The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: the Guarantee, the Glory & the Assurance.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

It is of first importance, the Apostle Paul said. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead proves to be the bedrock doctrine of the Christian faith. One cannot read the Book of Acts without noting the constant theme of the Apostle’s proclamation, namely,  the resurrection of the crucified One and salvation that comes only through His Name.

This article provides some gleanings on the importance on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.


The Resurrection is the GUARANTEE of our life.
When Jesus Christ rose up from the dead, He guaranteed that all His people will in fact live eternally through Him. In Christ’s resurrection, all His people live. His bodily resurrection certifies His peoples’ future resurrection. Christ’s resurrection in glory assures His peoples’ resurrection in glory. The new body of Christ provides the template for the new bodies that God’s people will receive in glory. The resurrection of Christ guarantees our life -- only in Him

The Resurrection is the SATISFACTION of Christ’s atonement.
Infinite wrath came down upon the divine Son of God when He bore the curse of the Father’s wrath at Calvary. He became sin for His people and propitiated the Father’s righteous anger against sin. Thus, when the Father raised His Son from the dead, it proved that the Father was truly satisfied with the Son’s propitiatory work. Wrath has been appeased. Salvation has been won. The reality of the resurrection shows the sureness of the Father’s satisfaction of His Beloved Son’s atoning work for His elect.

The Resurrection is the TRIUMPH over all death.
Satan is the father of lies and the god of this age. He is the prince of darkness and the one who holds the power of death. Indeed, when Christ was raised from the dead, it presents the triumph of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory and the Prince of Life, over all powers of death and darkness. Indeed, Christ defeated the Evil One at Calvary. Fulfilling prophetic words even from Genesis 3, Christ bruised Satan himself on the head and gave him the fatal blow when he defeated death and conquered all evil when He displayed His power in the resurrection.

The Resurrection is the FULFILLMENT of biblical prophecy.
One thousand years before the Lord Jesus came into the world in human flesh, King David prophesied that the Lord would faithfully preserve and watch over His special one and not allow His chosen one to see decay. Even Isaiah the prophet made clear that the suffering Servant who would die as a substitutionary sacrifice for His people will prolong his days through the resurrection. Thus, that Jesus rose from the dead fulfills the glorious and sure Word of Jehovah who prophesied centuries ahead of time that Messiah would rise triumphantly from the dead!

The Resurrection is the SEAL of future glorification.
What will our future bodies be like in glory? How sure can we be that we will inherit eternal life? The resurrection of the Lord Christ provides the seal and certifying mark that we will be with Christ and that we will be made like Christ in His glorified form. His resurrection provides the confident certainty that we will be resurrected in a body that resembles His glorified body.

The Resurrection is the HEART of true hope.
All who have received the new birth by the sovereign grace of God alone are those who have hope -- a sure hope that comes through the substitutionary death and the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. It is a living and interceding Savior who reigns in heaven as He sits at the Father’s right hand that instills hope to the child of God.

The Resurrection is the UNIQUENESS of biblical Christianity.
One may scan the history books and travel the world today and count the innumerable religions and ways of life that will bring one great happiness and peace. But every founder and religious figure in the religion has one thing in common -- they’re all dead and they’ve all decayed. They’ve passed and they’re gone. But Jesus Christ is alive. This is the exclusive and distinguishing mark of biblical Christianity. Life can only be found in the living God. Victory over death can only be granted through One who Himself proved He triumphed over this great monster. Christ alone has done it and this is the unique, essential, foundational, and proclaimed message of Christianity.

The Resurrection is the COMFORT for our eschatology.
When loved ones die, the Apostle Paul exhorts believers to not grieve as the pagans do who have no hope. Rather, true believers have an indomitable comfort that springs from the resurrection life and soon-coming return of our Risen and living Lord, Jesus Christ.  Believers know that Jesus intercedes right now, at this very moment, in heaven for His own sheep and that He will return again to catch His people up in the clouds to be with Him forever. And believers ought to comfort one another with these words. It is the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ that guarantees this future, eschatological hope which plants great comfort deep into the hearts of believers -- even when undergoing great suffering in life.

*Download the PDF article here.

