Implications of Christ's Resurrection

Introduction: The Resurrection, Not Easter

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, April 3rd, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now, as I stand before you to open up the scriptures this morning, I do so confident that the vast majority of those of you present are very much aware of the fact that this particular Lord's Day has been designated in the so-called church calendar as Easter Sunday. And I'm also confident that most of you know that in some way or another, Easter Sunday is supposed to have something to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, these facts of our own corporate consciousness, about the significance of this day and the designation of this day, raise some very interesting and perplexing questions. We might ask, where and when did this practice begin?

1:23 How and why is the date for Easter Sunday set year by year? Or we might raise the question, should one who professes, to be subject to the Bible in terms of his life and practice even recognize a special Lord's Day and call it, with others, Easter Sunday? And if he should, in what way should he seek to bring peculiar honor to God on that day? Well, I say, those are perplexing questions, and it's not my intention to answer any of them.

2:05 Well, I say, those are perplexing questions, and it's not my intention to answer any of them. Rather, knowing that the teaching of the Bible concerning the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a foundational truth of the Christian faith, I want to direct your attention to that glorious truth itself. And in that sense, we forget Easter, and we occupy ourselves with the resurrection, and we occupy ourselves with the resurrection, and we occupy ourselves with the resurrection, of Jesus. In particular, I want to speak to you this morning on the subject of the biblical significance of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The biblical significance of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in taking up this subject, I do so standing on, two presuppositions. I stand on two unqualified affirmations of faith.

Two Foundational Presuppositions for Understanding the Resurrection

3:17 Affirmations of faith which every true Christian is prepared to make. And the first is, the historical reality and accuracy of the biblical accounts of the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. All four gospel records have independent accounts of the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, who was buried in a borrowed tomb, rose from the dead bodily. Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John chapter 20 give us these independent accounts of the history, the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And though each of the Gospel records has its own unique contribution to make in terms of certain details surrounding the resurrection, In this, they are all one. They are utterly unanimous and unified in their testimony to the historical reality

4:37 of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then the second presupposition, which is the affirmation of faith of every true Christian, is that he is prepared to accept the convincing testimony of the eyewitnesses who had intimate contact with the resurrected Christ. In the opening verses of Luke's account of the work of the apostles in the book of Acts, he says that Jesus Christ showed himself alive by many infallible proofs. And among those infallible proofs are the very things that I read in your hearing this morning. Four times in four verses it is said, He appeared. He appeared. He appeared.

5:35 He appeared. He appeared. He appeared. It does not say that out of great religious devotion, Cephas had an apparition that he understood to be the risen Christ.

5:50 The emphasis falls not upon the cognitive faculties of those to whom he appeared, but upon the activity of the risen Lord. He appeared. He appeared. He appeared.

6:06 He appeared. He appeared. And so as we address this subject this morning, of the biblical significance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we address it standing upon those two great affirmations of our confidence in the historical reality and accuracy of the biblical record of the fact of his resurrection, and our hearts being held by the convincing testimony of the eyewitnesses who had intimate contact with the resurrected Christ. Now, standing on those two great foundational affirmations, we ask the question, What is the significance of that resurrection? And it is our concern not to deduce our own understanding of its significance, but I've said that I want to speak to you on the biblical significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For the Bible not only contains the record of the fact that he rose and the record of eyewitnesses who saw the risen Christ,

Significance for Christ Himself: Validation, Termination, Installation

7:31 but the Bible tells us the significance of the fact that he did rise from the dead. And it is that concern that is the focus of our study this morning. And time permitting, we want to look at three categories of significance with reference to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, the significance for Christ himself.

8:01 What did the resurrection mean to Jesus of Nazareth? And then secondly, the significance of the resurrection for the people of God, for true believers, and then thirdly, the significance of the resurrection for the world at large. First of all then, the significance of the resurrection for Jesus Christ himself. And I want you to consider with me three aspects of the significance of the resurrection for Christ himself.

