The Complete Picture of God’s Love

Transcript

GRM 1221
The Complete Picture of God’s Love
04/21/2019
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

This is a special day, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As believers in Jesus Christ every week is special for us as we walk in fellowship with the Savior who loved us and died for us, and now He’s representing us at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He intercedes for us, securing and guaranteeing our eternal salvation, but I want to talk about the resurrection of Christ. It’s significant, the resurrection is the concluding action in the greatest demonstration of God’s love that has ever occurred or ever will occur. The death of Christ on the cross, and the resurrection of Christ from the dead, is the confirmation of God that His love for us is a genuine love. It’s real, and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross did accomplish what the love of God provided Him to do. He came to be the Savior of the world. Jesus said He came to give His life as a ransom for many. The bible tells us that the demonstration of God’s love is this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. The bible also tells us that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead because He had done everything necessary for us, as sinful human beings, to be declared righteous by a holy God, to have our sins forgiven. To have our guilt accountability that placed us under the wrath and condemnation of a holy God answered so that our account could be stamped paid in full, completely forgiven.

You know, it’s interesting, people often are interested in talking about the love of God. People that aren’t even very religious. But if they believe in God—oh yes, I believe God is a God of love—and with that they believe He would not do certain things. But we want to have a complete picture of God’s love. Interesting that in the bible when you look at the love of God it’s usually mentioned in the context of the wrath of God, or if you look at the wrath of God it’s usually in the context of the love of God. In fact, our ability to understand the love of God is dependent on our ability to understand the wrath of God, and sometimes people play them off one against the other. Oh I believe God is a God of love, I don’t believe He’s a God of wrath of anger, I wouldn’t like to think of God that way. But we want to have a real God not a pretend God, and the God who has revealed Himself in the bible, when He talks about His love He most often does it in the context of His wrath. And when He talks about His wrath and His love, it’s usually in the context of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, so if we’re going to understand God’s love we must understand His wrath.

If we’re going to understand how these two resolve, we talk about the death of Christ and the resurrection is God’s seal of approval on what Christ accomplished with His death—and that yes, He has paid in full the penalty for our sin. Now it would be possible for a holy God to declare sinful people forgiven, righteous. I want to just walk through with you today in our time together and look at some of the verses of Scripture. Let the bible speak for itself to tell us about our condition that brings about the wrath of God, and God’s solution in providing His Son, in love, to pay the penalty for our sin—and then raising Him, because everything was done that could ever be done in order for us to be forgiven by a holy God. Now let me just begin by quoting a verse from the Old Testament. Going to try to keep these verses somewhat in sequence as they come up in the bible, so we’re not jumping back and forth too much. But let me just quote a verse to you from the Old Testament that focuses attention on the difficulty and problem we have that will result, and has resulted, in God’s wrath being demonstrated against all humanity. Jeremiah the prophet said, in Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10, “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. No one is able to know it.” But then God says, “I the LORD, search the heart, I try the mind,” your innermost being, and this is the issue within, in the very center of our being. The bible says we are corrupted and we’re even deceived by our corruption into thinking that we are not so bad, that we are even good. We can deceive others by putting on an appearance of good, but God says He does what no one else can do. He looks into the inside of us, into our heart, our mind, our spirit, our soul, our innermost being.

Come, if you would, to the Gospel of Mark if you have your bible. Matthew, Mark, the second Gospel, the second book in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark, and Jesus addressed this very subject and put it into context. In Mark chapter 7 He’s dealing with very religious people who think they are good, they do their best, they are religious Jews. They do their best to keep the Mosaic Law, to keep the Ten Commandments, to observe special holy days as God had set them out in the Old Testament. They tried to abstain from certain foods, don’t eat certain kinds of food, and so on. Jesus is clarifying things and He calls all the people together in verse 14 of Mark 7, and He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.” You’re not going to be righteous because of what you eat or don’t eat. Not what you put into your mouth and eat, that’s not the issue. It’s the issue of what is coming out from inside, the center of your being, your heart, your mind, your soul.

