…To Fall in Love with Jesus

Kairo Easter Sunday, 2010

Intro- Loving the Wrong Thing
I was talking to a friend recently, and he was telling me about this girl that he dated a few years back, and he was madly in love with her.
He said he hasn’t dated since her, and this was years ago, because it’s had such an impact on him.
He loved her so much, that he told me of a time when a guy offended her, and so he waited for the guy to get out of the school he went to. He brought him to an alley and beat him down.
I was like, “Wow.” I wondered what it was about her that he loved so much.
The only thing he told me about her was that she was SOOOOO pretty.
And I’m like, “really?”
This girl had such a deep impact on you, and you were in love… because she was pretty?
What about her? The fact that she was pretty wasn’t a bad thing. But what about her?
Today is Easter, and we’re gonna talk about the Hope of the Resurrection.
My prayer is that we don’t miss it. That with all the good things that the Resurrection gives us, that we don’t miss the real hope of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Hope of Justification: I can Forget about the Past
Justification: It’s a legal term that means to be called out by the judge as innocent. Meaning you are guilt free.
Paul says in Romans 4:25, that Jesus “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification”.
This just blows my mind when you think about it.
EX: Imagine you’re on trial before a judge.
It might strike closer to home if you’ve ever gotten a speeding ticket, and you’re kicking yourself because you now have to pay hundreds of dollars just because you decided to go 10 mph faster than you should have, or you rolled 2 seconds through that stop sign instead of just waiting 3 seconds.
I remember we were at San Onofre, and a cop pulled me over for not one, but 2 violations. For going 35 in a 25, and for not signaling! Close to $400. I wanted to kick him!
I was so upset…and I remembered as I was trying to fight the tickets and appeal to the judge. I knew in my heart, that I had broken the law. But I thought, perhaps, maybe by chance, the judge will be merciful.
The judge, looked at my case, and he declared me guilty! I deserved it!
BUT, if the judge had for some reason declared me innocent, even though I know I broke the law, it goes down legally and on record that I’m innocent.
There is no record against me forever. Once the judge makes the call, it’ll never be held against me again. I’m free to go.
That’s the picture of Justification.
My sinfulness is declared “not-guilty”, and it will never be held against me in the future.
But the scope is so much greater with Christ. God doesn’t just declare you innocent for one particular sin, justification means that he declares you completely righteous.
When he sees you, he’s sees His Son Christ. Blameless.
Ps 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Some of us are living in the guilt of a sin, or a mistake, or a regret from the past.
But according Rom. 4:25, the hope of the Resurrection is that we have been justified!
We can FORGET about the PAST. There is no record against you.
EX: A man from England bought a Rolls Royce, and he shipped it across the continent to drive throughout different parts of Europe. While driving, his engine has problems, and Rolls-Royce don’t have mechanics for their special cars all over the place. So the guy calls RR, they fly a mechanic to where he is, he repairs it, and then flies back. When he returns home, he contacts them and asks, how much is the bill going to cost me? RR Told him, “Sir, there is no record anywhere that anything was wrong with a Rolls Royce.”
That is a picture of Justification. You can forget the past!
God has gladly let you go, and there is no record of it against you.
You are cleared by the blood of Christ.
And this all on the basis that Christ rose from the dead for you. He was raised for our justification.

I think it’s quite common for people to emphasize that Jesus died for us, but just dying for us doesn’t do it.
It’s true that it required the death and the blood of a perfectly righteous man to sufficiently pay for the penalty of my sin.
But if Jesus just died, and remains in the grave, then the work is not finished. All we have is a man who claimed to die for my sin, but all I know is….I’m STILL going to die.
Where is my guarantee that I will have life in Heaven for eternity with God?
But the resurrection of Jesus testifies to the power of God to overcome the grip of death.
If God can create life out of nothing and give life to the dead, then he also has the power to make the dead alive.
Jesus’ resurrection gives us proof that when we place our faith in Christ, we are indeed covered by his death, and also that we will be raised back to life just like Christ was.
EX: Have you noticed that when they advertise exercise programs, or commercials, or ads, they also have the sexiest, most ripped, models as the instructors or salesperson? Why, otherwise you wouldn’t believe in it! Could you imagine if Billy Blanks was obese? Would you do Tae Bo?
NO, there’s no credibility!
If Christ did not resurrect, then we have no reason to believe that we will too! Not spiritually, not physically.
To believe in God is to believe in the resurrection.
And when we believe in that, we are justified by our faith.
Our sins are removed, the record is cleared, we have new life, and we can forget about the past.

