The History Of The Resurrection - [1 Corinthians 15:20-23]

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I would invite you to take a Bible and open it to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, we'll be kind of jumping around quite a bit.
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You may not be able to keep up with me because we've got to move. We have to get done here. I will say though,
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I do sort of miss the days when I can remember the trumpet player having to put
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Vaseline on his lips to keep them from freezing, Brian, to keep the trumpet from freezing against his lips, and sitting there with Louis Brown and Mark Schaefer as our noses were emptying, you know, while we're shaking and freezing.
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Yeah, those were the good days. Really miss that a lot. Why is
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Resurrection Sunday the most important day of the year? I mean, certainly, don't we reflect, don't we celebrate the
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Lord's resurrection every Sunday? And I think the answer is obviously yes. And if you really think about it, you know, everybody points to Christmas, but how often do you think to yourself when you wake up in the morning, do you say to yourself,
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I'm thankful the Lord Jesus Christ was born. I'm thankful for that too, but that's not the focus.
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I usually think I'm thankful the Lord Jesus Christ lived the perfect life. I didn't live and I don't live that he died for my sins and was raised from the dead.
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How did I think about those things? I don't think about, sorry,
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Easter eggs, bunnies, and by the way, we talked about hiring a helicopter to drop eggs on the church property, but the power lines, no, we didn't, we never do that.
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The resurrection is the preeminent, the most important day in history.
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Without that, we have no hope. I mean, I could go all through first Corinthians 15.
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That is what secures our hope. Let's read this morning. First Corinthians 15 verses 20 to 23, first Corinthians 15 verses 20 to 23.
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But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
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For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
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For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
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But each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
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Now this morning, I've got three truths based on the resurrection that I think will encourage us and will help us to focus rightly.
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First, Jesus is triumphant. Second, Jesus is our guarantee.
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And third, Jesus is our redeemer. It's pretty easy. Jesus is triumphant.
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Jesus is our guarantee and Jesus is our redeemer. First, Jesus is triumphant.
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Again, verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
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Now, it's a little bit odd to start a sermon with the word but, right?
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But, on the other hand, in contrast, well, why?
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Because Paul has just finished giving seven reasons, seven problems that arise if Jesus has not been raised from the dead.
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So, Paul starts this section with an assurance that Jesus actually is raised, that he has been resurrected.
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Well, is it an historical fact? Can it be demonstrated?
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The answer is yes. And with the help of apologist Neil Shenvey, I've compiled this list here.
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I read his article and thought, oh, that's good. And I sort of shrank it down a lot.
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First, modern historians, I thought this was interesting, modern historians are nearly unanimous in their acceptance that Jesus died on the cross.
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And you say, big deal. We all know that. Well, we know that because we believe the scripture.
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But many people didn't believe it. You've heard the swoon theory and other things. You know that over a billion
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Muslims think that Jesus only appeared to die on a cross. The Gnostics certainly believe that Jesus didn't physically die.
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That would include your modern Christian scientists. When you think about why is that important?
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Because if there's no actual death, if Jesus didn't actually physically die, then what? There can't be a resurrection.
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But the death of Jesus is mentioned in the works of several ancient historians, in the writings of early
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Christians, and of course, a multitude of times in scripture. And Paul put it so succinctly in verse 3 when he said, what,
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Christ died. Okay, that should solve it right there. But for the unbeliever, that doesn't settle it.
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They need more. Well, now, finally, modern historians say it's amazing how slow historians come around to the truth.
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But there you have it. Most of them accept the fact that he died. Second proof.
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So he died, that's first. Second, the empty tomb. Now, it's interesting.
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I remember talking about this when we talked through the Gospel of John. And this is for the ladies.
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The fact that, as I just read, the tomb was discovered by women. Here's why that's important.
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If you were going to, as some people think, conspire, if the apostles just got together and they just made this whole thing up, and they thought, let's just take the
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Old Testament, let's just, you know, pull some things out, and then let's kind of try to trick people into thinking that Jesus rose from the dead.
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The last thing you would do, if you wanted to go to a group of Jews in Jerusalem, which is where they go, the last thing you would do is say, guess who found the empty tomb?
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Women. Why? Well, you saw when
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I read from Luke. What was the response of the apostles? What did they think? They didn't believe it.
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That's why we would see Peter and John running to the tomb. They hear it and they're like, nah, but maybe.
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Josephus claimed that Jewish law expressed the following sentiment regarding the reliability of women.
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Quote, let not the testimony of women be admitted on account of their levity and boldness.
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In other words, women are not to be believed because they're not serious. So the last thing they would do is use women in this kind of plot to hoodwink people.
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Approximately 50 days after the resurrection, the apostles go out preaching Christ resurrected in the very city where he was executed.
