Radio Broadcast Monday 01/17/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P21 (01-17-22)

The Cross And The Resurrection of Jesus

The Cross is what took care of the forgiveness issue. The Resurrection is what takes care of the death issue.
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved!

John 3:16
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A Closer Look at the Finality of The Cross and A Closer Look at the Reality of the Resurrection bible studies go hand in hand together. Both are vitally important for a person to understand and we encourage you to pick up your copies today! You can even work through them at the same time, because you will then understand the meaning of the death of Christ and the resurrected Christ.

Order your copies of A Closer Look at the Finality of The Cross and A Closer Look at the Reality of the Resurrection from our online eCommerce store. Order your copies today at https://shop.bobgeorge.net. Great for individual or group bible studies.

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

So exactly what does it mean to be a new creation in Christ? How does that come to be? Let’s take a look at Romans 6:4.

Romans 6:4
⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Now folks, that is not a water baptism, nor is it a sprinkling baptism. It is a spiritual baptism. It’s the moment of spiritual birth, when the Holy Spirit comes to live in you.

Romans 8:9
⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

Romans 9 tells us that anyone that does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. When we are born again (of the Spirit), this is when the Holy Spirit comes to live in a believer. The moment the we are born again, the Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. At that time we placed in Him. He is placed in us and we are identified as in Him. The whole transaction takes place at that moment in time. We become identified with His body. We are submerged, and baptized at the same time. That is what Jesus told the Apostles, that He was going to send His Spirit to come and indwell them.

If you had looked 2000 years ago for the body of Christ, you would have had to have gone to Jerusalem, and there you would have seen the body of Jesus Christ walking. Today, the body of Jesus Christ is all over the world at the same time, living in the body of believers at the same time. When the Holy Spirit came to live in us, we became the body of Christ. Now the bible says that our body is the temple, the dwelling place, of the Holy Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 3:16
¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

So we need to understand that when Christ died on the cross, we all died with Him. Now, if indeed we have all died, then the only thing left is resurrection from the dead. There’s only two options. Either remain dead or come alive in Him.

So, what does it mean to become new? John 3:16

John 3:16
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

So becoming new is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.

Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

Before we were in Christ, we were in Adam. Now we are in Christ. We have eternal life. Death is eternal death for anyone not in Christ. Death is the absence of life. Adam was the first man to be created alive spiritually. At creation, God was in Adam’s spirit. God’s Spirit was alive living in Adam. So on the day Adam ate of the tree of good and evil, Adam died spiritually on that very day. God lived in man to begin with. That was what God had intended for man. Adam was created with God’s Spirit living in him. But when Adam did what he did, God’s Spirit departed from Adam’s spirit, so that he died.

Genesis 2:17
¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Now some folks want to say that when Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that somehow Adam’s spirit died. Yet we can see that man’s spirit is not dead to various things. Man is incurably religious. Just look around, man is constantly seeking spiritual things. How could that be if man’s spirit was dead? Man’s spirit is dead to things of God, yet man’s spirit is alive to the things of the world. If man’s spirit was dead, then he would be like a dog. He would not be able to contemplate, who I am, or where I came from, or where am I going, or what am I here for? After all, a dog doesn’t sit around planning his day. A dog doesn’t wonder all of those things or wonder if there is a God.

A Closer Look at The Reality of the Resurrection

Man is not an animal. Man has a human spirit. It doesn’t have the Spirit of God living in there by default. Man still is alive to the things of the world, yet it is dead to God’s Spirit. Man still wonders about all things. Man is trying to find meaning and purpose to life. We look at money to find happiness. Yet that doesn’t bring satisfaction to life. Solomon said it is all vanity. Solomon had everything yet he realized it was all vanity.

Once you come to Christ Jesus, He becomes our source of contentment. Jesus becomes our peace.

John 14:14
¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 14:27
²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

When you are dead, without the Spirit of God living in you, you feel like there is something missing. The reason you feel like something is missing, is because something is indeed missing. The Holy Spirit is missing from your spirit. Christ in you is missing in the spiritually dead man.

Colossians 1:27
²⁷ To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We are dead, and in need of life. We need life. We are in darkness when we are dead. Each of us were born dead to God’s Spirit. The Spirit of God is not in us when we are physically born. That’s why we must be born again. Born from above.

Man needs life. We must be born again of the Spirit.

John 3:3-8
³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit b gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You c must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Jesus Christ came to give us life. Jesus was the only one born with Life. He was the only MAN born alive spiritually. He was the only one that had a life to lay down for us. He was the first born of all of creation. Jesus was God in a perfect Man. Jesus became sin for us, and shed His life for you and me. He took away the sins of the world. So that He could give us eternal life. If He did not take care of the sin issue, then the next time we sinned we would die again ourselves.