Our Resurrection Connection (Mesage Two)

1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Laura Brooks, a 52-year-old mother of two, didn’t know it but she was one of 14,000 people in 2011 whose name was incorrectly entered into the government database as dead.
She wondered what was wrong when she stopped receiving disability checks, and her loan payments and her rent checks bounced. She went to the bank to clear up the issue, but the representative told her that her accounts had been closed because she was dead! Obviously, they were mistaken. (Radio Bible Class)  In our text the Apostle Paul paints a dismal picture of what it would be like, to not have the hope of the resurrection.
1. We would have no foundation for our Christian walk.(vv.12-13)
The foundation of our Christian walk is a risen Savior. If Jesus is not alive today, than what foundation do we have for our lives? What can we build on for today, and forever?
2. We would have no faith (vv.14-16)
What would there be to believe in? The preaching of the Gospel would be in vain, our faith would be in nothing. The early Christians and us, would be false witnesses of God.
We would be telling a great lie.
3. There would be no forgiveness (v.17)
If Jesus is not risen, than we are still in our sins. All that Jesus did on the cross, and at the tomb, would not have made restitution for our debt of sin.
4. There would be no future (vv.18-19) No heaven to go to, no eternal blessings to enjoy.
Put these all together, and you have the darkest, the most miserable existence there is.
Paul sums it up by saying: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."(v.19) But thanks be to God, the evidence is so strong concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Paul and many others changed their lives, and gave their lives, to stand up for it.
To me that is so encouraging. Why would they give their lives for something that wasn't true? GP
Sermon outline by Alan Carr www.sermonnotebook.com