Resurrection Sunday 2015
1st Cor. 15:1-20
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We as Christians are the only religion able to do that.
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All other gods that ever lived died and they stayed dead…
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Other gods have no idea what’s going in the lives of their followers…
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Other gods cannot hear, cannot see and cannot feel a person’s pain…
But the God that we serve died overcame death and lives forever more.
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He hears us when we call…
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He feels for us when we fall…
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He prays for us all…
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And He will keep us over the long haul.
What a mighty God we serve!
But all of that would mean nothing, all I said would be idle words if it were not for the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
It is very important to understand and know the significance of the resurrection.
Knowing the significance of the resurrection will help us to understand better why this day
is a day of celebration.
The resurrection of Jesus is the very heart and soul of Christian truth.
It is the very cornerstone of everything we as Christians believe.
We have life because Jesus lives…
We have hope because Jesus arose from the dead…
To understand the significance of this day there is no better and no more complete
coverage than that of 1st Cor. 15.
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1st Cor. 15 covers the resurrection from every facet.
What we will see in this chapter is the very heart of the meaning of the resurrection.
There is no way I can cover all of this chapter but I am going to try to cover as much as I can.
I want to point out four things about the resurrection.
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The evidence of the resurrection…
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The implication of no resurrection…
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The results of the resurrection…
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And the motivation of the resurrection.
The evidence of the resurrection.
In the first 11 verses of this chapter Paul presents the irrefutable, undeniable evidence related to
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Verse 1… Paul says…moreover brethren I declare to you the gospel, which I preached to you,
which also you received and in which you stand.
Verse 2…by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless
you believed in vain.
In these verses Paul gives us three great evidences that Jesus indeed rose from the dead.
Evidence #1…The evidence of a transformed life.
How do I know that Jesus lives today?
I know because He changed my life.
How do I know Jesus is alive today?
I know because I what He does in other people’s lives who have accepted His offer of salvation.
The first evidence of the resurrection is the difference salvation makes in a person’s life.
Verse 3 is the second evidence of the resurrection…
Paul says I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures.
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The fulfillment of the Scriptures is evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.
Scripture affirms both in the Old and the New Testament the death burial and resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
The third evidence of the resurrection is eyewitness accounts of seeing Him.
Verse 5…
And that He was seen by Cephas then by the twelve.
Continue on the verse 6…after that He was seen by over 500 brethren at once of whom the
greater part remain to the present but some have fallen asleep.
Verse 7…After that he was seen by James then by all the apostles…
Verse 8…then last of all He was seen by
Paul.
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The evidence of the resurrection by transformed lives…
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The evidence of the resurrection by evidence of the Scriptures…
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The evidence of the resurrection by eyewitness accounts.
This means the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is one of the best attested facts in all of
ancient history.
Paul in continues in verse 12 and says…
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead how do some among you say
that there is no resurrection of the dead?
With all of this evidence how can anyone deny the resurrection?
In verse 13 we see the implications if there was no resurrection.
There are seven implications if the resurrection was not true.
Verse 13…But if there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen…
Verse 14...And if Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
The first implication: If there was no resurrection when our life comes to an end we just die
and decay.
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In other words death is the end and death is all we have to look forward to.
The second implication of no resurrection is in verse 14 also…
If Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty or useless…
That means there is no good news, there is no message of salvation, there is no message of grace,
there is no message of hope…
The reason there would be none of these things is because there would be no Savior.
Preaching would be useless.
Because all the claims would be lies.
The third implication of no resurrection is found in the last words of verse 14…
And your faith is also empty or useless.
This is so important that Paul mentions it again in verse 17.
 If Christ is not raised our faith is useless.
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If Christ was not raised from the dead hope would be a delusion and all the folks who
were martyred gave their life in vain.
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If Christ was not raised then all who preached then and preach now are fools who wasted
their lives for a bad cause.
Verse 15 gives us the forth implication of no resurrection…
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.
Paul is saying if there was no resurrection all that preached and testified are liars.
And because of their lies and deceit of the resurrection millions and millions of people stood
their ground and died a cruel death for a lie.
In verse 17 we see fifth implication if there was no resurrection.
At the end of the verse it says…
You are still in your sins.
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This means sins power would be unbroken, no pardon from sin, no forgiveness and eternal
damnation…
There would be no hope of heaven.
Verse 18 gives us the sixth implication of no resurrection.
Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished or are damned.
Hell would be the eternal destiny.
Verse 19 is the seventh implication of no resurrection.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men the most pitiable.
He is saying if there was no resurrection that Christians are the most pitiful people on the face of
this earth.
People who have lived their life based on a lie…
People who resisted temptation and lived a holy life for no reason…
No resurrection would mean no hope, no future, no reason to live right.
But Paul doesn’t stop with the evidence of the resurrection or the implications of no
resurrection…
He then speaks of the results of the res.
Verse 20…But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who
have fallen asleep.
Here Paul describes the results of the resurrection.
The words Christ is risen from the dead…results in:
Our guarantee of our resurrection.
Sin being defeated…
Restoration to all people…
Death is conquered…
Results in: Christ taking over His kingdom,
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Christ subduing the world.
Satan destined to be bound and cast into the lake of fire.
Christ is risen means when life on this earth is over we will have a reunion with those who died
in Christ before us.
In verses 29-34 we see the motivation of the resurrection.
Because Christ is risen it gives us the motive to do three things.
To be saved…
To serve the Lord faithfully…
And to live a holy life…
Without the resurrection we would have nothing to be saved from…
Nothing or no reason to serve…
And no motive to live a holy life.
The point that Paul wants to make is the resurrection is the basis of everything that deals
with the Christian faith.
We come to Christ because of resurrection hope…
The hope that brings us out of darkness and into His marvelous light…
The hope that one day there will be a reunion…
The hope that one day we will enter into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ…
The hope that one day will receive our reward not our sentence.
If there was no resurrection there would be no hope for any of these things.
The truth of the resurrection is a fact.
What you do with it will determine your eternal destiny.
But it will also determine how you live.
To deny Jesus your life denies you of eternal life.
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The resurrection gives every reason to be saved, every reason to serve and every reason to live a
holy life.
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