April 5, 2015
The foundation for all Christian faith and teaching and the source of all meaning in life is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In this message, Alistair Begg grounds these truths in a key passage in 1 Corinthians 15, explaining how the good news of the Gospel must include both a dying Savior and a risen, living Lord. Our understanding of Jesus’ resurrection forms the basis from which we each answer two important questions: Do I believe in Jesus, and do I belong to Him?
1Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel gI preached to you, which you received, hin which you stand, 2and by which iyou are being saved, if you jhold fast to the word I preached to you—kunless you believed in vain.
3For lI delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died mfor our sins nin accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised oon the third day pin accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that qhe appeared to Cephas, then rto the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to sJames, then tto all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, uhe appeared also to me. 9For vI am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because wI persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, xI worked harder than any of them, ythough it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, zhow can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, athen not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that bhe raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.