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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (13-6-1999 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
In the first half of the chapter Paul has confirmed the
truth of the resurrection of Christ. Now he goes on to show the significance
this has to the people in Corinth. He needs to deal with the people who were
calling themselves Christians but were denying the bodily resurrection. They
were probably influenced by Greek belief in the immortality of the soul but not
the body
This was a most serious error,
because if it was right, the whole Christian Gospel collapses. So Paul
emphasises how important the resurrection is to the Christian faith. It is a
foundation truth. Remove it, and the whole building will collapse. He takes the
very important items and shows they all depend on the resurrection of Christ
from the dead. If there was no resurrection, nothing worthwhile is left.
Think through these beliefs. See the logic and where it leads. Some people never work out their beliefs and see where they lead.
If there is no resurrection
of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised (1 Corinthians 15:13).
Therefore, if Christ is not risen and alive, all our hymns and prayers to him,
and our talk about entering life, are empty and meaningless talk. And if we
speak of His changing lives, it must be a psychological trick or delusion of
some sort. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so
is your faith (1 Corinthians 15:14). There would be no message to preach,
the preacher would be wasting his time. We might as well close the church doors,
and get our preachers, evangelists and missionaries some other work to do.
If there is no Gospel, we have
nothing to say to the world, and the whole thing is a sham. There is then no
salvation – a dead saviour can’t save the living. Our faith is useless, all
our belief, testimony and profession is empty meaningless jargon. Our
imagination must be playing tricks on us, and the sooner we wake up to reality,
the better for us. We are resting our faith on the decomposing corpse of a
Jewish carpenter and rabbi.
We are then found to be false
witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from
the dead (1 Corinthians 15:15). Their claims to have seen Christ alive must
have been deliberate falsehoods, if it was all a hoax. The Christian Gospel
would be resting on a pack of lies, complete deception.
And if Christ has not been
raised. you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). The resurrection
was said to be the sign of God’s approval that atonement had been made for
sins, and Christ’s sacrifice was accepted. It was God’s receipt for
Christ’s payment of our debts. If He did not raise Christ, then the problem of
sin has not been dealt with, the atonement was not accepted, the debt has not
been paid, nothing was achieved on the Cross, and we are still in our sins,
under condemnation, facing a fearful judgement. The Christian is dead and lost. Those
who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost (1 Corinthians 15:18); they are
actually in hell, separated eternally from God, never to enter into heaven.
Every believer who has already died has perished forevermore, no “safe in the
arms of Jesus” can be written on their tombstone.
If only for this life we have
hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men (1 Corinthians 15:19).
We are poor pathetic creatures if our relationship with Christ ends at death. If
our Christianity is based on an empty Gospel and fraudulent saviour, we are
worse off than the non-Christian. All our hopes and expectations will come to
nothing. All the sacrifices of time, money and service we have made have been
for nought. The scorn and ridicule and rejection we have faced have all been for
nothing. Cf. some Christians today are in jail, driven out by their families,
living on a pittance because they are not allowed to work because of their
faith. All this for nothing? If this is the case, we Christians must be the most
deluded, deceived and disappointed people of all. We might as well eat, drink
and be merry, have our fill of every self-indulgence, satisfy every appetite of
the flesh, have our fill of sins because we are going to die tomorrow anyway.
So Paul presents the Corinthians
with this most serious consequence – if there is no resurrection, no living Saviour, no real message,
no true faith, no salvation, and no hope beyond the grave. Far from being the
most privileged and blessed people on earth, we would be the most deluded and
pitiful. Our fall would be greater than anyone else’s. If you take away the
resurrection, you destroy the foundation and fabric of the Christian faith, you
remove the lynchpin, and the whole structure collapse.
Those who deny the resurrection from their pulpits – why do they preach at all? How can they lead people to a saving faith? What assurance can they give? What kind of God do they preach? What do they believe about life after death?
But Christ has indeed been
raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20). This is one of the great
“but”s of the Bible. We cannot get round the evidence. If the case for
Christ’s resurrection is wrong, how do you explain the facts? This
resurrection is based on Christ’s own work and promise. If He was not a liar
or a lunatic, then He must be Lord. Cannot get around the evidence and be an
honest man. We cannot believe that every good and beautiful thing Christ has
placed in life is the work of the biggest deceiver of all.
So Christ is alive. We are not
wasting our breath when we sing His praise and speak in prayer. Indeed we can do
it with all our heart and soul and enthusiasm. Preaching is not a waste of time.
It is worthwhile gathering here on the Lord’s Day. The words of witnesses are
not in vain. Because Christ is alive, God’s word will not return to Him void.
We can be the most confident and assured people when preaching.
Our faith is not useless. It is
founded on a solid rock, not empty jargon. We can proclaim Christ as Saviour,
Lord, Rock, Refuge, the world’s only hope, the coming King. Our faith is not
based on a hoax. The very truth of God will endure long after the world has
perished. Our sins have been forgiven, we can leap for joy like Bunyan’s
Pilgrim, “He has given me rest by his sorrow and life by his death”, and
“Blessed be the man that was put to shame for me.”
We can say with confidence that
we are saved, free, redeemed, accepted, and heading for heaven and home. He
who has begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of
Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:6). When we bury someone who has died in
Christ, we do not mourn, as others do who have no hope. We are only parting from
them for a little while, and will see them again, and be together forever with
the Lord. Death is now no more than sleep, a sting that is drawn, it is gain and
not loss; to be with Christ is far better than this life.
We are not the most pathetic, but the happiest and most contented and confident of all creatures on the face of the earth. We are fully justified.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is either the
most wonderful fact or greatest hoax in history. If we deny the resurrection or
dismiss it as unimportant, we are either the most sensible or the biggest fools.
If we are in earnest and want to know the truth about the subject of whether
Christ rose from the dead, it should be the object of a most serious enquiry.
Then for Christians the
resurrection ought to hearten and encourage us greatly. There is plenty in life
to alarm and cast us down. There are dark and menacing forces in the world. The
power of evil is evident everywhere - the world, the state of the country, the
state of the Christian church, the instability of society and individual lives.
The world is not only mad, but also suicidal. But the resurrection proves that
God is stronger than the Devil, evil, death, sin, and all the forces we fear.
We are not whistling in the
dark, or hoping against hope. We are dealing with certain historical facts. The
Devil and the powers of evil have done their worst against God’s Son and put
Him to death. But on the third day God raised Him from the dead, and He was seen
by witnesses. He is alive forevermore. Other explanations do not hold water.
Then God raised Him to His own right hand in heavenly places. He is King of
Kings, Lord of Lords. He is going to come again in glory and power. The last
word will be with God. He has gone into action against the Devil and evil, and
emerged triumphant. We see in the resurrection where the real power lies. For
yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.
All other events are under His
control and serving His purpose. Here is the secret of confidence, assurance for
faith, reason for courage, and peace of heart and stability. Remember Jesus
Christ, raised from the dead (2 Timothy 2:8).
