Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM - The King is Coming pt 4 - The Victory - 1 Corinthians 15 - Pastor R

You can't do that.

All right. Praise God. Good morning. Happy Resurrection Day. Man, I'm so glad to see so many people in here this morning. This is amazing. I want to invite you to stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we come before you this morning. We thank you for allowing us to be here, Lord. Thank you for another day. Thank you for who you are. Lord God, you are the King of kings and you're the Lord of lords, God. And we just want to, we want to take some time this morning and lift praise to you because you are worthy of all praise, all honor and glory. Lord, we want to bless your name and glorify you and pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Praise God. You guys can go and have a seat if you like.

God, we just come before you this gratitude to you because you are alive. Because you are alive, Lord. We know that holds a promise that we will be alive with you as well. We just thank you. Thank you for who you are, Lord. You are the King of kings. And we give all honor and glory and praise to you this morning. Yes, Lord God, we give you glory this morning, Lord.

You are worthy of all honor and we give that to you this morning because you are worthy of it. And now, Father, as Ryan comes up to give the message, overflowing by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, move mightily this morning in our lives and prepare our hearts to receive that word. Lord, do something awesome in this place this morning. We love you and we praise you.

In Jesus name. All God's people said, let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. The only change to that, I don't even think it's listed over there. Usually on the first Sunday of the month, we do intercessory prayer on Sunday nights. But with this being the holiday, we will cancel.

We'll cancel for tonight. So you can still pray just at home. And then in the middle section of your bulletin, some things going on. A reminder that we do still have spots open for the Guatemala trip. July 28th through August the 3rd. If you have questions, Janice's phone number is down there. Listed in the bulletin. You can give her a call. We do need to know by May the 3rd whether or not you want to be involved in that trip.

And then ladies, there's a women's breakfast coming up this week. Saturday, April the 11th. Breakfast is at 9. And the devotion begins at 9.30 down at the other end of the hallway. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. 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, just so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, there may or may not be one in a row around you. If there's not. Find a friend. 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 mission of David. Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you. I have no good beside 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 bartered. For another 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 in 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 will dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. And 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. In your right hand there are pleasures forever. And Father, we do praise you that in your presence is the fullness of joy.

And Lord, I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. I can thank you. And Lord, it's been powerful and amazing. And so Father, as we take time to look at the foundation of our faith, the resurrection

of Jesus Christ, I pray that your Holy Spirit would move in every heart that's here, Lord. Father, convict, comfort, and instruct in the way that only your Spirit can. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 15 today we come to the last in our series the king is coming we started off by talking about

the prophecy of the king as we looked at isaiah chapter 53 and then we we looked at the arrival of the king last sunday with the triumphal entry what we call palm sunday wednesday night we looked at the sacrifice of the king as we looked at jesus and the cross and and today we come to now the resurrection and and i decided that we wouldn't actually go over the resurrection story out of the gospels although i will reference that some instead what i'd rather do is take a look at take a look at chapter 15 of first corinthians because i want to look at the victory that goes along with the resurrection and so of course we we know that between palm sunday when many of you

were here and this sunday a lot of things took place in the life of jesus right he had uh he had written into jerusalem he cleanses the temple of the of the money changers and he cleanses the he uh he teaches he heals he's challenged by the religious leaders um he gives his disciples what we call the olivet discourse where he talks about his his second coming the the victorious return of jesus um he he goes through the prayer in the garden after he has that passover with his disciples and and ultimately is arrested and taken and beaten and and crucified and and of course they laid him in the tomb on that on that friday and i always wonder what would have taken place

in the lives of all of those believers over those three days of him being in the tomb and and then came sunday morning and this morning while i was on my way to church i i did what i always do on a sunday morning i left my house i drove to starbucks and got a cortado shout out to my barista and and then drove to uh and then drove down here and it was it was wild because the streets are just really really quiet at 6 45 a.m on a sunday morning in arkansas city kansas right there just wasn't very much going on in town everything's very sleepy there's the occasional car that you come across but i thought this must have been what it felt like for the women going to the tomb that morning as they as they made their way down the

quiet streets of jerusalem with their cortado in hand on their way to to visit the tomb of jesus it was just very surreal in that moment to sense the quietness of of the morning and of course they discovered that a quiet morning turned into a very expressive very joyful very exciting morning as he was not there in the tomb because he was alive and they were they were to go find him so that he could talk and so as we look at chapter 15 of first corinthians paul is going to lay out the effect essentially if you will the victory of what jesus did when he rose again on that sunday so there's three things out of first corinthians chapter 15 that i want us to look at number one

