Okay, we're going to be in 1
Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15. And our text
will be in verses 3 and 4. 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. Christ's death is the means of
the believer's reconciliation. And through his death springs
forth many spiritual blessings that we have. But the application
and the enjoyment of these spiritual blessings are owing to Christ's
resurrection. They're owing to Christ's resurrection. So today, I'd like to take up
the topic of Christ's resurrection. And we'll be looking at 1 Corinthians,
or at least launching from 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. Let's read those
two verses here. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, by revelation of the Spirit,
that which I received, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures. and the whole
truth of the gospel, the whole truth of the gospel, it depends
on Christ rising from the dead. It depends on Christ rising from
the dead. He said, look at verse 14, 1
Corinthians 15, 14, And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. Our title this morning
is the Declaration of the Resurrection. The Declaration of the Resurrection.
Now first I want to look at Christ's death and burial by way of introduction. Christ's death and burial. The
Apostle Paul, he focused his ministry on preaching the Lord
Jesus Christ. He preached Christ. He said in
1st Corinthians 2.2, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified." And that remained Paul's focus
for all the churches. Why? Because Christ alone is
the believer's salvation. No amount of religion can save
anybody. It doesn't matter how religious
you are, religion doesn't save Christ Jesus alone. He is the Savior of his people. Now, as we read in our opening
remarks there, Paul said to the Corinthians, let's look at it
again, 1 Corinthians 15, three and four. For I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was
buried. So the whole purpose in the Lord
Jesus Christ coming to the earth, it was to work salvation for
his people. And his work glorifies the Father,
glorifies God in this work of salvation. And Paul told Timothy
in 1 Timothy 1.15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners. So Christ isn't just a prophet.
He's not just a good man and someone that has a good moral
fiber about him that we can follow, and if we do pretty good, that
we'll find ourselves accepted with God one day when we stand
before him in judgment. but rather Christ himself is
the very salvation of his people. And so while all men and women
are sinners, the scriptures declare that we are all born dead in
trespasses and sin, there's so very few that really believe
that they themselves are sinners, unable. to work a righteousness
for themselves. They really do have confidence
in the flesh and they think that somehow things are just going
to work out for me in the end because God knows that I did
my best and that I tried really hard. But the salvation of God,
the revelation of God shows us and declares to us, I'm the sinner. Just like Paul said, the chief
of sinners. I'm the sinner. I need the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I need the grace that God shows
to sinners in his son because I can't work a righteousness
for myself. I can't do anything to make myself
accepted before God who is holy and sits on the throne. There
He is, the Ancient of Days. Who of us can boast of our righteousness
in the works that we have done before Him who is holy and eternal
and righteous in all His ways? So He sent His Son for that purpose. The very fact that Christ came
in the flesh should shut our mouths and convince us that there's
nothing that we can do, otherwise Christ wouldn't have come. if
there was something that we could do to save ourselves. But for
those who have been taught that they are sinners and needing
God's grace, that's why Christ came for sinners, to show us
our need of Him, to reveal our need of Him, and that He is the
Savior provided of God for His people. Christ affirms this when
He speaks to Pilate. He said in John 18, 37 and 38,
to this end, was I born and for this cause
came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth that
every one of us are sinners in need of God's grace. He bears
witness to that very truth and that we are desperate to receive
the grace of God because God's going to destroy this earth.
And every one, he said, every one that is of the truth heareth
my voice. And Pilate said unto him, what
is truth? And Pilate revealed right there
that he did not hear the voice of Christ, that he was not among
those for whom Christ was sent and came to lay down his life
for them. So when Christ died, he fulfilled
the beauty What we glory in and rejoice in is that when Christ
died, in His coming in the flesh, He fulfilled all the covenant
of grace. Everything that was required
to be met in that covenant of grace was all fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He did every work. God never
looks to the sinner, to you and I, to fulfill any part of that
covenant of grace. Otherwise it wouldn't be a covenant
of grace, it would be a covenant of works for us to do something.
