Resurrecting

Dr. H.A. Ironside once shared a story that was the clearest illustration of the Gospel I have ever heard. He said that he was visiting in South Texas and had the opportunity to visit a sheep ranch. While he was there, he spotted what he thought to be a two-headed lamb. He asked the foreman of the ranch, "Why in the world does that lamb have two heads?"

The foreman smiled and said, "You are a city slicker. Let me explain what we did. The other day we had two ewes who gave birth to lambs. One of the ewes died in childbirth and one of the lambs died, also. We took the living lamb and put it in the pen with the living ewe to see if she would nurse. She smelled of the lamb and walked away. It wasn’t her own."

"What did you do?" Ironside asked. "Well, we took the coat off of the dead lamb and wrapped it around the living one and put it back in the pen. When the mother smelled the blood of her very own lamb......she accepted the little lamb and began to nurse."

Dr. Ironside said, "Thank you for sharing with me the greatest picture of the Cross I have ever seen. For without Christ, I am hopeless for eternity. God will not accept me into Heaven on my own works. But, when I stand before Him covered in the blood of His own Son, Jesus........He accepts me and allows me to be part of His family!"

Jesus became what WE ARE....that we might have what HE IS!

What if I told you Easter was not just about Jesus’ Resurrection? What if I told you that around the world on this day- Easter Sunday- millions of people will go to church, some of them this may be the only time they attend a church all year- and they will go in and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, but if that is all they celebrate they are missing half of the story of Easter? What if I told you that if the only thing you celebrate today is Jesus’ resurrection you are robbing the cross and the empty tomb of half of their power? Because…all of these things are true.

You see, the Resurrection story of Jesus is not a stand alone moment in history- while it is a historical event, it is also a moment that impacts the story of every man, woman, and child that has ever walked this Earth. Jesus’ resurrection story is the beginning of every other resurrection story that has ever been told.

Hear the words of

English Standard Version Chapter 8

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 8:9–11.

You see, we can start by celebrating that Jesus is alive today, we can celebrate his resurrection, but the story continues because it gives us the power to celebrate our own resurrection and the resurrection of every born again believer in this place today…

Think of it this way, Jesus’ death came to save us from somethings. Let’s look at some of the things that Jesus’ death saved us from.

1- Jesus’ death saves us from sin- Many times we speak of sin as actions- that sins are things that we do, and that is true, but not the entire scope of sin. Sin is more than actions that we do or do not do, sin by definition is missing the mark. Sin is anything that is short of God’s best. The bulls-eye that we aim for is God’s absolute best for any and all situations, but because of sin the world is broken and so we, and everything around us, fall short of this goal. Jesus, then arrives on the scene and pays our price on the cross to conquer sin- we no longer have to pay the price, because Jesus paid it for us.

2- Jesus’ death saves us from death- Not physical death, that hasn’t changed. We all die, they say there are 2 things that all people must reckon with, death and taxes. However, Jesus saved us from eternal death, that is separation from God.

Think of it this way, death can either be a blessing, or a curse. For those who have not accepted Christ as their Savior and allowed him to cover their lives death is a curse. For as the Scripture says the wages of sin is death- and the wage must be paid. So, for them death is a curse for it is the doorway to death and eternal separation from God.

But yet, for others death is the ultimate blessing- because death is the doorway to the eternal presence of God. This is the second part of the Scripture, the gift of God is eternal life. At funerals when a person who believes in Jesus dies I remind the family, nothing bad has happened to them, something good happened to them because they inherited the gift of eternal life, something bad happened to you because you lost someone you love. You lost something, but they gained everything.

But wait there is more- because that is only half of the story of Easter. Easter is not just about what God is saving you from, but then what God is saving you to!

Imagine for a moment that you are locked in a prison cell to pay for a crime. You are serving a life sentence with no way to get out. Then, someone walks in the room, unlocks your cell opens the door and says you are free to go- astounding, right? But what if before you walk out of the cell that same person then turns to you, takes out all their money and credit cards, gives them to you, hands you their car keys, the keys to their house, and informs you that you now own all their possessions. Not only are they taking your place, they are giving you everything you need for the rest of your life and setting you up the most blessed life ever- THAT IS UNFATHOMABLE- except with Jesus, because that is exactly what he did.

Consider a verse like . His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” Jesus, by his divine power has given you everything you need! You are set up.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Jesus, by his divine power has given you everything you need! You are set up.

