WWUTT 1638 O Death Where is Your Victory (1 Corinthians 15:53-58)

We finish our study of 1 Corinthians 15 with these words, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? We have victory in Christ when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, here we are at the conclusion of our study of 1

Corinthians chapter 15, where Paul has been making this argument for the resurrection of the dead.

We conclude with verses 50 to 58, that's what I'm going to start off reading here, out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. This is the Word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the corruptible inherit the incorruptible.

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

For this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality.

But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written,

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So verse 53, for this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality.

If we are going to inherit the kingdom of God, we must be changed.

We will all be changed. We have in the in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will all be changed.

We cannot inherit the kingdom of God unless this body of ours is changed into something else.

The bodies that we are in are corruptible, and they are therefore unholy. Now we have this instruction that we are given in Romans 12 1, that we must live lives of holiness, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as living sacrifices unto the

Lord, holy and acceptable to him. This is your spiritual act of worship.

So we must live in holiness. First Peter chapter 1, be holy as I am holy. As God said that to Israel, so he says that to us even now.

We must live in holiness before the Lord. To be holy means to be set apart.

We are not living as the rest of this world, rather we are living as Christ, who has clothed us in his righteousness, that we would not walk in the sinful passions of our flesh anymore, but we walk in the ways of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, these bodies remain corruptible, they are unholy, they're imperfect, because they have been subject to the futility that all of this world has been subject to as a result of sin.

All of creation, all of the natural world, has been subjected to futility, to decay, to corruptibility, because of the sin of Adam.

Christ is making all things new. When he brings in his eternal permanent kingdom, then there's no more corruption.

All that is in the world will be burned up with fire, and then

Christ brings in his perfect kingdom, and we'll live in a place where there is no corruption anymore.

But we have to put on the incorruptible in order to be there with God. Even when we die, our soul goes to be back with the

Lord in order to live in this body with God forever. Our bodies have to be changed, and so we have that promise as well, that our bodies will be raised incorruptible.

Just as Jesus' body was, so will our body be. Now, consider in 1 John 3, well,

I'm going to start reading in verse 1, 1 John 3, 1. See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God, and so we are.

For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be.

We know that when he is manifested, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

Verse 3, I've quoted 1 John 3 to you several times as we've been going through 1

Corinthians 15, but I haven't mentioned verse 3, or at least read from verse 2 right into verse 3.

So let me read verse 2 again, and then I'll keep going. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be.

These bodies won't remain, we'll be changed into something else, right? So John goes on, we know that when he is manifested, we will be like him.

When he returns, we'll be made like him, because we will see him just as he is.

If you're going to see God in all of his glory, you've got to become something different, because this physical body cannot even stand in the presence of God.

So we must be changed into something else. When he's manifested, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure.

That's verse 3. Everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure.

Lest you think that when we were reading through verses 50 to 52 yesterday, that Paul was only talking about the body going into the ground and then coming back out incorruptible.

He wasn't really talking there about living in holiness, was he? He was just making an argument for the resurrection of the dead.

So our body goes into the ground, it comes back to life again. That's the direct correlation there. He's not really making an argument for talking about holiness.

Yes, he was. If we're going to be made incorruptible, we can't continue to live in the corruptible, like the corruptible ways of the world.

We must live in the righteousness of Christ. And as we are being perfected, eventually we get to that point where our body dies, and boom, we go be with the

Lord forever in glory. That's it. I mean, once we die, that sanctification process that we were doing is over.

When I say we were doing, I mean like, you know, we were putting off sin and we were living in the righteousness of Christ.

There is still a sanctification that's going on because in Hebrews chapter 11, it says, as other people continue to walk in sanctification, those that have died and gone to heaven before us are even being perfected by our sanctification so that this whole body of Christ, when it is presented before him as the bride, will be pure and spotless.

So our sanctification is also for the benefit of those who have gone before us even, but they cannot continue in their own sanctification.

So that's one benefit that you being alive in this body right now, you have over somebody who has died.

A person who has died cannot sanctify themselves any longer, but you can continue to put off the works of your flesh and put on Christ and grow in sanctification.

And in verse, once again, 1 John 3, 3, everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure.

So we're talking about being raised and dwelling with God in this perfection. We're pursuing that perfection even now as we live in these bodies.

So putting off the corruptible means that we are not living in the corruptible ways of the flesh in sin.

We're desiring the ways of the incorruptible, even though we have not yet been made incorruptible.

