Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; 12-20a esp vs. 1-2

This Resurrection Sunday morning I declare to you what humanity declares improbable — actually, they declare with absolute certainty that it is impossible…

That on the third day after His crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead.

In fact many sneer at what we are celebrating today.

But what they sneer at, we celebrate.

We hold onto with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

It is our living hope.

He, Jesus, is our Living Hope.

Over the past several months we have faced many difficult losses.

Only by clinging to our Living Hope have we been able to get through the pain and the sorrow.

We have had several men in our church die.

This morning we have several widows among us.

Some of which became widows in the last several months.

How can these widows deal with their loss?

How can anyone deal with loss?

Not just the loss of a husband, but the loss of a son like the previous pastor of this church and his wife (the Broadheads) when their son died a few weeks ago.

Or the loss of a brother, like the Broadhead’s daughter who lives here in Blairsville, or my wife who lost her brother this past year.

Or the loss of a father, like Sister Patty just a few weeks ago, and Eric and his family at the beginning of December.

How can anyone deal with the loss of a daughter, a mother, a friend?

How do we cope with death?

How can we possibly handle such devastation?

Those of us who are in Christ, do so through hope.

The Living Hope about which we just sang.

Jesus Christ is that living Hope who defeated death and the sting of death.

Who according to Hebrews 2 has defeated the FEAR of death.

Who according to the end of this chapter has given us complete victory over death:

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 (NASB95) But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?

O DEATH, WHERE 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.

We anchor our lives in Jesus, the Living Hope when we:

Receive, by faith, the good news of the resurrection

Stand in the hope that the Good news of the Resurrection gives

Personally experiencing the salvation the Good News of the Resurrection brings

Tenaciously hold to the Good News of the Resurrection

Receiving by faith, the good news of the resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:1a (NASB95) Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, …

Have you RECEIVED the Gospel, the Good News of the Resurrection?

NOT, have you heard about it — have you RECEIVED it.

From the start I have to say that, to many, this Good News of the Resurrection seems unbelievable.

Being able to receive it requires faith.

Unfortunately many have stumbled right here.

Many have rejected it.

And they have lost out.

To many, the idea of a resurrection of the body seems foolish.

Maybe they could believe in a revival of someone who seemed dead, or who were very close to dead.

But to believe that someone who has been dead for 3 days has not only come back to life — but will never again die?

AS I said a few minutes ago, there are those who sneer at the mention of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Up until Jesus, everyone who came back to life from the dead, were just revived — not resurrected.

We put our hope in the resurrection — not revival.

We aren’t going to come back to life only to die again.

We will come back to life in a glorified body NEVER to die again.

But many, many sneer at such a declaration.

In Acts 17 we read of the Apostle Paul declaring the message of salvation to the philosophers and “religious” seekers at Mars Hill in Athens.

He said in:

Acts 17:30–31 (NASB95) “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

The crux of what Paul had to say about salvation rested on believing in the resurrection.

Listen to the response in:

Acts 17:32 (NASB95) Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, …

On another occasion, when Paul preached to the Roman governor, Festus, that Christ had risen from the dead, Festus interrupted him at that point and dismissed him with the words “You are out of your mind” (Acts 26:24).

Paul responded that he was not insane, that his words were true and reasonable.

Even among Christians, the teaching of the resurrection of the body may pose problems of belief.

How will God raise someone who has been dead for centuries and whose corpse has completely returned to the dust?

How will He raise those who have been cremated, whose ashes have been scattered to the wind?

How will He raise those blown apart in warfare?

Or lost and disintegrated in the bowels of the deep ocean floors?

But if we don’t believe in the resurrection, our text says:

1 Corinthians 15:19 (NASB95) If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

If our only hope in this life is money, power, fame, pleasure, politicians — OH! how we are to be pitied!

So, the hope WE have in this world is a living Hope — the hope of resurrection.

That hope is founded on faith.

Have you RECEIVED that Gospel of Hope?

How can we know we have RECEIVED the Gospel?

We must, WE MUST believe the Resurrection Sunday account.

Romans 10:9–10 (NASB95) that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Have you received and believed that Jesus rose from the dead?

Everything flows from that decision.

By standing in the Hope that the Good News gives

Once we believe, we must, as our text goes on to say, “take our stand.”

1 Corinthians 15:1 (NASB95) Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,

To me that says that the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings stability to our lives.

There’s a lot of slipping sand, a lot of quicksand in our life.

But believing in the resurrection puts us on solid ground.

We live in a dangerous world, but we stand in Christ.

But the view of the future that sees it as something which should terrorize Christians, pulverize them with the fear of some impending collapse that is on the horizon is wrong.

Friends, our security is not based on the political scene.

It’s not based on who’s next elected as president.

It’s not based upon the economic order.

Our stability is in Jesus Christ and nothing else.

In Christ we stand — EVEN in dangerous times.

And we CAN stand.

Even if our political freedom is taken, Christ cannot be taken from us.

If the economy falls, Christ will not fall away from us.

Why, then, should we become so absorbed in that which is temporary and fail to realize our place in the permanent?

This is a seducing time.

But in Christ, we have a place to stand.

This is a hurting time, but in the midst of our hurts, we can stand in Christ.

Former General Superintendent George Wood tells of being in a place of business, talking to a young woman who was assisting him.

He happened to see the beautiful wedding band she had on her hand and commented to her on its uniqueness and beauty.

She looked at it, acknowledged the compliment, and turned her hand over and said, “But it has a crack in it.

And right now, it’s symbolic of our marriage.