1 Corinthians 15

Great, well thank you for coming again. It's good to see faces that were here last week come again. It's always good when you put people off.

! What we're doing at this last two weeks is firstly we looked at the incarnation. So last time we talked about how God, the creator of the universe, stepped into the world that he has made

and came face to face with his creatures, leaving it without doubt what kind of God there is. And the one true God is the God of the Bible.

But this week what we're looking at is something a little bit different. We're looking at an event in history. An event in history that is so crucial that if it didn't happen churches everywhere should shut up shop and Christians around the world should bin their Bibles.

Because if they are following Jesus, they are wasting their time because he is not the God that he claimed to be.

This event at which the message of the Bible hangs on is so important that if it didn't happen, look at what Paul says in our passage.

He says that our faith, the Christian faith is in vain, verse 14. As Christians we misrepresent God, verse 15, that our faith is futile because it doesn't actually do the thing that it claims to do.

And that's in verse 17. And if, well, if you're not a Christian here this morning, well then you have to look at the Christians in this room

and you have to look at the church. And you have to look at the church.

Really, really, really, in a way that could be touched, seen, heard, the walking, talking Jesus came back from the dead.

And without it, without the resurrection, do not kid yourselves, there is no Christianity.

Without the historical fact of this Christian faith, Christianity is a waste of time.

There might be some people sat here, I definitely used to be one of them, who used to think you could separate out facts and faith.

Or maybe even going stronger, you don't just separate them out, but they're actually diametrically opposed.

But this little child, I just want to briefly show you that they're not opposed.

And instead, the historical fact of Jesus rising from the dead substantiates the claims of Christianity,

giving real hope in the face of difficulty and even death.

And as a result, it nullifies all of the claims, all of the religious claims, to giving hope in the face of death.

And even to those who say they're of no faith, it even gets rid of that too.

You see, if it is a fact that Jesus really rose from the dead, then what he said about God, what he said about us,

what he said about life now and life after death, is really true.

He is the God of the universe, come down to save sinners.

And we must humbly bow the knee to him, knowing that he will raise us up in times of difficulty.

Now, you might be sceptical.

You might be sceptical about our resurrection.

And that's okay.

Because what we're going to do is we're going to divide our time into two.

First, we're going to think about, can you really trust the historical fact of this resurrection from 1 Corinthians 15?

And then second, we're going to briefly conclude about thinking about the implications of it.

So firstly, the historical fact of the reality of the resurrection.

Again, I'm not pretending to be able to have every answer to every single one of your objections.

Even though I do think there's a good answer to every single one of your objections.

But what I want to demonstrate is that even from this text, there is enough reason to put your confidence in the historical fact of the resurrection.

So, four big things from this passage that gives us evidence for the resurrection.

And we're going to do a bit of a whirlwind defense.

But here's the first of four headings.

A perfect plan.

A perfect plan.

The coming of God in the person of Jesus, his birth, life, death, even his resurrection, had all been promised beforehand.

It had all been promised.

In all these pages, just before the coming of Jesus, it had been promised in great detail.

I don't know if you noticed when we read the passage, but it's there in verse 3, and it's also in verse 4, that little phrase that comes up.

According to the scriptures.

According to the scriptures.

And what Paul is trying to do, for his readers of his letter, is he's trying to get across this idea that the resurrection from the dead isn't something that comes out of the blue.

It isn't something that they go, oh, oh, well fancy that.

Now instead, this is something that God's people has eagerly awaited for thousands of years.

Why eagerly awaited?

Well, because God has promised it.

Jesus in Luke 24, one of the gospel records of his life, says that the whole Bible is about him.

And he's not just talking a bit about the bits since he's come.

He's talking about every page.

Jesus dying, being buried, raised from the dead, has been promised.

And now here is Jesus in the flesh, fulfilling all that God said he would.

Come in human form.

So the first piece of evidence is the whole rest of the Bible.

Read it.

If you've not read it before, or maybe you're still sceptical about the Bible itself, come and talk to me, or maybe Stuart,

and we'd be happy to read through with you and point to you all the places that point forward to the coming of Jesus,

and particularly his resurrection.

It's all part of that plan.

But the second heading is that there is a wealth of witness.

We've got a perfect plan.

But we've also got a wealth of witnesses.

Let's just look down at verse 5.

Paul tells us that, from verse 5 onwards, that after the resurrection,

after Jesus had bodily, physically raised from the dead,

he appeared to loads of individuals, and then to crowds of hundreds of people.

Huge crowds that bear witness to Jesus physically raising.

