Spc125 The Fulcrum of Our Faith 1 Corinthians 15:14-22 Pastor Dave Shepardson Calvary Chapel Nuevo / www.wordbymail.com Open your Bibles. Title of the message, The Fulcrum of Our Faith. We are going to 1 Corinthians Chapter 15. We call it the Resurrection Chapter. The word fulcrum might not be a word that you use every day. In case it s not a word you use every day, let me give you the definition. The definition of fulcrum as we are using it today is: A person or thing around which all vital activity revolves and upon which everything else depends on. That s how big what we are talking about today is. That is how big the resurrection is. A person, that is Jesus Christ, he is the fulcrum of our faith, he is the person. Or thing, that is the resurrection. That is the activity around which all of our vital activity revolves and upon which everything else depends. The person and the thing. Jesus and the resurrection. It is the fulcrum of our faith. Today is such a big day because the vital, central, integral fulcrum of our faith is celebrated today. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not just another holiday in our cultural calendar. It is the thing around which everything that we are as follower of Christ revolves. It s the fulcrum. Today, I just want to share with you three life transforming truths about the resurrection, the fulcrum of our faith. Let s pray. Lord Jesus today is for you, it is about you. It is about your victory. We pray that you would speak to us through your Word. That your Word would be what it is, living and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. Lord, we give you the right to reveal our true heart condition. And we pray Lord that your Word would bring new life, resurrection life into our lives. Only you can do it Lord, and we pray that you would. For your glory and in your name Jesus, amen. Life Transforming Truth #1: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the FULCRUM of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the fulcrum of the Christian faith, of Christ followers. It s what everything in our life revolves around. It s the event that our life revolves around. The historical resurrection of Jesus Christ is what sets Christianity apart from every other religious belief system. 1
When I first got saved at nineteen years old, I surrendered my life to Christ the very first time I was in a Christian Church. The very first time I had heard the gospel message I gave Christ my life and everything changed. And I had people in my life, people I loved dearly, say Honey, there s a lot of good religions. Why are you getting so hung up on this one? And I would say, Because there is no other system of belief, there is no other spiritual concept, there is no other religion that compares to the actual historically documented, proven, resurrection of Jesus Christ. That s why! This is the event that sets us apart from every other system of belief spiritually or religiously. Listen. Without the resurrection, our faith in Christ collapses. Christianity collapses. It would not exist. Christianity is not just another good set of thoughts or way to live, or teachings of some charismatic or great teacher. That s not what it is. The resurrection makes a difference. Did you know that there were all kinds, more than you would think, of Messianic movements? Messiah means savior or the one who has come to save. And in the Jewish world there were Messianic movements that came just before Christ and Messianic movements that came just after Christ. And every single one of them, listen carefully please, every single one of them died when their leader died. Every single Messianic movement. In fact there is one that is spoken of in Acts Chapter 5, Gamaliel speaks of one there, you can read it later. They were happening right at the same time. But every time one of those would-be messiah s died, the movement died. Every single time. Not so with the original disciples of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ died, the original disciples just claimed all the more that he was the Savior, the he was the Messiah, that he was the Savior of the world. In fact, they wrote the entire New Testament after Jesus Christ died. In fact, I would say, because he died. But not just because he died. But because he died and then he rose again from among the dead. That s what sets Christianity apart. That s why the Christian faith, faith in Christ, changed the world after the death of its leader. Really, honestly, when Christ died there were about a hundred people in his church (right about what we have here) that was it. And every other movement with a hundred to a hundred and twenty disciples there at the beginning of Acts, every other movement of that size, if the charismatic leader dies, it just goes away. Not so with Christ. It is because of the resurrection that faith in Christ in the movement that began 2
