Implications of the Resurrection.

Today we celebrate the most crucial event of history for the believers…

The resurrection of Jesus is the event and chief truth of the Christian faith. It is the foundation of the Gospel…

It is the keystone that holds all of the other doctrines together.

It is fundamental to our salvation… It is absolutely necessary to believe in the resurrection to be saved:

“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” Rom 10:9

Taking the resurrection away, it would make us equal to animals; it would leave us without Gospel, without hope, and without Bible.

It is impossible to be a true Christian without believing in the resurrection. Yet there are some who profess to be Christians, but they still deny that truth:

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 3070 Resurrection—“That Nonsense”

An Arlington, Virginia, minister said, “We have closed our minds to such trivial considerations as the question of the resurrection of Christ. If you fundamentalists wish to believe that nonsense, we have no objections, but we have more important things to preach than the presence or absence of an empty tomb 20 centuries old.”

Men like that are “unbelieving believers”.

Such problem also existed during Paul’s times. Some denied the resurrection!

But what happen if the resurrection is a fact? What is the Importance of the Resurrection?

Read 1 Cor 15:12-21

If Christ rose from the dead:

There is a Savior.

“if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised.” v. 13

Without the resurrection, Christ would not be who He claimed to be: God incarnated, the Messiah, the Lamb of God…

The one who died at the Cross was not just a man whose body decomposed in the grave….. His sacrifice would be a substitute for us.

He has to be considered the Son of God because death cannot hold God in the grave. He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures…

There is a message to preach.

“if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain,” 14a

But if He rose from the dead, there is a message to preach!

If He rose, our message could not be considered a fable, our message is real, not fiction. It is the truth that saves any person.

We are be preaching a message about the living Christ, not only the crucified one.

We can preach it with all confidence as the disciples did.

Clement, one of the Apostolic Fathers, testified in one of his letters how the disciples confidently went and preached the message:

Lightfoot’s Apostolic Fathers in English 42

Having therefore received a charge, and having been fully assured through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed in the word of God with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth with the glad tidings that the kingdom of God should come.

Our teaching cannot be compared to the teachings of any philosopher or religious teacher… Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, etc.

Our faith has the highest value of all.

“If Christ has not been raised,… your faith is also vain.” v. 14b

Believing in a dead person has no value. It is like believing in any saint or virgin; it has no value because their bodies are still in the grave.

His death proved He was a true man. If he was only a man, his accusers were right: He was a blasphemer when He claimed to be God…

If the message is true, our faith in that message is also of the highest value. It is a faith that brings an inexplicable joy! That what Polycarp of Smyrna, John’s disciple, expressed in his writings:

Lightfoot’s Apostolic Fathers in English 1

and that the stedfast root of your faith which was famed from primitive times abideth until now and beareth fruit unto our Lord Jesus Christ, who endured to face even death for our sins, whom God raised, having loosed the pangs of Hades; on whom, 3though ye saw Him not, ye believe with joy unutterable and full of glory;

We must be glad that His resurrection proved He was the true God!

The prophets told us the truth.

“Morevoer we are even found to be false witness of God because we testified agains God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.” v. 15

In the O.T. the prophets predicted Christ’s resurrection. If Christ rose from the dead, they spoke the truth! Why would they lie anyway? What would they gain? We know they were rejected, imprisoned, persecuted, and some killed because they spoke the truth about the Messiah.

In the N.T. the apostles preached the resurrected Christ… They followed the same luck: stoned, beaten, prison, crucifixion, martyrs, etc

Did they suffer for preaching a lie? How foolish would they be?

No one dies to sustain a lie! Some of them were killed, others were mistreated because they spoke the truth!

We can trust and depend on the Scriptures.

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” 15:3-4

The Scriptures were written by truthful and holy men inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There is a difference between the Bible and the writings of other religious figures: Koran, Vedas, Mormon, etc. That difference is emphasized by these two verses: Jesus is alive! The founders of other religions are dead!

Of all religious writings, only the Bible claims that its hero is resurrected and alive.

There is someone we can trust in.

“For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;” v. 16

Would you put your trust in a dead person? Many people foolishly put their trust in the dead. Would you do it? No!

But if Jesus rose from the dead and is alive, there is someone we can trust in!

If we cannot put our confidence in Christ, the only righteous person has ever lived, in who else can we trust?

heyHe told His disciples that He would rise on the third day. They did not believe Him until He saw Him alive.

If He would have lied to us in one thing, What guarantee do we have that He did not lied us in other things? But He fulfilled what He promised: He is alive!

There is forgiveness of sin.

“if Christ has not been raised,… you are still in your sins.” v. 17

Christ is the only person who offers forgiveness. But such justification before the Father is guaranteed by Jesus’ resurrection.

His resurrection is the seal of our justification and the spring of our glorification.

Forgiveness of sin is something Mohammed could not offer, because he is dead! Nor Buddha, nor Confucius, nor Smith…

Only in the risen Christ there is forgiveness available

We will live forever.

In Christ did not rise…

“Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” v. 18

Life is the result of the union of the physical with the spiritual. Death is the separation of those elements.

Resurrection is the reunion of what has been separated at death. But if there is no resurrection then our last state will be death. No future, no hope, only death.

But if Christ rose from the dead, we have hope! Hope of seeing of departed friends and relatives, hope of seeing each other in Heaven. Because if there is resurrection, there is a Heaven.

We are in best condition than unbelievers.

If Christ has not been raised and...

“we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men post to be pitied.” v. 19

Unbelievers are living a lie, but we are believing and living a truth.

We are abstaining from the pleasures of this world for good reason: We have been saved, justified, and sanctified by the risen Christ!

We are not deceived nor deceiving. We are not miserable nor worthy of the pity of all men. Our hope in the risen Christ is secured!

Conclusion:

Thanks to God there is more than enough historical and logical evidence that Christ rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.

We may rest assured that His promise of resurrection for us will be fulfilled because He resurrected from the dead as the guarantee.