I'll be reading verses 1 through 7 of Romans chapter 1, and then we'll be focusing on verse 4, so please hear God's inspired and infallible word. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for this opportunity to look into your holy word. May our minds be attentive and our hearts opened to behold your son here. Please keep my mouth from error that I would not wander into the mere ideas of men, but rather that you would have me to accurately explain your thoughts and the workings of your holy spirit who inspired this text faithfully handed down to us. May it be so, for the glory of Jesus, in whose name I pray, amen. Today in verse four, we are looking at what the Apostle Paul says is the second of two defining facets of Jesus and the focus of the gospel. Not that these two, and by that I refer to the incarnation, which we treated last time, and today the resurrection. So not that these two are exhaustive. It means fully plumbing the depths and covering the bases of every aspect of Jesus's work and person. because they don't, but rather that Paul picks them out as two noteworthy aspects of what defines God's gospel, which was communicated to us through the prophets, recorded in the Holy Scriptures. By way of analogy, if you recall the little story I mentioned two times ago, about the fellow returning from his honeymoon. Well, for our purposes today, and not to abuse this analogy, but let's say that he's telling you about his lovely new bride, and he endearingly describes her beautiful eyes and her joyful demeanor during worship, let's say. Does that mean that she's a bad steward of his paycheck, because he didn't mention it? Does it mean that she lacks gracious hospitality to the guests in their new home? No, not necessarily. So the fact that Paul is here picking out two things doesn't mean that he's diminishing, skipping over, neglecting the others. It means that he's highlighting these, just as Mr. Husband is choosing two facets for his unique attention. So just to settle that question or pondering you might have, why all the other things, the ascension, miracles, why are those not highlighted here in Paul's introduction? So not to the neglect of those, but rather to the emphasis of these two, the emphasis of the incarnation and the resurrection. So here too, the person work of the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, is not exhaustively defined in this summary, just like no new husband can exhaustively plumb the depths of the beauties of his new bride, and he doesn't need to in five minutes, right? And so Paul can't cover everything in this introduction either. But by the direction of the Holy Spirit moving Paul, we do rightly follow his steps in devoting the special attention. So while we could in other texts, other sermons, cover those other details, we will follow Paul here and spend our time looking at this second of his two key points. And the essential summary I want to communicate to you, listed there at the top of your outlines, is that while Jesus was born in weakness in human flesh, and that's verse 3 of the Incarnation, here today we look at the fact that he was raised with power in the Holy Spirit, and that is the resurrection. And referring to your outlines, just like last time, I've put the whole scope of the introduction, verses 1 through 7. I just don't want you to miss the context, to see where Paul's coming from, where he's headed to, how this fits, at least within this small section. I'm not going to cover everything here. Some of it, as you'll notice, is what we've discussed prior. At the bottom is what Lord willing, we'll cover in future weeks, maybe even this year. Focusing today on what's in that light gray box, part C, his So today we're devoting our time to that light gray square. And my hope is that we will gain an increased humility before our God and live transformed lives for His glory. Because the resurrection, the power at work there, the working of the Spirit is extraordinary. not to be dismissed." So, here then again the text emphasizing verse 4 for today, Jesus Christ our Lord was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. So, let's begin with the first bit of that verse, declared. So while he was born in the seat of David, he was declared to be the son of God. And just by virtue of the fact there's a different word there, obviously Paul and the divine author are communicating something different than the born-ness in verse three. This word's root refers to something being marked out, sort of specified, if you will. Having boundaries set, and that's a literal meaning. This is not a literal usage here, it's a figuratively. So in a figurative sense, it means something is determined or settled, set in course, as you will. Does this mean then, and this is a common and a very valid question, I appreciate it if it's rattling around in your mind. You're not the only one. So does this mean that at the resurrection, Jesus's son-ness began? That that was the point at which it was endowed upon him? A slight glancing read may well indicate that. There's even some other scriptures that might seem to support that. Does it then mean that prior to this event he wasn't God's son? Or maybe like a prince who ascends the throne and becomes the king, there was a change in his status. So those are different little side roads that people go down trying to understand what does this mean that he was declared the son of God. at the resurrection. So while sometimes this