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 if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.—1 Corinthians 15:12–26

Introduction

I grew up reading the Lord of the Rings. One of my favorite scenes is where Galadriel (the lady of light and guardian of the golden wood) takes Frodo (the hobbit) to a silver basin called the Mirror of Galadriel. Peering into this pool of water would show the viewer “things that were, things that are, and things that yet may be” (Book II, Chapter 7: “The Mirror of Galadriel”). 

Frodo sees what would happen if the Fellowship of the Ring fails and Frodo does not destroy the ring of power—what would happen if they lose. Frodo sees everything go dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of sight, and Frodo looked into deep emptiness, like a Black Abyss. What he sees there is their terrible enemy, the eye of Sauron. Frodo does not know if they will succeed, but he knows what will happen if they fail.

This passage from 1 Corinthians is like Galadriel’s mirror. It will show us three things: (1) things that would be (verses 12–15), (2) things that are (verses 20–22), and (3) things that will be (verses 23–26). The Bible is like Galadriel’s mirror because it shows us “things that would be, things that are, and things that will certainly be, things that are.” 

1. Things That Would Be (verses 12–15)

Notice that the Corinthians aren’t actually questioning the truth of Christ’s resurrection, just the resurrection of believers from the dead. Paul shows that Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection cannot be separated (that can be a good thing or a bad thing). If one falls, they both fall.

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.—1 Corinthians 15:12–13

Therefore, the Bible forces us to come to grips with what would happen if the resurrection of Jesus is fake news. Paul presents the catastrophic consequences in two parts: consequences for (1) the preacher and (2) the people.

1. The Preacher (Paul)

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.—1 Corinthians 15:14–15

A. Preaching and Faith – Empty

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

What he says and what they receive and believe are obviously interwoven. He says that “If Christ has not been raised” then his preaching and their believing is in vain (v. 14). The word “vain” means “empty.” He could preach for hours on the resurrection and they could enthusiastically embrace it but they would both be dead wrong because the bucket of truth would be bone dry. But it gets even more serious. It is not just empty, but evil.

B. Make God a Liar - Evil

We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

The Bible says if we proclaimed the Resurrection and testify to it, we would be making God out to be a liar, because we would be saying that God did something (raised Jesus) which he did not do (if he did not raise Jesus). We would not be spreading the Good News. We would be spreading lies. Now he looks at what would happen from the vantage point of the people if the Resurrection were fake news.

2. The People (the Corinthians)

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.—1 Corinthians 15:16–19

A. Your Faith – Futile

“… your faith is futile …” (v. 17)

Now think through the implications for all of us—who claim to believe the resurrection—“your faith is futile” (v. 17). He says again that our faith is futile or pointless. Did you hear that? If you are a Christian and Jesus is not raised, then what you believe is pointless. You believe Jesus will save you? What can a corpse do for you? Believing in a dead Savior would be as useless as holding up a napkin in a rainstorm and thinking it will keep you dry.

B. Your Sins – Not Forgiven

“… and you are still in your sins” (v. 17).

Our faith and our future would be in a state of massive free fall, a tailspin of terror, if the Resurrection is fake news. We would be in a plane that is going down fast with nothing to look forward to but a colossal crash. This is the opposite of hope; this is sheer despair because all we would have on the horizon is a terrifying expectation of judgment because “we are still in our sins” (v. 17). Why? Even secular historians are agreed that Jesus died on a Roman cross. So if Jesus says he gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins, then why can’t we just take Christianity minus the Resurrection? Why is it not enough to believe that he died?

Christianity minus the Resurrection is not something—it is nothing. It all stands or falls at this one point. We believe many things about salvation and eternal life. Let’s say that we believe 25 things. If you subtract the Resurrection from those 25, you would not have 24, you would have zero. Because none of the others would be true either. 

Why? The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that the sacrifice of Jesus for sin was accepted. Somebody can make a sacrifice, but it has to be accepted. The Resurrection is the vindication of all that Jesus did and said. That is why the Bible says that Jesus was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). If Jesus didn't rise from the dead then his sacrifice for sin was not accepted by the Father. We are still in our sins because Jesus did not successfully take them away. 

