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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Jesus - More Than A Substitute
The crucifixion represents more than a transaction where Jesus paid for our sins – it's an invitation to recognize our inclusion in His death and resurrection. We explore how Jesus didn't just die for us, but as us and with us.
• Traditional Easter messages focus on substitution (Jesus died in our place)
• The inclusion perspective reveals we died with Christ (Romans 6:5-6)
• When we died with Him, we also rose with Him as new creations
• Our old sinful identity was crucified with Christ and is gone forever
• We're not just forgiven but transformed through real rebirth
• Substitution leads to performance; inclusion leads to rest
• The resurrection isn't just a future event but a present reality
• The same Spirit that raised Jesus now dwells in us
• We are not spectators of Easter but participants in it
• He is risen, and so have you
I've got a goal this morning. I really do. I have a specific goal that I want to meet this morning. I'm hopeful this morning about a couple of things. I'm hopeful that you will listen intently and that you will listen with an open mind. I'm hopeful that you will think outside of the box.
Speaker 1:I'm not a traditional pastor. I'm not a traditional speaker. I try to push the envelope a little bit and I don't do that to try to get a, you know, to try to stir people up. I do that because I think we should, I think we got to break out of the traditional box that we get stuck in sometimes. And it's no days like Easter and Christmas to get stuck in that box, because those are traditional days and traditional holidays and we're just so used to hearing that Easter message or that Christmas message. And those are the two days that I love to just kind of break out of it a little bit. I love to cause people to get. I'll just be honest, I love to get people a little bit uncomfortable on those days. I love to say some things that kind of goes against your tradition, the religion that we're used to, and just kind of stir people up a little bit, not in a negative way, but I'm saying stir them up to get them to think, to get them to look at it in a way that they've never, maybe hadn't ever looked at it before, because I think it means more than what we've been told that it means. So I was even thinking I heard Monica as she was praying earlier, and this is not a bash on her, because I do it and everybody does it.
Speaker 1:When we're praying, especially on holidays, one of the things that we always say and I've heard every pastor say it, including myself is Father, we thank you for what this day means. We always use that. That's the words that we say. Nothing wrong with that. But I want to ask you a question this morning. What does this day mean to you? What does it mean? You got to answer out loud. Just think to yourself a minute. What does this day, this resurrection day, this Easter Sunday, what does it mean to you? Because I hope that I'm going to say some things this morning that's going to make you question a little bit. And I'm saying question the way you've always received this day, question the way you've always looked at this day, and I want you to see, and I hope you're going to see as we go through this, most of those traditional things that you believe is not wrong. So don't think that I'm coming to say what you've done was wrong or what you believe was wrong. No, it wasn't wrong. It's just sometimes I think we stop when we could go a little bit further. There's more to the story than what we've always been told. So I want to challenge you today to really listen with an open mind and if you have questions, we've got a box back here on that table in the back that says on the little thing it says if you have questions about what was preached, hey, ain't nobody put a question in there If I've done really, really good or you guys just really understand, because there's been no questions, put in that box. But that's the purpose of it, because we want people to ask questions. Listen, if I say something this morning that you just 100% disagree with, put it in that box. Talk to me at the church. Whatever, we want people to think a little bit deeper than what we've become accustomed to.
Speaker 1:The title of this message this morning is Jesus is more, was more than a substitute. We cannot look at him merely as a substitute. We've all heard the traditional Easter message. I'm not coming with that today, I'm just going to highlight it for you. So if you're coming for an Easter, traditional Easter message, I'm going to highlight it for you. So if you're come for an Easter, traditional Easter message, I'm going to highlight it real quick for you.
Speaker 1:Jesus died in your place. He took the punishment that every single one of you deserved and he rose again to show that the payment was accepted. In a nutshell, that's the traditional Easter message. Okay, you didn't deserve it. He come in your place. He did it anyway, and that showed acceptance of it. And now you are ready to start your journey of living your life the way that you should live and on your way to heaven and escaping hell. That's the Easter message.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to share a couple of words with you this morning that I really want you to think about, and you can go and research them and look them up. Don't take my word for it, but I want to talk to you about a couple of different words this morning. The first one is going to be the substitution model, substitution model, as again the title of this is. Jesus is more than I'm supposed to say. Substitute, ronnie, we'll work with him back here. So is more than a substitute. The substitution model of the gospel is what the traditional teaching is. It's a substitution model. It's true.
Speaker 1:Hear that when I say that it's, it's true. What is being said is absolutely true. Jesus died in your place. He took the punishment that you deserve and he rose again. He was resurrected. That is absolutely true.
