Please take out your copy of God's Word, which I hope you have with you today.
I suppose it would have made sense for me to preach a text from the book of John, but I'm not.
Turn with me please to Ephesians chapter 2.
Every Sunday when we gather together as a church, we gather in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Every sermon given in the fellowship of our church is a resurrection sermon.
The application of which would not be possible if Jesus was not raised.
If you ever find yourself hearing a sermon with application that would be possible apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
then you are not hearing a gospel sermon and you may not be gathered with a Christian church.
The resurrection of Jesus is central to all that the church is and to all that the church does.
The resurrection is the pendule on which the great hinge of the gospel swings.
Everything that we believe falls apart without it.
The true Christian church has always believed this.
A.W. Tozer, the 20th century pastor, theologian, the quotation on your bulletin said,
we understand, he's referring to the gospel church,
we understand and acknowledge that the resurrection has placed a glorious crown upon all of Christ's sufferings.
So our text for today is Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10.
And I do want us to take a particular pause and think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means for us.
But if you're a guest with us today, I want you to know that this is not an odd Sunday for us.
We do this week in and week out.
Before I read for our benefit Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 10,
I want to remind you, beloved, this is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and for our good.
And as such, we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
I begin in verse 1.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved.
And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Note with me from the text, resurrection phrases, right,
that tie this text together in verses 5 and 6.
Verse 5, Paul says,
We were dead, but God made us alive together with Christ.
And in verse 6,
Not only were we made alive,
but also God raised us up with him being Christ.
So as we consider this text,
I want our attention to be drawn to the centrality of the resurrection to the Christian faith.
But before we do this,
and in brief,
I want to ask and answer in brief the question,
How can we know that Jesus was raised from the dead?
I recognize that there may be some with us today that place a massive question mark at the end of that sentence.
How is it even possible that we can know that this Jesus,
this historical figure, was in fact raised from the dead?
Now, I'm going to do this briefly because despite all of the best of apologetic cases,
the fact remains that those who follow Jesus Christ do so from faith.
We believe that Jesus is raised.
We believe that he has brought light to our darkened hearts.
But the apologetic cases can be helpful.
And I would like to make two of them,
these assertions to you this morning concerning the resurrection.
First, we have in the Bible the record that Jesus stated that he would be raised from the dead.
This historical document, the scripture,
if you don't take it as God's word, which we do as a church,
but if you take it as a historical document,
it's recorded that Jesus said in places like Mark chapter 8 and verse 31,
31, and Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man,
he's referring to himself, must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes
and be killed and after three days rise again.
Jesus said this about himself and he said it in many places.
There's lots of historical veracity to Jesus saying such things.
And we have to wrestle with this Jesus.
I said during the Leithuae time, right?
Jesus cannot merely be a good teacher.
He is the truth that holds all truths together.
C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity,
which is why I did that time with the kids this morning.
He said,
I am trying here,
so he's made this extensive case,
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying
the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus.
I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher,
but I don't accept his claim to be God.
That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic
on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg,
or else he would be the devil of hell.
You must make your choice.
Either this man was and is the Son of God,
or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool.
You can spit at him and kill him as a demon,
or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense
about his being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to.
Now, it seems to me obvious
that he was neither a lunatic nor a fiend,
and consequently, however strange or terrifying
or unlikely it may seem,
I have to accept the view that he was and is God.
And so, Lewis lays out for us this apologetic argument.
People will refer to lunatic, liar, or Lord.
But I must say that it is flawed a bit.
And Lewis actually later wrote about the very flaw of such an argument,
because there is one other option available.
That he was a legend.
And you may be entertaining that idea.
Yeah, but what if this is all just a farce?
It's all just a story made up.
Right?
This is an elaboration on a man who existed.
We know he was crucified.
But the biblical authors just turned him into a legend.
So this brings me to my second apologetic point.
Why?
I think it's impossible for us to believe
that he was created as a legend.
Because the disciples were transformed.
Those who claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ
were changed.
After his resurrection.
In Acts chapter 2 and verse 32.
