James White | But Now Christ Has Been Raised

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:16

If you have your copy of the scriptures with you, if you would turn with me, please, to 1

00:21

Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I know only a few days ago, starting early in the week, discussions began even before I got home as to whether Jeff would want me to preach today.

00:45

And he indicated that he already had his sermon ready and he was very excited about preaching it.

00:56

And so my advice is going to be, preach it next time you have the opportunity.

01:05

There is absolutely no reason to only preach one sermon on the resurrection. We could do weeks and weeks and weeks without ever getting close to exhausting that topic.

01:14

So I hope that he will do so. But it is the day when many in the world mark the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

01:27

And certainly we can be thankful that there are many traditions and many groups that will confess that Christ rose from the dead and will make that proclamation.

01:39

We know, obviously, that in Western cultures this was a given for a very, very long time.

01:49

In fact, it even impacted, when you think about it, the thinking and the laws of societies.

01:56

If Christ rose from the dead, then what is the inevitable conclusion you must come to?

02:05

If he's risen from the dead, then there is going to be a resurrection of the dead and hence what?

02:12

Judgment. There will be a judgment. And those who are in him have already passed out of death into life.

02:22

Those not in him will face judgment. And the more

02:28

I watch what is happening in Western society today, the more

02:34

I am convinced that one of the primary reasons, I mean, we can talk about God's sovereign decree.

02:41

We can talk about his judgment. We can talk about all the aspects of secularism and Marxism and everything else.

02:50

But it just seems to me that as I see incredibly wicked men and women, some of you even flinched when

03:03

I said that. There was a day when it would have been so very obvious that the things going on in our society were wicked and evil, but now you can't say that.

03:18

And many of you even work in places of employment and careers where to even say that is to end your employment and to end your working in that career.

03:30

But there was a day when it would be recognized that, for example,

03:37

I have in my mind a picture that I saw this week of Governor Whitmer smiling broadly with people behind her smiling broadly as they sign into law legislation that will allow the murder of unborn children right to the point of death, right to the point of birth.

04:04

And we all know, we all know that it will not be long before we are dealing with those who want to extend that beyond the point of birth, for the health of the mother, of course.

04:18

And we see what's going on in the celebration of every form of sexual depravity.

04:25

Everything that we were being told only a few years ago, ah, there's no slippery slope, you're just trying to scare people, everything we said was coming.

04:35

It's come. It's happening. And I am convinced that the reason that this can happen on a very basic level is that the vast majority of our fellow citizens do not believe there will ever be judgment after this life.

04:58

There is no day of judgment coming. There is no God to whom we will stand and give an answer.

05:06

And because of that, you can do what you want in this life. You can act as you wish in this life.

05:14

It doesn't make any difference in the end. And what must you deny to come to that conclusion, to function on the basis of that conclusion?

05:25

You must deny that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Because if that grave is empty, everything's changed.

05:35

If that grave is empty, the prophecies were true. God has spoken prophetically.

05:42

That means you have to listen. If that grave is empty, then the one who was raised will be judged.

05:54

That's the point of Acts 17, 31. God has appointed a day of judgment.

06:01

And he has given evidence to everyone by doing what? Raising the man whom he appointed to be that judge from the dead.

06:12

Resurrection, given as evidence of the day, the great day of judgment.

06:19

It changes everything. It changes how nations should behave toward other nations.

06:26

It changes our laws. It changes especially how we should be looking at, for example, the advancements in genetics, the analysis of the

06:42

DNA molecule and our chromosomes. It's frightening to recognize that right now

06:51

Chinese scientists are developing technology to create super soldiers who will be primarily immune to the effects of radiation.

07:03

Well, why would they want soldiers that would be immune to the effects of radiation, I wonder? We look at that, and in a secular world where power is just simply the ultimate good, then that makes sense.

07:20

In a world with an empty tomb, there's an enthroned savior that will destroy nations that seek to destroy mankind.

07:33

There's a reason why we should not be meddling with our

07:38

DNA. There's a reason why we should not be seeking to join our physical bodies with electronic implantation that will allow us to go on the web in our minds.

08:00

So much of the Christian ethics that you and I take for granted, we may sometimes don't realize what's the foundation of all that.

08:12

And when you boil it all down, you end up standing at the mouth of an empty tomb.

08:23

We cannot just one time per year proclaim this truth.

08:29

You do realize, of course, the reason that we meet on the Kuriakei Heimera, the

08:35

Day of the Lord, is because that's when he rose from the dead. That's why we meet on that day.

08:43

We celebrate the resurrection all through the year. But we especially must in our day be able to explain to those around us that it wasn't just some amazing event like, oh, the flood, or the destruction of Jericho, or the day the sun stood still.

