Bibles to the book of Acts chapter
24. So we take a brief look at the context there before we consider
once again this glorious doctrine of the resurrection. I will seek
to share with you a number of points as they are also in your
outline. So you can follow me in your
outline and we can joyfully reflect upon the significance this great
idea of the resurrection. I am again tickled at how Providence
works year after year as we have been so blessed. I know we can
over utilize that term blessed but I must say that God has been
extremely good to us at grace. Hasn't he? When you think, yes,
indeed, when you think about his goodness to us in the few
years that we've been gathered together in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and according to the power of his gospel, many
of our brethren, we were kind of rehearsing where we came from
16 years ago. And we look out now and we look
at our fellowship and we say, look at how good God has been
to us. And we trust that we have many,
many more years to go in our bearing witness to the truth
in this generation, which is what our objective is as a gospel
church. We're not here to entertain people.
We're not here to meet humanly felt needs. We are here to bear
witness to the truth. When Grace Bible Church finishes
its testimony and every church must, every Christian must, every
body of believers must finish their testimony. And we go into
the archives of history and people wipe the dust from the monument,
which says Grace Bible Church was here. What we hope that they
will read on the tombstone of the legacy of Grace Bible Church
is that they preached the truth. They preached the truth. They preached the truth. They told the truth about the
Lord Jesus Christ. They told the truth about the
condition of the human race. They told the truth about the
person and work of Jesus Christ by which sinners would be saved.
Their objective was to let men and women know the truth that
sets you free. That's what we want to leave
as a legacy to our children and to the last generation that might
serve under the banner of this local church. But what tickles
me, Saints, is this. I'm getting older and my elder
is getting older, too. And we are getting older, even
though we've got lots of young people under us. And thank God
for it. But it seems like every Resurrection
Sunday, our elder has to allude to some affliction or pain or
trouble that we're going through. We didn't used to talk like this
10 years ago. Ten years ago we used to talk
about all kinds of other things that were not as immediately
relevant to our life as our aches and pains and bones and sufferings. And I think it was either a year
ago or two that I spoke to us about why it is that you must
not, you must not fall prey to religion. and therefore relegate
the gospel to a few niceties on your part and tipping your
hat to God once a month or twice a year and perish under the wrath
of God having heard the truth. I want you to know that your
very aging, the very fact that you are aging, tells the truth
about the importance of the doctrine of the resurrection. See, the
doctrine of the resurrection is such a critical truth that
must not be held within the realm of abstract theoretical concepts,
but it must be understood as something that God, before the
world began, determined would be the resolution of all of the
aches and pains and damnable consequences of sin. Listen to
me, the term resurrection is God's term. It's God's answer
to the presence and power and damnation of sin. When you think
about the resurrection, you must think in terms of God's prerogative
within the council of the triune Godhead to draw up a covenant
of mercy and redemption by which he would rescue sinners from
the curse and wrath of God by establishing a day of resurrection. A day of resurrection. A day of resurrection. And let me remind you once again
and see if I can just kind of connect the points in a very
applicable way to us. The hope of the believer is not
a better life now. The hope of the believer is not
a good job or a balanced household or privileges and benefits that
we might derive from a first world country like ours. The
hope of the believer, honest to God, is the resurrection. The hope of the believer, who
is biblically informed, is the resurrection. Let me see if I
can bring this home a little bit more to you today. The concept
of the resurrection, once again, is not only the hope of the New
Testament believer, but it's the hope of the Old Testament
believer as well. This is precisely what Paul was
saying in Acts chapter 24 when he stood before the Sanhedrin. Notice what it says in verse
14 and 15 of Acts 24. But this I confess unto you.
that after the way in which they call heresy, so worship I, the
God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and the prophets. Now watch this, saints, watch
this, and have hope toward God. Do you see that? I have hope
towards a God just like my fathers did, my forefathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, even going back to Adam and to Noah and
to Enoch, my forefathers had hope toward God, which they themselves
allow, that there shall be a what? Resurrection of the dead, both
of the just and the unjust. Now watch this. And herein do
I exercise myself to have always a conscious void of offense toward
God and towards men. What is Paul saying? He's saying
that he lives out of the hope of the resurrection. That's the
forward-thinking mindset of the believer. I've told you before,
faith is grounded in what Christ accomplished on Calvary Street,
but the hope that emerges out of faith looks forward one day
to Christ returning again. Every believer that is biblically
informed and is alive in Christ and is struggling with their
life looks forward one day to the return of Christ and the
great, great, glorious resurrection that will swallow up the death
that we experience every day. Every believer looks forward
to the return of Christ to deliver us from this present evil age
in which we suffer. How many of you suffer like I
do? Every one of you do. You just don't know it. And this
suffering is designed for you to understand that you need a
God that can raise the dead. It's also designed to keep your
feet on the ground and recognize that God has reserved a day wherein
He will deliver us from every form of pain that comes in the
suffering of this life. And that if you and I should
seek deliverance anywhere else, it might be, it might be that
we will not find it. If you and I seek deliverance
in anywhere else other than the hope of the glory of God at the
coming of Christ in that great and glorious act of resurrection,
it might be that you won't find it. There are lots of people
that have vain hopes. They hope in a lot of things.
They hope in the change of their domestic relationship. They hope
in the change of their financial or economic situation. They hope
in some type of recovery on a medical or a physical or a biological
level. There's a lot of things we hope in, don't we? But God
doesn't promise that he will deliver us from any one of those
things. What he does promise is that
there's a day coming in which The ultimate consequence of sin
will be remedied in the resurrection. And it's important for you to
know that because if God should bless you with deliverance on
all kinds of other tangible and temporal levels, give him thanks.
But he may not bless your neighbor like that. And all of the believers
collectively together really do have their unity in this reality.
