1 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:09,840 Would you open your Bible, please, to the book of First 2 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,120 Corinthians, chapter 15? So that's in the New Testament. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,120 We've been studying and teaching through First Corinthians. 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,680 We're nearly there. We've almost finished the book, 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,040 and tonight we're looking at chapter 15, verses one through 6 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,840 28, and the title of the message. 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,360 Tonight, the resurrection reality proclaimed, proven and 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:33,120 promised. As you're turning, I don't know 9 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,800 what you might think is the most important thing that you know 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,560 that that piece of information or a collective of information, 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,280 facts, knowledge that you possess that if you were to come 12 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:48,000 down to it, we'd suggest and say this is probably the most 13 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,840 important piece of information or knowledge in my possession. 14 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,160 Remember, as a child in primary school, coming into our school 15 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,800 library and just being enamoured with the number of books and 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,200 just overwhelmed with the sense of thinking back then. 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,040 This is prior to obviously the days of Internet and other, you 18 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:08,480 know, access to those sorts of things. 19 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:10,760 Wow, what knowledge there is here. 20 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,480 And then heading into high school and, and again, it just 21 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,640 kind of doubled in size the library on campus and not 22 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:22,000 changed school into a, a relatively new one that was much 23 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,880 better resource than the one I'd been at. 24 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,240 And I was just like, wow, this is mind blowing. 25 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,240 This library. And then I went to university 26 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:34,240 and, and university had not only one level, but multiple levels 27 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:39,280 of books and, and, and all sorts of academic texts and things 28 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,720 that I could access to. And, and then computers were 29 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,040 starting to come about then and we had all of those computer 30 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,560 stations. And, and then now of course, 31 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,680 with technology and what we have access to at our very fingertip, 32 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,720 the amount of knowledge that is, that is possible for us to 33 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:59,240 access, to consume, to know is, is huge. 34 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:04,320 Just think of the vast constant influx of information that is 35 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,840 available to you. And I mean, the average 36 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:11,039 household has multiple TV's and all of the media that's coming 37 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,560 through to us. I mean, statistically they 38 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,760 suggest that the average TV is on 8 hours a day in the home. 39 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,760 And if you've got multiples of those with all of the news 40 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,720 information coming through. So again, it begs the question, 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,880 what is the most important thing that you know? 42 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,080 The question, simple yet profound, leads us to 1 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,280 Corinthians 15 where Paul answers it directly. 44 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,520 He says in verse 3, what I received, I passed on to you as 45 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:45,920 of first importance. So Paul declares to us tonight 46 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,320 the first important to him, the first importance to him, the 47 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,000 greatest piece of knowledge, the greatest information that you 48 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,360 can receive that you could ever know, He presents. 49 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:03,720 And that is this, the gospel, the life, the death, the burial 50 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:05,760 and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 51 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,960 And if you know this tonight, that is the most important thing 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,600 that you know. And if you don't know the truth 53 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:15,880 of this tonight, then tonight's your night. 54 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:22,400 You can know its greatest, most important of first importance. 55 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,360 As Paul says again, in an age of information, that's what it's 56 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:31,880 called now seemingly drowning in information, this chapter calls 57 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:36,680 us to anchor our lives in what matters most, the gospel, the 58 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:40,800 good news of Jesus Christ centred on the resurrection of 59 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,680 Jesus Christ, and that's Paul's real focus. 60 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,600 The simple truth is this. You see, a dead saviour, if 61 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,320 Jesus is not alive, if he did not rise again from the death, 62 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,560 saves no one. It's a waste of time. 63 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,680 In fact, Paul will declare that we're to be pitied because what 64 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,840 we're doing, what we're gathering here, if Jesus isn't 65 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,760 alive, if Jesus didn't rise again from the dead as the 66 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,840 Scriptures declare and as we believe, then we're just kidding 67 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:08,800 ourselves and we're to be pitied. 68 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,840 But if it's true, well then, then there's something powerful, 69 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,680 there's something great to it. And this is what Paul declares 70 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,640 to you and I tonight, that the greatest thing of first 71 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:23,560 importance that you can ever know is that the life, death, 72 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,920 burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, the gospel message, 73 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,760 because this is what saves A risen Christ, saves all who will 74 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,680 believe. And the idea that Jesus lived a 75 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,360 good life, he was a good person, appeals to some. 76 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,240 And I'll declare that, yeah, I believe Jesus to to being a real 77 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,200 individual. And I think he taught some good 78 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,440 things that we can learn from. I think he taught some wonderful 79 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,880 things, in fact, but then he died and that's it. 80 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,480 And, you know, it was a tragic death and but he never came 81 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:58,800 back. And I don't believe that. 82 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,440 And so that begs the question, well, So what then? 83 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,680 There's been plenty of people that have espoused great things 84 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,120 and had some wonderful teachings and so on. 85 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:14,280 But what separates Jesus from just being a philosophy from a 86 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:17,200 guru is the fact that he rose again. 87 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,280 That's transformative. That takes a philosophy and 88 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,760 transforms it into the powerful. You see, this dead guy got back 89 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,760 up again. This dead guy isn't in the grave 90 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,120 anymore. He rose again, the Bible says, 91 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:34,120 and he's alive, which means this, that he can conquer death. 