Why Was the Resurrection Necessary? | March 29, 2026 Sunday School

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

So would you turn to 1st Corinthians chapter #15 at this

time every year, maybe every few years, we take the opportunity

to be able to look at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And the reason why is because it's important for us to

understand why the resurrection of Jesus Christ was necessary.

As a pastor, why would this be something that you would feel

it's important to put in the rotation every couple of years

or so? Well, because when it comes to

the reality of the resurrection, I believe all of us have that

understanding. If you're sitting here this

morning here at Liberty Baptist Church that the direction of

Jesus Christ was real, but yet at the same time, I also believe

that there's not a lot of people, maybe nearly as many.

I'd be a better way of putting it that can explain from the

Bible why the resurrection of Christ was so important.

What's next week all about? Why are we even having a

Resurrection Sunday and Easter Sunday, if you will?

Why are we? It's because Jesus Christ is

risen and he is risen indeed. And it's not just that we know

that because we've repeated enough and that's what we

believe. It's because, well, that's what

the Word of God teaches, and we want to be be able to explain to

others why the resurrection of Christ is so important.

And 1st Corinthians chapter #15 perhaps gives us outside of the

Gospels, the greatest explanation of the reality of

the resurrection of, of Jesus Christ.

Now, again, I like going back to the well here over and over

again over the years to make sure that we are well versed in

our understanding of this great Bible truth.

And so we're in First Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

We're looking at all kinds of different places in this

chapter, but we're going to start in verse #12 which says

this. Now, if Christ be preached that

he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no

resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection

of the dead, then is Christ not risen?

Christ be not risen. Then is our preaching vain?

And your faith is also vain. Yay.

And we are found false witnesses of God, because we have

testified of God that He's raised up, that He raised up

Christ whom he raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not,

for if the dead rise not, that is not Christ raised.

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, you're yet

in your sins, and they also which are fallen asleep in

Christ or perished. If in this life only we have

hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits

of them that slept. I don't know about you, but it's

amazing to me to think that around 50 to 68, when First

Corinthians was written, there were already people who were

denying the very resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is not something that took place over 2000 years.

This is something that was still or something rather that was

already being taught and already being spoken of while the

apostles were still alive. This issue of the resurrection

wasn't true. And so Paul here in our text

says that if you were to take away the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, if you were to say to those who are skeptics, if you

were to say to those who are non believers that maybe would scoff

at the fact of a resurrection, if we were to concede to them,

well, the resurrection isn't important.

The resurrection really isn't a big deal if we were to concede

that argument, he says. You are pulling a thread that

you don't understand how much of the tapestry of the gospel will

actually be unraveled. And really the end result is if

there is no resurrection, there is no gospel.

You can't just say to moderate yourselves to the deniers, to

the skeptics, that there is no resurrection because as you do

so, and you say there is no hope for the life to come, well then

the Bible says that we are of all men, most miserable.

If Jesus is just about this life and there is no other life, well

then there's a problem because Jesus promised us there would be

another life, that there would be another life to come.

If Jesus had no preparation of this life to come, as he talked

about in John 14, as he talked about to the thief on the cross,

today you will be with me in paradise.

If there is no hope of that, then Jesus Christ himself was a

liar. And what are we left with?

We're left with a puddle of really, well, nothing.

We'll have religious platitudes. We can come to church, we can

sing the songs, we can do all the things, but yet there really

is nothing here. If there is no resurrection.

The resurrection of Christ is the very capstone of the gospel.

Without the resurrection, there is no gospel.

And that's why we celebrate next week.

That's why we celebrate an empty tomb.

That's why we'll go through the whole process over this next

week, considering the Last Supper and then considering

Christ on the cross, and then most importantly, next Sunday

morning, considering the resurrection.

Because all of them were necessary.

We can't take any of those elements away.

The fact of Jesus perfect sinless life, Jesus shedding his

blood on the cross and the resurrection, all of them are

necessary, necessary. But the resurrection, as I

mentioned, is that capstone that goes over all of it that

authenticates that who Jesus Christ is.

