If Jesus Didn't Raise, Walk Away

Discover why the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is Christianity's most important doctrine and how it changes everything about life, death, and eternity. The apostle Paul taught the Corinthians that denying the resurrection undermines everything we believe about God, salvation, and eternity. In this sermon from 1st Corinthians 15, Pastor Greg Sukert shows that without the resurrection, Christians are liars without hope.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What are your dreams following getting your business degree? What do you want to do? Honestly, anything that gives me a stable salary enough to live off of. That's a very flexible criteria. Yeah. Can you pay me? Can I provide? Excellent. Yeah. That's awesome. And where do you see God in all of that? Uh I'm really like a non-believer.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I'd say I believe as a kid, but I as a kid that kind of like I grew up in lots of church a bit. You grew up in a religious household? I'd say I went to church every time it's with my parents kind of worked. God even we have to all this stuff that's happening. Like what's the point of like all that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah, that's tough, especially when you see two people who you're wondering why isn't God stepping into this to all this together? And divorce is a really hard thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I believe that the Bible talks very plainly and really about the nature of life, and the Bible talks very openly that we live not in a good world. It's a broken world. You look at that and you go, where is God in all of this?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Can there be a good God in the midst of such a suffering world? Yeah. What have you thought in thinking through that?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

My stepmom's uh did there hurt like a family over the winter break and hurt just to like God's plan to bring my dad to my stepmom. I kind of would say that part of me was kind of like why didn't they meet sooner? Why didn't God like together sooner have to go through all this?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I have so much compassion for what you're saying because you're you're walking through really hard things.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

And that is uh that is a hard thing to hear. Like, really, God had to bring my parents through this uh journey of loving each other and then getting divorced in order for his plan to really come through. And that that is hard to wrestle with. I think I think the Bible helps us in saying we live in a we live in a messy world, and the mess of this world is a message. It's because of sin, right? Why does divorce happen? Because uh somewhere down the line, somebody starts stops committing to love the other person and to pursue the other person and they give up on the marriage for both parties, right? Just as there's brokenness that leads to divorce and marriage, there's brokenness in our own lives because we've rejected God's way of doing things. We've chosen to do things our way. That only leads to death because our way is always gonna lead to destruction. Because God made it, and God is He is a perfect, good and holy being. He's not unfaithful, and his love is unfailing. Jesus says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And what God has done in his love is that we have rebelled against him, that we have sinned, that we have things in our hearts that the Bible calls sin. And the Bible says that we're gonna face judgment for our sin, and that actually we deserve everlasting hell for our sin, but God and his love, so you don't have to go there because he sent Jesus to live the life of perfect love, perfect obedience. He obeyed God's laws perfectly because he was God himself, God in the flesh. And Jesus died on the cross for those wrongdoings that you and I recognize in our own hearts. Jesus died for those. He said, I'm gonna face the judgment. Imagine you're in a courtroom, you're sentenced to judgment, you're sentenced to the death penalty, and Jesus steps in and says, I'm gonna take that death penalty for you, Charlie. You don't have to face it, I'll face it for you. And then he died, he rose from the dead, and then he offers life, and he says that if you if you follow me, if you trust me, it will lead to unfailing love. And in this life, we can see the love of people fail, but with the love of Jesus, we will never see that love fail. And so that's really the beauty of the gospel. You're asking the question is there such a thing as an unfailing love? The Bible says yes. Yes, there is, and it's in the person of Jesus. Good morning, Central Church. Happy Palm Sunday. My name is Greg Sucert. I'm one of the pastors here at Central, and we're gonna be in 1 Corinthians 15 this morning. So open up your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15. And I just love talking with students about the gospel. I love talking to students about Jesus because in those interactions you really see the hardships that people are going through, and you really see the obstacles that people face to following Christ. In the case of Charlie, the student I was talking with in the video, his big obstacle was well, God doesn't