WE BELIEVE: HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD
Text: 1 Cor. 15:1-10
Introduction
1. I think that the reason many people take the Apostle’s Creed lightly is that there are things in it that are difficult to comprehend.
2. For example, we understand, I think, about the crucifixion and the resurrection, but what does it mean that He descended to the dead?
3. I mean, did Jesus descend to Hell? Did He go to heaven? Where did He go?
4. Let’s see if we can clear it up…and we’ll talk about His resurrection too!
5. Read 1 Cor. 15:1-10
Transition: Let’s talk a journey with Jesus…
I. On the Second and Third Day
A. We know from our church calendar that Jesus died on Friday and rose from the dead Sunday, but what happened on Saturday.
B. Now, I know what we do, all the ladies cook and bake getting ready for the Easter Breakfast. But what did Jesus do?
C. There is something that happened sometime between the cross and the empty tomb that is very important: the descent of Jesus to the place of the dead.
1. This line in the creed is often misunderstood or just ignored all together.
2. We can’t really comprehend what it means, so we just gloss over it. But it is vital that we understand what the creed is talking about.
3. We know that Jesus’ earthly body lied dead in the grave, but what about His spirit.
D. First of all, He didn’t go back to heaven.
1. We know this because in John 20:17 it says, “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
2. He would later ascend to heaven, but that is still a way off.
E. However, He didn’t go to hell either, because hell didn’t exist yet.
1. In Rev. 20:14 we learn that at the end of all things, “Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death,” in other words, hell.
2. So, if Jesus didn’t go to heaven, and He didn’t go to hell, where did He go?
F. He went to a place called Hades (in Greek) or Sheol (in Hebrew), the waiting place for the dead.
1. Hades/Sheol was a place for people to wait as they awaited the judgment, but hell is the place of eternal punishment and separation from God.
2. They are two separate places. That’s why the creed says that Jesus “descended to the dead.”
G. So, what did He do there?
1. First, while He was there, He preached the good news of His victory on the cross to them.
2. “So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—20 those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.” (1 Pet. 3:19-20).
H. Second, Jesus set the saints of old free from Hades and took them up to heaven with Him when He ascended into heaven.
1. “That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” (Eph. 4:8-10).
2. Jesus conquered death and liberates those imprisoned and led them to glory in heaven.
I. That was Saturday, but Sunday is coming! I’m not going to get into the historical aspects of the resurrection or the physical nature of Jesus’ body. That’s another sermon for another day. But let’s talk about the importance of the resurrection.
1. First, the resurrection proves who Jesus really is. The resurrection is definitive proof that Jesus is who He claimed to be, the Messiah, the Son of God. He wasn’t a false prophet, not a lunatic, or a martyr.
a. The resurrection is proof that Jesus is divine and been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
b. You can say that Jesus was a good man, good teacher, or a prophet, but those people never came back from the dead!
c. He was who He said He was, God’s Son and the Savior of the world.
2. Second, the resurrection shows that the new age has begun.
a. It proves that we have edged closer to its goal, the future has invaded the present, and the present age will not continue forever.
b. The resurrection proves that that God is involved in the affairs of the human race.
c. It is also proof that God would not just leave us to our own fate. He intervened and fixed what we did wrong.
3. Third, the resurrection is the catalyst of our salvation. All too often we focus so much on the cross but only mention the resurrection on Easter Sunday. However, I want to be clear, we are saved in, by, and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
a. “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.” (Rom. 4:25).
b. Paul also said, “And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” (1 Cor. 15:17-19).
c. Without the resurrection, Jesus is just another religious fanatic that failed.
4. Fourth, the resurrection is an essential aspect of discipleship.
a. The resurrection causes us to live a new and living way of being human.
b. It also gives us a new ethical standard to live by. The world doesn’t determine what is right and wrong, the risen Lord, Jesus Christ does.
c. Furthermore, it gives us a new mission.
d. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20).
e. This is referred to as the “Great Commission,” and not the great suggestion.
f. Because of the victory of resurrection, we have been commissioned to go and tell people about Jesus!
J. Now let’s look at our text today. In vv. 1-2 Paul says, “Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.”
1. Paul wanted to remind them of the Gospel he first preached to them that led them to Christ, because some false teachers had been telling them things that were wrong.