changed the world. It is because of the resurrection. There are many things about our faith that are different than every other faith in the world, but the capstone the granddaddy the one that cannot have a candle held to it by any other religion or spiritual thought, is the fact that we have a historically documented resurrected Savior. It s a big deal! It is really a big deal. So that is why the resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith. Listen to the emphasis that the Apostle Paul puts on it in the Resurrection Chapter in 1 Corinthians 15. Look at verse 14. Here s how Paul puts it. Here s where Paul puts the resurrection of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:14 15 (NLT) 14 And if Christ has not been raised (from the dead), then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God... That is how central the resurrection is to our faith in Christ. If it weren t true then our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless, and the original Apostles would have all been lying. And Paul continues, kind of in a what s more tone, 1 Corinthians 15:19 (NLT) 19 And (what s more) if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. Wait a minute. What about all these great systems of belief. These religious systems. This one says that, and this one says that. And they are all good, and they are a good way to live, they show you a good way to live. Listen, Paul the Apostle says If our faith in Christ is only for this life, then we are to be most pitied of anyone in the world. That s how central, that is how much of a fulcrum the resurrection is. Without it, there is nothing else to say. Without it, faith in Christ becomes one of a thousand religions that just come and go. However look down at verse 20. 3
1 Corinthians 15:20 says (NLT) 20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. Jesus Christ has in fact been raised from the dead. Honestly, it is historically documented. (And that is one of the things, maybe you can contact us and I can give you more information on.) Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. And he is the firstfruits of all who believe and have died. That is why the resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith. But wait, there is more. (It s been a long time since I have confessed this. So, now is as good a time as any. I used to sell Ginsu knives at the swap meet. It s true. I was a real estate broker and the market crashed, and so the best thing I could figure out to do was learn how to go to the swap meet and make a couple of bucks for groceries. And so I was quite a Ginsu knife salesman. And so that is a famous line of course But wait, there s more! ) In the next two verses the Bible makes this fulcrum of our faith very personal. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 says (NLT) 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. This makes the resurrection personal. It s not just about did this great religious leader rise from the dead? It s about the fact that through this man, Jesus Christ, this God-man, the resurrection from the dead has begun. And everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life, new resurrection life. Everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new resurrection life. And this is our second point. Life Transforming Truth #2: The resurrection brings new life NOW! The resurrection brings new life now. Look again at verse 21. 1 Corinthians 15:21 (just read) (NLT) 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man (Jesus Christ). Notice it doesn t say the resurrection of the dead. But it says the resurrection from the dead. The word literally means out from among. Out from among those who are 4
dead. The resurrection of those who are coming out from among the dead has begun. It began with Christ at his resurrection. Can I just be direct with you? If you don t know me, I tend to be a little direct and I d like to be direct, but I am going to be direct either way. But I will be gentle. If you don t yet belong to Jesus Christ, if you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and by faith made him your Savior and your Lord, the Bible says you are already dead. You re dead where you sit. This is what Ephesians 2:4-5 says, Ephesians 2:4 5 (NLT) 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead... Even though we were (already) dead because of our sins... Because of God s grace and because of his mercy, he gave us life when he raised Christ from among the dead. See, here s the deal. From God s standpoint, sin equals death. Sin equals death. And God sees things positionally. It means outside of time. So practically would be within time, but positionally would be outside of time. And so, in God s perspective, if sin equals death, and if God sees things outside of time, then if your sin has not been dealt with, then you are dead. You are dead in God s eyes. You ve seen (or have heard of) the TV show The Walking Dead. I ve never watched it because those kinds of shows creep me out. Alright? But I did check Wikipedia last night for that show and read a little bit about it, and it is about the walking dead, right? It s about zombies kind of taking over the world or something. But, that is us. You just can t see the rotting flesh and most of the time not smell it. But that is who we are. We are the walking dead because sin equals death. And so God sees us in our sin as already dead and that means eternally dead. The good news is this. It s that when we were dead in our sins, that is when God, through his love and his mercy, gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead, Ephesians 2:5 says. Ephesians 2:5 (ESV) 5... [God] made us alive together with Christ... 5
