You know, according to history
and according to the scriptures, this is the actual time, according
to the Jewish calendar, the Hebrew calendar, that Christ was crucified
and rose again. And that's why he was either
33 or 33 and a half years old when he died. If he was 33, he
was born in April. If he was 33 and a half, he was died in October, or born in October. But anyway, the thing is that
our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the calendar, this is actually
the time, this is the day, when Christ actually arose from the
dead. And that's why the Jews call it the first day of the
week. And that's, our Lord Jesus is truly risen from the dead. And I know that a lot of people
view it as just a doctrine. But the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is more than a doctrine that we learn. It's something
more than we rejoice in and trust in and look to more than just
one day a year. You know, we serve a risen Savior.
We serve Him today. We'll serve Him tomorrow. And,
you know, it's more than just a doctrine. It's more than just
something to learn. You know, our Lord Jesus, the
resurrection is actually a person. Ain't that what He said here?
Our Lord says, you know, in verse 23, Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. So he said, Lord, if you had
been here, he wouldn't even have died. I believe your life, by
your very life, by your very power and by your very presence,
it's impossible for people to die. If you'd have been here,
he wouldn't have died. It just wouldn't have happened.
You would have took care of him. You wouldn't have dared put us
through this grief. And our Lord said unto her, your brother shall
rise again. Shall rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know,
I know it will. There's a resurrection coming.
There'll be a resurrection day. And what did our Lord Jesus say?
This is one of the I am's of Christ. I am the resurrection. Not a time, but me. Not something in the future,
but me. Not something in the past, but me. Not something that
took place on a Sunday morning 2,000 years ago, but me. This
is before he even went to the cross. This is before he even
raised from the dead. This is before he ever bore sin.
And he says, I am the resurrection. You cannot live except by me.
You cannot have life except by me. And why he calls himself
the resurrection, and Martha believed in the resurrection.
But she didn't see it as it related to the Lord Jesus Christ. She
saw it as an event. She saw it as something that's
going to happen in the future. And that's why she says, Lord,
if you'd have been here, he hadn't have died. He's going to rise
again, Martha. He is. He is. And I am. I am the resurrection. Verse 25. I am the resurrection
and the life. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He says He's the life, over in John 14, He says, I'm the
way. I'm the way of righteousness.
I'm the way to God. I'm the way to understanding
the Scriptures. I'm the way for you to have life. I'm the way for your sins to
be taken away. I'm the way for God to have mercy
on you. I'm the way of grace. I'm the
way of salvation. And I'm the life. You don't have
any life apart from me. I'm the life of God in a man's
soul. I'm the life of this, my blood that cleanses from sin.
It's my body that'll be broken. It's my blood that'll be shed.
I'm the life. And I'm the truth. And if you
don't believe me to be the truth of salvation, the one that God
sent into this world, if you don't believe me that I'm the
way to God, I'm the life of God, and I'm the truth of God manifested
in the flesh, There's no hope for him. He says, no man comes
unto me but by the Father. So Martha says, oh Lord, we're
going to have a resurrection. We're going to have a resurrection.
And that's why when we go to the grace side of somebody we
love, and we really believe that Christ has saved them, that's
why we can rejoice. That's why we can rejoice and
read scriptures and laugh with joy, because the body's there,
but they're going to be with the Lord. Why is that? Because
he's the resurrection. You cannot be dead where Christ
is at. And that's what our Lord says
there, and he goes on to say, I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me. Though he's dead. Yet shall he live. Yet shall
he live. Live. Live. Real life. Real life. And oh,
and watch what he says to her. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Now watch this. Do you believe
that? He asked Martha, do you believe
that? Do you believe that? And she saith unto him, Yea,
Lord, I know what I do believe, and I believe this, that you
are the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
That's what I do believe. Now this other, you've done lost
me, but oh, that's what our Lord's teaching her here. And our spiritual
life now, our spiritual life now and our hope for eternity
is bound up in what our Lord Jesus Christ said right here.
