The religious world in which
we live celebrates this day what the believer celebrates every
day. And I'm going to take less than
60 seconds of my time this morning to once again tell you my opinion
of Easter Sunday. It won't take long. Easter is
nothing less than a pagan holiday. Easter comes from the name Estor,
who was a fictitious Greek goddess of spring and fertility. Bunnies
and eggs, they're pagan symbols of fertility. Bunnies, baby chicks,
chocolate eggs, as much as I like them, have absolutely nothing
to do with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Easter
Sunday in April is no more the time that Christ rose from the
grave than Christmas in December is the time of year that Christ
was born. And I'm telling you, if it was,
then I wonder why the date changes every year. False religion has
made Easter like Christmas. It's an observance of certain
days. And I'm telling you, there's
a big difference between holy days and holidays. Big difference. Matter of fact, there seems to
be a great debate today whether Christ actually rose from the
dead on Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning. And the religion
of the world is celebrating the resurrection of Christ today.
And I would venture to say that the vast majority of folks doing
so have little or no idea of the spiritual significance of
Christ rising from the dead. So let me first endeavor to show
you why it's absolutely crucial for you and I to know and believe
that Christ rose from the dead. And before I go further, I want
to ask you, do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from
the dead? It's my desire this morning to
show you from the Scriptures why it's absolutely necessary
for you to know and believe that Christ did rise the third day
after His crucifixion. So I want you to turn with me
first to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In verse 12, the Apostle Paul
writes, Now there was some among the group here in Corinth unto
whom Paul preached that professed to believe in Christ, yet denied
that there was a resurrection of the dead. What does it mean,
or what is the resurrection of the dead? Well, simply put, it's the belief
that one day those who died trusting in Christ shall be raised incorruptible
and shall be changed. Their corruptible bodies of sin
shall put on incorruption, perfect and holy before God. Their mortal
bodies shall put on immortality, and the scriptures say death
will be swallowed up in victory. That victory over death was accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ and Him being crucified. And if there's
no resurrection of the dead, then no one anywhere has any
hope of salvation. You and I are going to die physically
because of sin. It's appointed unto men once
to die, the scripture says. And after this, the judgment,
Hebrews 9, 27. Simply put, nobody gets out of
this life alive. It's appointed, it's ordained
of God that every man and woman born is gonna return to ashes
to ashes and dust to dust. Every man and woman born is going
to one day stand before God Almighty in judgment and give an account
of the things done in this body of flesh. And unless the Lord
returns in our lifetime, each and every one of us is going
to face death because of sin. Our only hope of salvation is
that Jesus Christ That one mediator between God and men. The only
suitable substitute for sinners. The one who laid down His life
in the place of His elect. The only hope we have of redemption
is that He is now risen and seated at the right hand of God. And
if you don't believe, if you do not believe that a chosen
sinner is one day resurrected from the grave in which they're
buried, then you do not believe that Jesus Christ Himself arose
from the dead. And that's what Paul is saying
here. Look at verse 13. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? If there's no such thing
as a resurrection of any, if being raised from the dead is
not possible, as some believe, then Christ is not risen. And
if Christ is not risen, then there is absolutely no hope Now
listen to me, there's no hope of redemption for anyone. Christ
became a man. He became flesh and blood so
that He might die in the place of His people who were flesh
and blood. Taking their sin upon Himself as a perfect man, as
the perfect substitute, Christ satisfied the holy justice of
God in His people's stead. Now if the Lord Jesus Christ
was buried and does not live again, then we have no Savior
and we have no salvation. Look at verse 14. And if Christ
be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also
vain. Paul says if Christ is not risen
from the dead, then all our preaching is in vain. And it amounts to
absolutely nothing. And if that's the case, then
your faith in God through the preaching of the Gospel. That's
how faith comes, isn't it? By hearing and hearing by the
Word of God. The Lord uses the foolishness of preaching to save
them to believe. So if your faith in God through
the preaching of the Gospel is void of truth, it will profit
you nothing. If Christ is not risen, look
at verse 15. Yea, and we are found false witnesses
of God. Because we've testified of God
that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that
the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins. Now, in other words, what Paul
is saying here, if the dead rise not, then we, the apostles and
preachers, have misrepresented God. We've lied to you. We haven't told you the truth.
