The Resurrection

Raul Ries: It's not the messenger, it's the message that saves people. The Savior Jesus Christ is not us. It's like you pour water into a vessel, and when people drink water out of the vessel, are they tasting the vessel? They're not supposed to. Never should they taste the vessel. The vessel has to be clean. They should taste Jesus Christ, not you or me.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. We are continuing our study of 1 Corinthians with the encouragement to boldly share the good news of the gospel. Some people may reject your testimony, while others will be drawn to Jesus through you. But ultimately, the Lord himself is the one who changes hearts. It can be freeing to know that we don't need to feel pressure to convince anyone to come to Christ. Here is Raul Ries in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Raul Ries: He says in verse 1, "Now, moreover, brethren," after he spoke to us in 12, 13, and 14 about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He says, "Now, moreover, brethren, I, Paul, declare to you the good news." Notice the good news which I preached to you, which also you received and then in which you stand. Three things he wants to remind them. Number one, I preached to you. You received it, and now you're standing on it. Three things that we do with the gospel. The gospel first of all is preached, and then it is received, and then it is standing upon the word of God. I love the way when you're preaching the gospel and you have a bunch of nonbelievers because it's a good challenge to nonbelievers to stand before them and to be able to give them the truth of God. How some will respond to rejection, but the others as they're touched by the Holy Spirit, it is amazing how they break down and humble themselves before the presence of God. There's always those two camps: nonbeliever and then the believer, those that doubt and those that believe. And so Paul wants to make sure that we understand as Christians that the gospel is the good news. It is always preached, it is always not only received, sometimes rejected, but at the same time we stand upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then secondly, look what he says in verse 2: "By which also you are saved, if you hold fast to that word which I preached to you unless you have believed in vain." Notice that here he makes a very important statement here. He's talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, how the gospel saves people, and then after he talks about salvation, he says, "If you hold fast to that word which I preached to you unless you have believed without a cause or without success" in the Greek, without a cause or success. And think of how many people, like Paul says here, that not only come to hear the word of God, but they don't hold it fast when it's preached to them. And they don't really believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet at the same time, I think of how many that really do believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you see a transformation, you see a change in their hearts and in their lives as the word of God settles in their hearts, and they completely become a different person. Verse 3: "For I, Paul, delivered to you first of all that which I also received." Now notice you can't deliver it unless it's been given to you first. If you accept it, then you can give it out. And think of how many people reject it when it is given to them, total rejection. I don't want to hear that. And sometimes they get very nasty when you're trying to tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet I've learned over the years you can't take the gospel and shove it down somebody's throat. It has to be the work of the Holy Spirit for people to come to salvation and to know the truth about God. They have to be hungry. They have to really be open. And if they're not hungry and they're not open, then you're wasting your time sharing with people. The Holy Spirit will show you that. And so whenever you talk to people, they become argumentative. That's cool. But don't argue with them. Don't try to convert them. That is the power of the Holy Spirit, the only one that can do that. You can become frustrated, you can become really hurt, and at the same time you can get mad at people. So it's really important for me that when I share with someone, I want to look at their attitude. If they're open, then I'll share my heart with them. But if they're not really open and they're resistant, they don't want to hear it, then I won't even talk to them. I'll just walk away and say, "Hey, God bless you, I want to see you again." They want to be open and they want to be hungry, then you can really share the gospel in full scripture with them. Look at verse 3 again: "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." Notice what Paul is doing. We don't have the New Testament yet, okay? He's referring back to the Old Testament. He's always pointing to the scriptures. You always have to refer to the scriptures. The Bible teaches this; the Bible says this. Now what Paul's talking about here, he's talking about Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 52:8-10. He's talking about Psalm 22 concerning the actual crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 22, 750 years before Christ was crucified, David wrote in Psalm 22 about his crucifixion. And then how about Isaiah 750 years before, in Isaiah chapter 52 verse 11 through chapter 53, you have not only the actual abuse and beatings of Jesus Christ and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? And yet it was written 750 years before it ever happened. The scriptures, the word of God. The world cannot see that. The world can't do that. It is only by divine appointment that God through his word can only do that because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the sacredness of God's word, the holy scriptures. Then he says this, verse 4: "And that he, Jesus, was buried and that he rose again on the third day," notice again, "according to what? According to the scriptures." Psalm 22, Genesis 22, Isaiah 53, the Old Testament again. And then verse 5: "And that he, Jesus, was seen by Peter (Cephas), then by the twelve, and after that he was seen by over 500 Christians at one time, of whom the greater part remain to the present time, but some already have died." So there's all these witnesses that after Jesus was killed, they saw him at the resurrection. Remember when Jesus on the cross and he actually died and told the spirit to depart? Then they took him down and they buried him. Three days later, after he went to hell and set the captive free, he comes back and he's in the grave, and he resurrects after three days. He walks out of the tomb. And then for 40 days, he went and met with the disciples and he showed them his print hands, the actual nails prints in his hands, his feet and the side. He ate with them, he fellowshipped with them, and he taught them the word of God. Then after 40 days, he went up to the Mount of Olives and he ascended to heaven