4/13/25 - Our Identity After Christ Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Happy Palm Sunday!
Before we dig into the Word this morning
First, thank you so much to Luke for Two Sundays ago
and Mike Ball for preaching last Sunday evening
It is an honor and peace to know that I have people that I can count on
To bring the Word in my absence like Luke and Mike
great word about is He Worthy? And the Christology of worship
Secondly, tonight we have an incredible opportunity to hear from another pastor you won’t want to miss
His name is Russell Abraham
He’s not from around here
He’s lives in New York, fellow Yankee
But originally from Bangladesh
And he’s reaching 600,000 South Asians in the New York area
With a vision as big as can be
I can’t wait to hear all that God is doing through him
Thirdly, Happy tax week
for those that haven’t done taxes
You have until Tuesday unless you file an extension
And happy tax day to our CPA’s
Who will be glad to see this week in their rear view mirror
In case you are wondering about taxes and what the Bible says
Then he (Jesus) said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Nothing is more sure than death and taxes
except the return of Jesus
Which brings me to the last point, next week is Easter
Can you believe Easter is already here?
Not gonna lie, this snuck up on me this year
Like Easter doesn’t come every year
That either means I’m too busy
Or I’m not paying attention
Either way it’s my fault
Let’s make a plan for this week not to just attend the events
Let’s set this plan in motion
Think of someone that you hope would come to the Sunday morning service
Then pray for that person
And then invite them to come
It’s Easter Sunday so it’s almost a gimme to be able to invite someone
Just start a conversation and invite them to come with you
Offer to pick them up, whatever it takes to get them here next week.
Last week we spoke about the conjunctions
Here’s a quick reminder
“And” is an addition conjunction
that connects similar or related things
“Or” is a comparative conjunction
This word gives you a choice
“But” is an opposite conjunction
that gives two different often opposing thoughts
Last week we spoke about the “and”
The connective conjunction
And it was all about our lives before we became Christians
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
This is life in the Zombie apocalypse
the living dead
And when we speak of living dead
This is the dead in spirit
Sure we can go along in life and think that there’s nothing wrong
But we all know deep down inside of us
There are things that aren’t right
The world is broken
Some of us feel that anxiety and tension
The fear of either missing out
Or just a fear of everything in general
It almost paralyzes you
We live in the fleshly temptations
that we don’t want to give in to
But ultimately something pushes us over the edge
And we wind up giving in and find our selves in full blown sin
And now we feel fear and shame
It’s a natural feeling for every human and even every believer
and one that is controlled by our enemy, Satan
He wants us to feel paralyzed with fear and shame
Because that immobilizes us
It causes us to panic
To not move forward
And that moves us into a comfort zone
That we never want to leave
Suddenly we become useless to the kingdom of God
because we live in that fear that locks us up
And just when life seems to be unbearable
And we want to throw in the towel
Or hide in a dark place and stay there
There are two words that show up next
That create a light that rips through through the dark fabric of our souls
and those two words are
But God
But God
But God
I wanted to try to find a catchy name for the sermon this morning
As we enter into the Easter season and begin the passion week
I thought it would be wonderful to have this as an invite for friends
I thought of some catchy titles like
Let’s say grace
Palms up! (get it, Palm Sunday, worship...)
We didn’t do anything, so we can’t lose anything
Friends with Jesus with Benefits
But my favorite that I chose not to use was Big Buts in the Bible
The last one had a song that went with it, but I’ll refrain from sharing
I settled on Our identity after Christ Part 1
Last week we spoke about who we were in Christ
It was the whole zombie apocalypse movie theme
Saying that we are the walking dead without Christ
We aren’t bad people,
we are dead people
Dead people don’t need behavioral changes
Dead people need a miracle to be raised
That brings us to the first two words of the verses this morning
So I just want to sit in these words this morning
How many times do we realize
that as believers and followers of Jesus
we are the product of just two words
These words are the pivot point of where we spend eternity
And how we also spend life here on earth
And why are these two words so important?
Let me give you a brief history of these two words in the Bible
The first time they were used
They were used in the deception and temptation
of the very first humans on earth
Eve, in speaking with the serpent possessed by Satan
Was challenged by the serpent as to what God really said
She directly repeated the words of God back to the serpent
That were shared with her husband Adam
About the only thing they shouldn’t do in the garden
but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
It’s never about the things we are allowed to do that give us the issue
it’s the things that we are told not to do that give us the problems
It’s an authority issue.
