Resurrection Equals Hope

I ask you now to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. You follow as I read these first 28 verses. now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preach to you which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preach to you unless you believed in vain for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas then to the twelve then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep then he appeared to James then to all the apostles last of all as to one untimely born he appeared also to me for I am the least of the apostles unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead that not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain we are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about our God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep For as by a man came death by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die so also in Christ all shall be made alive But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy to be destroyed is death for God has put all things in subjection under his feet but when it says all things are put in subjection it is plain that he is he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him when all things are subjected to him then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Father, now, as we look into your word, open it to us. We pray, Lord, that this day you might make some alive by the preaching of your word.

We pray, Lord, that you would give confidence and hope to those who believe. We pray, Father, that we might see that Jesus is the risen one and that in him there is hope and that without his resurrection, we have no hope at all. God, help us now to see this clearly. In Jesus' name, amen. This is the Sunday that just about everybody in the world talks about Jesus.

Whether you believe it or not in him, this is the Sunday when everybody talks about him because the claim has been made that Jesus was killed and that three days later he came out of the grave, not just resuscitated, but he came out of the grave with a body that will never die again. Question is, is that true? Did Jesus come from the dead? And if he did return from the dead, if he was raised in an immortal body, what difference could it possibly make for anybody?

Some would say that the death of Jesus on the cross ended the narrative of Jesus. It ended his story. There are some who could not care less about Jesus. They know they show they show nothing more than a normal interest in him. Yeah, Jesus was an interesting character. He was a powerful teacher.

He's as interesting as Napoleon or Socrates to many people, but not anything more than that. There even some who claim to follow his teachings but deny that he ever came from the grave We don know what the disciples actually experienced they might say I don believe that they even saw him I don't believe that he was raised from the dead, but I sure like his teaching. Of course, there are others who deny that any kind of resurrection could ever take place.

It's just plain unscientific to believe that anybody could be raised from the dead. Now that, of course, is nothing new. We might think that we are really sophisticated, well, our scientific knowledge, that we could say, well, you cannot prove empirically that anybody rose from the dead, or even that it's possible. Do you know that even in Paul's day, there were people saying that already?

Within the church in Corinth, if you look at verse 12 of this chapter, do you notice what he says? Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? You know, Paul lived in a very rationalistic age. An age in which human reason was elevated to the superior place, to the place of prominence.

And the Greeks of that day believed, the philosophers of that day believed the body is evil. God's not going to raise an evil body again. That's just crazy. The material world is evil. We want to escape the material world. That just made entirely good sense to them.

And they said, to say that anybody is raised from the dead is nonsense. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't fit. It's not logical. Why would anybody believe that? That's what some people in the church were saying.

Well, no, Jesus didn't really rise from the dead because, you know, dead people can't be raised. So therefore, what? We believe in Jesus, but he certainly wasn't raised from the dead. So the question is, how important is this doctrine of the resurrection? Does it really matter? Can you follow the teachings of Jesus without believing that he was ever raised from the dead?

Good question. Well, when you look at this chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, this is a text written to people who were starting to doubt the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. And as you read this, you see that everything hinges on it. It's an all-or-nothing affair. it's all or nothing when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus it's that foundational when Beck and I were first married many many many years ago 38 I think 38 years ago come August When we first married we moved into a house It was a little house but it had a poor foundation The foundation sunk I mean, actually sunk out of sight at one corner.

And so it was crooked. I mean, our house was crooked. And if any peas rolled off the kitchen table, they rolled the one corner in the kitchen. It's real easy to clean up the kitchen, right? And when you would look out the windows of our house, when you'd look out the windows, like, the world looked like this. It did, honestly.

You look out the windows and the world looked crooked because the foundation was bad. It actually sunk in one corner. Well, that's how important the resurrection is. It's foundational. It is absolutely foundational foundational because our entire Christian faith is built on whether or not Jesus came out from that grave with a body that would never die again.

It is absolutely foundational to everything that we are and everything that we believe. If the foundation is wrong, then everything else is wrong. and we have no hope no resurrection no hope that's the bottom line how do i why do i make that statement because that's what he says here in these verses the first thing the apostle paul says is resurrection of jesus is part of the message that saves you verses 1 through 11 okay verses 1 through 11 he essentially says here that the gospel saves you if you take your stand on it that christian the gospel has saved you if you take the stand on the gospel what's the gospel the gospel is the good news the gospel is the good news that you can be rescued from the wrath of God who is holy and cannot overlook sin. And Jesus came and bore the penalty of sin and was raised from the dead.

In fact, he describes the gospel for us here. Right? What does he say? Verse 3, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve.

