1. We have been hearing of the glorious message of Christ's
resurrection, how that resurrection took place and how we must
believe, for our own blessing, comfort and salvation. Now, that we may
be sincerely thankful to God for this inestimable blessing, and that
our attitude toward the doctrine of the resurrection may be one to
truly honor and glorify it, we must hear also, and practice, the
apostles' teaching of its essential fruits, and must manifest them in
our lives. Therefore, we will select Paul's admonition to the
Colossians (ch. 3), which has to do with this topic particularly.
Observe here, Paul exhorts Christians to be incited by the
resurrection of Christ unto works truly good and becoming; the text
declares unto us the supreme blessing and happiness the resurrection
brings within our reach--remission of sins and salvation from eternal
death. Lest, however, our wanton, indolent nature deceive itself by
imagining the work is instantaneously wrought in ourselves, and that
simply to receive the message is to exhaust the blessing, Paul always
adds the injunction to examine our hearts to ascertain whether we
rightly apprehend the resurrection truth.