The Cross of Christ Pt 3: The Victory

are with us live and those who are joining.

Opportunity, first day of the week.

Risen from the dead. We thank you, Jesus. Would you bless our time now as we worship, as we study your word, as we enjoy fellowship with you and one another. Be glorified in our service and we'll give you all the praise.

Be now, be son of God. You may be seated.

Grace, your mercy, your sovereignty. The fact that we can trust you in everything, Lord. The fact that you loved us so much, Father God, you sent your only son on that third day. Now he's ascended up at the right intercession for us. Thank you, Father God. Thank you for your son, Jesus.

There will be a day. You see, positionally, we've been co-resurrected, co-ascended and co-seated with Christ right now. But there'll be a day when we leave these bodies because our citizenship isn't here. We thank you, Lord, that our citizenship is in heaven. We're just pilgrims passing through. But there'll be a day that we'll enjoy that third part of salvation, that glorification

of being with you, Lord.

To Jesus died my Savior. My sins from tears to tears they laid against you by heavy silence to lazy.

Come just as we are, Lord. Sometimes we said before warts and all, you love us.

I've saved my in you our service now as Pastor Ryan comes up. Give us listening ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to perceive, and a willingness to... Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Well, happy Resurrection Sunday. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm really glad that you have joined us this morning. If you would take a look at your bulletin, a handful of things to go over. And as always, on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. So take note of those. In the middle section of your bulletin, a reminder that it is that time of the year

that the grasses are needing cut. So if you want to get involved in the mowing ministry, the sign-up sheet is out there. And then the only other announcement for this week is that College Group is canceled for tonight. Enjoy Easter with your family. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And then for our

responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Looking at the New American Standard for this part so that we sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 16, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 16, a mishdom of David. Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, You are my Lord. I have no good besides you. As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who have battered for

our God will be multiplied. I shall not pour out their drink offering of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I

have set the Lord continually before me, because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul to shield, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. If you'd read verse 11 with me. You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is

fullness of joy, and in your right hand there are pleasures. Forevermore. And Father, as we see in there that Old Testament prophecy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Lord, I praise you for that. Thank you, Lord, that you are the God of life, that you are the God of love, and you are the God who made a way for us through the cross of Christ to come to know you as our Lord and Savior and, Lord, ultimately to live with you forever.

And so, Father, as we take time to look at the resurrection this morning, may our hearts be guided, may our minds be instructed by your Holy Spirit, and may you make your word more real to us than it ever has been before. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

One of the things that I have learned as a pastor and in life is that we were not created to die. That's not why God created us. Death is actually pretty foreign to us as human beings. As a matter of fact, death came about because of sin. That's what brought death into the world. We're told in Scripture that the wages of sin is death. And that's exactly why Jesus

came. Jesus came to deal with the sin that brought death into the world because we were actually created to live with Him forever. And so He came to deal with that death and that's what we've been looking at these last couple of weeks, culminating with our final message this week. We've been looking at how Jesus dealt with the problem of sin and the problem of death and He dealt with it through the cross of Christ. And so we looked at

the first thing a couple of weeks ago where we looked at the promise of the cross. That the cross was always the plan. The cross was the plan from the time that man fell into sin and God had orchestrated a plan that He continually taught His people about throughout their history and prepared His people for throughout their history in the coming of Jesus Christ. The thing that we looked at last week is that we looked at the preparation we saw as Jesus came riding into Jerusalem at the exact right time exactly when Daniel prophesied that Jesus would come riding into Jerusalem and what we referred to as Palm Sunday and how He was examined for that week while He was there in Jerusalem just like the Passover lambs were examined

and they found no fault in Him. As a matter of fact, the last pronouncement that Pilate made before he ultimately crucified Jesus is he said, I find no fault in Him. And then as Jesus' was ultimately prepared for that sacrifice that He made through that prayer in the garden, we saw Him surrender His life to God and say, nevertheless not my will, but Your will be done. And on Good Friday, He was put to death for the sins of humanity.

