THE RESURRECTION GIVES ASSURANCE

Introduction

-{The Lord is Risen…He is Risen Indeed!}

-{1 Corinthians 15}

-There are many things in life where if a piece is missing, the whole thing collapses. If a plane is missing engines, it’s not going anywhere—it loses its function. If a mouse trap doesn’t have all the pieces in place all at once, it will not catch a mouse.

~Since apologetics is my thing, there is an apologetic argument against evolution that comes from this angle. It’s called irreducible complexity, and what it argues is that there are certain biological systems that could not have evolved from successive small modifications. For those systems to work, all the pieces had to be in place for that system to work, or else the system would not have existed at all. The human eye is one such system. For there to be eyesight, every piece of the human eye had to be in place all at once or there would not have been sight at all.

-I mention this because there is a piece of our belief, a piece of our theology, that if it was not in place our entire faith system would collapse—there would be no Christianity. And that piece is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If there is no resurrection, we have nothing. If Jesus lived out God’s law perfectly but there is no resurrection, then He was a good moral teacher, but there is no Christian faith. If Jesus died on the cross but there is no resurrection, He was a mere prophet who was martyred, but there is no Christian faith. The resurrection is the linchpin holding together everything else we say that we believe.

-In the passage we are looking at, Paul wanted to make sure the Corinthians understood that. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that without the resurrection we lose assurance of everything that is important to the faith.

-I want us to leave here today with the knowledge that the resurrection of Jesus Christ assures us that every aspect of our faith is true and meaningful. And I want to touch on five areas of our faith that Paul mentions where we receive this assurance.

1) It assures us of a true gospel message

1 Corinthians 15:1–7 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

-Paul writes that he wants to remind the church of the gospel message that he had already preached to them. There is one gospel message that savesand he wanted to make sure they knew what it was.

-There have been a lot of advertisements over the decades that have used the catchphrase ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES. Well, that is the case with the gospel. You can’t accept any substitutes when it comes to the gospel. If you believe the wrong message, you believe in vain. A substitute gospel does not save you or get you to heaven.

-But notice, though, the components of the true gospel message, all of which were prophesied about in the Old Testament. First, Christ died. But He didn’t just die, He died for sins. Through His death He atoned for sin (He appropriated forgiveness of our sin for us). And to make sure you understand that Jesus really did die, Paul adds that He was buried. Jesus didn’t faint or swoon, He physically died.

-But then Paul emphasizes that HE WAS RAISED ON THE THIRD DAY IN ACCORDANCE TO SCRIPTURES. Jesus didn’t stay dead. That is the full gospel. Jesus died, but then Jesus rose. Too often with the gospel we emphasize the ‘Jesus died’ part but then we forget about the ‘Jesus rose’ part until Easter. But the ‘Jesus died’ part wouldn’t have mattered without the ‘Jesus rose’ part. The ‘Jesus died’ part wouldn’t have accomplished anything without the ‘Jesus rose’ part.

-And so without the resurrection, there would have been no gospel message. The word GOSPEL means GOOD NEWS. If Jesus died without Jesus rising, there would have been no GOOD NEWS. There would be no news at all. People die all the time. That’s not news. Somebody rising from the dead—that’s news. And it’s good news because it assures and guarantees that the message of the gospel is true because Jesus rose to give life and that more abundantly....

2) It assures us of a complete life transformation

1 Corinthians 15:8–11 ESV

8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

-The Risen Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul was a Pharisee on a mission—to imprison and even kill those who (they considered) were of the cult called The Way. With authorization in hand, he was ready to move the persecution from Jerusalem to other major cities, to root out what he thought was a perversion of the purity of the Jewish religion.

-And yet, by God’s sovereign hand, chosen to take the gospel message to the Gentiles, the resurrected Messiah manifested Himself to this murderer. And what happened when Pharisee Saul encountered the Risen Lord? He was completely and utterly changed. And instead of ministering against the gospel, he became a minister spreading the gospel throughout the Roman Empire.

