1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump, for the trump shall sound and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. Thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. For as much as ye know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord. Amen. May God bless to
us this reading from his word. I'm sure you'll all be familiar
with the verse from John chapter 11, verse 25. I believe Jesus
said to her, he was speaking to Martha of Mary and Martha
and the brother Lazarus, with respect to the death of her brother. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, Yet shall he live. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the resurrection and the life. This evening, especially, my
thoughts are going to be on this word, resurrection. and what
we can learn from this statement that the Lord Jesus Christ made
with respect to his own resurrection and the consequences that flow
from that as far as his church and people are concerned. I wonder
perhaps if we give it sufficient attention in our own thoughts
because the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection and our own resurrection
are intimately bound together. The Lord died, and that death,
as we were considering last week, both mobilised and motivated
the disciples. But it was the resurrection that
came just those few days later, the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which inspired them to take the message of the
gospel out into the world with the power that they did. And
it was central, as was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, was central to the ministry
of the apostles. In Acts chapter 2, and Acts chapter
3, and Acts chapter 4, in these earliest sermons and statements
by the apostles, we find that the Truths of the resurrection
was what came to the fore when the disciples were speaking.
So much so, indeed, that we are told that the religious leaders
at that time were, and the word is, grieved. Grieved. at the preaching of the resurrection. In Acts 4-2 we're told, they
were grieved that they taught the people and preached through
Jesus the resurrection from the dead. These men had done all
they could to silence the Lord Jesus Christ. They had held their
kangaroo court. They had planned and schemed. They had manipulated. They had
conspired together. They had formed allegiances,
these religious leaders, in order to be rid of the Lord Jesus. They had put him to death. And
now they knew that they had an even bigger problem on their
hand, because the resurrection of Jesus that they could not
conceal, though they endeavoured to do so, was already out in
the street. And men were talking about the
fact that this Jesus who had died was no longer dead, but
was risen and was alive. Indeed, as the ministry went
on, we discovered that so central was the resurrection to the preaching
of the gospel that people began to mock the Christian faith because
it was hinged upon this statement that one who was dead was now
alive, that this Jesus that was preached had been dead and had
come back from the dead. and those who were philosophical
and those who were educated and those who were culturally aware,
they mocked the foolishness of such a teaching and such a message. Some said of Paul when he preached
in Athens, what will this babbler say? because he preached unto
them Jesus and the resurrection. In Acts chapter four, verse 33,
we read, and with great power gave the apostles witness of
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon
them all. We established, I trust, last
week when we were sharing together in some of these matters the
importance of the cross in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the ministry of the Apostolic Church. But it's right that we
remember too that the cross was not the end of the matter, but
that the Lord Jesus Christ vindicated all that he had said, all of
his teaching, all of his doctrine, all of his works, all of the
hope that he had placed in the hearts of men for the things
that he had said. And these things that were said
also to his friends, to Martha, I am the resurrection and the
life, proved beyond doubt by the fact that he came back from
the dead. And it is important that we understand
the teaching of the resurrection because the resurrection speaks
to the heart of the deepest problem that we have as men and women
in this world. It speaks to the problem of our
sin and it speaks to the problem of our mortality. You're all going to die. some sooner than others. We don't
know the day, we don't know the time, we don't know the circumstances
but we do know that it is appointed unto men once to die and that
is an appointment that we each shall keep and except for those
exceptions of individuals who either in the Old Testament or
subsequently because of the Lord's return were taken immediately
and translated straight to heaven. The experience of every single
man, woman and child that has ever lived upon the face of this
earth is that this life comes to an end and soon we will close
our eyes in death. The resurrection, however, speaks
of a supernatural power by which the natural rules of this world
