The Power of His Resurrection

Alright, with that, we have finished the Days of Unleavened Bread. And one of the things that's always interesting about unleavened bread, it seems like it's a special time that you can tell certain stories that don't fit at any other time of the year. Maybe they're not the most funny stories, but I can't help thinking of them sometimes. Someone asked me yesterday, what do you get when you cross a gourmet chef with a can of coke? I was like, I don't know, what do you get when you cross a gourmet chef with a can of coke? They said, baking soda. So kind of an unleavened bread, sort of a joke here.

I always think of the worst jokes. I can't think of the funny ones or the good ones, but all the bad ones seem always to come to mind. But it reminded me of the story I heard about a young married couple, and they were just trying to get to know each other a little bit, or they kind of had some difficulties. It seemed that the poor young wife was just not a very good cook, and the husband could not resist saying something about it. So finally, he just got kind of frustrated and just said to her, he said, when are you going to bake bread like my mama used to bake? She looked at him and said, as soon as you start making dough like my daddy used to make dough. I guess it works both ways in that regard. So those are the kind of stories you hear at unleavened bread time. One of the kids told me yesterday as well, they said, I've got to think of how they put it. They said, do you know why the baker worked and worked and worked so hard? I don't know. Why did the baker work so hard? They said, because he needed the dough. So those are unleavened bread kind of stories, I guess. It is an interesting time. We were talking about unleavened bread events. And when you start to think about events that happened during the days of unleavened bread during the Bible, there are so many that begin to come to mind that happened during this very special time. Sometimes things may maybe even overlook and forget they occurred maybe right near the Passover or during unleavened bread. Yesterday I talked a little bit about the feeding of the 5,000. It happened at the Passover time when Christ had the loaves and the fishes just before unleavened bread. And so sometimes you forget those stories. Like Jericho happened during the days of unleavened bread. The other day we were talking at class in ABC, and we were talking about some of these kinds of things.

And as we were discussing these things, it really struck me that probably the most critical event of all time to ever have occurred happened during the days of unleavened bread. And as we talked about it, we realized where would we be without it. And sometimes it's an event that we don't talk a lot about in the Church of God. But nonetheless, it is so significant, and that is the resurrection. I got fired up about it the other day at ABC because as we were talking, I was like, you know, this is terrible because we've let Christianity, pagan Christianity out there steal the resurrection from it.

They perverted, and they do their Easter eggs, and they do all their crazy baskets, and all that baloney. And they perverted the deep sense of what the resurrection is all about. Where would we be without the resurrection? And so sometimes it seems like, well, we shy away from talking about it because they do such weird things, and they've kind of tried to commandeer the resurrection.

But you know, when you think about it, it is such an awesome event that without it, we'd have no hope. We'd have absolutely no hope without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Apostle Paul put it in a very interesting way. If you want to turn over to Philippians 3, he said something kind of startling, and maybe a good reminder for us as well, not to shy away just because they talk about the resurrection in a wrong kind of a way. It shouldn't stop us from talking about the resurrection in a biblical way, in a right way, in a truthful way, in a way that would honor and praise our great God because it is such a significant event. And Paul wrote a little bit about it here in Philippians 3, 8.

He says, Of course, you think about life before baptism. What was that like? Well, Paul said that was just garbage. It was nothing compared to what I know now, to what I understand as God opened my mind to His truth. And so Paul then goes on in verse 9. He says, And of course, we know that's nothing we can earn, right? It's the blessings that we receive from God. Then he says something interesting, verse 10. He says, And so that's an amazing statement. I want to know the power of His resurrection.

Do we think oftentimes that there is a power in the resurrection of Christ? Or do we have a tendency maybe sometimes to not really think about it or maybe overlook it a little bit? What would he be talking about when he talks about the power of the resurrection? And would it have anything to do with unleavened bread or coming through the days of unleavened bread? Is there a connection there?

And is there anything perhaps that we can dig a little bit deeper and learn about this particular aspect of what Paul was talking about? The power of His resurrection, wanting to know Christ and that power. Well, of course, we know He was resurrected during Unleavened Bread, right? At the end of the Sabbath day, Christ was resurrected. And that very first morning after the resurrection, there was something significant that happened that had a connection to His resurrection. And that's talked about back in Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus 23, of course, has the listing of all the holy days and those opportunities that we have to get together and rehearse God's plan, keep the Sabbath, those holy convocations.

Well, in Leviticus 23 verse 10, it gave some instructions of something that should happen on that Sunday during the days of Unleavened Bread. And of course, that mirrors with that morning after Christ was resurrected. And here in verse 10, it tells the priest that they were to bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. So before any harvesting could begin during the spring, they had to bring that first sheaf, that first cutting, just that first handful of the grain, most likely barley. Then it says, verse 11, that priest shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf.

On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. So that Sunday morning, they would go out, they would cut that little hunk of barley, that little sheaf. They'd bring it to the priest, and that priest then, on behalf of the people, would wave it before God. In other words, he would take it and they would lift it up. They would lift it up before God, not like waving your hand or something, but they would lift it, raise it up before God. And of course, when you think about that, that's exactly what happened with Christ's resurrection. Now, if you remember the story, he was resurrected. Mary came to the tomb.

She at first thought he was the gardener. Do you remember that? And then suddenly, she recognizes this is Christ. She wants to run up and hold him and hug him. And he says, wait, wait, don't cling to me. He said, I have not yet ascended to the Father. He hadn't been lifted up like that sheaf yet. He hadn't been raised up. And he said, you go tell everybody, I am ascending to my Father. He says, your Father, to my God and your God. And then shortly after that, he was waved. He was raised up.

He was in the presence of the Father, then appeared again, and they held him and they touched him. And so this cutting of the wave sheaf in Leviticus here pictures that resurrection. And so after being in that tomb for three days and three nights, he was lifted up. He was resurrected. He was like that wave sheaf. He was lifted and raised up before God as he ascended to him. And so like that first cutting of the grain, Christ was the first cutting. He was the first of the first fruits. So he was that first of the harvest, the very, very first one.

And that has, I think, a strong connection when you think of the power of the resurrection. And that word for power, it really means a powerful thing. It's a Greek word, dunamis. And it's the same word we get words like dynamo or dynamite. Like, bam, this is powerful. This is huge. This is amazing. It's strong. It even kind of refers to like a miraculous, mighty, amazing work. And so there is this power, this amazing aspect to the resurrection. I think that to begin with ties in with this very fact of the wave sheaf. And that is Christ, Jesus Himself, is our Savior. Jesus is Christ. He is the Messiah. And the resurrection validates that. You know, if Christ hadn't been resurrected, well, everything he said would have been a lie.

And yet, the resurrection itself shows very powerfully that Christ is our Savior. He is that first of the first fruits. In fact, if you turn over to Romans 1, right at the very beginning of the book of Romans, Paul talked about this very fact as Jesus as Christ. Jesus is our Savior. He is Messiah. And right at the very beginning of his letter to the Romans, I wonder if he had that in mind as he talked about the power of the resurrection in Philippians. When he wrote to the Romans, I wonder if a similar thought might have been on his mind here at the beginning of his letter.

Verse 3, he says, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. So he was born, but then he says in verse 4, and declared to be the Son of God with power. There's that word dunamis again, with power. How was he declared to be the Son with power? It wasn't by his birth. He says, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead. Some translations say, because he rose from the dead, he was declared to be the Son with power. And of course, that meant everything's true. Everything is right.

Everything he said was absolute fact. And it was proven because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Paul even ties that into the fact that he's part of his calling. He said, by whom we've received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name, among whom you are also called of Jesus Christ. And so he talks about, well, not only Paul himself as an apostle, but all of us. All of us are called, and we're to be faithful here in Lawton, Cincinnati, all around the world, he says, because we've received the blessing of God's calling.

And so it points back to the fact that Christ is Savior. He is God's Son. He is the anointed one. He is, oh, you know all those different terms the Bible talks about.

He's the captain of our salvation. He is the forerunner of our faith. He is high priest. He is Lord. He is master. He is our soon-coming king. And so we recognize those things, and Paul points to that very fact that we know it to be true because of the power of the resurrection. So he was able to fulfill all of those wonderful promises that he made as he preached and as he taught.

So Paul spent a lot of time talking about these kinds of things. The disciples did as well. If you look back to the book of Acts, Acts 13 also describes Jesus is Savior by the power of the resurrection. And what a contrast to what so much of Christianity focuses on when they think of the resurrection. They think of chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs and those types of things that have just absolutely nothing.

