What If?
What if? Have you ever said those words? They can be two
of
the most discouraging words that I know. Yet at times they can
be most encouraging and hopeful.
Often this short question is asked when we make a mistake. In
essence it asks "What would have happened if I had done X
instead of Y?"
Today, I want to ask you, "What if Jesus hadn't come to earth?
What if He hadn't died for us? What if He had not been
resurrected?"
Today we live in a world that wants all of the facts. "When was
Jesus born? When was He crucified?", etc. But as Christians
we
do not need to know the "When" and "How" nearly as much as the
"Why?" --- the meaning that it has for us right now.
To give us a better understanding, I am going to ask the
question "What if?" today. What do the Bible writers have to
say about the "What if?" of resurrection and salvation.
Turn with me to
1 Cor 15:1 "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel
which I preached to you, which also you received and in which
you stand,"
2 "by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word
which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain."
3 "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also
received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures,"
4 "and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures,"
5 "and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve."
6 "After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at
once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some
have fallen asleep."
7 "After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles."
8 "Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out
of due time."
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11 "Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so
you believed."
The first thing that Paul proclaims in this passage is what he
calls the gospel. The gospel is the good news, as you well
know.
What if Jesus hadn't come to this world? There would be no good
news. I rather imagine that had it not been for the
intervention of God, that the people of this world would have
destroyed themselves totally already.
Then Paul speaks of the Gospel by which we are saved. The good
news that human beings lost in sin can be found, recreated, and
elevated to the status of sons and daughters of God.
What if the plan of salvation as we call it had not been made?
Then there would be no salvation possible for any of us. There
would be no choice but to live a relatively brief life and pass
off the scene with no hope.
Then Paul goes on to tell us that Christ died for our sins.
What if that had not happened? There would be only eternal
death for us to look foreword to.
As we read on we see the words according to Scripture. If these
things are not so, then the Bible is a lie, and we cannot put
our trust in it.
Yet Paul and many others believed these things and put their
hope and trust in them.
Let's continue by looking at Paul's "If --- then" scenario.
1 Cor 15:12 "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised
from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead?"
13 "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is
not risen."
14 "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and
your faith is also empty."
15 "Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we
have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not
raise up; if in fact the dead do not rise."
16 "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen."
17 "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins!"
18 "Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished."
19 "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men the most pitiable."
Notice the "If - thens"
If you are taught that Christ is resurrected, why do you not
believe in resurrection of dead.
If there is no resurrection, Christ is dead.
If Christ is dead, preaching is useless, and we are liars, and
you have nothing to trust in.
Then the argument is repeated:
If the dead do not rise, neither can Christ.
If Christ is not risen, you are still in sin, and everyone who
has died is forever finished.
If Christ is only hope for this life we are pitiful, and there
is no hope. Nothing.
For 2000 years the power of the gospel has been based on the
resurrection. If there is no resurrection, then our faith is
based on the second most enduring lie in this world.
BUT
Verse 20 tells us that Christ is risen from the dead. Can you
say "Amen?"
Maybe Hallelujah?
But why did he have to die?
Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death.
Back to 1 Cor 15:3 we are told that Christ died for our sins.
Now verse 21 tells us "For since by man came death, by Man also
came the resurrection of the dead." Death came because of the
lie of the great enemy. The longest living lie uttered in the
Garden of Eden, "You shall not surely die."
But Paul affirms that we do die. We know that we will die.
Only the death that is spoken of here is not just the death of
sleep, but the eternal death of annihilation.
If death is not real, if it is merely a change from one
existence to another, then the resurrection takes on a meaning
not much more important than family day.
But according to scripture, death is real, and for a person not
in Christ it is final. Complete.
The hopelessness of eternal death, eternal separation from the
Father, caused the cry from the lips of Jesus, "My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?" I don't know if we can begin at this
time to appreciate the true anguish of that experience that
Jesus went through for us.
So in verse 21 we se that because a man brought the reality of
death to the human race, a man had to bring about the
possibility of life for humanity. Much of the book of Romans
is
dedicated to this explanation.
