He is RISEN

Introduction

Well, as I’m sure most of you know, we announced last Lord’s Day that in the near future we will be leaving you and moving, and we’ve received various responses from that. Many of you have shed tears and given us hugs and already given us cards. Make of this next statement what you will. Joyce has given us a ton of cardboard boxes. So I don’t know what that means. But a part of the process and the uncomfortable process of moving is that you start culling stuff, stuff that you probably should have thrown out a long time ago. And some stuff’s harder to part with than others, but I’ve decided to part with some of my old school yearbooks. I realize I haven’t looked at them for years, and I and I need to keep the one from my graduating year.

That one seems to see something you hang on to. But all those other ones from my freshman and sophomore year, I don’t need those. And so I decided to a little reluctantly so, but decided I don’t need to be moving those again, and so I was going to throw those out. But before I did, I wanted to walk down memory lane one last time and look at them. And I’m sure your practice was much like mine is at toward the end of the school year when you’d get those yearbooks, you’d have people sign your annual. And in the younger years, not when you got to be a junior and a senior, but in those younger years, you’d even have your teacher sign your yearbooks. Did y’all do that?

Maybe it was just me. And I had one inscription that kind of sums up, and you know many stories that I’ve shared with you about my school days, and this one kind of summed up my school days. It was Mrs. Schadinger signed my yearbook, and she signed it, Kenneth, because that’s my name. And she says, Kenneth, you’re by far the most annoying student I’ve ever had. But without a doubt, my favorite. And so that kind of summed up, I think, I hope, my school experience. I I viewed it much more as a social engagement than I did an educational engagement. And that brings us to our opening illustration. I can remember one assignment that I failed. And I failed because I only completed half the task.

And I completed what I thought was the entire assignment. And my memory serves, that may be flawed, but my memory serves that I did pretty good on the part that I did. But I failed to notice that there was writing on the back of the page. And probably the teacher had mentioned that, but I wasn’t real good at listening. And so I completed the front part of the sheet, and again, memory serves me, I did pretty good on that. And to be honest, I could have done perfect on that front part. But by failing to do the back part of that, that would have just been 50%, and back then, and I’m sure still now 50% is a failing grade. So I failed that assignment because I just did half of it.

And there’s so many spiritual applications to that, aren’t there? That just half isn’t enough. We can make a spiritual application that being half of a Christian is not enough. The New Testament tells us that being a Christian, being a child of God means that we’re to put off the old man, that’s half, and put on the new man. And I fear that sometimes we’re real good at that first half of trying to put off the old man, and we do poorly at turning the page over and doing the second part of that assignment, putting on the new man, becoming renewed and being like God in Christ Jesus. But I think there’s another way in which maybe we fail in emphasizing the second part of the equation.

We’ve spent half of our worship assembly this morning appropriately, focusing on the death of Jesus Christ. And please don’t take anything that I say this morning as an attempt to de emphasize the death of Christ. I would never do that.

Because his death, as monumental as and important it is to our relationship, would have accomplished nothing if that tomb had not been found empty. And so is his death essential to our salvation and our relationship to Jesus Christ? Absolutely it was. But just and equally as essential was his resurrection. And we need to emphasize that part of that equation. And so let’s not just look at the front part of that sheet and emphasize the death and the burial of Jesus Christ without turning the page in Scripture and emphasizing as Scripture would, that he is risen. And so let’s do that with the second part of our worship this morning. We’ve emphasized through the Lord’s Supper His death, and now let’s emphasize the other side of that sheet, his resurrection.

He is risen.

1. The Old Testament Foretold the Resurrection

Jesus and those New Testament preachers would emphasize, we’ve just concluded a study of the book of Acts here in the auditorium class last quarter, and we noticed over and over again that Peter and Paul and those first century preachers would emphasize to us their Jewish audiences. Why are you surprised by any of this? The old covenant, the old law talked about all of this. It talked about the suffering servant. It talked about Jesus, and it talked about his resurrection. Look at that first sermon in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. To that Jewish audience on the day of Pentecost. Peter, in talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, would yes point them to the empty tomb, yes, point them to the eyewitnesses of his bodily resurrection, but also would point them further back to the Old Testament prophecy.

This was prophesied. Acts chapter 2. Begin reading with me in verse 25. For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. For he’s at my right hand, and that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope. You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. For you have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Peter points past the empty tomb, past the eyewitnesses, and says, David talked about this in the Old Testament, Psalm 16. And he will go on to explain, Peter, the preacher on this day, that yes, it sounds like David’s talking about himself, but it’s obviously that he it’s obvious that he could not be.

2. The Resurrection Is the Foundation of the Gospel

That he was actually talking prophetically about one of his descendants, Jesus Christ, that his flesh, his body, did not corrupt and decay in that tomb, his body was raised, and that his soul was not remained, did not remain unseen, did not stay in Hades, that they reunited and were resurrected. The old testament foretold of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We need to also recognize, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that much like Jesus’ death, his resurrection is the foundation of the gospel story. As you’re turning to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we’ll start there at the beginning of that chapter here in just a second. You recognize that the word gospel really means good news, the declaration of the good news, and it probably maybe more specifically means the good news of the coming king.

