and as righteous as Christ is
and we thank you Lord that that he is was crucified for our sins
and raised again for our justification and now he sits on he stands
on the right hand of on your right hand that he and reigns
until all things are to be put under his feet And we thank you,
Lord, for all of that. Help us to hear your word. Help
us to understand your message. Help us to glorify you and what
we do. And we ask you this for the sake
of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Good morning, everyone. Good
morning, good morning, good morning. It is always good to be together.
It is always good to worship, and sometimes it is not easy.
It's not easy. Matter of fact, I would suggest
that worshiping on the Lord's Day is probably the most difficult
experience of the practicing Christian. We can do anything
else. We can prepare for a vacation
that'll cost us a year's salary. We can prepare for a get-together.
We can do all sorts of things. We can face death and disaster
and disease. But when it comes to worship,
when it comes to separating, just a couple of hours in the
beginning of our week, there is a supernatural, overwhelming,
just engulfing of frustration, inter-dialogue, physical fatigue. irritating children, irritating
husbands, irritating wives, flat tires, cold weather, back hurts, eye hurts, butt hurts,
head hurts, heart hurts, I'm hurt. You know, whatever it might
be that could cause us to go, let's just not go assemble today. It happens. And those same things
are probably more manifold on Monday morning, and then Monday
morning we get up and go, oh, I gotta go to work, and we just
do it. We just do it. And it's good and it's bad and
it's good. Let me tell you why it's good. It's good because
in that sense is that we know we're not bound to some law of
death. that if we skip the assembly,
God is not going, I'm going to get you now. You thought you
had a flat tire last night. Watch this. That's not how the
Lord works. It's bad also in a sense because it's exactly
what we need. We need to be under the teaching of the world. We
need to be together. We are blessed in it. So it's bad when we skip
it, but it's also good. It's also good because we know
that we are not under condemnation. And that what we do or what we
don't do, how hard we work or how lazy we are, how spiritually
focused and vibrant we might be, or we feel that maybe we
don't even believe anymore, we are still in the hand of Christ.
Because the efficacy, in other words, the reality of the power
of Christ to save us and to keep us is not dependent upon us in
any way, in any fashion. Nor is it dependent upon anything
that God does in us in any way that manifests in any permanence.
Let me say that in an easier way. We don't put our hope in
what God is doing in us. We put our hope in what God has
done for us and what God has accomplished for us. And then
we do hope in what God is going to do in and through us, but
it is not our tether to our eternal life. It is not our tether to
our joy. It is not our tether to our hope.
And that is why you hear often what can easily become platitudes,
Christ is all. We like to sing the songs, right?
He will hold me fast. We just sang that song, we sang
it again, we sang it last week as well, and we could sing it
every week from now on because it is an anthem of the believer. We are weak and needy and broken
and desperate. Jesus Christ did not come to
the earth to help, teach, save, or approach those who did not
need him. He did not come to the earth
and engage with the spiritual elites as friends. He did not
look over Jerusalem and give likes to the theological heroes. He did not speak good of those
who lived in absolute piety. He was a friend of sinners. of which as Paul would say, I
am the foremost. And though we are all sinners
equally in the sense of God's justice,
deserving of all wrath, I don't believe that our sin has been
as great as Paul's. Who knew the truth, who knew
the word, who lived a life that none of us could even fathom
of purity, but yet called all of that trash for the priceless
gain of knowing Christ. Because it takes a divine work
of God in the hearts of His people for us to see that, for us to
see Him. And sometimes, not in a real
intelligible way, just go, I'm just trusting Him. I'm just trusting
Him. So this morning, as it is the
day that we as a culture, mostly around the world, not everywhere,
but mostly around the world, celebrate the resurrection of
Jesus, this is a day that very few people would skip, you see. This is one of those things that
we can see congregations, people walking in who have been coming
for years going, who are those people? Who are these people? Because there's an emphasis on
this particular weekend, which is based on lunar structure,
not dates, that the evangelical world and the orthodox world
and the Roman world and everybody else, and even the cults, every
iteration, they focus on this day and give it great significance. And I'm fine with that. But in doing so, it impresses
upon the world at large that this is an important time. I
should come today. And oftentimes, we end up seeing
the preaching on Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday. There's
nothing wrong with celebrating even the paganistic ideologies
of Easter. You want candy and cake and eggs
and whatever. Colossians gives us that liberty.
