The Times of Ignorance, Part 1

Paul's Encounter in Athens and the Unknown God

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, April 16, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I urge you please to turn in your own Bibles with me to the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Acts chapter 17. And in this chapter we have the Spirit-inspired record of the activity of the Apostle Paul and his companions on his second missionary journey. And I pick up the reading at verse 16, which focuses upon Paul's experience in ministering the Word of God in that great Greek city of Athens. Acts 17. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with them that met him.

1:25 And certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some of them met him. And some of them met him. And some said, what would this babbler say?

1:37 Others, he seems to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him unto the Areopagus. That was a council that met in a certain place. It would be sort of philosophical think tank that would monitor and enter in.

2:03 It would be sort of philosophical think tank that would monitor and enter in. And so they took hold of Paul and bring him before the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you. For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We would know, therefore, what these things mean.

2:28 Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time. in nothing else but either to tell or hear some new thing. And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, You men of Athens, in all things I perceive that you are very religious, for as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, To an unknown God, what therefore you worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you. The God that made the world and all things therein, He being Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is He served by men's hands as though He needed anything. Then, seeing He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things, and He made of one every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek God, if happily they

3:48 might feel after Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we are. We live and move and have our being, as certain even of your own poets have said, for we are also His offspring. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and device of man. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now, He commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent, inasmuch as He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained, whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that He raised Him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, they said unto the Lord, I have heard of the resurrection of the dead. Some mocked, but others said, We will hear you concerning

5:03 this yet again. Thus Paul went out from among them. But certain men clave unto him and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Now let us again seek God's face.

Prayer for Spiritual Discernment and Blessing

5:27 In prayer for his blessing upon the ministry of the word here, and it is wonderful to know that the God who can minister to us here can minister across the country and around the entire globe. And let us remember Dr. Bob as well who is ministering this day out in Seattle, Washington. Let us seek God's face together. Our Father, we thank you for your presence with us in this hour of worship. For the privilege of lifting up our voices in praises to our unseen but very present, risen and exalted Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the privilege of seeking your face. We thank you that you have not left us like masses of the earth to bow down to the work of our own hands that we would designate as gods.

6:30 But that we worship you. The living God, Creator of heaven and earth, sustainer of our very lives. And we now pray that as we turn to your word to contemplate its truth, you would grant the removal of that prejudice that caused some of Paul's hearers to mock him. Deliver us from that callous indifference that caused others to dismiss him politely, saying, We will hear of these things again at another time.

7:03 O Lord, work in us the same disposition that you worked in Damaris, the same disposition that you worked in that man who was a leader in that philosophical think tank at Athens, that we may cleave to our Lord Jesus and to his truth, and believe upon him. Speak, we pray, in this place. Likewise, we plead for your blessing upon your servant who will minister the word there in Seattle, that he may, too, know the presence and power of your grace upon him and upon his labors. And, O Lord, in every place, in this community and throughout our country and to the ends of the earth, O God, make this a day when the word comes to men not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit. Amen. Can you imagine with me what might happen if we were all to be carried in several large

The Modern Misunderstanding of Easter

8:21 buses into New York City or into some other city in our country where, on this, the so-called Easter Sunday in the church calendar year, multitudes will pile into the streets of the church. And, of course, a crowd of the streets for their various Easter parades. Conducting contests with respect to who has the most bizarre or the most aesthetically pleasing hat to show forth on this so-called Easter Sunday. And each of us had a notebook and were asked to conduct a little informal on the street survey with respect to what people think of Easter.

9:05 And we were asked to conduct a little informal on the street survey with respect to what people think of Easter. about when they consider Easter Sunday. And I would imagine were we to be put back in our buses after we'd conducted our surveys and gathered for some comparison of the notes that we took, that we would no doubt find that upon asking some people, what is the message of Easter to you, that some would say, well, it's a wonderful reminder that spring is here, that the death and the fruitlessness of winter is past, and with the coming of spring we see the budding forth of life on every hand, and Easter to me is the constant reminder that ultimately life will triumph over death. Others might say, well, Easter Sunday means to me that at least there is still in the midst of all of the increasing evidence of the turmoil. And the disruption and the bitterness and rancor of one segment of society against another, there are still times when we can forget our differences and come together and show ourselves to be decent human beings. Others with a little more perception might say, well, Easter Sunday means to me that the Christian faith is still a viable religion in the earth, that there

