The Resurrection is Essential

1 Corinthians 15:1–19 CSB

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy 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 was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed. 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, 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 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

Saving faith proves itself over a lifetime.

Paul uses the phrase, “if you hold to the message…”

This does not mean that if you are truly regenerate that you can lose your salvation - nor does it mean that we are without sin and failure.

But if you are truly saved that faith, the gospel message of Christ, is what you will cling to no matter what.

Nothing in this life should shake you from your faith in Christ.

The longer you truly walk with Christ the more solid your faith becomes - it is like a muscle, the more you work it the stronger and bigger it becomes.

If you cannot hold fast to your faith the question has to be asked, did you believe in vain?

Salvation comes through belief in the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection.

What is it we should believe?

Jesus died for our sins - yours and mine. Jesus’ substitutionary death brought salvation to those who would otherwise have been lost.

Jesus, the perfect, sinless, God in the flesh took my sin - I was guilty and deserved the punishment which is death - BUT Jesus took the punishment I and you deserved and by death on a cross paid that debt once and for all.

Jesus was buried - being buried is a sure sign that death has occured. You typically do not burry people that are alive (unless you are a psycho) - the Romans were experts in killing so there is no mistake, Jesus was dead.

On the 3rd day the sacrifice that was buried lived again.

There is an important piece of information Paul offers - “according to the Scriptures” - all of this was foretold - when you tell someone what is going to happen thousands of years before it is even possible - understand that even the very way Jesus was killed was not used until a certain time in history - but when what you’ve told them comes true the very way you said it would lends itself to being fully trustworthy and believable.

Just to punctuate the reality of the risen Savior, Jesus appeared to a whole list of people - if it were just the 12 a case could be made for a fraud but He also appeared to over 500 random people as well all those who were followers and eventually to Paul.

Jesus is still “showing” Himself through the Holy Spirit today.

We are who we are because of the grace of Christ.

Remember that mercy is NOT getting what we deserve - in this case, death and grace is GETTING what we do not deserve - in this case salvation and a life with Christ for eternity.

Our salvation is because of God’s grace because there is nothing we could ever do to earn it.

Our continued life in Christ is because of God’s grace because we are helpless to live holy without Him.

The grace of Christ should drive us to work hard for the gospel and the work of the kingdom.

The resurrection is essential to the gospel.

The issue is similar to the Sadducees, Greek philosophers resisted the gospel because they rejected the idea of a bodily resurrection.

The resurrection is the one thing the religious leaders as well as the Roman’s denied (well besides Jesus’ deity).

The gospel hinges on the resurrection - if Jesus did not rise from the dead then everything else fails - Jesus even becomes a liar - Luke 9:22

Luke 9:22 CSB

22 saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.”

If Jesus did not rise it make the disciples liars and martyrs for nothing - Acts 2:23-24

Acts 2:23–24 CSB

23 Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. 24 God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

If Jesus was raised from the dead then we will be raised from the dead - if we cannot be raised from dead then Jesus could not be raised from the dead - because the believers and Jesus’ resurrection are of the same type, one cannot be possible and the other impossible.

Without the death there would be no payment for sin - without the burial prophecy is unfilled, proof that Jesus truly died for our sins would be lacking, and we are linked with Christ through death the putting away of sins and are now dead to sin - without the resurrection our faith is futile because we are still in our sins, we become liars and should be pitied more than anyone.

The resurrection brings hope not just in this life but for all eternity.

The gospel provides hope and comfort to those who cling to it - without the resurrection we undermine our reason for hope.

We tend to focus on the benefits that following Christ has in this life and while they are great the main reason we focus on now is that our commitment to Christ does not require much suffering.

The early church, however, sacrificed a great deal to follow Christ - they lost families, friends, jobs, homes and even their lives.

Our hope is in Christ and that we not only have Him in our lives now but that we will forever be in His presence.