So if we believe a lie, we may seem to have hope for our brief time on this earth, but it would all be false hope because the horrors of hell would be our only future. As bad as this life is now, it will only get much, much worse. In fact, it is worse than nothing.

C. Your Loved Ones – Perished

“Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (v. 18).

Despair should set in not only for us, but for all of our lost loved ones. If we are not saved, then neither are they. Their plane already crashed. If we won’t survive the plane crash, then they did not. We cannot comfort ourselves by saying that they are “safe in the arms of God.” We now have to say, “They are suffering the wrath of God.” We will join them takes on a whole new horrible meaning when you put it that way.

D. The Two-Word Assessment – ‘Most Pitied’

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (v. 19).

How should people look at Christians? The philosopher Blaise Pascal has a famous statement that has come to be known Pascal’s Wager. He said that even if we are wrong, it would still be a positive thing because we would have peace of mind and good morals. But Paul is talking about a life full of risk for Christ—persecution, slander, suffering, giving your money away for the spread of the gospel, opening yourself up to every kind of suffering. If we lived this way for a lie, then there is no group in the entire world we should pity more—“we are … most to be pitied.” We would be the biggest losers. We made the bigger the risk the greater the reward—we risked most and were rewarded least. We are the biggest losers, the most pitied people on the planet.

Transition

Let’s take a moment to locate where we would be on this spectrum: Something positive/nothing/something negative. We would be in the profoundly negative side of the spectrum. This is worse than nothing. We are more guilty for believing in the Resurrection because we are all telling a lie and blaming God for it. We don’t get a better life, just bigger guilt.

That thought experiment takes us to the same picture Frodo sees in the mirror of Galadriel: Everything goes dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of sight, and we see deep emptiness, like a Black Abyss. Then we see the terrible enemy—death and hell—we lose forever and suffer forever and die forever.

Have you ever been in a really dark cave? I once went to Mammoth cave in Kentucky. We got to a point where the darkness was so deep that I could not see my hand in front of my face. That is where we are.

Now imagine a brilliant beam of light breaking through that darkness, a ray of sunshine like Christ appearing to Paul on the Damascus Road, a light so blinding that it knocked him off of his horse. My favorite transitional words “But in fact …”

2. Things That Are (vv. 20–22)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

He is risen. He is risen indeed. Guess what that means? Let’s stop tearing down and start building up the implications. The first point Paul made in the destruction phase was the link between Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection. If there is no resurrection of the dead, than not even Christ has been raised. Now he says, but if Christ has been raised, then that guarantees our resurrection.

How? He uses the firstfruits principle. Christ’s resurrection from the dead functions as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. The first fruits of the harvest was the first portion of the harvest. It was used as a guarantee for the rest of the harvest. It could be used as a down payment for other things because it foretold what the rest of the harvest to come would be like. It was like saying, “I am good for this—look at what that field already produced.” Paul is saying, “Look at Christ’s empty tomb! All who are buried with Christ in that field will also have empty tombs at the final harvest.”

Now Paul does something breathtaking. He boils down all of history to two people: the first man and the last man. The first brought death, the last brought resurrection from the dead. All who have Adam as their representative die. All who have Christ as their representative live.

Illustration

This happened at my gym one day. We were doing cone drills and my friend and I were the last two to go. Our trainer decided to make it interesting by having us race, but she raised the stakes higher. She had everyone choose who they thought would win and line up behind us. Whoever lost would have to do 10 burpees. Well, long story short, I lost. All the people lined up behind me had to do burpees. I am convinced that heaven will not have burpees or mosquitos. I can’t envision what redeemed burpees would look like!

This is the issue. Everyone lines up behind Adam through physical birth (they all die). Those who line up behind Christ do so by spiritual birth (all are made alive). 

3. Things That Will Be (vv. 23–26)

But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

But now in the third point, Paul looks at the things that will be. There is an order. This is like one of those signs at the mall—"You are Here." We are living in the age of the resurrection—Christ is already risen. What that means is when he comes all who belong to him will be raised as well. We are waiting for the final harvest time. That will be the end—and King Jesus will deliver the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rebel rule and authority and power. He is putting them all under his feet. The last one to be destroyed is death. Death is defeated now, but in the end will be destroyed.

