The Apostles' Creed (Part 6) - He Descended to Hell, the Third Day He Rose Again From the Dead

hi I met Chandler here pastor of the village church just want to thank you for streaming this sermon on your device I I wanted to just before we get going here just lay before you a deep conviction we have that this video sermon that we've prayed really stirs up your affections for Jesus and shapes you and mold you into the image of the son would just be supplemental to your relationship with the Lord and in no way would replace the church you should be plugged into or the pastor that God has put over your life to Shepherd and care for your soul and so please enjoy the next hour or so of this message we have prayed that God would use it in a profound way in your life blessings I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended to hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended to heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen if you have your Bibles why don't you go ahead and grab those if you don't have a Bible it should be a black hardback one somewhere around you will be in Matthew 27 will read a good chunk of Matthew 27 into Matthew 28 in our time together again always want to get your eyes on the scriptures and not on anything I'm thinking in particular so this is week six of our 12 week series on the Apostles Creed so just as a quick refresher before we before we dive into the text is that the the first is that we're not preaching the Creed right we're preaching the Bible and the Creed just helps us with some things that shape us and and serve us and in four particular ways that we'll talk about here in a second but it but as of note what we want to do is look at what the Bible has to say and so a good way to think about this is that the Bible is the Sun it's got all the heat it's got all the power it's got all the weight and and the Creed's kind of like the moon it's a reflection of what is authoritative of what is true of the very word of God but it has no authority in and of itself all right if it doesn't line up with Scripture then it is false and so we're not really preaching the Creed we're preaching the Bible we're just using the Creed as a jumping-off point because we believe that by diving into the Creed it will help us as Christians create a better symmetry it'll make us think about aspects of the nature and character of God that maybe we're not prone to think of right away it'll also help with clarity it will help us recognize where we're thinking falsely about the triune God of the universe it'll help us understand the community that God has invited us into and lastly it'll help us counsel both ourselves and those around us and so that's why we've been in the Creed it's not magic reciting it doesn't make you a Christian we're not which is there's not incantations in the Christian faith but it is a good right thing to join in with a long line of Christians we are a historic people right this isn't an thing that's just started and so when we read the Creed when we say the Creed especially when we read it together publicly we're doing two things one we're rejecting kind of the popular stories of our day we're saying we don't agree with these popular narratives these ways that the world's trying to disciple us and shape us and mold us and instead we're putting all our chips over here we're saying we reject that and we believe earnestly this and so when we stand and read the Creed together here in a moment here's what we're doing every week I've tried to introduce a couple of isms to you that we're rejecting as Christians we're saying we don't believe that so the two isms for this week is we fundamentally reject as Christians post-modernism we do not believe the truth is relative and your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth we believe that there is a truth for all men everywhere across all time we believe that it's not narrow-minded it's true it's far more narrow-minded to think far more arrogant to think that you possess what's true for you surely in your own life with you you know you can't be trusted Ryan and we would also reject emotionalism we would reject the idea that our emotions tell us what is true right rather we would reject those things we said when I'm putting chips on that side of the table we'll push him all our chips over to this God of the Bible this triune God God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit three-in-one creator of the universe we believe that we put our hope in that so with that said would you stand with me as we read once again the Creed together not a Christian don't want to do that I'm fine you can stay seated you'll find this to be a very safe place for you so let's read I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended to hell third day he rose again from the dead he ascended to heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen and why don't you have a seat so last week we covered at length that he Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and we said those are the facts of the crucifixion of Christ but what we wanted to do is get underneath the facts to the truths that lay underneath them and we said those two truths there were a bunch of them we kind of distilled it down to two truths namely that the cross of Jesus Christ reconciles us to God and the cross and Jesus Christ creates a people a covenant people that is both universal and global and and worked out locally and so that's where we spent our time last week and now now we get into one of the more confusing aspects of the Creed this next phrase he descended to hell and on the third day he rose