Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for another day set aside from our normal routines and our normal activities to rest and to receive from you. We pray that you would speak to us now through your Word. We pray that we would be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We pray that you would use your Word effectually to change us and conform us more and more to the image of our Savior, Jesus Christ. By the power and presence of your Holy Spirit, we pray. Please be seated in turn, if you will, that X Chapter 25. You know, we're continuing our study of acts, and Paul has completed his three missionary journeys, and then he went back to Jerusalem and has had all kinds of trouble there with different trials and court hearings and. a beating and almost being tortured, and he was transferred from Jerusalem up to Caesarea, and then he appeared before Felix there, and then Felix has left him in prison for two years, and we find now that we're coming to that story after two years in prison now. We'll read in Acts 25, the first 22 verses. This is the word of the Lord. Now, three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. And the chief priests and the principal man of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, asking as a favor against Paul, that he summon him to Jerusalem because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. So, said he, let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him. After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he took his feet on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him. that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any offense. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me? But Paul said, I am standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. To the Jews, I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar. Then Festus, when he had conferred with his counsel, answered to Caesar, you have appealed to Caesar, you shall go. Now, when some days had passed, the grip of the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, There's a man left prisoner by Felix. And when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. I answered them that it was not the custom of Romans to give up anyone before the accused met the accusers face to face and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charges laid against him. So, when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. When the accuser stood up, they brought no charges in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather, they had certain points of dispute with them about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who is dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them. But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody. for the decision of the emperor. I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar. Then a group of said the fastest. I would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, said he, you will hear him. So far, the reading of God's word. This is another interesting case where Paul is brought before a judge or a leader or ruler of the land, just like Jesus had said that he would be. He said that Paul was going to be his witness, that he was going to testify before Kings. And notice that what Jesus is or what Paul is stressing there or what most strikes fastest is this idea that Paul is saying that this man, Jesus, is raised from the dead and he's kind of confounded by that. But you see, this is what Paul was testifying to. Paul wasn't really concerned all that much about himself, so much as bearing faithful witness to Jesus Christ. And the crux of the case, the matter that has gone on, and we've heard now three different cases, was that the whole dispute was over this idea of the resurrection of the dead and that Paul has gone on over and over to talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you see, this is the cornerstone of our faith, isn't it? If we were to sit down and talk with people today about the resurrection of the dead, we could get or the resurrection of Jesus Christ in particular. We could get a variety of different responses to it. Right. Some people would say, well, that's just nonsense. Some people would say it's it's silly. Some people would say, well, that's just impossible. It's impossible for people to rise from the dead. Some people would say it's irrational. It doesn't make any sense at all. No rational person could actually believe that. Right. Some would say it's unprovable. There's no way to prove the resurrection of the dead. Some would say, well, it's just flat out uncomfortable. Some would say they're unsure. You know, what are we to think about this? Some would just be uninterested. Well, who really cares? A big, giant shrug. You know, what does it matter? Some would think that it's just irrelevant to us. Others would say that it's a nice idea. It's maybe a great story, but there's really no truth to it. Some would say that it's superstitious. Some would say that it's naive. Some would say that it's just blatantly unscientific. And others would say it's absolutely necessary. And that's Paul's position that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary. And we've already looked at the case in terms of Paul's defense here. And even in this context, it doesn't go into great defense. It just shows the same three charges and the same three responses. So at this text this morning, I want to really look at three different responses to the resurrection of the dead. I want to look at the hostility. Confusion and belief. Reaction to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, hostility, confusion and