Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Mark 16:1-8 | Date: April 5, 2026 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Introduction to the Resurrection

We continue our series on Christianity Explained today, Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. We have seen in this series, first of all, the importance of the person, Jesus Christ. Mark introduces him saying that this is his writing; his gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is, Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. And we saw that the expression, the Son of God, is freighted with all kinds of implications. Bottom line, it’s unique authority, and as we found as we go through John Mark’s gospel, divine authority. He is God himself come to earth.

And then we saw in our second message that this Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, was crucified. And we saw the significance of his death was that he gave himself in place of sinners, paying the ransom price of their freedom, so that through his death he purchased our redemption. Today now, we look at the third in these studies, and that is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He died on the cross for the sins of his people, and next, the third day, he was raised to life again.

Let’s begin with Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, and then we’ll go to Mark 16. Mark chapter 10, some verses I read to you last time, where Jesus tells ahead of time of his coming death and resurrection. Mark 10 verses 32 to 34: “And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And talking to the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And afterwards, after three days, he will rise.'”

Now chapter 16, verses one through eight: “When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, brought spices so they might go to anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him? But go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you.’ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

One of the remarkable aspects of the life of Jesus is his foresight—the foresight that Jesus had regarding his life, regarding all things. The Gospels record for us that Jesus knew the coming denials of Peter ahead of time. He saw the disciples’ career ahead of time, the persecutions that they would face; He knew and foretold the whole sweep of world history. He knew the whole progress of the kingdom of God.

And with regard to his own life, he had the same kind of foresight. He knew in detail what he was to do, how he was to do it, why, the circumstances and the people involved. His whole life he saw ahead of time, and there were no surprises for him, and his entire life was lived out under the direction of this pre-vision of the whole. The same with regard to his death. Many times over, Jesus predicted his death. He predicted the time, the place, the means of his death, the circumstances, the people involved, always to the puzzlement of his disciples.

And it’s a remarkable thing that he could do that, because it’s not as though he pursued death in that sense. He wasn’t asking for it. This was something pushed on him; he knew it was coming. It was the goal of his life, it is why he came, and yet it was not something he pursued in an active sense. It was something that was brought on to him, and yet he knew all of that ahead of time, and that’s where he went. Luke records for us that he set his face to Jerusalem with the stern resolve of going toward what he knew was to come.

And then what’s even more remarkable, not only was he able to foresee all of those things with regard to the disciples and the whole of world history and his own life and his death, what’s particularly remarkable is that he could predict his own resurrection from the dead. We saw that here in chapter 10 of Mark’s gospel. They were on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was with them and he says, “See, we’re going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered over to the priests, to the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise.”

No less than five times in Mark’s gospel, Jesus is recorded as telling his disciples ahead of time, not only that he would die and how he would die and the circumstances surrounding it and all of that, but he tells them that he will rise. And what is particularly remarkable about that is that he not only tells them that he will rise from the dead, he tells them the timing of it: “After three days, I’ll rise from the dead.” You talk about going out on a limb. Can you imagine someone having the audacity to say, “I’m going up to Jerusalem. I’ll be put to death. I’ll be crucified. They’re going to whip me and scourge me first. They’ll hand me over to the Gentiles to do it. Three days later, I’ll be alive.”

The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection

This is one of the ways the gospel writers emphasize the unique authority of Jesus. What do you say about a man who can say that ahead of time and then actually pull it off? All four of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—provide for us a narrative of that Sunday morning. Jesus was crucified on Friday. Sunday morning comes. All four Gospels give us varying details of it. Mark’s Gospel, here in chapter 16, verses 1 through 8, gives us the most brief account of it.

The ladies are coming to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. This was a cave with a large stone on the front of it to seal it off, probably cemented, sealed around the edges of it, something like that. The ladies arrive to the tomb. They find the cave open. The stone is removed. The tomb is empty. The burial linens lie there, untouched. They’re informed of this unbelievable reality that Jesus has been raised from the dead. And verse eight here tells us in chapter 16, they were trembling and astonishment had seized them. Well, I guess so. Imagine, this is not something you see every day. And so they hurried off, we are told, and the other accounts inform us that they went and told this unbelievable news to the disciples.

Later that day, throughout the following weeks, Jesus appears to many people. He appeared to one of the women. Later, he appeared to a couple of men on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to 11 disciples in an upper room later that day. In the evening, there were some 12 or 13 occasions when Jesus physically appeared to people after his resurrection. On one occasion, it was to above 500 people at once. Paul records that for us in 1 Corinthians 15.

