He Is Risen | John 20

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

All right, welcome everyone, and happy and blessed Resurrection Sunday to you all.

00:07

It is a very joyous day to be celebrating on this particular day, but really every

00:17

Sunday celebrates this as well, and we'll see that shortly. Before I read the sermon text, we're going to read the entirety of chapter 20 of the

00:30

Gospel of John. I wanted to kind of preface this real quick by saying that, like I typically do when

00:40

I preach on holidays and stuff like that, we know that religious holidays are often mixed with pagan and Roman Catholic baggage, right?

00:51

So they're not mandatory, we don't have to celebrate them, but if we do so, then we need to be discerning, right?

01:00

We need to be discerning Christians who observe the real reason for the holiday, which is really

01:06

God, Christ, His work, His person, without all of the baggage.

01:11

So, you know, this season you have things like Lent, you know, the 40 -day fast and Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras and all that stuff, and Easter bunnies and Easter eggs, which really have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ.

01:30

And, you know, I saw this video by a guy called Wes Hough, and he's got a lot of good stuff,

01:38

I really like his work, and he's the one who showed up on, who was interviewed by Joe Rogan not too long ago.

01:46

And he talks about how, he's not the only one that says this, but he's talking about how, well, Easter isn't pagan, so nothing to worry about here, you know, it's not pagan.

01:56

And the problem, I keep having problems with this because there's too many coincidences for it to not be pagan, right?

02:04

And we know that historically, whenever you see false religions, you tend to see the same gods just sort of resurrecting in different forms, cultural expressions of that culture.

02:15

The Greek gods resemble the Roman gods a lot, and so on, and the cycle keeps repeating itself. Basically, same demon, different culture.

02:25

So, I already preached on this a couple of years back, and you can go back and listen to that message. I'm not going to do a deep dive on that again, but there's just too many coincidences.

02:36

You know, the Easter eggs and the fertility goddesses, and eating eggs and chocolate bunnies and stuff, that's all very reminiscent of what idols demand when worshipping them.

02:52

You make food in their image, and then you eat it, you consume it, which is exactly what they were doing in Jeremiah 44, and God judged them for it.

03:03

So, I don't think these are just merely coincidences, that there's so much common overlap in these practices.

03:13

And, of course, this is one of John Calvin's most popular sayings.

03:20

Man's nature is a perpetual factory of idols. So, we cannot assume that cultures are just innocent, especially if they don't have

03:29

Christ. I mean, if even Christianized, quote -unquote, civilizations, like the medieval ages, which had the

03:37

Bible and all these things, they still were drowning in idolatry, and in idols, and in saints, and all that stuff, and in relics, and all of these things that people would pay homage to and bow down to.

03:52

Even in Christian, quote -unquote, society, how much more so, pagan society, right?

03:58

So, he also said, the mind begets an idol, and the hand gives it birth, the hand of worship, right?

04:06

So, it's all things to keep in mind, and it's also because of a lot of supposedly

04:14

Christian traditions that overlap with this time, because of the fast, the 40 -day fast, and all of these things.

04:23

But 1st Timothy 4 is very clear, that the Spirit explicitly says that in a later time, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience, who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which

04:45

God created to be shared with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

04:53

For it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer, in pointing out these things to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being nourished on the words of the faith, and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

05:04

Amen, right? So, we have to be aware of these things, that compelling people to fast and to abstain from food and things like that, is not biblical.

05:18

Not to say that fasting isn't biblical, of course it is, but that should not be compelled, forced, or obligated.

05:28

And so, that's just something to keep in mind always when we celebrate holidays, to just be discerning.

05:38

So now, I want us to turn to the main text for today, which is the

05:45

Gospel of John chapter 20. The Gospel of John. And, while you're making your way over there, you'll note that all four

06:00

Gospels have an account of the resurrection. So that's really important, because it was obviously a pivotal event in the history of Christ's ministry.

06:12

All four of them have an account of it. And, the

06:17

Gospel of John has a very drawn out and detailed account that I want us to dive into today.

06:27

So, the Gospel of John, chapter 20, starting from the beginning. God's Word says,

06:35

Now, on the first day of the week, take note of that, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.

06:47

So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, which is

06:52

John, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.

