Let's turn to Romans chapter
4. I want to read these three verses
at the end of Romans 4, and then we'll say a word about some of
the context here later, but I want to focus in on particularly one
verse here. But let's read beginning in verse
23. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone, that it was imputed to him, that is Abraham, it's
not written for Abraham's sake alone, that the righteousness
of Christ was imputed to him. But for us also, now hear this
word particularly, those of you here who have never believed
on Christ, never truly trusted him, it says, but for us also
to whom it shall be imputed. if we believe on Him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. I've titled this,
Delivered and Raised Again. This last verse here is a comprehensive,
it takes in all of the gospel right here. This is our gospel
in this one verse. Christ Jesus was delivered for
our offenses. and was raised again for our
justification. What the Lord Jesus Christ did,
His church, His elect, every particular elect child did in
Him. What Christ did, every one of
His elect children did in Him. The first thing it says here
is it says Christ was delivered for our offenses. Christ Jesus
gave Himself freely of His own will. He gave Himself voluntarily
into the hands of men. He was delivered by men in some
sense. Judas delivered Him to the Jews
and then they delivered Him to Pilate. Pilate delivered Him
over to the Romans and to the Jews to do with him as they would.
And he was delivered. But he delivered himself voluntarily. He delivered himself into justice,
into the hands of divine justice. He delivered himself unto death.
Why did he do that? The Scriptures tell us he did
it to finish the transgression. To finish it. To put an end to
sins. to make an end of sins. That's why he laid down his life.
To make reconciliation for iniquity. God was in Christ and he was
reconciling. Peace had to be made for God
to have anything to do with his people. He was offended and God's
peace had to be wrought for God. He had to be reconciled to bring
in everlasting righteousness. That's why he did what he did.
And he did it so that the offenses of his people can never again
be brought up and never again condemn them because of what
he did, because he was delivered for our offenses. Now, in order
to do so, to do this, Christ had to bear the sins of his elect
and his own body on the tree. It says he was delivered for
our offenses. It wasn't for sins of his own.
He knew no sin, did no sin, thought no sin. He knew no sin. It wasn't
for sins of the angels that sin. You remember we saw in 2 Peter,
the angels sin. God didn't provide a substitute
for them. He didn't. They didn't have a substitute
provided for them. God spared not the angels that
sin. It wasn't for sins of this whole
world all men without exception that Christ went to the cross.
Christ went to the cross for the sins and bore the sins of
those chosen of God and given Him before the world began. They're
called His friends. They're called His sheep. Christ
said, I laid down my life for the sheep. And they're called
His church. Now here's why He did it. Look
over at Galatians. Galatians chapter 1. Galatians
1-4. Christ gave Himself for our sins
that He might deliver us from this present evil world. That's why He did what He did.
That He might deliver us from this present evil world. And
this is why He did it. He did it according to the will
of God and our Father. God the Father delivered His
Son. He was delivered according to the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Now look at Romans 3. Back at
Romans, and in Romans 3, 26, it tells us why God sent Him
forth. To make satisfaction. To declare,
I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. that God might be just,
that His law might be satisfied, that His justice might be answered
to, so that sinneth must die. He did it that God might be just.
And also that God Himself would be the justifier. He's the one
that put away the sin. He's the one that is in Christ
doing this justifying work Himself. Look over at 2 Corinthians 5.21.
Some of you This may come to you as very
simple and very basic. I hope it's simple. I want it
to be simple. And I want it to be something
that we rehearse repeatedly. But I want particularly for you
who have not believed on Him to see this. Now look, 1 Corinthians
5.21. Let's begin, I tell you what,
let's begin up to verse 18. All things are of God. He's the
beginning. He's the one who saves His people. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. That's what I'm preaching to
you today is how is it that a sinner can be reconciled with God, to
God, and God be reconciled to him. Here's how it is, verse
19, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. When
you see the world, an easy way to understand what that means
is it was not the Jews only. It was his elect from among the
Gentiles as well. You have to understand at the
time that these scriptures are being written and at the time
Paul's writing this, the Jews thought that Christ came to do
only for them. And so he's saying that not just
for the Jews only, but it's for his elect scattered throughout
the world, for Gentiles as well. But it doesn't take in the whole
world without exception. And the reason that is, is because
we're going to see here in a moment, because Christ is not a failure.