We're getting old and if things go as normal, we're going to
get sick and we're going to die. And this world is filled with
pain and suffering for which the real answer is the resurrection. And this is what Paul was doing
when he stood before the Roman court with Felix here, and his
Jewish constituency had charged him with blasphemy, what they
thought was worthy of death. He basically quickly disannulled
their charges. He essentially said, you have
no legitimate argument with me. You have no legitimate claim
against me. However, here is what's true. And you can follow
me in your outline with this. Here is what's true. I am guilty
of the heresy worshiping the God of my father's I'm guilty
of that and I would say this in your outline too as you would
follow through the points it's certainly true that every Bible
believing Christian point number one every true Bible believer
will always be called a heretic a heretic Paul accepted the charge
greatly He accepted the fact that there's a world of people,
both religious and non-religious, who really cannot get with the
testimony of Scripture. He accepted the claim that he
worshiped the God of his fathers. So he connected the Old Testament
saints with the New Testament saints by worshiping God according
to the way. Do you see that phrase, the way?
The way was a term used in the book of Acts that described the
manifestation of the gospel after the resurrection and ascension
of Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Ghost, wherein believers
would preach through Christ the doctrine of justification all
the way to the doctrine of the resurrection in his name calling
it the way the way the way the way and you remember what jesus
said in john chapter 14 verse 6 i am the way the truth and
the life this here is the stumbling block for our present pluralistic
uh ecumenical generation today Our present church age is intolerable
of an exclusive gospel that makes Jesus Christ the only way. They're intolerable of it, are
they not? He can be a way, but not the way. And yet Christ is
the, watch this, only way to the Father. The only way. And
in Christ are all of the promises of God, yes and amen. Including the resurrection. Apart from Christ, there is no
hope for anyone and no resurrection to be delivered from the plight
of your life. And the Apostle Paul is more
than willing, and you should be too, to be charged with being
guilty of, watch this now, believing all the Scriptures. Listen to
what he says again in verse 14, but this I confess unto you that
after the way in which they call heresy So worship I the God of
my father's now watch the Saints believing all Things which are
written in the law and the prophets Paul said I believe the whole
book now strategically. He said this I in order to defend
himself against the allegations and the charges that were laid
against him, and in order to set himself up to be a witness
to Felix and Herod and every other ruler that would inquire
of him, why is he apparently so much a troublemaker? He would
say, because I believe the scriptures. Because I believe the scriptures,
I am a, watch this, troublemaker. Because I believe the whole of
scripture and I don't sort of piecemeal the Bible You know
how religious folk do they take portions and they say they agree
with this But the other portions they're silent on because they
don't want to become a watch this troublemaker But when you
believe the book from Genesis to Revelation, you know what
you become? A troublemaker. And do you know why you become
a troublemaker? Because Christ was a troublemaker. For this cause shall this child
be for the fall and rise of many in Israel. And let me share something
with you about trouble, can I? If God doesn't trouble your soul,
you're going to hell. If God doesn't trouble your soul,
you're going to hell. Are you hearing me? God better
trouble you because I heard an elder said he stepped all over
my sermon in Sunday school. I'm all over the sermon. I'm
trying to walk around the things he said so that I don't sound
redundant. But listen to me, people don't even know they're
lost. They don't even know they're
under the wrath of God. They don't even know they're
in trouble with God. Am I telling the truth? And when
the gospel comes in power, what it does is shake up your life.
it actually gives you a proper interpretation and grid of what's
really going on. And now all of a sudden, guess
what? Oh, I am in trouble. And once you come to that resolve,
the only thing you and I are to do when we realize we are
in trouble is to seek the answer. I want to share with you four
or five points about the resurrection that I think will be extremely
important to you. Let me start with a comment that
Charles Haddon Spurgeon made with regards to the importance
of the believer grasping, grasping the hope of the resurrection.
He takes the text that's out of Philippians chapter 3, verse
20. You remember that text. For our conversation is in heaven. Our politics is in heaven. Our
worldview is from heaven. Those of us who are believers
are heavenly citizens. Our home is glory. We're just
passing through this world. Is anybody on the road passing
through with me? We're just passing through. And our whole politics
is in heaven. Watch this. Our names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven. That we are inscribed
in the citizenry in the halls of justice in heaven. That's
my home. That's my politics. That's my
worldview. That's where we are from. From
whence we also look for the what? Savior. the Lord Jesus Christ. Watch this now, saints. Who shall
change our vile body? Do you see it? Who shall change
our vile bodies? So let's connect this concept
with what we are meditating on today. Why am I looking forward
to the resurrection? Why am I looking forward to the
resurrection? Because I have a body that's
vile, despicable, limited, darkened by sin, and hinders me from worshiping
God like I want. I have a body that if it were
to have full reign over my life, it would stop me from worshiping
God. My body, I'm talking about my own nature, I'm talking about
my physical body, if it had the capacity, if God were to take
his hand off me and leave me in my native state, would stand
up in treason against God. My mind often wanders into forbidden
territories and plagues my new nature with this arrogance against
a holy and righteous God. The temptations that run through
my members, yours too, would have me to blaspheme God in my
life. I am plagued by my fallen nature,
are you? I'm plagued by thoughts that
I don't even want to enter into my mind and my heart is so tempted
and enticed to debauchery and vileness that I cannot wait for
God to change my body. See, this is what Paul meant.
Paul says, when he comes, when he comes, when he comes, these
vile bodies of ours, which hinder us from being able to express
the glory due to his name will be fixed. In the meanwhile, what
God has deposited in our soul is a hope, is a hope. hope that lives every day over
against what Paul called that old wretched wretched wretched
man Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Are you following
me so far now see I know you do you won't tell the truth,
but you sin against God a thousand times a day and And most of the
time you don't live like you ought to before God. And I think
that you have failed to recognize that God didn't just give you
a set of doctrinal creeds in order for you to assent to and
then just somehow work your way into glory the best way you can.