Well, now that we have seen those things, we come to the victory. Because while the cross was always the plan, it was never the end. It was only a part of the greater plan. The greater plan involved not only the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but ultimately the resurrection of everyone who would put their faith in Him. And that's what we look at in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

As a matter of fact, the Corinthian people as Paul had written to them, had several problems within their church. One of the problems is that there were some that had arisen that said that there really was no resurrection from the dead. That you die and that's it. And so Paul, in writing 1 Corinthians 15, corrects that. And in so doing, gives us one of the greatest teachings

on the resurrection in all of the New Testament. We're only going to look at the first 22 verses this morning, although I would encourage you at some point in time to read all 58 verses of 1 Corinthians 15 because it forms an amazing story of the resurrection and ultimately our victory over death. We're going to look at the first 22 verses and there's four things that we're going to see. We're going to see the gospel of the resurrection. We're going to see

the proof of the resurrection. We're going to see the necessity of the resurrection. And then the last thing that we will see is the life of the resurrection. So we start off in verse 1 of chapter 15 and it says this,

and by which you are saved if you hold fast the word which I preached to you unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. So the first thing that we see, these first four verses present to us the gospel message. Paul says, I have preached the gospel to you.

It's the gospel that a handful of things took place. It's the gospel that you received because when they heard the message of Jesus Christ, they had received or if you will, believed the message. It is the message of the gospel that I preach. It is the message in which you stand. It's what gives you standing on this earth. It's what gives you standing in all of the

trials of life. And it is the gospel by which you are saved. Saved not only from the present situation of sin, but ultimately saved from the future consequences of sin. He says this gospel, this good news message is what I preach to you. And then he goes on to give us the three main points of every gospel message. Are you ready for them? Number one, I deliver to you as of first importance

that which I also received that Christ died for our sins. Listen, according to the scriptures. That is such a fantastic section of scripture right there. That one verse right there presents to us everything that we have celebrated this last week. Everything that we have celebrated about what Jesus did for us is that Christ who is the Messiah, that's what the word

Christ actually means, the Messiah, the chosen one, the one that they had all been waiting for, that he died. And he died for us. But he died for us for a specific purpose. He died for our sins. Do you know that in modern churches today, even that phrase right there is trying to be done away with? They're trying to say, Jesus didn't die for our sins. He just died for his love,

because of his love for humanity. Because if you start saying that you have sinned, that makes you a really bad person. Because I've got good news for you this morning. You're a really bad person. Okay? We just need to know it. I'm a really, really bad person. It's who we are. We are sinful by nature. That's the very nature that you and I have. And when we sin, it doesn't make us a sinner.

It proves who we really are. And that is why Christ died. He died because I am the chief of sinners. And he died because you're reigning with me as the chief of sinners. Right? Christ died for sins. But notice what he died for sins according to the scriptures. That's what we talked about in our very first message with the promise, right? The moment that Adam

and Eve sinned, God already had a plan. Do you realize that we're told in the New Testament that Jesus Christ was crucified before the foundations of the earth? In other words, before God even formed this little rock that we know as planet earth, he knew what was going to take place and he already had a plan for how he was going to redeem sinful mankind. So it was talked about all throughout scripture, all throughout the Old Testament, which is what Paul's referring to as scriptures here. It was always God's plan

to send Jesus to die for sins. But not only, first of all, did he die for sins. Number two, he was buried. Ryan, that just makes sense. That's what you do with dead people. Exactly. Do you know one of the arguments against the resurrection is that Jesus never actually died? It's called the swoon theory. I don't know if anybody teaches this anymore. It was a thing at one point in time

because they wanted to try to disprove the resurrection because if you can disprove the resurrection, you can disprove everything about Christianity because it all hinges on the resurrection. And some people are like, well, you know, they put him inside of that tomb, and while he was in there, you know, the cool air of the tomb while he was wrapped up in those clothes, he just sort of revived. He never really actually died. Listen, I do a lot of funerals.

I've never seen a live person get buried. Okay? They checked that pretty closely. You bury dead folks. Jesus died. It's the reality of what happened. But the third thing is where we find victory and that he rose, again, on the third day, according to the scriptures. You know, if you're a person who likes to underline and take note of things and maybe make note of things in your margins of your Bible,

as you're reading through the Old Testament this year, if you're going through that with us as a church, if this is your first Sunday with us, we have a reading plan inside of the bulletin to where you could read through the Bible in an entire year. That's kind of our goal this year. And if you're joining us this morning, then you should just start tomorrow morning in the book of Judges. It's going to be great. You're going to be reminded

that you need a Savior after you read Judges. But you should take note of something as you're reading through the Old Testament. You should take note of every time that the third day is referenced. Because you'll find that the third day is actually referenced quite a bit. Do you remember when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, his only son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah?

