If Christ Had Not Been Raised - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Christ is risen. We understand that we recognize this day as a day of hope, day of joy, day of celebration, victory, and triumph. Amen? And this specific day, it it influences every aspect of who we are. It influences our posture.

It influences our attire. It influences our understanding of who God is in his fullness. It influences our songs. It influences the very atmosphere of God's house, and more importantly, it influences the souls of men through the revelation of the resurrection. And here we are celebrating that.

Here we are rejoicing, and here we are sitting, I hope, with the understanding and with the faith that Jesus Christ is actually alive as you're sitting there. Jesus Christ is alive. But I wanna present a question. I want us to think. I want us to ponder about something that perhaps we haven't taken the time to meditate on.

And perhaps it was a thought for a moment, but very rarely do you have people conversing about this idea. Very rarely do people take the time to meditate upon the magnitude of the consequences if it were to be true. What is that? What if Christ did not raise? What if Jesus Christ did not get up from that grave?

What if those ladies came to that tomb and found that stone placed just the way it was in the beginning? What if somehow they found a way to roll away that stone, and as they entered into that tomb, they found Jesus's body there, wrapped in that clean linen cloth? What if that tomb was empty but the rumors that the chief priests spread were actually true? The disciples came and took the body, and he's buried somewhere now in the Middle East. I would tell you this, that the implications of such a case would go beyond influencing you and I wearing bright colors and singing special songs on a specific day.

It would go beyond any of that. And the apostle Paul takes a brief moment to take us down that dreadful and daunting idea. We find it in first Corinthians 15 as he speaks to people who were doubting the resurrection. The idea of a resurrection from the dead was not very convincing to some in first Corinthians fifteen twelve. And this is Paul's main argument.

If you don't believe that God has the power to raise people from the dead, then even Christ himself is not raised. And he continues with that thought just for us to understand what would come about about our lives if it was so. And we read in verse 12. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

And here's the first point. Here's what we need to understand if Jesus Christ did not get up from that grave. Number one, our preaching is in vain. Our preaching is in vain. Verse 14.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. Before we move on, I want us to understand that oftentimes we don't really understand what we have until we entertain the possibility of not living in that specific reality. Is it true? Is it not true? And my prayer as we go through these verses in the next next few moments that we would realize what this resurrection really has done for us.

Your preaching is in vain. If Christ did not raise, there is no gospel. There is no good news to proclaim. What makes the good news good news is not that Jesus died. It's not just that.

It's that through his death, he conquered death and sin. If it's not that, then it's not good news. It's just news. If Jesus did not rise from the grave, then we have no reason to believe that we will rise as well. We have nothing to offer humanity.

We have nothing to give to mankind. This victorious act of the resurrection is a necessity for the gospel to be the gospel. And if it's not, then say bye bye to preaching. If the resurrection did not happen, this is what we have to do. We have to get out of this building as fast as possible.

Shut down every church. Give every Bible college student their money back. Shut down every missionary organization, and let every pastor and every teacher of the word of God resign at this very moment. Because if the resurrection is not true, then all we're left with is false promises and some moral principles in this life. And your faith is in vain, he says.

He says preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. We have no reason to read this book anymore. We have no reason to take comfort in the scriptures anymore. Why? Because if the promises of the resurrection didn't come to pass, why should we believe anything else?

We have every reason to fear death. Anxiety should be the norm because we are living under a God who is inconsistent with his word. And you and I have the choice to go either one of two paths in this life if the resurrection is not the case. You would either live in intense legalism to try to attain any form of righteousness, or you would live like the heathen. As Paul says in verse 32 of the same chapter, what do I gain?

Look what he says. What do I gain if humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Let's go be like the world. Let's give everything of our flesh away.

Let's live like the pagans. Let's build our own kingdom. Let's give ourselves over to our centrality. If there's no resurrection, what's the point? Your faith is in vain.

Not only that, verse 17 says, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. What does he mean by this? Paul has something in mind when he says this. We understand that Jesus' death atoned for our sins, but it is the resurrection that is the declaration of God signing off on his approval and his acceptance of Christ's sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Christ's resurrection is that expression of I have accepted this sacrifice.

And because he raised from the grave, he has opened the door for all of those who are joined in him to also rise from the grave. But if that's not the case, then you and I are still in our sins. And we know that if we die in our sins, we have a price to pay that will last an eternity. You're still in your sins. You still have a record of wrong.

You still have an account to deal with. But I believe it goes beyond that, though that is his primary argument here. When he says you are still in your sins, I believe that is true experientially in our lives as well. The resurrection has a specific and a very direct link to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus Christ had not raised from the grave, there would be no Holy Spirit sent into our lives.

