Born from the Dead
Notes
Transcript
The Problem that is Unsolvable
The Problem that is Unsolvable
Let me ask you these questions?
Do you have regrets? (choices/actions you don't like to remember)
Things in your past that seem inescapable? (consequences that won't ever leave)
Parts of you that feel too set to change? (behavioral patterns you feel powerless to break)
Example of Monopoly game
You reach a point where you’re not out yet, but you know you can’t win now
Life is a no win scenario
Our failures have a snowball effect
In trying to solve problems, we just create more new ones
Ever met a person who got healthier and become more of a jerk?
We are actually terrible at improving by our selves
There is a word for this: Doomed
The Firstborn from the Dead
The Firstborn from the Dead
We are left, like Paul, asking in Romans 7:24 “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
The answer is Jesus - Romans 7:25 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
But how?
Romans 6:4-5 “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”
The game we couldn’t win was finished on the cross - “buried with Him”
His resurrection means new life for us - a victory over Doom
If we are ready to die like he did - humility and obedience - then the victory will be “certain”
Already and Not Yet
Already and Not Yet
We are saved, but we still have problems - what’s up with that?
Jesus resurrection is both the first step and the guarantee that He will complete in us the things that He still has in process
Philippians 1:6 “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Romans 8:28-29 “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
So often we wonder, “Will I ever get there?” and in this life, we only experience the striving toward that goal
But God has already given us the guarantee that all our effort will not be in vain - He will accomplish it (1 John 3:2)
So simply today, receive the Resurrection of Jesus as God’s promise that He will bring you to perfection
In the meantime choose to be faithful to the work He has already done...
Today’s Exhortation
Today’s Exhortation
Now that you have been given new life - a liberation from Doom - do not go back to it!
Stop making excuses and allowance for ungodly behavior
Learn wisdom and follow Godly advice
Romans 6:6-11 “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”