Do you notice? So he says, it's on that that we take our stand. Verse 2. It's on that in which you stand. It's on that that you're saved. And he includes the resurrection in that.

If you don't believe that, then you don't believe the gospel. You stake everything. All your confidence, all your trust, all your faith is based on whether or not Jesus came out from the dead. Let's say your boss comes to you next week and he says, look, on the week of June 6th we are not going to work, but you get paid for the whole week. weeks off, but all of you get paid.

You get on the phone, you call your wife, and you say, on the week of June 6th, I want you to call Myrtle Beach, and we're going to go there that week, so get the reservations in because we are going. You staked everything on that, on what your boss told you. You're going to Myrtle Beach. Why? Because he said you're going to get paid for the week. You staked everything on what your boss told you, and for a Christian, you staked everything on the gospel.

Everything is staked on that. And he says, if you continue to believe that gospel, which includes the resurrection, you hold firmly to that, not just the first time you were introduced, but you still believe it. That is what saves you. What is that message? Christ died for our sins. He was buried.

He was raised again on the third day. now the resurrected christ he goes on to say if you keep reading he goes on to say this resurrected jesus actually made paul a spokesman for that message he appeared to him some years later by some estimates eight to ten years after jesus was raised from the dead he appeared to paul and made him a spokesman for the gospel that he once hated he noticed he said i persecuted the church. But what happened? Jesus appeared and he called me to be his spokesman.

Talk about staking everything on Jesus. There's the apostle Paul. And then lastly, he says, so whether it's me or any other apostle, we all have the same message. Christ died for sins, was buried and was raised on the third day. Now here's the next point he makes in verses 12 through 19. If Christ remained in the grave, your life is futile.

That is if you believed it. It's a waste of your life if Jesus has not been raised from the dead That interesting It's all a waste. I remember when my boys wrestled in high school. Every night they'd run for miles. They'd run up and down the bleachers and the stairs in the school. They would do their drills on the mats.

They'd do hundreds of push-ups every night. They'd do a little bit of wrestling with their teammates. and then on the weekends they'd have wrestling tournaments. I always tell people, if you want a taste of eternity, go to a wrestling tournament. They go on forever. But by Saturday night, things are coming to an end. The brackets are moving down.

You're coming to the finals. You've got three mats. The finalists are going to be wrestling on those mats. Whoever wins, whoever takes first place, and they do the whole big thing. They do the, you know, like in the Olympics. You stand on the top if you get the medal for first place in your weight class, and then second, and then third.

All right? Well, how would you like to go through all that agony of practice every week? All right? 500 push-ups a night. Okay? That's part of what they had to do.

Running up and down the bleachers. Running for miles. All this kind of ridiculous stuff. And then give everything you had in the tournament. and then at the end of it all, the coach says, okay, let's just get on the bus. No medals, no nothing, no recognition, let's just get on the bus and go home. You think it'd be worth it?

No, I mean, that's what you're striving for, that's what you're going for. Now, I want you to imagine your entire life, all the joys, all the frustrations, the illnesses, the heartaches, the toil, the labor, everything that goes into life, so that you can live a life that's worth living, and at the end of it, death swallows it all up. And it's all done.

That's it. That's the end. It's like, for what? It's swallowed up by death at the end. Now, listen. Don't get me wrong.

Does that prove that Jesus was raised from the dead? If I say to you, if death swallows it up, it's all been a useless life. It all ends at death and nothing else happens. It doesn't prove the resurrection. I understand that. I know that doesn't prove the resurrection, but let's be honest.

If you don believe in Jesus and if you don believe he been raised from the dead then that where you are That where you are Some of you here do not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead And you don believe that there anything after life Well, guess what you have? I don't know about you, but I'd say, what? Go through all the heartache? Just have death swallow everything up?

Wow. Well, that's life without the resurrection. That is. But someone had introduced the observation, the doctrine, that people would not be resurrected in that church. You see it in verse 12 and 13. Some of you say that man can't be resurrected.

He mentions it about three times. Some of you say that there's no resurrection from the dead. If there's no resurrection from the dead, then even Christ has not been raised from the dead. Paul says if you assert that a human being can never experience resurrection, then you also have to deny that Jesus was never raised from the dead. And if Jesus never experienced resurrection, then we have some real problems.

When I was a kid, I lived in a town of 400. It was smaller than this town, a third of the size of this town. They used to say, Merton, where I grew up, population 400, if you counted the cows and the chickens, two. It was a little town, tiny town. And one end of our town was a mill pond. We actually had a mill that still ran on water power when I was a kid.