Now at that point, I think it’s helpful for us to stop and make an observation here since this is an introduction to Christianity. It’s important to observe that Christianity is almost entirely unique among world religions in this respect, and that is it grounds everything about it in some particular historical truth claims. That is, Christianity is anchored in certain historical facts, and it rests everything on it. And these assertions, these truth claims that Christianity makes are testable, they’re verifiable, falsifiable, and they ground everything in it. Jesus, Jesus himself, his life, his death, his resurrection from the dead—disprove that, and Christianity itself collapses.

The Apostle Paul himself recognized that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he makes the statement boldly: if there’s no resurrection, there’s no Christianity, and all of this is just foolishness. Everything rises and falls on certain historical truth claims that Christianity makes. That’s not the case with Buddhism or Hinduism. If you could somehow disprove some of the historical claims of Buddhism or Hinduism, something like that, it really wouldn’t affect the teaching, the philosophy, the ethics, the way of life. For certain things that you believe, it doesn’t affect Christianity, which grounds it all in certain historical facts.

Now those facts require interpretation. We have to understand what’s the significance of those facts, but it grounds it all there. Now for some time it has been fashionable in some professing Christian circles to understand the resurrection of Jesus in certain spiritualized categories. You can’t expect the modern mind to believe that somebody who was dead actually came back to life again. And so you’ve got to come up with some other explanations. And so the resurrection of Jesus that Christianity teaches, we’re told, well, it just indicates that his influence lives on. The spirit of Jesus lives in all of us, or some harmless denial like that.

But there’s no getting around the fact that the New Testament writers plainly report a real, bodily, physical resurrection. And they are either right or they’re wrong. If they’re wrong, Christianity collapses. Luke chapter 24, we find the women reporting this unbelievable news to the disciples. And we’re told, frankly, that the disciples themselves found it an idle tale. Can’t be true. Resurrection doesn’t happen. It can’t be the case. And so Peter and John run off to the tomb to check it for themselves. In John chapter 20, we sang of it this morning in one of the hymns. Thomas, one of the twelve, doubted it. He heard the news, couldn’t believe it. Not unless I can put my hands on his side and touch the wounds in his hands, I won’t believe it. This is not something you see every day. This is not something expected. And then we find in John chapter 20 that the disciples sat down on the seashore and had lunch with him.

Fascinating claims. Bottom line, all four Gospels tell us the tomb was empty. It was that kind of resurrection. The body’s gone, the tomb is empty. He’s risen from the dead just as he said he would. And that particular point, the tomb was empty—that was the point of frustration for Jesus’ enemies. How do we explain it? Well, the first explanation of it came, it’s recorded for us in the Gospels themselves: the enemies of Jesus thought, well, we’ve got to come up with something on this, so they paid off the guards and said, “Well, the disciples stole the body while we slept.” The longer you think about that, the funnier it gets. The disciples stole the body of Jesus while we slept? If you were sleeping, how did you know it was the disciples who stole his body?

But now think about it. Here we’ve got these professional soldiers taking their shift, sleeping on the job—sleeping so soundly that when the disciples come (how many of them? We don’t know, but there must have been a bunch of them because they had to move this big stone across the front), they sleep through it all. They arrive, they move the stone, they sneak out with the body, and the guards are still sleeping so soundly they don’t hear any of it. The disciples stole the body? And to what end? Why? So they will go be persecuted for telling about it? What was the point?

We come to Acts chapter two, we find Peter standing in Jerusalem, proclaiming to the crowds on Pentecost that Jesus was raised from the dead. And the frustration of his enemies was simply, if we could just produce the body, parade it through the streets of Jerusalem, and no one for the rest of world history would ever have heard of Jesus and Christianity. It would have died right there. It’s amazing to watch. Actually, that’s the frustration of the enemies of Christianity ever since. How do you explain the empty tomb? It’s amusing to watch them, I think, grasp for straws.

One of the arguments was, “Oh, the ladies went to the wrong tomb.” And then the disciples went to the wrong tomb. And the guards, I guess, were at the wrong tomb. And I suppose everybody went to the wrong tomb. Another one was, “Well, he really didn’t die on the cross. He passed out from the suffering, and he was revived in the cold, damp air of the tomb.” And so after three days, this man who had been whipped and scourged, put on a cross, crucified by professional executioners, actually didn’t die, and yet in the tomb three days later, woke up and rolled away the stone himself and walked out.

