Happy Resurrection Day to you! Let your life be filled with His resurrection life! When you know that you have Christ living in you, you also know that His resurrection life lives in you!
I want to share with you the difference between the works of God and the works of man. You see, there's always a battle between the works of God and the works of man. The works of man, or the works of the flesh, or the works of this world, will always try to undermine the works of God. But no matter how the works of man try to undermine the works of God, the works of God will eventually prevail, and the works of man will be as dead! And this is exactly what I'm going to show you in the Scripture today!
Therefore, choose to let God work in your life! Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, to the ways of this world, or to the fallen systems of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you will prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).
Now, there may be changes in season and strategies along the way (along your journey of faith), but as long as you flow with His season and His strategies for your life in every time and season, you will reach His destiny for your life. Your part is to allow Him to guide you, lead you, and even correct you, every step of the way.
Back to our topic today. I can't emphasize enough it is so important to discern the difference between the work of God and the work of man. Let me show you one example in the Scripture today.
Matthew 27:62-63 (NKJV) says, 'On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.'"'
You see, they may be chief priests, they may be Pharisees, they may be knowledgeable in the Scripture, but their spiritual eyes couldn't see. And what did they call Jesus? They called Jesus a deceiver! In other words, they called Jesus a conman! This is one example of the work of man (or work of flesh). That's why it is so important to discern what is of God and what is of man (i.e. man's mere ideas or traditions). The Holy Spirit can help you.
Here, the chief priests and Pharisees told Pilate, "Sir, we remember while He (Jesus) was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.'" And that's how they undermined the works of God. Their spiritual eyes were not opened. Though they were knowledgeable in the traditions of men, and though they read the Scripture, but they still couldn't see with their spiritual eyes. They didn't believe Jesus meant what He said, and they didn't believe He would rise after three days!
In Matthew 27:64-66, they were saying: "Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead.' So the last deception will be worse than the first." Pilate then said to them, "You have a guard. Go your way. Make it as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. You see, all along, these chief priests and Pharisees thought that Jesus is not of God. But of course later on, they were proven wrong.
Matthew 28:1-4 says, 'Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.'
Notice the statement 'And the guards shook for fear of him (of this angel), and became like dead men'. In other words, the guards were so shaken by what they saw, that they froze, and therefore became as 'dead men'! You see here? The works of God shook the works of man right to the core on that day! Not even the guards (they must have put the best guards there), not even the stone, which has been sealed to the tomb, and securely shut, could stop Jesus! None of these could stop Jesus from coming out from the tomb! Indeed, Jesus has risen! Not only that, Jesus has triumphed over every power of the enemy and prevailed against every work of darkness that tried to undermine Him!
You see the words 'dead men' here? What does this imply? It means the works of man are as 'dead', and the ways of man are as 'dead'! The works of God will always prevail in the end. Nothing's going to stop the works of God! And it is the same in your life. Nothing's going to stop the work of God in your life! Remember, the good work that the Lord has begun in your life, He shall bring it to full completion!
Rejoice therefore, beloved of God, because He lives in you! His works in your life shall prevail against (and over) all those works of darkness in this world! You are the head, and not the tail. You need not bow down to the ways of man or the ways of this fallen world. But you follow the ways of God. 1 John 4:4 says, 'He (Jesus) who lives in you, who is in you, is greater than he that is in this world.' Just because there are majority of people who are in this way or that way in this world, it doesn't mean they are correct. But you follow the Lord. And you follow Him, no matter what other people may say against you. There'll come a day you'll be glad you did!