2. In fact, some of the Corinthians were starting to believe that there was no resurrection of the dead. They were not only having problems with unity, but they were also having problems with theology.
3. Some people today will say, “We don’t want to talk about theology, we just want to talk about Jesus!” But the problem with that is we can’t talk about Jesus and not talk about theology, because what we believe about Jesus is theology!
4. Why are we going through the Apostle’s Creed? So that we do not forget what we believe and be tempted to be led astray by bad teaching.
K. Then in vv. 3-4 Paul says, “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”
1. This is the key text for the defense of Christianity. It is the essence of what we believe about Jesus.
2. First, He died for our sins. As Christians we believe that Jesus is the sinless Son of God who took our punishment on the cross.
a. The phrase “as the Scriptures said,” refers to the OT prophesies regarding the necessity of the cross. Jesus’ death was no accident, but rather it was a part of God’s plan. It had to be done this way.
b. Many years ago, I was sitting in a Sunday school class, when a gentleman stood up and insisted that Jesus didn’t have to die. To say I got a little hot under the collar was an understatement. If Jesus didn’t die, we are still lost in our sin and our faith is useless.
3. Second, He was buried. This verifies that Jesus actually died a human death.
a. There were people then, and there are still people today, that are convinced that Jesus didn’t really die.
b. But there is abundant evidence to the contrary. Again, if He didn’t die, we are still lost.
4. Third, He was raised. He came back to life after being a dead person in a grave as spoken of in the Gospels (Friday afternoon to Sunday morning was three days in the Jewish understanding of time).
L. Now, look what Paul says in v. 5, “He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.”
1. Paul tells us that the first of the apostles to see Jesus after the resurrection was Peter.
2. “And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.” (Lk. 24:33-34).
3. Paul also says that Jesus was seen by the other apostles.
M. In addition to appearing to the apostles, Paul tells us, “After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.”
1. This event is recorded nowhere else in the Bible.
2. It most likely happened in Galilee, but the sheer number of eyewitnesses, five hundred, to disprove those who say it was just a handful of followers that saw Jesus.
3. In fact, you might recall, that I’ve told you if each one of the eyewitnesses came in here and spoke for just fifteen minutes, it would take around the clock testimonies for five straight days!
N. Then Paul goes on to say in vv. 7-8, “Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.”
1. This James that Paul is talking about is Jesus’ half-brother.
2. Ironically, this James didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah until after the resurrection. Once Jesus appeared to him, he believed and went on to be the leader of the Jerusalem church.
3. Now, one of the credentials of being an apostle was that you had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection of Jesus.
4. There were many false teachers who were trying to degrade Paul by saying that he wasn’t really an apostle.
5. But he told them that indeed he was an apostle because Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection and commissioned him as an apostle.
6. The point Paul is trying to make here is that there is ample proof that Jesus actually was raised from the dead.
Transition: Now, let’s look at…
II. Why This is Important for Us Today
A. Jesus descent to the place of the dead shows His willingness to go to the greatest depths for us.
1. “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Eph. 3:18-19).
2. Jesus’ willingness to descend to the place of the dead shows the He loves us enough to not only die for us, but also to free us.
3. It shows that His love for us knows no bounds.
4. It shows that His love for us is beyond all comprehension.
5. As Paul said, His love for us is so great that we can’t fully understand it.
6. There is no depth He has not gone for us.
7. No suffering that He hasn’t gone through for us.
8. No darkness that He hasn’t been through for us.
9. There is no grave He is afraid of.
10. Never think that Jesus doesn’t love you because He has shown it over, and over, and over.
11. We have no fear because nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of Jesus our Lord!
B. We have the hope and assurance that death has been defeated, and we have the victory in His name.
1. “Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:54-57).
2. “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.”
3. Jesus has won the victory for us!
4. Because of what Jesus did Satan is defeated.
5. Because of what Jesus did death is defeated.
6. Because of what Jesus did the grave is defeated.
7. Because of what Jesus did we have the victory in His name!
Conclusion
What’s the point preacher? In going to the place of the dead, and rising from the dead on the third day, Jesus has shown the depth of His love for us. Now, let’s go out and show our love for Him in what we say and in what we do.
