Episode #794
We Live in Grace
Introduction: Daniel 12:2 - And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. John 5:29 - ...those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 3 Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-8): The C HURCH . (1 Cor 15:1-2) S CRIPTURE . (1 Cor 15:3-4) Isaiah 53:10 - Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Psalm 16:10 (Acts 2) - For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. E YEWITNESSES . (1 Cor 15:5-8) 3 Evidences You Have Received God's Grace (1 Corinthians 15:9-11): You don't think you're W ORTHY . (1 Cor 15:9) You S EFINE yourself by grace. (1 Cor 15:10a) You are motivated to W ORK by grace. (1 Cor 15:10b-11) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: We Live in Grace Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:04 1 Corinthians chapter 15. My wife Erin was talking to a good friend of hers, Sharon. And Sharon told her this story that I've been thinking about all week. She said she took a bunch of youth to this youth conference. And they asked everybody to stand up. We're not going to do this here today. But she asked everybody to stand up. 00:34 I asked everybody to stand up and asked who had been saved for a year. And did they know at least one Bible verse? And if not, sit down. Right? And then who'd been saved for two years? You know two Bible verses. If not, you can sit down. And it went up. Who's been saved five years? Do you know five Bible verses? If not, sit down. And by the time the exercise was done, nobody was standing. 01:04 And I keep thinking about that. It's not a matter of learning Bible verses to be like ready for Bible bowl or just in case you're on Jeopardy and New Testament is one of the categories. That's not the purpose of learning the Word of God. What is the purpose of learning the Word of God? 01:35 What you really believe shapes how you live. That's just a reality. You live according to what you really believe is true. We just finished a section of 1 Corinthians with Q&A. And I think it's where this Bible knowledge intersects with the biggest question. 02:04 we really discover the biblical ignorance of a lot of people in church. And the biggest question is, what happens after we die? You know, thinking about all of those matters, you know, our death and rapture and return of Jesus and resurrection and heaven and hell, and what about all of that? Look, I've been doing this a long time, and I've been part, of so many funerals. 02:40 And it's always astounding to me, at a funeral, even people that say they've been following Christ for many, many years, it's astounding to me some of the crazy unbiblical things people say. 02:56 For example, I've heard this many times at a funeral. 03:00 They're like, well, you know what? God just needed another angel. And I'm like, there is so much wrong with that statement. First of all, God needs nothing, right? Second of all, we don't turn into angels when we die. Where did you get that concept? It's biblical ignorance. That's not really the place. That's not really the place to correct people, right? You don't want a shot block there. I guess that would help to have Miles there with me, I guess, at a funeral. 03:30 next time that happens. 03:32 Like, God needs another angel. 03:33 Miles would just be like, you don't turn into an angel when you die. 03:38 If you know, you know. 03:43 Another crazy thing I've heard people say is, well, you know, grandma's just watching over me. 03:52 You know, little Joey was supposed to have a t-ball game and they were calling for tornadoes and thunderstorms and hail and blizzards and all that. 03:59 And it didn't. 04:00 We had perfect weather. Thank you, Grandma. Grandma was watching over me. Well, your Grandma might have been wonderful, but she's not God. Okay? But that's one of the crazy things people believe is our departed loved ones are orchestrating things. You know, another crazy thing, and this might be the craziest, is regarding what happens when we die afterwards, all of these matters. Some people say, well, nobody really knows. 04:30 That could be the craziest thing because God wrote it all down for us. And when I talk about our Bible ignorance, I hope you don't take that as a guilt trip as much as over the next few weeks we are looking at a chapter in the Bible that answers so many of the questions that so many Christians get wrong. 05:00 I encourage you to tune in and take notes and look very closely at what God has said. So with that said, let's just bow our heads for a second. I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful, to clearly and accurately communicate the word of God. And I will pray for you to have your heart open to receive what it is that God said. All right. Let's just take a moment and pray. 05:30 before you today with Thanksgiving. I thank you for your word that clears up all of these questions that we wouldn't have answers to otherwise. I thank you for the noise of the children in this room right now. It's a sign of life. And I thank you for parents that want to come and worship you and hear your word and will bring their kids. I thank you for that. Father, I just pray that you eliminate any distractions in our hearts and minds so that we can laser focus on what it is you've said in your word today. 06:00 This is the most important message there is. And what a tragedy it would be to leave here and have missed it. What it is you've said here in this absolutely awe-inspiring portion of your word. God, we thank you. And we pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, okay, some of God's people said it. The rest weren't ready. 06:30 We'll try again next week. Come back to Second Service. You can try then too. Okay, so what happens when we die? Well, among many other things the Bible teaches, the Bible is crystal clear on this. You will resurrect from the dead. You will. Everybody, not just believers actually, Everybody rises from the dead. The Bible says unbelievers get an eternal body that's suited for hell and judgment. And believers in Jesus Christ get an eternal body that they will use in glory in heaven forever. Right? Daniel chapter 12 verse 2. Old Testament talks about this. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life. And some to shame and everlasting contempt. Jesus taught this, John chapter 5. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. There are two resurrections, one for believers, one for non-believers, an eternal body that will live forever somewhere. And 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is all about resurrection. 08:00 The first stretch is, appropriately, about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then the back nine of 1 Corinthians 15 is about our resurrection. Look at chapter 15, verse 1. Paul says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. 08:31 You see, we just spent a lot of time, 1 Corinthians 11, 12, 13, 14, they had all these corporate worship problems. And Paul's like, okay guys, we cleared up some of the details, but the most important thing is getting back to the basics of the gospel itself. And he's talking about resurrection in this chapter. As we said, it is not resurrection. 09:00 Resurrection is not a part of what we believe. Resurrection is the heart of the gospel. It is the core. It is the very, it's essential to being a Christian. It is absolutely a necessary doctrine that we got to embrace. Look at what Romans chapter 10 says. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that what? God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. Do you see how a belief in resurrection is directly tied to your salvation? It's non-negotiable. But of course, there's always skeptics, right? You can study the ancient Greeks. Many of the Greeks who lived in Corinth, they didn't believe in a bodily resurrection at all. 10:04 And even Christians today, they're just not entirely sure what happens. 10:14 You know, I know there's, okay, so we die, but we're with Jesus, but there is a, okay, so resurrection happens somewhere, but somewhere there's a rapture, and then like Armageddon, and... 10:29 Well, all of this is clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 15. So he starts with a foundation, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. That's the most important thing we have to embrace, right? So on your outline, three evidences of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first evidence is the church. The first evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, And just in case you're skeptical, you're like, I'm not really sure I believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead. Okay. Well, here's the first evidence of church. Look at chapter 15 again. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 11:28 The church, he's talking to brothers and sisters here, believers. Notice he says, this message, you received it, you hold fast to it, and you stand in it. Notice here that a real Christian, a real follower of Christ is someone who not only receives the gospel, but also stands in the gospel. Meaning this, a real Christian, a real Born Again, Disciple of Jesus is someone who builds their very life on the gospel. They stand in it. That's so important, church. I think it's a plague in the American church that when we say, what is faith? Faith is just agreeing to a doctrinal statement, right? Faith is just, yeah, yeah, okay, all right, I'm on board with that. Yep, yep, sure, yeah. I don't disagree with any of that. I don't argue with any of that. And they think that's where faith ends. 12:26 But faith isn't just some intellectual agreement. Faith is, I build my life on this. I lead my family according to what God said. I serve in the church because of what God said. I raise my kids because of what God said. I handle money and stuff because of what God said. Every aspect of my life is built on the truth of God's word. That's what biblical faith is. 12:56 So Paul says the first proof that we have of the resurrection is that Jesus Christ is alive and he's transforming people in the church. So I am going to ask you to raise your hand if you're sitting here today and you can honestly say the resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Gospel of Jesus Christ transformed me and changed the way that I live. Raise your hand if that's true of you. Okay, so skeptics in the room, look around. You want evidence of the resurrection? Here it is. Here are people that say Jesus Christ is alive and he's changing me. There's your first proof. Right? Oh, there's more. Number two. Scripture. This is the second proof he lists, but it's actually biblically the Most Important. Look at verses 3 and 4. He says, For I delivered to you as of first importance, which I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. 14:26 Okay, stop there. Do you see that phrase? In accordance with the Scriptures. Paul says, here's our second proof that Jesus rose. Because the Scriptures say that He would. You're like, what Scriptures? Well, keep in mind, when He wrote this, the New Testament was being written. This is one of the earliest books, actually. So when He was referring to the Scriptures, He was talking about what we call the Old Testament. The Jewish Scriptures. The Law and the Proverbs. 14:54 So what is it in the Old Testament that specifically talks about resurrection? Well, there's a few, but here's a couple of them for sure. Isaiah 53, talking about the Messiah. It says, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. Stop there. That's the crucifixion, right? On the cross, God the Father was crushing Jesus. 15:24 pouring his wrath on Jesus because Jesus was an offering for guilt. That's the crucifixion. Next is the resurrection, right? He shall see his offspring. The only way that's going to happen is if he raises from the dead, right? He shall prolong his days. How's that happen? Resurrection, the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Another big scripture in the Old Testament talking about resurrection is Psalm 1610. This is big because chapter 2, when Peter was preaching at Pentecost, this was the scripture that he was preaching from. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, that's the grave, or let your Holy One see corruption. The promises the Messiah, literally here, will not rot. God, you're not going to leave your Messiah to rot in the grave. That's resurrection, right? So God, in His Word, promised the Messiah would die. 16:24 and resurrect long before it actually happened. That's why Paul here says in verse 3, this is first importance. This is first importance. And look, we can quibble about doctrine. I really don't want to, but people do. But here's some things that there's no arguing this. These are non-negotiable truths. The most important things you must believe, he lists them right here, that Jesus died, was buried, and was raised. You're like, wait, wait, wait. Why do I have to believe that Jesus was buried? Like, that seems like a weird thing that I have to believe. Well, the point is, he was actually dead. Because there's some people that think that he looked dead. He was beat with an inch of his life, but he didn't actually die. No, believing he's buried is saying, I believe that Jesus literally in the flesh was dead. And that he rose. 17:24 from the dead. 17:27 But look at the phrase again, verse 3, right there in the middle. 17:32 Christ died, look at this phrase. 17:36 For our sins. 17:41 Excuse me. 17:42 For our sins. 17:44 Why did Christ die? 17:46 For our sins. 17:50 Jesus did not die to make you healthy and wealthy like some prosperity preachers teach. 17:54 Jesus did not die as a victim of circumstances. As I've heard people say, oh, they got poor Jesus. Jesus didn't even just simply die as a martyr that stood up for a cause. And no, no, no, no, no. It's so much deeper than that. Jesus died for our sins. What does that mean? That means we are by birth and by nature rebellious towards God and His ways. Every one of us. We stand guilty and condemned before a holy God and we have no excuse. We have no means to make it up to God by good works. So Jesus, on the cross, gave His life. Why? For your sins. He experienced the wrath of God for your sins so you wouldn't have to. 18:53 So the guilt of your sin would be taken away. And Jesus was raised. To defeat death. How do we know? How do we know Jesus died? How do we know he was buried? How do we know he was raised? How do we know what all of that means? And what Paul says here, it's in accordance with the scriptures. This is the promise of God. All right, so the first witness, we got people right here that say Jesus Christ transformed you. 19:23 His resurrection changes the way you live. And then we have the proof of God's word, but there's other proof too, right? Look at verses 5 through 8. These are eyewitnesses. He says, and that He appeared to Cephas, that's Peter, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 19:55 He's like, you can fact check me on that if you want. 19:59 Because a bunch of these people are still alive. 20:02 He says, then He appeared to James. 20:05 That's Jesus' half-brother. 20:09 Mary and Joseph had children after Jesus. 20:12 Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, but the Bible says Mary and Joseph had other kids. 20:16 They're listed by name. 20:19 James was one of them, early leader in the church. 20:21 All right? 20:22 Then he appeared to James. Then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. So this isn't an exhaustive list, okay? There's more people we see even in Scripture that saw the resurrected Christ, but Paul gives us, this is more than enough, right? We've got Peter, the disciples, more than 500. We've got James, Jesus' half-brother, all the apostles. 20:51 Paul says, then to me. 20:57 And that's pretty significant. Why? 20:59 Because some would say, well, you know all these people that say Jesus rose from the dead, they were all big fans of Jesus, and they all loved Jesus, and they all wanted to follow Jesus, and they were all so sad when he died, so they made it up. 21:12 They so badly wanted Jesus to be the Messiah that they just made it up. 21:17 They made up the resurrection. 21:19 Well, there's a big problem with that theory. And the big problem with that theory is Paul. Paul wasn't a believer. He didn't even want to believe to the point that he was persecuting the church. He had zero motivation to make it up. So did Jesus resurrect? Well, Paul says, we have way too many people affirming it. 21:49 to ever deny it. You know, almost as amazing as the resurrection is the means by which eternal life is granted. Look at verse 9. Paul says, Christ appeared to him in verse 8. He says, For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Paul's like, I'm so unworthy of anything from God because I persecuted the church. 22:49 Insert your favorite sin or the sin that defined you into this and say something like, you know, I'm unworthy of God because I've lived my life by lust. Or I'm unworthy of God because I've lived my life just full of bitterness and hatred and unforgiveness. That's just the person I was. 23:19 of God. Anything from God. You could say, I'm unworthy because I've just been a liar. I just lie. 23:34 My whole life has been about deceiving people. 23:38 Maybe somebody else would say, I'm unworthy of God because you know my whole life, it's just all been about me. 23:46 I just live a self-centered life. Whatever makes me happy, that's all I I care about. And I never cared about anyone else or anything else. And that's who I was. And God should have given me his wrath. But instead, he gave me his grace. Look at verse 10. 24:18 Verse 10, he says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. Let's talk about grace. You could go to a theology book and what is grace? Grace is unmerited favor. You don't deserve it. God has chosen to give you His blessing, but we've done not a thing to deserve anything from God. That's grace. The best definition I've ever heard of grace is this. Grace is God giving to you what He requires from you. You know what God requires from you? Perfection, holiness, righteousness. That's what God requires from you. You don't got it. I don't got it. 25:18 Grace is God giving to us the very thing that he requires from us. That's my favorite definition. And some of you know my favorite illustration of grace. When I try to think of what's the difference between like some of these biblical terms, this little story, I think of this often. It helps me. But just imagine you have a teenage son. Some of you do. Some of you did. Some of you will. 25:48 Teenage son. He's 16 and he goes to this party. But there's another teenage boy there. He just hates your son. No reason. Just hates him. And this other boy was waiting for your son to show up and he just kills him. Cold-blooded. Just kills yo