That s the same verse out of the literal translation, the ESV.... [God] made us alive together with Christ... You have to grasp a little bit of the immensity of the resurrection to grasp what this means. Along with Christ. As he made Christ alive, he made us alive. As Christ lives a resurrected life, we live a resurrected life. He made us alive. It s a finished work. Through your faith in Jesus Christ God will make you alive together with him. And so the source of his resurrection life becomes the source of your resurrection life. And as he was raised from the dead, you will be raised from the dead. Not because you are his equal, but because you are identified with him through faith. The miracle of faith is that God sees us as so identified with Christ that he credits us with what Christ has done. And so as Christ rose from the dead, we will rise from the dead in Christ positionally and as Christ did. That s good news! That s really, really good news! This isn t about, Oh yeah, Jesus said you should, you know, do unto others before they do unto you, and some other things he said. (He didn t really say that, okay?) No, no, no. It s not about this is a good way to live. It s about the resurrection life. It s about Jesus was resurrected and I want to be too! And the only way I will be is in him. God will bring you out from among the dead. And that new resurrection life, please hear me, can begin today. It can begin today. It begins the moment that you truly put your faith in Jesus Christ. The moment that you truly surrender your life to him as Savior and Lord. It begins that moment. John 3:16 says at that moment you have eternal life. But I need to tell you, there is a day coming, Hebrews 9:23 says, there is a time appointed unto man to die and after that the judgment. So it is wonderful, good news to say your resurrection life can begin now. But I am telling you when you are really going to want to possess it wholeheartedly with everything is the moment you take your last breath. Because eternity begins with judgment, not ultimate Great White Throne Judgment (if you re familiar with that) but immediately you are seen in eternity as either in Christ or out of Christ. Which means either righteous before God because of Christ s work or not righteous before God and so unable to be in his presence. Can I just tell you please the reason that God wants to save you from your sin and give you the resurrection life, is so that you can inherit a very real, very tangible, resurrected body and live in a very real, very tangible resurrected creation, in a very real, very tangible personal relationship with God for eternity? That s really what God wants. Because, you know what, he knows as James wrote, this life is a vapor. It s a vapor. It s a vapor. You know it can end any moment. Can I tell you please, when it does, you are not 6
going to a white fluffy cloud and be given a harp and a toga. Okay? That s not in the Bible. It s not in the Bible. We kind of like to stick with what s in the Bible. The white cloud, toga wearing harp strumming picture of heaven, listen it was either created by man or more probable it was created by the devil himself so that people wouldn t think going to heaven was a big deal. That is not what it is like. That is not how the Bible describes it. The eternal life that we receive through faith in Jesus Christ, along with the forgiveness of our sins, is a very real, very radical, very tangible resurrected life. It s more real than this life. It s more real than this life. It is not life without a real body. There is a transition time where that is true. There is a transition time, talk to me if you have a question about it. But your real resurrected life is real, meaning it s tangible. You can touch it, you can feel it. You re going to walk on a new resurrected creation. You re going to be in a New Jerusalem in a new city that we have the dimensions and the descriptions of. You re going to be interacting and you are going to be leading and you are going to be continuing to live in kind of the rewards or lack of rewards that you began here in this life. That is a very real part of eternity. You are going to live in the presence of God in a very real, very tangible way. Have you ever left someone who was really sick? And when you leave you say, Wow, they are only a shadow of their former self. Right? When you see someone who is kind of moving that direction, you think man, they are only a shadow of their former self. Well, listen, if you are in Christ today, if you own this resurrected life today, you are only a shadow of your future self. You are a shadow of your future self. There is a resurrected body waiting for you, and a resurrected life, and a resurrected creation. And it is reserved for you, waiting for you to inherit it in a very real resurrected creation. There are five messages that cover what I am talking about. You can access them at WordByMail.com. Just look for the special 5 message series on Heaven. Dig into that. So, our third life transforming truth, and this is what I want you to see. I want you to see the personal part mostly. But I want you to get out of your mind that when you die, if you go to heaven, that it is just not hell. Like Olay, I ll do it because I don t want to go to hell. Listen, that can be an okay motivation and it certainly is true, you don t want to go there, but I want you to be driven by what the resurrection life looks like. 7
