This is where we are in our study of Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians when I Outline this entire study over a year ago and You know put my sermon titles. I try to figure in communion Sundays holidays when we'll do special things and Vacations all those kinds of things and then there's always things that come up and you change When I sat down this week to prepare for this morning sermon I just had to grant us and God you are good Because if there's a place we need to be this morning as a family this is it and God knew that when we started this book So I'm excited that we are going to be here Studying about the resurrection of Jesus. Let's pray together Follow we come to you as your children and I Look down. I saw I had grass on my shoes Lord somebody's probably got to run Somebody called a glimpse of a mirror and saw their hair and they're appalled Some teenager noticed there's a new zit they hadn't seen and Somebody looked down and heaven forbid there was a spot on their shirt and
Lord if we're not careful those are the things we Fixed about as though we have to be perfect Lord no matter how hard we try we're not going to be perfect Though we long to be and to come into your presence is not that we get it as right as we can It's that we like the little ones among us lift up our arms to you Because you are our father and where else can we go? There's no other place we want to go and we come knowing that you will bend down and pick us up Even when we have grass on our shoes because of Jesus who Jesus Blessed redeemer Sent from the heart of God Lord the reason we can come is because you want us to come You wanted us to come so badly that you sent Jesus Christ to die that we could come So we come and we hold up our arms and you pick us up and you love us You let us snuggle in your lap Grassy shoes and all and your heart tells us and what you love us Lord for just a minute we would sit quietly in Your lap Lord, you know us you know that We have grieved and grieved hard this week and we thank you Because to grieve that hard means we sure did laugh a lot even more than we knew and that is your gift to us Lord, I want to thank you for the love you've given me for the people in this church Lord, I've never loved the church like I love these people their way beyond Church people they are my family They are the family to my wife and my daughter And I praise you for them Lord, I want to pray this morning for Bill and Arlene and their family
Again, we just plead that you would comfort them as only you can and Father help us all to remember that at times We are all children and we need to be held so hold them really close and Lord. We do give you thanks for grand
Lord, I thank you for that little fellow Who as I've had chance to reflect showed me a Little bit of what you look like Father, it's helped me to look at some of our children in a different light To thank you more for their energy and their questions and their laughter their spontaneity and Their uncluttered view of life Lord help me to keep that lesson always Because sometimes our kids see you more clearly than we do
Lord I want to thank you for Alex Tweed and the fact that he's home and we pray that these bones with He'll quickly Lord, we know it wasn't in his plan or in Jim and Sandra's plan that he break that leg this week, but was in your plan And some day we seeing you will understand that you knew exactly what you were doing and there was a reason whether we see it or not and That you can be trusted Oh, I thank you that he's done well and pray that in the days to come he would continue to do well Lord, I thank you for Isabelle Lord just What a joy to light that woman is a true mother in the faith And I love her so and thank you for hearing our prayers That her surgery went well. It's so good to see her to hear say she's feeling well Thank you Father and now Lord draw us to your heart And speak to us through the preaching of your word We would hear the voice of Jesus Not the voice of man But the voice of our great shepherd who gave his life for his sheep Who loves us who guards us and protects us who leads us in the ways of righteousness O Lord God, we would hear you today as we sit in your laps no go close to your heart Speak to us the truth the Truth that will sustain us in life that will deliver us in death and that will preserve us in eternity That's what we ask for this morning in Jesus name Amen 1 Corinthians chapter 15 we're going to look at the first 11 verses this morning Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel. I preach to you Which you received and on which you have taken your stand By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you Otherwise you have believed in vain For what I received I passed on to you as a first importance that at Christ died for our sins According to the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day According to the scriptures and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve After that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time Most of whom are still living though some have fallen asleep Then he appeared to James then to all the apostles and last of all he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve 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 to me was not without effect No, I worked harder than all of them yet not I but the grace of God that was with me Whether then it was higher they this is what we preach and this is what you Believed and may the Lord bless the reading and the preaching of his word to our hearts this morning I am the resurrection in the life He that believe it in me though he were dead yet shall he live and who so ever live it and believe it in me shall never die Believe us now this either Jesus is the Christ of God who he claimed to be or he is a madman To have made such a statement leaves him no other alternative He is one or the other he either is the Christ of God or he is insane or demonic I am the resurrection in the life who would say such a thing Where did he say it at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and he says do you believe it?
