Confessing the Risen Jesus

Romans 10:9-13
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, March 27, 2016
Copyright © 2016, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

Recently Nancy Reagan passed away at age ninety-four. The question is, where did her spirit go? Her son is very certain where his spirit is going to go when he dies. As the spokesman for the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an organization of atheists, he said, “I am Ron Reagan, a lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.”

According to Jesus, there are only two places for our spirits to go when we die: heaven or hell. Do you know where your spirit will go when you die? We all must make our calling and election sure so that our spirits will go to heaven, where Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, is seated on the right hand of God the Father.

To believers in Jesus, to die in Christ, to die in faith, is gain. The Bible says the death of a believer is better, blessed, and precious. Those who die in Christ will be present with the Lord forever. And in God’s presence, there is fullness of joy, and on his right hand, pleasures forevermore because Jesus Christ, by his death and resurrection, has brought life and immortality to light for us.

By his incarnation in the fullness of time, Jesus fulfilled these Isaianic prophecies: “My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way. . . . Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Isa. 51:5; 45:22).

We want to examine three points: the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ; what the resurrection teaches us; and what we must do in light of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Historical Fact of Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact. There is a saying that “all history is his story.” Jesus Christ alone is the Sovereign Lord of history.

The pastor/theologian Karl Barth, the darling of the liberals, did not believe in the infallibility of the Scriptures. Therefore, he did not believe in the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. Barth’s view, as found in the third volume of Church Dogmatics, can be explained to mean that “after this life man will eternally exist in the mind of God, not in reality.”¹This profound foolishness contradicts the Bible, the testimony of Jesus himself, and the apostolic eyewitness reports. Luke writes, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive” (Acts 1:1–3). And in the account of Paul’s defense before King Agrippa II, we read, “‘But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.’ At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. ‘You are out of your mind, Paul!’ he shouted. ‘Your great learning is driving you insane.’ ‘I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable’” (Acts 26:22–25). The resurrection is reasonable when we believe the first verse in the Bible, that is, when we believe infinite, personal, almighty, all-holy God. As Paul declares in the gospel given in 1 Corinthians 15: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and . . . to me also” (1 Cor. 15:3–8).

In the Scripture, we are given the eyewitness account of the resurrection of Jesus. Without regeneration by the mighty Holy Spirit, men continually suppress this divine truth. They reject the word of God, and their minds are at enmity against truth. A fool says in his heart, “There is no God,” and a fool says in his heart, “There is no resurrection.”

The Old Testament promised the resurrection of the Messiah. We read in Psalm 16:10, “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” And Jesus testified to having fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. We read, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations’” (Luke 24:45–47). If Christ is not risen from the dead, there is no repentance, no forgiveness, no salvation.

Jesus himself predicted his own death and resurrection several times in the gospels. For example, in Matthew 16:21 we read, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (see also Matt. 17:23, 20:16-17; 26:32).

There is the testimony of the empty tomb, which contained the grave clothes that had covered his head and body, the clothes that were filled with seventy-five pounds of expensive spices by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who gave Jesus a royal burial. Early Sunday morning, the glorified physical body of Jesus, it seems, evaporated out of these grave clothes.

Jesus appeared to many whom he had chosen, and he instructed them for forty days before his ascension to heaven. He appeared to Mary Magdalene and other women. He appeared to Peter. He appeared to two disciples on their way to Emmaus. He appeared to ten apostles in the upper room; then to eleven apostles in the upper room, including Thomas. He appeared to James, his own brother. He appeared at one time to more than five hundred people. He appeared to certain disciples who were fishing in the Sea of Galilee. He appeared to his apostles and others who witnessed his ascension. Finally, he appeared to Saul of Tarsus, the enemy of Jesus, and he believed.

The resurrection body of Jesus is physical, yet transformed. It can appear and disappear and go through locked doors. It can, and did, ascend straight up to heaven.

Jesus did not experience resuscitation, like Lazarus did, who later died. So far, Jesus is the only one who has been raised with a physical, Spirit-engineered, glorious body, which can never die.

The resurrection of Jesus guarantees the resurrection of all who believe in him. Paul declares, “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thess. 4:14). He also says, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Cor. 15:20–23).