In verse 17 He leaves the crowd and He comes and has His most close circle of disciples, and they wonder what He was talking about here. He said to them, “Are you so lacking of understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart?” The heart refers to that inner part of our being, not the physical organ specifically but, like we use it, as a metaphor or picture of our innermost being. We say, “I love you with all my heart;” well, we’re not particularly talking about that organ pumping blood. You’re saying from, you know, in the center of my being. It comes from inside of me, my love for you.

Foods don’t do that, they don’t touch what you are. They go in and pass through your body, the nutrients are taken out and they’re passed out. It doesn’t go into the heart. In verse 20 Jesus said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.” Now He’s talking very much about what Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things.” At the very center of our being, what we are, and Jesus goes on, “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” All these things are coming out from a heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked. All these things proceed from within and defile the man. The problem is the corruption is on the inside of us.

We think as long as we clean up the outside, get baptized, take communion, take some sacraments, join a church, but they’re all external physical things. They have a place but they can’t deal with the real problem, the real problem’s on the inside, that’s where the outside problems come from—all kinds of sin. They didn’t start out here and then make their way in, they started in here and made their way out. The point being, until you’ve dealt with the inner problem you haven’t dealt with it. You know you can deal with something superficial. You can have something on your skin, it may be indicative of a cancer that’s permeating your body. To cover up what’s on the surface won’t correct the problem because the problem is more internal. So that’s what Jesus Christ came to earth to deal with, that simple problem, which is very complicated because we can’t deal with it, and that’s what will bring us to the wrath of God, the holiness of God.

Come over to the Book of Romans, chapter 3. Now you’re in Mark, go to Luke, John, Acts, Romans, and Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, and here what Paul has been doing is showing through these opening chapters of the Book of Romans is that all the Gentiles and all the Jews are the same. In that they are all sinners, and as sinners they’re under God’s judgment. So He quotes from the Old Testament, because the Jews thought they were all right because they’re Jews. Like we divide today, depending on what church or what religious group you belong to, you think you’re okay because you belong to that group. I think I’m okay because I belong to this group. The Jews were sure they were okay because they tried to keep the Law, the Ten Commandments, be careful that they ate certain foods and didn’t eat other foods, and the Gentiles—they had their own gods.

What Paul has been doing, God speaking through Paul, and here we have a quote from the Old Testament, which is true for all of us. Verse 10, the summary in verse 9, and then he gives the quotes.
“We have already charged that both Jews and Greeks,” Jews and non-Jews, “are all under sin;” we are all sinners and thus in need of salvation. “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;” so if you think you’re an exception, if I think I’m an exception, then we are standing against God, because He says there’s not one righteous in My sight. Why, He’s looking inside into the heart and He sees a heart that is desperately wicked. “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE THAT SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE,” verse 12, “THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, NOT EVEN ONE.” And he goes on to talk about our condition down to verse 18, “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.” This is the condition as God sees us in, so he says in verses 19 and 20; the Law that the Jews had speaks to them and shows them to be sinners. The Gentiles don’t have the Law but they’ve been shown to be sinners as well.

The point is at the end of verse 19, “done so every mouth may be closed and all the world,” note that every mouth, all the world, every mouth is closed. You have nothing to say in your defense, God has declared you guilty. Understand, that’s done. The Judge of all men has rendered the verdict, guilty, a sinner coming under condemnation. All the world becomes accountable to God as those who are guilty of their rebellion against Him, and you can’t clean yourself up by trying to do something. “By the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified in His sight.” You understand the Ten Commandments are part of the Mosaic Law, and yet there are some people; you say, you think you’re going to heaven? And they say, yes, I try to keep the Ten Commandments. You should say well, that’s too bad. Oh I think I almost, I probably keep them all. Well that’s really too bad. Why? Because God says by keeping the Ten Commandments you could never be justified.

You know what the word justified means, declared righteous. The Judge to whom we are all accountable says He will never declare anyone righteous on the basis that they try to keep the Ten Commandments, or the other things of the Law. Oh, we don’t eat this we—you don’t eat that; so he goes on in Romans chapter 3 to demonstrate something. Now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested. This is what we need—God is a holy God, a righteous God. Now I need to be holy as He is holy, but I’m already defiled on the inside, I can’t get in there. And then the result of my sin is He’s declared me guilty, and you know the sentence. The wages of sin is death, which includes an eternal hell. God has displayed His righteousness. The righteousness of God has been manifested, it’s been made known. We know that God is righteous.

He’s made known to us how we can have His righteousness credited to our account. This is what we need, the Law and the Prophets could testify to it and say this is what is needed, and they do through the Old Testament; it’s the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. What God has done is provide a way to have His righteousness credited to our account, and it will be through faith in Jesus Christ. Now you note it’s for all who believe, in verse 22, “ for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So what the bible is saying is we’re all in the same hopeless condition. All have sinned, as such, God has declared us guilty of our sin, and as we’ll see, we are His enemies. The objects of His wrath and His judgment will come down on us culminating in an eternal hell. It’s for all those who believe, there’s no distinction, for all have sinned. Now, there’s hope in this, the righteousness of God has been made known. In verse 21, it’s the righteousness of God that can be credited to us, through faith, in Jesus Christ. When we believe in Him and His death as the payment for our sin, God can declare us forgiven. Why? Well, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That means the wages of sin, which is death, are ours, but Jesus Christ came to take our place, to pay our penalty, which is death, so He came to be our substitute, take our place.

Now, this is where he’s going, verse 24, being justified, declared righteous, as a gift by His grace. This is not something you earn, not something you get by doing something—getting baptized, joining a church, partaking of sacraments—those are all physical things. They have a place maybe, but they can’t save you. We are justified, declared righteous, as a gift and that’s reiterated, by His grace. A gift is something you didn’t earn. You go to work and work hard all week, and you get a paycheck and your boss says here’s your gift. You say that’s no gift, I worked for that, and a gift is something you didn’t earn or deserve. That’s what grace is, it’s a gift by His grace. By definition, grace is something undeserved, unmerited. He’s emphasizing this, it’s a gift, it’s given by His grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. This is how we can experience God’s righteousness. We have been redeemed, the price required has been paid for us. This is what happened when Jesus hung on the cross. He was paying our penalty, paying what our debt required—death. Note, he goes on; this redemption is in Christ Jesus, is narrow. Well, people say, well you know you’re too narrow. You know you need to be broader more inclusive. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me,” but everyone can come to the Father by Me if you will recognize your sin, and place your faith in what Christ has done.

You note verse 25, Christ is the one whom God displayed publicly as propitiation in His blood through faith. The word propitiation, it means to turn away wrath by the sacrifice. In other words, the sacrifice of Christ turned God’s wrath away from us, because God’s wrath was poured out on Christ. Remember Christ cried on the cross, “My God My God why have You forsaken Me?” Why? He was bearing our sin in His body on the cross, paying our penalty. That’s what it is, it’s a propitiation. That’s where the wrath of God, you see, is in this. God doesn’t say I love you, we’ll just forget it, you wouldn’t call that justice. Someone comes in and does horrible things to your family, your children, those you love, and they go out. The judge they stand before says look, everybody does things wrong, we’ll just forget it. I hope you won’t do it again. You say well, wait, that’s not justice. But somehow people think that’s what God does, this is just some kind of sentimental feeling. Oh, I think He just overlooks it. Now no,t maybe not for the really, really, bad people, but you know we have to come and see ourselves as God sees us. You see what He said, “There is none righteous, no not one.” This is as He looks at us on the inside, what we really are at the center of our being.