07:01

So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. And the two were running together, and the other disciple,

07:09

John, ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the first tomb. And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

07:21

And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb. And he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face cloth which had been on his head,

07:30

Christ's head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but folded up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.

07:42

For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead.

07:49

So the disciples went away again to where they were staying, but Mary was standing outside the tomb crying.

07:57

And so as she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laying.

08:11

And they said to her, Woman, why are you crying? She said to them, Because they have taken away my

08:16

Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was

08:23

Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you seeking?

08:30

Thinking him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.

08:38

This is so comical. So verse 16. Jesus said to her,

08:43

Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher.

08:50

Jesus said to her, Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them,

08:56

I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples,

09:04

I have seen the Lord and that he said these things to her. So while it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and while the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the

09:16

Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be with you.

09:22

And when he said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the

09:29

Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me,

09:35

I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

09:41

If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.

09:48

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

09:53

So the other disciples were saying to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see his hands, the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand on his side,

10:04

I will not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them.

10:10

Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Bring your finger here and see my hands and bring your hand here and put it into my side.

10:19

And do not be unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him,

10:25

My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are those who did not see and yet believe.

10:33

Therefore many other signs also did Jesus did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.

10:39

But these have been written so that you may have, you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

10:49

This is God's word. Amen. So this is an amazing.

10:54

This is a really fascinating chapter. And I want to jump back here for a little bit to verse two.

11:04

Because in verse two, we see something very interesting.

11:10

It says that the disciples here, they so the

11:19

Mary Magdalene went and came to Peter and the other disciple and said to them, They have taken away the

11:25

Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Mary was so distraught and sorrowed that she did not believe that Jesus Jesus was going to rise from the dead.

11:40

They did not believe the resurrection at this point. And so she had doubt and unbelief, and she was distraught because she couldn't find the body.

11:49

She thought somebody took the body away because she thought Jesus was was dead when was going to stay dead.

11:56

And so that's very important to bear in mind. And then notice on verses eight and nine, how

12:04

John, the other disciple had come first to the tomb and then also entered and he saw and believed.

12:13

So before that, not even the apostle that Jesus loved had believed.

12:20

Why? Verse nine explains, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead.

12:28

So the doctrine of the resurrection was not understood by the disciples until after it happened.

12:34

Even his closest ones, his inner circle, Peter as well. They all doubted and because they did not understand.

12:46

So this is important as well to note that you cannot believe what you do not understand.

12:52

You know, there's a lot of talk about mysticism and the pietism where, oh, you know, we need we just need to accept things by faith.

12:58

Well, faith understands you can't you can't accept as true what you don't understand.

13:06

That's not to say that we have to understand everything exhaustively because that's obviously impossible for us in this in our in this life.

13:14

But we must understand in order to believe. So that's also very important to highlight.

13:26

And if you also jump over down to verse 13. You'll see they said to her, woman, why are you crying?

13:35

And she said to them, because they have taken away my Lord. I do not know where they have laid him. When she said this, she turned around and saw

13:41

Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. The sorrow was so intense that they couldn't see what was right in front of their face.

13:50

And so this is important to highlight as well, because we have to account for the spiritual estate of the disciples before and after the resurrection and make sense of it properly.

14:05

OK, so and then down to verses 21 through 23, we see where Christ appears to them and says, peace be with you.

14:17

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and the disciples rejoice when they saw the

14:22

Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, I also send you.

14:27

And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive, receive the Holy Spirit.

14:33

OK, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them.

14:40

If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. Now, receiving the

14:45

Holy Spirit does not necessarily mean that this is the first time they are receiving the spirit of God and are being saved.

14:56

That's not necessarily what this means. This is receiving the spirit of God to be commissioned by him to do a special work of the apostolic ministry, to fulfill the

15:07

Great Commission and go into all the world and preach the gospel and baptizing in the name of the

15:12

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that Christ has commanded them to do, right?

15:18

Us to do. So this is a commissioned infilling of the Holy Spirit is what this is pointing to.

15:26

And you'll see that in the book of Acts as well, where the disciples, they become full of the spirit and they start preaching the gospel or they start doing a work of God and ministry.

15:39

And so on. So another important thing to keep in mind there. Now, obviously, we are here in the

15:48

New Testament and the Gospels. All of this has reference to the past, the ancient past.

15:55

This is ancient now as well, but the Old Testament past, specifically speaking, right?

