SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning and welcome to life.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad you're here celebrating with us the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You all look so pretty and handsome and whatever else is appropriate to say at this point.
SPEAKER_00: Um this is a fun day for us to celebrate with you, and we're excited to be able to do so.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Andrew, and I'm one of the pastors here at Life.
SPEAKER_00: And uh if you are a guest with us and you desire to be known, we'd love to know you and we'd love to serve you any way that we can.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to invite you to take uh if you have a copy of the Bible with you, open with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians 15.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, a lot of the scripture will be put on the screen for you, and you can follow along with a lot of that for for uh with us, but we do give them away, uh Bibles away for free out at the Connection Center.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love for you to get one.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of my favorite things about Easter is the celebration through song.
SPEAKER_00: Every Easter, I just love sitting down here on the front row and singing my guts out.
SPEAKER_00: And the irony of this year is that God providentially chose not to give me a voice.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm up here squeaking and uh just raspy.
SPEAKER_00: And so I promise you it's gonna hurt you more than it hurts me if I squeak a couple times.
SPEAKER_00: Feel free to laugh.
SPEAKER_00: It's all good.
SPEAKER_00: But uh for whatever reason, God chose to take my voice away.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna whisper through this a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: But I hope you'll find your place in 1 Corinthians 15 with us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we as a church on a regular Sunday uh are going through the book of 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: That's been our study.
SPEAKER_00: Way back at the beginning of 2025, we mapped out where we felt the Lord was leading us in our preaching and teaching series.
SPEAKER_00: And as we laid out 1 Corinthians, we really had no idea that on this day in April uh we would celebrate Easter and we would just so happen by the providential hand of God, I believe, to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: We can't plan that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, not every year will that happen, but this year it did, and you may not know what that means or what's the significance of that.
SPEAKER_00: And the significance of that is that 1 Corinthians 15 is uh the chapter in the Bible that most extensively, especially in the New Testament epistles or letters, most extensively talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we kind of went through the book of 1 Corinthians over the last several months, we now draw our attention to something that Paul is saying to uh the church in Corinth and through the will of God to us today in Las Vegas about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now there was an issue going on, there were a lot of issues going on in this church called Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: They were broken in so many ways, the culture was broken, the city was broken, there was a lot of wickedness and lostness and paganism that was going on in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And what Paul was trying to do through this letter was to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to bear, to influence the church there in Corinth, so that from their brokenness, the power of Jesus Christ would bring something beautiful, something spectacular, something transformational, something supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: And he's dealing with those things all throughout this letter that he wrote.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Spirit of God superintended him to write this, and one of the things that he's dealing with in the text today is that in the church in Corinth, there was this teaching that was taking place that was saying there is no bodily resurrection of anybody.
SPEAKER_00: So basically, you die and your soul will live, but your body will never live again.
SPEAKER_00: It's over, and that is uh the end.
SPEAKER_00: Now, they believed in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, but they denied the future resurrection of people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know scripture, scripture teaches us that every person who ever's lived will be resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: Some will be resurrected to judgment, and others who believe in Christ will be resurrected to life everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: That's what scripture teaches all throughout.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're we're getting at.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul's logic here is that if Christ or if there is no bodily resurrection, then not even Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is not alive, Christ did not rise again.
SPEAKER_00: Easter means nothing.
SPEAKER_00: This is just a cultural thing you do that's kind of weird.
SPEAKER_00: It's not, it means there's no impact if there is no bodily resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And then he's gonna show us, we're gonna see in a in a few minutes, the implications of this.
SPEAKER_00: And the point I want to get at throughout this time, I'll share with you in a second more of the big idea, but but this is a very big deal.
SPEAKER_00: Like everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: This this changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ is dead and still dead, then it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Everything we're gonna see is just pointless.
SPEAKER_00: But if he's alive, then everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about how there are moments in history that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Are there not?
SPEAKER_00: There are these things that took place, some of which we can remember, some of us can remember, some of us cannot.
SPEAKER_00: Uh think about the the Berlin Wall falling.
SPEAKER_00: Feels like that was a pretty big moment in history.
SPEAKER_00: Everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: I think about the invention of the internet.
SPEAKER_00: Like whether you like it or not, the invention of the internet changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that was a big deal, changed maybe for good or bad, who knows, but it changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Think about 9-11.