Christ succeeded in what He did. He justified His people. He came
to reconcile them. He did. He came to put an end
to their sins. He did. He came to put an end
to their transgressions, and He did that. He came to make
atonement for them. That's what He did. He came to
make satisfaction, and He accomplished that work. So we're seeing here
that he did this, God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. If their
trespasses aren't imputed to them, they gotta be imputed to
somebody. God just doesn't sweep our trespasses
under the rug. They have to be charged to somebody
and laid upon somebody and made to be somebody's and somebody's
got to pay for them. God's gonna have to pour out
justice on somebody. That's what we're reading in
our text. He was delivered for our offenses. The reason that
God didn't impute the trespasses of his people to his people wherever
they are throughout the world is because he imputed them to
his son. not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us this word of reconciliation."
And now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. You know what an
ambassador does? We have an ambassador who goes
off to a foreign country, and he represents our country to
that country. And this is what Paul says, the
ministers that Christ sends are ambassadors for Christ. as though
God did beseech you by us, as though instead of Christ standing
and saying this to you in person, he sends his messenger to say
this to you, and Christ speaks through them, through the Holy
Spirit, and makes this word real in the heart of his people. He
says, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God,
for he, now here's what we're getting to, he hath made him
sin for us. Who knew no sin this one who
was the spotless lamb of God? He hath made him sin for us Why
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that God might
be just and and the justifier, and that his people might be
justified and made the righteousness of God in him. If you ever wonder,
what do I have to be to come into God's presence? What do
I have to be to be accepted of God? What must I do to work the
works of God? You have to be as righteous as
God is righteous. You have to be as holy as God
is holy. We have to be made the righteousness
of God. The only way that can be done
for a sinner is for Christ to come and do it for us. For Him
to come and do it for us. And that's what we're reading
here in our text. Christ was made. Back to Romans
4, 25. He was delivered for our offenses. Christ didn't die merely as a
martyr. He didn't just die as a martyr. He didn't die merely as an example. Christ Jesus died in the room
instead as substitute in the place of his people. And God
in strict justice demanded the death of his son in order to
satisfy justice for his people. This is the problem that we have
to deal with. it has to be dealt with and that
we need to hear constantly is how can a sinner be just with
God? How can you and I, who have sinned,
who were conceived in sin and come forth sinners and all our
life are enmity against God, we don't want to come to God
God's way. How can we, who have broken God's
holy law, how can we be just And then the question comes in,
how can we be just? If God's gonna justify us, how
can he justify us and yet show us mercy? If we gotta die to
be justified, and that's what I said, we have to die. How can
that happen and I live? How can that happen and I still
be shown mercy? How can I die and yet I receive
all the blessings that God determined to give before the world began?
How can that happen? The only way that can happen
is if God himself comes and God himself is made sin. in the righteous God-man. He's made sin in place of his
people. And he died. God couldn't die. He's holy. He's eternal. God
is spirit. He couldn't die. But as a man,
Christ could die. Christ could die, and because
he's the God-man, because he is God, his death as a man has
eternal merit and eternal efficacy, so that when he's satisfied,
he's satisfied eternally. When he's satisfied God, he's
satisfied everlastingly. So by dying, he made satisfaction
for the sins of every elect child of God. His death obtained, it
accomplished, It satisfied divine justice for each elect child
of God. That's so. It's done. It's absolutely
done. Now, look at verse 25 again. Here's the second part. It says,
and he was raised again for our justification. Raised again for
our justification. Now remember what Christ did. His church His elect, each individual
elect child particularly, did what Christ did. What Christ
did, we did. When he died, we died. It was our offenses were made
his offenses, so that God was just to pour out the punishment
we deserved upon him, so that when he died, we died. And he says, and when he was
raised again, he was raised again for our justification. When he
came out of that grave as the head of his people, as the representative
of his people, Christ himself was legally discharged. He was acquitted. He was justified. And so was his church in him.