I am the resurrection. My spiritual life right now is
by the resurrection of Christ. My hope for all eternity is by
the resurrection of Christ. Ain't that right? And our Lord
said I'm the life and I'm the resurrection. Now I want you
to turn with me over to 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to do a little
study in this morning. We're going to do a little thing
dealing with some blessed truths. It says here in verse 20, 1 Corinthians
15, But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept, for since
by man came death. That's how we died, by one man.
One man, sinner of this world, death passed upon all men. And
by man came also the resurrection from the dead. So this is talking
about spiritual death, as in Adam all died, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. Two men here that he's talking
about. But let me tell you this, and you need to understand this,
the whole of the Christian faith, my faith, your faith, and everything
that's in this book, rest upon the fact and the blessed truth
that Christ is risen from the dead. You take that out of the
equation, and there's nothing. You take Christ out of the equation,
Christ who lives now, Christ who raised from the dead. If
He didn't raise from the dead, take Him out of it, and let's
all just go right home right now, and let's eat, drink, and
be merry, because we're just a bunch of dogs, and we're going
to go where dogs go. But listen, Christ is risen from the dead.
As we have spiritual death in Adam, we have spiritual life
in Christ. As in Adam we die, in Christ
we're going to be made alive. And it's a spiritual resurrection
from death to sin. It's a spiritual resurrection
to life, which is in Christ. And that's why Paul says, when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then we shall also appear
with him." Now, I want to start there in verse 12, and I want
you to look at some things here. You know, in Him, in His resurrection,
in our Lord's resurrection, we have confidence, we have comfort,
we have consolation. We are not as those who have
no hope. That's one of the saddest things, and one of the troublest
things to me, is to people who pass out of this life and have
no hope. And God's merciful to us to let us not dwell on those
things. As far as I know, nobody in my family, my mother, my father,
my grandmother, my grandfather, my uncles and my aunts, none
of my people has ever went out of this world with any hope. And it's a sad, sad thing when
you stand there and you know that. And you're the only one
in the bunch who has a hope. And that's why we have confidence
in Him and His resurrection, such comfort and consolation.
We're not as those who have no hope. And this most blessed truth
is the foundation of our faith. And there are those who deny
the resurrection. Jehovah's Witnesses deny the
resurrection. Hymenians and Thalitis, they
overthrow the faith of some, saying the resurrection's passed
already. And oh, beloved, this most blessed
truth, And that's why you know the apostles' message in every
true messenger. Look up here in verse 2 with
me just a minute. Every true messenger preaches Christ died
for our sins and He rose from the dead again in the third day
according to the scriptures. Ain't that what he says in verse
2? By which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I
have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. Now
watch it. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which
I also received. I cannot preach what I do not
know, what Christ did not give me. How that Christ died for
our sins, and He did that according to the Scripture. He was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. And watch
this, in that He was buried, He made His grave with the rich,
and that He rose the third day according to the Scripture. Thou will not suffer thine holy
one to see corruption. And so, beloved, that's what
we're preaching. And let's look here, start at
verse 12. If there be no resurrection, Christ be not risen, words I
hope. Look what he says in verse 12. Now if Christ be preached,
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you there is no
resurrection of the dead? And there's lots of people who
do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. There used to be
a fellow on television all the time, but that's what he done.
He kept, he preached all the time, no words, no resurrection.
Big famous preacher, had to do with thousands and thousands
of people. No resurrection. When you come to the end of this
life, that's just it. But oh my, how say some there's
no resurrection of the dead? Now watch this. But if there
be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. If
Christ be not risen, my soul, What happens if Christ be not
risen? Paul said over in Acts chapter 1 verse 3, by many infallible
proofs, he showed himself to be alive. He showed himself to
be alive. What did it say here in verse
5 here? Showing that he was, if Christ
be not risen, and that he was seen of Cephas, and then of the
twelve. First one he says, you go tell
Simon Peter, I'll meet him. He appeared to Simon Peter first.