in a cloud. And then he told them that he would come again in the same way that he departed. It must have been a trip for the disciples to see him in resurrection body. Remember when Peter was in the mountain and Jesus was transformed into the future? When he said, "Let's build three tabernacles: one for you, one for Elijah, and one for Moses," and then the Lord rebuked him. And you think how now Jesus in the resurrection body that he possessed, that he could go through buildings and at the same time they could touch him and he could eat and drink with them. We really don't understand the heavenly body. It's something that is a mystery to us. And yet each one of us individually when we die, we open our mouth and then the spirit that's in us comes out of our body and the body becomes an empty shell. And our spirit goes to be with the Lord or it goes to hell. And the angels are always at your presence to take you to heaven or to take you to hell. You can read that in the gospel of Luke chapter 16 verse 19 all the way down. So it's really for me to understand the scriptures that he's talking about, verse 15 again, and that he says again that he was seen by 500 brethren at once, of whom the greatest part remains into the present time, but the others have died. Verse 7: "And after that he was seen," notice, "by James and then by all the apostles." So every one of them got to see him. And then verse 8, I love this: "And then last of all," notice Paul didn't put himself first, "and last of all, he was seen by me, Paul, also. And notice as by one that was born out of due time." Paul reminds them that God got a hold of this life and he felt like he was one born out of due season because when he first got saved, the apostles didn't accept Paul. They didn't trust him. And it's so cool that he became, that he took Judas's place. He became the twelfth apostle. When Judas committed suicide, then Paul on his way to persecuting Christians in the book of Acts chapter 8, he's only on his way to Damascus and the Lord appears to him and he knocks him down and says, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Is that you, oh Lord Jesus?" And at that particular moment, the Lord blinded him and converted Paul and he went back into the city of Damascus as he was going to persecute Christians. And he was there for three days totally blind, he couldn't see. And the Lord went to Ananias there in the city of Damascus and he said, "Ananias, I want you to go and I want you to lay hands on this fellow. His name is Paul that I just converted and put your hands on him so that he may see again." And Ananias said this, "Man, I'm not going, Lord, haven't you heard about this guy? He's killing Christians." He says, "Don't worry about it, I already got him." So he went over, laid hands on Paul, and Paul's scales fell off and was baptized with the Holy Spirit and Paul was never the same again.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries. We'd like to take a brief time out to remind you that our goal is to help you feel confident and equipped to share the gospel. Visit us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of resources. Also, Raul is happy to personally answer your Bible questions. Just email him at pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. Let's continue now with the final part of our study, The Resurrection.
Raul Ries: Then, "For I am the least of all the apostles," notice that, the humility of Paul, self-denial, "whom I am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God." Notice that, I was a persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ. Acts 22:4, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, 2 Corinthians 4:5. He constantly was killing Christians and putting them in jail. And yet Paul here so humble in sharing his testimony. Verse 10: "But by the grace of God, I am what I am." I love it. Paul doesn't boast and puts himself on a pedestal. He says the whole thing, the bottom line, it was by the grace of God that I was saved, just like us. It's by the grace of God, not because we were great, but we were sinners. And God came and touched each one of us individually when we repented and by faith we asked him to come into our hearts and lives. And what did he do? He transforms us. That's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ Jesus, all things become brand new. All things pass away and all things become brand new." That's what a Christian is like. Then he says again, "But by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace toward me was not in vain." Notice God's grace is not in vain. "But I labored more abundantly than you all. Yet not I," but check this out, "it was the grace of God which was with me." I love it. The grace of God is what motivates me. The grace of God is what maintains me. The grace of God is the gift of God. I can't boast about it. Apart from the grace of God, man, I would be dust. I would be lost completely and fully. The unmerited favor that God gives to each one of us individually when we submit and surrender our lives to him fully and completely, then the grace of God will start working in your lives. Verse 11: "Therefore," what I just told you, he goes back to the past. He says, "Whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you have come to believe." Notice that. That's his final analysis. It was the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not the messenger. Understand this, it's not you, it's not me. It's not the messenger, it's the message that saves people. The Savior Jesus Christ is not us. The message that we deliver. It's like you pour water into a vessel, and when people drink water out of the vessel, are they tasting the vessel? They're not supposed to. Never should they taste the vessel. The vessel has to be clean. They should taste Jesus Christ, not you or me. Very important. So Paul here brings out some real truths to us. Verse 12: "Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how is it do that some people are saying that there is no resurrection from the dead?" So in Corinth, you have these Greeks and even in the Corinthian church people that did not believe in the resurrection. There were false teachers in Corinth. They were trying to deceive the people. They were trying to discourage them. It was a logical argument. And then at the same time, here is Paul trying to be a shepherd, and then on the other side there were those that were trying to destroy the foundation of the resurrection in the life of young believers that had come to Jesus Christ. Not those that were mature. They always go, false prophets, false teachers, always goes to the new Christians, those that are babies in Christ. And they try to discourage them and they try to brainwash them and they try to take them away from the truth of Jesus Christ. But it's the Holy Spirit that seals us, our hearts and our minds. And as you become a student of God's word and you begin to study God's word, then you can stand on the foundation which is Jesus Christ and you can give an answer to those that are questioning your faith as