As we approach Christmas, we need to remember that it was actually a 33-Year event (33 is believed to be the age of Jesus’ death, burial resurrection, and ascension). When there is a true celebration of the historical event of Christ’s birth, we should tell the story of a complete Christmas. If you are reading a biography, you never stop after having read about the birth and early years of the person. We keep on until we have read the entire account of the subject’s life.  However, many people today celebrate the season and the sentimentality of Christmas and totally disregard “the rest of the story.”  In the early church, they magnified the rest of the story (the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Jesus in his heavenly session.) and didn’t even celebrate Christmas at all! In fact, the celebration of Christmas didn’t begin until sometime in the late Third or early Fourth Century.

There are four basic parts of the Christmas Story:

A Baby in a Crib 

“He was manifested in the flesh…”(1 Timothy 3:16).

Luke tells us, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger (a crib), because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).  John tells us that, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”(John 1:14).

My mentor, Heb Hodges wrote, “A baby in a crib - and wonder of wonders, the Baby was God!  At Bethlehem, He who made man was made man!  Here was the greatest case of planned parenthood the world has ever seen!  In fact, Jesus was the only person in history who could plan His own birth.”

In the crib, the Most High became the Most Nigh, the Infinite became the Intimate. Amidst the common things of a stable, God came to man and became the God-man. Yet, although He became what He was not previously, He never ceased to be all that He was before, that is God. He was just as much God if He were not man, and just as much man as if He were not God.

The late Johnny Hart designed a comic strip on Sunday, December 21, 1997, that reveals the blindness of the unbeliever in rejecting the foundational truth of the gospel message, i.e. that Mary was supernaturally impregnated by the Spirit of God with the Second Person of the Trinity. This particular “B. C.” comic strip carried a magnificent Gospel message built around this poem:

“It seems to me that since the ‘Fall’ - without even thinking it odd,
That man has had no trouble at all, Believing that he can be God.
How he would do this I cannot conceive, Tho’ he certainly thinks he can.
And yet, he cannot bring himself to believe, That God can become . . . a man.”

Why did He come down at Christmas?  “To bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).  But before He could bring us to God, another dimension had to be added to the story.

2. A Man on a Cross

In the story of Jesus, also, we must continue reading until we have finished the “33-Year” event. With Jesus, the “rest of the story” is the Best of the story. The Virgin Birth was the first historical step toward the Cross. In fact, one theologian phrased the combination of His Birth and His Death in this graphic sentence: “Theologically and spiritually, it is as if Jesus was born in a tomb.”  Just as Bethlehem, the place of His Birth, and Jerusalem, the place of His Death, are less than ten miles apart, so His Birth and His Death are very closely connected.

When Jesus was born, He came into fallen humanity, a creation cursed by sin, and though He was personally free of both the sin and the curse, He took both the sin and the curse upon Himself, and passed down into death itself.  We cannot now properly celebrate Christmas without realizing the Cross in the midst of it all.

Jesus not only came to us; He also came for us.  The word “for” must be translated carefully here.  It is a word of sympathy—Jesus is for me (John 3:18).  But it is also a word of substitution.  Jesus died, “the just in place of the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (I Peter 3:18). 

As sinners, we needed more than His company, His example, His sympathy, or His teaching.  So “He was delivered over to death for our sins” (Romans 4:25).  As a result of His Full Settlement for our sins at Calvary, the holy and just law of God is satisfied, God Himself is propitiated, and I am free to be received into fellowship with my Heavenly Father.  What a Gospel!  But before it is a full Gospel, still another dimension must be added to the story. 

3. A Body in a Tomb

1Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”

The burial of the dead body of Jesus was an very important link in the chain of Christian evidences. By His death Christ paid the debt of sin and transgression in full, His burial placed the certainty of His death beyond doubt, and His resurrection on the third day proved the completeness of His redemptive labors. If as much as one sin had not been paid for, as much as one transgression had not been expiated, the resurrection of Christ could not have taken place, the righteousness of God would not have permitted the return to life of Him who had failed in redeeming the world. But His resurrection is a fact, and therefore also our salvation is a fact.

The central fact of the Christian faith is the historical, bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Had it all ended on the Cross there would have been no Good News to share, no bold church to bear witness, no New Testament to teach and preach, and no hope for real life here or in the hereafter. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the Resurrection to our faith.

Again, what a Gospel!  But before it is a full Gospel, the 33-Year event needs another dimension added to the story. 

4. A King on a Throne

1Timothy 3:16, “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

The Christmas hymn is true, “Bethlehem’s manger cradled a King.”

Philippians 2:9‑11, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

His appointment as the King of kings is permanent. His authority is absolute. God's anointed has been appointed and He shall not be disappointed. God has set His King upon the holy hill of Zion. His King is not subject to the voter's ballot, (you can't vote him Lord, he is Lord.), the alluring bribe, (The earth is his and the fullness thereof), nor the assassin's bullet (He has the keys of death and hell on his side).            

The first Christmas began when the Second Person of the Trinity came down from the communion of Heaven to a crib in a cattle stall in Bethlehem. Then He went from the crib to the cross. Then from the cross to the crypt.  Then from the crypt to the crown.  Crib, Cross, Crypt, and Crown.  These ingredients, properly mixed, constitute the “33 year” event - a complete Christmas.  I hope you stop to adore Him at each one of these places between now and Christmas day.  I hope you celebrate a complete Christmas with Christ at the very heart of the celebration. 

However, the Family Tree is one of grace and glory because it presents Jesus as the Rightful Sovereign and the only Savior of sinners.

The Bible is an historical book. Our fall in Adam and redemption in Christ are historical events. Our faith is not based on myths and fables, but upon spacetime historical events and accomplishments. All mankind's history is written in one of two Family Albums ‑ In Adam or In Christ.

The History of the Natural Man ‑ Genesis 5:3

In Genesis 1:26,27; 5:1,2, we learn that God created Adam in his image and after His likeness. This meant that man was made to be a picture, a visible expression of the invisible God. This meant that man was originally designed with personality, spirituality, rationality, morality, authority, and creativity. Man was meant to be an expression of God's person, and extension of His presence and an exhibition of his power.

Adam was the federal and seminal head of humanity. He represented us because we were in his loins. We were actually, fully, and fairly represented by Adam. Yet, he willfully and deliberately rebelled against God and lost it all.

What did Adam lose?  He lost the likeness of God, the life of God, the leading of God, the liberty of God, and love for God.   How lost is man? He is lost willingly, ignorantly, deceitfully, and helplessly. In his lostness he loves only one thing ‑ himself! (Read Roms 5:12)

Notice what Genesis 5:3 says, "... Adam beget a son after his own likeness." This son, and all mankind after him, was born fallen, defiled, frail, mortal and a sinner.

Sin has defaced the moral image of God within man. Sin has deformed man's heart, deluded his mind, diseased his body, and subjected both he and his whole environment to death.

The Bible declares that all men by birth, as well as by choice, are rebels against God's government, robbers of God's glory and rejecters of God's grace.  All born since Adam’s fall have been born with a terminal, twisted spiritual birth defect. We are born sinners. The reason we are sinners is not because we sin but because we were born sinners!.

Admittedly, this is not a very flattering family portrait. But the good news of Christmas is that we can get in on another family album!

The History of the New Man ‑ Matthew 1:1

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” 

The Old Testament, beginning in Genesis 5:1, contains the book of the generations of Adam and ends with a curse in Malachi 4:6. But the New Testament begins in Matthew 1:1 with the account of the book of the generations of Jesus Christ and ends with no curse in Revelation 22:3. Jesus birth is the Second Genesis, a new beginning, a new creation.

This family tree of Jesus' human lineage is not at all flattering - no family trees are. One fellow, in filling out a form requiring a brief history of his family, was so embarrassed because his father had died in the electric chair wrote, "My father occupied for a brief period of time a chair in applied electricity in a state institution and then died."

