Theological Implications of the Resurrection #3

The Three Unique Elements of the Christian Faith

0:06 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, July 29, 1990, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn again in our Bibles, this time to the Gospel according to Mark and the 16th chapter, Mark chapter 16.

0:32 Will you follow in your Bibles as I read the first eight verses of the 16th chapter of Mark?

0:47 And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen. And they were saying among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb? And looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back.

1:18 For it was exceeding great. And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe. And they were amazed. And he saith unto them, Be not amazed.

1:34 Ye seek Jesus the Nazarene, who hath been crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him.

1:45 But go, tell his disciples, And Peter, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

2:14 In stark contrast with all man-made and demon-inspired religions, there are three utterly unique elements in the Christian faith. The first is that all of the virtue needed by man in order to be right with God is to be found in the person and work of the unique God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. In all man-made and demon-inspired religious systems, that offer any kind of salvation, that salvation is found either in the creature himself, or in another creature, or in a combination of what the creature can do in cooperation with the God or the gods who are set forth as saviors. But utterly unique to the Christian religion is the fact that it proclaims that all the virtue needed for the guilty sinner to be right with God is to be found outside of himself in the virtue of another, that other being the Lord Jesus Christ.

3:39 The second utterly unique thing concerning the Christian faith is that the saving virtue of the Savior is rooted in deeds and actions which are not of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which transpired in real human history. I did not know that Pastor Nichols would underscore that very principle in our reading in 1 Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 1. But it is a thing utterly unique to the Christian faith.

4:10 This fact that the saving virtue of the Redeemer is locked in, is rooted in, draws its substance, from deeds and actions which occurred in real human history. The incarnation was a real fact. At a given point in time, at a spot in Palestine, Almighty God, in a manner unrevealed to us, brooded over a real womb of a real virgin named Mary. And their incarnational, theanthropic manhood. There was the God-man conceived in the real womb of that real young virgin. And everything that follows with reference to the perfect life of the Savior lived in a real place called Nazareth with real brothers and sisters, with real pressures upon him from his infancy when they sought to take his life, even to his crucifixion upon the cross. There was a real death upon a real piece of wood at a real place called Golgotha outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

5:38 A real resurrection and a real ascension and on we could go. And this is utterly unique to the Christian faith. The salvation it sets forth that is totally derived from the virtue of the Savior. It is a salvation rooted not primarily in the teaching of the Savior, but in the deeds of the Savior.

6:06 And then the third unique thing about the Christian faith is that these deeds and actions of the Savior which occurred in real human history are given a divinely purposed and an infallibly explained significance in the Word of God. And this is unique to the Christian faith. These deeds by which the saving virtue of Jesus is set forth to sinners, these deeds were divinely purposed and are infallibly explained in their significance in the Word of God. So in summary, we may say that the uniqueness of the Christian faith lies in its declaration of a salvation in which all the virtue that saves is in the Savior, Matthew 1.21. All the saving virtue is rooted in the life history of the Redeemer, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 to 4. And the specific deeds of the Savior were purposed by God and interpreted to us by God.

Review of Resurrection's Implications for Christ and Believers

7:24 In the scriptures, 2 Timothy 3 and verse 14. Now by now you are probably asking what in the world does that have to do with Mark 16, 1 to 8, the passage read in your hearing. And I answer just this. Several weeks ago I sought to open up these verses in which we have Mark's spirit-inspired account of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

7:55 And the empty tomb. Having opened up the facts of the resurrection as set before us in these eight verses, we then began to consider what is the divinely inspired interpretation of these facts. The facts are as they are revealed in the scriptures. There was an empty tomb.

8:21 There was a real angel. There was a real voice. There was a voice that said he is not here. He is risen.

8:28 There was a real place to which he pointed when he said come see the place where they laid him. There was real fear. They went forth with real trembling. But now the question is what is the significance of all of this?

8:43 And we considered first of all the significance of the resurrection and the empty tomb with reference to our Lord himself. And we discovered from the beginning of the scriptures that the resurrection is at least three things to the Lord Jesus. It is the ultimate validation of his official identity. It is his crowning messianic credential.

