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This page contains primarily teaching messages given on Sunday mornings at Cornerstone Bible Church, as well as other miscellaneous writing.

This is the season. According to the song (sung by the inimitable Andy Williams), it’s the most wonderful time of the year. It definitely can be a wonderful time when we are consumed by the wonder of God Himself becoming an infant in order to save human beings from spiritual darkness. The miracle of the incarnation—of God with us, becoming one of us and thus becoming a faithful high priest who can sympathize with all our weaknesses—is on par with the miracle of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

Unfortunately, as we all know, we live in the midst of a culture that has little consciousness of the Saviour, much less of our own sin that necessitated His coming. In some ways I enjoy this season just because it brings into sharp focus the fact that Americans, though often loaded with cash, are bankrupt. We have defined real life not in the terms that Christ used in John 17:3 when He said, “ . . . this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God” but rather in terms of the accumulation of material goods and the pursuit of leisure. Almost as if to our own culture, Jesus speaks in Luke 12:15-21:

¹⁵ . . . “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” ¹⁶And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷“And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸“Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ ²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹“So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

From as many times as I have acquired something new, thinking I would be somehow satisfied with that thing, only to be slowly but surely disappointed with that thing, you would think I would be utterly convinced that there is no real life to be found in stuff. Woe to me, so easily deceived by the same glittering, tinsel promises that stuff proclaims through its shiny appearance. So, today, if only for my sake, let’s take an opportunity to derive some clarity on the real meaning of life. Let’s make an effort to counter the confusion and fuzziness about why this is an important season. But mostly, let’s staple our attention to the most important thing in this and every season. Today we are going to seek to answer the question that gets at the real meaning of real life: How can we be rescued from death? How can we have true life? Or, Why would God save the likes of me and you from death? Our answer is found in the first five verses of Ephesians 2.

Let’s read that passage, (with some context, of course): READ Ephesians 1:18-2:10

If you noticed, the first three verses of our passage are an anatomical study of spiritual death. We are going to look very carefully today at what it means to be physically alive but spiritually dead. It is a grim picture, but, because it is an accurate portrait of you and me apart from Christ’s grace in our lives, we do well to closely trace the gruesome features of what we were, why we were that way, and what we did when we were walking dead men. Merry Christmas!

You also likely noticed that the last two verses of our passage speak of life. Those verses show us precisely what God in His grace does to the walking dead.

To help prepare our minds and thoughts for our morbid contemplations, please look at this specimen from my yard. This is my favorite of the flowers that have been growing at our place this last summer. You’ll notice that what formerly smelled pleasant and was a delight to the eyes is now producing a noisome stench and is shriveled and ugly. So it is with death. Dead things stink. Dead things look awful. Three months ago, I would have taken this very flower and pressed it close to my nose. Now, one would have to be a morose gardener to put this thing up to one’s face. Rather, we would prefer to get far away from it. That is natural. We abhor death. It is disturbing to us.

As with flowers, so it is with people. Death, when it comes to human beings, is disturbing. It smells bad. It looks horrid. It is unsettling and fearsome. And so is the portrait of you and me painted in these verses.

Please consider an important distinction as we approach these first three verses:

This passage provides us with God’s view of the actual condition of human beings who are not yet recipients of His grace. Therefore, these verses apply to us all. For either you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and therefore this passage is a description of you and your life before Christ saved you. Or, you have not yet placed your faith in Christ, and therefore this section describes God’s view of your life presently.

A. Like a forthright doctor low on tact, verse one gives us our ultimate diagnosis. Before we see the symptoms of our condition, before we see how we obtained this condition, we are told the root problem. What is that problem in one word? Dead. Apart from God’s work in our lives, we are dead.

You can imagine the shock you might feel. You have been experiencing severe pain and low energy and strange sensations and so you go to your physician for an appointment. You describe your symptoms, he performs some expensive tests and you consult with him about the results later that day. You were never prepared for what he was to tell you. We have familiarity with shocking reports from doctors this year. But our shock would be less than yours if your doctor were to look at you with grave concern and say: “I am afraid that you are dead.” Imagine your response. “But, but, Doc, I feel alive. I am breathing. Look! I can move my arms and my feet! I can still think. And Rene Descartes said that if I think, therefore I am. I can’t be dead!”

It does sound ridiculous. We know that we can think and move our arms and talk and laugh. We build buildings. We make plans. We go on trips. We get married and have kids. We even help other people. We can’t be dead. And though you may convince a human doctor that he has made a dreadful mistake in your diagnosis, there is no argument with one’s Creator. He made life. He knows that of which life consists. If He says we are dead, regardless of our excuses to the contrary, we are.

This naturally raises a question. What is death precisely? (This investigation in turn will help us define life.) The New Testament uses the word nekros here, which means “lifeless.” In other places it uses the word thanatos which means “that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which the life on earth is ended.^”

But, as we see from the next few verses, this death in verse one is not physical. It is not the separation of the soul from the body (which is what we normally think of when we think of death), but this death is the separation of the soul from the soul’s source of life:God. Just like the body withers and dies when the principle of life—the soul—leaves it, so the soul dies when God leaves it. This is precisely why Romans 6:23 bluntly tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” And this is clearly the point here in verse one: You were dead in your trespasses and sins. Because of your lapses from uprightness, because of your violations of God’s perfect will and law, you are dead.

Of course, if you could show this doctor that you had never sinned nor transgressed against God and His ways, you could possibly have your diagnosis changed, but I have met no person who can say truthfully that they have never sinned. Perhaps our most persistent and grossest sins are not things we commit, but those things we omit. For example, have you ever, in the course of your life, not loved God with all your heart or all your mind or all your strength? That is the greatest commandment in all the Bible and I for one have broken it brazenly every single day. If you have, like me, then this verse holds true. You are dead.

Verse One tells us our root or ultimate condition, verse two will tell us how we got there.

Verse Two And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

1. We are the walking dead. I am not accustomed, other than in black and white movies about ancient mummies, to think of dead people walking. But this verse gives us the clue about this kind of death. It does not impair the functioning of the body; rather it kills the soul. Thus, a walking person can be dead and that is what we are apart from God’s grace.

2. The verse tells us three things that are influencing or controlling our walking as dead men. These three things form a sort of progression, much like playing pool. In order to get the 8-ball in the pocket, it must be hit with the cue ball, and in order to move that cue ball, one must shoot the cue stick at the right angle and with the right force. In this case the 8-ball is in the pocket (we ARE dead): now we see the troika of causes that put it there.

a. First, we walked according to the course of this world. The word ‘world’ here is used in the sense that we see it used in other key places in the New Testament to describe that arrangement of society and societies against the truth of God and His Son.

1 John 5:19—We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Be careful: this is not the world that God made in Genesis 1 and pronounced good. This is ‘world’ in the sense of the world in rebellion against her Creator. To say that we walked according to the course (or age) of this world, is to say that we were simply following the flow of the current around us. We are fish that are part of the great school of fish following the natural pull of the current, of our instincts, and of the mass of other fish surrounding us.

b. Second, the flow of this world and direction of our walking in it were in accordance with the prince of the power of the air. If you were tempted to balk at the diagnosis of verse one, you will stand up and leave right here when your doctor tells you that, as a walking dead man, you are under the control and influence of an evil spiritual prince who rules the dominion of the air. As sciency-fiction as it may sound, that is precisely the case and it is a repeated idea in the New Testament. 2Cor. 4:4 In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world. It is on issues like this that we see the Scriptures claiming the authority of divine revelation. We could not know this truth otherwise. To discover that the course of the world is under the power of a malevolent, invisible being is not something a scientist could claim. Only God can give us this knowledge. And we can be grateful to know the rest of the story.

This world has a course to it. If we doubt it, we need only turn on our television. It is a wonderful window into the world. This part of verse two tells us that this world courses on in the direction given it by this evil ruler. As most societies assume the tone of the government that rules them, so this world follows the direction of this invisible spiritual being. One ancient commentator put it this way: As the children of God have one head, so have the wicked; for each of the classes forms a distinct body.

Thus, when we become Christians, Christ is our ruler (Ephesians 1:22—He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.) Conversely, if we do not trust in Christ, we are ultimately under the rulership of Satan. And this rulership affects individuals who are under that government.

c. Third: we walked of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. That is, you and I walked, but we were not animated by the life of God. We were animated and energized by another kind of spirit. It was the very spirit that today actively animates and energizes those who disobey God. Such people therefore can be called the very sons of disobedience.

Thus, in verse two, we see how it is we came to be dead. We simply walked according to this world, according to the prince of this world, according to the spirit of disobedience.

Now, in verse three, Paul gives us a view of what kind of activity walking dead men engage in. As all good mothers know, little itchy spots covering their child’s body are symptoms of chicken pox. Here, in verse three, we see the symptoms, the outward manifestations of this kind of death.

Verse Three ³ Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest

Note carefully: with this subtle change in pronoun, from “you” to “we”, Paul joins himself to the Ephesians as a co-conspirator in the culture of death. Here we see how he and other walking dead men spent their time.

a. They literally lived (anastrepho—conduct oneself, sojourn) in the lusts (epithumia—desire, craving) of the flesh.

b. They indulged (poieo- do, carry out, perform) the desires (thelema—what one desires or wishes) of the flesh.

We might ask what precisely this means. What does such a lifestyle look like? Is that really so bad? Fortunately, Galatians 5:19ff exhibits for us what manner of living this commitment to follow one’s cravings and lusts results in:

¹⁹ Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, ²¹ envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

At the risk of missing the personal relevance, let us consider just one example of such living that involves two of these practices: Strife (eris—contention, strife, wrangling) and Drunkenness.

For example, Alexander the Great killed Clitus, one of his best friends through over-drinking and anger. (Read Plutarch, 49-51)

You and I congratulate ourselves on keeping our clothes shiny in public. But can you tell me that if each of your meditations were made public you would avoid spending time behind bars? And though man looks upon the outward appearance, the main stage upon which God’s eyes rest is the heart and its meditations. Paul, the Ephesians, the rest of mankind, you and I were walking dead men who were indulging in lust and desire and were actually, by nature, children worthy of wrath.

