1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:10,080 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:14,859 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:14,859 --> 00:00:23,399 Today, as Easter is upon us, we challenge you to think through the crucifixion and resurrection 4 00:00:23,399 --> 00:00:31,699 of the author and finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we are eager to return to 5 00:00:31,699 --> 00:00:41,500 several other major themes with great import bearing on our future as a nation. But if we 6 00:00:41,500 --> 00:00:48,600 are ever to call America back to her roots, we must keep rehearsing the great truths of the very 7 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:55,000 faith which makes us strong. Just as a family rehearses its founding and its lineage for each 8 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:00,740 new generation, there's nothing more foundational to Christianity than the crucifixion and the 9 00:01:00,740 --> 00:01:06,840 resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, more than the 4th of July, more than Thanksgiving, 10 00:01:07,099 --> 00:01:12,620 more than Halloween, more than your birthday or even Christmas, Easter looms as the holiday of 11 00:01:12,620 --> 00:01:20,040 celebration, for there has been no day like it since the day of creation. Am I exaggerating? Hmm. Let us 12 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:27,659 examine part two of this brief series, and today we look at the resurrection. Last week, we looked 13 00:01:27,659 --> 00:01:35,159 at the crucifixion where we saw Christ plunged into the sufferings of hell on behalf of his people. What 14 00:01:35,159 --> 00:01:42,840 misery! What agony! Here, God himself punished his own son with utter affliction, the affliction due 15 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:51,560 every one of us as covenant breakers because of the original sin of Adam, confirmed and sealed in the sin 16 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:59,680 which proceeds from our own nature then thereafter. So make no mistake, child of Adam, unless you claim 17 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:07,299 Jesus' suffering hell as a substitute for you, you will suffer it in every excruciating detail. Make no 18 00:02:07,299 --> 00:02:14,740 mistake, child of Adam, unless you claim Jesus' righteousness as a substitute for the filthy rags of 19 00:02:14,740 --> 00:02:22,379 your own righteousness. You will stand in those rags on judgment day, while those who have believed will 20 00:02:22,379 --> 00:02:28,020 stand in the perfect, glistening righteousness of Christ himself. There's no substitute for those. 21 00:02:28,659 --> 00:02:33,780 Well, these are just a few of the details that we examined last week. We encountered them as we 22 00:02:33,780 --> 00:02:41,879 studied our proposition, the cross is the altar of covenant curse. The cross is the altar of covenant 23 00:02:41,879 --> 00:02:50,379 curse. If that is the case, what is the empty tomb? What is the empty tomb then, dear listener? And I 24 00:02:50,379 --> 00:02:58,479 submit to you that our proposition for today is the empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. 25 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:07,360 Ah, the empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. Let's take those one phrase at a time, 26 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:16,020 shall we? First of all, the empty tomb. The empty tomb. Nothing is more auspicious for us on Easter 27 00:03:16,020 --> 00:03:23,180 morning than the empty tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ. The occupied tomb is a victory for the serpent, 28 00:03:23,759 --> 00:03:30,800 the ancient enemy of God and man, the devil. The tomb, the grave is the antechamber, the waiting room 29 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:38,159 to hell. The grave is all astir to meet you. When you come, Isaiah says, it rouses the shades to greet 30 00:03:38,159 --> 00:03:45,139 you, all who were leaders of the earth. Oh, there is a day when death and Hades will be thrown into the 31 00:03:45,139 --> 00:03:52,699 lake of fire, Revelation tells us. And Revelation says, this is the second death. Far from being natural, 32 00:03:53,259 --> 00:03:59,500 death is the most unnatural state of things in all of God's created universe. Life is the operating 33 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:06,840 principle of creation. Genesis tells us, then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground 34 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:14,680 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the man became a living creature. Death is the 35 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:20,819 tragic arresting of life, which should go on forever. And we have gotten accustomed to tragedy, 36 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:28,300 I'm afraid. Just because death happens every day with mundane regularity does not make it right and good 37 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:36,420 and natural. No. There are only two possibilities why a tomb is empty. Another living creature has taken 38 00:04:36,420 --> 00:04:45,519 the body which once occupied it, or new life in the dead man has made the tomb obsolete. Which was it 39 00:04:45,519 --> 00:04:52,480 in Christ's case? Well, his enemies paid the guards at the tomb to say, tell the people his disciples came 40 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:58,920 by night and stole them away while we were sleeping. And we can either take the testimony of corrupt and 41 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:05,540 wicked men, men Jesus called vipers and hypocrites, or we can take the testimony of the angel who sat 42 00:05:05,540 --> 00:05:12,680 astride the empty tomb, who said, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 43 00:05:13,519 --> 00:05:20,180 Ah, this is only reasonable given who Jesus was. Peter told the rulers of Israel, he said, 44 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:26,420 you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. He says that in Acts chapter 3. 45 00:05:27,019 --> 00:05:35,360 Oh, here is a paradox. The very author of life died. He who breathed life into Adam stopped breathing 46 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:43,079 himself. Ah, yet could this stand, dear listener? Oh, no. God raised him up because it was not possible 47 00:05:43,079 --> 00:05:51,920 for him to be held by death. Peter also says in Acts chapter 2. Christ died a true death, but as 48 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:59,160 Peter says, it was not possible for him to be held by death. Ah, no more than a little fish can stop a 49 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:04,000 beach ball from bursting to the surface, right? No more than a crow can hinder the launch of a shuttle 50 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:11,420 flight. No. Why? Why is this true? Oh, it goes to the very heart of the nature of God as to justice 51 00:06:11,420 --> 00:06:21,360 and mercy, wrath and grace, salvation and damnation. First of all, number one, Christ was not worthy of 52 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:28,360 death. He was like us in every respect, yet without sin, Hebrews tells us. Justice demands the acquittal 53 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:33,279 of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty. The resurrection declared that Jesus Christ was 54 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:43,120 innocent. He was just. He was perfect. As Peter says again then in Acts chapter 3, you denied the holy and 55 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:50,379 righteous one, but God raised him from the dead. Jesus was innocent. Jesus was righteous and holy. 56 00:06:50,939 --> 00:06:57,279 Jesus was in his very person the author of life. Therefore, he was acquitted in the resurrection. 57 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:04,620 And number two, we must observe, the empty tomb was a declaration of God's satisfaction in Christ's work. 58 00:07:05,180 --> 00:07:13,240 Yes, the empty tomb was a declaration of God's satisfaction in Christ's work. Christ labored. 59 00:07:14,259 --> 00:07:21,839 He did work no one else could do to bring you to God, to bridge the infinite chasm which opened up 60 00:07:21,839 --> 00:07:29,959 at the fall. This has been made evident to all. Even the prophet David foresaw, as Acts told us, 61 00:07:30,379 --> 00:07:35,740 even the prophet David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not 62 00:07:35,740 --> 00:07:42,860 abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption, Peter says in Acts chapter 2. Christ was raised 63 00:07:42,860 --> 00:07:50,740 uncorrupted and incorruptible, brought back triumphant from the grave. So satisfied is God the Father 64 00:07:50,740 --> 00:07:57,720 with the work of his Son, that, as Acts 17 says, he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world 65 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:04,459 in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising 66 00:08:04,459 --> 00:08:11,839 him from the dead. Oh, that's our Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, we must say, because Christ's tomb was 67 00:08:11,839 --> 00:08:25,620 empty, yours will be too. As Paul says in Romans, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead 68 00:08:25,620 --> 00:08:31,759 dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 69 00:08:31,759 --> 00:08:39,980 through his spirit who dwells in you, unquote, from Romans chapter 8. On Easter morning, death lost its 70 00:08:39,980 --> 00:08:48,539 most valuable victim. Had he been able to keep Jesus, that is death, he would have been able to keep us 71 00:08:48,539 --> 00:08:55,960 all. But as it stands, the empty tomb is eloquent testimony to Christ's victory and death's defeat. 72 00:08:56,820 --> 00:09:03,019 Because of it, we can shout with the Apostle Paul, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, 73 00:09:03,019 --> 00:09:10,240 where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? As Paul declares triumphantly in 1 Corinthians 15. 74 00:09:10,620 --> 00:09:18,039 Well, the empty tomb, we have just looked at the empty tomb. The empty tomb is the garden of covenant 75 00:09:18,039 --> 00:09:26,940 blessing. The empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. Let's look at the garden in our declaration 76 00:09:26,940 --> 00:09:35,460 here. The garden. Let me ask you, into what did Christ step as he walked out of the tomb on that 77 00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:42,659 Easter morning? He stepped into a garden. We see in John chapter 19, now near the place where he was 78 00:09:42,659 --> 00:09:49,960 crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. When the 79 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:56,220 living God dwells with men, he dwells with them in a garden. When he creates new life, he creates new life 80 00:09:56,220 --> 00:10:02,940 in a garden. The garden is a vivid metaphor for new life and the dwelling place of God with man. 81 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:10,360 As Genesis chapter 2 tells us, the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the 82 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:16,659 man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant 83 00:10:16,659 --> 00:10:23,080 to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the 84 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:30,539 knowledge of good and evil. Yes, from Acts chapter 2. We were meant to be hard-working, productive 85 00:10:30,539 --> 00:10:36,840 gardeners. Now, personally, I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening, but I have a neighbor 86 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:43,539 who is a God-given Adam, if you will, when it comes to growing things, making his yard a veritable Eden, 87 00:10:43,539 --> 00:10:51,000 lush and green and full of colorful, thriving plants and trees, smelling sweet and delightful. In fact, 88 00:10:51,000 --> 00:11:00,259 he's won local awards for his yard. How does God describe Israel in Balaam's vision when he's talking 89 00:11:00,259 --> 00:11:11,259 about the beauty of the nation that he had created? Where are they? Where in this place they are his people 90 00:11:11,259 --> 00:11:19,080 among whom he dwells, which he has created in one day as a new creation. Oh, Numbers chapter 24 tells 91 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:24,960 us, how lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel, like palm groves that 92 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:31,059 stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees 93 00:11:31,059 --> 00:11:37,100 beside the waters. That's how God views his people. When he is prepared to dwell with them, 94 00:11:37,100 --> 00:11:42,500 he views them as a garden. When God creates new life, he creates it in a garden. When he dwells 95 00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:48,419 with man, he dwells with him in a garden. Oh, the holy of holies in the temple, the very inner sanctuary 96 00:11:48,419 --> 00:11:54,820 of the temple is where God dwelt with man, where God dwelt with Israel. And how was that inner sanctuary 97 00:11:54,820 --> 00:12:01,080 decorated? What was it meant to evoke? Oh, the entire inner sanctuary, the scriptures tell us, 98 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:07,299 was overlaid with gold. Then it was hammered and carved to look like, to look like what, 99 00:12:07,399 --> 00:12:13,000 dear listener? Oh, around the entrance and the walls he carved engraved figures of cherubim and 100 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:19,779 palm trees and open flowers. And the furniture was made of olive wood and cedar, fragrant and lovely 101 00:12:19,779 --> 00:12:26,080 trees. The pillars and walls were festooned with pomegranates and gourds and lilies and flowers 102 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:31,740 appear gold. The lampstands were designed to resemble almond branches. Even the incense, 103 00:12:31,820 --> 00:12:39,820 when burned, evoked the pure and fragrant scent of the very Garden of Eden. Oh, the entire sanctuary 104 00:12:39,820 --> 00:12:45,679 was overlaid with gold. Then it was hammered and carved to look like what? Oh, a garden, 105 00:12:45,860 --> 00:12:52,299 dear listener. The garden played a crucial role in our Savior's life. He often repaired to the Mount 106 00:12:52,299 --> 00:12:57,600 of Olives, a garden of fruit and olives. The night he was betrayed, he was praying in the Garden of 107 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:02,539 Gethsemane. When he was raised from the dead, he strolled the garden, which is where the woman found him 108 00:13:02,539 --> 00:13:08,740 as they came early that Sunday morning to embalm his body in spices and linen. In fact, for whom did 109 00:13:08,740 --> 00:13:16,159 they mistake him? Oh, John tells us, Jesus asked her, that is Mary, why are you weeping? Supposing him 110 00:13:16,159 --> 00:13:24,259 to be the gardener, she said to him, right? Indeed, he was the good gardener, was he not? The gardener of 111 00:13:24,259 --> 00:13:31,080 creation. John's gospel is filled with such irony, since Christ is indeed the gardener of that greater 112 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:37,299 garden, the restored paradise of the new Jerusalem. Revelation finally describes the new Jerusalem as 113 00:13:37,299 --> 00:13:42,899 that city filled with rivers and trees and gems, even as was the Garden of Eden. Paradise restored is 114 00:13:42,899 --> 00:13:51,340 the place of the new creation, a garden in which God dwells at peace with his creature, man. If anyone 115 00:13:51,340 --> 00:13:57,679 is in Christ, he is a new creation, Paul says. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. 116 00:13:58,259 --> 00:14:05,179 What was lost in the old garden, innocence and righteousness and purity, life itself is now restored 117 00:14:05,179 --> 00:14:12,259 in the new garden. The empty tomb has heralded new life in the garden. God dwells anew and afresh 118 00:14:12,259 --> 00:14:20,200 with his creature, man, in the garden. The empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. Well, let's 119 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:26,700 look at covenant again, shall we? We reviewed covenant briefly last week. Let's look again at covenant. 120 00:14:27,279 --> 00:14:32,740 It's the only word from last week which has carried over into this week's proposition. It's only right and 121 00:14:32,740 --> 00:14:39,500 good that this be so. Covenant goes to the very heart of how God relates to his creature, whether in all 122 00:14:39,500 --> 00:14:45,200 he accomplished in the crucifixion or all he accomplished in the resurrection. How does God 123 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:53,120 relate to man? In what kind of an economy does he dispense justice and mercy, grace and wrath, salvation 124 00:14:53,120 --> 00:15:00,580 and damnation? Does he do it in dispensations? No, not a hint of this in the Bible. Through the 125 00:15:00,580 --> 00:15:07,820 Sharia of Islam? No. How about the endless cyclical ages of Buddhism? No, none of these. God has 126 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:14,299 established a series of covenants through which he manifests his faithfulness to those he loves. 127 00:15:15,019 --> 00:15:22,360 A bond in blood sovereignly administered. That was our brief definition of covenant. A bond in blood 128 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:29,860 sovereignly administered. God unites himself to his people in an unbreakable bond, the terms of which 129 00:15:29,860 --> 00:15:38,399 are laid out in a very systematic way. Good examples of this are in creation, the Ten Commandments. 130 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:45,480 They bear all the marks of a covenant. You have laws or stipulations in covenants. That is, you shall 131 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:50,519 not eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall not kill. You shall not 132 00:15:50,519 --> 00:15:56,340 steal. You shall not bear false witness. These are all marks of a covenant. There are blessings and 133 00:15:56,340 --> 00:16:02,600 curses and covenants. For instance, in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die, right? Or honor your 134 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,840 father and mother, that your days may be long in the land. Indeed, there are promises and there are 135 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:16,559 curses and blessings too. In fact, so similar is the economy in which God relates to both Adam and Israel 136 00:16:16,559 --> 00:16:22,220 that God complains about Israel. He said, like Adam, they transgressed the covenant. 137 00:16:22,220 --> 00:16:30,100 They dealt faithlessly with me. What Jesus does in the crucifixion and resurrection is inaugurate what 138 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:36,759 he calls the new covenant. He says, as the institution of the Lord's Supper, this cup which is poured out 139 00:16:36,759 --> 00:16:45,980 for you is the new covenant in my blood. Oh, the shedding of blood is another feature of covenant. The life of 140 00:16:45,980 --> 00:16:52,320 the creature is in the blood, Leviticus tells us, and blood stands for the life sacrificed. Our lives 141 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:57,779 have each and every one gone forfeit to God ever since the fall in our first parents. Whether you 142 00:16:57,779 --> 00:17:05,920 realize it or not, you owe your very life, your eternal soul to God for your broken covenant status 143 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:12,319 that was first shattered in the garden. In the day you eat of it, God promised that is the fruit of the 144 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:18,759 tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die. And that's precisely what did happen. In Adam, 145 00:17:19,259 --> 00:17:26,380 our first father, we all die. Sin came into the world through one man, that is Adam, Paul tells us, and death 146 00:17:26,380 --> 00:17:34,200 through sin. Every covenant as well has a mediator, a federal head, that is someone who stands between the 147 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:41,200 people and the king of the ancient covenant. And Adam was our first mediator or our federal head. And he stood for 148 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:47,980 the entire race of men when he sinned. Paul tells us that many died through one man's trespass. That's 149 00:17:47,980 --> 00:17:55,039 Adam. Because of one man's trespass, death reigned, Paul tells us. And that man was Adam. And ever since 150 00:17:55,039 --> 00:18:01,039 then, each and every one of our individual lives have given shameful testimony to the fact that we have 151 00:18:01,039 --> 00:18:09,119 inherited both Adam's bad record, that is imputed sin, and Adam's bad heart. A bad record and a bad 152 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:15,160 heart. That is, we have a sinful nature. The empty tomb is a declaration that a new covenant has been 153 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:23,460 struck with a new covenant mediator, none other than Christ himself. It is God's stamp of approval of the 154 00:18:23,460 --> 00:18:30,819 new mediator's work. Where once sin characterized us under Adam, now righteousness characterizes us 155 00:18:30,819 --> 00:18:36,900 under Christ. For as by the one man's disobedience, Paul says, the many were made sinners, so by the one 156 00:18:36,900 --> 00:18:42,880 man's obedience, that is Christ, the many were made righteous. Ah, where once death reigned supreme as the 157 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:50,700 ultimate destiny of all Adam's children. Ah, that would be the occupied tomb. Now those who have faith in 158 00:18:50,700 --> 00:18:58,799 Christ have life, that is, there's an empty tomb. If because of one man's trespass, Paul says, if because 159 00:18:58,799 --> 00:19:05,519 of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance 160 00:19:05,519 --> 00:19:12,299 of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Ah, the 161 00:19:12,299 --> 00:19:19,140 apostle Paul. Have you personally received the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness, 162 00:19:19,140 --> 00:19:26,420 dear listener? Well, then the promise is that you have life in the new man, Jesus Christ, and your tomb 163 00:19:26,420 --> 00:19:33,119 will be empty. The apostle Paul is very clear about this. The crucifixion and resurrection are two 164 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:41,599 components of one covenant act. And by faith, our faith will be counted to us, as Paul says again, 165 00:19:41,599 --> 00:19:49,420 our faith will be counted to us who believe in him who raised Christ from the dead, Jesus, our Lord, 166 00:19:49,599 --> 00:19:56,380 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Paul says in Romans chapter 4, 167 00:19:57,019 --> 00:20:03,559 oh, dear listener, the empty tomb is eloquent testimony that you have re-entered and been 168 00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:13,220 restored to full covenant status. Well, the empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. Let's look 169 00:20:13,220 --> 00:20:18,839 at blessing, shall we? Blessing, the empty tomb, the resurrection is the first and crowning blessing 170 00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:25,200 of salvation in Christ. We saw last week that the cross was the altar of covenant curse. Now with 171 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:31,960 God's stamp of approval upon his son's sacrifice of his life for yours upon the cross, the way is open 172 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:39,160 for the fulfillment of all the blessings promised in God's economy. What is a curse and what is a 173 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:47,240 blessing? We saw last week that a curse is a condition of sin and misery above which no man can rise. 174 00:20:47,460 --> 00:20:55,460 That's a curse. A condition of sin and misery above which no man can rise. And God cursed Adam and Eve 175 00:20:55,460 --> 00:21:00,960 and consequently all of us in the fall, did he not, in the garden. But what is a blessing? 176 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:10,440 A blessing. Under our context here, a blessing is a condition of peace and prosperity below which no man 177 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:19,220 can fall. A condition of peace and prosperity below which no man can fall. What Christian does not know 178 00:21:19,220 --> 00:21:25,539 this state of affairs? Every Christian has been blessed in the midst of a cursed world full of sin and 179 00:21:25,539 --> 00:21:32,400 misery, turmoil, disease, death, loss, sadness, loneliness, alienation. No matter how deep or tragic 180 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:40,079 that Christian's circumstances, the Christian knows blessing. Oh, how can we say this? We have been 181 00:21:40,079 --> 00:21:45,819 redeemed. For example, we have been redeemed. One of the blessings. The empty tomb means you have been 182 00:21:45,819 --> 00:21:52,539 bought back from the slavery of sin and death. You are now free as no worldling can know freedom. 183 00:21:52,539 --> 00:22:00,119 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, as Paul tells us, in order that the blessing of Abraham 184 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:07,519 might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. Oh, you have 185 00:22:07,519 --> 00:22:15,119 been redeemed. One of the blessings below which you cannot sink. And we have also then been adopted. 186 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:21,440 We are children of God now. Adoption. The empty tomb means you have been changed from a rejected orphan 187 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:29,480 to an adopted son. Paul says, you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you 188 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:36,579 received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness 189 00:22:36,579 --> 00:22:43,579 with our spirit that we are children of God. You are a child of God now. What a blessing. You have also 190 00:22:43,579 --> 00:22:50,619 received the blessing of sanctification. You have been made holy. Yes, sanctified. The empty tomb means 191 00:22:50,619 --> 00:22:57,759 you have been made holy and set apart as a person with a special destiny. The Christian knows this 192 00:22:57,759 --> 00:23:05,359 in a way no worldling can know. Paul says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the 193 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:11,700 kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 194 00:23:11,700 --> 00:23:17,200 nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor 195 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:23,160 swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were 196 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:30,900 sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. You have been 197 00:23:30,900 --> 00:23:37,839 blessed, dear listener, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's only the beginning, too. All of this is 198 00:23:37,839 --> 00:23:45,000 only the down payment on that condition of peace and prosperity below which you can never fall. That 199 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:51,920 is blessing. So much more is promised, too. As an adopted son, you are a child of the king from whom 200 00:23:51,920 --> 00:24:00,000 you will inherit all of the covenant blessings in eternity that only the child can inherit. Paul says, 201 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:05,960 the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then 202 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:12,839 heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, unquote. Oh, what is your inheritance, dear listener? 203 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:18,960 Oh, what a blessing. It is indeed the consummation of all things, really, when heaven and earth are made 204 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:26,119 one and heaven and earth are made new. Revelation tells us in chapter 21, then I saw a new heaven and a 205 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:31,579 new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw 206 00:24:31,579 --> 00:24:38,220 the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her 207 00:24:38,220 --> 00:24:44,079 husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 208 00:24:44,539 --> 00:24:50,400 He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 209 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:56,480 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be 210 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:03,460 mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. This is yours, dear listener. 211 00:25:03,759 --> 00:25:09,259 It's only a sample of the blessing of the empty tomb. All the Bible is full of them, recounted from 212 00:25:09,259 --> 00:25:15,440 Genesis to Revelation, blessing upon blessing. These things will be yours. Oh, Christian, 213 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:22,119 O child of faith. Embrace Jesus now, and take him by faith. No one will ever be able to take these 214 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:27,759 blessings away from you. You will be sealed in righteousness and peace and prosperity. Oh, 215 00:25:28,099 --> 00:25:34,660 the condition of peace and prosperity below which no one can fall. That's blessing. The condition of 216 00:25:34,660 --> 00:25:42,579 peace and prosperity below which no one can fall. Dear listener, the empty tomb is the garden of covenant 217 00:25:42,579 --> 00:25:49,220 blessing. May you experience that this Easter. May your Easter be one of joy and celebration. It is no 218 00:25:49,220 --> 00:25:56,819 accident nor coincidence that Easter is the premier Christian holiday, and there is an infinity of joy and 219 00:25:56,819 --> 00:26:04,299 peace and prosperity to celebrate in the empty tomb of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. May this lesson 220 00:26:04,299 --> 00:26:10,839 today contribute to your salvation and growth in the Christian faith. This has been Pastor David Bass at 221 00:26:10,839 --> 00:26:17,599 New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sundays at 10 a.m., 222 00:26:17,599 --> 00:26:26,200 and we will meet Easter morning. Join us on Easter morning at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 223 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:34,720 4th and Boulevard. That is where we meet in our sanctuary at 10 a.m. on Easter morning on the corner of 4th and 224 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:49,680 Boulevard at 101 4th Street. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. Area code 208-523-0196.