Embracing the Victory in Jesus: Living in Light of the Resurrection

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Excited to celebrate our risen Savior here today.

The fact that he is alive is foundational to everything that we do.

His resurrection is vital for every aspect of the Christian's life.

I want to take you to a passage of scripture here this morning that speaks specifically to the power of the resurrection, the necessity of the resurrection, and ultimately the promise of the resurrection.

It's found in First Corinthians, chapter 15.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn there.

I'm sure we will also put First Corinthians 15 up on the screen so that you can follow along here this morning.

There are many people that want to have religion.

They want to have the blessings of God, and they might even say that they are Christians, but deny the resurrection, deny the bodily resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And I'm going to show you here this morning in First Corinthians, chapter 15 that Paul, the Apostle Paul, said, that's impossible.

We cannot trust in God.

Believe in everything that he says, but deny the resurrection.

Here this morning, we're going to see that there is a presentation of the resurrection.

And we're going to use a word that you might hear around churches, and it's the gospel.

The word gospel literally means good news.

And there's a lot of good news that we hear in this world today.

And there's a lot of bad news.

I like the good news.

I like to hear good things.

I like to hear that someone got a raise.

I like to hear that someone beat a sickness.

I like to hear that my favorite team won.

That's good news.

But oftentimes in our life, we face a lot of bad news.

We turn on the news and we hear bad news.

We get a phone call or a text, and it's not something that we want to hear.

But here in First Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul says that this is the good news, the gospel, the best news, and that is the news of Jesus Christ.

It says in verse one of First Corinthians, chapter 15.

Moreover, brethren, I declare, I present unto you the gospel.

That's the word that we mentioned already, the gospel, the good news which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein Ye stand.

So he's talking to people who have heard the gospel, he's talking to people who have received the gospel, and he's talking to people who are standing in the gospel.

And I think that's a big message to all of us this morning that, number one, we need to hear the gospel, and you're in the right place to do that.

Number two, the next step is to receive the gospel, to believe in the truth of the resurrection, to believe that Jesus died for your sins.

But then we see number three there in verse one, he says, and wherein ye stand.

And so salvation belief is not the end.

It actually goes further to say that we're to live in light of the gospel in our lives, to live in the power of the gospel, to live in all the things that God has given us in the blessings of salvation.

And he says in verse 2, by which also you're saved.

He says, this is the truth that saves you.

The Bible tells us that we should be excited about the gospel.

It should bring joy to us.

It should bring us a sense of comfort.

It should bring us a sense of urgency.

We come to church a lot of times and we go through the motions.

We come in, we sit in our pew.

We feel comfortable that we're there.

Or maybe you know what?

We watch because we're on the road or we're sick or we're watching online.

And I'm not discrediting the fact that we should be in church, that we should be watching a church if we're not able to be there in person.

I'm not saying that.

But what I am saying is that oftentimes we can lose the joy and the excitement of our salvation.

And what he says here is that we are saved by that.

That's what gives us life.

If you keep in memory, he says, remember this, what I have preached unto you.

Unless ye have believed in vain.

He says, if you don't remember what God has done for you, you're believing in vain.

Why?

Because you're missing the point.

The point about coming to church.

And I know that a lot of us got in our Easter clothes today and we came out and, you know, we're taking pictures and we have opportunities for you to take pictures, but that's not the reason why we're here.

At least it shouldn't be the reason why we're here.

We.

Some of you are already thinking about what you're going to have for Easter lunch or Easter supper, whatever you might be having today.

But.

But that's not the reason why we get together, even though those are great benefits.

He says, why we come together, why we believe, why we celebrate, why we worship, why we live with confidence is because of the gospel.

Verse 3.

He's going to present the Gospel.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.

He says, I'm telling you what I know, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

That's what we talked about on Friday, the sacrifice of our Savior, the crucifixion.

And Jesus did just that for us.

He went to the cross for us.

He went through excruciating pain.

We mentioned that that word excruciating literally means the way of the cross or from the cross.

Jesus went through physical agony for those who he loves.

But not only did he take that physical pain, but he also bore the weight of the wrath of God, the payment for our sins.

I heard recently someone saying, well, who really killed Jesus?

And we could get into the nuances of that question.

But really, it was my sin that led him to the cross.

