Resurrection: Embodied Hope - 1 Corinthians 15

What if the most important claim in history is also the most practical? We walk through why the resurrection of Jesus is the hinge of the Christian story—and why it changes how you face guilt, grief, and the future of your own body. Starting from Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15, we connect the promise of the Old Testament to a real empty tomb, then to the promise that those who trust Christ will be raised with imperishable, immortal bodies at the last trumpet.

We explore the evidence and the stakes. Eyewitnesses said they saw Him alive: Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred, James, and Paul. If Christ isn’t raised, preaching is pointless, faith is empty, sin still owns us, and hope is dead. But if He is raised, then the cross was not just an example of love; it accomplished atonement. He died for our sins—substitution that satisfies justice and opens mercy to anyone who turns and trusts Him.

From there, we dive into firstfruits and future bodies. Your present body is like a seed: perishable, weak, dishonorable. What God raises is glorified, powerful, and fit for a renewed creation. In a moment, at the last trumpet, the dead will rise and the living will be changed. Death gets swallowed up in victory, and the world we ache for—without violence, disease, or decay—finally arrives. Until then, resurrection hope fuels endurance, mission, and joy. There is nothing you face today that a good resurrection cannot fix.

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Transcript

Series Overview: Coming Of Christ

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning. I know I've already said that a few times. If you would go ahead and get out your copy of God's word and find, if you would, 1 Corinthians 15, New Testament, a few books in. 1 Corinthians 15. We will continue our series called Behold, I am coming soon. That language comes directly from the book of Revelation, the last chapter, Revelation 22. For the these four weeks, starting last week, up through this week, and then two more weeks, we will be looking at the second coming of Christ. So last week we looked at what has been called the rapture passage, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This week we're looking at 1 Corinthians 15 at our future resurrection. The next week we'll be looking at the wrath of God in Revelation 16 through 19. And then finally, the fourth week, we will look at the restoration, the hope to come in a new heavens and new earth. After that, we will actually begin in the Advent season, going through the next two years. We'll be walking through the book of Luke in a series called The Real Jesus. I'm very excited about that. And so we hope that you continue to keep coming to Redeemer City Church. Maybe this is your first time. We are a young church plant. We need all the help that we can get, and we would love your voices singing along to King Jesus with us as we try to reach this neighborhood and the neighborhoods around it. First Corinthians 15, the resurrection to come, week two. Two thousand years ago, a Middle Eastern Jewish man died. And we believe this is the most important event in human history. More important than the invention of the printing press. More important than the discovery of electricity, than the production of the modern car, than the invention of the airplane or the opportunity of the internet. More historic than the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. More historic than any coronation of a king or queen in England. More historic than the fall of the Berlin Wall or the colonization of North America. And it's because we believe that three days after this man died, he walked out of the grave they put him in. I give you this statement. It's a big one. The resurrection of Jesus is the most earth-shattering, life-transforming event in religious or secular history. Let's discuss just that for a moment. The Bible, composed of the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus, has been and is the most or the best-selling book in the world basically since we began counting. Taken from the Guinness Book of War Records, a survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between the years 1815 and 1975, and more recent estimates put it around 5 billion copies. Rome, the greatest world power for hundreds of years, who were behind the assassination, the death of Christ, and the persecution of numerous Christians after him, adopted Christianity as the official religion of its empire. You think numerous lives have been given to Jesus, believing in his resurrection. Hundreds followed him up until the point he died, with many leaving him right before, of course. The Apostle Peter, filled with God's Spirit in Acts chapter 2, preached the first Spirit-empowered sermon, leading to 3,000 committing their lives to Jesus, whom they had just crucified. And in the years following, estimates are around 2.3 to 2.6 billion people profess faith in Jesus Christ, believing that the God who sits above the earth and everything he's created looked down upon hopelessly sinful men and women, and instead of destroying them in his righteous wrath, sent his one and only Son to die a sinner's death and raise on the third day, showing his power over the resurrection, so that any and all who would turn from their sin and trust in him would not receive the death they deserve, but give be given life they don't. 2.3 to 2.6 billion people. Not only have many lives been given to Jesus, many lives have been laid down for Jesus, believing he walked out of that grave. According to Open Doors USA, just this past year, 4,761 people were killed for their faith. 