Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

He Is Risen

"No problem, mon!" Jesus is risen. It's good to see the kids and their involvement with real hearts for the Lord and a realization that He is risen. You remember the story, of course, how on that great morning they ran to the tomb. The angels were there, the stone was rolled away, and the angels said, "What are you doing seeking the living among the dead? He is not here, He is risen." Praise God!

This particular morning, there are going to be a lot of sermons from the apologetic perspective trying to argue with the Discovery Channel, trying to prove that Jesus is risen. You watch the Discovery Channel and the History Channel--I was looking at some of the events last night--with all of these great hypotheses like Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus and they had children. Some say that they were not married, but just having an affair. Others say about this great day that we celebrate, the resurrection morning, that Jesus really wasn't dead, but that He just swooned, passed out on the cross, they buried Him, and He woke up in the tomb and came out. Others talk about the "body snatchers" (the disciples) that came and rolled the stone away and stole the body. All you have to do is read the Bible, because God covered all of those arguments, didn't He?

It doesn't really matter what men have to say. Science--we're not going to get into that this morning--has always, along with archeological discoveries, come to find out the truth. Jesus said, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). All we have to do is look in this Book; all the answers are here. Jesus spoke in the Scriptures of His resurrection and then fulfilled it as the power of the Holy Spirit impregnated that rock and it was rolled away. The power of God surged into His body and He was raised. He was different, because old things, the Scriptures say, pass away. Corruption took on incorruption, and mortality took on immortality. When He appeared to the disciples and said, "Touch me," they were afraid. He said, "Touch me. Don't be afraid. I'm not some kind of spook. I'm flesh and bone." Notice He didn't say, "flesh and blood." The blood had already been removed and poured upon the altar of God. He was living by the Holy Spirit, but there was some kind of tangibility. We don't know exactly what the resurrection body is composed of, but we know it can be touched in this dimension. We know that it can be observed in this dimension and that it is eternal.

We know that Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God and that now He is there ever living, the Scripture says, to make intercession for us. Jesus is alive. He's praying for you this morning. Can you say "praise God" for that? The fact is to people like ourselves, every day is Easter. We're one of the few churches in which our Easter morning attendance doesn't change from our normal Sunday attendance. It doesn't change from our Sunday night attendance or from our Wednesday attendance. Every day is Easter here because Jesus is Lord of every day of our lives, not just one. Isn't it good to know this resurrection power on a personal basis?

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. We just want to talk a little bit about the power of the gospel. The gospel is the good news of Jesus becoming sin with our sin that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. We know that the unique thing about Christianity compared to all other religions is this: Buddha is dead, Mohammed is dead, but Jesus is alive. It makes things different. If Jesus is alive, then He's Lord. And if He's Lord, then guess what? We need to do what He says. We need to do it His way. We need to live our lives in absolute subordination to Him on a daily basis, or, as the Scripture says, "...ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are not our own. Jesus purchased us with His own blood, with His own righteousness.

Think about that for just a moment. Jesus purchased you with His righteousness. You were a sinner; you were a rebel to holiness; you were self-serving, self-loving, and self-reliant. You didn't have a heart for God, but He loved you and He sought you out. The Scripture says you did not seek Him, but He sought you and that you didn't find Him, but He found you. He laid down His righteousness to purchase us back to Himself. You are bought with His righteousness. He who knew no sin (He was perfectly holy) became sin with our sin. Think about all of the sins that you ever committed or ever will commit and see them placed upon the holy God. What would be more offensive to a holy God than sin? He willfully took yours to set you free this morning--not as some carnal, temporal judge that would pardon somebody and say, "You killed the guy, but I'm going to be merciful. I'm going to let you go." That is not mercy, that is injustice. The guy is guilty, an offense was committed, and the judge may have shown mercy to this guy, but what about the family that lost their loved one? That is injustice, but God is just. He didn't just forgive us, somebody had to pay. He chose to pay Himself.

