The Promise of the Empty Tomb for a Believer

the word closed closed 20 most heart-wrenching words of the human language I think you know your plan for weeks for your family vacation, you're planning to take your family on a three-day hike on the Appalachian Trail. And so you do everything in your power to to make your and see if you take the time off from work wife plans meals and you buy all for the kids and yourselves new hiking boots way in advance. So you have time to break them in before you go and you drive a couple of cars up for end of the North Carolina Mountains make a 3-hour trip up there and of the sense of anticipation is growing and mounting and everybody's excited about going and hiking and camping and having a great time and eating around the campfire and sitting around and having just a good family time and you get there. And there's a roadblock across the Parkway and it says closed and there are ATF and FBI and Park Rangers everywhere. closed that happened to us one year.

What are you do? You've got teenagers and elementary-age children in the car with you. You've made plans for weeks. What do you do? You scratch your head and you think? Well, maybe we can find a state park somewhere and you make it. But I can remember the the the agony that my kids felt when that happen, or maybe it's a little different for you deferred makes the heart sick. Maybe you're 11. And maybe it's summertime and little league baseball teams are starting to practice and that you've gone to your mom. You said mom Mom, Mom. Can I play baseball this year and you get a new glove pictures with you in the backyard and the practice with the team for a couple of weeks and but there are too many players. And some have to be cut. The roster is Red by the coach one afternoon, and you're not on it. The coach says well will have to plan for two teams next year and you cry the whole way home.

hard close maybe you girls make maybe you girls have had that kind of experience you bring from the time you were 13 of of your wedding day. You are so excited about the potential of a wedding day in the one you will marry in about the thrill of falling in love and and the excitement of the wedding dress in the excitement of the wedding day and all the things that go around release of of Pisa being held by someone who loves you more than anyone else but the door closes for you over and over and over relationships. Don't come closed. What comes in different ways doesn't it? Maybe you come to your mid-forties. Maybe you get to be 40 years old 45 years old and you step back and you take stock of your life and what you hope to accomplish and you decide that you're going to stay with the company where you are employed because you've a good advancement there and things are okay. It'll be alright and you decide to give it your best shot. And after five years after hundreds of hours of of late nights and long weekends and working vacations and everything else you're passed over for the promotion. and the door closes

or perhaps all your career doors are open. Maybe the opposite is true, maybe all the doors of your relationships than and of your work and and every team you've ever tried out for and and and everything has gone right for you. And now the doctor says you have cancer or AIDS or whatever. It may be and the doors start to close.

or perhaps worst of all maybe you've made it to the top of your career. Maybe maybe you have had the relationship of your dreams, maybe everything that you have done. I has Prosper you have had good health every day of your life. And there's been one Open Door after another Open Door after another Open Door. But the journey through all those doors. Has been a journey without Jesus Christ. And now you've died and now you stand before the door of Heaven. And that door is closed. Did you cry out Lord Lord open to me? And he says truly I say to you. I do not know you. Closed doors. Those are hard things in life. It is heartbreaking to hear the word closed. No point of the Resurrection the point of of all that Paul is talking about here in 1st Corinthians 15, the point of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is that God is in the process of clearing this world of all heartbreak and the God is in the process of opening the closed Tomb of Jesus so he can open the door of the eternal life to his children. That's what we're going to talk about this morning last week. We saw Paul as Paul was talking about the resurrection and the Corinthians and their struggle with their understanding of the Resurrection from the dead and they didn't believe that that dead men could rise from the dead and so in essence they were denying the reality of the resurrection of Jesus and it has gotten them into all kinds of practical issues the illogically and and in their practice of Life day today.

Paul makes the case that dead men do rise and he says for the Corinthians you just can't have it both ways.

You either have to believe in the bodily resurrection. And the Christ is risen from the dead. Man just dies and there is no Resurrection. Paul says you can't have it both ways homemades makes the point look at the terrible things that you open the door for when you deny the resurrection. That's what happens in the first part of chapter 15. He says If you deny the resurrection then evangelism will not only be meaningless. It would actually be evil. He says that we would have no standing before God whatsoever if there is no resurrection, and he says that there is no hope for you or for your loved ones if there is no Resurrection, but Paul says There is a resurrection. If there is no resurrection of the dead then death remains on Concord death still hold sway beyond the power it is it is it death holds sway even over the power of God if there is no Resurrection. Think about the implications of what that means. That's untenable. We can't hold that if God is Sovereign if God is omnipotent than death is vanquished in the end.

