Death then resurrection
Key Passage: Luke 9:23-24
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bible to Luke chapter number nine. Luke chapter number nine in God’s word this morning.
Praise the Lord for a full auditorium; that’s wonderful. If you say, “Man, we’re kind of tightly fit in here,” we are looking to start building over there next year. No promises, but we’re getting close to praying the property off. The last offering of the month will go all towards that payment. We’re in the sixties now. Started off 1.3, then we were about 210 when we sold that two acres, and we’re now in the sixties, sixties, thousands. So praise the Lord for that. Just keep praying. That’s the Lord. That’s Jesus right there doing all that, all the Lord. So don’t let the fullness tighten; don’t let it worry too much. God’s going to change that here pretty soon, and I hope you’re part of it, every person here this morning. That would be a great, great thing.
Luke chapter number nine in God’s word this morning.
Luke chapter number nine. We’re going to start in verse number 23. If you’re able, would you stand just to show the Word of God respect?
Luke chapter number nine, and we’re going to start in verse number 22 of God’s word. If you’re there this morning, would you say amen? Good deal, good deal.
Verse number 22. This is Jesus speaking here, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.”
And he said to them all, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”
Would you ask the Lord just to speak to your heart? We’re going to be here for a little while longer. I’m going to try to be brief, as we have someone to get baptized here in a minute. Would you pray that God would speak to your heart this morning about this subject? The title will be: Death, then Resurrection. Death, then Resurrection.
No one would dream—just really have dreamed—that the greatest victory that mankind has ever had was won by death. I’m not just saying that; I mean that. The greatest victory that mankind has ever had was won by death.
Usually, when you retreat, you think, “Oh no, we’re in trouble.” A little boy was walking in his class this morning and had a Tennessee shirt on. I said, “Hey, I like your shirt over there. Come on, Tennessee man, say amen.” He said, when they play, I’m always cheering for them. I said, “Me too, amen.” We don’t always win, but I’m cheering for them. When I’m cheering for Tennessee, when we’re losing, when we get behind, that doesn’t look like victory. That’s really how the victory is won.
Can you imagine Jesus when he died? Many of you have probably been there, but I’ve been there several times when that person takes that last breath. Even when they’ve been in the ICU for days and they’re just unconscious, it’s still when those machines go off, and, you know, it’s over. It’s retreat, defeat, if you will. It feels like that. And that’s where Christ was. For those that thought, well, maybe he’s still living—they put that spear inside, and the water and the blood gushed out. The doctors say if that happens, you know they’re gone. There’s some of the swoon theory that calls it—well, you know, he really wasn’t dead—which is crazy for them to say that. But if they thought that, he spent three days and three nights. You’re that wounded; you don’t just live for three days and three nights. You’re gone. Christ literally had laid down his life. He was literally dead. He was not breathing. He was dead. Death. You think this is a victory? This is defeat.
I praise the Lord for that first—we’ll call it Easter Sunday morning, that first Resurrection Sunday morning. Isn’t it interesting, by the way, the apostles and all of them, they should have been looking for it, but they weren’t anywhere to be found, really. But the enemies of Christ knew. The enemies knew; he said, “The third day.” They had their soldiers there guarding the tomb, and not only the soldiers of the earthly kingdom, but I promise you, Satan had his army of demons there. Because Satan knew; he said, “The third day,” and they were all there, they had him on the run, if you will. He truly had died. It looked like defeat; it was retreat, if you will. Jesus is there, his body in that tomb early that morning. I can imagine Satan was there telling the death angel, “Hey, you got him, don’t you?” And I can imagine the death angel, “Oh, I got him. I got him.” All the demons of hell were there just trying to hold him down: “We got him!” You ever seen someone holding someone down on the mat, trying to keep their shoulder from tapping out? I can imagine the demons pressing on Jesus, trying to hold his body down that Easter Sunday morning. They wanted him to move. Imagine the fear of Satan: “We cannot let him get up!” Those demons were holding him down, every demonic power trying to hold his body down there because it looked like defeat. Then, that Easter Sunday morning, God’s spirit entered. Life began to fill the body of Jesus. That unlimited, almighty, omnipotent power of God began to move in there. I can imagine the demons holding him felt something happening in his body, life coming into him. Maybe the demons tried to move, and all of them jumped on top, and Satan jumping on—everybody on top of Jesus, trying to hold him down when that power began to fill his body. Maybe his fingers began to move, those that had the nail imprinting them. Maybe his feet and his toes, holes where the imprints were. Maybe his mouth began to move just a little bit. Can you imagine the demons and Satan when his eyes popped open, boom? Pretty soon, those old demons were worried, trying to hold him down. The devil was there: “Hold on, boys!” Pretty soon, all the demons and Satan and all the demonic powers began to flee and run because Jesus Christ himself sat up. They were trying to hold him down. Let him stand up, and Jesus stood up on that Easter Sunday morning. Praise the Lord; he won the victory for all of us that day.
