Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / April 9, 2023 | Easter - Raised to Life

Transcript

April 9, 2023 | Easter - Raised to Life · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Happy Easter, everybody.
• 0:01
  unknown: Happy Easter.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to have you here, Speak Bible Church, as we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of a big reader, and one of the things I like to read are books that are kind of like by leaders, CEOs, you know, sort of what is becoming this market for self-improvement books.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it's called.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: The market for self-improvement books is supposed to hit 14 billion by 2025, right?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And all of these books and all the people who are trying to help you squeeze the most out of life, they have comments, you know, quotes that are bred out of all of their success.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So here's one from Steve Jobs.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: There is no passion to be found in playing small and settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's Nelson Mandela.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: That was Oprah.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then the last one: don't settle for what life gives you, make life better and build something.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was Ashton Kutcher.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we have the founder of Apple, former president of South Africa, a billionaire talk show host, and the guy best known as Kelso from the 70s show, right?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And all these quotes, they sound really good, right?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they're the kind that you would expect to sort of put on some kind of like photo of a mountain, maybe a river with a real classy font at the bottom.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you'd put it up in your office or your room because these are the kind of things that we really love to feed on at times.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: This idea of, you know, sort of the rise and grind, the, you know, pick yourself up by your bootstraps, that the best thing in life is squeezing the most out of it that is absolutely possible, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's captivating because we are surrounded by people who focus on worldly success.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes it infects us in a way that we begin to say, the best thing that I can do with my life is find success or fame or meaning through all of these other pursuits.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: But what if what if our lives were far more than the success that we experience in this world?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: What if there was meaning given to every single one of your lives that was based not on how successful you are at climbing the corporate ladder or making the best sourdough bread and posting it on social media, but instead something that is based in trusting in Jesus Christ in his life.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to talk with you just a little bit today on about your life, about my life, and about the life of Christ.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I have another quote for you.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: This one is straight from the Bible.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Mark 8.36.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose their soul?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good question because, you know, the Bible has this running theme that goes throughout it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it says that we are living a life right now that is filled with meaning because it has been instilled within us by our Creator that we were made for a purpose and a relationship with Him.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: But also that this life is not the only life, that there's another life that is coming, and the setting of that next life is predicated upon what you put your faith in in this life.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: That the life that we have right now is not the only life to live, even though that is the one that we normally just think about.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But there is another life that is coming.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But the other thing that it does is when we forget this dual nature, this other life that is coming, eternity that is in our hands, we also then, when we focus so much on this life, we forget the fulfillment that can be found in Jesus Christ.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when we were discussing Good Friday, if you were at that service, we talked about how Jesus died on the cross and that his death, his willing death, was a fulfillment of about 1,400 years of something called Passover.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Passover began back when Israel was in Egypt and they were being rescued from slavery.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Every single year, I want you to remember this command that you are to sacrifice the blood of an innocent animal, and it is to be put over your household so that you may be set free and you would not bear the weight of your sin any longer.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus was with his disciples eating the Passover meal, and he says, I'm about to suffer, and ultimately they come to find out that he was the ultimate Passover sacrifice.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we see that Jesus gave up his life, and that doesn't really accord with how we view our lives right now.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why would somebody give up their innocent life if he was only living for this one?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus says later on, I am the good shepherd.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give you just a little bit of backstory, though, on that comment.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus said that about being the good shepherd.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: See, he was in Jerusalem at the time, and uh, he and the disciples, they were walking through the town, and they found a man who was begging for food and money outside the temple.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this man, he was blind, and he had been born blind, and he would continue to be a beggar because of his affliction.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody, especially the Pharisees that passed him by, day in and day out, they would say, This man is blind because of his sin.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's blind because of either his sin or the sin of his parents, and that is why he is blind, and so therefore they took no pity on him.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus comes along and he says, This man is not blind because of his sin.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: He is blind so that the Spirit of God and the truth of God might be revealed through his life.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he bends down, and he puts a little bit of mud in the man's eyes, and he heals him of his blindness.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, he made one mistake, though, according to others, is that he healed this man on the Sabbath.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a no-no in the culture.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: You're not supposed to heal somebody or do any sort of work on the Sabbath, and so the Pharisees, they bring in this guy.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: They bring in the man who was once blind, but now can see, and they begin to interrogate him and interrogate his parents as well.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, How is it that you were healed of your blindness?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: We know nobody can do this sort of thing.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he simply replies, he says, I was blind, but now I see.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: They don't get the answers they were looking for from him, and so they kick him out into the street.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So he's out in the street, and Jesus comes back.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Goes up to the man who is blind and can now see, and he begins to have a conversation with him.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Do you believe in the Son of God?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: The man answers him and he says, Yes.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus replies to him, he says, I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who are blind will see, and those who do see will become blind.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what you also have to understand is that when the Pharisees kicked this guy out onto the street, this man who can now see, there were others who began to gather around.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: There was a bit of a commotion as Jesus, the one who healed him, goes up.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a crowd here when Jesus makes this statement.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And those who are around begin to understand that he's not just talking about being physically blind, but that there's a much deeper meaning.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, they ask another very good question.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: We aren't blind too, are we?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: That was what the Pharisees asked to Jesus, and he replies, he says, If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: What is he talking about?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what Jesus says is that this world is missing the truth that is set right in front of them.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: This man who is blind, but now has put his trust in the Son of Man, in Jesus Christ, he is the one who can see.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But yet there are those who are not physically blind, but they are spiritually blind.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Blind as a bat.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: They are unable to see the truth that is right in front of their eyes.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: They are unable to see Jesus.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And therefore, those who are spiritually blind, they are the ones who reject Jesus.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the conversation that he has with them, right, they just missed the point.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: They thought they saw well what this life was about.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And ironically, they were the ones who were blinded.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it was the man who had been blind for all of his life who was able to see now clearly the truth of the gospel.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of people today who are blinded as well.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: They have a view of this life, just like all of those quotes beforehand, that everything about it is about squeezing the most out of it, being the most efficient, famous, self-indulgent, pleasure-seeking person possible, that because there's nothing coming afterwards, everything about this life is based upon our own interests.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a blindness that we must get over.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus was talking about when he brought up the Good Shepherd statement about his life.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Because if you think that this life is the only one that there is, my death on the cross is going to make no sense.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is going to be unfathomable because you think I am a fool for willingly laying down my life and being the good shepherd.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because, of course, nobody else would do that when they had such a life to live, certainly not if they were innocent.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus, still with this crowd around him, talks about being the good shepherd, with the man sitting at his feet who had been blind and could now see, and representing the faith of every person who comes to Jesus Christ.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: He continues on.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: He says, This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody around him goes, What?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: You have the right to lay your life down?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: What in the world?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: You have the right to lift your life up?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: This continued another theme in the Gospels, where those who were listening to Jesus talking about his death and his resurrection that were coming, they could not fathom what was about to happen.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: They would hear him talking about all of these things, and secretly the disciples, they would understand that their leader, their teacher, and eventually their Lord, as they trusted in him, he was going to do something magnificent.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: But even when the Passover meal came at the Last Supper, and he begins to tell them that he is going to suffer, they say, What do you mean you're going to suffer?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus says, I'm going to go to the cross, and I'm going to lay down my life for everybody.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am innocent, but I am the Passover Lamb, and I am going to sacrifice myself.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: They do not murder me.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I lay down my life willingly, and I have the power to raise it up again.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: See, it wasn't until Resurrection Sunday, it wasn't until Easter, when those who had been following Jesus, it began to dawn on them the truth of his statements.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: See, Mary Magdalene was the first to visit the tomb, and she saw the stone that had been rolled away, and she runs back because she thought his body was stolen.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so she goes and tells Peter and John, and they sprint to the tomb.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And they're so concerned.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: What if somebody had taken?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: They've been terrified, they've been in hiding, they didn't know what to do, their life was over.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And they run to the empty tomb.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Peter goes in first, then John follows him, and then John is the first one to believe because he does not see an empty burial tomb, but he sees the burial clothing of Jesus neatly folded and placed on the slab of stone.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus had lifted up his own life.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: He had the power to do it because he is God.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: But he didn't just do it for some kind of parlor trick.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't just trying to impress his friends with being able to raise himself up.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus had a very, very special reason for doing this, for going to the cross and for rising again.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: He continues on in this Good Shepherd message.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: When he says a thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: When he talks about the thief, he's talking about Satan.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the one who wants to keep people blinded.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the one who has blinded so many in this world into thinking that this is it, and that they must squeeze everything out of this life and must get as much pleasure and fulfillment out of this life by seeking their own interests.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And in reality, they're bringing about their own demise.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: I said earlier, there's two ways we think about life.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: On the one hand, we recognize the life that is to come.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: We recognize that there is hope for the future because God has shown us through the resurrection of Christ that death is defeated and we will be with him forever if we trust in him.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that alone is something to have faith and hope and trust in.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But there is also an aspect of this life that we are currently living where we can have fulfillment.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm saying.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: What if your life has meaning not based upon what other people think of you, but what God did for you and how you have trusted in him?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: What if that and the relationship that you can have with the Father now through the blood of Christ and the power of the Spirit is what defines meaning and fulfillment in your life?