SPEAKER_00: That was something that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: You know where you were on that day, most likely, if you were born.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what happened and when you got news that the plane had flown into the towers.
SPEAKER_00: And everything's changed.
SPEAKER_00: How we still operate today as a nation when we fly and when we do things has changed.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the introduction of the iPhone.
SPEAKER_00: I was there that day in San Francisco in the big convention center when Steve Jobs got up on stage and he was doing the whole iPhone phone, iPod, phone, iPod thing, and and and then he announced and showed us the iPhone, and people were literally weeping, hugging, and high-fiving each other.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, y'all are crazy.
SPEAKER_00: But this changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: And it does.
SPEAKER_00: Smartphones have changed everything and influenced a whole generation of children.
SPEAKER_00: There are moments in our lives that change everything, are there not?
SPEAKER_00: Like, like think about your wedding day.
SPEAKER_00: Call that back to mind if you're married.
SPEAKER_00: Your wedding day, beautiful day, one that'll one that will be memorable forever, one that you can remember what you were wearing and what you ate and how nervous you were and how excited you were.
SPEAKER_00: All of that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Or the birth of your child, your first child, that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Everything.
SPEAKER_00: Like it was just.
SPEAKER_00: You got me.
SPEAKER_00: If you know, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Two people, two adults enjoying life, all of a sudden had this other human that wouldn't stop crying and pooping.
SPEAKER_00: And we're just like, what is happening here?
SPEAKER_00: And I wouldn't change it back, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: I love every minute of it, but it changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe you're here today and you received the news from a doctor that changed everything, a diagnosis.
SPEAKER_00: You knew something wasn't right, but you weren't sure.
SPEAKER_00: You thought it was allergies or a cold, and you went to the doctor, and the doctor said, I got bad news.
SPEAKER_00: This is your diagnosis, and that was news that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, we could list a bunch of them and we could think through those moments, but these are all moments where the world after was not the same as the world before.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to argue today that there is one moment in history that stands above all moments.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because it changed politics, it's not because it revolutionized technology, but it is because it changed eternity, and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to read this morning from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I want you to get this big idea that's gonna sit over the top of our reading today, and it's this nothing in history matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here today and you're wondering what is the big deal, why are we doing this?
SPEAKER_00: What's the celebration?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I thought it was about an Easter bunny and eggs and petting zoos.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to know that it is so much bigger than that, and it is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that matters more than anything in the history of mankind.
SPEAKER_00: So let's read what Paul has to say to us from this chapter, beginning in verse 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: Now, so he's gonna introduce or he's gonna deal with the subject now.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, class now.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ, that's Jesus Christ, that's Messiah, if Jesus Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
SPEAKER_00: If Christ is raised from the dead, you cannot then say there is no resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Those don't coexist, those ideas cannot jive together, they're conflicting and one undoes the other.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
SPEAKER_00: So if we believe this idea that you die and that's it, there's no resurrection of the dead, then here's the the implications of that or where that leads.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus Christ is not alive, he is still dead.
SPEAKER_00: And now Paul is gonna show us that if that's true, if Christ is dead, then the implications are devastating for us.
SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna stack them.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
SPEAKER_00: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.
SPEAKER_00: Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
SPEAKER_00: If in Christ we have hope in this life, this life only, on earth only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
SPEAKER_00: But, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_00: For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
SPEAKER_00: It's a powerful text, and it's getting to us, driving home for us, that nothing, nothing in history, nothing that influences your eternity is more important or matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's Paul's point really driving for us?
SPEAKER_00: What's the question that maybe need to be asked is what is so important about the resurrection?
SPEAKER_00: That makes it matter so much.
SPEAKER_00: What is the big deal, Paul?
SPEAKER_00: What's the big deal, life?
SPEAKER_00: What's the big deal, church?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this such a big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is the answer to the question.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna call this the importance of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And there's two points that he makes.
SPEAKER_00: There's two points that he makes that we need to get today in order for us to adequately or appropriately celebrate the resurrection with understanding.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is this without the resurrection, everything collapses.
SPEAKER_00: And let's get dark for a second, let's get a little edge of despair for just a second.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul does.
SPEAKER_00: And he starts it there in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ has not been raised.