I am the guilty one.

I might as well have been the one who nailed him to the cross because of my sins.

Now we know that there were physical people there doing things, but ultimately we see through Scripture that he loves us enough to go to the cross.

Romans 5:8, he demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And so the first step of understanding the Gospel is to know that Jesus Christ died, died for you.

He didn't just die for the world, even though he did.

He didn't just die for Pastor Josh, even though he did, but he died for you.

And then, and I love how it says it there at the end of verse three, says, according to the Scriptures, meaning this was already stated, God is just doing what he said he would do.

God is following through.

God is faithful.

God is always true to what he says.

So he said he would do that, and he did.

Furthermore, verse four, and he was buried.

A lot of times we forget about that aspect of the Gospel, but Paul mentions that he was taken down from the cross.

And most of you know he was laid in a tomb, a tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

And many people were in sadness, many people were confused, but that burial was an indication that it was a real death.

There are some that might even argue that Jesus didn't die.

There's something called the swoon theory, in which he didn't really die.

He just passed out.

But trust me, because of the story, you guys, guys know, Romans were professionals in Death.

You guys know about the spear in the side?

That was an indication to recognize that Jesus physically had died.

They wrapped him in grave clothes and they placed him in a tomb.

And it says that he was buried and that here it is.

This is why we're here.

This is why we celebrate.

This is why we worship.

This is why we have life.

Verse 4.

And that he rose again the third day.

Then he says that phrase according to the Scriptures, just like he said, the tomb is empty.

The tomb is empty, but our hearts aren't empty.

The tomb is empty, but our lives are not empty.

That tomb no longer has any more substance in it, at least Jesus's physical body.

But we know that as Christians, we have God living within us according to Scripture, through the Holy Spirit.

And therefore he says, that is the Gospel, that is the presentation of the resurrection.

If I just said, well, the resurrection is this really cool historical event that can be validated, that would be a true statement.

But it would be an understatement because as we see here, it is the presentation of everything that we believe.

If you believe that Jesus died, but you don't believe he rose again, you're missing the point.

I'm going to try to speak in love.

I know some of you.

I don't know all of you, but.

But know that I'm speaking these things this morning in love.

But if you just believe that Jesus was an historical figure, if you just believe he was a great teacher, if you believe that he changed the world that he was in, you would only be partially true.

Because he's alone, not a great teacher.

He's alone, not just a visionary, but he is the Savior of the world.

He is the God of the universe.

He is the creator of all.

And so therefore we see, he presents the gospel.

Paul presents the Gospel to the church at Corinth.

And this morning the Gospel presentation is being given to you.

The presentation of the resurrection.

But then we go a little bit further because some might say, okay, well, I don't know about that.

I don't believe in that.

These people at this time did believe.

He says that you believe and you receive and you stand.

But there are some that question the validity.

And for the sake of time, we don't have all the day to go through all of the proofs throughout historical records, but we do see here, Paul says that there is proof of the resurrection, verse 5, and that he was seen of Cephas.

That's Peter.

That's Simon Peter.

You guys know him.

Peter saw Jesus after the resurrection.

Then of the 12.

After that he was seen above 500 brethren at once.

And so this wasn't just a one off thing.

Jesus had people that had seen him and interacted with him after the resurrection.

And then this is so interesting in verse 6 what Paul says, he says the of these 500, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep, meaning some have died, but others are still alive.

You can go talk to them.

And so we see that there's this presentation of the resurrection, but there's also proof of the resurrection.

And here this morning, if you're wrestling with that, if you're struggling with the validity of the resurrection, number one, I would tell you to go to Scripture.

Scripture is the truth.

Scripture is the literal word of God.

And therefore Scripture points to the fact that the resurrection is a real thing.

But as Christians, we shouldn't be afraid of what science finds, we should not be afraid of what archaeologists find.

Because everything in history points to a real resurrection.

We see that over and over again through people trying to prove that Jesus didn't exist, or people that try to prove that the resurrection wasn't real.

But yet we see over and over again it is a solid foundational truth that Jesus died and that he was buried and that he rose again.

So we have the presentation and we also see the proof.

We see in verse number 80 or 7 it says after that he was seen of James, that's his half brother, then of all the apostles, and then last of all, he was seen of me.