Before we turn from this foul portrait to go forward and behold the glorious face of God as revealed in His mercy in verse 4, we should take stock. Do you get it? These verses are damning. They paint a grotesque scene. But just as Jesus embraced the ugly, torturous cross in order to enjoy the fellowship of the Father in the heavens, so we must not only understand this picture, but embrace it. As long as these verses describe someone you know and not you and me, we will never comprehend the extremity and enormity and wonder of grace. We are like the vicious murderer who wants to hear his pardon before his sentencing. It is only as he realizes his desperate situation that he will be in a position to begin to perceive, much less glory in, his forgiveness. It was the very sinful woman who loved Jesus much (as recorded in Luke 7) because she knew she had been forgiven much. How much do you love Christ? How much do you want to love Him who is worthy of all the love your heart and soul and mind can express? Then do not close your ears! Listen to this litany of your desperate acts and desperate nature. Reckon the truth. You were dead. You walked according to the course of this world. You were a slave in the dominion of darkness. You were a disobedient son. You were a child of wrath. It is the only way we can be prepared to hear and understand mercy and grace.

What possible hope do such dead people, walking in sin and trespasses, pursuing death, have for life?

Verses Four and Five ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

This is one of the most glorious conjunction phrases in the Scripture. “But God . . .” It contrasts so starkly with “And you . . .” in verse one. Gazing with perfectly clarity and understanding on Paul and the Ephesians and me and you and all men, alone comprehending how great our transgressions and sins and death, God, alone, gives Life to the dead. Let us take the time to truly enjoy these prodigious verses.

1. First, we must note the hero in this section of the passage. There is a great contrast with the first three verses of this chapter wherein you and I and Paul and the Ephesians are the major actors. We were the ones who were doing things and making it all happen. We were the ones who were sinning and transgressing and lusting and following our lusts. But here in verse four and five, note, who is the one who acts? Who is the one who carries the day? Who is the one alone responsible for the successful rescue of walking dead people? God!

2. Second, another alarming contrast materializes when we juxtapose the first attribute recorded of human beings (in verse one) with the first attribute of God (in verse four). In verse one, what is the first thing we learn about ourselves? We are dead in sin! In the fourth verse, as God comes into the scene, what is the first thing we perceive about Him? He is merciful! Isn’t this the ideal combination? That a wretched man is met by a merciful God? If we were strict materialistic evolutionists we would call it a fortunate act of chance. Like the interesting coincidence between our physical need for oxygen and its abundance in the earth’s atmosphere, it stupefies us to learn that the one merciful deity that a dead man can afford to meet is the very One we encounter in the Scriptures. Yet, like our oxygen rich atmosphere, this conjunction is no function of chance. God, in His mercy, meets us in our death and, instead of justice, He expresses His love and mercy!

3. Third, in this fourth verse we are told who God is and why He does what he does before we are told what He does in verse five.

a. Because He loves us with this great love. This love is directed to you and I. If we can remotely comprehend the antagonism between a holy God and a sinful person then we can appreciate the surprise and irony of this truth. He loves US. It is not as though He has chosen to shed His love upon a worthy subject, much like monarchs of old would do when they wanted to choose a man or woman fit to be in their presence. Remember Artaxerxes. He had hundreds of women try out for the position of Queen of Persia. It was the best and most beautiful of all women that he chose to bring near to himself. Esther was chosen because of her overwhelming beauty and her superior qualities. Strangely, you receive God’s love not because of your qualifications, but in spite of your alienation and enmity towards Him. This King had a different approach. And so it clearly states in verse five: He acted this way toward us even when we were dead in our transgressions. This idea is found throughout the Bible: Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, ⁿlet us reason¹ together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as ^owhite as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Romans 5:6-8: ⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Our God is that wonderful. He has the power, the richness of mercy and the greatness of love to make even His enemies part of His beloved family.

b. Why does He act as He does? He acts in response to His own character, not to what our condition merits or warrants. As Charles Spurgeon said, “it is not love of something good in us; it is love of us because of everything good in Him.” Think for a moment about what our spiritual condition warrants from a holy God. What does one do with a human being so thoroughly sinful that he or she is said to be dead in sin? Well, one does with such a person as one does with dead, stinky flowers. One throws them away. Or, since sin is infectious and one person’s commitment to follow their lusts infects others with the same fever, you quarantine them forever. People dead in sin are dangerous to themselves and other people. They are like unwitting carriers of the plague. For a time, they are super-infectious and completely unaware of their sickness. We can all remember getting a bad cold or flu from a friend. In the same way, we can all think of at least one or two evil episodes in our past that we participated in precisely because one of our friends encouraged us to. That is one reason why God says the wages of sin is death. It kills the host and all those he or she passes the disease to. That is just one reason why God’s wrath visits sinners with eternal separation from Himself.

Ironically, though justice demands our eternal death, God saves us from His justice and wrath by embracing us in mercy. Our transgressions, though deadly, were not a deterrent to God. I love the picture presented by the passage in Psalm 40 where it says, “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” God sees us stuck and helpless and mired in mess and filth and sin and transgression and He, Himself, comes down to pull us out and sets us on a new path. His love and His mercy arc over the separation and enmity yawning between us because of our direct, intentional disobedience to our Creator. His love and mercy overcame all of the demands of simple justice that we pay for our crimes. Rightly deserving of condemnation and rejection and separation, we instead receive mercy and love at the hands of the Just, Holy, Righteous One. Truly, mercy triumphs over judgment! And it is this fact that should cause us to sing and fall down in praise. God acts toward us out of His rich mercy and great love.

4. Fourth, we do see in verse five what God does out of His mercy toward walking dead men! Even though we were dead in our own transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ!

Did we earn it? Did we make ourselves candidates for a life-transplant by our clean living? How did we convince the Maker of all to give us life? What merit or activity on our part recommended us to His love and mercy? Please look closely. If we really understand the teaching of this passage, we must see how ludicrous it is to suggest that we were or did something to procure Life. Rather, God, acting in reference to His own lovingkindness, showed love to sinful us. We are like Adam before he became a living being (as it says in Genesis). A lifeless form of clay was Adam before God made him alive. As lifeless dust, Adam had no leverage on God. But God, who loves life and delights in giving it to His creation, breathed into Adam’s very nostrils the breath of life. He made dirt live! Rather than considering his past qualifications, Adam can only look to his Creator in awe and thanksgiving. Dead in sin, we can only do the same as we see Him give us life.

5. Fifth and finally we should note the last phrase in verse five. We are used to seeing information contained in parentheses. That which is in them is usually additional, but not crucial, information. But these parentheses at the end of verse five should be plated in gold. The truth they contain is not parenthetical or disposable. It is vital truth that is as glorious as it is crucial. By grace you have been saved!

As though to summarize the wonder of all that God is and does toward us, we have this memorable phrase that sums it all. By grace you have been saved! What is grace? It appears from this passage that it is simply the saving work of God. Grace is rich mercy and great love in action. It is not abstract. It is not removed from human experience. Grace means salvation for you and me who have placed our faith in Christ personally. God shows you His mercy and His love and gives you His life and that is what grace is. By grace, you have been saved.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Eph. 2:4-5)

What can we possibly do with this passage to live in light of it? Here are just a few suggestions.

1. Remember from whence ye came. If you enjoy God’s mercy today, recall that it is a gift of grace and there was a day when you were without God and without hope. There are two rulers in the world. You and I have followed both.

2. Have compassion on those who are spiritually dead. You did not acquire life by your own credentials. It was pure grace and mercy. Live like a man forgiven much so that you may love your lord and your neighbor much. Share the good news with those who are dead, because the Bible says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

5. Glory in God and in His lovingkindness. Obey Him with all your being as your spiritual act of worship, but glory in Him and His great work in you.

Romans three reminds us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus . . . (Romans 3:23-24).

Introduction— Today we get to enjoy the thrilling sequel to last week’s passage.

To get ourselves prepared for this second course, let’s review the meal we had previously.

A. We saw that we were the walking dead. We were spiritually dead in our sins and transgressions.

B. We were walking according to this world and the spiritual influences of the world.

C. We were indulging the passions and desires and lusts of our minds and our flesh.

He made us alive together with Christ! We were spiritually dead, but God raised us to life! Note that this verse declares this to be a completed action. It is not something remaining to be accomplished; it is stated as a fact. Just as the physical reality of the existence of Mars or the principle of gravity rely not one whit on our belief in them to exist, this is a spiritual reality that obtains no matter how we may be feeling on a given day.

As we proceed into the following verses, we can now see that this making us alive is one part of a trio of works that God, Himself, performs in our lives in our union with Christ. It is much like being rescued from drowning. Once you have been brought back to shore and recovered, you would rightly say to your rescuer: “Thank you for saving my life.” If we looked at it closely we would realize that “saving your life” is not one single action, but a series of actions for the lifeguard: diving into the ocean; swimming out to you; grabbing you; safely pulling you back to shore; etc. In verse five we are told that we “have been saved.” The question answered here is, what are the works that comprise the whole? What does it mean to be saved by God? It means He has done at least three things to save you and me from death and separation from Himself.

Verse Six—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

As we discussed the first action last week, we move on to examine the second and third works here.

2^nd work: He raised us up—raised up with—sunegeiro—to raise up to a new life

Romans 6:4 ⁴Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

We were dead, now we have been not only given life, but raised up from where we were and how we were living into a completely new life.

3^rd work: He seated us in the heavenly places—seated with—sugkathizo—to cause to sit down together, place together

Heavenly places or heavenlies—epouranios—the heavenly region; heaven as the abode of God.

Behold the wonder in this verse. On the one hand, we are amazed to be treated by God this way. On the other, we are humbled by Who it is we are associated with. Look again at vs. 5 and 6! All of this happens to us in association with Christ. We are made alive together with Him. We are raised up with Him. We are seated with Him. And the verse closes with the crucial phrase that all of this is done in Christ Jesus.