SPEAKER_00: Or rather, verse 14, and if Christ has not been raised, if Christ has not been raised, then what?
SPEAKER_00: So Paul stacks the consequences, not theoretical, but catastrophic.
SPEAKER_00: He's reasoning what would be true if Christ was still dead.
SPEAKER_00: What collapses?
SPEAKER_00: So let me stack them for you, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Here we here they are.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, or letter A.
SPEAKER_00: Our Savior is dead.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised, then Christ is dead.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, he says it again if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what you need to know at the center of Christianity is not a system, it's not a philosophy, it's not an uh a set of ethics that we follow and live by.
SPEAKER_00: The center of Christianity is a person, and not just a person who used to live or one day lived, but a person who lives.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ is not raised, then he is still in the grave, he is still under the power of death, and he has not conquered anything, and a dead savior cannot save.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us things like he always lives to make intercession.
SPEAKER_00: He's living to make intercession, and he was raised to make intercession according to Romans 8 34.
SPEAKER_00: But if Christ is not alive, according to Paul, there is no intercession.
SPEAKER_00: There is no high priest, if you will, in the person of Jesus Christ, working on our behalf, and there is no reigning king.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a savior, we do not have a victor, we have a memory, we have a legend.
SPEAKER_00: C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis said he's either Lord or he's a liar or a lunatic.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the reality of what we've got.
SPEAKER_00: If the resurrection is not real, our savior is dead, number two, or letter B, our faith is empty.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
SPEAKER_00: So the docs, the things that we believe, the doxa, the doctrine we believe, and what we believe in, and the practice of declaring that message is all empty.
SPEAKER_00: It's pointless, it's hollow, it's like wind without substance that just causes voices to leave and heads to be stuffed.
SPEAKER_00: It's without substance.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, preaching the good news of Jesus only has substance if it is about a living Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Faith only has value if its object is real and effective.
SPEAKER_00: All this preaching, all this teaching, all of this doctrine and practice of telling the doctrine about the good news of Jesus Christ is empty and hollow.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching is worthless and pointless.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is not just weak, it is worthless.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the message of the gospel and saving faith is not just faith in general.
SPEAKER_00: There's no no saving power in saying, I'm a person of faith.
SPEAKER_00: The object of your faith determines the ability of your faith to save.
SPEAKER_00: And if the object of our faith is Jesus Christ risen from the dead and he's not risen from the dead, then the object of our faith has failed us.
SPEAKER_00: There is no living object of faith, there is no saving power, there is no justification.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, or letter C, our leader is lying.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: We, that's a pronoun referring to somebody, it's referring to himself, Paul, and the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: We leaders, we foundation of the church are even found to be misrepresenting God.
SPEAKER_00: That's a word that means false witness.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a pseudo-martyr, the false witness, a false testimony, a lie.
SPEAKER_00: And why would they be considered misrepresenting God?
SPEAKER_00: Because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise.
SPEAKER_00: If it is true that the dead are not raised.
SPEAKER_00: So we are false witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 2, Peter declared, This Jesus God raised up, and we are witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 4, he said, with great power, testimony was given to the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: But if Christ is not raised, the apostles are not mistaken.
SPEAKER_00: They are liars about God.
SPEAKER_00: The New Testament scripture that we hold in our hand is unreliable.
SPEAKER_00: The foundation of Christianity is a false testimony, and this whole thing has become the world's biggest and most elaborate hoax.
SPEAKER_00: If the resurrection is false, scripture cannot be trusted.
SPEAKER_00: God has been misrepresented, the entire message of the church collapses because Christianity is not built on an idea or a set of ethics.
SPEAKER_00: It is built upon a witnessed reality.
SPEAKER_00: Our leaders are lying.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, our sin is remaining.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, which means ineffective or powerless.
SPEAKER_00: It's like flipping a switch and nothing happening.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a fun thing to say, I have faith, but it doesn't accomplish anything.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, You are still in your sins, which I think is the most devastating part of this.
SPEAKER_00: There is no justification.
SPEAKER_00: Because the resurrection is God's validation of Christ's atoning work.
SPEAKER_00: The resurrection is the receipt that the payment for sin was made and accepted.
SPEAKER_00: And when he came out of the grave, it was the declaration, it was taken, it was received, sin is paid for.
