Our Victory over Death in the Risen Christ

2. Our Victory over Death in the Risen Christ A Special EASTER Sunday Message 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 April 8, 2012 Pastor Paul K. Kim

3. AN EXAMPLE OF THE SECULAR WORLD’S ANSWER 9 STEPS: HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR OF DEATH [wikiHow] • Understand that it's a cycle. (People are born, people die, more people are born.) • Know that people won't forget you. • Talk to someone. (It is recommended that you see a therapist if the phobia is extreme.) • Live life the way you're supposed to. • Don't worry until you need to. • Be optimistic. • Realize that there's hope. • Death does not equal pain. • If you are worried about somebody else dying, its okay to worry, but just remember that they are human just like you, and can adapt to changes and overcome situations.

4. WHY IS “EASTER” SO IMPORTANT? • If Christ has not been raised, our faith is in vain (v.14). • The gospel and Jesus would be false. • Christianity would be the biggest scam in the human history. • If Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins (v.17). • Good Friday would be no longer “Good” because of it’s invalid. • There would be no true forgiveness and redemption for our sins. • If Christ has not been raised, there is no hope facing death (v.18). • There would be no hope for the believers who died. • Death would still have power over believers in Christ. • If Christ has not been raised, we are to be most pitied (v.19). • Why? We put our hope not in this world but in Christ’s promise. • Enduring suffering/persecution for Christ would be a complete loss.

5. HOW DOES EASTER AFFECT THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE RISEN CHRIST? 1) Believers in the Risen Christ will be changed in the twinkling of an eye when Jesus returns. 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep,  but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (vs.50-53) • Our current bodies cannot share in God’s eternal kingdom. • God’s open secret is that we—believers—shall also receive the resurrected body which is imperishable and immortal. • This change will happen supernaturally when Jesus returns!

6. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

7. HOW DOES EASTER AFFECT THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE RISEN CHRIST? 2) Believers in the Risen Christ will be given victory over death, having been set free from sin. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (vs. 54-57) • Our Risen Savior has given us the victory over death—that death lost its sting—sin—to condemn us by the Law. • By grace, God has broken the power of sin which hands us to death—through the death and resurrection of Jesus. • For believers in Christ, there is no more “death” in death!

8. HOW DOES EASTER AFFECT THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE RISEN CHRIST? 3) Therefore, as believers in the Risen Christ we are to be firmly rooted in our faith and always give ourselves fully to the work of Lord. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (v.58) • The truth of EASTER ought to make adouble impact on us. • The first impact is to stand firm in our faith in the Risen Christ (“steadfast”) without being swayed by the world’s wisdom and culture (“immovable”). • The second impact is to keep pursuing enthusiastically the work of the Lord (not work for the Lord.)

9. Give Yourself Fully to the Work of the Lord When you go back to your work, do not see it as simply a way by which you earn your living. It has been given to you as an opportunity for you to have a ministry in which you witness, you demonstrate a changed life, a heart at peace, the radiant joy of fellowship with a living Lord on your face, and love pouring out of your heart to those who, like you, have struggled and lost frequently in the rat race of life. That is what God sends us out to do as Christians. He has given us a work, not that we might make notable achievements which men applaud, and in which we make a name for ourselves. What God looks for is how are we behaving towards others? How do we show a loving spirit, a gracious, forgiving attitude, a willingness to return good for evil, an ability to speak a word of release to those who are prisoners of their own habits, to set free those who are oppressed by wrong, hateful attitudes, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to open the eyes of the blind? That is the work of the Lord. That is why God gives us contact with others. That is why God has given us our work. - Ray Stedman

10. THREE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE • In what ways do I now see the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? • Do I have the assurance of my own victory over death? If so, why? If not, will you believe in the Risen Savior and commit your life to Lord Jesus? • How will you apply “firm faith” and “enthusiastic work of the Lord” in your everyday life?