Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM - The King is Coming pt 4 - The Victory - 1 Corinthians 15 - Pastor Ry

Well, good morning, and happy Resurrection Day. He is risen. Amen, amen. Well, it's really good to see you guys. I'm really glad you all are here. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray, and we'll get started.

Father, we come before you this morning. We thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here, Lord God, with our families this morning. For those of us who could not make it this morning, Lord, I just pray that you'd be with them and bless them wherever they're at, whatever they're doing. Lord, may you be glorified this morning. Lord God, we give you honor. We give you glory. We give you praise.

Lord, because you are alive today, we just thank you so much. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Praise God. You guys go ahead and have a seat if you'd like.

Father, we just come before you this morning, God. We just want to take a moment. We just want to express our gratitude to you, Lord God. We want to give you our thanks, our gratitude for giving us new life, Lord. For rescuing us from that one issue that we all deal with, that's sin, Lord God. And because of you, Lord, I have the opportunity to have a right relationship with my creator, Lord God.

And we just thank you. Nobody else could have done that but you, Lord Jesus. So we thank you. We give you praise. We give you glory. We give you honor this morning. Amen. Amen.

We thank you for this time. Lord God, we give you glory. We give you honor. We give you praise this morning because you are worthy of it all. In your throne room right now, singing, they never cease to praise you, Lord, because you are worthy of it all. You're worthy of all honor and glory and praise. And so we lift that to you this morning. We just thank you. We praise you.

Now as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord God, I just pray that you prepare our hearts to receive your word this morning. Move mightily. By the power of your Holy Spirit, I can do something awesome this morning. We love you. We praise you. In Jesus' name. All God's people said, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

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

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Happy Resurrection Day. Glad that you have joined us this morning. And by the way, can I just go ahead and say, the congregation never gets any credit for anything. You guys really got it during worship. Okay? Like, I just, I could hear. It was just great. Like, the spirit was moving. And y'all just let it free. And I appreciate that.

So, so good job, congregation. We killed it this morning. So did the worship team. But we killed it. Yeah, that's right. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, what's on the left-hand side. Make sure to take note of that. The only cancellation, I don't even know if it's on the left-hand side of your bulletin, is that there is no intercessory prayer tonight.

So that you can enjoy. Enjoy the holiday with your family. Over in the middle section, a reminder that there are still spots left for the Guatemala missions trip. If you would like to sign up for that, though, you need to know May 3rd is the cutoff to get involved in that trip. So if you have questions, you can talk to Jana Lumbert. Her number is there in the bulletin.

Also, ladies, there is a ladies' breakfast coming up this Saturday, April the 11th. The breakfast is served at 9, and the devotion begins. At 9.30. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 16. Psalm 16. For this responsive reading, we'll be looking at the New American Standard.

If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And then after the responsive reading, you can go back to using the Bible that you brought. 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 Mishnah of David. Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, You are my Lord, and 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. 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, and 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 Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. 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 forever. And so, Father, I thank you for that promise of the resurrection given to us there in Psalm 16.

And Lord, that we can apply it to our own. And know, Lord, that you will show us the path of life, and that path is always found in Jesus. And so, Father, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that you would move in this place, and that you would move in our hearts and lives by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord. Instruct us, encourage us, convict us, and move as you see fit.

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. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. Today, we come to the last in our series, The King is Coming. And we have seen the prophecy of the king. We have seen the arrival of the king. We have seen the sacrifice of the king. And today, we will look at the victory of the king.

I opted out of doing the entire resurrection story, although I will reference it briefly. But I really want to talk about the impact of the resurrection as is seen here in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. Of course, last Sunday. Last Sunday, Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem. He had come riding in, in what we call Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Christ. And as he came riding in on that donkey, the colt of a donkey,

he spent the entire week living amongst the people there in Jerusalem, performing miracles, teaching, being challenged. And of course, at some point in time, Judas made the deal to betray him. And then, ultimately, Jesus was betrayed into the hands of the Romans. And he was beaten. And he was... Crucified. And he was laid in the grave. We'll get to that in just a moment.

But then, we celebrate the fact that on that morning... And I thought about this as I was driving in this morning. I stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a Cortado because that's what I do every Sunday morning. And I was on my way in. And there just weren't very many people on the road at 6.45 a.m. And so, it's just so quiet on the streets of Arkansas City, Kansas that early on a Sunday morning.