And both Paul and Peter declare this. 1 Peter says in 1 Peter
3.18, For Christ also hath once suffered four sins, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened, raised, resurrected by the Spirit. And then Paul, as our brother
read earlier, For God hath made him to be sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's why Christ Jesus was sent,
to save his people, to be the very means of forgiveness, the
propitiation for his people. And then the scriptures teach
us that Christ really did die, not in his divine nature, but
in his body. In the flesh, he died to put
away the sins of his people. And he was buried according to
the scriptures. Matthew 27, 59, and 60. When
Joseph had taken the body of Jesus off the cross there, he
wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb
which he had hewn out of the rock, and he rolled a great stone
to the door of the sepulcher and departed." So that Christ's
burial, it's a sign to everyone, both to believers and to those
who don't believe the truth. It's a sign because we know that
Christ really did He really did die and was laid there in the
tomb. Because the wicked, they require
a sign. They look for a sign, for proof. Why should I believe
that Christ is the Savior? Why should I believe what you're
saying? And Christ said in Matthew 12,
38 and 40, 12, 38 through 40, Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. But he answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Alright,
now that leads us to our next point. The resurrection foretold. The resurrection foretold. Go
back to our text. We'll look at 1 Corinthians 15,
3 and 4. Paul says, For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Turn over to Psalm 2. Psalm 2. In that great Psalm it declares
to us that Christ rules. Christ is raised of God to have
all authority and He rules over all the earth, implementing the
will of God in the earth, because He has fulfilled that covenant
of grace and obedience to His Father. And God here, in Psalm
2, He declares to all men that their wicked attempts to overthrow
the heir, to overthrow Christ, they failed. They failed. And
He says in verse 6, Psalm 2, 6 and 7, It begins with Christ's
resurrection. It says, Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. They thought that they had killed
the heir. They thought that they could seize upon the inheritance
of God when they crucify the Lord Jesus Christ, not understanding
that by his death he worked and obtained eternal redemption for
his people. And he says in verse 7, I will
declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my
son, this day have I begotten thee. That's a reference to the
Lord raising up, to God raising up the Son from the grave. That's the begotten. He is the
firstborn from the dead, never to die again. Some were raised,
like Lazarus was raised from the dead, but he died again. Christ was raised never to die
again. He's the first begotten of the
Lord in that sense. And so now, even now, it's not
waiting for some millennial future kingdom, but even now, Christ
rules and reigns on the earth. Even now, he has authority to
do and implement the will of God. And we see that in Revelation
5. Revelation 5. I'll just read
verses 6 and 7, but that's what we're seeing there. John writes,
"...and I beheld..." Well, first, before that, right? If you're
turning there, while John was looking, They looked for someone
in heaven or on the earth to take that book from the Ancient
of Days, to take that book from God who sits on the throne. And
no man was found. And John wept because no man
was found. And the angel said, don't weep.
because we have the Lamb, the Lamb of God, He's triumphed,
He's been raised, He did all the work and is raised from the
grave even now when He says in verse 6, Revelation 5, 6 and
7, And I beheld and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the
four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as
it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are
the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. That
there is a beautiful picture of Christ having all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, seven being perfection, he has all
the power, all the strength, he sees all and knows all, he
has the fullness of God in him bodily. And he came and took
the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And that's because Christ is worthy to implement the will
of God so that he begins to open those seals. That means he's
worthy to implement the will of God in the earth. And then
you see the four horsemen going forth doing the will of God according
as Christ has opened each seal. And all that work begins there
by the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, let's look at one
more verse in this point, the resurrection foretold. In Isaiah,
turn to Isaiah 26. Isaiah 26, verse 19. Isaiah 26,
verses 19 through 21, we'll look at. Here, Christ is speaking
to the prophet Isaiah. This is in Christ. And he says,
thy dead men shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell
in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead." And what the Lord is certainly speaking
of that day when all the dead are raised in Christ, but he's
also saying when Christ, he's speaking of when Christ was raised
from the dead, we who are his people were raised in him unto
newness of life, so that because he was raised from the dead,
we now too shall hear and know and have Christ revealed to us
in time, that we might know the things that God has freely given
to us by his Son, through his Son, Jesus Christ. And so we
see here the regenerative work given to the saints, that work
done by the Spirit, worked in the saints to know, to know that
Jesus is the Christ sent of God for that very purpose, to save
his people from their sins. And then we're brought to know
that our safety, our hiding, our protection from the wrath
of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 20. Come, my people,
enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee.
Hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpassed." So that because we've been raised in Christ,
when we died, we died in Christ. And because we died in Christ,
we are also raised in Him to newness of life. And we live
in Him and we're hid in Him so that the wrath of God fell and
came upon the Lord Jesus Christ and shall never come upon you.
The believers have nothing to fear of the second death. We
don't fear that second death. We've died in Christ. We'll all die, this body will
die and be laid in the grave, but there's no fear of that second
death, when those people are cast out from the presence of
the Lord. But the wicked, they'll be judged
when he comes, when the Lord returns to finish the work on
the earth that he's begun. And verse 21 says, for behold,
the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of
the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slain. All right, so that's
what the scriptures teach concerning the death, the burial, and the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what I'd like to
look at now is that Christ's resurrection is our joy and our
rejoicing because of what He has accomplished in His resurrection. Paul said there in verse 14,
right, in 1 Corinthians 15, 14, I'll read it again, If Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. So Christ's resurrection, it
did occur. He did rise from the dead. And so I want us to consider
what his resurrection accomplished for his people. First, we see
in his resurrection the glory of God the Father in Christ's
resurrection from the grave. In Romans 6-4, Paul is speaking
of the believer's baptism, and he says that our baptism is a
picture of the believer's death, and their burial, and then their
resurrection when they come up out of the water. It pictures
that death, burial, and resurrection that we have in Christ, because
we died in Him, and we rose in Him. And that's what the burial,
the believer's baptism, pictures there. And he says, therefore
we are buried with Him by baptism, into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead, or by the glory of the Father,
or as some read it, unto the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. unto the glory of God
the Father." So, our being made alive in Christ, that is, we
were reconciled by Christ's death and by His resurrection now because
of what He's done, and it's all to the praise of the glory of
God. so God reveals Christ in us so that by His Spirit we now
walk in newness of life being alive in the Lord Jesus Christ
not trusting this flesh but the Spirit in us gives life and bears
these fruits out so that we walk now in Christ in newness of life
to the glory and the praise of the Father and so we read in
Philippians 2 verses 9 through 11 And wherefore, because Christ
did all that work in fulfilling the covenant of grace, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And so Christ's
resurrection, His being raised from the dead, it glorifies the
Father. It testifies to us that God is
true and God is able to do whatsoever He pleases to do because nothing
can prevent God from doing His will and His work in the earth
and in His people, in the hearts of His people. Christ, as Christ
was raised from the dead, so his saints are raised from the
dead. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6.14, and God hath both raised
up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Those who don't believe Christ,
who don't trust Christ for their righteousness, who don't look
to Him and Him alone, they tremble at this. And for a time, they
may act like they mock it, and they do mock it, and they may
act like they don't care or that they're not worried about it,
but when they hear the gospel, they know that they're denying
the very truth of God, and they tremble for it because they know
it's true. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4, 5,
they shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick
and the dead. So God receives the glory for
Christ's resurrection from him being raised from the dead. Second,
we see the glory of Christ. That is that he is the Christ
declared to have all power and all authority given to him by
God in him being raised from the dead. And what this means
is that Christ has, even now, the keys of hell and of death,
so that he rules and reigns over each and every one of us. He
holds the keys of hell and death for every person in himself,
and he determines who shall be raised unto glory and who shall
descend into hell. It says in Romans 1-4, and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. And then again, Paul wrote
in Romans 14.9, for to this end Christ both died and rose and
revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. And for that purpose, because
he has that authority, he says to us now in Revelation 1.18,
I am he that liveth. and was dead. And behold, I am
alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death." So sinner, Christ holds the keys of hell and death
for every one of us. Our lives are in his hand and
we are to hear him because he is salvation that God has provided
for his people. If you're to have life, it's
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him alone. Now, to some, He's
already delivered them from that second death. But those who refuse
and do not believe, the only thing for them is judgment. There's
nothing but judgment. All they have is what they have
in this life, and then comes the judgment. Turn over to John
5, John chapter 5, and go to verse 21. John 5.21. Our Lord here speaks of our being
raised from the dead in regeneration, being raised to newness of life,
and he also then speaks of our being raised from the grave.