Speaker 1:But it's not the full story. We stop right there and we're happy and we're content with just hearing that little bit of the story. What if there's more to it than that? Would you be willing to hear the rest of it? Or are you content on just knowing that he raised from the dead, he resurrected, and because of that I'm on my way to heaven, because I've accepted him. What if there's more to the story? What if I told you, the gospel is more than Jesus dying for you. The gospel when we say gospel, we're talking about the good news it is more than just Jesus dying for you. What if he died as you? What if he died as you? What if he died With you, not just for you? We'll just change it a couple of words there, but I want you to think about it. He didn't just die for me. He died as me and he died and I died with him. What if Easter is not just about Admiring an empty tomb but awakening to the fact that you walked out of the tomb with Him? I know that's weird to think about that, really weird to think that.
Speaker 1:But I want you to look at a verse here with me a couple of verses, and we're going to open up with this. In Romans 6, verse 5 and 6. Because you really got to see something in these verses. We get so familiar with some biblical text that we just spit them out, read right over them and don't really dig into what it's really saying. But right here in Romans 6, verse 5 and 6, for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death I love the way it says that If we have been united together in the likeness of whose death, of Jesus' death, united together, joined together in his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Can I put it in my own words If we died with Him, we also have to rise with Him. If you believe that he died and I died with Him and I was crucified with Him, then I also have to believe that I can rise with Him and I can be resurrected with Him. Knowing this, that our old man, that old you, whatever it looked like you ain't got to tell me all the details of it. Whatever that old man looked like, that old man was crucified with him. It's dead. That the body of sin might be done away with that. We should no longer be slaves of sin.
Speaker 1:Now I hate to use this verse a lot of times because a lot of people we've got to understand sin. I don't want to go into that. I don't have time to go into that today, but we can't read this verse in context and we can't understand the truth of this verse if we're looking at sin out here as a behavioral thing. Sin is distorted image. It's when I see myself outside of the image and outside of what God has called and created me to be. Anytime I see myself outside of that and I have a distorted image. The way I see myself, I'm in sin. Sin is not smoking and drinking and doing all that other stuff. Those are the things that come out of sin. When I see myself in a negative way and I don't know who I am, I don't know what my identity is. I will act out certain behaviors. Those behaviors are not the sin. The sin is the distorted image.
Speaker 1:You can look those words up. We go back and listen to some of the sermons. We teach specifically on that. But you have to understand it. I'm no longer a slave to sin. It's not saying I'm no longer a slave to messing up. I'm going to mess up, I'm going to make mistakes. If you're telling the truth in here today, you're going to know that you're going to make mistakes too. You're going to do some stuff and then the next day you're going to wake up and say that was really dumb. I wished I wouldn't have done that. I wished I wouldn't have said that You're going to make mistakes. We all are.
Speaker 1:But what do I do when I know who I am and I know that I'm not just an old sinner saved by grace, but I'm a child of God, created in the image and the likeness of Him? I get back up, get my mindset back in the right place, realize who I am and keep going. I dust myself off and I keep going. I do like the prodigal son did and I get up and I say I don't keep going, I do like the prodigal son did, and I get up and I say I don't belong here. I belong in the father's house Because why? He said he come to himself, no matter how dirty he was, no matter what he participated in that weekend. He got up with the mud all over him and he looked at himself and said I don't belong here. He recognized that's not who he was, aside from all the fun that it was because he blew all that inheritance and he had a lot of fun that weekend. When you study it out, you can go back. That was like where he was at, was kind of like Las Vegas. He was having some fun in there.
Speaker 1:But he realized this is not me. We've got to realize that Seeing Jesus as a substitute is awesome. He paid the price for me. I didn't have to go to the cross, he did it for me. That's awesome, but it's incomplete. This is where you've got to think a little bit outside the box, because just knowing that he went to the cross for me, he went on my behalf, is an amazing feeling to know that, and it's true. I'm not knocking that down, that is true. But there's so much more to it than just that. I'm not here to throw away the substitution idea. We're not here to throw it out and say it's all wrong.
Speaker 1:In Isaiah 53 we got to go there, but it says he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, so he was, so he was brewed, he was cut, he was beat, so he was our substitute in that. So again, I'm not throwing out that idea of substitution. He really went through that stuff. Have you ever been flogged? Have you ever had somebody beat you with little pieces that was real sharp and when they went into your skin they just grabbed it and they yanked it and they yanked your skin out. I know I'm getting graphic, but you got to know what he went through. Study out what a flogging really was. It wasn't a little leather belt. They had bones and stuff on there that was carved out to actually grab the skin when it hit it and it would latch onto the skin and when they pulled it back it would just yank. That's what he went through. That was the substitution part of it. That is absolutely true.
