He is Risen

· INTRODUCTION: There really is not a holiday like Easter. It just isn’t possible; as we are celebrating something that only happened once! This morning we are going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 15 and an account of what happened on Easter and what it means for us. If you are new here, I want to invite you to (connect card) take a Bible from the pew in front of you, or to follow along on the screen. I want you to see that these words are not mine, but are FROM SCRIPTURE! Truly, it is no accident that you are here and I’m so glad that you are joining us today!

o 1 Corinthians is just after Romans and is before 2 Corinthians. While you are turning there, I just want to go over some announcements today. (Secret Church- It’s an expository Bible study of Jonah by David Platt. Contact me if you are interested. Other announcements). Would you please stand with me as we read God’s word? This is God’s word. (Read passage, pray, you may be seated.)

· Easter is so special. One of my favorite things as a child at Easter was a good Easter Egg hunt! There’s something so fun about trying to find all the eggs and searching high and low!

o But during Easter, there is a far greater search going on than just for some colored eggs. Easter is a holiday about truth. Everywhere we look in the world; as we go through life, we find ourselves SEARCHING FOR TRUTH!

§ We’re on a different type of a hunt in life. It’s a hunt for truth and for meaning. This morning, that’s what we are looking at! The purpose and meaning of our lives!

· What do we live for? Why do we live? What’s the point?

· From a Christian perspective, truth is found in the events that we celebrate at Easter!

o See, as Christians, we believe that we have all sinned, or done wrong in God’s eyes! The punishment of our sin is death.

o What we need therefore, is a solution to sin! Throughout all of the Bible, we see our need for the events that we remember at Easter! (CHART FROM LAST WEEK).

§ We aren’t alone in this! In fact, every Sunday, the early church used to celebrate EASTER, because it is so central to what we believe!

· So, as we begin today, I want to leave us with a few words that will be central to our message today. These are, “HE IS RISEN!”

o As we look at 1 Corinthians 15, we see is an emphasis on the fact that HE IS RISEN!

· BODY: I love how in 1 Corinthians 15, we get to see Paul tell the Easter story so clearly. Every part of the Easter story is right here in this text.

o Contextually, First Corinthians is written to the church of Corinth. The church in Corinth has many issues. Their issues are a little different though. They are mostly self-caused. In other words, their issues stem from their own actions and choices, not persecution.

§ Paul wrote 4 letters to the Corinthians, 2 that are in scripture and 2 that are not. Throughout 1 Corinthians, Paul gently corrects and reminds the Corinthians of the truth that he taught in addition to addressing some topics that have created a lack of unity.

· Jealousy, pride, and selfishness are some of the major sins that are addressed.

· As Paul moves towards the conclusion of his letter, he famously discusses love in chapter 13, which he follows up by discussing how to worship in unity in chapter 14.

o But, there is one thing that he saves for last; the work of Jesus Christ!

o Without an understanding of chapter 15, the rest of the book is absolutely pointless!

§ The entire chapter is amazing, but this morning we are just going to break off a chunk; the chunk where Paul discusses EASTER!

· Looking at verse 1, we read, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,”- 1 Corinthians 15:1

o Let’s walk through that. These words would have been read aloud in the Corinthian church. There are people in that church who are new from when Paul was present and there were people who needed to be reminded of the message that Paul preached!

§ Paul is going to walk through the gospel that he preached. Gospel comes from the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, which means “GOOD NEWS!”

· The gospel is GOOD NEWS! Hear me, what you are going to hear today is GOOD NEWS! What we talk about at church is GOOD NEWS! It’s THE BEST NEWS!

o This good news is the reason that we are here today! It has not changed and it never will change. Matthew Henry, a 17th century English commentator wrote about his passage and said, “Truth is in its own nature invariable.”

o The truth of 1 Corinthians 15 is the truth of April 9, 2023 at Golden’s Point! This is TRUTH AND IS GOOD NEWS!

o Paul preached the gospel, then the Corinthians RECEIVED IT!

§ I want you to pay attention to something with me as he talks in these next few phrases. Received comes from the verb Παρελάβετε. It is an ACTIVE VERB!

· Pay attention to the ACTIVE nature of the next few verbs with me. They carry a lot of meaning.

§ What it means here is that the people of Corinth didn’t just hear the message and let it go in one ear and out the other; they ENGAGED WITH THE MESSAGE!