This is the frustration of the enemies of Jesus ever since. And in the end, all the critic can do is dig in his heels and declare the presupposition: “Resurrections can’t happen.” And all that is, as we’ve seen before with regard to Jesus’ miracles, all that is is a retreat to atheistic presuppositions, which themselves can’t be proven. Fact is, the tomb was empty. All sides acknowledge that. And eyewitnesses abound. They saw him afterwards. Decades later, the Apostle Paul can write in 1 Corinthians chapter 15—this is perhaps 20, 25 years later—Paul can write, “One time, well, he appeared to Peter, he appeared to James, he appeared to all the apostles. And one time, he appeared to 500 people, more than 500 people, all at the same time. And many of them are still alive. Check it out yourself.” He pressed the evidential value of it. It’s an interesting period of history when Christians could say, “Did you see him?” “Yeah, yeah, we saw him.” “Well, I remember afterwards, he was crucified and he was buried.” “We saw him, we heard him talking.”

This was a point that frustrated Jesus’ enemies on all sides. In fact, there’s an interesting account of it in Acts chapter four, where we find the apostle Peter, where it says he preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And in the context, he’s dealing with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees believe there will be a resurrection of the dead; it’s like the Old Testament promises. The Sadducees said, “No, there won’t be a resurrection of the dead. We don’t believe in that.” And Peter stands between them and says, “Look guys, I got news for you. It’s not a question of whether it will or won’t happen. It already has happened. It has happened in Jesus.” And you can just see their frustration. “I hate it when you bring that up.” This was the unchallenged claim of the earliest Christians, that Jesus who was crucified was raised from the dead.

About a hundred years ago, there was a man by the name of Frank Morrison. He was an English investigative journalist, an atheist. He was shrewd enough to understand that in order to discredit Christianity, you have to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. And so he set out to do that. And he investigated all the records, all the historical records of the time, to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. And in 1930, he published the book entitled, very famous now, Who Moved the Stone? and then the subtitle, The Book That Refused to be Written. He had set out to write one book and ended up writing another book, and he examined the historical evidence that we have from the records.

And he looked at things like, for example, James, the brother of Jesus—an unbeliever all through Jesus’ ministry, embarrassed of his half-brother. And then, we read, he appeared to James. And then, oh what, 10, 15 years later, James, writing the earliest of the Christian documents, of the New Testament documents, writes a letter to his congregation and identifies himself as “James, the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And then you have Peter, who’s an interesting figure himself. Before the crucifixion even, he’s cowering in front of a servant girl, too embarrassed for what’s happened to Jesus to even acknowledge that he knew him. After the crucifixion, running and hiding in the upper room with the others. And then we find him bold and leading the way in Pentecost in Acts chapter two. And all of the disciples transformed in an amazing way, in that very kind of way, from fearful and hiding to bold and giving their lives for the cause of this proclamation that Jesus was raised from the dead. We find it with the Apostle Paul, a fascinating study himself. This is one of the primary focuses of Frank Morrison’s investigation—the Apostle Paul himself.

How do you account for this, that this man went from being a persecutor to persecuted? That this man who was so zealous for his exclusively Jewish religion turned to leading the way of the Gentile mission for Jesus? All the apostles gave up everything to proclaim this message. They gave up their livelihood, they gave up their safety, all of them persecuted for it, most all of them martyred for it, and for what? For something they didn’t really believe to be true? How did these Jews, whose messianic hopes in Jesus had been so thoroughly crushed on Friday, end up leading the way of Christian advancement and the advancement of the gospel? How did these devout Jews suddenly see the significance of not the seventh, but the first day of the week?

Well, the alternative for critics is simply to dismiss all of the records entirely and say it’s all just a bunch of fables. The whole thing is just nonsense. And then they’re left with the problem of explaining Christianity itself, the formation of the church. Where did it come from? How do you account for the emergence of the Christian church in that context if it is not for this message that the apostles proclaimed? How did it even get off the ground? How do you explain the New Testament itself? The Gospels and the Book of Acts all record for us that the Christian church emerged after the life-death resurrection of Jesus and in the proclamation of that message. In fact, the Jewish historian Josephus himself acknowledges that’s where the Christian movement began: in the proclamation of this message of the resurrection of Jesus. If that is not it, then how do you account for Christianity? And in these kinds of ways, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the pillars of the Christian faith. The whole Christian faith rises or falls on the reality that Jesus was crucified, and on the third day, he was raised from the dead.

