If…BUT…
1 Corinthians 15:14, 17-20 (NIV)
And IF Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
And IF Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. IF only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
If life is so horrible and painful, why live?
If life is against you, why live?
If this didn’t happen, why did that have to happen?
Oh the questions that can be raised that start with the word, “if.” There are so many assumptions that people make that start with “if.”
The Apostle Paul uses this word to make conclusions that are startling!
He has one premise or objective and several conclusions:
If Jesus did not rise from the dead then…
All preaching of the Gospel is useless!
What you say you believe (as a Christ-follower) is useless!
We are still lost in our sins!
There is no hope for those who have already died!
We (Christ-followers) are the most miserable of all people!!!!!
Think about that! We are more miserable than the poorest person, more miserable than the most ruthless person, more miserable than the most ignorant person who can’t even write their name, more miserable than the biggest bully you know, more miserable than someone who has never even heard of Jesus or the Bible…JUST PLAIN MISERABLE!!
You have placed your hope in a dead Savior-a person who said He is God but is dead!
You have denied yourself for what?—A person who said He is God who is a grave!
You have endured persecution or problems for what?—A person who said He is God who is dead! YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!
BUT…aren’t you glad for that word?!!
He isn’t dead! He is alive!!! But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…Paul writes!
I Corinthians 15:20 BUT Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you.
Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Jesus is alive! He isn’t dead. Life is worth living and living well.
Because Jesus is alive how will you live today knowing that the power of death and sin has been defeated forever?
Pastor Jason