The Pivotal Fact (1 Corinthians 15:12-26 Jeff Kliewer)

Resurrection Day and the Hope Beyond a Harsh World

The other way is the gospel, and it's a little syncopated. But this is good.

You know, I finally did go home and listen to it, what Celtic worship does. And also, it's underwhelming.

It's not what I expected. I expected it to be better. I mean, it's great. Well, then you get the fiddle. You know what I mean? There's a lot more instrumental. But it's fabulous. Yeah, it's good. I hear it on the record.

I mean, it's good. Oh, really?

What's happening? I'm going to ask this lady. Oh, yeah. There's like nobody here. Yeah. Although, I would say at least a third or more of the first service came in after we started. I think so. That really filled it.

Oh, it was 166. 166 at the book.

Yeah, it was mad. Usually, it's the other way around. Yeah. So we'll see how many people we're in. I was expecting my sister and my mom and everyone else to come. So they're going to go up. These two are coming over to our house later.

So I assume they were going to come today. My mom's funny about holidays and college. She said, I don't like college. She said, it's not for me. I don't think I need it. I don't find it as amusing to me.

Yeah. There was one year in the church we went to. It wasn't great. I'm talking before and after the church. And I said, I want to stay home as a priest or something. I just don't want to. I was thinking, what a horrible situation.

I mean, it wasn't a great church. But what a horrible thought process.

Something you want to be there, and you're like, it's just not working. I feel worse when I leave.

Not in a good way. Not like, I've been preached the gospel, and I feel like a wretch. It's way different. Still coming in. Still coming in.

Good morning, everyone. We're going to get started this morning. Thank you so much for joining us this morning on this Resurrection Day. I know people are going to start filtering in. So you can be the ones that get here early.

You should see it. It's a flood out there. It's coming in. I know. I'm just going to keep talking, and then people will start flooding in. So anyway, we're going to start off this morning with a song.

So if you're comfortable with standing, please join me as we sing.

God sent His Son. They called Him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. Lived and died. To buy my pardon. An empty grave. My Savior lives. Because He lives. He fades. Because He lives. All fear is gone.

Just because He lives. And then one day. Life's on His way. I'll see. I know He. Because He lives. All life is worth. Because He lives. One more time. Because He lives. Because He lives. Great singing this morning.

You may be welcome this morning.

My name is Michael Stockland, one of the worship leaders here. We're so glad to have you this morning. If you're new and you've never been here before, you can text the word welcome to 856 -326 -2228.

What that does is allows us to get contact information from you, allows us to send you a thank you note, just saying thank you for coming this morning. If you need anything, you can always text or e-mail us.

And you can do that through our website. If you've been around for a little while, you may not know, but we have an app, a church app, that has a lot of stuff on it. I can't even list all the things that are on there.

There are sermon notes you can give through there, all the calendar and events and sign-ups, anything that you want to know about the church, it's all in there. So I'm giving you permission to download this church center app, find Cornerstone Church, and get yourself logged in, and then you'll have all the information that you need about Cornerstone.

That's it for me. John, will you come lead us?

The Resurrection, Psalm 27, and the Hinge of History

Oh, good morning. Isn't it awesome to get together? And today is that very special day, Resurrection Day. He is risen. He is risen indeed. Is that good enough? No. Okay. He is risen. He is risen indeed.

Amen to that. Praise God. Yeah. Earlier this morning, heading over to The Rock for their sunrise service, I had the radio on, and there was an individual giving an Easter message. And I thought, okay, cool.

This will be good. I can listen to this on my way in. And the person who was speaking acknowledged that there was Jesus. Oh, boy. And that he was the son of God and he died on the cross and that this is the day of his resurrection.

But then the rest of the message went on towards this is a harsh world. We need to love each other more. Now, I don't disagree with that statement, but don't we have a whole lot more hope than that in this world?

It may be a harsh world, but in every way, in every way, God's sovereignty wins. And in God's love, he sent his son. And his son went to the cross, took all of our sins. I think about that moment in the garden where it says he sweat drops of blood.