Life Transforming Truth #3: The resurrection is the launch pad of God s new creation. The Bible lays it out. The resurrected life that Jesus makes possible by conquering sin and death and the grave on your behalf, is not just for those who belong to Jesus. I don t mean it s for any other person. But in God s creation it is not just for us who surrender our lives to Christ, but all of God s creation is longing for this moment when it begins to live in the resurrected life. Turn over to Romans Chapter 8. This is such a cool chapter. Listen, guys, please listen. When Adam sinned, and when sin entered mankind, it wasn t just humanity that was separated from God by sin. But the curse of sin actually fell on all of God s creation. It s because of the federal headship of Adam, that he was given charge of all creation. So all of creation is waiting for the resurrected life, like we are, like some of us are. Romans 8:19 21 (NLT) 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. I want you to see that because this new creation is where we will live our new lives in our new resurrected body, glorified body with a very real glorified Christ and a very, very real life. 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. And then continuing in verse 22. Romans 8:22 23 (NLT) 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Do you see it? including the new bodies he has promised us. All of this comes from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is why the resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith. It s 8
because all of our life comes from the resurrection of Christ and his conquering of sin and death and the grave. And not only us, but all of creation longs to receive the benefits of the resurrection. Guys, Jesus Christ beat sin and death on your behalf. And he rose victorious on your behalf. And he did it because there was no other way that you could be with God. If you have been fed the phenomenal lie that you re a pretty good person so God will probably accept you, get real, man. Honestly. God is first and foremost, holy and just. And there can be no sin in his presence. And so if you are saying that you think God will accept you based on your life or your actions, what you are saying is I am as perfect as Jesus Christ. So, reconsider, please. The reason that Jesus beats sin, paid for your sin in your place, on your behalf, the reason he conquered death and the grave on your behalf is because you couldn t and he loves you. How much does he love you? This is how much he loves you. He took the wrath of God in your place for you on the cross. The curse of sin had us under the judgment of death us and all of creation. And in the resurrection Jesus Christ set us and all of creation free from that judgment. And so, when we leave this temporal, fleeting soon to vaporize world, we enter a resurrected life world that is very real. It is so much more real. And there we will live with God, and we will live with the others who also believe and it will be very cool. If you look at Jesus life after the resurrection it s like, Hey, did he just walk through that wall? Yeah he s just messing around. You want to be there, it is a very real resurrection. It is a very real life. Turn to Revelation. Shouldn t we wrap up in Revelation because this is what we are talking about? We are talking about the real deal here, you guys. Turn to Revelation 21.Here s a glimpse of how real it is. It s real! Don t make this a metaphor. This is real! This is real! Revelation 21:1 5 (NLT) 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared....... 3 (then) I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, Look, God s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or 9
crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I am making everything new!... Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. This heaven is firmament, not God s dwelling place. A new firmament and a new earth. It is a resurrected heaven and earth. It is earth in resurrection style. And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I am making everything new! Resurrection new! That is why the resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith because in the end God makes everything new through the resurrection. And we can be a part of that. All believers, all those who have surrendered their life to Christ through faith receive the benefit of what he has done for us. And so we beat sin because he beat sin. We beat death and the grave because he did. And we rise in a resurrected life because he did. Again, let me tell you guys, our faith in Jesus Christ is not just the confidence of God forgiving our sin. I mean I know that sounds a little bit like, What? What did he say? I mean it requires the forgiveness of sin. But really, our faith in Jesus Christ gives us resurrected life for eternity and the forgiveness of sin is a necessary part of that, but ultimately what God offers us through faith in Christ is a new resurrected life for eternity! That s a good deal! That s a really, really good deal. The other option is hell. And that is not so good. And listen, both are for eternity. That s really the truth. In the resurrection is our confidence that God has an entirely new radical body for us. He has an entirely new radical creation for us to live in, and he has an entirely new, very radical, very real, very tangible relationship with him for eternity. In Philippians Chapter 3 when the Apostle Paul grasps a little bit of this he says, I m willing to lose everything for that. I get it. Philippians 3:8. Look what the Apostle Paul says. This is Paul s personal testimony. This is Paul speaking from his heart. Philippians 3:8 11 (NLT) 8-9 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him... Do you get the sense of where Paul puts the resurrected life in order of importance or priority? Everything else is garbage, if you re reading a King James (first of all let me 10