-When Saul, now Paul, came face to face with the Jesus who was alive, Paul would never be the same again—in the very best way that this could be meant. Paul went from a church persecutor to a church planter. Paul went from a killer of families to a fisher of souls. There was nothing else to explain this radical change of direction other than Jesus was raised from the dead. And so Paul says that because of that encounter he works as hard as he can for Christ, but it’s really not him but it is the grace that is given to Him by that resurrected Savior. Only a Christ that is resurrected from the dead can bring about such change in a person’s life. As Paul describes elsewhere, it is a life where the old is passed away and all things have become new.

-And the resurrected Christ can change your life as well. No, you won’t witness Him through your physical eyes as the original apostles did. But if, by faith, you trust that He did rise from the dead, you will never be the same. There is no heart too hard or life too far gone for Him to come in and bring you from death to life.

-I read a story of a man named Forrest Langley who was as far from God as someone could get. In fact, he had made a decision early on to follow Satan. He was into all sorts of satanic stuff, be it numerology, tarot cards, spell casting, and whatever else he could find to do. He wanted to do a specific ritual to gain more power from Satan. This ritual involved doing something to a stolen Bible. So, he went and stole a Bible. But before he did his ritual, he opened the Bible and began to read it out of curiosity. In that Bible he encountered the story of Christ, and Him crucified, and Him risen. The Holy Spirit took this encounter to work on Forrest’s heart and he gave his life to Christ.

-You see, a dead person cannot change a life. Sure, they might have left good philosophies or moral codes to live by after their death. But they can’t break chains. They can’t change hearts. Only a Risen Jesus is able to do something like that. The resurrection assures us that He can, and that means He can do it for you...

3) It assures us of an important mission and ministry

1 Corinthians 15:12–15 ESV

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But 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 preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

-Paul tells us in these verses that without the resurrection, we don’t have a mission or ministry. We have no message to preach. We have no hope to offer. We have nothing to give people. We lose our motivation to help people. And anything we might do in the name of religion or even calling it by the name of Christianity is vain, useless, and empty.

-Without the resurrection we lose our meaning and purpose on this earth, because our meaning and purpose are tied to the gospel message and the mission and ministry that flow from that, because what we do is tied to what we believe. If we lose the faith, we lose the mission because there’s nothing of eternal significance to be done. We are just left with a shell of social work and community projects that are heading nowhere and leading to nothingness.

-That is why it is dangerous for Christians to somehow disconnect our mission from the anchor of the gospel, though many try. The past few years have shined the spotlight on some societal problems. And we know that these societal issues flow from the hearts of sinful men and women. Down at its core, all of our cultural ills come from the sinfulness of man. The only answer to these ills is the gospel of a Risen Savior. But many, even in the name of Christ or Christianity, try to solve these issues without the gospel. They use human philosophy rather than the life-changing message of the gospel. And yet, it is the gospel that motivates for change. It is the gospel that empowers for change. It is the gospel that directs the change. It is the gospel that gives our ultimate goal of change.

-But the modern social justice movement steers things away from the gospel and biblical answers. It relies on humanistic philosophies and the politics of the day rather than the power of the gospel. But it’s only the gospel that will change the hearts that need changing. Laws and societal pressure will not change people’s nature and hearts. There cannot be true justice on this earth until the gospel of the Risen Christ bears its weight upon it. Social justice as it is modernly defined is not the mission and ministry of the church because it has nothing to do with the gospel.

-But our mission and ministry flow from who Jesus is and what Jesus did. Yes, Jesus showed compassion on people and did many wonderful miracles, and He enjoins us to do likewise. But it is within the context of the direction the resurrected Lord gave His disciples after He accomplished His work—go and make disciples of all nations. That is the context of mission and ministry. That is the context of our movements of justice. And it is the resurrected Lord that assures us that we have eternal work to do that will make an eternal impact on lives and societies. We do not minister to the temporal without the ministry of the eternal leading the charge.

