I'm glad you all sang that and
you didn't make us sing it. Isn't that a beautiful hymn? You did well. That's good. I
appreciate it. God honor him. Let's turn back
in our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. I'm going to take this opportunity
to preach to you on the subject of the glorious resurrection
of Christ. Millions of people, that's where
their minds are at today as they think about the resurrection.
And we celebrate the resurrection not just this day, but every
day. If you preach the gospel and believe the gospel and live
by the gospel, you live your life according to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, resurrection presupposes
death. And so we look to the cross,
the finished work of Christ, and his death, burial, and resurrection,
which is the actual physical process that he went through
and was brought through as God-man mediator for the salvation of
his people. Romans chapter 4 and verse 25
says, he was raised again for our justification. And what that
means is that literally it would be read this way, he was raised
again because of our justification. I believe that's a truer translation
of that text from the original. Which means his resurrection,
his resurrection signifies and seals the justification of his
people before a holy God. What is to be justified is to
be not guilty. Now, we're sinners. Now, if you
know your sinfulness, if the Holy Spirit has convinced you
of sin, what we really are by nature and by practice, and even
at our best, that we deserve nothing but wrath and condemnation,
if you really know that, then I'm sure it's an amazing fact
of grace, amazing reality of grace that you and I could stand
before a holy God who knows not just what we see on the outward
part, but who looks upon the heart. And we could stand before
such a God and be declared not guilty, righteous. And it had nothing to do with
our works. Had nothing to do with our, not our justification.
Now salvation involves works, but not as the cause or the ground
of our salvation or our justification, only as the fruit and the evidence
of grace and love and gratitude. If someone were to ask you, how
would you define the gospel? What would you say? Well, probably
have many answers and that's okay because the Bible presents
the gospel in many different ways. It's the same gospel, the
same truth. Gospel means good news. It's
only good news to a sinner. It's just like if you're going
to tell someone about something good to eat, it's probably not
good news if they're full. But if they're hungry, it probably
would be good news. And same thing with the gospel.
If you don't know your frame, if you don't know your sinfulness
and your state, in yourself, then the gospel won't be good
news to you, but it's good news to a sinner. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, Paul wrote, of whom I am chief.
And I need some good news like that. I need it today. I'll need
it tomorrow. I need it always. And when I
stand in glory, perfect in myself at that time, when I stand in
glory, I'll still sing the song of grace. I'm a sinner saved
by grace, worthy as the lamb that was slain. He's the only
one who ever will be worthy. He was worthy, is worthy, and
ever will be worthy. But the Bible does present the
gospel in many different ways, but it's the same truth. And
I believe that we need, as believers, we need to learn to appreciate
the various ways the gospel is presented. We see the wisdom
of God. We see the majesty of God in
Christ in all of that. But look at 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 1. Paul writes, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. I'm
telling you what I have already preached to you. It's a story
that never gets old. Again, it's a story we need to
hear every day. And he said, which also you received
and wherein you stand. You see, there's the process.
This is how God brings us to the gospel. We hear the message,
we receive it by the grace of God, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, and we stand in that gospel as we're kept by the power
of God unto salvation. And he says in verse 2, by which
also you are saved, literally being saved. The Bible teaches
that salvation is an ongoing thing. We have been saved by
the grace of God. That's speaking of our new birth.
We were born again by the Spirit at some point in time. It's not
important that you remember exactly when. I know some people say
it is, but it's not. I'm telling you something, religion
and even what is called Christianity in this country is so confused
and muddled up, I'm surprised that anybody could tell. That's
the truth. But you've been born again by
the Spirit if you know Christ. How do you know you've been born
again by the Spirit? Not because you can look back at a date on
a calendar, but because you're trusting Christ today. That's
how you know you've been born again by the Spirit. You're trusting
Christ today. You have no hope of salvation
but in His blood and His righteousness today. And so we have been saved. We are being saved. That refers
to the preserving grace of God and our persevering in the faith.
And we will be saved. We will be glorified with Him.
We'll go to be with Christ, just like our dear brother on Friday
morning, Ronnie Lewis, went to be with the Lord. To be absent
from the body is to be present with Christ. He's right now seeing
glorious things that we've only got a little taste of. right
now. And that's a fact. It's not just
pipe dream, heaven-bound mythology. I mean, that's a fact. And I
know it because God said it. And our Lord taught it. And so
we are saved, we will be saved. He says in verse 2, he says,
by which you're saved, if you keep in memory, that means if
you hold on to it. That's what that literally means.