And they built this dam and had this huge mill pond. And so we would go down there as kids and skip stones on the mill pond and do all kinds of stuff. The thing I remember, though, is you throw a stone in, it hits the water. What happens? You've got ripples going out, right? You get ripples.

Denying the resurrection of Jesus produces some ripples. If you deny that Jesus was raised from the dead, that has some implications. There are ripples that are going to come for your life. Here's the first. Ministry becomes a useless and even evil thing. Preaching becomes useless.

Now, you've all sat in high school, and you sat there in your class going, Oh, I hate this. When am I ever going to use this? Right? Levi, my son, teaches advanced biology, and he has children. Yes. He has children who say things to him like, what am I ever going to use this?

Right? Well, let's face it. If Jesus isn raised from the dead we wasted all our time every Sunday It just ridiculous to even come here And in fact that is to say that I have just spent the last 30 years of my life wasted Wasted All the study all the heartache all the coming alongside people and helping, the preaching, the teaching, all of it. It's just useless.

Isn't that what he says in verses 14 and 15? Sure enough, he says, and if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it's true that no one's raised from the dead. Now again, does that prove the resurrection?

No, but let's be honest. If you're here and you claim Christ, or you're here and you say, well, I like the teachings of Jesus, but I don't believe he's been raised from the dead. Well, big deal. You are wasting your time. why even learn those things ministry becomes evil because it's all based on a lie that's what he says we've misrepresented god it's all based on a lie you know the men who proclaimed jesus resurrection in jerusalem were hounded and put into prison for their troubles they went all over the known world proclaiming the gospels they were stoned they were flogged many of them most of the original apostles most experienced horrible deaths peter is said was crucified upside down they called on people to believe and suffer they called on people to believe and to suffer for the sake of christ what extraordinary liars they are if jesus isn't raised from the dead what do you think of hitler and nazi germany i just read a book about the united states ambassador to um it's called in the garden of the beasts about the united states ambassador 1933 catching on to the nazis as he was there and seeing how evil they were why were they evil why was hitler evil because he led his people to war and absolute destruction on lies.

He wiped out millions of people on the lie that they were such a thing as an inferior race. And we consider him evil. Hitler's nothing compared to anyone who says, Jesus has been raised from the dead if he hasn't. We're liars. We're liars. And to call on people to suffer for Jesus' sake, if he's never been raised from the dead, is evil.

If Jesus has not been raised, then those who perpetrate the gospel have done a great evil in this world. So don't talk to me about following the teachings of Jesus if you don't believe that he's been raised from the dead. It's nothing but evil if he hasn't been raised from the dead. If you really are a follower of the teachings of Jesus, read them sometime.

Actually read them and see what he tells you. Wow. If he hasn't been raised from the dead, he is the worst liar there ever was. His teachings are not worth the paper they're printed on. If Jesus remained in the grave, then your faith is useless. That's what he says in verse 14 and 17.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. It's an empty faith if you would believe a lie. If Christ is not risen, then this faith which gives you comfort, this faith which has renewed you in heart and life, this faith which you believe is leading you home to heaven, must be abandoned as a delusion, for your faith is fixed on a falsehood. if you're resting in Christ with great confidence you're resting in a great delusion it's an empty faith because it leaves you in your sin this is important this is important he says if Jesus isn't raised from the dead then you are still in your sins now why is that true why does the resurrection mean that our sins are forgiven here's why Do you notice our call to worship today?

Oh, death, where is your sting? Where is your victory? Right? The power of sin is the law. Here's what he's saying. God says if you sin, you die.

Right? That's the penalty for sin. You die. You're going to pay. You're going to die. if Jesus hadn't been raised from the dead then he's no different than you and me he died and sin or the law exacted it penalty but if he was raised from the dead in a body that will never die again then that means that the penalty that sin requires, right? Sin's been overcome.

Thus, anyone who believes in Jesus then is not in their sins. because he paid the price and the resurrection is the declaration that God accepted it. That God said your payment is enough and I'm going to free you from the bondage to the penalty of sin. That means that Jesus has bought you. That means that Jesus has forgiven you. That means he has destroyed sin's rule over you.

That means he has washed you as white as snow. That means that you are a child of God, and all of that is a delusion if Christ is not raised from the dead. Verse 18, if Christ remained in the grave, then the dead are lost forever. Have you ever had ones in your family go to glory before you? Have you ever been with people when they died? I'll bet most of you here have not been in that place yet.

The Lord and his providence has allowed me to be in that place a number of times. And I've seen people go from this life into the next with confidence and joy. Were they ever mistaken if Jesus isn't raised from the dead? They're gone and they're gone forever. I can remember being at the graveside. And I've been at many.

