The sermon 'Just as He Said' by Jason Dohm emphasizes the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Christian theology. The sermon takes inspiration from the angels' proclamation to the two Marys in Matthew 28:6, affirming that Jesus has risen just as He said He would. The resurrection is not an ancillary doctrine but a core tenet of Christianity, essential to the gospel message. The sermon explores key biblical texts, emphasizing that Jesus is the source of all life and that His resurrection was inevitable due to His divine nature. Jason Dohm highlights the numerous eyewitness accounts of the resurrected Christ, underscoring the validity of the resurrection. The sermon also discusses how Jesus' resurrection assures believers of eternal life and victory over sin and death. Furthermore, it exhorts believers to include the resurrection in their gospel proclamation and to live steadfastly in light of this hope. The sermon concludes by encouraging worship of the risen Redeemer and urging Christians to live boldly, knowing their labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Title of the sermon this morning is Just as He Said. Jesus said he would rise from the dead. And he did rise from the dead. It's taken right from the words that the angels said to the two Marys and what Michael just read from Matthew chapter 28 verse 6. The angel says, He is not here for he is risen as he said.

In Luke chapter 24, there's an expanded account of what the angel said to the women. Here's what Luke 24 records, that the angel also said this, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee saying, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. The angel was telling them, if you're looking for Jesus, the tomb is the wrong place to look.

The tomb is exactly the wrong place to look for Jesus. You shouldn't look for the living among the dead. Jesus is alive. As we come to this wonderful topic on Easter day, let's ask God to help us. Jesus, we pray to you now because you're alive.

We pray to you now because the tomb is empty. Death could not hold you. We praise you. We thank you that you can be known, desire to be known, have made us a way for us to know Father, Son, and Spirit through the work that you did on the cross. Thank you for a Sunday now just to contemplate that and to rejoice in it.

To be made happy by the work that you did that we could never do. Pray now that you would cause joy to rise up in our hearts. As we think about this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I'm going to walk us through key texts on the resurrection. I'm going to take us through nine.

We could double them easily. I think that would just make for a longer sermon. So hopefully we'll get to the key points in these key nine texts. But the point of there being nine and being able to double or triple them is teaching on the resurrection is everywhere in the New Testament and actually there's a lot of teaching on the resurrection in the Old Testament as well And it is not a peripheral doctrine. It is not a doctrine that sits on the edge of Christianity.

It is a doctrine that is central to Christianity. Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. Paul will end, near the end will be 1 Corinthians 15, Paul will be making that argument. So let me give you these nine, I'll be sprinkling in a few under the headings of these nine major texts on the resurrection and we'll hit them in order that they appear in the New Testament. Number one, John chapter one, turn to John chapter one.

Because I'll be hitting them in order of where they occur in the New Testament it should be pretty easy to track with me. John chapter 1. John chapter 1 is a very famous chapter and it's how John frames his gospel. It's so different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke who start with birth accounts. John doesn't mess with birth accounts at all.

He goes right to the theological framework of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And these are the first four verses of John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. John the gospel writer gives us this. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life. And the life was the light of men in the Lord Jesus Christ was was life. John doesn't leave anyone reading his gospel in doubt about the identity of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is God. And if you're alive, to be a gospel reader, it is because all life anywhere in the universe is rooted in Jesus Christ. Everything that has been created was created through Him. There's nothing that wasn't made by Him through Him. And So, as God, Jesus is not simply alive.

The incarnation is wonderful. The incarnation is a marvel and a great mystery, but it's not just that Jesus is alive. He is the source of life. All life is rooted in Him. That is why in John 14 verse 6 Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. There's no way to have physical life or spiritual life except that Jesus gives it to you. You don't have a physical life unless Jesus gives you a life on this earth. And you don't have a spiritual life Unless Jesus gives it to you. All life is rooted in this God man.

I'm not surprised that Jesus' disciples were slow to grasp his teaching on the resurrection, though as you read the gospels, he's so plain spoken about it. It was such a hard concept for them to grasp that they sort of thought he was speaking in code and they wondered what he meant, but it was really just the plain speaking of the things that he was saying. He said, I'm going to be delivered into the hands of wicked men, crucified, and then I'm gonna rise on the third day. Here's what he meant by that. I'm going to rise on the third day.

