The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the praise of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.
This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Living in this world beloved, far from the Father, just a glimpse of home we know, how long to be there. Heaven is that happy home where we'll never more know.
There we'll sing forevermore praises to our Savior. All to be with him at last, home with the Father, free from sins come through of last, how I long to be there. There no tears, no cares, no last, there no pain nor death. All is rest, sweet blessed rest, in the arms of Jesus. Welcome, death, mild, glad, legal, home to the Father.
Youth, no sting, no victory, no, how I long to be there. If that blessed world above all is peace and love, all will be the soul's delight when we cross the river. On that long-awaited morn we'll see the Father, and my hymn will be adored, how I long to be there. Untold beauty, splendor rare, righteousness we'll wear. In that land of endless sleep, let us be forever. I'm glad you've joined us for another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour today.
We'd appreciate it so much if you'll take time to write us and let us know that you've listened, and if you can help us with the support of this program, that will be greatly appreciated. Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. My subject is the glorious truth of resurrection. I read from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 4. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. The Old Testament scriptures foretold the fact that the Messiah would come and that he would die. And so the apostle writing to the church at Corinth says that he died, was buried, arose from the dead, according to the scriptures, fulfilling those Old Testament prophecies. Now as Paul writes to the church at Corinth and devotes this lengthy portion of the epistle to the subject of resurrection, he contemplates what would be the case if Jesus had not risen from the dead.
Where would we be? What would we lose without the resurrection? First of all, we would have no gospel. In these first verses of chapter 15, the apostle gives us specifically what the gospel message is. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
This is the gospel. If there was no resurrection, if death had swallowed up our Savior, if he had not come out of the grave, we would have no message. The basics of the gospel would be destroyed. Now we could say that there was a man named Jesus who once lived on this earth and taught many good things. There are lessons to be learned from the things that he set forth, practical instruction that can be a benefit in our lives on a daily basis. We could say that he did many wonderful things by healing the sick, casting out devils, even raising the dead. But since Jesus went to the cross, died, was buried, and did not rise, we then have really no gospel message.
We are without hope. There was a lot of speculation, a lot of accusations that were made following the resurrection of Jesus. Pilate had told the guards to do everything they could to secure his grave. They wanted to be sure that the disciples did not remove the body and then claim there had been a resurrection. Some since have surmised that what they call the swoon theory is really what occurred, that Jesus fainted because of the suffering at the cross, and that it was just a temporary thing, he didn't really die, he recovered, and so there was obviously no resurrection. But how impoverished we would be if Jesus had not risen.
We would be without hope. Verse 14 of this chapter says, And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 of the 21st verse said, It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. Preaching was designed by God. It wasn't just that a group of men got together and said, How can we best set forth our ideas? How can we best instruct those who come to hear us? Can we have it by a group discussion?
Can we have it just by some method of putting out material that will benefit them? The Lord himself determined that preaching would be used and empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish something that will not be accomplished any other way. Family devotions are good. The private reading of the scripture is essential. Reading together in small groups may well have its benefits, but there is nothing that will replace preaching.
It's something that God says he will use, using what is determined by many to be foolishness. That a man will stand for almost an hour speaking to people about issues pertaining to their own sin. Somebody would say, Why do I want to hear that?
That's depressing. I don't want to hear anything about my sin, but this is necessary. If the gospel is going to be preached, you must understand you are a sinner and you have a great need. And then to go on into the details of the prophetic references of the Old Testament, the types and shadows that all said the Messiah is coming. Going into the details of what happened in the life of Jesus, what occurred when he was betrayed, what happened when he went to the cross. All of these things useful to the glory of God and the edification of those that hear whose hearts are touched and made tender by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instruction concerning how those who have embraced Christ believed upon him and are following him, how they ought to live. First part of the book of Romans is doctrine. The next part of it is practical instruction telling us that we must have our minds renewed, that we may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. First part of the book of Ephesians is doctrine. The last part of it is instruction telling husbands and wives how they are to interact with each other. Parents how they are to train their children, telling us that we are to overcome those fleshly lusts that would lead us down the wrong path.