are overthrown and something divine, something spiritual,
something supernatural takes place. That which is dead, that
which is lifeless, that which is cold, that which is motionless,
is reinvigorated, revitalized, reanimated, and there is life
where once there was death. The reality is that men and women,
hear me, desire it were not so. Because the fact of the resurrection
means that they have a God to answer to. Nobody wants to die,
but no one wants to admit that there is a resurrection. Because
they know that because of the resurrection, all of the worldview,
all of the belief systems, all of the things that they imagine
of themselves, is challenged because God will have the final
word. And men will mock the notion
of the resurrection as they did in days gone by when Paul endeavoured
to preach about Jesus risen from the dead. What is this babbler
talking about? The resurrection puts the lie
to the views of natural men and women who say that this is the
life and that after we die, there's nothing afterwards. Denying the
resurrection, of course, is not new. Despite, as we've suggested,
Old Testament and New Testament examples, there were always those
who mocked the notion of the resurrection. Indeed, in the
Lord's Day, the Sadducees, a group of religious leaders, they made
little jokes about the resurrection, little play games that they conjured
up in their minds, little riddles that they had to amuse themselves
and to demonstrate how foolish the idea was that people could
rise from the dead. said in Matthew 22, well here's
a man and he's married to a wife but he dies and so the wife marries
his brother and then he dies. Well we can ratchet this argument
up so let's say there are seven brothers and she marries them
all in the resurrection. Whose wife will she be? And this
was a trick. This was a joke. This was a mockery
of the idea. This wasn't a serious question.
It was devised as a way of showing the foolishness of the suggestion
of the resurrection. And of course, you'll know that
the Lord showed the foolishness of that approach when he spoke
about the fact that there is no marriage amongst the angels. But he said, let me remind you,
that the Lord God said, Moses said, speaking of the Lord God,
I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. That was
such a wonderful retort, repudiation. to these men, that they were
silenced in his presence. They'd probably been using that
same story for years and dining out on it. And the Lord burst
their bubble in just a moment. But you see, the world continues
to mock the resurrection. In a couple of days' time, we're
going to be celebrating Easter. What is that but a mockery of
the resurrection? It's all got to do with chocolate
eggs and having parties and fun and it's all got to do with the
little rabbits and the little chicks and the fun and the fantasy. And it hides the gospel. We've
drawn a cover, we've drawn a darkness over the truth of the gospel.
And so, Very, very few will have any concept or understanding
about the truth of what happened and the significance of what
happened at the cross and in the garden and at the resurrection. And yet, ostensibly, as a nation,
we are celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me state clearly We believe
in the resurrection of the dead. It is an article of our faith. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse
13 says, if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not
risen. But the testimony of the apostles
in Luke 24 and 34 was this, the Lord is risen indeed. In fact, in
scripture, there are 12 separate times recorded when the risen
Lord appeared to his disciples. There may have been more than
that, but there are 12 separate occasions recorded when he visited
the disciples. I say there may have been more
than that because in Acts chapter 1 verse 3 we are told there by
Luke that the Lord appeared to his disciples for 40 days. Well, here are the times that
are recorded. He appeared to Mary Magdalene. He appeared to the women. In
Matthew 28, 9 and 10, Mary Magdalene and John 20, 11 to 18. To the women in Matthew 28, 9
and 10, to Cleophas and his companion on the Emmaus road in Luke 24,
13 to 35, they said, did not our hearts burn within us as
he talked with us in the way? He appeared to Simon in Luke
24, 34. He appeared to the disciples, Thomas being absent from the
upper room, from the gathering of the other disciples in John
20, 19 to 23. Then generously, he appeared
to the disciples again, Thomas being present on this occasion. Again, John 20, 24 to 29. He appeared to seven of the disciples
as they gathered at the Sea of Galilee in John 21, 1-14. To the disciples on the mountain
in Galilee, Matthew 28, 16-20. He appeared to 500 disciples
at one time. In 1 Corinthians 15, 6, we're
told about that. To James, the Lord's brother,
in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 7, to the disciples in Olivet, the
mountain in Olivet near Jerusalem in Acts 1, 4 to 11 and Luke 24,
50. And finally, he appeared to Paul
on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, 3 to 7. Twelve separate occasions
when the risen Lord testified, proved, verified, validated his
resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul crystallises
our doctrine, our understanding of the resurrection and its importance
when he says, if Christ be not risen, then there is no resurrection
of the dead. But if Christ be himself risen,
then he is become the first fruits of them that slept. We base our
hope our entire hope of eternal life, of heaven, and all the
promises that God has given on this fact, that the Lord Jesus
Christ is risen from the dead as the trailblazer, as the first
fruits of that new life. By his own resurrection, the
Lord Jesus Christ gives full proof to all the doctrines that
he taught He declared himself to be the resurrection and the
life. He promised that whosoever lived
and believed in him should never die, but that he would raise
them up at the last day. And to confirm that promise,
he himself rose from the dead. Now, I suggest to you that it
is undeniable that if our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead
and promises that we shall rise after him, that we should give
attention to those promises and to consider what is involved
and secured by his resurrection in our own resurrection. So what I'm going to do for the
rest of the time that I have available to me this evening
is I'm going to look at the consequences of this statement. The Lord said,
because I live, ye shall live also. John 14, 19. Because I
live, ye shall live also. And here are five consequences,
five considerations, dear to the heart of the Lord's people,
because he lives and because we shall live also. The first one is this, because
the Lord Jesus Christ lives, our debt to sin has been paid. And as sinners, we have peace
with God. In Romans 4, verse 25, we read
these words. Christ was delivered for our
offenses and was raised again for our justification. Delivered
for our offenses and raised for our justification. Romans 4,
25. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ brings full assurance to the elect of God that the
debt of sin which he paid on the cross when he died was accepted
by his Father. The whole debt, the complete
debt, the entirety of the obligation Full atonement was made by the
Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? How do we know
that full atonement was made? How do we know that the blood
was accepted? How do we know that God was satisfied? How do we know that the payment
was made? By the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ rose from the dead. It is that fact that demonstrates
all that is said the fact that we can look and see the empty
tomb, the fact that we can hear the testimony of the Lord's disciples,
the fact that they are His enemies as they ran before Him, terrified
and fearful at the resurrection that occurred, all contrives
to show us that the promises that God made and the work that
the Lord Jesus Christ performed was acceptable for the satisfaction
of justice, the liberty of captives, and the payment of the sins that
we had committed. Our Lord Jesus Christ undertook
as our surety to pay the debt of sin that we owed and he discharged
that debt. Because the law of God and the
justice of God had been offended, a price had to be paid. The soul
that sins will die. And each one of us as sinners
is required to pay that price unless and until a substitute
can be found. And that one was found in Jesus
Christ. And we rejoice tonight to believe
The things that have been proven by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, the price was paid, the debt was cancelled, the prison
doors of the grave have been burst open. The Lord Jesus Christ
leading his people forth from the captivity of death and the
natural fear that that brings. Our God, in raising his son Jesus
Christ from the dead, in lifting him up to glory and honouring
him for the completion of his work, testifies to each and every
one of us who trust in him that there is a resurrection, not
only for Christ but for us, because all that had been against us
has been removed. and peace has been forged with
the offended God by the work of Jesus Christ. When the Lord
rose from the dead that day, he proved the whole truth of
those things that he had taught. He had said, destroy this temple,
this body of mine, and in three days I will raise it up. And so God the Father is called
the God of peace to his people because he brought again the
Lord Jesus Christ. from the dead because the blood
of the everlasting covenant had satisfied the demands of an offended
God. It had fulfilled the contract
on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had done all that
he was required to do and God the Father accepted the blood
of Christ and he now confirms his side of the contract, the
covenant, and he is at peace with all those for whom Christ
died and rose again. And so the first thing that it
shows us, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is that
the debt of sin is paid and that God is satisfied with the work
of the Saviour and that we have the blessings and benefits that
flow upon the testimony of Christ to those for whom he died The
second thing is this, peace with God is assured to us continually
because the living Christ serves as our mediator in the presence
