Resurrection Realities Part 1: Assurance

Introduction

As the expression goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” That has been used a million different ways, but one way that it is used is whenever someone is learning how to do something and there is progress, but they’re not a finished product. Therefore, the expression reminds us that growth takes time. Have you experienced this in your life? You have a desire, a passion to learn something… but as you begin, you realize that you have a whole lot to learn. You want to do what you see someone do on TV - but you realize that there is a process, and sometimes it can be hard to even know where to start! In most areas, especially in sports, the word for this starting place is “Fundamentals.” You learn the basic things before you start the more advanced things. I’ll always remember growing up with my best friend whose grandpa was in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for being a terrific high school basketball coach down the road… We’d have practices at the church gym growing up and I can’t begin to count the number of times I’d be told or hear him tell someone else, “FUNDAMENTALS!” These are thee basics, in basketball. Dribble. Bounce pass. Chest pass. Layups. Shooting form. It’s hard to do more if you don’t know how to do the basics. It’s hard to build on top of a shaky foundation. This is true not only in sports, but in every aspect of our lives including our relationships, our jobs, our schooling. We need to learn the fundamentals and then build on top of that!

What are the fundamentals of Christianity? What are the basics? Some might say the basics are the things that we do - we read our Bible, we pray, we come to church, we attend D-Now weekends, we sing songs. These are all good things! But what are the true fundamentals of Christianity? What do we truly believe? What things are foundational?

The truthfulness of Scripture

God being all-powerful, all-wise, all-present, all-good

Mankind being separated from God because of our sin

Jesus, the Son of God, being fully God and fully man

Salvation being only through faith in Jesus

These are foundational. These are the fundamentals of our faith! Over the next 3 weeks, we’re going to unpack 1 Corinthians 15 and see how the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is essential to our faith. How our faith is built on the foundation of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. We’ll see from this incredible chapter a different theme each week, and this week we’ll see the assurance that we have that the resurrection actually happened. Let’s read from God’s Word today

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.

Aren’t you thankful for this clear message from God’s Word? Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That’s good news, isn’t it? I’m thankful that’s not where the story stops - we’re reminded this morning that our Jesus didn’t stay dead, 3 days later He walked out of that tomb alive! We can have assurance that the resurrection was a historical event that really happened and it really does change everything today. Let’s ask Jesus to give us eyes to see and ears to hear this morning

The Message of the Gospel (1-4)

What is the Gospel? This word means, literally, “good news.” We enjoy hearing good news, don’t we? Whenever we go to the doctor for a checkup, we like to hear gospel, or good news. Whenever we open our phone and see a text message from a friend, we like to see gospel, or good news. If you’re in a march madness bracket, you’re hoping for gospel tomorrow night, or good news, as your team hopefully wins the championship! We love some good news. We like good news a whole lot more than we like bad news. Whenever we talk in church about the Gospel, or this good news, what do we mean? Paul, in verse 1, says that he preached the Gospel and that these people had received the Gospel… What is it?

The Christian Gospel is foundational to Christian faith, but at it’s core, it’s not an idea, it’s a message. It’s not a place, it’s a person. It is the good news of the Messiah bringing Salvation to those who are lost.

Mark 1:14–15 CSB

14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: 15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

What is this good news that Jesus is telling about? The Kingdom is here. In other words, there is freedom from slavery to sin that is available today by repenting and believing in the person and work of Jesus. There is life. Freedom. Hope. Peace. All because God comes through on His promises. Aren’t you thankful that God comes through on His promises and is faithful to His Word? This is good news!

How many of you have ever made a puzzle before? Whenever my family moved to Ozark in 3rd grade, the house that we first looked at and ended up purchasing had over 60 massive puzzles on the wall whenever we toured it! There were puzzles about places, historical events, and God’s beautiful creation. The couple that lived there before us had a pool table that they laid cardboard on top of and they would work for hours on end completing 10,000+ piece puzzle after puzzle. It truly was remarkable and we actually kept a few on the wall because it was so impressive! That’s my claim to fame with puzzles, I’ve never really enjoyed doing them, but I sure do love to admire them whenever someone else completes one! The Gospel in some sense is like a puzzle - it can be hard for some people to understand, as Paul talks about earlier in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:23–24 CSB

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,

Why is preaching Christ difficult for people to understand? There are some pieces of the puzzle that don’t always make sense to people. Let’s consider 5 things that the Gospel includes about Jesus.