Now, his resurrection declares this. It testifies this. When
he died, he satisfied justice. The wages of sin is death. That's
what the law demands, death. The soul that's sent up must
die. When he died, justice was satisfied. He justified his people
when he died. But when he came out of that
grave, it testified, it declared that when he was taken from prison
and from judgment, you know that scripture in Isaiah 53, he was
taken from prison and from judgment. When he was taken from the prison
house of death, death was as a prison, and when he was taken
from that and came out of that grave, the church that he purchased
with his own blood arose in him and legally, fully, they were
discharged. from all bonds of death. The emerging of the Redeemer,
when he came out from the grave, that was the emerging of the
redeemed from all condemnation. His elect came out with him. His release from death was our
release from death. His release from that offended
justice and that law was our release from it. By His death,
He paid the debt and when He was discharged, all the elect
children of God in Him and together with Him received a full discharge
from the guilt and punishment of all of our sins. All of them. Now look over at Hebrews 9. Hebrews
9, there's something else here we see. He's just coming at this
from different angles and looking at it and what he did. Remember
in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, the high priest,
he slew a lamb. in the outer court. That's where
the lamb was slain. And then he had to go into the
holy place with the blood of that lamb and sprinkle the blood
of that lamb on the mercy seat in that holiest of holies, in
that holy place within that tabernacle to make atonement. Well, Christ,
our high priest, is that lamb. He's the lamb. He laid down his
life, but he's the high priest that went into the holy place
with his own blood. Look here at verse 12. Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Look at verse 24. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, that
is, that holy place in that tabernacle. They were figures of the truth,
types, just to give us an understanding of what Christ did when he entered
into God's presence. It says, but he entered into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. You'll come to love two of my
favorite words in the whole of scripture is for us. Because
everything Christ did, he did for us. He entered into God's
presence for us. Verse 25, it says, nor yet that
he should offer himself often That high priest had to enter
that holy place every year with the blood of others. He had to
do it repeatedly. But if Christ would have had to do that, he'd
have had to suffer since the foundation of the world. But
it says in verse 26, Now once in the end of the world hath
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now
that's what he came to do. He came to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Verse 27 says, And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. He bore that judgment. This is the good news for you
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That was our judgment. He bore our judgment. We died
there and our judgment was settled right there at Calvary. It's
appointed a man once to die, and after this the judgment.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto
them that look for Him, unto them that believe on Him, trust
Him, and look for Him, shall He appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. Now look at Hebrews 1, 3. Hebrews
1, and look at verse 3. That His resurrection declared
first of all that when He came out of that grave, It testified
to us that we were discharged, just completely, totally discharged
of death, of sin. We justified. It testified to
us that death, that he died, accomplished a justification.
His resurrection didn't really accomplish our justification.
That was accomplished by his death. But his resurrection testified
that we are justified. But it declares this to us too,
that the work's all complete. Look at verse three, at the end
of verse three. It says, When He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty
on high. The high priest never sat down
in the Old Testament because his work was never finished.
When Christ come out of the grave and sat down at the right hand
of the Father, He declares the work's done, it's finished. Look
at Hebrews 1.13. It also declares to us that the
Father accepted Christ and is satisfied with Him. It says there
at the end of verse 13, He said to His Son, sit on my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool. He's satisfied. He accepted Christ. Now if I
came out of the grave with Christ, If my sins was purged and completely
put away so that the works finished and I sat down in Christ, and
the Lord tells me that Christ is going to sit there till all
His enemies be made His footstool, that's so of me. That's so of
you who believe. That's so of everyone that He
did that for. And then Christ ever lives to
apply His righteousness to all those for whom He finished His
work. Look at Acts 5. Acts 5 and look at verse 31.
