Sermon Tone Analysis

Today is a day of celebration, it is a celebration of new life, a reflection on the purpose for the reason for celebrating and a resurgence in our hope in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ has been the topic of much controversy since the day it happened.

Skeptics have tried since the very first resurrection Sunday to disproof that Jesus truly did rise from the grave.

Some believe that Jesus’ body wasn’t resurrected and walked out of the tomb they in fact believe that Jesus’ body was stolen in the night.

This theory was begun by the ones who killed Him in the first place let’s look at Matthew 28:11-15,

So, you see the story about Jesus’ body being stolen was fabricated by the Jewish religious leaders for the purpose of falsifying the claim that Jesus is the Messiah.

They wanted to take away the validity of His resurrection because they believed if they did than no one would believe Him or His disciples.

It was a power trip for the religious leaders.

If the resurrection was believed by the Jewish community then they would have believed what the Scripture said, and they would have turned to Christ instead.

So, the religious leaders had to protect themselves and their power.

The way to do so was to change hope into to doubt and despair.

This is one theory that the body was stolen another is that Jesus didn’t actually die.

The Koran, which was written some 600 years after Jesus’ resurrection, speaks of Jesus not dying on the cross that it was only to appear that way to make people think He died on the cross.

This theory continues in the early 19th century by men like Karl Bahrdt and Karl Venturini who developed something called the swoon theory.

Those who believe this basically believe Jesus was a part of some form of an early Freemason group and they helped Jesus concoct all of the miracles and even going to the cross.

The proponents of this theory believe Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, He only passed out from the pain and the lack of oxygen and when He was taken down from the cross the men that Jesus had formed an allegiance with were able to go to the tomb which was Joseph of Arimathea’s, who coincidentally these men say he was a part of this group also and they where able to resuscitate Jesus.

Over the years those who have believed this continue to write about their theory it has continued in the past 20 years and there are those who believe this conspiracy theory about Jesus not dying on the cross and not being resurrected.

Well let me tell you that these theories are just that, theories.

No one has been able to prove the swoon theory and serious scholars can refute it in seconds.

Also saying that His body was stolen well that doesn’t hold water either especially because there is no body anywhere and because there have been too many witnesses to the resurrected Christ.

Now there is only one reason why anyone would want to do this, why anyone would want to perpetuate this ridiculous kind of thought, this lie, and that is to discredit the Scripture and God, and having a goal of shattering the hope of those who believe.

See without the resurrection then that means that Jesus has never risen from the dead or if He never truly died at all means that sin was never atoned for it was never taken away and no resurrection, Jesus being brought to life then He would not have had been the conqueror over sin and death and we have no hope of ever having an eternal place in Heaven.

No resurrection also makes all that we believe empty, useless and leaves us with no purpose for life and no purpose for an afterlife.

This thought of Jesus not being resurrected may sound silly to some people but the truth is there are skeptics out there who think that the idea of a resurrection sounds silly to them.

Well this debate has been going on since the resurrection of Jesus and the Apostle Paul had to deal with this same exact issue in the church of Corinth.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul presents to the Corinthian church the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What he presents and what we will be looking at this morning is not only witnesses to the resurrection but Paul’s argument points to the fact our hope hinges on the resurrection.

We will see this morning how our hope hinges on the resurrection.

Our Hope Hinges on Witnesses

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 1-4

The first thing that we see in verse 1 is that Paul says to the Corinthians “Now I make known” which is his way of accomplishing two goals.

The first goal Paul is accomplishing is connecting what he has just instructed them in the previous section of his letter pertaining to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

He has instructed them on an issue of disorder in the worship of the church.

There was uncertainty in the Corinthian church concerning how the spiritual gifts were to be used and Paul instructed them on how to restore order in their worship service.

Now Paul moves on to instruct them about an issue in which they are unanimous, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is Paul’s second goal in saying “now I make known to you” which brings the Corinthians to the topic of the gospel which “has been proclaimed” to them.

Paul is not reminding them of the gospel but is simply making a statement about something that the Corinthian church already knows and understands.

Paul is not only using this phrase to introduce them to the immediate instruction concerning the facts of the gospel that they already know but as a means to introduce what will follow concerning a deeper instruction on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul also readdresses the Corinthians here as brothers, which is a common designation used by Paul when he refers to those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul affirms the message that has been made known to the Corinthians when he tells them they have received it demonstrating that this has happened in the past.

He also affirms this is something that they know by telling them that they stand firm in the fact of the gospel truth in the present day.

Paul continues in affirming that the Corinthians know the gospel by telling them they are saved in verse 2, not only are they saved at the present time of Paul’s writing to them but they have a future salvation as well.

Paul wants the Corinthians to hold fast to the word he proclaimed to them.

He wants them to cling or hang on to the essence of the gospel itself.