we're going to look at the gospel of the resurrection number two we're going to look at the resurrection and then number three we're going to look at the victory of the resurrection so we'll start off in verse 1 of chapter 15 as we discuss the gospel of the resurrection he says now i make known to you brethren the gospel which i preached to you which also you received and which also you stand by which you are saved if you hold fast to the word which i preached to you unless you believed in vain for i've delivered to you as of first importance what i 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 and and then he appeared to cephas and

to the 12 and after that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time most of whom remained 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 from 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 he says now i make known to you the gospel which i preached to you he describes this gospel several different ways he describes it first of all as the gospel that they had received by faith he describes it as the gospel in which they stand in other words it's what keeps

them firm in their faith and it is the gospel by which they had been saved but it is also the gospel they continue to stand in which is why he's going to tell them about this gospel now so that they would continue to stand so as he describes this gospel he's going to tell them three things about the gospel of jesus christ number one of first importance it was delivered to me that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures of course the fact that jesus dies what we discussed on wednesday night as we looked at the cross of jesus christ the the the cross that meant such torture for jesus physically and in such pain for him spiritually as he separated as he experienced separation from

the father but but he he died on that cross for you and i but the reason why he died was not so that he could set an example of what love is supposed to look like jesus did not die to set an example of sacrificial living that we should follow there's nothing wrong with those thoughts but that's not the reason why he died he died on that cross for you and i but the reason why he died jesus died for sins and i think the first thing that we need to understand is that we have to own our own business when it comes to the gospel of jesus christ and his death on the cross because the reason why jesus died on the cross is because you are a sinner and the reason why jesus died on

the cross is because i am a sinner and we need to understand that because one of the problems that we have in culture today is that nobody wants to own their sin everybody wants to blame shit right i i see it happen in the sports world i see it happen in the political world i see it happen in relationships i see it happen on job sites everybody wants to shift the blame onto someone or something else only the problem is there comes a point in time in our lives where we have to realize that no one else is to blame it's just me because i have to own the sin that occupies my life i have to own the guilt that i have before the lord and part of owning that guilt

is realizing that what put jesus up on that cross was sin what held him there was his love for us but what put him there was sin because sin separated us from our creator god was not content to let us die in that sin and be eternally separated from him and so he had a plan and the plan was the cross the cross of jesus christ to deal with the one problem that you and i both have in that sense christ died for our sins not only was it my sin that put him there but while he was on that cross my sin was transferred upon him my sin was was transferred to him upon that cross it's called a substitutionary death because he took my place in that death and as he took my place in that death

he took upon himself all of the sin that rightfully belonged to me i shared this wednesday night but i think if anybody understood the substitutionary death it was because he took my place in that death right if you don't know the story jesus stood before pilot and as jesus stood before pilot pilot said i don't find any guilt in him let me see if i can appease you all listen here's the thing i have a a policy that at passover we let one prisoner go free so we've got barabbas who is guilty of insurrection and violent crimes or jesus who you have claimed is an insurrectionist and guilty of crimes which one do you want to be the one who is guilty of insurrection and violent crimes

you want me to release to you and they said give us barabbas now barabbas was guilty of everything that they accused jesus of and jesus took his place that's the substitutionary death of christ in that way we are all barabbas we are all guilty and all of that sin was transferred upon jesus at the cross and if one problem that we have in the world is that people won't own their sin i think if there's one major problem that we have in the church is that we don't realize that all of my sin has been put upon jesus i am watching as people's lives are being set free in this church from the guilt that they've carried their entire life i am watching as lives are being set free from the shame that

people have lived under as they are coming to the place of understanding that all of my sin was placed upon jesus at the cross that i don't own that sin anymore that's what actually took place as it was transferred upon him and that burden that held me down no longer holds me down because it was placed upon jesus at the cross which is in that which is why in that moment god had to turn his back on jesus because he couldn't look at all of the sin on his son which is why jesus cried out from the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me it was transferred to jesus on the cross jesus experienced judgment for us if you ever go through any kind of study whether one that i've done or one that other

wonderful pastors have done where they really walk you through what took place physically in the life of jesus what he experienced both in the scourging and in the crucifixion you are appalled at what one human being can do to another in that moment but what we have to realize is is that was the judgment of god for sin being poured out on jesus christ died for sinners according to the scriptures i was listening to chuck smith last night when i went to bed listen i'm not saying you should listen to chuck smith when you go to bed i am saying if you're not sleepy you will change immediately um but i was listening to chuck smith last night uh on this and it was great and if you've never listened to chuck which by the way if you don't