92 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:38,320 The death, that great nemesis, that great fear that holds much 93 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:43,120 of humanity did not hold him, that he had the power to conquer 94 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:44,880 death. And that means that if he has 95 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:48,760 the power to do that, then he has the power to do anything 96 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,840 that he promised. He said a number of things, and 97 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:55,200 we'll see the relevance of that. So tonight I want to look at the 98 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,640 powerful truth and fact of the resurrection of Jesus. 99 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,400 And what we're going to see in our text before us is that it is 100 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,440 proclaimed as the core of the gospel. 101 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,640 And then what Paul will do to to address any doubts at his 102 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,040 audience and that we might have is he he goes and proves the 103 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,720 resurrection. And then he builds on that and 104 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,120 gives the promise that the resurrection holds for you and I 105 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:22,440 tonight, that because Jesus is alive, that he is resurrected, 106 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,160 that he is immortal forever to live on, then that means 107 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,400 something for you and I. So let's look at these verses 108 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,960 and let's look at verses 1 to 4 to begin with. 109 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,640 Moreover, brethren, I declare I'm reading from the New King 110 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,440 James Version of the Bible. By the way, I declare to you the 111 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:44,080 gospel which I preached to you. Gospel simply means good news. 112 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,240 It's the good news of Jesus Christ which I preached to you, 113 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:54,240 which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also 114 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,280 you are saved if you hold fast. That word which I preached to 115 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:01,600 you, unless you believed in vain, or was emptiness or a 116 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,280 waste of time. For I delivered to you first of 117 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:11,200 all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins 118 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,840 according to the Scriptures, and that he was verse 4 buried, and 119 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,800 that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 120 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,240 Now, brothers and sisters, he begins with I want to remind you 121 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,480 of the gospel that I preached. You see, there was a challenge 122 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,800 in the church at Corinth that was questioning. 123 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,800 And this was big in in Greek philosophy. 124 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,200 In fact, they weren't big on this idea of being resurrected, 125 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,720 that when you died, they would much prefer that, well, the 126 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,680 spirit was released from the body. 127 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:46,160 And this idea of, of having some kind of a resurrected body was 128 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,880 just altogether foreign. And that was creeping in to the 129 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,840 church there in Corinth. Remember it was a a Roman 130 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,840 province, but lots of Greek philosophy and influence there. 131 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,840 What Paul here gives to us in verses 3 and 4 in particular is 132 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,960 often being called an early Christian creed, something that 133 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,840 the early church had developed an an earliest record of, of 134 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,520 what the gospel is, of what they would confess. 135 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,760 This is what we adhere to, this is what we believe. 136 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:19,240 This is what makes us Christians, followers of the way 137 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,080 as they are known followers of Jesus Christ. 138 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,520 And that is that Jesus died, that Jesus was buried, and he 139 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,040 rose again according to the Scriptures. 140 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,080 And so the message of the Gospel is exactly that, that Christ 141 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:37,000 Jesus when he came to this earth, lived fully human, but he 142 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:43,080 died and he was buried, but he rose again three days later. 143 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:46,840 And Paul's words aren't simply an introduction to this chapter 144 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,160 here. They are called to to stand on 145 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,840 what truly matters. It says, I want you to be firm 146 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:56,200 on this, to be secure, grounded in this, because this is what 147 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,000 truly saves. Paul says he reminds the 148 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,840 Corinthians and us tonight the gospel that he preached. 149 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:04,960 This is what I delivered to you from the very beginning. 150 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,960 This is what you received. This is what has transformed 151 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,760 your lives. And now stand in this gospel 152 00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:16,280 because the gospel is not just good advice, it's not just some 153 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,000 wise words and some things that, well, we can glean and maybe get 154 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:21,440 some good understanding out of it. 155 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,400 It is good news for you and I that God entered into human 156 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,800 history in Jesus and that He came and He is able to 157 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,560 sympathise with all that we experience and go through as 158 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:38,240 human beings here in this fallen world, this earth as we know it. 159 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:40,600 He knows what it is like to be human. 160 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,760 He knows what it is like to suffer, to to feel hunger, to 161 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,640 experience pain, to to mourn the loss of loved ones, to 162 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,520 experience betrayal. All of the things that we go 163 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,800 through, Jesus was acquainted with, and yet He lived sinlessly 164 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,960 in this life. So all of the pressure that we 165 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,480 face, that we succumb to, the temptations that we endure, He 166 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,240 was able to stand against and to resist. 167 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,720 The pressures of life in this fallen world were there for him. 168 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,560 But he was strong and he persevered and resisted. 169 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:15,120 And then he died sacrificially at the age of 33. 170 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,120 And he did die, despite what people might deny and try to 171 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,120 claim. He was beaten, he was flogged, 172 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,000 he was whipped, he was crucified. 173 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,880 Expert witnesses, the centurion at the cross declared that this 174 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,040 man was dead, so much so that when it came to breaking the 175 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,600 legs of the other criminals that were crucified alongside of him 176 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,200 to to speed up their death process when they came to Jesus, 177 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:44,120 No, he's gone. He was already dead and he died 178 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,200 in our place for our sin. The Bible says to pay the 179 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:52,120 penalty, the wages that that we had earned through our sinful 180 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:55,400 lives. And he came to take that and to 181 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,680 make the way possible for, for sinful fallen humanity to again 182 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:04,360 gain access, entrance to a holy, righteous, sinless God. 183 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,360 And he rose triumphantly 3 days later. 