Sermon Synopsis
This sermon argues that the resurrection of Jesus is not a secondary doctrine but the foundation of the Christian faith. From 1 Corinthians 15:12–26, it shows that if Christ has not been raised, then preaching is empty, faith is vain, sins remain unforgiven, and Christians are left without hope. But because Christ has indeed been raised, He is the firstfruits of all who belong to Him, guaranteeing the future resurrection of His people and the final defeat of death. The sermon calls every hearer to respond personally in faith to the risen Christ, whose resurrection changes everything.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
He Is Risen Indeed
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12–26
Let me start with a scene many of us would know—in the movie Avengers: Endgame. I hope this is the right crowd here. In that movie, everything comes down to one moment. Tony Stark, Iron Man, finally gets hold of the Infinity Stones. He looks at Thanos, snaps his fingers, and just like that, the battle is over. Thanos is defeated. The universe is saved.
It is the moment everything hinges on.
But imagine this with me. What if that snap did not work? What if the snap failed? What if Thanos was not really defeated? What if everyone only thought the victory was real? Then suddenly Tony’s sacrifice of his own life did not actually save anyone, and the entire story kind of falls apart. Where is the happy ending? Where is the triumph of good over evil? If the snap did not work, it might still be emotional. It might still be inspiring. But it is no longer true in the way that really matters.
And so, as we have read the passage in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul the apostle defends this topic. He raises this question: if there is no resurrection of the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection? In other words, if the resurrection did not happen, if the resurrection of the dead is not real, then the gospel of Jesus Christ, the person of Christ Jesus, and the Word of God all collapse. The Christian faith is a hoax.
Some of us, perhaps familiar with the gospel, would say this: why is this important? Is it not enough just to know that Jesus died for my sin, and that the pathway to heaven is assured? Why is the resurrection of the dead so important?
Let me bring you to the start.
The Background: From Athens to Corinth
In Acts 17, Paul was in Athens. In verse 18 we read that some of the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers conversed with Paul, and some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities,” because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
Then Paul goes on, from verses 23 to 29, to speak about God as the Creator—the Lord of heaven and earth. He is not a God made by human hands. He does not dwell in temples made by human hands. He is the beginning and the end, the Creator of all things.
But then in verse 32 it says this: “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer.
Then Acts 18:1 says, “After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.” This is when Jesus and the resurrection came to Corinth, and that brings us to where we are in 1 Corinthians 15.
The church in Corinth was gifted, but troubled. They had divisions, moral failures, teaching confusion, and spiritual pride. By chapter 15, we see Paul addressing a teaching crisis. Some were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead.
This was not just a theological debate in the early church. It was a real confusion, and this confusion affected their hope, their faith, and their daily living.
Corinth was a Greek city shaped by philosophies that often denied bodily resurrection. Many believed the soul might live on, but the idea of resurrection seemed foolish. In Corinth, people would say, “Dead men do not rise.” That is not to say that they did not believe in the afterlife. Many religions affirm an afterlife. Certainly, those familiar to the Corinthian church, for the most part, affirmed some kind of afterlife. But what they did not believe was physical, literal resurrection. This was new. They believed in the immortality of the soul, but they rejected the news of bodily resurrection.
Therefore, when we come to 1 Corinthians 15:12–26, we see Paul fighting an uphill battle—one that Christians in the Gentile world often still face. The gospel is not only about the eternal life of the soul, but also the resurrection of the body.
That is why this chapter was written. There was a doctrinal crisis.
Paul begins by reminding them in verses 3 and 4 of the gospel he had always preached: that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. This is not a myth. This is not a legend. And verses 5 onward say this was confirmed by many eyewitnesses.
Now, in verses 12 to 26, Paul defends a critical question: what if there is no resurrection of the dead?
He gives a two-part answer. First, if there is no resurrection, everything falls apart. Second, but Christ has indeed been raised, and that changes everything.
Paul boldly declares that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not optional. It is not secondary. It is foundational. Without it, Christianity collapses. With it, everything changes.
Your life, my life, our hope on this earth and in the next—all of it changes because Jesus Christ rose again.
Paul’s first section is devastatingly clear. If there is no resurrection, then everything falls apart. What falls apart?