I'll give you time to get there. Him hath God exalted
with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior. for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sin. He was exalted to make sure everybody
for whom He died who yet remains, who haven't received this gift
of repentance and forgiveness of sins, they're going to get
it because He's been made a Prince and a Savior to make sure it
is all given to them. Scripture says all power in heaven
and in earth is His. all power, so that He can work
everything in this earth to bring each one of His children to hear
this good news. And we're not going to have repentance.
Repentance is sometimes, it's the work of the Holy Spirit,
it's the work of the Father, it's the work of the Savior too.
He was exalted to give repentance to His Israel, to everybody that
He did this for. so that we turn from all of the
confidences and our minds are completely radically changed
so that we see there's no use all the things that we might
try to do or to justify ourselves and make ourselves righteous.
He makes us to see it's done, it's accomplished and he accomplished
it. And he gives us faith in him.
Look at Romans 8, 32. Romans 8.32 Well, let's read verse 28 down. It says, We know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. How do these things all work
together for good? How are all the things in this
world, how do they all work together for good? I'm so sick of hearing
this. I've heard it so much lately
for some reason. It seems like, I guess, when
you start listening for something, you start hearing it a lot. But
I've heard this, and how many times do you hear people say,
well, all things happen for a reason? You know, anytime something happens,
an accident or whatever, if they're just semi-religious or want to
sound religious, people say, well, everything happens for
a reason. Well, that I just don't quite get it. Everything does
happen for a reason. But why does it happen? It happens
because God made it happen. God worked it to happen. Whether
it's good or evil, whether we think it's good or we think it's
bad, or whether it is good or it's bad, God works all things
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. Why? For whom he did foreknow,
that is, whom He foreordained before the world began, whom
He elected, chose in Christ. He also did predestinate. He determined their destination
beforehand. He predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son. That means they're going to have
to hear about Him. That means they're going to have to hear
who this true and living God is. They're going to have to
hear about what He did, what He accomplished. And it says that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. This is the issue. This is why we preach the gospel.
and declare that God's been in control from the beginning, that
he came to save whom he would. He'll have mercy upon and that
he accomplishes because God was determined before the world began
that his son be the firstborn among many brethren. And this
is what everything hinges on. God's gonna seek to it, his son's
gonna be exalted and glorified. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Now, here's what I was wanting
you to see. What shall we say then to these things? If God
be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own
Son. but delivered him up for us all. Do you see now how the all, do
you see who the all is now? It's those given him of the Father.
It's all of them. It's all them that Christ took
their offenses upon himself. It's all of them for whom he
bore this punishment and this wrath. It's all of them for whom
he was risen. God delivered him up. God delivered
him. He delivered his own son. You
see how bad sin is? It was so bad God had to send
his own son to put it away, and it was so bad that when his son
was made sin for us, God didn't spare him. Sin has got to be
dealt with, the wages of sin has got to be settled. But if
he did that, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? All these things that God determined
for to give us. the all spiritual blessings in
Christ. If He delivered up His Son to
give these spiritual blessings to us, spiritual life, faith,
repentance, all the blessings of the Spirit of God to us, the
graces of the Spirit, all things that we need to bring us into
this fellowship and to know Christ, do you not think that He will
freely give all those things? because He delivered His Son
up. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who's going to impute any sin
to any of God's elect? It's God that justified. He justified. We have to charge God if we're
going to charge one of His elect. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. He says, yea rather, that is
risen again. He's alive. He's seated at the
right hand of God, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Alright, let's go back to
Romans 4 now and let's see in context here what we're being
told. I said we'd mention a little bit about the context. I want
you to see that first. Now, throughout Romans 4, Paul's
been showing us that Abraham believed God, and it was the
righteousness of Christ was imputed to Abraham. He was made the righteousness
of God in Christ. Now, you hear all these things
I'm telling you right now, and you think, that is so, I understand