now this was when when we I started rolling out to our elders and staff hey I kind of want to preach the Apostles Creed and and and so they the way we work here is I'll throw it and they'll push on and okay why and what about this and what at the end of the kree what do you hope that our people know and understand and so there's a lot of robust dialogue that goes into what we end up preaching on the weekend so I'm like I want to do the Creed and this phrase descended into hell was added in like the fifth century and and wasn't even read a lot until six seventh century and even to this day there are large swaths of evangelicals that read the creek but leave out to send it into hell because we don't believe that actually went to the place of hell and and did that right the Bible certainly doesn't teach that and and so you've gotten this fair like why in the world would I include this race when when I didn't have to it certainly was true of kids village you came in and said please don't add the Senate you had the Senate and now that creates some real issues for us pastor so I reminded them of the big bucks they make and to figure it out right and so why why would we keep the phrase descended into hell okay well I'm glad you asked because I'm gonna preach on that a little bit today so so here's my outline for you type Ayers I want to solve this descended into hell and and why we would leave it in the reading of the Creed and then I want to do two truths on the resurrection namely that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a physical bodily resurrection and that that physical bodily resurrection is the objective evidence that all of our sin has been accounted for and forgiven in the death and resurrection of Christ so so that's the outline with that said let's dive in to Matthew 27 we're gonna start in verse 32 we'll read quite a bit of the Bible together today that's a good thing we're in church so let's get going Matthew 27 starting in verse 32 at this point we already covered last week Jesus has been savagely and brutally beaten they have pulled the beard out of his face they have punched him they have filleted his back rip the skin off of his back he would have been disfigured and bloodied to a place that so grotesque that it's hard to get the mind around broken and shattered and bloodied and spit and blood dripping off of his face unrecognizable to those who knew him and I'm sane and I said last we can all remind you again it is important for all of us not to turn our heads from the ravaged body of Jesus Christ it is important for us to not turn our eyes away from the suffering of Jesus Christ under Pontius Pilate in the brutality of the Cross we see God's seriousness about sin in the brutality of the Cross we see that there's no such thing as little sin and that all sin carries with it a seriousness of God in fact if you doubt the seriousness of God of sin you'll need only look to the cross and the reality of Hell and and you get how weighty how deplorable how rebellious all sentence before holy God and so we can't turn on so at this point Jesus is severely beaten all right almost unrecognizable bits of skin hanging off of and blood everywhere and we pick it up in verse 32 and as they went out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name and they compelled this man to carry jesus' cross and when they came to the place called Golgotha which means place of a skull they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall but when he tasted it he would not drink it and when they had crucified him they divided his garments among them by casting Lots then they sat down and kept watch over him there and over his head they put the charge against him which read this is Jesus the King of the Jews then two robbers were crucified with him one on his right and one on his left and those who passed by derided him or mocked him wagging their heads insane you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days save yourself if you're the Son of God come down from the cross so also the chief priests and the scribes and elders mocked him saying he saved others he cannot save himself he is the king of Israel let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him he trusts in God that God deliver him now if he desires him for he said I am the son of God and the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him and mocked him in this way from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour now I want to stop there keep your place in verse 46 we'll come back to it um one of the more compelling historical aspects to the crucifixion of Christ is around the time that Jesus has been crucified there was an anomaly on earth that is written about all over the world down into Africa over into Asia that during the time of a full moon there was a complete and utter eclipse in the middle of the day from non-biblical first century non-christian or historians there's there's this kind of moment of terror globally that we just had an eclipse when it's impossible having eclipses because we have a full moon and so that's outside the testimony of Scripture and and yet lines up a moment in human history that reveals that what we're reading here actually happened rooted in history look at verse 46 and about the ninth hour and all this darkness is there Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli Eli Lema sabachthani which is my God my God why have you forsaken me and some of the bystanders hearing it said this man is calling for Elijah and one of them at once ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink but the other said wait let us see whether Elijah