Speaker 1:But there's more to the story and I believe if I'm the type of person I want to go deeper, that's just who I am. I want to go deeper. I'm fine with salvation. I just want to get saved and I just want to make sure I'm on my way to heaven. Great. But what are you going to do for the next 30, 40, 50, 60 years? Are you just going to live here, knowing that you're going to heaven? Are you going to live a life? What Jesus said, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Are you going to let heaven invade your life now while you're here? That's the rest of the story. That's the part that we leave out. Sometimes we think just salvation is just good enough. Salvation is the greatest thing you will ever do in your life. But there's more to it than just accepting him. It's accepting everything about him. That's the part of the story we sometimes don't tell.
Speaker 1:If you stop there with what happened in Isaiah the wounding and the transgressions and the bruising of the iniquity and the punishment when you stop there, it becomes almost transactional. Think about that word just a minute. Jesus dies. You don't die. Jesus dies. You don't hang on the cross. You don't get flogged. You don't get a crown of thorns put on your head. Jesus did that you reap the benefits of it. Jesus dies, you believe, You've been forgiven and now you live your best life until you're called home and you go to heaven. Like a transaction was made, jesus did this and now you get this. Sounds amazing, don't it? And it is amazing. But there's more to it the model, this transactional model here. Really, it shows Jesus separate from us Because you didn't go through that he did. He basically just took your place. Would everybody agree with that? Jesus took your place.
Speaker 1:We've been taught to view the cross kind of like a courtroom drama. God's the judge. He's sitting on the throne with his thunderbolts. Whatever you want to picture him as, he's the angry God, the angry father. Jesus is the one who steps in between. We're the guilty defendant and Jesus steps in the middle and I've taught on this. But it's kind of like a courtroom. Jesus is the advocate, we're the ones that should be punished. God's the one that's going to punish us, and Jesus steps in the middle and says no, I got this Sort of like a courtroom.
Speaker 1:That's a transactional view of the cross, but there's more to it. The cross was not just Jesus paying your debt. The cross was God undoing death itself, restoring union, coming together and revealing the true identity, your true identity in Christ. You're going to see in a minute why this transactional lens is not. It don't go all the way. It don't show us the whole picture. The cross was not a transaction between an angry father and a son being punished. It was the father in the son reconciling the world to himself, as it says in 2 Corinthians. He reconciled the world Reconciled. He brought back together, he fixed, he restored back together, he fixed, he restored everybody, the world. It says the world. It didn't say the Christian, it didn't say the one that was going to the right denomination, the one that was going to church every Sunday. It said he was reconciling, restoring the world back to himself.
Speaker 1:Paul says something even more amazing. He gets really personal with it. Listen to what Paul said here. This is coming out of Galatians 2. I have been crucified with Christ. He even goes more personal with it. He didn't just stand back here and say look at him, my dog getting crucified for me. No, he said I got crucified with Christ, I was crucified with him. He took it and he moved it to a personal level. He didn't just say he took my place, but I was in him when he died. Think about that a minute. I was in him. You, every one of you, was in him when he died.
Speaker 1:This is moving from substitution, where Jesus was merely a substitute. This is moving to inclusion, an inclusion theory. I wasn't just sitting back watching the game. I was in the game Because he's in me and I'm in Him, and I went to the cross with Him and I was crucified with Him. And then, if I was crucified with Him, therefore I had to be resurrected with him. I was part of the process, you was part of the process. Now, I hope you understand. We're talking spiritually here, because we obviously wasn't around when he was crucified. So we're talking about a spiritual thing here. But it's really important to see this. What if we looked at it like this the cross wasn't just for you, it was with you. But it's really important to see this. What if we looked at it like this the cross wasn't just for you, it was with you, it was part of you.
Speaker 1:Romans 6,. I'm going to go back there again, but I'm going to skip back just a little to verse 3 and 4. I want you to see what it says here. Or do you not know that, as many of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. Therefore, we were buried with Him. That's inclusion. I didn't stand back and say he was buried and I watched it. We were buried with Him, that's inclusion. I'm included in that Through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. This is showing so much of inclusion. You see, the Bible means something different when I inject myself into it instead of just sitting back and saying that's a great story, when I can realize that what he done, that I was included in it. It means more to me. It represents something totally different than me just sitting back watching it Like I'm watching a movie or something.
