In Christ Jesus Shall All Be Made Alive

1 Corinthians 15:12-1

Charles Spurgeon said: “OUR religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, “Those are your views, and these are ours.” Whatever your “views” may be, is a small matter; what are the facts of the case? We must, after all, if we want a firm foundation, come down to matters of fact. Now, the great facts of the gospel are that God was incarnate in Christ Jesus, that he lived here a life of holiness and love, that he died upon the cross for our sins, that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph, that the third day he rose again from the dead, that after a while he ascended to his Father’s throne where he now sitteth, and that he shall come by-and-by, to be our Judge, and in that day the dead in Christ shall rise by virtue of their union with him.”

These are the facts and these facts have stood the test of scrutiny from the time of Jesus’ resurrection until now!

These are the facts that we have been made new!

These are the facts upon which we live!

These are the facts that the Christians has denied himself and taken his cross and followed Jesus!

As a matter of fact, the apostles when they were going to fill the void of Judas, restoring their group to 12, the requirements to be an apostle was: Acts 1:21-23 “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.”

The one qualification was that they witnessed the resurrected Christ! Matthias was the one chosen, but both these men were witnesses of Jesus after He arose from the grave!

Paul was one as well, as he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Many have lost their lives based on these facts! We call them the Truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Scriptures, God’s Word, these titles are given based on facts.

Recall to your mind some life changing events.......these events changed the direction of your life.......well, that is what we remember every Sunday and Wed..........The greatest life changing Life......Jesus Christ and Him crucified...........If search Jesus out you will find as Spurgeon said: “Now, the great facts of the gospel are that God was incarnate in Christ Jesus, that he lived here a life of holiness and love, that he died upon the cross for our sins, that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph, that the third day he rose again from the dead, that after a while he ascended to his Father’s throne where he now sitteth, and that he shall come by-and-by, to be our Judge, and in that day the dead in Christ shall rise by virtue of their union with him.”

In a way, we are making the case everyday by our lives lived based upon the facts of Jesus! Not wavering with other winds of doctrine or teaching but relying solely on the Truth of Jesus Christ!

In our passage today I want to look at what Paul said about these facts, to a church that was in disarray and that was being infiltrated with different views and ideas about Jesus!

1 Corinthians 15:1-11..........The Gospel of Jesus Christ!.........The apostles preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we believed! This is the only foundation of the Christian life! Notice, in the 1st 11 verses of this chapter the only thing that a humans does is preach and believe.......what is preached and believed is done by God through His Son Jesus Christ.......

Jesus died for our sins........this is paramount and if you can get here and believe this, then you will be taken on to Joseph of Arimathaea’s new tomb where Jesus’ body was lain after He paid for our sins on the cross and you will find that tomb empty!

Pretty simple faith......not hard to understand.......It seems however that the hard part is to recognize that all human life that has existed on the planet, with the exception of One (Jesus), has sinned and come short of the Glory of God!

Jesus Christ taught the disciples and us in John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

No way to God for us, only through Jesus Christ!

The apostle Paul believed this, although he was not around for the teachings of Jesus, he met Jesus while on his way to persecute Christians because they believed in Jesus Christ.

Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, at that point Paul had saw the Risen Savior and believed......He then went on in to Damascus and was refreshed Annias and then was taught by the disciples, what they had learned and saw from Jesus!

He began preaching, not worthy of this grace, but that is Grace....undeserved favor!

It is on Christ’s merit that we are saved not ours!!!

Jesus died on the cross that our sins will be forgiven......Colossians 1:14 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

He died and was buried.....God the Son died..........The only way that Jesus could of died is if He gave it..........The men that convicted Jesus, scourged Jesus, that spit on Jesus, that slapped and hit Jesus repeatedly, that nailed Jesus to a cross.......they could only do what they did if Jesus allowed it to happen......One of Jesus’ most pointed teachings was: John 10:17-18 “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

He gave His life a ransom for our sins! Matthew 20:28 “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

So, we have established the fact that Jesus died for our sins, once for all according to the writer of Hebrews! There is more to this Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ! After He was buried on the first day of the week, just as He said: Matthew 17:22-23 “And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.” Jesus arose from the grave with His body intact, only the nail-scars remained!

Jesus then ascended back into Heaven at the Right Hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make intercession for us......Jesus continually atones for us all the days of our lives!

This completes the Gospel record........this is our faith, this is our promise our hope!! The apostles abandoned everything to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ! You look in the book of Acts and you read Peter’s, Stephen’s, and Paul’s sermons it is only about this Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Without Jesus we can do nothing and we will be nothing!

