Resurrection and Return
Transcript
We are in our third week of our Jesus series, and so we've just set aside three weeks coming out of Easter to just talk about Jesus. We said we were going to look at some specific aspects of who He was and what He accomplished and what the Bible says about Him. And so the first week we kind of spent some time talking about who He was as a human, that He has had a disproportionate effect on the earth. So that Jesus lived in a rural hick town of the Roman Empire where there are things like Uncle Daddy's and that kind of stuff. He kind of grew up in this area, and He lived to be about 33. And when He died, He had about 120 people following Him, and it really didn't make a whole lot of sense.
He never did any of the things you're supposed to do to be famous. He talked a lot about a kingdom, but He didn't do what you're supposed to do to be a king. He didn't do what you're supposed to do to lead a rebellion against the Roman Empire. It didn't make sense, the impact that He's had in history. And so we just looked at the fact that not only is that true, but He also walked around claiming to be God. And so then we looked and said that He is God, that Jesus is God who became a human.
And then that last week we spent some time talking about the crucifixion, that Jesus' primary mission, the reason He came to earth was to die, to be crucified. And so we looked at what it means for us that God died, what the crucifixion was and what that accomplished on our behalf. And so tonight we're going to be looking at the resurrection. We're going to be talking about the fact that Jesus didn't stay dead. He came back to life. So resurrection, we're not saying that He came back as a life force.
We're not saying that His spirit came back. We're not saying that He was reincarnated into some other form. What we're saying is that Jesus resurrected, that He, Jesus the man who was God, was taken to a cross, was beaten brutally, was hung on a cross, was murdered, was executed, had a spear run through His side after He was dead, was laid in a tomb after being wrapped up in some cloths and put pounds and pounds of ointment and wrappings, grave clothes on Him. And that three days later that same Jesus, that same body was walking around talking to people, eating, letting people touch the holes in His hands and the holes in His side that He was resurrected, that He came back to life.
And so that's what we're going to be talking about tonight. We're going to be spending some time looking at the resurrection and Jesus' return. And we're going to be coming out of 1 Corinthians 15. And so the resurrection proves all the other stuff that Jesus said and did. It affirms it. It confirms it.
It proves it. So Jesus walks around saying that He's God, and that's awkward. Like, I would suggest to you, don't say that at work tomorrow. Just don't be like over at the coffee maker and be like, yes, you know, it's kind of hard for me to wake up in the morning because I'm God. Like, I just wouldn't suggest it. And so, you know, but Jesus walks around saying He's God.
He talks a lot about this kingdom, that He's going to set up a kingdom. And He keeps saying, I'm going to die. Like, He keeps telling His disciples He's going to die. So the point that He's talking about His kingdom and He's like, okay, this isn't how you set up a kingdom. This isn't how you lead a rebellion. So He's talking to His disciples.
He's like, all right, we're going to set up a kingdom. And they're like, all right, what's the plan? He's like, well, first, I'm going to die. I mean, to the point that Peter takes Him to the side and is like, I don't think you understand how this works. Like, a kingdom needs a king. I think you're doing it wrong.
Like, you shouldn't die. This isn't how this is going to work. Like, we agree that you're going to be king. Dying isn't a good process for that. It's going to be hard for you to lead this. So, like, if I was going to lead a rebellion, I wouldn't say, step one, murder me.
Like, that's just, you just don't do that because then what would happen to the rebellion? Like, it wouldn't work out well. And so Jesus says He's going to be king, and His purpose is to die. And so His disciples think that's weird. He doesn't do what you ought to do to set up an earthly kingdom. But Jesus was setting up an eternal kingdom, and He knew something His disciples didn't.
And so what we're going to do is we're going to hop into this text. And this is what Paul saw in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. And so we started in 1 Corinthians 15 on Easter, and we walked through the first bit where Paul basically says, that I delivered to you as of first importance that which I also received, that Jesus, that Christ, died in accordance with the Scriptures, died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. And then he goes through all these people that Jesus, after He rose, talked to and saw.