And if Christ has power over death when it comes to the fact

that he could rise, then well, we have hope for eternal life as

well. But yet the world has always

mocked and denied the fact that there is this resurrection.

The world has always tried to find ways to be able to explain

away the fact that the resurrection is not real.

So what I want you to do is to put your ribbon, if you, you

have it this morning in First Corinthians 15.

And we're going to look at a few different places.

And 1st, I want to go to Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

So why don't you just go a few pages back to Matthew chapter

#28 and obviously we're at the end of the book of Matthew.

Christ is resurrected and there's been all of these

theories that are out there, and some of you may have remembered

some of these from me speaking on this in the past.

But one of those theories that is out there is the conspiracy

theory. The fact that the disciples

conspired together to make it look like Jesus Christ actually

rose from the dead, but well, he didn't actually erase from the

dead. Now the conspiracy theory is the

oldest of all the theories, and the reason why is because we

find it in the Word of God that when the tomb was found empty,

the conspiracy theory was already put into motion.

So Matthew chapter 28, look at verse #11.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

And it said this. Now when they were going,

behold, some of the watch came into the city.

Where is the watch? The guards that fell is dead.

And here they are. They're coming into the city and

showed under the chief priests all the things that were done.

And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken

counsel, they gave large money to unto the soldiers, saying,

Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him away while

we slept. And if this come to the

governors ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

So they took the money and did as they were taught.

And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until

this day, the idea that these disciples overpowered these

trained Roman soldiers move the stone away that was sealed and

that this was what actually took place.

And there's a lot of problems with this.

First of all, as I just mentioned, these guards were

trained Roman guards. I've heard different theories

about how many were out there, but it doesn't really matter

other than the Bible says that the watch was set.

We know that these men were trained.

And in their training, what do we see?

That there should have been no reason that 11 fearful disciples

disciples and that's what they were they were fearful disciples

came and overpowered these men and took the stone rolled it

away and all that. And they said this just take

some money and just tell people that the disciples overpowered

you. Now there's a problem with this.

And that problem is, is that really they should have given

their life for not having done that which they were required to

do. But what was said of them is

listen, if this gets into the hierarchies ears, we'll take

care of it. Don't worry about anything.

We will be the ones that. Take care of it.

And it says that from that time on, it was commonly reported

among the Jews that this was what took place.

But yet this conspiracy that supposedly took place, there's

several problems with it. And one of the main problems was

this. A lot of people saw Jesus after

he resurrected. I mean, a lot of people saw

Jesus after he resurrected. He say, well, pastor, how do you

know what we know from the Gospels?

Another place that we know is from First Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

15. So go back to First Corinthians

15. I told you, keep that ribbon

there because we weren't going to be gone very long.

First Corinthians 15. Look again at verse #4 Actually,

let's just start at verse #1 Moreover, brethren, I declare

unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also

you have received, wherein you stand, but by which also you

were saved, or you are saved, if you keep in memory that which I

preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also

received. How?

That Christ died for our sins. According to the Scriptures, He

was buried and He the third day according to scriptures.

So what is Paul continually appealed to?

He died according to the scriptures.

He rose according to the scriptures.

This is what the scriptures prophesied, that he would die.

This is what the scriptures prophesied that he rise again.

This is what Jesus said of his own life.

He says if you take down this Tabernacle in three days it will

rise up again. This was being spoken of.

No one, Paul is saying, should be surprised by the fact that

Jesus died for our sins and rose again, because Jesus made this

quite clear. And the story, story of the

scriptures, if you will, makes it quite clear that this was

what was to take place when you take the balance of Scriptures

together. But in going with this

conspiracy theory, go on to verse #5 it says this.

He was seen of Cephas, and then of the 12.

After that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom

the greater part remain unto this present, but some are

falling under sleep. After that he was seen of James,

then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of

me also as one born out of due time, meaning he saw him on the

Damascus road, one who was not with the disciples.

He was born out of due time. He was born again after that

initial ministry of Jesus Christ and sometime later after that.

