Christ Is Risen!!! — 1 Corinthians 15

0:00 If you weren't here at the first service, my message has already been preached. That's always a danger when you're here on Easter. It's hard to look past the resurrection. What what I'm gonna try and say in words, my brother said in his heart when when Justin got up here. So let's let's see if we can't do that.

0:19 I always start this way or maybe I've gotten into a habit of starting this way to start off with a quiz. This is a history quiz. I'm a history buff, but gonna need a little bit help here. So are you all with me? We need we need a little participation.

0:31 You're gonna have to help me here. Okay. What happened? Seoul, South Korea, 06/03/1973. Real quick.

0:38 What happened on that day? Great war. Wrong. Next one. That's not correct either.

0:48 That was in Vietnam as a matter of fact, I believe, wasn't it? So when we evacuated the embassy. I don't know if the Koreans... But anyway, this was the Billy Graham crusade in Seoul, South Korea. Okay?

1:01 The reason I put this one up, I mean, he had like 470 some crusades that he went on or that he went through. And this was the day that he preached to the largest number of people in history or in his history. Anybody know how many people it was? A lot. Exactly that much.

1:19 A lot of people. 1,100,000 people gathered on an old retired, I believe, air force or air runway that had been used in the Korean War. Okay? And so 1,100,000 people on one day heard the man preach the gospel. So next one, go ahead.

1:38 Shea Stadium, 08/15/1965. How many people can say they've been to Shea Stadium here? There's one. Where is Shea Stadium? Flushing New York.

1:49 Flushing Meadows, New York or we would know as New York City. Right? And so unfortunately... So what's what what's it famous for? The New York Mets.

2:00 Of course. It's the home of the Mets. But what happened on this particular day? Go ahead. Next one.

2:09 The Beatles played to the largest crowd in their history. They say there was between fifty five and fifty six thousand people in Shea Stadium that day. There they were, the Beatles. Now, you know, this is not new. The Beatles didn't all of a sudden pop up and play in Shea Stadium.

2:26 Right? And just the same, Billy Graham didn't all of a sudden command 1,100,000 people to show up one day. They had been doing it for a while. As a matter of fact, the the Beatles have been playing together since 1960. Billy Graham had been preaching since, you know, by probably twenty years before that.

2:45 Okay? Next. Washington DC, 08/28/1963. Some of you were alive at that time and remember this well. Now what happened on that particular day in Washington DC?

2:59 I have a dream. Martin Luther King Junior preached the gospel or preached... Not preached, he spoke in a rally there relative to, you know, workers' rights, civil rights. Was that day he had, I think, 250,000 people had purposely and notice... Notably came to Washington DC for that specific purpose.

3:22 Now if you listen to Martin Luther King Junior speak, I had a tape one time that that gave many of his famous speeches. His first public speech was in 1944. Now here we are twenty years later plus and he's giving an I have a dream speech. All of his speeches to that point led up to this moment. You can actually hear in his progression of speaking the way he spoke, the what he spoke about, the way he refined the effort or refined his speaking in the message to be able to deliver this speech which is probably his most famous ever.

4:06 D Day. Okay. The invasion of France, the the turning point of World War two. 160,000 men were landed on a beach in one day. I'm not sure how many of them died, but a big percentage of them to be able to invade France and to push back the Germans into Europe.

4:26 Okay? And this was the largest amphibious assault I think ever in the history of the world. It may be the largest gathering of troops at any one time, included air, sea, land, everybody was there. Okay? And they all hit the beaches and went into France.

4:43 Now they also dropped people behind the lines and and came at it the other way. Big day. D day. Next. Okay.

4:51 This one might be a little harder. Nobody was alive. I don't think anybody's alive at this time. This was New Newburgh, New York, 03/15/1783. Anybody got a guess?

5:04 That's a good guess. Good guess. Something to do with the revolutionary war. George said? That's excellent.

5:16 You get an A for the day Colin. This is when George Washington famously gathered his officers together and spoke to them because they had they were they were upset. They hadn't been paid. Congress hadn't allocated money to them. They were creating a conspiracy or they were conspiring, that's a better way of putting it, to overthrow the government and made George Washington king.

