Your New Life // My Redeemer Lives, Part 3

Christianityworks Official Podcast

I guess when we think of Easter we think of it way, way, way in the past and I guess of its consequences way, way, way in the future. The past act of Jesus dying for you and me and the future blessing of a resurrection for us to live eternity with Him. In the past and in the future but what if I told you that Jesus wants to give you a ‘here and now‘ kind of resurrection today, would you believe me?

HERE AND NOW RESURRECTION

As we chatted last week on the program – Easter is a time for hope. Not a wishy–washy, uncertain hope like: I hope I lose some weight on this diet or I hope the weather fines up tomorrow. No, not that. When the Bible talks about hope, it means a certain hope.

The sort of hope that throws a ray of sunshine into your day, because you realise that you have something amazing to look forward to. The hope of the resurrection of the dead. That when you and I die, we will go to be with Jesus in paradise, based only on our faith in Him, not on what we do or don’t do.

That’s exactly what Jesus said to the criminal that was strung up on that Cross next to Him on that very first Easter, although of course, it wasn’t called Easter back then. It was the Passover celebration. Have a listen:

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Jesus. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, then save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him that read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals who was hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other one rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said to Jesus, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ (Luke 23:32-43)

Now although that was obviously a terrible, terrible circumstance in which to receive the promise of eternal life with Jesus, I think you’ll agree, there was a sense of immediacy to that promise. That criminal knew that he was about to die – he could feel it, the agonising, the excruciating, long–suffering death by suffocation, which is how you die when you’re nailed to a cross.

By the way this was the very first man recorded in Scripture to receive the gift of eternal life based on faith in Jesus. And it happened on the same day within just a few hours of the promise that Jesus made to him.

Most of us don’t know how long we have left on this earth. Some who’ve had maybe a bad medical prognosis might have some idea, but most of us don’t. I could live another fifty years, or I could be gone tomorrow. I don’t know and I don’t want to know. But what we do know, what we do see, is the long path ahead. The trials that we’re going through and the trials, which are so much a part of life, that lie ahead.

But this resurrection, this new life, doesn’t just begin when we die and go to heaven. It’s meant to begin the very moment we believe in Jesus. In fact, it has begun the very moment you believed in Jesus. It’s as though we’ve died and risen again here and now.

Have a listen to this amazing scripture that says exactly that. Romans chapter 6, verses 1 to 4:

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Did you get that? The point that Paul’s making – the point that God is making through the Apostle Paul who wrote that letter to the Roman Church, is that the moment we put our faith in Jesus we are dead to sin and alive to Christ. We are freed from the sin that’s held us back and held us down and ruined things for us thus far, and just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so have we been that we may walk in the newness of life. A new life, born again, a here and now resurrection.

Why do so many people who believe in Jesus not get this? Why do so many people who believe in Jesus struggle with who they are and what they’ve done and the mistakes they’ve made? Hello!!!

Those things are dead and gone and buried and now, through the resurrection of Jesus, anyone who believes in Him can walk in newness of life by His power. Here’s Paul saying it again, in a different way to the Ephesian church. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 17 to 23:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work 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 all authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Paul wanted us to know the hope and the riches and the incredible power of God that we now already have – the same power that brought Jesus back to life. Resurrection power. New life power, available to you so that you may walk in newness of life. Hallelujah!

And it’s that power, seeing that power at work in your life day by day, setting you free from the shackles of sin, one shackle at a time, that gives us the hope to know that one day that resurrection will be consummated before God.

It’s like a down payment, this resurrection power, evidence of God’s intention – this here and now resurrection power speaks of the resurrection that we will experience on that day when our lives here on earth come to an end.

In fact, that’s again what Paul says, just a few verses earlier about the Holy Spirit, verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians Chapter 1:

In him, in Christ, you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit power, the resurrection power is a pledge, a down payment, a deposit to demonstrate to you the reality of your inheritance that is to come.

When you buy a house, you put down a 10% deposit, which is evidence to the vendor of your intention to pay the rest and complete the sale at the agreed time. That’s what this passage of Scripture means.

The resurrection power of the Holy Spirit that you see at work in your life is God’s deposit and pledge of the resurrection you will experience on that day.