9:10 Secondly, it is the crowning revelation of his personal identity. It is the crowning revelation that he is indeed Jesus the son of the living God. And then thirdly, to our Lord it is his glorious evacuation from the state of humiliation. According to several passages in the New Testament the exaltation of Christ in which he forever leaves his state of humiliation begins with his resurrection.

9:47 Then several Lord's days ago we considered what the empty tomb says to us who profess to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What does the empty tomb declare with reference to us and our salvation? And again, we saw from the scriptures it declares at least three things with reference to us. Number one, the undeniable confirmation of a complete atonement for sin.

10:19 Romans 4 and verse 25. It is the imperishable anticipation of our own resurrection from the dead. Christ died the firstfruits of them that sleep and the scriptures make it abundantly clear that if Christ died and rose again those that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him and their bodies shall be raised in the last day as surely as Joseph's tomb was empty that first Lord's day morning. Amen.

10:54 And then thirdly, the open tomb declares to us with reference to our salvation that the necessary condition for having the promises of salvation made good is now fulfilled. For those promises are given to those who come to a person to be saved. And it's only a living person who can make good the promises of so great a salvation. Now having considered the implications then of the resurrection as they relate to the Lord himself as they relate to us and our salvation I want to begin this morning to take up this third and final category of the theological implications of the empty tomb. Namely, the resurrection and the empty tomb in relationship to the entire world at large. We've seen that the resurrection is the only way to the resurrection. We've seen what its implications are to the Lord himself, to us and our salvation.

The Resurrection and Christ's Present Rule Over the World

12:02 Now we move even further to consider the implications of the resurrection and the empty tomb as they relate to the world at large. And I have but two headings. One of them I trust to open up and apply this morning. The second, God willing, next Lord's day morning.

12:23 And the only, the only head that we will address this morning is this. The resurrection and empty tomb in relationship to the present rule and government of the world. God willing, next week the resurrection and empty tomb in relationship to the future destiny of the world. But this morning the resurrection and empty tomb in relationship to the present rule and government of the world.

12:54 Few questions are of greater concern to any thoughtful person than is the question who, if anyone, is running the show.

13:07 Suppose you were a building inspector and you were to make your way to a certain construction project with a view to making certain inspections required by the codes of that particular town or city. And when you arrive, on the construction site, you saw certain aspects of that site in which there appeared to be perfect order. All of the brick were laid with almost unbelievable precision in that particular part of the site. All of the beams seemed to be in perfect symmetry one with another, equidistant.

13:51 A glance at the blueprints would show that everything was according to the blueprints and according to code. But then going to another part of the construction site, you would think that a bomb had gone off. Everything appeared in disarray. Tools all over the place and the rubble of materials underfoot.

14:12 And nothing seemed to be in place in the walls or in the ceiling above. Well, if an inspector came upon such a scene, one of the first questions he'd ask and he'd boom it out with a loud voice is, Who's in charge? Who's in charge around here? And he'd want to know who bears the responsibility for this apparent incongruity between order and discipline and symmetry and success in the building project and apparent chaos and disorder and rubble and all of the rest.

14:52 Who is in charge around here? Somebody must be responsible for this. Well, just as the poor building inspector would instinctively cry out, Who's in charge? and seek for an answer.

15:05 A human being that has half of one eye to consider what is about him must find himself asking the question, Who is in charge around here? On the one hand, there are so many elements in God's world that seem to be in perfect order. We can predict the circumstances of the sunrise to the very minute and the sunset. We can predict the phases of the moon.

15:38 We can calculate the distance between ourselves and planets. And men can punch into computers computations that enable them to send a rocket up into the atmosphere and then to take its satellite on its way and come within miles. The distance is, if it boggles the mind, that part of God's world seems so orderly and everything in place. Or the scientist looking through his microscope can discover things in the microcosm of God's world where order and symmetry and predictability are amazing and overwhelm any thoughtful mind with God's mighty power. This is the only handiwork. But on the other hand, Trinidad, wicked men with wicked designs supported by more wicked men with larger wicked designs cause a coup that make all of our hearts apprehensive for a dear servant of God and his family. A few weeks ago we heard the news of the horrible earthquakes that shook the Middle East and tens of thousands of people