8:41 First and foremost, the resurrection was and is the climactic validation of Jesus' personal claims. The resurrection was and is the climactic validation of the personal claims of Jesus of Nazareth. Now while our Lord was engaged in his public ministry, he made some staggering claims concerning his own identity and his own mission. For example, he claimed to be God's unique Son. He claimed it in such a way that his hearers understood it, and they understood him to be saying that he, Jesus of Nazareth, actually shared in the divine essence that as the Son of God, he was deity incarnate. Now he did this in many places. One of the most noteworthy is found in the tenth chapter of John's Gospel.

9:59 And on this occasion, having made this claim in the presence of his bitter enemies, they were determined to stone him for blasphemy. We read in John chapter 10 and verse 30, Jesus' words, I and the Father are one. The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father, for which of those works do you stone me?

10:32 The Jews answered him, For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because that you, being a man, make yourself God. They understood his claim to be one of sharing in the very essence of deity. Now that's a tremendous claim. For one who by all appearances and in reality did possess a true, a real, a vulnerable human existence.

11:15 Furthermore, while in his earthly ministry, he claimed to be the appointed judge of the world. He dared to assert, as he did in John chapter 5, that the hour was coming in which all men and women who've ever lived upon the face of the earth would be raised from the dead, even by his own word of power, and would stand before him in judgment. John 5 and verse 22, For neither does the Father judge any man, but he has given all judgment unto the Son. Verse 25, For the hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Verse 28, Marvel not at this, for the hour comes in which all that are in the tomb shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. And he claimed that he would actually be the judge in that day of judgment. He claimed it in Matthew 25, verses 31 and following.

12:39 He claimed it in Matthew 7 and verse 21. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, then will I say unto them, depart from me. So he claimed to be God's unique Son, the Son of God who was none other than God the Son. He claimed to be the appointed judge of the world.

13:02 He even went further and claimed to be the one true revealer of God and the exclusive way to God. Think of it. He said in Matthew 11, 25, No one knows the Son save the Father. No one knows the Father save the Son.

13:23 And he to whomsoever the Son wills to reveal him. He claimed to be the one true revealer of God and also the exclusive way to God. John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, the life, not one way among many, not one aspect of truth among much truth, not one facet of life among many facets of life, the way, the truth, the life, no man comes to the Father but by me. Now those are stupendous claims.

14:07 To claim to be God, to claim to be the judge of the world, to claim to be the one true revealer of God and the exclusive way to God. What did he do to make good those claims? Well, in his earthly ministry, his works, his works attested again and again to the uniqueness of his person and his position. He could even say, if you don't believe what I say, believe me, for the very works' sake.

14:42 The works that I do, they testify to my unique identity. They validate my claims. This is why the apostles in their preaching could say, a man approved of God among you by many signs and wonders. But it was the resurrection that constituted the climactic, not the exclusive, but the climactic validation of all of those personal claims.

15:14 We read in Romans 1 and verse 4 that he is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The full wording of the text, Romans 1 and verse 4, as Paul is speaking about the gospel which he preaches. He says it is a gospel, verse 2, promised afore through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It is a gospel concerning his Son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, but who was declared or determined the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord. And so for our Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection was the climactic validation of all of his personal claims. And if we would seek to overturn those claims, we have to do something with Joseph's empty tomb, for in the resurrection God has given that climactic validation of the claims of his Son.

16:40 But then the resurrection to our Lord was also the radical termination of his state of humiliation. It was the radical termination of his state of humiliation. When our Lord was here on earth, he was conscious of the glory that he had previously possessed before he came to mankind by way of Mary's womb. In his prayer recorded in John 17, he indicates that consciousness when he prays, in John 17 and verse 5, And now, Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. He was conscious that he possessed a pre-incarnate glory. And the incarnation did not scrub from his memory what that glory was. So here in this prayer, as he's about to accomplish his work in this present state of humiliation,

18:06 he is praying that God would glorify him with the glory that he possessed with the Father even before the worlds were created. But from the moment of his conception in Mary's womb, we are told in a passage such as Philippians chapter 2, he went from one state of humiliation to another, to another, to another, until his humiliation reached its depths in the horrible death of the cross. Philippians chapter 2, verse 5, Have this mind in you which was also in Christ, Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. And being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. And as we read the account and as we have been studying together in Mark's Gospel, we see how progressively as our Lord draws nearer to the cross,