This is from Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost.
He said,
This Jesus God raised up.
And of that we all are witnesses.
We have actually seen the raised Jesus Christ.
Now remember that this was the very same Peter
who had denied that he even knew Jesus.
The disciples,
in seeing the risen Christ,
were transformed from mice to men.
They were a band of bumblers following Jesus around.
Arguing about the meaning of Jesus' parables
and who would be the greatest in the kingdom.
What happened?
What happened to cause these men
to turn out into the world
as proclaimers of Jesus' resurrection?
None of these men opted to support a legend
that Jesus had risen for their own benefit.
None of them built a big building,
gathered large crowds,
or built a mansion on the Sea of Galilee.
None of them jetted across the country
in a jet to share the message
that so many clamored to hear.
It was not profitable
for these men to declare
that Jesus was the Christ.
This was an audacious claim
that Jesus was raised from the dead.
And it ultimately cost each of these men
great suffering,
and for most,
their very lives.
Now, we have some biblical record
of what happened to the apostles
and the broader disciples.
Much of what I'm about to share with you
comes from church history.
And again, you might go,
well, but that's church history, right?
You're making a great claim
that the Bible speaks truth about Jesus.
And now we're dipping off into church history
once again.
It is not an effective propaganda machine
to say the leaders of our church
died in this way.
It's not helpful
for the recruitment of people
unless these people
are radically transformed
by the same grace of God.
So let me give you some examples, right?
Stephen, not an apostle,
one of the early deacons,
was stoned to death,
the very first Christian martyr.
James was killed with a sword
by Herod Agrippa.
Peter was crucified upside down.
Andrew was crucified on an olive tree
in a town called Patre in Achaia.
Thomas was run through with spears,
tormented with red-hot plates,
and finally burned alive.
Philip was tortured and then crucified in Phrygia.
Matthew was beheaded at Naddever.
Bartholomew was flayed and then crucified.
The other James,
again, we want to be known as the other James, right?
was beaten to death with a club.
Simon, crucified in Syria.
Judas Thaddeus, different Judas,
was beaten to death with sticks in Mesopotamia.
Matthias was stoned
while being crucified in Ethiopia.
Paul was beheaded in Rome.
And as far as we know,
John died a natural death,
but it's widely rumored
that he was scarred horribly
by being burned in boiling oil.
It's not a profitable thing to say
that Jesus was raised from the dead
when the easier thing to do
would have been rather just call him
a good moral teacher, right?
He's just one in the line of many prophets
in the Mosaic tradition.
In Acts 5, verses 40 and 42,
we get the conclusion of this trial
where all of the apostles are rounded up
and they're tried before the Sanhedrin.
And then in verse 40 we read,
when they had called in the apostles,
they beat them and charged them
not to speak in the name of Jesus
and let them go.
Then they left the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer dishonor for the name.
And every day in the temple
and from house to house,
they did not cease teaching and preaching
that the Christ is Jesus.
Men radically changed
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
John chapter 2 and verse 22
records for us,
when therefore Jesus was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered
that he had said this,
that he had said this would happen,
that he had said this,
and they believed the scripture
and the word that Jesus had spoken.
And they all together had this attitude
that Paul expresses in Romans 8, 18,
where he wrote,
for I consider that the sufferings
of this present time
are not worth comparing
with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.
Having believed in this risen Christ
who is now seated in glory
at the right hand of the Father,
and that we also will receive
this resurrection one day.
I think this is a powerful case
against this idea
that Jesus was a legend.
And so,
was he a liar,
a lunatic,
and all of the apostles along with?
Or is he Lord?
And he is.
I stated in the introduction
that all the Christian
believes would fall apart
without the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
The pendle, by the way,
is that little pin
that goes down
on the inside of a hinge.
If you don't know
what that word is,
that's a pendle.
So let me show you this morning,
briefly,
three ways,
three ways from our text
that Christian belief
would fall apart
without the resurrection.
Without the reality
of the resurrection,
we would not have,
number one,
protection from the wrath
of God.
