Reflections on the Resurrection-Freedom

Focus: The Freedom of resurrection power

As I have been declaring over and over these past few weeks:

Jesus is the Lord of Resurrection power:

The power of God was displayed when Jesus died for our sins on the Cross, but how much more the power of God was displayed when the Resurrected Jesus came out of the tomb.

Romans 1:4 (NASB95) [tells us Jesus… ] … was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, …

If we will walk in it, Resurrection Power makes all the difference in our lives!

Not just after we die — but right now!

This morning I looked at my YouVersion app on my phone for the scripture of the day.

Wow!

The AMP really makes come alive:

Philippians 3:10-11 (Amplified Bible - AMP) And this, so that I may know Him [talking about Jesus] [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did]; 11 so that I may attain to the resurrection [that will raise me] from the dead.

That I might know and [… experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers]

The RESURRECTION power we saw 3 weeks ago in Ezekiel 37 is the power that can:

Put the dead, scattered pieces of our lives back to together again…

… and breathe new life into things we may have thought long-dead — the hopes, the dreams — the purposes of God.

That Resurrection power that we saw Week before last that is also a HEALING power.

In Mark 5, we …

First saw Jesus heal a woman who had some sort of bleeding disorder for 12 years.

AND THEN,

He raised a 12 year-old little girl back to life.

Resurrection power that, yes, raises the dead but will also heal our sick bodies.

Last week, in John 11, we saw a demonstration of the LOVE of Resurrection Power when we saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.

We saw clearly in that chapter that Jesus loved Lazarus and His sisters Martha and Mary.

Jesus loves fallen humanity — and He demonstrated it by NOT ONLY dying on the Cross — but in defeating death by rising again.

As says:

1 Corinthians 15:20–23 (NLT) But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to die so that He might be the prototokos of the Resurrection from the dead.

As says Colossians 1:18 (NASB95) [Jesus] is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn [the prototokos] from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Jesus was the first to experience Resurrection Power that He might NOW pour it out on us.

So, it is my prayer that THIS week, we will continue to see what Resurrection Power does in the here and now.

Let’s look at Romans 8:1-11 to see 4 things Resurrection power does in our life.

Prayer

Then read…

Romans 8:1–11 (NASB95) Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

In this passage from Romans, Paul underscores the transformative power of the resurrection.

He tells us 4 ways that Resurrection Power transforms our lives of slavery to lives of freedom:

Freedom from condemnation

Freedom from the slavery of sin

Freedom to choose to walk according to the leading of the Holy Spirit

Freedom to walk in the Life and Peace of God

Condemnation Cancelled Completely

Romans 8:1-2

In the verses of Chapter 7 that lead up our text we see the Apostle Paul talking about the struggle we have as long as we live in these bodies.

The struggle between the sin nature and Resurrection power.

The struggle of wanting to do good, to be in alignment with the Law of God (Mosaic covenant)

And yet, the seeming inability to do the right thing.

But then enters Resurrection Power that is as verse 2 says:

… is the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

And, here in Romans 8:1, what is the first thing that power does?

It gives us freedom…

Freedom from condemnation

Vs. 1 There is therefore NOW NO Condemnation.

Oh the joyful release from living under condemnation!

What release the woman must have felt in

John 8:10–11 (LSB) [as Jesus straightened up from kneeling and asked her] … “Woman, where are [your accusers]? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go, and from now on sin no more.”]

So many things this woman must have felt (and so should the man who was caught in adultery with the woman!)

But, so many things she must have felt: shame, embarrassment, anger, humiliation …

Oh, but the condemnation!

She was guilty!

And then to be set free from condemnation — what release!

For those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk in Resurrection Power,

… the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death.

Condemnation no longer holds power over us.

Resurrection Power poured into our lives through the Holy Spirit empowers us to experience true freedom from condemnation.

Condemnation is a brutal antagonizer of the Peace of God that should flood our lives.

Resurrection power sets us free from from condemnation.

Again, as Vs. 1 says: There is now, NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 John 3:18–22 (NASB95) Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

Oh, church, let us walk in the Resurrection Power of Jesus that sets us free from condemnation!

Sin Conquered Through Christ

Romans 8:3-4

Not just freedom from condemnation — but freedom from the slavery of sin.

Resurrection power, working in us, enables us to choose freedom from sin.

and victory over sinful patterns.

Jesus not only freed the woman of John 8 from condemnation — He gave her the choice to “from now on, sin no more.”

Resurrection power sets free from the slavery of sin.

Romans 6 tells us about the symbology of water baptism…

Romans 6:4–14 (NASB95) Therefore 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. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Resurrection Power says:

Sin is not my master — I am free to choose life, to choose the righteousness of God

Choosing the Spirit's Course

Romans 8:5-8

Yes, Resurrection power, working in us, enables us to choose to turn away from the slavery of sin and choose to follow the Holy Spirit.

To set our mind on Him rather than the incessant screams of the flesh:

“Me! Me! Satisfy ME!”

As says:

Galatians 5:22–25 (NASB95) … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Resurrection Power gives us the freedom to choose to walk according to the Holy Spirit.

To walk in the Fruit of the Spirit — to manifest the Gifts of the Spirit.

Freedom to Walk in Life

Romans 8:9-11

Yes, as verse 11 tells us,

as the Holy Spirit of God dwells within us.

The same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, granting life to our mortal bodies.

I still like the poetic ring of the KJV — it will quicken your mortal body.

It will make us alive with the Life of God.

Not only life, the God-life, in the Greek, the zo-yoh-poh-ET-oh of God.

But vs 6 tells us not only life, but peace of God.

I often encourage us to go beyond the English word “peace”, and even beyond the Greek word “ay-RAY-neh” to the deeper Hebrew word “shalom.”

The shalom of God is more than peace, an absence of conflict and strife — it is also the absence of fear — in fact a place of security, it is a state of well-being, of harmony with God in which all a person’s needs are met and the person experiences wholeness.

THAT is what Resurrection Power will do in our lives — if we abide in Christ.

So, let us rely on the Spirit’s indwelling power,

Let’s experience the life-giving transformation of Resurrection Power that signifies our identity, the unity of our being with the Risen Christ.

As the worship team comes to the platform…

Are you walking in the freedom of Resurrection Power?

Free from condemnation?

Free from the bondage of sin?

Free to choose to walk according to the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Free to walk in life and shalom?

If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sins…

If you have never surrendered to His leadership in your life.

I urge you, turn to Him.

Ask Jesus to crucify the old self of sin.

So that might be fulfilled in you

Galatians 2:20 (NASB95) “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

You say, Pastor, I did that years ago.

But I sense Resurrection Power working in me.

I don’t sense the Freedom that you talked about this morning.

Pray for a revelation to burst forth upon your being.

Altar