Resurrection Matters: What Could Make A Skeptic Die For Faith | 1 Corinthians 15:1–11

The resurrection isn’t a side doctrine or a holiday mood, it’s the claim that decides everything. We open 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 and let Paul define the gospel with crisp, historical clarity: Jesus Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day. If that’s true, Jesus isn’t just a teacher with good ideas; He’s the living Lord with real authority over our lives.

We also take the question seriously from a skeptical angle. Even outspoken critics like Bart Ehrman grant the basic historical reality that Jesus lived and was crucified. The real tension is what happened next, and that’s where Paul points to eyewitness testimony: Jesus appeared to Peter, to the disciples, to more than 500 people at once, and to James, His own brother who once doubted. We ask the uncomfortable question that follows: would people live and die the way the early church did for something they knew was a lie?

Then we move from the outside evidence to the inside evidence. Paul’s story is hard to dismiss because he didn’t want Christianity to be true, yet he says he met the risen Christ and was remade by grace. We talk about what it looks like today when the resurrection shows up as changed hearts, new desires, and a faith you can’t explain away as self-improvement.

Listen, share it with a friend who asks hard questions, and if it helps you, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find this message.

Transcript

Welcome And Church Invitation

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon Podcast. My name is Taylor Gare, and I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist. And I want to thank you for listening into our sermon this week. And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Doredo. Would you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week? Open with me to 1 Corinthians 15. As we uh continue today, what we briefly started last week, our series leading up to Easter. Talking about the fact simply that the resurrection matters. Resurrection matters. And I want to talk about that this morning. Really, I want to let Scripture talk about that as we look at 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 11. I'll read it now. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. The last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But the grace of God, or by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is in me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, by your Spirit, would you assure in our hearts today that your Son Jesus Christ has risen from the grave? We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Jesus was a Jewish man, known to be a preacher and teacher who was crucified, a Roman form of execution, in Jerusalem during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea. This is a quote that is really just a statement of facts. This guy's saying Jesus did exist. He was executed on a cross during this specific time period. Scholars basically all agree on this. Now, what's interesting is not just the quote. What is interesting is uh who quotes that, who says that, a man named Bart Ehrman, who is uh one of uh the strongest atheists out there. Is that a term? Strongest atheists? He writes books and books and books where he would love nothing more than for you to come to the conclusion he's come to, that Jesus might have been a historical person, but it is an impossibility that he rose from the grave, that Christianity might could give you some good teachings or some clever ideas about living life, but it can't do any more for you than that. He would love nothing more than for you to come to that same conclusion because that's what he's come to. He thinks it's laughable that you and I can sit in a room like this and believe these sort of things that he rose from the grave, but what he doesn't dispute is the fact that Jesus existed, Jesus lived and Jesus died. What he struggles with is this is what happened next. On the third day, what happened next? In fact, a lot of people struggle to get there. I like the quote from C.S. Lewis where he says this if Christianity is found to be true, it is of infinite importance. If it's found to be untrue, it's of very little importance. The only thing Christianity can't be is moderately important. Sure, he can be a good teacher, we can learn good things, but either he rose from the grave and everything uh uh beyond that is is is under his lordship and authority, or he didn't. And so what we have to do as we think about the person and work of Christ is simply ask the question that people in Corinth were asking, and and it's simple. Did Christ rise from the grave? Did he? Or did he not? Again, that's what we've got to figure out. Now, as we think about the church in Corinth, there's a phrase I often hear, and I agree with it. So many people say, uh, Taylor, we've just got to get back to being like the early church, the first century church. And I agree with that. I know exactly what they mean. That we've got to get back to Acts chapter 2, verse 42 to 47, where we're meeting together, we're breaking bread together, we're committed to the apostles' teaching, the