· Today, I want to challenge each and every one of us here to ENGAGE WITH THE GOSPEL! Don’t just listen, ENGAGE!

· I want to encourage you and challenge you to put aside all the distractions of the world and everything else going on today and to just focus on this message; the message of GOOD NEWS!

o Let God speak and ENGAGE WITH THE GOSPEL!

o The next statement Paul makes is that this is the gospel in which you stand.

§ Stand once again comes from an ACTIVE VERB!

· Why? BECAUSE LIVING OUT THE GOSPEL IS AN ACTIVE THING!

o The believers in Corinth are far from perfect. But, they are actively living out their faith. The vast majority of them are seeking to FAITHFULLY SERVE GOD!

§ They are not just thinking about the gospel in a philosophical way, or looking at church as something to do on a Sunday morning, they are ACTIVELY LIVING IT OUT!

§ Despite all of the issues that the Corinthian church had, and it had many, it is marked by people who love the Lord and seek to live it out!

· In fact, in some ways, their imperfection strengthens their testimony!

o They clearly are not saved by their own works. Only thorugh JESUS CAN THEY BE SAVED; which is exactly what the GOSPEL SAYS AND WHAT PAUL PREACHED!

o In verse 2, we see another statement from Paul. He says, “and by which you are being saved,”

“and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”- 1 Corinthians 15:2

§ This is the first passive verb in this passage! BEING SAVED IS A PASSIVE VERB!

· It is different! What’s the significance? It’s that being saved is not something we can do on our own strength, it’s something that can only happen because of the strength of the GOSPEL!

· Truly, we cannot be saved because of our own goodness, but rather only through what JESUS HAS DONE!

o Our salvation is ALL ABOUT JESUS!

§ That’s GOOD NEWS! I don’t know about you, but I’m far from perfect. I’d never be able to save myself!

o The final statement that Paul makes before he dives into the message of the gospel is, “if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain.”

§ In other words, there is a difference between saving faith and this “belief in vain.”

· What is it? Well, I think that John Macarthur sums it up very well. He says, “Some of the Corinthians had intellectually and/or outwardly acknowledged Jesus’ Lordship, saviorhood and resurrection, but had not trusted in Him or committed themselves to Him.”- John Macarthur

o SAVING FAITH IS NOT ABOUT A MENTAL ASCENT, OR ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW, IT’S ABOUT COMPLETE FAITH; COMPLETE SURRENDER, TOTALLY TRUSTING JESUS!

o WE HAVE TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND IN ORDER TO HAVE FAITH, BUT FAITH IS SOMETHING DEEPER!

o Before we go any further, let’s put those two verses together. They say, “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.”-1 Corinthians 15:1-2

§ Let’s summarize really quickly as we move into the “meat of the message.”

· Paul is about to remind the Corinthians and us, of the GOSPEL, or GOOD NEWS that he preached. This is the message that the Corinthians have ENGAGED WITH, they have LIVED IT OUT, and IT IS HOW THEY ARE SAVED; assuming they have ACTUALLY PUT THEIR FAITH IN IT, not just thought it sounded pretty cool.

Likewise for us, we should ENGAGE WITH THE GOSPEL, WE SHOULD LIVE IT OUT, AND WE SHOULD WHOLEHEARTEDLY BELIEVE, BECAUSE IT IS HOW WE ARE SAVED!

· In verse 3, we see Paul moving into a summary of the gospel. He says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,”- 1 Corinthians 15:3

o Let’s talk about that. First, Paul establishes that this message is of FIRST IMPORTANCE! This is the most important thing that he can talk about!

§ It’s great for him to address other things, to help the Corinthians, but NONE OF IT WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THIS MESSAGE!

§ In fact, that’s why our message today is titled Of First Importance! This good news should be of FIRST IMPORTANCE FOR US, just as it was for Paul!

o So, Paul says that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.

§ Let’s talk about that. This is what literally everything is built off of in our faith! The crucifixion is not fun to talk about, but without the crucifixion, there is NO JOY IN THE CELEBRATION OF EASTER!

§ So, let’s talk about Jesus death.

· Jesus death is prophesied about and foreshadowed going all the way back to the beginning of the Bible!

· After Adam and Eve sin, God sets a precedent that shows us there is a cost to sin. We read in Genesis 3:21, “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

o What’s the cost? It’s a physical cost; sin requires death. This fits with passages from the New Testament also, like Romans 3:23.

