WWUTT 1622 Your Faith is Worthless (1 Corinthians 15:16-19)

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins.

00:13

We consider today when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, a daily

00:27

Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

00:34

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

00:40

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 1 Corinthians. We're in chapter 15 this week.

00:45

If you wanna open up your Bible and join with me there. As with yesterday, I'm gonna begin by reading verses 12 through 22 out of the

00:53

Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord. Through the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth.

01:00

Now, if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

01:10

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain.

01:19

Your faith also is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we bore witness against God, that he raised

01:28

Christ whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even

01:35

Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.

01:42

You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

01:50

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

01:56

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

02:03

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

02:09

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

02:16

Now, yesterday, as we looked at verse 12, I said that Paul is kind of presenting before the

02:22

Corinthians here, there should be none among you who believe that the dead are not raised.

02:28

That would be heretical. It would be something contrary to the truth of the gospel for somebody to deny the resurrection of the dead and therefore that Christ has not been raised.

02:39

Remember the gospel as Paul presented it in verses three and four. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

02:45

He was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. You can't deny that.

02:51

If you deny that, you have no Christian faith. That is a central foundation to our faith, to know that Christ died for our sins and he rose again from the dead.

03:01

If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then really what's the point? Because we need forgiveness of sins and we need a solution to death.

03:10

And Christ is that solution. So we talked about that yesterday and Paul kind of implying in verse 12, if Christ has been preached, if this truth has been preached to you that he has been raised from the dead, how are there some among you that say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

03:27

Remember that back in chapter five, Paul had confronted sexual immorality and had said, you must purge the evil person from among your midst.

03:36

And this was in fulfillment of something God had said to Israel in Deuteronomy. So we practice in the church even now, purge the evil person from among you.

03:45

That one who calls himself a brother, but he walks in sexual immorality should not even be named among you.

03:52

And here Paul is kind of pressing the same thing, though he doesn't put it in those words. How are there some among you that are saying that there is no resurrection of the dead?

04:00

You're denying something essential to the Christian faith that makes you a heretic.

04:06

So put before that person, do they truly believe that Christ died for our sins and he rose from the dead?

04:12

If so, then he's a brother in the Lord. But if he denies that there is a resurrection of the dead and he denies that Christ is raised from the dead, then you must put him out from you.

04:26

But put before him, does he believe this or not? And if he doesn't believe, then he must be removed for he's not a

04:32

Christian. He does not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can't even call that person a brother. Now, I'm not talking about somebody who's visiting the church, somebody who came there for the very first time or they've been there for a few weeks and you ask them, hey, do you believe in the resurrection of the dead?

04:48

Do you believe that Jesus died and rose from the grave? And you find out they're not a Christian. They go, well, no, I don't really believe in those things.

04:55

Well, continue to allow them to be there that you may share the gospel with them. Although there should be a kind of an expectation that after a period of time, they're either getting this or they need to move on.

05:05

Like, why do you keep coming? Is it just to hang out with your friends? You're not here to worship the Lord, which is the reason why we're gathered.

05:12

So continue to preach the gospel to that person that they may believe. And if they won't believe, then you ask them to move on, knowing that such a person is self -condemned.

05:24

But if you got somebody in your midst that claims to be a brother or sister, a follower of Jesus Christ, and yet they deny that Jesus rose from the dead.

05:33

Well, that person's a heretic and they need to be removed from you. Again, purge the evil person from your midst.

05:39

They certainly should not be made members to deny a doctrine so fundamental, nor should they be given jobs to do in the church if they're unbelievers.

05:51

It was astonishing that I taught on this yesterday out of 1 Corinthians 15.

05:56

On the same day, I came across a clip from David Youth. This guy is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando.

06:04

And he was quoting Erwin McManus, a name that I'm familiar with. I know both of these guys by name anyway.

06:12

He came from First Baptist in Orlando and McManus now pastors a church out in California.

06:17

And David Youth was saying this, quoting Erwin McManus favorably. These two men in agreement with one another.

06:25

David Youth said that a healthy church needs non -Christians. And McManus even specifically said what that means, namely heretics and people who are sexually immoral.

06:38

A healthy church needs heretics and people who are sexually immoral to be made full participants of that church.