early church. We ought to be just like that. But but then I would also say this there are a lot of ways that uh we better not be like the early church. Because if you read the reports of the church in Corinth, this church was a mess, an absolute mess. And Paul spends this whole letter really trying to solve the problem of just how big of a mess they are. Read the totality of 1 Corinthians on your own one of these days, and what you'll see is there's divisions over who's in charge. There are all forms of sexual immorality that exist among the people of God. Paul literally says the type that should not even be named, and yet it exists among you. They struggled with the Lord's Supper. I mean, they they they entered into an unworthy manner. Some people got to get to the Lord's Supper a little early and have a little feast, while some people came later and just got a little bit. It was a mess. The church was a mess. And here's the worst part. Here's what scares Paul the most is the fact that not only are all those things true, but what's more is there are a few false teachers coming among the people of God telling them this. Telling them that the resurrection does not exist. Telling them that the resurrection does not exist. You don't need the resurrection. Uh maybe it's more of a spiritual or metaphorical resurrection. Surely there's no physical resurrection of Christ or anyone else. These false teachers are coming among the church at Corinth and telling them this lie that the resurrection doesn't exist. And so all of 1 Corinthians 15 is Paul coming to them and reminding them of what they should already know and believe, that the gospel is true, that Christ has died, Christ was put in a tomb, and here's the fact Christ is risen. Verse 1. Now I remind you, brothers, we talked last week, I'm reminding you what you already know, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preach to you that you received in which you stand. Again, we talked last week, by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believe in vain. And now here's the gospel he refers to. That he was buried, he was put in the tomb. And here's the best part. That he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Paul wants you to know from the start where he stands. False teachers may come among you and tell you any number of things. I'll tell you in the first four verses of this chapter exactly where I'm at. That Christ died, Christ was put in a tomb, and Christ rose from the dead. I want us to see what Paul's doing here, and he's really doing two things. Number one is this I want us to see the believers' outward verification of the resurrection. That we have this outward verification of the resurrection, and I want us to see it right now. So Christ has risen from the grave, in verse 5 it says this, and that he appeared to Cephas. Now, Cephas is another name for our friend Peter. So he appeared to Cephas, to Peter, that after Christ has raised from the dead, he is uh we we we're gonna see a few encounters that he has, and there's even more we read in scripture that Paul doesn't list here. But we see that Paul appeared to Cephas. We see in Luke 24, 34, as Jesus is walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they mention the fact that Christ is risen from the grave and that he had already appeared to Peter. We know that this is the case. Actually, multiple times we see Christ with Peter. But here's what's interesting that Paul starts with Cephas, with Peter, because as we think about needing evidence or proof that Christ has risen from the grave, what if we go to unexpected places? What if we go to a guy like Cephas, who Peter, who, when we read the Gospel of John, where we are left towards the end, verse chapter 18, is the fact that Peter is a guy that wants the world to know that he's got nothing to do with Jesus. As he's standing outside the courthouse as Jesus has been trotted into this phony trial that he's going through. There's a crowd of people, they uh see Peter and he looks familiar and they say, Hey, weren't you with Jesus? Aren't you one of his disciples? And Peter three times says, I don't know the guy, I've got nothing to do with the guy, you've got the wrong guy. In this moment of fear and panic in Peter's heart, he says, I don't know the man. And then we fast forward just about three days later, and we see that the risen Son of God finds his way where? To Peter. A few things. If I were the risen Son of God, to be claimed I'm not, but if I were, I wonder if one of my first stops would be to the very man who just a few days before said, I've got nothing to do with the guy. Maybe there's enough pride in my flesh to say I might not make that trip. Peter, you may be on your own. That's not what Jesus does. He restores Peter to his place of ministry. He appears to Peter, and here's what's fascinating. Peter goes on. This guy in John 18 wants nothing to do with Jesus, wants the crowd to know I don't know the man, I haven't met the man, you've got the wrong guy. And all of a sudden we look throughout the whole first half of Acts and we see that Peter is preaching to thousands, seeing thousands come to know the Lord, and Peter is a leader in the early church. Something