The Resurrection

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make a noise? Now, I heard this as a child, and I thought that's a stupid question. I know, mom, there's no such thing as a stupid question. But when I heard that as a child, I thought this is nonsense. This is a meaningless question. As I've gotten older, I realize there's something about this question that is striking. Because it's capturing the two parts of truth. There's the objective truth, the tree falling, and then there's my receiving that truth. How does it affect me? When you ask, does the tree make a noise if no one's there to hear it, you're asking what happened and what does it mean to me? How does it affect me? If you look this morning, we're going to be looking at what happened. The most important event in all of history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. We're going to be looking and asking ourselves, what happened? Did Jesus physically rise from the grave? We're going to ask, what does this mean for us? You see, because if Jesus Christ physically rose from the grave, it says a lot about Him and about us. If Jesus Christ rose physically from the grave, that means everything He said was true. He's not just a teacher. He's not just a prophet. He's not just a wise sage. He's God Himself, Paul says in Romans 1. If Jesus Christ rose from the grave, that means He conquered sin and He conquered death. It says a lot about us in that we are sinners destined for death. Destined for wrath for our sin. If Jesus Christ rose from the grave, We persevere in our sufferings. If he did not rise, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, we are to be pitied because we're wasting our time right now. If he did not rise from the grave, it's done. The resurrection isn't a metaphor. The resurrection is a reality. It says a lot about Jesus Christ, who he is and what he has come to do. Our focus this morning is actually going to be not on the resurrection and what happened, but what the benefits are for us if we believe. What we're going to look at specifically this morning, or what does it mean for us if we believe that Jesus rose from the dead? What are the benefits that we gain? It's a consumer sermon. We're in America. What do we get out of the resurrection if we believe it? Let's look at Matthew 28, our account of the resurrection this morning. Now, after the Sabbath, for the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb and behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See! I have told you." So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell the disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings. And they came up and looked, took hold of his feet and worshiped him. And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me. While they were going, behold, some of the guards went into the city and told the chief priest all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, tell the people his disciples came by night and stole them away while we were sleeping. And if this come to the governor's ear, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted, and Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey, to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." What a great account for us to believe. What a great account for us to hear. As Sean already said this morning, we don't get to see the risen Christ with our physical eyes, but the Spirit can illuminate our hearts so that we can know He is risen and we can believe. This morning, I just want to walk through a few of the great many of the promises and the things we can learn about the resurrection. The first is, we can have assurance in God's power and purpose. The resurrection teaches us that we can have assurance in God's power and purpose. See, if we look at the resurrection, we see the gospel is a mystery. The gospel is a great mystery, but it's a mystery revealed. We can look throughout all the Old Testament and we can see all the promises. This great Savior, the great hero of all of Israel, He's going to be a prophet, a priest, and a king. How will one person fulfill all of these offices? He's going to be this majestic, powerful king figure. He's also going to be a suffering servant. All the promises throughout all the Old Testament, the disciples themselves, they did not see it. Even when they saw Jesus, some still doubted. They could not understand what God was doing, but in the resurrection, we see the mystery revealed. We have absolute assurance in God's purpose. As Peter says, all the saints of the Old Testament long to look at the day when Christ was revealed. And we get to look back on all those promises and we can follow them all. to the great fulfillment they have in Jesus Christ rising from the grave. We can see all those promises in one person. The Son of God, the Son of the Father, God Himself become flesh. We can see that God fulfilled all those promises in an amazing way. He fulfilled them. He Himself became our Savior, our Champion. Not only can we see God's great purpose fulfilled in the resurrection, we see His power. We see the great power of God. When someone