Paul says to the governor, Felix, they cannot prove the things
that they're accusing me of. There's no ground to them. But
I will admit to this. This is the issue. Verse 21,
except it be for this one voice that I cried standing among them.
touching the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question
by you this day. This is the issue. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. This was the issue then. This
is the issue now. And I am persuaded that I don't
think about this enough and I don't preach with regard to this enough. It would be impossible to preach
enough on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now look what he said in chapter
23, verse six. When Paul perceived that the
one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out
in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am called into
question. In chapter 24, verses 14 and
15. But this, I confess unto thee
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I, the
God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward God, which
they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Look in chapter
26, verse eight, he says to Agrippa, Why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Everyone knows that God created
the universe and he created the universe from nothing. Everyone
knows that. Now I realize some people have
Turned the lights off and denied that, but everybody begins knowing
that. Somebody made this and nobody made him. We're all born
with that knowledge intuitively. Now, if God can raise one, I
mean, if God can create the universe from nothing, why would it be
thought impossible that he should raise the dead? Now the gospel is founded upon
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He died. All functions of life ceased. This is part of the great mystery
of our glorious holy gospel. He died and he was raised from
the dead. What happened during those three
days that he was dead? I have no idea, but he did die
and he was raised from the dead. Peter said in first Peter one,
three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again
unto a lively or a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. We have a living hope because
he lives. Let me repeat that. We have a
living hope because he lives. I am he that liveth and was dead
and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. He lives and my eternal destiny
and your eternal destiny is up to him. He has the keys of hell
and death. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. That's why I love when Peter
said in first Peter chapter three, verse 21, he spoke of the answer
of a good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now, you know what a good conscience
is? A good conscience is a conscience that has absolutely nothing to
feel guilty about. And that's a good conscience.
Somebody says, well, I don't feel guilty. You've got a seared
conscience. That's what you got. That's not
a good conscience. A good conscience is a conscience
that has absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. And that is accomplished by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. When he was raised
from the dead, anything that I had any reason to feel guilty
about, which is a lot, was blotted out and put away. And I now stand
before God with no guilt. And that comes by the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Now let's consider
what the Bible teaches regarding the resurrection of the dead. And here's something that I think
is remarkable. It's always been taught. Turn with me to Mark
chapter 12. The Lord was speaking to some
Sadducees who denied the resurrection and they tried to trick Him with
that story about the man who had seven lives and Uh, all the
seven men who all had one wife, there were brothers and they
all died. And they said, whose wife is
she going to be in the resurrection? They thought they'd stumped the
Lord, which shows how stupid they were and thinking they could
stump, um, omniscience, but listen to his answer to them. Verse
24 and Jesus answering said unto them, do you not therefore air? because you know not the scriptures,
neither the power of God." Now, I like to think of what they
were thinking about when the Lord talked to them that way.
They thought they were authorities on the scriptures. He said, you
err. You don't know the scriptures
and you don't know the power of God. Four, when they shall
rise from the dead, spoken as a fact, when they shall rise
from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but
are as the angels which are in heaven." You and the resurrection,
there will not be these family relationships. Those things will
be things of the past. We'll be as the angels of God,
one big family. There won't be families. There
will be one family in the resurrection of the dead. Now look at what
our Lord used to teach the resurrection of the dead. And I would have
never reading this. I would have never come up with
this. I would have never thought that must teach the resurrection
that this is what the Lord uses to teach the resurrection. And
as touching the dead that they rise, have you not read in the
book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him saying, I
am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He's not the God of the dead,
but the God of the living. These men I'm speaking of live. He's the God of the living. You therefore do greatly err. Now, like I said, I wouldn't
have read that and thought, well, that's teaching the resurrection.
That shows how deep the scriptures are, and there's so much in the
scriptures if the Lord would just teach us or depend it upon
him. In the oldest book in the Bible,
Job said, I know that my Redeemer, He redeemed me by His life, by
His death. I know my Redeemer liveth. And that He shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin, worms
destroy this body, I'm in right now. Same thing's gonna happen
to me, same thing's gonna happen to you. Worms will destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Although I will die, yet
in my flesh will I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine
eye shall behold, and not another. And this is what John is speaking
of. when he says, we shall see him as he is. Not right now,
but we shall see him as he is. Now, the resurrection is actually
taught in the opening lines of the Bible. Darkness covered the
face of the deep. That speaks of lifelessness and
death. And the spirit of God moved on
the face of the waters. And God said, light be. And light was. Now we see in
this opening verse of the Bible, the resurrection of Christ, the
spirit of God, raising him up, We see dead sinners raised to
life by the Spirit of God. We see the final resurrection
taught in the very opening verses of Holy Scripture. The gospel ministry is summarized,
like we saw this morning, as witnesses of His resurrection. And every believer is a witness
of His resurrection. resurrection. We know the living
Christ and that is why we are witnesses of His resurrection.
