I invite your attention back
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The title of the message this morning
is, What Does the Resurrection Mean? What does the resurrection
mean? We know that this is one of the
two big holidays that most everybody goes to church this time of year.
They put on their finest. David said last night, I've got
to go get me a bonnet. She never wore a bonnet, but
she said she was going to get one anyway. When people put on their finest,
they go to church here and usually on Christmas time and it's a
big deal and a big day in what is called Christianity in the
world today. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
is a big deal. A very important day. But we don't find any of the
teachings in Scripture that say to hold any day above another
day. Easter has its origins in the
word, the goddess Ishtar, which was a goddess of fertility. That's
why people during this time give out baskets with bunnies and
eggs in them, because both of them are symbols of fertility.
Doesn't have anything to do with Christianity, but nonetheless,
we do, at least people do consider On this day, once a year, that
Jesus Christ, the Lord, is risen from the dead, and for that I
am thankful. To the disciples on the road
to Emmaus, after the resurrection of our Lord, He joined them and
fixed their eyes where they couldn't see who He was and know who He
was. He held who He was from their
eyes. And they talked about the resurrection,
but they were disappointed because they felt like Jesus Christ had
come to redeem Israel. And by redeem them, they mean
buy them out of the slavery of Rome and set them as a free nation
back in the promised land. And our Lord said to them, Ought
not Christ to have died and have entered into His glory? What
He was saying is that that redemption that was accomplished on Calvary's
tree was not a physical redemption. It was a spiritual redemption
ordained from all eternity that Jesus Christ would come and redeem
His people by His blood out of every kindred nation, tongue,
and people upon the face of the earth. This matter of resurrection
speaks of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ even
in death and over death. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down of myself. My Father
gave me this power. I can lay down my life and take
it up again. I lay down my life for the sheep.
After the resurrection, He appeared to the disciples and showed them
His hands and feet. And when He did, they were glad. Why were they glad? Because they
saw that the one who was nailed to the cross was now showing
these visible wounds to them. And they were glad. They knew
that it was the Lord Jesus Christ. When he showed himself to Thomas
after eight days, Thomas didn't believe he was risen from the
dead. Thomas bowed down at his feet and said, My Lord and my
God. My Lord and my God. The resurrection
is such a vital part of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
that when our Lord asked Martha, If she believed that Christ was
the resurrection and the life, and he that believed on Him would
never die, Martha replied, Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art
the Christ. Him being the resurrection and the life meant that He was
the Christ, the anointed one, the one sent from God to save
His people from their sins. Paul said that you have no gospel
to preach, no life, no reason to be, no faith without the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're still at I Corinthians
chapter 15, look down at verse 14. And if Christ be not risen,
then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain also.
If Christ be not risen. That's how important the resurrection
is. If Christ is not risen and seated at the right hand of the
Father and the majesty on high, having purged our sins, He sat
down on the right hand of the Father, if He's not risen, then
I'm wasting my time up here. Ain't no reason to preach. And
if you say you believe and He's not risen, then you've got false
faith. Your faith is of no value whatsoever. Look at verse 17. And if Christ
be not raised, your faith is in vain. You're yet in your sins.
There's no forgiveness of sins. Sins are not put away if Christ
has not been raised from the dead. Then in verse 18, Then
they which also are fallen asleep in Christ are perished, those
beloved ones, whom we lay in those hope chests, and in the
grave, and pray over their grave, that they become dust again,
but that at the resurrection, at the final resurrection, they
will be raised, if Christ be not raised. Might do them like
we do our dogs, dig a hole in the ground and throw them in
there. If Christ be not risen. This is a very important thing,
you see. Very important thing. Now we
know it is a magnificent supernatural wonder that someone who was physically
dead had the power within himself to raise himself from the grave.
That's an amazing and a wondrous thing. The physical resurrection
of Christ is a wondrous thing. It's no wonder that the resurrection
is celebrated throughout the world. The physical phenomenon,
as wonderful as it is, is not what excites the believer to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ rose from the grave,
some things were settled. Some things were settled that
will never ever be changed. Settled forever. Many things
to the heart of the believer, not the least of which was that
in order for him to resurrect, he must first have died. And he died for one reason, to
satisfy the law's demand for death. Because the law said,
the soul that sinneth it shall die. You've got to die. Somebody's
got to die. How many of you watched Charlton
Heston last night as Moses in the Ten Commandments? I was watching
it and giggling a little bit. The theological errors were rampant
in there. God came through Egypt that night. The Israelites were told to slay
a lamb and put His blood in a basin and put the blood on the door
post and the lentils of the door. And God says, when I come through,
I'm going to get blood at every house in Egypt. I'm going to
get the firstborn of every house. And He did. He got the firstborn
of every house. Egyptians and Israelites. Egyptians, he got the firstborn
into the family. Among the Israelites, he got
the firstborn of himself. The blood of the Lamb. When I
see the blood, I will say there's death at that house. The law
has been satisfied at that house. My wrath and vengeance have been
satisfied at that house, because blood has been shed. And I'll
pass over where blood has been shed. Where blood hasn't been
shed, I'll shed blood. God got blood at every house
in Egypt. He got the blood of the natural-born son, or He got
the blood of the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He got
blood. When Jesus Christ died, He died in the room instead of
His people. He died for His people. He shall
save His people from their sins. That's why we call Him Jesus.