19:35 the depths of humiliation increase until they reach their apex when the heavens are shrouded in blackness and all consciousness of communion with the Father is utterly cut off and our Lord experiences the horror of that abandonment that caused his cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? His humiliation reached its depths there upon the cross. But then as we read in Philippians chapter 2, Wherefore God has highly exalted him. And what was the turning point from the humiliation, to the exaltation? Well, according to the Scriptures, it was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that was the radical cessation of the period of humiliation and was his entrance into his state of exaltation. As surely as the humiliation began with Mary's womb, the exaltation begins with Joseph's empty tomb. Mary's womb introduces the state of humiliation.

21:02 Joseph's empty tomb introduces the state of exaltation. And from that point of resurrection to his ascension, to his session, to his present position at the right hand of God the Father, to his future coming, his future coming in glory and power, to bring redemption in its consummate glory to his own and to judge the wicked, our Lord will know nothing, not one moment of return to the state of humiliation. So for him, the resurrection was not only the climactic validation of all of his personal claims, it constituted the radical cessation of the state of humiliation. And then thirdly, for our Lord, the resurrection resulted in his formal installation as the mediatorial king. It resulted in his formal installation as the mediatorial king. Now our Lord did not begin to be a king at his resurrection.

The Ground of Worship: Christ's Resurrection and Kingship

22:17 He was conceived a king and this was made clear at his conception when Mary was told by the angel that he would occupy the throne of his father David. And again at his birth the angelic host declared unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And the Magi came seeking him who was born, King of the Jews. But in terms of God's progress of redemptive activity, our Lord's official installation as the mediatorial king awaited his resurrection which became as it were the open door to his exaltation and session at the right hand of God the Father. And this is why we read in such passages as Acts chapter 2, Acts 5 and Acts 13 this kind of language. Acts chapter 2 and verse 33. Peter is preaching and in verse 32 he affirms the resurrection of Christ.

23:37 This Jesus did God raise up whereof we are all witnesses being therefore subsequent to the resurrection being therefore by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he has poured forth this which you see and hear. And then he quotes from Psalm 110 and then this tremendous statement of verse 36. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified. He was conceived as the Lord of glory. He was the Christ. Yes, but he is now formally installed as the mediatorial king and is thereby constituted in that formal way in his mediatorial reign and power.

24:48 Acts 5 and verse 30 you have a similar emphasis. Acts 5 and verse 30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt with or at his right hand to be a prince and a savior.

25:12 And that exaltation and installation was subsequent to the resurrection. In Acts 13 and verses 32 and 33. Verse 30. God raised him from the dead.

25:28 He was seen for many days. There is the fact you see of his resurrection. Then the eye witnesses. He was seen for many days.

25:37 Verse 32. We bring you good tidings of the promise made unto our fathers that God has fulfilled the same unto our children in that he raised up Jesus as also it is written in the second Psalm. Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee. Now that's not referring to some physical begetting of Christ.

26:03 It is referring to his formal installation into his mediatorial kingship at the right hand of God the Father. And so for our Lord. Think of what the resurrection meant for him. The one who had come from the presence of the Father.

26:25 Conscious of what he was laying aside when he took to himself a real human soul and a real human body and took that soul and body in this condition of sickness and weakness and sin and grief. And though his soul was not touched with the stain of sin though he himself was utterly without sin he was so constituted that in the midst of the suffering and the pain and the death our Lord felt the horrors of the human condition plagued by sin. He knew what it was to weep in the face of death. To groan in the face of death. To groan in the presence of unbelief. To feel anger in the face of hardness of heart.

27:20 To feel disappointment. To feel a sense of holy frustration when he saw a vast need that he could not meet given the limitations of his present position. And now comes the day of resurrection. And for our Lord no longer will there be weakness.

27:43 No longer will there be rejection. No longer will there be skepticism in the face of his claims in terms of human beings being able to look him eyeball to eyeball and tell him he was demon possessed. All of that is behind him. And the resurrection becomes for him the climactic validation of all of his claims.