A lot of people live like that. But to live under the notion
that because you have a right understanding of the gospel is
to fail to realize why Christ rose again from the dead. And he rose again from the dead
to establish a real, vital union between the sinner and himself
by which, now watch this, every day of our life we are to breathe
in and out depending on Christ to get us from A to B. to cause
us to think right thoughts, say right words, do right things,
fulfill God's will, working in us the will and to do of His
good pleasure because we can't do it of ourselves. Are you guys
hearing me? The resurrection of Christ is
designed for you to understand that daily we are to draw our
strength from Him who has the power to cause us to live to
God's glory. So listen to Mr. Spurgeon. Here's
what he says. I should mislead you if I call
these verses my text, for I intend only to lay stress upon the closing
expression. And here's the closing expression.
We look for the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body,
watch this, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. according to the working whereby
he is able now watch this saint this is for you according to
the energy the power of the spirit of god given to him without measure
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself do you
know what he just said you and i need to be yet and still subdued
by christ I should mislead you if I call these verses mine.
I only intend to lay this stress upon you through the expression
of the text that we have read. It would require several discourses
to expound the whole of so rich a passage as this. Beloved, how
intimately is the whole of our life interwoven with the life
of Christ? How intimately is the, watch
this, whole of our life interwoven with the life of Christ? Did
you guys get that first line? How intimately, how intimately
is the whole of our life interwoven with the life of Christ? His
first coming has been to our salvation and we are delivered
from the wrath of God through him. We live still because he
lives and it's never And never is our life more joyous. Now
watch this. Tell me if this is not true.
Never is our life more joyous than when we look most steadily
in His face. The completion of our salvation,
in the deliverance of our body from the bondage of corruption,
in the raising of our dust. He calls our body the dust. In
the raising of our dust to a glorious immortality. that is so wrapped
up with the personal resurrection and quickening power of our Lord
Jesus Christ. As his first advent had been
our salvation from sin, so his second advent shall be our salvation
from the grave. He is in heaven, but as the apostle
says, we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile bodies, that it may be fashioned like unto
his glorious body, We of ourselves have nothing. We of ourselves
are nothing apart from him. The past, the present, and the
future are only bright as he shines upon them. every consolation,
every hope, every enjoyment we possess, we have received and
still retain because of our watchers' connection with Jesus Christ
our Lord. Apart from Him, we are naked. Apart from Him, we are poor.
Apart from Him, we are miserable. I desire to impress upon your
minds, and especially upon my own, the need of our continually
abiding in Him. zealous laborers for the glory
of God I am peculiarly anxious that you may maintain daily communion
with Jesus for as it is with our covenant blessing Hebrews
chapter 13 as it is with our covenant blessing so it is with
our work of faith our labor of love listen to me children of
God everything depends upon him all our fruit is found in Jesus
remember his own words Without me, you can do nothing. And what I'm getting at is the
necessity of you understanding that he didn't rise again from
the dead, go to glory to sit there and let you and I grubble
in the dust to try to make it to heaven. He sent his spirit
as the resurrection power by which everything that would be
done in our life for his glory would be accomplished as we walk
in communion with him. Let me therefore remind you of
four or five things concerning the resurrection that are critically
important to your understanding. What I just stated, you may not
know this, what I just stated was designed for you to understand
that the reason why We are not living to the honor and glory
of Christ and making right decisions as we ought to is because we
fail to realize how acutely we need him every day. That's what
I was trying to get across. So once you leave out here and
you continue in that same way, understand your problem is you
don't fellowship with Christ enough. Point number two, the
hope of the Old Testament was the resurrection, not a temple,
not land, political preeminence but the resurrection do you guys
see that see Paul said in Acts 24 that he has hope towards God
and then he went on to say in verse 15 part B which they also
allow see he knew that the Jews particularly the Pharisees believed
in the resurrection from the dead You know what Paul just
said? My fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and all of the men all the way up to me, we weren't
craving for political power. We weren't craving to possess
this land of which now the Roman rulers are in control of. We
were not craving ultimately a temple. A temple, physical temples don't
satisfy the need of the soul. What the Jewish people need is
the same thing that Christian people need, and that's Christ. And what Paul said is, the Jewish
people who understood the gospel in the Old Testament, their hope
was not set on material things, preeminence in the world, politics,
or even the land. It was the hope of the resurrection. I just want you to understand
that. True believers would never tied up like it is today over
this political stuff. Paul said our hope is the resurrection. It's the resurrection. And so
it is for you and me. Now, what about the resurrection
must we be reminded of? The first thing I want to remind
you of concerning the resurrection is this, that the resurrection
of Jesus Christ is according to all the scriptures. Go with
me in your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I'm just going to
read four verses and remind you that the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm speaking particularly of his resurrection,
is not a doctrine that runs scant through the scriptures. I'm not
going to seek to develop that today because we've got dozens
of messages where we preached on various aspects of the resurrection
from the scriptures. I do want to impose upon your
mind one more time, however, if you are not as astute in the
scriptures as you ought to be, you ought not to shrink back
from the doctrine of the resurrection. The doctrine of the resurrection
For the believer is the proof positive that Christ was accepted
by God. But the doctrine of the resurrection
is something of which Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 runs
from Genesis to Revelation. Watch this now in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 verses 1 through 4. Here it is moreover brethren.
I declare unto you the gospel Which I preached unto you which
also you have received and wherein you stand By which also you are
saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you
have believed in vain for I Delivered unto you all of all that which
I also received now watch this how that Christ died for our
sins According to the scriptures. Do you see that? We say he died
for our sins, but the real question is how here's the answer. Are
you ready according to all the scriptures? That's how he died
for our sins. You know what that means when
you talk about the death of Christ You got a lot of work to do because
from Genesis to Revelation There are a lot of facts around the
death of Christ that you and I must understand he died According
to the scriptures watch this Not only did he die according
to the scriptures that he was buried in And that he what? Rose again the third day, watch
this now, according to the Scriptures. Now Paul is speaking during that
period in which the New Testament had not been fully written or
canonized. So what Scriptures are he talking about? The Old
Testament Scriptures. Now, if I had to prove to people
the prophetic truth of Scripture concerning the person of Christ,
and the death of Christ, and the burial of Christ, and the
resurrection of Christ on the third day according to the Scripture,
where would I go in the Old Testament to affirm explicitly that Christ
would die, be buried, and raised again the third day? Are you
following me? See, that's why Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons
tie you all in knots when they come to your door, and you've
got to pull the cordons because you aren't ready to establish
those doctrines. where would I go to affirm the
bodily resurrection of Christ or affirm it on the third day? Go with me in your Bible to the
little book of Hosea. Hosea will teach us something.
