Scripture
It is such a joy to gather on this Resurrection Sunday! Christians throughout the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ every Lord’s Day, but especially on this day.
We are hardwired to resist the idea of someone coming back to life from the dead. Lal Bihari is living proof of that. In 1975, he applied for a bank loan in India, but was denied because the government had him listed as “legally dead.” Bihari spent the next 19 years fighting Indian bureaucracy to prove that he was indeed alive. One report on his life listed “1955-1975, 1994-” following his name. After his great challenge to prove he was not dead, Bihari discovered he wasn’t alone. So, he created the Association of Dead People to help others with the same issue. Christianity doesn’t deny that it is difficult to believe a dead man came back to life, but that’s just the point.
Not everyone believes that Jesus Christ rose back to life after having spent three days and three nights in the tomb. Even in the early days following Christ’s resurrection there were questions about it. In his first letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul asked the question, “What if Christ had not risen from the dead?”
Let’s read his answer in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19:
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
Introduction
Jesus’ resurrection is central to the celebration of Easter, but fewer than half of American adults make the connection. The Barna Group asked people to describe what Easter means to them personally and just 42% tied Easter to the Resurrection. Adults between 18 and 25 were the least likely of all ages to connect the two together. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, commented, “The Easter holiday in particular still has a distinctly religious connection for people, but the specifics of it are really fading in a lot of people’s minds.”
The resurrection of Jesus is central to the celebration of Easter. There would be no Easter and, indeed, no Christianity if Christ had not risen from the dead.
In his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul answered the question, “What if Christ had not risen from the dead?” Paul wanted his readers to understand that there are six significant consequences if Christ had not risen from the dead.
Lesson
So, in our lesson we learn about six consequences if Christ had not risen from the dead.
Let’s learn about this as follows:
1. Unproductive Preaching (15:14a)
2. Unfounded Faith (15:14b, 17a)
3. Untrue Witness (15:15)
4. Unforgiven Sins (15:17b)
5. Unsaved Souls (15:18)
6. Unhappy People (15:19)
I. Unproductive Preaching (15:14a)
The first consequence if Christ had not risen from the dead is unproductive preaching.
Paul said in verse 14a: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain….”
The Greek word for vain (kenos) means “without result, without effect, or without purpose.”
Paul has just said in the previous paragraph that the heart of the gospel – the good news – is Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf. He said, “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…” (15:3-4).
Because of the incredible comebacks in the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees, Sports Illustrated ran an interesting article on comebacks. That series had three huge comebacks – the Yankees with two in New York and the Diamondbacks with their big one in game seven. The piece in Sports Illustrated was of a different nature though. Of the ten greatest comebacks, according to Sports Illustrated, only two had anything to do with sports. Number seven on the list was Harry Truman’s defeat of John Dewey in 1948. The sixth greatest comeback was humanity in the 14th century after 25 million people died from the Black Death. Third place went to Michael Jordan for his comeback to basketball after a two-year hiatus in baseball. Then right there on the pages of Sports Illustrated was their opinion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the number one comeback of all time! It simply reads, “1. Jesus Christ, 33 A.D. Defies critics and stuns the Romans with his resurrection.” The other nine spots on their list of greatest comebacks in world history are certainly debatable, but they were right on target with their assessment of Christ’s resurrection.
If Christ had not been raised from the dead, he would not have conquered sin or death or hell, and there would be no good news. Therefore, because there would be no good news to share, our preaching would be unproductive. We would be just like all liberal preachers who say that Jesus is a great moral teacher, and that we can learn a lot from his teaching and his example. However, they miss the point that makes Jesus unique – he has been raised from the dead! He is alive! He is our Savior and Lord!
II. Unfounded Faith (15:14b, 17a)
The second consequence if Christ had not risen from the dead is unfounded faith.
Paul said in verse 14b: “And if Christ has not been raised, then…your faith is in vain.” He said essentially the same thing in verse 17a: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile….”
The Greek word for futile (mataios) means “useless, futile, or empty.”
