I AM the LORD Who Redeems You

Intro:

Nicolas Cage stars in a movie that was released in 2000 called Family Man where he plays a wealthily, selfish investment broker who lives a promiscuous and narcissistic life as single man. But one night all that changes as he is ripped from his reality into this alternate universe. All the sudden, Jack finds himself back in a relationship with his ex-girfriend from college, the one he left to pursue his secular dreams. Now in this new reality, he struggles as a husband and father of children he has never known. The movie becomes take a look at the big question, What if …..?

Have you ever asked yourself “What if” regarding your life and its current trajectory? “What would life be life if….” is usually how that imaginative process starts. If you do, you can go down theses speculative paths about your career, your family, your spiritual life. The possibilities are endless and if you are not careful, that type of daydreaming could lead to discontentment and faith in the providence of God.

In our passage in 1 Cor today, Paul takes us on a similar journey by asking the question what if?

But Paul’s question to the church is what are the effects if the resurrection of the dead is not true? Paul turns to address this issue regarding the resurrection head on in v 12-19. Notice with me again in v 12 as the declaration of the issue regarding the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:12 (NASB95)

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?

Now we must understand that the specific problem in the Corinthian church had to do with a group who were denying the resurrection from the dead. More particularly, they were denying that humans would rise both spiritually and physically in resurrection. This sort of thinking came from the Greco-Roman influence that believed that the body was in capable of resurrection.

Richard Lenski explains in his commentary on 1 Corinthians,

“the rationalism of the pagan Greeks, which simply refuse to except the resurrection of the body, but held at the body is only an evil, or a fetter, or a dungeon, a grave for the soul, from which the death (of a person) frees the soul. When these Greeks became Christians. They readily believed the immortality of the soul, but they balked at the resurrection of the body.”

Paul sees that this denial of the resurrected body cannot be separated from a denial of the resurrected body of Christ. Since Paul believed and taught that Christ was raised in bodily form. He wanted the Corinthians to understand the ramifications of Christ’s new resurrected nature and how that leads to a new nature for believers in Christ. Paul will address their doubts by uses rationale and logic to show these Corinthians how far the church slips into non-existence if such a false view regarding the resurrection from the dead continues among God’s people.

As he contends in our selected verses today, we are going to consider, 5 realities if Christ did not rise from the dead.

5 Realities If Christ Was Not Raised!

1. Pointless Preaching (14)

Paul is not just making the point that believers are guaranteed to raise from the dead. He steps back to say a denial of the resurrection of the dead, is a denial that Jesus rose. If you follow that argument logically, then it is an all out denial of the gospel.

Paul states this when he says,

1 Corinthians 15:14 NASB95

14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

Paul will use two Greek terms in these section that are basic synonyms of the same idea of vanity. Something that is considered vain, in Paul’s usage, is something that is empty, without purpose or value. He uses these terms in v 14 and v 17. The first occurrence is in regards to preaching the message of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

Vain preaching is a preaching that is emptied of its purpose. The purpose of preaching is to proclaim the whole counsel of God that focus on the living word, the incarnate Son of God Jesus Christ, who died, was buried and who rose again. If you strip one pillar of that truth away, all that rests upon it crumbles to the ground. Without a resurrected Messiah, then all the words of the prophets that looked forward to Jesus are now useless and purposeless words. All the words of the apostles of Jesus who testified of his resurrection are devalued. All the words of the apostle Paul, James, Jude, and the mysterious writer of Hebrews becomes worthless if the central figure is not truly who HE is proclaimed to be.

Paul already stated in chapter 1

1 Corinthians 1:17 NASB95

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

Paul is simply stating that his goal was to bring forth all the truths of Jesus Christ and his accomplishments of redemption. His preaching was not built on rhetoric or smooth talking. Instead, it was the message of the death and resurrection of Christ that had its effect among the lost and hopeless world.

A sermon withOUT a resurrected Christ is a simple motivational message about moving full steam ahead in this world and all its problems. Such a message might encourage you do your best to put on good moral qualities that are reflected in the persons of the Bible. What those messages will not and cannot do is point you to a power and hope outside of yourself, found in the sinless son of God who conquered sin and death and rose victoriously from the grave.

