We can throw them in a favorite
folder. There's a fountain, her last...
There was a fountain? Yeah. Let me do a fountain search. There's one in the KMD. This
one? Yeah. You have one... Key of A, five verses. I knew
you had done one lower a key. I've started deleting all my
old ones and just keeping the ones that you changed. OK, so
that's in the favorite. Which other one? That is a soft backhand. Is it
OK for me to go live here? Not going to be sharing your
social security or anything? No. Lincoln! I give you five. You turn your
head like that, I give you five. All right. How we doing? Good
to see you. Had fun Thursday. Might do that
again. Maybe this time we'll find somewhere that... I'll try
to remember Mike. I'll remember Mike. I just forgot. Yeah, I just wasn't thinking
about it. They're all still doing Nazis about that. Well, if you
go out of the county, it's pretty good. If you look to Polk County,
you can go anywhere. They probably didn't have five
cases the whole time. When I was up at Fair Play, I
stopped, you know, getting these chairs the first time. I stopped
because I was hungry and went into the restaurant and there
wasn't a server or cook or customer wearing a mask, except for two
little ladies, but they were separate and the husband wasn't
wearing one. She may have just had a condition
that she was being careful about. And they've convinced those old
timers. It's death if you get it. But
like I said, the man wasn't wearing it and the woman was, just for
whatever. That's even how it is when I
go out. When I go out, I don't have a mask. Michelle does. And
that's usually what it is. You'll see a guy with no mask
and his wife with a mask. I do because I'm so used to it
now. And I don't know where I'm going if they make you have one
or not. So I've got like, on my gear shift, there's like five
or six hanging from the gear shift. But, you know, it's actually
worse for you because they're so dirty, you use them so often
that they're probably... Oh, I've got a million new ones.
I just never, I never bring the new ones in. I know, it's like
you're actually risking more by wearing it because... Breathing. Yeah, you're just breathing in
toxins. I've got a whole box of the paper ones that have never
been used, but I never swap them out. Chuck it, throw it out. After they've been used for a
while. No, just chuck them out anyway.
Use cloth. I've got one cloth, but that's
a little safer than the paper. Yeah, I've got one cloth. A buddy of mine, his mom didn't
want to make it for a while. Yeah, yeah. St. Louis Cardinals. Nice. I'm not a baseball or a
football fan. I'm pretty much all. Send a message.
Don't give them no money. I gave up on the NBA a long time
ago. Well, the MLB has entered the
race. out racist bigots themselves.
I can't break the NFL. That's the one habit, the one
addiction I can't break. I'm so tired of it. I'm sure
it'll be a big political statement. But when it starts costing people
money, that's when it'll stop. They are. Their ratings are down. Their product sales are down.
You know the owners in the league are like, wow, what are we going
to do about this? Yeah, well, they've stepped in it. They never
should have let them do it the first time. It's not even bad.
It's not even good. It's a new analysis. They keep dumping down and dumping. All right. We're going to go
live. Oh, yeah. All right, we'll get started. Morning. Turn to Ephesians chapter
one. We're going to look at verses
20 through 23. Now, during our Lord's earthly ministry,
we saw him deliver many people from their sicknesses and their
diseases. And we even saw him raise people
from the dead. And these miracles that he did,
they demonstrated great power, the power of God, power that
no other man can effect. He did miracles that cannot be
repeated or explained. But, when our God raised His
Son, Jesus Christ, from the dead, that was particular, unique,
special power. Something different occurred
there, and it's because when our God raised His Son from the
dead, He raised Him as our mediator. He raised him as the one who
stands in the gap between God and men to effect their eternal
salvation, to reconcile us to the Father. And so when our Lord
raised others, it was with power and it was special, but they
that were raised again, they died again. The first one to
be raised from the dead is peculiar to Christ. He's the first one
that was raised from the dead, never to die again. And he was
raised as our mediator. I've titled this message, Our
Hope in Christ's Death and Resurrection. Our Hope in Christ's Death and
Resurrection. And we're gonna look at a few,
