The Reality of Our Future Resurrection

As we conclude our current series walking through our belief statements at our local church, we must declare our stance on the reality of the resurrection. Perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics in theology is the end times, partly because we don’t have much information and partly because over the years people have invented all sorts of off-the-wall narratives and have tried to use the Scriptures to validate those narratives even though they are not the explicit narrative of Scripture. It is why we resolve to teach the Bible alone. We do not follow popular or cultural Christianity into the current trappings of the social gospel. We truly believe that the Bible is everything we need for all of life and ministry. So, we don’t merely use the Bible or teach from the Bible. The Bible itself is the very thing that we teach. It, being the word of God, is worth more than the words of any merely human person.

Concerning the resurrection, we make these statements:

WE BELIEVE in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ which is His personal, visible return to earth and the establishment of His millennial kingdom; in the resurrection of both the unrighteous and the righteous and endless separation of the wicked. (Matthew 16:27; Acts 1:11; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:11-15)

WE BELIEVE in a literal Heaven and Hell and that all those who place their faith, hope and trust in Jesus will spend eternity in Heaven with the Lord, while those who reject Jesus’ free gift of salvation will spend eternity separated from the Lord. (Psalm 9:17; Matthew 5:3, 22; 18:9, and 25:31-46; Mark 9:42-49; Luke 12:5; John 3:18; Hebrews 12:22-24; 1 Peter 1:3-4; Revelation 14:9-11 and 20:11-15)

1 Corinthians 5:14-17

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The basic truth

One of our other elders, Tom Paul Schnieder, delivered this sermon. Here, I will simply summarize his points.

1. 1. We are dead to self and Christ’s love controls us.
   2. If Christ rose again on our behalf, then we have life in Him.
   3. We currently live according to the Spirit, not the flesh.
   4. If we are in Christ, we are new creatures.
   5. If Christ is raised, then we will be raised with Him.

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