I Serve a Risen Savior!

I Cor 15:3-8

Introduction: Is it an historical fact that Jesus was resurrected. Paul affirms in I Cor 15:3-8 that Jesus died, was buried, rose again the third day, and was seen by many brethren. Jesus’ resurrection is THE pivotal moment in history, and it established or confirmed the following five truths:

1. Jesus’ Divinity – Rom 1:1-4 – v4: “and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

2. Jesus’ Sovereignty – Rom 14:9 – “For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

   1. Acts 2:32 – “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses”

   2. Acts 2:36 – “Therefore…know assuredly that God has made this Jesus…both Lord and Christ.”

   3. Acts 2:24 – He is even the master of death!

3. Our Justification – Rom 4:25 – “[Jesus] was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

   1. Justification – accounting the guilty as just before God – “Just-if-I’d” never sinned

   2. I Cor 15:17 – “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”

4. Our Regeneration – I Peter 1:3 – “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

   1. Regeneration – new birth, reproduction

   2. I Peter 1:23 – born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. (Jesus was the word made flesh – John 1:14)

5. Our Final Resurrection – John 11:24,25

   1. John 5:28,29 – “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

6. Attaining to the Resurrection of Life – Philippians 3:8-11 – v10,11: “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

   1. Fellowship with Christ’s Sufferings

      1. I Peter 2:21-23 – “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.”

      2. Refrain from sin, don’t deceive, don’t revile, don’t threaten, commit judgment to God

   2. Being Conformed to Christ’s Death

      1. Rom 6:5 – “If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

      2. Have you been united with Jesus? Rom 6:4 says that “we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”