just to begin, we're gonna look at a few of the We're going to
look at the doctrines that are foundational to our faith. We'll look at that first, and
then we're going to actually see the likeness of our death
and resurrection witnessed in Christ's death and resurrection. So our text, it begins in Ephesians
1 verse 20. And it drops us in, we'll look
at where we're dropped in in a moment, but it says, which
he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. And so
this verse, it contains the basis, the foundation, which our faith
rests upon. There's some blessed truths contained
here in this verse. First, it confirms to us that
Christ died. It confirms to us that Christ
truly was dead and that he was raised from the dead. Our Savior,
our Lord, died and was raised from the dead. And it also reveals
to us, this context reveals to us, that God the Father is the
one that raised Him from the dead. Look there at the beginning
of verse 17. It begins, that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, And look at verse 3
at the end, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ, now back in verse 20, which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him
at his own right hand in heavenly places. So God our Father is
the one that raised his son up from the dead. And so Paul, because
these are so important, because these are so foundational to
our faith, Paul made sure that he preached and declared these
truths to the churches when he went around setting them up and
visiting them. Over in 1 Corinthians 15, look
there, 1 Corinthians 15, in verses three and four, we'll
begin. Our Apostle says, I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received. This is important
enough for God to give this to his apostles and his pastors
who teach the people. He says, I delivered this to
you, which I received, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures. All right. So this
is foundational to our hope, foundational to the hope that
we have and the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ for his
people. Now, in answer to those who deny that there is any resurrection,
he says in verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 15, And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. That's why I say it's foundational
to our faith is death and resurrection. Yea, and we are found false witnesses
of God. We're liars. That's what he's
saying. We're lying to you if Christ be not raised because
we have testified of God that he raised up Christ Whom he raised
not up if so be that the dead rise not All right. So this is
what our faith rests on that that Christ is all who he said
he is he's all that we boast of him to be that he is the Savior
of his people and And we see that in that he died and was
raised again by God. All right? The apostles, they
were sent of our Lord to testify of the Savior's death and resurrection. You know, over in, if you look
over in Luke 24, Luke 24, I'll just pick up for
time's sake in verse 46. Our Lord said to His disciples,
Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in His name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things." This is what we declare, Christ's death and His resurrection. And so we declare Him They declared
him, the 12 apostles, the 11 plus Paul, our Lord sent them
out to preach this. And so are we any different?
Today, we pastors and teachers, are we to speak of anything different
than they spoke of? Not at all. In fact, Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 13 to 14, he said, we having the
same spirit of faith, according as it's written, I believed and
therefore I've spoken, we also believe and therefore speak.
That's true of me. I believe that our God sent his
son and that he died for the remission of sins for his people. And after he died, our God raised
him from the dead, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus
shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. So, we're justified by Christ's
death. We're justified by the shedding
of His blood, and His resurrection, His being raised from the dead,
declares to us that God has accepted His sacrifice for His people,
and therefore we are justified. We know, we have confidence that
our God accepts us, that He receives us in His Son. And so, Christ
our Lord, therefore, He blesses us with all the blessings of
salvation. He holds nothing back that you
and I need to know Him, to be sanctified of Him, to be gathered
by our God with His Church, and therefore shall be received of
Him. Now, back in our text, let's look at verses 19 and 20 together.