No more will I allow you to be scared of candy. Except for dentist time, you
know. I don't want you to be scared of a pink shirt or a dress. Do what you want to do. Because
Jesus was resurrected last week, and He'll be resurrected next
week. And every Lord's Day that we assemble, we take the table
in remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ, which requires
us then to understand the resurrection of Christ. So for the first time
in historical ministry, I am going to preach out of 1 Corinthians
15 on Easter. Not because it's the theme, it's
just that Psalm 40, I'm gonna get into some Christological
things in two weeks, and I really just want to emphasize this stuff
anyway, and I'm thinking, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. I don't know what year it was,
but I preached John 3 one time on Christmas Day some years ago,
and it wasn't very well received with some, because it was packed
in here. And some even got up and left.
This is not a Christmas message. No, it's not. John 3 is not a
Christmas message. It's about being born again by
the divine work of God. And this is a message about the
resurrection. And the focus that I want to put on, go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, this is, it's not only important. because Paul
says it is, it's important because it is the thematic centerpiece
of the entire Word of God and is the thematic pinnacle of life. I didn't want to be hyperbolic
there, but that's the truth. The existence of all things culminate
to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. and to wait, because of that
resurrection, the second coming of Christ. Paul, chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians,
and I'm just going to stop at verse 20, okay? I'm just going
to stop at verse 20. We don't have 10 hours. Now,
I would remind you, Paul says, brothers, sisters, siblings,
of the gospel, of the good report. When I say good report now, when
I say gospel, I'm just gonna start saying the good report,
because that's literally what it means. Literally. Gospel is
a transliteration of some extremely long-gated English that came
from other places as well. So, of the good report of Jesus
Christ that I preached, that I proclaimed, that I told you
about, okay? There's no significance in preaching,
teaching, telling, speaking, signing, or whatever. He told
them about it. "...which you heard and received."
You accepted it. You received it. "...in which
you stand, by which you are being saved." Present active tense.
Because there's not a moment in time that you were saved in
your understanding of the gospel. Your understanding of the gospel
in and of itself is the story of how you were saved at the
cross of Christ. Does that make sense? And these
are nuanced things that we're not going to go through today,
but I just want to get them out there so that you hear what I am saying. Even though I don't have time
to say everything, you know what I'm talking about. And that is,
if you hold fast to the story, to the word, to the understanding
that I preached to you, unless you believed in vain, you didn't
really believe, you're just like, yeah, that sounds good, yippee,
you know. The decisionism of our world.
4, verse 3, I delivered to you as
of first importance of all theological things in the entire body of
Scripture, of first importance what I also received from the
Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus by His divine power
who overcame my will, who overcame my mind, and who overcame my
body and took me for Himself. was not my choice. God in His
mercy and love arrested me from death, rescued me from darkness. Well, why is God in the midst?
I didn't want to... Yes, you did. When you're made alive,
you know that you didn't want to stay in darkness. Nobody in the darkness is going,
I wish I could just get out of darkness. We love the darkness. See, that's
John 3. That's Christmas. The light is coming to the world,
but people don't come to the light because they love the darkness.
And when they do come to the light, those who love the darkness,
it's clearly seen that their works, as what they are, evil,
Nicodemus, I'm talking about you, you pious, kind, loving,
spiritual teacher of Israel. You're living in the dark, buddy.
But then those who do come to the light do so that it may be
seen that their works have been carried out by God. See, redemption
is carried out by God. Salvation is carried out by God. And it doesn't beg the question
that everybody asks in the narratives of Scripture, especially in the
book of Acts. What now? What are we supposed to do? Believe
that it's been done. Believe that He's accomplished
the work. Believe. Rest, lay down, stop
working, quit running, quit climbing, quit digging, quit burning, quit
throwing, quit training. Sit down and be quiet. Be still
and know that I am God. Of first importance, back to
the scripture, for our... He died. Christ died. Physically in His life, died
in His body for our sins. And we don't have to read it,
we don't have to be intelligent, we don't have to dig, we don't
have to go, oh, our, now who are the ours? He's talking to
the Corinthians, to the believers in Corinth. Written to them and
for them and then now by the sovereignty of God for us to
read and to understand for God has spoken through His Apostle.
And I'm gonna show you that today in the context of the resurrection.
In accordance with the what? Scriptures. Peter says it best,
doesn't he? We did not come up with cleverly
devised myths. We're not making up new things.
We aren't working to create a narrative that fits the thousands of years
of loose-leaf connection. We are not that good. We have
not come up with our own idea, but we are just declaring that
which was declared to us by God through the prophets, time and
time again, through hell and high water, through good and
through bad, through thickness and through thin, through happy,
through sadness. And we know now. that it is all
about Christ. We didn't see it, our forefathers
didn't see the perfection of it, but we see it now, and now
as we've trusted in the promises of God since the days of Adam,
we trust in the promises of God fully revealed in Jesus Christ.
