264 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,400 through the process of dying. When Paul says here, oh, death, 265 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,960 where is your sting, I sit there and think, Every time I watch 266 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,040 somebody go through this, every time I walk through a family 267 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,160 that is suffering, every time I go through the process of 268 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,920 holding someone's hand as they pass from this life, I can tell 269 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,400 you where the sting is. It stings. 270 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,080 What does this mean? Oh, death, where is your sting 271 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,400 that stings? When that happens, the sting 272 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:47,360 that Paul is talking about is a scorpion sting. 273 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:52,360 It's not the bite of an insect. It's not even the sting of a 274 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:58,000 scorpion that zaps you, it's the poison that then works its way 275 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,640 through your body that then ultimately kills you. 276 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:06,320 Oh death, where is your sting? Oh death, you have no power. 277 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:08,920 Not because it's not going to hurt when we die. 278 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,000 Not because death is not something that is opposed to the 279 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,360 gods created design for our lives. 280 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:18,720 It absolutely is. Death is the enemy and it stings 281 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,600 when it happens, but it doesn't sting like a scorpion that 282 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,760 ultimately will take your life because your life is well hidden 283 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,560 in Jesus Christ and is bound to him through the resurrection of 284 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,680 our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we can say that 285 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,480 that's a living hope that we have. 286 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,120 We have a living hope, a hope that motivates and drives us 287 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,960 because yes, death is at the end of the road, road for all of us, 288 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,680 but that's not the end of the road for all of us because death 289 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:52,880 has lost its victory and instead it has no sting, no long term 290 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,480 permanence in our lives. The first point here that comes 291 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,600 from this idea of having a living hope because of the 292 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:04,839 resurrection of Jesus Christ is that death has been defeated for 293 00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,640 each of you. And if you can't imagine that 294 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,839 changing the way you live your life right now, you're not 295 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:14,800 thinking well at all. That should absolutely transform 296 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:18,480 the way that we live. That hope that you have in the 297 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,920 debt, in the, in the destruction of death and the defeat of death 298 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:26,119 in Jesus Christ, that should be a living hope transforming the 299 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:27,880 way in which you live your lives. 300 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,360 Paul in that same chapter also says this in verse 17. 301 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:38,400 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are 302 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:42,080 still in your sins. If Christ has not been raised, 303 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,640 then your faith is futile if the resurrection didn't happen. 304 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:50,000 If there is no resurrection, then your faith is futile and 305 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,880 you're still in your sins. Let let's turn that around. 306 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,040 Paul says it in the negative. Let's say it in positive. 307 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,440 Because Christ is raised from the dead, your faith is not 308 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:04,960 futile and you are no longer in your sins. 309 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,840 That is a driving force for our lives. 310 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,320 That is a driving force for a living hope in our lives. 311 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,800 For our faith is not futile. Futile, by the way, especially 312 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,360 in the way in which it's used here, means an emptiness of 313 00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:25,360 vacuum. But something that is, is not 314 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:29,840 just not just space, but something that looks like it 315 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:34,280 means something looks like it's powerful and yet ultimately has 316 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,640 emptiness. It's a vacuum, it's vapor. 317 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,560 So I think in terms of a really nice gift, let's say somebody 318 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:44,560 presents you with a wonderfully gift wrapped box and it's 319 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,040 beautifully and it's your birthday or Christmas or or 320 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:49,520 Valentine's Day or something like that. 321 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,760 And it's this beautiful gift and it's just so marvelous. 322 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,280 And your heart is swelling and you're all excited about it and 323 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,000 you and you're committed to this gift and you're committed to the 324 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,480 person that has given you the gift. 325 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:02,680 And you just can't wait to tear it open. 326 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,560 And you tear open this beautiful package and you open the box and 327 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,240 nothing. Nothing. 328 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,120 That's what Paul says. Your faith is if the 329 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:20,520 resurrection does not dominate your life, if if Christ has been 330 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,840 not not been raised, that's the historical reality. 331 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,920 But if Christ hasn't been raised for you, a living hope. 332 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,360 If you're not experiencing that living hope, then your faith is 333 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:34,600 futile. Oh, I like coming to church 334 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,240 because I like singing. I like hearing the preacher 335 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,000 speak. I like the people that I 336 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,840 interact with. I like starting my day off, my 337 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,480 week off on a good. It's all beautiful wrappings and 338 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:47,920 it means nothing. It's empty. 339 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:53,240 If your life is not dominated by a living hope that comes about 340 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,760 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, your faith is 341 00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:58,080 futile. Why? 342 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:02,560 Because you're still in your sin, the cross. 