Jesus' Victory Is Our Victory

JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY

April 9, 2023 – Easter Sunday – 1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-58

INTRO.: Jesus is risen! Risen, indeed! Jesus’ resurrection victory is our victory. Today, every day, we celebrate the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises. Adam and Eve sinned. The Lord God promised a Savior to pay the price for sin. Jesus lived. Died. Rose again. Victory. Today, every day, we celebrate the fulfillment of the Lord’s power. Jesus defeated death. Victory. Promises and power foretold. Fulfilled. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave! I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Grave, where is your destruction?" (HOSEA 13:14). JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY. I. Death is swallowed up in victory. II. Always thankful for our salvation.

I. DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.

A. Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is the resurrection chapter of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Christ’s physical resurrection was already being challenged. Even rejected by some.

2. No resurrection meant that faith was futile, empty. No resurrection = still in one’s sins.

3. Guards paid to lie about the empty tomb. Lies and rumors challenged Jesus’ victory.

B. Verse 54. The Lord reminded early believers about their physical and spiritual bodies.

1. The mortal, physical body would put on the immortal, spiritual body. Eternal life. Victory.

2. Scripture would be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” Death completely defeated.

C. Verse 55a. Question: “Death, where is your victory?” Death’s victory gone. Swallowed up. Victory.

D. Jesus’ victory is our victory. Good Friday looked like the end for Jesus. Death. Burial. But that was only a small part of the Lord’s bigger plan. The victory of Jesus had just begun. Out of the darkness on Good Friday comes the brilliant sunrise of Easter Sunday. Resurrection day. Jesus had once visited the home of Mary and Martha Lazarus from the dead. Jesus visited with Martha concerning the resurrection. "Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?’" (JOHN 11:25, 26). Martha answered yes, she believed in the resurrection. Our answer is the same: “YES!” The Holy Spirit gives us faith to know, believe, and confess: “YES, I believe in the resurrection!” Jesus’ victory is ours.

E. Jesus’ victory is our victory. Jesus’ resurrection is the powerful truth for our comfort. Our strength. Hope. Peace. Gifts from the Holy Spirit who calls us to faith. Enlightens us to believe. Jesus’ victory over death is a permanent blessing for each and every believer. We will all face death. We all sin. We die. We do not and cannot escape either one. But the Lord is with us. Always. “He has swallowed up death forever! The LORD God will wipe away the tears from every face. He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth. For the LORD has spoken" (ISAIAH 25:8). Once again, Scripture declares death is “swallowed up forever!” Anything swallowed up is gone. No longer present. Our victory.

F. Again, and again and again Scripture clearly teaches the truth about the defeat of death. Once and for all. By Christ Jesus. For sinners. For forgiveness. "…it (God’s grace) has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 TIMOTHY 1:10). Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s Good News. Our perishable bodies will put on imperishability. Our mortal bodies put on immortality. Death is swallowed up in victory. People want to live forever. Jesus makes the impossible possible. Jesus gives us eternal life. Free gift of God’s love for sinners. Victory.

JESUS’ VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY. Death is swallowed up forever.

II. ALWAYS THANKFUL FOR OUR SALVATION.

A. Verse 55. Death where is victory? Gone. Swallowed up in victory. Death where is sting?

1. Verse 56. Sting of death is in sin. The soul that sins is the one who dies. All sin. All die.

2. Power of sin is the law. Law only condemns. Never saves. Powerful condemnation. Sting.

B. Verse 57. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Gospel power.

1. Thanks to God. Only one who can and will and does save. Victory over death.

2. Thanks to God gives us the victory. Gift of salvation – free. Cannot earn, deserve or buy.

3. Thanks to God for his gift given through the Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus’ victory won for us.

C. Verse 58. Final encouragement for these early Christian believers to stand firm, remain steadfast.

1. They faced many challenges in Corinth. The city was a center for false god worship, temples.