Morning they came to the tomb bringing the spices that they had prepared. They were expecting to still find the body of Christ there and to finish the burial process. But what they found instead, that the stone was rolled away from the tomb. They went in, but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And while they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes.
So then the women were terrified and they bowed down to the ground.
And the men asked them this question. Why are you looking for the living among the dead? Jesus is not here. He has risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, it is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and rise on the third day.
And then they remembered his words. So, returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the 11 who were the disciples that were left and to all the rest. The ones that had gone to the tomb were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and other women with them. There was a multiplicity of them that were telling the apostles these things, but these words seem like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. Peter, however, got up.
He ran to the tomb and. And when he stooped to look in, he saw only the Lidden cloths. So he went away, amazed at what had happened. We're looking today at the essential nature of the resurrection, because that is what we celebrate. May we pray for God's guidance.
Heaven. Father, as we look at your word today, we pray that you would give us understanding of it, that we might possess eternal life, that we might understand better how to share eternal life, Father, in the nature of the gospel with others. And above all things, may your son be honored. And we ask that you do this in our lives by the power of your spirit, because we are incapable of understanding or applying the Scripture without his help. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. If you will turn with me out of First Corinthians, chapter 15, we're going to look at why the resurrection is so essential. We're going to start out by looking at the resurrection is essential to the gospel message. In First Corinthians 15, verse 1, we read. Now I want to make clear for you.
Paul is saying, please zero in. There can be no misunderstanding here. Brothers and sisters, I want to make clear to you the gospel that I preached to you, the good news. And he said, it's the gospel which you have received, it's the gospel on which you have taken your stand, and it's the Gospel by which you are being saved as long as you hold to the message. I preach to you this essential gospel.
And if you don't do that, you have believed in vain. He says, for I passed on to you as most important what I also received. First, that Christ died for our sins. That means that he took the punishment for all of our evil nature and everything that we commit that is evil, that is sinful, he paid the penalty for that. So we don't have to pay the penalty.
Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. The second most important part, that he was buried, he didn't just faint, he was literally dead for three days. His body was in the tomb. But then, praise the Lord, what happened next is he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that is what we celebrate today. Paul said there are three essentials to the gospel.
Christ died for our sins. Christ was buried in. And we must not forget that he was raised on the third day. Paul says that on this gospel that you've received, that you've taken your stand, it's by which you not only were saved, but you're continuing to be saved. And the Gospel isn't just something that starts and gives us salvation.
It's what we are to continue to live in throughout our life. It doesn't just save us. Once it saves us, it continues to save us. And throughout eternity, we will always be saved. So I want to say that the gospel, it's not just like the key to a house.
It's not just the key to salvation. It's actually going into the home. It's going in there and living. And so we are to live in the Gospel in our entire life. When I say it's like living in a home, we think of our houses where we live.
We eat, eat, we sleep, we enjoy our family, we play games, we read books, we watch tv. I mean, if you had a key to your house and you never went in it and you never lived in it, what joy would there be there? That's how the Gospel is. It's not just the key to getting into salvation, but then it's living and enjoying all of that, like in the home. The Gospel should be evident in every part of our home life.
The Gospel should shape every aspect of our home life. And the Gospel should permeate or infuse every aspect of our home life. Every home has its own flavor, every home has its own smells, and hopefully they're all good. But every house is individual based upon that family. And when you live in the Gospel of salvation.
It should be evident everywhere. But not only is the gospel like a key, but it's also Jesus talks about that he's the gate, and we talk about him being the gate. It's not just walking through the gate that's important, but it's what's beyond that gate. And we think about a garden in which you would walk and you would grow vegetables and flowers and plants. And you don't have the garden not to go in, but you have it to enjoy and to live there.
So the gospel is like a home that we continually live in, but it's also outside our home.
And the life outside our home, it should be permeated with the gospel. We live according to it. We get a glimpse of this In Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 5 through 9, where God talked about how their worship and adoration of him wasn't just supposed to be a key or a gate. It was supposed to permeate their entire life. And he gives us instructions to parents.
