John 20:1-10

What absolute beautiful music and songs and lyrics that we're able to sing this Lord's Day, especially

This Lord's Day is one that in this text is very significant as we come every single

Sunday to church We are celebrating the Lord's Resurrection and we do this until he comes again

But today we're looking at the actual text that talks about our Lord's Resurrection.

What a beautiful day it is No doubt we're gonna be in John chapter 20 verses 1 through 10 today

So I would encourage you as we open up in a word of prayer that you would start turning and making your way in that direction

So let us go ahead and begin with a word of prayer Lord God Be praised today in this worship be praised today in this song that we sing

Lord and be praised today in the preaching of Your word Lord and the hearing of your word God I just pray that you would make better disciples of all of us

Lord that we'd be sanctified by this text and that Lord we would be better and more willing vessels today

Lord that you might fit us together to be worthy of a worthy cause

God That we would take this great commission of preaching Christ crucified your death burial and resurrection

Lord that we would take it more seriously today And that we would be comforted in our afflictions and in our trials and in our tribulations

Lord from a text like this God Lord let us be reminded that as death approaches nearer and nearer for each one of us

God Whether it be far off or be a close reality God that we would just be comforted and knowing that we would be

Dead in you and that our life is not one that we live but it's you that live inside of us Lord and that we to look for the day where we can be resurrected and Glorified and worshiping you.

Oh so mightily Lord be be praised and be worshiped in this text of John chapter 20

Let your will be done and let your people say holy holy holy God we say these things in your holy name

Jesus Christ. Amen So we're gonna be reading John chapter 20 verses 1 through 10 and After which we'll say another prayer and then we'll start breaking into what this text has to offer for us today

So John chapter 20 verses 1 through 10 says in here

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb

While it was still dark and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb and So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom

Jesus loved and said to them They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him

Peter therefore went forth and the disciple and the other disciple and they were going to the tomb and the two were running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first and Stooping and looking in he saw the linen wrappings laying there, but he did not go in Simon Peter therefore also came following him and entered the tomb and he beheld the linen wrappings

Lying there in the face cloth, which had been on his head Not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in place by itself so the other disciple who had first come to the tomb entered then also and he saw and believed

For as yet, they did not understand the scriptures that he must rise again from the dead

So the disciples went away again to their homes. Let us pray

Lord God When we look at this text Lord and the way that has been recorded for us in John chapter 20

Lord It's clear that you have made it abundantly clear to your disciples and also to us that you have risen from the dead

And we take great confidence in this Lord In fact that as we have read in several places already today our faith is worthless if you had not raised from the dead

So Lord, let us place our confidence in the words that you have spoken throughout the entirety of your public ministry

Lord that at your resurrection you validated all things that you had said Lord That you had not lied in a single letter that you had spoken

Let us take great confidence in the power That comes about through your resurrection

Lord as you are the life giver and as we can see you have brought life near to us So God, let us lift up you and worship again today

Lord, and we just say these things in your holy name Jesus Christ. Amen And as it's been two weeks since we have been in the in the gospel of John I think it's it's important for us to remember the context of where we're at right now

Jesus is that great lamb that perfect lamb that we see John the Baptist announcing him as as He's lived a perfect life

And we have witnessed in the last weeks prior to this pulpit supply that we had these two prior weeks

That we witnessed Christ being hung upon a curse tree We see him being our better Adam and we see him being laid in a garden which no one else has been laid

And as Christ being our better Adam Adam is still in the grave today

Christ is not Christ is upon his throne at the right hand of the father today in this position of power and authority

As we read in first corinthians 15 for he must reign and so In this text right now, though, we look back and we see the resurrection the disciples.