Paul tells them to grasp the fact that they are saved and will continue on into salvation.

The only way that they can not grasp the essence of what was proclaimed is if they believed in vain or if they did not truly believe in the essence of the gospel to begin with.

If they have believed in vain then they can not grasp what was proclaimed to them because then the gospel is useless to them.

Vain faith or empty faith leads to empty lives, useless lives.

Vain faith leads to no purpose in this life and in the life to come.

Salvation doesn’t come into the lives who feel it has no purpose.

And people who have vain faith, empty faith, have no perseverance because they have not to persevere for.

Paul continues to further explain to the Corinthian church the essence of the gospel that he has proclaimed to them.

This word is something that Paul is passing on to the Corinthians.

Paul is passing on the historic facts known by the church which has its source in divine authority.

He tells them this is “of first importance” which means that this is the primary emphasis in the gospel message.

He has passed this on to the Corinthians and it was received by them.

Now Paul begins to elaborate more about what it is the Corinthian church has received.

Paul begins here with the fact that Jesus “died for our sins.”

He did not just die but there was a purpose for His death.

This purpose was that He would die a necessary death because of man’s sin.

Paul also adds after this that it was “according to the Scripture.”

The reference here goes back to the Old Testament Scriptures as a whole that foretells Jesus’ sacrifice which He will make on behalf of all mankind and die on the cross because of sin.

Here Paul is presenting the death of Jesus as a fulfillment of what the Scriptures say.

The entirety of the old Testament Scripture is God’s revealed plan pointing to Jesus reconciling all of mankind back to God.

Paul’s explanation of the facts about the gospel continues as he now moves to writing about Jesus being buried and raised from the dead.

Paul connects Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead on the third day with the fact that He was buried.

The facts are Jesus had died, he was buried, and is now raised from the dead.

Jesus did not just get up from the grave but He was raised.

The emphasis Paul makes here by saying Jesus was raised is one that shows He did not raise Himself but was raised by another.

The other one who raised Him is God.

This is Paul’s way of proving the fact that God is in complete control of all things life and death and God has all the power in the world to raise His Son from the dead.

Paul is also saying here that this is God’s plan it has been all along.

Saying that Jesus is raised from the dead shows that God was working in Jesus’ resurrection He didn’t let Jesus stay in that tomb but He brought Him back to newness of life.

Jesus being raised from the dead occurred on the third day.

The way this phrase is used is in reference to the next day plus one.

People wonder how is it that He was in the ground for three days, well this is what is meant by that He was buried on the evening He was crucified and as Paul refers to it here it was actually the next day plus one more.

This makes it three days.

Jesus Himself spoke this exact phrase on a number of occasions when He foretold His death, burial and resurrection.

And at the end of verse 4 we have once again the phrase according to the Scriptures.

Again it is the Old Testament that Paul is referring to here.

What Paul is telling the Corinthian church is that the events that have transpired are historical they have actually happened and they are a fulfillment of the Word of God.

The Word of God is reliable it is truth and as Paul tells the Corinthians it is what they should hold fast too.

The Scripture itself points as a proof to Jesus Christ.

It is not only the New Testament that talks about Jesus it is the Old Testament which is all that Paul had.

The proof to the resurrection is in the Old Testament.

We looked at Isaiah 53 a few weeks ago and in Isaiah 53 we saw that Jesus was crushed for our iniquities and that He died and that He was victorious over sin.

This is the gospel in its entirety which has the death burial and resurrection with in it.

All of Scripture talks about Jesus and points us to Him and it is the infallible Word of God it can be trusted and it is our proof that Jesus lives.

The Scriptures themselves are God’s eyewitness accounts of what He would do.

They are not full of empty words and the Scriptures do not have meaningless stories.

The Scriptures themselves are, as the author of Hebrews tells us, living and active and sharper then any two edged sword, cutting through bone and marrow.

Paul doesn’t twice points to the Scriptures as the authorial base of our belief in the events of the gospel.

This and this alone should be enough but to prove that it is not empty or useless to believe the Word of God Paul also provides for them physical witness who can corroborate the validity of these facts.

After Paul provides the Corinthians with the historical facts which are a fulfillment of Scripture which is proof of the death, burial and resurrection, he then recounts Jesus’ appearances to those who followed Him in life.

These are the eyewitness to the risen Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t only raised from the dead and ascended into heaven He was raised and He walked the earth and He went to His disciples.

He had to go to His disciples once again because they thought that He was defeated so He appeared to them and in His appearing there are eyewitness accounts of His resurrection.

These appearances occur in a progression beginning with Cephas and then the twelve.

Cephas is the Aramaic form of Peter who is referenced as the first apostle and is the first one that the resurrected Lord appeared to.

Paul begins with Peter and then he moves to the twelve as being the next ones in the progression of eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus.