Sunday Resurrection (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing

Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 this morning as we continue to work through this great epistle called 1

Corinthians, the first of two epistles Paul wrote to this church that was struggling with all kinds of issues. And here with 58 key verses, he talks about the central nature of the resurrection for the

Christian faith. For Paul, everything isn't a do list. Some things are a to believe list.

You have to believe certain things and then you do things in light of your belief. Before we look at the text,

Kim and I went this week to the Atlantic Union College bookstore. I guess it's not technically their bookstore, but there's a bookstore that they sell there at the

Seventh -day Adventist College. And it's a Christian bookstore, they call it, and you also can get strange kinds of vegetarian foods and some vitamins and other things.

But it's a fascinating place to go because when you walk in, you smell things as well. And you smell the different oils they have in the back and food and it's just very aromatic there.

But it's just off just a hair because it's got commentaries, but it's commentaries through Seventh -day

Adventist lenses. They have study Bibles there, but study Bibles through Seventh -day

Adventist lenses. And as I walk through there, just something's wrong. And here's the main thing that's wrong.

I just want to yell. I just want to shout out, Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday.

It's the first day. What could take a bunch of Jewish people that loved obeying

God in light of the Mosaic law who worshiped on Saturday, the Sabbath, and make them now worship

God on Sunday, the first day? Try convincing a Jew today in Israel, an

Orthodox Jew. No, no, no. You need to worship on Sunday, not Saturday. It would never happen.

The only way that that could happen is if Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday and it changes everything.

And that's exactly what Paul is trying to say. And for us, this morning, we meet again on Sunday and it is assurance again that Christianity is real and true and the resurrection actually happened.

And Paul has been dealing with this church and he's taught them about the resurrection.

And here's their big problem. They don't think people's bodies will be raised from the dead. And so Paul links everything to the main person, the most public person,

Christ Jesus. He has been raised from the dead. If you deny the one, Jesus' bodily resurrection, well, then we might not need the other resurrection for us.

But the main point that Paul gives is the opposite. If you say nobody's raised from the dead,

Jesus hasn't been raised. So let's pick it up in chapter 15. Just quickly reviewing in verses 12 to 19, we had six domino -like things that would happen if you deny the resurrection of Jesus that Paul explains here.

And last week, I only got through five and I was very happy that some people came up to me afterwards and said, what's number six?

I can always tell they're note -takers and very studious people when they say, you said six things and you only mentioned five.

I've got to know about the sixth. Well, this particular case, I'm really glad you want to know about it because it's not my point.

It's Paul's point in verse 19. But let's just go through the passage again. Remember, Paul has been preaching to them about the death, burial, and resurrection.

He says in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 15, now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, which

Paul did there for 18 months, you can just see him kind of almost hit his forehead.

How can some of you say there's no resurrection of the dead? Jesus has been raised from the dead. How can you say that?

He could say it this way. Don't say that. Don't ever, ever, ever, ever say that. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then

Paul gives these drastic consequences. When the domino of Jesus isn't raised from the dead hits, it's over.

I don't know if you play dominoes anymore. I don't think kids play any games. Maybe they have domino on their eye touches. I don't know.

It wouldn't be as fun. How to just balance that last one in there, the domino eye touch.

I mean, when I was a kid, my father would just say, you know, I'd say, Dad, we're bored. And he would say, literally, this is what my father would say, go chase cars.

Okay. See, what Paul is saying is truth matters.

And you say, well, I'm really struggling this week in my life, and I've got some issues going on. And I need some kind of practical kind of help.

Well, for Paul today, it goes back to what you believe, because what you believe about God determines your lifestyle, which then determines your praise.

Theology leads to methodology, leads to doxology. And for Paul, if you pull out the linchpin of the resurrection, it's all over.

There is no Christian life. There is no Christian faith. In review, Paul says, the first thing that goes, if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, is preaching, verse 14.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching, that is the content of our preaching, is in vain.

And with relentless logic, Paul moves on to the second one. If Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, if no body has been raised from the dead, if no body will be raised from the dead, then not only is your preaching vain, secondly, your faith is in vain.

The object of your faith is still on the tomb. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain at the end of verse 14.

Your faith has no purpose, no object. It's void. It's fruitless. How sad would that be?

