Resurrection: The Key To Everything

April 8, 2012 Pastor: John Fonville

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:12–15:19

Resurrection: The Key To Everything

 

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

April 8, 2012

 

Introduction:

 

Christianity is not primarily a set of moral ethics (e.g., the Golden Rule, The Great Commandment, WWJD, etc…).

Christianity isn’t valid because of its therapeutic value (e.g., peace, happiness, fulfillment, joy, purpose, etc...).

 

What is the essence of Christianity?

 

""Evangelical thinking has tended to stress, rightly, the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus. Sometimes this is at the expense of the importance of the resurrection…We should never take away from the importance of the death of Christ, but the centrality of the resurrection in the apostolic faith is just as important…The resurrection was the Father’s ‘Amen’ to the finished work of Christ"" (Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, p. 57, 59).

 

Lesson:

 

I. If there were no resurrection, Christ would not be risen. vv. 12-13

 

II. If there were no resurrection, the preaching of the gospel would be meaningless. v. 14a

 

III. If there were no resurrection, faith in Christ would be meaningless. vv. 14b, 17a

 

IV. If there were no resurrection, every apostle, eyewitness and herald of the resurrection would be a liar. v. 15

 

“…it was impossible that the apostles could have persisted in affirming the truths they had narrated, had not Jesus Christ actually risen from the dead” (Dr. Simon Greenleaf, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice, p. 29).

 

V. If there were no resurrection, man would be hopelessly lost in his sins forever. vv. 17b-18

 

VI. If there were no resurrection, the Christian life would be a mockery. v. 19

 

Conclusion:

 

…what would enable us to say, He was able to pay the penalty He had undertaken? That He died manifests His love and His willingness to save. It is His rising again that manifests His power and His ability to save. We cannot be saved by a dead Christ, who undertook but could not perform, and who still lies under the Syrian sky, another martyr of impotent love. To save, He must pass not merely to but through death. If the penalty was fully paid, it cannot have broken Him, it must needs have been broken upon Him. The resurrection of Christ is thus the indispensable evidence of His completed work…It is only because He rose from the dead that we know that the ransom He offered was sufficient, the sacrifice was accepted, and that we are His purchased possession (B.B. Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, p. 544).

 

Do you believe this?

 

 

© John Fonville

Permissions: Permission is happily granted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not revise the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on Paramount’s website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by John Fonville.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Fonville