do miracles in this suffering world. I don't see a God who's acting to help us in our times of hardship and in our times of pain. And if if two professing Christians got divorced and my family had to go through that pain and that suffering, and God could not resurrect that marriage, how in the world can I expect that God raises the dead? How in the world can I believe in something like resurrection? That's the pain that we feel in this fallen world. In all the suffering, how can we possibly believe that there is a God who raises the dead? And many people walk away from the faith over this very issue. There's a man named Bart Ehrman. He was a very famous, still is a very famous New Testament scholar. He was once an evangelical conservative Christian. He went to Moody Bible Institute, and he walked away from the faith over this very issue. It wasn't some textual academic issue that caused him to walk away from Christianity. It was he looked out into the world and he saw a world of suffering, a world where he says, God is not doing miracles today. And if God's not doing miracles today amidst our suffering, then there can be no such thing as resurrection. I mean, look around you. Where are the miracles for the sufferers? Where are the miracles for those who go through abuse and pain and divorce? There are no miracles for the suffering, therefore there can be no resurrection. Resurrection is a fantasy. In fact, many skeptics have drawn a comparison between the resurrection and the Loch Ness Monster. You know, with the resurrection and the Lochnus Monster, both claim to have eyewitnesses. Both have very fierce super fans and haters. And both the resurrection and the Lochness Monster, they sell books and plushies. Does that mean that the resurrection is on the same category as the Loctus Monster? No. No, it's not. Jesus is not our Nessie. But you need to be thinking about how provocative Christianity's central claim is. To the surrounding world, Christianity is crazy. To the surrounding world, Christianity is crazy. To the outside world, craziness is what unites you and I here this morning. Someone say, Amen. We are united in the name of crazy. Because what brings us together is not ultimately donuts. It's not ultimately coffee. It's not ultimately to have our social tanks filled up. No. Ultimately, the reason that we gather here this morning is because you and I have come to worship a man who is proclaimed as risen from the dead. And scripture is going to argue this morning that without resurrection, everything collapses. Not only Christianity collapses without the resurrection, but the very fabric of understanding reality as we know it. Everything collapses without the resurrection. The resurrection is a big deal. And we're going to look at our passage now to see why. So 1 Corinthians 15, that's where we're at this morning. So let's stand for the reading of God's word. We're in 1 Corinthians 15, starting with verse 12. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. Now, if Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, how can some of you 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. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom 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. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, for as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. That's our hope that we sing about and proclaim this morning. You may be seated. Leading up to Easter, we're in this series known as The Death of Death, in a sermon that I've entitled, If Jesus Didn't Raise, Walk Away. Resurrection is Christianity's craziest claim, but that crazy claim is your only hope. God gave us this passage to exhort us that bodily resurrection, it's not a minor doctrine, it's not a small deal, it's a big deal. We cannot be satisfying, satisfied with saying that resurrection is merely some spiritual thing or some idealistic thing. No, the resurrection is a bodily thing as well. Bodily resurrection matters significantly because it's the difference between the biblical gospel and a false gospel, and it impacts how we live our lives today. It's my prayer that by the power of the Holy Spirit that you would believe in resurrection. Not just resurrection of your soul, not just spiritual resurrection, but resurrection of your body. Christ came to redeem not just some of you, but all of you. If you turn from your sin and trust in him. This letter, 1 Corinthians, is written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. And Paul loved this church. He helped plant this church with other co-laborers in the gospel. He labored for about a period of 18 months to establish this church in Corinth. And then he leaves. He goes off to Ephesus. And about four years later, while he's in Ephesus, he gets reports from this church that things are not going so well. In fact, there are some serious problems that he's hearing about and that he is writing to address. Here are just some of the problems that the church in Corinth were facing. People were fighting over personalities in the church. They were following this person and that person and say, well, this person's a better speaker and that person's a better speaker. And I'm so glad I followed this person and not that person. They were fighting over personalities in the church. They were fighting over spiritual