JUST THE FACTS
I Corinthians 15:1-11
S: Resurrection
C: The hope the resurrection gives
Pr: WE (Christians) LIVE WITH CONFIDENT HOPE.
?: Why?
KW: Reasons
TS: We will find in our study of I Corinthians 15:1-11 three reasons that the Christian lives with confident hope.
Type: Propositional
The ____ reason we live with confident hope is the…
I. FUNDAMENTALS (3-4)
II. FACTS (5-7)
III. FAVOR (8-11)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Live with confident hope!
Version: ESV
RMBC 27 March 05 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. Have you ever been overconfident?
ILL Confidence: vacuum cleaner salesman
This door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesman, was eager to make a sale whatever it took, so when a lady opened her door, he rushed inside uninvited and threw a large bag of dirt all over her lovely carpet.
"What are you doing?" she screamed.
"Don’t worry lady," the salesman answered, as he confidently plugged the cord of the vacuum cleaner into a socket. "This baby will pick up all that dirt in no time flat or I’ll get down on my hands and knees and eat it myself," emphasized the salesman.
"Do you want it with ketchup?" she demanded. "We’ve just moved in and the electricity isn’t turned on yet!"
Wow…that hurt!
We can get hurt when our confidence is based on the wrong things…that’s for sure.
For…
2. Our confidence should be based on the truth.
It is alright to be confident.
But when our confidence is based on the untrue, we may be in for some rude awakenings.
TRANSITION:
As Christians, I believe our faith, and thus, our confidence has a secure base.
Now, for those of you that are visiting today, for much of last year, and earlier this year, we have been studying a letter the apostle Paul wrote to the church he founded in Corinth.
This has been a church, a gathering of believers in Jesus, who have been struggling.
They have, in fact, needed a lot of correction.
So, when we come to the passage we are studying today, we see that…
1. Context: Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to remember where they got their start (1-2).
He 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.
Paul is reminding them that this is what they believed.
He had brought the good word about Jesus, and it had changed them.
They were, in fact, the living evidence that the gospel was true and that it worked.
The fact that the people in Corinth had changed as a result of hearing the good news about Jesus, gave them confidence.
And this is for all believers in the Lord Jesus.
2. WE LIVE WITH CONFIDENT HOPE.
We Christians live with confident hope.
We testify today that our faith and our confidence is based on the truth.
For…
3. We will find in our study of I Corinthians 15:1-11 three reasons that the Christian lives with confident hope.
Please realize that the Christian faith is different from the rest of the religions in the world.
It is unique.
Other religions are various collections of concepts, thoughts of men, teachings, and ethics.
But though the Christian faith has those, it is not based on them.
Our faith rests solely upon certain great acts of God in history – recorded events – where God has intervened with love on behalf of humanity.
Which brings us to…
OUR STUDY:
I. The first reason we live with confident hope is the FUNDAMENTALS (3-4).
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…
You see…
There are essentials when it comes to the Christian faith.
There are historic matters that are vital to the faith.
These are the bare bones, so to speak.
First, Jesus was crucified.
Jesus suffered the worst punishment known to the Roman empire.
In fact, a Roman citizen would not be executed in this fashion.
It was saved only for those that were slaves or enemies of the empire.
Second, Jesus died for our sins.
According to the law of God, there is only one proper punishment for sin – it is death.
Jesus was able to die for our sin because He had no sin of His own to die for.
Third, Jesus was buried.
He was placed in a tomb that was not His own.
Rather, it belonged to those that had secretly believed in Him.
Fourth, Jesus was raised.
The tense of this Greek verb communicates that what once happened is now still in force.
So, not only was Jesus raised, He is still living.
Fifth, Jesus came to life on the third day.
In our western culture, three days would mean three 24-hour periods of time.
In their context, though, three days would count for any portion of the day.
So, Jesus died late on Friday, and was placed in the tomb.
This is one day.
Saturday, the second day, from sundown to sundown, He remained in the tomb.
On the third day, in the early morning hours, He was raised.
ILL Crucifixion: bewildered
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum of her paper:
Dear Sirs,
Our minister said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned [or passed out] on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think?
Sincerely,
Bewildered
The answer came like this:
Dear Bewildered,
Beat your minister with a cat-o’-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear thru his side...put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.
(Taken and revised from a sermon by Royce Hendry via Newland)
I want to be clear at this point.
If you deny the resurrection, you deny the heart of Christianity.
You see, the apostles did not go around talking about having peace of heart.
They did not spend all their time talking about moral standards.
They weren’t seeking out to correct every problem in the communities they lived in.