Oh man, isn't it much easier to know what's wrong with us?
Isn't it much easier to know that there is a cure? Isn't it
much easier to know what we just ate? Ignorance is bliss sometimes,
but In the context of the gospel, when it's revealed, it's overwhelmingly
joyful. According to the scriptures,
what is it that we learn? According to the scriptures,
verse four, 1 Corinthians 15, verse four, that he was buried, he
died. This is not a fake out, this is not a swooning, this
is not something going on that, you know, some conspiracy. He
was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to
the scriptures, in accordance with what was written by the
prophets. And then after that resurrection,
he appeared to Kepha, As we say in South Cephas, that's second
cousin to Cletus, that's Peter. And then to the 12, which would include Matthias,
not Judas Iscariot, right? Okay, so you know, it's always
12. When one died, they just replaced
him. Then he appeared to more than
500 of our brothers at the same time, most of which are still
alive this present day, though some have died, fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles, and
last of all, Paul, his testimony, he appeared to me as one untimely
born, for I am the least of the apostles. And this is not self-deprecation
and woe is me and Paul being a little Winer pot like James
Tippins. He is being honest That's the tame way of saying
that right Unworthy to be called an apostle Because I sinned in
a way that few people ever have I led the charge I gave the go-order
To stone Stephen for proclaiming the good story of the resurrected
Christ. I gave the order to go into all
the different cities in Asia and to snatch out men and women
and children in the name of God Almighty of Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob. And I pulled them out by their
hair and I put them in cages and I put them to death because
they would not renounce the risen Savior. This isn't Aesop, this is scripture. I persecuted the church of God.
See how much more interesting it is when I start giving the
like flowery narratives that I just sort of make up? Oh my
gosh, I'd make a little good movie there. I'd make a good
series. And how even when we see movies
about scripture, we get chills when Jesus gets in attitude with
the Pharisees. Oh yeah, get him, Jesus. And
when Jesus turns over the tables, there's that, there's that, you
know. Or goes in kung fu chopping and
whipping with chains. Get him out of there, bunch of
money changers, yeah! But he didn't get them then either,
did he? He got them when he came back to life. And his job wasn't to get them
anyway. It was to get us. You see the difference? Beloved,
we have a tainted view of Jesus, even here amongst ourselves,
because we love to play him out as the Marvel man. And we think
that the power of God is about shutting down the opposition.
And the power of God is to defeat the enemies of Christ. And as
we'll see today, the final enemy is death. Not the loud mouth neighbor or
the theological bird dogs. For I am the least of the apostles,
unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church
of God. His emphasis is not there. His emphasis is on verse 10.
But by the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace toward
me, His mercy, His loving kindness, His work, His intervention, His
resting, His power, His all that. This is what the grace of God
means. God's grace is not this ethereal magic that He has and
He goes pew, pew, pew. It's not something God puts out.
It's who He is. And it's how he operates from
the attitude of his own will and the counsel of his own disposition
and his own understanding of who he is and his sovereign,
powerful, providential rule over every molecule and the non-molecules
that aren't. Now let that pop around in your
brain for a couple of hours at four in the morning. We can even go to the anti-matter
attitude. I'm talking about ex nihilo,
baby, nothing. And when we think of nothing,
we've made it something. And that's backwards. Moving
right along, coffee after service. Okay. Don't listen to me. But His grace, His mercy, His
love, His power, His work, His desire, His will, His work toward
me was not in vain. On the contrary. This is where
we need to pay attention, church. We're not antinomian. Because
an antinomian is just a legalist with less to do. What that means is, there are
things for us to do. Paul says, I worked harder than any of them.
Though it was not I. See how James talks, right? Not
this James, but the apostle. They still say, I'm gonna do
this and I'm gonna do that. There's no such thing as a self-made
person. Even the heathens and the pagans and the haters of
God, God made them where they are. Side note. So that when
they fall and they have nothing at the end of their days, everything
that they built is just dust and dirt. And that hurts me. Because I have the ability to
build a lot. But what is an idol worth? I worked harder than any of them,
though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me.