Why? Because Simon Peter denied him
after he bragged to him. I'm going to let that man know
that I died for him, I love him, and know he's a sinner, and that's
what I come to do, is to save sinners. And the one he wants,
he goes on to say, and then he met with the twelve. After that,
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at one time. Of whom the greater part remain
under this prison, but some are fallen asleep." After that, he
was seen of James. He appeared to James. Then all
the apostles again. And oh, and then he is seen of
me. I've seen him. I've seen him myself. So you
know, he appeared by many infallible proofs. But if Christ be not
risen, then what's this? In verse 14. If Christ be risen,
then I'm preaching his name. What in the world would I be
up here preaching for if Christ be not risen? What can I tell
you? What do I have to tell you? What
do I have to say to you? What hope do I have to give you
that you are saved? What hope do I have to give you
if there is not a resurrection of the dead? If Christ be not
risen, what in the world is the use of me preaching? Huh? Now watch this. And not only is our preaching
vain, but oh my! Finally, what do you have to
believe? Your faith is faith. What do you have to believe?
What would your faith be resting in? What would your faith for
eternity be resting in? Why do you think you'd have a
hope at all if Christ be not risen? And oh, watch what else
he goes on to say. And not only that, but we're
found false witnesses of God. We're lying on God. We're up
here saying that God raised Christ from the dead when really He
didn't do that. We're up here preaching a lie.
We're telling men and women something that God did not do, when we've
already told you that He did. And, oh, if the dead rise not,
verse 16, then Christ is not raised, and if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain. And this is the worst conclusion
of all. You're yet in your sins. That's one place I don't want
to be. Don't want to be. If Christ be not risen, not only
your faith is vain, preaching is vain, relying on God, but
the worst part of all, your sins are still. You're still yet in
your sins. That would be a horrible place
to be, wouldn't it? That would be an awful place to be still
yet in your sins. And then he goes on to say then,
and down in verse 18, then they which also fall asleep in Christ
are perished. All those people that they carried
out to the graveyards, All those people that they buried, all
those people that they wept over, all those people that they wrapped
up and carried and put them in a tomb. That's why Mary went
over to the tomb and wept and cried and wept and cried and
said, where have you laid him? He told me where he's at. I want
to see him. I want to see his body. I want
to see where he's at. I want to come to see where he's
at. But oh my, if that's true, if Christ be not raised, then
everybody that we know who died in faith, they've all perished.
There's no hope for them. That's what they're saying. But
watch this. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, for this life only, not past this, not our
sins being come, not having any faith, If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." What
does that mean, most miserable? That means we're so deceived.
We're in a miserable state of deception and delusion. We have
had the greatest tolls perpetrated on us. If He didn't rise from
the dead, we are fooled. We're to be pitied, and our hope
is no hope. But now watch it. Verse 20. But now. But now. I've told you this before. A great big door, swing on a
little bitty hinge. But now is Christ risen from
the dead. Oh, is become the firstfruits
of them that slept. You know the firstfruits is when
you go out and you get that You know, they had the feast of firstfruits,
they'd bring the firstfruits in and then offer them to the
Lord. And what Christ did, God raised,
you know, Elijah was translated, went to be with the Lord. Enoch
walked with God and was not, for God took him. And Lazarus
was resurrected, and there was three people that Christ raised
from the dead. But for someone to raise by their own power,
and go into the presence of God with what He did with His own
blood and righteousness, and obtain redemption for us. He
was the firstfruits that went in there, and He says all the
rest of God's fruit is going to be carried into the gardener
himself and go be with Christ. He's the firstfruit, showing
that the rest of us is going. But so now Christ is risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits. And let me tell you something,
beloved, the resurrection, I'm going to tell you why the resurrection
is so important. The resurrection is so fundamental to our faith
is because it proves the deity, the divinity of our Lord Jesus
Christ. If he did not raise from the
dead, then he was a liar, and he wasn't who he said he was.
