We Shall Be United with Him
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Why is the Jesus’ resurrection from the dead so important?
In order to understand the importance of the resurrection, you must also understand the doctrine of our union with Christ. Scripture teaches that when a person is born again, when they place their faith in Christ alone to receive God’s free gift of salvation many blessings are given to them. Not only does God forgive their sin, but He also unites new believers to Christ. Spiritually the new believer becomes one with Christ.
This union is so close, it is so strong, it is so important that what is true of one is true of the other. Or you could say it this way, that the believer shares in all of the privileges and positions of Christ. What is true of Christ is now true for the Christian because of the fact that they have been united to Christ. Only those who have been united to Christ can claim these benefits. We do not earn them or deserve them or work for them by our own merit. They are all freely given to us by God’s grace through Jesus Christ. And only those who have called upon the name of the Lord for salvation have these privileges.
One of the privileges we share with Christ is His resurrection from the dead.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Our union with Christ means that we share in the benefits of His death. It also means that because of our union with Christ we will also one day share fully in the benefits of His resurrection.
This is why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so important to us. Because whatever benefits Jesus received by being raised from the dead by the power of the Father, because we are united to Christ, we will share in those same benefits.
Illustration: Benefits that I have my wife has also. Money, cars, house, food, etc. What is mine is hers. And vise versa.
This why Paul can say this in Eph 5.
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
There is an important union between husband and wife. In the same way there is an important union between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever benefits Jesus has we have also.
What are the benefits of the resurrection? And why are those benefits so important?
This morning I want to give you four reasons for why the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is so very important.
His Life is Our Life
His Life is Our Life
The life that we look forward to enjoying is the same life that Jesus has. So whatever the quality of the life that Jesus possess is the same quality of life that believers will fully have one day.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Notice the statements about the intimate connection of our life to Christ’s life!
Colossians 3:3 (ESV)
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:4 (ESV)
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:4 (ESV)
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Illustration: Caterpillar (lowly life), then it becomes hidden in a cocoon, until what happens? Metamorphosis! It’s true life is revealed when it exits that cocoon as a beautiful butterfly.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
What is quality of Christ's life?
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
It was the resurrection of Jesus that secured this abundance of life. And it is this abundance of life that is guaranteed to the believer because of our union with Christ. His life is our life!
Friend, do you have Christ? Do you have this kind of eternal life?
47x’s the word “life” is used in the gospel of John.
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36 (ESV)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Why is the resurrection so important? Because His life is our life. Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you have His life?
What is the second reason for why the resurrection of Jesus is so important.
His Body is Our Body
His Body is Our Body
When Jesus raises up believers from the dead one day He will give to them new bodies, glorified bodies. And what kind of bodies will we receive? The same body that Jesus received upon His resurrection from the dead.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Firstfruits = the idea that Jesus was the first of many. He was the first to be raised from the dead, and he is the evidence that many more will follow in his steps. He is firstfruits of many more.
Wait a minute, weren’t there other people that were raised from the dead before Jesus?
Example:
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
But, what kind of life was Lazarus resurrected to? What kind of body was Lazarus resurrected with? He was raised back to his former state. He posses his old life and his old body. How do we know this? Because Lazarus is dead.
Imagine being raised from the grave, but you are resurrected with your old quality of life and your old body. What kind of benefit would that be?
But, because of our union with Christ we are not resurrected to our old quality of life. No we are raised unto eternal life. Neither are we raise back to our old corrupted bodies. No we are raised with a body like unto Jesus’ body!
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
This is the critical teaching that lies underneath some of the teachings of Jesus that can be miss understood if you are not careful.
You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish.
How can Jesus say on the one hand, “some you they will put to death.” And then two sentences later say, “But not a hair on your head will perish”? How can Jesus say that? He does not mean that Christians will never suffer persecution in this life. He just told us that. But, what he is promising is a resurrection of the dead for those who believe.
Death in this life is not the end. It is a doorway into a new life with Christ, and one day when he raises believers from the grave, they will be transformed from lowly bodies to glorious bodies!
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
And when we receive those glorious bodies, then not a hair on your head will perish.
How can Jesus do all of that?
Philippians 3:21 (ESV)
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
What kind of power will it take to raise the dead, and transform their lowly bodies?
