Camp 45 Evening Preaching - Exaltation of Christ. A Sinner, an Accuser, and a Risen King
Summer Camp 2023 Apostle's Creed • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
What is your biggest fear?
When I was your age, my biggest fear was getting in trouble with my mom. I grew up with 4 brothers, and we were constantly bickering and fighting with each other, and we all shared the same fear of getting in trouble. The phrase “don’t tell mom” was probably the most common phrase in our house. I remember one time my brother threw me into a bookshelf in our room, and my my mom calls from downstairs, “what was that?”
My brother panics and begs me not to tell her, he even offered my $5 not to tell her what he did. I had so much power in that moment.
But I often was on the other end as well, offering bribes and begging my brothers not to tell my mom what I had done.
When I was in high school, do you know what my greatest fear was? I had a cousin I was close with die when I was about 14, and I was really scared that he might not be in heaven.
That turned into another fear for me: what if I don’t go to heaven when I die?
I began to think to myself; I know I’m pretty good, but I had some moments in my life where I would beg anyone not to tell God about what I had done.
I started reading the Bible for the first time, and it seemed to say that pretty good wasn’t good enough.
I started to be scared that maybe there was a real case against my right to be in heaven, and maybe a case against my family too.
So then I started thinking: what would that look like? What would a case against me have to look like?
Well when I was a kid, my mom was the queen of the house. She was the one who was able to punish me, and my brothers were the ones who were able to bring her any info or dirt that would get me punished.
So here’s my first point for tonight: Christ is King.
Christ Is King
Christ Is King
Romans 8:33–34 (ESV)
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God,
For someone to bring a case against your soul, they would have to bring it to God. Just like my mom was the one who could dish out punishments when I was growing up, God is the one who punishes sin and rewards righteousness.
But here’s the thing: God has given that responsibility to Jesus. This is part of the exaltation of Jesus; that the man who came to us humbly, lived humbly, died humbly, resurrected gloriously, ascended gloriously, was seated on the throne gloriously, and is going to come back gloriously to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus is the glorious king of the universe, and right now he is sitting on his throne beside the Father. It’s gong to be Jesus that comes back to judge the world.
And did you know something else: you have an accuser? You’ve got someone that is just waiting to catch you on something so he can bring some dirt about you to God.
Satan is called “the Accuser” because he is always looking to bring a case against us.
And here’s the scary thing: we give him a whole lot of ammo, don’t we? The thing that makes our accuser so scary to us, the thing that made him so scary to me when I was in high school, is that his accusations are accurate most of the time. Its not like he’s making stuff up about me to try to get me in trouble. He just reporting the facts.
So when Satan goes to God and says to him, “Dom said the nastiest thing the other day about one of your children, and your own law, God, says that he deserves to die for something like that.” he is absolutely right.
I’m a sinner, I have broken God’s law, and so have you. We all have an accuser who goes to God with real dirt that can get all of us in a lot of trouble - eternal and infinite trouble.
But as you think about Satan going to accuse you to God about all the things you’ve actually done, I want you to hear the response of King Jesus, the judge of our souls, when he says, “Oh I know; I died for all of that. That sin has already been punished, because I took that punishment.”
This shows us the next point and very important thing: Jesus is OUR King and Advocate.
Do you know what an advocate is?
Someone who is on your side and pleading your case
Christ is OUR King
Christ is OUR King
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
So our accuser has to go to the King, to Jesus, to accuse us.
Our King has to go to the one who died for our sins to accuse us
to the one who prays for us daily to accuse us
to the one who loves us deeply to accuse
to the one who died for people while they were still sinners to accuse us
If Christ is our king, our advocate, what accusation can stand against us?
Nothing can stand against those who have faith in Jesus, whose King is Jesus, whose advocate is Jesus
Jesus is praying for you right now!
In Christ our King, we conquer
In Christ our King, we conquer
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Think about the creed we’ve been talking about. Do you believe all these things?
If our faith is in Jesus, if we believe in him as God and Savior, you aren’t just a guilty sinner, but you’re a conqueror in Christ.
Nothing can stand against you, no accusations can be made, because Jesus has already paid for them and has already won the victory.
If you have Jesus Christ as your advocate, if you believe in him, then you have nothing to be afraid of. The King of all Creation himself died to set you free and is pleading your case even now.
Who can stand against you?