06:49

Is that not astonishing? It's like the two groups of people that Paul says here need to be purged from you.

06:55

The sexually immoral and those who deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ should not be among you.

07:02

They're not part of your members. You don't call them brother or sister. You certainly don't give them jobs to do. Why would you do that?

07:09

Why would you give a stamp of approval to somebody who denies essential doctrines of the

07:16

Christian faith? And that's really what membership entails. It is a church agreeing that this person is a brother or a sister in the

07:24

Lord. They've been baptized. They have demonstrated in their lives and through a confession of faith that they know the

07:30

Lord Jesus Christ and desire to grow with his body the church. But a person who's an unbeliever who still doesn't understand these things, they've made no such commitment.

07:39

So why would you include them and then even make them a participant in the church? Do you want an unbeliever in your church teaching your kids?

07:50

Of course not. They shouldn't even be janitors or working in the parking lot. This is the brotherhood of Christ.

07:58

It is the body of believers. It is his church being built up as a spiritual house unto the

08:03

Lord the way that it's put in 1 Peter 2. And are there any stones in that spiritual house who are unbelievers?

08:10

No. So a person can certainly be there in your church to hear the gospel. But again, there's an expectation that after a period of time, if they don't believe this gospel, then they have to be asked to go.

08:22

And if a person calls themselves a brother or sister in the Lord, but they deny that Jesus died for our sins or that he rose again from the grave, then they're heretics and most certainly should be removed on those grounds.

08:36

Paul lays out before the Corinthians here that if you deny that Jesus rose from the dead, your faith is worthless.

08:46

Let's review verses 14 and 15 again. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain.

08:52

It's empty. It's nothing. Your faith also is vain. We're preaching for nothing. We're suffering for nothing.

08:59

You received and believe this for nothing. Why are you even going through these divisions that exist among you?

09:05

These things that Paul has confronted previously in the letter, when if Christ has not been raised, ultimately all of this amounts to nothing.

09:12

Why put yourself through something that is for nothing? Verse 15, moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we bore witness against God, that he raised

09:25

Christ. We said that he raised Christ and then it turns out he didn't, whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.

09:32

So a denial of the resurrection of the dead is even a denial that Christ has risen from the dead because Christ was a man, fully man and fully

09:42

God, but he died in his human body and he rose again in his human body, which could not happen if there is no resurrection of the dead.

09:54

And it's common among Greeks to deny that there was even any resurrection of the dead. So if you're denying the resurrection of the dead, then you're saying not even

10:02

Christ has been raised. So verse 16, which is where we're picking up today, if the dead are not raised, not even

10:10

Christ has been raised. And you see Paul working through the negative here before we get to the affirmative.

10:17

And the affirmative is in verse 20, but now, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

10:23

And so then carries on with the apologetic from there. But consider, first of all, what it would mean if Christ was not raised.

10:32

That's what he's presenting first in his apologetic here, his argument, his giving an answer for the hope that lies within him.

10:39

We get that word apologetic from the Greek word apologia, and we find that word in 1

10:45

Peter 3 .15, where it says be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you, but do this with gentleness and respect.

10:53

So Paul is laying out this apologetic, this hopeful answer for the faith that we have, giving practical application for this faith.

11:04

And if the dead are not raised, Christ is not raised. And if Christ is not raised, verse 17, your faith is worthless.

11:15

You are still in your sins. Again, why do we believe in God?

11:21

Because we need forgiveness of sins. We need a solution to death.

11:29

There is no one who has conquered death. No one has ever been victorious over death before, before Jesus Christ.

11:38

And yes, there were people that Jesus raised, a sick girl that had died. Jesus raised her from the dead.

11:44

Lazarus, of course, he raised from the dead, but Jesus conquered death. Like those individuals that Jesus raised before his own resurrection, they didn't conquer death.

11:55

They didn't beat death. Jesus is the one that has power over death. And so he said to the

12:01

Pharisees, I have the authority to lay my own life down and to take it back up again.

12:06

When we talk about Christ being the first fruits of the dead, well, hang on, there were others that were raised from the dead.

12:12

Even Elijah raised somebody from the dead once. Elisha, didn't he raise somebody from the dead?

12:19

There was even, Elisha's bones were laying in the ground and a person died and fell on top of those bones and immediately sprung back to life.