That a king is coming, and he will reign in his kingdom. And the very foundation of that good news is that this would happen.

3. The Resurrection Is Remembered and Memorialized

That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Point your arrow back to our first point. Those scriptures are the Old Testament scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. The death of Jesus Christ is the front page of that gospel message, but the back page, equally as important, is that he was raised from the dead. The good news is that this king has come and that he’s died, was buried, and was raised again. That’s our gospel. That’s our good news by which we can be saved. The resurrection is remembered and memorialized by us today. We’re meeting on Sunday. And that’s not because many of us have this day off from work. It’s not because it falls on the weekend.

It’s not because this is the Christian Sabbath. There is no such day.

And surely, surely it’s no coincidence that it was on this day of the week that that tomb was found empty. That Jesus rose from the dead. And that might explain why in the Revelation letter, John refers to, we believe he’s referring to this day as the Lord’s day. It’s also memorialized to a lesser degree than the death, but still memorialized, I believe, in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus, when he instituted that Lord’s Supper, we won’t turn over there, but you remember in Matthew chapter 26, when he instituted that Lord’s Supper, Jesus told those first participants that he would participate in this supper with them anew. That was again foreshadowing his resurrection. This is the last meal he would eat with them before he died. But I’m going to eat with you again.

It’s memorialized in baptism. In Romans chapter 6, he tells us that all Christians have been baptized into his death. Baptism is a burial. But we don’t just die and are buried in baptism, but we’re raised again. Resurrection is an integral part of baptism.

Baptism is more than symbolic. Something real is taking place.

4. The Resurrection Is the Basis of Our Hope

As Romans 6 tells us, we’re connecting to his death and the efficacy of his death. But there is symbolism in baptism. That action symbolizes the death, the burial, and the resurrection. It attaches us in both a symbolic as well as in a very real way, attaches us to the death, yes, but also to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because as Paul would tell us in baptism, not only do we put to death the old man, but we arise to walk in newness of life. And the power of Jesus’ resurrection is also seen that it’s the basis of our hope. Paul would argue again in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If your Bible’s not already open there, would you join me back in 1 Corinthians chapter 15? Paul’s going to argue in this chapter about the resurrection, that this is the basis of our hope.

It’s the foundation really of everything we do, he says. In fact, so much so that he would say, if it were not for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we’re wasting our time. See if that’s not the gist of what he says in 1 Corinthians 15. Let’s pick up the reading in verse 12. Now, if Christ, 1 Corinthians 15, 12, now if Christ is preached that he has not been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there’s no resurrection of the dead? But if there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. And your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God. Let’s pause there. We, the apostles and the others that he talked about earlier in the chapter, who were eyewitnesses of that resurrection, who claim to see his bodily resurrection, then we’re all just liars.

Because we’ve testified, again, verse 15, we’ve testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You’re still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we’ve hoped in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

And therefore inseparably connected to our Christianity and the essence of our relationship to God, Jesus Christ, our faith, and everything. So much so that he says, if you pull out the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this whole thing comes crumbling down. And we might as well just quit and go home. Because it means nothing if he is not risen. But thanks be to God. He is risen. And our faith is not futile. Paul and those eyewitnesses were not lying. Their preaching, our preaching is not in vain. Our faith, our Christianity, our baptism, our partaking of the Lord’s Supper, our meeting together on Sunday is all built upon the solid foundation of that empty tomb. And my hope, my hope, that this life isn’t all there is, is built on that as well.

5. Our Hope of the Resurrection

And so in the time that we have left, let’s talk about that hope and how it is so connected to the resurrection. Our hope of the resurrection is so connected to his resurrection. Let’s continue in 1 Corinthians 15 and in verse 35. The apostle says, but someone will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Now, bear with me. You know as well as I do that that 1 Corinthians was written in reply to some communication to some letters that the church had written to Paul. I sometimes liken it to finding a box of shoebox full of letters in your grandma’s attic. Grandma’s passed away, you’re cleaning out her house, and you find a shoebox full of letters. And being the nosy person that you are, you sat down in that attic and you began to read those letters, and you’re trying to figure some things out.

And you maybe can figure something, you can figure out, oh, well, based upon the communication, these were written during World War II. I can tell by some things that are said here that this dates those. First thing you can tell, the postmark on the outside, because you know you’re smart that way. But some other things in the letter tell you about those things. And you can tell that maybe you can find some names. Oh, I I know that that I have an uncle by that name. That’s probably talking about my uncle. But you’re at a disadvantage. You’re at a disadvantage because these letters were written before you were born. You don’t know a lot of these people. You maybe have heard of some of these people.

You’re also at a further disadvantage. This is the way letters work back in those days. Unlike emails and text, you only got one side of the conversation. You don’t have the letters your grandma sent. You just got the letters she received. And so you have to piece together from this half of the communication, what the other half may be said. That’s kind of what we’re doing in 1 Corinthians. Paul is answering questions and replying to letters, and so we don’t know, we don’t have the letters that the church and Chloe’s household sent to Paul. And so we have to do a little bit of detective work.