These are facts......Jesus died to pay the penalty for sin on our behalf, Jesus Who knew no sin....that we may be made right with God!

Now, as Jesus rose from the grave, we are assured that the sacrifice appeased God’s wrath and we also are confident that we shall live for ever through Jesus the Christ the Son of the Living God!

Just for a moment I want to take you back to Peter, as we finish up this passage..........1 Corinthians 15:12-19..............

There was some in Corinth teaching that there was no resurrection from the dead or that the resurrection already happened and that the Christians now has missed it!

Paul tells this church that if there is no resurrection from the dead, that his preaching is in vain along with our faith!

Not only in vain, if Christ is not risen then you are still in your sins and you will die.....Pause.......lets go back to Peter for just a moment!

Let’s go to the scene where Jesus is in an illegal trial before the religious leaders......no need to turn but you can find this event in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22.......Caiaphas asks Jesus if He be the Christ the Son of the Living God.....Jesus answered: Matthew 26:64 “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

The high priest tore his clothes and shouted that Jesus was guilty of death.....and all the people began to spit on Jesus and hitting Him.

Well, Peter saw all of this, on that was willing to die for Jesus just moments before this, Peter saw his Lord being ridiculed and mocked, spit on, and people began to ask Peter if he was one of Jesus’ disciples and Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times.......Luke’s acct says this Luke 22:60-61 “And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.”

Peter had denied the Christ the Son of the Living God.....Jesus said: Matthew 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

One preacher said of Peter in this moment, that Peter just kept on sinning!

This is the last we hear of Peter till the first day of the week.......the last we hear of Peter is one that wept bitterly,........

Jesus went on to allow these evil men to find Him guilty and bring Him before Pilate and release a robber and murderer over Jesus.........Jesus was scourged, He was beaten so, that He was unrecognizable as man.........Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.”

Peter somewhere, maybe looking on at the horror of Jesus’ passion, but he is somewhere dealing with what he has done with no hope.....Yes, he knew what Jesus had said, but this sure didn’t look like victory over sin and it most definitely didn’t look like everlasting life!!

This was horrific! This looked very much like the world was winning!

Jesus said while on the cross......John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

Before that Jesus said something pretty wonderful for us and for all those that wanted Him dead......Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

On a mission of forgiveness instead of revenge! He could of taken all of them out with the breath of His mouth, instead He gave His life to pay for Peter’s denial and for transgressions and iniquities!!!

Jesus was then taken by Joseph of Arimathaea and buried in his new tomb....Nicodemus was there helping prepare Jesus’ body and the put Him in that tomb and the Jews and Romans to make sure that nothing would happen, closed the tomb with a huge stone and placed guards at the tomb!!

At the break of day on Sunday morning when the women were coming to place spices on Jesus’ body, Matthew said that there was an earthquake and the guards were shaking with fear as an angel of the Lord appeared and they fell as dead men! The ladies found the stone rolled away from the tomb and the angel said to them Matthew 28:5-7 “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead;”

Reckon what ole Peter done when he was told of this?..........According to John, Peter and John took off running......John said he beat Peter to the tomb, but Peter wouldn’t go in all the way, but John did......John says that he went and believed.........He saw the tomb empty, that Jesus was not there!!!

Later on that same day, Jesus appeared to the disciples and showed them His nail-scarred hands and His side that was pierced, Thomas said after he had doubted “My Lord and My God”

Now back to Peter......Jesus before ascended was with disciples eating breakfast and asked Peter do you love me more than these.......Peter answered yes Lord, and Jesus then said to feed His lambs.....Jesus asked Peter that 3 times matching the number of times Peter had denied Jesus.....

Here is the point, back to what Paul said.....If Jesus had not risen from the grave, Peter would of been destitute in his sins and so would we, our faith would be in vain and we would die in our sins, Peter would have died in his denial of the Christ the Son of the Living God!

If our hope in Jesus Christ resides in this life only then we are people to be pitied the most.......

Yet, because of our Risen Savior we have hope beyond this world, we have a hope that our sins before God has been atoned for and our assurance of that is in the resurrection of Christ and our existence is made new and prepared for Heavenly Home with God our Father and Jesus Christ His Son where we will live forever!

All the cares of this world is nothing in light of this Glorious knowledge!

Indulge me for a moment and look over a few verses in 1 Corinthians 15:51-58..............

Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Peter saw this with his own eyes, experienced the sin, forgiveness, and victory in real time....and we can too!!!

Now, in our faith of this victory that we have in Jesus Christ, let us not be moved by different teachings, by the cares of this world, or the troubles that come!

Let us make the most of what we know by declaring this wonderful Good News to the world!!!