Like Him We Rise | Easter Sunday

Have you ever felt stuck in patterns you cannot break? Do you wonder if real change is actually possible? What would it mean to truly start over with a new life? Jesus does not just offer improvement. He offers resurrection. The good news of the gospel is that through his death and resurrection, Jesus gives you a new life that is real and lasting, a foundation that steadies your soul when everything else feels uncertain.
 
 On Easter, we remember that what happened to Jesus now shapes your story. When he died, he broke the power of sin. When he rose, he opened the way for you to live free. You are invited to hide your life in Christ, to let the old self die, and to receive a new identity that is rooted in grace. This is not about pretending or trying harder. It is about trusting that Jesus has already done what you could never do for yourself.
 
 If you are tired of a surface level faith or carrying the weight of your past, there is something deeper waiting for you. Jesus meets you right where you are and calls you into a life that is full, free, and alive in him. You do not have to stay the same. In Christ, you can rise into something new.
 
 Scripture: Romans 6:3 to 5
 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4
 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Romans 6:5
 
 Belong at First Pres by taking the first step: join us for worship on Sundays in person. https://firstprescos.org/belong

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the First Praise Sermon Podcast, where each week we dive into scripture, wrestle with truth, and discover how faith intersects our lives. God's word meets us where we are, challenging, shaping, and calling us into something greater. No matter where you are on your journey, you belong here. And we're praying that this sermon might help you take a next step in faith towards Jesus. Hey, let's dive into today's message together.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Amen, amen. Thank you, Pastor Greg. Thank you. It's good to have you here. It's good to work. Palm Sunday is fun, isn't it? Hold up your palm for me, would you? You cannot hold that thing and not smile. It's like whenever you're hanging, you're ever holding one of these things, you just smile. You just smile. Because God is good. He's here. Amen. And uh you're uh you're among a good people. If you're just visiting with us, uh you have fallen in with a good crowd. And uh this is a crowd of people, we're not perfect, but we're pursuing Jesus, and and we would love for you to be a part of that. Uh this is somewhere around the 153rd time that this church is going to lift up the victories of Jesus and Passion Week, starting with Palm Sunday, and we're gonna walk with the Lord through this week into the victories of the Lord on Easter. There's an invite card we'd love for you to take, and you tear it off and you give one piece to your friend, and then you keep one piece to remember I invited a friend, and so you don't forget to go get them or watch for them or help them get into the space with you, and we're gonna worship uh this weekend in a big way. Today's Palm Sunday. We're in our Roman series, so um encourage you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter five, and I really mean that. There's Bibles in the back. If anybody wants a Bible, uh throw your hand in the air and Chris will chuck a Bible at you uh towards the back of your head. You really want one? Yeah, Chris, hey man, you gotta jump, you got some work. You got some work, you got some customers, and uh you can keep that Bible, but uh open your phone. These are tough passages to explain, they're tough passages to understand. So we're gonna look at Romans 5, 12 to 21 today, and as we do that, let's pray for God's help. Lord, uh, we thank you for the joy of remembering you riding into Jerusalem. Lord, the the shouting, the acclamation, be our Savior. And we ask that you would come into our lives just the same. We know you do. So we ask that by your Holy Spirit that you would come into this room, that you would come into each of our lives, that you would intersect with us, open up our minds and our hearts so that we can hear your word and understand what you've done for us, Jesus. We love you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. And the church said, Amen. We're at Romans 5, 12 to 21. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned. To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin was not charged against anyone's account where there's no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflow to the many? Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if by the trespass of the one man death reigned, through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ? Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen. Amen. So there's a pretty big debate going on about which generation deserves to be called generation me. Generation me. Which one is it? What do you think? Oh man, that hurts. Right in the right in the back. Gen X, right out of the gate. You know who you know what generation got that name first? Does everybody know? What'd you guess? Boomers. The baby boomers, the baby boomers. The boomers got yeah, that's right. And you know, you earned it, you boomers. You got you got spoiled. You were you you came up in the the prosperity and peace of the post-war period, and and you just had the opportunity to say, well, hey, let's just see what how much fun we can have, right? Generation me. And then the millennials, you know what the millennials are called? They're called generation me, me. Double me, one me, add a me, and so uh a me on top of me, me, me, generation me, me. The millennials sort of, uh boy, I'm looking for comfort, I'm looking for things that go right, I'm looking for things to go my way, I'm looking for it to be easy. The rising generation behind them, do you want to guess what they're called? Generation me, me, me. It's all about me, me, me. My selfie, my my follows, I'm living too much online. Uh everything is about uh likes and clicks, and and I'm just too much in the middle of my own universe of my own making, you know? I I just live in the center. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. I'm Generation X. We're just straight up narcissists. But but we know how to hide it and how to blame it on others. So we got that going for us. Me, me, me, me, me. Narcissus was a uh uh person, uh a piece of Greek mythology, it was a story of Greek mythology. Have you ever heard the story of Narcissus? He was this young man who was really uh good looking and so good looking that he was he was captured by his own looks, his selfie. He was captured by his selfie. And so he looks down into a pond of water and he sees his face looking up, and he's so captured by it he can't actually move. He can't get away. He's just so enraptured by looking at his own face. He loves his self, his self. He loves his self. And it worked out great for him. Did anybody know the story of narcissism? It I didn't read to the end, but I think it worked out great. No, he was stuck forever. The Greek mythology is he turned into a flower, which is nobody wants that. Narcissism. Stuck in yourself. Me, me, me. Now, why does Jesus, if narcissism is so ugly, if narcissism is so toxic, if narcissism is so sick, why does Jesus say, hey, it's all about me? In our series, Like Him We Rise, we're gonna look at Jesus today. We're gonna understand the unique role that Jesus plays in the story of our salvation because it is all about Jesus. It is all about him, it is all about one man. Like him we rise. Our sermon titled today is One Man. One man. Palm Sunday is a special day. It's a fun day. Uh we get to open up sort of holy week, and and it's a day that we celebrate year after year. And it's good for our souls that we do this, that we take this time to walk through this calendar, this week. And we want to walk through this week with Jesus. Palm Sunday, entering into Jerusalem with all this acclaim and celebration. Holy Monday. It's when we remember how Jesus came to the temple and turned the tables over. He wanted to get everything out of the way, anything that's in the way of you and God. Uh, Tuesday, you know what they call Tuesday? Back in the old, yeah, Shrove Tuesday. They might call it Fig Tuesday. Have you ever heard that? Like when Jesus cursed the fig tree. It's interesting to think about. Wednesday is often called Spy Wednesday. Why? Because that's when Judas made his plot to betray Jesus. And then Maundy Thursday, the command, the Lord's Supper, Good Friday, the good sacrifice that had to be made. Holy Saturday. Quiet and still. And then Easter. And the tomb is empty. And the victories are won. Easter Sunday. But it all starts with Palm Sunday. We remember when Jesus rode into Jerusalem to fulfill what was an absolute pile of Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah. And so He rides into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, and he's comes down from the Mount of Olives and through the valley and up the hill, up through the east gate where the Messiah will enter. And he's alone is riding on the back of an animal. He's up. Everyone is walking this great crowd, but Jesus is just a little up. He's riding on the back of an animal, not a lot up. Has anybody ever ridden on the back of a donkey? Like your toes dragged on the ground. But he's a little up. Look at this man. Look at this one. Why? Why should the attention be focused on him? Because this man is like no other man. Winston Churchill famously said after the Battle of Britain, never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. A few people, one person, one great person, can have an outsized impact on the lives of everyone else. Some people can have this huge influence that changes things for a lot of other people. Never in the history of the world were there two more influential men than Adam and Jesus Christ. Paul's been teaching this church in Rome. He said, You guys think there's two kinds of people, right? He said, Yeah, there's only two kinds of people. There's the Jewish people and the Gentile people. And Paul is now saying, All right, you know what? You're right. There's two kinds of people. There's two types of people in the world. And you know what they are? There's only this: there are those who are in Adam. And there are those who are in Christ. Two types of people. Therefore, just as sin entered the world, verse 12, through one man. Who's that man? Sin entered through one man. Everybody wants to say Jesus, because the answer is always Jesus, right? The answer right now is definitely not Jesus. Okay, therefore, as sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam. Sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam. And death through sin. In this way, death came to all peoples because all sinned. Sin entered the world through Adam. Death came behind sin. And it impacts all people. Everybody. This is original sin. Original sin. Maybe you know the story. Adam and Eve were created. They were set in the garden of Eden. And God said, You've got everything you're taken care of. There's everything that you need to eat. There's everything that you need for flourishing. And the marriage is solid. It's a honeymoon period. Everything is great. And then God says, There's one tree in the garden that's different. There's one tree that I've put over here, and this is a tree that I want to have stand as an emblem