Pastor A

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish race… the most unusually blessed people in history. In Genesis 12, their amazing story begins with a man named Abraham. Abraham lived in the early days after the Flood in the Land of Ur. God revealed to Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation, the Jewish nation. However, there was one big problem with that promise: Abraham had no children and he was already 75 years old and his wife, Sarah, was 65 years old. But he believed God and claimed the promise and God blessed Abraham and his wife Sarah with a son in their old age. God told Abraham that this nation would be very special because Jesus Christ, the Savior, would be born of a Jewish virgin.

God promised Abraham that the Jews would be remarkably protected throughout history. There is no question that God has kept His word. The nations which have blessed the Jews have been blessed. Those that have cursed them have been cursed. Against incredible odds they have won out against those who have hated, persecuted and fought against them. To the embarrassment of skeptics, the Jews banded together in 1948 to form the tiny nation of Israel on the soil God granted them more than 3,000 years ago.

In 1967, outnumbered 70 to 1, they defeated the Arab military forces and claimed the city of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War. This historic event was the fulfillment of a Biblical prediction made centuries ago.

Dr. Robert G. Lee, an internationally-known Baptist preacher, was asked this stimulating question: “If you had to choose one word to prove the reliability of the Bible, what word would you choose?” He replied, “Jew.”

But today’s Jew lives in unbelief. Many Jews have rejected the idea of a Messiah and the Jewish Passover is observed without the killing of the lamb, which symbolized the suffering and death of the Messiah. Judaism today is not the religion of the Old Testament as many people think.

Twenty-first century Judaism and the religion of the Old Testament are two entirely different kinds of religion. The difference between them is as great as the difference between Saul of Tarsus before his conversion and Paul the apostle after his conversion. It is the difference between a religion of human achievement and a religion of divine redemption. Many naively assume that the Jewish faith of today is a point-by-point reproduction of the religion of the Old Testament, lacking only faith in Jesus the Messiah. Many religious Jews of today do not believe in a personal Messiah at all.

Today the Jews worship without the shedding of blood and “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” The writer of Hebrews was referring to the blood of Jesus Christ which He shed to pay the price for man’s sin. There is now no difference; all individuals (Jews included) may receive spiritual life only through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

Many world religions believe and teach that this life is all there is to human existence. Somehow, the thinking goes, our spirit just evaporates into the universe when we die. Existentialist Jean-Paul Sarte puts it this way: “There is no exit.” If this is true, it causes some real problems. For one thing, it decreases your value.

The Bible says that you are an eternal being. This makes you more important than anything temporal. In other words, you are more important than anything in the world because according to the Scriptures, this world will not last forever. However, if your life is only 70 years, then you are not as important as the United States, for example, which is now over 225 years young. The government is more significant than you, which is exactly what people living under oppressive rule are taught.

But there is another important way you can identify with Christ in His resurrection. The moment of spiritual birth, a special part of you is given life. This part of you is called your spiritual nature. I Corinthians 2:14-15, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” The Bible explains that this nature conflicts with another part of you called your sinful nature. Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” This sinful nature is that power within all of us that causes us to go contrary to God’s laws and principles.

The spiritual nature pulls you in the other direction. Identifying with Christ in His resurrection means that you will experience more of the power of the spiritual nature and less of the pull of the sinful nature. Christ’s resurrection once and for all freed us from the power of our sinful natures; and the more we claim that resurrection power in our lives, the more victory we will experience.

Paul put it this way in Romans 6:11-13, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.“

The resurrection of Jesus Christ enables us to walk in newness of life, in the power of the Spirit, and in victory over sin!

The blood of Christ; that is how much it cost to purchase redemption and make eternal life available. Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” The tremendous realization which overwhelmed Paul was expressed so well when he wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Paul went on to say in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;“

Every moment of Paul’s suffering was a moment of identification with Jesus’ suffering. Paul got into the habit of picturing himself crucified on the cross with Jesus Christ. He identified with that event because Jesus’ death on the cross made possible Paul’s spiritual life.

The Bible says that death cannot eternally imprison any believer. Why? Because on that first Easter morning, Jesus Christ defeated death. you can identify with what He did that day, because He did it for you. I Corinthians 15:12-34 states, “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? 30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. 33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.“

Jesus Christ is the only person that has ever defeated death. We should be willing to identify with Him, no matter what the cost!