12:26

So we've seen people die and be raised from the dead before. So how is

12:31

Christ the first fruits from the dead? Well, because he is the first one to die and come back to life and will never die again.

12:41

Everybody else, even those whom Jesus raised from the dead, they would die again, but Jesus Christ would never die again.

12:50

He conquered death by his power. He overcame death itself. And so that all who are in him, though the body will die, we will not, we will live forever with God and even our own bodies will be resurrected to be like his glorious body, as it says in Philippians 3, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

13:12

So we get to experience a resurrection of the dead just as Christ has been raised from the dead.

13:19

We need life after death. Otherwise death is it, it's just over.

13:25

And we know that it's more than death because those who don't believe in God, who did not follow

13:32

Jesus Christ, who did not put their faith and trust in his son, not only do they not have resurrection of the dead, but they have eternal death and punishment and the judgment of God upon them forever.

13:46

It's not merely a ceasing to exist or annihilationism is what that doctrine is called, where a person believes that, you know, when they die, hell is really just ceasing to exist.

13:57

They don't exist at all. The description that we have of hell is that it is a conscious torment forever.

14:04

When you die, you're going to go one of two places. You're either going to go to hell forever under the judgment of God, or you're going to go to heaven forever in the fellowship of God.

14:14

Those are your options. And you choose based on what you believe about Jesus Christ.

14:22

Do you believe that he is the son of God? Do you believe what he said? Do you trust in him to forgive you of your sins?

14:29

That only in Christ do we have forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God. Do you believe that? Then it's in Christ that you'll have everlasting life, fellowship with God forever, in these moments now and forever in his eternal kingdom.

14:43

But if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, if you reject the son of God, if you believe, as I said yesterday, he was just some great philosopher, well, then you will not receive everlasting life for you did not know him as God, and he did not know you according to what he says in Matthew chapter seven.

15:02

I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. And then in Matthew 25, these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

15:13

Those who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life. Those who do not will have everlasting torment.

15:21

We need forgiveness of sins. We need a solution to death. And Christ is that solution.

15:28

When we call him the first fruits of the dead, it means that there are going to be others. He's the first one to rise from the dead to conquer death and will never die again.

15:38

And there will be others along with him. We also will rise from the dead and living with him, we will never die again because we will have received a resurrection like his.

15:50

What is the point of the Christian faith if we don't get this? If we don't receive the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the dead.

16:00

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. There's no point to the Christian faith because this is even what the, this is what the apostles came proclaiming.

16:11

You think of Paul preaching at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17 and saying the times of ignorance

16:17

God has overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the nations in righteousness.

16:28

And he has shown by whom he will judge by raising him from the dead, that being the

16:36

Lord Jesus Christ. So all are going to stand in judgment before God.

16:42

And it is only those who are in Christ who will be saved from that day of judgment.

16:48

But if Christ has not been raised, if he doesn't, if he's not seated at the right hand of God, he is not the one who is going to judge the nation.

16:57

So again, God showed through whom he would judge by raising him from the dead. But if he hasn't been raised from the dead, then he can't save us from judgment.

17:06

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins.

17:13

You still have not yet found a solution to your sin problem. And who are you going to turn to?

17:18

Who's going to solve this? How do you get atonement? How do you have your sins forgiven? How can all the evil that you've ever done be removed from you?

17:29

How can you escape from the judgment that is to come? The only escape that we have is in Christ who has redeemed us, who has paid for us by his blood, all who believe in him.

17:41

We have the blood of the lamb upon us and the angel of death passes over that we would not perish, but have everlasting life.

17:51

And Paul goes on in verse 18 to say, even those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

17:57

So it's not even just about you. Just think about all the other brothers and sisters in the Lord, those that you claim to be brothers and sisters in Christ who have died.

18:06

They came to faith, but they died. And you didn't grieve in hopelessness because you knew, hey, they were

18:13

Christians. So they're going to be raised. We're all going to be together on the last day. Well, if the dead are not raised, if Christ has not been raised, then no, all of those friends of yours you were hoping to see again, they're not going to be raised.

18:26

They've just perished. They're just gone. Those who have fallen asleep in Christ, they've perished.

18:33

There's no next life for them. We just become worm food. And so in verse 19, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we're of all men, the most to be pitied.

