Why the Resurrection Matters

📷Introduction

• This morning we are going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

• and what I want us to consider together as a church is why the Resurrection of Jesus Christ matters.

• In order for us to be able to get to why the resurrection matters we need to consider two other points first.

• The first point we must consider is...

📷The Gospel Method (vs.1-2)

• Timeshare presentations in Cozumel: Fun Illustration

• Have any of you ever fallen for a time share presentation? ......set up the story about Cozumel

• Premise: if we would listen to their presentation then we would receive a free scuba diving trip and a free message.

• we had to sit and listen to their message @ all the benefits it could bring us

• These were both really good gifts, They were both things that would make our lives better while we were still on the island.

• But in order for us to experience the benefits of owning the time share that was offered we had to not just take it, and pay its price in full. And oncve we paid it would be ours forever.

•

• But even though we knew the time share had great value We never made it our own. We never accepted it and paid the price for it to become our own. and when we left the offer they had given us became null and void.

• It wasn’t that we didn’t hear about the value

• - they were very clear about how great it was and how amazing the benefits could be for us,

• It wasn’t that we didn’t believe them - We fully believed that it could bring us a lot of happiness sin our life together

• The reason we never got to experience the value of the time share is because we never sifend on the dotted line accepting the offer ad our own and paying its price in full.

• Transition: There is method that you must follow in order to receive the benefits of the timeshare. You have to sit and hear the message of the salesmen, then you have to accept it and pay the price in full, and once the price is paid the benefits are yours for life.

📷• Just like the benefits of owning a timeshare, 1 Cor 15 lays out the method that we must follow in order to experience the benefits of the gift that God is offering us today.

• Text;

• 1 Cor. 15:1-2 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

• In these 2 verses Paul, the author of 1 Corinthians, gives us 4 steps that need to be taken with the gift from God.

📷

• “Which I preach”

• ““Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel

• Paul is speaking to the church- to those who are followers of Jesus Chris

• The gospel which I preached to you”

📷• 1st. step-that we must all take in order to receive the benefits of God’s gift is “We must hear the message.”

• Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

• The only way for anyone to receive the gift of God is to hear the word of God.

• You can argue all you want with the timeshare salesmen, but you will not receive any of the benefits until you hear the message.

• the first step is to hear the message of the gospel.

📷• Paul goes on and he says the message that I preached to you, WHICH YOU RECIEVED.

• “which you received”

• You can sit in that time share presentation and hear all about the benefits of being a member-

• You can even talk with your spouse about all the value it could bring to your vacation life. But unless you accept and receive their offer, the benefits will not apply to your life. They are still there, they are still very real, but they are not yours to claim.

• The same thing is true with the gift that God is offering mankind-

📷• You must believe the truth of the message and accept it as your own in order to reap the benefits that it offers.

• Trans; Paul “The gospel which I preached to you, and which you Received as your own… and in which you stand”

• “in which you stand”

• If you sit in the sales pitch and hear all about the benefits of being a time share owner, and you come to the point of receiving it as your own. You are now a proud a time share owner, with all the benefits that come with it. You are a given a certificate of ownership.

• and its this certificate that is your guarantee that you have paid the price in full and you are a full recipient of all the benefits from the time share.

• Your assurance of membership is that certificate.

• For Followers of Jesus the gospel is not just the message that we hear, or the truth that we receive, but the gospel is also the proof of our ownership in Christ.

• The gospel of Jesus is what declares that the price for our gift has been paid in full and we now have full rights and privileges in Christ.

• Put simply in Easter terms to stand firm on the gospel, means that “You have to put all your eggs in this one basket.”

• You have put all of your hope in the price that was paid for your benefits.

📷• Finally, Paul says ....

• “By which you are being saved”

• Paul is not saying that it takes time and effort for you to earn the gift.

Titus 3 :5 tells us that God gives us this gift not because we earned it but because he wanted to.

In fact This gift is offered to us free of charge because of Gods mercy not because of our ability to earn Gods favor.

The phrase “ by which you are being saved” carries with it the idea that it just gets better and better.

• When Amy and I went to the timeshare presentation we had a choice to make.

• If we Accepted their offer, paid the price, We would receive the benefits for our lifetime.