Speaker 1:I challenge every one of you go back and watch Passion of the Christ, but don't watch it with a substitutionary mindset. Come to it and look at it in that you're with Him and you're part of this process. You will see a whole totally different picture that you're with him and you're part of this process. You will see a whole totally different picture because you're not just seeing what Jesus done, but you're seeing what was done in me. It's hard to change our mindset to see it like this. It may sound weird, but ask yourself this why does this really matter? Why does it matter the way I see this? Why does it matter the way I look at it? Jesus died. I'm born again. I'm going to heaven. Ain't that enough? If you want it to be enough, then yeah, it's enough for you. I don't want it. That ain't enough for me. I want more. I've told you the story.
Speaker 1:Years ago I was going through something and I knelt down at the altar around our first community church in the middle of the night and I said, god, I want more than this, and if there's not more than what you're showing me, I'll walk away from it and I'll never look at the Word again. And I meant that Because there had to be more to it than what we're going through and what we're seeing in everyday life. It is so frustrating to come in and read the Word and to see the things that he says in the Word, that he's for us and not against us, and then all hell breaks loose in my life and I'm like wait a minute now. You just said you was for me, not against me. He says I'll bless you If you give, I'll give back. Press down, shake it together, runneth over, and I ain't got two nickels to rub together and two nickels to rub together and I'm like, wait a minute, god. You said you would give back, you said you would give me overflow and I'm sitting over here, broke as a joke.
Speaker 1:That's a tough place to be, god. You said that you would restore things and people's going through divorces and relationships are breaking up and families are tearing apart and you're sitting back and you're looking and saying, god, this is not what your Word said. Maybe I'm the only one that's been there, but I've been through those battles with God and I threw His Word right back at Him and said this is not what you said. And then I finally had to come to a place one time of realizing it wasn't the Word, it was me not understanding, it was me not being in the right place, it was me not living up to what he said. I had the potential to be. And when I realized that and I got into that right position, everything started to shift. The word didn't change, but my mindset did, as I began to see myself included in this process. As he says he's in me and I'm in him. We're joined together. It's a union. Things shifted in my life. They're not perfect, but things shifted.
Speaker 1:I don't worry about things I used to worry about. Things don't get me down the way they used to. If I make a mistake, guess what? I keep going. I don't beat myself up and feel like I got to get saved for the next three Sundays. I'm already saved. I don't have to do it again. He still loves me. Even when I mess up.
Speaker 1:He's lifting me up, as we talked about last week. He's not cutting that piece of the branch off because it's on the ground. He's lifting it up so that it can regrow and it can get back and get connected to the vine again. He'll lift us up. He's not going to cut us off and throw us into the fire. And that's what we think, that's what we're taught so many times. So it's hard to change our mindset on this stuff.
Speaker 1:But try to picture yourself on the cross with him. Think about the cross and try to picture yourself on the cross with him, not physically, but spiritually. Because if Jesus just died for you listen to this now if he just died for you, then you're still you, nothing really changed. You're forgiven, yes, but unchained. But if he died with you, if you died with Him, then the old you, as the verse said a while ago, the old you is gone. It's been crucified. It's not just been patched up and shined up, it's been crucified. The old man is gone. Behold, I am a new creation, it's been crucified.
Speaker 1:See, some of you keep battling every day with something that's already been crucified and it don't change the fact that God said it's already gone because of what Jesus did on the cross. The fact is, you don't see it as gone yet because you see yourself as still that same person, that you were doing those same things and thinking that same way. And if you just go back and put yourself on the cross and realize that I was included in this process and when he was crucified, I was crucified, the old man is dead and gone and I am a new creation in Christ, I don't have to keep fighting that old guy. I don't have to worry about that old man anymore. He's gone. But can I see myself as a new creation? 2 Corinthians, 5 and 17.
Speaker 1:Look at this verse Because I want you to really understand this word inclusion. Therefore, if anyone. I love this right here, because it don't say if any Christian. It don't say if any believer, it don't say if anybody who don't make any mistakes, because I know we probably got some out there that feel that way. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. They're not just patched up, we're not just putting a band-aid over it. It's like surgery took place. He took one heart out and he put another heart in. You are a new creation in Christ. Can you see yourself that way? God didn't make a mistake.