That's why he says in John sixteen:seven, you know, disciples, I know you're sad that I'm gonna leave. I know I'm gonna go somewhere, and I'm not gonna be with you bodily. I'm not gonna be here physically, but this is to your advantage. Why? Because I'm gonna send a helper.

I'm gonna send a helper, one like me. And he will live with you, and he will be in you forever. But if there is no resurrection, there is no sending of the Holy Spirit. If there is no sending of the Holy Spirit, there is no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If there is no indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is no power of the Holy Spirit.

If there is no power of the Holy Spirit, you're still in your sins, friend. Meaning what? Yes. If Christ did not raise from the grave, I would die in my sins. But have you ever thought of this?

If Christ did not raise, you and I would still live in our sins. So we think of salvation as Christ delivering us from death, praise be to God, and us avoiding hell. That's wonderful. But have you ever understood salvation in this, not just the penalty of your sin, but the power of sin being eradicated off your life? That you don't have to live in that thing that keeps gnawing at you and pulling you into it and bringing you into shame and bringing you into guilt and bringing you into regret.

Salvation delivers you from that in this life. But But if you didn't raise, you're still in your sins. You're still living bound. You're still a slave to iniquity. What is salvation if Christ doesn't deliver us from the power of sin?

I don't know. But the gospel is good news, not just for the next life, but for this life. You can live in victory over sin. But if you did not raise, it's only in nice thoughts to meditate on. You're still in your sins, and we know that this is a horrible thought.

But Christ made the door open for a resurrection life to be possible in verse 20. The second part, the first fruits. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And if we can't rise from the grave, verse 18 is a reality. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

Do you have a loved one that passed away who was a believer in Christ? Do you have a family friend that perhaps died even recently that was a Christian? That flicker of hope that you have in your heart that one day you'll see them again, that sense of comfort and joy at their funeral when other believers have come to not mourn as the world mourns, but to rejoice at the fact that they are alive with Christ is gone. They have perished in their sin. They have perished, and you will never ever ever ever see them again.

Not only this, we see here in verse 19, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. If Christ did not raise from the grave, we're the most miserable people in this life. It would be embarrassing to be called a Christian if Christ did not raise from the grave. Why? Because there's no hope for anything outside of this life.

Your life and your pleasure is limited to your seventy, eighty, forty, eighty three years on this earth. There's nothing to look forward to, A place that Revelation seven describes as where there is no hunger or thirst, where there is no pain, where there is no sorrow, a place in which you can find shelter in his presence, a place in which you can fellowship with his person forever is only imagination. Doesn't exist if Christ didn't raise. That's not a destination for you and me. We're most to be pitied.

Our sickness has no purpose. Our persecution has no reward. Our works are pointless, and any sustaining supernatural peace in your life is not possible. Just reading those verses alone should suffocate you. To even meditate on that thought, everything of your reality and mine would crumble.

But praise be to God. Verse 20 says, but in fact, Christ has been raised. It's a fact. It's true. It happened.

He is alive. And he first appeared to Cephas, then to the 12, then he appeared to more than 500 at one time, then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and he appeared to the very apostle who penned this letter. And if that is true, then our preaching is not in vain. We declare the most glorious message that this world can hear. If it's true, we are not in our sins, but we have victory over all sin.

If it's true, our faith is not in vain. Our faith is full of life, and we can rest in it. If it is true, and it is true, we are not to be most pitied, but we are sons and daughters of the most high God, and we should beam with that truth. He is alive. And if the implications of him not raising from the great grave is so great and so weighty, much more are the consequences if he is alive.

The fact that he's alive has greater consequences and greater implications than if he wasn't in some sense. What do I mean by that? That he's not just it's not just an idea that Jesus is alive. You cannot separate the truth of the resurrection and the truth of his return. If Jesus Christ is alive, then Hebrews nine twenty eight is something that we should cling to.

Listen carefully. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not maybe. He's coming. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. So what should your posture and mind be with the truth that Jesus Christ raised from the grave?

It should be this, Lord Jesus, come. I'm eagerly waiting for the return of Christ. I'm sure you have a lot of appointments today. I'm sure you have a lot of plans this year. Maybe you have a vacation plan, but are you planning for the second coming?

Is that in your calendar anywhere? Well, every every generation says Jesus is coming back. Yeah. But one of them is gonna be right eventually. Maybe it's this generation.

And so as the old saying goes, I got some good news and I got some bad news. Good news is Jesus is coming back. Bad news is Jesus is coming back. It just depends what line you're standing on. So what?

