"But now Christ is Risen" | 1Corinthians 15:12-26 (March 31, 2024).

The Futility of Denying the Resurrection

To 1st Corinthians chapter 15. 1st Corinthians chapter 15. We're going to be in verses 12 through 26. 1st Corinthians 15, 12 through 26 this morning. This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. 1st Corinthians 15, just this glorious account of the gospel and the resurrection.

Looking forward towards heaven. So I'm excited to get into at least part of this passage in verses 12 through 26. Let's read those together now. God's word says this. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes. And we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise.

For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Why a Denial of Resurrection Makes Life Meaningless

But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. This is the word of God to us this morning. We give thanks to him for his word. What we see here at the beginning of this passage in verses 12 through 19 we have Paul dealing with this hypothetical scenario where one would presume that resurrection from the dead is impossible.

You see there's some people there in Corinth that Paul is writing to that reject the idea that there is a resurrection of the dead at all. You might remember from Acts 23 just a few weeks ago we encountered the Sadducees one of the groups there in the council that Paul stood before and he was able to divide the council against one another because the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, the Sadducees did not.

So there's this belief that there's no resurrection from the dead and there were some there in Corinth who rejected the idea of a resurrection. We have our own version of resurrection deniers today the materialists and skeptics who would not accept that anyone let alone Jesus Christ could rise from the dead.

So this is a perennial objection where people deny that there's anything past this life. So Paul entertains the possibility for just a bit here in these verses 19 through 26 and he traces out what would it mean if in fact that were so.

If in fact that were the case that there was no resurrection from the dead what would that mean for us? And Paul's logic goes like this. If there is no resurrection of the dead generally speaking then that means there is no resurrection of Christ specifically speaking.

Christ could not have been raised if there is in fact no resurrection of the dead. That means that the man Jesus who was crucified, that he's still dead. If Jesus was not raised and therefore is still dead then that has profound implications for those who are in Corinth that Paul is writing to and has profound implications for all of us gathered here today as well.

For it would mean that the apostles preaching was empty. Verse 14 it means the apostles teaching had no meaning, no power to change anyone's lives. No meaning for anyone's lives. Also verse 14 says that it would mean if Christ wasn't raised from the dead that means our faith is empty.

Again meaningless and powerless of no value to you of no help to you. It would mean that we're all a bunch of liars because we've said that God raises up the dead. We've said that God raised up Jesus Christ on the third day but if in fact there is no resurrection of the dead then that means we've borne false witness against God.

Verse 15. Verse 17 it would mean that your faith is futile. It works nothing for you and you're all on your own. Worse verse 17 goes on. It would mean that you're still in your sins. You have not been set free from the lusts of your flesh.

You're still under the control of the desires of your body and the passions and you will receive your due reward for your sins. That's what it would mean. If Christ is not raised you have no forgiveness and you will bear the full weight of responsibility for every bad thing that you have ever done.

And that responsibility is death for the wages of sin is death. Physical death and then eternal spiritual death. If Christ were not raised from the dead it would mean that those who have died before us they just perished.

Verse 18. That they no longer exist in any way. They're being ceased forever when they took their last breath. And then verse 19 it would mean that we are most pitiable of all men. If we only have hope in Christ for this life.

Meaning that faith it would just be a coping mechanism for dealing with life in the hard world. It would be a coping mechanism for all of our toil on this earth before we die and then that's it. If in fact there is no resurrection from the dead.

I want to take a look at these last two for they point to the brevity of existence if there is no resurrection from the dead. That is if there is no afterlife. If there is no afterlife then there really is no substantial meaning to the present life.

Because it all just ends. The reason we can find meaning in this life is precisely because this life is not all that there is. If we only had this life here on earth and then we ceased to exist forever then it wouldn't matter what we did on this earth would it?

Our actions, our love for one another, our service for one another, our interactions with one another wouldn't matter at all because it would just end upon death. So eat, drink and be married for tomorrow we die.

Or rape, pillage and be nasty for tomorrow we die. There really is no difference between the two if in fact there is no afterlife, if there is no resurrection because that means there is no meaning. Nothing is truly good, nothing is truly evil.

It would mean that nothing matters. You do whatever you want do what's right in your own eyes or not. Who cares? What does it matter? You do you no matter what. Maybe it's good, maybe it's bad, maybe it's helpful, maybe it's harmful.

