03312024 Resurrection Sunday 1 Cor 15

Introduction

He is not here - he has risen.

Do You believe this?

The Barna researcher who directed the project, David Kinnaman, pointed out that “most Americans continue to view the Easter holiday as a religious celebration, but many of them are not clear as to the underlying reason for the occasion.

Not everyone believes that Jesus Christ rose back to life after having spent three days and three nights in the tomb. Even in the early days following Christ’s resurrection there were questions about it. The Sadducees didn’t believe in a bodily resurrection. Some of those in the 1st century church at Corinth questioned the resurrection of Christ.

In his first letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul asked the question, “What if Christ had not risen from the dead?”

The resurrection in the Scriptures is described as. . .

a sign for unbelievers (Matthew 12:38-40); cf. John 20:24-29) as well as the answer for the believer's doubt (Luke 24:38-43).

It serves as the guarantee that Jesus' teachings are true (Acts 2:22-24; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20) and is the center of the gospel itself (Romans 4:24-25, 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Further, the resurrection is the motivation for evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 10:39-43), the key indication of the believer's daily power to live the Christian life (Rom. 6:4-14, 8:9-11; Phil. 3:10) and the reason for the total commitment of our lives (Rom. 7:4; 1 Cor. 15:57-58).

The resurrection even addresses the fear of death (John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:54-58; cf. Hebrews 2:14-15) and is related to the second coming of Jesus (Acts 1:11; Revelation 1:7).

Jesus’ bodily resurrection is a model of the Christian's resurrection from the dead (Acts 4:2; 1 Cor. 6:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and provides a foretaste of heaven for the believer (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Peter 1:3-5).

The resurrection was something that for a variety of reasons was denied in the church at Corinth, due to a number of factors, some were suggesting that there was indeed a resurrection, but it had already taken place (it was a spiritual resurrection of some kind), and in any case they were down-playing the necessity for the empty tomb.

READ

1 Corinthians 15:1–20 NASB95

1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which 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 according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. 12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact 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 worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

The denial of the resurrection is an assault on the very heart of the gospel.

“This Christianity business is rubbish. I will prove that it is rubbish. I will write a book, and it will expose the falsehood of the Christian faith. I will call the book Who Moved the Stone? I will show and demonstrate as I would in a court of law that all the evidence, when taken into consideration, will demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the greatest hoax in human history.”

These are the words of Frank Morison. Words in his book first published in 1930. Now 94 years later those words still resonate with people today. Morris set out to prove the resurrection was a hoax and ended up convinced of the resurrection, of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. His book is still for sale, still in print today.

Morrison was persuaded by the legal testimony that the resurrection did have a factual basis in history. But is it important? What difference would it make if the bones of Jesus were to be uncovered, say, in some Palestinian soil or sand or cave—some archaeologist from The National Geographic would uncover the bones of Jesus, and all the evidence and testimony would suggest that it was authentic?

Is it important? What possible significance would it have for us tomorrow morning as we go about the humdrum activities of our daily lives, if the resurrection in terms of bodily appearance of Jesus from an empty tomb were to be proved to have been false?

Would it really change anything at all? What if the statement that we recited this morning in The Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that Jesus rose again from the dead on the third day...” what if that were proven to be, beyond all shadow of a doubt, a hoax of history?

Well, those are interesting questions.

Over a hundred years ago, Geerhardus Vos (professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Seminary), preached a sermon on this very passage...in the chapel at Princeton Seminary, in April 1905...and in it he says this about the bodily resurrection of Jesus:

“[this event is] the very core, the very foundation and substance of the Christian faith [and if the resurrection is denied that faith] is at stake.”

He’s not talking about the crucifixion; he’s not talking about Good Friday; he’s not talking about the incarnation; he’s not talking about the ministry of Jesus - he’s talking now solely about the resurrection, the bodily resurrection of Jesus which he says is “the very core, the very foundation and substance of the Christian faith.”

Here are three conclusions that the apostle draws, if in fact the resurrection is proven to be false.

He says to these Corinthians, ‘If the resurrection is false, if there is no resurrection, and Jesus did not rise,

then first of all, your faith is vain.

Secondly, your experience is vain.

And thirdly, your hope is vain.

First - If Jesus was not resurrected from the dead.....

I. Your Faith Is In Vain (empty, worthless) (v. 14).

What he’s talking about here is not so much our subjective faith, but our objective faith - ‘the faith’ . . . as once delivered to the saints, the faith which is the gospel, the faith which is the body of truth and the doctrines that the Apostle Paul expounds in all of his epistles, the faith of the early Christians, the faith of these Corinthians—it’s all in vain.

The faith that you’ve set your heart upon...it makes no sense, it doesn’t add up, it isn’t coherent. It’ll fail you in the end. The faith is false, it’s a sham, it’s a pretense, it’s a fairy tale.

If Jesus’ bones lie buried in the sands of a Palestinian tomb somewhere in Jerusalem, or His body was taken secretly by some of His disciples and buried in some unknown location like the body of Mozart…then this Jesus was just an ordinary man no different than you or me.