gifts. Who has better gifts? Who's more spiritual? Who's more important? Who's more valued in the church? They were fighting over communion. Believers were using communion as an opportunity to get drunk and engage in gluttony, so much so that other believers could not participate. Believers were defrauding each other. People were prioritizing their own personal rights over loving and serving others. And there was a ton of sexual immorality. In the church, there was a man who was sleeping with his father's wife. And in the church, people in the church were struggling with temple prostitution. They were just going and engaging in sexual immorality in these temples, ta taking on sexual immorality into the church. And you know, this is just really normal everyday stuff in the church. The church in Corinth was not addressing it, but we have to see that we're really no different than the church in Corinth. We we still have the same sinful human hearts. We still wrestle with the same lovelessness, we still wrestle with the same division, we still wrestle with the same immorality. We need to see that our human hearts, our sinful human hearts, have not changed in 2,000 years. We may not engage with temple prostitution, but friends, we as a church, as churches in America, as churches in the in the West, we battle against things like OnlyFans, things like pornography. Make no mistake, churches today desperately need Jesus just as much as they did 2,000 years ago. And for all their immorality in Corinth, you would think that Paul would just write off this church as a bunch of degenerates, and that he would just walk away, just communicate that they are an illegitimate church and be done with them. But that's not what Paul does. Look how Paul addresses these believers at the beginning of his letter. He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, to those set apart in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. That's amazing. That's amazing. As much as this church was struggling, Paul still calls them saints. He calls them saints for all of their immorality and all of their idolatry. Paul still addresses them as saints. How can he do that? How can he do that? Because biblically speaking, a saint is not someone with a good moral track record. No one has a good moral track record. All of us fall and fall short of the glory of God, and we sin and we rebel against God and we have wickedness in our hearts. None of us have a good moral track record. So that's not what a saint is. No, friends, biblically, a saint is someone who's not trusting in their own moral track record, but is trusting in the moral track record of Christ, who has a perfect moral track record. He meets God's standard of perfect righteousness. That's why we can be called saints, even though we sin, even though we fall short, we are saints, not because of our goodness, but because of Christ's goodness. It's a free gift. Christ's righteousness that we receive through faith. Paul is saying that the issue wasn't that these believers were not saved. He's saying that the issue was that these believers were not spiritually mature. Paul actually describes these believers as infants in Christ. They are still on milk when they should be on meat. For as long as they've been walking with Christ, they should be much further along in their spiritual maturity. But instead, they are the spiritual equivalent of the man-child. You know, the man-child, the 30-year-old man who still lives with his parents, who has no accomplishments except for that he has become a famous guild leader in some elvish castle online? That's the man child. Thinks he's mature, but really he's not. He should be much, much farther along. In fact, for as long as these believers have been walking with Christ, they should have been singing something like, Rise up, O men of God, have done with lesser things. But that's not what they were singing. These believers were immature. They were singing something more akin to, I don't want to grow up, I'm a toy, as a ras kid. That's what these believers were singing in their immaturity, and it gets even worse because not only are they spiritually immature, these believers think they're mature. They're the man-child who thinks that they are the guru. And when the man-child thinks that he knows everything, you've got a serious problem. Paul is writing to say, You are not wise, you are not mature, you are you are childish, Church in Corinth, and you need to leave behind your childish ways. Paul writes to lovingly exhort them. And in our passage, Paul traces this childish behavior all the way down to their view of resurrection, specifically their view of bodily resurrection. And in Corinth, they were denying that bodies are raised, that Christ raises us physically. Now, why were they doing that? Well, they were doing that because that was the view of the culture. The secular culture did not have a high view of the body. In fact, the Greek view of the body is that the body is bad, but the spirit is good. It's this view known as dualism, that actually the spirit is the only good part about you, and that when you die, your spirit is gonna be set free, that your body is just a prison of the soul. And so the body really doesn't matter. You can do whatever you want with it because that's not what matters at the end of the day. What matters is just that your soul is saved. And the Corinthian church had adopted this view, and that is a wrong view. And we're gonna see that when you adopt bad theology, you can draw a straight line from bad theology to bad thinking and bad behavior. And that's what Paul is calling out. He's saying, no. Your view of the resurrection matters deeply. Christ did not come just to redeem your soul, he came to redeem all of you, your soul and your body. That's why bodily resurrection matters. So today I want to walk you through three points answering this question why is bodily resurrection such a big deal? Why is bodily resurrection such a big deal? We'll start here with point one. If there's no resurrection, we're all liars. If there's no resurrection, we're all liars. Look at verse 13. 