28:10 It becomes the radical cessation of the period of humiliation and his formal installation as the mediatorial king. Now you see it is these realities that form the solid ground for bringing worship to him as we have done this morning. It would be nothing less than God dishonoring idolatry to sing some of the hymns we've sung this morning if Jesus were not God. It's because he is who is we can sing crowned with many crowns the Lamb upon his throne.

28:55 It is because he is in the posture of mediatorial kingship that we were able to sing it when imploring the Holy Spirit to come and to conquer the darkness and the blindness of men's hearts. We are able to sing such hymns because Christ as mediatorial king is reigning now. In 1 Corinthians 15 he must continue to reign until he's put the last enemy beneath his feet. And that enemy is death that still has its claims over the bodies of the redeemed.

29:34 And when he comes in glory and power and we are glorified with him and are given our resurrected bodies then the last enemy shall be utterly swallowed up as our mediatorial king accomplishes his great and final act of conquest. And this you see dear people is what forms the ground of the kind of worship and praise and honor that we bring to our Lord Jesus Christ. We could not, I say it reverently, we could not bring it to him in spite of all the miracles in spite of all of the compassionate deeds of mercy in spite of all of the marvelous sayings of our Lord. If Joseph's tomb still held what would now be of his bone we could bring no such worship. His claims would have fallen to the ground. There would have been no validation of those claims.

30:38 The humiliation would have entered a state far worse. The disintegration of the bodily substance of our Lord that would remain of his body. And there would be no confidence that there was any mediatorial king. And so for our Lord the resurrection meant these things to him.

Significance for God's People: Pardon, Assurance, Pledge

31:06 But now secondly what is the biblical significance of the resurrection for God's people? And when I say God's people what do I mean? I do not mean everyone who in some vague nebulous way professes to be a Christian. I'm not a Buddhist.

31:23 I'm not a Taoist. I'm not a Muslim. I'm not a Jew. I was reared in a home where there was a Bible on the shelf and where I was taken to church and christened and taken to church a few times later and confirmed and I occasionally partake of the sacrament.

31:43 I'm a Christian. No, no. I am not speaking of someone who may have that kind of nominal oblique contact with certain elements of the Christian church. But I'm speaking of those who have seen themselves for what they are.

32:00 Creatures made in the image of God accountable to God but who have strayed from God's law who are hell deserving sinners who have come to see in Christ crucified their only hope for salvation and divorcing themselves from sin for that's what repentance is the repudiation of self-will and self-centeredness and self-righteousness and self-reliance have thrown themselves upon Jesus Christ as He has offered in the Gospel have received forgiveness and acceptance through His obedience and through His death have received a new heart an implanted disposition to love Him and to serve Him. That's who I'm talking about. Now what does the resurrection mean for us as the people of God? Well, it means many things.

32:56 But there are three things so central to its meaning that we as the people of God need to come back to again and again and as it were in our mind's eye visit with the Gospel records open before us visit the tomb as Mary did and as Peter and John ran and went into the tomb we need by the activity of sanctified imagination to go and stand by Joseph's empty tomb and tell ourselves these three things again and again and again and again and again for the meaning of the resurrection to the people of God is this number one it is their receipt of full pardon the gift of righteousness. It is their receipt of full pardon and the gift of righteousness. We read in Romans chapter 4 this most significant statement Paul in opening up the doctrine of justification by faith says concerning our Lord Romans 4 and verses 24 and 25 or verse 23 it was not written for his sake alone that it was reckoned that is for the sake of Abraham alone

34:24 but for our sakes also unto whom it shall be reckoned that is a righteous standing with God shall be reckoned to us who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification yes he was raised to vindicate his claims yes he was raised to end his state of humiliation he was raised that he might be officially installed as the mediatorial king yes but he was raised with something that has reference to my greatest need and that is the full pardon of all and having in the court of heaven credited to me the righteousness which earns in the presence of the God of the universe and our text says as surely as he was delivered up that has reference to his death delivered up for our trespasses he was raised for our justification now what's the connection