The Significance of Jesus’ Resurrection

But as I intimated just a little bit ago, it’s one thing to have the historical facts. It’s another thing to investigate: so what’s the significance of those facts? How do we interpret those facts? What do they mean? Jesus died. What does that mean? Well, we’ve seen the significance of that. He didn’t just die. That’s not the proclamation of the Christian gospel that Jesus died. The proclamation is he died for our sins according to the scriptures. And so also now with the resurrection. What is the significance of this historical reality?

Now there are layers to that answer. And I was thinking this week, I would love to take another six or eight weeks and unpack all of it. I’ll try to hit some here in just rapid succession, then focus on one. But there are layers of the significance of the resurrection. If Jesus was actually raised from the dead, we’re left with that historical event. Then what happened? Why? It’s clearly something supernatural. So what was God saying?

Well, one layer of the importance of the resurrection of Jesus, of course, is just the fulfillment of prophecy. The Old Testament prophets had said this about the coming Messiah: that he would come, that he would die, and he’d be raised from the dead. For example, Isaiah chapter 53: he’ll be cut off from the land of the living, he’ll die as a sin offering, and God will prolong his days. What do we do with that? Another one, more plain, perhaps Psalm 16, where David writes of his greater son, the Messiah, and says that God will not leave him in the grave. We’ll see more of that in a few minutes. But not just Old Testament prophecy—the Lord Jesus himself said repeatedly that he would be raised from the dead. What does that say about him? And if it didn’t happen, if he didn’t rise from the dead, what does that say about him? He said he would.

Just as significantly, another layer of the importance of Jesus’ resurrection is that he is the forerunner of his people. We sang about this this morning. This I know, my Lord has traveled this way before, his body clothed with immortality. Ever since Genesis chapter 3, humanity has suffered this awful curse of death because of sin. Over and again throughout the Old Testament through his prophets, God would announce that a day of resurrection is coming and his people would be vindicated from the curse of sin. It wasn’t clear to them how that would come about, but then we come to the New Testament and we find that Jesus was the first. That God’s promise to raise his people from the dead did come already in the person and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in fact, Jesus himself announced that ahead of time in John chapter 11: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Not just “I will raise the dead”—that’s one thing—but “I am the resurrection and the life.” That is, the resurrection of my people is tied to my own resurrection, and those who are joined to me will be raised from the dead.

This is how Paul expounds it in 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus is the first fruits of those who slept, and that we follow in his train; as he was raised from the dead, our resurrection certainly will come as well. And the whole gospel comes to bear right here. Jesus came and he dealt with the problem that brought death. He dealt with the problem of sin. He gave himself a sacrifice for sin, exhausted the curse against humanity. He’s raised from the dead and all of his people joined to him in faith will be raised from the dead as well.

Perhaps most fundamentally, the significance of Jesus’ resurrection is that his resurrection from the dead was his own vindication. It was Jesus’ vindication. And again, there are layers of significance to this. On the one level, Jesus’ death was a horrible miscarriage of justice. If three days later, he’s raised from the dead, what does that say about him? How do we explain it? This is not something that happens every day. It’s clearly a supernatural event. If Jesus’ death was a miscarriage of justice, what does God’s raising him from the dead say about him? At the very least, it’s his vindication in some sense.

On another level, Jesus himself had said that he would be raised from the dead. So again, what does it say about Jesus if he did not rise from the dead? He said he would. He said he would do it on the third day. If it didn’t happen, what does that say about Jesus? He’s discredited entirely. But what if he did? What if he pulled it off? He said, “They’ll crucify me. Third day, I’ll be back.” And he did.

Again, Jesus had said that in his death, he took the place of sinners, that his death would pay the ransom price of their freedom, that he would die in their place. And in this sense, Jesus’ death was a meeting out of divine justice, dying in the place of his people, bearing the curse of their sin, redeeming them from the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. Now was all of that just talk? Did Jesus in fact exhaust the curse against our sin? Was his death a sufficient payment for the penalty of our sin? How can we know that divine justice, as he told us it would be in his death—how can we know that divine justice was in fact satisfied? The answer is, of course, the raising of Jesus from the dead. It is God’s vindication of everything about him, a declaration of the completeness of Jesus’ saving work. That’s why the Apostle Paul can later write: he was delivered over in death, delivered over for our offenses, and raised, not just for his vindication, but raised for our justification. Just as he is raised being vindicated by God, so we, joined to him, are vindicated in his vindication as well.

Now later in the series, I will address the subjects of salvation, how it comes to us and how we experience it ourselves, that is not by works, that it is by grace, it is through faith and repentance is required. I’ll deal with all of that. But here we see already that Jesus’ resurrection is God’s declaration that Jesus has done the work that saves. And because Jesus has done the work that saves, salvation comes to us by grace alone, through faith alone.

