Preached on April 5, 2015
Order of Service: The Order of Morning Worship, Page 5.
Old Testament Lesson: Hosea 13:14.
Epistle Lesson: I Corinthians 15:12-20.
Gospel Lesson: Mark 16:1-8.
Sermon: “The Resurrected Christ Is Our Hope Both For This Life And The Life To Come.” I Corinthians 15:19-20.
Hymns: 199, 200, 201, 198
Dear Friends in Christ,
How wonderful it is that the Lord of all creation saw fit to have Christ raised in the springtime! Springtime is the season of new life. The brown grass of winter is suddenly transformed into fresh, rich green grass of spring. Barren flower beds suddenly come alive with new flowers of many colors. The leafless trees shoot forth new green leaves and blossoms. Even the sweet fragrance of various flowers and bushes invigorate the sense of new life. Yes, spring is the season of new life.
And what is Easter all about? It is about the fresh new life which the resurrected Christ has brought forth. Easter has to do with the fulness of life which Christ brought forth by His own resurrection from the grave. And as we are going to see from our text, the resurrection of Christ is therefore our source of hope, for both now and the hereafter. In other words, what we celebrate at Easter is something we can genuinely celebrate with true happiness and joy.
Yet before we talk about the hopes, the joys and the blessings of Christ’s resurrection, it is important to see all over again that Christ’s resurrection is an established fact. If our hopes and joys are based on fiction, then our hopes and joys are fiction also. Our joys, peace, hopes, and happiness are only as good as the foundation upon which they rest.
Ironically, the factuality of the resurrection of Christ was contested right from the start. The Jews who plotted Christ’s death did not want to believe or accept even the possibility that Christ would rise from the dead. They went sofar as to have Pontius Pilate seal the tomb and post a guard. Of course, Christ came out anyway. The empty tomb is the proof. The tomb was empty, not because the body was stolen, but because Christ the Son of God instantaneously and invisibly vacated the tomb. Thus, Christ did not need to have the stone rolled away in order to get out. He had already come alive and left the tomb before the angel of the Lord rolled away the stone.
Nevertheless, the factuality of Christ’s resurrection was also doubted and denied by the Greek philosophers during the ministry of the Apostle Paul. When Paul preached the resurrection of Christ at the Acropolis in Athens, the philosophers mocked and scorned him. They mocked the whole idea of a resurrection from death. They said to Paul, “We will hear thee again on this matter.” (Acts 17:32) Of course, they never came back to hear Paul again. These Greek philosophers were the “egg-heads,” the intellectuals of their day. They were the self-indulgent sophisticates of their day. They considered themselves the founts of all wisdom!
Yet even to this present day, we find Jesus’ resurrection still contested by many scholars and theologians. Several years ago there arose what was referred to as the Jesus Seminar. It later evolved into what is called the Jesus Project. This group of men consisted of 150 scholars who claimed to have examined the New Testament and according to their august conclusions, about 80% of what Jesus said in the New Testament He did not really say. Therefore, according to this seminar, Jesus was a mortal man, born of two human parents, did not perform miracles, nor die as a substitute for sinners, nor rise bodily from the dead. Even though this organization of scholars eventually disbanded, some of their group still carry on their blasphemous work. Even now many professors in colleges and seminaries deny the bodily resurrection of Christ. As informed Christians, especially our college students, we should not be ignorant of the fact that Christ’s true bodily resurrection continues to be denied. Even so-called Christian ministers in the various denominations deny the bodily resurrection of Christ.
But let us suppose these supposedly brilliant people are right! Suppose Christ did not rise from the dead. What then? Then our entire Christian faith is a fraud. Stop all preaching of the Christian Gospel. Close up all churches and nail the doors shut. Stop printing Bibles. Take your Bible to the nearest used book store and let some other fool buy it. Call a press conference and tell the world that the Christian Church has been fostering a hoax for some 2,000 years and it’s time to get honest. In the context of our text, the Apostle Paul says this very thing! He says, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (I Cor. 15:14-18)
Indeed, according to our text, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then we of all men are most miserable. Hear Paul’s words again: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (v. 19) How is this true? If our hope in Christ is valid only while we live here on earth, then when we die our hope also dies. If believing in Christ is good only for this earthly life, then what kind of hope is that? It would be no hope at all. Such would be the case if Christ did not rise from the dead and establish the resurrection of the dead for all of us.
