Justification Causes Resurrection!

[0:00] Go to the back, they renumber the New Testament, so find page 121, Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four. Actually, I'm gonna start reading in verse 22, but our focus is gonna be verse 25 as a Resurrection Sunday service, a message for Resurrection Sunday.

[0:18] We call it Res Day in my home. Romans chapter four, starting in verse 22. Romans chapter four, verse 22.

[0:31] Paul says, therefore also it was reckoned to him, which is Abraham, as righteousness. Now, not for his sake only was it written that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned as those who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead.

[0:51] And here's our key verse. Who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and within that verse, what we'll focus on this morning is, and was raised because of our justification.

[1:11] The principle of causation, it's also known as the law of cause and effect, is vitally important in life. It is.

[1:22] For every effect, there's a cause. Cause, effect. The cause is what happened. The effect is the results of what happened, or the why.

[1:38] This truly affects our lives. For example, some time ago, my elbow was hurting real bad. There's a brother in Christ, his doctor, talking about my hurt elbow.

[1:54] He asked, well, where does it hurt? I said, it hurt here. He said, when does it hurt? I said, when I do this. He said, well, then don't do that. Cause, effect. If that hurts, don't do that.

[2:09] Thanks, Steve. If you jump off a roof, you're gonna hurt yourself. Cause, effect. I was telling my kids, I had the great idea when I was like, eight, nine, ten years old, something like that.

[2:21] He was 11. I had an umbrella, and I thought I'd jump off the roof of my house, and the umbrella would, you know, keep me from falling. And, no.

[2:35] Didn't happen. Now, praise God, I didn't break my leg. I probably hurt something. I don't remember. I just remember doing something stupid like that, so, cause, effect. You know, you have a bright idea. Oh, this will work.

[2:46] I saw that on TV. What an idiot, right? Anyways, you hurt your sibling, you'll get in trouble. Unless you do it deceitfully.

[2:59] You take this medicine, side effect, right? Cause, effect. There's a huge, major truth in the Bible that displays this.

[3:14] Cause, effect. There's probably other ones. But one in particular, what we're looking at, because without this truth, we will be hopeless. And I titled the message for today, Justification Causes Resurrection.

[3:32] It's not the other way around. You would think it would be. Resurrection caused the justification. No. Justification caused the resurrection. Put in a long statement for you.

[3:47] Our justification caused Christ's resurrection. If Jesus would not have resurrected, there would be no justification. There would be no way we can be made right with God the Father.

[4:04] Our justification had to be solidified by Jesus' physical resurrection. If there's gonna be justification, the result had to be the resurrection of Jesus.

[4:15] Had to be. Had to be. Had to be. Had to be. Had to be. Had to be. Had to be. So we're gonna go to verse 25 of chapter 4. But how did we get to this point?

[4:26] How did Paul get to this point? Let me just quickly explain to you the trajectory of Romans. Chapter 1, you're probably familiar.

[4:37] Verse 18 to 32 talks about non-Jews, Gentile rebellion against God. In chapter 2, he talks about Jewish rebellion against God. So that in chapter 3, you have the world's rebellion against God.

[4:51] So that the whole world's mouth may be closed. Everyone is held accountable to God. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. You cannot be made right with God by the things that you do.

[5:04] Never. It's not gonna happen. But then he, Paul brings up God's remedy. In chapter 3, verse 21 to 31. Christ's death.

[5:15] Trusting in Christ by faith. Faith alone. Then he brings it up in chapter 4 with Abraham. Abraham's faith, which was reckoned to him as righteousness. So that's how we got to this point.

[5:27] So Paul gets to this point. And really when you see this verse, holistically both aspects, he was delivered up because of our transgressions. He was raised because of our justification.

[5:40] This verse is really the gospel in miniature form. Jesus' historic factual resurrection authenticates the whole gospel. So in the verse, and we'll pick it apart in just a moment, you have two great truths of the gospel, which I'll put up here on the screen.

[5:58] Number one, Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins. Our transgressions caused his deliverance. That makes sense, right? Our sins caused him to be delivered, to die.

[6:12] Our sins brought by he had to die, right? We can understand that. So the two great truths. First, Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins.

[6:23] Our transgressions caused his deliverance. But then, a second great truth, he rose again for our justification. This is what we'll focus on, even though we'll pick apart the whole part of the verse.

[6:34] Our justification causes resurrection. If Jesus were not resurrected, there'd be no justification. There's going to be justification.

[6:44] He had to resurrect from the dead, physically. There's no other way we could be right with God the Father. So to deny these two truths is to deny the gospel.

[7:01] And, by the way, when you believe and embrace Jesus physically rose from the dead, you are saying that's the only way by which we can be saved. The exclusivity of the gospel, in other words, or the exclusivity of Christ.

[7:13] He's the only way. There is no other way. There's no other way by which we can be saved, said Peter in Acts chapter 4. We could not be justified if Christ did not physically resurrect from the dead.

[7:29] I cannot deny this truth. Satisfaction for our sins was given at the cross. Christ suffered God's punishment on account of our sins.

[7:41] Someone had to pay the price. Either you're going to be in hell forever, or it's done by our great substitute, who faced hell on the cross.