4,488 churches and other Christians, Christian buildings, I'm sorry, were attacked. And 4,277 believers were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned for their faith. No one can doubt or disagree that the resurrection of Jesus, whether they believe it or not, is a historic event that has transformed history. But more than just of secular and religious historical importance, we have, believers in this room, bet our lives on the claim that Jesus not only died, but was raised on the third day, and we believe you should believe that too. And I want to give you three reasons why you should believe it and why it's so important. You'll see them in your notes if you gathered them when you came in today. The first point that I want to put up on the screen is that Jesus' death and resurrection was planned by God and promised by God. Look at verse 3. Paul writes, I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. You see that phrase? In accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day. Do you see the phrase again? In accordance with the scriptures. So what is Paul saying? Christ was planned and prophesied about in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is about him. So maybe you read your Old Testament and you say, Well, how do I see him in this passage of Scripture? Because according to Jesus, on his road to Emmaus, after he had resurrected on the third day, he appeared to many, and he appeared to two disciples going to Emmaus in Luke 24. Those two disciples were kept from understanding that they were walking next to Jesus, even though they had followed him for some time before he died. And he goes on to explain to them that Moses and all the prophets was written speaking of him. Paul before King Agrippa, Acts 26. The prophets and Moses said, Paul says, the prophets and Moses that Christ must suffer, and that he would proclaim light to both our people and to the rest of the world. So hear me this morning in this room. All scripture points to Jesus. All the Old Testament is about Jesus. The creation account points to our separation from God. Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. The account of the law in Leviticus points out our desperation for God. That no one is righteous, no, not one. The prophets anticipate a coming Messiah who will save us from the punishment of our sins, who will be for us what we could never be, righteous in our place. And the gospels, the arrival of the Messiah, shows us where salvation is to be found, and it's in the name of Jesus Christ. One of the most popular passages of the Old Testament proclaiming this plan of God to send a Messiah is Isaiah 53 describing him and describing the death he will die. It was written 600 years before Jesus walked the earth. This is what the prophet Isaiah said. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we are healed. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for sinners. Jesus came to fulfill God's promise to save people. Jesus died, was buried, and was raised according to the scriptures. Secondly, Jesus' death, the second point you'll see on the screen, Calvin's gonna put it on there. The second one you'll see on the screen, Jesus died so that you might not face the punishment of your sin. Jesus died so you might not face the punishment of your sin. 1 Corinthians 15. So see the same verses again. Christ died for our sins. And that's what it says in accordance with the scriptures. But don't move past that first phrase. He died for our sins. The word for in the Greek means what it means in the English, on behalf of or in the place of. It's not just an example he gave of love, he was doing something that was loving. When Christ died, he died for sinners. Let's think about those he died for for just a moment if we look back at the story 2,000 years ago. In the story of Christ's trial, he died for the Israelite people, the Jewish people, his own people, who called on him before Pilate to be crucified and instead let a murderous zealot be freed. Those same Jewish people who earlier had welcomed him into Jerusalem had now turned on him because of the conspiracy of religious leaders, and who would later turn to him in faith, and Jesus knew it. The very people who spat on him as he walked to Calvary's cross, he was dying for, because not many days later, Peter would be empowered by God's Spirit, preach a sermon, and thousands of thousands of those who jeered at him gave their lives to him, and he knew it. And he still walked. Think of the cross. Think of a Roman centurion who whipped the Savior of the world before nailing him to that criminal's cross. Who would moments later look upon him hanging there and realize he was hanging for him. Surely, this is the Son of God. Jesus knew he was being hung for that man. And he's still hung. Both of those stories have perplexed me for some time now to look at the love of God displayed in the cross of Christ. Jesus knew surely what the centurion would take part