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, and we are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom 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. In these verses, Paul says that to actually deny the bodily resurrection of believers is to deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus and to proclaim a lie about who God is. It's a big deal. In the gospel, Jesus' resurrection is not the end of the story. In many ways, Jesus' resurrection is only the beginning of the story. Because Christ died to gather a people to himself, to unite a people to himself. That means that Christ binds, he binds his destiny with our destiny. His fate becomes our fate. If Jesus is rotting in a grave, so will we who follow him. But if Jesus conquered death and rose bodily, then so will we who follow him. That is the doctrine of union with Christ, that the destiny of Jesus is the destiny of his people. We are bound to Christ. We are united with him through faith. Now I have to pause here and ask the question: for the eternal Son of God to redeem his people, was it necessary that he add to himself human nature? Was it necessary that God become flesh? Was it necessary that Jesus suffer bodily and rise bodily? Did Jesus have to do that? Why couldn't he just speak redemption with the word and call it a day? Why did Jesus have to take on humanity? Did he have to? And the answer is yes. Yes, he did. If Jesus did not take on humanity, we could not be saved. Think about this. Our sin is not only spiritual, it's deeply physical. Going all the way back to the garden, sin and rebellion against God is deeply physical. I mean, just think about the fall story. Think about Adam and Eve. With the ears that God gave Adam and Eve, they used their ears to listen to the manipulative voice of the serpent who twisted God's word. With the tongues that God gave Adam and Eve, they used their tongues to entertain a conversation with the devil. With the eyes that God gave Adam and Eve. They used their God-given eyes to lust after that which they should have never lusted after, the forbidden fruit. With the brains that God gave them, they rationalized their disobedience against God. With the hands that God gave them, they reached out and grabbed that which they should have never grabbed with the mouths that God gave them to praise his name, by the way. They used those mouths to rebel against him. Adam. Adam should have used his feet to crush the head of that serpent, but instead, Adam used his feet to run away from God. That rebellion was A physical rebellion. And that's why there are physical consequences in the fall. Think about this. When Adam and Eve sinned, there were physical consequences. They were ashamed of their physical nakedness. And God clothes them in his grace. Because of sin, there's physical consequence. There shall be labor pains. There shall be birth pains. There's physical pain in working and in childbirth. Physical pain. Physical consequences for physical rebellion against God. Because Adam and Eve sinned bodily, that's why we face the consequences for Adam and Eve's sin. We are born into sin and we're experiencing seeing the bodily consequences today, right? That's why we ache. That's why we age. That's why we die. Physical rebellion brought physical consequences. This is why Jesus had to come bodily. He did not just come to redeem the souls that rebelled against him, he came to redeem the bodies that rebelled against him. And that's why the early church proclaimed that which is not assumed is not redeemed. Now, what does that mean? If Jesus did not take on humanity in its fullness, if Jesus did not become truly man, taking on a truly human soul and a truly human body, if Jesus did not become truly human, then humanity is still in their sin. Humanity is not redeemed. Christ came to give the great exchange. It was humans who deserved to be on that cross. It's humans who deserve the wrath of God, to experience physical torture, physical anguish for rebellion against God. Jesus came to suffer bodily so that we would experience freedom bodily. That's the great exchange. Jesus came not to redeem some of us, but all of us. And that proclaims something glorious about who God is. God is a God who draws near to us to redeem not just parts of us, but all of us. That's the God that we proclaim when we proclaim resurrection, a God of love. And in that great exchange, though we sin with our hands, Jesus gives us his hands, which never sin but only serve. Though we lust with our eyes, though we use our eyes to look down on