True Meaning of Easter

The World's Misconceptions of Easter vs. God's Somber Truth

0:03 If you were to leave this building this morning and go to New York City or down into the streets of Newark, put on something that would at least give some measure of credibility of your being an on-the-street reporter, suppose you were to ask the people you met who seemed in some way or another to be, quote, celebrating Easter, suppose you asked the question of them, what is the message of Easter? Well, I'm sure that some of the answers would be, well, it reminds me that spring is here.

0:42 Others might show a little bit more perception beyond something just so crass and mundane as the coming of spring, and they might say, well, I always get the feeling at Easter when I see the flowers beginning to bloom and the trees beginning to bud that good will triumph over evil. And others would say maybe even a little bit higher in their perception. Well, the message of Easter is that Christianity is still a living religion.

1:14 Now, all of those answers, of course, are terribly weak when we assess them in the light of the scriptures. Suppose further that having given their answer and something of your disappointment registered on your face, and they turn and countered with a question to you, saying, what is the message of Easter to you? Now, suppose you were to answer in these words.

1:36 Easter is the monumental moment. It is the monumental pledge of God that you, my friend, and I shall stand before Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, to have our eternal destinies declared and administered with finality. Can you imagine the look of incredulity, the look of amazement that you should ever think of associating with so lovely a religious celebration, so somber a thought as the day of Easter? It is so somber a thought as the day of Easter.

2:09 It is so somber a thought as the day of Easter. It is so somber a thought as the day of Easter. It is so somber a thought as the day of Easter. It is so somber a thought as the day of judgment.

Paul's Statement Concerning the Appointed Day of Judgment

2:12 And yet, my hearers, this is precisely what the Word of God does. The text to which I address your attention this morning is Acts 17 and verse 31, and in order to catch the train of thought, it will be necessary for me to back up to verse 30. The Apostle Paul is preaching to the gathering of philosophers on Mars Hill or the Acropolis, standing in the midst of the world. In the midst of a court, as it were, who are to pass judgment upon his thoughts, and he brings his message at least to a semi-climax.

2:53 It is difficult to tell if this was the natural climax or whether it simply became the climax because he was broken off in his discourse by the response of incredulity, the response of mockery, the amazement of unbelief. And he says in verse 30, the times of this ignorance, therefore God overshadowed. But now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent, inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he

3:28 hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And in this text, the Apostle Paul is preaching to the gathering of thought, as it were, Paul is stating in the clearest terms possible that he viewed the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord from among the dead as God's irrevocable pledge of a future day of judgment. He has appointed a day in which he will judge the world and hath given assurance unto all men

4:09 in that he raised him from the dead. And so one of the great messages of Easter, according to the scriptures, is this. The Christ who was raised from the dead will be your judge. The Christ who burst the bonds of death will one day summon you and me into his presence formally to declare and to administer our eternal destiny.

4:40 And so as we look at the text in some detail this morning, will you consider with me in the first place Paul's statement concerning the appointed day. Inasmuch as he hath appointed a day. The history of the world in all of its millennia, its thousands of years in unfolding, has unfolded only one day at a time.

5:11 There has been a there has been a in no page of history written two days at a time. One day at a time comprised of twenty-four hours in every one of those days, and every single day in the unfolding days of history is pointing to that great day mentioned in this text. God has appointed a day. We say to people, set the time and I'll be there. And that's the sense of the word in the original. God

5:48 hath set a day. He has marked it out. I have to plan my days in weeks in terms of appointments and when summer draws near, three-quarter of it is taken up with premarital counseling and weddings. And I must mark them out. I must set the times so that everything in my

6:08 thinking and planning is with reference to those set periods of time. Like the time that God has set. Likewise, Almighty God has set a time. In His own mind and in His own decrees, He has set a day. Now notice some of the things the Apostle tells us about that day. First

6:28 of all, he answers the question, what will God do on that day? And the activity of God is summed up in this one word. He will judge. That is, He will bring man into a formal legal case and judge. He will then judge in the case of God. It is not to judge but to assess

6:52 what will happen and how He will judge. For for the purpose of this text, and for all of the laws of the world, it is not to judge but to reaffirm the fact that He will judge. God will judge, not to judge, but to take the fact about His own will. Actually, it is not to judge, but to send the word. So that is a reminder that God does not judge

7:09 the way that He will judge His own will. In the case of our marriage, it is not to judge the way that she will match His own will. For for such a marriage, God does not judge. It is not to judge the way that He will match His own will. In other words, God is going

7:12 to have His day in court. And that day is graphically described in its legal context in a passage in a passage such as Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15, where the throne of judgment is set, and the records are opened, and the judge sits, and he calls all men before him. That appointed day is a day in which God will formally and publicly administer His own eternal justice and will determine the destinies of men. The second thing Paul tells us about that day, not only what God will do, but who will be the objects of His activity of judging.

