Well, you could turn with me and your Bibles to the book of Romans, Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four, I'll read the last few verses and then our focus will be on verse 25, but just to give you sort of an outline as to what's going on in this portion of the book of Romans. So beginning in chapter three at verse 21, continuing to chapter four, verse 25 is Paul's treatment of justification by faith alone, specifically the righteousness of God and justification in chapter three, verses 21 to 26, and then that, emphasis on justification by faith only or alone in verses 27 to 31. He then confirms this in chapter 4 by a reference to Abraham in verses 1 to 4 and then David in verses 5 to 8, showing that this is not a new thing.

God has always saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And then from chapter 4 at verse 9 to the section that we're going to consider, there's an extended treatment concerning Abraham, specifically the place of circumcision and justification by faith alone in verses 9 to 12, the place of faith, promise, and law in verses 13 to 22, and then the benefit for the new covenant believer. And I'll read that section in verses 23 to 25, and then we'll pray. So beginning in Romans 4, verse 23, now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us.

It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful day.

We thank you for the day that you have made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. We thank you for our Savior King, that blessed one who lived for us, who died for us, and wonderfully was raised for us, and now is enthroned at the right hand of God. for us. We thank you that He is building His church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

We pray for the blessing of God upon the proclamation of the truth that more would be added to the church through the power of the Holy Spirit calling them effectually unto the Lord Jesus. We pray for the edification and growth of your body. We pray that the people of God would have the mind of Christ, that we would be mature, that we would be one new man, that we would glorify and honor you in this present evil age. Even now, God, forgive us for all of our sins, cleanse us in the blood of the Lamb, and may you fill us with your Holy Spirit.

We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

Well, this morning when our brother was preaching from 1 Corinthians 15, I remembered something that J. Gressom Machen had rightly pointed out. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 3, we read that Christ died for us. And as Machen says, Christ died is history.

The for us is doctrine. And our passage does something similar. Notice specifically in verse 25, you have the fact of the death of our Lord Jesus, the history, and then you have the rationale or the doctrine or the theology of it. So in verse 25, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and then the same thing in the latter part of the verse was raised, that's history, but why was he raised?

Because of our justification. So who was delivered up is history, because of our offenses is doctrine, and was raised is history, and because of our justification is doctrine. And essentially what we have here, as Paul describes the doctrine of justification by faith alone, having pointed to Abraham, having pointed to David, and then returning to Abraham in an extended way, notice again in verse 23, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to us, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

So essentially in verse 24, Paul says, we believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. And then in verse 25, he explains why he was dead. why this holy, harmless, and undefiled one would actually be executed. Why was Christ dead? Well, it was because of our offenses, and he was raised then for our justification.

Redemptive Purpose of Christ's Death

So we'll look first at the first part of the verse, the redemptive purpose of the death of Christ, and then secondly, the latter portion of the verse, the redemptive purpose of the resurrection of Christ. A very simple sermon, and hopefully nothing new. We cover this material a lot. Again, I'll remind you what Luther said, I preach justification by faith alone every Sunday because my people forget it by every Sunday.

So with reference to the reason for his death, notice, in the first place, the death of Christ was not primarily an example. I think I've tried to show that in Philippians 2, verses 5 to 11, where it really is an example. Also in 1 Peter 2, we see Paul, or Peter there, setting forth Christ as an example to the people of God. But the accent falls in the New Testament on the death of Jesus Christ as a satisfaction of divine justice.

The accent falls upon substitutionary curse bearing. The accent falls upon atonement. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And we see that emphasized here.

He wasn't delivered up because we needed an example. He wasn't raised so that we will love each other better and more so. No, the specific emphasis here, and we would expect this in an argument that is focused upon justification by faith alone, is on the atoning work of the Savior King. So the death of Christ was substitutionary atonement.

It was typified in the Old Testament, prophesied in the Old Testament, and then brought to fruition in the coming of the Son of Man. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He is, in fact, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, if we look specifically at our text, who was delivered up because of our offenses, we're going to work a little backwards in this section.

