Resurrection: Truth or Fiction

1st Corinthians 15:1-19

            This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day.  Originally meant as a holiday to recall the brave servicemen who have given their lives for their country, Memorial Day is for many of us a time to visit cemeteries and monuments to remember family and friends that have passed from this life.  We that are believers in Jesus Christ, have a unique hope.  It is our belief that the time will come when the minds and spirits of our loved ones will be reunited with their bodies.  We call our hope the Resurrection!

            There were those in the early Church at Corinth that denied the resurrection.  These people had embraced Jesus’ teachings as a new philosophy but could not quite accept that He had power over life and death.  There are many like them living today – men and women that include the teachings of Jesus alongside those of Confucius, Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, and many others

            Paul declared that the Resurrection was the chief doctrine of the Gospel.  Take away the Resurrection and we are left with no Gospel at all!  Let us then look closely at what Paul had to say about the doctrine of the Resurrection.

I.                    No Resurrection, No Savior! (Vs. 13)

A.    And we are still in our sins

B.     The Bible and believers are mislead and/or liars

1.      Jesus was seen by hundreds after His resurrection

2.      Many of these knew Him very well

II.                 No Resurrection, Nothing To Preach (Vs. 14)

A.    Is my testimony just a made up story?

B.     What good is trust in a dead man?

III.               No Resurrection, Your Faith Is In Vain (Vs. 17)

A.    Then were His accusers right and Him nothing but a blasphemer

B.     If He died for His own sins He could not die for mine!

C.    Then is any other religion is as good  - and as bad

IV.              No Resurrection, Then No One Will Live Again

A.    Our loved ones have all perished

B.     There is no afterlife

V.                 No Resurrection, Then We Are Worse Off Than Sinners (Vs. 19)

A.    Our lives have been wasted

B.     We have denied ourselves the pleasures of sinfulness to no purpose!

VI.              We Know the Resurrection Is Real

A.    Because we know Him that died

1.      We have the proof in ourselves – change

2.      Our very lives were made different

B.     The Truth is verifiable

1.      More evidence of Jesus’ life than for any other

2.      The eyewitness testimony of hundreds