It doesn't really matter because if there is no resurrection, if there is no afterlife then we all die and that's all that there is. So here's the thing here's why the doctrine of the resurrection is so important or one of many reasons that it's so important.

Because if we deny it then life gets things get really dark really quickly because it means everything is meaningless. It's because the doctrine of the resurrection is a cornerstone. If you remove it the whole building collapses.

It's a linchpin. If you take it out the wheels fall off. And so considering the resurrection and afterlife and belief in God just in a really general sense kind of generically speaking our society today is unique in the history of the world in trying to deny belief in that.

Nearly every civilization in the history of the world has had some conception of God in the afterlife until the west post World War II. And we've tried to pretend that we are our own gods and that we make our own way in the world.

And so it shouldn't surprise us in the least then that people have begun to internalize that meaninglessness when we've tried to pretend like this is all there is as a culture as a society. It should not surprise us when people internalize that and then begin to act accordingly.

It shouldn't surprise us that depression and anxiety and mental illness are off the charts in recent decades. It shouldn't surprise us that people are having crises of identity. It shouldn't surprise us that people are resorting to violence.

When you don't believe in heaven and hell everything is meaningless and anything goes. And all that's left to check anyone's behavior is someone who is stronger. Therefore everything becomes a quest for power.

Again things go dark and the wheels fall off the society.

The Reality of Heaven, Hell, and the Resurrection

But the Bible teaches.

That there is a resurrection from the dead. There is a resurrection of the just and the unjust. Daniel 12 2 tells us. That is some are raised to everlasting life. Some are raised to everlasting contempt.

But all are raised. There is an afterlife for everyone. And so we affirm the doctrines of heaven and hell. We affirm the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. We affirm the resurrection specifically of Jesus Christ.

And we affirm him as the first fruits of the resurrection. Meaning those who follow him in faith will rise like him. When we affirm all of these things because the Bible says it. Read with me in verse 20.

But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Christ is risen. After spending several verses with this hypothetical what if there is no resurrection.

He comes now with the truth and says no no no Christ is risen. And that changes everything that Christ is risen from the dead. It changes everything that there is a resurrection from the dead. And that means we don't just affirm a generic resurrection.

We don't just affirm a generic afterlife. We affirm the specific resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Born of a virgin. Crucified by Pontius Pilate. We affirm his resurrection as the central event in all of human history.

And that all resurrection of the just and the unjust then relates to them. To him. It relates to and depends on Jesus. And so having entertained this scenario where the resurrection is not true. Paul in verse 20 states the fact of the resurrection.

Having painted this dark and gloomy picture of the world with the counterfactual Paul then brings the light of the gospel here and says but Christ is risen from the dead. And not only that he is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

What does first fruits mean? It's an agricultural farming term. It's used to refer to the first bit of the harvest that comes. And if the first fruits are good then the harvest is going to be good. The first fruits mean that there is more fruit to follow.

That Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection means that there is more resurrection to come. That those who belong to Christ can expect to be raised from the dead just as Jesus was raised from the dead.

That is in glory. The glorified heavenly body. See the resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee of the resurrection of all the dead. Now here's the thing. What one is resurrected to entirely depends on one's relationship with Jesus Christ.

Adam and Christ as the Two Heads of Humanity

3 verses 21 and 22. For since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive. See death came by a man, Adam. Our first father.

And in Adam we all die. In Adam we all inherit corruption. We all inherit sin. A sinful human nature. This requires just a little bit of explanation. Because I can imagine someone sitting in this room hearing that and thinking something sounds a bit off.

Something sounds a bit unfair. You're saying something is wrong with me because of something someone else did. The reason it strikes us that way or it might strike us that way is because we don't necessarily understand the way that God has made the world.

See God has made the world with interdependent relationships, unchosen bonds, and covenants. God has made a world with representatives. And so by God's sovereign choice Adam was the first man and the head of the entire human race that was to follow him.

This meant that Adam represented all humanity and that with Adam as the head was acting in their place. Such that what was true of Adam was true of all who were born of Adam. Now the name of this doctrine is federal headship.

You don't really need the technical term but we do need the concept. We need the concept that God made a world in which one man by God's appointment can stand for another. And he does so by means of covenant.

Now this isn't an exact one to one comparison but we recognize this dynamic of someone standing in the place of another in other areas of life. And so we elect representatives to act on our behalf either down in Columbia, at the state level, up in Washington D .C. at the national level.

And there's a very real sense that when they act we act. Because they act on our behalf because they represent us. Or you take sports teams. They represent their cities. And so they were just I think 26 baseball players in the dugout in 2021 when the Atlanta Braves won the World Series.

But all of Atlanta celebrated because the Braves represent the city. We understand that ambassadors are presidents. When they travel to foreign nations they represent the United States of America. We understand that fathers represent their families as head of the household.

That's why families are often either glorified or shamed depending upon the actions of the father. In other words this is something about the way that God has made the world and it trickles down into every aspect of life.

It was present from the very beginning when God made Adam head of the human race. Representing all who descend from him that is every last one of us because he's our first father. And so Adam's actions then had very far reaching effects.

When he rebelled against God but he disobeyed God's clear word Adam brought death and corruption into the world. That would affect every single person that he represented. Again every one of us. Every person that's ever lived save one.

Except the one who was not born of a human father but was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the woman Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Romans 5 tells us that Jesus is a new Adam. That Jesus is a second Adam.

That he comes as a new representative. A new head of the human race. And he comes with a new and better covenant. And that all who are born into Adam well they inherit Adam's sin and corruption and death.

But all who are born again by the Spirit into Christ they receive the forgiveness of sins. And they inherit eternal life. And so Adam Adam's sin sent the world into a tailspin. Disorder. Chaos. Corruption.

This is the fruit of Adam's sin. We can name it specifically. Bitterness. Envy. Strife. Anger. Malice. Lust. Pride. Lying. Fornication. Murdering. Coveting. Gossiping. Idolatry. All of it is the bitter fruit of Adam's sin.

And Jesus came to put an end to all of it. Jesus came to put it all away. To deal with all of it. He came to reverse the curse that Adam brought. And to set things right. And so where Adam failed Jesus succeeded.

You see Adam failed at a tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he ate from that which God had clearly told him. Do not eat from this. Spurning the command and the will of God. Doing what was right in his own eyes.

And the results were devastating. But Jesus.

Well Jesus succeeded at a tree.

The cross of Calvary. Saying not my will but thine be done father. Up to that point Jesus had obeyed every command of the father. He had obeyed the word of God perfectly. He never disobeyed not even once.

He never sinned not even once. He was the perfect man. And he had to be perfect. He had to be sinless because the sacrifice had to be spotless. Blameless. It's the only kind of sacrifice that would be acceptable to God the father.

And he had to be a man because it was man that sinned and it was man that needed saving. And so he had to be man and he had to be sinless. He had to be the perfect man and he had to be a sacrifice. Again because the wages of sin is death.

And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin Hebrews tells us. Because that's exactly what Christ did. Beaten, whipped, scourged. Forced to carry his own cross up the hill of Calvary.

Nails driven through his hand. Hung on a cross. A gruesome and shameful death reserved for the worst of criminals. There the son of God by whom all things were made including the iron through his flesh.

Including the wood on his back and the thorns on his brow. The son of God was killed. The son of God eternal in his existence. But who took on human flesh and dwelled among us as a man so that he could save men.

There the son of God died. Taking upon himself the full wrath of God against sin. Well mixed he drank the bitter cup of God's wrath and he drank it down to the dregs. It is finished. And he was buried in a borrowed tomb.

And night fell. Darkness.

And the next day nothing.

Silence in the tomb he lay. The son of God dead. And there in the ground his body lay. Light of the world by darkness slain. But on the third day. On the third day. Bursting forth in glorious day up from the grave he rose again.

Up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph over his foes. This is what we sang this morning. He is risen. He is risen indeed. He defeated death and in defeating death he put death to death. He had the power to lay his life down and he had the power to take it back up again.

And where death came by one man Adam life comes through the man Christ Jesus. Where sin came through Adam forgiveness comes by Jesus. Where corruption came through Adam righteousness comes by Jesus. Where the cross came by Adam the resurrection comes by Jesus.

And Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection. Meaning that there is more resurrection to come. And so if you want to share in that resurrection. If you want to have eternal life with God. If you want your sins washed away.

If you want your guilt expunged. If you want your shame covered. If you want your condemnation lifted. If you want to truly live and live forever then you must come to Jesus. Yes you specifically you sitting here at First Baptist Church Travelers Rest March 31st Easter Sunday 2024.

You must come to Jesus if you want to truly live. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive. When it comes to eternity. When it comes to the life to come there really are only two categories of people.

Those who are in Christ and those who are in Adam. God has made the world in such a way that you will be represented. That's not something that you get to opt out of. You can't forge your own path on your own.

You don't get to say no thank you to having a head. That's not something that we have a say in the matter. We're not God. He is creator. We are created. And we live in his world that he has made. And he's made the world this way in which we will be representative and there's no opt outs.

And so what is set before you then are two Adams. Two heads. Two representatives. You have the first one who rebelled and the second one who obeyed. The first one who brought death. The second one who brings life.

What is set before you then are two paths. The paths of sin and corruption and the paths of forgiveness and restoration. There's two ways there. There's death and there's life. There's hell and there's heaven.

You've already been born into Adam. That's just part of being a human. You've already been born into Adam. Into corruption of sin. We didn't get to choose that. We inherited that. And here's the thing.

Any person, every person born into Adam, if they stay on that course and they do not turn from it, when they die, when you die, you'll stand before the judgment seat of almighty and holy God and he will sentence you to second death, to hell, a place of everlasting torment and unending death.

It is not that you will just cease to exist. You will be resurrected to something as Daniel 12 says. And what it says there is for those who are born into Adam that they will be resurrected to, raised to everlasting shame and contempt.

Here's the good news. You can be born again. You can be born into Christ by the Holy Spirit. You can change course from the way of Adam to the way of Christ and when you die you will stand before the judgment seat of almighty and holy God and he will pronounce you righteous.

Not because you haven't sinned. You have. I have. Not because God is willfully blind to your sin or lying about it to cover it up or kind of sweeping it under the rug. He would not and could not do that.

But he will pronounce you righteous because Jesus your head is righteous. Because Jesus obeyed perfectly because Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God against sin. And Jesus is the new Adam, the new head and representative of the human race for all who will believe.

That is those of us who trust him, who believe him, those of us who are loyal to King Jesus, we belong to him and he represents us. Therefore he acts on our behalf and what he has done is true of us. What he did is as if we did.

And so that he lived a perfect life is as if we have that righteousness because he gives it to us. He died and we are crucified with Christ. Therefore because of the righteousness of Jesus bestowed upon us when we stand before God at the judgment, God will invite us into heaven.

God will invite us into his presence where there is fullness of joy. He will invite us to his right hand where there are pleasures forevermore. And we will always be with the Lord. This is everlasting life.

This is the good news of Easter to you. Verses 23 through 26 then speak of the end of history. I want to read those verses again for us. But each one in his own order. Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ at his coming.

Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

There's a whole lot more about these verses that I would love to get into and say but I'm going to run through them fairly quickly just for time's sake. In verse 23 I'd highlight two phrases for you. First one is those who are Christ's.

That is those who belong to Jesus. This again speaks to the exclusivity of salvation and redemption in Jesus. That is there is no resurrection to eternal life with the heavenly body and entering into heavenly glory without Jesus Christ.

Without being united to Christ there is no heaven. He is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except by him. Christ is not one of many ways to heaven. He is the only way. Those who are in Christ will be raised like Christ and only those who are in Christ.

Those who are Christ's. And then we see the timing of the full scope of the resurrection and the phrase at his coming. This speaks of the resurrection of our bodies at the end of history when Jesus returns.

We believe in the return of Christ Jesus. And it is at that point that our bodies will be raised. And so up until that point when a Christian dies his soul goes to be with the Lord in the present heaven.

For God's word tells us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And in the presence of the Lord there is again fullness of joy. So this is the place of paradise. But it is not final.

For it is not complete. For the soul has not yet been reunited with the body. You see God made us as body and soul. We are not just spiritual beings that happen to have a body for a temporary time and that body doesn't really matter.

Nor are we just physical beings with souls that don't matter. We are body and soul. That's how God made us. And so at the end God will raise up our bodies from the ground like Jesus and we will be given glorified heavenly bodies to live forever with God on a glorified heavenly earth.

Body and soul reunited. Earth and heaven reunited. And this happens at His coming. And so we look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ. Now of course a perennial question is when will that be? I would be a fool to try to tell you.

Though there have been many fools who have tried to tell you and they sold many books doing it. But I do think we get a hint in verses 24 through 26. We at least get a hint. The end comes when Jesus has put all his enemies under His feet.

For it says He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. Then it says the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Which refers to the resurrection of our bodies. That's when death is fully and finally destroyed.

When our bodies are raised up from the ground and the dead in Christ shall rise. And we shall be reunited with our souls and have heavenly glorified bodies. So it can't be that Jesus comes and raises the dead in Christ.

That is He destroys death. And then He puts all His other enemies under His feet. Because Paul plainly says that putting or destroying death that it's the last enemy. Therefore Jesus defeating all His enemies occurs before the resurrection of our bodies and His coming.

Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father. And so notice here how the kingdom is a present reality. That He will deliver up to the Father at the end of history. Christ's kingdom is not some future reality that He will receive at the end.

It is a present reality that He received at His ascension after He was declared to be the Son of God by His resurrection and ascends to the right hand of the Father where He is given a glory and dominion that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him.

Daniel 7. He received His kingdom then and He must reign till all His enemies are defeated and then He delivers that kingdom to God the Father. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 says. This should encourage God's people.

We are not a people of despair. Satan does not rule this world and does not have the upper hand. Jesus rules this world. Jesus has the upper hand. Jesus is ruling and reigning and superintending all things to His glorious purposes.

He is conquering the world through the preaching of the gospel. He is conquering the world by the ministry of the church, by the obedient living of His people. Yes, we experience hardships. Yes, we experience sufferings and persecution.

Yes, we have opposition. Yes, there is even violent opposition at times. And yes, Satan is active and puts up a fight but Jesus wins. Jesus has won and Jesus will win. That's the message of Easter because He walked out of the grave.

He will put every enemy under His feet. Everything will be in subjection to King Jesus. Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, all false religions, abortion, homosexuality, child abuse, exploitation of every kind, and everyone who dares to raise their hand against the Lord's Messiah, they will all be put under the feet of King Jesus.

The question then, to go from general to specific, is where will you be? You see, if you love your sin and cling to it, then you will be under the feet of Jesus too, crushed beneath His heels as He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

If you turn from your sin, if you love Jesus more than your sin, forsaking your sin, submitting yourself to Jesus Christ in faith, then you will be seated with Christ, united to Christ, ruling with Christ with every enemy under your feet too.

And so there are two categories of people. Two ways to live and two ways to die. There is one God that you'll stand before. The good news is this. The good news is the announcement of the victory of King Jesus, God's Son and anointed Deliverer, that He's won His kingdom through His perfect life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and He invites us into that kingdom, having paid for all of our sins on the cross with His own blood, seating us with Him to rule alongside Him.

And therefore the call to you is this. Confess Jesus Christ as Lord, turn from your sins and trust Jesus by faith to forgive your sins, to raise you up to new life now, and a heavenly body at His coming, and to welcome you into everlasting fellowship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Coming Judgment and the Call to Repentance

Let's pray together. Our Father, we know that repentance and faith are gifts from You. And so I ask that You would please grant those gifts to any in this room right now who are not trusting in Jesus and confessing faith and loyalty to Him.

I pray that You would convict them of sin and righteousness by Your Holy Spirit, that they would see the ugliness of their sin, that they would love their sin no longer but hate it, that they would behold the glory of King Jesus and run to Him.

Father, I pray that You would strengthen all of our people with the truth of the resurrection and the rule of Jesus. Lord, I pray that You would give all of our people in here fresh courage and fresh comfort and fresh peace by being reminded that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, by being reminded that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection, that Jesus Christ will defeat every enemy, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life in our place, that Jesus Christ died a perfect death in our place, and His blood cleanses us from all sin.

Lord, may You strengthen us with that today. May You encourage us with that today. And may we have peace with You because of Jesus today. Lord, I pray that we will live then in light of that, live in ways that honor You and bring glory to Your name.

And we ask all of this in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord.

Amen.