The Offenses That Required a Substitute

What is the offenses, or what are the offenses that are in view here? It is not sin in general in some sort of vague, notional sense, but rather it is the sins of his people. In the book of Hebrews, in chapter 2 at verse 17, we read, Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren. that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Again, not vague, notional ideas of sin out there in the abstract, but the sorts of sins that you and I commit. the sorts of transgressions against God's law that Paul has already detailed in Romans 1, beginning in verse 18. All you have to do is run through that list to see the sorts of offenses that Paul has in mind here.

He was delivered up because of our offenses, the kinds of lawlessness that the Gentiles engage in, that transgression of God's holy law, the Decalogue, And then he turns his attention to the Jew in chapter 2, and he says, even though they have the oracles of God, even though they have been the recipients of special revelation, they nevertheless are guilty. They nevertheless have transgressed that law. And then Paul summarizes the argument in chapter 3. Notice in verse 9.

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside.

They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit.

The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And then he brings that relief, he brings that doctrine, he brings that truth of justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. In fact, turn back to Romans 1, specifically at verse 18, where he starts this indictment of all men everywhere, whether Jew or Gentile, for having committed transgression against God.

So in 118, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. And then he hammers down, as I said, to the heathen and then to the Jew. But in 321, after summarizing the universal condemnation and liability of all men to a holy God because of their transgression, he uses that same phraseology, but now. So you've got the wrath of God is revealed, and then in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.

And thus he begins his exposition of justification by faith alone. So when we look at our text, who was delivered up because of our offenses, our transgression of law, our idolatry, our blasphemy, our Sabbath breaking, our insubordination, our murder, our adultery, our theft, and our lies, and our covetousness, our lack of conformity unto God's law, and our positive transgression of it. And so with reference to the offenses, we see that God is angry with the wicked every day. And we see how at the cross, that is one of the things going on.

If you look again at 321, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. And here I take righteousness, not as that perfection of God, his rightness or his justice, but that righteousness that God demands, but God graciously supplies in the gospel of our salvation. Paul speaks to this in Philippians 3.9, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that righteousness which comes from God, which is through faith in Jesus Christ. So he says, this is witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. for there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness.

So it's God's wrath, God's fury, God's righteousness in terms of perfection, God's justice is satisfied by Christ on the cross. So this is what we see how God treats offenses. He was pleased to deliver up his own son for us so that he could deal with the sin problem. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So, the description of our offenses, our sin, our guilt, our vileness, our helplessness, our rebellion against the majesty of God Almighty. But then notice, in the first part, who was delivered up. because of our offenses. We learn from this that God's justice demands that we be delivered up to hell for our sins and transgressions against him, unless a substitute takes our place, unless the penalty is satisfied, unless divine justice is dealt with. And that is precisely the reason we find that Christ was delivered up because of our offenses.

God's grace provided satisfaction for our sins through the substitutionary crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ. And from this, we conclude that God's provision in the gospel is His only begotten Son, that one who assumed our humanity, that one who lived for us, who died for us, and was raised again for us, that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It couldn't just be a man. It was the divine Son who assumes to Himself our humanity in order to fulfill what the Father had laid upon Him.

Stephen Charnock makes this observation. He says, as man, he was fit to undergo the sharpness of the curse, and as God, able to remove it. As man, he was capable to obey both the moral and mediatorial law, and as God, to transmit the fruit of that obedience to us. Praise God for that blessed reality.

Praise God that Christ was delivered up because of our offenses. And before we move on, we ought to notice the divine initiative.

The Divine Initiative in the Delivering Up

He was delivered up. It's a theological passive. That means that something happened to him. He was delivered up.

And if I were to ask you, who is guilty with reference to the murder of the Lord Jesus Christ? There'd be a lot of contenders for that particular position. Well, the Romans, they were culpable. Well, the Jews, they cried, away with him, away with him, crucify him.

I'm not minimizing or mitigating their human responsibility. God doesn't. You crucified by lawless hands, Peter says in Acts 2, but he says it was according to the predetermined plan of God Almighty. The accent or the focus or the emphasis here on the delivering up because of our offenses is on the Father.

