Alrighty. We're still in our study of soteriology, which is the study of salvation. And tonight we get the honor, we get the privilege of studying the resurrection. And so I'm sure all of us know about the resurrection. We have to know about it. We have to believe in it in order to be saved. But I pray that we would learn something new tonight. or that we would leave with a heart of gratefulness. Gratefulness that God was willing to manifest himself in his son, Jesus Christ, to become fully man, but yet fully God, and to die on the cross and be resurrected from the grave. That ought to humble us to the greatest extent. So the study of soteriology, the resurrection. We're going to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Tonight, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 19, and you will notice if you study any kind of systematic theology, what we do is we look at a doctrine, we look at a teaching, and then we look at all the passages concerning that teaching. So tonight it's the resurrection, and we're going to glean a lot of the truth that we'll look at from 1 Corinthians 15. some other passages as we come through our material. First Corinthians chapter fifteen. Gonna read a rather lengthy passage through verse nineteen to get us going. The Bible says, moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand. By which also ye are saved if you keep in memory what I have preached unto you and unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, after that he was seen above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. There's a lot in this passage about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it's that we want to focus on tonight. Bow with me as we ask the Lord to bless our study together. Father, we come to you once again on this Wednesday night prayer service, and Lord, we're praying that you would teach us. Lord, we're not praying for an audible voice. We're not praying for someone to speak your word to us. We're going to your word. We're going to the source. Lord, we want to hold to the Sola Scriptura principle and make it our baseline from which we know you. Make it our baseline from which we learn about the resurrection. Lord, be with us now as we study this important doctrine. And Father, in my prayer, if there's anybody here who has not truly said, Lord, I pray that tonight would be a spiritual birthday. Lord, it's in your son's name that we pray. Amen. If we was to give a question and answer, which is what we do a lot with systematic theology, if you've ever studied about what Martin Luther did with all the kids in his community, he would all the time have these questions and answers like our catechisms. And so he would do that day after day, day after day until these kids would learn. So an easy question and answer about the resurrection, the question being, what does Christ's resurrection prove? And the answer is, Christ's resurrection proves the gospel true and life giving. Christ's resurrection proves the gospel true and life giving. So if we think about the resurrection, the first thing we want to consider is how that scripture confirms the resurrection. This is number one on your outline. Scripture confirms the resurrection. If you look as Paul opened up this passage in 1 Corinthians 15, he starts off by reminding believers at Corinth of what he was taught. He says, beginning in verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, And then verse three, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. And so we see here Paul was declaring to them and really the whole world as we have first Corinthians in our hand today, he was declaring that this gospel message, the same message that changed his life, the same message that changed our life, the same message that we want to share with the world, he was declaring that he come to know the Lord through this gospel message. The message is the gospel, the good news, the cure for the incurable disease of sin. And then Paul goes on in this passage, and I love it, he clearly articulates what the gospel is. In verse 3 he says, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, and here it is, how that Christ died for our sins according to what? To the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The gospel message is a rather simple, but deeply profound message. It's the best news ever given. It is the most necessary command ever commanded. It's a concrete message that cannot change. The gospel is objective truth that is not subject to what we think, or where we go or what we say. The gospel is the gospel no matter what and that's what the Apostle Paul is getting at. It is the good news that Christ died for our sins. that Christ was resurrected on that third day. This message was coming from God through the Apostle Paul into those who were listening as likely. This letter was read by the pastor there at the Corinth Church. That's amazing how the Lord works, how He works through men. Hence, the Holy Spirit inspired them to write the Scriptures, then we have them today. It's amazing. He says repeatedly in verses 3 and 4, according to the Scriptures. Why did the Apostle Paul always go back to the Scriptures? Why was he saying this? Well, he wanted more confirmation given to the people of the validity and the effects of the Gospel message than just mere words out of his mouth. I want to key in. on verse 4, when Paul follows up the resurrection with this conformational phrase of according to the scriptures. And as we look at that phrase, I want to give us a sub-point, 1A. We want to consider how that the Old Testament confirms the resurrection. The Old Testament confirmation of the resurrection. What scriptures was Paul referring to? Well, he was referring to the scriptures that he had either been taught through the Jewish school that he had went through, which was the Old Testament by those rabbis, or the time that he spent with Christ before he started his ministry after his conversion. Either way, we're talking about clear fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy. Paul confirms the Old Testament confirmation of the resurrection in passages like Psalm 2 and verse 7. I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. In Psalm 16, it says, Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee. But to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight, their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen into me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope, for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In Thy presence is the fullness of joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. The Apostle Peter keys in on some Old Testament confirmations there in his message on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 25. It says, For David speaking concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me speak freely unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him, that the first fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. Seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses." Peter was connecting the Old Testament to the New Testament in what he was saying. All of these passages, and there's several more, speak to the confirmation of this resurrection that would come years So you have an Old Testament confirmation of the resurrection and then of course we have the New Testament. The New Testament confirms the resurrection. We see that multiple times in our passage. 