7:50 Look at the text. He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world. The marginal reading, the inhabited earth. The word Paul uses is a flexible word, which in contexts such as these does mean precisely what the marginal reading gives us in the 1901 edition of the Bible.

8:12 The objects of this activity will be the inhabited earth or the inhabitants of the earth. It will be the entirety of mankind. You see, one of the unique legacies of being born a man or woman, a boy or girl, in contrast with having been born a cat, a dog, a cow, or a little lice, is that your accountability to God and your standing before, before God in the day of judgment is an inescapable part of your humanity.

8:52 When you and I were constituted human beings,

8:57 we were constituted judgment day bound beings. We have no alternative in the matter. We have no choice in the matter. There is no option.

9:08 He has set the day in which He will judge and He has determined those who will be the objects of His judgment. And according to the text, the objects will be those inhabitants of the earth. And all of the attempts of atheism, rationalism, evolutionism, liberalism, notwithstanding, you and I and all of mankind shall stand before the great judge of the human. And the third thing Paul tells us about that day is what will be the standard by which the activity is conducted.

9:47 God will judge. That's His activity. The inhabited earth. Those are the objects of the activity.

9:54 But what will be the standard by which that activity will be administered? And notice the text. He will judge the world in righteousness. In other words, the sphere, the realm, the context in which the judgment will be administered is that of an absolute and perfect standard of right.

10:19 We read in Genesis, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And you see, perfect righteousness, though it should be the goal of every human court of justice, is utterly impossible amongst men. For you see, man has limits as a creature which makes perfect justice and righteousness in judgment utterly impossible. There must be perfect knowledge in order to make perfect judgment.

10:49 Man lacks. So he does his best by the giving of evidence, by the calling in of witnesses, by the cross-examination of witnesses, by binding the witnesses to oaths to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But in spite of all of this, man as a creature can never judge in perfect righteousness because perfect righteousness demands perfect knowledge. Furthermore, man does not judge in perfect righteousness because he himself is a perverted sinner.

11:19 He can be influenced, influenced by personal gain. The judge can have somebody feed him some money under the table. He can be influenced by graft. He can be influenced by unrecognized prejudices programmed into him from his youth up.

11:37 And so perfect righteousness is not only impossible in a court of man's jurisdiction because of the limitations of man as creature, but because of the perversions of man as sinner. Ah, but when we think of God's judgment, it is the judgment of God. He who is infinite in His knowledge, who knows not only every word and deed spoken in secret, but of whom the Scripture speaks and says He knows our thoughts afar off, before the thought even rises to the level of our own consciousness, God knows it in its first springs of movement.

12:17 We ascend up into heaven, He is there. If we make our bed in hell, He is there. If we take the wheel, He brings the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there His hand shall lead us and hold us. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

12:39 All things are naked and opened before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And so perfect righteousness is possible because God has none of the limitations of the creature. He has perfectness. He has knowledge of all that we are and have done and thought and desired.

13:02 And He is perfectly and infinitely holy. The sinless one will show no respect of persons. There will be no manipulation of the evidence. There will be no bending of the law.

13:19 Therefore the standard in that day will be one of perfect righteousness. He will judge the world in righteousness. Therefore the only ones who will be acquitted in that day are those who have a perfect righteousness in relationship to God's law. If God cannot look at His law and say of the sinner, of the human being who stands before Him, in the light of that perfect standard, I declare you acquitted, there will be no acquittal in that day.

13:54 And any condemned will be so because that standard, has been violated.

14:05 And for no other reason. As Matthew Henry has so quaintly and accurately said, God's knowledge of all men's character is infallibly true. And therefore His sentence incontestably just. There will be no appeals of God's decision, for there is no higher court.

14:28 No appeals.