They're in this this time frame of Christ most likely would have died on a friday He's been buried on a saturday thus fulfilling the sabbath law the fourth commandment that thou shall keep thy sabbath day

Holy so christ has you know in a way has fulfilled that kind of a text while being asleep in the grave

Having died and being rested in a tomb on a throughout a saturday. He's fulfilled that commandment in that way and so We see that on sunday this new creation this new life of christ being risen again we can take

Knowing that because we look back on those things, but we're reading the account of what the disciples thought

In the middle of that time while christ had been dead and part of me remembers looking back into John chapter 2 verse and we'll actually read that to begin with john chapter 2

Let me read this very quickly for us john chapter 2 and i'll i'll read some of the verses around it verses 18 through 22 it says

In here, it says the jews therefore answered and said to him. What sign do you show us?

Seeing that you do these things and jesus answered and said to them destroy this temple

And in three days, I will rise up that I will raise it up And the jews therefore said it took 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days?

But he was speaking of the temple of his body when therefore he was raised from the dead his disciples

Remembered that he had said and they what he had said and they believed the scriptures and the word which jesus had spoken

And so it's very clear that from a text like this and in matthew chapter 16 verse 21 He was not saying this in secret

He never just he never did not disclose to those that were following him that he was going to raise from the dead

He had been saying these kind of things over and over and over again, whether it be through parables Whether it be through symbols or whether it be just bluntly saying

I will rise again So the disciples have truly no excuse for not expecting christ to raise from the dead in this kind of a text

But we can see the doom and gloom and the heartbreak that are upon the disciples heart when we read this kind of a text and I would say rightfully so they

I have the privilege of seeing death quite often in my line of work And we talked about it a little bit this this week at bible study about how when somebody dies

They begin to decay they begin to have these kind of things happen to their body very quickly

And if you don't start trying to do resuscitation right after they take their final breath It's almost impossible to bring them back from the dead and if it's been an hour, there's no chance

And if it's been a day, there's absolutely no way that that person's coming back to life and in my way of thinking about it and so the disciples no doubt know that jesus christ has died and they've seen that and they they realize that and so the reality is sunk into them that they they

There's no way jesus can raise from the dead he's been dead now for for on the third third day he rose again

That there's no doubt that that's going through their mind And so they're in a place of heartbreak that here has been this man that arose lazarus from the dead

He's performed all these miracles and and signs that prove to us that he's the christ yet.

He's dead Our leader and our our king our our this messiah that we were looking to and following he's dead

There's no doubt that there would have been heartbreak and sadness And that's one reason that we would see mary going back to the tomb is that she's going back to the grave where her savior laid

And so we look here in verse 1 of of john chapter 20 And that does not excuse let me be clear on that that does not excuse the sinfulness

Of them forgetting what christ had already said they should have absolutely been expecting for jesus christ to rise again

Because they should have accepted christ's words when he first said it They should have done that but you can see their sinfulness and later on we'll talk about this a little bit more

But they did not believe that christ had resurrected even when they saw the empty tomb

And so we now look at verse 1 of john chapter 20. It says now on the first day of the week

What day is this that it's speaking of the first day of the week jewish calendars are a little bit different than what we look

At they would view their days often as evening and or night and evening So when it when it was evening time that's when it would start to go to the next day and then at the morning time at the completion of the morning that would

Be one whole 24 hour period whereas we usually look at it from sun up to sun down They would look at it more of a sun down to a sun up time frame

And so the first day of the week for them would have been a sunday Whereas we would consider the first day of the week a monday

They would have understood it to be a sunday as the sabbath day was a saturday for them

And so this is to begin with this is one reason that we So call a sunday the lord's day

Is because we look back and we see that christ rose again on a sunday And so therefore that is why we come and we worship god on a sunday rather than a saturday

So if you ever get asked, why do you not do church on the sabbath day? The answer is well, we are celebrating the lord's resurrection on a sunday.

We're not celebrating the rest. We're celebrating the life that christ had We're celebrating that and that's what we are told in the new testament to do these things until he comes again and so we would see in revelation chapter 1 verse 10 that john the

The same author of this book in the book of revelation He actually receives his vision on the lord's day is what it says

And in actually in acts chapter 20 and i'll read this one very quickly as I think it's pretty important acts chapter 20

Just speaking on what day is the lord's day? What day is the first day of the week? What does that mean? acts chapter 20 verse 7

And we'll we'll read some stuff around here real fast as this is this is important Then it's been recorded for us in this way and on the first day of the week

Once again, that is a sunday and on the first day of the week when we gather together to break bread

What is that speaking of? Something that we're doing today It's talking about communion

Coming together and doing that until he comes again Speaking about a church activity as we're doing today.