10:32 are still those who recognize that. There is a living Christ, if not literally alive, at least he is alive in the hearts and in the faith and in the affections of his followers. But now suppose if in the midst of one of your survey questions, the person you were questioning should turn to you and say, well, would you mind telling me, sir or ma'am, what is the message of Easter to me? What does Easter mean to you? Can you imagine the look of incredulity and amazement, shock, horror upon the face of such a person? If you were to answer in response to their question, this is what Easter means to me. It is the monumental pledge that Almighty God will give to you. Will one day judge you and me by Jesus Christ the Lord? Can you imagine the look of shock,

11:54 of horror, of incredulity? And they might say, well, I probably didn't hear you correctly. Would you say that again? What is Easter to you? And you were to respond by saying, it is the monumental pledge of God that you, my friend and I, will stand before Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe to have our eternal destinies both formally declared and irreversibly fixed. Well, if they didn't faint dead away or run away in horror thinking I'm in the presence of a religious nut. nut, and were to follow up with the question and say, well, why in the world is Easter

12:46 the pledge of such a sobering thing as a day of judgment, and Christ formally declaring and eternally and irreversibly fixing my eternal state? What in the world is the connection between Easter and the day of judgment? Well, I trust you would be able to answer from the text that will be the focus of our study both this morning and this evening, and say, my friend, I answer because it is written in the word of God in Acts chapter 17, verses 30 and 31, the times of ignorance, therefore God. God overlooked, but now he commands men that they should all everywhere repent in as much as he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained, whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he raised him. From the dead. This morning our attention will be focused upon verse 30, which is the

The Day Appointed: God's Judgment in Righteousness

14:12 foundation beneath the directive, I'm sorry, verse 31, which is the foundation beneath the directive and the command of verse 30, which will be the focus of our study, God willing, this evening. And I want you to notice with me in verse 31 of Acts, that the first two verses of Acts 17, first of all, the day appointed, then secondly, the man ordained, and thirdly, the assurance given. First of all, the day appointed. Verse 31 says, in as much as he, God, has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. As the history of the world has unfolded one day at a time, from that seventh day, hallowed and sanctified by God in the creative work of God, recorded in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, from that time until now, human history has unfolded in righteousness.

15:34 One day at a time. But all of the days of all of human history, however long that history may be, will all culminate in a special and a final day, that day which is designated in our text as a day in which God will judge. The world. Let us ask several questions of this day appointed. A day already set in the decree and mind of God. A day already known by God himself, but unknown to us. And the first question we ask of this day appointed is, what will God do in that day? And our text says, he will judge.

16:36 He will judge the world in righteousness. He will judge. That is, he will bring men into a formal reckoning, a final and public arraignment before himself as the creator, sustainer, and provider of his creatures as they are described in this very passage. You remember Paul taking his clue from this altar to an unknown God said, this God that you worship in ignorance I set him before you. And he declares the true and living God to be the creator of the world and all things therein. He declares him to be the sovereign Lord of all that he has created. He has declared him to be Spirit. God is the creator of all people.

17:34 He is decreed a holy God from heaven and out into the infinite. And so his approach is all subscribers and acquaintances by call Chuck E. Saltz is normHonors and the Policy of Mindy Ahlstút he is, as we are all parflows, to the God that we hated before victory because in nature, that he does not dwell in temples made with hands, for no temple can contain him. And then he describes him as a God who is not dependent for anything from his creatures.

17:51 He needs nothing from men's hands, since he himself gives to men the very life that they possess, the very breath that they breathe, and all things that sustain them. And it is this God whom he says will have in that day appointed the prerogative of judging, and that judgment will lead to acquittal or to condemnation. In other words, God will have his day. In court.

18:33 And who will be the objects of this activity of judging? Our text says he will judge the world. And the word world used in this passage is a word that speaks of the inhabited earth, the entirety of humankind. It is used that way in Revelation 12 and verse 9, where it speaks of the devil who deceives the whole world.

19:01 It is used that way in Revelation 12 and verse 9, where it speaks of the devil who deceives the whole earth, that is, deceives all of mankind.

