Foreseeing the Resurrection

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13 for a message entitled "Forseeing the Resurrection." And you may have expected us to continue in the book of Hebrews, and we will next week, but with all the study on the resurrection for our Resurrection Sunday service last week, I truly wanted to enjoy more of this thought with you today. And so, walk with me through the Scriptures if you would through Acts chapter 13 verse 26, but by way of introduction, I would like to maybe address some of the presuppositional thoughts that are around us, and maybe you can identify with them and some of the friendships and family members that you may have around in your life, in touch with a really good friend of mine now in Canada who has converted from Islam to Christianity. And it took him 20 years of studying other religions to find out that Christianity is the only religion that identifies the total depravity and offers a total solution. And so, when he recognized that in the Scriptures, he converted to Christianity. He was saved, gloriously saved. I remember hearing his testimony and just weeping as I was up late at night hearing him out, and I was still in my vehicle talking with him after a few hours. And he flew down here to be baptized. Maybe some of you remember Sam. And you can pray for him because he is not only gloriously saved, but living out the persecution that comes with being a Christian as a prior Muslim. And so, please pray for Sam. But he recognized that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life through the Gospel, and it was by way of the direction that was very convincing for him. And so, he would say that Muslims all around the world believe that they know the one true God, Allah, but that is not the true God. And then as well, maybe you have had Buddhist friends and family members have just recently taken a mission trip to Thailand a year or so ago and was partnering with our missionary, David Thomas, and experienced to see just how difficult it is to interact with those who live in Thailand, who are Thai people, who basically associate their national identity with their national religion. And if they convert to any other type of religion, it is abandoning their nation, their heritage, and abandoning their family. And they must see the evidence before they even consider it. But Buddhists lean and not Christ. Maybe you know some atheists, especially as we have watched in our day how England has become more and more atheistic, and America seems to follow the trends in England. And so, it would be wise of us to be able to understand where they're coming from. They would see equal value between Socrates, equal value between what Plato and Aristotle and Jesus have to say. They would say, "We're open-minded and we're not stuck in some historical context in an ancient book that no longer applies to our life. We have more intellect today, more information to consider, more truth to know, but they do not know the truth. In fact, their religion would lead to annihilationism in their own mind and that when they die, they just die and cease to exist anywhere. And you and I know that that's not true. There is eternity for every soul. The Jews that are in Jerusalem would believe that they have the one true God Yahweh, but would not believe that Jesus is God. And so then, therefore, they are also on the wrong path. They have these presuppositional thoughts that need evidence, that need the truth of God's Word, that need the gospel to open their eyes to the life of Christ. And we know that Buddhists and atheists and Muslims and such, they believe in living a good life and being a good person. But Mark 10 verse 18 says that none are good. Mark 10, 18 says none is good except God is alone. And so when Mark 10, 18 says that none is good, that is like going for the jugular of false religions. None is good. You cannot be good enough to get to heaven. Good people don't go to heaven. Safe people go to heaven. And when you go back to them and start to understand what the Scriptures say, when they start to see what the Scriptures say about the resurrection, then it sets Christianity apart from all the other religions because the difference between Christianity and all the other religions hinges upon the resurrection. The resurrection is essential for our belief, for our ability to prove that Christ is separate from Muhammad or Buddha or anyone else. You know, they died and they're still dead. Buddha died in 483 BC. He's still dead. Let's see, Muhammad, he died in 632 BC. He's still dead. Jesus, he died in 33 AD and he's still alive. Amen. He has risen again. That sets all the other religions in the world. And so it hinges upon the resurrection. What sets Christianity apart? What proof does Christianity have? It's the proof of the resurrection. Today, I want to help us all to see that the resurrection was foreseen. No other holy book on the planet from any other religion has any type of information that points to their prophet being resurrected. But the Bible does. The Bible foresees our prophet, Jesus Christ, being risen. And it's no new news, though the disciples did not comprehend what Jesus was saying. They were expected to understand that he would die. He would be buried and that he would be resurrected. And Jesus even said, "Have you still no understanding of this?" And Job, he said in chapter 19, verse 25, "that I know my Redeemer lives." Isn't that beautiful? And so Job testified that he knew that a Savior was to come and he looked forward to that Redeemer being resurrected by this one statement we deduced that truth. Job 19, 25, "I know my Redeemer lives." Job is most likely the first book in our Bible written. And so from the very beginning of time, we see that God has truths. So the Messiah for Job was foreseen as one who would be resurrected. Job believed by foreseeing Jesus's death and burial and resurrection. And so Job foresees the resurrection. And then as well, believing in the resurrection, I would say to you, is essential for salvation. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 17, as I warm up to our text in Acts, just wetting our whistle a little bit, 1 Corinthians 15, 17 says, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless." So if there is anything that makes the gospel alive or dead, it hinges upon the resurrection of Christ. We can talk about the death and the burial all day long, but those have excuses. Good secular apologists have eluded the truths of the death and the burial. The Muslims know God would never allow His prophet or His Son to be crucified on the cross, and they and their doctrine take Jesus off the cross before He dies. And so they've eluded the death on the cross. You can elude those types of things. You can elude the burial, which grave was it? Have you taken a tour in Jerusalem before? There's three different sites that all claim to be the site where it happened, the crucifixion or the cave. It's hard to tell. And secular atheists can elude those truths, but they cannot elude. The 500 witnesses mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 saw the resurrected Savior. What do you do with these witnesses in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 6? The Bible says, "And that He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. And then He appeared as well to James and others." What do you do with these testimonies? You see, all of our antiquities hinge upon testimonies, and you have to then believe or disbelieve. And so the things that verify these testimonies bring credibility to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have these witnesses. We have these proofs. The resurrection is what hinges. In Acts chapter 13 verse 26 through 30, I want you to read the text together slowly and look at how the apostle Paul's preaching hinges upon the foreseeing of the resurrection from the Old Testament. I want you to see that comprehension of the resurrection is expected. Paul is preaching in a way to his audience that you know about the resurrection. And this Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, was raised from the dead by God. You know this. And so Paul is leaning in on their expectiveness. He expects them to know from the Old Testament that God's Son will not only be crucified and not only that He will be buried on the same day, but as well He will be raised. And not only did you miss it, like totally miss it, you actually crucified Him. And so He is bringing what I would say a Bible-like sword and striking at the heart of who they are and their identity as sons of Abraham. You call yourself a child of God and you completely missed it. Now I've completely missed things and been oblivious to things. But praise the Lord, He's opened my eyes to the truth of who He is. And the truth of who Christ is comes by the Word of God. In Romans chapter 10 verse 17 it says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." And so you see that you must be speaking about your faith to other people about what the Word says so that they can activate their faith and confess Christ as Lord and Savior. So they can be regenerate, be saved. We have to witness everyone needs to be discipling someone. If you're taking notes, write that down. Everyone, discipling someone. You cannot read the Great Commission after Jesus' and how He witnessed to these witnesses by His presence and by His teachings and then gives them this authoritative command to go into all the nations and share the gospel and make disciples and baptize them and teach them all. You cannot read that and be obedient if you are not making disciples personally. Making disciples is more than sharing the gospel. We build up around here all the time the necessity of evangelism to share the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and repent of your sin and believe in Him. Evangelism is essential. We must be evangelist, but the Great Commission is more than just evangelism. The Great Commission is moving forward with that person to help see that they are biblically baptized and they belong to a local church and that they also are taught the full counsel of God, not just cherry picking one little verse and making them feel good about their life and the condition that they're in right now. You don't want to affirm people where they're at in Christ. You want to spur them forward in Christ. And so comprehension of the resurrection is an expectation in Acts chapter 13. Let's start in verse 26 and just kind of walk through it and see what's happening here. Now the emphasis of this sermon, and we're picking up halfway through Paul's exhortation here, we're picking up halfway through. Peter's already preached most of this sermon in Acts chapter 2. Now it's Paul's turn.