And I thought, this is probably a lot what it felt like for the ladies that went to the... To the tomb on that morning. It was very quiet. No one really on the roads of Jerusalem that morning. And they stopped for their coffee, too. I feel confident. And as they traveled there to the tomb, it had to have been a very quiet morning for them that turned into an incredibly loud one as they declared that Jesus is alive.

And so, we want to look at that impact this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And it's a long chapter. We won't actually cover the entire thing, although I will make it to the last verse. But there's three things that I want to look at this morning out of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I would like to, first of all, look at the gospel of the resurrection. I would like to, second of all, look at the necessity of the resurrection.

And then, third, I would like to look at the victory of the resurrection of Christ. But we'll start with the gospel. Notice what it says in chapter 15, verse 1. Now, I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you. Which also you received, and in which also you stand. By which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you 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. And that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. And after he appeared to... More than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now.

But some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And last of all, to me, as to one untimely born, he appeared also. For I am the least of the apostles, 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. Paul says... I would have preached to you... The gospel. I want to remind you of the gospel.

I'm going to tell you why in just a moment. He takes this time in chapter 15 to discuss the resurrection. But he starts off by saying, this is the gospel that I've preached to you. And he describes it a handful of ways. He says, first of all, this gospel is what you have received. It's that in which you stand. And it's also by which you are saved if you continue to believe it.

He starts off by declaring the very power of the gospel. He's saying, this is the message. This is the message that I've always preached to you. And this is the message that you received by faith. And this is the message that gives you the ability to stand. Because it is the message that has caused you to be saved. Now continue in the message of the gospel.

And then he begins to declare the message of the gospel. And the message of the gospel has several different steps. Number one, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. I think it's important that we remember... That the reason why Christ died on the cross was not to set an example of what it looks like to live a sacrificial life. Jesus did not die on the cross to just show us what love really looks like.

Jesus died on the cross because you're a sinner. And Jesus died on the cross because I am a sinner. Jesus died there because my sins put him on that cross. Because your sins put him on that cross. Because sin had separated me from the God who created me for relationship with God. With him. Because sin separated me from God. And because I was constantly offending God with the things that I did.

Proving over and over again that I am a sinner. And that you are a sinner. So Christ died for sins. First of all, it was my sin that put him there. And I think it's important that we all own one truth about the fact that Christ died. And that it's my sin that put him there. We live in a world that loves to blame shift. We love to put blame on everybody else.

I watch it happen in sports. I watch it happen in politics. I watch it happen in marriages. I watch it happen in relationships and families. Everybody wants to blame everyone else for the problem. And no resolution is ever reached with issues. Because nobody will stand up and say, That's not your problem. That's my problem. And the first step of truly understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Is to own the fact. That this is my problem. It wasn't your sin that put him on that cross. It was my sin that put him on that cross. But the second part of the fact that he died for sins. Is that all of my sin was transferred to him. All of my sin was transferred to Jesus Christ. Because he was the substitution for me. While many people struggle to own the fact that they're a sinner.

Many of us as believers can struggle to own the fact that he took all of that sin. And we still want to know. And we still want to carry that guilt on us. And we still want to carry that shame on us. Or we still want to continue to live in that place. Of the sins that Jesus took upon him. Forgetting that the entire reason why Jesus cried out from the cross.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is because all of our sin was transferred upon him. Therefore, the father had to turn his back on the son. Because he could not look at the sin that was placed upon him. It was our sin that was transferred upon him. And it was also at that cross where he experienced judgment for me. Wednesday night we looked at the sacrifice of the cross.

And I got to tell you, you know me. But I get emotional every time I talk about the sacrifice that Jesus made. And the more you read about it. And the more you understand about exactly what Jesus did for us. The harder it is to grasp what Jesus did for us. That he was willing to endure all of that for us. And just. Just how ugly all of that was. Because it was all the judgment of God.

For sin. That's why all of that was poured out on him. That's why the physical pain was poured out. That's why the spiritual pain was poured out. That's why God had to turn his back on the son. Because judgment for sin was placed upon Jesus. I make known to you brethren the gospel which I preach to you. For I deliver to you as of first importance. As I also receive that Christ died for our sins.

But the last thing he says there is Christ died for our sins. According to the scriptures. I was listening to Chuck Smith teach on this last night. If you ever listened to Chuck. This is how he preached. Okay. Both hands on the pulpit. Now where in scriptures does it say. That Jesus would die for our sins. Everywhere and that I was like yes big really good way to put that like everywhere throughout the Old Testament it says that Jesus would die for our sins I was like this is a great statement on that I could have ever made we understand it from the beginning in Genesis all the way through it declares the death of Jesus Christ everything about scriptures declares this truth that Jesus would die for our sins.