09:07

Those are all important things, but they're not the resurrection, where the

09:14

Creator, having entered into his own creation, gave his life, died upon Calvary's tree, and then rose from the dead.

09:30

When we look at Scripture, we know that the Father raised

09:36

Jesus, the Spirit raised Jesus. Jesus says, I have authority to take my life back again.

09:44

It's a triune act. We recognize this.

09:51

And it is the central act, without which you have nothing called the Christian faith.

09:57

Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's let Paul explain this to us, okay? 1

10:03

Corinthians chapter 15, now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which

10:08

I proclaimed as good news to you, which also you received, and which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which

10:18

I proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believed for nothing. For I delivered to you as of first importance what

10:26

I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the

10:33

Scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep.

10:44

After that, he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also.

10:52

For I am the least of the apostles, and not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what

10:59

I am, and his grace toward me did not prove vain. But I labored even more than all of them, yet not

11:05

I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed."

11:13

Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

11:24

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, empty.

11:36

Your faith also is vain or empty. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we bore witness against God that he raised

11:49

Christ, whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even

11:56

Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.

12:02

You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

12:11

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

12:20

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

12:27

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all be made alive, but each in his own order.

12:37

Christ, the firstfruits, after that, those who are Christ at his coming.

12:46

There's so much more we could read, but I just want to conclude with Paul's own conclusion to this tremendous chapter.

12:52

Skip over with me to 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.

13:06

Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin.

13:14

The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

13:19

Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

13:24

Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. I want us to hear

13:32

Paul's concern. He says, there are some among you that say there is no resurrection of the dead.

13:42

These are probably not former Sadducees or something like that that had denied the resurrection.

13:50

There have always been various groups that have denied that there would be a future resurrection of the dead.

13:58

Some of you may have seen, and I still chuckle a little bit when I think about it, a debate that I did with Dr.

14:08

Jim Renahan. We debated two individuals, Marcus Borg, who has since passed away, and John Dominic Crossan.

14:22

Both were members of the Jesus Seminar, which is an ultra left -wing, unbelieving organization.

14:32

And we had a debate on a cruise, thankfully, it was not stormy outside at the time.

14:38

That could have made things really interesting. Everyone getting nauseous in the middle of the debate. And it was a debate on whether Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

14:49

And you would think, well here, you know, John Dominic Crossan, for example, was a former

14:56

Roman Catholic priest who had been laicized, and that means removed from the priesthood.

15:04

He had left Roman Catholicism. In fact, last I heard, did not really believe that there was a personal

15:10

God or a life after death. About halfway through the debate, we're having cross -examination and discussion, when all of a sudden

15:20

I saw, Dr. Crossan is one of the smartest men I've ever met. Brilliant mind. Brilliant mind.

15:26

Really, just an incredible scholar. However, I can remember when the lights turned on, and he looked at us and he said, well wait, now we've already given our opening presentations.

15:41

We've already explained ourselves over and over again. But finally he went, wait a minute, so you believe that Jesus' body wasn't in the tomb anymore?

15:56

And he was astounded. He was shocked. I think because I had debated him a few days earlier, sort of on his views, the

16:09

Gospels and things like that, and I had read so many of his books, and we had had a very good conversation and things like that.

16:17

I just think that from his perspective, he couldn't believe that someone who isn't stupid could believe something so miraculous.

16:31

That Jesus' body was no longer in the tomb because he had been raised to life again.

16:37

And I'm like, yes, that's what we believe. And they were just, he was astounded.

16:44

Borg was not. Borg understood. John Dominic Crossan lived in a monastery during the entire decade of the 60s.

16:53

We were like aliens to him. But Marcus Borg had grown up in a primarily evangelical church, so he knew, and he had thrown it all away.

17:02

So there's a difference between the two in how they responded to us. This day, sadly, probably,

17:12

I would guess, on this road, on Stapley, out here, there's a bunch of churches.

17:18

You ever notice that? I keep trying to turn into the wrong one when I'm coming down from the north. And there are all sorts of churches in the valley.

17:29

I wonder how many today. I'm sure all of them mentioned the word resurrection today, but my real question is how many of them actually believe in what resurrection means.

17:49

Because you see, it's real easy to redefine words so they no longer have a specific and weighty meaning to them.

18:03

There are many, many, many people, all of progressivism in the world today, will tell you that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

18:13

And then when you listen real carefully, what they'll start saying is, and he lives in our hearts as we think about him and we think about his example.