17:05 wiped out in a few moments and several hundreds of thousands maimed and crippled among them little babes in arms and suckling children. It seems to be rubble and no order and chaos and we looking at this apparent incongruity stand in our world and say charge around here and I answer, go to the empty sea the empty tomb and you'll find God's response to that question. Who is in charge around here if anyone? And the answer of scripture is the risen Christ is in complete charge. And one of the glorious truths that grows out of our Lord's resurrection and his subsequent ascension and that empty tomb is that it answers that question who is in charge? Will you notice in the Mark 16 passage that in the commission given to these women who came early that first Lord's Day morning they were told to tell the disciples and Peter that our Lord was going before them

Christ's Universal Authority as the Risen Lord

18:32 into Galilee and that there they would see him even as he had previously predicted. Well when he actually promised them in Galilee and God willing we'll be studying this passage in greater detail as a conclusion to our studies in the Gospel of Mark why we'll be turning to Matthew to finish our studies in Mark I'll explain at a subsequent date but in Matthew 28 we find the fulfillment of this promise of the Lord. Verse 11 Now while they were going some of the guard came into the city and told the chief priests and then we have a record of this lie that was propagated with respect to the question of the empty tomb. Now verse 16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted and Jesus came to them and spake unto them saying The liberty hath been given unto me in heaven and upon the earth When the Lord goes before them and meets them at Galilee the first words that he speaks to his disciples

20:00 as the resurrected Christ in the place of his own appointment are words that assert in the most emphatic way that as the risen Lord he possesses all right and power to rule in every realm of created reality with unrestricted and universal sovereignty all authority that is both right and power has been given unto me in heaven and upon earth what our Lord is saying is that he possesses all right and all power to rule in every realm of created reality with unrestricted and universal sovereignty all authority has been given unto me in heaven and upon the earth now as God he always possessed this right and this power but as the God man he only possessed as much of this power as was given to him by the Father to exercise according to the will of the Father in pursuance of the salvation

21:28 of his people and so while he was here in the days of his flesh he could say in Matthew 11 27 all has all things have been delivered to me by my Father in those words that we often quote and rightly so as a gracious gospel invitation prior to them in Matthew 11 and verse 27 Jesus said all things have been delivered unto me of my Father all things have been delivered unto me of my Father so our Lord was conscious that there was an authority there was knowledge there was power committed to him to exercise as the God man in John 17 in verse 2 our Lord clearly asserts this reality in his high priestly prayer John 17 and verse 2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh that to all whom you have given him he should give eternal life here the Lord speaks explicitly in these two instances of an authority a power given to him

22:57 by the Father in conjunction with his work as the savior of sinners though as God he always possessed that right and power as the God man he possessed and exercised it only to the degree that it was given to him by the Father and in accordance with the will of the Father now it is clear that when it comes to the point of his resurrection and his subsequent ascension at the right hand of God he is given as the God man new and glorious dimensions of the free unfettered and exorcised of that power and therefore it is as the risen Christ that he comes to the disciples and says all authority has been given unto me by my Father upon in heaven and upon earth and then commissions them to the task that lies before them and there are two passages one in Paul's writing that clearly indicate that in conjunction with the open tomb

24:25 in conjunction with the resurrection and the subsequent seating at the right hand of God our Lord was given new dimensions of this authority Ephesians chapter 1 Paul is praying that God will grant spiritual illumination to the Ephesian believers and one of the things he is praying that they will be given is to understand by spiritual perception verse 19 what the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ when when is a strength of his might wrought in connection with Christ when when is an adverb of time a specific spot in human history so it is power that is wrought in conjunction with Christ at what when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name

25:51 that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and he put precise time that he raised and then seated him he at that time put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all now if this passage teaches anything it teaches that in conjunction with the resurrection the ascension and session Jesus is given in his actual experience as the God man new dimensions of the free exercise of this authority he is given a position that ranks him above all authority and rule and power and dominion and all things are put subject under his feet the parallel passage in Peter is found in first Peter chapter 3 first Peter chapter 3 Peter speaks of the analogy

27:19 between God's dealings with that remnant according to the election of grace in the days of Noah and the salvation of his people now and he says verse 31 which also after a true likeness doth now save you even baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is on the right hand of God having gone into heaven angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him it is the Christ who has been resurrected and gone into heaven now as the glorified God man who has had angels authorities and powers made subject to him and while anything that brings us into the realm of trying to sort out the mysteries of the triune God will leave us baffled and we must not break the first commandment by prying into mysteries beyond what is warranted while we can say as the second person of the Godhead