35:51 well remember now go back to his death when he hung upon the cross he cried out in those words of triumph it is finished it was a declaration that in his own consciousness he knew that he had fully satisfied all of the claims of divine law against those whom he represented by his perfect life of obedience obedience culminating in the death of the cross by his substitutionary bearing on the cross of the curse of the law he read of all those for whom he was representative and surety and conscious that he had rendered this he cried that that cry that that cry of reality well you say we know it because Christ spoke only the truth yes but look at our text he was raised for our justification may I say it in a way that hopefully

37:18 will make it stick I assume the cross bore Peter says bore our sins in his own body up to the tree discharged all the obligations that were against us in the court of heaven those for which he died if there was any question whether the thing were paid in full is upon which he has stamped for the wages of sin is death and when all the works of death were discharged against those death had no more claims over him and his resurrection is the validation of that fact so when you as the people of God feel the weight and the pressure and the shameful consciousness of your sin what are you to do well you are to go and stand by Joseph's tomb and looking into that empty tomb you are to stand and say he was raised for my justification as Paul argues in Romans chapter 8 notice how he reasons

38:47 this way verse 33 who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect he challenges the whole moral universe and says who will rightly lay anything to the charge of one of God's people it is God that justifies if the judge comes along and overturns his decision to what higher court can appeal be made in the appeal system in our own system of jurisprudence the appeal is always made from the lower to the higher court well the court of heaven is already spoken it is God that justifies who is he that condemns who will appeal God's verdict who is he that condemns it is Christ Jesus that died yea from the dead and you see this confidence that there can be no overturning of God's justifying sentence is rooted in the reality of this spiritual understanding of the significance of the resurrection the resurrection then to us as God's people is the receipt of the full pardon and perfect righteousness that is ours in Christ and when conscious of our sin when pressed

40:16 with nothing short of a distracting and distressing and depressing awareness of it we need to go back to the open tomb again and again and again and there hear what that tomb eloquently declares to us penalty paid in full but then the resurrection to the people of God should also be the assurance of God's righteousness but their assurance of an indefectible salvation and why do I use that word not to throw a big word into the sermon but because that word expresses what the Bible tells us about our salvation it's indefectible it cannot fail it is the assurance of a never failing salvation for he came from that tomb with resurrection life he now gives himself to the great task of securing for all for whom he died the salvation which he died to purchase for them look at a text such as Romans 5 and verse 10 for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his

41:45 life saved by his death saved because in the language of Hebrews 7 25 he ever to make intercession for us and what's the result of it wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost to the actual enjoyment of every single blessing purposed in eternity upon the cross he is able to save us to the actual enjoyment without exception why he ever lives to make intercession for us as surely as he died to discharge our debts as surely as he died to satisfy the demands of God's law with respect to the sin that we committed so he lives that that salvation purchased by his death shall be valid and indefectibly be applied to all who come unto God by him and then for us it is also the pledge of our own future resurrection his resurrection is not only the receipt

43:14 of our full pardon and a perfect righteousness the assurance of an indefectible salvation it is the pledge of our salvation that is that is our salvation in the coming of Christ in the coming of Christ and in the next part of our journey in the next part of our on this week in the at the date of the bodies of believers, they are asleep in Jesus. That imagery of sleep never refers to the soul. The soul is very much awake. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Paul says, I long to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.

44:13 It would not be far better if there was any doctrine of soul sleep. It was better to have real, vital communion with Christ in this present state with remaining sin than to be unconscious and have no consciousness of communion with Christ. There is no biblical doctrine of soul sleep, either for the saved or the lost. When the soul departs the body, it departs in full consciousness, in heightened consciousness.

44:40 And the souls of believers go immediately into the presence of Christ, but their bodies, in biblical language, sleep in the earth. Now notice, Paul says that Christ's resurrection was constituted the firstfruits of them that sleep. And there he uses that imagery from the Old Testament when the harvest was just coming to its ripened state. An Israelite was required by divine law to take a portion of that freshly ripened harvest and to bring it as an offering unto God.

