I want to just read verse 4. It doesn't mention who this is speaking
of here in this verse, but I almost imagine that everybody will know
who this pertains to. and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. He rose again. That's the title this morning
of our lesson, of our study. He rose again. He rose again. It's been the theme of the worship
so far this day, hasn't it? He rose again. Well, here in
verse 3, we're told specifically that Jesus Christ died. That's
a scriptural truth. For I delivered unto you first
of all which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins. He died. That's a scriptural
truth, and they tell us that this is even documented by Rome
itself, who was responsible legally for killing the Lord Jesus Christ. You still find it in their documents. Jesus of Nazareth was indeed
crucified. He died. He was buried in the
tomb of Joseph. For three days he lay there.
And then he arose. He arose. He is risen indeed. He is risen from the dead. There have been great miracles
wrought of God in this world and upon this world. Great miracles. Miraculous things God has done. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. What a miracle that is. In six
days, God created all things. David said, when I consider your
heavens, the moon and the stars and the planets that you've ordained,
that you've created. And we could go right on with
that theme and say, when we consider ourselves, our souls, our minds, how complex
we are, how fearfully and wonderfully we're made. When we consider
what God has done, the miracle of it all, planets that they
haven't yet discovered, systems that they know nothing about,
innumerable company of stars and planets, a world that's magnificent
even though it's under the judgment of sin. When we consider the
works of His favor, what is man? that thou, such a magnificent
Creator, are mindful of Him. What a miracle the incarnation
of the Son of God is. He was made flesh. The eternal
Word of God was made flesh. But how can this be? How can
this be? A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son But how can this be? With man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
you, and the power of the High shall overshadow you. A miracle. A miracle. The Son of God implanted
in the womb of a virgin. The miracle of the new birth.
The miracle of regeneration. Born again. Think of that. Born again. That's a miracle, isn't it? That's miraculous. Born from
above. Regenerated. A miracle of God. A miracle of
His grace. Salvation is a miracle. It's
a miracle. A spiritual birth. Miraculous
birth. And when we talk about such things,
And you leave God out of the equation and His divine attributes,
you're lost as to understand or explain these things. They're
miracles. They're miracles. There's those
who are seeking for the origin of the universe and the beginning
of life, and they've left God completely out of the equation.
Well, all I've got to say to them, poor fellows, good luck.
You're going to need it. Because when we leave God out
of the equations, you can't find out these things, because they're
miraculous. They're a miraculous thing. Medical science cannot explain
the incarnation of the Son of God, and we don't expect them
to. They'd be lying to us if they
said they could. It's inexplainable. It's a miracle. Science says it's impossible,
and they tell us the truth. But with God, all things are
possible. The miraculous goes beyond the
human intelligence, doesn't it? It goes beyond human reasoning.
That's why we call it miraculous. It's something that you can't
explain. It's something that can't happen within the realms
of human ability. It's God who does it. It's God
who does it. How does your lost friend explain
your being saved? Do they say it's miraculous?
Why, they don't say that at all. They say he got in church, or
he got religion. They don't attribute it to the
miraculous working of God's grace and His power. How do we explain the resurrection
of the Son of God from the dead? A miracle. A miracle. Some have wondered if Christ
could have survived the cross. They've wandered out loud and
written it down in books and pamphlets. Could He have survived
the cross? Well, ask that to the centurion
who examined Him and said He was dead. I bet nobody would
ever wander out loud standing in His face, would they? His
life depended upon the true testimony of going to Pilate and saying,
yes, he's dead. I know he's dead. I've crucified
many a man. I've examined them. I know when
they're dead. Tell that to the soldier who
stuck that sphere up in his side and emptied every cell in his
body of its blood. I believed these men when they
said he's dead. And you here this morning that
believe the Bible, you know He died, don't you? Because the
Bible says here in my text, Christ died for our sins. And since He was really dead,
and all these witnesses said He was dead, and the Bible says
He was dead, then how does He live? He rose again. How in the world could that be
explained? But in the miraculous, God did
it. Christ did it. The Holy Spirit
did it. Our Lord's left us two proofs
here in the context. He's left us scriptural proof
and He's left us eyewitnesses. I want us to look first of all
at the scriptural proof. Scriptural proof. And one of
the greatest evidences to us that the Old Testament is God-inspired
is because of all its predictions that come true in the New Testament. Over and over again, hundreds
of years or thousands of years before something took place,
the Bible and the Old Testament said it's going to happen. And
the resurrection of Christ was according to Scripture. I want
you to look at two places with me. I want you to look in Acts
chapter 2 and Acts chapter 13. Turn to Acts chapter 2 first,
if you would. This is on the day of Pentecost
when the Holy Spirit came back, when He came to fill the believers,
establish the New Testament church. And here's where Peter was preaching
to these men who had taken Him by weakened hands had crucified
the Lord of Glory. And Peter quotes the Old Testament
concerning the resurrection. And indeed, Wayne, that's what
