Resurrection Matters: The Weight Of The Stone | 1 Corinthians 15:12–26

Hello and welcome to the FBC El Daredo Sermon Podcast.

My name is Taylor Gere, and I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist.

And I want to thank you for listening into our sermon this week.

And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Doredo.

Will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week?

What a gift this morning has been.

Thank you to everyone who led us in worship.

Certainly thank you to our young people who led us so well.

Open with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

We're going to be in verses 12 through 26.

Let me pray for us now.

Lord Jesus, by your spirit would you speak even now in our midst, Lord.

Teach us what it means to believe with everything we have that Christ has risen from the grave.

Lord, by your spirit would you do that?

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Every good story begins somewhere in the realm of these words, once upon a time.

It may be stated in a different way, but setting us in a setting of once upon a time.

The Bible even does that.

In the book of Genesis, we see in the beginning what God did.

And every good story ends, it may say it in different words, in a different style, but something to the effect of, and they lived happily ever after.

The Bible actually does that as well.

In the book of Revelation, we see that at the end of all things Christ Jesus reigns, and we who have believed in him unto eternal life will be with him in glory.

It starts there, it ends there.

But the question many were asking in the church of Corinth there in the first century was as they considered that idea of living happily ever after, they wanted to know is that really true?

Will that be the case?

There were many who wanted to come to the church at Corinth and deny the very resurrection that is at the center of our faith.

It shook the church in many ways, and Paul wanted to put that idea to rest.

Any idea that there is no resurrection.

I don't normally uh title my messages.

Maybe I should, maybe you wish I would, but I don't normally do it.

But today I do want to, and simply this the title would be The Weight of the Stone.

The weight of the stone.

What do I mean by that?

That there was a stone rolled in front of the tomb of Jesus Christ.

And I believe that stone carries a great weight.

Now I don't mean a physical weight, though certainly that's the case.

We know that that stone was a very heavy stone.

In fact, it would it would take uh angelic forces to roll a stone like that away.

But I mean, even deeper than a physical weight, the spiritual, even the eternal weight of the stone that was placed in front of Jesus' tomb, because we really have two options.

Number one, the stone is still there, and the tomb is still sealed.

That's option one.

Option number two is this that that stone was rolled away and someone walked out of that tomb.

That's option two.

And the weight of that, whichever way is reality, the weight of that is eternal.

The weight of that means everything for you and I this morning.

Uh, if that goes one way or another, we need to decide if we're gonna be in this room and continue to sit in this room each week, or if we need to close the doors of First Baptist Church.

That is what is going on when we think about the weight of the stone.

And so I want to talk about the two realities this morning.

I want to talk number one about the weight of hopelessness, and number two, about the weight of glory.

The weight of hopelessness and the weight of glory.

Now, this is where Paul begins, verse 12.

Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection from the dead?

So Paul speaking to the church in Corinth, if Christ has been preached to you as raised from the dead, how is it that some of you, some of you false teachers, have come into the church and proclaimed the fact that Christ has not been raised from the dead?

Now, these false teachers, we don't know fully who they are.

We don't even fully know what exactly the specifics of what they were teaching.

Either way, it's wrong, but best case scenario, they taught some kind of uh uh kind of merely a spiritual resurrection where you're uh after you die, you just kind of float away and maybe just float on a cloud somewhere, and that's the end of everything.

Or worst case, some kind of idea that there is no resurrection whatsoever.

And the idea is simply this that when you die, you die.

That when you die, your road is completely finished, there is no more coming.

And so we have these false teachers coming in that there is no uh resurrection.

And Paul from the start, verse 12.

If if if we preach to you that Christ is raised from the dead, we've told you this, as we saw last week.

We uh we have people who can verify that fact, as Paul said last week.

You can go ask him if you want.

We believe Christ has been raised from the dead.

So how can you say that there is no resurrection?

Now, I want to stop for a second and talk about something.

For the believer in the room, the one who uh knows Christ Jesus personally, who has a relationship with Christ, you have trusted him for your salvation, trusted him and no other way for your salvation.

What is your future?

What does your future hold?

Well, if that's you, that you know Christ Jesus, I've got unbelievable news.

I don't think I'm giving you breaking news.

I believe you know this news, but here is what your future holds that when you breathe your last breath, if if if Christ does not return sooner, he might.

He might return by day's end, but if he doesn't, then when you die, you will go in that moment to the presence of the Lord.

We read of Jesus talking to the thief on the cross, and what does he say?

Today you will be with me in paradise.

Today you will be with me in paradise, in my presence.

We read in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8, Paul says to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8

And so when you die, you will go to what we call heaven.

You will be in the presence of the Lord.

That's good news.

That is unbelievable news.

But there's more good news coming.

