Resurrection is a Part of the Big Three

I point out to you that no matter if we were singing an old song, an old hymn, or a new song, we were singing songs that are very doctrinally sound, Christ-centered. A lot of music today is very man-centered, and I'm very thankful for our music. We've gained a lot of truth just from what we've seen. I appreciate that key. Well, take your Bible this morning. I want you to turn to two different places, if you would. First of all, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15. Mark that passage. We'll come there a little later in the message. First Corinthians 15, and then go to the left just a little to Romans chapter 1.

Romans chapter 1, if you get over into the book of Acts, you've gone a little too far. They're right there together. We'll start with Romans 1, and then we'll turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. Now our habit here is to take notes when we are under the Word of God. Now there are times when we have a particular type of message where it is harder to take notes. I always make the sermon notes available to those of you who ask, but you should be able to take notes fairly easily this morning, and we encourage you to do that so that you can study on your own during the week.

We want to be responsible with what we learn and receive each time we come to worship. Now this morning we are here on this Easter morning in the tradition of celebrating Easter. If you've paid attention at all, you know that this is part of our culture. This is part of our culture in the church and out of the church. There are a lot of people that we know that are not Christian, and they do celebrate Easter to some degree. Now surprisingly to many, there are no examples within the New Testament of the church celebrating Easter as we do today.

If we were to look in the New Testament at the early church, we would see some things that they do that might seem strange. One that is connected with Easter is the fact that many of the Jewish Christians in the church there in the New Testament, they did continue to celebrate that Jewish Passover. Now of course they did understand that Jesus was the true Passover lamb that was to come. Remember the purpose of the Passover was the point to Christ, and those Jews who were converted understood that the Passover lamb was Christ. Now question, what do I mean when I say that the New Testament church did not celebrate Easter as we do?

They did not seem to celebrate the resurrection just one day out of the year. They tended to celebrate the resurrection every time they gathered. And as a matter of fact, they seemed to gather on the first day of the week, which was Sunday. And this of course led to the church worshipping on the first day of the week, and ultimately it was called the Lord's Day, but in many ways it was seen as Resurrection Day. Now if I were to ask you what our Easter celebration is all about, most of you would say that we are here to celebrate the resurrection, or you could say it like this, the empty tomb.

Yesterday we had a wonderful time together, great children's activity. We had an Easter egg hunt, we cooked out, we had games, we enjoyed being together. But there was a time in the activity yesterday when we sat all of the children down and one of our ladies took these little small Easter eggs and she went down through with the Easter eggs as a teaching tool to teach the activities around Easter. And she got to the very end, that last little Easter egg was empty because it signified the empty tomb. And so if you were to say, "Yes, we're here to celebrate the empty tomb," that is correct.

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection, the empty tomb. Jesus is alive. He is risen. But we need to see the resurrection among other great events as well. We do not need to emphasize the resurrection at the expense of other great events. Now what are these events? The incarnation, the crucifixion, and then the resurrection. Now in all of my study this week, studying and preparing for what we are going to look at, I called myself just imagining these things as the big three, the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. And these events are central to what Bible scholars call proper Christology.

And if we miss it with any of these three, we shipwreck the promised Messiah and we shipwreck the Christian faith. And that's why it's important for us to revisit these theological teachings within God's word. Now you could probably guess what the title of the message is going to be. It is, "The Resurrection is a Part of the Big Three." Now this might help you remember what we're looking at, this title. I like titles. Titles are important because the title is supposed to help us get our mind around all that we're going to learn. Now you see what we're going to examine. The incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection.

We'll start off in Romans with the incarnation. We'll turn over to Corinthians with the crucifixion and then we'll look at the resurrection back at Romans 1 verse 4. Now as I'm progressing through the message, if you hear me refer to or read another passage, write that passage down. It's a part of the message. And then go back in your own time and study the message in its entirety and all of the verses mentioned. So let's start off with our first major truth in our outline. Let's look at number one, the incarnation. Number one, the incarnation. Now for some of you, you might not know the meaning of this word incarnation.

You might say, "Pastor, that's one of those hard church words." Now if you're a true Christian, you definitely should know this word and understand the teaching behind this word. This term describes Jesus as He came to earth. The incarnation was an act of grace whereby the eternal Son of God came down to earth and He took upon Himself flesh. Only the divine became a man. When Jesus was in the flesh, He was both fully God and fully man. I've used this terminology before, but Bible scholars call this the hypostatic union. And in your own personal study, when you come across this term, the hypostatic union, that is referring to the incarnation.

So we see this taught beautifully in many places. Now I will reference you to a place that we've looked at a lot lately that helps us see this. And this is back in the Gospel of John. John chapter 1, starting in verse 1. Listen to what John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Pause there for a minute. We know that that is Jesus. Jesus. Jesus was in the beginning, and He was with God, and He is God. Verse 2, "He was in the beginning with God." And then verse 14, what do we see? "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." What are those verses teaching?

