The Risen Christ, Our Hope
Notes
Transcript
The Risen Christ Our Hope
The Risen Christ Our Hope
Good morning, I am so glad to be here with you today
As promised we are on week two of this short series
Today we are going to discuss the resurrection
I entitle this sermon
The Risen Christ our only Hope
The cardinal doctrine
The motivation and
Evidence for the resurrection
Understanding the Gospel message
You know I was speaking with some one this week about our faith. He was a skeptic
I love skeptics to be honest with you
I’ve never been the guy that just believed, I need evidence
I need something tangible.
Call me a doubting Thomas if you will
New Testament warns Against false prophets?
I’ve always taken that seriously and it guides my search for truth
Anyways this young man who shall not be named was arguing with me over the facts of the faith.
He is wanting to know the truth and the details
So we hit on many facts.
I directed him to many resources but most importantly
I wanted to direct him to the historical reality and truth of the Bible.
I know many of you listening today may be skeptics yourself
But like the young man I discussed this with
look into the facts of this chapter
Look into the facts of the faith
And let’s get into the word and start to look at the significance of the resurrection and the importance it holds to the faith.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Prayer
If you take anything away from the teaching today
Anything at all
I want you to know that while the Bible holds enormous spiritual value, it also holds historical facts
Something that many of us struggle with today
We don’t want to be fooled
We don’t want to be tricked
Lets face it the claims of Christianity
Claims of Resurrection
They do appear abnormal
They appear to not make sense
Something the Corinthian Church was struggling with
Just as we struggle
Especially those skeptics
Yet I find nothing wrong with this
For many we need to question
I’d prefer you question
come to the right understanding of the faith
rather than never truly understand
never fully beleive
and never come to a full knowledge of Jesus
This is the discussion Paul is arguing for in our passage of study.
The reality of it all
The facts
The historicity
The understanding of our final state
The hope of our eternity.
Dr. Elmer Towns calls this the Cardinal Doctrine of Christianity
The Cardinal Doctrine
The Cardinal Doctrine
The point of our faith that separates us from the others
I love how Pauls opens up here
IF IF IF
Paul opens with a great deal of ifs
It’s as if Paul is reading your mind
he knows the questions you have.
Look at the first if
IF Christ preached he had been raised from the dead...
Paul is putting them on the spot
They don’t believe Christ.
After all the entire purpose of this letter to Corinth is to glorify Christ yet
They don’t believe the very person the faith is built on so how can anything else be?
Watch how he breaks it down like a child.
**Those of us with doubts are wondering how he is reading our minds here **
Look at this
IF Christ did not resurrect
RESULT you don’t believe the founder of the faith even though there is overwhelming evidence.
IF there is no resurrection
RESULT Christ is dead.
RESULT our preaching is poinless.
RESULT the apostles are liars
RESULT your faith is pointless
RESULT you are still in your sins,
RESULT your sins haven’t been forgiven
RESULT those that have died for the faith or have died believing in Christ are gone and there is no hope.
RESULT Christ was only a magician that has great teachings on how to love. He became like a Buddah.
BIG ONE
IF Christ did not raise
RESULT we are pathetic losers that believe in something false and are willing to die for something fake and therefore
we are delusional and
everyone should feel sorry for us.
Thats the point
Thats the homerun
Thats the entirety of the argument
This is why Paul spends so much energy on this chapter
He is focusing on our understanding of the facts
He is focusing on our understanding of the evidence
He is focusing on our understanding that Jesus is our only hope
He is Our hope for eternal life and the motivation of the apostles.
He is Our hope for eternal life and the motivation of the apostles.
Take a look at the lives of the apostles
Each one died, minus John, a martyrs death
They were murdered for the faith
Killed for sharing the good news
News of a resurrection
News of a promised hope
I’ve said this many times
I’ve explained this hundreds of times
Christ did not come to give you your best life now
He came to save you from sin
He came to give you eternal life through his finished work on the cross
Because He loves you
Because He desperately wants a relationship with you
Watching The Principle
One thing all major theoretical physicist agree upon
You are not significant
You have no purpose
You are a random
You will live and die and thats then end of it
Wow!
Depressing.
Contrary... force fed to us
Christianity argues entirely different
Christianity says
The facts say
The evidence says
Jesus was a real person
He healed thousands of people
He walked this earth
He did miracles
He rose people from the dead
He taught us a new way of living which in reality was the old way just corrected
And he was the fulfillment of prophecy
The fulfillment of the Old Testmant
Claimed to be God
Rose from the dead
And is seated at the right hand of the father praying for you as we speak
The teaching of Christs ressurecion
Its paramount to our faith
look with me 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
He is our hope
He is our guarantee
He is our only means of being made right with the Father
His resurrection is proof that our faith is real
But understand this
there is evidence
Inside and outside of the Bible
There is historical facts
Why am I harping on this
Why did Paul focus on this
Why is this so important
When Jesus becomes a real person in your mind
When Jesus becomes an actual friend of yours
Then a relationship can form
Then a bond is created
Love takes over
When that relationship builds
Then things become hard to fathom.