Oh Lord, I know that the last day he's to look at me So I tell my daughter look look look me in the eye I want your attention. Do you believe this? Not behind the sky later. Do you believe that now I am the resurrection in the life? Yes, Lord. I believe I think of the Father Jesus explored him believe He said oh Lord. I believe helped out my unbelief if you only knew how often you passed or prayed that prayer Lord, I believe but I'm so weak help my unbelief Jesus is the Christ And he claimed I am the resurrection in the face of death. I am live
As one has stated so plainly the gospels do not explain the resurrection the resurrection explains the gospels Believe in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith. It is the Christian faith There is no Christianity without the resurrection for of what good is the cross if Jesus is dead
When the scripture says he was raised for our justification and it means that God looked upon his son and said yes I receive in the place of those I have called your blood Your sacrifice chapter 15 Paul deals with a very key issue in the Corinthian church And that is the resurrection Scholars do not know if the Corinthians had come to the point where they denied an afterlife in its entirety What we do know is that some maybe even many had come to believe that there was no bodily resurrection That it was just spiritual and if you understand Greek philosophy You can understand where they're coming from it was just second nature to them to fall into that And there were prophets who came and teachers who came and said oh this this thing about a bodily resurrection That's not essential We still have that with us today for there's some theologians who teach that it's not the resurrection literally It's the concept of resurrection and I must tell you that if it's just the concept I'm not very confident I need more than a concept when I stand beside a grave and say I am the resurrection in the life Because I live usually of also that's more than a concept It must be reality and the church historically has always held to the reality of a bodily resurrection
What we see this morning as we approach Paul's argument It's something that's extremely relevant for us today Some may have not heard it before Most of us have most of us have grown up with it and sometimes take it for granted There's nothing like death to grab your attention About what you believe concerning Christ Is the toning death and his resurrection
What I want us to do is we consider these eleven verses is simply here Paul's argument He begins basically by stating the fact of the resurrection He will discuss later the bodily resurrection what's entailed there gives us lots of information that brings us great comfort But here he begins with the fact and verses one and two he gives them a poignant reminder and that's the first point Verses one and two a poignant reminder He says I remind you of the gospel I preach to you which you received There is no good news there is no gospel apart from the resurrection It is a package deal When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior when you confess your sin and say Lord Jesus I'm a sinner. I justly deserve the wrath And displeasure of Almighty God
When you confess that the hymn and say I turn from that I turn from trusting myself. I believe you Save me you are saying I believe that your sinless life and a toning death Satisfied the holy requirements of God for my sin against him and then you say I believe You were buried You were dead and buried and you rose again you conquered death and the grave for the curse of sin the wages of sin is dead Jesus defeated death and the grave Paul reminds them That's what I preach to you and that's what you received and there is no gospel if you deny the resurrection Then he says if you remain in the gospel you're saved and some of our brothers and sisters say well see that means you can be saved and in law So that's not what he's saying What he's saying is That some of you have not remained
Some in the body in Corinth had not remained And that's why they were so easily let us pray You remember Jesus's story of the sower and the seed that was scattered what happened Only one of those seeds he describes endured and bore fruit
They all look like they were part But they weren't He says some because they are on shallow ground have no root and they spring up They look good and they go through the motions, but then they just with her away There's no root There are others who spring up and you just have the greatest of hopes for them, but then the cares of life Choke out and they with her away
John says they go from us because they were not of us Because just like in Israel of old all who called themselves Israel were not Israel and Paul to the Corinthians is some of you have made a false profession You have made a false profession
Because there is no abiding fruit. There is no abiding relationship. Jesus is by their fruit. You know them
