Because He Lives
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
I ask brother Moses to lead us in that last song, “Because He Lives,” and I appreciate him doing such.
When one examines the lyrics to this beautiful song the chorus “jumps out at you” as a perfect four-point sermon.
Let’s look again at that chorus.
“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.”
“Because He lives, All fear is gone.”
“Because I know He holds the future.”
“And life is worth the living just because He lives.”
Jesus would declare to his disciples in John 14:19…
John 14:19 (ESV)
19 …Because I live, you also will live.
How is that “Jesus Living” helps us in our life?
Well, Because he lives…
We Have Hope
We Have Hope
I Can Face Tomorrow.
I Can Face Tomorrow.
As you and I know this old sinful world is not easy to navigate nor is it always pleasurable to do so.
Satan and sin have caused disrepair all over the world and spiritual death to God’s “very good” creation mankind.
Even though this world is full of sin “we can face tomorrow” and if the Lord will’s “the day after that and after than” because Jesus could not be held by death and overcame death, even his death on the cross for each and every soul.
When Jesus arose from death and defeated sin, he created a “hope eternal” that cannot be taken from those who have it.
It’s this reality the apostle Paul was trying to get the church in Corinth to understand concerning Jesus.
If Jesus doesn’t live now, we are to be most pitied.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
However, if Christ did rise from the dead and now lives we have hope in his eternity and eagerly await it as Paul describes in Romans 8.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Romans 8:22–24 (ESV)
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved…
Summary
Summary
Because Jesus lives “we can face tomorrow.”
We can face tomorrow because “we have hope” in our Messiah.
Next, we find, “Because he lives…”
We Have Peace
We Have Peace
All Fear Is Gone.
All Fear Is Gone.
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, overcame sin and death.
The one thing Satan had over God’s creation that would keep us from an eternity from him, Jesus defeated by being the perfect sin sacrifice and taking all our sins upon his shoulders.
Unfortunately, for those outside of Christ, “the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3.17).
They live day by day without “true peace.”
However, because Jesus lives, everyone has the opportunity for true peace in their lives.
Again, this isn’t the peace the world finds that is fleeting and easily taken away, no this is a peace that surpasses the wisdom of this world.
It’s a peace that can only come from God.
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
It’s a peace that we must “pursue.”
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Now the reason, “peace” removes “fear,” is because peace is based in love instead of fear.
The apostle John points this fact out in 1 John 4:16-19.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
Summary
Summary
Because Jesus lives “all fear is gone.”
Because he lives, we have peace in our life.
As we continue to look at the chorus of the song,we find our third point…
Because He lives…
We Have Confidence
We Have Confidence
I Know Who Holds The Future.
I Know Who Holds The Future.
There is a confidence that should be found by the child of God upon him obeying the gospel or good news that Jesus was raised from the dead.
That confidence isn’t arrogance.
Arrogance is based on “self assurance” whereas confidence is based on “God’s assurances.”
God has been up front since the beginning.
He is in control.
21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
He knows the end from the beginning.
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
He can be trusted and as such followed.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Summary
Summary
“Because I know who holds the future,” I can have confidence in following God.
He is in control, he knows the end from the beginning, and because of that we can trust him and have confidence in him.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Lastly, in the chorus of our song we find our fourth and final point…
Because he lives…
We Have Purpose
We Have Purpose
Life Is Worth Living Just Because He Lives.
Life Is Worth Living Just Because He Lives.
Simply put, because Jesus overcame death and lives to die no more, that very reality makes living in this life worth it.
The fact that Jesus “rose from the grave” to sit at the “right hand of God” and be our “Lord and Savior” makes this life worth living.
Imagine for a moment what it must feel like to be an atheist or agnostic who doesn’t believe in a “living Christ” or isn’t sure of a “living Christ.”
Every day waking up thinking “this is it” this life is all I have.
What a horrible life and no wonder the more people fall prey to those lies and more crazy people get from the anxiety and lack of peace that life leads.
You and I have purpose because we know Jesus lives and God is in our lives.
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Summary
Summary
Because Jesus lives, we have purpose in our lives.
This life is worth living “just because he lives.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Because he lives…
We have hope in our lives.
We have peace in our lives.
We have confidence in our lives.
We have purpose in our life.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.