• But if we chose not to accept the offer we would walk away from all the benefits that came with the purchase.

• When it comes to the gift from God- we must hear the message and chose to receive it as our own. and it is only when we receive that we are able to claim its eternal benefits for our lives.

• The point Paul is making is that this gift is so wonderful that not only is it offered to us free By God, Paid in full by Jesus but that it is secured eternally by The Holy Spirit.

📷• Ephesians 1:12-13 “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

• There is nothing we can do to lose this gift once we accept it and our debt is paid in full.

📷• This gift is so special that it changes your entire life.

• Transition: So, if We must first hear the gospel, in order to receive the gospel so that we can experience the benefits of the gospel.

The question we should be asking ourselves this morning is “What is the gospel message?”

📷📷• I’m glad you asked… Look with me at 1 Cor 15: 3-10 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

📷The Gospel Message (vs. 3-8

The gift that God is offering all mankind today is amazing! it will change your life!

📷Paul in these few verses gives us the message of the gospel

Look with me again at verse three For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

This is the gospel message

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• Christ died- for our sins

• The Bible is very clear- All mankind are wicked and full of sin.

• Sin - is anything that goes against God’s divine law. (Lying cheating stealing anger, hatred list goes on and on.)

📷📷• Jer. 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it?”

• Romans 3:10-11 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

📷• Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

• Understand this morning that if you are here - you are a sinner. that you are desperately wicked that there is no righteousness in you.

📷• Romans 6:23 tells us that our sin, our rebellion against God’s perfect law must be punished.

• Romans 6:23 reads “For the wages of sin is death,”

• When the Bible refers to spiritual death it means total separation from God forever and ever in eternal punishment called hell.

• The harsh reality of mankind is this, “You are totally depraved. you are completely hopeless and completely helpless on your own.

📷• You deserve to die and pay the debt of your sin.

• Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

• He paid the debt of sin against you in full.

• He died in your place.

📷• But wait there’s more!!! Christ didn’t just die for our sins, He was buried in our place.

📷• Christ was buried- in our place

• Death means separation

• When we die physically our spirit is separated from our body forever

• When we die Spiritually our Spirit is separated from God forever

• Understand this morning When Christ was buried in our place He experienced the spiritual separation from God in our place. He endured the agony of separation from God the father that our sin required.

• Christ endured the agony of Hell because his love for you and me was so great that there was nothing he wouldn’t do to save us.

• But the wonderful thing about Christ was that He himself had no sin debt to pay.

📷• and the Bible tells us so clearly that after three days the grave could no longer hold him because the debt of our sin was paid in full by the perfect Substitute son of God.

• Christ was raised- conquering our penalty

• And He rose from the grave!

• Conquering both Death and sin for all those who believe in his name

• After Christ Rose he didn’t immediately Go back to sit on his throne in heaven where he rightfully belongs, but he wanted to prove his power over sin and death to mankind so for 40 days Jesus met with many people - Proving his deity and the finished work of salvation 📷on the cross.

• Christ appeared to many- For our Assurance

• In fact, in our text this morning Paul mentions over 415 different people who personally Saw Jesus after his resurrection and even those who doubted before when they Saw the wounds in Jesus ‘s hands and feet Knew he was who he claimed to be and believed in Him.

Christ appeared to many people so that we today could know beyond a shadow of doubt that resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave happened just as it was said.

As Paul finished this clear explanation of the gospel of Christ he ends with a beautiful explanation of what the heart of the gospel is all about.

Christ died was buried and rose again, and the reason he endured all of this rejection and pain was so that he could offer us his grace.

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• Christ’s offers His Grace - for our benefit

📷• in verses 8-10 we see Paul Speaking about himself.

📷• 1 Cor. 15:8-10 “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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.”

• God’s Gospel gift to you is His Grace

• Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve.

• because of our own sin we deserve eternal separation from God but God’s grace offers us salvation despite our sin.

📷• Remember Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

• If this was the end of the story, our lives would end in disparity. Life would seem be pointless, our lives would have no hope and no genuine Joy in them.

• But this is not the end of the story. it is only the Rising action to the climax.