I'm sorry, Amos, the book of Amos. It will speak to us on
this. It's a glorious concept. No, it is Hosea. Hosea chapter
six, a little bit in front of, uh, A little bit in front of Amos. Hosea chapter six, listen to
this language. It's an interesting concept,
but verses one and two allude to the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Are you there? Hosea chapter
six, verse one and two. Come and let us return unto the
Lord. Isn't that a good proposition?
For he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and
he will bind us up. Do you know it's something about
coming to know when you realize that you are in trouble with
God, that he was the one that tore you up in order to heal
you? See, the person talking in verse
1 is already operating by faith. He's already acknowledging that
the sin has reaped in his life the consequences from the hand
of God, and the very God that would send him to hell is the
God he's got to go to to get recovery. Isn't that faith? I
know he whipped me, but he'll heal me too. Let me get back
to him. Now watch this. Come and let us return unto the
Lord, for he hath torn, he will heal us, he hath smitten, and
he will bind us up. Now what is the confidence of
the recovery and reconciliation of which our elder talked about
this morning, and the whole restoration of the sinner who comes to Christ?
What is the confidence? It's verse 2. Watch this. After
two days will he revive us. In the third day he will raise
us up and we shall live in his sight. Do you see that? Do you
know what the Holy Ghost was doing? The Spirit of God was
taking the resurrection of Christ on the third day and tying it
to the resurrection of everybody that believes in him. And the
believer is here viewed as rightly understanding their union with
Christ in His resurrection when He was raised again on the third
day 2,000 years ago. Isn't that amazing? See, when
you have a proper understanding of the Gospel, here's what you
know. Everything that Christ is, you are in Him. that when
Christ died on Calvary Street, you died on Calvary Street. When
Christ was buried, you were buried. When Christ was raised, what?
You were raised too. If that's true, you can hurry
up and get back to God, right? Because we understand the implications
of His atonement. What a joyful passage. Go to
one more, Isaiah chapter 26. Not only here are the people
of God, by the Spirit of God speaking in terms of the confidence
they have in Christ, because of his resurrection and their
union with him in it, but in Isaiah chapter 26, and we've
quoted it before, but I want our friends and loved ones who
are here for the first time to see it with their own eyes. Isaiah
chapter 26, 19, Christ is here speaking by the spirit of his
own resurrection and his joyful bringing his people with him. In Isaiah chapter 26, listen
to this language. Watch this now, verse 19, thy
dead men shall live together with my dead body, shall they
what? Arise! Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust, for your due is as the dew of the herbs, and
the earth shall cast out the dead. Do you see that? The Spirit
of Christ is saying, because I've risen, you also shall rise. You also shall rise. We'll get
a chance to develop that here. But this is Christ speaking in
great confidence that his resurrection is the cornerstone of the resurrection
of everyone that believes in him. Verse 20. Come, my people,
Enter thou into your chambers and shut your door about thee
hide yourself as it were for a little moment until the indignation
be Overpassed for behold the Lord comes out of his place to
punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity The
earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no no more cover
her sin her slang God is speaking to the judgment of the world
and yet he tells the believer just wait a minute for you who
trust Christ It's gonna be alright Going back into our second point,
we heard this as well. In your outline, the resurrection
of Christ is the proof of my justification. Romans chapter
4. I just want you to see this.
Why is it important for the believer to be fully acquainted with the
doctrine of the resurrection? because every other salient and
important biblical truth that makes you and I hope for glory
is connected to it. Every other very important saving
biblical truth of which you and I rejoice and hope in is connected
to Christ's resurrection. If Christ did not rise again
from the dead, you and I wouldn't know anything about the forgiveness
of sins. We wouldn't know anything about
God's reconciling grace. If Christ had not risen from
the dead, you would still be walking in alienation towards
God, in a state of hostility towards God, blinded and ignorant
as God's enemy. If it wasn't for the resurrection
of Christ, there wouldn't be anything called faith and hope
and rejoicing and repentance. and working and serving the Lord,
you wouldn't know the blessing of the gospel as it pours into
your life and gives you confidence toward God if it wasn't for the
resurrection of Christ. So here's what we teach. It is
essential that the Christian acknowledge and plainly declare
that Christ rose again from the dead bodily. For in Christ rising
from the dead bodily, we have the proof that you and I who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have been justified from everything
from which we could never be justified by the law of God.
Look at verse 24. But for us also, To whom it shall
be imputed. What's the subject? Righteousness.
Verse 22. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Not Abraham only, but us. If
we believe on him, watch this, that raised up Jesus our Lord
from the dead. Watch verse 25. It was spoken
about this morning. He was delivered for our what? We talked about that on Friday.
Seven reasons why he couldn't come down off that cross. He
was delivered for our offenses. What a God, what a God to take
your sin and place them on Christ and lead his holy son to Calvary
to be stretched out between heaven and earth and pour out all his
wrath on him in order to justify your guilty soul so that you
can be his for all eternity. I'm talking about those who are
God's elect. I'm talking about those who believe
God, you who trust God. This is what God did for you.