Incarnation - For Christ to die, Christ had to come to this earth. We’re not talking about a normal birth and a normal situation, here. We’re talking about the eternal Son of God coming to this earth. We’re talking about God stepping into time and putting on human flesh.

Life - Again, for Jesus to die for our sins, He had to live. We’ll dive into this more in a few minutes, but even the most secular of scholars acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth really did live on this earth. The Bible tells us that Jesus not only lived, but He lived a perfect life - the life that we could never live.

Death - Hebrews 9:22 tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Many assume that if Jesus really was perfect that He wouldn’t have died, why kill a perfect person? Because He was perfect! And because this is why He came in the first place. This was His mission from the foundation of the earth. Jesus came to die for sinners. The text says that He died “for our sins” - you can replace the word our and insert the word “my.” It was MY sin that held Him there - this was Jesus’ purpose.

Burial - The Romans were experts in execution and specialized in crucifixion. Jesus was dead and placed in a borrowed tomb. He was buried.

Resurrection - verse 4, on the 3rd Day - Friday (1), Saturday (2), Sunday (3). He rose.

This is the good news of Jesus Christ. He came, lived, died, was buried, and rose from the dead to save sinners from the destruction we deserved!

Notice the recurring phrase “according to the Scriptures” in this passage. God promised these things hundreds, if not thousands of years before Jesus was even born! Look at just a few together

Genesis 3:15 CSB

15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

This is called the proto-euangellion of the first Gospel. The seed of the woman will be a snake crushing Savior. This is what Jesus did!

Isaiah 53:5 CSB

5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

Isaiah 53:11 CSB

11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.

What does the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah tell us? This servant will be crushed because of the sins of others and after His suffering, He will see light and justify many! Do you see this in the Gospel? Jesus died for our sins, but rose to secure our salvation! This is the message of the Gospel - it’s all about God.

The Bible is for you but it’s not about you, and that is good for you - the Bible is about God. The Gospel is first and foremost about God. About His love for sinful people like you and me. About how sinful people like you and me can be made right with God, not through our work and effort, but because of His work. The Gospel starts with God. God created a perfect world. Mankind sinned against God and fell. God didn’t destroy the world, He made a covenant to redeem this broken world. He does this by sending His Son… see, wherever you’ve been and whatever you’ve done, the great news of Christmas is that God loves sinful humans enough to step into our brokenness and not leave us where we were. Jesus didn’t just come, though. He lived a perfect life. A life that we could not live. He died in our place, as our substitute. This means that because of Jesus, a Christian doesn’t have to fear the punishment we all deserve because of our sin - Jesus drank that cup dry on the cross. He was buried. He took our place. Died the death we deserved to die. But then He rose. Death no longer has power over the believer - we have the promise of new life because of Jesus. He gives us His perfect righteousness because He Himself took our sin and shame and conquered our greatest foe and destroyed it in His resurrection! Friends, the message of the Gospel is a personal message. Our Creator stepped into time and suffered in our place, for our sins - it was MY sin that held Him there - but that’s how much He loves us.

(Some talk about people seeking Jesus… Realize this, that’s not Biblical. Romans 3:11

Romans 3:11 CSB

11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

This doesn’t sound very hopeful, does it? There’s a movement called the Seeker Sensitive Movement that tries to structure church for “seekers” or those who are not saved. The Bible tells us that no one seeks after God of their own doing. Think of hide and seek, what you’re saying is that you are the seeker and Jesus is either lost or hiding. Categorically, Jesus isn’t hiding and Jesus certainly isn’t lost - we are. We are the one’s who are lost. We are like sheep who have gone astray. We have turned to our own way. This is why we celebrate the ministry of Jesus so much!

Luke 19:10 CSB

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Lost people don’t seek Jesus… Jesus seeks lost people! If you are here this morning and you’ve never responded to the good news of the Gospel and there is something inside of you that finds this interesting or if you desire to know more, understand this: It is not an accident! Jesus is still actively seeking and saving. The Bible reminds us that we all need Jesus!)