Either Christ or our future resurrection are a combination of both. And now, based upon verse 35, that maybe those same people are maybe another group of people weren’t so much questioning the existence of a resurrection as they might be in our camp. They maybe were scratching their head and saying, okay, there’s a resurrection, but I can’t wrap my mind around it. Because all I know is this. I can’t understand that. And so somebody says, verse 35, how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? I get Lazarus. He was just dead for a few days. And even Jesus, he was dead for three days. But even that, how do you raise up a dead person? That’s that’s not how science works. But okay, Lazarus, Jesus dead for a few days.

But what are you gonna do with Moses and Abraham? Adam and Eve, Noah. Okay, if if I can accept God can raise people from the dead, but how’s he gonna raise decayed flesh and bones? Dust. Foolish one, verse 36. What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain. Paul says, you’re not thinking about this right from the beginning. That body that was put in the tomb is not going to be the same body that’s raised up. And he likes it to grain or to seed. You plant a seed in the ground, and a plant comes up, and you compare what that seed looked like to what that stalk of grain or that tree or that plant looks like, and they bear very little, sometimes no resemblance to the other.

That’s the resurrection. And he says, that’s the first thing you need to accept. That the body that’s going to be raised up is not the body you put in the ground. Think of it as a seed. You plant an apple seed. An apple seed doesn’t pop up out of the ground, does it? A tree comes out. Looks nothing like that seed. And so he says, first, just accept that. What you put in the ground is going to look nothing like what grows out of it. But, verse 38, but God gives it a body as he pleases. And to each seed its own body.

God’s got this. The same God who can take an apple seed and make a giant tree out of it. He can handle this. You can’t understand it. But God can do it. All flesh is not the same flesh. But there’s one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another flesh of fish, and another of birds. So think of it this way, he says. Even on this earth there’s different kinds of bodies. God can make different kinds of bodies, can’t he? And so he can make different kinds of bodies. Can he? And I think he’s going here in our minds as well. He can make bodies that are suited for their environment. A bird is perfectly suited for its environment. A fish bears little resemblance to a bird, but it’s perfectly suited for its underwater environment.

And so God’s going to make a body that’s suited for that environment. This body is not suited for that environment. There are celestial bodies, verse 40, and terrestrial, that is heavenly and earthly bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is other. Glory might confuse us a little bit. I think he’s just saying the advantages, the benefits of one is different than the other. The glory of the sun, the glory of the moon, one, another glory of the stars, another star differs from another star in glory. I think again the point of these is twofold. Number one is there’s different things, and God has made different things, different bodies, different objects that are perfectly suited for their job and their location, and he can do that with us a body for here and a body for there.

But also God that can do that can take care of this, even though you and I can’t fathom how he can do it, because I can’t fathom how he can make a fish and a bird. Verse 42, there’s also the resurrection of the dead.

Now, a little bit of a challenge for Bible students. We see the word corruption, we think maybe spiritual.

Talking about physical.

And this is not necessarily, I don’t think, talking about the decay that takes place after death. Certainly it involves and includes that. You get to a certain age, and you realize this body starts to decay and break down even before. At a certain point, this body goes out of warranty, and parts start failing.

But it’s reaped in incorruption. That new body is not going to be like this body. It’s not going to have the problems that this body had. And so the first thing I get from this hope of the resurrection is this gives meaning and mechanics to the statement this same apostle would say to his Thessalonian brethren when he said to those Christians who had lost fellow Christians. When he said, We do not sorrow as those who do not have hope.

And we don’t sorrow like the rest. Because we know this.

Weakness. It’s raised in power. It’s sown a natural body. It’s raised a spiritual body. There’s also a natural body. There’s also a spiritual body. As it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam, that’s Jesus, became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth made of dust, the second man was the Lord of heaven. As the man of dust, so also those who are made of dust. In other words, the first man, Adam, we’re all his descendants. We were made naturally, physically, we have bodies like his. So also we bear the image of the heavenly. Jesus was that second Adam, that second man, the spiritual, we are made like him.

There’s the spiritual side of man who will live on. And as we have borne the image of the dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. Now, this I say, verse 50, brethren, the flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Again, flesh and blood, corruption is not talking about spiritual things.

And I’m going to tell you, the older you get, and the more doctors’ visits you have, and the more pain you experience, and the more loss you experience, the more willing you are to give up this body, this body of weakness and dishonor and corruption. And the more you long for that which you have only because he is risen. And so he will conclude. Death, where is your sting? Hades, where’s your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory to our Lord Jesus Christ. Is there still death? Yes. Is there still some sting involved with that? Yes. We’re just human after all. But it loses its true sting and his true victory.

Conclusion

Because he is risen. Because there is heaven. This isn’t so bad. Because there is hope. And there is victory. Yes, in the death of Christ, but also in his resurrection. Would you mimic that death, burial, and resurrection? Would you connect with that death, burial, and resurrection this morning? If there’s anything that we can do to give you or to reunite you to that living hope, let it be known right now as together we stand and as we sing.