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: What if you knew joy and contentment and peace?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Things that the world is chasing after and everything that it loves to do, but ultimately will not find any place outside of the cross and the empty tomb.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is the ultimate gotcha.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the thief loves to do is he lifts up all of these things for us to chase after, thinking that we will be fulfilled with them.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in reality, they turn to dust in our hands, and they might sustain us for a day or a week or maybe a couple years, but ultimately they will fail you, and you will realize that your life was not spent well on chasing after worldly things.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to have the most fulfilling life possible.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the way to do that is by trusting in Jesus Christ.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: There was one thing that Steve Jobs said that he was right about, and it was that your life is limited.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have an endless amount of time to be able to clear away this blindness.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have an unlimited amount of time to make a decision for Christ.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, what Jesus did when he healed that blind man who could then see was he was also showing that he could heal us of our blindness as well, and that we might be those who can see the truth.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is what Jesus offers today, and that is what is shown in Resurrection Sunday.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing: your hope in Jesus is not just based on a story.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: It is based on the power of God to raise the Son of Man to life, because you are walking in the same steps that He is.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: No, you are not ultimately righteous and fully God and fully man, and you are not the Savior or the Messiah, but you bear the burdens that he bears, and you will be raised to life with him because of the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can have a newness of life and be set free from the slavery to sin through the power of God, certainly through nothing that we've done on our own.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Two things I want to leave you with.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: First, the resurrection of Jesus gives us a new life.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to make it super clear.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: When we talk about Good Friday, if I can distinguish for just a second, when we think about the cross, that is the sacrifice that Jesus paid for your sins and my sins, okay?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is the willing substitution so that he bears all of God's wrath that should be going towards us, so that you and I do not have to endure it, and that we will not face it in the future.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is what the cross does.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you will be forgiven of your sins.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: But if there is no empty tomb, there is no hope of a future life.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: If Jesus, his story ended at the cross, you would be saved of your sins, but you would have no hope of the future.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is what he does on Easter morning, it is what he does with the empty tomb that tells us that we can walk with him in this newness of life, that we can be set free, that we can both look to the future and find fulfillment now in our relationship with him.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is what is shown when he says, I can put down my life and I can raise it again.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: The resurrection of Jesus is what gives us new life.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Second and finally, though, Jesus Christ is the only way to find this new life.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, well, that's that's kind of a generic way to finish, right?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: The point is that Jesus Christ is the only pathway.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: That there are still going to be a whole lot of other places and people who hear about the message of Jesus.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're aware of it, but their eyes are still blinded because they do not want to accept what it means that they might need to trust in someone else to find success in this life.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is the only way to find this new life.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can chase after all these other things and waste your time, or you can believe in him and know that it is true.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can have the peace, you can have joy, you can have fulfillment.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Good Shepherd is the one who guards the gate.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the gate is open for those who believe in the Good Shepherd.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: In 1748, there was a man traveling from Africa to Liverpool.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was a slave trader, and he got caught in a very violent storm.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was an atheist as well, and he decides, as kind of a last-ditch effort before his boat is about to sink, that he is going to call out to God and ask for mercy.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: God apparently answers his prayer because the man makes it safely to Liverpool.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that began a transformation in his life.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: He began to read the Bible, study the scriptures, and understand that the God that had saved him from the storm could save him from much more than a storm.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: He could save him from a life of meaninglessness and a life without hope.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: The God that he began to follow is one that led him ultimately to become a priest, and then this former slave trader to pass the Slave Trade Act in 1807 banning and abolishing slavery in Britain.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: This man's name was John Newton, and in 1779 he wrote a song that goes, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: A man who was living an absolutely wretched life, recognized that he could be saved from that life by trusting in Christ and he could find a new life, a hopeful life, a fulfilling life in God's kingdom.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: All he had to do was recognize that he had been blind and that now he could see.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: In a moment here, I'm going to pray for us.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if you would like to make the decision and recognize that you have been blind, and now you can see, that you would accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and that you trust in the resurrection, pray this prayer with me, and then I would love to talk with you after the service.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let's bow our heads.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are good.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we thank you for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the life, the new life that can be found, Lord.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we're thankful that the Good Shepherd has opened the gate for the sheep, so that anybody who would believe in him who was blind might be able to see now.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray for anybody who is making that decision, that you would help them to be humble, to recognize that it is okay to say that they have been blind, but Lord, that you are the one who has opened their eyes.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Father, and how beautiful of a transformation that is.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: God, we also pray that you would help us for those who have trusted in Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: God, that we might remember the resurrection more often, that it impacts our life right now, along with the future.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you have saved us and you have redeemed us, and you have given us the ability to walk in newness with you because we follow after Jesus Christ.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it is in His resurrected name we pray.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.