Sermons in English
Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? · Resources
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Summary
James Drake opens the What About? series with the question underneath all the others: did Jesus really rise from the dead? Paul's creed in 1 Corinthians 15 is older than the Gospels, and the evidence around the empty tomb is far stranger than anything anyone would have invented. The point is not a verdict to reach but a person to meet.
Sermon Outline
- 1
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ▶ 0:00
The congregation stands for Paul's summary of the gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, the twelve, and more than five hundred at once.
- 2
If the Tomb Is Empty, Anything Is Possible ▶ 1:28
James opens the What About? series with the 2 a.m. questions - anxiety, suffering, success, purpose - and says none of them have good answers until the resurrection question is settled.
- 3
A Creed Older Than the Gospels ▶ 4:34
"What I received, I delivered to you" is creed language, circulating within three to five years of the resurrection. Christianity did not evolve slowly; it exploded onto the scene.
- 4
"In Accordance with the Scriptures" ▶ 5:42
Every sacrifice, every spotless lamb, the blood on the doorposts, the serpent lifted in the wilderness, Jonah's three days - the whole Bible was telling one story, and the cross was never plan B.
- 5
Abraham, Isaac, and Mount Moriah ▶ 6:53
A three-day journey, an only son carrying the wood up a hill in the region of Jerusalem, and a substitute provided at the last moment. Two thousand years later, in the same place, Jesus was the substitute.
- 6
Nobody Folds the Laundry ▶ 12:03
Peter and John run to the tomb and find the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth folded up by itself. Grave robbers do not tidy up on the way out - this does not look like a crime scene.
- 7
The Shroud of Turin ▶ 13:09
A clip from Dr. Jeremiah Johnston on the crucified man of the shroud and the probability that it is anyone other than Jesus of Nazareth. We do not need it to believe, but it raises the question of what happened in that tomb.
- 8
The Women Were the Primary Witnesses ▶ 16:51
All four Gospels put women at the tomb first, in a culture where a woman's testimony was not admitted in court. That is a terrible way to build a story, and a very good sign it was not built at all.
- 9
Transformed Lives ▶ 21:38
Before the resurrection the disciples were afraid, hiding and scattered. After it they preached publicly and died for it - Peter crucified upside down, Paul beheaded, Thomas speared.
- 10
James the Brother, Paul the Persecutor ▶ 23:01
Two men who did not want to believe. Jesus' half-brother, who had every reason to be bitter, ends up leading the church in Jerusalem; the man who approved the execution of Christians ends up dying as one.
- 11
By the Grace of God I Am What I Am ▶ 28:31
Verse 10 turns the evidence personal. Grace is what you cannot earn, deserve, or work your way up to - and if God could change Paul, he can change anyone.
- 12
Ike Brown's Letter, and What You Do with the Tomb ▶ 29:54
A police officer whose son was murdered writes to the young man who killed him and asks him to fill in for his son until they all get to heaven. Then the closing question: what are you going to do with the empty tomb?
Key Points
- Paul's summary - Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised - is early church creed language circulating within three to five years of the resurrection, before any Gospel was written.
- Twice Paul says "in accordance with the Scriptures." The cross was not plan B; Genesis 22 already has a beloved only son carrying wood up a hill outside Jerusalem while a substitute dies in his place.
- The grave clothes left lying with the face cloth folded separately do not describe a robbery. Nobody steals a body and then folds the laundry.
- All four Gospels name women as the first witnesses, in a culture where their testimony was not accepted in court. That reads like something recorded, not something invented.
- People may die for what they think is true, but no one dies for what they know is a lie - and the disciples lost everything rather than change their story.
- James, the half-brother who did not believe, and Paul, who approved the execution of Christians, both switched sides after seeing Jesus alive. Legal scholars call the empty tomb and Paul's conversion the two hardest facts to explain away.
- Christianity is not finally about proving that an event happened. It is about meeting the risen Lord personally, by grace you could never earn.
Quotable Moments
“Nobody steals a body and then folds the laundry. This is not theft. This is what victory looks like. The tomb does not look like a crime scene. It looks like a departure.” ▶ 12:41
“This doesn't read like something they invented. It reads like something they recorded.” ▶ 18:04
“People may die for what they think is true, but no one dies for what they know is a lie.” ▶ 22:13
“You don't clean up your life and then come to God. You come to God, and then he begins to clean you up from the inside out.” ▶ 29:18
“And sometimes the most powerful evidence that Jesus is alive is not just an empty tomb, it's a changed life.” ▶ 29:40
Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:1-22 (ESV)
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Take It With You
- You do not have to have every answer today, but you do have to decide what you will do with Jesus.
- You do not clean up your life and then come to God. You come to God, and he begins to clean you up from the inside out.
- The most powerful evidence that Jesus is alive may not be the empty tomb at all - it may be a changed life, including yours.
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Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.