16:00

This is all pointing to something that was prophetically foretold back in the Old Testament times.

16:06

So we have to understand this as well in order to fully appreciate what the resurrection means and is.

16:15

So the word that's translated Easter in some versions of the

16:22

English Bible, like the King James, is Pascha, Pascha, which means

16:28

Passover. It means Passover, like the Paschal Lamb and stuff like that. It's a

16:34

Jewish commemoration of God's destroyer angel sparing the firstborn children of the

16:41

Israelites and those who posted the blood of the lamb on their doors when they were still in bondage to Egypt.

16:48

It's the plague, the plague that killed the firstborn. And so that's what this is pointing to Passover.

17:02

And it's a sacred observance in Judaism, in the Old Testament Judaism, that commemorates the climactic tenth and final plague in the book of Exodus, right?

17:12

Where Yahweh punishes Egypt by killing all the firstborn but passes over the firstborn of Israel, resulting in the

17:23

Israelites' deliverance from slavery in Egypt. And so there's a passage in the book of Exodus, chapter 12 verses in verse 25 that says, and it will be when you enter the land, which

17:41

Yahweh will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this new slavery. And it will be when your children say to you, what is the meaning of this new slavery to you?

17:51

That you shall say it is a Passover sacrifice to Yahweh who passes over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he smote the

18:00

Egyptians but delivered our homes. And know what the people did. The people bowed low and worshipped.

18:08

They bowed low and worshipped. So fast forwarding now to the resurrection and to today, this is why

18:19

Resurrection Sunday, as with every Lord's Day Sunday, should be about worshipping, worshipping

18:27

God rightly in the truth of his word. And that's why we appreciate the historic

18:39

Christian church and especially the Protestant and Reformed tradition because in this tradition, every

18:46

Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ as the Lord's Day, as the

18:52

Christian Sabbath. This is in keeping with what the Bible teaches as well. It's a special day.

19:00

And of course, we understand that God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth and truth because God is a

19:14

God of truth. John 4, 24. Amen. So this is pointing us to a greater reality.

19:27

The types and shadows of the Old Testament is pointing to a greater reality and that reality is that Jesus is our

19:33

Passover lamb and deliverer from death and judgment. He is the

19:39

Passover lamb, just as the Gospel of John says in chapter 1, verse 29. On the next day,

19:45

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

19:54

This is Christ, the Passover lamb. Now, if you turn with me here to Jude 5, we'll see another very powerful passage that illustrates another important truth about Christ.

20:17

In Jude 5, God's word says, Now I want to remind you, though you know all things, that Jesus, having once saved a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

20:39

Amen. So this is not only does the Old Testament point to Christ in the

20:46

New Testament, but Christ, the scriptures here say that Christ was in the

20:52

Old Testament. He was the one delivering the people of Israel out of Egypt and judging and destroying those who did not believe.

21:01

It's the same God, right? It's the same God in the same deliverer.

21:09

So. And this is so amazing. This is this this was so awesome when

21:16

I when I was studying this and learned this, that whenever Christ appears in his resurrected body.

21:27

And and the day is mentioned in Scripture every single time.

21:33

It is always the first day of the week. It is always on the first day of the week on Sunday.

21:42

It's such as in Matthew 28, verse one and verses nine through ten, Mark 16, nine,

21:49

Luke 24, one and verse 13 and 15 and the Gospel of John, chapter 20 and verse 19 and 26.

21:57

So if you turn back with me there, we will read those again and see what it says there about the first day of the week in John, chapter 20, verse 19.

22:14

So while it was evening on that day, the first day of the week and while the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the

22:23

Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you.

22:32

That is powerful stuff. And I wonder, why did he say peace? Why did he say peace be with you?

22:39

Why did he say peace be with you? This is so important because there's some false teaching out there that says that Christ hadn't finished the sacrifice.

22:48

He still had to go up to heaven to ascend to finish the sacrifice. But Jesus said, peace be with you.

22:54

Why? What did he say earlier on the cross? It was finished, right?

23:01

That's why we have peace. Peace be with you. So now verse 26 similarly says, and after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them.

23:14

And Jesus came, the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said, peace be with you.

23:21

So after eight days, that's again on a Sunday, the first day of the week. And he appeared once again.

23:28

Very fascinating stuff there. So early

23:35

Christians in the book of Acts and onward, that's why they followed suit and worshipped accordingly.

23:43

They worshipped accordingly. Whereas the Old Testament, the Sabbath was a very important day of rest.

23:51

And they worship in those things. The first day of the week. Was it was became a highlighted event or day because of what happened that day, which was the resurrection.

24:09

That's why in Acts chapter 20, verse seven, God's word says, and on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,

24:20

Paul began speaking to them intending to leave the next day and he prolonged his message until midnight.

24:26

So the Christians in the early church in the book of Acts, they gathered on the first day of the week because of the resurrection and because the

24:35

Christ appeared himself on the first day of the week. It's saying something there.

24:42

And that is why it's not an accident that church is on Sunday now. Even though, of course, the week, the week that we follow is a pagan week.

24:52

It's all a bunch of Viking gods and Thursday and Odin's day. And, you know, I don't know what

24:57

I forget what Tuesday is, but Monday, Monday and Friday, Friday, you know, fish fry

25:03

Friday with the whole earth that when they would abstain from meat and eat fish on Friday, it's like that.

25:11

This has nothing to do with what the Bible teaches us. Right. Right.

25:16

So but the first day of the week is.

25:22

Is up, is up, is up, is a hinge in history. It's a turning point in history that changed everything as to how

25:32

God's people did things and breaking bread. They were breaking bread on on Sunday on the first day of the week, which was also called the

25:41

Lord's Day, the Kuriakei heregma in Greek. It's the Lord's Day and.

25:49

Breaking bread is means to fellowship like an axe to 42, where it says they were breaking bread and and fellowshipping and teaching.

25:58

They were they were teaching the doctrine of the apostles. So and this is, by the way, is when

26:06

Paul was speaking and teaching for so long that Eutychius falls over and died and then he was brought back to life.

26:16

Fascinating stuff there. So this is why we worship on Sundays, the first day of the week, not because it's the day of the sun, but because it's the day of the

26:28

Lord and the day when Christ was raised again, resurrected. Amen.

26:35

So this is very important. And there's a reason for it.

26:45

Obviously, there's a reason for all this. Now, we have the resurrection.

26:51

This brings us to the gospel, right? The resurrection and the gospel now, because how significant is the resurrection to the gospel and to our salvation?

27:04

Right. Because if we see it, like Pastor David read earlier, first Corinthians 15, we see that the resurrection is the sea, is a sine qua non of the gospel.

27:17

What do I mean by that? Well, sine qua non is a Latin phrase for that without which it cannot be.

27:25

So the resurrection is so fundamental to the gospel that without it, you don't have the gospel such that if you deny the resurrection, you deny the gospel.

27:35

Right. So let's turn back to first Corinthians 15 and explore this a little bit more.

27:42

Where Paul expounds a summary of the gospel message. So here in this passage, starting in the beginning of verse one, the apostle, the

28:02

God breathed apostle says, Now. I make note to you, brothers, the gospel, the gospel, which

28:10

I proclaim as good news to you, which you also receive, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which

28:19

I proclaim to you as good news, unless you believe for nothing. For I deliver to you as a first importance, primary importance, that what

28:33

I also receive, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to Kephas, then to the twelve.

28:49

Kephas was Peter. So this is a very important explanation of the basic propositions of the gospel, that it is a summary of Christ's life and death, his and resurrection, his work, his purpose and what he did on earth.

29:15

He God sent forth his son. According to this, the scriptures prophesying the

29:24

Messiah. Why so that he could fulfill the law that we could never satisfy because we are all guilty sinners and condemned in the eyes of God.

29:33

Right. Romans three. It's all over the Bible. We are guilty, guilty, guilty.

29:40

We deserve nothing but the wrath of God. Apart from what

29:45

Christ has done. Christ came to live a perfect life and satisfy the terms that were broken in the garden that Adam and Eve broke, that Adam primarily broke as a covenant head and Adam all die.

30:00

That is why all are condemned by the sin of the one in the garden like Romans teaches.

30:07

Right. But by the righteousness of the other, we can be saved in him.

30:14

That's why he came to satisfy the legal obligations of righteousness that we could not keep.

30:21

And that we were obligated to keep, but now are guilty of breaking in Adam and because of our own sin.

30:29

And so Christ came to fulfill that and not only to fulfill all righteousness, but also to satisfy the wrath of God on that tree on the cross and pay that punishment in full.