That’s like I go to the doctor and the doctor says how are you doing? I’m feeling good, and for a man my age—look at me, I’m good. He may look at me in the eye and say, Gil, you’re not good. Why, we’ve looked in. You know what, it’s not good. Now we all know what that would be like. All of a sudden, your feelings of being up go down. You are thinking, oh no, now you want to know. That’s what God says to us. It doesn’t matter what you think, how you feel. Let me tell you how it is, and I now am going to demonstrate my love. I am going to intervene on your behalf, and I’m going to have My Son step into your place, pay the penalty for your sin, which is death. That will turn My wrath away from you because I poured it out on Him, so that when you place your faith in Christ as the one who loved you and died for you, your account is stamped paid in full. You can be declared righteous. There’s nothing there against you, how beautiful it is. This was done, in verse 25, to demonstrate His righteousness, God’s righteousness, verse 26, for the demonstration of His righteousness, so that He would be just, righteous, and the justifier; the One who declares righteousness of the one who has faith in Him. You see, it wouldn’t be just of God to overlook sin and the penalty that sin required. He’s a just God, but because of His love He intervened to do for us what we could not do. And this salvation He provides, He’s the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Now you understand Christ died on the cross. That in and of itself saved no one. But we can sit here today and say with confidence it’s possible for a sinful person to be cleansed and forgiven their sin. How can you say that? Because there is One who has paid the penalty, paid the debt, paid what is required. Oh, then I’m good. No, you have to accept what He has done for yourself, that’s when you put your faith in Him. You place your faith, I place my faith, in Christ only as the One who died for me. Then God can forgive you.

All right let’s go quickly through some verses, you have to back up. I said I wasn’t going to back you up, but that’s relative. I’m not going to back you up often. Come back to John, chapter 3, the Gospel of John. That’s just back, going back toward Mark. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, chapter 3. The most familiar verse in all the bible, and we’re told that God provided His Son, Jesus Christ, verse 15 of John chapter 3, so that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life. And then verse 16, for God so loved the world, now the world, all of humanity, that He gave His only begotten Son, the Son that was unique like no other son could be—that Son, who Himself is Deity. He gave His only begotten, that means having Him come to die on the cross. Giving Him to take our place, so that whoever believes in Him--note that’s the connection: He loved the world and gave His Son to make a provision for the world, so that anyone in the world anywhere who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Now verse 18, he who believes in Him, in Christ, is not judged; He who does not believe has been judged already. Why? We’re already sinners, God has already declared sinners guilty, the final sentencing will be to hell, has been judged already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The only way to escape the wrath and condemnation of God is to believe in the provision He has made, but it’s a provision made for the whole world that is already guilty before God. The difficulty people have is beginning seeing themselves as guilty, sinners, but God is the one who looks at the heart. I can’t evaluate your heart but God can. You can’t evaluate my heart. You see some conduct that you might say well, I think this—God says He looks in. He sees us as we are and He says the pictures not good. My evaluation, not good, you’re not righteous, you’re a sinner.

He goes on to say, note the end of John 3, verse 36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son, (that’s another way of saying believing in the Son,) will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” You don’t have to do anything to become an object of God’s wrath, you’re already under it. Romans, chapter 1, where we are studying in our regular study on Sunday nights, verse 18, says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. That’s a fact. The final display of that wrath of God is revealed in Revelation, chapter 20, when everyone who has not believed will be cast into an eternal hell, so you see the wrath of God here. The cross of Christ is about the wrath of God, Christ coming to bear God’s wrath so we would not have to. So we, by faith in what Christ did for us, could be forgiven and escape wrath.

Come over to Ephesians, chapter 2—stop at 2 Corinthians, I wanted to skip this but I can’t. Second Corinthians, chapter 5 talks about the love of Christ, the love of God the Father, the love of Christ—it was together. The love of God the Father provided His Son, the love of Christ, who willingly came to take our place. Verse 14 of 2 Corinthians 5, for the love of Christ controls us, the love that Christ had for us, having concluded this, one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. What was going on? Verse 18, all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us a ministry of reconciliation. In other words, when we have heard and believed in Jesus Christ we tell others, so they can believe, and be brought into right relationship with God. What is the message? Verse 19, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” What does that mean? Not counting their trespasses against them. You see what happens when I placed my faith in Christ? God said yes, now I credit the death of My Son to your account. All your sin, it’s wiped clean, paid in full. There’s nothing against you, I declare you righteous. I credit My righteousness to your account because all the sins have been cared for, so the end of verse 20.