The Focus in Jesus' Family Album is on Grace

(1) Grace is seen in the choice of one woman named Mary – Matt. 1:16

(2) Grace is seen in the descendants of two men – Matt. 1:1 – The royal lineage of David and the racial lineage of Abraham.

(3) Grace is seen in the history of three eras – Matt 1:17 - So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. 

The national genealogy of Jesus is one of mingled glory, pathos, heroism and disgrace, renown and obscurity. Israel rises, falls, and so apostatizes from God that they finally reject and crucify the Messiah that God sent to them. But God's grace triumphs over their sin and salvation comes to the world.

(4) Grace is seen in the inclusion of four outcasts

Why any women? Why these women? Why not Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, etc.? Because the highlight is on the grace of God. The coming King was to be a King of grace and glory.

Tamar acted like a prostitute – Matt. 1:3

Rahab was a Canaanite and a prostitute – Matt. 1:5

Ruth was a Moabite (The whole Moabite nation was the product of incest.) who meet a mighty man of wealth from Bethlehem who took her for his bride and brought her into the royal line of King David and King Jesus!

Bathsheba was an adulteress – Matt. 1:6

Jesus is the friend of sinners; the Physician of the sin‑sick; the Refresher of the weary and heavy laden; the Proclaimer of Good News to the Poor.

The Future of Jesus’s Family Tree will Triumph unto Glory

(a) The Full Identity of the Savior ‑ Mt 1:1,21,23 ‑ Jesus, Christ, Immanuel

(1) Christ ‑ The word "Christ" is the Greek word for the "Messiah." What a peculiarity! An angel of Heaven broke through the veil and announced that the 18- to 20-inch-long baby laid in a manager in a cowshed in Bethlehem was none other than the long‑promised, long‑prophesied, long‑predicted, long‑expected, long‑awaited Messiah of Israel. He was the One appointed and anointed in Heaven and anticipated and announced on earth. Micah 5:2 had foretold that He would be born in Bethlehem, Isaiah 7:14 that He would be born of a virgin, Isaiah 53 that He would die a violent death for sinners, and Isaiah 9:6 tells us that His Name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace; and that in time the government of the world would be upon His shoulders.  All this was packed into the frame of a tiny baby in Bethlehem!

(1) Immanuel ‑ God with us!  The first Christmas celebration was not one of God in man.  This is what happens when a person becomes a Christian ‑ God takes up his abode in man.  The first Christmas celebration was not God and man coming together to work cooperatively. It was a celebration of the God‑man ‑ Jesus the Christ. It was the union of two natures, Godhead and manhood in one glorious person.

Wonderful, mysterious, incomprehensible is His person. God became man.  And everything Jesus did was an exhibition of God's power and purpose, everything He said was an expression of God's will and Word. Christ was and is, the sufficiency of God's grace, the infallibility of God's Word, the impregnability of God's peace, and the tranquility of God's rest.

(1) Jesus ‑ The full, final, perfect revelation of God is compacted into one name ‑ but what a name ‑ the name of JESUS.

Matt. 1:21 says “.... you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." The name Jesus means “Jehovah Saves”.

Nine hundred seventy‑five times in the New Testament that Name is written. The name of every other person in history except this one has the fingerprints of Satan smeared all over it. It has the stains of sin inscribed indelibly on it, but this Name ‑ not one stain.

His name beautifies the radiance of righteousness and enriches the gifts of goodness. He engraces the merits of meekness and enhances the heritage of hope, He embodies the language of love and gilds the glories of grace.

The Name of Jesus is history's most Prized Name.  How valuable is the Name of Jesus?  We will never fully know in this life, but what we do know is beyond expression. Without Him creation has no crown, history no destiny, personality no perfection, humanity no holiness, and heaven no openings!

The name of Jesus is the only door to salvation ‑ Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."    

All hail the power of Jesus name, let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all.

Precious Name O how sweet, Hope of earth and joy of Heaven.

 Jesus, Jesus, there is just something about that name!

His Final Victory

The new Genesis that Jesus initiated has made all who trust in him a "new creation (2 Cor 5:17). On us is a new name (Rev 2:17); in us is a new song. But one day, time will be no more, and He who sits on the throne will say "Behold I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). Then on us will be a new body, around us will be a New Jerusalem, under us will be a New Earth, and over us a New Heaven, and before us New revelations of the never-ending glory of the Son of God. And we shall be like Him for we shall see him as he is. And the old, old story will be forever our new theme in glory!

Now unto Him who sits upon the throne and unto the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion from eternity to eternity!

O victory in Jesus my Savior forever!  He sought me, and bought me, and brought me from guilt into grace and unto glory!

From the picture album of a wanted criminal into the Forever Family Album of Jesus as a wanted and loved child of God!      

Whose family album is your history being written in? You can't help being born in Adam, but you can be born‑again into Christ Family Album.

Perhaps someone is reading these lines who has never received Christ and trusted Him for salvation from sin and for the gift of eternal life. What must you do?  Simply and honestly repent of your sins directly to God, the One against Whom you have sinned. Remind Him of His Word that promises that if you trust Him and receive Him into your heart, He would save you, forgive your sins, give you the gift of eternal life, and live in you all the way to His home in Heaven.  I join with the Holy Spirit in urging you to trust Jesus today.  If you do, this Christmas will be your first real one.  

The first Christmas was the occasion of God's joy going public! Christmas is not God quietly slipping into the world. It is heaven going public. The celebration opened with a Heavenly Extravaganza by the greatest choir earth has ever known. The premier performance began when the Choirmaster, an angel of the Lord, appeared to a small audience of lowly shepherds in a Bethlehem pasture. The shekinah cloud of God's glory shone around the angel as he announced the theme of their presentation. He said, in essence, "I gospelize you with great joy." I bring you the greatest news this world has ever heard. Joy to the World the Lord Has Come!" And suddenly the curtain was lifted and there was with the angel of the Lord a choir made up of a multitude of other angels singing, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace toward men with whom He is well pleased!"

Joy to the world still remains God's goal. The Westminster Catechism asks the question: “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” (And I add, enjoying Him beginning Now and not just finally in in Heaven!). Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:17c, ".... he gives us richly all things to enjoy." We will one day fully and finally “enter into the joys of the Lord.” Jesus came as a man of joy and accomplished His mission because of “the joy that was set before him” (Heb 12:2).  He said to his disciples, "My joy I leave with you." In Jn 17:13, "And now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."

Pastor Doug Wilson reminds us that “in this world, Christian joy is a bedrock sort of thing - and not the froth at the top of a wave. Joy is deep satisfaction in the will of God, and this must be coupled with a recognition of the reality that God’s will is everywhere and in everything. There is no place where we may go and be allowed to murmur or despair in that place because God’s will is somehow “not there.” In the carol we sing about joy to the world, we are dealing with the reality of sins and sorrows that grow, of thorns that infest the ground, and nations that need to have the glories of His righteousness proved. That proof will be found in our faith - a faith that spills over into joy.

The book of Luke begins with John the Baptist leaping for joy in his mother's womb. The joy increases in the presence of a baby born in a cow stable and ends with joy at an empty tomb in the presence of a risen, living Lord (Read Lk 24:52,53). Luke continues to unfold the goal of God in the experience of bringing joy to the world in the book of Acts. The disciples, filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, were so exultant, so excited, so joy‑filled, that the people accused them of being drunk with new wine!  The converts at Pentecost came together with "gladness and singleness of heart." Wherever the gospel came in power there was "great joy in that place." Paul writes, "Rejoice (i.e. celebrate!) in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." Peter writes about "joy unspeakable and full of glory."

William Tyndale described the Christian gospel as "good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings, that makes a man's heart glad, and makes him sing, dance, and leap for joy."