The message of Easter is not just that Jesus died so that you can get into Heaven, but also so that Heaven can get into you! He does not just save you from something, he saves you to something as well. Let’s take a moment and consider some of the things Jesus has saved us to.

1- God has saved us to a relationship- explains this relationship to us.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Jesus provides us with adoption, we become heirs of the Kingdom of God. He saves us into a new way of existing in the world.

The story is told of a farmhand who had worked for a married couple for several years. As time went on, the couple grew older and older and they couldn't do as much they had and the farm was beginning to look a little shabby. The paint on the barn was peeling. The fences had holes in them and slats were loose. The gravel road had potholes in it. Shingles on top of the farmhouse were beaten and weathered and needed replacing. But as the farmhand made his way to milk the cows each day, he thought: What is that to me? It's not my farm.

Then, one day the farmer and his wife asked him to come for dinner. They told him how much he had meant to them.

They told him that they had no children to inherit the farm, so they wanted to give it to HIM when they died.

The next day, the farmhand was walking to the nursing barn, he noticed the paint on the barn. In a few days he'd painted the barn and fixed the fence, and in the next few wingeks he was putting a new roof on the farmhouse and putting new gravel on the road.

Why would he do that? What made the difference in his attitude? He was now an heir. And as a Son he began to treat the old farm different than he ever had before.

And so it is with us. We are heirs to the Kingdom of God. And because we are heirs we have the joy of knowing that what we do, we do because of the fabulous gift of salvation our Father has given us.

The next day, the farmhand was walking to the nursing barn, he noticed the paint on the barn. In a few days he'd painted the barn and fixed the fence, and in the next few weeks he was putting a new roof on the farmhouse and putting new gravel on the road.

2- God has saved us to an indwelling of the Holy Spirit- If we back up just a few verses from we will see these words in

English Standard Version Chapter 8

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.

So, try and fathom this for a second. On Easter Sunday some 2000 years ago Jesus laid dead in a tomb. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit breathes life into his body and calls Jesus forth from the tomb to live again. That which was once dead is made alive by the Spirit of God- that is how much power we are talking about. Romans though does not end the thought there. Paul tells us that the very same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus now lives IN US. So much for living a life of no power, mundane, feeling worthless, Jesus says something completely opposite about you- he says you are mine and inside of you is the very thing that called me out of the grave.

What does that mean for today? It means that the power for new life lives in you. Have you been struggling with something? Some kind of problem or sin? The power of the resurrection is available to you. You say to yourself, I cant quit drinking- well you may not be able to, but the resurrection power of God living inside of you does.

Chris Tomlin, the popular Christian song writer may have said it best in his song “Resurrection Power”

Now I have resurrection power Living on the inside Jesus, You have given us freedom No longer bound by sin and darkness Living in the light of Your goodness You have given us freedom

That I'm dressed in Your royalty Your Holy Spirit lives in me And I see my past has been redeemed The new has come!

3- He has saved you to a new life- Jesus’ resurrection is reconciling your old life, but his resurrection is calling you to a new life. Listen to the words of

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come

If you are a first time visitor today, or if you are newer to our church and you have not gotten to know too many people, I encourage you to do some meet and greet with the people around you. There are some amazing stories living in this congregation.

There are people in this congregation that celebrate today not just because Jesus has been resurrected, but because we have been. There are resurrected marriages, careers, friendships, resurrected consciences and love- if you have been born again and are walking in Jesus then you are a walking resurrection!

This is a ton of good news today! This is the Gospel, that God is inviting you to be a walking resurrection. But here’s the thing about the Gospel, it is news. The definition of the world Gospel is “Good news” it is not an opinion and not a debate- it is news. But this news requires a response from you today, and when you slice it, there are three options for you to consider.

First- you can ignore the news, and act like it isn't there, like it isn’t true or does not apply to you. But just know the Bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord- because this is not an opinion, this is news.

Second- you can accept half of the message, maybe you have done this before. The half of the news that Jesus came to save you from sin and hell. Maybe you have asked for salvation and you have accepted Jesus as your Lord- it has changed your eternity, but not your current life.

Third- you can accept the entire message today and leave this place changed- forever. You can live into not just what God saved you from, but what God saved you to.

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Resurrecting

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The Two-Headed Lamb

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Feb 7, 2014 (message contributor)