14:31 No exemptions. He will judge the world in righteousness. The apostle gives us, this classic statement on the appointed day. But then secondly, he gives us a statement concerning the ordained man.

Paul's Statement Concerning the Ordained Man: Jesus Christ

14:46 Look at the text. He hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom he hath ordained. Or in whom he hath ordained, would be a more literal translation.

15:06 He moves immediately from the appointed day, to focus our attention, upon the ordained man. And he does so in such a way, as to underscore two simple things. The identity of that man, and the certainty of his activity. It is a man whom God has ordained, to administer God's judgment.

15:32 And that man is none other than the Son of Man Himself, our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For He identifies, and knows Him further in the text, as the only man, who has been risen out from among the dead. Other dead men have been raised to life, but they have not experienced the resurrection, which our Lord experienced. They were simply raised from a state of death, back to the state of human existence, only to die again.

16:06 But our Lord was raised unto life, immortal life, eternal. with a new quality of life, and so since he is the first fruits of those who sleep, he is the first one thus to be raised unto life. Immortal death hath no power over him. He is one of a kind in that class, and so his identity is that of a man, but the resurrected man. Now why did Paul underscore the matter of Christ's humanity? Is he saying that Christ

16:39 is only a man? When he says that the ordained judge is the man, is he leading us to believe that that's all Christ is? Of course not. That would be a contradiction of what he has taught explicitly in passage after passage of his own writings. It was Paul who called

16:59 him the great God and our Savior in Titus 2. It was Paul who described him in Romans 9, 5, God who is blessed over all. However, it was Paul who described him in Colossians 1, and I believe also in Hebrews 1, as true God. Why then does he say that the ordained judge is the man? He will judge

17:26 the world in righteousness for the simple reason that the function of judgment is one of the peculiar functions of the Son of Man. He judges not as the second man, but as the second person of the Godhead, the eternal Logos, but he judges as the second person incarnate. He judges in the office of a mediator. In other words, the work of judgment is the climactic activity of the theanthropic person, the God-man Christ Jesus. And the apostle

18:07 Paul was concerned to bring into sharp focus that Jesus Christ was the God-man Christ Jesus. It functions as judge in his role as the head of the mediatorial kingdom. And it is also his purpose to put a ray of hope in the midst of this somber and sobering statement, as we shall see subsequently. So the identity of that ordained man is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. Now the certainty

18:39 of his appointment as judge is underscored by the very word Paul uses. He hath appointed a day, but he hath ordained the man. And this word ordained is the word used in Acts 2.33 in conjunction with another word, and it is translated the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. In Luke 22.22, the Son of Man goes even as it is determined.

19:10 You see, this word brings together the grand and large and large and large and large and large and large and large and large and large and lofty biblical concepts of the foreordination of God, the determinate counsel, the electing decree, the predestinating order of God. And so the ordained man in his identity is the Lord Jesus, the God-man, and it is certain that he shall sit upon a throne of glory. Then Paul gives us, and this is the heart of our study this morning, the assured place pledge. How do we know that the appointed day will come to pass? How do we know that

The Assured Pledge: Christ's Resurrection as Proof of Judgment

19:52 the ordained man, identified as Jesus, the Son of God, will certainly sit upon that throne? What pledge has God given us? Look at the text. Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. That's the assured pledge, that the

20:16 ordained man, on the appointed day, will come to pass. That's the assured pledge, that the appointed day shall do precisely this activity, namely, judge the world in the realm of righteousness. Now here again the Apostle uses words that are forceful in their meaning. He uses a phrase that best can be understood as furnishing trustworthy assurance or evidence, to give a guarantee. In other words, God is saying to us in this passage,

20:50 I am not only announcing to you that there is an appointed day, I am not only proclaiming to you that there is an ordained man who will judge in that day, but I am giving you empirical evidence. I am giving you trustworthy assurance that that day will certainly come to pass. And what is that trustworthy evidence? It is that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. And to whom is that evidence given? Look at the text.

21:21 It is given to all, whereof he hath given assurance unto all. In other words, the fact of the resurrection as pledge of future judgment is not some secret element of knowledge only for the elite, the initiate, some who have super-insight. No, no, the same God who said through the angel, Come and see the place where he lay, says to all mankind, Come see the place where he lay. He is not here. He is risen.