Ephesians 1, verses 19 and 20. He says, And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to usward who believe, how is it that we
believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He
wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead? So what's
the Holy Spirit doing here? He's equating that the power
which works in us, whereby faith is revealed in us, the hope of
salvation, looking to his son, believing him, is the same power
that God used to raise his son up from the dead as our mediator,
as our head. And so that Christ, who was raised
from the dead, never to die again, we have that same hope. that
we who are born again of him shall never die. We have eternal
life. This body may perish, but your
soul will never perish in hell. You shall never know separation
from your God. That's his blessing and promise
to you in Christ. So Christ is our head and he
has the honor of being the head of his body, the church. He has
the head of his body, the church. You know, when I was Putting
that down, I was thinking about Psalm 3. Psalm 3, and it hit
me. What a glorious, beautiful sight
that is. It's declaring our salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says there, let me go there
to Psalm 3. He says in Psalm 3 verse 3, but
thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter
up of my head. Your God has raised your head,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our shield, our protector, the
one who has blotted out our sins so that when God looks upon us,
we're not going to face and experience the wrath of God, which cometh
upon the wicked, upon the inhabitants of this earth. He's our shield,
and he's our glory, and the one in whom we glory. God raised
him up for this purpose. And in fact, then in verse five,
it says of Psalm 3, I laid me down and slept. I awaked for
the Lord sustained me. That occurred first in our Savior,
Jesus Christ. And so we too, when we lay down
in the grave, we shall awake in the likeness of our Savior
in whom we too are raised and have fellowship with him. All
right now, Because He's our Head, He goes before His people. He
performs these operations, every operation of grace. by which
we are saved, everything necessary, it's all assured to come upon
you, his people. All the power and the glory of
God is for you, his people, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I
want to look at these likenesses. I said that Christ's death and
resurrection bears likeness to our death and our resurrection. What we see in Christ's death
and burial and resurrection is what is true of us as well. It says in Romans 6.5, for if
we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So this
is what our Lord's revealing to us. When you look and consider
that Christ, the Son of God, laid down His life as the Son
of Man, the Mediator, that He gave up His life. When you behold
that, and then you see that God raised Him from the dead, you
see a picture of what God does for you in salvation. All right, you see this beautiful
picture. Over in Revelation 1.5, we read
of Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten
from the dead. Our Savior was begotten from
the dead, and he's the first one to be raised from the dead,
never to die again, all right? Now, that's how our salvation
is also described. We're begotten from the dead.
Over in 1 Peter 1.3, 1 Peter 1.3 says, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again. We're born again too,
brethren. just as our Savior was begotten
from the dead, so we too must be begotten from the dead. We
must be born, we must be born again, raised unto a lively hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All right,
so our begetting again is by Christ our mediator, our head,
our Savior. Now Christ, as he was raised
from the dead, so are we, brethren. Christ really died. He really was dead. His body
was lifeless. When that soldier looked upon
him and took his spear and thrust it into his side, there was no
wincing. no movement, he was dead. And
his blood, his lifeblood, flowed out from him, and the water that
had filled his lungs flowed out from him, showing that he really
was dead. He died. When they took his body
down off the tree of crucifixion, they took down a lifeless body. And that's how we are, brethren,
before Christ gives us life. We, too, are dead. We are lifeless. There's nothing that we can do
that God commands and would give us to do to save ourselves. There's
nothing we can do. We're dead. When Nicodemus came
to the Lord as religious as he is, as respectable of a man as
he was, as moral and good as he appeared to be, he's dead. He was dead spiritually. And
our Lord said to him, ye, you Nicodemus, must be born again. You're dead. You have no life
in you. Your religion cannot save you. It doesn't speak well for you
before the Lord. So we need that spiritual birth. We need life to stand before
God, to know him, to have motion before him and bear those fruits
of righteousness of our Savior because naturally in Adam we
come forth dead in trespasses and sins. Colossians 2.13 says,
this is speaking of us, where we were when our Savior came
to us in power to give us life, says, and you being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened,
hath he made alive together with Christ, having forgiven you all
trespasses. And then Romans 7.5 says, for
when we were in the flesh, right, before we were born again, We
may have been religious, we may have been good little boys and
girls, but we were in that flesh. It says, the motions of sins
which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth
fruit unto death, unto death. All the good works we did, all
the fruit we bear was fruits of death, fruits of the flesh,
that which did not please God. And the more we labored in them,
the more we offended God because we called him a liar. God says,
look to my son. He's the one I've provided to
save my people from their sins. No, thank you. I don't need that.