184 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,480 This is all part of the gospel, defeating death, conquering the 185 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,880 grave, displaying his power over sin and the grave and the enemy 186 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,000 Satan who thought he'd won his greatest victory. 187 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,720 You see in a world that is overflowing with bad news and, 188 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,640 and there is much of it, if you turn on the TV, listen to the 189 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,760 radio, read the headlines, it's death, it's injustice, it's 190 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:31,640 wars, it's tragedy after tragedy. 191 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:36,920 Paul declares that Christ died for our sins, that he was 192 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,080 buried, but he rose again on the third day. 193 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:44,000 And this, he says, is good news. This is the gospel for the 194 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,400 Christian. This is not optional truth for 195 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:48,880 us to go. Yeah, I kind of like bits and 196 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,840 pieces of the Bible and and and I'll glean from that and I'll 197 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,480 apply that. But this is a non negotiable, 198 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,480 this is foundational when it comes to what makes us 199 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,480 Christian. So just as reporters announce 200 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:05,280 world altering events, so we as Christians and I as a preacher 201 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,600 and anybody that proclaims the good news, the single greatest 202 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:13,040 event in history is the death, the resurrection of Jesus 203 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,040 Christ. And the meaning of the gospel is 204 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,960 this. It's for our sins, it says. 205 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,160 This was no ordinary death. It was what's called 206 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,480 substitutionary, penal and purposeful. 207 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:31,440 It says Christ died for our sins. 208 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:34,640 He bore the judgement that we deserve. 209 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:40,840 He took our place absorbing the wrath of God on our behalf. 210 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,480 Paul says indeed, as we look into this, that without Jesus 211 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,240 the Christ, we have a problem. And the problem is simply sin. 212 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,600 And we're all sinners. Not, not a single human being is 213 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,600 exempt from that. We all have in Word and in deed, 214 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:03,680 in thought, done what we're not to do and not done what we were 215 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:05,920 we were to do. These are called sins of 216 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,080 omission. The things that we have not 217 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,120 done, that we should have been doing, that we've omitted doing, 218 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,080 and sins of Commission, things that we have done that we should 219 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,400 not have done, we've all perpetrated those things and 220 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,800 we've all had those things committed against us. 221 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,680 And we know the full experience of sin in our existence of 222 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:28,480 humanity. And the result the the Bible 223 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,560 says the wages, the penalty of sin is death and we all die. 224 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:38,400 It's been said again and again, statistics are that 10 out of 10 225 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,120 people will die. And that is the bad news, 226 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,400 because if we're to die in our sin, then we are doomed and we 227 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,800 are lost and, and, and we're we're separated for all of 228 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:55,120 eternity away from God. But the good news is that Jesus 229 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:00,880 the Christ came to love and to save us, to rescue us from 230 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,920 ourselves and the perilous eternity that we faced without 231 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,240 him. And Jesus didn't just die. 232 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,800 That would be a tragedy. Yes, as we read the story and we 233 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,600 go through it and we see all that he experienced and, and 234 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:16,680 there have been many people throughout history that have 235 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:19,920 died and experienced all, all sorts of forms of, of terrible 236 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,760 tragedies in their death. But no, we remember Jesus 237 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:25,680 because of the significance of his death. 238 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:33,200 He died for you, it says he died for me, for our sins. 239 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,640 Like a a firefighter rushing into the flames to rescue the 240 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:40,440 trap. Jesus faced the fury of God's 241 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,960 judgement to bring us out and to rescue us and so on. 242 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,880 The meaning of this the Gospel, the good news of Jesus life of 243 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:53,560 Jesus death of his burial of his resurrection is is that have you 244 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,560 trusted Jesus, not merely admired him, not merely 245 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,480 appreciated him, but have you surrendered to him? 246 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,720 Have you received this gospel not as a philosophy, but as your 247 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:10,480 hope for what lies beyond the grave because the message of the 248 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,600 gospel must not only be received but retained. 249 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,440 That's why he says to them, stand firm in this not only what 250 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,280 I preached to you that you heard, but but listen to it, 251 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,000 receive it. This gospel, you are saved. 252 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,960 If you hold firmly otherwise, he says in verse 2, you have 253 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,120 believed in vain. You see, it's not just what you 254 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,880 hear, but what you believe and what you cling to that saves. 255 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:39,040 And all of this is so important because early on in the book of 256 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,440 Romans, Paul said these words in chapter 10, verse 9. 257 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,040 If you confess with your mouth, listen to this, the Lord Jesus, 258 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,840 and believe in your heart that what God raised him from the 259 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:58,040 dead, you shall be saved. That's the promise of the 260 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,280 Scripture. In other words, you cannot be 261 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,560 saved. You're not a true believer, a 262 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,920 saved person, if you deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 263 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,640 That's how important it is. It's part and parcel of the 264 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:14,480 historic Christian gospel, this declaration of Jesus life, 265 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,720 death, burial and his resurrection. 266 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,320 And Paul sees this as our first importance. 