Keep it in memory means to hold on to it. You persevere in the
faith. And he says, what I preached
unto you, unless you believed in vain. Those who claim to believe
at one time and then forsake it at another time, that's vanity. They never did believe it. 1
John chapter 2 teaches that. Those who went out from us, that
means they left the faith. They left the gospel. They claimed
to believe it, then they left. They never were of us, John said
in 1 John 2 and verse 18. He said they never were of us
in verse 18 and 19. He said, had they been of us,
had they been truly born again by the Spirit, saved by the grace
of God, they would have, no doubt, remained with us. He says that.
I mean, that's what the Bible teaches. There's no argument
on that. The reason men teach saved one day and lost another
is because they teach saved by works. And that's not the gospel. You see, that's not good news
to a sinner. If I know my sinfulness and you come and tell me that
I can be saved if I'll do this or that, whatever this or that
is according to your culture and denomination and upbringing,
then you've just condemned me. I may do it one day, but I can't
do it perfectly. I may not even do it at all another
day. You see, my salvation is not conditioned on what I do
for God. It's conditioned on what He's
done for me in Christ. And that's what this resurrection
is all about. See? Well, look at verse 3. He says,
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. This is no message that originated
with Paul. I received this. It was a gift.
It was given. Who gave it to him? God did.
Read Galatians chapter 1 sometimes. It'll tell you about it. And
he says, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures. Now, underscore in your Bibles,
if you haven't already, that term, according to the Scriptures. Because that is very important. You see, what I'm saying here,
it's not just the fact that Christ died for our sins, but that He
died for our sins according to the Scripture. It means two things.
It means, according to the prophecy of the scriptures, the Old Testament
prophesied that the Messiah would come, the Son of God, God in
human flesh. Remember, it's spoken in several
of the prophecies. Isaiah, for example, spoke of
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. He spoke in Isaiah chapter
9, unto us, a child is born, a son is given. It says in Isaiah
7, His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted, God
with us. This is the Messiah. This is the Anointed One. This
is Jesus Christ who was prophesied in the Old Testament that He
would, it was prophesied that God the Son, God Himself would
come to this earth and He would take into union with Himself
a perfect sinless humanity, body and soul. He's God and man in
one person. That he would keep the law perfectly. And that he would die for the
sins of his people charged to him. That's what the Old Testament
said. That he would be buried. It wasn't a fake death. It wasn't
a hoax. He would be buried. And that's
what he says here in verse 4. He says, and that he was buried.
And that it was prophesied that he wouldn't stay dead. Several
times it says, thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. That's a prophecy of the resurrection
of Christ in the Psalms by David. And Peter wrote in Acts chapter
two, when he was preaching that gospel message in Pentecost,
and he quoted that, he said, now listen, he said, David, King
David, who you glory in, the Jews did, and wait for that return
of that earthly kingdom, which they did, which wasn't prophesied
in the scripture. He said, now King David's dead
and buried and in the tomb and his body's corrupted. David wasn't
speaking of himself when he said those words. He was speaking
of the greater son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he told him. So he was buried. And it was
prophesied that he rose again the third day. And again, you
see that term according to the scriptures. Now, again, underscore
that. That's important. Now, I want to talk to you about
the fact of the resurrection, and then I want to speak a little
bit about the ground of the resurrection, and then the fruits of the resurrection,
and then the consequences of the resurrection. But this fact
of the resurrection has to be settled in your mind. This is
no metaphor. This is no myth. I went to school
and studied under men who claimed to be Bible scholars and Christians
who did not believe in a literal resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They said it was just a spiritual thing, you know. Some kind of
a wispy, feathery kind of thing that just took place that only
certain people who had a good feeling in their heart could
understand. No, sir. This person rose from the dead. Now, some people, if you ask
them what the gospel is, they might say this. They might say,
well, the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
It is not just the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Because,
you see, it's not just the fact that he died. It's not just the
fact that he was buried. He died. He was buried. And it's
not just the fact that he arose again, but that he died according
to the Scriptures. Now, there's the prophecy. But
there's a second thing. I told you it means two things.
