There Is Laid up for Me a Crown // David Asscherick

hello everyone pastor david ashrick here this is part two of our three-part series titled life and death and i want to give a special shout out to those of you that are tuning in from either atlanta georgia or eugene oregon but wherever you're tuning in from especially if you're sitting like in a home or in a church in a small group we're so glad you're here wherever you're tuning in from however many of you there are welcome to storyline and we are in a series where we're talking about life and death and the first time that we were together we spent quite a bit of time talking about death and the loneliness of death the sadness of death the darkness and despondency of death and i did speak a little more than normal actually fairly autobiographically about my own experience with death and how as a young child i would hear certain songs songs from gordon lightfoot or james taylor or the rock group kansas that just brought me face to face even as a face to face even as a young child with the idea of my own mortality i just had a sense that death was a thing and it was big and it was scary and that it was coming and so we we did get a little bit we brushed up against the good news in our first presentation but we are going to be fully immersed in the good news in this presentation so our series is life and death and our second part is titled there is laid up for me a crown there is laid up for me a crown we're going to start with prayer and then we'll be right off to the races so let's pray father in heaven great to be here with the storyline crew and i want to pray that you will give a similar amount of of clarity and and uh biblical clarity as to how we can relate to death and to to the resurrection and the promise of the resurrection that we can see death not just not as the end but as an end as a pause not as a stop and father my hope and my prayer here is that there will be a really strong appreciation an emotional biblical intellectual appreciation for the hope of the gospel the promise of the gospel the content of the gospel the good news of jesus christ and so father as we immerse ourself in this subject big subject here talking about death and life of course as an extension i pray that you'll be with us and that you'll give us biblical clarity and be with all the little technical aspects of everything here and we place our lives into your capable hands and into the crucified hands of your son our savior jesus in whose name we pray amen all right so there is laid up for me a crown and just as we began our last series with this passage we're going to reflect back on where this title comes from there is laid up for me a crown this is from second timothy chapter four verses six to eight and i mentioned in our first presentation that you you can just feel the emotion just seeping through this passage very likely the last of the letters that paul wrote very likely writing from rome possibly from a prison in rome and he's writing to his young understudy timothy and he says for i am already being poured out as a drink offering right like a like a drink offering or a libation that was poured out on the altar right i'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand i have fought the good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith he continues finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness ah that's what we're going to be talking about today there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness this is the section that we get our sermon title from today which the lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day capital d day right that is the second coming that's the resurrection day and not to me only but also to all those who love his appearing and i did this in the first session i'm going to do it again here i love the way that this is rendered in the contemporary english version now the time has come for me to die right just just there it is paul's writing to timothy and i imagine when timothy received this letter and unrolled it and read it said oh no this is the situation's even more urgent than i remember imagine losing your mentor and your mentor just writing to you so matter-of-factly and and and yet so hopefully now the time has come for me to die my life is like a drink offering that's being poured out on the altar also from the cev verse 8 so a crown will be given to me and on the day of judgment he will give a crown to me and to everyone who wants him to appear again with power all right so this is our this is our sort of passage that we're launching from both in our first session and also here that paul would come to the end of his life after you know an incredible series of missionary journeys around the larger mediterranean and he's now in rome he's awaiting trial and he can read the handwriting on the wall there's a chance he's going to appeal to caesar and get off and everything's going to be fine but you get the sense here that paul knows that the clouds are darkening that the storm is gathering and so he writes this letter to timothy with this overflowing of emotion i'm ready to be poured out like a drink offering right but i know he says in the midst of that sadness and in the midst of this the time has come for me my time for departure is at hand in the midst of that he says but i know there was laid up for me a crown he mentions it twice a crown and that's what we're going to talk about today this this crown that is laid up for us and in order to do that we're going to actually go from the writings of paul to probably the best story in the new testament with regards to jesus relationship to death well i should say the second best story because of course the best story is jesus own death and resurrection