God working in me, whether then it was I or they. So we preach
and you believe. It doesn't matter. See, Paul's
not the pinnacle. He's not the main character. Christ is. Christ's
role in teaching, he wasn't the main character. The Father was. And the spirit, the paraclete,
the one that comes aside that Jesus promises in John's gospel,
He wasn't the main character, Christ was. So now Christ is
the main character. He was the main character all
along, the glory of God revealed. Now verse 12 through 20, which
is our text for this morning, 12. Now, let's see how to go
back. Now, if Christ is proclaimed
as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there
is no resurrection of the dead? But if there's no resurrection
of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. You see the
illogical assumptions? And if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is worthless. It's a waste. And your faith
is worthless. It's a waste. It's empty. That's
what vain means. It's empty. And we are even found
to be misrepresenting God because we said about God that He raised
Christ, whom He did not raise, if it is true that the dead are
not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has
been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is
futile, and you are still in your sins. Then also, all those
who have fallen asleep, It means died in Christ, have perished. If in Christ we have hope in
this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. There's
a sermon there. But in fact, Christ has been
raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen
asleep. Oh, I have to do 21 through 22, 23. I won't talk about it, but it
needs to be heard. For as by a man, Adam, came death, by a
man, Christ, has come also the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die. And so also in Christ shall all
be made alive, but each to his own order. Christ the firstfruits,
then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then he comes
in the end when he delivers the kingdom to the Father after destroying
every rule and every authority and every power, for he must
reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
to be destroyed is dead. And I could keep going. Three
simple things and then eleven simple things I want you to see
this morning. And I have a lot of cross-reference
scriptures so I wrote them all down so I didn't sound like a
chipmunk running from a chicken truck. There's a false teaching happening
in Corinth. There's a bunch of false teaching in Corinth. There's
a bunch of false teaching in the context of doctrinal theological
teaching. See the word doctrine, we've
made it a noun in and of itself as some special thing. The word
literally means teaching. The doctrine of microphone and
sound, the doctrine of monitors, the doctrine of spectacles, the
doctrine of hair. It's teaching. It just means
teaching. But there was some error in the theology in Corinth,
and there was some error in the application in Corinth. There
was some error in the area of discipline in Corinth, a whole
lot of sinful stuff going on, a whole lot of bad attitudes
and unloving things, which is why, you know, two chapters ago,
Paul made it very clear what the greatest gift was, right?
A whole lot of abuses of gifts and seeking out supernatural
things rather than holding into the supernatural things that
God has ordained for the church. So there's a lot of false teaching.
Some people in Corinth denied the resurrection of the dead
completely. That was one. Others denied that then anybody
else would be raised. And so Paul is saying, hey, if
you deny that Christ, that you deny the resurrection of the
dead generally, then you have to deny that Jesus raised from
the dead specifically. And if Jesus wasn't raised from
the dead specifically, then we are really stupid people. Because we are creating churches
and ministries and we're preaching and we're going across the world
and people are dying for this stupid message. What are we doing? We are dumb. That's Paul's argument. And we ought to be pitied. You see why it's important to
listen to what people say concerning the person of Christ and what
he did and what he accomplished? Because to take away part of
what Christ did and accomplished is to deny who he is and who
he says he is. And in doing so, whether it be
anything small, the virgin birth. There's no resurrection if Mary
is not God's ordained life bringer. There's no resurrection. Why?
Because Jesus is a sinner. And when he died, that's justice.
He stayed dead. So the implication then is that
we're in big trouble. Acts, you don't have to go to
these. It's a lot. I'm telling you, it's a lot.
Acts 23, 6 through 8. But when Paul perceived that
one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, I don't have
time to explain that, He cried out on the council, brothers,
I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees, and it is with respect to the
hope and to the resurrection of the dead that I'm on trial.
You notice that that's what got Paul in trouble. Not preaching
the teachings of Jesus, not preaching the death of Jesus, but preaching
the resurrection of Jesus. And when he said this, a dissension
rose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly
was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
nor angel, no spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all."
See, they were gnostical. Non-gnostical. I mean, they denied
the spiritual side of things. They were anti-gnostical. 2 Timothy 2. who have swerved from
the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are
upsetting the faith of some. My primary point in this morning's
sermon is to help you understand that the resurrection is the
settling of your soul. It really is the cornerstone
of our hope. Not justification. Not substitution. We like to pick out our pets,
whatever hits us. You know, I don't know if you
read poetry. I read poetry every day. I read poetry every day.