267 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,160 So let let me remind you that the most important thing that 268 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,640 you can know, our first importance is this. 269 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:30,960 We need the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ and we are 270 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:36,600 they were to stand firm in this. And again, do you have this 271 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:42,560 tonight? Is your faith a passing phase? 272 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,920 I'll check out this church thing for a little bit and I'm curious 273 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:50,360 about the Bible or is it a permanent foundation, the 274 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,360 gospel. Do you stand in the gospel, the 275 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,520 good news of Jesus Christ? Are you wavering an opinion, 276 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:00,280 habit and loyalty? You know, I'm not sure, I'm not 277 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,560 sure. So the gospel firstly is 278 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,560 proclaimed, but let's look at in case you say, well, how can I 279 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,280 trust that the resurrection is real? 280 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:13,599 Are you kidding me with all of this? 281 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:16,800 I mean that's 2000 years ago just because some text says it. 282 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:19,640 And yes, I am wavering an opinion. 283 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,800 And are you expecting me to believe that someone came back 284 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:26,560 from the dead? Paul pre empts those lines of 285 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:28,520 questions in the verses that come. 286 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,640 And so now he proves with convincing evidence in verses 5 287 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,200 to 11 the gospel and in particular the resurrection of 288 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:41,280 Jesus Christ. And verse 5 he says that he was 289 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:46,280 seen by Cephas that that is Peter of the disciples of the 290 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,320 apostles. Then by the 12. 291 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,600 So in reference to the other disciples, followers of Jesus, 292 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:58,280 that's a collective term. After that verse 6, he was seen 293 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,680 by over 500 brethren at once. So 500 people gathered at one 294 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:08,560 point in time had seen Jesus resurrected, physical body as it 295 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:13,160 was, of whom he says the greater part. 296 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,920 You can ask them, he says at the time of this writing, of whom 297 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,040 the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen 298 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,160 asleep. This is a euphemism for having 299 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,440 died. You see, for the Christian, when 300 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,400 our physical body dies, it's gone. 301 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,400 That's not the real us. It's akin to falling asleep. 302 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:38,120 And the Bible says after that, verse 7, he was seen by James. 303 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:41,320 This isn't James of the disciples of the apostles. 304 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,360 This is the half brother of Jesus, James. 305 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,440 We'll talk a little bit about him later. 306 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,600 Then by all the apostles. These were others beyond the 12 307 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,680 as well. Then last of all, he was seen by 308 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,440 me. Paul's own personal testimony as 309 00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:59,560 by one board out out of due time. 310 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,160 For I am the least of the apostles who am not worthy to be 311 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,440 called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. 312 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,160 But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward 313 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,320 me was not in vain, empty or a waste of time, but I laboured 314 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,680 more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God 315 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,960 which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or 316 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,400 they, so we preach, and so you believed. 317 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:30,520 So again here in these verses, Paul anticipates those that 318 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,600 might doubt the Verity of the resurrection. 319 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,160 And he answers and he doesn't appeal to blind faith in the 320 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,040 verses that we read. He builds his case on eyewitness 321 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:47,360 evidence, on fulfilled prophecy and on transformed lives, and he 322 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:50,280 gives for a scriptural proof. First of all, he says according 323 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,480 to the Scriptures, and Paul here is appealing to their knowledge 324 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,480 of the Old Testament here when he says this and and perhaps 325 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:01,440 what comes to the mind of the audience and of of those hearing 326 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:02,840 this. And for you and I tonight are 327 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:07,880 passages like Isaiah 53. Or the likes of Psalm 16 or 328 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,600 Psalm 22 and go ahead and be a student of the Word and look 329 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,000 into those and see how they connect with Jesus of the likes 330 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,680 of the book of Jonah. In fact, Jesus himself, when he 331 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:22,320 was asked for a sign, spoke of the example of Jonah having been 332 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,000 swallowed in the belly of the great fish as being a 333 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,280 declaration of what would happen to him upon his death and for 334 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,840 three days being in the grave but prior to his resurrection. 335 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,880 But maybe the greatest illustration in the Scriptures 336 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,000 is in the book of Genesis. You might recall the story in 337 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,960 Genesis 22 of Abraham being called by God to sacrifice his 338 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:49,200 son, his only son in Isaac. Now Abraham had another son in 339 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,840 Ishmael, but did God say that God said your only son, Isaac? 340 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,480 No, I don't recognise the son of the flesh, for that was what 341 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,680 Ishmael was, but your only son, the son of the promise, the son 342 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:02,360 of the covenant, your only son in Isaac. 343 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,840 And it's a type of this story, a picture pointing to what God 344 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:10,400 would ultimately go through with that Abraham did not. 345 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,160 But Abraham was resolved in that three days that Isaac is as good 346 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,880 as dead. But God is faithful because he 347 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,240 has promised. Then he will raise him back from 348 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,080 the dead because there's yet many promises to be fulfilled in 349 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,600 and through Isaac. Abraham did this. 350 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,080 And Abraham tells Isaac when Isaac questions, well, where's 351 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:33,480 this sacrifice? And Abraham tells Isaac God will 352 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:38,000 provide himself a sacrifice. And it was on Mount Moriah that 353 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,280 that episode took place. Later known as Calvary, the 354 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,440 place where Jesus would be crucified and the prophecy was 355 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,720 fulfilled, where God would provide himself a sacrifice. 