He knew the pain he was going to go through, but I firmly believe that he sweat drops of blood because he knew there was going to be that brief instant in time and all of eternity passed and never again in the future where all of the sins of humanity, my sins, your sins, everybody's sins ever committed would be on him, and he had to say, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

That was the extent of his love for us. It says in Psalm 27, 14, Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. And so his followers experienced him going to that cross.

And he died. And to your hands I commit my spirit. And then the body taken down and laid in a tomb, and a stone rolled in front of it with a Roman seal on it and a guard so that nobody could take it away.

By the way, that's how we know for sure he was in that tomb. History provided that for us. But Saturday, the Sabbath day, the Lord had died. Their rabbi, their teacher had died. Saturday, the whole day.

And now we move into Sunday, and Mary and Mary and Solomon go immediately in the front of the day to the tomb. But there still had to be that angst. But you know what it says in Psalm 27, 14? Wait for the Lord, wait for the Lord.

Be strong, let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. And so there was Friday. And the most amazing gift from God. And then there was Saturday. But today, today we celebrate. Can I steal the word hinge?

No, I won't steal the word hinge. Today is a significant day of importance because Christ rose from the dead. Today highlights the reality of God's sovereignty over death. And when we wait for the Lord, his victory is assured and the blessings that we are going to get are assured and they exceed anything that the world could possibly give.

And so the message doesn't have to be, it's a tough world, it's a nasty world. Let's just love a little more. That's not false. But it's a world that has fallen and we have a God from before the foundation of the world promised and came through and our hope is in him.

It says in Mark 17, don't be alarmed. He is risen. I have two words of announcement for you this morning. The first, in two weeks, it's going to be May 1st, we are going to have a fellowship brunch, fellowship dinner, if you would, after second service.

We have a member who attends our church now who actually specializes in preparing meals for large groups of people. How awesome is that? There will be a sign-up. We're hoping we get a couple hundred people to show up.

There will be a sign-up. So come back, even if you're a first service person, even if you're a visitor, please come back. Well, please come back anyway. But, yeah, in two weeks after second service. Tomorrow after, in the evening at 7 o 'clock, is our annual congregation meeting.

I need to remind you of that, if you're a member, and even if you're not, to come and attend that. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we turn to you, you, the almighty sovereign God who planned from before time to redeem us from our sin.

You provided victory over death. And we thank you for your son who promised and then provides the Holy Spirit for us. And now he lives forever sitting at the right hand of the Father, advocating for us, your children.

We recognize that you, in your time, you provide the grace so that we can respond in faith. And maybe today is that day. Today, Lord, we proclaim the truth that was known to God throughout all the ages, that we proclaim today, he is alive.

Father, we respond in awe to your love, and we look to the glorious hope. We rejoice in the salvation that has been provided for us through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Cross, Christ Our Hope, and the Coming Sermon on 1 Corinthians 15

We're going to continue by singing a few songs together. The first one is really just giving us the story of the cross and how we are set free by the blood that was shed from Jesus Christ. If you are comfortable, you can stand with me.

The light of all the world is shoulder to shoulder of all our shame. On him who knew no sin, angels we bowed the grave in Father's hands. But the stone was who he conquered, tells of whom I am set free.

By his blood he did the great dividing cross for me. And if I never saw the sea, I never, and if I never, by his wounds, by his wounds I am formed a God. Your cross is all need to see a God.

Lord, we come before you this morning singing praises to your name because you are the God of Calvary, the one that your wounds set us free. We are redeemed by your blood. You crossed that divide for us.

We are so very thankful. Pastor Jeff will be coming to us in a little bit talking about 1 Corinthians 15. And in that, he's gonna mention Christ has indeed been risen from the dead. Undeniably. And that's why we're here.

We as a church body believe that with all of our hearts and go out into all the world and preach the gospel because we know what we know, that Jesus is alive. And he's in heaven. And he is reigning over all.