belief. First, let's look at hostility. Some Jews. You see, Festus had replaced Felix and he had gone to Jerusalem as the new ruler of the area to meet with some people, and he met with the chief priest that says and the principal man of the Jews. And during the days that they were there, they brought out this case against Paul, who's still been in prison now for two years. Right. They're just not going to let this case go. So they have a new ruler, someone who may help them out. They had actually plotted to kill him. Remember, they had wanted to ambush him in Jerusalem, but he was transferred up to Caesarea with the Roman army to be safe. They had hundreds of people protect him from 40 assassins. And now he's been in that prison for two years. And so the Jews laid out their case against them again. A new ruler, maybe someone else will be sympathetic to our cause. And they wanted Felix to do. I'm sorry. They wanted Festus to do them a favor. So literally the word that you do us a favor. They wanted Paul to be brought back from Caesarea, back to Jerusalem, 65 miles away. And why did they want that to happen? Well, verse three says, because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. In other words, they were planning to kill Paul, and if they can get Festus to transfer him from Caesarea to Jerusalem this time, they're going to be able to get him and they're going to lay in wait and they're going to kill Paul. You see, this is hostile, isn't it? This is a hostile response to the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It doesn't get any more hostile than murder. Right. We talk about peacemaking or we talk about relationships. Usually we have both fight and flight mechanisms, right? Sometimes we want to run away from conflict and get away from that. And sometimes we want to overpower it in one way or another. And here is the ultimate fight mechanism. Instead of dealing with the conflict, instead of being peacemakers, instead of what they were supposed to do is not murder, right? These are Jews who had the sixth commandment that we read today engraved on their hearts and all of the writing not to murder. And then the richer understanding of it, not to envy, not to be quarrelsome, not to be involved in disputes, not to plot these things, not to have hatred and greed. And all of these things are motivating the Jews. You see, they're desiring to kill him. Why, because he was preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because he was preaching the gospel. And so a reaction to the gospel of Jesus Christ that we saw during that day. of the first century was hostility, and it's a reaction that we hear today, isn't it? People sometimes are still hostile about it and think it's nonsense. And people actually are being killed for preaching this in other countries. In our country right now, fortunately, we don't have that case, but people are being preached, killed for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. This goes on even in our day. People are hostile towards it. So Festus actually calls Paul's accusers to go with him from Caesarea to hear the case because Roman justice demands that the accused and the accuser face one another. So he's saying, look, if you really have a case against this guy, you come with me. I'm not going to bring him down to you. Most likely, he'd actually even heard about the ambush that was planned because the other court records would have been public domain. And as the new ruler coming in, he would have acquainted himself with the cases that were ongoing. So most likely Felix or even Lysias letter, which we had read, was available to him to read. So he knew about these things. And so it says the Jews brought many and serious charges against Paul that they could not prove. For seven, right, so the Jews now are doing two things, either violating the sixth commandment and wanting to kill him and they're violating the ninth commandment, right? They're bearing false witness against Paul. They're bringing up charges that Flat aren't true because they want to kill them because they hate them. And the sixth and the ninth commandment are also incumbent upon us, aren't they? It's incumbent upon all human beings. Actually, the law of God is written on our hearts, and we know by nature that we aren't to murder. And we know by nature is images or creatures created in the image of God that we aren't to kill, that we aren't to lie. But we, Scripture says, suppress the truth and unrighteousness. We hold it down and we continue to do those things which most glorify us rather than glorify God. And that's what these Jews are doing. They were so filled with hatred for Paul that they wanted to kill. So, yeah, so these men are so filled with their hatred for Paul that they wanted to kill him. And notice that Jesus had said that if you reject my messengers, you're rejecting me. So the real problem with this is that they're rejecting Christ. The real problem is that they're rejecting salvation. The real problem is that they're rejecting the gospel. Because Jesus had said, and Luke records it in his first volume, this is Luke's second volume in Acts, but in Luke 10, 16, Jesus has said, the one who hears you hears me and the one who rejects you rejects me and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. You hear the line of reasoning, then, if the gospel of the announcement of the resurrection of Jesus Christ goes out, everyone who believes that receives Jesus and they receive salvation. Everyone who rejects that message, they're rejecting the message, they're rejecting the messenger, they're rejecting Jesus, and they're rejecting the one who sent Jesus, which is who? God