others, Jesus gives us his eyes that don't look down on others, but look at others with love and compassion and grace and mercy. Though we rebel with our feet, though we use our feet to run away from God, in the great exchange, Jesus gives us his feet, which don't run away from the Father, but run toward the Father. You need to see this, y'all. Every single part of you needs Jesus. Not just some of you, but all of you need Jesus. You don't just need resurrection for your soul, you need resurrection for your body. That's how big your sin problem is because you rebel against God with every fiber of your being. Just to give you a picture of this, a few months ago, I was in a rush. I was making a smoothie uh at home, and I pulled out this bag of frozen blueberries, and in my franticness, I was really wrestling with this bag, and I was working myself up and into frustration, and and then I see Brianna, and I I had the good sense to uh declare the words Brianna, why can't you buy frozen blueberry bags that are easier to open? As if in the grocery store there's a difficulty rating, and she chose the the highest level difficulty in the red. Yeah, I went with that one. Seemed like a good idea at the time. And my wife, this is how gracious she is. She doesn't say anything, she just comes up to me, she grabs the bag, she turns it upside down, and then opens it. I had the bag upside down. My dumb little brain was misfiring. In my sin, I can be so stupid, my brain can misfire in such stupid ways. Ways that are completely irrational, but there's hope for me. You know what that hope is? Bodily resurrection. Christ is going to redeem my brain. Amen, wife. She cannot wait for that day. A day where there are no more misfirings. One of the reasons that the believers in Corinth, one of the reasons they were doing such horrible things with their bodies, right? We talked about they're they're defrauding one another, they're engaging in gluttony and drunkenness and sexual immorality. Well, one of the ways that they're one of the reasons they're doing those things is because they really didn't think their bodies mattered. I mean, the rationale was this: since our bodies aren't involved in the resurrection, what does it matter what what we do with our bodies today? I mean, that's really the rationale. If our bodies don't matter, just do whatever you want with them. Drink as much as you want, eat as much as you want, have as much immorality as you want. That was the logic of the Corinthians. And this is where you see bad theology leads to bad practices. And scripture says, no. No, your body matters. Don't discard your body. Your body is not a prison, it is a gift. And our that gift that God gave us plunged in the fall, and Jesus came to redeem all of us, including our bodies. And that's why Paul will say in Corinthians, don't use your bodies for sin. Don't you know that in redemption that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? So glorify God with your body. Your body matters. Don't treat your body like a rental car that you drive into the ground and then hand to someone else. Take care of your body. Steward it. It's a gift from God. And this is why I so appreciate Dr. Tony and Dr. Paige Stacy in our community. They own a practice in Germantown down the street called Launch Wellness Center, and they offer uh chiropractic care and holistic services that really help take care of the whole body. And what I love about this practice, whenever I go in there, um, one of the things I love is they're always blasting worship music. And I love that because they're they're not only there to minister to your body, they're there to minister to your heart with music that that praises Jesus. But another thing that I really love is they have this sign on their wall that says this God doesn't make junk. God doesn't make junk. Your body is not junk. Your body is not a prison. Your body is a gift. And in redemption, God calls us to glorify him with all that we are, to be good stewards with all that he has given us, including our bodies. That's good theology lived out here in our community. They offer holistic care for the body. And just like they offer holistic care, Jesus provides holistic redemption. He redeems all of us, not some of us. He redeems body and soul. And I find that to be so comforting. Christ didn't come to resurrect some of you, he came to resurrect all of you. So let's glorify God in our bodies. Resurrection is Christianity's craziest claim, but that crazy claim is your only hope. If there's no resurrection, we're all liars. Next, number two, if there's no resurrection, we're all lost. If there's no resurrection, we are all lost. Look at what Paul says in verse 17. He says, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. In other words, do you think Christ provided a way for you to be set free from all of your guilt and all of your shame? Think again. If Christ did not raise bodily, that's not true. If Christ did not raise bodily, you may think that you're celebrating freedom, but you're still enslaved in chains. That's how dark it is if Christ did not raise bodily, if there's no bodily resurrection. And I think it's even darker than that. If Jesus is rotting in a grave, then he is not who he claimed to be. That means that if Jesus is not who he claimed to be, if he is not God in the flesh, he has no