Those verses are teaching the incarnation. God became flesh. Now I want us to see what Paul says here in Romans chapter 1 verse 3. Let's look at this verse together. Romans 1 verse 3. Now this is mid-Senn Now I want to make two observations out of this one verse, verse 3. And these would be considered sub-points under this first major truth. First I want us to notice that Paul is talking about Jesus. Go back to the verse, "Concerning His Son." Now most Bible translations will have "Son" as capitalized. And we need to see the ones spoken of here is Jesus or God's Son.

Now there are other places where Jesus is referred to as God the Father's Son. I read one earlier. Romans 1 verse 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father." We see this also in John 3, 16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." So it is plain to see here that this Son in Romans 1 verse 3 is the Son of God, Jesus. In the second observation, notice that the Son was born. Now if you have the King James translation, it will read "made" and it means the same thing.

Go back to the verse, "Concerning His Son, who was born, are made of the seed or descendant of David." Here we need to see that the eternal Son of God spoken of in John 1 verses 1 through 2 was born or made a descendant of David according to the flesh. This means that Jesus was a descendant of King David, that great Old Testament figure, and that was prophesied about. God told David in 1 Kings chapter 2, 1 Kings chapter 8, 1 Kings chapter 9 that the Messiah would come from His descendants. This was spoken of earlier in Romans in verse 2. What does Paul say? Which He promised beforehand through His prophets. So what do we see here in summary?

We see the incarnation just in this one portion of Romans 1 verse 3. "God's Son was born a descendant of King David in the flesh." This was spoken of long ago all throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. This was seen by the disciples and many others. Here in Romans it is spoken of as Paul is writing to the Christians there in the capital city of Rome. And the teaching of the incarnation is found all throughout the Word of God. Now an application, what do we need to see here? We do need to understand the incarnation. And what I mean by understand is this. God became a man. Jesus was 100% God and 100% man the entire time He was on earth.

But the trick is we can't understand it. We can't understand it. We cannot fully understand it nor fully explain it. We accept it by faith. Now there is a point here that I want to drive home. The eternal Son of God Jesus that always has been He is the eternally existing God and He became man. Now a little more application I want you to see that here is where many make an error. Many when they see the birth of Jesus they do not see the baby Jesus as the infinitely eternal one. Yes He was created in the flesh but being 100% God all at the same time He was the eternal one having never been created. Now why is this important?

If we miss the incarnation we shipwreck the entire Christian faith. If we miss the incarnation Jesus was just a man and if He was just a man He could have never redeemed those under the law and you and I were born under the law. So we must grasp the incarnation. Now our second major truth you see before you that is the crucifixion. Number two the crucifixion. Just like we must be firmly convinced of the reality of the incarnation we must be firmly convinced that Jesus Christ did die on the cross. Now besides the four gospel accounts the crucifixion is all throughout God's word.

Paul mentions the crucifixion in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 8 as well as 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and Galatians chapter 3. Paul repeatedly uses the term the cross as well as the term being crucified with Christ. Paul refers to the death of Christ more than any other New Testament writer. So we see with just a handful of scriptures that Jesus did die on the cross. We call this the crucifixion. Now let's see what Paul says here in our 1 Corinthians 15 passage in verse 3. What does Paul say?

For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also receive that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now notice the term here right back in the verse Christ died for our sins. No matter the translation it reads the same for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Here Paul is speaking about the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. This is called propitiation. Now some of you might ask what is this word propitiation?

Propitiation is Christ's sacrifice that bears God's wrath in its fullness and in so doing changes God's wrath to favor towards us. Let me read you a few verses that will help you see Christ as our propitiation or our substitutionary death, three verses. Romans 3 starting in verse 23. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That is one of our witnessing passages that we're memorizing. But verse 24. And are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood. That substitutionary death by His blood to be received by faith.

First John 2 reads, "He is the propitiation for our sins and not only for ours but also for the sins of the world." He is that substitutionary death. Then first John 4 verse 10, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." That is that substitutionary death. So what do we see here? Christ is the substitute supplied by God for our sins. Notice also that our text reads according to the Scriptures. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15.3. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures spoke of the sacrifice of the coming Messiah.

We see this in Psalm 22. Isaiah 53. They're Bible scholars that even call Isaiah 53 the gospel of Isaiah because it has so much of the promised Messiah. We see it in Daniel 9 and Zechariah 12. So Christ died as our substitutionary death, our propitiation. Now an application, what do we need to see here? Christ died a real physical death. He was buried in a real borrowed tomb. Countless multitudes were witnesses to His death. But we must see that Christ is the substitute. He suffered the eternal wrath of God in our place. That is those of us who are truly born of God. Now an application, I want some of you to see a reality.

