Razing Resurrection Myths - [1 Corinthians 15:20-28]

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He is risen. Turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 this morning as we continue to work through this great epistle called 1st
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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
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Christian faith. For Paul everything isn't a do list. Some things are a to believe list.
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You have to believe certain things and then you do things in light of your belief.
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Before we look at the text Kim and I went this week to the Atlantic Union College bookstore.
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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
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Christian bookstore they call it and you also can get strange kinds of vegetarian foods and some vitamins and other things.
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It's a fascinating place to go because when you walk in you smell things as well. 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
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Adventist lenses. They have study Bibles there but study Bibles through Seventh -day
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Adventist lenses and as I walk through there just something's wrong and here's the main thing that's wrong.
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I just want to yell. I just want to shout out Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday.
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It's the first day. What could take a bunch a Jewish people that loved obeying
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God in light of the Mosaic Law who worshiped on Saturday the Sabbath and make them now worship
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God on Sunday the first day. Try convincing a Jew today in Israel an
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Orthodox Jew no no no you need to worship on Sunday not Saturday. Would never happen.
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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
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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.
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Paul has been dealing with this church and he's taught them about the resurrection and here's their big problem.
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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
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Christ Jesus. He has been raised from the dead. If you deny the one Jesus bodily resurrection well that we might not need the other resurrection for us but their main point that Paul gives is the opposite.
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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
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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
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I've got to know about the six. Well this particular case I'm really glad you want to know about it because it's not my point it's
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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.
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He says in verse 12 of 1st Corinthians 15 now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead which
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Paul did there for 18 months you can just see him kind of almost hit his forehead.
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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?
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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
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Paul gives these drastic consequences. When the domino of Jesus isn't raised from the dead hits it's over.
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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.
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It wouldn't be as fun how to just balance that last one in there the domino eye touch.
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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.
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See what Paul is saying is truth matters and you say well
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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.
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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.
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Theology leads to methodology leads to doxology and for Paul if you pull out the linchpin of the resurrection it's all over.
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There is no Christian life there's 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
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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.
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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.
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Your faith has no purpose no object it's void it's fruitless how sad would that be.
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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
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Sunday school or you like to evangelize or you have a home group or you teach your children the Bible you too are misrepresenting
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God. Verse 15 we there the apostles but certainly everybody else who would follow we are even found to be misrepresenting
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God. It's courtroom language because we testified about God that he raised
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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
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Christ has been raised. Fourthly I mean could it get any worse maybe this is one of the worst ones verse 17.
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If you say there's no resurrection of any body or of Jesus's body you're still in your sins not forgiven or to be cleansed from your sins and I just remember when
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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.
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Verse 17 and if Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins have to perfectly keep
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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.
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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
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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.
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Verse 18 then those also who have fallen asleep a euphemistic way to say died for the
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Christian in Christ have what? Perished. Not annihilationism but eternal misery.
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And then Paul last negative consequence to denying the resurrection of any body or Jesus' body for that matter is found in verse 19.
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If you deny the resurrection of any body we're to be the most pitied people. That's number six.
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We're not to be looked up to we're to be pitied. Look at verse 19. In Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people the most to be pitied.
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So think about this for a second. These Corinthians back in those days they were surrounded by all kinds of people
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Jew and Gentile. The Jews would persecute them because they're saying Jesus is the Messiah and they don't think
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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
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Jewish city in the market. The persecution would come fast and swift from the
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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
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Diana. You don't go to any other kind of false god place. You can't even really go there to buy meat maybe.
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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,
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Jesus, doesn't matter. Fight 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.
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They're to be pitied. These people are pitied because if you think this is as good as it gets, it's sad.
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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.
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But if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, there's nothing. So Paul uses this hyperbole to stress the point.
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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.
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Romans 8, our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
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Verse 18, yet we suffer now, Paul says, but when you get to heaven it's going to be worth it.
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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.
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2 Corinthians chapter 4, our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory.
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You say, Lord, I'm really suffering now, but I'm gonna trust your promises that you're gonna take my trials and my suffering and my pain and my hardship for the sake of the name
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Christ Jesus and you're gonna turn them into good for this earth, yes, but ultimately your glory and my glory.
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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, are the spiritual section, are the
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Eastern Oriental worship section, whatever they call it, I look at those books and what do
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I think? I just think the people that read those books are to be what?
