Easter 2024

1 Cor 15:1-26

Three Questions

Is it True?

Testimony of Eyewitnesses

Admission of Critics

Matthew 28:11–15 ESV

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Martyrdom of the Disciples

Stephen stoned (Acts 7)

James (the brother of John) Executed by Herod (Acts 12:2)

Peter was crucified upside down by the Romans in 64 AD

Andrew Martyred in Achaia (Greece) in AD 70.

Matthew was beheaded sometime between 60-70 AD in Ethiopia

Nathaniel (Bartholomew) flayed and crucified

James (Brother of Jesus) thrown off the top of the temple - 63 AD.

John boiled in oil, died in exile on Patmos

Paul-

2 Corinthians 11:22–28 (ESV)

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Does it Matter?

First Importance

1 Corinthians 2:1–2 ESV

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures

Isaiah 53:3–6 (ESV)

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

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.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures

Psalm 16:8–10 ESV

I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

What is my Response?

1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.