The Greatest News of All

Introduction

Whenever Americans are asked about their favorite holiday, what holiday do you think is the most popular? In terms of the percentage of people who celebrate the holiday, Christmas takes the cake and it isn’t particularly close as! We understand this because Christmas is the “most wonderful time of the year” after all. Christmas comes in at the top followed by Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day. At 4th place is Easter. Easter comes before holidays such as the 4th of July and Father’s Day - something that might surprise some of us! Why is Easter something that nearly 80% of Americans celebrate year in and year out? Many Americans celebrate the Easter bunny and the beginning of Spring. Many Americans travel to have lunch with family and break out the barbecue equipment for the first or second time in the year. Easter is a fun time spent with family and enjoying the outdoors.

As followers of Christ, though, we love spending time with family and we might incorporate that into our celebration, but we know that Easter is so much deeper than a bunny, eggs, or even time with loved ones. Easter is whenever we celebrate what Jesus Christ did nearly 2000 years ago as He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead 3 days later. We celebrate the fact that our God defeated sin and death once and for all!

In our world today there are lots of people who have a fundamental question about the resurrection and understandably so! How can someone be crucified on a cross, be dead for 3 days, and come back to life? That seems almost too good to be true. Because of this, many people in our world have some alternative theories concerning this holiday. They think that the disciples got around the Roman guards and stole Jesus’ body and that this was just an elaborate coverup that people have believed ever since. Others believe that the disciples found another person who looked almost identical to Jesus and they convinced everyone that He had risen from the dead. Maybe you’re here this morning in person or online and you’re genuinely on the fence about this whole thing. Maybe you were taught about the resurrection of Jesus Christ growing up or maybe this is the first time you’ve ever heard about it and you think this is absolutely crazy to consider. If this is you this morning, welcome to Morgan Baptist Church where we believe in God’s Word.

The apostle Paul says this concerning the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 CSB

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,

The Bible is crystal clear in who Jesus Christ was and what Christ did. Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth. God became a man. He lived on this earth for 30+ years and lived a perfect life. After 3 years of ministry, Christ was delivered over to the Jewish and Roman leaders and sentenced to die by crucifixion. This is exactly what happened as the Gospel accounts tell us. Christ died. Even though He had done no wrong, He died for sinners like you and I!

Romans 5:8 CSB

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is good news. You and I fall short each and every day. The Bible calls this sin and the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The fact that Christ dies for sinners is good news because you and I are sinners in need of saving! However, do we simply celebrate the death of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday? No. We celebrate something even better. We celebrate the Greatest News of All - that Christ didn’t stay in the grave. He rose. Because of this, He demands a response. Have you ever responded to Christ did 2000 years ago? Friend, if you have not, I beg of you to consider the death, burial and resurrection of Christ this morning and do business with God. Let’s read out of 1 Corinthians 15 this morning as we see the result of Christ’s resurrection for those who are followers of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:50–58 CSB

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Why the Resurrection matters to Christianity

In our world there’s a whole lot of skepticism about a lot of different things. People are skeptical about what they watch on TV, people are skeptical of what they hear from others, and people are skeptical about what the read. We are a skeptical people about a lot of different things! Today, many people are skeptical about the resurrection of Christ. This makes sense because it goes against natural logic. Once you’re dead, you’re dead. Yet, in Christianity, we see the Son of God, Jesus Christ, dying and coming back to life 3 days later. Something doesn’t add up!

I want to spend the first part of our time this morning examining what the Bible teaches about the resurrection and how the resurrection has impacted Christians for the last 2000 years.

Some people think that the Bible is essentially a book of do’s and don’ts that will help you live a better life and become a better you. Others think that the Bible is essentially a book of stories that teach people to treat others better and be decent. The Bible does contain helpful instruction and we see time and time again that Christians are to treat others well - but ultimately Christianity isn’t simply about being a nice person, advocating for a certain political system, or living out the golden rule. It’s so much deeper than that! Christianity is believing in what the Bible says about our Triune God and His plan of redemption which includes the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Christianity rises or falls based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ because without the resurrection - Christianity falls apart! Yes, you would have some practical wisdom, moral messages, and cool stories, but you don’t have salvation without the resurrection.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:13–14 CSB

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.

