Title Thanking God for Overcoming Death.
As I read that article, I could easily feel that the problem was not just with the one who wrote it. Who among us has never thought like that before?
God is the source of our life and the source of our blessings. To feel distant from such a God is to feel that your life is distant from life and blessings. It is like life is hard and weary, life and blessings do not work in one's life, and death and misfortune are working in one's life.
But when things like that happen, most of us think that God has forsaken us and that God is far from us because He is not interested in us. But that's not true. God never leaves us. As the Bible says, God neither sleeps nor sleeps, and He is our keeper. The problem is that we have left God. After our ancestors Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and sinned, the first thing Adam and Eve did was to hide from God. It was not that God hid, but that man hid from God.
It is not poverty that makes us miserable, unhappy, and difficult. Such problems do not only occur to the poor, but also to the rich. Of course, poverty also makes it difficult and difficult for us, but it cannot be compared to the difficulty of feeling God far away from us. This is because the problems of happiness and unhappiness, life and death are not about money, but about God.
Even if you sin, you can become rich. Even if you sin, you can live rich. Even if you sin, you can succeed in the world as much as you want. Since sin is pervasive in the world, rather resembling the world and sinning in moderation is the key to living in the world. But the important thing is that you cannot sin and draw near to God. Just as Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned, the same behavior always appears in us. Sin separates us from God, and the feeling of alienation from God makes us hard and unhappy.
It is true that the wages of sin is death. It is sin that makes us miserable and unhappy. Our sins make us miserable, hard, and unhappy. But the problem is that we are all sinners. And the bigger problem is that we only sin, and we cannot solve our sins.
Calvin, who can be said to be the progenitor of Presbyterianism, understood us humans as completely incompetent when it comes to salvation in his Christian exhortations. When we sin against someone, the sinner cannot forgive that sin. The ability and opportunity to solve the problem of sin lies with the person I have sinned against. Until he forgives, the problem is not solved in any way.
To ask for forgiveness from the other person, we apologize and compensate, but the problem is not solved because of that, but because the other person sees the offender's behavior and forgives him, because he agrees. is. Of course, if you don't apologize, and if you don't compensate for the damage, there will be no forgiveness. However, it is not correct to understand that forgiveness is not achieved unless one apologizes and compensates for it as forgiveness, that is, the power of salvation.
Of course, there would be no forgiveness without an apology and compensation. It will be the cause, or responsibility, of the unforgiveness. However, an apology and compensation does not always result in forgiveness. Therefore, it cannot be the power of forgiveness and salvation. Therefore, the person who has sinned has no power for forgiveness and salvation. The sinner is completely incapable of remission of the sins he has committed.
We are utterly powerless when it comes to salvation life, success, and happiness. It is natural to die, it is natural to live hard to the point of death, and it is our destiny to live in frustration, pain, and unhappiness. That is our existence. That is our fateful reality.
To break our destiny, Jesus came to this earth in a human body. And he died on the cross to pay for our sins. We sinned, but God paid the price for that sin. All that remains is our repentance. Just believe and repent. That is why John 3:16, as we know it well, tells us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
And to confirm our eternal life, that is, eternal life, He broke the authority of the grave and rose again today. The Resurrection is our Christian supreme and greatest revelation. The resurrection is a revelation. It is God's revelation of the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation. It is the word. All we need to do is believe in God and repent. You just need to repent of your sins. You just have to turn around there.
The price paid for our salvation is so great that nothing in the world can separate us from it. No one, not even Satan, can argue with him. Can't file. That is what Romans 8:31-33 says.
“What then shall we say about this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not with him also give us all things? . Who is able to accuse God's elect? It is God who justifies; who can condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died and was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all day long, and we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. In all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.> Amen.
<I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor do perishables inherit the incorruptible. Behold, I say to you, we shall not all sleep, but at the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised to immortality, and we will be changed. This perishable will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality. When this perishable puts on immortality, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the word which is written, Death will be swallowed up and will be fulfilled. O death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Death's sting is sin, and the power of sin is the law. We thank God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and unshaken. Be more diligent in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.> Amen.
There is nothing in the world that can shout about death. Nothing in the world can overcome all the death, misery, failure, and suffering caused by the shadow of sin. Death and misery, suffering and failure were our destiny. We could never escape that fate.
All the pain, misery, adversity, and hardship that binds us right now is rooted in sin. In a word, it is the chain of sin. It is the bondage of sin. It was like our destiny, we couldn't break it on our own.
But Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and to set the bonds of our sins. And he paid the price with his own blood to save us from all that death, suffering, failure, and misery. And by his own resurrection, he revealed our resurrection. You promised.
I'm about to finish my talk. What are you holding onto right now? Are you in trouble? Are you tired? Are you persecuted? Are you hungry? Or are you naked or danger or sword? It was originally our destiny, but Jesus Christ has unleashed it, its bonds.
The flower of Christian faith is the resurrection. Believing in the resurrection of Jesus and believing in our resurrection is the end of faith. Paul, with such faith, cried out loudly against death. Beloved, with the same faith, I hope that we will be able to cry out, like Paul, to all the things that are currently binding us.
Against all tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword, where is your victory, O death? where is your sting? I hope you can cry out. And may you be able to declare in faith that you will triumph over all that death in your resurrection.
Jesus Christ is risen. We too will be resurrected. Jesus Christ is victorious. We will win too. I pray in the name of the Lord that you and I who can give thanks to the God who gives us victory over all death through Jesus Christ can become. Amen.