Raising The Dead. You’re Kidding Right? 1 Cor 15:19 s4e108

Our official passage in John 5:21 makes an audacious claim:  God raises the dead.  Either He does or He doesn't.  Everything rests upon this power.  Jesus puts it out there like a big stumbling block.

Paul makes an argument FOR God raising the dead by arguing AGAINST it in 1 Cor 15:12-26.  If Christ is not raised from the dead and there is no RESURRECTION, consider the implications:

• We have a false savior. a non-savior.  We then don't have a savior.
• All the preaching and communicating about Jesus is in vain.
• Any faith, belief, trust we have in Jesus is in vain; futile
• Bible teachers are all liers
• You are still stuck forever in your sins and in their consequences
• You still have a death problem 
• Christians are the most pitiable people on the planet

Or, it is TRUE.  God DOES have this power.  He exercises it in the resurrection of Jesus.  He goes first and we follow.  He has got my death problem covered. Death is destroyed.  I get to live with God forever.  I belong to Christ.

Join me.  Belong to Him today by getting this critical element right.

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:01

Good morning, my brothers and sisters, welcome to Episode 108 of be with me, we are smack dab in the middle of a testimony that Jesus is making about the power of God, and the work of God and how he is equal to God and how he's intimate with God in implications about the trinity of God, which is founded on the love of God. And then he makes the statement about the father that just stopped me in my tracks today. Listen to this, this is from john 521. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son will give life to whom he will, for as the Father raises the dead now, this is the linchpin of Christianity, of Christian faith. Either he does this, either he has this power, or he does not be and Paul, in First Corinthians 15, realizes that this is the critical issue of faith. It's like number one on the list. There's other things to believe about Jesus, that he heals people, and you know, other nice things. But this is the thing you got to start start with, because this is where God, either he does this, or he does not an all comes down to this. So he makes this big argument in First Corinthians 15, which let's talk about that today. Because Paul, like makes the argument for Jesus being raised from the dead, and us being raised from the dead. And he makes that argument by sort of like giving the other side of the argument, so listening here, and listen to the other side of the argument. Now, if Christ is proclaimed, as raised from the dead, how can Some say that there is no resurrection of the dead. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. And your faith is in vain. So in other words, you saying, number one we have of if Jesus hasn't been raised, we have a false Savior, that God is fake. And your faith in Him is fake, it's in vain, it's empty, and it's useless. And he's gonna say here in a second, that you're that you've been deceived. So this is the the critical issue versus teen. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, who he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. And you are still in your sins. So listen to what he says about this. I'm a false if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead. I'm a false preacher, my preaching is in vain, you have a false Savior, your faith in Him is vain. Your teachers are lying, and then get this your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. So the way we get out of our sins, if you will, is Jesus dies and pays for them and proves his power by his rare resurrection. And if that doesn't happen, then guess what, you still have two big problems, your sin problem and your death problem. So he goes on here and he says that, if there is no resurrection from the dead, then those This is verse 18, First Corinthians 15, verse 18, then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, the dead or dead, verse 19. If in Christ, we have hope, in this life, only, we are a people most to be pitied. That's my favorite part of this thing. So if this is all true, that God did not raise the dead, then you're not going to be able to be raised, Your sins are not going to be able to be forgiven, forgiven. And all these Christians marching around the world, the 2 billion Christians that are on the planet, are the most pathetic, most pitiable group of people. Or it's true, and Christ has been raised from the dead. Then he goes on in verse 20. But if, but if in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, for as by death, for as by man came down, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead that's talking about Jesus, for as an Adam all die, so also in Christ, shall all be made alive. So he's saying that from the beginning of the Bible from the third page of the Bible, Everybody has died for 1000s or millions of years, whatever the number is everybody, and everybody has been in trouble and has had the problem with that. And then Christ comes and makes away. He's the first fruits, verse 23, but each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits, and then it is coming, all those who belong to Christ. And it goes on to say the last enemy to be destroyed, be destroyed his death. So stop everything is what it says in john chapter five, you've got to get this right. This is an A critical episode of our faith. It's a foundation of our faith. There's not it's not without good evidence, not without good reason. But still, it's something that you're going to have to have faith in. So the final question for all of us is, do you believe that Christ has been raised? Well, I sure hope so. Because if not, we have a false savor. Everything in the Bibles and preaching about it is in vain. Your faith is in vain, your teachers are lying, the power of sin still goes on. And Christians are the most pathetic people in the world. So that's the implications if there is no resurrection of Christ and no resurrection of us. But here's the good news. If you do believe this, if you do belong to Christ, then he fixes the big problems of death and sin. So belong to Christ. That's the call today is let's belong to Him. This is the way we belong to him by faith in this specific action in this specific power for himself in the 1000s of years of people that have gone before and gone after him in it, it's in him that we are made alive. So I couldn't get beyond this today about Jesus, God having the power to raise from the dead, because absolutely critical. So he's not kidding. And it's something that we need to have faith. So my prayer for you and me today is let's have faith in this one specific activity that God can raise the dead. If not, we're in big trouble. And if he does, then we get to belong to Christ. Thank you for listening. Thanks for believing