356 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,640 And so Paul here proves the resurrection by appealing to 357 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,880 scriptural proof, saying there were prophetic words that were 358 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:00,040 given that have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ in not only his 359 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,160 life, but in his death and his burial in his resurrection. 360 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,680 But then in case that's not enough, he goes now and makes 361 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,960 mention of eyewitness proof. And he spoke of Peter and of the 362 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:15,640 12 and of the 500 and of James and, and then of himself, Paul. 363 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,040 And he bolsters the evidence given with these eyewitness 364 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,720 accounts and references that Jesus appeared to them. 365 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:25,920 And he says, if you doubt this, many of them are present today 366 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:27,640 and you can still go ahead and ask them. 367 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,480 Tells us that the resurrected Jesus appeared to over 500 368 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,120 people, many of whom were still alive at the time of Paul's 369 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:38,560 writing of this letter. And this was a public fact, 370 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,040 common knowledge for them back then, easily disputable if it 371 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:47,280 were not so. And So what we know through this 372 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,720 and what we understand from the Scriptures is that Jesus 373 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:54,080 appeared to his friends, yes, but also to strangers. 374 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,880 And Paul says that over the course of some 40 days, he 375 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:02,520 appeared to as many as a crowd, numbering 500 at one point in 376 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,400 time. Jesus appeared to large crowds 377 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,200 of people after his resurrection. 378 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,600 And at the point the time of writing, we're looking at a more 379 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,840 of a rural type of living people who are scattered about, busy 380 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,480 about their, their, you know, endeavours in an agrarian 381 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,080 society and culture. So for 500 people to come 382 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,600 together was a very major, significant public event. 383 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:33,320 And what this tells us is that Jesus was not in hiding, that 384 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,000 after his resurrection he was widely known and seen an 385 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,040 experience. This would have been the front 386 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,920 page of the newspaper today. The leading story in the nightly 387 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:48,200 newscast would have been the discussion at work, the 388 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,600 discussion at synagogue, the discussion around the dinner 389 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,800 table. Jesus was alive. 390 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,880 Did you hear he appeared to the two on the road to a Mass? 391 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:58,920 Did you hear that he appeared to Peter? 392 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,320 He appeared to Thomas and all of those people and he was walking 393 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,680 around and and visible publicly. It's like he's scheduling 394 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:11,400 meetings, going to meals, making appearances with people. 395 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,640 And everybody had an opportunity to verify that he had indeed 396 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,520 risen from the dead. And Paul says, if you don't 397 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,360 believe me, then go to the eyewitnesses. 398 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,600 Many of them are alive still. And Paul references some 399 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:27,840 specific appearances as evidence. 400 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:32,040 He speaks of Peter first of all and and what he has in mind is, 401 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,480 is Peter being the not a leader of the disciples. 402 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:40,520 But we know that he was cowardly in that denial and three times 403 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,720 before the Russo had crowed denying that he was a follower 404 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,080 of Jesus and Jesus specifically sought him out. 405 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,440 So Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? 406 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,120 Peter, do you love me three times and extending that 407 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:57,400 forgiveness that opportunity. The other disciples who were 408 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,560 afraid in the upper room as the record in the goth in in the 409 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,720 book of Acts tells us and of and of Thomas who was absent who 410 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:06,720 later when when Jesus had appeared and Thomas was there. 411 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,720 Thomas, you doubted me. You said if if you would stick 412 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,480 your hand in the side and and touch mine. 413 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,920 Well, here you go Thomas. He appeared and I mentioned the 414 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,960 two on the road to Emmaus. All of this here, but I want to 415 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:21,840 focus on on this one in particular. 416 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:29,480 He says and he appeared to James, James, Jesus sceptical 417 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,440 half brother. Now, Jesus had two brothers, at 418 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:38,560 least that we're aware of, James and a fellow called Jude, who 419 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:44,640 while Jesus was alive, did not believe in Jesus as Messiah. 420 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,200 In fact, at one point in time we read in the Gospels that they 421 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,120 thought Jesus and his teaching as a rabbi had gone so far that 422 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:55,400 they wanted to hold some kind of an intervention and bring him 423 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,400 out and kind of save him from himself. 424 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:01,360 Now, I don't know about you, but most of us probably would not 425 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:05,680 feel comfortable in worshipping our Big Brother, right? 426 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,280 Your Big Brother says to you, I'm God, what are you going to 427 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,000 do, Knock it off you? And we would say a whole number 428 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,880 of things, right? And yet after Jesus 429 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,200 resurrection, his own brother said, you know what, it's true. 430 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,040 We lived with him. He's our brother. 431 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,320 And as I look back, he never sinned. 432 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,840 And we saw him die and we saw him buried and we went to the 433 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,200 funeral and we saw him rise and and it's our brother. 434 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,360 Yes. And he said he was God. 435 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:41,240 And he came down from heaven to live without sin, to die, to 436 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,480 take away sin. And I didn't believe it at the 437 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:48,040 time, but but now I do. And it changed their lives. 438 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,520 And, and he said he would rise and, and he proved that he was 439 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,160 God by doing so. And, and now I'm on this mission 440 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:56,960 of salvation because I believe it. 441 00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,320 And it's exactly as he said it would be. 442 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:03,520 And they began worshipping their brother as God. 443 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:10,440 And they both James and Jude became pastors and they both 444 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,080 wrote books in the New Testament named after themselves, the book 445 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,360 of James and the book of Jude. James becomes a very prominent 446 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:21,120 leader in the early church pastoring the the very pre 447 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:25,400 eminent church in Jerusalem. And Paul says effectively this 448 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,040 what would it take for someone to worship their brother as God? 449 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:35,080 Speak to James, speak to Jude. Extraordinary evidence is what 450 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:39,000 that would take, right? Such as the resurrection. 