Untitled Sermon (21)

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: The Completion of the Great Exchange

Last week we looked at Isaiah 53 and talked at length of the Great Exchange that took place on the cross of Calvary. We talked about how it “pleased the Lord to bruise or crush Him” because it was for our good. I summed up the whole sermon with 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Him. The theological term for that is Penal Substitutionary Atonement. For all who believe and follow Christ; this is what happened: He took our sin upon Himself, just as if it were His won, and gave us in return His righteousness, just as if it were our own; that is the great exchange. But is that all there is to it? We believe, we have our sins forgiven, and we can live out our lives here on this earth comfortable, knowing that we are justified before God. Is that the end game? I grew up playing sports, football in particular, and we did not play the game to have a good feeling in having done our best. There was a prize to be attained even if that prize was simply that the number on our side of the scoreboard was higher than the number on the opponent’s side. We played for victory, not a good feeling. Last week when we looked at the great exchange we saw that we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us because it was Jesus who died and it was us who gained the victory. Today we are going to look at the prize we receive for His being crushed. Let’s pray.

Usually on Easter Sunday or as I like to refer to it, Resurrection Sunday, the preacher will stand before the congregation, some of whom he has not seen in a year or so, and do his best to defend the resurrection as being a true event. But the truth of the matter is most people who come to church even if it is just on Resurrection Sunday believe that Jesus truly rose from the dead. The problem with that is not everyone who believes that Jesus rose from the dead is a believer in Jesus Christ and a follower of our Lord. Before you disconnect from the internet let me explain with Scripture. In Matthew 27:57-66 it tells us that Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus so that he could bury Him in his own new tomb. When they laid His body in the tomb Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw where they laid Him. In verses 62-64 we read that the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and asked him to set a guard and a seal on the tomb because Jesus had claimed that He would rise on the third day. They were afraid His disciples would steal His body and claim He had risen. Pilate thought this was a good idea so a guard was placed at the tomb to guard it and the tomb was sealed. Then we read in Matthew 28:1-4 1Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. The guards are at the tomb the moment that the angel rolled the stone away. I cannot guarantee from what is written in the Scriptures that these soldiers saw the resurrected Lord Jesus but they knew the tomb was sealed with a dead man inside and now the tomb was open and no one was in there, they are the closest thing we have to eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They knew that a supernatural event had taken place and they were terrorized by it. So the Roman Soldiers are at the tomb and witness the resurrection. Now let’s read Matthew 28:11-15 1some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ 14And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” 15So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Obviously the guards who had witnessed the resurrection did not believe and they were eyewitnesses. The point is you may be watching today and believe that Jesus has risen from the grave and not know, on a personal level, the significance of that resurrection any more than you understand the significance of the crucifixion of our Lord even though you believe the historicity of His crucifixion.

So this morning I will not attempt to prove the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Instead I will endeavor to present to you the significance of the resurrection or the benefit of the Great Exchange.

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, which we will not be reading this morning, Paul lays out his argument that Jesus died to atone for the sin of His people or penal substitutionary atonement and that He was buried and on the third day rose from the grave, and this was all according to Scripture or there is Scriptural evidence. In verses 5-11 Paul gives the physical evidence of that resurrection by recounting those who had seen the resurrected Jesus, Cephas (Peter), the twelve, then 500 at one time, James His brother, all of the Apostles, and last of all himself some time later on the road to Damascus. You have Scriptural evidence that it would happen and eyewitness evidence that it did happen.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 12Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. In this passage we are going to take a very quick look at 7 things that would be true if there were no resurrection of the dead.

First: If there is no resurrection then Christ did not rise. Paul had already laid out his argument from the authority of Scripture and eyewitness accounts that Jesus did rise from the dead. So if there is no resurrection the Scriptures are all lies and all the people who said they saw Him lied.

Second: If Christ is not risen then our preaching is in vain. There is no value in preaching something that did not happen.

Third: If Christ is not risen then our faith is in vain. The only faith we could possibly have is in ourselves.

Fourth: If Christ is not risen then I am a liar. I am telling a lie about God, making me a blasphemer of God.

Fifth: If Christ is not risen from the dead then we are all still in our sin. There is no penal substitutionary atonement because the sacrifice had to be perfect and Jesus said in Matthew 12:40 that He would be in the earth for 3 days and 3 nights and then rise again. If He did not rise again then He is a liar and He could not be our substitute.

Sixth: If Christ is not risen then those who have died before us are just so much dust in the ground. They were alive and now they are dead and that is the end, no different than any animal.

Seventh: If Christ is not risen then we are the most pathetic creatures on the face of the earth because we have put our hope in a great big lie.

If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead we would be just like any other religion fabricated by man. We would be like the secular humanists and atheists who would say: eat and drink for tomorrow we die, in fact Paul says just that in verse 32 of this chapter of 1 Corinthians. That would be one extreme but the other would be that we would have to work our way to some sort of salvation or reward by doing good to receive a reward of paradise. Remember if there is no resurrection Jesus was not a sufficient sacrifice and there is no justification before God so we are still in our sin. We would be no different than the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, the Jews or the Muslims hoping someday to do enough to warrant making it to heaven.