know who chuck is he's the guy that started calvary chapels and and um uh if you've never heard chuck preach or seen him preach it's like this now it says that christ died according to the scriptures where does it say that everywhere and it was exactly like that i fell asleep between where does it say that and everywhere and i woke up at everywhere right but it's so fascinating because when you look at the old testament you realize that the death of jesus christ is declared from genesis chapter three throughout the entire world and it's so fascinating because when you look at the entire bit of scripture i always get made fun of for this but leviticus is one of my favorite

books in the bible right i mean there's parts of it that you're like listen that's enough about leprosy already but it's a fascinating book because you realize that the entire book tells the story of jesus in old testament pictorial language because the entire old testament tells us that jesus will die for sinners there's a great story to the book of luke and jesus uh after he is dead uh comes upon two uh two disciples of his as they are walking back to their hometown of emmaus and as they're talking and visiting with each other and kind of thinking over the events of the day he says hey what are you guys talking about they're like what were you living under a rock this past week like this guy that we thought was the messiah got brutally put to

death by the roman government some are saying that he's alive but we're all having a hard time believing he's like you don't say and it says as he walked with him he began from from the book of genesis declaring to them how the messiah had to suffer and die and he walked them all the way through the scriptures telling them about how the messiah had to suffer and die why because god wanted people to be prepared that when this man when this god man comes and lives among you and dies this is why he's doing it christ died for our sins according to the scriptures the second thing it tells us about this gospel is that this man died for our sins was also buried why does he tell us that he's buried have you ever noticed

that every gospel account always makes sure to let you know that jesus was buried you ever wondered why every gospel account and this place is so specific to say and he was buried well because there was false teaching going around at that point in time that jesus didn't really die just like there's false teaching going around now that says jesus didn't really die and you don't bury or you don't bury a life people right you bury the dead and so the fact that he was buried is the proof that he was dead and then it tells us the third thing and this is where the hope comes in and that he rose again according to the scriptures we have to understand that up until the point of

time of jesus's resurrection people had been raised from the dead there's several stories in the old testament there's even some stories in the gospel accounts of people that were raised from the dead so what makes it so different that jesus was raised from the dead what makes it so different that jesus was raised from the dead well those folks in the old testament and the ones in the gospel accounts that were raised from the dead would eventually die again because they raised to life in their same physical body what happened with jesus was very different jesus was resurrected from the dead in other words in a brand new body he will go on to explain that we

won't cover that this morning but you should go on to read the rest of first corinthians chapter 15 to see the order of the resurrection as it takes place but he was given a brand new body which is called the first fruit of those who have died and so jesus is resurrected from the dead why is that important it's important because first of all the resurrection is the receipt for the payment the death of jesus christ on the cross was the payment for sin the resurrection is the receipt saying payment's been accepted the payment has been made and has been accepted by god but the second reason why it's so important that jesus resurrected from the dead is because of the

resurrection because it proved all of his claims to be true see jesus had made a lot of really bold claims while he lived here on earth jesus had made a lot of really bold claims in his ministry not the least of which was that he would rise from the dead he claimed to be god and that he would rise from the dead remember he was in the middle of a discussion with some people about the temple and he says tear this temple down and in three days i will raise it up again and they said how are you going to raise it up again it took years for this temple to be built john gave us the addendum little commentary that said what he was referring to was the temple of his body and he claimed that he would rise from the dead and as timothy keller said if jesus

didn't rise from the dead then throw out the rest of the book because everything else he said is useless because once you make a statement that bold once you make a claim that bold and you can't follow through with it then every other statement should be questioned he was raised from the dead but you notice it says he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures you know what's kind of fascinating is to go back through and look at all of the third day experiences throughout scriptures one of the most fascinating comes out of hosea i think it's chapter six verse two and it says uh the first two days we will experience death and then on the

third day we will receive life again it's referring to the nation of israel but it finds its fulfillment do you remember how long jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights and then he came out again and jesus said as jonah was in the belly of the whale or in the belly of the fish three days and three nights so must the son of man be in the heart of the earth and he will be raised again you know there's a story in the old testament i didn't know if i was going to go over this story or not because it's kind of a funky story but but it's when abraham has his son isaac and god says take your son your only son isaac and i want you to go to mount moriah which by the way many claim is exactly where jesus was crucified

i want you to go to mount moriah and i want you to sacrifice him there to me and so abraham gets up the next morning and he grabs his son isaac and they head to mount moriah do you know how long the journey was can anybody guess three days and on the third day he took isaac up onto the mountain where he was supposed to sacrifice him and god stopped him in the moment but we're told in hebrews with the commentary that though he was dead three days in the mind of abraham he knew that god could raise him again but of course one of the greatest prophecies of the resurrection of jesus is given to us in the psalm that we read this morning psalm 16 10 where it says you will not allow your holy one to see corruption but you will show him the path of life

