Thank you, Joe. Let's go back
to that scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In this wonderful chapter, we find
that the great apostle is led of the Holy Spirit to deal with
the subject of resurrection. And that was an issue that there
were some people within the church, they had difficulty with that.
There were some people in the congregation in the Church of
Corinth who denied the resurrection of the dead. And so he undertakes,
by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to set forth and establish
and to defend this glorious doctrine and to put them in remembrance
that there is going to be a resurrection of our bodies and that is absolutely
certain because our Lord Jesus who died, He rose again the third
day. And as the scripture says, He
is the first fruits of them that sleep. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus is an absolutely very critical part of the gospel. If there isn't a resurrection,
if our Lord Jesus didn't arise as Joe read to us from this scripture,
everything else that we believe falls apart. This is vital. It's vital to the gospel. As
you read through the book of Acts, and Acts of course is the
transition book, it transitioned us from the first four gospel
narratives into all the epistles. As you read through the book
of Acts, you'll notice How often those men referred to the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus. They endured much wrath. They
endured much hatred. They received a lot of persecution
on account of the fact they believed and they spoke of the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus. We know the Sadducees, they denied
the reality of the resurrection. And in this they differed with
the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed in the
resurrection, the Sadducees didn't. But they found a very common
enemy in the Lord Jesus. But the Sadducees, they denied
the reality of the resurrection. You remember during our Lord's
ministry, the Sadducees one occasion kind of got him off to the side
and they said, if a man dies, been married several, man's been
married several times and then he, and each wife dies and then
he dies in the resurrection, which one's going to be his wife? And they asked this knowing that
they didn't even believe in a resurrection. They didn't believe in a resurrection.
And when it came to the Lord's creatures, they despised these
men, that is the Saccuses despised these men because they insisted
on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. They said, this one who
died for us, this one who was wounded for our transgressions,
who was bruised for our iniquities, this one who gave himself as
the Lamb of God to be slaughtered, he who died for us, he arose
and he ever lives. This was their message and the
Sadducees threw him in jail for believing this and they made
life very difficult for them. They persecuted them. And many
times they put them to death, put some of those early preachers
to death on account of the fact that they believed in the resurrection.
And then there were the Gentile philosophers. And they mocked
the idea that the body, once it dies, they will never come
back to life again. And so they persecuted the preachers
of the gospel as well. But though many denied the resurrection,
the people of God Back then, and even now, we find great joy
and peace and hope in the blissful doctrine of the resurrection. My sister sent me a photo today. where they had put flowers on
the grave of my mother and dad. Their graves are side by side
and they have a little flower container that kind of joins
them together and she put flowers there. And we do that, we do
that in remembrance of the dead. And those of you who've lost
loved ones, who died in the Lord Jesus, I'm speaking about now,
people who love Christ, and they love Christ because he loved
them first, he gave himself for them. You've gone to the graves,
you've gone to the cemetery, put flowers on the grave. We
know this, that grave, it doesn't have the last word. Death doesn't
have the last word. In one of these days, those who
died in the Lord Jesus, they're going to be resurrected by Him
who says, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live again. This is
our hope. This is our hope. I know this,
like Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He who died,
He lives. And the worms destroyed this
body, this flesh. Yet I know that in this flesh
I shall see God. That's what He said. We find
great consolation in the wonderful doctrine of the resurrection
of the body. And the reason our bodies are
going to be raised is because the Lord Jesus Himself, His body
was raised. Now let me tell you how important
this is, the doctrine of the resurrection. Especially now
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. If you don't believe in
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, you can't be saved. Now
listen to the scripture, Romans chapter 10 and verse 9. That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. What does
that mean? Confess that He is who He says
He is. Confess that He's the Lord. And believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. That's what it says. And when
He talks about believing your heart that God raised Him from
the dead, He is talking about all of the work of Christ Jesus
as far as His work of substitution and satisfaction and redemption
which was ultimately culminated with His wonderful resurrection. And this is simply what the Apostle
is saying in Romans chapter 10 and verse 9. You must believe
who He is and what He did. What He did. Who is He? Who is Jesus of Nazareth? He's