will come to save him and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit in John's testimony of the crucifixion before yields of a spirit he says it is finished it is finished verse 51 and behold the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split and the tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after Jesus's resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many when the Centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place they were filled with awe and said truly this was the son of God there were also many women there looking on from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee now when it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who also was a disciple of Jesus he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus and then Pilate ordered that it should be given to him and Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb which he had cut in the rock and he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite of the tomb now after the sabbath towards the dawn of the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see and behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it his appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men but the angel said to the women do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified he is not here for he has risen as he has said come see the place where he lay and then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he is going before you into Galilee and there you will see him see I have told you so they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples and behold Jesus met them and said greetings and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him then jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brother's to go to Galilee and there they will see me so I want to start now coming out of this text and I think we see it in this text well what's going on in the phrase descended into hell and why we would keep it in the Creed as we read it what we know to be true in the scriptures is that on the cross of Christ Jesus is absorbing all of the sins of all of those who would believe upon the name of Jesus throughout history so he is on the cross absorbing God's wrath towards King David's adultery and murder and towards your sinfulness and towards your children sinfulness and towards your parents sinfulness all sin of all those who had believed upon the name of Jesus being absorbed by Christ on the cross so much so that the Scriptures use this kind of language that Jesus took on on the cross he took on all of our transgressions again across all time all peoples who would believe upon the name of Christ Jesus takes on those transgressions he dies according to our sins he himself bears or bears the weight of our sin and the Apostle Paul to the church at Galatians says he became a curse for us the the perfect one becomes the curse said one that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him so in some way by some means in the secrets of divine sovereignty and omnipotence and and I've grown more comfortable with mystery as I've gotten older I I don't think God's okay with confusion but he's okay with mystery all right and and somewhere in the Middle's we're in the midst of this divine sovereignty and divine omnipotence somehow for the first time in the history of the universe there's this separation between Jesus Christ God the Son and God the Father there's a type of turning the back of the father on the son so that for the first time ever in the only place in the scriptures we see Jesus not called Godfather is in this text when he says my God my God why have you forsaken me and the agony of separation from the father settles in to the the son and for the first time ever he feels what we're not supposed to feel separation from God and that's the hell that Christ experiences and when he says my God my God why are you forsaken me two things there having one he's pointing back to Psalm 22 where this phrase my God my God why have you forsaken me is listed in a song about a suffering king who listen to this hands or hands and feet are pierced whose side is pierced who is mocked and belittled while people gamble away his garments does that sound familiar it should because we just read it well except that one is written about in Psalm 22 and so on the cross Jesus still extending mercy earlier in the narrative we see him pray for those crucifying him forgetting them father for they know not what they do and now as he hangs on the cross being belittled and mocked by those he has come to save Jesus tries to waken them up from their hard heartedness by quoting the song it doesn't work of course I mean they immediately don't knowledge what he said so I think maybe he just called for Elijah what my God my God why have you forsaken him I think he just called for Elijah not the sharpest knives in the drawer which should make us feel hope for ourselves right and then they get a read and put sour wine now quick question just as we talked about the agony of Christ on the cross what would vinegary wine feel like in your busted up face what would it feel like to have your hands spread open to be naked in front of a mob that's mocking you as you seek to save them eternally and have vinegary wine wiped all over the open wounds all over your face he's trying to extend mercy in the midst of torture and for the first time in some divine mysterious way he feels separation from God listen to me everything good and perfect everything whether you're a Christian or not is a gift of common grace brought about by the presence of God hell is the absence of the