But he was, you know, the resurrection proves that he's God manifest
in the flesh. The resurrection proves that
he's who he said he was. The resurrection proved that
God said he was who he said he was. This is my beloved son in
whom I'm well pleased. This is my son. I've glorified
him in all beloved. The religious leaders, look over
here in Matthew with me just a moment, Matthew 27. The religious
leaders were so afraid after crucifying Christ, when they
put him in the tomb, that somebody was going to come steal the body
and say that he rose from the dead because he said he would
rise from the dead. They said this deceiver said
he'd rise from the dead. Look what it says here in Matthew
27, verse 62. Look what it says here. Now, the next
day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests
and Pharisees came together under Pilate. And they said, Sir, we
remember that that deceiver sinned, that's what they still called
him, that deceiver sinned, while he was yet alive. Before we ever
crucified him, before he ever died, he said this, that after
three days I will arise again. Now watch this. Command, therefore, that the
sepulcher be made sure unto the third day. You set a watch over
it. Let his disciples come by night
and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from
the dead. So the last error shall be worse than the first one.
We made a mistake. We didn't realize what was happening. And now, beloved, they said,
if he rises from the dead, watch what Pilate says, Go then, And
you have a watch, go your way, and you make it just as sure
as you can. I mean, you make it so beloved, you make it as
sure as you possibly can. Get all the men you want around
that tomb. You watch it and you guard it, and I mean, until that
third day's over and passed, and just, oh man, I tell you,
I wonder how many men they send out there to watch that grave. They send a bunch of men, you
stood guard duty before, ain't you? In the military, stood guard
duty? And boy, they sent soldiers out
there and they sent fellows out there and I mean one thing you
didn't do, you didn't sleep on guard duty. They put a whole
bunch of people around that grave and watch what happened. So they
went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting
it white. But did that keep Christ from
rising from the dead? Oh my! Oh, beloved, His resurrection
proved He was who He said He was. Proved He was God. Look
at John 15 with me just a minute. John 15. Proved He was and is
God. And that, you know, a man cannot
be saved, cannot know God, cannot possibly have any hope until
he realizes that God was Christ and Christ was God. And that
God was in Christ. Only God can forgive sins. Only
God can accept a man. Only God can make a man righteous.
Only God can give a man life. And beloved, that's what He said
here, I am God and I come here into this world in the flesh.
And this proved that He was. Look in John 10, 15. As the Father
knoweth me, Even so know I the Father. Now
listen to it. I lay down my life for the sheep. And verse 16, And other sheep
which I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Now listen now. Therefore doeth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, now watch it, that I might take
it up again. No man takes it from me. I'll
lay it down of myself. Pilate said, don't you know I've
got power to crucify you or power to let you go? He says, you have
no power, except my Father which is in heaven, give it you. You
have no power at all. And then he says, no man taketh
it from me, but I'll lay it down of myself. He was like the sheep
led to the slaughter. And watch it, and I have power,
I have the might, I have the strength, I have the authority,
I have the right to take it again. And watch what he says, this
is the commandment my father gave me. And so, beloved, and
that's why it says, you know, He come and He has power over
all flesh. And if He has power over all
flesh, He had power over His own. And it was, and I'll tell
you not only did it prove the divinity of Christ, but the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, was to the glory of His Father. He was for
the glory of His Father. Look in Romans 6 with me just
a minute. Romans 6. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He was raised from the dead for the glory of the Father. God,
and I've heard another fellow say it, and it's the way I've
said it, God put all His eggs in one basket, in His Son, so
to speak. Everything God has, everything
God does, everything God intends to do in this world and purposes
to do, He vested everything in His Son. Vested His glory, vested
His power, vested His righteousness, vested His grace, vested His
mercy, vested His love, vested salvation, vested redemption,
vested justification, vested everything in His Son. So if
His Son was to fail in any way, then
God fails. So Christ coming into this world
not only was to glorify the Father, but His death was to glorify
the Father, and His resurrection was for the glory of God. Look
here in Romans 6 and verse 4. Therefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, like as Christ was raised up from
the dead, watch it now, by the glory of the Father. For the
glory of the Father. Oh my, the glory of that, it
was for the glory of His Word? God's Word, not only did, you
know, our Lord Jesus Christ, this is something we don't understand,
sometimes we don't think about it. But our Lord Jesus Christ
lived by faith in this world. He lived by faith in His Father.