All of us have some skeletons in the closet that we don’t want anybody to know about. Not a person in the world—I don’t want them to know about it. One day we’ll stand before God. If you have let Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection pay for your sin, on that day, you say, “He’s going to bring up all your sins.” No, no, no, no, no. Jesus already took your sin. He paid for your sin, and the receipt for your sin, if you will, that it was paid in full—the receipt for that was the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He can hold that receipt up and say, “Nope, we can’t bring that past up. It’s been paid for. I have the receipt. I rose again for their justification,” the Bible says. That’s why Psalm 103 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Notice the Bible did not say the north from the south, because you can go to the North Pole—I don’t want to go there; it’s too cold—and you can go to the South Pole, which is even colder, believe it or not. But look, friend, you can go as far as you want east, and you’re not going to reach the end. It’s just going to go and go and go. You go to the west as far as you want, ride out in the sunset in the west, and you’re just going to ride forever. What God is saying is you’ll never face those sins again because Jesus paid for those sins and has the receipt—I rose again, showing it satisfied the payment for the sin. Praise the Lord and serve a risen Savior.
Someone said when Satan reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future. Friend, if you’re a born-again Christian, Jesus paid it all; to Him I owe. I’ll never face those sins again. I’ll give account of my works, but not my sins. Jesus gave account for my sins on the cross. By the way, if you had to give account for your sins, the only payment for your sin is death. You wouldn’t be saved. No, Jesus took it. He paid for your sins, friend, by his death and then resurrection, proving God the Father was satisfied. I like that song: “Gone, gone, yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul is free, and in my heart’s the song, buried in the deepest sea. Yes, that’s good enough for me. I shall live eternally, praise God, my sins are gone.” Amen for that. Amen for that.
Notice what Jesus says. Very interesting. Verse 23. Luke 9, verse number 23. I hope you’re a born-again Christian; you can rejoice. Your sins have been paid for. I heard that Carlos back there last night asked Jesus Christ to pay for his sins. Amen. They’re gone, Carlos. You’ll never have to face those sins again. Jesus took them on the cross of Calvert. That’s wonderful. But watch what Jesus says beyond that. Look at this right here; it’s amazing. Verse 23: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Remember what we’re talking about: we would have never dreamed that the greatest victories in the spiritual realm come after death. This is really profound, okay? You have to think really hard, all right? We’re in Tennessee; sometimes we need to think hard. You can’t have resurrection unless you have death.
Christ invites his followers, his people, beyond salvation. He invites you to follow the pattern: if I’m going to have victory in my life, powerful resurrection victories, I follow him in taking up my cross in my death. Everyone wants resurrection, but not a lot of people are willing to die. You can’t have resurrection without death. What do you mean by this dying? I’m not talking about your salvation; I’m talking about beyond that. I’m saying when a born-again Christian says, “I want to die to all my rights, all my wants,” I want to die to all that, lay that on the cross, and now I want to live for you, Lord—you cannot, in your day-to-day living, have the victory that God wants you to have, the resurrection power living throughout your life, without death. Death to our plans, death to what I want to do, death to where I want to go, death to the way I want to talk, death to my career, death to the love of money, death to all that. If we’re going to have that resurrection power live through us, I must take up my cross.
