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Would you bow with me please in prayer?

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Lord, we are reminded of the calling in our lives, the calling from the Savior to follow

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him.

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And by our presence in this place this morning, we have to some degree answered him.

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Search us out, Lord, in wherein we have not followed you fully.

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Bring us to a place of complete surrender to your Lordship in our lives.

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We worship you as the Lord come down from heaven, as the Lord of glory who was crucified,

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as the risen Lord victorious over the grave.

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We acknowledge your presence with us today, and we are grateful, and we worship you.

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Amen.

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I want to express gratitude to GSA 20 for their work in putting together our worship

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service this morning and leading us in a service in which we have focused upon three of the

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most significant events in the history of the world since the creation.

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Those are the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, and his resurrection

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from the grave.

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It is this last event that today we want to focus on together in our worship service from

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this point on as we think about the theme of the risen Lord.

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The majesty of Jesus Christ is declared in the fact that he was raised from the dead.

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The resurrection of Jesus Christ may be the most unbelieved belief in the church today.

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I did not say the most unconfessed, but the most unbelieved belief.

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Is not this unbelief in his resurrection demonstrated too often in the powerless and worldly form

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of Christianity that is present in many churches?

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Is not the true confession of faith in our churches tending to be focused upon a me-centered

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religion that promises me what I need, what I want, my own prosperity and blessing, a

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kind of faith that offers no challenge, that asks no commitment, and that allows for self-lordship?

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Indeed, in far too many Christian churches, that is the true belief and not the belief

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in the risen Lord.

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For if we truly believe that Jesus died and rose again according to the Scriptures, then

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it will make a difference in the way that we worship, in the way that we live in this

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world.

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The majesty of our Savior is declared in the fact that he is truly the risen Lord.

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When we make that claim, there are several implications that are involved that we need

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to think about and like for us to consider three of those implications this morning.

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If we together confess that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord, what does that mean?

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Let's open our Bibles together to Matthew chapter 28 and look again at this account

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of the resurrection as Matthew records it.

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We'll begin reading in verse 1.

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Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene

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and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

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And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,

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and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

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And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow.

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And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

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And the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are

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looking for Jesus who has been crucified.

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He is not here, for he has risen just as he said.

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Jesus Christ is the risen Lord, and the first implication of that declaration is simply

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this, that he truly was dead.

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One attack of scoffers against our faith and against the resurrection is to assert that

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Jesus never really died on the cross, that he only pretended to die.

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This theory is sometimes called the swoon theory.

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It states that Jesus fainted on the cross, but that when he was taken down and put into

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the grave, he revived and escaped.

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This is a rather new allegation of critics of the Bible.

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It was created in the 18th century.

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Up until that point, critics were determined to keep him dead.

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But because they had been unsuccessful in arguing that point, they decided to try a

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new tactic and say that he never died in the first place.

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But it's really a rather silly idea to say that.

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Again, the cruel beating that he endured, the terrible suffering of crucifixion, being

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pierced in his chest cavity with a sword, resulting in a bloody discharge from the pericardium,

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and then being removed from that cross, placed into a cool, damp tomb without any medical

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attention, wrapped in tight cloth, burial cloths, and then left without food or water

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for three days.

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And after all of that, then having the strength to remove the claws, push aside the stone,

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and overcome the soldiers.

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Such an idea, such a thought, such an argument is absolutely ridiculous and laughable.

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Jesus truly died.

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The medical facts are clear.

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Now why did Jesus die?

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Was it the terrible physical ordeal that he endured?

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What he endured was surely enough to kill any human being, but that was not the primary

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cause of his death.

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Was it then the spiritual suffering that he endured for human sin?

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Who of us can suppose to know what that meant to the sinless Christ?

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But neither was that the primary cause of his death.

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His death came as the result of an act of his will.

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He chose the moment to die.

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He was given the authority to do that.

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In John chapter 10 he said, I have authority to lay my life down.

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That is authority that you and I do not have.

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We cannot choose the moment of our death.

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But Jesus could because he was the God man.

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And when he had sufficiently suffered for sin and could say the price has been paid,

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it is finished.