presence of God to bless and is simply the presence of God to judge the the reason that's important is because this metaphorical descending into hell isn't that Jesus goes to an actual place of Hell but that Jesus experiences in this moment in a very mysterious way the presence of God to bless and he feels for the first time the presence of God to judge he senses and feels the reality of Hell and this is why we have an empathetic high priest that's what the book of Hebrews calls Jesus that he he knows what it's like to be us he suffers as we suffers he's experienced what we've experienced except he has not send in it and so this phrase to send it into hell I think it's important that we might feel the weight of our sinfulness brothers sisters it would have been our voices in that crowd mocking him don't in your imaginary wish you could go back in the day to be like guys listen stop that's not what you would have been doing I know in your man that's how awesome you are but that's not the way this would have played out it is our sin that held him there it is our rebellion that held him there we are not without guilt in this it was not just those who crucified Him who he is forgiven it is all of us that have been forgiven in this singular act and in that Christ metaphorically descends into hell now when it comes to the resurrection of Christ here the two things that I think have to get really into our hearts and guts so that we might I think thrive in in a real way the evidence of Jesus's resurrection is so the circumstantial evidence around the resurrection of Christ is so compelling that those who don't want to believe in it have been forced to create alternate stories to try to combat the fact that something clearly happened there historically easily the most popular theory is called the swoon theory that Jesus didn't actually die he just was so savagely wounded that when they checked his pulse by the way after they drove a spear up under his rib cage through his heat lungs and into his heart and pulled it back out that that he was so weak and so depleted of blood that they checked his pulse he didn't have a pulse they declared him dead and they wrapped him up and buried him and the reason that others saw him after his crucifixion is not because he died and came back from the grapes but rather that he didn't die and somehow crawled his way out of this tomb now people who would use that as an excuse not to look at the facts of the resurrection will point to legitimate real stories of human feats that boggle the mind I just blow the imagine like like people who have like crashed their plane in the middle of a jungle and broke both of their legs and lost a hand and yet for six months they just scooped themselves along with one forearm eating dirt and roots along the way only to come out emaciated and near death six months later only ultimately to be saved right they'll say hey see that happened so why couldn't Jesus you know have survived this beating just being say okay well here's why if we're just using kind of common sense the disciples are a gaggle of cowards they do nothing but run and hide when it hits the fan this is who they are Peter was so terrified to to be linked to Jesus that he's denying him in front of his face despite the fact that Jesus had just told him a few hours ago you're gonna do this he was like even if I must die I won't do it just like a few hours that I don't know the man right this is the disciples so let me ask a question the Apostle Peter is about to stand up in front of all Jerusalem and Herald the good news of Jesus Christ these twelve cowards are about to all be put to death in the most gruesome horrifically aníbal if tore up beat up slaughtered Jesus somehow figured a way out of this tomb and showed himself to the men busted all uh is that gonna instill confidence it's not gonna make the disciples go I'm in no wouldn't that drive you all the more away let's know now they become emboldened James the half-brother of Jesus becomes a Christian and a pastor and says that he thinks his brother was the son of God what do you gotta do to convince your family that you're God come back from the dead so you got to do be dead for three days come back the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a bodily physical resurrection he died he went in the ground and he came back and what we see it's pretty in John chapter 20 we see him eating fish he's having a meal the resurrected Jesus having me a bodily physically having a meal they're eating fish that the Bible says in John that he had scars that you could touch his scar so he can be touch we've even read that the women touched his we he had feet Jesus had feet how simple and awesome is that the Bible says that in acts one it is his physical body that ascends and in first thessalonians it is his physical body that returns don't let fantasy take from you the physicality of Jesus Christ he is alive he was alive he is alive he'll be alot in a resurrected body that does not perish does not get weak cannot die he physically rose from the grave now let me tell you why I think this is so huge one I think we have a tendency to divorce physicality from our faith we have a tendency to make everything ethereal and spiritual and more in the realm of idea and less in the idea of presence that that the problem that that's compounded that stuff is compounded with the reality do we live in an extremely voyeuristic society what I mean by that is we have a tendency to watch people from afar to talk about people from afar and not ever know them so they become less than what they actually are are you tracking with me on that so the the