And then he goes to this part where we're picking up in 12. 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. So what Paul's saying is that he's talking to this church, and he's proclaiming Christ is raised, but he's saying some of you are saying there is no resurrection, that Jesus didn't raise from the dead. And so he's going to unpack this, and basically what he's going to say is, let's look at, he's going to walk through and say, let's look at what it means for us if Christ was not raised.
So if the resurrection verifies and solidifies everything for us as Christians, Paul's going to unpack this as, okay, I just want to let you know, if there is no resurrection, this is what that means for us. And so that's what we're going to look at now. Verse 13, 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. So he's saying it's a waste of time.
So what Paul would say is, this right here is a waste of time if Jesus hasn't been raised. And I would agree with him. Paul says preaching is in vain. So he's like, I wouldn't be doing this. I went to school to play football, and I got a business degree. I wouldn't be doing this if Christ hadn't been raised.
Like, that's, I just, I wouldn't be here. And y'all wouldn't be here either. So he says our preaching is in vain, our faith is in vain. He says we are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testify about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised. And so what he's saying is, he's talking to a Jewish audience. So they believe in God, and he's saying, look, we're even lying about God.
Like, we're making stuff up about God, and that's not okay, because we're going to meet him one day, and we probably shouldn't have run around lying about it. He said this is a problem. So, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, that's verse 16. 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.
So what he says there is, if Christ has been raised, your sins are still on you. Like, you haven't been forgiven of them, he hasn't taken them away. And those who have fallen asleep, and fall asleep just means, it means died. It's just a nice way of saying died. He doesn't mean falling asleep. He doesn't mean, like, if Christ hasn't been raised, and that guy fell asleep, well, then he's perished.
He means died. And what he's saying is that they've died in their sins, so they're in trouble. Like, they still have issues between them and God, and so it's a problem now. They've not only died, but they've perished, if Christ hasn't been raised. We're still in our sins. And then he says this, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
So what Paul's saying is, if Christ hasn't been raised, people shouldn't be mad at us. They should feel sorry for us if Christ hasn't been raised. What Paul's saying is that the Christian life should look so radical, should only make sense in light of the resurrection, that if Christ hasn't been raised, we've really made some bad decisions. If our hope is only here, so that we're told as Christians that Jesus is going to save us from our sins, that we're going to be taken to heaven and live in eternity with him, but our hope is only here, then we're in trouble. If when we die, Christ hasn't been raised, then we're in trouble, because we as Christians have lived our lives in a way that only makes sense.
We've banked on the resurrection. Now, I think that was true for Paul. We're going to look at a passage where he kind of lays out some of the stuff that's happened in his life. I don't know for American Christians how often that is true. I just don't know if my neighbors look at me and go, if the resurrection isn't true, if what Chet tells me about Jesus isn't true, I feel sorry for him because of the decisions he makes. It would be like if you had a friend who was trying to start a business, and they were banking everything.
They had cashed in everything they had to get this business going. They had leveraged all of their time, all of their effort, all of their money, all of their savings to get this business going. You'd be looking at them going, I hope this business works out for you. And if it does, it'll be a good thing. If people want this product, if this works out. But if it doesn't, I feel sorry for you because you don't have anywhere else to go.
Like all your eggs are in that basket. That's what Paul says it's supposed to look like for Christians. Now, my wife and I were watching the movie Walter Mitty. It's a recent movie with Ben Stiller in it, and I enjoyed it. It had a little bit of like independent film kind of qualities to it. So it was like slowly killing Anna the entire time that we watched it.
We got to the end of it, and she's going, oh, how long is this movie? And I'm like, shh, shh. Because they're in the end. It is the part where they're saying the things that connect everything, and you're finding out. It's all coming together. And she's going, oh.
And I said, shh. And she goes, you can't be serious. She's looking at the side of my face. You can't be serious. You're enjoying this right now? And I'm like, I'm trying to watch the movie.
No, seriously, say this movie is garbage. Just say the movie is garbage. I'm like, be quiet. She's like, this is garbage. You can't honestly be enjoying this. So I had to pause it and be like, look, I am enjoying this, and you need to be quiet because they're saying things.