And they steal the power when they miss the meaning of how significant this really is. But over in Acts 13, look at verse 32. Here it talks about the fact that they're proclaiming the gospel. And as they're proclaiming that good news, or some of the translations here say the glad tidings, it's really the same thing.

The good news of the gospel. It says, we declare to you glad tidings, the good news, the truth of God's plan. He says, that promise which was made to the fathers. Then he goes on in verse 33, God has fulfilled this for us, their children. So the children of the prophets, the children of those that God had worked with, the children of the Israelites.

Well, how did he fulfill it? Notice how the fulfillment is emphasized here. God has fulfilled this for us, their children. In that he raised up Jesus. He says as it's written, Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten you. And he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption. He's spoken thus, I will give you the sure mercies of David. So the promises that were given to David, given to us, and in a way validated because of the resurrection of Christ. And so here he's pointing out, here is this amazing sheaf, this wave sheaf that was cut down, buried, and yet three days and three nights later lifted up, raised up before God, resurrected.

And so that's signifying our one Savior, our one mediator, our one Redeemer. And so it's all made true because of the fact that Christ was resurrected and of course now at the right hand of the Father. So I think that is a powerful thing to recognize that the power of the resurrection points us to the fact that Jesus is Christ. He is Savior. He is Messiah. Of course, there's even more to the concept of the power of the resurrection because as Paul intimated here, there's also this amazing proof not only of what Christ preached and taught, but also our connection to it.

The fact that the resurrection is proof that God will resurrect us as well. So the power of the resurrection has a connection to us that Christ was the first and the implication, of course, then is there's going to be more to follow. It's like the harvest. It began with that one little handful of grain. Then the whole harvest could begin.

Of course, we could be a part of that harvest as well. And so the power of the resurrection points to that, that God is going to resurrect us. That's part of His promises. So when we look over at Romans 5, notice the connection, how Paul emphasized this very thing of God's promise to us. Romans 5 will begin in verse 6. Romans 5 and 6.

In fact, this whole section of Romans, Romans 5, 6, 7, even chapter 8, are so jam-packed full of messages and amazing facts that connect to our baptism, to the Passover, to the days of Unleavened Bread, and then going on and living a life that's an honor to God. And so here in Romans 5 and 6, notice how Paul focuses on that. Verse 6, he says, Well, he says, Then he says, Of course, we rehearsed that at Passover. You know, we can be made right. We can be declared righteous. We can be forgiven of sin, acquitted of guilt because of the sacrifice of Christ. Then he says, He says, So here you have those two parts. We have the death of Christ, forgiveness of sin, and then he says, More than just forgiveness, more than just reconciliation, we can be saved by his life. Because Christ was resurrected, we can look forward to the resurrection. We can look forward to eternal life in the family of God forever because of Christ. And so he says, Not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we now have received the atonement or the reconciliation. And so we see this powerful truth that Paul emphasizes here, that by his life, by his resurrection, we too then can look forward to the fact that God will fulfill his promises to us and raise us up, or change us in that twinkling of an eye when Christ appears. And so what an amazing confidence that we can have. We can look to this and we can say, God's promised us this. You know, we can have a confidence. We don't have to be worried. We don't have to be concerned because as we strive to follow God and we repent when we see our sin, he says, We're justified. We're made right in his eyes when we are forgiven. And so we can have a confidence then. We will be. In fact, he says here, Old King James, we shall be saved by his life. And so that's not a prideful kind of confidence, but it's a confidence placed in God, not in us. We're nothing. We know our righteousness is filthy rags, but that confidence in our Savior and in our Father. And what a blessing that understanding can really be. It can kind of give us a whole different perspective on life so that we don't have to be weighted down with all the guilt and the difficulties and challenges that are out here. He says we can have a different perspective. And that's kind of interesting when you think about God resurrecting us.

Probably most often we think of it in this way that we look forward to the future for this to happen. And of course, that's true. But you know, I think there's even more to it than just a future kind of a thing. If you look over at Acts 3, look at verse 26. In Acts 3, it brings out a little bit different emphasis on this idea of resurrection and what it can mean right now. So not just the implication of something future, but something right now.

Let's notice here Peter and John are together. They're preaching here. This is right after the Feast of Pentecost. And of course, in Acts 2, Pentecost takes place. The church begins. They're preaching and teaching right after this. And down in verse 26 of Acts 3, he says, Okay, what is he saying?

