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Thank you for being here with us for this celebration of our risen Christ. We are reminded
once a year on Easter of His resurrection, but, of course, every Sunday when the church
gathers, it remembers that He rose on the first day of the week, and that's why we meet
when we do.
The resurrection is not just one element in the Christian story; it's not just one feature
of Christianity--it is the main event. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave
is the greatest event in history. It is the major moment, the major reality in redemption.
It is the cornerstone of gospel promise. It is the primary theme of worship and praise
because the resurrection is the source of eternal life for believers; because He lives,
we live also. Without the resurrection, the cross, the death of Christ, would be meaningless.
Without the resurrection, the cross would be powerless. If Christ is not raised, says
the New Testament, then your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins...if Christ
is not raised.
The resurrection is not a postscript. The resurrection is not an epilogue. It's not
an appendix at the end of the story. It is the climactic high point of the work of Christ,
of the saga of redemption, of the purpose of God to save His people. The church doesn't
meet on Friday. The church meets on Sunday. We're thankful for the cross, but we celebrate
the resurrection as making the cross meaningful. And so we meet every first day of the week
as we mark out the significance--the singular significance--of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. This is the cornerstone of our faith.
Because the resurrection is so important, it is a major theme in the New Testament.
For example, all four gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) tell the story of the
resurrection. And as I read to you earlier from One Perfect Life, their accounts and
their very words blend together in a perfect harmony. Each writer takes a look at the resurrection
from his own vantage point, identifying certain features and elements and words in conversation
from people and angels. But all four of them brought together give us a composite account
that is perfectly accurate and inerrant as to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You heard me read the mingling of four gospels and when you listened to it, you knew it was
a seamless story, every part fitting with every other part. Even with those histories,
it must be noted that there's one part missing. Matthew doesn't describe it. Mark doesn't
describe it. Luke doesn't describe it. And John doesn't describe it, and the part that's
missing is there is no record of the actual event of the resurrection. There is no description.
We know what happened leading up to the resurrection. We know what happened in response to the resurrection.
We don't know anything about the resurrection, as to the phenomenon itself. It is, of course,
supernatural. It is incomprehensible. We know it happened because of the results. The fact
is attested by ample, massive evidence that Jesus rose from the dead. But there is no
attempt on the part of the gospel writers to explain to us the inexplicable. We could
actually go to any of these four accounts, but for this morning let's look at the shortest
account, that's the account of Mark. So turn in your Bible to Mark, chapter 16, Mark chapter
16.
Mark's gospel actually ends at verse 8, chapter 16, verse 8. There are some other verses added
from verse 9 to 20, but they were not a part of the original text. The abrupt ending of
Mark left some people with the idea that they needed to complete the story and so they added
to the Scripture. There will be a note in your Bible indicating that this is added and
does not appear in the early manuscripts. Mark actually ends in verse 8, so let's read
those last eight verses of his gospel.
Verse 1, "When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and
Salome bought spices so they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of
the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another,
'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?' Looking up they
saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb
they saw a young man sitting at the right wearing a white robe and they were amazed,
And he said to them, 'Do not be amazed, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has
been crucified, He has risen. He is not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid
Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter He is going ahead of you to Galilee, there
you will see Him just as He told you.' They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling
and astonishment had gripped them and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."
Well, each of the four gospels gives differing details together in a very natural way. They
blend all the features together and there's no contriving, and there's no manipulating,
and there's no rather fumbling effort to make sure that everything lines up like ducks in
a row. This is the integrity of Scripture, four viewpoints, four perspectives all seeing
the elements of the same great monumental event, all controlled by the one author--the
divine Holy Spirit--to make sure that the record is absolutely true. All four, for example,
record that Jesus died. I mean, that He really died; that He was truly dead and they give
testimony to the fact that He was truly dead. They all give the record that He was buried
and that He was buried on Friday, that He was buried in a tomb and that tomb was sealed
with a stone, and that tomb was guarded by Romans. They all tell us that, however, on
Sunday that stone was removed, that guard had vanished, that tomb was empty, and angels
explained what had happened. And then Christ began to appear to His followers, first to
the women, and then the disciples, and then to hundreds. They all tell the same story.
