Lord Jesus, our God and Saviour, as we turn to your word, may your Holy Spirit point us to who you are, so that we might see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly. Father, for Jesus' sake, may your Holy Spirit open our eyes, that we will see wonderful truths in your law. Amen. Now, Romans chapter one, verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures regarding his son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his namesake, we receive grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now I told you this morning that I used to be a history teacher so let me give you another bit of history. This is not really my field of history. I'm more ancient history. I'm an ancient ancient historian but let me give you this. It comes from English history that on the 22nd of August 1485 The last significant battle of the War of the Roses took place at Bosworth Field, about 15 miles west of Leicester. And not only did Richard of York give battle in vain, but according to Shakespeare, because he couldn't find a horse, he got killed. And the body of Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet Kings, was buried in Leicester's Greyfriars Church. The problem was for centuries nobody knew where he was buried because they didn't know where the location of Greyfriars Church was. However in 2012, after years of painstaking research and thorough investigation and using the latest cutting-edge technology, a team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester discovered Richard III's remains buried in a council car park beside the Leicester ring road. Three years later, on the Thursday, the 26th of March 2015, his remains were reinterred in Leicester Cathedral. The Banner of Truth conference used to be in Leicester. The last year it was held in Leicester was the first year after this was all done. And if you're ever in Leicester, go and see the Richard III exhibition in the cathedral and in the museum beside it. It's really worth watching. But anyway, the reason I'm telling you about Richard III is this, that on Good Friday, the first Good Friday after engaging his enemies in battle, and unlike Richard III defeating them, another king was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. However, no matter how much painstaking research is carried out, no matter how many thorough investigations are made, and no matter what cutting-edge technology is used, no archaeologist will ever dig up the remains of Jesus of Nazareth. You see, the truth that we, along with Christians throughout the world, are affirming today is that although he really died and was actually buried, Jesus is physically alive. and the historical fact of Jesus' resurrection, along with the historical fact of Jesus' death, are the truths upon which the Gospel and our faith rests. So, let's think again about what was happening in Jesus' resurrection and to try and get our thoughts into focus, I want us to look at something Paul wrote in Romans 1, verse 4. where he states that through the spirit of holiness Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead. Now if you slice and dice that statement You discover what's going on in the resurrection. But I do have to tell you that slicing and dicing that statement is not as straightforward as it seems. Commentators and translators debate where the phrase, with power, should be placed in that statement. Should it be linked with the word declared? Declared with power. Should it be joined to the title, Son of God? Or should it be connected with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness? And if you read two commentaries, you get two opinions. And if you're a glutton for punishment and read a third commentary, you get three opinions. Now, my question is, why do we have to choose one of the three options? Surely, We believe that guided by the Holy Spirit, might not Paul have deliberately placed the phrase with power where he did so, so it could be attached to all three statements? Do we have to only go for one of three options? Can we not just go for all three? I think we can have our cake and eat it and if we do so we get a very comprehensive idea of what was going on at the resurrection. So let's do that. If we follow the NIV that we have and link the phrase with power to the verb to declare Then the first matter that Romans 1 verse 4 highlights is this, it talks about the Father's powerful declaration. Jesus was declared with power by the Father to be the Son of God. Now Because I realise that there's going to be an election this year and by the time 2024 is finished most of us will be fair scunnered with election talk. So I want to apologise immediately for using an election illustration. However, the Greek word Paul uses to describe what the father did on the first Easter Sunday is actually an election word. It means to declare the result of a poll. Now, all the votes have been counted and the declaration is made. It's not the declaration that elects the MPs to the House of Commons. It's the number of votes that was cast. The declaration is simply the public announcement of the ballot, something that went before. And in Jesus' resurrection, the Father is making a powerful declaration about who Jesus is. It's him announcing publicly something that happened before, if you like. By His resurrection from the dead, the Father is declaring, announcing clearly that Jesus is the Son of God. It's for our benefit so that we might be exactly clear on who Jesus is. Now, the verb to declare in verse four stands in contrast to the verb to make, which Paul uses in verse three, although the NIV doesn't make use of that verb, but it's there. He's contrasting the verb to make, verse three, with the verb to declare in verse four. In what's known as the incarnation, in Jesus taking on real human flesh and becoming a genuine human being, Jesus became something, he was made something, that he was not already before. Eternally, he was the son of God, but in his birth, he was made something that he'd not been up to that point in time. The incarnation is an addition for Jesus, taking a real human nature to his already divine nature. There's no addition when it comes to the resurrection. Unlike the Incarnation, in the Resurrection, Jesus did not become something he'd not been before. What happened was that the Father powerfully