It was the very first promise that we made. That was made in Genesis chapter 3 but we learned in the New Testament that Jesus was even crucified before the foundations of the earth. Because that sacrifice that he made for us was always in God's mind. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and if we just left it at that it's a great story of love and sacrifice but it doesn't do anything for us because it says that he was that he died for our sins according to the scriptures I almost got ahead of myself number two he was buried.

Right like when you read every gospel account every gospel account includes one fact that's really interesting about the death of Jesus and that's that they buried him now why on earth would they have to declare that they buried him. Well because you don't bury life people. And there was an issue in Jesus's day just like there is an issue in our day well you know Jesus didn't actually die. You see they laid him in that tomb.

And they buried him in that tomb. And they buried him in that tomb. And they buried him in that tomb. and he just sort of came back to life. He just sort of revived because of the cold and being wrapped in the, what? You don't bury live people. He was buried, meaning that his death was secured. He died. But then the third thing that we have to pay attention to,

if it's just that he died, it's still a great story of love, but it's not the gospel. No, he rose again. Notice what it says. And that he was buried, verse four, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. We have to understand something about Jesus. There were other people in scripture that were raised from the dead. Do you realize that?

In the Old Testament, there were some people that were raised from the dead. In the New Testament, there were some people that were raised from the dead. So what makes it so significant that Jesus was raised from the dead? Because Jesus was not just raised from the dead in his same body. Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Those are two very different things.

You see, the people that were raised from the dead in scripture still had their body that would eventually die again. When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he was given a brand new body, which you'll get into in just a minute. He was given a brand new body that was no longer subject to death, which would be, again, I'm getting ahead of myself, which would be the first fruits of what we all are going to experience, that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Why is that important?

Well, it was the guarantee that the payment was accepted. Jesus' resurrection was the receipt for the payment. And so when he was raised from the dead, it was like God saying, it was enough. Jesus declared from the cross, it is finished. And when he raised him from the dead, the Father declared, yes, it is. Because it was the guarantee that the payment for sin was accepted.

But not only was it the guarantee for the fact that the payment was accepted, but it proved that all of his claims were true. It proved that all of his claims were true. Jesus made very bold claims while he lived here on earth. And if Jesus did not rise from the dead, all of those claims would be false because the boldest claim he made of all was that he would rise from the dead.

He said, tear down this temple, not the temple, but this temple, and in three days it will be raised again. And they said, how are you gonna build the temple in three days? It took Solomon thousands of years to build it. It took Solomon thousands of years to build this. And John gave us the little commentary that said, but he was speaking of the temple of his body.

You see, Jesus made very bold claims. And if he never raised from the dead, none of those claims are true. Not the least of which is that he claimed to be God. And if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then none of those claims are true. I believe it was, I believe it was Philip Keller. Nope, Timothy Keller. Who said, everything in our Christian faith hinges upon the resurrection.

If the resurrection is not true, then throw out the entire book. Because all of scripture points to a living savior. And if it's not true, then throw it out. There's a fantastic, and I've referenced this before, there's a fantastic book and a movie out about it called The Case for Christ. About a gentleman named Lee Strobel, who could not believe that this Jesus existed.

He was an atheist. And when his wife came to faith in Jesus, he decided he needed to put to bed once for all that this Jesus thing was just a myth. And so one of the gentlemen that he worked with, he was an investigative reporter. One of the gentlemen he worked with said, listen, if you want to disprove faith, you have to go for the main thing, and that's the resurrection.

If you can disprove the resurrection, you can disprove everything else about the Bible. And that's exactly what Lee Strobel set out to do, was to disprove the resurrection. The problem is, he couldn't. He couldn't disprove it historically. He couldn't disprove it philosophically. And quite frankly, he couldn't dispute it in his life. Until finally he realized,

I don't have an intellectual problem. I have a surrender problem. I won't surrender my life to Jesus. And once he did, everything changed. Because once you come to know the living Savior, everything changes. And so he says that he was raised again, on the third day, according to the Scripture. Well, where does it say that Jesus would be raised again? Well, we read one of them this morning.

Psalm 16, verse 10. You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption, but you will show Him the path to life. Do you know when corruption begins to set into the body? Let's use a different word. Do you know when decay begins to set into the body? Day four. That's why he had to be raised on the third day. Because otherwise, decay would have set into, the body and the prophecy would not have been true.

