Christ, Our Living Hope

Welcome

Two ordinances: ceremonies “ordained” by Jesus

Baptism, which follows conversion, and communion (Lord’s Supper, Eucharist)

Symbols

Just 2 things - therefore important

Not a whim or spontaneously

many views - why we offer a class

Pray...

—Three songs—

A God Who Speaks

God is a God who speaks.

God speaks to us because He wants us to know Him

Transcendent yet imminent

God speaks to us in different ways:

Creation:

If there really is a God, and He created all this, He truly is a magnificent God

Painter of leaves - creator of galaxies - creates life where there is not life - children, the family

Mankind created in his image: you and I are a reflection who God is

with the capacity to feel sadness, anger towards evil, cry out for justice, to love your family - spouse, mother/father, child, hold your baby in your arms

Yet God is transcendent - a painting is not the painter

Bible:

Collection of historical documents: 66 books, 40 authors, 1500 years

Written by eyewitnesses: Moses, David, prophets, Peter, Matthew, Dr. Luke

As we read our Bibles, we get a behind the scenes look at who God is

He wants us to know Him intimately, personally

Church / God’s People

God’s people reflect who he is

Share the story

They are a witness to who God is

Jesus: He speaks to us through His Son

The story of the Bible is a story about Jesus - the whole story converges on the life and death of Jesus in the 1st century (that’s why we call it the first century!)

All of creation finds its purpose in Jesus

Jesus: God dwelling among us

God speaks through His creation / Bible / Church / Jesus /

When we stand before God, we have no excuse because He has done everything in His power to speak to you. He created you to know Him, and He makes Himself known to you.

To Know Jesus is to Know God

Jesus is God incarnate: He took on human flesh yet remained fully God - Truly God and Truly Man

Out of His love for us, God became human to identify with His creation

Out of His love for you, God became human to identify with you!

Jesus became a man so that we would see the true likeness of God in His actions:

In His willingness to become human - subject Himself to being born a baby, learn to walk, talk, read, work with His hands

He would lead a sinless life - show and tell us what it meant to truly love God and submit to His will - Jesus became subservient to God the Father as our example

He performed miracles: healed people, drove out evil, walked on water, fed thousands with a handful of food (all of this recorded for us by eyewitnesses)

He was willing to submit Himself to the most evil act of all - the creator willing to submit to crucifixion by His creation

God sees the evil in the world and knew that He alone could do what needed to be done - He was willing to suffered just as you suffer - God was willing to suffer for you

He took on His shoulders the weight - the punishment for your sins - my defiance - my rebellion against my creator

Jesus died on the cross - indisputable that He died on the cross and was buried

He rose after three days

The Resurrection is the seal - the stamp of authentication that Jesus was who He said He was

If Jesus did not rise from the dead - our faith is useless

[If] Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. - 1 Cor 15:17

The resurrection tells us that Jesus was not merely a good man who came to do good things, but that He truly is God - and therefore worthy of our worship

Summary

Jesus, who is God, became man to display His love for you:

to identify with all of us

to suffer at the hands of sin and evil - just as we suffer

by dying on the cross, taking the weight of our sin on Himself

to rise from the dead - so that you too can have new life, just like He has - this is what He offers (we’ll take a look at that after)

Baptism

This is what baptism symbolizes

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

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.

Just as Jesus was willing to identified with you - those who have come to recognize Jesus as their saviour identify with Him! A public proclamation!

Plunged into the waters of His death - and raised out of that old life into new life!

Baptism does not save you - it does not wash away your sins - it is a public proclamation - an outward act symbolizing what has already taken place within you

Baptism is not to be taken lightly or done on a whim

Christ tells us to count the cost of following Him

Our three candidates have made that profession of faith, they have taken the class and desire to baptized - and we’re happy to share this occasion with them. Thank you for coming.

On behalf of those being baptized, I thank you.

— Baptize —

—Reading —

— Pray —

Christ, Our Living Hope

Peter: The apostle Peter, a fisherman chosen by Jesus. Simon Peter / Cephas - The Rock

Writing to a bunch of churches around Asia Minor - modern day Turkey

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again…

God the Father, and God the Son:

The eternal relationship within the trinity

According to His great mercy:

Because God is merciful — He does not give us justice but mercy - even though we don’t deserve it, God is kind

God sees evil, but He doesn’t leave us - He has done what needed to be done

And what has He done according to His great mercy?

He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Born again: If you have ever wondered why sometimes we identify as Born-again Christians, it’s because the Scripture identifies us this way

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” Jesus said to one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, who came to visit Jesus one night during His earthly ministry.

What does this mean? We are born once to our parents - but at our conversion we are born a second time - we are given new life. We are spiritually reborn. God has placed His Spirit within the new Christian.

Regeneration: Brought to life - A spiritual transformation

When you understand the severity of the sin in the world and that that sin is part of you, and you realize your inability to do anything about it, no matter how hard you try - we alone cannot fix the problem of evil in the world without God’s help. This moment of acceptance - this is the moment of rebirth.

“God, I need you!”