He took your sin and he put it on Christ and he led Christ to
Golgotha and he caused Christ to be the object of his wrath
and fury because of your sin. And then they took him down that
night, Joseph of Arimathea, as we talked about. and brother
Nicodemus, two Pharisees who lost their job that night. And
they buried him in a brand new borrowed tomb that a rich man
purchased because the Holy Ghost moved him to do it so Jesus could
fulfill scripture. And on the third day, early Sunday
morning, our master rose again with all power in his hand, from
which he gave his commission to his disciples that they would
wait for the empowerment of the third person who would be given
to them in order for the gospel to be successful in all the world
for now 2,000 years. Many of us in this room today
have felt the power of the gospel, have we not? It has gotten a
hold of our heart. It has illuminated our mind.
It has grabbed a hold of our affections and we can't even
believe it. We can't believe that. It's too good to believe. Good
to believe I'm still teaching myself now you you mean I'm you
mean God saved me like that The doctrine of justification
and Substitution is the most essential doctrine in the scriptures
for Christ could have did all that he did But if he didn't
do it for you, you're still going to hell. Am I making some sense? so if you're a dummy like me
and you can you can hold two words in a jar two words and
I'm gonna help you now, you ready? Because you know, after we get
past three or four words, we get to, you know, shake it. But
if you can hold two words together, watch this, for me. For me. If you can hold those
two words together, for me. Now you understand the relevance
of the gospel. He did it for me. Watch it. Here's what he says.
He was delivered for our offenses, right? And he was raised again,
what? For our what? Justification. How do I know that God has freely
forgiven me, justified me in the sight of God, imputed his
righteousness to me so that I stand before God in a perfect, permanent,
eternal state of acceptance and righteousness? It's because of
Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection. Him having risen again, and born
record to over 500 brethren who have lived and suffered for that
testimony to even bring it to us in the scriptures tells me
this is the proof that I have that I'm justified before God.
Do you see this? This is the record that God gave of his son. And because I believe this record,
I have the witness in myself. I know that I'm righteous before
God because Christ rose again from the dead. This is important
for you to know. We are justified from all things
based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our proof positive
that we are accepted with God. Oh, the man or the woman that
believes the gospel, has every confidence in the world that
they will not only have been justified now in time, but they
will be justified in the future. Watch this. For us who believe
the resurrection of Christ was not merely a death, but a judgment,
a work of redemption, which wrought our justification before God
on the grounds of justice satisfied, Christ is given to us from God
as our propitiation. for us who believe the resurrection
of Christ was not merely a death, but a judgment, a work of redemption,
which wrought our justification before God on the grounds of
justice satisfied. I'm really quoting Romans chapter
three, verses 23 through 25. Watch this now. When God had
his justice satisfied by the death of Christ on Calvary, you
know what God did? He gave Christ to me as a propitiation. In other words, God was gracious
enough to provide for me the means by which he would reconcile
me. Our elders said it earlier today.
You know, folks talk about making peace with God. You can't make
peace with God. What are you going to bring to
God to make peace with God for? Do you understand everything
you do by nature is repugnant to God? God has to make peace
with you. And the Bible tells us he did.
Christ by his blood have made peace between us and God. Here's
the glory of the gospel. Everything that was necessary
for a man to be made right with God, brought into his presence,
accepted, God did it all. God did it all. God, he was glorious
this morning as he talked about our king and our priest. In the
new covenant of grace, Christ is our king, but Christ is our
priest too, isn't he? You know you in good shape when
your God is sovereign and he's called king of kings. and Lord
of Lords. Aren't you in good shape? But
you're also in good shape when that king is also your high priest. Isn't he covering the bases?
Oh, but it's even more glorious because your high priest, who
is also your king, is also your sacrifice. Amazing love. Amazing love that the high priest
knows every time he offers the sacrifice, it will be accepted
because he's the one who is the sacrifice on the behalf of his
people. Isn't that glorious? And then he offers it to you
and me in the proposition of the gospel to let us know that
God hath made propitiation, satisfaction for our sins through the death
of Christ. And the evidence is that he raised
him again from the dead. Do you know by the time you come
to know God in the truth, all the work is done? Did you know
that? Did you know that? And nothing
for you to do but believe. Nothing for you to do but believe. Nothing for you to do but believe
it. It's not a good God come to you with the whole package
Come to you with the whole package. So here's what we preach we preach
the necessity of explaining and proving from the scriptures the
physical resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Necessary evidence
that God has justified us freely by his grace thirdly Remember
I told you the only thing you do when you hear the gospel preach
is to what believe it Ah, but I must help you understand that
where that believing comes from is also connected to the resurrection
of Christ. Go with me in your Bible to 2
Peter 1. I'll show you something. In 2
Peter 1, here's the proposition now. When the gospel comes concerning
this great news of the death, burial, and resurrection of the
God-man Jesus Christ to your soul, when it comes to your soul
and you find yourself just in jubilation about the prospect
of God having forgiven your sins. What you also must come to learn
is that your believing the gospel is a direct consequence and fruit
of the atoning work of Jesus. In other words, you can't believe
the gospel apart from Christ having actually accomplished
eternal redemption. It's part of the blessing. Are
you hearing me? Now watch this. Here's the importance
of that. Faith is the substance of things
what? And the evidence of what? Things not seen. You weren't
there 2,000 years ago. You didn't see it. You hope in
it in terms of all of its blessings and its promises even now and
in the future, don't you? But watch this. According to
Paul's argument, his logical syllogistic argument of 1 Corinthians
15, if you and I are believing in a hoax, If we're believing
in a lie, if we're saying that Christ rose from the dead, but
he really didn't rise from the dead, watch this, your faith
is in vain and you are still in your sins. Are you hearing
me? Watch this then, faith, believing
on Christ is a fruit and consequence of his death, burial and resurrection.
Those who truly believe, believe because he actually rose again
from the dead. It's therefore for your comfort
that you have discovered that you are believing the gospel
That allows you to see the testimony of scripture and know this know
this That had christ not risen from the dead. I wouldn't even
have the faith to believe on him Watch this now. This is what
second peter chapter one says simon peter a servant and an
apostle of jesus christ to them that have obtained Now I want
you to mark this now, like precious faith. Do you see that phrase?