He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. There's this internal love for the Lord. And then he says these words that I am giving you today. They are to be in your heart, but not only on the inside, but on the external. You're supposed to repeat them to your children.
You're supposed to talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorpost of your house and on your city gates. I'm just saying the Gospel isn't just the means to salvation. It is what we are to live in continually.
It should affect everything that we do. So when we talk about the Gospel being the commencement to our salvation, it's also the continuation of our salvation. And it's the culmination of our salvation that one day when God makes all things new and perfect. Now, Paul says that if you don't believe this Gospel, your belief is in vain, meaning that there's no adequate basis for it. It's without serious apprehension and with just a random thought out there.
But the Gospel is serious. It's not in vain.
The resurrection is essential to the Gospel. But we go on to read in verse 12 that is also essential to our faith. I begin reading now. If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is all in vain and your faith is in vain. Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised us up, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead are not raised. Paul is kind of arguing from the negative side of this. If this isn't true, then this is what it all means without the resurrection. Paul is saying that for us to proclaim it is vain and useless.
Without the resurrection. Just to say that Jesus died on the cross and he was buried in it means nothing to us. It's not a serious thing to believe in. He's telling us that if we don't believe in the resurrection, there's no point to our faith. Because if Jesus Christ could not raise himself from the dead, much less is he going to be able to raise the millions of people that have given their life to him throughout the years.
Without the resurrection, our faith is vain. Paul says we're placing our faith and hope in just a worthless lie if we don't believe in the resurrection. And not only are we placing our faith in a worthless lie, but he says that we're living a lie. And we all know that if you lie that that goes against God's law. So God is not asking us to break the law.
He's telling us to proclaim the truth that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. And if we do not believe in the resurrection, if it didn't happen, then certainly once again, we will not rise from the dead because Jesus is still in the grave. So Paul's putting in a true false sense here. Is it true or is it false that Jesus was raised from the dead? And if the answer is false, then the Christian faith and its witnesses are, are all false.
And there is no beneficial effect derived from the Gospel. But if the Gospel is true, the Christian faith and its witnesses are true and there is a beneficial effect for all of us who die in Christ. Verse 16 says, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins.
Those then who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. If we put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. Once again, the proclamation of the Gospel is vain and useless. Without the resurrection, our faith is in vain. We're placing our faith and hope in a worthless lie.
We, we are living a lie. And Thus breaking the law of God, we will not rise from the dead. But Paul is adding here that your faith now is completely worthless. You've invested everything in something that has no value. Without the resurrection, you're still in your sins.
That means that you are guilty of eternal punishment. Because without the resurrection, Jesus, death, burial and resurrection have no effect upon making us right in God's eyes. And because of all this, Paul says we should be pitied more than everyone because we've invested all of our living, our home life, our work life, our family life in this belief that Jesus died and was raised from the dead. If we're basing all of that and it's false, then Paul says we should be pitied. Your faith is worthless.
You still have a deadly condition called sin. There would be no resurrection, no justification, meaning our sins are not forgiven, and certainly no sanctification that we become more and more like Christ as we live. If there's no justification, no sanctification, we should be pitying more than everyone else. We go on to read in verse 20. But as it is, this is the positive side.
This is the amazing part. Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Meaning that he was the first to be raised from the dead. For since death came through a man going back to Adam because of his decision to not follow the Lord, we all have the problem of sin in our life. The resurrection of the dead also comes through one man, Jesus Christ.
For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the first fruits. And afterward at his coming, those who belong to Christ. First we said the resurrection is an essential part of the gospel. Then we said it is essential to our faith.
And what we see here is Paul is saying that the resurrection is essential to our future. Because we know for certain that in Christ we will one day be made alive when he returns. What is that going to look like? Let's go to verse 24. Now it says when he returns, the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy to be abolished is death. When we become Christians, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we become new creatures. But Jesus death, burial and resurrection also has an effect on all of creation. That someday everything that is wrong in this world is going to be corrected.