Obviously, God did not want him to actually sacrifice his son, but Abraham believed that even if he did have to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, he believed God's promise so much that he believed that God would raise him from the dead because through Isaac, all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And Abraham believed that. Do you know how long it was from the time Abraham left his camp to get to Mount Moriah to get up on top of the mountain where he would sacrifice his son, Isaac? Any guesses? Three days.

And it was on the third day that he laid the wood on the back of Isaac and they walked up on top of the mountain and Isaac looked at his dad and said, Dad, I see the wood. I see the fire. You're looking at me kind of funny. I don't see a sacrifice. Do you remember what Abraham said to his son, Isaac? He said, God will provide for himself a sacrifice. And that's exactly what he named that

mountain, the mountain where God provides. And on the third day, when Abraham for those three days thought his son was dead, on the third day, God spared his son and in his mind his son came back to life. Do you know the book of Hosea? I think it's chapter six, verse two. It says on the first day he will wound us. On the second day we will be wounded and on

the third day new life will come. You should pay attention to the third day in the Old Testament. Do you know how long Jonah was in the belly of the whale? Three days. When did he come out of the belly of the whale? On the third day. You think God was pointing something out throughout the entire New Testament? Not only that, but we read in both the book of Isaiah chapter 53 and just

now in Psalm chapter 16 what was God going to do with the Messiah? He was going to raise him from the dead. Before he would undergo, do you take note of that in chapter 16, verse 10 of Psalms? Before he would undergo decay. Do you know when decay starts to set into the body? On the fourth day. It's almost like God was always wanting us to pay attention to the fact that the Messiah

would rise from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures. And do you remember that fateful morning when those ladies, the ladies, mind you, were on their way to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body with spices because he wasn't given the proper burial as far as Jewish people were concerned? And they started asking themselves, who's going to roll the stone away? Who's going to roll the stone away so that we can get into the tomb? Because they thought

he was in there. They thought he was still dead in there. And while they were on their way, if you remember correctly, there was a great earthquake, the second earthquake that had taken place in three days. The first one was when Jesus said, it is finished. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And now on the third day, as they're on their way to the

tomb to anoint his body with spices, there was a great earthquake and the stone was rolled away. And they got there and there were the grave clothes of Jesus as if the body had just disappeared out of them. Except for one thing, the napkin that was on his face. He was like, let's not leave a mess. And he folded that thing up and left it there. And the angel

said, why are you here? Don't you know he's not here because he has risen? Listen, just as he said, he rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. And brothers and sisters, that's the gospel. That's the good news. The good news is that you had sin in your life and that sin brought death. It brought death not only to all of humanity, but it brings death to

you. Sometimes that death comes sooner than it comes later, but all of us face the same issue and that's death and not just physical death because that's just one aspect of death. The ultimate death that we face is eternal separation from God because God is life. And so if God is not there, then there is no life. And so as Jesus took death for all of us and

experienced separation from God and was in that tomb on that silent Saturday and then rose again on that third day so that you can have brand new life. And all you have to do is put your faith in that. Because now that you have heard the message, all you have to do is receive it. How do you receive something? Well, if I was to come to you with a gift and I would say,

this gift is for you, how would you receive it? Thank you. By faith that I was just simply giving you that gift, right? And that's the way we receive the gift of salvation. And once we receive that gift of salvation, it's what we stand in and it's the very thing that we are saved by. Paul says, I want to remind you of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received

in which you stand and by which you are saved. That Jesus died, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We move on from there. Verse 5, it says this. And, continuing of the same sentence, and that he appeared to Cephas, that is Peter, then to the twelve and after that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren

at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. And then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles. And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles and not fit 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 did not prove vain.

But I labored more than all of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God with me. And whether then it was I or they, so we preached, and so you believed. And so the second thing that he does is he gives us the proof of the resurrection, right? He proves that Jesus really is alive. And he does it, first of all, by all of the witnesses, mainly by all of the witnesses that appeared. He says

first of all, he appeared to Cephas, which is Peter. Now why did he appear specifically to Peter? Well, because what was the last thing that Peter had done before Jesus died on the cross? I have never seen that man before in my life. I call down curses on anyone and myself if I am lying. And so who did Jesus show up to first? Peter, right? He needed to go tell Peter, Peter, I still

love you. I know you screwed up. I told you you were going to screw up. I knew it before you did it. I tried to warn you about it. But I still love you. Now go and feed my lambs. And then he showed up to the twelve. Remember the time he showed up to the twelve? There were actually only eleven of them at this point in time because Jesus had already taken care

of, well, killing himself by that point in time. But he showed up to the eleven, remember? So here's kind of how the thing works. So Jesus rises from the dead. He appears to the ladies, something to Cephas not long after that. But they're really still the only ones that have seen him. The twelve haven't seen him yet. Jesus goes walking on the road to Emmaus with two

disciples and just sort of shows up with them. And they're like, he's like, hey, what's going on? What's everybody talking about? They're like, were you born under a rock? Have you been living under a rock? This guy named Jesus, we thought he was the Savior. He was killed. And now we don't know what we're going to do. And it says, starting from the beginning of Scripture, he

showed to them the Messiah throughout the Old Testament. Can I say, if there's one study, I want there to be on DVR when we get to heaven. I want it to be that one. I want to hear how Jesus explains himself in all the Scriptures. He's like, that was me. And that was me. Judges, most of that wasn't me. That was me, right? And he just shows himself all throughout Scripture. Well,

after that, they get to the house in Emmaus, and they want to eat. They're like, hey, why don't you stay with us and eat? And he's like, all right, I'll stay and eat. And so he prays, and he breaks the bread. And at that point in time, personal opinion, I think, they look at his hands, and they go, and then he's gone. Jesus just disappears. How did it happen? I have no idea, right?

But then, after that, he appears to the twelve as they are in the upper room. They're in a locked upper room, and they're praying together, and all of a sudden, Jesus appears. And he goes, hey, guys, what's up? And they see his hands. And they're like, oh my gosh. Because Jesus is alive. And he says, why don't you give me some food to eat? And so Jesus ate some

food, showing that he wasn't an apparition or just a vision. It was really Jesus in his resurrected body standing right there in front of him. He appeared to Cephas, and then he appeared to the twelve, and then to more than 500 brethren at once, most of which, as Paul's writing this, were still alive at the time. I think that's a pretty cool thought, is that at some point in time, if you were a Jewish person, and you took your trip to Jerusalem, you'd be like, were you one of the ones? Yes, I saw Jesus.

I don't know how to explain it. I just know that I did. There he was, and he spoke with us. We know that Jesus was on the earth 40 days after his resurrection, and he had several different appearances that we read about, and at one point in time, over 500 people were there, and most of them were still alive at the time of Paul's writing of this book. And this is

the one that gets me the most, and this is, I think, one of the greatest proofs of the resurrection. And then he appeared to James. Now, when you hear that, you think, no big deal, right? He appeared to James. Until we realize what James he's talking about here. He's not talking about James, one of the twelve. That was already taken care of with his appearing

to the twelve. He's talking about James, the half-brother of Jesus. Now, that's a big deal, and let me tell you why. The half-brothers of Jesus did not believe in him. They didn't believe what he said, and quite frankly, they were tired of dealing with him. They were tired of the fact that he did everything perfect, and they were tired of the messianic claims that he was making.

There's actually a point in Mark chapter 3, I think, where Jesus' brothers show up, and they basically want to take Jesus away because they think he's gone a little loony. And so who does Jesus appear to? James. James, who would go on to become one of the pillars of the early church. James, who would go on to write the epistle of James. James, who would go on to be

martyred for his faith and his half-brother Jesus. You see, it's one thing that all of the disciples knew that Jesus was alive and were going out and proclaiming him, but this is a guy that didn't like Jesus who saw Jesus alive and went out and preached him. And then he appeared to James and to the apostles, and then last of all, Paul says, he appeared to me. When did Jesus appear to Paul? Well, there were two instances,

I think. One was on that road to Damascus when he was on his way to persecute Christians, and he was, he was knocked off of his high horse, or probably high donkey, at that point in time. He was knocked off that, and he said, and whoever was there who I believe was Jesus said, Paul, why are you persecuting me? He said, who are you? He said, I'm Jesus, the one that you're persecuting.

Aren't you tired of fighting? Aren't you tired of fighting against me? He says, what do you want me to do? He says, why don't you go on to Damascus and somebody's going to come pray with you. And then when someone came and prayed with him, great scales fell off of his eyes, and he began to go out and preach. But before he could really be effective for the Lord,

he had to go spend three years in the wilderness in Arabia, out in the desert. And I believe in those three years, Jesus himself appeared and taught Paul while he was there in the wilderness. Taught him the truth of the gospel that he was to go and to proclaim. But Paul says, and then he appeared to me, whom the least of all the saints, because I persecuted the church.

Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Now, each of those that he mentioned are actual appearances of Jesus, where people actually saw the physical body of Jesus. But can I tell you what one of the greatest proofs that you have of the truth of the resurrection is? One of the greatest proofs that you have of the fact that Jesus is alive, and that is the changed life that you have.

Do you realize that's one of the greatest proofs that Jesus is alive? Is that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were lost, and now you're found? You know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were dead, and now you're alive? I was talking to some high school kids the other day, and I was talking to them about maybe giving their testimonies at some point in time, and one of them gave me the classic answer of a kid that grows up in church. My testimony is not that

flashy, Ryan. I don't have the crazy testimony that some people have, and I just told them the same thing I tell everybody else that says that. You still went from being dead to being alive. You just weren't as decayed as some people, and that's okay. You tell people you went from dead to alive, because that is the testimony of what a living God does in the lives of people.

And there is nothing more fantastic than to see the life of someone who has been changed to where everybody goes that had to have been Jesus. I posted this on my story on Instagram this week, but I saw this thing on Charlie Kirk's show, and he had a little video of a girl that was getting baptized. I don't remember the girl's name, but she was some crazy, I think she made the most money or something like that as a star on OnlyFans, which from everything I can figure out is some sort of a amateur porn site. And she was making millions of dollars on there, and then she got saved.

And now she has given up all of her contracts. As a matter of fact, I watched an interview with her. She is actually in the process of trying to get rid of all of the content that's online now, because she is radically saved. And she got baptized at this church, and that's what he posted the video of, is this girl who used to be a porn star, and now she's following Jesus.

My friends, Jesus is alive. And your changed life, my changed life, is the biggest proof of the fact that Jesus is alive. But if my changed life isn't enough, all of these people saw him. And you know what? If I made up a story, if I made up a story about somebody being alive, I would run as far away from the location as possible to tell that story where it couldn't be

proven wrong. Wouldn't you? I would go as far away from any facts as I possibly could so that nobody could fact check me at any point in time. Do you know where the disciples started telling their story about Jesus being alive? In the very place where he was crucified. That's a pretty dumb idea, huh? But that's what they did. You know why? Because it was true.

Because Jesus is alive. And Paul said, in my changed life, is the greatest proof of it. Can I say that many of us feel a lot like Paul did? We feel like we are the least of all the saints. Maybe not because I persecuted the church of Christ. Maybe it is because you did. But because of where I was as a sinner and where I am now as a saint, because of that, I feel like I am still the least

of all the saints. There was an interesting transition, and I've shared this before. There's an interesting transition of growth that takes place in Paul's life. The book of 1 Corinthians, which is one of the earlier books that he wrote, he says that he was the least of all the saints. And then as it goes on further, he says he's the least of all of the apostles. And then pretty soon

he says, I am the chief of sinners. See, the closer you get to Jesus, the more you're aware of who you are apart from Jesus. The more thankful you are for what Jesus did. For you. So, Paul has shown us first of all the gospel. That the gospel is that of the resurrection. He has shown us the proof of the resurrection. But the third thing he's going to show us is the

necessity of the resurrection. Notice what it says in verse 12. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 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. Your faith also is in vain.

Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God. Because we testified against God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. And all those who have fallen asleep

in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. Paul tells us now about the necessity of the resurrection. That it is the key to our faith. Because remember, some were preaching that there is no resurrection. And he takes us to the fullest extent that if there is no resurrection, what does that mean for us? If

this is the only place we have hope, what does that mean for us? And so he gives us a handful of things. First of all, if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not alive. Then there is no living hope that we have in Christ. Second of all, it means that our preaching and that your faith is in vain. The word vain means empty, without purpose, or without success.

If Christ is not alive, then your preaching, your faith is useless. He goes on to say it again later and say that your faith is worthless. Because your faith is just like every other religion that there is in the world. Your faith is in a dead God who can do you no good in overcoming death. Your faith is worthless. Not only that, he says, we are false witnesses. Do you realize

that everywhere that the disciples went, the main message that they preached is that Jesus is alive. The very first message that Peter ever preached had to do with the fact that Jesus is alive. The message that he preached after the healing of the guy that was begging there in Jerusalem, what message did he preach? That Jesus is alive. He says, this Jesus whom you crucified,

God has raised from the dead. And that was their message that they preached over and over again. So if Christ is not alive, then, well, we're just a bunch of liars. Going out spreading falsehoods everywhere that we go. But not only that, not only is your preaching in vain and your faith in vain and we're false witnesses, this is the real kicker. You're still in your sins.

