March 2006 chaplain's corner
The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.
Chaplain’s Corner – March 27, 2006
Rev. Rich Hines
Christ’s Resurrection, the Basis For True Salvation and Christian Service
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as
their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain in a jail, prison
or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the United States.
All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the
Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson,
Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a
text, any deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs ().
These usually occur as direct translations from the original languages,
or as notes from the original setting to help apply the text to today’s
culture. ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize a text, or to make
a comment about a biblical text.
I want to give you Chaplains my “Easter Message” a bit early this year. As you
and those you serve consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, I
want to remind you of two things. His actual physical raising out of death to
life, both guarantees salvation for all true believers and is the basis for all
post-salvation service and ministry. Those are good reasons to celebrate!
First, consider HIS RESURRECTION IN RELATION TO JUSTIFICATION BEFORE A HOLY GOD
AND SALVATION FROM SIN -
In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the gospel message that was given to
unbelievers always included the resurrection of Jesus. The gospel messages you
communicate today should do likewise. Time will not allow me to go over or even
mention all the sermons recorded in Acts, but I do want to draw your attention
to the one found in Acts 13: 28-39.
Here we see the Apostle Paul preaching in a synagogue to a mixed crowd of
religious Jews and Gentiles that “feared God” (see verses 16 and 26). The
God-fearing Gentiles were those that had left pagan idolatry and were seeking
the One True God.
Speaking of Jesus, the Holy Spirit through Paul said in verses 28-39:
28 And though they found no cause for death in Him,
they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.
29 Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took
Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30 BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.
31 He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to
32 And we declare to you glad tidings – that promise which was made to the
fathers.
33 God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He HAS RAISED UP
JESUS. As it is also written in the second Psalm: “You are My Son, Today I have
begotten You.”
34 And that He RAISED HIM UP FROM THE DEAD, no more to return to corruption, He
has spoken thus: “I will give you the sure mercies of David.”
35 Therefore He also says in another Psalm: “You will not allow Your Holy One
to see corruption.”
36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell
asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption;
37 but He WHOM GOD RAISED UP SAW NO CORRUPTION.
38 THEREFORE let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is
preached to you the forgiveness of sins;
39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses.
This section of Paul’s recorded sermon FOCUSES ON THREE CONSECUTIVE THINGS: the
FACT of His resurrection, in verses 28-31, the FORECASTS of His resurrection,
in verses 32-37 and the FREEDOM available to believers because of His
resurrection, in verses 38 and 39.
The FACT OF HIS RESURRECTION
28 and though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He
should be put to death.
29 Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took
Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30 BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD. (the emphasis is
that God overruled their plans to get rid of Jesus)
31 He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to
Here, the Spirit of God speaking through the Apostle emphasized the historical
death and resurrection of Jesus was all according to WHAT WAS WRITTEN
CONCERNING HIM. We need to remember, the crowd that heard this message that day
in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch was made up of
Jews and Gentiles that were familiar with the Jewish Old Testament prophesies.
So the death and RESURRECTION of Jesus was predicted by the word of God - in
the Scriptures. BUT ALSO there were eyewitnesses who confirmed that GOD RAISED
JESUS FROM THE DEAD. The text in verse 31 says they saw Him “for many days,”
meaning there were many different occasions during the 40 days before His
ascension that He was confirmed alive from the dead.
What’s striking about the language is that it indicates the witnesses weren’t
expecting to see Jesus alive, BUT THEY DID! The word "seen" in verse
31 is an aorist passive verb, which together with "for many days"
means He was seen on many specific occasions by those who weren’t expecting to
see Him.
The passive verb means they weren’t actively looking for Him, rather He was
shown to them. The resurrection of Jesus was NOT A FABRICATION BY THOSE WHO
WERE HIS FRIENDS, THEY DIDN’T EVEN EXPECT IT. They didn’t look for it because
they were slow to believe all the predictions of it in the Old Testament
Scriptures. See Luke 24:25.
Next, note the FORECASTS OF HIS RESURRECTION
32 And we declare to you glad tidings - that promise
which was made to the fathers.
33 God has fulfilled this for us their children, IN THAT HE HAS RAISED UP
JESUS...
In verse 32, Paul was directing his crowd’s attention back to the promise in
the Old Testament Scriptures that FORETOLD and FORECASTED a SAVIOR for the
descendants of the chief forefathers. But in verse 33 he made it clear, that
Savior had to be One that would be raised from the
dead! Then, as Paul continued in verse 33, the Holy Spirit applied three Old
Testament texts to the resurrection of the Messiah – Christ.