21:55 And so the crux of our message is found in these words. Whereof he hath given assurance. Assurance of what? That the day is coming.

22:05 The appointed man will do that activity. And he says that this assurance is the resurrection of Christ. Now, in what way is the resurrection of Jesus Christ a pledge of future judgment? May I suggest?

How Christ's Resurrection Vindicated His Claims to Be Judge

22:22 Three lines of thought this morning. Number one, because his resurrection vindicated his personal claims to be the judge of the world. While he was here upon earth, the Lord Jesus, on many occasions, I shall only read from one classic statement, on many occasions claimed to be the judge of the world. John chapter 5.

22:51 In John chapter 5, verses 22 and 23, we read, For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son. You see here, judgment is committed to the God-man, acting as mediator in subservience to the will of the Father. To what end? That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.

23:18 He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father that sent him. Verse 26. For as the Father hath lightened, life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. And he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a Son of Man.

23:38 You see the emphasis again? Judgment is the work of the God-man, the incarnate Lord of glory. It's not the exercise of the eternal word, merely in the virtue of his Godhead. It is the exercise of judgment given to Son of Man.

23:56 Now he says, Don't be amazed at this. For the hour is coming in which all that are in the tomb shall hear his voice. Whose voice? Son of Man.

24:06 And shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.

24:18 Now these words of Christ did not go unnoticed. If you read carefully the gospel records, you will notice that his enemies marked his words, and they didn't forget them. In the beginning of his ministry, in the context of his first miracle, you remember Jesus made the prophecy in John chapter 2, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Despake he of his body.

24:43 What was one of the accusations thrown into his face at his trial several years later? This man said, I will destroy the temple, and in three days raise it up again. They didn't forget his words. They took note of his words.

25:01 And where possible, they cast those words into his own teeth. You remember this little phrase, they sought to catch him in his words. They listened carefully. We find another example of this, even with words that, as you read the gospel records, you would think they were only heard by the disciples.

25:21 But those words were known by his enemies. In Matthew 27, 62, when they're seeking to make secure the temple, secure the tomb where Jesus was buried. This is one of their reasons. Matthew 27 and verse 62.

25:36 Now on the morrow, which is the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I rise again. Command therefore the sepulchre be made sure. They were aware of the words that Jesus spoke publicly. And apparently, they even had some inside link with the words that he spoke privately.

26:07 Now you say, why are you underscoring this, Pastor? For the simple reason that these words in John 5 and similar words, where Jesus claimed to be the appointed man, the ordained man, who would function as judge on the appointed day, those words were not forgotten by his enemies. And I can imagine what they must have thought when they beheld the process that led to his execution upon that cross, when he bowed beneath the death of a common criminal. Can you imagine what went through their minds?

26:46 When they behold the Lord Jesus, apparently, and I only say apparently, apparently, overcome by this illegal puppet court called by the Jews, unable to vindicate his innocence before Pilate and Herod and before the Sanhedrin, before the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees, the words of Jesus come back to their minds. The hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear my voice and come forth to judge. The Father has given all judgment to the Son. He who claimed to be judge is now held in the vice-like grip

27:31 of a little puppet court of jealous religious leaders and is powerless to deliver himself. His hands to summon us to judge they are bound behind his back as he is the judge. His voice called us a Now upon a cross cries in the agony of abandonment my God, my God, why have you abandoned of God the appointed judge? He is the dead and behold he cries, it is finished.

28:16 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. No way, no way, no way. You would have had every reason to believe if you were in a state of unbelief that these were indeed the blasphemous mouthings of a demented religious leader claiming to be judge of the world who caused the graves to give up their dead by a word. My friends, God hath appointed a day in which he'll judge the world by this man

29:00 and he has given assurance in that he raised him from the dead. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the public vindication of his claims to be judge of the world. And when John gets a vision of the glorified Christ and I have to laugh with holy joy when I read it in the midst of all the dazzling brilliance of that vision described in Revelation 1, head and hair as white like wool, eyes as a flame of fire, feet like unto burnished brass, the Lord Jesus takes out his key chain and he bangles it in front of John and he jangles his keys and says,

29:41 I have the keys of hell and of death and when it's my time I'll stick the key in the lock in all the dead. And all who do not meet that standard of perfect righteousness, in the merit of the righteous one, I will open the mouth of hell and I will say depart. I have them. It looked as though I was merely dreaming about the keys in the days of my flesh.