That the best we could ever ask for has gotten even better.

That not only that will we die and go to the presence of the Lord, but even more, at some point, the Lord will bring the new heavens and the earth down, and there is what we call the bodily resurrection because Christ got up from the grave, believers will rise up from the grave.

Now, I know you're thinking that sounds a little out there, doesn't it?

Taylor, what do you mean by that?

I mean this that if you drive out Highway 5 in Benton, Arkansas, in Salink County, and you go a few miles and you look to your left, there is Kentucky Cemetery right across from Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church.

And if you look, there's a lot of gravestones there, and they all say the name Guerin on there.

And, you know, I believe, and we've got a lot of talked about and a lot of time between now and then, but hopefully a lot of time between now and then.

But I I wouldn't mind if one day there's another headstone that has my name on it right there with so many others in my family.

But I truly believe this, that when Christ returns, I've already been in his presence spiritually speaking, but when he returns, you call me crazy if you want to, but you're just calling the word of God crazy, that when Christ returns, he will raise me up from the grave to physically live with him for all eternity.

That's the good news of the Christian gospel.

That the bodily resurrection is a real thing that Scripture tells us about time and time again, and your eternity will be a very physical eternity.

Sometimes we think of, you know, my spirit just floating on the clouds up there, and you will go to be in the presence of Christ, but then one day the new heavens and the earth will come down and you will rise from the grave.

That's good news.

And you will live with him for all eternity.

Revelation 24 talks about the bodily resurrection.

Revelation 21 talks about the heavens coming down and the new heavens and the new earth.

But here's the problem with all of this is these false teachers have come and preached the fact that there is no resurrection.

That if Christ has not raised from the grave, that everything I've just mentioned, it all falls apart.

It's not that some of it falls apart.

It's not that we'll just get a lesser version of it if Christ has not risen from the grave.

If Christ has not risen from the grave, it all falls apart.

That's what he's saying in verse 13.

If Christ, if there is no resurrection from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised from the grave.

Now, Paul now employs what I'm going to call uh Numerophian theology.

I know that's a big word, but hang with me.

Numeroffian theology.

Where do I get that from?

Uh Laura Numeroff has written a book, and it's it's this, and and my kids in the room, all the kids in the room know it.

It's called If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

That's by Laura Numeroff, and she paints this picture.

It's a chaotic picture.

That if one day you give a mouse a cookie, the things that unfold from there are unbelievable.

Because you give the mouse a cookie, and all of a sudden the mouse wants milk and it needs a straw, then what if I have a milk mustache?

I need a mirror to see.

I've seen the mirror, now I realize I need a haircut.

It started with a cookie, it leads to a haircut, it ends with the mouse needing another cookie.

It's a chaotic scene, but it goes like this this type of reasoning, this argument is this, that if this happens, then this happens, then this happens.

That's exactly what Paul's doing here.

That if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then Paul says, we can just go down the list of how everything on top of the next, it all falls apart.

Look with me now.

Verse 14.

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.

Number one, our preaching.

Think of our collective proclamation.

Don't just think of the preacher like me standing up here preaching, but all of our proclamation, how we proclaim the fact that Christ is risen, that's all in vain.

What Paul is saying here, if Christ is not risen from the grave, then we are just out here spreading a fictional account.

We are telling the world something that, you know, maybe gets them through the day and gives them a little bit of uh good news if they need a little, but in reality, it doesn't amount to much of anything if Christ has not been raised.

Not only that, your faith is in vain.

Where you have placed your trust in this life, it is in vain, just like our preaching, it really accounts to very little, if not nothing.

But now it continues, it gets worse.

Verse 15 if Christ is not risen, uh, we are even found to be misrepresenting God.

We're proclaiming the Lord and the story of the Lord and the salvation of the Lord, and yet all the while we are misrepresenting him.

Then maybe it's true there is a God in heaven, but we're proclaiming that he sent his son to die on our account, and that after death he rose from the grave, and yet all the while we are misrepresenting God, because if Christ is not risen, that has not happened.

Because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised.

Verse 16.

For if the dead are not raised, here he goes again, not even Christ has been raised, and now we're gonna get worse and worse here.

Verse 17.

And if Christ has not been raised, once again your faith is futile, and here's this one, and you are still in your sins.

So I want you to think about this for a moment.

What is one of the most beautiful things about coming unto Christ Jesus?

It's the fact of uh like John Bunyan writing in Pilgrim's Progress, that when you come unto Christ, the the burden is rolled away, the burden of your sin and guilt and shame.

Think about in your life as if you're almost carrying this backpack that just weighs you down, and all of your sins are in that backpack, and the guilt and the shame that follows you, it stays on you like this backpack.

You come unto Christ and He frees you from that, forgives you from that, and that backpack, you get to throw it off and you get to walk in freedom.

