Resurrection: Reigning Over Sin
introduction
There’s recently been a lot of fighting over a small torch which symbolises world unity. In Canberra last Thursday a 2GB reporter said that protesters were assembling in Reconciliation Square. That a global symbol of unity has attracted so much protest and violence is an absurdity. The Olympic flame—the Olympic dream—is that humanity, through sport, will slowly unite into one, big happy family. The Olympic movement is about our sports people being the light of the world as they display the glory of humanity. This of course makes the economists green with envy. The symbolic purpose of the World Trade Centre was to unite the world through trade and economics. What the sporting fraternity don’t know is that the economists think they are the real mediators of world peace. For if we are all trading with one another then there is no room for fighting and when you’re not fighting with one another that’s when we have peace. That’s a flawed idea of peace which demonstrably failed on September, 2001 when the dream came crashing down.
Neither sports people or economists will ever revitalise mankind by changing the human heart.
the age of the resurrection
‘now’ and ‘not yet’
After spending the last three talks looking at the cross it would be improper to put to one side the resurrection and the implications of the resurrection. For on Easter Sunday, God raised Jesus to be the Lord over creation. And I’d like us to look today at how the resurrection of Jesus empowers us to live in the present age. How does the resurrection of Jesus shape our Christian lives? I suppose we could approach this from a number of angles, but the angle I have chosen is the angle of ‘sin’. How the age of the resurrection changes our relationship to sin.
Before we look at this, it’s helpful to make some general comments about the age of the resurrection itself. Then we’ll look at how the resurrection of Jesus changes Christians and our relationship to sin.
The age of the resurrection began with the raising of Jesus in the first century and we belong to that age. As Christ was raised to rule the universe, so we who are in Christ are raised up with him to share in his rule. The resurrection age started with the resurrection of Jesus, but his is not an isolated, unique event. For in his resurrection, Jesus is bringing many sons and daughters to glory (Heb 2:10). We who have been raised up to new life are to see ourselves as new creatures, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
But even more, we have been raised up to be rulers with Christ over this world. Turn with to Rom 5:17, ‘For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness, reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ’.
The pervasiveness of death through Adam is more than matched by God’s abundant provision of grace. We who have received the gift of righteousness will ‘reign in life’ through the Lord Jesus Christ. We rule, we reign, we are kings and queens in Christ. But we need to remember that we still live in this world. We do not rule, we do not reign, we do not have a fully restored life. Spiritually I have been raised up—physically I still belong to this world. We have been spiritually resurrected into the new world—but physically we are still dying the old death.
And so we live with a tension—the tension of being spiritually raised up with Christ and yet we wait for the resurrection of our bodies. And so there is a ‘now’ aspect to living—spiritually raised up—and a ‘not yet’ aspect to living—our final redemption. To emphasise one at the expense of the other leads to error. So—we must be wary of those who offer the fullness of heaven right now. Beware of those who offer you sinless perfection and so the only reason you’re still sick is lack of faith on your part. [The story of Brian in Dubbo].
There’s an inheritance that awaits us and we’re not here yet. Sinless perfection is still to come.
But we must not think of the gospel as all future, that ‘pie in the sky when you die’. The resurrection of Jesus has significant implications for the way we live now. The world in which we live has been altered because of Christ and his resurrection. As people living in the age of the resurrection, we are concerned to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. And so the age of the resurrection profoundly affects our relationship to sin. Throwing off the old self and putting on the new self. In the age of the resurrection—and this is the big idea of this talk—in the age of the resurrection the Lord Jesus gives us all we need to train ourselves to throw off the old self and put on the new self.
a time for training
Come with me to Titus 2. We were here last week—verses 11 to 14, ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good’.
It is the generosity of God—the grace of God—that brings salvation to all people. And notice what this salvation does—it does two things: it trains us to ‘renounce’ and it trains us to ‘live’. God’s generosity trains us—verse 12—to give up one way of living and live another way. The grace of God teaches and trains us to renounce ‘ungodliness and worldly passions’, and God’s generosity teaches and trains us to live in ‘a self-controlled, upright and godly’ fashion.
The gospel trains us. And this training takes place, as we see in verse 12, ‘in this present age’. And this present age is described in verse 13 as the time when we are waiting for the ‘glorious appearing of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ’. So while we’re waiting for Jesus to return we are being trained to renounce worldliness and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. And only because of the resurrection of Jesus do we have all we need to train ourselves to throw off the old self and put on the new self. God has kindly given to us two advocates that enable us to live in the present times.
the resources for training
the two advocates
An advocate is a person who pleads or intercedes for the cause of another person. Often this is done in a court of law. Solicitors and barristers speak up on our behalf. They are in court doing our business for us—with the exception that they’re not doing our business when they send you the bill. An advocate is a person who argues in the place of another.