18:24

And what they're talking about is not that the grave was actually empty, but when you and I, we appreciate what

18:35

Jesus did and the love that he showed, then he rises in our hearts. I can guarantee you that thousands of homilies were delivered today, wherein that was the understanding of Christ's resurrection.

18:58

Not that he had defeated death, not that he was physically raised from the dead never to die again, but that it's the memory that he's left us that is so important.

19:14

And yet it seems rather obvious in the section of scripture we just read. To the

19:20

Apostle Paul, he said, if you believe that, you are of all men most to be pitied.

19:27

You are of all men most to be pitied. Your faith is vain.

19:36

That gospel is vain. It's empty. It accomplishes nothing.

19:45

You see, today, taking an extreme position is frowned upon.

19:55

You're not going to get invited to the big conferences, get the seat at the table of all the big scholars if you take extreme positions like, yes, the grave was actually empty, not because his body was stolen, but because he rose from the dead as he had prophesied.

20:17

Are you serious? You really believe that? Yes. Because there is no

20:23

Christianity without that. Now, let me just mention something in passing. We need to recognize what the term resurrection means, to be raised from the dead.

20:36

And you might go, well, everybody knows what that means. Well, you'd be stunned.

20:43

The term anastasis means that which died coming to life again.

20:52

Not just in people's memories, not just in worship or singing, but that which died coming to life again.

21:00

And I mentioned earlier, Acts 1731, where Paul's preaching to the

21:08

Greek philosophers at the Areopagus. And when he says, God's fixed a day, and he's determined a man, a particular individual, who will judge the world in righteousness, and he's given evidence to everyone by raising him from the dead.

21:30

And if you know the story, that's where they stopped him. In mid -sermon, because I can guarantee you

21:37

Paul wanted to say more. He wasn't anywhere near his Durban -esque hour and ten minutes.

21:47

But they stopped him. Why did they stop him? Right in the middle of things, sort of like Twitch did to me this week.

21:55

I don't know if any of you heard about that. I was in the middle of talking about how the government is eventually going to shut us down for not agreeing with the transgender movement and the evil of it, and Twitch did it.

22:07

Right in the middle of my comments, suspended our account, shut the live stream down. That was it. So much. We're not going to let you do that.

22:13

You can't talk about stuff like that. You mean, well, I'm actually saying you're going to do that. Well, thank you for the example.

22:18

Nothing like proving me right. But that's what they did to Paul. Stop you right there.

22:24

Why? Because he said resurrection. He raised him from the dead.

22:30

And to the Greek mind, salvation was getting out of this physical body.

22:39

You have a spirit trapped inside this physical body. And so at death, it is freed from this trap that's in.

22:49

And so to proclaim resurrection is the exact opposite of what the

22:56

Greeks understood salvation and freedom to be.

23:01

It was foolishness to them. And so they stopped him and what a babbler.

23:07

Well, come back some other time. We'll maybe hear some more from you. A few people believed a few people followed.

23:14

But most just mocked because they understood exactly what he was saying.

23:21

He was not talking about a spiritual resurrection. He wasn't talking about somebody else coming back.

23:29

He wasn't talking about what Jehovah's Witnesses believe. Oh, they'll talk to you about the resurrection.

23:35

They do not believe that Jesus rose bodily from the grave. What happened to his body? They've come up with various theories over the years.

23:43

Sometimes they'll tell you it was dissolved into gases. At one point, they actually speculated that God has it on display somewhere in the universe as a testimony to his love.

23:55

That would be really weird. But he did not rise physically from the dead.

24:01

He was created as a spirit, recreated as not even well, yeah, recreated as a spirit.

24:07

In Jehovah's Witness theology, Michael the archangel existed in the past.

24:14

And then he ceased to exist. And Jesus came into existence for 33 years.

24:21

And then he dies. And when he dies, Michael is recreated. And he's the one that's in heaven today.

24:29

In fact, you know, one of the really sad, sad things is that I always try to tell people, don't get angry at those folks that come to your door and interrupt you on a

24:39

Saturday morning or wake you up on a Saturday morning. They have such a sad life.

24:46

It is a sad life. I've been to their meetings. I can guarantee you there is no one bouncing up and down while playing the bass in a

24:55

Jehovah's Witness kingdom hall. There is no joy. There is no happiness.

25:01

There are no drums, brother, none at all. You express more joy on the drums today than has ever been expressed in all the kingdom halls that have ever existed.

25:10

They don't have joy because you know what? They believe that when they die, they cease to exist.

25:20

And then even in the resurrection, it's not really them that's resurrected.

25:29

Jehovah recreates them based upon his memory of what they were like.

25:37

But it's not, there's no continuity. Just there's no continuity between Michael, Jesus, back to Michael.