Well, the news here that Paul wants to give us if Christ is not raised from the grave, then what we have to do is grab that backpack and put it right back on because we are still in sins.

Now, here's the problem with that.

Obviously, you probably know the problem with that, but if we are still in sin, and there is still a holy God in heaven, then we are on the wrong side of the door.

We are on the outside looking in.

We are too sinful to come into his presence, and our future is hopeless.

If Christ has not been raised from the dead, you are still in sins.

And the joy of your life, whether you've been a Christian for five minutes or five decades, the joy of your life of knowing that there is forgiveness of sins and life after the grave, it has now come to nothing.

Now, verse 18 is almost too difficult to read.

Then those, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

Let's talk about this for a moment.

Because I don't even like to talk about it.

It's too devastating.

But the idea here, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, exactly what Paul says here is that those who have fallen asleep in Christ, meaning those who have died, those believers who have passed on, they perished.

You've probably been at a funeral of someone you love more than anything in the world.

You love so dearly a family member, a dear friend, and the only thing, and I mean the only thing that got you through that service on that day and the days to come and the years to come and the life to come, the only thing that got you through that was the fact that you know that behind all the grief and the sorrow, which is very real in that moment, that behind all of that there is still hope because my loved one knew Jesus Christ.

And though I'd love for them to be with me now, I know they are in the presence of the Lord.

That is the only thing that got you through in that moment.

And by the way, praise God for that hope.

We need that hope.

And I'm only gonna say this once because I don't like saying it.

What Paul is saying here, if Christ has not risen from the grave, then we can't have that hope.

That those who have passed before us have truly passed on before us.

It's a devastating, devastating thought.

Verse 19 if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If if we only have hope, you and I in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.

You know what's uh more sad than you know, just the some the someone who might just say, Oh, I don't believe in any of that.

That that's that's foolishness.

I think what's more sad would be uh the idea of the individual who believes it with their whole heart and gives their whole life to it, and yet it's it's found out to be a lie.

That's why Paul says, if Christ is not risen from the grave, then simply put, we're following the wrong guy.

We've given our lives to something that at the end of the day, if Christ has not been risen, uh that that book belongs on the fiction shelf.

This is devastating news.

Christ has not been risen from the grave, then we meet in this room every Sunday morning, and at the end of the day, it doesn't amount to much of anything.

Now we've got good news coming.

Because that's been about the worst 10 minutes uh I've preached in a long time.

And so I want us to see the weight of hopelessness.

Now, we had to sit in the weight of hopelessness for just about 10 minutes, and we've been there and we're sick of it.

So now let's look at the weight of glory.

Verse 20 begins.

But in fact, now, Paul loves a conjunction, he's good about it.

We saw them all throughout Romans, a conjunction that truly has eternity-shaking impact.

And here it is again.

But in fact, verse 20, Christ, here's the good news, has been raised from the dead.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

So here's what Paul wants to know to the church at Corinth, who some have come in and proclaimed that there is no resurrection.

He wants uh the members of the church at Corinth to hear this, he wants the false teachers to hear this, these words, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the grave.

This is good news.

And so let me tell you from the start, who uh we who had to sit in the gloom of the last 10 minutes from the start, everything Paul says about if Christ has not been raised from the dead, just in those few words of verse 20, that is already uh completely rendered void and out of touch and out of reality.

That's good news.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

I love this, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

The first fruits.

What does that phrase mean?

If I know the agriculturally speaking, the harvest is coming, and I get just that first bit of the harvest, the just that I glean the corner of that field and the first fruits harvest is a good, good harvest.

And I would go present my first fruits offering to the Lord.

I would know this.

If the first fruits are good, the next fruits, the full harvest, are going to be just as good.

That it's going to be a good harvest season.

What Paul is telling us here is that the first fruits are very good.

Christ Jesus has been raised from the grave, and we could say this that if there are the first fruits, there will be more fruits.

And so the good news here is Christ has been raised.

He is the first fruits of those who have died, who have fallen asleep, and that means more resurrection is coming.

That means this, simply put, if Christ got up from the grave, and you know Jesus Christ personally, you will get up from the grave.

That you will rise if Christ got up, you will get up.

That's the good news of the gospel.

He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Verse 21 for as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Here Paul is uh talking about some things he did a lot of in Romans, how in Adam we all die.

In Christ, we all shall be made alive.

It's interesting this reasoning, this spiritual idea.

You know, it's a it's a good time of year on the sports calendar.

You've got a lot of uh the the masters are just a few weeks away, and there's something about golf, that individual sport.

Yeah, you have a a caddy, but it's it's you uh and you alone.

Uh I love it, but there's just something about team sports.