the Lord. He's the Lord of glory. Believe
He's the Lord. God made Him Lord. By virtue
of His finishing the work the Father gave Him to do, He is
now the universal Lord over all. He's Lord of the quick and the
dead. And we believe deep down in our
innermost being. that God raised him from the
dead. Listen, I believe God killed him and I believe God made him
alive. You say, well, God didn't kill
him. God's the first cause of all things. And the Jews and
the Gentiles all gathered together for to do whatsoever God's eternal
counsel purpose before to be done. He died by the hand of
wicked men. I know that. But he died on account
that he was the sin offering for us. He was the satisfaction
of divine justice. He was himself the substitute
who died for his people. But he didn't stay dead. He arose
again. So here's what we believe in
this matter of salvation. And perhaps I'm speaking to somebody
here this evening or somebody on the internet and you say,
I want to understand more about this salvation, more about acceptance,
more about forgiveness of sins. Listen, you believe in your heart
He's the Lord. Jesus is not a doormat. He's not a wannabe Savior. He's
the Lord. He's the Lord of glory. And He
died and God rose Him from the dead. God raised Him. Believe that. Believe Him. God
says you'll be saved. That's what Scripture says. That's
how vital this is. You see, you cannot deny either
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, or first of all, you cannot deny
the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, or the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
expect to be saved. You must believe these things
in your heart. This is a fundamental article
of the Gospel. There's no salvation apart from
believing who He is and what He did. And even during our Lord's
earthly ministry, He stressed His own death and His resurrection. Go back with me to Matthew chapter
16. Look at Matthew chapter 16. This is a very familiar passage
of scripture. Matthew chapter 16, look at verse
13, because I want to keep it in the context. Matthew 16, 13,
when Jesus, when Jesus, He came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? That's a good question. And they said, well, some people
say you're John the Baptist. Some people say you're Elijah. Others, Jeremiah, or one of the
prophets. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ. Thou art
the Messiah. Thou art the anointed one. Thou
art that one promised in the Old Testament. We believe you
are the Christ, the Son of the living God. What a testimony. What a statement. Jesus answered
and said in him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. That means,
Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. This is a revelation
of grace to your heart. And I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this wonderful profession
that you've made, I will build my church. And the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. It shall not overcome the church.
And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man
that he was Jesus the Christ. Because he didn't want them to
come and take him. At that time it wasn't his hour to die. But
now let's keep reading verse 21. From that time forth, This is a key. From that time
forth. This is the first time He's mentioned
this to them in such an obvious way, a clear way. From that time
forth. You see, these always go together. Don't miss this. You've got to
know who He is, then you find out what He did. See, that's
what's established first. That's why we always take Scripture
in the context. His identity is set forth. Who
do men say that I the Son of Man am? Listen, the Lord Jesus
already intended to tell these men about what was going to happen. But He will not speak to them
about what is going to befall Him, which I'm going to read
in just a couple of minutes. He will not speak to them about
that until it's very, very clear in their own minds and in their
own hearts who He is. Because you see, it's who He
is that gives value and glory to what He did. So who do men
say that I am? Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man am? Well, thou art the Christ, the
Son of the Living God. Now look at verse 21. From that
time, from that time, right after this wonderful confession by
Simon Peter, from that time forth, began Jesus to manifest, to shun
his disciples, how that he must go to Jerusalem, he must suffer
many things of the elders and the chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised again the third day. From that time forward. Look over in chapter, couple
of pages over, chapter 20. Look at verse 17. Chapter 20 and verse 17, Jesus
going up to Jerusalem. He took the 12 disciples apart
in the way. He said unto them, behold, we
go up to Jerusalem and the son of man shall be betrayed unto
the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn
him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and
to scourge and to crucify him. And the third day, He shall rise
again. And then let me give you two
more passages on this. First of all, chapter 27, chapter
27. This is after our Lord's death.
Chapter 27, look at verses 62 and 63. Our Lord has died. Joseph has taken his body and
anointed it for burial. And our Lord has been laid in
the tomb. where never a man laid." Matthew 27, 62. Now, the next
day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests
and the Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we
remember that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after
three days, I will rise again. They remembered what he said.