That is the first thing Paul says. It is very direct. If there is no resurrection, then Christ Himself is not raised.
You might think, is this really important? Is this not obvious? No. Do not forget: Jesus was fully human and fully God. He was not merely a spirit. He truly became man. He lived as a man, suffered as a man, was crucified as a man, died as a man, and rose again as a man.
If human beings do not rise bodily from the dead, then Christ, who was truly man, could not have risen either.
This is very important, especially for people influenced by Greek thinking, because they might think Jesus was some kind of fleeting spirit, in a different category altogether. But Christ is fully man and fully God. The details of His life in the Bible indicate His humanity—bodily, physically, seen and known as a man. And as a man, He rose from the dead.
So Paul’s first point is very simple: if there is no resurrection of the dead, then the man Christ Jesus did not rise. And if He did not rise, that is a fatal blow to the Christian faith.
Paul then says that if Jesus Christ is not risen, preaching is in vain. It is useless.
The central message of the apostles—and Paul was one of them—was always this: Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ rose again. That was the heart of their preaching.
If He did not rise, then He is not the Savior. He is not the Son of God. He has not purchased our redemption. His sacrifice has not been accepted by God. His work on the cross is not accomplished. There is no good news to be preached if Christ did not rise.
Romans 1:4 says that He “was declared to be the Son of God in power… by his resurrection from the dead.”
If there is no resurrection, the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ is useless. Every sermon depends on a living Savior, not a dead one. Every sermon, every testimony, every message of hope stands on one truth: Jesus is alive.
The implications are profound. If you say men do not rise, then Jesus, who was a man, did not rise. If He did not rise, then our preaching that He did rise is useless. Our preaching of Him as Son of God and Savior is in vain.
Paul goes further. If the resurrection of the dead is not true, then our faith is useless. Faith is in vain.
This is tough. The apostles preached a risen Savior, and those who believe in Jesus Christ believe in a risen Savior. That is essential to His accomplished work. But if He did not rise, then your faith is empty.
If He is not who we say He is, and not who He says He is, then we have believed a lie.
The faith of the saints is empty, useless, in vain.
And I think many of us as Singaporeans can relate to this, because we are practical people. We want to know: real or not? Legit or not? Can this carry the weight or not?
Paul is saying exactly that. If Christ is not risen, then Christianity cannot carry the weight of your life, your suffering, your sin, and your death. Your faith is empty.
Paul then says that if Christ has not been raised, the apostles are false witnesses about God.
This is important because, according to Acts 1:22, to be an apostle required that one be a witness of His resurrection. Why? Because they were going to be the first line of preachers of the resurrection. They needed to have seen the risen Christ.
That is why Paul, later added to the apostles, was given the privilege of seeing the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. They were all eyewitnesses.
So if Christ was not raised, then the apostles were not simply mistaken. They were false witnesses. Christianity would then be built on false testimony.
And Paul then becomes deeply personal. If the resurrection of the dead is not real, then you are still in your sins.
If Christ did not rise, then sin killed Him, death held Him, and He cannot provide salvation for you.
What does the gospel offer? The forgiveness of sin. And how does it offer forgiveness? Because our sins were paid in full by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that this offering satisfied the penalty of sin before God. This work was pleasing and vindicated by God in the resurrection.
But if He did not rise, then there is no divine validation, no divine approval. Jesus Christ would still be captive to death—and so would we. Our sins would still be upon us.
We need a Savior to free us from our sin. We need a Savior to satisfy the just wrath of God against sin. We need a Savior who can defeat sin.
If Christ did not rise, then sin is still winning. Sin has won.
If there is no resurrection, Paul says there is no forgiveness, no penalty paid. And if Jesus Christ did not accomplish our salvation, then no one else can. There is no other Savior.
Acts 4:12 says, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Verse 18 says, “Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
If the resurrection of the dead is not real, then those who believed in Jesus Christ are not merely dead—they have perished. They are condemned. That is the logical connection. Their faith is in vain. The gospel is not true. And because Jesus did not rise, death becomes the end.
But that is contrary to what Christians believe.
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul gives us this beautiful image of hope: “We know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
We are going to have a different tent—a building from God—not made by human hands.
But if you deny the resurrection, Paul says, Christ is not risen, gospel preaching is useless, faith is empty, apostles are liars, sins are unforgiven, and believers who have died are condemned forever.