God raised up Christ. So talking about Christ's resurrection, how critical that is. And that because God opened our minds, the disciples' minds to that truth, it started with them. It's starting with us as a part of that initial harvest. He says He sent Him to you first to bless you, right, to bless you in turning away from sin. So God's turning us from sin, and that resurrection has an impact not just something down the line when Christ returns, but right now.

So in chapter 4, He says, now as they spoke to the people, He says, Okay, if you think about that for a minute, yeah, the obvious part is when we're talking about the dead, the sins of this verse 2, they were greatly disturbed because they said that Jesus rose from the dead, intimating people can also be raised from the dead. Okay, if you think about that for a minute, yeah, the obvious part is when we die, we wait for the resurrection. We wait for Christ's return or that change if we're still alive. But where were we before God called us? We were dead. We were dead in our sins.

Did we need a resurrection, a kind of a rebirth? Did we need a new start? Did we need God's truth to come into our hearts and our minds and truly be changed? You know, like Paul said here, or John did, to bless you by turning you from your wicked ways. I think it points to that, that not only is the resurrection a fact, but there's also a principle, maybe you could call it a resurrection principle going on here, that destroyed lives can be changed.

Christ talked to the woman at the well. He told her, you can go and sin no more. You can be changed. You know, has God changed our lives from where we used to be? You know, can God take someone that is focused on the ways of this world and the sin and the wickedness that is out here and change that heart and change that mind?

And in a way, we have a different outlook. We have a new life. A resurrection would be, ultimately, will be spirit in the kingdom of God. We'll be divine members of His family. But right now, we can have a spiritual outlook. We can have a different life. In fact, Paul talks about having a new life in Christ. A different life, almost kind of like a resurrection, you might say. Maybe have a little bit of a connection there. But can God fix our emotions that have been destroyed or hurt? Can God forgive us of our sin?

Can He help us with our anger, our difficulties, maybe our abused past? Can God fix those kinds of things and restore us to His way of looking at things? And of course, I think we probably all can talk about the stories of our own lives, where God has done that very thing. And when you read what Christ did throughout His ministry, He forgave prostitutes. He blessed tax collectors when they changed. He forgave sinners. He ate with sinners. And so, in a sense, when we change and we repent and we accept that call of God, He renews our minds in a way, a kind of a connection to a resurrection, kind of a principle, that when we repent, we are forgiven and we have a fresh start.

So this concept of, yes, the power of the resurrection proves God will resurrect us. Yes, ultimately, absolutely, we will be a part of the kingdom when we strive to follow Him. But we can begin to understand that right now. Right now, we can live a changed kind of a life. And so, what a powerful aspect of the resurrection of Christ that really can help us to begin to see as well. Now, there's a third thing. Third thing that I wrote down when it comes to the power of the resurrection, and that's something I think we are so very blessed with in God's Church, is even though all this stuff is happening about, we heard Mr.

Burke read about the world news and some of the crazy things that are going on, we're going through this election cycle, and it doesn't seem like anybody can win no matter who wins. It's all going to be lost, it seems. You know, the challenges that are out here, you turn on the news and it's discouraging and depressing and ISIS and all the terrible things that are going on.

We have been so blessed because we can see beyond the headlines, and we have hope. And I believe the power of the resurrection is also about hope. Because we can see things differently. We know the end of the story, and it's not going to end the way this world is going. You know, God is going to finally step in, and He gives us that opportunity right now to have a little bit different perspective. In fact, the Apostle Peter wrote a little bit about this in 1 Peter 1, verse 3. Probably a familiar passage, but one I think is so encouraging. Notice what Peter wrote here, and this is 1 Peter, chapter 1, right near the very beginning of his letter. He starts out with this thought after sending his greetings and that sort of thing at the beginning of his letter. In verse 3 is where he really kind of begins in the letter itself. And the first thing that comes to his mind, I think, is this aspect of the power of the resurrection. Verse 3, he says, "...Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." So in a way, you've got that resurrection principle going on, that we don't have to be down and discouraged because of all the difficult things that are happening in the world, or even in our own personal life. We know that this isn't going to last, that God has a solution for our lives, He has a solution for this world. And so he says that hope should be a vibrant hope. It's not a hope that can die. It's a life, a living hope, he says, through the resurrection. And of course, the resurrection points to that very fact that our faith, it's going to get us through these difficult times. It's going to help us because we're not hopeless. We're not just, well, trying to get the most out of this world and, you know, eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow we'd... No. We have a hope that is effective. We have a hope that is vibrant. It is not something that's just a cover-up, but it's something that's real that points us to the ultimate reality. That ultimately Christ is going to establish the kingdom of God on this earth, and we have an opportunity to be a part of that. And so what an amazing blessing that we have that kind of a perspective that offsets us from the world. You probably remember Paul wrote a lot about that in the resurrection chapter in 1 Corinthians 15. You might turn over there for just a moment. As he wrote about the resurrection of Christ, he wrote about our resurrection, the hope that we have in that. He focuses on that very thing, of the exciting blessings that we have because of the resurrection of Christ. Notice 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 13. Of course, one of the things he's addressing here is not everyone understood the resurrection. They didn't necessarily believe it. Some of the political leaders of the day didn't want any part of the resurrection. They disputed it. They said, ah, that's not going to happen. But Christ taught just the opposite. He said, it is reality.