They didn't believe who he was. They didn't understand. They
didn't see the necessity of his death. But they did remember
what he said. They said, that deceiver, that
deceiver said, after three days, I will rise again. Look over
John, the second chapter. John, the second chapter. Our
Lord, He's in Jerusalem now, He has performed His first miracle
in Cana of Galilee, and now He goes into Jerusalem. In verse 13, John 2, 13, of the
Jews Passover was at hand and the Jews went up to Jerusalem,
or Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money
sitting. Now we know from our studies
that those who were kind of in charge of the temple, the chief
priests and so forth, they sold tables to men who could set up
their wares and money changer tables, and so forth, and have
their oxen, and sheep, and turtle doves, and so forth. They could
sell those things. And of course, they made vast
sums of money with that. But these men who ran the temple,
they were the ones who said, OK, we'll give you permission
to set out your tables. And so they do this. They set
out their tables. And our Lord Jesus, entering
into the temple, he saw those that sold the ox and the sheep
and the doves and the changers of money sitting. That is, people
who lived far away, Jews who lived far away, they had other,
they had monies other than Jewish, actually other than Roman currency.
And so they came in and they had to get exchanged, just like
if you're going to a foreign country, you've got to go and
get the right kind of money that's used in the country you're going
to. And so he saw what was going on. Verse 15, and when he had
made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the
temple and the sheep and the oxen. He poured over the changers'
money, overthrew the tables, and he said unto them that those
that sold doves, you take these things hence. Make not my father's
house and house of merchandise. His disciples remembered that
it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Now let's
keep reading. Then, immediately, the Jews. Now, who are these people? They're
not the ones who operated the tables. No, these are the ones
who rented out the tables. Okay? These are the ones who
ran the temple. Then answered the Jews, and one
of the things we've learned in our studies in the book of John,
I hope, is that most every time in the book of John, when you
see the Jews, he's talking about the Jewish leadership, the enemies
of our Lord Jesus. They hated Him. They despised
Him. Then answered the Jews, and they
said unto Him, What sign showest Thou unto us, seeing Thou doest
these things? They just heard Him say, This
is my Father's house. This is my Father's house. Well,
if God is your Father, show us a sign. We want to see a miracle. We want to see you do something
amazing. Here's what He said. Verse 19.
Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple, three
days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, 46 years
was this temple in building being remodeled and actually it wasn't
finished yet. If you really want to get particular
about it, it was still being built, it was still being remodeled. Forty-six years was this temple
in building. Wilt thou rear it up in three
days? But he spake of the temple of
his body. The word temple means sanctuary,
dwelling place. That's what the word temple means.