30:18 I said in the days of my flesh my father's given me the keys. But it looked as though those keys were in the hands of the wicked Jews and the unprincipled Roman leaders. It looked as though they had the keys and opened the door of death and shut me in and locked the door and sealed the tomb. The keys were in my hand.

30:41 I laid down my life. I went through death's door when I myself had opened it. No man takes my life from me. I opened the door and I shut myself in and at the proper time I opened it and came out.

30:59 I am the judge of the world. My friend, listen. You better not think you do service to Jesus Christ by putting on a new dress or a new suit on Easter day. If you come before that judge not clothed in the perfect righteousness of his own meritorious obedience even unto death, the death of the cross, that ordained man on that appointed day will take those very keys and unlock the door of hell and sign you and shut the door and he'll hold those keys for eternity in his own hand.

How Christ's Resurrection Led to His Exaltation as Judge

31:38 Why is the resurrection of Christ assurance of future judgment? Because it vindicated his personal claims to be the judge of the world. But secondly, his resurrection is an assured pledge of future judgment because his resurrection led to his exaltation to the position of judge of the world. While he was among men he spoke of the judge as the son of man, not only living but sitting upon a throne of glory.

32:19 You remember his words in Matthew 25, 31? When the son of man shall come then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations. Therefore the judge is not only the living one but he must be the exalted one. The word of God makes it abundantly clear that the resurrection of Christ was the first installment in a series of activities that we rightly call the exaltation of the son of man.

32:57 His humiliation takes in a series of events. His humiliation began with his being incarnate enfleshed in the womb of the virgin and who can imagine what humiliation for a deity to become that little speck of germinal life in the womb of a teenage maiden. The humiliation of Christ, his lowly birth, his life of subservience to the very creatures whom he made. He went down unto Nazareth and was subject to Mary and to Joseph.

33:35 His being tempted, his being despised, rejected, his life of a servant the son of man hath not where to lay his head. And all of these activities are part of the whole complex that we call the humiliation of Christ. And of course it climaxed in his being humbled unto death even the death of a cross. Now there is a whole complex of events that we rightly call his exaltation.

34:03 The resurrection from the dead was the beginning of that exaltation. But the resurrection led to his ascension and the ascension to his heavenly session, his being seated and the session to his being delivered of the Father, of this authority and power to administer the affairs of the kingdom of grace. And so the resurrection must never be viewed in isolation from that larger thing of which it is the first part. Now the scripture does this.

34:35 This is not something I have concocted in my own brain. You look at a passage such as Ephesians 1.19 where Paul is praying for the Ephesian believers that they may understand the power of God towards them. And he says the very power which he wrought in Christ when he did what?

34:53 Raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in the world to come and hath given his head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all. You see the complex of events raised, seated and delivered all part of his exaltation. Now apply that to the resurrection. God has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world.

35:31 He's ordained the man and now he's given assurance that that day will come to pass. And that assurance is the resurrection. Why? Not only because it vindicated Christ's claims to be the judge but because it led to his exaltation to the position of judge namely the place of a throne.

35:50 And all that we could say today with a voice that would ring throughout the church and be heard in the world Jesus Christ is not waiting to become king. 1 Corinthians 15.25 says He must reign until the last enemy be destroyed. Doesn't say he will begin to reign when the last enemy is destroyed.

36:22 For if that were true there'd be no one to destroy the enemies. He is reigning in order to destroy his enemies. And he sits upon a throne of glory. He is already in the posture of a judge.

36:37 And it's interesting and it's a nuance that you only catch in the original. Instead of Paul using the simple future with reference to the judgment he uses a construct which means he is about to judge. He is in the process of judging. It is so certain that it can be spoken of as already coming to pass.

36:58 Oh my friends listen. That open tomb somewhere in Palestine is God's pledge of the day of judgment because he's already put the judge on his throne. And that God who reckons time not as we do for one day is with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. In the mind and purpose of God the judgment has been set.