But what Paul is saying here is that there are far too many

people who saw Jesus Christ to be able to say that Jesus Christ

was stolen away. On top of the fact, there's a

quote that I think is very good about this that I think really

does put it into perspective. Men will die for what they

believe to be true, though it may actually be false.

They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie.

Could you imagine the disciples knowing that they stole away

Jesus Christ? But then 10 out of 11 of those

disciples that remained ended up becoming martyrs, and John

himself was also treated very poorly and put into exile on the

Isle of Patmos. These men who knew supposedly

that this was false, we're all willing to die for that

falsehood. People don't do that.

Now, they might believe something is false and die for,

but not knowingly understanding that they have perpetuated this

lie. And so we would reject this

conspiracy theory out of hand. Obviously, there's also the

swoon theory. Now, the swoon theory may be one

of my favorites and my favorites.

I don't mean that I agree with it, but it just is so outlandish

that it's hard to even really take seriously.

The swoon theory suggests that the cool, damp air of the tomb

somehow revived Jesus after three days and he decided to

exit. Despite not having access to

desperately needed medical care and nourishment, Jesus managed

to unwrap his dressings and then, in total darkness of the

tomb, locate and roll away the stone sealing the tomb entrance.

Still unnoticed by the guards, Jesus walked away on feet

punctured by cross nails to rejoin the disciples.

The idea that just being in that cool dark area revived him

again. Now there are so many problems

with this theory. I don't know that if we took the

whole 50 minutes or so of Sunday school to address them all that

we could properly do so. May I remind you that Jesus was

beaten to bloody shreds by a whip that was used by the Roman

guards? That cat of nine tails that

would have had pieces of glass or bone or metal inside of it

that was designed to embed in the flesh and then pulled across

to RIP flesh into shreds. Jesus had spikes driven through

his hands and his feet and he hung bleeding there for six

hours. The Romans thrust a spear into

Jesus side to confirm that he was dead.

Remember, they were surprised that Jesus was already dead.

And So what did they do? They thrust the spear in the

side and the liquid came out, the blood in the water.

So he wasn't just pierced in his hands and his feet, but he also

had the piercing in his side as well.

Jesus was prepared for burial with the the wrapping in the

spices, which would have had probably up to 20 lbs or maybe

even more of all of that. The heavy rock was in place of

the train. Roaming guards were vigilantly

guarding the entrance. And then after all that, he

walked several miles to a place called Emmaus to talk to two

believers who were there. Supposedly he did all of this

while he was in this state. Here's where we have to kind of

stop ourselves and admit this for a moment.

The world will say anything to deny the fact of who Jesus

Christ is and what Jesus Christ did.

They would say that we're outlandish for believing that

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, but they would think that a

swoon theory is just, well, something that, you know, kind

of makes sense. Well, it doesn't make any sense

unless you're trying to deny that, which is very obvious

right in front of you. And so there is that swoon

theory as well. There's a hallucination theory

that asserts that many people who saw Jesus Christ resurrected

just imagined it. They were under duress.

They were under stress, and as such, they just imagined that

Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Now there's a major problem with

this. You know, you can have a

hallucination and I can have a hallucination, but we can't have

a hallucination together. Do you understand what I'm

saying? The hallucinations don't happen

jointly. Could you imagine 11 disciples

all hallucinating the same thing at the same time in the upper

room? Could you imagine 500 people

hallucinating the same thing at the same time as they saw Jesus

Christ resurrected? There's absolutely no reason

that anyone should believe that that is the case, that

hallucinations are not corporate, they're personal.

How did so many people hallucinate the same thing at

the same time and give the same testimony of that which they had

seen? And if that was the case, let's

say they hallucinated the fact that Jesus rose from the dead,

then the real question is the where's the body?

Because if they're hallucinating these risen for the dead, that

means the body was still there. And the testimony of even the

unbelievers of that time was what?

That Jesus body is gone. That you have to have some

explanation for the fact of where Jesus body is.

So we take that out of hand as well.

There's the impersonation theory, the fact that those

appearances weren't really Christ, but there was someone

impersonating him. Once again, that still leaves

the problem of where the body would be.

There's no explanation. You know what that would be.