28:47 from eternity he possessed all authority and might and power all right and power to rule and govern in every realm as the God man in the working out of the salvation of his people there was given to him authority right and power to rule and govern therefore he could speak to the waves and they were still he could speak to demons and they obeyed him he could speak to the dead and even death could not hold its own there was a right to rule and govern exercise in his earthly ministry but in conjunction with the resurrection and with his ascension and session at the right hand of God I use the terminology guardedly there were new and glorious dimensions conferred upon him to exercise with unrestricted and universal sovereignty in the accomplishment of the salvation of his people and it was in conjunction with his resurrection that we may say reverently that our Lord Jesus comes into his official coronation as the messianic king it is in conjunction with his resurrection

The Resurrection as Christ's Messianic Coronation

30:15 that he comes into his official coronation as the messianic king and where is that taught in scripture it is taught explicitly in Acts chapter 13 Acts chapter 13 the apostle Paul is preaching and in the course of his preaching he says concerning the Lord Jesus verse 29 of Acts 13 and when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb but God raised him from the dead and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now his witnesses unto the people and we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto our fathers that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children in that he raised up Jesus explicit reference to the resurrection as also it is written in the second Psalm thou art my son this day begotten thee and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now

31:43 no more to return to corruption he hath spoken in this wise so you see the use of this text from Psalm 2 is bounded by explicit references to the resurrection and it is in conjunction with his resurrection that this passage is fulfilled thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and you see we must not impose on the language of scripture our own concepts and when that terminology was used it was used because the day of the official coronation of a prince in which he formally was instituted as king was called the day of his begetting not his begetting into being but his begetting into his official status as king and ruler and therefore God says in conjunction with the resurrection thou art my son this day have I begotten thee this day in conjunction with your triumph over sin and death itself I have raised you to sit you at my right hand and in conjunction with that activity of the father he is officially installed as the messianic king and then the second song goes on to say

33:11 from that position ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel and it is as the officially installed messianic king that our lord Jesus is now receiving the reward of his sufferings as God by the holy spirit gathers to him from all of the nations the people for whom he lived the perfect life and for whom he suffered the cruel death of the cross and now in that position first Corinthians 15 25 says he must reign not he shall one day reign but in that present position in this resurrection chapter first Corinthians 15 he is presently reigning and we read in verse 25 he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet now why must he reign until all his enemies are put at his feet well because God has made another promise to him in Psalm 110 and verse 1 this is what the father has said to the

34:39 son Jehovah said unto my lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool the father has installed him as the messianic king conferred upon him new and glorious dimensions of the free unfettered exercise of the right and power to rule and govern with the promise that he shall occupy that position until all of his enemies are made subject to him and Paul's argument is the last enemy to be destroyed is death whose destruction awaits the glorification of the bodies of all of the saints of God and then that unique messianic rule and dominion at the right hand of the father will enter a new phase and I will not attempt to expound the subsequent verses because my concern this morning is to focus in upon this one issue that when we stand by the empty tomb and ask the question looking out into the real world in which we live that like that construction site seems to be such a contradiction of elements order rule structure government predictability

36:07 disorder and we say who is in here we stand by the empty tomb the answer comes the one who is no longer here but is risen from the dead and has been taken back to the right hand of the father officially installed as messianic king with all authority in heaven and earth him it is this risen Christ who holds the reigns of the government of the entire world in summary we regarded the empty tomb in a previous message as Christ's debtors prison he went into it laden with the debts of all of his people whom he came to save and when he came out of that tomb when he was raised from the dead he was released from the debtors prison because the debt was fully paid and the empty tomb was the validation that no debt is yet charged to us who believe in Christ now I want you to change the imagery for we may according to the scriptures not only regard the empty tomb as a vacated