they preached on. That was their staple. Every
time Peter preached, you go through the book of Acts, and every time
he preached, it was the resurrection. And I'm sure that there were
some people that come up to him and said, don't you have another
chord? Don't you have another strain? And besides, you're making
everybody upset. Can't you get on with it? I'll
try. And the next time, the first
thing out of his mouth, you crucified him, but God raised him from
the dead. The resurrection. The resurrected
Savior. And look how Peter preached to
them in here in verse 22 of Acts chapter 2. You men of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man, a man,
he was a man. And he was approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in
the midst of you as yourselves also know. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands you have crucified him and you have
slain him. Whom God hath raised up having
loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning
him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover,
my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, in Hades, the place of the dead, neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." That is Psalms chapter
16 where David was speaking, and Peter says he's speaking
and predicting the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, we may
not have known that. until we come over to the New
Testament. But now you're Peter preaching, being filled with
the Holy Ghost. He tells us what David and who
David was talking about. He's talking about Christ who
died and was put in a tomb. But God didn't leave him there.
Didn't leave him in the place of the dead. He raised him up.
Look what he goes on to say. Verse 28. Thou hast laid known
unto me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with
thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David. He is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being
a prophet, and knowing that God hath sworn an oath to him of
the fruit of his loins, According to the flesh, look at this, he
would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He, David, seeing
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, the place of the dead, neither his flesh did
seek corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up. We are all witnesses. The Old Testament scripture says
He's going to raise. God's going to raise it. Look
in Paul's message. First message that we have recorded
of Paul preaching in Acts chapter 13. He does the same thing Peter
did. These men always used Scripture
in their preaching. Always proved it by Scripture.
Here they were preaching on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
and they're always quoting the Old Testament Scripture. Here
Paul was at Antioch. And he was preaching about the
very same thing as Peter was. Look in verse 26. Here's the
way he begins his message. Acts 13, 26. Men and brethren,
children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you that
feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. Oh, salvation. It's sent to you. For they that
dwell in Jerusalem, and they're rulers because they knew not
Him. Nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though
they found no cause of death in him, yet they desired Pilate,
that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in the sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of
them that came up with him from Jerusalem, from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are his witnesses unto the people." And we declare unto
you, glad tidings, how that the promise was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, him that he
hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
Psalms." Now here is predicting Christ's resurrection. I wouldn't
have understood this if it wasn't recorded here, the meaning of
Psalms chapter 2. This day have I begotten thee,
begotten you physically from the dead. And as concerning that
he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David." Another Old Testament prediction. Wherefore he said
also in another psalm, Now shall not suffer thy holy one to see
corruption, For David, after he had served his own generation
by the will of God, he fell asleep and was laid in his sepulchre
to his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again,
he saw no corruption." Scriptural proof. He was raised according
to the Scripture. And here in verse 8 of 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 5, look back here in my text. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 and verse 5. Here he gives us eyewitness proof.
Scriptural proof, eyewitness proof. See how important the
resurrection of the Son of God is. God gives us all kinds of
proof because it's one of the most important truths in all
the Scripture. Look what he says here. Eyewitnesses.
Look in verse 5. And that he was seen of Cephas
the apostle Peter. Then he was seen of all the twelve.
After that, he was seen of above over five hundred brethren at
once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but
some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles, and last of all, he was seen of me
as of one born out of due time." I have witnessed this and noticed
some things about these witnesses. He said here that over five hundred
of them saw the Lord Jesus Christ At once. At once. Over 500 saw Him at one time. Now, down through the years,
you can read reports where people have said they've seen some amazing
things. Joseph Smith said an angel appeared
to him and showed him some golden plates. And did that different
times. But how convenient for him that
He was always by Himself. We have down in Argentina or
somewhere a few years ago, one or two little children said the
Virgin Mary appeared to them. Remember that? And gave them
all kinds of information. One or two of them. But here
we have over 500 men that said they witnessed the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus. I mean, if one person tells you
they've seen something, all right, but I keep it to myself. But
here's 500 men, says we saw him. Now, that's worth writing about.
