When Resurrection Begins



Recently the discovery channel had another of it's spectacular
"discoveries".  You may remember some of their previous
discoveries such as the bone box of James the brother of Jesus,
the Judas epistle and other "Finds."

One of the more recent ones is broadly touted as "Nefertiti
(te-te) Resurrected."  And in fairness, it did present some
convincing arguments that the actual body of Queen Nefertiti had
actually been identified.  But that dusty corpse is a long ways
from resurrection.  Now not that I am cynical or anything, but I
suspect that the resurrection referred to had less to do with
new life than with hoped-for profits.  

Having said that, one of the spiritual things that I like to
think about and talk about most is the resurrection.  One reason
for this is that the resurrection is so dramatically connected
with the second coming.  Can you imagine a  without second
coming without a resurrection?  I guess it could happen, but it
becomes anti-climatic.  

I would hope that as Seventh-day Adventists we would believe
totally in the resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming. 
Jesus taught it.  

Luke 14:13  "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the
maimed, the lame, the blind.

14  "And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for
you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."



John 5:28  "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in
which all who are in the graves will hear His voice

29  "and come forth; those who have done good, to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the
resurrection of condemnation.

The disciples taught it.  

Acts 4:1  Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the
captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,

2  being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and
preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead......

33  And with great power the apostles gave witness to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them
all.

Peter taught it.

1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us
again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead,

4  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does
not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

Paul taught it

1 Thessalonians 4:13  But I do not want you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you
sorrow as others who have no hope.

14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who
are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no
means precede those who are asleep.

16  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first.

17  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we
shall always be with the Lord.

18  Therefore comfort one another with these words.





In all of this I haven't dealt with the sermon title: When
Resurrection Begins.  

 John 11:23  Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24  Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection at the last day."

25  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

26  "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do
you believe this?"

What do you think about that passage?

Philippians 3:8  Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the
excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,
that I may gain Christ

9  and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which
is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith;

10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and
the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

11  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the
dead.

The resurrection of the saints is contengent on the resurrection
of Christ.

Paul goes to great lengths to clairify this.

1 Corinthians 15:12  Now if Christ is preached that He has been
raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead?

Here is the question.  How can you say that there is no
resurrection and be a Christian?

13  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is
not risen.

You see, if you say that there is no resurrection then you must
believe that Christ has not been resurrected.  

14  And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and
your faith is also empty.

If Christ has not been resurrected, what do you have to believe
in?  What do you preach and teach?

15  Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we
have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not
raise up; if in fact the dead do not rise.

If you claim to be following a risen Christ, and do not believe
in the resurrection, you have a problem with cognative
dissonance.  That means that you are proclaiming two mutually
exclusive things.  If there is no resurrection, then there is no
resurrection of Christ.

16  For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

17  And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins!

The resurrection is part of taking care of the sin problem.  If
Christ has not risen, you have faith in nothing.  And the sin
problem has not been taken care of.

18  Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished.

This follows logically.  If there is no resurrection, then what
we have today is it.  Why worry about morality, God's law,
helping others, etc., etc.  

19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men the most pitiable.

What is Paul saying here?  If this life is all that there is,
what is the point of hope in Christ?  A few years more then
nothing?   Being healed from one disease and then die of
another?  If we live a life of service to others and deny self,
and give up to help others, why bother if this is all that there
is?

20  But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

BUT.  Christ IS risen.  Not has risen.  Not did rise.  He is. 
He is still the I AM.  And as surely as He arose that Sunday
morning 2000 years ago, He is waiting to be resurrected in your
heart. 

21  For since by man came death, by Man also came the
resurrection of the dead.

Now we get the theological discussion.  Resurrection came by the
same flesh that death came.  Resurrection and salvation came in
a way that we can understand, defeating the greatest enemies
that humanity has.

22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made
alive.

23  But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits,
afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.

24  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the
Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and
power.

25  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.

26  The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

As a matter of eternal consequence, death was given a wound at
the cross.  But it was obliterated at the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.  The resurrection takes away the fear of death that
binds people.  If we do not fear death, what can we fear?  There
is no greater enemy. 

Now Paul speaks to the theology of how we can partake of the
resurrection 

Romans 6:3  Or do you not know that as many of us as were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

4  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

When we accept Jesus Christ, make Him the Lord of our life,
publically make His death our death, our burial his burial, His
resurrection our resurrection, them we have newness of life.  

5  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His
death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His
resurrection,

6  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that
the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves of sin.

7  For he who has died has been freed from sin.

8  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with Him,

9  knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies
no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

10  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but
the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to
sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you
should obey it in its lusts.

13  And do not present your members as instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God.

14  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not
under law but under grace.

15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but
under grace? Certainly not!

16  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves
to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin
leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

17  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet
you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you
were delivered.

18  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness.

Having said all of that, when would you say that the
resurrection begins?  

If we have been set free from sin, do we not expereince a new
life?  Is not that new life not the pathway to the resurrection
from the dead when Jesus returns?  We may live to see that
event, but I believe that everyone here has someone special that
they want to see in the resurrection.  Right?  

But that resurrection from the dead, which brings all others,
was accomplished by Christ, for us, thousands of years ago.  It
is on the basis of that resurrection that all others occur. 

When the dead were resurrected in the Old Testament, it was in
anticipation of Christ's resurrection.  When the lad at the
village of Nain was resurrected, it was in anticipation of
Christ's resurrection.  When the young girl was resurrected, it
was in expectation of Christ's victory over the grave.  When
Lazarus was resurrected, it was with the prospect of Christ's
winning the battle with death. 

And brothers and sisters, as we look forward to the time when
Jesus will tear the sky apart and then rip open the graves of
the righteous, never forget, that it is all happening because
the events one weekend over 2000 years ago.  

That event is the most powerful event ever to happen in this
universe.  The greatest of enemies met.  Forces beyond our
comprehension were in a titanic struggle.  Every human and
demonic effort was made to keep the tomb closed for eternity. 
But when push came to shove, it was not even a partial match.  

Jesus through his sacrifice gained the most significant victory
of all times.  He defeated death.  For Himself.  For you. For
me.  For everyone who believes.  

He defeated the enemy who decieves us.  He replaced the enemies'
lies with the truth.  He supplanted the foes' evil with good. 
He exchanged His life for our lives, and then triumphantly
claimed them all for Himself.

As we can see, Nefertiti has not been resurrected.  She is
resting in a museum in Cairo.  I am sure that she looked forward
to some kind of an afterlife.  But who really knows what kind? 
In our spiritual life, we may be as alive as she is right now. 
But Christ wants to help us begin living the resurrection
experience now.  He wants to take the dry dust of our present
existance and turn it into the living flesh of humanity as He
intended it to be.  

Again:  1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten
us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead,

4  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does
not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

When does resurrection begin?  It begins when you allow God to
work in your heart.  It starts when you heed the still small
voice.  It starts when you quit holding on to the dry shell of
yourself and let the Holy Spirit begin to work in your heart. 

And as you listen, He will begin to guide you closer and closer
to Him.  Isn't that what you really want?

Today, if you want a fuller measure of that glory that Jesus
wants to give to you, would you just raise your hand.

Thank you.  You may put your hands down.  

Now I want to ask one more question.  If you have never let
Christ have first place in your heart, if you want to let that
resurrection begin working in your heart, would you just stand
where you are right now?

Prayer.