of his Father. Not only did God testify that
he had accepted the sacrifice of his Son, by raising him from
the dead, but the Lord Jesus Christ now lives and intercedes
for those for whom he died in the presence of his Father. Romans 8, 34 says, Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. That intercession that
he makes is to go between the parties, and that is the picture
of the mediator. Here were two that were separated,
and the Lord Jesus Christ has performed that role that he alone
could perform, for no man was capable. of paying the price
of sin against an offended God, but a God-man could and did. And so he stands in the presence
of his father, and he represents his people there, and he shows,
as it were, the nail prints in his hand, and he shows, as it
were, his own sacrifice, not because God forgets what his
son has committed, but because there are accusers, because there
are those who say he's not worthy, She's not right. This isn't the
way that justice should work. And the Lord Jesus Christ stands
as that one who is the true surety, substitute and representative. And he says, all that I have
done, I've done for them. All that I have done, they did
in me. All that I have is their possession
and inheritance, for I own them, I love them, I am united to them. And the Lord Jesus Christ in
his intercessory role fulfills all these blessed roles and purposes
for his people. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2.5, there
is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And it's lovely to remind ourselves
of that. The mediator that we have is
the man Christ Jesus. It is the man, Christ Jesus,
who stands before his Father's throne right now, interceding
for you and for me. Here we are, gathered out Wednesday
night in Great Falls. All of the things that we've
been doing today, all of the activities upon which we've been
engaged And all this time in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ
is interceding for us. We're so dull to these things. We're so slow to grasp the immediacy
of what it is to have a resurrected man. representing us in heaven
as we go about our daily business. The devil accuses us. The world accuses us and not
without cause. Our own hearts accuse us. But we have a surety in heaven. testifying to all that he has
done in payment and in representation for his people. There he mediates,
testifies, advocates, intercedes for his beloved. We sin constantly. Our hearts condemn us every day. We even find ourselves condemning
one another But the Father doesn't condemn us, and the Son doesn't
condemn us, and the Holy Spirit does not condemn any of the elect,
for in the great covenant purpose of the triune God, satisfaction
has been made and peace has been secured. The resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ testifies to the fact that our sin is forgiven
and it points us also to the man that stands in the presence
of God and mediates for us every day. The third thing that it
shows us is this. The resurrection ought to take
away our fear of death. The resurrection deals with the
fact that we are in our humanity a people that all our lives have
to reckon with the fact that soon our life will end. Hebrews 2.14 says, for as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. He took the flesh and blood,
the children, here that are spoken to are the children of adoption.
The children that were adopted into the family of God because
of the everlasting love that God had for them. And that everlasting
love forged a way of recovery. whereby those that were loved
by God could be redeemed out of that place of condemnation
and sin by the representation of a worthy substitute. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became that substitute,
taking upon Himself our flesh, our blood, our nature. Without
sin, He took part of the same, that through death He might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Lord Jesus
Christ was engaged in a battle against the devil. That is the
purpose of him entering into death. He paid the ultimate price. He was dead upon the cross. And when they took him down from
the cross, he was dead. And he was laid in the tomb. He was subsumed into the earth. He was covered up. It was as
if the devil, Satan, had taken his prize. But that morning, when the Lord
Jesus Christ arose, when the door of the tomb opened, He proved
that he had defeated the enemy of flesh and blood. Satan claimed
his prize on the life of every single man and woman in this
world until the Lord Jesus Christ showed that he had power over
death. He delivered us who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. You know,
we're an odd lot, are we not? There are some here who are frightened
of dying, and there are others that are content if it could
come so quickly. But there is nothing for a child
of God to fear. Death is like going to sleep.
We like to go to sleep when we're weary, when we're tired. We like
to go to bed and lie down and go to sleep. And that's how death
is described. What is Lazarus doing? He's asleep.
He's sleeping. Well, what do we need to go and
see him for? We don't need to go and see him. Let him sleep.