If you are not born again, if you do not possess a new life in Christ, you are facing the wrath of God. Sinners who died without Christ face the eternal wrath of God. And if you are outside of the saving grace of God, that is the reality that you live in now. In more application, we need to see the reality of the crucifixion. Christ did die a real death at the hands of the Romans and He was placed in that borrowed tomb. But we desperately need to see that this death was to bear the wrath of God for sinners. People are either saved sinners, never to face the wrath of God.

Our people are either outside of God's grace and they face the wrath of God and if they die ultimately eternal punishment. So the crucifixion must be understood. And our third major truth in our outline, number three, the resurrection, the resurrection. Here this morning I know we are here to celebrate the empty tomb, the resurrection. He has risen. Christ Jesus is no longer in the tomb. Now most of us here today are familiar with the four gospel accounts of the resurrection. But there are many other places in the New Testament where the resurrection is taught. Here in Paul's writings to the Romans is one. Let's go back to our Romans passage.

I'll start again with verse three. Concerning his son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. So here in verse four we see the resurrection. Paul first teaches the incarnation in verse three concerning his son born or made a descendant of David then he goes straight to the resurrection. It is obvious that the crucifixion is implied here. Now there are three observations that I want to make or three sub points just out of this one verse. First Jesus was declared the Son of God. Go back to the verse who was declared the Son of God.

Within the teaching of verse three and four we see the second verb that is used here. Before the Son was made. Go back to the verse. Concerning his son who was born or made. That was speaking of his flesh or of his humanity. Now in verse four we see that the son is declared and this is speaking of his deity. This word for declared it means to distinguish or determine or appoint. So Jesus was declared the Son of God. The second observation Jesus was declared with power. Go back to the verse who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection.

Now concerning this word power here there is a debate as to where the word power should be connected. Many noted theologians believe power should be connected with the word declared. That would read declared with power. Now there are other noted theologians they believe that power should be connected with Son of God. That would read declared the Son of God with power. Now either way we see that Jesus is declared. He is distinguished and this all comes about with power as the Son of God. So we see that Jesus was declared the Son of God. He was declared the Son of God with power.

And then third Jesus was declared the Son of God by the resurrection. Verse four who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. Here we see how this powerful declaration was made. The text reads by or through the resurrection. Jesus was distinguished the Son of God with power by the Father through this miracle of the resurrection. Now there is something important I want you to see here. Yes Jesus was declared the Son of God at His baptism. We are familiar with that passage. Jesus is being faithful to be baptized. John is baptizing Him and what do we hear?

We hear a declaration from heaven by God that this was His Son. Yes Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by John the Baptist. John the Baptist might have struggled at times but he ultimately declared that Jesus was the Son of God. Yes Jesus was declared the Son of God by all of the demons that he encountered. That might strike some of you funny. Every time Jesus saw one of the demons they declared Him as the Son of God. Men might not have known who He was but the demons did. And Jesus was declared the Son of God by His disciples and even that one thief that was crucified next to Jesus.

But in the resurrection Jesus was declared the Son of God with power through the resurrection. The resurrection proved He had power over sin and over death and over hell. None of these other declarations demonstrated such power. Power that could only come from God. So what do we see here? Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power by or through the resurrection. This demonstration proves that Jesus is and was who He was declared to be. God in the flesh. God who became man and died in man's place. Now an application. I want to correct a misunderstanding. Jesus resurrection was unlike any event in history.

There are some who mistakenly think that Jesus' resurrection was maybe like Lazarus' resurrection. We learned in our study through the Gospel of John back in John chapter 11 that Jesus' friend Lazarus died and he was in the tomb four days was he not? One of the sisters said to the Lord when he said roll away the stone and she said surely not because he stinks. He was four days dead. And Jesus did resurrect Lazarus from his grave. And this was a wonderful miracle. But Jesus' resurrection was not like Lazarus' resurrection. Lazarus was resurrected but he eventually died again.

During his life he was prone to sickness and sin and death even after such a great miracle. But when Jesus was resurrected he was resurrected as God to live eternally as God. Lazarus was resurrected to die again while Jesus was resurrected to physically ascend back to the Father and live forever and that is right where he is now. So we see the resurrection. Now as I move toward the conclusion of the message I want to go back to 1 Corinthians 15 again. You have that place marked. So let's turn back there together. I want to continue on in the chapters a lot of teaching here on the resurrection.

As a matter of fact last Easter we spent quite a bit of time here in 1 Corinthians 15. But I want us to look at two verses. We didn't cover them last year. Let's look at verse 21 and 22. "For ever since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead." Now Paul explains himself in verse 22. "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." Now out of these two verses I want you to see that all of mankind fit into one of these types of men listed here. And when I say all, I mean all, this is all inclusive, no one escapes. Some of you here, you are in Adam. Go back to the verse.