but in terms of the the narrative of jesus life as you read through matthew and mark and luke and john there are situations in which circumstances in which jesus came up against people that were blind sick unwell paralyzed and at least a few occasions where jesus came hard up against someone who had died you have the story of the raising of the widow of nain's son right there at the funeral right the funeral procession was going jesus gets to the funeral possession reverses the whole thing and what was a funeral train turned into a grand celebration you have that you also have the story of the raising of the leader of the synagogue in capernaum's daughter jairus's daughter and remember he goes in there to the room and everybody's wailing and crying and he makes everybody he first says the daughter's not the little girl is not dead she's sleeping and everybody laughs at him and he puts everybody out of the room and then he says to the little girl talitha kumi little little damsel little girl arise and she rises up so yes there are those two instances but the one that is given to us in the greatest detail and the one that's the most dramatic because unlike jairus daughter or the widow of nain's son you get the sense that those deaths had happened like right then especially with jairus's daughter but in the story of lazarus found in john chapter 11 this is a story that's got all this drama and lazarus was not just dead for a few hours he was dead for a few days when jesus came and resurrected him so i want to pick up this story and we're going to use this story to sort of continue where we've launched from out of second second timothy chapter four so you might recall the story if you're familiar with the story this will be uh sort of old news to you and if you're new to the story this this report comes to jesus that his friend lazarus in bethany is unwell right hey lazarus is sick in fact it doesn't even say lazarus is sick right at the beginning of john chapter 11 it says he whom you love is sick right so lazarus and mary and martha all brothers and sisters are brothers and sisters very close with one another very close with jesus and so the reporter sent out to jesus hey he whom you love is sick jesus then takes his time turns to his disciples eventually and says our friend lazarus sleeps but i go that i may wake him up now again this is this is at least two days three days after the initial report was given to jesus that he whom you love is sick and so now jesus turns to his disciples quite belatedly and says hey our friend lazarus is sleeping but i'm gonna go wake him up well the disciples misunderstand what jesus is saying and they actually give him some advice and they say oh no jesus that's a bad idea if he's sleeping he'll get better so it's a good idea to let somebody if they're not feeling well if they're sick just let them rest and they'll get better jesus then says to them plainly in verse 14 lazarus is dead they had thought that jesus meant that he was taking a nap jesus now says lazarus is dead you almost get the sense even here at this early uh sort of the the the early part of the story that it's like jesus waited for him to die right because the report came hey he whom you love is sick jesus wait several days and only then says i'm going to go wake up my friend to wish the disciples say no you should let him sleep he'll get better it's not a good idea to wake him up and then jesus says lazarus is dead fascinating now the first thing i want you to notice is that jesus obvious reluctance to use the word death here contains elusively and beautifully the gospel itself now let's just think about that for a moment here jesus says lazarus is asleep only when the disciples do not understand what jesus is saying oh no no no jesus let him sleep it's a good idea for him to continue to sleep he'll get better only when they don't understand does jesus then reluctantly have to say to them something that they will understand lazarus is dead but jesus initial unwillingness or at least his reluctance to say at the outset lazarus is dead suggests that from jesus perspective at least lazarus wasn't dead now that is an important idea that we're going to actually pick up in our third session but i just want to sort of set that out there for you from jesus perspective lazarus was merely sleeping and again only when the disciples were a little dense a little hard-headed did he then say reluctantly and elusively ah lazarus is dead so this contains the gospel by suggestion by nuance and by implication but that then raises this question what exactly is the gospel right and i imagine that if you're in a room with five people or 10 people or 20 people and you you handed out a piece of paper and said to everybody write down what is the gospel it's entirely possible that you will have at least as many different answers as you have people in the room but that should not be the case if people are biblically literate if they know what scripture teaches about what the gospel is you should be able to give a very simple very concise and very consistent definition of what the gospel is and that's what i'm going to share with you right here what is the gospel well you might remember in our first session together first corinthians chapter 15 we actually quoted this verse remember i said first corinthians 13 is the love chapter first corinthians 15 is like the death chapter this is where paul goes on a deep dive into the theology of death and the reality of death and adam's death and christ's death it's amazing absolutely incredible chapter and right on the heart of that chapter paul says this the last enemy to be destroyed is death so in the death chapter that's what i'm calling it in paul's greatest exposition and sort of unpacking elucidation