SPEAKER_00: But if he is not out of the grave, we have no receipt to prove that the transaction was complete.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we have sin that was not paid for.
SPEAKER_00: We are still under condemnation, we are still under the penalty of sin.
SPEAKER_00: The sacrifice was not sufficient, the penalty was not satisfied, justification has not been secured, and we all, mankind, is still guilty under God, remaining under the wrath of God, according to John 3.
SPEAKER_00: And that leads us to number, whatever number this is, E.
SPEAKER_00: Number E.
SPEAKER_00: Our death is dominant.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, look at it, it says those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have fallen asleep aren't church people who sleep during the sermon, but I see you.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, that's not what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about those, it's a word he would use to describe those who have died who were believers in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have fallen asleep didn't just fall asleep to be awoken again.
SPEAKER_00: They have fallen asleep never to be awoken again.
SPEAKER_00: They're done, they're perished, they're destroyed, they're lost.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's true, then Christ not being raised means that death is not defeated.
SPEAKER_00: It is undefeated.
SPEAKER_00: The stats are holding pretty true.
SPEAKER_00: One in one people die, and it is undefeated.
SPEAKER_00: There's never going to be anybody who defeats that.
SPEAKER_00: There's no future life, there's no resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Death remains final.
SPEAKER_00: Death is victorious.
SPEAKER_00: Death is unchallenged.
SPEAKER_00: And scripture teaches us that death was defeated by Christ in Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: And in 2 Timothy, he said Christ abolished death.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lie.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews says Christ destroyed the power of death.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lie.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way he could do that without the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Death still reigns, the grave still wins.
SPEAKER_00: Believers who died are lost.
SPEAKER_00: Funerals have no real hope.
SPEAKER_00: And all the times that we pastors stand up at a funeral and say, We'll see this person again one day, have hope.
SPEAKER_00: We're lying.
SPEAKER_00: Don't trust us if Christ is dead.
SPEAKER_00: And then he summarizes it all together.
SPEAKER_00: If you weren't depressed and despaired enough at this point, he finishes it in verse 19 with letter F, our hope is pitiful.
SPEAKER_00: If in Christ we have hope in this life only, if Christ is only influencing this life that we live on, this ball amongst each other in this town, in this current existence, if this is the only thing Christ influences.
SPEAKER_00: So if Christ is only about a good way of living, a good set of ethical ways of living, a good way to treat your neighbor and how to not cheat on your taxes and how to take care of one another.
SPEAKER_00: If that's all we get from Christ, then he says we are of all people most to be pitied.
SPEAKER_00: Pitied means to be lamented or to be felt sorry for.
SPEAKER_00: Let's put it that way.
SPEAKER_00: So when people walk by and they see Christians and they say, I feel sorry for you, then we are deserving that pity if Christ only has influence on this life.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, Christians have historically denied themselves, suffered for Christ, died martyrs' deaths, lived for eternity, still happening today around the world more than any time in history.
SPEAKER_00: Followers of Jesus Christ are being murdered and killed and martyred, and it is all to be pitied for no reason, no value.
SPEAKER_00: We've been taught, take up your cross.
SPEAKER_00: Pointless.
SPEAKER_00: We've been encouraged to live for eternal glory, no point in that.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ is not raised, we have sacrificed for nothing.
SPEAKER_00: We have believed a lie, we have built our lives on an illusion.
SPEAKER_00: This is not neutral, Christianity is not neutral, then it is tragic.
SPEAKER_00: Not admirable, not noble, but pitiful.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what Paul's doing?
SPEAKER_00: See what Paul is saying?
SPEAKER_00: If the resurrection is not true, summarize it this way: then nothing we believe holds together.
SPEAKER_00: We uh teach, what we teach is worth, nothing's worth listening to.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is a book of fairy tales and legends, and we should be looked upon with pity.
SPEAKER_00: And because nothing in history matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, without it, everything falls apart.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul takes us to the edge of despair.
SPEAKER_00: He's helping us see if this is true, hypothetically speaking, if this is true, it has devastating impact on our life together as Christians and our beliefs, even as a society.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the cool thing Christianity doesn't end with an if, it doesn't rest upon a hypothetical.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a theory, and it's not something that was come uh brought up or uh some man came up with.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity does not rest on this possibility, it rests on a reality.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why at the end in verse 19, he then shifts, he turns and transitions to the big encouraging statement that he's gonna get into in verse 20, and that is this that without the resurrection, everything collapses, but because of the resurrection, everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: Now looking at in verse 20, the fact.