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Pitied. I mean, you're going to say to me that religion is found inside of you and you have, you know, you talk to some spirit bodies named
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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,
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I've got it all figured out. I am God. God is within me.
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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.
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That's a pitiable state. These Christians were looking forward to the return of Christ, rescuing them from wrath, 1
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Thessalonians 1. But if it's not true, we aren't eagerly awaiting for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies,
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Romans 8 .23. We're waiting for nothing. I mean, think about it.
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You know the story. Let me just read this part to you. That very day, two of them were going to a village named
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Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
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And while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
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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?
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Sad. Why were they sad? Jesus is dead. He's not been raised from the dead.
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If the resurrection isn't true, there's sadness. Then one of them, named
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Cleopas, answered him, are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?
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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.
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And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.
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But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem
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Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
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If Jesus is not going to be raised from the dead, that sadness, that despair, that misery, that pitiable situation right there is understandable.
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Jesus isn't raised from the dead. But in fact, he was raised from the dead and everything changes in light of the resurrection.
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So Paul says, verses 12 to 19, negative domino consequences of denying the resurrection of a body, let alone
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Jesus' body. And then now he moves to the good stuff, the positive stuff. Like any teacher, this is the negative, here's the positive.
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Teaching by contrast. Let's move to verse 20 to 28. What some people call the
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Christian hope. These are the consequences of the resurrection of Jesus.
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If he wasn't raised, a lot of implications. There's not air in a vacuum.
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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.
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And the domino is going to work positively now. Maybe we could just, you know, here's what we could do. I didn't think of this during the first service.
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Just imagine filming the Guinness Book of World Records domino record.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The grave isn't the end point for the Christian. Positively, Paul now does some exposition to certainties, not these epic disasters, but certainties.
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Look at what happens in verse 20. What a breath of fresh air. But in fact, great translation by ESV.
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But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of all those who have fallen asleep.
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Oh, this is going to be good. Don't you like this first word there in verse 20? What's the first word in Ephesians 2, verse 4?
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It's this first word. Some of these words, the contrast word, but, they're wonderful.
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And here's another one of these wonderful contrasts in the Bible. But in fact,
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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,
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Christ died for our sins, was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures is true.
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This is true, and it affects everything. If his death was permanent and his resurrection wasn't true, that affected everything.
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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
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Jesus was raised from the dead? You weren't there. Did you experience it somehow with your own eyes?
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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.
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They needed to have some hermeneutical help to interpret the empty tomb. Why is the tomb empty?
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And remember what the angel said, do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene who has been crucified.
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He has risen. Luke 24 says, why do you seek the living one among the dead?
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We trust that Jesus was raised not because we saw it, but because the scriptures teach it.
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God has revealed that to us. So here's what happens. Take a look at that word, firstfruits, or those words, firstfruits, in English.
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What was a firstfruit? Remember back in the Old Testament days? This is another good reason why you should read your
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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.
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Why? Well, because you were told to do that. And God, by doing that, you say,
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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?
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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.
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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.
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Other people are going to be raised from the dead. This is not an isolated event. You say, well, what Jesus did just affected
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Jesus. No, what Jesus did affected many people, and he's the Old Testament language of the firstfruits of the grain harvest.
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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?
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You got the one raspberry, that was it. Maybe some of our raspberry plants, you know.
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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,
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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
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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?
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That's the first fruit, and for God in the Old Testament, let's take that first, let's take the best, and then give it back to God.
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Trusting God is going to do something else. There's going to be second fruits. So with this language, here's the best resurrection.
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Here's the ultimate resurrection. Here's the first resurrection with a glorified body. There's got to be more.
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More resurrections take place. The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, and don't you believe for a minute what
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Paul was criticizing in verses 12 to 19 to be true, that when your loved ones trusting
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Christ die, they're just dead. No, Paul says right here, the firstfruits of those who are asleep.
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Oh, there's more to come, the first installment. Ladies, when a guy gives you an engagement ring, what is that?
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Well, you say it's gold, it's silver, it's platinum. It's a long time coming.
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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.
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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.
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This is just an engagement ring. I get the wedding ring. Firstfruits of the harvest, hear God. Old Testament speaking, more's coming.
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Jesus is raised from the dead. What he does doesn't just affect him. It's just the tip of the iceberg.
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Christ's resurrection, in other words, wasn't the exception. It's a guarantee or the pledge of the rest of the harvest.