This is of first importance - this isn’t to say that other messages in the Bible aren’t important, but they aren’t of first importance. The word we’ve used on Wednesday nights is Theological Triage - there are primary things, secondary things, and tertiary things. Primary things are about salvation and the Gospel. Secondary things are about baptism or church leadership. Tertiary things include a BUNCH of things throughout the Bible like your view on the end times. You can be a postmillennial and be a Southern Baptist. You can be an amillennial and be a Southern Baptist. You can be a panmillennial and think that it’s all going to pan out in the end, and be a Southern Baptist. You can’t believe that churches must baptize babies and be a Southern Baptist - you’re a Presbyterian or Lutheran, not a Southern Baptist. We’re not saying that this person is not saved, but that’s a significant difference and we can’t disagree on that issue and be members of the same local church. But if you get the Gospel wrong. If you get Jesus wrong, it doesn’t matter what else you get right. You’re lost because this is primary to our salvation. We must get the message of the Gospel, these foundational truths, right! Christians believe more than 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, but you cannot be a Christian and believe less than 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

The Evidence of the Resurrection (5-11)

Paul delivers this good news of the Gospel, that Jesus came, lived, died, and rose… we love good news, but aren’t there times whenever we hear good news that sounds too good to be true? Not that long ago I saw a story of someone who had a few student loans and was working to pay them off but hit a hard time financially and was contacted about a company that consolidates all of the smaller loans and puts them into one larger loan which, they were told, would mean much smaller payments and a much shorter amount of time paying the loans off! That sounds like a great situation - except for the fact that it wasn’t true. This person went from struggling to pay these loans off to drowning in debt and unable to even pay the interest portion of the payment. We’ve all been burnt by news that sounds too good to be true, and as a result, some people scoff at the idea of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is interesting, though, because humanity has been fascinated about what happens after we die for thousands of years. Nearly every ancient civilization believed in life after death in some form or another. Even today, nearly 3/4 Americans believe in life after death. Many believe in some sort of reincarnation or cosmic recycling, as I like to call it, as you are recycled into something else depending on how good or bad you lived in the past. Others, like the Greeks, believed that your soul goes on to the after life but your body remains. What does 1 Corinthians 15 tell us? Jesus rose from the dead. He was not reincarnated. He wasn’t a body-less soul floating around. The Bible teaches a bodily resurrection. What is the evidence of this teaching?

Paul provides 5 in the text

Testimony of the church (v. 1) - this church received this message and stand on it. 1 Corinthians is likely written roughly 20 years after the resurrection, in the mid 50s AD. If you read 1 Corinthians, you know that these people have quite the past and some of them are still needing to grow in Christ. How can they go from where they were to where they currently are? Because they were new creations because Christ genuinely rose from the grave.

Testimony of Scripture (v. 3-4) - According to the Scriptures appears over and over. The Old Testament promised that this would happen. God comes through on His promises.

Testimony of Eyewitnesses (v. 5-7) - Jesus appeared to Peter, James, the 12, and 500 all at once! Eyewitness testimony is powerful and how we verify evidence in the court of law today. For 500 people to all say the same thing, a court of law would likely conclude that they are telling the truth. Isn’t it interesting that Peter is listed first here? The one who denied Him 3x before His death. How about James? Most scholars believe this is James, the half-brother of Jesus… the one who wrote the book James in your Bible… the one who would become the elder of the church in Jerusalem. Guess what? James didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah during His earthly ministry.

Testimony of a Special Witness (v. 8) - This isn’t a follower of Jesus Christ. This is a persecutor of Jesus’ people. This is Paul. He says unfit to be called an apostle. He would later go on to say that he is the chief of sinners. Paul says that he was born at the wrong time - that’s silly because God’s timing is intentional. He’s saying that he was hopeless to witness Jesus. He was born too late. He was persecuting the church, yet Jesus appeared to Him. Some say that God is a respecter of persons - Jesus knocked this man off his horse, blinded his eyes, and called him out. That’s really respectful, isn’t it? Jesus radically saved and changed this man not because he was great, but because God’s grace is great and because God had great plans for Paul. You know the song we sing sometimes, “Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me”? This is the basis of that song, if you listen to the video from CityAlight. Paul says that he worked harder than anyone, “Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Paul realized that he was saved in order to serve and as hard as he worked, it wasn’t about him. His salvation, his life, his works, it was all a gift of grace. Because of God’s radical grace, he desired to pour every drop of effort and energy into seeing others come to be saved too.

