Christ Died Because of Our Sins and Was Raised Because of Our Justification
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 31, 2013
Special: Christ Died Because of Our Sins and Was Raised Because of Our Justification
Please turn in your Bibles to John 20:1.
This morning we will conduct a special service pertaining to the resurrection of Jesus Christ since today Christians around the world bring into remembrance this historical event.
John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” 3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; 5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes. 11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. 19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” 30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (NASB95)
There are many implications for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
First of all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ sharply distinguishes Christianity from all the world’s religions since the bones of Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tzu and Zoraster are still here on earth.
The resurrection of Christ was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, which Peter communicated to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (See Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:22-28).
Jesus Christ’s resurrection demonstrated that He was the greatest of Israel’s prophets since He predicted His resurrection several times (Matthew 12:38-40; 16:21; 17:9, 22-23; 20:18-19; 26:32; 27:63; Mark 8:31-9:1; 9:10, 31; 10:32-34; 14:28, 58; Luke 9:22-27; John 2:18-22; 12:34; 14-16).
It also demonstrates that He is in fact God (Romans 1:1-4; cf. 10:9-10).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that those who trust in Him for eternal salvation will receive eternal life and will live with God forever and those who reject Him will suffer eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire (John 3:16-18, 36; Acts 4:12; Revelation 20:11-15).
Paul in Romans 10:9 teaches that faith that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is in fact an acknowledgement of the deity of Christ since the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus is God.
Paul in Romans 10:10 continues his thought from verse 9 by teaching that a person believes with his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead resulting in righteousness while on the other hand with his mouth he acknowledges to the Father Jesus is Lord resulting in salvation.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrated the fact that our Lord is the head of the new creation (Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18; 2:10).
Our Lord’s resurrection resulted in the Holy Spirit indwelling those who trust in Him for eternal salvation (John 14:16-20, 26; 15:26; 16:7-16; Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 5:5, 16-25; Ephesians 3:16-19; 5:18; 1 John 2:20-27).
As a result of His resurrection, the Father has delegated Jesus Christ authority to judge mankind (John 5:22-29; Acts 17:31; Philippians 2:5-11).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that all those who trust in Him for eternal salvation will receive a resurrection body like Him (Romans 6:4-5; 8:11).
The resurrection vindicated Jesus of Nazareth’s claims that He was the Son of God and that faith in Him alone was the only way to receive eternal salvation and escape eternal condemnation (Acts 2:22-36, 3:11-15, 4:10-12, 10:34-43, Romans 1:4, 1 Corinthians 2:1-9, Ephesians 1:20-21, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 2:8-15, 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:21-22).
Jesus Christ’s resurrection demonstrated to the entire human race and the angels that His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross were acceptable to the Father as payment for the sins of the entire world.
Our Lord’s resurrection demonstrated that our Lord’s spiritual death solved the problem of personal sin in the human race and His physical death and resurrection solved the problem of the sin nature.
It demonstrated that both of these unique deaths redeemed and reconciled sinful humanity to a holy God and propitiated the Father’s holiness, which demanded that sin and sinners be condemned.
The Lord Jesus Christ was raised for the Christian’s justification in the sense that the resurrection of Christ demonstrated that God the Father had accepted His Son’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross to resolve the problem of personal sin and the sin nature in the human race.
In Romans 4:25, the apostle Paul declares that the Lord Jesus Christ died because of our sins and was raised from the dead because of our justification.
Romans 4:23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. (NASB95)
“He was delivered over” is the verb paradidomi, which is used of the judicial act of God the Father in delivering His Son Jesus Christ over to the Jewish and Roman authorities in order that He might suffer spiritual and physical death.
John 3:16-18, 1 John 4:9 and 14 also teaches that God the Father delivered over His Son to death because of His love for sinners.
Peter declares on the day of Pentecost that it was according to the Father’s plan from eternity past and His foreknowledge that His Son was delivered over to sinners to suffer spiritual and physical death (Acts 2:22-24).
