The Benefits of the Son of God no. 42
The Resurrection Message
Brian Kocourek
This morning an Easter
Message will be preached from many pulpits throughout the world, and there will
be as many different approaches to this Doctrine as there are pulpits. I am
afraid that most of them will bypass the Truth of the Resurrection and will
present a Social Gospel version that will not bring forth any change in those
that hear it. For there has been 2,000 years of the preaching of the Cross and
the Raising of Christ Jesus, and yet the world continues to fall further and
further into sin, until the Light of the Glorious Gospel is all but gone out,
and gross darkness now covers the earth.
And
why has this happened? Shouldn’t the Word of God and the revelation of the risen
Christ have power over darkness? Well,
it should have but then we are told
So what else can we expect
but gross darkness covering the earth?
The reason that Gross
darkness covers the earth today is that the Easter Message, the Resurrection
message being given in most pulpits today will not be preaching the resurrected
Christ is alive today and is working in the midst of the people once again
showing Himself to be alive forever more. But they will focus on what to them is a historical event that happened
2,000 years ago, and the reality of the Living Christ will be void of any power
and reality. Simply, it will be one that has become a repeated story for 2,000
and the hope of that story has faded with the memory of it.
William
Branham said in his sermon, “God
in simplicity 63-0317M P:65 P: 65B Many miss Him by the way He reveals Himself. Now,
man has their own ideas of what God ought to be and what God is going to do;
and as I have made the old statement many times that man still remains man. Man
is always giving God praise for what He did do, and always looking forward to
what He will do, and ignoring what He's doing. See, see? .”
Therefore this morning I
would like to examine the resurrection of Jesus Christ and ask you what it means
to you? Is it just a story in our Bibles?
Then if you believe it only because you read it, then what evidence do you have
today that He is still alive after 2,000 years? Can you honestly in your heart
say that it is more than a story to you? Can you say you life has been affected
by the personal presence of the resurrected Christ Himself, and you have
personally become witness to His Resurrection power and presence in your own
life? Is there an awareness in your life of His personal presence and fellowship? That’s
what we really need to know.
The question I really want
to ask you this morning is this, What
does the resurrection mean to you? Is your answer based on what it means to
others, or what it personally means to you. Is your answer based on the
experience and witness of others or is it based on your own personal experience
with the resurrected Christ. Many can talk about what Christ did do, but what
are they saying concerning what He is here doing now? Many people look forward to the Coming of the
Lord but have failed to recognize the Appearing of the Lord that comes before
the Coming.
Most people who claim to
believe in the literal Second Coming of Christ do not really look forward to
that time with great anticipation. Most will admit that they are looking
forward to that day, but then they hope it doesn’t come too soon, because there
are still things they would like to do.
Is that looking forward to
that Great day, or is it dreading that day coming too soon? What does this
world have to offer in its corrupted state that the new heaven and the new
earth will not make even better?
And so the question then in
our mind should be, “what really will the resurrection do for me that I can not
do now?” And so their minds have become clouded to the hope of our calling.
Now, this is not just a 20th century question, for the Apostle Paul
spoke of this question even in his day.
I CORINTHIANS 15:12
¶ Now if Christ be preached that he rose
from the dead, how say some among you
that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
Now, I want to stop here
and explain what Paul is saying here. The resurrection is not just about what
took place when God raised up our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s about what that event
has to do with you and me personally ourselves. If God raised up one Son, then
He must raise up all His Sons. And so we read on...)
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. (and why is that? Because the whole hope of mankind
is based in the fact that Jesus was a first fruit of the resurrection, and with
it there is hope for ourselves. And not only Hope, but the Same God and Father
who made a promise to His Son Jesus to raise Him from the dead has also made
promise to us to raise us up as well, to live forever more.)
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have
testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that
the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17
And if Christ be not raised, your faith
[is] vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18
Then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished. (Now, there is the answer to the question I posed
to you. If Christ be not risen than we also have no hope. And then in the next
verse the Apostle Paul answers my friends question. )19 If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20
¶ But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of
them that slept. (That means he was just the beginning, and
there is hope because of God’s Own promise that we also will partake of the
resurrection.)
21 For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also
the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Now, you may not have
caught what Paul was saying here, but let me read it again to you more slowly. “even so IN Christ shall all be made alive 23 But every man in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.”
24 Then cometh the end, (In other words, after this
great Parousia takes place, then cometh the end...) when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to
God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority
and power. 25 For he (God) must reign, till he (God) hath put all enemies under his (the
son of God’s)
feet. 26 The last enemy [that] shall be destroyed [is] death. 27 For he(God) hath put all things
under his (the Son of God’s) feet. But when he (God) saith all things are put under him (The
Son of God), it
is manifest that he (God) is excepted, which did put all things under him (the
Son of God). 28
And when all things shall be subdued unto him (the son of God), then shall the Son
also himself be subject unto him (God) that put all things under him (The
Son of God), that
God may be all in all.
Therefore my question to
you remains this. What does the resurrection mean personally to you? It means
that you also have a promise from God that you will be raised from the dead
even as God fulfilled the raising of His First born Son from the dead.