451 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,280 Now, all of this combined, if you were to think of it in court 452 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,960 today, if 500 eyewitnesses would testify of the same event, that 453 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,200 would be an unshakeable case, would it not? 454 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,160 In in our modern day courts, we're satisfied and happy with 455 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,360 2-3 witnesses, as was the case back then. 456 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:01,760 But 500 Paul says you want 2-3 witnesses, Let me give you 500 457 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:06,400 all at one time extraordinary evidence. 458 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,760 Now this wasn't some mass hallucination or emotional 459 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,680 delusion that was taking place here. 460 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:17,240 This is verifiable truth, but still not done. 461 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,360 Paul now having provides scriptural proof and eyewitness 462 00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:26,400 proof gives personal proof of the radical transformation 463 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:30,200 that's happened in his life. You see, Paul, as he was 464 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:36,000 previously known as Saul, once hated Jesus with a passion, so 465 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,840 much so that he thought about murdering Christians. 466 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,960 Followers of Jesus tried with all that was within him to 467 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,040 destroy the early church. What changed him? 468 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:52,480 Seeing the risen Christ last of all he says verses 8 through to 469 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,360 10. He appeared to me also as to 1 470 00:28:55,360 --> 00:29:00,160 abnormally born, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. 471 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,600 You see, some would say, and maybe you might think it with 472 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:06,320 all of the evidence given today so far. 473 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:11,120 Well, they're his friends, maybe his acquaintances and and his 474 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:16,320 family, and perhaps they're predisposed to eagerly yearn for 475 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,120 the coming of Jesus from from death. 476 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,400 Maybe, maybe they worked together out of their hearts 477 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,920 longing and yearning because of what they really wanted out of 478 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,160 Jesus. Maybe they needed this and they 479 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,680 managed to conjure up enough people and they're all in on the 480 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,400 lion. And some people say that and 481 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,680 believe that, right? And maybe they all suffered for 482 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,240 no apparent reason. That's a bit of a stretch, I 483 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,360 reckon. And to make the final point 484 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,360 here, that absolutely nails the case of the resurrection of 485 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:52,240 Jesus. Paul says I saw him too and man, 486 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,880 Jesus changed my life. Now Paul wasn't an acquaintance 487 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,080 of Jesus. He wasn't a friend or a family 488 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,400 member of Jesus. He was an enemy of Jesus. 489 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,440 He hated Jesus with a a deep seated kind of hatred that few 490 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,640 have ever had for Jesus or anyone else for that matter. 491 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,760 And as I said before, he despised Christians. 492 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,080 One of our first introductions to Paul, as he was called back 493 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,000 then, is Saul in the book of Acts is where he is 494 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,280 participating in the public execution and unjust murder of 495 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,560 an early Christian leader, a fellow called Stephen, because 496 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:34,320 Stephen worshipped and exalted and preached the resurrected 497 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,160 Jesus. And Saul, as Paul was known back 498 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,200 then, hated that. And Paul's mission was to murder 499 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:45,160 people who worship Jesus until he saw the resurrected Jesus on 500 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,280 the road to Damascus. It's called the Damascus 501 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,520 conversion. We read it in the book of Acts, 502 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,400 and upon seeing Jesus restored to life, Paul was struck with 503 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:59,880 this incontrovertible fact that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus 504 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,360 the Christ is God who has taken away sin and conquered death and 505 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,360 deserves our worship alone. And it radically transformed 506 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,040 Saul's life. He became known as Paul. 507 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,760 He went from a murderer of Christians to a pastor of 508 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,040 Christians. He went on three missionary 509 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,360 journeys as we read through in the book of Acts. 510 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,280 He would write a large chunk of the New Testament. 511 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,720 Ultimately he would be beheaded by Caesar for being a follower 512 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:28,840 of Jesus. That's a change. 513 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,720 That's a transformation that takes something significant to 514 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:37,360 effect such a change. There's a modern day example, a 515 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,800 fellow called Frank Morrison. He was a sceptical lawyer who 516 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,840 tried to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 517 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,880 He thought if he could disprove the resurrection and 518 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,520 incidentally disproved the transformation of Paul from 519 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,760 going going from Seoul to Paul, then he thought that you could 520 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,640 disprove Christianity. And he's true in fact, if you 521 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:00,640 can do that. So he set out to do so. 522 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,080 Of course, you know how those stories go. 523 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,040 In the process he became convinced, convicted and 524 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:13,920 converted and gave his life to Jesus as the Christ, believed in 525 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:18,080 him as his Lord and Saviour and and wrote a book called Who 526 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:22,560 Moved the Stone, A powerful account of faith built on 527 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:26,080 evidence. You see, no one is beyond grace. 528 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,800 Paul is proof, he says that it was the grace of God upon me. 529 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,240 And you here tonight might feel unworthy. 