You're still in your sins. You see, one of the things that the resurrection proved is that the sacrifice was accepted. So, if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, then the sacrifice wasn't accepted, meaning that what he did on the cross was not enough to cover your sins, meaning that one day when you stand before God, because make no mistake, everybody will stand before God, it will not be covered in the righteousness of Christ. It will be covered in the stains of your sins.

Not only are they going to weigh you down on this side of eternity, but they will hold you back and bring death on the other side of eternity if Christ is not raised. I don't know about you, but that would be enough right there for me just to be like, well, then what's the point? Because I lived in that place for a long time of going, Lord, I can't seem to get past things because all I can see in my life is my sin. My knowledge of the fact that Jesus took that is what has given me hope in my life.

But not only that, he says it also means that if Christ is not alive and there is no resurrection, those who die in their sin, simply perish. It means there's nothing beyond here. David Guzik in his commentary said, everything rests on the resurrection. Everything about our faith rests upon the resurrection. These are the things that rest upon the resurrection.

Number one, his divinity rests upon the resurrection because we are told in the book of Romans that when God raised him from the dead, it proved him to be the son of God. With power. His sovereignty rests upon the resurrection because who have we said was in charge of the entire thing during the crucifixion? Jesus was. Jesus was not a helpless martyr. He was a sovereign

God in control of the entire situation. After all, when he was arrested, he said, I could call down legions of angels to deal with this, but that's not what I'm here to do. And when Pilate said, don't you know I have the power of life and death over you? Jesus said, you wouldn't have that power if it hadn't been given to you from God. And his resurrection proved that he was right,

that he was sovereign over his life because he was sovereign over his death. Number three, if there is no resurrection, then we have no justification because we are told that he died for our sins and was raised for our justification. Our regeneration rests upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, on this side of earth, you being made right with God and your spirit being made alive, your being born again rests upon the resurrection. But more than that,

our resurrection rests upon Christ's resurrection. Because you see, there's a difference between being raised from the dead and being resurrected from the dead. Throughout scripture, you see lots of stories of people being raised from the dead. But when they were raised from the dead, it was still in their sinful bodies. Being resurrected means you are given a brand new body.

And that's what Jesus did. And it proves that that's what we have. Everything in our faith rests upon the resurrection. That's why it's such a vital point to be made. As a matter of fact, if you've never read the book or watched the movie The Case for Christ, I would highly encourage you to do that. Because that's exactly what that's about. It's about a reporter named Lee Strobel,

an award-winning reporter, back in the late 70s, early 80s, I don't remember the exact time frame. But he was so irritated with all these people of faith, and all he wanted to do was prove the faith wrong. Somebody that he worked with said, if you want to prove the Bible and all of Christianity wrong, you have to pull the one linchpin that holds it all together. And that's the resurrection.

If you can disprove the resurrection, all of the rest of the Christian faith falls like a house of cards. Do you know what he could not do? He could not disprove the resurrection. As a matter of fact, what he did in the meantime is he realized that all of the proof in the world showed that Jesus was alive. The only thing holding him back was his own stubborn heart. The only

thing keeping him from really believing it was the sin that he had in his life. And he needed to get rid of it. He needed to confess it to Jesus and surrender his heart to him. And once he did, the article that was supposed to be The Case Against Christ became the book, The Case for Christ. Because that's the difference that a living God makes in our lives. Because all of our faith

rests upon the resurrection. And if you don't believe me, look at this very last verse that Paul says in this section. Notice what it says in verse 19. If we have hoped in Christ, in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. If we have hoped in Christ, in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. I want you to think about this. Take this to its end, okay?

Hopefully most of us in here are trying to be the right kind of Christian people. Hopefully we are trying to live as God has called for us to live. Therefore, there are certain things that we deny ourselves that the world would say is fun. And there are certain disciplines maybe we live by as believers in Jesus Christ. You come to the end of your life and you realize this was it.

I just die. And that's it. I just turn into dust. You look back and you go, then why did I spend all that time? Why did I spend all that time trying to discipline myself to live according to a certain code to live according to a certain way if my life was just going to end? Paul in another one of his writings says if there's no resurrection, then let us eat,

drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. Right? But I have a question for you. David Hawking in his commentary pointed this out. He said most of Western culture church lives like there is no resurrection. Do you know how I know we live like there's no resurrection? Because all of us tend to be focused on the here and the now. You ever notice that? We're looking for a Savior for today.