I would say also the disciples were very reluctant to even

believe it was Jesus at 1st, and Jesus beckoned them to examine

him. Jesus had no problem telling

Thomas to put his hands into his feet and put his hands in his

finger into his hands and into his side.

Jesus had no problem with close inspection.

I think of Jesus who was in an intimate setting with the

disciples by the seaside. When Peter and others said I go

a fishing and they were close by together, there was no way that

it could be an impersonation that took place in any way,

shape or form. Again the the travellers to

Emmaus, at first they were blinded to the understanding of

who Jesus was. But then when Jesus prayed, it

says in Luke chapter 24 that when he prayed, their eyes were

Luke 24 · chapter mention

opened and they realized, wow, this was Jesus and he was gone.

And so we would reject that as well.

There's the spiritual resurrection theory, the idea

that Jesus's resurrection was not a physical resurrection, but

really it was just more spiritual.

It was more metaphorical. It really was a story about

something else. And you can apply the principles

to something else, but this didn't really happen physically.

Now, this appeals to a lot of people because it appeals to

their philosophical side, the idea that well, sure, there's a

story to be told here in the resurrection, new birth, new

life, but it's not as if that's really true.

It's really more allegorical than anything.

Again, that almost sounds reasonable to a certain extent,

but there's only one problem. The Bible doesn't present it

that way. The Bible does not present this

as allegory. The Bible does not present this

as a story that is meant to represent something else.

Jesus himself did not speak of a spiritual resurrection that had

nothing to do with the physical. Jesus promised that he would

return physically in Acts chapter 1, and we won't turn

Acts 1 · chapter mention

there right now, but we could to Acts chapter 1 where Jesus made

Acts 1 · chapter mention

it very clear that as he was to ascend into heaven is he was

going to come back. And what's the term?

In like manner, the idea is that this was physical.

Now, was there a spiritual element to the resurrection?

Of course there was. We're not denying that's the

case. Of course, what happened

spiritually there was of great importance, but yet to try to

make it into something that was not physical, again, to try to

appeal to the deniers and the skeptics of who Jesus is, is not

what we should be doing as believers.

And again, what happened to the body, what you know, what took

place to even die on the cross? These are questions that those

people could not answer. So to summarize how Paul talks

about the bodily resurrection this chapter, we could put it

this way. Some are saying there's nothing

after death. If that's true, then Christ

didn't raise from the dead. And if that's true, we're false

witnesses. And if that's true, our faith is

worthless. And if that's true, there's no

hope. You see what happens when you

start pulling on that thread, that you start pulling on it.

And again, we try to appeal, and I'm not saying we as in those

who are in this room, but we try to appeal to the skeptics and

the nonbelievers. We would do much better to just

cling, Cling and claim to what the Bible says and let the chips

fall where they may instead of trying to appeal to those who

are unbelievers. Because if we do so and try to

change what the Word of God says to appeal to them, what we end

up doing is really taking away from the supremacy of Scripture.

And we're trying to explain away the Scripture and telling people

they need to believe the plain reading of the Word of God.

Now, why was the resurrection necessary?

Now, we've talked about all these crazy theories here and

again, we've reviewed these in the past, but they're certainly

worth reviewing again here this morning.

But why was the resurrection necessary?

There are several reasons for it this morning.

You're good to write these down if you need to here this

morning. The 1st is this because God

always keeps His word? Why is the resurrect?

That's a good time for that, Ralph.

All right. Why is the resurrection

necessary? Because God always keeps His

word. The most basic of all arguments

of why the resurrection was necessary is because what God

promised that it would occur. You can go all the way to

Genesis chapter 315. I know we've looked there

before. We won't look again this

morning, but you could look there and see that even in the

very beginning, when it says I will put enmity between thee and

the woman, between thy seed and her seed, remember that

mentioning of her seed is very unusual.

Really, it points to the virgin birth between thy seed and her

seed. It shall bruise thy head, and

thou shalt bruise his heel. Now, with our understanding,

with the light that we have received, we look all the way

back to Genesis 315 and realize even in the garden.

And maybe we could put it this way on mankind's worst day.