4) It assures us of a hope of salvation and glorification

1 Corinthians 15:16–23 ESV

16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

-Paul makes an argument about all that we lose if there is no resurrection. If there is no resurrection in general, then Christ is not raised. If Christ is not raised, our faith in Him is useless because a dead Savior is no Savior at all. If Christ cannot save, then we are all still in our sins and when we die then there is no hope whatsoever of that ever being reversed. Those who are dead will remain dead physically, and since everyone sins we all remain dead spiritually. Without the resurrection of Christ we will remain our sinful, corrupted selves for eternity.

-But, Paul says that it is a historical fact that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. And with that comes the hope of salvation, which every human needs. All humans sin and break God’s law. That means all humans are rightly judged by God. But Christ died to pay our debt of sin and give the offer of forgiveness to those who believe, but He didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead to prove His sacrifice was accepted and that He is able to offer eternal life. Without His resurrection He would not have satisfied the wrath of God, nor would He have conquered sin and death, and we would all still be lost. But you don’t have to be lost. You can receive the gift of salvation and the promise of eternal life by repenting and trusting in Jesus Christ.

-And since Christ rose from the dead and offers life, we not only have eternal spiritual life, we have the hope of being raised from the dead ourselves. Paul said in v. 20 that Jesus was the firstfruits. In the world of agriculture the firstfruits were the first portion of a harvest that was consecrated to God. But the firstfruits were representative of what was to come. The Risen Christ, as the firstfruits, means that He and His resurrected body were the first of many more to come, and it was representative of what the rest would be like. That means, if you are in Christ, you will be resurrected in a body like Jesus’. It will be an actual, physical body without sin and without corruption. Later in the passage, Paul described what these bodies would be like.

1 Corinthians 15:42–44 ESV

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

-We will not have bodies like what we live in now. They will be completely new. They will still be physical, but they will not be corrupted. They will be a redeemed physical body without the weaknesses and defilements that we deal with now. That is a guaranteed promise for any who have trusted Christ. You will be glorified just like Christ, and that encourages us to continue in the faith.

5) It assures us of Christ’s universal sovereignty

1 Corinthians 15:24–28 ESV

24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 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 excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

-Paul tells us that after Christ returns and all His people are resurrected in their new bodies, then He will destroy all of His enemies and set up His kingdom in the new heaven and new earth, and Jesus Christ will reign as king forever. A promise is given here that there will come a time when there is going to be One Kingdom and One people where Christ will sovereignly and eternally rule and reign. That means Jesus is in charge of everything for all time.

-Now, we know from Scripture, that Jesus is sovereignly in charge right now. Jesus said before He gave the Great Commission that He has been given ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND EARTH. The New Testament states many times that when Christ ascended into heaven He sat down at the right hand of God. In the Bible the right hand symbolized strength and authority. To sit at the right hand of God means that He rules all of creation with the strength and authority of God. He sits in the exalted place of honor and power, and everything else is placed under His authority.

-The resurrection means we can rest in the assurance that everything that goes on in the world and in our own lives is easily within His power and authority. There is nothing in your life that is out of His control. But that also means that there is nothing in your life that He doesn’t have authority over. Every aspect of your life is subject to His rule.

-As theologian Abraham Kuyper succinctly stated it:

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!

-So, instead of fighting His authority, submit to it, because the resurrection assures us that He has sovereign control over every part of the world and your life.

Conclusion

-A headline in the Salt Lake Tribune shouted, “Can you be Christian and not believe in the resurrection?” You would think that was a crazy question. You would think that as soon as the journalist began researching this topic among Christian clergy, she would have decided that it was a foolish question not worth pursuing. Instead, her opening paragraph states, “Many scholars dismiss it. Some theologians downplay it. Even some worshippers dodge it. But, for most Christians, the idea that Jesus Christ’s body literally was resurrected is a given, a fundamental of the faith.”

-You would think that for anyone who claimed the name Christian that this would be a given, especially for people who call themselves a Christian leader. But such is not the case. But you cannot be a Christian without the resurrection, because without it everything is useless.

-Christian, maybe there are some things in life or the faith that you are unsure of. Come to the altar and pray that the fact of Christ’s resurrection would assure you of His hand in it.

-But maybe you are not a Christian...