18:49

We spent all this life putting faith in Christ whom we believed would forgive us our sins and raise us from the dead.

18:57

But if he's not been raised from the dead, then we don't get that. We don't get the forgiveness of sins and we don't get the resurrection of the dead.

19:05

We are still in our sins and faith is worthless. And those friends of ours that died in Christ, well, they've just perished.

19:12

They lived an entire life for Christ, believing that he would raise us from the dead and believed in all of that for nothing ultimately if Christ has not been raised from the dead.

19:22

If we've hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men, the most to be pitied.

19:29

For we put our faith on scriptural accounts. We put our faith in God who testified of these things that God had raised

19:37

Jesus from the dead. We put hope in the eyewitness accounts that had testified.

19:44

Yeah, I saw him crucified. I saw him resurrected from the dead. All of those eyewitness accounts, we believed in that.

19:51

We lived a life unto Christ in righteousness. But then if it turns out that he didn't really exist, he wasn't really here, didn't ever really die, didn't ever really rise from the dead, then all of this was total nonsense.

20:08

And we are of all men, the most to be pitied. We gave all of our lives to this. You know, there are unbelievers out there who think that way about Christians.

20:17

I've had an unbeliever, a member of my family, not somebody who was related by blood, but still related by marriage.

20:24

Somebody that I'm connected to by marriage had said of me to my face that I was just wasting my life on Christianity.

20:32

And said to me, tried to even flatter me and tried to say, you know what kind of advantage or benefit you would be to our cause if you were not a

20:41

Christian. You're so smart and you have such a great voice. You're so persuasive.

20:47

You would be great in our cause and in our movement. He was just a straight up atheist.

20:53

You know, you can think about all the other leftist movements that you see in the world today. This, the wokeness stuff wasn't even around yet.

20:59

I can't even imagine what, where he's at now and the kind of stuff he's caught up in. But, you know, just these things he said to flatter me.

21:07

And then I would even get word of mouth through other people. Yeah, he was saying this about you. He was like, boy, he's just wasting his life on this

21:13

Christianity. If only he would reject Christianity and come around to our side. How popular and how persuasive would he be?

21:22

Man, really trying to flatter me to get me to join their cause. But I didn't even think about it for a moment.

21:29

Not even for a second. I am absolutely convinced that this is true. How are you going to get past death?

21:36

What's going to happen to you? Do you believe that the lights just go out when you die? Then what good is your cause?

21:42

Your cause is completely meaningless. And what difference does it make to you what my cause is if I'm a

21:47

Christian? Because if this is all there is, then nothing matters. If all we are are particles and dust that came together in some kind of a cosmic accident, all the thoughts we think are the result of brain gas, chemical reactions that are happening in our head, then nothing has any meaning whatsoever.

22:03

So you should not even have to tell me that I'm believing in a lost cause if only

22:10

I would come and join your cause. What difference does it make? Because all of this is ultimately for nothing. And as Paul will even go on to say in 1

22:18

Corinthians 15, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. What is the point of anything if none of this is true?

22:26

So I've certainly had unbelievers pity me before, but you know, they're logically consistent if indeed this thing doesn't exist.

22:35

And that's what they believe, right? They don't believe in Jesus. They don't believe that he rose from the dead or that he is the way to eternal life.

22:42

So indeed they pity us as Christians. You guys are wasting your lives on nothing. But then we get to this and here's where we'll pick up tomorrow, verse 20.

22:52

Paul has been talking about the negative. What if Christ hasn't been raised from the dead, right? But then we get to verse 20, but now

22:59

Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

23:06

In the English standard version, it says, but in fact, in fact, Christ has been raised.

23:12

His death and his resurrection are historical facts. And you can be more sure of this, that this really happened.

23:20

Then you can be sure that you will see the sunrise tomorrow. Put your trust in Jesus Christ.

23:26

Turn from your sins. Believe in his name. You will be saved and you will have life.

23:34

Heavenly father, we thank you for the conviction of your word upon our hearts that we would turn from sin and put our faith and trust in the

23:42

Lord Jesus Christ and so live. And give us boldness to share this message with a lost and dying world.

23:48

For it is only through Christ that we have the forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God and life with you forevermore.

23:57

In Jesus name we pray, amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals and other resources online at www .utt