There's really, it's not code, it's not mystery. He said he was going to rise and he rose in the most literal sense. So I'm not surprised that it was difficult for the disciples to grasp, but we shouldn't be surprised as gospel readers because The gospel writers have been very clear about who Jesus is and that He is the source of life. And so when we get to the resurrection, we should be thinking, of course, of course He rose from the dead. He is the source of all life.

The resurrection was inevitable because of who Jesus is and because Death is the wages of sin and this one though. He died for sinners Hadn't had no sins So that's number one John chapter 1 who Jesus is he's the source of all life. He makes the resurrection inevitable. Number two, John chapter five. This is what Jesus says of himself and it's really in a sequential sense.

It's building on what the framework that the gospel writer has built for us in chapter 1. John chapter 5, I'll start in verse 21. John 5, 21, Jesus says, for as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will." Now skip down to verse 24 John 5 24 Jesus continues, most assuredly I say to you He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself." We can see why John framed his gospel the way he did in chapter one, because he's been taught by Jesus.

It's the things that Jesus said to him that caused him to frame his gospel that way in chapter one. Jesus himself is teaching of himself that he is the source of everlasting life, meaning life beyond death. The human body dies but that's not it. There is everlasting life, eternal life beyond physical death. And Jesus teaches that the Father has given him this prerogative to give life to whoever he wants to and that he calls the spiritually dead forth into faith and therefore into everlasting life.

Jesus calls people forth from the grave. He's saying this to people who have a physical life. He's not talking about physical death. He's talking about the call to the spiritually dead to give them rebirth, new birth, to make them born again because of the call to the spiritually dead from the one who can give spiritual life. Number three, John 11.

Just a few chapters ahead. John chapter 11, if you're very familiar with John, you know this is the Lazarus chapter. This is the chapter where he calls forth a dead body out of the grave. I'm going to begin reading where we're already well into the chapter. I'll begin reading in John chapter 11 verse 20.

At this point, Jesus has been summoned knowing that Lazarus is already dead, but he waits and then he goes and this is his exchange with Martha in John chapter 11 beginning in verse 20. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

She said to him Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ the Son of God who is to come into the world Here we learn really again you'd have to say we're not learning this for the first time based on just where we've already been in the Gospel of John. Here we learn again that Jesus is not simply a teacher of the resurrection, He is the resurrection. He's not just teaching us about the resurrection. He is the source of life.

I'll say it again. He is the resurrection. I am the resurrection and the life and his ability to call forth the former corpse of Lazarus from the grave is proof that he has the power to raise the spiritually dead to life and give them eternal life. Lazarus died physically, Jesus raised him from the dead physically. Guess what?

Lazarus died physically again. So what's the point? So it bought Lazarus some time. No, no, no. We need to know that Jesus is both willing and able to do what he said he would do.

If he's willing and not able, there's no hope for you. If he's able but not willing, there's no hope for you. But if he's willing and able and has made promises to his people that of eternal life, then there is hope for us. Him calling Lazarus this corpse of a man, calling him back to life is proof that he's both willing and able to do the things that he's promised to do. We find this throughout the Gospels that the signs and wonders that he does in the physical realm are meant to prove that he's able to fulfill his promises of what he can do in the spiritual realm.

In other words, your sins are forgiving you. What? You can't say your sins are forgiven you? Okay, be healed. Okay, be healed.

So that you might know that I really can do in the spiritual realm the things that I'm saying, declaring, I'll do in the physical realm as proof and evidence that I can do those things in the spiritual realm. That's exactly what we have in John chapter 11 with Lazarus. By raising Lazarus from the dead he's proving that he's both willing and able to give eternal life to his people, to do in the spiritual realm what he does with Lazarus in the physical realm. Number four, Acts chapter two. This is the day of Pentecost.