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To show you that Jesus' work isn't isolated, Paul moves on to verses 21 and 22.
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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.
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It's all generic talk. For as by a generic man came death.
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We know who that man was, Adam. By a generic man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
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For as in Adam all die, now we're getting to the particulars, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
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Here's the point. A man caused disaster in the garden.
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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.
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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
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God's universe and God does what he pleases as he pleases, only as he pleases, and here's what pleases
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God. God likes representative things. Adam, you represent the human race.
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Jesus, you're going to represent all those in Christ. That's just the way it works. First Adam, last
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Adam. First man, last man. God works in representative ways.
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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.
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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.
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One man does one act and it has consequences applied to every person identified in that person.
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So Adam sinned and all those identified in Adam fall, that is everyone. The reformers,
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I think, wisely called Adam a what kind of person? A public person.
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He was a federal head and therefore, not only in Adam, does he affect all those who are in Adam?
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Thomas Goodwin said, all men are hanging on Adam's girdle. I thought that's a way to think of it.
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Every person sinned in Adam because Adam's sin was credited to their account. He was the federal representative.
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He brought in death and you know what? Not just death for Adam, but all those in Adam. So here's
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Paul's point. What one man does affects a lot of people. Jesus' race from the dead, it affects a lot of people.
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So he shows Adam commits a sin, it affects a lot of people. That's what he's doing right here.
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Do you see the passage again? For by a man came death and by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
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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.
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The resurrection of Jesus isn't isolated because God works in federal thinking, in representative thinking.
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Adam did something, it affected all those in Adam. Christ did something, it affected all those in Christ. And the context is resurrection.
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Universal effect of Adam's sin, universal effect for all those in Christ being raised from the dead.
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That's the point. Solidarity. Adam did something, it affected everyone.
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The Corinthians should know that. Yes, that's true. So now it makes it easy for him to say, in Christ, that affects everyone too who's in Christ.
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Representative determines the fate of the group. They're linked together. This makes the domino effect true.
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Verse 22, he gets more specific. He moves from the lack of definite articles to some definite articles.
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For as in Adam, all die. Of course, he's not talking about any universalism in the next part here.
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He's just talking about one affecting the many. All those in Adam are affected. All those in Christ are affected.
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So also in Christ, those who are in Christ, not everyone is in Christ. Some have Satan for a father.
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But also, all those in Christ shall be made alive. So you step back and you think, okay,
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I've got to think through this properly. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He's like the first fruits.
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What he does affects the many. That's why Paul uses verses 21 and 22 to say that.
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But not only that, Christ's resurrection guarantees victory in the end times.
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If Jesus isn't raised from the dead, who's going to defeat death, Satan, sin, hell, the demons, the hordes?
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Who's going to put everything under subjection of God the Father? Who's going to do that? Who's going to be the agent of God's final end times rule if Jesus is still in the grave?
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And that's the rest of the section, verses 23 through 28. So Paul is going to say here, in complex language, but this is his main point, that if Jesus is still dead, we haven't read the book of Revelation to say we win.
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You ever said that to yourself? It's kind of bad economy, kind of bad finances, bad health. I've read the final chapter of Revelation, easy for me to say, we win.
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But if Jesus hasn't been alive to write the book of Revelation through the spirit, and if Jesus isn't alive to come back again so every eye can see him, we don't win.
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So Paul just is saying here, Jesus is alive and he's going to be the one to win victory in the end times battles.
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Let's look at verses 23 and following. By the way, this is going to have not just aggregarian language of seeds, harvest, fruit.
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We're going to move into military language. Jesus is the king, the mighty king, the sovereign king.
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He wins, he's alive. If he's dead, he's not going to win. He will have been defeated.
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It is finished turns into I am finished if Jesus isn't alive. Everything is linked to the resurrection including final events, verse 23.
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But each in his own order. Christ, the first fruits, then in his coming, those who belong to Christ.
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Verse 24, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God, the kingdom to God rather, the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.
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So now we have this language in verse 23 about a king coming to town. Sometimes whether it's a
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Republican or Democratic president, I think to myself, do you realize how much money they just spent in Tampa when the president is going to go and speak?
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Whether it was George Bush or Barack Obama. When the president comes to town, do you know all the stuff that they have to do?
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Back in those days, the king's coming. That language of the king's coming, this royal potentate is going to come.
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They clean the roads, they put up banners, get ready, the king is going to come.