And here's Paul talking about the same thing. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. He says, if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. He says, and if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain. And your faith is also vain. Yes, we are found false witnesses of God because we've testified He has raised up Christ, whom He didn't raise up.

In fact, if the dead don't rise. So he's bantering back and forth, showing the kind of uselessness of their argument. Verse 16, he says, if the dead don't rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. It's useless, in other words, because you're still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, he says, we are of all men most miserable. But you see, we see beyond this life. Verse 20, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. And so Paul contrasts this whole perspective that we don't have to have a hopeless kind of faith. In fact, it's just the opposite. Our faith is not a waste. It's not ineffective. It's not inadequate. We are not in our sins. Passover and unleavened bread remind us of that very fact that we can come out of sin. We're unleavened. We're supposed to live unleavened lives. We're supposed to be sin free. That's our goal, to rise to the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ. So we're to live up to that calling of being a first fruit and be full of life. And so we have a hope that is one that is...it can't be taken away from us. It can't be destroyed because Christ was resurrected. In fact, even in Hebrews, it talks in a very powerful way about this as well. Look at Hebrews 2, verse 14. Hebrews 2, verse 14 shows how we can have this hope. It really points to the fact how we can overcome, how we can begin to try to be more Christlike, how we can put on the character of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews talks about how that is possible. And notice how it's connected to the resurrection as well. Hebrews 2, verse 14 says, "...since therefore the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same thing." So Christ was like us. He was God in the flesh. Then he goes on in the middle of verse 14, "...so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death." So here he begins to point out, he's destroyed the devil's power in our lives.

We can be set free from that evil authority that tries to rule over us. Verse 16, he says, "...for it's clear that he didn't come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham." And of course, we're his spiritual descendants. "...therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement or a propitiation, an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people.

Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. Therefore, brothers and sisters," he says, "...partakers of the heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the Apostle and high priest of our confession." And then he goes on from there.

So consider that pioneer. Consider the fact that he destroyed the power of Satan in our lives. We've been given God's Holy Spirit. So we have power over sin. We have the opportunity to battle sin and can overcome. And so that blessing gives us that hope that ultimately God will send Christ back and He will establish His kingdom. And we have the opportunity to be there with Him. Unleavened Bread reminds us of that very fact that we have been given the power of the Spirit of God to overcome and destroy evil and sin in our lives. Now, of course, that means we've got to be doing something about it now.

And I think the power of the resurrection maybe as a final thought, it's something that gives us power for living right now. Power for living right now. And we can have a different perspective. You'd like to turn back to Romans once again. I probably should have had you hold your place there. Romans chapter 5 is another one of those sections of Scripture where Paul brings it home to us personally right now. So not just a future thing.

Romans chapter 5 verse 17, he's talking about Christ. He says, if by one man's offense death reign through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one. So Adam sinned and all of those problems followed him. And there was death that was a result of sin. But then he contrasts that and he says, those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, and that would be us, God's given us His grace, His favor, He's called us, He's opened our minds to His truth because we pray and we've accepted that sacrifice of Christ and we repent.

He looks at us as we're justified. We have that righteousness that can only come from God. But then he says, because of that, he says we shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. So we have rulership. If we're reigning, we're ruling. And so it's not just a reigning in the kingdom of God, reigning and ruling with Christ for a thousand. Not just talking about that, but here he's saying, we can rule or we can triumph, we can succeed over sin.