Greek word is used in situations where individuals, and so that would be a human experience of being declared as opposed to God declaring, but there are some instances where this Greek word is used in situations where individuals are in that moment, putting into effect a new decision. So it kind of is a new thing coming to pass. Or even a long-standing decision being implemented in real time. Coming to fruition, perhaps, we could word it. Even with those being the case in other usages, that does not mean what some sects and what some cults make it to say here, that Jesus went from being not the Son to now being the Son. Many people go down those avenues, either trying to be clever or extra insightful, thinking they've got a new idea, but really there's nothing new under the sun. That's an old idea, and it's been disproved. But too many people latch on to that. They would say that maybe he became the son at his baptism, or he became the son of the transfiguration, or the resurrection, or the ascension. They assert that he is not the eternal son, that he became the son at some point. So let me group those all together, be gracious but succinct, they are mistaken. They're mistaken really to the point of heresy. And so as I put it there, highlight it, underline it, put a star next to it, we reject these heresies of, and they're generally categorized as adoptionism. The idea that God the Father adopted brought him into a new status at one of these markers in history. It is not the case. we affirm, as I've tried to be super clear there for you, we affirm the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ our Lord. And this is not a small thing. There's some small things we discuss in this church, right? They're not essentials of the faith. We discuss them because we believe they are revealed in scripture, and so that's good material for us to toss back and forth and try to be iron sharpening iron. This is not one of those incidental things. This is one of those essential things, and so I will speak quite strongly on it. And I want to open up for you briefly two lines of reasoning, one theological, so just kind of big concepts, and the second more narrow in our text that very clearly disprove adoptionism and keep us within those safe rails of orthodoxy. So, speaking to the eternal sonship of Christ and those broader theological arguments, let me just say that knowing who Jesus is is obviously foundational to being a Christian. 1 John 4, 15, whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. So, if we are not confessing properly that Jesus is God's Son, we are not abiding. in Him, and He is not abiding in us. And that's a fearful thing. To go awry here is serious. And merely saying the words, repeat after me in English, Jesus is the Son of God, does not constitute necessarily a valid confession. So let us not just say that if somebody's got their lingo down, and we can hear the words coming out of their mouths, that they are making a valid confession. Because people go awry with all sorts of under the cover's meanings. So this is not some minor detail of theological dispute. One key term you'll find in the creeds is the phrase eternally begotten. One writer puts it this way, the word begotten means to come from a father. It is the paternal parallel to the maternal word born. And you'll notice born was in verse 3. So, a parallelism here. Children, he writes, are begotten of fathers and are born of mothers. So, by calling God the Son eternally begotten, the Christian tradition is making it clear that Christ's sonship goes all the way back to the beginning of God. the Son belongs within that divine being. He is of one essence, that is His very nature, He is of one essence with the Father. So that's just, if you have a sort of stumbling block with the words eternally begotten, thinking, well that's in theological dictionaries, but I don't see that in my Bible, that is one author's, I think, a helpful framing of why do we even talk about this. But as I put in your outlines, I think five succinct statements, five reasons for the eternal sonship of Christ. Why do we refer to Him as being eternally begotten and why is it so important? Why are we so dogmatic on this if there's good people with differing views? Well, we're dogmatic because it is really clear when you get into the details. There is plenty of material to back that up. So briefly, let me go through these five with you. One, the Son created all things and is thus ancient and uncreated. And I gave some verses for you there. And a little caution about the word ancient. I know some people think, well, God is outside of history. Ancient speaks to oldness versus newness. Well, I picked ancient and I'm comfortable with it because we speak of God as being the ancient of days, right? The Son went to the ancient of days at his ascension, so it's okay to speak of God. That's a word he uses of himself as ancient. We don't want to use it in a human aspect, but it is a safe word. He is super old, right? Outside of time, we know. But since the Son created all things, He is thus ancient, eternal, uncreated. In any one of these answers, I would say. But we're just building a bigger pile to be more confident. The second point, the Father sent the Son into the world and thus the Son was prior to being sent, right? If you send your car to the grocery store, you already had the car or it couldn't go there, right? It's not that you got the car at the grocery store, you had to have