19:08 You see, one of the unique legacies of your being a human being is that you are not only created by God, and you have your life sustained by God, but you will of a certainty be brought into judgment by God. All of the attempts of atheism. All of the attempts of atheism, rationalism, evolutionism, and liberalism, and any other kind of ism under heaven, notwithstanding, there is a day coming in human history when the God who made the world, the God who gave and sustained our lives, will call us into judgment. In Acts 24, 15, Paul says, There is a day of the resurrection of both the judgment...

20:02 Of the just and of the unjust. The day appointed. What will God do on that day? He will judge.

20:13 Who will be the objects of that activity? All mankind. The third question we ask of that day appointed is this. What will be the standard by which those judged will be dealt with?

20:31 Look at our text. In his mockery...

20:33 Watch as he's appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. In righteousness. In the realm or sphere of an absolute and perfect standard of right, unlike all human courts in which perfect righteousness and justice are impossible because of the limits of what man is as a creature, and the perversity of what man is as a sinner, God's day in court will be a day conducted in a context of perfect righteousness. As the Almighty Creator, he has perfect and infinite knowledge, complete awareness of all that is, total recall. Think of it. Of every thought and word and deed, of every creature that has ever been found upon the face of his earth.

21:44 And as the sinless God who will conduct his court in perfect righteousness, he is, the scripture says, no respecter of persons. There will be no real or suspected manipulation of the evidence. There will be. No bending of the law by legal technicalities.

22:14 There will be no mistrial because of grumpy jurors. And there will be no hung jury for God himself, and God alone is judge and jury. The man, sorry, the day appointed is a day of judgment in which the judgment will be conducted in a context of absolute, perfect, unsullied, undiluted rectitude. He will judge the world in righteousness.

22:58 Anyone acquitted in that day of God's setting court will be acquitted because the standard of righteousness demanded for acquittal is not the law. The law is the law. The law is the law. The law is the law.

23:11 The law is the law. The law is the law. Has been found credited to that person. And anyone condemned will be condemned because that standard has been violated.

23:25 As Matthew Henry said, his knowledge of all men's characters is infallibly true, and therefore his sentence incontestably just. There are no appellate courts. in heaven. You know what the appellate court is? That's the court to which you make an appeal.

23:51 When you feel that you have not been judged in righteousness, and so an appeal is made to reconsider the case. But in God's court, there is no higher or ancillary or parallel appellate court. Once having judged in righteousness, God's judgment is utterly, final, irrevocable, irreversible. There is such a day appointed. Inasmuch as He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. As surely as the eternal purpose of the world of God, that there should be a day when He created the heavens and the earth. A day when He would speak, let there be light and there was light. A day in which He would say, let the sea bring forth its creatures. As surely as those days of creation became the unfolding

25:09 of the secret eternal purpose of God's heart. So likewise, a day is coming. You can go to the banquet. A day is coming appointed by God Himself in which all of the inhabited earth will be judged, and that by a standard of perfect righteousness. But then our text not only sets forth the day of righteousness, Appointed, but notice the man ordained. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by literally a man whom he has ordained.

The Man Ordained: Jesus Christ as Judge

26:07 This God who made the heavens and the earth, this God who is Lord of heaven and earth, this God who sustains all life and governs the affairs of the nations, has not only an appointed day, but he has a man ordained to carry out that judgment.

26:34 Notice the identity of the appointed judge and then the certainty of this appointment to judge. Note the identity. Of the appointed judge, he is described as a man whom God has ordained. He does not name him here.

26:58 He simply says a man whom he has ordained.

27:05 Now, obviously, from our knowledge of other scriptures, this is a direct reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul is not here teaching that Christ is meek. He is not merely a man. No, but he is emphasizing that because Christ as the Son of Man, as the one appointed to be God's mediator, as the one appointed to be the judge, it will be as the God-man that he will judge men in the last day.

27:44 For this very apostle in other places is, it is utterly unashamed to describe Jesus Christ as our great God and Savior, Titus chapter 2 and verse 12. He describes him as God over all, blessed forever in Romans 9 and verse 5. And then again and again throughout his writings and his recorded preaching, he takes texts in the Old Testament that speak of Jehovah, and he makes them a one-for-one equivalent in applying them to the Lord Jesus Christ. And furthermore, if God's judgment is to be a judgment in righteousness by a man, it has to be no ordinary man. For to judge in righteousness, the judge must have perfect and complete knowledge of all the facts, the thoughts, and the intents of the heart. Every word. Every word spoken in the secret place.