However Paul starts his next statement out with a “but”. 1Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Paul is simply saying: I have proven to you that Christ has indeed risen from the dead, remember the Scriptural authority and the eyewitness evidence. So if Christ did rise from the dead then all of the other six things that we said followed the necessity of the resurrection must be turned on their head. Since Christ rose from the dead the preaching of the Gospel is powerful, it is the power of God for salvation. Preaching, and I do not mean simply standing in the pulpit on Sunday morning, I mean the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know the message that “God is good and man is not so there is a separation between the holiness of God and the perversion of man; sin. Jesus died for that sin as our substitute. The law of sin and death was thereby fulfilled. He was buried and rose again the third day and that is the power by which men, women and children are changed forever and for always. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in those who believe. Since Jesus rose from the dead our faith is not empty, it is placed in the One who is the glory of God, the exact image of the person of God. Since our Lord rose from the grave then I am a preacher of the truth of God; it is not empty nor in vain; IT CHANGES LIVES.” Since the Lamb of God who was slain from the foundation of the world rose from that grave the third day, there is remission of sin. We who believe and repent are forgiven and there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. He is our substitute. Because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead those who have died in Christ before us are not simply in the ground like some dead animal. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Because we have a risen Lord then you had better not pity me. I am miraculously and wonderfully changed, I am a new creation. Whether it is in a moment in a twinkling of the eye when I am changed or if I am resurrected from the grave, I will bodily stand before my Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, the Redeemer and proclaim, Worthy is the Lamb of God. HE is the firstfruit.

At this point I could say: “Let’s pray” and close out the service with the recognition that Jesus was the firstfruit of the resurrection and we who are His will follow Him in resurrection to eternal life, someday in the sweet by and by. But what about today? If all there is, concerning the resurrection, is a promise of one day rising bodily from the grave and spending an eternity in the presence of the One who took upon Himself my sin and gave me His righteousness, then that would be wonderful, it sure beats eternity in hell which is the only alternative. However, I have to believe that there is more to it than “someday”.

If you have your Bibles handy go ahead and turn to Romans 6, we will get to it in a moment. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul goes on to talk about how through one man, Adam, sin and death came into the world and through One man, Jesus, resurrection came into the world and through Him came life. (You need to understand that you are getting a little insight into how my mind works.) After reading that about sin and death coming through Adam and resurrection and life coming through Jesus I remembered a passage in Ephesians 2:4-7 4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. When I read that I noticed that it was not speaking about being made alive with Christ and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus in a future sense. In fact the Greek is in the aorist tense which simply means there is no respect to time it is simply a statement of fact. We who are the redeemed of God are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus because we have been raise up with Him. So what does that mean in our everyday life? Romans 6:1-11 1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. I am not going to spend a lot of time on this, this is a sermon to itself and when I preached it before it was as long as this one. But there are a few things that we need to see here that pertain to the original premise of the sermon. In this great exchange, our sin for His righteousness, we have been raised to walk in newness of life, the old man was crucified with Christ and we are no longer slaves to sin. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin, the sin we were born into, we are dead to that. Through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ we are alive to God. Sin has no hold on you and death has no hold on you. Not only does this great exchange of our sin for His righteousness allow us to be seated in the heavenlies with Christ which means we are free from the curse of sin but we are also free from bondage to sin NOW. As we saw earlier without the resurrection we would still be dead in our sin but now we have been made alive together in Christ Jesus.

So what prize do we receive in this Great Exchange? Yes, we receive the resurrection of our bodies at the end of the age and eternal life in the presence of our Redeemer, no more tears, no more disease, no more sorrow. But we also, in this age, receive freedom from bondage to sin; WE DO NOT HAVE TO SIN. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. We have the victory over sin, not by our works but by His. I want to close with the last two verses from 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Bottom line: This great exchange is not just for someday in the sweet bye and bye. It is for today, it is for your freedom from sin today, it is for you to know that your works in the name of Jesus are not in vain. Everyone wants to know that what they do will be worthwhile; now you know you can be steadfast, immovable and always abounding in His work. He is risen, He is risen indeed. Let’s pray.

At this point you may think that the sermon is over and we can all go hunt eggs with whatever family is available then eat you Easter ham, but I do have one more thing I believe should be driven home. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus’ very first recorded sermon was a quote from Isaiah 61. He said: “18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me £to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” £ There is nothing more captivating, nothing more heartbreaking, and more oppressive than sin. In fact I will go so far as to say if you are oppressed and under the captivity of sin then very likely you have never received Christ. You need to understand this morning that the resurrected Lord, because of Who He is and what He did, will make a difference in the life of those who repent and believe. If you said a prayer one time and got baptized but there has been no change in your life, you know who you are and what I am talking about, then today I call you in the name of the resurrected Lord to repent and believe, receive Jesus as you Lord and Savior. If you are here today as a believer but out of neglect and sin you have walked away from walking with the Lord and you have fallen into captivity and oppression to sin then today I call you in the name of the resurrected Lord to repentance. He was your substitute on the cross and He demands your obedience.