There were extraordinary things about Him. He said some of the most astonishing things. He had an influence, a charismatic influence, a personality influence, a discipleship influence on many, many people. He had that warmth and affection, that personality that drew people to Him. He’s certainly worthy to be remembered, to be honored, to be placed as a great figure of history. But that’s all.

What about those claims to be equal with God?

“I and my Father are one” (John 10:30); “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)...the use of that little phrase, ‘I Am’.

Paul’s great assertion as he writes to the Philippians - “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” (Philippians 2:6, ESV)

John, in the prologue of his Gospel, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God”?(John 1:1)

These statements have no basis in fact if Jesus did not rise, if His body is still buried somewhere in some unknown grave in Palestine. If the resurrection isn’t true, the great seal of all that Jesus said, of all that Jesus did, of all that Jesus claimed to be is in question. It calls into question everything about Him: His words, His character, His motivations; His claim to undo the consequences of Adam’s fall in the Garden and the penalty of death that was the main consequence of Adam’s fall.

Even Paul’s assertion in 1 Cor 15:45 are false...

1 Corinthians 15:45 NASB95

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

If He didn’t rise again, death was what he deserved. He seems powerless to destroy it. Death, He is its victim—He is not its conqueror. He enters death passively without any ability to undo the hold of death on us.

If Jesus is still buried somewhere and was not resurrected, then...

The Bible is only a collection of religious aspirations, and the collective religious experiences of men and women: the dreams, and the hopes and aspirations of men and women; Similar to saying “I build my life on the sayings of Mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, whose dreams and hopes and words still affect so many people, even though they’ve died.” And this is no more than that.

Great things have been built upon the words of men and women who have died. Civilizations have been built on the words of men and women who have died.

I myself am somewhat inspired by the music of Beethoven/Mozart or the art and genius of Michelangelo, or the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren—but they’re all dead, every single one of them. I know that. Bodily, they are no more. Their ideas continue, their works survive, but they’re in their tombs...and in the place of some of them, we don’t even know where their tombs are.

But these men did not pretend to be the Savior of the world! They didn’t go about claiming to be God! Promising that after three days they would rise again from the dead! These men do not atone for my sin nor enable me to be certain about my future existence after death. They fill my life with moments of exquisite beauty, and sublime moments of a sense of the transcendent...but that’s all. I don’t mean to undervalue them in any way, but it’s not on the same scale as the promises that Jesus made in the gospel.

If we were to discover the bones of Jesus, then our faith is vain.

The claims of Christianity are a empty. It is yet another failed hope and an aspiration of a man who lived beyond His ability to deliver. “The faith once delivered to the saints” encapsulated in The Apostles’ Creed: “On the third day He rose again from the dead” is just philosophical jargon for professional theologians to write books about, and that’s all. It has no place in our day to day life.

And Paul is saying to these Corinthians and to us, if there’s no resurrection, then Jesus did not rise; and if Jesus did not rise, your faith is in vain.

If this is true, then what are we doing here this morning, when you could be doing so many other things? Because if Jesus did not rise, then all of this is purposeless, - pointless.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the ...

II. Your Experience is Vain

verse 17: “...you are still in your sins.”

If Christ is not risen, then He wasn’t the Redeemer, He wasn’t the Savior; He did not provide substitution for our sins. He was not the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There is no great transaction accomplished at the cross of Calvary: our sins imputed to Christ, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to our accounts by faith.

Our praying is a waste of time. Your entire problem, yours and mine, the sin that has caused this great divide between us and God, ...that problem remains. It has never been dealt with. Christ has not borne our sins in His own body upon the tree. He could only bear His own burden, not ours. We still bear our sins, and we will have to reckon with them on the Day of Judgment.

Those hymns that we sing, . . . . And they’re not true. They’re not true, because no satisfaction has been provided. The Law’s demands have never been met. This is the greatest question of all. It’s the most solemn question you can ever ask yourself: “How shall a man or a woman be right with God? And if the resurrection did not physically take place, then the consequence of Adam’s fall isn’t undone after all.

But some say, “I believe in a spiritual resurrection. I will ascend into some ether, or my memory will live on in the lives and hearts of other people.”

You are not alone, my friend. There have been sects and religions even on the fringes of Christianity influenced by ideas just like that throughout time - resurrection is not a bodily resurrection; that we’re trapped in this prison house of this body, and that atonement and redemption means being freed from this body.

But you see, if Jesus did not rise in bodily form, then the consequence of Adam’s sin (which was death, both spiritual and physical) still remains.

Death is still the victor. Satan has won! That’s why Paul will say, “Christ was delivered for our sins and raised again for our justification.” (Rom 4:24) The very gospel hangs on it! Our forgiveness of sins hangs on it! Everything that’s at the core and center of the gospel itself hangs on the resurrection, because there can be no forgiveness of sins unless there is a bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If our justification means anything at all, it has to be the right to stand bodily—yes, bodily!—in the very presence of God as Adam had done before the fall.

Atonement has at least to do that much to be able to say,

“My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part, but in whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!”