37:34 debtors prison but we may regard it as the wardrobe chamber of the king the wardrobe chamber of the king the place where the special robes worn in coronation are put on before the king goes forth to sit upon his throne and when our Lord Jesus according to 1st Corinthians 15 went into the jaws of death he was raised from the dead raised in glory and power according to Romans 1 4 entering a new mode of existence son of God with power by the resurrection and it was there in himself with all of the royal garments for in a few days the king would be brought to the right hand of the father and he would be welcomed in the language of Psalm 24 the king of glory who is he mighty in battle the king of glory is returning and he returned a mighty conqueror this is alluded to very powerfully in Ephesians chapter 4 as well we don't have time to go into it but as we contemplate this dimension of the implications of the resurrection may God help us with that imagery before us to see our Lord Jesus throughout all

39:03 of his life the true king yes inherently worthy of the exercise of all authority upon heaven and in earth or in heaven and upon the earth exercising that authority according to the will of the father he could have brought himself down from the cross but he did not he could have done many things but he did not but now he stands before them as it were clothed in the robes of resurrection life it's just a matter of a few days and he will be seated at the right hand of his father having been taken up amidst clouds and the angels according to Acts chapter 1 now our Lord when he comes forth from the tomb does not come out in a peasant's garment he went in wound with grave cloths he came out with all of the regalia of royalty awaiting his official coronation at the right hand of the father so the resurrection in the empty tomb in relationship to this present world what the Bible does it tell us it tells us the answer to that burning question who's in charge around here and the answer is the exalted resurrected Christ

Practical Applications: Rejecting Humanistic Doomsday Environmentalism

40:32 is in charge now if that is so then it has some tremendous and far reaching implications for every one of us and I trust as time permits to just open up four of the practical applications of this truth number one if Jesus is the reigning messianic king we must refuse to be moved by the pompous pronouncements of humanistic doomsday environmentalists concerning the future of our planet now that's a mouthful but I'll pause to break it down if Jesus is the reigning messianic king then you and I as intelligent believers must refuse to be moved by the pompous pronouncements of humanistic doomsday environmentalists concerning the future of our planet now who are these evil beasts that I'm describing as humanistic doomsday environmentalists it's the people who don't believe this world was created by God is governed by God is in the control of God they believe it just is here and being just here words of what we do with it

42:01 and we determine what will happen to and what are some of their pompous pronouncements if we don't do something about our aerosol we're going to destroy the ozone layer the sunrise there's going to be a massive meltdown and if the ocean going to find and all prediction of humanistic environmentalists concerning the future of our planet if we don't stop using our fuss we'll have nothing so many years when they don't even believe in a God but themselves now I firmly believe that as Christians above all others we ought to feel a sense of stewardship in the use of all God's gifts including our water and our air I'm not indifferent to those matters but you know God has predated the pompous pronouncements of humanistic environmentalists remember God made a promise after the flood at the end of Genesis 8 while the earth remained

43:19 and God made a covenant with all humanity that while the fundamental normal in the whole ecological order oh yeah famines and earthquakes and pestilence Jesus said those things will mark this entire but you and I are not nervous nor turn given responsibilities to jump up and there are churches that have been turned to priorities because they really don't believe that the messianic king in heaven he's going to keep this old planet ticking along as long as there are any elect yet to be born to come to this years of discretion to hear the gospel to be effectually called

44:47 and be united to his son and if that means he must keep it going for another hundred years another thousand years another ten thousand years and he'll continue to reign therefore while we should have in its due proportion an element of responsible concern for our environment my friends my great concern is not the pollution of the Jersey Shore waters it's the pollution of the who lie on the beaches living for this present world men committing breaches in the person of human heart should not be so much

46:05 for the oath over this nation as its private concern of every true and intelligent Christian don't you dance to the tune played by humanistic environmentalist you dance to the tune played by the sovereign lord upon the throne with reference to the concerns of his own heart Jesus is the reigning messianic king and has all right and power to rule and govern in every realm and will govern until all his enemies are made his footstool then let the environmentalist make their pompous pronouncements let the dead environmentalist bury educators and preach the gospel and give to men what they truly need the only antidote for the pollution of their hearts and the horrible ozone layer of the wrath of God that hangs over their heads but then secondly if Jesus is the reigning