And the Lord said, no, he's dead. But his death, His state is just
like sleeping because he's one of mine and we're going to waken
him up. Sleep is a friend to those who
are weary and death will be our friend because it will take us
into the presence of our saviour. 1 Thessalonians 4.14 says, For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. When it comes to sleeping, I'm
a little bit of an expert. I know what I'm talking about. And we welcome sleep. It's beneficial. It's restorative. It restores
us. We sleep in Jesus. Sleep washes over us. We're not aware that moment when
we go to sleep. We're just lying there and then
we're completely unconscious to what's going on around about
us. We have nothing to fear in sleep
and we have nothing to fear in death. How long does sleep last? We get up in the night and what
do we do? We look at our watch to see what time it is and it
says half past three and we think, great, I can go back to sleep. but we're unconscious to the
things that are going on around about us. And that's a beautiful
picture that the Lord has given us. You have nothing to fear
in death, child of God, because the power of death is gone. He who had the power over flesh
and blood, Satan, has been defeated. The grave has been overthrown. Here's the fourth thing that
the resurrection teaches us. It is the resurrection of our
own bodies that will take place. And we will rise on that day
in these bodies with our personal identities. And yet we will be
changed from mortal to immortal. Romans 8, 11 says, if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, that is
God, the Holy Spirit, he that raised up Christ from the dead
shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth
in you. It is these mortal bodies that
we have. It's the same spirit. Father, Son and Holy Spirit all
worked together in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed,
in several places it says the Father raised the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here it says the Holy Spirit
raised the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
have power to raise myself. It was all the persons of the
Godhead. It is this one God who broke
the power of the grave. And this is the temple of the
Holy Spirit because God the Holy Spirit dwells in us and he is
eternal and he will never die and we will never die. And this
mortal body even now will be changed from mortality to immortality
but it will be us who rise from the dead. These bodies These
identities, these people who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
will rise from the dead. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, Paul says, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. There will be people, when the
Lord Jesus Christ is coming back, there will be people who will
not enter into this sleep because the Lord will come while they're
still alive. They'll never have gone to the
grave. They'll never have died in this
world. But there is going to be a resurrection. And it is a blessing for all
of us to hold close the privileges and the blessings of these resurrection
promises and the hope that it affords to each one of us. Will
we know each other in heaven? On that resurrection day? Yes, we will. What age will we
be when we're in heaven? I don't know. Will we be married to one another?
No. What language will we speak?
They used to tell me back in Scotland that it would be Gaelic, but I don't think so. The saints
in Revelation are speaking English, so I'm happy with that. In Philippians 3.21 it says,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body. These bodies are going to be,
Christ is the creator, he created all things and he is going to
make of these bodies, bodies like his glorious body. according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. As I was thinking about this
passage, I was reflecting on that word subdue. He is able
even to subdue all things unto himself. All things, when we
get to glory, will be subdued unto Christ. No bad memories. We'll be the same people. We'll
have the same bodies, changed from mortal to immortal. We will
know one another, but the bad memories will be gone. No longings. People say, what about those
that aren't there? He will subdue all things unto
himself. He will subdue all things unto
himself. It will be right. and we'll know
that it's right and we'll see it to be right. No sorrow for those that are
there. No sorrow over those who are
not there. No sickness, no tears. What will heaven be like? It'll
be good. It'll be good. It will be unimaginable
glory. It will be unceasing joy. It will be unremitting delight. It will be happiness. It will
be constant love and contentment and pleasure. Peter says, 1 Peter
1, verse 3 and 4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. The Lord's
people have a promise, and the Lord Jesus Christ is soon going
to return for us to fulfil that promise. Let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. The psalmist says in
Psalm 17, verse 15, As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Isn't that beautiful? I shall
be satisfied when I awake from my sleep, and I have been made
like unto you. Let's pray. May the Lord Jesus
strengthen all his people in the faith of the resurrection,
seeing that by it of their Lord they are begotten to this lively
hope in Jesus. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for them who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation. Amen.