Do you want to see a merciful judge? How many judges today will say, "I'm going to let you go, and I'll go to the chair for you"? That's different! You don't see that happening much today, do you? We need to continually remember as we talk about the resurrection, the justice, and the mercy of God--the gospel cannot be understood without the understanding of that basic theological premise that we've shared with you in the past--the fact that God, though He is infinite, holy, and triune in person, at the same time God's nature is one. Not one part of His attributes or His nature is ever in conflict with the others. We've shared it with you before. God is infinitely merciful, and His infinite mercy never conflicts with His infinite justice. The natural mind can't comprehend that, but that's how the Bible reveals Him. So we believe and we receive that.

God's judgment against sinners is an expression of His love, and His love requires His justice. With all of that, we find this great plan of redemption: He who knew no sin was made to be sin with our sin. He couldn't just say, "Okay, I forgive you." It would go against His justice. Somebody had to pay, and He paid. Don't ever take that as common. Don't ever just say, "Well, thank You, Jesus." Beloved, no one has ever loved you like that or ever will. The other side of this thing is we are now made righteous with His righteousness. Too many people today want to accept the forgiveness of judgment but don't want to accept the responsibility of living right, or righteously, subordinating their lives to His lordship. It's a package deal; you can't have one without the other. Jesus said it this way, "If you love Me, you'll keep my commandments. Don't say you love Me and continue to be the lord of your own life" (John 14:15).

The message that we are to take out to this world that we live in today is the message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, not a message that is so popular in our society today of how to build a better family. Do you want to know how to build a better family? Get born again. Do you want to know how to have better self-worth? Get born again and realize that you are accepted in the beloved. Once you realize that you are accepted in the beloved, you won't have to try to prove anything to yourself or anybody else anymore. You will be completely satisfied with His approval. So much of Christianity today is still focusing on man--man's image, man's warfare with sin and the vile world that he lives in. The solution is so easy: believe the gospel. The apostle said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). What are we supposed to tell folks when we go out into the highways and the byways? What do you tell your neighbors, "You need to come to church. Your family will be happier"? That's not what we're sharing. "If you come to church and you believe in Jesus, all of your financial pressures will go away." That's not the gospel. "Come and accept Jesus, and maybe your wife that deserted you will come home." That's not the message. "Maybe your kids will get off drugs." No, that's not the hope that we have.

We have become so temporal and earthly-minded that we have forgotten who we are, pilgrims passing through this life, destined and predestined for an eternal home. This life is a vapor, it's temporal. We're just passing through here. This message that we bring isn't a message of life. It's a message of death to self and the expectation of eternal life. Paul said it this way. Take a look at it in Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved if..." (verses 1-2a). I love these phrases that the Holy Spirit puts into this statement: "by which you are saved if." The gospel is full of ifs. You have to believe it, you have to receive it, and you have to practice it. Believing in God isn't mental assent. It's habitual obedience, and it is not obedience through our own natural strength. It is obedience to willful death to self and saying, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18) and "by grace I am saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is not of works. There are no works involved in salvation. Jesus did the work. We need to let Him continue to work through us, but we can do nothing to appease God, to satisfy God, or to come to God. He said, "Ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received [of the Lord Jesus Himself], how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures."

