541-2 – Special – EASTER AND YOU
April 6, 1980
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
In religion’s plan, Easter is a great day. It is probably the most outstanding day. Christmas is a great time, but I am sure more people go to church on Easter than at Christmas, but yet I am sure that few people understand the impact of the resurrection. I am sure many people do not take time to think what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means. Let me ask you a question. What does the resurrection mean to you at this Easter season? How does it affect your every-day life? What do we mean by resurrection from the dead?
John 20: 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
1/ We mean that one comes forth in a physical resurrected body. You would be amazed how many people talk about resurrection but do not mean a resurrected physical body. I heard a preacher one time speaking to the Blair County Ministerium, the only time I went to it, when he said, “We know that resurrection is the continuance of personality,” and of course, that is not true.
2/ When I talk about resurrection, I am reminded of the question, that Paul himself asked King Agrippa in Acts 26:8. “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?”
Here is the question. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?
John 11: 39, 40 and 43, 44. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
3/ We must see a very important point in resurrection...The difference between resuscitation and resurrection. Resuscitation, means to revive, to restore, and all through the Bible we have those who experience resuscitation. But nowhere do we have resurrection. The only one who has been raised from the dead is Jesus Christ. For Paul tells us in Timothy, In Him alone is immortality. In other words, a body that is a resurrected body that can never die.
Mark 27: 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
4/ I Corinthians 15: 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
The Corinthians said, there is no resurrection of the dead, but now they didn’t deny the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. They just denied the resurrection of the dead other than Jesus Christ, and they did this because of their pagan past. They believed what Plato said, that the body is evil and wicked, and the best thing that can happen to you is to get rid of the body. They were convinced that the soul of man was immortal, but they believed at death the body would decompose into ashes and never again be made alive.
5/ So, Paul in the 12th verse quotes them—How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
You see, they didn’t know enough doctrine, and it is important that you know doctrine.
6/ The word, if, in the 12th vs. is a first-class condition and it means, Christ is preached and it is true that He rose from the dead, and it refers back to Verse 11 Whether I or they preach Jesus Christ and the resurrection, because this refers to those who saw Jesus Christ in His resurrected condition, and so they believed what had been taught, but they said His followers, those who believe in Him, will never be resurrected from the dead.
7/ Verse 13 The word, here, if, is again a first-class condition, but it is a special first-class condition. It is an assumption. It is a debater’s technique, and it could read, Let us assume that Christ is not risen from the dead.
As you know, the Greeks were great debaters and they loved to debate, and in a debate at certain times, you assume the position of your opposition to be true, to prove that it is really not true. He says, If you don’t believe that the dead are raised in resurrection bodies, then Christ cannot be raised from the dead. Even though they believed that Christ was raised from the dead. You see, you can’t have one without the other. The resurrection of Christ guarantees the resurrection of those who believe in Him, those who trust in Him and are members of the church the Body of Christ.
8/ PAUL IN HIS DEBATER’S TECHNIQUE IS USING HUMAN LOGIC, AND HE SHOWS THE CONSEQUENCES. IF CHRIST DID NOT RAISE, THEN WHAT WOULD BE THE ANSWER?
9/ Verse 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”
The word, if, again is a first class condition—debater’s technique, then is our preaching in vain. He is literally saying, Let us assume that Christ is not risen from the dead, then is our preaching valueless. Useless.
10/ Acts 4: 33 There we read, And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all.
They were completely convinced that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead in a physical body.
11/ If Christ was not raised from the dead, there is one question we must answer. What happened to the body of Christ if He did not rise from the dead? Since the tomb was empty, only one of two things could have happened. Either His body had been stolen from the tomb, or He had been raised from the dead. Only one of the two groups could have stolen His body. His enemies or His friends. His enemies would not have taken His body—His friend could not have taken His body from the tomb. The very last thing his enemies wanted to have happen was to have His friends steal His body. To guard against this, they very carefully sealed and guarded the sepulcher. Thus, since His enemies would not take His body away, and since His friends could not take His body away, there is only one possibility left—Christ rose from the dead as He said He would.