He knows what's going on. He knows the disaster things that are happening in our world. He's planned it before the foundations of the world. And there is hope. If you put your trust in Jesus Christ, there is hope.

It doesn't mean everything will always be great. But it will mean that you have a hope.

Let's sing together. Christ is our hope in life and death. Oh, sing. Our hope springs eternal. Christ, our hope in life and death. Then come the troubled soul. God is good. God is good. Where is his grace and goodness known?

In our graves we hold our faith. When fears arise, who stands above the storm? Reach unto the shore. The rock of gold. Sing hallelujah. Our hope, Christ, our hope in Christ. He lives. Christ, he lives with him.

There we will, and sin and death will be destroyed. Peace in endless joy. When Christ is ours forevermore. Christ, our hope in life and death. Oh, sing hallelujah. Springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah.

Christ, our hope in life and death. Oh, sing. Christ, our hope in life and death. That is our hope.

He is risen. All right, we got to do that a lot this morning. That's beautiful. Let's pray. Father, this beautiful day, we are reminded of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And we say thank you, Lord, for sending your only son, first of all, to die for our sins, but then to rise from the dead and be seated at your right hand forevermore.

We look to Christ this morning. We pray that we would be reminded of the truth that Jesus lives. And Lord, I want to pray especially now for any that are here this morning but not yet convinced that Jesus rose from the dead.

I pray that you would open their hearts to believe, give them eyes to see, ears to hear. And Lord, let all of us be strengthened in the faith. Thank you, Jesus. In your name we pray, amen. So I am a member at Costco.

Anybody here a Costco member? All right, so when you go to Costco, you walk around, and they have so many samples out that you could pretty much have an entire meal just on the samples. So I'm usually going around the aisles looking at what is offered there, and I never really look at the books because I'm more interested in the free food.

But this most recent time that I went to Costco, I did notice a book, and it was called April 1945. It caught my eye not because of the title but because of the subtitle The Hinge of History. 1945, April 1945, The Hinge of History.

I got the book and began to read it because that title was interesting to me. And the author makes the point that April 1945 changed everything. The world going in was completely different than what came out.

In the prologue he says this, It was a meanness of times, but it was also a kindness of times. It was a blending, it was an ending, and it was a beginning. The great Winston Churchill was famous for saying, Now this is not the end.

It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. Such was April 1945. And the author's big idea is that everything changed in April 1945. Hitler died. The war, this great world war, was coming to an end.

FDR dies. And a new world is born. Coming into this time period, most people in the United States, and really the whole country, was very isolationist. But coming out of April 1945, America becomes the keeper of the world.

Communism spreads and there's wars because of that. There's a Cold War afoot. But everything is different come April 1945. It is, according to the author, the hinge of history. Well I got to thinking, there are other times in history that you could call a hinge of history.

When the Assyrian Empire falls to the Babylonians. Or when the Babylonian Empire falls to the Greeks. And then the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I'm sorry, the Babylonians fell to the Persians and the Persians to the Greeks.

But here's the point. All of these pivotal moments in history, kingdoms come and kingdoms go. You could say that there's nothing new under the sun. 1945, the end of a war, there's still wars today and rumors of war.

There's nothing new under the sun. But there is one hinge of history. There is one pivotal moment that changed everything. And that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Amen. He is risen.

He is risen indeed. And that is the hinge of history. The pivotal moment. The pivotal fact in all of history is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Turn with me today to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We're going to study verses 12 to 26.

And I'd like for us to answer two questions from the text. Number one is, why is the resurrection of Jesus so pivotal? Why does everything hinge upon it? In other words, what do you lose or gain? What changes if Jesus rose from the dead?

And then the second thing we'll look at in the second half of the passage is how do we know that Jesus rose from the dead? So first of all, what's at stake? And then secondly, how do we know that Jesus rose from the dead?

Let's first of all read the passage, then we'll break it down. 1 Corinthians 15 verses 12 to 26. Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that He raised Christ, 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. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father.

After destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Amen. The pivotal fact in all of history is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

So what is it that's at stake in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, in verses 12 and 13, we see that the resurrection of Jesus is not just a one-time event that has no bearing on anything else. It is connected to the hope that we have of being resurrected from the dead.

The same God that raised Jesus, if He did that, is also able to raise all of us from the dead. Death is not final if someone has defeated it. If no one has ever risen from the dead, then we can pretty certainly say after these thousands and thousands of years that death is final.

But if one, one champion, one forerunner, one firstfruits has risen from the dead, then there is a resurrection for us. It says in verse 13, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

The two ideas are connected. Many have thought that death was something that they themselves could defeat. Has anybody here heard of Houdini, that great magician? It seemed like he defeated death over and over again.

He put himself in seemingly deadly, impossible situations. He did the Chinese water torture, where he shackled his legs and dipped himself in a fish tank, in a straitjacket, with shackles, and no breathing apparatus.

He was tempting death. And yet he was somehow able to dislocate his shoulder, wiggle out of the straitjacket, unshackle himself, and before running out of oxygen, emerge from the fish tank. I don't recommend this, by the way.

Not a good idea. But somehow he cheated death again and again, and that was kind of his shtick. He was the guy that could escape anything. He could escape death. He even said that anybody could punch him in the stomach and he could take the hit.

He could take the blow. Until one day, he wasn't expecting a punch in the gut. A guy caught him off guard, and it ended up killing him. But not to worry. He had promised his wife, Bess, if you ever hear that Houdini has died, don't believe it.

I'll find a way to come back to you. So he told his wife, Bess, to watch for him. He would send signs. He would come back to her. Death could not defeat the great Houdini. So for 10 years, Bess, on the anniversary of his death, would wait for him.

She would go to mediums and do these weird seances and try to get Houdini to come back from the dead and give some sign that he's really alive. Year after year, she tried this until the 10th year. She finally gave up and said, 10 years is long enough to wait for any man.

She realized he was dead and gone. Well, after her, another guy, I think they called him Sid Radner. Sid Radner took up the effort to wait on Houdini and he waited for 50 years. He himself was a magician and so he would do this.

He would go and try to conjure up Houdini and bring him back from the dead. Finally, in the year 2010, he had been waiting this long. He finally decided if he hasn't come back yet, he's probably not coming back.

The poor old man died. What does this illustrate? Death cannot be defeated by human measures, merely human measures. Death is a certainty. It comes for all of us. The only hope of defeating death is no magic trick.

It's nothing in yourself. It's if there is a God in heaven who resurrects the dead. And that is what the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves. If Jesus rose from the dead, then we can be resurrected also.

I'm a big fan of the movie The Fugitive. Remember that old movie? There's a scene in The Fugitive where he's running for his life. He's not guilty of the crime that he is accused of, but Tommy Lee Jones tracks him down.

And finally, he has him on the edge of a dam and the water of the dam is flowing thousands of feet off. And there stands the fugitive on the run. Tommy Lee Jones tells him to drop his gun. He turns around.

Looks like he's about to kneel down and surrender. But instead, he dives off of the dam. And somehow he cheats death. So there's Tommy Lee Jones in his inimitable way, looking down. He tells his friend, he pulled a Peter Pan right off of this dam.

Amazing! Somehow the fugitive escaped. And he survived jumping off of the dam. Listen, you're not going to be able to pull a Peter Pan or a Houdini. When death chases us down, there is nothing in yourself, no resource, no magic trick, no way to resurrect yourself from the dead.

Now, the fugitive, he was innocent. But you and I, all of us are guilty of sin. And the reason that we die is we have rebelled against a holy God. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins must die.

All of us are guilty before a holy God. And the evidence of it is that everybody's dying. The question, the hinge, the pivot point is whether Jesus rose from the dead. If he rose, there's hope. If not, we're hopeless.

We're on the run. The long arm of the law will eventually catch us. We can't evade it forever. We can't escape it. So the first thing at stake in the resurrection of Jesus is our resurrection. Now, look at the second thing, verses 14 to 16.