And then Paul says in verse 19, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
If Christ is only good for this life—if maybe He made you a better person, a more ethical person, a more moral person—but that is all, then you are pitiable.
Why? Because Christians have not come to know Christ only on the basis of what He does in this life, but on the basis and promise of what He will do for them in eternity forevermore.
If our hope in Christ is only in this life, then we are most pitiable, most miserable. If the resurrection of the dead is not true, then we are literally living in an illusion all the way to death, only to awaken to a final destiny in hell.
This is Paul’s argument. A very strong argument.
If the resurrection of the dead is not real, then everything falls apart. Deny bodily resurrection, and this is where it leads: Christ is not risen, gospel preaching is useless, faith is empty, apostles are liars, sins remain, believers are condemned, and Christians are most miserable.
Thank God Paul did not end there.
As Darren read earlier, verse 20 says, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”
This is the second part of Paul’s answer. If the resurrection is not real, everything falls apart. But it is real. And because it is real, everything changes.
Paul could say this because he knew it. He believed it. The apostles affirmed it. It cannot be denied. It takes us back to the eyewitnesses mentioned earlier in the same chapter. The resurrection is a historical fact.
Now Paul wants the church in Corinth to understand how important that fact is for them.
Verse 20 says, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
What does that mean?
In the Old Testament, firstfruits were the first part of the harvest offered to God. They were the beginning of the harvest and a guarantee that more would come.
So when Paul says Christ is the firstfruits, he means that Jesus’ resurrection is not a one-off event, not an isolated event. It is the beginning of something bigger. His resurrection guarantees the future resurrection of those who belong to Him.
Jesus is not the only one who rises. Of course, others were raised before—like Lazarus—but Christ is the first to rise never to die again. And so He guarantees for us the same kind of resurrection: not like Lazarus, raised only to die again, but raised to life never to die again.
In John 11, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me… shall never die.”
So we have the foundation of our own resurrection in the resurrection of Christ. For those who belong to Jesus Christ, for those who believe in Him as Lord and Savior, this means the world is not the end. Death is not the end.
When we attend a funeral, when we bury a Christian, we are not saying goodbye forever. We are laying them to rest in hope, because the resurrection of Jesus guarantees the resurrection of His people.
This is a deep comfort, especially when we think of our loved ones who have gone home to the Lord.
Verses 21 and 22 say, “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.”
Death entered through one man, Adam. Because of him, everyone knows what it is to die. It is part of our human story. As much as we try, we cannot run away from death.
In the same way, life comes through one man, Jesus Christ.
As we share in Adam’s death, we are offered life through Jesus. Through sin came death—physical, spiritual, and eternal separation from God. However, praise be to God, Christ is the head of a new humanity. Through His death and resurrection comes life— forgiveness, transformation, and eternal hope.
The first Adam disobeyed God and brought sin and death into the world. But the last Adam obeyed the Father and brought righteousness and life.
Every human being belongs to Adam by natural birth, and that is why death comes to all. But those who belong to Christ by faith will be made alive.
If you are in Adam, death reigns. If you are in Christ, life reigns.
So this is the question for every one of us: are we still in Adam, or are we in Christ?
Because being in church is not the same as being in Christ. Knowing Christian language is not the same as belonging to Christ. What matters is whether we have truly trusted in Him.
Paul then explains how it unfolds.
Jesus rose from the dead. He is the beginning, the proof that death is not the end. Then, when the time comes—when Jesus Christ comes again—those who belong to Him will also be raised.
That is our hope. Because Christ is risen, we have eternal life, and death is defeated.
Verse 23 says, “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
There is a divine order. First, Christ has already risen. Then, when He returns, those who belong to Him will also be raised.
This means our resurrection is future, but it is certain. We are not waiting in uncertainty. We are waiting with assurance.
Sometimes in this life, especially through illness, aging, loss, and grief, our body reminds us that we are weak and mortal. But for the believer, this is not the final chapter. Christ will come again, and when He does, those who belong to Him will be raised.
That is our hope—not just spiritual comfort for today, but bodily resurrection for the future.
After that, everything moves toward its final moment. Jesus will bring all things under His rule.
Every hostile rule, every rebellious authority, every opposing power will be put down.
