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Jesus Christ is Risen!

1 Cor 15:1-8 (Pastor Heo)

The Resurrection of Christ

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Is Jesus Christ risen to you?

Jesus died for our sins and rose for our salvation and lives now and forever in his risen and same body and will come again in his same body.

Behold, he is coming again soon and every eye will see him, even those that pierced him.

What a Savior, Lord, King, God!

• v.1 = I want to remind you of the gospel.
• v. 2 = By this gospel we are saved.
• v. 3-4 = The message of the gospel is that Christ died, he was buried, raised on the third day (according to the Scriptures).

According to the Scriptures = “according to the WHOLE Bible” = this is the key message of the WHOLE Bible – that Jesus died for our sins and rose again for our salvation

Summary of the WHOLE Bible

1. OT: Prophecy of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
2. M, M, L, J (gospels): The Literal fulfillment of these prophesies (thus, gospel books)
3. Acts: Historical fruit of the death and resurrection of Jesus (the church)
   1. From Jesus’ Ascension to his Second Coming is the Mission of the Church
4. Epistles: The meanings / responsibilities of the blessings of the church
5. Revelation: The same Jesus will come in the same body and destroy all who are against him and establish his perfect kingdom

Crucifixion and resurrection go together all the time, inseparably.

1. Without the cross, no resurrection.
2. Without death, no life.
3. Without resurrection, his death is a failure.

• Romans 4:25 “He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised for our justification.”
• “God demonstrated his own love for us in this. That while we were still sinners, he died for us.”
• Hebrews “Therefore, Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him.”
• Bible says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, and become like him…”

• v. 5-8 = Many appearances of Jesus as Lord (the argument for his resurrection from the testimony of many witnesses)

Three things are necessary to make a testimony trustworthy.

1. Witnesses = able, competent, first-hand
2. Witnesses = sufficient in number
3. Witnesses = good reputation

The apostles are all of these, they did not just base their teaching on the witness of others.

• There are more than 500 confirmed witnesses of Jesus as Lord.
• The OT requires only 2-3 witnesses to establish a case.

And their character? No scholar has ever attacked them on ethical grounds. They could not have had an ulterior motive for claiming this stupendous effect.

The 12 followed Jesus for more than 3 years and learned from Jesus as his disciples. But when he was killed, they all ran away. But they were totally reversed in their attitudes and characters after they saw him alive again. They became un-silence-able witnesses after this.

In the following order, events of Jesus’ resurrection occurred:

Events after the Resurrection

1. Early in the morning, 3 women came to the tomb and saw the angels
2. They separated there – Mary Magdalene went to tell Peter and John, the other two went to tell the others (in Bethlehem)
3. Peter and John ran to the tomb, but returned to their place without seeing the Lord

After this, 12 appearances of Jesus:

1. Mary – at the tomb after Peter and John had left
2. The other women on the street
3. 2 disciples on the way to Emmaus
4. Peter – personally
5. 10 disciples without Judas and Thomas
6. 11 disciples (including Thomas)
7. Apostles at the Sea of Tiberius
8. Apostles on the Mt. of Galilee
9. More than 500 brothers at the same time
10. James – his half brother
11. Disciples on the Mt. of Ascension
12. Paul – on the way to Damascus
13. And even still today, Jesus is continuing to appear to believers on and on – because he promised “Surely, I am with you always to the very end of the Age.”

Do you recognize this? How?

Through the gospel preached to you by somebody.

• v.1, 2 = “I preached to you”
• v.3 = “preached to me, pass on to you”

1. Gospel is “news”
2. News is “news” when it is made known

Gospel is like a river, it must run and run to remain a river. If it stops running, no more river.

Can you check yourself, if this gospel was preached / passed on to you?

If preached to you and passed to you, this gospel will continue to be preached by you and will continue to be passed by you.

“…as of FIRST IMPORTANCE…” (v. 3)

This will continue until He comes again. Nobody can stop it. God bless you to be involved in this wonderful gospel news for all the people – all the time, forever.

Let us pray.