I can picture the Apostle Paul as he's riding the Corinthian people that he makes these arguments and he makes these logical conclusions any any builds his case out of the scriptures and he he goes through this one consequence after another after another and he's feeling the the deep in her protests kind of welling up and is hard as he's writing these things of if you don't believe in the resurrection of these are the consequences and all of a sudden he can stand it no more and verse 20 pops out of his pen. I don't know any other way to put it the Apostle Paul says, but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. And he exalts in what Christ has accomplished by the resurrection this morning this Palm Sunday as we look forward to Resurrection Sunday. I wants to think about the Glorious things that that Jesus Christ has done for us by his resurrection Christ has been raised from the dead. Let me read 1st Corinthians 15 verses 20 to 28 and we'll just take that small slice out of this chapter this morning and look at what Paul has to say to us here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let's give our careful attention to the reading until the hearing of the word of God.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of all those who have fallen asleep for as by a Man Came Death by a man. Came also the resurrection of the Dead for as in Adam all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. But eating is on order Christ. The first fruits then at is coming those who belong to Christ then comes the end what he delivers the kingdom of God the Father after destroying every Rule and every Authority and power for he must Reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet The Last Enemy to be destroyed is death for God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him when all things are subjected to him. Then the sun himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him that Christ may be or that God may be all in all

What's Frank? Father I ask you this morning. That you would remove the scales from our eyes. That blur and dim the image of your word. That you would remove the hardness from our hearts that doesn't let the truth of the resurrection of the truth of the word penetrate the point of touching our souls and changing our lives that you would give our ears the ability to hear what your spirit has to say. Father may we walk out of this place today rejoicing in the truth and the reality of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead I asked him his name. Amen. So I want you to take a second and put yourself in the in the shoes in the in the position of the Corinthian believers who are who are the Corinthian people who were part of it that first church in the city of Corinth. Now, we all know that church was called New Hope Presbyterian Church of Corinth think I've made that clear over the process of working through Corinthians and a lot of the problems at the church in Corinth have the Church of Jesus Christ today still has The Corinthian Believers were constantly surrounded wrestling with everyday problems of faith of Church Life of family life of a social life. They were always wrestling with one thing and another the Glorious future that awaited them had for the most part been crowded out by all the all of us cares and concerns the world that were around them. In addition to struggling with the ordinary cares of life as Believers are these Corinthians were living there culture out their faith out in a culture that was permeated with skepticism and doubt. Who's the world that they lived in that that was full of those who doubted the Christian message? I think it had to do with Christ and his sacrifice on our behalf. The climate of opinion must have made it very hard for them to keep a firm grip on the hope of eternal life. Not too unlike the world you and I live in today is it don't we find ourselves in much the same situation we find ourselves so absorbed with with coping with everyday life that the future seems faint and distant and don't we find ourselves, dated by a cloud of doubt and wondering what's going to happen what the future is going to hold? Are we going to make it day today? So we lose sight of Our Hope for eternal life. We forget we don't think about having very much about heaven. We will think about what eternal life is like. Paul sudden burst of euphoria speaks to all of us who who are carried Along by the tides of every day cares. I think Paul speaks to us where we live poll shows us that Jesus resurrection has to be considered the guarantee of all those who belong to him and he gives us two major reasons for that. I want to look at those this morning and the first reasons that the Paul gives us up for the resurrection of the first reason for Jesus becoming flesh. I want you to think about this with me for just a minute. Jesus is original design incoming demands of resurrection of his people. But if you could step back before time was time, if you can step back into the counsel of God when God Was preparing to the are planning on creating the the world and and creating this Cosmos and everything else. Jesus