It was necessary that Christ be raised from the dead. It was divine decree. Jesus himself said, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:26). He also said, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. . . . You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44, 46).

The resurrected body of Jesus is a body of flesh and bones with visible nail prints, a body that can eat and drink, and be touched and held onto. The disciples in Emmaus saw the nail prints in his hands as Jesus broke the bread, and they believed, as did doubting Thomas, who cried out, “My Lord and my God!”

What Does the Resurrection of Christ Teach Us?

The resurrection of Jesus teaches us many truths. Consider the following:

1. Jesus Christ is God (Rom. 1:3–4).
2. Jesus himself claimed that he was God, saying, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). And the Jews recognized this, because they said, “We are not stoning you for any of these, . . . but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33).
3. Jesus was sinless and, therefore, death and devil could not keep him down in the grave. The wages of sin is death, but Jesus was without sin. So Peter declared, “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Acts 2:24).
4. Jesus’ atonement on our behalf was accepted by God the Father; it is the proof that God raised him from the dead. From the cross Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and God in heaven said, “Amen,” by raising him from the dead.
5. Jesus Christ is the Judge of all. No one else is Judge; only the risen Jesus Christ is. So Peter said, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). All unbelievers, whether they acknowledge it or not, will be raised from the dead and judged by Jesus Christ, whom they mocked all of life.
6. If this most difficult prediction of Jesus—that is, his own resurrection—came true, then all his teaching is true. He is the truth. He cannot lie. He cannot die. He cannot be deceived.
7. Jesus alone can forgive our sins because he alone died for our sins.
8. Jesus gives us justification, his own righteousness. Paul declares, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
9. Jesus regenerates us (1 Pet. 1:3).
10. Jesus is our sanctification. Paul writes, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30), that is, our sanctification, our glorification, the redemption of our bodies.
11. The fearful apostles were transformed by the resurrection of Christ and became fearless. Peter and John declared, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” In other words, they were saying, “We are going to obey God, not man.” They continued, “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard’” (Acts 4:19–20). Remember, theirs were eyewitness reports. The resurrection is a fact of history. It happened in time and in space.
12. The resurrection of Christ is responsible for the drastic change from Saturday worship to Sunday worship, because Sunday was the day of his resurrection.
13. By his death, Jesus Christ destroyed our death. So we read, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14-15). If we believe in Jesus and his death and resurrection, the sting of death is gone.
14. Jesus Christ, by his death and resurrection, defeated all his foes. John writes, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8b). Because of Christ’s work, those who believe in him can resist the devil and he shall flee.
15. The resurrection of Christ guarantees that there will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust for judgment and salvation. It is going to happen, as he said (John 5:28–29; Acts 24:15).
16. Jesus will never die again (Rev. 1:18).
17. Because he lives, we also shall live eternally (John 14:19).
18. Jesus gives us eternal life and eternal security (John 10:10, 28–29). The people of this world trust in their money. But we trust in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the one who died for our sins and was raised for our justification.
19. Jesus remains God/man forever. He did not cease to be God/man, as the Chalcedonian creed stated.
20. We are destined to live with God forever. Even now, positionally, we died with Christ, were buried with Christ, were raised with Christ to live a new life. Even now, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6).

What Must We Do in View of Christ’s Death and Resurrection?

What, then, are the implications of Christ’s death and resurrection for our lives? Our text says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Rom. 10:9–10).

There are two things we must do. First, we must believe in Jesus Christ, who was delivered over to death to deal with our sins once for all and was raised to life for our justification. What must we do to be saved? “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

Second, this inward faith in Jesus will necessarily manifest in outward public confession that Jesus is Lord, that is, that he is the Sovereign God. This faith and confession are always linked inseparably. Our confession proves our faith, and our faith will produce confession for all of life. We live by faith and by confession.

Jesus is God. He is Lord of all creation, whether we believe it or not. It is not our faith and confession that makes him Lord. He is Lord, by divine ordination. The Hebrews writer says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Heb. 1:3). Paul writes, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11). It is God’s decree that we do so.

 

We Must Believe in Our Hearts

We need forgiveness and we need Christ’s perfect righteousness. We need eternal life and we need salvation from sin, death, the devil, and the wrath of God. We need freedom from all bondage. We need reconciliation. (PGM) Only in Jesus do we find all these. So have faith in him as God, Savior, Lord, the One who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our Prophet, Priest, Propitiation, and King. That means he commands us and we obey him. If we do not obey him, we are not saved.