Other religions can survive to an extent without a specific person or by ignoring some of their teachings. You can be a Hindu without hearing about Ghandi. You can be a Buddhist without believing everything Buddha taught. You can be a Muslim without Muhammed. As Islamic studies professor in Germany believes that Muhammed didn’t even exist, for crying out loud!

Yet, you can’t be a Christian without Christ. You can’t talk about the hope that Christ brings to your life without talking about the resurrection. Hope. Think of those 4 letters for a moment. We are surrounded by people who are hopeless or they are hopeful for something better in the future. They are hopeless in the present or in their current circumstances and we’ve all had periods of our life where we were hopeless. We couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and we were genuinely hopeless. Other times in our lives we were hopeful in the wrong thing. Things weren’t going well and we were hopeful that things would get better soon. We were hopeful that the next school year wouldn’t be as a bad as the last one. We were hopeful that the next job would be our dream job. We were hopeful that the next relationship would finally be the one that lasted! What happens more times than not in life, though? It doesn’t happen. The breakthrough doesn’t come. The job isn’t what we were hoping. The relationship doesn’t last. Why? Because we live in a broken world full of broken people. Where is the lasting hope in such a world? In short, there is no lasting hope that satisfies like it promises us it will.

Yet, we see a promise in the Bible from Jesus Christ about how He satisfies

John 4:14 CSB

14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

Jesus satisfies. Jesus provides lasting hope and joy that doesn’t fluctuate based on the day or time - as Hebrews 13:8 says, He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! Why does the resurrection matter to Christianity so much? In part, because we know that this life, the stuff that happens to us at work, at home, at school, this life is not all that there is.

Our world likes to think of death as the end. As if death were a period of sorts as it brings the sentence of our life to an abrupt end. This is far from the truth, though, as the Bible presents death as a comma. It separates, it doesn’t mean that we cease to exist, though! The greatest hope that the Christian has is that death, as real and painful as it might be, doesn’t get the last word. Because Jesus defeated death by raising back to life, we know that there is life beyond the grave! This should give us hope as we live our life today. The resurrection is crucial for Christianity because it proves that Jesus was who He said and that sin and death have no claim on those who repent and belong to Him.

Why the Resurrection matters to you

Maybe you’re thinking that this sounds really nice and appealing but you aren’t quite sold because of the things that you’ve experienced in your life. You’re sitting and thinking, if you had any clue what I’ve gone through then you wouldn’t believe in God’s love or have hope. Friend, I have no idea what your specific story is, I’d love to talk with you about your story and how you ended up here this morning, but I do know this: Jesus Saves Sinners.

Many people think that the resurrection is a fairy tale of sorts and that there is a more plausible explanation: the disciples stole Jesus’ body or they found a duplicate of sorts kind of like how actors in Hollywood have stunt doubles - this person was waiting on standby.

Let’s evaluate these claims with what the Bible shares with us. If Jesus died and the disciples decided that they wanted to steal His body from the tomb they are immediately facing a couple of problems: First, who was guarding the tomb? Roman soldiers. The Roman legion was the most lethal force the world had ever seen and the Roman emperors conquered nation after nation like clockwork until they were rulers of the largest empire the world has ever seen! One of the ways that they were able to build and maintain this vast empire was by keeping the peace with the people they conquered. Jesus was a threat to the peace in Palestine as there were people who passionately wanted Him killed and others who loved Him and followed Him avidly. Because of this, Pilate ordered Him to be crucified in order to help keep the peace and avoid the emperor sending the Roman legion to crush a possible rebellion (which is what happened in 70 AD). The Romans wanted Jesus dead. Do you think that these guards would willingly let these disciples steal Jesus’ body and possibly start a rebellion? Absolutely not! Do you think that 11 disciples could have defeated a group of well-trained Roman guards in combat? Absolutely not! There is no evidence to support that Jesus’ body was simply stolen.