There was still hope in the gospel on mankind's worst day,

when when we see the sin of Adam and Eve laid bare before us.

There was still hope in the gospel.

And God has continually brought these references to the

resurrection throughout God's Word, Psalm 18, Psalm 22, Isaiah

53, which Lord will and will read this morning during the

morning service. And then even if you were to go

to Acts chapter 2, and I think of Brother Sandy last week, as

Acts 2 · chapter mention

he was going through Acts chapter 2 in our morning worship

Acts 2 · chapter mention

time, he pointed back to all of those references that that David

wrote from the Psalms. And he's pointing to them and

trying to show the people of Israel that the death and the

resurrection of Jesus Christ was on the mind of God.

Even in the Old Testament and the Scriptures that they say

they held so, so tightly to really prophesied and told that

which happened right before them.

God keeps His word. Turn to Matthew chapter 12 very

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

quickly. Why don't you do that Matthew

chapter #12. And.

We'll go to verse #38 we'll make mention of this on Friday as

well because of the certainty of the three days and three nights.

But look at verse #38 Matthew chapter 12, verse #38 it says

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

this. Then certain of the scribes of

the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from

thee. But he answered and said unto

them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,

and there shall be no sign given to it, but the sign of the

prophet Jonas. 4 As Jonas was 3 days and three nights in the

whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days and three

nights in the heart of the earth, a literal 3 day and three

night period. Jesus says, I'm not going to

give you a sign, but if you really want a sign, it will

come. And this is what it is, is that

there will be 3 days and three nights where the Son of Man will

be in the heart of the earth. And by proxy, that helps us

understand that from that time, after the three days and three

nights, there would be what? A resurrection.

So if Jesus did not, there was no resurrection, then Jesus was

a liar. Because this is just one example

of the many examples of which Jesus Christ had said.

We understand this from the Bible.

We understand this from prophecy.

What was the standard of the prophet in the Old Testament?

If he was mistaken once, then God wasn't speaking through him.

That was the standard. Why do we hold the Word of God

to the standard of perfection? There are people that would say,

well, it really doesn't matter if the Bible is perfect or not.

It does matter and here's why. Because the Bible says it's

perfect. And so it does matter if it's

perfect or not because we hold it to the standard of which it

holds itself. We hold the profit to the

standard of which it holds itself.

What do we look at? Jesus in his life.

He, His Word, and He Himself as the Word, made clear that there

would be a resurrection. And because of that, we hold

this to be true. And when we try to go backwards

and try to moderate what we believe so to be able to placate

those who deny the Word of God, we get ourselves in trouble.

This Word of God has to be perfect, and every word that

Jesus spoke as the Word of God must be perfect as well.

Listen, Jesus is not a meteorologist.

He doesn't get to be right 50. Percent of the time.

Would you like to have that job? I think man, he.

Could be wrong all the time they get paid more than all of us

isn't that great? It's it's just baked into the

cake that they're going to be wrong most of the time.

That's not the way the word of God works.

That's not the way Christ in his words as the living word works,

God keeps his word. That's why the resurrection is

necessary #1 but it's not just because it is because God keeps

His word, but #2 because the resurrection proves His deity.

The resurrection proves that word.

Deity means that He is God. The resurrection proves that He

is God. Romans chapter 1 verses 3 and 4

Romans 1:3

say this concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was

made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and

declared to be the Son of God with power according to the

spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.

So what's being said here? That the stamp of approval once

again on Jesus Christ and his deity is the fact that he rose

from the dead. Why?

Because we can't raise ourselves from the dead.

People would try and they could make what's mankind trying to

do, trying to extend his life. They go through cryogenics and

these kind of things that are out there today.

What are they doing? They're desperately trying to

extend their life. They're going through treatments

in this life. They're going through treatments

in the afterlife in the sense of after their body is considered

dead or right before it's considered.

I guess it would have to be after scissors dead to go into

cryogenic freezing and all these different things a mankind in

vain wants to extend. But who's the only one that has

power of life? He does and that's why the

resurrection is so important. His resurrection was the

authentication. He was God.