Jesus saves us from the punishment of sin, the power of sin, and the pollution of sin. Soon, he will save us even from the very presence of sin.

There is no other God, there is no other Savior. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. In Jesus, God has come. He died and rose again, accomplishing redemption for the elect sinners, as we read in Professor John Murray’s excellent book, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied.

In Jesus, salvation, righteousness, and redemption have come. What must we do? Repent, believe in Jesus, and confess him. But the question is, how can a stony-hearted sinner believe? He hates to believe in Jesus. All have sinned and are spiritually dead. All stink with the stench of death. All hate God and his truth.

Without regeneration, without receiving a new nature, no one can understand the gospel or trust in Jesus. We need a new heart, a heart of flesh. We are dirty; we need cleansing. We need the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us, as was prophesied in Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your [filthiness] and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek. 36:25–27).

We must be born again. If a person does not believe in Jesus Christ, it is because he is not born again. Jesus himself said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). That is why people are slaves of sin. They do the same thing over and over again. We must be born again. But we cannot do this ourselves. God does this miracle for us. It is a miraculous and monergistic work, which means that we are passive while he is active.

God himself makes us new creations and gives us new abilities and capacities. Now we can believe in Jesus by the faith he grants us. Now we can confess Jesus is Lord. Now we can experience salvation. This is what happened to Lydia of Philippi. As she listened to Paul preaching the gospel, the Lord opened her heart. Luke writes, “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” That is regeneration. “When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.” (Acts 16:14–15).

When one hears the gospel, he must believe in Jesus Christ with his whole being that Jesus is God/man, that he perfectly obeyed the law of God, that he died for our sins and was raised for our justification, that he is ruler of all creation, and that he saves all who will repent and believe in him. He must believe that Jesus is the Lord of history and that he is coming again in power and great glory to judge the living and the dead with justice. If such a person surrenders to the Lord Jesus Christ to love him and obey him by grace all of life, he will be saved. Jesus will forgive all his sins, and he will be justified and adopted into God’s holy family. He will experience the cleansing work of sanctification, he will persevere to the end in his faith, and he will be glorified so that he may dwell with God forever.

Such faith in Jesus is not the dead faith of theoretical mental assent to the facts of Christianity. That faith is the faith of the devil; it is a faith devoid of good works. It is cheap grace, or you could say, easy believism. It is decisionism; it is fideism. It is mere delusion. Yet it is taught by many seminaries, churches, and pastors today. It is the poison of deadly antinomianism that says, “Believe in Jesus and go and sin more.” It is the heresy of “one-way love,” which leads such people in the one broad way to hell.

True faith says, “Fides est fiducia” (faith is trust) in Jesus Christ. In other words, “I commit all that I am and all that I have to Jesus now and forever. I take my cross and Christ’s yoke to follow Jesus daily even to death.”

A Pharisee hates the gospel. He seeks to be saved by his own righteousness, which in God’s sight is nothing but filth. How can a person who is conceived in sin, born a sinner, and practicing only sin all of life do anything good and acceptable to a holy God? He cannot. But God opened the heart of the publican, and he cried out to God, “Have mercy upon me, a sinner!” He went home saved and clothed in the righteousness of God (Luke 18).

The vast majority of people will not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They mock Jesus all the way to hell. God saves those who are poor in spirit.

Only a few will be saved, as we read: “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved’” (Rom. 9:27).

We Must Confess with Our Mouths

So in view of Christ’s death and resurrection, we must first believe. Second, we must confess. Faith is internal; confession is external. Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34b). When the Holy Spirit fills us, we will speak of Jesus, as the early disciples did: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke” (Acts 2:4). And that is what we read in Ephesians 5:18–20: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We will speak when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and filled with the Scriptures. Paul exhorts, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).

It is only by the Holy Spirit that we confess Jesus is Lord. When the devil controls a person, he will curse Jesus. So when we see people using Jesus’ name to curse, we can conclude that those people are devil-filled. Paul says, “I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3).