If Christ has not been raised, then, you see how it's a hinge point? If then. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God, that he raised Christ, 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. Paul will say, if Christ hasn't been raised, then all along we've been misrepresenting God. Our preaching, what we've said to you, has been futile.

It's been meaningless. It's not true. But if Christ has been raised, all that we have told you is true. The proclamation is a true word from God. Consider what Paul had said earlier in 1 Corinthians 15.

He said, I want to remind you what I told you before. What's of first importance? The gospel of your salvation, by which you're saved, if you continue believing. He said this, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose from the dead according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, Cephas, and then to the twelve.

Then he appeared also to James and to the rest of the apostles. And Paul will say, last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared also to me. The testimony of Paul, as well as the testimony of the twelve, is that they saw the risen Jesus.

Now, here's the hinge point. Either they're telling the truth on one hand, and what they saw is what they saw, or they've made up a preposterous lie. Everything hinges on this testimony. But what is the incentive for telling a lie?

Of the twelve, only John escaped the death penalty for what he was proclaiming. Eleven of the twelve were martyred for what they say they saw. Not just what they say they believe, but what they say they saw.

Consider the life of Paul. He was a persecutor of Christians. He was there when Stephen was stoned to death. They laid their garments at Saul's feet. He went from town to town, persecuting Christians, throwing them in prison, dragging them before the court.

He was a violent oppressor of Christians. He hated the idea. So what could turn a man like that into a man who testifies that Jesus rose from the dead? Only that on the road to Damascus, a blinding light from heaven blinded his eyes, and he cried out.

He heard a voice from heaven saying, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And Saul answered, Who are you, Lord? And the voice from heaven said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city.

I'll show you what you must do. After being blind for three days, Ananias lays hands on him and like scales falling from his eyes, his eyes are opened, and now he sees. And he spends the rest of his life preaching, proclaiming this message.

Now I have a question for you. Is this man a liar or is he telling the truth? He would be beheaded in Rome for what he did and said, but nothing could dissuade him from what he saw. If the apostles are telling the truth, Jesus rose from the dead, and everything they say comes from God.

The word of God is at stake. The apostles were God's chosen vessels to bring the New Testament to us. Jesus breathed on them, and he said, receive the Holy Spirit. And they were entrusted with this word.

So look again at verse 15. We are even found to be misrepresenting God. That's one side of the equation, but we testified about God that he raised Christ. It's either true or it isn't. Everything hinges on the resurrection of Christ.

Now I'll say, if we have a word from God, if what they say is true, this book comes from God and not from man, there's meaning in life. There's a reason to live. We have a revelation from God. Otherwise, do you understand, we live in the dark?

God created the world and left us here without knowledge of what we're to do or who he is or why we're here. Everybody has their own opinions, their private ideas, and these things conflict with one another.

Life would be meaningless without the Bible. But if there's a revelation from God, then he did not leave us like orphans in the world. He gave us his word. He's revealed who he is and who we are, what he wants us to do, and how we can live with him forever.

All of these things hinge on whether Jesus rose from the dead, but there's a third, this one, probably heavier than the others. Look at verses 17 to 19. It says, if Christ has not been raised, okay, this is the hinge point again, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.

The pivot point, Jesus rising from the dead, the hinge of history. If Christ rose from the dead, there is forgiveness of sin. If not, you're still in your sins, because consider this. Christ came to take away the sin of the world.

His death had a very specific meaning. The resurrection was God's stamp, his vindication that the death that Jesus died was acceptable to him. Jesus never sinned. He never erred in any way against God's law.

He lived a perfect life. He did not die for sins that he committed. Rather, the message of the Christian gospel is that Jesus died in the place of sinners. He, like a lamb, took himself like a sacrifice and laid down on the cross.

As a sacrifice, he took the punishment of death into his body on the tree, not for himself, but for a sinner like me and like you. If Jesus rose from the dead, then the Father has declared that the penalty for sin has been paid in full.