The world today looks chaotic. It is scary. Young people talk about fear, even if they do not always know how to express it fully. Evil seems loud. Human pride is often celebrated. We see nations rage. We see systems opposing God.
But be assured: none of these things will have the final say.
Every power that stands against God, every force of evil, every form of brokenness, will be brought down.
Paul says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Death is not a friend. Death is an enemy. It entered because of sin. It brings sorrow, separation, pain, and grief. All of us know this in a very personal way.
Every family has felt it. Every church has felt it. Every one of us, sooner or later, will stand in front of death.
I sit behind an older couple at church on Sunday mornings, and I got to know them about three years ago. Recently, the lady said to me, “I’m not afraid of death. I’m getting old. Next week is my 69th birthday. It’s not really that old, right? But you know what I’m afraid of? I’m afraid of being separated from those whom I love.”
And that is true. Death brings sorrow. Death brings separation, pain, and grief.
But Paul says that because Christ has risen, death is not ultimate. It is the last enemy, but even this enemy will be destroyed. Death has already been defeated at its root. And when Christ returns, that victory will be fully seen.
As Christians, this gives us hope. We often live trying to make this world comfortable, but Paul reminds us that our life is not merely about this life on earth. When Christ returns, that victory, that celebration, that triumph will be fully seen.
And I must confess, as I read this passage, I feel convicted that I do not fully understand or appreciate that glory, that wonder, of Christ’s return. So often we are distracted by the glory and wonder of what the world celebrates. But here we are reminded that if the resurrection were not true, everything would fall apart. But because Christ has risen, we know that this victory will be fully seen. Right now we see it only in part.
So for the Christian, death is still painful, but it is no longer final. It has lost its ultimate power.
That is why the resurrection gives us courage. It gives us hope at the hospital bed. It gives us comfort at the wake. It gives us hope at the graveside. And it provides us comfort in the ordinary struggles of life.
This is true hope. Because Christ lives, death will not win.
Conclusion: The Gospel Requires a Response
Brothers and sisters, friends, Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 15:12–26 is clear. If there is no resurrection, then Christianity collapses. There is no gospel, no forgiveness, no hope, no future.
Praise be to God, Paul does not leave us there, because God has not left us in confusion and loss. Paul continues in verse 20 and says, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,” and that changes everything.
His resurrection assures us that God is true and that God is with us. Our preaching is not empty because Christ is risen. Our faith is not empty because Christ is risen. Our sins are forgiven because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our loved ones who die in Christ are not lost. Death is not the end. And our future, for those who belong to Jesus Christ, is secure.
So the resurrection is not just a doctrine to agree with in our minds. That was me for a time. I could agree with it in my mind. It is true. But it is a truth that should shape our whole life.
It tells us that Jesus is really Lord.
It tells us that sin has been dealt with.
It tells us that death has really been defeated.
And it tells us that all who belong to Jesus Christ will one day be raised again.
In a world full of uncertainty, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is certain and gives certainty. In a world full of death, this is life. In a world full of false hopes, this is real hope.
Christ is risen. Christ is reigning. And Christ will come again.
Let me end where I began—in Acts 17.
This was new information for the people in Athens. Verse 32 says, “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’” Some sneered. Some delayed. But verse 34 says that some joined Paul and believed.
So I leave you with this question: how about you? What group are you in?
I pray and trust that you are among those who believe. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
The gospel requires a response. And in Acts 17 we see responses. My prayer is that you would respond in faith. It is simple: if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank You so much for the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that it is not just a gospel for unbelievers, but a gospel that ministers to all our hearts. Thank You for clarifying for us how powerful the resurrection is. If we do not truly believe in the resurrection of the dead, then everything falls apart. But thank You that You have raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and because of that everything changes. We thank You for this gospel, the good news that gives us hope not only in this life, but for life eternal.
We pray for anyone who may be searching, anyone whom You are prompting. Lord, may they respond to You. May they seek You and come to trust in You. We thank You for the Lord Jesus. We thank You for the good news. We thank You that we do not need attractive ways to make the gospel powerful, for Your gospel is truth, and the truth prevails. We give You thanks that from this simple reading of Your Word, we are able to see how powerful the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ is: that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose on the third day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Messages: 5