And so he was raised again, according to the Scripture. And then I want you to notice what it says. And then he was seen by many witnesses. These are great. Verse five, it says, and then, and that he appeared to Cephas and then the 12th, of course, Cephas is Peter. That's another name for Peter. And I find it interesting that one of the individuals that he,

one of the people he appeared to individually was Peter. Why? Why is that significant? Well, because what did Peter do with Jesus? When Jesus was on trial, when, when Jesus could have used someone with him the most, what did Peter do? He denied that he even knew him three times after Jesus had already warned him. You're going to deny that you know me three times will not.

I don't know what these other knuckleheads are going to do, but I'm with you till death. Don't you know that Jesus guy? I've never heard of him, right? Three times. He denies them. And he shows up to Peter. He says, Hey Peter, we're good, bro. Right? Like I forgive you. I knew this was coming. I forgive you. And then he appears to the 12. When did he appear to the 12?

Well, first of all, in that upper room, when he shows up first of all, without Thomas there. And then second of all, with Thomas there. And remember Thomas, poor guy, he gets such a bad rap. They all doubted that Jesus was alive, but Thomas just took the longest of all of them. And so, and so the boys are like Thomas, you're gonna believe this. Jesus is alive.

And he's like, you're right. I'm not going to believe. That not until I could put my hands, my fingers in the holes in his hands, not until I could put my hand and the hole in his side, am I going to believe that that's Jesus and that he's alive. And so, so the next week, all the disciples are gathered in this upper room and Jesus shows up. He looks at Thomas and he says,

Tom, come here, go ahead. Put your fingers in there. Go, go ahead. It's okay. And Thomas just says, Lord, I believe. And after, he appears to the 12 on which he knows what it says after that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, obviously at the writing of first Corinthians, not, not right now, they're not still alive.

You need to know that most of them are still alive now, even though some have fallen asleep. In other words, as, as Paul is writing this to the Corinthian brothers, he says, you could go track these guys down and talk to them yourself. You could go ask them. And they would, they would swear on a, on a Bible, the Torah, they would have, they would have sworn on the writings of the elders that Jesus is alive.

But I love this next one. It says, and then he appeared to James. Now this James is not James, the apostle. This James is James, the brother of Jesus. See, Jesus had at least two half brothers. Their names were James and Jude. They would go on to write the epistles of James and Jude. But if you know anything about Jesus, his brothers during his time on earth,

you will know that Jesus, his brothers did not believe him. As a matter of fact, according to Mark chapter three, they thought Jesus had gone off the deep end. They, they showed up one day when Jesus was ministering to people so that they could take him because he's kind of gotten a little wacky in his thinking. He's kind of gotten a little bit crazy, right?

Okay. I don't want to see a show of hands. How many of y'all that have started walking with Jesus, the rest of your family thinks you're a little bit crazy now, right? Yeah, there it is. And they're like, come on, what are you doing? And you're like, no, you don't understand. I found Jesus and they show up and they just, they think he's crazy. Matter of fact,

and I think it's John chapter seven when it's time for Jesus to go or it's time for one of the feasts. And they tell Jesus, you should go down to the feast. He says, I can't say they want to take my life. And they're like, we know go to the feast. I mean, they did not like, but can you imagine growing up with Jesus? We've talked about that before, right? Can't you be more like your brother?

And yet Jesus appears specifically. To James. Why? Because he loved him. You can imagine the moment, right? Like, like Jesus is up there on the cross and James has to be going, look, man, I didn't mean it. Like, I know, I know you're crazy, but, but you're still my brother. Like the pain he probably would have gone through it. You can imagine him on that silent Saturday as he tried to attend the feast,

like he was supposed to, as he tried to go about the Saturday, Sabbath day as he was supposed to doing all the things in the temple and that that weight hanging on him of knowing how he treated his brother all that time. And maybe it turned out he was right. His brother really was crazy. And then all of a sudden he starts the next day to hear these reports that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