of death he says that death will be destroyed and not just the death will be destroyed but the death is an enemy and that's what we talked about in our first session that death have you ever had like i remember when i was young my my uh my mom would buy me these like what i regard now and probably regarded them too is like really ugly wool sweaters i was young like you know five six seven eight nine ten and you'd put these itchy wool sweat have you ever owned an itchy wool sweater no i'm asking the camera guy michael here he hasn't you're not sure i can remember a part of my childhood how about you sid itchy warm itchy wool sweater never owned one these guys privileged childhood they've had so my mom would buy me these up and i'd put them on and as soon as i got them on i was like i wanted them off it was like what this thing doesn't belong on me i don't want this thing on me it feels itchy every time you move so you just try to stand there if you're out there you know what i'm talking about you're just like and then you move and you're like oh there's that sensation there's that feeling death is like that death is a it's a garment that's we're not supposed to wear that doesn't fit us that continually annoys and perturbs us it's an enemy it it doesn't belong in this world it's a foreigner it's an intruder in fact we said that already death is a foreigner it's an enemy it's an uninvited intruder into god's good world right just like those those sweaters were intruders into my otherwise good world and so in that same chapter the death chapter first corinthians chapter 15. paul launches his in-depth discussion about death and the nature of death and how jesus own death and resurrection solves the problem of death such that death will eventually be destroyed as an enemy he starts this chapter early on in verses 3 and 4 by saying to the church in corinth i delivered to you first of all that which i also received okay let's just pause on this what paul is saying here is when i came to corinth i gave to you what had been given to me so you get the picture in your mind here i like to use the illustration of like the the passing of a baton right and so so paul says something has been handed to me given to me that i then hand to you right so i've received it and now i pass it on i gave to you that which i also received and this was the whole idea of this sort of early oral tradition of the gospel the good news literacy rates in the days of paul would have been much lower than they are today less than 10 perhaps less than 5 percent and so the gospel the good news of the life death and resurrection of jesus was passed on largely through oral tradition through hymns through singing and so paul says someone told me something now the someone that told paul something happened to be jesus himself but the point he makes here is that i received something that i then gave to you okay and then by implication here it's that you will then pass on who will then pass on who will then pass on who will then pass on but right here you'll notice there's a colon for i delivered to you that which i also received and after this colon new testament scholars are in large agreement that what follows that colon is actually an early apostolic doxological summary of the gospel itself in other words what comes after this colon is not original with paul it's going to be an early christian oral formula of what the gospel is and let me put it up for you here i've added the numbers one two and three so that you can see that it's made up of three parts so paul says i received the baton that i then passed on to you well what was the baton for i delivered to you that which i also received number one that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures number two that he was buried and three that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures you can feel how it has that kind of that kind of rhythm that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures it's got this sort of rhythmic poetic doxological feel right but it's really simple it consists of the death burial and resurrection of jesus and that my friends is the gospel the gospel is not an idea the gospel is not a theology the gospel is not a concept the gospel is not a philosophy no the gospel is the good news of the holy history of jesus christ his life death burial and resurrection that's the good news that is the the royal proclamation that god has become a man he lived a life of covenantal faithfulness to god to torah to creation to humanity he then died he was buried and he rose again all of that's encapsulated in this really simple summary where paul says i gave to you what was also given to me the passing of the baton i received something that i passed on what is the thing oh that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and again most new testament scholars affirm that this was not original with paul paul here is reciting an early oral tradition it's entirely possible that this line here that we're just reading would have actually been sung right that it would have been passed on by singing so if you're traveling from town to town place to place and you want to find other believers in jesus of nazareth the messiah how do you find them well you don't you don't get on your phone and like google you don't look up even in the yellow pages as ancient as those are now you would have to locate people well how would you know if if the messiah that they believe in or if these people believe in the messiah how do you know how do you find these people is this the right messiah the same messiah you would have these little doxological these little formulas these statements i believe that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and all of the church would know this