10 Results of the Resurrection

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Here are ten amazing things we owe to the resurrection of Jesus:

1) A Savior who can never die again. “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again” (Romans 6:9).

2) Repentance. “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel” (Acts 5:30–31).

3) New birth. “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” (1 Peter 1:3).

4) Forgiveness of sin. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

5) The Holy Spirit. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:32–33).

6) No condemnation for the elect. “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

7) Jesus’s personal fellowship and protection. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

8) Proof of coming judgment. “[God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

9) Salvation from the future wrath of God. “[We] wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9).

10) Our own resurrection from the dead. “[We know] that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14; Romans 6:4; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:20).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Romans 4:21-25

[21] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. [22] That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” [23] But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Galatians 1:4

[4] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Isaiah 53:5-7

    [5] 

    But he was pierced for our transgressions;

        he was crushed for our iniquities;

    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

        and with his wounds we are healed. 

    [6] 

    All we like sheep have gone astray;

        we have turned—every one—to his own way;

    and the LORD has laid on him

        the iniquity of us all.

    [7] 

    He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

        yet he opened not his mouth;

    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

        and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

        so he opened not his mouth.

1 Peter 2:24-25

[24] He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. [25] For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Jesus Chose to Save Us

PRAY OVER THIS

“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Luke 22:41-43

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus paid a price. You will never know the agony the Son of God endured on the cross. He didn’t have to die; He had a choice. And Jesus said, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Adam, following Satan in the garden of Eden, said, “Not thy will, but mine” and ruined the race. Jesus, in another garden, as the last Adam said, “not My will, but Yours,” and redeemed the race. That’s the consumption of the cup. The Lord Jesus willingly, voluntarily, vicariously, and victoriously said not my will but Yours. Had He said no, every one of us would have separated from God forever. But because Jesus suffered, bled, and died on that cross, you and I can be redeemed. Jesus took my sin and your sin, and He carried it to the cross.

In today’s passage, Jesus was wrestling. Was He wrestling with God the Father? No, never. The great desire of his heart was to please the Father. Was He wrestling with Satan? He never needed to. He had absolute authority over Satan. He was wrestling with Himself. He was wrestling between His humanity and His love, but where did He land? “Not My will, but Yours, be done.”

When was a time you fought to get your way with God? How did that turn out?

How would your life look different if you chose to say, “not my will, but Yours, be done”?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider one area of your life where you are holding onto your own will and way over God’s. Ask Him for direction and help.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Delight in God’s Word

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)

Never reduce Christianity to a matter of demands and resolutions and willpower. It is a matter of what we love, what we delight in, what tastes good to us.

When Jesus came into the world, humanity was split according to what they loved. “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light” (John 3:19). The righteous and the wicked are separated by what they delight in — the revelation of God in Jesus, or the way of the world.

So someone may ask: How can I come to delight in the word of God? My answer is twofold:

1) pray for new taste buds on the tongue of your heart;

2) meditate on the staggering promises of God to his people.

The same psalmist who said, “How sweet are your words to my taste” (Psalm 119:103), said earlier, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). He prayed this, because to have spiritual eyes to see glory, or to have holy taste buds on the tongue of the heart, is a gift of God. No one naturally hungers for, and delights in, God and his wisdom.

But when you have prayed, indeed while you pray, meditate on the benefits God promises to his people and on the joy of having Almighty God as your helper now and forever. Psalm 1:3–4 says that the person who meditates on God’s word “is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

Who would not delight to read a book, the reading of which would change one from useless chaff to a mighty cedar of Lebanon, from a Texas dust bowl to a Hawaiian orchard? Nobody deep down wants to be chaff — rootless, weightless, useless. All of us want to draw strength from some deep river of reality and become fruitful, useful people.

That river of reality is the word of God, and all the great saints have been made great by it.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Hebrews 5:7-10

[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, [10] being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Matthew 20:22-23

[22] Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” [23] He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 6:9-15

[9] Pray then like this: 

    “Our Father in heaven,

    hallowed be your name. 

    [10] Your kingdom come,

    your will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven. 

    [11] Give us this day our daily bread, 

    [12] and forgive us our debts,

        as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

    [13] And lead us not into temptation,

        but deliver us from evil.

    [14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Philippians 3:8-11

[8] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Is Jesus Really God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Pilate said to them, ‘What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’”

Matthew 27:22

 

PONDER THIS

In Matthew 27, Jesus stood on trial before Pilate. In this account, we come face-to-face with the most present, pressing, and pertinent question ever asked: Is Jesus God as He claimed to be? If He is not, then He is a fraud, an imposter, and a deceiver. What we decide about Jesus will dictate eternity for each of us. Scripture gives us so much evidence that Jesus is God.

First, the attributes of God the Father are found in Jesus.

Throughout the Gospels, we find that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. He is described as God is described in Psalms and Isaiah: the King of Glory, the first and the last, the Lord of Hosts.

He is also shown to be God by the adoration He received.

Jesus also said He is God. In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” By quoting Exodus 3:14, Jesus claimed to be God.

Each of us has the opportunity, like Pilate, to decide what we do with Jesus. We can either accept Him or reject Him, love or despise Him, but we cannot be neutral. What do you believe about Jesus Christ: Will you crown Him or crucify Him? I love Him with all my heart. To explain Him is impossible; to ignore Him is disastrous; and to reject Him is fatal.

What have you decided to do with the claims of Jesus?

What difference does this decision make to your daily life?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the areas of your life you have not given to God. Pray and surrender those things to Him today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Forever Satisfied

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

This text points to the fact that believing in Jesus is a feeding and drinking from all that Jesus is. It goes so far as to say that our soul-thirst is satisfied with Jesus, so that we don’t thirst anymore.

He is the end of our quest for satisfaction. There is nothing beyond, and nothing better.

When we trust Jesus the way John intends for us to, the presence and promise of Jesus is so satisfying that we are not dominated by the alluring pleasures of sin (see Romans 6:14). This accounts for why such faith in Jesus nullifies the power of sin and enables obedience.

John 4:14 points in the same direction: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” In accord with John 6:35, saving faith is spoken of here as a drinking of water that satisfies the deepest longings of the soul. And the satisfaction becomes productive, like a well overflowing.

It’s the same in John 7:37–38: “Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’”

Through faith, Christ becomes in us an inexhaustible fountain of satisfying life that lasts forever and leads us to heaven, and on the way sets us free from the sinful illusions of other satisfactions. This he does by sending us his Spirit (John 7:38–39).

John Piper