"For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead." Verse 22. "For as in Adam all die." There are some of you here, you are in Adam. You were born with the sin nature of Adam and you acted on that sin nature. Yes, you sin. No one had to teach you how to erect a God for yourself. No one had to teach you to erect a God for yourself. You did that perfectly on your own and out of your nature. Now you might be insulted and you might say, "I've not erected another God for myself." Oh yes, my friend, you have. Because if you're in Adam, your God is yourself. You have erected a God and it is self.

You did that as soon as you could according to your sin nature and you were living in your own little kingdom and you were your own little God, you're in Adam. Go back to the verse. "For since by the man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die." There are some of you, you're still in Adam. But there are some of you, you're in Christ. You were born with that sin nature of Adam also. You acted on that sin nature as well and you sinned. No one had to teach you to erect for yourself another God. You did that perfectly according to your nature. But you have experienced the grace of God in salvation.

God came to you. God called you to himself. You repented by faith and trusted in Christ. And you're in Christ, you've been made alive in Christ. Go back to the verse. In Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. So for those of you who are still in Adam, the resurrection is really not a celebration. It's a condemnation. See it's one or the other my friend. If you're not in Christ and you're in Adam, the resurrection is not really a celebration. It is a condemnation because of your condition. You are condemned for your sin. You're condemned for your rebellion.

But for those of us who are in Christ, the resurrection is a celebration because we are alive because he is alive. Go back to the verse. "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." Now, before we close, I want to give you a warning. You know that we always operate in the culture that we're in. And we are swimming in cultural Christianity. You can call it nominal Christianity. We know so many people who profess Christ, but they are not alive in Christ. And I want to help some of you. And I want to help us help some of our friends and neighbors and family members.

Do not confuse a Lazarus resurrection with a Jesus resurrection. Some of you have temporary resurrection. You took off the old stinky grave clothes of certain sins. You've done some of it quite well. You quit dwelling in the land of the dead. You even started associating with the living those who are in Christ. You may even love those who are in Christ. And you have the appearance of eternal life, but you only have the Lazarus life. When you have Lazarus life, you are still a slave to sin, and you are headed to death.

And when you have Jesus life, you are no longer a slave to sin, and you are living eternal life even now, and do not confuse the two. Because so many churches are weak, theologically, and so many churches are weak in the area of evangelism. We call people out of the grave of Lazarus. We clean them up and declare them in Christ, when actually they are still slaves to sin and they are headed to death. Those who are in Christ are alive to Christ. So what am I sharing with us this morning? The empty tomb is either condemnation or celebration. If you are not in Christ, it is condemnation. I love you. I care for you.

I encourage you to seek Christ while He may be found. Seek this life in Christ that can only come about by the new birth. Seek Christ that you would attain what only God can give. Because yes, it is condemnation because you are in your sin. Oh, but those of us who are made alive in Christ, we celebrate the empty tomb because if it wasn't for what Jesus did, we would still be in Adam as well. What's the title of the message? Resurrection is a part of the big three. The incarnation, can we understand it? No. Should we study it? Yes. Should we get our minds around it as best as we can? Yes. Should we believe it? Yes.

You can boil it on down to Jesus was a hundred percent God and He was a hundred percent man. And when He was formed in that little babe in the manger, He was God. And the crucifixion, He was our substitute. He didn't die on the cross for jewelry. He didn't die on the cross for some terrible painting to hang on the wall. So He died on the cross taking upon Himself the wrath of God. He was my substitute. He endured my hell for my sin. And the resurrection, it's either condemnation or celebration. Now a couple of words of instruction. If you are in Adam, seek Christ while He may be found.

Isaiah 55 says, "Seek the Lord, seek the Lord while He may be found." Seek Christ. If God has you here, He has you here for this day, this time, this hour, this message. If you are in Adam, seek Christ that you may experience the new birth. If you need us, you come. We don't give a traditional invitation here, but we're available. If you need me, if you need Brother Keith, we'll be glad to counsel with you. If you're a young lady or a woman, we'll be glad to point you to a woman who can counsel you as well. So my instruction for you is this. If you are in Adam, I'm going to do what the Holy Spirit does. I'm just going to point you to Christ.

He's the one who can save you. Oh, we'll help you. But He saves you. But my final word of instruction is for those of us who are in Christ, we're alive. Let's celebrate the resurrection, not just today. Oh, let's make the resurrection the centerpiece of our life every day. The centerpiece of our homes, the centerpiece of our life and our jobs, the centerpiece of our lives and our neighborhoods. Let's just make the resurrection what it should be, the centerpiece of our lives. So what are we looking at this morning? The resurrection is a part of the Big Three, and that's really just proper, simplistic Christology. Let's pray.