And we'll see this. John 5.21, for as the father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth
whom he will. He has the keys of hell and death.
For the father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the son, that all men should honor the son even as they honor
the father. He that honoreth not the son
honoreth not the father which hath sent him. That is, Jesus
Christ is the only name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. We don't preach or teach that
there's many ways to God the Father. There's only one way,
and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is the
way, the truth, and the life. Verily, verily, verse 24, I say
unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. That is, they hear him,
not audibly, but they hear, when they hear the Gospel, they hear
that Christ has obtained eternal redemption for his people, they
believe. they hear his voice, they hear
what is being said concerning Christ and they hear him because
only by Christ revealing it to the sinner do they hear it and
receive it and believe it because he creates life and thereby gives
them faith to lay hold of what Christ has said in his word concerning
him being salvation. So those who believe him There
is no death. There is no condemnation for
them because they're hid in Christ. They're hid from that coming
wrath and condemnation. of God. Verse 25, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. Now this is regeneration that
he's talking about. He's talking about that revelation
that the Spirit provides, the revelation that the Spirit works
in the believer to know, I'm the sinner, I can't work any
righteousness. God has provided His Son. He
fulfilled all righteousness perfectly through the death of Himself.
By His blood I am redeemed unto Him. I am no longer fit for hell. I am now made righteous to stand
before holy God. I am fit to be in the presence
of holy God because of the righteousness, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the regeneration, that's
hearing his voice, believing on him. And no other prophet
spoke like Christ, because he's more
than just a prophet. He is the Son of God. He is salvation. And then he
says this verse, verse 28, marvel not at this, and I'm talking
to you about regeneration, don't marvel at this, for the hour
is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice. and shall come forth, they that
have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation." So Christ's rising
from the grave declares to us that it is finished. The works
are done. The eternal redemption is obtained
by what Christ has done. He is the surety of the believer. He took upon himself everything
that the sinner owed to holy God. When we deserved our debt,
all that we earned was hell and damnation, Christ earned for
us eternal life and redemption and reconciliation with the Father,
so that all our debt has been paid, and it's been paid with
the redemption price being perfection. the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. And so Christ has finished the
transgression, he is the end of sin for his people, and we
are reconciled in him. So the resurrected Christ, he
now has the victory over our enemy death. and over our enemy,
the grave. He has the victory over them
so that they can't hold us and keep us down in the grave. Many people think they can live
their life and what they want to do because they're not going
to be raised from the dead and have to answer for those things.
But they shall. They shall. And we'll stand before
Him in Christ or in our own righteousness, which is no righteousness. It's
a holy, that is a filthy, Garment full of problems and it's insufficient
to stand before God. So he has the victory over death
in the grave. And Christ, our mighty Savior,
says this in Hosea 13, 14. I'll read it. Hosea 13, 14 says,
I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them
from death. And then he turns to death and
he says, O death, I will be thy plagues. I'm going to destroy
you. He destroys death. I will be
thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from
mine eyes. Meaning, there's nothing that's
going to stop me from doing this. I'm coming to destroy death. I'm going to be the plague of
death so that it has no more power over my people. So that
because now that Christ is the surety of his children, We in
Christ now say what Paul recorded in 1 Corinthians 15, 55, when
he said, when we say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? Because Christ has defeated them.