Only God, the creator of life could accomplish such a feat.

You know, it's interesting. I think one of the greatest

proofs of the resurrection is found in the Book of Revelation

as it deals with the deity of Christ.

Because what is Satan interested in doing during the tribulation

period He's interested in at that 3 1/2 year period,

mimicking the very resurrection that the Antichrist also wants

to show that he can resurrect as well.

And of course, we understand that that is not, there'll be

smoke and mirrors more than anything.

But the idea is, is that what God has done?

Satan always loves to copy. Satan loves to copy that which

God does. And of course it's always a

cheap imitation, but that's what is the case.

And think of all the deities that are worshipped in the world

today, but only Christ has resurrected from the dead.

There's a song that I've heard sung before, but I, I like the

sentiment of it. It says I walk by the tomb of

Buddha. Looked inside and saw his bones.

Traveled on to see Muhammad still wrapped up in his grave

clothes. Then I journeyed to a garden

where old Joseph left him lay. The precious Lamb.

God's own begotten was no longer in that grave.

If you knew him like I know him. You know He's alive if you felt

Him, like I feel him resurrection deep inside you

know He's living and death has died.

Jesus deity is proved by the resurrection #3 it also proves

His power. The resurrection proves the

power of Jesus Christ. We often use the term, you'll

hear me say that Jesus Christ has power over death and the

grave. Again, mankind does not have

power over death and the grave. Only God has that power and He

has that power. Revelation one, verse 18 I am he

that liveth and was dead, and I'm alive forevermore, Amen.

And have the keys of hell and death.

Who holds those keys? That would be Jesus Christ even

in First Corinthians 1555. We'll go back and read more of

First Corinthians 15 in the second, but it says, O death,

where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The hope of the resurrection is real.

Why? Because of the power of God, a

power of which we do not possess.

And again, if he couldn't raise himself from the dead, then how

would he have the power to save us?

And that's what Paul is arguing in our original text in first

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 15. If he doesn't have that kind of

power, then. Well, we're of all men most

miserable. The power of God.

Compared to the power of man can't even be explained that

there's no parallel that I can give you to be able to explain

to you the power of God versus the power of man.

You know, I, I think of the power of their studies.

I think I've told you this before about the power of the

Apollo 11 computer versus the power that you have in your

iPhone. Somewhere along the line, it's

been said that there's 100,000 times more computing power in

this phone that all of us have in our pockets just about then

there was the Apollo 11. I can't fathom that, but that's

the case. But that doesn't explain it.

I think of the power of which comes from one of these light

bulbs up here, which now, because they're LEDs are

probably what, 1315 watts, something like that.

Compare that power to the power of the sun.

That's a huge gap, much larger than the Apollo 11 to an iPhone.

But that gap doesn't explain it. I think of the power of our sun,

which according to what we're told is one of the smaller stars

compared to some of those very giant ones that would dwarf our

sun. And that doesn't explain it.

The power of man compared to the power of God.

I'll tell you, you want to get your brain smoking like, you

know, the gears just could, you know, start to smoke after a few

minutes. Just just dwell on that,

meditate on that, how powerful our God is.

That God is so powerful that he could take death and resurrect.

It's amazing. It's absolutely incredible that

the resurrection proved the power you can trust Christ to

have the power to give us life after death.

There's nobody else with that kind of power to accomplish that

kind of job. There's so many that on their

deathbed recognize and realize maybe not perhaps that Christ

was real, but they recognize their way of living was wrong.

I love reading. I don't know, maybe that love

reading is the best way of putting it, but I take interest

in reading the stories of those right is about they're about to

pass and you see the stories of believers who pass with great

peace. I've sat at the bedside of

believers who at this church die with great peace and comfort in

their last moments. But then you read of those who

reject Christ in those last moments.

They may not realize they needed Christ, but they realized that

their way was not the right way and there was nothing that they

could do in that moment. And you realize Christ has the

power to be able to resurrect. What great comfort that we have

from that. That's why First Thessalonians,

we read the fact that we don't sorrow as other people sorrow.