We're not going to take time this morning, but all through the Scripture, the prophets all prophesied of Jesus' coming and His sacrificial death. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed [made whole spiritually, psychologically, and physically]" (Isaiah 53:5). It was prophesied. Jesus came to die. There were no surprises if you knew the gospel. I like what Isaiah goes on to say in the fifty-third chapter, don't you? "Yet it pleased [God] to bruise him" (Isaiah 53:10). I believe that, but I can't comprehend it. In the triunity of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working as one), we never hear the Father saying, "Okay now, Jesus, You have to go down there and die for the people's sins," and Jesus saying, "I really don't want to, but if I have to..." No, the Son is equal to the Father. They have diversity of responsibilities and administrative revelation of themselves, but they are one. They are co-equal. The Son became flesh in the person of Jesus. Taking on flesh in the incarnation, "God was made flesh and dwelt among us," the Scripture says. When Jesus subordinated Himself and became flesh, subordinated Himself to the eternal plan of the triune God, to the determinant counsel of God, some interesting things began to happen. The Scripture says that when Jesus cried out "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" upon the cross, it pleased the Father to bruise Him. That blows my mind! Jesus was innocent, He was pure, He was perfect, and He was very God; and it pleased Father to endure that--because what happened to Jesus happened to Father--for me. I know who I am. I would have let me burn. He did it for me. He did it for you. How common has this become to us? How common has it become to our Christian theology? "Oh, Jesus died for our sins." Do you understand what's behind this, the price that was paid? The holy God had your sin put upon Him to free you, and you want to count it common and you still want to control your life? Then we need to embrace to a fuller extent that love that God has for us.

The Scripture predicted that He would die for our sin. When Jesus spoke it, it wasn't registering with the disciples. Do you remember when He said, "I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to have to go to Jerusalem, and I'm going to have to die, but I'm going to rise again"? They weren't hearing that. They were just like you and me today: they were caught up with what was going on around them at the moment. They were caught up with the miracles of the loaves and the fishes; they were caught up with the fact that Jesus the Messiah was there and as the Jewish people they would possibly be freed from Roman tyranny. They were looking at all of these things. "Life is better, God is healing, we're seeing the blind healed and the lame leap as harts. This is exciting! God's power and presence is here." Jesus said, "You guys don't get it. I'm going to die. I'm going to go away pretty soon." They didn't hear it. Do you know what else we're not hearing today? He said, "I'm coming back again." Do you know Jesus is coming back real soon and most Christians today aren't hearing it? They're living every day like they have forever. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52), "in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Luke 12:40), the Scripture says.

I was meditating this morning. Here it is Resurrection Sunday, and we're celebrating Easter. Easter is not just about Jesus coming out of the tomb; Easter is about Jesus coming back. The plan isn't over with Jesus rising. He said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). Let me encourage you this Easter morning. Not only is He risen, He is coming! Wouldn't it be great if He came back today, on Easter Sunday when people aren't expecting Him? They are expecting Easter egg hunts and chocolate bunnies, the churches are full of bonnets, we're singing songs of the Easter parade, and Jesus is building a holy church that He can receive to Himself. He's coming again.

This great message, Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. Look at verse 4, "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part [are alive today], but some are [dead]" (1 Corinthians 15:4-6). What is Paul saying when he makes that statement in verse 6, "Five hundred brethren at once saw Him. Some are dead, but most of them are still alive"? Do you know what Paul is saying? "If you don't believe me, then go ask them! They saw Him." It is established from Jewish antiquity, from the statement of God in the Scriptures, and we've brought it into our civil courts: "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15). In the civil, we have even taken less than that. Eyewitnesses have very great credibility--"I saw it." Here we have five hundred witnesses at one time. Most of western civilization, up until recently, had time distinguished by the resurrection of Jesus (B.C./A.D.). Now, it's "common era" (C.E.). What do we believe? "Well, I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again because that's what the Bible says." Paul goes on in this fifteenth chapter of Corinthians and says that if you believe that, you will know the power, that resurrection power, that will bring about obedience, righteous living, and a liberty to share what you have so freely received.

Paul says, "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me upon me was not in vain" (verse 10). Let me ask a question this morning. How much grace have we had bestowed upon us, and is our testimony that it is not in vain? "For everything that God did for me, and everything He has given me," (listen to what Paul says), "I laboured more abundantly than they all." Have we taken what has been so freely given to us and said, "You know what? I'm going to just burn out with this thing. I'm going to absolutely one hundred percent pour my life into the spreading of this gospel, into the living of this gospel, into the serving of the body of Christ"? We're a people that are trying to do that here. We're a church that to the best of our ability is trying to do that. Do you know what? We can do more. There is more to be done, there is more to learn. There's more. So as we celebrate this great resurrection celebration, let's be thankful and then let's purpose to do more.

