Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time,[a] he also appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. —1 Corinthians 15:1-20

1. What does Easter say to us?
   a. Jesus buried our sin.
   b. Jesus defeated our sin.

   But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
   crushed because of our iniquities;
   punishment for our peace was on him,
   and we are healed by his wounds.

   We all went astray like sheep;
   we all have turned to our own way;
   and the Lord has punished him
   for[a] the iniquity of us all. —Isaiah 53:5-6
   For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. —Romans 5:6

2. What if there had been no Easter?
   a. Our preaching would be in vain.
   b. Our faith would be in vain.
   c. Our witness for God would be false.
   d. We are still in our sin.
   e. The dead are gone forever.

   If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. —Romans 10:9

3. What does Easter mean?