No, they had one central heartbeat that just kept driving them.
It was that Jesus rose from the dead.
It is this truth that they declared over and over, for it was this truth that had made them come alive.
Which brings us now to just the facts…
II. The second reason we live with confident hope is the FACTS (5-7).
…and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred 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.
Paul is pointing out to us that…
There was testimony that could be verified.
Right after Jesus died on the cross, the apostles were dazed and hopeless.
Their world had fallen apart in less than 24 hours.
And some of them were ready to go back to fishing.
But just as suddenly as the world falling apart occurred, their course was dramatically reversed.
They were brought back together.
The eleven that were left became flaming evangelists.
And there was a reasonable explanation.
Jesus was back.
He showed up right in front of them.
It was the same man.
He encouraged them to see Him and to touch Him.
He even had the scars where the wounds had been.
Perhaps the most dramatic conversion would have been Jesus’ half-brother, James.
Apparently, Jesus appeared to his brother separately, and had an obvious profound effect as he became one of the chief leaders in the early church.
Paul also points to the fact that Jesus appeared to 500 people, crippling the criticism that there had been some kind of hallucination.
Twenty years before, 500 people had witnessed to seeing and hearing Jesus.
So, Paul challenges his readers.
If they have any doubt, they can ask one of them.
He was sure that these witnesses would confirm the facts.
Now we come to…
III. The third reason we live with confident hope is FAVOR (8-11).
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Paul shares his own personal testimony, and thus shows that…
We are changed by God’s grace.
Paul views himself as one that was abnormally born, because he did not begin with the rest of the apostles.
Along with this, he has a deep recognition of his own sin.
He does not hesitate to identify himself as a former enemy of God and a persecutor of His church.
But he also knows that he was transformed.
God had shown him unmerited favor, for his self-righteous hatred has turned into sacrificial love.
He was an oppressor, but now he was a servant.
He had gone from an imprisoner to a deliverer.
He had been a life-taker, but now he was a live-giver.
There had been a radical redirection of his energy.
Now, he was using the time and place that God had given him as an opportunity to magnify God’s grace, and declare the truth about Jesus.
Nothing was going to deter him from that.
APPLICATION:
You know…
1. Sometimes, it just seems too good to be true.
But that is the story of how God works in our lives.
This is what grace is all about.
It is discovering what is truly good news.
I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is getting what you don’t deserve.
ILL Skepticism: Prizewinner Refuses One Million Dollars
There was a promotion a few years ago by H. R. Block Inc. offered walk-in customers a chance to win a drawing for a million dollars. Glen and Gloria Sims of Sewell, New Jersey, won the drawing, but they refused to believe it when an H. R. Block representative phoned them with the good news.
After several additional contacts by both mail and phone, the Sims still thought it was all just a scam, and usually hung up the phone or trashed the special notices.
Some weeks later, H. R. Block called one more time to let the Sims know the deadline for accepting the million-dollar prize was nearing and that the story of their refusal to accept the prize would appear on an upcoming NBC "Today Show."
At that point, Mr. Sims decided to investigate further. A few days later he appeared on the "Today Show" to tell America that he and his wife had finally gone to H. R. Block to claim the million-dollar prize.
Mr. Sims’ final words were: "From the time this has been going on, H. R. Block explained to us they really wanted a happy ending to all this, and they were ecstatic that we finally accepted the prize."
God wants a similar ending as he offers salvation to every unbeliever.
NBC "Today Show" (7-09-01)
God is looking out for your good.
And the resurrection of Jesus is the assurance that He is committed to His people.
His saving work on the cross was approved.
It worked.
So…
2. Don’t miss out on what God has for you!
He has eternal joy in mind for you.
You, too, can live with confident hope.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Live with confident hope…for we declare today that Jesus is the perfect God-man, who lived, taught, sacrificed Himself for us on a cross, and defeated our worst enemy – death – by raising from the dead.
Live with confident hope…for we declare today that Jesus is not fiction, He is our Lord and God that appeared in history; and His appearance changed those that knew His grace.
Live with confident hope…for the story of grace continues, of which we are a part; rejoice in His favor, rejoice that He is risen – He is risen indeed!
Now…May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Amen.
RESOURCES:
Blomberg, Craig, The NIV Application Commentary
Fee, Gordon, The New International Commentary on the New Testament
MacArthur, John, I Corinthians
SermonCentral:
“Easter – What a Difference!” Melvin Newland
“Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ” Doug Goins
“The Fact of Facts” Ray Stedman
“Christ is Risen!” Roy Fowler
