What if...

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Easter is not a difficult Sunday to prepare for.
The Bible speaks directly of Resurrection Sunday.
There were people in Corinth teaching that there was no resurrection of the dead.
Paul uses all of chapter 15 to refute that teaching.
We will pick it up in verse 12.
1 Corinthians 15:12–19 ESV
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
What if Christ had not risen?

1. The gospel would be empty. (vs 14a)

1 Corinthians 15:14 (ESV)
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
What did Paul preach?
1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

1. The gospel would be empty. (vs 14a)

When Paul is speaking of preaching, he is talking about the gospel.
This would be vain - empty.
The gospel would be hollow.
This should sit with us this morning.
Why are we here?
If Christ is not risen we are here for the fun of it.
Why do we celebrate the gospel in our lives?
If Christ is not risen, we are celebrating nothing.
Why do we spend so much time chasing people who do not believe?
If Christ is not risen we are wasting our time and we have nothing to offer them.
The gospel is an imposition to the unsaved.
We are to give our lives to taking unpopular news to lost people.
We would be speaking lies.
The gospel would have no power.
Lives would never be changed.
Unless we were incredibly good shysters we would never see results.
This work would be empty if Christ was still dead.

2. We could not trust the Bible. (vs. 14a, 15)

1 Corinthians 15:15 (ESV)
15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

2. We could not trust the Bible. (vs. 14a, 15)

The apostles and all the writers of scripture would be liars.
What the world already thinks would be true.
The Bible would be no more than a fairy tale.
Don’t forget that the resurrection was not only a truth found in the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 15:4 ESV
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
It was prophesied throughout the Old Testament.
We see picture of it in the Old Testament.
Job spoke of it.
Job 19:26 ESV
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,

2. We could not trust the Bible. (vs. 14a, 15)

Job even believed in the resurrection.
He knew he would see God.
If we could’t trust the Bible, there would be no power in it.
We would have no reason to follow it.
The very place we find our truth would be nothing.
If the gospel was empty and we could not trust the Bible, then...

3. Our faith would be useless. (vs. 14b, 17)

1 Corinthians 15:14 (ESV)
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:17 ESV
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Being in our sins is a fatal problem.
Let’s be reminded of what we know.
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 ESV
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. Our faith would be useless. (vs. 14b, 17)

We are still in our sins.
There is no free gift.
We will all die.
Faith alone doesn’t accomplish anything.
Just to have faith isn’t enough.
These verses prove that.
People say their faith got them through.
Faith in what?
If your faith is in the wrong thing it is empty.
“No one can give himself to a dead man; no on can expect anything, or receive anything from a dead man.” (Schlatter)
We could have all the faith in the world but if Christ was still dead, it would be empty.
Ephesians 2:8 ESV
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

3. Our faith would be useless. (vs. 14b, 17)

If our faith is useless then we are still in our sins.

4. We would have not hope beyond this life. (vs. 18-19)

1 Corinthians 15:18–19 ESV
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

4. We would have not hope beyond this life. (vs. 18-19)

This life would be a dead end.
“Life stinks then you die.”
We are worse of than that.
If we didn’t follow Christ we could live an easier life.
We could do whatever we wanted with our lives.
We could spend it gaining money and chasing our dreams.
We would have near as many people against us.
We wouldn’t be worried about sin. We would do whatever felt right.
Instead we fight against those things.
If there is nothing beyond this life we would have lived the most miserable life only to have it end.
We would be most pitied among all men.
Think about everything Paul went through...
2 Corinthians 11:24–28 ESV
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

4. We would have not hope beyond this life. (vs. 18-19)

Our joy is because there are no “What if’s”!

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 ESV
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
The gospel is powerful.
The gospel is powerful and the time we invest preaching it is not wasted.
We are here worshiping a God who gave us the same life Jesus recieved.
Romans 8:11 ESV
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
We chase the lost because we have good and life changing news for them.
Our witness is effective!
The Bible is true.
It is alive and active.
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Our joy is because there are no “What if’s”!

Our faith is not worthless, but it is powerful.
We are saved through our faith in Jesus by the Grace of God.
We are saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross.
The resurrection signals the work is finished and the sacrifice was accepted.
Therefore our faith is not empty or worthless.
This life is not a dead end, but we live for rather we live for eternity.
Let’s sing because there are no what ifs.
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