However, the resurrection of Christ is an indisputable fact. He is risen! He is risen indeed! The facts of the Christian Gospel have the best historical attestation and documentation of any event in history. Consider this: the death of Christ was overwhelmingly witnessed. Even the Jews of Jesus’ day acknowledge that He was crucified – – – they made sure of it. They plotted it. That Christ was buried the Jews did not contest. They saw to it that the tomb was sealed. They wanted no embarrassment. But there is one other incontestable Gospel fact – – -Christ rose from the dead. Not just one person claimed to have seen the risen Christ. Not just Mary Magdalene, not just Peter, not just the women, and not just the remaining eleven disciples, but at the same time over 500 people at one time saw the resurrected Lord. Yet above all, the Bible, the fully inspired, inerrant Word of God, the book of perfect history, says, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also (says Paul), as of one born out of due time.” (I Cor. 15:3-8)
Thus, our entire Christian faith is confirmed and sealed by the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection proves that He is the Son of God. It proves that all His sayings and teachings are true. It proves that His death for our sins was not in vain, but did atone for our sins. It also proves that we will be raised up on the Last Day. Four times Jesus says in John 6, “And I will raise him up on the last day.”
If we boil it all down, Easter deals with two facts: death and life. Both are facts which cannot be denied. Do people die? Yes, every cemetery and every grave stone around the world testifies to the fact of death. This fact came into being when Adam fell. Adam’s fall into sin brought death into the world. “For as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Thus, death is no respecter of persons. No one is exempt. All have sinned, and so all must die. Sometimes death comes with some forenotice such as when a person has been critically ill for many months and death is imminent. At other times, it can strike without any warning! Several years ago on Opening Day of the baseball season death struck suddenly. As the first batter was about to step into the batter’s box, the umpire was joking with the catcher. However, before the batter positioned himself, the umpire suddenly fell to the ground. He died. It was the first time in the history of professional baseball that an umpire died during a game. Then, on July 22, 2007 a minor league first base coach was struck in the head by a line-drive foul ball and died. Thus, just as Scripture says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14)
However, there is another fact, indeed a fact of life. It is the message of Easter which is a message of life. It is the message that our resurrected Lord has brought life and immortality to light. The message of Easter should be the most welcomed message on earth. The message of Easter is that death, that awful enemy, has been conquered. By dying for our sins and paying for them all, Christ has conquered sin which ushered in death. Yet by rising from the grave, Christ conquered death, the wages of sin. This is why the Bible proclaims: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Cor. 15:55-57) Christ’s glorious resurrection has removed the sting of death. His victory over death has produced a most wonderful hope for us beyond the grave. Christ’s resurrection has produced the resurrection of all the dead on the Last Day. As Christ says, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19)
Now even though unbelievers are also raised up on the Last Day, they are not raised up to eternal life, but to eternal damnation in hell. However for all who repent of their sins and believe in Christ for forgiveness and eternal life, the resurrection of the Last Day is unto eternal life in heaven. It is our Christian hope. As our text says, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” (v. 20) When Christ came out of the grave, He became the first fruits, the fore-runner, the prototype, the establisher of the resurrection of all believers unto eternal life. As He Himself says, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26) Those who believe in Jesus shall never die. Though they die in the body, they live on in the soul in heaven, and their bodies shall follow at the resurrection of the Last Day.
Without question, all who fall asleep in death but who fall asleep with faith in their hearts, will most surely rise to eternal life. The Bible says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” (I Thess. 4:13-14) What a comfort this is when we think about our loved ones who died as Christians. We need not worry about them. We should never grieve over their passing. Rather we should rejoice that they are in heaven with Christ where there is perfect joy and happiness for ever. As Paul wrote, “To depart and to be with Christ is far better.”
But let us not lose sight of what all this means for the here and now. Remember what our text said? It said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (v. 19) However, as we have seen, Christ is very definitely our hope beyond this life on earth. He is the resurrection and the life. This being true, this present life is not a life of misery and hopelessness. As Christians we are not of all men most miserable. We are of all men most blessed and happy. The very fact that Christ has given us true hope beyond the grave is why we have hope even before the grave. When you know your eternal future is secure, you also know your present life is worth living. Is this not what the Bible says over and over again? Christeven says, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Also, the Bible says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”(Rom. 8:18) Our present life of sufferings is no longer misery because of our future hope in Christ. Not only will our present sufferings not last forever, but our hope in Christ gives us strength to endure the present sufferings. In fact, the Bible says our future hope in Christ makes the present sufferings seem light. II Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Also, the Apostle Peter makes it very clear that because of Christ’s resurrection, we have been begotten again unto a lively or living hope. This living hope enables us to rejoice in this present life even when it presents fiery trials. He says, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (I Peter 1:6-9)
On this Easter Sunday, let us pause to thank God that He not only brings new life into creation each spring, but that He also each day brings new spiritual life and energy to our souls through Christ our resurrected Lord. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.