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
speaking to those he's targeting as his audience, people who have
like precious faith. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Watch this now. That faith is precious. It's
precious to God. Watch this. It's precious to
God's Son. It's precious to the Holy Ghost.
The cost in order to purchase that precious faith was the death
of Christ. It was the love of God the Father. It was the work of God the Spirit
to bring that faith to your life. It's a precious faith, isn't
it? It's precious. Now watch this. It's not only
precious to you, it's precious to every believer who ever heard
the Gospel from the beginning of time to now. What makes us
all one is the like precious faith. Are you hearing me? Our
faith is the same because the object of our faith is the same.
Our faith is the same because the source of our faith is the
same. Our faith is the same because
the methodology by which it's communicated to us is the same.
We'll get to that in a moment. But we have a like precious faith. Tell me something, you know how
it is when you go throughout the world, it doesn't matter
where you go, and you run across real authentic believers. you
talk for five minutes and it's as if you've known each other
all your life. Am I telling it true? Now they
might, physically they may not look like you, like they're from
a totally different planet, right? But because of the deposit of
faith in the soul and the ability for us to articulate that faith,
we immediately sense a kinship and a brotherhood with them because
the faith that we have in the resurrected Christ is precious.
precious it's so precious it makes real enemies friends it's
so precious it will take hostile nations and reconcile them the
faith of Christ is precious to the believer because it makes
us truly one with him and truly one with one another but it was
based upon this reality watch this to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us how Lord through the righteousness
of God our Savior Jesus Christ. Do you see that phrase? How did
we obtain this faith by which we all hope in the glory of God?
By the personal, intrinsic, and demonstrative righteousness of
God in Christ. By the active and passive obedience
of Jesus Christ by the God-man who lived and died in perfect
obedience to his father by the God-man who rose again from the
dead and Now is seated in heavenly places ruling over all things
to the glory of his father and the salvation of sinners you
and I have obtained the faith that we have because of the righteousness
of Christ and I want us to understand therefore then that not any kind
of faith saves. I heard a preacher say this the
other day. Well you know you had your faith in your money
and you had your faith in cars and you had your faith in your
fame. Now just take that faith and place it in Christ and you'll
be alright. Here's what I want to say. Don't you do nothing
with that faith. That faith won't get it. See
you don't just shift from believing one thing to believing another.
That kind of faith must be thrown in the Donghe as refuge and part
of the rebellion with which you lived against God. You need a
brand new faith. You need a faith connected to
the work of Christ. You need a faith given to you
by the power of the Spirit of God. You need a faith that comes
from the Christ that you are seeking to deliver you from.
Am I making some sense? That's the faith we need. And
therefore, if you don't have that faith, ladies and gentlemen,
all you do is ask for it. If you don't have faith in Christ,
and some of you don't, just simply ask for it. You'll be surprised
at this statement. Are you ready? You'll be surprised
at this. You have not because you don't
ask. Here, I guarantee you, you won't
stand before God in glory and be wrestling with the great judge
telling him, I was asking you and asking you and asking you
for faith and you never gave it to me. You will never accuse
God of not giving you what you asked for. It only follows them brother
roger if people perish in hell is because they didn't ask to
be saved Am I making some sense? so then understand then the cause
of our believing Is the resurrection of christ. It's a gift given
by god as a reward of christ glorious work of righteousness
on calvary street fourthly fourthly Why do we believe in the resurrection?
because the resurrection of Christ is the actual resurrection of
every believer. You know there was a day when
you were dead. In gospel churches we are quick
to let you know the rock from which you were hewn and the pit
from which you were dug. Because you know you can get
high and mighty after a few years in Christianity and forget that
God had to save you. He had to save your ugly butt.
Go with me in your Bible to Ephesians 2. Let me help you with this. I want you to go to Ephesians
2. No, yeah. See, look here. God's
not gonna let you, especially his children, steal his glory.
You understand that? You didn't create the family.
God created the family. And last time I learned, no child
of his own volition and by his own act ends up in the family.
There are some other people by their mutual constituent act
and will produce the children of the family. Am I making some
sense? So when you discover that you are in the family, listen
to me, it was the act and power and purpose of the will of somebody
else. You better get a hold of that.
How'd you end up in the family? God did it. God did it. You know how my mom and daddy
did it? I'm here live now. God did it. Except you be born
again. You will not enter into the kingdom
of heaven and and being born again Is what's necessary for
us to manifest faith in God the Ephesian writer put it like this
in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 I know you heard
it before but hear it again you Pastor who's that talking about
you? Who were dead in trespasses and
sins Do you guys remember those years? They were horrible, dark,
dark, dark, dark times. They were horrible, dark times.
Weren't they? Without God in the world, without
the promises of God, without the covenant of God, without
the blessing of God, without the favor of God, without the
knowledge of God, we were under the wrath of God. We were under
the wrath of God. I don't ever want to experience
that ever again. But you, who are dead in trespasses
and sins. Where in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. How do I know I'm dead
in trespasses and sin? You love this world system. You're
a child of this world system. Please understand that. You are
a child of this world system. This world system jazzes you.
It makes you feel good. You have your confidence in it.