30:44

And that's why Jesus said it is done, finished. The work is satisfied.

30:56

Redemption is accomplished. And it is applied to us when we have faith, when

31:01

God gives us the gift of faith. And that is what we celebrate on Resurrection Sunday.

31:09

This reality. So the obvious answer then to the question of can you deny the resurrection and still be saved should be clear now.

31:25

Right. If you turn with me to verse 12 in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians again, later on in the chapter, we will see

31:34

Paul break this down further and argue very logically, very consistently as to what happens when you deny the resurrection.

31:47

God's word says now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead from the dead.

31:53

How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even

32:00

Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain.

32:06

Your faith is also vain. It's all worthless. It's all in vain. If there is no resurrection, moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we bore witness against God that he raised

32:20

Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even

32:25

Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, utterly worthless.

32:33

You are still in your sins. Then those who have also fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

32:42

If you have hoped, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

32:50

So this doctrine of the resurrection is of primary, primary importance.

32:58

And it is a key foundational part of the gospel.

33:07

It is foundational because this is a system of doctrine. This all has a process that needs to be fully drawn out and developed.

33:21

And that's why in part it is so important. But this brings us to the question that I raised earlier.

33:29

What happened to the disciples before and after Jesus died? Why didn't they believe in the resurrection of Christ at first?

33:38

And I had been wrestling with this for some years because I was trying to make sense of how is it that they're following Christ for those years and then he dies and suddenly everything goes out the window.

33:53

They don't believe that he's coming back. Let's turn to the gospel of Luke for some more insight into this question as well.

34:06

The gospel of Luke chapter 24, we'll start in verse 8. So the gospel of Luke chapter 24, verse 8,

34:32

God's word says, And they, who are they? The women who had come with him from Galilee, is who they are, remembered his words,

34:43

Christ's words, and when they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

34:50

Now when Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the rest of the women with them were there, they were telling these things to the apostles.

35:00

But these words appear to them as nonsense, and they were not believing them.

35:08

But Peter stood up and ran to the tomb and stooping to look in, he saw the linen wrappings only, and he went away by himself, marveling at what had happened.

35:18

So they couldn't grasp what the women were saying.

35:25

They thought it was nonsense, and they did not believe them. They couldn't believe what they had seen, that Christ had come back from the dead.

35:36

They had to see it to believe it. They had to see it to believe it.

35:41

Much like doubting Thomas, you know, we, a lot of, a lot of teaching,

35:47

Christian teaching, people will isolate doubting Thomas, like, hey, look, this guy was a doubter, you know, he was the one that was doubting this resurrection.

35:57

He says, like, unless I see it and I put my finger in the rib, what about the disciples? They all doubted.

36:04

All of them doubted that he was going to come back from the dead. So there's, we can't just isolate

36:16

Thomas for that. It's a very, and this is something that also illustrates the historicity of the gospels, because the gospels have nothing to hide.

36:27

They have nothing to hide. They're showing even the inner circle of Christ doubted and shows the frailty of their faith at that point, even the inner circle.

36:41

So even the women doubted, they thought he was dead. They thought, hey, they took his body somewhere, his corpse.

36:51

So Jesus explains what was wrong with them in the same chapter, verse 25 and Luke 24.

36:59

And he said to them that he was talking to the men on the way, on the road to Emmaus, to Cleopas and another guy.

37:10

Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe, slow of heart to believe, slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, all that they have spoken.

37:24

OK, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?

37:31

Necessary then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

37:40

And remember, remember how Christ confronts the Pharisees and deduces the resurrection from the tense of a verb, the tense of a single verb, because he quotes the

37:54

Old Testament saying, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

37:59

Not I was, I am the God of the present tense.

38:05

Because why? Because Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are alive in heaven and they will be raised to newness of life in the resurrection with a glorified body.

38:19

So Christ here helps us to understand what happened to the disciples.

38:26

They were slow of heart to believe. They eventually did, but they were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

38:34

So they believe some things, but not all things. They fail to understand and therefore did not believe the resurrection at that point in time.

38:45

So. Yes, it doesn't mean that it doesn't necessarily. This is where we have to be really careful.

38:52

It doesn't necessarily mean that they were not saved until after the resurrection, because they were doing all kinds of ministry and they were doing all kinds of work with Christ.

