OUR RESURRECTION HOPE: The Best is Yet to Come!
[Main points: The Message, The Certainty, and The Hope of the Resurrection]
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-28
Intro: Neil Strait once said, “Take from a man his wealth, and you hinder him; take from him his purpose, and you slow him down. But take from man his hope, and you stop him. He can go on without wealth, and even without purpose, for awhile. But he will not go on without hope” (Reagan and Phillips 1995, 154-155).
“Someone has said that if you could convince a man there was no hope, he would curse the day he was born. Hope is an indispensable quality of life. Years ago, an S-4 submarine was rammed by another ship and quickly sank. The entire crew was trapped inside. Ships rushed to the scene of the disaster off the coast of Massachusetts. Nobody knows what took place down in the sunken submarine, but it is fairly certain that the men clung bravely to life as the oxygen slowly gave out. “
“A diver placed his ear to the side of the vessel and listened. He heard a tapping noise. Someone, he learned, was tapping out a question in the dots and dashes of the Morse Code. The question came slowly: ‘Is…there…any…hope?’”
Today, let me assure you that there is hope – whatever your situation. This is not just because I say so, but because we can look at God’s word, and especially the resurrection of Christ, and discover that we have hope for this lifetime, as well as in the life that is yet to come.
Prop: Here is the main truth to take with you today: The message of the resurrection gives us hope that whether we live or die, the best is yet to come.
Interrogative: How does the resurrection make us so optimistic about the future?
T.S.: We will examine 3 thoughts related to the resurrection from 1 Cor. 15, and show why it is our source of joy, hope, and optimism.
I. The Message of the Resurrection (1-4) – (Our sin problem has been handled!)
The simple message of the Gospel is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (15:3-4).
-The very fact that we talk about the resurrection of Jesus implies that He must have died. In turn, death reminds us of the serious consequences of sin.
-Why was it necessary for Jesus to die for our sins? Because sin brings death. Paul made this very clear in Romans 6:23 ”For the wages of sin is death….” Also, Paul shows that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
-Now clearly, our sin should bring about our own death. We are responsible for our own actions and choices. However, Jesus Himself was willing to die in our place, providing life for us in the here and now, and eternal life with Him forever after. He faced the consequences of our sins and failures. This is the simple message of the gospel in a nutshell. Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
-See, the gospel, the good news, really has two sides to it: love and justice (or mercy/justice). When Christians share the good news that our sin problem that has separated us from God has been taken care of by Jesus, we have sometimes over-emphasized love and mercy to the neglect of justice and judgment. At other times, perhaps we have over-emphasized God’s judgment of sin at the expense of His love. My general recommendation for Christians is to start with the message of God’s mercy and love, and then show that judgment is sure to come to all of us, unless we accept what Jesus did for us out of His love and mercy. Different situations may call for different approaches, however, and I would encourage Christians to listen to the Holy Spirit as they share the good news of forgiveness. One evangelist recommends that you give grace to the humble – those who will receive and respond to the message of love and forgiveness – and give law (justice/judgment) to the proud – those who do not see their need for salvation and believe they are good enough already. Just be kind, loving, and sensitive in your approach- never arrogant, overbearing, or smug. God is a God of love and mercy, but He is also a God who will judge sin with total fairness.
John 3:16 gives us both sides of the message, and I want to paraphrase it so we don’t lose the powerful impact of it due to familiarity:
“God loved the world in this way: He gave up His one and only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him will not die in their sins and face a terrible judgment, but will have a life of freedom and victory that goes on forever – even after our physical death.”
-If you remember last week’s message, many of the Jews were looking for a Messiah who was going to come and judge the nations who did not honor the one true God. They expected the Messiah King to condemn and bring swift judgment against the Romans, who were the oppressors of the Jews during that time. However, as Jesus answered Nicodemus in John 3:17, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” The judgment would come later, after the gospel had been preached to every nation, giving people an opportunity to respond to the love and mercy of God.
Today, if you have not yet responded to God’s love and mercy through repenting of your sins and receiving God’s resurrection life, I hope you will do so before the day is over.
Now, it is no surprise that the truth of the resurrection would be challenged by those who did not believe in Jesus. In fact, Matthew tells us that the corrupt high priest and his council paid off the soldiers who were guarding the tomb. They were to tell the lie that the disciples of Jesus had come secretly and stolen His body. In modern times, this and other theories have been presented to explain away the resurrection of Jesus.
T.S. Let’s take a look at what Paul says about the validity of the resurrection.
II. The Certainty of the Resurrection (5-11) – (It really happened!)
-A study of the background of 1 Corinthians 15 indicates that some of the Corinthians did not believe that Christians would be resurrected in the future. They believed that this life was all there was, and they were apparently trying to persuade the other Corinthian Christians that there was no future resurrection (15:12). Paul’s first response is to give a list of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive, much like Luke indicates in Acts 1.
-Acts 1:3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
Now Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 “…He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”
Paul is providing verifiable eyewitness evidence of Christ’s resurrection. How was it verifiable? Most of the 500 who had seen Jesus alive were still alive at the time Paul was writing this letter. They could go and talk to several eyewitnesses for verification. If this many people had seen the risen Christ in various places on various occasions over a 40-day period, there was no way it could be just wishful thinking or a mass hallucination. No doubt many of the disciples and close friends of Jesus were in deep sorrow and were mourning the death of Jesus. It is also true that denial is part of the grieving process. Was it possible for someone to refuse to believe that Jesus was really dead, and come up with the idea that He was really alive or had come back to life? It may have been possible for a few people to have imagined this, and even had dreams or visions of Jesus coming back to life; but, when well over 500 people had physically seen Jesus, talked to Him, ate with Him, and even felt the holes in his hands, feet, and side, we must conclude that Jesus was really alive.