And I can see people right now in my mind's eye weeping at the graveside saying, I'll never see him again. They're right. They're absolutely right if Jesus isn't raised from the dead. Lastly, in verse 19, if Jesus remained in the grave, our life as Christians is a miserable, hopeless joke. All right? Verse 19, you see what he says?

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied why believers find no joy in the pleasures of that the world offers they find no comfort in those things that the world seeks comfort in believers have found comfort and joy in superior things They love holiness and communion with God They love fellowship with Jesus and they love fellowship with the people that Jesus purchased. But if after tasting these superior joys we find out that we are mistaken, then we are most miserable. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then all those comforts and joys prove to be nothing.

Right? all of those superior blessings that made our hearts leap for joy and that we had such high hopes for if it all turns out to be nothing then we are most miserable. It's sawdust in our mouth. If Jesus remained in the grave then our entire life is a sham a meaningless state of existence. And by the way, that's not just for people. That's not just for people who believed in Jesus and if it's a lie, we're hopeless.

I'm saying to everyone here today if Jesus never was raised from the dead, then let's be honest and admit, death swallows it all up, and your life is meaningless. And don't try to find meaning any other way. It's impossible. It's meaningless. It's absurd. I go to work.

I toil. I come home. For what? I get to go on a vacation until the day that death swallows you, and there's nothing. but it doesn't have to be that way. If Christ came out of the grave, then we have hope. That's what he says in verses 20 through 28.

You have the confident expectation of an immortal life, verses 20 through 23. By the way, he's not talking about an existence where we're these disembodied souls floating around on the clouds. that is not the biblical view of immortal life because it was jesus body that was raised and he's making the point here that our bodies will be raised never to die again christ has indeed been raised from the dead and the ripples from that are different it says that because of adam we all die but in Christ we will live we will live forever in bodies that will be never subject to decay or corruption can you imagine that can you imagine an existence where your body never aches you never catch a cold you never have the flu you never lose an appendix nothing will ever go wrong and in fact it will go on forever Your body, isn't that an amazing thought? That's exactly what he's saying here, will be made alive in Christ, because Christ is the first fruits.

Now that's an Old Testament reference. And when the Israelites would start the harvest, they would take the very first part of their harvest and bring it to the temple and offer it to God. That was the first fruits. That's the first of the harvest. So what's he saying? Jesus is the first of the harvest.

There's a whole lot more coming after him. All those who are in Christ will live forever like him. he's just the very first one that has experienced that and when he comes again all those who belong to him will also experience it and because christ came from the grave you have the hope that is the confident expectation of victory that is christ will hand over the kingdom to his father and everything will be subjected to the father there will be nothing against him nothing warring against God and the last enemy the very last enemy to be defeated for us is death is death he'll conquer when he comes again he will conquer that enemy when he gives all his people bodies that will never die but will forever live in the new heaven in the new earth several years ago many of you don't know this old saint some of us do Wilma Stevens I remember visiting Wilma one time and one of the kids asked her is there anything you want and she replied yeah a new body This is near the end of her life. Alright, yeah, I want a new body.

Well, someday she's going to have it. And someday all those who are in Christ are going to have it. Which brings us to the very last verse of the chapter. I didn't read it. Look at the very last verse, verse 58. Therefore, because of all this, because of all that he's just said, Therefore, Beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

You know what? Because I know that I will someday be with Jesus with a body that will never die, living forever in absolute glory. I can serve today and I can take what comes because there's something better ahead. But if Jesus had been risen from the dead, let's face it, life is meaningless. But it's not because Jesus has been raised from the dead. Jesus cried on the cross, it's finished.

The payment's been made. It's done. I've paid the price. And the father responded, The debt is discharged. Leave the prison house of death and the grave. Because God the Father accepted the son's payment on our behalf, we have hope.

And all those who've trusted in Jesus for that payment have hope. not a hope so but a confident expectation that we will be like him you know what god says when you look at that empty tomb he says find hope in my living son Because without him you have none Find hope in Jesus. Father, thank you for your word. We're thankful that the Lord Jesus is alive today.

We're thankful that he's not some far away figure. But he is our living Lord. that He loves us, that He walks with us. Father, I pray for all those who are here without Him, that You would help them to feel the weight of their beliefs, that without Jesus, there is no hope. But with Him, there's a reason to live. There's a reason to serve Him. There's a reason to suffer.

And there's a reason for our joy. Give new birth, we pray, Lord. And for those who are yours, strengthen their hope in the only one that can give us hope. We pray it in his name. Amen. Thank you.