The Resurrection
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· 5 views6 reasons why the resurrection of Jesus the Christ is the most important foundation of our faith.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
READ from chronological Bible pp. 1408-1409
SING “He Lives”
The Resurrection of Christ is essential to our faith.
Without it we really don’t have any hope.
In fact, apart from the resurrection, the foundation of our faith is stripped away leaving us with sand.
This morning I want to impress on us how essential the resurrection is to our faith.
William Lane Craig writes:
“Without the belief in the resurrection the Christian faith could not have come into being. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. Even had they continued to remember Jesus as their beloved teacher, His crucifixion would have forever silenced any hope of His being the Messiah. The cross would have remained the sad and shameful end of His career. The origin of Christianity therefore hinges on the belief of the early disciples that God had raised Jesus from the dead.”
Since the resurrection of Christ is important, we must ask the question why?
In 1 Cor. 15:12-19 Paul answers this question by giving us 6 reasons why the resurrection of Christ is important.
Reason #1. Apart from the resurrection…
1. Preaching Christ Would Be Useless v. 14
1. Preaching Christ Would Be Useless v. 14
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
Paul tells us in v. 14 that preaching is vain without the resurrection of Christ.
The Christian faith rises or falls with the resurrection.
Paul is saying that if Christ didn’t rise from dead, preaching the gospel is worthless!
Why?
If Jesus simply died Christianity would be no different than any other religion.
You may have heard the expression, “it’s not a religion it’s a relationship”.
That is what sets Christianity apart from other religions, the fact that the one we worship is still alive.
Part of the message we preach is that we have eternal life.
What do we base that belief on?
The resurrection of Christ! The fact that Christ is alive!
How do we know that God accepted the sacrifice of Christ?
He raised Jesus from dead!
We use Romans 5:8 for witnessing purposes, but the passage has more to say.
In this passage we learn that we are justified by His blood and saved from wrath through Him.
If He didn’t rise this would be impossible.
If Jesus was still dead He wouldn’t be able to save us from wrath.
V. 9 declares that we are reconciled to God by the death of Christ, but saved by His life.
He must be alive for this to be possible!
In v. 11 we receive atonement through Christ.
What we preach would be impossible if Christ was still dead!
He arose!
6 reasons the resurrection is important.
Reason #1: Preaching Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #2. Apart from the resurrection…
2. Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless v. 14
2. Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless v. 14
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
Think about the things we believe by faith.
How many of them would be taken away if Christ didn’t rise?
We believe Christ is going to reign in a real physical kingdom, He is going to return to take us to heaven with Him.
If He is dead then none of this would be possible.
We place our faith and trust in Christ as savior, as the one who took our punishment on Himself and gave His life.
But if He didn’t rise then He would have no life to give!
Faith in Christ is vain if He is not alive today!
In Acts 2 Peter is addressing a multitude.
As He is preaching, he reminds them of the prophecies about the Messiah.
In v. 22 he begins to tell them about Jesus.
After v. 24 Peter reminds them of David’s prophecy then in v. 29 he begins to apply it to Jesus.
In v. 36 we learn that God the Father raised Jesus and made Him both Lord and Christ.
That is what the resurrection accomplished.
The resurrection gives substance to our faith!
6 reasons the resurrection is important.
Reason #1: Preaching Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #2: Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #3. Apart from the resurrection…
3. All Witnesses And Preachers Of The Resurrection Are Liars v. 15
3. All Witnesses And Preachers Of The Resurrection Are Liars v. 15
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
As we mentioned, in Acts 2 Peter talks about the resurrection, if Jesus didn’t rise, Peter is a liar.
In fact, all NT writers are liars because they all give testimony to the resurrection of Christ.
Worse, if Jesus didn’t rise, Jesus Himself is a liar.
At least 17 times in gospels Jesus is recorded claiming He would rise again.
In Matt. 20:18-19 Jesus is very specific.
18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”
Lk. 9:22 Once again, Jesus is specific.
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
There are many other places as well.
The point is this; if Jesus lied about being resurrected, He can’t be God.
If Jesus isn’t God, His death accomplished nothing, we are still dead in our sins.
Jesus HAD to be literally, physically raised from the dead in order for Him to be telling the truth.
We cannot trust this book if Christ didn’t rise!
6 reasons the resurrection is important.
Reason #1: Preaching Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #2: Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #3: All Witnesses And Preachers Of The Resurrection Are Liars.
Reason #4. Apart from the resurrection…
4. There Is No Forgiveness Of Sins v. 17
4. There Is No Forgiveness Of Sins v. 17
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
A dead savior can do nothing!
In order to be the savior Jesus Christ must still be alive.
1 Jn. 2:2 calls Jesus the propitiation for our sins.
This means that Jesus is the satisfaction, Jesus paid the penalty.
It is our belief in Him that saves us, if He is dead how can He save us?
Heb. 7:23-27 talks about the priesthood of Christ.
23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing.
24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
V. 24 = Jesus continues forever.
V. 25 = Jesus always lives to make intercession for us.
Jesus offered Himself, He paid the penalty for our sin once for all.
The Resurrection of Christ is our message.
Not just in pulpits, but in the life of every believer.
If He didn’t rise, our faith crumbles, we are left with nothing.
As believers in Christ we have no need fear death because Christ conquered it.
The defeat of death by Jesus is proved by His resurrection.
This means that we ought to live fearless lives as bold witnesses for Christ.
This also means that we have a confidence no other religion on earth can have; the confidence of completely forgiven sin.
The resurrection of Christ shows that the Father was satisfied with Christ’s sacrifice.
It proves that He forgave our sins.
We are repeatedly told in scripture to believe on Jesus.
We are told to believe on Him because He is the Savior, because He willingly died on the cross for sin.
If that isn’t true we are deceived and led astray by the very book that claims to lead us to life!
Jesus says He is the door, He came so we could have life.
He gave His life for the sheep.
He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father except through me.”
The resurrection must be true for any of that to be true!
6 reasons the resurrection is important.
Reason #1: Preaching Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #2: Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #3: All Witnesses And Preachers Of The Resurrection Are Liars.
Reason #4: There is No Forgiveness Of Sins.
Reason #5. Apart from the resurrection…
5. All The Dead Saints Would Be Gone Forever v. 18
5. All The Dead Saints Would Be Gone Forever v. 18
18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If there is no resurrection then no one has ever been resurrected.
That would mean that we will never see any dead saints again.
I thank God for the resurrection!
There are many beloved saints I am looking forward to seeing after I see Christ!
I have some children I want to meet, some siblings, and some nieces and nephews!
In 1 Thess. 4:13-18 Paul says,
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
These verses are only possible because of the sacrifice of Christ and because He ROSE AGAIN!
These verses promise that those who die in the faith are given new bodies and we will see them again!
The resurrection of Jesus guarantees our resurrection!
We can know that when we die, it is not the end!
We will rise again.
6 reasons the resurrection is important.
Reason #1: Preaching Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #2: Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #3: All Witnesses And Preachers Of The Resurrection Are Liars.
Reason #4: There is No Forgiveness Of Sins.
Reason #5: All The Dead Saints Would Be Gone Forever.
Reason #6. Apart from the resurrection…
6. We Are Of All Men Most Miserable v.19
6. We Are Of All Men Most Miserable v.19
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
If Christ didn’t rise this would be true!
But as stated in the first part of the verse we have hope for the future, we have hope of an afterlife because Christ rose from the dead!
This hope isn’t what we usually think of when we hear the word “hope”.
It isn’t a “maybe” hope, it is a confident expectation.
We have the confident expectation that we will rise again and spend eternity with Christ!
How blessed we are to know that we don’t only have hope in this life, but also in the life to come!
Hope.
Hope is something that this world longs for, yet is constantly missing.
Hope for life right now is centered on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
How?
If He hadn’t risen then our sins are not forgiven.
Because He rose we know we are forgiven.
Also His resurrection gives us hope for our loved ones that have “died in Christ”.
We can be confident of their resurrection and of ours after we die.
We have a confident expectation of eternity with all other believers and with Christ Himself!
6 reasons the resurrection is important.
Reason #1: Preaching Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #2: Our Faith In Christ Would Be Useless.
Reason #3: All Witnesses And Preachers Of The Resurrection Are Liars.
Reason #4: There is No Forgiveness Of Sins.
Reason #5: All The Dead Saints Would Be Gone Forever.
Reason #6: We Are Of All Men Most Miserable.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What difference does the resurrection make in our lives today?
First of all, there are many lies about the resurrection.
We can be confident that Jesus really did rise in a literal physical body and is alive today.
Because He is alive, we know that we have eternal life and our sins are forgiven.
We need be preaching the truth about Christ.
Easter isn’t about eggs and bunnies.
Easter is about remembering the resurrection, it is about remembering that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive!
Friends this also means we do have something to preach about and to tell others about.
This means that faith in Christ is not worthless, it means that when we teach the resurrection we are teaching the truth.
It means that our sins are completely forgiven, it means we will see our believing loved ones again!
It means that we are not miserable, why?
Because we serve a risen savior.
We must tell others about Him.
SING “Christ Arose”