asks me, what does it mean that God is omnipotent? Does that mean He can make a square circle? Well, no. He defined what a circle was, and He's not going to contradict what a circle is by making it a square. If you want to ask, what does it mean that God is omnipotent? First, we can say He created something out of nothing. That's power. We can't do that. God creates something out of nothing. That's how you know He has a great, mighty, divine power. But here, I think we can talk about God's omnipotence and the fact that He uses evil for good. He takes evil and suffering and pain and punishment and uses it for good. That is great power. See, there's no greater evil that has ever taken place on this earth than when Jesus Christ was nailed to that cross. That was evil. When the Romans and the Jews and the chief priests nailed Jesus Christ to the cross, that's the greatest evil this world has ever known. That is the greatest evil that's ever taken place. We can think of the genocides, the dictators, the mass murders, nothing. compares to the evil that took place in that day because it was the only time a perfectly innocent man died. It's the only day a perfect man who walked in absolute righteousness, a perfect man who walked completely according to God's will, died. And he died on behalf of all of us who do not walk according to God's will. More than that, we can see that God Himself died on that day. God died on that day. The Son of God incarnate experienced death. The Son of God experienced separation from the Father. The Son of God experienced all the wrath, all the separation that we're supposed to get. That is a horrible day. And God used all of that for good, because by Christ's suffering for us, and because of Christ's innocent life being put to death, because God Himself suffered death, we can have life. We can have hope. God died. There's another great philosopher that has promoted a God-died philosophy. It's Friedrich Nietzsche. He's one of my favorites, mainly because he knows exactly what he's thinking. He's just bold in his sin. He's bold in his rebellion against God. And he's the one who phrased God is death. He was the author of the Death of God movement in the 60s. And what he was saying there was not God literally passed away. It wasn't an ontological or metaphysical declaration that God had somehow passed away. What he was saying was, for us, God isn't important anymore. What he saw was in science over and over again, we kept making God a God of the gaps. We needed God to explain things. We needed God to help us. And what Nietzsche said was, no, you need to get rid of God. Because the sooner you quit thinking about God, the sooner you quit thinking about a judge, the sooner you quit thinking about the fear of death, the sooner you will live, the sooner you will become all you're meant to be as a human being. You will become a Superman or to be more genuine to Nietzsche, an Uberman. What a lie. What self-deception. See, he talked about the death of God metaphorically. See, I'm going to say that God died literally. God died literally so that you can become who you're supposed to be. God died literally so that you can be what you were created to be. God died literally so that sin and the enslavement it has over you will be crushed. God died so that you can have life and life abundantly. If we think God is keeping us back from something, you believe that lie. If you believe worshipping Him regularly, if you believe worshipping Him as your one true God with all your heart, with all your soul, keeps you from enjoying something, you're believing that lie. God's death, God's resurrection, it frees you to be who you're meant to be. Your Creator who knows you, who knows what will fulfill you, what knows will delight you, He is setting you free to enjoy that. Praise God for the resurrection, because in it we have assurance in God's power to use that evil, the cross, to give us life. And we can see His purpose is fulfilled. Secondly, the great benefit we have in the resurrection is that we are now brothers and sisters with Christ. Now, I never noticed this before I was studying this this week, and I've tried to verify this as much as I can, but in chapter 28, verse 10, it's the only place Jesus refers to his disciples as brothers. Well, he also does it in John. After the resurrection is the only time Jesus refers to them as brothers. He calls them brothers only after the resurrection. And one of the great doctrines that we know from Christ, from Paul's epistles especially, is that we are adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ. I believe here we can see the resurrection is the sign and seal for those adoption papers. It's not until the resurrection happens that we get to have the new life as sons and daughters of God, as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. John makes it even more explicit in chapter 20, 17. After he calls them brothers, he says, I am going to my father and your father. My God and your God. You see, we're not just creatures if we believe in Jesus Christ and His resurrection. We're not just going to heaven. We're not just forgiven. We're given a new status. A new identity. A new position in God's family. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son. He is the unique Son. The one of a kind Son. The only Son who has all the rights and privileges inherently in Himself. And on the death, on His death and His resurrection, He bestows to us who believe the privileges the benefits of being a son. We get those benefits of eternal life. We get those benefits of abundant life. We get those benefits of enjoying a close, intimate relationship with a father. We get the benefits of an absolute love. Christ says, I will be with you always. As your big brother. That's a great protection policy. That's a comforting promise that our big brother gives us who has all authority watching over us. One of the things we learn from the resurrection is that we are brothers and sisters now in Christ, we get a new standing before God. Third, in the resurrection, we share in his victory over the grave. He is risen to eternal life. And we now get to have eternal life with Him and in Him. This is big. No more fear and death. No more fear and death. The champion prophesied in Isaiah has come and He's conquered death. He has squashed it. He has destroyed it. And we now get to march under His banner boldly to death. Now, this is counterintuitive. We're afraid of death. Death is a scary thing to look at. But if we truly believe in the resurrection, that natural fear should be destroyed. If we truly believe in the resurrection, we look at the Son, we look at Him on the right hand of the Father, we know that we have absolute true hope. No more fear and death. We stand firm, as Paul says in Philippians 4, in the resurrection. March boldly to the grave. March boldly to the grave with absolute assurance that Jesus Christ has gone before you and destroyed its power. Dr. Fowler, the older gentleman from Liberty who spoke in my installation, I learned a lot of things from him. He was one of the most important men in terms of my discipleship. And probably the most encouraging thing I ever heard or learned from him was we had dinner at his house just a couple of years ago, and he's had kidney failure. And I said, how is it going? God will take me when he wants. I said, really? That's what you have to say about that? Yeah. I believe in the resurrection. What's the big deal? And I think it was the first time I ever heard anybody talk about death like that. It wasn't slipping as if it's really just no big deal, but it was so much confidence in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that if he died, it's all game. There was so much confidence in his voice. There was so much confidence in his faith. that Christ had gone before Him. I was taken back. I was challenged because I don't have that kind of faith. Friends, we need to look at death, no matter how close we are to it in our age or in our health. And we need to look at death and we need to always view it in light of the resurrection. It has been conquered. And friends, let me tell you, as a young believer, I want to watch you die well. I want to witness you dying well. I want to witness you looking at the grave and not being flippant about it, but looking at it and seeing its pain. Seeing that it has no power. Seeing that it has no victory. I want you to show us how to live without any fear of death. Now, many of us have lost those we love, and as Paul says in Thessalonians, we do not mourn like those who do not have hope. We all know that death does hurt. We all know that death is difficult. We lose our loved ones. And there's that difficulty. We're supposed to be rejoicing if they're a believer because they're going to be in a better place. But there's the difficulty of who they were to us and how we move on if they're a dear relative or friend. We need to keep those two things in balance. Miss them. Thank God for their life. Thank God for the days and the years you were able to spend with them. And thank God for the resurrection that gives you hope that they are alive if they were believers. See death as an absolute perversion and corruption of all that's good. See death as defeated for all who believe. Find your hope and your peace in Christ, the risen Savior. Fourth, the resurrection We see the promise that we will get to see God face to face. We will get to see God in a close, intimate way. We will get to have a relationship with the Father because we are now sons and daughters in Christ. You see, at the resurrection, when the disciples had heard about it, they wanted to see Jesus. These ladies, they ran to the tomb because they wanted to see their Lord, even to care for Him, to see Him dead. They still wanted to be there with Him. When He was risen, all they wanted to do was see Him, bow down and worship Him. We should long for the same thing. We should long to see our God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit face to face. Now, this face to face language is extremely important because in the Old Testament, no one got to see God's face. No one got to see God face to face. Moses, the great prophet, he can only look at his hind parts for a little while. He can