Sadly, even through the resurrection hope of Christ is true, sermons across this church landscape never point to that hope. Instead, it is more about a man-centered strength and will instead of a all-powerful, unconditional salvation found in Christ alone.

Perhaps you have heard of Elevation Church with its heretical pastor Stephen Furtick. They made the news recently regarding the Easter season. As a church, they refuse to use words like “resurrection” or “the blood of Jesus” when appealing to the culture they are trying to reach. In a recent interview, one staffer stated,

“When I think about how I’m going to talk about Easter, I’m thinking about how I’m going to talk to people far from God because that’s the thing that matters most to us,” Shearer said. “For us, the most important thing on Easter is inviting people to church. This means reaching people far from God. So we’re not going to use the words ‘calvary,’ ‘resurrection’ or the phrase ‘the blood of Jesus.’ We won’t use language that will immediately make someone feel like an outsider.”

There is a lot that can be said about this statement. For one, invitations to church are not supposed to be made more palatable for the unbeliever. People with heart failure cannot be shielded from the reality that to save their lives, a painful heart transplant is needed, a surgery where your chest is cracked open, your heart is removed, and another persons heart is put in its place. Uncomfortable yes, necessary-also Yes.

But invitations to these types churches only mimic their sermons where hard truths are dumbed down or ignored in order to appeal to their lostness. A nice refreshing 12 oz coke is great until you pour it into 50 gallons of water. Suddenly, most traces of the coke cannot be identified because it was watered down to nothing. If you take the resurrection of Christ out your doctrine, the Paul is correct that preaching is useless.

How much to do desire simple, elementary truths over deep, more dense and rich theology? How necessary is solid, deep theological truth with the preaching of the elders so that, even if you miss some things, that richness is still available to taste and digest, when you are ready?

2. Futile Faith (14)

Secondly, not only is preaching futile but believing is empty as well if there is no resurrection. Similarly and on a personal note, what do we believe in if our Savior and Lord did not conquer sin and death. If the death of Christ is true but the resurrection is not, then we lose the confidence that the work of Christ was a satisfactory sacrifice to pay the penalty of sin. What Christ did on the cross by standing in the place of sinners as a substitute was proved to be acceptable when Jesus rose from the dead.

Romans 4:24–25 NASB95

24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

Commenting on this verse, Hodge writes,

Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (The Application of Abraham’s Faith)

With a dead Savior, a Savior over whom death had triumphed and held captive, our justification had been for ever impossible. As it was necessary that the high priest, under the old economy, should not only slay the victim at the altar, but carry the blood into the most holy place, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat; so it was necessary not only that our great High Priest should suffer in the outer court, but that he should pass into heaven to present his righteousness before God for our justification. Both, therefore, as the evidence of the acceptance of his satisfaction on our behalf, and as a necessary step to secure the application of the merits of his sacrifice, the resurrection of Christ was absolutely essential, even for our justification. (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983 reprint], p. 129)

So then Christ accomplishes the full work of redemption in both his death and his bodily resurrection from the grave. But Paul carries out that idea of a voidless or meaningless faith as he considers the effect of Jesus still in the grave.

A. Guilty and Condemned (17)

One aspect is stated in v 17, all those who believe in Christ are still facing the guilt and shame of their sinful failures against God and therefore still under the condemnation of the holy wrath of God against sin. The sentence for your crimes against God is still going to be carried out and in addition, their is guilt and shame for that gruesome rebellion against your Creator

But the death of Christ would still be applied correct? No, because without the resurrection, the conquering of sin and death was not accomplished and the judicial case against your crimes was not resolved. The penalty remains and the forgiveness is not applied if Christ underwent decay.

Matthew Henry asks the question,

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume 1 Corinthians 15:12–19

Had he remained under the power of death, how could he have delivered us from its power

Friends, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ you would be bearing the full weight of the guilt and shame from all the sins that you have committed. You would be still separated from your Creator, as his enemy instead of his child. You would still be destined to face the full wrath of his anger against sin. But God…did raise his Son, did provide forgiveness by grace through faith. God provided legal justification, personal adoption, and spiritual transformation. Praise be to God that the resurrection is true, Jesus is alive, and all who believe in Christ have tasted the sweet blessings of the work of redemption.