Are you ready for the question? Where has all the joy gone?  Sherwood Wirt asks, "Is Christianity nothing more than a sorrowful and woebegone Via Dolorosa, i.e. a pathway of sorrows? Is our existence on this planet a cosmic tragedy, and is the Bible a moralistic stepmother, a Miss Manners directing us to quit whatever we are doing and do something else?" No! Ten thousand times NO!

Beloved, isn't it time we reopen the greatest of Christmas gifts, i.e. Joy to the World, and ask Lord, restore unto me the JOY of His salvation?

Joy Exists in God's Person in Heaven – Luke 2:10

The angel said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy." Bring from where? From God in heaven! Paul writes in 1 Tim 1:11 of the "gospel of the glory of the blessed God." Which literally translated means, "the good news of the glory of the happy God." Pay close attention because I have wonderful news, God is the gloriously happy God! Thank God, who would want to spend eternity with an unhappy God! The infinite happiness of God consists in the enjoyment of His Son. The Bible teaches that the eternal God has always had a perfect image of himself ‑ Jesus(Col 1:15); a perfect radiance of his essence ‑ Jesus (Hebs 1:3); a perfect imprint of His nature ‑ Jesus (Hebs 1:3); a perfect form or expression of His glory ‑ and his name is Jesus (Phils. 2:6)!

Here’s unfathomable good news - God is delighted to be God! When you think of God, which of these words represents your thinking ‑ sternness, wrath, solemnity, gloom ‑ or joyousness, gladness, delight, pleasure, jubilation?

There is only one fountain of lasting joy - the overflowing gladness of God in God! Without beginning, without ending, without source and without cause. And God wants to share that joy with the world.

Before God made the world, he first made angels. He then gave them a front seat to his next act ‑ creating the world. And when they saw what he did and the joy with which he did it, they sang together and shouted for joy! (Job 38:7)

Joy Enters by Jesus' Birth in Bethlehem - 2:10‑11

Joy filled the hearts of those God sent to the babe - Luke 1:28, “And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" What he said was “hail” and “O Joy! No wonder C.S. Lewis said, "Joy is the serious business of Heaven."

Joy was Exemplified in Jesus' Life on Earth

When you think of Jesus, do you think of a face like that seen on the Shroud of Turin? Do you think of a person that is morose, driven, and sorrowful? Or do you think of a man of radiant inner joy, a man with a genuine enthusiasm for life? Jesus was a man of perfect joy. But you say what about Isaiah 53 referring to him as a man of sorrows? Yes, he knew sorrow, but it was imposed upon him from without and did not come from within nor affect his joy. Jesus was a man of such joy, such exuberance, such gladness, such happiness, such freedom and openness that he was most enjoyable to be around.

Joy comes through his work as Savior – Luke 2:11b; Mt 1:21, “Unto you is born this day a Savior." Man's Great Need and God's Great Provision meet in the word "Savior." The word "Savior" indicates a problem.  Because man is in sin, he is in trouble with the law of God. A Savior is born means that Jesus is fully identified with me - even with my sins, though He Himself was not guilty of sin. It means that from His conception and birth as a human being, for the very first time in all of God's Eternal History, He now has a mortal nature, a nature capable of dying.  Herb Hodges, said "The universe is the stage, Jesus is the Script; our redemption is the plot, and with His Birth, the stage is SET!

Joy Comes from His Being God's Christ – 2:11 - The word "Christ" is the Greek word for anointed, thus the "Messiah." The baby in the manager in Bethlehem was none other than the long‑promised, long‑prophesied, long‑predicted, long‑expected, long‑awaited Messiah of Israel. He was the One appointed and anointed in Heaven, and anticipated and announced on earth. God's anointed. Ps 45:7, "... therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

Joy was in him, upon him and set before him ‑ Luke 10:21, "Jesus rejoiced in Spirit and said I thank thee O Father." He began his ministry with the Sermon on the Mount which begins with eight blessed's - an octave of blessednesses ‑ a perfect tune of joy! The word “blessed in the Greek shouts with its significance. It declares "O the bliss of being a Christian. O, the joy of following Christ. O, the sheer happiness, the joyous thrill, the radiant gladness of knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior!

Hebrews 12:2 states that he stayed under the pressure of the cross due to the JOY set before him. The joy of knowing that he was bringing a vast number of sinners into sonship status and unto the joy of the Lord. The joy of knowing that he was obeying the Father's will perfectly and honoring and exonerating the Father's name. The joy of knowing that he would make his blessing flow far as the curse is found, and that sin and sorrow would one day grow no more, nor thorns infest the ground.  

Joy was Experienced by Christ's Followers

In Jn 15:11, Jesus tells them that his intent was that "my joy may be in you and your joy be complete." In Jn 16:22, he tells them that when they see him after his death, "that their hearts would rejoice and their joy no man would take from them."  Jn 20:20 declares that "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord!"

On the day of Pentecost, there was such an exuberance of joy, such an illumination of mind, such an intensity of love, such a fullness of power, that those who saw them were perplexed and then said Men and brethren what must we do to get what you have?

Paul writes in Roms 14:17 that "the kingdom of heaven is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." He prays in Roms 15:13 that "the God of all hope may fill you with joy and peace in believing.”

A joyless Christian is a libel on his Master. Lack of joy makes the Christian life even more unappealing to the unbeliever. When people look at the church they don't often see people who are full of joy. More often they see, to use the words of Earnest Gordon, "people who have managed to extract the bubbles from the champagne of life."

Augustine said, "The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot." Martin Luther said, "The Christian ought to be a living doxology." John Wesley said, "Sour godliness is the Devil's religion."

What is the meaning of the word? Joy is deep‑seated gladness in God, that lively pleasure of the soul which we experience as a fruit of the Spirit. Joy is a communicable attribute of God. It is gladness in God. It is too deep for circumstances to reach. It is too spiritual for natural emotions to manufacture. It is an enduring exultation of spirit that transcends trouble, leaps over walls of circumstances, that is glad even when sad. It comes to the end of life's journey and goes under the water's of the river of death and comes out on the other side shouting, It is well with my soul! Joy is persuaded that neither life nor death, nor things present nor things to come can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. "O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory!"

  The Christian's joy is in retrospect, aspect and prospect! There is the joy of memory, of love, of hope. There is the joy of the peaceful conscience, the joy of the grateful heart, the joy of the teachable mind, the joy of the trustful soul, the joy of the adoring spirit, the joy of the obedient life, the joy of the glowing hope. 

There are moments when joy is private - quiet smiles, tears wiped away, prayers whispered in the dark. And then there are moments when joy can no longer be contained.

Christmas is not the story of a quiet happiness tucked safely away. It is the story of the night when God’s joy went public.

Luke tells us that this joy didn’t begin in a palace or a temple. It broke out in a field. It startled shepherds. It lit up the night sky. Heaven could not stay silent any longer.

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

This joy isn’t a giddy, praise the Lord I have no pain or problems type of experience or expression. Barbara Johnson summed it up when in the midst of horrible tragedy and suffering in her and her family’s lives, she declared, “Suffering is inevitable, misery is optional, and the joy of God is always available!”

God did not keep His joy private. He announced it. He embodied it. He entrusted it to ordinary people. And on this Christmas - this season - that same joy still goes public whenever Christ is welcomed, trusted, and proclaimed.

Joy to the world the Lord has come!

Merry Christmas!

The resurrection of Christ is not only an historical event, celebrated once every year, it is an experiential life and power that all believers are meant to live and operate in everyday!

True Christians know that by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, a person experiences the forgiveness of sin. However, many do not know the resurrection power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ that lives in them in the person of the Holy Spirit. 

To those who received the Holy Spirit in the chronicles of the book of Acts, Christ's resurrection life, exhibited in the person of the Holy Spirit, so empowered them until they experienced a new power, a new momentum, a new excitement, and a new and unbelievable joy and exhilaration to life.

The word “power” occurs fifty-seven times in the New Testament. It is used to describe the most powerful event that ever happened - an event that separated BC from AD - the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And that resurrection power is available now to change your life! In fact, the most important thing in life is knowing Christ and experiencing the power of His resurrection.