Speaker 1:If I'm not walking in that, I'm not feeling that way and I'm not seeing that in my life, I've got to be honest enough to ask myself where's the problem at? Maybe I need to change the way I'm seeing things. Maybe I need to realize that what Jesus done was not just for me. It was with me and I was included in that process and I went to the cross with Him and when he died, I died. When he rose again, I rose again, but I didn't rise. The same way, I rose as a new creation in Christ. I am not the same person that I used to be. Now, listen. You may make some of the same dumb mistakes you used to make We've all been there but you are not the same dumb mistakes you used to make. We've all been there, but you are not the same person that you used to be. We've got to see that in ourselves.
Speaker 1:So when I use this word inclusion, what does it really mean? Inclusion means co-resurrection, not just a clean slate. He didn't just dust you off and clean your slate off and say keep going. He made this thing completely. New. Substitution says you're guilty. Jesus takes your punishment. Now you're off the hook. Come on now. Is that not what we've been taught over the years? You were guilty. Jesus didn't do nothing wrong. You were guilty. Jesus stepped in. He took the punishment. Guess what? You're clean now. You're off the hook now. That's what we've been taught, and there's nothing wrong with believing that. But I want to believe something more than that. I want to see the truth in this and what really happened.
Speaker 1:Inclusion says you were dead in sin. You were dead to the fact of who you really were. You could not see yourself as God created you. You could only see yourself as what was going on in the world or how people viewed you. But now you are dead to sin. You are dead to the distorted image Of yourself.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't just take your punishment, he took you into death With him, you died with him and you were raised An absolutely new creation With all the old things passed away, burned off. That's a different way to look at it, totally different. Hard for people to do Another verse right here I want you to see because of what we just did Ephesians 2. Verse 4 through 6. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love, with which he loved us, put yourself in it, with which he loved you. Even when we were dead, in trespasses, even when we were the old self, all messed up, he made us alive together. I love that word Together, unity, inclusion. He made us together. He made us alive together with Christ.
Speaker 1:By grace you have been saved. I thought it was because I went to an altar and said a prayer. You were saved by grace. Nothing wrong with coming up here and saying a prayer, but a prayer didn't save you. Nothing wrong with getting oil put on your head, but the oil did not save you. You were saved by grace and raised up, raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:Well, pastor, I don't know if I believe that. I mean you're telling me I'm sitting with Him in heavenly places. Yes, according to the Word of God, the Bible's truth, or it's a lie? Now you can argue with the Bible if you want. I'm not debating this with you. I'm telling you what the Word of God says.
Speaker 1:The question is can I see myself that way? Can I change the image of myself, the way I view myself, and see myself as sitting in heavenly places, raised up together with Him and sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? Can I see myself that way? It's not a matter of whether it's truth or not, whether you believe it or not. Don't make it true. God makes it truth. If you don't believe it, then it's still truth. You're just not recognizing it in your own life. When you get to a point of recognizing this in your own life, you will see things drastically, drastically begin to change. Those things that I'm hoping for, those things that I'm hoping for, those things that I'm wishing for, those things that I continuously pray for, and I never see them happen. You'll start walking in the manifestation of these things. Why? Because they only happen in Christ. Did he just say we're not Christians? No, you're born again. You know, I can be born again but still mentally be outside of Christ.
Speaker 1:We don't like to say that because there's no way we can see that guy walking the street out here bumming for money so he can go get his next drink. There's no way we can see him, the same as we see these beautiful people in church on Sunday morning. That word said anyone. It says he chose us, all of us, before the foundation of the world. That guy out there has got an image problem. You might say, well, he's got a drinking problem. He might, but that drinking problem stems from his image problem. That addict that's out there on coke or on meth or whatever, yes, they've got an addiction problem, but the addiction problem stems from an image problem. Sometimes we need to forget about the addiction problem and work on the addiction problem stems from an image problem. Sometimes we need to forget about the addiction problem and work on the image problem and help them see who they are in Christ.
Speaker 1:When they see who they are in Christ and I understand my true identity, I don't have to act like an addict anymore. I don't have to act like an alcoholic anymore. See, we do, and I'm telling you from a therapist standpoint. We do it backwards. We try to fix the drug problem and then they may get off the drugs for a little while and then they're like well crap, I don't know who I am. So I'm going to go back to what really made me feel good. And they go see how people go back and forth. We see it all the time, come on. But if I can teach them who they are you mean while they're still using, while they're still using I freak some people out in counseling. Sometimes when they come in here for addiction problems and we don't even talk about their addiction, they're like you're supposed to be. No, we're going to learn who you are. We're going to help you see who you are. I'm not advocating you to go get drunk and go get high, but guess what? You know what an addict's going to do Use. You know what an alcoholic is going to do Drink. So I can sit in there and I can fight with them about that. Or I can sit in there and I can fight with them about that, or I can just focus on helping them learn their true identity. And if they learn who they are and they step into that identity, this other stuff will start to just fall away. It's working from the inside out, not working from the outside. In Too many times we're told get it all right, get it all straight and then you can come and you can be a part of our awesome congregation.