It means he died in the way and in the manner and for the purpose
that the Scriptures spoke of, how the Scriptures identified
it and described it. That includes how he would die,
for whom he would die, what that death would mean. His death was
not just an example of sacrificial love, even though it was the
greatest act of sacrificial love that has ever occurred on planet
Earth. But that's not what his death
was for. You see, that was included, but it wasn't just an example
sacrificial love. His death was not just a martyrdom. He didn't die as a martyr. Christ,
listen to me, a martyr is one who dies for a good cause, and
he did die for a good cause, but a martyr doesn't expect to
die. Christ came into the world for that very purpose, to die. God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to what? To redeem them that
were under the law. Now, how are you going to redeem
people who are under the curse of the law? You've got to come
under the curse yourself, and you've got to die their death
for them. That's substitution. Everything in the Old Testament
spoke of the death of the substitute. When man fell in Genesis chapter
3 and he sewed his fig leaf aprons together, which is a metaphor,
it is truly for false religion, man trying to cover his own nakedness,
his own subjection to sin and to condemnation,
trying to cover himself, that's a metaphor of false religion
right there. The cover-up, the great cover-up is false religion.
Man trying to be saved by his works, that's the greatest cover-up
in the history of this world right there. Because all it does,
it's like putting a Band-Aid on a cancerous melanoma. What
good will it do? Nothing. The cancer still eats
away. You can't cover up sin. You just
can't cover it up. You may hide it from men. In
this world, they may look at you, and they may say, man, you're
the best thing that ever walked this earth. But God looks upon
the heart. God knows the motive. He knows
the thoughts. He knows the inner workings of
things that you don't even know yourself. That's why David prayed
one time in the Psalms. He said, forgive me my secret
sins. Literally, that means sins that I don't even know I've committed.
That's how bad this thing is, this thing of sin. But you see,
You can't cover it up. Sin demands death. We talk about
being ruined by the fall. That ruination includes death,
physical death, spiritual death, legal death, condemnation. And the only way that we can
get out from under that death is to be redeemed by the blood. Blood means death. Blood means
death. Listen, let me explain something
to you on this thing about the blood. The blood of Christ, whenever
we talk about his blood, we're saved by the blood of the crucified
one, washed in the blood of Christ. All right? What are we talking
about? We're talking about his death. You see what I'm saying? He died according to the scriptures.
We're not talking about even the literal blood of Christ.
Now, there was literal blood. Now, he had human blood, just
like the blood that runs through our veins. And that blood was
shed. It had to be. But it meant death.
If they, listen, if they had caught the physical blood of
Christ in a bucket and went and took a bath in it, it would not
wash away their sins. That's not what that means. That
blood, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of
sins. Without the death of the one who deserves to die. Well,
we deserve to die because of our sin. The wages of sin is
death, the scripture says. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. How did He deserve to die?
Well, 2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us, He was made sin. Christ came
under the just deserts of our sin. They were accounted to Him. He became responsible for that
debt. What's the debt? Death. And he
had to die. And in his death he drank damnation
dry. Now that was a fact. He died.
He shed his blood. Paul writes here, he says in
verse 5 of 1 Corinthians 15, he was seen of Cephas. That's
Peter. That's his Greek name. Peter. Cephas was his Greek name. And he was seen of the twelve.
He was seen of about 500 brethren at once. In verse 6 he says,
eye witnesses to the resurrected Savior. Of whom the greater part
remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. He was
seen of James and of all the apostles. And last of all, he
was seen of me, one born out of due time." Paul speaking of
the experience on the Damascus road. Christ died, he was buried,
and he arose again the third day. Those are facts of history.
They're not myths. And here's the issue. Look at
verse 13. Or verse 14, rather. He says,
if Christ be not risen, if He didn't literally come out of
that tomb, then our preaching is vain. What I'm telling you
in the gospel is just worthless if He wasn't raised from the
dead. And your faith is also vain if
you believe in Him. If you believe in a dead martyr,
your faith is in vain. That's right. That's why I'm
glad that they cannot physically locate his tomb. I know they
think they have, and you know, they'll sell tickets and all
that. But don't buy it. You go over there and they sell
pieces of the cross. That must have been a big cross.
I mean, that's religion for you. People are looking for that thing.