reason our culture is so apt at tearing other people down building them up only to burn them to the ground is because we don't recognize that they're real human people we don't recognize that they've been made in the image of God they're there as a commodity right People magazine Us Weekly Facebook's talking all of that but it always makes me nervous that you chuckle at Facebook stalking I'm guessing there's a lot more of that going on than I think so so ultimately what ends up happening is people become a commodity to be used somebody to entertain you but they don't really have a soul they don't really have that they don't really matter they're just there for your good pleasure and I think because we live in this type of society and because we have a tendency to make spiritual things kind of ethereal we miss out in the reality that Jesus is alive physically right now so I'm not traveling much anymore that that's been on purpose and so that's afforded me some opportunities and so getting to coach my son's flag football team which has been a lot of fun for me I mean we're - no but I want to talk about and man I've had a blast just you know helping coach the team and I don't not the coach I just get to help and and so on Friday Tony Romo came out to the boys practice arm in a sling and it was look man it was awesome and so Tony came out and and here's what happened I it was I don't know who was more geeked out about it the the boys or the parents but this man who we see on TV who we talked good and bad about right who's an idea if we're honest like we kind of know he's a guy but really you know he's just kind of the quarterback of the Dallas cover we're not hanging out whether we're not he's just he's like this idea so when he plays well we talked about it plays well when he plays poorly we talked about how he should have saw this and what we would have done and then when I was in high school you can easily read the safety what was he thinking rights is so ignorant right and and so like he's an idea but he's not really a person and then all of a sudden in the middle of a group of fourth grade boys there he was they ain't goofed around with him and he played with him and he confused him started talking about running cover for 2d Ryan there's like fourth grade boys you know and and I got to and this sounds to me like they got to touch him and and he just was he was just there and I want you to hear me say this to you we are 40 minutes closer to Jesus just being there and we'll be able to touch him and he'll be able to touch us not ethereal not some ghostly spiritual reality of bodily physical resurrection that jesus is alive physically bodily right now it was this physical body that ascended it wasn't he's not an x-man in sprout wings right he's not an angel that's not what he is his physical body ascended his physical body will return Jesus Christ second person of the Trinity God in the flesh and so since the resurrection of Christ was physical and body bodily what that means for those of us who are in Christ is that our confidence that all of our sin has been paid for our debt has been paid in full is sound if Jesus is still dead than our confidence in his perfection in his righteousness and His Holiness imputed to us must be radically shaken because if the the cost of sin is death and death has not been defeated then we've got some questions about whether or not our bills been paid in full maybe he just paid it half off he couldn't paid it all off because he's still debts but because Christ is not dead because the resurrection did occur our confidence is that all of our sins been forgiven all of it because all of our sin was future since when Christ died on the cross he knew it and he dots and he resurrected which means it's been taken care of the bills been paid in full it means I don't owe you don't owe sin has been taken care of forever and what that means is that as people who have had our debt paid for we are both risen and we will rise we are both risen and we will rise here's what I mean by that and Ephesians chapter 2 starting in verse 1 here's what the Bible says I'll put it on the screen for you and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience verse 3 should always make us a people who walk in great humility among whom we what's the word all so you look that up in the Greek and it means everyone it means all that's why they translated it like that right among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by our nature our birth children of Wrath like the rest of mankind and then two of the most beautiful words ever written but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places that's next week's sermon so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus so we experience as Christians a spiritual resurrection that we are dead in our trespasses and sins and we are made alive in the resurrection of Christ so we were dead and now we're not and that means we are no longer slaves to sin that's amazing news that I don't have to sin anymore now am I going to you should say yes faster than that is he yes probably by the end of this sermon right so I don't have been set free into the sweetness of conviction right like conviction is a good thing you know guilt is not shame is not a good thing conviction is a sweet thing it's a wooing force that draws us in to the life as God designed it to be lived look don't avoid conviction you know I'm talking about if you follow the Lord for a while let me unpack it for you you know you're not doing really well you've got some secrets you've stumbled in some areas you don't really want anybody to know that but you definitely