33 ...As it is also written in the second Psalm: "You are My Son, today I
have begotten You." (Ps. 2:7 then refers to the
resurrection of Jesus)
34 And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to
return to corruption (decay), HE HAS SPOKEN THUS: "I will give You the
sure mercies of David." (Isaiah 55:3)
35 Therefore He also says in another Psalm: "You will not allow Your Holy
One to see corruption." (Ps. 16:10)
36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell
asleep, (meaning he died physically) was buried, AND SAW CORRUPTION; (David’s
dead body underwent decay)
The point is that Psalm 16:10 could not refer to David himself, but rather to
One of his offspring.
37 BUT He whom God raised up (Jesus) SAW NO CORRUPTION. (FULFILLING THE
PROPHETIC FORECAST OF Psalm 16:10)
The Scriptures clearly forecasted the resurrection of Christ. So what? Good
preaching always presses in on its hearers to do something with what they’ve
heard. Having made the case for the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ, Paul
challenged his hearers with a “THEREFORE.” This brings us to:
The FREEDOM AVAILABLE TO BELIEVERS BECAUSE OF HIS RESURRECTION
38 THEREFORE, let it be known to you brethren, (this phrase put a
responsibility on his hearers) that through this Man (the resurrected Jesus) is
preached (an intensified form of ‘good newsing’) to
you THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS; 39 and by Him EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES (keeps on
believing) is JUSTIFIED (constantly being justified) from all things (meaning
things done wrong - sins) from which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses.
Salvation from sin and justification, which gives its recipients a right
standing with God, are available, BUT ONLY THROUGH THE RESURRECTED ONE - JESUS.
He is the promised Savior from sin.
Think biblically. Sin always brings death. But in His resurrection, Jesus
conquered death and He gives that victory over sin and death to EVERYONE WHO
BELIEVES. His victory gives believing men and women the freedom to come to God,
even though they had been sinners. His victory then GUARANTEES this salvation
and justification before God.
So Paul challenged his hearers to become believers, so that they would
participate in the benefits of Jesus’ victory over sin for them.
Next, I want to remind you the resurrection of Christ (which believers
celebrate every Sunday) is THE BASIS AND MOTIVE FOR
ALL POST-SALVATION CHRISTIAN SERVICE AND MINISTRY
I Corinthians Chapter 15, is all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let me
tell you why. The ancient Greek society was pre-disposed to dualistic thought.
Dualism separated between the spiritual and the physical. They thought the
physical was evil and was not meant to be morally good. This Greek thought
pattern mocked the idea of physical resurrection.
Like many Christians today, rather than effecting the society they lived in,
that society negatively effected the Corinthian
believers. They doubted the resurrection of anything physically dead, even the
physical resurrection of Jesus Christ! So God gave them this Chapter as a
corrective to their doubts and then as a MOTIVE FOR CHRISTIAN SERVICE.
To quickly summarize the chapter, after going over the prophetic (verses 3,4)
and physical evidence (verses 5-8) for the resurrection of Jesus, in verses 14
and 17,18 the Apostle says in effect without His resurrection there is no
salvation from sin!
1 Corinthians 15
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is
empty and your faith is also empty.
...
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile;
you are still in your sins!
18 Then also those who have fallen asleep (died physically) in Christ have perished
(a way of saying they are headed to hell)
THEN the whole passage turns on verse 20,
20 But now Christ is risen (literally, HAS BEEN RAISED – meaning it’s a
finished action with ongoing results) from the dead, AND HAS BECOME THE
FIRSTFRUITS OF THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP.
Here the "firstfruits" refer to a prototype
and a guarantee of what will follow. This means that since Christ conquered
death, also all who are "in Him" will rise from the dead with a
resurrection body - just like His, which was a GLORIFIED physical body - fit
for heaven for all eternity. Praise God!
Verses 21 through 57 describe it and thank God for it. Then, in verse 58 we
read:
58 THEREFORE, my beloved brethren, be steadfast (constantly be fixed),
immovable (constantly be un-moveable), always abounding (constantly
overflowing) in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor (toil, even to
the point of exhaustion) is not in vain (not empty or not good for nothing) in
the Lord.
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead should be at the heart of your gospel
presentation every time you give it. AND according to 1 Corinthians 15:58 in
its context, it should always motivate you out of great thankfulness to always
overflow in the work He has given you to do!
Rich Hines
Minister To Chaplains,