45:16 And the firstfruits were the pledge that the entire harvest was the Lord's and the firstfruits were the Lord's. And the entire harvest would in due course be reaped. Christ's resurrection is constituted firstfruits of all that are asleep. And this is why the apostle could write as he did in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 14.

45:40 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and he knows that every Christian at Thessalonica believes that, they would not be saved if they did not. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. His resurrection was not the resurrection of a private person any more than his death was the death of a private person. He died in his capacity as the representative of his people.

46:19 His death is our death. He did not rise. He did not rise from the dead as a private person. He rose from the dead as the great head of the new humanity.

46:30 And his resurrection is the sure and certain pledge of ours.

Consolation for Believers: Answers to Ultimate Questions

46:38 Now, what three questions cause greater agitation than these? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be sure that what I now know of God's salvation will last with all the opposition that comes from the world and from my own remaining sin? Can I be sure that I will endure to the end?

47:06 And then, can I be sure that the grave will not end at all? Those are pretty ultimate questions, aren't they? For the believer who understands the biblical significance of the resurrection, they are answered in Joseph's empty tomb. Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned?

47:27 Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned?

47:28 Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned?

47:30 Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? Can I be certain that all of my sins are truly pardoned? And that I have been credited with a perfect righteousness in the courtroom of heaven? And that I have been credited with a perfect righteousness in the courtroom of heaven?

47:33 And that I have been credited with a perfect righteousness in the courtroom of heaven? And that I have been credited with a perfect righteousness in the courtroom of heaven? And that I have been credited with a perfect righteousness in the courtroom of heaven? He was raised for our justification.

47:42 Can I be certain that in spite of all of the cards being stacked against me in terms of my own known vulnerability and weakness and remaining sin and a subtle and well-experienced and cunning devil and a subtle world to seduce me, can I be certain that I'll not put forth all of this effort only to fall by the wayside? He is able to save to the uttermost seeing He ever liveth. Being reconciled by His death, how much more shall we be saved by His life? And as we feel the increasing tokens of our mortality, as we see around us death and serious illness, as we feel it, in our own bodies the reminders that the seeds of death are very much at work, do we have confidence well-grounded, not just some ephemeral wispation in hope?

48:49 I say with seagull, the answer is Joseph's open tomb. Joseph's empty tomb. Christ has been raised.

49:08 When He came out of that grave, He brought me with Him. It's only a matter of time before that will be known before the whole universe. He brought every believer with Him. It's only a matter of time before it becomes evident to all.

49:24 So, dear child of God, amidst your ongoing struggle with sin, you dare not, you dare not relinquish this foundation for all spiritual stability, the doctrine of imputed righteousness, the doctrine of justification. It is the sheet anchor to the soul. It is the impregnable law. It is the impregnable law.

49:46 It is the rock on which we stand. You and I must go again, again, and again, and again to the open tomb and remind ourselves, raise for our justification. And in our ongoing struggle, when at times we feel that the battle has almost come to a standoff, remember, if we were reconciled by His death, we shall be saved by His life. And cry to Him, O living Christ, You are committed to save me with an indefectible salvation.

50:23 Lord, will fight, strengthen my nerve to press on, strengthen every grace that You've implanted. And then, Lord, when I feel that I can do nothing but stand paralyzed before the world in the pressure of my own sin, then, Lord, in ways that I cannot conceive of, You surround me and uphold me. And preserve Your work in me. Dear child of God, You should derive constant consolation from the resurrection.

51:00 And when we face our own inevitable death, and when we face the death of loved ones, what do we say to ourselves as we see the last earthly remains lowered in the earth? We say, firstfruits of them that sleep. As surely as Joseph's tomb was empty, so that grave will give up the body of that loved one. This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that those that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him, that is, their glorified spirits, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Significance for Unbelievers: Certain Pledge of Future Judgment

51:41 Well, in closing, what does this say to those of you sitting here this morning who are not Christians? You are not the lords. You have never taken that posture of a helpless, hell-deserving, undone sinner, trembling before God's wrath, seeing there's no way of escape in the church, in rituals, in formal religious mumbo-jumble, in saying words, in undergoing ceremonies. You've never taken the place of a helpless sinner, throwing yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ.