You bow down and worship at the idol of this world system. You
don't understand what's all of the fuss about among authentic
Christians who are seeking every day to extricate themselves from
the influence of this world system, because you love it. That's how
you know you're dead in trespasses and sins. Please understand that. When God has quickened you, quickened
you, as the text will teach, quickened you from your dead
state, you are now at war with this world system. That's how
you know you're born again. That's how you know. Listen to
the language. We're in time as you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air that works presently in the life of those who are
children of disobedience. Among also we had our conversation
in time past in the lust of our flesh. Remember that? Fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Do you remember
that? And we were just like all the rest of the people of the
world. Had to correct her sister. She almost did it on Thursday
night in our women's theology class bless her heart But Christians
will get stupid enough to think that God saved you Because you
were just a little bit better than somebody else Now where's the proof of that
No Christians will think now listen to me they will think
that You know, I got a brother and man, my brother is just,
man, he's just a knucklehead. I mean, he's just a bona fide,
thick knucklehead. See right there, your self-righteousness
is betraying you, isn't it? And I, you know, I, you know,
God has to really work hard on him, but God didn't have to work
that hard on me. See, cause I, you know, I'm a little bit more
reasonable and more thoughtful. I'm more thoughtful. You know,
God, you know, I'm just a little bit different. You know what
the text says? You were a child of wrath just like everybody
else. When God sees the whole spectrum
of humanity, he doesn't see brilliant people and dumb people and smart
people and wise people and slick people. He sees a bunch of hell-bound
sinners under his wrath. And in fact, you know how he
sees us? Dead. Dead. Dead. Now, come on now. you take a walk to the morgue
and you go inside and there are 20 caskets there open with all
kinds of dead bodies in them, right? And you have the audacity
to say that one dead cadaver looks better than another dead
cadaver. And one looks more like they
could get up out of that casket and start living again than the
other dead cadaver. Isn't that ludicrous thinking?
One smells better. She's got on better clothes.
You know, they made her look just like she's alive. Don't
you hear that? Well, she looks so alive. You're lying. She don't
look alive at all. She don't. Yeah. She looks so
real, so alive. Now watch this. Every one of
us outside of Christ is a dead carcass. And we stink. We stink. See, we love to put
on facades and lie to people about how good they look. No! In God's sight, you're dead.
Dead! Dead! Without life. Without life. Are you with me so far? You got
PhDs, you got masters, you got degrees. You've accomplished
all sorts of things. You have skills out of this world. You can entertain, you can retain
the thoughts of people, you can mesmerize people, you can sway
whole groups of people, tens of thousands of people, but you're
still dead. Dead. Dead. And so far as God is concerned,
we are all the same. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, Did he wait till
we wake up? Did he stand outside those coffins
and wait till we got out of the coffin to love us? Or did he
love us while we were laying in those dead coffins ready to
head to hell? Are you with me? God loved us
while we were dead. While we were dead, he loved
us. He loved us. Listen to it. He
loved us and he quickened us together with Christ. Verse 5,
even when we were dead in sins have quickened us together with
Christ. Watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
By grace are you saved. Do you believe that? and hath
raised us up together and made us sit in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. Go with me in your Bible to Ezekiel 37. I got a
few more verses to look at and I just want you to see this.
Ezekiel 37. Just in case you forgot how God saved you, I want
you to see this. Ezekiel 37. Just in case you
forgot what the purpose of the resurrection is all about, I
want you to see this. I want you to appreciate why
we must look at the doctrine of the resurrection every year.
Because if you are a believer, right along with the man that's
preaching to you, you struggle with death every day. You struggle
with death that's in front of you, and then you struggle with
the death that's inside of you. There is still a bunch of death
inside of me. I believe what the old theologians
say. When once we are born again,
we are both righteous and sinful at the same time. Isn't that
a motley crew? Isn't that a wild thing? Watch
this. On the one side, I smell good.
On the other side, I smell bad. On the one side, there's a savor
of life. On the other side, there's a stench of death. And some days
the stench of death bothers me to no end. But I thank God for
the savor of life that allows me to worship and seek God in
spite of the stench of death, don't you? All that tells me
is that I am waiting for Christ to return to deliver me from
this body of death. And so I'm called to a struggle.
But before the struggle came, which is the evidence of life,
I was dead and you were dead. I'm gonna read the verses give
some commentary on it and help you understand what happened
when God saved you What happened when God saved you? How is it
that the believers say what takes place when the believers say?
Ezekiel understood some of this verse 1 of chapter 37 the hand
of the Lord was upon me Carried me out in the spirit of the Lord
set me down in the midst of the valley Which was full of bones
Do you guys see that? Now the valley full of bones
historically in the context is the whole nation of Israel, but
in the larger redemptive and biblical sense, it's the whole
human race. All of us are dead in trespasses and sin. We are
in a valley from the days of Adam to this present hour. Listen
to what Ezekiel says, And God caused me to pass by them round
about. And behold, there were very many
in the open valley low they were what very dry the seer the prophet
was moved by the Spirit of God to pay careful and attention
to an investigation of the true condition of every body in this
valley and he says not only were they dead they were very dry
you know what that means no moisture in it whatsoever no possibility
of life in fact they were dead for a long time And he said unto
me, son of man, can these bones live? And he said, oh, yeah,
Lord, all we have to do is get him to make a decision for Jesus. If you play just as I am without
one plea. And get him moving up to the
front of the altar. We can make him alive. Is that what the preacher
said? Now watch this now, the preacher
said, when God said, can these bones
live? And he said, I answered, oh Lord,
only you know. Do you see that? Only you know. My, how different religion was
in those days among the true prophets compared to the day
when everybody can get anybody saved anytime they want to. Isn't
that amazing? Do you know what the preacher
said here? Only you know whether or not an individual can be brought
to life You know what? We call that the sovereign grace
of God who chooses to save people how he will and When he will
in order that he might get the glory when he does You understand
what I'm saying? We abandon all methodology of
salvation. We abandon all human techniques
of salvation. I We resist all temptation to
try to woo people to make a decision for Jesus because we know that
means nothing in the eternal perspective. Only God can make
you alive again. Only God can raise the dead. Only God can quicken the soul.