If Jesus did not rise bodily from the grave, then there is no divine vindication by the Father, no ‘Well done, My Son,’ no assurance that propitiation was made on behalf of our sins. We’re still in our sins, you and I. Christ has not lifted the burden of sin. Christ has not lifted the guilt of sin that condemns. Christ has not lifted the bondage of sin that enslaves.

How can I know that there is forgiveness with God? How can I be sure that the words of Jesus are true and trustworthy, and that I can cast my entire soul upon them?

Because of the vindication by the Father in raising Him from the dead!

The empty tomb is God saying to us, “I am fully satisfied with what My Son has done on behalf of My people.”

Christ has conquered him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil. Jesus has taken the battle, as it were, into enemy occupied territory. He’s come as a knight in shining armor to rescue a damsel in distress, so that you and I can say the terrors of the Law and of God with me can have nothing to do. My Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

The sting of death has been drawn...that’s what Paul goes on to say in verses 55-57. That’s why the New Testament calls death ‘sleep.’ It’s like going to sleep and waking in the very presence of God.

But if Jesus did not rise,

our faith is in vain

our experience is in vain, and you are still in your sins - our faith is in vain - our experience is in vain...

III. Your hope is in vain

Look at Verse 18: “Those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”

That loved one who’s dying tonight, and whose trust and faith and hope have been in Jesus Christ and in Him alone, and what do you say? What do you say to the folk now who are left behind? That they have good memories of that person? Yes, to be sure. But you cannot say, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

You cannot say that one day that body will rise from the dead and be reunited with that soul, forever to live in the presence of God. Those who have trusted Christ in one sense have already died, and in one sense to be sure have already risen, so that Paul can write to the Ephesians and say, “We sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

There is this ‘now and not yet’ dimension to the resurrection.

We are crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20) We have been raised in Christ (Eph 2:6). Buried with Him in baptism, and raised again in newness of life. We are not what we once were.

All of this is tied together by the work of the Holy Spirit…

IV. The Work of the Holy Spirit

The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead regenerates hearts and brings life back to those who are dead.

Jesus, having ascended to the Father, pours forth the Spirit upon us. As a first fruit, the down payment, the seal of the promises of God which are 'yes’ and ‘amen’ in Jesus Christ; That Holy Spirit who dwells within our hearts is God’s testimony that what God has done is only a part, it’s only the beginning.

That’s what Paul works out in glorious detail in the rest of this chapter.

He draws the analogy between Adam and Christ: Adam is the type - the shadow of Christ, the first man, made of the dust, into whom God breathed life; and Christ becomes the life-giving Spirit, creating life and a new order: not the second Adam, but the last Adam, because there is no need for another Adam.

He undoes the consequences of Adam’s fall and brings into existence a new order, a new existence of power and light, and incredible glory...so that towards the end of I Corinthians 15 you will find some of the most difficult verses of all to interpret, and Paul begins to explore the kind of life that we will enjoy in bodily existence in the presence of God.

V. What lies beyond the grave?

Words at graveside - earth to earth, and ashes to ashes; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection from the dead and the life everlasting, we sow this body into the ground in order, as it were, that it germinates and grows and one day will spring forth so that Christ becomes (in verses 20, 23 of this chapter) ...Christ is the first fruits, that like as Christ was raised from the dead, so we too who are in union with Christ will be raised from the dead.

We have so many questions. Will those bodies possess different qualities from these bodies, as seems to be hinted at when Jesus in His resurrected body was able to pass through a locked door? What happens to precious ones who die in infancy? Do they remain little babies in heaven, or do they, as some parts of the church have suggested, everybody becomes 33 years of age because Jesus died at that age? We don’t know the answer to these questions. Will there be coffee in heaven? I have no idea.

And a thousand more questions…., but this one thing we know:

Luke 23:43 “43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.””

2 Corinthians 5:6 “6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—”

Jesus said to the disciples; beholding the same vision, enraptured by the same glory, walking the streets of the New Jerusalem enthralled by life as it was always meant to be.

What happened that first resurrection morning?

That body, that physical body of Jesus which was dead and buried burst forth from that grave a new and resurrected life, as the very first fruits of those who have fallen asleep! So that you can say to your dear ones who fall asleep in Jesus, “So Long for now, but, not good-bye. I will see you again. I will see you with my eyes, with my resurrected eyes. I’ll see you in glory.”

For those who are in Christ - at death our souls immediately pass into the presence of Christ, but that’s only an intermediate state about which the New Testament says very little. The great hope is not the intermediate state, the great hope is the bodily resurrection, the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.

If Jesus, my friends, is not risen from the dead,

our faith is in vain and

our experience is vain, and

our hope is vain;

and thanks be to God this Resurrection Sunday that we have a word of assurance and confidence written by the very finger of God that Jesus literally rose in bodily form from that tomb in which He was laid -

thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before his death Jesus spoke to Martha about the death of Lazarus. She believed that he would be resurrected on the last day….

John 11:25–26 NASB95

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

He is not here he is risen!

Do You believe this?