Resurrection: God Saves
Tom Shrader walks through 1 Corinthians 15 to demonstrate that the physical resurrection of Jesus is not peripheral but the cornerstone of the Christian faith, without which salvation itself is impossible. He surveys historical evidence for the empty tomb, addresses common objections, and contrasts the risen Christ with founders of other religions whose tombs are visited in mourning rather than celebration. Drawing on 1 Thessalonians 4, he closes by showing that confidence in the resurrection gives believers both the courage to face death and the strength to live fully in the present.
“My memory is nearly gone but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Doctrine
Recorded: 2011 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 56 min
Themes: resurrection, salvation, hope, death, evidence for faith, eternal life, fear of death, courage, doubting faith, grieving loss, new believer, skeptic exploring christianity, facing terminal illness, questioning the resurrection, young adult, struggling with fear of death
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Corinthians 15:55, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:12, John 3:16, Acts 2:24, Acts 4:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
Theological Themes: resurrection of christ, soteriology, bodily resurrection, 1 corinthians 15, empty tomb, eschatology, atonement, resurrection and salvation
Full Transcript
Introduction
If you have Bibles, open them to the book of 1 Corinthians. If you need a Bible, raise your hand — that is page 624 in the Bibles we provide. We are in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We are in week 9 of a 13-week series on doctrine.
I'll be honest with you: I was not that excited about doing this series. I wanted to get into a book, which is what we normally do. The way we decided was that Justin, Luke, and I — the three primary teachers at the different campuses — got together, and the two of them wanted to do this series. I was neutral on it, but I'm pretty coachable, and I said, "Okay, guys, if you want to do it." I told them last week I was wrong. This has been a great series, and each week I get a little more excited about it.
That excitement comes on probably two levels. First, I'm always learning, and I'm starting to see that big picture — the reminder over and over again that God is writing this story, and we need to see where we fit into it, both as a church and individually. Second, and this is even more important to me, we've had a huge response from people, especially people who are here at Redemption who are not Christians.
Last Sunday, five different people came up to our staff and prayed to receive Christ for the very first time. I understand the theology of that — I know that is God working through the Holy Spirit. But when we talk to those people, what they describe is seeing that sequence of things come together. God is doing something. We've noticed it at Redemption Church. We're seeing so many people we don't know who are here for the first time — many coming not just from other churches, but people who are brand new and full of questions.
Maybe that's a little bit of what's happening right now — a little bit of economic uncertainty, a little bit of unrest — and so God is doing something in people's hearts. Maybe you're here today with questions. We love to say you came to the right place, not because we're so smart, but because we know the God who created it all, and He gives us answers. We're not afraid of questions. We love the fact that God touches people's hearts and prompts them — maybe even creates a little agony, tension, and friction. That is often the Holy Spirit doing something in your life.
Retracing the Series
Let me retrace our steps very quickly, just in sequence of the study. We began by looking at the Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and then we saw each of Them at work. Then we looked at Revelation: we can know about a God or a higher power just by looking around. I should be able to look at a sunset, at the universe, look up or look down to biology, and think, "There has got to be a creator here. It is just unimaginable that this whole thing is an accident." Now, that doesn't in itself get me to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but it tells me there is something bigger than me.
Then God reveals in His Word who He is, who we are, and how we as sinful people can come to know Him — a holy God. So we looked at Revelation, and then creation, that God created all of this. Then we spoke about the capstone of creation, which is you — that God made us in His image. Different from a dog, a cat, a cheetah, a mountain, a river, or a spider, you are made in the image of God. However, man sinned and shattered that image, and now there is a distortion around us.
Then God said, "I am going to save for myself a people." The last two weeks plus this week form a little mini-series within the broader series. We looked at God promising to send a Savior to His people. We looked at the incarnation — the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became man. The sinless, holy God becomes human for a specific reason: not merely to show us how to live, though He does; not merely to teach us, though we are taught; but to live a perfect life so that He would be the perfect sacrifice. That is what we saw last week — the power of the cross.
