RAISED FROM THE DEAD
Romans 8: 9-11 (p 800) January 27, 2013
INTRODUCTION:
Control: do we have any control freaks here this morning? You don’t have to raise your hands because you were just pointed out by the elbow that hit your ribs…or the look….(Show Look)
All your tools are marked, cleaned and placed in the proper place…all your nuts, bolts, and fasteners have their own little marked container.
You not only expect for things to be done a certain way, but you clearly believe…”it’s really the only way” to do this thing. If control freak “A” and control freak “B” end up working on the same project, or going on the same mission trip, or serving on the same committee…be assured…there will come a time they fiercely argue about how something should be done as they wrestle for “control” of the situation.
Webster defines “Control” like this…”to have under command; to regulate, to check to restrain, to direct…as a noun its “authority” “power”.
The pilot controls the plane…the driver controls the car…the engineer controls the train. Being out of control, in any of those vehicles is a very very bad thing…I think I want a little bit of a control freak flying my jet.
So I’ve got a question for you this morning…”who controls your life?’ Last week I asked, “who controls your thinking?’ and we discovered, “sometimes I do, sometimes God does, sometimes Satan does…sometimes people impact on thinking…but, I am accountable for taking those temptations and those thoughts and bringing them into obedience to Christ…the only people who can do this are Spirit –filled, born again followers of Christ…”God’s Spirit sets our minds on what His Spirit desires. (v. 5)
So, who controls your life? Or, what controls your life? Is it God living in you? Directing…keeping in check…restraining…and propelling? Once again there are only 2 options, 1) self, the sinful nature, or 2) the Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ….
Please understand there is an end to every man and woman’s journey…life does not go on forever…for everyone.
I SOME PEOPLE ARE TEMPORARILY LIVING AND HEADED TOWARDS DEATH.
“If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he or she does not belong to Christ”
I think everyone of us is looking for purpose and meaning….don’t get me wrong. Some have opted out…and their purpose and meaning is to “exist for the moment” “feel good for the now and ignore the future” It sounds like a horrible idea with terrible consequences…but millions try to control their existence like this…until life spins disastrously “out of control”.
Suicide is one saying, “I have 1 thing left I can control”
Some hope to buy enough stuff…and organize their lives with enough friends, and accomplish the right things…purpose and meaning are found in self accomplishment and pride…Jesus has very little to do with the direction they are headed, except for possibly every once in a while because “nice people, good people…go to church”.
You see the sinful nature doesn’t just lead us to the gutter…sometimes it leads us to the penthouse…both destinations are temporary because we all are headed towards death…Listen to Hebrews 9:27..
“Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.’
This life we are living right now is temporary…when your 6 you just worry about peanut butter and jelly (unless you’re one of the kids who barley makes it), when your 16 you want life to hurry up, when your 26 you want it to stay where it is…when your 56 your start looking back a lot…when your 86 you wonder if you did it right….
Jesus says there are only two gates to choose from when we enter this journey….In Matt 7: 13, 14 during his Sermon on the Mount he says. “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it…but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Jesus clearly says “Most people will choose this temporary life…Most will choose to walk through the huge Gate of….”I’ll direct my own path.” That’s the sinful nature path it’s the self path…it’s a super highway with everyone rushing to the finish…but Jesus says…the finish line of this choice is destruction… I remain the pilot…I keep control…I’m the driver and the decision makers…
Here’s a new flash “God will never be the co-pilot of any life…”the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God…”those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (v 7, 8)
Your thinking is unredeemed and self activated…you make decision with worldly reasoning and selfish motives…James say there are two kinds of wisdom….listen.
James 3: 13- 4: 5 (p 855)
God will not be satisfied as your rescuer…I’ll drive the vehicle and when it gets out of control I’ll ask God to keep me from crashing… He’ll be there before; during and after the wreck…but…He will only be satisfied when you surrender control.
If you live your life without the spirit of Christ living in you…you are one of those people who have put all their efforts into a temporary life and you’re headed towards death…
But it doesn’t have to be that way….