Read More

The PRAISEWORTHINESS of God.

THE PRAISEWORTHINESS OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church

I will call upon the LORD who is "WORTHY TO BE PRAISED" (1 Samuel 22.4)!  God is worthy, infinitely worthy of all honor and praise!  The praiseworthiness of God speaks of the full honor and deserved worship given to our exclusive and preeminent God. God is to be praised! 

In heaven, the saints sing worthy is the Lamb to take the book for He was slain and purchased men for God with His blood (Revelation 5.9). They continue singing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5.12). 

This kind of thinking should saturate the thoughts of God’s people. Our hearts should well up with bubbling praise and honor to our God who gives innumerable reasons to bless Him. All day, every day, throughout the day, whatever happens each day should not alter our praises of the Lord for He remains the same, unchanging, perfect, good and sovereign. Perhaps this is why the common refrain thunders forth so often in the Bible:  “Hallelujah" - Praise the LORD (see, e.g., Psalm 117:1-2; 135.1, 3, 21).

God is exceedingly praiseworthy because of His character, His actions, His creation, and His salvation.  Contemplate your God and praise Him for His infinite beauties of His character. His being, His attributes, His personhood, His glories, and His excellencies deserve the highest praises from His creatures.  Let your study of God lead to doxology and worship of your God.   Second, contemplate your God and praise Him for His actions in history, toward Israel, toward all nations, and toward you and me. Think of the greatness of His works as you survey biblical revelation. From His provisions, to His deliverances, to His electing people to work out His plans, to His sustaining of His people, we have plenteous reasons to stand stunned before our God and praise Him with a cheerful heart.  Third, contemplate your God and praise Him for His creation. He made all things with His spoken Word. Nothing rebels when God gives the sovereign word. His decrees stand fast. When God spoke, it was done. And also, contemplate your God and praise Him for His salvation. Think of the mercy of God that pitied you as a child of wrath, running headlong toward eternal hell, and He lovingly, particularly, sufficiently, and powerfully snatched you from the fire and saved you! There was nothing in you to merit this kind of rescuing love. But it was His kindness!  Praise be to the Lord!  It’s why David said “I will sing praise to your Name, O most High" (Psalm 9.2)

Today, let your heart well up with genuine and honest worship to your Savior as you say with the psalmist: “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my being" (Psalm 104.33; 146.2). And amazingly, this is not something that only you and I must do today for this praising God is something that God Himself jealously and passionately does! His own very glory He will not give to another (Isaiah 48.11). We must praise God because He deserves it, and in response to His actions, and because God Himself is passionately committed to His own honor and excellency, but we must also praise God as the goal and purpose of all that He does!  Let us praise God for all things, especially our salvation in Christ our Beloved Savior, and let us live to the praise of the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1.6).

 

 

**To read more from this blog-series on the Attributes of God, go here. 

Read More

[RE-POST] Why I'm Relentlessly Committed to Expository Preaching!

 

Why am I relentlessly committed to expository preaching?
 Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church


Expository preaching allows God to speak to the people through His powerful & eternal Word.

Expository preaching means that God determines what will be preached since I work verse-by-verse through books of the Bible.

Expository preaching models for the flock of God how to study the Bible — carefully, intentionally, reverently, methodically, and prayerfully working through books understanding the meaning of texts as they're properly interpreted in the immediate context.

Expository preaching obediently follows the authoritative demand of God that He gives to all ministers of the gospel: "Preach the Word!"

Expository preaching provides the necessary venue for the Spirit of God to work by means of the preached Word that has centered on Christ and His gospel to bring sinners to salvation.

Expository preaching conforms the people of God into the image of Christ.

Expository preaching glorifies God since it is God and His Words speaking to the people rather than a man's opinions.

Expository preaching counsels the souls of believers to trust confidently in God's Word, to run relentlessly to the cross of Christ, to pray fervently in the power of the Spirit, and to obey swiftly what God has said in His Word.

Expository preaching magnifies the absolute sovereignty of God since the preacher has no inherent power to convert or sanctify the hearers but it is God, and God alone, by His marvelous grace, who works in the hearers through the proclamation of sacred Truth.