in the day of his crucifixion. He knew that man. He knew the mocking, he knew the laughing, he knew the work he would do at the expense of his life. And yet, Jesus, beaten, bruised, scorned, and slandered, walked to Calvary where he would hang, not for his sin, but for the sin of his scoffers. He would stumble toward death to save the very sinners who slandered him as he took each step, and he kept walking. Why? Because each painful step would eventually provide salvation to a centurion, salvation to the Jewish people, and salvation to you and me. So he opened not his mouth and like a lamb was led to the slaughter. The nails the centurion beat would be the nails he'd take for his life. Jesus gave his life for people who ignorantly took it. He died for sinners, for sinners like you and me. 1 John 4 10, one of my favorite passages of scripture to summarize the gospel in one verse. In this is love. Not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation just means atoning sacrifice. I've said this many times behind this pulpit, and I'll continue to say it. God is a just God. He must punish sin. And sin is our nature, and so he must punish sinners. Jesus, sent by his Father, stood condemned in our place, bearing the guilt of sinful man, taking upon himself the wrath of God, substituting himself for our sin. He was punished so that we who have faith in him might not be. Jesus took upon himself the death we deserve for the sin we committed to give us life we don't. It should have been you. It should have been me walking. But it could never have been you or me saving. So what should your response be to that sort of mercy? If you confess your sins, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Good news of the gospel is that Jesus would die in the place of sinners, so that they would not receive the punishment that they're due, that he would in their place, so that they, by faith in the Son of God, would receive the mercy of God and the life of God everlasting. You can be saved from the punishment of your sin that you will face if you face Jesus and seek mercy. God, through Christ, has made a way of salvation. Christ died for your sins. Third reason, this is so important, and it will transition us to the heart of all of 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus resurrected, so you might be resurrected too. He died to save us, to pay our punishment. He was raised so that we might be resurrected to life everlasting. But let's look at his resurrection first, shall we? Verse 5. He appeared, that is Jesus after his resurrection, to Cephas, 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. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. So what Paul is doing here is he's saying, hey, this is a trustworthy statement. Not only that Christ died for our sins, but that he was buried and raised. And here's how you can trust it. There are a bunch of eyewitnesses to Christ's life after he died. There's a bunch of eyewitnesses to the cross and now to a resurrected body. In fact, there's 500 of them. Most of them are still alive, and you can go and ask them. He appeared to me, he appeared to James, his brother, and he appeared to so many others. You think about James for just a moment. We know from the scriptures in the book of Matthew that Jesus' family had kind of a hard time. His brothers had a hard time. James had a hard time believing he was the Messiah. Then James would later be killed for proclaiming he was the Messiah. What changed? Well, when you see your brother came back to life from the dead, that sure changes your outlook on who your brother is, right? So this is not a National Inquirer article. This is not a Babylon Bright article. This is real. We've seen him. He talked to us. We met him. In fact, go meet some eyewitnesses. They'll tell you the same thing. You know, Jesus' resurrection could have easily been disproven if they found a body. No, they didn't find a body. Why? Because it did not last long in the grave. He rose and he's in glory. What do they see? What did they all say? He was dead, but now he's alive. He resurrected. He's not here. He's seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us, holding the scroll because he's the only one worthy. Watching over his church as the head of it. Let me tell you this. The resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is essential to the Christian faith. I've recently been reading the Quran. I wanted to actually know what others believe, and I read sections of it. What you'll notice in other books like the Quran and other religious texts that I've read, many times in those books, you'll have a list of rights and wrongs, do's and don'ts. The Christian faith is very unique and it's a historical faith. Meaning there are certain things that happened and have, had they not happened, or did they not happen, the whole faith dies. Our faith in Christ is dependent on the resurrection of Jesus. It depends on the resurrection of Jesus. Verse 14. If Christ was not raised, our message is meaningless. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. If Christ is not raised, our faith is in vain. Our faith is worthless. Verse 14. If Christ is not raised, our testimony is alive, verse 15. Our condemnation is sure, verse 17. Our hope is dead, verse 18. And therefore we are to be pitied. Verse 19. Our faith depends on the resurrection of Jesus. If the resurrection did not happen, we're still dead in our sin. If the resurrection wasn't real, we have no future hope. If the resurrection isn't true, we should all just stay home today because religion makes for a lame hobby. If Christ has not been risen, nothing else matters. But oh my friends, if Christ has been risen, has risen, nothing else matters. Christ has risen from the grave. This I proclaim to you. And I have news for you who come to draw near to him in faith. God teaches us in his scripture that because Jesus resurrected, those who place their faith and trust in him will resurrect too. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 is all about. And now we're here. Honestly, we don't talk enough about it. You see, it's in your notes. You see, God teaches us that anyone who comes to seek his forgiveness through Christ can and will be saved. But not only does he save those, causing them to escape the punishment of their sin, but he saved those to spend eternity with them and us with him. You know, when we talk about the resurrection of Jesus, we often talk about its importance as it proves that Jesus is who he says he is, which is true. We often talk about the resurrection of Jesus because it proves that we're no longer guilty for our sin, that he took the guilt upon himself. But the Bible also talks about the importance of the resurrection of Jesus because he resurrected we will too. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. Do you see it? But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first of those to come. 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. Christ was the first resurrection of the dead, and there will be for those who place their faith and trust in him a resurrection to come, where you and I will be given brand new bodies fit for heaven. But maybe that brings questions, right? Questions like, well, how? If there's a future resurrection and I'm to be resurrected with a new body, how's that gonna work? And then maybe another question when's that gonna happen? When is that future resurrection? Let's take those both at a time because those are the questions the Corinthians had. First, how will the dead in Christ rise? How are people who are dead going to resurrect? Well, the Corinthians had their doubts that this could happen, and Paul responds, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 35. But someone like you might ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? What's his answer? Verse 36. You fools? Like, whoa, Paul, you fools? What you sow doesn't come to life unless it dies. What is he saying there? He goes on. He gives an illustration, verse 37. And what you sow, that is what you put into the ground, is not the body that is to be. What comes out of the ground, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he's chosen. So you have seeds. They go in the ground and a body comes back out, like a flower or a plant, or a crop, and each kind of seed its own body. So here's his illustration. Um, my wife and I have been married for 10 years now. Uh, she had to step out. She's uh uh, well, she had to step up my daughter earlier. Uh she lost a shoe, and my daughter was a little frustrated about something, but she headed out and now she's with the kids' ministry. My wife and I have been married for 10 years. There have been a few occasions where I have come home from work and knocked on our door. And you say, knocked on your door, you have a key. Yeah, I have a key. Knocked on her door, so she'd come and answer the door. This is before ring cameras, and she'd answer the door, and I have behind me some flowers just to say, hey, honey, I love you. Uh happy Friday or happy birthday, or whatever it might be. I have never come to my house, knocked on my front door, and said, Honey, I have seeds for you. Right? I have seeds for you. Why? Because seeds aren't that pretty, right? They're not what's going to happen after they get put in the ground and they're cared for. They're not what comes back out of the ground. They're just seeds. They're nothing compared to what's to come. They're not very pretty. This is what our text is teaching us. What goes into the ground is dishonorable, but what is raised up from the ground is glorious. Verse 42, so it is with the resurrection of the dead. Listen, the body you have today is not the body you will have in the new heavens and new earth. It's not. Some of you are like, thank you, right? Because maybe you've been sick, or maybe uh these allergies have just gotten to you, or maybe there's a serious problem with your body right now. Your body is perishable. Seasons, you feel that. It's not glorified. To put it plainly, it's not fit for heaven. He says, think of it this way: when you plant a garden, you put seeds in the ground. What comes up out of the ground is not what you put in the ground, but what you hope for. Paul says, the body you have right now is what's going into the ground. It's a sea, like a bare kernel. But God will raise up in the last day everything you could hope for. It's a carnation compared to a kernel. So, how's it going to happen? Maybe you've seen sickness, death, and decay. Maybe you're confused how someone who's been in the ground for such a long time could raise out of it in a brand new body. Paul calls the Corinthian church fools because he says, Don't you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? God did it once. Can he do it again? Well, absolutely he can. And maybe you're in this room and you're like, ah, you know, I don't know, I'm a little bit of a skeptic still. How's this going to work? Well, we're glad you're here. To the skeptic, let me just tell you this. Think for a moment. Do be reminded that you sit here on a floating moon rock, floating through space, around the sun in a way that keeps you warm but not too warm. And away from the sun, so away from the sun, so you're not too warm, and then around the sun in such a way where you're not too cold, but cold enough. You have an atmosphere surrounding you that allows you to breathe, and with eyes, you look at things beyond scientific explanation and technological recreation. And while you still wonder if there's a creator, which I believe accords more with science than not, the same God who built you from the dust will have no problem bringing you back out of that dust. Don't be foolish. God did it once, He can do it again. That's how. And it maybe you ask the question well, when? When is this going to happen on God's eschatological calendar? Verse 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. This is when will this resurrection happen? Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. Moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. So in a single moment, Jesus will gather at his return those below the ground and above the ground to himself, and we will be resurrected. The last trumpet is the end of history as we know it. It's the one final triumphant return of Christ. It's the rapture passage we were just in in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where the trumpet sounds there too. Where there's a voice of an archangel and the cry of a command, the last trumpet. We will rise to be with Christ in that moment, and we will rise with brand new resurrected bodies fit for heaven, to descend with him in our new bodies for the final cataclysmic war that lasts all but a second in the last bit of Revelation 19. That is when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality. Oh, what a joyous trumpet sound that will be. There's no better music. All of our faith is dependent on the resurrection of Jesus. And we have a real faith because he did really walk out of that grave. Our hope is as alive as our Savior is. So we need not consider the how. Same heavenly God who created you from the dust will bring you out of it. And we need not consider the when. Same God who came quiet on a donkey for your redemption will come aloud on a white horse for your resurrection. All we need to know is, because he defeated the grave, we need not fear death. Death for the believer is but an opponent that is already lost. Then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? There is a day death will be no more. Consider with me one last thing before we conclude. Have you ever just kind of been upset with the world and how it is? Maybe you've just kind of looked on the news or looked around in your community or in your country or in other countries and you see the violence and the corruption, the anger. Maybe you hear cries of pain and you feel depressed. Maybe you just you just know that all is not right in the world. But know that when Christ returns, all will be made new. We need that. We long for that. We look forward to that. Where there will be no more strife, sickness, sin, sorrow, or syndromes, no more political polarization, no more school shootings, no more lies, coercion, manipulation, or adultery, no more greed or sordid gain, no more hunger or want for anything where babies don't die and grandparents don't grow old. The resurrection to come. When Christ returns, life will be new and death will be done. There is nothing you are currently struggling with right now that a good resurrection can't fix. If Christ did not raise from the dead, nothing else matters. But if he raised from the dead, nothing else matters. You should believe it. It did happen, and it will happen again. Let's pray. With your heads bowed and eyes closed, hear me again. Two thousand years ago, a Middle Eastern man died, and his name was Jesus. His death was the most important event in history because he was raised to life. If you do not know Jesus, might you come to him and live? All who sincerely seek his mercy will find it at the foot of his cross. And Christian, if you're just struggling today with things going on in life, you don't understand why. We're not always given answers why. And so I don't know that I have an answer for you today. But I do have before you what the scripture gives us, and it's the hope of tomorrow. I pray that you would fix your gaze on the coming of the Son of Man in all his glory, because you will be with him safe and sound forever to sing alongside of him. I pray that that resurrection is your real hope. God, we thank you for this morning and the time that we've had to sing and to celebrate you. Uh, Lord, the time that we've had to study your word as we sing one more song and as we gather around your table. Lord, would we be reminded of your presence with us and our future with you? We love you, Lord. We thank you for so deeply and dearly loving us. In your name we pray.

unknown 35:36

Amen.