the Father. That's a real serious issue, right? It's not just an indifference over a doctrinal issue of the resurrection of the dead. It's rejecting salvation itself. You see, in Paul, it actually noted in. First Corinthians 13, that the gospel was a stumbling block to the Jews, didn't he? And why was it a stumbling block to the Jews? It's because Jesus wasn't the Messiah that they had expected. He wasn't really the Messiah that they had wanted. They had wanted someone to come in and overthrow Rome. They had wanted someone to come in and take them out of the tyranny of Rome. They had wanted someone to be conquering and powerful and justify them and their works, righteousness and justify them in the way that they were running the temple. And instead, you just came and kicked over things in the temple and told them that you're sinning. You told them that they were violating the law of God, that they aren't actually children of Abraham, that they're children of the devil. And he came in and said, Salvation isn't by work. Salvation is by faith. You have to come to me to be saved. And the idea of this conquering hero that they were looking for was a stumbling block to them, because here it is, a Jew who now ends up on a Roman cross. It's pitiable. It's disgusting. It's shameful to them. It's a stumbling block because in their own law, it said cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And here was Jesus, the one claiming to be Messiah, hanged on a tree. But why was he hanged on a tree for our sins? to endure the punishment, the wrath of God against all wickedness, against all unrighteousness, against all ungodliness for every violation of the law that we had for our wicked inclinations. Even Jesus Christ suffered and endured the wrath of God, the father on the cross for us. And so what looks shameful and what we what looks weak and what looks pathetic is actually the power of God unto salvation. And so it's a stumbling block to the Jews. They trip over this because that's not really the kind of Messiah that they were expecting. And even in our day, when we talk about Jesus Christ, right, sometimes it just seems like nonsense to them. A virgin birth. Died three days later, he rose again, and everyone who believes on him with true faith receives salvation. I don't have to do anything. There's no works. I don't cooperate. I'm not really that bad. First of all, I don't really need a savior. And then if I do, I can kind of help myself. I just need a little bit of help. See what the gospel is. You have no hope. You're dead in your trespasses and sins and what you couldn't do. God did for you. In the person and work of Jesus Christ, real historical events, a real historical person, not just use this in my heart, although for every Christian he does live in your heart, but he lives in your heart because the Jesus of history really lived two thousand years ago and he really died and he really was again. And so one of the reactions to the resurrection that we. See is hostility. And we see that even in our own day. Right. And Christ so cares for his flock that he tells us to be prepared for this. And John, he said, if the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, it hates you. In other words, those who are perishing hate the gospel in every age. So we shouldn't be surprised when they do. And then we need to hold on to the resurrection, right? We can't tone it down so that the world might like us. We're not doing anyone a favor by not being faithful and clear to the preaching of the resurrection. And the second reaction to the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we want to look at is confusion. You see, it says that Festus was wishing to do the Jews a favor in verse nine. So he really kind of abdicates his responsibility of that and says, Paul, do you wish to go up to Jerusalem to be tried? See, Festus was a good administrator, yet he had one serious flaw. He wanted to please people more than he wanted to please God. And isn't that the way with many of us that we often fear people and what they'll think about us more than we fear God? Don't we fear our own reputation or our own popularity? And that's what Festus is concerned about here, popularity polls. What are the people going to think? Not what is the holy God going to think, but what if it cost me something? What if it cost me my reputation? What if it cost me some hardship? What if I lose my job? What if I lose a relationship? What if I lose a scholarship? What if I lose something because of obeying God? Do I fear God more than I fear man? And Festus didn't, you see. He was more concerned about the people. And so Paul said, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. In other words, rightly, he should be tried in the civil court, these are civil charges. And he says, I have done no wrong, as you yourself know. In other words, he's saying, Justice, look, you know, I haven't done anything wrong. How can you really continue to hold me if you know that I'm innocent? None of these charges have been proven over and over. I won't get into all of them. We've looked at them in the past, but note that they don't bring any new charges. It's just the same charges over and over, and sometimes in our society, I think we even try to change laws or wear people down by attrition, right? We don't have any new arguments or new things to bring. We just keep on bringing the same thing over and over until it wears somebody down. The same law gets voted down. Two years, then two years later, then two years later, then two years later, then two years later, then two years later. And finally, people are just exhausted and it passes. Sometimes no new