Also Paul says, I've seen him as one born out of due time.

Paul goes on in verses 9 through 11 to explain his personal grace that he received from God.

He says, I, I was not worthy of this.

He says, I, I, I, I was the ultimate apostle basically.

But it wasn't because of my skill, it was because of the Lord.

He says in verse 10, but by the grace of God, I am what I am.

And I hope that that's your testimony here this morning.

It is by the grace of God that I am what I am.

And so he goes on to talk about the importance the power of the resurrection.

Verse 12, verse 12, he speaks directly to the power of the resurrection.

He says, now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some of you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

You might be saying, what is he talking about?

Well, there's a group of people that were basically saying that there's not going to be a resurrection of Christians.

We're not going to have glorified bodies we're not going to resurrect.

We're not going to have that eternal standing.

He says, how can you say that Jesus rose from the dead and then you don't have that hope?

He says in verse number 13, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?

He says, if you don't have that hope of your everlasting life with him one day, with your glorified body one day, then you know what?

You're basically saying that Christ is not risen.

And that's a very, very difficult thing for Paul to say to them and for them to hear.

But essentially he's calling them out and saying, if you are saying this, then you're saying this, that Christ is not risen.

And here's the effect of that verse number 14.

And if Christ be not risen, then our preaching, then is our preaching vain?

Paul says, if we don't have the resurrection, every single person who preaches anything about the Bible, anything about God, anything about Jesus is in vain.

You say, well, what does that mean?

That means this.

Why does, you know, I get up here and I rail on for a certain amount of time, not the only preacher in the world, but all of us to some degree have some element of a preaching ministry.

You say, what?

I have a preaching ministry?

Well, you preach by the way that you live, you preach by the way that you work, you.

You preach by the way that you respond, by the way that you love, by the way that you parents, by the way that you do anything in your life.

And so the Bible says that everything that we would preach to, the world would be empty if we had not the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

He goes on to say a little bit more, not just our preaching would be in vain, but our faith.

And your faith is also vain.

What would we be believing?

It.

We would just be believing in another religious figure.

We would just be believing in another historical person who came and made an impact and then left.

He says, what you're believing in matters, and who you are believing in matters.

I need to reference that again.

Sometimes people think, oh, it's just, you know, if I, I just believe in love, if I just believe in unity, you know, whatever you're believing in, that's okay.

Folks, I, I know that that sounds very attractive, especially in our world today.

You believe this, you believe this, you believe this, and we can all come together and sing Kumbaya and we just be loving.

But that's not the truth.

The truth is, is that there is a proper way to believe and there's a proper person to believe in, and that is Jesus Christ.

He is the way, the truth, and the life.

If your faith is in anything else other than that, the Bible says that your faith is vain.

Not me.

Don't get mad at me this morning.

If you're gonna get mad at anybody, get mad at what the scriptures say.

The scriptures say that if you don't believe in Jesus and Jesus resurrected your preaching and your faith is vain, that word vain is an interesting word.

It just means empty, hopeless, useless.

And that's exactly what Paul is trying to explain.

Then he says in verse number 15, yay.

And we are found false witnesses of God.

He says, then we would be the liars.

God would be the liar and we would be the liars, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up.

If so, be that the dead is not.

The dead rise not.

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.

And if Christ be not raised, here it is.

Here's another strong statement.

Your faith is vain.

And are ye yet in your sins?

Meaning this.

Our faith would be in vain.

Our preaching would be in vain, and we would have no salvation.

Without the resurrection, we would have no salvation.

We would still be in our sins.

Say what, what are you.

What are you talking about?

About our sins.

The Bible says for all of sin to come short of the glory of God.

The word sin literally means to miss the mark.

I don't know if any of you guys are.

Have ever been in, like, maybe archery.

It's actually an archery term, and it would be to aim for something, in this case, righteousness, holiness, perfection, and missing the mark, whether it's our fault or the surrounding effects, but it's essentially missing the mark.

And the Bible says that all have missed the mark, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

But then the Bible also says that the wages or the payment of sin is death.

And so in this case, he says if Christ has not risen, if there is no resurrection, all of us have missed the mark.

All of us are stuck in our sins.

But then we go back to what Paul says in the very beginning about the Gospel.