that word corruption can also be translated decay do you know on what day decay begins to set into the physical body day four therefore he has to go to mount moriah and he has to go to mount moriah he had to be raised on the third day to meet the prophecy i geek this stuff guys i can't help it jesus was raised on the third day according to the scriptures but then we go on for him to say and he was seen by many witnesses notice what it says and that he appeared this is verse five and that he appeared to cephas and then to the 12 who is cephas or perhaps better pronounced that's peter jesus appears to peter one of the first guys that he appears to is peter why does

he specifically list peter because remember what happened with peter and jesus peter was ready to cut heads off in the garden right until he got to the fire next to some little girl who said hey weren't you one of jesus's followers he's like i don't know what you're talking about three times he denies that he even knows him can you can you imagine how peter felt on that day on that sunday on that sunday when when he heard that jesus was alive it was the happiest scariest news he'd ever heard in his life happy because the guy that he loved so much was alive scary because he had denied that he even knew him he says he specifically appeared to peter why because you know what i think the first thing he said to peter was come here i know i know just come

here let's hug it out he forgave him in that moment john 21 he restores him but this is when he forgave him and then he says he appeared to the 12 when did he appear to the 12 well he appeared to the 12 in the upper room remember the first time thomas wasn't there and i've always said thomas gets a bad rap everybody doubted that jesus rose from the dead thomas was just the most vocal about it thomas goes unless i can put my fingers in the holes in his hands and unless i can stick my hand in the hole in his side that i watched i'm never going to believe that he's alive and so jesus shows up again a week later in the upper room and he says thomas and thomas is like oh crap right and and jesus says it's okay

go ahead put put your fingers in the hole go go ahead feel right there where they where they got me with that spear he says lord i believe he appeared to the 12 and then he goes on from there to say and after that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time most of whom remain until now why is that important because as paul is writing this to the corinthian believers he said i could name names and you could go visit with those people and they could tell you their story of seeing the risen jesus and they could tell you their story of seeing the risen jesus and they could tell you their story of seeing the risen jesus most of them are alive we've lost a few of them

but most of those guys are still alive eyewitnesses that are risking their lives to declare that jesus is alive but then after he appeared to more than 500 witnesses he appears also to verse 7 james why does he specifically list james because this isn't the james it's the apostle james this is the james that's the half-brother of jesus james see jesus had at least two half-brothers their names were james and jude they would go on to jesus and jesus would go on to jesus and jesus to write the epistles of james and jude but while jesus walked topside of planet earth they did not believe he was who he said he was as a matter of fact they thought jesus was crazy mark chapter

3 tells the story mark chapter 3 says that jesus was teaching in a home and he was surrounded by all these people and jesus's brothers show up and they they basically came to take him because they're like listen guys got off the deep end i don't know what's going on in the situation but we feel like we should take him home now and that's when jesus said these these are my mother my brothers these believers here but as we've mentioned before can you imagine growing up in jesus's shadow can't you be more like your brother can i really and they hated him matter of fact i think it's john chapter 7 that that there's a feast that's coming and jesus was was kind of

hiding a little bit because his life was being threatened and he knew his time hadn't come yet and so so his brothers are like why don't you head down to the feast why do they want him to go down there because his life was being threatened they were like we're tired of you and can you imagine imagine how james felt when he watched his brother get crucified and he's going dude i always thought you were crazy but i didn't think this was gonna happen so jesus rises from the dead who's he appear to he appears to james he says james bring it in come on no i know it's okay i would have hated me too he forgave him and he restored him and james would go on to become a pillar of the early church and church history teaches us that

jesus would go on to die a martyr's death in a horrifically cruel way and when he wrote his epistle the epistle of james he says james a bond slave of jesus christ why because he'd seen the risen savior and so and so he says he also appeared to james and then all of the apostles and then then paul tells his own story of grace he says and last of all as to one untimely born he appeared to me from the least of the apostles and not fit called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. He says, and last of all, he appeared to me. And quite frankly, it was miraculous that he was willing to appear to me because quite frankly, I would have left me in the dust. He said, because I'm the least

of the apostles and not even worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. When did Peter see the risen Lord? Well, I think there was two times when he saw him. One was on the road to Damascus when he got knocked off his high donkey because he wouldn't have ridden a horse. When he got knocked off his high donkey and he's laying there on the ground blinded because scales came over his eyes and he was blinded. And