28:50 Every deed done in the darkness. Every thought, every word, every deed. And none but God, none but the omniscient mind of God can contain all of those facts. And yet he refers to the judge as a man whom God has appointed.

29:17 And yet he refers to the judge as a man whom God has appointed. And that man is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

29:24 But notice the certainty of his appointment as judge. He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has ordained. And this word ordained is a strong word used in Acts 2.33 for the determinate counsel of God.

29:47 In Luke 22, The Son of Man goes as it is determined of him. In other words, his place in the seat of judgment is not an accident, not an afterthought, but it is by nothing less than the sovereign appointment of the living God himself.

30:10 Now at this point, if you were talking about these things to the person you pulled out of the Easter parade, they might say, now look my friend, you're entitled to your appointment. And it's obvious that you're quite sincere in holding your opinions that to you Easter is the pledge that there is a day of judgment. And that on that appointed day, an appointed man, Christ Jesus, will be the judge. But tell me, tell me, what in the world do you have to bring forward to validate these things that people in religious circles have talked about for years?

The Assurance Given: Christ's Resurrection Validates His Claims

30:46 But what proof do we have? And that brings me in the third place to the assurance given. To the assurance given. Look at the text.

30:56 Inasmuch as he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he hath ordained, whereof he has given assurance unto all men, yes, even to that person in the Easter parade, in that he raised him from the dead. And here the apostle is clearly teaching that God has furnished a trustworthy assurance. He has given a guarantee. When our text says, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, the word means to furnish trustworthy assurance or evidence. And God has granted assurance. He has given us a trustworthy assurance that a day of judgment is coming and that the man ordained to judge shall sit on his throne. And to whom is this assurance given?

32:07 Look at our text. He hath given this assurance unto all men. God has given this certain assurance and pledge unto all men. Unto all men.

32:20 Unto all men. Unto all men. Unto all men. Unto the entirety of the human race.

32:27 It is not an assurance that is limited in its scope, but it has been given unto all men. And what is that assurance in its identity? It is nothing other than the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from among the dead. He hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him.

32:53 from the dead. Him. from the dead. And the language Paul uses is very precise, clearly indicating that this man had entered the realm of the dead.

33:07 That he truly did die. But that God raised Him out from among the grip and the power of death. And therefore establishes that the resurrection of our Lord is the brink. God is not emerging.

33:22 But then when he has returned from death. nailed. our Lord Jesus Christ is God's chosen validation and assurance of a future day of judgment in which you and I will be found judged in a realm of perfect righteousness by the man ordained of God, even the crucified and resurrected Son of the living God. The fact of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is God's certain guarantee of the coming day of judgment.

34:03 But now someone may ask, but what's the connection between the resurrection of Christ and the certainty of the day of judgment? And I want to give that answer in two parts from the Scripture. First, because his resurrection validated his promise. His personal claims to be the judge of the world.

34:28 And secondly, because his resurrection initiated him into his rightful position as judge of the world. Two things then. The validation of his claims to be the judge and his initiation into his rightful position as the judge. First of all, because his resurrection validated.

34:54 His personal claims to be the judge of the world. And here I want you to turn from Acts 17 to several passages in the book of John. John chapter 5.

35:08 Here in the days of his flesh, before his suffering and death, in the face of some of his bitterest enemies, those who had no sympathy towards him whatsoever,

35:24 the Lord Jesus made some momentous claims. about Himself. John chapter 5 and verse 22.

35:34 We're back to verse 21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He will. For neither does the Father judge any man, but He has given all judgment unto the Son. That all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

36:04 Notice these words in particular. Christ Himself speaking about Himself in relationship to the Father. Jesus says, The Father judges no man, but has given all judgment unto the Son. Verse 26.

36:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, even so the Son also gives life and so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself and gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is a Son of Man. Do not marvel at this. He knew what their reaction would be. What? You?

36:47 Coming out of Nazareth? Clothed in the common garb of a Nazareth peasant? Gnarled hands from a carpenter's shop? Nothing?

36:59 Nothing about you that would cause us to fall upon our faces that we are in the presence of incarnate deity? You claim that all judgment has been given into your hands? Jesus says, Don't be amazed at this. For the hour is coming in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and death.

37:30 And they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. He said an hour is coming in which all that are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and they shall come forth to judgment. A judgment that will issue either unto life and all the glory of what is bound up in that word resurrection of life or unto a resurrection of judgment. That is to be consigned to banishment and to outer darkness.