Now, then that would lead
us to another question. And that is this. If God is to raise us up frm the
dead, then in what form will we be raised up from the dead? And I believe it is
because men do not understand this question is why they do not really long for
the resurrection and catching away. It is because they are afraid of what they
might get for a body. And they are not sure that they will like that body. Most
people have some silly notion that heaven is a place where you just float
around on a cloud and are kind of like a spirit or a little cloud like mist or
spirit or some notion as that. But God made the earth for man and intends for
us to dwell on the earth thorough out an eternity future. And to answer this
question as to how we come back the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15.
I CORINTHIANS 15:35 ¶ But
some [man] will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
You see, there is that same
question.36
[Thou] fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
Now, He is talking about
sowing and reaping here and He is talking about the body. 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 But God
giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but
there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and
another of birds.
Therefore you do not have
to worry about coming back as a bird of some other animal like the Hindu people
believe that you go down as a man you come back as a man.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies
terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of
the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another
star in glory. 42 So also [is] the
resurrection of the dead. It is sown
in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is
sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so
it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit.
Paul is telling us that we
have a natural Body and a spirit body. When the seed goes into the ground, it
has to lie there and rot in order for the life that is in it to be released
from its natural body or husk or shell. But once that spirit body is released
from its dried up husk, the life begins to bring forth another body in the same
image of the one that went into the earthly grave, only one that is not all
dried out and old, but one that is new and full of life.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but
that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man
[is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are
earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as
we have borne the image of the earthy, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now, what Paul is telling
us here is that just as we have born the image of earthly men sold under sin
because of the fall in the garden, so too shall we receive a body that is
incorruptible, which is not born by a sexual desire but from the Spoken Word
Promise of God.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the
Now, If we were to come up
in a body that is old and worn out, what kind of a life would that be to live
in that condition for all eternity? And He is telling us the body that goes
into the grave will come back but it will be changed. For if we came back with
another body, that would not be resurrection, that would be replacement. But we
will come back with our own body that went into the ground, but it will be a
changed body, incorruptible, and immortal, which means it will be of such a nature
that it will never grow old again, nor weaken from any outide influence upon
it.
54 So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave,
where [is] thy victory? 56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin
[is] the law. 57 But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 ¶ Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Now, concerning the body
that we come back with. We all know that when Jesus was raised from the dead
the brethren did not recognize Him. And why is that? Because when Jesus died he was only about 33
years old, but because of the rigor and strain of the ministry he appeared to
be around 50 years old. JOHN 8:57Then said the Jews
unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
In the Book of John, we
have a witness who had first hand experience of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. And in his telling us of the happenings surrounding the
resurrection from the dead, we find that no one recognized Him from his looks
but it was the things he did and said that they were able to recognize him
from.
JOHN 20:1
¶ The first [day] of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the
stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon
Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They
have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have
laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to
the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun
Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5 And he stooping down, [and looking
in], saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6 Then cometh Simon Peter
following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7
And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but
wrapped together in a place by itself. 8 Then went in also that other disciple,
which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they
knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the
disciples went away again unto their own home. 11 ¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre
weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, [and looked] into the sepulchre, 12
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at
the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them,
Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing,
and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and
I will take him away.(
Now, here lays two clues as
to the image that Jesus was showing here. Number one he appeared to be young
like a gardener would be. And two he appeared to be strong and full of health
in order to be able to carry away the body.)
16 Jesus saith
unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is
to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to]
my God, and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that
she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. 19 ¶ Then the
same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and
saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Several time more Jesus
appeared to them and they did not recognize him. He appeared to the brethren
while they were fishing, and broke bread with them. He appeared to them on
their road to Emmaus, and in all cases they did not recognize him until he did
something or said something that identified who he was.
Let’s look now for another
example of this in the old Testament, for if we believe that God changes not
and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Then what he did back
then, He is obligated to do the same today.
Resurrection is not about
receiving another body, but the same body restored back to the fullness of
life.
GENESIS 18:10
And he said, I will certainly return
unto thee according to the time of life; (now this time of life comes from a Hebrew words. Eth which means a period of time, and it comes from the root word,
ad that speaks of a time in the past. But that will continue into the future.
The Word for Life here is the Hebrew word chay or chayah which means: to
quicken, revive, refresh, to restore to life and it refers to being
restored to life, full health, vitality and energy, which means to be changed
back from an old woman to a young one again, and from an old man who had dried
up to a young one again.) and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard
[it] in the tent door, which [was] behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah [were]
old [and] well stricken in age; [and] it ceased to be with Sarah after the
manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am
waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And the LORD said
unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a
child, which am old? 14 Is any thing too
hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah
shall have a son.