There is absolutely not one single contradiction. It is the same event. They didn't write from
some common historical source, they wrote from personal experience, or personal conversations
and guided and superintended by the Holy Spirit. So when you come to the resurrection and you
want to know the validity and the reality of the resurrection, it isn't the actual supernatural
event that gives us the proof we need, it's everything going on around it. That's where
the evidence lies.
While the event itself is inexplicable and supernatural and cosmic in some ways, the
evidence is natural and physical, and visible, and discernible, and audible. Let's just look
at three lines of evidence that Mark draws for us here as to the resurrection of Christ.
The first is the testimony of the empty tomb. Now let me just stop before I get into it
and say this: that's a very convincing argument. An empty tomb is a very convincing argument.
There is no record anywhere in the Scriptures or outside the Scriptures to indicate that
anyone found Jesus in the tomb after Sunday morning. There is no testimony to that effect.
All testimony is to the fact that the tomb was empty.
Now remember, our Lord had said that He would die. In fact, in Mark He said it in chapter
8, He said it in chapter 9, He said it again in chapter 10, which means those are simply
illustrations of what He was probably saying a lot. He was going to die. He even described
that He would be arrested by the leaders of Israel, He would be crucified, He would be
buried, He would be in the grave for three days, and He would rise again. He gave those
details. He started saying that at the beginning of His ministry in John 2; He said, "Destroy
this temple, in three days I'll...I'll build it again, I'll raise it up."
He said in Matthew chapter 12 that as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days,
so the Son of Man will be in the earth for three days. Repeatedly through His ministry,
in the beginning, in the middle, and in a flourish of repetitions at the end He said
He would die and He would rise the third day. And that is exactly what happened, and we
see Mark's account of it here. Let's begin to see the testimony of the empty tomb in
verse 1.
"When the Sabbath was over." Let me stop there and remind you of this, that Jewish days were
counted from sunset to sunset, sunset to sunset. We count days from midnight to midnight. They
counted them from sunset to sunset. Perhaps a more obvious way to count if you didn't
have mechanical clocks, of course. So the Sabbath day, like any day, would end at six
or sunset. At sunset, Sabbath had ended, Sabbath is over. Luke says it is the first day of
the week. They didn't have names for days. There's no equivalent for Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. They simply spoke of numbers with reference to Sabbath. The
third day before Sabbath, the second day after Sabbath, that's how they identified their
days. So Sabbath is over.
It is therefore what Luke says the first day of the week. For us that would be Sunday.
Now we know it's morning because we read here that very early on the first day of the week,
just as the sun had risen. So we're probably twelve hours into that first day. And just
as Jesus had said, on that third day He would rise from the dead.
So significant is His resurrection on that day that we're here on this Sunday, this first
day of the week. For centuries the day of worship had been the seventh day, the Sabbath
day. It had been the Sabbath virtually since creation, since God rested in His creation.
But from that resurrection Sunday on, no Sabbath has ever been necessary. No Sabbath has ever
been required. Colossians 2:16 says, "Let no one hold you to any Sabbath day." Sabbath
is no longer the legitimate day for the people of God to worship. The church defines its
new life and the celebration and worship of that new life as a celebration of the risen
Christ and that sets it on day one of every week.
You go in the book of Acts and the church is meeting on the first day of the week. You
go to 1 Corinthians and the church in chapter 16 is meeting on the first day of the week.
It became known as the Lord's Day and in Revelation 1:10 John says he was in the Spirit on the
Lord's Day. We still call it the Lord's Day, don't we?
So it's early on the Lord's Day, the very day that Jesus said He would rise from the
dead. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so they
might come and anoint Him. These are the women who are with Jesus. Go back, if you will,
to verse 40 of chapter 15. We're here at the cross and there were women there looking on
from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the Less and
Joses and Salome. When He was in Galilee they used to follow Him and minister to Him. And
there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.
When Jesus was doing His ministry in Galilee, which lasted a long, long time, well over
a year, He collected male disciples, for sure--the ones we're so familiar with and many other
followers among men. But He also collected many, many women. Many women followers who
ministered to Him, who cared for Him in ways that you would assume women would care for
Him, providing for His needs. And this collection of women followed Him down to Jerusalem for
the Passover. They were there at the triumphal entry. They were there during the week as
He taught in the Temple. They were there at a distance looking at the cross, when, by
the way, with just the exception of John, all of His male disciples had fled. They were
there. Luke includes a woman named Johanna and says there were many other women. Matthew
includes the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John. So there's this group of women
who are there, and they happened to be there watching when Jesus was buried.