authority to speak into your suffering, he has no authority to tell you what's right and what's wrong, he has no authority to tell you who God is, and he has no authority to tell you what your purpose is in life. If Jesus did not raise, he's a sham, and no one should listen to him. This is how important the resurrection is. You know, we we tend to think of resurrection as simply a means of understanding Christianity. It's more than that, friends. Christianity is just the beginning. Resurrection is a means of understanding the entire world. What's right, what's wrong, what's my purpose? Why am I here? Where am I going? Who is God? What happens when I die? Christianity, resurrection, answers all of these things. It's not just about a gathering in a church, this is about understanding the world outside of this church. Think about this. If Jesus did not rise, how do we truly know right from wrong? Because he claimed to have authority of what's right and what's wrong. If Jesus did not rise, how do we make sense of our suffering? Because Jesus claimed to have authority to speak into our suffering and to comfort us in our affliction of our affliction. If Jesus did not rise, how do we know our purpose? And who has the right to say? Who has the authority to say? The reason we listen to Jesus on these things because we believe he's a legitimate authority, that he's God. It doesn't get any higher than that when it comes to authority. But if Jesus didn't raise, none of that's true, and none of us have to listen to him. Instead, this world becomes a world where he's not the highest authority, but we become the highest authority. And life is all about doing what pleases us. We don't have to be concerned about God. We don't have to be concerned about right and wrong. We don't have to be concerned about heaven and hell. We don't have to be concerned about helping others, just you do you. You please you. That's what happens when we become the highest authority. We just do whatever pleases us. Just eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That's what the world becomes if you reject resurrection. If you reject the Savior who rose from the dead. And here's where I think skeptics are gravely mistaken. Skeptics think that suffering in the world actually disproves the resurrection. I would argue that suffering in the world actually proves the resurrection. Now hang with me. Suffering in the world actually proves resurrection. Think about this. Why does divorce hurt so bad? Why does it hurt? Because we long for another world where steadfast love abounds. Why do we rage against injustice and abuse and crimes? Because we long for another world where righteousness dwells forevermore. Where the wicked don't get away with it. We long for that world. Why does death bring so much anguish and sorrow to our hearts? It brings so much anguish and sorrow to our hearts because we long for another world in which we do not die and in which our loved ones do not die. In other words, God has written the longing for resurrection on the human heart, Christian or non-Christian. That's why there's outrage over pain. That's why we rebel against suffering and we we do everything that we can to fight against it, because God has put a homing beacon in our hearts for another world. And you know what that world is? It's the world that Jesus talks about. It's the world with no more sorrow. It's the world with no more sin. It's the world with no more suffering. It's the world with no more Satan. That's the longing that God has put in every single one of our hearts. And think about this. If we're just the product of evolutionary chaos, randomness, if that's just what we are, then we should not be outraged at suffering. If we're just the product of random chaos, why should we care if the cards fall face up or they fall face down? Neither matters. It just is. This is just the world, this is what you should expect in a world of randomness and chaos and disorder. So why bother being anxious about it? Why care at all? You shouldn't care in an evolutionary worldview. We shouldn't be bothered by death. Death just is. It's just a fact of life. It's a part of the chaos, it's a part of the randomness. But friends, we don't we don't live that way. We don't live in a place where we don't care. We do care, and we will always care. Why do we care? Why will we always care? Because Jesus' teachings on the resurrection are true. That's why we'll always care. Because Jesus' teachings on the resurrection are true. Because of the resurrection, we can understand suffering. What is suffering? Suffering is our God-given longing for another world. When we feel pain and suffering, it is our God-given longing for another world. Because of the resurrection, we can understand right from wrong. Jesus has the authority to tell us what leads to life and what leads to death. And we can know with certainty, because of the resurrection, we can know our created purpose to know, love, and worship God for all of our days. And to love others. All of those things are tied to the resurrection. Without the resurrection, you lose a complete framework for understanding the world around you. The resurrection is the answer to life's most pressing questions. Who am I? How do I make sense of my pain? What is my purpose? Where am I going? And friends, nobody in human history has