Resurrection Victory

RESURRECTION VICTORY!

There have been people who have predicted the time of their own death, but there is only one person who not only predicted the time of His death, but also the day of His resurrection, and that person is Jesus Christ the Lord! In John chapter 2, beginning at verse 19, Jesus revealed to His critics:’Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ Then the Jews said, ’It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said."

Through the centuries there have been many victories in God’s dealings with men, but the GREATEST triumph of them all was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! In one earth-shattering moment, Jesus conquered the three greatest enemies of mankind:

SIN, SATAN and the SECOND DEATH.

Jesus Christ has won the victory by His resurrection!

I. HIS VICTORY OVER SIN

From the very beginning in the garden of Eden, man has been engaged in a battle against sin. Because we are descendants of Adam, we have inherited from him a tendency to do the things we know are wrong:

Rom. 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned."

Sometimes we don’t even want to sin, because we know it is harmful to our well-being; and yet we can’t seem to get the victory, because its influence over us is so strong! Paul describes this conflict in Rom. 7:15, 18-19, 24 "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do....For I know that in me (that is, in my sinful nature) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice....O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

The answer to Paul’s question is this: Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin by His resurrection! He and He alone can deliver us! (v. 25 "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!")

By His death on the cross of Calvary, Christ provided a way by which our sin can be removed; yet it is by His resurrection (together with His blood) that God can declare us perfectly righteous in Him. Remember, our key verse on "Palm Sunday" was Rom. 4:25 "who was delivered up for our offenses, and was raised for our justification." That means God can stamp on the bill for our sins: "PAID IN FULL-PERFECT IN CHRIST!"

Have you ever been justified (declared righteous)? Christ’s death and resurrection have provided the way - now you must believe it and accept Christ’s victorious provision. Rom. 10:9&10 "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." You can deal with your sin problem right now by accepting the gift of Salvation God freely offers you -Rom. 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Not only does the resurrection of Christ deal with our sin positionally, but also practically. As believers in Christ, we can have DAILY victory over sin because of Christ’s resurrection. In

Phil. 3:10, Paul prayed: "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death," And in Eph. 1:19+20 "and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,"

The resurrection power of Christ is available to every believer to make us more like Him; if we would but draw upon it by faith!

Phil. 3:9 "and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; "

Praise God, Jesus Christ has "won

the victory" over sin - by His resurrection!

II. HIS VICTORY OVER SATAN