Testimony of the Gospel (v. 11) - Paul concludes this by saying that all of these people are proclaiming the same message of the Gospel. Whether it’s Paul or Apollos or Peter or Luke or James. They are united in their message and the fulcrum of their message is that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t as if you had a faction that believed this and another faction that taught a completely different Jesus, they were unified that Jesus really did come out of that tomb and because Jesus did, they would as well.

As the New Testament plays out, we see a radical change in the lives of the early followers of Jesus Christ. You have the 12 who were scared for their lives in the upper room one minute start boldly preaching the Gospel to all the came in contact with the next. You have men and women throughout the decades after Jesus’ resurrection willing to die for their faith without wavering, saying that they saw the resurrected Christ. Consider Watergate, a lie will last for a while… but eventually someone starts to talk. These followers went to their deaths praising Jesus and sharing of His victorious resurrection. All someone had to do was provide a body and this movement would have died out then and there. The most effective killing machine in the world at this time, the Roman Empire, couldn’t do this. The Jewish leaders who hated Jesus, couldn’t do this. The tomb was empty. 40 days later the throne is occupied. Guess what, church? That tomb is still empty, and that heavenly throne is still occupied. Jesus really rose!

This is good news for YOU today if you’re in Christ. John Newton had a past. He was a leader in the slave trade but was radically saved by Jesus and eventually wrote the most famous song in the history of the world, Amazing Grace. He summarized the Christian life like this, “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I might be. I am not what I wish to be. I am not what I hope to be. But I am not what I once was, a child of sin and a slave of the devil. I can truly say with the apostle, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Do you have this story today, friend? You aren’t who you want to be, you aren’t even what you hope to be, but you aren’t who you used to be and it’s all because of Jesus!

Believer, rejoice in this good news today: Your salvation is signed, sealed, and settled! Your past is settled. Your present is secure. Your future is certain. The same grace that saved you is the same grace that will sustain you. The same Jesus who came out of that grave is the same Jesus who raises you out of the chains of sin and death and calls on you to walk as a new creation today. Rejoice in the evidence of the resurrection!

Depending on the source, you’ll find differing numbers, but on the low end there are 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfills in His earthly ministry. The odds of Jesus accomplishing 8 of these prophecies is estimated to be in the ballpark of 1 in 100 Quadrillion, or 10 with 17 zeroes after it! For context, the chances of winning a Mega Millions Jackpot is somewhere it the ballpark of 1 in 300 million. This is just 8 prophecies. Jesus fulfilled hundreds! Statistically, this is virtually impossible. Yet, this is what Jesus did!

Occupied Tomb = Empty Gospel (12-19)

Sometimes our brain plays tricks on us. We play out the worst case scenarios all too often! What if _____ happens? How can I get through if _____ happens? In fact, I talked with another pastor a few years ago who went through a season of depression where his brain would play these scenarios out, especially regarding the resurrection. “What if Jesus really didn’t come out of that tomb?” “What if I’ve wasted my life away for a lie?” “What if what I’m preaching isn’t really good news but fake news?” Our brains do this at times in all sorts of ways! Paul unpacks this in verses 12-19. We believe that Jesus, the eternal son of God, came to this earth, lived a sinless life, died for sinners on the cross, was buried, and 3 days later walked out of that tomb alive. We believe that this resurrection hope gives us hope today because we too one day will die but we know that death is not the end. We will receive an incorruptible, immortal, eternal body, and live with God forever!

But… what if that’s not true? What if the body were to be found? What if Jesus didn’t come back to life? There were people in this church undoubtedly who were concerned about the resurrection of the dead because some of them came from a Jewish background that denied a bodily resurrection, they were called the Sadducees (they were sad, you see, because they denied a bodily resurrection)! What if:

If Christ has not been raised, 7 consequences:

Preaching is in vain

Believing in vain

We misrepresent God

Faith is worthless

We are in our sins

We have no hope after death

We are to be pitied above all

Christianity rises and falls with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus didn’t come out of that tomb, we are still dead in our sins. Salvation isn’t true. Our faith and belief is worthless. We have no hope. There is no celebration whenever a loved one dies. This life is it. If the tomb is occupied, the Gospel is empty. Hollow. Weightless. Lifeless. Sometimes whenever there’s a difficult situation before us, we use the phrase “Worst-case scenario.” Have you ever heard or used that before? Maybe it’s in relation to a basketball game - you’re winning by 4 points with 1 second left, worst case scenario, the other team makes a 3 pointer and you still win. Maybe you need one thing at the store, and you go in saying worst-case scenario this store doesn’t have it and I’ll go somewhere else. There are serious worst case scenarios out there… but there is none more serious than this one. What if the Gospel isn’t true? Without this Christianity is pointless.

