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Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 
15. 1 Corinthians 15, hopefully a familiar 
portion to all of us. Paul's argument for the resurrection 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, actually, a future bodily 
resurrection of all men based on the fact that Christ is risen 
from the dead. Just read 1 Corinthians 15, verses 
1-19, and then we'll make some observations from the text. Moreover, 
brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you. 
which also you received and in which you stand, by which also 
you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to 
you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first 
of all, that which I also received, 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 by Cephas, then by the Twelve. After that, 
he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater 
part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After 
that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last 
of all, he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, 
who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted 
the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am 
what I am. and His grace toward me 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 was I or they, so we preach and so 
you believe." Now, if Christ is preached that He has been 
raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there 
is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is 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, because we have 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 are still in your sins. Then 
also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in 
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the 
most pitiable. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we come to You now and we examine this portion of Holy 
Scripture and we pray for Your Spirit to guide us. God, help 
us to understand the biblical data as it relates to the resurrection 
of our Lord. We know this was a doctrine or 
is a doctrine that has been under attack from the very beginning 
of Christianity, continues to be an object of attack. And we 
just pray that You would gird us up and cause us to understand 
Your truth and to have a ready defense, a ready answer from 
the Holy Bible. We just pray now that you would 
be glorified and exalted in our meeting together. And we ask 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, before we actually 
get to the text in First Corinthians, chapter 15, I want to cover a 
few things by way of a lengthier introduction than what we're 
normally accustomed to. First of all, a statement of 
the truth concerning the resurrection of Jesus, some attacks upon that 
truth, and then that will bring us to the necessity of the truth 
as we find it here in 1 Corinthians 15, one place among several others 
in the New Testament. But by way of the statement of 
the truth, all four Gospels record that on the third day, after 
Jesus had been crucified and placed in the tomb, His disciples 
discovered that His body had disappeared from the tomb. In 
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that is recorded. It is consistent 
testimony. This occurred in the fulfillment 
or in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. You notice 
in verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 15, it says, "...and that he was 
buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the 
Scriptures." Primarily, the Scripture in view is the Old Testament 
Scripture. Pastor Cam read Psalm 16. That deals with the resurrection 
of Jesus. You can compare Acts 2 and Peter's 
preaching on the day of Pentecost to see that is in fact the case. 
Daniel 9 speaks about Messiah being cut off, but then Messiah 
confirming a covenant. There's not two persons in view 
there. It isn't the Messiah and then the Antichrist, but rather 
it is the Messiah who then confirms the covenant that was already 
ordained by God. And then of course Isaiah 53 
speaks. of His having been numbered with the transgressors, but receiving 
the benefit, the glory that God had conferred upon Him in the 
resurrection. As Robert Raymond says, certainly 
the veracity, veracity is a word we're going to meet up with again 
later, just means truthfulness. or the integrity of. He says, 
certainly the veracity of everything Jesus taught is called into question 
if He did not rise from the dead as He said He would. Now, some 
of the attacks upon the truth, very early on, there was what 
was called the stolen body theory. And basically what the stolen 
body theory set forth is that when Jesus died, He was placed 
into the tomb and either His disciples or His enemies or grave 
robbers stole his body in order to sort of propagate this idea 
that he had risen from the dead. This was originally concocted 
by the religious authorities according to Matthew 28. Remember, 
they put a guard on the tomb, lest his body be stolen and people 
believe that he raised from the dead. Well, that is the absurdity 
in this position because guards were in fact posted at the tomb 
to make sure that no one would steal the body. The disciples 
would not risk life and limb for a lie. His enemies certainly 
wouldn't have done it. And grave robbers would not be 
able to bypass the guards and would certainly not steal the 
body, a nude body, and then leave the grave clothes folded up and 
neatly piled. Remember that account. When the 
disciples come into the tomb, the clothes are folded neatly 
and left intact. Grave robbers would look for 
whatever it is they could ransack and take. There's also the theory 
called the swoon theory. The swoon theory. Not a crooner, 
not one of the old singers, but the swoon theory taught that 
Jesus did not actually die, but was in a coma-like state. And when He was in this coma-like 
state, He was placed in the tomb. This fails for various reasons 
also. The Romans knew how to kill people. 