· Additionally, we see the promise of a savior in Genesis 3. We read in Genesis 3:15, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

o The promised savior will destroy Satan; bruising the head, and will suffer temporary; his heel being bruised.

§ So, sin requires death, but that’s far from the end. In Exodus 12, we see the people of Israel preparing to leave Egypt. During this time, a time remembered by the Passover, the people of Israel were instructed to kill a spotless lamb, a lamb with no blemish and to paint the doorposts with its blood.

· This lamb was killed as a sacrifice so that the Angel of the Lord would spare the Israelites as he killed the firstborn of every Egyptian family.

· The lamb continues to be important in the Old Testament law and is consistently a part of the sacrificial system.

· There was a permanent savior needed though as sacrifices could never fully cover our sins!

o In fact, Paul even alludes to this connection in 1 Corinthians 5:7 when Paul says that JESUS IS OUR PASSOVER LAMB!

§ Jesus is this sacrifice that we need!

o We continue to see promises about this throughout the Old Testament for instance in 2 Samuel 7, as God promises David that a descendant of his will reign forever!

§ In the New Testament, we find ourselves introduced to Jesus in his humble birth that fulfills many prophecies; including how He is born of a virgin and how He is from the line of David.

§ Growing up, Jesus never sins. As an adult, around age 30, Jesus begins His public ministry. For 3 years, Jesus ministers around Israel. At the end of His life, He enters Jerusalem, one week before the Passover.

· Just before the Passover itself, Jesus is arrested by a mob and is sentenced to death which fulfills more prophecies!

· In Isaiah 50:5-6 we read, “I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.”

o Jesus fulfills this as before His crucifixion he is beaten, mocked, spit on and He does not turn back or try to stop it!

§ Instead, Jesus takes it. Why? Because it’s what WE NEEDED FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF OUR SISN!

· Literally, even as Jesus was being beaten by the very people He came to save, He loved them and ENDURED!

§ We see this prophesied in Isaiah 53, as we read, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.”

· Jesus bore this for us!

o We continue to see prophecy fulfilled as Jesus is crucified and dies, but with no broken bones, fulfilling Psalm 34:20. As he hangs on the cross, we see Psalm 22:18 fulfilled as soldiers place lots for his clothing.

§ The entire crucifixion is prophesied! TRULY, JESUS DIED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES!

· His beatings before, the mocking during, the pain and torment; the shame, it all had a reason; IT WAS ALL FOR OUR SALVATION!

o The physical torment wasn’t the worst part of crucifixion and hear me, it was bad! Matt Chandler summarizes the end result of crucifixion in his book The Explicit Gospel by saying, “They basically beat you and hung you in such a way that, over a slow period of time, your lungs filled with blood until you drowned in your own fluids.”

§ But that wasn’t the worst part for Jesus! Neither was the public humiliation of being stripped, crucified in public display, mocked and spit on!

· No, the worst part of the crucifixion was the spiritual side!

· It was the fact that Jesus, our SINLESS SAVIOR WAS BEARING THE WEIGHT OF OUR SIN!

o OF YOUR SIN AND OF MINE! OF THE SIN OF THE CROWD, OF THE SIN THAT WAS TO COME!

o JESUS BORE IT ALL! IN THAT MOMENT, HE TOOK THE WEIGHT OF ALL THE SIN OF THE WORLD TO THE CROSS WITH HIM!

o As He hung there suffering physically and emotionally, it all paled when compared to the SEVERE SPIRITUAL PAIN THAT JESUS FELT!

o Think about it! Jesus knew EVERY SIN THAT WE WOULD EVER COMMIT! He didn’t just KNOW ABOUT IT; HE BORE THEM! HE TOOK THEM ON! HE PAID THE PRICE FOR ALL THE SINS! IT’S OVERWHELMING TO EVEN THINK ABOUT! I CAN BARELY EVEN DESCRIBE IT!

§ WHAT TORMENT! YET JESUS ENDURED VOLUNTARILY OUT OF LOVE FOR YOU AND I! HE BORE OUR SINS AND HE GAVE HIS LIFE, DYING IN MISERABLE FASHION ON THE CROSS!

· Paul then says that after Jesus died, He was buried.

“that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”- 1 Corinthians 15:4

o Jesus was dead. We see this in all 4 of the gospels. Jesus is buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Truly our savior died that day.

· The story doesn’t end at Jesus’ death though!

o That’s what we see as verse 4 continues on! Paul says that, “He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.”

o Once again, this is prophesied about and foreshadowed!

