MARCH 23, 2008 – EASTER SUNDAY – “THE HOPE OF HIS STORY”
TEXT: I Corinthians 15:3-8
(I
Corinthians 15:1) “Now, brothers, I want
to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which
you have taken your stand.”
(Romans 1:16) “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it
is the power of God for the salvation for everyone who believes: first for the
Jew, then for the Gentile.”
(I Corinthians 15:58) “Therefore,
my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is
not in vain.”
(Chesterton) “Salvation is not something we
achieve, but something we receive!”
(I Thessalonians
2:13) “And we also thank God continually
because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you
accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God,
which is at work in you who believe.”
(Revelation 3:20) “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him,
and he with me.”
(I Corinthians 15:2) “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold
firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”
(Romans 10:9-10) “That if you confess with
your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with
your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
(Luke 19:10) “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
(John 3:17) “For God
did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him.”
(Jack Odell) “Salvation is moving from living death to deathless life.”
(I Timothy 2:4) “…who
wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge
of the truth.”
II. (v.3) A
STORY OF HOPE BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS DID FOR US
(
(Hebrews 7:26) “Such a high priest meets our need – one who
is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”
(I Peter 1:19) “…but with the precious blood of Christ, a
lamb without blemish or defect.”
(Romans 5:8) “But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.”
(Romans 6:23) “For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
(Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.”
(John 5:24) “I tell you the truth; whoever hears my
word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned;
he has crossed over from death to life.”
(Galatians 1:3-4) “Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the
present evil age, according the will of our God and Father...”
(Isaiah 53:4-6) “Surely he took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his
wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
(Max Lucado) “Failures are not fatal because of the cross.”
(I Corinthians
15:55-57) “‘Where, O death is your victory?
Where, O death is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin
is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
III.
(v.4) A STORY OF HOPE
BECAUSE JESUS LIVES
(A.W. Tozer) “We understand and acknowledge that the Resurrection has placed a glorious crown upon all of Christ's sufferings!”
(I
Corinthians 15:14) “And if Christ has not
been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
(I Corinthians 15:20) “But Christ has indeed been raised from the
dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep.”
(HankHanegraaff)
“The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest feat in the annals of human
history. It is the very ‘capstone in the arch of Christianity.’ Without it, all else crumbles. When we fully comprehend the
significance of resurrection, our lives will be revolutionized. Without
resurrection, there is no hope.”
(I
Corinthians 15:21-22) “For
since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through
a man. For as in Adam all die,
so in Christ all will be made alive.”
(John 14:6) “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
(Romans 8:34) “Who is he that
condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more
than that, who was raised to life – is at the right
hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
(Preacher E.G. Selwyn) “The disciples did not assert merely that their Master had survived death, but that he had conquered death."
(I Corinthians 15:57) “But
thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
(I Peter 1:3) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his
great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...”
(Theologian
J.I Packer) “You could speak of Jesus' rising as the most hopeful (hope-full)
thing that has ever happened – and you would be right!”
IV.
(vs.5-11) A STORY OF HOPE YOU CAN DEPEND
UPON
(Acts
2:32) “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.”
(I Corinthians 15:10) “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and
his grace to me was not without effect.”
(Theologian
Wolfhart Pannenberg) “The
evidence for Jesus' resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it
except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you
believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.”