They were breaking bread together paul began talking to them intently intending

Talking to them intending to depart the next day and he prolonged his message until midnight if you think my 40 minute messages are a long message

Oh, man, go back to the days of paul and he would have prolonged his message until midnight And in fact, we would read here that A certain young man actually fell asleep on the windowsill as this happened and he falls out and he he dies and so We won't be doing that today

Unless I want to prolong the message until midnight. We'll see what happens So don't just don't be sitting on windowsills.

That's my encouragement But we can see that the the apostles and the disciples and the people that were following the way the church in the early first century

They were meeting together on a sunday on the lord's day

And that's why they call it a lord's day Church is what that is is coming together and celebrating that resurrection that empty tomb

What a glorious day it is that we're doing that today reading this kind of a text And so we see that it is on the first day of the week that mary magdalene came

Early to the tomb while it was still dark So this is this is right. This would be right at the the time that the sun is starting to rise

It's right there at that point that it's now getting light out But it's still there's this still this dark Darkness that is over the earth at this point in mary's time and we could look at the other gospel accounts

And we would see that john being the the writing this after mark obviously has written his gospel account

He's focusing more in on different aspects that the other gospel accounts don't And so you could look at all four different gospel accounts that record this and they all have different ways that they have lengthened

Parts of the story areas that they have shortened and they all they all fit together and there's no contradiction there.

That's very important There's no contradiction between all four gospel accounts But we just have to remember that the authors are building upon what others have already recorded and they're also highlighting that which they believe

Is the most important? Aspects of it. So we see in here that john doesn't record the other ladies that went with mary to the tomb

But there's other ladies that are there right now this time in verse one And so it would be my understanding something else

That's not recorded here in the gospel of john for us is that it says when they come that these angels appear

The stone is rolled back the guards Run away after seeing these two angels and that they actually talk with these angels and the angels tell them look he's risen

Go back and tell the disciples this and so we would see here later on as we talk About this that mary and the other ladies they go back and they tell the 11 apostles the 11 disciples

What has happened? And we would then see that peter and the disciple whom jesus loved john

He they are the only ones that go back to the tomb to see what mary has said And then you would see mary come back to the tomb with him there

She's crying there and that's where she would end up seeing the two angels again And seeing and talking with jesus, which we'll talk about a little bit today and next week as well

So just that's kind of the the outline of this story right here And so we see that mary magdalene.

Who's this mary magdalene? She's the one that has anointed jesus's feet in john chapter 12. I believe it is or john chapter 13 one of those two chapters

But she has been physically one of the only disciples of jesus that was actually at the cross when he died

Many of the other ones have departed and left because they did not want to be persecuted in the same way that jesus has died

But we see mary being one of the only ones amongst some other women and a couple other disciples that were actually physically there

At jesus's death And so it means something that here's this this woman that is showing a great faith

Has not stopped showing a great faith and adoration towards her savior. She's now going to the tomb with these other ladies

What a bunch of weak men I see in this kind of a text Those 11 apostles that followed jesus throughout his public ministry.

What a bunch of weak men They should have been no doubt at the same tomb at the same time that mary and these other disciples were there

But no, they're at their homes They were quarantining themselves from the truth.

They didn't want to go to Christ, what a bunch of weak men in this kind of a text So it says that when mary came early to the tomb

While it was still dark And saw the tomb Or the stone that had been placed over the tomb of christ in this garden that no one else had been laid

This tomb has been ruled away It is no longer there

This tomb would have had a heavy Rock that would have been acting as a door So nobody would want to go in and let's be clear on this when somebody dies their body begins to stink

It begins to decay. It's something that you don't want to be around And so therefore they place this stone on it and on the face of it

Nobody would want to go into that And so we see right there this is a validation of the resurrection

That nobody would want to go into a room full of decaying flesh

We see the tomb has been ruled away. The stone has been ruled away from the tomb That's important.

