A New Beginning

Well, praise God. Thank God we have so much to celebrate today, the very heart of everything, the very defining week of all of history. Praise God. Praise God for Him making that alive and real in our hearts. You know, I just pray and trust the Lord to guide my thoughts this morning, but I believe there's this one thing that the resurrection of Christ means, it's a new beginning. And maybe that's as good a title as any. Because we know that the very one who died on that cross is the one that the Father used in the beginning to bring forth the creation. The words that said, let there be light, let there be stars, let there be everything, came out of His lips. And we know that the human race was created in the beginning to rule in the image of God. It was a glorious plan. It was pure. It was perfect. There was no death. There was no suffering. There was none of the things that we see in our world. It was all there. But we know what happened, don't we? We know that Adam and Eve made a deliberate choice to reject what God had told them. The warning that if they partook of a particular tree, went down a certain road, that death would enter, and it did. And so we see the awful condition of the world. And yet what an amazing thing it is that we see a God who doesn't say, well, I'm done with that. Wipe it out. But still reached out throughout the ages, reached out to human beings. Made Himself known.

What could possibly cause such a thing? The very love that we've been thinking about and singing about. Thank God for that love. And so we know that God had a plan, didn't He? It was a plan hidden from the foundation of the world. It was ... The prophets didn't understand it. They saw pits and glimpses and gave out words that had their part in it. But we know that even the devil himself didn't understand what was unfolding that week, did he? Paul says that in so many words. Boy, the things that God revealed to Paul. I appreciate them so much. God did that so that we could have that knowledge today and walk in that truth and enjoy the reality of it. Thank God. But the devil himself engineered, was used of God to engineer his own defeat, thinking he was winning. He absolutely sealed the deal. And so I wanted to use a few scriptures that we're familiar with. I guess we're familiar with all of them, but I want to just kind of go through this in a sense, step by step, because there was a new beginning. And shortly before Jesus went to the cross, there were some things that we have often pointed out in John chapter 12 that are significant. And first of all, we've recently referred to the scripture where Jesus replied in verse 23 of John chapter 12, now the time has come for the son of man to enter into his glory. What an amazing statement when you think about what was going on and where he was headed. He was headed to a cross and he says, I'm heading for glory. Wouldn't that be nice if we could see our own lives in that light and not be so self absorbed and focused on what's wrong and all the bad stuff, but see the goal? He saw the goal and because of the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross,

the scripture says later. So anyway, then he gives us a principle that we've used many times. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone, but its death will produce many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives. I didn't mention this. I'm reading the NLT this morning in case you're wondering. Somehow I just felt a need or a desire to go back to that one. It's a paraphrase, but it conveys the thoughts. Praise God, a plentiful harvest of new lives. So that's what God was after in all of this. It wasn't just, man, I got to take care of that corrupted creation and get rid of it. It's I'm focused beyond that. I've got a plan that's going to bring forth new life. Thank God. Then he gives a little perspective about what was about to happen. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. That's a pretty plain statement, isn't it? Well that's what the human race in general is all about. This is my life. I know what I want out of it. I'm living here. Don't tell me what to do. I got my own plans. I'm the Lord and God of my own life. Thank you very much. I want to tell you based on the authority of the Son of God, anybody who makes that choice, your life will come to an end. There will be a time, and I'll explain this later if you want me to, but there will come a time when you will not exist. Your life, this is it.

You better get what you can because this is it. This is God's declaration. God's not going to tolerate what's going on in this world forever. Praise God. But what an awesome opportunity is open. Those who care nothing, it expresses here, those who care nothing for their life in this world, that is they turn away from it, they recognize it, it has no eternal value. It's headed the wrong direction. Caring for this life produces death and everything is wrong with the world. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will do what? Keep it for eternity. What an amazing, simple contrast. There was something very decisive that happened when Jesus went to that cross. Now, Jesus said down in verse 31, the time for judging this world has come. Something we pointed out many times, the cross itself was a declaration of God's judgment upon a corrupted creation and everybody who insists on remaining a part of that. That's it. This is judgment day. Now, I realize there's an outworking of that, but boy, that ship has sailed. If you think there's any hope for this world, that's done. The train has left the station. God made a declaration that all the powers of hell cannot change. The time for judging this world has come. When Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out and when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. I'm well aware that most people use this to say, we need to lift up Jesus and he'll draw people. Well, praise God. That's true. Absolutely.