so when you met other people fellow travelers people coming in from you know another place you could connect and find your little communities your little house churches okay so back to the point here the gospel is the life to state the obvious his death burial and resurrection because you can't have a death without a life the gospel is the good news of jesus christ the holy history of jesus christ i love the way that ellen white put it in a letter that she wrote in 1898 and i've always loved this statement and i've quoted it literally hundreds probably thousands of times she says it just like this hanging upon the cross christ was the gospel not just hanging upon the cross christ was teaching the gospel christ was preaching the god no no no it's better than that christ in him crucified christ in him raised from the dead that is the gospel that's the gospel message and so in answer to our question what exactly is the gospel you could say the life death burial and resurrection and ascension of jesus yeah that's cool or how about this what do you think of this the gospel is that god tasted and tested death itself i mean just think about that i delivered to you that which i also received that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried he tasted death we mentioned this in our last session together but let's just remind ourselves of where are we getting this language from that god tasted and tested death where are we getting this tasted language from right here hebrews chapter 2 verse 9 but we see jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned oh look at that word did you see that i didn't have an underline but look at it crown that's what we're talking about here today crowned remember paul said i know that from here forward there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness and not just for me but for all of those who love his appearing look at this for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of god might taste death for every person now i didn't put these verses up here on the screen but i just want to remind you if you're at all familiar with the book of revelation okay in revelation chapters 4 and 5 john there on the island of patmos he gets this grand cinematic vision of the throne room of god right and he sees the throne there in revelation chapter four and and the ancient of days god the father is seated on the throne and then john you might remember this begins to weep because there's a scroll there and john has some sense that the scroll needs to be opened that there's some importance to his own destiny into the destiny of humanity in that scroll and he says nobody was worthy to open the scroll but then in chapter 5 in comes jesus who is worthy to open the scroll now check this out according to the book of revelation and according to john in revelation what makes jesus worthy to open the scroll are you ready for this i'm just going to read it here so i'm in revelation chapter 5 and i'll pick it up in verse 5. pick it up in verse 4. so i wept much because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it or to even look upon it verse 5 revelation 5 5 but one of the elders said to me do not weep behold the lion of the tribe of judah the root of david has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals oh so he is worthy he is able he has prevailed how on what grounds what did he do what's the thing that he did verse 6 and i looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain having seven heads and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of god sent out into all the earth all this incredible imagery and symbolism here which we're not going to get into right now but just notice how is it that he's worthy how is it that he prevailed he was slain in fact just just a little bit later verse 8 it says now when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders they fell down before the lamb each having a harp and these golden bowls full of incense these are the prayers of the saints now listen to verse nine and they sang a new song saying these are the lyrics to the song in this heavenly assembly this like coronation scene right where jesus is about ready to be enthroned that's what happens at a coronation check this out this is the song they sing you are worthy to take the scroll to open its seals for you were slain there it is what is the thing that enables jesus to be worthy to have overcome to have prevailed you are worthy they also this is a heavenly assembly they know the story they know what's going on you are worthy to take the scroll and open it seals because you were slain and you have redeemed us to god by your blood out of every tribe every tongue and people and nation you've made us kings and priests to our god and we will reign on the earth right absolutely incredible in fact just a little bit later when everybody else joins in in verse 12 worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and so when we talk about paul just pull all this together with me when paul says i delivered to you that which i also received but what was the thing that paul received that he then passed on to those in corinth that who that then were to pass it on pass it on pass it on it was the life death and resurrection of jesus the christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures okay so the gospel then is not some abstraction it's not some philosophy it's not some idea it's not something that's found in a dusty old book no the gospel the good news is the life death resurrection ascension of jesus you can throw in a bunch of other words there too the triumph of jesus the coronation of jesus the promised return of jesus but the kernel of it the embryo of it all jesus lived died was buried and rose from the grave incredible that's