📷• The climax of our story is found in the next verse

• Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

• The climax of the story is the resurrection Jesus Christ.

• God didn’t leave us in our desperation. He didn't leave us hopeless, but because of his great love for us he offers us grace. In Grace God sent his only Son Jesus to earth to live perfectly and pay our debt of sin in full so that he could justify us back to God.

• Just like the offer of a timeshare. If you want to enjoy the benefits that come with it, You first hear the message and then you must receive receive it as your own..

• Everyone here today has heard the message of the gospel, which I just shared with you from Gods word

and now you have a choice to make

Will you leave this place with or without the benefits that God is offering you today through the resurrection of his son Jesus?

• it is not enough to hear the truth, but we must believe it and accept it as our own in order to receive its benefits.

• Romans 10:9-10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

• it’s not enough to just know it, you must confess it and believe in your heart.

📷• Transition

• We have seen that gospel is for every part of our life We hear the gospel as a lost sinner, We chose to receive the gift of the gospel for our salvation, Stand on the truths of the gospel as Redeemed followers of Jesus, and we are eternallys ecure in the gospel as God’s Children

📷• We have looked at the gospel message that we Must believe

• Christ died for our sins

• He was buried in our place

• and he rose victoriously over our death.

• and now we come to Our final point this morning on Easter Sunday is this

📷The Gospel Matters

ONLY Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on in 1 Cor 15to give us the 5 reason why the resurrection matters for us today.

📷I don’t want us to leave here today with out hearing the benefits package that comes from a life with God.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus We have gone from Spiritually empty to Spiritually filled

📷• Our Faith is not empty but Full- (vs 14)

• 1 Cor 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

A faith that is in vain means that it is a fiaht that produces no results.

• if there was no resurrection than there is no Gospel for us to believe in.

•Butbecause of the resurrection our faith is in a gospel that has great power and authority with it. It can accomplish the impossible. It take broken lives and makes them whole.

📷• Transition: Paul goes on in verse 17 and says because of the resurrection…

• We are no longer in sin but in Christ Righteousness (vs 17)

📷• 1 Cor 15:17 “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

Paul says faith w/o the resurrection is futile

w/o the resurrection our faith is incapable of producing anything good for us in this life and in eternity.

• understand this, that If Christ had not rose from the grave we would still be guilty of our sins. We would still be held accountable before a holy God for our sins.

• BUT! because of the resurrection we have victory over sin in our lives.

📷• Paul in verses 54-57 circles back around to this idea that the resurrection is what brings us the victory over our sin.

• 1 Cor 15:54-57 “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

📷“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• the resurrection of Jesus Brings us the victory over the bondage of sin in our lives.

📷• Trans.in verse 20-22 Paul gives us a 3rd reason why the resurrection of matters for us today

• 1 Cor 15:20-22 “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

📷• because of the resurrection of Jesus..

• We are no longer Spiritually Dead but are spiritually alive in Christ alive (vs20-22)

📷• I’m reminded of what we read in Ephesians chapter 2 where Paul describes mankind before Christ and mankind after Christ

📷• Eph. 2:1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,

• Eph. 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him ...”

• When God describes mankind in his sinful state - He calls us a dead corps. Lifeless, walking dead people without any hope or purpose.

When I think about a dead corps I remember a time when Amy and I lived at the camp in a mobile home.

- Illustration of dead mouse under the trailer- We looked all over to find that stink

There is nothing that stinks more than a dead corpse.

• it is a pile rotting flesh that is wasting away.

• The only thing that a dead person can do is stink.

• and the bible tells us that mankind on his own always follows the course of this rotting world, they always follow the plan of Satan the father of all disobedience.

• all mankind are dead in their sin.

• The only thing they do is stink of sin before a holy God.

• “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved"

•Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve- We deserve hell, but god in his mercy …..

What was this great love that God had for us?

• He sent us his Jesus to die for our sins, and to be buried in our place, and to rise from the grave giving us victory over the stink of death and in its place he makes us alive in Christ!

• Because of the resurrection of Jesus, We are no longer Spiritually Dead but are alive in Christ

📷• The fourth reason that Paul gives us for why the Resurrection matter is that it is only through the resurrection that...