The Hope of Sanctification: I can Face the Present
Sanctification: it means to be made holy. The process of being made more like Christ.
Rom. 6:4 “…Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
We were united with Christ in his death… meaning that when he died for our sins, a part of us died with him. By our faith, our old self has died along with Christ. It’s done away with.
But just has Christ rose up to new life, we also are united with him in this resurrection and this new life!
And this passage isn’t talking about some future event.. the emphasis is now. It’s immediate.
Basically, no longer do we need to be slaves to sin. Sin no longer has mastery over us.
Question: What do you struggle with right now? What is the hardest thing for you to overcome?
And as difficult as it seems, the resurrection of Christ means that we have a new life, and it doesn’t belong to sin.
Have you experienced the resurrection power in the present?
I have hope, because I think I know what that looks like.
EX: Me and Monica’s struggle with temptation.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Eph 1:19-20 “I pray that you would know… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Because Christ rose, we can face today.
That power that God exerted to raise Christ from the dead, is at work in us today!
I love that! We have supernatural power at work in us. The Resurrection power of God.
And he can work in us to make us holy and more and more like our savior.

But so often we get discouraged, and we think, “I can’t do it. It’s hopeless.”
Guys, do you believe that God’s power works through us and can raise us up to new life? That there is nothing too powerful at work in you that can overcome the Resurrection power of God?
You who believe, have already done the difficult part of believing!!
You believe that a man died for you, was put into a grave, for three days, the time to start rotting and stinking.
And then, by the power of God, you believe that God raised him up from the dead and seated him at the right hand of God.
Do you think there’s anything now too small for him to do? Is there anything in our life that the power of God is to weak to handle?
EX: That’s silly. Jeff just ran the marathon a couple weeks ago. 26.2 miles! Can you imagine, if this past week, I say, “Jeff, can you run to the kitchen and get me a cookie?” And Jeff says, “I can’t, it’s much too difficult!”
What? You can’t run to the kitchen? BRO, you just ran a 26.2 marathon. You can’t run to the kitchen?
It would make no sense! It’s silly.
And yet we put our faith in the fact that God raised Christ from the dead to save men from their sin, yesterday, today forever, and dealt with it for eternity,
And yet “this is too difficult. This one’s too hard.”
Guys, I think God is able, to raise us up, not just in the future, but now in the present.
And I think that if we would intentionally praise and remember the resurrection, we will be reminded that we can call on God to work that same power in our life and in our struggle for holiness.
I’ve experienced some victories in my life, and I don’t’ want to say too much, but I’ve been experiencing one as I speak.
The Resurrection power of Christ, gives us the hope of sanctification. The hope to face the Present.

The Hope of Glorification: I can look Forward to the Future
Glorification: It means to be perfected. This process of sanctification will come to an end.
Not just are you justified, and your sins are dealt with. Not just are you sanctified, and made holy.
1 Cor 15:20 “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”
This chapter is dedicated to describing what our resurrection is going to look like.
Christ’s resurrected body shows us what our resurrected bodies will be like, according to Paul’s analogy of the firstfruit.
In agriculture, it was the first of the crop that was picked up and offered. But the rest was to follow.
If Christ was the firstfruit, and he was raised from the dead to a new beautified and glorified body, we know that we too will be raised up on the last day.
Not just a soul that’ll rise up into heaven, but a new, glorified body like Christ’s.
We can look forward to eternity, our home in heaven.
EX: Paul, 2 Cor 11, Paul talks about his suffering. In Ch. 12, he talks about what he’s seen.
Paul says I don’t care what they do to me, because I’ve seen it, and I’m not letting it go!
Paradise, the Bible explains it to be. Not some far off, abstract place, way out there.
But a very real place, where creation will be made new and glorified, the way God intended it. And we will be there in the fullness of ourselves, in a way we cannot imagine.
No hurt, no tears, no pain. No sin, no guilt, no shame.
In the garden of Eden, there were two trees. The tree of life, and the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve had a choice, to live or to die. They choice death.
But in the Paradise of God, John describes that there will be two trees. The tree of life, and the tree of life. There is not option for sin or death!
This will be the future we can look forward to, the glorification of all believers, living in a glorified creation. The one where God created, and says, It is Good!

The Hope of Jesus’ resurrection is that we will be Justified, and we can forget about the past
We will be sanctified, and we can face the present.
We will be glorified, and we can look forward to a future of eternal bliss.
All across the world today, preachers are preaching about this hope: That we get to enjoy heaven, and we get to live in eternity, in happiness, and bliss, and on and on.
But I don’t want us to miss the point. I don’t want to misplace our hope and our love and affection.
EX: My friend I told you about fell in love with a girl, but it seems liked everything, but the person.