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It says in Matthew 27 and verse 50 that Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded

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up his spirit.

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He yielded up in the sense that he sent it away or he dismissed his spirit as an act

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of his will.

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Jesus was truly dead.

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In what happens here we see a bit of an insight as to what death is.

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Death is not ceasing to exist, but death is the separation of the spirit from the body,

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the separation of the immaterial us from the physical us.

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James says that the body without the spirit is dead.

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That's what death is.

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The body goes into repose.

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The spirit is removed from it.

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That is death.

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And Jesus truly died.

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There was no pulse.

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There was no respiration.

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There was no brain activity.

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He truly died on the cross.

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There is no question about that.

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There can be no legitimate doubt of it because of the witnesses that we have to his death

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as recorded in the Gospels.

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And remember that one of those was writing as a physician.

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In fact, Jesus was so dead that they took him down from the cross and buried him in

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a grave.

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This is not merely a matter of interest to us only.

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It is a crucial theological point because death was required as the penalty of sin.

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Death is the judgment of God upon human sin.

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And in order for Jesus to adequately and fully deal with sin, which is why he came into the

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world, he had to truly die.

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And he did.

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The wonder of it all is not merely that he died, but that he died on behalf of sinners

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like you and me who deserve the judgment of death.

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The wonder of it is that he died for us so that we might escape the spiritual death that

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we all deserve because of our rebellion against God.

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He truly died.

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But there is a second implication in this declaration that he is the risen Lord.

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And that is that he is truly alive as surely as he breathed his last and ceased to dwell

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in that body into which he had been incarnated.

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So he returned to life.

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As surely as he left the earthly scene and departed from here, so he returned again.

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And he entered again into that same body which he had left.

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But upon entering it, he changed that body so that it would be a supernatural one.

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His first body was a natural body like yours and mine.

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It was not indwelt by sin as ours is, but it was a natural body.

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The body he has now is not a natural body, it is a supernatural body.

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It is a body that can adapt to this realm, the natural realm, but is perfectly suited

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for the supernatural realm.

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It is the same body and yet it is a different body that he dwells in today.

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It is a body that is identifiable as the body of Jesus and yet it is not an identical body

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to the body he lived in because it is in fact a supernatural body.

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It is the same but different just as when you plant a kernel of wheat into the ground,

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that wheat sprouts over time.

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It is the same kernel of wheat, but it is different in a different form.

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The fact that he is truly alive is not a profession that comes to us from disciples who hallucinated.

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The declaration that he was alive was not the result of hopeful imaginations of his

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followers.

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They had none of the necessary emotions or the desire to believe that he would be raised

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from the dead that would be necessary to create such an illusion on their part.

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Their predisposition was that he was truly dead and they were in hopeless despair about

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that and overwhelmed by fear.

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Some of them, even after he appeared to them, were doubtful that he was truly alive, but

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he is.

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And we worship his majesty as the Lord who is risen, risen from the realm of the grave

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and of death.

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Risen like none were raised before him, but risen like many will be raised after him.

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John, that apostle who was so very close to Jesus, who was next to him in that place of

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affection, who leaned upon Jesus' breast at the Last Supper, John, was the last person

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on earth that we know saw Jesus after his resurrection.

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It was sixty years after that first Easter when John was on the Isle of Patmos.

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It was there that he saw Jesus.

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Listen with me to Revelation chapter 1 and let's take a look at his account.

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He says in verse 10, Revelation 1, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind

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me a loud voice like the voice of a trumpet saying, write in a book what you see and send

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it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia,

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and Laodicea.

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John says, I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned, I

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saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed

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in a robe reaching down to his feet and girded across his breast with a golden girdle.

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And his head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like

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a flame of fire.

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And his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and

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his voice was like the voice of many waters.

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And in his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged

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sword and his face was like the sun shining in its strength.

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This is the only physical description of Jesus that we have in the Bible.

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It is a description of him in his resurrection body, his supernatural body.

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Obviously, it is somewhat symbolic.

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For example, the two-edged sword coming out of his mouth speaks of the authority of the

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words that he spoke.

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But John saw Jesus in his glory, and his response was that when he saw him he fell at his feet

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as a dead man.