He is the center and he is the message, but there's a deeper thing that he's talking about here. In fact, the sense of the Greek word there is I will drag. What Jesus did when he went to the cross, he became the representative of a creation. This whole creation was drawn into him and just as it was once in him, it returned to be in him and when he died and the judgment was poured out upon him, it was the creation that he was representing. Praise God. It's a simple but profound truth. And so a new beginning, I guess, for the world, this is the beginning of the end. Its destiny has been sealed. God poured out his judgment and the devil himself turned out to be the instrument of it. That's the level of what deception is about. You want to embrace the philosophies and the values of this world? Look at this and read it. This was a statement of the destiny of this creation. It was sealed when Jesus died. And everything that this world represents, this creation represents, wound up in a tomb. Now turn to another scripture we have used a time or two and that's in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I believe. 2 Corinthians, okay, well, we're in the right book. Let's find the right chapter. All right. And one of the burdens that Paul had in this second book of Corinthians was that there were self-seeking ministries, so-called ministries, that were going around and undermining and coming behind him and he was having to deal with that and saying, look, God's given me this. I care about you and I'm going to fight what's wrong because I care about you. And so let's see where I want to pick this.

He says, no matter what I'm doing, either way, whether I'm bragging about whatever I'm doing to absolutely deal with this situation, Christ's love controls us, verse 14. That's the motivating factor in everything I do. Even if I come against somebody, it's Christ's love because I want His will. I want your benefit out of all of this. Now here's the truth that he conveys. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our own life. Now the sense of that in the Greek is a little bit deeper than that. When Christ died, everybody died. You want to know how God sees this world? They're in a tomb, folks. That's the destiny of everybody. Everything pertaining to this creation is in a tomb. I understand there's a process of time that's working out. This is something hard to wrap your mind around, but that's how certain it is. Everybody died. If you're sitting here this morning, you're born into Adam's family. When Christ died, you died. The only question is, what next? Where do you go from here? Thank God that wasn't the end. Thank God that was a new beginning. Now in verse 15, it says, he died for everyone. You could put it this way. He died representing everyone. Think about it this way. When Adam was created and Eve, of course, was brought forth, the purpose was that there was a life in him that was capable of bringing forth a family. So in a sense, you and I were all there.

It wasn't just what happened to him wasn't just ... didn't just happen to him. It happened to you and it happened to me, and that's why we partake of what happened back there in the garden. But something else is going on here. His representative. He is a representative. He died for everyone so that those who receive this new life, his new life, will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ who died and was raised for them. Praise God. We can celebrate the resurrection and just say, yay God or yay Jesus, but all of that was for you and for me. It was for you this morning. Now what the picture is that he's painting here is that everybody dies whether you want to or not. You died on that cross because your representative died and the judgment that you deserved and I and this world deserved. To get rid of the evil, it was poured out upon him. He took all of that into the grave, but he didn't stay there. Praise God. It's very interesting that the disciples were the ones that heard him say numerous times, I'm going to be crucified or I'm going to be put to death and I will be buried, but I will rise. Not one of them remembered that. I can see the wisdom of God in it because no one can say, well, they heard him say that so they faked it. The authorities were the ones that remembered, hey, I remember hearing him say that. We better do something. We better post a guard. We're going to put a huge stone there and we're going to post a guard on it and put

a seal where, boy, you don't touch this. This is official. And yet when they went to the grave on that first morning, the stone was rolled away. And we know what happened. The soldiers were just terrified. They saw the angel. They saw, they were just terrified. What was going on? It was an earthquake. It was just awesome. They ran. But I'm so thankful. The angels didn't come to roll away the stone to let Jesus out. They came to let the disciples in to see what God had done because the life and the power that brought him out of that tomb wasn't subject to anything here. He just passed right through. through it, he could come in through walls, appear out of thin air, disappear into thin air as the occasion demanded, and when it was time for him to go home, gravity couldn't hold him. He just, it's time for me to go, okay. I mean he just was totally set free with the power of God from everything about this creation. And what we see in Christ determines the future of everyone who has put their faith in him. That's your destiny today. If you're one of those that absolutely rose with him, then that is your destiny because even though we're living out a life here, if there's, if we are born again, praise God, that's the key. You got to be born again. Being born into Adam's family is not enough. You can't fix that. We're going to have to be born of the same life that Jesus came out of that tomb with.