When you proclaim that, God so often uses it to touch people's hearts. We live in a target-rich environment — so much hurt, so much pain, so much uncertainty, so many different things going on, and people are searching. I remember my hero and friend Larry Wright — years ago, not unlike now, there was a drought in Texas. The governor had called for a day of prayer, and there was a letter to the editor that said, "My God, has it come to this?" That is kind of where some of us are. We have tried everything, looked around, and keep coming up empty. We work harder and harder at trying to have fun, and pretty soon it just isn't fun anymore. Many of the things in your life that you thought would —
The Resurrection Is Everything
My guess is that some of you here have chased things you thought would bring you satisfaction, and they have instead brought hurt, pain, and destruction. And my guess is that some of you have inflicted enormous pain on the people around you. You are very sorry for it, very broken, and maybe you feel like there is no hope, no way out, no redemption or forgiveness to be found. The answer is yes — in Jesus.
So that was the cross. On that cross, Jesus said, "It is finished." The angel told Joseph, "Do not put Mary away. She is going to have a son, and you will name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sin." Jesus came not to be served but to serve, to give His life a ransom for many. And on that cross He said, "It is finished." Mission accomplished.
The Resurrection Is God's Amen
The resurrection is God's amen to Jesus's "It is finished." In life, I try to under-promise and over-perform. I am not prone to be swayed by hyperbole — I have watched enough television and listened to enough people to know that I do not want to be someone who says more than he can deliver. But I will tell you this: the topic before us today is as important to the Christian faith as any we can ever encounter.
I want to read you some comments by three men — Mark Driscoll, James Boice, and Ray Stedman — about the resurrection. Driscoll writes this: "If Jesus is dead, then Christianity is dead. If Jesus is alive, Christianity is alive. Apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no Savior, no salvation, no forgiveness of sin, no hope of resurrected eternal life. Apart from the resurrection, Jesus is reduced to just another good but dead man and therefore is of no considerable help to us in this life or in life after. Plainly stated, without the resurrection of Jesus, the few billion people today who worship Jesus as God are gullible. Their hope of a resurrection life after this life is the hope of silly fools who trust in a dead man to give them life. Consequently, the doctrine of Jesus' resurrection is without question profoundly significant and worthy of the most careful consideration and examination."
James Boice — and many of you may not be familiar with him, but he is a wonderful author, a brilliant man, and a great voice — writes this: "The resurrection proves that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be and that He accomplished what He claimed to have come to earth to accomplish. The resurrection is the historical base upon which all other Christian doctrines are built and before which all honest doubt must falter." Ray Stedman adds: "Everyone here who is a Christian knows that the fundamental question upon which Christianity ultimately rests is, did Jesus Christ actually, literally, physically rise from the dead? Everything hangs on that question."
Paul Raises the Stakes
I have shared my admiration for those men, and all of them affirm the same thing. But there is a trump card to all of it, and you have it right in front of you. First Corinthians chapter 15 — and this is not Boice or Stedman or Driscoll, this is the Apostle Paul writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Look at verses 13 and 14. This is how big the issue of the resurrection is. Paul says, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain."
From the New Living Translation: "If there's no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ is not raised, then all our preaching is useless and your trust in God is useless." Eugene Peterson, paraphrasing in The Message: "If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it, if there's no resurrection of Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors." That is how big the resurrection is.
Let me make it even bigger. Romans chapter 10, verse 9 — Paul writes this: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." What can we deduce from that? It is fairly simple. If you do not believe in the literal, physical, actual resurrection of Jesus, salvation is not available to you. That is a huge deal.
We hear these conversations all the time, and they naturally flow with the church calendar around Easter. You will hear them on talk shows: does it really matter whether Jesus rose from the dead? Can it not just be understood as an illustration? No. Paul says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." If you do not believe in the actual, physical, literal resurrection of Christ, what I think Scripture says is that there is no salvation for you. Those are big stakes.
Proofs of the Resurrection
Now I want to talk about the specifics surrounding the resurrection — some proofs, some things that God has put in place so that we can know, and I would say know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus rose from the dead. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning at verse 1. We will spend some time here, work through the proof, and then look at the "so what" of it all.
Paul writes: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you were saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." The NIV renders that opening phrase this way —
The Heart of Paul's Preaching
Paul is reminding the Corinthians of what he has preached to them — and this should not surprise us. Paul told us plainly: he preaches one thing. What is it? Christ and Christ crucified. Death and resurrection. These are really two sides of the same coin; you cannot separate them. Paul comes to the Corinthians again and again, and everything he preaches, he preaches around the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ.