That's why I named him that. And when he died, for them the
law was satisfied. The law could never again accuse
one for whom Christ died. This can't happen. Why? Because
it's satisfied. But then he rose. Scripture says he was delivered
for our offenses and raised for our justification. You know what
justification means? People don't talk about these
things anymore. Religion has got to the place where the Bible
is a little more than a self-help book Full of mottos and little
things that people can pick up and say well, I think I can handle
that part You can't handle none of the parts This is by grace and grace alone I Heard a preacher of what's
called one of these mega churches. That's what he called him. I
don't know what that means big big church He said, we don't
talk about justification or sanctification or righteousness anymore. These
things upset people. We don't call people sinners
because that upsets them. We talk about how they can better
their life and be better people and live. Listen to me, you can
be as good as you want to be. And I hope you will. I hope you'll
be an upstanding law-abiding citizen and not end up in the
penitentiary. I hope that for you. But as good
as you can be, will never be good enough. You know how good
you've got to be to go to heaven? You've got to be as good as God.
And if you ain't, you can't go. And the only way to be as good
as God is to be in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the
Lord Jesus Christ is made by God to be unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. That's your only hope. I want
you to be good. Be a good citizen. Don't be a
thief or a snake. Don't treat your wife or your
husband badly. Be a good citizen. But that ain't gonna get you
nowhere. It counts not one whit toward salvation. Salvation is
by Jesus Christ alone. No other way. He died and satisfied
just but he rose. Death could not keep its prey.
He tore the bars away. He is risen from the dead. The
resurrection puts a lot of things in their proper order in the
economy of God and the understanding of the believer. The resurrection
is the revelation of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done. And you've got to know that.
What do you have to know to be saved? You've got to know who
Jesus Christ is. I know He is. I'm not talking about this one
person in the world today, this namby-pamby, silly little, sycophantic,
childish, weak, can't do what he would, wants to do something
for you, but can't. That's not the Christ of Scripture.
By no means. By no stretch of the imagination.
The resurrection is the revelation of who He is. Do you know Jesus
Christ? You don't, you're going to perish.
You've got to know who He is. This is eternal life, the Lord
Jesus Christ prayed in His high priestly prayer in John 17. This
is eternal life. That you might know the true
and living God, even Jesus Christ, whom He has said that you might
know. Know Him. Five or six things I want to
look at this morning quickly. The first is this. What does
the resurrection mean? What did it mean when Jesus Christ
rose from the dead? First of all, it revealed and
settled once and for all that the One who died was in control
of all things. The One who died was in control
of all things. When Jesus Christ hung on that
lonely wooden tower, and men walked beneath Him, and mocked
him and stuck out their tongues at him when men pulled the hair
off his face. And when men beat him on the
back with a Roman cat-o'-nine-toe, he was in control. How was that?
Because it was all prophesied. He said, I'm going to give my
face to them that pluck off the hair. I'm going to give my back
to the spiders. And they're going to pierce my
hands and my feet. Psalm 22. All that was prophesied. He was in control. He was king
of kings. You say, well, He's all beat
up. Well, He came to be beat up. He came to be beat up. He came to suffer. Ought not
Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory? He came to suffer. He's the Lord. What does that
mean? That means He's your Lord. You say, well, I didn't make
Him Lord. You ain't got nothing to do with that. Jesus Christ is Lord by the resurrection
of the dead. That's important to understand.
The resurrection that people are celebrating all day today
means that Jesus Christ is the absolute Lord over all. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans
chapter 1. Get your Bibles. We're going
to use your Bibles. Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through
4, it says this, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised
by his son Paul by the prophets of the scriptures. This gospel
concerns his son Jesus Christ, which was the seed of David according
to the flesh, and declared to be the son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. When Jesus Christ rose from the
dead, it was a declaration that He was indeed the Son of God. If you look at chapter 4 of Romans,
in verse 24, it says this, speaking of Abraham's faith,
it says this, which was imputed for righteous, it says, but for
us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead. that raised up Jesus. Then in
chapter 14, verse 9, it says, "...to this end for this purpose."