• We are no longer hopeless but hope filled

📷• 1 Cor.15:50-52 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

• Death seeks all of us out. No one escapes the fate of death.

• All mankind is doomed to die.

📷• [Paul is saying that our human bodies will not just die as a result of living in a sin filled world. they are doomed to die because they are all sinful bodies that are not worthy of God’s perfect eternity]

• 51 “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

• [Again, Paul is saying our earthly bodies that are unworthy of heaven will fade away but God is going to give us a new perfect body that we will have for all eternity with Jesus.

📷• 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

📷• Jesus promises those who trust in him that he will not leave them perishing in this sinful world, he will not leave them in their broken state, but he will bring them to heaven to live for all eternity.

• The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that at we have an inheritance in heaven with Jesus forever.

• growing up one thing my dad tried to drill into us boys heads was to always buy tools that come with a lifetime guarantee.

• I can’t tell you how many of my dad’s craftsmen screw drivers I broke on all my projects growing up But I remember my dad always saying “its guaranteed for life. And we would jump in the care and take back to the Sears at Southridge mall on the south side of des Moines.

• All we had to do was walk up to the desk hand them the broken tool and they instantly give us a new perfect replacement that was ours to keep forever.

That is what a lifetime guaranteed is.

• understand this this morning that it is only Because of the resurrection of Jesus that all those who believe in Him have an eternal hope that comes with an eternal guarantee

• If there was no resurrection then than there could be no eternal guarantee.

• Transition:

📷• Look with me at the final verse of chpt. 15 verse 58

• 1 Cor 15:58 “Therefore, [because of the resurrection of Jesus] my beloved brothers [speaking of Christians], be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

📷• because of the resurrection

• We no longer live for ourselves but for the glory of God (vs 58)

I can’t even tell you how many people I have counseled who have come to me saying “what’s the point of even living.” I find nothing in my life worth living for. “

Life apart from the resurrection of Jesus will always leave you empty., it will never satisfy your desires, it will never fulfill your longings. Because it is futile, because it is sinful, because it is hopless.

The resurrection brings us hope and purpose, it brings us an inner peace of contentment that only comes through Jesus.

• because of the hope we have in the resurrection it should motivate us to stand firm on the truths of scripture.

• because of the power of the resurrection it should drive us to do the work of the Lord.

• Christ came to seek and save the lost.

• to do the work of the Lord means that we share the resurrection of Jesus with the world.

• Our mission as a church is make and equip followers of Jesus Christ.

• and the only way that we could ever accomplish our mission is through the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is no other gospel that can change this world but the

📷BRING IT HOME

today is easter Sunday- a Sunday to remember why the resurrection of Jesus Christ matters for us today.

Without the resurrection we are all dead in our sins.

For the unbelievers with us today - If you are here today and have never accepted the free gift of salvation that God is offering you t, you are still guilty of your sins. and you are still bound to eternal punishment in hell because of those sins.

Your life is hopeless and I can promise you this, there is nothing that can fill the void in your heart but Jesus.

Think about it this way.

You are sitting in that timeshare presentation at a beautiful resort in Cozumel, Mexico, the salesman has just laid all the benefits of being member would bring you, You sit there and think to yourself that the benefits look really good but the price seems too steep for you to afford. and just before you get up and leave, the salesman leans in and says to you someone else has already paid your bill in full, all you have to do is sign on the dotted line.

Christ is offering you salvation this morning. A Salvation from hell and in its place an eternal home in heaven, and with it comes a benefits package that is beyond comparison. Christ wants to take your place and pay your debt in full and in its place he wants to give you his righteousness, and all the benefits that come with this free gift of eternal life.

Don’t let pride keep you from getting up from the table this morning and walking out on the offer that Christ has offered you through his resurrection.

For the believers with us today Don’t lose sight of the resurrection your life.

Because of the resurrection you have been forgiven of all your sins, because of the resurrection you have been brought from death to life, Because of the resurrection you have been given a hope that comes with an eternal guarantee.

• Therefore, because of the resurrection be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

• Let’s go into our communities and make and equip disciples of Jesus Christ because the resurrection Matters.

There is no other gospel that can change this world but the resurrection of Jesus Christ.