25:43

There's really no continuity between you and whatever that thing is that's going to be resurrected during the millennium to live on a paradise earth.

25:52

That does not give much comfort, folks. Let me tell you something. There is no comfort in that.

25:59

And that's why, that's why when you have the opportunity to speak to those folks, we're the ones that need to tell them the truth about who

26:08

God is, who Christ is, what salvation is, because they live, whenever I see them slowly trundling down the sidewalks, my heart breaks for them.

26:21

They have no joy because they have no truth. And it's only by having the truth that you can have hope.

26:31

So resurrection, that which died coming to life again. That's what

26:37

Paul's talking about. That's what got him shut down in Athens. That's what he's talking about here.

26:43

And he says, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? He has gotten a report.

26:50

There's a false teaching arising there in Corinth. Listen to him belaboring what this means.

26:59

Think about it with me. If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even

27:05

Christ has been raised. You know, because someone might say, well, Jesus was special. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, even

27:14

Christ has not been raised. Why? Because Jesus was truly a man. He wasn't just a phantom.

27:21

He didn't just appear to have a physical body. That was one of the earliest errors that the church had to fight.

27:28

It was called docetism. If you want a really good word for your next

27:34

Scrabble match. D -O -C -E -T -I -S -M. Docetism. It's from the

27:39

Greek term dokain. It seems. He only seemed to have a body. And the early church had to fight the people who said that.

27:47

That Jesus only seemed to have a physical body. But he was truly the

27:53

God man. Therefore, if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, empty, has nothing to it.

28:07

What does that mean? That means any preaching that is Christian preaching must be focused upon the reality of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ.

28:24

You see, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, not because he was just a historical figure, but because he is alive.

28:36

He is our hope. His resurrection is our hope. And he is enthroned at the right hand of God the

28:45

Father in heaven. When we say he is King of kings and Lord of lords, we're talking about a living, resurrected.

28:56

Historical personage. And so if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain.

29:06

I saw a picture. Social media. Someone posted it was one of these rainbow,

29:14

I don't know if it was Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran, liberal Presbyterian, I don't know.

29:21

Let's just say another beautiful church building that was built by believers, taken over by unbelievers.

29:29

And they're all, you know, they've got their female preacher and her rainbow stole and robes and transgender people, a big old guy with a beard dressed in a dress and all this stuff.

29:43

And the title was, What One Word Describes This? And there are a lot of words you could use.

29:50

Apostasy was the best. But anything that is spoken from behind the pulpit in that context,

30:02

Paul says, empty, vain, worthless, waste of breath.

30:13

Not only that, your faith also is vain. There is no faith that is meaningful without a resurrected

30:23

Jesus. What's your faith in? Some historical, some historical model that you just want to follow after?

30:37

Our faith is in a living, resurrected Savior, Lord.

30:43

And if he is not raised, then our faith is empty, it's vain. And there are a lot of people who say, no, no, no, that's just too extreme.

30:52

But just think of all the good that's been done, even by imperfect faith. Paul's not talking about that.

31:00

Paul is saying the Christian faith does not exist without a risen

31:05

Savior. Moreover, verse 15, we are even found to be false witnesses of God.

31:17

Now think about this one for a second. How many people ever are concerned about being a false witness of God?

31:31

I don't know why this has stuck in my mind. And I don't know why

31:37

I did it, but years and years and years ago, it's probably been two decades.

31:44

Maybe I was just bored or something. I was home alone. I do know that. But I turned on locally here.

31:53

For those of you listening on the web, it doesn't make, the number doesn't make any difference. But locally here, there's a channel between 20 and 22.

32:02

You know which one I mean? And I turned it on. And Paula White was on.

32:13

Paula White is not as young as the plastic surgery makes you look. She's been around a while.

32:20

And I know she's become far more famous because of her association with President Trump.

32:28

But this was long before that. And she was on. I was cooking myself something for dinner.

32:36

And she was on. I'm listening to this stuff. And I'll just never forget. My recollection is, and the number could be off, but it was in the 60s somewhere.

32:48

She was doing something out of Psalm 66, which meant that the

32:54

Lord was saying that you needed to give $66 to Paula White Ministries.

33:01

And here's the 1 -800 number for you to call to give your $66. Or multiples thereof, which the people on the other end would help you to understand what the multiples were if you needed their calculators.

33:16

And I just remember stopping and just staring at the television going, why doesn't

33:21

God just simply, you know, one good lightning bolt would really tell a lot of people that this is not something you shouldn't be messing with the scriptures like this, you know?

33:32

You know, there are so many who will stand before God someday, and they will be convicted of being false witnesses against God.