52:21 My friend, listen, the resurrection of Jesus Christ says something very pointedly to you. And the first thing it says to you that you need to heed is this. It is the certain pledge of your future judgment by the very Christ who rose from the dead. It is the certain pledge of your future judgment by the very Christ who rose from the dead.

52:46 And notice how both Peter and Paul in their preaching emphasize this truth. Peter, in Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10, notice what he says as he's preaching in the household of Cornelius. Verse 39, We are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree. Him, God, raised up the third day.

53:19 And gave him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were before chosen of God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. You see our two foundational pillars coming through again and again. Christ was raised. Witnesses saw him.

53:38 Peter said, I'm one of them. Now notice, here are the implications. And he charged us to preach unto the people and to testify that this is he who is ordained of God to be judge of the living and the dead. The same Jesus who rose from the dead charged his apostles to preach that his resurrection was indeed the certain pledge of the future judgment of all men by Jesus Christ, the exalted judge.

54:14 Paul preaches essentially the same thing in Acts 17, standing before a group of pagan philosophers. He concludes or brings his sermon to a climax when he says in verse 30 of Acts 17, the times of ignorance therefore God overlooked, but now he commands men that they should all everywhere repent. Why? Inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will be he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

54:59 And who is that man? He's the one who said, the Father's given all judgment to me. I will be the judge in the last day. And Paul says he's appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

55:15 Whereof he has given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is God's certain pledge of the future judgment of all men by that very same Jesus. You see, dear people, that's why I cannot, as a preacher of the word of God, dabble in lovely little thoughts about the bursting forth of the newness of life in the spring and the Easter spirit and all this other nonsense. Joseph's open tomb thunders!

55:55 Judgment is coming! Judgment is coming! You'll be there! You'll be the judge!

56:13 Bring him a basket full of colored eggs and say, O God of faith, Almighty God, with no mediator to plead your cause, do you really want to go before the God who knows your every thought, every single time you felt the slightest motion of unrighteous anger, of envy, of lust, and of pride, the God who knows every time your lips have spoken anything but absolute truth, absolute kindness, and have Almighty God read out the transcript of all of the claims of his holy law against you? Are you so utterly out of touch with reality that you really think you'll come off such a judgment all right on your own?

57:26 Oh my friend, if you do, may God somehow wrench you out of your never-never land of spiritual blindness, because Almighty God, according to Romans 2.16, will judge the secrets of your heart in that day. Do you want Almighty God to read out the transcript of all of the thoughts, not to speak of the words and deeds that have been inviolated? Only one judgment, and that's the strictness of God's law and your life in the light of it.

58:07 If you do not have in that day one who has fully kept that law, paid for all of your breaches of that law, Almighty God in the person of his Son will say to you, depart from me you cursed. I never knew you. Oh, you have no right, may I say it lovingly, you have no right, to go through another Easter Sunday preening your finery and painting and coloring your Before you pillow your head tonight, you'll hear the message of the open tomb and in the language of Paul, repent, turn from your sin, turn from your self-will, turn from your indifference to God and run to Christ for mercy and for forgiveness. If you are not saved, my friend, the meaning of Easter according to the Bible is, it is the certain pledge of your future judgment, but then it is finally, it is the solid basis of offered mercy and forgiveness. You see, the flip side of this

Significance for Unbelievers: Solid Basis of Offered Mercy and Forgiveness

59:33 is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the solid basis upon which God offers mercy and forgiveness to sinners. In that very passage in Acts 10, Peter could say, not only was Christ the one who charged him to preach and to testify that he is ordained to be the judge of the living and the dead, but in Acts 10.43, Peter goes right on to say, to him bear all the prophets witness through his name everyone that believes on him shall receive remission of sins. And that remission of sins which you need is not offered by a dead Christ on a cross. If some ask, why is your building so plain? Why don't you have any crosses?

