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.
Opening Prayer
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,
Introduction
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,
Attacks on the Resurrection
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.
The Issue at Corinth
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.
Paul's Illustration
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
Implications of the Empty Tomb
that brings us to the implications of the empty tomb. And then we will close. The first is that
Apostolic Preaching Vindicated
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.
Objectivity of the Christian System
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.
Veracity of Apostolic Witness
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.
Justification Depends on the Resurrection
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
Hope Beyond This Life
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.
Closing Prayer
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.