Protection from the wrath
of God.
We see in verses
one through three,
apart from Christ,
this is who we are.
If you're not found
in Christ this morning,
this is you,
verses one through three.
If you're found
in Christ this morning,
this was you,
which is who Paul is writing
to,
Ephesian believers.
So past tense for us
who are in Christ,
present tense for those
who are not.
And we see that we were dead
in trespasses and sins.
We walked in them.
This was the way
of our very living rebellion
against a most holy God.
We followed the way
of the world around us.
We follow Satan himself,
the prince of the power
of the air.
We are,
we are,
were,
sons of disobedience
and were or are
by nature,
by our very being,
children of wrath.
Paul writes in Romans 1, 18,
saying,
for the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness
of men
who by their unrighteousness
suppress the truth.
Beloved,
we have sinned
against a most holy God.
We have committed
egregious sin
against him.
Whether you have
the drug addict
under the bridge story
or whether you simply
didn't obey
the command of your parents,
we are all guilty of sin
and it is weighty
before a God
who is of infinite holiness.
And the promise to us
of the Bible
is that God must punish sin.
In his perfect justice,
he must punish that sin.
And this is,
that punishment
is the wrath of God.
poured out on sinners.
This is a great problem.
This is bad news.
Praise be to God
for the good news
of the life, death,
and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
For it is by faith
in Jesus' person and work
that we are changed
from sons of disobedience
to sons of obedience,
from children of wrath
to children of mercy
and grace.
Paul again,
1 Thessalonians 1,
verses 9 and 10,
writes to the Thessalonian church,
For they themselves
report concerning us
the kind of reception
we had among you,
and how you turned
to God
from idols
to serve the living
and true God
and to wait
for his Son
from heaven
whom he raised
from the dead,
Jesus,
who delivers us
from the wrath
to come.
As God's wrath
is poured out
in the final day
of judgment
on mankind,
we will find ourselves
safe and secure
in Christ.
Delivered,
protected
from the wrath
of God.
Paul wrote also
in Romans 5,
verses 9 and 10,
Since therefore
we have now been justified,
declared righteous
by Jesus' blood,
much more shall we be saved
by him
from the wrath
of God.
We are saved
by God
from God
to God.
Verse 10,
For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son,
much more,
now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved
by his life.
On that great day
of judgment,
by what will you plead
the mercy
of God?
Only those
who plead
the accomplished
work of Christ
will have entry
into the kingdom of heaven.
Only those
who stand before God
and say,
of no merit
of mine,
but all
of Christ
will be allowed
into the kingdom.
Will you join us
there?
Oh, I pray,
I pray
that you would.
If you have not
seen your need
of protection
from the wrath
of God,
I pray that you would
feel the weight
of offense
against him.
See that the penalty
of your sin
is death
forever
and run in faith
to our risen Lord.
Without the reality
of the resurrection,
this living Christ,
we would not have
protection
from the wrath
of God.
Jesus would merely be
a lunatic
or a liar,
but he's not.
He's the Lord
of heaven
and earth.
And,
we have this protection
from the wrath
of God
because
our sin
is pardoned.
So, without the reality
of the resurrection,
we would not have
our sin
pardoned.
We can look at
verses 4 through 9
of Ephesians
chapter 2,
which begins,
but God.
And I'm so thankful
for these conjunctions
in the Holy Writ.
There are many of them
that lays out for us
who we once were
and then says,
in spite of
who you are,
God.
God acts.
God is gracious.
God is,
our text says,
rich in mercy
and full
of great
love
for mankind.
So,
even when,
even when we were
dead
in our trespasses,
right?
Enemies of God,
sons of disobedience,
by nature,
children of wrath,
right?
Pitted against Him,
His absolute
enemies
because of His
great love,
because He's
rich in mercy,
He made us alive
together with Christ.
And then Paul inserts,
by grace,
you have
been saved,
right?
This is not a thing
of our doing,
verse 8,
and this is not
your own doing.
It's a gift
of God.
Our very ability
to believe,
right?