Paul is not saying that is the only topic he deals with. He talks about marriage and family and work, about sexuality, about all these issues — but always in the context of the death and resurrection of Christ. That is our power. That is what separates us from the rest of the world, from every other faith or every other religion. We serve a risen Christ.
Paul addresses them with great affection. In chapter 1 verse 10, chapter 2 verse 1, chapter 3 verse 1, and chapter 10 verse 1, he calls them brethren, brothers. But at the end of chapter 15, look at verse 58 — he says, "therefore my beloved brethren." We need to understand that Paul is saying: I love you deeply.
This is especially significant in 1 Corinthians, because throughout this letter Paul is dealing with sin within that local body and all sorts of difficult issues. He is right in their grill — he does not back off at all. But he is saying, I do this because I truly love you. I am telling you this because I really care.
We see this principle play out often. I will talk to people and they will say, I have a brother, a sister, a best friend, and I just do not want to talk to them about the gospel because I am afraid it will divide us, afraid it will become an issue between us. My only conclusion is: then you do not love them very much. You would rather spend a few fleeting moments with them here on earth than eternity in heaven. Paul says, "My brethren, I want to make known to you, remind you of the things which I preached to you, which you received, and in which you also stand."
Standing Firm in Rocky Times
Susan and I were supposed to be out of town on vacation this week — we had to cancel, and we have now canceled three little vacations. I am not asking anyone to hold a bake sale for me; I am just saying I am a big vacation guy and I was unexpectedly in town. So I had a lot of free time — I was in here some, worked some, read some, and watched a lot of television.
If you watch television during the week, most of you are gainfully employed and do not have time for that. That is why God gave me to you, to do this on your behalf. And what you see on daytime television is advertisement after advertisement — the mesothelioma lawyers, the tax relief offers, the ads for gold, and then the ones that say, "In these rocky times, a storm is coming — where do you invest?"
You live in a world that, it is becoming more and more clear to me, absolutely hates your faith. They hate you because of your faith. I truly believe that one of the few groups left that can be openly attacked without fear of repercussion is born-again evangelical Christians. In the midst of that — and I want to say this plainly — that is actually a good thing. That gets us in the game. That gives us an opportunity to engage. I do not mind that one bit. The personality trait I dislike the most is passive-aggressive. Let's bring it on. Let's talk about it.
After we finish this series, we are going to spend five weeks on the hard sayings of Jesus. Then we have two weeks for the different campuses to address whatever they need to. Then we will study 1 Thessalonians. The tenth anniversary of 9-11 falls on a Sunday this year, and I want to speak about it in the context of the hard sayings of Jesus. I went back and found the file from the first lesson I taught after 9-11, and I saw how it kept coming back to standing firm, coming back again and again to the Word of God — which is really what Paul says in verse 2.
Our Personal 9-11s
September 11th is one of those events where all you have to say is the date and everyone is on the same page. But here is what I have discovered: we are having our own personal 9-11s all the time. Some of you had one this week. Someone you love desperately looked at you and said, "I don't love you anymore." You poured your heart, your time, your energy, your love into a child, and they said no thanks. A boss told you it was tough times and the downsizing was just you. The doctor called and said, "I thought that was fine, but I need you to come in. We need to talk."
In those personal 9-11s, how do you find your footing? How do you keep from being blown to and fro by all the circumstances around you? Because that is the way life is — very difficult. Many of you right now are at rock bottom. Some of you are somewhere in the middle. Some of you, everything is going well — and if that is you, I have a message for you: this too shall pass, my friend. I bank on it.
So how do you get your bearings? How do you find your true north? How do you find stability in the midst of all of this? You stand firm on the Word of God. Look at verse 2 — it is the Word in which "you are saved," present tense. This is us, now.
The Gospel in a Nutshell
We are saints because, if we are in Christ, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. I love this idea: as certain of heaven as the saints that are already there.
Now Paul gives us the gospel. Larry used to call 1 Corinthians 15:3–5 the gospel in a nutshell. He said, "For I deliver to you of first importance" — in other words, it is foundational, it is fundamental to our whole understanding and our belief — "what I also received." Paul writes to the church at Galatia in Galatians 1:12, "For I neither received it" — meaning this truth and teaching — "from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through the revelation of Jesus Christ." He said, Christ showed me this. The Holy Spirit taught me this.
