Easter Sunday

Order of Service

• Choir Anthem — The Lord's My Shepherd
• Call to Worship — John 20:24-28
• Hymn — Worship Christ the Risen King
• Prayer of Invocation
• Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:1-17
• Prayer of Confession
• Assurance of Pardon — Romans 10:9-10
• Apostles' Creed
• Pastoral Prayer
• Hymn — Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
• Offertory Prayer
• Hymn of Preparation — Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
• Hymn — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (vv. 1–2)
• Lord's Supper (distribution and communion)
• Hymn — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (vv. 3–4)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14
• Closing Hymn — Low in the Grave He Lay (Up from the Grave He Arose)

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Sermon Title: Raised for Our Justification

Scripture: Romans 4:13-25

I. Right Standing with God Requires a Recognition of Our Need for Resurrection Life

A. The law of God brings wrath (Romans 4:15)

1. Wrath means God's fury, indignation, and anger toward lawbreakers
2. We are tempted to think only of God as love and mercy, ignoring his justice

B. God is not a pushover; his law cannot go unpunished

1. A just God demands respect and accountability from his creatures
2. Illustration: a lawless employee cannot presume on the boss's forgiveness indefinitely
3. Illustration: playing one-on-one against LeBron James exposes our true inadequacy before God's perfect standard

C. The first step toward right standing is recognizing our wrong standing

1. We are condemned lawbreakers who deserve death
2. This recognition creates the need for resurrection life

II. Right Standing with God Comes Through Faith in Resurrection Life

A. Abraham is the model of saving faith (Romans 4:16-21)

1. He was fully convinced God could do what he promised (Romans 4:20-21)
2. He believed in the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence (Romans 4:17)

B. Abraham's faith was faith in the promise of resurrection life

1. His body was as good as dead; Sarah's womb was barren — yet he believed
2. Time and again he was stripped of all human capacity, forced to trust the God who raises the dead

C. Saving faith is born out of respectful desperation, not disrespectful presumption

1. We must first come to God's law and be brought low before we cry out for mercy
2. Illustration: the prodigal-like employee who, facing real consequences, falls before the boss pleading for grace
3. True faith clings to resurrection life as its only hope, resting on God's sheer grace, not on what he owes us

III. Right Standing with God Is Accomplished Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

A. Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness (Romans 4:22-25)

1. This was not written for Abraham's sake alone, but for ours also
2. It is counted to all who believe in him who raised Jesus from the dead

B. Christ was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25)

1. God cannot count someone righteous unless his law is fulfilled
2. If Christ has not been raised, God is a liar to Abraham and we die in our sins (1 Corinthians 15)
3. The resurrection is the Father's public declaration that Christ's perfect obedience has been accepted

C. The empty tomb is the seal and confirmation of our justification

1. Lawkeeping righteousness and resurrection life go hand in hand — you cannot have one without the other
2. Christ's righteousness is credited to our account through faith alone
3. God's grace to us is not lawless grace; it is law-fulfilling grace accomplished in Christ

D. Conclusion: Are you right with God?

1. Look to the empty tomb and believe — God says, We are good
2. Go out in gratitude and reverence, working out your salvation in fear and trembling before the holy, just, and resurrecting God