1 Corinthians 15 beginning in verse 5. says then that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. So what Paul does here in 1 Corinthians 15 is he gives us six different instances, six different times in which we have eyewitness accounts. And if you want to know the number, how many were there, there's 14 total in the scriptures, 14 total eyewitnesses accounts. Paul keys in on six of these. here in this passage of these post-resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ. This is confirming that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead because there was a lie circulating. about Jesus Christ, if you remember, and his resurrection there in the first century. Now, I want to consider each one of these that Paul mentions here in this passage. The first one we want to look at is in verse 5. Paul says that he was seen of Cephas. When did that happen? That was in Luke chapter 24 and verse 34. It says, saying, the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon. So the Apostle Paul is alluding back to this passage in Luke. He's saying the Lord really did appear after he was resurrected to Simon. Next, Paul says the resurrected Christ was seen by the 11 disciples in the second part of verse 5, and we see that That instance, that occurrence in Mark 16 verse 14 says, And then if you look at verse 6 of 1 Corinthians 15, It says, after that, he was seen above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain in this present, but some are fallen asleep. Now this account isn't recorded in the Gospels. we see it's only here Paul goes on to say in verse 7 after that he was seen of James again this is a post-resurrection appearance of Christ that is only recorded here in verse 15 with James and with James and the 500 brethren In the second part of verse 7, Paul says, then of all the apostles. This is recorded in Luke 24, beginning of verse 50. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he parted from them and carried up into heaven. and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. That same account is recorded in Acts chapter 1 as well and you can look at that passage is verses 4 through 11. If you look back to verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul closes out this section with another confirmation in the New Testament of these post-resurrection appearances. It says in verse 8, and last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. That's speaking of Paul's encounter with Christ there on the road to Damascus. It's recorded multiple times in the book of Acts. We first see it in Acts chapter 9. We've got that passage in our handout. Acts chapter 9 in verse 6, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he be found any of this way, Whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he journeyed to go get Christians. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus. And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth, and a voice sang unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. The Apostle Paul had an encounter with Jesus Christ. It changed his life forever, and this was after the resurrection. So we have passages in the Old Testament, passages in the New Testament, all confirming the resurrection. Next, let's look at how the resurrection proves Christ's power. The resurrection proves Christ's power. Romans chapter 1 verse 16 says, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Paul builds upon this passage here in 1 Corinthians 15, upon that thought given in Romans 1. And what he does in 1 Corinthians 15 is he gives some what-if statements. What if statements that demonstrate how crucial it is for us as believers to believe? This is proof positive of the power of the gospel. And so let's consider some details about what the resurrection proves. First of all, this is 2A, the resurrection proves the gospel's essentialness. The resurrection proves the gospel's essentialness. Look back with me to verse 14. It says, and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. In verse 16, Paul says, for if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. The Apostle Paul is saying that if there is no resurrection, then the faith that we have in Christ is worthless. It's empty. It's vain. It means nothing. Paul goes on to say in verse 15, Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not. Friends, if there's no resurrection, there's no gospel. And if there's no gospel, there's no salvation. If there's no salvation, there's no spending eternity with our Savior in heaven. Paul closes out. this thought there in verse 19 when he says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Christ is saying that if Christ never arose, the faith we have in him would reach no further than wishful thinking. The resurrection proves the gospel's essentialness. Next, the resurrection proves Christ's atoning death. It proves Christ's atoning death. If you look back to verse 17 of our passage in 1 Corinthians 15, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain. ye are yet in your sins, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Paul was saying that if there's no resurrection, there's no atonement, which means that our sins would not be permanently paid for, which means we would still be living in our sins. Paul goes on to say in verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. With no resurrection, we would be the most miserable people in the world because our faith would be nothing but words. It would be nothing but wishful thinking. It would be nothing than what the other religions around the world, false religions, believe. They're believing in things that don't exist. And that's what would happen if it wasn't for the resurrection. The resurrection proves Christ's atoning death. So the resurrection proves Christ's power. How? It proves the gospel's essentialness. It proves Christ's atoning death. And then 2C, the resurrection proves the gospel's effectiveness. It proves the gospel's effectiveness. We didn't read all the way to verse 55 of 1 Corinthians 15, but I want to do that now. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 55, says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable. always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Here Paul is describing the victory we have. Why? Because of the resurrection. He is laying out how effective the gospel is. The gospel has power over death, Satan, sin. All three of these things we can't fix. We can't battle Satan. Even Michael the archangel in the book of Jude Battled Satan in the name of Jesus Christ We're no match for Satan We need God's power death will come Friends the gospel which includes the glorious resurrection has defeated death, Satan and sin once and for all. The gospel is effective. So we've looked at how the scriptures confirm the resurrection both Old Testament and new. We've considered how the resurrection proves Christ's power and that power comes through the gospel to us. The gospel is essential. Now let's look at how the resurrection proves eternal life exists. It proves eternal life exists. You know, if you think about a promise, a promise is great. But what's even greater is the proof of a promise. It can't get any better than that. And that's what we have in the Word of God. We have both a promise of eternal life, and then we have the resurrection that is the proof of that promise. When we consider how the resurrection of our Lord is really proof positive of eternal life, two things come to mind as a result of that. First of all, Christ's resurrection gives us confidence of eternal life. Christ's resurrection gives us confidence of eternal life. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18. says that he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in all things he might have the preeminence. Now that phrase, the firstborn among the dead, means that Christ was the first chronologically to be resurrected from the dead. This gives us confidence. Why? Because the Lord has gone before us. He was resurrected first. So if the Lord can be raised from the dead, He can raise those of whom He has promised to raise from the dead. His resurrection, you could say, is the down payment of the promise of our future resurrection, which is proof positive that eternal life exists. Christ's resurrection gives us confidence in eternal life. Next, Christ's resurrection gives us hope. eternal life. It gives us hope. Paul keys in on this in verse 20 of 1st Corinthians 15 verse 20 through 22. He says, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that sleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." Friends, even those that have slept, They're not lost forever, as some false religions might claim. We can have a sure hope of seeing our saved loved ones, our saved family members again one day. Why? Because they, through their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, have life given from who? The first one that was resurrected, Jesus Christ. And we can experience that hope when we place our faith and trust in our resurrected Lord. This is the best proof that eternal life exists. It's the best hope that's available that we could ever have. So scripture confirms The resurrection, both the Old Testament and the New, the resurrection proves Christ's power. The resurrection proves eternal life exists. It gives us confidence and a hope of a future resurrection. Now how do we apply this passage? How do we apply it? Three quick points of application. Three quick points. First of all, we must believe in the resurrection. We must believe. Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10, probably the most clearest passage about the essentialness of the resurrection. Now, the resurrection is an essential doctrine. An essential doctrine is a doctrine that determines heaven or hell. where you go, and what you believe in. So if we look at Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Crystal clear. The resurrection, belief in the resurrection is necessary to be saved. We must believe in the resurrection. Secondly, we must appreciate the resurrection. We must appreciate the resurrection. I ran across this list, and I love this list. After I read it, you just had to sit back and thank, thank you, Lord. for your son who is resurrected. This is a list that came out of MacArthur systematic, a summary of systematic theology, a little handbook that we use. And this is some glorious results of the resurrection. And this is a list of 20. I'll go through them quickly. The resurrection fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. The resurrection fulfilled Jesus' own predictions. The resurrection confirmed the Son's deity. The resurrection exalted the Father by manifesting or revealing His perfections. The resurrection demonstrated the perfection of the Son's obedience to the Father's will. The resurrection proved that the Father accepted the Son's atoning work and sacrificial death. The resurrection provided regeneration for the elect. The resurrection assured believers will not perish due to their sins. The resurrection secured justification of believers, assuring them that they will never stand condemned before God. The resurrection opened the way for Christ to send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers in a form the church had never experienced before. The resurrection declared Christ as the head of the church and the ruler of creation. The resurrection established God's pattern of spiritually raising believers from spiritual death in their trespasses. The resurrection motivated spiritual living of believers and assured them of being in Christ with glory one day. The resurrection mandate validated fruitful service for Christ. The resurrection established the first day of the week to be set aside for worshiping Christ together with a local assembly of believers. The resurrection provided an unshakable foundation for the hope for God to be fulfilled with His promise. The resurrection guarantees a future resurrection life for all believers. The resurrection is a confirmation of the future fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. The resurrection is a guarantee that Christ will judge the world. The resurrection glorifies and exalts the Son with the glory He once shared with His Father. This list is concluded with this statement. It says, and I quote, there exists no greater event in redemption history than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So when you think about everything the resurrection accomplished, we must appreciate it. It must humble us. And then lastly, we must share the truth of the resurrection. Since belief in the resurrection is necessary for salvation, Since the Great Commission commands that we make disciples, since Acts 1-8 commands that we be witnesses both near and far, since we are supposed to have a deep compassion and a heartfelt desire that the lost come to Christ, the only logical response to the resurrection is to share the message, is to share the cure with everyone who leads our way. So the question is, What will we do with the truth we consider? Will we believe it? Will we continue to believe it? Will we appreciate the resurrection? Will we share resurrection, truth, or will we sin? Sin by not believing. Sin by not sharing. Sin by not appreciating. It comes down to us. A lot of times it's from the shoulders to the hair on top of our heads. whether we're going to be obedient or not, and I pray that we will. Father, we thank you for tonight. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that he died for our sins according to the scriptures. Lord, we thank you that he was buried and was raised again the third day according to the scriptures. We thank you for his resurrection that accomplished so much. It accomplished everything that we couldn't. And Lord, we thank you for that. And Lord, it's my prayer, if there's anybody here, Lord, that don't believe in the resurrection, that has never placed their faith and trust in your son, Jesus Christ, that has never repented of their sins, turned from everything that they were to everything that your son is, that has never placed their faith and trust in his sacrifice for them on the cross and his resurrection. Father, I pray that you would work in their hearts and they would do that tonight. Lord, be with this time of invitation. It's in your son's name that we pray.