declared who Jesus already was. There's usually a lot of nonsense spewed out every Easter, even if it is sometimes just Easter's ignored. But it was talked about in the media, the nonsense is spewed out that how the resurrection, the human Jesus was made divine. No, he already was divine. And in the resurrection, the father makes this powerful declaration as to who he was. And this means for us in our evangelism that no one can ever say, I don't know, I didn't know that Jesus was the son of God. If someone doesn't know that Jesus is the Son of God, it's not because God didn't clearly say so and tell them that. It's because they have deliberately refused to listen to what God is saying in the resurrection. And even if they say, well, I've never looked at the resurrection, that's a form of deliberately not doing it. Why don't you not look at the resurrection? So if we don't know who God is, that Jesus is God, it's our fault and it's only our fault. We can't say to God, God, I wish you'd made it a bit more clear to me. Because in the resurrection, God makes this powerful declaration that Jesus is the son of God. If people have an opinion on Jesus, Most of them are quite patronising if you listen to them. You know, he's an exceptionally good person or he's a very insightful teacher or he's a great religious leader like the Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed. But really the only opinion that matters when it comes to Jesus is the Father's opinion. And in the resurrection, he's powerfully declared Jesus to be the son of God. He's not simply a good person. He's not simply just a just and insightful teacher. He's not on a par with the Buddha or Confucius or Muhammad or whoever. The father's public announcement tells us that Jesus is in a category of his own. And I know that that sounds extremely intolerant and angular in our cuddly world of equality. Well, equality for some, but they'd say it's equality when we say that Jesus is in a category of his own. But that's what the Father has declared. Only Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, which is why he's the unique Son of God. So here's the first matter that Romans 1 verse 4 highlights. It's the Father's powerful declaration that Jesus is the Son of God. He alone is supreme in the universe and so worthy of our trust and worship and obedience and love. Now, if we switch translations and switch from the NIV to the ESV, the English Standard Version, We'll discover there that the phrase with power is connected to the title Son of God. So the next matter that this statement in Romans 1 verse 4 highlights is this, that Jesus is Jesus' powerful vindication. It could be translated this way, Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God in power. So you see where it places it differently from the NIV, and it gives a different angle on it. Now, this title, Son of God, definitely means that Jesus was divine, truly God in real human flesh. However, that doesn't exhaust its meaning. It also plugs into the idea of Jesus being God's ultimate king. You find that in Psalm 2, where God installs his king on his throne after the king has defeated all his enemies. And here's what God says about him in Psalm 2, verse 7, you are my son. So in the resurrection, when the father powerfully declares that Jesus is the son of God, he's also saying that Jesus is the ultimate king who has defeated all his enemies. And that's reinforced by what Paul says about Jesus in verse three. He tells him he's a descendant of David, literally of the seed of David. Paul is taking us back, as he often does, into the Old Testament, into 2 Samuel 7, where God promises David that one of his descendants, one of his seed, will rule as God's king over God's people forever. And it's right to see Romans 1, 3 and 4 as setting out, first of all, Jesus' humanity and then his divinity, but it's also important to see that both spell out that Jesus is God's ultimate King, the seed of David and the Son of God. Now, we know from what the Gospels record about the events from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, that Jesus was not backward in coming forward to set out his stall as being the long-anticipated King. But we also know from that story that Jesus' claim to be God's ultimate King was comprehensively rejected by everyone. by the Roman soldiers, by the mob on the street, by Pilate, by the Jewish religious leaders. And it even seemed that God himself had rejected Jesus' claim to be king when God cursed him on the cross. And as he died, it seemed that Jesus' claim to be God's ultimate king had just crashed and burned horribly. But by raising him from the dead, the father publicly declared that Jesus' claim was absolutely genuine and true. The resurrection is a powerful vindication of Jesus' claims. As we saw this morning that if his bones were still rotting in some grave in Israel, then everything Jesus said about himself and everything he said he would do for us would be totally bogus. He would be even worse than the lowlife who cheats vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings in order to feed some addiction that he has. It would be worse than that. Because we've staked our hope of eternity on Jesus' claim to be God's son, and his death would achieve what he'd done. And if we'd been sold a lie, that would be a horrible, horrible thing to do. But by raising him from the dead, God has powerfully vindicated all Jesus' claims of who he is and what he would achieve. And because Jesus' claim to be God's King has been powerfully vindicated by his resurrection from the dead, then we can be absolutely certain that all the blessings he promises us when we submit to his rule will become ours. As God's King, for example, Jesus has promised to forgive our sins. And how can we be sure of that? By his resurrection from the dead. As God's King, Jesus has promised that when he judges the living and the dead, that he will declare us not guilty. And how can we be sure of that? By his resurrection from the dead. As God's King, Jesus has defeated death and as a result promised that we too will share in his victory over death and go to be with him in heaven. And how can we be sure of that? By his resurrection from the dead. As God's King, Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit and promised us the Spirit's help