343 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,560 But wait a minute, Our sins were taken care of. 344 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,800 If you know the gospel message, you know the message is this, 345 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,200 that long before you were born, if you're a follower of Jesus 346 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:16,160 Christ, he. Covenanted, he determined the 347 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,520 Father, the Son, the Spirit determined that the Son would go 348 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,600 to the cross and while on the cross he would take his 349 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,400 righteousness, his godliness, his goodness and all that he is 350 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,600 and he would give it to you in replace. 351 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:34,480 Then in in in return you would give to him all of your sin, all 352 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,680 of your wickedness, all of your ugliness. 353 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,880 Everything that separates you from Jesus Christ would be given 354 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:44,240 to Him and dying on the cross. On the cross is where we 355 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:50,280 proclaim our sins are forgiven. Yet Paul here says that if 356 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:54,280 Christ hasn't been raised from the dead, if Easter didn't take 357 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:59,320 place, if Good Friday happens but no Easter, you are still in 358 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:02,120 your sins. Why? 359 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,920 The resurrection from the dead is the affirmation. 360 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:07,800 It's the promise, it's the guarantee. 361 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,760 This goes back to first Peter one again, where Jesus Christ is 362 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,640 raised from the dead through the glory and the power of God the 363 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:19,280 Father. God the Father has raised Christ 364 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,640 from the dead so that we might know the reality that Christ has 365 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,360 been accepted. The sacrifice of Christ has been 366 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:29,280 accepted for you. How do you know that you're not 367 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,200 still in your sins? Because the Father has done 368 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,480 exactly what he needed to do. God has looked upon Christ's 369 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:41,320 sacrifice for you and said I will accept Christ on behalf of 370 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:48,440 Joe Sally, Henry Kelly. That's what God does upon the 371 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,080 cross and through the resurrection. 372 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:54,120 We have to guarantee the assurance that we are no longer 373 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:58,480 in our sins. That provides a living hope. 374 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:02,280 Who here is not burdened at some point in their life, perhaps 375 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:07,520 continuously, with feelings of inadequacy, with feelings of 376 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:13,160 guilt, with feelings of shame, with feelings of of burden of 377 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,520 our sin? You have a living hope because 378 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:21,040 of the resurrection of Christ. None of that should happen for 379 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,600 you. You cannot live that way if you 380 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,440 have a living hope. The living hope is a very thing 381 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,400 that conquers those feelings, that shows those feelings to be 382 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,680 untrue, that proves the fact that death has been defeated, 383 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:36,920 that you are no longer in your sins. 384 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,960 So we have the second idea here, the first idea being that death 385 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,680 has been defeated. The second idea that you are no 386 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,240 longer in your sins because of the resurrection of Jesus 387 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,760 Christ, and because of that, then each of us has a living 388 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,640 hope. Thirdly, Paul writes in Romans 389 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:01,240 verse verse 4 of chapter 6. We were baptized therefore with 390 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:06,400 Him by death and by baptism into death, in order that just as 391 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,960 Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we 392 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,040 too might walk in newness of life. 393 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,000 OK, because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, by the 394 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,720 glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of 395 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,720 life. Because of the resurrection, we 396 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,480 might walk in the newness of life. 397 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,400 Now I need to clarify what we mean by might. 398 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,360 Might here is not an option. It doesn't say that because of 399 00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:36,400 the resurrection there was no way for you to walk in newness 400 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,160 of life before the resurrection. But now, because of the 401 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,400 resurrection, you can either walk in newness of life or you 402 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,800 cannot walk in newness of life. That's not what might means 403 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,120 here. Might means power, might means 404 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:52,240 means ability. Because of the resurrection from 405 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,000 Christ, from the dead, we can walk. 406 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,720 We have the power. We have the might to walk in 407 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,840 newness of life. In newness of life, we walk now. 408 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,480 It doesn't mean that we can do actions that are good. 409 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:08,680 That's not what Paul is saying here. 410 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,720 Wouldn't it be nice if Paul said, look, because of the 411 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:13,880 resurrection from the dead, every once in a while you can do 412 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,360 a good thing. Great, thank you. 413 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,560 Or more often than once in a while you can do a good thing. 414 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:23,640 Every week or every other day or every day you can do a good 415 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,320 thing. That's not what Paul's saying 416 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,760 here. He said no, that you walk in 417 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,880 newness of life. This is this is a habit. 418 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,280 This is a lifetime. My family likes to go hiking. 419 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,600 And when we're hiking, especially in an area where we 420 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,760 don't know very well, we stay on the path. 421 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:45,600 You stay on the path because that's where we are intended to 422 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,160 walk. And by the Lord Jesus Christ, he 423 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,920 has laid forward a path for us, and we are intended to walk 424 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:56,720 along that path because of the living hope that we have in the 425 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,720 resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of the resurrection of 426 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,680 Jesus Christ, death has been defeated. 