what's being said here right he tasted death for every person he is not death is a foreigner to god's good world but god is not a foreigner to death god came down he was made a little lower than the angels he was like a human being one of us he wasn't like a human being he was a human being for the suffering of death and then crowned i love the use of the word crowned there now again we've already noted this 2nd timothy chapter 4 verse 8 this is how we launch this whole presentation so a crown will be given to me on that day of judgment he will give a crown to me and to everyone else who wants him to appear again with power so we could say this like this and tell me if you love this i love this jesus wore a crown of thorns and death so that we could wear a crown of righteousness and life that's what's going on here when paul says there's a crown of righteousness laid up for me paul would be the first to tell you that's not my righteousness that's not that's not my righteousness paul is abundantly clear on this in all of his writings but especially in galatians and in romans no no no if a crown of righteousness is going on the head of the apostle paul or on my head or on the head of all those who love his appearing that's the crown of christ's righteousness well how did christ become righteous we just read that in revelation for you were slain you have redeemed us and rescued us friends this idea is absolutely incredible now let's go back to the story in john 11 with the raising of lazarus remember our friend lazarus is asleep but i'm gonna go wake him up no no no no jesus let him let him rest he'll get better lazarus is dead lazarus is dead watch this now we're in verses 21 to 27. now martha said to jesus lord if you would have been here she's devastated she's crushed she's crying her brother has died they expected of course that jesus would arrive i mean jesus wasn't far away from bethany when the messenger originally arrived like half a day's journey at the most he could have been there in a few hours but he shows up days later and they're devastated not just devastated they're confused and that's one of the things about death it's confusing it's not just that people die it's how they die and why they die and when they die and under what circumstances they die it's also unfair it's also mysterious right i mentioned in the last presentation that that when my friend david passed away he was 53 years old he he died in his sleep he just went to sleep didn't wake up but it's even worse than that where was he when he went to sleep he was the bus driver he was actually a very successful businessman but he had volunteered to be the bus driver for the school the local adventist school that my sons went to for their field trip every year they would take a field trip to uh canberra which is like the washington dc of the united states the capital territory so they would go down there and tour the mint and the museums and all these things to sort of get a better understanding as i think sixth and seventh graders of you know the governance of of australia david volunteered to go down and be the bus driver for like 25 kids on this field trip one of whom was his son his own son a dear friend of mine and of our families and a close friend of my two boys lucas so now just get this in your mind when this was all unfolding when this was happening people just thought that david had slept in hey david we need to get going it's time you know we need to get the boys on the bus need to get the girls on the bus hmm and then my associate pastor at the time joel he was like huh what's going on here maybe david went out to get a you know a hot drink in the morning i don't know what's going on so we went back again hey david david we need you to it's really time to get up so he went finally to the to the front desk and said hey i can't wake up my friend i think he's in there sleeping either that or he's gone out but we need to get these kids on the bus so the people said well okay we wouldn't normally do this but it sounds like it's kind of an emergency situation here's a key so they gave joel a key and he goes in and he opens up the door and when he looks in he sees david in his bed just on his side bible on the nightstand just looks like he's overslept and joel come say hey david we got to get going it's time to go we gotta and he said he could just he just it just dawned on him oh he's not sleeping he's dead well that's already tragic on every level right like like somebody dies at 53 unexpectedly he was a healthy fit person but now you got 20 kids who are waiting to get on the bus that's going to be driven by one of my best friends in the world one of whom is his own son and you have to go let the kids know i mean i can't even imagine what that was like for joel and for the other uh uh people that had them there on the the the chauffeurs not chauffeurs what's the word when you take somebody on i can't think of the word the the the people i mean you have to go tell the kids one of whom is his son i mean death stinks it's so mysterious it's so confusing it's so frustrating and it's just inconvenient and terribly dark and mysterious that's what that's what martha's experiencing here she's like where she doesn't say this but when she says lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died that's kind of like there's a little bit of this in that where were you right now she's not being unkind here because she believes that jesus is the messiah but she's deeply confused right and death is like this it's ugly it's messy it's inconvenient it shows up at all the wrong times in all the wrong ways if you would have been here my brother would not have died she then manages to throw in this little bit of sort of faithful hopeful encouragement but