It was the will of the Father that His Son might suffer spiritual death as our Substitute in order to rescue us from the cosmic system of Satan (Galatians 1:3-5).
Also the Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus Christ chose to give Himself up for sinners (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:1-2, 25-27).
His spiritual death dealt with the problem of the sin nature, personal sins, the devil and his cosmic system, sinful mankind’s inability to obey the Law perfectly (Matthew 27:45-46; cf. Isaiah 53:10-11).
However, his physical death was necessary in order that He might be resurrected from the dead in fulfillment of prophecy, to demonstrate that He was who He claimed to be, the eternal Son of God and to effect our justification.
The reason why our Lord’s spiritual death was the payment for our sins is that spiritual death is the root of the problem with members of the human race.
The penalty of sin is spiritual death, which means the inability to experience fellowship with God in time.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB95)
Romans 6:23 For you see the sin nature pays out spiritual death however God the Father graciously gives eternal life in the Person of Christ, who is Jesus, our Lord. (My translation)
Spiritual death originated with Adam in the Garden of Eden when he chose to disobey the command of the Lord not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17), which resulted in Adam and his wife losing fellowship with God (see Genesis 3:6-8).
Adam and his wife did “not” die immediately physically but rather they died immediately spiritually when they disobeyed and this is demonstrated by their actions after their disobedience when they hid themselves from the Lord.
Since then, every human being past, present and future receives the imputation of Adam’s sin in the garden, which makes every human being physically alive but spiritually dead (Romans 5:12).
The reason why God did this is found in Galatians 3:22.
Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (NASB95)
In John 19:30, the Lord triumphantly said “It is finished” while He was still physically alive and which statement refers to the payment of our sins, thus indicating that His physical death did not pay for our sins but rather His spiritual death.
Isaiah 53:11 records that the Father was satisfied by the anguish of the soul of the sinless human nature of Christ on the Cross caused by His spiritual death as the payment for the sins of the entire world.
“Anguish of His soul” refers to the intense suffering of our Lord’s human soul as a result of being separated from the Father on the Cross and which suffering no angel or man will ever be able to identify with since no angel or man has kept themselves experientially sinless.
The anguish of the Son’s soul was valued much more than His blood since blood is inanimate but the human soul is created in the image of God.
Our Lord’s loss of fellowship with His Father in His humanity during those last 3 hours in darkness on the Cross was infinitely more painful to our Lord than the physical suffering He had endured and was enduring.
Our Lord’s loss of fellowship with His Father in His humanity during those last 3 hours in darkness on the Cross was valued infinitely more by the Father than the shedding of His literal blood or His physical suffering.
This is not to say that the Father did not value the physical suffering of His Son, or His literal blood, which was sinless, He did, but literal blood though sinless cannot resolve man’s problem of separation from God under real spiritual death.
The separation from God of a perfect human being whose soul was never contaminated by sin was the penalty that had to be paid in order to redeem human souls from the curse of Adam’s sin of disobedience and real spiritual death.
Romans 4:25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. (NASB95)
“Because of our justification” indicates that the sinner’s justification as a result of exercising faith in Jesus Christ is the cause or reason why the Father raised His Son Jesus Christ from the dead.
Christ’s spiritual and physical death are meaningless if He isn’t raised from the dead since His resurrection demonstrates who He claimed to be all along, the Son of God (See Romans 1:3-4).
Therefore, since He has been raised from the dead demonstrating He is the incarnate Son of God, His command to believe on Him for eternal salvation must be obeyed.
Furthermore, since He has been raised from the dead, without compromising His perfect integrity, the Father can declare the sinner justified who exercises faith in His Son.
“Justification” is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.
The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace. (2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior. (3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer. (4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.
Romans 3:24 teaches that justification is a gift of God’s grace and is made possible by the voluntary, substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Galatians 2:16 teaches as do the rest of the Scriptures that the only way that a member of the human race can ever be declared righteous by God is through receiving the gift of divine righteousness by grace through faith alone in Christ alone.