That's why when He went into the garden and He prayed and
He says, Father, not My will, but Thine be done. If there was
any other way, He lived by faith. He went to the grave. He went
to that cross and went to that grave believing that God would
raise him from the dead. And that's the way he lived by
faith, but his faith was perfect faith. His faith was absolute
prayer. He never doubted God. He never
questioned God. He never backed up from the Word
of God. He never once had a doubt. He never once had a fear. He
never once had anxiety over anything in this world. And when he was
going to be put in that tomb, he believed God that God would
come and he would have the power himself to come out of that tomb.
He was dead as anybody else has ever been dead and he was when
they put him, took him down from that cross at three o'clock in
the afternoon. And they went over and slayed
that Passover took him down, and they prepared his body. I
don't know how long it took to prepare it. They prepared his
body, took all kinds of spices, had kinds of linen, and prepared
his body. And they had to put him in the
grave before dark, before 6 o'clock. That's the Passover. And they had to have him in that
grave. And so they took him down from that cross and went to the
grave. They washed his body, washed the blood off of it. Worst
the spires and worst all that off of his body. I mean, they
went to great pains to prepare the Savior's body. Worst all
the blood and all the sweat and all the agony. And he had that
hole in his side, and they had to cover that up, and they had
to put stuff around it, and they wrapped him up. It closed. And he was dead, and they put
him in that grave. They took him out there and carried
him down. They carried him in there and laid him down so softly
and so gently. He was cold and lifeless. But he went to that place the
same way you and I go to that place. I'm coming out of here. Boy, they got a storm over it. Listen, he upholds the world
by the word of his power. You reckon a rock can keep him
in the grave? He swept the world into existence. You think a rock is going to
stop Christ? You know if a heart can't stop
Him, if a hard heart like you and I've got can't stop Him from
breaking in on us. You know an old, just a stone.
When Christ, our Lord says God is able in these stones to raise
up children of Abraham. If He's able to have the children
of Abraham raised up out of stones, you know good and well a stone
can't keep Him in the grave. And you know I don't care how
many people's watching Him. And if there was somebody sitting
there, watched Him come out, the folks gonna saw Him come
out of that grave. If they stood there in those
watches that they sent there, if they had watched Him come
out of that grave, you know something? Without Him opening their hearts,
that resurrection would have meant no more to them than it
does to anybody else in this world. That's right. Unless Christ
opens their hearts, unless Christ becomes the resurrection of them,
unless Christ becomes the life of them. Say, everyone could
have seen Him walk out of that tomb and stand there in front
of them and said, I told you I was coming out of here. I thought
you fellas were supposed to watch. Every one of them could have
seen it happen, and not one of them would have believed without
a miracle of the grace of God working in them. Is that not
right? And, O Beloved, not only was He gloried true to His Word,
look in Acts with me just a minute, Acts 2. It glorifies God's Word. God told Him something. And this
is a promise that God made to Christ. And that's why our Lord
Jesus Christ That's why we live by the faith of the Son of God.
It's His faithfulness we live by. In Acts 2.29, this is Peter
preaching on the day of Pentecost, and he says, Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David. How that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. We can
go to his grave. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing that God hath sworn with an oath unto him of the fruit
of his loins, who is that? Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Son
of David. According to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne. So David before, seeing
this before, spake, of the resurrection of Christ, and this is what David
said in Psalm 40. He says this, he's seen this
before, of the spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This
Jesus has God raised up from the dead, wherefore we are all
witnesses. Now how in the world can his
flesh not see corruption? I mean, the minute you die, your
flesh starts corrupting. Our flesh is corrupted while
we're living. But why wouldn't His see corruption? First of
all, it was sinless. First of all, His body was sinless.
