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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
The Lord of Resurrection - Easter Sunday Morning Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Acts 1: 11 |
Date |
2011-04-24 |
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[Passage]
Acts 1: 11
They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
Let us congratulate the resurrection of the Lord!
Let us give all thanks and glory to the Lord who opened the way of salvation and eternal life for us by breaking the authority of death and resurrecting.
Imagine one of your friends comes and tells you the following:
"There is a country that's like a paradise. You can live happily without any worries about food, clothing and shelter your whole life."
But he says there is nobody who has been there.
Also, he only heard from somebody else how to get there.
Do you feel a strong urge to go to that country?
Probably there would be a few who would depart right away just by hearing such words.
But what if a resident of that country invites you and tells you in detail the way to get there?
You have already begun the journey to a much better place.
You are going to Heaven where there is eternal life of happiness.
How did you decide to take this journey?
It's because you have met the one who proved that Heaven is a real place and took this journey first.
He is Jesus who came to this earth in human body.
Jesus died on the cross, but He resurrected. He ascended into Heaven and went to the glorious heavenly kingdom.
History proves that Jesus was born on this earth.
Human history has been divided into BC(Before Christ) and AD(Anno Domini) at the birth of Jesus.
The footsteps of Jesus remain in many records.
The Four Gospels and the Book of Acts record in detail the public ministry for 3 years, the crucifixion and resurrection, the footsteps after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
The Lord also let amazing works be manifested in His name where this gospel was preached.
As said in Mark 16:20, "And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed," He confirmed all the words in the Bible are true.
We believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord were actual events; we believe that there is Heaven, and we march towards it.
We live with the hope of resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20 says, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep." As said, our Lord is the first fruit of the resurrection.
The Lord offered Himself to God the Father as a precious fruit by resurrecting after His death. Then, He gained the glory given by the Father.
If we follow the footsteps of the Lord, we too will be borne as fruit of resurrection before the Father God.
As the Lord gained glory, we too will gain the glory.
The Lord is the first fruit of resurrection, and what kind of fruit was He before the Father God?
Let us talk about it in three aspects.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will take after the Lord and be presented to the Father God as the best fruit.
[Main] Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, first, the resurrected Lord was offered as fruit of obedience.
He knew what kind of sufferings would accompany Him to fulfill His duty as the Savior.
And yet He obeyed the will of God the Father to come down to this earth and fulfill His duty.
He had the right of choice.
He had the right to choose what He wanted, and He chose to obey.
He did not obey calculating various factors or by coercion thinking like, "I think it will be worth after considering many things. So I will do it."
He did not obey because it is something easy to do.
He just obeyed unconditionally.
2 Corinthians 1:19 says, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus ... was not yes and no, but is yes in Him."
How could the Lord say only 'Yes' and 'Amen'?
He had only obedience because He understood the heart of God the Father completely.
Since the fall of Adam, the mankind began to lose the image of God.
They became the slaves of the devil and have lived in pain.
God the Father grieved watching these children.
The Lord knew this heart of God and He also felt the same sorrow.
So, He obeyed with a thankful heart thinking, "I am thankful that I can comfort the heart of the Father and save the souls with my obedience."
The Lord paid the price with His own blood to buy the souls from the enemy devil and Satan, and He presented them to God.
Romans 5:19 says, "For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous."
The Lord obeyed and received great glory.
He was crucified, but He could not be bound by death because He was sinless.
He resurrected on the third day and became the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
How amazing a fruit this is!
The Lord showed to us obedience can bear such beautiful fruits.
I hope you will also obey like the Lord and bear the fruit of obedience.
You should not obey just because you will go to Hell unless you obey, or because it is a blessing to obey.
You should obey because you are sons and daughters who understand the heart of the Father God.
What kind of heart does God have?
It is the heart of the Father who wants to give only good things to His children.
If we understand this heart of God the Father, we can bear the perfect fruit of obedience.
So, I hope you will try to obey only with 'Yes' and 'Amen', and first try to have the heart of God.
This way, you will be able to understand the heart of God the Father completely and obey only with thankfulness.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will give joy to God with abundant fruit here on earth, and you will also present yourself as a beautiful fruit of obedience.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, secondly, the Lord of resurrection was offered as a fruit of love.
He came forth as a precious fruit of love by loving God to the utmost degree.
One of the reasons why God the Father sent His only begotten Son to this earth is to show us that if we love God, we will be loved by God.
Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me."
Jesus willingly took all the sufferings while He was fulfilling His duty as the Savior on this earth.
He could do that because He loved the Father to the utmost degree.
