The Cross is meaningless without a Resurrection and Resurrection is the result of Christ’s victory over death!
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CROSS
Isaiah 53:1-12; John 1:29; Galatians 3:13
1. Jesus was put to death on the Cross for our sins.
Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
2. The Cross was an active demonstration of God’s Love for us even while we were dead!
Romans 5:6-9 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 8:31-33; Hebrews 12:2-3)
3. There was an exchange at the Cross. He became our sin and all who receive (believe & obey) Him are given a right standing before God!
2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (Numbers 21:8-9; John 3:14-15)
4. Christ’s death on the Cross was a permanent sacrifice. He did not have to offer His life year after year, as the Law required.
Hebrews 10:11-14 “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
5. The Cross restored man’s relationship with God!
Colossians 1:21-22 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
6. The Cross destroyed the power of the devil for all who believe!
Colossian 2:14-15 “…having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Revelation 12:10-12)
7. The Blood of Christ freed us to serve God with a clear conscience!
Hebrews 9:14 “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (1 John 1:7)
THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION
John 11:25-27; Romans 1:3-4; Philippians 3:10-11
1. The Resurrection is a solid foundation for our Faith!
1 Peter 1:21 “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-17)
2. Resurrection proves that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!
Romans 1:3-4 “…regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Timothy 3:16)
3. Through the Resurrection we know we have forgiveness of sins!
Romans 4:23 “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 10:9-10)
4. Resurrection is the certainty of Eternal Life!
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
5. Because of Resurrection I have a Faithful High Priest who intercedes on my behalf!
Hebrews 7:23-25 “Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Romans 8:33-35 )
6. The Resurrection gives us confidence and the ability to serve Him in victory!
1 Corinthians 15:54-58 “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (Romans 8:37-39)
7. Because Christ’s Resurrection, I can believe Him to raise me from deadness!
Romans 8:10-11 “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” (Philippians 3:10)
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Romans 8:31-39
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTER & INSTITUTE 