“Saint Abraham” Romans pt 6
(He had resurrection faith!)
Opening Illustration: “What Does Easter mean to you?” Blue Fish TV “Easter” DVD
Introduction:
The young mom was driving her 3-year-old child to church early on Easter morning. As she drove she told the Easter story. “This is the day we celebrate Jesus coming back to life.” From the back seat she heard, “Will He be in church today?” Contributed to sermon central by: Gaither Bailey
Sunday School teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus first words." And Extending her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!” Contributed to sermon central by: Ken Kersten
Video Illustration: “Resurrection” A clip from Blue Fish TV “Holidays and Occasions - Season 2”
A CHILD-LIKE FAITH:
My daughter was four years old and about to see her first Easter play. Like most little girls at Easter, she was all decked out in her flowered outfit, patent leather shoes, matching purse, white lace gloves, and to top it all off – her beautiful Easter hat.
As the play started, she saw the actors come on stage and screamed with excitement, “THERE’S JESUS!” He was playing with the children on the stage and she wanted to know why she couldn’t go up and play with Jesus too. My response to her was, “Honey, this is only a play. He’s only an actor. This isn’t real.” “Okay,” she said, “but will you pick me up so that Jesus can see my hat?”
During a scene of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, soldiers came barging in yelling and screaming. My daughter became so frightened that she turned her face away, buried it into my chest and began to cry. Again I tried to rationalize with her, “It’s okay, honey. This is only a play. These are only actors. It’s not real.” So she agreed to watch some more.
Then came that dreaded scene. Down the isle of the church came Jesus dragging His cross – people yelling and cursing him. This was too much. She could not bear to watch. I held her tightly and tried to comfort her. “It’s okay, honey. This is only a play. These are only actors. It isn’t real.”
Next, the soldiers grabbed Jesus, threw him against the cross, picked up their hammers and ---SLAM!--- She screamed at the top of her lungs, “NOOOOO! THEY’RE KILLING MY JESUS!” She cried so loud and so long that I had to rush her out of the auditorium. I took her outside where she could finish watching the play on the outside TV screens and told her Jesus was going to come back to life if she would watch. But she would not be consoled until she could see Jesus alive again. At the end of the play, she was determined to go up and see Jesus and have him hold her in his arms to ensure he was alive.
Many people were in that auditorium that day. Like me, they had all gone to see a play – only actors – it wasn’t real. But when we saw the Gospel through the eyes of a child, the Gospel became real once again.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…” Has the Gospel become to you just another story? Has it lost its appeal? Its richness? Its life? Then maybe you need a good dose of child-like faith this Easter.
Contributed to sermon central by: Mark Evans
So today is another Easter Sunday in Amery Wisconsin. Has this day become routine? Does it affect your heart and your belief system? Does this day impact your daily life? Has it changed your life? Is today any different than say any other Sunday? Have you come to church today expecting to meet with your Lord and Savior? Have you come to church today to show off your Easter clothes? Have you come today because it’s traditional to go to church on Easter?
Before I start to preach today and look at our scripture verse for this morning I want to ask you this question “So why did you come to Easter service today?” Did you come to experience the power of the resurrection of Jesus? Do you even believe in the power of the resurrection? Have you come because you have experienced the resurrection power of this special day in the past? Did you know that today is the pinnacle Sunday of Christianity?
Easton’s Bible Dictionary states, “ONE OF THE CARDINAL FACTS AND DOCTRINES OF THE GOSPEL. IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN, OUR FAITH IS VAIN (1 Cor. 15:14). The whole of the New Testament revelation rests on this as an historical fact. On the day of Pentecost Peter argued the necessity of Christ’s resurrection from the prediction in Ps. 16 (Acts 2:24-28). In his own discourses, also, our Lord clearly intimates his resurrection (Matt. 20:19; Mark 9:9; 14:28; Luke 18:33; John 2:19-22).”
ALL THE DIFFERENCE:
All but four of the major world religions are based on mere philosophical propositions. Of the four that are based on personalities rather than philosophies, only Christianity claims an empty tomb for its founder.
In 1900 B.C. Judaism’s Father Abraham died. In 483 B.C. Buddhist writings say Buddha died “with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind.” June 6, 632 A.D. Mohammed died. .
In 33 A.D. Jesus died but came back to life appearing to 500 people over a period of 40 days.