Let’s look at our first advocate who is Jesus. Come with me to 1 John 1:8. How are we to deal with sin? ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives’.
Walking in the light is not a matter of sinful perfection, its about being forgiven and cleansed. We’re not to hide our sin, but confess it and it can be forgiven because the blood of Jesus purifies us. Christians are not good people, they are forgiven people. Being forgiven is what makes you a Christian. The natural and knee-jerk reaction of people when they are caught sinning is to cover up—to keep it quiet and hope it goes away. The Christian way of dealing with sin is opening up and confession—not deceiving yourself, others or God (as if you can deceive God) —but confessing and receiving forgiveness on the basis of cross. And so walking in the light—walking in the age of the resurrection—is not about being sinless but being pardoned, cleansed and washed.
Now have a look 2:1 (still in 1 John), ‘My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world’.
When I sin, I should be ashamed of my sin and never want to do it again. John’s writing so that we will not sin. But what if we do sin? We have an advocate—one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. When we do sin, we have a remedy—an advocate—someone who will speak to God on our behalf. Jesus is the only one who can approach God because he alone is righteous. Not only can he approach God but he can satisfy God’s anger because of his payment on the cross. Jesus turns aside the anger of God.
It is said that Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, once captured a prince and his family. When they came before him, the monarch asked the prisoner, “What will you give me if I release you?” “The half of my wealth,” was his reply. “And if I release your children?” “Everything I possess.” “And if I release your wife?” “Your Majesty, I will give myself.”
Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he freed them all. As they returned home, the prince said to his wife, “Wasn’t Cyrus a handsome man!” With a look of deep love for her husband, she said to him, “I didn’t notice. I could only keep my eyes on you—the one who was willing to give himself for me’.
The prince was willing but not called upon to give his life to save his family. The Lord Jesus gave himself to save us all for this was the only way we could be set free. And the anger of the Father was satisfied and the Father raised Jesus up into his presence and now he defends us when we sin. Jesus is the priest who intercedes for us. When we have Jesus on our side, we have nothing to fear for there is no-one who can speak against us. So Paul asks in Rom 8, ‘Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us’. Jesus rose and he intercedes for us by arguing his sacrifice, by advocating our cause, and for this reason we need not fear.
The resurrected Christ pleads our cause before the Father, and the Father forgives our sin. We ought not be sinning, but when we do sin we have one who has atoned for our sin and successfully pleads our cause before the Father.
Advocate number two is the Holy Spirit. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ rose up in order to represent our cause before the Father, so Jesus poured down his Holy Spirit for us. In the resurrection age, the Spirit represents Jesus to us because Jesus is no longer here. Turn back to Ezek 36:25-28, The sovereign Lord says, ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God’.
Ezekiel is looking forward to a new age marked by spiritual regeneration. The Spirit of God. And what will the Spirit do? Verse 27, the Spirit is going to move the people to obey the law. The law was first given to a hard-hearted people who never obeyed. When the Spirit comes in the age of the resurrection he will move people so that they will do what the law wants them to do. Remember that Jesus died in order to purchase a people zealous to do good works. The old people had the law and they hated it—the new people have the law and we love it.
The difference is in the heart and the difference comes from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit stands in the place of Christ in this world today. The Spirit teaches us about Jesus, he reminds us about Jesus. The Spirit witnesses to Jesus. In the resurrection age, we live by the Spirit who mediates Jesus to us.
When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are placed so that you do not see them; in fact, you are not supposed to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained. The lighting makes visible what would otherwise be in darkness. This illustrates the work of the Holy Spirit. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Saviour.
conclusion
In summary, Christians can live triumphantly because the resurrection of Jesus gives us two advocates: the risen Son interceding to God on our behalf—and the Spirit mediating Jesus to us. In other words, the risen Son speaks upwards to God on our behalf and downward to us through his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is training us. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the energy to be putting of the old self and putting on the new. You can only be godly if you have been raised with Christ. You can only be godly if the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And godly people are putting off the sinful selves and putting on the new, transformed self. When Jesus returns we’ll be suddenly transformed. Incremental transformation now, a quantum transformation when Jesus returns.
Do not make the mistake and think that because I am pardoned and forgiven by God, there is no need Christian growth—no need for transformation. A Christian is not content to live the same way as he or she has always lived. The Lord is saying to you, ‘Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’.
And be aware that as long as we’re in this world we’ll be sinful, letting down our Lord and Saviour, letting down ourselves, letting down one other. So be patient with one another, as the Lord is patient with you. Confess your sin, come back and ask for forgiveness, knowing that you have an advocate, Christ Jesus, interceding to God on your behalf. The big mistake is not to have Jesus as your advocate. The big mistake is not to come to the Father pleading for mercy, forgiveness and pardon.
We have loving God who gave his Son and raised him up so that you and I might live. Listen to him. Love him. Obey him.