And just as Adam produced a family, so does he. Just as the corn of wheat, the grain of wheat went into the ground, gave up its outward life, there was a life in it that brought forth fruit. I believe some of that fruit is here today. I believe that family is still being begotten. I believe God is still reaching out to people that absolutely will come to the end and see what happened, what really happened that weekend. To see that you were there when he died because the life you had was corrupted. There's guilt, there's sin, there's, no matter how hard you try, you just, there's no way you can be acceptable to God and yourself. Your situation was utterly hopeless. There was no solution but to put you to death. If you ever really understood that and embraced it, the reality of it, it sounds terrible. It sounds gruesome. It's so contrary to everything about human nature, but it's the truth. But God didn't create that situation because he hated you, because he loved you. He wanted to give you a whole new life. That's what this is talking about. And he uses the expression about being a new creation. That's what happened. One creation died on the cross, was left in the tomb. Another creation was born when he came out of that tomb. And everything that is going to bring forth that creation, the world, but right now he's working on bringing forth the family that will rule that creation. Are you part of that? You've been born again? I'm going to stick this in the middle here as a plug. I sent an email around that, for those of you who are on the email list, mentioning that our family had gone to the movies, which is something we don't do very often. There's not much out there.

And we saw that movie, A Great Awakening. And truthfully, the way Hollywood has gone, I didn't expect much. But it was a history. I believe it was an attempt to accurately portray history. It wasn't some drama that got made up. But it was a history of events that happened before the American Revolution, and the focus of it was a powerful spiritual awakening, where God invaded the colonies, particularly. And he used a man named George Whitefield, who was about as unlikely a candidate for that as you could imagine. And I won't spoil the story, but boy, the power of his preaching. Can you imagine somebody preaching to 20,000, 30,000 people at a time with no microphone? God gave that man a powerful voice and a powerful message that transformed this nation. And there were untold numbers of people that came to faith and came to Christ. And the movie is about the unlikely relationship between Whitefield and Ben Franklin. Very interesting history. But oh, I mean, it was just spine tingling at times, the singing, the preaching. So anyway, I'll just throw that out there. I hope others will enjoy seeing it. But one of the things that he kept preaching over and over again to all kinds of people, not just the nice people, the business people, but the down and outs. He reached down to coal miners with dirty faces. slaves and you name it. He was reaching out to the lowest of the low with a message that God loves you. He wants you to experience liberty. You need to be born again. Christ paid for your sins. Put your faith in him and surrender and repent and he will give you a new life and a new heart. Over and over again it was a simple message but there was a power of God behind it. We need that in our day don't we? We need that every at all times in history. May God give us have mercy upon this generation and reach out to everyone that he's going to. I pray that God will help us to be a part of that. But anyway something began. A new creation began but not only that it was a new creation in which people,

individual people, were given an opportunity for a new beginning. Because our destiny apart from what Christ did, our destiny was sealed and hopeless. I don't care how moral you were. That was one of the interesting things in that movie was Ben Franklin was portrayed as this proud moralist. Boy he had a long list of human virtues and he made all kinds of efforts to live up to practice them and be a good person. And you watch the Lord begin to challenge him. There's no such thing as virtue that is in the most, in the least rather, acceptable to God. Oh God set us free from all kinds of self-righteousness you name it. We need to come as the sinners we are rejoicing in the love and the grace of God. Oh I just pray that God will again touch this generation. So anyway there's a new life, a new beginning. I'll turn to another scripture we have used over the years and that's in Romans chapter 6 because he touches on some of these issues. What is that new beginning about? And Paul has been talking about sin coming about because of Adam and grace coming to counter that and to bring forth a new race of people. And so and he says toward the end of that of chapter 5 that where sin abounded grace abounded even more. And so of course the questions it comes up to somebody's mind you can imagine who the author of the question is. That means then if we if we're supposed to make God look good right? And grace, showing grace makes him look good. Therefore if grace abounds because of sin shouldn't we sin more? Let's go for it let's sin so that God will look good and showing grace. No that's not the point. And so he asked the question at the beginning of 6 well then should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not. But then he comes to what this new beginning means. Since we have died to sin how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when you were joined with Christ in baptism we joined him in his death. There's only one way to participate in the new life, the new beginning. You got to participate in the death. You got to say no to this life and literally say that's my representative. I'm with him 100, 1,000, 1 million percent. It's all about him. That's the that's my doorway of hope. That's the only way I can get to a new beginning because I'm