But in the movie, maybe I just gave you a little bit too big of a picture of what it looks like when I'm watching this. But in the movie, Walter Mitty works at Time Magazine, and what he does is he develops films. So he's in this creepy-looking basement thing with one other dude, and they send in pictures. And Time Magazine has pictures of all over the world. So war-torn regions, the tops of mountains, like anywhere that seems, you know, they're on shipping decks and oil rigs, and they're sending him all these pictures.
And all he does is he shows up to work, and he develops the film. And so in the movie, Walter Mitty has all of these, like, people will be just talking to him, and then he just, like, zones out and is imagining that he's doing some kind of a great cliff dive thing or fighting people and saving stuff. Like, all of this kind of, the whole time he zones out. And I feel like sometimes we've all got a little bit of Walter Mitty in us. We've all got a little bit of times where we just, we dream of pouring our lives out for something. We dream of having our life mean more than what the American dream says it's supposed to mean.
We have these moments when we're like, I wish I was just a part of something bigger. And that my overall goal wasn't just to stack up comforts around myself. Like, is that my goal? I have these moments where I'm like, is my goal to have a certain Job so that I can retreat to my home in the evenings and have a screen and then hopefully get a bigger screen and a bigger screen and better sound system and a comfortable couch so I can just sink into comfort and escape from the world. There are these moments, certainly, we have dreams where we've thought about maximizing our comfort. We've had dreams where we've daydreamed about maximizing our vacations or our sex life or our toys or anything.
We've had dreams, but we're not particularly proud of those. I'm not even drawn to those, but I feel like there's something in all of us that says, God, I wish I could just be a part of something where I leveraged everything for something bigger, for something that mattered more. I just wish that I could have my life be the adrenaline rush of pushing my chips all in on something. And what Paul is saying is that is the Christian life and that if Christ hasn't been raised, we are most to be pitied. People should feel sorry for us. And Paul, when he says this, it's true for him.
I'm going to read you all part of 2 Corinthians. It's his second letter he wrote to the Corinthians. I'm just going to read through it really quick. It's in chapter 11 if you want to check it out later. But he's talking about his life with Christ and he says this, For with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship. Through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And apart from these things, there's daily pressure on me for the anxiety for all the churches. What Paul's saying is I've leveraged everything. Banking on Jesus. I've leveraged everything on Christ. And he says, And if the resurrection isn't true, you should just feel sorry for me. Because I've put everything in on this.
It's the same thing we see with the disciples. We see the disciples after, the guys that hung out with Jesus were trained by him for three years. After he dies, they're hiding. They're like scared. They're inside locked doors in Jerusalem. It's like these huddled up.
They're fearing that somebody's going to try to come get them. All the time it says that they're locking their doors. And at one point, Peter's like, I guess I'm going to just go fishing. I'm going to go back to what I was doing. And so they're afraid and they're confused and they don't know what's happening. And then Jesus shows back up and starts talking to them.
He rose again and starts talking to them. And then we see in the book of Acts, all of the disciples are sold out for the gospel. There's one point where they're taken in front of the Sanhedrin, the same people that crucified Jesus. And the Sanhedrin says, we want you to shut up and quit talking about Jesus. And the disciples say, you do what you got to do. We're not going to stop talking about Jesus.
It ain't happening. And so they beat them. And it says, the disciples left rejoicing that they'd had the opportunity to be beaten for the name of Jesus. That's a different crew than the guys that were hiding. That's a whole different group of guys. Every single one of those 11 guys was martyred, murdered for their faith in Jesus.
And all of them were like, I'm not shutting up. I've gone all in on this. I saw him. I saw him face to face. I touched him. I watched him eat.
And I'm going all in. I'm going all in that there is a resurrection and that this thing that Jesus has started, his kingdom, is true and it's real and I'm all in. And so what Paul says is for Christians who've gone all in, if the resurrection isn't true, people should feel sorry for us. And then he says this in verse 20. So verse 19, 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.
So he just turns everything back on his head and he says, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. This is what Paul's saying. Paul's saying, I may have pushed all my chips in, but I got a winning hand. Paul's saying, I may have invested everything I have. I haven't diversified at all, but I've got a guaranteed return on investment. My ROI is on lock.