As a result, what kind of love did He receive?
God clothed Him with the highest glory.
Philippians 2:9-11 says, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him (Jesus Christ), and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
How different is His state before and after the resurrection?
Jesus lived a very exhaustive life while living on this earth.
He lived in poverty and He worked like a slave without getting enough rest.
He felt the hunger and tiredness.
When He was arrested before the crucifixion, He was mocked and despised being in such a lowly state by His creatures.
Finally, He was brutally killed on the cross like an animal that was offered as a sacrifice.
After the resurrection, however, He was completely different.
He could go to Jerusalem and Galilee freely without being limited by the physical space. He could even go into a house of which the doors were locked.
He had a body with which He could eat physical food, but didn't have to eat at all.
Just how glorious would our Lord be after His ascension!
That glory and honor cannot be adequately expressed with language of this earth.
It's not just about our Lord. If we too love God the Father, we can be borne as fruit of love and enjoy the glory.
God sent the Lord to this earth to let us know this fact.
Of course, in physical sense, those who try to love God will have hardships.
It might be painful when you circumcise the skin of your heart that is tarnished with sins and evil.
It takes our effort to plow the field of our heart and make it good soil by removing rocks and thorns.
Furthermore, to save the souls as workers for the kingdom of God, we have to fill our bodies with the sufferings of the Christ.
But those who love God will endure through any kind of hardship.
Those who sincerely love God and recover the image of God completely will be loved by God to the utmost degree.
And the glory received this way will be much more than people can imagine.
God will give us such great glory that men, with physical bodies in this physical world, cannot begin to understand or measure it.
Of course, He lets us enjoy blessings while we are living on this earth waiting for the Lord's return.
Engrave on your heart again and again everyday the way Jesus loved God the Father.
You can also cultivate such love.
Jesus showed us the example because we can also do it.
I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you will cultivate perfect love so that you will be loved by God to the utmost degree.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, thirdly, the Lord of resurrection was offered as fruit of hope.
Let me introduce to you a part of the confession of Jesus that He made to the Father while He was carrying the cross.
"Father, I am heartbroken because of the changed heart of men.
But Father, I know that You will recover all these things in your justice and hidden secret.
Father! These things are momentary events, and I take this cross with hope and joy because of the great glory that You give and the ways of light that You opened for these souls when this event will be over."
In the view of men of flesh, it seemed that Jesus was in great despair.
He seemed to be hopeless.
But as He confessed before the Father God, He had the bright hope in His heart.
With this hope He could stand all the painful sufferings.
According to this hope Jesus Christ resurrected and ascended into Heaven and received great glory.
The way of salvation and the gate of Heaven were opened for those souls who had to die as sinners.
Mark 16:19 says, "So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God." As written, the Lord who resurrected and ascended into Heaven sat down at the right hand of God.
John, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus saw the throne of God in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 4:2-4 says, "A throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. [3] And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. [4] Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads."
Revelation chapter 21 talks about New Jerusalem that John saw in a vision and recorded.
God's throne is located in New Jerusalem, among the different dwelling places of Heaven.
New Jerusalem is where God's throne is located and it is the most beautiful and glorious place in Heaven.
Jesus overcame the sufferings on this earth with the hope for the glory that God would give to Him.
After He accomplished the ministry of salvation, He went to the right hand of God's throne located in New Jerusalem.
God's throne is surrounded by the thrones of the 24 elders.
The 24 elders also lived beautiful lives hoping for the glory that God would give to them.
With that hope, they came to sit near the throne of the Lord and God in Heaven.
The Lord gave this hope to us as well.
John 14:2-3 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. [3] If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."
We can take hold of better heavenly dwelling places to the extent that we change ourselves having this hope.
Those who change into whole spirit can go near the throne of God.
They can go to New Jerusalem.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will go near the throne of God in New Jerusalem because of this hope given to you.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there is the core of human cultivation in the process of the Lord receiving the sufferings, resurrecting, and ascending into Heaven.
Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
If we sum up the human cultivation in two words, they would be, "sufferings" and "glory."
Just as our Lord received great glory after overcoming all the sufferings, we can also receive great glory if we overcome the sufferings in human cultivation.
Lord went this way first, and He was borne as the fruit of obedience, fruit of love, and fruit of hope.
I hope you will also be borne as such fruits.
Those who understand the heart of God the Father completely, obey Him and love Him to the utmost degree, and those who change themselves completely with the hope for New Jerusalem; these are the ones who have come forth as best fruits.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will also become one of these best fruits, give glory to God the Trinity forever, and enjoy all the glory.
[AMEN] |
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