His heart was sinless. His soul was sinless. So He couldn't
corrupt like you and I would do. He didn't have any of Adam's
blood in Him, contained by sin in any way, except our sin charged
to His account. But God promised him that I'll
not leave you in there until that body begins to corrupt.
Your body will not corrupt. You will not lay there and rot. He said, I'll bring you from
the grave, and I'll not leave you in that grave. And so Christ
went to the grave, trusting that God would raise him from the
dead. And I want to show you another scripture, John 10, 27.
Excuse me, 12, 27. We're going to learn some things
about Christ being the resurrection today and how necessary it is
for us to believe this and rejoice in it, and our hopes bound up
in this. You know, Christ says, Father,
glorify Thou me with the glory which I had with Thee before
the world was. I want that glory. And God raised Him from the dead
for His glory. Look what He said here in John
10.27. Twelve twenty-seven, excuse me,
I'm sorry. Twelve twenty-seven. If any man served, excuse me,
now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father
saved me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this
hour. Now listen. Father, glorify thy
name. Glorify your name. Then came
a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I'm going
to glorify it again. And you know how much glory God
is going to bring to His Son? One of these days, every knee
is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, but for to the glory of God. And all of it not only to the
glory of His person, the glory of His Word, but also to the
glory of His power. Do you know how much power it
takes to raise a soul from the dead? And you know, I'll tell you something.
Mary and Martha wept and wept and wept at Atlantis, but they
couldn't bring Him back. They wept at Christ too, but
they couldn't bring Him back. Who's gonna bring Him back? Who's
gonna bring Him back? Huh? You know what tells us that?
Christ raised Himself from the dead, and it also says God raised
Him from the dead. But, oh, my, He must show the
exceeding greatness of His power when He raised Christ from the
dead. And, oh, beloved, and this is why it's so important. The
justice of God. Now, we're going to get down
to it now. God only was His Word and His person and His power
glorified, but the justice of God was glorified in the resurrection.
What do I mean by that? Well, God made Christ to be sinned,
who knew no sin. And the reason that He died is
God's justice demand that the soul that sinneth, it must die.
So God, when our sin was found on Him, the justice of God executed
death upon Him, not for His own sin, but for our sin. And the
Scripture says that he was justified in the Spirit. What does that
mean, that the Spirit justified every claim, justified that God's
justice was satisfied, justified that sin was put away, and justified
in the Spirit by raising him from the dead? And here's the
thing about it. Will God punish sin? Will God
punish sin? Well, will He punish it twice? So then if God's justice was
satisfied in Christ, and the resurrection proves it was, if
He was delivered for our offenses, delivered for our sins, then
why doesn't it say He was raised for our justification? And it's God's justification,
too. And in this sense that God can be justified now, He can
justify Himself, and justly so, save us from our sins because
Christ was punished for them. Oh, God, if He's not risen, that's
why He says you're getting your sins. Oh, bless His name. God, will He punish sin twice?
And God's wisdom and God's grace was glorified in His resurrection.
God must be just. And on it says He justifies the
ungodly. How does He do that? Christ bore
all their sin. Christ bore all their judgment.
Christ bore all their wrath. Christ bore their very death.
Christ was made a curse for us to save us from the curse. Now
God can justly, justly, that man that believes in the Lord
Jesus Christ, that man who looks to Christ when Christ said, I'm
the resurrection and I'm the life, he that believeth on me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. Believe us now this, I believe Now, he said that God's
right hand, and there's my justification right there, that my sins are
gone, that I'm accepted in the Beloved, that I am made righteous in Christ,
and that you all will take me one of these days, I'm sixty
years old, 15, 20 years, you're going to carry me, if God will.