And he's going, dude, could that even be? And pretty soon Jesus shows up. Can you imagine that moment? What that must have been like? James, come here, buddy. And James has gone, man, I was so wrong. And Jesus said, it's okay, I forgive you, but now I've got a job for you to do. And James would go on to be a pillar of the early church. Church history tells us that James died of martyrs death for the name,

for the name of the man that he hated at one point in time for the man who shadow he used to live in. And now the man who would become the. that he would follow he would eventually refer to himself as james a bond slave of jesus he says he appeared also to james and then to all of the apostles then paul gets down to his own testimony of god's grace he says last of all as the one untimely born he appeared to me for i'm the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because i persecuted the church but by the grace of god i am when i am when when did jesus appear to paul i think there were two times one was on the road to emmaus when when or excuse me on the

road to damascus when when paul was saved when he said lord who are you and jesus said i am jesus whom you are persecuting aren't you tired of fighting so hard aren't you tired of fighting against me and he finally surrenders his life to jesus and then we're told in the book of galatians that paul spent time in the arabian desert where he was taught by jesus so that he could go on to deliver the message of the gospel in the way that he did he says but then he appeared to me whom the least of the apostles and not worthy to be called an apostle because i persecuted the church of god by the grace of god i am what i am i have a question for you has jesus appeared to you listen not in person i

understand that he's not in the business of doing that for the most part anymore but have you had an experience with the real jesus because maybe you are like one untimely born maybe maybe you are one who has been holding out for a very long time and you've never really had that encounter with jesus don't get me wrong you've had an encounter with church don't get me wrong you've had an encounter with church people don't get me wrong you've had an encounter with church people don't get me wrong that's on us don't don't get me wrong you've had encounters like that but you've never really encountered jesus and maybe today's that day for you he says but to me who am the least of the

apostles because i persecuted the church of god and i'm not fit to be called an apostle but he says this but by the grace of god i am what i am look if you're an underliner a highlighter you like to star things in your bible that would be a good one for you to underline to highlight to star because whether you are the apostle paul who used to persecute the church or whether are you the or whether you are just the average sinner who is desperately in need of a savior you too as a believer in jesus christ can say but by the grace of god i am what i am by the grace of god i stand before you today by the grace of god i got out of bed this morning and i get to celebrate the fact that jesus is alive because by the grace of god i am what i am

the gospel of the resurrection number two is the necessity of the resurrection jump down to verse 12 he says 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's no resurrection of the dead that not even christ has been raised and if christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and you're not going to be able to do that if you're not going to be able to 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 then not even christ has been raised and if christ has not

been raised then your faith is worthless you're still in your sins then 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 now we get to why paul wrote first corinthians chapter 15 you see the church in corinth though gifted had issues some of them were moral issues some of them were issues of division some of them were theological issues and one of the main theological issues that they faced is that many of them did not believe that there was a resurrection from the dead they thought you live this life you die that's it soul sleep right you just kind of drift into nothingness that was actually a a

a jewish sadducee teaching and there were two sects of jewish teaching one was very liberal they were the sadducees and they didn't believe in miracles they didn't believe in the resurrection one was very conservative they were the pharisees they were ones who believed in all those things but were incredibly strict in the way that they handled things just like there's a left and a right in the church today and somewhere in the middle is a biblical balance that you have to find but there was this teaching that was going around that there was no resurrection from the dead and quite frankly there was no resurrection from the dead frankly can i just say that sometimes in the church today we live as if there's no resurrection from the

dead sometimes i feel like in the church today we view christianity as just something to make your life better on this side of eternity to make you a little bit better of a person to make you a little bit nicer to make you a little bit happier so that you can enjoy world peace in your own apartment and just live life very happily and that's what christianity is forgetting that as a believer in jesus christ this is just the beginning this is a small part of the experience of what will be the rest of eternity in your life because there is a resurrection that follows that. But many of us live as if this is it. And so we live very hopeless lives. This is what they were doing in Corinth.

And so he corrects this. And he says, listen, you need to understand the implications if there is no resurrection because this has deep implications for your faith that actually makes your faith pointless. And that's what he starts off by saying. He says, first of all, you need to know that if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ has not been raised.

Then that's just not true. Jesus is still laying in a tomb somewhere and Jesus is not alive. Why are we celebrating today? Why are we gathering every Sunday morning? By the way, that's why the early church gathered on Sunday morning was to celebrate every Sunday the fact that Jesus is alive. He says, if there's no resurrection, then Jesus isn't alive. And what you need to understand is the second part of that is

if Jesus isn't alive, then our preaching and your faith is in vain. Our preaching and your faith is in vain. That word vain means empty and void of truth. Empty and void of truth. Can I just be honest and say that if there's no resurrection and Jesus isn't alive, I literally have the most pointless job of all. I am just a motivational speaker. And I don't always think I'm that motivational.