Would you look over in John chapter number 12, please? The same truth, but just in a little different way. John 12 and verse number 24. Jesus, again speaking, notice what he says here. When you’re there, would you say amen? Look at this: “Verily, verily.” When the Bible says that, that’s kind of like the Lord saying, “Hey, I’m about to tell the truth here.” “Truly, truly, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” Notice: if you’re going to bring forth much fruit in your Christian life—maybe working with others or seeing more Christians get saved—there must be this thing of dying.
Our day and time is all about our rights. Is that true or not? My rights, what I want, my feelings—“You hurt my feelings.” We have a little boy in our Christian school. One morning, another child brought in some donuts, and we’d give them to the other kids. I can’t remember if they were from Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kreme. Which one has the best coffee? Dunkin’ Donuts. Who’s got the best donuts though? Crisp cream. It’s kind of like chocolate and peanut butter mixed together. I can’t remember which one it was, but they were bringing donuts from one of those places. The student that brought them knew where they came from. But another boy said, “No, no, those donuts are from the other one.” He said, “Come on, how do you know? You didn’t bring them in here.” They bought them; they know where they came from. Mr. Chisgar, the teacher said, “So-and-so, you don’t know everything. You don’t know where those donuts came from.” This is kindergarten. A little bit later on, that little boy raised his head and said, “Miss Chisgars, you hurt my feelings when you said I don’t know everything.” That kind of describes us today. It’s our rights and our feelings and what we think and our opinion. But if I’m going to have resurrection power in my life, I’ve got to die to all my feelings, my wants—everything I want can’t be about me.
Sometimes I say, “Lord, man, my flesh is about a mile long.” Anybody else have a flesh like that? Mine’s about two miles long sometimes. I say, “Lord, would you let me get up on the cross with you? I need to die because I’ve got all these things and my thoughts.” You can’t have resurrection without dying. Jesus invites us here to take up our cross. Look, friend, you don’t take up your cross just to look like something, thinking, “Well, I’m going to carry a cross around.” You take up your cross to die. See? We want to leave that out of Christianity today. I’m not talking about going to heaven—He earned our way to heaven—but I’m talking about daily living. Take up your cross daily. You cannot experience that victorious resurrection living God wants you to have without that. Are you bitter against anybody? Is anyone popping into your mind? Maybe someone has hurt you very deeply, and they did something to you that they ought not have done, and it hurts you so very much. That wound inside your heart and your soul may be there for years and years. But can I say, forgiveness and dying to bitterness is when you say, “You know what? I have the right to pay them back. They hurt me so bad; they need to pay for that.” But forgiveness is when you say, “You know what? They ought to pay me back, but I’m going to write it off paid. I’m giving up the right to pay them back.” That’s when I die—die to bitterness. I want that resurrection life, not this bitterness, depression, anger eating me up. I just want to die to bitterness. Resurrection comes after death, but dying is part of it. He won the victory through death.
Can I say a word here about marriage? You cannot have a resurrection marriage—a sweet, wonderful marriage where you enjoy the company of each other and are thankful for each other—unless a husband and a wife die to some things. We’ll maybe take about 40 minutes for just the marriage part this morning. No, we won’t. But you’re going to have to die to the single life. When you get married, you’re not single anymore. Guys, you can’t hang around the girls like you did when you were single. Girls, you can’t hang around the guys like you did when you were single. You’re married now. Your schedule has to change. Your finances have to change. There’s got to be a death of this single life. You’re not going to get everything you want. We’re supposed to be the head of the home, right? Ephesians 5 talks about submitting, but the verse before that talks about submitting yourselves one to another in love. You’re not going to get everything you want. Wife, he’s going to hurt your feelings sometimes. When he does, poke his eyeballs out, right? That’s what a wife does. You’re going to have to die to those feelings. It’s going to happen. When you get two people together, there’s going to have to be dying to have a wonderful, resurrected marriage. Your side of the story, you’ve got to die to it. They may not have to know your side of the story if you die to it. You say, “That’s hard to do.” Yes, it is. Death is never pleasant.
