Apr 21, 2019
THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED
4-21-2019, by Louie Marsh
Intro. Next series 2 slides, 3 cartoons, soldiers at tomb last one.
Title from a PBS series, that I enjoy watching even though I disagree with it a lot. He says the universe changes every time we discover something new. It doesn't - gravity worked long before Isaac Newton! But there was a day in which the universe changed forever. It was a day nearly 2000 years ago. We're here today to celebrate it! But before we can understand the new universe, we've got to look at the old one.
4 Anyone who is among the living has hope--even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Ecclesiastes 9:4-5 (NIV)
1, Everyone knows that they WILL die.
2, If your past 30 then your carcass is decaying at an ever increasing rate!
a, Wrinkles, failing eyesight and hearing, etc. prove this!
16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die! 17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:16-19 (NIV)
1, Education, morality, wisdom, etc. don't change our common end - death!
2, All our hard work goes to someone else - cause your gonna die!
a, It won't be all that long until not a living soul will know that you lived - or care!
3, So why bother?
31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 1 Corinthians 15:31-32 (ESV)
14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?... Hosea 13:14 (ESV)
1, A vague hope of a day when the universe would change
2, It isn't until the New Testament that we see fully what this change would be.
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,… 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:3-4, 18-21 (ESV)
1, It never fades! - 1:18-21
a, in the new universe hope lives, and isn't sunffed out by death!
2, This hope comes via the Resurrection of Jesus
3, We have this hope when we're born again through the mercy of God.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV)
a, Jesus holds the keys to death and hades
1, key = control, power over, Lordship.
54 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.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (ESV)
a, Death is no longer the end of it all.
1, The Living Lord Jesus! He is the one, through His Resurrection, that brings meaning and hope into our lives! Hope is no longer wishful thinking - it real!
2, That's all well and good - but what about the people and problems I've gotta deal with tomorrow! How does all this help me?
III) The Results of this hope - Resurrection Living!
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (ESV)
1, You can live beyond your own resources through the Resurrection Power of Jesus Christ!
2, No matter how bad it gets - faith and hope in the God who raises the dead will see you through!
3, This comes through the Resurrection Power of Jesus!
a, What kind of power is that?
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, Philippians 3:10 (ESV)
1, Paul and the early Christians, were unstoppable!
a, Why?
2, Because no matter what you did to them - they won!
a, This is the reality of that Yuppie saying, "A win - win situation."
b, If you jailed them - they witnessed, if you let them go - they witnessed, if you killed them - they rejoiced to see their Living Lord!
3, The reality of the Resurrection can turn any situation into victory in all our lives!
a, If we will claim it by faith!
But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:8-10
1, By faith - not by works!!
a, We're saved by God's mercy - grace, not by being good enough!
2, By confessing Him!
How To Establish A Spiritual B.A.S.I.S. for Living
B = Believe Jesus died on the Cross for me and showed He was God by coming back to life again.
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Cor. 15:2-4)
A = Accept Christ as Lord of My life and His free forgiveness of my sins.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- (John 1:12)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Eph. 1:7)
S = Switch to God’s Plan for my life.
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
I = Inform others of your decision.
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
S = Submerge yourself in Christ.
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:26-27)