Only God can make you say yes to Jesus. And you haven't said
yes to Jesus because I made you say yes to Jesus. You can tell
it by the way you live after you left the altar. Listen to
it. He says in verse four, and again,
he said unto me, prophesy unto these bones and say unto them,
oh, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Now, you know, that
would offend people today. If I sent our brothers out going
to witness and when you knock on the door and the people open
the door, first thing you say to them, oh, dry bones. Oh, dry bones. According to Joe Osteen, that
wouldn't be nice. That wouldn't be nice. Oh dry, but God told
Ezekiel to say to the dead bones, oh dry bones. Now isn't that ludicrous? Isn't
that stupid? Isn't that imbecilic? Isn't that
moronic? Isn't that the way we preach
the gospel? Isn't that the foolishness of
preaching? Doesn't it take faith to believe God knowing that men's
condition is that they are dead and we still talk to them? Doesn't
it require an understanding of the source of salvation for us
to open our mouth to dead men and say to them whatever God
says say? Listen, if God told me to tell
you all dry bones, I'd tell you that every day of your life.
Are you hearing me? Because that truly is our condition
until God enters in. Listen to it. And again, he said
prophesying to these bones, saying to them, oh, you dry bones, hear
the word of the Lord. Thus said the Lord God unto these
bones behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall
live in that good In that good watch this I will lay sin upon
you and I will bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and
put breath in you and you Shall live now watch this and when
I do all these things you will know that I am Jehovah Do you
understand that when God saves you, He lets you know it? And
when you're saved, you know God did it? Isn't that good? Verse 7, So I prophesied as I
was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was
a noise and behold, a shaking and the bones came together,
bone to his bone. And when I beheld, Lo, the sinew
and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above,
but there was no what? Breath, no life, no ruach, no
spirit in them. Then said He unto me, Prophesy
unto the what? Prophesy, son of man, and say
unto the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may
what? Live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood upon
their feet an exceeding great army. There's three things I
want you to get out of these 10 verses. If men are going to
live again, if they're going to rise again, if they're going
to experience a resurrection of the soul, it's three things
that must take place. Their first must be the preaching
of the gospel. God must send a preacher. Men must preach God's Word. Secondly, it must be His Word
that's preached. He must preach the Word of God
as God called Him to preach the Word of God. Faith only comes
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You are not saved
by stories. You are not saved by anecdotes.
You are not saved by entertainment. I'm sorry, you're not even saved
by songs. What saves a sinner is the preaching
of the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What God uses to
quicken souls and raise the dead and open the mind is the preaching
of Christ. The preaching of the person and
work of Jesus Christ. It changes your life. It raises you from the dead.
It gives you an eternal perspective. But on top of that preaching,
it must be assisted. by the Spirit of God. God must be in it. The Spirit
of God must be in it. The Spirit of Christ must work
through the preaching, must He not? So we don't preach one time. We preach again and again and
again and again, day in and day out, asking God to send His Spirit
behind His Word to raise the dead, for only God can do it. Only God can do it. Now listen
to me, ladies and gentlemen. When the Spirit of God raises
you from the dead, there is a demonstrative change. You were prostrate down
on the ground in a spiritually dead condition. And when God
raised you from the dead, you stood up. A great army before
the Lord. Breath in you. joined with the
rest of the body of Christ, a great army of believers. Am I making
some sense? I'm part of the army. I'm part
of the family. I'm part of the body. I'm part
of the church of the living God, who is the body of the head that
was raised from the dead. See, because he lives, we also
shall live. Because he lives, we are already
alive. Because he lives, we will ultimately
live again. I'll bring you to my last and
final point. The resurrection of all men on the final day.
Go with me in your Bible to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. In the Gospel of John, Jesus
makes it very plain there's a day coming. I alluded to it when
he spoke about the trumpet. In John chapter 5, the Gospel
is very clear that there's a day coming. It's an ominous day.
for some and it's a joyful day for others. Listen to the reading. We often read this at funerals,
but this is a good time to hear it again. I'm going to read verses
25 through 28. Verily, I'm sorry, verse 24 through
28. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation. Isn't that a good
word? and is passed from death unto life, all from hearing God's
word. Verse 25, truly, truly, I say
unto you, the hour is coming, watch this, and now is when the
dead, who is that pastor? That's me, shall hear the voice
of the son of God. How? Through the gospel. And
they that hear shall what? Live. For as the father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself.
And he had given him authority to execute judgment also because
he's the son of man. Verse 27 tells us Jesus is the
one saving people now and he's going to be the judge on the
last day. Do you guys get that? This is what we said earlier.
Your judge is your savior. Your judge is your savior. The judge that's going to judge
the human race on the last day is the one saving people now
through the preaching of the gospel. Do you know you're coming
under judgment? Mark this. Well, the judge is
the Savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Trust Christ as your only hope for glory. For if you stand before
Him on the last day, having not bowed the knee to Christ today,
your judge is going to send you hell this we will explain more
fully as we get back to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man listen
to the language verse 28 marvel not at this for the hour is coming
in which all that are in the white that's easy yo 37 right
shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done
good and unto the resurrection of life. They that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Do you see it? Christ
plainly declares there's a day coming in which every one of
us will be raised up bodily, reunited with our soul to stand
before the great judge. And if you and I haven't been
born again at this time in this lifetime, you will be in that
judgment. you've been born again if you
have received Christ as your Lord and Savior if you've come
to know the power and glory of the gospel you will be in that
judgment as well only as a judge with Christ against the world
who has rejected the gospel that saved you of which you now preach
to others you preach to others that there's only one man and
that can safely bring you into the favor of God. That one man
is the only person who lived a perfectly righteous life. In fact, the Bible tells us he's
the only righteous one in the world. That man died on Calvary's
tree, fully satisfying all of God's demands. And when he rose
again on the third day, he proved it. He sits in glory now as Lord
and Christ over every human being. He's the one you must come to,
must bow the knee, must believe, must trust, must hope in, in
order for you to escape a just judgment that's due you and me
because of our sin. If you and I should trust Him
today, this whole idea of the resurrection not only is a wonderful
doctrine to embrace and believe, but it becomes our hope, doesn't
it? It becomes our hope. It becomes our hope because we're
one with Him and we want to be with Him. And more than that,
we want to be like Him, don't we? This is the glory of the
doctrine of the resurrection. Amen.