I invite your attention to 1
Corinthians chapter 15 verse 12. The first epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the church in Corinth, 15th chapter. My text is in verse number 12
and this message is the second part of a message we commenced
last Lord's Day titled, Christ has been raised from the dead. I'm going to begin reading in
1 Corinthians chapter 15 from verse number 1. There we read, moreover brethren,
Paul is here writing to the church in Corinth, his brethren and
his sisters in Christ. I declare to you. Makes it known
publicly. He's not being secretive about
this doctrine. He declares it. Sets it forth
clearly and plainly. I declare to you. the gospel
which I preached to you." It is said that a gospel preacher,
when he preaches a message, will in his introduction tell you
what he is going to tell you. In his message he tells you what
he will tell you. And in his conclusion to the
message, he will tell you what he told you. We emphasize these
truths. Paul is here saying, I declare
to you the gospel which I preached to you. That's the first thing
he says about the gospel. I preached it. The second thing
he says about the gospel is, You received it. The third thing
he says about the gospel is, in it you stand. The fourth thing
he says about the gospel is, by the gospel also you are saved
if you hold fast to that word which I preached to you unless
you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first
of all that which I also received." Paul's gospel was not of his
own manufacture or invention. He received this gospel from
Christ and then delivered it to others. And he tells us by
way of summary, what this gospel is that he preached. Here it
is, verse 3. For I delivered to you first
of all that which I also received, that first, Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and second, that he was buried,
and third, that he rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures, and fourth, that he was seen by Cephas, then by
the Twelve. After that, he was seen by over
500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to
the present, but some have fallen asleep. Paul is letting us know
that this resurrection of Jesus Christ was not done in some dark
corner. It was not done in some secluded
place. There were witnesses of it, hundreds
of witnesses of this resurrection of Jesus Christ which Paul has
preached and which I will preach to you today. He says, furthermore,
In verse 7, and after that, he was seen by James, then by all
the apostles, then last of all, he was seen by me also as by
one born out of due time. Paul was blessed to see the resurrected
Christ on the road to Damascus when Jesus arrested him. When Saul of Tarsus said, Lord,
who are you? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom you persecute. Paul was blessed also to be taught
by Christ for a few weeks, and Paul saw the resurrected Christ. Now we come down to our text
in verse number 12. Now, if Christ is preached that
he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead? I'm going to deal, God
willing, with the second part of that verse. in a subsequent
message, not today and not in this message. But today I want
to emphasize the first part of that verse in which we read.
Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead,
and that is why this message is titled, Christ has been raised
from the dead. In the first part of this message,
last Lord's Day, We emphasize point number one, Christ's resurrection
fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, such as Psalm 16, verses 8 through
11, which Peter applies on the day of Pentecost. The second
point we emphasize to last Lord's day is Christ's resurrection
was prophesied by Christ himself. We observe that he told sign-seeking
scribes and Pharisees, as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Christ prophesied
his own resurrection. He did so again in John chapter
2 verses 19 through 21 when he spoke of the temple of his body.
When he told sign seekers to destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up at least twice. with two prophecies that
were very, very well known. Christ prophesied his own resurrection. Now we come to the third point
in this message and we'll consider this third point today. Christ's
resurrection is declared and described in all four Gospels. Now it is interesting that His
resurrection is described in all four Gospels. We say this because the first
three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are often called synoptic
gospels. That word synoptic means as seen
by the same eye. When you read Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, you read much the same accounts. They record the same
events for the most part. They do not use exactly the same
words. They never contradict one another. They complement each other. But
those three Gospels record events that John usually does not record. One reason for this is that Matthew,
Mark, and Luke describe the ministry of Jesus Christ mainly in Galilee. As you know, for three and a
half years, our Lord ministered in Galilee of the Gentiles, the
northern part of the land of Israel. He made three preaching
tours throughout Galilee during those three and a half years.