That's what Paul's saying. And that's true for Christians. We can push everything in and in fact, Christ has been raised. Not a moment, not a breath, not a dollar, not an ounce of sweat or blood that's poured out for Jesus is going to return void because Christ has been raised. You know what that means? It means that Christians can live the life we've always dreamed about living.
It means that we actually have something bigger to pour ourselves into. Something that actually matters, that actually has worth, that actually has value. It means that Christians ought to be leveraging everything we have for the gospel because in fact, Christ has been raised. This little warm up, this prelude that we have on earth is just that. We've got a little while to pour everything we have out for Christ because he has been raised. We've got an eternity to come and we can live lives poured out for what is important, for what is true and what is right.
We get to. Verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. So what that means, first fruits is the first fruit you get from a harvest. So when you have a harvest and you get a little bit of fruit, that's your first fruits. And what it's saying is that Jesus is the first fruits from the dead, first fruits of those who are going to be raised. And what the first fruits mean is that there is a harvest.
So the first fruits are just the first to come of the rest of the harvest. And so all it's saying is that Jesus rose, but he's just the first one. Everyone else is going to be resurrected as well. We're going to be raised to life. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. the Bible's very clear. We were intended to live forever.
I don't know if y'all know that. I just want to make that clear. We were intended to live forever. Sin caused death to enter into the world, but we were designed, we have souls that are designed to live forever. And everyone in this room will die and will live forever. So everyone in this room will die and will continue on, our souls will continue on for eternity.
But he says, 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 all shall be made alive. Let me unpack that real quick. Adam. Of Adam and Eve fame. You may have seen pictures of him naked in a garden with some lady.
That's Adam, Adam and Eve. He was the first man ever created and he kept it together sinlessly for like a chapter in the Bible. And then he sinned, he messed it up, botched it up. And so Adam started off with a clean slate. He and God were in a right relationship and he had a clean slate so that he could choose to follow God, to live in the right relationship with God and thereby add righteousness to his slate or he could choose to rebel against God to worship himself as God and thereby mess up his slate, not have a clean slate anymore. He chose to rebel.
So Adam chose to bring sin into the world and when he did he ushered in death. All of us were born without a clean slate. Everyone in this room, we weren't born with a clean slate. We were born with the slate that Adam gave us which is a sinful, messed up, broken slate. Like our hearts didn't start off good and get turned bad. They started off bad.
Anybody who has little kids knows this. And I can just tell you we were all little kids at one point. Nobody, we talked about this some last week, we had to be taught how to be generous. We had to be taught how to share, how to love. We had to be taught that certain things are virtuous and good. Like we sing little songs to teach kids like honesty is the best and you shouldn't lie because then you'd be a jerk.
Like we teach them little songs to teach them about truth and honesty and generosity and sharing. Like we don't, nobody has to teach kids songs about how to be selfish and how to be mean to each other and when someone has something you want punch them in the face. Like we don't have to tell that to kids, they just do that on their own. And so none of us were born with a clean slate. We were all off. We're all twisted.
We're all broken. We're all pointing in the wrong direction. And so in Adam all die. In Adam we're all born. We're going to live and we're going to die. We're going to be sinful and broken and twisted and off and in Adam all die.
And then it says in Christ all shall be made alive. Now in Christ Jesus comes this is what we talked about. He came and he lived a perfect sinless life. That he lived in a right relationship with God and that his purpose was to die. The Bible says that our sin was placed on him and that Jesus was crushed. He bore our iniquities by his stripes were healed.
That Jesus died for our sin. He took our sin. The Bible says he became our sin and that in him we become righteous. That Jesus takes our sin and he dies for our sin and that when he rose again he conquered sin and death and hell on our behalf and that we can have life. Let me tell you this. Those of us who are in Christ you do not have a clean slate.
Jesus does not give you a clean slate. He gives you a slate that has his righteousness already applied to it. He doesn't just clean our slate and give it back to us. He takes our sin he cleans our slate off and then he applies his righteousness his account his goodness his humility his generosity his love it's applied to our account. Everything you've ever looked at in a human and thought man I like that about that guy. Man I wish I could be more like that girl. everything Jesus had and did and modeled for us perfectly and that has been applied to our account.