Paul says we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. Think about it, God, whose wrath is directed to us, poured out on us, and will someday culminate in sentencing us to hell, sends His Son to die for us so we won’t have to go to hell. Is it any wonder Paul says we beg you be reconciled to God, you don’t have to go to hell, you don’t have to be the object of God’s wrath? Accept His love, believe what Christ has done. How did this happen? Verse 21, He made Him who knew no sin, Christ was sinless, but He became sin on our behalf. He took our place, paid our penalty, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. There is only one way to be forgiven your sins, that’s through recognizing you are a sinner, recognizing Christ died to pay the penalty for your sin, and placing your faith in Him alone. Then God says He won’t count your trespasses against you because they’ve all been paid for, because the penalty for those sins is death, but Christ took your place, paid for your sins so you wouldn’t have to, so you could be declared righteous by God, a righteousness credited from Him.

Come over to Ephesians, chapter 2. Galatians, Ephesians, so many verses, and we’re skipping what I had in Galatians, I won’t take you back there. Come to Ephesians, chapter 2. Note where we start out in chapter 2, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” That means spiritually you were cut off from a relationship with God. It doesn’t matter how religious you are, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been baptized, how many times you’ve taken communion or sacraments; it doesn’t matter how hard you’ve tried to keep the Ten Commandments. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. Why? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So Paul says he can write to this group at Ephesus and say, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked.”

And this is characteristic, at the end of verse 2 for time, of the sons of disobedience. You realize that the people in the world, all of us, were living in rebellion against God? They’re called sons of disobedience because disobedience to God is the characteristic of our lives. That’s where people are. You doubt it? When you leave today stop someone and say, “You know, I’d like to talk to you. Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone as the one who loved you and died for you?” “Oh, I don’t know.” Well if they haven’t, what are they? They’re sons of disobedience because that’s the way we consistently live our lives. “How are you getting to heaven?” “Oh, I went to church this morning. It was a wonderful service, it was great.” “Yes, do you know you’re going to heaven?” “Well I just told you I went to church, and I was baptized when I was 12, and I take communion.” Son of disobedience.

Why, it doesn’t matter what we do, it matters what you believe. Have you believed what God said about you, your sin and guilt? Nope! Verse 3, among them we too all formerly lived. That’s right, we were all sons of disobedience as those who were spiritually dead, cut off from God. We were, at the end of verse 3, by nature children of wrath, as everyone else. There’s God’s wrath. We were cut off from God, we were sinners rebelling against Him, His enemies, the objects of His wrath. We were by nature, by what we are in the very center of our being, children who are the objects of God’s wrath.
“But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions.” This is the amazing thing about God’s love, we were His enemies, we didn’t care. But even when we were dead in our transgressions, cut off from God, He made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. Why, God did it all for us, and now He says you can receive it, you can have it. What do I have to do? Nothing, believe what I have done. I had My Son die for you. How tragic is it on this Easter Sunday that multitudes of people around the world are going and celebrating, and going through all kind of rituals, and think somehow by what they’re doing they’re making themselves acceptable to God. It’s not talking about Christ. It’s not saying, “Oh, I believe in Christ.”

I read some articles that, you know the news has articles, so while I’m having breakfast I’m scanning through articles, and you know many people are writing articles about Easter. People talking about how wonderful it is to believe in Christ, and what a difference it’s made in their life, but you know I can’t tell whether these people know what they’re talking about. It’s not believing in Christ. What about Him do you believe? Do you believe He was a wonderful person? Do you believe He was the Son of God? Do you believe if you take communion that’ll make you acceptable to Him? Do you believe if you get baptized in His name that you’ll be acceptable to Him? It’s only by faith, understanding and believing I’m a sinner without hope in the world. But God, in love, had His Son come to earth and die for me so that I could place my faith in Him and be gifted, by the righteousness of God, eternal life. Down in verse 8, it says it simply, “By grace, you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves.” Could it be any clearer? “Not as a result of works.” You’ve been saved through faith, by grace through faith. It’s not of your works, it’s what God has done.

Come over to 1 John and we’re done. Not the Gospel of John, this is the Epistle of John, all the way back at the end of your bible to the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, the last book of your bible. Then just before the Book of Revelation, you have some small little books, First, Second and Third John, and Jude, and then Revelation. We’re going to 1 John, chapter 3, and interestingly this is verse 16 of 1 John 3. The Gospel of John, chapter 3 verse 16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish.” Look at 1 John chapter 3, verse 16, “We know love by this that He laid down His life for us.” He laid down His life, that’s how we know love. That’s how we know God loves us. Next time someone talks to you and says, “Oh, I believe God is a God of love,” you can say, “I do too.”

“Do you know what is the evidence of God’s love for us? Do you know how you could really know God loves you?” “Well, I feel it in my heart.” No, because sometimes you feel things in your heart that aren’t true. I might feel in my heart that you love me, but you may not love me. God says He’s done it in a concrete way. “We know love by this that He laid down His life for us.” Come into chapter 4, verse 8, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love and by this the love of God was manifested to us; that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but He loved us.” He took the initiative. He sent His Son, and here’s our word, to be the propitiation for our sins. Because of our sin we were under the wrath of God. The Son of God came to take that wrath on Himself. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross to be the propitiation, the one who turned God’s wrath away from us; because Christ absorbed it, paid our penalty. Down in verse 14, “We have seen and testify the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” Down in verse 19, “We love, because He first loved us.” And let me just read you two verses as we close that bring us back to the resurrection of Christ.

It’s in the Book of Romans chapter 4, the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5 of Romans, that the righteousness of God will be credited to us through faith in Christ. This is what God says and it was written in Scripture for us. Not for our sake also to whom it will be credited, as those who believe. It was written for our sake so that we would know when we believe in Christ we will be credited with God’s righteousness. It will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over because of our transgressions. That’s why He died, because of our sin. He was paying the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross. He was raised because of our justification. That’s why He started out by saying the resurrection of Christ is the confirmation by God
of how much He loves us. Christ was raised from the dead because all that was necessary for us to be declared righteous by God had been done. He was raised because He had done and completed what was necessary for God to declare us righteous. The song, “It is Finished,” what Christ declared on the cross. Why? Because everything that would ever need to be done for sinful human beings in order for God to declare them righteous had been done. Now all that is left is for you to believe what God has done for you in Christ.

Therefore, having been justified, declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the demonstration of God’s love for us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. And the proof that His death paid in full the price necessary for God to declare us righteous?
He was raised because everything necessary for God to declare us righteous has been done. So the only thing left is the question, “have you believed in Jesus Christ?” There is a man in the bible who said,
“What must I do to be saved?” Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. See yourself as God says you are, a sinner in need of His salvation, under His wrath. But you can be delivered by One who died to turn God’s wrath away from you by taking it upon Himself and you can be cleansed, forgiven, declared righteous right where you’re sitting if you believe in Him.

Let’s pray together: Thank you Lord for the great message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is alive. The penalty for sin has been paid. The work of redemption, the work of salvation is done. There is a way for we lost, hopeless, helpless sinners to be accepted in Your sight, to be reconciled to You, a holy God. To be declared righteous through simply receiving the gift of forgiveness and life by believing in Christ. I pray for any who are here, maybe they are here as a regular part of this church, perhaps they’re visiting, but they have not yet faced the reality of their own sin and guilt before You. They have not yet placed their faith in Christ. May this be a day of salvation so that they can celebrate with understanding that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead! He is alive. We pray in His name. Amen.