When there's five guys on a court, certain number of guys on a field, certain, whatever it may be, we just watched the Olympics, there's just something about uh well, I was gonna say, you know, bobsledding.

I think one guy's doing all the work and four are along for the ride.

But there's just something about these team sports.

And it's fascinating.

When when one person goes wrong, the team suffers.

I don't have to bring up 1993, Michigan UNC, they're down two with the ball.

Chris Weber calls a timeout.

You know, in your pew, maybe the only problem with that, they didn't have a timeout.

Technical foul, UNC hits the free throws, the game's over.

But the other side of that, when one player on the team does good, the whole team gets to celebrate with them.

The reason you all want me to cut this sermon off soon is because a certain team is playing in about 45 minutes.

And there's a certain SEC player of the year, and if he does well, if he has a big game, then guess what?

The last guy on the bench, he gets the same win that the SEC player of the win of the year gets.

You see how that works?

There's just something about team sports.

I think Paul is getting at that here.

That in Adam all died.

There's nothing we could do about it.

Adam, who went before us, now I say this all the time, we're not going to get prideful as if we wouldn't have sinned in the garden.

We would have done the same thing.

And yet Adam disobeyed God, sin came into the world, and you and I, spiritually speaking, we died.

Not only were we born in sin, but it didn't take us long to live up to what we were born into.

We sinned uh by birth and then we sinned by action.

In Adam all die.

But I got good news.

We've got a really good teammate named Jesus Christ the righteous.

That in Christ Jesus all will be made alive.

I don't deserve it.

I haven't earned it.

I deserve the death that Adam gave me and that I sinned into, and yet Christ has done a great work on my part to save me from that sin.

As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Verse 23, but each in his own order.

Christ, the first fruits.

Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

He's just painting the picture of what will happen in the last days.

There is already the first fruits resurrection of Christ Jesus.

When Christ returns, he will raise up believers from the grave.

We have already been in his presence, and yet the bodily resurrection will come, and then Christ will put all evil under his feet.

That's what Revelation 20 and 21 talk about, where all the deep, dark things, sinful things of this world are put to rest ultimately, and Christ will reign because he says this in verse 26.

Now in the past I've I've said things about the new heavens and the new earth, and I've talked about the idea, and rightfully so from scripture, that in the new heavens and the new earth there will be no more sorrow.

We read there will be no more tears, there will be no more sin, there will be no more pain.

And this is unbelievable news.

But I've even in the past said that in the new heavens and the new earth, and and I I love this idea that there will be no more funerals.

That's good news.

But I did realize this week that I have misspoken when I've said that, because in the new heavens and the new earth there will be one more funeral to attend, because we will experience the death of death.

And death itself will finally be put in its grave.

And we will see that the Lord of glory lays death in its tomb, and that stone, figuratively speaking, will seal that tomb, and it will never be rolled away.

And death will be put to an end.

That's the good news of the gospel, and the good news of the new heavens and the new earth, that all of this is true for those who believe in Christ Jesus.

We see the weight of hopelessness.

That if Christ has not been raised from the grave, we are in a lot of trouble.

We see the weight of glory, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the grave.

We see now what is on the line, we see the stakes, and now we need to see well, what has happened.

We need to return to the weight of that stone.

Oh, is that stone still sealing the tomb, or has it been rolled away?

In a few weeks, when we come into this room on Easter morning, I will read out of Luke chapter 24, and I just want to give us a verdict this morning.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel, and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but he has risen.

Christ indeed has been risen from the grave.

I want to give you one more little sneak peek about the future that Christ has given to you in Revelation 21.

Then I saw a new heaven and new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away, and he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.

Let me translate that for you this morning.

Christ is making all things new, that indeed in your life, if you know Christ Jesus.

Though in this life death may come, and it will come for you, yet even still it is true that you will live happily ever after.

Because the death of death has been found in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

And our Lord and Savior has gone before us into suffering, yes, but also unto the resurrection.

And if you sit here this morning and you know Christ Jesus as your Savior, then you can know that these words are true.

If Christ got up from the grave, then you too will get up from the grave.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the gospel.

If there is one this morning that even now, spiritually speaking, needs to rise from the grave and needs to know Jesus Christ personally, I pray today that they would come to know you.

Lord, if they just want to come down now and ask me any questions about what it means to follow Jesus, I'd love nothing more than to answer those questions and teach them how to come into a relationship with them.

Maybe there's someone who wants to join this church, someone who wants to let the church know that they know Jesus and want to be baptized.

Maybe there's someone that wants to just come pray with the pastor.

Whatever it may be, would we respond now?

And Lord, let us go into this week.

Reminding ourselves that Christ Jesus is risen from the grave, and that is good news.

Let us respond now in worship we pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

I'll be down front.

Stand with me now.

Responding.