38:08 Now remember, these Jews who hated our Lord, they never forgot His word. Early in His ministry in John chapter 2, He had made the statement, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

38:25 Several years later, when He is in the midst of His suffering and His agony, look at Matthew 27. Matthew 27 and verse 62. Notice how they remembered His words and they throw the words up.

38:43 Matthew 27 and verse 62.

38:49 Now on the morrow, which is the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together unto Pilate saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will raise up rise again.

39:12 We remember that He said after three days He would rise again. In the midst of His suffering upon the cross, they said, You that destroyed the temple and in three days raise it up. Come down from the cross and save yourself. They remembered His words.

39:33 Now can you imagine how much fuel they would have had for their mockery and their jeering for the scripture says that while He hung upon the cross they did mock Him and they did jeer Him. Can you imagine remembering His words? Marvel not at this. The Father has given all judgment to the Son.

39:57 I am in the appointed judge of the entire human race and now He Himself is the victim of a puppet court of horrible lying accusations and manipulation of the mob. And the spineless man who knows He is innocent and wants to turn Him loose caves in to the pressure of the mob and turns Barabbas loose and gives Christ over to their hands to be crucified. Can you imagine what they might have been saying in the midst of their jeering as He staggers under the weight of His cross going out to Golgotha and they want to get on with the job and so they compel this passerby Simon of Cyrene to bear the cross after Him and they watch Him as His hands are impaled upon the cross bar and He is hoisted up and there He hangs as a common felon the most cruel ignominious death which the Romans reserved for slaves and for the worst of criminals. Can you imagine the prompting hey judge of the world how's it feel to be judged yourself hey judge of the world whose voice is going to cause the tombs to open up who can destroy

41:27 the temple in three days and build it again come down from the cross surely if you're judge of the world you can take yourself out from under the judgment of your fellow preacher if ever His claims to be judge of the world seem to be shrouded in the most horrible thick clouds of doubt it was when He Himself was the object of man's judgment not in righteousness but in the most accumulated horrible expressions of unrighteousness lying witnesses unprincipled leaders heartless cruelty He sure doesn't look like the judge of the world hanging healthy immolated His blood mingling with the spit upon His face defraud judge of the world now look at our text God has given assurance unto all in that He raised Him from the dead and it should not surprise us then that when we see the Lord Jesus in the vision

42:54 of Revelation chapter 1 standing with John and through the eyes of John behold the exalted risen Lord seen in vision on the Isle of Patmos when John turns to hear this thunderous voice that speaks to him we read in verse 17 of Revelation 1 and when I saw Him I fell at His feet as one dead and He laid me down and He laid me down and He laid His right hand upon me saying fear not I am the first and the last and the living one and I was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore and then He takes out a key chain and He rattles it before the eye of John and says I have the keys of death and of Hades I as the resurrected one will release men from their craze as to their bodies and I will release their spirits from Hades and I will bring them before me as the living sovereign Lord of the universe to accomplish my role and God has given assurance unto all in that He raised Him from the dead

44:23 and when we ask in what way does the resurrection constitute the assurance that there will be a day in which God will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained Jesus' resurrection validates His personal claim to be the judge of the world and you who are tempted to treat this lightly remember He said some things while He was alive that even His disciples couldn't swallow He said I must go to Jerusalem and there I must be rejected by the chief priest and the elders and I must be handed over to the Gentiles and I must be killed but the third day I will rise again though they could not understand the words nor receive them every one of them came to pass His literal fulfillment and it's the same Jesus who said the hour is coming when as the one to whom the Father has given all judgment my voice will break open the graves of the earth and release the spirits of men

45:50 from the prison in which they are held my voice will bring the spirits of just men made perfect from my presence to join their rest and to be resurrected bodies and all mankind shall stand before me before you play loose with that reality you better be willing to go back and prove all of the eyewitnesses wrong who in the midst of their doubts you see it wasn't like there was a bunch of people all hyped up ready to believe something who saw something that could be construed as a resurrected Christ they didn't believe that he would die but he died they didn't believe he'd be raised from the dead reading yesterday in my own devotions I didn't know whether to weep or laugh when those two are walking on the road to Emmaus their chins hanging on the ground full of sadness the resurrected Christ draws alongside to talk to them and he said what's your problem and they said you're the only one in Jerusalem these days and you don't know what's going on well he was the center of everything that went on I wonder how the Lord just kept them going I don't know how the Lord kept the straight face you talk about self-control you're the only one in Jerusalem and don't know what's going on in these days and the Lord said what are you talking about