that this could be something that, you can't believe this
except by God-given faith, that a man rose from the dead, that
this was, that God came and was made flesh, that Christ went
to the cross, it was made sin, that he bore the wrath of God,
that he went into a grave and was buried, and that a man rose
from the dead, and that a man in our glorified human nature
ascended to the throne of God, and there sits a man who is God,
who is God and man, who is ever living to intercede for his people. And it's easy to, I could see
how somebody could say, that's just, that's just beyond me. I mean, I don't know if I can
believe that. Well, God came to Abraham and He told Abraham
that He, and this was all a figure, it was all a type of what I'm
telling you right now, to believe on Christ, to trust Christ, that
He is the seed in whom you're justified. You believe on Him,
you got the righteousness of God. You believe on Him, you're
accepted of God. Abraham was told, here he is
really old, and Sarah, his wife, is old. They're both beyond the
point of being able to have children. And God comes and tells them
that he's going to have a son. And in his son, all the nations
of the earth are going to be blessed. Abraham's an old man,
and he's never even had a son. And that son that he promised
him is a picture of Christ. was typified there. He even had
him, after he told him he would have a son, and after he had
the son, then God told him, now take that son up. Abraham, you
know, is doing what God told him to do, but God's showing
Abraham a picture of what that true seed, that true son, Christ
Jesus, would do. He told Abraham then to take
that boy up, who he had told Abraham in that boy. He's gonna
have a ton of children and he said now take that boy up and
kill him take him up and offer him up to me as a burnt offering
and Abraham took him up there and did it and And God was showing
in that. It says He received him from
the dead in a figure. And what the point of the matter
is, is back up in verse 17. It tells us there that Abraham
believed God who quickeneth the dead. That's what he believed. He believed God was able to make
alive the dead. His own body that was dead. the
Sarah's womb that was dead. His son, if he went up there
and offered him on that altar, he believed God could raise him
from the dead. And he believed God. That's the
point. He believed God quickeneth the
dead. Now in our time, we're called
on to believe this. That son is Christ and he's come
and God quickened him from the dead and he's risen. He's risen. The scripture says here, it says
in verse 18, Abraham, against hope, believed in hope. That's
what we're called to be. You say, that goes against everything
that stands to reason. I don't know if I can... It says,
he against hope, believed in hope. In other words, against
everything that stood to the carnal reasoning, and everything
that stood to carnal understanding, he believed God, and hoped in
God, and trusted in God. He believed that he was going
to have this son, and he believed that he would come forth, and
he did. And he believed that if he went
up and offered him on that altar, as God said, he would... He would
raise him from the dead, even though it went against all carnal
reasoning. He said, Isaac said, here's the
wood, here's the fire, where's a lamb? And Abraham said, my
son, God will provide himself a lamb. He believed God. Against
hope, he believed in hope. He's telling us now. You who
against hope, who sit and look at this and hear this and say,
how could that possibly be that a man, God came and took human
flesh and went to the cross and laid down his life and rose again.
He says, against all reasoning. Faith believes God, and hopes
in God, and trusts God. It says here, verse 19, not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was
a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God. He was trusting God,
believing God, that he would be saved in Christ. And God's
telling us now, You don't believe a man could be raised from the
dead because you look at your own body and say, I don't see. I couldn't do that. That couldn't
happen to me. I couldn't do that. And how could? I expect that would be done to
me or any other man. Don't look at your body. Don't
look at yourself. That's what Abraham didn't look
at his body. He didn't look at himself. He
didn't look at Sarah. He didn't look at men. He didn't
look at the things that went against every promise God gave
him, because all of that went against every promise God gave
him. But he was strong in faith and he believed God. And it says,
and by doing so, he gave glory to God. He said, I believe the
glorious God said He can do this. Now let's read that out, verse
20. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. That's what God's telling us.
Don't stagger at the fact that God set Christ at the right hand
of God. Don't stagger at His promises
through unbelief. But he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, and being fully persuaded. that what God had
promised, God was able also to perform. Do you believe that? God's promised. We've been made
the righteousness of God in Him. He's promised His people are
justified. He's promised His people acceptance with Him. He's
promised us the work's finished. He's promised it's all done.