· In Psalm 16:10 we read, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

o Jesus did die, but his body was not destroyed; it was not CORRUPTED! Jesus was also not abandoned to SHEOL, or hell! Instead, 3 days later HE ROSE! Three women go to the tomb to put embalming spices onto the body, but when they arrive, they find an EMPTY TOMB!

§ We see this foreshadowed in places like Genesis 22 as God sends Abraham a sacrificial lamb to take the place of Isaac and in Jonah, something that Jesus even alludes to!

· Jonah finds himself in the whale and comes out after three days. He comes out changed; figuratively speaking, he comes out with new life!

· Jesus comes out 3 days later too!

As Tina sang earlier, “Then on the third at break of dawn The Son of heaven rose again O trampled death where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King”

HE BRINGS NEW LIFE ALSO! NOT NEW LIFE FOR HIMSELF, BUT NEW LIFE FOR US!

o That’s the gospel! That we have hope and a future because of what JESUS HAS DONE FOR US!

o If it was not for what Jesus did, we’d be hopeless!

BECAUSE OF HIS LIFE, HIS DEATH AND HIS RESURRECTION WE HAVE THE MOST GLORIOUS HOPE! It’s A COMPLETE CHANGE IN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED WHEN JESUS ROSE AGAIN! THE EMPTY TOMB LITERALLY CHANGED HUMANITY FOREVER! WHAT A THING TO REJOICE OVER (5th gear)

· And all of that brings us to verses 5-7 where Paul provides additional proof of the resurrection of Jesus!

o One of the major arguments against Christianity was and still is, that the resurrection never happened. That no one saw JESUS AFTER HE ROSE! What Paul does in verses 5-7 is to totally debunk it!

o He writes, “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.”- 1 Corinthians 15:5-7

§ Jesus appears to OVER 500 PEOPLE AFTER HE RESURRECTS!

· He appears first to Peter, then the disciples, after the women discover the empty tomb!

o There is proof in the resurrection! Not only did Jesus appear to many people, He did so at multiple times showing additional proof! Paul is arguing a very solid case that JESUS TRULY ROSE AGAIN!

§ And because of proofs like this, we can have confidence!

· What does confidence lead to in this case? It should lead to genuine faith! Not just mental ascent or acknowledgement as Paul warned against earlier!

· This should lead us to a genuine place where we cry out to Jesus in FAITH FOR SALVATION!

· CONCLUSION: And that’s really the challenge for us today. TO CRY OUT TO JESUS IN FAITH! We could think of the story of Easter in 4 parts and we’ve talked about all 4 today.

o First, we have our perfect creator God. He made us!

o SECONDLY, we have us. As we saw earlier, Adam and Eve, like us have sinned. Because of Adam and Eve, we are born into a sinful world and face punishment for our sins. (MAN)

o Third, we see JESUS! We see how Jesus came to earth as the sacrifice for OUR SINS! That’s the message of Easter! His perfect life, His death on the cross and His resurrection, which defeated death and PAVED A WAY FOR US TO BE SAVED!

o Finally, we have a response. We have 2 options. Either, we cry out to Jesus in FAITH AND ARE SAVED FROM OUR SIN, or, we continue on in sinful rebellion against God and scorn the work that Jesus did for us on the cross!

§ It may sound strong, but IT IS! THE REALITY OF THE GOSPEL IS STRONG! IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED! Our own efforts, our own actions, our own WHATEVER, COULD NEVER BE ENOUGH! Only faith in Jesus can save us!

· My challenge really is very simple. Today, we saw Paul lay out the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus and he challenged the Corinthians to ENGAGE WITH IT AND TO LIVE IT OUT!

o So that’s my challenge for us! ENGAGE WITH IT! PUT YOUR FAITH IN JESUS AND LIVE IT OUT!

Let me give two simple steps for engaging with the best news of all time!

If you are here today and you have placed your faith in Jesus, I want to encourage you to rejoice! JESUS HAS PAID IT ALL! Truly, as we sang earlier, UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE WITH A MIGHTY TRIUMPH O’ER HIS FOES!

If you are here today and you have NOT placed your faith in Jesus, I want to challenge you to do that today! In Romans 10 we read probably the most concise description of how to be saved. It says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

As we pray, I want to invite you if you haven’t placed your faith in Jesus to pray along with me and to place your faith in Jesus today!