II A FEW PEOPLE ARE ETERNALLY LIVING AND HEADED TOWARDS HEAVEN
Eternal life doesn’t start when you die…it starts when God’s Spirit starts living in you…listen…
“You’re not controlled by the sinful nature if the Spirit of God lives in you…If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of Sin, yet your spirit (small “s”) is alive because of righteousness. And if the spirit (big “S”) of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit (big “S”), WHO LIVES IN YOU”
Paul is saying life will be either “You Centered” “You focused” or it will be “Christ centered…God Focused”
The Christ centered life is coming nearer to heaven even when its being lived here on earth…Death will only be a transition…like (Enoch) “who walked with God and God took him (Gen. 5:24). Death comes about because of these mortal bodies…every man, every woman lives in one of these temporary shells…The man or woman who is Spirit controlled and Christ occupied dies only to be transformed into the eternal and indispensable . ‘JUST LIKE JESUS DID” THROUGH THE SAME SPIRIT THAT DID IT FOR HIM….Death is just the front door of the mansion.
[I’ve shared this before…I’ll probably share it again…I tell it at most gravesides…when it’s a Christian whose passed…”Every Sunday night after church my family watched “HeeHaw” My Dad probably for the HeeHaw Honeys…but I loved a preacher from the show…He wasn’t on every episode, but was often a guest…His name was Grady Nutt…He talked about ministering in to county and carrying a 97lb scoffed reference Bible…not for Biblical reasons, but it made an awesome weapon when attacked by farm dogs…Grady Nutt died in a plane crash when he was 57 years old…returning from a revival service…As you can imagine the stories and jokes at his life celebration brought laughter and tears…His best friend did the Eulogy…He said, folks you know that Grady ain’t here…only the shell…the Nutt has gone home.”]
Paul calls this shell…a “body of death” in Rom 7:24…He calls it a “mortal body” in our text this morning…He said it’s a seed in 1 Cor 15 and it’s a “tent” in 2 Cor .5.
Everyone of us live in a shell…all of us are camping out temporarily in a tent…it’s all we know…so many try to make the tent last forever…or decorate it with lavish stuff…but inevitably…it’s still a tent…it’s gonna fall.
What would make the difference for eternity? “What if God turned the tent into a temple?”
What makes a tent a tabernacle? What makes a building a temple? It’s easy….”God’s presence’”
Whether we are SAVED or lost we still temporarily live in a mortal body…a tent only God’s presence can transform it into a temple. Only the presence of Jesus Spirit can rescue me from this body of death.
Only His Spirit can set my thoughts aright only His Spirit can overcome my sinful nature.
So please know…Christian and Non-Christians alike (remember by definition for Christian. A born again Spirit filled follower of Christ) will appear before Christ the almighty judge…
The Spirit filled follower will be judged according to what stands the test…His work…His ministry will be revealed…this day will bring it to light and fire will test the quality of the one who he’s built on the foundation of Jesus Christ…for those of us who would “dare” to lead…dare to serve and influence others…two questions 1) did what you do lead other to Jesus and 2) Did it help followers of Christ become more fully surrendered? Right after these words is 1 Cor. 2 it says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and the God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Cor 3:16)
Its God’s Spirit that prepares you for this day…and makes you recognizable as a child of the King, who sits in judgment – listen 2 Cor 5:5-10 (p818)
But for those who have made earth their home….Even have believers….but have never surrendered Jesus says, “I will tell them plainly…I never knew you…away from me, you evil doer” Matt 7:23)
Charles Spurgeon offers this warning: “If you haven’t looked at Christ on the cross, you’ll have to look at Him on the throne- with great trembling. The sacrificial death of Christ will be brought before the eyes of all who refuse to accept His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. In Bethlehem He came in mercy to forgive sin. In the future He will come on the clouds in glory to establish justice. What will we do without a Savior? On the day of judgment there is nothing we can do if we have not trusted Christ.”
[Hope …It’s not wishing or dreaming…Hope has a very real expectation of something taking place…
Biblical Hope is a living hope…it’s something I lean on heavily…If your hope is built on anything other than Jesus blood and righteousness…it’s a wish, it’s a dream.
No one likes a hard life here on earth, but if a hard life makes me depend on God more and hope for something better…I’ll take what He gives...
An Atheist farmer often ridiculed people who believed in God. He wrote the following letter to the editor of a local newspaper:
“I plowed on Sunday, planted on Sunday, cultivated on Sunday,
And hauled my crops on Sunday; but I never went to church on
Sunday. Yet, I harvested more per acre than anyone else, even those
Who are God-fearing and never miss a service.”
The editor printed the man’s letter and then added this remark:
“God doesn’t always settle His accounts in October.”
The editor was right.