Likewise, there is no evidence to support that the disciples happened to find another person who looked similar enough to Jesus to call it fool everyone!

What does the Bible share with us regarding the disciples after the death of Jesus? We know that some of them were in the upper room, as Mary Magdalene went from the tomb to tell the disciples of this and Jesus appeared to them in the upper room in John 20:19-23. The disciples had just witnessed Christ be crucified and many of them were fearful. Peter had denied Jesus 3x before His crucifixion after boldly saying that He would die for Jesus before he would ever deny him. They were in hiding and understandably so. Yet, these same men would be the ones who would stand up to tyrants, rulers, and authorities and they wouldn’t deny their faith in Christ. They denied Christ before His death, and now they were willing to die for Christ? What on earth happened? The Bible answers this question for us!

1 Corinthians 15:5–6 CSB

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.

Christ rose from the dead and appeared to hundreds of people who were witnesses of the resurrection! The resurrection changes everything.

Without the resurrection - you would have no hope of eternal life. You would have good news that Jesus died on the cross, but you would still be in your sins as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17

1 Corinthians 15:17 CSB

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

1 Corinthians 15:19 CSB

19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

If Christ didn’t raise, our faith is worthless and we are to be pitied more than anyone else. The Bible is clear, though, that Christ rose victoriously from the grave on the 3rd day! He conquered sin and death and won for us the victory.

This is what the Bible says, but what does it matter to you? How does Jesus’ resurrection impact you today? The Resurrection should impact you in at least 2 ways: 1) It should make you think. 2) It should make you study Scripture.

The resurrection is unique. It’s not the normal way that things happen in life. At the very least, what the Bible teaches about Jesus’ resurrection should force you to think about your life and what you believe in.

As you think about your own life in light of the resurrection, you should study Scripture to learn more about what Jesus did. He didn’t just come and say some clever things and flip the world upside down, He came to give His life as a ransom for many. He came to set the captives free. He came to conquer - but not in the way people expected.

Just as the resurrection changed the lives of the early disciples, the truth of the resurrection must change our lives as well! On the positive side, we know that we have the hope of life after death because of what 1 Corinthians 15:22 says

1 Corinthians 15:22 CSB

22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

We have the hope that this world is not all that there is and that there is eternal life with Christ awaiting us after the grave. This gives us hope. At the same time, because of the resurrection, we must boldly share this truth with others because the resurrection still matters 2000 years later.

Why the Resurrection matters today

Think of the greatest news that you’ve ever heard. As a child growing up, during the winter months the best news that you’d hear from your parents were, “You’re having a snow day!” As an adult now, snow days might not always be as fun as they once were, but as a student these days were the best! I realize that not everyone grew up with cell phones, but in the days we are living in today, kids hear this news and they begin to text and snapchat their friends to spread the word. Whenever I was a teenager, my friends and I would text and try to determine if we could drive to one of our houses so that we could hangout, sled, and have some fun! The good news led to action.

As great of news as you’ve ever heard, whether it be a positive health diagnosis, getting the dream job, hearing back from a loved one, or simply having school cancelled, the news of the resurrection trumps them all by a wide margin!

Are you finally ready for the sermon?

Paul, in our text, talks about the hope that believers have due to the resurrection. Notice, if you’re not a believer, the resurrection news is cool, but it doesn’t save you. You must repent, and trust in Christ! Because Christ rose, we know that we will rise as well. Not only will we rise, but we will rise and have an immortal and incorruptible body. Our anthem will be

1 Corinthians 15:55 NLT

55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Why is the resurrection the greatest news of all? Because our God won for us the victory by dying the death that we deserved to die and rising 3 days. Yes, this looks forward to our eventual resurrection, but we can make this same declaration now as Paul does this in the present tense. Gordon Fee says this in his commentary on this passage, “Death’s victory has been overcome by Christ’s victory; and death’s deadly sting has been detoxicated—indeed, the stinger itself has been plucked—through Christ’s resurrection.”