had to resurrect had to be resurrected to pay for the price of the sin of his people. Jesus came to this world for the specific purpose of becoming the first fruits of all those who fall asleep. Then we read over that verse and verse 22 talk about the first fruits of those who fall asleep in that Jesus resurrection made him the first fruits of that and we don't think a whole lot about that. Okay, Jesus first and we go on I want to take a second and think about what first fruit really is. Just take just a second. Think about that. It is Springtime. Some of you were gardeners. I I am a gardener with a black thumb. So first fruit for me has real significant. I've got orange trees in my backyard that produce fruit for the first time last year. It was horrible. Okay, so it wasn't that kind of first fruit that Paul is talking about here. Maybe it's more like have you ever planted Tomatoes? I think Tomatoes were great illustration of this. You plant tomatoes, you know and you're hopeful and you care for them and you water them and you put them in the side of the head the right amount of sun. They don't get burned up by too much sun and everything is growing and they finally get a little Bloom and then that little tiny Green Tomato begins to form and they grow and they grow and they get bigger and bigger and finally they begin to ripen and at last you go. I've got to pick these Tomatoes before the birds get them. You know that tomato is ripe and it's red and it's beautiful and you pick two or three of those tomatoes and you go in and what do you do with them? Oh you slice those babies up and you puts you put them on a hamburger or you make a BLT or you make up what is that stuff? We ate the other night the Caprice e salad stuff and it is Glory. I mean it is just glorious and you are so proud. The first fruit of the year the first fruit is important because why because it represents something that represents the fact that those tomato plants and all the tomatoes that will follow after that are going to be juicy and ripe and you have good hope and you have expectation that it's going to be a great crop the first fruit show that the crop is out there and what the Krampus lights and Paul says that's pretty much the idea that Paul is communicating to us Jesus resurrection was not just an isolated event. It was not just a solitary fact of history. It wasn't just like Jesus. This is a terrible analogy. I was going to say Jesus is the only tomato you get but. You know what? I mean?

Jesus resurrection is is a is the first fruit of hundreds of thousands of resurrections that will take place because of what he's accomplished and Paul says he's the first fruits. Jesus is the first baby. It's not a bad analogy to me.

by the way The first fruits were very important to the people of Israel. The first fruits represented the whole Harvest and what did the people of Israel do with the first fruits of their Harvest they gave them is an offering to God. Maybe this is a text on tithing this morning know it's a text on the resurrection and on the promise of the resurrection and only assurance that we two will be raised from the dead in a bodily form of that. We have something to truly. Look forward to

By the way, a specific day was set aside for the offering of the first fruits of the Israelites. Do you know what day that was?

Except for the Passover Leviticus 23 if you want to check it out that just happens to be the exact day that Jesus rose from the dead.

Wow. Jesus is indeed. The first fruits he represents all that Israel had been sacrificing for all these centuries and he is now the first fruit. You see the beauty of the continuity of the scriptures. No wonder Paul called him the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. I want to talk about Adam for a minute or talked about Adam and Jesus. Why is Jesus the first fruit from the dead? Why is the resurrection why should the resurrection guarantee? The resurrection of God's people? Why is Jesus the first fruit of our Resurrection? I want to talk about that idea if I can for just a minute. Paul says look at what he says. These are he's making an argument and verse 21. He says bye man, that death came into the world in the first place. It is by man. That death is defeated. Doesn't it make sense for death to be ended in the same way it started.

Adam was the man who brought death into the whole human race. And God scheme of things. Adam was no ordinary, man. Adam was not only the first man ever live. He was also the representative head of the entire human race. He is our spiritual DNA. He is our physical DNA. He is the first Adam could what Adam did counted for the whole of humanity? Of course, we know from the record in Genesis that that Adam disobeyed, you know what Genesis 2 and 3 says the consequence of disobedience is death. Death entered the world Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden in the garden was sealed off from Adam and Eve so they couldn't enter God said Angels at the gates to the garden. the ground cease to produce as it had Adam and Eve had to wear clothing or began to wear clothing at that point in their lives and their clothing was made from animal skins death to the animals to provide for those skin pulse point is this pulse point is a Jesus came in the world as the second Adam as the last representative head. Adam was the first representative head. Jesus is the second representative head. There will never be another representative for Humanity for human beings. There are some major differences between atoms headship and Christ headship and and it's pretty easy to point those out isn't it while atom represented at every single human that would ever come into existence without exception price represents. Only those that look at the text here carefully only to those who belong to him. Look at Verse 18. That's why Paul doesn't merely speak of about Christ being the head for all who have died. But in verse 18 just the paragraph above he says that Christ has not been re a raised your face is futile and you were still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ at perished. He makes a distinction between those who died and those who have fallen asleep in Christ. Paul reserves Future Hope only For those who are in Christ, that's my point. He says that again in verse 23. Look at verse 23. Each one is on order Christ the first fruits and then it is coming those who belong to Christ second major difference between Adam and Jesus. Is it while I haven't had ship resulted in death for all those he represented Christ headship, obviously represents our brings results in life for his people. That's what verse 22 says when the Corinthian Church was denying the bodily Resurrection these skeptical Christians were in fact striking a blow at the very heart of God's plan to redeem mankind.