But not just any man could do this. It had to be a man who
could make complete atonement, an infinite atonement, great
enough to include every human being that had ever been or ever
could be, a man who understood infinity, a man who was also God.
As we move on to v. 22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ all shall be made alive."
This text presents the great paradox. Humanity in Adam had
life, but was seeking to make it eternal on his own. In doing
that he found death.
Jesus, on the other hand, had eternal life, but took on our
eternal death and made it His own. In doing this He became
exalted above all.
This death is necessary for only as we truly die in Jesus
Christ, can we be resurrected in the new life of Jesus. Only
when we give up on our quest to find our own life, and rest in
the life of Christ, do we find real life.
1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless
conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead
and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
So, if the Jesus had not come down and died for us, and had the
cross and resurrection not taken place, then there would be no
possibility of salvation for us.
BUT
Col 2:13 "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with
Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,"
Col 3:1 "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of
God."
Eph 2:1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and
sins,"
Eph 2:5 "even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),"
We have eternal life now. We are in Christ who cannot die again.
How can this be?
I need a volunteer.
I want to ask you some questions.
--What day of the year is your birthday?
--Did you choose your parents?
--Did you ask to be born?
--Did you make a choice about being given life?
--Are you alive now?
--How long will you be alive?
Thank you
Now I want you to look at this spiritually.
--Did you die in Christ? When?
--Were you resurrected in Christ? When?
--Do you have eternal life in Christ? When?
--What work did you do to make that salvation possible?
--How much of your salvation comes from you?
Is it any wonder that someone said that it is hard not to be
saved. We are in Christ saved. Every person in the world
is
saved potentially. Christ's atonement was enough for all of us
and many more.
The Christian may experience death of the body, which Jesus
described as sleep, but not the death of an unpardoned sinner,
which the Bible calls the second death. We have passed from
death into life in the resurrection of Jesus.
That resurrection life is a new walk, a new relationship now
with the promise of deliverance from the very presence of evil
in the future.
1 Cor 15:24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to
God the
Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and
power.
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
Those who have died with Christ have also been resurrected to
eternal life. Do you believe that we can have that now?
I do.
They have eternal life in that they have already experienced
eternal death in Christ Jesus, and cannot any more be affected
by it.
This applies to the first death and the second death. In Revelation
20
it
speaks of death being destroyed in the lake of fire.
And how does He put the enemy of death under his feet?
Mal 4:1 ""For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And
the day which is coming shall burn them up," Says the LORD of
hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch."
2 "But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall
arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow
fat like stall-fed calves."
3 "You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under
the soles of your feet On the day that I do this," Says the LORD
of hosts."
When those who have not experienced eternal death in Jesus
Christ experience that death in their own bodies, they are
destroyed. Those who have already experienced that death in
Christ cannot be touched by it.
Is it any surprise then, that the resurrection was what
motivated, stirred, even drove the apostles in their mission?
After Paul's Damascus road experience he could say, "I
determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified....and resurrected. Preaching in Antioch on a Sabbath
day he told the people there
Acts 13:28 ""And though they found no cause for death in Him,
they asked Pilate that He should be put to death."
Acts 13:29 ""Now when they had fulfilled all that was written
concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in
a tomb."
Acts 13:30 ""But God raised Him from the dead."
I love that old song:
What can take away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole within?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
How precious is that flow,
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
I'm glad it didn't stop there. As surely as Jesus died, he was
resurrected.
As surely as He lived on this earth, He now lives in heaven.
As surely as He took our eternal death on the cross, He is the
pledge of our eternal life in heaven.
If we claim his shed blood, claim His shed blood as our own, we
have died in Him, and He will make us alive in Him. And we have
this life because He ever lives to make intercession for us, and
that blood covers us for eternity.
What if He had not come?
What if He had not died?
What if He had not been resurrected?
As Paul says, we would be of all men the most pitiful.
But I believe that He did come. And He came for me.
I believe that He did die, and He died for me.
I believe that He was resurrected, and He was resurrected for me.
And I believe that He is preparing an eternity of glory for me.
How about you brother and sister?
Do you believe?