5:43 Okay? This is not this is not like made up folks. This is just a true thing. And he gave a speech where he implored them. Maybe I ought do it this way.

5:53 He implored them not to do it. Okay? And he talked about why they were doing this. Perfect union. Why it was important to stick with the plan.

6:02 Right? And he famously as it were... Get the next picture there? Says, he ended his speech this way. He said, gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles.

6:16 For I have now, or I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country. Washington couldn't read without those. He had never shown that to his troops before this. He got to that point and he put on his spectacles and said, listen. Essentially what he was saying was, I gave up a lot too.

6:43 Don't tell me what you haven't been given. This is important for us to move forward. And so he carried the day that way... That day and changed literally history for us. We could be saying King Trump or King Biden instead of you know, President.

7:00 It's a much different country today than it was. Okay, move on. Each one of these particular events, okay, had maybe a political undertone. Or Martin Luther King Junior has social overtones. The military is obvious there.

7:19 Beatles were entertainment. We have a religious thing. All of these had many things in common, okay? Next. They all had a buildup rehearsal, okay?

7:35 In order for them to put that many troops on, there was a lot of buildup. There was a lot of practice, a lot of rehearsal. I said Martin Luther King Junior had practiced much, a lot of planning that went into to prepare for the Beatles to sing to 55,000 people, right? A lot of advertisement had gone. This is what's gonna happen on this day.

7:57 As a matter of fact, the only one that you can't say was advertised was D Day, right? But that's not true. While the Germans really didn't know exactly where they were gonna invade, which was the beaches of Normandy, there was five of them there, Omaha, Gold, Juno, I forget all the rest of them. But they thought something else was gonna happen because the Alloys had done a significant job of advertising that General George Patton was in England creating the first army and he was gonna invade at Calais. Okay?

8:29 The Germans were absolutely convinced of that. There was nobody else who was gonna lead that charge other than Patton. So when they put Patton over there, it completely faked out. It was a feint, it was important. But so it was advertised as well.

8:42 There was a choice of venue. They knew they were gonna land on that beach. They knew that they were gonna sing in that stadium, okay? They knew that there was only one place in Seoul, Korea probably that could hold. 1,100,000 people, Right?

8:55 And then we have to, you know, this is the place. Okay? There was a big team behind the scenes. One of the team members at Billy Graham's crusade was a guy by the name of Billy Kim. Billy Kim was its interpreter.

9:08 And they say Billy had the mannerisms and had the manner of speech that Billy Graham had and that's what made it so special. And what made it special for me is I was talking to my friend Todd Eichenhower just the other day, mentioned this to him and he said I got to meet both those guys at one time. I got to shake each one of their hands, both Billy Graham here in The United States and Billy Kim in Korea. Crazy side point. But they all had a message.

9:37 I have a dream. We all know that message, right? And we we all know that there's a message. So I'd like to talk to you today about another significant event. Okay?

10:08 I mean, oh, oh, double lot '33, okay? Way back when the original, if you will. I think people would have gone there and they would have looked back. After this, they would have looked back. Remember going to Passover?

10:22 Yeah. Remember Passover thirty three though? Oh yeah, yeah, I certainly do. And they have said, that was different than any other. It was like no other.

10:31 Every time I'd been to Jerusalem, this was a time that was special, was was completely different. I took something away from that. And today, if we had something like that, what would we do? We'd stick it on a t shirt, wouldn't we? Next one.

10:50 Well, there's the Beatles t shirt. You can get a t shirt. I don't know if these are actually the ones that people haven't washed or whatever from that time, but you can get a throwback t shirt on Amazon. I think it's $24.95 or no, I'm sorry. This is at Etsy.

11:03 It's a little bit higher price. Right? Right? A high D that, know, little little upscale. So...