This is the day that Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for so that he could fill them with power for the preaching of the gospel to the nations. The Spirit descends on them. It looks like tongues of fire resting on them. And they begin to speak the wonders of God in these different languages. All these nations have gathered to Jerusalem for Pentecost and A crowd gathers and and Peter preaches the gospel to this crowd I want to begin in Peter's preaching in Acts chapter 2.

I'll begin in 22 and read through 32 Acts 2 beginning in verse 22 this midstream of Peter's preaching men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God you have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death whom God raised up having loose the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover my flesh will also rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life.

You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the flesh he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Here, Peter in his preaching quotes a Psalm of David, Psalm chapter 16 verses 8 through 11 and then Peter says this isn't David talking about himself, this is David talking about the promise that he gave him of one of his descendants who would sit eternally on his throne, have an everlasting kingdom who would be raised from the dead so that what we have seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of promises that God made through David in Psalm chapter 16.

He begins here in what I read in saying that Jesus was attested by God to everyone by miracles, wonders, and signs. God stamped Jesus in all of his public ministry with these signs that God did through him to say Jesus is from heaven. It was a declaration from heaven that Jesus was who he claimed to be and he was speaking truth given by heaven and that you would know that it wasn't just the thoughts of a man he was doing miracles that no one could do unless God was working these things through him and then in verse 24 Peter says whom God raised up You took with your lawless hands and you put him to death, but God raised him up. And then Peter says, it was not possible that he should be held by death. It was impossible for death to hold him.

Why? Because of who he was. Because of who he was it was not possible that Jesus, though he was put to death by men, would stay dead. And he quotes Psalm 16 explaining that this is a prophecy about the son of David and that he would be resurrected from the dead. By the way, Paul quotes the same Psalm when you get to Acts chapter 13.

Paul is preaching to Gentiles in Pasidia and Antioch and he's preaching the gospel and he quotes Psalm 16, the same Psalm of David, and he draws the same conclusion. So Peter and Paul both understand Psalm 16 to be a prophecy about the resurrection of the Messiah and it being fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So the resurrection is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy about how God would work in and through the Messiah to save the people. Number five, Acts chapter four. In Acts chapter four, well, in Acts chapter three, for context, in Acts chapter three, Peter and John went to pray.

They met a lame man on the way. He asked them for alms and held out his palms. And this is what Peter did say. That's that chapter. So a miracle is done and people have known this man as the beggar who sits at the entrance begging and now he's walking and leaping and praising God and a crowd comes together and Peter preaches the resurrection of Jesus and he gets in trouble for it.

So that brings us to Acts chapter four, look at verses one through three. Acts chapter four, one through three. Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening." So we know what Peter was preaching because of what he got in trouble for. He was preaching in Jesus the resurrection of the dead, that Jesus was raised from the dead and that those who believe in him would also be raised from the dead and they were disturbed by this.

Now look at 8 through 12. So Peter is called to the leaders to give an account and this is his account in verses 8 through 12. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead By him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders." And then he continues to preach. Well, let me just finish out through 12.

This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus is portrayed in Peter's preaching as crucified but raised from the dead. So as Peter's preaching the gospel, he's not stopping at the substitutionary death of Jesus for sinners. He's continuing to preach Jesus crucified but raised from the dead and at work.

Jesus through his born-again people is still healing people and he's saving people. There's no other name given by which we must be saved. Look at verse 33, same chapter, Acts chapter 4, now verse 33, and with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So It's not just Peter, it's the apostles in their preaching were witnessing to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It's a summary statement of their gospel preaching.

What's the summary statement? They're preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I want you to see that the resurrection of Jesus was not an afterthought in the Apostles gospel preaching. It wasn't a bolt-on that you you have the gospel and then there's this other thing that you also speak of. It is essential to the gospel.

It is inextricable, inseparable from the gospel. Yes, Jesus died for sinners, but it's not enough in the Apostles Gospel preaching just to say that Jesus died for sinners. He rose again to be their King, to be their head, to be their living head. Number six, Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one frames Paul's gospel of the book of Romans.