Are we to just eagerly await for Jesus' second coming? Just have that hope and sing some lovely songs. Is that what we're supposed to do once a year? Look at how Paul concludes his argument about the resurrection in verse 58 of this chapter. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

So he ends with therefore. Therefore what? On the whole argument, on the whole fact that Jesus is alive, that there were eyewitnesses, that it's a true historical event, based on that, therefore, my fellow believers, be consistent. Stop going back and forth. Stop letting bad news affect you.

Stop letting persecution push you around. Be immovable. Do you want to know a secret to being consistent in the Christian faith? Just realize he's alive. That makes all the difference, does it not?

Realize he's coming back. Immovable, steadfast, and not just that, abounding in the work of the Lord. It's time to get to work, Christians. It's time to do something for this resurrected Christ. It's time to realize that he is coming back, and I will stand before him, and I want something to lay before his feet when he does.

And we think that when Jesus comes back, he's just gonna scoop us up, take us to heaven, and we're gonna each have our own cloud with our name on it and sing lovely hymns and have a harp. No. No. No. There's something that's gonna happen before that.

We have an appointment with the master. We have an appointment with this risen king. And as his children, as his servants, as his soldiers, son, what did you do with the resurrection power I gave you? What did you do with the reality that I am alive? Because when we think of the resurrection, we think of an event that happened in the past, and we think of his return in the future, and we live in this cloudiness in between.

But you and I, based on this verse, have to understand that Jesus being alive affects our lives now. It it changes the way we do things. It changes the way we prioritize our events or prioritize our activities. Everything changes based on this truth. Oh, that we would understand it.

Oh, that God would grab a hold of some of you in such a way that when you leave this place and you have your lunch and you have your dinner and you get in your comfortable clothes, my prayer for you is that once you crawl into bed and you lay your head on that pillow, you would hear this faintly in your heart. He's alive. He's alive. He's alive. And that you would come to a place where you would evaluate your life and say, I'm going to reprioritize everything in line of that truth.

If he's alive, what does that mean for us? I don't know about you, but when I read a verse like this, I say, lord, if you're alive, let me know how alive you are in my life. Oh, lord, would you walk with me as you walk with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus? Would you let your word burn in my bosom when I open the scriptures? Would I know the comfort of your presence?

Would I know that power that you promised because of your resurrection? I want all of it. I want all that you have. I want all that is mine through the inheritance by your grace. Give it to me.

Shower me with these things. But the reality is so many Christians who who affirm the resurrection don't live as though he is resurrected. But Paul says this changes the way you do everything. It changes the way you react to situations. It changes the way you deal with every aspect of your life.

And oh, would he do it in your life, young man? Oh, would he do it in your life, father, husband, that you would go home, and perhaps up to this point in your life, you have not fully given yourself to Christ, and you would sit on that dinner table and look at your family and say, you know what? From this moment on, we're gonna live because Jesus Christ is Lord of this house in light of the fact that he's gonna return. Some of you young people would get it and understand and stop living for things that don't matter in this life. Stop living like let us drink and eat for tomorrow we die.

That you would let Christ possess your person, and that you would flip this world upside down for the glory of God with this little vapor of a life that you have. Jesus Christ and his resurrection is our hope for the future, but he's also the reason to live in a certain way today. And Paul says, if it didn't happen, call it quits. But it did happen, so you have to make a choice. How are you gonna live your life?

How are you gonna prioritize the things that you give yourself over to? I don't know about you, but the only thing that's keeping me going is the fact that he's coming back or I'm going to him. Despite anything, he gets the final word. He tells us in revelation, behold, I am coming, and I'm bringing with me a reward. I don't know what your idea of a reward is.

For me, it's not the golden streets. For me, it's not a golden crown. For me, it's not a place where my body can't get sick. Those are all great. But to have his smile at the end of it all, to have that look in the eyes of my soul, you lived in light of the fact that I was my life.

You lived in the fact with the truth that I am risen, and you made much of it, son. You made much of it. Enter into the joy of your master. Is that your desire? If not, here's your chance.

Jesus is alive. No doubt about it. But how are you gonna live in light of it? Here's his invitation to you. Pray with me.

Father, we sing songs. We dress the part, but, Lord, we say transform our lives. Transform our lives with the revelation that you are alive and well. And we pray, God, that you would fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit that you have granted us so that we could live in light of the fact that you are you are you are reigning on high. And, lord, whether you come back in this generation or you take us home before that, lord, we wanna be found ready.

Help us labor. Help us live. Help us pursue holiness. Help us endure persecution as we are reminded this time of the year that Jesus Christ is alive and well. We pray these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.