All the evil in the world is going to be removed. There will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any disease or sadness. So in regard to our future, we already said Christ will make us alive. But he says here that God's kingdom is going to be restored.
God once again is going to take charge of this world. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they took that away from God and they gave it to Satan. And he became the ruler of this world. And that's why everything is going amok. That's why we have war.
That's why we have sin, why we have disease. Because Satan is not a good king. He is out to destroy and to kill and to deceive the world. But when God once again becomes the rightful king over this world, everything will be made right. Paul tells us at that time, the evil rule of the world will come to an end.
Every evil ruler that we can think of in history will be no more. Because God will be completely opposite of that good, kind, loving in all of his decisions and how he rules the world. Paul says that all God's enemies will be crushed. There won't be anyone fighting against the Lord in this world anymore. And thus there won't be anyone fighting against those that are his followers.
And the last thing is, Paul says that the last enemy to be abolished will be death. There will be no more death in the world. Everything will continue to live eternally for those that are in Christ.
We need to go back now to look at what is the overriding story in Scripture. Because it starts in Genesis and it ends in Revelation. And it is all about the Gospel. We start out in Genesis, chapter one, that God exists. And he wants us to know a very important thing about his nature.
He wants us to know that he is completely and entirely good. That's why over and over it says that everything that God made is good. And when he had put it all together, everything was very good. And that shows us what his nature is like. He did not place evil in the world.
He did not place death and sin and sickness. It was all good. And he walked each day with Adam and Eve in the garden because he wanted to spend time with them. He wanted to be their friend. He was their family.
He was their father. And they enjoyed this close relationship with him. But God didn't want to force that relationship on Adam and Eve. He didn't say, you have to love me. You can't just walk up to a stranger, say, you have to love me.
There has to be a decision on their part. And so God allowed them to have A choice. Do you want to continue in this loving relationship with me, or do you want to choose to go your own way? And that's why he said, don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was their choice, to either follow him or to go their own way.
And we know from Genesis that Adam and Eve made the choice to turn away from God, to do things their own way instead to follow the serpent, who was really Satan there. And that choice became destructive because immediately their perfect relationship as husband and wife, they were arguing, they were blaming one another. They felt ashamed. They were afraid to see God anymore, their very best friend. They couldn't approach him, so they were hiding from him.
And God knew that all this evil would enter the world if they didn't choose to obey him. And so we say that their choice that they made was destructive because it messed up everything. And the very sad thing about that is that it left them with what we call a deadly condition. Now, Satan said, certainly you're not going to die. And he was talking about, you're not going to die immediately if you eat this fruit.
But what God was telling him that there's a more important part in you than just your body, that is your eternal nature. We talk about it as being your spirit. That people continued to live, but their spirit died. Their ability to communicate and have a close, intimate relationship with God was destroyed. And that part in men and women died.
Now, throughout the ages, people have said, well, I can cure my own condition. I can give lots of money, I can do lots of good things, I can go to lots of religious gatherings, I can speak well, I can act well, and I can even try to be perfect. But all of those things will not cure your sin problem. So God steps in and says, I know that you can't cure your problem, but I'm going to give you the cure. That's why we say that the cure is gracious, meaning it's completely free, that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross.
He was buried and he rose from the dead. And he did those three things to cure our sinful condition. And when we accept that sinful condition by faith, we talk about that we have a new creation. We are restored individually, and we look forward to the day when everything in nature will be restored to the good way that God had created it. But understanding these things is not enough.
There has to be a response on our part that we believe this and. And that we place our faith in Jesus Christ. And it's interesting because there are three Types of people that were kind of there at the tomb. There were the Jewish leaders and they were trying to thwart the possibility that the resurrection had happened. They set up this rumor.