even now i know that whatever you ask of god god will give to you there's an old saying from years and years ago i've heard it many times and the saying is you can't undo done you can't undo done right you get the you get the toothpaste out of the tubes hard to get it back in you can't undo done but jesus actually is going to undo done here he's going to undo done right here in just a moment now she does not understand this martha doesn't understand this mary will not understand this jesus said to her your brother will rise again martha said to him yeah yeah yeah i know that he's going to rise again in the resurrection at the last day she was she knew that lazarus was a believer even though she was confused by jesus absence by his uh belated uh uh answering of the message she still had confidence and hope that was the whole remember that we we sorrow but we grieve but in hope we sorrow but in hope so she still says yeah and the right in the last day it's all going to be okay jesus says to her i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die he will live and whoever lives and believes in me look at these three words here will never die i mean that just was so nonsensical what do you mean lazarus did believe in you jesus and i'm sure you were busy and i'm sure you had important errands to run but you were late and he did die he died what could jesus possibly mean here i'm 100 sure of this that we now with the benefit of hindsight look back we know what jesus was saying but but martha would have had no idea what jesus was saying that's why he says to her do you believe this he's putting her right on the spot because she believed that jesus was sufficiently powerful that if he would have been there that lazarus could have been healed he could have been prevented from dying but you can't undo done and then jesus says yeah i know you think he's going to raise again in the resurrection for the last day but i'm saying to you i am present tense i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die yet he will live and whoever lives and believes in me will never die do you believe this and this is the question that jesus puts to all of us it's the question that jesus puts to you it's the question that jesus puts to me do you believe this do you believe that if you live and believe in jesus that you will never die she said to him yes lord i believe that you are the messiah the christ the son of god who is come into the world some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying now this is fascinating just a brief word on this martha said if you would have been here my brother would not have died by the way when mary comes up she says the same thing if you would have been here my brother would not have died she also says i know that in the resurrection at the last day my brother will rise and then the people say here what do they say couldn't this guy who who opened blind eyes couldn't he have kept this guy from dying so this is incredible all the people there that were all the people that were there that were persuaded or that believed that jesus was the messiah they all think he's powerful they all think he's good they all think he can do cool stuff they just don't expect him to do it right now right if you would have been here he wouldn't have died and i know that in the future you'll raise him at the resurrection but what jesus is trying to orient them to is yeah i'm not just the god that works in the past and will work in the future i'm the god that's about ready to work right now i'm not the i was or the i will be i am the i am the present tense god of right here right now and so he says take me to the tomb right take me to the tomb then jesus came to the tomb it was a cave and a stone lay against it and jesus said take away the stone and if you know the rest of the story right take away the stone and lazarus come forth and lazarus comes out it's a giant celebration and everybody's freaking this is what jesus had meant when he had said our friend lazarus is asleep but i'm gonna go wake him up i mean what an experience what obscene that would have been lazarus coming out of the tomb i mean just incredible right absolutely incredible take away the stone that's what jesus is going to say to all of us take away the stone remove the dirt right raise from the water whatever reconstruct from the fire whatever it is people die in all kinds of terrible ways take away the stone is the is the subtle power it's not even subtle it's the suggestive powerful notion that god can reverse death oh did they put a stone over it reverse the stone he reverses the curse people die in all kinds of terrible ways god's like yeah undo that undo that undo that some have said you can't undo done oh yeah you can yeah when you're the creator you can when you yourself have have died when you yourself have gone into the grave when you yourself have solved the riddle and the mystery of death you can undo done now jesus has not yet done that of course in the story he has jesus here has not yet been raised but this little take away the stone thing is suggestive it's elusive of what's coming in jesus own experience luke chapter 24 verses 1 to 6. now on the first day of the week week very early in the morning the women including mary and martha right and and the the time elapsed between the raising of lazarus and jesus own death is just a matter of months right it's not a long period of time so including mary and martha they all come to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared but they found the stone rolled away from the tomb now this should have immediately signaled to mary and martha what's going on here they have seen stones removed from tombs right take away this they should have been like of course they weren't watch what