The Resurrection and the Ultimate Questions of Life

Driving home: But when we stand by Joseph's empty tomb there, we have God's own answers to life's ultimate questions.

Martin contrasts 'ultimate questions' (like Job's 'If a man die, shall he live again?') with mundane questions (like choosing clothes) to highlight the profound spiritual issues the sermon will address.

whether it's your closet or some other place, and ask what purse shall I wear that matches this dress or what tie shall I wear that matches my suit and my shirt. Though those are questions of some importance in their own context, they are not what we would call ultimate questions. Ultimate questions are questions which touch the most important issues which the human mind and spirit can wrestle with. When our minds are quiet and we are cut off from the busyness of life that can so easily keep our thoughts at a relatively shallow level, and we listen in the stillness of night to some of the rumb...

1:49 - 2:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But when we stand by Joseph's empty tomb there, we have God's own answers to life's ultimate questions.

The questions of Job ('If a man die, shall he live again?') and the trembling jailer ('Sirs, what must I do to be saved?') are given as concrete examples of ultimate questions that touch the most important issues of life.

If a man die, shall he live again? When the trembling jailer, conscious of the mighty power of God, conscious of his own sin and of his not being right with God, came in trembling and fell before Paul and Silas and cried out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? That is an ultimate question. And standing by Joseph's empty tomb tonight, we enter into a school of wisdom that goes beyond anything to be learned in all the combined so-called wisdom of all of the most brilliant minds of all the ages.

3:18 - 4:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But when we stand by Joseph's empty tomb there, we have God's own answers to life's ultimate questions.

The empty tomb is presented as a 'school of wisdom' that surpasses all human philosophy, where God's own answers to life's ultimate questions are found.

And if we could bring together Socrates and Plato and the great sages and thinkers of all ages, their combined wisdom would be but mere folly in the presence of these ultimate questions. But when we stand by Joseph's empty tomb there, we have God's own answers to life's ultimate questions. And tonight I want us to take up four such questions and see how they are answered in that classroom that is convened outside of Joseph's empty tomb there in Palestine.

4:03 - 4:51 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first ultimate question is whether a holy and just God can justly pardon sinners and accept them as righteous. Martin expounds Romans 4:22-25, explaining that Christ was…

Martin quotes Hendrickson's commentary on Romans 4:25 to clarify the backward-looking nature of Christ being 'delivered up for our trespasses' and the forward-looking purpose of His being 'raised for our justification,' assuring us of our sinless standing before God.

Commenting on this verse or this part of the verse, Hendrickson very helpfully comments, He was delivered for or on account of our trespasses. This looks backwards and means that our trespasses made it necessary for Him to be delivered up while He was raised or on account of our justification looks forward and indicates He was raised in order to assure us that in the sight of God we are indeed without sin. In other words, Christ's resurrection has as its purpose to bring to light the fact that all those who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior have entered into a state of righteousness i...

12:38 - 13:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Come to stability in your Christian life by making the theology of the open tomb, in the face of ultimate questions about sin, part of your conscience, heart, and mind.

Martin uses the vivid image of God having to take His Son from His right hand and put Him back in the tomb and kill Him again to emphasize the absolute certainty and finality of the righteous pardon secured by Christ's resurrection.

or of anything that borders on irreverence, if I am to be charged with sins to which I have looked to Christ for forgiveness, then God must take His Son from His own right hand and put Him back in the tomb and kill Him again. for when He raised Him from the dead He was raising Him on account of our justification that is our righteous pardon for all of our sins and our being accepted as righteous in the sight of God not for anything we have done

16:05 - 16:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Come to stability in your Christian life by making the theology of the open tomb, in the face of ultimate questions about sin, part of your conscience, heart, and mind.

Christ's cry 'It is finished!' from the cross is contrasted with God's 'thunderous Amen' three days later, represented by the open tomb, signifying divine validation of Christ's completed work.

And to stand on this unshakable ground. He who was delivered up for our trespasses was raised for our justification. He cried from His cross, It is finished! And God was silent.

17:35 - 17:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second ultimate question addresses the power and pollution of sin: can its power be broken so one can live a life pleasing to God? Martin expounds Romans 6:1-11, arguing that…

The radical severance of a person from their life's context by death (no longer seeing the sun, interacting with others) is used to illustrate how believers, having died to sin in union with Christ, are severed from the realm of sin.

It is life no longer lived under the dominion of sin. It is life no longer lived in the realm of sin as our native context and native air. When a man dies, he is radically severed from that context in which he carried out his life. He no longer sees the sun and feels the warmth of its rays.

25:17 - 25:45 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are bound by chains of sin and despair of liberation, know that Joseph's empty tomb proclaims liberty for the captives.

Martin quotes a simple Pentecostal chorus ('Brother, are you bound? Christ can set you free') to illustrate the theological truth that Christ liberates captives from the chains of sin.

There was a little chorus that some of my early Pentecostal acquaintances used to sing. And it's got a lot of good theology. It's a little trite when it's repeated again and again. But oh, I love the theology of it.

33:53 - 34:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The only existence I've ever known is a bodily existence. The only way I've ever known any of you is in a bodily existence. I've never known one of you as a disembodied spirit.

The universal experience of the 'outward man decaying' (sore joints, aches, pains) is used to illustrate the reality of physical death and the growing seeds of mortality within our bodies.

The worms are no respecter of persons. They consume the bodies of kings and queens as well as those of beggars and of peasants. what of this body concerning which the apostle speaks and says the outward man is decaying and we are conscious of that any of us who pass beyond our twenties and into our thirties and those of us from our thirties into our forties and forties into fifties and some of you into your sixties and seventies how conscious you are that the outward man is decaying.

35:18 - 36:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third ultimate question concerns the fate of our bodies and those of loved ones: will they remain forever in the grave? Martin explains that the biblical view is of a…

Martin recounts Pastor Sarver's words at Dean Allen's funeral, where he declared that just as the earth was opened to receive the body, it would be opened again by the returning Lord, powerfully illustrating the certainty of bodily resurrection.

and how powerfully this was brought home to our hearts this past Thursday when Pastor Sarver stood under the green tent where the casket of Dean Allen was there ready to be placed in the earth and he said words to this effect as surely as the proprietors of this cemetery have opened up the earth to receive the body of our brother. so this plot of ground will be opened again. But the next time, not by the proprietors of the cemetery, but by a returning Lord, for the dead in Christ shall rise first.

45:42 - 46:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Comfort and exhort one another with the words that if Christ died and rose, those who die in Him shall rise in the power of His own resurrection strength and glory.

Martin quotes a poem that captures the glory of resurrection hope, expressing the joy of the soul in heaven and the future reunion with a perfect, dancing body, worshipping God with ecstasy.

This is why someone captured in a poem something of the glory of this. It's as though the person who's just left us is able to communicate to us from the other side and says, Weep not for me, as here I lie, or in the earth my dust they place. For my soul leaps with boundless joy, because I look upon his face. My body sleeps a little while, but soon shall throb with life again, and perfect, join my happy soul.

48:39 - 49:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fourth ultimate question is about a universal day of judgment. Martin asserts that conscience and Scripture (Hebrews 9:27, John 5:26-29) confirm this reality, with Jesus as…

Martin recalls how Jesus' enemies remembered his words about destroying and raising the temple, and then imagines their thoughts at his crucifixion when he had claimed to be the judge of the world, highlighting the apparent contradiction that the resurrection would resolve.

resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment all that are in the tomb shall hear his voice and shall come forth Jesus didn say this in a corner he said it publicly said it in the face of his enemies And they didn forget his words You remember one of his earlier words from John 2 They hurled in his face at the time of his crucifixion. This man said he'd destroy the temple and in three days raise it up.

54:06 - 54:39 Read in full sermon

Driving home: the only way you can reverse the certainty of the day of judgment is to get the body of Jesus kill it and put it back in the tomb when you can do that then you can safely put aside the thoughts of the day of judgment

Martin states that the only way to reverse the certainty of the day of judgment is to 'get the body of Jesus, kill it, and put it back in the tomb,' emphasizing the unshakeable proof of judgment provided by the empty tomb.

He's given you Joseph's empty tomb. he's given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead the only way you can reverse the certainty of the day of judgment is to get the body of Jesus kill it and put it back in the tomb when you can do that then you can safely put aside the thoughts of the day of judgment Put aside the thoughts that you'll answer to God For every idle word Every lustful thought Every envious spirit Every angry word Every dishonest business feeling Put it aside

57:28 - 58:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not trifle with God; stand by Joseph's tomb and take seriously that a day of judgment is coming.

The analogy of a courtroom is used to stress the absolute righteousness and finality of God's judgment, where there will be no plea bargaining, bribing, or greasing palms, and God's perfect knowledge will be the evidence.

claim. But I raised him from the dead, giving assurance unto all men that there is a day when the world will be judged in righteousness. And there'll be no plea bargaining. Nobody's going to be able to rat on another to get himself off the hook. There'll be no greasing the palm of an unjust judge.

59:44 - 60:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not trifle with God; stand by Joseph's tomb and take seriously that a day of judgment is coming.

Martin uses the example of a listener's internal thought ('this is a lot of baloney') to illustrate God's perfect knowledge of every secret thought, word, and deed, which will be brought into judgment.

God's law will be the standard and His perfect knowledge of every thought and word and deed you've ever done will be the evidence He'll bring into court. And what are you going to do when God, who knows right now some of the thoughts you're thinking, this is a lot of baloney, this is a lot of bull. He'll say, remember that night when a preacher preached to you on the night of April the 19th and you sat in the church at 7.32 and you thought that's a bunch of baloney.

60:27 - 60:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider what is keeping you from repenting of your sins and receiving Christ, and recognize that no earthly friend, business success, or relationship can save you from God's judgment.

Martin challenges listeners to consider whether their friends or business success can plead their case before God on the day of judgment, highlighting the futility of earthly attachments in the face of eternal accountability.

What comfort can you draw from those things that now keep you from repenting of your sins and receiving Christ? Think for a moment. What's keeping you? You say, well, if I repented of my sins, I'd lose all my friends.

63:18 - 63:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Whatever your sins have been, venture upon Christ, who in His resurrection has validated that the vilest of sinners will be received.

Martin addresses widows, reflecting on the experience of knowing loved ones only in bodily existence (meeting, falling in love, marrying, weeping, rejoicing, bearing children) to underscore the profound hope of bodily resurrection and reunion.

Will they forever lie. In that spot where I visit. And relive the happy memories. Of that one.

67:12 - 67:20 Read in full sermon