What do you say in John 15? You abide in me and I abide in you. I'm divine you you're the branches and what happens you bear fruit And by their fruit we know that also as there's some here in this church Who so easily turned from the truth because The gospel was not received Not in their soul to save them and you see there are many in the church today who receives something But they haven't received Christ because as I've tried to preach to you so clearly it is not receiving doctrine It is receiving a person Being born a can is entering into a personal living relationship with Jesus Christ If I had the time I could just begin to list to you the many many things he has done this week The fact that we're here in 1 Corinthians 15 is just one of them Tim hadn't experienced Friday. I hope you'll come back tonight. I hope you'll share it with you Could not have been anything But God it worked. I have to tell you I'm tired of hearing people say what does he do This man right here shares the gospel more than anybody I know He is modeling exactly what I pray he would model Of being a real Christian in the real world sharing Christ where he is with his giftedness so we can learn from him You come back and let him tell you about that tonight. I'm not a shatter, but I almost did Just to see God it work Which of the the airport the other night as we met bill and darling and there was 2025 people At 11 30 at night on a work night gathered. I with these parents. That's all Jesus there. Those are just a few I could tell you more Paul reminds them this is what I preach to you and this is what you received If you have remained in it if you've wandered from it that shows that there's some problems Serious problems in your relationship with Christ then secondly The second point we only have two points this morning in verses 3 through 11 Paul states the fact of the resurrection Notice verse 3 he says I received Paul did not invent the gospel message Paul didn't make it up. He didn't embellish it. He didn't craft it for suit his own ends He said this is what I received Every single one of us as believers in Jesus Christ could stand up and say this morning This is the truth we have received It's one of the great things about knowing your church history That we are the recipients of the gospel the good news because men and women through the ages have been faithful I received as a little boy from my parents and my church the gospel and by God's grace I have been privileged in many places to proclaim the gospel And people have received the good news Verses 3 and 4 you see the gospel in a nutshell Jesus died for our sins He was buried he was raised on the third day and when he says according to the scriptures, obviously It's the Old Testament the New Testament wasn't written in We believe in the resurrection and this is Paul's point We believe in the resurrection first and foremost because the scriptures teach it I tell people the word of God you can live by it and you can divide because God says my word is as good as me My character backs up my word you remember when a man's word was his bond I remember as a little boy men with shake hands they didn't have to have a contract Your word was your bond and your character made your word good. That's what God does in his word And Paul says all this was told to us in the scripture And then in verses 5 through 8 he gives the eye witnesses He states the fact of what has happened and then he gives the eye witnesses He says the Lord Jesus after he had risen appeared to Peter Why would he say Peter because Peter was one of the three and also because we know Peter denied him remember And we know Peter had a great propensity for messing up and being weak If Peter saw him and believed and would preach the gospel and ultimately die a martyr Then he could not have been deceived I read a secular writer who said one time the greatest argument for the truth of the resurrection Are the apostles themselves who after they saw him did nothing but proclaim that truth Jesus Christ is alive even dying all but one as martyrs for that Then there were the twelfth those who knew him best saw him
His disciples those who ate and drank and lived they slept with him they knew everything about him They were not Duke they were not fooled in there were over 500 Jesus had many followers He appeared to more than 500 in James why is James significant James was his half brother he grew up with him Surely he would know him James gave testimony that Jesus indeed had risen from the dead all the apostles and Paul says finally even me Jesus revealed himself to me The first is 9 through 11 Paul talks about his position He says I'm the least of the apostles and Ephesians 3.80 says he's the least of the saints in 1 Timothy 1 15 toward the end of his life He says I'm the chief of sinners. Why does he say that here? He says because I persecuted the church Those who knew the truth I persecuted until the truth grabbed me He says I'm not worthy for I persecuted the church But here I am I'm here by God's grace It's what I'm trying to tell you. It's not because I'm worthy. It's not because you're worthy It's not because we're veterans because he is worthy And he's called us to a different existence It's why I call you to a higher standard We're not like everybody else If our relationships in this body are no different than the workplace in the school house Then we have no right to call ourselves Christian. We are different. We do make mistakes That's why we apologize and seek repentance. That's why we easily quickly forgive and move all Because if this place, if this body, if this community is no different Why are we here? I told you my own father has said You've grown up in the church You know how churches are And I take that book and I say but daddy this book says we're to be different And I really believe the gospel is powerful enough to change our hearts in community so that we're different Not perfect but different I mean I can take you to some people in this congregation who've had to forgive me that I know about gospel