he said, Lord, who are you? And he said, I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Aren't you tired of fighting against me? Aren't you tired of fighting? And after he surrendered his life to the Lord, it says he went, according to the book of Galatians, to the Arabian desert of Egypt. Where God spoke to him and God delivered to him the message, the message that he is now

declaring to the people. He said, and then he appeared to me as one untimely born who's not worthy to be called an apostle. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Is that you this morning? Are you the person who feels like you're not worthy of God's grace? Are you the person who feels like you're not worthy of God's love? I want you to know that by

the grace of God, you are what you are. And you can rest in God's grace that is greater than all of your sin. And you can rest in the fact that God's grace cannot be stopped because of your foolish pride. God's grace cannot be stopped because of your stubbornness. God's grace cannot be stopped because of your immorality. God's grace is bigger than all of the sin that occupies your life and he wants to set you free once and for all. But

by the grace of God, I am what I am. If you're a person who underlines your highlights, that's a fantastic. Fantastic one to have underlined and highlighted. Perhaps one to put inside of your Bible, on the dashboard of your truck, wherever you need it to be to remind you, by God's grace, I am what I am.

The gospel of the resurrection. Well, the second thing that he tells us after the gospel of the resurrection is he tells us the necessity of the resurrection. Notice what it says down in verse 12. Now, if Christ has 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, and your faith is also 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, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is worthless, and you are still in your sins.

Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. And if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men the most to be pitied. Now we get to the heart of why Paul actually wrote 1 Corinthians chapter 15. You see, many in Corinth, Corinth had all kinds of issues. Some of them were moral, some of them were relational, and some of them are theological.

This is one of the theological issues that they had. They did not believe that there was a resurrection from the dead. They thought, this is it. You die, everything ends. You're just now worm food. That's all that there is. And Paul's going, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. You just sucked the heart out of the gospel. And so he goes into the consequences of what it means

if there's no resurrection from the dead. But can I be honest? This is not always just a Corinthian problem. Sometimes this is a humanity problem. Sometimes it's a church today problem. I'm afraid that oftentimes our preaching and our thinking in the church today is so focused on now that we forget the future. It's so focused on now that we forget the future.

It's so focused on now that we forget eternity is our point. Eternity is what we're heading towards. But no, you can have your best life now. You just enjoy life now. Jesus is here to support you now. Yes, Jesus is here to support you now, but you have a hope beyond here. And too many of us live as if Christianity is just something to get you through this life.

So he goes through the consequences of what that means. First of all, if there's no resurrection from the dead, then Christ hasn't been raised. In other words, Jesus isn't alive. Why are we even here this morning, right? Jesus has not been raised. The second thing that he tells us is that if Christ has not been raised because there's no resurrection, then our preaching and our faith is in vain.

The word vain means empty and void of truth. In other words, if there's no resurrection and Jesus isn't alive, then first of all, all of the preaching that we do is the most useless thing in the world. And quite frankly, if I'm being completely honest, most of the preaching in the Western culture today is useless. Because they leave out the resurrection of Jesus.

And they leave out the fact that we serve a risen Savior who wants to change your life now and lead you into eternity. But if there's no resurrection, then I'm just a glorified motivational speaker. And I'm not that great at being a motivational speaker. If Jesus isn't alive, then my preaching is meaningless. And some of you might be going, your preaching is meaningless.

But I hope not. But not only is our preaching meaningless, listen, our faith is void and empty. Empty of truth. Faith is only as good as what you've put it in. I remember when I was in Bible college, I watched this commercial with Christopher Reeve on it. He was in the wheelchair at this point in time. And it was the most empty commercial I'd ever heard in my life.

Christopher Reeve was really wild in his beliefs, but none of them had to do with Jesus. And in this commercial, he just kept saying over and over again, it was this kind of one of those, the more you know type commercials, you know, like motivational things. And he just kept saying, you just have, you just have to have faith. You just have to believe that things are going to get better.

You just have to have faith that things will improve. And this, it was like statements like that over and over again. The commercial ended and I thought, that's the saddest, most empty commercial I've ever heard in my entire life. Like at least advertise Skittles or something, right? Faith? Faith in what? You just told me to have faith, but you didn't tell me what,

what to put my faith in. You see, what you put your faith in is important, and I always use this illustration. This is the best one that I've got, and it's the funniest one that I've got, in my personal opinion. And I was watching basketball last night, right? Two moderately good games, although Arizona didn't actually play basketball last night. But anyway,

that's neither here nor there. But I'm watching this game last night, and I'm watching this guy from Michigan, seven foot four dude, right? Dunks the basketball. That guy's got a vertical leap of two inches. That's all he needs, right? He just goes, boop. I think he got on his tiptoes one time and dunked the basketball. And I'm watching that, and I'm thinking,