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And usually the king would be paraded down and everyone who was a soldier would be behind the king in perfect order, in perfect, the
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Greek is tagma, in perfect military rank.
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That's the word here. Each one in his own military rank, because the domino effect of Jesus being raised from the dead affects everything, will be raised, but also he's going to flatten or he will raise,
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R -A -Z, all the enemies. And so here's this great military picture.
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We move from the culture of planting to the culture of the king is coming back in all his glory, pomp and circumstance, imperial visit.
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The end comes, he delivers the kingdom of God the Father, verse 24, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
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And if he hasn't been raised from the dead, he's the one that was destroyed. What's the point?
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What's Paul after? He's not after exactly when in God's eschatological scheme this all happens.
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His point is when Jesus has been raised from the dead or since he has been, all the powers, the cancerous spiritual powers are going to be taken care of, linked to the risen
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Savior. Now, if you do want the exact timing, these are the three stages.
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Paul's point isn't that, but I'll give them to you anyway. The first was found 1900 years ago where Christ, the first fruits was raised from the tomb, 2000 years ago, first fruits.
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The second order, afterward, the coming of Christ, the redeemed will be resurrected.
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First resurrection, Revelation 20, verses 5 and 6. Then cometh the end, after the millennial reign, the second resurrection takes place,
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Revelation chapter 20, verse 5. But the point here isn't that. It isn't amil, premil, it's verse 25.
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He must reign until he puts all enemies under his feet. King of kings and Lord of lords. Sounds pretty familiar,
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Psalm 110, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your what?
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Feet. King language was, you sit down there and I put my foot on you because I'm in charge.
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The last enemy, verse 26, to be destroyed is what? Death. Adam's sin results in death and Jesus is alive and he'll destroy death.
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And in the context of destroying death, he says, verse 27, for. Death is going to be under dominion for God has put all things context, death, verse 26, in subjection under his feet.
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But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is exempted who put all things in subjection under him.
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Over and over and over in subjection, in subjection, in subjection, in subjection. Jesus is an in subjection to death because he's alive.
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He puts other things in subjection. That's Paul's argument, quoting Roman Psalm chapter eight.
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He gives a summary in verse 28. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who puts all things in subjection under him.
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And even though the father and the son and the spirit are all equal in nature, there's still an eternal functional subordination.
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Just like there was an eternity past, there will be one in eternity future where the son gladly submits functionally to the father that God may be all and all.
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There are effects to the resurrection. There's a domino that goes on. Jesus brings other people from the dead and he conquers other people because he's alive.
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All right, now let's think about this. You say that's pretty heady stuff. Well, that's true. Let me give you something that's not necessarily heady, but it's mind blowing.
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Are you ready to just go to the passage in the Bible that when you first read it, you want to call somebody up and say, you got to get a load of this.
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You first read it and you go, I just better get my glasses on. I have to read that passage. That is an amazing, wild, earth shaking passage.
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If it wasn't in the Bible, I don't think I could believe it. What passage is that? Matthew chapter 27.
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Let's go there. This is where people are resurrected out of the tombs, walk around and start talking to people when
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Jesus died. The power of God causes people to get up out of their graves and walk around Jerusalem.
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This is crazy, except it's true. People say, well, I don't believe in the resurrection of the dead.
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Well, Jesus was raised from the dead. And actually, a lot of people have been raised from the dead. And here people are raised from the dead and walk around.
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And we're not told what they say, but I sure would like to know what they talked about. I don't think it was sports scores.
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Verse 45 of Matthew 27. Now, let's just set up the context.
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I don't want to jump right into the verse. So let's just walk through it. Matthew 27, verse 45. Jesus is on the cross.
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He's on the cross, nine in the morning till three. Now, let's see what the text says.
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Verse 45. Now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
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So the way we reckon time there in the Bible is from noon until three, darkness. From noon to three, there's darkness.
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Just prior to this, you have people yelling at Jesus and condemning Jesus and shouting at Jesus, blaspheming
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Jesus, mocking Jesus, deriding Jesus. And now out of nowhere at noon, the storm comes.
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No, it wasn't a storm. It's just darkness. Some people said it was a dust storm. Some people said it was a black
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Chiraco. Some people said it was an eclipse. God brings darkness.
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You've got to see things through the lens of Matthew. And he's saying when it's dark at noon and dark till three, exactly when
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Jesus dies, and then when Jesus dies, it becomes light again. This is a sign. This is a sign.