Well, the disciples came and they stole his body. They did not want to recognize that Jesus was raised from the dead. And even though they understood that and saw that with their own eyes, they. They did not believe. Then there was Peter.
He came to the tomb and he was surprised and he was baffled. He seemed to comprehend what was going on. But it says that, that he left immediately and he went back to think about it. But there was another disciple that came after him. It was John.
And it tells us specifically that when he saw that the body was missing, that he did that next step. He responded to what he saw in that he believed that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. The Witness of over 500 people in Jesus day was enough to convince multitudes it wasn't just the disciples that saw him raised from the dead, but over 500 people at one time.
The same way today, God is extending to you and an invitation to be part of his eternal kingdom. He wants all of us to be members of his family. He wants to make us heirs with his son Jesus Christ. He wants us to free us from the slavery of this world so that we can live a wonderful life that is intimate with Him. You need to know these things, but God says you have to respond.
You have to receive by faith what God is giving us as a precious gift. The overriding redemptive story in scripture. What all the Bible is about. All about God's special revelation to us. It has meaning, but it doesn't change our lives until we accept it by faith.
And how do we do that? Just to make it very simple, today I've got three words up on the screen. Admit, believe and then confess. Which goes along. Repentance.
First you have to admit that you are sinner. You have to understand you're unable to remove sin from yourself. You're unable to cure your deadly condition. You have to say, I realize I can't give enough money, I can't do enough good, I can't come to church enough. But I have this problem that needs to be dealt with.
And then God tells us that we have to believe. Now it says that the demons believe, but they're not saved from their rebellion and their sin. There's more to just this hidden knowledge. It means to fully rely upon the fact. It's an act of your will, it's an act of your emotions, and it's Also an act of your mind that you're fully giving yourself to Jesus Christ.
You believe, believe you fully rely upon that Jesus died on the cross, he was buried, and that he rose from the dead so that now you can stand without guilt before God one day and have a right relationship with him. Then. Scripture says that once we place our faith in Jesus Christ as the result of that, we're willing to confess that he is the Lord of our life. Or it's this act of repentance and saying, I. I believe that Jesus really is God. And if he is God, I owe to him my allegiance and I'm just giving him my entire self.
And that should come out in our life, that we're willing to let other people see that we live that way and that we talk that way. If you've never come to that point in your life, today, the invitation to you is that all you have to do is tell God that you want to receive his gift of salvation. And we're going to have a sample prayer of how you would talk to God in your heart. And this is kind of what you would say to him. You say, God, I admit that I'm a sinful creature in need of a restored relationship with you.
And because I realize that I have this problem, I believe that Jesus came to solve this problem, that through his life, his death, burial, and resurrection, he has provided the only way to restore my relationship with you. The scripture says that we believe with our heart, but we also confess that he is Lord. Therefore, you would say, I confess that I want to turn from living my life my way to living my life your way. And I will live for Jesus as the master or the controlling person in my life, recognizing that he is God in the flesh. God, give me your free gift of salvation and make me be born again.
Amen. We have a time of invitation today where Kelly Jo is going to be leading us in a song, and we're going to have a prayer team standing at the back. And if you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, someone can talk to you about that. Or maybe there's some sickness in your life or there's some problem. You just want someone to pray, pray with you about that.
They're willing to do that. So I would ask that you stand now and as the music begins, just make your way to the back if you need to speak with someone. May we close in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you that Jesus did not just die on the cross and was left buried, but he was raised from the dead and we understand how essential that is and how wonderful it is, and the great promise that it provides for us, Father, that we also will be raised from the dead. Thank you for the gift of salvation that you've given to us that we cannot earn, Father.
Let us ever be appreciative and joyful in that, Father, in our homes and in our lives everywhere. Let it permeate everything that we do. That we are living because of the Gospel. That we are looking forward to our death and our time with you in eternity because of the Gospel. Let it change our lives in every way.
Father, we come to you today in thanksgiving, and we come by the power of your spirit, asking him to work in our hearts to draw us closer to you. In Jesus name.