it prior. So mere logic would say that the fact that the Father sent the Son into the world means that the Son existed prior, before that going, before that sending. Some verses there you can look up later. Third point, the son of God's appearance in history, again similar to the second, means he was the son prior but had not yet appeared as such. So the fact that people finally saw him as the son doesn't mean that he He never had been prior, it means that now they understand. Let us not to think that our eyes seeing something makes it real, right? We are not omniscient. Plenty of things exist out there that we've never seen before. It doesn't disprove their existence if we haven't seen it yet. Fourth, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So this consistency in his being necessitates his eternal sonship. Fairly clear, I believe. It would be radically different for Him to become the Son. That is a change. If ever there could be a change, that is a change. So He can't be the same long time ago and now if that radical change happened in the meantime. The fact that He is the same, His nature has not changed, this consistency in His being necessitates His eternal Sonship. And then lastly, the inter-Trinitarian father-son relationship precedes, and as I said here, indeed transcends Jesus's earthly ministry. His earthly ministry, which is what's recorded here, and of course with the divine author giving human authors special insight into it, but let us not think that our experience, or the apostles' experience, is the sum total of who God is. God is, and that's why I said transcends. The inter-Trinitarian relationship is way before Moses started talking and writing, way before Paul, as wise as he is, started writing, and is way beyond the scope of our understanding. And so, let me say it again, the inter-Trinitarian father-son relationship precedes, so it's before, and transcends, goes way beyond, Jesus's earthly ministry. So on those five points, and there's other things we could gather, let us have it settled. And as a general point of knowledge, we know that Jesus is eternal. He always was and always will be the Son. He did not take on son-ness at the resurrection and out of the transfiguration, out of the ascension, out of the incarnation, et cetera. The second, as I said, there's kind of two categories of evidence for the eternal sonship. That was the theological, sort of broader concepts, but the second and very specific reason why we have reason to push back against the heretical views of adoptionism is right here in the text. We don't have to go into those deeper theological understandings necessarily, though they're helpful and I don't think they're all that complex, but it's right here in the specific wording, even within this same verse. For this, we move to the second point. Son of God in power, or with power, is translated in New King James. So, He was not declared by the resurrection to be the Son generally, right? As if, whoa, never heard of this before, now something new. That would be a general Son of God-ness. He was not declared by the resurrection to be the Son of God, generally speaking, but he was declared to be the Son of God specifically in power. And so I would grant that there is an aspect of his son-ness that was like, whoa, that is really clear, right? The resurrection is so unique, so outside of the norm, miraculous, such a strong evidence, and other scriptures we'll get to in a moment here make that clear, such a strong evidence of God's power that yes, wow, he is declared to be the Son of God with power. which is why I put it there with the dash marks at point two. Another offer I was reading this week found that to be useful. So the hyphenation, this is one phrase. It's not the Son of God power separate, but the Son of God in powerness is what was displayed at the resurrection. So Jesus always was and always will be the Son of God. The resurrection showed us, or maybe demonstrated to us, a specific facet of his son-ness. Power. A power which he always had, a power he always will have, but was particularly marked out. Let's come back to the underlying definition of that word. That was particularly marked out at this point. One Greek language resource puts it this way, quote, although Christ was the Son of God before his resurrection, yet he was openly appointed, or the King James says declared, such among men by this transcendent and crowning event. So, it's the openness, the visibleness, the undeniable, I see it now on that first Sunday morning, such that men saw this transcendent and crowning event. So in verse 3, we learn that the Son of God was made in weakness of human flesh by the Incarnation. And here, in contrast to that, but in parallel with that, because of course we understand from the creeds and from larger teaching of the scriptures, that Christ had two natures. The human, verse 3, the divine, verse 4. So He was made in weakness of human flesh by the incarnation, and now in verse 4 we see that He is identified as the Son of God in power by the resurrection. The resurrection did not make Jesus into the Son, it rather declared His power. And I would add, it powerfully showed His power. Just to enforce this point a bit, notice the change in language. I've hinted at this, referred to it as parallel language. So the change in language between 3 and 4, and I put it into a chart there. The first four lines of that chart are referring to point 2 here. The bottom two lines