John, on the other hand, emphasizes the ministry of Jesus Christ
in Jerusalem. So therefore, do not expect to
read the same things when you read the four Gospels, particularly
John as compared to the other three. But the death of Jesus
Christ, all four Gospels. Pardon me, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, all four Gospels. This truth of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ is of paramount importance. All four gospel writers
were led of the Spirit to set it forth unto us. They do so
in Matthew chapter 28, verses 1 through 10. Mark 16, verses
1 through 8. Luke 24, verses 1 through 12,
and John 20, verses 1 through 10. Three points I'm going to
stress to you today regarding this description and declaration
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in all four Gospels. First, I want you to observe
this. Four Gospels emphasize Christ's
resurrection on the first day of the week and after the Sabbath. Locate, if you will, Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 28. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 28. Let's just consider for a few
moments this resurrection of Jesus Christ
as declared and described in Matthew's Gospel. We read that now after the Sabbath,
as the first day of the week began to dawn, after the Sabbath,
as the first day of the week began to dawn. The Sabbath was,
of course, the seventh day of the week, what we call Saturday. The first day of the week is
what we call Sunday. Now, as you know, Saturday or
the seventh day of the week is, to us, over at midnight. And at midnight, the first day
of the week, Sunday begins. But that is not the way that
Jews reckoned time in the days of Jesus Christ. The day began
not at midnight, but at sundown on the day before. The day ended
at sundown when the next day would begin. So here is our brother,
he has a job and he goes to work just about sundown, five, six,
seven days a week. When he goes to work on what
he calls Monday, that actually would be Tuesday according to
the way that the Jews told time. Now when we read that these women
came to the tomb of Jesus after the Sabbath, that means they
came after the sun had gone down on the seventh day of the week. When we read that they came as
the first day of the week began to dawn. They were coming very
early in the morning, before sunrise, but as the day was just
beginning to dawn. At that time when you're beginning
to see just a little bit of light, but you cannot yet see the sun. They now come to the tomb. Now
these women are identified unto us in particular by Luke. Luke says that these women included
Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and
other women that were with them. A number of women came and they
came to anoint the body of Jesus with spices that was in accordance
with the way that they buried the dead in those days. They
had been unable to do so on the day of his death because the
Sabbath was just about to begin. Jesus died just before the sun
went down on Friday, they took his body immediately, put cloth
around it, put a handkerchief over his head, and laid it in
the tomb. And these women intended to return
to the tomb when the Sabbath was over in order to anoint his
body with spices. They are approaching the tomb.
We read in Matthew 28 that it was Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary, although there were other ladies as well, they came to
see the tomb. And behold, there was a great
earthquake. There was an earthquake when
Jesus died, and there was an earthquake when he was raised
from the dead. And interestingly, there will
be an earthquake on the day of His return. In fact, the book
of Revelation says it'll be an earthquake greater than any earthquake
the earth has ever seen. But here, there has been an earthquake
in connection with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a ground-shaking
event. And an angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came back and rolled back the stone from the
door and sat on it. An angel from God rolled that
stone back. Jesus could have done it, but
God sent an angel down to do it. There were guards there watching
the tomb. When the earth quaked, and perhaps
when they saw this angel, they ran. But this angel rolled the stone
back, opening the grave, and then sat on the stone as though
keeping guard over it. His countenance was like lightning,
and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for
fear of him, and became dead, or like dead men. But the angel
answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid. Another gospel
writer says this angel said also, Why do you shake the living among
the dead? Why? Do not be afraid. When they saw this angel, they
evidently became afraid. He says, I know that you seek
Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen
as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. and go quickly
and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed
he is gone before you in the Galilee there you will see him
behold I have told you so they departed quickly from the tomb
with great fear and joy and ran to bring his disciples word I want you to observe Another
point with regards to Jesus being raised from the dead after the
Sabbath and as the first day of the week began to dawn. In the days of Christ and under
the law, Christians met on the seventh day of the week. They came to read the law, to
be instructed regarding the law, But after the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, they ceased having their formal meetings on Saturday,