Speaker 1:I want you to come in drunk, as you can be, if that's the way you come. I don't want you to come in drunk. Now, don't take that the wrong way. But if you're messed up, come in. We're not going to kick you out because you're messed up, come in. We're not going to kick you out because you're messed up. We're going to help you figure out who you are. That's transformation. That's what Jesus told us to do be transformed by renewing of the mind first. When I change this, this will begin to change. We got to do it in the right order.
Speaker 1:Did I read that verse? I think I did. I'm trying to get to the end here. There's so much right here, so we're looking at this verse right here in Ephesians.
Speaker 1:This is just not about forgiveness alone. It's about rebirth. You wasn't just forgiven. You didn't just have your slate cleaned off. He didn't get a water hose and say let me clean the dirt off of them. He made you new, he gave you a rebirth. You were born again. Why? Because the first one was messed up. The first one, you were born through the blood of your parents, you were born through the blood of Adam. But the second one, you were born again through the blood of Adam. But the second one, you were born again through the blood of Christ. See, we throw that word born again around way too quick and not truly understanding what it means to be born again. I'm not saying somebody's not saved, don't take that the wrong way. I'm just saying we don't understand the heaviness of what that being born again really really stands for. You didn't just get a new start, you got a new self, and that means something. You didn't just get a pardon, you got a resurrection Totally different.
Speaker 1:You know it's one thing to you go to court about something, whatever you did, and you have to appear in court and the judge says not guilty and you're like, yes, I'm going to jail, I don't have to pay a fine, I'm not guilty. But it's even different when the judge looks at you and says, no, no, no, I'm going to expunge it all together. It ain't going to be on your record. Would you rather have an expungement or a not guilty? This was like an expungement Everything washed away. It's not even there anymore.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to stand before God one day, on the great day of judgment, and he's going to look at every bad thing that I've done. He's cleaned it up. I mean really, he's cleaned it up. He don't even see you that way anymore. How can he clean you and give you a rebirth and then keep looking at you the way you were? That'd be a pretty bad father, and I don't worship a bad father. I worship a good father. I won't get into that part right there because I know that'll mess with your judgment and everybody wants that judgment. But he's a good father.
Speaker 1:So inclusion brings union. It brings a togetherness. The gospel isn't that God made bad people good. Change your thought on that. God didn't make bad people good. It's that he made dead people live. We sung the song this morning Dead things come alive again. He made dead people live again by giving them a rebirth.
Speaker 1:So substitution says Jesus was our representative, but inclusion says Jesus became our union. We were one with Him, I'm one with Him, he's one with me Once we are together, there is no separating that out. That's why he says I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. I don't. I mean sometimes we believe that every time we make a mistake, that we got to come back to the altar and try to find Jesus again, like he's lost. He's one with me. He said I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.
Speaker 1:And either he told the truth or he told a lie. I know I say that a lot, but it's really that simple. He either lied or he told the truth. And if he told the truth, then no matter what I do, he's there with me, he will not leave me. Can I believe that about myself and can I believe that about Jesus?
Speaker 1:The sad thing is a lot of people can't, because we've been conditioned to think every mistake distances me from him. Make another mistake distances me from him. Make another mistake distances me from him. Make another mistake. Well, he's just tired of me making mistakes. But he says I'm going to turn you over to a reprobate mind. You are cut off. So he says I'm going to turn you over to a reprobate mind, you are cut off. That's a pitiful father that would do that. Would you do that to your child, bring it closer to home. Would you do that to your child? Jesus wouldn't do that to you either. God wouldn't do that to you. God wouldn't do that to you Again. A whole other sermon we could go into. But we've got to see Him for who he is and he's a good Father. He loves you.
Speaker 1:One more verse right here, a couple more probably 1 Corinthians 6 and 17. I'm trying to show you these verses when I say something because I want you to see they're not my opinion. They're the verses and I'm just kind of expanding on the verses a little bit. But 1 Corinthians 6 and 17. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. When he's doing good, he is one Spirit with Him. We've got to quit changing these verses around to fit our circumstances. These verses don't change to fit what I want them to fit or to say what I want them to say.