A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. We don't
need a sign. We have the sign of the prophet
Jonah. That's what Christ said. You
know what he was talking about there? He was referring back to how Jonah
was at three days, three nights in the belly of the whale, and
then he came out. Christ was in the grave three days, three
nights, and he came out. Somebody asked the question about
was he, did he die on Friday or Thursday? Who cares? He was in the grave three days.
He arose the first day of the week. Now, you can get your clocks
out and argue about it all you want, but the fact of the resurrection
is not arguing whether it was Thursday or Friday. I believe
it was Thursday, I'll be honest with you, all right? Not a good
Friday, because he was three days and three nights in the
grave. And he arose on the first day of the week, but I'm not
going to start a denomination over that. What would we call
it? The Thursdayites or something?
I don't know. Aren't you sick of religion,
aren't we? But look at verse 15. He says, if Christ be not risen,
yea, we're found false witnesses of God. We're false witnesses.
Because we testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he
raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. Now he's connecting
the resurrection of Christ with the resurrection of his people,
the dead. The dead there refers not to
just all the dead generally, but his people who died. And
I'll show you that in just a moment. He said, for if the dead rise
not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain. You're yet in your sins. That
means you're yet subject to condemnation. The Bible says the sting of sin
over there in 1 Corinthians 15. He speaks in verse 56, the sting
of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. In other words,
the reason the law condemns a person is because of sin. The only way
that the law cannot condemn you or condemn me is that the sin
issue be taken care of, the sin matter be removed. And the only
way it can be removed is through the death of a substitute. And
the only substitute whom God will accept is His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom He appointed, who is able and who is willing
to save to the uttermost them that come unto the Father by
Him. You see, I cannot die for you. If I shed my blood for you,
it will not save you eternally. But Christ, the God-man, died
for His people. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. He laid it down for the sheep.
But he arose again. So the resurrection is a fact.
Turn to Romans chapter 1. Let me show you something here. Paul, in verse 1 of Romans 1,
it says, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God. In other words, I've been separated unto the Gospel. I'm
a preacher of the Gospel. And he puts in parenthesis in
verse 2, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures. Now remember, Christ died for our sins according
to the Scripture. He was buried and rose again
according to the Scripture. Paul says, I'm preaching the
Gospel of God, which the prophets preached and which the Scriptures
testified of. In verse 3, here's the Gospel,
concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh. That's his humanity. His
sinless humanity. And then verse 4, "...and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness."
Now how did that happen? By the resurrection from the
dead. He was declared, he was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh, that's his humanity.
He was declared to be the Son of God, God in human flesh, with
power by the Holy Spirit when he was raised from the dead,
resurrected from the dead. Now, if sin demands death, then
how could he be raised from the dead if he was made responsible
for our sins? Well, here we come to the ground
of the resurrection. Now, sin deserves death. The
Bible teaches sin demands death. That's the only just punishment
for sin. Now, we get a little confused
in our minds about that subject because we see so many differences
among us and people. We look at the out-and-out rebels
and criminals of this life, and we say they're sinners and they
deserve to be taken before the courts and put in jail or whatever.
We may even go so far as to say that they deserve hell. And then
we look at other people. Sometimes they're, in our minds
now, I'm talking about man's judgment here, sometimes they're
good, sometimes they're bad. Most of us are somewhere in between.
We can be bad, we can be good. We can be good, we can be bad.
Somebody told me one time, said, well, I'm not perfect, but I
hadn't done anything to deserve to go to hell. And that's the
way we think naturally. And then we find those super
saints that we have in life. You know, we look at them and
they, you know, if anybody's going to heaven, they will. But
the Bible, now listen to me. Now, we're going to talk about
according to the Scriptures, see? Remember what I'm saying?
He died according to the Scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the Scriptures. This is all about what God's Word
says. It's not about how we assess each other here. How we look
at each other, how we judge each other, how we think of each other.