Believing in a Savior who did not rise from the dead would be utterly useless. There would be no foundation to our faith; hence an unfounded faith.
I became a Christian when I was nineteen years old. God started working in my life in a very pointed way about six months earlier. My brother and best friend often talked to me about Jesus and the gospel. One of the reasons I took so long to come to faith is because I wanted to know for sure that Jesus really was alive. I did not want to put my faith in Christ only to find out later that he was not who he claimed to be and was not risen from the dead. I understood that no one knowingly believes a lie.
Well, on Easter Sunday in 1976 I put my faith in Jesus Christ. I believed that he really did rise again from the dead. And in all my studies since then my conviction has only grown stronger that Jesus is as alive today as you and I are alive!
But, if Christ had not been raised from the dead, my faith would be vain, futile, and unfounded.
III. Untrue Witness
The third consequence if Christ had not risen from the dead is untrue witness.
Paul said in verse 15: “We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.”
If there is no such thing as resurrection of the dead, then every person who claimed to have seen the risen Christ, such as Peter, the twelve, the five hundred brothers, James, all the apostles, and Paul (cf. 15:5-8), are all liars. Furthermore, everyone who testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead, would also be untrue witnesses.
It is bad enough to believe a lie. All of us at some point or another believe something that turns out not to be true.
On Sunday, October 30, 1938, millions of radio listeners in this country were shocked when news alerts on the radio announced the arrival of Martians. They panicked when they learned of the Martians’ ferocious and seemingly unstoppable attack on Earth. It was reported that the Martians had landed at 8:50 p.m. on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, just twenty-two miles from Trenton. Initial reports said that at least forty people, including six state troopers, were lying dead in a field east of Grovers Mill, their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition. Many people ran out of their homes screaming, while others packed up their cars and fled.
It turned out that what the radio listeners heard was a portion of Orson Welles’ famous adaptation of the well-known book titled, War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Remember that there was no TV yet, and people used to listen to the radio for entertainment. Orson Welles brilliantly transformed War of the Worlds into a radio play in such a way that listeners thought that the regular radio program was being interrupted by the startling news of the Martians’ attack. And, as I said, millions of people believed that the attack was really happening!
But, as bad as it is to believe a lie, it is far worse to promote a lie! And that is Paul’s point. We are misrepresenting God when we testify that he raised Christ from the dead, if he did not raise him from the dead. To do so is to be an untrue witness.
IV. Unforgiven Sins (15:17b)
The fourth consequence if Christ had not risen from the dead is unforgiven sins.
Paul said in verse 17b: “And if Christ has not been raised… you are still in your sins.”
Paul is indicating that the consequences are even worse than one might think. Christians are no better off than non-Christians. The phrase, “you are still in your sins,” means that a person is not a Christian.
Suppose you were not feeling well. You go to the doctor and he runs a battery of tests. Eventually, you learn that you have cancer. You experience a whole range of varying emotions. After a while you want to know whether there is a treatment for the cancer that you have. You learn that there is treatment available, and, as soon as possible, you begin your treatment. Once your treatment is complete, you learn that your body seems to be free from the cancer. Over the coming years, you will continue to see the doctor to make sure that you are still free from cancer.
Now, what is my point? Just this. You will do whatever is necessary to get rid of cancer. You will go through whatever treatment is required to eradicate the cancer.
Similarly, our greatest spiritual problem is our sin. Sin is the great cancer of our souls. It is a barrier between God and us. Left untreated, we will be cut off from God for all eternity when we die.
The good news for our sin, though, is that there is a remedy! Jesus paid the penalty for sin. He bore the punishment for sin, and the remedy is applied to me when I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But, if Christ has not been raised, I am still in my sins. That is, I still have unforgiven sins.
V. Unsaved Souls (15:18)
The fifth consequence if Christ had not risen from the dead is unsaved souls.