I've got works of my own. I've got fruit. See, doesn't
it look good? No, it doesn't. It stinks of
death. It reeks. And God's not pleased because
we call him a liar in that. So, next we see our Lord's human
nature, it could not help Him. His human nature could not raise
Himself from the dead. His human nature could not raise
Himself from the dead. Now that's true of us. Our flesh cannot raise itself
up from the dead. Our flesh cannot give ourselves
life. With all the appeals that religion
makes to the flesh, Give your life to Jesus. Let Christ save
you. Put your faith in Christ. All
those appeals do nothing because they appeal to the flesh, and
the flesh cannot receive them. It cannot hear the Spirit's word. It cannot save itself. It cannot
take that direction. and do anything with it. It's
only by the Spirit and the power of Christ that we hear His voice
and hear His word and believe on Him, right? Anyone that says
they can do it, that they have gotten themselves saved, that
they've walked an aisle, gone down to a prayer captain, given
their heart to Jesus, made Jesus their Lord, anyone who says that
they've done that and that's their salvation, they're liars
and they're deceived. They're self-deceived. because
no man gives himself life. It's a work that God must do
for the sinner. He says in Romans 9, 15, and
16, our God said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth. It's not our free will that chooses
whether or not we're going to be saved. It's not of him that
willeth, good or bad. It's not of him that runneth.
It doesn't matter what good works I do, but of God that showeth
mercy. That's who makes the difference.
It's not me. It's not you. Our God must give
us life because we're lifeless and we cannot save ourselves,
just like Christ couldn't raise up his own body. God raised up
his body. Christ's resurrection was the
pure, unaided work of God. And that's true of our regeneration,
brethren. And it's true of every fruit
we bear. It's all of the Lord. Turn over to 2 Peter 1. I used to go here a lot because
I think it's actually one of the most powerful and clear declarations
that our faith is not the product of this flesh. It's not the product
of this flesh. 2 Peter 1 verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us. You see that? The apostles, they
obtained something that they did not have. They came into
possession of that which was not there in their faith. It
didn't just need to be stirred up. It wasn't a little ember,
a little spark that just had to be blown upon to get it to
break out into a raging fire. There was nothing. There is no
faith in man. not spiritual saving faith. It's
not a fruit of this flesh. If it's of your flesh, it's death
and it cannot save. Peter says, I have obtained,
and I'm writing to you that have obtained like precious faith
with us. We apostles of Jesus Christ came
into possession of this faith. We didn't have it. And we've
obtained that which we did not have through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now look at verse three. If it's
still unclear and you have any doubt, according as His divine
power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness. Does faith pertain unto life
and godliness? You bet it does. There's no doubt. Everyone says you've got to have
faith. You've got to believe if you're
to be saved. You cannot be saved except you have faith in Christ.
Well, right here it says that it's been given to his people
by divine power. God gives that. He gives that
to whom he will, upon whom he'll be merciful and show compassion. God does the work, right? Not
of him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. He has given us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue, so that when the
time of love comes our Savior will cause you to hear his voice
will cause you to hear his word. Under the preaching of the gospel,
he'll cause you to hear his voice and he gives life to his people.
And then he feeds them and nourishes them and keeps them and provides
all things and reveals more and more the glory of his salvation
for his people. So every fruit that we bear was
obtained for you. you that believe it was obtained
for you by the Lord Jesus Christ, including that faith whereby
you believe him and trust him. And so our God gives these blessings
to us in Christ and he makes fruitful those, he brings forth
that fruit born of our husband. Romans 7, 4. says, wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God. So that fruit that we bear is
born of the seed of our husband. It's not of this flesh. That's
adulterous fruit. That's corrupt fruit. That's
not the fruit that pleases the father. He's pleased with the
fruit of his own son. All right, he's pleased with
the fruit of his own son. All right, so when we read then
of Ephesians 1.20, Ephesians 1.20 says, upon raising Christ
from the dead, God set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places. Now that is a great honor to
the humanity of Christ, right? This is the throne of God. The
son of God was ever in the bosom of the father, but the humanity
of Christ, that's a great honor to be seated at the right hand
of the throne of God, right? That's a great honor. What a
glory, what a blessing to know that God has blessed his people
that he did this for man his creation in his son Jesus Christ. His resurrection declares to
all that God is satisfied with the work that his son came to
do. He performed it as our mediator. The son of man has accomplished
everything the father sent him to do. And that means because
God is satisfied with the son, he's satisfied with his people. who are not satisfied with their
own works, but are satisfied with His, and rejoice in what
He's done, and boast of what He's accomplished for us. And
now our Savior is set down at God's own right hand. That tells
us that He's resting from all His labors. everything that needed
to be done is done. All things are set in motion
and shall be fulfilled exactly in accordance with what he's
determined should be done for his people." Right? He's never
going to die again. And in fact, no enemy can touch
him there. Think of the throne of God. Think
of the throne of God. Can any enemy touch him there? The accuser of the brethren was
there in his midst. And he said in his heart, I shall
be like God. And he was cast out of heaven.