60:35 Why don't you have any crucifixes? Why don't you have any images of Christ hanging on a cross to help me to visualize his suffering? Well, for the simple reason, my friend, that forgiveness does not flow from a dead Christ. It comes from a living Christ.

60:54 And how picture the living Christ when John had but a vision of him. It just about killed him. He fell at his feet like a dead man. He almost went into a coma.

61:04 No, my friend, the Christ who stands in mercy and forgiveness stands in that posture in the gospel. The only picture of Christ we're warranted to paint is what we paint with his own word in the gospel. If thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believes unto salvation.

61:34 Sorry, for with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10, 9 and 10. And that's why we can say to you who sit here this morning, yet in your sins, yet outside the pale of God's saving mercy, the resurrection and its meaning to you is not only the certain pledge of your future judgment if you go on impenitent and unbelieving, but it's the solid basis of offering mercy and forgiveness in a living Savior. A Savior who by his own livingness can by his Spirit change you and bring you to the place where you'll love the things he loves. Love his people, love his word, love his ways, love his presence. Oh, my friend, it is the living Christ who is offered to you in the gospel. May God grant that you'll flee to him today and mark this day that to you was just going to be another day when you sabbed your conscience that you weren't a pagan, because you went to church on Easter Sunday.

Call to Repentance and Faith in the Living Christ

62:47 My friend, could it be that God has taken that silly notion that brought you here to dispel it with the great truth that what you need is not another brownie point that you did your thing on Easter, but that what you need can only be found in the living Christ and that living Christ offers himself to you in the gospel. What will you do with him? What will you do with him? His claims have all been validated.

63:17 He lives and reigns to administer grace and mercy to the neediest of sinners. But there is a moment marked in God's calendar, I don't know when it is, when he will leave that throne at the right hand of the Father and come forth in visible glory and power. And in that day all who have thrown themselves upon him for mercy will experience that for which they have longed and yearned, the full inheritance of their salvation. But you, my friend, will join those described in Revelation 6 when the kings and the rulers and the bond and the free will cry to rocks and mountains, fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, the living Christ, the living Christ will come in judgment. But then it will be too late. No one will be able to leave enough money behind to pray your soul out of the so-called purgatory which doesn't exist except in the dogma of a church that's left the Bible. It's the only place purgatory exists, my friend.

64:33 There aren't enough people with enough wealth to leave enough money behind to say enough prayers and enough masses and burn... snuff out one of your sins.

64:46 That's all reserved for the blood and virtue of Christ. And it's all yours if you'll only get to Christ. And, my friend, to get to Him is not a difficult thing. The word of faith we preach is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

65:03 Christ is as near as the word that comes to your ears and registers in the patterns of your thought. Christ comes to you in the word and proclamation of the Gospel. Will you then in your heart where He comes now say, No, Lord Jesus, I reject, I refuse, I withstand your claims, your offers of mercy, and in so doing I refuse and withstand and reject you? Or will you say, Lord Jesus, if you've come in mercy so near to me in the Gospel and you would have mercy even on the likes of me, what can I do but be conquered by such love and grace and embrace it?

65:46 The word of faith we preach is near in your mouth and in your heart. If you will, right where you are, believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, you shall be saved. What is the meaning of Easter? We've seen what it is to our Son, what it is to the Son Himself, what it is to the people of God, what its meaning is to you who are not His people.

66:13 May God grant that that word will not have been preached in vain as far as you are concerned this morning. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for the livingness of Your dear Son. We thank You for the glorious fact of the resurrection.

66:39 We thank You that You have given us in Your Word the meaning of that fact, that we are not left to ourselves to figure out what it means, and how we pray that everything that You know we stand in need of would be imparted by Your grace and by Your Spirit. We plead for those, our Father, who came here this morning only as a matter of custom or habit to attend a place of worship on Easter Sunday. Oh, may they see how merciful You've been to preserve them to this hour, and may they not leave until they know that they have closed with the offers of Your mercy in the Lord Jesus. Strengthen the faith of Your struggling saints that there may be new measures of confidence based, not in themselves, but in the resurrected Christ. Seal then Your Word to our hearts, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.