They knew how to crucify people. In fact, the way they would finish 
one off in crucifixion was by breaking their legs. The idea 
in crucifixion is asphyxiation. In other words, you suffocate 
to death. So a man would hang on the cross 
for however long he could endure. then the Romans would come along 
to finish him off by breaking his legs. He would no longer 
be able to support himself. The weight of his body would 
be such that he would asphyxiate. He would suffocate and he would 
die. But you remember, the Roman soldier 
came to break the legs of Jesus, but he was already dead. And 
so he pierced his side and out flowed the water and the blood. The physical suffering that Jesus 
suffered was to the death. And then the Lord, had this been 
the case, the swan fairy, would have had to push away the stone, 
pass the guards, and present Himself to His disciples. If He was able to do that after 
that ordeal, He certainly wouldn't have looked like the glorious, 
exalted Lord that the disciples saw Him as. And then one of the 
recent attacks, you've probably heard of the man James Cameron. He is very famous right now for 
a movie. Well, in 2007, James Cameron 
produced The Lost Tomb of Jesus. Basically, archaeologists found 
a tomb, and it contained apparently ten people. It was a family tomb. And they reckoned that the name 
Jesus was on this tomb. And so the idea is that Jesus, 
his wife, his children, his mother and his father, and their bones 
are all in that tomb today. So that's still going on in terms 
of an attack upon the resurrection of Christ. Now we go to the necessity 
of the truth of the empty tomb in 1 Corinthians 15. Specifically, 
we're looking at verses 12 to 19 this evening. And there's 
three observations that we want to make. First, the issue at 
Corinth. It is set forth for us in verse 
12. Secondly, the illustration that 
the Apostle Paul uses. And then thirdly, the implications 
that he draws out of the empty tomb. So, the issue, the illustration, 
and the implications. You've got to think tonight. 
Paul does something that is very foreign to us in the 21st century. He uses what's called logic. 
Logic and common sense died a horrible death a long, long time ago, 
if we are to take anything seriously. So I'm going to ask you tonight, 
being a little joking here, I need to ask you to pay attention and 
to use your noggin. Basically, what Paul does is 
he reduces an argument to its absurdity. He says, if it is 
the case that Jesus did not rise, then these things are true. If 
Christ did not rise, then this is a reality. We're going to treat it on the 
positive end, though. We're going to notice, of course, 
that He did rise and then just make positive statements with 
reference to these implications. But notice the issue at Corinth, 
verse 12. Now, if Christ is preached that 
He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that 
there is no resurrection of the dead? Now, 1 Corinthians 15 is 
one of the longest treatments on the resurrection. Both the 
resurrection of Christ and the future general resurrection of 
all men. Verses 1 to 11 is the foundation 
upon which the apostle engages in this. Primarily, verses 3 
and 4. The gospel message itself. The gospel record concerning 
the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Some in the church 
in Corinth. started to deny a future resurrection. And so what Paul is saying, to 
deny the future is to deny the past. If there is no future resurrection, 
then that means that Jesus himself did not rise from the dead. That's 
basically his argument. Notice specifically, if Christ 
is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do 
some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 
We might scratch our heads and say, how in the world could this 
church, Paul wrote to this church in probably the fifties, how 
could there be already in this local body the idea that there 
was no future resurrection? It's pretty mind-blowing, isn't 
it? I mean, we almost expect departure and heresy and apostasy 
at this stage in the game. But the early New Testament, 
first century church, we would expect purity of doctrine and 
integrity and all those things. Well, one of the reasons might 
have been what's called Gnosticism. Now, there wasn't a full-blown 
Gnosticism in the New Testament, but the seeds were there, and 
basically Gnostics taught that physical things were bad. What 
really matters is the spiritual. So, you could see why a Gnostic 
would deny a future physical resurrection. In his mind, that's 
a bad thing. God isn't really concerned for 
the physical. What really matters is the spiritual. And just by way of an aside, 
we don't want to be Gnostics. The ultimate hope of the Christian 
brethren is bodily resurrection. It is glorification, body and 
soul. Yes, we want men's souls saved, 
so that on that day of resurrection, their bodies will be enjoined 
again with their souls, so that we as whole creatures can enjoy 
our God as He intended for us. We don't want to be Gnostics 
thinking that only the spiritual is important. No, God has said 
the spiritual and the physical. He says in Romans 8 that the 
creation itself groans looking for that freedom of the sons 
of God. And so Gnosticism probably had 
some influence on this. There could have been some carryover 
of the theology of the Sadducees. We often think about the Pharisees. They're not fair, you see. But 
then the Sadducees, they're pretty sad, you see. One of the reasons 
why the Sadducees were sad is because they denied a resurrection. They denied the future bodily 
resurrection. You can see this summary statement 
concerning the Sadducees in Acts 23, verse 8. Acts 23, verse 8, 
it says, For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and 
no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. When you appreciate 