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (I Corinthians, 15:14).
Source: Sermon Central staff. Citation: McDowell, Josh. Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Page 180. San Bernadino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, Inc., 1979.
Today we are here to celebrate and honor Jesus – our risen Lord – to once again partake together and to experience the resurrection faith of Jesus Christ. In our text found in Romans 4 we are going to explore the life of Abraham who is said to have himself experienced the resurrection power of the Lord through faith in God. Let’s learn from the father of our faith and apply some spiritual truths to our own life this Easter Morning.
Scripture Text: Romans 4:1-25 (Play from CD)
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
9Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
13It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
18Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans 4 “The Message”
TRUSTING GOD
1So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? 2If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. 3What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”
4If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. 5But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
6David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man:
7Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off,
whose sins are wiped clean from the slate.
8Fortunate the person against
whom the Lord does not keep score.
9Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? We all agree, don’t we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God?
10Now think: Was that declaration made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That’s right, before he was marked. 11That means that he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life.
12And it means further that Abraham is father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the “outs” with God, as yet unidentified as God’s, in an “uncircumcised” condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called “set right by God and with God”! Abraham is also, of course, father of those who have undergone the religious rite of circumcision not just because of the ritual but because they were willing to live in the risky faith-embrace of God’s action for them, the way Abraham lived long before he was marked by circumcision.
13That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. 14If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. 15A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.
16This is why the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backwards. He is our faith father.
17We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn’t that what we’ve always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, “I set you up as father of many peoples”? Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. 18When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!”
19Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. 20He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, 21sure that God would make good on what he had said. 22That’s why it is said, “Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.” 23But it’s not just Abraham; 24it’s also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. 25The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.
Thesis: Saint Abraham had Resurrection faith because he believed even when there seemed to be no hope of becoming the father of many nations. His faith in the Lord opened the door for God to raise a dead womb and to birth a new nation in his wife Sarah.
T.S - Abraham was made right with God because of his faith and trust in God and we learn that he was our father of faith and as a result he experienced the resurrection power of the Lord in his life.
I. Abraham’s story is a God Story and it is about God’s resurrection power.
a. Romans 4:1-11:
b. Abraham received a miracle from God and a son because of his faith in God not because of what he had done.
i. Abraham was just like you and me – imperfect-flawed-a sinner-hopeless – but God showed up one day and called Abraham out of his comfort zone and said follow me Abraham.
1. If you do I will bless you with land – with a nation – with a big family – with prosperity – with new life!
ii. He trusted God to make everything right not in his ability to make everything right but in God’s supernatural ability to alter reality.
1. Our stories hero is really not Abraham but it is actually God.
a. He is the hero – He is the one who makes a promise to Abraham and then goes beyond the natural realm to give him a new life and a future to hope in.
iii. Abraham knew that he did not have the power to create life in Sarah so he had to look to God because it was beyond his natural ability.
1. Genesis 15: 1After all these things, this word of GOD came to Abram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I’m your shield. Your reward will be grand!” 2Abram said, “GOD, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I’m childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?” 3Abram continued, “See, you’ve given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all.” 4Then GOD’s Message came: “Don’t worry, he won’t be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir.” 5Then he took him outside and said, “Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You’re going to have a big family, Abram! 6And he believed! Believed GOD! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.” 7GOD continued, “I’m the same GOD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own.”
a. God promised Abraham that he would produce a son and He would have a big family.
b. He told Abraham to not sweat it but be happy because the baby is on the way!
c. The natural realm said to Abraham and Sarah – “No way!” But God said, “Yes, I am the way!”
d. God said “Don’t worry be happy!” “Abraham – I promise you that you will give birth to a son to carry your heritage on.”
i. The promise to Abraham was sealed as soon as God spoke it into existence!
e. We can look at this section and see that the promise was given and the promise was received by Abraham.
i. This is how faith works – God says it and we are to believe it and receive it!