argument is brought to the case. And they had brought these three charges. They charged him of heresy. He said, no, I haven't done anything against the law of God, I uphold the law of God. They brought against him a charge of sacrilege that he had violated the temple, which he had already proven that he hadn't done, and a charge of treason. But he was inciting people against Caesar and all of these charges have been disproven already. And he's saying, look, you know yourself, I haven't done these things. He said, if I have. If I've committed anything deserving of death, I do not seek escape, I will willingly die. In other words, look, I'm willing to. Go about my fate here, right, if that's what a Roman court decides, that's what I'll do, but you don't have any grounds for it, I didn't do these things. You see, it's the opposite of Festus. It's the opposite of the Jews making up false charges or trying to find a sneaky way through it so that he could justify himself. He's saying, look, if I've done it, then if I've done the crime, I'll do the time. I'm not trying to circumvent it in any way. He says, but if there is nothing in this charge against me, then no one can give me up to them, I appeal to Caesar. And ultimately, he wants to go before the highest court in the land. And Festus says to Caesar, you have appealed to Caesar, you shall go. You see, given the strength of Jewish feeling against Paul, Festus had expected Paul to have done something terribly dreadful. His description at the point of the actual dispute is almost humorous because of his bewilderment, he's really expecting something crazy to have happened. And when he meets with Agrippa and Bernice, his wife, the king, who's actually even ruler over him, he says they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who is dead, but whom Paul asserted was alive. You see, at the end of the day, he got it. The crux of it was, really? Everything they brought to me about this guy, I was really expecting them to be. This is anachronistic because Hitler wasn't alive, but he's expecting a Hitler. Some ruthless tyrant. So, you know what? At the end of the day, it's a dispute about their own religion, about this Jesus guy who Paul said was dead, but now he's alive. And so it says in verse 20, he's a loss at how to investigate this question. What do I do about that? You see, this is deadly serious. Festus was confused and he didn't really investigate any further. Just kind of what can I do? Because he thought it was a squabble over their religion. But you see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has a bearing for everybody who has lived ever and who currently lives. And that's what Paul was saying. It's not just the Jewish thing, it's not a Roman thing, it's a worldwide thing. What do you say about Jesus Christ? Where do you stand in relationship to Jesus Christ? It's a deadly, serious matter. And Paul in First Corinthians has laid this out, right? He said, if Jesus Christ hasn't been raised from the dead, then it's not just, well, if Christianity kind of works for you, that's OK. As long as it works, it's not a pragmatic religion. It's nice for you. If he didn't really die, that's OK. The idea of rising from the dead is great, some people will say. Paul said that's not the case with Christianity. In First Corinthians 15, he said everything banks on this, the historical reality of Jesus Christ rising from the dead. He said, if Jesus Christ did not die from the dead, then my preaching is in vain. It's the exact opposite of what people will say today. They'll say, well, it's still a nice idea or it's a great little story, but not Paul, not an apostle of Jesus. He said, look, if he isn't raised from the dead, what I'm doing is in vain. This is worthless. Your faith is actually worthless as well. Because your faith is an anchor to anything solid and secure, like the resurrection of Jesus Christ is anchored to a dead person. How can a dead person help you? He said, if Jesus really isn't raised from the dead, then guess what? You're also still in your sins. There's no forgiveness, there's no hope for you. It's not a nice idea or warm thought. It's salvation. It's life and death. It's eternal punishment or eternal glory. That's what hangs in the balance, Thestis. Not a little squabble over doctrine, over a little Jewish dispute. It's life and death for you, Thestis. If Jesus isn't raised from the dead, guess what? We're false witnesses. Didn't we read what it is about bearing false witness? It's a violation of God's commandments. Well, if we're saying that God raised Jesus from the dead and God didn't raise Jesus from the dead, then we're bearing false witness about what God did. We're lying about God. And also, those who have already died have perished. My brother, Tim Monsma, is just a rotting corpse with no hope of anything. But guess what? My brother, Tim Monsma, is currently in glory with Christ the Savior. And he's awaiting, with the rest of the saints who have died, the resurrection of his body. But if Jesus Christ hasn't been raised from the dead, then our preaching is in vain. Your faith is worthless. You're still in your sins. We're bearing false witness about God and those who have died have simply perished. And he said, above all, we're to be pitied. It's pretty serious. It's not those other things that we said at the beginning, well, it's just irrelevant or it's irrational. Or whatever you think, or if it works for you, that's super. Know what, we're above all people to be pitied. If Jesus Christ isn't raised from the dead, I'm embarrassing myself right now and I'm wasting your time. But if Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. If a person was raised from the dead who promised eternal life to anyone who believes in him and promised forgiveness of the sins and he was vindicated by being raised from the dead, we really ought to listen. We really ought to pay attention. And next week, we're going to look specifically at some of the evidences of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Right now, I'm just announcing it to you. And sometimes people have those hang ups that we had that I mentioned in the introduction. And if you have any, I think it's good to bring your friends and family every week to church to hear the gospel. But next week, if you have somebody in your life that's really hung up on Well, how do you know? How can you believe in the resurrection? It's irrational, it's stupid, it's silly, it's nonsense. Next week, we're going to lay that out. We're going to lay out some internal evidences from scripture and then external evidences about why the resurrection just isn't hokey nonsense and irrational and counter scientific. It's a historical reality, and how can we know it and how can we trust it and how we can believe it? We'll look at some of those things next week. And so, you know, Paul had already said that the gospel or the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews. And he also said it was a folly to the Gentiles. And that's what we find with Festus here, right? It's just it's just folly. This whole thing is a squabble over some little Jewish dispute about the resurrection of the dead. But Paul had said the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. The word of the cross isn't folly. The word of the cross and resurrection is folly to those who are perishing because they think it's stupid and silly and nonsense, and it doesn't apply to them. It's irrelevant. But to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. You see, the same thing that looks foolish to the world is the exact same thing that God is using to give us eternal life. It's the power of God to all who believe it's foolishness to those who are perishing. It's not foolishness. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. And the last thing, the last response, we noted that there was hostility. We noted that there was confusion and we know that there's belief with our brother Paul, right? Paul has really much to fear in this whole trial, doesn't he? If Festus lets him go, what's going to happen? He's going to be ambushed and killed. If Festus convicts him, what's going to happen? He's going to be killed for treason. But that's not where Paul's hope is, right? Paul is demonstrating faith and he's demonstrating courage in the resurrected Lord. Don't miss that. The resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to him twice. So he is an eyewitness to the fact that Jesus Christ is not in the grave, that Jesus Christ is alive and well. The first time that his calling when he actually called him and converted him and gave him a commission to preach the Gentiles. And then the second one was during the midst of all these trials. In chapter twenty three, Jesus had appeared to him and he said what? In twenty three eleven, he said, take courage. For as you testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. And what were the facts that he had testified in Jerusalem? The life, death and resurrection of Jesus and those same testimony needed to be made in Rome. And Paul's now halfway between them, went from Jerusalem to Caesarea, and he's not in Rome yet. And he has faith that God is going to take him to Rome to testify to these facts, he's believing the Lord's word, he's believing the Lord's promise, he has faith and he has courage. And why does Paul, do you think, appeal to Caesar? Jesus didn't do that when he was tried. You know, Jesus was brought up on the same accusations that Paul was, right? And Jesus remained silent before Pontius Pilate. Was Paul a wuss? Why didn't he take it on the chin like Jesus? Well, because Paul had a mission to fulfill. He knew he had to go to Rome to testify, and he knew that by appealing to Caesar, he would get to Rome. God in his providence is actually going to use these events to get Paul where he needed to go. Sure, he could just beam him like Star Trek, or he could send a chariot of fire and come down and pick Paul up and do all that. But he doesn't. The Lord works through ordinary means. He's working through a corrupt system. He's working through the plot of assassins. He's working through the evil of wicked men. He's working through a corrupt court system to ultimately get Paul where he wants him to go. which was to testify in Rome. So Paul was fulfilling his mission by speaking out, and Jesus, when he stood before the Roman court, was fulfilling his mission by being silent. He needed to be condemned. He needed to be condemned and hung on that tree so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. He could have appealed to the highest court in the land himself, but he remained silent and for our sakes, he offered himself. And so he suffered at the hands of Roman justice and Jewish hostility that we could have life and have it more abundantly. And every Jew and every Roman who believed could as well. Nothing anti-Semitic here or anti-Greek here. Everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile, who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved. So Paul was trusting in the providence of God. He was demonstrating faith. And Paul is also trusting the promises of God, isn't he? Jesus said, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. You see, Festus was afraid of just those who could kill the body, but not the soul. And Paul fears the