Our dead hive mind, that still exists
even after we become believers and followers of Jesus
We hate to be told what to do
I think about the times since I’ve been married when I wanted to buy something
Shannon may have once or twice told me no
Then she matured spiritually far passed me
and learned to just give me the ok
And now I have to make a decision
But the very few times that she used to say no
How many other things in my mind would go off
About who makes the money in the family
And who is the head of the household
And does she really understand my needs
But, By her saying to go ahead,
that did two things
It opened up my mind to see what reality was
both in life and in our bank account
and made it solely my decision
If I was going to buy it,
and things didn’t work out
her hands were clean and it was all my fault
Secondly, and maybe even more important
it got her out of the way of God
Rather than putting her foot down
She stepped out of the way and let God have at me
For Him to be able to convict of me
To see my want wasn’t really a need
It’s an authority issue
we don’t like to be told no
So when Eve heard no, Satan worked that bone
until he even made her say the words out loud
so that it wasn’t just heard, it was felt
Ever since the time that Satan insisted her saying the words, “but God”
The words, “But God” have haunted him for doing that
we’ll learn all about that this morning
Remember the conjunction “but”
Is a contrasting conjunction showing two opposing thoughts
When Eve said it in Genesis 3:3 it
it showed a contrast between what God allowed
and what God said not to do
there are other places in the Bible where it contrasts different things
Sometimes the word “But” doesn’t even have to be there
To recognize there is a difference between us and God
The very first sentence in the Bible
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
There’s no “but” written there
But, there’s a big understood “but” there
When Genesis uses the word “created”
It means out of nothing
And so the opposite thought is ultimately this:
That sentence points out that He is God
And we are not
Try to create something out of nothing
I’ve shared the story before about the scientists who challenged God
And they said to God,
“We have the ability to create man now.
With DNA research and human genome therapy
We can create a man without you.
We can clone humans, create organs,
And do all sorts of things miraculously without you.”
We can even create man just the way you did
With the molecules from the first in the ground
So God accepted the challenge and told the scientists
Let’s see if you can create man the way I did, old school
So the scientist reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt
And God replied, “Get your own dirt.”
God is God and we are not
And the moment we begin to have pride in anything
I don’t care what you have pride in
You essentially proclaim to the world with all your pride
I don’t need God, I am self sufficient
And that tells the world exactly what you truly believe in
It’s not about you, it’s all about God
I believe those four words
“It’s not about you” are the most profound words
Because it aptly describes the Christian life
a life of humility and service
agape love, self sacrificing love
That being said,
considering we are talking about opposite thoughts
when we talk about agape love
the opposite thought would be pride
and if the definition of agape love can be summed up with the four words
It’s not about me
Pride then has it’s own four words
and maybe the most powerful four words in the world
for anyone to say, or imply
Including the Christian
Are these four words, “I don’t need you.”
I Don’t Need You
I Don’t Need You
I original wrote these as the most dangerous words
and I believe that could be true
but I changed it to powerful because
in cases of addiction. toxic relationships with people or things
these words are possibly the most freeing words ever
When you can tell someone or something in your life
I don’t need you
it breaks the bondage of whatever that person or thing has over you
and starts a new direction that can change a person’s life
However, these four words can also be
the most hateful, egotistical, and prideful words on the planet
and they drive a dagger into the very heart of God when used maliciously
referencing God or another human
for purposes other than toxic relationships
Let me define a toxic relationship by saying
that a toxic relationship is something or someone
that corrupts our relationship with God
using I don’t need you other than that
these words are venom that destroys
They can literally exclude someone from our life
They can mean that we don’t need God for anything
That we, our self-sufficient, prideful heart
actually believes that we are self reliant.
That means as a church and as an individual Christian
we have the ability to do things without anyone else, including God.
And that’s not only wrong, it’s unbiblical
But Art, I would never tell God I don’t need Him
Let me give you two examples
Prayer is a habit of grace, a spiritual discipline
Why do we pray?
I mean, if God already knows everything,
Why do we have to voice things to Him in prayer
It seems counterproductive doesn’t it?
Here’s the problem
prayer isn’t so much for God as it is for us
We pray because we when we do
we glorify and worship God
and show we are dependent on God
When we choose not to pray
We tell God, “I don’t need you.”
How would you like to be told “I don’t need you?”
In real life situations you may not hear the words
but it feels like
when you are fired from a job
It happens when a boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you
It happens when a family member kicks you out of their life
And they are the most hurtful words in the world
When we as Christians exclude someone else
whether it be because we don’t like them
or we make assumptions about them
and we form our church cliques of people
our personal holy huddles
we tell people, I Don’t need you
I used to hear a lot about revivals
Can I tell you that there is no formula for revivals?
First, statistically, revivals have always begun primarily with young people
Because when our younger population gets it
They don’t come with a ton of baggage
But to plan a revival is counterproductive
It’s basically telling God when to show up
We can plan a week in the fall
and sing all the old hymns and make some people feel good
And bring some big name people
That wear some wild suits
With some wild looking hair
And they spit and snort
And thump their Bible
And in the end make us feel real good about ourselves
In the end, though
We’ve planned everything and get disappointed that no one got saved
Why?
Two reasons
We were the ones that probably needed the revival
and we were so busy looking at everyone else to be changed
we missed what the Spirit was trying to tell us.
