The Preeminence Of Christ Series

INTRODUCTION

• Have you thought about what will happen at the end of your life?

• Will you live your life and go into the ground, and it all be over, or is there more?

• I have some good news for those who think you live, die, and it is over; you are forgotten.

• We have a joyous occasion to celebrate today!

• Today we celebrate Resurrection Sunday!

• This day shows we do not live and die, and it is all over!

• On this day, we celebrate the most significant moment in the history of humanity!

• It is when we celebrate God raising His Son, Jesus, from the dead.

• The Resurrection of Jesus is the most crucial event in human history.

• The resurrection of Jesus is the most critical event in history because this one event still impacts us today.

• Because of this event, we can have the opportunity to spend eternity with the God who created us and who loves us with all He has.

• The resurrection of Jesus puts a stamp of authenticity on Jesus as being the one and only Son of God, the only truth, and the only way to God.

• Have you ever considered that we do not have a day to celebrate the resurrection of Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, L. Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith, or any other figure?

• Do you know why we do not?

• Because it did not happen, so, therefore, there is nothing to celebrate!

• With Jesus, we can celebrate this significant historical event!

• The resurrection of Jesus is also one of the most attacked events in the Bible.

• That is understandable, the event is incredible in itself, and if you are a follower of another religion or if you are a god unto yourself, the resurrection would have to make you think about your position.

• The fifteenth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth is one of the high points in the New Testament description and discussion of Jesus’s resurrection.

Big Idea of the Message: Jesus’s resurrection is the promise that more will rise.

• Working through the passage today, we will see why Jesus is preeminent over everything!

• Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-28!

• We will start with verses 1-4.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand,

2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

SERMON

I. The Gospel.

• Before we go too deep, we need to know about the gospel.

• In these first four verses, Paul explains the importance of the subject at hand!

• The gospel that Paul preached; when received and when we take a stand upon, this Gospel saves us!

• We are not saved through anyone or anything other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and on Christ alone!

• This is part of the reason Jesus is preeminent!

• For this gospel to be effective, we must stand on it, believe in it, to 3

• Verse two continues by saying we must also hold fast to this gospel unless we believe in vain!

• Believing in vain is one who gives lip service to the message, but it has no real impact on them.

• We are saved by the gospel message if we allow the message to produce blessed effects in our lives.

• Verses 3-4 explain to us what the message is.

• Naturally, there are many facets of God’s work in Christ that Paul both preached and taught about, but in 15:3-5, Paul emphasizes the centrality of four of these major points.

• Each of these is introduced by the term “that.”

• The message was that Christ died for OUR sins according to the scriptures.

• That He was buried.

• That He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

• And finally, He appeared!

• THIS IS THE FOCAL POINT OF THE GOSPEL!

• Nothing is to be added to or removed from this message; Paul lays out the gospel and what we MUST stand upon no matter what!

• Next, let's turn to verses 5-11.

1 Corinthians 15:5–11 (NET 2nd ed.)

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.