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Now that's a surefire way to have the whole scheme blow up, because all somebody has to do is go to the tomb where the body still is, pull it out and go, look, here's the guy we executed and we can prove it by, look at the marks, the marks of the crucifixion are still there.
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Sure, the body's horrible and deformed and all that, but that's him. Well, they didn't do that.
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Why not? Because there was no body to retrieve. So we've got, he's dead, the tomb is empty.
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Third, the response of the authorities, the response of the authorities. What did they claim?
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The tomb's empty. Let's turn for a moment to Matthew 28,
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Matthew 28, verses 11 to 15.
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While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priest all that had taken place.
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Hey, by the way, boss, I don't know how to tell you this, but the one job you gave me to do, it didn't go so well.
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You know, you said, hey, don't let anybody move this stone. And we said, ha ha ha, who could do that?
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But sure, we'll take the job. Verse 12, and when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, they bribed the soldiers.
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Tell people his disciples came by night and stole them away while we were asleep.
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In other words, we were derelict in our duty and somehow they got by us, rolled the stone away and took the body.
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Tell them that. And here's money to keep your mouth shut. Verse 14, and if this comes to the governor's ears, remember, these are the
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Jewish leaders who basically cajoled and forced and pushed the governor to put him to death.
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We will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they, the guards, took the money and did as they were directed.
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And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Just tell everybody you fell asleep.
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And here's hush money as it were. So their response, cover up mode.
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Number four, the belief of the apostles, the belief of the apostles.
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History tells us that 11 of the 12 died awful deaths because of the faith they had that they would not deny.
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Anyway, here's a Muslim writer, Reza Aslan, who says this, he says, these first followers of Jesus were not being asked to reject matters of faith based on events that took place centuries, if not millennia before.
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In other words, unlike the Jews who were resolute often and withstood tremendous penalty and punishment and would not deny
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God. These guys weren't being asked to base their faith on something
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Moses wrote or anything like that. These were things that they actually saw. He says they were being asked to deny something they themselves personally directly encountered.
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And because of that, they could not deny it. Their experience was such that they were not willing to deny
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Christ and save their own lives. And then, of course, there's Paul. An excellent piece of evidence.
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He could have his own category, I just lumped him in with the other apostles. Think about this.
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When he goes through his resume and says, you know, he's a Hebrew of the Hebrews, you know,
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Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was trained in the very best schools. He had great zeal for the law.
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He was a persecutor of the church, participated in the murder of Stephen, was even on the road to Damascus to do what?
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He wasn't taking a stroll down the road to Damascus. He was there to persecute the church.
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He was going to maybe grab some more believers and take them off to jail. When Paul was converted, when
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Christ appears to him, when he transforms him, when he gives him a new heart, the number of Christians is feeble.
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It's small. He's not joining a majority religion.
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He's joining what we could call like an asterisk religion. And the religions of the world, you know,
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Zoroastrianism rates above Christianity. I mean, there are very few Christians. Well, what could sustain
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Paul through all he endured? What could give him that unshakable faith in Christ?
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Seeing the risen Christ, hearing the risen Christ, being struck blind, having his sight restored, spending three years with him.
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All that would give him an unshakable faith. The God of the universe spending all that time with him.
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Jesus actually died. The empty tomb was found by women. The authorities paid to cover up the empty tomb.
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The belief of the apostles, even unto death. All these lead to the historical conclusion that Jesus was raised from the dead.
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Additionally, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then what? Even the apostles, and wait for it, even
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Jesus himself would be a liar. From 1 Corinthians 15, back in our chapter, 1
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Corinthians 15, verses 15 to 16. We, Paul writes, we are even found to be misrepresenting
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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.
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For if the dead are not raised, if there is no resurrection, not even Christ has been raised.
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Now with regard to Jesus, so the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for these things?
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Jesus answered him, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you, will you raise it up in three days?
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But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Jesus said, I will raise my body up if you put it to death.
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He had to, or he was lying when he said that. So, Jesus is triumphant.
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Jesus is triumphant, he did actually raise himself from the grave.
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Second, Jesus is our guarantee. Look again at verse 20, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
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Now firstfruits is an odd word. It's also used in Romans 16, 5.
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Listen to this, greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved
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Epaetonius or Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.
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And it's that word, first, it's one word, first convert or firstfruits.
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What's significant about that? Well, this person who was the first convert in Asia, what does that mean?
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It means there are going to be more. So when Jesus is said to be the firstfruits, or firstfruits, the idea is that, as Kistemacher says, he is the guarantee for all those who belong to Christ that they will also share in his resurrection.
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Just as this man was the first convert in Asia, and there are going to be more, it's like he's the first in line.
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So Jesus is essentially the first in line of those who will be resurrected. Every believer will be resurrected at the end.
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But what about those who were raised by miraculous means, like Lazarus and others in the
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Old Testament? What about them? I think you know this, every one of them died again.