so that we can live for Him and serve Him and suffer for Him. And how can we be sure that He can deliver on that promise by His resurrection from the dead? As God's King, Jesus has promised that nothing or no one can stop Him from bringing us safely to heaven. And how can we be sure that that will happen? by his resurrection from the dead. So that's what Paul's highlighting here in Romans 1 verse 4. It's the son's powerful declaration as God's king. He's able to do what he said he will do because of his resurrection from the dead. And then thirdly, if we translate Romans 1 to 4 in a way that joins the phrase with power to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of holiness, There's one more matter that Romans 1, verse 4 highlights. It's this, the Holy Spirit's new beginning. Now, this translation speaks about how Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God by the power of the Spirit of holiness, which raised him to life again from the dead. That's how J.B. Phillips translates it. Now, let me ask you this question. I've had a drink. What person of the Trinity was responsible for the resurrection? Whirling and clicking of brains. Was it the Father? Yes, because again and again the apostolic witness to the resurrection is that God raised Jesus from the dead. Was it Jesus himself? Well, yes it was because on several occasions Jesus says that he will rise from the dead by his own authority and power. But what about Romans 1 verse 4 which seems to throw someone else's hat into the ring? Was it the Holy Spirit? And the answer is yes it was. It was because through the Spirit of holiness that Jesus was raised from the dead. So which person of the Trinity was responsible for Jesus' death? or sorry, resurrection, was it the Father? Was it the Son or was it the Holy Spirit? And the answer is you don't have to choose one out of three, it's all three. Now, let me tell you about a Latin phrase that I think you should really know and that you should write out and stick it on your fridge door. so that every time you go to get some milk or your non-dairy alternative for a cup of tea or coffee, you'll see it, and when you see it, you should repeat it three times, okay? And the Latin phrase is this, omnia, opera, trinitatis, indivisiba, sunt. Now, you can work that out. Omnia? Oh, right. Opera, operate, work, all works. Trinitatis, trinity, indivisible, indivisible soon is, are. All the works of the trinity are indivisible. That means when God works at something, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all work together in tandem. So the answer to the question of which person of the Trinity is responsible for the resurrection is that all three are, because omnia opera trinitatis indivisibus sunt. The resurrection is the activity of all three persons working together seamlessly and in harmony. Now, the same thing was happening in the work of creation. Now, we tend to think of creation as the Father's exclusive domain. You know, we say in the creed, we believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. Now, that's true, but it's not the full picture. The Son and the Spirit were also involved. You know, creation's not the Father just getting out of the Son and the Spirit standing on the sidelines watching what's going on. Creation was carried out by the Father through the Son's Word and the Spirit's power. So, omnia opera trinitatis indivisibus sunt. Now, Paul wants us, I think, to think about the creation as he writes here about the resurrection in Romans 1, verse 4. The phrase, through the spirit of holiness, is meant to mirror the phrase in Genesis 1, 1, where it says, the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The spirit was right there in the creation, in the beginning. And by mentioning that he's involved in the resurrection, Paul wants us to see the resurrection as a new beginning, just as the creation was a new beginning. Paul's highlighting of the spirit's role in the resurrection is telling us that in the resurrection, the spirit is inaugurating, beginning a new beginning. And it's the beginning of what? It's the beginning of the age to come. So don't sort of think, you know, there's this age and then the age to come after that. There's this age and it's going on, but the age to come begins and goes on. See? That's what Paul's thinking about. He's saying to us the age yet to come has begun, but it hasn't fully arrived. And that will only happen when Jesus returns and takes us to be with him. But it will happen. That's why the resurrection, according to Peter, is a living hope. When we have hope, we don't yet have what we want. but we know that we will have it one day in the future. Recently, I was talking to someone who told me he was going to retire from his job at the end of the year. But that's not exactly what he said to me. He said to me, I hope to retire from my job at the end of the year. At the moment, he doesn't have what he wants, he's still working. but he'll have it at the end of the year. It's a hope. And in the resurrection, the spirit inaugurates the beginning of the age to come, which culminates in heaven. It's only the beginning. We haven't yet arrived, so we're still hoping for the enjoyment of all the blessings of heaven, which Jesus has secured by his victory on the cross, that was validated by his resurrection. We enjoy them in some way, but we haven't got the full blessing yet. Now let me ask you this, why am I telling you about how in the resurrection the spirit inaugurates a new beginning of the age to come and that the resurrection brings us hope of something we don't have now on earth but which we will have in heaven. Well, let me tell you why I'm telling you this by telling you about Rudy Giuliani. Now, he got kind of discredited a wee bit because he was associated with Donald Trump and anyone associated with Donald Trump, well, yes, let's not talk about that. But from the start of 1994 to the end of 2001, Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York. And one of his operating principles, because I read his biography, was this. He said, under-promise and over-deliver. Under-promise and over-deliver. Tragically, there are brands of evangelical Christianity today that do the exact opposite. They over-promise and under-deliver. and that creates all sorts of bothers. They promise, for