Derek Thomas on Resurrection

Today's extract is from a sermon entitled 'On the Third Day He Rose Again-1 Corinthians 15:1-11' by Derek Thomas:


'What are the consequences of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? It validates His deity. It says to us that His claim to be the Son of God, to be the Lord of glory, to be the divine Messiah, to be the suffering servant of Yahweh, Jehovah, was true. That when He said, “I and My Father are one” He was speaking the truth and here is the evidence of it. Here is how He backs it up.
It says to us that every word that Jesus ever spoke is true. His claim that the Old Testament Scriptures were the word of God and cannot be broken is true. That you can open up the Bible at any place, on any page, to any verse, and know with absolute certainty that it is the very infallible and inerrant word of God because Jesus rose from the dead.

It validates His teaching. It validates His moral teaching, His ethical teaching, His doctrinal teaching—everything that He ever said. Every word that ever came out of His mouth is true.
It attests to the fact that His work is finished. His work as the servant of the Lord, His office as mediator of the covenant, as our substitute, as our sin bearer, as He went to the cross of Calvary, as He lay down His life on behalf of sinners like you and me, as God poured out His wrath upon Him in our place, standing where we should have stood.

The resurrection is like God the Father saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” The work is finished, that there is no more need for sacrifices on Jewish altars to be slain. The veil of the Temple was rent from top to bottom because the work of the Mediator is done and complete and finished once for all.

The resurrection of Jesus attests to the Father’s corroboration of all that He has done. It demonstrates His rule. It demonstrates that He is King, that He is sovereign. He is sovereign over the grave, sovereign over death, sovereign over the devil, sovereign over all of the forces of darkness. It attests to the fact that Jesus reigns supreme. That death cannot hold Him, that the grace cannot bind Him. He lives.

And He lives more than just in my heart. He lives in my heart by His spirit, too; but He lives because He sits at God’s right hand in glory. The body of Jesus ascended into the clouds. Somewhere in this vast universe and beyond, there is the physical body of Jesus. That’s our claim. That’s the Bible’s message. And the whole truth of the gospel hangs on it. Our very salvation hangs on it, the forgiveness of our sins hangs on it. It attests to the material nature of eternal life. That what we can expect as the people of God whose sins have been forgiven, who have been drawn into union and fellowship with Christ, that what we can expect is also a physical resurrection. That the resurrection of Jesus is but the first fruits of them that sleep.
Many of you have laid dear, dear friends in the ground. Friends who knew the Lord, friends who love Jesus Christ, they’re buried in parts of this city somewhere. And there is coming a day—this doctrine validates it—when Jesus will come again on the clouds of heaven with angels and archangels and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise.

That’s what the resurrection means; that’s what this glorious truth stands for. This resurrection is but the first fruits of a great harvest of souls. The answer to the skeptic who asks, “What do you know for sure about life after death anyway? Have you ever been there?” Has anyone ever come back to tell us?” And the Christian reply is, “Yes, someone has come back to tell us. Someone has come back and said that there is life after death. And that someone is Jesus.”
Reckon with it. Confirm and affirm that truth in your hearts this morning. “On the third day He rose again from the dead according to the Scriptures.”
The question is: Do you believe it?'


Read the complete article at:
www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/Apostles%27%20Creed/05b.htm