Now, what Paul is doing, again, is really remarkable.

Because this is not something you would do if you were making it up.

He gives the names of individuals, prominent figures,

who would have been able to be tracked down and found,

to check if this really happened.

But he says these people are all still alive.

At the time of his letters being published and passed around,

these people are living in your neighborhood.

Are living in your neighborhood.

And you can go and ask.

Your doubts about this claim will be verified by their witness.

The evidence is there for everyone to investigate.

Legends, myths,

they're created in distant lands over centuries.

But discrediting those myths and legends is easy, isn't it?

But it's difficult, when you've got the event right here, right then,

to create a myth and a legend about it,

because you have so many people to nullify the claim.

Just think for a moment.

Imagine 500 people in a court of law,

each of them taking the stand,

bearing witness to an event they've seen.

And as each person comes up,

not hearing the previous person's testimony,

but each of these testimonies building and corroborating the event that's occurred,

until you're just left without any doubt,

that the event being described must have occurred.

All of these witnesses testifying to the same event.

That's what we have with the resurrection.

Witness after witness testifying to the reality of this man,

really dying before them,

and really raising and being seen among them.

But for a moment,

let's say you're even more sceptical than I am.

Let's assume that you're so sceptical that you think

that the written records of these eyewitness accounts aren't good enough.

That they're not good enough.

That they're all false.

Again, I want to propose to you a question.

With an event so well publicised,

with an event so colossal in its time,

don't you think that it would be reasonable

that one historian,

one eyewitness,

one anti-Christian

would record at the time that they'd seen the dead body of Jesus,

or present the dead body of Jesus?

But no one does.

No one has.

Tom Anderson,

the former president of the California Trial Lawyers Association,

that are a fun group of guys,

he says,

the silence of history is deafening

when it comes to the testimony against the resurrection.

Do you hear that?

The silence of history is deafening

when it comes to the testimony against the resurrection.

Because we've got all these witnesses for the resurrection,

and none against.

But we don't just have a wealth of witnesses,

then we have a bunch of transformed teachers.

It's recorded in the Gospels

that when Jesus was on trial,

and being crucified,

everyone fled.

All of his followers disappeared.

There was no one stood by him.

And yet,

and yet,

ten out of the eleven original apostles

died as martyrs,

believing Christ rose from the dead.

So what accounts for that transformation?

transformation?

This transformation of these cowards

bumbling around

into men willing to die for their message.

Would you be willing to die for what you knew was a lie?

The Apostle Paul,

look at verse nine.

He confesses that he was

a great persecutor of the church.

I persecuted the church of God.

And then,

you know,

when you think his job was to kill Christians,

to crush Christianity,

and then suddenly,

having witnessed the resurrected Jesus,

his life is transformed,

turn around,

to becoming the church's greatest missionary.

Even says,

I worked harder than anyone

to preach this message of the resurrection to people.

Do you know what?

There must be fairly significant spiritual grounds,

wasn't there,

for such a spiritual U-turn.

But finally,

we come to the last heading.

And I apologise,

we've had great alliteration,

I was very proud of that.

You know,

the perfect plan,

you know,

a wealth of witnesses,

and transformed teachers.

But now,

I don't have an alliteration,

it's just an empty tomb.

An empty tomb.

What are you going to do

with the facts of the empty tomb?

You know,

people will try and explain it away

with all sorts of theories,

saying he didn't really die,

he just went unconscious,

and then regained consciousness

after being beaten and tortured,

nailed to a cross,

a spear put in his side,

and then he could move the stone.

Or that people stole the body.

The Romans stole it,

or the disciples stole it.

Or,

all of these different people

could have potentially stolen the body

in order to

do away with this unrest.

But in order to get rid of Christianity,

to get rid of it,

all you needed to do

was present Jesus,

his dead body,

and Christianity would have been gone.

But no one does it.

Do you know what?

Paul is writing to a bunch of Christians

who are struggling

with the resurrection.

He's writing to give them confidence

that Jesus really did rise from the dead.

To give them confidence

that if he rises from the dead,

so will all those who believe in him.

And he does it.

The grounds of him doing it

is pointing to the empty tomb.

The tomb's empty.

For thousands of years,

people have been trying to say,

no, it's not.

But still,

no one can wrestle

with this problem.

I'm not expecting

from 1 Corinthians 15

to engage in all of your objections

and give all the answers.

But hopefully you can see

why millions of people

down the ages

have looked at the historical fact

of the resurrection.

And although they don't know everything,

God has given enough

to say,

you can trust me.

God has given enough

to say there is credible reason

to believe in this historical fact.