33:47

Every time you hear one of these health, wealth, gospel preachers telling people that if they'll give the last dime of their

33:58

Social Security check, they'll get tenfold in return. They're going to be held accountable for every single time they opened their mouth and lied to people in God's name.

34:11

That, by the way, just in passing, is why we take the exegesis of the text of scripture so seriously.

34:23

Why? What's the connection? Because when you do the work of following the text and understanding the text and letting the text speak, it's not you speaking.

34:38

This is God's word. We get out of the way and let the text speak. That's the only way you can ever stand behind a pulpit and say, thus sayeth the

34:47

Lord, if you're allowing the scriptures to be what is speaking and not this stuff that allows people to be flying around in multi -million -dollar jet aircraft that they've, you know, bought.

35:03

They're on their 14th one. You all know who I'm talking about. They've been at it for a long time.

35:11

Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we bore witness against God that he raised

35:18

Christ, whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. My goodness. Most people have never even thought about what it would be like to stand before God someday and God say, you told people that I did this.

35:31

What warrant did you have? You were lying about me. And there will be judgment.

35:41

There will be judgment. That's again why we have to be so careful to handle the word of God correctly.

35:51

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, empty.

36:00

And here it is, folks. You are still in your sins.

36:12

I have many times had the opportunity. God's been very gracious to me over the years.

36:19

I don't expect that I'll have this opportunity much in the future. But over the past decade and a half,

36:28

I traveled the world and debated many times in mosques and had the opportunity.

36:38

I'll never ever forget the debate in the Gray Street Mosque in Durban, South Africa.

36:48

Large number of people. And had the opportunity there to proclaim openly the deity of Christ to people who believe that Jesus is just a mere prophet.

37:00

And one of the texts that I would press upon the Muslims was

37:05

John 8, 24. And in John chapter 8, Jesus speaking to the

37:13

Jews says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

37:23

And he uses a specific phrase, egoaim,

37:28

I am, which we go back to the Greek septuagint. It's translating the Hebrew term on a who and it's used the name for God.

37:36

God identifies himself as the I am. And he says to the

37:42

Jews, unless you believe that I am, you will what? You will die in your sins.

37:48

And I've often said, I don't know about you, it seems to me no one should want to die in their sins.

37:59

That's a word of finality. That is hopelessness.

38:08

And Paul says, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins.

38:22

In a little while we'll partake of the table. We'll partake of the bread.

38:28

We'll drink of the cup. And we'll remember the one who did what?

38:35

Bore our sins in our place. Well, wouldn't it just be enough for Christ to die?

38:42

It is self -evident from the New Testament scriptures that as central as the death of Christ is, to demonstrate the acceptance of that offered sacrifice, the one that gave the sacrifice must be raised from the dead for our justification.

39:08

If we want to have life, we must be in him. His resurrection becomes our resurrection.

39:17

The fact that he walked out of that grave means you and I will not be trapped in that grave.

39:24

And that means our sins left with the open tomb. We have been redeemed.

39:32

They've been taken care of. God the Father has said, it's enough. I accept the sacrifice.

39:42

But if that tomb is still filled, if as what year was that?

39:52

Well, you'd think I'd remember these things, but I don't teens somewhere.

40:00

Remember the Talpiot tomb story? James Cameron came out with this whole theory that he and this other guy had come up with that the

40:15

Jews would use things called bone boxes. And so when

40:20

Jesus' body was placed into the tomb, the practice of the

40:27

Jews at that time, given how small Israel is, and Israel is small, it really is.

40:34

I've only been there once and I'm so glad I got to go that one time. But the thing that I came away from that was how small it is.

40:45

And that would mean burial space is at a premium.

40:52

And so what they would do is a year after you were buried on that anniversary, they would come in, your body has decayed by that point in time, and they would collect the bones and they would place them in what's called an ossuary, a bone box.

41:12

And a number of years ago, a bone box was discovered that a lot of people do feel was of Jesus' brother,

41:23

James. Now, frequently they put more than one person in their bones into one particular box.

41:30

And in fact, in Israel, what they do every time they find these bone boxes, which they find very, very often, they have cataloged all the names.

41:41

That must be a fascinating job. Aren't you glad you don't have that job? They've cataloged all the names.

41:49

And just in passing, I think this is really, really interesting, is that when you look at the names in the

41:58

Gospels in the New Testament, and you compare them with the archives that the

42:06

Israelis, modern Israelis, have been producing on computer by cataloging these bone boxes, the names you find in the

42:16

Gospels in the New Testament match up perfectly in the frequency of the use of names, as was the case in the first century in Israel.