That’s why we can have hope in the coming of Jesus. That’s why we know that there are riches coming beyond anything that we can imagine, because the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit in our lives is clear, unmistakable evidence of that.

Anyone who is listening today, who’s had this sad–sack, nothing’s changed in my life thing going on, for you, this is great news. Grab hold of it with both hands. Live every minute of every day in the certain knowledge that the Holy Spirit is at work in you and as a consequence you can have a real hope in your eternity with Jesus.

That’s what Jesus purchased for you!

DEATH AND RESURRECTION

I used to wonder a lot about this whole ‘Jesus dying on the Cross’ thing. It just didn’t make sense to me. I mean, when someone does something wrong against me, I can choose either to forgive them, or to not forgive them, right?

And if I choose to forgive them, I don’t … I don’t know … self-mutilate or something to pay for the wrong that they did against me. I just forgive them and that’s it. Their slate is wiped clean. They don’t owe me anything. I choose to remove the desire for recompense or punishment for their wrongs and we all get on with life.

And since I am made in the image of God, surely God can be like that too. I mean, you or I haven’t murdered anyone or raped anyone or assaulted anyone. We are not guilty of grand larceny. We haven’t stolen anything from the local store even. Okay, we’ve made some mistakes. We’ve hurt people through our actions or our attitudes. But that’s all part of life and hopefully most of those people would forgive us and we can just get on with it, right?

As we think about Easter, as we think about that brutal, bloody cross and what Jesus did, unless we really understand the why of it all, then we’re completely missing the point of Christianity; the whole point of believing in Jesus.

And I strongly suspect that there are a good many people around today, who say they believe in Jesus, but they don’t have answers to this difficult questions: Why did God bother with this whole Jesus dying on a cross thing? Why didn’t He just forgive us?

The bottom line is this: God is a God of absolute love and absolute justice. Have a listen, 1 John chapter 4, verse 16:

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

So, God is love. Have a listen to this, Romans chapter 2, verses 9 to 11:

There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

God is more loving than the most loving father who has ever lived. God IS love. But He is also more just than the most just judge who has ever lived. So how do you reconcile love and justice? I mean, love demands forgiveness. Justice demands punishment.

If a man was convicted of rape or murder – if he was tried and found guilty, yet the judge in his sentencing chose to show mercy and let him walk free, we would be totally outraged, wouldn’t we? We would demand justice.

And so God is faced with this dilemma. A huge dilemma. He is all love and He is all justice. What does He do? It’s the same as though that judge I just talked about was the father of the man convicted of rape or murder. Can you imagine the terrible position this judge and father would find himself in, in determining a sentence for his own child?

So God does the only thing open to Him. He sends Jesus to fulfil the requirements of absolute justice, by dying on that cross for you and me, so that the price of our sin is paid in full. The requirements of justice are met in full. The wrath of God that you and I deserve falls on Jesus, He takes the wrap, He dies the death.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

But the huge spin-off benefit of Jesus’ death on the Cross, is the fact that just three days later, He was raised from the dead. And that’s exactly what happens to you and me when we believe in Him and we die to our sin. We receive a new life. A resurrected life. A born again life. A fresh start with the slate wiped completely clean. Through the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

That empty tomb is as important in God’s plan for you and me, as was that bloody Cross. Jesus had to die to be resurrected. And you and I have to die to our old self, to our sinful self, in order to be resurrected into a newness of life, this new life that Jesus purchased on the Cross for you and me. The transaction of grace is a transaction both of death and resurrection. Romans chapter 6, verse 4:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

That means that you and I believe in Jesus and we turn away from our sin, so that we can rise again to this new life that Jesus has for us. Come on, this is good news! The alternative is death. The alternative is a living death today as we live in sin, and an eternal separation from God when this life is over.

Jesus made this point, He said: You actually have to die before you can live.

Truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. (John 12:24-26)

And see, this bit of dying to self, so that we can live and bear fruit is the bit that so many people miss. We think it’s just about believing in Jesus and everything will be okay. Well, yes and no. Unless you and I repent, unless you and I believe in Jesus AND turn away from our evil ways, then there is no life, because sin will continue to rob you of life.

It’s an unpopular idea I know – repentance sounds like something terribly old–fashioned. Jesus died and was then resurrected. You can’t be resurrected to a new life, until you’ve died to the old one.