Lord. And he knows that the Lord is the one who controls his destiny. The Lord is the one who saved him. The Lord is the one who promised him that even if Rome kills you, I have you. There is a resurrection of the dead, right? That's why it's so important. This life isn't all there is. Tim Monsma died, and that's a tragedy, but Tim Monsma lives. Death is an enemy, but death is a defeated enemy. Why? Because Jesus Christ conquered death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ really and historically couldn't be more important. Without it, our faith is worthless, our hope is in vain, we're still in our sins, we're making God out to be a liar. And that's true for every human being. It's not a little Christian squabble. It's not a little minor point of doctrine. It's that upon which our faith rests is that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and ruling and reigning. Right. So in conclusion, what say you? Sitting here today. Do you want the gospel to be silenced? Do you want the messengers of the Lord to be killed? Do you have hatred for that message and those who speak it? Or do you just kind of want to put it off for another day, like Felix did in the previous chapter? You know what? I'll get to it later. I don't I don't really have time right now, or I don't want to be bothered with it. Or are you more like Festus? Do you want to pretend like there's no real evidence for this? There's no way of examining it. And it's just a little minor squabble that I don't really need to address myself. It's irrational. What can I do about it? Or do you believe the facts, but not actually trust in the Savior, like the demons and like Satan? See, Satan actually believes that Jesus Christ lived, that Jesus Christ died, and that Jesus Christ rose again. He's got better theology than liberal theologians. The problem is that Satan doesn't put his trust in Jesus Christ. He believes the historical facts. Yeah, that's true. But I don't believe it. I don't trust in that. Putting my faith in Jesus Christ for my salvation. Are you like any of those today? Then I would urge you to come. I would urge you to run from those things and drop on your knees and come to Jesus. Repent and believe. That is how you're saved. Repent and believe. Or do you trust that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the son of God, that he was born in the flesh, that he lived, that he died, that he rose again, and he's now currently in a body, a resurrected body, in glory, and is going to come again and take us home to glory as well, and that we will have resurrected bodies. Like Jesus was on Easter morning, so shall we be. And our whole life is lived in faith. If you believe that, if you're trusting and resting in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, Then you have the forgiveness of sins, past, present and future. All of them are covered. And you also stand holy and righteous before God, because Christ's righteousness is credited to your account. We use the word imputed. It's imputed to you. It's given to you as a gift. And that's why on the authority of God's word, not on the authority of my word, I can say to you, your sins are forgiven. I can say to you, you're right with God. I can say to you, you're adopted. I can say to you, you're beloved. I can say to you on the authority of Jesus Christ's word that nothing will snatch you out of his hand and that you will never be separated from him. You see, he has you and he will bring you safely home to glory. Come what may, you may face horrible trials in this life like Paul did, but do you rest in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that no matter what happens to you, it's not outside of the will of God, that he providentially oversees everything, the falling of one of your hairs and the falling of a sparrow, that the Lord is in control of that. And if he can be in control of that, he's also in control of your salvation. He didn't just provide a way of salvation, but he actually saves you. And to all of you who believe this, to all of you are hearing this and acknowledge it and trust. Not just the facts, but you've placed your trust in Jesus Christ. Then be comforted and assured that your sins are forgiven. You have peace with God. You are no longer under condemnation. And the rest of our life, we just live in gratitude towards God and love towards our neighbor. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and we thank you for the reality of the resurrection. We thank you that Jesus Christ conquered sin, death and Satan, that you raised him again for our justification and that you seated him at your right hand where he's currently ruling and reigning over all things. We thank you for the announcement of the salvation that comes to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you for creating faith in our hearts through that gospel and through the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, we believe, but would you help our unbelief? Sometimes it's difficult and hard. It's so counterintuitive to the things that we see and hear around us. Would you continue to nourish us and strengthen us with your Word? And Father, for any who are here this morning who may be skeptical or just flat-out hostile to the idea, or those who may be wondering or intrigued, would you please bring them to faith? Would you give them a new heart? Would you give them eyes to see and ears to hear and a mind to understand? Would you help make these historical realities true for them in your saving benefit through faith in Jesus Christ? Would you please bring them? In the power and presence of your Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.