This is a validating factor of the resurrection Now you might be able to say well, couldn't somebody go in there to steal all the aloes and myrrhs and those things that they covered jesus's body and Well that that that absolutely could be true

But we will now further see in the text how that is absolutely false Okay, so that the stone has been ruled away.

This is a validation of his resurrection And it then goes on to say

In verse two and so she ran and came to simon peter and the other disciple whom jesus loved

Now like I said, it does not record here in the gospel, but in the gospels of matthew mark and luke

They all record angels being there that mary and the other ladies that are there talk with And so we see that mary most likely did not enter into the tomb

She probably just went there saw it saw the stone had been ruled away and there's an angel that's sitting upon it

And Here the angel says look why are you here? He's risen and has gone into galilee.

I believe is what it says in the other gospel accounts. He's he's risen He's no longer here. And so therefore she doesn't stay at the tomb.

She then runs back to tell the apostles What has taken place these weak men that are not at the tomb already?

And so she runs back is what it records here And so she ran and came to simon peter and the other disciple whom jesus loved

Now as we've already mentioned Simon peter is is the one that has denied christ three times and he's kind of done these things where he's

Shown great faith and then then been very very quick to run away from jesus

He he's shown it by saying thou art the christ the son of the living god in matthew chapter 16. He's made these great

Showings of faith, but then when time comes he's quick to depart as we see with those those

As we see with him denying christ three times So she comes to simon peter and it records that the jesus the disciple whom jesus loved

This is speaking about john the author of this book as he does not want to refer to him as anything But that which he holds most dear and that's that christ

Loved him and so he records himself in this way. So john and peter hear of this and it says

That and she said to them So this is mary speaking they have taken away the lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him mary

Even in this text does not know that christ is resurrected even after being told by an angel that he is no longer here

She's flabbergasted at the thought of this She she's worried about where the body of christ is that these robbers or somebody has come and taken the body of christ

We need to go find it. We need to go find the body She still doesn't understand what has taken place here

And so it says in verse three and these these verses really work together here in this text

It says that peter therefore went forth and the other disciple whom and they were going to the tomb

And so you would see that only those two apostles those two Disciples of the eleven are the only ones that go to validate the tomb being empty

The other gospel accounts record that the ladies went and told all eleven only two go

Only two go back to the tomb And it says in verse four and the two were running together and the other disciple ran ahead

Faster than peter and came to the tomb first. What a wonderful way to record that you have better cardio than another person

Here you here you see john running faster and he's recorded in such a way He's still gone about it in a humble way

He could have said I john was very much faster than peter and made it to the tomb first No, but he does record in a certain in a certain way for us that just be clear that he was faster than peter

But still in a humble way This is that's interesting stuff

So and the two were running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than peter and came to the tomb

First So we see that john is now at the tomb by himself while peter's

Running down the hill or wherever it is. He's running to the tomb peter or john is there first And it says that john

Stooped in and looking in he saw the linen wrappings Lying there and he did not go in now

Why is it that john and it's recorded for us in this way that john first gets there to the scene

He looks and peeks into the grave, but doesn't go in fully He just peeks in and he noticed some things about it and then he withdraws then peter finished his slow job his fast job for him

He gets there He had a nine minute mile. John had an eight minute mile apparently peter gets there

And then he just bursts force into the tomb Now once again What is this tomb used for?

It's used to hold a dead body. So could you imagine having? Whatever example you want to use a

Without having the embalmment process that we have today a body that is decomposed for three days

In a in a tomb that is that would be that'd be gross to go into in a normal situation

But you see peter just burst forth through the door and go right in here in this kind of a text here And so you see that john is weary of that and so that's why he doesn't probably go right in right away immediately

But he gets there and just peeks his head in right? And he sees that there's linen wrappings that have been folded there

We're going to make a little bit more mention of this as peter then goes on to talk about it with himself It says simon peter therefore also came

Finishing his little jaunt following him and entered the tomb So he enters the tomb he followed john and he enters the tomb there and he then beheld the linen wrappings

Lying there and it says that also he records that he saw the face cloth Which had been on his head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in place by itself

I want you to think right now How would those linen wrappings look at this point?