How Christ's Resurrection is the Firstfruits of His People's Resurrection and Judgment

37:25 But then thirdly and I'll only touch upon this briefly and I've wrestled to try to make this line of argument more simple and I confess I feel frustrated but I've reduced it to its simplest elements and I just ask you to hang in there and try to grasp it. Alright? The resurrection of Christ is pledge God's irrevocable pledge of the day of judgment not only because it vindicated Christ's personal claims not only because it led to his exaltation to the place of a judge but because his resurrection was the first fruits of the resurrection of all his people. In other words when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 20 and 22

38:10 now is Christ risen and become the first fruits of them that slept or sleep what is he saying? Well he's saying that Christ did not rise as a private person. In other words we must never view any of the acts of Christ as the acts only of this unique individual the Son of God the God-man Jesus Christ. We must always view him in his unique position as the head of his people who had his people bound up as it were in his own loins so that his obedience was obedience on their behalf.

38:51 His death was death on their behalf. And blessed be God his resurrection was a resurrection on their behalf. He is not acting as a private person but as Adam acted on behalf of humanity the first Adam so Christ the last Adam acts on behalf of the new humanity. You say I can't grasp that.

39:12 My friend that's the core of the whole doctrine of salvation in the scriptures. If you don't grasp the heart of that truth that my salvation is bound up to you in the doings of another because those doings were performed in my room instead. That's the glory of the whole teaching of the word of God concerning Christ as the substitute of sinners. So then when he rose from the dead his resurrection was in the words of the apostle the first fruits of those that sleep.

39:46 Now what are the first fruits? It's coming near harvest time. And so the man goes out into his field and he takes his sickle and he gathers some of the grain that has come first to the ripened stage bundles it together and he comes back with it under his arm to bring it as an offering to the Lord to share it with his family whatever his purpose is. What is that bundle?

40:08 That sheaf of grain under his arm? It is pledge of the harvest that is yet to come. Now let me move to a human illustration. Picture a group of one thousand men.

40:22 All of them have been incarcerated by a wicked ruler in an impregnable fortress. They have been chained and locked up all one thousand of them. Guards have been set all around the place where they are enclosed. Humanly speaking there is absolutely no way of deliverance from their prison.

40:44 However, you know that so fixed is the guard so impregnable is the defense that if you see one of them loose you know that it will only be a matter of time before they will all be loose because to get one man loose you would have to kill all the guards you would have to break down all the barriers you would have to break the chains if one man is loose you know it is only a matter of time before they will all be loose. Now suppose one day you happen to see their captain walking loose and you would say are you so and so? Oh yes. Well weren't you?

41:18 Oh yes I was. Well what has happened? You say all the cars have been killed all the chains have been broken and if that is true to let loose their captain you know they will have to walk in the streets in freedom. That is the picture of Christ's resurrection.

41:35 Do I see the Son of God walking free from the bands of death? When the destroyer himself would have kept him in that tomb when he would have as it were declared his conquest to the whole moral universe if Christ could be held in death's dark bands when all the host of hell would seek to keep him there my friend they are not only seeking to keep him there they are seeking the death in Christ the one who will save all men from death and every kindred and tribe and tongue and nation and when we see the Lord Jesus walking free we know it is only a matter of time before all

42:19 what is in him is also free. He is the first fruit of undead sleep and as we have to live our death ears, if God gives them all to us, they pass so quickly like a weaver's shuttle. We pass them like a sigh. It won't be long before the worms will be eating my body and yours.

42:44 But oh, what consolation to sit here and look this morning at these hands that now pulse with life, hands that I know shall be held in the horror of death, and the worms shall eat them, to know that they shall one day not just be this, but hands that will have no sinful impulses, hands that will do nothing but the bidding of my glorified Savior, feet that do nothing but run His errands, a heart that shall do nothing but beat for His glory and entire humanity that will glorify Him through the endless ages of eternity. Oh, my dear people, that's the message of the resurrection. But you say, what's that have

43:27 to do with judgment? Now follow me closely. Follow closely. God everywhere in the world connects the resurrection of the saints with the judgment of the wicked. Therefore, if

43:42 Christ's resurrection is the pledge of my resurrection, it is the pledge of that which must attend the resurrection of believers, namely the judgment of the wicked. Because when God gets done giving me all that Christ purchased for me, it'd be hell to have any sinners around to rub shoulders with. And so God's going to make the new heavens and the new earth and banish the wicked to that place of eternal darkness and torment. Do you see the line of argument? Do you see the reasoning? Do you see the connection? How

44:17 do we know that there's coming that appointed day when the ordained man will judge? Well, Christ was risen from the dead, has risen from the dead, and having been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of all that sleep, my resurrection is sure. Well, if my resurrection is sure, then the judgment of the wicked is sure. But it might take a、 long, long time to know one thing about my resurrection and that jeden Scroll and other scriptures of lahm, and although they endure someone else's wrath. Because this judgment, as opposed to the right building of the kingdom, says Contractscale

44:51 Law, is unMusGS pages 7 and above. It is only God who makes so people severe to enter life. That's exactly what the Book of draws a lesson from. But God knows that God doesn't separate sheep from nothing. When he's about to usher sheep

44:57 into His kingdom he deals with the goats. In Matthew 25, he doesn't just gather wheat into his barn, he gathers tares to be burned. He doesn't merely gather the good fish, but thus gathers wheat to save the world. And God, taking the count at the sun and wood struggling to do that,วعند원".

45:09 Separates the bad. So you see the reasoning? And I believe it's valid. And I believe this is implicit in the thinking of the apostle when he said God has given assurance unto all in that He raised them from the dead because it's one of the dominant notes in Pauline in biblical theology that the resurrection and glorification of the saints will be the hour of the crushing judgment upon the ungodly.

The Personal Demands and Implications: A Call to Repentance

45:34 So then, having described to us the appointed day, having focused our attention upon the ordained man, Paul says the assured pledge is the resurrection of Christ. And having laid out these three lines of thought as to why it is such an evidence, what does all this say to us? And I close this morning by asking you to consider with me the personal demands and implications of these facts. Now you go back to verse 30.

46:05 Because verse 30 introduced this whole exposition. Of the relationship between the resurrection of Christ and the appointed day. Notice the logic of the apostle. The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

46:29 With the coming of Jesus Christ, there is a change in the administration of God. There is no change in God. There is no change in the ground of salvation. There is a change.

46:42 There is a change in His administration. Because of the new blazing light of the gospel, there are greater demands upon mankind. And whereas God was tolerant of men in their idolatry and impenitence and blindness, the times of this ignorance God winked at, God overlooked. That does not mean He did not bring judgments.

47:06 The ancient world is a monument witness that He did. But there was a degree of toleration and forbearance. But now, new light has come. The Son of Man has appeared.

47:18 He has bled and died and been risen from the dead. Now, God commands what? All men. The command is to men.

47:28 Not to angels. They don't need it. Not to devils. They are given no opportunity for mercy.

47:34 It comes not only to men, but the text says to all men. Not just good men. Not bad. Not old.

47:41 Not young. But to all men. And it comes to all men in every place. And what is that command?

47:48 Look at it. He commandeth all men everywhere to repent because He's appointed a day and give an assurance of that day by the resurrection. In other words, the great call of Easter is not a summons from the throne of God to sing pretty songs about the resurrection. It is not a call to put on special and new clothing.

48:14 It is not a summons to wax eloquent on the freshness of spring and the perennial nature of the life of God in the soul of man. What is it? Oh, my people, it's a summons from the throne of Almighty God to repent!

48:32 Repent! To acknowledge the reality and the ugliness of your sin. To acknowledge the graciousness of God in sending the Son of Man. The Son of Man to die for He could not come to the throne from which He'll judge until first of all He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

48:54 Wherefore, God hath highly exalted Him. Oh, my people, may you hear the call of this Easter morning. Not a call to fix up your face, but to have God fix up your heart. Not a call to adorn the external finery, but to be clothed, clothed in the infinitely perfect righteousness of the Son of the living God.

The Necessity of Imputed and Imparted Righteousness

49:18 Here is a summons to prepare for that day which is assured by the resurrection. And the only preparation is that of true and evangelical repentance, a turning from sin, a turning from self-righteousness, abandoning ourselves to the garb of Christ's righteousness, crying to Him for a new heart that we may have not only an imputed righteousness, but an imparted righteousness. For in the last day, when He judges in righteousness, any man who's found without both will have had it.

49:56 In that day, a man must have an imputed righteousness. That is, he must have put to his account the infinitely perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only righteousness that can stand the gaze of the eye of God. But he must also have an imparted righteousness.

50:17 Because you remember in Matthew 25, the basis upon which the public declaration is made is not what men had in Christ, but what they were by virtue of the grace of Christ. Inasmuch as He did it, inasmuch as He did it not, that's not the ground of their acceptance, but it's the living monument that their acceptance was effected by God, who never justifies a man without sanctifying him. That's why the judgment will be according to works. Not because we're saved by works, but because our works are a manifestation that we have been saved.

50:51 It's as though someone would say, God, you mean you're going to take that sinner to heaven simply because he trusted Christ's righteousness? What about the sinner himself? And God will be able to say, well, look, not only did I give that to him, but look what I did in him. Look what I did in him.

51:07 I changed him from a self-centered, wicked, carnal, sin-loving man into one who, though he was conscious of his imperfection and his sin, who, when I tell him of his virtues, will say, Lord, when did I do that?

51:23 But one nonetheless that had a heart of love and compassion that ministered to my people, even the least of them. One who sought to pursue a life of holiness and obedience, who mortified the flesh. You see, the judgment according to works, which includes even believers, is not to settle the destiny of believers, but to declare the righteousness of the destiny already settled. It is God's public vindication of the rightness of His Word.

51:54 Come ye blessed of my Father into that kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And my dear friend, boys, girls, men and women, if you come to that day without the imputed righteousness of Christ and the imparted righteousness of a new heart, the indwelling of the Spirit, it will have to be said of you as was said, of that wicked man, Judas. It were better for you that you had never been born.

God's Long-Suffering and the Call to Salvation

52:27 This is Easter day, so we're told.

52:30 And so we cannot escape.

52:34 My friend, what does the Lord say to you on this Easter morning? He says, My son has been raised from the dead. His resurrection is the assurance that you too will be raised and stand before Him. And in the light of that day, repent.

52:52 Turn from your sin. Turn from your pride. Turn from your rebellion. Turn from every hope rooted in yourself.

53:01 And here's the note of gospel glory in the text. It says He has ordained a man.

53:10 And He's already put him on the throne. Well, why doesn't He judge now? Because His work as a gracious mediator receiving the vilest of sinners is not yet over. Humanly speaking, we may say there is but one reason why the Lord Jesus has not come back.

53:30 And I'll give you Scripture for it. Peter says, Account that the long-suffering of God is salvation. Not presumption, dear people. Do not presume that because the judge sits upon His throne and doesn't bang His gavel and call His day in court that He will not be judged.

53:53 The long-suffering of God is not the ground for you to presume. It's the call of God to salvation. And oh, what a blessed Easter this would be if some of you who came to this day in God's eyes. What a mess you are this morning where you sit.

54:13 God sees you in the tattered, smelly, defiled garments of your own righteousness. It's a stench in His nostrils. Everything about you, sinner, is enough to turn God's stomach.

54:29 Yet in mercy and in love, He says, Just come.

54:33 Don't try to fix up your garment. Don't even try to take it off. Come as you are and I'll cover that with the perfect righteousness of my own dear Son. You say, that's too good.

54:47 That's too simple. That's too easy. Yes, that's why the Gospel is a stumbling block. If God told you to go out and tear that garment off piece by piece and wash it and bleach it and reconstruct your own, you'd be all enthused.

55:00 Because you see, when you were all done, you could stand in front of the mirror and say, oh, isn't this nice? What I have made. But God's determined to have a people who when they look in the mirror shall say, grace, grace, all of grace. Oh, my friend, this Easter is God's call to repent.

Rejoicing in Christ for Believers

55:19 Flee to His dear Son. Call upon Him for mercy. And child of God, it's a call to rejoice. Christ is the firstfruits of those that sleep.

55:32 And with the passing of each year and the reality of our standing before Him becoming, becoming more and more real, I trust to all of us. What a blessed thing to know. The full story has not yet begun to be told. One day we'll shine with such a brilliance that will make angels put their hands over their face for the sheer glory of the sight of Him.

55:55 It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. We shall see Him as He is. Child of God, take hope. That open tomb is God's pledge.

56:08 Your day is coming. My day is coming. Oh, how blessed to be in Christ. Oh, how we should be indifferent that we're not in many other things and that we don't have many other things, but to be in Him and to know, to know with certainty that He's the firstfruits.

56:27 May God give us great joy in the Holy Ghost as well as great compassion for those who come ill-prepared to that awful day. God has appointed a day for us. In which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto us all, in that He raised Him from the dead. Let us pray.