Now the resurrection of Christ is eternal. Now I quote this
scripture so often and I haven't begun to plumb the depths of
it, never will, but when Christ is called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, He's also the Lamb raised from
the foundation of the world, isn't He? He didn't stay dead
in eternity. He's the lamb raised from the
foundation of the world. And when Paul tells us that we
are chosen in him before the foundation of the world, we were
chosen in the lamb slain and in the lamb raised from the foundation
of the world and my standing before God throughout eternity
has always been in the Lamb slain and the Lamb raised from the
foundation of the world. He saved us and He called us. He saved us in the Lamb slain
and He called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which were
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's what Paul
called in Ephesians 3, 11, the eternal purpose. He purposed
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And you think how prominent His
resurrection was in the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. in
John chapter two, where he made a whip. And he went into the temple and
somebody says, did he really hit those people? I believe he
did. I don't believe this was just
a show of power. He came into the temple to drive
out those people who were using religion to make money. He was
driving out the money changers. That's what the scripture says.
said, give us some sign that makes you think you have the
right to do this. He said, destroy this temple. And in three days,
I'll raise it up. John said, we didn't know what
he was talking about then, but we do now. He was speaking of
his resurrection. Turn to John chapter 11. And
this is so important for us to really understand the resurrection
of Christ. John chapter 11. The Lord is speaking concerning
Lazarus. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
I've got my doctrine straight on that. I understand that that
is an event that will take place on the last day. Jesus said unto
her, I am the resurrection. The resurrection is not an event.
I am the resurrection. When I'm raised from the dead,
All of my people are raised from the dead. The resurrection of
Christ is not so much an event. It's an eternal. Yes, it happened
physically at one time, but he said, I am the resurrection and
the life. He that believeth in me, Though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? I know you
have your facts correct concerning the final resurrection, but do
you believe that I myself am the resurrection? On at least
three different occasions, he told his disciples he would be
raised from the dead, won the very night before he was betrayed.
I mean, his enemies knew it. Do you remember how, after he
was dead, the Pharisees came and said, this deceiver, while
he lives, said, I'm going to rise the third day? They knew
it. And he told them the very night before he was betrayed
that he would be raised from the dead. He says in Mark 14,
27 and 28, you shall all be offended because of me this night. But
after that, I am risen from the dead. I will go before you into
Galilee. And then after his resurrection,
in Mark chapter 16, verses six and seven, the angels said to
the disciples, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified,
he is risen. He is not here, come see the
place where they laid him, but go your way and tell his disciples,
and Peter, the one who denied him, make sure you tell Peter,
that he goeth before you into Galilee, and you shall see him
as he said to you. He told you this would take place. Look in Luke chapter 24. Verse 45, then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. I
pray he does that for me and you, don't you? You and I will
not understand the scriptures except he opens our understanding. And he said unto them, thus it
is written and thus it behooved. It was necessary for Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. This is what has
always been taught in the scriptures. I love what the thief said. You
know, the thief, I know that he didn't hear any teaching with
regard to the resurrection. And here is the, this is, the
thief knew everything because he knew the Lord. He knew who
he was. And that's why he knew, you're
not gonna stay on that cross. You're not gonna stay dead. You're
gonna come back as a mighty reigning king. How did he know that? Because he knew who he was. If
you know who he is, you know everything. You know everything
because you know who he is. The thief knew that he couldn't
stay dead, but that he would come back as a mighty reigning
king. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Look in Acts chapter two. This
is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. Verse 23, him being
delivered, By the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
whom God hath raised up, having loose the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, And he quotes Psalm 16, I foresaw the Lord
always before my face for he's on my right hand that I should
not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was
glad moreover also my flesh a rest and hope because that will not
leave my soul in hell. Neither will thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made me to know the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now, men and brethren, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both
dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us until this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, And knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him that at the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this
before he saw all of this, he knew exactly what he was saying.
He would, he didn't think, well, this, I know I'm not sure what
I'm saying. He knew he was giving a prophecy
concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, seeing
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ. He knew exactly what
he was saying. When the writer to the Hebrews
names the first principles of the gospel, you'll remember there
in Hebrews 6 too, repentance from dead works, faith toward
God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, and the resurrection
of the dead. Now that's speaking of Christ's
resurrection, spiritual resurrection, the final resurrection, but it
is essential in gospel preaching, the resurrection of the dead. Now the longest chapter in the
epistles of Paul is 1 Corinthians 15, and there he deals with the
resurrection. Would you turn with me there?
I'd like you to look at this with me. First Corinthians 15. Now when
he declares the gospel, he says in verse one, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel. And what I love about this passage
of scripture, and this is something we ought to study very earnestly,
because in this passage of scripture, Paul doesn't end this thought
until verse 25. Every verse begins with a conjunction. The thought is not over when
he says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. The thought is not over until
verse 25, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under
his feet. Now, every verse begins with
a conjunction. So the declaration of the gospel
is found in these first 25 verses. And look what he says. In verse
three, for I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. Now, when preachers try to make
that, you need to believe the physical facts. You know, he
lived, died, and buried, was raised from the dead. Listen,
it means infinitely more than that. It's not just talking about
the historical facts. It's talking about what this
means, that he lived, that he died according to the scriptures,
that he was buried and was raised from the dead according to the
scriptures. Now look in verse 12 of this
same chapter. Now, if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, How say some among you that there is
no resurrection of the dead? Now that was going on in the
church of Corinth. There was all kinds of bad stuff
going on in the church of Corinth. That's one of them. And he's
confronting this issue. He says, how is it that you're
saying that there's no resurrection of the dead? Verse 13, but if
there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. Do you see the implications of
making a statement like that? And if Christ be not risen, our
preaching is vain. It's a complete waste of time.