Acts 4:33, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all." 

The Apostle Paul’s passionate desire and perpetually pursuit was, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” 

All the early church went forth as Spirit-filled, power‑filled soldiers of the cross, confronting pagan darkness and depravity, powerful demons, and painful diseases, not with just a word of proclamation, but with a demonstration of the power of God!

Resurrection life provides power over disbelief, over the devil and his demons, over disease, and over death!

It is God's Purpose in Our Ministering in Power Not to Show Off but to Show His Love and Share His Life with People.

In the ministry of Jesus, healing, miracles, and signs and wonders was not a gimmick to gather crowds, nor was it a benefit He separated from the preaching of His evangelistic message. It was an essential part of His message and ministry. Compassion for people, not to prove a point or concern for projects, was His motive for ministry.

God's power is not intended to just make Christians powerful, but rather to display His Almighty power wrapped in love through their common flesh! And, I might add, the best of Christians are but frail, weak, faltering, failing human vessels!

1. Resurrection power released through the residing of the Holy Spirit in the believer's heart empowers them to Worship Passionately – Acts 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The 120 in the Upper Room fell out into the streets in joyfulness, not to fulfill a job. They weren’t preaching but praising God; they were witnessing by worshipping!

Evangelism is whole-hearted worshipers calling the whole world to the whole-hearted worship of God and the fusion of God's power and presence with the power of the gospel.

2. Resurrection life indwelling the believer empowers them to make Disciples Globally – Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The Holy Spirit is eager for us to operate in His power, but only on His terms and only for His purposes.  Making disciples of all people groups is not an option for some, but an obligation of every available believer!

There are at least 6,434 unreached people groups that represent 2.62 billion person who have no gospel witness! For the most part, we don't feel the dreadful force of this state of affairs because we don't look beyond America.

3. Resurrection life empowers the believer to Live Holy – Romans 6:11, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Holiness is not achieved by religious works but received by faith in the Holy Indwelling One who has made us His temple. The resurrection assures us that Jesus can transform our lives every day. We live empowered by the resurrection life of Jesus to live changed lives. We not only are forgiven, but we are filled with the mighty power of God who raised Jesus from the dead. Paul called this “the power of the resurrection.” Jesus is no longer someone we know about, He is someone we know.
4. Resurrection life empowers the believer to Labor Expectantly - Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Expectancy is the very heart of the biblical meaning of hope. Notice that God is called the God of hope, because He is the author of all the true, well–grounded hope of His people. The most desponding can be raised by Him to a good hope through grace; and the guiltiest are in a moment relieved and made to hope in His mercy. Every believer can labor expectantly and confidently for the Lord because they know their work is not in vain.
5. Resurrection life empowers the believer to Minister Powerfully - Romans 15:18-19, “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience - by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God - so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.”

Recently a missionary couple to Nepal, one of the hardest Buddhist areas in the world to evangelize, shared how they had led a poor Nepalese, Buddhist woman to the Lord. Shortly after, her main source of economic hope, a little calf, became deathly ill and lay listlessly in a field near her little shack for two days. Being a new Christian, she had heard how Jesus performed miracles in the Bible, so she gathered her Buddhists friends around and announced that she was going to ask Jesus to heal her calf – she did, and Jesus did! As a result, all her friends became Christians!

6. Resurrection life empowers the believer to know that they are Loved Immeasurably – Eph. 3:16-19, “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
7. Resurrection life empowers the believer to War Victoriously - Eph 6:10-11, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."
8. Resurrection life empowers the believer to Wait Patiently - Col 1:11, "May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy."

The resurrection is evidence that love is greater than all the power that man and Satan together can ever muster. Jesus possessed power. He was not possessed by it. He set the pace for men by carrying the ultimate "power tool" - a towel. It symbolized the servant’s heart, bent not upon the love of power, but the power of love. The kind of power that builds bridges, affirms people, turns houses into homes and reveals Christ. In God’s eyes, this kind of power gets the job done.

Invite resurrection power to fill you right now:

Jesus be Jesus in me;

No longer me but Thee;

Resurrection power fill me this hour;

Jesus, be Jesus in me!

1) The First Eyewitnesses were Women

All the Gospels note that the first individuals to discover the tomb empty were women. Matthew notes that “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb…The angel told the women, ‘Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:1, 5-6).

The resurrection account is built on the testimony of women. In the world of first century Palestine, a woman’s testimony was not recognized as legally binding. Frankly, it was an embarrassment for our first century brothers and sisters, that the resurrection account is pinned on the testimony of women. It is not something that you would write into the story unless, of course, it is actually true (and you are more concerned with the truth than avoiding embarrassment).

Rebecca McLaughlin writes, “The fact that all four Gospels make the women central to their resurrection claim appeals to us as 21st-century readers. But it would have had the opposite effect on literate men in the Greco-Roman world. As Richard Bauckham explains, “Women were thought by educated men to be gullible in religious matters and especially prone to superstitious fantasy and excessive religious practices.”

“When he took aim at Mary Magdelene, the second-century Greek philosopher Celsus was voicing what many of his contemporaries would’ve thought: After death [Jesus] rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who saw this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of those who were deluded by the same sorcery.

“From Celsus’s perspective, Mary Magdalene and the other weeping women who witnessed Jesus’s so-called resurrection were a joke. If the Gospel authors had been making up their stories, they could have made Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus the first resurrection witnesses: two well-respected men involved in Jesus’s burial. The only possible reason to emphasize the testimony of women - and weeping women at that - is if they really were the witnesses.”

2) Minimal Facts Concerning the Resurrection

Gary Habermas has popularized the so-called ‘minimal facts’ argument for the resurrection. The minimal facts are those things that are accepted by nearly all New Testament scholars. The minimal facts are:

1. Jesus died by crucifixion.
2. Jesus’ disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them.
3. The church persecutor Paul was suddenly changed.
4. The skeptic James, brother of Jesus, was suddenly changed.
5. The tomb was empty. 

These facts are nearly universally accepted by New Testament scholars, as historical events, including many atheists, agnostics, Jewish scholars, and liberals.

3) Transformation of the Early Disciples

As noted in the minimal facts, James, the brother of Jesus, was changed from a skeptic to a believer because of the resurrection. James along with his brothers did not believe in Jesus during Jesus’ early ministry (see John 7:5). However, Jesus appeared to James (1 Corinthians 15:3-9) and James became a leader in the early Jerusalem church.

Paul is another example of one who was completely transformed by the resurrection of Jesus. Paul, a Jewish Pharisee, had been a persecutor of the church. After witnessing the risen Jesus, Paul became a proclaimer for the church.

4) Embarrassing Details of the Resurrection

Historically speaking, embarrassing details add veracity to a historical claim. The fact that women were the first witnesses, that a member of the Sanhedrin (the same Sanhedrin that executed Jesus) had to give Jesus a proper burial, that Jesus own brothers rejected his claims at one point, that Paul was a persecutor of the church, and that the disciples were fearful and fled all serve as embarrassing factors for the resurrection account.

5) Willingness to Die for What Was Known.

Many people will die for what they believe to be true. But no one will die for something they erroneously invented. The disciples knew if they were telling the truth. Yet, one finds that the disciples were willing to die for what they knew to be true. Stephen died by stoning (Acts 7:54-60), James of Zebedee died by the sword at the hands of Herod (Acts 12:2), James the brother of Jesus died as a martyr, and Peter and Paul died at the hands of Nero.

6) Documentary Evidence

The documentary evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is quite good. The historian seeks to find how many primary and secondary sources can be gathered for an event to determine the event’s historicity. Concerning primary sources, the resurrection has Matthew’s account, John’s account, and Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians 15, including the additional references by James and Jude.