And I've read some weird stuff. I subscribe to about a half a
dozen weird things that like procure poems throughout the
world's history. And some of that stuff I read
is like, this guy was strange. I can't unread that, it's in
there. What the world? There's a context, right? So, you know, you read poetry and sometimes it can be unsettling,
sometimes it can be amazing. The resurrection of the dead I think should be the most settling
theological thing that we talk about. As I read poetry, I'll
pick out certain things like, that really spoke to me. That's
where I was going with that. You're like, where did the poetry
thing come from? Doesn't matter, where's it going? That's what
matters. That really spoke to me. Oh, that, and you share it
with somebody and they go, I don't get it. Because they don't know
where your mind was and how you received it and what you were
thinking. They don't know the context and your perception.
They don't know your assumptions. And we do that with doctrine.
We do that with theological pieces. And some of us, when we think
of adoption because of the lack of parental love or affection,
or maybe we didn't have a close family, we think of God adopting
us. See, that's part of the explanation
of redemption. It's not a separate thing in
redemption, it is redemption. And some people have really illustrated
that as being powerful to them. So that's their thing when they
talk about the gospel, this good story of Jesus. They're gonna
have God adopted them in Christ who died for them. Some people
like to talk about grace and mercy and love and it's all true
and it's all part of the gospel and you don't have to have it
exhaustively and there's not a requirement in God's economy
of proclaiming the gospel. There is not a minimum requirement. Everything that we say about
the gospel must be true. And we do not get to decide what
God has already established in the hearts and minds of others
and His people when we may plant a seed just about the resurrection,
or just about justification, or just about love, or just about
hope. Because to do so makes us God. That we know what needs to be
said and done in the context of the sharing of the good story. And if we don't get all those
pieces right, then God can't save. See how that's so backward.
God has already saved. That God cannot grant faith without
our perfect teaching. Balogna. And not even Oscar Mayer,
that greasy old fat stuff that you have to gnaw with a saw to
get out. Bologna. Some of you are like, that's
my favorite. Well, you go ahead and eat that stuff. I'll eat the awfuls that
are better presented. Chicken beaks and pig ears. It's
bologna. It is the power of God unto salvation.
The work is finished. It's not the recitation. It's
the work of Christ. People swerving the truth. If
Christ in 1 Corinthians 15, 14, I mean where we are right there, if
He has not been raised, some people are saying that the resurrection
has already happened like in Thessalonica. So you're upsetting
people, stop it. I get that question a lot when
I'm out in the world and around unchurched people. Oh, you preacher,
you think Jesus is coming back in July? I hope so. Or August? I don't know. What's the Bible say? That we
can't know. Oh, well I watched 75 hours of
this guy on YouTube last weekend. I'm sorry you did that. You could
have learned like Greek or Spanish in that kind of amount of time.
That's what we do, right? Oh, you don't believe in the
rapture? I don't believe what Bible teaches. And the Bible
teaches me not to bother myself with those things, especially
not to bother you. I mean, it's a hobby horse, most definitely. As someone who has spent way
too many hours in the Yohannan literature, that's the writings
of John, as a hobby, I've got a lot to say about the second
coming. But I'm not going to usurp what
is most important. for that. We can talk about that
another time. If you haven't been raised, if
he hasn't been raised, then our faith is worthless. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, Paul says these words, for Christ did not send me to
baptize. Christ didn't send me to assimilate and acclimate and
publicly pronounce you into the church. Christ sent me to preach
the gospel, the good report, and not with words of wisdom
and theological fervor. Not with argument, implausible
argument. Because if I do that, the cross
has lost its power. See, the cross saves, the death
of Christ saves, and the fact that that is true is that He's
alive. For the word, the story of the
cross is stupid to those who are dying in their sins. But
to those who are being saved, that present, reality, it is the power of God. 2 Timothy, remember Jesus Christ,
Paul says, risen from the dead, the offspring of David as taught
in my good report, my good report, my story, the story I tell. for which I am now suffering."
If I just shut my mouth about my story concerning Christ, I
would not suffer. I am bound with chains. I am
being treated as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound,
he says. Therefore, I'm going to hold
and endure everything that's happening to me. I'm not trying
to get out of it. I'm not trying to get away from
it. I'm not needing you to rescue me at all, because I'm already
a free man as I'm bound. I endure everything for the sake
of Christ, people, for the elect, that they may obtain the salvation
that is in Christ with eternal glory. And so Paul is addressing
these false teachings that the resurrection is done. And you
might think, I've never heard that. You've heard it, you just
haven't paid attention to it. And then verses 14 through 19
gives us the evidence. Paul's just not saying, hey,
this is my take on it, this is my story, but who are you, Paul?