already in the beginning of the end. If I stay where I'm at I've got to join him. It's not saying there's some magic in being in getting wet. But when that represents the conviction of the heart that I need him and I believe in his promise and I'm opening my heart to that and I'm expecting and I'm thanking him. I'm going down there with the same expectation that Jesus had when he went into that tomb. Do you think he was saying boy I sure hope he brings me out. I don't know. I don't deserve it. You know whatever. All the kind of foolish things that the enemy can put in our heads. He went in there knowing that God was faithful. That he was coming out of there with the power to change everything and to show us the way. God's love and His life with the people who have a willing and repentant heart. So that's the new beginning. Now it's not just the beginning of the creation in general, but it's the beginning of individual people who come to Christ. So he says, for we died, verse 4, we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. So something has changed. There's no way I could live to please God. It was an impossibility. I did not possess the ability to do that, neither do you. I don't care what you do. But now there's a new life on the inside that makes that possible. This is part of that new beginning. I'm able to do something that I wasn't able before. Thank God it's the glorious power that brought Jesus out. And remember how Paul says, I won't turn over there, but in Ephesians 1, toward the end of chapter 1, he says the same power that brought him out of the grave and put him on a throne is God's power for us. It wasn't just to make him look good and say, wow, it was the same power that he expresses

toward us. He made that available to live out that new life. That's what it's about. It's the beginning of a new life. I understand that for us it's a process of learning and growing, but God forever wants us to know that we have what it takes if we will learn and listen and agree and just do whatever's needed. Thank God. Thank God. All right? So now he goes on to the conclusion of these facts that we become literally united with Christ in such a way that we died with him, we were buried with him, and we came forth with a new life that gives us the power to live for God. All right? Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. Is that true or is it not? Boy, it's hard to wrap our brains around that and to learn and to really begin to live that out. But God wants to plant that reality so deep in our hearts that we can actually experience it in everyday life. That's where God's going. Now he talked about us being dead to sin, being buried, we were crucified with him, and this thought just kept coming to me this week in different ways. When Jesus came forth from that grave, did he bring anything with him or was it new? Did he bring any sins with him? Did he bring any of the corruption of this old nature with him?

Did he bring us out and say, all right, I got you started, now it's up to you? Everything about the old you and the old life died and he, God, left it in that tomb. That's how God sees you and sees me. He put us in a grave and living for him in this world is all about coming to terms with that where we understand that's what he did and I have the power to be that new person that he designed me to be. God helped me to do it. Is that real? Is this just fiction? Are we just ... Is this just a feel good way to kind of look at this or is this real? Since we have been united with him, have you been united with him? I hope so. That's what he wants. If there's a willing heart, God will do his part. We will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified. Do you know that? Were crucified with Christ. Boy, that's what happened. We look at the pictures of what happened on the cross and we see a savior doing that. Do you see yourself? there? Do you see what really happened in God's economy? Do you see that you died on that cross? Boy, what a life-changing reality, life-changing message that is. May God make that real. I confess that it's trying to wrap my brain around that from an intellectual standpoint, just forget about it. I need God to show me. That's how He sees me. That's how He sees the whole plan that He is working out. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, not if, but when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. Thank God. Oh, you know the Scripture that talks about Him being the first fruits of those who slept, those who died, and the resurrection, and what God is bringing to pass when we come forth after

