1 Cor 15-10-20 If Christ NOT Risen

Title: Hell's Most Horrible Hypothesis Sunday Morning, April 22

Text: "If Christ be not risen... " (1 Cor. 15:14).

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:10‑20

Introduction:

Do you remember back in school in science and math when you were required to state a hypothesis and then go on to prove it right or wrong?
It could be something simple---chicken eggs in an incubator that have music played to them will hatch normal healthy chicks……….unless you have friends that help the process…

Background:

One of Paul's greatest strategies was to anticipate the argument of his opponent and then answer it.

To the Romans he wrote, "Shall we continue sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom. 6:1‑2).
To the Galatians he wrote, "Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (Gal. 3:21).
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul anticipated an argument, that, had it been valid, would have destroyed the foundation of the Christian faith.

Some in that sophisticated city were saying there was no such thing as a resurrection from the dead.

This was, of course, one of the cardinal differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees held tenaciously to the supernatural and thus accepted the fact of a resurrection.
The Sadducees, borrowing their worldly wisdom from the Greeks, had thrown in the towel" and given up any hope for a life to come.

With his keen logical mind, Paul saw that if there were no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then the glorious news that Christ is alive must he labeled as false and untrustworthy.

What would that do to the Christian faith?---------- The worst possible thing!

For the sake of discussion, Paul poses an assumption to the Corinthian Christians.

What if the worst possible thing that can be said about Jesus is true? ---- Let's look at it!
One authority defines a hypothesis as "a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical ... consequences.”
Paul presents the most horrible hypothesis that hell could ever manufacture in order to set the scene for an examination of the consequences, thus testing the validity of such a claim.

1. Our personal faith and witnessing is meaningless if Christ is not risen.

Think for a moment of the great preachers who have lived through the centuries—

Spurgeon in London, -------Moody in America,-------- David Livingstone in Africa, ---------Kagawa in Japan, -------Morrison in China, ---------Carey in India, -------Niemoeller in Germany.
All of these men were fools, duped by their own egos, wasting their lives.
In our own day, Billy Graham crusades and Franklin Graham festivals are not only a waste of time and money, but are actually a propagation of false doctrine.
My time and life are being wasted
Your time in church is wasted
The missions offering are wasted
This church building----grounds, etc.
The hope and comfort we find in sorrow is false
These terrible things are true unless the historical fact of the resurrection is true.

Every effort that we have made to win the lost to Christ has been only foolishness and vanity unless Christ arose from the dead.
We have received no true forgiveness because the price for our redemption has not been paid.
For, you see, the resurrection of Christ was the one event by which God placed his approval on the atonement.
Our loved ones who have gone on before are not asleep in Christ, but have gone out into a dark and empty nothingness.
We are of all people most miserable if Christ is not risen.

2. But, the “no resurrection” nightmare is not true.

The horrible dream is not true! --------The nightmare is ended if Christ is risen!
The grave could not contain him.
The enemies of Christ could not prevent God's acting in power.
Some who crucified him seem to have had more faith in his resurrection than some of his followers.

They said, "Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first" (Matt. 27:64).
Why did they do this?
Perhaps not so much that they feared the disciples, but they were afraid Jesus was actually telling the truth and had power to perform his words!

Jesus did arise!

Two scholars who were devout skeptics determined to destroy Christianity by research.
One chose the conversion of Paul and the other the resurrection of Jesus.

After months of honest study and investigation, each confessed he had become a Christian.
The one who investigated the resurrection of Jesus said, "All the evidence vindicates the claim.-------- No doubt about it, Jesus arose."

The purpose of this message is not to prove, but to proclaim. ------Others have proved.

Read their works, study the evidence, but then remember one thing.
You cannot be saved by believing with your head.
You must accept the truth with your heart, which means full commitment to the resurrected Christ.

3. Do you have the "burning heart"?

Luke records the conversation between Jesus and two disciples on the Emmaus road.

At first they did not recognize Jesus, but later, after he had revealed himself to them and then disappeared.
They said to each other, "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke 24:32).

When the resurrection is accepted by faith, a power comes into our lives that is possible no other way.
It is this "burning heart" that sends missionaries across the seas and that inspires men and women to "count all things but loss" for service in God's kingdom.
Christianity is founded on the resurrection of Christ.

Unless he arose, we have no motive for going into all the world and preaching the gospel.

Jesus did arise! --------- The evidence is irrefutable.

His death on the cross was a public event known to everyone.
Paul said to Agrippa, "This thing was not done in a corner" (Acts 26:26).
In a short time, the news of Jesus' death and resurrection spread over the known world.

Do you have this burning heart?

If so, you can say with the unknown person who wrote:

Fear not to take your place

With Jesus on the throne,

And bid the powers of hell and earth

His sovereign scepter own.

Your full redemption's rights

With holy boldness claim,

And to its utmost fullness prove

The power of Jesus' name.

Even those who have been skeptical of religion feel a tug when a crisis comes.
Although Thomas Huxley was a skeptic for years, when his four‑year old son died, he wrote to Charles Kingsley,

"As I stood beside the coffin of my little son the other day,... the minister read, ... 'If the dead rise not.... let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.'... I cannot tell you how inexpressively this shocked me.... Why the very ape's no better."

o The burning heart is a reality!

o When we face the issue of life and death, the flame is fanned.

o If we will accept the fact of the resurrection and receive as personal Savior the one who arose, the flame can burst forth into a dynamic fire.

! Conclusion

The hypothesis is not true!
Satanic forces have done their best to persuade the world, but the evidence is irrefutable.
Earth's blackest day, Calvary, and earth's brightest day, the resurrection, were just three days apart.
Jesus went for a short time into the realm of death that he might come back forever as Lord of life.
An author who traveled in the East tells of a night on the desert.

There was no sign of inhabited land, only desert sand.
That night a man slipped out of the camp and returned the next morning with a fresh green blade of rice.

During those three days and nights that Jesus was in the tomb, the land was desolate.

Jesus slipped out into the dark black night and brought back the fresh green of life eternal.
This was no accident! -----God acted in history!
Death took hold of Jesus the man and killed him.
God took hold of death, and death died!
Christ is the first fruits, of those who sleep.
Because he has arisen, we, too, will arise with new and glorious bodies!

Seek ye the Lord?

Search not the cold and empty tomb;

He is not linked with night and gloom;

He is not bound by death and strife:

His name is Light and Love and Life!

He lives; Is risen; Go find ye then

The Living Lord in the hearts of men!

-------- M. Ethel Anderson

Hell's most horrible hypothesis fails the test of experience and validity.
The resurrection is true!-----------Jesus is alive!
Go tell it on the mountain and in the Hill Country!