[7:54] Hell was unleashed upon him. And in his resurrection, God's justice was satisfied. The ransom of our iniquity was paid.

[8:06] Full payment of our great debt owed to God was completed. Justification is now an accomplished reality. He resurrected from the dead.

[8:17] It's an historical fact. Fulfilling God's covenant promises to his people. And really the trajectory or the metanarrative of the Bible, we've talked about this before, the suffering of God's people and God vindicates them, you see that, the epitome of that in Jesus.

[8:34] He suffered and died, and he was resurrected. He was vindicated. God vindicated him. Look, if you would, at the verse, verse 25.

[8:46] Who was delivered up because of our transgressions. Reminds us of Isaiah 53. On account of our offenses, Jesus was delivered, so that our sins may be expiated, taken away.

[8:59] Death also satisfies God's divine wrath, which is where you get the word propitiation. Exhausting God's wrath.

[9:12] God's wrath was unleashed in all its fury upon Christ. All the fury of God's wrath upon sin was unleashed upon Jesus while he hung on that cross.

[9:25] Which is why he cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God himself delivered Jesus up. He handed him over so we can experience God's forgiveness.

[9:39] The forgiveness of our sins. And then notice, was delivered up because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. Those whom God has forgiven have been justified.

[9:52] Jesus was raised in order that we might be justified. One writer says, His resurrection authenticates and confirms that our justification has been secured. You can never fall out of it.

[10:03] When you're justified, you can't fall out of that. Because if you do, it means Jesus did not resurrect. Well, that's ridiculous.

[10:15] How dumb and stupid is that? Jesus did resurrect. So you can't fall out of justification. What is justification? How do you define that? Justification means you're set free.

[10:28] You're acquitted. You're put into a right relation with God. It's a forensic righteousness resulting in a covenant relationship with God. Oh, kind of flickered.

[10:41] Look, he's on that. I love this guy. His work on behalf of his people was completed by his resurrection, having presented his righteousness before God for our justification.

[10:54] So now God can still be just and yet justify the ungodly. At stake was God's righteousness.

[11:07] Righteousness, John Piper defines it like this, which is his unswerving allegiance to the value of his name. We violated that. But Jesus satisfied that allegiance how he was raised from the dead.

[11:21] He was raised. So, look at all this, sum things up. So his resurrection, one, is the evidence of approval of God's satisfaction.

[11:39] It's the proof that his death had been accepted by the Father as the propitiation and the expiation of our sins. In other words, the Father showed his approval of his Son's perfect work by resurrecting him from the dead.

[11:55] If God didn't approve, Jesus would not have resurrected. If the Father didn't approve, he would still be dead.

[12:08] And again, this is a theme of the Bible. The meninarrative of the Bible is there's a suffering of God's people and then God vindicates them. And you see that throughout from all the way, from Abraham to Joseph, all the way down the line where you have the suffering of God's people but yet God vindicates them.

[12:27] You have the suffering of the Son of Man and yet God vindicates them by resurrecting him from the dead. Then second, not only is it the evidence of approval of God's satisfaction, but two, his resurrection secures for us the application of the merits of his sacrifice.

[12:51] his resurrection secures for us the benefits or merits of his redemption. In other words, if there was no resurrection, then there's no assurance of security.

[13:05] You have no security in your salvation. But, since Christ has been raised, we can have such great hope.

[13:16] The hope that as Christ was raised, we also will be raised. Christ. It's the promise. So, we are united to the eternal Son by means of the Spirit who enacted that salvation by his regenerating work as directed from the Father and those who are drawn from the Father by the Spirit will be raised on the last day.

[13:40] We have that promise and it's because Jesus rose. So, what are the merits then? Well, because Jesus was raised, we're guaranteed all these benefits from the Father.

[13:55] Forgiveness of sins, peace with God, assurance of Christ's intercession, afflictions beneficially confirming our hope, the certainty in our final salvation, and God's never-ending love for us.

[14:07] We have those promises. We have those benefits. They're guaranteed for us.

[14:17] And we embrace Christ Jesus, therefore, with a self-repudiating, self-abandoning, trusting faith in Jesus and his work.

[14:41] That's how you can be made right with God. You have a self-repudiating, self-abandoning, trusting faith in Jesus and what he's done.

[14:54] You repent and you trust Christ. You see that God should judge you because you're a sinner and yet instead he judged his son and you say, I trust that Jesus did that for me and I turn from my sin and I trust in you, Jesus.

[15:18] That's the gospel and if you're here and you're not a Christian, that's for you. That's how you can be made right with God. That's how you can be justified in his sight. That's the only way.

[15:31] Faith is not only necessary, it is sufficient. That's the means by which you can be justified, made right with God. So come and trust Christ and he'll justify you.

[15:43] our justification caused his resurrection. If Jesus would not have resurrected, then there'd be no justification. There'd be no way we can be right with God the Father.

[15:58] Our justification had to be solidified by Jesus' resurrection. Cause, effect. It had to happen.

[16:09] He had to be raised. Else, there's no way that we'd be made right with God. There's no way we could be made right with God. We be.