Youtube video: https://youtu.be/gvR2UQvvZvc
John 3:16; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is the basis of the doctrine of the Gospel that is the power of God for salvation for everyone who will believe it. Rom 1:16-17;
Before dawn on the first day of the week the women who had prepared spices and perfumes to cover the smell of His decomposing body went to the tomb and found it empty. Luke 24:1-3; NET
It was empty because He had already risen because three days and nights had elapsed from the time his body was placed in the tomb during the evening twilight on the Passover John 19:31,40-42; to the evening twilight of the weekly Sabbath day. Luke 24:4-8;NET
Jesus' crucifixion occurred in a week that had two preparation days and two Sabbath days. Wednesday, the day Jesus was crucified was the preparation day for the first day of Unleavened Bread that was on a Thursday Lev 23:5-6; and Friday was the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath that was on a Saturday Lev 23:3;
The women came to the tomb as soon as they could after the two Sabbaths had ended and found it empty because Jesus had already been resurrected at twilight on the previous evening.
The veracity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the empty tomb are critical part of the Gospel of salvation.
Jesus did not come just to show man how to live a good life by being an example. He was born to die and be resurrected. Without His death and resurrection, His perfect life would not do man any good at all.
Man's problem was not the lack of a high standard; it was the inability to live up to any standard. The Law proved that man could never be good enough to work his way to God. Rom 8:3;
The barrier of sin stood between man and God. Man was helpless to pay the penalty for the past and hopeless to do any better in the future. Man was helpless and hopeless, that is, until the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we celebrate today.
Paul describes this starting in 1Cor 15:1-2; Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,
v2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
In 1Cor 15; the Apostle Paul explains first the power and then the content of the Gospel. Paul was explaining the Gospel he had preached. The word euaggelizo, from which we get "evangelize," means "to proclaim good news."
In order for the Gospel to accomplish its purpose, someone has to proclaim it. After Paul proclaimed the Gospel, the Corinthians had received it.
The Greek word paralambano means to "receive" or "to take as one's own." These people were given the message and they received it by grace through faith. They had believed in Jesus Christ.
The verb "stand" is translated from the Greek verb histemi. In the perfect tense it means that at a point of time in the past they took a stand with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, with the result that they will stand forever. Paul uses this tense to emphasize their eternal security.
According to Eph 2:8-9; and Rom 5:2; grace is the basis of the believer's stand.
v2 ... through whom also we have obtained our introduction by believing the doctrine into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. ..
1Cor 15:2; "Saved" is in the present tense. Paul is saying, "You are saved now; you are going to be saved tomorrow and next week and next month and next year. You are going to be saved forever."
These people are saved because they believed in the Gospel. If Paul is saying that these people have eternal security in Christ, why does he suggest at the end of verse 2 that they might have believed "in vain"?
This statement can only be understood in the context of the entire chapter because what Paul means by believing "in vain" is explained in 1Cor 15:12-19;
v12 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?
v13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
v14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
v15 Moreover we are even found {to be} false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.
v16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
1Cor 15:17; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
v18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
v19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
Verse 12 explains that there were believers in the Corinthian church who did not believe that someday there would be a physical resurrection.
To them the idea of physical resurrection was strange because the Greek philosophy taught that the physical body was a prison so when Paul taught a bodily resurrection, they thought of being imprisoned forever.
Faith in Jesus Christ had saved these people, even though they denied the physical resurrection. But Paul wants them to advance in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ so he knows they need to more accurately understand the doctrine of the resurrection.
In verses 12-14 he tells them that if there is no physical resurrection, then Christ Himself has not been raised from the dead and if Christ has not been raised, then both Paul's preaching and their faith are "in vain" -- empty, meaningless, useless, worthless.
If Christ has not been raised, there is no solution for sin and if their hope in Christ is meaningful only in time and not eternity, then they are wasting their time by believing in Him.
The only way a person can believe in vain is if the message or the object of his belief or what he believes in is false.
Paul is saying that faith is worthless unless the content or the object of faith is valid and true.
The object of faith must be able, willing, and available to save. "Therefore, He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25).
Faith in Christ saves, period.
But benefiting from it experientially involves thoughtfully understanding and trusting in the entire message of the gospel.
To benefit from it you cannot trust in part of the message and reject the rest of it. You cannot trust in the person of Christ and reject the work of Christ. You cannot trust in the work of Christ and reject the person of Christ. You cannot trust in the death of Christ and reject His resurrection.
We have a vital responsibility to make what is revealed in Gods Word crystal clear. We must present the true message of the gospel as it is given to us in the Bible neither adding to it nor subtracting from it because of our background or traditions or prejudice.
So what Paul is saying is, "Look, if you believe this message and you believe that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, then you are saved and you do stand in grace because the veracity of the doctrine, the object of your faith, is the power of faith.
They could only believe in vain if the gospel wasn't true but since it is true they are really saved and irrevocably so.
1Cor 15:3-4; For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
v4 and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Paul goes back to the basics, to the most important doctrine. Paul is telling us right here what the most important thing that the Bible reveals is.
Paul says this is number one priority. This is the most important doctrine we need to understand because this doctrine is the most important information that Paul had received.
1 Christ died for our sins. This was His substitutionary spiritual death. He died the death we all deserve because "the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23;). He paid the penalty for every sin ever committed -- every sin in the past, in the present, in the future. The sins of the entire world were judged in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1John 2:1-2;
2 Christ died according to the Scripture. Christ's death was according to the perfect plan and decree of God and that plan was explained in the Old Testament scriptures.
From the very beginning (Gen 3:15;) everything in the Old Testament pointed to the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God who would remove the sins of the world.
3 Christ was buried. Christ had to be buried because He had to be truly dead. First-century Jews believed that the soul and the spirit did not totally depart from the body until the end of the third day.
The fact that Jesus was buried and was in the tomb for three days and three nights was crucial to the veracity of the Gospel message.
4 Christ was raised from the dead. The fact of Christ's resurrection is the only basis for the Christian's hope. This verb is in the perfect tense that means it was a past action with continuous present results.
Believers receive the benefit of result of Jesus' resurrection every day because Jesus' resurrection is His victory over death that becomes is the basis of the believer's resurrection spiritual life.
John 10:10-11; "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they might have life and might have (it) abundantly.
v11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 11:25-26; Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
v26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Eph 2:6; and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly {places}, in Christ Jesus.
Col 3:1-5; Since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
v2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
v3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
v4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
v5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
1John 5:11-12; And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.
v12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
Jesus' resurrection is the basis of and the source of the believer's spiritual resurrection power.
Rom 6:4; Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Matt 28:18; And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Eph 1:19;and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. {These are} in accordance with the working of the strength of His power...
Phil 4:13; I can keep on doing all things through Him who keeps on strengthening me.
The Gospel -- the good news -- is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are all born physically alive but spiritually dead.
Gen 2:17; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die."
Romans 5:12; Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 6:23; For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we believe the good news, we are born again, spiritually regenerated, identified with Christ in his death and resurrection with the result that we are dead to sin and spiritually alive to God in Christ Jesus as the new spiritual species that comprises God's Royal Family, the Church.
Rom 5:8; But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
2Cor 5:21; He made Him who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1John 5:13; These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
He is Risen and we who have believed in Him are born again and hidden with Christ in God and when Christ who is our life is revealed we will also be revealed together with him in glory.
This is what happened on Resurrection Sunday. He is Risen