But we testified that God raised Christ from the dead. And if
He didn't raise Him, and if the dead in Christ don't rise, then
our preaching is worthless. Your faith is worthless. You're
not saved. You don't know God. You have
no mediator. And you're still in a state of
sin and guilt. I want you to understand clearly
what Paul is saying here. He's saying if the dead are not
raised, then Christ is not raised. He's still in the tomb. And therefore,
he's proven to be an imposter. And your faith is vain. And you're
yet in your sins. And if these things be true,
dear friends, then the ramifications of this matter reaches far further
For it not only assures that you're not saved, but verse 18
tells us, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished. If there's no resurrection, even
the Old Testament saints who died believing in Christ and
trusting in Him alone to be saved are perished and eternally lost. And in verse 19, Paul says, if
in this life only we have hope in Christ, We are of all men
most miserable. You see, the believer's hope
is not in this world, but it's in the world to come. My hope
of redemption is not what I do in this life. I cannot do what
God requires. But my redemption is what Christ,
the perfect God-man, has done for me. And that's your hope.
And if the promise of a perfect Christ rising from the dead is
not true, then our hopes are in vain and we are most miserable
and frustrated men and women in the world. But here's the
good news. In verse 20, Paul reassures these
believers that this error is not so. And he assures them of
the glorious truth of the gospel. Verse 20, but now is Christ risen
from the dead. and become the first fruits of
them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." That's speaking
of all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to put away their
sin. But every man in his own order, Christ's firstfruits afterward,
they that are Christ's that is coming." Now this is our hope.
Christ first rose from the dead, and He ascended into heaven,
and He presented Himself to God as the representative of all
His people. That's crucial. Jesus Christ
is the firstborn of the dead. In other words, His resurrection
assures our resurrection. Verse 21, for since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all, all the elect, all whom
believe on Christ, shall be made alive. The first man, Adam, was
the representative and the covenant head of all men. We know that,
we've seen that. We all lived in him and we all
died in him when he sinned. Wherefore as by one man's sin,
one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin and so
death passed upon all men for that all have sinned, Romans
5.12. Now be sure you understand this. Sin, disease, physical
death, eternal death, came upon us through Adam's disobedience
and his transgression. But Christ is the representative,
the covenant federal head of the chosen of God. And because
He became a man, because He obeyed God's law perfectly, because
He died for our sins and rose again, in Him we have righteousness,
redemption, and eternal life. And that's, here's the key to
this matter of resurrection. His resurrection from the dead
proves that He fulfilled and perfectly kept the law of God
in the room and the stead of His people. Christ's resurrection
from the dead proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Christ
satisfied God's divine justice for those for whom He died. If Christ didn't rise from the
dead, then we're still in our sin. Being aliens, Paul said,
from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers from the covenants
of God's promises. Having no hope and without God
in this world. Now look at verse 25. For he
must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And he
can't reign if he's not risen. If he's not sitting at the right
hand of God in all power and majesty, then he's not reigning. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. If Christ didn't rise from the
dead, then you and I could never rise from the dead. You see the
importance of this? Now I want you to turn with me
to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. This is the message that Peter
preached on the day of Pentecost. When he preached this message,
the scriptures tell us that over 3,000 souls were saved on that
day. Let's look at this powerful message
that Peter preached where these 3,000 souls were saved. And I was thinking to myself
this morning, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord just saved
one soul today? My! Let's begin reading in verse
22. Acts 2 verse 22. Peter starts,
You men of Israel, hear these words. Now, here's the message. Hear these words. You men of
Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth. You see how
he starts this message out? Jesus Christ is our message.
What proof this is of that? Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, He's our message. That's who our message
is about. Who is He? He's a man approved
of God. God will never approve of you
and I. Never. We cannot provide what
God approves of. God approves only of perfection. What must our sacrifice be in
order to be accepted? It must be perfect to be accepted. Christ was approved of God among
you. How was Christ approved of God?
By miracles, by wonders, by signs which God did by Him. These miracles,
these wonders, these signs which God did by Him, Peter said, in
the midst of you. You can't deny them. They proved one thing. It proved
that Jesus Christ was God. Isn't that what Nicodemus said?