Those who have no hope of the fact that there is going to be

that time, that great resurrection that will take

place, and that we will be reunited with those who have

called upon Christ as their Savior.

That when Christians have funerals, it's not the same as

the world's funerals. Why?

Well, because we know Christ has the power to resurrect.

I've told you the story before, one of the very first funerals

that I was a part. Of as a.

Minister I didn't do anything in the funeral, but I went with

Brother Turner to a funeral in Florida and he asked me if I

wanted to go along with him to be able to observe.

And it was a very difficult funeral.

There was a an accident that took place and there's a young

woman who died. She was in her 20s.

And there was some suspicion about the boyfriend who was in

the car as well. Nothing was proven, but yet you

could tell the animosity that was there.

You could feel and you could cut it with a knife.

And I remember the family as they looked at this woman who

had been cut down very early in life.

And as a pastor, I typically if there's an open casket, we, we

try not to have the family there when the casket closes it.

It's something that it's best that the family does not

observe. But this family wanted to be

able to be there when the casket was closed, to be able to have

the pallbearers take to the hearse, to be able to go to the

graveside. And I'll remember this for the

rest of my life. And I was probably no more than

23 years old. So, you know, 3 or 4 weeks ago,

right? But I was no more than 23 years

old or so. And I will never forget for my

life as that casket closed, the scream that came from her sister

to know that she wasn't going to see her sister again.

And it was as if she buckled right there.

And I remember Pastor Turner coming to be able to to help

her, to assist her from literally falling down on the

ground because she knew in that moment there was no hope,

because there was no power in the way that they had believed.

But it is true that when you see the death of the brethren, and

of course we sorrow when believers die because we'll miss

them for now, but we know we'll be reunited.

I think of my own mother when she passed away here in

Massachusetts here several years ago now.

And then we flew to Florida, flew her body to Florida and,

and I did the funeral, had several people tell me you

really shouldn't do the funeral. And I thought I have to, it's my

mom. I felt a solemn obligation to be

able to do so. And it was a sad day.

It was one of the hardest days of my life.

But I will tell you this, there was a piece as I stood before

those people to be able to tell them, many of them Lutherans,

that I had known when I was younger, to be able to preach

the gospel and say to her, this woman is with Jesus today by her

profession of faith that she knew Jesus Christ not because of

a Lutheran Church, not because of a Baptist Church, not because

of anything else, but because she had accepted Christ as her

personal Savior. And I made sure of that.

I talked to her about that. The power of Christ, it proves

His power. Acts 224.

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death,

because it was not possible, he should be holding of it.

Can we put it this way? Death couldn't hold him down.

Death couldn't hold down Jesus Christ.

He has the power over death, and death has died, if you will.

Because of Jesus Christ. And This is why this next week

is so exciting for us to be able to remember that which Jesus

Christ did. It proves His power.

And then 4th and finally this morning, Why is it necessary?

Why? Why is the resurrection

necessary? Because it is necessary for

salvation. The understanding of of the

resurrection, the fact that Jesus Christ resurrected is

necessary for salvation. Again, if there was no

resurrection, we have no hope. That's so clear in First

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 15. Go to Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Now Acts chapter 4. It's good to get our Bibles a

Acts 4 · chapter mention

little bit of exercise here. Acts chapter 4 verse #10 Acts

Acts 4 · chapter mention Acts 4:10

chapter 4 verse 10 says this, Be it known unto all, to you all,

and to all the people of Israel, the that by the name of Jesus

Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from

the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you hold.

I love the boldness of Peter here.

What a difference once the Spirit is in his life and what a

difference when he is allowing his Spirit to work through him.

He says you have crucified him. He has no problem naming names

here, does he? You've crucified, but whom?

What God raised from the dead by him does this man stand before

you hold? Speaking of the miracle that

took place in the previous chapter of the man who was

sitting by the gate and who received the ability to walk

through the power of God, verse 11.

This is the stone which is said it not of you builders.

Which has become the head of the corner.

Now that goes back to Psalm chapter 18, verse #22 and Peter

Psalms 18 · chapter mention

will also refer to this in his epistles as well.