example, the healing of heaven now here on earth, and they assure us that if they pray for us, and if only we have enough faith, we won't get ill, and even if we do, we'll be immediately healed. And the sad thing is that people that they pray for do get sick, and they have to go to hospital, and they eventually die. They promise the struggle-free life of heaven. Now, here on earth, they assure us that if we have enough faith, we won't really experience any difficulties that will get us down and which we can't deal with almost instantaneously. But the people, they promise this, still have problems that don't go away and face challenging circumstances that cause them ongoing heartache and pain. Some of them promise the worship of heaven here on earth, telling us that if we come to their churches and services, we'll experience awesome worship, their phrase, not mine. But people discover that while they sing the trendiest songs using the latest technology, much of their worship is very shallow and banal and very me-focused instead of Jesus-focused. They promise the fellowship of heaven now here on earth. And they tell us if they join their church, we will experience that. But very soon the people who join find out while these people are kind and loving, they're also at the same time inward looking and as self-absorbed as the churches they left. They promise the sinlessness and high spiritual intensity of heaven now. And usually if people, usually if people have a certain kind of experience or follow a certain niche brand of teaching, the people who buy into what they promise soon discover that sin still hounds them, that temptation still defeats them, and that our love of Jesus still blows hot and cold. Folks, this is over-promising and under-delivering. And sadly, it is so prevalent in the Christian church today. And what that does, it breeds cynicism. among those who believe the false promises. And it breeds cynicism because it doesn't work. It doesn't work. It's not what the New Testament teaches. But worse than that, this kind of teaching robs people of one of the gospel's essential proponents, and that is hope. If we can have now on earth If we're going to have heaven now on earth, then what can we hope for in the future? It's like a friend of mine who once told me that the most miserable Christmas he ever had was when he was eight years old because a few weeks before Christmas he stumbled upon his Santa presents in the wardrobe of the spare room in his house and he opened them and he played with them for a while and then he carefully put them away so that Santa wouldn't know. But he said on Christmas Day he didn't really enjoy them because he had already played with them. That is the sort of what these people who over-promise and under-deliver do. They rob people of hope with nothing to look forward to. Folks, the resurrection is only the beginning of the age to come. It's not reached its climax because Jesus has not come back. Yes, we long for healing, for the worship, for the struggle-free life, the fellowship, and the complete freedom from sin of heaven. We long for that. And sometimes, far more often than we deserve, God graciously gives us a taste of heaven now on earth. People are healed. Our worship is good. We are more than conquerors in some of the challenges we face. We love, we enjoy the love and support of other Christians. In the church, we do win victories over indwelling sin and temptation, but they're only a foretaste of heaven to whet our appetites. It's not the complete deal because we're not in heaven yet. Now on earth, we hope and it's the resurrection that stimulates this hope. Don't be taken in by hope-stealers who promise heaven now on earth. We know that they can't deliver because Romans 1 verse 4 highlights it's the spirit's, the resurrection is the spirit's new beginning of the age to come. The Spirit has inaugurated the beginning of this age, fills us with hope, because it assures us that the best is yet to come, because heaven will definitely be ours one day in the future. Sometimes when we think about the resurrection, we do tend to get our ideas a little bit lopsided, don't we? We immediately think of the resurrection and we think of all the blessings that we receive from it. But perhaps one thing that Paul's statement here in Romans 1 verse 4 reminds us is this, and if I can put it this way, that the resurrection is not our party. It's about what God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has done. In the resurrection, the Father has made a powerful declaration, the Son receives a powerful vindication, and the Spirit inaugurates a new beginning. And it's only because the triune God has acted so powerfully in the resurrection that we can then experience all the blessings that flow from it. We tend to get it the wrong way around. We think of the blessings we get and go back to it. We need to think of why we get these blessings and then move into the blessings themselves. It's because through the spirit of holiness, Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, that forgiveness and justification and eternal life and joy and peace and assurance and power and hope, all these things come our way. and we enjoy them now to a greater or lesser degree on earth, but in the future in heaven, we will enjoy them in all their fullness, because in his presence, there will be fullness of joy, and at his right hand, pleasures forevermore. That's the hope we have, that living hope that's based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Let's pray for a moment. God of glory, who by raising your Son from the dead, through the power of the Spirit, powerfully declared him to be your King, may the new beginning you signaled by Jesus' resurrection be something we experience in our lives day by day. raise us up from the death of sin to new life in him, renew our love for Jesus our Saviour, our joy and enthusiasm in the service of Jesus our Master, and our submission to Jesus our King. Fill us with biblical hope as we look forward with increasing excitement to that day when faith will give way to sight and we will enjoy all the rich blessings of the age to come, joy in your presence and eternal pleasures at your right hand. So hear us for we pray as we always do in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord and your Son. Amen.