How do we do more? By doing less, by ceasing from our own labors, not trying to do it in our own strength. So much of the church of Jesus Christ today is taken up with man's methods, mass mailings, rock concerts, and all of these things. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). We are not interested in adding people to our church. We are interested in getting people to heaven, seeing lives changed, people experiencing the reality of regeneration, becoming new creatures, old things passing away and all things becoming new, "the things that I used to love, I now hate." Because of that, we are never going to reach great masses. That is not what the masses want to hear. But in the end, we are going to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23). In the end, we are going to be able to say as the Master said, "Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none" (John 18:9). Oh, I'm not talking about not reaching out; I'm talking about reaching out with the right message. Our children handed out some cards the other day that talked about the resurrection of Jesus. I received another card in the mail from a church that said, "Come out to our service. We're going to give you popcorn. Don't worry, we're not going to preach the gospel to you and offend you. Come with a smile. We're a happy place!"

There is a soberness about this morning too, as much as it is a celebration: "That His grace was not bestowed upon me in vain. And so I labored more abundantly then they all." That would be something to boast in: "I did a better job than everybody else. I'm more committed." Paul is not saying that. That is the guy Paul used to be. Philippians says, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (Philippians 3:7).

A big portion of Christianity today believes that we are saved by works: it's how hard you work, what you do for God. No, it's what you let God do through you. Paul, as he is embracing that message here, said, "I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I [look] but the grace of God which was with me" (verse 10). What is grace? Unmerited favor. What a great weekend we've had as a fellowship. I don't know about you, but Friday night I was just so blessed. What a great time, celebrating with our young people and the accomplishments that they had. We're just so proud of what they've done in their activities. We are more proud of their character that was exhibited, the light that they were into that area. It was a great time of celebrating family. What a blessing.

As we came home, Greer made an interesting statement. She had those awards that we had given out. When we walked into the house, she put them up on the shelves. Down in our basement are just a bunch of different posters, trophies, and all that kind of stuff that wouldn't fit in the trophy case up here. So our basement is full of trophies and different things. In that section are some of the trophies that Greer brought with her. She made a comment that was just such a blessing. She put those things up there Friday night and said, "You know what? These two awards mean more than the MVPs and All-Americans, just to realize that somehow my life touched somebody with the gospel. These awards mean more than any of those other awards to me." What a blessing!

I have heard from some of the rest of you. These are the things that are eternal. They were recognized by men, and we just said, "Good job." We are to be followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises of God. There are those lives that are recognized among us, "honor to whom honor is due." I was so blessed by Nancy. Didn't Nancy do a great job in that? But you know what blessed me more than all that work that was done? I called Nancy up to thank her for all of the work. The work that Richard did, and Nancy, and Mary. I have to be careful, because you're going through here (that is the point I'm going to make) and there are going to be names that are not mentioned. But this blessed me. We just said, "Nancy, thank you." She said, "Oh, thank you!" Then she said--listen to this. This is the spirit of this fellowship, of you people that just blesses me. She said, "Oh, thank you, but what I did was just more visible. People were up there tying ribbons on all of the silverware, chairs had to be brought in and tablecloths. What I did was just more visible." It was more spectacular, no question. Those posters were more spectacular than that little ribbon you tied, those of you that tied those ribbons. "So take that!" That's not the spirit, is it? That's not how the body of Christ works. Every member does what it needs to do to get the job done. But the thing that blessed me was her saying, "Look, what I did was just more visible. Everybody was working hard up there and giving themselves." Praise God! That's the spirit of excellence. That's this resurrection power that is working in our lives. It is proof. It is the fruit of not living for ourselves anymore. We are living for the whole. We are living for the glory of God.