39:05

And so we have to properly make sense of this carefully, because what this often points to, and this can happen to us as well, this was a moment of sorrowful doubt, because hope deferred makes the heart sick, like Proverbs says, right?

39:24

That leads to depression and stuff like that. It's like, well, why do Christians suffer from depression if they have eternal life?

39:31

It happens, right? Christians can doubt. Even though they may still be saved, they can have severe sorrowful doubt, but nonetheless temporary doubt that gets resolved when they are not thinking straight.

39:52

They may not be thinking straight or clearly. So they still believe, just not fully.

40:00

They didn't fully grasp this. And that's why we have to understand this carefully.

40:07

This is very important that we make sense of in the Gospels, because the

40:12

Gospels make it a point. They make it a point to highlight this, not just this one, but these two

40:21

Gospels. It's showing the frailty of men, of even the inner circle of Christ himself.

40:31

So I hope that that makes some good sense now.

40:37

Back when I was a King James onlyist, and believed that the

40:46

King James Bible alone was the word of God, I was in all kinds of false movements.

40:57

That was just one of them. But I was still young and immature in the faith. But I learned a false teaching from a lot of these fundamentalists or these people that believe that this

41:13

King James onlyism, or sometimes dispensationalists as well, will teach this. But you'll sometimes hear that Christ did not finish his sacrifice until after he ascended to heaven.

41:26

And they will quote, in support of this, they will quote the Gospel of John 20, verse 16.

41:33

So if you turn with me there, I wanted to tackle this so that we are not misled by this misunderstanding.

41:46

And the Gospel of John 20, verse 16.

41:56

Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher.

42:04

Jesus said to her, Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them,

42:11

I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God. So some will say that, will wrongly say that.

42:21

That's why Jesus said, don't cling to me because I still have to finish that work of redemption and go up to the

42:31

Father and apply the sacrifice of my blood to the mercy seat in heaven, because Hebrews talks about a heavenly mercy seat.

42:39

Right. So and some will even go as far as to say that these modern translations are corrupt because in the

42:46

King James, it says, don't touch me. Touch me not because if they had touched Jesus, they would have corrupted his sacrifice.

42:53

So this gets really drawn out and it's just a mess. It's not that's not true. That is not true.

43:01

It means what it says here. Don't hold on to me because I still have to go to the

43:06

Father because I still have things to do. He had already finished the sacrifice. Going up to heaven was simply presenting that it was done.

43:15

Right. That's what Hebrews is explaining. That's why in Hebrews 10, Jesus sat down for the first time in history.

43:24

The priest sat down because it was finished already. So we have to be careful not to get not to be misled by these misunderstandings.

43:38

The sacrifice was done. He simply ascended because he had other things to take care of and do.

43:46

He his goal now is not to be on earth until he comes back. Now he sits at the right hand of the father interceding and waiting for his return, his final return.

43:59

Right. So there's there's a prophetic timeline here that Christ was still satisfying and fulfilling.

44:07

That's why. OK. And that's also very important to make proper sense of.

44:19

And so with all that said now, this brings us to a very important part of the resurrection.

44:31

And that is the power, the importance and the significance of the resurrection, including especially for us today as well.

44:40

We saw how the resurrection is is fundamental to the gospel.

44:47

It is definitional to the gospel. And we must also understand the resurrection in its proper theological context and to fully embrace what it means for us.

45:02

Right. Turn with me to Romans chapter four, verse twenty three. Need to clarify something else here.

45:18

Romans chapter four, verse twenty three. God's word says.

45:28

Now, 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

45:40

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

45:54

OK, so this passage is very important to understand something. Some translations don't quite clearly render this passage to what it really says or means.

46:09

And some, depending on the translation, some also say he was delivered over for our transgressions and raised for our justification, which can be misleading because similarly with the

46:24

LSB, on account of can mean two can mean different things. It could mean in order to or because of.

46:31

Right. So we have to understand that Christ was not raised in order to justify us.

46:41

Right. That's not why he was raised. He died to justify us. The resurrection was the proof that it happened.

46:49

That's what this is explaining. It was not in order to. It was because of our justification that he was raised.

46:58

That's why he was raised. So it more properly understood he was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification, because we were justified.

47:16

And so by his death, that's what we need to make sure we understand carefully there.