SPEAKER_00: But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Paul stops arguing and he starts declaring.
SPEAKER_00: He has just walked us through the logic.
SPEAKER_00: If there is no resurrection, everything collapses, and if Christ is not raised, nothing stands.
SPEAKER_00: But now he leaves the hypothetical and anchors us in reality.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, not an idea, not a philosophy, not wishful thinking, a fact of history.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul has already shown us why we can trust it.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 15, verses 1 through 11.
SPEAKER_00: We dealt with that last week.
SPEAKER_00: That there's evidences all over of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that the people of Christ called the church are still in existence and growing and thriving is an indicator or a proof of the living Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture told us he would rise again.
SPEAKER_00: Witnesses saw it.
SPEAKER_00: And at that day, when Paul wrote this letter, many of the hundreds and hundreds of witnesses that saw the resurrected Christ were still alive.
SPEAKER_00: They could have DM'd him on Instagram and said, Hey, give me your testimony of this.
SPEAKER_00: And they could have compared them all and been able to understand if it was false or true.
SPEAKER_00: They could have presented the body, but Paul says then at last, one of the greatest proofs of the resurrection is the transformed life of Saul of Tarsus, who was the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a blind faith, it's grounded in historical reality.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to take the time to do so today, but we could anchor it in so many levels of theology or historical validity.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you one quick story about this.
SPEAKER_00: It was the 1700s.
SPEAKER_00: There were two brilliant young men in England, one named Gilbert West and the other named George Littleton.
SPEAKER_00: You can look them up on Google.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a fun look because back then all the men wore perms, so it was kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00: They had nice big white permy hair.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to disprove Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: They believed that if they could undermine two key claims, that the whole faith of Christianity would collapse.
SPEAKER_00: The first one was the resurrection of Jesus, and the second one was the conversion of the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: So they made an agreement.
SPEAKER_00: They came together, they made an agreement probably over tea, and Littleton said, I'll spend a year studying the conversion of Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And West said, I'll spend a year examining the resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And they agreed to meet again after a year and compare conclusions and see how devastating they were towards Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't looking for truth, they were looking to discredit it.
SPEAKER_00: But after a year of honest investigation, they met again and everything had changed.
SPEAKER_00: Littleton said, After carefully examining the evidence, I am convinced the conversion of Paul is true.
SPEAKER_00: And then he added, In fact, I have become a Christian myself.
SPEAKER_00: West was stunned, but then West said, I have spent the past year studying the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and I have come to the same conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: It is true, it is undeniable, and I too have trusted Christ as my Savior.
SPEAKER_00: These two men who set out to destroy Christianity and uproot its faith and really go at its foundation had been transformed by it.
SPEAKER_00: And Gilbert West wrote a book called The Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus in 1747.
SPEAKER_00: In that same year, George Littleton wrote a book called Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St.
SPEAKER_00: Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And they not only were converted, they then wrote a book proving or arguing the truth of the resurrection and the truth of the conversion of the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Here's my point.
SPEAKER_00: You can set out to disprove it.
SPEAKER_00: You can go at it and try to say, well, it's just an idea and it's a fun thing, kind of like a Lord of the Rings kind of mythology, but the reality of it is not there.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to understand, it is not just this abstract, theoretical, uh, wishful thinking of a bunch of broken people.
SPEAKER_00: It is the reality of history that Jesus Christ is alive.
SPEAKER_00: And because he is alive, it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: So when Paul says, in fact, Paul is declaring this is actually what's true.
SPEAKER_00: So the opposite of each statement that I just said is true.
SPEAKER_00: The opposite.
SPEAKER_00: Our Savior is dead if he's not alive, but he is alive, so our Savior is alive.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith would be empty, but our faith is actually secure.
SPEAKER_00: Our witnesses would be false, or our leaders would be liars, but but our leaders are truthful.
SPEAKER_00: Our sin doesn't remain, our sin is forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: Death is not winning and dominant, death is defeated, and our hope is not pitiful, our hope remains and is certain.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a small adjustment.
SPEAKER_00: This is resurrection changing everything.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul tells us why the resurrection changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it by bringing us back to the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to think about this with me.