Ephesians 1:19–23 (ESV)
and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
This resurrection power, this immeasurable greatness of power will so powerfully work in our bodies, transforming our bodies, that Jesus can say this:
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Why is resurrection so important? Because Jesus’ life is our life, His body is our body!
Friends, do you know Jesus? Have you been united with Him. Eternal life, and a glorified body are only possible for those who have been united with Jesus, for those who share in the benefits of His resurrection.
What is the third reason the resurrection is so important?
His Hope is our Hope
His Hope is our Hope
When the Scripture uses the word hope, it does not use it in the normal sense of our culture. When people use the word hope in our world the use it in a sense that is not really all that hopeful.
I hope the economy gets better. I hope I win the lottery. I hope my team wins the super bowl.
These are not very hopeful statements. And why not? Because they actually have very little confidence that what they hope for will someday become a reality. The object of their hope is dubious, its uncertain, its unsure- and thus their hope is the same.
When the Scriptures use the word hope it has a very different meaning.
The biblical meaning of hope is that of confident expectation. Confident expectation. In other words I am hoping for something, I have a certain expectation that something will happen, and my expectation is not uncertain, or unsure, or dubious, rather it is expectant, confident, certain, and sure. What makes the difference? It is the object of our hope. And what is the object of the believer’s hope?
1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
The object of our hope is the Lord Jesus Christ! This is why Peter can say that we have a living hope! Why is the believer’s hope a living hope? Because the object of their hope is alive! Because Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, because he died once to sin, and now death no longer has any dominion over him. Because Jesus is alive our hope is alive! Friends, we have a living hope!
Illustration: Man named Bryan Johnson, who spends 2 million a year on his health. He takes 100 pills (supplements) a day. He has a demanding routine of diet and exercise that is meticulously monitored by scientific data. And his goal is to live to 120+ years of age. He essentially is trying to cheat death, to find the solution of eternal life. He is trying to reverse the aging process.
But, sadly it will never work. He is living in a sin cursed, corruptible, lowly body. And no matter how much money he spends and how much effort he puts into it, every day his hope is dying. Why? Because he is dying. Every day his hope of living forever tics away. Like the sand in an hourglass his hope is fading, it is dying. He has a dying hope, because he has hope in this life only.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
And because of this truth we have hope!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
This is our hope! It is Christ in us! Jesus is the object of our hope, thus we have a living hope. We have a confident expectation that as Jesus is alive, so too we will one day live! We will be given glorious bodies like unto His glorious body, and we will enjoy eternal life, because Jesus can never die again!
Friends, do you have this hope? Do you have a confident expectation that on the other side of death waits for you eternal life with Christ? Or are you like this man spending everything you have to hold on to this life only to find your hope slipping though your fingertips?
Do you know Christ? If you do then His hope is your hope!
What is the final reason why the resurrection is so important?
His Reign is our Reign
His Reign is our Reign
Because of our union with Christ we have an confident, expectant hope that is living and sure. We are confident that we will be raise again from the dead, giving glorious bodies, and that we will live forever with Jesus. But, what will we do with that eternal life?
We will be doing what Jesus is doing. Why? Because of our union with Him. His privileges are our privileges. His benefits are our benefits. So what will Jesus be doing in the eternal state?
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Heirs = rule with Him.
if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;
What will this reign look like?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Why is the resurrection so important to our ability to reign with Christ?
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is the resurrection so important to reigning with Christ?
1 Corinthians 15:50 (ESV)
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
One of the requirements of being part of the kingdom of God one day and ruling and reigning with Christ is a transformed and glorified body. Without a new body, mere flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. The perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. We need the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in order to inherit the kingdom.
How do you get this power?
John 3:3 (ESV)
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:5 (ESV)
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
If you want to inherit the kingdom of God one day, if you want to see it, if you want to enter it, the first step is to be born again.
This is not a physical birth, but a spiritual birth. This takes place when you cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. If you want to receive the benefits that Jesus has to offer, then you must be united with Him. That is the only way! You need His life, his body, his hope, and his reign. And Jesus offers this to you free of charge. He offers his salvation as a gift. All you have to do is receive that gift through faith.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How should you respond to this sermon?
Unsaved- call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
Saved- Alleluia!