(We began the sermon by singing the favorite hymn: Victory In Jesus
“I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.
O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood.”
(Words and Music by E.M. Bartlett)
Our text today says "Death is swallowed up in VICTORY. O death, where is your VICTORY? O grave, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 15:54b-57
This is Easter and we’re going to be talking about Resurrection, but in order to have a resurrection… something has to happen first. What has to happen in order for resurrection to occur? That’s right - death. Jerry Seinfeld once noted that “According to most studies, people’s No. 1 fear is public speaking. No. 2 is death. So to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
A lot of people may joke about death. But there comes a time when death is not a laughing matter. When death threatens someone you love, or when it threatens you… nobody laughs. That’s because death can be a scary thing. In fact Hebrews 2:15 tells about people “… who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
You see, we were created in the image of God. We were never made to die. It’s not normal, it’s not fair. It’s not the way things should be. But we will all die... and unless we have the hope the resurrection that death can be devastating.
ILLUS: Kathryn (a previous member of this congregation) once shared in a Sunday School class about the time when she was little girl and her younger sister died. They had the funeral and the casket was laid to rest in the cemetery. And every year on her sister’s birthday her dad would go out to the cemetery, lay flowers on the grave … and then kneel down and weep and weep and weep… year, after year, after year.
Death can be devastating. And the problem is, that unless Jesus comes first, you and I will ALL die. In fact, I read once that someone did a study and they found that 10 out of every 10 people will die.
Death is a reality and it's a truth we can’t get away from. So, how do people deal with death? Well some try to ignore it. They don’t write wills, they don’t buy cemetery plots… they figure if they ignore it, maybe it will go away! Some will try to joke about it, like Seinfeld. Other will try to buy it off. There are many scientists who spend their entire careers seeking a fountain of youth – a way for people to live to 200 or 300 years of age. But even if they succeed – people will still die. They’ll just die a little later. And there’s others who echo the words of 1 Corinthians 15:32 “… If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Let’s party! If we’re going to die anyway, why not just enjoy life to the fullest.
But God has a different take on this. John 3:16 declares “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him might NOT PERISH but have EVERLASTING LIFE”
That doesn’t mean we won’t physically die. What that means is that (when we die) we won’t cease to exist. We may go into a grave… but we won’t stay there.
In Revelation 1:17-18 Jesus introduces Himself this way: "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I HAVE THE KEYS of Death and Hades.” In other words, when Jesus died on the cross and was placed in the grave, He didn’t stay in the grave. When He rose from the dead He picked up the keys to the place on His way out. And when He comes back, every grave will open - because He has the keys.
That’s why in I Corinthians15:51-52 we read these powerful words: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”
The grave will not hold us. In fact, when we decide to become Christians God takes us through a dry-run test.
Romans 6:3-5 tells us “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
But there are many people who still fear death. Why? Well I could think of a few reasons:
1st – Death seems FINAL
ILLUS: Years ago a friend of mine told me of a psychological test he’d heard of that he wanted to try out on me. He asked me to close my eyes and visualize myself in completely white room. In fact, I want you to take part in that experiment today. So, close your eyes and do that – visualize yourself alone in this completely white room. Everything inside the room is pure stark whiteness.
He paused for a few moments to let me think about that in silence so that’s what I’m going to do now (quiet for a few moments)… then he asked: When you visualized yourself in that room what emotions did you feel? He said some test subjects said they were uneasy. Others said they were afraid. Others were bored, and still others were relaxed and at peace.
According to some psychologists… the white room represents death and how people reacted reflected their attitude toward death itself. (https://psychcentral.com/lib/when-you-have-thoughts-or-worries-about-your-own-mortality/).
Now, before I told him what I was feeling, it occurred to me that there was something missing from his description of this room. What hadn’t he mentioned that you’d expect in almost every room? That’s right – there was no door! So I asked him a question most people didn’t seem to ask: “ Is there a door in the room?”
When he responded: “Well, yeah if you want one… but it is totally white as well” I said “Well then – I want to know what’s on the other side of the door.”
You see, when most people think of the grave, they think of it as a wall. They believe death is final and they’ll never get beyond that wall. Once they’re in the grave they believe that is where they will stay. But Scripture declares that the grave has a back door, and when Jesus comes again… that door is gonna open, and Christians will rise from the grave to be with Jesus forever.
In fact, when Jesus comes back Christians will not be the only ones to rise from the dead. Everybody’s going to rise. Revelation 20:13 & 15 talks about the final judgment: “And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done… and if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
That’s pretty scary!!! And some people fear death because they know they’ve not lived a very nice life, and they’re pretty sure the afterlife will not be a pleasant experience.