Right? Like that's all that I am. I'm here to be a cheerleader to say, go on and try harder this week and be a good person. I think that's what a lot of churches do. But that's not what's supposed to take place. What's supposed to take place is powerful preaching that declares the life of Jesus that's now coursing through you as a believer in Jesus Christ. But if Jesus isn't alive,

then our preaching is empty and void of truth. But so is your faith. I remember watching a commercial one time when I was in Bible college. I think it was Christopher, who did Superman? Who was Superman? Christopher Reeve, right? Yeah, I nailed that. And so he's in a wheelchair. And it broke my heart for him and for anybody listening to him. Because he was absolutely not a believer in Jesus Christ.

But in this commercial, he said, you just have to have faith. If you just have faith, you can move mountains. If you just have faith, you can overcome the impossible. You just have to have faith. And I remember the commercial ended and I thought, faith in what? You see, if there's nothing to put your faith in, then your faith is pointless, right? I always share the exact same illustration.

It's the best one I've got. So I just got done watching the Final Four last night. I could say I had faith in Arizona at one point in time, but that's not the point.

If I walk out here to this basketball goal right now, I could have all the faith in the world that I could dunk the basketball like that 7'4 player for Michigan. I could have all the faith. Lord, I just have faith. I have faith that I can dunk this basketball. And then I would get about six inches below the net, right? Because my faith isn't placed in anything good.

My faith is placed in my 5'6 body with a two-inch vertical leap. Sidebar, that 7'4 guy had a two-inch vertical leap too, but that's all he had to do to dunk the basketball. Can we just be a... Somebody goes, that guy is so athletic. I'm like, no, he's not. His feet barely left the ground. He didn't do it. Anyway, I digress. That's not... That's not faith. That's wishful thinking.

Faith is founded in something that is worthy of putting your faith in. And if Jesus isn't alive, then you have nothing worthy of putting your faith in. Our preaching is in vain. Your faith is in vain. He goes on to say, not only that, number three, but we are found to be false witnesses. In other words, we lied. Because we've been lying to you all these years that Jesus is alive.

You have to understand that the preaching of the apostles centered on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you look at the preaching of Peter, if you look at the preaching of Paul, if you look at the preaching of James, if you look at all of their preaching, go through the book of Acts and look at their sermons, and you will find that the center of all of their sermons was always on the fact that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is alive. Therefore, we're false witnesses. But then we come to the hardest part of all.

If there's no... If there's no resurrection, and Jesus isn't alive, you're still in your sins. And can I tell you that if I went back to 21-year-old Ryan, who believed that he was still in his sins, who struggled to believe that his sins had been taken off of him by the power of Jesus Christ through the cross, then you might not be looking at 45-year-old Ryan. Because that's how hopeless I felt.

And if I'm still in my sins, then life is definitely not worth living.

He says, as a matter of fact, if Jesus isn't alive, or if there's no resurrection and Jesus isn't alive, then all those who have fallen asleep are gone forever. And as somebody who's lost a lot, I can tell you what that would do to me to think that I will never see them again. Which is why he closes this statement like this. If our hope is in this, in this life only, then we are of all men the most to be pitied.

In other words, the entire world should look at the church and say, what a sorry bunch of losers because of their hope being in this world only. And when you think about the consequences of there being no resurrection and Jesus not being alive, it leaves us all with the hushed tone that we have right now, which is what makes, verse 20, one of the greatest verses in all of scripture. But now, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first fruits of those who are asleep.

For since by a man came death, by a man came the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But now, again, I have this, if you could look at my Bible, it is starred, it is underlined, it is underlined, it is underlined, I have it in parentheses, I have it highlighted because that, brothers and sisters, is the hope that we have. But now, Christ has been raised from the dead.

But now Jesus is alive. Therefore, everything that he just said is not true. Your faith is not empty. It is not void of truth. It's the most powerful thing that you've got because it is in the most powerful source that we have, the source of all life that overcame death. My preaching is not powerless. At least I hope not. Because I am preaching about the one who is alive

and the one who overcame death and who is the source of life. You are not in your sins. They have been wiped away by the blood of Jesus Christ, guaranteed through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have hope beyond this life because we have our hope in Christ. It says, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. And he refers to him as the first fruits of those,

who are raised from the dead. This is a very Jewish statement that we need to pay attention to. You see, there was a feast that began right after the feast of Passover. The end of the feast of Passover Sunday was called the feast of first fruits. And what they did is they would bring the first fruits of their harvest in and they would wave them before the Lord.

And it was thanking God for the harvest that was to come. They were thanking God for the harvest that they were looking forward to because that was the first fruits of the harvest. Jesus was raised from the dead on the day of first fruits because he was the wave offering before the Lord of what was to come, of the harvest that was to come. So what is the harvest to come?

We are. We are the harvest that is to come. We are the rest of the harvest that he has because as believers in Jesus Christ, we are waiting for those brand new bodies. We are the ones who have brand new life in us because Jesus was raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of all who would be raised from the dead. Why? Because Jesus brings life where there's death.

Notice what it says here. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. What did Adam bring into the world when he sinned? Well, Jesus, he was told, if you eat of the fruit, you will surely die. And in that moment, that's what took place. There was not only a physical death that began to work on his body, but there was an immediate spiritual death

that took place in his life, which is why there had to be a sacrifice for sin. As in one man came death, so through one man came life. For as in Adam, all die. Listen, we need to understand something. Death has a one-time effect. Death has a one-time effect. Death has a one-for-one ratio, right? It's still 100%. Well, it's 99.99% because of, you know, Elijah and Enoch, right?

So anyway, 99.9%. It's winning. And each of us is going to have to face it. And we can either face it in our flesh and face eternal death, or we can face it in Christ, and it's just a translation to a new body. As in, as in Adam, all die. Okay? So in Christ, all will be made alive. Can I give you an illustration? I've shared this lots of times before, but I think it's a great illustration for this moment.

When I was about 14, maybe 15 years old, we drove down to Florida for a spring break. And kind of one of those times in life where God was starting to move in my life. I wasn't quite ready to surrender to it yet, but God was starting to kind of move in my life. And I remember us driving, and I've always been a long guy, and I loved just the rolling pasture land.

And it was in the time when they were burning all of that off. And so they burned off all this pasture land down in Oklahoma, and everything was just charred and black. And I just remember thinking, man, that's such a bummer. It was so pretty at one point in time, and now there's just nothing there. It's just death. Well, we drove down to Florida, and it rained a bunch while we were down there.

And on our way back, I looked out on those same fields, and where there was at one point in time, nothing but charred, there was little green stuff starting to pop up through. And I remember in that moment, it's one of the first times I remember feeling like the Lord ministered something to my heart. I felt like the Lord said, I bring life where there's death. There's a great song.

I can't think of who sings it right now. But the line goes like this. He grows his roses on our barren soil. Because that's what God does when he brings life into our lives. He brings life where there's death. There is death. And that's the victory that we have in him, is that he is alive. And because he lives, we now live. And we have not only hope on this side of eternity,

but we have the hope on the other side of eternity. Matter of fact, I want to go one more place here in 1 Corinthians 15. Let's jump all the way to the end. Let's look at verse 53. Verse 53, it says this. For this perishable must put on imperishable. This mortal must put on imperishable. This mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable,

and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. You see, he says, first of all, that there is a victorious hope that we have eternally. He says, this perishable, that's these bodies that we live in now, must put on imperishable, something that will never die. This mortal, which is these bodies that we live in now, must put on immortality.

That's something that will live forever. Then will come about the saying, O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Right? Because he tells us that the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. What does he mean by the sting of death is sin? Well, sin calls for condemnation. Sin in the life of an individual calls for condemnation.

That's the rest of the world with no hope in Jesus as they are condemned to eternal death because that's what sin calls for. The law calls for judgment. You see, sin is who we are. The law reveals who we are. And it says, now you have to be judged because of the sin that you have in your life. But God gives victory in Christ. He gives victory because of Jesus bearing our sin for us.

He declares victory when he raised him from the dead. And now there is no sting for the believer in death. Oh, don't get me wrong. We miss the people. We miss the people that we love. But I hold on to the hope that they are alive more than ever. I mean, I hate to keep going back to this same thing, but I'm just going to say it again. The one thought that I had

when my dad took the last breath on this side of eternity is that I know that he took his first breath on the other side of eternity and he opened up his eyes and he saw clearly for the first time ever because he had victory in Christ. But our hope is not just a distant hope. Our hope is also a here and now hope because I want you to notice what he says. Therefore, my beloved brethren, and this is the last word I want to leave you guys with.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Therefore, my brethren, what does he mean by therefore? Therefore, since we have, since we have been saved by the gospel, therefore, since we stand in the gospel, therefore, since Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, therefore, since he now lives to declare that the victory has been won, therefore, since death has been dealt with, the sting of death has been dealt with and sin has been overcome, therefore, be steadfast and immovable. Don't let all of the things of the world rock you back and forth.

Don't let your life be swayed by every new thing that comes along. Be steadfast and immovable. I just told some kids, two different, three different, I don't know, some different kids, a story this week about Jesus saying, he who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a man who has built his house upon the rock. The winds came, the rain came down, the winds blew, the storm beat on that house, but it stood because its foundation was strong.

Be steadfast and immovable. The diagnosis is gonna come. The financial issue is gonna happen. The relationship is gonna get broken, but Jesus will never change. And you can hold yourself firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. Therefore, be steadfast and immovable. The second thing he says is to abound in the work of the Lord. In other words, take this truth,

translate it into your life. Take the truth of who you are in Christ and let that translate into every aspect of the way that you live. Abounding in the work of the Lord. Abounding in what you walk away from because you can't abound in the work of the Lord if you are also doing the work of the flesh. Abounding in what you walk away from, but then abounding in what you walk into

because God has a work for every single person in this church to do, and he can't wait to see you do it, but he wants you to work in it. He wants you to do what he's called for you to do. He wants you to take this message of the gospel. He wants you to take this foundation that you stand on and allow it to empower every part of your life. I have loved what I've seen in all of these athletes.

I watched two. Two moderately good games last night. And it was fascinating to wake up this morning and I follow some things where they do interviews with Christian athletes and whether they were players from the teams that won or whether they were players from the teams that lost. They gave testimony to the truth. It was one of the players for Arizona. I've lost his name right now.

But he said, I'm not here to play basketball, which thank God, because last night he wasn't. But that's terrible. I should not have said that. That was bad. He said, I'm not here to play basketball. I'm here to give out the gospel. That's what it means by abound in the work of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, we have got to understand you are not here to build a 401k.

You are not here to build as many properties as you possibly can. You are not here to be the greatest athlete in the world. You are not here to be the greatest musician, the greatest engineer. You're not here for any of those things. You're here to spread the gospel. God's put you in those places so that you can do that. God's made you an engineer. God's made you an engineer because there's other engineers

that need to hear the word of God from somebody besides me. God has made you a musician because he wants you to be a musician who spreads the word of God. God has put you in the place that you're in so that you can live abounding in the work of the Lord. But notice the last thing he says. You need to know and understand something. And this is a word for me too.

I want you to know that. Your labor is not in vain. Your labor is not in vain. I will always tell the story of what we would probably consider the least successful prophet that ever lived. The least successful prophet that ever lived was a guy by the name of Jeremiah. I've always found myself somewhat related to Jeremiah because he was the weeping prophet. But Jeremiah had zero converts.

As a matter of fact, they just kept putting him in jail. Nobody was converted through the ministry of Jeremiah. And if you don't know the rest of the story, you would say his labor was in vain. But you see, way down the road, there would be a prophet named Daniel who said, I was reading in the words of Jeremiah the prophet, and I discerned according to the times that the time was near for Israel to go home.

And so I began. I began to pray. See, I bet he thought his labor was in vain until he got home. Until God said, no, it wasn't. You see my boy Daniel? See what he's got going on here? You know what he's reading? You. Your labor is not in vain. So continue to work. Continue to go. Continue to pursue the Lord and what God has for you. Because if you serve a risen Savior,

your labor is never in vain. Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, you're so good to us. Thank you for today, what we get to celebrate. Lord, I thank you that we get to gather with family and friends and do fun things like Easter egg hunts and ironically eat ham and all those kinds of things, Lord. But Lord, at the heart of it all is what we really celebrate today, and that's the fact that we have a risen Savior. And so Lord, may that truth sink deeply into our hearts.

May the message, the message of who you are, what you did, and the fact that you are always alive to make intercession for us, Lord. May it be the foundation that we continue to build our lives upon. And Lord, as we continue to pursue you, may we not grow weary in well-doing. But Lord, may we continue to seek you with our whole hearts. And so Father, be with us as we go out from this place.

Minister to hearts as you see fit. In Jesus' name, amen. I love you all. Jesus loves you more. And I surrender and trust.

We come to you this morning, Lord. And Lord, if there's anybody here this morning that has never surrendered their life to you, I pray that today would be the day. Today would be the day of salvation. And Father God, we just thank you for your word this morning, Lord. We thank you that you are alive, that you are our first fruits, the guarantee of our resurrection too.

And so Lord, we just thank you. We praise you. We give you all honor and glory. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful, wonderful week. God bless you guys.