The deacons were meeting the other day, and we were talking about one of the men we love very much, and we were praying for him. If the Lord decided to take him home, we’d understand. He’d be so much better off if the Lord took him. He’s going to be at home with the Lord; he’s going to have a brand new body. It’s going to be wonderful. But death is never pleasant. If the Lord decides to do that, that’s the Lord’s choice, not man’s, not some doctor taking his life. No, no, no. You can say amen there. Amen. Don’t be taking their lives; let God make that decision. By that, I’m talking about this assisted suicide stuff. That’s what I’m talking about, just so we make it clear to you. Even a man like that, a godly Christian going home to heaven, he’s going to have so many rewards when he gets there, but even then, death is not pleasant. Death to my flesh, what all I want, my rights, my desires, my career, and all these things—that’s never pleasant, but I can’t have resurrection without death.
You know Paul, one of the greatest Christians in all the Bible. How many know Apostle Paul? Raise your hand. Good. Most of you raised your hand. The others, you need to go to the altar for lying. Apostle Paul—if we listed the top five Christians in the Bible, I’m sure Paul would almost always be in the top five. God used him to pen 13, probably 14 books of the New Testament. There are only 27 books, so he penned over half the New Testament. He took the gospel and spread it over Asia Minor. There’s a debate on how many churches he started—1,720s, it goes up. We don’t know how many churches he started. He crossed over and spread the gospel to the western part of the world. We can trace our heritage back to Apostle Paul when he spread the gospel out of the holy lands over to the western part, eventually America. Apostle Paul, this great Christian—can I tell you how we got such a great Christian like Apostle Paul? There was this man not mentioned here as much in the Bible: Stephen.
Stephen was a godly man; he was just a member of a church, a deacon at a church. Stephen was trying to give a witness for Jesus Christ, and this mob got real mad. Paul was part of that mob. Paul wasn’t saved, you see. Paul was one of those who persecuted Christians. Paul said, “Hey, let’s kill him.” Paul got the crowd fired up and angry. Paul said, “Hey, give me your coats. I’ll hold your coats while you throw big old rocks at this guy and kill him.” Paul watched as they killed Stephen. When Stephen was dying, he didn’t get mad; he didn’t get angry. He was very much a picture of Jesus dying. Remember Jesus on the cross? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Stephen was a little bit like that. As they were killing Stephen, Stephen said, “Hey, I see Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father.” Someone said, “Why isn’t he sitting?” I think he was standing up to welcome Stephen home. Paul watched the death of a Christian dying for the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of that death, we get this great Christian, Paul. I’m simply saying great resurrection victories come out of death. How do you get a great Christian lady who has died to what all she wants and desires? How do you get a great Christian man, a man who has died to himself? That’s what Jesus is saying.
Everybody’s got a cross. He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Look at verse 24. We’re just hitting some highlights real quickly here. We’re in Luke 9. Look at verse 24. We’ll start back at 23. Luke 9:23. We’re going to wind it down here in just about 45 minutes or so, maybe an hour or two. Look at it: We started at 23, “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” I want you to focus for a second there on that: “Follow me.” If I’m fully following Christ, there will be crosses. If it’s all about me and what I can get—me, me, me—I’m not following Christ. If I’m following Christ, there must be crosses. Did you notice what he said in verse 23? “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.” Yeah.
Apostle Paul maybe learned a lot from Stephen because later on God used him. He writes this, inspired by God: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Did you notice: “To die is gain”? That’s what he said. Paul, I’d like to have a powerful Christian life. Okay, you can have it if you die. That’s part of it. Die to your dreams, die to your wants, die to your wishes, die when somebody offends me, somebody bothers me. You have to die to all that. It’s not about you anymore; it’s about Christ. And I want that resurrection power. How do you get it? Death. Paul said 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.” That’s how you get the power of resurrection: death. “Well, they shouldn’t have did that.” All right, maybe you’re right, but you’re going to have to die if you want the resurrection in your life.