The emphasis, the push of this sermon is to recognize that God has fulfilled His promise to raise Jesus. God is a promise keeper and He's trustworthy. You can trust God because He followed through with His Old Testament promises to raise His Son. This is a God who is trustworthy. Trustworthy enough that you can trust your life with Him. What He has said, you can trust doing what He calls He's trustworthy. What God says about life and eternity, believe it and do it. You can trust Him. What He says about the local church, trust Him. Do it. Be obedient. What He says about evangelism and discipleship, about sharing the gospel, making disciples, about yielding yourself to His Word, trust Him. He's trustworthy. The fact that Jesus was raised from the grave proves that God is trustworthy. The emphasis behind this sermon. Let's pick up in verse 26 and it says, "Brethren, sons of Abraham's family." And so this audience that Paul is preaching to is a very similar audience to the audience of those who in the book of Hebrews was written to. A bunch of good Hebrew men and women who know their Old Testament. They're Jewish people. They're Jews who have been converted from Judaism to Christianity. Some are still mixed and sprinkled within the congregations, in the synagogues, in the Bible studies, in the group meetings with those who are still non-believers, those who missed it. Just like every church and every congregation has some wheat and some tares, some goats, some sheep. You have a mixed congregation, but now He is pulling on all of their identity. He's saying, "You call yourself a Son of God, a child of God, a chosen one, an Israelite." That's what it is, to say, "Son of Abraham." You're of Abraham's family? All right, listen, because I've got something to say to you, and it's the same as saying to us today, "You call yourself a Christian?"