know want to put yourself in spaces where you might be confronted with your sin because you're kind of enjoying it for a little bit and so you kind of avoid those who are really serious about Christ you kind of avoid the gather you stop coming to church for a while and you'll get better you know once you start living a little bit better than you're kind of re-enter that fundamentally shows you don't understand the gospel we moved towards him in our screw-ups that's the gospel right we don't avoid conviction it's a sweet gift of Jesus in the Holy Spirit to woo us to pull us to move us towards righteousness so we have the power to say no to sin in a way we did not have before we were spiritually resurrected those dead in trespasses don't know they're dead because they're dead but when you've been made alive you can smell the decay of sin and turn from it you can't do that when you're not a Christian not only though we have a spiritual resurrection that's possible now is reality for those who are in Christ now and as an invitation to all who would come to Jesus Christ but then on top of that there'll be a physical resurrection from the dead looking I'll just put it on the screen first Corinthians 15 starting on verse 42 again we'll read quite a bit of this so it is with the resurrection of the Dead what is sown is perishable what is raised is imperishable it is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body and it is raised a spiritual body notice he did not say raised a spirit we're not raised as ghosts raised a spiritual body a new kind of body thus it is written the first man Adam became a living being the last Adam became a life-giving spirit but is not the spiritual that is first but the natural and then the spiritual in all this conversation of the spiritual don't divorce the spiritual from the physical he's talking about a physical spiritual resurrected body one that can be touched one that moves and has a nose it has ears hopefully not like this but it has physical traits right verse 47 the first man was from the earth a man of dust the second man that's be Jesus is from heaven as was the man of dust so also are those who are of the dust that's you and me and as is the man of heaven so also are those who are of heaven that's all who are believers in Christ just as we have board the the man of dust we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven I tell you this brothers flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable behold I tell you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we all shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed for this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality and when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory Oh death where is your victory Oh death where is your sting my hope is not just for today being resurrected spiritually my hope is also in ten thousand years from now when I will rule and reign alongside of Christ in an imperishable body the Bible is being very honest about your physical future right this thing that we've got on has not been built for eternity its perishing but like I'm 41 I know like I've already started the descent I will never be any more athletic I will never be any faster I will never be much stronger than I am right now I'm not even cruising altitude at 41 I think 27 is when you start the cruise announcer everything just from here is just a bit of a descent some of us already are learning this right it might it's dangerous to sleep like I could get hurt I could tweak my neck I could throw out my back you can I can't I I can't sleep eight hours that's dangerous I could need a doctor if I sleep eight I got six and get up or the back just collapses on itself it didn't happen to me when I was a kid like this is perishing we can feel it even now perishing it's dying gravity wins be a good steward of your physical body but when all said and done it will betray you it will fall apart it is gonna get sick it is gonna grow weaker it is gonna not do what you want it to do its perishing and when it perishes it will be sown it will go into the ground with dishonor nobody dies pretty right death is an ugly ugly thing the first thing you lose in this process is your dignity but it's not how we'll be raised see this is perishable but what I'll be resurrected with is imperishable I'll be sown in dishonor but I'll be raised in honor I'll die in weakness because what is death but ultimate weakness but I'll be raised in strength um Agustin who is the Bishop of Hippo northern Africa he said in his book a city of God which talks a lot about the the consummation of all things that that all the bodily processes that exist now to defend and protect and filter and and keep us alive will no longer need to do that in the resurrected body but rather will contribute to the praise of Jesus so the liver won't need to filter our blood in the resurrected body so it joins in its energy its vitality goes into praising God the skin no longer needs to block disease right we don't the systems that are meant to protect us no longer need to protect us so they join in with greater vitality in the worship of Jesus Christ the physical bodily resurrection of the Saints is a reality so we hope for today but we also hope for tomorrow now if we take this and plug it into the grid that we've said the apostle creed helps us with if we take this idea we look at okay what does this do for symmetry if we're looking at being well-rounded Christians well well let me talk a little bit about seven some of you need to really meditate think receive and wrestle through the idea that you have been risen and