He said, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with him. Peter said, God did these miracles,
these wonders, these signs in the midst of you, as you know
He did. He said, ask you yourselves as
you yourselves also know. You know these things are so.
You saw them. He did them. They were done in
plain sight. Friends, the gospel is about
Him. Look at verse 23. Him. Jesus
of Nazareth. God in the flesh. He says, you've
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Peter says,
that's what you did to God the Savior. That's what man's will did to
God. They laid their wicked hands on Him, and they crucified Him,
and they slew Him. And so would have we if we'd
been there. I'll throw that in for free. How could such a thing happen?
How did the deliverance of Christ into men's wicked hands come
about? Peter tells us right here. He
was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. God allowed it to happen. He who does all things after
the counsel of His own will. Do you believe that? That's what
the scripture says. God does all things after the
counsel of His own will. He not only foreknew that this
would come about, but God determined that it would come about. And
you know, there is no one in this world who knows where these
two great truths of man's will and responsibility and God's
divine predestination meet. Man of his own will, with his
own wicked hands, took the Lord and crucified and killed Him.
Yet, Christ was ultimately delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. And you might ask, how do we
reconcile these things? We don't. We don't reconcile
them. We believe them both to be true. We cannot, with our little finite
minds, reconcile these things. The evil and the sin was within
man. It was man's wicked hands that
did the deed. Isn't that what it says? You
have taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain the Lord. But it was God that let these
men have their way. God did not intervene to stop
them. He simply let them have their
way. And in doing so, God sovereignly
accomplished His will and the purpose that He intended, and
man was still responsible for his deed. Man's responsibility
and God's sovereignty are often misunderstood. In Amos chapter
3, I won't turn you there, but verse 6 says this. I've given
a lot of thought to this lately. It says, shall a trumpet be blown
in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil
in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Now, we know that
James says in James chapter 1 verse 13, he said, Let no man say when
he is tempted, that I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted
when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. The question
in Amos chapter 3 is not suggesting that God is responsible for sin. God is of purer eyes than to
behold evil. He cannot look upon iniquity,
Habakkuk 1.3. The word evil in Amos 3.6 is
a Hebrew word called rah, R-A or R-A-H, however you want to
spell it. And it means calamity. It means adversity. It means
trouble, tragedy, catastrophe. If God works all things after
the counsel of His own will, and He does, as it says in Ephesians
1, verse 11, if God works all things together for good to them
that love the Lord, and He does according to Romans 8, 28, then
it has to be so that adversity, trouble, tragedy, and disaster
don't happen by chance. No, sir. They come about because
God, in His sovereign purpose and providence, allows them to
come to pass. And I'm telling you, I thank
God for the mysteries that conceal so much from us. Because where
would there be room for faith if all things were as plain as
ABC? I don't understand those things,
but I believe that they're so. And when tragic things happen,
like senseless school shootings where young children are murdered,
we don't charge God foolishly with the evil. But we do bow
to His sovereign providence, knowing that He does all things
for His people's good and for His own great namesake, and we
just have to leave it right there. That's where we leave it. We're
going to trust God. in all these things. Though we
may not understand it, though we may not be capable of wrapping
our little finite minds around it, we by faith believe and trust
that God does all things well. Right? Okay. In verse 24, still
referring to Christ, whom man crucified and murdered, Peter
says, whom God hath raised up. We're talking about God raising
Christ from the dead. Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should
be holding of it. Oh, I tell you, you can get lost
in the thought of this. And we're back to the subject
here of resurrection. After three days, God raised
up Jesus Christ from the dead. After three days, God loosed
the pains of death against Him. Why? It was not possible that
they should be held against Him any longer. That's what Peter
says here. Christ's resurrection is as much
of the Gospel message as His dying was. His dying was for
the payment and the remission of His people's sin. His resurrection
was the proof that God accepted His payment. Now I'm telling
you, if you can get a hold of that, you'll rejoice in the fact
that Christ rose from the dead. Now whatever these pains of death
were, our Lord felt them while He was forsaken of God. without
any help from Him. He tasted death for every elect
child of God. I don't know what they were,
but I know they were real, and I know they were tough. Our Lord
Jesus really did die. He was bound with the strong
cords of the pains of death, and His physical sufferings,
as horrible as they were. My, you think about it. You think
about it. The Scriptures say that his visage
was so marred that he didn't even resemble a man. God in the
flesh is standing before him. They spit in his face. They pluck
out his beard. They blindfolded him and hit
him with their fist and said, you're a prophet, tell us who
hit you. And as horrible as all these physical sufferings were,
they don't even begin to compare with the suffering of His soul
and death. And when He cried, My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He really was forsaken by God
His Father. We're unable to enter into that
pain and that suffering and that agony of God the Father forsaking
God the Son who had always been by His side. Oh, we can't fathom
it. But these pains of death had
to cease. They had to. Why? Because it
wasn't possible that he should be afflicted any longer with
death. You know, I never grow tired
of hearing or saying that. As the perfect one, Jesus Christ
fulfilled all the requirements of God's law, and He fully satisfied
the holy justice of God. And God's anger, God's wrath,
God's judgment of sin exhausted itself on the perfect God-man,
and God said, it's enough! It's enough! And up from the
grave Christ arose. Have you ever heard anything
so wonderful? He had a body in which dwelt
the fullness of the Godhead. That fullness in that body could
not be held by the cords and the pains of death any longer.