And because of that historical fact,

he says,

Joel,

there is absolute

and complete confidence

that you can come to Jesus

bowing the knee,

knowing he will raise you up

in times of difficulty.

Because Jesus is all

that he claimed to be.

Jesus is God

in the flesh.

He is the God

of the universe

come down

in human form

that he might take

the place

of sinners like us.

He has power

over your scariest enemy,

the grave.

Your death ruins everything,

doesn't it?

My pastor in America,

he once was at a wedding

and he said,

all marriages

end in tragedy.

Rachel,

I hope that's not

the only life

of your wedding.

But it's true,

isn't it?

There's nothing harder

than saying goodbye

to a loved one.

And that's where

the rubber hits the road,

isn't it?

And this is our conclusion,

hope in the face

of difficulty.

Jesus in John 11,

he turns

to all those

witnessing.

He says,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

He who believes in me

shall live

even if he dies.

what does he mean by that?

Well, he's saying

that the eternal life

is found

through Jesus Christ

alone.

Or to put it

in the words

of our passage

in verse 17 and 18,

he's saying

that our sin

and rebellion

against God,

our living

in God's world,

our way,

has a penalty.

not just

of physical death,

but of eternal death,

separated from

and condemned

by the life-giving God.

And in the words

of verse 18,

they've perished.

Outside of knowing him,

they've perished.

But because

God came in human form

and lived perfectly

where we failed

and then willingly

came under the

condemnation of death

we deserved in order

to deal with our sin,

only to rise from the dead

three days later,

physically,

well, that reveals

that there is more

to life in the here and now.

That there is eternity

beyond death

where those who come

to Jesus

will be raised to life.

Raised to life

with God

forever.

Not in some abstract,

airy, fairy,

spiritual world,

but in a real,

touchable,

tasteable,

new heavens

and new earth

where we can rejoice

in the presence

of the living God

for all eternity.

And the thing is,

only Jesus can offer

this kind of hope.

Any religion

that contradicts

Jesus

and what he's saying here

is a lie.

They are unqualified

to make those claims.

Because the resurrection

proves Jesus

to be right

and therefore

everything contradicting

him is wrong.

Just think about it.

Buddha,

he's dead.

Gandhi

is dead.

All the great scientists

through history,

they're dead.

Mohammed

is dead.

why would you

trust any of them

and their teaching

to get you

through death

when they can't

get through it

themselves?

None of them

are qualified

to take you

through death

and out the other

side.

They may have

some good teachings,

some nice things

to say,

but none of them

have the credentials

to warrant

your faith

and trust

when the rubber

hits the road

on that final day.

Because it's only

Jesus

who's been

through death

and come out

the other side.

And it's only him

who can take you

through it.

Just,

Paul writes later

in this letter,

maybe you want to

flick over the page,

but in verse 54

of chapter 15,

he says,

Joel,

in Jesus,

death

has been swallowed

up in victory.

Physical death

is not the end.

Eternal life

with our Lord

awaits all those

who trust him

because Jesus

conquered death.

I'm going to

finish with just

this simple

situation which

many of you

have been in,

I'm sure,

and many of you

have witnessed.

Imagine

there's a patient

in a hospital bed.

You don't have

to imagine

that you've

probably been

by that bedside.

And they're

probably a friend

or a family member.

And you

there by their

bedside

and you witness

friends coming in.

Friends of

different religions

and different

ideologies

walking in

to kind of

give their

last words

to their friend.

The atheist

walks in

and he says,

bad luck.

The universe

is just made up

of atoms

bouncing into each

other.

It's just blind,

pitiless,

indifference.

The universe

neither knows

nor cares.

then leaves.

And the

Muslim

walks in

and he says,

well,

don't grumble

about this

because it's

the almighty

will of Allah

who wills

both good

and ill.

And then

leaves.

And then the

Hindu walks in

and goes,

you must have

some secret

sin going on

because what

goes around

comes around

and karma

rules.

and then

leaves.

And then the

Buddhist walks

in and gives

some nice

mantra

but it doesn't

really do

anything to

solve the

problem.

And then

in walks

a Christian

and they say,

do you know

what?

God hates

this.

God hates

this so much.

God hates

death and he

hates difficulty.

He hates

witnessing his

people struggle

so much

that he

came in

history

to swallow

up sin

and death

for all

those who

would look

to him

by dying

on his

cross.

And then

gloriously

rising from

the dead.

This is

awful.

And I've

got nothing

to give.

But Jesus

has got real

eternal hope.

And then

we pray.

Let's pray.