That seems to be absurd to some. A lady visited us here recently who is a Buddhist. She said when they go to the Buddhist temple that there is never any quietness on the part of the congregation.
The monk may speak for 10 minutes but nobody stops to hear him. She was amazed that people sat quietly and attentively in this service and listened to a sermon for such a length of time. I'm thankful that you come here with a desire to worship God. You do that as you praise him in song.
You do that when public prayer is offered but you pray in your heart. You do that as you listen attentively to the preaching believing that the man speaks not his own opinion but brings you a message from God's Word that you are to receive, respect, apply and obey. Preaching is designed by God. Paul says if Christ is not risen then our preaching is vain. We might deliver a lecture but it's without a foundation as far as the truth of the gospel is concerned if Christ did not come out of the grave. Furthermore he says your faith is vain. Your faith would be empty to no purpose. A dead Christ cannot give life. If we were here to tell you that this man Jesus lived long ago, set a great example, taught many wonderful lessons but he died, what hope could that give you today? What difference could that make in your life to think that you were going to have to struggle through life all on your own? The notion that there is Christ in you, the hope of glory to guide you, to sustain you, to comfort you would all be empty. Somebody's vain speculation.
Would it not be a dreadful thought to think that I've got to get through the rest of life not knowing how many days I have, what difficulties I may encounter, what sicknesses I may endure and I'm going to have to do that all alone. That's where you would be if Christ had not risen and therefore your faith is vain. Verse 15, yea and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if it be that the dead rise not. Now this whole passage in 1 Corinthians 15 is not written to try to prove the resurrection of Jesus but to prove to the Corinthians the resurrection of the body of those who are believers. He's saying if the dead rise not then Christ did not rise. The two are connected because of his resurrection, the resurrection of the saints will occur.
Now there will be a resurrection of the wicked as well of course but we're talking about that special blessing for those who belong to Christ therefore being raised because of his resurrection. But Paul said if Christ did not come out of the grave then we are false witnesses. All who claim to see him, those who converse with him on the road to Emmaus, those apostles who saw him when he put in an appearance, even Didymus who had been so full of doubt but finally saw Jesus and said my Lord and my God and was satisfied.
That Jesus had come out of the grave. All of these would be false witnesses. The apostles not only who saw him but then wrote repeatedly about their confidence that Jesus Christ came out of the grave.
He is alive. All that they said, all that they wrote would be meaningless. They would be false witnesses. Think about how many have preached this gospel since the days of the apostles. There have been those who have preached it under the most difficult of circumstances. During the dark ages Christians were persecuted. Many were burned at the stake.
You think that anybody could die as a martyr if they didn't have absolute confidence that Jesus Christ arose from the dead? There were those who preached it faithfully in those dark times that Jesus Christ is alive. When I first started preaching many years ago I was given a book of Spurgeon's sermons and I have dearly loved that man ever since. I've read many, many, many of his sermons. Often they were taken down by a stenographer who did a remarkable job.
There were no recordings available in those days. But often as he stood before some 5,000 people and spoke so powerfully about the glory and greatness of Jesus Christ. Spoke of his resurrection that Jesus Christ lives just reading it.
Many times my heart has leaped for joy. I could just get the sense of the power that was felt in that meeting. And many since that time. Many wonderful gifts in the ministry today as men proclaimed that Jesus Christ arose from the dead. But Paul said all of these witnesses are false. Some would have done it purposely to deceive.
They would be outright liars. Those who have embraced it through the years would be false witnesses. I've been preaching here in this church for over 57 years. We obviously put emphasis upon the truth that Christ arose from the dead. We preach it over and over again from the pulpit and then we take people into this pool of water behind me. When they have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and they're saying I believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried and arose from the dead and that's confidence in him that gives me my hope and my salvation. They go down into the water. They are immersed, symbolizing that he was buried and they're brought out to walk in newness of life.
The ordinance of baptism is a continuous reminder of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then verse 17, And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. What a horrible thought. If Christ is not raised, you are still under condemnation.
You are dead in trespasses and in sin. Sin and Satan would have conquered Jesus. His enemies obviously wanted to remove him from the scene. They despised him. They accused him of being a blasphemer.