They Were Striking a blow that is that is a fatal blow you can't have it both ways Paul has already said and separating Christ resurrection of their own they were separating price from the very people he came to represent

Without Christ representing his people the whole Plan of Redemption breaks down and falls to the ground. Jesus Is her second Adam? He's our head. He's our spiritual head. He's our representative head. Jesus had to become flesh. He had to do what Adam could not do. He had to do what you can't do you realize that. UCR nature is Adams our nature is to do what happened it to disobey. to make ourselves the idol to make ourselves the one that we worship the thing that we worship to make our desires that Jesus came to set us straight. To be the second Adam. He was fully flash fully man, and he was also fully God. Will Paul moves on in the second argument that Paul makes is it Jesus's resurrection guarantees our Resurrection because the final disposition of this Kingdom the man's it? That's what he argues and versus 2428. So I made my third point. This is is when Christ mediatorial work. I will end to a great bit of detail into a discussion about when Christ mediatorial work will in and if you look at verses 24 to 28 hear what Paul basically has given us has he given us a timetable more or less? He's giving us an outline. In fact, it comes as a chiasm and if all had worked right this morning, we could have shown you the chiasm but he shows us at the point of of the discussion here in Paul's argument is that Jesus mediatorial work ends at the resurrection? The Jesus brings all things to the point at which human history began he restores everything to what had once been.

Paul basically argues that Christ mediatorial work comes to an end when he hands over the kingdom of God to the father. Let me see. Let me see if I can flush that out a little bit more. You say Christ receive the Kingdom from the father. Christ is now ruling and he's raining over that Kingdom in this world and and he will continue that rain until he has subdued all of his energy enemies and then at some point in the future. He will hand that Kingdom back to the father. completed is mediatorial work is done. So if you ever thought about what Redemption is all about, I want to explore this just a little bit if we can what does it mean? What does it mean to be a mediator? What does it mean to it to redeem something and I have someone as a mediator who handles the transaction. That's what Christ has done more Redemption. We all know what Redemption is right is it rude to redeem something is to buy something back is to bring it back under its original ownership.

Kathy Tweedle sitting over here has a 1967 pink. Mustang okay. It's a classic now Kathy's 1967 Mustang which I have never seen and never had the opportunity to drive Kathy, but

it is pink and I might not look good in pain, but

But the prominence of that 67 Mustang is kind of interesting. I've heard the story from Kathy. I've heard the story actually from Norma and before and so let me let me just urge you to talk to Kathy about the story. But here's the way it hears the general outline of what happened her. Dad bought Jim bought this 67 a Mustang for Norma Kathy's Mom and Dad when it was brand new. It literally had never even made it to the showroom floor and they bought it out of the warehouse that they show up in before they problem and put them out on the dealers Lots brand-spanking-new. Okay, first title first, you know. They drove the car until finally I guess it was a John. Oh, okay it anyway until there was there was pregnancy Kathy had already been born and there was normal was expecting. You know, she miscarried. That's correct anyway, and they decided that a Mustang is not appropriate family car for family of four. And so they decided to trade the car in. Well you fast-forward through multiple years many many years the car gets traded around and it starts off in Oklahoma goes to California and then ends up in Jacksonville and then somewhere up in Maine and

What was the prompted the purchase? Kathy's dad. Jim found the original paperwork in his in his papers. Jim didn't throw any papers away and he was hit put them aside in a the sleeves and a ring binder in that kind of thing to keep The Preserve It Anyways started the process of looking for the car again, they finally found the car and they bought it. Brought it back home to its original owners. That's a little bit of the picture of what Jesus has done. Jesus has restored us he has redeemed us. He has bought us back to the original owners and brought us back. Into not only a restored Garden of Eden but brought us back with a promise that we're going to have a glory that is even better than the Garden of Eden in Paul's. I'm in The Addams day. Jesus is bring all things back to the place where human history began Adam introduced Rebellion against God God's Plan of Redemption that existed before Adam was ever even created before he ever send was designed to bring everything back into a state of submission to the father.

