If Christ Has Not Been Raised

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Why does the resurrection matter so much? Why would we care to take a Sunday each year to focus on it in a special and magnified way?

If He has not been raised

The resurrection is not less important than the cross

They are both vitally important to the gospel

No cross, no gospel

No resurrection, no gospel

A dead Christ has no power at all

If Christ hasn't been raised, I preach in vain (v.14)

If Christ hasn’t been raised, our hope is in vain (v.14)

If Christ hasn’t been raised, we are still in our sin (v.17)

If Christ has not been raised, Christians go to hell (v.18)

If Christ hasn’t been raised, we are most to be pitied (v.19)

Faith is not based on a probability

It is confidence in the Gospel of Jesus

Hebrews 11:1- Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We must never present Jesus as the best option among possible options

It is either Jesus or not; either He is God or He is not

We must call people to cast themselves in Him in faith, not to hedge their bets on Him

Christ has been raised from the dead

He was physically dead and buried

This is not some mystical allegory

It is not an unverifiable story that might be fiction

He was really a man and was really beaten and was really struck in the face by the soldiers and was really pierced through with nails and a spear and really died in blood and agony

He swallowed the fullness of the cup of God’s wrath

It was we who deserved His wrath forever

He drank the fullness of the cup

All who receive Him as their Beloved Savior and Beloved Lord no longer face the fury of the wrath of God

He did not stay dead

He was raised on the third day, just as He promised!

Luke 24:1-7- Bible

His resurrection was a physical bodily resurrection

He was physically seen by His disciples

Verses 3-8- Bible

Thomas physically touched His scars

John 20:27- Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

He physically ate with the disciples

John 21:12-14- Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

He physically ascended into heaven

Luke 24:50-51- And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

We will also be raised with Him

We will receive new heavenly bodies

Philippians 3:20-21- But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

We will reign with Him forever

Romans 8:16-17a- The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ

We will relish in His grace

Ephesians 2:4-7- But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

How can we keep from singing?

May we repent of so often being unmoved by the Gospel

It becomes so ordinary that we lose our wonder at it

O God gives us eyes to see and hearts to savor the inexpressible greatness of the cross and the empty tomb

May we rejoice with all of our hearts

Our king has risen and reigns forever

He is beautiful and glorious and marvelous, and He is worthy of all of our praise

Today is a day for highest praise

Tomorrow is a day for highest praise

Forever is endless days made for highest praise