The realization of our inadequacy reveals our need for Jesus - the severity of the problem takes a God sized solution

No matter how hard I try, I cannot fix this brokenness within me. The Bible calls this brokenness sin.

The inability to follow God’s will for us - breaking God’s law

Summary - Born again: a transformation that can only be done by God’s holy Spirit - a new life a gift of mercy - not because I deserved it, but because God is loving and merciful.

He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Living Hope:

Hope definition: “to want something to happen, or be to true, and to usually have a good reason to think that it might happen”

Do we have a good reason to think that this hope/trust we put in the resurrected Jesus is true?

The resurrection is integral to the Christian faith - without the resurrection, our faith is futile, we have no hope…

Do we have a reason for a real hope? A real person. Not dead. Did Jesus just die on the cross and remain in the grave?

Evidence For a True Resurrection

I’m going to give you five quick reasons why we can be certain of the resurrection:

Certainty of Jesus’ death:

The Romans had perfected crucifixion.

No scholar, Christian or otherwise who has done any serious study of Roman crucifixion would say that Jesus could have survived crucifixion - and least of all, walked around and spoke to anyone three days after

His body was destroyed - The purpose of crucifixion was public, humiliating death

Not a religion that one would invent. The Jew’s would not have made up a crucified saviour.

They were expecting a saviour, but one who would liberate them from the oppression they were under, not liberate them from their own sinfulness (they trusted in their self-righteousness)

To be crucified was the lowest form of punishment, saved for the worst, and meant to be the most demeaning and humiliating

Very early recorded eyewitness accounts of a resurrected Jesus

The earliest recorded account in the Biblical cannon can be dated as early as 2 or 3 years after His death

Not just a few people: Luke and Paul both record that Jesus appeared to hundreds

Paul says more than 500 at one time (1 Cor 15)

Luke interviewed witnesses with meticulous detail as a historian. Well-written in high class, educated Greek

Early non-Christian historians recorded that this was the belief of the early Christians

The resurrection was not something made up years later.

Opponents conceded an empty tomb

Didn’t deny it, they tried to cover it up

The religious leaders who had cried out for Jesus crucifixion conceded that the tomb was empty. It’s recorded that they paid off the enormous Roman guard that was supposed to be guarding the tomb.

They understood the ramifications

Transformation:

History records a radical transformation of the Roman world because of Christianity

Does a crucified Jewish rabbi sound like a pivotal point in history unless He really was God incarnate and He really was raised from the dead?

The transformation continues:

Their are few religions that have had lasting change like Christianity

Changed the face of the globe. Nations are built upon the basic Judeo-Christian fundamental beliefs

Our Calendars are still counting the years since the life of Jesus

I wont sweep under the rug that there are some that have abused the Christian faith for evil purposes. We cannot throw out a system of belief because of some people’s abuse of it.

The transformation of the people we know

The resurrected Jesus transformed the world, but He also transforms people

I don’t believe because of all this evidence I just presented. I believe because I’ve seen the radical transformation in myself, in my family, and in the lives of people that I know. I’ve seen the transformation of those who have dedicated themselves to knowing & trusting Jesus.

It’s not immediate perfection - it’s slow, painful, sometimes heartbreaking change. God’s Spirit working in us, against our sinful nature.

Five reasons we can trust that the resurrection is true:

Certainty of His Death

Not a religion anyone would invent

Very early / many eyewitness accounts

Even opponents of Christians conceded that the tomb was empty

The evidence of transformed lives

The resurrection is a stamp of authentication that Jesus is who He says He is.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (To what?) to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Living Hope: We have a living hope because He is alive - seated in Heaven at the right hand of the Father - we can place our trust and confidence in Jesus because He is who HE says - He is and does what HE says He does.

He is worthy of our worship.

Inheritance

to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you

Nothing we have in this life can we take with us, but there is something in the next. It’s not just dark emptiness.

Who receives an inheritance?

The Triune God adopts us into His family.

How does Peter describe this inheritance?

Imperishable: it cannot be taken away or wear out. Not a house; table and chairs; not a necklace that can be lost; not memories that fade

Undefiled: not tainted by the sin in the world. No evil. No pain. No broken hearts. No loss.

Unfading: It doesn’t run out. There’s no limited warranty on the inheritance that Christ is willing to share with you.

What is this inheritance? It’s God - God gives you Himself. Life with Him - life with your creator who loves and cares for you more than anyone ever could. Who knows you better than you know yourself. Who would do whatever needed to be done to reconcile you to himself.

[This inheritance is] Kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

It’s there now - it’s a promise kept for you. It was set there for you before the foundation of the world was ever created. With your name written on it.

How do we take hold of this inheritance?

Through faith… that’s it. Believe…

Ask yourself the same questions I asked Jude and Shirley and Matthew:

Do I believe that Jesus is the Son of God?

Do I believe that He died on the cross to cover my sins, and that He rose on the third day?

Do I trust in Jesus Christ alone for my salvation?

If you’ve answered yes to these question - be rest assured that you are safe in the hands of a God who loves you.

You are being guarded by God’s power: the creator of all things - visible and invisible. The same power that did the impossible, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is holding you safe.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Lets pray…