43. Resurrection - Defeating Death Series

[IN GOD’S IMAGE 43 – RESURRECTION - DEFEATING DEATH]

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

We have been looking in detail at the saving ministry of Jesus Christ.

• We started by speaking about how God the Logos, humbled himself by setting aside His heavenly glory and joining humanity as one of us.

• We learned when Jesus became incarnate, He assumed our fallen human nature in order to wrestle it to the ground, defeat it and restore it to God’s original intention.

• We spoke about how Jesus was baptised in order to represent us through all aspects of his life, not just his death.

• We saw Jesus confronting the devil and overcoming the evil spiritual forces holding mankind captive in order to institute the kingdom of God.

• He chose twelve disciples for the embryonic formation of the church.

• He announces the arrival of the new age, the age of redemption by healing the sick, calming the elements, casting out demons, raising the dead and forgiving sin.

• He taught the ruling principles of the kingdom of God with his teachings and parables to show salvation was obtained through grace, not through obedience to the law, which is an impossibility for human beings.

• We saw how Jesus was born “under the law” in order to redeem those “under the law.” Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant requirements from both the side of Israel and the side of God.

• At the last supper, Jesus introduces the New Covenant which has real forgiving power as it is based on His sacrificed body and blood, not the body and blood of animals.

• This New Covenant included not just Israel but all of mankind as it also embraced the Abrahamic Covenant. It was through Abraham’s seed (Jesus) that “all nations of the earth would be blessed.”

• With Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we saw how the relationship between God and mankind changed forever. Rather than living under the condemnation of the law, mankind now lives under the free gift of grace.

• We saw how Jesus as the “predestined” one or the “elected” one willingly substituted himself in the place of guilty mankind to accept the wrath of God’s just penalty against sin, so we could be adopted into the family of God.

• We saw how Jesus went to that God-forsaken place called hell when he cut himself off from the source of true life and died the second death so we wouldn’t have to.

• We saw through His willingness to accept the death penalty on our behalf and impute His righteousness to us, that we have been “justified” and “reconciled” to God.

• And finally we saw how on the cross He defeated the two sources of evil that hold mankind captive, our fallen human nature and the evil forces of the spiritual realm.

As the Roman soldier thrust his spear deep into the vital organs beneath Jesus’ ribcage and His precious blood poured out on the ground, He willingly submitted to the welcome relief of death.

• But not before He uttered two last cries.

• “It is finished” (John 19:30) and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46).

• The cry, “It is finished” showed just how confident Jesus was that He had faithfully fulfilled every task the Father had asked of Him in order for the gift of salvation to be offered to all mankind.

• The God-ordained list mentioned above had faithfully been accomplished.

• After “working” for millennia to restore the relationship between Creator and created since the first sin, Jesus at last could rest.

• John 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”