A Risen Savior

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Well, we were headed home from church Wednesday night, and it was kind of late to where when we get home, the kids need to get ready for bed. And as we’re getting near the house, getting ready to get off the highway, Benjamin asked me a question about the War of 1812. And I know that sounds odd, but we have odd conversations.

That’s the kind of stuff we talk about. And I was telling somebody this week, I think the kids have figured out this little trick that they can get around doing what they’re supposed to do. If they ask me a question at the right time, they can distract me.

You know, if I, let me ask daddy about the war of 1812 or ask a question about the 10th amendment right before bedtime and I’ll get stepped for an hour before daddy knows what’s going on. So anyway, I did pick up on this and said, I don’t think I really have all that much time to answer your question before we get home. But I, you know, I tried in the short amount of time that was allotted to me, but I kept thinking, he did get me distracted, because I kept thinking about it after he went to bed the next day, and we’ve talked about this before.

One of my favorite stories from history is about the end of the, well, it’s after the end of the war in 1812, the Battle of New Orleans. You’ve probably heard the song, many of you. One of the most famous battles in American history, and what’s odd about it, is that the Battle of New Orleans took place about two weeks after the end of the war.

The United States and Great Britain fought over New Orleans about two weeks after they’d signed a peace treaty, and the reason for that is that word just hadn’t reached over here yet that they’d signed this treaty over in Europe. They just didn’t know. And you know, stuff like that doesn’t happen as much anymore because every world leader would be on Twitter talking about how they signed a peace treaty, but they didn’t have that back then.

And it’s easy to forget that. We look at that and think how crazy it is that this big decisive battle, which by the way, we won. The war itself was a draw, but we won the final battle after the war was over.

This decisive, incredible battle happened, but it didn’t need to. It’s just that nobody knew. And I thought a lot about this this week, this, how we take for granted how things have changed.

We forget how things have changed. One of my favorite TV shows after all these years is still Unsolved Mysteries. I will just put it on in the background and listen to it.

But there’s so many of these stories that probably wouldn’t happen today the way they did then because you think, where are these people’s cell phones? You know, do you think about what we did before cell phones? The world was much different, wasn’t it?

Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. You know, I would be in trouble a lot when I went to the grocery store if I couldn’t call Charla and say, what else was I supposed to get? You know, but the world was different then.

I was even thinking this morning about the story of Romeo and Juliet. You couldn’t write that story today necessarily because, I’m sorry if I’m going to spoil it for you if you haven’t read it in the last 400 years, but they end up killing themselves because they think the other’s dead. Nowadays, they just text each other and double-check the story.

And so the story wouldn’t happen. We forget that there was a, we get so accustomed to the way things are now that we forget there was a time before that. We forget that there was a time when the world changed.

And it can be the same way for us when it comes to Jesus, that we forget that there was a time before, that we forget what life was like before the story of Jesus. And it’s natural that we would forget what life was like because most of us weren’t there, right? That was a joke.

None of us were there. I haven’t seen your birth certificates but I’m pretty sure none of us were there in particular we get so used to the story of the resurrection that we forget there was a time before we see it in hindsight almost to the point where as we’re reading through the gospels now we we know that Jesus is going to rise from the dead and we look at the disciples and think what what’s wrong with you he’s been pointing this out the whole time and they still didn’t get it when in reality we’d be in the same boat that they were in. We forget that there was a time when things were different.

There was a time when people thought their hope depended on their performance. And by the way, there are still people who think that. But there was a time when God’s people were convinced that their hope depended on their spiritual performance.

There was a time when people thought that this Messiah that they were looking toward, that they anticipated, they thought this Messiah, this answer to all of God’s promises was going to be a military or political leader who was going to kick the Romans out and was going to usher in a golden age to Israel. And now that might be encouraging news to a patriotic Jewish person in the first century, but it still does nothing for your relationship with God. You’ve still got that on your plate to deal with.

There was a time when death was something filled with fear and uncertainty for most people. And then something changed in all of that. Something today, and that’s the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.

Jesus rose from the dead and changed all of that. And as we continue this series that we’ve been in on Sunday mornings about who is Jesus, as we try to dig through and dig past what the culture says and all these wrong ideas about who Jesus is, and get back to a biblical understanding of this most important figure in all of human history, we can’t really understand him without looking at his resurrection and what it teaches us about Him and how it’s changed things for us. And this morning, there are a number of places we could look at in Scripture that address this topic, but I want us to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

So if you turn there with me in your Bibles, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If you don’t have your Bible or can’t find 1 Corinthians, it’ll be on the screen for you. But if you’ll stand for me, stand for the reading of God’s Word, stand with me if you’re able to without too much trouble.

