Resurrection proof
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Introduction- Good Morning Church
If you would turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and would prepare your heart for the word, I believe the words recorded by the apostle Paul are life-changing. There are few subjects in God’s word that have more eternal value than the text this morning.
Paul wrote most of the New Testament for us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing in scripture will point us to Jesus more than the cross and the resurrection.
This probably should be part one of the message preached on Easter Sunday but I felt lead to preach it today because we are living in a day and age that some do not know the importance of the resurrection and there are some that have allowed the world to pollute the message of the resurrection.
Let me just say if you proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of your life and you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was raised from the dead than your faith is in a man-made religion and not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Prayer-Father, I come this morning with a heavy heart as we dig in the text of the resurrection of Jesus. I realize today that the cross and the blood of Christ has not been talked about as it should. The world has polluted and watered down the message of Christ.
I pray this morning that our hearts are not longer closed but open to hear the gospel message and that it will encourage, change and empower us to live for Christ. I pray your Holy Spirit might have liberty to flow through this room and touch each one of us and to draw us close to Christ. May the cross and His resurrection be shown in new light that we might have a better understanding and gratefulness of what was done for us by the savior of the universe and one that desires to have a relationship with each one of us. In Jesus Name Amen!
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Read from Bible
The believer hinges everything…eternity, on the fact that Jesus did what He said He did and that what He did would forgive us of our sins.
That Jesus lived, was crucified on the cross, died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, and then experienced the resurrection from the dead. If that is not true, if that did not happen than our faith is worthless and we will die in our sins.
Unbelievers either do not believe it happened or don’t care that it happen-
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 18)
For the believer “if we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Eternity for each one of us hinges on what you believe and what you do with the cross and the resurrection. Each one of us will live for eternity somewhere but for a believer to be with Christ for eternity, it is because of the cross and the resurrection.
Paul in our text is reminding the church at Cornith of the gospel. The “Good News”
The gospel preached to you.
The gospel you received
The gospel that you have taken a stand for.
If you hold on to that gospel … than you are saved from your sins.
Paul tells the church this is the gospel that I bring to you. It is the gospel that you received. It is the gospel that you have taken a stand for. If you are preaching or listening to any other gospel than your faith in is in vain.
He calls it first importance- (3) he did not invent it, he received it from the Lord. The clause first importance makes three affirmations-
It was Christ who died
Christ death was redemptive
Christ death was keeping with Scripture
These things are important for the good news- on the third day as said in scripture, he was raised and more than 500 witnesses saw him.
The hope of all believers – ETERNAL LIFE verses ETERNAL DEATH and everlasting punishment. But our hope is more than just for this life, it is for all eternity.
Jesus has told us that He is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6) and Jesus Himself is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Our eternal hope is based squarely on the resurrection of Jesus.
Our hope is not wishful thinking, or relying of luck. You can know where you will spend eternity.
Our hope is in God Himself who through out the ages has proven faithful over and over again.
Biblical hope is hope in what God has done. Without the resurrection of Jesus, Christianity would be quite literally a dead religion and no different from all the other belief systems in the world: Mohammad is dead; Confucius is dead; Buddha is dead. Only Jesus is a risen and alive God.
All the things recorded in the Bible, there are three things that are highly contested by non-believers.
The literal six days of creation
Noah and the Flood
The physical and bodily resurrection of Jesus.
So that I do not preach Easter message a month early think about how these truths affect people today.
People have their idea of heaven and Hell and they have their own idea on how people will or will not get there.
Some people believe that nothing Jesus has done on the cross or His resurrection affects their destiny for heaven- Don’t believe me
Why should you go to heaven? Because I am a good person.
Why should you go to heaven? Because I have done more good things than bad and I am not as bad as some other people.
Why should you go to heaven? Because a loving God would not send us to Hell and have us suffer for eternity.
Paul tells the church which is being flooded with false teaching of the gospel and false teaching of the cross and its importance- that the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ-
Because He was resurrected and lived a sinless life, we because of what He has done can be forgiven of our sins and avoiding the separation of God because of our sins.
Most people want to talk about heaven- because they picture it as they want it to be. They will get there no matter what they do, how they act, or what they believe.
It is a badly painted picture of our selfishness and our lack of understanding of the importance of Jesus.
Paul reminds the church that the denial of the resurrection teaching was from the pit of hell and that you cannot separate the cross and the resurrection. Both had to take place so that man had a redemptive way to be right with God.
The heart of the problem is that if you did not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead then we could not be raised from the dead and if He was not raised from the dead we cannot be right with a Holy God. We could only be right with God because of Jesus Christ.
Paul writes to the Thessalonians to stand firm in the truth- (1 Thes. 2:13-17)
“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through the gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”
Here are some things to keep in mind as you are standing firm-
Know the truth-
“I am the way, the truth and the life, no man goes to the Father except through me.”
So anything or anyway you think that you will get to heaven besides Jesus is just your opinion and it does not line up with the word of God.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth.”
“Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.”(John 134:6)
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may have new life.” If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the resurrection.”
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The debt of our sin has already been done for each and every one of us- there is nothing more that Jesus has to do for our salvation and relationship with Him- it is up to each one of us to accept what He has already done and live that life of obedience and thankfulness to Him.
Back to the text- Paul tells them of the witnesses that experience Jesus resurrection and it was not only the twelve but over 500 and at the time some of them were still alive.
(9) “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God was with me. Whether then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.”
The fact that Paul deserved nothing and had received so much could only be the result of God’s grace shown to him and to us as believers.
THE GLORIFYING GRACE AND MERCY OF JESUS!
Paul may have started our wrong persecuting the church but says once he grabbed the truth of God that he worked harder than the rest to preach the gospel and live out the gospel in his life.
Grace mentioned 3 times in the text- he received it and it was not wasted on him and the same gospel truth had caused them to believe.
Stay with me! Read from Bible- 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
(20) “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Because time has gotten away from them, they were getting discourage. People started dying and they were wondering if what Jesus had said was still going to happen in their life!
Don’t be discouraged by what is happening in the world today- what Jesus has said and what Jesus has done still holds true because it is the truth- should Jesus tarry and we die does not change the truth of God.
Paul assures us that what He said will come to pass- he said it to the Corinthians church and he says it to the church of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3:13- 18.
Encourage each other with these words-
We need to make sure we are secure with Christ- that we have a relationship with Him.
We need to be willing and sensitive to help those that are journeying find their way to Jesus.
As I close, do you know that Jesus? Who has paid the price for us and there is nothing more He needs to do- it is whether you accept what he has done for you. In a minute we will pray and those that want to acknowledge him as Lord can do so. For those who have strayed away and want to recommit themselves may do so.
You know why I don’t worry about the antichrist? Because the church won’t be here.
You wonder why I don’t worry about the mark of the beast? Church won’t be here.
The seven years of tribulation and Armageaon in the book of Revelation- because the church won’t be here. I choose to only worry that my heart and life is right with my Lord and Savior-
I will let him worry about the things that are out of my control and only work on the things within my control.
We are in the church age right now meaning the Lord is trying to touch hearts and lives and see people come to Christ- man has a choice and the Holy Spirit is here to draw us to Christ. when the rapture takes place it becomes Christ dealing with sinful man- Holy Spirit is taken out of this world. The people of God who are filled with the Holy Spirit of God are removed from this world and all hell will break lose- you think it is bad now- imagine a world when God’s Spirit does not hold back darkness and evil and it will be a time that I am thankful I will not be here!
Prayer of salvation-