Look who we get to associate with! God is treating us like He treated His son. We who were dead in sin are being treated like He who had never sinned. We who followed the course of this world are being regarded by the Father as He who overcame the world. We who were governed by lust are being exalted with the One who never succumbed to lust. He is pure and holy and we are made His brothers and sisters. We are His associates and as a result of our association with Jesus Christ we are made alive with Him, we are raised up with Him and we are seated in heaven with Him! As one 16^th century theologian put it: And certainly, although, as respects ourselves, our salvation is still the object of hope, yet in Christ we already possess a blessed immortality and glory;We are thus furnished with the richest consolation. Of everything which we now want, we have a sure pledge and foretaste in the person of Christ.

In the early 1900’s a shocking thing occurred. A boy by the name of Quentin entered the White House in Washington, D.C. He took the elevator up to the second floor. No one stopped him. That may not sound remarkable, except that he was accompanied by a Shetland pony. He was never apprehended by the secret service for this. This same young man also performed other audacious acts before he left the White House. He walked through one of the rooms on stilts. He jumped on several sofas. And, most shocking of all, he grabbed the president’s sword and swung it in the presence of the President himself, ultimately putting a slice into the cheek of the son of the Secretary of War. He was neither caught nor imprisoned for such reckless acts. Why? Because Quentin’s last name was Roosevelt and he lived with his father, Theodore, in the White House. Like Quentin, we have freedom and royal treatment precisely because of who we know and are related to.

Hence, our treatment by God is conditioned solely on the basis of who we know, not who we were! We actually get to associate with God’s Son as part of His family.

Before we proceed, we should ask: How can this affect our lives today? What should we do with this? Do what is only fitting and natural: Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. The next verse tells us the ultimate effect of these great works of God in our lives.

Verse Seven—in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Undoubtedly, you saw that crucial phrase again—in Christ Jesus. Here we learn that there are ages yet to come. This time period and world in which we find ourselves is not the only one. There are ages (or worlds or periods of time) ahead of us which have the promise of something great. We all have an innate longing to look into the future. As we look carefully at verse seven we can actually see some of what the future holds.

Someday, when the world is changed, God is going to show how rich is His grace in these future ages. And, He is going to show it through His kindness toward us. To whom or what He displays the riches of His grace I do not know. Is it to delight Himself? Is it something for the angels to behold and wonder at? Is it a further showing off His rich grace to us for our delight? Or is it merely that every created thing will see God’s rich grace poured out to us in kindness and give Him the blessing and honor and glory and praise He naturally deserves? I don’t know, but it is undoubtedly worth living and waiting for.

It is also worth considering that it may just be that God chooses to give life to unworthy, dead, sinful people like me and you, simply because it will fully display the extremity and extent and abundance of His love and mercy and kindness. It is one thing to honor the honorable; that is fitting. It is another to shower honor on the dishonorable. The attention of all witnesses turns from the honored to the one doing the honor. If our president chose to give a medal to a war hero, we would affirm the fitness of the choice. We would applaud the recipient. But if he chose to give that medal to a felon, we would turn our attention from the recipient to the president. “Why” we would ask,” would he possibly want to honor him?” That is possibly why God chose me. In demonstrating mercy and grace and love to a wretch, He shows how long and how wide and how high His grace is. The benefactor, not the recipient of such kindness, becomes the star of the scene.

Before we continue, a certain question needs consideration. Who are the undeserving people in your life? It may be that God is glorified as you show them His grace by being kind.

Verse Eight and Nine—For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works that no one should boast.

Having told us who gets the glory in the future ages for our salvation, Paul states the same theme from a different angle here.

Remember our golden parentheses of last week? There was that glorious phrase summing up the whole process by which God makes dead people alive, raises them with Christ and seats them in the heavens—“by grace you have been saved” (v. 5). Now we see it again in verse eight but with a new dimension: by grace you have been saved through faith. Great theological controversies revolve around this word “faith” and what it means in this passage. I don’t want to enter into those right now. I want to simply understand what the verse is clearly stating. We have been saved by grace. That grace and salvation comes to us through faith. The word “through”—or dia—means “through” or “by means of” or “the reason something is done.” In other words, salvation and grace come to us by means of faith or on the basis of faith. Faith is a necessary and indispensable part of the salvation process. That should not surprise us as it is a grand theme of the whole Bible.

Genesis 15: “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Hebrews 11:6: And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Having said that faith is indispensable, we must be sure to understand that faith is not itself a work that makes us justifiable. Romans 4:4-5: Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. Faith is simply trust, and trust never looks to itself, but beyond itself to an object. For example, in the old days of my youth when I got to spend time rock climbing I enjoyed the natural spiritual parallels between climbing and faith. There are many opportunities to put one’s faith in other people and in certain objects when one is climbing. One thing I never did when I was on the side of a cliff is put my trust in my trust. I never somehow conceived that my trust was the thing to save me. Instead, I trusted to my partner’s careful belaying to keep me safe. I looked often to the rope to keep me if I fell. I also constantly placed my trust in the solidity of the rock. To put it grammatically, trust or faith, by nature, is not reflexive, it is transitive. That is, it has an object beyond itself. So, in the context, what is faith? It is simply looking to God as the source of salvation and as the gracious Saviour. It is placing one’s confidence and hope and life in the hands of a merciful Redeemer. Therefore the point of faith is not faith, it is Christ. And that emphasis is forcefully evident in verse eight and nine.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works that no one should boast.

This salvation we possess is not from ourselves. Some want to say that it is the faith that is not from ourselves. The grammar does not permit this close connection. The point is that salvation is not our doing. It is not a function of our power or merit. It is God’s. In fact, it is explicitly described here as a gift that we have been given. And just to be sure we comprehend the fundamental message contained in these phrases, Paul states it another way. Salvation is not a result of works and because it does not arise from something we do, no person can boast. The beautiful thing about this last phrase is that the Greek word for “boast”(kauchaomai) carries the idea of glory with it. To boast means “to glory on account of something” or “to glory in something.” We cannot and are not to glory in ourselves. We cannot boast here because we are not the reason we are saved—God is. That is why Paul says in the first chapter of Corinthians that it is “by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ “

It is implied in verse nine that boasting is a legitimate pastime for a person who has acquired something through his own working. But since salvation is a gift from God and not something received as a result of one’s works, it follows that no man has the right to boast about being saved. So much of our passage is a gathering of the essential threads of Scripture. We could see this idea running through the book of Romans for example:

Romans 3:20 ²⁰because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

With great clarity we see that salvation is the work of God. It is not something we receive as a result of our works, like a wage. It is not something we achieve. It is a gift of God and therefore our only boasting can be about what God has done. Now, in verse ten, we come to the culmination of this whole section of Scripture.

Verse Ten—for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

If only we had another hour to unpack this verse . . . We don’t, but let’s take our time anyway. Let’s take each of the three phrases in turn.

1. for we are His workmanship—From this vantage point, if we look back over the past nine verses we see that this entire passage is about God’s great works. First, He makes dead people alive in verse 5, then He raises them up and seats them with Christ in verse 6, then in verse 7 He shows them kindness, in verse 8 He saves them, and now He claims these human beings themselves to be His works. That is, it is not merely the actions He performs for them or toward them that are God’s works—worthy of praise, but the people themselves are a work of God Himself. Wow. If we had no reason for boasting in verse nine, we are left breathless in this verse. That we are and what we are is God’s work and we can only thank Him. The reason no one can boast is because we, in our very being, are God’s workmanship.

This truth becomes obvious even when we consider all of those achievements we are so proud to attribute to ourselves. For example, one of the things I am particularly proud of is how many books we have in our house. I love books and I am so delighted to be surrounded by them, especially the old books we have in our antique bookcase. One of those books was printed in the 1730’s. Good, old books are something to boast of. As Robert Southey, an English poet, said, “old friends and old books are the best thing this world affords.”

Now, let’s examine this pride for a moment. First of all, I realize that my pride can’t come in having made them since they--everyone of them--were made by other hands. Thus, my boasting has to do only with possessing them. Now how did I come to own them? Well, to take the cherry off the top of the Christmas pie of my boasting, the oldest book was a gift from my grandmother. I cannot take pride in having acquired it since someone else paid for it and someone else, through sheer kindness, decided to give it to me. How about the rest of those great old books? I bought most of them with my own money. That is something to boast of because I earned that money with my own labor. (Indeed there is an absolutely good and fitting and right kind of pride in one’s hard work and the fruits thereof.) But let us think about my labor for a moment. Being able to earn that money is contingent on several things: living in a culture that has enough political stability that people can work for a living instead of fighting for survival; finding a job that pays me enough money to afford books as well as food and clothing for all of us; having the freedom to work; having the health of mind and body that allows me to think and act in such a way that fulfills the requirements of my job; and, finally, actually having existence (it is hard to do much anything when one does not exist). When we think of it, whatever one does or accomplishes or achieves is contingent on so many things over which we have very little control and rather come to us, straight from the Father of lights, as a good gift from God. What do we have, or what do we do that does not come to us as a function of God’s mercy and grace? Therefore, it is plain to our understanding that this verse speaks nothing but truth. We who were dead are now alive and saved and exist as a work of God.

Therefore, I realize that rather than boasting selfishly about my books, I can thank God for the opportunity to have them in my house for the time being. And as it relates to our salvation, this means, obviously, that if you and I are followers of Christ, we have become so and are made so by God as a function of His work. You and I are His workmanship.

We have seen part of this phrase, like the chorus in a song, repeated throughout the passage: Christ Jesus. We were made alive together and raised and seated with Christ. Here we learn that we were created in Christ Jesus. As it is with the universe, so it is with us in our new spiritual life. Jesus Christ is the creator. John 1: 1-3 ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Christ is the means of the Father’s creative work. From this verse we see that salvation involves creation. And for us who were dead in sin, we are the subjects of a new creation. In fact, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 relates, ”if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” And again, later in Ephesians, in chapter four, believers are instructed to “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

3. [we were] created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Just as the inventor of the camera had a purpose for its existence, as well as the inventor of the combustion engine, so God in Christ has a purpose in remaking you: good works. This means several important things.

a. Good works are the result of salvation, not the means. We must be engaged in good works. However, we can never engage in them under the delusion that they are somehow meriting God’s mercy or form a basis of His saving us. Undoubtedly they are a sign of His salvation, but they are not the cause of it. Just as the cough and sore throat are the signs of a real cold, but not the cause of it, so believers engaged in good works are exhibiting the sign of new life, but not creating new life through those works. This is precisely the point of next week’s passage in John 15. We are part of Christ Jesus, just as a branch is a part of a tree. As branches of Christ, we are created to bear fruit. If we do not bear fruit, something is wrong. Rather than a sign of life, it indicates death. So, we are God’s workmanship, created to engage in good works. James was so utterly blunt about this, “I will show you my faith by my works.” To talk about a workless Christian is to utter a contradiction in terms. To be a new creation in Christ means that we are living a new life. That new life can be described in terms of activity as a life of good works. It is why God remade us and it is excellent.

b. These good works are not something I must go out and manufacture to prove that I am a Christian. God is already ahead of me. In fact, as the verse states, He has prepared them beforehand that I should walk in them. I don’t know anything more hopeful or more comforting. These works are not the frantic efforts of a sinner trying to earn God’s favor. These works are the necessary and logical fruit of a human being who has been transformed by God and is now walking with Him.

Note: He has prepared them already, before you perform them. This means that you and I, as we strive with all our might to obey, are actually only doing what God has already intended. It is precisely the difference between hiking to Lake Colchuck and hiking overland with a friend to that hidden lake his grandfather told him about back in the 50’s. If you have bushwacked you know how luxurious it is to hike on a maintained trail. I remember losing a trail on a hike with my dad when I was young. There is nothing like having buckbrush catch your pantlegs, your backpack and your face simultaneously. While I don’t want to imply that obedience is a stroll or that we will not encounter fierce resistance from the world, the flesh and the devil in our efforts to obey our Master, I am saying that even such difficult points in the trail are not there by accident and it is not as if God has not gone before you. Christ has suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His footsteps. God has gone ahead of us on the trail and prepared good works that we should walk in them.

c. Note the contrast between our old and new walk. When I was a teenager lots of my friends had a certain swagger that--to their way of thinking--said “look at me, baby, I’m tough” whereas to my way of thinking said, “look at

me, I walk pigeon-toed with my chest stuck out.” The way a person walks is a form of communication. It says much about that person. So it goes with our “walking” which here is another word for “living” or “lifestyle.” Recall that before you were made alive you were dead in your sins and walking according to the course of this world, according to the direction of the prince of darkness. You were living in the lusts of your flesh and indulging them. Now, you are a new creation and your walk has commensurately altered. Now you are alive and you walk in good works. This is our privilege and our high calling.

d. Finally, what in the world are “good works”? To provide an overview of what the Scriptures describe as the good works we are to engage in would be too lengthy. To know what God wants you to do, read your Bible. But all or most of those works are animated by one, central theme. As Paul stated transparently in Galatians 5:14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “

Conclusion Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know about you, but I absolutely need this passage. God looms so large in these verses. And He is not merely large like some malevolent Goliath threatening and brandishing his sword. He is large and His kindness and love and mercy is larger. His grace is larger than my sin and trespasses and death! He conquers and He gets the glory for conquering—not me. If my mind is filled with the great truth that God is great and victorious and rich in mercy and gracious, then I am living by faith. Then I am started in the way of good works. This passage is the story of God and His wondrous works. The reason I am so thankful to study this part of Scripture is because with all of the high calling to die to myself and to live only to God that Christ has given to his disciples (and to us) in John 12, 13 and 14, I have been struggling. I have rightly looked at my life often and often frowned. We should never be afraid to “examine ourselves to test if we are in the faith.” The whole purpose of such examinations is not for our condemnation but for our sure and steady growth in salvation. However, there is an examination that leads to death. And it so happens that, as the human heart is wicked and deceitful above all things, I can quickly go from examining my life in light of the call of Christ and under the power of the Holy Spirit, to meditating on my sin and exalting the work of the flesh. There is a fine line here. If we are living lifestyles that are characterized predominantly by repeated patterns of sin, we must ask seriously if we are in Christ. But if we are struggling with sin and against our sin, we must acknowledge its presence, repent and keep hiking. What we must not do, it appears to me, is to somehow think that we must do good works to secure or accomplish salvation. To believe and live like that is to blankly ignore the clear teaching of Ephesians chapter two. We are not saved by works; it is by grace that no one can boast. The good works we are supposed to do, and all the good works you and I actually end up doing are not even causes for boasting. Why not? Because, just as His grace is the crucial factor in our salvation, so His grace and His preparation ahead of us, is the explanation and empowerment of our living in good works. Thus, even our good works, though they require of us all of our spiritual effort and perseverance and striving and labor, are ultimately that which will bring great glory and honor to our gracious, merciful, loving Redeemer. If you are in Christ you were dead. Now you are alive. Live as those who are God’s.

Today, we come, as believers in Christ to purposefully celebrate the resurrection. That is why we call this Resurrection Day. The occurrence of the resurrection is exactly why Christians meet together on Sundays. Every Sunday is, in effect, a commemoration of the resurrection. But, over the past century, particularly in the first half of the 20^th, there has been much debate about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1919, Karl Barth, the theological giant of Germany promoted the idea of the resurrection but divorced it from history. In his immense commentary on Romans, he stated that "The resurrection touches history as a tangent touches a circle-that is, without really touching it." You may not know that man’s name, but, as it is with many influential thinkers in theology and other disciplines, while his name is obscure, his ideas are floating around the street outside at this very moment. Another German giant, Rudolph Bultmann, who influenced countless thousands of American and European pastors through his writings, acknowledged that the early Christians believed that Jesus literally rose from the dead physically, but believed that any attempt to prove it was “fatal.”[1] As one writer summarized his view:

Bultmann accepted that the early Church labored to make Jesus intelligible to audiences in different situations and that it is no longer possible to recover Jesus as he actually was--the words used to describe his life were filtered through forty to sixty years of theological experience. He contended that it is not a legitimate goal of theologians to try to prove the Resurrection (or any other specific aspect of the life of Jesus) was an historical event.[2]

As though to demonstrate his influence, my “pastor” in the United Methodist church that I attended, when I was in high school, did not, himself, apparently believe in the resurrection of Christ. He was the shepherd at my church. He was teaching us to believe in Christ. He was teaching us to follow the One who said he would rise from the dead. Yet, he did not apparently believe that Christ’s claims came true. To me, that is, itself, unbelievable!

Some people have called our era the age of unbelief. Is such doubt about the Resurrection, especially from the “learned” a recent phenomenon? Is it special to the last few centuries? Should we cower to these towers of intellect and assume that, having advanced so far in knowledge of the universe, of the laws of the universe, of the intricacies of scholarship over the last 2000 years, we are in a better place to rationally assess whether or not the resurrection took place ? Should we conclude that Barth and Bultmann and the theologians of the modern age have eyes that can pierce through the so-called truth of the Scripture? And that, following their lead we can arrive at the real truth, no matter how unsettling? Absolutely not! We see that Paul, himself, encountered the very same type of specific unbelief. In fact, like Barth and Bultmann who were so-called Christian theologians, this unbelief in the resurrection came from people within the Church. Paul is going to directly address this unbelief in our passage today. And from it we can gain two benefits:

1. We can have our own misgivings addressed. All of us have had to wrestle with the incredibility of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2. We can also learn what we should about how to counter and answer the Barths and Bultmanns of the 21^st century. Paul will show us what we can say in response to those theologians of stature, or electricians of stature, who say that Christ rising from the dead is a silly dream.

But we also need to examine this passage with another question in mind. What is the big deal about the physical, real, literal resurrection of Christ? Can’t we, as Christians, affirm with the Scriptures that we are “justified by His blood” and “healed by His stripes,” and therefore, that even if Christ did not rise, we still have a hope and a message to proclaim and a reason to be here on Resurrection Day? Isn’t it possible to have our faith intact, regardless of whether or not there is a resurrection of the body? Isn’t the guts of Christianity the death of Christ and and shedding of His blood for the remission of sins?

In essence, those questions boil down to this: What difference does the Resurrection make to you and I today? Is it a disposable doctrine? Can we be Christians without it?

Let’s look carefully at what God’s Word says in response to our questions. To get a bearing on the passage, let us read the context and as we do, we restate and reaffirm the beliefs that occupy the absolute center of Christianity.

vv. 3-7 These matters are of first importance. And they were predicted by the Scriptures, thus the fulfillment of centuries-old prophecy.

4. He appeared to Peter, the twelve, five hundred other believers, James, all the apostles, and then to Paul.

vv. 8-11 Paul affirms his actual sending by Christ. And as the messenger to the Corinthians, this validates their trust in the message he preached.

With that as an introduction, we see now his defense (actually the Holy Spirit’s) of the resurrection of Christ.

Acts 1:8
⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Here is how these disciples interpreted that commission as they were choosing someone to replace Judas:

Acts 1:21-22
²¹“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— ²² beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

Acts 2:32 In Peter’s speech at Pentecost:
³²“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.

Acts 3:15 Peter’s speech after healing the lame beggar:
¹⁵but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

2. There is a group of people who say that there is no resurrection from the dead. Note:

a. They are in the church. They are “among” the Corinthians, thus styling themselves as believers. They are actually doing and believing what at times we wonder whether or not can be done. Can one disbelieve in the resurrection of Christ and still cling to the rest of the essentials? Can one be a Christian and disbelieve in the resurrection?

b. But notice, these people don’t just disbelieve in the Resurrection of Christ, like the Sadduccees, they disbelieve in the resurrection of anyone from the dead. The whole idea is an impossibility for them, no matter who the specific “risen one” is. We see this idea current at the time in the teachings of the Sadducees, who . . .

Acts 23:8
⁸ . . . say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

Such skepticism was also a feature of current heathen philosophy. As Paul began to speak of the resurrection of Christ at the Areopagus to the philosophers of Athens:

Acts 17:32
³²Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.

From all sides, from an influential segment of Jewish thought in the Sadducees, and from the heady intellectuals of Greek philosophy, there was the spirit of the age convincing Christians that belief in the resurrection of the body from the dead was unreasonable and irrational. Some in the Corinthian church buckled to this pressure and conformed their thinking to it.

3. To Paul, this was simply incredible. The resurrection was one of three essentials that comprised the gospel. It is the message that the Corinthians believed, by which they were saved, in which they stood, and there were some who were asserting that there was no such thing as a resurrection from the dead?! How could this be?

1. In this verse, Paul is being eminently logical. He is merely showing the natural, necessary result of a belief in the impossibility of resurrection. That is, if there is no resurrection from the dead, then necessarily, even Christ has not been raised from the dead. That is to say, Christ is dead. He was crucified on the cross and He is dead today. Thus, he shows these Corinthians, exactly what must follow if one discounts the possibility of resurrection. Christ, the person who is Christianity, is dead. Just like Buddha, just like Muhammed, just like my grandfather: DEAD. He continues.

1. Now, Paul allows for a type of experiment of the mind. “Let us take your position, Corinthians,” he seems to say, “let us try it on and see what happens to our understanding of the world and to our proclamation of the essentials and, mostly importantly, to your faith.” In the next five verses, Paul is going to outline six implications of this belief. Here are the first two implications in verse 14:

A. If Christ did not rise our preaching is vain. That is, the entire focus of Paul’s and the apostles’ lives, the preaching and proclamation of the gospel has been in vain. Can you really grasp the gravity of this implication? If these Corinthians are right, then there is truly no use or value or effect in the preaching of the gospel. It is a futile enterprise, much akin to the devoting of one’s life to keeping back the tide from the beach. It is of no real value or use or ultimate effect. The preaching of the gospel is vain. But, a denial of the resurrection does not merely deprive the apostles of their calling.

B. If Christ did not rise, the Corinthians’ faith is vain. That is, it has no use. It is empty. It has no value. It is useless faith. It is futile faith. If Christ did not rise from the dead, the faith of the Corinthians is vain. It is similar to the people who are waiting patiently for the return of Elvis. It is quaint. It is sentimental. It is also tragically hopeless and empty. All expectation and invested trust is sadly misplaced.

C. What does this mean for you and I? It means that this meeting is empty and of no real, true value. We are, in essence, wasting our time this morning. Such modes of time wasting may be more valuable than others, but what we do at church and how we live as Christians can be considered as nothing more than a pastime and an ultimately futile investment. It may lead to a certain type of earthly satisfaction, but it is foundationally meaningless.

D. This also means that faith is of a nature other than what our society casts it. That is, we have a prevailing notion that the legitimacy of faith is directly a function of sincerity. What makes a faith real is how strongly one believes it and how earnestly one lives it out. In this view, faith is good and valid if it is sincere. Yet the Scriptures are clear that many people sincerely believe lies. For example, the prophets of Baal were sincere in their worship and went to great extremes on Mt. Carmel to prove their devotion to him. But Baal is merely an idol. Here the Scriptures show us that if Christ is not risen, a matter of historical fact, then the Corinthians’ faith, no matter how sincere and earnest and focused is vain! Thus, in reality, sincerity is not the issue in faith. Faith depends for its legitimacy on truth and fact, not sincerity.

This can be easily illustrated by considering what happens to the man who has great confidence in the thickness of ice on the skating pond and boldly goes gliding out to the middle of the pond over ice that is ½” thick. Regardless of his beliefs and the strength of them, the ice will mercilessly buckle under his weight. On the contrary, a very timid man, could eventually creep out onto the middle of the pond at another time, wary and unsure, but creeping nonetheless, and what experience will show him is that the 2’ of solid ice under him can hold him surely no matter if his faith be small or great. That is one reason why Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed can yet be so effective. If Christ has not raised, the preaching of the gospel is vain, and our faith is vain. We go on to further implications of the Corinthians’ disbelief in the resurrection.

1. Paul and his companions have been preaching that God raised Christ up from the dead. As we have seen, that has been the crucial theme of their gospel witness throughout the early years of the church. If these Corinthians are right, and Christ has not been raised, then another implication is that Paul and the apostles are false witnesses. As though in a court of law, it has been found that they have been testifying against God by saying of him things that are false. They have been attributing actions to God that he did not perform.

The greek word used here is pseudomartur—literally “false witness.” Paul, far from being an example to all of true faith and godliness, if there is no resurrection from the dead, has become a false witness! He has gone from being a zealous and faithful ambassador for God, to being a mistaken man testifying to people everywhere falsehoods about the God of the universe. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, when he says he “delivered up to [them] what [he] also received” it becomes clear that he did not receive this revelation from God. What he delivered to them was not from God. He is not faithful, he is an unfaithful witness. He is the disobedient ambassador. In fact, he is a breaker of God’s law, for he has borne false witness against not just his neighbor, but his God. And as Proverbs 19:5 so bluntly affirms, a false witness will not go unpunished. A third implication of this view, is that Paul and the Apostles must now be regarded as false witnesses. He goes on to explore the implications of this view.

Paul, as if to remind them of the gravity and most significant implication of their view, repeats himself relentlessly. If there is no resurrection of the dead--be sure you understand this Corinthians--then Christ, Himself, has not risen. This is the fourth and, of course, most obvious consequence of disbelieving in the possibility of resurrection.

Reiterating and expanding his point from verse 14, here Paul makes the case utterly conclusive. He outlines two more devastating implications, number five and six. In effect, he is showing us what can happen when we do one of several things:

a. we pick and choose the beliefs we will adopt out of the “pool” of doctrines found in the Scriptures. This is the patchwork quilt approach to spirituality. It is always dangerous.

b. we sit as judge over the Word of God and make determinations as to which beliefs are acceptable. This is a precarious position to occupy.

c. or, we allow what our culture defines as “reasonable” or “rational” to delimit our beliefs. In other words, we take our culture as our starting point and seek to filter the Word through that set of assumptions, instead of vice versa. Look at the consequences.

1. If Christ is not risen, your faith is not merely vain (empty, unreal) as we see in verse 14, but here it is worthless—mataios—devoid of force, of truth, of purpose. That is, their faith, far from remaining intact if they deny the resurrection, is shipwrecked. It is not just shipwrecked, it is demolished. It is not merely demolished, it is nullified. It comes to nothing! How contrary to the world’s view of religion. The world often values religion in that it makes citizen’s moral and trustworthy and stable. But this shows us a different picture. There is nothing good about this. If the Corinthians are right, their faith is not trustworthy, it is not stable, it is not beautiful, it is not noble, it is not even helpful. It is WORTHLESS! This is fearful.

2. Paul goes on to show that the damage is ultimate and reaches to all points of belief. If there is no resurrection, if Christ has not been raised, then you, Corinthians, are still in your sins! Recall, what happens to those at the judgment who are still in their sins. They have no defense before God. Our sin is exposed and irrefutable. And we, as the Scriptures say, must “pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). If Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins. We are the goats, not the sheep. We have nothing to look forward to but our own destruction.

See that there is no separating the elements of our salvation. One cannot remove the resurrection and salvage the crucifixion. The whole picture of salvation is erased if the resurrection is abandoned. To give away the validity or truth of the Resurrection as an attempt to appease the apparent intellectual leverage of modern scholars is akin to allowing your opponent to take your king, while hoping to meaningfully continue your game of chess. It is to allow your doctor, performing an appendicitis, to remove your lungs instead. If Christ did not rise, then you and I are still in our sins. We have no salvation. Christ’s crucifixion, far from being a payment for sin, a suffering of the wrath of God against sin on behalf of others, is merely a gruesome, cruel execution that results in just what it appears to: death. That is why, Romans 4:25 states so clearly that
²⁵He . . . was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

1. Implication number seven. Those who have trusted in Christ, and have subsequently died, have perished. They are ruined, destroyed, lost. Thus, those who died in hope, died vainly. They died deluded. They lived a tragic lie, even up to the end. If there is no resurrection, then all those who have died and will die are consigned to perish. There is no hope beyond the grave for them. This is a clear implication of the Corinthian belief, and Paul lists one more before he closes his argument.

1. If we take the view of this group of Corinthians, that there is no resurrection from the dead, then not only do we make preaching of no effect, and believing a useless enterprise, not only do we become false witnesses, not only do we remain weighed down by our sin with no hope of forgiveness, not only are the dead in eternal ruin, but we (Paul and his companions) become the most miserable of all men.

Remember how Paul has labored in the gospel; as he said in verse 10, he “labored more than all of” the apostles. In the next letter to the Corinthians he is more specific about this labor.

2 Corinthians 11:23-27
²³Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. ²⁶I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; ²⁷I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

If Christ is not raised, then there is no eternal reward as the New Testament promised. Thus, to live for such a thing is the height of folly. Paul has not merely believed the gospel, he has allowed God, by His grace, to make his whole life a focused and bright burning testimony of the truth of the gospel. And in that pursuit, he has suffered tremendously. He has spent his life and energy and “career” in suffering for Christ. If there is no resurrection, if Christ has not been raised, he and his companions are of all men the most pitiful. How utterly tragic this waste of a life that could have been spent “eating and drinking” and making merry. As Matthew Henry states: Can that man have faith in Christ who can believe concerning him that he will leave his faithful servants, whether ministers or others, in a worse state than his enemies?

If there is a resurrection, Paul’s life, and the lives of those who labor like he did in the progress of the gospel, are a glorious testimony; if there is no resurrection, it is a pitiful, miserable example of useless sorrow proclaiming a message of delusion.

Thus, the most pitiful human being is a Christian who has falsely hoped in Christ for eternal life. He deserves the pity of the whole world. He is expectantly looking forward to, waiting joyfully for a salvation that will never come. One can only shake one’s head and look away.

Thus ends Paul’s tour through the implications of the Corinthians’ view that there is no resurrection.

To remove the resurrection from the gospel, because we are convinced that Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann hung the theological moon, or because we find it a stretch to proclaim to our neighbors, or for whatever reason, is to remove the engine from the car and expect to drive. It is to perform surgery on the gospel and leave out its heart. It is what the unbelieving Pharisees did when they made a lifestyle of obedience to God but had no love for Him in their hearts and minds. Without the resurrection, the gospel collapses like a mountain of sand. With it, the gospel towers over all other ideas men can believe.