7) Circumstantial Evidence

Douglas Groothius notes that one of the most powerful circumstantial pieces of evidence for the historicity of the resurrection is: “Namely, the practice of the early church in observing baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Sunday worship.”

8) The Missing Motive

1. Warner Wallace has noted in his lectures and books that when a conspiracy is formed, three motivating factors are behind such a move - power, greed, and lust. What motivating factors existed for these disciples to invent such a story? None! The only reason the disciples taught the resurrection of Jesus was because Jesus’ resurrection had occurred.

9) Enemy Attestation of the Resurrection

Historically speaking, if one holds enemy attestation to an event, then the event is strengthened. When one considers the claims of the authorities that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus (Matthew 28:11-15), the testimony of the resurrection is strengthened.

10) Multiple Post-Resurrection Eyewitnesses

Finally, there is multiple eyewitness testimony pertaining to the resurrection of Jesus. Several people had seen Jesus alive for a period of 40 days. The eyewitnesses include Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18), the women at the tomb accompanying Mary (Matthew 28:1-10), the Roman guards (Matthew 28:4), the Eleven disciples (John 21), the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), an indeterminate number of disciples (Matthew 28:16-20); over five-hundred disciples (1 Corinthians 15:6), to James (1 Corinthians 15:7) and to Paul (1 Corinthians 15:8-9).

Conclusion

History backs up the claim that George Washington was the first President of the United States. In like manner, history backs up the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Now the question is this: what will you do with such information? Some will try to ignore the event. Some will try to dismiss it.

Others will acknowledge the factual nature of the event and bow their knees in surrender to the only Savior of sinners and worship Him as their risen Lord. It is my prayer that you will do the latter.

“Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.’” 

In Luke 12:1-12, Jesus has just taught on the importance of standing for Him, and on our great value to God. Yet, in the midst of this teaching, a man interrupts Jesus to ask that He take his side in a financial dispute. Rabbis were expected to help settle legal matters, but Jesus refused to get involved. Why? Because He knew that no answer He gave would solve the real problem, which was covetousness in the hearts of the two brothers. (The “you” in Luke 12:14 is plural.) As long as both men were greedy, nosettlement would be satisfactory. Their greatest need was to have their hearts changed. Like too many people today, they wanted Jesus to serve them but not to save them.

Jesus issued to the man who interrupted his sermon a strong warning against greed or covetousness. “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” Then, he told a parable to drive home the point. Jesus’ warning indicates that we need constant vigilance to keep this enemy of the soul at bay. It won’t happen accidentally. If you do not post a guard all day, every day, greed will creep in unawares and get a stranglehold on your life. Jesus here answers the vital question, “How can we invest our lives wisely so as to be rich toward God?”

Covetousness is an unquenchable thirst for getting more and more of something we think we need in order to be truly satisfied. It may be a thirst for money or the things that money can buy, or even a thirst for position and power. Jesus made it clear that true life does not depend on an abundance of possessions. He did not deny that we have certain basic needs (Matthew 6:32; 1Timothy 6:17). He only affirmed that we will not make life richer by acquiring more of these things.

Many Christians are infected with covetousness and do not know it. They think that Paul’s admonition in 1Timothy 6:1-21 applies only to the “rich and famous.” Measured by the living standards of the rest of the world, most believers in America are indeed wealthy people.

Covetousness is so serious because it precipitates ruin of the soul by installing an idol in our hearts. Paul will say, in reflecting on the tenth commandment, “Covetousness is idolatry” Colossians 3:5. Why? Because idolatry is about worship and worship is simply about value. Worship is our response to what we value most. Worship is about saying, ‘This person, this thing, this experience (this whatever) is what matters most to me . . . it’s the thing of highest value in my life.’ That ‘thing’ might be a relationship. A dream. A position. Status. Something you own. A name. A job. Some kind of pleasure. Whatever name you put on it, this ‘thing’ is what you’ve concluded in your heart is worth most to you. And whatever is worth most to you is what you worship, and anything other than the one true God is idolatry.

Jesus told this parable in Luke 12:13-21 to reveal the dangers that lurk in a covetous heart. As you read it, test your own responses to this farmer’s various experiences.

How do you respond to the wealthy farmer’s dilemma? Here was a man who had a problem with too much wealth! If we say, “I certainly wish I had that problem!” we may be revealing covetousness in our hearts. If suddenly you inherited a great deal of wealth, would it create a problem for you? Or would you simply praise God and ask Him what He wanted you to do with it?

There are perils to prosperity (Proverbs 30:7-9). Wealth can choke the Word of God (Matthew 13:22), create snares and temptations (1Timothy 6:6-10, 1Timothy 6:17-19), and give you a false sense of security. People say that money does not satisfy, but it does satisfy if you want to live on that level. People who are satisfied only with the things that money can buy are in great danger of losing the things that money cannot buy.

This farmer saw his wealth as an opportunity to please himself. He had no thoughts of others or of God.

How do you respond to the decisions of the rich man? Are you saying, “Now that is shrewd business! Save and have it ready for the future!” But Jesus saw selfishness in all that this man did (note the eleven personal pronouns), and He said the man was a fool. The world’s philosophy is “Take care of Number One!” But Jesus does not endorse that philosophy.

There is certainly nothing wrong with following good business principles, or even with saving for the future (1Tim. 5:8). Jesus does not encourage waste (John 6:12). But neither does He encourage selfishness motivated by covetousness.

How do you respond to the farmer’s desires? Are you saying, “This is the life! The man has success, satisfaction, and security! What more could he want?” But Jesus did not see this farmer enjoying life; He saw him facing death! Wealth cannot keep us alive when our time comes to die, nor can it buy back the opportunities we missed while we were thinking of ourselves and ignoring God and others.

Jesus made it clear that true life does not come from an abundance of things, nor do true success or security. This man had a false view of both life and death. He thought that life came from accumulating things, and that death was far away.

George W. Truett, who was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas for forty-four years, was invited to dinner in the home of a very wealthy man in Texas. After the meal, the host led him to a place where they could get a good view of the surrounding area. Pointing to the oil wells punctuating the landscape, he boasted, “Twenty-five years ago I had nothing. Now, as far as you can see, it’s all mine.” Looking in the opposite direction at his sprawling fields of grain, he said, “That’s all mine.” Turning east toward huge herds of cattle, he bragged, “They’re all mine.” Then pointing to the west and a beautiful forest, he exclaimed, “That too is all mine.” He paused, expecting Dr. Truett to compliment him on his great success. Truett, however, placing one hand on the man’s shoulder and pointing heavenward with the other, simply said, “How much do you have in that direction?” The man hung his head and confessed, “I never thought of that.”

Finally, how do you respond to the death of the boastful farmer? We are prone to say, “Too bad this fellow died just when he had everything going for him! How tragic that he could not finish his great plans.” But the greatest tragedy is not what the man left behind but what lay before him: eternity without God! The man lived without God and died without God, and his wealth was but an incident in his life. God is not impressed with our money.

What does it mean to be “rich toward God”? It means to acknowledge gratefully that everything we have comes from God, and then make an effort to use what He gives us for the good of others and the glory of God. Wealth can be enjoyed and employed at the same time if our purpose is to honor God (1Timothy 6:10). To be rich toward God means spiritual enrichment, not just personal enjoyment. How tragic when people are rich in this world but poor in the next! (see Matthew 6:19-34)

How do you battle the temptation to clutch and hoard and guard your earthly possessions? Chuck Swindoll gives some excellent counsel: First, when you are blessed with much, give generously. Even Ebenezer Scrooge learned that generosity produces a joy that riches can’t buy. Paul tells us to set aside money regularly to give away as the Lord prospers us (1 Cor. 16:1-2). Understand that only a few things are eternal and invest in them. They include the Lord, His Word, and people. That means investing in your loved ones, your neighbor, and the nations. Second, when you plan for the future, think terminally. Ask yourself, “What do I want to take with me when I die?” Things we can take to heaven are testimonies of the people whose lives we touched with the gospel. A godly legacy. If we plan our lives around eternal things, then we know we are making a sound investment for the future. Third,whether you have much or little, hold it loosely. Don’t put your hope in barns filled with grain.