Christ had now been pierced he's been scourged She's had a crown of thorns upon his head If you were to put any sort of linen wrappings around somebody that has been beaten and bruised to the point of what christ was

Those wrappings would have been drenched In blood if you have ever had the opportunity to touch a dead body that has been dead for many days

You want as many layers of protection as possible And in the fire department we have these things called tyvek suits

Because it is gross So if somebody had wanted to come in and steal the body of jesus is what the apostles and mary have been thinking

It doesn't make any sense to remove the linen wrappings Makes no sense whatsoever

To remove the linen wrappings would do be doing the exact and complete Opposite of what any normal rational human being would be doing if they were wanting to steal a body

You would want as many layers that's what i'm trying to say layers between you and the corpse

Because it's gross Skin starts to fall off you And I want to paint this very clearly because in somebody

Tries to say that christ really didn't raise from the dead and as an atheist would say and and if there was an empty tomb

His body obviously had to be stolen and this was a fabricated story John has recorded the events of the linen wrappings being folded in a certain way for our benefit

Three days of death is Very gross take my word for it. You would not remove layers

You would add layers to the body absolutely ridiculous for anybody to think that somebody a thief that just wants money or wants to Do x y and z to the body of jesus

It's silly to think that they would go in and prepare his body to be moved That would have been no doubt a naked body to be moved in that way and removing linen that that doesn't make any sense whatsoever in this text none whatsoever

And so simon peter goes in and he notices that this linen just as john has noticed that the linen has been folded and has been set in a in a very proper and good looking way if Another good example of this would be showing that if somebody let's say they wanted to go in and they wanted to steal the body

Of jesus and they've done the silliness thing of removing a layer, which doesn't make sense They absolutely want to take that blood -ridden lining this this this

Linen, and they wouldn't be messing around with it and folding it and making it look all proper That's something else you want to do if they were wanting to remove linen for whatever reason that they would argue

Maybe it was to to carry the body. Let's say they tried to say that They would toss the linens on the ground and not touch them again

But it's been recorded for us that they were folded and ruled in a in this manner That's important That's very important.

That's significant that that's been recorded for us in that way and I take great confidence Even more just as the stone has been rolled away from the tomb

I take great confidence in the linen wrappings being folded next to where christ laid

These are all validating factors of the resurrection of christ. And so We see in here that the face cloth had been that was on his head

Has now been ruled up and in place by itself. And so the other disciples So now this is speaking of john here who had first come to the tomb

So he he's come to the tomb He looked in peter comes by pushes his way in and that way he goes right in sees these things

John now seeing that peter has not dropped the floor of this this smell he then is able to go in with peter

He now goes in with peter and he validates the very same thing that peter is seeing If you just have one individual see something

That witness falls apart because How can you validate what truth is if there's only one person that's doing it?

You could have somebody that's wanting to lie about it. You could have somebody that maybe misunderstood the facts You have all these issues when you have the witness of two or three or more

It only validates more what they have seen and so you have this recorded for us that there were two

That saw this two that reported it two that claim this to be fact It's no longer speculation that somebody could say well they wanted to lie or this person was lying about this.

No, this is absolutely true This is absolutely true what we see in here And we could even look on even more that the the two characters here peter and and john.

How how did peter die? Did he ever recant any of the things that he's recorded for us?

No, he never did. He knew that his savior rose again And revealed himself to him and that he saw the very wounds that pierced him to a cursed tree and And he was not going to go back on the faith that he had on his savior anymore

And so therefore he died being hung upon a upside down cross Never recanting what he saw.