Listen, do you think that you are a believer, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? There's some things in this sermon that is going to be very clear for those who claim to be. Here we go, "Brethren, sons of Abraham's family and those among you who fear God,

to us the message of salvation has been sent." Yes, the message of salvation was sent in and through Israel. Verse 27, "For those who lived in Jerusalem and their rulers," this is sarcasm here, or pointed sarcasm, "recognizing neither him," oh, go figure, "that they didn't recognize Christ, nor the utterances of the prophets." Oh, now you're really getting personal. You mean we didn't recognize or believe what our own prophets said? Paul, now you're going from my approved preacher list to my disapproved preacher list. I no longer like you. Does Paul care? No, he's preaching the truth, but he's got their attention. He's striking at their very identity right here and saying that you didn't even recognize the Messiah, the one who has been foretold for centuries from your own scriptures. You didn't recognize what the prophets said about him, and now he's got their attention. "Neither him nor the utterances of the prophets," which you read every Sabbath. Wait a minute.

Paul is saying, "You read the scriptures every Sunday." Well, Saturday. "You read it. You read them every single week. You memorize it. Oh, you know it, but you missed it." Now he has their attention like, "What do you have to say that I do not already know?" Paul, who used to be Saul, who are you? You can imagine the skepticism that they are hearing in their heart right now towards him, but he says, "Furthermore, fulfilled these by condemning him." What an accusation. Paul says, "You missed the Messiah, so much so that you even crucified the very Son of God." Wow, what an indictment. In verse 28 he says, "And though they found no ground for putting him to death, they asked Pilate that he be executed." Yeah, you're part of the group that approved the execution of God's Son. Can you imagine at this moment during this preaching that there would not be a sound around him? Everyone would be like, "I cannot believe he is saying what he is saying." Verse 29, "When they carried out all that was written concerning him." Wait a minute.

Okay, so Paul is talking about Jesus being crucified here, and now he says, "When they," those who crucified Christ, "carried out all that was written." What was written about this? You're saying we missed it? What did we miss? And you're saying it was written in our own scriptures that we read every single week? What did we miss? Well, hold your place in Acts if you would as we take a few noteworthy rabbit trails and turn with me back to the Torah, which they would have memorized and known to Deuteronomy 21. Deuteronomy 21, 23. What did they miss? Ah, well look at this prophecy. In Deuteronomy 21, 23, this is one of the things that they missed. "His corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day." At this moment, they would have been like, "Whoops." And that's a big one. Thank the Lord that through our