Speaker 1:These verses say the truth. They are the truth. They are the gospel. They are the Gospel. They are the good news and we've got to grab on to them and recognize that we are not spectators of Easter. This is not a spectator holiday. We are participants in this process. You are not living for God from a distance and waiting one day when I go to heaven. You are living in God, according to this verse, right here, in union with Christ. This is why Paul repeatedly uses phrases like in Christ, with Christ, through Christ. Paul understood this. It took him a while he understood this. You're not just inspired by what Jesus did. You were infused into the very process of what Jesus did the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension, everything. I got two more verses here, but I can't leave them out Colossians 3. Verse 3 and 4.
Speaker 1:As we get to the point now, we've said all this. I always like to get to a point of saying what now? I threw all this stuff out there. I've used a couple of words like substitution theory and inclusion theory. What does it matter? What now? For you died, who died? You should have said I, I died, I died, we all died. For you died and your life. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ is our life, who is our life, appears and you also will appear with him in glory. So what now? How is this relevant for us today? I thought I was just coming to get an Easter message. You are getting an Easter message? It's just not traditional. How is this relevant if substitution theory you are getting an Easter message? It's just not traditional. How is this relevant If substitution theory is your framework?
Speaker 1:If that's the way you're going to look at things, then you're going to spend your life trying to please God, who saved you. You're going to always spend your life trying to make up what God did for you and trying to find some way to please Him and you're going to turn into a performer and you're going to think that every good thing that you do makes you more righteous and makes you more holy and gets you closer to God. But if you look at it from an inclusion standpoint, from a framework, you'll live in the rest, not the hustle and bustle and work, but the rest of knowing you're one with God who resurrected you. You are one with Him.
Speaker 1:Easter isn't a motivation to do better. That's the key to it. This is not just a motivational day. It is. For some people, easter Sunday and Christmas morning is motivational days. This is not a motivation to do better. It's a revelation of what's already been done. You're not waiting for resurrection. You are proof of the resurrection.
Speaker 1:Now, some people today this morning will tell you that you are waiting on the resurrection day, where he's going to come back one day and he's going to resurrect. Listen, if that to you know one day, and he's going to resurrect. Listen. If that's what you want to believe, you can believe that too. But I've read you I don't know how many verses this morning that says that you have been resurrected with him. So we're not talking about the resurrection one day at the end of time. We're talking about the resurrection that happened with Christ, that you were a union with, that you was a part of, and that when he raised back up, you were raised with Him as a new creation. We're talking about a totally different resurrection. We're talking about one that's already happened, not one that we're waiting on one day. That's already happened, not one that we're waiting on one day. Last verse I promise it is. I'm looking down Romans 8 and 11. I'm going to get ready to close right here.
Speaker 1:But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, that's the first thing I love when they put the if in there. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, what does that mean? I don't have to see that in my life I can choose to reject that. It don't have to see that in my life I can choose to reject that. It don't change what he done If I come up tomorrow and become an atheist. Me not believing in God does not change what he done on the cross. It just ain't truth to me. So what is the truth to you? If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. We got too many people waiting to get to heaven to get all this stuff. When the Spirit lives in you right now, you can have life right now. I just can't wait till I get to heaven and get out of this old world. No, we can have life right now. You can have heaven right now on earth. That was the goal.
Speaker 1:We got into this a little bit last week. I won't get into it too much, but I mean Jesus nor His disciples ever taught on the afterlife. The theme of their teaching was not get saved, so you miss hell and go to heaven. Never taught on it. Look it up, come back to me if you find it. I say that because you won't find it Nowhere in there.
Speaker 1:That was not the theme of Jesus' message. The good news was that you no longer have to be lost, that you no longer have to see yourself this way, that I am restoring you back to what God intended. We were restored, we were redeemed, we were saved, and he said that will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Bring kingdom here. We're not waiting to get the kingdom there, we're bringing it here. We're living life here. Some people's just going through life here, waiting to get to heaven so they can live. He says live now You've been resurrected. What's the only purpose of being resurrected? To live. If you wanted to stay dead, you could have just stayed dead, but he resurrected you so that you could have life.
Speaker 1:In a transactional lens. If you see this through a transactional lens, if you see this through a transactional lens, this verse often reads like this and this is, sadly, this is the way people read this verse Someday, the Spirit will raise my body from the dead, like he did with Jesus. It's mostly about the future. It's the way most people read this verse Resurrection at the end of time, somewhere someday. The Spirit is seen as a sort of a power source that will help you endure until you get to heaven. But here's what the that's a very limited view. Here's what inclusion actually says.