below the heavy bold are for Section 3 in just a moment. But you'll see in that verse 3 versus verse 4, born made versus declared constituted, according to the flesh, according to the spirit. And then those two verses I've added that I think if you kind of step back a second, you'll be like, oh, that's right. The first part of John 14 is really speaking to his nativity. And the second part speaks to something more eternal. And the same for Isaiah 6. So, these scriptures and that kind of framework, I think, show to us the contrast that is in mind in Paul's writing here. As I said, referring to point three, the bottom of the table, there is much more here to teach us about how the Son of God was powerfully declared. And hence, we come to the phrase point three, Spirit of Holiness, Pneuma Hagos. And this is a unique form, if you get into the way those particular words are conjugated. So interpreters are left with saying, it doesn't appear anywhere else. What are we supposed to do with this? Which I think it's wise enough to say, well, let's translate it uniquely, right? We're not going to translate it like all those other times, because it's not actually the other or the same wording as those other times. Because all those other times, it would be translated Holy Spirit. But here we have Spirit of holiness. Nowhere else exactly like this in the New Testament. And translators, writers puzzle over this. Not exactly obvious, is Paul referring to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity? Some writers understand it to be Christ's inner spirit, which was characterized by holiness. or a unique turn of words to continue the parallelism that I've put there a little bit in that table for you. The human temporal versus the son eternal, the flesh versus the spirit, the likeness of sinful flesh, et cetera, versus the Holy Spirit here. And there's discussion, good natured, because I wouldn't say this is a hill to die on. I do agree though, I believe, with the commentators who understand the meaning here to refer to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Christ's Spirit is the Spirit who is holy. Which then leads you to the question, why did Paul use a different Greek form, right? Why confuse us or have us spend all this time on the discussion, and many writers have spent a lot of time on the discussion, why didn't Paul just use the normal word construction as other places in the New Testament? And one good reason, it's kind of like, that could be, I believe has some validity to it, is that he wants to avoid the confusion, because elsewhere we understand that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And so, in trying to maintain that distinction between, that comparison between the verse three concept of incarnation, the verse 4 concept of resurrection doesn't want to use the same wording to repeat. So by wording it slightly differently, there's a distinction, but by having other evidence to support the general idea that yes, this is the Holy Spirit, we eventually get to the right meaning. So I do believe that God here is revealing to us that the Holy Spirit was at work. It is the Holy Spirit bringing that power in the resurrection. So the different word forms create a distinction for the different event, incarnation versus resurrection, but still point to the same divine person. Which brings us to verse four, sorry, the fourth point, the fourth part of our verse, resurrection of the dead. It was by the resurrection from the dead that the spirit of holiness, that the Holy Spirit demonstrated this power. So let me step back a bit, though, just to put it into context. It was by the resurrection from the dead that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power. And as I mentioned previously, it was the miracle of the resurrection that, and here to word it slightly differently, visibly demonstrated him as the son of God, right? It was there all along. Veiled in flesh, incarnate see is how the hymn writer words it. Now people saw that veil was removed. And this isn't the only time that power is ascribed to Jesus or having been present in the resurrection. And it's also not the only time that power is ascribed to Jesus, right? So if we think of power as some unique quality that he gained at the resurrection, that wouldn't be true either, right? Other times, Jesus demonstrated power, and I got a few here in my notes. Power to heal, power over unclean spirits, power over storms, and others, right? So again, Jesus had power, wasn't waiting for the resurrection to gain that. but it is visibly demonstrated that it was an aspect of his son-ness. But Paul does here key in on power, declared in the resurrection. So again, while there's lots of other examples of his power, Paul has chosen to emphasize the resurrection here. And other authors throughout the New Testament come alongside. And Paul in other places speaks of it as well. Let me quote three for you. One being from 2 Corinthians 13.4. He writes, though he, Christ, was crucified in weakness, yet he lives. Raised from the dead by the power of God and then Ephesians 1 19 and 20 the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe According to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead So again, the power of God made manifest in Christ's resurrection. And then Philippians 3 verse 10, to know him and the power of his resurrection. The power of his resurrection. So the resurrection powerfully declared God's power, the son of