47:23

I like what Horatio Bonar says about this passage in his book, The Everlasting Righteousness.

47:30

His resurrection was not his justification, but the declaration that he was justified so that resurrection in which we are one with him does not justify us, but proclaims that we are justified, justified by his blood and death, like the

47:50

Bible also says. Right. So we have to make sure we don't confuse those things.

48:01

Now, many false teachers today also subtly and not so subtly deny the resurrection by preaching a false doctrine of final justification and final salvation.

48:14

And I just preached this last week, last few weeks in God's providence. It's so prevalent these days that people who claim to hold to the resurrection, they don't explicitly deny it.

48:28

They claim to hold to it. Men like John Piper and people who teach federal vision and things like that, they claim to hold to it, but they say on the judgment day, we are going to have to face

48:43

God on judgment day and present our good works to prove our entrance into heaven, to be allowed into heaven.

48:51

But what does 1 Thessalonians 4 .13 say?

48:57

If you turn with me there now, let's see what it says there. Because Christ's resurrection is in a very real sense our resurrection.

49:13

For if we died with him, we will also be raised with him. Now, 1

49:20

Thessalonians 4 .13 says, but we do not want you to be uninformed, ignorant, brothers, about those who are asleep or dead so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope.

49:33

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, who have died in Jesus.

49:43

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the

49:50

Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep, who have died.

49:56

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

50:07

Rise first in what? In bright, shiny, perfect, glorified bodies.

50:16

Take note of that, okay? Verse 17. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the

50:24

Lord in the air, and we shall always be with the Lord. Always from that point on.

50:30

Therefore comfort one another with these words. Amen. So this comfort that we have is because the very first thing that Christ will do when he comes back is to glorify and resurrect his saints with glorified resurrection bodies.

50:52

Before he does anything else, he is going to glorify us. And what does it say?

50:58

We shall always be with the Lord. And that is why we comfort one another with these words, because God knows how we doubt.

51:07

Even the apostles doubted Christ's words. We all can have moments of doubt, but God assures us that in the resurrection, we will know as truly as the bodies that we have where we're going.

51:27

That's our passport to heaven. That's our proof to heaven. Look at my body. I have a passport to heaven because I have a glorified body.

51:36

And those who are condemned will not have glorified bodies, and they will know where they're going. Even though Christ will still let them answer

51:44

Judgment Day, he will still let them make a case. But this comfort is destroyed when men falsely teach that you have to prove your good works on the final judgment as if believers had a judgment to face in the first place.

52:09

That's a denial of the resurrection as well. There is no judgment anymore.

52:14

That's why God is giving us glorified bodies. So very important that we understand this, beloved.

52:25

Very important, especially in light of all the false teaching and in light of the fact that this is a beautiful, blessed assurance that we have.

52:36

And what happened after Christ's death when the earth shook and the rocks were split and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

52:49

They were brought back from the dead and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, Christ's resurrection.

52:55

They went into the holy city and appeared to many. This is but a mere foretaste, a small little sample of what will happen when he comes back for the final time.

53:08

And because of those who witnessed the death and the temporary resurrection of the saints at that time, because they died again, they brought back to life, but they died again.

53:20

It wasn't the permanent resurrection with glorified bodies. How much more?

53:27

How much more earthshaking will the final resurrection and glorification of all believers be at Christ's return?

53:36

And note this. Note this. Well, the only people who will be looking to their good works as evidence of their faith at the last judgment are the self -deceived legalists in Matthew 7, 21 through 23.

53:53

Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons? Did we not do all these things in your name?

54:00

And what does Jesus tell them? Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. I never knew you.

54:07

Never. Why? Because they were trying to justify themselves with their works.

54:14

The exact opposite of what these men, these heretics, teach. We're not going to prove ourselves in the final judgment.

54:24

It's already been proven. These men, these legalists, would rather cover themselves with their own useless fig leaves and filthy rags of their own righteousnesses, just like Adam and Eve tried to do, cover themselves with fig leaves.

54:41

But God had to slay an animal and cover them with it, because blood had to be slain to have true forgiveness.

54:51

So they would rather do that than trust the blood and perfect righteousness of the

54:59

Lamb. That's the only thing that gets us in, by faith.

55:07

Everyone will know who belongs to God at the final judgment by the power of the resurrection.