There's some credibility there, isn't there? Over 500 men saw
him at once. At once. Here's something else. Not only did they see him once,
but I read to you there in Acts 13.31, listen to this again.
And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from
Galilee unto Jerusalem, who are witnesses unto the people." They
saw him many days. Many days. If you see something
one time, and you just get a glimpse of it, I mean, you just get a
moment. There it is, and then it's gone.
You may wonder what you've seen. But it wasn't just a glimpse
that they'd seen of him. They continued with him, and
he with them, for many days. In Acts chapter 1, I think it
is, when Luke was writing there, he said that he went out and
in among them for forty days. Forty days. I mean, this wasn't just a passing vision. This wasn't something that appeared
to them that it was vanished out of their eye. Forty days
they were with Him, and He was with them. They saw Christ after
His resurrection. And here, in Acts chapter 10,
verse 38 and 41, I want you to look at this with me. Look back
over here to Acts chapter 10. This is where the Apostle Peter,
Went down to preach to Carnelius, and look here what he says about
the resurrection of Christ. He makes it even more intimate
than spending many days with. Look at Acts chapter 10 and look
in verse 38 and through verse 41. Look at the closeness of
their friendship and their fellowship. Look what he says here, beginning
in verse 38. Peter preaching here to the Gentiles,
the first message to the Gentiles. And God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good,
killing all that was oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and
hanged on the tree. Him hath God raised up the third
day and showed him openly. But not to everybody. Not to
everybody. Not to all the people. But unto
witnesses chosen before of God, even us, and look at this, who
did eat and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. That's pretty close, isn't it? I mean, forty days. They may
have eaten with Him every day. I mean, when you sit down to
a meal with a person, You know when you watch him eat, and he
eats with you, and you sit and talk with one another and fellowship
over a meal, you know that you are not just seeing a figurative
of your imagination. He ate with them and drank with
them. The risen Lord. I remember one
time after his resurrection, they were out fishing. Peter
said, we might as well go fishing. They were all out fishing. And
the Lord was on the coast. He was on the sand watching. They didn't catch anything all
night. He told them to take their net and cast it on the other
side of the ship. And John recognized who it was.
He said, It's the risen Lord. And Peter was naked and he jumped
in with his coat on him and ran to the shore. And they found
a coal of fire. It was a fire of coals. What
does that tell us? That fire had been burning for
a while. He was sitting there watching them all this time.
I just about bet He was. He built a fire, and it was blazing,
then it burnt down, and all that was left was the coals. He's
sitting there watching those fellows fishing, waiting on them.
And there was fish on the fire. And what did He say to them?
Come and die. Come and die. And they went,
and they sat down, and they ate with Him, the resurrected Christ. So brothers and sisters, these
men were holy men. They were good men. They were
honest men. The Holy Ghost hadn't made them
so. And I, for one, am going to believe their testimony. I'm
going to believe the record that God gave of His Son that He did
indeed raise Him from the dead. And I'm going to believe these
men who says, We saw Him. We spent 40 days with Him. We
sat and ate and drank with the living Christ. And not a one
of them recanted. You can't get two or three fellows
to live in this world and agree on something without one of them
recanting if it's not true. He'll come out after a while.
The year was over 500 million. And some of them lived to be
old. And not a one of them went back on what he saw. I believe
their testimony. I believe that Jesus Christ,
who died, He's risen again. He's risen again. Now, here's
my message. It won't take me long. Please
bear with me. I won't have a service this evening. And every time
it's this way, I have a little bit of liberty to keep you a
little bit longer. Why was God so pleased to give
all these proofs, scriptural proofs and eyewitness proofs?
And it's for this reason, brothers and sisters, as I said a minute
ago, the resurrection of the Son of God is one of the most
important truths in Scripture. I want to give you four things
quickly, and the first one is this. The resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the God-given assurance to
us that everything He intended to do in His life and in His
death was accomplished. And especially in his death,
whatever he intended to do in his death, God Himself witnesses
this, that he accomplished it. Because God raised him from the
dead. And I think one of the most profound
things that he did is found here in the last portion of verse
3 that I read to you. He died for He died in the place of our sins. He died in our place. He died
as our substitute. Think about this word, for. He died for our sins. All of us know what substitution
is, don't we? You young people in sports, all
you folks know what substitution is. If you're in a ball game
and you can't go any further and you can't perform, what happens? They take you out and they put
a substitute in your place. That's what he's speaking about
here. He died for our sins in our place. He died as a sacrifice
to atone for our sins, a complete and eternal payment for what
we owed God. Sin is a debt, isn't it? And it's a debt to God. What
kind of debt is it? The wages of sin is death. And the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. God requires that which is past. When we sin in thought, when
we sin in motive, our word, our deed, God requires the payment
for that sin. And it's death. It's death. It's death to you, and it's death
to me. And if our sins are left upon
us, we shall die. And we'll die for all eternity,
because when we die, we die for our sins, and we have no means
to atone for them. Eternal sufferings in hell will
not atone for one sinful thought. Oh, but here the Son of God is
hanging upon the cross, suffering. And why is He suffering? For
sin. For our sins. Will He be successful? Will He atone for all of them?