All preaching and all believing have no value or purpose or truth whatsoever unless Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead at a point in time in history. If He did not rise, preaching the gospel, believing the gospel, trusting in Christ, is futile, empty and meaningless. In fact, it is worse than that. For those who proclaim Christ proclaim that in Him one finds forgiveness of sins and eternal life. These proclamations are not just void and vain, they are lies! How noble or good or trustworthy is a person who encourages you to rely on something that is empty and false? How could we ever overlook such practice? How could we ever smile on such a thing?

Thus, depending on the resurrection of Christ, Christianity is either gloriously true or viciously false. The preachers of Christ, and the followers of Christ are either as right as is humanly possible or as deluded and dangerous as possible. They are either to be embraced with great alacrity or eliminated with grim rectitude. Being a follower of Christ is to live on the edge of a razor. It is to believe, not partially, not casually, not reservedly, that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and thus, everything else is changed. The whole purpose of life has been converted and remade. Christ is risen and we believe it and it is our privilege to proclaim it.

This is precisely what Paul asserts. Now, Christ is risen. He has, in fact, in truth, been raised from the dead. Not only that, but there is a resurrection from the dead. And Christ has risen as the first fruits, the pledge of further harvest, of resurrection to come. God has raised Christ and He will raise those who trust in Him to eternal life.

This is the clear testimony of Scripture. This is the theme of all the messages the Apostles preached. Christ is risen from the dead. And because he is, certain things flow necessarily and unavoidably from it.

3. Your faith is effective and meaningful and legitimate for it is based on an historical fact.

8. Our hope in Christ makes this life, though filled with suffering, ultimately significant and noble.

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

He is Risen! That is what we celebrate today. And when we celebrate the resurrection, we do not merely celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead, we celebrate the ultimate truth of all of Christianity. Every other doctrine draws its life from this one. All of the teachings of Christ and the New Testament and the prophecies of the old come to bear on this one point. He is risen. And in rising, “He was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

[1] Craig, William Lane. Truth Journal. “Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

[2] Linder, Douglas. Jesus of History, Christ of Faith: Does the Historical Jesus Matter? http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/jesus/jesusofhistory.html

This week, the jury in the Scott Peterson double murder case recommended to the judge that Mr. Peterson be executed. Just last month he was convicted of first degree murder for the killing of his wife, Laci, and was found guilty of second degree murder for the killing of his unborn son, Connor. If he is indeed guilty of such foul crimes, he is deserving of the sternest of punishments.

Yet if one carefully considers the Peterson case in light of thirty years of Supreme Court rulings (Roe v. Wade, etc.) the defendant should be culpable for just one murder, not two. Scott Peterson, it appears, did murder his wife. But, it would also appear, in reference to Connor’s death, that he merely performed an abortion on his own child.

Though all of the jurists disagreed with such an assessment, what—in the eyes of our nation’s legal system—could be considered so reprehensible in Scott Peterson’s treatment of Connor? What, to a nation that allows its people to abort the unborn, could be wrong about Connor’s death? Was it that he neglected to preserve the life of the mother? Or, was it wrong merely because he did not wait to obtain her permission? Perhaps his deed would have been acceptable if he was merely a professional and not the father. Maybe the real thing missing in Mr. Peterson’s case was that he lacked the adequate and proper medical training to make it official. If only he had been a general practice physician—under the Hippocratic oath—instead of a fertilizer salesman, he would only answer for one murder, not two, this month. Or perhaps it was wrongful death because he held malicious intent toward his patient. If only Scott had killed his son “for the good of the mother” or to “prevent a life filled with anticipated unnecessary hardship,” then he would have been (some say) merely aborting a fetus instead of murdering a very, very young man.

It is precisely at the point of “intent” that the alleged distinction between murder and abortion simply evaporates like winter frost in the bright sun of morning. There is effectively and productively no difference in the intent or the outcome of either. The savage father who kills an unborn son wants him dead. Death is the goal. In like manner, the doctor who kills the unborn son or daughter of his patient seeks an identical outcome: a dead child. Whatever doctors will say about the humanity of an unborn child, they, at least, will not deny that the fetus is a living thing. The end of that “thing’s” life is the point. Regardless of whatever other motives are adduced in support of the act—health, convenience, or supposed necessity—the real, longed-for result is the same: death.

As obvious as that fact is, ours is a nation that is hesitant to perceive the inherent conflict. On the one hand, we see the verdict in Scott Peterson’s trial as particularly just, specifically because he not only murdered his wife, but aggravated the deed by killing his son as well. On the other hand, some think it only natural and right that under that same legal system, a woman should have the freedom to seek for her child the same fate that Mr. Peterson apparently sought for Connor.

We are somehow expected to turn a dull, tearless eye on the plight of thousands of human beings killed by trained professionals in the clinics of America, while any substantial moral concern we might muster is to be relegated toward sufferers in the animal or plant kingdoms. It is considered morally obligatory by many today to fight the overharvesting of Minke whales in the North Sea, whereas any hint of outrage over the practice of abortion is seeming evidence of a tilted mind.

The degree of civilization a society possesses is directly gauged by the way those citizens with power treat those vulnerable citizens who have none. If we, as a culture, refuse to protect the lives of the unborn—so vulnerable, but precious in the sight of their Maker—then we reveal that the difference between our nation and those nations we rightly censure for human rights abuses, is negligible. If it were America’s citizens that were on that witness stand, fielding questions from the prosecution over the whereabouts of our very youngest sons and daughters, what would be the defense? And what, ultimately, the verdict?

Over this next month we will be teaching not only on Abraham, but as well on the two major rituals of celebration in our church: baptism and communion. We have been thinking and talking in elder’s meetings about these two very vital observances and what they mean. Therefore, we want to take some time to teach on them. This morning we treat baptism. And there are two central sets of questions we seek to answer today:

v. 18—All authority in heaven and earth belongs to Christ after His resurrection. He is Lord. Now. From his royal, ultimate position, over all things, He instructs His followers in several ways.

This is called the Great Commission for several reasons. First it is Great because it is such a critical utterance. These are among the final words Jesus spoke to His followers before His ascension to the Father. They are the Parting Instructions. They have the weighty significance of the last words your father uttered to you before he died. But far from succumbing to death after these final words, Jesus rises as the glorious Lord of Life to His rightful throne above all things:
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—. As His last words they are necessarily Great.

And they are Great because of who uttered them. If I had given instructions to my kids about what to do while I was gone to the store, those might be important, but hardly could you call them great. But the weight of His person transfers directly to His words. For these reasons this is called the Great Commission.

It is the Commission because in these words He instructs them what to do when He is gone. He commits His instructions to them. He, actually, commits His ministry, the mission for which He came, to them.

These are the marching orders for the followers of Christ. We believe that they are still live orders. They have not been fully fulfilled. We believe that we are included in these marching orders just as we have been included in Christ’s prayer in John 17:20, where He affirms that He does “not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in [Him} through their word.” It was always assumed in Christ’s ministry that the disciples would multiply themselves and make more disciples. For those future disciples he prays in John 17, and this Great Comission is as much for those future disciples (you and I) as it is for Christ’s immediate followers.

2. Go—as He says also in Acts 1:8—this going is assumed not just to pertain to people living in Jerusalem, but into “all the world.” Of course, such a scope to the ministry only fits with the fact that He is Lord of all. From the rising of the sun, to the place it goes down, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Because He rules it all, we get to bring the good news to the whole world.

3. Make disciples—this is the controlling, dominant verb in this passage. It is the main thrust of the command. It is assumed that the life of a believer is occupied in the disciple-making business. Whatever occupation you may have, your main spiritual charge is to multiply your faith into the lives of other human beings. Of course this encompasses the whole process of preaching the gospel to the lost and then training them to become disciples who, in turn, do the same. This disciple making includes and incorporates all the nations.

4. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (I love the bold, blunt Trinitarian formula in this verse: Three in One, so clearly.) Baptism is an assumed part of the ministry of the disciples. It is assumed by Christ that those who are made into disciples will be baptized into His name.

5. Finally, these followers of Christ are to teach the future disciples to observe all that He commanded them. Note, it is assumed by Christ that His apostles remember what He taught them and that they would pass on that teaching as the program of training for future disciples. What a beautiful process that Paul echoed so beautifully in 2 Tim 2:2:
² and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

6. And Christ reminds them that though He departs in a bodily sense from them, He is Lord of All, and He is with them always. What encouragement and what grave instructions!

The disciples obeyed Christ’s commission. They made disciples. We have records of their activities in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament. They imparted the gospel to people not just in Jerusalem, or Judea, but into the remotest parts of the world. People believed. The disciples baptized them. (Acts 2:38-41; 8:12-18, 35-38; 9:18; 10:45-48; 16:14-15, 30-34; 18:8; 19:1-6; 22:16.) Even Paul baptized:

1 Corinthians 1:13-16 (ESV)
¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

The original disciples faithfully taught those new disciples to obey Christ. We have witness of that teaching preserved for us in the epistles and letters of the New Testament.

That is why we teach today that it is a normal feature of discipleship, of following Christ, to be baptized. Why are we talking about baptism? What relevance does it have to you? If you are a believer, a follower of Christ, Christ Himself assumed you would make disciples, that you would teach others to obey His commands, and that you would be baptized (and baptize).

Willing, as you may be, to be baptized in order to follow Christ, we rightly ask our next big set of questions:

There are many passages in the New Testament that include the concept of baptism. Of course, there are the passages that describe the baptism of John, the Baptist. Most of the mentions of baptism are narrative descriptions of what the practice looked like in the early days of the church; these are found in the book of the Acts. There are other teachings about baptism in the Epistles. Perhaps one of the major passages about baptism is the one found in Romans 6. It is here that we see the high, beautiful, lofty, wonderful truth that baptism symbolizes and here, it is, that we can find the answers to our question: what does baptism mean?

For our purposes today, we focus on the vv. 1-4 as they outline the essence of this passage which is actually reiterated throughout the remainder of chapter six.

These two questions seem to follow logically from the assertions he made in chapter five. Let us peer back at them to understand the questions.

Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Recall that Paul is comparing the sin of Adam as the head of humanity to the righteous act (redemption) of Christ, the second Adam. Where we see that transgression bred more transgression, and where we see that one thing the law effected was to highlight the sin and “increase” it, the grace of God, working salvation through the second Adam overtops sin and conquers it. In other words, abounding sin was “trumped” by superabounding grace. In some ways it resembles the effects of fertilizer. If you have used manure in your garden, you know that when manure is plentiful your harvest will be correspondingly abundant. Something foul, by the chemistry that God ordained in the way things work, produces great growth and a rich, enjoyable harvest.

In the same way, sin, here, though it multiplied itself, was conquered, through God’s great design, by Grace! That is simply a miracle.

Thus, it appears logically straightforward that the more sin abounds in one’s life, the more God’s grace comes to the fore. The more evil the henchman in the play, the more we cheer for Dudley Do-Right to come on the scene and save Nell. So, God’s grace only shines brighter when it is set against the foil of the dark, ebony stain of sin.

Hence, the question: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

To frame it another way: Are believers to continue sinning in order to provoke more grace from God? What is the believer’s response to grace? To sin freely? What is the believer’s relationship to sin? To continue in it?

We must note that the word continue in verse one is absolutely telling. The verb is present and active. In other words, the question really asks if a believer should be in a state of sin, should be actively engaged on a consistent basis in sinning.

Paul answers his questions. Like Jesus Christ often did to his questioners, Paul posed two questions in response to the question. Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? The answer is vigorously emphatic.

Literally, may it never come to be. The thought is ludicrous. The question comes from a misapprehension of the truth. The questioner has forgotten something essential. And Paul poses his two potent rejoinders in response to highlight the ridicularity of it. There is something particularly vehement about responding to a question such as this with another question. It brings the point home with infinitely more force.

This is somewhat akin to what your brother does if you ask him if you could borrow his G.I. Joe. Something like this: Bobby, could I use your G.I. Joe this afternoon? Bobby: Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Well, now if we analyze the diction in this conversation what are we going to say to Bobby’s questions. “Yes, in fact, Bobby I have lost my mind and in losing it I dreamed up this insane scheme of borrowing your G.I. Joe” The answers are obvious and it is no different for the questions that Paul so mightily poses.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

What is the obvious answer? We cannot. Catch that for a second before you move on. What Paul is saying is that we cannot live in sin.

Now, you may be willing to disagree with him on this point. You might think that you can live in sin. But the Scriptures would say that is a lie.

Let us consider. Paul is not saying that we might die to sin, or that it is possible that we could die to sin. He is saying that we HAVE died to sin. In other words, Paul is indicating what is in fact the case here. If a man or woman or youngun is a believer he or she HAS DIED to sin. That is not a point of debate. It is stated as a matter of fact. To argue it would be to argue with your mother about who gave you birth. She knows. It happened. She was there. There is no debate. You are free to deceive yourself. But the facts are as they are.

Think about the relationship between something dead and something living. Just on Thursday, Honoria Glossop, our cat, captured and killed a young robin in our yard. While it yet lived, it breathed, it was aware of its surroundings. When I got close to it, it became nervous. But after Honoria was finished, the bird was dead. Being dead it was unaware of my presence. It was disconnected with what was happening to its body as I took care to take it out of the yard. By the way, there was some confusion later that night. Alexandra, our two year old then told me at bedtime: “Norni. Birdy. Killed.” I said, “yes, honey, Honoria killed the robin.” “I did it!” she said. “No, Honoria killed it.” “I made it,” she replied. “No,” I said, “God made the robin.” “I did it!” she replied with force. That conversation lasted for at least fifteen minutes.

Think of the glorious disconnection that occurs when a human being is dead to sin. What a blessed freedom. According to the Scriptures this freedom is a fact. And that fact is precisely what makes it preposterous for a believer, who is dead to sin, to keep living in it. Impossible! It would be like a president, who, being impeached, refusing to leave the White House and the Oval Office and refusing to give up the functions of the office of President. That was the simply marvelous thing to me about President Clinton, that he could perjure himself in front of a grand jury and the entire country and go on “ruling” as though he still retained the moral force and integrity that is just basic to being a commander of armed forces and a leader of a people.

If the impeachment verdict had gone the other way, it would have been literally impossible for him to continue in office. So, you, who are dead to sin, have been cut off from it and therefore CAN not live in it.

But wait, you say, I still sin. I still struggle with sin. I sinned this morning in my attitude. I spoke harshly to my husband. I put myself at the center of my thought life all morning.

Yes, we still struggle with sin. We are tempted to sin. That is exactly what Paul knows in verse 12 when he says: Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness.

The very fact that he must instruct us in this manner implies that we are tempted to let sin reign in us, even though we have died to sin.

So what does it mean to be dead to sin? It means, that, as in Romans five, we were in Adam and were therefore under the rulership or dominion of sin. Then, when the second Adam comes we are freed from that old realm and brought into the righteous realm of the Son.

We are using the word “realm” because it captures well the emphasis in these chapters that the transfer from Adam to Christ, from old age to new, involves particularly a change in masters. Moo

As the Scripture says in 5:21 As sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life.

And it is explained further in chapter 6:13-14
¹³Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Sin can have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. In other words, you have died to sin’s rulership in your life. Whether or not you struggle with sin is not the central point right here, the point is that God has given you a new ruler and it is grace.

Let us return to the question in verse 2: How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Obviously, if we have died to sin, we cannot still live in it. Therefore, it would make no sense to continue in sin that grace might increase. How many people, through a misunderstanding of grace, think that because they are under grace (and for that very reason) they CAN sin?! But to say that shows a major misunderstanding. When we truly understand what it means to be under grace we realize that we are free from the dominion of sin and THEREFORE should not live in sin any longer. Grace, here, rather than freeing us from needing to live righteously, frees us to live righteously.

We should probably ask the sixty four thousand dollar question: How did we die to sin? What did we do to get out from under the tyrannical rulership of sin? To answer that we will look at verses three and four together since they present a full picture of what we are trying to grasp.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

If the first question did not make sense to his readers, Paul realizes he must remind them of the basis of our death to sin. It has everything to do with Christ’s work. Let us scrutinize it.

Does this sound familiar? It should. These are the very essentials of the gospel that, in believing, you were saved. It is the very core of what Paul preached.

1 Corinthians 15: 3-5
³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

In Romans 6, the core of the message here is the core of the gospel. It is, in truth, a summary of the majestic work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He died. He was buried. He was raised on the third day.

Remember that this work of death, burial and resurrection is the central event in all of history. The really radical thing about this passage is that it places this work of Christ, not merely as the object of our faith, but as the template for our spiritual experience. In other words, as Christ died, was buried, and raised, so, through faith, were you!

Look again at the verses. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

1. It means to be baptized into Christ Jesus. It means that a man or woman or youngun becomes indentified with Christ.

For example, in 1965 I was born into a family with a family name. Because he had a good reputation, as a function of being identified with him (I carried the same name—everyone knew I was his son) I enjoyed the fact of my association with him and also all the privileges and natural results that came with it. For one thing, I got to go into the back of the newspaper building in Ephrata to watch the presses run. For you, as a Christian (you carry the name of Christ) you get to be identified with Him and His works.

Romans 6:10
¹⁰For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

If that is the kind of death that Christ dies, and you are identified with Him, you become united to Him through faith, then what kind of death have you experienced? A death to sin. That is what Paul states in verse two. You HAVE (past tense) died to sin. It is a necessary function of being In Christ.

It is hard to travel with a friend if you won’t get in the car with them. In the same way, if we travel with Christ, wherever He goes, even to the grave, we necessarily accompany Him. Oh, glorious truth! That you and I have died to sin. God accomplished it.

(SECRET: This is the inner workings of victory over sin. Not a mammoth resolution that is predicated on your strength of will, but a looking to Christ who has already accomplished what we could not. He has victory over sin. He has put sin away on the cross and now the Scriptures reveal to you that you also have died with Him! This fact is the foundation of your victory on a daily level. Not your will, not your self-manufactured discipline, but just pure faith in what God says has happened and is true no matter what your earthly perceptions or sight might be telling you. )

Why this emphasis on burial? Because it is the validation of a death. When someone is buried, it is confirmed to all that they are indeed dead. Those who die are buried. Those who live are not. If you, too, have been buried, then it confirms to you and all who know you that you have died. Having died, Paul is teaching in this chapter, you should live accordingly: verse 18—having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

Just as Christ was raised from this death to live a new, indestructible life, so you are raised from the dead to walk in newness of life. Not only is God’s work the foundation of your severance from sin, but His work of resurrection is the foundation and the fountain from which a new kind of living flows. You can live righteously today because God himself raised Jesus from the dead by His glorious power. That glory is what attends your life as you live by faith, and as you seek to live under grace, and to live righteously. The newness of life that is Christ’s through the glory of the Father is yours as you are identified with Him in baptism!

Colossians 2:12
¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

(Note: We are killed and buried, so that we might be raised. The point of God’s work in Christ, as it is in us, is new life. Though our lives are a process, as Paul said, of dying, that death is productive of a glorious life. The grain of wheat does not produce anything unless it dies and is buried in the ground, then, in the Spring, there is life and ultimately a fruitful harvest. So, your death and burial are for the ultimate purpose of life. Don’t miss this. Living for Christ is hard. It is a process of crucifixion. But the point of the crucifixion is not the crucifixion itself; it is the what comes of it.

How ridiculous for a groom, running down a brick path to meet his bride to get distracted by the bricks. It would be the highest tragedy for the groom to spend his life pondering the hardness of the bricks when the point of them is merely as a path to get to her! The road serves another purpose. So your death, though it be difficult has a wonderful purpose. It exists to take you to new life, to enjoy Christ Himself.)

The thrilling thing about this passage and the whole chapter that expands on these first four verses is that it show us that the power lies with God. We long to be holy. We struggle with sin and want to conquer.

(If you don’t struggle against sin, if you don’t long to be holy, if you don’t want to be free of sin’s grip, then you may not be in Christ.)