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And when you study the Bible and you'll see darkness in the Old Testament, regularly, it's judgment.
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And Jesus is getting judged not for his own sins, but for the sins of all those who will ever believe. Judgment. It's like God the
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Father has to turn his face away. And for the first time in the New Testament, here Jesus says, my
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God, my God, because it's no longer father, son. It's judge, jury, and executioner.
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And it's over the whole land. It's over the whole land. Verse 46, and about the ninth hour, three o 'clock,
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Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is, my
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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And now we're starting to understand what that darkness is.
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God has forsaken the Son. Who can comprehend such a thing? God forsakes the
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Son so that I wouldn't be forsaken, and for you, you wouldn't be forsaken. Substitutionary atonement.
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And here God helps us understand what that darkness was. And some, verse 47, the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling
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Elijah because it sounds like Eli, Eli. One of them at once ran, took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on the reed and gave it to him to drink.
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But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come and save him. He's calling for Elijah. Let's see if he shows up.
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You're not going to read in Matthew. You're not going to read in Mark. You're not going to read in Luke. You're not going to read in John where Jesus died. Jesus is control of the universe on the cross.
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And it says in 50, Jesus cried out again. And with a loud voice, yield up his spirit.
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Yes, Jesus is dead, said the blasphemers. Hooray, said the scribes and the Pharisees and the hypocrites.
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We've got him. And here this is all providentially taking place. This is not by chance, not by accident.
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It's not some messianic complex run wild. Jesus is perfectly dying on the cross at the exact time.
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So much so that three o 'clock in the afternoon, Josephus the historian said, that's when you started killing the lambs for Passover.
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And they're outside killing lambs for Passover. There's blood everywhere in the streets. And Jesus yields up his spirit.
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Darkness turns into light. He wasn't caught up in his circumstances.
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Voluntarily dying, dismissing his spirit. He's the conqueror of death. He's in charge of it all.
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And now come the miracles. Three of them in particular. And behold, don't miss that.
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And behold, see how they're linked. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
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So you've got these 70 some twisted plates of a curtain that's 60 to 70 feet tall, keeping the holy of the holy places barred from anyone else who wants to enter, except the high priest once a year who came in.
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And here now God is saying, because Christ's death has given access to all, you don't need the veil to separate anymore.
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Can you imagine if you were a Jew and you realize, I don't have to wait. For any kind of mediator anymore.
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I don't have to wait for my high priest to go in once a year to have access to God. I get access to God. I don't have to stop here in the court of the women because I'm a lady.
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I get to keep going all the way into the presence of God. I don't have to stop here if I'm a Gentile. I don't have to stop here if I'm a man.
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I don't have to stop here if I'm a Levite. I don't have to stop here every other day, except for one, if I'm the high priest,
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I get access to God. That's what this is. The curtain temple was torn into because we have access to God.
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This is where one of my friends would say, if you were a Jew, you'd turn into a Baptist. Hallelujah.
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Access to God. Sacrifices. Those sacrifices that they're doing at the moment out there.
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Blood in the drains everywhere. What they're doing out there, obsolete. They pointed to something and that something is a someone who just died on the cross as a sacrificial lamb.
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Behold the Lamb of God. The perfect final sacrifice.
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Nothing more to be done. No way to approach God except through faith in the risen Son. And the veil that was literally rent that day was the flesh of Jesus.
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Listen, Hebrews 9. Christ did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way a high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood that is not his own.
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Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
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Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face the judgment.
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Christ is the veil that was torn. Possible now to directly approach
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God. Hebrews 10 says, by a new and living way, he opened for us through the curtain that is his body.
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And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God. This is on purpose.
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This wasn't an accident. Jews knew what the veil signified, but that's not all.
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What else happens? Verse 51. There's an earthquake. There's an earthquake and the rocks were split.
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You say, well, what's an earthquake symbolize? Well, an earthquake symbolize that God is present in the Old Testament.
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God is intervening in the Old Testament. An earthquake. You can go back to the beginning of the verse. And behold, the third sign we wanted to get to, and we've got to wrap it up.
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Verse 52. And the tombs were opened. You say, well, that's no big deal.
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You're right. When there's an earthquake, tombs are open. But the timing of it is a big deal.
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Now, remember, we think of burying people underground. And if there's an earthquake, unless there's a cleavage in the earth, 10 feet deep, 6 feet deep, it doesn't really cause that many problems to cemetery bodies underneath.
