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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim
All right, good morning, Sunnyside. I'm sure this is not the first time you've heard this today, hopefully not the last.
He is risen. Amen. Amen. All right, we're going to start our worship service with a few announcements this morning.
Because it is Easter Sunday, we're not going to have worship service tonight here at the church.
So spend that time with your family and friends today. Looking ahead to Wednesday, 5 .45,
the mealtime this Wednesday, and then 6 .30, prayer and tag are going on. Looking towards the end of the month on April 23rd, truth group after the evening service that evening for the young adults.
And then Saturday, the second to last day of the month, April 29th, 10 a .m. is that secret sister fellowship.
You can see Tristan Call or Hannah DeForest for more information about that.
And then Sunday, the last day of the month, April 30th, communion in the morning, and then flock groups that evening together.
All right, any other announcements this morning before we get started? This week's fighter verse comes from the
Psalms, Psalm 96, verse 9 and 10. Worship the
Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, the
Lord reigns. Yes, the Lord, the world is established. It shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity. We're going to prepare our hearts for worship this morning, and then after that,
Michael will come and open us. Oh, Christ, we address our prayers to you today for you are our risen
Lord and Savior. You are King of kings and you are Lord of lords. You have ascended to the right hand of your father where you reign forever and ever.
You have all authority and you have all of the pleasure of your heavenly father.
And the father and you have sent us your Holy Spirit by whom we know you and abide with you in fellowship together in your love.
And we give you the praise for you have risen from the grave. And we know that you are glorified in every respect and you hold the keys of death and Hades.
And that you alone are our king. We thank you for being our savior.
We thank you that you maintain your position at the right hand of your father, interceding for us every day, pleading your very own righteousness for our sake.
And we thank you that you shall reign from the right hand of your father until all of the enemies, all of your enemies are placed as a footstool for your feet.
All of this, we give you praise for and ask that you would give us grace by your spirit to rejoice in you and to give you due honor this day.
And we pray for these graces looking only to you as you satisfy your father, amen.
Good morning. Good morning. Would you stand for a call to worship? Psalm 88, 9 through 12, would you read along with me?
Every day I call upon you, O Lord. I spread out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you?
Selah, is your steadfast love declared in the grave or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Psalm of response this morning is 88B, Lord, I've daily called.
Verses six and seven. Be called upon your name.
Spread forth my hands for prayers, help to claim.
Will you your wonders make the dead to know?
Or shall the dead arise your ways to show?
Shall your great love be in the grave extolled?
Your faithfulness be in destruction told?
In darkness will your wonders be confessed?
Where memories fade, you know your righteousness.
Our hymn of praise this morning. See what a morning gloriously bright.
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem's Christ is raised.
God's salvation plan brought him love, born in pain, hidden sacrifice.
A man, for he lives, Christ is risen from the dead.
See Mary weeping as in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb.
Here's a voice speaking, call to your name.
It's the nest of our Lord, raised to life again.
A voice that spans the years, speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us.
We'll stand till he appears, for he lives,
Christ is risen from the dead. One with the
Father, ancient of days, through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise to the
King crowned with power and love. And we are raised with him, death is dead, life has won,
Christ has come. We shall reign with him, for he lives,
Christ is risen from the dead. And we are raised with him, death is dead, life has won,
Christ is risen from the dead. Christ is risen.
Would you open your Bibles with me together to the book of Isaiah, chapter 44.
We'll be looking at verses 21 through the end of the chapter. Remember these,
O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you, you are my servant.
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions, and like a cloud your sins.
Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Sing, O heavens, for the
Lord has done it. Shout, you lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, you mountains.
O forest and every tree in it, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel.
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb, I am the
Lord who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of the babblers and drives diviners mad, who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolishness, who confirms the word of his servant and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited, to the cities of Judah you shall be built, and I will raise up her waste places, who says to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up your rivers, who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple your foundation shall be laid.
Would you pray with me? Lord God, there is no thing that you have declared, no purpose which you have ordained that your hand is unable to bring to pass exactly as you have intended it.
Lord God, your words are not only good, but they are true, founded upon your unassailable sovereign power.
Truly the Jews and Pontius Pilate came together in Jerusalem to do all that your will had predetermined to take place at Calvary, to bring about atonement through the sacrifice of your spotless lamb, that sins might be forgiven and washed away, that transgressions might be blotted out, and a people redeemed.
And now the one who was faithful over your whole house as a son, he is risen and he reigns.
Lord, let us as faithful servants, laying down our lives for his kingdom, for his gospel.
Lord, not becoming victims of the deceitful calls to lay up treasures for ourselves in this world.
For all of our treasure is in Christ Jesus, and he is at your right hand. And I pray for the joy of hope in our sojourning here.
I pray for patience and all confidence to endure every trial and all suffering in this life, knowing that we have a living hope, because our
Redeemer lives. Amen. You may be seated.
This next song will be a type of call and response. The words will be up on the board, and I'll try to indicate to you when to join in.
Please join us. The Lord reigns.
He is a mighty God, the Lord God.
The Lord reigns. He is a mighty
God, the Lord God.
He is the Lord Almighty, he is
God supreme. Great is the
Lord Almighty, he is Lord, he is God indeed.
Great is the Lord. Great is the
Lord. The children of Israel came to the brink.
The children were dancing as the Pharaoh sank down, lifting up the slain king.
Great is the Lord Almighty, he is Lord, he is God indeed. Great is the
Lord Almighty, he is God supreme. Great is the
Lord Almighty, he is Lord, he is God indeed. Great is the
Lord. Great is the
Lord. The Lord reigns.
He is a mighty God, the Lord God reigns.
God, the Lord God reigns.
When the children of God came up to Jericho town, the
Lord sent children that saw the rock. So for seven whole days they walked around that great wall till the
Lord sent out and washed it clean. Great is the
When the children were dying and lost in their sin, my
God died and he rose again. And I've been rejoicing since he took my pain.
I thank you, Jesus, praise your name.
Singing, great is the Lord Almighty, he is Lord, he is God indeed.
Great is the Lord Almighty, he is God supreme. Great is the
Lord. Great is the Lord. Great is the
Lord Almighty, he is
Lord, he is God indeed. Great is the Lord Almighty, he is
God supreme. Great is the Lord Almighty, he is
Lord, he is God indeed. Great is the
Lord. Let's go to the
Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we know that you are pleased with these songs and these prayers and these readings in this gathering, pleased because of your son,
Jesus Christ, whose name we praise. And we ask now that as we turn to your word and as we think about these words that you have given to us by your spirit concerning your son, that you would nourish our souls, that you would heal us and enliven us and sanctify us and do everything in your power to glorify yourself in us, to do us good.
As we look by faith to your son, Jesus Christ, who was risen from the dead.
We thank you for this day and we pray that you would help us to respond.
In a way that is pleasing to you, in Christ's name, we pray, amen, I invite you to open your
Bibles and turn with me to Romans chapter 4. We'll be reading verse 23 through chapter 5, verse 2,
Romans chapter 4, verse 23, through chapter 5 and verse 2.
Friday night, we looked at Romans chapter 3, verses 18 or 19 through verse 28 and considered together how it is that the righteousness of God.
Is indeed revealed through the law. Which justly brings us under the condemnation of God's own standard.
And yet. The righteousness of God. Has now been revealed apart from the law.
Being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short to the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith. To demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance, he had passed over the sins previously committed to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Our righteousness, our standing before God entirely based on who
Christ is and what he has done. Our being given that righteousness imputed to our account written down as our very own by faith, by the grace of God, and yet this perfect sacrifice of Christ.
This perfect life which he lived, the act of righteousness of Christ, what he submitted to on the cross, the passive righteousness of Christ, the perfections of his sacrifice, his death upon the cross, the fulfillment of all these prophecies would not affect our salvation had he not risen from the dead.
Paul says in first Corinthians 15, if we have hope in this Christ, hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all men the most miserable.
If we deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, he is risen.
Please stand with me as I read our passage for this morning. Romans four, beginning in verse 23.
Now it was not written for his sake alone. That it was imputed to him, but also for us.
It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. I wonder if you've heard the story of the two
Carls. It was a man named
Carl Barth, foremost thinker on the continent of Europe in neo -orthodoxy.
A way of reading, interpreting the Bible and doing theology, which did not necessitate that anything in the
Bible be historically accurate at all. Carl noticed something about the churches on the continent that had embraced the teachings of Kant, Schleiermacher.
He realized that there was an absolute impoverishing of anything going on, recognized it as a problem.
So he embraced the tenets of existentialism and married them to the scriptures and said things like, the
Bible is not the word of God. It is a witness to the word of God. You might encounter the word of God when you're reading it, but it's not guaranteed.
He did not believe that the scriptures, when they spoke of anything of history, were at all accurate.
But he still wanted to maintain that there was some sort of real connection with God. He tried to find a middle path between the liberalism of the godless
Tübingen school in Germany and the warm evangelical faith of Martin Lloyd -Jones, who preached in London.
In fact, Barth would travel across the channel and come visit Martin Lloyd -Jones' church and listen to him preach because he sensed that there was something there.
Karl Barth, the foremost name in Neo -Orthodoxy.
Another Karl, Karl F .H. Henry. Karl F .H. Henry was foremost in the project called
Neo -Evangelicalism, a desire to engage with the culture, wherever the culture was, with the word of God and to find some way to prove the relevancy of Christianity.
Where that project has ended up, probably not where Karl F .H. Henry wanted it to go, but he was best known as being the founder, the editor of Christianity Today.
And so it was that Karl and Karl at one point met. Karl and Karl met and Karl F .H.
Henry relates the tale. He identified himself in a press conference as he was, as everyone was there asking
Karl Barth questions. He identified himself as Karl Henry, editor of Christianity Today, and he wanted to pin
Barth about his denial of the historicity of Christ. And so he said, he pointed to the various leading religious editors or news reporters that were present there to interview and to ask questions of Barth.
He pointed to reporters from the religious news services, the United Press, Washington Post, Washington Star, and he pointed at them and he asked
Karl Barth. He said, if these journalists had their present duties back in the time of Jesus, was the resurrection of Jesus of such a nature that their covering some aspect of it would have been considered news?
Like news, like the man on the street would consider it to be news. You see what he's aiming at.
He's trying to pin Karl Barth on whether or not Jesus Christ truly, historically rose from the dead.
Barth became agitated at this and he pointed at Karl F .H. Henry and he asked, and he recalled his identification as editor of Christianity Today, and he said, did you say
Christianity Today or Christianity yesterday? And the audience, largely non -evangelical professors and clergy, roared with delight, laughing.
You know, what a judgment of God that men would laugh where demons tremble.
When we look at our passage this morning, we see that the good news is only good if Jesus Christ is alive today.
And he is. So we're here to rejoice. The realities of salvation depend upon a resurrected
Savior. The realities of salvation depend on a resurrected Savior.
So verses 23 through 25, we consider belief in the risen Lord. Belief in the risen
Lord. Now, it sounds a little bit confusing when we start right in the middle of a thought, but it's intriguing, is it not?
Now it was not written what was written for his sake alone.
Who is that? That it was imputed to him. What was that? It sparks the curiosity.
What is going on in this book of Romans? There is a controversy.
There is a controversy about boasting. How is one saved? How is a sinner saved?
How is a sinner made right with God? Does it have something to do with one's own devotion, one's own intensity of religious practice?
Does it have something to do with one's intellect? Does it have something to do with one's background, with one's ethnic background, one's identity?
What does it have to do? How is one saved? And so Paul, seeking to settle the debate, appeals to scripture.
Now, it was not written for his sake alone. Something was written down, but not for this man's sake alone, but something was written down to settle this.
What was written down? It was the word of God. It was according to the scriptures. Now, what was written down?
Well, that it was imputed to him. What was? The righteousness of God was imputed, written down to somebody else's account other than God.
That somebody would bear under his record the perfection of the righteousness of God.
Now, it was imputed to him. It was written down for him. It was reckoned to him. But the fact that that was written down was not for that man's sake alone, but it was written down also for us.
Well, who was that man that to his credit, to his name, was written down in his accounting book before God, the very righteousness of God himself?
It was Abraham. It was Abraham. You read Romans 4 and he's talking about Abraham. In verse 17, we are on verse 13, it says, for the promise that he would be heir of the world.
Was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith, God made promises to Abraham and to his seed.
And this promise was brought about by faith, not about the law, not through the law.
And then verse 16, therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, not according to our merits, not according to our boasting.
Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who was the father of us all.
Some of you are singing Father Abraham in your verse 21 and being fully convinced this is
Abraham and being fully convinced that what he had promised, what God had promised, he was also able to perform.
And therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Genesis 15, six was accounted to him for righteousness.
He believed in God and his promise of the seed. Therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness, whose righteousness we've already covered that in Romans three, the very righteousness of God manifested in Christ Jesus.
Now, it was not written for his sake alone, but for us also, meaning and here's the power of this of the scriptures.
What was written down by the original author, Moses, to the original audience,
Israel, about the original event, Abraham, by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of Christ himself. All of this was written down, not for the sake of someone long ago alone, but for us also so that our confidence in why we are right with God today is indeed a matter of faith.
But it is not a faith in somebody else, somebody, some man's word, not in my own personal assertion, but a confidence that is borne out by the word of God.
God makes the manner and the basis for our salvation clear. In first Corinthians 15 verses one through four,
Paul says, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand, by which you are saved if you hold fast that word that I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
Listen, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
We are not saved by the word that we might give of our own experience.
We are not saved by somebody else's word about what they observe in our lives.
We are not saved by the words of historians who consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ to indeed be a credible historical event.
We are saved by the word of God as we trust and believe in the gospel that was given to us according to the scriptures.
A word that is entirely about Jesus Christ. Everything in the scriptures, everything that God says by the spirit has reference to the son.
Our savior. So it's according to the scriptures that we are to believe in the risen
Lord. That is the basis of our assurance. It's not man's word. It's not my word.
It's God's word. Romans 10, 8 and 9. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.
That is the word of faith, which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved according to the scriptures.
Now, it was not written for Abraham's sake alone. That it was imputed to him, but also for us, it shall be.
Notice verse 24, it shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus, our
Lord, from the dead, even as the promise we just heard. What shall be imputed to us?
The righteousness of God. The righteousness of God as accomplished and as manifested in Jesus Christ.
The only one of whom God said, this is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased, is
God well pleased with you if you are in Christ by faith, if you are wearing the very righteousness of God as fulfilled in Jesus Christ, if you are in Christ by faith, united to him.
Yes, indeed. God is well pleased with you for the sake of his son. He's the only one with whom he is well pleased.
He's the only one who has fulfilled the righteousness of God, who has fulfilled the law of God. Only Christ has.
Only Christ can stand between us and and God and be our mediator to stand in our place and for our sake as the very righteousness of God imputed to us, given to our accounts.
And therefore, it is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, according to the scripture alone, that we are saved.
So this righteousness is accounted for our salvation. But notice, notice this is based by faith in faith in him, believing in him, trusting in him who raised up Jesus, our
Lord, from the dead. Many people doubt that God can save them.
Many people doubt that there can be any certainty as to whether or not they're going to end up on the correct side when
Judgment Day comes. They're hoping it all turns out OK. Many people, many people's funerals are preached by those and attended by those who have no idea whether or not they went to heaven or hell.
Because there was such a lack of clarity about the gospel in their lives. But you've also been to funerals.
Or there was an ounce of confusion in the life of that believer.
Upon what basis their hope rested. And that's a splendid thing.
To experience and to be at faith in God.
You know, Jesus talked to his disciples one time and was explaining to them after engaging with a rich ruler.
Now, the culture back then was a little bit different today in our culture, rich rulers are the closest thing to hell on Earth.
Right, if you're rich and you have authority, then you must be demon possessed. You're the spawn of Satan.
You're the worst thing that this planet has ever seen. If you're rich and you're a ruler. But back in Jesus' day, if you were rich and powerful, the common cultural assumption was you were the closest thing to heaven.
Well, obviously, God likes you better than us. Look at all the stuff he gave you. And after engaging with the rich ruler about what salvation was really all about and him leaving, rejecting the gospel,
Jesus turned to his disciples and he said, you know, it's going to be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
Easier for the largest moving thing you've ever seen to go through the smallest opening your eyes ever seen than for a rich man to get into heaven.
And the disciples said, well, then who can be saved? I mean, if those who are closest to God can't be saved, what about the rest of us?
And Jesus made it very clear. With man, it's impossible. With man, it's impossible to be saved.
With man, there's no hope of man being saved. If it depends upon man, you're not going to be saved.
But with God, all things are possible. Even saving the chief of sinners,
Saul of Tarsus himself. With God, all things are possible.
You know, who is this God in whom Abraham believed? Verse 17 of Romans 4.
As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations and Abraham's believing and holding fast to in the presence of him whom he believed.
Now, let us description of God. God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
This is the God who made us. This is the God whom we are to believe in. The God who raises the dead and says, let there be light when there was no light before and says, let there be land and let there be water and brings out of nothing into existence simply by the proclamation of his word.
And so by his word, if he declares this ungodly sinner righteous in my sight, welcome to my presence.
He will raise him up from the dead. As he raised Christ from the dead, this was indeed the faith of Abraham.
You know, how much did Abraham really know? Poor Abraham. You know, he didn't even have
Genesis. Like, let alone, you know, the minor prophets and didn't have the
New Testament. I mean, really, how much did Abraham know? Poor Abraham. Hebrews 11, 17 through 19 says, by faith,
Abraham, when he was tested by faith, when he was tested, his faith is tested.
He offered up Isaac, his true heir, his seed. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.
Abraham who received the promises offered up Isaac of whom it was said in Isaac, your seed shall be called.
So here's Abraham putting his son on the altar. And what is he thinking as he's acting in faith?
What did he conclude? Verse 19, concluding that God was able to raise Isaac up even from the dead.
It's like, well, all the promises are supposed to come through Isaac and God's saying I need to sacrifice him on the altar.
So if I kill him, that means God's just going to raise him back from the dead. What other conclusion can
I come to? And indeed, Abraham received him back from the dead in the figurative sense, it says.
It's a type, it's a figure, it's a shadow. It has something to say about Christ. So this righteousness is accounted for our salvation according to the scriptures.
And it depends entirely on Jesus Christ being at the right hand of the father. Verse 25, speaking of Christ, he was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.
He was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. And we talked about him being delivered up for our transgressions.
On Friday night, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded, listen, he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed.
God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He was offered up as the
Lamb of God to bear our transgressions and he comes as our atonement.
A wonderful, beautiful English word coined by Tyndale, at -one -ment.
Look at the word, A -T -at -o -n -e -one -ment,
M -E -N -T. That's how he meant it. He coined that phrase to talk about reconciliation, at -one -ment.
How are we at one with God? How are we who were apart from God, separated from God because of our sin at war with God because God is holy and we are sinful?
How is it that we are made at one with him by the blood of Jesus Christ? And he was delivered up for our transgressions and he was raised.
He was raised bodily from the dead, ascended thus for our justification.
Who is it? Who is it? Who is your advocate and your mediator who's at the right hand of the
Father pleading your case? It's Jesus Christ risen from the dead, ascended to glory, pleading the merits of his own case for you.
Let's turn over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verses 9 through 22.
I just want you to consider the importance of Christ having been raised from the dead and what it means that we have a resurrected
Savior for our justification. How it's necessary for our justification that we would be right before God.
Verse 9, then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. This is the son speaking to the father.
He takes away the first that he may establish the second. He takes away the first covenant he may establish the second.
He takes away the first order that he may establish the second. He takes away the first creation that may establish the second.
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, once for all time.
Only one sacrifice was necessary with Christ. In contrast, verse 11, and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.
That's what's going on in the in the former. That's what's going on in the old covenant temple.
But look how ineffective it is. But contrast verse 12.
But this man, the God man, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, the son of the living
God. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.
This man who's at the right hand of God. The dust of earth is at the right hand of heaven.
From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool, there he rules and he reigns.
Till his enemies are made his footstool, he returns in glory. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
You see how that works? We are perfected forever, already fully accounted for in the righteousness of God.
Perfected forever while we are still being sanctified. Praise God.
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days.
Jeremiah says to the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and into their minds. I will write them.
Then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more as far as the east is from the west.
So far has he removed our transgressions from us. Christ, Christ, the the offering on the day of atonement that propitiates the wrath of God.
The blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat. Christ, the sacrifice on the day of atonement led away into the unknown to wander and stagger and die.
And the sins to be forgotten forever. The propitiation and the expiation. Now, where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Once you have Christ, you don't need another sacrifice for sin ever. You never, ever, ever have to come to God and say, well,
I really hope you forgive me. So I promise I'll do this or this for you. He's not interested in your sacrifices.
He has Christ's sacrifice. He's satisfied in it. You be satisfied in it.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, how do we enter in?
How do we enter in to the very communion with the holy God by a new and living way which is consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh?
We have a risen Lord Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God at the right hand of the
Father, by which we have entry to God. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, meaning before the sight of God, I am righteous.
I am righteous. I am righteous. I am righteous. And so by because of Christ, because of Christ, because of Christ, because of Christ, that's why
I can come to the throne of mercy and find in my time of trial in need, grace and mercy.
Well, the risen Lord, is that what we believe? We believe in our risen Lord. Now consider the blessings of the risen
Lord. Not a single ounce of salvation comes to us outside of Christ.
There is not one single blessing of salvation that comes to us apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ mediated to us by the
Holy Spirit. First blessing.
Peace with God, reconciliation, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have present tense now with God, peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. How do we have peace with God? It's through our Lord Jesus Christ. How do we have peace with God?
Because we've been justified by faith, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness to our account.
That's why we're at peace with God. We're in, we are not at war, we're not at odds, we are not, we are not, we don't have something outstanding before God.
We are reconciled. Every, every sense of the word shalom present here, that we are made whole with God.
He's got nothing against us. He's got nothing against us because Christ is for us.
There's every reason in the natural sense when we evaluate our lives for God to be at war with us, however, however, he is at peace with us.
He is at peace with us. Do you have peace with God? There's only one way to have peace with God, and that is to kiss the sun, do homage to the sun.
Find refuge in him. The one who is raised from the dead and reigns from the right hand of the father.
We have peace with God, reconciliation, shalom with God. And we have new life.
We have regeneration. We are, we are new creatures, new creations because of Christ.
Notice verse two says, through whom also, through Jesus Christ, we have access.
That's what Hebrews 9 was talking about. We have a way into the holiest of holies by his flesh, by his high priest representation of us.
We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We are now alive in a way that we were not alive before.
And this grace does not end at the cross and it doesn't end at our conversion. But we have continual access into this grace by faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. First, in Second Corinthians 517 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. How? Because you're in Christ.
Welcome to the new creation. Romans 8, 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Why? Because we're justified. Having now been justified means not guilty, no condemnation.
So there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
Why? Because you've been born again. You've been raised from death spiritually in your union with Christ. But you are not in the flesh, verse nine says, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his.
You're not alive in the spirit. You don't belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, verse 10, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.
You are part of that first resurrection, a spiritual resurrection where all things are new. You have access by faith into this grace in which you stand.
So it's new life, new life, new life. You always have access to that. Now, your body may be on its way to the grave because of sin, but that's not the last bit of the story, because verse 11.
But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.
So if you're alive in Christ by his spirit now, your body is going to be raised from the dead in the last day. Because he is risen, we are going to be raised.
The two are tied completely together. So not only do we have reconciliation and regeneration, but we also have rejoicing.
Rejoicing. Look at verse two again, Romans five, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and through whom, meaning and through whom we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. What is this hope?
This hope is a perspective controlling, confident expectation of God's glory in all things.
A confident, a perspective controlling, confident expectation of God's glory in all things.
I think it is monumentally foolish, monumentally foolish for anyone who is filled with bitterness and anger at Christians to think that they're going to succeed by killing us.
That's been tried a whole lot. And the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church and Christ wins.
You can't stop us by killing us. We keep living and then we're raised from the dead of the last day.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You can't stop the church because she's the bride of Christ and Christ wins.
Hope, hope is the sermon for your soul.
Hope is the sermon for your soul. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God when we consider the resurrection of Jesus.
And every Sunday is Resurrection Day. Every Sunday, the first day of the week, we remember how
Christ brings about the new creation through his resurrection from the dead. Hope is the sermon for your soul.
Some hymns are sermons for your soul. From the didactic to the imperative, from the facts to why it matters.
Before the throne, my surety stands. Before the throne, my surety stands.
My name is written on his hands. Arise, my soul, arise.
Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off your guilty fears and rise.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You know,
Carl, I made fun of Carl, Christianity today or Christianity yesterday.
And Carl F .H. Henry waited for the laughter to die down. And then he replied, yesterday, today and forever.
Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the hope that we have in your son,
Jesus Christ, and his resurrection from the dead. I pray that you would master our affections and our thoughts with this glorious truth of your son.
We pray these things in his name. Amen. Would you stand with me?
Turn your hymnal to 2 .17. Christ the Lord is risen today as we sing about his resurrection.
Christ the
Lord is risen today. Hallelujah.
Sons of men and angels say, Hallelujah. Raise your joys and triumphs high.
Hallelujah. Earth reply, is again our glorious King.
Hallelujah. Where, oh, death is now thy sting.
Hallelujah. Dying once, ye all doth save.
Hallelujah. Where thy victory o 'er the grave.
Hallelujah. The redeeming work is done.
Hallelujah. Fight for us.
Sorry now where Christ has led.
Hallelujah. We like him, like him we rise.
Hallelujah. O 'er the cross, the grave, the dead and the living.
Hallelujah. May the grace of the
Son, the love of the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. We are dismissed.