you give them the word of God. So then he says in verse 13: "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen." Notice that to deny the bodily resurrection in principle is to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we don't rise, then Christ never rose from the dead. And then let's eat and drink and do whatever we want to do because there's no life after death. This is it. So enjoy it now. So Paul's going to really deal with these gnostics and these guys that didn't believe in the resurrection. He says again in verse 13, "But if there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty." Wow. He says, forget about Christianity. Christianity is built upon the resurrection. You see, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without the resurrection, there's no Christianity. So here he brings up this powerful defense. Again he says, "And if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our preaching is empty and your faith is totally empty." Verse 15: "Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God." So then people can say you guys are false teachers, false prophets, because the reason, we have testified of God that he raised up Jesus Christ whom he did not raise up, in fact, if the dead do not rise. So he says, people will come to you and say you're a liar because you said that Christ had risen from the dead, but if it's not true, then you're lying and you're deceiving people. And then verse 16: "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen from the dead, then your faith is empty." Notice that, empty. "And you are what? Still in your sins." Wow. Still in your sins. Can you imagine how many people struggle with that? What is the first thing that Satan does to new believers? He condemns them. You know how many people talk to when they're new believers, they'll come and say, "I think I committed the unpardonable sin." Really? How did you do that? Well, I just came to Christ and I slipped and I fell the other day and I sinned against God. And what does the devil do? Immediately he comes and says, "And you call yourself a Christian? Man, you totally have gone against what Christ has taught." And they get this in their minds. And yet the one that commits the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a person that would never be in church, never would be convicted, but he would be totally lost fully out in the world and never ever would come to Jesus Christ ever again. But here he wants to make sure that we understand that if Christ is not risen from the dead, then we are still empty and dead in our sins, then God has not forgiven us. We're on our way to hell. There's no redemption for our sins. Verse 18: "Then also those who have died in Christ have perished." So all of our loved ones, our friends, the prophets from the past, Abraham and all of them, it was just a delusion. It was a lie and they're all gone and it is not true. They've all perished fully and completely and we also will perish if Christ did not die and rise again from the dead. Verse 19: "And if in this life only we have hope in Christ, then we are of all men are most miserable." Notice that, how sad it would be if this is only what we had. But we have Christ and we have his word. Now verse 20 to 28, he says in verse 20: "But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have died." Now remember, those in the Old Testament, they died and they were in Abraham's bosom. When Christ died on the cross, notice what I'm saying, when Christ died on the cross, what happened? Those that were in hell taken out—remember Abraham's bosom?—and they were taken to heaven. From the time that Jesus died on the cross and resurrected, from that point, not the Old Testament, from that point in the New Testament until Christ comes again, every person that died the moment they died immediately instead of going to Abraham's bosom, immediately went to heaven. Immediately. So look what he's saying here, this is pretty interesting. Verse 21: "For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead." Notice that. It was only by man that death came. Why? Because first Adam sinned. Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, and the whole human race became what? Infected by sin. That's why everybody dies. And it's so cool how Paul brings out from the old past to the present. Look what else he says: "For as in Adam all died, but even so now in Christ all shall be made alive." Isn't that cool? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "But each one in his own order." Notice what he's going to say. "Christ is the firstfruits and after those who are in Christ Jesus at his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom of God the Father and when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power." And then he says, "For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet." Notice that. Rebellion, enmity has to be put down. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire.
Guest (Male): We hope today's lesson has filled you with a fresh sense of urgency to share the gospel with those who don't yet know Jesus, pointing them to his all-sufficient death on the cross for our sins. This is Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries. Because of the limitations of broadcast time, we weren't able to bring you all of Raul's teaching, but if you'd like to hear today's message in its entirety, we'll send you a complete copy for a donation of five dollars or more. Just call 800-634-9165 and mention today's study, The Resurrection. We'd also like to tell you more about Raul's 11-part series, Unity, Holiness, and Love. It's available on CD and USB. Providing biblical instructions for living out your faith, this resource will help you anchor your decisions in godly wisdom. You'll learn how to manage conflict with grace, steward your resources with integrity, maximize your spiritual gifts, and much more. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's 11-lesson series titled Unity, Holiness, and Love. We'll send you the CD set for 23 dollars, or if you prefer the flash drive for just 14 dollars. That's 800-634-9165. Our mailing address if you'd like to order by writing us is Somebody Loves You radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. Raul's daily devotional emails will help you stay focused on the Lord, and it only takes a minute to subscribe when you visit somebodylovesyou.com. And for podcasts of all of these programs, look for us on iTunes and Spotify, or visit the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel where Raul's Straight Talk streams every Tuesday at 10 a.m. West Coast time. Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries is completely listener-supported. That's why we're thankful for your partnership as we continue reaching the world with the good news of Jesus. Next time, we'll continue with more in our verse-by-verse study of God's word to discover more of what it looks like to walk closely in step with the Lord Jesus. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You radio in Diamond Bar, California.