April 24 - Resurrection Sunday Sermon

No Bones About It

Introduction:

Lincoln's coffin is encased in 4,000 pounds of concrete 10 feet deep, surrounded by a cage, and buried beneath a rock slab. His tomb is visited by more than 1, 000,000 people a year.

Tombs are constructed for a variety of reasons. Some tombs are magnificent mausoleums. The Taj Mahal is one of the wonder of the world, which holds the remains of Shah Jahan's wife. The tomb of the unknown solider is located in Arlington cemetery and hold the remains of a solider unidentified. I could go on and on listing famous tombs, where thousands of people regularly visit. But one thing they all have in common is they all have the bones of those buried there.

Dr. Frank Morrison, a successful and seasoned attorney, set out to disprove the resurrection. He spent many years investigating the resurrection story, because he felt that he owed it to himself and others to write a book that would present the truth about Jesus and dispel the mythical story of the resurrection.

However, upon studying the facts, he came to a different conclusion. The sheer weight of the credible evidence compelled him to conclude Jesus actually did rise from the dead. Morrison eventually wrote the book, but not the one he planned. It is titled Who Moved the Stone?" The first chapter is very significant, it is entitled: "The Book That Refused To be Written."

This text of Scripture we have read this morning, skeptics and mockers have challenged it's veracity and character. There is the possibility that some of you have come this morning with your questions surrounding the validity of the resurrection. The Corinthian congregation grappled with the same doubts.

The uniqueness of the Christian faith is that it is built on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. No bones about it! The uniqueness of Christ's tomb is that millions of people travel to the Holy land to witness a tomb different from all the rest; whether the visitor is an atheist, agnostic, or a genuine follower of Christ, each sooner knows there are no bones.

To deny the bodily resurrection of Christ is to dismantle the whole foundation of Christianity. Paul understood this and he countered all the arguments of the skeptics, mockers, and out right deniers with one succinct statement: "If Christ be not risen … then our faith is in vain" (v. 14). Paul defends the resurrection by listing several deductions for these doubters, which we will examine this morning. First,

I. The Theological Consequences of No Resurrection (15:12-15).

The first and obvious consequences of there being no resurrection would be that not even Christ has been raised. Some had argued that Christ was not really a man, or was not fully a man. The watchtower organization for the Jehovah's Witnesses says, Jesus did not rise from the dead in the same body he died (your can read this in - You can Live Forever On Paradise Earth, p. 143-44). Instead, it says that He arose as a spirit creature and that the material body of Jesus was taken away by God the father. Therefore, they deny the physical resurrection of Christ. Is this important? Most definitely!

Luke was a physician, and he being lead by the Holy Spirit took great pain to dispel this myth in his own gospel. After Jesus' resurrection He appeared unto a group of men in Jerusalem, they were frightened, believing he was a spirit (Lk. 24:33-37). But Jesus Challenged them to touch Him and see he had flesh and bones unlike a spirit (vv. 38-39), and he even ate with them, something a spirit cannot do.

A. If Christ is not risen the Gospel message would be meaningless (v. 14a). But Paul at the outset of his letter, declares that the heart and crux of the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection ( I Cor. 15:3-4). Apart from the resurrection Jesus could not have conquered sin or death or hell, and those three great evils would forever be man's conquerors Without the resurrection the good news would be band news, and there would be nothing worth preaching. Without the resurrection the gospel message would have as much validity as Alice In Wonderland.

B. If Christ is not risen faith in Christ would be worthless(v. 14b). Friends, a dead savior cannot give life, therefore our faith would be empty and to no purpose. If the dead do not rise, then Christ did not rise and we will not rise. If there was no resurrection the hall of the faith listed in Hebrews 11, would be the hall of the foolish. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab. David, the prophets, and all the others would have been faithful for nothing. They would have been mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, afflicted, ill-treated, and put to death completely in vain. All believers in all ages would have lived for nothing and died for nothing, if Christ be not risen.

C. If Christ is not risen all witnesses to and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15). If there is no such thing as the resurrection of Christ, then every person who claimed to have witnessed the risen Christ, all the apostles, and over five hundred other independent witnesses (v. 5), all would be liars. To deny the resurrection is to call the apostles and every other witnesses, not just simply mistaken but willfull liars. They would have all had to conspire to lie to be consistently in harmony with one another.

Second, if Christ be not risen, let us consider:

II. The Personal Consequences (15:16-19).

These next set of arguments Paul presents strike more directly as to how believers would be personally affected, if Christ be not risen.

A. All men would still be in their sins (v. 17). If Christ be not raised, then believers would be no better spiritually non-believers, because we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). We would be in the same boat as the unbelievers to whom Jesus said, "You … shall die in your sin" ( Jn. 8:21). If the Lord Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then sin won the victory over Christ, and therefore continues to be victorious over all men. If Jesus remained dead, then when we die, we too will remain dead and damned, because "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).

But my friends, contrary to what the skeptics and mockers think and say, because Christ does live, we too shall live" (Jn. 14:19).

B. If Christ be not risen then the former believers would have eternally perished (v. 18). Every saint, Old Testament or Christian, who had died would forever perished. Paul, John Calvin, John Knox, Martin Luther, Jerome, John Huss, John Wesley, D.L. Moody, and all the faithful evangelist, foreign missionaries, and pastors who died their faith would be in vain, their sins unforgiving, and their destiny would be eternal torment.

C. If Christ be not risen, Christians would be the most pitiable people on earth (v. 19). In light of all the other consequences Paul has already dealt with, the last is rather obvious. Without the resurrection, and the salvation and blessings it brings, Christianity would be pointless and pitiable.

Friends go to the cemetery and sit on a bench under an oak tree and look at the head stones jutting out of the ground. Read some of the epitaphs, smell the flowers and watch the grieving families as they leave, then say this is all there is to life. If Christ is not risen, and we only have hope in this life, then we are all men most miserable, and the grave is our only hope and consolation of deliverance and rest.

To have hoped in Christ in this life only would be to teach, preach, suffer and sacrifice for nothing. If Christ is still dead then He not only cannot help us in regard to the life to come but he cannot help us now. If He cannot grant us eternal life, He cannot improve our earthly life.

Saints, a Christian has no savior but Christ, no Redeemer but Christ and no Lord but Christ. There are no bones about it! Paul did not end on that note. This morning we triumphantly declare with the Apostle Paul and all the saints throughout the ages:

III. But Now Christ Is Raised From The Dead (v. 20).

Paul pierced the conscience of the Corinthian congregation with his elaborate defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then Like a trumpet blast, he made this solid declaration: "Christ is risen indeed." In Christ alone is the power of resurrection: "I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever beliveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this" (Jn. 11:25-26)?

Friends, do you believe? Jarius' daughter believed, we are told that she was raised from the dead by the hand of Christ (Mk. 5:21-34), she knows there are no bones about it. As Jesus stopped the funeral procession in the town of Nain, and raisded the widows dead son who was being taken to the cemetery. ( Lk. 7:11-17). He also believed, for him there were no bones about it. With His voice, Christ commanded death to release its hold on His friend Lazarus (Jn. 11:43), and Lazarus came forth, dead for over four days and the grave clothes still on. He believed, for him there were no bones about it.

My friends, do you believe today. There is an empty grave, no bones remain, to prove my savior lives.

Let's Pray!