So, Paul said, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then it follows that Jesus did not rise from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then your faith, your very Christianity, is vain and worthless. For, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then you are still in your sins.” Acts 5, verses 30 and 31 says, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31 Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”

Continuing in this argument, Paul said, “If Christ did not rise from the dead, then those who have died in Christ are perished—they have no forgiveness of sins. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then there is no forgiveness of sins for anyone. All are lost.”

Then, Paul added up all of these logical arguments, which he’d made to this point, coming to one unmistakable conclusion. He told the Corinthians, “If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then everything we believe, everything we teach, the worldly things which we deny ourselves, the persecutions which we suffer—all for the cause of Christ, and all based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead—all of these things are done in vain. If we are living our lives for the cause of Christ, with the hope of salvation from sins and a eternal reward in heaven, then we are to be pitied above all men. If there is no resurrection from the dead, then there is no salvation from sins, there is no eternal reward, and we are wasting our lives in the service of a cause which doesn’t exist. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we need to realize that everything which we believe, everything that we stand for as Christians and as members of the church, is a lie. And we should be more miserable and more to be pitied than anyone else, because our lives are based on lies.”

Paul’s suffering for the Gospel should have been proof enough to these Corinthian brethren that what he preached concerning Jesus wastheabsolute Truth. In fact, Paul summed up his whole logical argument in one short statement. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 32, we read: “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.”

Well, if the dead are not raised, then we should close down all the churches of Christ. There should not be any church which claims obedience to Christ, which should be left in existence. If the dead are not raised, then all we have is today, for after death there’s nothing—there’s no resurrection; there’s no reward, no punishment—nothing. But, Paul wrote in verse 20 [of 1 Corinthians 15] that Christ did rise from the dead.

And then, he concluded this most logical of arguments in verse 58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

The question is this: Do teachers, like Rubel Shelly and others, believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Well, they must, since they call themselves Christians. If so, then their response should be that they should be “stedfast” and “unmoveable.” Instead, people who teach things in this way [the way of Rubel Shelly and others] are not fixed to any portion of the doctrine of Christ. They are able to be moved around by any interesting idea or any kind of doctrinal temptation. They are not constant; but they are flexible, and they are pliable; they are exactly the kind of Christians to whom Paul was writing here in his letters to the Corinthians.

Don’t mistake this. The New Testament IS full of love letters, but not in the sense that false teachers, like Rubel Shelly and others, maintain. Paul wrote this portion of the letter to the Corinthians in the fullest sense of the Biblical concept of love. Paul loved these brethren to such an extent that he was not willing to let them be seduced into believing false doctrine, and he went to great pains in logically spelling out every single consequence of their believing these lies.

Does the New Testament contain only vague suggestions and love letters? Or, does the New Testament contain faultlessly beautiful arguments and instructions which are based on the inerrant Truth of God’s inspired holy Word? Well, I think we all know the answer to that question. When we study the Word of God, let’s pay attention to the logic and the reasoning BEHIND the doctrine of Christ, realizing that this doctrine is truly the guidebook for thefaith, which was once delivered unto the saints, Jude 3 [“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”]. Let’s always remember that what we believe, what we teach, and how we live our lives, is not vain. And if we believe that through Christ’s resurrection all Christians are going to receive the reward, then we must be “stedfast” and “unmoveable,” living our lives based on the Truth of the doctrine of Christ. There is no other way to receive that final reward.

If you believe, this evening, that the Bible, as the inerrant Word of God, that it really does contain instructions and commandments, which tell the world how to be faithful Christians in God’s sight, won’t you come this evening in obedience to the Gospel of Christ, believing that Jesus died; He was buried; and then resurrected from the dead, according to the plan of God? Won’t you come, repenting of your sins and confessing the Name of Jesus before all those who are assembled here this evening? Won’t you come in obedience to the commandment to be baptized for the remission of your sins, ready to rise and to walk in newness of life as a Christian, dedicated to serving God all the remaining days of your life?

Or, if you’re a Christian this evening who has, for some reason, strayed from the Truth, you can come back to your first love. You can be forgiven and welcomed back into the fold of God. This evening, we stand ready to assist you. Whatever your need might be, won’t you come right now, while we stand and sing?