ever given better answers to these questions, by the way, than the person of Jesus Christ. No one. No one has ever given better answers to these questions. I challenge you to find better answers. They don't exist. They're not out there. There's a reason why the Bible is the most famous book in all of human history. It is, Jesus is called the Lord of Lords, but you know what the Bible is called? The book of books. Jesus is Lord of Lords, Jesus is King of Kings, and because Jesus is Lord of Lords and Jesus is King of Kings, his word is the word of words. That's why the Bible is the most famous book in all of human history, because Jesus' teachings actually correspond to reality that God has written the doctrine of resurrection, the longing for resurrection on our human hearts. That's why the Bible continues to be the best-selling book of all time. And it will continue to be, by the way. We're just getting started, baby. Just this last year, the Bible hit a 21-year high in here in the United States for sales. The UVersion Bible app that we use on our phones, just this last year hit 150 million downloads compared to 100 million downloads just two years prior. There's a remi a remarkable surge in Bible engagement. Why? Because Jesus has given us the word of words. So when Isaiah says the grass wither, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Scripture ain't lying. So no, Jesus is not our Lochness monster, He's not our Nessie. If there's no Lochness monster, nothing changes. The plushies are still cool. But if Jesus didn't race, everything changes. And you actually have no way of understanding the world around you. In his word, the resurrected Jesus opens up our eyes to see the world as it is in truth and provides us a compass to navigate this fallen world safely home. Resurrection is Christianity's craziest claim, but that crazy claim is your only hope. If there's no resurrection, we're all liars. If there's no resurrection, we're all lost. Lastly, if there's no resurrection, we're all losers. If there's no resurrection, we're all losers. I bet you didn't come to church this morning to hear we're all losers. But that's what we are. If there's no resurrection, we're a bunch of losers. Look at what Paul says in verse 18. He says, Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. Paul says, those hopeful words that you give for believers who have died, it's all a waste. You're just making stuff up. The faces you love seeing, you'll never see again. The hands you loved holding, you'll never hold again. And all the sacrifices you've made in the pursuit of this hope, it's all for naught. Because if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, you're just wasting your time. I mean, think about all the sacrifices that we make for the kingdom. Those sacrifices that we make, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, they don't make us someone to be admired. They make us someone to be pitied. All the sacrifices we make, we give to missions, we we fund church plants, we fund Bible translations, we we engage in fierce battles against the flesh and against the pleasures of this world. We we lose loved ones who cut us out of their lives because they cannot stand our message. I mean, just think about all the sacrifices we make for the kingdom. My wife and I, we left our family on the beaches of Southern California to come to Memphis, Tennessee to do ministry. Great is our reward in the kingdom, right? Right? Please, please. I'm just kidding. California is lame. Long live Olive Branch! Scripture says if Christ did not rise, we're all wasting our time. And all of our sacrifices for the kingdom are for nothing. In other words, if that tomb is still occupied, then this church should be empty. If he is still there in the Middle East, we should not be here gathered in his name. If Jesus did not rise, every sacrifice for him is better spent on our pleasure seeking. Sleep in on Sundays. Go on more cruises, eat more bonbons. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, this is all for naught. Paul says that if Jesus did not walk out of that tomb, please do not walk into this church unless you want to be a big loser. Is that where we find ourselves today? Are we just big losers? Are we all liars? Are we all lost? Are we all losers? No, because psych, I said I had three points, but I really have a fourth point. Ha! Got you. Jesus has rose from the dead. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! You thought I was done. I wasn't done. Jesus rose from the dead. That is the hope that we have. Look at this amazing reversal in verse 20. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall be made alive. But each in his order his own order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Do you see what our passage is saying here this morning, church? We're not liars. We're not lost. We're not losers. You get to walk out of here saying, I am not a loser, because Christ has risen from the dead. Amen. The tomb is empty. And friends, because the tomb is empty, you need to know this that an empty tomb demands a packed out church. Because we're not here wasting our time. We're worshiping a real Savior who really conquered death. So I hope you're bringing someone for Easter next week because an empty tomb demands a packed out church. So let's pack out this church together. Notice what Scripture calls the risen Savior. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. I love that. After a long winter, the thing that every farmer is hoping for is that first grain, that first sign of green. Because when that sign of green comes, it means something spectacular. More is coming. More is coming. Before my wife and I left Southern California to come to Memphis, Tennessee, I had no idea what a winter was. They just don't exist there. But when I came here, I learned what a winter is. And in winter, that grass that's brown, it's not dead. I thought it was dead. It's not dead. Because at some point that first flower blossoms. And that first flower is something spectacular. It's a promise that more are coming. More are coming. And that's what Jesus' resurrection is. He's just the first fruit. More resurrections are coming. Your resurrection is coming if you are in Christ. My resurrection is coming. More are coming. Because Jesus rose, we will rise with him. Resurrection is Christianity's craziest claim, but that crazy claim is your only hope. As the team comes up, I want to leave you with the gospel offer. Christ came to redeem all of you. No matter what you have done with your body, for good or for evil, Christ promises to make all of you new. This past week, a story from my friend went viral. His name is Trevor, and he went viral for posting he and his wife's testimony. They've been sharing their testimony together for a very long time, but for some reason it just took off on the internet. He posted this story that his wife used to be promiscuous, but then came to know the Lord, and he was a virgin when they got married. And this post sparked so much outrage from all sides of the aisle. But the the comments that really bothered me the most and made me the most sad were the comments that were from Christians. And there were Christians that were saying, dude, I mean, she she had a sexually promiscuous past. No Christian man should, even if she's found Jesus, no Christian man should ever marry a woman with a promiscuous past. That's what people were saying to this story. They were saying, don't you realize that that these are damaged goods and that and that you're gonna increase your chances of divorce? These comments were coming from professing Christians. And then there were other Christians that were saying, I'm so glad she's found Jesus. But don't share that story. Keep that story to yourself. Friends, why why can a man who was a virgin who who married a woman with a checkered past, why can he talk about that? Why can't he do that and then post that online? You know why? Because of the doctrine of the resurrection. Because of the doctrine of the resurrection, that in Christ, if you are in Christ, you are a new person. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come, and Christ has come not just to redeem some of you, but all of you. And if you don't like the story of a groom per pursuing a promiscuous bride, I have I have some news for you. You're not gonna like the gospel. Because that's what Jesus does for us in the gospel. He is the groom who takes for himself a bride with a promiscuous past. We have all sinned. We all fall short. That's why we need him. That's why we need his resurrection. He resurrects all of us. Our soul, our body, all of us belong to him. And when that happens to you, friends, you cannot help but post that for the world to see. That's why you share a story like that. Is that your story? It must be. It must be. You must turn to Christ and experience resurrection of your entire selves. Scripture says that it doesn't matter if you accept Christ or not, all of us are going to experience bodily resurrection because Scripture talks about there is a resurrection for the just and there is a resurrection for the unjust, where the unjust go into judgment. And this is why I believe that hell is a physical place with physical pain. Why? Because we rebelled against God physically. And so the consequences are physical, a physical resurrection unto judgment. Scripture says, don't go that way. Don't go that way. Don't you know what Jesus did for you? He suffered bodily so that you can experience renewal and peace and pleasure in your body. And that's why we're resurrected for a physical world. The new heavens and the new earth is a physical place where we will run and not grow weary. We will sing and our voices will not grow faint. Christ redeems us for a physical world. Are you trusting in Christ? Are you trusting in his resurrection? If not, you must. Resurrection is Christianity's craziest claim, but that crazy claim is your only hope. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for who you are. God, we thank you that you love us so much, that you sent your son to come after every part of us that has rebelled against you. God, we thank you that though we we sin, though we fall short, though we deserve judgment with every aspect of our being, that Father, you sent your son to come bodily, to die bodily, to raise bodily. And Father, because the Son rose, we will rise who are in Christ. So, Father, may we be in Christ. May we receive that gift as a free gift. Not something that we work to earn, but something that your son gives as a free gift of grace. Father, we thank you for that gift. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.