2. Genesis 18: 1God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. 2He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them. 3He said, “Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. 4I’ll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. 5I’ll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path.” They said, “Certainly. Go ahead.” 6Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, “Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread.” 7Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. 8Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate. 9The men said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He said, “In the tent.” 10One of them said, “I’m coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.11Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. 12Sarah laughed within herself, “An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?” 13GOD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh saying, ‘Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?’ 14Is anything too hard for GOD? I’ll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby.” 15Sarah lied. She said, “I didn’t laugh,” because she was afraid. But he said, “Yes you did; you laughed.” 16When the men got up to leave, they set off for Sodom. Abraham walked with them to say good-bye 17Then GOD said, “Shall I keep back from Abraham what I’m about to do? 18Abraham is going to become a large and strong nation; all the nations of the world are going to find themselves blessed through him. 19Yes, I’ve settled on him as the one to train his children and future family to observe GOD’s way of life, live kindly and generously and fairly, so that GOD can complete in Abraham what he promised him.”
a. God sends his messengers to communicate again to Abraham that He would be a father to a large nation even if Sarah thought it was a joke.
i. She even looks at her husband and says “I will have a son with that old man – get real!”
1. I wondered if she was still ticked off at him for abandoning her to Pharaoh those years earlier?
2. But think about this for a moment – Have you ever done the same thing that Sarah did?
a. God gives a promise to someone and we laugh and snicker on the inside.
b. God is going to provide New Life with a new building debt – free! Wake up Pastor Mike you make me laugh!
c. We look at the natural or at a person track record and we think – No way that a joke!
i. But we forget that when God promises something he delivers it in spite of the person’s short falls!
b. How often do we hear from God and He makes a promise we laugh about the absurdity of such a thing.
i. Remember what we learned while back – “When God opens a door no man can shut it!”
c. God saw the future and promised Abraham that he would be apart of it because of his faith.
i. Here is thought: Do you believe God when he says, to all those who are saved, that we will have an eternal future with Him.
ii. The Bible tells me that those who are faithful will rule in the future in God’s coming Kingdom.
1. Do you believe it – then live like it!
2. Get and eternal perspective of your life instead of just the here and now!
3. Believe the truth “You are called to do divine purpose for the Lord!”
4. You have an eternal purpose and destiny – so live like it.
3. Genesis 12: 1Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.6Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
a. Remember he was a 100 when he got his son! This sounds amazing to me but reaffirms God’s faithfulness.
b. But it happened just like God promised it would – it took 10 years but timing does not matter to God because His time is always the perfect time.
c. Just like Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God so is and was God able to resurrect the empty womb of Sarah.
d. God is the one who has the power to bring to life something which is dead and unable to produce life.
e. Did you notice that Sarah said, “Her miracle of new life in Isaac brought laughter to her life!”
i. The joy was back – there was dancing and laughing going on in the house of Abraham!
ii. God’s promises and then their deliverance always brings joy to a life and a home!
f. Listen to me – Friends and family of New Life: Today is Resurrection Sunday and the Lord wants to resurrect some of your lives today. He wants to enter into your family and bring new life. He wants to bring in His blessings and He wants to bring a smile back to your face and give you joy in your heart once again.
i. Invite Him to show you His resurrection power today – pause and let this thought circulate in their minds and hearts.
iv. He moved from confidence in the flesh to confidence in God.
1. This is what faith is – this is what resurrection faith is.
2. This is the true meaning of Easter.
a. It’s we place our faith in God’s resurrection power and not in our fleshly abilities or mindsets!
b. When we say, “Yes Lord!” Then God will show up and reveal to us His love and His promises which always accompanies those who believe and trust in Him!
T.S. – The story of Abraham is a God-story and it is to be an encouragement to each of us that believe. God promises that he will also intervene in our lives if we believe then we too will have a God-story to tell. But remember it all starts with trusting in God and not in ourselves! It is always birthed by faith not works!
II. Abraham is our faith father who showed us the importance of trusting God even when we blow it and are not the perfect saint.
a. Romans 4:12-17:
b. Abraham is an example to you and I of the type of faith and trust we are to have in God to raise the dead and to produce new life.
i. Abraham believed the promise of God and He received the promise of God. Notice in verse 17 of the Message it notes that he was not given the promise because he was a perfect and a great saint but because God gave it to him as a gift.
1. Abraham’s promise and his blessings was not based on his living like a great saint but because He believed.
2. If you read the Genesis account of Abraham you discover a man filled with faults, shortcomings and sin.
a. He lied to Pharaoh about Sarah being his wife (Genesis 12).
i. He let Pharaoh take his wife to be his wife and he did not stand up and say she was his wife.
ii. He did not defend his family from those who may covet them.
iii. He did not protect his wife he actually abandoned her.
iv. He did not act like a great man of faith and the way a leader of a home was to act.
b. He did this because he was fearful that they would kill him – think about it - how selfish is this?
i. He was a coward – not a mighty man of valor!
ii. He was more worried about his own skin than the feelings and emotions of his wife.
iii. This whole scenario bothers me because I think what a jerk! He did not love his wife enough to say she belonged to him and to protect her from being taken by another man!