About that guy. Man I wish I could be more like that girl. everything Jesus had and did and modeled for us perfectly and that has been applied to our account. I'm so glad let me tell you something for those of us in Christ you don't want a clean slate you want Jesus' slate you want to sit behind him in class and Mark down his answers that's how you want to do that. That's how that works. Jesus doesn't
Hand us a clean slate I'm so glad because if Jesus had taken it and said alright I took your sin slate's clean now keep it together I'd have been like keep it together yes is up to me to do good from now on yes oh crap is it bad to say that in front of you and Jesus would be like and he'd give it back and he had to Mark it up and I would have kept it together for like
14 Seconds I don't even know depending on how much I breathed in between the time he handed it to me like that's not how that works though his slate is applied to our account we were made righteous in Jesus and so all of us are going to die in Adam but in Christ all will be made alive we'll all be brought back we'll all be given life for those of us who are in Christ who have placed our faith and our hope in the resurrection who have banked
On the resurrection not our good deeds not our hard work not on our ability to clean our slate and add good things to it but on the resurrection on the fact that Jesus died in our place for our sins so that we might have life in him so it says this 22 for as in Adam all die have you noticed that all die raise your hand in this room if you're going to die okay exactly now
There's a little bit of us that's like man that was kind of morbid why did he make us raise our hand for that like if I had said raise your hand if you get hungry everybody would be like oh I'll get hungry and he wouldn't have been too worried about it but it's like man I didn't want to raise my hand and say I was going to die like that was just kind of rude like why would you bring that up there's something about us that never sees death as normal or okay
It's as natural as breathing it's as natural as birth it's as natural as eating and sleeping but there's something about us that screams inside of us every time death is brought up or occurs this is wrong this is broken and this shouldn't happen because it shouldn't Adam had a clean slate and he messed it up we weren't supposed to die we're going to live for eternity
But Adam's ushered in death Jesus brings in life so for as in Adam all die so also in Christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order Christ the first fruits then at his coming those who belong to Christ okay so Jesus rose again over 2,000 years ago rose again wasn't reincarnated didn't come back as a spirit came back as Jesus the Jesus who was walking around talking to people talks and trains
His disciples for a little bit longer appears to a bunch of people talks to people and then he ascends into heaven bodily like he takes off into heaven I don't know what that looked like I think it was cool but he ascends into heaven and we're told that he rules and reigns as a king over all of creation and that he's coming back so he rose again and he's coming back and he's going to
Claim all of those who are in him so it says but each in his own order Christ the first fruits then at his coming those who belong to Christ you don't belong to Christ by being good if that was the test if Jesus came back to get moral good people he'd come back to the earth and be like oh okay there aren't any that's how that would work the Bible says we've all sinned
And fallen short and in Christ all are going Adam all are going to die Jesus comes back and gets those who are in him who've placed their faith and their hope in him not in their works not in their effort not in their good deeds or ability to think well in him in his death and resurrection on their behalf so he comes and gets all of those
Who belong to Christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and every power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet so Jesus comes back he rescues his people and he destroys his enemies Jesus came humbly once Jesus suffered once Jesus died
Once he doesn't do it again when he returns he claims his people and he destroys his enemy every kingdom every power every authority everything that's ever stood up in opposition to the one true and right king of this world will be destroyed by Jesus and brought and put under his feet we often think of Jesus as a Galilean peasant and he was but he is no longer
He is a reigning king and the picture that the Bible brings up all the time is this king who returns to rescue his people and to crush his enemies the Bible talks about being led both his enemies and those who he set free being led in triumphal procession so that Jesus rides out he gets his people and he crushes his enemy and like a warrior king he leads them back into the city
To God those who he's taken captive and the captives that he set free that those of us in Christ will get to follow in that train celebrating the fact that we were slaves to sin we were given to death we were going to be destroyed by every rule and dominion and power and that Jesus showed up and destroyed them on our behalf and rescued us Jesus is king and he's God and he rules
And he reigns forever and his kingdom there is no end and so what he came to accomplish when he came to die he wasn't setting up a kingdom that could run from the time he was 33 to the time he was 80 his goal wasn't a 47 year kingdom his goal wasn't to own the little piece of the world that Rome had or to carve out a niche and own Jerusalem that's not the kingdom
That Jesus came to set up he came to destroy our ultimate enemies of sin and death and Satan and hell so that he might be king of all that he has created that he could be king over every breath and every atom and everything that exists in all of creation because he created it all it belongs to him and it is his and he is king over it it says this the last enemy to be destroyed is death for God has put all things in subjection
Under his feet we stop there Jesus Jesus destroys death I love that the grim reaper dresses up like Jesus for Halloween because Jesus is the only thing scarier than the grim reaper that's how that works the grim reaper checks under his bed for Jesus like that's Jesus it destroys death so I just want to let you know as a Christian when you go to die feel free to with your last breath say hey death
Jesus is coming for both of us I'm just not scared about it see those of us in Christ Jesus is going to return and he's going to take us to be his and he's going to destroy all of his enemies so that in heaven in his reign where he is king there is no sin and there is no pain and there is no death he comes to set it back right to the way it was at a great cost to himself a great cost to himself
That we might be his people and that the world might be back under his rule and his reign the band's going to come back up and play and I just want to wrap this series up I want us to talk for just a second Jesus is God who became a man who lived perfectly sinlessly on our behalf he's God who went to the cross to die because we had rebelled against him and we deserved wrath
And pain and punishment and destruction and that Jesus took that wrath and pain and punishment and destruction on our behalf that he put his sin put our sin on himself and was crushed for it as God's enemy all of God's enemies will be destroyed and Jesus was crushed as God's enemy so that we who were God's enemies
Could be made right with God and when it comes to the end the process is the same everyone will be made alive those who are in Christ who have had him be crushed on their behalf will be alive in him for eternity in his joy and his peace because his righteousness has been applied to our account and those who remain outside of Christ will be destroyed
As God's enemy will be crushed as Jesus was crushed on our behalf so Jesus is God who became a man he's God who died on our behalf and he's the God who rules and reigns who rose from the grave and who is returning to make his church his own to bring his people to himself and to rule over eternity and we
Who are Christians those of us in the room who say I follow Jesus he's died on my behalf let me tell you you don't have a clean slate you don't you have righteousness God looks at you the same way he looks at Jesus all of Jesus' grace and humility and generosity have been applied to us and we can go all in we get to
We get to leverage everything we have for the expanse of the gospel nothing is too much Jesus has already given us everything nothing is too much nothing he could ask of our time of our finances of our life of where we live and how we work and how we interact with our neighbors it can never be too much because he's already given us everything so if you're in here and you're a Jesus follower you say
Jesus' account has been applied to mine my sins have been put on him he's given me his righteousness I just want to invite you to go all in to live like Paul to leverage everything you have for the gospel that doesn't mean you move to Africa maybe maybe Jesus tells you to if he does pack your stuff that might just mean that you leverage everything you have in your neighborhood everything you have
At work that you walk in community and repentance and you pursue everyone around you with the gospel and here's the good news you don't have to be good at it because your account is not clean your slate is not white clean it's already righteous because of Jesus I'm not saying go earn it I'm saying hop in with a clean slate that already has all of Jesus' righteousness applied to it
And if you're in here today and you're not a Jesus follower in fact Christ has been raised we can have life and hope in him so I would just invite you to believe to repent and to to know that Jesus paid for your sin that in Adam you are going to die but in Christ you can be made alive real life
True life joy and hope for eternity in Jesus so if you're a Jesus follower go all in and if you don't follow Jesus if you haven't repented of your sin if you haven't placed your hope in him you're still working to prove your worth and your merit in life you're still working to be good enough I would invite you
To realize you never will be but in Jesus you can be so we're going to sing we're going to praise Jesus the God who came who lived perfectly on our behalf who died in our place who rose again and is coming back to rescue his church and crush his enemies Jesus we thank you for who you are we thank you for your grace thank you for the love that you've poured out
On us and we thank you that you are king and God I pray right now that as a warrior king you would advance your kingdom in the hearts and lives of the people in this room that God you would bring about repentance that you would conquer all of the areas in our souls and our hearts where we set up defenses against you that God as king
You would expand your kingdom of grace and of love and of mercy we thank you that in you we have life in Jesus name we pray amen