And what he's talking about is his own body. which was the sanctuary
of God, the dwelling place of God. Over in the book of 2 Corinthians,
you are the temple of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you
individually are the temple of God. 2 Corinthians, all the people
of God, we're the temple of God. But our Lord Jesus, He is the
temple of God. And He says to these Jews, you
destroy this temple, Which they would. You notice he didn't say
here, he didn't say, if you destroy this temple. He just said, destroy
this temple. And they would. They would destroy
his temple. He said, in three days I will
raise it up. And of course they understood
he was talking about the temple, the vast temple complex. That wasn't what he was talking
about at all. He was talking about his own
body. Go over to John chapter 10. Look at John 10, 17 and 18. John 10, 17, and 18. He says,
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. And remember what he said, destroy
this temple, and they would. He said, I will raise it again,
three days. He says, this commandment have
I received of my Father. So, our Lord Jesus, He set forth
often the necessity of His own death and His resurrection. Now, I know there are several
things we could say at this point, but I just want to emphasize
two things. Number one, regarding His death, in His resurrection. Whatever the Lord Jesus, whatever
purpose He had in dying and in rising again, that will absolutely
be accomplished. I'm certain of that. Isaiah said
in Isaiah 42 verse 4, He shall not fail. Whatever his purpose was in dying
and then in taking his life back. In laying it down and in taking
it again. In submitting to the Father's
will that He die as the offering for sin. And then in receiving
that life again, in raising Himself up from the dead. Because the
scripture speaks of the Father raising Him, the Son raising
Himself, and the Holy Spirit raising Him as well. Whatever
He intended to do, surely you will agree with this. It must
be accomplished. It has to be accomplished. Because
He is no less than God Almighty. And God cannot fail. Whatever
God sets out to do, God will do. And no power in heaven, earth,
or hell will prevent Him from fulfilling His eternal purpose. So whatever Christ intended by
His death and by His resurrection, it will come to pass. We're certain
of that. And then, I would say this secondly,
The Word of God tells us exactly, exactly what He determined to
accomplish by both His death and His resurrection. Now we
emphasize this morning His death. I want to emphasize this evening
His resurrection, but I want to add just a few things to the
fact that He died. Number one, why did He die? He died so that God might be
just and the justifier of all who believe on Him. As Nancy and I traveled down
to Carolina two weeks ago today, we spent the night in Mebane,
North Carolina, and then Monday morning we visited with Betty
Butler. Many of you will remember J.D. Butler and his dear wife, Betty,
who often visited this congregation. Some of you perhaps even still
stay in contact with Betty. We had a wonderful visit with
her, and she said to give her love to this congregation. But I became quite good friends,
very close to Brother JD. You may not have known, JD and
Scott Richardson were like best friends. They were born on the
same day. same year. And J.D. shared this story with me. He said, many, many years ago,
he said, Brother Scott and I were in Lexington, Kentucky. And J.D. told Scott, he said,
I've heard there's a man preaching the gospel. Let's go hear him. And J.D. said he and Scott sat
there and listened to him and here's what he preached on. How
can God be just and justify the ungodly? And J.D. said Scott looked at me and I
looked at him and he said we both said it at the same time.
Now that guy's got it. That guy's got it. Yes indeed,
he's got it. That's it. That's it. The Lord
Jesus, He died, He died and rose again so that God might be just
and justify folks like us. And we've said it before, God's
not going to compromise His justice. God's not going to bend His rules
in order to save those that He loves. He's loved us with an
everlasting love. But that doesn't mean He's going
to do anything different. God must always act in a manner
that magnifies His own holy character. It's got to be consistent with
who He is. And God can consistently save
us, be merciful to us, be gracious to us, forgive us, receive us,
embrace us, because His justice was satisfied by the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he died. I've read this week, there have
been several little articles in the local newspaper, the local
overpriced newspaper, that is short on information,
but that's another story. But there was even an article
back in the fishing section, in the sports section this morning,
Men talk about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't
have the foggiest idea. Bless their hearts. They don't
know why Christ died. They haven't the foggiest idea
of the reason Jesus of Nazareth had to be crucified and lay down
His life. They don't know. And listen,
we wouldn't know except for divine revelation, unless the Lord had
been pleased to teach us. But now we know it's because
of who God is, because of what we are, and because God in old
eternity, He purposed that His Son would die. so that God could
legally, rightfully, justly save us. That's why. Christ died. Why did He die?
Well, He died to remove our sins. That's right, to put our sins
away. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26. Hebrews 9 and 26. For then must
he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put
away sin. How did he do that? By his death. By the sacrifice of himself. Do you remember the Lord Jesus
when He instituted the Lord's Supper? It was the last Passover. He said to His men, He'd give
them the wine. He said, this is my blood of
the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins. That's why He died. He died to
put away sin. You see, the remission of sins,
how does that come to us? Not by crying, that doesn't put
away sin. We ought to weep over our sins.