Here's the story, here's why I have this story. I've heard
this like four times in the last two weeks. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. If you never lie or if you always
tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. It's true. Did I tell him I was
200 pounds or 205 pounds? I had a million dollars or a
million sixty. I went to Florida or was it Mississippi? Oh, I
can't remember. And you get caught in your lies.
The truth doesn't really escape you. Often, it can. The evidence of the resurrection,
Paul affirms that Christ has indeed been raised. And he says
the evidence is very clear in three different things. What
does he say? The preaching of the apostles. Look at that. He
has been raised. It's true. We preached it. The
preaching of the apostles. The second thing he says is the
faith of the believers. People have believed it. I'm
going to give you a rollout text for this as well. And then Paul's
own encounter, as I read a minute ago, his own encounter with Christ. See, that was the defense that
Paul had to walk into every room. Have you noticed that? I remember
early in ministry, you spend all week studying a particular
section of scripture because you've been asked to teach, and
you get into this little circle, and you're in your 20s, and you're
standing there, and you're 30 years younger than everybody
else, and you don't know squat from Squiddle. And they're introducing all these
people and all their accolades and all the stuff they've accomplished.
And, you know, hey, James, you got a bio? Yeah? I'm alive. I'm here. I got a
Bible. Let's do it. Well, where'd you
come from? Don't worry about it. You want
a riddle? I mean, I'd give them the riddle.
Some of you've heard, you know. How'd you end up here? How'd
you end up out there? Doesn't matter. Let's just go. And people are like, well, here's
the thing. You're not an apostle, Paul.
Tippins, you don't have an impressive resume. What's your education?
Where'd you go to school? Who was your mentor? Pimento? What? I don't know. I've got those answers
now, but not then. And Paul was the opposite. He
had all those credentials. He had everything. He had all things.
He'd worked hard his whole life to present himself as a Pharisee. Yet Paul's encounter with the
risen Christ, he's like, here's the story. And what happened is, is that
when Paul would share his story generally and specifically, By
implication, it would tear up the story of all of his peers,
right? It would destroy their credibility.
Oh, you're not associated over here? Oh, you aren't connected
over here? You aren't credentialed over
here? Association, accreditation, credentials,
these things are important in many aspects of life. They're
important in the local church. Church membership has some sense
of those things. Church discipline expects some
sense of those things. But, Paul's like, here's my story. God raised him up, Acts 2. Losing
the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be
held. Listen, Jesus Christ could not be held by death. And it
wasn't a battle. The preaching of the apostles
tell us that Jesus raised from the dead. 500 people saw him
at one time. We don't have 500 individuals who over the last
30 years have stories of waking up somewhere they shouldn't be
going, I must have seen Jesus. I mean, you know, these are 500
people together. Did you see that? Yeah, I was
there. And the apostles were there.
And people are believing this by the power of God because we're
telling the story. As he says, I deliver to you,
and I read it earlier, verse 3 of 15, I deliver to you as
a first important what I receive. This is my experience that goes
along with the prophets, goes along with the eyewitnesses,
goes along with my own story. There's no conflict
here. It is true. I'm an apostle and
I'm proving to you I'm an apostle and you don't have to believe
I'm an apostle. I'm just going to do apostolic things in front
of you and the sheep will hear it. We don't have to worry whether
people believe our credibility or not. We don't have to worry
whether people care about our credentials or not. We don't
have to worry whether our studies and our theologies are saying
things in the manner everybody else expects them to. If God
be true, let every man be a liar. You know what I didn't say there?
Anything about accepting falsehoods. So shame on anyone who would
indict me for that. That's what happens. when we
are not grounded. And that was very purposeful. And if that creates a level of
suspicion in us, we need to deal with that suspicion through proper
meditation and prayer. That's an issue of anxiety that
we need to express to the Father and to each other so that we
can become at peace. The resurrection should tear
that anxiety a new one. Is that okay to say? Whatever
that means, I probably said something ugly. Paul says, the preaching of the
apostles, In Acts chapter 4, with great
power, the apostles were giving their testimony. Not, I was,
and now I am, and I used to do this, and that's not the testimony.
The testimony is Christ. I see Christ. I saw Christ. I
know Christ. Christ came to me. Christ. They
were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and great grace was upon them all. Acts 4, 33.
The preaching of the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. The faith
of the believers. But the words, it was counted
to him. This is Romans chapter 4. I don't
want to get into Romans 4. Let's just listen to it as a
proof text. We're not written for his sake alone. This is Abraham
speaking. but also for ours. It will be counted to us who
believe in Him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, and
who was delivered up for our sins and raised for our justification."