sin and our participation in condemning him, we can repent and be exonerated from such punishment that we deserve. Can you imagine the punishment for crucifying God's Son? What would his gavel come down upon your life for participating in the approval? And you know that you too, like the audience of this sermon in Acts chapter 13, are just as guilty as they because we in our sins have transgressed against Jesus, against God, and we deserve the same punishment that he is bringing down upon them. We are in the same boat as the listeners here. We need to make sure that we don't have the ending of this sermon applied to our life. And so it's very important to comprehend what Paul is saying right here. This is so important. So verse 29, "When they carried all that was written," well, some of that was the fact that he would be crucified and buried on the same day, continue to unravel more information concerning him, "they took him down from the cross and laid him in the tomb." Yes, they would have had Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 23. Well, let me say it this way. They didn't have chapters and verses, you know that, but they would have had these prophecies ringing in their mind because of how devoted they were to memorizing the Torah. You are no man of God unless you have memorized books of God. Oh, how they valued Scripture memory. In verse 30, "But God raised him from the dead," amen, "and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem." Those whom he appeared to, we already know that this is the first time that he had been in the church. And so, "For many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now his witnesses to the people, and we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers." In Isaiah chapter 44 verse 8, it says, "You are my witnesses." And this is a foretelling as well of Acts chapter 1 verse 8, "And you are my witnesses. You will be in the Greek my martyrs. You will be the ones who die for the causes of Christ. You will push the gospel forward through your sufferings and through your rejection and through your being identified with the cross of Christ." It's a reason why Jesus said, "You have nothing to do with me unless you take up my cross and follow me." So every single one of us have a cross-like lifestyle that verifies that we are truly Christians. You have crucifixion to endure and that you also have a resurrection to enjoy. Your life as a Christian should be both valleys and mountaintops because you're a Christian. Now, I'm not talking about toothaches and broken bones, stuff like that, car crashes, so we all have... we live in a fallen world. Yes, I get it. But because you should be being persecuted because of who you are in Christ, you should be experiencing rejection if you are truly living Christ-like, if you're a little Christian. And that's a valley experience that God sees you through. But at the same time, He lifts you out of that valley and He lifts you to even a mountaintop experience to where you are so thrilled to be pleasing to God. And so Christians go through valleys and they go through mountaintops. They walk with Christ the majority of the time, but you definitely go through these things. And so when we preach to you the good news, the death and burial and resurrection of Christ, and this was a promise made to the fathers. Paul, you're getting deep here. You're pulling on all the Old Testament truths that which we know. Where are you going with this? In verse 33, "That God has fulfilled His promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus." This is the one line that I have hinged the title of today's message on, "Forseeing the Resurrection." Paul is pulling on their memory what they have memorized of the Old Testament about the Messiah to come that He would be resurrected. And this whole push of the sermon is calling not only their identity of being a person of God into question, but also what they have studied. Do you really know the Bible? Do you really understand? Can you rightly interpret it? Because I'm fixing to tell you exactly what it says. And so now Paul pointedly continues that God has fulfilled His promise to our children. Now you know that the promises that were promised is synonymous with the word covenant. And so all of the Old Testament is being hinged upon Paul's preaching right here. Paul has the Adamic covenant all the way from Genesis. And then you have the Noaic covenant all the way from Genesis. And then you have the Abrahamic covenant all the way from Genesis. And then you have the Mosaic covenant through the Law. And then you have the Davidic covenant. And all these covenants climax in Christ for the New Covenant. So Paul is bringing them out of Old Testament covenant into New Testament covenant with Christ. The promises are pointing to Christ. Paul is pulling them into the fullness of Christ to see what the Scriptures really do say. This is essential to see this. And he says that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus. And so the whole gospel, the whole point of salvation hinges here for Paul upon the resurrection and it is also written in the second psalm. And here's a quote from Psalm 2.7. "You are my Son. Today I have begotten you." Well that's interesting enough for us to turn back to Psalm 2.7 and take a quick peek at this. So hold your place in Acts 13 and turn to Psalm chapter 2 verse 7.

In Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 he's quoting here this phenomenal Psalm of the Messiah.

And he says let's go to verse 6. Psalm 2.6, "But as for me," that "me" is capitalized in the New American Standard Version. It's referring to Christ. "I have installed my King." God is installing Christ upon Zion, my holy mountain. In verse 7, "I will surely tell of the degree of the Lord." He said to me, "You are my Son. Today I have begotten you." Now this is a foreseeing of the resurrection because the word begotten granted normally means birth. But here in context it means of the resurrection. It signifies of the resurrection. And if they missed this, then Paul is revealing this to them. And so he quotes this Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 as evidence of that they should have known that the Messiah would have been raised. Now back to Acts chapter 13 as he continues on because he's going to go back and quote from another Psalm here in just a moment in the same sermon. Paul is really spit firing Old Testament Scripture at them that they should know. And in their context they would have had these things at the forefront of their mind. And so it's like verification that Jesus is not only the one whom is God's Son who died on the cross and on the same day was buried according to Deuteronomy chapter 21 but also was raised. In verse 34 it says, "As for the fact that he being God raised him being Christ up from the dead, no longer to decay." Circle that word decay. It's a word that's important for they would have known this. "He has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David."

Oh man, this is great. Let's go ahead and read verse 35 before we skip to the Old Testament again. "Therefore," he also says in another Psalm, "you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay." So circle decay. While we're at it let's circle the word decay two more times in verses 36 and 37. "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay. But he whom God raised did not undergo decay."