That’s when the cross becomes personal
Thats when you come face to face with your sin
You begin to understand the depths to which He will go to save us
You understand why He is our hope
That’s when you start asking why
Why am I so important
Why do you love me that much. Why!!
It starts to hit home
starts to become true
Thats when the change happens
But lets get back to the evidence
Because I know for many that is extremely important
Multiple resources
If you look on your screen
If you look at the end of the video
I’ll have a list for you
So you can investigate for yourself
For now I want to stick to Scripture
Turn with me 1 Corinthians 15:6-7
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Paul is laying it out,
After the resurrection Jesus is seen by hundreds of people
Not one or two
But hundreds
I’ve heard the argument that this statement is just faked
Paul is lying here
Then let me ask you what is their motivation?
When was the last time you were motived by a dead person
A person who if dead
holds nothing over your head
can benefit you nothing
can promise you nothing
Hes dead
pointless
Paul answers this because He gets it
Pauls not stupid
He knows where your mind is going
Go back to 1 Corinthians 15:19
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
In other-words
If He is dead
If He did not raise
Then its all useless
The entire faith is pointless
Back to the motivation
Lets take a look at two positions here
Turn with me to John 20 and then turn with me Acts 2
Place a finger in one and open to the other
I want you to see the difference in behavior
First John 20:19
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Notice these men are terrified
They are locked in a room
There Messiah is dead
Theres no hope
No point in continuing
Jesus had died a horrific death
I’m sure they feared the exact same thing
Then jesus walks in and says peace be with you.
Can you imagine
Now lets flip over to Acts 2:38-39
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Heres the confusing part
Peter and the rest of the apostles have suddenly gained a lot of motivation
They are suddenly brave
They fear nothing
Jesus had just been crucified a few days earlier
Jesus had just been beaten beyond recognition
All hope had been lost
But now Peter is preaching to anyone that will listen
But now the apostles become a force
a force to be reckoned with
They share the Gospel to the entire world
Their message of hope is spread throughout
Some go to Asia,
Some go to Africa
Some go to Europe
You see the entire book of Acts
A story of bold men
Preaching to the world
2,000 years later
here we are
But I ask you again,
What is the point if He is dead
They would be crazy
People don’t die for a dead Messiah
People don’t die for something that holds zero benefit
People die for a cause when they see value
This had no value
This had nothing to offer
Until they see the risen Messiah
Back to the text
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
This is not a fairytale statement
This is the foundation of our faith
This is what is promised
This is our guarantee
This is our hope.
John 3:16
Perhaps the most famous passage in Scripture tells us the obvious.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
and again in
Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Without going into a another sermon on theology
I want you to understand
This world is not our home
Hebrews 13:14
For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
This brings me to my final point
His resurrection is our victory
His resurrection is our victory
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Forgive me for reading the entire 8 verse here
but they provide so much hope
What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
Before we close today
I want to summarize our message of hope
I want to take just a minute to break down the Gospel of Christ
The Bible tells us that God is perfect,
He is holy
He is just
He is righteous
He created us
At the same time the Bible tells us that we are all sinners
That we violate his commands
That we violate his trust
We are rebellious
Because of sin we are eternally separated from God
We are punished for our rebellion
Common sense tells us if God set a standard and we violate that standard then punishment is required.
There would be no purpose in a standard if there were no consequence for violating the standard.
This is were it gets interesting
The Bible also says that we could never possibly achieve the standard of God
That we are forever doomed to be eternally seperated from God
Unless a sacrifice is given
But that sacrifice must come from the creature that has violated the trust
That sacrifice must be a human sacrifice.
But God made a way.
The Bible says that a perfect man came and offered himself up to be that sacrifice
The Bible says that Jesus came down from heaven
Became a man
offered himself up in our place
became the sacrifice for our sin
suffered and died in our place
so that we can be made right with God
Because of this sacrifice, because of the cross
We are now forgiven for our rebellion
We are now considered children of God through faith
Faith in the finished work of the cross
Faith in His sacrifice
Faith in His answer to our problem
Faith in the understanding that we couldn’t do it
Faith that He did it for us
By faith we are promised that we gain eternal life
that we have access to heaven
that we will spend eternity with God
The bible also says that we cannot earn our way to heaven
That faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior is the only way to God
Once He is received by faith His righteousness is given to us
The Bible says God is love
The opposite of love is evil
If we are eternally separated from God
I dare to say it will not be a party
today if you have never given your life over to God
If this is your first time hearing this message
If this is your first time hearing the Gospel of Jesus and you want more information
Please contact me,
My number will be given at the end of this presentation as will my email.
I urge you today,
take time out
get right with God
thank him
praise him
give it all to him
Let’s pray.