I was thinking about this—someone told me yesterday he won a trip. He said a couple of years ago, if he won that trip, he’d be all about it, but some not-right things were going to be happening on the trip. He said, “You know, I don’t even want it.” His boss asked, “Do you really want to go on that trip?” He said, “No, I don’t want to go,” because he has died to his old life. He’s experiencing resurrection power in his life now. But you don’t get that resurrection power without death in your life. It would be a glorious day later on, after the three days are over, when resurrection power comes. I’m not really following notes like I should, but let me just say this: We never know how long the three days and three nights are. We have a timeline for Jesus, but you don’t know for your life and the problem, the situation where you’ve got to take up your cross. You don’t know how long those three days and three nights are. But can I encourage you, it’s always worth it to die. In His time, His way, He brings resurrection into your life. The world tries to gain great victories by conquering, but great spiritual victories are won by dying. You can’t have a resurrection without death.
George Beverly Shea was a young man. He was gifted with singing but was working at a New York insurance company. He was in his 30s, barely making it, just skimming by. Rumors were flying around the office that they were going to make some cuts. The pressure was on; he could barely make it as it was, and now they were going to make cuts. He had a good voice. The world, actually, back in that day and time, a radio station offered him a contract where he could make good money and hit the big times. He wouldn’t have to skip by working this insurance office. He had an offer from the world. Right along there, he wrote a song: “I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world has to offer.” He died [to the offer]. He said, “No, I’m not going to sign that. I’m just going to stay here and do whatever God offers me in my life.” He was dying to what the world had to offer him. Yet in his life, three days, three nights later, there was an evangelist traveling—Billy Graham—and his crusades needed a singer. George Beverly Shea, many of you already know the name, was a man God used so greatly. They say he sang live to more people than anybody has ever sung to in all the world. What do you call that? He died to what all he wanted, and three days later, resurrection came.
Can we have just an old-fashioned revival this morning of us just dying to what all we want, laying at the foot of the cross, saying, “Lord, I’m going to wait for a resurrection to come in my life. I want to die to myself. I want to follow you, Jesus. I’m going to take up my cross.” By the way, they didn’t make Him die on that cross. No man could have taken Jesus’ hand and shoved it down on the cross. The soldiers didn’t say, “Hold that thing down while I put that nail in.” Jesus put His hand out there and said, “Go ahead. Put the nails in there.” Jesus said, “If you follow me, take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me.” Praise the Lord, three days later, resurrection came. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please?
If you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, I’m going to take up my cross”—I don’t know exactly what that means for you, but we all have our cross. Say, “Preacher, instead of me really fighting for all my rights and my wants and my wishes, I’m going to take up my cross. I want to follow Jesus.” God spoke to your heart in some areas; I’m going to take up my cross and follow Jesus in bearing my cross. Would you lift your head up? “Preacher, I’m going to take up my cross.” Just lift it up. Young people, it’s a great thing while you’re young to take up your cross. It’s about Jesus; I want to live for Him. I want to take up my cross. Death is never easy; it’s never fun. But it’s worth it when resurrection comes. Maybe there will be one more. “Preacher, I want to take up my cross; God spoke to my heart about that.” Anybody else? God bless you. That’s wonderful. I’m excited for when the three days come. Praise the Lord for that. Thank you. Put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, I need to, as far as my salvation, die to myself saving myself.” I realize I can never save myself. I’m not going to try, because my good works will never get me to heaven. I’m going to deny myself. I’m going to die to me saving myself, and I’m going to look to Jesus. “Preacher, I need to be saved. I need to put my faith in the victory that Jesus won on the cross of Calvert. I need to put my faith in Jesus Christ to be my Savior to pay for my sin debt.” If that’s you, would you lift your hand up? “Preacher, I need to get saved.” Just slip it up. I need to die to myself and trust in Christ to save me.
One more question. “Preacher, there’s a specific thing I need to die to.” Maybe it’s bitterness, maybe it’s music, maybe it’s a relationship, but in a specific area, I need to die to it. I realize that if I’m going to have resurrection power in my life, I need to die to that specific thing God is speaking to my heart about. That’s part of bearing my cross. God bless you. That’s so good. Resurrection comes after death. That’s wonderful. Thank you so very much.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - - Death Then Resurrection - Sunday AM 492023