John would be persecuted and would end up dying of old age as he's the only Apostle that didn't die in a gruesome way, but he was persecuted

Non -stop and he never recanted this story that we see here You have a liar that comes up with a story

And you hold the sword to their neck as these apostles had death before them constantly

They will always recant their story on the fact that they don't want to die Liars do not go to death bed

With their lie on their tongue They don't for their lie on their tongue

Verse 8 so the other disciple who came first into the tomb he had entered and then also he saw And believed it says that they saw and believed what what is this speaking of in here as we can see in verse 12

It says and she beheld the angels While while sitting on one of the head and one of the feet where the body of jesus had been lying

This is speaking of mary and in verse 13 It says and they said to her woman. Why are you weeping? She said to them because you have taken away my lord and I do not know where they have laid him

And when she had said this jesus turned around and beheld She turned around and beheld jesus standing there and did not know it was jesus

And then it goes on to say in verse 15 Jesus said to her woman. Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking supposing him to be a gardener?

She said to him sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away the apostles and mary

Still don't know Where the body of jesus is they still think jesus to be dead?

And so when it says that they believe it's not speaking that they believe in the resurrection It's now peter and john have believed the account of what mary and the other women have reported to them when they ran up to their house

When mary and the other women that were there with her Run up to the house and say look the body of jesus is missing the disciples

Know that body can't be missing. We saw him there. We saw the stone world in front of there There's no way he's missing and so now they believe in the report that the women have given

They were they believe that the body of christ is no longer in the tomb As we read further on it's clear that they did not believe that he

Had risen again, especially here in this next verse. It says in verse 9 For as yet they did not understand the scriptures

So it says that they believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture

That he must rise from the dead. They believed that the tomb was emptied

But they did not really believe that he had come back to life yet We'll then see later on as we go through this in the next coming weeks

That that disbelief of being rose again quickly turns into belief when they actually beheld the risen christ

And it says i'll read verse 9 again for as yet they did not understand the scriptures That he must rise again from the dead.

So the disciples went away again to their own homes As we just read here mary stays at the tomb

Why would the disciples just leave and go back to their own home? Mary at least in disbelief that christ has risen from the dead

She at least stays at the tomb and is doing some investigating as she talks to the angels and and to even jesus himself

She she's in she wants to know where her savior's at and the apostles these two

Just leave the tomb. They just go back to their house once again, I when

I read this kind of text I I see Weak men, I really do I see men that didn't really want to know where christ was at at this time for whatever reason

Maybe it was from the thought of being persecuted or whatever. It might have been They were quick to forsake the one that had bottom on the cross just days prior

Just days prior they're quick to forsake them And I don't want you to get in your mind That I would have never done something like this if you're saying that to yourself

I would have stayed at the tomb. I would have believed that christ had risen from the dead. No You wouldn't have you would have been in just as much disbelief as as mary and peter and john

You would have been in just as much disbelief In fact, the only reason that you believe today

According to jesus in john chapter 6 is because it has been willed for you to believe in these things

For you have been drawn to him The fact that your faith is a faith in jesus christ is because it is from god that he has revealed these things to you so that no man can boast so We see in here that jesus has risen from the tomb and you see the disciples not knowing that he has risen

They just think that the tomb is empty. I want to now go to first corinthians 15 that are called the worship

And I want to read this for us here Again, as it is very significant.

We'll probably be reading this For the next couple coming sundays as we talk about the resurrection of jesus christ

And we're going to be reading first corinthians 15 1 through 4 to begin with And after which we'll go back to our call to worship.

John, uh verses 17 through 28 and I want to make special note here in first corinthians 15 1 through 4 because What we're discussing right now with the empty tomb is an essential

Of christianity and an essential of the gospel. You cannot be a christian and say

I don't believe in the resurrection of jesus. That is You can't have that that's contradictory to itself.