He's defeated death. He's defeated the grave. He's
obtained eternal victory. in himself for his people, for
his saints, all those who are lost in Adam are now found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you think about today being
what they call Easter and how many religious people there are,
how many extra people were on the road today just going to
services the one or two times a year that that they go, and
yet how few are believers, how few are sinners saved, how few
really rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said in John
3, verses 19 through 21, This is the condemnation, that
light is coming to the world, and men love darkness. They love
their religious works. They love working the righteousness
for themselves and having some part in it. They don't want to
rest in the light, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, alone. And
the reason is, their deeds are evil. They love that. And for
everyone that doeth evil, they hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light. They don't come to Christ, lest
his deeds should be reproved. Many people don't want to hear,
most people don't want to hear about grace because it says to
us there's nothing that we can do to make ourselves right with
God. And we need Christ. We need the
grace and the righteousness that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. And men hate that word. But he
that doeth truth, that is, he that believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ by his Spirit, he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
That God did all that work. so that we confess, Lord, not
my righteousness, but thy righteousness. Lord, I'm saved not because of
anything I've done. Even my faith is the work that
you've worked in me. And we give him all the praise
and the glory so that that's our confession, that we are sinners
saved by grace, not because of anything we've done. And we are
brought to confess like we saw Paul confess this morning, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. And then he went on to say, if
by any means I might attain them to the resurrection of the dead. And so he's speaking there of
that walking in the spirit even now, the spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ, whereby we know him and have fellowship with him and
grow in that love because of that understanding that he gives
us of what he has fully, completely, entirely accomplished for us,
not looking to us, the sinner, for anything. All that fruit
that he put in us, he brings it forth, he draws it forth so
that we walk in him to the praise and glory of his name. Wherefore,
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. So we are most happy and most
joyful because of Christ's resurrection. We understand that that's all
our hope. If he didn't rise from the dead,
then there's no point in us being here. and we're yet in our sins
and our faith is in vain. In Romans 4 25, we see that Christ
was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. And then he continues, so he
was raised so that we understand our justification is tied to
the rising of Christ from the dead. And he says again in Romans
8, 33 and 34, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again. who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us." So Christ's resurrection declares to us, we are justified. We are justified. God is satisfied. His wrath has been satiated. There's no more wrath for the
people. of God. And that means that our regeneration
in Christ is also assured by Christ's resurrection. We shall
know these things of what he's done. Peter wrote in 1 Peter
1 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You think about the apostles,
after Christ was crucified, they were ignorant of what Christ
had accomplished for them. They were ignorant until the
resurrection. Once they saw the resurrection,
then they knew everything that Christ had accomplished for them.
in his death. That's why the resurrection is
so important. So all the many spiritual blessings
that the child of God receives, they spring forth. We enjoy them. We know them. They're applied
in our understanding. That is the understanding which
he gives and works in us to see and know that Christ has been
raised from the dead. He really died, he was buried,
and he rose from the dead. And then finally, Christ is the
firstfruits. He's called the firstfruits,
because he's the first one to rise from the dead. And just
like in the firstfruits, you know what the rest of your harvest
is going to look like, right? When you see those firstfruits,
you say, oh, this is what is going to be produced in the rest
of the harvest. for Christ is the first fruits.
And so because he himself was raised from the dead and has
a glorious body, we too know that in him, when we are raised
from the dead, we too shall have a glorious body like unto him
at his appearing. I'll close with this verse, 1
Corinthians 15 verse 23. But every man in his own order,
Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming. I pray the Lord will encourage
you and give you joy and rejoicing in what He has done, because
we know that as Christ was raised from the dead, so we too shall
be raised in Him. And even now, the regeneration,
the knowledge that we have of Christ, the rejoicing we have
in Christ, is all the result of His being raised from the
dead. I pray the Lord will bless that to your hearts. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, We thank you,
Father, for the blessing that you have provided for your people
in Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
cause your people, even sinners here now, to hear the voice of
the Son of God, to hear his voice and be made alive, to be raised
up from the dead, to know that Christ is all the righteousness
of the believer. And Lord, that we understand
and know that you shall return again for your purchased possession. As a testimony, Lord, with the
earnest that we have of your spirit even now giving us life
to know the things that we have in Christ. And Lord, we pray
that you would bless your people this day and pray that you'd
be with those that are traveling and we thank you for our visitors
and guests. And Lord, we ask that you would
bless this word to the hearts of your people. In Jesus' name
we give thanks, amen.