SERMON OUTLINE

Christ’s Resurrection Assures Our Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15.1-24

Introduction

Have you believed the Gospel message in vain?

The Content and the Source of the Message 3-11

Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised from the dead on the third day.

The historical Christ and the OT Scriptures

No Selective Resurrection 12-13

Greek Philosophy could not rationalize a bodily resurrection.

Gnostic Philosophy taught escape from the corrupt body.

Not a denial of the resurrection of Christ but of the resurrection of humanity.

All or none. Selective resurrection is not an option.

Not a one time event only for Jesus but for all people.

Consequences of no Resurrection of Christ 14-19

Preaching is useless; our faith is useless; we are misrepresenting God; we are still in our sins; those that have died are eternally lost; we are to be pitied in this world like people living a delusion.

Christ is Raised from the Dead 20-24

Christ is raised therefore all who believer are raised from the dead and will join him in the Kingdom of God.

Conclusion

1) All people will be resurrected from the dead. Acts 24.15; John 5.28-29. You do not have a choice about resurrection but you do have a choice about where you will spend eternity.

2) The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s proof of the forgiveness of sins and of God’s acceptance of you because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Supported by God’s Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. 1 John 4.13; Ephesians 1.14

3) The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s proof that believers will have a new body and eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

SERMON NOTES

Christ’s Resurrection Assures our Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15.1-24

Are you absolutely certain that your sins are forgiven and that when you die you will receive a new body and inherit eternal life? The Bible says that if we recognize that we are sinners, and are willing to turn away from our sin, and believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin, God will forgive our sin and come and live in us by the Holy Spirit and we will receive the gift of eternal life. The Bible calls that process being saved. Paul writes in verses 1-2, “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”. Then Paul adds these words, “unless you believed in vain”. Have you believed in vain?

What does Paul mean by the words, “unless you believed in vain”? The focus here is not on a faulty belief in those who are believing. Paul is not suggesting at all that their belief may not be strong enough to receive salvation or that something is lacking in their commitment to the gospel message he has preached. Paul is not addressing the quality of their believing or the extent of their commitment to God. Paul is saying, “what if you are believing a message that is not true”? What if the gospel message you received from me, and in which you take your stand, and which you persevere is just not true. In that case your believing is vain, useless, worthless, ineffective. Paul will define in verses 14 to 19 what it means to believe in vain.

In verses 3 to 11, Paul tells us the content and the source of the message he preaches.

The content of the gospel Paul preaches is that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, and that he was seen by more than 500 witnesses, including Jesus’ brother James who became the leader of the Jerusalem church, all the apostles, and last of all by Paul himself.

The source of this gospel message is the historical life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which occurred less than 30 years before Paul wrote these verses, and the teachings of Jesus Christ about who he was and why he came to die. Jesus’ life and message is confirmed by the OT Scriptures about the coming Messiah who would bring God’s salvation.

So Paul says in verse 11, “I and others have preached this message of salvation in Jesus Christ to you and you believed”. But is this message true or have you believed in vain?

In verse 12, we find the problem that Paul wants to address in the church in Corinth. Some believers in Corinth were saying that there is no resurrection from the dead. They were not denying that Jesus was raised from the dead but some were saying that they did not believe that they would be raised from the dead with physical bodies.

Let me give you a few reasons why these believers might conclude that they had salvation but did not expect a physical resurrection from the dead. Greek philosophy taught that the body perished but the soul lived on. Bodies were publicly burned and it was not reasonable to the Greek mind that the body would be resurrected. Gnostic philosophy taught that spirit was good but the material body was evil. The spirit could be cleansed from sin but the body was permanently corrupt and could never be made good. Salvation was to achieve freedom from the prison of the material body and to live in an eternal pure spiritual disembodied state. A bodily resurrection would only imprison the spirit in a body all over again and defeat the purpose of salvation. The Corinthian believers did not deny the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus was God and perfectly sinless, a bodily resurrection made sense for him but not for human beings with sinful corrupt bodies.

Paul uses this denial of a physical resurrection by some in Corinth to make an essential point that is important to everyone of us here this morning. In verse 13 Paul writes, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised”. Paul logically states that you cannot have selective resurrection. Either all dead bodies are raised from the dead, or no dead bodies are raised from the dead. If there is no resurrection from the dead then Christ has not risen from the dead. When it comes to resurrection all will be raised from the dead or none will be raised from the dead. Selective resurrection is not an option.