One of you here, a bunch of you here, you younger people, is
going to carry me out to the grave, and you're going to put
me down, and you're going to come by the casket and look at
me, and you're going to put me down, but, beloved, you're going
to put me in the ground in hope! What hope? of the blessed resurrection
some day, and you'll say, He's not even there. He's only going
to be with the Lord, and the Lord's going to come back and
get that body to put with that spirit that doesn't want to be
with the Lord. Huh? How can I do that? There's God's
right hand. If He's sitting there, then I'm
going to sit there. I'm not going to sit there. I'm sitting there
now. Oh, beloved, His resurrection
proves that He accomplished His work as a surety of His people. Oh, you know what a surety does?
Assuredly takes all the obligation, all the fault, all the debt,
everything that's against somebody and stands good for it. Well,
we had a debt we could not possibly pay. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He paid all the debt that we owed, all the debt of all our
sin for all time that we lived in this world. And He made an
end of that sin by the sacrifice of Himself on a cross. And then,
beloved, by that He reconciled us to God. We were enemies of
God, and He slew that enmity in our hearts. And now we have
peace with God in our hearts. And, beloved, when He rose from
the dead, He brought in an everlasting righteousness, not just a righteousness
we have for a little while. And He asked, Fulfill the law.
Love God, he did. Love your neighbor, he did. And
everybody's in him, beloved, because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He satisfied
justice, God said, I cannot ask anymore. And he entered into
the holy place with his own blood, and he laid hold on eternal redemption,
and he come back out with it. And he did everything required
of a surety. Everything that God required
to save all of his people. And now that God is satisfied,
Christ is satisfied, God raised Him from the dead to prove that
everything He set out to do, He accomplished. When He said
it is finished, that's what He means. I'll go back over to 1 Corinthians
with me just a minute. How much time do I have? 1 Corinthians 15. You know, our
resurrection, our regeneration is by His resurrection. Our regeneration,
our new life, our birth, our new creation is because of His
resurrection. Our Lord Jesus said, because
I live, you shall live also. Ain't that what it says there
in verse 22? 1 Corinthians 15, for as in Adam, all die. Oh,
we all died in Adam. Everybody did. Even so, in Christ. In Christ shall all be made alive. Oh, my. And, beloved, we have
hope. We have this life because of
Christ being resurrected from the dead. You know, our life,
our resurrection, our regeneration is because He lives. You know,
ain't that what He said over in John? For he said, he that
liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Now let me say something
about what that means. You don't get life by believing.
You live, then you believe. Whosoever liveth and believeth
shall never die. Life comes, faith comes. And everybody who Christ gives
life to, that resurrection life, made new creatures in Christ.
We're quickened together with Christ, raised up to sit in heavenly
places together in Christ. You who were dead in trespasses,
had He quickened. And so here we are. Here we are. We have this life in Christ,
our resurrection. We've been raised from the dead.
We've already enjoyed the resurrection. Regeneration, that life of the
dead, that life of the death of our sins. We've done experience
that. And that's just the first fruit,
that's just the earnest, that's just the seal of what's to come. And our ultimate resurrection
rests upon His resurrection. You know that? Oh my, we're like
Job. You know what Job said? Let me
show you this. You've got to see this. And I will. Job 19.
You all had this preached to you, quoted to you so many times.
Job 19. Job, right before the book of Psalms, Job 19. We're like Job, you know, our
ultimate resurrection. We're looking for our blessed
hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ. And oh, we're like Job. Look what Job says here
in verse 25, Job 19. For I know, now Job is the oldest
book in the Bible. Look what he says here. For I
know that my Redeemer liveth. This was 1,600 years before Christ
come into this world. I know my Redeemer's living.
Living right now. And what's this? And that he'll
stand the latter day upon the earth. And do heaven and do earth. He's already seen that. Now listen. And though after my skin were
destroyed this body, yet in my flesh, what flesh? The same flesh
Christ had when he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection.