Practical Applications: Resisting Unbelieving Evangelical Pragmatism

47:33 messianic king we must refuse to be restrained by the pronouncements of unbelieving evangelical pragmatists if Jesus is the reigning messianic king we must refuse to be restrained by the pronouncements of unbelieving evangelical pragmatists now what do I mean by that terminology well I mean people who claim to believe that the Bible is the word of God it is inspired by God and it is sufficient for faith and practice except and then all the things that come after the except and what they do is say well you see there's been such a tremendous evil in the social structures particularly the roles of men and women we can no longer really take the Bible as our final court of appeal about the relative roles of men and women in society and in the home and in the church we can't do that we've come a long way baby yes and the we've come along baby of the cigarette ass outdated evangelical

48:52 in this matter not if you offend barking loud as society is it don't belong to now it don't belong the various movements so God is in screeching and hollering so go ahead and offend him he's quiet but don't dare offend the rabid feminists that's unbelief they say preaching is past as the central act by which God collect and builds up his people you cannot in our day people are sitting

50:07 listen for an hour to somebody up there who chit chat and seek as old Baxter said to screw the word people's conscience by close said that he's ordained to do his work that way but that's alright God doesn't holler when we snub him so we can just find another method you say you're building up straw men am I no folks I don't have time to fight straw men but I do read I do keep my eyes and ears open a few weeks ago I received the quarterly publication of a well known seminary that even has the word reformed in it and I read the feature article spring meadow presbyterian blooms in Las Vegas desert it's a success story of a young church planter who's gone in to plant a church I quote the article ministering to such a culture means

51:34 significant changes in the worship service too spring meadows is no ordinary presbyterian church then it isn't designed to be its focus is clear reaching the unchurched person and making him want to return bringing his friends that's its goal quote we're dealing with people who are not in the habit of going to church says Tim that's the pastor if all of the sporadic visitors who call our church home were to come every Sunday we'd have an attendance of over 250 people many times we have only one chance to impress a person we want to hook him and keep him coming back so how are you going to hook him well here's the bait consequently worship services are low key and low commitment they focus on making the unchurched person feel comfortable and unthreatened folks I'm reading it I didn't write it it's their publication not mine it's focused on making unconverted people feel comfortable and unthreatened in worship upbeat contemporary original music and praise songs replace traditional hymns Randy Mattson one of Wayne Newton's band members leads the music program other members of Newton's band are actively involved in the church's music drama is usually a part of the service while creeds and responsive readings

53:03 are not used much of the quote Christianese end of quote is deleted and Tim tries to communicate in very practical language what does God say God says if the unbeliever come among you and everyone who has a God given gift of utterance to proclaim the word of peace what will happen Corinthians 14 the fortune is of a truth among you and threatened because the living God is in the midst of his people and he's not right with God he says we don't want to threaten people intimidate we want them to feel comfortable people go into hell you want to make them feel comfortable wouldn't to God I could get some of you uncomfortable I pray and weep and please the earth will be spilled because you've got no right you're in your this is the reigning messianic we must refuse those

54:28 restraints put upon us by the pronouncements of unbelieving evangelical pragmatists we can't insist on the biblical teaching of male and female roles and relationships we can't insist on the centrality and uniqueness of preaching the regulative principle in worship we can't insist that the church can do in the strength of Christ until the church becomes a poor shriveled thing with all of these arms all of its life blood feeding the arms while itself shrivels and dies dear people if we believe the empty tomb says Jesus is king and he is and must reign till he's put all his enemies beneath his feet then we need not be restrained by any of the pronouncements of unbelieving evangelical pragmatists we can go on insisting that Christ rule and rule of his church be done in the power of the spirit that his worship be shaped and framed by scripture and scripture

Practical Applications: Committing to Spiritual Weapons Alone

55:54 alone and we can dare to stand against any single restraint that would be placed upon us then if Jesus is the reigning messianic king we must be committed to the use of spiritual weapons alone in an effort to extend his kingdom why? because it is by those weapons alone that he exercises his sovereign right and power through his people in the conquests that he is effecting among the nations this is what Paul is saying he is saying that Jesus is the reigning messianic king among the nations this is what Paul was committed to when he writes in 2 Corinthians 10 verses 3 and 4 profound words desperately needed by our generation though we walk in the flesh that is we carry out our lives in a bodily existence that can be seen and felt and touched we do not war according to the flesh then there is this for the weapons of our warfare