Expository preaching gives people what they MUST hear not necessarily what people want to hear. God determines what is said, what text is preached, and what points to bring out in the message.

Expository preaching feeds the hungry souls of born-again believers who, like sheep, need to be fed the precious, pure, and satisfying food of the Word.

Expository preaching produces effects that are outside of the abilities of the man who stands to preach since the true preaching event is in fact a divine event -- the voice of God thundering through the Word of God and the Spirit of God applies divine truth to the souls of hearers according to His sovereign prerogative.

Expository preaching is the primary vehicle through which the Spirit of God draws the lost to Jesus Christ as the herald opens the Word of God and preaches it with authority.

Expository preaching unquestionably reminds hearers that God is the authority and His Word is what rules over us and tells us what to do. The preaching event is never about self-help, pithy, crafty, entertaining, crowd-producing, cute sermonettes. In true preaching, God, from heaven, condescends to His people through the proclamation of the Word and meets with His people to show them Christ by the illuminating work of the Spirit. This is authoritative, God-centered preaching.

Expository preaching reminds Christians to trust in God's truth in the Word & not on a man's dazzling message. Let their faith be in Christ! 

 

 

Therefore, by God's grace:

I will EXPOSITIONALLY preach

I will BOLDLY preach 

I will REGULARLY preach 

I will PRAYERFULLY preach

I will OBEDIENTLY preach 

I will FAITHFULLY preach

 

Haddon Robinson sums it up concisely: 

Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.

Read More

The NAME of God.

THE NAME OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

Blessed be the NAME OF THE LORD (Psalm 113.2). The Name of God appears all throughout the Bible and speaks of His essential Being and perfect Nature in its blessed fullness. The Name of God signifies who God really is. The Bible speaks of praising the NAME of the Lord (Psalm 113.1; 148.13). This means that we must know our God and respond rightly in worship to who God is in the fullness of His glory. 

The Name of the Lord most specifically is Yahweh. He says that “My name” is Yahweh (Exodus 6.3; cf. 3.14-15). The Name of Yahweh speaks of His self-existence, His eternality, His power, and His Almightiness.  None can compare and none can outdo our God!  But His name is more than a “title”. It is a revelation of His nature and attributes. Often one’s name indicated one’s identity, and even one’s works and actions, or even one’s profession. The Name of God, to be sure, encompasses the grand glories and the infinite splendors of God’s personhood, works, miracles, and being! 

To worship and praise the “name of the LORD” means to celebrate HIs attributes, actions, power, and mercy. In the song of Moses, praising the name of the Lord is parallel to ascribing greatness to God (Deuteronomy 32.3). Elsewhere, the name of the Lord is parallel to the glory of the Lord (Psalm 102.15). To call upon the name of the Lord means that one prays to, cries out to, and begs God for a listening ear (Psalm 116.4). Proverbs 18.10 tells us that the name of the Lord is a strong tower.  

In the New Testament, believers are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 6.11). Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10.13). These truths speak of the fullness of who God is. Saints have been justified because of the fullness of the work of Jesus Christ.  To be saved, one must call upon the character, the work, the actions, the mighty saving abilities of God! 

Like Micah, we must walk in the name of the Lord our God forever (Micah 4.5). We must be ever living in the presence of the fullness of God’s glorious being. As the praises were uttered: “We thank you and praise your glorious Name” (1 Chronicles 29.13). Nehemiah extolled: “may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise” (Nehemiah 9.5). God is so passionate about the worth and enjoyment of and exaltation of His Name that He makes for Himself a glorious Name (Isaiah 63.14). 

This means you must know your God rightly to worship His Name and character appropriately. It means you must bow humbly before your God when you know His Name truly. It means you must live obediently and reverently before your God for His Name is glorious! So you ponder the name of your God which leads to a blessed and happy study of the attributes of God and it leads you to sing with David: “I will sing praises to the Name of the Lord Most High” (Psalm 7.17). You can exalt the Name of the Lord through prayer and praise, hymns and singing, obedience and living (1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 92.1)!  Many people boast in anything or everything this world can offer, but we as God’s people who love God and know Him truly and trust Him supremely can say: “we will boast in the Name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20.7). 

Read More