We all have a choice about how to invest our lives. The choice, simply put, is: Greed or God? 

At the time, few would have suspected that the sound of a hammer striking the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, would soon be heard around the world and lead ultimately to the greatest transformation of Western society since the apostles first preached the Gospel throughout the Roman empire. Martin Luther’s nailing of his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door on October 31, 1517, provoked a debate that culminated finally in what we now call the Protestant Reformation – an event that changed the world.

Philip Schaff, a noted church historian, writes: “The Reformation of the sixteenth century is, next to the introduction of Christianity, the greatest event in history. The Reformation was, at its heart, a recovery of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and this restoration had an unparalleled influence on churches, nations, and the flow of Western civilization."

Luther’s most significant contribution to Christian theology was the recovery of the gospel and its truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. Though preached clearly in the New Testament and found in the writings of many of the church fathers, the medieval bishops and priests had largely forgotten the truth that our own good works can by no means merit God’s favor. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and good works result from our faith, they are not added to it as the grounds for our right standing in the Lord’s eyes (Eph. 2:8-10). Justification, God’s declaration that we are not guilty, forgiven of sin, and righteous in His sight comes because through our faith alone the Father imputes, or reckons to our account, the perfect righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

Although justification by faith alone was Martin Luther's great spiritual and theological breakthrough, it didn’t come easily. He had tried everything from sleeping on hard floors and fasting to climbing a staircase in Rome while kneeling in prayer. Monasteries, disciplines, confessions, masses, absolutions, good works-all proved fruitless. Peace with God eluded him. The thought of the righteousness of God pursued him. He hated the very word "righteousness," which he believed provided a divine mandate to condemn him.

Five years before the act that initiated the Reformation, in 1512, in the Tower of the Black Cloister in Wittenberg, Germany, a brilliant Roman Catholic monk by the name of Dr. Martin Luther was sitting with his Bible open to Romans 1:17 where he read, "... the just shall live by faith." After years of fasting praying, self-flagellation and self-denial in an attempt to merit favor with God, suddenly the eyes of his understanding were opened, and the burden of his soul rolled away as he became a new creation in Christ Jesus. Luther saw that the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone was the heart of the gospel and became for him "an open door into paradise.... a gate to heaven."

What are Some of the Fruits of the Reformation?

1. Acceptance before God. Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God..." Justification means that there is forgiveness of the penalty for sin; that condemnation is gone; that there is peace with God; that there is a restoration to God's favor; there is an imputation of Christ's righteousness; there is the assurance of heirship, of escape from God's wrath, of ultimate glorification, just to name a few of the benefits.
2. There is access to God. Romans 5:2, "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." We do not have to depend upon the intervention and intercession of any other person to put us into contact with the throne of God. Through the real atonement of Jesus, our High Priest, we have ready access to a throne of grace.

This great truth is referred to as “the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9-10): According to the Bible, the priesthood is not exclusive to just the official, Church-ordained priests. (In the Old Testament, yes; in the New Testament, no.) We no longer need to go to a “priest” to confess our sins, receive absolution – nor engage in unthinking repetitions of “Hail Mary’s” and “Our Father’s.” This also did away with the idea that only the priest could receive the elements during the Lord’s Supper and opened it so that everyone who professes Christ as Lord could participate (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-34).

1. Authority under God. The man who understands that he stands justified before Sovereign, Holy God knows that men are not sovereign, nor in control of another person's destiny. He knows that kings and all other governing officials do not have "Divine rights" that places them in a position above the law of God and in a position to control their eternal destiny. He knows that time cannot control eternity. This individual cannot become a slave to men. He will oppose any attempts at government trying to "play God" by providing womb to tomb security.
2. Joy in worship. The Sixteenth Century recovery of the truth of justification by faith alone produced great joy in worship. It restored congregational singing. In fact, the Geneva Psalter of 1562 was nicknamed "The Geneva Jigs" due to its exuberant singing of the Psalms by the entire congregation.
3. Accurate and adequate direction. The justified person's worldview is generated within the parameters of "sola scriptura”, which means that the scriptures only are the final court of appeals. The person who has been justified by grace through faith in Christ understands that rights come from a gracious God and not from gigantic governments. The justified man is self-governed under God's government. He doesn't need a policeman on every corner to keep him from committing a crime, or thousands upon thousands of laws in the books to give him direction. He lives his life "Coram Deo" – “before the face of God.” He knows that power, direction, and dominion come from truth and righteousness.
4. Assurance. The justified person knows that their past is forgiven, their present is meaningful, and their future is secure. They know that their eternal destiny is not in the hands of presidents or popes, preachers, or politicians.
5. Awareness of the dignity of all persons and vocations. The justified man knows that in the household of faith there are no little people. The office of a housewife has as much dignity as the office of the king. The recovery of the truth of justification by faith provided society with a basis for true liberty. The individual had freedom because there was a consensus based upon the absolutes given in God's Word, the Bible. A fifty-one percent vote can never become the final source of right or wrong in government.

This doctrine inspires a resolute, almost defiant, freedom in those who deem themselves the subjects of God's electing, justifying grace. In all things they are more than conquerors through the confidence that nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God. No doctrine of the dignity of human nature, of the rights of man, of national liberty, or of social equality, can create a resolve for the freedom of the soul as this personal conviction of justification by faith. He who has been justified feels that he is compassed about with everlasting love, guided with everlasting strength; his will is the tempered steel that no fire can melt, no force can break. Such faith is freedom; and this spiritual freedom is the source and strength of all other freedom!

"Justification by faith," John Murray writes, " is the jubilee trumpet of the gospel because it proclaims the gospel to the poor and destitute whose only door of hope is to roll themselves in total helplessness upon the grace and power and righteousness of the Redeemer of the lost."

In our decadent and desperate day there is a crying need to reestablish and defend, with prayer and hope, in the power of the Spirit, the scriptural proclamation of this doctrine. The relevance and urgency of this doctrine relate to the identity of the church, the essence of Christian theology, the proclamation of the gospel, as well as to the scriptural-experiential foundations of the Christian faith for every one of us. Not only is justification by faith still, in Luther's words, "the article by which the church stands or falls", but by this doctrine each of us shall personally stand or fall before God. Justification by faith alone must be confessed and experienced by you and me; it is a matter of eternal life or eternal death.”

If the Church is to make disciples of all nations; if America is to regain her lost liberties, the people of God must declare in the power of the Holy Spirit, the five emancipating truths of the reformation that alone can transform individuals, churches, and nations:

No Priest but Christ!

No Sacrifice but Calvary!

No Authority but the Scriptures! 

No Confession but at the Throne of Grace!

No Justification but by Faith! 

God help us to recover and realign our lives and labors with these transforming truths!

Inaccurate eschatology causes Christians to:

1. Wait for a King who already reigns.

A common statement heard from those who believe that the kingdom of heaven has been postponed and that Jesus the Messiah only reigns in heaven and in the hearts of born-again believers, is that “Jesus is the soon coming King who will reign over everyone and everything at his Second Coming!” Jesus is not a soon coming king, he is the reigning King - NOW!

Many Christians today are sighing and not singing because America is going through some tough times. Many are the voices of gloom and doom, and death and despair. Don’t count me among them because Christ has defeated sin, death and the devil and is seated in the place of supreme authority where He presently and powerfully rules overall. And he will remain seated until all his enemies are made his footstool.

As a believer, I share in the victory of Calvary and the empty tomb that brought Christ all power in heaven and earth and seated believers with him in heavenly places. From this position, they “reign in life,” [Rom 5:17] far above the spiritual powers that once held them in their control.