Thirdly, we saw last week that if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, the apostles are liars.

And by the way, if you teach Sunday school, or you like to evangelize, or you have a home group, or you teach your children the

Bible, you too are misrepresenting God. Verse 15, we there, the apostles, but certainly everybody else who would follow, we are even found to be misrepresenting

God. It's courtroom language because we testified about God that He raised

Christ, the Messiah, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even

Christ has been raised. Fourthly, I mean, could it get any worse?

Maybe this is one of the worst ones. Verse 17, if you say there's no resurrection of any body or of Jesus' body, you're still in your sins, not forgiven.

I want to be cleansed from your sins. And I just remember when God saved me to think the guilt of my sins.

I don't have to pay for my sins anymore. But if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, it's a pipe dream. Verse 17, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins, have to perfectly keep

God's law. But that won't work either because even if we back up in our life, there are times that we sinned by omission or commission.

Fifthly, this is almost a more emotional one, but very true nonetheless. Found in verse 18, if no body will be raised and Christ isn't going to be raised, then the loved ones that died trusting

Christ have perished. So that means any family member you have who's died trusting in Jesus for eternal life, that was just made up, it was a fable or a myth.

Verse 18, then those also who have fallen asleep, a euphemistic way to say died for the

Christian, in Christ have what? Perished, not annihilationism, but eternal misery.

And then Paul last negative consequence to denying the resurrection of any body, or Jesus's body for that matter, is found in verse 19.

If you deny the resurrection of any body, we're to be the most pitied people. That's number six.

We're not to be looked up to, we're to be pitied. Look at verse 19, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people the most to be pitied.

So think about this for a second. These Corinthians back in those days, they were surrounded by all kinds of people,

Jew and Gentile. The Jews would persecute them because they're saying Jesus is the Messiah and they don't think

Jesus is the Messiah. So out of the synagogue they would go, they'd be un -synagogue. And it'd be hard to buy things if it was just a

Jewish city in the market. The persecution would come fast and swift from the

Jewish quarter. Now you've also got pagans who live there as well, Gentiles.

And now you don't go to the place where they worship Diana. You don't go to any other kind of false god place.

You can't even really go there to buy meat maybe. You're ostracized because you don't bow down and say

Caesar is Lord. And so you receive persecution. And you know what?

If bodies aren't raised from the dead, and if Jesus isn't raised from the dead, all the persecutions and hardships that you go through for the sake of the name,

Jesus, doesn't matter, fight in an uphill battle. You look back in church history and those people who stood and were burned for their faith, they're not to be put up on the wall in a picture.

They're to be pitied. These people are pitied because if you think this is as good as it gets, it's sad.

We as Christians believe this isn't as good as it gets. But if this is as good as it gets, and we're sitting there waiting and hoping for a life filled with joy in the presence of God, in thy presence there is fullness of what the psalmist says, joy.

But if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, there's nothing. So Paul uses this hyperbole to stress the point.

How about some of these wonderful verses that probably have encouraged you in your Christian faith? These aren't true if there's no resurrection.

Romans 8, our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Verse 18, yet we suffer now, Paul says, but when you get to heaven, it's going to be worth it.

But if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, it won't be worth it because there's no heaven. You won't be raised from the dead.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory.

You say, Lord, I'm really suffering now, but I'm going to trust your promises that you're going to take my trials, and my suffering, and my pain, and my hardship for the sake of the name

Christ Jesus, and you're going to turn them into good for this earth, yes, but ultimately your glory and my glory.

But if Jesus isn't raised from the dead, we're to be pitied. Now, when

I walk through a bookstore and see the religion section, especially in Santa Cruz, or the spiritual section, or the

Eastern Oriental worship section, whatever they call it, I look at those books and what do

I think? I just think the people that read those books are to be what?

Pitied. You mean you're going to say to me that religion is found inside of you, and you talk to some spirit bodies named

Ramtha, and you are God? That would be the worst of all. Can you imagine if you were a word faith person or anyone else, and you said, you know what,

I've got it all figured out, I am God. God is within me.

When people talk that way, you know what I think? I think, God, I'm glad you gave me eyes to see, and that's a pitiable state to be in.