530 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:37,320 We've been hearing the gospel mention of our sin and of our 531 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,560 need for a Saviour and of Jesus and the importance of him coming 532 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:42,560 and of him dying and our place for our sin. 533 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:47,320 But you know, the resurrection is not for the worthy, It's for 534 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,560 the broken. It's for the sinful, it's for 535 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:55,200 the hopeless. And it changes everything, just 536 00:32:55,200 --> 00:33:01,680 as it changed Paul. And so he firstly proclaims the 537 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,840 gospel message, verses wonderful, and then he proves 538 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,520 the gospel message, focusing specifically on the 539 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,400 resurrection. And now he goes and builds from 540 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,320 verses 12 through to 28 on the promise of of what? 541 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:18,200 Hope this should fill in our hearts in understanding and in 542 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:22,040 knowing this truth. And I want to read all of these 543 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,120 verses together and they're actually quite simple in their 544 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:28,200 flow, and I think easily digestible and understandable. 545 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,680 So we won't need to dwell a whole heap on these verses. 546 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,920 We'll find ourselves finishing very soon verses 12 to 28. 547 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:42,120 Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the 548 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:46,640 dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of 549 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,720 the dead? But if there is no resurrection 550 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:52,560 of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 551 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:55,880 So as I said to you, there were some in the church at Corinth 552 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,280 were denying that there was a resurrection altogether. 553 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,520 So Paul says, why are some saying that? 554 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,760 And let me tell you that if that's true, then Jesus isn't 555 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:06,280 alive. That's the first thing. 556 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:11,679 And then he goes on verse 14. And if Christ is not risen, then 557 00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:15,600 our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 558 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,800 It's a waste of time. We're kidding ourselves. 559 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,199 Yes. Verse 15 and we have found false 560 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:24,960 witnesses of God. In other words, we're lying 561 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,199 then. And basically what these people 562 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:29,880 are saying is I'm a liar, that you're a liar, that you're 563 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,960 deceived, that you're deluded and and that you're mad in this 564 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:38,239 because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ and he 565 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,760 did not raise up. If if resurrection's not real, 566 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:45,840 if in fact the dead do not rise. 4 verse 16 if the dead do not 567 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,960 rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ has not risen, 568 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,560 your faith is futile. And look at this, you are still 569 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,600 in your sins. Bad news. 570 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:02,760 Then also those who have fallen in asleep in Christ to perish. 571 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,240 And he says then even worse, those that have died before us 572 00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:09,720 and believe this, we're fooled and deluded and they're perished 573 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,560 and they're gone forevermore dying in their sin. 574 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,680 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, verse 19, we 575 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,200 have of all men the most pitiable. 576 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:26,480 He says, then we're an absolute bunch of fools if this is all we 577 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,320 have and we have to be pitied for being so delusional. 578 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:36,760 But now verse 20, Christ is risen from the dead and has 579 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:43,040 become the first fruits, the prototype, the example, the the 580 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:46,800 prediction of what is to come for those who have fallen 581 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:51,600 asleep, who have died. For since by man came death, by 582 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,760 man also came the resurrection of the dead. 583 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:55,760 For and now he goes back to the problem. 584 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:01,520 Because of Adam we all die. Verse 22 Even so, because of the 585 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:05,760 second Adam, Jesus the Christ, all shall be made alive. 586 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,440 Just as it was so for one in Adam, it shall be so for the 587 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:14,480 other in Christ Jesus, but each one in His own order. 588 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:18,440 Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ 589 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,720 at His coming. Then comes the end, and now He 590 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:26,040 gives His wonderful eschatology a breakdown of future events for 591 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:28,440 us. Then comes the end, when He 592 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:31,640 delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to 593 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:33,960 all rule and all authority and power. 594 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:38,440 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 595 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,840 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, and we read 596 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,640 of that in the Book of Revelation, for He has put all 597 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:47,720 things under His feet. Verse 27. 598 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,200 When he says all things are put under Him, it is evident that He 599 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,240 who put all things under Him is accepted. 600 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:59,280 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son 601 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,720 Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him 602 00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:09,040 that God may be All in all. What Paul does here is his 603 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,760 wonderful promise in these verses that we've just read. 604 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,440 He moves from Christ's resurrection to the promise of 605 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:22,840 ours, that if Jesus rose, and just as Jesus rose, so here is 606 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,080 the promise. We'll we, here is the hope, here 607 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,960 is the security. Our resurrection is tied to 608 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:31,960 Jesus Christ. That's what this passage 609 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,640 conveys, and as I said to you, I think it's fairly 610 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,400 straightforward and makes sense why I read it all together. 611 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:42,080 You see again, some in Corinth, influenced by something called 612 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,040 Greek dualism, denied bodily resurrection. 613 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,040 Greeks thought of resurrection is ridiculous. 614 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,880 Death for them was again a releasing of the soul from the 615 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,000 captivity of the body. And similarly the Romans denied 616 00:37:58,000 --> 00:37:59,800 a resurrection. They didn't think much of it. 617 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:02,080 And remember Corinth being a Roman province. 618 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,360 Some of that thought was influencing those in the church. 619 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,000 You might in fact recall in the book of Acts when Paul was 620 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:14,000 before a fellow called Festus talking to him about the 621 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,320 resurrection. Festus stopped Paul and said 622 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:21,040 Paul, much learning has what made you mad because it was the 623 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,240 subject of resurrection. And even amongst the Jews there 624 00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:26,200 was this sect. There's a group of people known 625 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,880 as the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection. 