That is what Paul is saying. "It's by the grace that God has given me that I've done this. I'm not doing it for recognition. I'm not doing it in my own strength. I'm doing it because I have been changed. I'm a new person. This is who I am. This is what my life is committed to. I'm part of a whole." That's what the real power of the resurrection is: each one of us not living for ourselves but being willing to become a part of the whole, "members in particular," as Paul said, put in to make up one body. We don't all have the same gifts; we don't all have the same calling; but we all have the same value. That's what this resurrection power causes us to realize.

Paul goes on. We know what the context of Chapter 15 is. I'm going to end here in just a moment. We took a lot of extra time in worship and extra time with the children. We don't want your Easter eggs to get cold, so we'll be finishing here in just a second, but it is important to realize the context. Paul is dealing with an argument that says there is no resurrection. In his argument against that, he says, "Therefore whether it were I or [others], so we preach, and so ye believed. [I work diligently. It doesn't matter who gets the credit. It's just the fact that you have believed. But now you have begun to believe a lie, and I want to present this to you.] Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? [Just the general theory that there really is no resurrection, that life ceases at the grave and if it doesn't cease, it goes into just a nebulous spirit expression. He said, "How is it that some of you are propagating that if Christ has been raised from the dead?"] But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ...if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. [But I have some good news for you.] But now is Christ risen from the dead, and became the firstfruits of them that slept. [And the good news is this:] For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:11-21). He has become the firstfruits, and you and I, in like manner, are going to be raised and changed, and it could be today, praise God!

Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. As we come to celebrate Your great work, we stand in great confidence that the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, something that each of us will face, the cessation of this life, this existence as we know it. It's an enemy. It has been feared of man, but we have no fear now because of Your firstfruits testimony. "For as in Adam all die, even so in [Jesus] shall [we] all be made alive" (verse 22). That is our testimony, that is our hope. We rejoice in that the first man, Adam, was made a living soul, but the last Adam, a living spirit (verse 45). "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed...death, where is thy sting? O, grave, where is your victory? The [only] sting of death is sin" (verses 51 and 55). This morning, we need to thank God that He was made sin with our sin--there is no longer a sting there--that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 57).

Lord, we rejoice in that victory here this morning. Thanks be to God, not of ourselves. Thanks be to God. By grace we are saved. Thanks be to God. Jesus is coming back to redeem us! Thanks be to God. We recognize it finished. We recognize its value. Now our prayer this morning is, "Lord, that grace that was bestowed upon me, my testimony is that it is not in vain. You didn't waste it upon me, Jesus. I will labor more abundantly than they all. It's my heart's desire to glorify You for what I have so freely received." This morning, as we celebrate Your victory, let us realize the magnitude of Your love, the holy God made sin for me. "Amazing grace, I know it's true; it's my joy to honor You in all I do." Thank You for Your love, Father, in Jesus' name.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning and just delight ourselves in His love and His presence. As Gary plays for us, we will take just a moment. He is risen! He is interceding and He is coming again, praise God! The Comforter abides in us to empower us to obedience and service. What grace has been bestowed upon us! Don't let it be in vain, Lord. Don't let it be consumed upon self, but that we might live for You, we ask in Jesus' name. Let's sing it together and worship Him: "To God be the glory..." Oh, Jesus, we are so thankful that by Your grace we have received that eternal life. Now You call us friends and You call us sons. We call You "Abba, Father" because You so succinctly said as You hung on that cross, "It is finished." Praise God! It is finished. We are reconciled back to Father. Stop trying to earn it, stop trying to soothe your conscience. You are as perfect and righteous as you ever will be in the declaration of God. Oh, if you want to get theological in the imputing, that has been put to our account. Let me say it a different way. Father sees you perfect, complete, finished, sons eternally enjoying His presence. He sees that right now, He lives in eternity. We're just discovering it, so now rest in it. It's a fact, and that is why we celebrate Easter. Thank You, Jesus. Be glorified in our lives, we ask. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "He is risen!" Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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