Resurrection Outline

I. Resurrection is the essential element of everything we believe.

A. Christianity is in it’s very essence a resurrection religion. The concept of resurrection lies at its heart. IF you remove it, Christianity is destroyed. ~ John R W Stott

B. Christianity is a religion of the open tomb ~ Roy L Smith

C. Thomas Jefferson, a great man, nevertheless could not accept the miraculous elements in Scripture. He edited his own special version of the Bible in which all references to the supernatural were deleted. Jefferson, in editing the gospels, confined himself solely to the moral teachings of Jesus. The closing words of Jefferson’s Bible are these: “There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulcher and departed” Thank God that is not the way the story really ends!

II. Resurrection is the ultimate declaration of who Christ really is

A. Declared to be the Son of God ~ Rom 1:1-4

B. Jn 2:16-21 ~ Jesus laid the resurrection as the ultimate proof of His deity

C. What you know and believe about this subject has significant personal consequences

D. Hopefully, it is not like this one person experienced. “A letter came from Health and Human Services to a resident of Greenville County, SC. Your food stamps will stop effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if your circumstances change”

E. What we believe about resurrection is of eternal consequence!

III. Resurrection is the ultimate demonstration of God’s intent to redeem mankind

A. Salvation is free

B. Salvation was obtained at great cost

C. Salvation is complete (ratified by the resurrection)

D. Rom 4:22-25 ~ Christ was raised so that we can be justified

1. Christ died for our sins - but that would be meaningless without His resurrection

2. WEBSTER - (justification) the remission of sin and absolution from guilt and punishment; an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous, on account of the atonement of Christ

3. 1 Cor 15:1-4 ~ The Gospel does not explain the resurrection, the resurrection explains the Gospel. Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith, it is the Christian faith ~ John S Whale

IV. Resurrection is the ultimate dynamic in the believer’s walk and victory over sin

A. Rom 6:1-4 ~”newness of life” is intrinsically linked to our identity in Christ

B. 2 Cor 5:14-17 ~ Resurrection both symbolically and genuinely demonstrates our power over the flesh

1. Why are we new creatures “in Christ”?

a. 1 Cor 15:20-23 ~ because He was the first of His kind. He wasn’t the first to die, but He was the first to be raised

b. 2 Cor 5:15 ~ there is a life that supercedes our life in the flesh

c. 2 Cor 5:16 ~it is one thing to know about the things Christ accomplished in His fleshly identification with mankind; it is a greater, more powerful, reality to understand the energy that is unleashed in us in our identity with Christ’s resurrection

d. 2 Cor 5:17 ~it is what makes us new creatures. We can live in the power of resurrection rather than in the frailty of the flesh

C. Allow the positional truths to be practical realities

1. Rom 6:6 & 13

a. Is this the way God sees us?

b. How do you see yourself? Do you agree with God or is your opinion the reality?

2. Rom 6:9-11

a. V9 ~ will Christ ever experience death again? No!

b. V10 ~ He isn’t dead. He is alive for evermore

c. V11 ~ is this any less true for you and I? (Resurrection life NOW not future)

3. The last battle of the American Revolution was the Battle of Blue Licks, fought at the stream that bears that name. It was a battle that should never have been fought, for it was a battle fought after the war was over! News traveled slow in those days.Blue Licks is in Kentucky and there was no means of quick communication over the Appalachian mountains. No one knew the war was over.

a. In a very real sense Christ won the victory over sin at Calvary

b. All that is left is for us to live in the light of this truth

c. Religion has been slow to deliver the news.

d. The battle was over some 2,000 years ago.

e. Don’t keep fighting the battle - live in the power of His resurrection!

Resurrection is the ultimate destiny

A. Rom 6:5 ~ our eternal destination is sealed with our identification with our Lord Jesus Christ

1. Eph 2:5-6 ~ we are a resurrected people

B. 2 Cor 5:1-5

1. V1 ~ this knowledge equips us to deal with the truth of imminent death

Phil 3:20 ~ we shall shed these carcasses for good

Col 3:1-3 ~do you have it in your sights?

1. Titus 3:11-15 ~ this knowledge equips us to deal with everything the flesh and the circumstances of life can throw at us.

2 Cor 5:6-10 ~resurrection reminds us of accountability

V6 ~ our lives in the flesh are temporary

V7 ~ the true reality is an issue of faith (the perspective of eternal worth)

V8 ~ and while we look forward to leaving this body, and life

V9 ~ there are things that we can do that are pleasing to God

V10 ~ ultimately we are rewarded as we live in light of our identity in Christ and His resurretion.