This is how, what does God's Word say to us? I mean, we can
start a denomination today and say our main doctrine is that
11 inches equals a foot. And we can all agree that 11
inches equals a foot. And we can start our measurements
and build our houses and do all that thing based on an 11-inch
foot. But you know the problem? Our
denomination is built on a lie, even though we agree. And we
may act right, we may love each other and have big parties and
all that, but 11 inches is not a foot. So what do you do? You go to the math doctrine. And you'll understand that, no,
12 inches is a foot. So don't get the idea that this
thing about, you know, this resurrection and the judgment and all this
has to do with what we think. It doesn't have anything to do
with it. It's what do the scriptures say. And here's what the scriptures
say. With all the differences that
exist among humankind, we all, from the worst of us to the best
of us, deserve to be damned eternally. in ourselves. You say, well,
that's hard to swallow. Well, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know.
And then, with all the differences that exist among humankind, from
the worst of us to the best of us, there's not one of us who
can work our way into God's favor and earn salvation and make ourselves
righteous. Now, that's the state we're in.
So, think about it. Sin demands death. One sin, one
million sins, demands death. Now, what demands life? Righteousness. Look at Romans 5 and verse 21. Righteousness demands life. What
is righteousness? Now, listen to me. Righteousness
is perfect. Do you hear that word? Now, sometimes
in the Bible you see the word perfect. It means full or complete
or finished. And I'm talking about the word
perfect as we use it in our culture, in our language. Perfect, that
means without flaw, alright? Righteousness means perfect satisfaction
to the law. Perfect, that's what righteousness
is. See, anything less than righteousness is falling short. You know, Romans
3.23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. That means we missed the mark. Anything short of perfect
obedience and satisfaction to the law is sin, according to
the Bible. So, listen, you've either come
short, and then the word transgression means you've gone too far. You've
crossed the line. God drew the line in the sand,
and you've crossed it. We've crossed it. So perfect
satisfaction to the law. Now look at Romans 5 and verse
21. He says, well look at verse 20. He says, moreover the law
entered that the offense might abound. Now that's not saying
that God gave the law so that men can go out and break it and
sin more. No. He says moreover the law entered
that the offense might abound. The law, what he's talking about
is how the law exposes our sinfulness and our deserts of hell. That we deserve condemnation. That's what the law does. And
so that we cannot be saved and made righteous by our keeping
the law. And so he says, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Now he's talking about grace.
Now, where am I going to find that grace? Well, look at verse
21. That is, sin hath reigned unto death. You see, where sin
is charged, death is the result. You understand that? That's why
in Romans 8 it says, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? See, we can't be charged in the court of God's
justice because Christ took our sin. But now, where sin is charged,
death is the result. So that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign. Now that's what I want. How about
you? I want that reign of grace. Reigning grace. Sovereign grace.
And it reigns through righteousness. In other words, this thing about
grace is not God looking at you and feeling sorry for you and
saying, I know you're a sinner and I know you can't keep the
law. I feel so sorry for you and I love you anyway, so I'll
just bring you on into heaven. No, that's not how grace works.
Grace reigns through righteousness. For grace to reign and grace
to operate and grace to act in salvation, there's got to be
righteousness. And you don't have it, and I
don't have it either. So where are we going to get
it? Where's it coming from? He says grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life. Righteousness demands life. And
look at the last phrase, by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's how.
It's in him. You want righteousness? You go
to Christ. Don't look inside yourself. If
you see what's really there, you'll be sickened. That's right. Me too. I'm in the same boat
you guys are in now. Look to Christ. What is the ground
of the resurrection? Look at 1 Corinthians 15 again.
Look at verse 55. He says, O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1 Corinthians 15, 55. The sting of death is sin. Why
do you die? Well, Romans 8, 10 says the body
is dead because of sin. That's why I've got to die physically,
and you too. He says, the strength of sin is the law. Where sin
is charged, the law must pronounce death. The death sentence. The
death penalty. Where sin is charged. But thanks
be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. The stinger of death went into
Christ for His people. Who are they? All who believe
on Him. That's what Paul's talking about
back here in 1 Corinthians 15. The ground of the resurrection
is the finished work of Christ, my friends. It's the obedience
unto death of Christ. He said in John 12, he said,
if a corn of wheat, a seed of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it will spring forth and bring forth much fruit. He was
made sin. Christ who knew no sin for us
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our death Our
sin, rather, demanded His death. His righteousness demands our
life. And that brings me to the fruits
of the resurrection. Look back at 1 Corinthians 15. Look at
verse 20. Verse 20. He says, But now is
Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them
that slept. The firstfruits, you know the
law of the firstfruits back in the Old Covenant, when they went
out to harvest in the fall. The firstfruits of the crop,
the harvest, was to be offered to God, because it was the best.