How's that Redemption accomplished? God says God the Father commissioned his only son. the coming to this world to set up a kingdom for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes on him would have eternal I what a beautiful beautiful picture the kingdom is is both accomplished. It is an accomplished fact and it's an ongoing process. God has redeemed his people but we are not fully redeemed. It is an hour at a not yet processed when Jesus died on the cross Jesus encountered all the forces of Satan and of evil and wickedness and and he made a decisive victory over death and over sin and over Satan. His kingdom was established by his death on the cross. And now he rules now Jesus Reigns over our hearts.

He lives with the hearts of those who put their faith in their trust in him.

Even though all the forces of evil have been decisively defeated that struggle continues. It's kind of like cutting the head off of a snake. It will continue to twist and rise and turn and everything else. Even though it is been vanquished. It has been killed that struggle. Thank God is not going to last forever. Paul says the time is coming when Jesus will finally put all of his enemies under his feet verse 25 of the text will come under his feet at that point. The goal of redemption is going to be realized when all things are brought into subjection of Jesus. All that'll be left for him to do is to hand the kingdom back to his father.

Can you imagine what that will be like? The words of Paul God will again be all in all. You see Paul has laid out the time frame the the schedule of events the the program. The order of worship if you will.

The particular enemy that Paul makes special mention of this particular. Enemy. That is so important for Jesus to have vanquished is the enemy death. The enemy that that the world would say closes our days that we die and then we are no more. The enemy is Death Christ has vanquished. He has conquered he has he has defeated death on our behalf. You know the king of the Christ has has many many enemies. There's sin all of its manifestations there Satan all the hosts of the Demons. Why does Paul single out and death? I think it's with the show the Corinthians how foolish they were to argue against the resurrection of the body. Our bodies will be raised again because Christ has defeated death that thing that ends us.

Paul says death is also going to be brought into subjection. That's how glorious wonderful promise death will not have the final word. Isn't that our highest hope? Isn't that what lets us get up in the morning after we lay a loved one to rest? Isn't that what we long for when we will be translated from this world to the next? Let me take one more minute if I can to think this through a little bit more went when God's people eventually rise from the dead when we are eventually glorified. Jesus is no longer our mediator. His Redemptive task is finished here. He is our mediator but has blotted out has finished. His horns are powerless and they're consigned to hell and death has destroyed then Christ who is glorified with his glorified bodies brought to heaven.

The work of redemption is way broader than just the saving of The Souls of God's people. Les Paul's Point here. There's more to this than just snatching a soul. from hell Our bodies are redeemed. Our bodies will be raised and if they're alive at the last day of bodies will be transformed. That's our hope. That's why we celebrate the resurrection. That's why we do what we do.

The Christ through Christ this Earth with everything in it has been created and has been redeemed and in the end the heavens will be renewed. The entire universe will be completely restored at Jesus return the resurrection of all believers the general judgement the renewal of of Heaven and Earth is going to occur. Because those events take place on the threshold of Eternity. consideration of an exact chronology Paul's words into that they'll be completed when Christ mediatorial work is done when the kingdom is transferred from the Sun to the father. It doesn't mean that Christ is no longer the sun though. Christ was still we continue to be God's Eternal son. He will still sit at God's right hand. He will still be worthy of our worship. He indeed will continue to rain you don't have the cat has thrown but he invites us to sit at his throne with him. Think about that for a little while. Jesus is a brother to All Those whom he's redeem. That's what Psalm 22 is about. That's what Hebrews 2 talks about. And he'll always have Supremacy. He will always right he is open the door to eternal life for us. He has accomplished every bit of our Redemption from start to finish. You've done nothing. And now he invites you and me to sit with him and to reign with him.

If we're only trusting. And Trust his salvation for us alone.

Not ourselves not in our abilities not anything else.

Have you come to that point where you understand your need for a savior? Have you come to that place where you understand that you can't do it? If you haven't I asked you to think about that this morning consider what you can do and what Christ has done.