We are complete in Him. Do you stagger at that promise
or do you believe He's able to perform everything He said He
performed? That He's done it? And that He'll
bring us to Himself. Verse 24. Abraham believed, therefore
it, that is the righteousness, this righteousness of Christ
was imputed to him for righteousness. It was his righteousness given
to him from Christ to Abraham, given to him as he is. Now it
was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him. All of this has been shown us, not just for Abraham, it's
been shown us for this reason. but for us also, to whom righteousness
shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification." It's that simple. Do you believe Christ was delivered
for your offenses? Do you believe that Christ satisfied
the divine justice for you by His death? Do you believe that
He made atonement to God for your sins? Do you believe that
you were reconciled to God by the death of His Son? Do you
believe that when Christ arose, you were raised in Him? Do you
believe that all your hope right now is that you're seated with
Christ complete at the right hand of the Father? Yeah, but
I see so much sin in me. I know it goes against all hope.
But hope against hope. Hope, do like Abraham did. He believed against hope, believed
in hope. Look at verse 10, Romans 5, 10.
Look down there. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled,
we'll be saved by His life. You see, to believe that Christ
rose from the dead. is not merely to believe the
facts that he rose from the dead. Everybody all over this world
today are celebrating the fact that Christ rose from the dead.
That's not hard to enter into the fact that he rose from the
dead. To believe Christ is to believe that Christ accomplished
our salvation. thereby. That it was the testification
of God that it's done. It's finished. There's nothing
else to be done. If I think there's one more thing
I need to do in order to make an exception of God, I don't
believe Christ rose from the dead. If I say that, I'm saying
I don't believe. Because to say He rose from the
dead is to say I believe He finished the work. He did it. It's done. God raised Him from the dead
and gave Him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
Well, I want to show you one thing.
Look over at Romans 6. It's what he said in verse 8.
Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth
no more. Death hath no more dominion over
Him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
You know what's keeping you from believing on Christ? And even
if you believe on Christ, you know what's keeping you from
confessing Him before men? You know what's keeping you from,
there's a difference in professing Him before men and confessing
Him before men. Professing, anybody can make
a profession of faith. Confessing Him means you're willing
to stand with Him even if everybody turns against you. You're willing
to stand with Him even if people ridicule you and mock you or
whatever. You know what's keeping You who are here, I know you
hear me. I see you hear me. I see you
listening. I see you intently listening.
Some of you I've watched go from staring at the ceiling, to listening,
to looking at every word in these scriptures, to from glad, from
mad, to glad, to sad, back to glad again. I've watched it.
I see it happen. But what's keeping you from saying,
I believe Him? and wanting everybody to know
it. What's keeping you from that? The lust of your flesh. The lust
of your flesh. He says, if you believe you were
dead, you died with Christ, reckon it so. And that you rose with
Him, reckon it so. And He says, and let not sin
reign in your mortal body any more. Neither, verse 13, neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God. That means just just yield completely
to Him. Completely to Him. As those that
are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. It's
done now. This is what He said to Martha.
He said, I'm the resurrection and I'm the life. He said, he
that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
He'll live. And He said to her, Whosoever
liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. And He said, Believest
thou this? Do you believe this, Martha?
Do you believe that Christ is the resurrection and the life?
If He's your resurrection and He's your life, you'll live forever. You have eternal life in Him. Everything that's required of
God, you have it. Christ is what's required. And
He said this, He said, if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, which die in
Him, God will bring them with Him. They'll be with Him in glory. Close their eyes in this life
and awake with Him in glory. And be raised from the dead.
Our mortal bodies be raised incorruptible, immortal, to live with Him forever.
in a real body, in a real body with Him forever. When you believe
Him, I know this, when you believe Him, you cannot help but turn
your back on everything else and turn to Him and face Him
and yield everything to Him and confess He is all my hope and
all my salvation. You can't do otherwise. You just
can't do otherwise when you have this faith. Amen.