He could not touch God, right? He cannot touch him. And you
think about his jealousy and anger and hatred against God
and his people, because what? God honored his son, including
God the son come in human flesh, right? What an honor. for man,
for humanity, right? That's why I don't want to be
human 2.0. I'm happy with what our God has
created for his people in the Son, Jesus Christ. I don't need
to be anything different. I am what I am, and I am this
by the grace of God, and I'm thankful for that and I'm so
thankful for our Lord. Our Lord said in Ephesians 121
that he's far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named not only in this world but also
in that which is to come. Our God can give no higher honor
than what he has given to his son. The God-man, our mediator,
Jesus Christ, is seated on the right hand of God. All creation is under his feet.
There's no name higher in whom we rejoice and praise him and
rejoice in what he's accomplished. Hebrews 1.13, right? But to which
of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool? Not a one. And that's why one
is cast down. He wanted that spot. He wanted
to be like God, but not so. This was determined by God to
give glory to his son who came in the likeness of the sinful
flesh so that the God-man is seated on the right hand of God. There's no greater honor. than
that. Ephesians 1, 22 and 23 says,
And God hath put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to
be the head over all things to the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And so our Lord,
your Lord, our Savior, our God and Savior is seated on the right
hand of God. He's interceding for you. Everything
you need, he provides and every enemy you have. shall never prevail
over you. He's already conquered your enemies. He's defeated them. Rejoice,
give thanks to God, praise his name, because it even says that
we even now are seated with him. Look at Ephesians 2.6. Ephesians
2.6 says, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we're seated there
even now. It cannot be undone. It's accomplished. Praise your God. Bless his name. Rejoice in him, brethren. Every enemy we face is destroyed. He's in complete and total control
over all things. He said in Matthew 28, 18, all
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Psalm 8 verse 6,
speaking of Christ, said, Thou madest him to have dominion over
the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet. And that's speaking of Christ
our mediator, Christ our mediatorial head, right? So he has the highest
honor. Worship the Son. Kiss his hand,
lest he be angry with you. Seek the Lord. All who seek Him,
all who hunger and thirst and beg Him for mercy, all who He's
revealed that they are sinners who seek Him, He'll never turn
them away because He's worked this in you. He's put this in
His people to go to Him. So all who seek Him shall never
be ashamed. All right, let's turn over to
Colossians 1, verse 16 and 18, and we'll close with that. Colossians
1, 16 through 18. For by Christ, by the Son of
God, were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And he is the head of the body
of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. So praise the
Lord, brethren. Praise his name and rejoice in
your Savior. All right, let's close in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your glorious salvation
in your Son. Lord, that in all things You
made him to be exactly what we needed for salvation, that he
died. and that he rose again according
to your glorious power. And Lord, in that glorious work
of our God, we see what you do for each of your people. How
that we were dead, spiritually dead, unable to accomplish our
own resurrection and our own salvation, but that same power
by which you raised up our Lord from the dead, You did for us,
Lord, in making us to live, giving us spiritual life, making us
born again, born anew, regenerated by your spirit, by the seed of
Christ our Savior, our husband, our head. Lord, we thank you
for your mercy and compassion, your grace upon us, undeserving
sinners, Lord, that we should have fellowship with our God.
that we should be seated with Christ our Savior on the right
hand of the throne of God. What greater honor could there
be in that? Lord, you promise that you are
satisfied with your son and you have made us to be satisfied
in him so that there is perfect satisfaction and peace and fellowship
between our God and that which he has created of us in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We thank you for this glorious
work. We thank you for this glorious word and pray that you bless
it to the hearts of your people, calling us out of darkness and
death and raising us again to behold your son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the savior of his people, to believe him and to rest in
him and walk in him forever. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Okay, we'll start at five after. Five minute clock, so 15 minutes.