And that's what hangs in the balance. On one side, there is the forgiveness of sin in his blood. On the other side, you are still in your sins. Verse 18 says,. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If Jesus didn't die for me and rise from the dead, then when I die, I must stand before the judgment seat of God, my body in the earth, my spirit now standing before the bar of God. And I must give an account for every careless word I've ever spoken, every transgression of the law.

And the sentence on that day would be guilty. I would die the second death, the spiritual death. I would go away from God to a place of outer darkness, a lake of fire. I would perish. But if Jesus rose from the dead, my sins are forgiven because the penalty is satisfied in him.

Do you see how everything hinges on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? So far, three things. One, that our bodies would be resurrected. If God could raise him, then he can raise us also. Two, the revelation of God's word.

Either these apostles are liars or they're telling the truth. And thirdly, the forgiveness of sin. Either we're in our sins and we'll perish under the judgment seat of God. Or Jesus conquered death. He died the death that we deserve and rose from the dead, trampling over death.

Oh, death, where is your stake? So this is what's at stake. Couldn't be anymore, right? We watch sports games. Any of you guys fans of sports? And it just seems like the weight of the world is on these players.

But after that game is played, the world keeps on turning. The sun comes up the next day. Eternal destinies are left unchanged. Even the great world wars. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go. But this, this matters eternally.

Resurrection. Revelation from God to know God. Forgiveness of sin. So let's look at verse 20. You want the good news that we gathered this Sunday morning as Christians have? For 2 ,000 years since the fact of his resurrection.

Verse 20 puts it this way. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is risen. If I'm gonna yell, you guys gotta yell too. I get fired up. Let's all do it together. It says, in fact. Not in theory.

Not in somebody's opinion. It is in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. Now, we live in a day when even facts themselves are questioned. Math is no longer considered fact or fiction. It's more of an opinion, which is ridiculous.

Math is racist now, they say. But the point being, facts are facts. Cyrus was a man who lived. Darius was a man. Alexander the Great. Caesar. Jesus. Do you know that the man who stood trial over Jesus whose name was Caiaphas?

I mentioned this on Good Friday. His grave was discovered. Mark Caiaphas. His bones were in his grave. He was a 60-something year old man. And that tomb exists to this day. Because the events that we read about are actual historical fact.

And the Bible here says that it's a fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. So wouldn't you love to have a grounding for that argument? If we say it's a fact, how do we know that this is true? We weren't there.

I didn't see Jesus rise from the dead. Neither did you. How do you know that Jesus rose from the dead? That's the second question. Paul answers it here. He grounds his argument. That word for gives the basis for the statement that went before.

In fact, Christ rose from the dead. Verse 21. Here's his argument. Four. As by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall be made alive.

All shall be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father. After destroying every rule and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Do you see what Paul just did there? He in six verses just took us all the way back to Genesis chapter three, told the whole story of the Bible ending in Revelation chapter 20 in six verses he summarized this book.

What is the Bible? It is a story about the glory of God. It begins the first two chapters, Genesis one and two, with a life before death. The Garden of Eden, this flowing, beautiful garden where the trees are not only good for food, but the Bible tells us good to look at.

You ever see a tree that's just amazing? Can you imagine the beauty of the Garden of Eden? And in that world, there is no death. Adam and Eve are enraptured in love with one another and their father, there's no sin to separate, no shame.

Even in nakedness, there's the joy of God's creation, the world without sin and the world without death. And then from Genesis chapter three, the disobedience of the command, thou shalt not eat, in the day that you do, you will die.

Genesis three is the entry of death into the world. But the rest of this story, all the way through Revelation 20, is God's death blow to death. It's the death of death and the death of Christ in John Owen's words.

He kills death. How does he do it? Well, as through Adam, sin came into the world in a man, a new Adam will come who will crush the head of the serpent. A new Adam representing man. And in this place, he will take the death wound into his body on behalf of man, but then burst through the bonds of death, breaking forth alive, conquering death in the resurrection.

This is the story of the Bible. Now look at it in the text. It says in 20 and 21, death comes through a man, Adam. By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. Jesus, the first fruits. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.