Romans chapter 1. Here's how Paul frames his letter to the Romans in Romans 1 verses 1 through 4. Paul writes this to the Romans, Paul a bond servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." So Paul starts out his letter to the Romans by saying, I've been set apart to the gospel. This gospel is about Jesus Christ who was the seed of David. He was man of the seed of David, but he was God-man.

He was declared to be the Son of God. How? How was Jesus declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection? Look at verse 4. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.

The resurrection is a kind of sermon from heaven. It is a great declaration that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, not just a prophet, but the Son of God and God. It is a declaration from heaven. It is a kind of sermon that stamps God's approval on all that Jesus said and all that Jesus did. And it must mean that Jesus' sacrifice in the place of sinners has been accepted.

That the grave is empty, that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead must mean that his sacrifice on behalf of sinners was accepted by God. We sang it this morning, death in vain forbids him rise. If he died in vain he can't rise from the dead. But God has accepted Jesus in the place of sinners who would trust in him, that God's justice has been satisfied by Jesus's work on the cross, that God's good and righteous anger against sin has been quenched by Jesus's work on the cross. That in John chapter 19 verse 30 when Jesus uttered these last words it is finished and then he gave up his spirit that it really is finished that he was right about that.

It is a declaration with power of God that He is the Son of God, the Messiah sent by God to say the things that He said and to do the things that He did and with this great crowning work of shedding His blood for sinners on the cross. Number seven. Romans chapter 8 verse 34. Romans chapter 8 verse 34. Here Paul asks a rhetorical question, meaning that the answer is obvious.

It says, Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. So the point of the question is if Christ died to acquit, it doesn't matter who's trying to condemn. That's the whole flow of thought. It doesn't matter what the answer is.

Who is he who condemns? It really doesn't matter who is trying to condemn the believer. If Christ acquits, then you are acquitted. Period. There's no one who can condemn if Christ acquits.

Romans 834. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. This is not simply a point of theology. The resurrection is not simply a point of theology.

It has the most profound implications. If you've ever wondered what the day-to-day implications of the resurrection is for the individual believer, here it is that Jesus is alive at the right hand of his Father, interceding for all of his people. You are in a world full of sin and need. You don't have a day, an hour, a minute that goes by that you don't have a need. And you have one at the right hand of God the Father who secures all of your needs by pleading for you.

That is his activity now. Jesus is not simply alive, he is alive and acting on behalf of his people. He has been glorified, but he's not just in heaven soaking up the glory. He's interceding on behalf of his people. When?

Always. Always interceding on behalf of his people. That he's alive means that believers in Jesus have an advocate every hour of every day for their needs before a God whose arm is never too short to do all that he desires to do and plans to do. That Jesus is alive means that he is acting on our behalf all the time. Number eight, 1st Corinthians 15.

If it seems like I've been talking fast, moving fast, it's to get to First Corinthians 15, because it's a really long chapter and it's all about the resurrection, and now we will slow down. First Corinthians 15. It is a long chapter. It's 58 verses. Almost every word of it is about resurrection, either Jesus's or your resurrection, rooted in the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead.

And so rather than read it all, I'm just going to isolate some sections, read a section, make some comments, and then move on to the next section. 1 Corinthians 15, Let's start with verses one through four. First Corinthians 15, verses one through four. Paul writes, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preach to you unless you believed in vain. For I deliver to you first of all that which I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

What do we have here? We have a summary of Paul's gospel. We have Paul's gospel boiled down to the irreducibles. You can't remove a word from it at this point. He's boiled it down and the resurrection is here.

What is Paul's gospel? That Jesus died for sinners according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that God raised him from the dead also according to the Scriptures. The gospel is the fulfillment of the promises that God made through prophets for thousands of years and then Jesus came and he fulfilled all the promises. It was all according to the scriptures. Look at verse 11.

Look at verse 11. He says, therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believe. Who are the they there? It's the Apostles. In other words, there's one gospel preached by all the Apostles.

There's not Paul's gospel and Peter's gospel and John's gospel. No, there's one gospel and they were all preaching it and he has summarized it. All the apostles preached one gospel and it was a gospel in which the resurrection wasn't on the periphery but the rising of Jesus from the dead was essential to it, an essential part of that gospel. Look at verses 5 through 8, continuing on. And that he was seen by Cephas, Peter's other name, then by the 12.

After that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, then last of all, he was seen by me also as one born out of due time. Paul represents himself as an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus, but not a sole eyewitness, along with the disciples and at one and James and at one time over 500 believers Brethren saw him at one time and Paul dares you to check his references by saying most of them are still alive. More are still alive at the time of Paul writing Corinthians than had died. So if you wanted to check his references, you had at least 250 eyewitness sources from this one event where the resurrected Jesus appeared to them.

I want you to consider the super abundance of eyewitnesses and think about what that means for us. What does the super abundance of eyewitnesses mean for us? Many people's religions depends on one man and whether or not he told the truth. Not yours. Not yours.

Many people's faith rests on one man and whether he's telling the truth or not, not yours. There were hundreds of eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus Christ. Think back to Peter's preaching to the Jewish leaders in Acts chapter 4. We were just there. Who's he preaching to?

He's preaching to the men who had Jesus put to death. The men who were worried that his disciples would come take away his body and that this would just further the legend of Jesus. And so they had his grave secured. The men who paid off the guards when they came and reported his resurrection, they gave him a lot of money to say his disciples came. Now they're confronted by an eyewitness of the resurrection and they know it's true because they've already talked to eyewitnesses to the resurrection and paid them off.

Verses 12 through 19. This is really the crux of it. If I had to reduce 1 Corinthians 15 down to just one section, it would be this one. So if you're only gonna pay attention to one section, pay attention to this one. 1 Corinthians 15, 12 through 19.

Now if Christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men the most pitiable. Paul is content to let the gospel rise or fall on the fact of the resurrection. Paul's counsel to you if there's still a body in that grave is to go find something else to do with your life, to eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.

But he's saying the tomb is empty. The tomb is empty. So you're not still in your sins if you believe in Christ. So we're not false preachers. So your faith isn't empty and our preaching isn't futile.

Paul puts the resurrection And whether it's true or false, whether it is actual or just a myth at the center of the gospel, knowing that it all falls apart if Jesus didn't rise from the dead. All the promises of God come to nothing if Jesus didn't rise from the dead. But Paul sets himself forward as an eyewitness to say, I know he's alive, I've seen him. Verses 20 through 23, We'll keep going there. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. That each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Paul draws a conclusion from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that those who believe in Him will be like Him, that He'll be not alone but a firstfruits, the first among many brethren. They've been made his brethren by his death on the cross.

And because he's alive, they will live. Because he has been raised bodily from the dead, all of his people will be raised bodily from the dead. Skipping to the end, verse 54 through the end of the chapter. Verses 54 through the end of the chapter. There's a lot in between by the way that's really interested about our resurrection bodies.

That's not about that's not today's sermon. Starting in verse 54, so when this corruptible has put on incorruption And this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, Where is your victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. What is Paul teaching here? He's teaching that the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ have secured victory over our greatest enemies, sin and death. You don't have greater enemies than sin and death. They're your greatest enemies and Jesus has conquered them.

That is what Paul was teaching about the resurrection. Listen to Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. This is Hebrews 2 verses 14 and 15. In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself, Jesus, likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Have you ever thought deeply about death?

It's terrifying. I have thought deeply about death and I have been terrified about the prospect of death. And the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 2 says, you don't have to live like that. Jesus by dying destroyed him who had the power of death, that is the devil, to release those through the fear of death where all their lifetime subject to bondage. His point is you don't have to live like that.

You don't have to live fearing death because Jesus has secured life for us through his resurrection. Finally, Revelation chapter 1. We started with John chapter 1, the disciple John, the Apostle John will end with the Apostle John and the revelation that he was given. In Revelation chapter one, Jesus comes to John, although he didn't look like what John was used to him looking like he had eyes of fire and his face shone like the sun and that's where we pick it up in Revelation 1 verse 17. I'll be reading verses 17 and 18.

John says, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.