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Now remember, this is the one who was closest to Jesus, his beloved disciple, the disciple

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of love, John.

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But John is an old man now looks upon the risen Christ sixty years after his resurrection

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and falls down before him in a dead faint.

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He is truly alive, beloved.

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And were he to appear here today, all of us would fall down before him as dead people,

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just as John did here.

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It is frightening to us to consider what a spiritual body appears like, what a supernatural

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body looks like.

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But that is the kind of body that Jesus has in his resurrection as the risen Lord.

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There is no other body in the whole universe like that one right now.

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The saints who are in heaven, we believe, are in a temporary body of some sort, providing

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a covering for their soul.

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But what they dwell in is not like the body Jesus is in.

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The angels, when they appear, are not unlike what we see here.

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But their body neither is like this body.

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This is the only one in the whole universe.

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It is a prototype, or to use biblical language, it is the first fruits.

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But it is the kind of body that you, if you're a Christian, will have one day.

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For this same apostle John wrote in his first epistle that we shall see him, and when we

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see him, we will be like him.

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That not only means that we will be free at that moment from the sin that now indwells

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us in these bodies of flesh, but it means that the very bodies that we live in will

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be changed from natural bodies to supernatural bodies, a matter that Paul elaborates upon

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in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

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He is the risen Lord.

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He was truly dead.

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He is now truly alive.

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And he dwells in a glorified body.

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And he stands in heaven before God the Father on our behalf, his work of redemption being

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finished.

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And soon he will come to receive his own to himself.

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He is truly, truly risen.

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But there is a third implication that we arrive at from this declaration that he is the risen

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Lord.

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And the third implication is just simply this, that as he was truly dead, and as he is now

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truly alive, so he is truly Lord.

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Truly Lord.

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He is the Lord in the first place of all history.

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On this occasion when Jesus spoke to John, he said to him in verse 17, do not be afraid.

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I am the first and the last.

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I am the first and the last.

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The idea there seems to be I was before all things and I am the last of all things.

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Everything that exists, I embrace.

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I'm the first, I'm the last.

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Anything that happens in all of history is in my control and my power.

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I'm the first, I'm the last.

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I want you to know that Jesus Christ is today the Lord of history.

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And there is not an event that takes place in our world, there is not a movement among

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the nations, but that the Lord of history ordains it and sees to it.

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And it accomplishes his sovereign plan.

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He is the Lord of history.

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He is also the Lord of Hades in verse 18.

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He says, I am the living one and I was dead, truly dead.

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And behold, I am alive, truly alive forevermore.

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And I have the keys of death and Hades.

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Jesus Christ has the keys, the authority of death and Hades.

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We belong to him.

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You and I need not fear the grave.

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We need not fear the specter of death.

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For death has become now merely a servant to the will of Jesus Christ.

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And death cannot take you, it cannot take me until that moment that Jesus Christ gives

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it the authority to take us, for he has the keys of death.

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And Hades, which is the realm of the dead, will only open to you and to me when Jesus

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Christ is ready for that realm to open to you and to me.

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The child of God who is walking in the will of God is invincible until the purpose of

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the risen Lord is accomplished for him in this world.

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And then only too gladly will the risen Lord call his child home.

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He is the Lord of Hades.

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He is the Lord of the death and the grave.

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We can broaden this thought in Ephesians chapter 1.

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The apostle after exclaiming the power that God exposed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

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says that God has now highly exalted him and put everything under his feet and declared

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him to be the head of the church.

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The risen Lord is the Lord of the church.

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He is the Lord of Grace Church Roseville.

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I fear too much we forget that.

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We forget that in our relationship to the church.

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We forget that in the way we conduct ourselves in the church.

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We forget it in the decisions we make about the church that Jesus Christ is the Lord of

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this church, of his church.

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In all things, he is the head.

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And we see him here in Revelation chapter 1 as the Lord of the church addressing letters

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to seven of the churches that existed in that day.

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And as he did so, addressing problems and symptoms that would appear in churches throughout

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this whole age.

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So while these are seven literal letters to seven literal churches, they are representative

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in the sense that those churches are like churches in the 1990s.

