I Cor. 15:12-20
What if Christ Hadn’t been Resurrected?
Introduction
A. What if is always a fun question to ask
B. I like to think about what my life would be like if I had not meant Heather
C. How different I would be
D. Where I would be in life
E. What I would be doing
F. Here is the thing though
G. I am so glad I meant Her I am so glad we got married
H. I can not imagine life without her
I. Paul found out in Corinth that people were deny the resurrection of Christ
J. He was not at all happy about this
K. He writes this passage and asks us to think about what life would be like if Christ hadn’t been resurrected
L. Today we are going to look at what life would be like without Christ being resurrected specifically
a. Useless Words
b. Useless Testimony
c. Useless Faith
d. Useless Hope
I. Useless Words (12-14)
A. Explanation
1. Over the years there has been so pretty good preachers
2. Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, Tony Compolo, Dr. Stanley
3. You know what they all have in common?
4. They all preached about the resurrection of Christ
5. They all spent a great deal of time and energy preaching about Christ
6. When Paul was writing this, he knew of preachers who also preach the resurrection
7. Everything they said centered on the resurrection.
8. The resurrection was the foundation that everything was built on
9. Paul ask us a funny question though
10. What if Christ had not been raised from the dead?
B. Application
1. Let us think about the question in terms of our lives
2. If there was no resurrection then telling others about God would be useless
3. If there were no resurrection then every Time some preacher would talk about eternal life he would be blowing smoke
4. If there was no resurrection Bakerstown Alliance Would not exist
5. If there was no resurrection there would be no reason to go to Church
6. If there was no resurrection we could not say we serve a risen savior
7. If there was no resurrection our words would be completely useless
8. You know what there is a resurrection
9. There is a person who died and then lived again
10. That person was Jesus!
11. Therefore what we say is not useless because he Lives
C. Illustration
1. I love cartoons. You probably would have never guessed that. One of my favorite, along with half the world, is the Peanuts. I especially like when they show the teacher. She always sounds the same. Wha Wa Wa Wah.
2. If Christ did not rise from the dead, that is how we would sound too
3. But He did. Our words are not useless
4. Christ Has Risen! Christ has Risen Indeed!
II. Useless Testimony (15-16)
A. Explanation
1. Paul you can tell is deeply upset at this point
2. Paul since in conversion on the Damascus road has been serving God
3. He has said many times that He does this for God
4. He claims His authority from God
5. He claims that Jesus was willing to save him from the sins of his past
6. Paul’s Credentials was based on Christ rising from the dead
7. The people of Corinth, were getting away from this doctrine
8. They were did not hold to it anymore
9. And here Paul is fighting for the most essential point of our religion
10. He is fighting for the resurrection
B. Application
1. What does this means for us?
2. If our Savior is dead, what we have done is useless
3. Our testimony is useless
4. We have no foundation to stand on
5. Everything that we have done, all the work we have put into advancing the Gospel is useless
C. Illustration
1. Imagine if you were in a courtroom. You were asked to testify to a crime that you saw clearly with your own two lies. The prosecution would question you and ask you to basically tell the court what you saw, you did that and then the defense attorney would stand up and question your sanity. You were proven to be crazy.
2. What would happen?
3. Everything that you said, all the testimony you just gave would be useless.
4. Here is the thing though.
5. There is no one in the Grave
6. Folk the grave is empty, our savior rose
7. We serve a living savior
8. Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed!
III. Useless Faith (17-18)
A. Explanation
1. Faith is a word that has been tossed around like a football
2. Everybody likes to talk about faith
3. Everybody likes to say just have a little faith in me
4. All that it takes is a little faith
5. But what actually is faith
6. Faith is the belief or trust in a higher power
7. Paul is still argue for the resurrection of Christ
8. Paul cannot understand why they would have faith in God if the resurrection did not happen
9. Without the resurrection in Paul’s mind faith would be useless
10. How can you have faith in something that is not true
B. Application
1. What can we apply to our lives today
2. If the resurrection did not happen faith would be useless
3. WE would have nothing to bass our faith on
4. You can not have faith in something that lets you down
C. Illustration
1. Take a car for example. How many of you have had a car that has let you down before. Maybe you were on your way to somewhere important and the car just died. Well after two or three times that this happens you loose faith in your car
2. You would not take it on a long trip, probably would just drive it close to home, or maybe get rid of it
3. If God was not completely honest, if He lied, you would loose faith in God
4. But guess what?
5. He is completely Honest
6. There is nothing that He said that He would do That He hasn’t done
7. Including rising from the dead
8. He is our risen Savior!
9. Christ has risen! Christ has Risen Indeed!
IV. Useless Hope (19-20)
A. Explanation
1. Paul is continuing with his argument
2. Sin is when we don’t live up to God’s standard
3. Whenever we deviate from God’s standards, it is sin
4. If you understand that you quickly realize that everybody sins
5. That is true
6. The Bible says the wages of sin is death
7. So if we sin, we then do not have any hope of eternal life
8. Sin separates us from God
9. However, the Gift of God is eternal life, Christ came and died on the cross to pay for our sins
10. However, if the resurrection did not occur then Christ could have not paid for our sins.
B. Application
1. What does that mean for our life
2. If the resurrection had not occurred, There is no hope of eternal life
3. If the resurrection had not occurred, we would be doomed
4. There would be no sense of peace in our life
5. There would be nothing to look forward to
C. Illustration
1. When I was at the Lighthouse, I thought about what we tried to do, what we were about. I came up with one of my greatest thought. There’s Still Hope! That is what we were trying to show people
2. The reason we have that hope is because of the resurrection
3. Without the resurrection we could not say that
4. There is not hope without the resurrection
5. Fortunately, the resurrection occurred
6. WE have hope because He Lives
7. Christ Rose from the Grave
8. Christ Has Risen! Christ has Risen Indeed
Conclusion
A. Have you ever thought about where you would be without the resurrection?
B. Give it a thought, think about it.
C. Everything would be useless
D. You would have no sense of purpose
E. We need to thank God everyday for the resurrection
F. This is not something that we should toss around causally
G. I serve a Risen Savior
H. He Live! He Lives
I. Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!