Here is the gospel. You see it in verse 3: "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures." Then we are told in verse 5 He appeared to Cephas — that is Peter — to the twelve, and then to as many as five hundred. There is the gospel. Let's touch on it and be reminded.
Christ Died for Our Sins
That Christ died is not a breaking news alert. I think they say there are something like six, six and a half, seven billion people alive now, roughly the same number of people who have lived and died. So of the fourteen billion or so people who have lived, they have all died. Enoch always complicates this illustration, but him aside, they have all died. Do not stop the presses because Jesus died. He knew, based on all empirical data, that when He was born, He was going to die.
But what the scripture tells us is that He died for our sin. It is what we studied last week in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" — in Christ. He took our place. He died for our sin. That is our faith: that we have sinned, and our sin is an offense to a holy God, and a holy God in His justice and His holiness and His righteousness demands payment for our sin. It is a payment — a perfect payment, a perfect sacrifice — that we cannot make. That is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
He Was Buried, and He Rose Again
They buried Him. They buried Him because He was dead. But then He rose again. It is the story we see in the Gospels: the tomb is empty.
One author writes this — a follower of Buddha writes that of their religious leader — when Buddha died, it was with utter passing in which nothing whatever remains. Muhammad died on June 8th, 632, at the age of sixty-one. His tomb is visited yearly by tens of thousands of Muslims, but they come to mourn his death, not to celebrate his resurrection. Yet the church of Jesus Christ — not just on Easter, but at every service — celebrates the resurrection. We serve a risen Christ, a God who is alive, not just a teacher, not just a role model.
The Jefferson Bible
Now, by the end of the day last Sunday, every lesson gets a little different. I always tell the 8:30 people they are the rough draft. The 10:30 service is when we tape — that is the one that goes on the website. By the evening service it is a little more developed, a little different, with different emphases. So I was using an illustration last week that by the end of the day had grown a bit.
I am a really simple guy. Here is what I want to eat: meatloaf, cheeseburgers, lasagna. The worst thing I can hear when I come home is, "We are going to try something new for dinner." I do not want anything new for dinner. Why would I want something new? I can eat those three things. I have shredded wheat in the morning with some nuts — that is fine. But meatloaf, lasagna, cheeseburger — that is all I need. I go to the same restaurant. Why would I go to a new restaurant? I like that one, I like that table, and when I go there, I order the same thing. When the server tells me about the specials, I could not care less. Save it for Oprah. I want a cheeseburger or a lasagna.
The same thing is true in teaching. Much to your chagrin, when I find illustrations I like, I go back to them over and over again, because they are incredible illustrations that work for me. So in my hand is a book many of you are familiar with, but not all of you. It is called the Jefferson Bible.
What Thomas Jefferson did was something many of you would love to do. He took the Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — and cut out the sections he either did not like or did not believe. He was writing to John Adams and said, "When I am done with this, there will be found remaining the most sublime, benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I perform this operation for my own use by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book and arranging the matter which is evidently his."
Now that is interesting. He is saying: I look at this text, and I take out the stuff that is obviously His. Which raises the question — how do you know that? Jefferson also writes this: "I too have this wee little book," and speaking of the material he retained, he says, "A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen. It is a document and proof that I am a real Christian — that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."
Notice the nuance there. That is where the definition lies. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics — he calls it ethics. It is a document and proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.
Disciples of Jesus, Not Just His Teaching
I am a real Christian — that is, I am a disciple of Jesus. It is not the teaching of Jesus that saves me; it is Jesus that saves me. Isn't that what Jesus said to the Jewish leaders? "You read the scripture because you think in them you have life." No. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." What Jefferson said, in effect, was that he had a great moral framework, a great ethic, pithy sayings he could live his life by. The teaching of Jesus is certainly something we ought to incorporate in our lives, and we see the value of it. But we are not saved by the teaching of Jesus — we are saved by the person of Christ, by His death and resurrection.
It makes absolute sense, then, when you read the Jefferson Bible — all 132 pages of it — to notice what is and isn't there. It begins with, "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." It goes on from there; they go to Bethlehem, Jesus is born, He is lying in swaddling clothes in a manger. But something is missing — no virgin birth, nothing supernatural. And here is the last sentence of the Jefferson Bible: "There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed." No hope there.