And second, God doesn’t come where He’s not wanted
We make plans and decisions
We spend money on speakers
And we throw up perfunctory prayers to God
Because we think we need to
And we’ll design worship services with no room for the Holy Spirit to work
We do it all in the name of God
But never asked Him if it was what He wanted us to do
In Joshua 6, Joshua has just beaten Jericho
they marched around the walls and the walls came a tumbling down
They were pumped and ready
In Joshua 7, they looked over at the city of Ai
And they sent spies into the land
they came back and said
we only need a few people to go over because, we got this
And Israel seemed to be following God’s will
Until they attacked, and the men of Ai killed 36 men of Israel
And sent them running back home
What happened?
God left them on their own
Why? First, because there was sin in the camp
After the battle of Jericho
the rule was, everything that was collected went to the Lord
One of the men kept back some of the spoil from Jericho
And God lifted His hand from Israel’s protection
The second, probably more important
Joshua and the leadership never asked God if they should attack Ai
They just assumed it was the right thing to do
After all, they had done it before and God showed up
Because God said to do it once We should always do it
It wasn’t because God didn’t want them to fight Ai
It was because they never went to God first to show dependency on God
If they had asked God about it first
God would have told them the problem before they attacked
and then they could have avoided losing 36 people
They fixed the situation
Joshua and the elders got on their faces before God
God told them to get up
That there was sin in the camp
And to get rid of the sin and the sinner
And when they did, God said, “OK, now go and attack Ai.”
When we lose dependency on God
we tell God “I don’t need you”
And we begin to do things without God
And they may work for a while,
But I can tell you, that they won’t last
And eventually, we worship the event
And not the God of the event
Even in all that
when we choose to repent
And turn back to God
God is faithful
Just like He did with Joshua
To honor the promise He made to us
To not leave us or forsake us
To be with us until the end the age
And suddenly our fears and shame
Is completely reversed into victories
Because of the two words “But God”
When we talk about words like, “But God”
These two words have changed the course of history
Listen to these verses that share the pivot points of people’s hope
notice the opposite thoughts that take place
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
And in the end, God intervenes for the poor in spirit
and He is the one that grows the church
and does what only God can do
This is what “But God” truly means
and we have to be careful
that we don’t miss what God is really trying to do
We are here this morning to begin the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus
This begins the passion week of Jesus
Today we celebrate the wonderful entry into Jerusalem
When Jesus got on a donkey
And the people laid down palm branches
And threw their cloaks on the ground
They shouted John 12:13
they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”
And as great a celebration as this may be
And for all the shouts of Hosanna that they cried on that day
Jesus was coming as a different King than the people thought
The reality is that in the book of Matthew alone
Jesus told his disciples 6 different times before getting to Jerusalem
that he was going to Jerusalem for what?
From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
Don’t miss this But God moment
It was Peter, then that would challenge Jesus
And say, I’m not going to let that happen
Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”
Then Jesus teaches this lesson to the people around him
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done.
Peter, in trying to protect God
and I believe his motives were pure
Was trying to stand in the way of what God’s plans were
He didn’t get the plan
That Jesus had to suffer, be killed, so that He could be raised on the third day
Because Peter was afraid that without Jesus physically being there
Peter would be lost and back fishing
Which is kind of ironic
because in the end Peter would deny he knew Jesus 3 times
He would run away
He wouldn’t ultimately then go back fishing
But God would forgive Peter in person on the beach 3 times
and Peter would go on the start the building of the movement of Christianity
This was Peter’s “but God” moment
Peter thought he was through,
But God was going to use him for greater things
He promised He would make him a fisher of men
And God doesn’t ever go back on his promises
Think of how many times in the Bible its says “but God”
that points back to a promise that God made to someone
God’s promise to Noah floating around on the ark for forty days
But God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside.
God honoring the promise He made to Abraham about a son
But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac
Jacob after he had been cheated by Rachel’s father Laban
You know that with all my strength I have served your father and that he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not let him harm me.
Joseph after all he had been through
After being tossed in a ditch to die by his brothers
After being sold into slavery by his brothers
After being wrongly accused an thrown into prison
After being forgotten for several years in prison by the head Cup Bearer of pharoah
Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
You planned evil against me; but God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.
To Moses after promising he would save Israel from Egypt
But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
To David after God promised he would be king
David then stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand David over to him.
To us, showing us the love of God for us
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Through Paul to the Corinthians church and to us, to show how God is going to share the gospel with the world
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
God doesn’t forget his promises, ever
Here are some of the promises in the Bible we can depend on
fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
The Lord is the one who will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
God is God and we are not
so if God doesn’t forget His promises
we can fully depend on Him for everything that He has promised already
These are just a few of the promises of God
The last one is my favorite
because it promised that even me, a sinner
separated from God, Dead in spirit
incapable of fighting off temptation on my own
or getting to God on my own
says, if I confess that jesus is Lord
place my self under His authority by calling Him Lord
and believe that Jesus died and rose again for me
which is what this whole week is about
then I will be saved
God doesn’t go where He isn’t wanted
but when you realize that You need Him
“but God”
He’s always there
Is that you?
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Here’s the reality of this situation
There are three parts to a new life with Christ
This is what God and we can expect
The first is a forgiveness of sins
The second is eternal life
The third one that we often forget about is abundant life right now