happens here then they went in they didn't find the body of the lord jesus and it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this that behold two men stood by them in shining garments he had this incredible story there now then as they were afraid they bowed their faces to the earth and they said uh why are you looking for the living these are the the angels speaking to those ladies that had come why are you looking for the living among the dead he is not here he is risen now this is the way i like to say this tell me if you like this i think this is hot this is the only time in history that jesus absence was good news time jesus shows up in a situation it's always good news right uh you're drowning in the water jesus shows up that's good news right uh you need to feed 5 000 people with a few loaves and fishes jesus that's good news whenever jesus is present in a situation for healing or just for hanging out or for teaching jesus presence is always good news this is the only time in the whole of human history where jesus absence was good news he is not here because you're looking for a guy that's alive among the dead he's not in the tombs he's not in the cemetery he is not here and the rolled away stone should have alerted at least mary and martha and any others that were present present for the raising of lazarus jesus absence from the tomb makes our presence in the new heaven and the new earth possible his absence makes our presence possible what did paul say i am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand i have fought the good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness again not paul's righteousness christ's righteousness finally there is later for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day how does he give it to him if it's paul's righteousness if it's his native good works and and good do uh good law keeping and morally upright behavior well then why would jesus have to give it to him no no this is this is jesus own righteousness jesus own goodness jesus own faithfulness that he gives as a crown to paul look the lord the righteous judge this has got judgment day language written all over it will give to me on that day and not to me only but also to all those who have loved his appearing jesus wore a crown of thorns and death so that we could wear a crown of righteousness and life everybody at some point in their life with rare exception there will be those people at the very very very end of time that are translated without seeing death and there have been people like enoch and elijah but the vast majority 99.999999999 of people are going to die right i'm going to die you're going to die unless by some wonderful you know stroke of providence we end up being in that generation that lives to see jesus return again statistically unlikely but it is going to happen we are down at the end of the prophetic timeline so timeline so it could happen of course i'm not suggesting that it couldn't but what i'm saying is if there's ten thousand or a hundred thousand people that watch this video the vast majority of them are going to die so we're all going to wear that that crown of death but jesus by tasting death himself jesus by going into the grave himself and as it were solving the rubik's cube of death he solved it he fixed it this is why he says in the book of revelation i have the keys of the grave and of death he solved it he figured it out and so what paul says here is the time of my departure is at hand i'm about ready to be poured out like a drink offering but that's a big but i know that in the midst of this sadness in the midst of my forthcoming trial before caesar in the midst of my likely execution i know there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will give to me at that day god has a crown of righteousness laid up for you he has a crown of righteousness laid up for me and there is no good reason not to receive it not to accept it because to accept that crown to receive that the crown of righteousness that's given to you by jesus is to receive the gospel the life death burial resurrection ascension and hallelujah coronation of jesus christ that's something i want to do and if that's something you want to do wherever you are right now just just raise your hand and say i receive that crown i receive that crown of righteousness that's been laid up for me amen let's pray father in heaven we want to better understand and better appreciate and then better communicate the gospel father may we be overwhelmed with the sublimity of the gospel not just its sublimity but its solidity that there is a there is a solid foundation here upon which we can build our hope and our faith father like those people in the book of revelation that say worthy is the lamb why why is he worthy why is he overcome how has he prevailed because he was slain and he has redeemed us redeemed us to god from every nation every kindred every tribe and people father in heaven you want to make us kings and priests you want to place those crowns of righteousness on our head the apostle paul knew it he had tremendous confidence of it and father may we have a similar confidence whether we're facing death whether we have a loved one that's recently passed away father as we find ourselves immersed in a world in which death is a part of normal a hateful terrible evil part of normal but normal nonetheless we look beyond death's door and we look to jesus coming out the other side saying i've got the keys i've got the keys we put our faith and our confidence in him and we pray in his name amen

Channel: Storyline Church

Views: 5,375

Rating: 4.8980894 out of 5

Keywords: storyline church, ty gibson

Id: V0Vr2WPwr-k

Length: 42min 25sec (2545 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 24 2021