In my opinion, the greatest thing about the hope that we have is that when we are in glorified in a glorified paradise, JESUS IS THERE, and we will see him face to face, and we will be with him.
And Jesus is there because he is risen.
The greatest hope of the Resurrection is that we can have Jesus, because of the very fact that he is Risen.
He’s not dead. And because he lives, I know he’ll be there.

Is my life strictly about me, and what’s in it for me? Is my salvation all about what’s in it for me?
It is in my best interest, and it is good for me. But the heart of it is Jesus, and knowing Jesus!
EX: John Piper asked a question that really sobers me up and puts me in check.
What if you died, and you went to heaven. And you could have the most spectacular sunsets you’ve ever seen. All the toys you can want, All the ice cream you could possible eat, all the best friends in the world, no tears of sadness, but perhaps tears of extreme joy and happiness and tears of sheer exhilaration
Would you want to be there, if Jesus weren’t there?
And the scary thing is that, quite honestly, if we are totally honest with ourselves, many of us would actually say “Yeah, I think I’d be just fine. I’ll take it.”
Have we made the gospel all about ourselves and what I can get out of it and what it can do for me?
And have we made Easter and the hope of the resurrection just about me?
Guys, the Gospel is so much more than just believing that Jesus died and rose again.
The Gospel is JESUS. Jesus is the Gospel. Or as Piper states it. God is the Gospel
That fact that we can have God, we can have Jesus.
It’s fully embraicing Jesus, the person. And if we have the ability to want God, to want Jesus, then we believe everything he says and we’ll do anything he asks in order to be with him.
And he says, believe that I will rise in three days. I will die and resurrect, so that you can have God.
The GOSPEL IS JESUS. JESUS IS THE GOSPEL.

Church, do we want Jesus more than anything in this world?
Do you want the person?
EX: Monica asks me quite a bit in our relationship, that question that girls want to know: “What do you like about me? Why do you love me? Why did you choose me?”
And I know she’s asking because she wants to be affirmed, but I always give her an answer that has never satisfies her. I know that she’s looking for something like “You’re the most beautiful girl in the world”, or “You’re intelligent and I love your character”.
But my answer is always, “You.” I like you because of YOU.
I wish I could give her an answer she wants to hear, but it’s the most sincere answer I can give.
It’s not about your looks, or your wit, or your kindness, nor is it really about your godliness.
I love you because of You. Cuz all these things are things that I like and make me feel good, and all these things might not even be there… but what I’ve come to love is You. The person of You.
EX: Paul – Paul had the SAME KIND OF AFFETION in regards to his religion.
In Phil 3, Paul is at the top of his game. Religiously, he’s achieved all there was to achieve.
In BBall, Think about Lebron James, at the top of his Game.
In making Money. Bill Gates, top of his game.
In Figure Skating. Kim Yu Na. top of her game
In Paul’s day, in religion, Paul was at the top of his game.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day,
of the people of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews;
in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
as for zeal, persecuting the church;
as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But check out what he says, regarding all these religious things.
He says, “I consider them CRAP.” Excuse my language, but I’m being true to the text.
(8) … I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
All that I have achieved religiously, I consider it crap so that I can know the Savior.

Is that Good News to you? That we can have him, that we can have God, is that Good News to you?
EX: I started a blog two years ago, this time. It’s called “To fall in love with Jesus.” In fact, it was while I was preparing for the Easter sermon in 2008 that I began the blog. My very first entry talks about how I was struggling because I didn’t know how to preach the Easter message: what approach to take? who to target it towards? Should I preach the Gospel? Should I prove the Resurrection?
But as I prayed over the sermon, I wrote about how God convicted me how to preach that morning.
… TO HELP PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE WITH JESUS.
Isn’t that what it’s all about? Falling in love with the Person who died for our sins, and who conquered death for us because he rose again, SO THAT I can be Justified/Sanctified/Glorified.
It’s falling in love with JESUS.
As great as all this is: The relief of my guilt, being made a better person, getting to enjoy perfect paradise, in sinless perfection.
The greatest part of all of this is that we Get to know the Savior. We get to be with Jesus. We get God.
Let us not miss this: The Hope of the Resurrection is He is Risen.
And Because He is Risen, He will be there.
And Because He is Risen, I will be there. And you who believe will be there.
And we will be with him, and we will enjoy him and enjoy him, forever and ever. Amen.