This is why. "...For to this end Christ both
died and rose and revived, that He might be the Lord of the living
and the dead." Now that's what He is. That's what He is. That's the singular, absolute
truth that touches everybody in the Gospel. He's the Lord. And that's how
you're going to meet Him. You ain't going to meet Him on
a cross because He ain't on a cross. He's on a throne. He's on a throne. The resurrection declares that.
To most of so-called Christianity, His Lordship is accepted as making
Him a kind of facilitator of their lives, a battery booster
for their own supposed intrinsic power. Kind of help on tap to
incorporate with their own will, or to give Him, or to get stuff
from Him, or give the person ability to gain stuff in this
world. Jesus Christ is Lord over you. He's Lord over you. Religion
likes to say, well, when we tap into that power, we'll be able
to overcome. You ain't going to overcome nothing.
The only way you overcome this world according to Scripture
is by trusting Jesus Christ, by faith. Not by your doings,
but by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the believer,
His resurrection means that in a world where the believer controls
nothing, that world and all that is therein is not a cacophony
of haphazard events. It's controlled. Jesus Christ, as risen Lord,
is the great manipulator of time and tide and governments and
people and all for the good of His elect. and for the glory
of His name's sake. Do you know Jesus Christ? If
you do, you know Him as absolute Lord, doing as He pleases, when
He pleases, where He pleases, with whom He pleases. If that's
not the case, then He's not the Lord. That's what the Lord means.
Absolute Sovereign. As sole proprietor, owner of
all that He is, He has the absolute right and authority to do with
us as He alone sees fit. What about my will? Jiggle it
all you want to. It ain't got no power. It's just
your choice. Well, I choose to fly. Have at
it, bud. I choose to raise myself from
the dead. Talk to a corpse and see if it ever happens. All His words come as commands
because He's the Lord. He don't ask you to do nothing.
He's the Lord. And the resurrection reveals
that. That's what we're celebrating today. That's what the meaning
of those who come and talk about His resurrection, that's what
the resurrection really means. That He's Lord. Secondly, the resurrection reveals
that Christ is the righteous judge. Christ is the judge. God has committed all judgment
in His hand. Look at the book of Acts chapter 17. In Acts chapter
17 verse 31 it says, Because God hath appointed a day in the
which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that man
whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance of the
fact to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead." How
do we know Jesus Christ is a judge? God said, I've proved it to you,
because I've raised Him from the dead. He's appointed Him
judge over all things. The believer does not stand or
fall on the opinions of men, or fear the counsels of religion. Though he may fall a thousand
times a day, his resurrected Lord is the final arbiter of
the entire matter. I stand or fall in Jesus Christ,
not in the opinions of men." That judge is the believer's best friend. That's the way to get judged.
I've been before judges before. I wasn't always the sweet guy
that's standing before you. I've been before judges. That's
scary business because they weren't my friend. They was my judge. And I knew that they held in
their power to put me in jail or keep me out of jail. I knew
that. And I was scared. And I had reason to be because
I was a criminal. I had reason to be scared. But it wouldn't have been so
bad if I went up before that judge and he was my absolute best friend.
We'd just been out the night before carousing or something.
I ain't worried about that. Jesus Christ is your best friend,
if you'll believe me. The friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. Not only that, He said to be
your elder brother. And it is His very righteousness
before the Thrice Holy God that I am judged in, in His righteousness.
You see, the believer has been judged in Christ. When? Two thousand
years ago on Calvary Street. I was in Christ. I was in Christ
when God poured His wrath out on the Lord Jesus Christ and
Christ died in my room instead. I was in Him. God looks at me
as having had died. My death is on the record. And
when He arose, I rose with Him. But the believer's been judged
in Christ. I know religion likes to hold the judgment over Christians'
heads and tell them, oh, it's going to be bad. Oh, it's going
to be a fearsome day. Not according to the Word of
God. It's not for the children of God. Those who trust Christ,
it ain't a bad day. They're not worried about it.
Why? Because they've already been judged on Calvary's tree
in 1 John. John says it this way in 1 John
chapter 4. And I'm telling you, if you're
a believer this morning, this will float your boat. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 17 says
this, Herein is our love, or love with us, God's love with
us, made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Why? Because as He is, so are
we. in the world. Right now, as Christ
is seated at the right hand of the Father, we are seated in
heavenly places in Him. As He is accepted fully by the
Father, so are we accepted in the Beloved. Now, what about
the sins you commit? What about them? What about your
sins of omission and commission? They're covered, or I'm in trouble.