only see a shadow or a glimpse of God's glory. Friends, in the resurrection, when Christ returns, we will see God in all of his glory, all of his holiness, all of his beauty and all of his love for all of eternity. That's a great hope that we have in the resurrection. We will get to experience an intimate relationship, a deep, personal, loving relationship with God, face to face, eating at His table for all of eternity. Praise God for the resurrection and the hope that it gives us in renewing our relationship completely and perfectly in Jesus. Fifth, in the resurrection, we have freedom from sin's power and guilt. In the resurrection, we have freedom from sin's power and guilt. The resurrection is our evidence that Jesus Christ conquered sin. The resurrection is our proof That Jesus Christ died and he accomplished what he came to accomplish, and that was destroying guilt, destroying sin, destroying our offense so we're no longer offensive to God. You see, sin enslaves us. It enslaves us to its power, and we cannot undo that power on our own strength. Sin enslaves us with the guilt we get from sin. Sin enslaves us because we get tangled up in sin. The more we sin, the more we desire sin. The more we desire sin, the more we're going to sin. We're in a constant cycle of sinners. Entangled. Enslaved. You're not expected to get unentangled in this life. but strive to be set free. You see, our sin is like a big ball of Christmas lights, like National Lampoon's ball of Christmas lights, if you know what I'm talking about. A Griswold kind of Christmas light ball, where the more you untangle it, the more you realize there's just more knots. It's an infinite circle, an infinite ball of just knots. That's what our sin is like. And the more we get one undone, that we start pulling a string, the more we realize there's just more knots after that. Our sin goes deep. We can start working on those outward appearances, we can start working on those external sins, but the more we fight with that entangled ball of sin that is our hearts, the more those knots get harder to get out. The deeper and longer those knots seem to be, the deeper and longer that string of sin seems to be. That is not to give you hesitation in fighting. See, Christ has actually given you the power to start untying those knots. Christ has given you that power so that you cannot be enslaved to those knots. Christ has given you the power in His resurrection to fight sin. The same power that rose Christ from the dead lives within you. God Himself, who rose Christ from the dead, He lives inside of you in the Holy Spirit. And He is illuminating those knots so that you can untie them and repent. He's illuminating those knots so that you no longer feel guilt. So you're no longer enslaved. Friends, the more we untie those knots, the more freedom we can enjoy in Christ and not be bound to the slavery of sin. If we want to live in the Gospel, if we want to live out the Gospel, we have to stop enjoying sin. Sin's enjoyable. Sin is good to the taste. Sin is good to the eye. If we want to start living the gospel, we've got to stop enjoying those sins. We cannot let sin linger. We have to hate it. That's counterintuitive. We have to hate it. Because we have to see it for what it is, and that is offensive to God. We have to see it for what it is, and it is what put Christ on that cross. We have to see it for what it is, and it's what brings God's wrath upon us apart from Christ. We must grow in our love for our Savior. It's a choice you have to make every minute of every day. Are you going to delight in the Savior? Are you going to delight in sin? And every time you choose to delight in sin, you're adding knots. Every time you choose to live in sin, every time you are tempted, you have to wrestle your affections into submission. Because when you choose that sin, you're adding a knot to the ball. But when you choose Christ, you're unwinding that ball and you're enjoying the freedom. It's a wrestling match and it's not easy, but it's what we're called to. The hope that we have is that all authority belongs to Christ. All authority, this passage says, has been given to Christ. That means authority over you, your vocation, your entertainment, your family, your education, what you do in your free time. All authority, every part of your life belongs to Christ if you're one of His believers. He has authority to tell you how to live, and that authority to tell you how to live is for your good. And as he tells you how to live, he also gives us the power to live according to his resurrection, to live in his resurrection. Finally, or not finally, number six. In the resurrection, we have a new purpose and a new mission. We see here the great commission. Go and make disciples, baptizing them, teaching them. We have a new mission. We are no longer living just for ourselves. We're no longer living just for the day to day enjoyment. We're living for God. We get a new purpose. And really, if you think about this, this is astonishing. Not only did he save you from your sin, he then incorporates you to help save others. He doesn't just let you receive the gift, he