Go back to verse 46. "When Joseph brought a linen cloth, took Jesus down off the cross,
wrapped Him in the linen cloth, laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock,
rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
Joses were looking on to see where He was laid."
What a precious group of women were drawn to Him and to the truth of His message. They
believed in Him; they loved Him; they served Him as true disciples and followers of Him
in Galilee. They were taken with Him down to Jerusalem. They were there for all the
horrors of that final week, including the cross. They didn't abandon Him there even
when His body was taken off the cross. They followed Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus,
and you remember those two men took Him to Joseph's tomb. Nicodemus was with Him as we
read earlier. Nicodemus is bringing a hundred-pound weight of powdered aloes to literally dump
on His body to basically cover up the horrible stench of a decaying body as a way to honor
Him. They follow. They sit at a distance. They watch this huge amount of powder being
dumped on the body as He is placed in this tomb. And then they sit there and watch the
stone being rolled away.
They weren't going to be outdone by those men. And it wasn't a matter of proper burial,
as such. The Jews didn't embalm, but that might have been enough, a hundred-pound weight
in their terms. The equivalent in our terms would probably be about 65 pounds as we know
them. That's a lot. It wasn't that there needed to be more; it was that they needed to honor
Jesus from their hearts. And so they bought spices that they might come and anoint Him.
This was their tribute to the one who was their Master and Lord, and they came on Sunday--very
early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
Here's another one of the wonderful, natural realities of these stories. Mark says very
early when the sun had risen. Luke says they came at the early dawn. Matthew says they
came when it began to dawn. John says they came when it was still dark. All of those
are true because dawn is not a static event; it is a moving event and it is dark and light
at the same time. The natural descriptions given by each writer are a testimony to the
integrity of Scripture. It is by every measure daybreak, and daybreak is moving through various
phases. The sun, most likely, had risen over the eastern flat desert and the desert would
have been bathed in the sunlight of a spring morning. But the sun had not ascended fully
up over the Mount of Olives which shaded the city of Jerusalem on the east. Maybe you could
see the light glow of the sun over the crest of the Mount of Olives, but the city was still
in shadows until that sun appeared over the Mount of Olives and the city was lit. This
is darkness, the darkness of the dawn.
John says that while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came first to the tomb. She started
out with another Mary, and there are lots of Marys. That's the most popular Jewish name,
and that's the name of Miriam because Miriam was one of the most popular women in the Old
Testament--the sister of Moses who had protected him, the great hero of Israel. So Mary Magdalene
comes first. She doesn't start out alone. Matthew says she started out with another
Mary who was the mother of James and Joses, and they both headed to the tomb in the dark,
the dark of dawn. Mary Magdalene got there first--maybe younger, maybe more excited and
enthusiastic. John says Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while dark, but it was light
enough for her to see that the stone was rolled away, the stone was rolled away. She's arriving
on the dark side of the dawn, but she can see that the stone is removed. She stops dead
in her tracks at that moment. She's there before her companion arrives, and she spins
on her sandals and leaves.
There's no record that she had countered the other Mary or the other women who were also
trailing along. She had one thing in mind: she had to go tell Peter, she had to go tell
Peter. She had to go tell the apostles. She bolts and heads for Simon Peter in John, and
she's drawn a hasty conclusion, according to the gospel of John. And her conclusion
is somebody stole Jesus' body, somebody stole Jesus' body. The thought of a resurrection
doesn't enter her mind. Although she, along with the rest, had been told by Jesus that
He would rise again on the third day, she doesn't believe that. She doesn't believe
it. She leaves at the darkest part of the dawn. She doesn't see anybody else. By the
time the others arrive, more light has appeared. She leaves in a hurry. She has one thing in
mind: she's got to report what has happened. She heads for Peter and John. Verse 3 then
says, "The other women show up and as they approach the tomb, in the dawn, they were
saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the
tomb?'" This is a very large stone, an extremely large stone, according to verse 4. They don't
have any capability of moving that great stone. Who is going to do that? They know the stone
is there, because they were sitting watching, weren't they?, when the stone was placed there
by Joseph and Nicodemus and anybody they may have had to help them.
They have no idea that there has been a resurrection. Matthew fills in some of the gaps. Listen
to what Matthew says: "Before they arrived"...before Mary Magdalene arrived, before any of the
women arrived, we read, verse 62 of Matthew 27, that..."Pilate gave permission to the
Jews to seal the tomb." Why? Because they said, "We remember, sir, that when He was
still alive, that deceiver said 'after three days I'm going to rise again.' So give orders
for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come
and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He is risen from the dead,' and the last
deception will be worse than the first. So Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard, go
make it as secure as you know how.' They went, made the grave secured, along with the guard
they set a seal on the stone."
Now the women don't know this. All the women know is there's a stone there because they
saw Joseph and Nicodemus put the stone there and then they left. In the meantime, the leaders
of Israel want to secure this grave thinking the disciples would try to fabricate a resurrection.
Isn't it interesting that the unbelievers had more confidence in the fact that they
might fake a resurrection then the disciples had, and that there would be a real one?
Well, "it began to dawn," Matthew 28, "toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene,
the other Mary came to look at the grave, but before they arrived, this had already
occurred, a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and
rolled away the stone and sat upon it and his appearance was like lightning and His
clothing as white as snow, and the guards shook for fear of Him, and became like dead
men."
They think, "Who's going to help us roll the stone away?" Go back to Mark 16:4, "They look
up, they saw the stone had been rolled away, though it was extremely large." They didn't
know how. They didn't know there had been a Roman guard. They didn't know there had
been a seal. They didn't know there had been an earthquake. They didn't know the stone
had been rolled away. They didn't know an angel had appeared there. They didn't know
the Romans had fled. All they saw was an open tomb. It's kind of wonderful to know all the
details, isn't it, that they didn't know?
And by the way, the tomb wasn't opened to let Jesus out; it was opened to let them in.
Jesus appeared going through a door later that day. He certainly could have gone through
a stone. The soldiers hadn't left any guard. They were in panic when an angel appeared
and an earthquake--a transcendent heavenly being--and they ran in terror.
They came out of some kind of comatose stupor and had to go back and report what had happened
because it was going to become obvious. The stone was rolled away, there was no one there.
So they go back to report what has happened. And no one is there. And so verse 5 says,
"The women entered the tomb, they entered the tomb." And Luke adds, "They didn't find
the body of the Lord Jesus."
Maybe Mary was right. Somebody stole His body. Somebody came and took Him. Did the disciples
come and take Him to fake a resurrection? Well, let's just stop for a moment at this
point and say this. The whole point of all of this testimony that I've given you is just
to let you know the tomb was empty, the tomb was empty. We know the Jewish leaders didn't
steal His body cause they were afraid the disciples would. We know the disciples didn't
steal His body because they didn't know where it went. We know the women didn't steal His
body because they didn't know where it went either. We know the Roman guards didn't steal
His body because that was a breach of duty that would cost them dearly. Everybody gives
testimony to the empty tomb. And there's nobody who's responsible to take it. Oh, it was grave
robbers. Some say grave robbers. Really? The Roman guard was there to prevent grave robbing
disciples or any grave robbers for that matter.
The body was there on Friday. The tomb was sealed with a large stone. The Roman guard
with all of its authority and might was placed there. No one who followed Jesus Christ even
believed that He would rise from the dead, so they had no motive to fake a resurrection.
There is nobody to steal the body but the body's not there. And that's the testimony
of the empty tomb.
Quite interestingly when the soldiers finally arrive to report to the Jewish Sanhedrin,
chapter 28 of Matthew verse 11, they reported to the chief priests what had happened. What
did they tell them? They told them there was an earthquake. They told them there was a
shining angel sitting on the stone after it had rolled away in blazing white. They told
them what they had experienced. They didn't tell them anybody stole the body, nobody did.
So they assembled with the elders, the chief priests got the Sanhedrin together, and we've
got a problem.
So what they decided to do was bribe the soldiers. They gave them a large sum of money to...they
said to them in verse 13 of Matthew 28, "You are to say this, 'His disciples came by night
and stole Him away while we were asleep.'" You are to confess to a breach of duty and
lie for money. "And if this should come to the governor's ears, we'll win him over and
keep you out of trouble." And they took the money and did as they had been instructed
and this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day."
The day when Matthew wrote that, it was still out that the disciples had come and stolen
the body because that's the lie the Romans were paid to give. So what do we conclude?
The women testify to an empty tomb. The soldiers testify to an empty tomb. Peter and John will
show up soon and they testify to an empty tomb. The Sanhedrin testifies to an empty
tomb, including the elders of Israel and including the chief priests--everyone says the tomb
is empty. And the only explanation there is is a lie, and it is a lie concocted by the
Jews. No one says Jesus is still there.
Now add to the testimony of the empty tomb the testimony of angels. That's the second
line in this brief passage. The angel speaks. By the way, there were two angels on this
occasion. Luke says two of them suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. John also
says there were two. They started by standing near them and then they sat down. This is
the one who spoke of the two angels. They saw a young man sitting at the right wearing
a white robe, and they were amazed, and he said to them, "Do not be amazed, you are looking
for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified"--here's the first declaration--"He has risen. He is
not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid Him."
Two angels, two witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15); two witnesses, only one of them speaks. I
think this angel had more to say, if I can be so bold as to assume that. I think this
is a representation of what the angel said. He may have had to repeat it and clarify it
because they were so shocked. They had no idea of what had happened.
After the trial, after the scourging, after the crucifixion they had no idea. There's
an empty tomb and then this shocking presence. And so the only thing they can do is be amazed.
"Amazed" is a word; it's an interesting word. It means to be awestruck in a kind of terrified
way, not a kind of happy amazement, but a kind of frightening alarm, a panic--the kind
of panic that set in a lot of times in Scripture when a heavenly visitor appeared. They're
literally frozen. Luke says they were terrified to the degree that they bowed their faces
to the ground. In fact, he uses a compound word in Greek that it contains the word phobos
from which we get phobia, which is fear. They were literally terrified, white knuckle, pale-face
terrified.
But don't be terrified, he says. You're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, identifying Him from
Nazareth, who has been crucified. Luke says the angel also said, "Why are you seeking
the living one among the dead?" And then the first statement of the resurrection, "He has
risen." Literally, passive, "He has been raised." Romans says He was raised by the Father. He
is not here: "Behold, here is the place where they laid Him." Now you have added to the
testimony of an empty tomb, the testimony of heavenly, holy angels. This is the only
plausible explanation for the empty tomb. He has been raised, He has been raised. This
is the testimony of heaven,
To deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to deny the historical reality of an empty
tomb, it's also to deny the heavenly revelation, God Himself, through His holy angels. And
then there are a third eye-witnesses, a third line of testimony, "Go tell the disciples
and Peter, He's going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see Him just as He told you."
All you need to know about His resurrection, you will experience. And by the way, that
very day He met some of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, right? Luke 24. That very
night He met all of the disciples in the Upper Room. A week later, on the next Sunday night,
He met them again in the Upper Room and soon after that, He met them all when they finally
got to Galilee where they were supposed to go. I don't know why they delayed so long.
But when they eventually got to Galilee, He showed up in Galilee as well. A wonderful
account of that in Matthew 28 and a long account of that in the last chapter of John's gospel;
John 21 where He confronts Peter and asks him if he loves Him, and recommissions him.
All of that happened post-resurrection in Galilee. And in Galilee, Paul tells us in
1 Corinthians 15, 500 people saw Him.
So the women saw Him. Mary Magdalene will see Him soon. The women will see Him soon.
Peter and John and the rest of the disciples will see Him in the evening. Some of the disciples
saw Him in the afternoon. They'll see Him a week later. They'll see Him in Galilee.
And according to Acts chapter 1, He spent forty days with them, speaking to them of
things pertaining to the kingdom of God--forty days of intimate fellowship and teaching and
instruction. Massive eyewitness testimony to the risen Christ, massive.
I'm sort of surprised that we escape this last two weeks, the Easter season, without
having somebody come up and say they had found the bones of Jesus again. They seem to do
that virtually every Easter. Nobody has ever found the body of Jesus because the body of
Jesus is in heaven in glory. The astonishing wonder of their experience at the tomb unfolds
into eye-witness accounts. The disciples see Jesus, they eat with Jesus, they touch Him.
They see His nail prints. They see the spear scar in His side. But for now, they fled from
the tomb, verse 8, for trembling and astonishing had gripped them. They said nothing to anyone
for they were afraid. They knew He was alive. They knew He was alive. Trembling, astonishment,
fear--evidence is overwhelming. They are stunned into silence until they can reach Peter and
John and tell the others.
And oh, by the way, as in that condition they leave the tomb, it says in verse 8 of Matthew
28, "They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His
disciples." I love this, "And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them." "Good morning,
ladies," or something like that. Maybe, "Peace be with you." And they came up and took hold
of His feet and worshiped Him. They saw Christ alive. The incomparable reality of the resurrection
attested to by an empty tomb, heavenly angels, and earthly eyewitnesses. What Phil's saying
is true--He is alive, He is alive.
What is the benefit of this? Turn to Romans 4, to just bring this to a conclusion. What
is the benefit of this? End of verse 25, the last verse in chapter 4 speaks of the significance
of His death and resurrection. "He who was delivered over because of our transgressions";
that looks at His execution. "Delivered over" being a technical term for being handed over
for execution, because of our transgressions. In other words, He died for our sins. He was
then raised because of or for our justification. This links the resurrection with our salvation,
with our justification. This is where we go to the benefit of the resurrection.
What's the benefit of the resurrection? The resurrection provides our justification. What
does justification mean? It means that we are just before God, or righteous before God,
or holy before god, or perfect before God.
How can that be? Because Jesus bore all our sins in His death and because His sin-bearing
satisfied God, God gave to us all His righteousness. Justification is God crediting the righteousness
of Christ to us, imputing the righteousness of Christ to our account. Because God raised
Him from the dead, God was affirming the completeness of His sacrifice for sinners. Because He bore
our sins, we are then given His righteousness. So we have, chapter 5, "Therefore by the resurrection
been justified by faith, not by works. We didn't earn righteousness; we didn't earn
holiness; we didn't earn perfection--it came because we believed in the resurrection of
the Christ.
We have been justified by faith. That is, we have been granted righteousness. We have
been covered with the very righteousness of God. As a result of that, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The war with God is over. The animosity is over. We're
no longer His enemy and He our enemy. He no longer hates the sinner. We have peace with
God. That's not subjective feeling, that's objective relationship. We have gone from
an alienated, hostile relationship to God who would be our condemning judge to a relationship
of love and affection in which He is our loving Father. Through the resurrection, we have
been justified--justification by faith, through the resurrection we have been given peace
with God. That's not all. We have, verse 2, obtained our introduction by faith into this
grace in which we stand. Justified by faith, peace with God, we stand in grace.
What does it mean to stand in grace? We live in the realm of grace. We are treated exclusively
with grace. There is no end to the grace and mercy and forgiveness that God dispenses to
those who are His children who have made peace through Christ and been covered by His righteousness.
We stand in grace. That's why there's no condemnation ever to those who are in Christ. We stand
in grace. We stand in the midst of gracious, on-going, continual forgiveness.
That's not all. We have been given the hope of the glory of God and we exalt in that;
we rejoice in that. What comes out of the resurrection? Justification by faith, peace
with God, standing in grace, and the hope of glory. We live our lives in this world,
anticipating the world to come, what God has prepared for those that love Him. That's not
all. That's not all. We have something even beyond that. Down in verse 5, "Hope that does
not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who is given to us."
We literally are bathed in the love of God. Through the resurrection, we have been made
righteous before God. Through the resurrection, we have peace with God. Through the resurrection
we stand in grace. Through the resurrection, we have the hope of glory. And through the
resurrection, we receive the fullness of the love of God, and He loves us to the max of
His ability to love. These are the benefits of the resurrection. That's why I say, the
resurrection is the cornerstone, the main event in the Christian gospel.
Bow with me in prayer.
It's so wonderful to consider the realities of the day that Christ rose and even more
wonderful to consider the realities of all that has happened since He rose and happens
every day as sinners are given salvation who believe in the risen Christ. If you confess
Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved.
And with that salvation comes justification, and peace, and grace, and hope, and love.
And it's all in this that we live. This is where we have our being. How wondrous is this
gift. Open every heart to embrace the risen Christ as the only hope of being righteous
before God, the only hope of peace with God, the only way to receive forgiveness permanently
and to live in anticipation of heaven, the only way to experience divine love. All this
in Christ--what a gift. May we embrace Him fully, confess Him as Lord, and know the fullness
of this gift of salvation. Bring that gift to folks even today, we pray, in Christ's
name. Amen.