One sin left, I'm going to have to perish. He hath put away our
sins by the sacrifice of Himself, perfected forever them that are
sanctified according to Scripture. Thirdly, the resurrection reveals
that the believer was included, named, chosen, predestinated
in the grand purpose of God in salvation. Part of that grand
purpose. Back in Romans chapter 4, that
great beginning study of imputation that ends in chapter 5. This
is spoken of Abraham for our benefit. Abraham for our benefit. Verse 22 says this, And therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. What's that talking about? It's
talking about when God took Abraham up on the mountain. He said,
count the stars if you can. He said, well, I can't. He said,
well, I'm telling you, so shall your seed be. And the Scripture says, Abraham
believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. What
does that mean? He believed God concerning the seed. Because
we know in Galatians chapter 3, Paul said, And he said to
Abraham, Not seeds, but seed, and that seed is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Galatians 3.21. He believed Christ. He believed Christ and it was
accounted to him for righteousness. Then it says, "...and therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake only that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus Christ
from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised for
our justification." Delivered for our offenses. Delivered.
He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, it says in Acts chapter 2, Romans 8.32. Romans 8.32 says He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? All things delivered for our
purposes, spared not His own Son. You see, the resurrection
is the revelation of imputation and substitution. What does that
mean? Imputation means to charge somebody with something. If God
has imputed righteousness to you, the very righteousness of
God, according to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, if He's imputed
righteousness to you, He's charged you with righteousness. That's
right. You say, Malcolm, I charge you
with righteousness. Oh Lord, you don't know what I am. Yeah,
I do too. And I'm not looking at you, I'm looking at my son
Jesus Christ. You in Him. I charge you. Charge to your
account. And that's the way it reads.
Ain't no sin on your account if you're His. Nothing but righteousness. The righteousness of God in the
Lord Jesus. Substitution. What does that
mean? It means Christ took my punishment. It means I was standing
here, God was standing there. God had a 9mm with 15 shots in
it. And God aimed it at me and started pouring the trigger and
Christ stood between me and took every bullet that was due me.
That's what substitution is. He stood in my place under the
wrath of God. Delivered for our offenses. Delivered
for our offenses. And then it says He was raised
for our justification. Justification means just as if
I never sinned. That's what it means. It's not
a party. That's an Old Testament word
under the Old Covenant, which is a covenant based on the obedience
of men in order to get the blessings and disobedience to get the cursings
of God. But the new eternal covenant, the eternal covenant of grace
has nothing to do with what you do, it has everything to do with
what Christ did. Justified means this, if they could, if such
a record existed, and they could open up the book and run down
my name, Tim James, not because of anything I am or ever will
be, but because of who my Savior is. They run down below Tim James,
there is not one offense on the record. There can't be an offense. By one sacrifice he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So much so that God says, I will
remember their sins no more. They're cast behind my back to
the bottom of the sea. That's what substitution means. Delivered for our offenses. Raised for our justification.
The resurrection reveals that a believer will never be charged
with sin or ever condemned. Do you believe that? That's what
Scripture says. That's what Scripture says. Who is He that condemneth? You
know what Paul asked the Romans? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is Christ that died. Who is
He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
is rather risen again, and is seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for His people. Fourthly, the
resurrection reveals that the believer is regenerated, quickened
to life from the dead. You're born in this world dead
in trespasses and sins. You're not born on probation
or dangling on a string between good and evil as you try to swing
yourself one way or the other. You're not born on probation.
Scripture doesn't say that. Show me anywhere in Scripture
where that language is even vaguely used. It's not there. But I'll
tell you what the Scripture does say. You're conceived in iniquity
and born in sin. Scripture says you're dead in
trespasses and sin. D-E-A-D, necros, twice dead,
graveyard dead, however you want to call it, it's dead. What does
that mean? Well, ask a dead person. What can they do? What can a
dead person do? Nothing. That's it. That's why
we're called dead, spiritually dead. We're born in sin, we're
spiritually dead. We come forth from the womb,
as Scripture says, as soon as we're born. We come forth from
the womb speaking lies. As soon as we are born. That's
what Scripture says. Scripture says we're weak, impotent,
lame, haught, doomed, dead, dying. We drink iniquity like water.