the seventh day of the week. And they began to have their
meetings on the first day of the week. We read about this
in the book of Acts, chapter 20, where Paul the apostle and
a number of ministers with him came to the city of Troas and
they waited there a week. They arrived after the worship
service on the one occasion, so they waited an entire week
for the next Lord's Day to arrive, the next first day of the week
to arrive, so that they could meet with the disciples and break
bread with them and participate in their worship service. Why do we meet on the first day
of the week? We have no command in scripture
to do so. Never does the Bible, including
the New Testament, require us to meet on the first day of the
week. Why do we do it? We follow the apostolic tradition
set forth, for example, here in Acts chapter 20. They met
on the first day of the week for their worship services. Later
on this first day of the week, came to be known as the Lord's
Day. You can read this in the book
of Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 1. John says, I was in
the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Churches of Christ gathered on
the first day of the week for what purpose? One of them and
foremost among them was to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. We do so yet today as we assemble
to worship and celebrate the resurrected Christ. He was rejected
by men but exalted by God and so we may sing, this was Jehovah's
doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day Jehovah has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. You can read those words in Psalm
118 verses 23 and 24. Notice, this was Jehovah's doing. Jehovah has raised our Lord from
the dead. Oh, this is marvelous in our
eyes. And this is the day that Jehovah
has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. And as you children of God have
come in here this morning to worship, I want you to rejoice
in this. Your Savior has been raised from
the dead. And we have come here on this
first day of the week to celebrate that resurrection and all the
salvation that it brought to us. Second, I would have you
to observe that the first three Gospels emphasize Christ's resurrection,
fulfilling His own prophecies. The angel said to the women,
Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. Four, and here,
note what the angel said. He is risen as He said. He is risen as He said. When did He say it? We brought
these to your attention just a moment ago. Jesus said, as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great
fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. And so it happened. It occurred
just as He said. Our Lord has been raised from
the dead just as he said in John chapter 2 verses 19 through 21
He spoke of the temple of his body when he said destroy this
temple and they would they would on Calvary Destroy this temple
And in three days, I will raise it up The Lord is risen Just
as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. He is not
here. He is not here. He is not here. The tombs of great religious leaders hold
their earthly remains. You may go to a certain place.
And perhaps your tour guide will tell you, here lie the earthly
remains of the great prophet Muhammad. You may go to another
place and your tour guide may say, here lie the earthly remains
of Buddha. You may go to another place,
there are sepulchers, there are graves, there are tombs and monuments,
and you may read the placard or the sign that says, here lie
the earthly remains of this prophet, that religious leader, and on
and on. But at the tomb of Jesus Christ,
wherever it is, if it still is, we do not know. But at that tomb,
there is no such placard. Rather, the angel declares, he
is not here, he is risen just as he said. The third point I
stress to you today is that the fourth gospel emphasizes Peter
and John seeing, believing, and finally understanding His resurrection. Those three aspects. They saw the resurrection, they
believed the resurrection, and they finally understood His resurrection. What did they see? What did they
believe? What did they finally understand? Locate John's Gospel chapter
20. The gospel according to John
chapter 20. We read, On the first day of the
week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early. Observe that
she is mentioned by herself. The other women are not mentioned.
Only Mary Magdalene is mentioned by John. She came to the tomb
early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been
taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon
Peter under the other disciple whom Jesus loved, that would
be John. When John writes of the disciples
whom Jesus loved, he speaks of himself. And she said to them,
They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not
know where they have laid Him. Now consider very carefully her
declaration. They have taken away The body of our Lord from the
tomb, we do not know where they have laid him. Why would she say that after
hearing the angel say, he is not here, he is risen, just as
he said? Why? Some would say, well, she still
didn't believe it. I am not going to go in that
direction. I am not of the opinion that
Mary knew he was or had been told he was raised in the dead
and then denied it. Because there is another explanation
that is far more logical. She is mentioned here as coming
while it was still dark. It was still dark. She saw the
stone had been rolled away, but we are not told she saw the angel. She probably saw from a distance
the stone rolled away, And she did not venture further.