Again, look back at 325, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. So the instrumentality of the Jewish leaders and Judas Iscariot and the Romans, but the purpose and plan of God Most High was the overarching situation. As Winslow says, who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas for money, not Pilate for fear, not the Jews for envy, but the father for love.

So that's where Paul is bringing this particular argument. If you look at chapter eight, specifically at verse 32, you see a similar emphasis. And again, this is not a few one-offs. You've got it in the prophet Isaiah.

The Lord was pleased to bruise him or to crush him, putting him to grief. Notice in 8.32, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So it was the father, God so loved the world that he gave, not only in the incarnation, but in the passion as well. He delivered up his son.

He delivered up the Lord Jesus because of our offenses. In other words, It's either Jesus is our substitute, Jesus is our wrath bearer, Jesus bears the curse of the broken law, or we do. There's no other option, there's no other alternative. If you're not a believer tonight, I want to encourage you to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why? Because he was delivered up for our offenses. But then the text goes on.

Redemptive Purpose of the Resurrection

Notice then, secondly, the redemptive purpose of the resurrection of Christ. He was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. Again, the fact of the resurrection, the history. Brethren, we can't have good doctrine without real history.

We can't just say, well, it doesn't really matter if these things took place. It really doesn't matter if there was a historical Jesus. It doesn't really matter if there was a crucifixion. It really doesn't matter if there was a resurrection.

What really matters is what those stories promote or produce in us. And if you're thinking, well, nobody ever does this. There's some very popular people right now doing podcasts and doing this very thing. In fact, Christianity Today just wrote an article that the Bible nowhere says that Jesus was nailed to the cross.

Christianity today? I would expect that from paganism today, but not from Christianity today. That is a complete rejection of the sacred text. So don't think it's an odd sort of, you know, he's just picking on a straw man.

It doesn't matter about the history. It only matters what the story promotes or produces in the heart of the people. No, brethren, without that history, we don't have the doctrine. Without the reality of the last Adam doing what Paul says he does in Romans chapter 5, if we don't have that, we don't have salvation.

And so as we move through the message tonight, we're going to end, and I'm going to basically rehearse the history. And I'm not going to do that in a great bit of detail. I've done it before. I think it's good to keep it before us. in terms of the gospel narratives and what it says concerning the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

So the one delivered up because of our offenses was raised for our justification. Remember the language of the angel at the tomb. He is risen. You're not going to find him here.

Again, the passive verb indicates that the Father raised Jesus from the dead. You see something similar in Romans 1-4, which we'll look at in just a moment, but this does not mean that the Son was uninvolved. In other passages, Christ speaks of His power involved in the resurrection. You've got to remember inseparable operations, everything external to God, in terms of ad extra, those things outside of God.

God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do that. But with reference to appropriations, we have it appropriated here specifically to the Father in terms of resurrection. Turretin says, although the resurrection of Christ is often ascribed to the Father, it does not follow that it cannot be ascribed to the Son, because whatever the Father does, the Son in like manner does. And as the resurrection is an outward work, it ought to be undivided to the whole Trinity.

So inseparable operations to be sure, but it's predicated the Father on many instances. And as we consider this was raised because of our justification, Cam read this morning, Pastor Cam read this morning 1 Corinthians 15, 17. What does Paul say there in 1 Corinthians 15, 17? And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins.

So it's not just, well, we can kind of have this and we can kind of... No, it's a package deal, brethren. Life, death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation, current session at the right hand of God Most High. It's all prophesied in the Old Testament, brought to fruition in the New Testament, and absolutely essential for the Christian church to confess, to hold to, to fight for, and to do so with great zeal and with great vigor and earnestness.

This is the faith, once for all, delivered to the saints, the faith that we must contend earnestly for. And with reference to the result of the resurrection, notice, He was raised because of our justification, or He was raised for our justification. Typically, we don't connect the doctrine of justification with resurrection. I hope to show why Paul does that in a moment, but it's perfectly acceptable and it's perfectly appropriate.

What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. So the apostle hinges this great doctrine of justification by faith alone on the resurrection, which necessarily involves the death that brought it to the point where there would need to be a resurrection. Again, it's a package deal.