626 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,280 Remember when Jesus was alive and they came to him and they 627 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,160 posed this question about the resurrection Jesus. 628 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,240 If this woman married a guy and he died and then she marries his 629 00:38:39,240 --> 00:38:41,920 brother and he dies and then there's another brother and he 630 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,240 dies and so on through. And then at the end if there's a 631 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:48,520 resurrection Jesus, well, whose wife will she be? 632 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,160 And Jesus, to paraphrase, basically says you're idiots, 633 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,000 you're ignorant, have you not read, you're you're mad. 634 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,560 And so Paul dismantles that thinking about the resurrection, 635 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:06,480 just as Jesus did back then. And, and whatever its source in 636 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,320 the church in Corinth, ultimately he declares this 637 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:11,640 truth. If there is no resurrection of 638 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,960 the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 639 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,680 And if Christ is not raised, then our preaching is useless. 640 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:24,080 It's a waste of time. Our faith is futile. 641 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:28,480 We're kidding ourselves. We're still hopelessly lost in 642 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:34,680 our sins, the dead who have gone before us, a loss God knows 643 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:40,920 where, and we are to be pitied. Above all people are to just 644 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,280 think of us as the most deluded bunch of ignoramuses out there. 645 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,320 And when you think and what you know of early church history, 646 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:57,000 Christians were tortured and martyred, beheaded, burned, 647 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:03,360 flayed for one reason. They believed that Jesus had 648 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,080 risen and that they would rise too. 649 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,320 You see, without the resurrection, Christianity is a 650 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,040 hoax. It's a waste of time. 651 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:16,160 But with it, even our suffering has purpose, even to the point 652 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,480 of death, because death loses its sting then. 653 00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:25,400 Because this body, you can kill it all you want, but Jesus, who 654 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,000 has the power to defeat death, is alive, is resurrected, and he 655 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:30,880 has promised that I'll be alive with him. 656 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:35,720 Because Jesus is the first fruits, he says the first fruits 657 00:40:35,720 --> 00:40:41,240 were the first sheaf that was in Jewish custom waved before God 658 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:43,920 in the harvest festival, symbolising that the full 659 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,360 harvest, the promise of the harvest was coming. 660 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:48,520 Because there it is, there's the first fruit and we know what 661 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:50,560 that means. The rest of the crop is coming. 662 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:55,480 And so Jesus was when it says the first fruits here, it means 663 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,680 he's the template, as I said, the the prototype and his 664 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:02,360 resurrection. Then what's wrapped up in this 665 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,880 from Paul is this Jesus resurrection is the guarantee of 666 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:12,440 what will follow for you. And I-1 guarantees the other. 667 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:17,120 The first fruit guarantees A crop to come because this is so, 668 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,240 because Jesus is a lie, because Jesus is resurrected, He's the 669 00:41:20,240 --> 00:41:25,280 first fruit, Paul says. Then it is so it is guaranteed 670 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,160 that the resurrection will come for you and I as believers in 671 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,800 him. So like the first apple picked 672 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:35,560 signals more to come. So Jesus resurrection assures 673 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:40,880 that ours is on the way and that means this it means that victory 674 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,880 is certain that Christ will reign and that is what's there 675 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:50,240 in in the verses 24 through to the end of what we read in 28 676 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:55,840 that because Jesus is alive we will be for as in Adam all die. 677 00:41:55,840 --> 00:42:00,040 He said so in Christ or will be made alive and Jesus reigns 678 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:04,520 until every enemy including death is crushed and then he 679 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:09,400 hands the Kingdom to the Father, having secured eternal life for 680 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:13,600 his people. You see your resurrection. 681 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:21,560 My resurrection is not a maybe not AI hope so cross my fingers. 682 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:28,360 It's as certain as Jesus Christ. Resurrection is historical, and 683 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:32,840 because of that, you and I, we can live with resurrection 684 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:34,840 confidence. That's what this passage is all 685 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:39,800 about. And so going back to my opening 686 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:42,480 question, what's the most important thing? 687 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:47,680 You know, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most 688 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:49,600 important thing that you can know. 689 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:56,680 Paul has proclaimed it tonight. He has proven it, and he reminds 690 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,680 you and I that we are promised it too. 691 00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:04,960 It is historically credible. It's theologically essential. 692 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:08,720 It is the foundation that we're to stand firm and be secure in, 693 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,400 and it is personally transformational. 694 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,800 Just as it changed Paul's life, just as it changed the church in 695 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,880 Corinth's lives, just as it has changed millions throughout 696 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,320 church history's lives and has changed many years lives, it can 697 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:29,320 change yours. And so to the seeker, to the 698 00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:35,120 unbeliever in Jesus Christ tonight, believe in Jesus not 699 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:40,840 just as a man in history, but as your risen Saviour tonight who 700 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:46,040 came and lived and revealed God to humanity. 701 00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:51,240 And he died and he was buried, but three days later rose again, 702 00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:55,560 and now he is seated at the right hand of the Father, making 703 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:57,920 intercession for you and I and the Bible. 704 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:01,200 He promised. He said, I go to prepare a place 705 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:08,400 for you, that where I am you may be also to the Christian, to the 706 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:13,960 believer tonight, stand firm. Be secure in this gospel 707 00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:17,240 message. Your labour in the gospel is not 708 00:44:17,240 --> 00:44:20,760 in vain. Your life, whatever suffering, 709 00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:23,360 whatever you're experiencing, whatever you're going through, 710 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:28,640 resurrection is coming. And to the suffering, that would 711 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:30,160 be the same. Hope is alive. 712 00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,680 Death is not the end. And to the church for all of us 713 00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:39,320 tonight, live, worship and witness like people who believe 714 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:41,440 in the power of the empty tomb.