She did not hear the angel say, He is risen from the dead. But having seen the stone was
rolled away, she turned on her heels immediately and went to
tell Peter and John. Being unaware that Jesus was
raised from the dead, She assumed that someone had taken her Lord
out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciples, and were
going to the tomb." These two. She went to Peter and John. When
she gave a report, they immediately got up. It's very early morning,
folks. They arose, and they were going
to the tomb. So they both ran together. And the other disciple outran
Peter. John, being younger than Peter,
outran Peter. And John came to the tomb first
before Peter arrived. And he, stooping down and looking
in, evidently the angel was not there now or else could not be
seen. And he, John stooping down and
looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go
in. Now picture him, he comes to
the tomb, he stoops and looks in, he does not see the body
of Jesus, but he sees the swaddling cloth that had been wrapped around
him and it's lying there in the tomb. But he does not go in. Verse 6, Then Simon Peter came
following him, the old man finally caught up, and Simon Peter went
into the tomb, and he saw the linen cloths lying there. He
saw up close what John had seen from a short distance. Peter
just walked right on in, looked around, and there he is, the
cloth. that had been wrapped around
Jesus. It's lying there as it was when Jesus came out of it. And, verse 7, he saw the handkerchief
that had been around his head not lying with the linen cloths,
but folded together in a place by itself." This is a remarkable
statement. I want you to consider it. Jesus
had been laid in his tomb, the cloth had been wrapped around
him, and a handkerchief had been laid across his head. When Jesus came out of His burial
cloths, He took that napkin or that handkerchief that had been
around His head, He took it and He neatly folded it, like this. When I do the laundry, I take
my handkerchiefs and I fold them. I have a particular way that
I fold them. Yes, I also ironed them. But
there was that cloth, that napkin, that handkerchief of Jesus, neatly folded. The burial cloths had just dropped
from a place where he exited them But then he reached over
and he laid that folded handkerchief down there and Peter looked at
it. He saw it. Then the other disciple who came
to the tomb first went in also and he saw and believed. Those are the cloths that our
Lord was buried in, are they not? Yeah, just lying there.
But look, the handkerchief, it has been folded. Someone took
the time and the trouble to fold it and to lay it there in a place
by itself. You know what that means? For one
thing, it means the body of Jesus Christ had
not been hastily stolen by thieves. The report of unbelievers and
wicked men was that His disciples came and stole His body. Well
listen, if I'm going into a tomb to steal a body, I'm not going to take the time
to take the cloth that is on the dead person's head and sit
there and fold it very neatly and set it down. And I'm not going to unwrap the
burial cloths and leave them lying there. I'm going to go
in there and I'm probably going to take two or three big strong
fellows with me We're going to grab hold of that body. We're
going to be in and out quicker than you can imagine. We're not
going to take time to fold napkins and leave cloths. No, no, no.
We're taking everything with us. And when they saw that napkin
folded there by itself, the Scriptures declare, he believed. For as yet they did not know
the Scripture. Notice what they saw. They saw,
then they believed, and then they understood. For as yet they did not know,
verse 9, they did not fully understand and comprehend the scripture
that he must rise again from the dead. And you can imagine,
perhaps Peter looks at John and says, John, do you realize what
we're seeing here? His flesh has not seen corruption
just as it was prophesied in Psalm 16. His flesh has not seen
corruption. He's been raised from the dead. And they understood the scripture
because they saw, they believed, And they understood. Then the disciples went away
to their own homes. Well, John later will tell us,
as he concludes his gospel, that many other things were done by
Jesus, but John wrote these so that we would believe. And so
did the other apostles as well, the other gospel writers as well. They believed. They saw, they believed, and
they understood. And I'm hoping today by the reports
of these four gospels that you will see that indeed Jesus Christ
has been raised from the dead, just as he said. And I hope that
you will believe the report and I hope that you will understand. Deny this resurrection and you
cannot be saved. You cannot be saved. Before leaving that door today,
in your heart, I pray you will confess, I see that he is risen. I believe he is risen. I understand
what the scriptures have said regarding it. And oh God, our
father, to the glory of your name, To the honor of our glorious,
risen, resurrected, ascended, exalted Christ, receive our thanksgiving
and bless this message, we pray. In Jesus' glorious name.