That's a pitiable state. These Christians were looking forward to the return of Christ, rescuing them from wrath, 1

Thessalonians 1. But if it's not true, we aren't eagerly awaiting for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies,

Romans 8 .23. We're waiting for nothing. I mean, think about it.

You know the story. Let me just read this part to you. That very day, two of them were going to a village named

Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

And while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

And he said to them, what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking what?

Sad. Why were they sad? Jesus is dead. He's not been raised from the dead.

If the resurrection isn't true, there's sadness. Then one of them named

Cleopas answered him, are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

Jesus said to them, what things? And they said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who is a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and all the people.

And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem

Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

If Jesus is not going to be raised from the dead, that sadness, that despair, that misery, that pitiable situation right there is understandable.

Jesus isn't raised from the dead. But in fact, he was raised from the dead and everything changes in light of the resurrection.

So Paul says, verses 12 to 19, negative domino consequences of denying the resurrection of a body, let alone

Jesus's body. And then now he moves to the good stuff, the positive stuff. Like any teacher, this is the negative, here's the positive.

Teaching by contrast. Let's move to verse 20 to 28, what some people call the

Christian hope. These are the consequences of the resurrection of Jesus.

If he wasn't raised, a lot of implications. There's not air in a vacuum. But if he is raised, that affects things too, positively.

Jesus is going to be seen in this section as the representative of all others who will be raised, and the domino is going to work positively now.

Maybe we could just, here's what we could do. I didn't think of this during the first service. Just imagine filming the

Guinness Book of World Records domino record. He did the longest dominoes ever assembled, and you just watch the thing.

And you know how they go, and they split into three, and around the horn, and up the Tower of London, and down the Salt Lake City Sea or something.

You know, everywhere they go. And you just watch it, and you just think, man, that is amazing. Now what Paul is going to do in verses 20 to 28 is just rewind that.

So it's like a video, but it's just rewound because Jesus has been raised from the dead, and now everything is just upright.

Everything is the way it's supposed to be. Jesus is going to be raised from the dead, and that means it is necessary and inevitable, other people are raised from the dead.

The grave isn't the end point for the Christian. Positively, Paul now does some exposition to certainties, not these epic disasters, but certainties.

Look at what happens in verse 20, what a breath of fresh air. But in fact, great translation by ESV.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The firstfruits of all those who have fallen asleep.

This is going to be good. Don't you like this first word there in verse 20? What's the first word in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4?

It's this first word. Some of these words, the contrast word but, they're wonderful.

And here's another one of these wonderful contrasts in the Bible. But in fact,

Christ has been raised. And the way it's said in the original is very, very emphatic. What Paul said in chapter 15, verses 3 and 4,

Christ died for our sins, was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, is true.

This is true, and it affects everything. If his death was permanent and his resurrection wasn't true, that affected everything.

And now, we see the positive effects that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I have to ask you this question though, how do you know

Jesus was raised from the dead? You weren't there. Did you experience it somehow with your own eyes?

Say, well, I have the eyes of faith, that's true. Remember the angel sitting there when they show up at the tomb and the tomb's empty?

They needed to have some hermeneutical help to interpret the empty tomb. Why is the tomb empty?

And remember what the angel said, do not be amazed, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified, he has risen.

Luke 24 says, why do you seek the living one among the dead? We trust that Jesus was raised, not because we saw it, but because the scriptures teach it,

God has revealed that to us. So here's what happens, take a look at that word, firstfruits, or those words, firstfruits, in English.

What was a firstfruit? Remember back in the Old Testament days, this is another good reason why you should read your

Old Testament. You get the first sheaf of the harvest, you get the first grain of the harvest, you get the first part of the harvest, and then you offer that to God, why?

Well, because you were told to do that, and God, by doing that, you say, God, you get the best, you get the first, and what

God did by that is saying, the firstfruits guarantee the what other kind of fruits?

The secondfruits. Say, God, I'm going to give you the first part of the crop, and I'm trusting in you that there's going to be the second part of the crop, assurance that the rest of the harvest is going to come.

So now the domino effect is, Jesus was raised from the dead, the firstfruits of the resurrection. There's more to follow, more to come.

