Profound Implications of the Resurrection

what in the world makes us so embarrassed about the gospel I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified [Music] [Music] the two most popular days for Christians and non-christians alike to attend church are Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday each service promises packed seats festive decorations new clothes picturesque moments and celebrations with family and friends during Easter the coming of spring is worshipped over the coming of the Savior new beginnings are sought without focusing on the one who truly offers them this Easter open your bible as john macarthur explains some profound implications of the resurrection of Christ I want to talk to you about the resurrection and the scope of the resurrection the importance of the resurrection it just may be that there are some Christian people and others who don't quite understand how critical the resurrection is to our Christian faith I think it's fair to say that the whole of Christianity is built on the resurrection if there is no resurrection there is no Christianity if there is no resurrection God is Satan and the Bible is full of lies if there is no resurrection there is no salvation no forgiveness no hope no heaven you cannot pull the resurrection out of the structure of Christianity without it collapsing completely and I want to see if I can't show you at least in some small measure how broad how wide how high and how deep the impact of the resurrection extends let me start by talking about God God the Father first of all the Bible tells us about God about his nature about his character and one of the things that the Bible reiterates about God is that he is the truth speaks the truth and nothing but the truth in psalm 119 verse 89 the scripture says of God forever O Lord your word is settled in heaven in Psalm 33 11 we read that the counsel of the Lord stands sure forever Psalm 86 15 says that God is full of truth and first Kings 8:56 says that there has not failed one word of all his good promise Deuteronomy 32:4 sums it up by saying he is a God of truth without iniquity and in the New Testament Titus 1:2 says God cannot lie it is impossible for he is absolutely holy the devil is the liar the devil is the father of lies God speaks the truth and the truthfulness of God and therefore the character of God is at stake in the resurrection turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 2 and we'll be looking at a few different scriptures this morning but in Acts chapter 2 the Apostle Peter stands up to preach in the city of Jerusalem to a huge crowd of Jews that are gathered there on the day of Pentecost one of the Jewish celebrations and Peter preaches concerning Jesus these are his words starting in verse 22 of Acts two men of israel listen to these words jesus the nazarene a man attested to you by god with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death then verse 24 says but God raised him up again putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power scripture says God raised Jesus up from the dead it repeats that over in verse 32 this Jesus God raised up again the conclusion of that is in verse 36 therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified three times it says in this section that God raised Jesus up that God loosed him from the grip of death that it was impossible for death to hold him why is that so well the scripture used here by Peter does not speak of the power of God it does not say God raised him because he was powerful enough it doesn't speak of the wisdom of God God raised him because he was wise enough he could come up with a plan to do it it doesn't say that he raised him up because he was compassion and mercy and wanted to extend grace to us it says that that God raised him up because he said he would and we see immediately in verse 25 and following a series of quotes from the Old Testament Peter says Christ was raised by God because God said he would do it and he did it the Word of God is at stake in the if Jesus doesn't rise then God is a liar and what God said in the Old Testament in Psalm 16 is a falsehood God being a liar makes God Satan not God in 1st Corinthians 15 where Paul deals with the resurrection a lot in fact it's the theme of the whole chapter he talks about those who preach the resurrection and he says in verse 15 moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified concerning God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised not even Christ has been raised in other words we've been giving testimony to God that he promised to raise Christ if Christ is not raised then God is a liar and we who have preached the resurrection are false witnesses if Christ did not rise God lied the Apostles lied all who preached the resurrection are liars and all of Christianity collapses with a lying God who was therefore no different than Satan God's Word is at stake in the resurrection and God is true and let every man be a liar says Scripture the resurrection then impacts the very confidence we have in God if Jesus did not rise then God lied and all those who represented him lied and there is no sense in believing a lie our faith is worthless the resurrection also has implications toward God the Sun in Colossians chapter 1 turned to verse 15 this is an important portion of Scripture identifying the Lord Jesus Christ and we read in verse 15 of the Lord Jesus that he is the image of the invisible God he is the protocols firstborn doesn't mean first in chronology it means first in primacy he is God the image of the invisible God but he also was born as a man and as a man he is the premier human ever made but he is more than just human because verse 16 says by him all things were created he is the creator therefore he predates everything that was created he is the creator of everything in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities those are all titles for angels all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things in him all things hold together he's the creator and sustainer of everything in the universe he's also the head of the body the church and the beginning and then the premiere one born from the dead so that he himself will come to have 1st place in everything the place of Christ as the god man the primacy of Christ the preeminence of Christ is connected to his resurrection he is the firstborn from the dead of all that have ever been raised or will be raised he is the most preeminent one he has 1st place in everything it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him if Jesus doesn't rise from the dead he's not the firstborn from the dead but he did rise and he is the primary one and listen to how that affects the gospel go to Romans 1 Paul sets apart the features of the gospel to which he was set apart as an apostle he says in verse 2 of Romans 1 the gospel was promised the good news promised beforehand in the Old Testament through God's prophets in the Holy Scriptures what was promised was concerning his son who humanly was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh who was declared also to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ is clearly declared and marked out to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead if he does not rise God lied Christ lied he is not the Son of God he has no power everything concerning the father everything concerning the son is connected to the resurrection he is the image of the invisible God the icon the precise copy the exact replica of God the perfect revelation of God he bears the glory of the father John says in the 10th chapter of John's Gospel verse 17 he said this the father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it again no one has taken it from me but I lay it down on my own initiative I have authority to lay it down I have authority to take it up again he had the power over his own body he yielded up his life he took it back this has critical implications look again to first Corinthians 15 and here these implications in verse 17 first Corinthians 15 17 if Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless you are still in your sins if Christ is not raised then God did not accept his sacrifice for sin and there is no sacrifice for sin and you are still in your sins headed for hell and punishment if Christ has not been raised verse 18 then those also who have fallen asleep or died in Christ of perish they're all in hell if Christ is not raised heaven is empty except for God and holy angels if we have hoped in Christ in this life only in other words you hoped in him in a temporal sense as perhaps a good teacher but not one who rose from the dead we are of all men most to be pitied if you deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ you turned God into Satan because you make God a liar you make Christ a liar you void the cross there is no salvation there is no hope everyone perishes and if we still follow Christ and only a temporal sense we are pitiful but He is risen look at verse 20 but now Christ has been raised from the dead and he is the firstfruits of those who are asleep for since by a man came death that's Adam by a man also came the resurrection of the dead that's Christ for as in Adam all die so also in Christ all we'll be made alive he was raised as Paul in Romans 4:25 for our justification the character of the father the character of the son is at stake in the resurrection also the holy spirit we read a moment ago Romans 1:4 where it says that the Son of God was declared to be so with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness it was the spirit of holiness the holy spirit who had promised that Christ would rise promised it in the scriptures of the Old Testament promised that in the scriptures of the New Testament even through the lips of the Lord Jesus but there's even more than that in considering the Holy Spirit in John 16 Jesus says in verse 7 to the disciples in the upper room at the last Passover he says I tell you the truth that is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you it's good for you for me to go away to die to rise to ascend to heaven because when I get to heaven I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and when he comes down to verse 13 he will guide you into all the truth he will not speak on his own initiative but whatever he hears he will speak in other he in other words he will speak for God as God he will disclose to you what is to come verse 14 he will glorify me for he will take of mine and disclose it to you the Spirit will come and show me to you how important is that that's essential you can't be a believer in Christ unless you see Christ unless you have a revelation of Christ it is the spirits to come and provide that revelation of Christ in the scripture he will come and he will aid you in writing the revelation of my own life and work but it is also the Holy Spirit who not only reveals Christ in Scripture but reveals Christ's to the mind and the heart in the ministry and the miracle of regeneration if you have no resurrection then Christ doesn't go back to heaven if he doesn't go back to heaven he doesn't send the holy spirit if there's no Holy Spirit there's no conviction of sin there's no regeneration of the spiritually dead there's no revelation of Christ there's no Christianity so you can see that to pull the resurrection out of Christianity all of it collapses then it collapses that the divine level and we're pitiful who are Christians if God Christ and even the Holy Spirit lied to us and there is no resurrection and there is no salvation and there is no hope we're a pitiful bunch of deluded religionists but Christ is risen from the dead and that leads us to the final consideration and that is the impact of the resurrection on people turn to John 5 verse 21 is a good place to start powerful powerful extensive marvelous texts much here to learn for just as the father raises the dead and gives them life even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes he has equal life-giving power to God the Father he also has equal sovereignty to God the Father he not only has equal power but he uses that power to whom he wishes he has equal power and equal sovereignty to choose for whom he uses the power to give life he has equal authority to judge it's not even the father who judges anyone he has given all judgment to the son so he has equal life giving power equal sovereignty equal authority to judge with God the Father verse 23 he deserves therefore equal honor so that all will honor the son even as they honor the father he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him he deserves equal honor because he has equal life giving power equal sovereignty equal Authority in judgment deserves equal honor and then verse 24 truly truly I say to you he who hears my word this is Jesus speaking and believes him who sent me has eternal life and doesn't come into judgment but has passed out of death into life this is salvation he has equal power to grant salvation he who hears my word you listen to my word and it will bring you eternal life this is demonstrated immediately in the next passage truly truly I say to you verse 25 an hour is coming and now is already set when the Dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live for just as the father has life in himself even so he gave to the son also to have life in himself and he gay him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice did you see that he has the power to raise the dead all the dead and all the Dead will be raised people who have ever lived since Adam to the end of human history will be raised from the dead all believers all unbelievers all will be raised all will receive a body suited for their eternal dwelling most will receive a body fit to receive everlasting punishment believers will receive a body like Christ glorified body Philippians 3:20 suited to the joys of heaven but everyone will be raised the book of Revelation at the great white throne judgment chapter 21 says all the dead from all over the planet throughout all of human history will come out of the ground out of the sea wherever they are whether there's anything left of them or not there will be a resurrection form for everyone and the power to raise them all is the power of the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ he raises all the dead at the end of the age he will form for them a body suited to their eternal dwelling place some for the lake of fire and some for the glory of heaven and he knows every person and he has a record of every deed of every person recorded in heaven so what should be our response he will be the one who raises you from the dead for hell or for heaven therein lies the good message of the gospel and what is the message of the gospel I think you probably know it it goes like this Romans 10:9 and 10 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved from what saved from hell saved from the resurrection of damnation how is that again if I do what no it's not about what you do it's not of works if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord acknowledge him as Lord sovereign over your life deny yourself acknowledge him as Lord believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead which means you believe God is who he says he is Christ is who he says he is the Holy Spirit his truth the gospel is true Christ did died for us as the perfect sacrifice he did rise if you believe in your heart the resurrection then you believe in the divine affirmation of everything said in the Old Testament and everything done in the life of Christ and everything recorded in the New Testament when you say Jesus is Lord and he rose from the dead you are saying I am a true believer I acknowledge him as my sovereign Lord you know the Lord has blessed our Minister grace to you with relationships with folks through radio and through television and through books and downloaded sermons and all that but what is really special is when we have an opportunity to get together personally and periodically over the years we've been able to do that at what is basically called a truth matters conference we're having another one this October October 16 through 18 right here in Southern California at Grace Community Church where I've been pastor for half a century it's an incredible opportunity to be a part of grace Church for a few days to hear me speak and teach the Word of God in person too to get to know you to have fellowship to hear the greatest music that you'll ever hear to hear the word of God proclaimed I'll not only be there but others as well it is a dynamic really kind of once-in-a-lifetime spiritual experience to be a part of this event truth matters October 16 to 18 at Grace Community Church in Southern California and I would just encourage you if you have any interest at all you need to get on our website at gty org because this thing fills up very very fast I hope there'll be some spots left for you that hear that but you need to act on it today [Music]

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 30,132

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ

Id: OCK9KvSIka8

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2019