The gospel of Jesus Christ is a health available sign for healthless people,

like you and me who are so sick with our sin and so frail with our sicknesses and so frightened

of eternity. I am here to work for you this morning," says the Lord.

Christ was raised from the dead to serve us His people. That's the wonderful reality that John

Piper rejoices over in this episode of Light and Truth. This sermon was originally preached at

Bethlehem Baptist Church on April 15, 1990.

What the resurrection means to me is very much why I believe it's true and the fact that I'm

persuaded that it's true increases the meaning that it has for me and they are very intertwined.

As I think you'll see as we get into the message and so what I want to do in the first part of the

message is unfold for you very briefly six reasons for why we ought to take very seriously the biblical

claim that Christ rose from the dead and is alive today, laying claim on our lives this morning.

Reason number one, we ought to seriously consider that Christ rose from the dead because he said he

would when he was on the earth and he said he would in words that the early church later on never

used anymore. They were uniquely words of Jesus. He said things like

no sign will be given to this generation except the sign of Jonah. Remember the story of Jonah?

Three days in the belly of the fish and then spit out as though it were a resurrection.

It was a veiled claim. I am going to be three days in the earth and then rise.

Another way he said it was destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

That kind of language is not used in the rest of the New Testament. Those are Jesus very words.

Historical scholars won't dispute. He talked like that but now I know if you're a sharp thinker

you're probably saying some proof. He said he's going to rise and therefore he rose. Wow.

Suppose I say I'm going to rise. Now here's the catch.

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