See, these are rich, meaty theological truths that every Christian needs
to apprehend early in their relationship with the gospel. And if we do well, the church
and the pulpit can teach these things in a manner congruent
with the simplicity of the transmission of the Holy Text. In other words,
the simple way in which the Bible was written and given. That's
what transmission means. And we can all learn and grow
together and be at peace in our souls. That's the banner of a
church united. Peace. Not in every aspect. of life because peace comes in
the midst of great pain. Intimacy grows in the midst of
great division because reconciliation brings intimacy. You can't have reconciliation
without separation. So when it comes to the resurrection, we
see that is the reconciliation of all the promises and all the
practice and the power of God together. Faith of believers
is counted for our justification. Having been buried with Him in
baptism, Paul says to the church of Colossae, chapter 2, verse
12, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the
powerful working of God who raised Him from the dead. Paul talks about his approach
to Damascus. The light from heaven. Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? He says,
I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 1 Corinthians 9, am I not an apostle?
Have I not seen the Lord Jesus? Are you not my workmanship in
the Lord? Do you not see that God, through my story, through
my testimony of the risen Christ, has opened your eyes, shown you
salvation, and now you are growing in the knowledge of grace and
you're loving one another and you're multiplying the efforts of the
gospel in your own lives. Do you not see the work? You
know what Paul never said? By golly, your systematic theological
volumes are perfect. Now every time he wrote, he was
cleaning those up, wasn't he? To the saints. It's important
that we perfect that, clarify that. That is not our tether
to joy. Jesus is. If Christ has not been raised,
Paul says, our preaching is worthless. Why are we doing it? If Christ
has not been raised, your faith is worthless. Because when we preach the resurrection,
just in itself, what does it do? Why? Well, there's a significance.
There's something we need to understand. Christ is taught
as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, those
who have died. Christ was raised, and then we know we will be raised.
Christ's resurrection guarantees the resurrection of believers.
We will be raised to eternal life. We saw that in the Old Testament.
They look for it in the Old Testament. So much so that in their own
working they created the theological idea of reincarnation. And they did it in some sense
that where if a man died then his brother could take his wife
and that first son would be the spirit in some sense of that
child, of the brother that was dead. And there's all sorts of
ways that we see in the Jewish writings where they had these
weird ideas. God's going to give you a son.
I'm going to give you a son. Years later, years later, where's
this son? Oh, I know what. Sarah and Abraham get together
and they figure it out. It's Hagar. That's how God's gonna
do it. And then Ishmael, and we see
what that did and we see what it wasn't. And we see in the
writing to the churches of Galatia what the reality of that is. Jesus says, yet a little while
and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because
I live, you will also live. 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. So it is with the resurrection
of the dead, what is sown is perishable, what is raised is
imperishable, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is
sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown in a natural
body, it is raised a supernatural body. There's a natural body,
there's also a spiritual body. That's verses 42 through 44,
the same chapter we're in. The resurrection does some stuff.
Let's close with this reality. We could talk about this stuff
for hours, but let's think about some things that the resurrection
really gives us. There are hundreds of these. Let me pick a few. The resurrection
validates the fact that Christ paid for sins. He was delivered up for our sins
and raised for our justification. This one that I hesitate to say
because it sounds so weird to so many suspicious ears. The resurrection of Christ empowers
our lives to be different. Why? Because our hope is in His
promise and His power as His people, so therefore we can see
the instructions of the New Testament and put them into practice. Not
so we can prove we're saved, not so we can earn our salvation,
not so we can grow to such a great thing that God says, look at
there, almost Jesus, come on in, which is where a lot of reform
type people go in the more contemporary model. But we can. We can be raised to live by faith,
holding on to the fact that we will be perfected one day. It's
not a process of perfection. It's a promise. Hold to it. The resurrection
guarantees that we will live forever. We will be raised to
life. We do have eternal life. Christ
has been raised from the dead, Paul says. He is the first fruit
as evidence. The resurrection enables us to
have victory over death. In what way? We will be raised
to life. The wages of sin is death. We
are not going to be found guilty for our sins because Christ took
our guilt. The guilt is over. The payment
is made. The sentence has been executed.