They spit in his face. They nailed him to the cross, pressed the crown of thorns down upon his head, put a spear in his side. They delighted to feel they had conquered him. But what good news to know that when they had done all they could do and he gave up the ghost, he was put into the tomb, but he only stayed there for three days and three nights. Without his resurrection, we would have to say his enemies were a success.
Satan conquered him. We would be guilty sinners with no hope of our sin being remitted or covered. Guilt is a terrible thing. I sometimes heard people say, well, preachers make a terrible mistake because they give people a guilty conscience. I said, no, it's not that the people have a guilty conscience.
They're guilty. The fact is, we are all sinners. We have all violated the law of God. It's a painful burden to know I'm guilty. I have sinned. I have done the wrong thing. But what hope it is when we read if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Isn't that wonderful? No, though I'm a sinner, though I've done wrong, though I'm polluted, my sin can be put away, washed in the blood of the lamb. But if Jesus had not come out of the grave, there would be no forgiveness of sin. And then verse 18. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
That would include the Old Testament saints. I've always loved that deathbed scene of the old patriarch Jacob. He gathered his family around, he blessed his sons, he gathered his feet up into the bed and went home, it's said, to be with his fathers.
Well, all of that would be mere speculation. There would have been no way for Jacob to go home to his fathers had it not been based on the fact that there would be the reality of a resurrection one day when Jesus would come out of the grave. Job said, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. That man suffered horrendously. He was a wealthy man, the robbers and thieves took it all.
The storm blew down the house and killed 10 children at once. Boils afflicted his body and he was in great pain. His wife said, curse God and die, give it up. But Job by faith said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. And even after the skin worms have destroyed this old body, yet in the flesh I'll see God. If Jesus didn't come out of the grave, Job was mistaken.
And all of the bright hope that he seemed to have would be dashed in terrible disappointment. Paul the apostle wrote, to die is gain. If Jesus didn't come out of the grave, to die is not gain, it's loss.
It's loss. Think of those martyrs who were willing to be burned in the fire rather than to deny Jesus Christ, believing that there would someday be a resurrection, that their burned bodies would be put back together and given a glorious body and come out of the grave. If Jesus did not arise from the dead, those martyrs have perished. I think of the many funerals that I've preached over the years.
I was thinking about it the other day. The first funeral I ever preached about 65 years ago was a teenager who was killed in a car wreck. Those broken-hearted parents were having a terribly difficult time.
I think about the funeral of babies, children, teenagers, middle-aged people, people killed in car wrecks, a man who had died in a mine accident down in east Kentucky, soldiers killed in war, their bodies shipped back, older people who had come down to the end of the way but had bright hope that there's something better on the other side. How many times I've stood at the graveside and tried to give comfort to say this is not the end. You've gone as far as you can go now.
In many cases you cared for your loved one during times of sickness. You've done all you can do. You've shown your respect.
You brought the flowers as a token of your love. You can't go any farther. But I'm going to tell you about one who does go farther than you can go. I'm telling you about Jesus Christ who will come back and raise the body of his people from the dead and to be perfectly conformed to his image. But if Christ is not raised, all of that's vain.
All of those that died with thought that there is hope for something better to come, it's all vain. And then verse 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. I've heard people say, well you know, even if there wasn't an eternity, the Christian life is superior and it would be better to live it.
That's not what Paul said. Paul said, if Christ is not risen, if there is no glory for us after this life is over, then we are of all men most miserable. We are to be pitied. Because here we are going through the motions of something that is empty and meaningless. Here we are making sacrifices, giving of our time, our money, trying to demonstrate our confidence, our love for, our appreciation of Jesus Christ.
But if he didn't rise from the dead, we're miserable. When I can read my title clear to mansions in the sky. How good to know that because Jesus did rise from the dead, that we can read our title clear to that which is reserved for us in heaven. We rejoice to know that our Savior is alive. I hope that you will write and let us know that you've listened to the program. Till next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all.
Should earth against my soul engage, and fiery thoughts be heard, Then I can smile, then I can smile, then I can smile at Satan's rage, and face the crowning world. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. There I shall make my weary soul in seats of heavenly rest, and not awake, and not awake, and not awake of trouble brought across my peaceful rest.