then gets you in the battle to help others receive it. It's overwhelming that he uses us who are such failures that he has to come save us. Then he empowers us and enlists us in his army to go out and do his work. We can do the work of God. We are called to go and do the work of God. What an amazing purpose and mission. What's really interesting with this is whenever we're going out as God's army, as God's children, as God's troops, we're not going to go conquer others. We're going to give them life. We're no longer living for our glory, wanting to conquer others. We're living for His glory, seeking to love others. What we have been given, friends, is the most powerful weapon the world has ever known. What we have been given as the church, what we have in the gospel is the most powerful weapon the world has ever known, and it's not a weapon that destroys. It's not a weapon that kills. It's a weapon that gives life. It's a weapon that gives joy and rest and peace. It's a weapon that God has given us in the gospel that if we tell it to other people, they will be free from their sin and receive eternal life. We have the greatest weapon, we can change the world. Do we keep our mouths closed? Do we desire our own enjoyment rather than sending others out to proclaim that good news? He has all the authority and he has given it to us to proclaim him. We have a new purpose and a new mission is to do the work of God. He's empowered us to do that mission by giving us the greatest weapon the world has ever known. Finally, I really only had six to begin with and I thought I've got to have seven. And so, the seventh thing we learn from the resurrection is that we can have rest in the resurrection. We can have rest in the resurrection. I love a day that I have a long list of to-do's. I love a day when there's a big project. I love going out and I love knocking out my list of to-do's. You may not know this about me, but my self-righteousness is so bad that I put things on my list of to-do's that I've already done so I can check them off. I love it. I love checking things off. It makes me feel good. I love having a long list of to do's. I love having a big project because at the end of the day, if you actually accomplish it, you get to rest. Your shoulders, they feel better, don't they? You get to smile. You get to look out and say, look what we did. Look what I did. I did it. I finished it. The rest we get to have in the resurrection is like that feeling. The only difference is He didn't do anything. Christ did it all. The rest we get in the resurrection is when we look at what Christ has done, and we have that same feeling, my sin is no longer a burden. My offensiveness to God is no longer a burden. My fear of death is no longer a burden. When I see Christ, when I look at what He's done, when I see the hope that I have, I get that rest. I get that peace. Because He has said, it is finished. I did nothing. But look at what He did. I do nothing but see His victory and believe. I do nothing but see His love and respond by hating my sin and loving Him. I do nothing but see His power and entrust my life to Him. What sweet rest that is. Because it's God Almighty in His power who does the work. It's God Almighty in His power that does the most important work I need. And that gives me more rest than finishing any to-do list can ever do. Praise God for His rest that we have in His resurrection. As we close, if the tree fell on the forest and it made a noise, that really doesn't matter. If Christ rose from the grave, that matters. It's the most important event in history because if you rose from the grave and you don't believe in Him, your sins are still against you. God's wrath is still poured out upon your sin. If Christ rose from the grave, everything He said and taught and did was true. And friend, you need to wrestle with that. You need to wrestle with the depth of your sin and how offensive it is to God. And you must see that it's only in Christ and His death and His resurrection that you have any hope. We have such sweet blessings, Christians. We have such great benefits. We have such great rewards for our faith in Christ. We get to see His power. We get to be adopted. We get to have a new identity. We get to be part of a new mission. We get to rest. Friends, if you want to enjoy these things, you've got to start thinking about them. You have to put your mind above. You have to start meditating upon the things above where Christ is risen. Let's pray. Lord, there are so many things we receive in Your resurrected life. There are so many things we get from You for doing nothing but sinning against You. There are so many things we get by just believing in what You've done. Pray that your spirit would move and remind us of all those other things I've even begun to mention that you've done for us. Give us hearts that truly love your resurrected life. Give us hearts that desire to experience that resurrection, even if it's in the midst of suffering, especially in the midst of suffering, especially before the face of death. Lord, help us to know you and your resurrected life. In your name we pray, Amen.