-We can also add other eyewitnesses to Paul’s list from the gospel accounts: There were 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31). Many saw Him at His ascension (Acts 1:3-11). Stephen saw Him when he was being put to death by stoning (Acts 7:55). Finally, John saw Him on the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:10-19).
We could spend hours discussing other evidences for the resurrection of Christ. We could offer good solid arguments which would show how shaky the theories are that claim that Christ was not really dead, or that it was wishful thinking or hallucinations on the part of those who claimed to see Him alive. If you are interested in any of these things, I would love to discuss them with you in person, and offer some good books and resources that cover the topic in great detail.
T.S. However, for now, I would like to move on to talk about the hope that we now have, since Christ has risen from the dead. Indeed, the best is yet to come!
III. The Hope of the Resurrection (12-28) – (We will live again!)
-The main thrust of 1 Corinthians 15 was to show how closely Christ’s resurrection is linked to the future resurrection of every believer. If Jesus arose from the grave, then those who are dead in Christ will also be resurrected when He returns. However, Paul argues that if there is no future resurrection, then Christ must not have been resurrected. The implications of this are pretty important! Why? Because if Jesus did not really come back to life, then quite a bit of the Bible is wrong, and we have nothing left to trust. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we have no future hope. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we may as well eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, and that is the end of our existence. Nothing to live for – nothing to die for. Just have all the fun you can before your time is up. How depressing!
-If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is a farce – it is a big lie. We may as well close up all the churches and not worry about heaven or hell, because we would have no hope of any afterlife. 1 Corinthians 15:19 “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” Without the resurrection of Jesus, we are a sorry lot! We have nothing to look forward to.
-But Paul does not leave us with these depressing thoughts! 1 Corinthians 15:20 “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Since Christ has indeed risen from the dead, we anticipate some terrific benefits! First, we can expect to be resurrected if our faith is in Jesus. Regardless what happens to our earthly bodies, we will live again with a perfect body, when we are raised to life at Christ’s return. If that should happen before we die, 1 Thess. 4 tells us that after the dead in Christ rise first to meet the Lord, we will be right behind them. We will all be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Because of Christ’s resurrection, we can look forward to seeing our saved loved ones who have passed away. Wives who have lost husbands, husbands who have lost wives will all be together again. Mothers and Fathers who have lost sons or daughters will be reunited with them. Children who have lost parents will see them again. This is why Paul says that we do not mourn as those who have no hope when someone close to us dies who knows the Lord: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 13 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
-So, because Jesus rose from the dead, we will live again, and our saved loved ones will live again. But perhaps the greatest reason to have hope and optimism is the fact that in addition to being together with family and loved ones, we will be together with the Lord forever! Because He lives, we will live also and be with Him forever. Indeed the best is yet to come! We will know our Maker face to face. We will be like Him. We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with Him forever as fellow heirs of all that the Father has to give.
Conclusion: As we close today, let me ask you a question. What will you do about the resurrection? A day is coming when all of humanity will experience some sort of resurrection. Those who know and obey the Lord will appear before Christ and hear the words, “Welcome, come on in. We have been waiting for you and have a place for you.” Those who refused to believe or rejected God’s love and mercy will stand before the Great White Throne and no amount of bargaining or pleading will change their future. I am so thankful that nobody here has to go that route. Anyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, repents of sin, and commits their life and future to loving and obeying Him will be joined with Christ when He returns. I wanted to close with a quote from C.S. Lewis who clearly shows that we must do something with Jesus: either accept His love and forgiveness, or totally reject all of His claims.
He writes:
I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic… or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make you choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
As we all bow our heads, it is possible today that everyone here is a Christian, and is trusting Jesus for taking care of their sin problem, while living for Him and looking forward to either a rapture or a resurrection. However, it is also possible that some are here who have never responded to God’s offer of forgiveness and mercy. I am not here to make you feel bad or to get you to join a special Christian glee club. I am just here to offer the love and forgiveness that Jesus has to offer to anyone who will receive it. Only two things are required: desire and decision. If you desire to accept God’s love and forgiveness that is a wonderful place to start. Maybe you still have doubts and questions about God, the Bible, church, or Christianity. If so, that is okay. But let me invite you to come and see me anytime and let’s talk about these issues. I will listen and try to help you find answers to some of your questions. However, at some point, and maybe today is the day for you, the desire needs to turn into decision. Maybe you are ready to take action today and say, “Jesus, please forgive me for all the wrong I have done.”
In the privacy of this moment, I want to ask you to do something. With nobody else looking around, if you are at the first stage, and you have a desire to accept God’s love and forgiveness, but are just not quite ready to do so, would you be willing to just glance up at me and catch my eye. This is not so I can hunt you down, but it is so I can be praying for you. If that is you, please just look up at me quickly and as soon as I see you I will nod and you can look back down.
Now, if there is someone here who not only has the desire to accept God’s love and forgiveness, but you are ready to make a decision to follow Christ, would you just slip up your hand. I would like to pray with you and speak with you after we pray, if possible. If that is you, please lift your hand.
Folks, the best is yet to come! We haven’t seen anything yet! God has much more in store for us while we are here at Christian Life Center, but especially after the resurrection. Because He lives, we will live again with Him forever!
Pray