We've been saved
by grace
through faith.
This faith
is not our own doing.
It's a gift
that is granted
to us
in our deadness,
right?
The gospel
is not a picture
of us drowning
at sea
and being thrown
a life raft,
right?
All we must do
is climb into
the security,
right?
The picture
of the gospel
is we are dead
at the bottom
of the sea,
right?
We are rotting
corpses.
Little fish
are picking away
at you.
And Christ
dives in.
And Christ
brings you
to the surface
and breathes
life into you.
You are raised
up with
Him.
Not a result
of works.
I cannot say
I climbed
into the raft.
Good for me.
But all my glory
due to Christ
is given Him
because I can say
I was dead
and Christ
delivered me
from this death.
Here we find
at the center
4-9
these two phrases
that I originally
drew your attention
to.
Verse 5
we were dead
but God made us
alive together
with Christ.
And in verse 6
we've been
raised up
with
Him.
Look at it
a little more
broadly,
right?
Look at the
context of
verses 5 and 6.
we were dead
because of sin
but have been
made alive
because of Christ.
We have in Him
the pardon
of our sin
and His righteousness
is given to us
because God
is gracious
toward mankind.
By grace
we have
been saved.
1 Peter 1-3
Peter says,
Blessed be the
God and Father
of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
according to
His great
mercy
He has
caused us
to be born
again
to a living
hope
through
the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
We have a
living hope
because our
Savior
lives.
And then Paul
writes in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15
and verse
17
and if
Christ
has not
been raised.
He postulates
what if
this Jesus
was not
raised?
He says
your faith
is futile
and you are
still
in your sins.
If Christ
had not
been raised
we would
not have
the pardon
of our sins
and we are
all wasting
our time
this morning.
We should
turn into
a hiking
club
instead
because it's
a beautiful
day
and we have
the Appalachian
Trail just
north of us
but rather
we gather
as Christ
Church
to praise
our risen
Lord.
We have
been
changed
from
one kind
to another
kind.
We are not
differing
in degree
we are
differing
in kind.
We have
been transitioned
from those
who were
enemies
to those
who were
friends.
Our sins
have been
pardoned.
We have
been made
new.
We have
been made
alive
to live
eternally
with our
God
as His
people
for
His
praise.
Luke
writes in
Luke chapter
20
verse 36
They
cannot
die
anymore
He's quoting
Jesus
because they
are equal
to angels
and are
sons of
God
being
sons
of the
resurrection.
And Paul
writes in
Romans chapter
8
verse 11
If the
spirit of
him who
raised
Jesus
from the
dead
dwells
in you
he who
raised
Christ
Jesus
from the
dead
will also
give
life to
your
mortal
bodies
through
his
spirit
who
dwells
in
you.
So
without
the reality
of the
resurrection
we would
not have
protection
from
the
wrath
of
God.
We
would
not
have
our
sin
pardoned.
And
thirdly
we
would
not
have
the
presence
of
Jesus.
Notice
verse 10
of Ephesians
chapter 2
For
we are
His
workmanship
like
He's
created
us
created
in
Christ
Jesus
for
good
works
which
God
prepared
beforehand
that
we
should
walk
in
them.
So
having
been
made
this
new
kind
we
begin
to
evidence
our
changedness
in the
way that
we go
and live.
God
prepared
beforehand
good
works
for us
to
carry
out.
It
is
granted
to us
to walk
in good
works
and we
do so
with the
presence
and
therefore
the
power
of
Jesus
Christ.
How do
we
do
this?
Why am
I
making
pulling
out
of
Ephesians
chapter 2
the
presence
of
Jesus
would
not
be
ours?
We've
been
given
this
task
to
walk
in
these
good
works.
How
is it
that we
do
this?
I'm
saying
to
you
we
do
it
with
the
presence
of
Christ.
Let
me
show
you.
John
chapter
14
verse
15
and
following
Jesus
said
if you
love
me
you
will
keep
my
commandments.
And I
don't
believe
that
verse
16
is
conditioned
on
verse
15.