Will He put them away? What's the proof? Has God given
us any proof that He was successful upon the cross? Yes, He has.
He arose from the dead. That's the proof. God said, here
is the proof. But how can justice arrest Jesus
Christ and condemn Him to death, the most horrible deaths, when
He never sinned? Neither could He sin. He hated
sinning. How could He die if He never
sinned? Well, there had to be a transfer.
I love this word. I love the word transfer. It's
really the word itself, not in the Bible, but the whole concept
is there. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. There's the transfer. Isn't that
miraculous? All the sins of the Old Testament
saints which were dead when Christ came. All of those sins of His
people who lived when He was here. And all the sins of us
who are now in the future. God took all the sins of all
His elect people and He put them upon His Son. And the Bible says, Peter said,
that Jesus Christ received those sins. and bore them in His own
body upon the tree. So they are no longer upon God's
people, are they? Can't really, before God, be in two places
at the same time. I've often said, I like to thank
this, that God, the all-seeing God, searched every crack and
every crevice and gathered up those monsters and them screaming
and kicking, and He lays them upon His Son. And His Son receives
them into His bosom and says, They are Mine. Thou hast known
My iniquities. My sins are not hid from Thee.
Oh, my! Now, how does He deal with death? How is He going to pay the price?
And I am telling you what, brothers and sisters, they are now upon
Him, and He is upon the cross. And if he don't have merit enough
in his person, if there's not value enough in his blood to
atone for those sins, then death's got him forever. You know why he raised from the
dead? That was merit enough in his person. There was power in
his blood to wash away, to purge, to put away those sins. That's why he arose. from the
dead, he accomplished redemption. The
Bible says he put sin away by the sacrifice of himself. And the proof of it is his resurrection. He died for our sins and he rose
again. Here you and I are this morning,
dear children of God, And we're weeping over the sins that we
commit, that we thank. It's the burden of our heart,
aren't they? We can't get rid of the sense of this awful sin. And we're always confessing it
before the Lord. But all this time that we're
confessing and are so burdened by it and weeping over it, oh,
think of this, that they're all gone. That they're all purged
away. That they've all been atoned
for. And the proof of it, He is seated there at the Father's
right hand. Which He wouldn't be if He had
one sin on Him. He'd have never raised from the
tomb if one sin, Shannon, would have been left on Him. What does
that tell us? They're gone. They're gone. Oh,
He has arisen. My sins are gone. My sins are
gone. Secondly, think of this in the
light of the resurrection. Something else the resurrection
of Christ proves to us, gives us the assurance of. That you
and I now have a representative in heaven in our humanity. We have a representative in heaven
in our humanity. There is a man at God's right
hand. Christ Jesus, the mediator. And God loves him. Isn't the Trinity something else?
God loves God. Isn't that what we're saying?
God loves His Son and has given all things into His hand. God
delights in His Son and He sets Him at His right hand and says,
My Son sets here and every desire of your heart, I'm going to give
you. And every request of your lips, I'm going to grant it.
I love you, my Son. I love you. Love you for who
you are. I love you for what you've done.
I love you. Set it in my right hand. I love
you. And listen to Romans chapter
8 verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, brother, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercessions
for us. His resurrection tells us That
He's taken over heaven in our humanity. He's entered there
in the gates of that city and He sat down to represent us in
heaven. Those high priests back under
the Aaronic priesthood, they never represented themselves.
They were called to represent the people and to go before God
to do for the people what the people could not do for themselves.