And it was generally known that if the firstfruits, if you had
a good crop, if the firstfruits were good, then the whole crop
was going to be good to follow. Well, Christ is the firstfruits
of His people. We will be resurrected from the
dead. Why? Unto life, because He was
resurrected from the dead. He was raised again because of
our justification. He brought in everlasting righteousness
that demands our life, eternal life, spiritual life, everything
that life has to offer and everything that it is. Christ, the ground
of His resurrection is His finished work. He said that in John 17
in His high priestly prayer. He said, glorify thou me with
the glory which I had before the world was. Why? Because I
finished the work which you gave me to do. He finished it. He
made an end of sin. The scripture says he finished
the transgression. He made an end of sin. He made
reconciliation for iniquity. He brought in everlasting righteousness.
He sealed up the vision and prophecy, and therefore God anointed the
most holy in power when he raised him from the dead. He goes on, verse 21, he says,
for since by man came death, that's Adam, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead, that's Christ, the God-man. For
as in Adam all died, who are the all there? That's all whom
Adam represented in the garden. Who are they? All who are born
of Adam, born in sin, born dead in trespasses and sin, ruined
by the fall. He said, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. Who are the all there? All whom
Christ represented on the cross. all who in time are born again
by the Spirit." You see, they must have life, spiritual life
first. They must be born again by the
Spirit. Why must they have life? Because righteousness demands
life. And we're made righteous in Christ.
As our sins were accounted, charged to Him, His righteousness is
accounted, charged to us. And if we have His righteousness,
what does that mean? That means we must have life
because righteousness demands life. All for whom he died was
buried and rose again the third day. They must have life. They
must be born again by the Spirit. And it's the same power that
raised him from the dead that regenerates us by the Holy Spirit
and brings us to faith in Christ and true repentance. And this
physical body will die because this corruptible must put on
incorruption, but will be resurrected on that great day unto life.
Why? Because of his righteousness.
Righteousness demands life. That's the fruits of the resurrection.
Now turn to Acts 17, and I'll close with this. Here's the consequences
of the resurrection. I want you to see this, and I'll
close. Now, if it is a fact that Christ arose from the dead,
and it is, then listen to this. In verse 30, he's talking about
the time in the Old Testament when the Gentiles did not have
the revelation that the Jews had under the Old Covenant. And
when it says that God winked at it, verse 30, the times of
this ignorance God winked at it means God overlooked it. It
means it has something to do with the forbearance of God.
But now the gospel is preached. Christ has come. The new covenant
has been established. The church is going out into
the world. The message is going out. And so he says, but now
God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Now, do you repent? That means come to Christ for
all salvation and leave everything else behind for salvation. If you thought anything else
contributed to your salvation or recommended you unto God,
then you leave it behind. Do like Paul did in Philippians
3 and count it but dumb that you may win Christ. Repent of
it. All idolatry. Now why? Now here's the consequences.
Look at verse 31. Because he hath appointed a day
into which he will judge the world in righteousness. That's
the standard. You say, well, I'm going to just
say, Lord, I've done the best I could do. Well, does that equal
righteousness? Remember what I said righteousness
was? Perfect satisfaction to the Lord.
You say, I'm going to stand before God. I'm going to say, I preached
in your name. I've done many wonderful works. I've cast out
demons. Does that equal righteousness? Well, my friend, if you think
it does, you don't know what righteousness is. You say, I
was baptized when I was 12. Does that equal righteousness?
I tithed all my life. Does that equal righteousness?
I prayed until the knees on my trousers were worn out. Does
that equal righteousness? None of those things equal righteousness.
None of them. Some of those things may be things
you ought to do, but none of them equal righteousness. And
He's going to judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained. God's appointed a man who's going
to be the judge and who's going to be the standard of righteousness
wherever He hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath
raised him from the dead." There he is. There are the consequences.
You say, well, how righteous do I have to be to enter glory? You have to be as righteous as
Christ. How do you know that, preacher? Because God appointed
him and God raised him from the dead. He's the standard. Run to Christ. Rest in Him. Plead His blood and righteousness
as your whole salvation.