I wouldn't take anything away from that, but that's not what
puts sins away. What about being prayerful? Well,
we ought to pray, but prayer, that doesn't put sins away. We
ought to repent. Oh, God help us to repent. That's
a gift of God. But repentance doesn't put sin
away. We should believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Belief doesn't put sin away.
Hey, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Let's go back to the elementary things here now. And listen,
let me say this too. Don't ever think you're too sinful. for the mercy of God. Don't ever
think you've done too much wrong to have your sins forgiven. Because that is to undervalue
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, really, it's to think
that there's more more power in your sins to condemn you than
there is in the blood of Christ Jesus to save you. Hey, listen
to what the scripture says. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Why did He die? He died to bring
us to God. He died the just for the unjust,
1 Peter 3.18, to bring us to God. Why did He die? He died
to deliver us from this present evil world, Galatians chapter
1 and verse 4. He died to purge away our sin,
to deliver us from this evil world, this evil world that's
against the Lord. That's the reason John says,
don't be a friend to the world. He that's a friend to the world
is not a friend of God. The world is in opposition to
God. And don't get attached to the things of the world or to
this world in general. This world is marked for destruction. And our Lord Jesus, He came and
died to deliver us from the love of this world. from a too close
of an attachment to the things of the world. How attached to
the things of the world are you? How attached am I? He came to
save us from that. And He came to give Himself for
us to purify Himself of peculiar people, zealous of good works. We're bought with His blood.
You are not your own. Did you know that? You are not
your own. You're bought with a price. Your will is lost in His will. That's the reason we're instructed
to pray, not my will, Thy will be done. On anything, anything
of any decision of life, big decisions and little decisions,
it should never be what you want, but what God says in His Word
and that which would glorify Him. That's why Christ died.
That's why He died. And he arose. Go back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Let me give you this. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 again. There's a number of things that
Joe read to us a few minutes ago that these are the consequences
if there is no truthfulness in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He finally says in verse 19,
if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all
men most miserable. Because we're going to be absolutely
disappointed. If this is all there is, and
if you say to us, if somebody insists Christ did not raise
from the dead, then this is all there is. That's right. This
is all there is if Christ didn't raise from the dead. Look at
verse 20. But, but, now is Christ risen
from the dead. He is risen! And He's become
the first fruits of them that slept. The resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I say again, is absolutely vital. Without
it, there is no Christianity. What does His resurrection teach
us? Let me give you these. Number one, His resurrection
gives assurance that He was indeed the Son of God. Romans chapter
1, please. If you would, I'm having you
turn to several scriptures tonight, but these are vital. Romans chapter
1, His resurrection gives assurance that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed
the Son of God. Because if He wasn't the Son
of God, Nothing of any everlasting value was settled at the cross.
That's the reason the scriptures always bring us back to this.
Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Got to answer that question.
There's no use talking about his death and no use talking
about his resurrection till you talk about, till you identify
him, till you know who he is. Well, who is he? Well, His resurrection
tells us who He is. Romans chapter 1, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the
gospel of God, which He had promised to for by His prophets in the
Holy Scriptures concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness."