It's a contradicting statement and it's not true First corinthians chapter 15 1 through 4 it says in here

Now this is paul speaking now. I paul make known to you the church of corinth brethren the gospel

Which I preach to you which also you received in which also you stand And so I want to be clear in this that paul has preached this gospel very clearly in multiple churches

And he's saying that to the church of corinth you believed in this gospel and you stand in this gospel

This is where you were planted This is where you are Is in this gospel that I have preached to you and it says in verse 2 by which also you are saved

So they're saved upon this gospel message If you hold fast the word which

I preach to you unless you believe in vain So he says in here you are not a true convert if you have just said you believe in this and you actually aren't really

Standing upon the gospel your faith is a vain faith It's a dead faith is what he says in here

That your belief is in vain for I deliver to you as a first importance.

This is the elementary Teaching of christ. This is the thing that is the most milk that you can ever drink

You can never have meat if you do not stand upon this first importance It says what

I also received so paul has received this and he saved it says that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures

And that he was buried And that he was raised on the third day according to scriptures

The death burial and the resurrection of jesus christ is the essentials and that is the shortest summation of the gospel in here

This is what has saved paul. This is what has saved you and I if you profess faith in this same christ according to scriptures

The death burial and resurrection of jesus christ if you deny the resurrection Your faith is worthless now, let's go and read that verse here in verse 17 through 28

This comes right after the gospel has been explained to us in verses 1 through 4. So it is no

Just a matter of fact that this comes after this this is paul making an argument here in verse 17

And it says and if christ had not been raised your faith is worthless

You are still in your sins every man dies

There's only the one that gives life that is rose again And it is through the faith in that that we know and take assurance in our own resurrection as we're going to read here in Just a moment

It says then all those also who have fallen asleep in christ have perished If we have hoped in christ in this life only

We are of men of most to be pitied So these if you do not believe in the in the resurrection of jesus christ you are to be pitied

You'd be pitied It says but now christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who are asleep for since by a man

Came death by a man also came the resurrection of the dead For as in adam all die so also in christ shall all be made alive

But each in his own order christ the first fruits after that those who are those who are christ's

At his coming then comes the end when he delivers up the kingdom to the god and father

When he has abolished all rule and all authority and power for he must reign until he has put

Until he has put all enemies under his feet The last enemy that will be abolished is death

For he has put all things in subjection under his feet but when he says

All things are put in subjection. It is evident that he is expected Who put all things in subject to him?

And when all things are subjected to him when the son himself also will be subjected to the one Who subjected all things to him that god may be all?

in all If christ had not rose again our faith is worthless

Our faith is worthless if he did not rise again But it is because christ has been raised from the dead

I want you to listen to this that in that empty tomb In that empty tomb christ did not lay anymore

You want to know what laid there in that empty tomb Death Itself that could not hold our savior bound

He laid death in that tomb when he rose again It is through the resurrection of jesus christ that we have a validation of our faith in that gospel message when he died upon a cross

And has paid the penalty of sin that was due to us that he took for us When he rose again, he defeated death

And is currently and already has put all things under subjection to his feet but through this time

He is currently still doing this He's putting all things in subjection under his feet and when all things have been put under subjection to his feet

He will come again And that is our great hope that christ this risen god this risen god man

Will come again With a shot of a trumpet and we say amen and come quickly lord

We want to be just like the apostles witnessing this risen lord being in glorified bodies

Worshipping him in the future so let us Let us pray and then we're going to be doing communion

So if as I am praying over this text and the final word here I would encourage you to also to be praying in your mind over Worthiness right now

That if you're in christ, you are absolutely not worthy to be in christ But christ has made you worthy to participate in such of an action as taking communion.

So let us pray Lord god, we thank you for the victory that you have given us

In our lord jesus christ The one that could not be bound

By the grip and grasp of death lord God you

Are putting all things in subjection under your feet lord And I would just pray that we would be put in subjection to your will that we would live a more holy life today lord

That we'd glorify you god And I would just pray that as we take these different elements here lord that we would proclaim that death burial and resurrection god

Through this entire world that does not know you That is quick to forsake you and blaspheme you lord

God be glorified Today as you are deserving of all glory and all glory to be to you alone