Peter was very clear that Jesus was the cornerstone, that He was

not the cornerstone. He said, why is that important?

Well, the Catholic Church would tell you that Peter was the

cornerstone of the Church, but Jesus was very cool rather.

Well, Jesus was clear who the cornerstone was, and Peter was

under no pretense of who the cornerstone was, because he

referred to the Old Testament. He repeated here in the New

Testament, and then also in his own epistle said it as well.

But look at verse 12. Neither is there salvation in

any other, for there is none other name under heaven given

among men whereby we must be saved.

And where does that all link with the fact that He was

crucified and that He rose from the dead?

The resurrection is a necessary element of the gospel message.

You take out the crucifixion, you ruin the gospel message.

You take out the perfection of Christ before the crucifixion,

you ruin the gospel message. You take out the resurrection of

Christ, you ruin the gospel message.

It is necessary for salvation. Peter understood this.

Paul understood this. You go to Romans chapter 10

Romans 10 · chapter mention

where it makes it clear that we must call upon Christ to save

us. The risen Savior is the one who

we call upon. Now go back.

To First Corinthians chapter #15.

Now I want to read those last few verses with you.

We can't cover all of First Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

I'd encourage you. It's a great chapter to read

this week. You might need to take it in a

couple bites because it is a larger chapter, but it'll be a

great chapter to read. Running up to Easter Sunday

verse #51 says this. Behold, I show you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a

moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised

incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and as mortal must

put on immortality, so when this corruptible shall have put on

incorruption, and as mortal shall have put on immortality,

then shall be brought to pass. The saying that is written,

death is swallowed up in victory.

Victory, O death, where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the

strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which

giveth us the victory. Through our Lord.

Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord. For as much as you know your

labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So is death real. It is real, but it's sting has

been taken away. Is the grave real?

Yes, but it's victory has been taken away.

Why? Because of the resurrection of

Jesus Christ. And there will be another

resurrection, that we will be risen and we will be changed and

we have glorified bodies and we won't deal with the problems of

these bodies. And probably all God's children

say Amen about that. I got up out of bed last night

and I started stooping over like this and my wife made some kind

of comment made me feel real bad about how old I was.

But I thought, you know what a glorified body sounds pretty

good. Amen.

That we don't deal with the difficulties and the aches and

the pains and even going to to Revelation and 21 and 22 and

considering the glories of heaven and what it is, why the

resurrection is what helps us ensure that this is the case.

And that's why it says in verse #58 therefore.

If you were. To summarize the entire chapter,

this this great defense that Paul gives.

Of the resurrection, because remember, there were people who

are already doubting the resurrection in his time.

People are already doubting it. He says, therefore, my beloved

brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in

the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor

is not in vain in the Lord, you say, well, pastor, what does

that have to do with the rest of the chapter?

Well, let me give you this and we'll be done because of the

resurrection. Stay strong because of the

resurrection, Stay strong, be steadfast, be unmovable, abound

in the work of the Lord. Because of the resurrection, we

can stay fast and where we are because of that resurrection, we

can move forward in the work in which He's called us to do.

Remember Acts chapter one, verse 8?

And ye shall receive power to do what?

To go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of

the earth. That is true for us today.

We've received that power, and we could call it resurrection

power, if you will, that has been given to us.

For as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord

as we work for the Lord, as we serve the Lord, as we do what

the Lord has called us to do. The same Lord who had the power

to resurrect and is the same Lord who wants to empower you to

do his work. That's a great promise for us.

You know, if I said to you, maybe you're in a difficult

situation and I'd say to you, why stand behind you?

That might give you courage and it might not depending on the

situation. I don't know.

But it's as if Jesus Christ is saying, as you serve me, I stand

behind you and I stand with you. That ought to encourage the

believer, that ought to embolden the believer, that empowers the

believer to continue to do that which God has called us to do.

Is the resurrection necessary? Oh yes, Oh yes.

The world wouldn't say so, but we know that it is.

Why? Because God keeps his word,

because the resurrection proves his deity, it proves his power,

and because the resurrection is necessary for salvation.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.