And so you see that God raised Jesus and the body of Jesus did not undergo decay. But they still have the tomb of David. He's still the body. It's decaying. The proof then there is that Christ was raised. See the resurrection is the evidence for our gospel. But let's go back and just take a look at this and if you would turn back to the Psalm. Psalm 1610. We did a rather long exposition Psalm 16 last week and verse 10 is the climax of this wonderful golden psalm where it says that the body of Christ will not undergo decay. It's not going to decay. It's not going to rot. In verse 10 it says, "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay." His remains will be remade. Jesus is not going to stay in the grave. He's going to be this is the climax of Psalm 16. Psalm 16 would have been something that they truly knew very, very, very well. Not only Psalm 16 but Psalm 22 as well when it comes to the prophecy of the crucifixion. But unfortunately the majority of them would ignore stuff like this. The Hebrews and the Jews would ignore explicit prophecy such as the whole chapter of Isaiah chapter 53. They weren't even allowed to read it. They would be like the DS2 founded American. They cut portions of the Bible out because they didn't like what Jesus said. They pick and choose what they thought that they wanted to listen to. And so here Paul then quotes back in Acts chapter 13 from the psalmist again to prove the resurrection. But in verse 34 there's some more richness in here, "And I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David." What are the holy and sure blessings of David? Well I'm glad you asked. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 13, "You have these wonderful blessings that are full or told forever and he shall build a house for my name." Okay, there's going to be Christians in the family of God. And God is building a house, a family of God. There's going to be a family. The remnant will be saved. This is a promise and it will be continued. "And I will establish a throne of his kingdom forever." And so David is the one who cannot fulfill this prophecy because he, like every human being, is going to die and cannot sit on the throne forever. So therefore this is a prophecy about the one to come who will sit on the throne forever. And in Hebrews chapter 1, 2, and 3 we see that Christ is ruling and reigning on the throne. And so as the fulfillment of this prophecy, Paul in Acts chapter 13 is preaching like an Old Testament theologian driving home these points to those who should have seen that Jesus is the Messiah. And so I will give you the holy and the sure blessings of David, these blessings of his covenant fulfillments and the fulfillment of the kingdom of God being at hand in our hearts and in heaven is right before us. And yet they missed it. In verse 36, "For David, after he had served the purpose of God and his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay, but he who God raised did not undergo decay. Therefore, let it be known to you brethren that through him," that's being Jesus, "forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Now that he has established all of these truths from the Old Testament, he is applying forgiveness of sins for you who believe in the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ." It's not if you believe in what a pope says. It's not if you pray to Mary and ask for forgiveness. It's not if you give enough money to some particular denomination or do enough good works because no amount of good works can get you in heaven. Good people don't go to heaven. Save people go to heaven and no amount of anything will get you into heaven's gates. Save Christ in Christ alone. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and no one gets to the Father except by me, John 14, 6. We must be living and breathing this. We don't just need to know this and we don't need to just believe this. This is a singular truth that must be exuberated from our life. And if it is lived out, I promise you, you will be ostracized for it. You will suffer family turmoil for it because it divides between those who are truly not. It is such easy street to be a universalist and say, "I'm glad what's true for you is true for you. I'm happy for you." But that's a false peace. That peace between you two that you have allowed is sin. You cannot abandon Christ for the sake of family peace. You cannot abandon Christ for the sake of peace with your friends. You must be ones whom are standing upon the promises, standing for Jesus Christ. And when you do that, and when you suffer for that, when you suffer some relational turmoil, embrace it because suffering is fellowship with Christ in this area. Philippians 3.10, "When you suffer for the causes of Christ, it's fellowship with Christ because He was the one who was first rejected and our rejection falls upon Him." You are, if you're saved, blood-bought. You belong to Christ, and so your whole life, including your sufferings, belongs to Him. You don't belong to yourself. It's not your life. You belong to Christ, and everything that you have is because of the goodness of God. Everything that you will get and not get is because of the goodness of God. And even the sufferings is designed, custom designed, by God, not only for your maturing in Christ, but also to bring others closer to Christ. And you see, if you stand genuinely upon Jesus and Jesus alone, and you suffer some relational issues between your friends and family, which granted is not fun, guess what? When Jesus saves their soul, you will be loved by them more than ever before. And so stand upon the promises. Be one who is of the truth. In John 17, verse 17, it says, "Thy word is truth." I cannot yield to universalistic thought. I cannot yield and say to my Muslim friends, "Man, you're the greatest guy I've ever met in my life. You will give the shirt off your back for anything in any neighbor, in any person that I've ever met. You put Christians to shame you're so

but that's not going to get you into heaven, brother."