11:09 And in case you were going to create a t shirt that said Passover Jerusalem thirty three because I just came up with that too late, You can buy this one for $22.95 on $3.16 t's. So just a little a little information for you. Next. So we talk about Jerusalem, Passover Jerusalem of thirty three. We usually start that with holy week.

11:33 We've talked about that. Have you not heard that comment this past week? Holy week, right? What is holy week? Well, usually starts with the triumphal entry or Palm Sunday, which was last Sunday.

11:46 Right? And well, what happened on Palm Sunday? Do we remember? Jesus entered Jerusalem to a king's parade, if you will, where people were laying their garments on the ground, where they were putting palm tree or palm leaves on the ground. Something for him to walk on as he rode in on the colt of young donkey.

12:09 Okay? That's Palm Sunday. Now, just like the Beatles didn't all of a sudden show up one day and sing to 56,000 people, neither did he. You gotta remember, next, that he was, I'm sorry this picture doesn't show very well, but he was in Jerusalem for Passover when he was 12. We remember that, right?

12:27 Luke chapter two says he was there with his family and his family went every year to Jerusalem for Passover. We have to believe he kept doing that as a young man as up until his last Passover there. So he's a person, he's a man, and it built up from there. Next. And you go back a little bit.

12:47 You'll remember, a couple more. You'll remember that not only that, but he turned the water into wine. You remember that was his first miracle. And that message was there right from the very beginning, wasn't it? Old things can become new.

13:04 Water can be turned into wine. You can have new life. Okay? A crippled man walked, right? Load him through the roof so that he could have his sins forgiven.

13:15 And then so that you know I can forgive sins, stand up, walk, Right? Saul leading up to what we talked about, there's this walk into Jerusalem. He fed 5,000 people at one time. 5,000 men, so we know it was much greater than that. Alright?

13:31 And he raised Lazarus from the dead. Right before he entered Jerusalem, matter as of fact. So next. He had some rehearsal. He was doing this not because he knew, didn't know how to do it, right?

13:45 Not because his power was growing, but because he was preparing the people. Right? This is rehearsal. Watch me. Listen.

13:53 It grows as he teaches. It grows as they see him doing different things. Right? He had a lot of preparation. Even from the time he was 12, he was before the leaders in Jerusalem.

14:04 He debated with them. He showed his need to, or his his ability. Next. He advertised really well. If you really want people to show up and see you, raise somebody from the dead and then watch them show up.

14:21 That's what happened. People came to Jerusalem saying, you know what? I heard about this guy. I heard he did this. We have...

14:27 This now is something. This is a guy we need to go see. Next. There couldn't have been a better venue than Jerusalem. Right?

14:36 Jerusalem was where it was at. That's where the leaders of Israel were. Where the the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the those who were the thinkers of the day, those that held the religious power, if you will. The Roman rule was there too. Everything was there for a perfect venue for him to be on stage, if you will, for this event at this Pas sover.

15:01 He had a great team behind him that helped feed the 5,000. And not only that, think about it from this perspective. So many people had heard about him and knew about him that now they were gonna be able to go and tell about him. He created that over time. He had a great message, didn't He?

15:22 All things can become new. I could turn water into wine. It can be better than it was before. So next. Now that week, he entered Jerusalem on Sunday, if you will.

15:55 Next. At last supper, he said, do this in remembrance of me. He ate with them one time. I mean, when we get together, don't we break bread? Don't we eat?

16:05 Isn't that a communal thing? Isn't that a way to bring people together? He did that this one last time. And we remembered that earlier this morning where he said, do this in remembrance of me. Things are looking up.

16:17 Things are are good up to this point. Right? And then things take a spin that night and they turn on a dime when the next thing happens. And that is one of his closest, one of the 12, Judas, betrays him in the Garden Of Gethsemane and he gets handed over to the authorities. And he goes through a trial, several trials actually, which ends with Pontius Pilate, the prefect of that area, a Roman soldier, if you will, who was put in charge of to keep Jerusalem under control.

16:50 Right? There had been Jewish or or local leaders, if you will, in that area prior to this, but they had to put a Roman in charge because they couldn't keep it under control. So here's Pontius Pilate and what are his famous words? I see no fault in him. Just like the original Passover when they took the lamb, right?