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But if your tombs are above ground, cut out in rock, and there's an earthquake, well, the earthquakes split the tombs.
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But this is perfect timing. The veil... Jesus dies. The lights go on. Sun goes on.
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The veil's torn. The tombs open. The earthquakes happen.
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The tombs open. And now look at this. And many... I want you to underline this word in your mind at least. And many ghosts of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
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You're all looking at me like, Nuh -uh. Not even the worst translation says ghost. And many what?
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Bodies. There's a resurrection of bodies. We can't say there's no resurrection of the bodies.
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The power of Christ's death even here. And the bodies of many of those who had fallen asleep, saints, believing in God, and coming out of the tombs, after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
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I don't have time to do much here regarding this troubled verse in verse 53, but you can translate it one of two ways.
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Verse 53, and coming out of the tombs. That goes back with verse 52 essentially.
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Raised, coming out of the tombs, period, after the resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
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Or you could translate it the way ESV has done here, or NES, after coming and coming out of the tombs, after the resurrection, they went to the holy city.
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So these are the two options. Option one, the option that I hold, resurrection of the bodies happen at the death of Christ.
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They wait in the tombs, Sabbath is over, and then they go into Jerusalem after Jesus was raised from the dead.
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It's option one. Option two is, Matthew is kind of looking ahead of time, past the resurrection here in Matthew 27, and says, you know, in the future, when
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Jesus is raised, other people are going to be raised. But I don't hold that second view, because here we have in the same kind of verb, the veil is rent, the earthquake happens, the tombs were opened.
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You say, well, who were these people? Some people think they were Old Testament saints, Abraham, Isaac, David.
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Well, the first question is, if they were those people, they could be, I don't say they're not. But if they were, then how would they be recognized?
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You say, well, Moses and Elijah were recognized on the Mount of Transfiguration. Well, that's true. So God could supernaturally make them recognizable.
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Or I guess if you're Samson, maybe I could recognize Samson. I know there's that guy with the long hair. Oh, Samson, big guy.
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I don't know. That went over well. Was it
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Moses? Is it David? I think a better explanation is this. The power of Christ atoning death was so great that the tombs, the veil is ripped.
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The tombs are opened after the earthquake and people just get out. And now they're waiting before they go into the city.
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Can't go far on the Sabbath day. Who knows what they were talking about? That would have been an interesting conversation. With bodies not glorified, but with bodies like Lazarus, they wait till the resurrection and now they walk into the city.
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And I think these were people who had been alive just recently and now show up again.
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You know, old Jacob just died about four months ago and now he shows up after Jesus' resurrection saying,
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Jesus is raised from the dead and I'm raised from the dead and you ought to believe it. I told you it was wild.
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The power of the resurrection. People go, well, there's no resurrection. Either one that you take, it's after the resurrection or before and then they walk into the city.
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Resurrected bodies, the text says, show up. We're not told what they say, how long they are there.
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I would assume they just kept on preaching and since they had bodies like Lazarus, they got to die a second time like Lazarus.
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If you wait till they showed up after the resurrection, they've got glorified bodies and then they just go to heaven like Jesus went to heaven.
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Here's the point. There is such a thing as the resurrection of the body and God made sure that when
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Christ died, people would have it. There'd be a testimony and they show up after the resurrection saying,
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Jesus is alive. I'm alive. Jesus is alive and you might not have seen him yet.
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You might be like Thomas, but I'm alive and I'll testify to the one Christ Jesus who has been raised.
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A foretaste of the final resurrection, maybe. So I have to admit,
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I like worshiping on Sundays for lots of reasons. I'm used to it. It's tradition.
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But because every single Sunday, it proclaims he is risen. That's why
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I don't have very many wonderful, warm, cozy, emotional thoughts about Easter services because he is risen.
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He's risen indeed today and every single Sunday proves it. Let's pray.
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Thank you, Father, for our time and your word. How amazing it is that you have accomplished redemption through your son,
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Christ Jesus. Everything that needed to be done was done and then your son said, it is finished.
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And you confirmed that by raising him from the dead. And now we have the promise that our loved ones and even we ourselves, because of your grace, our bodies will be raised one day.
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Thank you for the hope of eternal life. Thank you that we can wait eagerly for the return of Christ Jesus, the risen king, in whose name we pray.