Redeemer Church in Union City, CA

Resurrection Hope!

• Redeemer Church • Season 2025 • Episode 15

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What if the most pivotal event in human history wasn't just a spiritual metaphor, but actually happened? During this powerful Resurrection Sunday message, we confront the audacious claim at Christianity's core: Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead after his crucifixion.

Through Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we explore why the resurrection isn't a peripheral doctrine but the very foundation of Christian faith. "If Jesus didn't rise, then nothing matters, but if he did, then nothing matters more." The evidence is compelling—over 500 eyewitnesses, transformed lives of former skeptics, and the inexplicable birth of a movement that should have died with its leader.

Consider a man who works his entire life for a pension that vanishes just before retirement—worthy of tremendous pity. Similarly, Paul argues that without resurrection, Christians would be "of all people most to be pitied," having built their lives on a false hope. But the empty tomb changes everything. Christ's resurrection isn't just his victory but the guarantee of our own future resurrection. He is the "first fruits," proving more resurrection is coming.

The resurrection presents each of us with a decision. While compelling evidence exists, ultimately what you believe requires faith. Yet this isn't blind faith but reasonable trust built on historical testimony. If Jesus truly conquered death, you don't have to carry your sins or fear the grave. His resurrection offers the unshakable hope that death, suffering, and injustice don't get the final word. Because he lives, our hope is secure.

Is your faith built on the solid foundation of the resurrection? How might embracing this reality transform your approach to life's challenges today?

Speaker 1:

excited to gather together this morning on what the church has traditionally called Easter. Perhaps a good name would be Resurrection Sunday. Although every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday, that's the day. But in the course of the church year, there are days that we've set aside to remember, throughout the year, the various aspects of Jesus's life and ministry. But this morning is Easter morning, resurrection Sunday morning, and so I just, I am just glad that you're here, I'm welcoming you here, whether you're here every Sunday, whether this is your first Sunday, whether you're normally at another church, and you're here Now today.

Speaker 1:

In case you missed the theme so far, today we are proclaiming that Jesus Christ has risen from the grave. Sometimes, as a church and not just our church, lots of churches we will say he is risen, and then the church will respond with he is risen indeed. And you might ask well, why? Why are we celebrating Jesus raised from the dead? I'm going to just put this out front. That's a massive claim that a man actually walked the earth, that a man actually walked the earth, died and he rose again. And I am telling you right now, up front, that what we believe, that what we believe, that history reveals what we believe, that the scriptures reveal. What we believe that God himself has revealed to us is that this massive claim is not just symbolic, it's not just poetic, it's not even primarily inspirational, it's historical, it's personal. And if it is true, if it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it changes everything. And so that's the question that I'm starting out, just asking you, because I'm here to proclaim to you something that I'm just going to call the sermon. I'm calling it resurrection hope, because if the resurrection is true and everything is changed, then I am telling you that this is the greatest hope you could ever have. Okay, so we're going to just, we're just going to look, and if you have a Bible, you can turn to 1 Corinthians 15. If you don't have a Bible, that's okay, the verses will all be on the screen. There's also Bibles in the pews in front of you and unfortunately they're all different page numbers, so I can't tell you which page number. I would love to be able to do that, but I can't tell you that. So, 1 Corinthians 15, if you want to turn there.

Speaker 1:

You see, christianity is not built on vague spirituality or on timeless teachings. It's not a system of rules, of do's and don'ts. You'll hear sometimes, it's not a religion. What we mean by that is it's not just like, hey, I'm going to do all these things in a certain pattern and order and earn favor with God. That's not what Christianity is. Instead, christianity stands or falls entirely on an event, and if it's historical, if it's real, then it's true, and if it's not, then it's true, and if it's not, then it's not. And so that event is what we're exploring today the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus didn't rise, then none of this matters, but if he did, then nothing matters more.

Speaker 1:

So the passage we're about to read is a letter, and it's a letter that's written by a man named Paul. Paul. Perhaps you've heard that name. If you're not familiar, if you're not normally in church, paul is someone who hated Christians. He actually tried to completely shut down this whole first century Jesus movement, but then something happened. Something happened that turned his life completely upside down. And then he writes about it and he goes on and he follows Jesus and teaches Jesus and starts churches and goes on missions to proclaim Jesus. The thing that happened is that he encountered a risen Jesus, and so Paul is now writing this letter.

Speaker 1:

So when I said turn to 1 Corinthians. The Bible has a lot of different kinds of books, said. Turn to 1 Corinthians. The Bible has a lot of different kinds of books. This book that we're looking at in the Bible is actually just a letter, like an email, a message from a man, paul, to a church, and it's a church in a city called Corinth Now Corinth the city. It was a messy, complicated place and even within the church, it was filled with questions and spiritual confusion. And in this part of the letter, what we're going to look at today, in 1 Corinthians 15, paul brings them back to the thing that matters the very most. You see, these people didn't have it all figured out and they're going back and forth with letters with Paul and Paul is saying hey, here is where we are, here is what's important. So you're here today, you're in this room for one reason or another. Whatever the reason you're here is, you are here. Maybe you're skeptical, maybe you're seeking, maybe you're all in after Jesus. Well, let's just take a few minutes and explore this part of this letter that Paul wrote reminding them of what was most important. I'm going to read this passage. It's 20 verses.

Speaker 1:

We're not going to spend a long time digging into all the details here, but I want you to try to follow this passage that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, starting in verse 1. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel. We were reminded earlier. Gospel means good news. They had a situation, they had bad news, they needed help. They were given good news.

Speaker 1:

I remind you of the good news that I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. I'm trying to do the same thing here today. I am trying to proclaim this good news to you and my hope is that you will receive it, just as these that he is talking to received it. So it's not just good news which you received and in which you stand, but he says, and by which you are being saved. They had destruction headed their way, but now, through this good news, they're being saved.

Speaker 1:

If you hold fast to the word, this message, this good news that I preached to you unless you believed in vain, unless the decision that you made earlier is in vain, is not genuine. For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received. This is the thing that's that preeminent, of first importance, the thing that he gave them that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. In accordance with the scriptures, sins are just things that we do that don't align with God's design for humanity. If God created mankind, he gets to say what is right and what is wrong. What we're to do, namely specifically, we're supposed to worship and love him and bring him glory. That's our job. So when we don't do that, we've sinned and there are consequences.

Speaker 1:

But this verse tells us right here that Jesus died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures. That's talking about like older books of the Bible that said it was going to happen. He's saying, hey, it happened, just like it said it was going to Verse four and that he was buried, he died. When it says he's buried, it's emphasizing hey, he actually died, he was actually put in the ground, but that he was raised on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures. Not only did he raise and then just disappear from the earth. What happened?

Speaker 1:

And then he appeared to Cephas this is, if you've heard the name, peter, the apostle Peter. This is him Then to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep, some have died. Then he appeared to James out to tell the message of Jesus, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me, whether, then, it was I or they. So we preach, and so you believed. So he's just reminded them of this gospel, and I'm going to pause right here. We'll keep reading in just a second.

Speaker 1:

So one of the issues that this church had that it was struggling with was what happens in the end? How does the world wrap up? And a Christian teaching is not that our ultimate hope as Christians is one day to be floating in a disembodied state in heaven playing a harp, but know that we actually look forward to a future as human beings in bodies, and we call that the resurrection. Christ is referred to in this passage. Calvin read it earlier, as the passage goes on as the first fruits of the resurrection, but that this is the hope that we have is that one day we will all have eternal life in a physical body. And so they were having issues with this, and Paul is writing this portion not just to remind them of the gospel, but to point out that if they fail to believe this, that ultimately they are failing to believe the entirety of the gospel. And he's going to make this argument here and this is kind of going to be the meat for us today.

Speaker 1:

But if there is no resurrection oh wait, sorry, verse 12. Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If Jesus rose, how can you say that nobody is raised? 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. If there's no resurrection, then I'm up here telling you today that God raised Jesus from the dead. And if he didn't, then I'm misrepresenting God, I'm lying, I'm not telling the truth, 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, then even Christ then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep, those who have died already in Christ, have perished. They have no hope. If, in Christ, we have hope only in this life no-transcript Then verse 20. But in fact, christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. God, thank you for your word, thank you for revealing this to us, thank you for Paul's letter being recorded. Help us to see the reality and know the truth of the resurrection, because if indeed it is true, then it changes everything. I want you to imagine for a moment with me, then it changes everything.