We trust in the Gospel, and the gospel is this, that Jesus did all the work I'm trusting in him.

He didn't miss the mark.

He hit the mark perfectly.

And he hits the mark perfectly every single time.

He's completely and utterly holy.

Therefore he was the only one who could offer that sacrifice for us as that perfect Passover Lamb without the Shading of blood, there's no remission of sin.

Therefore, Jesus's sacrifice offers us forgiveness.

And so he says, if we don't have the resurrection, we don't have salvation.

Verse 18.

Then they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ or perish, meaning those that have passed away before, that's where they.

That's where they stay.

They're stuck.

And then he says something so interesting in verse number 19.

He says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, meaning if our hope in Christ just is based in this time frame that we live on this earth, you know, if we're really healthy, 100 years, okay, the idea would be this.

He says, if that's all you're living for, for Christ.

What does.

What does he say in verse 19?

We are of all men most miserable say, well, I thought we're supposed to live for Christ now.

That's not what he's saying.

He's saying this.

If our Christian life and our faith in Jesus is all about the here and now, we.

We will be miserable.

Because I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I wake up in the morning, I've got pain.

That's pretty miserable.

I turn on the news and I see a pretty miserable world.

I go to work.

Now, this is hypothetical because I work here.

I love what I do here.

But.

But if I was to go into another place, I'm miserable.

I go home and, you know, and you guys see that pattern.

And the Bible says that if that's all we're living for, I thought I was saved so that God would make me perfect and that I.

Everything would go my way and I would be perfectly healthy and that the world will come together.

No, that's not what the Bible says.

Because the Bible says, yes, God is working now, but he's working for eternity, and his kingdom is forever.

And we're not just living for the here and now, even though the things that we do here and now matter for eternity.

But also it's living with the hope of living with him forever and ever and ever.

And therefore, we don't have to be miserable as Christians.

A miserable Christian is an oxymoron.

It doesn't make sense.

Okay, you say, well, Pastor, I've been pretty miserable for a moment.

A fish can be out of the water for a minute or two, but that's not where that fish is living.

And the reality is, as Christians, we have to understand that, yes, there are moments in our life where we feel miserable, where we feel pitiful, where we feel hopeless, but the ultimate blessing and power of the resurrection is that we don't have to live as miserable people with hopelessness, but we can live with confidence.

We.

We can live with hope.

We can live with that security to know that we have the resurrection one day, that one day we will be with our Savior.

And so Jesus went first.

He says in John 14, I came here to serve you and to sacrifice for you, but I go to prepare a place for you, and that I will come again.

You will be reunited.

And so, therefore, we've already heard this morning the presentation.

That's verses one through four.

We heard about the proof of the resurrection, verses five through eight.

We.

We've heard now about the power of the resurrection, verses 12 through 19.

The power.

The power is this.

It's our everything.

It's our life force.

It's.

It's.

It's what drives us every single day.

I don't know about you guys, but I.

There's two different.

There's two different types of people in this world.

There's the person who, when their gas tank goes down like two lines, they go, fill up their gas tank.

And there's the type of person that lets it go all the way down to E and then past E. I won't tell you which one I am, but I'm the one.

I'll just say I'm the one that lets it go to E and then keep going to E. And I'm like, I got three miles.

I can make it there.

So some of you, I just made you squirm in your seat because you're not that type of person.

And there's been a few times in my life where that's backfired on me, okay?

And I've been out of power.

And.

And so the reality is, as Christians, where is.

Is where are we tapping into for our strength?

Where are we tapping into when it comes to what gets me up in the morning?

Where am I tapping into when it comes to this idea that I'm serving God and I'm sacrificing for him?

What makes me do that?

Or for some people, they don't do that, right?

But for others, we do it for the wrong motivations.

And what Paul says here is that there are going to be times in our life where we do feel miserable, but that's not where we should be because we do have the hope.

Verses 12 through 19 is all about the hypothetical if this was the case.

But the beauty is this morning is that he's alive.

What a savior.

The empty tomb is A reality.

Therefore, we don't have to live that way.

We could talk a lot more about First Corinthians, chapter 15.

There's a lot there about the hope of the resurrection and what that is to be when it all is culminated at the end.