And your faith is vain. It's not saving. Yea, and we're
found false witnesses of God, because we've testified of God
that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if it be that
the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is Christ not raised? And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins. What a horrible
place to be. Now, if Christ is raised from
the dead, you're not in your sins. But if he's not raised from the
dead, you're yet in your sins, verse 18, they also, which are
fallen asleep in Christ, are perished, they're in hell. If
in this only, if in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we're of all men most miserable, but now is Christ risen from
the dead. Your face not vain. You're not
in your sins. You're not a false witness. Now
is Christ raised from the dead. The whole gospel is in the resurrection. Listen to this scripture, 2 Timothy
2, verse eight. Remember how that Christ, remember
how that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from
the dead according to my gospel. Now, would to God, you and I
could think when he was raised from the dead, I was saved. Now I've saved before the foundation
of the world, but when he was raised from the dead, when he
opened his eyes, he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. When he was raised from the dead,
I was justified. Paul said, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Do you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus? Do you believe in your heart? That's where faith takes place,
in the heart. Do you believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead? Do you believe that God
was so satisfied with his sin payment, all sin was put away,
that God raised his son from the dead? Now that, my dear friends,
is the stuff of faith. Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, verse eight. Yay. Doubtless. I count all things, but loss,
but rubbish garbage. I count all things loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things. And here is how I consider those
things I lost. I do count them, but done that
I may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law. You know what my own righteousness
is? Filthy rags, filthy rags. It's what Isaiah called our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And Paul said, I don't want to
have anything to do with standing before God in my own righteousness. but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith, that
I may know him." Don't you know him, Paul? Yeah. That I may know him. This glorious, divine, person, the second person of
the Trinity, the one who upholds all things by the word of his
power, the brightness of God's glory and the express image of
his person, the heir of all things, that I might know him. Now there's one thing I want
more than to know him. You know what that is? I want
him to know me. I want him to know me. Where he would acknowledge,
he knows me. He knows me. I want him to know
me. And that's a scriptural sentiment
because Paul said in Galatians 4, nine, now that you've known
God or rather are known of God. That's what I must have. I need
to be known of God. I want him to know me, but I
want to know him. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. What could be more glorious than
knowing Him? Oh, that I might know Him. And
look at this next phrase. Oh, that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrection. Now, what's that mean, the power
of his resurrection? Because I know what religious
people will do with this. They'll say, I want to know the
power of his resurrected life in my life. I want this power. I want to tap into this power.
I want more power. And it's not what Paul meant
at all. That's just an exercise in the
flesh. What's he mean when he wants to know the power of his
resurrection? First of all, omnipotence raised
him from the dead. You see, resurrection from the
dead is something only God can do. It can't be duplicated in
a laboratory. You know, people tried to do
all kinds of things to save, it can't, only God. can raise
the dead. And the same power that created
the universe is what's used in the resurrection of the dead. This is the mighty power of God. But not only is it seeing his
omnipotence, what about the justifying power
of his resurrection? He was delivered for our offenses
And He was raised again for our justification. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who is He that condemns? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The justifying power
of his resurrection, the life-giving power of his resurrection. Now, here's the point I wanna
make. When did I live? Well, I lived when he gave me
life. I was dead in sins until he gave
me life. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. But the scripture also says we
were quickened together with Christ. When Christ was raised
from the dead, I was raised with him. I was raised with him. What almighty power. Look what Paul goes on to say
in this same passage of scripture. He says in verse 10, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Here's the believer's hope. I'm
gonna die. If the Lord doesn't come back
first, I'm gonna die. You're going to die. People will
mourn for a while, but if time goes on, nobody will remember
your name. Somebody might do some genealogy
studies and they might say, well, so-and-so lived this time and
died that time, but it won't mean any more than that. We're
going to die. But my dear friend, the trump
shall sound. And the dead shall be raised,
some to eternal life, some to damnation. The Lord talked about
the resurrection of damnation. But listen to this. This is every
believer's hope. I'm going to be raised from the
dead and I'm going to have a glorified body that does not sin. that beholds Christ as he is. And that was David's great hope
when he said in Psalm 17, 15, as for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. The Lord is risen. Why seek ye him that liveth among
the dead? Let's pray. Lord, how we earnestly long for
your return. And Lord, how we earnestly long
for the Trump sounding and the dead in Christ being raised incorruptible. What a blessed hope that when
we stand before you on judgment day, we will be perfectly conformed
to the image of your son and Just as you were so satisfied
with what He did that you raised Him from the dead, you will be
satisfied with us. And Lord, we're so satisfied
with that. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.