You don't have one without the other. Well, I really like the resurrection story, but I'm not too into that passion thing. I really like the sorrow and death of Jesus. I hope no one has said ever, but that resurrection thing, that's not quite for me.

No, Paul puts these things together for a specific reason, historical link between the crucifixion and the resurrection. We started worship this morning on Psalm 16. That is a prophecy concerning the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter tells us as much, the apostle Paul tells us as much.

It wasn't David that David was writing about in terms of resurrection and his soul not being abandoned and she'll, it was Jesus. We've got that reference again that Pastor Cam pointed to, the sign of the prophet Jonah in Matthew chapter 12. Jesus says that was typical. That was forward-looking.

The fact that he spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish and then came out or was vomited on the land. So must the Son of Man spend that time in the earth and then be raised from the dead. I believe resurrection is assumed by Psalm 110.1. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

When we see that passage applied in the New Testament, it's always at the exaltation, which follows the resurrection, which necessarily follows the death or crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think Daniel chapter nine as well indicates a resurrection of our blessed Savior. And so the doctrine of justification by faith alone, typically linked to the death, necessarily involves and includes the resurrection. You don't have the death of Christ without the resurrection of Christ.

You don't have the resurrection of Christ without the death of Christ. And subsequent, you've got ascension, you've got exaltation, and you've got current session. The resurrection is the necessary follow-up to the crucifixion. They're inseparable.

Hodge says the resurrection of Christ as an historical fact, established by the most satisfactory evidence, authenticates the whole gospel. As surely as Christ has risen, so surely shall believers be saved, as verse 25 specifies. He was delivered up because of our offenses, and he was raised for our justification.

Four Links: Resurrection and Justification

Now in terms of the connection between resurrection and justification, I'm sure there's a lot of things that people could add here. I'm sure there's a lot of things that hopefully will be provoked in your own thoughts, but I just want to offer up four things. The resurrection between, rather, connection between resurrection and justification.

Resurrection Declares Christ Son of God

First, the resurrection testified that Christ is the Son of God with power. You can turn to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. We ask the question, why does he link justification with resurrection?

Here's an attempt at an answer. Notice in 1.3 concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. This did not constitute him or make him the Son of God, it declared rather that He was in fact the Son of God, and that with power. We are to believe, according to verse 24 in Romans 4, that Jesus is our Lord.

In other words, the resurrection underscores the truth that the second person of the triune God assumed our humanity. He functioned as covenant mediator, the surety of a better covenant. He is the one, the Davidic Messiah. He is the one sent by God on that mission from God to redeem his people from their sins.

Calvin says, the cross of Christ only triumphs in the breast of believers over the devil in the flesh, sin and sinners when their eyes are directed to the power of his resurrection. Again, brethren, martyrs have died in the history of the world. People die for other people in the history of the world. And that's nice.

At some level, sentimentally, that's a really good story. Perhaps you like reading military lore, and you read military stories in history, and you hear about a guy, and he dives on a grenade, and he spares the lives of all his people. That is good. I'm not suggesting it isn't.

I'm not necessarily suggesting go find a grenade tonight and do that, but that is a good and noble thing. There's no redemptive power in it. Not so with Christ. He was delivered up because of our offenses and He was raised for our justification.

I think Calvin is bang on here. When their eyes are directed to the power of His resurrection.

Resurrection Testifies Sacrifice Accepted

Secondly, the resurrection testified that Christ's sacrifice was accepted. It testified that Christ's sacrifice was accepted. Listen to Gill. He says, Christ's resurrection did not procure the justification of his people.

That was done by his obedience and death, but was for the testification of it. Our brother used that word this morning. I thought, that's great. He kind of paved the way for John Gill.

But was for the testification of it that It might fully appear that sin was atoned for and an everlasting righteousness was brought in, and for the application of it, or that Christ might live and see his righteousness imputed and applied to all those for whom he had wrought it out. Or in a more modern theologian, Bavink says the resurrection is, quote, a divine endorsement of his mediatorial work, a declaration of the power and value of his death, the amen of the father upon the it is finished of the son. That's gold. That's one of the reasons why we see Paul here say, raised because of our justification.