Not only did God restore
them back to their youthful bodies, but he also gave Sarah ability to receive
seed and bring forth from her womb, life as well. So we are looking at
restoration as not only bringing you back to the age of vitality, and energy,
but it also speaks of restoring everything, including your health. And then in
chapter 20 we find Abraham and Sarah journeying into the
GENESIS 20:1
¶ And Abraham journeyed from thence
toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in
Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech
king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3 ¶
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold,
thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she [is] a
man's wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou
slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she,
even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and
innocency of my hands have I done this. 6
And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in
the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me:
therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man his
wife; for he [is] a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live:
and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and
all that are thine. 8 ¶ Therefore Abimelech rose early in the
morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears:
and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto
him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast
brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that
ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou,
that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely
the fear of God [is] not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's
sake. 12 And yet indeed [she is] my sister; she [is] the daughter of my father,
but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to
wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which
thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is
my brother. 14 ¶ And Abimelech took
sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto
Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my
land [is] before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said,
Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver: behold, he is
to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other:
thus she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech,
and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had
fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah
Abraham's wife. 21:1 ¶ And the LORD
visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of
which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was
born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Why do you think the 1st
Resurrection took place in the Spring time? Because God is the God of the Resurrection,
and all of creation testifies to the resurrecting power of our God and Father.
Spring is when the grass comes up, and the trees come up and the flowers come
up and all life comes back from the shallow grave of the winters snow. Up, and
living, up and living, up and living pops up every seed that went into the
ground and was buried there for a season.
Brother,
botany doesn’t only mean flowers and things, it means resurrection too. Just as
the springtime, when the Easter flowers are blooming, everything's so pretty, a
very type of nature; resurrection has to come in the spring. That's the reason
the resurrection is in springtime. Resurrection of everything, and surely the
King of nature resurrected, the Creator of nature, resurrected with the rest of
the resurrection of nature. And if God changes not, then the
resurrection we shall experience in this hour must also come in the spring.
Now, I am not limiting what God can do, but God has shown Himself to be the
Same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore, why would he change what He has
already established throughout all of creation.
And the resurrection
doesn’t bring you back in an old worn-out body? It brings you back at your
best. What a cruel god the would be if he brought you back in this same old
worn out body. Could you imagine nature bringing forth broken old trees with
the bark peeling off to begin with, and the leaves drying up to begin with, and
the fruit withering before it has a chance to come forth? That wouldn’t be a
spring time? That would be a time of horror. But resurrection is to bring up
from the dead, into a condition that is new and youthful and full of
expectation, and vitality and energy, and just brimming full of life.
Our promise is a change of
the body from old to youth again like Abraham and Sarah and Jesus Himself who
appeared to be old and yet when He rose from the grave they did not recognize
Him for he appeared as a young man to them at the grave.
The outer man is perishing
but the inner man is renewed daily.
He was risen from the dead
for our justification. You say, I thought He died for our justification. NO! He
died that your sins might be covered under his Precious blood, and that your
sinful life might be atoned for. But He rose that you might have justification
because to be justified means as though you never did do it, and when He rose
again for our justification it brought back His Spirit upon the believer and
quickened us by the same spirit that was in Him, and has made us new creatures
in Christ Jesus.
MATTHEW 22:31
But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was
spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
MATTHEW 27:50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud
voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy
city, and appeared unto many.
PSALMS 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who
forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy
mouth with good [things; so that] thy
youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The Resurrection is a living
hope I PETER 1:3 ¶ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto
a lively hope (Wuest: a
Hope that has been made alive) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
ACTS 1:1 ¶ The former treatise have I made, O
Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in
which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given
commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them
forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
ROMANS 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore
we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.
I JOHN 3:1 ¶
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be
like him; for we shall see him as he is.
II CORINTHIANS 3:12
¶ Seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13 And not
as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could
not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds
were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the
reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ. 15 But even
unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is]
liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the
Spirit of the Lord.
I CORINTHIANS 13:8 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in
part. 10 But when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but
when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known.
COLOSSIANS 3:1¶ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. 4 When Christ, [who is]
our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
EPHESIANS 2:1 ¶ And
you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised [us] up together, and made
[us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to
come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should
boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
COLOSSIANS 2:12 Buried
with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath
raised him from the dead. 13 ¶ And you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a
shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge
you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or
of the sabbath [days]: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body
[is] of Christ.
JOHN
11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
ACTS
4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
II
CORINTHIANS 4:16 For which cause
we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day.
EPHESIANS 4:22
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.
COLOSSIANS
3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new [man], which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
ROMANS
12:1 ¶
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is]
your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
TITUS 3:4 But
after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life.
Now the question is no longer whether there be a
resurrection. That was already proved when God raised up His Son. But the real
question now, for each of us here this morning is what resurrection awaits us?
JOHN 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority to execute
judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.
What does Easter mean to
you this morning? That God keeps His Promises? Or is it still just a social
tradition to you. What did Resurrection mean to Jesus, the Son of God? It meant
everything to Him. It meant that God would be there to raise Him up after He
went to the cross. It meant that God would not let one Word of His fall short,
but will bring to pass whatsoever He has promised.
Paul said to the men of
What will you do this morning? What will your
decision be this morning? Will you accept the promise of Eternal Life and a
change of the body? Or will you continue on in your traditions.