Yet, we have confidence this isn’t true. Yes, we have faith! But it’s reasonable faith. It’s not a shot in the dark… it’s based on evidence. The Bible says so, the Scriptures promised this would happen. People genuinely believed this during the days that it happened. We see genuine change in the lives of the earliest followers of Jesus that doesn’t make sense without the resurrection. We see the mightiest military power in the world unable to find the body of Jesus. Baptists don’t always know their history, but if we look to church history, the earliest of Christians had what’s called the Apostles Creed and they would recite this as a reminder of the essentials of Christianity and in it they said this, “I believe in Jesus Christ… Crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.”

As we march onward towards Easter, and as we continue onward in this thing called life, we can do so with assurance. Not assurance in ourselves. Not assurance in our society. Not assurance even in those around us. We know that all of those things, including ourselves, will let us down from time to time. But we can have complete assurance in our Christ. As we look to Scripture, we’re reminded of the fact that Jesus truly does change everything!

Tony Merida shares that “Genesis ends with Joseph’s death. Deuteronomy ends with Moses’ death. Joshua ends with Joshua’s death. The Gospels end with Jesus’ resurrection… and that changes everything!” Every other major world religion is centered on someone who died and stayed dead. Muhammad. Buddha. Confucius. Moses. Joseph Smith. These are all dead… but Jesus defeated death… and Jesus alone can free you from sin and death

Acts 4:12 CSB

12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

Conclusion

This is the Gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ. Who He is. His birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection. He alone provides salvation to sinners just like you and me! This is good news. It’s good news to have an assurance that isn’t founded on your perfection or strength, but it is available to you today and will be an anchor for your soul. Maybe you’re here today and you’re struggling with worry. You’re worried about how you’re going to make ends meet. You’re worried about a loved one’s health. You’re worried about the future. Maybe you’re anxious. You’re chronically anxious. You’re anxious about the school year winding down. You’re anxious about a situation. Maybe you’re upset and you feel like all hope is lost and that God has let you down. If the resurrection is true, everything is going to be ok. We will face nothing in this life that a good resurrection can’t fix. Guess what? The resurrection is true. We can have assurance whenever our head hits the pillow that Jesus of Nazareth really walked this earth. He really lived a sinless life. He really died. He really rose. There is evidence to support these Biblical claims! Because we can have assurance about Jesus’ resurrection

On Your Best Day, Be Assured of the Resurrection

There is a part inside each of us that would love to take credit for our salvation and think that we don’t need Jesus. At our best, we are sinners in need of a sinless Savior - and this is what the Bible reminds us that we have! At our best, we can and must be assured of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope and life He gives to those who turn from sin and trust in Him.

On Your Worst Day, Be Assured of the Resurrection

We are prone to wander and tempted to forget. There are seasons in the lives even of the strongest of Christians where we are tempted to think that Jesus can’t save us or, maybe even that our faith is in vain. In your lowest of lows, be assured of the resurrection. Jesus really came to seek and save lost sinners and that is good news for who? Sinners! You haven’t done something so bad that Jesus can’t redeem and restore. Even as a Christian who is struggling and suffering, the resurrection gives you hope that He is with you.

When Facing Death, Be Assured of the Resurrection

Think of the basics of life - we are born, we live, and we die. That’s a morbid thought to many… but as a Christian, you don’t have to fear any part of that equation. Life is a gift from God. We are here on mission for God. And all that death can do is make your life infinitely better as it brings you to the face of Jesus. We’re going to begin learning a new hymn next week called Christ our Hope in Life and Death - Jesus gives us hope in this life… but He also gives us hope whenever we face death. This world can’t have hope when facing death. But we have a blessed assurance whenever death comes our way. The song says this, “There we will rise to meet the Lord, then sin and death will be destroyed, and we will feast in endless joy, when Christ is ours forevermore.”

Friend, have you trusted in Jesus today? If so, you have this resurrection hope! If not, today, turn your eyes to Jesus. Examine the claims of the Gospel. Look to the evidence available before you. Pray that the Lord will open your eyes and help you see that you have a great need for Christ, and a great Christ for your need!