Resurrection Confirms Satisfaction Rendered

I would suggest thirdly, that the resurrection testified that satisfaction was rendered. Again, that bit in 321-26. He set him forth as a propitiation through his blood. Why?

To demonstrate his righteousness. And then specifically, in verse 26 at the end, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The cross didn't compromise divine justice. The cross upheld divine justice.

The cross wasn't just a vehicle to pour out God's love without any respect to God's law. No, it's at the cross that those things are upheld together. It's not just mercy, but it's justice. These things kiss, these things are are our friends at the cross of our blessed Savior.

The law was honored and magnified such that God might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Look at verse 5 in Romans 4. But to him who does not work but believes on him, notice, who justifies the ungodly, He justifies the ungodly. How could God do that?

Because Christ was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification. His faith is accounted for righteousness. Verse six, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. That's the proper response to this glorious doctrine. It's to bless, to praise, to honor, and to glorify the God of heaven and earth.

Resurrection Confirms Redemption Accomplished

I would suggest, fourthly, the resurrection testified that redemption was accomplished. Redemption was accomplished. God willing, we're gonna get to John chapter 19 eventually. And in verse 30, Jesus says, it is finished.

He doesn't say I am finished. And I don't think it's this meat, pathetic sort of a thing. It, the work the Father has given me, is finished. Several times in John's Gospel, and I've tried to point this out along the way, Jesus celebrates the act of obedience of Christ.

He speaks about doing the will of His Father. I always do what is pleasing to Him. He speaks about His meat being to do the will of the Father. So everything about Jesus in that mediatorial capacity was about obeying God the Father in terms of the law laid upon Him.

And so on the cross, when He says, it is finished, that is a triumphant cry concerning that covenant of grace. Listen to Spurgeon commenting on John 19 30. He says, I am persuaded that it was so intended to be used, talking about it was for the church, for none of the words of our Lord on the cross are addressed to his church. But this one, I cannot believe that when he was dying, he left his people for whom he died without a word.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do is for sinners, not for saints. I thirst is for himself, and so is that bitter cry. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Woman, behold, thy son is for Mary.

Today thou shalt thou be with me in paradise is for the penitent thief. Into thy hands I commend my spirit is for the father. Jesus must have had something to say in the hour of death for his church, and surely this is his dying word for her. It is finished.

Brethren, that's good news to a weary sinner that by grace has come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So we need to get this out of our heads that it's up to Jesus and us. It's a bit of Jesus and a bit of me. If you can read Romans and come to that conclusion, you're a better man than a lot of people in the life of the church.

If you can read Galatians, that emphasis on justification by faith alone, look at 327. 327, sometimes papists say, well, the Bible doesn't say justification by faith alone. Really? Completely excluding works isn't faith alone? But notice in 327, where is boasting that?

It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

Now note verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Sounds like semantics to me. Well, it doesn't say sola fide specifically. Well, it does.

You just don't have ears to hear and heart to receive it. There is nothing more clearly set out by the apostle, by the apostles, by our blessed Savior, by the prophets, and, dare I say, by Moses, than that justification is by faith alone. Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him as righteousness or for righteousness. And so when it comes to this, it is finished cry from our blessed Savior in John 19.30, let that help you on a Thursday when you are feeling miserable about yourself.

Now, you may have good reason to feel miserable about yourself, but go to the cross, go to the Savior, consider 1 John 2. My little children, I write these things so that you may not sin. And if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Sing with the hymn writer, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

Or even better, foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. Or if you want the inscripturated version, Zechariah 13.1, in that day there will be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. You guilty of sin and uncleanness? Plunged by God's grace beneath that flood.

Christ satisfied. Christ completed. And as well, I said for one more, the resurrection testified that the session was initiated. So from the resurrection comes the ascension to the state of exaltation and the accession of Christ at the right hand of the Father.

And we learn in a couple places in the New Testament documents that He ever lives to make intercession for us. The Lord Christ at the right hand of the Father is our advocate. And He does plead on our behalf.