1. I have wondered – “Was she raped – and given to another man because of a self-centered – fearful wimp of husband?
2. How sick – it makes me want to tell Abraham off!
3. Yet Scripture says, “He is my father of the faith!”
4. When we were at camp we use to always sing “Father Abraham” but man he really blew it sometimes!
c. He also agreed with Sarah that they would help God keep His promise by having him sleep with Sarah’s servant Hagar.
i. Here the great father of the faith slept with another women and thought he was helping God keep His promise.
1. Remember this is how the flesh thinks – it thinks sin will fulfill the promises of God.
2. Now this is a joke!
ii. Yes, he had a son who would then be a symbol of bondage not freedom!
iii. He even after Isaac was born allowed this women and her son to be driven off – here is a man not taking responsibility!
d. The truth is Abraham was not the role –model saint that many people think that He was but he believed God and He trusted God and God blessed him with a son.
i. Not because he deserved it but because God gives gifts to imperfect people so as to fulfill His Word and His Divine plan.
1. He does it based on Grace and not works.
2. Abraham did not earn his right standing with God because he was a perfect saint it was given to Him because of faith and grace.
3. The truth is God blessed him in spite of his shortcomings and faults
ii. Abraham received the promises of God just like you and I receive the promises of God – by believing and then by trusting in God to do it.
1. Resurrection faith realizes that I cannot do it – I need to put my trust in God’s power and not in my flesh. I need help to get a new life!
2. Easter is about the realization that what Jesus promised during His life and ministry was fulfilled by His defeating death and being resurrected by God’s power.
a. The power of Christianity – the mile marker that makes Christianity different from all other religions is that it’s founder and leader never stayed dead – He rose up from the grave like He said He would and told us if you believe in me and put your trust in me I will raise you up to New Life for all of eternity.
i. The key is to believe!
ii. The second key is to repent of sin and ask to be forgiven.
iii. The third key is to understand you do not have the ability within yourself to resurrect yourself – you need Jesus.
1. Do you need a miracle in your life?
2. Are you tired of trying to do it on your own with your self-centered ways?
3. Are you tired of trying human reasoning to bring life to your life?
4. Are you tired of the lies?
5. Are you tired of the being in fear?
6. Are you willing to die to yourself and surrender to God?
7. Are you willing to make a covenant relationship with one who has resurrection power?
iii. Easter Sunday – today is a good day to decide to allow God to resurrect your life and your future. SO ask Him too – He will!
T.S. – God saw Abraham’s faith and dedication to Him and He blessed him for it. He was blessed even though Abraham was not a perfect saint. God took Abraham a nobody and made him into a somebody because he decided to trust God with his life and his future.
III. God made Abraham a somebody and He can make you a somebody today if you choose to believe and live like you believe.
a. Romans 4:17-25
i. Abraham was a nobody who became a somebody because he placed his faith and trust in God.
1. He gave up on the flesh – on human logic – on human strength – on “I can do it myself mindset” to “God will do it because I can’t!”
ii. Abraham took his eyes off his natural abilities and put his heart into God’s hands.
1. He said, “I am yours Lord – flaws and all!”
2. He said, “I will follow Lord even though I do not know were we are going because I have 100% trust in you to protect me and to care for me and my family.”
iii. Abraham was in his seventies when he started his road trip with God – can you imagine at 70 uprooting your life and going on an adventure led by God?
1. Abraham plunged in with what God wanted and He did it – that’s faith – faith is not just listening to God’s word it is actually doing God’s word and living in a risky way on a daily basis even at the age of 70-80-90- or get this 100!
b. Here is the reality check for Eater Sunday - You can go from being an “aint” to a “saint” by deciding to believe in the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus.
i. Abraham believed long be fore He made a covenant with the Lord by circumcision.
1. Faith came first then he did the works based on His love for God – knowing full well that faith saved him not his works.
ii. The power of the resurrection is found in the faith dimension not in the human dimension.