SPEAKER_00: Follow a line of thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Paul in verse 21 and 22 are about to present two men with two outcomes.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it with me, verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: For as by a man came death.
SPEAKER_00: What is that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that man is Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Remember him?
SPEAKER_00: First man, Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: Disobeyed, transgressed, sinned.
SPEAKER_00: And in Genesis chapter 2, verse 16 and 17, the Lord God commanded the man, that's Adam, and said this you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
SPEAKER_00: For in the day you eat of it, you shall surely what class?
SPEAKER_00: Die.
SPEAKER_00: That's death coming into the world.
SPEAKER_00: Death wasn't part of God's original design.
SPEAKER_00: Man wasn't to die.
SPEAKER_00: Death was an intruder that came as a result of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And in Genesis chapter 3, after Adam sinned, verse 17 says he cursed the ground, and you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
SPEAKER_00: That's death.
SPEAKER_00: So God created a good world.
SPEAKER_00: There was no death, there was no separation.
SPEAKER_00: But Romans 5.12 puts it this way: Sin came into the world through one man.
SPEAKER_00: Who's that one man?
SPEAKER_00: Klaus?
SPEAKER_00: Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men.
SPEAKER_00: So Adam didn't just sin as a private individual.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture teaches us that he stood as the representative head of the human race, the federal head, which means that what came through him now defines everyone in him.
SPEAKER_00: So Adam sinned.
SPEAKER_00: Sin entered the world.
SPEAKER_00: Condemnation followed, and death spread to all who were of the lineage of Adam.
SPEAKER_00: And did you know that if you go far enough back, you ultimately have, as your great multiple times, grandfather Adam, and you received his lineage, you received his nature.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why all men are entered into this world under death.
SPEAKER_00: Death is universal.
SPEAKER_00: And death, by the way, is not just physical.
SPEAKER_00: Think of death as separation.
SPEAKER_00: Physical death is physical separation of body and soul.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual death is separation from God.
SPEAKER_00: And eternal separation or eternal death is separation in judgment for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the world is broken.
SPEAKER_00: That's why sin is serious.
SPEAKER_00: That's why death hurts.
SPEAKER_00: In Adam all die.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the turn in verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Look at but by a man, now he introduces the second man.
SPEAKER_00: First man was Adam.
SPEAKER_00: The second man is who?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ has come also the resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: That man, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So just as death came through a man, let's put him over here.
SPEAKER_00: So this is Adam's lane.
SPEAKER_00: Death came through this man, but a man also named Jesus came life.
SPEAKER_00: God did not fix this problem from a distance.
SPEAKER_00: He entered into it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus became fully human to stand where Adam failed, to obey, where Adam disobeyed, to die in the place of sinners, and to rise in victory.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because redemption had to come from within the human story.
SPEAKER_00: Humanity fell through a man, and humanity will be redeemed through a man.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus did not just come back to life, he brought resurrection with him.
SPEAKER_00: So where Adam introduced death into humanity, into all people who are connected to him, Jesus introduced life to a new humanity, resurrection life, hope of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: That's why in verse 20 we read he calls Christ the first fruits.
SPEAKER_00: The first fruits were the first part of the harvest, guaranteeing more was coming.
SPEAKER_00: So when Christ rose, he didn't rise alone.
SPEAKER_00: He rose as the beginning of a coming resurrection for his people.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: How do we line ourselves up here?
SPEAKER_00: If I don't want to be in Adam anymore, how do I get to being in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: If I don't want to die with Adam's family, how do I get to be a part of Jesus' family?
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at it in verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: For as in Adam, all die.
SPEAKER_00: In Adam.
SPEAKER_00: So death is to those separation from God, separation in judgment.
SPEAKER_00: That is for those who are in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: And to be in Adam means you belong to the fallen human race.
SPEAKER_00: You share in sin, condemnation, and death.
SPEAKER_00: That is every person by birth.
SPEAKER_00: You are born into a fallen nature.
SPEAKER_00: You sin by nature and you sin by choice.
SPEAKER_00: You do what sinners do.
SPEAKER_00: Sinners sin, so you sin.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do anything to be in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: You are in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, born into this world, are in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: You were born there.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to do anything to bring my children who were born into my family, to bring them into the family of Adam.