God's. Well, with all those technical and theological details laid out there for you, and I really encourage you to check me, and also encourage your faith in reading through the Scriptures I've presented there. But with those technical details, I hope, established, and being Bereans, it settles in your mind well confirming with Scripture. Let me now address some more, I'll call it practical concerns that arise from them, right? God gives us this material, this meat to chew on and then to digest, to nourish our souls. So let me approach some applications here by way of a series of questions. The first, which Jesus do you know? And I don't mean that to be second-guessing anyone's salvation or startling to you, but maybe that is helpful to think of it that way. Which Jesus do you know? Maybe some of you younger ones are like, what do you mean, there's only one Jesus? And I would say, praise the Lord, you have been taught the one holy faith. But it's a complex world out there. As you grow, you're gonna learn, people claim there's other Jesuses. So welcome to the scary world. So which Jesus do you know? Jesus is, by others, thought of as a wise prophet, a great teacher, a good man. And in these different aspects, they might even add on that he was elevated to status of son. But as we've said, all of those views are incomplete. Even if they go so far as to finally say, yes, he's the son of God, and you sit there thinking, You're saying the words, but I don't think you understand what I mean by them. So again, just saying those words, assenting verbally to it, they don't always mean what the church has historically meant. So friends, beware of false teachers who diminish the truth. about the Lord Jesus Christ through various maneuvers. And often, one of those maneuvers is using language that sounds totally normal. They've even read a couple websites on the Chalcedonian Creed, right? That doesn't mean that they actually believe in the true Jesus. Looking at the material provided today, I pray the Spirit will guide you to the truth that Christ is the eternally begotten and singular divine Son. But yet there are so many traps, so many pitfalls out there. The exchange of information in our day is extraordinary. You're speaking of the number of books that are published per year on theological topics, the access to digital information through apps, the internet. That means we have access to many It's an extraordinary amount of useful tools to understand God's Word, to benefit from the writings and teachers of recent writers as well as older writers, yet beware, right? In the same overwhelming amount of information that can be a blessing to us, there are the traps and the pitfalls. Not too far down this or that internet rabbit hole lies half-baked ideas and worse, damnable heresy. So be careful. Pray for the Spirit's guidance. Study to show yourself approved. And by study, I don't mean, say, just read widely, but rather focus and be discerning. And all of that, coming back to that first point, pray, pray for the Spirit's guidance. And draw close to the one who guides you down the narrow way, right? Jesus, speaking of being the vine and we are the branches and needing to abide in him. Getting too far out on those fringe branches, right? Any horticulturalist here knows that some trimming is needed. It's the outward tips that is the danger zone, subjected to frosts and disease and all these things, so staying close. This is my own kind of expansion of the analogy of abiding in Christ as divine, but stay close to that trunk of Christ. There is salvation in no other. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved. Be sure your faith is resting on the true Jesus, the Jesus, for the sake of our discussion today, who is the eternal Son of God, amen. The first question. Second question. What power energizes your life? Let's admit very frankly that the misuse, the abuse of power is one of the besetting sins of humanity. As was discussed earlier with regard to the fifth commandment and the various scopes of authority displayed at the Lord's table, I will understand that context here in the aspect of our responsibilities as authority figures. Adam misused his power, his authority, by not protecting his wife, Eve, by not standing up against the evil one and for God's truth in the garden. He failed to use his power, his authority, properly. Cain misused his power by attacking his brother rather than learning from his godly brother. Saul misused his power by coming after David. The Pharisees misused their power by coming after Jesus. God has ordered this world that there be authority figures, that there be responsibilities and responsible use of power, and yet we are so prone. to abusing, to misusing that power. Today we have businesses misusing their power by manipulating markets or deceiving customers. You know, how many of the boxes on the grocery store are the same price, but they don't have quite so much in them? You could say, well, they're being honest because it's clearly printed there, but it's a little subtle, right? Is that honest? They're misusing their marketing power. Politicians abuse their power by usurping authority, as was referenced earlier, or by slinging insults to stir up people's passions rather than actually talking about the issues, rather than talking about the true scope of civil government and how to do their jobs as God's ministers, and on and on and on. We see the abuse of power in our age. So friends, again. to ask you humbly, and I ask myself as well, what power energizes your life? Worldly power is all around us, yet it is anti-God. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. The Father's power is vastly different than what is stated there. If you've been saved by the Spirit and live in the Spirit, then continue in the Spirit, right? Having been raised with Christ and sharing in his resurrection, do not slip into the old habits, walking by fleshly, worldly power. I think it's especially dangerous in our day. We've got so much media coming at us, and there's this American agenda to win and to conquer, and wow, people are winning and conquering by acting that way. I guess that's what works. No, not in God's economy. That is not what works. And remember, Christians, that we have the same power at work in us as Jesus had in him. The same spirit, the same power. And I don't want to skip over an important opportunity here. A side note, because I don't know the hearts of every individual here, but to say, if you find yourself lacking true power in your life, keep hitting up against a wall, why am I not succeeding here? Perhaps, and just as an opportunity for you to prayerfully consider, might it be because you don't have the Spirit in you? Think of it this way. If your wallet is empty, better to admit it rather than racking up further debt or continuing to pass forged checks, right? What's the reason for your debt? Why are you not able to spiritually buy the things you desire to have? Maybe it's because you are empty. Your tank has finally run out. I think in America we are so capable sometimes, our competencies can lead us to ultimate disaster because we reach the end of ourselves, but that's a very good place to be, to realize the end of yourself and the beginning of Christ. So only by true spiritual union with Christ and through lively faith can we have the spiritual power that I'm speaking of here today. And coming back to us who do have the power, remind you again, to comfort you again, dear brothers and sisters, the same power at work in us is what Jesus had at the resurrection. That should encourage. That should comfort. Because it is a beautiful thing, I would say, to see evidence of Christ's power in this congregation among all of us here. As I was pondering, The various ways in which I see week to week, whether it's on the Lord's Day in conversation or serving through lunch, people ministering to each other, baby showers, meals, all these things. It is beautiful to see the Lord brought to my mind Paul's words in Philippians 1. Paul said, and I would say an amen. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, friends at Dominion Covenant Church, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you with all joy, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen. Be comforted and encouraged and challenged. So brothers and sisters, live in God's power. Having begun life by his power, continue to live in his power. Next question, closely related to this, but to get a bit more focused, friends, I ask you, is it the spirit of holiness that empowers you? I suggest this is sort of a test or a point of self-evaluation related to the previous question. Interestingly, I think of it this way. Maybe part of, coming back to earlier, why did Paul word Spirit of holiness here as opposed to a more obvious underlying Greek which would lead all of us to concur with the translation Holy Spirit? Why did he do that? I think it may be so that we would really focus on holiness, right? I know I, whenever I see Holy Spirit, it's just kind of automatically abbreviated in my mind and I keep on moving. You know, as we become better readers, we don't always pronounce the words. And it's easy to skip over and lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit is holy in spirit, right? It just becomes this phrase we skip over. So, by with this unique wording and the unique translation in our Bibles here, we lose track of it. But here, may we be drawn back to the point and focus on holiness. Consider, for more than just a fleeting instant, the holiness. of God. It is awesome. He is holy, holy, holy. Utterly awe-inspiring and very humbling is what the response ultimately needs to be. Galatians 5, I think, is a useful point for us on this. The works of the flesh, and of course here I'm coming to the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the flesh. So to contrast them, the works of the flesh are darkness, death, unholiness, specifically in 519. The works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. And we talk in theological language about lesser and greater sins, minor and more severe. So praise the Lord we don't have any open murderers here. But let's be honest to recognize the fruit of darkness that is living in our hearts, sadly. But to then glory in God. and His holiness. Holy, holy, holy is He who indwells His people and bears fruit in us of the results that Paul then mentions, the fruit of the Spirit, light, life, and genuine holiness. Listen here, verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self, control. Beautiful. Holy, holy, holy is our God. And holy can we be as we have Him in us, day by day, week by week, month by month, as long as He gives us life and breath to live for Him, right? All those corruptions of modern life cited earlier, the media, business, civics, they're a result of people not having and walking according to the spirit of holiness. It's as simple as that. Why do people talk so coarsely in political language? Because they're not regenerate. Or if they are, they've wandered so far that they've forgotten who they are. Why do we have so much stealing in our government, in our businesses? Why is the church so weak? They don't have the spirit of holiness. And so let us measure ourselves by what Paul puts forward to. And I'll emphasize, he's writing to Christians, right? And so we even need to be reminded. fruit of darkness, fruit of life, light, fruit of death, fruit of life, fruit of the evil one, fruit of the Holy One. And we want to be on this right hand. So friends, if we live in the Spirit, Let us also walk in the Spirit. That is Paul's conclusion there at the end of the fruit discussion in Galatians 5. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit. And for the last question, I can't let you go without pointing you personally and pleadingly to the resurrection, right? I would be going off my own tangent here, useful, valid points, but not staying to the text if I don't settle us back here on the resurrection as Paul did. So I would ask you, do you cling to the resurrection? Quoting from 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. Your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Very blunt, very honest wording from the Apostle. So friends, beloved of God, Christ did rise from the dead. Our preaching here week in and week out by God's grace is sound. Your faith is full. Your sins are taken away, and he is the first fruits of a bountiful harvest. We shall also rise. Hallelujah? Yes, God is good, he is true. So like the heresies of Christ's non-eternal person, there are many heresies that deny the resurrection. And the exact same warnings I gave earlier, I would apply here too. Don't listen to them, beware of those rabbit trails that will lead you off astray. If people scoff at you, thinking, oh, you're one of those people that believes there was actually a resurrection, you know, Or if your conscience even, and just hear a lot of people wanting to be diligent students of scripture, they're reading it, they hear things, they're like, oh God, I don't want to be wrong here. Am I just going with tradition? I don't want to be some sycophant. And so what do I do with this? Well, if your conscience or if scoffers out there make you start to question these things, rest on God's promises. His word is sure. An important point, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. We can't just apply Aristotelian logic and think that we're going to get to the right conclusion. Yes, we use logic because God is logical, but spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The testimony of God's Word is not in doubt for those who have spirit-led eyes to understand it. So cling to the truth of the resurrection. And note that I didn't word this question, do you agree with the resurrection? Do you adhere to the statement of facts about the resurrection? On purpose, and maybe it's a little excessive because we want to cling to Christ, but by way of application, do we cling to the resurrection? Hold fast, you know, They'll make, somebody will make me, or will have to force me to pry my fingers off of it. That's what I mean by clinging to. This isn't something of, you know, good men differ. This is something we hold fast to. Friends, there are scarcely stronger words to be used than that quote from 1 Corinthians 15. So that's why I say cling to the resurrection because without it, What Paul is saying there in 1 Corinthians 15, we're headed to death. Our hope is futile. This is all just fun and games. And tomorrow we die if the resurrection is not true. Yet we know the resurrection is true. Christ really did rise and so we will rise also. That is our hope. He is a true God and our Savior. So, by way of conclusion, brothers and sisters, in learning about and delighting in Jesus's eternal Sonship and the Resurrection, along with the Incarnation, our discussion last time, I don't seek to diminish the full scope of Christ's eternal existence, all that He ever was, all that He ever did, recorded in Scripture and otherwise. I simply aim to place emphasis where God himself places emphasis in this text today. We are the bride of Christ. Jesus is our groom. That's why I originally came up with that analogy about the honeymoon husband. It's not because I've been hanging out with these new young men. aspiring to be married or close thereto. But again, to think of us as the church regarding her groom, what does our groom say about himself? What does his close friend, Holy Spirit, speaking in the scriptures, tell us about the groom? So let us devote ourselves to these special aspects of our Savior by prayerful meditation, by humble praise, and in doing so, may our hearts be drawn out to Him, and our lives conformed to his image, that the dying world might be transformed. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace in your holy word. We are awed to think of the depths of these truths. Just pondering Paul there writing, and was he even aware of what he was communicating to your people through the ages? We are such privileged people to have access to your word, to be able to read it and ponder it, to study it, to hear it, and Lord, may it bear good fruit in our lives. I pray that we will each humbly approach you today and in the days to come, asking you to search our hearts, that we might grow closer to you and live by your power. I pray this in Jesus' holy name, amen.