this life is over, and He comes, and we're given that new life. We'll have the same kind of body He does. There won't be any of the ills of this world, not the old age, not anything, but especially not the evil tendencies, the selfish demands that this flesh makes on us. Keeps us in bondage if we listen to it. So anyway, and since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. We are sure of this. What makes you sure that this is going to happen for you? Why? Because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. My hope is never in me and my ability or anything I can find in me. It's never that. It's all because of what He did in Him. I have one place to come, and that's surrender and trust and faith in Him. End of the story. My trust is 100% in what God has done through Jesus Christ. Oh, I pray that everyone here has come to that place where you've recognized what your life in this world is really about. If that's what you want, you will perish, but that's not what God wants. God loved you enough to open a door for a new beginning. Amen. May God help us to live that out, to realize what happened, really come to realize what happened. All right, so that's why we're sure. Death no longer has any power over Him. When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. Oh, we think we've got to do it over and over and try harder and all these kinds of things that the devil gets us going around in the hamster wheel, as it were. We all run into that at times. May God help us. He died once. I'll tell you, when we truly come to Him and give Him our hearts, something happens in the economy of God, and then God wants to teach us how to live that out. But we have everything we need in Him. He didn't die and die again and die again and die again. There's a one-time death. Yeah, it has to play out, but He died. He died once to do what? To break the power of sin. You want to know why the devil hates the blood of the cross? That's the heart of his defeat. He engineered his end. Thank God there will be a time when he will be no more. Thank God. All right? Now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. We who had no power to do that now have power to live in a way that shows off His glory, His grace. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. See, God wants us first to get a hold of the facts of what happened,

that we are dead, we have the power. Boy, that takes some work for God to get us to really begin to see it that way. That's how He sees it. He doesn't just see you as the mess you think you are. I saw that, Ron. But you're not alone. God sees you as His child, redeemed, finished, because He knows that He's able to do the whole job. He hasn't left any of it up to my power and my resources, but rather given me everything I need to get there. So this is all about the facts. God wants us to understand what really happened on that weekend. Thank God for the cross, but it didn't stop there. Thank God for the tomb, because that's where everything of my old life got left, if I can only see it. That's where I am. I need to reckon on that. I need to count it so, just like you count that you have money in the bank when you write a check, if you still do. Anybody here write checks anymore? But you know what I mean anyway. You young folks, it's all different now. I get that. There's a reckoning. There is a counting it so. There is a dependence upon a fact. The fact is you died, and we can begin to write checks on that divine account that God has given to us. To Him be the glory. That's what happened. I died. That's where I'm at, but I didn't stay there. When He came forth, I came forth.

I have a brand new life. I don't deserve that. I didn't do anything to earn that. Praise God. So what's the result of those facts and trying to wrap our brains around that and asking God to make it more and more real? Where do we go with that? Verse 12, do not let sin control the way you live. That's pretty plain, isn't it? So now He's not getting, now He's getting past the facts and why He did what He did. Now okay, we've still got to live a life here. And there is a principle in this world and in these bodies that we still inhabit that hates God, wants its own way, who's in charge in a practical sense. So now it's not just the facts that God wants us to know, but what do we do with them? And obviously we begin to see that we have choices to make, don't we? Do we have the power to make that choice? Yeah. So now it gets down to, will we? I need the Lord to help me, don't you? But didn't He say He works in us to will and to do? Yeah. He's faithful. He's never going to not do His part. Do not let sin control the way you live. Do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Okay, so what do I do instead? Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. I pray I'm talking to a ... I know I'm talking to a lot of people who have new life. Oh God, if you don't, there is nothing more important than you coming to that place where

you are born of His Spirit, where you understand the cross, the grave, and the resurrection. And it becomes something where you are a part, you are a sharer in everything that happened. It wasn't just what happened to him, it needs to happen to you and me. Thank God. And I'll tell you, once we're His, He's not going to give up. Thank God. So anyway, as I said, do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God. Why? Because you were dead, but now you have new life. So what's the result of that? So, use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right. Now why should I do that? For the glory of God. Is He worthy? Yes. Is He worthy? We say that, and I believe in the measure we get that. But oh, how self-centered we are. How much do we do that's really about us? God's got some work to do, but He's doing it. But oh, He wants us to get these truths in such a way that they begin to carry us. We understand what God is doing, and we can realize that His power is really actually with us. He actually does love us. We really love Him. were there on that first Easter morning. We were there. Just as surely as we were in Adam, we were in Christ. And it was just a matter of time before that life was reproduced and here we are. But that's the life that was born in everyone who's truly born again of His Spirit.