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And we can go to the letters that are written in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and see ourselves

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altogether too much.

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We see him standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in the position of examination.

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He's in the midst of it because he is the Lord of this church.

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And the local churches that profess him that say we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son

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of God incarnated by the virgin birth, that he lived a sinless life, he died a death for

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sinners, he was raised from the dead.

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That churches like that, like this, might focus upon him for he's in the center of the

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seven golden candlesticks.

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He is the Lord of the church.

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And when we come to worship, we come not to see what we can get out of the service for

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ourselves.

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That is secondary.

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That is a byproduct of what will happen if we come to give to the Lord of the church

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what is due him, our worship and our praise.

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Then I remind you that he is the Lord also of all the supernatural realm.

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In Ephesians chapter 1, and we see it illustrated in Revelation, he is the Lord of the angels.

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Angels whether holy or fallen, good angels or demons, and Satan.

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He is the Lord over them ultimately.

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He is the Lord of all principalities and powers and rulers.

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All of them acknowledge that he is Lord.

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Even the demons cried out and said, we know who you are.

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Why have you come to torment us before the time?

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You see they had to acknowledge the fact that he is Lord even in their realm of the heavenlies,

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the supernatural.

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And he is Lord likewise of all human beings.

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Paul tells us that because of the humble and obedient death on the cross, God has highly

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exalted Jesus Christ and given him a name, a title that is above every name or title,

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that of Lord.

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And he says every knee will bow and every tongue, not just of Christians, every knee

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and every tongue, will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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And that day will ultimately come when every knee will bow before him, everyone.

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Whether they acknowledge that he even exists, every person will one day bow the knee to

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him for he is the Lord of all humanity.

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There is no realm, there is no reality that is outside of his control, whether it be human

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or demonic, whether it be earthly or heavenly, whether it be our feelings and our circumstances,

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there is no realm that is outside his control.

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Will you believe that today?

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Will you lean upon that?

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Will you allow that implication of this declaration that he is the risen Lord to soak into your

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heart?

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That whatever you're facing today, whether it be blessing or trial, that he is the Lord

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of those circumstances?

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The majesty of Jesus Christ is found in all of these truths that we've looked at.

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That he is Savior, that he is Son of God, that he is Master and Shepherd, that he alone

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is the Bread of Life and the Lamb of God.

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And his majesty is found in this truth that he is the risen Lord.

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If it is true that he is the risen Lord, what are the ramifications of this in my life and

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yours?

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Let me suggest quickly five of them.

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If in fact he is the risen Lord, then the greatest act I can perform is to worship him.

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If he is the risen Lord, the greatest act that I can perform is to declare his worth

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and to bring praise and honor and glory to him if he is the risen Lord.

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And how can I do that?

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How shall I do that today?

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And before this service ends, and when I get home this afternoon, and tomorrow and this

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week at work and in my relationships with others, how shall I bring glory to him if

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he is the risen Lord? It makes a difference.

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For the greatest act that I can perform is to bring glory to him.

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If he is the risen Lord, the greatest opportunity I have is to tell of him.

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On that morning, his resurrection morning, the angel said, he is risen, go and tell.

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If he is the risen Lord, the greatest opportunity that I have is to tell of him.

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That's why he calls me his witness.

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You shall be witnesses, he said unto me.

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And then he ascended back into heaven.

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Through the apostle, he calls us his ambassadors.

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We are told that we stand in the place of Jesus Christ in this world, calling people

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to be reconciled to God.

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The greatest opportunity I have in this life is not that promotion that I'm anticipating

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at work.

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The greatest opportunity I have is not to influence my children.

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The greatest opportunity I have is to be a witness for Jesus Christ as the risen Lord.

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The greatest opportunity.

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And if he is the risen Lord, the greatest joy I can experience is to be with him.

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If it is true that he went into the realm of death and he truly died, and if it is true

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that he came back from the dead like no one else before him, then the greatest joy that

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I can experience is to spend time with him.

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Just coming to understand the marvels, the awesome truths about this person.

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If I can enter into his presence in some way, then that is an invitation that is unequaled

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in anything I can do.