57:23 are not of the flesh they do not grow out of our own natural resources out of our own wisdom out of our own ingenuity the weapons of our warfare are not of this nature but they are mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds and I can do no better in explaining what Paul is driving at than to quote another servant of God who wrote the military metaphor just introduced is now developed by the apostle a man who engages in warfare must have weapons with which to fight the satanic forces against which the soldiers of Christ's army contend are not forces of flesh and blood therefore to attempt to withstand them with weapons of the flesh would be nothing short of folly the armor of Saul though splendid in the eyes of men cannot avail of such a weapon for which to fight the satanic forces only the panoply of God will serve for this purpose Ephesians 6 11 and following only spiritual weapons are divinely powerful for the overthrow of the fortresses of evil this constitutes an admonition to the church and particularly to her leaders for the temptation is ever present

58:51 with the carnal weapons of this world with human wisdom and philosophy with the attractions of secular entertainment and with the display of massive organizations sound like he was listening to the article not only do such weapons fail to make an impression on the strongholds of Satan but a secular church is a church which having adopted the standards of the world is to fight and is herself overshadowed by the powers of darkness this whole you gotta be in the battle this is a be like them to win them scenario and if you go to take the world's music to make them feel comfortable why not get some of the strip girls and just have it a little more modest there is no logical reason not to go that far dear people when I speak to this younger generation the pressures will increase to turn

60:17 trinity church in the army of carnal wisdom of carnal desire to be like the world of the carnal desire to be unoffensive may God give you grace to resist with all of your might to any leadership if anything is ever foisted upon you that is not a weapon that is taken out of God's armory that has stamped upon it the seal of the approval of the messianic king warranted for use in my battles and if he hasn't stamped it don't you touch it we need not be restrained by the pronouncements of unbelieving evangelical pragmatists we must be committed to the use of spiritual weapons alone in our efforts to extend the kingdom we had an example of it this morning to one I will first of all that prayer, supplication, intercession giving of thanks we did not call you as a church to go in mass to one of our

61:45 embassies to protest the coup attempted coup in Trinidad because all might by his own situation into hand and do things that will astound us even as he's done in recent weeks and months throughout all of Eastern Europe all of the humanists are scratching their heads saying we can't figure it out we've got no problem the king gave some orders turned some hearts like he turns the water courses simple isn't it what's happened in Eastern Europe King Jesus said it's enough split up this monolithic structure and King Jesus can do the same thing in Trinidad King Jesus can turn our liberties and freedoms in a matter of weeks to where we'll be the ones prayed for and our weapons now and in any situation are only spiritual well I must hasten to a conclusion but I dare not skip this forth bear with me please if Jesus is the reigning messianic king we must be confident in the ultimate triumph of the cause of Christ if the empty tomb the open tomb and the resurrection is a declaration that he is the reigning messianic king then we must be we have no option as the people of God we must be confident in the ultimate

Practical Applications: Confidence in Christ's Ultimate Triumph

63:14 triumph of the cause of Christ in that most interesting watershed chapter on bodily resurrection first Corinthians 15 it's interesting isn't it it closes on what note be ye therefore steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord it ends with a practical exhortation to steadfastness based upon the confidence we are not on the fool's errand because the messianic king rules and he is causing us to triumph in union with him and making manifest in every place the savor of the knowledge of himself and wasn't this just the message that God got through to the suffering churches in Asia Minor what is the book of the revelation it's not some mysterious apocalyptic puzzle so that given to the churches so that the expert can write their charts no it was given to a suffering church in which they were feeling even the man to whom this deposit was given was exiled an apostle exiled and what is the great message of the book of revelation it breaks through again and again and again

64:43 the message is Christ is king and he is victor that's it in the seven letters they all end with the promise to him that overcomes will give even as I overcame then in the visions they start with a throne in chapter four and then chapter five it's the lamb in the midst of the throne there's weeping in heaven no one found worthy to unlock the seals and unfold the course of humanity but the lamb is worthy he opens the seals Christ is king and whatever rises up beast out of the sea whatever rises up Babylon the power of this world system whether it's the beast whether it's Babylon whether it's the devil whether it's the enemies of God under any figure the revelation and you'll see the one who comes on the white horse conquers and subdues his enemies Babylon shall sink into hell and the smoke of her torment descends and saints and angels rejoice the devil is cast into the lake of fire what is God saying to his suffering saints he's saying the messianic king is on his throne press on you're not on a fool's errand you my people in the midst of suffering must be confident in the ultimate

