He Is Risen! (So What?) ~ 20250427~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
04/27 He Is Risen! (So What?) - (1Cor.14; Rom.6,8; Eph.1,3); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250427_resurrection-so-what.mp3
He is risen! [He is risen indeed!] Last week was resurrection Sunday. On this the week after resurrection day, I want to ask; ‘Why does the resurrection matter? How does the resurrection of Jesus affect my life today? What is different? What’s changed? What if Jesus didn’t rise, and it was all a hoax; would it matter? Would anything actually look different in our lives?
I want us to take a minute and chew on that. What is different in my life today because Jesus is alive?
Still In Your Sins
At the most foundational level, the resurrection is an essential component of the gospel. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then we are still in our sins. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:
1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
If Christ is not raised, gospel preaching is a waste, faith is a waste, church is a waste, there is no good news, no salvation, no hope beyond the grave. As Paul says later in this chapter:
1 Corinthians 15:32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
If there is no resurrection, then we might as well enjoy all we can in this life, because this is all there is.
1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
Because Christ has been raised, we have a real expectation of our own resurrection! The resurrection of Jesus changes everything!
Jesus’ Claims Confirmed
Jesus repeatedly told his disciples that he would suffer, be killed, and rise from the dead.
Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (cf. Mt.17:23; 20:19; 27:62-64; 28:6)
If Jesus was not raised from the dead, he’s a liar and a false prophet. But if Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, we must reckon with who he claimed to be.
On Him The Father Set His Seal
Not only did Jesus claim to be the way, the truth and the life, the I AM, the Father also testified to the identity his only Son; on two occasions the voice came from heaven ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ (Mt.3:17; 17:5). Paul says in Acts 17
Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The Father raised Jesus from the dead, affirming to all that he is who he claimed to be, and his sacrifice for us was accepted.
Because his disciples hid in fear, and the tomb was empty, and his enemies failed to produce the body, because he is risen, we know that Jesus is who he claimed to be.
Died with Christ and Raised with Him
So what difference does it make? For us who are putting our trust in Jesus, it makes all the difference in the world! Romans 6 tells us although it is true that ‘where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’ (Rom.5:20), it does not follow that we ought to ‘continue in sin that grace may abound’ (Rom.6:1).
Romans 6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
This is victory! Because we are united to Christ in his death and resurrection, we are dead to sin and sin’s power is broken. We are set free to walk in newness of life! Notice this is not automatic. We must (that’s an imperative) consider or reckon ourselves dead to sin. It is a theological truth that we who believe are united with Christ in his death and resurrection. As believers, we need to believe it, count it as true and remind ourselves of that truth and walk in that truth. When sin rears its beautiful head tempting us to indulge in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the sinful pride of life, we must say ‘No! I am dead to that. The old me that indulged in those things is dead, buried, gone. It’s a new me that feeds on new pleasures, better pleasures, greater pleasures; I am united with Christ, raised with Christ, I get to enjoy friendship with Jesus and with the Father. I am alive to God in Christ Jesus.’
Here’s what Ephesians says; Paul prays:
Ephesians 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Paul prays for our eyes to be opened to know him, to know what we have in him, to know what is true of us because we belong to him. The immeasurable greatness of almighty resurrection power is at work in us who believe! That same power that took that horribly beaten and mortally wounded corpse of our crucified Lord, who had been dead three days, and brought him back to life, that’s the very power that is at work in us today.
Don’t tell me those temptations are too strong. If you belong to Jesus, if you are in Jesus, you have access to the immeasurable greatness of his resurrection power that can take your dead corpse and give it new affections, new desires, you can put the old you to death and walk in newness of life.
Raised to Live For Him
Here’s what this looks like:
2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
...17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The love of Christ controls us. We live no longer for ourselves. We live for Jesus. All because of Jesus we are reconciled to God, and we have been commissioned as ambassadors to proclaim that good news, imploring others on the basis of the death and resurrection of Christ, to be reconciled to God. We have this greatest of all privileges; to live for his glory, to invite others in to enjoy this God with us!
We Live For Him (but not in our own strength)
How does this work? Paul prays for us again in Ephesians 3:
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
We are to live for him, but not in our own strength. He prays for the gift of strengthening with Holy Spirit power. Don’t try to do this in your own strength. You can’t. You need Holy Spirit power. You need Jesus living in you. You need to be filled with all the fullness of God. You need him doing far more abundantly than all you could ask or think according to his power, not yours.
The Transforming Power of the Indwelling Spirit
Here’s what Jesus said. He was telling his disciples that he was going to the Father, and sorrow filled their hearts;
John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
Jesus had said in John 14:
John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Back in John 7, he said:
John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jesus must go to the cross, pay for our sins, be raised and ascend to his Father’s side. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. It is to our advantage that Jesus is no longer physically with us, because now he has sent the promise of the Father, the Person of the Holy Spirit to be in us forever. He is the helper, the advocate, the comforter, and the source of this resurrection power at work in us. Notice that the Spirit is called ‘he’, not ‘it’. Violating the rules of grammar, the neuter word ‘spirit’ gets the masculine personal pronoun ‘he’ rather than ‘it’ to emphasize that the Spirit is not an impersonal force, but the third person of the triune God. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, God the Spirit comes to live in believers, equipping and enabling us to walk in his power.
Romans 8 says:
Romans 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. 12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
It is the life-giving Spirit of God who lives in us, who gives life to these corpses so that we can live in step with the Spirit and put to death the deeds of the body.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Jesus Is Preparing a Place For Us
If all this seems too much, it just keeps getting better. Here’s what Jesus said in John 14:
John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
What has the risen and exalted Jesus been up to for the last 2000 years? He said: I go to prepare a place for you! This is our eternal hope! Jesus is preparing a place for us to be with him forever.
Jesus is Interceding For Us
Just one more. Romans 8;
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Did you catch that? Jesus is praying for us! The resurrected Jesus, seated at the right hand of his Father in glory, is praying for you. Do you think he knows what we need? Do you think he has our best interest in mind? Do you think the Father will answer his prayers?
Hebrews 7 says:
Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
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2025.04.27 Sermon Notes
He Is Risen! (So What?)
The resurrection is essential to the gospel
(or we are still in our sins)
1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-19, 32
Jesus’ resurrection is the promise of our resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:20-21
Jesus prediction of his own resurrection
demonstrates he is who he claimed to be
Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:62-64; 28:6
By raising Jesus, the Father affirmed his identity
and accepted his sacrifice
Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Acts 17:30-31
We are united with Christ in death and resurrection
Romans 6:1-11
-resurrection power is at work in us
Ephesians 1:16-23
We no longer live for ourselves, but for him
2 Corinthians 5:14-20
We live for him (but not in our own strength!)
Ephesians 3:14-21
-the transforming power of the indwelling Spirit
John 16:7; 14:16-17; 7:38-39; Romans 8:8-14; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Jesus is preparing a place for us!
John 14:1-3
Jesus is praying for us!
Romans 8:31-34; Hebrews 7:25
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org