By the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
(Congratulate our L2L kids and talk about success).
This morning I want to begin by reading probably my favorite verse pertaining to the subject of baptism.
Can you guess which one it is?
(Pause for a bit).
1 Peter 3:21
There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
This is probably my favorite verse on baptism for multiple reasons:
First and foremost because you can’t really argue with it.
(People can try! But they usually don’t get very far).
The verse is “un-get-over-able,” as we sometimes say.
(And if you have ever seen someone you’re studying with really pay attention to that verse for the first time, it’s usually a big moment).
But secondly, I love this verse because it talks about the importance of “the answer of a good conscience toward God.”
Is your conscience good before God?
The thing about a conscience is that it can be good if it is properly trained, but consciences can also be seared!
The Word of God is a discerner of the human heart, the human conscience (Heb. 4:12), and 1 Peter 3:21 is a great verse that does that!
But thirdly, take note of the last six words of 1 Peter 3:21 — and we can’t miss this!
“BY the resurrection of Jesus Christ!”
There is power in the Gospel because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, plain and simple!
Rom. 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
And the Gospel is?
(According to 1 Cor. 15:1-4)
The good news of the death, burial, and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ!
That’s where the power is, because the One Who overcame death is the One Who gives the ability for US to overcome death through Him!
Jesus says, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live!” (John 11:25)
This morning, we are going to spend some time in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and then we want to talk about one more thing near the end of the sermon as well.
Defense of the Resurrection - 1 Cor. 15:
Defense of the Resurrection - 1 Cor. 15:
The resurrection is absolutely necessary, absolutely essential to the doctrine of salvation, to the doctrine of the Gospel.
As prophesied from the get-go in Genesis 3:15, it was essential that Jesus defeat the Devil by defeating the Devil’s greatest weapon — Death!
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
So let’s look at what the apostle Paul has to say as he defends the resurrection of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
(Incidentally, you really probably need to have that memorized — Where is the defense of the resurrection? 1 Corinthians 15).
VERSES 1-4 — The Gospel defined, including the resurrection:
Notice:
V. 1 - “In which you stand!”
V. 2 - “Unless you believed in vain.”
Let’s skip ahead just a bit, because we’re going to come back to verses 5 and following when we get to point two this morning …
VERSES 11-19 — The implications if there was no resurrection:
V. 11 - “whether it was I or they” (Paul or the others who witnessed the resurrected Christ).
V. 12 - The Sadducees denied the resurrection — That’s why they were SAD, you see?!
V. 13-14 - The implications are clear — Our preaching is EMPTY (null and void) without the resurrection!
V. 15 - If there is no resurrection, then Paul and the others are liars! (They WEREN’T liars).
V. 17 - “Your faith is FUTILE; you are still in your sins!”
V. 18-19 - If so, we are of all men most PITIABLE (or miserable)!
VERSES 20-24 — Reiteration that the resurrection indeed is true:
V. 20 - He IS risen!
V. 21-24 - Jesus had to rise FIRST to make it possible for the rest of us!
VERSES 25-28 — Destruction of the enemy:
V. 26 - Rev. 20:14 says that death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire — This is the second death — And Rev. 21:4 says that in heaven there will be no more death!
V. 28 - This is talking about God the Son subjecting Himself to God the Father.
VERSES 29-34 — Implications for how we live here and now:
V. 29 - Read what Wayne Jackson has to say about this at the Christian Courier!
V. 30 - This is STRONG EVIDENCE in my mind of the inspiration of the apostles, and their true belief in what they had seen — The resurrected Christ!
The fact that the apostles (and other Christians) were “in jeopardy every hour” — What does that mean?
Is that a game show? (Jeopardy)
No, it’s not a game show!
It means that they were in DANGER every hour! Why?!
Because they were being persecuted for their teachings, and other people didn’t like that, but they didn’t back down!
Because they KNEW the Gospel is true!
And you can know it too!
V. 31 - “I die daily” — (He died TO SELF daily).
V. 32 - Who in their right mind would fight wild beast for something he knew to be a lie?!
V. 33 - Famous verse from which we get a lot of application — The context is actually in the chapter defending the resurrection!
V. 34 - The heart of the matter is that, due to the facts of the Gospel, we have to live our lives right so we can benefit from what Jesus did for us!
VERSES 35-50 — Challenging our thinking on the logistics of the resurrection:
I’m going to read through this section more quickly.
But essentially, what we have here is that Paul points out, why would we waste time trying to understand all the ins and outs of exactly what our resurrection in the next life is going to look like?
God knows what it is going to look like.
And if an all-powerful God can raise His SON from the dead, He will raise us on the last day as well, and we can put all our trust in that!
(Read the section).
VERSES 51-58 — Comforting words about the resurrection as it pertains to us:
I often go to this passage at funerals, because it is a very comforting passage that reminds us of the victory we have in Jesus!
We will just read through this quickly and comment as well.
(Read with brief comments).
Finally this morning, we want to briefly mention …
Evidence for the Resurrection:
Evidence for the Resurrection:
Go back with me to verses 5-10 for just a moment!
(Read 1 Cor. 15:5-10).
Also, Acts 1:1-9
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
The Gospel is proven by EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY! - (That’s very important!)
This is a quote from a book I have in my office called The Great Doctrines of the Bible.
“In our courts, one witness is enough to establish murder; two, high treason; three, the execution of a will; seven, an oral will. Seven is the greatest number required under our law. Christ’s resurrection had (over) five hundred. Is this not a sufficient number?”
What about historians’ testimony? (I’m glad you asked!) :)
Listen to just a couple:
Ignatius, who lived shortly after the time of Christ, had this to say:
“Christ truly suffered, as He also truly raised up Himself. I know that after the resurrection He was in the flesh, and I believe Him to be so still. And when He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, ‘Take, handle me, and see that I am not an incorporeal phantom!’”
Tertullian, who also live shortly after Christ, wrote:
“The fame of our Lord’s remarkable resurrection and ascension being now spread abroad, Pontius Pilate, according to an ancient custom of communicating novel occurences to the emperor, that nothing might escape him, transmitted to Tiberius, Emperor of Rome, an account of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead … Tiberius referred the whole matter to the Senate, who, being unacquainted with the facts, rejected it.” The book The Great Doctrines of the Bible goes on to say “the integrity of this passage is unquestioned by even the most skeptical critics.
Can you believe realistically the facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Absolutely you can!