There's not even a trial. It's over. We have hope. Death must reign
until he's put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy
to be destroyed is death. And in this, the resurrection
allows us to know and to understand and to access God and His presence
and power. Come bold before the throne of
what? I'm doing my best? Come bold before the throne of
I made a mess, but I fixed it? Come bold before the throne of
uh, no, come bold before the throne of grace. Grace. God the Father cannot
count your sins against you, nor can He punish you, because
He has already counted them and punished them in Christ. And Christ is alive, therefore
it is satisfied. Who is there to condemn? How
does Paul, oh my gosh y'all, how does Paul answer that? That's
Romans. 834, who is there to condemn? It was
Christ that died, right? You see that? See the implication
there? That's like a hi-ya-hi kick to the head of the liars. Wow. More than that. He was raised,
who is at the right hand of God, who is interceding for us. Now,
I got that one. I died for that one, and I died
for that one. Sins are forgiven. And this isn't how it works.
You know, God doesn't have to inform Himself through Himself,
by Himself, about Himself. I mean, He's omnipotent in omniscience. He knows all things, and He's
all-powerful. The resurrection proves the authority of Christ
Jesus, the God-man, as God and Lord. God is highly exalted in
Philippians 2 verse 9. And bestowed upon him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee
would bow, shall bow, and in heaven and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the revelation of
the reality of the glory of God the Father. And there's redundance
when I say that. The resurrection gives the believer
a hope that is alive. It's not about this world, beloved.
It's not about our accomplishments. It's not about our things. It's
not about what we are looked at and seen as. And it is so
hard. It is so hard sometimes to look
at your life and you think, I have lived in this Christian circle
and there's so much damage that has been done in these Christian
circles. There's so much time that has been wasted, but God
is sovereign in it and God is purposed in it. for our good
and for our joy, to the praise of His glory and His purposes
and His power, so that we can say we have a living hope. Blessed
be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His
great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter
1. I've already said this, but the
scripture talks about having access to the holy of holies
through the presence of God. We enter the presence of God
by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way He opened for
us through the curtain, that is through the flesh, through
His flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with a heart in full assurance
of faith. I've already said this, but the
resurrection gives us assurance of salvation. I've already said
this, the resurrection undergirds the authority of the gospel story. But the last thing I want to
say here is this, is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is the demonstration of the power and the tenacity of God's love
for us. And I don't care who you are,
I don't care what temperament you have, or how many things
that you've got going wrong in your life, or how hard you might
be, or independent you might be, or how broken you might be,
or co-dependent you might be, or how frustrating life is, or
how cool it might feel, the love of God is necessary for you. And it's a necessary power for
you. But God being rich in mercy,
Ephesians 2, because of the great love with which He loved us,
even while we were dead in our sins, made us alive together
with Christ. And if you know that text and
you know how it's written, you know that Paul basically yells
in the middle of all that, by grace you've been saved! You
see? It's exciting. You can't read
text like that. People jump out of their seats
and fall. So beloved, I need to read it that way. My soul
needs the assurance that what I am in my life is not about
me. And in the end of it all, it's
not about you either. And it doesn't matter what we really, really, really
think would give us happiness because we've done that, haven't
we? We've walked that road. We've stuck our toes in the soft
waters of other areas And they're always wanting. Those waters
cool off and become stagnant. Those feasts fill us up and give
us IBS. Those pursuits of strength and
focus, they end in injury. I mean, take any metaphor about
the mundane of life you want. It's going to end unless we keep
our focus on the love of Christ and the gospel of Christ and
we look through that lens into every aspect. Then our suffering
makes sense. Then our hope never fails. Because Jesus is alive. Let's pray. What is perishable is sown and
what is raised is imperishable. What is sown in dishonor, it
is raised in glory. What is sown in weakness, it
is raised in power. Father, You have done these things
in Jesus Christ, Your Son, who came and was sown in dishonor
as perishable and in weakness and in natural body and was raised,
glorified as a promise that we too shall be raised with Him. Please, Father, I pray that which
I need most and don't even know what I need most. So your spirit
praying for me is more important than my own prayers. As I pray
for us as a spiritual family, as I pray for our households,
our marriages, our children, their marriages, our grandchildren,
our friends, our family, our neighbors, our enemies. Father, I pray that you would
keep us from doubt, that you would hold us in joy. But we
know what we are and we know where we are. And this world
is always cooking the recipe of fear and anxiety and uncertainty
and doubt. And that is okay. It is the natural
sense in which we live as natural beings. So, Father, we need to
look and long for that supernatural, that divine work that You've
promised us, Father. Let these things and this body
and this mind and this life remind us of the promise of the resurrection
to overcome the problem of this present world. They will not leave, but oh God,
one day we shall. And all these things shall be
put under your feet, in Jesus Christ, in whose name we praise
you, and in whose name we speak to your ears. Amen.