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Jesus was raised from the dead and remains alive, he's alive today. Likewise, every believer also will be raised to everlasting life.
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Like the Holy Spirit marks us out for redemption, in effect sealing us, so Jesus is our seal, our guarantee of resurrection.
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One theologian said this, he said, we should not see Christ's resurrection as an event separate from our own future resurrection.
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Paul is using an agricultural metaphor. Christ is the first fruits of the same harvest.
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Even though the first row of corn is harvested before the last, they are nevertheless part of the same crop.
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Likewise, though we wait for our bodily resurrection, we may rest in the fact that the
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Lord of the harvest has already begun. So first,
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Jesus is triumphant. Second, Jesus is our guarantee. Third, Jesus is our
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Redeemer. Jesus is our Redeemer. Verses 21 and 22 parallel or echo each other, so there's going to be a little bit of resurrection.
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I'm really trying to get out of the habit of saying gonna, so going to. Maybe I should offer a nickel for every time somebody catches me saying gonna.
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Verse 21, for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
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Now if you read this without context, if you just see, for by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead, you might think, okay, a man and another man.
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You might think it's the same man or you might think it's just two random men. But we know that the first man is
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Adam. He's the one who introduced death into the world. Let's look at Genesis chapter two.
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Genesis chapter two, verses 16 and 17. Adam was promised death if he disobeyed
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God's command. Now, a lot of times I just think, okay, think about you're in the
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Garden of Eden. They're really, everything's perfect. And God says, here's what
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I want you to do. Take care of the garden, protect the garden. And by the way, don't do this one thing.
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And here it is. Genesis 2, 16, 17, the Lord God commanded the man, this is
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Adam, saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.
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For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now we know the story.
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The serpent comes along and says what? Has God said? Did God really say?
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Here's the essence of it. Adam believes the serpent.
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He believes Satan. He disbelieves, therefore, God. God said, he was very clear.
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You shall not eat, he said, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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Why? Because when you do that, you're going to die. Now we can give many reasons for that. Maybe Adam thought, well, he'd never seen death, and what did death really mean?
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Okay. Doesn't really matter, all the psychology and all that. What matters is that Adam, as our representative, as our federal head, as the leader of the human race, plunged us into death.
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And yet when God, in Genesis 3 .15, you can turn over there, when
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God pronounced a curse upon the serpent, Satan, right?
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Our redemption was foretold. We call this the proto -Ewangelion. In other words, the first gospel, the prototype of the gospel.
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Listen. Again, this is on Satan, God is pronouncing this curse.
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I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
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He, her offspring, shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
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Well, what does that mean? In shorthand, it means this. Satan is going to hurt
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Jesus. In what sense? We see that on the cross.
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We see his suffering as he goes to the cross. But God said, he shall bruise your head.
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The offspring of Eve is going to crush the head of Satan.
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He's going to have victory over him. The Savior would have to be born of a virgin to be the seed of Eve, as it were.
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Not having Adam's seed. What would the victory look like?
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What would this ultimate victory look like? Well, we know that when Jesus went to the cross, that he paid for our sins.
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But what if he's not raised from the dead? How could we know that our sins are paid for? The New Testament tells us it's because of the resurrection.
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So by a man, the resurrection of the dead came by a man.
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And that man was not via Adam, because he was born of a virgin.
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That man was the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who was tempted in every way as we are, yet remained sinless.
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Hebrews 4 .15, Jesus never sinned. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus never sinned, the perfect man, tempted in every way as we are, but never sinned.
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Now, in verse 22, again, we have another kind of parallel thought here.
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For as in Adam all die, everyone who is in Adam dies, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
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So verse 21 explained the hope that we can have despite Adam's failure, that in spite of the fact that he plunged us all into sin, we can have eternal life through the resurrection, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Verse 22 makes it plain that our only hope is in Jesus. Notice he says that all who are in Adam, which means every single human being ever born except Jesus.
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Only Jesus could be said to not be in Adam, because he was formed miraculously by the
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Holy Spirit in Mary's womb. So everyone who remains in Adam, which is to say every unbeliever, will remain under the curse of Adam.
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And I thought to myself, what does it mean to be in Adam? And then I thought, think about this for a minute. Adam doesn't remain in Adam.
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Brian's like doing the calculations on that. What does that mean exactly? Adam repented.
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Adam believed. Again, you don't have to turn there, but Genesis 3. Let me listen as I read
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Genesis 3, verses 17 and 20. And to Adam, right after he curses the serpent, and to Adam, he said, and Eve, and to Adam, he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which
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I commanded you, you shall not eat it. Cursed is the ground because of you.
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In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. In other words, work is going to be very hard.
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Verse 18, thorns and thistles it shall bring for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field.
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In other words, it was going to be easy. You were living in the garden of Eden where everything was easy. Everything, it didn't take a lot to eat, but now it's going to be hard.
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Verse 19, by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it, you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return.
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But listen, here's the turning point. Verse 20, the man called his wife's name
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Eve. Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
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Now Adam had just gone from not believing God to the point where serpent comes along.
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He doesn't throw the serpent out of the garden. The serpent tempts Eve, tricks her.
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She believes, he gives the fruit or she gives the fruit to Adam. He eats and they're done.
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He didn't believe God, but now he calls his wife's name
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Eve. What was her name before that? Woman, because she was taken out of a man.
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And notice why he gives her that new name, because she was the mother of all living.
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Who were the living? There were no living, zero.
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But Adam listened when the Lord pronounced the curse on Satan and on his wife.
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Listen to verse 16, Genesis three. To the woman he said,
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I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain you shall bring forth children.
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God did not kill Adam and Eve. Instead he promised a deliverer and he told
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Eve even in the midst of this curse that the deliverer, the victor, the one who would defeat
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Satan, the one who would bruise his head would come through Eve. And she is now the mother of all living because she's going to bear children and it's going to be painful.
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But that's what God said. And Adam listens and he goes, I believe God. I'm going to trust what
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God said. Even though there's not one person living right now, I'm going to believe that God is going to give
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Eve children. And it's via Eve that humanity exists.
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And in one sense, in spiritual sense, it's via Eve, the seed of Eve, via Mary, that spiritual life came to be through Jesus Christ.
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Back in first Corinthians 15, that verb in verse 22, to be made alive or to give life is only applied to believers in the
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New Testament. It's only for believers. There's a spiritual life that is granted to believers via the resurrection.
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John 5, verse 21, for as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will.
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John 6, 33, there are other examples. I'm just going to give a couple.
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It is the spirit who gives life.
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Same word. Romans 4, 17, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the
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God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls new existence to things that do not exist.
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So what does this mean? It means this, if you are not in Christ, you do not receive life.
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You are not granted that spiritual life. You are not granted the blessings of the resurrection.
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And I mean, would, if it were up to me, those who are not in Christ would at some point cease to exist.
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That doesn't happen. Instead, those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ go to eternal condemnation.
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Jesus himself said in John 5, 28 and 29, do not marvel at this. For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.
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And those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
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Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, those who trust in him will be raised to eternal life.
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Those who do not will be raised to eternal judgment. Well, why is hell eternal?
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Found this quote from John Witherspoon. Anybody ever heard of John Witherspoon?
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Because he's Presbyterian. He was the only minister, the only clergyman who signed the
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Declaration of Independence. He said this, let the Christian stand at the foot of the cross and there see the evil of sin, which required so costly an expiation, a payment.
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Let him see the holiness and justice of God in its punishment. Let him hear the most high saying, awake,
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O sword, against the man who is my fellow. And let him then, thence, learn how much sin is the object of divine detestation.
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God hates sin. You want to know how much he hates sin? Look at the cross.
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That's what Witherspoon's saying. Look at how the father punished the son. Second Corinthians 521, a verse we know well, for our sake, for the sake of all, whoever would believe he,
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God made him Christ to be sin. He treated him as if he committed every sin ever committed so that in him, in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God.
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We are not inherently righteous. We are only righteous because we are in Christ.
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As it were, we are wrapped, as one Presbyterian said, in the robes of Christ's righteousness.
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Only Jesus could satisfy the justice, we could say of Jesus, the justice of God.
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Only Jesus was a suitable substitute for us because he was truly man and only he could pay the price for everyone who would ever believe because his death had infinite value because he's truly
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God, truly man, truly God. Our confession says this, this office mediator, the
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Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake which that he might discharge, he was made under the law and did perfectly fulfill it, perfectly fulfilled the law and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered, being made sin and a curse for us, enduring most grievous sorrows in his soul and most painful sufferings in his body, was crucified and died and remained in the state of the dead yet saw no corruption.
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On the third day, he arose from the dead with the same body in which he suffered, with which he also ascended into heaven and there sits at the right hand of the father making intercession and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world.
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That's our victorious savior. And that day is coming, look at verse 23, but each in his own order,
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Christ the first fruits again, the first of the crop, the first of the resurrection, the first to be raised from the dead, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
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So first Jesus, then all those who are in Christ. Again, Jesus is triumphant.
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Jesus is our guarantee. Jesus is our redeemer. He is risen.
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He's risen indeed. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the life, death, and especially the resurrection of the
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Lord Jesus Christ to know that because he lives, we will live.
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Because he lives, our sins are forgiven, every single one of them. Father, make this a special day of rejoicing as we consider the blessings we have of being in Christ Jesus.
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And father, let us have compassion, a burning compassion for those who are not in Christ that we might tell of the goodness of the
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Lord Jesus to those who at this moment are in danger of perishing and eternal judgment.