It’s obvious isn’t it?! At least it should be. Death and resurrection are what Easter is all about. Death and resurrection are what your new life is all about.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)

The great news this Easter is that Jesus came to give you a new life. A life worth living. A life that, instead of being torn apart by arrogance or selfishness or whatever your particular Achilles heel is, a life that instead is being healed and restored by the power of God and the goodness of God. A life that will look completely different to your old life.

Because Jesus changed it for you. Because Jesus died so that the just requirements of the law, the punishment that you so richly deserve, could be removed from you. That’s mercy. Because Jesus died and rose again.

Maybe you’ve just heard about Jesus for the first time today and you want to accept Him as your Lord and Saviour. Well if that’s you, please pray this prayer with me:

Father God, today I have heard about Jesus and what He did for me on that Cross and through that empty tomb. And I realise that I need His mercy and His grace – it is exactly what I need. Please forgive me through Jesus and what He did for me. I’m so sorry for my sin and what I’ve done wrong. And give me this new life today. This resurrection life. I turn away from all my sin, but I know how weak I am, I know I don’t have the power to live the life you want me to live, so please, put your Holy Spirit in me so that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, will raise me into this new life that you’ve promised me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, my friend, you have just received the grace and the mercy and the power of God, through what Jesus did for you.

NEWNESS OF LIFE

Have you ever felt as though your life just isn’t worth living? Have you ever come to the point like King Solomon, who wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes: Vanity oh vanity life is meaningless? It can feel sometimes that life is over, even though it goes on.

Back when a dear friend of His, Lazarus, had died, and just before He raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said this to the man’s sister. John chapter 11, verse 25. He said:

I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Now that’s something, that’s someone, worth placing your hope in, don’t you think? I am the resurrection; I am the life, said Jesus and everyone, everyone who believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? Do you believe it for you? Colossians chapter 1, verse 5 says that you have a hope laid up in heaven for you. And a few verses down, verse 27, Paul goes on to talk about the mystery of God’s glory which is the hope in you.

Easter isn’t just about fluffy bunnies and chocolate eggs – weird combination though that may be. It’s about hope. A hope that is meant to be in you as God’s gift to you. In you. A hope that drives your thoughts, your feelings, your actions. A hope that gets you through the stuff you need to get through, today and tomorrow and the next day and for however many more days you have left on this earth.

The hope the Bible talks about isn’t some wishy–washy, maybe kind of hope. Whenever you see that word ‘hope’ in the Bible, it means an absolutely, certain, rock–solid hope of a life eternal with Jesus.

Hope matters. We’re all wired to hope in something. Better we hope in the one thing that delivers, instead of all those imposters out there, don’t you think? I know that there are people listening today, for whom there doesn’t appear to be a single bright spot on the horizon, no hope for the future. And for you, today, I have good news. The good news of Jesus.

No matter how bad your past has been, through Jesus the slate is wiped completely clean. And no matter how dark your future may appear, in Jesus, you have received the certain hope of an eternal inheritance with Him. Living for eternity in the Presence of Jesus who died for you. Hallelujah!

You wouldn’t believe the number of people who write to me, who were at the point of taking their own lives, because for them all hope had been lost. And yet, when they heard about the hope that they have in Jesus Christ – that pulled them back from the brink and changed everything.

Life without hope is no life at all. A life without hope for the future isn’t worth living. I know. I have been on that edge. And it was Jesus who pulled me back off that ledge. It was Jesus who gave me hope. It was Jesus who gave me life.

Those Disciples, they couldn’t see it until they saw the risen Jesus with their own eyes. And then, everything changed for them. Everything. They spent the rest of their lives, in fact they gave their lives, in order to tell the rest of the world about Jesus.

And this hope that you and I have in Jesus, is the only hope that turns a life around for good. Nothing else can deliver what the hope in Christ can deliver.

I leave you today with this exhortation from the Apostle Paul, Romans chapter 15, verse 13:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and all peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

My prayer for you this Easter is that this powerful hope of the eternity that you have ahead of you, will rock you to the core and transform your life, completely and utterly. Because God has a plan for you that goes way beyond anything that you can ever hope for or dream or imagine. And that plan finds its genesis, and that plan has its alpha and omega, its beginning and its end …. in Jesus.