B. Eternally Suffering (18)

Secondly, all those saints, as we call them, those beloved who had trusted in Christ and have died, they would be suffering for their sins in eternal torment, if Christ did not rise. What tragic news to receive if we found out that the resurrection was just a hoax, our faith was not real and our loved ones who believed in Christ are perishing.

Since the resurrection of the dead is true, then it is not only true for Christ, but it is promised to all who trust in him. Just as Christ rose bodily from the grave, so all who believe upon his name will rise as He did. When Jesus returns to this earth to establish fully his kingdom, He will grant new bodies to the souls of all who currently dwell with Christ in spirit form. Removing the resurrection, strips the hope we have that our loved ones who followed Christ and have died are in the presence of Christ.

3. Doomed Deceivers (15)

Paul continues with his logical progression that if the resurrection did not occur, then the proclamation of such makes the Christian message a false testimony. This would actually be what the Jews would say about Christianity since many believed Jews believed the lie of the Pharisees. Some Jews would say the disciples stole the body and therefore the proclamation that Jesus rose from the dead, was a lie and a masquerade.

This of course means then that as Christians throughout history who proclaim such a message are deceivers and false teachers. We would be labeled as deceivers and liars with the same frustration that the Evangelical church has towards Mormons. When these Mormons come knocking on our door, we know they are promoting a lie about Joseph Smith’s vision and their theology about Christ. They will tell you these are Chrsitians and attempt to deceive you in believing we are the same in faith. But they believe in a lie. The Jesus that they teach never existed.

In the same way, if the resurrection is just a sham, then the Church would be guilty of the same false witness and we too would be liars deceiving the nations. We would be discrediting the character of God in general as a God of lies instead of truth if the resurrection did not occur. This is what Paul means in the second portion of v 15. If God prophesied through the mouth of the psalmists and the prophets, and through Jesus, His Son that the resurrection would occur, then God lied about this miracle and therefore God cannot be trusted. If there is no resurrection from the dead, then this discredits the purity, holiness and truthfulness of God as he revels himself in the Scripture.

But friend, the resurrection of Jesus is true. Our faith in Christ death and resurrection is solid. Our hope in a finished work on the cross is confirmed. Our preaching of the good news of Jesus is necessary. That true messages makes faithful, not false witness of God.

4. Pitied People (19)

Finally, from these verses, Paul states that if the resurrection from the dead is not true, then man simply hopes in Christ IN THIS LIFE ONLY. Meaning that our hope is confined to earth alone. So consider first of all that without the resurrection of Christ, then their is no escape of the wrath of God which means an eternity of suffering is the only future for mankind. There is not option for rescue, there is no heavenly abode, there is no reconciliation provided.

With our hope in Christ only in this world, we still have nothing to hope in Christ about even in this life. What did he conquer? We would still be in bondage to sin with not escape with sanctification. We would be given no power to overcome that sin that entangles us. We could not find joy in Christ in the midst of suffering and trials. We could look forward to nothing in the future outside of the temporary joys that we find in the fleeting pleasures of this world.

We would be hopeless and more pitiable than even unbelievers today. We mourn from unbelievers today who reject Christ but even their state of unbelief has a glimmer of hope because he know that the possibility of salvation and regeneration still exists. If the resurrection of Christ is a lie, then all humanity is doomed and that is nothing but a pity.

5. Eroding Earth (Rom. 8:20-22)

Romans 8:20–22 NASB95

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Paul concludes his words to the Corinthians in my last point, but I wanted to extend this to one more consequence. Paul tells the Romans that sin and death not only ensnared humans but it affected the earth as well. The lands, the trees, the animals are all subjects to the curse of sin and the effects upon creation.

Paul reminds the Romans that the death and resurrection of Jesus also promises good news to this earth. Looking ahead to the expectation of all that Christ will bring in his glorious return in the last days, Paul shows that the earth will also see a renewal. That renewal will set free the earth that is plagued is sin and death. Instead, it will be made new and it will be the landscape, a New Garden of Eden for people who have been made new in Christ to enjoy his presence forever more.

Revelation 21:1–7 NASB95

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

LORDS SUPPER