The Resurrection

⛅ 5. 

The Resurrection—Why It Matters

What if Jesus Christ hadn’t risen from the dead? Where would that leave us? What assurance would we have about anything in life? Our confidence, thoughts about death, and our hopes for existence after this life would all be affected.

God knew Jesus’ resurrection would raise many questions in our minds; that’s why He led Paul to provide us with some answers. In 1 Corinthians 15:14, the apostle addresses the main issue: What if the resurrection didn’t really happen? He writes, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.”

This means if the resurrection hadn’t occurred, our faith would be empty and without foundation; we'd be false witnesses, spreading lies; all our efforts for the faith would be worthless; and reading Scripture and sharing the good news would be a total waste of time (1 Cor. 15:17). All Christ-followers who’d died believing they were destined for eternal life would've simply perished, their hope of heaven nothing more than a delusion (1 Cor. 15:18).
Worst of all, we'd still be living in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17), still under guilt, and owing our lives as the penalty our transgressions deserved (Rom. 6:23).
Paul sums it up this way: “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19).

Thankfully, our 😃hope extends beyond this life because 😇Jesus truly has risen from the dead. 
God, in His wisdom, left us undeniable ⚠evidence. For starters, the tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers, who faced imminent death if they failed to carry out orders. Though this precaution was to prevent Christ’s followers from stealing the body and falsely claiming He’d risen (Matt. 27:62-66), the tomb nevertheless ended 🎯up empty. Another indication is that of changed🙏 lives—something significant has to have taken place for Christ’s fearful disciples to become bold♨ proclaimers of the gospel despite violent threats (John 20:19).
Mat 28; luke 24; mark 16; john 20.

Most importantly, Jesus 💡Himself promised He'd rise from the dead (Matt. 16:21). He claimed to be one with the Father (John 10:30), so either He was and is the Son of the living God, or else He was a liar. The record shows, however, He never told an untruth (John 14:6). Everything He promised or predicted 🌷came about, just as He said it would, except for those prophecies that are still to come (such as His second coming). These, too, will one day 💥occur exactly as He’s foretold, for there’s nothing false about the sinless Son of God (John 7:18).

Sanctification

⛅4

Sanctification & Access to God

At the moment of salvation, Jesus sanctified😇 you with His blood by applying it to your life (Heb. 13:12). This means you were set apart as God’s child to live for Him from that time onward. The best way for me to describe sanctification is to compare it to a period that comes at the end of an event. You were😇 saved, redeemed, justified, reconciled, 🙌and sanctified, period. But this period does not end. It turns into a line that continues 🙏throughout your life.

Sanctification is the process by which the Lord is continually⚠ transforming His children into the image 🍎of Jesus Christ. The entire Christian life is in that line; it just keeps lengthening as we 🎯grow in godliness, obedience, and understanding.
Salvation is not the endpoint but the beginning 🎄of God’s purposes for believers. His goal is to renew every area of our lives so that we can become His valuable servants and🌹 ambassadors of Christ to a lost world.

This process will continue throughout life because the Holy Spirit resides 🔥within every believer, guiding and empowering each one to move forward. He'll never leave us—there’s always another step to take in our progress toward 😃Christlikeness and fruitful service for the Lord.

Key to that progress is being able to confidently enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19-22). In the Old Testament, the Holy of Holies was the inner room of the tabernacle or temple where God dwelt above the ark of the covenant. The high priest was the only one who could enter this most holy place, and he could do so only once a year to make atonement for himself and the nation. After carefully preparing himself with sacred rituals, he would enter with animal blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat.

Today, the only reason Christians can approach God is because, spiritually speaking, they're covered in the blood of Jesus. When Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, the veil of the temple—which separated God from the people—was torn in two from top to bottom. Mat 27:51. Heb 10:20.
This supernatural event signified the Father’s acceptance ⚠of Christ’s sacrifice, which opened the way to His presence.

Because we’ve never participated in the Old Testament sacrificial system, we usually take for granted our access to the Lord. There’s now no need to sacrifice a lamb when we want to approach God. Each time we enter the Father’s throne room in prayer, it’s as if Jesus looks to us and says, “Here’s one of Ours … the blood has been applied.”

Justification

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 ESV
Justification & Reconciliation

The Word of God alerts us that the wrath of God will rightly fall on sinful mankind (Rom. 5:8-10), but those who are justified by the blood of Christ will be saved from that dreadful punishment. Justification means that the Father accepts the death of His Son as full payment for our sin (Rom. 3:23-26). Jesus is a satisfactory substitute because He is the sinless Lamb of God.

Furthermore, we are declared righteous in the Lord’s eyes. Think of justification as a legal transaction in which Jesus placed all of our iniquities on His account and then paid it in full. Next, He took the record of His perfect life and transferred it to our account. Now when God looks at us, all He sees is Christ’s perfection. We are no longer guilty but are declared legally righteous, even if we don’t always act like it.

What an awesome privilege to be righteous in the Lord’s eyes! Now, that doesn’t mean believers can go out and do anything they want. Remember, “You have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20). We are children of God, but if we start acting like children of the devil, our loving heavenly Father will be faithful to use discipline and bring us back to our senses. The gift of righteousness should motivate us to live a life that reflects our blameless standing before God.

When a relationship characterized by separation and alienation becomes one of acceptance and restoration, that change is known as “reconciliation.” The moment Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord, the relationship between God and mankind was broken, but the Father took the initiative to bring restoration by sending His Son into the world. Through the blood of His cross, Christ made reconciliation possible by establishing peace between God and man. Beyond that, He presents us blameless before the Father (Col. 1:19-22). All the barriers have been removed, and an intimate relationship with the Lord is available to every believer.🌏
Source intouch ministry. Dr Charles Stanley.