that I am your God. You're going to obey me when you see this tree. You're going to remember that I am God and you're not. Because this tree, you can eat of all the trees, but this tree, you're not going to eat from this tree. And when you look at this tree, you're going to remember I'm here to worship and glorify God. It's an emblem that God is God and you are not. And Adam and Eve, what did they do? Ooh, I want that tree. And the serpent came and started whispering in the ear of Eve. And Eve she went and she started whispering in the ear of Adam. And together they went and they ate of that tree. And I'm telling you, if Eve had a phone. She would have selfied her bite. And then she would have given it to Adam and she would have made a reel out of Adam's bite. Like, no, no, do it again. I didn't get it. Do it again. Why? Because what the devil came and whispered in the ears of Eve, and what Eve whispered in the ears of Adam, what Satan came and whispered in their ears was, hey, you know what? Let's make it all about me. Let's start generation me. God knows that if you eat this tree, you're gonna be like a God. You're gonna be like God. And he doesn't want that. He doesn't want that for you. He wants to keep that from you. He wants to be the spotlight. Look at it. He wants the spotlight. He doesn't want you to have any of the spotlight at all. He doesn't want it to be about you. But it deserves to be about you, doesn't it? Don't you deserve to be in the middle? Don't you deserve to get what you want? Don't you deserve to be just as important as God? Let's make it about me. And so they did. And in that disobedience, God had to push them out of the garden and God had to divorce them from another tree, the tree of life. What follows sin is death. Original sin. I don't know how you think about original sin, if that's easy for you to take in. You know, a lot of times people say, I don't get understand this. Christian doctrine, original sin. Why do I have to pay the penalty for somebody else's stupid mistakes? You know, I don't like to do that at all. We're individualists. We pay for our own bill, you know? And we're so it's very hard for us as individualists to think that I might bear responsibility for somebody else's bad decisions. Other people in other parts of the world, they live differently. They live more collectively, they live as family. If the family owes, the family owes. And I'm in the family. The thing is, we're in the family of Adam. Adam is our father, our progenitor. Scientists will still tell us, don't they? Of all the races of mankind, of all the different peoples, all around the world, we all descend from one genetic source. You know that? We've got a father. We've got one blood. One blood. All people. Probably the one of the greatest leaders that I bet you never heard of passed away two weeks ago. His name was John Perkins. John Perkins. John Perkins was born in 1930 in Sharecropper, Mississippi. He grew up through Jim Crow. He grew up through the racism of our country. He and his family suffered uh terrible uh pains and abuses. Uh his brother died in his arms. He was shot by a racist sheriff, his mother died in poverty. And all of this, in all of this, John Perkins, he knew the Lord, and he knew the Lord's love for him. And in all that he suffered, and all the different things that came his way that pushed against his life, and all the terrible things that he had to endure, John Perkins never gave up, not for a minute, on the truth that we are one people, one blood, one family, one race, one humanity, saved by one Savior, one Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my goodness. A lot of his thinking emphasize uh has impacted how we do cause I love you and City Serve and how we engage our city. There's uh two books. One is called Justice for All, another one is called One Blood. You'd be blessed to read them. The point. One blood. See, we're one blood, we're one people, and that's good news and it's bad news. It's good news, we're one people, but it's bad news. We're one with Adam. Our progenitor. Adam and Eve, our forefather, our foremother. The selfish one who taught us to be selfish, the sinner who taught us to sin. The self-server who taught us to serve ourselves, and it's in all of us. Original sin. I actually have never personally had too much trouble with that. Because I don't have a hard time believing that I'm selfish. Does anybody have a hard time believing that you're selfish? It's like, nah, I get that. It runs through our veins. We are in Adam. In Adam. Psalm 53, it's a really old translation. The reason I use it is that the word men in Hebrew is Adam, and older translations would use Adam's name in this Psalm. Psalm 53, a really old translation. God looks from the heavens upon the children of Adam. He looks on the all people to see if there's a discerning person who is seeking God. God looks down and he's looking down. How many kinds of people are there? There's two kinds of people. There's those who are in Christ, and there's those who are in Adam. God looks down from heaven to see if there's a discerning person. He looks at all the children of Adam who's seeking God. All have gone astray. Each one is altogether perverse. There is no one who does what is good. No, not even one. This is the state of mankind. In Adam. In Adam. That's the trespass. But the gift is not like the trespass. Look at this now. Verse 15. The gift is not like the trespass, for if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflow to many? There's the trespass, and there's the gift, the trespass. Through one man all die. Through one man all fall into death. Through one man Adam, through the disobedience of one man Adam, that's enough for all of humanity to follow in his train. One man came and caused so much trouble, and one man has come to set it all right. If one man can drop us all into selfishness and sin and death, what can one man do to fix it? You see it. And the amazing thing is that, as Paul starts to explain, is that these can't even be compared to one another. The gift is so much better than the trespass. Through the trespass, one man committed a sin, and what happened? Through that sin, an absolute explosion of sin started happening. We all sin. It's not just that we carry Adam's sin, but we we do our own sinning. And so the sin is just exploding like a star field. It's innumerable. You can't count it. And all that sin, it just grows and grows and grows. And Jesus, though, the gift is that one man can take all that sin away. Can take all that sin away. Look at this in verse 16. Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin. What Jesus did, how do you even compare it? The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. So much better is the gift of God in Jesus. An extraordinary gift, an amazing gift of wonder. And what is that gift? It's the gift he gave on the cross. It's the gift of giving his life. It's the gift of dying for us. Because of sin, death reigned. Because of one act of disobedience, all the Death came in. And now Jesus is preparing a gift. And look at this now. I want you to look at this carefully with me, because this is astounding. I'm telling you, I don't get it. So if I don't get it, we're all going to not get it, okay? No, maybe some of you are going to get it. You can tell me later. But this is astounding what this says. Look at what this says. For if by the trespass of one man death reigned through that one man. Okay, I get that. So Adam fell, and through that trespass, now we're all we're all under the reign. Think of a king like a king, and the king is called death. Okay? So I get that. All right. So I've got a king called Death. I'd be really happy if God did something just to get me out of that. If God did something so that I didn't have a king named Death, maybe I've got a king named Jesus. Maybe I've got a king named Life. Maybe I've got, but if God just got me out of that and into another kingdom, I'd be happy, right? I'd be glad. Look at what this says. For if by the trespass of one man death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness, how much more will those who receive what Christ has done for them on the cross, the gift of righteousness that he bought with his body and blood, how much more will those people you see what this says? How much more will they what? Reign in life. God is saying, Jesus is saying, it's not only that I'm gonna get you out of the reign of death, I'm gonna make you a king, I'm gonna make you a queen, I'm gonna make you a sovereign, I'm gonna give you power, I'm gonna give you freedom like you never imagined. Folks, I don't think we get this. I don't think we understand this as a church. Do you have any idea what Christ has invested in you? You have been freed from sin. You have been ripped from the chains of death, you have been pulled out of the kingdom of darkness, you have been ushered into the kingdom of light, and you have been given a new life, a new reign of life. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem as king, he rode in as king so that you could in his grace and forgiveness ride through life like kings. I just don't think we get it. I don't understand it. I don't think we know how truly free we are by the sacrifice Christ has given. The law came, it says. The law came. Uh sorry, verse 18. Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act, one trespass, one righteous act. What is it? It's the cross, resulted in justification in life for all people. For just as though through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the what, church? The obedience of the one man. Christ made himself obedient, obedient even to death, even death on a cross through that obedience. What has happened? Salvation has come, many will be made righteous. Or as Paul wrote in Corinthians, for as an Adam all die, as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. So are you in Adam? Or are you in Christ? The gift Jesus gives is the one act on the cross, giving his life an atoning sacrifice for sin. He came and he died for us. And God always said he was gonna come. He always said, I myself will do it. He said, I will come, I will offer the salvation that you need. So many religions they offer a pathway to salvation. Do these seven things, follow these seven ways, do these five pillars, do these, and you can work your way to God. The work of Christianity, the message of Christianity is not, here's a way for you to get to God. The message of Christianity, here is the way God got to you. And he always said he was going to. He said, I'm gonna come and save my people. I'm gonna come and redeem my creation. I myself will be with you. I will rend the heavens and come down. He said to Jacob in some in Genesis 46, I myself will go with you. In Exodus 3 to Moses, I myself have come down to rescue my people. In Isaiah 41, for I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear, I will help you. I who myself will help you, declares the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Jeremiah 23, I myself will gather the remnant of my flock. Ezekiel 34, for this is what the sovereign Lord says. I myself, I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. I will rescue them. I will. God said, I'm gonna come. He always said, I'm gonna come. I myself will save, I will come, I will be there. Jesus riding in to Jerusalem is God who has come. God has come to your city. God has come to your life. He rides into your heart and he says, I myself will be your salvation. I will save. Why is this one man different? Why is it not ugly narcissism when Jesus says, Look to me, because this one man is God. And this one man gave himself away. Are you in Adam? Or are you in Christ? Adam acted out of selfishness, asserting himself, putting himself at the middle. Jesus, he acted out of selflessness, he gave himself away. Adam said, No, no, no, me first. You die so I can live. Jesus said, Take me. I die, so you can live. In Adam, one act of disobedience spawned a billion sins, a billion toxic sins. In Christ, one act of obedience, giving himself away on the cross, took all the sins of mankind away for all who call on him. Are you in Adam or are you in Christ? The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase, so we could understand, oh, this is where I'm going wrong. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. The gift is better, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Are you in Adam or are you in Christ? See, here's the thing: we are born in Adam. Every one of us. You were born in Adam. But you can be born again in Christ. New life in him. It's not automatic. But when you turn to Christ, you you move out. You're transferred. You're transferred from those who are in Adam. You're transferred. And until you turn to Christ, you're in Adam, and his selfishness, it runs through your veins. I mean, you can feel it, and you're part of it. You're part of the poison. You're part of the destruction. You're part of the self-servingness that tears everything apart. But when you are in Christ, Jesus said, Look to me, look to me. In John chapter 12, he said, And I, when I am lifted up. And what was he talking about? It tells us in John 12. He's saying, And I, when I am lifted up. And he's talking about the manner of his death. And I, when I am lifted up, when I am pinned to wood, suspended between heaven and earth, when I am lifted up to die, I will do what? I will draw all people to myself. Look to me, look to the cross, look to me, says Jesus. And I will transfer you out of the curse of Adam and into the gift of eternal life in Christ. Look to me. As we step through Holy Week this week, church, here's what I encourage you to do. Walk with Jesus. Look to him. Look at him. See our Lord as he enters Jerusalem with shouts of acclamation, riding in resolved to give himself away. See our Lord as he cleanses the temple in zeal, removing anything that would keep you from God. See our Lord as he moves through the streets of the holy city. Look at him. Look at Jesus. See our Lord as he tearfully loves his friends. See our Lord. As he goes out to the garden and kneels and prays, Lord, if this cup of wrath could go any other direction, could you take this cup? Could you pass? Look at him as he prays in agony and see our Lord as he stands up again in full resolve to drink the cup to the dregs, to pay the penalty for us. See him, look at him, watch our Lord as he is betrayed, as he is arrested, as he is beaten, as he is falsely condemned by false judges and a propped up trial. See him, look at him, and watch. As he is beaten, as he is pinned to wood, as he breathes his last, see him lying in the tomb, and look to him as he is steps out of the tomb into eternal life as he opens up the victories of Christ, as he opens up heaven for us, as he steps out of the tomb in resurrection power. See him as he rises again, see him as he empties death of its reward. See him as he opens up heaven for all who call on him. See him as he declares all this sin, unimaginable, unfathomable, all this sin and yours within it I have paid. It's over, it's done. You are not in Adam and in his curse, you're in me. And I'm bringing you to eternal life. See him, look to him. Of all the people in all the world, there's only one that it is right to have him at the absolute center of everything. It's right that he's at the middle. It's right that he says, look to me. One man who is able to save. Let's look to him now. Can we pray? Would you bow your heads and let's just pray? Just let the Lord turn the imagination of your heart toward him. Look to him. Jesus, it is. It's a wonder. Um the more we study and we try to teach one another what it means that you died on the cross, the more it seems that we just hardly get it. It's so amazing, Lord. It's so wonderful this gift. It's so unfathomably beautiful and profound. It's so much bigger than anything that we've done wrong. It's so much bigger than the sin of Adam that cast all of us into disobedience, rebellion, and damnation. It's so much bigger. It's just more than we can take in. And we look to you, and we watch you, and we follow you. You are the one man. Jesus, help us to put our trust in you, to walk with you this week. Through the sweetness and the tenderness, through the pain and the wrong, through the silence of death in the tomb on Holy Saturday. We walk with you, Jesus. We love you. Help us to walk with you. We look to you and meet us again, Jesus, on the glorious morning that you have won. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Hearing God's word is just the beginning. What connected with you? What challenged you today? Maybe it's surrendering something, stepping into community, or simply trusting Him more deeply. Whatever it is, don't leave it for later. Act on it today. We're praying that this message moves you closer to Jesus. And we'd love to walk with you in that journey and answer any questions you've got. Connect with us by visiting firstprezcos.org. Hey, if today's message encouraged you, take a moment and subscribe so you never miss an episode and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Check in next week and we'll continue to grow in our faith together. See you next time.