give you a Bible you can understand) But second of all it says dung there. It says dung. I count it all as dung. 10-11 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I want to know Christ, Paul says. It s an experiential, relational knowledge. Paul says he want to experience the resurrection that Jesus Christ experienced. I want to experience that same power that rose Jesus from the dead. I want that power living in me. I want to know that when the time comes that I will be raised from the dead just like Christ was. That is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying listen; I don t care what it costs me. I don t care what I have to give up in this world. I want to make sure I am there when I cross that line. Because I have figured it out, Paul is saying. This world is really short and by comparison meaningless. That world, eternity, is really long and by comparison it cannot be compared. So I am going to make a choice, and I choose eternity. The resurrected life. I promise you if you will grasp, just a little bit of what it means to live the resurrected life for eternity, you ll say with Paul, I m willing to suffer the loss of anything it takes here in order to be there. That is what Jesus Christ has done for you in the resurrection. That s why the resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith. That s why everything that we do revolves around the person of Christ and the event of the resurrection. Because ultimately that is where we find our identity. We are in Christ, before God, and we are living the resurrected life for eternity. All of that begins now. So there is one last question. That question is: How? That question is how? How can God do this? The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, you may know it by heart, says (and I am reading out the NLT, a translation you may not be familiar with.) And when your translation, or maybe your memory says For God so loved the world the word so there, means in this way. John 3:16 (NLT) 16 For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 11
This is how, in this way God loved you. In this way God loved the world. This is how God loved the world. He gave the only one of his kind (there is no good English for this Greek word) so we translate it his one and only Son. But it means the only one like him. The unique one, speaking of Jesus Christ. He gave the one that was closest to him, his only begotten. have eternal life. That is a present possession - have eternal life. Do you see it? Everyone who believes in him will not perish but have, possess the resurrection life. Eternal life. The word believe there is not intellectual assent. It s not like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I believe what you re saying. The word believe there means to put your full faith and trust in a person. I mean, really surrender your life to Christ. Everyone who puts their full faith and trust in him as Savior and Lord will not perish but have that eternal resurrected life. By God s grace when you put your faith in Christ he gives you what Christ owns. He gives you righteousness. Christ s righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that there was an exchange at the cross and the resurrection. And Jesus Christ took our sin upon himself at the cross and then he gave us his righteousness before God when he conquered sin and death and the grave. By grace, through your faith God gives you what Jesus Christ owns. Ephesians 2:8 says, Ephesians 2:8 (NLT) 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed... When you believed. When you gave your all to him. When you surrendered your all to him. Right then God saved you. And he gave you resurrection life. God has done it all. God s done it all. Why? Because you are walking dead. You don t have anything to offer God, you don t have anything to prove yourself to God, you don t have anything to accomplish for God. You re dead. Your part, put your faith in Jesus Christ. Fully and completely put your faith in him. And then all that he has done becomes yours. If you ll do that, then by God s grace your sin will be forgiven, dealt with. You ll be given a right standing before God and the resurrection life will begin for you. So I want to give you a chance to do that. To be resurrected out from among the dead. Let s pray. Lord Jesus you have done it all. You ve done it all. Right now the only thing left is for us to choose, for us to choose whether we believe or not. For us to choose 12
whether we will put our faith in you or not. For us to choose whether we want to show up before you in our own righteousness or in your righteousness, Jesus. I pray you would make that choice simple. That you would make it so clear. And Lord that you would help us to make it now. Amen. 13