12/ It is said that Thomas Jefferson developed His own Bible, but he was concerned merely with the moral teachings of Jesus Christ. His Bible was the same as our Bible, but with all references to the Supernatural eliminated. The closing words are in Matthew 27: 60 where it says They rolled a great stone to the mouth of the sepulcher and departed.
What a tragic end. If our Lord is still in the grave, the rest of the Bible is only a myth.
13/ It is not enough to speak about a crucified Savior, for the Bible tells us of a resurrected Christ.
Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Here we are told He was delivered for our offenses. That means, He was crucified, made sin, and raised again for our justification.
Here are the two central truths of Scripture:
a/ Christ died for us, but also rose from the dead. To die would not be enough.
b/ The efficacy of His death was proved by His resurrection.
14/ If Christ did not raise from the dead, we have no message to preach.
Romans 10: 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very heart of the Gospel of Salvation. If Christ did not rise physically from the dead—there is no good news. It is all bad news.
15/ But not only is our preaching vain if Christ is not risen, but our faith is also vain. If Christ did not rise from the dead, going to church is a waste of time. Giving your money to the church or to the work of the Lord is throwing it to the wind, and, of course, IF THIS IS TRUE, prayer is absolutely useless and valueless. There would be nothing to do but to live and die like an animal.
16/ Psalms 27: 13 Here the Psalmist cries out, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
But this faith is valueless if Christ did not rise from the grave. Faith means absolutely nothing.
17/ Verse 14 Now we come to another conclusion. If Christ is still dead, we are found false witnesses of God. Why, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ. That means the missionary, the preacher, the Bible teacher, they are all a liars—they are lying witnesses. Even Christ Himself was a liar if He did not rise.
Matthew 17: 22, 23 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry. For He said He would rise again on the third day. That means He is an imposter.
18/ Yet He said, we should not bear false witness.
Matthew 19: 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19/ Notice, we testified for God that He raised up Christ. You need to see that both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit said to have resurrected Christ from the dead. First of all, God the Father in Psalms 16: 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2: 31, 32 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
I Thessalonians 1: 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Colossians 2: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
So from these Scriptures it is certainly clear that God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and, of course, this speaks of His humanity.
20/ Then God the Holy Spirit is said to have raised Christ from the dead.
Romans 8: 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
I Peter 3: 18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
So, both the Father and the Holy Spirit are involved in the resurrection of the humanity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
21/ Verse 16 Now we go back again to the debater’s technique. And, if Christ be no raised. The word, if, again is a first-class debater’s technique, and every time you see this, this word, if, can be translated LET US ASSUME, and then He says, ye are yet in your sins...this proves very clearly that just the death of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to get rid of your sin. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away sin. But that death would have been valueless if He did not come bodily, and physically from the grave.
22/ Verse 18 They also who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. There is absolutely no hope for them.
Compare that with I Thessalonians 4: 13 - 18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
He would not have us to be ignorant, concerning them that are asleep.
23/ I Corinthians 15: 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
This shows us the folly of the social gospel. Our hope is not in this life. If you look at the believer in this present day, and age, you will find that his hope is heavenly, not earthly. God does not intend to change things upon earth during the age of grace. it is going to take the second coming of Christ to change this society.
24/ But we are not miserable, for we do have a home that is sure. Let me show you the ultimate of the Christian life.
I Corinthians 15: 35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
This is an important verse. But some man will say, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Notice, it is taken for granted they will have a physical body, because Christ came forth from the tomb in a physical body.
25/ Verse 37 But that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but a bare grain. It may of chance be wheat, or some other grain.
Then notice the words, but God giveth a body as it hath pleased Him. How has it pleased God to give us a physical body? A body just like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3: 20, 21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Because Christ was raised from the dead, we shall be raised from the dead, and like as Christ has a resurrection body, we will have a resurrection body just like His. We are going to have not an earthly body, but a heavenly body.
I Corinthians 15: 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
So our entire hope is heavenly.
AMEN
Ref: 04/06/1980 / 541-2 Easter and You / 02/15/2022
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