Romans 4:25 | What If He Didn't Rise? (Easter Sunday)

Speaker: Well, there are events that have happened in history that don't

really make a huge impact on our lives.

Uh, for example, the, the launch of Artemis two super cool.

It was really awesome.

I got to watch it and, and saw all the reels afterwards and, and I

just thought, man, that is awesome.

The, the inner, you know, child in me seeing the fire come outta the bottom of

the spaceship and these four astronauts strapping themselves to the most powerful

rocket NASA has ever sent off into space.

That's really, really awesome.

And yet it doesn't really change anything about my life.

Right.

Doesn't really impact my daily life whatsoever.

Where you think of October 20th, 1964, and you might be thinking, why

would I think of October 20th, 1964?

Well, that's my point, but that's the day that former president Herbert Hoover died.

So you think, okay, man, a president of the United States, that's pretty weighty.

That's pretty significant.

The death of the President of the United States.

That's something that might be notable.

And yet, what difference does that make in your life?

Well, unless you're part of the Hoover family, not much at all.

Right?

See, there are things that happen to us or that happen in in history that don't

really have a reverberating effect.

There's not the ripple effect of those events in our lives.

But then there are other things that do matter to us.

For example, July 4th, 1776.

That's why we're not all in here talking with a British accent this morning.

If you are, we love you.

Welcome.

We're happy to have you here, but we won, right?

America.

That's a significant event in history 250 years ago almost, that

still has an impact on us today.

Or you think of Carl Benz, the name Benz Mercedes-Benz.

That may sound familiar.

Carl Benz invented the modern automobile in the 18 85, 18 86.

It's a little fuzzy there, but.

And we're thankful that happened because you're not walking home today.

Right?

And so there are things that happened in history that we think, man, that

has an ongoing effect in my life.

The discovery of penicillin in 19 28, 19 28.

It wasn't first used in medicine until the early forties, but that was massive.

That means that if you have an ear infection, you're not gonna go deaf.

That's is something that happened in history that has an ongoing

effect today in your life.

There's one event though historically speaking that took

place almost 2000 years ago.

That is the most significant event that has happened to the world

ever for every single person in the world that has ever lived.

What happened to almost 2000 years ago is the most significant event that

has ever taken place in the world.

It is the event that will decide eternity.

For every single person that's lived.

It's the event that we're celebrating this morning.

It's the event that we've been doing a, a call back and forth with this morning.

When I say he has risen, he has risen indeed.

It's the resurrection of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago when he walked out

of the tomb never to enter again.

That is the singular defining moment in world history, and that will determine

eternity for everyone because it's what you do in response to that,

that makes all of the difference for whether you will be with the Lord.

Or apart from it.

And this morning I want us to think about the significance

of that event this morning.

I want us to think about the significance of that event, of, of that event, though

from a little bit of a different angle.

Have you ever had something really good happen in your life and ever

thought to yourself, what if it, what if it didn't work out that way?

What if I hadn't had that happen to me?

I get a lot of grief for using my wife as an illustration too much in my sermons,

but I'm gonna do it again anyways.

Um.

All the things that took place for me to meet my wife, I were, were all great

things that had to happen for us to meet.

And I think back sometimes, and I think, well, what if I hadn't gone

down to that back to school function that was happening down there?

What if I didn't know my roommate or my friend that in introduced me to her?

What if I hadn't gone to that college in the first place?

I, I think about all of these scenarios.

None of them are reality, but I think about them because it helps me

appreciate what I have in my wife.

So this morning, I want us to think of the question, what if Jesus didn't rise?

In order that we might better appreciate the reality that we have because he

did in fact rise, he did walk out of the grave never to enter again.

And so as we do this, I want us to open up our Bibles.

If you've got one to Romans chapter four, verse 25.

Romans chapter four, verse 25.

The apostle Paul wrote this letter and in writing it, he's writing

in the first five chapters, at least just about the, the gospel.

He's been talking about the bad news of the gospel.

Now he's, he's beginning to transition over to the good news of the gospel,

uh, before he gets into chapter five, which is kind of the culmination

where we find out about justification by faith and what that means.

But here he stops down to talk about Jesus here, and he

describes it this way in verse 25.

He says, beginning in verse end of verse 24, Jesus our Lord, verse 25,

who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification?

Who has delivered up for our trespasses?

Let's start there.

That's what we talked about on, on Friday night, good Friday.

That is that Jesus took your place on the cross and he died for your trespasses.

Your trespasses is another word for your sins to sin is to miss the mark.

It's to fall short of God's perfect standard and God's standard is

absolute holiness, perfection.

And so we, all of us in this room, myself included, are guilty of sin and

the Bible even goes so far as to say that we are born with a sin, nature.

What that means is that we are born with a natural propensity to sin.

We gravitate towards falling short of God's standard, of absolute perfection.

And so what that does is it puts us in quite the spot and quite the predicament

because that puts us on the wrong side of an infinite chasm between us and God.

And the problem is, is we can't cross that.

We talked about that on Friday night.

Our good works can't cross that chasm.

Nothing can can bridge the chasm between us and God.

At least nothing on our side of it.

And so that's why when Paul says that Jesus, our Lord was delivered up for

our trespasses, that is such good news to us because in being delivered up

for our trespasses, that death that Jesus died for us, that's what closed

the gap between us and God, that if you believe that Jesus died on the cross

for your sins, that that chasm, that your sin and my sin that has created

there, that chasm is brought to nothing.

And you are brought close to God because Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses.

That delivery involved this instrument behind me on the stage

that involved the cross, that that Jesus had to die for our sins.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, and that's a, a death.

That's not just a physical death, but an eternal death.

That's a death that we could never pay.

That's a death.

That means that our good works can't ever make up for that.

And so Jesus being delivered over, he was delivered over to the cross to die

in our place so that you and I, if we have faith in Jesus, can sit here this

morning as those who are forgiven, those whose trespasses have been paid for

because he was delivered up for them.

But notice the second half of the verse and raised for our justification,

he was raised for our justification.

The resurrection of Jesus is, is the linchpin to the

effectiveness of the cross.

The resurrection of Jesus is what is the, the, the father's stamp of

approval, payment, accepted, received, applied on a, on behalf of, of

all of those who for whom he died.

That is what the resurrection does for us.

But what do we mean when we say Jesus raised, Jesus raised it, it seems

elementary, and yet it, it's good for us to stop down and, and remember

what we mean by some of these words.

Because sometimes we can just fall into the trap of, oh, it's

cliche, resurrection Sunday.

He has risen.

He has risen indeed.

Jesus rose from the dead.

That's great.

That's awesome.

What's for brunch, right?

What do we mean that Jesus has risen from the dead?

Because that's unique.

Nobody else in human history has ever done that well, it begins with his death.

In order to raise from the dead, you have to first die.

Right?

So Jesus, 2000 years ago, was nailed to a cross and he died on the cross.

The Romans were ex experts at executing people.

They knew how to do it.

They knew what death looked like.

In fact, it even says in the gospels that Jesus, while he hung on the cross, that

one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and blood and water flowed out.

Jesus was.

In fact, Jesus was dead.

And, and his closest followers, including one Joseph e Methe and, and

even Nicodemus, shows up there at the cross, which is unexpected, but he's

there as well as the women, uh, who were his followers, and John was there.

They take him down from the cross, his lifeless body, they take down

from the cross and they wrap in burial clothes, and they take

that, that body wrapped in burial clothes, that's no longer breathing.

There's no pulse there, and they lay him in a tomb as the blood begins to soak

through even onto those burial clothes.

And they seal the tomb with the stone, and they walk away for

three days and Jesus is dead.

But then three days later, Jesus gets up, the stone is rolled away, and he walks

outta the grave never to enter again.

That's what we mean when we say Jesus raised from the dead.

But that's such a a, a strange phenomenon.

There's a, a cemetery across the street.

You can go over there and just set up camp there.

It's a little weird.

Don't, I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do that.

You could, if you could build a house within view of the CE Cemetery and just

set up a camera, you're never gonna see anybody get up outta that grave.

Well, you will eventually when Christ comes back for the church.

But, but in the meantime, you won't.

It doesn't happen.

So can we be sure that it happened with Jesus?

And the answer is thankfully yes.

There is so much history that that testifies to the resurrection

of Jesus in its reality.

Even just take his original followers, his disciples.

When Jesus was betrayed and arrested in the Garden of

Gethsemane, guess what they did?

At least 10 of them did.

They took off and ran.

They didn't wanna be arrested.

They were fearful for their own lives.

When Jesus is being nailed to the cross, guess how many of his disciples are

there at his, at his feet, the 12 that he had called and gathered to himself?

Judas, let's exclude Judas for obvious reasons, but the rest of the 11, guess

how many were there at the cross?

One, John.

John was the only one there.

What about Peter?

Peter was a leader.

Peter was, was bold.

Peter was in the garden.

He was chopping off Malus ear in the garden.

Peter must have been brave and, and, and there.

No.

Peter was denying Jesus three times in Caiaphas courtyard to a servant

girl, and then he wasn't at the cross.

Fast forward to the book of Acts.

You see Peter, you see John, you see James, you see his followers, and they

are turning the world upside down.

That's not their slogan.

That's the slogan the enemies gave them.

That's the slogan.

Their opponent said that they are turning the world upside down.

What are we gonna do with these Christians?

Peter was standing up with the Jews that he was afraid of looking at

them and saying, this Jesus, this Jesus that I'm here to testify to

you about, you guys crucified him.

You nailed him to the tree.

You need to repent and believe Peter's preaching with a boldness that you have to

say What accounts for the transformation in these, these men's lives?

Most of the the 11.

Died martyr's deaths for their faith.

And maybe you think, well, people are dying martyr's deaths all the time.

Even today, you think of, of terrorists that, that die as supposed martyr.

Martyrs.

The difference is they're, they're dying for something that they're

not claiming to be eyewitnesses of.

When the disciples died, they died at claiming to be eyewitnesses

of the resurrected Christ.

They had every opportunity to tap out and say, no, it's a lie.

Church history holds that.

Some of them were sa in two.

That Peter was crucified upside down.

You would think at some point survival instinct kicks in and you're gonna tap

out and be like, Nope, I'm just kidding.

It didn't happen.

Don't kill me.

But all of them died for what they purported to be an

eyewitness thing that they saw.

I did that.

The explosion of the church.

The church took off and grew so rapidly early on in the first century, during

a time when it would've been so easy for the opponents of the church,

which there were, to come back to the tomb and roll the stone away and

say, Hey guys, th th here's the body.

And yet they didn't.

Nobody did.

Why?

Because Jesus rose.

Because Jesus got up and walked outta the grave never to enter again.

In fact, the Apostle Paul even puts it this way in one

Corinthians 15, he says this.

He says, for I delivered to you as a first importance, what I also received.

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that

he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the

scriptures and that he appeared tous.

That's Peter.

And then to the 12, and then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time.

Most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

I mean, think about that.

Paul's writing to the Corinthians, and if you want to validate this, go for it.

I can give you the names and numbers.

You can text these 500 guys.

Most of 'em are still with us.

Some are gone.

Paul saying, you wanna investigate?

Go for it.

Go investigate.

And in other words, he's saying, this is legitimate.

Jesus has risen from the dead.

And maybe though you're still out there a little bit skeptical saying, yeah,

but, but a resurrection motif that's been done before and, and fair it has.

Here's some examples of of other resurrection motifs that we see.

You've got Osiris, you've got Ishtar, you've got Timus, you've got Beal.

All of these have some sort of resurrection theme that surrounds them,

and yet I would encourage you look into them and compare and contrast them.

In Christianity, the resurrection story of Jesus, there's nothing

that compares in any of these.

For starters, none of them died so that the, the sins of their followers

could be atoned for not a single one.

In fact, Osirus, his resurrection just meant that he was confined to

the underworld after his resurrection.

That's not much of a life.

You've got Ishtar, you've got two mo.

Those were fertility gods.

Those were gods of agriculture.

So their theirs was a pattern, a cycle of dying and resurrecting and dying and

resurrecting and dying and resurrecting.

What does the Bible say about Jesus?

He died once for all.

He's risen, never to die again.

And so if we'll do a little bit of hard work, what we'll find is that, that the

Jesus of the Bible and the resurrection that we read about here is better news

than any other story that's ever been.

Well invented by human minds out there because this is an invented story.

This is the story that God has given us, revealed in his word.

And so Jesus has risen from the dead.

So when we say he's risen, he's risen.

Indeed.

This is such good news for us and is trustworthy news for us.

But again, we should stop and say to ourselves, okay, but how, how,

how did he rise from the dead?

Because you're right, that doesn't happen.

You go to the graveyard, they're still the, the original occupants still there.

Nobody's getting out and, and putting their grave up for lease

for somebody else to come and use.

So how did Jesus rise from the dead?

Well, maybe a better question is this, why couldn't death hold onto Jesus?

Why couldn't death hold onto Jesus?

We talked about it, but sin demands death, doesn't it?

Sin demands death and, and with death comes the, the.

The, the termination of our physical life, the situation where, where we

no longer are going to be in the, the form that we exist currently

this morning and sin demanding death is, is found in the scriptures.

We find in, in Genesis that God told Adam and Eve that in the day that you either

the, the tree or eyes will be open, but he also said that sin is gonna produce death.

Ezekiel 18, God said the soul that sins is gonna die.

In Romans six, Paul wrote that the wages of sin is death and and that tracks.

But the question we have to ask is, but what if you didn't have sin to begin with?

If all of us in the room owe death because of our sin, what if we never sinned?

That's not a reality for any of us here, but it was a reality for Jesus.

See, when Jesus died on the cross, he didn't die for his own sin.

He died for our sins.

He died to pay our debt, not his.

He wasn't a sinner, and so death in the end couldn't hold onto him because

it had nothing to charge him with.

But if Jesus never rose, then we've got a problem.

And again, we're we're saying this right, with the under understood

reality that he did rise.

And so this is meant to, to again cause us to be so much more thankful for the

fact that we worship a resurrected savior.

Because if Jesus never rose, then the problem that we have is that

would be evidence that Jesus had sin.

And if Jesus had his own sin to pay for, then the problem that we face

is that he couldn't take our sin on, he couldn't be our substitute.

And so if Jesus never rose, if Jesus didn't rise, our first point this morning

is this, you wouldn't have a substitute.

If Jesus didn't rise, you wouldn't have a substitute.

But in fact, he did.

So we do.

And that's such good news for us this morning because again, like I said, that

that infinite chasm of our sin that's there, you needed that paid for, and the

fee that was involved in your sin is, is not just physical death but eternal death.

And so we needed somebody that could pay that for us to take

our place, to be our substitute.

And that's who Jesus was, the sinless one who was able to die for us in our place

because he himself didn't have any sin.

It's, it's the old courtroom scene where you are there and you are

guilty and all the evidence is stacked up in front of you, and the

judge is about to render the verdict.

And then the very one who is the the prosecuting attorney.

Attorney who has the right to bring charges against you.

He goes before the judge and says, judge, charge me instead and let him go free.

The judge looks at the attorney and says, well, I guess since you aren't

guilty of these crimes yourself, I don't have any grounds to object.

Then the judge looks at you in the box as the one that is guilty, fully deserving

of the condemnation that's about to come, and he says, you're free to go.

And so then you get up and you go and you sit in the gallery of the courtroom.

'cause now you're free.

And you hear the judge look at that attorney who was innocent and say to

the attorney, because you have taken these charges on yourself as your own, I

find you guilty and deserving of death.

That's the substitute.

That's what Jesus did for us when he took our, our place on the cross

and the resurrection proves to us that he was qualified to do that.

The resurrection shows that the, the sinless one that you needed.

Could take your place for you, see your, your accomplice crime.

Can't look at the judge and be like, just punish me for both of us.

That doesn't work, right?

Because that's not just he has to pay for his own sins.

He can't pay for yours and his.

And so we need one unique, we needed one that was sinless to

be able to come and die for us.

And the resurrection is the evidence of the fact that Jesus was your

sinless substitute, that Jesus could be the one second Corinthians

5 21 who took your sin on himself.

And gave you in exchange his righteousness.

See, if Jesus had his own sin, he couldn't take your sin.

So Jesus had to be sinless.

He had to be the perfect one, and the resurrection shows that indeed he was.

And the Bible backs this up further too.

In Hebrews chapter four, verse 15, it says this, we don't have a high priest who's

unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been

tempted as we are yet without sin.

Yet without sin.

Hebrews nine 14 says, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the

eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience

from dead works to serve the living God?

Notice the one who through the eternal spirit, offered himself

without blemish, without sin.

He was the pure, spotless sacrifice.

Just like in the Old Testament, the Passover lamb had to

be a perfect spotless Lamb.

Jesus was the perfect spotless one for us, and the resurrection

evidences that for us.

The fact that he got up and walked outta the grave shows us that he had

no sin of his own to pay for one Peter 2 22 in our book that we're we're

studying together on Sunday mornings.

He committed no sin.

He committed no sin, and neither was deceit found in his mouth.

So the Sinlessness of Christ is so crucial for us because it's the

sinlessness of Christ that shows us that, that he could be our substitute.

And the resurrection is the evidence of it.

The fact that he got up and walked out of the grave.

Y Christianity rises or falls on whether or not Jesus was your substitute.

Because if Jesus was not your substitute, if Jesus had his own sin

to pay for, he couldn't pay for yours.

But the clear testimony of the Bible is that indeed the sinless

one could be your substitute,

but what about the death that he died?

If the wages of sin is death and he didn't have sin himself, how did he die?

This is where we begin to get into what it was for him to take our sin on himself.

This is what it means when it says in Second Corinthians 5 21, that God made

him who knew no sin to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.

See, Jesus died for our sin under the weights and the condemnation of our sin.

Though he himself had not committed it, and so the the death that he

died was your death and my death.

And so that's how he died, but again, why he died so that he might in

rising again, free us from death.

In fact, in in Hebrews chapter two verses 14 and 15, it says this, since therefore

the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise, partook the same things

that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the

devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

In dying, Jesus set us free from the fear of death.

Jesus won the victory over death so that when we die, someday we're

gonna be set free from death as well.

And so it's such good news that Jesus rose from the dead because

indeed you do have a substitute.

You aren't left there before the Father, before the just imperfect God to sit there

and try to plead your own righteousness.

You don't have to do that.

You get to plead his righteousness because he walked outta the grave for.

As Paul says back in our text in Hebrews 4 25, our justification, he

was raised for our justification.

Let's talk about that word for just a moment here.

The the word justification, it refers to a legal declaration, a legal

pronouncement in which you are declared not just not guilty, but innocent.

You haven't simply been acquitted of your sins, you have been declared righteous.

You've been declared sinless.

You as the guilty one are declared guiltless as the unrighteous

one declared righteous.

But that should create in our minds this question that says, how, how can I,

the guilty one, be declared guiltless?

How can I, the sinful one be declared sinless?

Even in our world, that doesn't work, right?

You take somebody who, who does commits a crime and they go to jail and they

serve their time, and then they get out, they've served their, their.

Their debt to society is the way that we put it, and yet

they never shake that crime.

They never shake the association with the act that they did.

What the cross does is it expiate.

That's what, that's a word that means it removes your sin from you completely.

It takes your guilt away from you completely so that you are no longer

such and such characterized by this laundry list of all of your sins, so

that the sinner is now looked at by God as the one who is, is righteous.

Guiltless innocent, but how other religions have pondered this question and

come up with their own solutions to it?

How can I and a, a, a sinful person be made Right.

With a, a holy god.

It's interesting, even in the, the religions that create a, a pantheon

of gods, all of these multiple gods, like the Eastern religions,

they still understand that there's a problem of, of evil in the world.

And their solution is they've, they've created this idea of reincarnation.

That you can go through these cycles of being reborn again

until you get to the place.

Hopefully, there's no guarantee that you ever will, where, where you are

good enough that you can reach either a state of oneness with the universe or

some state of, of unconscious nirvana.

But notice again, you've got a, a false religion system that is noticed

that there's a problem in the world, that there's the world's broken

and sinful, and I think all of us in the room would agree with that.

The sin exists, and I think all of us would look at ourselves and say,

there's something wrong with me.

I'm a sinner.

I do bad things.

I do things that I don't like.

So the eastern pantheistic religions have said, well, well, it's reincarnation.

Then you've got Islam.

Islam has said, well, here's what you need to do.

You need to obey Allah.

You need to do the, the, the five pillars you need to, to,

to be a a, an obedient Muslim.

And then even then, there's no guarantee.

It's just up to the capricious will of Allah and what he decides

to do with you in the end.

The Mormon church, alright.

They, they've taught well be good.

Do good works.

Work as hard as you can at being as obedient as you possibly can.

And, and, and here's the thing, you're not gonna be good enough,

but that's when grace kicks in.

Grace kicks in after you've done all that you can.

But do you see how the, the Mormon church is saying, Hey, you guys,

here's the problem, the solution to, to the, the problem of sin in the

world is you just need to work harder.

Jehovah's Witness the same thing.

They're gonna tell you to believe in Jesus, but then, then they're gonna say,

oh, and you also need to be baptized.

Oh, and, and, and you also need to do good works.

Otherwise, you're gonna lose your salvation.

You keep yourself saved.

Or you look at the, even the Catholic Church, which supplements faith

with this man centered, works-based righteousness, that you do penance

in order to atone for your sin.

That you even have to go and confess your sins to a, a human priest who dares to

stand in between you and God as though you needed him to mediate for you.

And so you, I just wanna point out everyone in the world says the

world's broken and, and we're sinners.

And so we come back to this question, how then can the sinner be declared sinless?

How can the unrighteous be declared righteous?

This is where the resurrection is so key for us because he was delivered

over on this cross for our trespasses.

So he died for us here.

But the resurrection is that the linchpin to what is our justification,

and that's what Paul says in 4 25.

He was raised for our justification in, in other words, if I can put it

this way, without the empty tomb, the cross doesn't mean anything

for us without the resurrection.

We're still in our sins because what we talked about in point number

one, because he couldn't atone for us, he couldn't die for our sins.

Because he would've had his own sin to pay for, but the resurrection shows

us that the payment was accepted, that the payment was applied.

The resurrection is the evidence that we can point to, to say, this is why

I'm justified without the resurrection.

We're left just like all of those other religions saying, okay, well

how can I figure out a way for me to be good enough to overcome the

bad that I've done and we can't.

But the resurrection is the stamp that says the payment was made for you.

The payment was made for you.

The gospel, though without the resurrection, is just another empty,

worldly mantra to make you feel better about yourself for a time being.

But then on the end of it, you're gonna be left on the outside

looking in, and so that's why the resurrection is such good news.

Listen, point number two.

If Jesus didn't rise, you wouldn't be forgiven.

You wouldn't be forgiven.

And so we celebrate the resurrection.

The resurrection is good news because you are forgiven, because

he did indeed walk outta the grave.

You are justified and, and, and here's why this is such good news.

It's not as though the, the death of Jesus and his resurrection just brought

you back to all square with God.

It's not just that your debt was forgiven, and then he looks at you

and says, go and, and don't rack up any more debt because then we're gonna

be at odds with each other again.

See that?

That would be devastating news for us.

Uh, in my house, I have been doing battle regressive sanctification style

battle with two sinks that I have.

They're in my master bathroom.

They're, they're connected to each other and they've been backing up.

We've had problems with these sinks since we bought the house.

Um, and so I decided to become an amateur plumber, which starts with draino.

And, uh, then when, when Draino ceased to be as effective as it

once was, and the water just started backing up into the sink, I, I.

We're not even running water.

Why is there water in the sink?

Well, I found out that my air conditioner, it empties out down

into that same drain line there.

So it's, the condensation line is constantly running into the sink.

So e even when I'm not in there, the, the water's back flowing into

the sink, and I'm the type of person that loses sleep over these sinks.

And, uh, and so I, I became amateur plumber part two, which

means I figured out what a p trapp is and how to take it off.

And so I would do that.

I got onto the sink.

I, I unscrewed all, all the things, and I emptied the water into the

bucket, and I took the bucket out.

And then I, I reattached everything in both sinks, and for a while I felt really

good because the sink looked empty.

There wasn't anything in it.

I was back to square.

I was all level with the sink.

We were fine.

But as soon as I thought about turning the water on, it immediately filled back up.

I mean, like 10 minutes later, the water's back in the sink.

If all the cross did and the empty tomb did for you was bring you back to square

with God, that's your future because none of us in the room are perfect, right?

We can all agree on that, and so if all the cross did was settle the past

sins that you had committed against God and say, well, you're back to square

with God, if that's what justification meant, then it's not good news at all.

Because we would be in need of Jesus to die on the cross for

our sins again every single day.

But the Bible in fact, says that he died once for all and that a rose

once for all, and that he's currently seated at the right hand of the Father.

So the good news of the empty tomb and the reason why you can have

confidence that you are forgiven is because that death paid the penalty for

your sins past, present, and future.

Such that you are now forgiven.

And the, the resurrection again.

The resurrection.

The reason why we rejoice this morning is because the fact that

Jesus is alive is evidence of the fact that you have been forgiven.

The fact that Jesus is alive is, is evidence of the fact that you don't

have sin anymore to fear being judged for when you die and stand before the

Lord because it was born by him on the cross for you, and he rose again as a

sign payment accepted payment applied.

If Jesus didn't rise, that's when we're in trouble.

But indeed, he was raised for our justification.

I want us to think about that for a second.

He was raised for our justification.

I want you to think of what it would be like to amass a, a huge debt.

That you could never repay you, you, somebody gave you a credit card with a

limit far more than you should ever have, and you decided I'm gonna max it out.

And you did.

And the bill came due and you couldn't pay it, but somebody else

stepped in and paid it for you.

And not just some anonymous benefactor.

Picture it being somebody that you love, a, a loved one, somebody

very close to you, and they stepped in and they bailed you out.

They, they paid your debt.

And not only that, but to pay your debt to do it.

They, they sold their house.

They, they cashed in their, their retirement.

They sold their cars and they paid your debt and set you up to be able to not

have to go into debt in the future, in other words, to, to get you out of debt.

It was a huge cost to them, massive sacrifice for them.

What would it be like for that to happen and then for you to turn right back

around and jump straight back into debt?

What would that convey?

Would that convey?

Man, I, I'm, I'm so thankful for you.

I'm so thankful that you paid the debt that I couldn't pay.

I'm so thankful that not only did you forgive me, but, but you set me up to not

have to go to, into debt in the future.

Now I wouldn't.

Would it, would it convey that we love them?

See Christ has paid our debt and set us up to where we don't

have to go into debt anymore.

And so as we turn into this final section this morning, I want us

to think about the life that the resurrection has now purchased for us.

I want us to think about the reality of the, the life that we can live as

believers now that the resurrection has happened, and the inconsistency of us

saying, man, I'm a follower of Jesus, but then just going straight back into the

old life that we've always lived before.

Again, it's not that we're gonna be perfect, but that our

life should be transformed.

In fact, the Bible points to this.

Romans six four says this.

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as

Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk

in the newness of life that's presently, that we as Christians should walk in

newness of life because we have been united to the resurrection of Christ.

Or Colossians two 12 through 14, having been buried with Jesus in baptism, in

which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working

of God who raised him from the dead.

You who are dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh.

God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by

canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Again, the contrast.

Here you were dead and now you've been made alive.

You were a sinner and now you've been redeemed, you've been forgiven.

Or two Corinthians five 17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a what?

He's a new creation, right?

The old is God.

The new is here and and that's a result of the resurrection of Jesus.

That that you, through faith in Jesus now can be born again.

You can be made a new creation.

Romans eight 11, which says this, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from

the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also

give life to your what kind of bodies?

Mortal bodies.

Your mortal bodies.

What's your mortal body?

That's what you're wearing this morning.

That's the, the, the, the, the flesh and blood that you got on

right now, that's your mortal body.

It's mortal because it will one day die.

Now, in the future, you're gonna get an immortal body, and that's

one that God is preparing for you.

That's your resurrection body.

That's your glorified body.

But right now, we're inm mortal bodies.

But notice what Paul says here.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus.

See the connection back to the resurrection here.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus dwells in you, then the one who gave

life to Jesus will also give life to your mortal bodies this morning.

In other words, Christian, the resurrection means that

your life should be different.

The fact that Jesus got up and walked out of the the grave means that the

life that you're living now should be a different life than the life that you

live before you came to faith in Jesus,

but not have, he never rose.

If he never rose, then there is no change.

There's no transformation.

There's no resurrection life.

You're not a new creation.

You don't have the spirit to give life to your mortal bodies if Jesus never rose.

Our final point this morning is this.

You wouldn't have new life.

You wouldn't have new life, but in fact he did.

In fact, he did rise.

And so you do have new life, or at least we should a a as the church.

We're not the walking dead.

We're not meant to be spiritual zombies, just making our way through

life looking just like we did before we came to faith in Jesus.

We should look different.

There should be the transformation.

God will save you where you are, no matter where you are,

but he won't leave you there.

He will give life to your mortal bodies to make you more like Jesus, who

was delivered up for our trespasses.

I read a story earlier this week in in prepping for this,

about a man named Claude Brown.

Claude Brown, you probably haven't heard of him, but Claude Brown was

given a new lease on life in 2010.

See, in 2010, Claude was on a list of those needing a, a heart transplant.

He was in congestive heart failure, and he had been hospitalized, and

he was getting into a situation that was pretty desperate.

And then at the 11th hour, he got news that a heart had been found.

The heart was rushed to the hospital, the surgery was

performed, and Claude and survived.

Afterwards, Claude went on to to live with his family and spend more time with

his wife and spend time with his kids and spend time with his grandkids and just

the, the joys of this new outlook on life.

He, his life had been extended a fresh start almost at one point.

Claude and his wife received a letter from Richard and Debbie Wheeland.

Richard and Debbie wrote Claude a letter and said, Hey, we, we want

you to know that we just found out that, um, we're connected.

In a way, Richard and Debbie said, we, we had a 22-year-old son whose name was

Ricky, and Ricky was involved in a motor vehicle accident that took his life.

He died.

But see, Ricky was on the donor list.

And so the heart, Claude, that you have right now once belonged to our son, Ricky.

That began a relationship between Claude and his wife and the Wheelans.

The Wheelans came and met Claude, and they were given a stethoscope, and

they were able to listen to their son's heart beating inside Claude's chest,

and they sat there and they listened.

As Claude said, Hey, I just want you to know how grateful I am for new Life.

I've spent time with my wife.

We've made these memories.

I've been able to see more grandchildren born.

I've been able to spend more time with my kids.

I'm overwhelmingly grateful for the sacrifice of your son losing his

life so that I could have more life.

Imagine, if you will, for just a minute.

If the Wheelings had showed up and Claude was sitting there stuffing his

face with Big Macs and fries with a bottle of whiskey on the table next

to him and a, a pack of cigarettes that he was just chain smoking.

Thanks for your son's heart.

I appreciate it.

How would that hit?

Not the same, would it?

Jesus Rose guys, the, the, the, the cost of the cross, all of it, the resurrection

so that you can have new life.

This morning, the joy that Claude had was the joy of being able

to spend time with his family.

The joy of being able to extend his, his time with his kids

and see more grandkids born.

The joy of being able to love his wife more.

That was the excitement that was brought by this life that was

lost so that he could have life.

What's the excitement of the life that was lost for you so that you can have life?

And, and then how much more should we be excited because

Jesus isn't still dead, is he?

He's living, he's seated at the right hand of the Father, and

one day he's coming back for us.

And so we can live excited.

We can live joyful.

We can live thankful for the fact that he died so that our sins could be forgiven.

But more than that, he rose again so that we can have life with him forever.

And now, life begins right now.

It doesn't wait until eternity.

It begins right now because we get to navigate this world with

a great joy knowing that we have a future that's guaranteed for

us, that's gonna be with Christ.

And that's not anything that this world could ever hurt.

That's not anything that this world could ever take away from

us, no matter what happens.

And so the resurrection is the best news because Jesus rose.

You have a substitute.

You can be forgiven and you can indeed have new life.

He has risen.

He has risen indeed.

That is the most glorious reality we could ever know.

That is the best news we could ever hear.

And what's so amazing is that it's so accessible to us.

What would you say is harder if pressed to get into heaven or to get

into the Masters golf tournament?

I read about it this week, or I watched a YouTube video on it this week.

You have to enter a lottery.

To get into the masters and, and, and then if you win the

lottery, you don't win anything.

You win to get to pay for a ticket to the masters, and that's only for one day.

And so you, you may not even get a good day at the ma.

It may rain on you the whole time.

What does it cost you to get into heaven this morning?

What did it cost you to get into heaven?

If you're a believer this morning

didn't cost you anything?

And cause Christ who died on the cross for your sins.

But the good news is he didn't stay dead.

He rose again, who's delivered for your trespasses and

raised for your justification.

That's the guarantee.

That's our hope, because that's our hope in life and death.

Should God take us home in the next 20 minutes, we know

we're gonna go be with him.

Maybe it's the next 20 years we're gonna go be with him.

40 years, 50 years, whatever your time left on this earth is because of

the resurrected savior that we have.

Because he was your substitute.

Because you are forgiven.

You have a new life that begins now and will continue on

forever and ever into eternity.

I'm gonna pray and as I do, the band's gonna come back up.

We're gonna close with the song that we sang right before the sermon.

Christ, our Hope in Life and Death.

That's it.

He is our hope in life and death because he has overcome the grave for us.

And that is the best news that the world has ever heard.

There's no singular event that's ever happened in human history with a greater

impact than the resurrection of Jesus that decides the fate of every human being.

What have you done with a resurrected savior?

Let me pray.

Lord God, we thank you for that truth, that hope, that reality that we have, that

Jesus has in fact risen from the dead.

Lord, he is our hope in life and death.

It's not in being a good enough person.

It's not in being a kind enough person.

It's not in being a holy enough person.

It's, it's not in attending church enough or any of those things.

Our hope is in the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our

sins so that we can be forgiven.

That he gave us his full righteousness there and then he rose again overcoming

death so that one day we too will rise to be with him and live with him forever.

Lord, such good news available to any who will repent from their sins and

put their trust in him is their savior.

He's our hope in life and death.

So God, we are so thankful that we serve and worship a resurrected savior.

The joy that comes in being able to say He has risen.

He has risen indeed.

Well, and that is the best news that we could ever hear.

I pray that we would go exuberant, triumphant in that confidence.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.