Whenever you think of the various problems that you face on a regular basis, what do you think of? We all have different situations and challenges, but one problem trumps them all: sin. Sin has always been our greatest foe - what does Christ do? Does Christ just give us some helpful advice and call it good? Does He give us some tools to possibly help us out? No. Christ soundly defeats the enemy and renders him powerless. Christ has won and if you are in Christ, you win too!

What about if you are not a Christian? I’m not talking about if you come to church or occasionally read your Bible, I’m talking about you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Christ to be the Lord of your life. If this is where you are at today, friend, understand the severity of your condition.

So many people in our world like to think that their good works will outweigh their bad and that God will just look the other way and give mercy to all because, God is “love” above all else. Yes, God is a loving God and He loves you, but your good will never outweigh your bad. Romans 3:10 says this

Romans 3:10 CSB

10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.

There is no one who is good enough on their own without Christ because we are all sinners. This isn’t good news at all, but it’s the truth. The most unloving thing that I can do as a Christian is to not tell you the truth. Here’s the good news, though. God loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to forgive you of your sins. There’s nothing that you can do to earn this on your own - you can’t save yourself!

So what must you do? You must respond to the greatest news of all - Peter says this in Acts 2

Acts 2:38 CSB

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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.”

Jesus saves - friends - but there is salvation only through Jesus Christ. He still saves today, but you must repent and trust in Him as Lord! Have you done this today?

Conclusion

Contrary to what the world might say, Easter isn’t about a bunny. Contrary to what some people might tell you, you are a sinner and you need a savior. In the Old Testament, the Israelites had the law given to them by God and the law showed each and every one of them that they fell short. In the Old Testament, the people had to make sacrifices to cover their sins. They had to do this every single year on a day called Yom Kippur. Today, we know that we still sin and fall short every single day - the Bible reminds us of this on nearly every page! So, why don’t we have to bring a sacrifice to God once a year for our sins? Because Jesus paid it all.

We still sin, and sadly, we will die… But as followers of Christ, death is not the end. Death has lost its sting! Christ has won the victory - this should fill us with thankfulness! But why did Christ have to come in the first place? Because of our sin. If you think of Christ dying on the cross specifically for you - which is completely right - you also have to understand why He had to die in the first place. As Stuart Townend put it in How Great the Father’s Love for Us, “It was my sin that held Him there, until it was accomplished.” Thankfully that’s not where the story stops, though! “His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.”

What should our response be to what Christ has done for us? As verse 58 of 1 Corinthians 15 says, we should do the Lord’s work. We proclaim the Gospel, we make disciples, we stand firm on what the Bible says, we love our neighbors and we also love our enemies because that’s what the Bible commands us to do!

We see the word vanity appear several times in this chapter. If you believe in the Gospel then you are saved unless you believed in vain. If Christ didn’t raise from the dead our faith would be in vain. Finally, in verse 58, Paul reminds us that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Vain simply means that it’s lacking something or that it’s empty. There are times where we feel like we’re working and we’re not seeing the fruits of our labor and it can be hard to carry on. If you are a follower of Jesus - carry on. Keep working. Be steadfast. Because your work is not empty, it is not done in vain.

The greatest news of all is not anything that you or I can do by ourselves, but what has already been done for us! Do you understand the depth of what Christ has done for you? Have you responded to His sacrifice in your place on the cross? Friend, if not, turn your eyes upon Jesus today. Repent of your sins and trust in Him.

Jesus Christ didn’t come to the earth to make bad people good, He came to the earth to make dead people alive!