17:12 And it says bring the lamb into your home. Inspect it for four days. Make sure it's perfect before you slaughter it, right? There it was. He had been inspected for all this time.

17:26 He was the perfect lamb. He had been shown to be that. Next. And then they crucified him, which is a horrible method of torture. He was tortured to death.

17:38 This is all in a period of a few days, right? We know this happened or we're told this happened, aren't we? He was crucified and then he was buried in a tomb. That's what the scriptures tell us. That's what the gospel says.

17:56 That this happened. He was buried in the tomb. So there we have it. Jerusalem, Passover thirty three. Is that the end of the story?

18:09 I hope not. Let's move on. So, you know, on the way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus, there was a few guys traveling. Now, if we hark back to our original couple slides, you say that there was other folks that were going home too, right? You remember, they left Europe after World War II.

18:33 Can you imagine that boat ride? The soldier had to take a boat all the way from you know, wherever he got on in France or England and he had to come home. Can you imagine them guys saying, I remember storming the beaches in Normandy. I didn't think I was gonna make it. And you know what?

18:53 I'm the only one that made it out of my crew. Can you imagine the other guy saying, well, I wasn't there that long, but I thought I wasn't gonna make it, here I am going home. Why did we get to go home? And those guys didn't. Why?

19:07 Why? Why? And many of those stories we know because we hear the stories today because those World War two veterans are leaving us in droves. There's gonna be the last one in the next several years, right? And those guys came home talking about it, I have to believe on the boat, and then said, when I get off the boat, that's it.

19:27 No more. I don't wanna ever remember this. I'm gonna move on. And they created a great revival of our economy here in The United States. But you can imagine, on the way home, there was a lot to talk about.

19:39 Next. Can you imagine leaving the Billy Graham crusade? I know a guy who's given testimony that he went to the Billy Graham crusade and got saved at the Billy Graham crusade. Found out later that his dad was at the Billy Graham crusade. Didn't know he was there.

19:55 His dad got saved that same day. They didn't know it, but they found out that their sister was... His sister was there too. Got saved the same day. None of them knew they were going to each other.

20:06 They got invited differently. All three of them. But can you imagine leaving a Billy Graham crusade and having a conversation on the way home? Wow. Do you believe it?

20:19 Do you think... What what... When he said this, what do you think? What what do you think? How about these two guys when they were on their way home from Jerusalem on their way to Emmaus?

20:32 What were they talking about? Next. There were two guys, one was Cleopas. Luke tells us that. Now I think that's just a great interesting fact about Luke.

20:42 We know that Luke likely interviewed a number of people, talked to a number of people, gathered information from a number of people. They named one of them here. This guy Cleopas was the guy that told me this story. I think that's what he's saying, okay? And Cleopas asked this question to a lone traveler that walked along beside him and said, what are you all talking about?

21:06 And Klopas says, you're kidding, right? Do you not know what's going on? We just had the week of our lives. We had expectations that were unbelievably... This guy, he came in and then...

21:20 And what a disappointment. We just left. The tomb is empty. I don't get it. Right?

21:27 Next. And the lone traveler that's walking along beside him says, well, shouldn't that have been the way it was supposed to be? Or didn't things happen the way it was predicted in the scriptures? And he opens up the scriptures if you will to their to their eyes and starts in Moses and tells them how the son of man, how the Christ should have been sacrificed. How this was going to happen, and how he would have been raised from the dead.

21:59 Says they stopped later that night and the two implored him to stay with them. He broke bread, and when he did that, their eyes were opened. In a sense, he was saying, I'm gonna reveal myself to you now. When they did what he had asked, do this in remembrance of me, he was revealed to them. Their eyes were opened.

22:27 They saw him like, I can't believe we've been walking with this guy. This is the risen Christ. The one that we couldn't find in the tomb. The one we had all this expectation and disappointment about. It's him and he was gone in an instant.