If you
love
me
you
will
keep
my
commandments
!
give
another
helper
to
be
with
you
forever
even
the
spirit
of
truth
whom
the
world
cannot
receive
because
it
neither
sees
him
nor
knows
him.
You
know
him
for
he
dwells
with
you
and
will
be
in
you.
I
will
not
leave
you
as
orphans
I
will
come
to
you.
So
notice
that
Jesus
says
I'm
going
to
send
to
you
the
helper
the
spirit
right
we've
heard
him
as
the
holy
spirit
but
then
he
very
quickly
in
verse
18
says
I
will
not
leave
you
as
orphans
I
will
come
to
you.
It's
very
trinitarian
idea
carried
here.
Jesus
himself
is
with
us
as
the
spirit
is
with
us.
And
then
verse
19
yet
a
little
while
and
the
world
will
see
me
no
more
but
you
will
see
me
because
I
live
you
also
will
live.
So
without
the
resurrection
we
don't
have
the
presence
of
Jesus.
Paul
writes
again
boy
I'm
using
Paul
this
morning
aren't
I?
Romans
chapter
8
beginning
in
verse
9
and
then
through
11
which
I
read
previously
Paul
wrote
you
however
are not
in
the
flesh
but
in
the
spirit
if
in
fact
the
spirit
of
God
dwells
in
you
anyone
who
does
not
have
the
spirit
of
Christ
does
not
belong
to
him
but
if
Christ
is
in
you
although
the
body
is
dead
because
of
sin
the
spirit
is
life
because
of
righteousness
you see
the
beauty
that
Paul
weaves
there
with
his
language
right
you
however
not
in
the
flesh
but
in
the
spirit
in
fact
the
spirit
of
God
dwells
in
you
anyone
who
does
not
have
the
spirit
of
Christ
changing
his
name
his
title
the
spirit
Christ
is
in
you
so
we
have
the
presence
we
have
the
presence
of
Christ
if
we
have
the
spirit
of
Christ
and
then
verse
11
if
the
spirit
of
him
who
raised
Jesus
from
the
dead
dwells
in
you
he
raised
Christ
Jesus
from
the
dead
will
also
give
life
to
your
mortal
bodies
through
his
spirit
who
dwells
in
you
this
is
how
Jesus
makes
good
on
this
text
Ephesians
2
10
right
where
his
workmanship
created
in
Christ
Jesus
for
good
works
that
we
should
walk
in
them
he
gives
us
himself
by
the
power
of
his
spirit
and
it's
how
he
makes
good
on
the
!
Matthew
chapter
28
the
last
half
of
verse
20
where
he
said
behold
I
am
with
you
always
to
the
end
of
the
age
and
this
is
a
sure
promise
Paul
writes
in
Romans
chapter
6
verse
9
we
know
that
Christ
being
raised
from
the
dead
will
never
die
again
death
no
longer
has
dominion
over
him
we
have
a
risen
Christ
who
died
once
was
raised
and
will
never
die
again
so
we
have
his
presence
now
and
will
have
his
presence
forever
without
the reality
of the
resurrection
however
we would
not have
protection
from the
wrath
of
God
our
sin
pardoned
or
the
presence
of
Jesus
praise
be
to
God
that
Jesus
was
in
fact
raised
from
the
dead
and
that
all
things
hold
together
in
him
do
you
believe
this
no
then
believe
it
today
I
want
you
to
be
protected
from
the
wrath
of
God
because
of
the
pardon
of
your
sin
and
I
want
you
to
experience
the
presence
of
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord
beloved
is
the
goodness
of
these
realities
warming
your
hearts
this
morning
we
are
slow
learners
and
we
are
quick
to
forget
God's
good
promises
to
us
which
are
made
sure
by
the
resurrection
of
Jesus
Christ
if
your
heart
has
grown
cold
to
these
great
truths
warm
your
hearts
at
the
fire
of
Ephesians
chapter
2
verses
1
through
10
which
places
at
its
very
center
the
resurrection
of
Jesus
Christ