Historical and Theological Significance

So in conclusion, very simple text. He was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. So I want to end by looking at the glory of the resurrection of Christ. First, the historical significance, or rather the historical data, and then the theological significance of that data.

Confirming the Death of Christ

First, the confirmation of His death. Cam mentioned the Muslims earlier, the swoon theory. He wasn't really dead. He was mostly dead.

Being mostly dead, when he goes into the tomb, he's able to get over whatever malady he was facing. Then he came out and people thought that he had risen from the dead. James Cameron held that view and made a documentary on that. It's out there, the swoon theory.

But his death was confirmed by men who made it their business to kill people. Honestly, if I saw a dead body in the road, I could be off. It's not my business to kill people. If I'm a Roman soldier in the first century and I'm defending the empire, and I'm fighting off the barbarians, I think I'd know what dead is versus mostly dead.

So his death is confirmed by the soldiers. His death is confirmed by Pontius Pilate. His death is confirmed by the Jewish leaders. His death is confirmed by the angel.

His death was a reality. So what went into the tomb was a dead man.

Witnesses to the Resurrection

Now the confirmation of his resurrection by the angel and Jesus himself. What's the best proof for the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ? Our Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrected status. Now consider the gospel narratives.

He appeared first to the women who had left the tomb in Matthew 28 and then to Mary Magdalene in John 20. He appeared to Cleopas and the unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. He then appeared to Peter sometime that same afternoon, Luke 24, 1 Corinthians 15. He appeared to the eleven minus Thomas on that day of resurrection in the upper room.

He invited his disciples to touch him and he ate broiled fish and honeycomb with them. He appeared a week later to his disciples, this time Thomas was present. By the way, Thomas was the chief skeptic. Thomas was the doubter.

Thomas was the denier. Unless my eyes see and my hands touch, I will not believe. Huh, here he comes with my Lord and my God. It's a great way to end John's gospel.

The gospel that introduces the word who was with God, the word who was God is confessed by Thomas, who was at one point the chief skeptic, but the gospel ends with that blessed confession, that lofty confession of faith. He appeared to seven of his disciples by the sea of Tiberias and prepared and ate breakfast with them. He appeared to the 11 on a mountain of Galilee. This occasion could have possibly been the one when he also appeared to more than 500 people.

He appeared to James, his half-brother. He appeared again to the 11 on the occasion of his ascension into heaven. He appeared to Saul of Tarsus sometime later. That's a lot of witnesses, brethren.

There's a lot of people involved. This is not some great sort of charade. He appeared to individuals. He appeared to a pair of disciples.

He appeared to small groups. He appeared to large assemblies. He appeared to women and men. He appeared in public and private at different times of the day, both in Jerusalem and Galilee.

This is not the testimony of a mass hallucination. Now we hear a lot about UFOs, but back when I was younger, you'd hear about them. And typically they would be sighted at about 2 a.m. outside of an Air Force base by guys drinking lots of wine. Well, yeah, you're gonna see UFOs given those particular conditions.

Mass hallucination, or at least small group hallucination. That's not what the New Testament documents reveal at all. Now, the emphasis on the scientific approach, seeing in Matthew 28, come, see the place, Matthew 28, six. Matthew 28, seven, there you will what?

You will see him. And in verse 10, there they will see me. In other words, investigate it, go check it out, go to the tomb, look and see. Look and see for yourself.

In fact, Jesus does that post-resurrection to Thomas. Go ahead! But, blessed are those who believe, who didn't have to see and touch. Now, in terms of the so-called problems with the resurrection, the fact that women are the first witnesses is a compelling piece of evidence in terms of the veracity of the account.

Women in that situation were not looked upon as credible witnesses. So if I'm a forger and I'm a faker, I'm going to leave that out. I'd like to say and think I'm more holy than that, but hey, I kind of know the depths of depravity there. In other words, if you're going to fake, or you're going to forge, or you're going to do something to try to pull the wool over people's eyes, wouldn't you get rid of those unsavory details that would make that more challenging?

Josephus says, let not the testimony of women be admitted on account of the levity and boldness of their sex. A fake would have left that out. Just like I think a fake would have left out 2 Samuel 11. What happens in 2 Samuel 11?