22:44 What did they do? They put their sandals back on, they put all their stuff on their back, and they hiked on back. A day's journey at night because they had to tell everyone. They had to go tell the disciples, you can't believe it, but we saw him. It's true, he's not there because he is here.

23:05 You must know about this. It has to be told. It happened. Next. Okay.

23:33 It's probably better to say, to set them straight on a few things. We get to chapter 15 and Paul gives this dissertation about what he said and what he did. He says, look, I delivered to you that which I received. And he means from the Lord. Okay?

23:48 And then you received this. Just... He's building it up and remember, this is what's happened. Okay? You stand in this truth that we're about to talk about.

23:59 He says, and I delivered it. I'm the least of the apostles because I persecuted the church. I'm not special here. I'm not the best. I'm not the greatest.

24:08 I'm the least. Okay? But I deliver this message about am what I am. The Holy Spirit, the grace of God is working in me. Basically what he says is we preached, you believed.

24:21 Now what is it that they believed? The gospel, the good news. This good news of Jesus Christ, okay? And there it is. We could say that chapter 15 has the gospel in a nutshell.

24:35 Have you ever heard that before? The gospel in a nutshell is this simple. This simple. Christ died for our sins. He was buried.

24:49 And he rose again. There it is. This is that simple. We can can make it more complicated. We can talk about doctrine, theology, and everything else.

24:58 But this is the gospel in a nutshell. And what's more important than that is that it was predicted according to the scriptures. Now if he said according to the scriptures at that time, what was he talking about? The Old Testament. That had been written long before, all of it before, like four or five hundred years before Christ walked on the earth.

25:26 Okay? So long before, longer than The United States Of America has been in existence, right? It was foretold that each one of these things would happen. That He would die, He's buried, and He... Look at that last again.

25:42 He died for our sins. He was buried, and what does it say? He rose again. Oh, wait a minute. If you're gonna pause for a moment, just pause right there and say, wait a minute.

25:59 I can... A lot of people have died for good causes. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis, right? Billy Graham died of old age, but he lived his life for a good cause. I will die someday, as all of you, barring the rapture, taking us away before that.

26:22 But it was foretold, but it said, he rose again. Now how many people can we say that about? Rose again never to die again. Right? Lazarus rose again but died.

26:34 Others rose again but died. But here's Jesus, he rose again and died. And then and then Paul says this, and he was seen by Peter. Then he was seen by the 12. We just, we read it this morning.

26:48 Thomas, when he finally saw them said, said, my Lord and my God, he realized, I believe now. Now I believe because I've seen. Then 500 people, more than 500 people. And here's the point, Paul writes this at the time where he says, you can go talk to them. Most of them are still alive.

27:06 Don't take my word for it, you go see them. Go see over 500. You wanna interview all these? They saw him. Not not not rumors.

27:15 They saw him. And then to James, all the apostles, and then finally to Paul as one born out of due time was revealed in body, in person to each one of these people. They saw him. We continue on in chapter 15. We see that Paul goes on to make a bigger argument.

27:58 Excuse me. That there is no resurrection from the dead. How is it that you can believe that after we just told you that people saw Christ raised from the dead? How is it that now you can believe that? Okay?

28:12 Cause if there is no Christ... If there is no resurrection, back up one. If there is no resurrection, then that means that Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, we have a whole bunch of problems. We have a whole bunch of problems, okay?

28:31 Number one, is that all this preaching that we've been doing, it's empty. It means nothing. And your faith is empty too. You're putting your faith in one like every other man who just died. This guy rose again and there's reason behind that.

28:46 Number two, it makes us false witnesses. Basically you're calling me and those 500 folks and others liars. We're testifying that that actually happened. Next. Your faith is futile.

29:01 You're still in your sins. If the resurrection didn't happen, then you got one guy who died. But he's been risen again. It's demonstrating that there is, one, life after death. It's a theory until you see it's happened.

29:18 Right? We cannot know that it's a theory any longer. This happened. Okay? He came back to life.

29:26 So we want our sins forgiven. Right? Because the Lord says, you can be with me for eternity or you cannot. Is there an eternity? Yes.