But I want to take you all the way to verse number 53, because just as much as we've heard the presentation of the Resurrection, we've heard the proof of the resurrection, we've heard of the power of the Resurrection, I also want you to see the promise of the resurrection because God doesn't leave us empty handed.

Sometimes people think that.

I used to think that I would hear speakers come into our church.

I would hear speakers come into my Christian school and whether or not they were right or wrong.

Sometimes I would look at them and say, they seem miserable.

They seem like they're like frowning for Jesus instead of smiling for Jesus.

I would say, like, I don't want to miss out.

I want to have a fulfilling life.

I want to have some kind of sufficiency, some, some kind of like excitement to my life when it comes to maybe entertainment or money.

And then when God changed my heart on that was this.

There's nothing more satisfying, there's nothing more sufficient, there's nothing more fulfilling than a life in Christ's will and his way.

And that he guides us and that he protects us.

And so a lot of times people think Christians are just left without any promises.

Like, you just got to suffer until the end and then one day you'll get to see Jesus.

But no, there's something more to that.

In verse number 53, Paul is talking about longing for the day when this corruptible, when he uses the word corruptible, he's talking about the here and now, this flesh.

Some of you can agree, like, this body is corruptible.

I'm, I'm.

I'm withering away.

And that's what he says here.

He says in verse 53, for this corruptible body must put on incorruption, There will be a day.

The Bible promises us that there will be a day when this body that we have right now, this mortal fleshly body that's broken and aging, will no longer be corruptible, but be incorruptible in what we call a glorified body.

And he says, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality.

The promise of the resurrection is this.

We get new bodies and we have everlasting life.

We are now some people, like, there's movies about people that are immortal.

But the truth is, is that one day we will be able to walk in that confidence and in that promise.

So verse 54 he says, so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality.

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

Death, where is thy sting?

Oh grave, where is thy victory?

As, as a person who's in this world, sometimes we see that death is the end, that that death is the final act.

But for the believer, it's not the final act.

For Jesus, it was not the final act.

There is security in knowing that we have something more than this world.

And he says we no longer have to fear death.

And Paul mentions it in other places.

It's a win, win.

I can either live and serve Jesus or I can pass on and be with him.

We're living with confidence, we're living with joy.

That's the promise of the resurrection.

And so he goes on to say this in verse 57, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The victory is in Jesus.

We sing that song, Victory in Jesus.

We got out this morning and had a sunrise service.

We came to this service this morning.

The reason why we can walk around victorious is not because we're good people.

It's not because I'm better looking or have more money or I have more power.

The reason why as a Christian, we can walk in victory is because our victories in Jesus, our identities in him, our victory is not found in our success.

It's found in the sacrifice and the victory of Jesus Christ.

Verse 57 he says, thanks be to God, folks.

If that doesn't get you fired up, I don't know what will.

Because the idea would be this.

We have, we can be thankful in the midst of struggles.

I wish I could tell you that my kids were the best behaved kids in the world and that they, they never acted up.

But there's times in my life where I go, man, I just, I want my children to be a certain way.

I want myself to be a certain way.

I want my house to be a certain way, want my country to be a certain way.

And oftentimes we can live in a sense of what we would call bitterness, of sense of ingratitude, because we're looking at things in our expectations and we say, well, it's not like the way I thought it should be, so therefore I'm going to be upset.

Instead, we should look back in verse 57 to see how it should be without Jesus.

And without Jesus, what do we deserve?

Death, separation, hopelessness.

We with Jesus, we have victory.

Therefore, I'm thankful.

That's.

That's the idea is that I have something more than I deserve.

I know it's a silly phrase, and sometimes people will say this, like, how you doing?

Better than I deserve.

But that is a true statement.

All of us are doing better than we deserve.

And so he says, here, there is that victory in Jesus.

And then you say, okay, so Pastor Josh, you're telling me I just got to suffer in this world until the very end.

And then at the very end, I punch my ticket to heaven and I go, and then now I can find joy.

Well, if that was the case, that would be enough.

That would be gracious enough for God.

But then we see verse 58.

He says, therefore.

Now, anytime you see the word therefore in the Bible, you need to see what it's there for.

He's been talking about something for 57 verses.

And so when Paul or anyone in scripture uses therefore, he's referencing back what he just talked about.

He's talking about the resurrection.