happened. How do you get from denying the guy outside the courthouse to preaching in front of 3,000? To get to the point of, I don't want anyone to know that I know him, to the point of I want everyone to know that I know him. How do you get there? I'll tell you, you've just seen a man walk out of a tomb. That's the only way. That Jesus was dead, and he's not dead now. I don't know how else to say it. I I saw him put in the tomb, and then I saw him out of the tomb. All he wanted to do was deny Jesus, but but now he's seen something that he can't deny. That Christ Jesus has risen from the grave. So uh so first of all, he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. The twelve. You can think of these uh twelve disciples. Now, what I think Paul is doing here is giving us just a general term for the disciples. Obviously, we look at that number twelve and we see there's uh there is a little change. One has gone his own way and denied Jesus. We're down to 11. We know that when Jesus first comes to the disciples, we know at least Thomas is not there. So does that mean 10? But Paul says it the 12 is just a general term for these disciples that Paul appeared to the disciples. Now here's what's fascinating about the disciples: that something happened, we know this, that led them to be totally, or maybe even further, turned upside down for the sake of the gospel. Something empowered them with a drive and a hunger to want to carry out what Jesus had told them in Matthew chapter 28, the Great Commission, go make disciples of all nations. Something has happened. And I'll tell you what I think it is. I I think they saw a man that was dead, and now he's alive in front of them in the room. That Christ has risen from the grave, and so he is everything he said he was, and all authority is what he has and he possesses, and something happened to them. Now, let's say for a moment that that's not the case. Let's say for the moment, as some love to say, that these disciples they hatched a grand plan. A grand plan that would continue for the next 2,000 years, that, hey, fellas, if we can just get in the same room right now, we know Jesus is still laying in that grave, but what if we could just hatch a plan? We'll go out from here in boldness and we'll just tell people we've seen Jesus. What if they hatched that plan? Let me ask you, is that kind of plan something worth living for? I would argue no, but let me ask you a better question. Is that kind of plan something worth dying for? I'm not talking about, you know, dying 90 years down the road. I'm talking, let's go down the list of these disciples of Jesus. How tradition and history tells us they passed away. James, son of Zebedee, beheaded under Herod Agrippa around A.D. 44. Peter was crucified in Rome under Nero sometime in the 60s. In fact, the early church father Origen tells us that Peter requested to be buried uh crucified upside down because he didn't count himself worthy to have the same kind of death as his Savior Jesus. Andrew, crucified in Greece, Thomas died by spear, Matthew by sword, Philip crucified, uh, Judas Thadius crucified, Simon the Zealot crucified, uh Bartholomew, some tradition says he was uh beaten with clubs, some with swords, some crucified. There was John. John got off pretty good. If if by getting off okay, you mean exiled to the Isle of Patmos to live out his days in his own prison in Patmos. This is how the disciples lived and how they died. Now I just want to ask you, if if we sit in a room and hatch this grand plan to tell people that Christ is risen from the grave, are you going that far? Are you saying that it's not only worth living for, that it's not on, but it also is worth dying for? I'm gonna tell you this. Uh if Christ did not rise from the grave and I'm one of these disciples, I'm getting the fishing ministry back up. I'm getting the tax collecting back up. Where I used to serve, I'm going back to my day job. What I'm not doing is going and preaching the gospel, landing in prison time and time again, and when the day comes that they want to put me on a cross or give me a sword or a spear, I'm gonna say, guys, I was just kidding. It wasn't me. I'd do anything to get out of it. Not these men. They saw the risen Savior, and it changed everything about how they lived, it changed everything about how they died. Verse 5, he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve. Here's verse six. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. He appears to five hundred at one time. We don't know exactly what event this is. Some say maybe uh it was, you know, early Acts, uh, like Acts chapter one, period before his ascension. Some say, you know, around Matthew 28, was this the Great Commission moment where there were the disciples and maybe a multitude of other we don't know for sure, but at some point, Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, appeared before what Paul says, these five hundred brothers. Some are still with us, though some have fallen asleep. That just means this. Some have passed away, but uh some are still with us. Now, what Paul is getting at here when he he lets you know that some are still with us, he wants this to happen. He wants you to go ask them about