47:18 well there was one among us mighty in word and deed and we had hoped not we hoped we had hoped that it was he who would redeem Israel we thought our Messiah had come and we had hope but now this is the third day since they killed him oh yes some of our crowd said that they went to the tomb and didn't find him there but we don't believe them you see the whole idea you had these overly enthusiastic people who were just ready to believe anything about their guru that's nonsense you had a bunch of fearful unbelieving disciples the Lord had to say to these two oh foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have said and you remember Thomas after the witnesses began to multiply and they said Thomas we were behind closed doors our Lord in risen glory and power appeared amongst us Thomas there's no way you're going to get me to believe that stuff until I can take my fist and plunge it into the hole made in his side and pull out his hands and feel the place where the spikes went in not me you see this notion that you had people all ready to believe in their enthusiasm something that wasn't reality that doesn't wash these eyewitnesses for reluctant people who didn't believe

48:48 he was raised from the dead until his repeated undeniable appearances washed away their unbelief and so convinced them he was alive they were willing to die for love and service of their Savior and my friend what you have and I have in my Bible in Matthew Mark Luke and John and in the preaching of Acts and in the epistles is the record of the facts that came from eyewitnesses of the risen Christ relatively easy for hot shot people with PhDs in so called theological studies to speculate two thousand years after the facts that the resurrection never really happened they said it was just a mirage or their devotion to Christ was so deep that they had apparitions that's all well and good for such rotten foul unbelieving minds to write their books but isn't it strange nobody came forward with such nonsense while the living witnesses who saw him were speaking in his name they concocted a little story and I tell you you talk about

50:16 having faith to believe lies it would give you some money and you just say that the disciples came and stole away his body yeah now those people go on out and they're willing to die and be put in prison to cover a lie in the thing that doesn't get them any money and doesn't advance any worldly cause my friend you've got to turn your mind into the mind of an idiot to believe anything other than what the scripture arclessly simply affirms again and again God raised him from the dead and that's why Paul could say God is appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has ordained and has given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead oh my listeners hear me the claims of Jesus to be the appointed judge of the world to be your judge and mine are not idle fanciful claims he who made them is risen from the dead and that resurrection is the certain guarantee that as surely as you sit in that pew you will stand before the risen Christ

The Assurance Given: Christ's Resurrection Initiates His Position as Judge

51:45 in the day of God's appointment but the resurrection not only constitutes the assurance of these things in that the resurrection of Jesus is the judgment of the world but secondly because his resurrection initiated him into his rightful position as the judge of the world while amongst men he spoke of the judge as the son of man not only alive but in passages like Matthew 25 31 sitting after you shall see the son of man coming in clouds and in Matthew 25 31 he shall sit upon the throne of his glory he said that the position from which he would judge would be the position of exalted glory now the word of God makes it clear that the exaltation of the son of God is the exaltation of the son of God just as that moment when in the mystery of incarnation the spirit of God brooded over

53:13 the womb of Mary and in a way that we can only bow before the white light of that mystery there in the first human and in the first level of humanity at the first level of the cells multiply the human bones and blood and flesh and mind and fingernails and down, down, down, down to the depths of the abandonment and the dereliction and the vicariously born hell of the cross. Those were the steps of humiliation, from Mary's womb to a life of poverty, to a ministry rejected by the masses, to lies and false witnesses, to buffeting, to bruising, to scourging, and in the language of Philippians 2, humbling himself, he became

54:42 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. What's the next word? Wherefore, God hath what? Highly exalted.

54:57 And what was the first step in the exaltation? It was the resurrection. When he came forth out of Joseph's borrowed tomb, alive, never to die again, that was the first step in his exaltation. The next step was his reception back into heaven. The next step was his being seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. And there the...

55:29 The scripture says he sits as the reigning sovereign, and he must reign till he hath put all enemies beneath his feet. And the last act of his mediatorial reign will be his activity in the day of judgment. That's why the apostle could say he has given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead. The resurrection initiated him into his rightful position as the judge of the world. And there he sits today. As I sat in my chair yesterday, meditating upon this, and looked up into a cloudless blue sky, I said, O God, I know not where, but somewhere out there in that vast area unknown to me is my Holy Spirit. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for all

56:32 It's the body of my glorified, exalted, risen, sovereign king. If I could be taken there, I could touch it. If I could be taken there, I could see it. And I had to say, Lord Jesus, is it wrong?

56:52 I want to know the shape of your face. I want to see the look of your eyes. I want to behold your countenance. I want to see the prince.

57:09 Not to validate, but simply to be able to clasp the pierced hands and say, Thank you, blessed Jesus, for being pierced for me. He's there, my friend. He's there. And the assurance that you will be there in the day of judgment is that he was raised to the position from which alone he can judge.

57:39 And that is the... The position of supreme exaltation at the right hand of the Father described in Ephesians 1, exalted far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come.

Confronting the Reality of Judgment and Seeking Christ's Righteousness

58:03 Now you say, preacher, here I took pains to get up earlier than I usually do on a Sunday. I walked by my Sunday paper. Had my coffee. Got myself ready and come out to church thinking I'd hear a nice little Easter homily.

58:22 Make me feel that. And you confronted me with something so doleful and heavy and morose as a day of judgment.

58:34 My friend, listen. If you sat here with a cancer that the doctors in their combined wisdom said was going to take your life in 30 days, thinking all the positive thoughts you want, wouldn't kill the cancer cells.

58:55 And all the lovely sweet little things people will say about us will be all right. Just cheer up. Wouldn't kill the cancer cells.

59:04 And all the nice little platitudes about Easter reminding us of the breaking forth of death over life, a life over death, and the breaking forth of good over evil. My friend, it won't cancel what Paul preached to these philosophers there. In the gathering of the think tank of the philosophical minds of the day, he says, listen, you men, you know what you need to understand? You love to sit around and play ping pong with each other's thoughts about reality and about truth.

59:39 But I want to tell you something. There's a day coming when the only reality that will matter is this. How do you stand before the judge who was dead and God raised him? That's the issue.

59:51 That's the issue. And my friend, that's the issue with you, man, woman, boy or girl. On this Easter Sunday, there's an appointed day,

60:02 and there's an appointed man, and there is an assurance given that God raised him from the dead. If that day were today, how would you stand in a court where God will deal in perfect righteousness, judge you by the standard of his holy law, where every thought and word and motive, will be brought to light, and anyone that does not meet the absolute standard of perfect love to God and man will bring you into the court of the condemned.

60:42 You're not so foolish as to think you can stand there and plead your own case, do you? Or are you? My friend, there is one who perfectly kept that law in light,

60:56 who died under the curse of that broken law, and who was raised, who was raised from the dead, and he has a righteousness that he's prepared to give to all who, forsaking their own, will cast themselves upon him. We'll consider in greater detail, God willing, tonight, how that's taught in verse 30, and in the subsequent closing paragraph of this chapter, that may I plead with you, not knowing that I will be back in this pulpit tonight, I have every expectation of being so, but I have no revelation from heaven, but that this, may be the last time I'll ever speak in the name of my Savior. And in his name I plead with you. If you're not clothed in the righteousness of the judge himself, then go to Christ, abandoning every other ground of hope, because in that day it's only those who are clothed in the righteousness of the judge who will have the acquittal of the judge and be welcomed into the place prepared by the judge, and his father for all who trust in him. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the truth

62:25 that you have given assurance unto all men that a day of judgment is coming in that you raised your Son from the dead. And we pray that your Holy Spirit will so work by the word of God that those who are unprepared for that day would give themselves no rest until they know they are in Christ with a righteousness not their own. And for those of us who by grace have fled to him, how we thank you that we can face the day of judgment without dread. We can say with the hymn writer, bold shall I stand, and in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, fully absolved from these I am, from sin and fear and death and shame. O Lord Jesus, we thank you for being willing to be humiliated for us. The humiliation of Mary's womb, the humiliation of poverty and rejection, the humiliation of mock trial and scourging, and beating and bruising and crucifixion and the pangs of hell itself. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

63:53 You are highly exalted. And we worship you. We praise you. And thank you for the day coming when you will be vindicated before the entire onlooking universe.

64:08 And all who are in you and clothed by your righteousness will be blessed. We'll be glorified with you. Seal then your word to our hearts, we pray, in your own blessed name. Amen.