Jesus’ Resurrection Establishes Him as the Universal Judge

Now we’re dealing here with the basics of Christianity, so there’s one more layer of significance to Jesus’ resurrection that I should emphasize. And that is that Jesus’ resurrection establishes him as the universal judge. Jesus’ resurrection establishes him as the universal judge. And here we’ll go to the book of Acts. Look at Acts chapter 17. This is perhaps the plainest statement of it. Acts chapter 17, verse 31. Here Paul says to them at Mars Hill in Athens, “God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

That is, this is an entailment of Jesus’ resurrection. Being raised from the dead is God’s declaration that he now is the qualified judge of all. The risen Lord Jesus—the thinking behind this—the risen Lord Jesus Christ is a successful savior. He has come, he has lived his perfect life. He has given himself in place of sinners, offered himself to God in sacrifice for their sins. God has accepted his sacrifice. In vindication, he has raised him from the dead and now he and he alone is the one who is qualified to judge the world. And Jesus himself would say, the Father judges no one. He’s committed all judgment to the Son. He will be the one to judge. He has come as mediator between God and man. He’s accomplished salvation. He’s been exalted to the position of universal king and judge. And now it is the unavoidable point that he will be the judge of all.

If you’ll back up a few pages, we’ll see how the apostle Peter pushes exactly this to the crowds in Jerusalem. Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. Here we have Peter at Pentecost. This is 50 days following the resurrection of Jesus. And he’s standing, preaching to the crowds in Jerusalem who are there for the holiday, for Pentecost. The crowds are there and he preaches. Let’s read in verse 22: “Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,” and here he quotes the 16th Psalm from David, “‘I saw the Lord always before me for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.'”

Now Peter says, “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne,” that’s Psalm 110, “he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,” this is Psalm 110, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now, in the background of all of this, of course, is God’s promise to David. We read of it; it’s one of the anchor points in the Old Testament. We read of it in 2 Samuel 7. God promised to David that a descendant, a son of his, would sit on his throne and that he would rule universally in righteousness over all. Peter picks up on that promise and notices that in Psalm 16, David is speaking of that promise. And he promises that his greater son who will come, this one that God had promised him, when he comes, God won’t abandon him to the grave. He won’t see corruption.

And then Peter reasons with the crowd: “I got to tell you, David, he lived, he died. His tomb is still here. I suspect if you open it, you can find some bones. He wasn’t writing about himself. He was writing about his greater son that God had promised him. And God said that he would not abandon him to the grave.” How many people you know that haven’t been—who have died and not been abandoned to the grave? And Peter reasons with them: “I can think of one. You’ve all seen him. Jesus, he was raised from the dead. He is the one David was writing about.”

And so know for certain that this Jesus—this is how he ends up in verse 36—that God has made him, Jesus, whom you crucified, God has made him Lord and Christ. And so Jesus then is established by his resurrection as the world king and judge. And again, dealing with the basics of Christianity, we can’t ignore this for long. The Bible makes a lot of this from the beginning to the end, that there will be a day of reckoning. That we are not autonomous creatures. We’re not unaccountable. We are creatures of God and we are accountable to him. And he has settled that there will be a day in which we are in fact brought before him to give an account.

Again, Jesus himself claimed that he was the one who would be the judge. Father judges no one. He’s committed all judgment to the Son. The final day, Jesus will be the judge. And he is the one who will fix eternal destinies for every person. This is the reality that the Christian gospel presses. Whether you acknowledge it or not, Jesus is king. Whether you acknowledge him now or not, he’s your judge. And the urgency of the gospel is just exactly that message. You must bow before Jesus. And you must do it today, because you surely will tomorrow. There’s coming a day in which all the world will bow before Jesus. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord. Mercifully, he offers acceptance. He tells us that in verse 37 and following: “When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter with the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do? We’ve crucified our judge, what should we do?'” Peter said to them, “Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for you and for your children, for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

By your sin, he says, you have set yourself against your judge. But in mercy, the judge offers acceptance. One day he will be your judge. For now, he offers terms of acceptance. Repent, turn from your sin, and bow before him as king. You must do that today, because tomorrow you will. On the following weeks, then, in this series, we will examine what it means to trust, to believe in Jesus, to turn from your sin, to be saved by grace alone through Christ alone. But already now we see it. Jesus, through his resurrection, has established himself as the world’s Savior. He is the one you need. He is the Savior that is perfectly suited for all of your needs. Bow before him and trust Him and be saved. Amen.