I was talking to an agnostic, and Colonel Douglas McGregor would not mind me mentioning his name, in that he believes Christians should be better at what they do. The world needs you.

So even as one who does not believe in the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ said Christians need to be more Christ-like. I'm just saying to us, our authentic life matters not only to Christ, but also to atheists and your neighbors and your friends. It really does matter lest there not be true forgiveness. You see, here's the Arminian error in that if you believe that you have some part in your salvation, like, "I chose God," or "I worked for my salvation," then it nullifies the cross because Christ completely died for all of your sin.

He didn't somewhat die for some of your sins. You see how it reduces the gospel if you do not believe in a true--so, terriology--a true gospel, a true salvation. So we can't reduce the blood, we can't reduce the suffering, we can't reduce anything. Christ did not even take up some pain medication to reduce the sufferings on the cross because he had to bear all of the iniquities. The fullness of our sins fell on him, and so he didn't take the gall, he didn't take the

pain medication that was offered to him before the cross. So for this total forgiveness of sins, in verse 38, it is a total recognition of the total depravity of man for a total forgiveness by Christ and Christ alone. It's total, if not somewhat. And though we have had centuries of good intentions on the area of so terriology, it falls short if it is universalistic in nature, it falls short if it is human effort in nature. And to even reduce it somewhat is to back away from the full gospel of Christ. Do you see that we are suffering from this in our day, that most have reduced the true gospel to easy believers and that they have not truly professed to, has died totally for the total depravity of those who repent and believe, but yet they have somehow synergistically merged in between two camps and said, "Okay, well, some of me involved in that, and some of you, I'll ask you a question. Did you die on the cross for any of your sins? Could your death pay for any of your sins? Do you have enough worth, enough merit, are you holy enough to pay for your sin? Can you exonerate that? Can you pay for it? Because the penalty is hell for eternity, and the reason why it is hell for eternity is because we serve a thrice holy God. Holy, holy, holy, the holiness of God has been raised to the furthest extent. God cannot be more holy, and a holy God has set the punishment for sin. It's death. Sin equals death. And so your sin, you violated the whole law, you must die for your sins. And if you die for your sins, you're going to die for eternity and keep dying in hell forever.

And so you can't even pay for a single sin, much less all of your sins, past, present, and future. It takes God Himself who is worthy. Who is worthy? The Lamb. The Lamb of God is worthy. He is worthy. Only He is worthy to pay a sacrifice, a pure sacrifice for our sin. If you don't believe this, this warning applies to you, and it's from Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 5. Let's get down to verse 41. And to get there, let's continue reading in verse 39. "And through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses."

Park there for just a moment. First of all, he strikes at their identity as one's being of Abraham. And now he's saying, "Those of you who are of Moses." Paul is really, really, really good at preaching. He sees it from their perspective because he used to be a Pharisee. He used to be in Judaism. He knows exactly how to pull their heartstrings.

Let me just tell you that this preaching would have infuriated those who did not believe in Christ. They would have been ready to stone Him at this point. Now you were disparaging us as ones of Abraham. Now you're disparaging us as ones of Moses. "I kill you." They would have been so bad at Paul. And then he ends with a pastoral warning. In verse 40, "Therefore take heed." At this point, Paul is no longer pointed in sarcasm and angry. He's now willing to die in place, so to speak. He's pleading with them. You see, good preaching moves from the person of Christ to persuasion. And now he is lovingly persuading them. "Therefore take heed." He's begging and persuading. "So that the thing spoken of in the prophets may not come upon you."

The majority of what the prophets had to say were what was condemnation towards Israel for not repenting. And so now loud and clear, he's warning them as a good shepherd should. In verse 41, is a quote from Habakkuk 1.5, and it says this, "Behold you scoffers." And he would speak as one who is brokenhearted right now. A good preacher would never speak on hell without being brokenhearted. And these who are scoffers toward Christ are not going to heaven but going to hell. And at this point, Paul would have a broken heart towards those, and he would be begging them that the prophecy from Habakkuk 1.5 would not be applied to them in their rebellious hearts. He's pleading them to repent and believe in Christ. "Behold you scoffers and marvel and perish."

Like, "Oh, brothers, don't perish. Oh, brothers and sisters, my fellow kinsmen of Abraham,

lovers of the law, believe that the law is pointing towards the Lord Jesus Christ, believe that Abraham looked ahead to the Messiah and was saved by faith, believe in what the Old Testaments truly say, behold, you scoffers and marvel, perish. For I am accomplishing a work in you, your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you. This is like the preacher of Hebrews towards the Hebrews who were stubborn, and he is saying, "I'm warning you. God punished Israel by taking them into captivity, and they were subject to the Babylonians. Heed the warning." This is what Habakkuk 1.5 would be, "Heeding." It would be preaching and prophesying. "Don't be like that. Don't be like that." How many of us,

we agonize with the interaction with stubborn people, with hard-hearted people, and you agonize with that because you're like, "Please see the promises leading to Christ. Please please repent and be saved." I was speaking with a brother this morning who was interacting with one who just had an injury, and he's like, "I'm gradually leaning in, not too hard because I know that his pride will well up and he'll reject me, so I'm just trying to gently get the gospel to this to this man who needs Jesus. Oh, how agonizing it is to walk on eggshells with people and to try to get them to see Jesus. It is." Paul doesn't do that here. He gets the gospel in quickly, and he tells them strategically from the Old Testament that Jesus was raised. That is the crucial point of this resurrection. Now that I've gotten through the introduction, I think I should save all of the proofs from the Old Testament that leave to the resurrection, and just leave it at this. This is Paul's preaching.

Take home truth number one.

Comprehension does not mean salvation.

You can comprehend that Jesus was an authentic person in antiquity. You can say, "I've read Josephus's attestations of the historical person of Christ and that he was a political

reviler. He stirred up the people against Rome. He stirred up the people against the Sanhedrin.

He got the Pharisees and the Sadducees and arguments about the resurrection.

He caused those who thought that they were doing what's right to realize that they were saying they hated him for it and they crucified it, and so much so that Rome had to step in and crucify him." You can know about the historical figure Jesus, the man named Jesus. By the way, there's a whole lot more men named Jesus in history. Which Jesus? You can know about these Jesuses and still not be saved. The Bible says that the demons believe in the era saved. You can't believe that. Even the demons believe. Even the demons know about this. And so comprehension does not mean salvation. It must move from your head to your heart. Comprehension of Christ must move from being able to confess that Jesus is Lord. Okay? Romans 10.9, it says that if you confess that Jesus is Lord, but it does not just stop there. There have been many people who confess Christ is Lord and they are still lost. This is the difference between most people will go to hell in our day, especially in Southeast America. The difference between your head and the heart is most likely somewhere around seven inches. In between this theological gap is where the majority of people in America even will go to hell because they have confessed a cheap prayer. They have confessed, they have said, "I believe Jesus is God's son. I believe that He died on the cross. I believe the prophecies of the Old Testament are true. I believe that He was put in the grave on the same day. I believe that God the Father raised Him from the dead. I believe. I know these things. But if it does not move from your cognitive understanding into the internal volition of your emotions, if it has not truly become a heart motive, you see, it has to be motivation because the Bible attests to the fact that you've been made into a new creation and you've received a new heart, new motives. True Christians then have had the old removed and the new installed and you have a new heart. Ezekiel 36, 37 attests to the fact that you have been given a new heart. You have been regenerated. And so to be a confessor doesn't mean that you are also a possessor of Jesus Christ. It doesn't guarantee that Christ is in your heart. You can say whatever you want. Words are cheap. Actions is where the cost is. But when you have true salvation, then it changes you. It makes it to where you are being conformed into His likeness regularly. It makes it to where you love God's Word so much that you can't live without it. You read it. You study it. You desire good teaching, good preaching, good Bible study. This is the heart's desire that you enjoy. You can't get away from it. If you miss church, you're agonizing because, "Oh, I missed out. My heart is full of worship, more fellowship, more prayer, more of the Word of God." And this is evidence that you are a true believer. Separation from the flock agonizes the soul. But when you are connected with the flock of good church, then you are enjoying fellowship with not only the believers, but also with Christ and it is verifying. So then point number two for your take-home truth is that salvation is connected to commitment. Salvation is connected to commitment. You can't separate commitment from Christ. It's nailed down in Acts chapter 2 verse 36, "The same Jesus whom you crucified is both Lord and Savior." Lord and Savior. One man, one God, one death, one burial, one resurrection, one faith, one baptism, Christ alone. He is both Lord and Savior. Acts 2, 36. But most live as if they have professed Him as Savior, but nothing to do with this lordship in being master of your life. The controller of what you say and do and believe. They separate the two. You better not cut Christ in half. You can't do it and have the true Christ. It's a different Christ. And so you cannot separate Christ from commitment. Salvation is connected to commitment. Those who believed in the resurrection, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, their lives were changed. Where their feet went changed. What they said changed. What they were committed to changed. Their life changed. What their heart beat for changed. It is no longer a thing of this world. You could care less about what you drive. You care less about where you live because you serve a risen Savior and you have a home in heaven. And all of this stuff is just going to burn up anyway. It's all temporal. You don't idolize your own body. You don't look at your biceps in the mirror for 10 hours. No longer does this shell dictate how you feel and do because your heart is beating for Christ and His purposes. And so you get beyond yourself to the Christ in others. You get beyond yourself to the purposes of Christ in the local church. You get beyond even praying for yourself all the time in self-centered prayers to interceding for others for the majority of the time. You see how Christ is in and through you and this is inseparable from your commitment. The resurrection is also inseparable from true salvation. Point number three. First, we live by resurrection power. And I want you to see this for yourself. If you would turn to Romans 8, 11, our final scripture, which saddens me by the way.