that you don't need to be a slave to send so if you're struggling if you're walking in secrets if if you've got real issues that seem insurmountable the spiritual resurrection that you've experienced being sealed by the Holy Spirit of God invites you into the freedom that's reserved for the children of God but to enjoy that friends you must get over your pride and feeling like you've got to look like something you're not that you might take advantage of the ongoing ethics of the children of God confession and repentance that you might get help and ask for help where you need it see it's a strange thing that you have this guarantee of victory over sin and death in your life that you've been pulled away from the stench of death and been put into the aroma of life and yet so many of us will neglect that for pride and just run back to that stench of death and to give ourselves back over to slavery when we've got the power inside of us not to do that because of the Holy Spirit it's our pride that makes us want to pretend to be more than we are it's a terrible thing that so many Christians bow down at this week faulty altar of wanting to look like they're farther alike their godly look like they're enjoying Jesus look like they get it and they're rejoicing and dancing and the pleasure of God Almighty if that's not where you are that's okay just don't pretend that you're there I don't want to bring everybody down no no you won't bring everybody don't you'll help yourself come up see how can the saints serve you how can they encourage you how can they speak life into you if you're pretending that you need none of that and and in you're pretending I'm guessing at some level you've justified yourself to yourself nobody lies to you as effectively as you do no one no one's as good at lying to you as you I mean you should even give yourself props I mean you're awesome at lying to yourself I'll give you that you know I'm sorry you're not awesome listen you're awesome at lying to yourself so to step out from under that weight and to say gosh I'm in trouble here I'm really Restless in and it's gross and it's embarrassing but I need help I can't beat it on my own someone help me you're risen you don't have to give yourself to it the second thing maybe that's not it but on symmetry maybe you need to get your eyes towards the the reality that we will will be raised I'm trying to introduce was why I'm saying a lot I'm trying to introduce some language into the life of our fellowship around the idea of considering things 10,000 years from now so quick poll and we're running out of time but how many of you look back on things that seem like such a big deal ago a decade ago are now kind of embarrassed that you thought there were huge deals okay is that universal look around no keep your hands up don't mean be quick about okay all right so yeah I don't know if you're doing in a plane or float so that's quite a bit of us here in flow mo right but but here's if a decade later we're looking back on that and going gosh I sure was silly what's it gonna seem like 10,000 years from now because 10,000 years from now I'm gonna be in my imperishable body golden six-pack abs I've just made that up I don't know if that's what it'll look like at all I hope not I don't even I think that's kind of gross but the ultimately the I'll have this imperishable body I'll be ruling and reigning alongside of Christ forever and glad worship of him and serving with him and I'm I just believe that if I can remember that that the very true real difficulties of today will lose some other punch and maybe what you need to consider is not that you have been raised but that there will be a day where you are actually physically resurrected in 10,000 years from now the troubles of today will not seem as weighty and overwhelming as they do now when we talk about clarity I'm just it's funny that this this piece of clarity continues to be said week in and week out if Christ has raised from the dead your sins are forgiven doesn't matter what they are so quick questions not a trick how many of your sins were future sins when Christ out on the cross all of them 100% and and yet Christ freely went to the cross so that's why take Christ knew what he was buying on the cross you just haven't surprised him he's not wanting a mulligan he knew was there before he ever went to the cross so you're kind of self-hate has no basis to think oh there's just no way I can be a part of this people there's no way that Christ could love me I get this I want this there's no way this could be true and I'm trying to lean into you and say he already knew and he went you got to stop this beating up of yourself it's been paid for you don't owe anything the altars closed you've got no sacrifice to lay down nothing because it's been paid for it's been paid for that's the clarity that so many of us need and then on council I became a Christian right before my 18th birthday via the testimony of a friend who brought me to a historic kind of First Baptist Church and the First Baptist Church I went to is probably like most First Baptist churches if you've been to one they have a specific liturgy a flow of the service and so we would sing hymns and so you would pick up the hymnal and a guy would tell you what page to turn to we certainly wouldn't what my grandma calls Wall sing and we were doing this wall singing right you would get a hymnal and she would give you you know the guy would give you a page number why don't you turn to page 287 we're gonna do verses one and three and and then we would sing and then there would be a special and so would be one of the better singers in the church