We’ll read together what He says here. We’re going to be in 1 Corinthians 15, and we’re going to start in verse 20 and go through verse 28 this morning. The whole chapter is about the resurrection, but I want to focus in on this aspect of it.

Starting in verse 20, it says, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order.

Christ the first fruits, afterwards those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, and when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For when He has put all things under His feet, excuse me, for He has put all things under His feet, but when He says all things are put under Him, It is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted. Now when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

And you may be seated. We see in this passage, and we see throughout the whole of chapter 15, that the resurrection was a turning point in history. And many of you know that I can get a little wound up about this topic.

It’s been a focal point of mine for years. I recently finished my dissertation on the evidence for the resurrection. I’m working on a book on the evidence and implications.

I will do my best to not keep you here until supper time. I’m going to do my best to stick within the parameters of my notes tonight and not go chasing too many rabbit trails. But I am convinced that this is not only a turning point in history, but this is the turning point in all of human history, is this event where one morning Jesus was dead and then just stopped being dead and walked out of the grave.

Even where we started, verse 20, those first two words where it says, but now, that phrasing indicates that there’s a contrast, there’s a change between what was and what is now. There’s a change, there’s a transition point there. And it explains to us what it is, but now Christ is risen from the dead.

They talk about how there’s hope, and there’s a difference between hope and empty faith, and they talk about this in the verses leading up. We see the difference between hope and hopelessness, and what made that difference, what made that transition, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now Christ is risen from the dead. The change in the middle is His resurrection.

And I want to be very clear on what we mean by the resurrection because there are even wrong ideas, unbiblical ideas that are promoted about what the resurrection is. So to summarize the resurrection story, Jesus was crucified and his death was publicly seen. It was recorded by historians and his death was verified in public before his body came down off the cross.

There was no doubt, based on the medical descriptions that recorded in the Gospels, based on the expertise of the Romans at the idea of crucifying somebody to death, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ was dead when he came off the cross. He was buried in a tomb. He was buried in a tomb whose location was known.

We have this idea that because it happened in the evening, it happened in secret, but his tomb and its location appears to have been the worst kept secret in Jerusalem at the time. He was buried in a tomb whose location was openly known, a tomb which the authorities came back the next day and investigated and secured. I submit to you, they didn’t just walk up and slap a seal and a guard on the tomb the next day, giving people the opportunity to steal the body beforehand.

Pilate said, go and make it as secure as you can. The goal of the Jewish authorities was to make sure that the body had not been stolen. There is no way that them making it as secure as they could did not involve checking inside to make sure the body was still there, and then sealing the tomb and setting a guard.

There’s just no way that happened. I mean, there’s no way that they just set the guard out there without checking. Three days later, the tomb was discovered empty, a fact which has been admitted by both Jesus’ followers and his enemies.

You say, wait, when did his enemies admit that? When the story got around that the tomb had been found empty, the authorities, the Jewish authorities, the Romans, they never questioned, they never said, the tomb wasn’t empty. Let me show you where it is.

The body’s still there. No, they began searching for an explanation as to why it was empty. That’s an admission that it was empty.

So he was dead, the tomb was occupied, the tomb was empty. Jesus then appeared to various groups and individuals in various settings over the next 40 days in ways that convinced them that he had risen from the dead. And I don’t have time this morning to go into why all the speculation about hallucinations and all these other things, why they don’t hold water.

I’d say buy my book when it comes out, but I’ll give it to you for free if you want it. I’m not trying to make money, but I just don’t have time to go into it this morning. They were convinced.

They went from believing he was dead and that all hope was lost to then seeing Jesus and being convinced that he was back from the dead and that there was reason for hope. He appeared in ways that convinced them. He appeared in ways that radically transformed their lives, both believers and skeptics alike.

One of those was his brother James, who did not believe he was the Messiah. I mean, what would it take to convince you that your sibling was the chosen one of God, right? And yet something happened where James became one of the leaders of the church, and it was the fact that he witnessed his brother back from the dead.

Then Jesus demonstrated during this time that he had personally returned. It wasn’t a different being. It wasn’t an imposter.

Again, I don’t have time to get into all the reasons for that this morning, but it can’t have been an imposter. That he returned physically, that’s very important, not just spiritually, not just as visions, not as a ghost. He came back alive again in the same body that had been crucified. That’s what I mean by the resurrection.