Listen to Revelation 20:14–15 …

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

There is something that is worse than death: eternal death. There is something better than life: eternal life. The first death is a doorway and it opens either to eternal life or eternal death (the second death). The first death is an instant; the second is an eternity.

Coming to Grips With This Today

So I want to do two things: (1) Show you “in fact” he is risen (so he can save you), and (2) show you are a sinner so you see that you need him to save you.

First, but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. I don’t want you to think about faith as a blind leap in the dark—just believe even though there is no evidence. Actually, we have a ton of historical evidence. I originally was going to preach the top 10 reasons for belief in the Resurrection. I know that would help some of you, but it would be piling on too much for others. So let me argue for the Resurrection by answering two common objections:

1. Some people object and say, “People were superstitious in the ancient world, not scientific like us. They believed hocus pocus stuff like the Resurrection all the time.”

If you read the resurrection accounts, you will find that nobody believes it when they first hear it. Even though Jesus told them multiple times that it was going to happen! They had to see it to believe it. Why? Belief in the Resurrection was actually more foreign and rare in that day than in our day. Here is why. A bodily resurrection would be nonsense to Gentiles and Jews (including the disciples). Greek thought viewed salvation as liberation from the body because the physical was bad and the spiritual was good. The resurrection was not only impossible, but undesirable. Jewish thought believed in a future bodily resurrection of the righteous on the last day (John 11:24), along with a complete renewal of the whole world. A resurrection in the middle of history for only one person (timing and scope were wrong) without the end of disease and death would have been unthinkable. There were many messianic movements in the first century and many self-professed Messiahs were murdered. However, there is not a single mention in any of these cases of the would-be-Messiah being resurrected.

These two groups of people—Jews and Gentiles—came to believe something that no one else ever imagined, with a total, immediate shift or turn? Historians note that this kind of theological or convictional change can take centuries, but here it happened on a dime. Why? They met a resurrected Savior. That kind of evidence demands an immediate change!

Here is a second objection. You might say, “a story about rising from the dead just sounds fanciful and mythical, not historical.”

Anyone can tell the difference between a story that says “once upon a time” and a book that makes rigorous historical claims. The Bible tells the greatest story— these things happened in history. There are names given, the invitation is always to check it out for yourself. The earliest gospel gives names, not just the names of the disciples, but even the names of people that were just passing by like the man who was forced to carry the cross. Mark tells us that his name was cross was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21). Why tell us about Rufus? He is a real person. Follow up with him if you want to do some fact-checking.

That is the way Paul testified to the historicity of the Resurrection. He starts naming names in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 …

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Paul takes the time to name them all. Then Paul expands the resurrection sightings to more than 500 people at one time. He says most of them are still alive. Why would he say that? If they are still alive, then you can still go ask them about it.

Now some try to say that these 500 were delusional. That objection just doesn’t work. Paul mentions 500 people that Jesus appeared to at one time. It would be the first mass hallucination to ever occur that lasted for an entire lifetime. Few try to make a case for a hallucination anymore.

Others say that the 500 were deceivers. The problem is that almost all of them suffered and died for what they believed. Other people in history have given their lives for what they believed, but this would be the only time that this many people were willing to die for something that they all knew was a lie.

Then you look at the character of the people. They simply did not act delusional or like deceivers. Historian Rodney Stark (Cities of God, p. 30) said this:

The power of Christianity lay not in its promise of otherworldly compensations for suffering in this life, as has so often been proposed. The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives such as … When you did it to the least of my brethren you did it to me.” These were not just slogans. Members did nurse the sick, even during epidemics; they did support orphans, widows, the elderly, and the poor.

This behavior can only be explained by Christianity’s radical teaching about love and the resurrection. Love one another as I have loved you. That is how the world will know you are my disciples. And what kind of love? Even caring for the body. The resurrection affirms the value of the body. A body that will be raised is a body worth caring for. Crazy people don't care for others at their own expense. 

The cost is incredible. Friends avoid you or scorn you, families disown you, in some cases the authorities imprison you and kill you. They were willing to risk social marginalization, bodily harm, and financial ruin. Why? Jesus really rose from the dead. It changed everything. How do you move from wishful sentiment to certain hope?

Second, I want to show you that sin is something we all have. We all have it because we are all lined up behind Adam. So we have this innate problem called “sin.” Now some do not understand that word “sin.” Most people think of sin as rule-breaking. Some keep the rules and some break them. You can really separate faith from sin. Sin is choosing to trust something more than God to give you life and meaning, and purpose and satisfaction. At that point we are saying that something is more worthy of our trust than God for joy and satisfaction.

I have heard people who devote their lives to sleeping with as many people as possible come to realize that they were not just breaking religious rules, but they were actually putting faith in women to satisfy them. You may put faith in a boyfriend or girlfriend. If I could just have the right job, or spouse, or home, or family or whatever. These good things were never meant to become “god” things—they are not strong enough to hold up the weight of putting all your hope and trust upon them.

We all define our life by what we are living for. Identity is a composite of things we live for. Your hidden life mission says: “I am who I sleep with, how I make money, what I wear, how I look, how well I do in school or sports or work or family. We try to be named by the things we do. Christians do not have a performance identity. Christians are those who are named not by what we do, but by what Christ has done. We are baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Conclusion: Two Lies Holding People Back From Coming to Christ

My closing plea is to avoid the two lies that I see hold many people back from coming to Christ.

The first lie is that some people believe that they are just too dirty and sinful. They think they sound humble when they say that they are too sinful or too dirty. But actually you proclaim not just the strength of your sins, but the weakness of Christ’s sacrifice. And you are looking God in the face and calling him a liar. He raised Christ from the dead. He accepted the sacrifice. It is enough. His sacrifice is stronger than all of your sins. Come to him. Confess that he is stronger.

The second lie is that the work of Christ cannot be that free. Some people think that they can’t just receive it; they need to add something to it.

I remember the story of a man who was driving to a car wash after he had spent some time mudding with his big truck. He was prepared to spend about $30 on a car wash. As he was driving, he happened to see a Youth Group car wash and he thought that it would be better to give the $30 to the church rather than a business. So he pulled up and tried to give them the money. They responded and said, “Sir, it is free; just like salvation.” It bothered him a little, but he didn’t want to argue. When he saw all of the dirty rags piling up because of how dirty his truck was, he said, “here is $20. You have to at least take that. My truck is bigger and muddier than all the other cars.” They said, “Sir, it is free, just like salvation.” Later, he couldn’t take it again when he saw a huge load of towels piled up that it took to dry his truck. He said, “Here is five bucks. You have to at least take this. Please!” They replied more firmly: “sir, it is free, just like salvation.” This man was so offended that he spun out his tires in the parking lot and threw his crumpled up five-dollar bill out the window for them as he left.

What about you? Do you really think that you can add something to Jesus’ defeat of death? You are robbing the cross and the resurrection of its glory if you try to add something to it. Jesus paid it all. Throw down your crumpled up five-dollar bill of self-righteousness and receive the free gift and shout a little louder that he is stronger and worthy of all praise!

Sermon Discussion Questions

Outline

1. Things That Would Be (vv. 12–15)
2. Things That Are (vv. 16–22)
3. Things That Will Be (vv. 23–26)

Main Point: The Resurrection of Christ Guarantees the Resurrection to Come.

Discussion Questions

• What would happen if the resurrection of Christ was “fake news”?
• Why is it not enough to save us to believe in the death of Christ? Why do we need the resurrection?
• What historical evidence exists for Christ’s resurrection? Do you find it compelling? Why or why not? Is historical proof sufficient for salvation? 

Application Questions

• Take a few moments to examine your life. Are you living a life that opens itself up to risk and ridicule that would be pitiable if the resurrection were not true? Give evidence for your answer.
• If the nature of sin is that we view other things as more trustworthy than God, then what are some of your frequent places of misplaced trust? What are you saying is more deserving of devotion and hope than God?
• In this message, what truths landed on you that you need to share with others in your life? How can you share these truths? Devote it to prayer.

Prayer Focus 
Pray for a grace to see and savor that in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, which guarantees the resurrection of all who belong to him.