42:28

Why is that important? Because you can go to almost any university or college around here and run into Bart Ehrman devotees, like Summer did when she went to Glendale, and they will tell you that the

42:46

Gospels and stuff like that were written long after those events, they're written outside of Israel, they're written in Rome, and all the rest is kind of foolishness.

42:54

Answer me a question. How would people in Rome know what the most common names in the streets of Jerusalem were and get it right?

43:05

Not going to happen. Now, one thing was pretty weird. I don't know why, but if you called out in the first century in Jerusalem, if you were in the city street and you went, hey

43:23

Mary, about half the women in the street would turn around. I'm not sure why that is, but have you noticed when you read the

43:33

Gospels, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary the Magdalene, and Mary this, and they had to have all this extra stuff to figure out which

43:41

Mary was Mary, but Mary was a very, very popular name, and the bone boxes prove it, and so is the

43:47

New Testament. Point being, you had these ossuaries, and they came up with a theory, now they ended up on Good Morning America, and all the rest of this stuff, and in 17 days

44:00

I wrote an entire book rebuttal of it, because they were basing it on Gnostic Gospels and all this silliness, and most people don't know what the

44:06

Gnostic Gospels are, and so there are a lot of people going, what are these people talking about? But they came up with this theory that they had found

44:15

Jesus's bones, and so there were a lot of people having a discussion at that time, and it's a discussion that needs to be had.

44:23

What if you found Jesus's bones? Well, I can tell you what Paul's answer to that would be, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

44:44

They've perished. Now he doesn't go into a discussion here, but think about it.

44:49

If what he's saying is, we don't want to be false witnesses of God, and you've trusted in Christ, and Christ hasn't been raised, and you perish, then you're facing the judgment of God without any answer for your sins.

45:07

You're dying in your sins. You're going to face the judgment of God. Can you see for Paul, there is no middle ground.

45:17

It's all or nothing. Either Christ is physically risen from the dead, or we've got nothing.

45:26

Everything else is empty. There's nothing there. There's nothing there.

45:35

And that's why he then says, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

45:49

Now I just know... See, I wondered at the time, many decades ago when

45:58

I graduated from Grand Canyon College at that time, and was looking at seminary, there was only one option in Phoenix.

46:09

And we thought about going elsewhere, but Alpha and Omega had already been started, and then baby comes along, and we're dirt poor.

46:18

And so there was only one option in the Phoenix area at that time. There was no

46:23

Phoenix seminary. There wasn't anything like that at all. There was something called Fuller Theological Seminary. They had a

46:28

Phoenix extension. They still do. At least I think they still do. Anyway, Fuller was way to my left.

46:36

Thankfully, they drew most of their professors from Grand Canyon, and so I even got to continue studying

46:43

Greek with the same professor I'd had at Grand Canyon and things like that. But when they would fly people in from Pasadena, where the main campus was, oh boy, did

46:55

I struggle, because they were way, way, way to my left.

47:01

I was Fuller's token fundamentalist. I learned a lot from them. I learned to be able to spit out the bones and keep the meat, and that people on the left can do good research.

47:15

It's just their conclusions that are normally completely wacky. I learned a lot, but I wondered the time.

47:21

It wasn't easy, and I had a dear friend who went through Fuller just after me. He had been just in front of me at Grand Canyon, but took a few years off, and then he was right behind me.

47:29

I remember him coming to my apartment one evening after a class, and he was just in tears. He was so tired of fighting the battle, being the only one that really believes that the

47:39

Bible is inerrant and inspired and things like that. I now know years and years and years later why the

47:47

Lord did what he did, because I know liberalism. I know how they think.

47:53

I had to read their commentaries. I had to interact with them, and have been interacting with them ever since then, and I know that many of them would say, well, honestly, as long as you hope in Christ in this life, what happens afterwards really doesn't matter.

48:12

It still made you a better person. The Apostle Paul says, no.

48:22

Are you seriously telling people that living your life based on a lie is okay?

48:29

Well, that's the way it is. Oh well. Living life based upon truth is glorifying to God.

48:40

But I know the progressive mindset, and they would be more than happy to say, well, as long as it fulfilled you.

48:49

Folks, your fulfillment is not why God created this universe. It's the praise of the glory of his grace that matters.

49:01

It's the revelation of who he is that matters, and progressivist leftist theology is always left with being focused upon man, never upon God and his revelation in his word.

49:21

So, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

49:32

A non -supernatural Christianity, a non -resurrected Jesus Christianity is pitiful.

49:42

It's to be pitied, and man, there's a lot of it out there. Man, there is a lot of it out there.

49:51

But Paul can only go on. I mean, can anyone really say that he left any stone unturned there to say, if Christ is not raised, what are we doing?

50:02

And so finally, he says in verse 20, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

50:12

For instance, by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. He had to have been a man.

50:19

There has to be a correspondence between Adam and Christ. This is why, hear me,

50:26

I know we may have visitors, hear me, there is a doctrine in the

50:32

Roman Catholic Church called the perpetual virginity of Mary.

50:40

It's an ancient doctrine. It developed out of the Alexandrian fathers and the development of monasticism, and it became the prevalent view for many, many, many centuries.

50:54

It says that not only that Mary did not have any other children, it's very strange, she's bopping around Israel with all these young men that are cousins or something, calling her mom, and they're brothers and sisters.

51:11

But anyway, becomes the popular perspective.

51:17

But that's not all that the doctrine teaches. Anyone who is familiar with the dogmatic teachings of the

51:24

Roman Catholic Church knows that the perpetual virginity of Mary is the teaching that Mary maintained her virginal integrity even in giving birth to Jesus.

51:41

Not only that she never had marital relations with Joseph, not only that she never had any other children after that, but that even in the birth of Christ, her physical virginal integrity was maintained.

51:56

I'm not gonna go in any more detail with that, but if you know anything about human physiology, yes, that's what

52:03

Rome is saying dogmatically. De fide, you must believe it by faith.

52:11

Here's the problem. That means Jesus was not born like you and I were born. And in fact, the sources that they used to develop that concept, such as the

52:23

Protevangelium of James, these were Gnostic sources where if you read them, there was all of a sudden a bright light and Mary's no longer pregnant, but there's the baby.

52:39

He beamed out. He was not born like a human being.

52:46

He beamed out of Mary. Let's not get into any

52:52

Star Trek analogies or anything else here, but that's basically how it worked. Here's the problem.

53:00

That means he's not a human being, and therefore the connection between Christ, second

53:09

Adam, Adam, first Adam, it's broken. It's broken.

53:18

There's danger in dogma that comes from tradition rather than from God -breathed scripture.

53:29

There's danger in that kind of dogma. So Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

53:39

For since by a man came death, Adam, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead,

53:45

Jesus. For as an Adam all dies, so also in Christ I'll be made alive. Now, just in passing, universalists will jump on this one and say, see, everyone will be made alive in Christ.

53:58

Everyone's going to be saved. It's getting more and more popular these days. It used to be more popular, you know, a hundred and, about a hundred years ago, there was a lot of, you've seen the

54:06

Unitarian Universalist churches and stuff like that. That's universalism, but here's the problem. Not only here in 1

54:14

Corinthians chapter 15, but in Romans chapter 5, you have two humanities, one in Christ, one in Adam. In Adam, all you can get from Adam's death.

54:22

If you're in Christ, what you receive from Christ is life. The question is, who are you in? And that's what he's saying in here.

54:29

For as in, for since by a man came death, by a man came also resurrection of the dead.

54:36

For as an Adam all die, that's all he can give you is death. So also in Christ, if you're in Christ, all will be made alive, but each in his own order.

54:46

Christ, the first fruits, after that, those who are Christ's at his coming.

54:53

So just be aware that sometimes people will throw that verse out while trying to prove universalism.

54:59

Now, my time has escaped me, but I want to remind you of the great conclusion of this chapter that we looked at together, beginning in verse 54.

55:14

But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible and this mortal puts on immortality, then we'll come about the word that is, the word that is written.

55:22

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

55:30

Oh, death, where is your sting? And that's connected directly. And sometimes it gets lost because he has the whole discussion about the resurrection by something like that.

55:38

With the fulfillment that was mentioned earlier, when we are told in verse 25, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

55:51

Please notice that's a quotation from the old Testament as is death is swallowed up in victory.

55:58

Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? These are old Testament quotations that are being brought into the argument by the apostle

56:07

Paul. This is not some new thing. This is something that has been prophesied all along and Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

56:20

And the last enemy to be abolished is death. Now we could camp on that one for a long time if we wanted to.

56:28

We don't have time to right now. And of course, Brother Durbin has camped on that one for a long time, many times in the past.

56:37

But here is the promise, victory over death.

56:42

Death, where is your sting? Folks, just me and you right now, where is the sting of death?

56:57

For believers. He explains here, it's been removed because of the work of Christ.

57:04

Sin, law condemning it. Christ has removed us from the curse of law.

57:10

We hear all that. But you and me, how much do we fear death?

57:22

Don't you ever have those moments where you sit there and you ask yourself,

57:27

I know what I'm supposed to feel. I know how I'm supposed to think, but you still think about it, don't you?