We can be unleavened. We can recognize sin in our life. We can repent. We can change. And we reign or rule over it by the power of God's Holy Spirit because of the resurrection of Christ. Remember, Christ said, well, I have to go so that I can send you the comforter. So we have that connection to the resurrection now. Right now. You know, we can say, are we ready to rule?

Well, we can rule over sin right now. Right now. In fact, a little bit farther down, if you look to chapter 6, right at the very beginning of chapter 6, Paul says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. May it not be so. He said, How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer in it?

Or don't you know, verse 3, that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. Therefore we're buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So there he makes that connection back to chapter 5. Raining in life by the power of the resurrection. We should walk in newness of life. Well, we have a Savior. And so we have a new life. In fact, Passover and Unleavened Bread kind of prepared us for this new life.

Because who wants to go back to Egypt? And who wants to go back to sin? Paul says, Do we want to go back to sin? He says, No, absolutely not. And so we've been given the blessing of the power of God's Spirit. So that can meet our needs. That can help us to have the success over sin as we repent and we change. And so Paul connects these things to the resurrection because by it we have power for living. A power that makes us different today. And so it's a power that supports us and helps us.

It helps us when we fall short. It helps us when we are discouraged. It helps us when we're sick or we're hurt. It helps us when we succeed and we overcome. And so when you connect these things together with Unleavened Bread and the Passover, Passover was such a difficult time back in the day. What happened immediately after the Passover? The crucifixion. And the disciples were so discouraged because it didn't happen the way they were expecting. But you know, by the resurrection, and that time right during the days of Unleavened Bread, it points to the fact that there is life beyond the pain. There is life beyond discouragement and disappointment.

There's life beyond death. And so the resurrection points us in that very direction, doesn't it? In fact, he keeps talking about this down a little bit in chapter 8. Look at chapter 8, verse 31. Romans 8, verse 31. Paul says, well, what then are we to say about these things? What are we to say? This is verse 31. What are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

And of course, he spent all these chapters pointing out, God is for us. God is on our side. So who can be against us? He didn't spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He who didn't spare His own Son, He's going to give us all things. Verse 33. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Well, because we know, are there those that will bring charges against us? Yeah, absolutely. We know we're battling a spiritual war. There's spiritual wickedness in high places fighting against us.

There's plenty of charges that come against us. But the good news is, do they stick? Well, He says, nope, nope, it is God who justifies. God can justify us when we're in that kind of repentant attitude. Who is He that condemns?

Well, we know a lot. A lot of condemnation out there. But on the other hand, it is Christ who died and furthermore also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. So He says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Not much, He says. Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? He says, as it's written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet, in all these things, we're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And He finishes in just an amazing way.

He says, I'm persuaded that neither death or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height or depth, or any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Very, very powerful words. That we have a Savior who intercedes for us. And because of Him, we don't have to go back to Egypt.

We don't have to go back to sin. We can be even more than conquerors because of the power of the resurrection. And so, when you think about this time of the year, don't shy away from the resurrection. We own the resurrection. We own the resurrection. God has given us the power of the resurrection. The fact that Jesus is Christ. He is our Savior. He is Messiah. He is our high priest and soon-coming King.

And it certainly is a wonderful reminder that we can look forward to the resurrection. We can look forward to the establishment of the Kingdom of God. And we can have the kind of hope that can get us through this world. A hope that Christ is our pioneer. He pioneered our salvation. He proved the fact that we will be resurrected, too. That ultimately, we can believe what it says in Revelation. That the time is coming. That death is going to be destroyed. There's going to be no more tears, no more crying, no more suffering. We do have the blessing of having the victory.

We can have victory over Satan and over sin because we have such an amazing high priest. And that can change everything, not just for the future, but change everything right now to give us a special kind of power for living life in a faithful way. And so what a blessing. What a blessing that we can come before God and we can take the Passover, live through the days of 11 bread, and live a life that's rededicated to His way. That we're recommitted to following His way that much closer in our lives. Really striving to stay out of sin, to really try our very, very best to apply and submit to God's Holy Spirit so we can live an unleavened life. We can live in the power of His might as we put on that whole armor of God. And so let's do that. Let's do that very thing. Let's strive in every way to live that kind of a life. And I think as we do that, we certainly will be living, breathing examples of knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection. It's been wonderful being with you. We're looking forward to fellowshipping a little bit more after services and spending some time together.