427 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,280 Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven 428 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,800 of your sin. Because of the resurrection of 429 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,680 Jesus Christ, you now walk in newness of life, newness of 430 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,240 life. There's the old way of living, a 431 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,840 way that is shaped and modeled by death. 432 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,920 That is, oh, that has death at the end. 433 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,320 And there is a new way of living that is made possible through 434 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,120 the coming of Jesus Christ, and that is a life of righteousness, 435 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:36,640 of holiness, of goodness. Christians with living hope walk 436 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:43,160 in the newness of life. And then finally John says to 437 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:48,200 Mary in I'm Sorry, John records Jesus speaking to Mary in John 438 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:53,960 Chapter 11 where he says these words, I am the resurrection in 439 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,480 the life. Whoever believes in me, though 440 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:01,080 he die, yet he lives. And everyone who lives in me and 441 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,200 lives and believes in me shall never die. 442 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:12,200 Do you believe this? Everyone who believes in Jesus 443 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:18,800 Christ will never die, and those who die will live again. 444 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,840 Predicated upon everything we've been talking about is the Jesus 445 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,920 Christ resurrection, while unique, while earth shaking, 446 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,920 while cosmic shaping, is not the only resurrection that will ever 447 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:35,680 occur because all of us who are bonded in Jesus Christ with Him 448 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,880 will also be raised at the end of the age. 449 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,960 This resurrection is ours as well. 450 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,000 What happened to Christ will happen to us. 451 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,760 And this was intended to provide that living hope. 452 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:49,920 Why are we supposed to live so hopefully? 453 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,360 Why do we live with No Fear of death? 454 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,120 Why do we live as though we have been forgiven? 455 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:57,880 Why do we live in newness of life? 456 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,640 Because we have a living hope that is bound up in the 457 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,520 resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because we too will be raised. 458 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:15,000 We too will be raised if we believe. 459 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:22,160 Notice the end of that verse where Jesus says to Mary, Do you 460 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:27,840 believe this now He's not saying do you believe the historic 461 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,880 realities of the resurrection? He's not saying, Do you believe 462 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:36,520 that I exist as a person or that I am God? 463 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,760 He's not asking any of those questions. 464 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,240 He's saying not Are you intellectually embracing the 465 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,240 fact of the resurrection? My guess is that by virtue of 466 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,720 the fact that you're here today, you're embracing the 467 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,920 intellectual realities of the resurrection. 468 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,120 Either that or else you were dragged here by a family member. 469 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:57,960 OK, but if you are here today, you probably understand the 470 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:02,160 realities of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 471 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:08,760 Jesus is not asking that. He's saying, are you living this 472 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,440 way? Are you believing in this as 473 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,240 your faith placed here? Do you trust in this? 474 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,800 Do you rely upon it? Is it an act of reliance that 475 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,520 drives your life? Is it a living hope? 476 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,480 And you can tell because your life should be modeled after a 477 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:32,000 living hope. That living hope should drive 478 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:36,960 and direct every aspect of your life. 479 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:45,400 If it does, rejoice greatly in the resurrection of Jesus 480 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,640 Christ. Death has been defeated, and for 481 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:54,080 you your sin has been forgiven. And now walk in the newness of 482 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,560 life because of your faith in Jesus Christ. 483 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,640 If you can honestly look at your life and say, I'm not sure my 484 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:09,800 life is modeled by a living hope, I'm not sure that when the 485 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,840 going gets tough that I nevertheless express a hope in 486 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:17,200 the future that drives and effects everything that I do, 487 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,440 that it's a living hope. If you no longer can say with 488 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,040 confidence that you have a living hope in every aspect of 489 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:30,120 your life, Jesus would look at you and say what he says to 490 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,400 Mary. Do you believe this? 491 00:29:39,130 --> 00:29:44,730 Our gracious Father, we thank you that by the power of your 492 00:29:44,730 --> 00:29:50,130 glory you raised Jesus Christ from the dead, that because of 493 00:29:50,130 --> 00:29:54,450 his resurrection we have been given a living hope. 494 00:29:55,530 --> 00:29:59,770 And because of that living hope, we have No Fear of death, though 495 00:29:59,770 --> 00:30:03,210 it stings the when it comes, though it's going to be tough to 496 00:30:03,210 --> 00:30:06,800 swallow for all of us, ultimately it will have no 497 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:13,680 victory over us. Lord, we are forgiven of our sin 498 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,600 and no longer suffer under the anguish of the guilt of our 499 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:26,720 judgment. Lord, we have the power of The 500 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:31,280 Walking and new life because of what you have done upon the 501 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,200 cross. And Lord, we know that this is 502 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:39,240 ours because of the faith that you have given to us, enabling 503 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,040 us to believe the realities of the resurrection. 504 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:49,560 Yet, Father, like the father of the epileptic child who looked 505 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,640 at you and said, Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief. 506 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,040 Lord, we believe, but help us we pray. 507 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,600 In our unbelief we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord 508 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:04,960 and our Saviour, whose name we pray. 509 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:06,080 Amen.