We love our sins. That's what scripture says about
humanity. That's how we're born in this world. That's how we're
born. What would be a great thing if you was born that way? Be born again, I reckon that'd
be a good deal. If you was born that way and there's no hope
for you in that condition. To be born from above would be a
great thing. And the resurrection declares
just that, that the believer is born again, regenerated, given
life, quickened from the dead. He has spiritual life. All through Scripture that is
declared. Born from above. Born of His Spirit. Washed in
His blood. And you don't have anything to
do with being born. Did you have anything to do with your birth? Did you? Did you write a letter
to mom and dad and say, would you please birth me into the
world? Did you do something to be born? No. You mothers know that. You shocked
those kids out into this world. They didn't have nothing to do
with it. And this cruel, cold world, you just ejected them.
Why did you eject them? Because your body created a hormone
that says, I can't have this in me no more. And you birthed
them into the kingdom. What did they have to do? Nothing. They didn't help. They were totally
passive. And so are you. Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again, but didn't tell him how. He said, it's like
the wind blow. Can't see where it's going from,
where it's coming from. We don't know anything about it, but that's
how you're born. That don't make any sense. It don't. Unless you've
been born again. And understand these spiritual
things. Give them spiritual life. Fifthly, the resurrection reveals
that when the believer falls asleep in Christ, when he dies,
his mortal body will be changed and resurrected. Nobody's ever come back from
the dead and told us what it was like. We don't know. But our Lord says
for the child of God to die is like going to sleep. And I don't
know about you, but I like sleeping. In fact, after we finish this
afternoon, I'll probably go turn on the race and go to sleep.
Because those cars going around that track make me sleepy and
good. I go to sleep. I like sleep. When I was little, you had to
fight me to get me in bed, but not anymore. Are you afraid of
going to sleep? I'm not. That's what Christ said
our death is going to be. It's going to be like sleeping. It'll be like going to sleep.
But we're going to be raised again from the dead. On that
great day, when Christ blows that last trumpet, the graves
are going to open. And we're going to come forward. Job said, I know my Redeemer
lives. And I shall see Him on this earth with mine own eyes.
And not the eyes of another. Though the worms destroy my body, Yet I'll see it with my own eyes
and not another. I'm going to see it. Resurrected. Raised from the dead. And we'll
go into the grave in corruption. We'll rot. We'll pass away. We'll
turn to death. We'll turn to dust because that's
what we'll do. We'll turn to dust. I don't know how this happened.
Don't ask me. This is God's business. But Ralph gave me an illustration
one time of planting some kind of ugly, gnarly bulb in the February. You know, you plant them bulbs
and they're not pretty. All twisted and over and you
put them down on the ground. Why? Because, well, you don't
really want to look at them. You kind of get them out of sight
and hope for the best. You bury them in corruption, all twisted
and gnarled. Oh, but when that spring comes,
when that sun warms up, that ground begins to break and those
things come forth, it ain't no gnarly bulb no more. It's a beautiful,
wonderful, glorious flower. You're going to be buried in
corruption, but you're going to be raised in incorruption. And the resurrection guarantees
that. The resurrection guarantees that. The resurrection also reveals
that our Lord will return for us and receive us to Himself.
That's the declaration in Scripture. He'll return for us. I'm not much on eschatology,
I'll be honest with you. I've got friends of all ilks
and all schools of theology on the eschatology. This I'm sure
of. Jesus Christ is coming again.
And when he does, he gonna take me home. He? How do I know? Because he was raised from the
dead. because he was raised from the dead. Scripture declares
that over and over again. Today, many will gather at churches
and gravesides to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
without knowing anything more than the fact of the great event.
The believer, with every rehearsal of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
knows that the resurrection of Christ is guaranteed, that He
is the Lord's. that He's the Lord's. And He
knows that the resurrection of Christ is all His salvation. From pole to pole, it's been
accomplished by Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead.
It's a glorious thing. It's a thing we call Easter.
It's a glorious thing. The fact of it is wonderful.
But the accomplishment of it is utterly amazing. What a glorious
person is our Lord. This risen Christ. What glorious
knowledge revealed and received by the believer when he considers
Christ as risen. He's risen. And that's what we're
celebrating today, or what the world says they're celebrating.
But if you really believe the resurrection, or what the Scripture
says it is, then you're going to have to fall on Christ alone
for your salvation, from pole to pole, from A to Zizard, from
Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end. He's all my salvation,
and all my hope, and all my prayer. Now you can look to yourself
if you want to, and if you want to, you will. But I'm telling
you, there's nothing there. Nothing there. Turn your eyes to Christ. And trust Him. Father, bless us through our
understanding, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.