1. Resurrection power is not found in human reasoning!
a. Jesus crucifixion-death-and resurrection still does not make much sense to some today!
i. Why? Because it does not fit into a logical mind set.
b. This week I have been watching CNN as they explore the truth about Jesus.
i. They want to some how figure Jesus out and make Him sound more human than divine!
2. Resurrection power is not found in fleshly maneuvers!
a. Jesus’ resurrection was not a cleverly staged hoax as some try to promote today – He did die and He did raise from the dead and over 500 people testified to His resurrection.
b. His resurrection power is real and you can still experience it today!
c. Josh McDowell in his classic work Evidence Demands a Verdict proves the authenticity of the resurrection.
i. ALL THE EVIDENCE
Professor Thomas Arnold, for 14 years a headmaster of Rugby, author of the famous, History of Rome, and appointed to the chair of modern history at Oxford, was well acquainted with the value of evidence in determining historical facts. This great scholar said:
"I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead."
Brooke Foss Westcott, an English scholar, said: "raking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.
Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it."
SOURCE: "Evidence of the Resurrection" by Josh McDowell. http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/
articles/josh2.html Contributed to sermon central by: Sermon Central PRO
ii. But there are still these so-called know it alls today – or experts popping up with all kinds of hair brain ideas about Jesus and even Mary Magdalene.
iii. We have reporters who try to discover the real truth about Jesus.
iv. We have movies made exposing hidden codes that are not based on fact or real events yet people would rather believe the lie than the truth.
3. Resurrection power is not found in selfishness or self-centeredness!
a. Jesus went to cross and denied His flesh – His self and we need to do the same today.
i. Here is the truth your self will never produce resurrection power – self cannot do it only the power of God can.
b. Jesus tells us all that we must pick up our crosses and deny the flesh in our lives if we really want to life.
c. To live today and for eternity means that I must die to self.
4. Resurrection power is not found in lies and or deception!
a. The resurrection is not a lie but it is historical truth – lies will never save you but truth will and it will set you free.
b. When you discover the Truth then you discover your testimony!
c. Quote: Humans prefer to be deceived and lied to rather than told the truth. T.S. Elliot said it best, “humans cannot bear too much reality.” When it comes to reality we must make sure we get it right at Easter because our whole future is at stake. Contributed to sermon central by: Kenneth Squires
5. Resurrection power is not found in prosperity!
a. Jesus was not a wealthy man by any means but he did gain the whole world.
b. Prosperity is not defined by God by how much money you have or how big your house is but by were you heart is and you life is.
c. Prosperity is measured by how much you have to take with you to heaven not by how much you left behind in vaults and property.
6. Resurrection power is not found in religion!
a. Revelation thought – Religion will never save you just ask the Pharisees in Jesus day – Jesus said religion is based on man getting themselves to Heaven not God. It will not work because we are all sinners and we all fall short!
b. Religion focuses on the one doing the works but faith focuses on Jesus power not man’s!
c. So we need a rescuer and that is Jesus and He comes into our life by faith not by works!
i. He comes by us asking Him to come!
ii. Not by doing works and saying “Jesus look at how great I am!”
7. Resurrection power is not found in works!
a. Works come from the flesh – faith comes from the heart and it reaches us to Jesus by our desire to want a personal relationship with Him.
8. Resurrection power is not found anywhere in the Bible being brought on by Human wisdom, strength or intellect - But it is brought into people’s lives through faith in Jesus Christ – faith in the Alpha and Omega.
a. Here is what Abraham’s life teaches us – Faith – resurrection faith is connected with God’s power.
i. Faith in God brings miracles to the ones who believe in spite of what circumstances may say or do.
ii. It is the power to raise the dead – to bring new life – to fulfill all promises of God.
iii. This power is available to anyone who calls on the Lord to save them and to set them free!
iv. This power is for those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!
v. This power will only come into a life by that person placing their faith and their trust in the Lord Jesus!
Conclusion:
How do you and I tap into this resurrection power?
Good Question:
By tapping into Jesus – by placing our faith and trust in Him!
By choosing to put our lives into the hands of the one with the resurrection power – Jesus to change it and raise it up!
Jesus said in John 11:25, 26: “25“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. 26And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”
Illustration:
Bruce Larson said, “The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. In faith, we move from belief in a doctrine to a knowledge of a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive-“
Contributed to sermon central by: Scott Sharpes
Closing Video Illustration on “The resurrection” from Blue Fish TV