Inaccurate eschatology causes Christians to:

2. Wait for a Kingdom they're already in.

Next to the Person of Christ, the kingdom of God is the most important and all-encompassing concept of Scripture. So much is contained within it. Yet the kingdom remains one of the most misunderstood, misconstrued, confused, abstracted, and contested realities in Christianity. Most churches today rarely mention the kingdom, let alone teach and obey its established and present-day elements.   

The majority of evangelicals have been led to believe God has withdrawn his kingdom, and someday it will be established and visibly set up in a future Jewish millennial era. Others believe it is here but only partially “in some sense” but question in what sense. Some say it is here, but major elements have ceased to function, having been withdrawn by God. On the other hand, Jesus’ first followers were accused of having “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6; 20:25, 27) with the kingdom. Most, today, however, only give the kingdom of God a small place in their lives and have totally neglected Jesus’ admonition to “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Jesus established His kingdom definitively at His First Advent, is extending it progressively through His kingdom agents and ambassadors, the people of God - His Church - and He will establish His kingdom decisively, victoriously, and permanently at His Second, or Last Advent.

The essential nature of the kingdom of God is divine power, wrapped in love, directed toward reconciliation of man to God, of righteousness, peace and joy - displacing the rule and ruin of the demonic.

Inaccurate eschatology causes Christians to:

3. Wait to become what they already are.

In the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God is an actual reality that is available and accessible and upon entering it by the miracle of the new birth, we have access to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, all the hosts of elect angels, the company of the redeemed of God – to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:22-24). We have a new standing, a new approach, a new name, and a new priest. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, we are told that He has perfected forever those who come to Him, and the Holy Spirit has brought us into the covenant and then brought the covenant into us – writing it in our hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:15-17).

For this reason, we are to be daily “singing in the reign” irrespective of world conditions or personal circumstances! Believers sing because they are the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy that God’s chosen people would “Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.” [Isa 12:5]  They “sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” [Ps 98:1]  They sing in joyful obedience to the prophet’s admonition to “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion.  For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. [Zech 2:10]

Believers sing “the songs of Zion” [Ps 137:3] because they alone are: “Children of the promise.” [Rom 9:8; Gal 4:28]; “Abraham’s seed.” [Gal 3:29]; “Heirs according to the promise.” [Gal 3:29]; “The Israel of God.” [Gal. 6:16]; “The circumcision.” [Phil 3:3]; “God’s chosen people.” [Col 3:12]; “A people that are his very own.” [Titus 2:14]; “The people of God.” [Heb 4:9]; “A chosen people.” [1 Pet 2:9]; “A holy nation.” [1 Pet 2:9]; “A royal priesthood.” [1 Pet 2:9]; “Heirs of the kingdom.” [James 2:5]; God’s temple.” [1 Cor 3:16]!

Believers sing because they make up the true Israel of God (Gal 6:16) that buds and blossoms and fills all the world with fruit. [Isa 27:6]  They sing because in the former deserts of their lives a stream of living water has sprung up and now they blossom as the rose. [Isa 35:1-7]  They sing because the Lord comforts all the ruins of Zion, makes her wastelands into Edens, and deserts into gardens of the Lord. [Isa 51:3]

It’s time to start “Singing in the Reign!”

Inaccurate eschatology causes Christians to:

4. Wait for a victory that has already been won.

The people of God must see themselves as fighting from victory and not for victory. We must be captured again by what made New Testament Christianity so vibrant, victorious, and dangerous. This being that every available member was considered a“kerux” – meaning an “announcer”, “herald”, or “preacher” for the King and His Kingdom. The New Testament church went forth with “charismatic muscle” or experience and a “kerygmatic message” or expression.  When Christians recover the “King Jesus" gospel, they will be constrained by love for its King, that they will hurl themselves out, out, and onward, to the ends of the earth, heralding - announcing the good news.

Their message will announce with passion and power, born of faith in the Spirit and the Word, that through the death and resurrection of Jesus a new order of things has come into being.  Not just something in an individual’s heart, but a new reality in history. The fullness of time has come; the kingdom has come, is coming, and will come; a new creation has been born; the long-anticipated age of the Spirit foretold by Joel has arrived. Now the last days of this present evil age has come as well as a new world of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and his enthronement as the King of all kings.

The reason for telling unbelievers that they must believe and repent isn’t just to go to heaven when they die, get peace in their heart now, or a have happier marriage and better kids.  The reason to repent and believe is quite simple, “God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” and the ruin and route of the devil and his demons is ongoing; the curse is being reversed, and the kingdom has and is coming and His will is being done on the earth as it is in heaven. This being true, there are no other options other than rebellion and more religion; repent or perish!

The Church of the living God needs not only revival and reformation, but a radical interior renovation of our worldview to embrace the power of the life, love, and light of kingdom living under and open heaven as supernatural co-partners for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven over the cross-defeated, kingdom of darkness.

John Noe rightly observes, “… the only potentially effective approach capable of breaking through the barriers of apathy and resistance, of shaking and awakening the “sleeping giant,” and for energizing and rallying the Church toward achieving radical social transformation is restoration of the gospel of the kingdom message, mission, and worldview. The kingdom of God must simply be placed central, once again. Your and my grandchildren, and future generations of Christians are depending on us. Let’s not be the generation that lets them down.

“We must call forth the kingdom and take God’s will, reign, and rule into a lost and hurting world. Unfortunately, we have raised over two generations of Christians here in America who are kingdom illiterate. They have become conditioned to and comfortable with a Christianity without a mighty kingdom. What we now find are millions of God-loving, Scripture-studying, heaven-bound Christians today sitting around and complaining about our country’s declining morality and the demise of a Christian consensus. They readily profess that they are against this and against that. But I ask, What are we for?

“From this day forward, let us resolve to be for the task of making the kingdom of God central, once again, as it was for Jesus, the 1^st Century Church, and our forefathers in the faith who first came to this country. Let us remember the motto of the American Revolution: “No king but King Jesus!” Let our vision, rallying cry, and motto be “For Christ and Kingdom,” as it was for the apostle Paul (Acts 28:30-31). 

“Any lesser, reductionistic gospel, merely focusing on personal salvation, will not produce the results we desire. Likewise, claiming God has only one agenda - getting us ready for heaven - will not enable us to pass along the kingdom in greater shape than we found it.”

Lord, correct or inaccurate, inadequate, eschatology!

(I borrowed the title and some of the points from an excellent blog by Pastor Wade Burleson.)

Although most of us have heard of narcissistic personalities, few have heard of narcissistic churches. And when you do, it is usually about the attitude and action of pastoral leadership.

But I think there is a more detrimental version of narcissism that is found in the majority of the conservative, evangelical churches in America, including pastors and people. (Don’t misunderstand what I am saying about the church – I love her and have spent 53 years of my life in the service of the local church.) The version I am referencing concerns the very nature of the gospel and the church. Is the purpose of the gospel primarily to save souls for Heaven when they die? Is the local church a “lifeboat” to carry believers out of the danger of this sinking “Titanic” called the world?

We have more Christians, churches, and Christian organizations than ever before, but less impact than ever on shaping and transforming culture. Our societies are terribly broken, and we are rapidly damaging our earthly home. When God’s people disconnect the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 from the Great Cultural Commission in Genesis 1:28, they abbreviate the task to evangelism, personal spiritual discipleship, and church planting for the sake of saving souls. These are essential but not sufficient for the fulfillment of either commission.

For many years I viewed Christ’s directive as one-dimensional: “Go into all the world, preach the gospel, and save souls for heaven.” Then several godly men and authors began to challenge me to rethink the gospel in terms of the gospel of the kingdom of God or of heaven. It was then that I realized that the Great Commission does not begin in Matthew 28. I came to understand that God’s creative acts in the first chapter of Genesis, which constituted the first or original commission, set a pattern that we were to continue to follow. King Jesus' first coming brought the original commission out of the shadows and types of the Old Covenant and into the victorious completion and cosmic dimensions of the Great Commission as mandated by him five times in the first five books of the New Testament.