The question may come up here: how does Paul know that the resurrection of Jesus is not a one-time event involving only Jesus? The answer to that question is found in verses 21-22. Just as all of humanity is in union with Adam and experiences death because of Adam’s sin, so those who believe in Jesus Christ are in union with Christ and experience resurrection in Christ and will be raised with him. We were all born in Adam and we all experience death because of Adam’s sin. Those who believe in Jesus Christ are united to Christ and in Christ experience resurrection from the dead. Because of the solidarity that we have with Adam and with Christ we experience both death and resurrection in them. So resurrection is not selective but for all or for none.

In verses 14 to 19, Paul tells us the serious consequences if Christ is not raised from the dead. [Slide]

Preaching is useless; our faith is useless; we are misrepresenting God; we are still in our sins; those that have died are eternally lost; we are to be pitied in this world like people living a delusion.

But Christ has been raised from the dead. That fact reverses all the previous consequences mentioned in verses 14 to 19. Preaching is effective and powerful to bring salvation; our faith saves us; God is glorified; our sins our forgiven; those who have died in Christ have eternal life; we are the ones living in reality and the world is living in a blind delusion of false peace.

In verses 20-24, Paul now applies the same logic of verse 13 in reverse. If Christ is raised from the dead then all those who die will be raised from the dead. All die in Adam because of their sin, so all will be resurrected from the dead after the pattern of Christ. Some when Christ returns and others after the millennium. Some to the resurrection of eternal life and the Kingdom of God, and some to the resurrection of eternal death.

What Paul teaches in these verses about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has consequences for everyone here this morning.

1) The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that every believer who dies will one day be raised from the dead. Here Paul is writing to believers but there are other verses in the Bible that teach us that both believer and unbeliever will experience a resurrection and receive physical bodies that will live forever and not deteriorate. Paul teaches in Acts 24.15, “there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust”. Jesus tells us very clearly in John 5.28-29 that everyone will experience a resurrection from the dead. “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of Man and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

You have no choice in the fact that you will be resurrected from the dead and will live forever, but you do have a choice where you will spend eternity. You can spend eternity in the lake of fire with those who did not voluntarily submit to the Lord Jesus Christ along with the Devil and his demons, or you can spend eternity in heaven with those who have been born again and are being conformed to Jesus Christ. I urge you to ask God to show you your sin and your need of Jesus Christ and to ask God to save you from your sin today.

2) If you are a believer, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is God’s proof to you that in Jesus Christ you are forgiven of your sins and that you are accepted by God and have the gift of eternal life.

As Christians we have a number of proofs that Jesus is God and that we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have God’s Word which when examined proves it is no ordinary book but God’s revelation to mankind of Who He is, who we are, our fallen condition, God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, and the final end of history both for individuals and for the world.

As Christians we also have the indwelling Holy Spirit. John writes, “We know that we abide in him and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4.13). Paul teaches that the indwelling Holy Spirit is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Ephesians 1.14).

And finally the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s proof that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sin is sufficient to meet the justice of God and that we are accepted by God in Jesus Christ.

3) The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof to the Christian that we will have a new body just like Jesus in the resurrection. Jesus is the firstfruit, the pattern, the first of many sons of God. We will have new bodies like Jesus and be in the Kingdom of God forever. Brothers and Sisters, we have not believed in vain.

What I have told you this morning is not new to most of us. What I am praying is that God by His Spirit will help us to realize afresh how amazing it is that God came to earth and became fully human, and then gave his life on the cross for our sins while we were rebels, liars, thieves, abusing our lives and abusing others, ignoring and rejecting God. Not only has God saved us in Jesus Christ and united us with Christ, He has also given us a place in His eternal Kingdom. The Creator of the Universe loves you and wants you to be with Him forever and has made that possible through Jesus Christ. Our response must be nothing less than complete and total abandonment to God in whatever service He calls us to. Give your life in gratitude to the love of God.

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This morning we are called to gather around the Lord’s Table to remember the Lord’s death for our sin. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper together we proclaim the Lord’s death. We proclaim that he gave his life as a payment to God for our sin. We can proclaim the Lord’s death for our sin because we know that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ because God raised Jesus from the dead. We proclaim the Lord’s death until the final return of Jesus Christ in glory and power to set up his eternal kingdom in which all those who believe will be partakers.