66:10 triumph of the cause of Christ he did not conquer sin and death by dying and rising again only to be frustrated in pursuing the ends for which he died and rather he reigns to make good purchase to every last drop of his precious blood and he'll do it in the midst of all the machinations of the devil a subtle seducing world and even his people with their remaining sin I tell you as I thought of Arif and Cathy and the family going back to Pakistan I got shouting happy in my own heart how can we send them back into the midst of that climate where Islam rules and you can feel it pulsing with demonic evil pressure in the atmosphere those of us who've been there know where we speak here's our confidence that every single soul whom he's ordained to bring through the Christ will get his man will get his man he never goes forth on a mission to bring home a sinner for whom he died and comes back empty-handed even when it's proud Saul of Tarsus and he's got to knock him off his horse and get him groveling on his face temporarily blind him

67:38 he brings him up the other side loving Jesus and that's what he's going to do with Muslims there in Pakistan as our brother goes forth with what kind of weapons not the weapons dictated by the latest experts they got a name for them missiologists some of whom are suggesting baptisms too radical in a Muslim context we got to get a new initiatory right yes they are even discussing leaders respected in evangelicalism of initiating them oh it doesn't matter that Christ said make disciples and baptize to the end of the age we can set that aside Christ didn't understand how bad it would be under Islam oh didn't he I resent such aspersions cast upon the wisdom of my blessed Lord upon the kindness and tenderness of my blessed Lord dear friends

68:51 why in the world come out to prayer meeting if Jesus is not king who's going to conquer why come after a day in which you've been hassled at home and hassled in the highways and give yourself to pray if it's a fool's errand but if we believe that Christ of exaltation and power the risen Christ the other sheep that he said he must bring he will bring and will incorporate our prayers in the great complex of those things he uses to bring them I tell you that's enough to make you kick yourself where you need to be kicked and get out and pray and we could go on and apply it in many areas may God grant that these applications in seed form will germinate as we meditate upon them and give us great encouragement as we stand like that building inspector and see things that don't seem to fit and the question is wrung from our troubled minds who's in charge around here we can say the risen Christ is and someday the things that seem to make no sense will all be plain but you who are not in Christ may I state it bluntly I wrestle with whether to use this terminology

Call to Unbelievers: Come to the Victorious Christ

70:19 but I said I think I should you were born a loser you've lived a loser you're going to die a loser and you're going to go to hell a loser unless you get on the right side and I stated more plainly that there's only one winning side in this age long conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent or the serpent himself only one winner and that's Christ and it's only those who are in union with him by faith only those who are united with him it is only they who shall conquer with him oh my unconverted friend haven't you been a loser long enough turn from your sin your pride whatever you're clinging to it can only drag you to hell if it keeps you from Christ whether it's your own righteousness or whether it's some darling sin anything you cling to that keeps you from an open handed full embrace of Christ can only take you to hell and make you an eternal loser oh come to Christ the victor the empty tomb says that this world

71:45 is under his control may God grant that we shall so see him trust him and love him let us pray oh our father we are so thankful that amidst so much that would drive us to despair did we not have the light of scripture we can stand in your presence and bless and praise you that the reigns of this whole universe are being held firmly held continually held so as to control the motion of every atom in the pierced hands of our exalted Christ we bless you for this we thank you and we pray that the implications of this reality will filter down into every facet of our inner being until in every situation we learn instinctively to think of the great reality that he must reign till he has put all his enemies beneath his feet we pray for those who do not know you oh Lord have mercy upon them cause them to see that there is no way they can win against the exalted Christ God help them open their eyes turn them we pray

73:11 bring them broken and believing to the feet of your son take any of your children who have been discouraged and baffled and been waffling on issues because they have been bombarded by secular thinking evangelical pronouncements Lord liberate your people from all such bondage and help us by your grace to move with sure and steady step when we know we are walking in the path dictated by the words of our exalted King hear our cry and may your blessing be upon us as we leave this place we plead in Jesus name Amen