Other people are going to be raised from the dead. This is not an isolated event. You say, well, what Jesus did just affected

Jesus. No, what Jesus did affected many people, and he's the Old Testament language of the firstfruits of the grain harvest.

There is more to follow. The rest of the harvest is coming. I mean, how would you feel if you went out into your backyard, and you went over to those raspberry bushes like we have, and you think, you know what?

You got the one raspberry. That was it. Maybe some of our raspberry plants, you know, if I'm a gardener, then

I would just get one. But what you do is, when I get the one, and it finally turns red enough, you know, there's always that point where you think,

I should let it sit on there another day, it would taste a lot better, but it's still kind of red. And if I leave it, then

Gracie's going to get it. So I'm going to have to get it. There's one on there. You could literally say to yourself, you know what?

That's the firstfruit. And for God in the Old Testament, let's take that first, let's take the best, and then give it back to God.

Trusting God is going to do something else. There's going to be secondfruits. So with this language, here's the best resurrection.

Here's the ultimate resurrection. Here's the first resurrection with a glorified body. There's got to be more.

More resurrections take place. The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

And don't you believe for a minute what Paul was criticizing in verses 12 to 19 to be true, that when your loved ones trusting

Christ die, they're just dead. No, Paul says right here, the firstfruits of those who are asleep.

There's more to come. The first installment. Ladies, when a guy gives you an engagement ring, what is that?

Well, you say it's gold, it's silver, it's platinum. It's a long time coming.

It's about time. I mean, there's a lot of things I guess you could say. But the point here with firstfruits is there's more to come.

This is a guarantee that I'm getting something better. Of course, I'm going to get the guy, but I'm going to get the wedding ring.

This is just an engagement ring. I get the wedding ring. Firstfruits of the harvest. Hear God. Old Testament speaking, more is coming.

Jesus is raised from the dead. What he does doesn't just affect him. It's just the tip of the iceberg.

Christ's resurrection, in other words, wasn't the exception. It's a guarantee or the pledge of the rest of the harvest.

To show you that Jesus' work isn't isolated, Paul moves on to verses 21 and 22.

Got to keep our thinking caps on here. For as by a man, in this verse, no, there's not a lot of definite articles.

It's all generic talk. For as by a generic man came death. We know who that man was,

Adam. By a generic man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die. Now we're getting to the particulars. So also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Here's the point. A man caused disaster in the garden.

A man has to fix the disaster. Through a man, there's sin, not through a ghost, not through an angel, not through some animal, but a man caused the disaster, and a man's got to fix the disaster.

By man comes death. By another man, there's going to be life. We have to step back a little bit and say, this is

God's universe, and God does what he pleases as he pleases, only as he pleases, and here's what pleases

God. God likes representative things. Adam, you represent the human race.

Jesus, you're going to represent all those in Christ. That's just the way it works. First Adam, last

Adam. First man, last man. God works in representative ways.

We live in a federal government. It should not surprise us we have two senators and they represent us. When they vote to go to war, you go to war.

Luther said in his own style, the idea of damning the whole world because one man bit into an apple, equally the idea of taking a lot of men to heaven because one man died on a cross, one man does one act and it has consequences applied to every person identified in that person.

So Adam sinned and all those identified in Adam fall, that is everyone. The reformers,

I think, wisely called Adam a what kind of person? A public person. He was a federal head and therefore, not only in Adam, does he affect all those who were in Adam?

Thomas Goodwin said, all men are hanging on Adam's girdle. I thought that's a way to think of it.

Every person sinned in Adam because Adam's sin was credited to their account. He was the federal representative.

He brought in death and you know what? Not just death for Adam, but all those in Adam. So here's

Paul's point. What one man does affects a lot of people. Jesus is raised from the dead, it affects a lot of people.

So he shows Adam commits a sin, it affects a lot of people. That's what he's doing right here.

Do you see the passage again? For by a man came death and by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

It isn't just isolated because in God's economy, there's a federal representation.

One French commentator said, it is for man to repair the damage done by man.

The resurrection of Jesus isn't isolated because God works in federal thinking, in representative thinking.

Adam did something, it affected all those in Adam. Christ did something, it affected all those in Christ. And the context is resurrection.

Universal effect of Adam's sin, universal effect for all those in Christ being raised from the dead.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

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