What happens when you love people You forgive your wife your husband your kids Sure you do why because you love them And when you love each other you forgive Paul says I persecuted the church but God Showed great grace to me Either the point that he made him the apostle to the Gentiles why because if anybody could tell these folks about unmerited favor It was Paul If anybody could convince them that those who were outside can now be brought inside It was him who was outside God used him mildly and we are his descendants even today The Corinthians heard and received the truth they received the gospel and to depart from it was to go away from the life of hope And peace that got it promised The Church of Jesus Christ has always held to the teachings of scripture The scripture that says Christ died for our sins then he was buried and that he was raised on the third day The church has always contended that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact And because that fact is true This saying Jesus said because highly of you shall live also
Because of that fact that Paul would write to the Thessalonian believers and say those Who are asleep He will bring forth with him when he comes You see I have no confidence in this flash that we can raise ourselves But I have every confidence that Jesus gave that's what the church has always believed and always taught One modern theologian is stated Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion The concept of the resurrection lies at its heart If you remove it Christianity is destroyed there many who deny the resurrection There are many who dilute it just like in the Corinthian assembly But to do so is to strike at the heart of the gospel For apart from the resurrection where is our hope Where's our hope of eternity with God Where's our hope that one day What has been marred and broken by sin will be restored perfectly In the paradise of God if Jesus has not conquered the grave we have no hope And later on Paul will say we are of all men most to be pitied But Christ is indeed risen from the dead Now I'm not a shatter, but that just gets me close Now Christ indeed is risen from the dead and because he is alive we know That we too will live forever with him We who know him I ask you this morning is Jesus Christ your hope Not Jesus Christ in your good works not Jesus Christ in your church attendance Not Jesus Christ in your gifts not Jesus Christ in your talents Jesus Christ alone
For therein is the only hope you have for resurrection I want to close this morning By reading a passage from the last battle by C.S. Lewis If for me you're with Lewis's narnia chronicles you know this is the last book in that series I love the line the witch in the wardrobe, but this one is an act of neck This is a wonderful book if you've never read it You said to children's book hey nobody's ever too old for some of the C.S. Lewis's books You go get them and you read them It's wonderful. I remember weeping when I read it because his descriptions have happened They were so real and all of a sudden that which seemed so far away and so cloudy became clearer And to hope became more real at the end of that book here's the last passage I find it so comforting and so encouraging It says there was a real railway accident sent Aslan softly Aslan the lion the Christ figure Your father and mother and all of you are as you used to call it in the shadow lands dead The term is over the holidays have begun the dream is ended this is the morning And as he spoke he no longer looked to them like a lion But the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them And for us this is the end of all the stories and we can truly say that they all lived happily ever after But for them it was only the beginning of the real story All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page Now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read Which goes on forever in which every chapter is better than the one before Praise his holy name You know why we know so little of heaven because we couldn't understand it if he told us but Lewis understood That in that place with him Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before And every chapter better than the one before and every day a glorious new beginning Without tears or pain or sin No wonder John at the end of the revelation said even so come Lord Jesus I don't know about you But I'm almost ready to say that too If it's that good and wonderful even so come And you know what makes it wonderful Because he is there He is there And wherever Jesus is It's heaven That's why here now this morning you who know him experience a taste of heaven because he is here And if the taste is this good What must the feast be like Father we thank you and we praise you for the sure hope of life eternal in Jesus Christ Lord, I don't know where these folks are Lord, I don't know what their spiritual condition is But I know this that the only way this hope becomes reality for anyone Is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ If there's even one here young or old rich or poor man or woman Never been in church always been in church regardless if they need Jesus O Lord, I pray that today They would say yes to you And experience that new life Which here is only the preface The true story begins when we get home. Thank you Lord Jesus Because it cost you your life to provide this for us How we praise you and how we love you May you know that By the way we live and that we pray in your name amen