Jefferson may be as smart as any person who has ever lived, but he is dumb as a brick when it comes to this. He is not filled with, inspired by, or convicted by the Holy Spirit, and he makes the mistake that so many make: I want a good teacher, I want a moral leader. That is what Gandhi said as well. Gandhi said, "I reject the idea that Jesus or anyone else could die for my sin, but I read the Gospels every day and I follow the teaching of Jesus." The Mahatma was an extraordinary man. But based on his own testimony, he could well be the nicest guy in hell — because he rejected Jesus.
Either Jesus is the way or He isn't. If Gandhi or anybody else can get there outside of Jesus, why are we here? Because this is really true: Jesus died for our sin, He was buried, and He rose again — all according to what the Scripture says.
Four Responses to the Truth That You Are a Sinner
So along comes this truth that you are a sinner. What are you going to do with it? There are four options. You can deny it — "No, I'm really not." You can admit it and resolve to fix it — moral realignment, "I'll do better." The third option is to admit it and be filled with despair. The fourth is to admit it and turn in repentance and faith to Jesus.
Many of you may not know the name John Newton, but you know his most famous work. It is probably the most recorded song in the history of songwriting: "Amazing Grace." Newton was indeed the wretch he wrote the song about — "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." He was a slave owner and slave trader, with amazing stories of the horrors he inflicted, and then God saved him.
At age 82, Newton wrote this: "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things — that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior." That is your story too. On his tombstone it does not say "John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace." It reads: "John Newton, clerk, once an infidel, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned, and in his case appointed to preach the faith he long labored to destroy." That sounds a great deal like the Apostle Paul, doesn't it? He said, I was trying to beat this thing, I tried to wipe it out — and God saved him.
That can be your story too. God will preserve, restore, and pardon you today. It is a matter of coming to Him in repentance and faith.
The Gospel and the Appearance to Peter
So what is the gospel? Christ died for our sin according to the Scripture, He was buried, He rose again, and then He appeared — to Peter, then to the twelve, then to the others, as we see in verse 5. The text does not tell us how or what that meeting with Peter was like. But I have to believe that if there was anyone who needed to see the risen Christ, it was Peter — Peter who had said, "I never knew Him."
I always keep a picture in my mind of a little servant girl and this big, rugged fisherman. She says, "You were with Him too." And he said, "No, I wasn't." One of the Gospel writers tells us that at that very moment Peter's eyes and Jesus's eyes met, they locked, and Peter went away and wept bitterly. That was the exact same initial response as Judas — but with a very different outcome. Judas was filled with despair. Peter, not on his own but by the Holy Spirit, was filled with hope.
This fisherman, who was intimidated by a little servant girl, is the same man we find in Acts chapter 4, verse 12, standing up to all the power of the Jewish leaders and risking his life. He declares: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we could be saved." That is the gospel.
The Evidence for the Resurrection
That is the story of the gospel — that is the resurrection. I want to encourage you to call a friend. When you get home, Google "evidence of the resurrection" or some variation of that, and you will find all sorts of information. Years ago Josh McDowell wrote a very detailed book called *Evidence That Demands a Verdict*. Within that was a section on the resurrection, and out of that came a smaller book called *The Resurrection Factor*. That book went in and out of print very quickly, but I found something online that pointed me to what is essentially a re-release of it, and it is a really helpful resource.
Part of what that book does is describe what crucifixion was like, and then it lays out the hardcore evidence of the resurrection. We know this, and we will touch on it briefly. When Jesus died, He was buried in a tomb, and that tomb was sealed with a rock that covered the entrance. It weighed somewhere between one and one and a half tons. Across it was placed the seal of Rome, which represented the authority and power of Rome, so that if anyone broke that seal, the wrath of Rome would fall on them.
Because the authorities were afraid that something might happen — they were not sure what, but they feared someone might steal the body — they placed a Roman guard in front of the tomb. That guard would have consisted of sixteen professional soldiers. They were not afraid of ordinary people; they were accountable to the power of Rome. They would rotate sleep and watch, with at least four soldiers standing guard at all times to ensure that tomb remained sealed.