it. There are five hundred of these brothers that have seen the risen Jesus. Go ask them. Get their story. Now, if we had hatched a plan to say Christ is risen from the grave, the last thing I want to do is have 500 people in on it with me. And then the very last thing I want to do is tell you to go ask them about it. Because that's a lot that we've got to uh work to do to get our story straight. Now, I just think about something this morning. If there's 300 people in this room and we we made up our own story this morning, could you hold to it? Could we get the details strong enough that as we go out to lunch and and you know you're you're at this spot and that spot, and everybody around town is asking us, what'd y'all do at church this morning that we can tell them the story of what happened? We might get some of the details okay, but I I got a feeling if you've ever played the the game telephone with maybe three or four kids, or uh you know that story's not coming out right. And yet Paul says there's these 500. And here's the characteristic that they each have that makes them just so fascinated. They've seen Jesus the one who we saw die, put in the tomb, he rose again, and they've seen him. And you can ask them about it. And I love where we're going next. Verse 7. Then he appeared to James. Now, this James here is James, the brother of Jesus. Now, James fascinates me. Early on in the gospel, what we see from James's life is simply this. Uh James, uh John 7 5 says this that not even Jesus' own brothers believed in him. Mark chapter 3 says this, that uh Jesus' own family was saying he's out of his mind. James, all of his life until a certain point, he didn't believe his brother was the sinless son of God. He didn't believe that his brother was who he said he was. Sure, maybe my brother is a good public speaker. Maybe my brother uh uh got lucky at a few healings along the way. Maybe my brother can put on a good show, but there's no way, there's no way that he could be that. The son of God. And then down the road we see something interesting. Galatians 2, chapter. 2 verse 9, excuse me, Paul calls James a pillar of the church. We see in Acts chapter 15 that Peter is uh excuse me, James is an elder in the church at Jerusalem. When they have the Jerusalem Council, uh James is overseeing the whole event. We see that uh James writes an epistle that we have in the New Testament. We also know from history that James is uh executed in A.D. 63 for his faith, and something happened here that earlier on James says, My brother is out of his mind, and later, James is willing to say, I will, I will live for the cause and I will die for the cause. What happened in this moment that James knew that his brother was in a grave, and then his brother walked into the room. There's just something that happened in James's life that he he couldn't put away, he couldn't get past it. I didn't believe any of it, and then I saw him, and it changed everything. So, uh believer this morning, I want you to know this. There is outward verification. We see it in 1 Corinthians 15. We see it all throughout history, far outside the Bible. We see other historical sources that confirm what is stated in the Bible. We see that he appeared to Cephas and to the 12 and to 500 and to James and to the apostles. We see the outward verification, but also want to see this the believer's inward verification of the resurrection. I want to continue now. Verse 8. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. This is Paul talking. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. This word untimely born is maybe your scripture says abnormally born. It's a it's a strange phrase, it's a very uh heavy phrase. I I would just summarize it by this. Paul saying this, I'm not supposed to be here. I'm I'm not supposed to be the one standing before you, but something happened. Verse 9. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. If you go read the first eight chapters of Acts, what you see is that so often behind the scenes there is a man who wants nothing more than to put an end to the work of Christ and the work of the church. In fact, when he's on his way to Damascus and he has this great encounter with the risen Christ, he is going there to deliver a letter that says, if you find any Christians, you send them my way. He wants to put a stop to this. And then something happened. And then on the road to Damascus, the man who was persecuting the church saw the risen Christ, and it changed everything in his life. Here's why I think the testimony in Paul is just so incredibly powerful. Think about something for a second. As we've seen in this moment, we've seen Peter, we've seen the twelve, we've seen these uh 500. I I love their testimony. There is so much validity in their testimony, but here's what's interesting to me: their testimony is valid. At the same time, they wanted it to be true. Of course, they wanted it to be true that Christ rose from the grave. Good news for them, it was true. Not only did they want it to be true, it was true. Here's what's fascinating about Paul's testimony in this moment is that he is testifying that I've seen him and Christ has risen from the grave. But here's what's different