He's talking about the hope that we have in the victory in Jesus.

And he says, therefore, my beloved brethren, my fellow Christians, this is what your life should look like now.

Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

He says, get busy now.

Don't just sit down and twiddle your thumbs till the end.

He says, because of what you've just been told, be steadfast.

Be unmovable in your faith, always abounding in the work of the Lord, the service to the Lord.

Why?

For as much as ye know that phrase, you know is an important word in Scripture.

It's not because you feel because or.

Or because someone says this about you, but because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Your faith's not in vain.

Your preaching is not in vain.

And as it says Here in verse 58, your labor or your service is not in vain in the Lord.

It says, get busy now.

Why?

Because one day we will understand why and how God was able to do what he did.

Sometimes in our life we can't understand it.

We can't wrap our minds around how God could forgive me, why God would forgive me.

But one day we will be able to experience that love.

And Paul says in the book of Romans that, hey, you know what?

When we get there one day we're going to say the sufferings of this world were nothing in comparison to the blessing that I find now.

So I need to experience that blessing even.

Even temporarily.

You know what?

For me, Sunday mornings are for me, just a. I mean, it's just a little glimpse of what it'll be one day to be with our fellow believers forever and ever and ever.

And that's exciting.

I. I'm.

I'm excited to worship God one day together with all the saints from all of history.

But also think about this.

We.

And I really want you to think about this.

We're going to be in the presence of our Savior who did all this for us.

I've heard some people say, what, are we just going to worship God forever in heaven?

That's going to seem a little boring, folks.

It might seem boring now because we've got all these distractions.

We've got.

We've got all these pains.

We've got all these things that hold us back.

But what I will say is, folks, one day we're going to take God's word for it.

It will all be worth it.

And so let us live in light of that.

And then he says that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

And the same power.

This is Romans, chapter 8.

The same power that rose Jesus from the dead is the power that's living with you within the Holy Spirit.

And so here today, we can live victorious.

I know.

I've heard, even recently, Christians are losing the.

The movement of the church is failing, folks.

The power of hell will not prevail against us.

The gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

We, as shallow Christians, lose sight of what God is already going to do, folks.

He wins.

He wins.

Are we going to be part of it?

Are you going to join in?

Are you going to say, hey, I want to be busy for the work of Jesus Christ?

But you can't be busy, and you can't have that type of confidence without a relationship with him.

And so here this morning, we're going to have an opportunity to respond to the preaching of the word of God.

This is not Pastor Josh's preaching.

This is.

This is not Middletown Baptist's exclusive turn and perspective on the gospel.

This is the word of God being presented to a group of people who are here for a reason.

I don't know what your reason is for being here today.

I hope it's to worship Jesus.

But maybe someone.

I've said this before.

Maybe someone's been like, hey, you know what?

Come to church with me and I'll give you lunch after.

Hey, I don't I don't discredit that.

Okay, get people to church.

But don't just think about the physical food that might come through coming to a church service.

Think about the spiritual sustenance that you can find in Jesus Christ.

You might be coming today with questions.

You might be coming today with doubts.

You might be coming today, maybe even with anger and bitterness towards a church setting.

But I'm here.

God has you here today.

This is, this is not a stretch.

I think this is true.

God has you here today for a reason, for a purpose.

You could have been of a lot of other different churches.

You could have not come to church today.

You could have been doing something else.

God has you here for a purpose.

Today might be that you come to faith.

It might be that you come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ is through his death, burial, and resurrection.

And today, as Paul says, might be the day of salvation.

What better day to trust in Jesus Christ and have your life transformed than the day in which we celebrate our risen Savior?

But then secondarily, it might be that it's been a while since you've had joy and, and excitement.

And as First Corinthians 15:58 says, being steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Maybe it's just been a while since you've had that type of joy, you've had that type of fellowship with other believers.

I knew there was a time in my life that I'm like being around other Christians.

What?

That's the weirdest thing in the world.

Now it's where I want to be.

Why?

Because if God loves this person and he loves me and he tells us we're to be united, the focus is this.

I might not like that person's sports team that they follow.

I might not like the food they just cooked.

I might not like the preferences that they have in certain capacities of their life.

But if they're a born again believer in Jesus Christ, that is my brother and that is my sister.