So some people fear death because they think it is final, and there are some who fear death because they believe they deserve to go to hell. But there are still others who fear death because they think this life is all there is. Once they die, everything is lost! It wouldn’t matter if they lived 5 years or 20 years or 70 years, or a 1000 - death… would be it. They may complain about the stuff in their lives, but when it comes to facing death they find that they really do like LIVING. And the idea that they would no longer be alive… scares them.
But scripture talks about ETERNAL LIFE. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
ILLUS: There’s a famous preacher by the name of Francis Chan and he has some interesting words to say about this eternal life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86dsfBbZfWs - start 0.44 second mark thru 3:30 “It doesn’t make any sense”).
So there’s going to be an eternal life, and if I belong to Jesus I’m going to live forever… but how do I know? How do I know I’m going not going to stay in the grave? How do I know I’m going to be raised from the dead?
ILLUS: You know, there are people out there who don’t believe we will rise from the dead. It was challenged back in Paul’s day (when he wrote I Corinthians 15) and it’s challenged today by the “socially enlightened.” About 8 years ago, Newsweek magazine had an article on the week before Easter by Lisa Miller (one of their religious editors). This was their religious editor, writing one week before Easter and she summed up her view of the Resurrection by saying this: “For my part I don’t buy it.” She further wrote: “This story (of Christ’s resurrection) has strained the credulity of even the most devoted believer. For, truly, it's unbelievable.” (Lisa Miller March 25th in Newsweek and April 5, 2010 on Newsweek’s blog).
Now this is an educated woman. She’s schooled in religious thought. She’s part of the intellectually superior crowd at Newsweek. And she’s telling me she doesn’t believe in the resurrection. So how am I to say I believe it? Who am I to believe – this highly educated, intellectually superior religious editor or God?
(Long pause)
I think I’ll believe God.
In I Corinthians 15:52 He promises: “… in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” That’s God’s Promise!
But wait – there’s more: Not only does God promise us a resurrection – Jesus has done it! Jesus ROSE FROM THE DEAD to prove it could be done.
Paul writes: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached 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.” I Corinthians 15:1-8
What was Paul saying? He was saying: WE SAW HIM… I SAW HIM! In fact over 500 bros at one time saw him… and most of them are still alive. If you don’t believe me go talk to them!!!
Then Paul points out that EVERYBODY has a seen a resurrection. “You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.” I Corinthians 15:36-38
Have you ever had a garden? Then you’ve seen a resurrection! Every farmer has seen a resurrection. The seed he plants in the ground HAS TO DIE before it can live and grow and come up out of the ground a different form than when it was went into the ground. And it’s no different with our mortal bodies. When you die, your mortal body will be buried… but it will rise from the ground as well.
So I believe in the resurrection because - 1st because God tells us there will be one. 2nd because Jesus did it – He was raised from the dead. And 3rd - even nature itself has its own forms for death, burial and resurrection.
ILLUS: And every once in awhile, God does something to remind us of this truth. In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, there is a grave that has huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together on top of it. And all of this has been bound together with heavy steel clasps. The grave belonged to Henriette Juliane Caroline von Rüling (1756 – 1782). Henriette was a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Yet oddly, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure …that if there WERE a resurrection, it could not reach her. (Think about that for minute).
On the tomb were inscribed these words: “May this tomb, bought for eternity, never be open."
AND GOD JUST LAUGHED.
In time, a seed, which had been covered over by the stones, began to grow. It slowly pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. And as the trunk enlarged, the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. In time that tiny seed became a birch tree that had pushed aside the stones. The tomb has since become a tourist attraction, and the subject of horror stories.
(You can see a photo of this grave at places like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Grave,_Hanover)
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O grave, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION – Earlier in sermon I told you about Kathryn. When she was a child her younger sister died… and every year her father would go to cemetery and place flowers on her grave – and he would weep and weep and weep.
Then one day Kathryn’s parents sat at the dining room table talking about their loss. And her mother said “You know, if we ever want to see her again we need to become Christians.” And so, not long afterwards they started going to church and in time they were baptized into Christ.
Kathryn said “From that time on Dad still went to the cemetery every year and placed the flowers on her grave… but he never cried again.”
WHY?
Because there’s victory in Jesus. Victory not only over our sins, but also over death and the grave. There’s victory that brings hope and confidence and a firm expectation of the Resurrection.
INVITATION
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES: What The Cross Meant To…
• The Centurion At The Feet Of Jesus Mark 15:33-39
• The Man From Arimathea Matthew 27:57-66
• The Cross Of Barabbas Matthew 27:11-26
• Victory In Jesus I Corinthians 15:35-57