that theological distinction, you'll see that what Paul is 
doing in Acts 23 is masterful. The Pharisees outnumber the Sadducees. So Paul says, I'm on trial for 
the resurrection from the dead. The Pharisees say, well, that's 
ok. The Sadducees get upset. Paul is a mastermind in terms 
of argument in this section. The idea here is that there may 
have been some of that holdover of the Sadducean theology in 
the minds of people. And then there was what was called 
the Hymenaean heresy. You can turn to 2 Timothy. Now 
this was a bit of a different approach. They didn't deny a 
future bodily resurrection. They thought that we were already 
in it. The modern counterparts are what are called full preterists, 
or they call themselves consistent preterists. Preterism isn't a 
bad thing, as long as it's biblical. But the fuller, consistent, or 
hyper-preterists teach that we are in the resurrection age right 
now. And Paul had to deal with that 
in 2 Timothy 2, verse 16. He says, But shun profane and 
idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, 
and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus 
are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying 
that the resurrection is already past, and they overthrow the 
faith of Psalm. So, the idea that in 1 Corinthians 
15, 12, that some incorrent had said, there is no resurrection 
of the dead, isn't as far-fetched as we might believe. They had 
issues. They had problems. They had difficulties. They had departure from the truth 
very early on. That's why Paul is engaged in 
this polemic or defense of the resurrection of Christ and the 
future resurrection of His people. Notice his illustration. Verse 
13 of 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 13 he says, But if there 
is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. There it is. You deny the future 
and you are denying the past. The idea is that when Jesus rose 
from the dead, He secured, He confirmed, He put into place 
the reality of a future resurrection for all of His people. That is the way the Apostle is 
going to address this issue. That if there is no resurrection 
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And then from verses 14 
to 19, he teases out of that statement several implications. That's his teaching. That's his 
approach. That's the way he deals with 
that. And that brings us to the implications 
of the empty tomb. And then we will close. The first 
is that the truthfulness of apostolic preaching depends upon the empty 
tomb. Notice what he says in verse 
14b. Well, we'll read the whole verse. He says that if Christ 
is not risen, then our preaching is empty. That's a great big 
statement for a man who makes his life His whole definition 
as a man is based on preaching. But he tells them, if Christ 
is not risen, if that tomb contains the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, 
then our preaching is empty. It has no substance. It has no 
value. It has no merit. You might as 
well go to the Agora. You might as well go to the Mars 
Hill. You might as well sit at the 
feet of any philosopher or any religious system, because what 
you're going to get is going to value just as much or help 
you just as much as what we are giving you. The apostles, we 
need to remember, were not simply storytellers or the developers 
of a new religious system. We know, of course, that Christ 
is risen so that the apostolic preaching was not empty, but 
it was full. It was consistent. It was true. It was what God the Lord had 
spoken. And as a result, we need to listen 
to these men. We need to take heed to their 
writings. When they went into various cities 
in the book of Acts, they never came as just another competitor 
in the realm of ideas. They never came as just another 
theory to be considered by those who are astute. Remember Paul 
at the Areopagus or on Mars Hill. Remember when he walks around, 
he says, I was noticing the objects of your worship. I even saw an 
altar to the unknown God. He goes on to say, what you worship 
in ignorance, Him, I, proclaim to you. And then he sets forth 
God in all that Psalm 104 glory. God who made the world and everything 
in it. God set forth as the one who 
governs all things. and the God who is the Redeemer 
of His people by Jesus Christ. Paul, when he was before Festus, 
he was accused of being mad. Much learning is driving you 
mad, Paul, was the accusation. He says, I am not mad, most noble 
Festus, but I speak the words of truth and reason. I think 
the implication is, anybody who rejects that is mad. When you reject the truth and 
reason that is Christianity, you're the madman. You're the 
odd one out. You are the square peg trying 
to function in a round hole. God has made you to think His 
thoughts after Him, and when you suppress that truth and unrighteousness, 
and reject that truth and reason, you have placed yourself in a 
position of madness. So, the first implication is 
that if Christ is not risen, then apostolic preaching is in 
vain. But, of course, we know that 
Christ has risen, and so the truthfulness of apostolic preaching 
is set forth. Secondly, the objectivity of 
the Christian system. And by Christian system, I mean 
the system of truth. I mean it is a coherent approach 
to world and life issues. It is comprehensive. It answers 
every question. It fulfills man at the deepest 
level. It is the redemptive message. 
It is the sanctifying message. It is everything that a sinner 
needs. And notice what Paul says, if 
Christ is not risen, verse 14, then our preaching is empty and 
your faith is also empty. Isn't that amazing? Your faith 
is also empty. There's this idea today that 
whatever you believe in, it's okay. Because the important thing 
is faith. That's not what the Bible says. 
Do you know that? The Bible never commends faith 
in itself. Have you ever met people like 
that? Oh, you've got your faith, I've 
got mine. You've got your approach, I've got mine. We live in a world 
where everybody wants to just get along together and tolerate 
one another and have a great big love-in because we all have 
our faith. You have faith in a rock. You have faith in a stone. You have faith in a man. You 
have faith in this. It doesn't matter what the object 
is. What really matters is that you 
believe. That is hogwash. That is wretched. That is satanic. That is wicked. Our faith is only as good as 
the object. And it's Jesus Christ that matters. It's not your faith that saves 
you. It's Christ who saves you through 
the instrument of your faith. Faith is only as good as what 
it is fixed upon. And so by the reality, by the 
fact that God raised Jesus from the dead, our faith is not futile. It is not empty. We have objective 
truth in the Scripture and we have a glorious Lord who is Himself 
truth. There was a theologian in the 
earlier part of the 20th century. His name was Karl Barth. He was 
what's called a neo-orthodox, sort of a new orthodox guy. And 
he was one time asked about, was the serpent that spoke to 
Eve, was it real? Was the serpent, was the snake 
real? And he basically said, as far as history goes, I don't 
want to comment on that. As far as, you know, can snakes 
talk? Probably not. He says, what's 
important is not whether or not there was a snake, but what he 
said. Listen to that for a moment. 
It's not important if there was a snake. What is important is 
what He said. You might say, wow, that's some 
respect for the text. We want to work with the text. If there 
was no snake, that text does not stand up. Some people have 
said, the Jesus story is so inspiring. It really doesn't matter if He 
rose from the dead. It really doesn't matter if He 
did what He claims to have done. If he didn't do what he claimed 
to have done, if he really didn't rise from the dead, then the 
story or the meaning attached to that is worthless. It is vital 
that Christ rose from the dead. If we believe in a dead Savior, 
our faith is futile. And Paul will not have it. The 
third observation. The veracity of apostolic witness. You may say, this sounds like 
the truthfulness of apostolic preaching. He's already said 
that in verse 14. But now, notice, he's speaking 
about his own integrity, or the integrity of the apostles along 
with him. Notice in verse 15. Yes, and 
we are found false witnesses of God. So in verse 13, the idea 
was that we're just preaching fable and myth, and it's sort 
of an empty word, and if everybody wants it, they can have it. If 
not, that's fine. Now he's putting his own integrity on the line. 
But by extension, he's not just arguing for the apostolic witness, 
he's arguing for Isaiah. He's arguing for Daniel. He's 
arguing for David. He's arguing for the entirety 
of the Scriptures themselves, which testify that Jesus would 
rise from the dead. He is arguing in terms of the 
integrity of Christ. Remember Matthew 28, we cited 
it this morning, the angel said, he is risen as he said. John 2, destroy this temple and 
in three days I will raise it up. They said it took us 46 years 
to build this temple. You're going to raise it up in 
three days? And John theologically comments and says, he was speaking 
about the temple of his body. He would raise himself up that 
third day. Brethren, if the resurrection 
is not true, then we have no business or no reason to take 
as truth the apostolic, prophetic, and Christic witness concerning 
truth. The fourth thing, and this affects 
us severely. If Christ is not risen, verse 
17, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. That's 
really Powerful. Now, not that all those other 
ones aren't, but here, look at the implication. If He has not 
risen from the dead, you are still in your sins. There is 
no remedy for you. There is no hope for you. There 
is no Romans 4.25 for you. Remember, we saw that this morning. 
Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses, and He was raised 
because of our justification. Well, if He wasn't raised, there's 
no justification. If He wasn't raised, there's 
no forgiveness. I don't know if you saw Brit 
Hume on CNN a few months ago when the whole Tiger Woods thing 
played out and he was found to be a serial adulterer. Well, 
a man on CNN commented about Tiger Woods. And this man had 
the chutzpah to say on CNN that he heard that Tiger Woods was 
a Buddhist. And Brit Hume said, he really 
ought to go to Christianity because Buddhism offers no redemption. Buddhism offers no forgiveness. And he said that this man, Tiger, 
ought to go to Christianity where there is redemption and where 
there is forgiveness. Praise God, somebody actually 
said what was true. You are not forgiven as a Buddhist. You don't get redemption as a 
Shintoist. You don't get salvation as a 
Hindu. Those systems are not redemptive. There is no justification apart 
from the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, who was delivered up 
because of our offenses and raised because of our justification. Paul makes that very clear. Verse 17, if Christ is not risen, 
your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. R.L. Dabney said, because the resurrection 
events the adequacy of his satisfaction for man's guilt. And he says 
this in a beautiful turn of phrase. He says, when our surety comes 
triumphing out of prison, we know our whole debt is settled. Praise God for this surety who 
secured for us the forgiveness of sins. And then the fifth and 
final implication is set forth in verse 19. If in this life 
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. You see what he's saying? If 
Jesus has not risen, then that example, that story, that martyrdom, 
whatever it is that happened, may influence you to a more positive 
outlook in your current life. It may motivate you to like actions 
of martyrdom or of goodness in this world. But what does Paul 
say? If Jesus has not risen, then 
in this life we have hope in Christ, or if only in this life 
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 
What's Paul saying? Something that I fear we forget 
a lot. We try to make the life that 
we live now the best. I'm not suggesting you should 
go out and paint your house purple. I'm not suggesting that you should 
take sand and throw it in your gas tank. I'm not suggesting 
that you should poke yourself with knives. I'm not suggesting 
you should have the worst life possible. But you know, there's 
a whole host of people that busy themselves and put all their 
efforts into their best life now. Paul says there's a quantitative 
difference or a qualitative difference between this age and the age 
to come. Paul is suggesting or Paul is 
stating very clearly that if our hope is tied to the here 
and the now, then we are of all men the most pitiable. You see what he's saying there? 
Christ has not risen from the grave. You may have a life of 
fulfillment right now. And then hell, damnation, punishment, 
wrath, fury, anger from a holy God. So if Christ is risen, we 
are not the most pitiable. We are the most blessed. We are the most smiled upon. We have a hope in heaven secured 
for us by the blood and power and resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead. And we ought to hang our heads 
high, brethren. We ought to be hope-filled. We 
are not the pitiable ones on the earth. If anyone is to be 
pitied, it's those who reject Christ. It's those who look for 
their best life now and forego that life which is to come in 
the age to come. Those are Paul's implications. 
If the tomb is not empty, if the tomb is filled, then Christianity 
is a hoax, it is a scam, it is just a big fake. But Peter says elsewhere, we 
did not follow cunningly devised fables. This is not a story that 
man authorized or man put together. It is revelation from God Most 
High, centered upon, focused upon the person and work of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. You see that in 1 Corinthians 
15. Just the first few verses. Notice. He says, Brethren, I 
declare to you the Gospel which I preach to you. Gospel is good 
news. It's not good feeling. We associate 
the Gospel with how we feel about it. That is not the case. The 
Gospel is a message. The Gospel is not go out and 
do. The Gospel is Jesus has come 
and done. The Gospel is about Him. He says, 
"...which I preached to you, which also you received, and 
in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold 
fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in 
vain." It is a revealed message. It is a message appropriated 
by faith. You believe this. You don't earn 
it. You don't work for it. You don't 
buy it. Rather, you believe it. And then 
he says that this message is filled with Christ. It is Christ-centered. He says, I deliver to you first 
of all that which I also receive, that Christ died for our sins 
according to the Scriptures, and that Christ was buried, and 
that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 
You see that? He says this message of the Gospel 
centers in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. And that 
this message is revealed through the Scriptures. All those things 
that we've been rehearsing through this sermon. And the Scripture 
is clear. You believe this message and 
you will be saved. You will have the hope of heaven. 
You will have blessing now. You will be able, by God's grace, 
to persevere and to know that there is stored up for you an 
eternal inheritance where moth and rust cannot destroy. He is 
a real fool to hear this message and choose his best life now 
rather than his best life in the future. He is a real fool 
who will reject the Gospel message because he wants to gratify his 
own sinful lusts. If you do not know this Lord 
Jesus, He was delivered up for sin. He was raised for justification. You believe and you will be saved. 
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank You for Your 
Word. And again, we praise You that He is risen and that the 
tomb is empty. and that our faith is not futile. 
The apostolic witness is true, that the preaching was full and 
objective. God, how we thank you that we 
have the forgiveness of sins, and we have hope, not only now, 
but for the future as well. That we are not of all men the 
most pitiable, but we are the most blessed in this world. We 
just pray that more and more people would believe the truth. 
We pray in our own assembly here, God, for any that do not believe 
the Gospel, that You would open their hearts, that You would 
move them, God, to see their own sin and depravity and to 
see the glory of Jesus Christ as the only Savior for sinners. And we pray that by Your grace 
they would look and live and have everlasting life. And we 
pray in His most blessed name, Amen.