SPEAKER_00: They were born into the family of Adam because they were born of me and I am in the family of Adam.
SPEAKER_00: But in Christ, oh, so there's a way to be not in Adam, but to be in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But in Christ shall all be made alive.
SPEAKER_00: To be in Christ then means you are united to him by faith.
SPEAKER_00: He becomes your representative.
SPEAKER_00: So now his death counts for you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, do nothing to be born in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is be born.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is be born and you are in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: But to be in Christ, you must be born again by faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is trusting in Christ as your representative, your Savior, the one who successfully defeated your sin and walked out of the grave with the receipt saying it was accepted, your sin is paid for.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are in Christ, resurrection life, new life, spiritual life becomes your future.
SPEAKER_00: Couple verses to anchor this to that may be on the screen, I can't remember, but Romans 6 5.
SPEAKER_00: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are in Christ, if you've let him be your representative by faith, been born again, not born, that's Adam, born again, that's Christ, then you have a representative who died for you and died as you and died in your place and resurrected, bringing you into new life.
SPEAKER_00: That's why 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: Old creation, Adam, new creation, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Old creation, death, old creation separation, new creation life, new creation, eternal uh presence with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: That is the reality.
SPEAKER_00: And there is then, therefore, Paul says in Romans, no condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: No condemnation like rests upon those in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: There is no condemnation on those who are in Christ Jesus by being born again by faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the clarification.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the summary.
SPEAKER_00: All in Adam, all who belong to Adam die.
SPEAKER_00: All in Christ, all who belong to Christ live.
SPEAKER_00: Two men, two families, two destinies.
SPEAKER_00: In Adam's death, in Christ's life.
SPEAKER_00: The failure of one or the success of one is the failure or success of the team.
SPEAKER_00: I think of it as a batting order in baseball.
SPEAKER_00: Pardon my baseball illustration.
SPEAKER_00: But you send up your hitter to represent the team in the batter's box at the plate.
SPEAKER_00: And if he hits the home run, the whole team gets the victory of that victory.
SPEAKER_00: But if he strikes out, the whole team feels the effect of that defeat.
SPEAKER_00: Adam failed.
SPEAKER_00: Adam struck out.
SPEAKER_00: Christ redeemed.
SPEAKER_00: Christ fixed the problem.
SPEAKER_00: You can be in Christ, or you can be all right, be in Adam, or you can be in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, who's going to have the resurrection of the life?
SPEAKER_00: One last verse, and it's in your it's in your Bible, verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: He shall be made alive.
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of verse 22, but each in his own order.
SPEAKER_00: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So what he's saying is this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, please, lean in here.
SPEAKER_00: Because Christ is alive, he secured life, he defeated sin.
SPEAKER_00: And now, when you place your faith in Christ, your sin does not have to condemn you.
SPEAKER_00: Your past does not have to define you.
SPEAKER_00: Your death does not have to defeat you.
SPEAKER_00: The message is not try harder to escape Adam.
SPEAKER_00: The message is God has given you a new head, a new representative, a new hope, a new life in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So because Christ rose again, this changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, church.
SPEAKER_00: So without the resurrection, everything collapses.
SPEAKER_00: This is pointless.
SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing this?
SPEAKER_00: Sell this building, let's turn it into a basketball gym.
SPEAKER_00: That would be more fun.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you amend that, I think.
SPEAKER_00: I heard a little mumble.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But because of the resurrection, everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: Now you have a choice.
SPEAKER_00: You can live in denial of the resurrection, you can deny Jesus as your representative, Savior, and you are banking your eternal life on something other than Him.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to lovingly warn you that this will end in a devastating end.
SPEAKER_00: So around here, we close our service out with what we call truth to life.
SPEAKER_00: These are just three questions or statements that we want to pull to respond from the sermon and text from the day.
SPEAKER_00: So today, from our text, there's three statements I want to give you.
SPEAKER_00: The first is this the resurrection secures my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, because he died and rose again, my sin is paid for, and he has the receipt to prove it.
SPEAKER_00: And God has accepted Christ's sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing in history matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ because it proves your sin can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: You can be forgiven of your sin in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Second, the resurrection stabilizes my hope.
SPEAKER_00: Because Christ rose again, death is not the end.
SPEAKER_00: Christ defeated it.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing in history matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ because it means death does not get the final word.
SPEAKER_00: And the resurrection, lastly, demands my response.
SPEAKER_00: You and I must by faith move from being in Adam to being in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing in history matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ because it determines whether you are in Adam or in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You can change families.
SPEAKER_00: You might not be able to do that at lunch this afternoon for Easter dinner, but you can do that spiritually in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ is not raised, nothing matters.
SPEAKER_00: But because he is raised, everything does.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing in history matters more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Not your past, not your successes, not your failures, not even your death.
SPEAKER_00: The only question that matters is this are you still in Adam or are you in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: In this room, there's probably, at least, I'm gonna say probably pretty safely that there's four mindsets about this stuff represented.
SPEAKER_00: Four.
SPEAKER_00: The first one, you may be here and you would say, letter A, or number one, I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I've trusted Christ as my Savior.
SPEAKER_00: I know that his penalty or my penalty for sin was paid in his death and in his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: I am justified.
SPEAKER_00: I have uh a faith in him, I've trusted him.
SPEAKER_00: I have by faith gone from in Adam to in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I've been born again.
SPEAKER_00: That that might be you, and praise God for that.
SPEAKER_00: Celebrate Easter with more intensity than anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: Second group of people maybe here are this is saying, I would like to become a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think I've I've always thought I was a Christian because mom and dad were, and culturally we are, or I've never even thought about what it means to be a Christian, but I recognize now that I am in Adam, and I would like to by faith be in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's you, we want you to know that calling on the name of the Lord, placing your faith in Christ, trusting him as your savior, turning from your your your other dependent ways, your sinful ways, running to Christ as your Savior, calling on Him to save you.
SPEAKER_00: That that that that is that is a uh a faith step that you can take today.
SPEAKER_00: You may be here and and I'm glad you're here, but you may be the third group that says, I need more time to think this through.
SPEAKER_00: I really need to think about this more.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I I got all what you're saying yet, but I want to listen, we're here to engage with you.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to we're here to to struggle through that with you, we're here to answer questions, we're here to pray, ask God to show you truth so that you might believe truth.
SPEAKER_00: We're here for that.
SPEAKER_00: And we're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, we're also glad the fourth group's here, and we're praying that God has softened your heart, and that's this group that says, I I really never intend to do anything with this.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, I'm here because I I got brunch out of the deal, but I really have no intention of doing anything with this.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want you to wrestle with the reality that that what is presented by God in scripture has to be dealt with, whether reject it or accept it.
SPEAKER_00: A no decision is not a decision.
SPEAKER_00: It in fact is a decision to reject it.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pray.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, let's do that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just go to the Lord in prayer now.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna ask you this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna say this.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, praise God for a few minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just pray in praise.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the hope that we have because Christ came out of the grave.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're in that second category, I'm gonna ask you to call on Jesus to save you right now.
SPEAKER_00: For the first time, maybe ever in your life, you are saying, God, I don't think I am in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've ever been born again, but I want to place my faith and trust in Christ and receive Him as my representative, my Savior.
SPEAKER_00: I recognize that I am in sin and I'm a sinner and I'm broken, and I need I need a Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm calling on you to save me, asking you to forgive me, asking you to replace my family.
SPEAKER_00: The other two groups, I would just say maybe pray for God's answers, pray for clarity, pray for the Spirit to show you, pray for truth to come to bear in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Wrestle with it as you see fit.
SPEAKER_00: Pray this way, Father, as I pray, you pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I just pray you'd help us now as we finish out our time together, as we finish out our service.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the resurrection, thank you for the hope that it brings, thank you for the hope of future life that it brings.
SPEAKER_00: I pray where there might be the potential for confusion on what you're saying in 1 Corinthians 15.
SPEAKER_00: You would bring clarity that that many as a result of the time together in your word would do what Miriam did and said, I'm gonna serve Jesus with all my heart.
SPEAKER_00: I'm now going to be a new person.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm gonna go from being in a different family into the family of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that we have hope.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that there's a reason to sing, that there's a reason to have our our future secure and our hearts uh encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: And you are such a good God to give us truths like this to to latch on to and anchor our hearts and minds and lives to.
SPEAKER_00: And so we pray that in the name of the risen Savior you would be glorified in this time.
SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.