David commits grievous sin. Well, not a fake there necessarily, but somebody who only ever wanted to see David as a grand hero. Well, the spirit of God who brings inspiration to the author says, no, put it in there. David committed adultery and he covered up with conspiracy to murder.

As well, the fact that the gospel records are not smoothed out, the differences, not contradictions, brethren, differences are not contradictions. but the fact that they're not smoothed out. You put four different people in a room and say, let's each write a narrative. We're gonna try to get our details straight. We're certainly not gonna put in Matthew 28 that when Jesus rose from the dead, he's making an appearance to all of his disciples and some worshiped, but others doubted.

I might be tempted to leave out that doubt part because that doesn't favor the star of the show. That's not the way the gospel records come to us. Again, not contradictory, but not exact uniformity either. The differences that exist can in fact be harmonized and smarter men than I have done it.

But the fact that there needs to be, or rather a looking at these details and comparing them, fakes would have smoothed it all out. They would have shaved off the rough edges. They would have made their story straight. Now, in terms of the historicity of the resurrection, brethren, we own that.

We confess it, just like he was delivered up because of our offenses. He was raised for our justification. Let us never cease to praise God for this. Let us never cease to preach to the heathen this.

And let us never capitulate to the mindset that says, well, it doesn't matter about the history. What really matters is what that story does in terms of a person's life. No, that's unacceptable. If that history is fake, if that history is falsified, if the Word did not become flesh and dwell among us, if He did not function as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, then there's no taking away the sin of the world.

We are dead in our trespasses and sins, and we are, of all men, the most to be pitied. That's Paul's logic in 1 Corinthians 15, and it's impeccable.

Theological Significance of the Resurrection

Now then, finally, the theological significance. The work of satisfaction having been accomplished, Christ was no longer under the dominion of death. Turn to Romans 6, verses 9 and 10. Romans 6, 9, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.

Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Hodge again says, with a dead Savior, a Savior over whom death had triumphed and held captive, our justification had been forever impossible. So it's kind of frustrating about, well, it's kind of really frustrating about the crucifixion.

The, you know, the thing that hangs in paperless churches. Christ is on the cross. Oh, we need His death. We need that empty tomb, brethren.

We need that He is risen declaration. Why? Because He was delivered up because of our offenses and He was raised for our justification. Secondly, the work of satisfaction having been accomplished, the Father raised the Son to testify the completion of the work.

Back to Turretin, he says, but there is a peculiar reason why it, resurrection, is ascribed to the Father, on account of the obligation which Christ took upon Himself, from which He ought to be released by the Father as judge, who as He had delivered up Christ to death for our sins, so He ought to raise Him up again for our justification, in order to testify that a full satisfaction had been made by Him. Beautiful. And then I would suggest, thirdly and finally, The work of satisfaction having been accomplished, and what Paul just said in Romans 4.25, he was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised for our justification, necessarily and thematically and theologically and literarily leads to Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

The end game is the forgiveness of our sins, the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith alone. What does that produce? What does that yield? What does that obligate us toward?

Peace. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the apostle's logic is impeccable, his theology is glorious, and it's built and founded and grounded upon the historical reality that in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. If you are not a believer, look to the Lord Jesus Christ and be ye saved.

Romans 10.9 is a great way to finish this in terms of exhortation for the unconverted. Romans 10.9, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes under righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame, For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who calls upon him.

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Closing Prayer

Praise God for abundant grace and mercy and salvation to be had in and through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray.

Scripture References

• 2 Samuel 11
• Psalm 16; 110:1
• Daniel 9
• Zechariah 13:1
• Matthew 12:39-40; 28:6-7; 28:10; 28:17
• Luke 24:13-35; 24:34
• John 19:30; 20:11-18
• Acts 2
• Romans 1:3-4; 1:18; 2; 3:9-28; 4:1-25; 5:1; 6:9-10; 8:32; 10:9-13
• 1 Corinthians 1:23-24; 15:3; 15:17
• Philippians 2:5-11; 3:9
• Hebrews 2:17
• 1 John 2:1-2
• 1 Peter 2