But on that first Easter morning, the seal was broken. The guards had vanished, even though they knew exactly what that meant — they were subject to capital punishment for abandoning their post. The tomb was empty. The stone was gone, and we get the sense that it was almost as though it had literally been picked up and moved aside. The tomb was empty except for the grave clothes in which Jesus had been buried, as though the body had simply evaporated.
And then this risen Christ appeared — to Peter, to the twelve, to James, to five hundred people. On that first Easter morning, the reality is plain: the tomb was empty, and the risen Christ was seen.
Examining the Alternative Explanations
I always get a little kick out of the explanations people offer for the empty tomb. Let me give you three of my favorites. The first is that the body was stolen. But you have to ask yourself: who would steal it? The Jews wanted the body there — they had nothing to gain from a stolen body. The Romans had put elaborate safeguards in place specifically to prevent it from disappearing. And all of Jesus' followers were hiding in an upper room. A stolen body makes no sense.
The second explanation is that they went to the wrong tomb. They did not have GPS. But think about it — if they had simply gone to the wrong tomb, that would be easily corrected. You made a left when you should have made a right; we just go back to the right tomb. There would be no problem.
My favorite of the explanations is what is called the swoon theory. The theory is that Jesus did not actually die — He fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood, and everyone mistakenly thought He was dead. Never mind that He had been beaten, that a spear had been rammed into His side and out came blood and water separated — a recognized sign of death. Never mind that a Roman professional executor had signed a death certificate. According to this theory, Jesus simply fainted, and they wrapped Him in burial clothes and placed Him in the tomb in a kind of suspended coma state. Then they rolled a one-and-a-half-ton rock across the entrance — and Jesus came to, shook it all off, threw off the burial clothes, and blew the rock away. Ask yourself: how much faith does that actually take to believe?
What the Scholars Conclude
Here is the reality: on that first Easter morning, the tomb was empty. One scholar writes this: "Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ. Nothing but the previous assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficient proof." In other words, he is saying you came in with a bias.
Another author writes: "I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them. And I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding and fair inquirer than the great sign that God has given us — that Christ died and rose again from the dead."
A third scholar concludes: "If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable according to the canons of historical research to conclude that the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea in which Jesus was buried was actually emptied on the morning of the first Easter, and no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources or archaeology that would disprove this statement."
There it is. Take it to the bank. Jesus is alive.
So What? The Practical Weight of the Resurrection
Now — so what? When you listen to someone speak, it is worth asking yourself three questions: What did he say? Is it true? And so what? Here is what I said: Jesus rose from the dead — physically, literally rose from the dead. Is it true? I believe so, based on Scripture and all the evidence. Now here is the so what.
Drop down to verse 58 in the passage we have been looking at in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul is building toward a conclusion, which is why the first word is "therefore." "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." Paul is saying: because all of this is true, because Jesus rose from the dead, you can stand sure, you can stand steadfast, you can be immovable.
Standing Firm on the Rock
When those challenges of faith come and those challenges of life come, you can stand steadfast. How? You can stand on the rock of God's Word, on the person of Jesus Christ, on the reality of that truth. It is not to say that life is easy. Life is very, very difficult. But what Paul tells us is that this has a very, very pleasant ending for us.
The Mystery of the Resurrection
Verse 51, same chapter: "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
Turning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica, where there is some confusion about what happens when we die in this resurrection. Paul says, listen, I don't want you to miss this. Verse 13: "I don't want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as the rest, who have no hope." He said there are a whole group of people whose hearts are broken when death comes. Those who are not in Christ, not believers, not followers of Christ — they have no hope.
He continues: "For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and even so, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." Those who are in Christ, those who believe in Him — just as God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that those who believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. That is the theme, over and over again.
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep." There will be Christians who are dead and Christians who are alive, and the living will not precede the dead. "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." So whether you are alive when this happens or dead, it does not matter — we will be together. And here are the words at the end of verse 17: "and we will always be with the Lord." There is the so what. "Therefore comfort one another with these words."
Victory Over Death
In the passage we are looking at in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 55, Paul writes: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Luke tells us in Acts 2, verse 24, that God raised Jesus up again and put an end to the agony of death. What does that mean — the agony of death? Years ago, when we were formed as East Valley Bible Church, there was a lady in our church, a wonderful, wonderful lady, who got cancer and became very, very sick. The doctors treated her in every way they knew, and eventually said there was nothing more they could do, but offered her the option of going down to the medical center in Tucson for experimental drugs and treatment. She did, and since I was in Tucson once a week, I would go and visit her. I watched her die an agonizing death. The chemotherapy they were giving her was so strong that it was actually eating through her skin from the inside out, leaving her face a fiery red.
So when Luke says God put an end to the agony of death, He certainly does not mean the physical agony — this lady loved Jesus. What He puts an end to is the uncertainty of death.
Dr. King and the Certainty of Hope
Almost every night, as part of my wind-down, I watch YouTube. I think YouTube is a bit like TiVo — one of those few inventions that truly lived up to its billing. I was watching a speech the other night and began checking other sources, and I thought I would share this clip. I emailed Josh at around ten o'clock the night before and asked if he could get it ready for the next morning, and he said yes — a minute and thirty-two seconds.
There is a political aspect to this, and my fear in showing it is that you might get distracted by the political dimension and miss what the speaker is actually saying, because I think it is so powerful and so moving. The audio may not be the best, as it comes from a television newscast from years ago, but you will get the idea.
The clip announces that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed that night in Memphis, Tennessee, shot in the face as he stood on the balcony of his hotel room, and that he died in a hospital an hour later. The night before his death, Dr. King had said this:
*"I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."*
That is awesome. If you go to Memphis, the Lorraine Hotel is right there, and it is striking how condensed and small the area is — much like Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where you are struck by how small it actually is. Dr. King had been warned not to go to Memphis, but he went anyway. And if he was afraid, he did not show it.
The Power of the Resurrection in Daily Life
I believe you hear him say, "I'm not afraid to die," which means he had the strength to live. And all of a sudden we go, I'm not afraid to die. Here's what strikes me: everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. We say all of this stuff, but when push comes to shove, we would rather be here in the land of the dead than go to the land of the living. That is the power of the resurrection to me.
I would hold up Dr. King and say, it is not a perfect life. But to say, "I am here to do God's will in my life — God's will as I understand it, God's will to the best of my ability" — and the reality is, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And that gives me the strength to live. That is the "so what" of all of this — the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection.
Christ died. And if you believe in Him, trust in Him, if He is your Lord, your master, your Savior, you are as certain of heaven as the saints who are already there. So when all of this comes — debt, ceilings, firing, pain, physical, emotional, relational — it is not to say it does not hurt. It is to say it has an eternal perspective. It is not to say that life is easy and smooth and you are never going to have a problem; that is simply not true. But I have to weigh it against the eternal weight of glory. That is what God has called us to.
Doctrine That Is Extraordinarily Practical
I love studying doctrine. I do not think it is dull and boring. I think it is fascinating and interesting — spellbinding and profound. But it is extraordinarily practical, and that is what I love about it. You and I, as followers of Christ, are ready to die; therefore, we, more than anyone else, should be ready to live.
We need not be afraid of any man, any person, or any force. It is not to say we do not get scared. It is not to say that if you are walking down the street and somebody jumps out at you, you are not going to flinch. But when I take a breath and everything settles, I understand that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. It is enormously practical, enormously profound, and yet simple. And it is available to every person in this room — whether you are here in the chapel or in the conference center today — by simply coming to Christ in repentance and faith.
An Invitation to Respond
In front of each of the two rooms, after this service and every Sunday, we have people from our staff who are here to answer any questions you have and to pray with you — as those five people did last week, who became new creatures in Christ at that moment, who are saved, who are in right relationship with God. Maybe you have been around this all your life and you have never responded. Today might be the day to respond.
Or maybe you are brand new and you do not even know why you are here — something just happened and got you to come. Maybe you are hurting. Or maybe everything is going great and it is still empty. These men and women are here to talk with you and to pray with you. And if you are already a follower of Christ, we know that does not mean the end of difficulties in this world, and one of the most powerful tools we have is prayer. They are here to pray with you as well.
Closing Prayer
For those of us who say Jesus is Lord, this is a great moment in our service, as we come now to the time of communion. Let me pray as Tim comes.
Father, thank You for these extraordinary truths, these amazing truths. God, we love the doctrine — not for the sake of study, not for the sake of head knowledge, but for the sake of life transformation. God, transform our hearts and inform our minds so that our lives are lived in a radical way for Your honor and Your glory. God, we pray to You in Christ's name. Amen.