55:14

And we can know now. Why do we read in Gospel of John chapter 20? These things

55:20

I have written to you so that you may believe and that you may have eternal life. He who believes in Christ will have eternal life.

55:28

And you can know that now. You can know that now. You don't have to wait till the resurrection.

55:36

That blessed assurance belongs to us now, by faith alone, in Christ alone.

55:43

And believing the resurrection is vitally important to that faith.

55:49

You have a false faith if you don't believe the resurrection. The resurrection, because denying the resurrection is a denial of God himself.

55:59

Because Christ himself said, I am the resurrection and the life. And I will raise those who believe in me from the dead.

56:10

Right? That is what Christ himself taught us. He who believes in me, though he may die, yet shall he live.

56:22

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Never die.

56:32

That is extremely important, beloved, to understand. And I want us to bear in mind very carefully this reality.

56:47

That after his resurrection, note what happened in John chapter 20. That Christ gave them the

56:53

Holy Spirit, breathed on them the Holy Spirit, and he commissioned them with apostolic ministry. Okay?

57:00

This is resurrection power and authority that we have from Christ.

57:07

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 18 through 20, also highlight this precious truth for us, if you turn with me there.

57:22

At the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, God's word says, And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying,

57:30

All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

57:39

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you. And behold,

57:45

I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So we have this precious promise we have from Christ.

57:53

His resurrection power and authority. We have it in Christ.

58:01

And we receive it by faith. That is the power that we have in Christ.

58:07

The power to break sin in our life. The power to live unto holiness and unto righteousness.

58:15

And to put sin to death. The power to perform the good works that God prepared for us beforehand by the infilling of His Spirit that we all have when we believe and are regenerated by.

58:32

We have resurrection because we are resurrected now. Those of us who have died to sin are now brought back to life.

58:41

We've been buried in baptism and are raised to newness of life. In the power of God's Spirit and Christ's resurrection authority and power.

58:53

His resurrection is our resurrection. We shall be like unto Him. Perfect and glorious.

59:06

So imagine those who mocked and cursed Christ. Imagine what they thought when they saw the risen

59:13

Lord. So don't be one of those people, beloved. Be sure to repent and believe the gospel and believe the resurrection.

59:22

Because it is part of the gospel. It is foundational to the gospel.

59:29

And the glorious resurrection of believers means that God will not judge us anymore.

59:36

The judgment has been satisfied by Christ on the cross. Truly, truly, I say to you.

59:42

He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

59:49

Now, right now, it does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death and into life, has been resurrected from death, from sin to newness of life.

01:00:09

To newness of life. And God's people said, Amen. Amen, beloved.

01:00:18

I hope this was a blessing to you as we celebrate. And now I hope you also appreciate now why for us and in our tradition as well, every

01:00:29

Lord's Day is a resurrection Sunday. Not just this day, but all days are resurrection

01:00:36

Sundays. And all the resurrection hymns that we sing are good to sing all the year long.

01:00:42

Because this is what the Lord's Day points to. The risen Lord. Every time we do this in his memory, we worship

01:00:50

God in his memory on these days, on the Lord's Day. Beloved, so let us bow our heads now with a word of prayer.

01:00:59

Our precious, heavenly, almighty God and Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for these amazing, precious truths and promises that you have blessed us with in your word,

01:01:09

Father, and by your spirit have applied to us on account of the gift of faith that you have given us,

01:01:16

Lord, as well. We thank you so much, Father, for the power, the gift, the power and the authority of your son's resurrection and the resurrection power that we have in turn, because he has given it to us,

01:01:30

Father God, and will give us glorious resurrected bodies as soon as he returns. Lord, we thank you so much for assuring us so much all throughout your word that we can have the assurance of this resurrection because we are living in the power of this resurrection authority today and now.

01:01:49

Those of us who believe and follow after you, Lord, your words, which are life and truth and eternal life as well.

01:02:00

Father, we thank you, Lord. We ask you to help us to meditate on these precious truths and as we continue to worship you this

01:02:13

Lord's Day and every Lord's Day in light of your resurrection, the resurrection of your precious son. In Jesus' name we pray.

01:02:19

Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the

01:02:30

Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

01:02:39

Christians who evangelize, stand firm in and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

01:02:45

If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church, sermons and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcast, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.