All right? Do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace. Does that mean? Well, I'll read the next verse. Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not. Don't you realize? Now he gets to another thing. We start with the facts of what happened on resurrection morning. We came forth. It was a new beginning. We partook of that when we joined Him from our whole heart and said, I'm with Him. I get God's purpose. I was there, rightfully so, when He died. I want the resurrection. That's the life I want. Now we learn how to live it out. But in living it out, there are choices we make. When something else appeals to us, we have to learn how to say no and realize we have the power to say no. We're no longer slaves. So now he gets to the why. Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? So now it gets into a practical thing. If Satan appeals, if my old nature, let's say, whatever's left of it in this body appeals to me, and I agree with that, does that old nature have any right to me? It died. And of course, Paul is using a natural illustration because, you know, sadly, slavery has been a fact in human history. And there was a time when there were slave markets, literal slave markets, where human beings were bought and sold and owned to serve people's interests. But suppose that one day someone came and bought you from your old slave master and then set you free and gave you a whole new life. OK? Legally, you're free. That's the facts of the case. But what happens when the old slave master comes around and starts barking out orders? What happens if you say, oh, yes, sir, yes, or yes, ma'am, and you start acting as though the slavery still existed? For all practical purposes, you make yourself a slave of your old master. That's what God is trying to set us free from, to recognize what happened at the cross, the new beginning, and the grave, to recognize the new life, to recognize what that has set us free to be able to do, to learn to choose, but to realize there are consequences to our choices. Everyone here has the power to serve God, if you will. And we have the power if we don't, if we make the wrong choices to begin to serve the old nature and the nature that's in this world. And if we do, not good, is it? Of course, Paul uses this just as a kind of an illustration. But the point is, what happens? Let's jump down to verse 20.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. That was your life. What was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves to God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. So you've got two different, well, and then he sums it up in the well-known scripture, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Don't you love the fact that he uses the word gift in there? Constantly reminding us that we don't deserve any of this. But I'll tell you, we can choose things that bring trouble in our lives. And God has made every provision in what happened that first Easter morning for you and I, you and me, to begin to live in a different kind of a life. And that's what the Christian life is about, is learning that and seeing, not just rejoicing in the history of what happened, but being so identified with what actually happened that we see, I was there on that cross. Jesus took me and everything that was wrong with me into that grave. Three days later, He came out. He didn't bring with Him all the bad stuff that He left in there. He left everything that was wrong in that grave. Somehow that needs to govern my way of seeing who I am and what I am, so that I don't see myself anymore as a slave to sin or this or that. My identity has been changed. Everything about who I am and what I'm about, my destiny, God did that. Jesus was willing to go to a cross to make that happen. Praise God. And the place that He sits right now is God's testament to my destiny. Oh, what are you going to live for? Is that worth living for? Is He worth living for? Because the gift of God is a life that never ends. You go ahead and cling to this one. You're going to lose it.

Praise God. But there's one other thought, and it's one we've emphasized a number of times, because it's wonderful that creation itself, that God made a provision for a new creation, a new beginning with respect to creation itself. He took care of that at the cross in the resurrection. A new creation was born in Christ. It's awesome that you and I get to participate in that and come forth with Christ by believing in Him from our hearts, trusting in Him. We become a part of that picture. We get a brand new start, a new life. But what about today? Anybody here need some beginnings? It's interesting how much of this comes from Paul's writings, but how about the scripture we have used so many times about what Paul did and how he lived and how he saw himself? Forgetting one thing I do, just one thing, forgetting what is behind and pressing forth, reaching forth for what God has given me. So now you get down into the day-by-day process, and the reality is I needed a new beginning. Man, I needed a new life. I was headed down the wrong road. I had no hope. He gave me that hope. He planted His life in my heart. But now in my ... and He gave me the ability to do what pleased Him. But the reality is I don't always do what's right. I make mistakes. I mess up. I'm not there yet. And so I've got a lot of stuff that happens in my life, and I'm not real thrilled about it. I might even be pretty ashamed.