God's satisfied. Christ said it's finished. God
is satisfied. He said of Himself, I am He that
liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and have
the keys of hell and of death. Grave, where's your sting? Death, where's your sting? Grave,
where's your victory? Christ has the keys of death
and hell. It was no human weakness that
put Christ in the tomb. No, sir. It was by His own free
will that He gave up the ghost, that He laid down His life, that
He exerted His divine prerogative to rise again from the dead.
That's what He said in John chapter 10. He said, Therefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take
it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. And I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father." Christ's redeeming work was done My, grab that and
hold on to it. He died to put away the sin of
his elect, and in order to do so, he must suffer their doom,
which was death. We call it substitution. But
after he endured the penalty of the law, that is after he
died, he could not be held any longer in the grave. That's why
Paul wrote, Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more.
Death no more hath dominion over him. For in that he died, he
died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God. Romans 6, verses 9 and 10. Christ
has satisfied all the claims of the law that were against
you, dear believer. What hand can arrest him? What
power can hold Him captive? He died for our sins, but He
rose for our justification. And His rising proved that all
His people were counted righteous in the sight of God. The fact
that He now sits at the right hand of God, Shelley, proves
the fact that He paid your sin debt. And when God looks at you
now, He sees a perfect, a perfect, and righteous person. You see, it's not possible where
there was a just God in heaven that Christ should remain in
the grave. God's justice wouldn't allow it. The work was done and
holy justice demanded that Christ be let go. Mercy said, let that sinner go
first. You let Him go free. I died for Him and I rose again. Child of God, Christ took your
debt. How do you know that He paid
it? Christ bore your sin in His own body on the tree. How do
you know that He put it away? By His resurrection from the
dead. If He had never risen from the dead, you'd have no proof
that you were justified. Now I'm out of time, but let
me close with the last words of Peter's gospel message on
this day that 3,000 souls were saved. Look at verse 36. Peter says, therefore, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly. You want to know something you
can be sure of? You can be sure of that you can know assuredly?
right here, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have
crucified, he's mating both Lord and Christ. He's a just God and
a Savior. He died the just for the unjust
to bring his people to God. How do we know that God hath
made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ? Because God raised
Him from the dead. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How
are we justified? By His resurrection from the
dead. That's what Paul said in Romans chapter 4 verse 25. He
said He was delivered for our offenses and He was raised for
our justification. Paul goes on to ask, who is He
that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. He's ruling and He's
reigning at the right hand of God in all power and majesty.
And you know what He's doing there? He's praying for you.
He's praying for you. Have you ever heard anything
so wonderful? This same Jesus that men took
by wicked hands and crucified and killed. This same Jesus who
was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. God has made Him both Lord and
Christ. He's your God and He's your Savior. I serve a risen Savior. He's
in the world today. I know that He's living. Whatever
men may say, I see His hand of mercy. I hear His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him,
and that's all the time, He's always near. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives
today. While He walks with me and He
talks with me along life's narrow way, He lives. He lives salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart. Isn't
that your experience? His Spirit bears witness with
my spirit that He's my Lord and He's my Christ. May God make
His Word effectual to your heart.