Paul said in verse 18: “Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
The phrase “fallen asleep” is one of the verses used by those who advocate “soul sleep.” However, that is not what Paul is teaching here. He is simply referring to death. The Bible frequently refers to death as “sleep.” Even Jesus did that about the death of Lazarus, when he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him” (John 11:11).
In verse 18 Paul was specifically referring to believers who had died prior to Christ. If there were no resurrection, the hall of the faithful in Hebrews 11 would instead be the hall of the foolish unsaved souls. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, and all the others would have had faith for nothing. They would have suffered mocking and flogging, chains and imprisonment, stoning and destitution, affliction and mistreatment, even death – all for nothing.
Obviously, the same consequence would apply to every believer who has died since Paul wrote this statement. Paul himself, the other apostles, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Whitefield, Wesley, Edwards, Carey, Spurgeon, Elliot, Lloyd-Jones, Stott, and every other believer would have died for nothing. They would have an unfounded faith, unforgiven sins, and be unsaved souls.
But thanks be to God, for Jesus himself said in John 14:19b, “Because I live, you also will live”!
VI. Unhappy People (15:19)
And the sixth consequence if Christ had not risen from the dead is unhappy people.
Paul said in verse 19: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Paul had been preaching that Christ’s resurrection brought salvation and blessings to all who received it. Christianity gave one a Savior, forgiveness, the gospel, saving faith, eternal life, abundant life, and hope for the future.
To have hope in this life only in the resurrection of Christ would be to teach, preach, suffer, sacrifice, and work entirely for nothing. If Christ is still dead, then he not only cannot help us in the life to come but he cannot help us now. If he cannot guarantee us eternal life, he cannot improve our earthly life. If he is not alive, where would be the source of our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control now? Frankly, the Christian life would be a mockery, a charade, and a tragic joke.
If Christ was still dead, rightly does the apostle say that we are of all people most to be pitied.
So, the six significant consequences if Christ had not risen from the dead are as follows: unproductive preaching, unfounded faith, untrue witness, unforgiven sins, unsaved souls, and unhappy people. These are devastating consequences – if there is no resurrection.
Conclusion
Thankfully, Christians do have a hope of a resurrection!
The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:20a, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.” And Christ’s resurrection makes all the difference in the world!
Because of Christ’s resurrection preaching is productive. Lives are changed as the truth about Jesus is proclaimed and believed by those who hear it. Billions of people throughout history testify to the power of the preached Word of God.
Because of Christ’s resurrection faith is founded upon that historical reality. The tomb was empty, except of course for Christ’s grave clothes that were still there. Christ showed himself alive over a period of forty days to many people, including more than 500 people at one time. Faith is not a leap into the unknown. Rather, faith is believing in the historical fact of the resurrection.
Because of Christ’s resurrection witness about that fact is true. We don’t understand the miraculous nature of the resurrection. But we don’t need to understand it; we simply testify to its veracity.
Because of Christ’s resurrection sins are forgiven. The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death (cf. Romans 6:23). After Christ’s ascension into heaven, Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost and said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Forgiveness of sins, and therefore reconciliation with God the Father, is only possible because of Christ’s resurrection.
Because of Christ’s resurrection souls are saved. Every person is body and soul. The real, immortal part of every person is the soul. And every soul is going to spend eternity either in heaven or in hell. The only way to spend eternity in heaven is to believe that Christ was resurrected back to life again, and that he paid the penalty for our sin.
And finally, because of Christ’s resurrection we have hope not only in this life but also for all eternity. The Apostle Paul said to the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
At the age of 3, Kara could hardly wait for Easter. With such enthusiasm, her father wondered if she really understood the true meaning of Easter. So, he asked her if she knew what Easter was all about. She smiled with great anticipation, raised her arms up high and shouted, “Surprise!” To a downcast band of followers, Christ did the same thing.
Christ’s resurrection was a surprise. But, it is also changed everything for those who believed in him. And it still changes everything for those who believe in him today.
I pray that you will believe in Christ and his resurrection. Ask him to grant you faith in him and repentance of your sins. Amen.
