The Cross, The Grave, The Resurrection
HE IS ALIVE!
1 Corinthians 15:1-8, Romans 6:4-9
INTRODUCTION
First Corinthians is Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. The church had been founded and established during Paul’s second missionary journey, and he is writing this letter to address problems in the church. The 15th chapter is devoted to clearing up misconceptions concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, and also the resurrection of the dead in general.
In verse 1, Paul says to the Corinthians, “I declare [to declare means to make known or to reveal] unto you the same thing I already preached unto you.” What Paul is saying is “I am going to remind you of the things I have already made known to you. Nothing has changed. I’m not going to add to what I already said, and I am not going to take away from what I already said. I am not going to change my mind about what I already said. If it worked then, it will work now.” Sometimes all it takes is a reminder for some people in order for them to start believing in what they had already accepted. Peter called it stirring up the mind by way of remembrance.
The Corinthians had gotten saved through the Gospel Paul had preached. And it did not make sense to preach something different because a few people had started to get weak and were questioning the validity of the Gospel message. They were wondering whether Christ was really resurrected from the dead and they were not sure about their own resurrection.
If the Gospel has enough power to save you, it has enough power to keep you! The Gospel says if you believe on Christ you will be saved, and the same Gospel says Christ was raised from the dead. The Gospel is either all right or all wrong; not half right and half wrong. For me, I’m going to come down on the side of those who believe the Gospel is all right. Tell someone “The Gospel is all right.”
In our text, Paul mentions three things that are vital and important to our Christian faith and salvation. They are the hinges that our faith and salvation hangs on. As a door hangs on its hinges in order to function properly, our faith and salvation hangs on the cross, the grave and the resurrection. Paul says to the Corinthians in verse 3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how Christ died (the cross) for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried (the grave) and that He rose again the third day (the resurrection) according to the scriptures.”
And He was first seen of Peter and the 12 Apostles. Then He was seen by more than 500 people at once, and then He was seen of James and all the Apostles, and then He was seen of me. Paul is saying He is alive! Too many people have seen Him for Him not to be alive!
God is truly amazing. Here He takes the cross and the grave, which are probably two of the most negative things that could happen to an individual, and He turns them into the most positive things that ever happened in human history.
THE CROSS
The cross is probably the most horrible instrument of death ever used in human history. This type of execution was generally reserved for hardened criminals. Being beheaded was a picnic compared to the cross. On the cross, a person would suffer for hours and sometimes days before they would actually die. And to add insult to injury in Jesus’ case, He did nothing worthy of death. On top of that, He was made to carry His own cross along Via Dolorosa, which means “the way of sorrow”. Remember now, He did nothing wrong. He did not kill anyone. He did not lie on anyone. He did not commit adultery. He did not steal anything, but yet He allowed Himself to be put on a horrible cross and He died a horrible death. He did it for you; He did it so you could be right with God.
THE GRAVE
After His death, He was placed in a grave, called a tomb. When I think of a grave or graveyard, my thoughts are of something that is morbid. I picture a gruesome and grisly scene and I usually respond with the words of “how cruel”. To take someone who was designed with a body to exist on top of the earth and put them in a hole and cover them up is cruel to me. Even the Bible calls the grave cruel. Songs of Solomon 8:6 says that jealousy is as cruel as the grave. If you are a jealous person, you are no better than a graveyard.
THE RESURRECTION
God took the cross and the grave, removed everything that was negative and turned it into a great blessing for all of humanity. He took the cross and the grave and gave us the resurrection. Resurrection not only means that Jesus arose from the dead years ago, it also means new life. It means abundant life. It means eternal life. It means resurrection life; the life of God. This kind of life takes you out of the ordinary into the extraordinary. It takes you from the natural to the supernatural. It takes you from being a conqueror to being more than a conqueror. He is alive! Resurrection power now! New life now! Not tomorrow…now! Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated power over death now! And if you have Jesus in your life, you have power over death now!
Romans 6:4 says “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Verse 5: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”
One day our bodies are going to get out of the grave and be reunited with our spirit. But we do not have to wait until then to walk in the resurrection power of God. Jesus said we can live in resurrection power now! If we walk in Him, if we believe in Him, we have resurrection now! I got it now! I got it now! I got it now!
Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, had died and when Jesus arrived in town they said to Him, “Master if you had been here, he would not have died.” Jesus said, “He shall rise again.” Martha said, “I know he will at the last day in the resurrection.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And not only that, whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.”
Since Jesus is the resurrection, everything about us must live. All we need to do is call life into our situations and circumstances. Just like Jesus called life back into Lazarus’ body, we can call life into our own bodies. We can call health into our own organs. We can call healing into our own relationships. Nothing about you has to abide in death. Everything about you can live. You can have life in your spirit. You can have life in your mind. Life in your home; life in your church.
You see, God took the cross and grave from you and He gave you the resurrection. I find that to be a win for me and a defeat to the devil. The devil does not want you to realize that you are a winner. He does not want you to know that you have already overcome death through Jesus Christ. He does not want you to know that you are alive and well. He does not want you to know that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. He does not want you to know that you are more than a conqueror.
I want to let the devil know I found out a long time ago that I have more power than he has. I have done something that he cannot do - I have been resurrected with Christ. And just like Christ has all power, I have power also. Power to speak to any mountain. Power to call things that are not as though they were. Power to live right. Power to love everybody. Power to heal. And the reason I have power is because HE IS ALIVE! Jesus is not dead, HE IS ALIVE!
CONCLUSION
Biggest difference between our religion (Christianity) and the other world religions is our Savior yet lives. The founders of other religions are dead. Jesus lived, died, and arose from the dead. Buddha died and he is yet dead. Confucius died and he is yet dead. Mohammed died and he is yet dead. Jesus died and HE IS YET ALIVE!
A Buddhist in Africa was converted to Christianity. Someone asked this Buddhist, “Why did you change your faith?” He said, “It’s like this: If you were walking along and came to a fork in the road and two men were there, and one was dead and the other was alive, which man’s direction would you follow?” HE (JESUS) IS ALIVE!
WORKS CITED
Dr. Merritt, James. "Re: A World Without Easter." Sermonsearch.com [on-line sermon site]. Cited 31 March 2010. Available from http://www.crosswalk.com/who-is-jesus/1256544/