We are to be continually filled with the Spirit and Scripture so that we may give witness to Jesus Christ. We cannot be secret disciples of Jesus. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Therefore, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

We must share our faith and bear witness to Christ all of life, so that Jesus may save sinners who believe in him, as we read in Acts 11, “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:19–21). We all must believe and bear witness to Jesus Christ continuously. Christ died for us and was raised for our justification. So we believe and we confess.

What do we confess? We must confess, “Jesus is Lord.” In other words, each of us will say, “Jesus is my Lord. He is my God and my Savior. He is my covenant Lord and I am his obedient servant. He made me, a bad tree, into a good tree to bear good fruits of the Spirit.” Paul says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). Jesus himself said, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). If God made us good trees, we will bear good fruit.

Jesus, by his atoning death, removed our guilt and punishment. His atoning death turned God’s wrath away from us and secured our reconciliation to God and his people. His death purchased our freedom from all slavery to sin so that we may serve the Lord Jesus. We used to be the devil’s slaves; now we are the slaves of the Lord Jesus. This slavery to Jesus is our perfect freedom.

We must confess that the risen Jesus is the Ruler of all creation. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Savior of everyone who calls upon him in saving faith.

Christ’s first coming was to accomplish our redemption by his death and resurrection. What did men do to him? They spat on him, beat him, mocked him, and crucified him. They buried him and sealed his tomb. But God raised him from the dead and he is seated in heaven, ruling all creation.

This risen Jesus, our glorious Lord, is coming again to judge all his enemies who refuse to surrender to him and confess him as Lord. The truth is that everyone, whether believer or unbeliever, must surrender and confess him as Lord. The psalmist declares, “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps. 2:10–12).

There is no choice. If Jesus is Lord (Kurios Iêsous), there is no autonomy. His lordship is comprehensive. Jesus rules every particle of creation. He rules all his holy angels and all his holy people. And he rules the devil, the demons, and all his human enemies.

Those who are regenerate (born again) will confess Jesus is Lord in the church and in the world, publicly and freely in the power of the Spirit. The enemies of Jesus also must confess, but they do so only by the force of Christ, who will send them to hell, which is prepared for the devil and all who serve him. Theirs will be a forced surrender and forced confession.

The confession, Kurios Iêsous, is authored and demanded by God. We cannot confess anything we want. We must make the same confession that God demands.

When believers confess, it is a binding and public declaration before God and his people of our total surrender to Jesus. And our confession has legal force. The Lord himself will deal with any abrogation of our confession, even if we make excuses such as, “I was young,” or, “I changed my mind,” or, “I don’t believe that anymore.”

We believe unto righteousness, and we are forgiven of all sins and given the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Jesus Christ is our righteousness, holiness, and glory. He is coming again to give us a glorious body like unto his. Paul declares, “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:20–21). Paul also says, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Cor. 15:51–53). We have a glorious future in Christ!

How, then, do we confess Jesus as Lord?

1. We confess at baptism.
2. We confess in public worship in the church.
3. We confess in family devotions daily.
4. We confess in school, especially in a Christian school.
5. We confess at our work place.
6. We confess in the world around us.
7. We confess in temptation.
8. We confess in sufferings.
9. We confess in the hour of our death.
10. We will confess him in heaven.

We confess Kurios Iêsous because we believe in Jesus. Paul says, “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence” (2 Cor. 4:13–14).

Jesus is coming again, but not riding on a donkey. That is over. He will come riding on a white war horse as King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He will come to make war with all his enemies, and he will win. So we read,

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev. 19:11–16)

God commands all people everywhere to repent and believe. God commands all people everywhere to love and to obey. So I beseech you, in the name of Christ on this Resurrection Sunday, to repent and believe in Jesus and his resurrection, based on historical, eyewitness reports. This is what Jesus said to doubting Thomas: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). We believe based on eyewitness reports of the historical facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What about you? If you have not trusted in Christ, when are you going to believe and repent? Now is the time of God’s favor; now is the day of salvation. In God’s will, you are alive; in God’s will, he brought you here to hear the gospel; and in God’s will you are hearing the gospel through the man God sent.

It is my prayer that the gospel may be the fragrance of eternal life to all of you this glorious Resurrection Sunday! Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

¹ J. A. Schep, “Resurrection,” The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 5, Merrill C. Tenney, gen. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 71.