Romans 8, 11. Oh, this is so good to see that the same Spirit that raised Jesus also raises us, not only for salvation, but for the power of living. Romans 8, 11. But if the Spirit of Him, okay, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, but if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead, He will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. And so this passage moves from the Spirit of God that raised Jesus. He not only raises you and saves you, but He gives you life every single day. He dwells within you what it is to dwell with God. It's a tabernacle with the Lord to enjoy His fellowship, to walk with Him, to commune with Christ. I'm telling you, Jesus Christ should be your best interaction. It should be your best prayer time. It should be your best fellowship. It should be your best tabernacling. The best communion this side of heaven is with Christ. The foretaste of that is the intimacy in marriage. It's the only illustration given to help describe our union in Christ by way of experience is the closeness of marriage. And so we live by this power, the Spirit of the living God that raised Jesus from the grave, that turned a body that was decaying back into a resurrected glorified body, the same Spirit that does that, saves your soul and gives you the power of living. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead helps you dwell with the Lord. A couple more verses and I close with you. Verse 12, "So then brethren, we are no longer under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh." You see that? When Jesus is your Lord and you're living by the Spirit, by the power of God, you're no longer obligated to sin. You don't enjoy sin. You don't like it anymore. You hate it. Holy men hate sin, by the way. In verse 13, "For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." There you have some evidences of true believers who are living by the Spirit of God, who have changed lives, who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who not only believe in the death, burial and resurrection, but have that gospel exuberating from their life as a testimony.

I love you so much. Thank you for coming today. Let's pray together. We'll sing a couple more hymns. Dear God, thank you for our time together as a church. To feast upon your word, your word truly is enough. We don't need anything else. You've already given us more than we have deserved. Thank you for saving us. You have given us faith, and we've exercised that by confessing that you are Lord and Savior. Lord, if there be here one that has never truly been saved, I pray that you would give them the faith inside of their hearts so that they can confess that you are Lord and Savior. But by your Spirit, would you draw them closer to you? Would you draw them first of all under conviction to help them see their sin? And once they see their sin, that sorrowfulness that creeps inside of their heart is a good thing. They feel conviction and sorrow because of the things that they've done. God, would you utilize your Holy Spirit not only to bring them under conviction of their sin, but to pull them into your salvation? God, may they then confess you as Lord and Savior and giver of life and be saved. Lord, I pray that you would help them to repent and confess that. They don't have to say it out loud. They don't have to come to an altar. They just simply bow the posture of their heart before you and believe that you died in their place and that you were crucified in all of the beatings and the scourgings that you endured on our behalf was the payment of the sins that we have committed. Thank you for paying our sin debt. Thank you for absorbing them on the cross. Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear Jesus. We cannot say thank you enough. The best that we can do is to honor you with our lives and live for you for the rest of our lives to be a witness of you. The best things that we could do is to be pleasing unto you, dear Jesus, you have bought us with your priceless blood and now we are internally not only indebted but honored to be able to worship you and to be in the family of God. You saved us, gloriously saved us. Thank you, dear Jesus, and I pray that you would continue to move saints from being saved, then to being biblically baptized, to be able to publicly proclaim and demonstrate that they have been saved through believing and then demonstrate that through baptism, and then to be members of a local church, and then to study the Bible and make disciples move Christians from one step to the next to the next to the next in their maturity in Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.