And I have the keys of Hades and death." He lived, he died, and he's alive forevermore. And then he amens himself. So that you'll know that what he's saying is sure and true and Then he says and I have the keys of Hades and death he has the keys of hell of the grave of death Believers rejoice your King has the keys. He is risen just as he said. Let me close in Job 19.

Job 19. Job is a man with almost unimaginable sorrows. He knew Great happiness and abundance and he knew what it was like to have it all stripped away, including his health, his family, his 10 children killed, his abundance all stripped away. Here's what Job says in Job 19 verses 25 through 27. Job says, for I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth and after my skin is destroyed this I know that in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for myself my eyes shall behold and not another.

How my heart yearns within me. This cannot be in the Old Testament. I almost refuse to believe it. This has to have been misplaced. How could Job see with such clarity That after his skin had been destroyed, after corruption had done its work and he's reduced back to the dust from which he was made, that because his Redeemer lived he would see his Redeemer.

His own eyes, not somebody else's eyes. He would see and be with his Redeemer. And he says, how my heart yearns within me. Come quickly. It's like he's been studying his New Testament, only he didn't have the New Testament.

He had revelation from God. The Old Testament hope is the New Testament hope. And we have a fuller revelation, we have a finished Bible that he didn't have but Job's hope is that your hope that your Redeemer lives that If he tarries until long after you die and corruption does its work on your dead body, that you'll stand on the earth and see this Redeemer. That though you spend a lifetime seeing through a glass darkly that then you'll see him face to face This is the hope of the Old Testament and the hope of the new Praise God that Jesus Christ is alive He is an alive Redeemer that is the hope of all his people. Applications, let me give you three.

Number one is embarrassingly obvious, worship this risen Redeemer. Worship Him. He deserves all of our worship. He's so richly worthy of it, deserving of it. Theology should always lead to doxology.

The truths about God are not meant to be an academic exercise. It's meant to fill our hearts with joy. Just happiness of what this God is like and what he's done on behalf of his people. So don't leave here just with a fatter head. Leave here with a warmer heart, a heart more given to worshiping God for his goodness to us in this Redeemer who is alive and who is going to make us alive through all eternity.

Number two. Include Jesus' resurrection in your gospel. John did, Peter did, Paul did, all the apostles did. They preached the same gospel and the resurrection was part of it. Don't stop as wonderful and essential as The substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross was don't stop there Give your ears the evidence of the resurrection and the hope of the resurrection.

Jesus rising from the dead is a declaration from heaven with power that the gospel is true, that all the promises that Jesus made will be fulfilled and give them the hope that he's the firstfruits. He's just gone ahead of us in his resurrection. Include Jesus' resurrection in your gospel. It's not a complete gospel without it. Number three, finally, This is how Paul ended his resurrection chapter, that whole 58 verse chapter, 1 Corinthians 15.

Here's how he ended it. He ends it with a therefore, and then just one short verse. So 57 verses about Jesus and how central Jesus's resurrection is to the gospel that we have as a saving gospel and then what that means for us that we will be resurrected and in his likeness and then he ends this way. Therefore, because of all that, therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast. Immovable.

Always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Because the tomb is empty, be steadfast. You have a living Savior. He's at the right hand of the Father, always interceding for you. Because the tomb is empty, Be immovable.

Dig in your heels in the face of a world that is in opposition to all that we love. Dig in your heels. Be immovable. The tomb is empty. You have a risen king who is reigning in heaven.

Because the tomb is empty, all is abound in the work of the Lord. You have one life to live. Live it to his honor. Know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Your earthly life isn't all of it, it's just the very, very tip of the beginning of it.

Live boldly like there's more than this life. There's more than this life. It's just the start of eternity for the Christian. Eternal life is the present possession of the Christian. God, we thank you for Jesus, his perfect life that qualified him for his substitutionary death to stand in the place of sinners to take their place.

We thank you that it was impossible for death to hold him. That he rose again and in his rising, you have declared with power. Jesus is your son. That all that he said you sent him to say that all that he did you sent him to do. You are pleased with his work that you have accepted his sacrifice in the place of sinners.

Thank you for the resurrection and all that it means in Jesus' name, amen.