And that's exactly why the Son of God is exalted to the right
hand of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He
sits there and represents us. Boy, I tell you what, I'm not
going to fear too much. If the law is on my trail and
accusing me, I'm not going to worry too much if I know that
I've got a representative down in the courthouse who is the
son of the judge. And he knows my situation all
about me, and he's always got this wonderful relationship to
the judge. And though I don't have access
to the judge, he does. Listen to Hebrews 7, verse 27. Wherefore, speaking of Jesus
Christ, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come
to God by Him, sin he ever liveth, to make intercession for us. Whose ability is it that saves
the poor sinner? Christ's ability. He is able. Listen to Ephesians 2.18. For through Him, this risen Christ,
we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Listen to Romans
5.1.2. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we
have access by faith unto this grace. Access unto the Father. Access unto grace. No wonder the Lord Jesus sent
His servants out to preach and say, Come for all things are
ready. Everything's ready. You don't
have to come seeking a way into the Father's presence. The way
is there. It is always open. You've got continual access. That's what the resurrection
tells us, that Jesus Christ has gone into heaven and He's our
door into the Father. He's our access to grace and
strength and power. One of the things that encourages
me is that it doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter
what circumstances I find myself in. Anything doesn't matter. My feelings
don't matter. My access to God is altogether
upon different grounds outside of myself. It's through Jesus,
His Son, who rose from the dead. And since the Father has completely
accepted Him, He accepts everybody that comes through Him just as
freely and lovingly as He does His own blessed Son. You know
what Revelation chapter 8 teaches us? That when the saints go to
prayer, that the Lord Jesus takes His marriage is sweet incense
of marriage. And He sprinkles it on those
prayers. In some way, He takes our voice and He makes it His
own. And He presents it to the Father
as sweet incense. Oh, if you're here this morning,
you're a child of God, you're a poor lost sinner, and you're
afraid to approach Him, to God, fear no more. Fear no more. There's a risen Savior at God's
right hand. Come in His name. Come through
His person. Come through His intercession.
God will hear your prayer for His sake. He knows we need a
mediator. That's why He sent Him. Oh, how encouraging then it is
to know that the risen Christ is seated as our representative
in heaven. In Adam, all die. Now, that's
a fine representative, ain't it? Boy, he represented us very
well, didn't he? Thank you. Thank you, Adam, for
what you've done for us, bud. You sinned when you had no cause
to, and look what you've done to us all. But, oh, Jesus Christ,
He's a fine representative, ain't He? In Christ shall all be made
alive. And He lives to assure us and
ensure that that promise will be realized in Christ shall all
be made alive. Thirdly, the resurrection of
our Lord Jesus assures us of this, that we can live our lives
in this present world in the midst of all our enemies, seen
and unseen, known or unknown. We can live with our cares, our
burdens, live with it all, whatever it entails. without being overwhelmed
with fear and anxiety and worry. Do you know why? Because this
Christ who died for our sins is now reigning over everything. Paul proved that here in our
text, didn't he? Look back here in our text again,
chapter 15, verse 23. Every man in his own
order. Christ the firstfruits, afterwards
they that are Christ's, is it coming? Then cometh the end,
when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority
and all power, for He must reign. He must reign. And He will reign
until He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy
that He shall destroy is death. There was something given to
the man Christ Jesus that he didn't have before as a man.
He was something after he came that he wasn't before. He was
a man after he came. He'd become a man. Never was
that before, was he? He became a man, but he was a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was the suffering
servant of God. And he died for our sins. But
when God raised him from the dead, everything changed. Everything changed. He here that
met reproach with a humble heart, now is reigning in heaven the
glorious, sovereign man. And the Bible says that when
God raised Him from the dead, He set Him over all principalities
and all powers in every name that's named, not only in this
world, but the world that's to come, and made Him to be head
over all things to the church. He's ruling today for the good
and well-being of the church and all her members. Doesn't
that comfort you, dear child of God? He reigns. He reigns. How should that comfort us? Well,
think of your circumstances. Does He reign over your circumstances? Does He reign over your mind
and the trouble that you suffer in your mind? Does He reign in
your heartaches? He rules in the midst of His
enemies, your enemies. He rules. He determines when
your suffering begins at any particular trial. He determines
the depths of those trials. He determines the length of them.
He reigns in every minute aspect of life. He reigns over our Kings He reigns
over our presidents, over our politicians. He reigns over the
angels in heaven and over the angels in hell. He reigns over
all nature. He must reign. And He is reigning. Somebody said, make Jesus your
Lord. He's already your Lord. First, He's your Lord. He's my
Lord. He's everybody's Lord. No man
lives to himself. No man dies to himself. Whether
we live, we're the Lord's. Whether we die, we're the Lord's.
Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. And listen, to this
end, Christ both died, revived, and rose again that He might
be Lord. In His humanity, He's Lord both
of the dead and of the living. He's everybody's Lord. And He's
reigning. He's reigning. Why should I fear
this? Why should you fear? Why should we become so afraid
when sudden fear comes? Why should we act as though we
don't have a Savior, Sovereign Lord reigning over our situation? Why do we act as though everything
is out of control? It's not. It's not. He is reigning. Bless His name. Don't let it
calm your soul. It's either he rains or the devil
rains. He rains or sin rains. He rains or you rain. I don't
want that option, do you? Lord, your will be done. Rain. Rain over me. Rain in me. Subdue
me. Subdue me. We complained about the winter,
this winter, how cold it was and how snowy and how the winds
were blowing. It won't be another month until we've been complaining
about the heat. That's just the way we are. But who rules this
thing? He must reign. This is the way it is in Christ.
And you know, brothers and sisters, He's not changed. Oh, His appearance,
my soul, His appearance has changed. But He's not changed. His heart's
not changed. You think of a tyrant reigning,
you might worry about that. But he's meek and lowly in his
heart. Has that changed? That's not
changed. He's still just as approachable
today on his throne as he was when he was here in our humanity. He's right. He's the king. Lastly, the conclusion is this.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ gives every man
the assurance of the resurrection. Now, I know, for the unbeliever,
this is a torment for his mind. Paul said God has appointed a
day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that
man. Wherefore, He has given assurance
unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead. A man
may reject the assurance that is given, offered in the Word,
But this one thing is for sure, as sure as God has raised His
Son from the dead. That's how sure a day of judgment
is set. When the grave shall give up the dead, and we'll all
go up to heaven to give account of the Sovereign Lord. But here's
the comfort to the saints. This is your hope, is it not?
This is your hope. The resurrection is your hope. Look here with me right quickly
and look in verse, well just look down in verse 43. This is our hope. And Paul tells
us up there in verse 20 that Christ, when he arose from the
dead, he's just the firstfruits. He's the firstfruits. We know
what that means. The firstfruits. The first of
all that's yet to come. His resurrection from the dead
assures every saint that someday they are going to be resurrected
in His likeness. Look at what Paul tells us in
verse 43. He is speaking of the resurrection
of the dead. He is speaking of these bodies.
Look how the body, when it dies, it is sown in dishonor. Boy, it is, ain't it? Boy, we
could stop there and say some things, couldn't we? So on in
dishonor. You ever seen a dead body? Somebody
just as they die? Man. They can't hide themselves,
can't cover themselves, and their faces sometimes are disfigured,
their mouths wide open. Dishonor. Dishonor. I don't want
people to see me, I don't think. I'm not like my wife here. I
just want to go ahead and close the casket. Dishonor. It is sown
in weakness, utter weakness, lifelessness, but it's raised
in power. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. Oh, no comparison. It is sown
a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there's
a spiritual body. As it is written, the first man,
Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Howbeit that was not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterwards that which
is spiritual. The first man, Adam, is of the
earth. He is earthy. But the second
man is the Lord from heaven. And look at this. As is the earthy,
Such are they that are earthly. We know something about that.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, Adam. Look at this. We shall also bear
the image of the heavenly. The Bible says that our conversation
is in heaven from which we look for the Savior. We're looking
for Him. He's coming again. who shall change our vile body,
and fashion it like unto his glorious body." What kind of
body does he have? It's human because it still has
the scars in it. But it's spiritual. It's not
subject to the natural infirmities any longer. Oh, he can eat, but
he don't have to. He can even go through locked
doors. He can leave this earth and in a moment's time, He's
in heaven. A spiritual body. A glorious body. He has no sense
of sin left on Him. He put it away. There's no tears. There's no sorrow. We'll have
a body like unto His. A glorious body that will never
die again. His resurrection assures us of
that. When it comes time, dear soul,
for you to be like these witnesses, you fall asleep. Just think of
that. You're just going to fall asleep.
Nothing to be afraid of about that, is there? You go upstairs
in the night and you fall asleep. Is Miranda downstairs crying?
Oh, no, he's upstairs. He fell asleep. If you fell asleep,
you're sleeping, you're resting until that morning. Resurrection
morning. Until you awake. And when you
wake up in the morning, you're completely different than you
were when you went to sleep. You went to sleep and you had
Adam's image, the fallen in image of Adam. But when you wake up
in the morning, you're going to be in the glorious image of
the Lord from heaven, the man of Christ Jesus. As sure as he
was raised himself, you'll be raised. And as sure as he's in
a glorious body, you will be too. And God was willing, dear
saint, to give you that assurance.