And therefore I want to walk in unity with them and to show the love of Christ.

So maybe that's something that God's challenged you with here this morning.

But maybe it's just this.

Maybe you've been drifting.

And drifting is an easy thing to do.

It's actually the default setting.

If we're not locked in, we drift.

So the question would be this, Are you locked into what Jesus Christ has done for you in the resurrection?

But maybe there's another group of people.

You're like, hey, Pastor, I'm Steadfast.

I'm unmovable.

I'm ready to work.

I'm doing things.

I'm busy.

I'm praying.

I'm studying, folks.

Then there is that encouragement there at the end.

Your labor is not in vain.

Maybe you've been tempted to think that your labor is in vain.

Some of you might say, Pastor Josh, you're telling me to join a ministry.

I'm in 68 ministries right now.

Okay?

I can't do anymore.

I'm worn out.

I'm tired.

Well, there is a time and a place to take a rest.

The Bible talks about that.

But there is a time and a place to go back to my motivation to say, lord, why am I doing what I'm doing?

Am I doing it for someone to notice me?

Am I doing it for some type of praise?

Am I.

Am I doing it for some type of acclaim?

Well, if that be the case, that's always going to be miserable.

Let me tell you firsthand experience, that's a miserable way to serve Jesus.

But I'm going to tell you, if you're serving Jesus because of what 58 says, verse 58, that says, do it because you know your labor is not in vain, and because Jesus Christ is your hope and he is your life, then I'm going to tell you that's the most rewarding, so satisfying, exciting things you can ever do.

So if you're a member of Middletown Baptist Church, first and foremost, grow in that relationship with Jesus Christ.

Find those areas where you can be steadfast and unmovable.

If you're not a member of Middletown Baptist Church, if you're a guest or you're coming as a family member, I would encourage you, if not Middletown Baptist Church, find somewhere where you can find a meaningful relationship with Jesus and with his people.

Because that's the greatest decision we could ever make.

And so here for the next few moments, we're going to have the music playing.

I'm going to ask if you're able to.

To stand with me.

And I'm going to say something here.

You could just bow your head, no one looking around.

And then also something maybe you've never heard of, bow your heart with humility.

Sometimes we come into a situation and I'm trying to think how I would think sometimes.

Who is this guy?

What does he know?

Well, don't go off of what I know or who I am.

Go of what the Bible says and what the Holy Spirit conviction is in your heart right this very moment.

The truth is the.

The Bible tells us that it's a humbled spirit that God rewards.

God resists the pride, resists the prideful, but gives grace to the humble.

And so for this time of invitation, all I'm asking for you to do is humble yourselves.

What is God speaking to you about right now?

If he is speaking to you and he's making it clear to you, the next step would be to respond in obedience.

And nothing about these steps or these pews up front is magical or even extra spiritual.

But there is a step of humility to say, I'm going to come forward or I'm going to kneel down or.

Or I'm going to humble my heart and I'm going to give my life to Christ either through salvation or through service.

But ultimately, this very moment, I want to continue to stay in this state of humility to follow Christ.

We've talked about the presentation of the gospel, the proof of the resurrection, the power of the resurrection, and ultimately the promise.

Are you trusting in those promises?

Today?

I'm going to say a prayer.

And after I'm done with that prayer, or even before I'm done with that prayer, if you want to come here up front and kneel the steps, or kneel at the front pew, or even you can sit down in your own seat and just have a time of reflection, a time of introspection, a time of asking God to give you the clarity and the conviction and the comfort to do the things that God has called you to do.

And I'm going to give you that opportunity now.

But also right after that, I need to say this.

If you need Jesus as your Savior and you don't know where to turn, we've got some folks up here in the front, we've got some men and we can have some ladies, and you can just come forward and you can ask them, what does it mean to have salvation?

What does it mean to trust in the Gospel?

What does it mean to put faith in the resurrection?

The Bible says if we call upon the name of the Lord, we shall be saved.

It's simple faith.

Ephesians 2:894.

By grace or a gift, are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And so this morning is, if you need that, don't hesitate.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, work in hearts and lives, lead, transform, mold us to your image.

I ask that you be in this time in Jesus name.

Amen.

As the music plays, some have already come.

Follow as the Lord leads here this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.