How was he declared to be the Son of God with power? By the
resurrection from the dead. That's what the resurrection
says. The resurrection announces loud and clear, this one, he's
the Son of God. Because nobody else ever did
that. See, he came forth from that
tomb never to die again. We've just finished studying
Romans or John chapter 11 on Wednesday nights, the resurrection
of Lazarus. But Lazarus was raised to die
all over again. He had another funeral. You think
about, you know, you go through a funeral, somebody who's close
to you, it wears you out emotionally, doesn't it? You know, a bunch
of y'all know, about all of you know. It wears on you. Oh, I've
got to get through this. Lord, give me grace. Martha and
Mary, they had to go through it. Presuming they were still
alive when Lazarus died a second time, they had to go through
it again. Another funeral for Lazarus. But our Lord Jesus,
when He came forth from the grave, His resurrection announces, this
man is the Son of God. This man is the Son of God. His
resurrection was foolproof evidence that He was the Divine One. Secondly,
turn to Romans chapter 4. His resurrection gives assurance
that the work of redemption and justification was fully accomplished. Romans chapter 4. Look at verse
25. Back up to verse 23. Now it was
not written for his sake alone, who's his, Abraham's sake, that
it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed
in if, or since we believe on him, that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead Who was delivered for our offenses, for our transgressions,
literally for our errors. He was delivered for our errors
and was raised again for, better word here would be, two better
words, because of. If you haven't marked that in
there before, you should do that. Circle the word for and put because
of. Because that's literally what
it means. Who was raised again for this reason. Our justification
had already taken place by His death. By His death. His resurrection then announces
the work of redemption and reconciliation and justification has been fully
accomplished. Thirdly, His resurrection gives
assurance that all of our sins are forgiven. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter
15, and there's a statement in verse 17, and all you have to
do is turn it around. 1 Corinthians 15, 17, and if
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins. But if the Lord Jesus has been
raised, Then our faith isn't vain. What does vain mean? Empty, useless, of no value. Something that's light, it's
air, it's nothing. He says, if Christ be not raised,
your faith is nothing. You're yet in your sins. But
wait, He has been raised. Our faith is not in vain. Therefore,
we're not in our sins. Just turn it around. His resurrection
announces our sins have been put away because He bore our
sins upon the cross of Calvary. They were all made to meet on
Him. Listen, they weren't on us anymore. They were on Him. All of the indebtedness belonged
to Him. All of the responsibility to
pay to divine justice, that was on Him. It wasn't on us. And when He died, He took them
away. And we don't have our sins anymore. We're without guilt before God. Now, in our daily experience,
we got them right. And we weep over them. We ask
God to forgive us again and again and again. And because God is
just, He forgives us of our sins. But we're talking about the justice
of God. We're talking about the judgment
of God. And because our sins have been
taken away, Our Lord Jesus doesn't bear them,
and we don't bear them. You see, His resurrection, I'll
give you something else, His resurrection is assurance that
all of His people will experience a spiritual resurrection and
the new birth. You don't have to turn to this, but in 1 Peter
1 and verse 3, that's exactly what it says. And in Ephesians
chapter 1 verses 15 through 23, the same wonderful power of God
that was effectual in raising Christ Jesus from the dead, that's
what raised us. What's it going to take? What
kind of power is it going to take to bring us back to life,
to spiritual life? It's going to take the same kind
of power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Divine power. This is way yonder beyond making
a decision for Jesus. Oh no, this is way different
from walking an aisle and saying yes. This is the Lord who is
life coming to you with life and putting life within you.
That's what's necessary. You must be born again. And the reason we're born again
is because Christ Jesus was raised from the dead. And here's another one, his resurrection
assures us that this world is being governed and ruled and
controlled by our sovereign living Lord. Jot this reference down,
Romans 14 verse 9, for to this end Christ both died and revived
that he might be the Lord of the dead and the living. He's
everybody's Lord. And I'll give you this one. His
resurrection is a great source of consolation to the people
of God. And I'll go back to that statement
Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. In sickness we can remain
calm, because Christ lives, I'll live also. When I'm facing death, if I'm
If I'm not so medicated, which makes people dull in the
hour of death, if I'm still somewhat of a sound mind, I could remain
peaceful even when facing death because of the resurrection of
my Lord Jesus Christ. You see, here's what His resurrection
assures us of. Though we die, we shall live
again. We shall live again. And his
resurrection assures us of a future judgment. Acts chapter 17 verse
31. God's going to judge the world
in righteousness by that man and he gave proof of it. He raised
him from the dead. That's the proof there's going
to be a resurrection. Oh yeah. He died and He arose. That's our Savior. That's our
friend. That's our Redeemer. Glory to
His name. We're thankful for Him.