Andrew Fountain - The Real Truth about the Resurrection

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The Real Truth about the Resurrection

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Full sermon notes - The Real Truth about the Resurrection

  • Around 25 years ago someone recommended a book to me...
  • Traditionally the resurrection has been given second place to Jesus’ death on the cross
    • It just proves that he really died, and enables him to still be alive
    • But it is the very foundation of our new existence
  • John Murray has said that one of the main sources of weakness among Christians is the failure to grasp this truth.

The Resurrection

  1. The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity.
  • N.T. Wright points out that God’s people were expecting this world to end and then the next to begin.
  • What Jesus did by rising from the dead was to begin the next before this one is finished.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4

  1. Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel
    • that I preached to you,
    • that you received
    • and on which you stand,
    • 2.and by which you are being saved, (if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.)
  2. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—
    • that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
    • 4.and that he was buried,
    • and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15

  1. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
  2. The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
  3. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.

Romans 1

  1. concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
  2. and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

The Resurrection

  1. The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity.
  2. This “new kind of human” has already begun in us.

1 Corinthians 15

  1. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are of heaven.
  2. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.
  • Ephesians 2
  1. even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
  2. and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

The Two Creations

Old Creation New Creation
Adam Christ
Dust the Spirit
Perishable Imperishable

John 3

  1. Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
  • examples of ἄνωθεν

Joh 3:31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.

Ephesians 2

  1. even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
  2. and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
  3. so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
  • past tense!

John 11 —Martha

  1. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
  2. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
  3. and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
  4. She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

The Resurrection

  1. The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity.
  2. This “new kind of human” has already begun in us.
  3. We need to live out this new identity.

Romans 6

  1. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
  2. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1

  1. 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,
  2. and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
  3. that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
  • Like sitting in a car without realizing there is power to drive it.

The Resurrection

  1. The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity.
  2. This “new kind of human” has already begun in us.
  3. We need to live out this new identity.

Colossians 3

  1. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
  2. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
  3. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
  4. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
  5. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you...
  • Example of immigrating
  • Zombie illustration
  • Old boss illustration
  • continue reading from Colossians

Updated on 2014-04-17 by Andrew Fountain