Speaker 1:You were co -crucified with Christ. That's in Galatians. You were co-buried with Him. That's in Romans 6. You were co -raised with Him that's in Ephesians. And now the same Spirit that raised Him already lives in you, not as a future hope, but as a present, now reality. Those are all verses I just gave you right there. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is now in you. He's not just visiting you on occasion. He don't just visit you when you get in trouble or do something crazy. He is your life. He's on the inside of me. He said he would never leave me nor forsake me. He's there. He doesn't dwell in you someday when you're resurrected in the future. He dwells in you right now.
Speaker 1:This verse is not about a promise of a future event. It's about living the reality of what's already happened, right now, present. You're not waiting to be raised. You've already been raised in Him. You just don't. Some people just don't see it. Some people don't want to see it. I hate to say that, but it's the truth. Some people don't want to see it because it takes a little bit more. It's easier just to believe that one day Jesus is going to do this and I'm going to go to heaven. It's easier just to believe that one day Jesus is going to do this and I'm going to go to heaven. It's easy to believe that it really don't take nothing but to turn that around and say he's living in me now and there's certain things that I've got to represent now. I've got to be a kingdom ambassador now. Jesus, don't need a kingdom ambassador in heaven. Your inheritance is not doing any good in heaven. Here now Can you be an ambassador of the kingdom of God here on this earth, right now? Let's bring it to a close.
Speaker 1:You were not just forgiven at the cross. It's not just about forgiving your sins. You were included in the cross. You can stand up. Make y'all think y'all going sooner. Listen to me Even though you're standing up and you're getting ready, you're already getting in the launch position to get ready to head out. Listen to this part right here, because this is the crux of what we've said. You were not just forgiven on the cross. It was not just about sin. You were forgiven, but not just forgiven on the cross. It was not just about sin. You were forgiven, but not just forgiven. Not only that, you were included in the cross, you were part of it. You died with Him, you rose with Him, you lived with Him, you reigned with Him. This Easter, don't settle for Jesus being a substitute for you. He's not just a substitute, you're included. This was about union. Step into inclusion, the mystery that you were united with Christ In his death and his resurrection.
Speaker 1:And we say it so often. It's being said 15 million times today he is risen. I'm going to add to that and so have you. He is risen, and so have you. We never add that part on. Some churches will kick you out if you add that part on. Some churches would kick you out if you had that part on. I fully believe that. But we believe what the Word says. The Word says you died with Him. The Word says you were resurrected with Him and now you are living with Him. You're seated with Him in heavenly places. He has risen today and you've living with Him. You're seated with Him in heavenly places. So he has risen today and you've risen with Him.
Speaker 1:Can you change your mindset enough to say let me just think about some of this. Some of you that don't go here regularly, I'm not asking you to walk out of here and believe everything I just said, because I know you're not, but I'm asking you to have an open mind and at least think about it. At least take these verses and say what do they really mean? I know what I thought they meant, but what do they really mean? Again, I started out and I said I wanted this to be a message that was not the traditional Easter message. I think I've out and I said I wanted this to be a message that was not the traditional Easter message. I think I've done that. And I said I also wanted you to think. I wanted you to get as excited as Cooper is right now. He gets excited. Can we change our thinking? Are we willing to open our minds up? That's the question.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, father.
Speaker 1:God, we thank you for this word. I thank you for what you've given us. I thank you for the revelation, father, that you've given to each one of us that we have the ability to go deeper than just the surface. I'm not happy with surface anymore. I want more of you. I want more of you. I want to understand you. I want to walk into things that you said I had the ability to walk in. I want to know you in a way that I've never known you before. I want to feel you in my life like I've never felt you before. I want to do things in my life that I've never been able to do before, simply because I've seen myself from the wrong perspective.
Speaker 1:So, father, god, I pray for every person in this room right now that they take this Word with them, father, that they even go next week when it's put online and they'll go back and they'll re-listen to this Word, they'll print out the transcript and they'll check behind me and they'll study these Scriptures and they'll ask the question, the hard question am I willing to go deeper? Am I willing to look behind the things that we've always been told and the tradition that we've always stopped at? Am I willing to go deeper than that, so that I can be everything that you called me to be? Father, we thank you for everything. We thank you for your Son, jesus Christ, and we thank you that we were included in the process that we died with Him, we rose with Him and, father. We are seated with Him in heavenly places. So we thank you for everything that You're doing in our life and the life of this ministry, and we just thank you for this community. Father, we'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor and the glory for everything, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.