That new body. That body, that glorified body,
and in yet in my flesh shall I see who? God. My Redeemer and
my God, the same one and the same person. And watch this,
and I'll see Him for myself. Everybody will see Him for themselves.
And I say what? Do you see Him for yourself right
now? You've got to see Him for yourself now or you won't see
Him for yourself there. Now watch this. Whom I shall
see for myself and my eyes shall behold. Not another. I'm not a stranger. Oh my, not
another. And that's the way we are from
Job. We're like Job. Now back over to 1 Corinthians
15. You know, David said, I'll be
satisfied when I awaken your likeness. And that's the only
way he's going to do it. Look in verse 47 with me real
quick. Let me just show you a couple of things and I'm through. about how important this resurrection
of Christ is. The first man is of the earth.
He's earthy. That's what Adam was. That's
what we are. We was earthy. Now watch this. The second man
is the Lord from heaven. He wasn't of the earth. You're
from beneath, I'm from above, our Savior said. As is the earthy,
such are they also that are earthy. You're of Adam, you're earthy.
And as the heavenly, such are also they that are heavenly.
Those that have made life in Christ have new life in Christ.
They are heavenly like Christ is. And as we have borne the
image of the earthly, we have borne Adam's image. Oh, bless
his name, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now
watch it. Now brethren, I tell you that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Isn't that
what Job just said? Neither do a corruption inherit
incorruption. Oh, Skinburn's going to destroy
this body, but I'm going to see him in the flesh. Behold, I show
you a mystery. We're not all going to sleep.
We're not going to all go to sleep. We're not going to all
do like Lazarus did, sleep and rest. But every one of us is
going to be changed. Every single one of us is going
to, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Can you watch my eye
twinkle? Can you see my eye twinkle? That's
how fast it will be. Oh, at the last trump, for the
trumpet will sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible.
All them dear saints of God, all them children of God, all
the people that we love, all the people that we've took and
left over, God's going to raise them up incorruptible. And then
we're all going to be changed. For this old corruptible, this
old fleshy body, must put on incorruption, and this mortal
man must put on immortality. And when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
and this is written over in the Psalms and also in Isaiah, death
is swallowed up in victory. Victory comes up and just took
death and just took a big spider. Just took it, all death is, and
swallowed it. Swallowed it. That's how glorious
Christ is. That's how glorious Christ is
in resurrection. He took death and just swallowed it. And watch
this now. And that's why he says, O death,
where is your stand? That's why we can rejoice. O
grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin. We
don't have no sin, so we ain't going to have the death. It's
not going to sting us. And the strength of sin is the law. Well,
the law has been fulfilled, so sin has no strength over us.
Now watch it. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The promise is fulfilled. Redemption's
work is done. justice with mercies reconciled,
for God has raised His Son. And I'll tell you what, the dead
are living now. How? By faith in the Son of God. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Thank you for meeting with us
today. Thank you for your gospel. Thank you for the truth as it
is in Christ. I pray that these words would
be a blessing to the people and the saints that's gathered here
today. That it would be life. That you'd be that resurrection
and life to some poor soul here today. That they saw you. They saw you in your glory. They
saw you in your power. They saw you in your resurrection,
saw you putting away your sin. May it be granted today by the
Holy Spirit. And again, continue to bless
the dear saints of God. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. I heard an old, old story, how
a Savior came on glory, how He gave His life on Calvary to save
a wretch like me. I heard about His groaning, of
His precious blood atoning, and time this day of my sin hath
won the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Saviour
forever! Peace on me and God be with His
redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew, and all
my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. PRABHUPÄ€DA You'll be the last.
I heard about His cleaning, of His cleansing power revealing,
how He made the lame to walk again, and caused the blind to
see. And then I cried, dear Jesus,
come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. And He bought me with His redeeming
blood. He loved me ere I knew Him. He loved me ever like I loved
Him, and all my love He gave to Him. He plunged me to victory
beneath the cleansing flood.