Speaker 1:

I want you to imagine for a moment with me a man who was born and raised in a small factory town In California. We don't have a lot of factory towns, but other parts of the country you have factory towns, towns that built up all around this one place, right, and so I want you to imagine this man who works at this factory. And this factory doesn't necessarily pay really well, but this factory has an amazing benefit, specifically this the benefit that this factory has is that the pension is amazing. Okay, you might have met someone somewhere along the way that their job is okay, but there's really good benefits in retirement. So I want you to imagine this man. He's working and he is looking forward to this pension because in retirement it pays a full salary, basically it keeps providing health benefits. It is a really salary, basically it keeps providing health benefits. It is a really good retirement.

Speaker 1:

And so this man has been working and his town grows up around him. It doesn't just stay, it doesn't stay just a factory town, but more things come and more job offers come, but he sticks with it. Why does he stick with that job? Well, he's already put in 20 years and his pension has grown and if he keeps going it will keep growing. And he doesn't get paid all that well. So he works overtime, he works hard to provide, but he knows that one day he's going to be able to rest and his family will be cared for.

Speaker 1:

And I want you to follow this man into near retirement years. And then I want you to imagine that what happens and this kind of does happen and it's very sad. I want you to imagine that some investor was managing that fund and running a Ponzi scheme or something like that. And so I want you to imagine that the pension fund got wiped out, the company got sued, got bought out, it went under and it's gone. This man a year away from retirement, everything he's been working for, is gone. I would have pity on that guy, right? Could you imagine working your whole life and you're like he's, like I never saved, I never did anything, I put everything in that basket, but he lost it all?

Speaker 1:

I want to propose to you that if Jesus didn't rise from the dead and if you're a Christian, that's who we are We've put all our eggs in one basket that Jesus rose. And if he didn't, then, as Paul says, we are of all people to be most pitied. All of your hope, all of your effort, every act of faith every Sunday morning, every prayer, every Bible reading, it's all wasted. But Paul does not leave us in that place, and in verse 20, he gives us that statement. In fact, christ has been raised. But I just want to explore this a little bit, because this is here's the big idea that I want you to see from this text, and it's this and I kind of already said it, but I'm going to put it on the screen. If Christ is not raised, your faith is empty, but because he is, your hope is secure.

Speaker 1:

You see, as Christians, we don't gather here in this place every week as good people that have it all figured out. We don't gather as if we are well and we don't need a doctor. We don't gather as if we're the only unbroken people in the world who don't need healing. Instead, we look around at a broken world filled with things that just don't feel right. We see people hurting people. We see natural disasters causing destructions. We see dishonest leaders and corrupt politicians. We see sickness and death. We see pain and suffering. We look out on the world and we say it's not right, it's broken. And as we look out and we reflect on that, we realize that we too are more than just imperfect.

Speaker 1:

Perhaps you've heard the phrase. You know well I'm only human, or he's only human, and that's meant to mean hey, we're not perfect. We're more than just not perfect. We realize that we are broken too. We are broken, dying unrighteous people, and what we, as Christians, have realized is that we can't save ourselves. We can't save ourselves, but despite the fact that we realize that we are broken, dying unrighteous people, we also have hope because we believe that God has promised us hope. Because we believe that God has promised us hope, and it's this hope that Paul made the case for in 1 Corinthians 15, especially there in the first 11 verses. You remember, in verse 1, he started out by telling them the gospel, reminding them of that good news that, though they were broken, lost and dying too, jesus died in their place so that they could have life. He tells them that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, verse 3. And then he goes on to prove this with witnesses. He lists Peter, and then the 12 disciples, and then 500 others, and then I think it's James after that, and then the 12 again. He says all these people. But do you remember one of the things? That was interesting, because this is an interesting point right here, paul encourages the people to seek out those witnesses.

Speaker 1:

Now I want you to imagine for a moment if I'm going to say in this day and age that someone died and rose again. I wouldn't expect you to believe me. And if you told me, I wouldn't believe you. It's not a very believable thing that that would happen. But if I said oh well, we have it on video. He was being monitored by doctors, he was hooked up to machines, rigor mortis had set in. Medically he was done and there were hundreds of people that witnessed it, and this dead man actually came to life. It's irrefutable. Here's the evidence. That might be a different story. We'd still struggle to explain it. How did it happen? Why did it happen? We don't know. But that's what Paul is doing.