Guilt traps me. And now here I am trying to face another morning, oh God. But Paul didn't see it that way, and I don't believe God wants us to see that. He wants us to understand the cross, but the grave in a different, deeper way. All right, yesterday I messed up. I came short, and I realized, and I came to the Lord, I said, Lord, I'm sorry, please cleanse me. What did He promise when that happens? Do I have grounds for that, or am I just trying to beg Him for something? My ground is not me and any worthiness of me is what He did, period, 100%. But what if I wake up the next morning, and I'm dragging that baggage with me? He's let it go, but I haven't. Do you see where we struggle? And I'll guarantee that everyone here, every morning you get up, there's some part of your yesterdays that's sticking. clinging. Stuff that Jesus left in the grave. Now when Jesus, you messed up yesterday, okay? Maybe you genuinely did. You really, you messed up. You came short and you realized it, but you messed up. When Jesus came forth from that grave, did He bring your mess with Him and say, fix it? That's such a simple truth, isn't it? Does this matter? Because it's wonderful to get the big picture, but I need that picture that sets me free from all that was in my yesterdays. Yes, God is taking me from a bad place to a good place. And yes, in the process, I have the ability, but I don't always get it right. My past does not define my future, neither does yours. God designed, God destined you for eternal glory because of Jesus Christ and not because of you. It was to His glory. It was based on and founded upon His love and His willingness to show mercy. Man, I'm glad to just humble myself and say that's all, that's the only ground I stand on, Lord. You showed me mercy, and I've embraced that love. And Lord, I am so thankful that I can get up this morning and just remember that every everything from my past that wasn't like it should have been, every single thing

that was ever wrong with me, you left that in the ground. You left that in the tomb. Does this make any sense? Anybody here need this truth? Oh, God wants to wake us up and plant that simple truth in our minds. God took you and everything that is wrong with you and ever will be into that grave. All of your bitterness, all of your things that people have done to hurt you, all of your failures, every single one, He took upon Himself. He took it into that, on that cross, and He took it into that tomb, and He left it there. May God help us to see things through God's eyes. God's not sitting there saying, oh, you've got to make up for this and make up for that and fix this and fix that. Jesus took care of that at the cross. He took it into a tomb, and He left it there. May God give us grace to be so joined with Him, in agreement with Him, that we just, we leave it and we realize we can go forward and be free. This morning, I can have a new beginning where I don't have to drag my past into my future. Jesus put it in a tomb and left it there. What a simple truth. It's profound. I just pray that God will make this real. He took care of the big picture. There's a new creation that's happening, it's unfolding, right in our midst. God is calling people out. Everybody died on that cross, but there are people, and everybody was buried. Everything about the old creation wound up in that tomb. That's His destiny. That foreshadows His destiny. But when He came forth, He brought forth a host of brothers and sisters. Not because we deserve it, but because of God's love and mercy. And He wants us to wake up and to understand and to believe and to live out all of that reality. And when we only fall short to start new every single morning and realize what He did allows me to start new today, without the burdens of yesterday. May God plant that reality in every single one of our hearts and enables to walk out here with the freedom we didn't have when we came in. I know there are people here whose past weighs on them, many, in different ways. If that's weighing on you, You just can't shake it. Where's the inspiration for that coming from? It's not coming from the Lord. It's coming from the voice of the accuser who wants to keep you, it's the old slave master, wants to keep you listening. I'm listening to what God did through

Jesus Christ. Thank God. I don't deserve a bit of it, but he loved me in spite of everything that's wrong with me, and he has the power to take me all the way from that grave all the way to glory, and I have the right to believe him. I have the right to trust in him. Praise God. I know there are other things that could be said, but I think that's basically what the Lord wanted, and I just, Lord, this is in your hands. I just pray for everyone here, everyone who hears this. God, for someone who has never really entered into this, God, bring them to that place of surrender and faith, to let go of this world and their own life and give it to you so that you can give them a new life, and then teach them how to walk in that newness of life, be a part of the new creation. Make that your identity. I'm a part of the new order of things. I'm with Jesus, and one day I'm going to be with him forever and ever in a whole different situation, because that creation was born on that resurrection morning. It's just as real. Just because it's unfolding doesn't mean it isn't real, just because we don't see it all yet, but I'll tell you, there's a God who can make it real to your heart so that this isn't just some blind faith. God can reveal it to a willing heart. Are you willing? May God help every one of us right where we're at to understand and find our place in all of, in this simple truth, the reality of what God did when Jesus died, and when he was buried, and when he rose from the grave, and when he sat on the throne. With all authority and all power in heaven and earth, to him be the glory. Praise God.