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And as the risen Lord, he is the one who invites us not only to come into his presence once

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a week for worship on Sunday morning, that's a false idea, but he invites us rather to

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live every day, every hour in his presence.

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And to know the joy of his resurrection power, and the joy of his fellowship, and the assurance

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of his care and comfort in our lives.

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We can know that, and he invites us to know it.

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He desires us to know it.

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If he is the risen Lord, the greatest joy that I can experience is to be with him.

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If he is the risen Lord, the greatest privilege that I can foresee is to be like him.

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I can't imagine any honor in the whole universe greater than that.

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To one day have a body like his body, and to be like him.

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That does not mean to be deity, but it means to be blameless, to be righteous, to be without

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imperfection in any sense, to be holy as he is holy.

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If he is the risen Lord, the greatest privilege I can foresee, I can possibly imagine, is

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that one day I shall be like him.

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He that has this hope purifies himself, says John, even as the Lord is pure.

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And finally, if he is the risen Lord, the greatest service I can do is to obey him.

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Do I really understand that he is the risen Lord?

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That he truly died as the Son of God and the Lamb of God, and that he truly is alive again

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from the dead?

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If I understand that, then the greatest service that I can do is to obey him first by repenting

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of my sin and trusting him alone as my Savior.

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That is the obedience of faith.

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And it is obedience, it is that obedience that brings salvation to the soul.

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Obedience to repent of my own sinfulness, and to turn to him alone to trust him as my

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Savior and receive him into my life.

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Have you done that?

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If he is the risen Lord, then the greatest service that you can do is to obey him first

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by trusting him.

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And if you have done that, then the greatest service you can do is to obey him by seeking

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his purpose and his plan for your life, and forsaking all, taking up your cross, and following

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him.

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Now if he is not the risen Lord, don't bother doing that.

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If he is not the risen Lord, it's a waste of your life's opportunities.

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If he is not the risen Lord, such a message as the one I'm declaring this morning is

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folly at its best, and deceit at its worst.

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But if he is the risen Lord, then the greatest service that I can do is to find out what

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God wants me to do with my life, what his plan for me is, and then to begin following

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him in that direction, and laying everything aside, and taking up that cross of identification

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with him, and death with him, and marching onward.

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He is truly the risen Lord.

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How is that affecting your life today?

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What difference is it making in the decisions that you make about this church?

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What difference is it making in the way that you treat your family?

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What difference does it make in your relationships with your co-workers?

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What difference does it make in the way that you look at your possessions?

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What difference does it make as you consider your future, that he is the risen Lord?

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Dear friend, that is the majesty of Jesus Christ.

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And if we profess that we believe it, then we had better live it.

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Let's pray.

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How would God want you to respond this morning?

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You say with your tongue, he is the risen Lord, but is there some area of your life

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that says your tongue is lying?

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Does your conscience point a finger and call you hypocrite?

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Because you say he is the risen Lord, but you're not living that way?

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Understand that coming to understand and see that is the work of God's Spirit in your

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heart.

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He's the one bringing that enlightenment and that conviction right now, and he's doing

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it for your good.

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He's doing it because God loves you, and this risen Lord loves you.

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And he wants your best, and your best is to bow the knee to him.

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That's your best.

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Will you do that today and trust him as your Savior if you've never done that?

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Will you receive him right there where you are, repenting of your sinfulness and trusting

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him alone to make you right with God?

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Christian friend, are you living according to the will of God for your life?

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Is the risen Lord the preeminent one?

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Is he the decision maker?

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Is he the referee?

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Is he the king?

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Jesus said, if you want to be my disciple, the disciple of the risen Lord, then you must

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forsake all and take up your cross and follow me.

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That's important, eternally important.

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Oh God, wherever this message finds us today, may we eagerly respond to the Lordship of

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Jesus in our lives.

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May our raised, exalted head of the Church, who stands in our midst this morning, examining

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our lampstand, our witness, our testimony, our consecration, may that Jesus Christ, who

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is glorified, be praised and worshiped in our lives.

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May there be no exception among us today.

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Let's sing together.

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I have decided to follow Jesus.

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No turning back.

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No turning back.

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Amen.