WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.359 Colossians 2, 8 through 14. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:16.480 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:26.320 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:49.759 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:01:08.480 And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.400 This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:13.840 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.200 Please be seated. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:19.120 Good morning. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:21.359 He is risen. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:23.840 Indeed. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.079 The one time of year we say indeed. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:27.439 Thank you for joining us. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:29.439 Welcome to Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:30.879 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:31.840 I'm the pastor here. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:32.799 Thanks for joining us. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.959 We're so looking forward to celebrating the resurrection of Christ. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:41.599 This is what holds all of us together, holds together our whole faith. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.480 So as we get settled, this is a family service. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:46.239 There's gonna be a lot of tears. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:50.159 But hopefully you have a child nearby who can comfort you. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:02:09.039 2,000 years ago, Jesus, a Jewish rabbi in a small Roman province, was crucified, he died and was buried, and then three days later he rose to new life. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:14.719 We stand here 2,000 years later to celebrate this resurrection. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:20.000 That the death that he paid would somehow become our death. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:24.159 And the life that he was raised to would mean new life for us. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:30.159 Today, immediately following this service, we're gonna head downstairs and we're gonna do baptisms. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:39.680 And baptism is the way that we say in our faith that somehow Jesus' death is my death. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.599 What he paid for sin, that counts as my sins being atoned for. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:51.599 And somehow his resurrection three days later, well, that's my resurrection. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:58.879 And by being united to Christ, by being in him, we have this promise of new life. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:02.960 We're gonna celebrate that this morning during our baptisms. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.960 And we're gonna see it throughout our text today that we're looking through. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.840 A lot of pastors don't pick texts on circumcision for Easter, and I don't know why. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:21.599 But what we're going to see throughout this text is this little two-word phrase that the Apostle Paul loves to use. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.840 It's perhaps his favorite metaphor. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.439 And it's just this two-word phrase, which is in him. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:32.719 The promise of our faith is that we would be in Christ. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:39.039 By being united to Jesus, our sins are paid for, not by us, but by him. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:45.759 And our hope is that we will one day share in his glory and share in his resurrection. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:53.759 Just as he was resurrected 2,000 years ago, we will one day share in his resurrection because we are in him. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:02.319 And so his resurrection doesn't just mean something about history, it means something for our very lives today. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:11.680 And it means the redemption of meaning, the redemption of family, and the redemption of our very lives. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.280 And that also happens to be the outline of this sermon. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:20.319 The redemption of meaning, the redemption of family, and the redemption, the redemption of our very lives. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.319 You can think of it like this, like a funnel. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.959 We're going from the big ideas. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:31.920 How does Christ's resurrection change the big ideas and assumptions that we have about how the world works? 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:39.920 And then we're gonna move closer to our relationships, that sphere that we're a part of, that social sphere that includes our family. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.560 How does Christ redeem our relationships? 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:47.360 And then we're going to move down to us, to you, the individual. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:51.680 What does Jesus' resurrection mean for your life? 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 So let's go ahead and jump into our text this morning, and we'll begin it with meaning. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:10.879 Colossians 2.8 begins and says, See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:26.240 You know, the early church suffered almost an immediate persecution, where there was this small group of rebellious people who were counted as atheists in the Roman Empire because they did not agree that Caesar was God. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:30.800 And they faced real captivity. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:38.480 But that's not the type of captivity of being captured by a government that Paul is talking about here. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:41.600 He's talking about a captivity of ideas. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:52.240 How is it that what we think holds us captive, to where we are slaves to these bad ideas that litter the world? 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:55.439 He uses this strange term to describe these ideas. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:06:02.639 He calls it philosophy and empty deceit, and that these things are according to the elemental spirits of the world. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:05.120 That's not a phrase we frequently use. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:11.439 But if you were to translate it literally, it would mean your most basic categories. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:22.720 According to the elemental, the elements, the elementary school, these basic things, these most basic categories that you assume you should live your life by. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:28.399 Those categories you have, and you make decisions based upon them. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:32.959 And Paul is saying, don't be taken captive by those categories. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:35.839 Those categories sound something like this. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.240 They sound like good and bad. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:43.439 There are things in your life that you think are good, and there are things in your life that you think are bad. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:48.560 The mistake that we make is we think we came up with those things. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.800 We think we're able to decide here's what's good and here's what's bad. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.240 But let's play a game. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:55.199 Netflix. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:56.800 Is that good or bad? 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.639 Yeah, I'm getting one of these from out here. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.360 Like we're gonna kill a gladiator. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:08.560 And uh all right, let's keep going. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:09.759 What about um money? 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:10.879 Is that good or bad? 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:12.879 Should we pursue it or or not? 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.360 Okay, what about how should you structure your life? 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:29.279 Uh should you structure your life so that you gather the broadest range of good experiences, or should you structure your life such that you invest for a long time in one place? 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:35.759 Those are those are two ideas, elemental principles that could tear you in two. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:43.680 If you were investing for a long time in one place in a family, you'd constantly feel like you were missing out because of your Instagram. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:50.480 And if you were gathering all of these experiences around the world, you would constantly feel like you're missing out because of your Facebook. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.000 That's where people post baby photos. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:58.800 But here's the important thing. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:04.160 It's not which path you choose, it's that you make the decision for yourself. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:06.560 At least that's what we typically say, right? 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.160 That's the important thing, that you make the decision for yourself. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:11.759 But what's good? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:15.519 That you make decisions for yourself based on what you feel? 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:22.000 Or is it good to take the whole range of human tradition and say, I should actually live according to that? 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:26.959 Because that's 2,000 years of experience based compared to my 20. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:30.399 So we're trapped. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:36.559 Even in these simple categories of good and bad, what to pursue, what not to pursue. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:48.399 Even when we're trying to make as broad and as inclusive of a category as we can, which is just make sure you do no harm and do what your heart feels is right. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:51.840 Well, we can't even agree on what constitutes harm. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:56.080 We can't tell what's good and what's bad. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:58.639 Do you feel trapped yet? 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:03.519 This is why Paul is talking in terms of captivity. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:08.960 One of my uh professors in school used to use this phrase that I love. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:16.159 If you attend here, you've probably heard me say it, which is you are most influenced by the philosophy that you don't know. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:20.879 You are most influenced by the philosophy that you don't know. 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:22.159 What does that mean? 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:30.320 It means there are things in your life that you think are good and you think are bad, and you just take that for granted. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:39.600 That's the water that you swim in, but you don't realize that those assumptions have been brought to you by thousands of years of culture. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:47.919 To say you should follow your own heart is just following the tradition of our age that we happen to be found in. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.600 And yet it feels so true to us. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:57.759 It feels so completely, functionally, at a base level truth. 00:09:58.080 --> 00:09:59.039 But is it? 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.679 Or is it just an elemental spirit that I'm being taken captive by? 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:21.679 Is there some way that we could get out of this captivity from these elemental spirits where I'm just making decisions based on the culture that I grew up in, or based on what I ate for lunch, or the demeanor of what seems to feel good to me now? 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.879 Is there any ultimate truth out there? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:30.159 Is there any ultimate principle that yes, this is good and this is bad? 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:34.480 This life is meaningfully lived and this life causes real harm? 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:53.120 Do we have anything in the world that we can grab onto so that we could know that we were living lives of real meaning, not just feels good to me for now meaning and then I die, but real, ultimate, God-like meaning? 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:54.799 Eternal. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.120 We find that in Christ. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:03.840 Here's where the scripture continues. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:12.320 Why should you not be taken captive by the elemental spirits of the world, by these principles that just come from your culture that you normally take for granted? 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:13.120 Here is why. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:23.600 In Colossians 2, 9 through 10, it says, For in him, in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:30.639 And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:46.000 Here's what it is: that meaning that can only come from something real and eternal, something that lasts forever and isn't cut off by debt, it by death, that isn't as fickle as cultures, or as fickle as how we feel. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.279 That type of meaning is in something like God. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:58.000 And in Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:01.840 In Jesus, there was not an ounce of God missing. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:15.440 In Jesus, we see that ultimate pure truth come down and dwell among us so that we could have contact with the absolute source of meaning. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:27.360 So, what that means is what is good and what is bad, we can look to Jesus, who exists on a human scale, to tell us here is where real life is. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:36.000 That real life that seemed like something so ultimate and ethereal that we could never connect it, put on human skin and dwelt among us. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:40.559 And we celebrate that today when we remember his resurrection. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:46.799 The fullness of deity dwelled bodily, and that means we must be filled in him. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:49.360 Here's a connection. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:57.279 Here's a couple of those philosophies that we don't know that have a deep influence on our hearts. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:08.399 In the Vatican City, outside of the Sistine Chapel, there's this place called the Apostolic Palace, which is also what I call my house. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:17.840 And in the Apostolic Palace, there's a painting by Raphael, one of the Ninja Turtles. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:21.200 All my jokes are in this section. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:31.919 And it's a painting called the School of Athens, and it's a picture of all these great minds throughout ancient history. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:39.840 And in the center of the picture are two men striding forward together, each holding a book and talking to one another. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:45.759 And on the right stands Plato, and Plato is pointing upwards like this. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.759 Point with me, like this. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:48.879 Great job. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:55.840 And on the left is Aristotle, and Aristotle is pointing downwards, like this, like this. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:56.799 Great job. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:58.960 And so, what does that mean? 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:01.039 Why are we talking about this painting? 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:06.639 It's because there's this tension in our lives. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:17.360 Plato had this philosophy that said, there is no meaning in this detailed, particular, pointed earthly life. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:21.120 In order to find meaning, you need to go up here. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:38.480 You need to look away from the relationships that you have here on earth, you need to look away from your physical experience of the world, from the good deeds you might have otherwise participated in, and you need to get to the eternal, because only something that is eternal will really matter. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:51.759 And then Aristotle, his student, comes along and he says, that eternal way of being, trying to connect with these eternal ideas, I can't do it. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:00.080 As a particular, finite being who ends in death, I only live in these details. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:03.279 And so he points down to the earth. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:10.080 And he says, we need to be able to find maybe the answers to real meaning are in the details. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:24.320 Maybe if we get to the atom, and then maybe if we split the atom, there'll be something in there, and we'll discover some basic principle beneath us that will show that these particular lives have meaning. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:27.279 But here's the thing. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:39.600 You can't connect to the eternal because you live in this finite particular life. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:52.480 And you can't neglect the particulars, because you live in a real life with real problems and real issues and real situations. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:16:05.279 But what if, what if instead of asking what is truth, is truth in these eternal realms, or is truth down here in the life where we actually live it? 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.799 What if that was the wrong question the whole time? 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:15.279 What if these people duking it out for thousands of years and their philosophies which come up in you? 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.879 What if the question isn't what is truth? 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:22.159 What if the question is who is truth? 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:29.440 And what if truth came onto the scene and truth dwelt bodily among us so that it was a real thing? 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.399 It was particular, it had details. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:39.519 And then what if in that real thing the fullness of deity dwelt? 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:50.399 Then there would be hope for a human like us to connect with real meaning. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.600 This is what we see in Jesus. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:58.879 In him, the fullness of deity dwelt bodily. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:12.640 And so if truth is no longer a what, but a who, then that means we no longer look for it as we discover things in the world or as we argue over principles, we relate to it like we relate to a friend. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.319 And so that's where the text goes next. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:20.400 We must relate to truth relationally. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.079 This leads us to the redemption of family. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:46.880 In Colossians 2, 11 through 12, it says, In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.400 Why are we talking about circumcision on Easter? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:52.160 Here is why. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:59.119 Circumcision referred to here, this was the sign of covenant membership. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:04.559 This was the sign of being God's people in the old covenant. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:06.640 This is the Old Testament writings. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:20.720 If you were circumcised, that meant you were part of God's family and you dwelt under this most perfect of promises, where God says, I will be your God and you will be my people. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:31.039 That most prominent relationship for the human soul will be restored when you are a part of that family of promise. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:35.759 And circumcision was the thing that said, you're in this family of promise. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.559 But in Christ, we have something better. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.279 Because we have a circumcision made without hands. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:45.200 This does not take place in our flesh, this takes place in our hearts. 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:50.799 So that we are brought by Jesus' death into God's family. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:19:03.680 And with this restoration of this ultimate relationship to truth and meaning to God, we can say, You will be my God, and we will be your people. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:21.440 And that means you will define what is good, and my life will be determined by a pursuit of you, and I will no longer be held captive by these empty philosophies that I would just have to choose from and sort through and feel captive to, that float around in the world. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.680 Instead, you will be my God. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:28.880 You will be the one that holds me captive. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:35.039 And in that, as your creature, we will find ultimate freedom. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:41.119 And so with the restore with the restoration of that relationship, we are no longer captives. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:49.200 It says that you have been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:57.839 So that means that in him, in our baptism, we are united to Christ, we're buried with him, and we're also raised. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:02.960 And just before that, it says that you have put off this body of the flesh. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.640 What does that mean? 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:10.480 It doesn't mean that you shake off the skin that you wear and become some purely spiritual thing. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:14.079 Remember, the fullness of deity dwelt bodily. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:25.839 What it means is that those normal family ties that you would use to define who you are, now those take the back seat. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.480 When you ask the question, who am I? 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:32.480 You no longer say, I'm homeless, that's who I am. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:36.319 You no longer say, I'm a pastor, that's who I am. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:38.240 You no longer say, this is my career. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:43.359 You no longer say, I'm a father, or I'm a mother, or I wasn't able to have kids, or I'm single. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:50.160 Those things that you use to define yourself and bring definition, those now move to the back seat. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:21:00.160 Because what those definitions are is a way of holding yourself captive to the elemental spirits of the world. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:17.680 Instead, the true definition of who you are comes from throwing those off and taking on the identity of Christ, which says, I am not first and foremost anything, but a son or daughter of God because of what Christ did. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:22.000 And so the new sign that we have is no longer circumcision. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.160 The sign that we have is baptism. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:34.720 And in our baptism, we symbolize in the same way that we are brought into a new family, a family of the church, which says we have been adopted by God. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:45.279 And this is a family that is bound together by faith, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:46.799 You know what that means? 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:54.640 It means the church is the type of family who never stops hoping for each other. 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.759 Because we're united by a faith in a God who raises people. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.759 From the dead. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:27.039 So no matter what that body of flesh was that you used to define yourself, no matter what it was that you used to say, this is why I know I'm valuable, this is why I know who I am, no matter how evil or decrepit your past might have been, bound together in Christ in a God who raises the dead, the church is a family that never stops hoping for each other. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:38.799 And so the resurrection means redemption of our ideas, redemption of meaning, the redemption of our family, and the redemption of our lives. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.799 Here's how the scripture continues on. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:23:01.119 And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:05.119 This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.039 Here's what we need to see. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:26.160 Even if we could somehow accomplish meaning, even if we could connect the hand that points up with the hand that points down and feel as though we're living these lives of deep meaning, there is something that always and inevitably cuts us off, and that is death. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.079 Death has entered the world because of our sin. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:42.480 Our sin, which said to God, You will not be my God, I will not be your people, I will be God of me, and I will use you to serve me to get what I really want. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:52.720 And because of that inversion of our relationship with the source of life, our sin now causes us all to die. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:59.440 And that death cuts off all hope of meaning, all hope of relationship. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:02.480 But Jesus. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:09.279 Jesus took this record of our sinful debt onto himself. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:15.519 Jesus took it and he nailed it to the cross in himself. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:19.039 Because here's the situation that we find ourselves in. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.039 The debt that we owe is death. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:29.119 And the thing we need to be connected to is eternal life. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:36.240 What type of creature is there that could possibly rescue a human in this condition? 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:46.880 What type of being is there that could possibly help someone who needs, who needs simultaneously a death and a connection to eternal life? 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:53.759 We would need something in which the fullness of deity dwells bodily. 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:56.799 Jesus is that for us. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:00.319 And in his body he took on our sin. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:06.240 That way we might join together with him in his resurrection to new life. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.039 This is the hope that the Christian has. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:14.160 Though I stand here riddled by sin, my Savior has rescued me. 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:17.759 And he has redeemed the very way I see the world and meaning in it. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:23.920 He has redeemed my relationships in the world and with him, and he has redeemed my very life. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:35.200 And so we are going to baptize people today as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, which means that our lives are no longer cut off in death. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:41.440 But because of the glory of Christ, we're raised to new life in Him. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.000 With that, let's pray. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:51.039 Holy Father, you are the only one who could save. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:59.519 Anything else that we turn to for rescue is futile and a misunderstanding of the condition that we are actually in. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.640 Father, purge those things from our hearts. 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:12.240 Cut us off from that body of death and raise us to new life and a hope and faith in Christ alone for our salvation. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:14.319 Father, we praise you. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:18.400 We praise you for the resurrection that means we will be raised with you. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:35.200 And Lord, I pray that for those in whose hearts you are working for the first time, they might see a new glory in you, that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened to see the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:37.680 Father, I lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:38.559 Amen.