Not an idea, not a vision, not confusion, not wishful thinking. Jesus was dead, he was buried, the tomb was empty, he appeared to others in the same body that was crucified. And today, people still hear that and think, well, that sounds awfully far-fetched.

Right, that’s why it’s a turning point in history. I’m not saying that happens every day, I’m saying it happened once. We believe that Jesus died, and by the power of God, he stopped being dead.

Paul, who began as one of those hardened skeptics I talked about, he’s the one that wrote this, what we’re reading in chapter 15. He started out believing that, no, it’s not true. Jesus is not who he said he was.

He didn’t rise from the dead, and even if he did, I hate him. Paul was not on board with the whole Jesus thing, and yet he even became convinced. And he wrote here about what a turning point the resurrection was in history.

He talks about the reign of death in Adam versus the reign of life in Christ. He says in verses 21 and 22, for since by man death came by man, and if you’re looking at it in the New King James, you’ll see the second man is capitalized. That’s because it’s referring to Jesus. Now, it wasn’t capitalized in the Greek, but that’s to help us understand it’s talking about Jesus.

By man also came the resurrection from the dead, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. Adam sinned and incurred a penalty from God, which was death, you and I inherit our sin nature from Adam, and we exercise that sin nature, and we sin, and in Adam, the Bible says we’ve all died. We are all separated from God.

We’re all born separated from God, and with our sin, we just keep Him at arm’s length. We are spiritually dead, and we’re headed toward physical death, but in Jesus Christ, it says, all shall be made alive. Jesus, with His resurrection, reversed this curse that had been placed on us.

And not only that, but verse 20 tells us that He would merely be the first of many who would rise. Now, not the same way. I don’t anticipate that I will die and then three days later I’ll just get up of my own accord.

That’s not what it’s talking about. But in Christ, we will live again. And in that sense, His resurrection paves the way for all of us to be raised.

If Jesus Christ claimed that He could die for our sins, if He claimed He could give us eternal life, and then He died and He stayed dead, would we not be left to wonder what possible proof or evidence do I have that this man could do what He said He could do? Wouldn’t we be wondering why I ought to believe what He said? Maybe some of you are just not as skeptical as I am.

But I’ve studied cults and world religions enough to know shortage of people telling you they can get you closer to God. What makes Jesus unique is this sign that he gave. What he told the Pharisees would be the sign of Jonah.

Three days in the grave and out again. And then it happened just like he said. He’s become the first fruits because of him.

Death would be no more than like sleep to those of us who belong to him. And then it says in verse 23, but each one in his own order. Christ the first fruits, there’s that word first fruits again.

Afterwards, those who are Christ’s at His coming. When He returns, those who belong to Him will be raised again. And Paul’s saying here, if you doubt His power to do it, if you question His power to raise you at the last day, look at the fact that He’s already raised Himself.

If He could raise His own self from the dead, then why could He not raise you? And the resurrection here shows the incredible power of Jesus. This amazing turning point in history shows the incredible power of Jesus.

That’s why it’s important that we address the topic of the resurrection in a series about who is Jesus, because it sheds light on who He is. It completely undermines the idea that He was just a normal human teacher. I hear this, well, I don’t believe He was God.

I believe He was a good man and a good teacher. I’ve known some, from a human standpoint, some good men. I’ve known some good teachers.

Those who have died are still dead, as far as I know. I mean, I haven’t seen them up walking around Oklahoma. They’ve stayed dead.

The resurrection demonstrates that he’s more than just what anybody thought he was. And it shows us his incredible power here. A few things that Paul outlines.

That Jesus has defeated Satan. Verses 24 and 25 tell us that then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God to the Father, the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. Every authority, every authority and every power that rebels against God will be defeated, and God’s kingdom will be beyond its reach.

We look at our world today and we can tell that something’s broken. We can tell that the world as a whole, and quite honestly, oftentimes those in authority are in open rebellion against God, and we think, why is it not fixed? Or we think, what should I do to fix it?

And I’m not saying that we should just sit back and let things happen. But at the same time, if we’re waiting for a day when everything is going to be fixed, if we think we’re going to bring that about, that everything is resolved and everything’s fixed, and we create a perfect utopia, we’re living in a dream world. This world is not going to be fixed entirely until Jesus Christ comes back and sets things to right, until He subdues all authority and every power that exalts itself against God.

And he’ll do it. Now that’s not fatalism on our part, say, well, then we just have to sit back and take it. Listen, I believe we’ve been called to be salt and light where we are in whatever darkness we find ourselves in until he comes.

But we just have to recognize our only job is to be obedient and let him worry about the results. Because he’ll be the one ultimately that sorts out the darkness. It’s not dependent on me and you.

And in the resurrection, he’s already shown Satan’s defeated. He’s whooped. He may not know it yet, but he’s like the chicken that’s neck has just been wrung.

Sometimes those look like the most alive thing in the barnyard. They don’t realize they’re dead. Satan’s already been defeated.

Because I submit to you, Satan surely thought he had won when Jesus Christ was put to death. He didn’t realize that was God’s plan. So he’s defeated Satan.

He’s conquered death. Verse 26 says, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Even death, which is insurmountable and inescapable.

I mean, we try. The best we can do nowadays is to delay it, but we have not found a cure for death yet. It’s coming for each of us, unless the Lord returns before it gets to us.

But death, which is insurmountable and inescapable and destined for us all, death which at one time appeared to have taken Jesus Christ and defeated Him, Even death cannot defeat his power. Because it looked on that afternoon, when the skies grew dark and the earth shook and the veil in the temple was torn and Jesus breathed his last, it looked like death had won. And then three days later, Jesus walked out of the tomb proving that nothing could be further from the truth.

And then the resurrection shows that he’s Lord over all creation. We look at verses 26 and 27. He’s put all things under his feet.

He’s brought all of creation into subjection under him. He’s Lord of all creation. All things are made subject to Him.

Now Paul clarifies that this is not some strange new teaching that makes the Father subservient to Jesus. He points out here that Jesus is still subject to the Father. And I’ll be honest, I don’t completely understand the mechanics of that and how it works.

And anybody who tells you that they completely understand the inner workings of the Trinity, they are either mistaken themselves or they’re lying to you. I grasp the Trinity as the Bible teaches it, but I don’t pretend to understand everything about how God works. My brain is not big enough to understand everything that’s in God’s brain, right?

And I’d have to be pretty arrogant to say that I did. I believe the Bible teaches that the Father and Son are equal in nature. Jesus is not less God than the Father is.

And yet somehow there’s a hierarchy, there’s an authority where Jesus submits to the authority of the Father and still is not less God than the Father. I don’t understand how all that works. And hopefully I’ve not said anything heretical. Just because sometimes the terminology isn’t always there to adequately convey what we’re trying to.

But he’s trying to make it clear, this is not some new teaching where Paul says, when I say Jesus is head over everything, he said, of course, I’m not including the Father in that. But everything that’s been created is under the feet of Jesus. Which, by the way, also does not mean that Jesus was created.

Some people will change verses like that to say all the other things that have been created as though Jesus were one of them. What I understand from Scripture is that the Father and Son are equal in nature, but Jesus carries out the will of the Father. And the point of these couple of verses here are that everything in creation is or will be subject to Jesus Christ. He has power over it all.

As we’ve studied through the book of Mark on Sunday nights, we’ve seen example after example of that. How Jesus has shown his mastery over the natural world with things like calming seas. He’s proven his mastery over the supernatural world with things like driving out demons.

He’s proven his mastery over every need and every ailment that we could face. It all responds to him. And sometimes we question how Jesus could do miracles, but if you start from the premise that he’s God, and if you start from the premise that God spoke to nothing and it became everything, then it doesn’t stretch the imagination.

It doesn’t tax us to believe that he could speak to a storm, a small storm, well, big to them, but in the grand scheme of things, a small storm on the Sea of Galilee and make it stop. But he’s already demonstrated that he’s Lord over all creation. And there will be a day at his return when all of creation will acknowledge that fact.

And the resurrection, the resurrection is a foretaste of that. The resurrection is the ultimate foretaste for us of understanding just who Jesus is. It’s the evidence to us that Jesus is all that He claimed to be, because you and I can’t raise ourselves from the dead.

I’ve never met anybody who could. Scientifically, I don’t understand how a resurrection is possible. But from a historical standpoint, I believe the evidence in front of us that it happened.

I don’t have to be. . .

You know what? There are lots of things that I can’t explain how they happen, and I believe they do. I was talking to somebody recently about technology and computers, and I can’t explain how all the ones and zeros mean that my iPad and my computer and my work computer and my watch and my phone all talk to each other, but I believe that they do.

There are lots of things in your world that you can’t explain how they happen, but you see the evidence that they do happen, and that’s where we are with the resurrection. I believe the historical evidence that it happened. And if it happened, it is so miraculous and so unique in all of human history that we can’t help but look at it and be amazed by the power of the one who raised himself from the dead.

And again, I submit to you, it changes everything. When we understand the resurrection and what Jesus did, it changes everything. Because I hear some of the reasons why people walk away from the faith.

I hear some of the reasons why people reject the faith to begin with. And the resurrection sort of pushes them aside. There are people, and if you are in one of these categories this morning, please don’t think I’m trying to make light of your issues.

But maybe if I could shed some light on them instead. But I’ve heard where people have stopped believing in God because they’ve been hurt by the church. And now this is something that I’ve talked with my kids about at length, because I’ve told you we have weird conversations in the car, and I get wound up about the resurrection.

My son asked me when we were listening to an audio book, where somebody, an atheist turned Christian, said how she had rejected Christianity for so long because of negative experiences in the church. And he said, what do those have to do with each other? He said, you’re on the right track.

Because I’ve been hurt in church. Probably everybody in this room has been hurt in church. But listen to me.

On a Sunday morning, approximately 2,000 years ago, Jesus either walked out of the grave or he didn’t. And just because somebody was a jerk to me in the next pew doesn’t change that fact, doesn’t affect that. Sometimes we walk away from the faith because we get disillusioned with leaders, with people that we thought were on the up and up.

There have been people that I’ve looked up to that have had massive failings, and it rocks your faith. But on a Sunday morning, around 2,000 years ago, Jesus either walked out of the tomb or He didn’t. Sometimes it can be hurt over the loss of a loved one.

Sometimes it can be hurt over unanswered prayers. Sometimes it can be struggling with the question of evil. I don’t want to make light over any of these things.

They’re very real to us. There are things in my life that I have prayed for for years, that I have been down on my face and begged God for for years, that have created such anguish in my soul that it would rock my faith that God has not yet said yes to my request. If my faith were based on my feelings and not the fact that a Sunday morning, nearly 2,000 years ago, Jesus either walked out of the tomb or He didn’t. And so this morning, if you’re here and you’re struggling with whether you can believe Jesus or not, and it’s because of some hurt in your life or it’s because of some unanswered question or something you’re struggling with.

All of those feelings, all of those hurts, all of those struggles are valid and they matter. And I believe they matter to God. But I also want you to understand that there is an entirely separate issue here that despite all of our feelings and our questions and our struggles, either Jesus walked out of the grave or He didn’t.

I believe the history shows us that he did. Not just wishful thinking, historical records. And if he did, then he is Lord.

He is God in human flesh, regardless of my struggles. And rather than rejecting him over something that is a separate issue, maybe I ought to run to him for hope, for comfort, for resolution of that issue maybe. But the claims he makes are separate from those things.

Don’t reject Jesus because of something that has nothing to do with who He is. If you believe that He rose from the dead, then run to Him as Lord. If you don’t believe that He rose from the dead, I’d like the opportunity to change your mind.

But Him being risen, Him being Lord, has nothing to do with the fact that He hasn’t said yes to what I want Him to do. It has nothing to do with the fact that people have been taken from me before what I thought was their time. It’s a separate issue.

And we see in the resurrection that Jesus is a risen Savior, and He’s the basis for our hope. He’s not a dead teacher. He’s a risen Savior.

And our hope is not based on wishful thinking. It’s not based on a feeling. It’s based on the reality of the resurrection.

And those days when I’m just not feeling it, I don’t have to rely on my feelings. I rely on what I know He did. And this morning, if you feel distant from God, if you know your relationship with God is not right, It’s because we are separated from God by something called sin.

Any disobedience, any time we disobey Him in our words, our thoughts, our actions, it’s sin and it separates us from a holy God. You and I can’t do a thing to fix the problem because we can’t undo the sin we’ve committed. Even our good works, church attendance, religious activities, they don’t undo the wrong that we’ve done.

So Jesus Christ came to earth as God in human flesh. He took responsibility for our sins. He was nailed to the cross and shed his blood and died in our place as the sacrifice that was needed so that our sin could be forgiven.

He paid the entire price for your sin so that you could be right with God. And after he died, he was buried and he rose again three days later to prove it. To prove that he was God Almighty, able to forgive your sins.

This morning, if you need to be right with God, if you recognize that there’s a problem in that relationship, or you recognize there’s not a relationship at all. It starts with acknowledging that Jesus Christ died to pay for your sins, and that he rose again to prove it, and asking God for forgiveness, not because of any good you can do, not because of how good and how moral you can be, but because Jesus died to pay for your sins.