and they would come out with a mic and they'd be like this songs really been ministering to me and it's been special to me I hope it's special to you and when they put their second hand on the mic that was cue for the sound got to start the track and then the track would start and then they would sing the song and then they would pass the offertory plates while that song was being sung they would be done and the preacher would come up to preach right that was kind of the liturgy and and there was a hymn that we used to sing all the time I was like it was the one that you know like radio today it's like the same seven songs all on repeat well it was like that there too and and one of my favorites that I really miss was the him because he lives right because he lives I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because I know oh oh he holds the future life is worth the living just because he lives like I loved that song and so our Council to ourselves is is right along but with that course and if you hear it in Flour man we're gonna get to sing that together here in a minute sorry all the campuses I don't think so but but but we're gonna get to sing it here in just a moment in in this how we counsel ourselves this because Christ is alive I can face tomorrow now I don't know what your tomorrow looks like I don't know what's looming on the horizon for you but because Jesus is a lot our fear about what's on that horizon should should dissipate why because he has us he's alive we have no enemy death is dead sin is vanquished we've won the beach has been secured it's over now except hold him fast him until it's consummated and since we know he holds our future there's a rest of peace this is how we counsel ourselves is that we talked to ourselves this is how we preach to ourselves in Revelation chapter 3 the physically resurrected Jesus in his body not in some sort of ethereal spiritual form says this to John and Patmos behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and eat with him and he with me the resurrected body lead Jesus continues to extend the invitation open the door and I'll come in not with a list of things you need to get better at open the door and I'll come in not with a critique of how you've lived life so far open the door and and I'll come in not with you should have and you shouldn't but I'll come in and dine with you I'll come down and sit and eat and so I believe that you being here today has put you in the way of that knocking so you've heard the truth of the gospel today you've heard that Christ has died for your sins and that you effort that in his resurrection all of your sins can be forgiven you have heard that there is no sin with more power than the cross of Christ you have heard that Christ has come into the world for this purpose to save sinners and we see even in Revelation 3 not the god of judgment but the God of mercy extending to you an opportunity to sit down where your soul was created to sit not outside of fellowship but inside a fellowship wouldn't would be a sweet thing to surrender to that knocking and just open the door to leave not as dead men and women but alive surely your heart wants that to understand that you're no longer a slave to sin but you've been set free to rejoice and to in the pleasure of our gun that's how our ultimately our community has been shaped right our clarity is forgiveness of our community is shaped by this we are loved and forgiven by gods we live powerfully in the present with our hope on the glory of the future like we know that God loves us that he is for us that he delights in us and that sets us free to play and to run and to work and to love and to serve under the banner of God's pleasure in us like think of if you've ever seen children whose daddies to love them and dote on them and delight in them men they love life I mean they rejoice in it they're climbing trees and throwing balls and excited and they their well shaped and well formed this is the people of God working plane serving under the banner of the delight of their God he stands at the door and knocks gosh weren't you tired enough yet it doesn't have to be the way it is unbeliever you have not out send His grace Christian he's making us more and more and more like Jesus don't fear the ongoing ethics of the Christian walk of confession of repentance of honesty even the embarrassing kind of honesty because we're not as far along as we hoped we would be he stands at the door and knocks physically bodily and if anyone would hear and open he would come in and dine with them and them with him let's pray father thank you for the opportunity today to again consider who you are what you've done how you redeem and rescue and ransom us how you heal and shape and mold us and so I pray for my brothers and sisters this morning who have not walking in the resurrection power that you've put in their hearts I I pray for a willingness to let go of pride and a glad-hearted pursuit of holiness and I pray for those who have come in may be skeptical not believers just pray that as the Word of God has gone out your word has gone out that you would do the work of illumination Holy Spirit that you've helped them see and understand what the death and resurrection of a guy 2,000 years ago has to do with them and father for the first time but they might have eyes to see help us we need you it's for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 30,385

Rating: 4.7966104 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, The Apostles' Creed, Apostles' Creed

Id: DLehr7DOl5c

Length: 54min 55sec (3295 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 29 2015