29:37 We can say, because this happened, we know. If you don't have him risen from the dead, Paul says you're still in your sins. Next. And those others, those that have gone before you that you're hoping to see that have put their hope in Christ, they've perished, they're gone. There's nothing.

29:59 That's no value to them either. What a hopeless thought that is. And if you want hopeless, think of this one. If you have hope that Christ and his teaching and what he did on our behalf is only good for this life, you're you're to be a pitied person. I'm to be a pitied person.

30:23 Because if that's all the hope we have, that's not what happens. This is a difficult life to live. We have to be humbled. We have to, you know, be dependent on Christ. Okay?

30:35 And that's a difficult position. It's not a victorious, we're gonna conquer the world. But we know we've conquered death. So anyway, he's been giving us a gift. Next.

30:47 And as we were reminded on Wednesday night, we have to fight for it. This gift of salvation has truth behind it. Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again.

30:59 That's true. Don't let anybody take it away from you. Don't... You've got to receive that gift. Hold on to it.

31:07 Know it. Understand it. Don't let somebody take it away from you with a lie. Don't let them tell you something that's not true. Know what it is that you have.

31:19 And that is that Christ is risen. He's the preeminent one, the first fruits. The demonstration that resurrection does happen of the dead. Next. Just as he says, as one man, death entered the world, or through one man, death entered the world.

31:39 Through one man, now resurrection of the dead has happened. Adam died, or through Adam we all die. Through Christ we can all be alive. And then it defeats the last enemy of death. Think about all the enemies you have.

31:57 Think about all the things that you struggle with. Think about all the things that have tested you in your life. Is there anything more trying, anything more scary, anything more final to that test or trial than death? That's the last enemy. That is the only enemy, if you will.

32:46 Now, you may walk out of here and say, I heard some strange things today. I never heard it quite that way before. I'm not sure I've ever heard that before. Well, I encourage you to dig in and figure out why that is. Why you're here today hearing that today.

33:06 You may find out or you may be feeling right now some way in your heart that your heart is burning. There's there's some movement within you that says, there's something about this. Okay? Don't deny that. The Holy Spirit is calling you today.

33:27 Don't be surprised. If your eyes have now been open to that, praise God. Tell somebody that now I finally understand it. I realize it. It's for me.

33:42 He died for me. If you've come to that realization for the first time today, praise be to God. Because that's what happened when we remembered the Lord. When they remembered the Lord, he revealed himself to them. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive them.

34:01 If we confess with our mouths, Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Today, today is the day of salvation. And then if you've heard this so many times, you can't remember how many. If you can't remember how long ago it was when your eyes were first opened, remember it now. Remember the Lord.

34:24 As we do every week, we come to remember the Lord and say, Lord, reveal yourself to me today. And then go tell somebody else. We have that opportunity. Christ is risen. Does that make a difference?

34:41 Christ not only... It was a story. And we do ourselves a disservice when we teach our children these little picture books that say Christ risen. It's a great teaching tool. But let's not leave it there as a story for our children.

35:00 Because we close that book and we open up the Doctor. Seuss book. And it's just as colorful. And it just has a great message. But it's not the same message.

35:09 This is a story that I can tell, that I can say is true. Just like I can say, I was there the day my son was born in the car. I'll tell you about it. It's a truth that we need to pass down as truth, not as a story. It's not a story.

35:38 Not only that, it makes a difference in my life today. Not that day I believe. Not the day that somebody else... It makes a difference in what I do, how I act, how I carry myself, and what I tell other people today. We can all do that.

35:59 Christ is risen. He's risen indeed. Let's pray. Father, we're so thankful that you have, you've pointed this out to us Lord and you've recorded it in your scriptures through many faithful witnesses. Lord, we know that there are many that would have given testimony at the time of Paul.

36:20 We can say it today. We know he lives within my heart and he lives within our hearts, Lord, so we can give testimony as well. As we go forward today, Lord, on our way home, if it were or as it were, we pray that we might remember that your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is risen today. Amen.