When we are regenerated, the life we receive is that of King Jesus coming to live within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. His kingdom enters the inside of us, but it flows from the inside to the outside. An individual, a family, or a church that makes itself, the reason for life, that gives too much time and too much focus to itself or to “getting off this old world” and doesn't live for the kingdom of God will become “narcissistic”!

“When we separate the good news of Christ from His kingdom, we wind up with an individualistic mindset in the church that can easily lead to narcissism and self-focus. This is because a kingdom implies a king’s domain, which includes the systems of the created order such as economics, politics, education, business, family, science, history, psychology, the arts, and all the spheres and/or cultural mountains. Detaching the gospel from these systems of the kingdom leaves the church without an earthly purpose of stewarding the earth, leaving it only to strive for an individual focus of redemption and hope. Conversely, when the church lifts whole cities and nations with the gospel of the kingdom (Isaiah 61:3-4), we will have more souls go to heaven anyway!” - Joseph Mattera

“Kingdom culture is a manifestation of the kingdom of God. Jesus calls his disciples to have the kingdom of heaven impact the kingdom of earth. The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13) recognizes the interplay of the two kingdoms: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s kingdom is any realm where “thy will be done,” and where people “obey all that I have commanded.” God’s kingdom is to come to earth as it is in heaven. The substance of the kingdom is the same in the present and in the future, on the earth and in heaven. The difference is not the substance, but the degree of fulfillment.

“Kingdom culture calls each people and nation “further up and further in” to the reign of Jesus. It calls forth the development of the earth, the cultivation of the soil and the soul, as an act of worship of the living God. The church, as an act of worship, is to create culture that manifests the nature and character of the living God to a watching world. This means that we are to bring truth (the biblical metaphysic), justice (the biblical ethic), and beauty (the biblical aesthetic) into all of life.” - Darrow Miller.

Embracing the Great Cultural Mandate, while being empowered by the Great Commandment will produce a Great Commission people that will see a radical spiritual awakening and reformation of His kingdom coming more fully and His will being done more freely – on earth as it is in Heaven!

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

“As the co-rulers with God, we are to bring His truth and His will to bear on every sphere of our world and our society. We are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors - in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.” - D. James Kennedy

God wants to redeem the fractured history of culture-making, through you the New Community, the former broken ones who have been called out of the mess and into the adventure of restoration. Imagine a world filled with redeemed artists, God-honoring scientists, principled lawyers, God-fearing construction workers, politicians who really serve the public, educators that explore God’s creative work, parents who love. It all starts in the New Community. The Adamic human race perverted and twisted the cosmos; the Christian human race restores and renews it! The people of God are to be co-partners with God in His kingdom, invading the brokenness and suffering of fallen creation, and calling people out to restoration.

Great cultures have risen and disintegrated, nations have come and gone, all awaiting God's intervention with the glorious gospel of Christ to bring them life.

Exercising the dominion mandate presses a person closer to God and makes them aware of their inadequacies apart from God. It develops character that is admired and authority that is respected (even if it simultaneously produces persecution). It provides a person with the means to share God’s abundance with others and to influence many to seek the key and author of this abundant life. From this fruitful obedience to the dominion mandate flows the Christian’s privilege of exercising the "great commission."

O Lord, raise up a generation of followers of King Jesus who get in alignment with your assignment as gospel of the kingdom men and women and see "the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14)

The current political climate is what someone called “the quick fix model for living,” which “accentuates speed, instant results, and appearance and packaging, culminating in the illusion of power and control.” There appears to be an underlying belief in the U.S. that one of these candidates can “fix” what is wrong with the country, as if societal and cultural change is a drive-thru menu where the right combination of items can result in total satisfaction. “A quick fix mentality is very much a part of American culture - weight loss companies make millions of dollars promising instant results, Cliffs Notes books dilute classical literature into bite-size chunks that can be nibbled casually, music is available for instant download, and new release movies can be purchased from the local “bootlegger” on the same day they are released. This “amoral free-market consumerism” (Schneider, 2008) offers “instant answers and pat resolutions” to the problems we are facing while the real problems remain unaddressed. As anyone who has ever succumbed to the temptation of a fad diet can attest, until the underlying issues causing weight gain are addressed, nothing will really change. The same can be said for the present political climate. “(from the blog: Politics and Existentialism: Quick Fix Politics and an Awe-Based Democracy, Lisa Vallejos)

One candidate promises boldly and assuredly that if reelected he will pick up where he left off in “making America great again.” Can one man, with the help of both House and Senate, and the Supreme court, make America great again? If he makes it to the ballot box in November, I will vote for him. Do I believe he can do some great things for us – far, far better than the current administration? Yes! Do I think the answer for our ills and issues can be solved from a top-down-big-government approach? No!

“Politics is the "quick fix" approach to cultural transformation. "The next presidential election will turn the tide. A change in the Supreme Court will bring our nation back to righteousness. If we could only get more conservatives elected to office." None of this will do it. Only a long-term effort to change all facets of society will bring about significant and lasting transformation. This means changing the hearts and minds of millions of people” (Gary DeMar).

Here’s the bottom line: Government is only as good as the people who create it. Family, church, and civil governments reflect self-government, whether good or bad. At the civil level, a nation gets what it votes for. Civil government, no matter how righteously conceived, cannot make people better. Leadership, like water, rises to its own level, the righteousness of the people. The maintenance of good government is dependent on good people, and good people are the product of a good heart which comes from the miracle of regeneration, which only comes from the hearing and believing the good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

William Penn, the English Quaker best known for founding the colony of Pennsylvania as a place for religious freedom in America, wrote, "Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it will, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn."

James Madison, architect of the US Constitution, fourth president of the US said, "We have staked the future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it ‑ we have staked the future of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the 10 Commandments of God."

Dennis Peacocke was correct when he stated, "If the laws of a society reject God's ultimate laws... all that society can produce is more criminals. The State that breaks God's laws will produce citizens who break their state's laws. Everything produces fruit after its own kind."   

The invitation of humanistic governments is "Let Big Brother be your shepherd. He will lead you beside new waters; he will prepare your table; he will care for you. Come dwell with him, his rod and staff will comfort you."

This is the cry of Americans everywhere. Take care of all our needs. Give us peace and prosperity at any cost. Pastor Joe Morecraft was right when he observed, "This political crisis in America is a religious crisis. As men change their faith, their politics, worldview and social order change. As America's faith becomes less and less Christian and more and more pagan, its politics, worldview and its social order become more and more dominated by paganistic superstition, magic, hedonism, and slavery.”

As a nation, we have moved from a “republic” to a “socialist democracy” which is “Communism-Lite.” We cannot seem to learn from history that socialism in any and every form is anti‑Christian. It is paganism that makes the State and idol. It elevates the State above God. Socialism is urged by people who have lost faith in God and in the power of their religion to motivate men, and who have resorted to government and the coercive power of the State as a substitute. Socialism seizes, divides, expends, and dissipates wealth. It always produces poverty. Few will work hard if they know they are going to be robbed of the fruits of their labor. On the other hand, those who receive something for nothing learn to depend upon it. The appeal of socialism is the promise of something for nothing.

We must understand clearly and without exception, that a nation will exhibit either self-government under God, or the State will be used of God to implement tyranny to avoid anarchy. On May 28th, 1849, Robert C. Winthrop (1809-1894), descendant of Governor John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, addressed the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Bible Society in Boston showing that there is no third way.

“All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled. either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the State supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is Religion which must the State.”

Our only hope is for the followers of King Jesus to repent of our selfish, sinful, escapists, isolationists lifestyles, and implore Him to invade our land with pervasive spiritual awakening and a radical reformation. The outcome of such intervention from Heaven is not so things will return to the old ways of business as usual, but so His Great Commandment and Great Commission will become the Main Thing and the spread of the fame of His name will begin to turn the nations to God.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord!