Raised for Our Justification

Well, over the last couple of weeks, as we have approached this

Resurrection Sunday, we have looked at a couple of different passages of scripture, scripture that we may read around this time of year, but not necessarily scripture that we focus in on.

And we have done so in an effort to detail out the saving work of Christ that is accomplished during this season when

Christ was crucified, dead, buried, and risen again.

This morning, we are going to look to the truth that that resurrection is not detached from the sufferings of Christ, but rather that it demonstrates, by way of a very public statement, the

Father's, in regards to the work of Christ, that the

Father has accepted that sacrifice. The debt has been paid.

And that righteousness is secured for all who believe.

You may recall a couple of weeks ago, during the first message, we looked at the words of the prophet

Isaiah. And as we studied Isaiah's record of the word of God being delivered to him, we saw that there was much more to the death of Christ than this mere act of love or mere example of love or a martyr being given for a cause or a victim of human cruelty.

We saw that the death served the purpose of bearing our griefs, of carrying our sorrows.

That he was crushed for our transgressions.

That he was pierced for our iniquities.

Because of this, we saw that his death served the penalty.

It was substitutionary in that it was for us.

And ultimately it was atoning. Then last week on Palm Sunday, we looked at the truth that the

Son of Man, that the one who served as the substitute that we spoke about from the prophet

Isaiah, did not come for the purpose of being served, but rather that his entire focus was to serve.

And that his service was to give his life as a ransom for many.

We saw in his actions as he and his disciples made their way to Jerusalem that Christ moved forward with determination.

Not as one that was following the commands of man, not as someone who was trapped into a situation where he had no choice, but as one who went willingly, obediently, even obedient to the point of death on a cross.

This reminds us that the cross is not a tragic accident. It's important that we recognize that this is not an accident that thwarted some evil plan, but it was the mission.

We were reminded that as he entered Jerusalem, he did so deliberately, he did so obediently, he did so willingly, he did so with full resolve for the express purpose of laying down his life for his people.

This leaves us with questions. Questions such as was the laying down of his life accepted?

Did the death of Christ truly accomplish redemption? Was the justice of God actually satisfied?

Did it really secure through the cross justification for all who believe?

The beautiful thing is that we find the answer to all of these questions in the truth of the resurrection, the reason that we gather, the reason that we worship, the reason that we live in the hope of the risen

King. You see, the resurrection was not just a miracle to amaze the mind, to capture the people.

It's not just a display of divine power over death, although it is both of those things.

Ultimately what it is is a divine declaration that the work of redemption is complete.

And that's an important truth. Because you see, apart from the work of redemption being complete, you're still making efforts.

But when you understand that the work of redemption being complete, then it's no longer you who works, but Christ.

If Christ had not risen, if he had remained in the grave, then however moving death may have been, however beautiful the pictures of him serving as a sacrifice would have been, it would have been in vain.

Because what it would have demonstrated was that the sacrifice was insufficient to purchase the redemption, to accomplish the redemptive plan of God.

However, because we can gather on a Easter or resurrection

Sunday morning, and we can greet each other with he has risen and receive the response, he has risen indeed, because he did rise from the dead, the empty tomb stands now as God's declaration that the sacrificial work of Christ has been accepted.

And even more than that, that it is sufficient.

And so as John Calvin commented on Romans chapter four, verse 25, by Christ's resurrection, it was made evident that the efficacy and fruit of his death, for as by his death sin was blotted out, so by his resurrection righteousness was obtained.

And this is the truth that we will examine in our text this morning.

Our text comes to tell you from the fourth chapter of Romans. And in our text, we see that through the death of Christ, our sins were dealt with.

We've already kind of touched on some of this. But we also see that by his resurrection, the accomplishment of righteousness is openly declared.

You see the cross and the empty tomb belong together and together they declare the whole gospel.

You cannot have the gospel without both because there is no good news without the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.

I would go so far as to say, you also need to understand the ascension. But that's another message for another day.

So if you have not already, please open your Bibles to Romans chapter four.

Our text for this morning, our focal text will be verses 23 through 25. However, because context is very important and I don't want to start this message in the middle of something and you'd be completely lost, we're gonna start reading at verse one down through verse 25.

And so if you have now found your place, I invite you to stand with me in reverence for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient, complete, and certain word.

In Romans chapter four, beginning in the first verse and following, we find these words.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. But not before God.

For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Now to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due.

But to the one who does not work, but believes upon him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Just as David also speaks of the blessings on the man to whom

God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Therefore is this blessing on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised?

For we say faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised?

Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them.

And the father of circumcision, to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father

Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised, for the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For those who are of the law are heirs. Faith has been made empty, and the promise has been abolished.

For the law brings about wrath. But where there is no law, there also is no trespass.

For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace.

So that the promise will be guaranteed 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 is the father of us all.

As it is written, the father of many nations, have I made you. In the presence of him whom he believed, even

God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist, in hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken.

So shall your seed be. And without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, in the deadness of Sarah's womb.

Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured that what

God had promised, he was able also to do. Therefore, it was also accounted to him as righteousness.

Now, not only for his sake, not for his sake only, was it written that it was counted to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted as those who believe upon him, who raised

Jesus our Lord from the dead, he who was delivered over on account of our transgressions and was raised on account of our justification.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the humbling truths that are revealed to us here in your word.

Father, we thank you for this glorious reminder of Christ's bodily resurrection, the very reason that we can gather and celebrate the proclamation from heaven, that the sacrifice that was made on our behalf was acceptable, complete, and effectual for all who believe.

Lord, we pray now that your spirit would testify with ours.

That we would hear this truth and that much is made of Christ Jesus.

Father, we ask all of these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated.

As we begin the text, the reason I wanted to walk us in beginning in the first verse is it was necessary to see exactly, if you're not very familiar with Romans chapter four, what

Paul was talking about as he begins, because it begins kind of in the middle of this argument that Paul has made.

And so as Paul opens this conversation, he has taken us all the way back to Abraham, but he does so in such a way that the text widens across more than just Abraham and his faith.

We note two things here as we work through verses one through 25. There's a lot to note. Trust me, we could unpack four.

We could do a whole, probably, year on just chapter four or more. It's full.

But two things that I want us to note here this morning. First of all, Paul belabors the point that Abraham's faith has nothing to do with his circumcision, that in fact, his circumcision is a result of his faith.

And so this is important when we talk about some other things, namely the truth around baptism.

But again, that's another topic for another day. The second thing that I want you to see here is beginning in our text for this morning in verse 23,

Paul writes now, not only for his sake only, but then he goes on in verse 24 and says, but also for our sake.

And so Paul takes what has occurred with Abraham, what is recorded in scripture, that it was there not just to tell us about Abraham, not just to give us an interesting picture of something that happened in the foundation of the

Jewish faith, not something that takes us all the way back to Abraham and says, here's the person you should put your faith in, but to demonstrate to us that the very

God that Abraham put his faith in is the very one whom our faith should be in.

It was written for us. It was written so that sinners in every age might understand how

God justifies the ungodly. That's the question, right?

We are sinners. How then can we be made right with the

Holy Ghost? How can we be God? You'll notice in verse 24 or in verse 23, it says, it was written that it was counted to him.

Counted to him is a very important phrase. It's extremely important that we understand first that how this righteousness was accounted to Abraham.

Secondly, that we see in verse 24, that he says to us that in the same way that it was counted to Abraham, it will also be accounted to us.

Now, if you work through the book of Romans, if you begin at the first chapter and you read through the book of Romans, you see that Paul labors to make it very clear to us that justification occurs in one way and one way only.

It's not based on works. It's not based on merit. It's not based on our ability to keep the law.

It's not based on our human righteousness in any way whatsoever, but rather that it is based on faith.

You see, Abraham did nothing to achieve this status. It says it was counted to him. It was given to him.

It was provided to him. It was reckoned to him. It was credited to his account.

And this is a declaration that God made. He declared

Abraham righteous. This is the heart of justification.

This is God declaring a sinner righteous, not because of anything found inherently in us, not because of anything that we can do, anything that we can say, any way that we can act, but because righteousness is graciously imputed to us by faith.

See, justification is a judicial act. It is something that God does.

It is not something that we do. There's a very subtle distinction that must be made in our understanding between the terms justification and sanctification.

You see, there are those that teach that we are not only justified, we are fully sanctified immediately upon becoming saved, immediately upon having the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, but that is not what scripture teaches.

See, it teaches that we are declared just, meaning that we've done nothing to earn it. Sanctification is the process that occurs over time by which we are molded and changed.

It's a result of the fact that we are justified. You see, we stand before God in justification based not on our own righteousness, but clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

And then sanctification is the work that proceeds out of that, where we together with the

Spirit are working and moving towards obedient living, but the two are not the same.

And it's important that we understand that justification is this truth that we are declared.

It's counted to us. It's given to us.

Paul is very specific in the requirement regarding this justification.

And I wanna make sure we are all on the same page here. First of all, there is zero that you do.

I'm gonna repeat that again because I wanna make sure that we hear it. The only thing you bring to this party is your sin.

That's it. You don't bring your ability. You don't bring your good works.

You don't bring your humanistic efforts. You bring your sin. And it is only by faith in Christ alone that this is applied to you.

But then the question comes is what exactly does that faith look like?

I'm glad you asked. So is Paul, because that's the right question.

You see, it's really easy to say I have faith. It's a whole nother thing entirely to really understand what that faith looks like.

Because faith, if we define it in its simplest terms, it's merely belief, right? We can believe in a lot of things.

Doesn't make them true. It also doesn't mean that we're gonna place our trust in them fully and wholly.

Scripture's clear. The demons themselves believe. It's not salvific.

They're not going to heaven. So there must be something different to this faith.

Paul elaborates in verse 24. Those who believe upon him who raised

Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Faith is not a vague religious feeling. Faith is not optimism.

It's not confidence in our ability. It's not intellectual agreement with a set of statements.

We can pull the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith out here. You can say that you intellectually agree with everything that is written there.

That doesn't mean you actually have faith. I can hand you this copy of God's word, and you can look at me and say, yep,

I 100 % intellectually understand everything I've read. That doesn't mean you have faith.

Faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, to the glory of God alone, is a non -negotiable truth.

What does that mean? Well, it means there's no negotiating this point. You see, there are things in Christianity today that we may negotiate.

Although I think that the list is not nearly as long as some people believe it is, there are things that we can negotiate.

This truth, we cannot. This truth, we must not.

You see, this truth is, it's not on the periphery. It's not a nice -to -have amenity.

It's not one of those things that you look at a list of the amenities, like you're gonna go stay at a hotel, and you wanna make sure that there's a microwave in the room, and a refrigerator in the room, and the most important appliance that they ever made in the room, which is a coffee maker.

You see, this faith is not something on the outside. Faith in the resurrection, faith in this truth that God raised

Jesus Christ from the dead bodily, is non -negotiable.

It is the core of the gospel. It is faith, it is faith that leads to justification.

We don't place our trust in a dead Christ that is remembered merely for noble suffering.

We place our trust in a living, risen, and reigning king.

Charles Spurgeon, when he preached on this text, said this, the faith which saves us is not merely faith in Christ, who died, but faith in Christ, who died, and who rose again, and faith in God, who raised him up from the dead.

You see, the object of your faith is the God who acted in history, the triune

God, whose redemptive plan is played out for us in the word of God. Now, if you're a student at all of scripture, this ought to be like screaming to you, go to Romans 5, go to Romans 5, go to Romans 5.

And I said, yes, sir, let's go to Romans 5, because it naturally takes us there.

He says to us, verse 5, chapter 5, verse 1, therefore, having been justified by what?

Faith, this stuff writes itself.

All you gotta do is read, it's there. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Now, something you need to catch in that passage, one verse, one word, or two words, we have, not it's available, not that it's a mere possibility.

What Paul says to us is we have peace with God. It's certain.

It's not that we could earn peace. It's not that we may have it one day.

It is we have peace with God. The enmity is over for those who believe.

The war has ended for those who believe. The judge has reconciled the guilty sinner.

Why? Because justification has truly been secured because the death and resurrection have accomplished

God's purpose. The resurrection here is crucial.

Why is it crucial? Because it gives objective confirmation that justification rests on the finished work, an accepted work of Christ.

It is only because the death and resurrection of Christ have accomplished that work.

It does not add merit to the cross as though the death of Christ were somehow inefficient.

Rather, it is a divine declaration that it was sufficient.

It is the Father's vindication of the Son, and in the

Son, it is the Father's vindication of all those who are united to Him by faith.

It is the vindication of us who believe. So when

Scripture tells us that righteousness will be counted to those who believe in Him who raised

Jesus, it is telling us that the same gracious principle that applied in the life of Abraham applies in the life of you and I.

It reached its full clarity in Christ. Abraham believed the

God who gives life to the dead in promise. We believe the

God who has given life to the dead in fulfillment. Abraham didn't have the luxury of the truth of the

Scriptures as we do. All he had was a hope and a promise that one day we look to the risen

Christ in faith. Abraham simply looked ahead in faith.

Both cases, righteousness is not counted by works, but rather by faith.

Then we see Paul reminding us of the saving work of Christ in this brief but very full language.

He says to us here that in this inexhaustibly rich passage, he simply makes this statement.

He, in verse 25, he who was delivered over on account of our transgressions.

He brought us right back to the cross. You see how

Paul unpacks all of this? He walks us down this path to understand exactly what happened with Abraham.

He demonstrates to us that exactly the way that Abraham was saved by faith, the way that righteousness was accounted to Abraham is the same way that righteousness is accounted to us.

And it's done so through him because we have faith in him who raised

Christ Jesus. And then it brings us right back to this understanding that it began, that it was made possible by this work on the cross.

Now, last week, we spoke at length about this truth that the purpose, that the death of Christ was his purpose for being here.

That's why he came. Yes, there are a lot of other things that came along with it, but at the end of the day, all of the teaching was for naught without his death.

All of the miracles were for naught without his death. The purpose was the death.

The resurrection. And ultimately, the ascension. Again, though, we are reminded that the death of Christ, much as we talked about last week, was not this result of human treachery, even though Judas betrayed him.

It was not the result of religious hatred, even though the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests obviously condemned him.

His death was not the result of Roman injustice, even though Pilate handed him over and washed his hands of him.

In fact, if we place the death of Christ at the feet of any of those, we have weakened his work.

Because you see, his death is, the truth that we see here is that once more, behind all of these human actions stands the sovereign will and purpose of Almighty God.

His plan of redemption that began before the foundation of the world.

Acts chapter two, verse 23, Peter delivering his message on the day of Pentecost, proclaiming to the crowds, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

This man, Christ, delivered over according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, meaning that all of this was according to the plan of God and all of it happened according to the knowledge of God, that none of this was outside of the sovereign will of God, that you merely were the earthly vessels that were used.

He goes on and he says, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put him to death.

Again, the cross is not an accident, it's not an afterthought, it's not a fallback plan, it's not plan

B, it's not God scrambling around to salvage a failed mission. You say,

Precious, why are you laboring this? Because this is what the people believe now. This is what has become acceptable within the confines of the thing that calls itself the church.

We see this as a fallback position. We see this as God scrambling. This is not

God scrambling. God's moving purposefully. That should be the most glorious piece of it all because it's not happening willy -nilly and accidentally.

And when things happen by accident, this is what it is. You can't put stock in that.

How do we know this? Well, because we see in the pages of Scripture that this was the eternal design, that it all unfolded in the fullness of time.

You remember that phrase, right? We use it especially at the birth of Christ.

We love to use it at the birth of Christ. See, here's an example of how we've tried to remove this sovereign act of God from the death of Christ and his resurrection because we've taken out that term fullness of time in regards to the crucifixion.

But guess what? Just like the birth of Christ came in the fullness of time, so did the crucifixion. It happened according to the will of God, to the plan of God.

Listen, the Father gave the Son. The Son gave

Himself and it was done so because of our transgressions.

I love to have conversations with people sometimes. One of the things that you hear most often if you bring up the book of Romans is, man, that's a hard book to read.

I don't know how it gets any more clear. Now granted, there are some passages, I understand there's some passages in Romans that are difficult, but brother, this ain't one of them.

It can't get any more crystal clear than this. Look, it doesn't get any more simple.

Christ had no sins. Christ deserved no judgment.

This was done for us, on account of us, because of us. And men scoff at this doctrine.

They scoff at this teaching. They deny it. They don't want to hear it. They want to turn away from it.

Why? Because it pierces you to the very soul of who you are. Christ died dealing with sin by bearing its guilt, enduring its judgment.

And so as scripture declares, and so as we declare and shall declare, time and again,

Christ stood where we sinners should have.

Spurgeon put it this way. I would have loved to have been able to just talk with Spurgeon.

If you've ever read much of him, his messages, his just general writing, you find out very quickly,

Spurgeon was not a, he didn't mince words a whole lot.

He just lowered the boom on you. He wasn't worried about your feelings. He was worried about your eternal soul.

So he wrote this. He bore what we might never bear in his father's righteous ire.

I'm just going to tell you, for me, that's one of those sentences that just kind of strikes at the heart. Many of you may know the song,

In Christ Alone, written by the Gettys and some other folks. But there's one line in that song regarding satisfaction of the wrath of God.

You know churches refuse to play that song because of that line? Are you kidding me?

Man, that ought to be the very reason you sing the song, because the wrath of God was satisfied.

This is wrath that should have fallen on us, yet it fell on him.

This is condemnation that should have been ours, yet was born by him.

And as we continue reading, Paul unpacks these things in what we call Romans five.

It was just a continuation of his letter. But Paul says in verse six, for while we were still weak at the right time,

Christ died. Verse eight, God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died. In both of those passages, guess who he died for?

Us. That's not a mere sentiment. He didn't just throw that in there to try to get your emotions rolling so he could do every eye closed, every head bowed invitation.

He did that to reach into your soul, flip a switch, and wake you up so that you understand what it is that Christ accomplished on the cross.

The love of God is not set against the justice of God, as it is so often now today in churches.

Rather, it is displayed precisely in the way that God upholds his righteous justice.

Romans five, nine presses a little further. Having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

R .C. Sproul loved to ask people, what do you need to be saved from? When they say stuff like sin, myself, whatever, he said, no, you need to be saved from God, the wrath of God.

How are you saved from the wrath of God? By his blood. We are justified.

And we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. Who is him? Christ. How much more clear?

I mean, literally, the clarity here should be startling to us. The blood of Christ justifies his death, secures our deliverance.

Christ did not merely make God's wrath avoidable. As long as you add something of your own, he took it, he bore it, he satisfied it, and he secured our justification by his blood.

That's why the cross is both dreadful and glorious. Oh, don't get me wrong, the cross is dreadful.

I invite you sometime just to do some research on what it would have meant to die on the cross, do that on your own time. But it is dreadful because it shows us exactly what sin deserves.

And in churches today, we speak way too lightly of sin. In our lives, we speak way too lightly of sin.

We excuse it. But if the son of God must be delivered over because of transgressions, then transgression is no small thing.

We cannot minimize it, we cannot rename it. We must be truthful about it.

If the spotless lamb had to be slain, then sin has to be exceedingly sinful.

Sinful. And yet, as we uphold this dreadful picture, we also must uphold the glorious picture because it reveals in the cross the fullness of divine grace.

It shows us that God doesn't forgive his people by denying his own holiness.

He maintains his holiness, he maintains his justice, he maintains his rightness. He forgives by satisfying that justice through the death of Christ.

In him, there was a complete expiation. That's a word for you for today, expiation.

It means atonement, price paid for sins.

That's what we need. You don't need a partial remedy. You don't need a, hey, take one of these once a day for the next 10 days and if it's not better, come back, we'll give you something stronger.

It's a full, final, complete remedy.

We don't need a religious boost. We don't need moral encouragement. We don't need a self -help

TED Talk. We need atonement. And that is what the cross of Christ has given.

Before we can ever enter into the hope of his holy presence of almighty

God, our sins have to be dealt with. So still, the question remains, how do we know that this sacrifice was accepted?

You've told us that we need it, that we have to have it, that by faith, we can receive it, but how do we know, how can we be certain, how can we be sure, how can we know that this offering was sufficient?

And Paul's answer, he doesn't point us back to the work of Christ in his life.

He doesn't point us back to the sincerity of Christ's sufferings. He doesn't point us back to him crying out on the cross, it is finished.

He doesn't say, look at all of the miracles that Christ performed. What he does is points us straight at the resurrection.

Look at the last clause. He completes the summary here in verse 25 by saying that Christ was raised because of our justification.

Now, there are people who fight about this particular line. Again, it's kind of one of those things where you scratch your head when you read some of the arguments, but they exist.

However, when we look at the context and we understand the flow of the argument that Paul has made, it should be abundantly clear.

There should be no discussion. The resurrection of Christ is inseparably bound up with our justification.

Why? Because it is the divine declaration that the accomplished, that the work accomplished its purpose.

The cross was the payment. The resurrection is the proof that the payment was received in full.

Calvin, again, was helpful. He said, by his death, sin was blotted out. So by his resurrection, righteousness was obtained.

Again, we cannot divide the saving work of Christ into disconnected parts.

They are inseparable. By his death, the expiation, the atonement we needed was received.

By his resurrection, God openly declares the success of the sin bearing work and the security of the righteousness of his people.

Again, God's word is very explicit. We read a few moments ago from 1

Corinthians chapter 15, a chapter that deals at length with the necessity of the resurrection of Christ.

Paul lays out this beautiful evidentiary argument. And then he gets to verse 17, where he finally makes this statement.

He actually makes a similar one a little bit earlier, but in verse 17, he asks the question, if Christ has not been raised, or he makes this statement, rather, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.

You are still in your sins. I don't know how you make it any clearer.

It was as if Paul was sitting with a box of crayons, writing it out for a kindergartner, because he knew that people in America in 2026 would be sitting around arguing about stupid stuff, because our opinions are more important than everybody else's.

Apart from the bodily resurrection of Christ, we remain in our sin.

Without the resurrection, faith is empty. Without the resurrection, there is no justification.

The resurrection declares the effectiveness of the work of Christ. A little bit further down, and in the text that we read from this morning, 1

Corinthians chapter 15, verse 20, we read, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep.

It all hinges on those first two words. Isn't it amazing how some of the smallest words in Scripture are some of the most crucial?

But now. That but now defines a contrary position to the argument that Paul has already been laying out.

You see, God's word definitively declares that Christ has been raised, and as a result of that resurrection, we who believe are no longer in our sins, and therefore faith is not in vain.

Death has been conquered, and justification stands secure, and it is certain.

This is why it's not just evidence that Jesus has power over death in a general sense.

It is far more specific. It is the Father's verdict on the Son's atoning work.

Spurgeon said the resurrection of Christ was the assurance that all his people were justified, because he rose as their federal head and representative.

That language of representation is vital, and it's one of those languages that people wanna cut out of church today.

We don't wanna talk about the fact that Christ is the federal head, the covenant head of his people. Without that, his vindication is not our vindication, but because he is our representative, his vindication is ours.

The acceptance of his work is acceptance of our righteousness, because our righteousness only comes through him.

His righteousness imputed to us, not truly our own. Again, back in Romans chapter five, it clearly expounds in this representative principle, verse 18, we read in this contrast between Adam and Christ, so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

Now, we've gotta be careful here, because there's an argument that is made from this verse regarding this idea that all men are saved in the work of Christ on the cross, and I'm gonna just be honest with you, that's a false statement.

We know from scripture, number one, that there are many who will perish. We know from our text last week that Christ gave his life as a ransom for many, not all.

And so the all in the second part refers to those who fall under the federal headship of Christ.

The resurrection of Christ is effectual for all those who are in him. If he has been raised, if he has been vindicated, if his people have been united to him by faith, they stand justified before God.

Believer, if you're sitting here this morning, this means that your justification does not hang on your feelings, it does not rise and fall with the strength of your assurance.

Praise God, it is not fluctuating according to the quality of your disobedience or obedience on a daily basis.

It rests on the finished work of Christ. The resurrection stands as God's public declaration that that work is sufficient, that the empty tomb is objective truth, that Christ is risen is objective truth, that your justification is found in him alone is objective truth.

Resurrection stands at the center of our assurance. It tells us that the sacrifice again has been accepted, that sin has been put away, that righteousness has been secured, that the believer is justified, and that one day will be raised in glory.

Romans 5 .10 adds yet another layer of comfort. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Paul doesn't mean that his present life replaces the atoning death, but that his risen life guarantees that the salvation is applied to us, to those he purchased.

The one who died now lives for us. This is why we can have hope in a living reigning king.

The one who died for us now lives for us in his ascension, in his enthronement, as he stands now as our great high priest before God.

This tells us that our justification is not fragile. It rests on a living savior, one that can never be put to death because he has already defeated that very thing.

First Corinthians chapter 15 ends not with uncertainty, but with triumph.

It ends with these words, thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, as we celebrate on this resurrection day, the truth of the resurrection is it's not just a doctrine to be defended.

It's a victory. It's a victory that we should enjoy. It is assurance that we should embrace.

It is hope that we should live. The empty tomb declares a glorious and unshakable truth.

It is complete. He died for our sins. He rose in victory. And so the question that is pressed upon every one of us here today is not merely, do we believe that Christ rose from the dead?

The deeper question is, what effect? How does that truth, how does the understanding that the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ secure your eternity for those who believe?

How does that change the way you live? For those of you who are believers here today, it impacts your life.

For those of you that are here today that may not be believers, guess what? It also impacts yours. Christ is risen.

Sin is dealt with. Righteousness has been secured. Peace has been held out. There is no longer any condemnation.

And death itself has been robbed of its ultimate terror. But only, hear me, but only for those who believe, those who by grace, through faith in Christ, according to the word of God for the glory of God are saved to the uttermost.

And so I ask again, what will you do with the risen

Christ? Will you continue to trust in yourself, in your goodness, in your morality, in your religion, in your effort?

Or will you turn from yourself and trust wholly in him, the one who was delivered over because of our transgressions and then was raised for our justification?

Do not live as though your acceptance before God hangs finally on the instability of your own heart.

Christ is risen. Therefore, the sacrifice is accepted.

Christ is risen. Therefore, justification is secure. Christ is risen.

Therefore, your life must be shaped by the triumph of the empty tomb.

Praise God. Most gracious heavenly

Father, we thank you for the glory of the resurrection and the certainty that it brings to our lives. We thank you that Christ died for our sin.

We thank you that Christ rose in victory and we thank you that in him we are declared righteous before you when we pray that this truth is impressed deeply upon our hearts, that we are transformed.

Father, if there be unbelief in this room, we ask that you grant faith. If there be doubt, we ask that you grant assurance.

If there be pride, we ask that you grant humility. If there be weariness, we ask that you bring renewed hope through the power of the risen

Savior. Teach us to live in light of the resurrection. Let us walk in the newness of life, responding in gratitude and obedience to what

Christ has accomplished. Father, we ask all of these things in the blessed name of our