The good news is that God, in Christ, has triumphed victoriously! HE has died to sin. HE was buried. HE was raised to new life. This is the work of Christ. It is finished.

But what is that “newness?” Surely if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holy life; so that every time we go back to “those things whereof we are now ashamed” (Ro 6:21), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and “forget that we have been purged from our old sins” JFB

Romans 6:12-14 (ESV)
¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. ¹³Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Do you want to die? Look to Christ. Do you want to be buried and cut off from sin? Look to Christ. You want to live a new life? Look to Christ. It is the essentials of the gospel that we believe, that Christ died, was buried and raised from death. So these very things are the essentials of your sanctification. These very works of Christ are the foundation of your new life. YOU have been crucified. YOU have been buried. YOU have been raised! Paul goes on in verse 11 to tell us to : consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The NASB says reckon yourselves. We can only reckon on reality. One does not reckon themselves a millionaire without the money waiting for them in the bank account. We can only truly reckon on the basis of what is true. Paul, the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, merely ask us to live out what is really true of Christ (dead, buried, raised) and what is really true of you, yourself (dead, buried, raised). That is the glorious truth that baptism declares in a picture!.

Let these truths sink completely in. Baptism is merely the identification of a human being with the work of Christ. To be baptized is to symbolize what has happened on the spiritual level. It is not what we hope has happened. It is a real transaction that really occurs in the life of a human being who puts his faith in Christ. That person dies. That person is buried. That person is raised to a new life!

Baptism does not accomplish this any more than communion breaks the body and sheds the blood of Christ. Baptism acknowledges publicly this inner, spiritual real reality. Baptism functions as a shorthand for the conversion experience as a whole. Douglas Moo

We look forward to celebrating a baptism in our church during the month of September and earnestly encourage you, who have put your faith in Christ, to consider participating if you have not already been baptized. Please discuss the possibility with one of your elders. Let us pray and thank God for the wonder of His salvation and the privilege of celebrating it in baptism.

Do you remember that Coke commercial in the 70’s? Coke: the Real Thing. I was a kid. I believed it. Recently I was talking to a young man who had spent most of his junior high and high school years yearning for the stage and screen. For him, that was the Real Thing. He had invested much of his energy in watching all the movies he could get permission from his parents to watch. He had spent most of his quota of daily words discussing the latest form of visual entertainment he had just ingested. He spent every summer trying out for and acting in plays. He was in every high school dramatic production he could be in. A few years ago he left for college sure that he was destined to make it big. He almost did.

Last year he got to spend a semester working in Hollywood. It was a dream come true, for he had longed for it all his remembered life and he felt it was possible that certain connections could be formed and certain breaks might occur that would lead to some kind of an “in” into the hip, current and ever-desirable world of movie acting. As he described his time in Los Angeles he reflected on the minor disappointment of the big city itself. It was not quite as glamorous as his mind had painted it. Then he spoke of his internship and how it was not as all-engrossing as he had anticipated. Finally, he said, the big moment came for him when he got to spend some time at Universal Studios. He was looking around at all of the famous sets and seeing the various “worlds” in which movies are filmed stacked next to each other on their respective lots and, it hit him, that it was truly a small world after all. That is, the world of movies was not bigger than life. It was smaller than life. He comprehended that the “world” created for film was so much less real and less satisfying than the world that he had lived in for the past 20 plus years. That was a big moment for him and it seems to have redirected his entire set of goals and plans. He had an image of what real life and true satisfaction consisted of and once he discovered the reality of that image, he turned away from it. The light of truth and reality showed the image to be what it was: not the Real Thing.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever fallen in love in kindergarten only to realize that Isabella was not an immortal, but just a girl who could catch a cold and actually sneeze? So disappointing!

When we see the reality of things, and the light of truth breaks into our thoughts, we are able to build our ideas and values not on the appearance of things but on their true nature. Only then can we “present to God a heart of wisdom.” In order to do that, we need to know what really is the Real Thing.

That is what happens in this passage. Jesus is confronting the Jews. Actually, the Jews have confronted Jesus on His disobedience to their man-made supplements to the Law. He is not so much defending Himself here in John 5, as calling them to account. As Tom has detailed Christ’s “legal defense and prosecution” we continue today in verses 37-47. We will see that there is much to learn from seeing the Jewish leaders as they really are.

To profit from this study, however, we should try to put ourselves in the clothes and thoughts of an average Jew of Jesus’ day. Who are the venerated? Who are the “with-it” people of the culture? Who are the members of the inner ring? Who represents the Real Thing?

Unquestionably, it is the very people Jesus is speaking to here in this passage. It is the Pharisees and Scribes and other prominent religious Jews. They are to be feared. They are to be revered. They are to be emulated. Why?

Jesus is going to examine them with his omniscient gaze in this passage. He will do what we can’t, and that is look at their past as though it were a book opened up in his hand, and see into their minds and hearts as though they were made of glass and tell his listeners exactly what He sees so that we may be instructed. They are not as they seem. They have intimidating, fearsome, religious looking lives. They look like the Real Thing. But they are not so in reality. In fact, bit-by-bit and part-by-part, Jesus details their true appearance before God. We do well to listen, for the snares they succumbed to are ever-present. We fight the same battles today. These men lost those battles and became spiritual casualties. If we long to avoid the same fate, we must attend closely to this examination. Let us place ourselves within His hearing and be ready to be taught by Christ, so that we might discern the Real Thing.

Matthew 3:16-17 (NASB95)
¹⁶After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

1. The first thing Jesus does is observe their commendable behaviour. These leaders searched the Scriptures. That word indicates effort and diligence and a willingness to look over and over at them and to seek something from them.

2. Jesus tells us what they were seeking—eternal life. That is the very prize that Jesus longs to give them. It is the very thing that a human being should seek. We were made for that. This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). We were made to know God. The Jews were after the right thing. But it was as if they could not read.

a. As a side note, please notice what this implies about the reliability of those Scriptures. Jesus, God, is not asking the Jews to read between the lines or to recognize some kind of textual problems with the Old Testament or to reserve judgment on whether or not there are errors in them. He ASSUMES their reliability. He ASSUMES their trustworthiness. In fact, on those assumptions rests the larger assumption that they ACCURATELY communicate the truth about Him.

3. These very Scriptures that they were constantly searching, like Jim Hawkins studying Flint’s map to find the buried treasure, have a message that they never perceived. Jesus boldly states to them that the Old Testament, itself, not only the Father (v. 37), bears witness of Christ. What a bold statement. “The entirety of the Scriptures,” He seems to say, “speaks of me. You look to them to have eternal life. That is good. You search the Scriptures. That is good. But you are not listening to them. They are pointing directly at the One who is speaking to you now. If you listened to them, you would be able to hear Me. And hearing Me, you would come to Me, and I would give you life. The very thing you seek, is what I have.” How could it be more clear?

4. Jesus reveals to us, His listeners, that the Scriptures speak of Him, that He holds the power of life and that if we search the Scriptures rightly, we will be led to Christ, and being led to Christ, He will give us eternal life. As He noted earlier, John 5:24 (NASB95)
²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

5. Thus, we must be like these Jews, in searching the Scriptures, in seeking eternal life. But we must avoid their error. They were unwilling to come to Him. We must read the Scriptures aright and with willing hearts of belief and trust in God, a willingness that is appropriate given that His promises to us are wonderful.

V. 30 John 5:30 (NASB95)
³⁰“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

i. We see the literal truth of Christ’s analysis. These Jews, and others like them, did end up following false teachers who came in their own name and led the multitudes into deception. Such were some of the zealots who led the rebellion against the Romans in 66 A.D. They were convinced that God would free them from Roman bondage and reestablish the Jews as a nation free to worship. The rebellion costs the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews and the temple itself was torn down, never to be reconstructed.

Luke 24:25-27 (NASB95)
²⁵And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

A. On the outside, when we look at these Jewish leaders we see people that command respect and reverence because of their traditions, their devotion, their discipline and their zeal. And indeed, for some Pharisees, who ultimately did believe these things were real. But for most, it was an act. It was not the real thing.

B. Jesus gives us the gift of supernatural vision to see these religious leaders as they really were. They were not Real. Recall:

2. v. 38. They did not allow God’s word to find a home in them. They did not believe in the One God sent to them.

6. v. 43. They did not receive Christ. Thus, they were vulnerable to following false teachers.

7. v. 44. They sought the glory that comes from men and did not seek God’s glory.

8. v. 47. They did not believe the writings of Moses and so they could not believe Christ when He spoke to them.

9. Where they are ignorant of God’s revelation, let us be students of His revelation.

10. Where they did not let God’s Word abide in them, let us make our entire existence a place for the Word to live and grow and thrive.

11. Where they were blind to the real message of the Scriptures, let us humbly seek the meaning that it may transform us into faithful followers of Christ.

12. Where they sought the glory of men, let us make our aim to draw the attention of God and receive His wonderful praise.

13. And where there was not an ounce of love for God in all their souls, let our whole minds and hearts and souls draw in His love for us and breathe out eager affection for Him.

The average Jew of the day expected the Pharisees and Scribes and Leaders to pass God’s examination, if anyone would. But they are examined by Christ and shown to be nothing. There is nothing real about their reality.

What about when Christ examines me and you? Let us not be fooled by outward appearance, for the Lord looks on the heart, and so we should do also. Let us not be content with a facsimile, an outward show, a culturally acceptable form of religion that has no real relationship to Christ. Let us beg God that He would give us a true, enduring love for Himself. That He would give us the grace to receive His word and have it implanted in our souls and minds and hearts. That He would give us eyes to see and ears to hear the teaching and reading of His word, that we could really get it! That He would open our eyes to the glory of God and see the praises of men for what they are, vanity that is easily gained and even more easily lost.

Let us put aside the small dreams and false appearances so exalted in our society and let us strive to live by God’s mercy as His children. The Real Thing is God. And God’s work in you. The Real Thing is Christ. The Real Thing is His love.

1 John 4:4-21 (NASB95)
¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. ¹⁹We love, because He first loved us. ²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.