about his testimony. I didn't want it to be true. I was hoping it wasn't true. There's nothing I wanted more in my life than for Christ to stay in the grave. It was an impossibility that it would come out, it that he would come out. It is an impossibility that the church could have any actual power behind it. I wanted nothing more than to put an end to these fanatics that are preaching this new thing. That's all he wanted to do, and yet then he saw the risen Christ and the very same thing that he wanted to put an end to. Now he can't stop talking about it. He was hoping it wasn't true, and yet when he saw its truthfulness, he could do nothing else but give his entire life to it. That's why he says this. Verse 10 by the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm not supposed to be here. I was hoping I wouldn't be here, but God's grace did something with me. His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. That sounds at first like a prideful statement, doesn't it? On the contrary, I I worked harder than any of the other apostles. I I don't think I I know he's not being prideful here, and we'll see it with the last phrase. What he is is actually, I'd argue, just the uh opposite. It's his humility. It's almost as if he's saying, I know how far back, how how much at the bottom of the barrel I started. I had to make up for a lot of lost time. And you see the humility, it is by the grace of God. Not I, but the grace of God that is in me. Verse 11. Whether then it was I, if it was I who proclaimed to you, or if it was they who proclaimed to you, whether that's Cephas, whether that's the twelve, whether that's the 500, whether that's James, whoever it is, so we preach, and so you believed. We saw the uh outward verification, but then the internal. A life like Paul that says this inside something's been turned upside down. Now, there's no one in this room who has seen the risen Christ. I'm talking with your eyes. Every once in a while, someone goofy on TV or YouTube, they'll tell you they have. And lucky us, they gave us a message, but they haven't. None of us have seen the risen Christ with our eyes. But what I believe is this there are many people in this room who know Christ is risen from the grave because he has done too much in their lives to deny that they've seen too much to say that anything else could have possibly done this if not for the resurrection of Christ and the Holy Spirit He's provided. And I wonder if, like Paul, you can look at the outward verifications, oh, and you can take such heart in that, but then you can look internally and say, Look what he's done in my life. Why do I believe Christ has risen from the grave, first and foremost? There's too much evidence to state otherwise. But also I look in my own heart and life. I know enough about my flesh to know if it were all up to me, I would have never come. I know enough about the sinfulness of my heart to know left to my own devices, I'd still be on the outside looking in because I was just like Paul running from the things of God, and yet something happened. I believe in the resurrection because I've seen uh a heart resurrected. I've seen a six-year-old boy who didn't deserve it sitting in a Sunday school class, pray to have a relationship with Christ Jesus, and a heart of stone was moved into this heart of flesh that began uh spiritually beating. I've just seen too much uh to go back to where I was. I just have. And I wonder in your life if you can say the same. That I've experienced Christ Jesus in such a way that I know He is the living Savior who still lives and intercedes for me. And I wonder this morning this as well. If you're in the room and and you'd say, I I I don't know that. I don't know that yet. But if today isn't the morning, maybe, that you say it's my time to make a decision. And maybe that is you. And maybe this terrifies you, and you think, how could I ever do that? I'm gonna tell you you can. Maybe you just want to walk right down here, and I I gotta tell you, I've cleared the calendar all day, I've got nowhere to be. And I want to talk to you about what it means to follow Jesus and to know him personally. And I want you to know what it means for him to be savior so that you can leave this room knowing not just that Christ has risen from the grave, but spiritually now you have risen from the grave because you have a relationship with him. Maybe you want to come be part of this faith family, maybe you want to have a pastor pray with you. However, you want to respond, I'm gonna pray for us, and then I hope you'll do it. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this morning. Thank you for the power of the resurrection, the truth of the resurrection, that we can be known and found in Christ Jesus. So, Lord, if you're stirring in a heart even now, would you give a boldness to come now? For maybe one to acknowledge that they need a Savior and that they can find it this morning. For one to acknowledge that I need a church family and they can find it this morning. I need prayer, they can find it this morning. Whatever it may be, give boldness now as we respond and as we worship. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Would you stand now as we worship?