Resurrection: The Foundation of Our Faith

The resurrection now all these I say are hard literal facts they are things that have taken place there is no doubt there is no question about that at all and what we are reminding ourselves of today is this fact that the Lord Jesus Christ who was nailed to a tree and who was uh there seen and watched by men and women as he expired and died whose body was taken down and buried and placed in a grave and they rolled a stone unto the opening of the grave and sealed it you remember and took every precaution they could the fact is that our Lord literally arose in the body out of that grave. [00:07:05]

If all that is not true well then everything the Apostle argues in this sixth chapter is wrong and is a waste of time if all these things are not true there is no such thing as Christian doctrine there is no such thing as the Christian faith and we have no message whatsoever if Christ be not risen from the dead then our faith is in vain we are yet in our sins. [00:08:55]

The entire argument of the Apostle in this sixth chapter is derived from the facts and if we don't accept the facts there is no argument there is no gospel there is no message there is no comfort for us whatsoever in other words we do not preach liberating ideas we preach historical events and their meaning and their consequences. [00:09:52]

The key to the understanding of his Doctrine is this tremendous scriptural principle of the Union of the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ oh how we neglect it how we neglected in thinking about the cross as well as of the Resurrection how we forget that the most important and significant result of the of the of the death on the cross and the resurrection for us is something that results from our Union with him. [00:12:27]

Everything that Adam did we did when Adam sinned we sinned when Adam fell we fell all the consequences of sin that came to Adam have come to us very well that's one side here's the other everything therefore that has happened to the Lord Jesus Christ has also happened to us that's the first thing we deduce from his death upon the cross. [00:13:21]

We have been crucified with him we have died with him we've been buried with him we've risen with him very well then we are dead into sin he says also that we are freed from sin look at it in verse 7 for he that is dead is freed from sin he says it again in the 18th verse being then made free from sin he became the Servants of righteousness. [00:14:22]

If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection in other words we teach the Apostle emphasizes here that as in our Union with him we have died with Christ so we have taken part in his resurrection Christ is risen we are risen that's the argument. [00:17:00]

We have risen with Christ to an entirely new life we are new men the old men and the old life have been left in the grave we are now something that is entirely new or the apostles are we're saying it if any man be in Christ he's a new creation old things are passed away behold all things are become new it is like a new creation the old has been left entirely behind this is a resurrection. [00:19:00]

The change through which the Christian passes because of his Union to Christ is no less than that the old man that I was by inheritance from Adam with all the consequences of the fall in me and true of me have been left behind in the grave I am no longer that men I am a new man I'm not the man I was by my natural birth by inheritance from my mother I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity we all have been I no longer that that's dead with Christ it's buried it's left in the grave what has come out something absolutely new I'm a new man. [00:20:27]

We are alive unto God not through Jesus Christ as the authorized unfortunately puts it we are alive unto God in Jesus Christ because of our Union with him I don't know of anything that is more wonderful and more glorious than this you you see before all this we are not alive unto God we are dead to God. [00:29:09]

Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace now this is perhaps the most important statement of them all this is a categorical statement sin shall not have dominion over you he doesn't say sin must not have dominion of he shall not what's he mean by that he means this because of all the things I've been saying it is absolutely certain that sin shall not have dominion over the man who is a Christian and who is truly in Christ it shall not. [00:34:12]

If you are in Christ my friend I say there is no power in Hell nor anywhere else in the whole Cosmos that can prevent you are standing perfect and entire before God you are either in Christ or else you're not in Christ if you're joined to Christ you are joined to Christ and let me say this this is once and forever. [00:35:31]