Does that make sense? We have got to long for heaven, y 'all.

And this is something Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

All the things you need in the flesh will be added to you as well. But we seek

God's kingdom and the righteousness of Christ. Colossians 3, 1 through 4.

Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth.

For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with him in glory.

And this corruptible puts on the incorruptible. This mortal puts on immortality.

Verse 54, I'm back in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 54. But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written.

Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory?

Oh, death, where is your sting? Now that there, the last sentence of verse 54, and then all of verse 55, that's an

Old Testament reference. It comes from Isaiah 25, verse 8.

He will swallow up death for all time. And Lord Yahweh will wipe tears away from all faces.

And he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth. For Yahweh has spoken.

Part of that even sounds a little bit like Revelation chapter 21, where we read in verse 4, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

That's a direct quote from Isaiah 25. There will be no longer any death.

There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away.

Do you not long for that, my brothers and sisters? Are you not tired of this world? Are you not tired of sin?

The temptation that even plagues your own flesh day by day?

You're tired of that war. I just want heaven where there's none of that anymore, and we dwell forever in perfection, in the presence of Christ our

King. We must put off those things now, but we cannot perfect ourselves.

You know, I've been talking about sanctification, pursuing holiness, but you don't perfect yourself. It's Christ who does this work.

In Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, where it says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is

God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So work out your own salvation.

It's God's work in you. God is the one who is at work in you. There's a responsibility for all of us to hear these words that I have spoken and respond to them.

For these words are not my words. They come from God's word, right? We must hear these words, and we must heed these words, and we must do what they say.

As James says, don't be like a person who hears the word of God and then forgets it.

For he's like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and then walks away and immediately forgets his own reflection.

Instead, we need to hear the words of God, and we need to do them. Don't just be hearers of the word.

Be doers of the word also. So as you're hearing me say these things, may this fill us with hope, a desire for the heavenly things to put off this world and long for the next.

We sing about it in the old spiritual, that old Southern gospel song, this world is not my home.

I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

Are you longing for that day to be with Christ forever? When this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, this mortal puts on immortality, and then will come about the word that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

Now we're talking about final victory here in verse 54. We're not merely talking about you've died and you've gone to be with God.

Because even though there are many who have died and have gone to be with God in glory, we haven't reached our final state yet.

Our bodies have not yet been resurrected, reunited with our souls, and now dwelling with God forever in immortality.

That part has not yet happened. I firmly believe that when a person dies, their soul goes to be with God.

They are there with God, but the final state of that person has not yet happened. We have not all been united together with Christ, because you understand that final state is all of us together.

It's not just individual people that are there with Christ because yeah, they died and went to be with him.

They've not yet reached the final perfected state because that final state involves every single person that God has predestined for salvation in Christ.

And once that final person who's been predestined, that God has elected from before the foundation of the world, once that final person is saved, it's over, boom.

Christ returns. Those who have fallen asleep before us, their bodies are raised, reunited with their souls.

They're made incorruptible. We who are left, we are caught up with them in the air. And so we will always be with the

Lord. And now everybody is with Christ forever. And that's it.

That's our final state, that we're all together with Christ. So even those who have gone before us have not yet reached that final perfected state.

They're in a place where there's no more dying, no more tears. That's not happening in heaven, right?

There's no death, no sin, nothing at all like that in heaven. But there is still death happening.

It's still happening now. So the final victory has not yet come.

Where we read here about death being swallowed up in victory, then we're talking about the end, not just you've died to go be with Christ.

It's the end. Looking again at the verse that's referenced,

Isaiah 25, 8. He will swallow up death for all time. And Lord Yahweh will wipe tears away from all faces.

And he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth for Yahweh has spoken.

And it will be said in that day, behold, this is our God in whom we have hoped that he would save us.

This is Yahweh in whom we have hoped. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.

So you can tell there even from Isaiah that we're talking about death being permanently done away with.

There will no longer be any death anymore. As Paul has stated previously in 1

Corinthians 15, the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

That was verse 26. The last enemy to be abolished is death. And when Christ returns, because that's what we're reading about here at the end of this chapter, then death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? That's verse 55. Now that's a different Old Testament passage.

So previously, death is swallowed up in victory. That's from Isaiah 25, verse 8.

And then you have Hosea 13. Now, this isn't a direct quote, but it's

Hosea 13, verse 14. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death?

Oh, death, where are your thorns? Oh, Sheol, where is your sting? Now, when Paul quotes the

New Testament or quotes the Old Testament in the New, he's quoting from the Septuagint, which is the

Greek translation of the Old Testament. So sometimes what we have in the New Testament doesn't quite line up with that same verse we would find in the

Old Testament, because our Old Testament is translated from Hebrew. We translate from the original languages,

Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament is translated from Greek. But here, this particular verse doesn't show up this way.

Hosea 13, 14 doesn't show up this way in either the Greek or the Hebrew. So Paul is taking some liberty here to actually show that the question that God has asked rhetorically in Hosea 13 is being answered in Christ, that there is no victory, that death has no victory, okay?

Death ultimately will not be victorious. Christ will end it. The last enemy to be destroyed.

Oh, death, where is your sting? Death swallowed up in victory. So again, we're talking about finality here.

This is the end. It's all done away with. It's not just we've died and gone to be in heaven. Christ has returned and he's made all things right.

Verse 56, the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.

Death is being depicted here as kind of a monster with a stinger. And we read about locusts with stingers in the book of Revelation, right?

So when death has this sting, the sting is sin.

The sting of death is sin. Death would not be capable of getting anybody, of inflicting pain upon anyone or poisoning and injecting someone with its deadly toxins if it were not for sin.

Death has nothing without sin because the wages of sin is what? The wages of sin is death.

So the sting of death is sin. We die because we have sinned. The power of sin is the law.

It's the fact that we can't keep the law that we sin. God's law reveals to us

God's perfect righteous standard and we can't meet it because we're not God.

And in fact, we're in rebellion against God. So it's the fact that the law is there. We can't keep it.

We rebel against the law. We do wickedly. That's sin. Because John says sin is lawlessness.

So the power of sin is the law. The sting of death is sin. But thanks be to God, verse 57, who gives us the victory through our

Lord Jesus Christ. How do I have power over sin? How do I even keep the law in a way that is worthy of God?

Through Jesus Christ. Jesus has given victory to us over these things.

Clothed us in his righteousness. So that we may keep the law in a way that is pleasing to God.

And he has given us the escape from sin, the power of the Holy Spirit within us to resist sin and desire righteousness.

And he's given us victory over death itself, which we all will claim on that final day in Christ Jesus, when that final enemy to be destroyed is death.

We're all shouting in victory on that day. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our

Lord Jesus Christ. And then you have final implications of all of this. This has been 57 verses of 1

Corinthians 15. And it's in verse 58 that Paul says this. Therefore, he is wrapping up his argument for the resurrection of the dead with this.

We have been promised that in Christ we'll be raised from the dead. Paul's laid that argument out frankly.

There is a resurrection of the dead. The scriptures testify to it. There were eyewitnesses of it who saw

Christ died and buried and risen again. We have the negative argument.

We've had the positive argument. We've had arguments from natural revelation. We have arguments from prophecy of what we are promised in Christ on that day when he returns that we will all be changed and we will all be made incorruptible just as he is incorruptible.

All of these things, Paul has laid out the most thorough argument for the resurrection of the dead that you can find anywhere in all of written human history.

And Paul concludes it in verse 58 with this. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. In the

Lord, Christ has given us the victory over death. We will receive the resurrection of the dead.

So therefore, live in victory.

Live as you have victory over these things. Be steadfast. Don't go any other way.

Don't live as the worldly, as the pagans around you in this corruptible city in which you live.

Be true to the gospel that has been delivered to you. Be immovable, always abounding, growing all the more, doing it every day in the work of the

Lord. It's not enough that you made a confession at one point. You must continue in it, and you must continue in it to the end.

But Christ has given you the victory that you may, knowing that your labor is not in vain.

It's not empty. It's not for nothing. If you are in the

Lord. Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, everything you're going through right now is for something.

The work you do, the labor you do for God, the suffering that you go through, and in the midst of your suffering, you give it to Christ.

You fall on your face before him. You say, you can say to God, I don't know what you're doing in the midst of this situation, but I trust you.

Because you have given so abundantly to me in Christ, I'm going to continue to hold fast to the promise of Christ.

Those prayers are not void. My brothers and sisters, they are heard by your father in heaven, and they are making you long all the more for that day.

Heavenly father, forgive us our sins. Lift us up with Christ, that we may walk in his ways.

Holding steadfast to him, and the promises that have been given to us, according to what we have read here in your word.

Let us not let go of any of these things. All day long, for the rest of our days, we are reminded that we have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

So help us to live that life of Christ now, until the day that Christ who is our life appears, and we will also appear with him in glory.