Message

---

Through last our study, we learned that Jesus is the First and the Last; he died and came to life again. 1 Corinthians is known as the “resurrection chapter”. We know that there is a love chapter (1 Corinthians 13) and a faith chapter (Hebrew 11). All these chapters are beautiful and great. But without resurrection the stories of love and faith do not make a sense. What’s the meaning of love that ends in death and faith that is under the power of death? Without resurrection, there is no meaning and no sense. Today we are going to study 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, part 1. In writing this chapter, Paul does not say about Jesus’ resurrection directly. Beforehand he had to say about Christ Jesus’ death. Christ’ death is different from all other people’s death; it is the ground of his resurrection. And Christ’s resurrection makes his death meaningful and alive. Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection together is the gospel, which in Greek means, “good news.” Paul said in verses 1,2. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” Here Paul is not preaching a new gospel. No, he is reminding the Corinthian believers of the gospel he already preached to them. Although we have to remember many things in life, the gospel must be remembered in each Christian’s lifetime, especially when problems arise. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution of all fundamental problems of mankind. As for St. Paul, the gospel is as of first importance in his life. In the post-modern era we are living in, people try to get rid of the truth of the gospel, making everything relative. This is taking away the most precious thing to mankind. In this atmosphere, even many Christians seem to lose their absolute faith in the gospel and become more and more humanistic. Then their believing is in vain. Each believer is saved through faith in the gospel. It can be done by holding firmly to the word of the gospel. The word of the gospel must be deep in our hearts (It must be in the permanent memory storage of our brain). Nothing is more precious than the word of the gospel in this world. The word of the gospel saves us and transcends us from this world. So the word of the gospel makes us victors in life in a true sense. Now let’s think about the word of the gospel. First, Christ died for our sins. Look at verse 3. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” The Jews thought that when Christ came, no one would know where he is from and Christ would not die, but be glorious and victories, defeating all their enemies. But the Lord’s Christ promised to come was to suffer and die. Why? He died not because of his mortality but because of our mortality caused by sin. His death is unique, different from all other deaths of mortal human beings. He died for our sins. Here we see the relation, Christ’s death and our sin. This is a mysterious relation. Christ has no part with sin at all. He is the sinless, holy Son of God. He is never to die. But he died and it was for our sins. Then what is sin? We can say it is a spiritual virus. It is unseen but it terribly affects mankind. Many intellectual people seem to deny sin. They say, “There is no such a thing as sin; we human beings just make mistakes, for we are mortal. That’s all.” Yet, however people decorate the word, no one can deny the impact of sin. It is like no one can deny his or her aging. The aging is the life-time process. Some say that sin is like cancer. Sin eats up man’s purity, strength, courage, love, hope, and all the goodness bit by bit until death. And the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23a). Fundamentally, sin cuts the relationship between God and man, and between man and man. We see in Genesis that there was a beautiful relationship between God and man. God walked in the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve could hear God’s voice and have fellowship with God. Mankind loved God and loved each other. But when they disobeyed God’s command, sin came. Their relationship with God was broken and the relationship with each other, also broken. Shame, guilt, fear, anxiety, escape, excuse, and blame came into their hearts. Originally, man had the image of God, holy and righteous and loving. But sin disfigured the beautiful image of God in men, and made them ugly, proud and worthless. When sin grew in them, murder occurred out of jealousy and anger. Immorality and violence filled the earth. Mankind, who were once lovers of God, became haters of God and lovers of pleasures. (Ro 1:29-31; 2 Tim 3:2-5) Romans 3:23 says, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All men could not come up to God’s standard (world champions are not an exception). Paul was the kind of person who pursued righteousness. He struggled desperately to reach God’s standard. But the more he struggled to obey God’s commands, the more he found that he was sinful. Sin used the holy commandment and deceived him and put him to death. He said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do….I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out…what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” He concluded that sin was living in him and he could not take it out. He became a prisoner under the power of sin and cried out, “What a wretched man I am!” (Ro 7:11-24) There is no remedy for sin. Sinners live wretched lives in this world with no relationship with God and then die. Nobody wants to die even if their life is wretched and miserable. Yet, each one has an appointment with death. No one can postpone or cancel it. However, death is not the end of everything. Hebrews 9:27 says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” As death is personal and inevitable, so is judgment. After death, judgment comes. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “…we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad.” After judgment eternal punishment awaits. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” The second death is the eternal punishment. This is the destiny of all mankind. Whether people believe it, the Bible unambiguously tells everything about the destiny of men. But 1 Corinthians 15:3 says, “Christ died for our sins.” This is a turning point in human history after man’s fall. And this is the counter punch for man’s sin. How can we describe his suffering to die on the cross for our sins? A hymn song says, “I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell.” A crown of thorns was set on him and he was mocked for his kingship. He was stricken on his head with a staff again and again. Blood flowed down his face and dropped on his purple robe. He was nailed to the cross and lifted up in the sky. He groaned on the tree out of pain and agony. While he was on the cross, darkness came over the whole land. He was totally left alone and abandoned. And he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why did he suffer in this way? While on earth his life was holy and so beautiful, full of grace and truth. He healed all kinds of sick people and preached the good news of the kingdom of God. Even his enemies could not find any wrong in him. He was completely innocent and selfless. He spoke nothing but the truth. He was not only sinless but also powerful. When he was about to be arrested, he showed his power to destroy the enemies even with one word (Jn 18:6). He even could have called twelve legions of angel to be put at his disposal to defeat the enemies. Then it was obvious that he did not die for his sin. And he also did not die helplessly. His suffering, crucifixion and death were not due to the injustice of this world. No, he was not a victim of vicious cycle of the world. His painful death was his choice to obey God’s will. His death on the cross was God’s punishment for man’s sin. God severely and thoroughly punished him for the sins of men. The amazing grace and truth is that through Christ’s suffering and death a solution for man’s sin problem came. Even to the Almighty God this was the only way to solve man’s sin problem. It is through the total sacrifice of the very Son of God, Christ. Christ’s death was an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He died on the cross as the Lamb of God. John 1:29 says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” He became the Paschal Lamb to be slaughtered for our sins. His blood was shed to meet the demand of sin. This is the marvelous love of God for sinners. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In God’s love Christ saves us from all our sins and all the consequences of sin, especially from eternal punishment, for he died for our sins. Praise Jesus! Second, he was raised on the third day. Look at verse 4. “that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” His burial was the confirmation of his death. It was also the prelude of his resurrection. After burial he was raised on the third day. Why was his resurrection so important? It was because through his resurrection he defeated death, the long, last enemy of mankind. Man’s sin problem was solved through Christ’s death on the cross, and death was conquered through his resurrection. Acts 2:23,24 says, “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of the wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” His resurrection was the complete victory over death. In this world everything is going on in the fatalistic acknowledgement that death is the end of one’s life and everything. So all the hopes in this world are dead hopes. But those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ have a living hope of the kingdom of God. 1 Peter 1:3,4 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.” The life of Christians is truly glorious because of the living hope of the eternal kingdom of God. All those who put their trust in Christ’s death and resurrection and lived accordingly are all welcome into the glorious kingdom of God. It is too good to imagine. And because of Christ’s resurrection we can truly live by faith. The resurrection is the proof that God is living. His mighty power was displayed. God’s justice won the victory over man’s evilness. It was the victory of God’s truth over all the falsities. So we can live by faith in the deceptive and evil world. God’s word of truth wins in the end. In today’s passage the words, “according to the Scriptures” are repeated. Christ’s death for our sins was promised and fulfilled. His resurrection was also prophesied and fulfilled. Jesus himself predicted his death on the cross and his rising again on the third day. It shows the authenticity of the Bible. Nowadays, the weather forecast is very correct, but not 100%. But the Bible is flawless, believable, and trustworthy, 100%. (Psalm 12:6) God is the God of history and the Bible is the collection of historical facts and events. I personally realize that the Bible is amazingly accurate book. I wondered why there were so many insignificant and meaningless names written in the Bible, especially in 1 Chronicles. It made me so bored every time I read the passages. Then I realized that the Bible challenged to have such confidence that even one seemingly unnecessary name among hundreds or thousands names was not written incorrectly. All things were thoroughly and correctly searched and investigated. So the writing of such a name supports the authenticity and historicity of the Bible and powerfully testifies that Christ’s death for our sins and his resurrection recorded in the Bible are true. We cannot believe our feelings, but we can believe the words of the Bible. So we can live as Bible teachers with great confidence, while the Bible warns that false teachers and prophets will be punished most severely. Through Christ’s resurrection we are assured that God’s word of truth will win over all the falsities and deceptiveness of the world. In verses 5-11 Paul introduces resurrection witnesses. They are Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred brothers, James, all the apostles and then Paul himself. Why are resurrection witnesses important? God’s work has been done in history. The Risen Christ indeed appeared to his disciples in history. He appeared to different people at different places. He even appeared more than 500 brothers at the same time. This not only supports the factuality of Jesus’ resurrection but also shows how the resurrection of Jesus Christ had to be delivered. It is through resurrection witnesses. Paul testifies that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ he was changed from a persecutor of the church into a hard-working gospel servant. And those who accepted the resurrection of Jesus have been changed. We thank and praise God for Christ who died for our sins and was raised on the third day. May we hold firmly to this word of the gospel and live as witnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection, as Bible teachers, in our generation.

---