you know what I can't do? Dunk a basketball, right? Like, I can have all the faith in the world that I want to. Like, man, I just, I believe. I got faith. I got faith in these here. I'm going to do this. And I can go out to this goal right out here that's in the parking lot right now. And with all of the faith in the world, I could launch my five foot six body into the air,

and I would still miss the bottom of the net. Because that's not a good place to put your faith. I think, but I thought I had faith. You did, but you're not. You're not worthy of faith. And that's what he says. If Jesus isn't alive, then your faith is void and empty of truth. It's worthless. He says, not only that, not only is your faith in our preaching vain,

but we're false witness. In other words, we're liars. You have to understand that when the apostles of the early church preached, every sermon centered on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every sermon centered on the fact that he was alive. Go back and read through the book of Acts. And look at every sermon that Peter preached, or that Paul preached, or that John preached,

and all of them always centered on the resurrection. Therefore, if Jesus isn't alive, they're a bunch of liars. Not only that, not only are they liars, but you have to realize the most detrimental thing of all is, is that you're still in your sins. Your sins are still the identifier of your life. If Jesus isn't alive, you're still in your sins. And I'm here to tell you right now,

if you told 21-year-old Ryan, who became so desperately aware of his sinful state, if you told 21-year-old Ryan that there is no way that you can escape the sins that clothe you, then I don't think 45-year-old Ryan would be standing in front of you right now. And I don't just mean to preach. I mean, I don't think I'd be standing here right now. Because I was so overwhelmingly depressed at the knowledge of who I was because of the sin that I was in.

The sins that I had struggled with. That the only thing that set me free, the only thing that gave me hope was to know that when Jesus carried his cross outside of town and he hung on that cross for me, it was him carrying all of my sins and putting them upon himself. And they're not mine to carry any longer. And so if Jesus isn't alive, all of those sins are still who I am.

He says not only that, but if Jesus isn't alive, then you have no hope of ever seeing your loved ones, who died in Christ again. And he closes like this. He says, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we're of all men the most to be pitied. The entire world should look at us and say, what a bunch of suckers and what a bunch of losers. And that thought should leave the hushed tone

that it did. And that's what makes the victory so amazing. Verse 20, the victory of the resurrection. But now Christ has been raised from the dead and he is the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. He says, but now.

Again, if you're an underliner, I have this underlined, highlighted, starred and bracketed in my Bible because this is the most hopeful verse in all of scripture. Because now, Christ has been raised from the dead. What does that mean? It means the opposite of everything he just said is true. Christ has been raised from the dead. Therefore, my preaching has power behind it

and your faith has power in it because it is put in something that is worthy of your faith. I can preach with power because it's the power of a living Savior speaking through me. You can believe with power because it's the power of Jesus Christ that you stand upon in your life. You see, since now Jesus is raised from the dead, you're not a liar. You're speaking the most true thing

that anybody's ever heard in your life and that's that Jesus is alive. And listen, you are no longer in your sins because they have been blotted out by the blood of Jesus Christ. That which was crimson and stained has now been made as white as snow. We have hope that one day we will see all the people that we lost in Christ. We will see them face to face and we will hug on them again

and we will get to visit with them again. Because we have hope beyond this life. But now Christ has been raised from the dead. And it refers to him as something, it refers to him as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. There's something really cool about this. So there's a feast that takes place literally the day after the Passover. So Sunday, there's this feast that takes place

and it's called the Feast of First Fruits. And what they would do is they would bring a clumping of grain or whatever the first fruits were, they would bring it to the temple and they would wave it before the Lord. And it was in anticipation of the harvest to come. On that day of first fruits is when Jesus rose from the dead. Therefore, he is the first fruits

that's waved before the Lord in anticipation of the harvest that is to come. What is the harvest that is to come? Well, for the Jewish people, it was what they were going to bring in from the crops. But for Jesus, it's all of that. Thus, we are the harvest to come. Saints throughout the ages are the harvest to come. And he is the first fruits of that future harvest.

And so if you want to know what your resurrected body is going to look like, look at how Jesus acted. They recognized him, but he wasn't bound in the same way physically that we are. He ate food, praise Jesus, but it probably didn't affect him the same way that it does us. It was a real body and yet not bound by these physical things. It was completely perfect.

He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And then he goes on to tell us that Jesus brings life where there was once death. Notice what it says. Verse 21. Since by a man death came, then 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. You see, you go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3

and you remember that Adam was told something. He said, don't eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From the moment that you eat of that fruit, you will die. And in that moment, physical death was instituted and spiritual death came about. And that death has now been passed on to all of us. But as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Because he brings life, where there is death. Let me give you a little bit of an illustration of this. I've shared this lots of times before, so please forgive me. Quite some time back now, I was a freshman in high school. We drove down to Florida over spring break. My parents had a teaching conference to go to down there and so we got to go along with them.

And on our way down, it was when they were burning off all of the fields in Oklahoma, Kansas, like they always do. Some of you call it allergy season. And so we were on our way down there and I remember looking out on what was going on. And I remember looking out on what was going on. And I remember looking out on what was going on. And I remember looking out on what was going on.

And I remember looking out on what was going on. And I remember looking out on what was at one point in time rolling fields full of just beautiful pasture land, right? I love yards. I just love landscape like that. I love the Midwest for that reason. And what was at one point in time rolling pasture land was now just charred death. And you're like, man, that's such a bummer, right?

My little 15-year-old mind was thinking this. And so I didn't think too much about it. We drove on down to Florida. And while we were down there, spring rains came through like they oftentimes do. And on our way back, I remember looking and thinking, hey, there's a bunch of green grass coming up where there was at one point in time charred black death. And this was around a time in my life

where the Lord was starting to do some work in me. And I remember in that moment, one of the first times I ever really sensed that I heard something from the Lord and the thought was impressed upon me, I bring life where there's death. See, that's what God does with us. That's what Jesus does with us. Before we come to Jesus, we are dead in our trespasses. And since, but the moment that you come to Jesus

and I can't explain it, you just have to experience it. The moment that you come to Jesus and you confess your sins and you accept what he's done for you, he gives you a brand new life. And that brand new life gives you completely new color on everything else that you see and do because it gives you a whole new perspective on everything that you see and do. But it all begins with faith in Jesus Christ.

It all begins the moment that you realize that you are dead and you need to be made alive. And the only thing that, that can make you alive is the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Which is why he says, for since by a man came death, by a man came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. Because of the resurrection of Jesus,

he brings life where there was death. And because of that, brothers and sisters, we have hope. We have hope today. We have hope for the future. Go to the end of the chapter. We're going to skip a bunch. He goes through like the process of resurrection and the order of resurrection and all these different kinds of things. And he concludes it all starting in verse 53.

So look over at verse 53.

He says this, for this perishable must put on the imperishable. And this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on imperishable and this mortal will have put on immortality, then we'll come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin

and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. Amen. As we cap off this thought of the victorious hope that we have in Jesus, we're reminded that we have a victorious hope for eternity

and a victorious hope for today. The victorious hope for eternity is given us here when he says, but this perishable, that's these bodies that we're wearing now, must put on the imperishable. But this mortal, that's these bodies that are subject to death now, must put on immortality so that then we can complete the saying, oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory?

Because the, the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who leads us into victory. See, these bodies are going to put on something brand new because up to this point in time, they've been held down by the law and by sin. Sin calls for condemnation. We're guilty of sin. Therefore, we are condemned apart from Christ. The law calls for judgment,

but God gives victory in Jesus Christ. And the victory, that he gives to us is eternal life with him.

I shouldn't always share stories like this, but I'm just going to, okay? Just bear with me.

I've been at the bedside of people that have passed away quite a few times, but none as powerful as when I sat next to my dad. And I will never forget when he took that last breath on this side of eternity, gently taking that last breath, knowing that he took his first breath on the other side of eternity. And while his eyes were closed on this side of eternity because of the sting of death, he saw clearly for the very first time on the other side of eternity because of the victory of Christ. It wasn't because he was a good man, although he was.

It was because he followed a good savior, a good savior who gave him victory over death. But this hope that we have while secure in the future, means something for today. And this is what Paul tells them. He says, therefore, my beloved brethren, when you read therefore, it ties everything that you've learned up to that point in time into what he's about to say.

So therefore, in light of the fact that Christ died for your sins, according to the scriptures, in light of the fact that he rose again, according to the scriptures, in light of the fact that our preaching has power and our faith has power and your sins have been blotted out and you are made for the good of God, you are made for the good of God, you are made for the good of God, you are made for the good of God, in light of the fact that you have an eternal hope because sin has been judged and Christ is victorious, in light of those things, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. He says to be steadfast and immovable. In other words, don't be shaken by all of the things that are going on in life.

Don't be shaken by every new wind of doctrine that comes through. Don't be shaken by every new event that happens. Allow yourself to stand firm on the foundation of, Jesus Christ. I just told several groups of kids this story this week, but it's out of the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus finishes up the Sermon on the Mount. And he says, he who hears these words of mine and does them,

I will liken him unto a man, a man who builds his house on a rock. The rain came down and the wind blew and the storm beat on that house, but the house stood because its foundation was firm. You cannot stop the fact that storms are going to come into your life. Trust me, I can go through a list. You can't stop the fact that storms are going to come into your life.

You can decide whether or not you stand. And whether or not you stand will be what foundation are you standing on. Are you standing on the foundation of a risen Savior who has set you free from sin and death? Or are you standing on a foundation of your works or your own ideas of God? If you're standing on a foundation of your works or your own ideas of God,

then when that storm, your house will fall. I've watched it happen over and over again. And sometimes it's kind of pretty when it does because then you come to me and you say my house fell down and I don't know how to rebuild it. And I get to tell you about the firm foundation of Jesus. But I'm here to tell you right now when the storm comes, and it does, if your foundation is built

on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, it won't feel good to go through the storm, but you will stay standing. Trust me. If you don't believe me, look at me because I'm here. He says, be steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Listen, because Jesus lives, continue to pursue him. Because Jesus lives,

continue to serve him. God, this is the beautiful thing about the gospel, is that God is going to redeem your life and he has something beautiful that every person in here, he has a work for you to do. And that work is going to involve two things, walking away from the flesh and walking towards Christ and what he has for you. And you should always abound in the work of the Lord, the work of the Lord and knowing him and the work of the Lord in serving him.

Abound in that, knowing this one thing, your labor is not in vain. Your labor is not in vain. Again, personally, I think this is a word for me this morning, but I want you to remember that your labor is never in vain. The work that you do is always seen by God. And I always love to use this example. Do you know who from the world's eyes was the most unsuccessful prophet

in all of the Bible? It was Jeremiah. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, never saw one single convert in his ministry. And on this side of eternity, he would have thought my life was a failure except for one thing. If you were to look at Daniel chapter nine, a chapter that we referenced last week, if you were to look at Daniel chapter nine, it starts off like this.

Daniel chapter nine starts off with him saying, as I was praying and reading the scriptures, I discerned from the prophet, Jeremiah, that the time of the desolation of Jerusalem was drawing to a close. So I set my heart to seek the Lord. In Jeremiah's life, he never saw the results of his ministry, but the results of his ministry were a prophet named Daniel. A prophet named Daniel who became one of the most prominent prophets, not only in scripture, but one of the most prominent world leaders of Eastern culture.

Your work, your labor is not in vain. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you this morning. And Lord, I thank you for who you are. As always, I thank you for what you do for us, what you have done for us, what you continue to do in our lives. And God, I ask that you would move in this congregation this morning. Father, your word has gone out. And I know because of your Holy Spirit,

it went out with power. And so, Lord, I pray that you would finish the work that you have begun in these hearts this morning. Lord, I know that there's some people in here this morning that you're trying to get a hold of their heart for the very first time. Or maybe the 35th time, and they just keep ignoring you. But Lord, you're trying to get a hold of their heart.

And today's the day that you want to bring them to salvation. Today's the day you want them to surrender. And like Paul, who said, like one born out of due time. Or today's the day that you're saying to them, aren't you tired of fighting? Aren't you tired of fighting against me? And so, Lord, for that person or persons, I pray that while we sing this last song,

that they would just pour out their hearts in confession to you and accept you in the work that you've done for them, that they would put their faith in you this morning. Father, there are some people here this morning who came back to church for the first time in a while. And it's time for them, Lord, to get back into fellowship and to get back into your word and to no longer be, shaken by the things that are going on around them, Lord. Perhaps their house was built on sand and their house has fallen apart and it's time to build it on the right foundation.

So, Lord, may today be the day that they turn their hearts back to you. And, Lord, there's someone in here this morning who feels like they've been fighting for a long time and working for a long time and seeking you for a long time and they needed a word from you this morning. Lord, I pray that they would know that their labor is not in vain. Lord, that the work that they do is not unnoticed by you and probably not unnoticed by people and that they just need to continue doing what you've called for them to do in pursuit of you and in service of you.

And so, Lord, as we celebrate the fact that you are alive today, may it not just be a day where we gather with family. May it be a day where we recommit ourselves to pursuing you with our whole heart. We just thank you, Father. In Jesus' name, amen. I love you all and Jesus loves you more. And I surrender. Lord, we thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here this morning.

Lord, if there's any here this morning that have never surrendered their lives to you, I pray that today would be the day of salvation. Lord, if there are those here this morning that we're still holding back that one little area of our life, I pray that we would surrender it. That you continue to move by the power of your love. Move by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Move mightily in our lives and in our families. We love you, Lord, and we praise you and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. Happy Easter to you.