Speaker 1:

Paul is taking the very best evidence you could get in this day and age. They didn't have cameras, they didn't have medical equipment, they didn't have all of this stuff. But what you did have is a story of a man who was executed by professional executioners, who was feared that he might still, that his disciples might try to do something. So there were guards posted on his tomb. But then, after being dead for three days in the grave, he rose again and he appeared to hundreds of people, and not just his closest followers, but hundreds of people. And Paul says if you don't believe me, most of these people are alive. You have testimony upon testimony. And the thing that is amazing is that there's not record of any of these followers, particularly the ones who did writings who ever turned on the story. They never said oh, I was lying, I was making it up, even when they were put to death, even when it was like hey, you are causing a stir. Say you're making it up. Say it's not true. But we don't have that story. Instead, we have the story of them saying no, it is true, and if I have to die for it, I will.

Speaker 1:

Paul is saying that the evidence is solid. The evidence is solid, it is absolutely reasonable to believe this. But then he goes on to then emphasize that if Christ is not raised, then our faith is empty. No resurrection equals no hope, no forgiveness, no life Verse 14,. 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 is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God.

Speaker 1:

Go down to verse 17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You're still in your sins and all of those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished Verse 19,. If in Christ, we have hope, only in this life we are, of all people, to be most pitied. If Jesus didn't raise, then you know what we're like the guy who lost the pension. We don't have hope. We have nothing to look forward to. But Paul doesn't leave it there. A dead Messiah saves nobody. A closed tomb is the end of hope. No resurrection equals no gospel, no good news.

Speaker 1:

But instead, verse 20, paul makes it clear. He says but in fact, christ has been raised. But in fact, christ has been raised. He cited the evidence. He's given everything he can give.

Speaker 1:

But in the end, I want to tell you this in the end, I want to tell you this In the end. I can't prove it to you. In the end, you can't prove me wrong if you disagree with me. In the end, ultimately, despite the fact that I am telling you I think it is reasonable to believe this that there is good evidence to believe this, that even secular history has a hard time trying to put together a cohesive argument to refute it. Despite all of that, ultimately, what you believe, you believe by faith. If you believe science, well, science hasn't answered the either. I cannot crush all your doubts and this is what it is Is that, as Christians, we believe this by faith. If you're wrestling with whether or not this actually happened, you are not alone. Paul, even in this writing, expected that and that's why he gave evidence. That's why he tried to prove it. But here is the hope that we have. It's that because he is raised, our hope is secure. Christ is the first fruits. It means that more resurrection is coming. It means that we will rise, that death doesn't win.

Speaker 1:

You know one of the songs we sung this morning. It's like one of my favorite songs, so you know, if we sang it more I'd be okay with that. Death was arrested. We sang this verse. It says our Savior displayed on a criminal's cross. It's an electric chair, it's a lethal injection table. It's a device for nailing a human being to it, dropping in a hole and let them suffer and die until they're dead. Our Savior was displayed on a criminal's cross. Darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost, but then Jesus arose with our freedom in hand. That's when death was arrested and my life began. You see, death was necessary.

Speaker 1:

I've told you several times what the good news is, but I haven't really emphasized the bad news. The bad news is this that, like I said, that we realize about ourselves as Christians, we, in and of ourselves, we don't have hope. We're broken, but despite the fact that because of our brokenness we cannot be with God, god made a way through sending Jesus to die in our place. But it was unjust. It was not right because he was innocent, because it was unjust and it was unright. Jesus could not be kept in the grave. He rose again with our freedom in hand. He paid the consequence, yet he rose victorious.

Speaker 1:

And that's why, as Christians as Christians, we make a big deal about Easter, because it is the absolute center of our faith. You could look at Christians sometimes and you say, well, what's up with all these denominations? They all believe different things and they have all these differences. But this is the core. Yeah, there's things that in our own church, there's things that me and Ricky don't agree on, there's things that we have differences on, but the core truth of the resurrection is absolutely central.

Speaker 1:

If Christ is not raised, your faith is empty. But because he is your faith, your hope is secure. Faith, your hope is secure. So listen to me If you're here and you're a believer, if that's you, you are not wasting your life. This is not in vain. Your Savior lives. And if you're here and you're not sure, I am telling you today that you don't have to carry your sins, you don't have to fear the grave. You can belong to Christ. That's why we proclaim on this day Christ is risen. Let's pray, father, god, thank you. Thank you for your word, thank you for this text, thank you that we have it recorded. Thank you, god, that Jesus died but he didn't stay dead, that we serve a risen Savior. It's in his name we pray. Amen.