The Sunday Morning Victory Of The Cross 15
1 Cor. 15:17-22

A. The first day of the week is the brightest spot on the horizon of life. It was the day the tomb was
opened, it was emptied and Jesus walked out. Sunday tells us of the greatest of all miracles.
Sunday answers the age old question, “If a man dies, will he live again?”
(2) The Sunday message is death-defying, giving man his only hope beyond the grave. Every first day of the week gives every Christian an expectancy that no sorrow can dim, No tragedy can destroy. Every Sunday is the weekly reminder in which God proclaims His mightiest act of power. It is this day about which the apostle Paul speaks when he says, in, 1 Cor. 15:20, 57, “But now Christ is risen from the dead....thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
a. Maybe you never gave much thought to the fact that Sunday, the First Day of the Week
is a special day for every Christian. Old Testament believers had several special days in
which they celebrated the blessings of God. Sabbath was one of them. It was the 7th
day of the week. That’s what Sabbath means, 7th day. It was given by God to the Jews.
(1) Christians don’t have a Sabbath. Acts 20:7, say, “On the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread...Paul preached to them until midnight.” What bread were they breaking. Talking about the Lord’s Supper.
(1) That’s the covenant meal Jesus established in Matt. 26:26-29. In the apostle led Church, Christians came to gather every 1st day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper. They celebrated Jesus and the New Covenant sealed with His blood shed on the cross. And they did it at Corinth where Paul corrected their wrongful participation in 1 Cor. 11:18, 20, 26, 33. 1 Cor. 16:2, “On the first day of the week let each of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, so there will be no collections when I come.”
(a) For them the Lord’s Day was the 1st day of every week. Whose Day?
The Lord’s day. Who won the victory over death? Jesus did by His
resurrection from the dead on the 1st day of the week. Sunday, the 1st day
of the week is our Memorial Day.
(1) Christians came together to Study together, encourage one another. To celebrate their salvation by renewing their vows and eating together with God of the covenant meal. It was a constant reminder of their common salvation. And they did it every 1st day of the week.
(2) Paul makes this statement about the importance of this weekly observance in Heb. 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, and do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
(2) All of that was foretold long before it happened. Zech. 13:1?3, 6-7, 9, “In
that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. It shall be in that day, says the LORD
of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no
longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to
depart from the land....And one will say to him, What are these wounds between
your arms? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house
of my friends Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My
Companion, Says the LORD of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be

scattered....they will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, This is
My people; And each one will say, The LORD is my God.”
(3) That prophecy says God will strike the shepherd (That’s Jesus) in order to save the sheep (That’s you and me). Matt. 2:6, speaks of Jesus this way, “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.”
(4) That Ruler, our Shepherd King is Jesus the Messiah. John the baptizer points toward Jesus and announces to all Israel in Jno. 1:29, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
(5) In Jno. 10:11?12, Jesus acknowledges, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” Just before His crucifixion, Jesus announces to the twelve apostles, in Mark 14:27?29, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."
(3) He is alive, He is risen, He is seated on His throne at the right hand of God the Father.
(1) He has called us into His Eternal Kingdom and we can be assured that kingdom has been established and it stands on the rock-solid fact of His Sunday morning resurrection.
(2) It is the Victory, The Sunday morning Victory of the resurrection that we celebrate every week. The day we celebrate His victory over sin and death. The resurrec- tion day when Jesus crushed the serpent’s head and set us free from the power of darkness.
(a) 1 Pet. 1:3?5.
(b) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 03/03/2002 am