We're looking for a Savior that will deliver us from our bills. Right? We're looking for a Savior that will deliver us from our coworkers. We're looking for a Savior that will deliver us from our aches and pains. We're looking for a Savior that will deliver us from all of the things of today, forgetting that we were not created for this earth. Therefore, nothing on this earth is ever going

to satisfy or bring joy. All your bills can be paid off and you can have all the greatest things in the world and you will still find yourself going there's got to be more because you weren't created for this place. But too many Christians are living like this is it. Like this is home. This is home base. We need to make this as great of a place as we possibly can.

I'm looking for a Savior that will deliver me for today. We're just like the children of Israel when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem saying, Hosanna, save now. Not because they wanted someone to save them from their sin, but because they wanted someone to save them from Rome. Too many of us are looking for a Savior that will deliver us from the Democrats, right?

And listen, that's not what we need a Savior from because we can make America as great as it could possibly be. But if you don't have the right kind of Savior, you're still going to hell. Right? We need to remember that because too many of us live like there is no resurrection. Therefore, we have hoped in Christ in this life only, and we are the most to be pitied.

We need to start thinking beyond here. We need to start thinking beyond now. Yes, we have to do the things here. You have to pay your bills here because it's the right thing to do. And no, canceling student debt is not just like the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus. I saw somebody try to post that this week, and I'm like, okay, to equivocate student debt and my

sin debt and say, it's just ridiculous, okay? We have to start thinking beyond here. Yes, you have to pay your bills. Yes, you have to go to work. Yes, you need to learn to be someone who loves the people that you are around every day. But brothers and sisters, we are told in the book of Ecclesiastes that God has set eternity into the hearts of man. That's the thing that causes all of us to say

there must be something beyond here. There must be something more to life than just trying to eke out a living or earn a bunch of money or try to earn some accolades on this side of eternity. It's because God has placed eternity in our hearts. Because we were not made for this earth. We were made for eternal life. Therefore, if we have hoped in Christ on this earth

only, we are of all men the most to be pitied. We should find ourselves going, what's the point? But now. Oh, wait. Okay, so we've seen the gospel. We've seen the proof of the resurrection. We've seen the necessity of the resurrection. But now we see the life of the resurrection. Look at verses 20 through 22. But now, Christ has been raised from the dead. The first

fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Listen, if you're somebody who likes to underline things, circle things, put stars next to things, put smiley faces next to things, draw little flowers next to things, do it next to that, verse 20.

But now, Christ has been raised from the dead. Like, there should be smiley faces, little bursting things coming off of that. I don't know if your phone does the thing where it's like every time you read the text, you should make that a text, right? Now, Christ has been raised from the dead. It is the greatest conjunction in all of scripture. But now. You see, this is what it

would be like if Jesus wasn't alive. If Jesus wasn't alive, then my faith is useless. It's worthless. If Jesus isn't alive, then I've been a liar. My entire life. If Jesus isn't alive, then I'm still in my sins. If Jesus isn't alive, then there is no justification. There is no regeneration. There is no resurrection. Those who die just die. If Christ isn't alive, then

we are of all men the most to be pitied. And when you take that to its extent, you go, that would be the most depressing thing in the world. And then you read the next part of the political ad, right? But now, Christ is alive. He has been raised from the dead. It's the greatest transition that you can imagine. You went from hopeless, worthless, futile, in your sins,

without any kind of hope beyond here, to now all of that has changed. And can I tell you, that's the difference that Jesus just makes in our life, right? Because when I wasn't walking with Jesus, I was in my sins. I felt worthless. I felt hopeless. I felt useless. But now, Christ. Once I started walking with Jesus, I saw that life was not hopeless. Life is not worthless. I was

not useless. But that in Christ, I was a brand new creation. And in Christ, I have a point and a purpose to my life. In Christ, I have a purpose to follow in my life. I always say I went through a series of things as I started really understanding Jesus. The first question that I had is, Lord, what does salvation mean? And he showed me. I said, Lord, what do you want me to do?

And he showed me. I said, Lord, how do you want me to do it? And he showed me. And as he showed me each step of the way, I embraced it with arms wide open, and it's been the greatest experience I've ever had that I could have ever imagined. Because now, Christ has been raised from the dead. He says, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who

are asleep. Paul uses an interesting phrase here when he uses the word first fruits, because there is both a Jewish understanding of the word first fruits, and also a secular or a Greek understanding of the word first fruits. The Greeks had an understanding of this phrase, because the word first fruits meant an entrance fee. That was what you had to pay to get into things. It was your first fruits payment to get

in. It was your entrance fee, which is kind of interesting, because who paid our way into heaven? Jesus. He was our entrance fee, right? But the Jews had a way that they looked at the word first fruits as well. Because if you went back to the book of Leviticus, you would see that there was an offering. It was called the first fruits offering. They were to take the

first sheave, and they were to bring it to the temple, and they were to wave it before the Lord. It was called a first fruits offering. And it was, and I quote, an offering meant to represent and anticipate the coming harvest. Isn't that great? It was the offering that was to represent and anticipate the coming harvest. And so when Jesus raised from the dead,

he resurrected from the dead. It was the first fruits. Not only was it the entrance fee to pay my way in, but it represented and anticipated the coming harvest. Brothers and sisters, do you know what we are here that have put our faith in Jesus Christ? We're the coming harvest. We're the coming harvest. Because Jesus said, it is finished, I am alive, and I'm bringing

a whole lot more people with me. And that's exactly what we are. We are that harvest. It's interesting because if you follow the Jewish feast days, Jesus was crucified on Passover, and right after Passover was called the feast of first fruits. Can you guess what day Jesus was raised on? The feast of first fruits on that Sunday. Isn't that great? It's pretty cool, right?

He was the first fruits of those who had been raised from the dead. But now Christ has been raised. He is the first fruits of those who are asleep. Verse 21, For since by man came death, by a man also came the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. Paul shows us these two federal heads. Adam brought death into the world. When did Adam bring death into the

world? Well, he brought death into the world the day that he ate of the fruit. God said, in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. And when he did so, he acted like a federal head for all of us, so that now all of us have death. He ushered death into the world. Thank you, Adam, right? Praise God for his grace. Otherwise, when we get to heaven, we're all just going to look at Adam and be like,

right? That's what I think I'm going to do, but God's grace will be there. I'll be like, you know what? If he can forgive me, he can forgive you too. But he ushered death into the world. And so now all of us face death because of what Adam did. But as in Adam all die, as Adam ushered in death, so by one man life was brought into the world. Who was that one man?

That one man was Jesus Christ. And he also acted like a federalist. He was a federal head. Throughout Scripture, he's referred to as the second Adam. Because he came and he lived the perfect life that Adam couldn't live. And then he died the substitutionary death that Adam needed so that we could be made alive. He says, because by one man came death, by one man also came the resurrection from

the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Now we need to understand something. That doesn't mean universal salvation. It doesn't mean everybody's going to be made alive because of what Christ did. It means all who are in Christ will be made alive. Because that's the hope that we have. Is that if I am in Christ, I am made alive. Because apart from

Christ, I'm in Adam, meaning that I will die. Brothers and sisters, Jesus rose from the dead. And because Jesus rose from the dead, we have life. You know what? Jump with me one other place in Scripture. At the end of chapter 15. It's just great. Why don't you look at verse 50. And just read and let God's word just soak into your mind as I read this. Now I say this, brethren,

that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed. For this perishable must put on imperishable. This mortal must put on

immortality. But when this perishable has put on the imperishable, and this mortal have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Sorry guys, I get emotional. You know that. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin in the law, but thanks be to God

who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. Brothers and sisters, Jesus is alive, and because of that, you and I have hope. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone, and I know, oh

oh, who holds the future. And life is worth the living, just because he lives. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now, and Lord, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word. I thank you for this Resurrection Sunday, and I thank you that you have overcome. Lord, that you have overcome death, that you have overcome sin,

and you have overcome the grave. And Lord, we long for that day when we will join in with all the witnesses around the throne. Lord, and sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the Lamb. And so, Lord, we thank you for who you are, and I lift up the hearts of every person that's in here this morning. May we not go away unchanged. May you do the work that you can

only do through your word. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. This last song is actually taken from John chapter 1, verse 29, when John the Baptist was telling the boys, he looked over and saw Jesus, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. As we begin, and as you begin reading in that Gospel of John, you begin looking at all those

things that proved he was who he said he was, and then he goes and he ascended.

Lord bless you.