57:40

We all do. I think one of the reasons is because we don't see it nearly as often as generations before us did.

57:49

Oh, we see it portrayed on television all the time. You can watch a half -hour television program and a thousand people will die during the half an hour.

57:59

And by the end of the half hour, everybody's happy again. I remember a, I'll go ahead and I remember a

58:05

Star Trek episode where the Enterprise's sister ship exploded and everybody on it died.

58:13

And by the end of the episode, all's well. Everything's cool. You see, we hide from death in our society now.

58:24

My grandparents saw death in their own homes.

58:32

Families live together. You saw your grandparents and your great -grandparents die. You experienced child mortality and you saw brothers and sisters die.

58:41

You understood your own mortality and you saw people handling it well.

58:49

We hide from it now. And as a result, if we're honest, we very frequently fear it.

58:56

And so when we hear, oh, death, where is your sting? We're like, yeah, I'll sing that.

59:04

But be honest. Do we really believe it? Do we understand why we can say death, where is your sting?

59:13

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

59:21

Lord Jesus Christ. How many days, my friends, I'm just asking you honestly, you don't have to answer.

59:27

How many days do we get up in the morning and we are so focused on the things of this world that we never even think about the victory over death that has been given to us by grace through Jesus Christ?

59:46

Shouldn't that be something that takes up a lot of our thinking? Shouldn't that be something for which we give thanks on a regular basis?

59:57

But I love the practicality of Paul.

01:00:04

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

01:00:09

Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain, the Lord. How does he end this entire long chapter on the victory over death with the practical exhortation to be steadfast, immovable?

01:00:25

Well, our world wants to move you, to move you off your faith, to move you off of being an evangelist, to coward you into quietness.

01:00:42

And Paul says, be steadfast, be immovable, because you have these promises.

01:00:49

You don't have to fear death. So who could ever make you not be steadfast or immovable?

01:00:55

What's the worst they can do to you? Kill you? Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?

01:01:04

And therefore, always abounding in the work of the Lord. If your theology does not result in your being involved in the work of the

01:01:17

Lord, finding the energy to be doing the work of the Lord, then your theology is failing you.

01:01:30

Abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor, we're being called to labor to glorify

01:01:37

God, your labor is not vain in the

01:01:43

Lord. I love how Paul said that to the Colossians. Whatever you do, whatever

01:01:50

God's called you to do, it's the Lord Christ you serve, not that boss that you cannot stand or cannot stand you.

01:02:01

Not the fact that you find yourself currently working a job that you really don't find a whole lot of fulfillment in. But if you recognize that it's the

01:02:09

Lord Christ you serve, your labor is not vain in the

01:02:14

Lord, you can find a level of satisfaction the world has no understanding of and can't have any understanding of at all.

01:02:24

Practical application of the reality. But here's my word for us today.

01:02:36

All of history has a center point. There's a meaning to history.

01:02:44

I feel sorry for the young generation today that has been given a view of history and a view of mankind and a view of time that's empty.

01:02:52

It's chaos. There is no meaning. You listen to Richard Dawkins, you are a worthless to the cosmos, worthless thing.

01:03:06

The cosmos doesn't care that you're here. It's not going to care when you're gone. It's not going to remember you.

01:03:12

There is nothing but now. What emptiness. History has a goal.

01:03:21

It has an end. And it has a midpoint that everything was looking forward to and everything since then looks back to.

01:03:33

And that was when our Creator entered His own creation. That's why we are nuts about Christmas.

01:03:43

But there's no reason to be nuts about Christmas if you don't have the cross.

01:03:50

And if you don't have the cross, there's no reason to be excited about the empty tomb. It's all of one piece.

01:03:58

It's the center point of history. But here's what you need to understand.

01:04:04

If you want to make sense out of this world, you must view it in the light that comes forth from that empty tomb.

01:04:17

Because this world cannot close that tomb up. The world tried.

01:04:24

Rome put a seal on it, do not open. And God said, watch it.

01:04:30

And that seal was broken. The most powerful empire in the world seals broken.

01:04:40

And you can try rolling that tomb back all you want. You will not stop the light from escaping from that tomb.

01:04:50

This world is walking in darkness. We have the light of life.

01:04:57

And that light has been shining ever since that tombstone rolled out of the way.

01:05:03

And nothing will ever stop it. Are you thankful? Do you walk in light of that light?

01:05:11

Do you ever find yourself looking around for something else because you're not satisfied with it? It has to be enough for all of us.

01:05:20

And it is enough for all of us. He is risen.

01:05:26

Our faith, therefore, is not in vain. Our faith is a living faith given to us by God.

01:05:34

Let us live in light of it. Let's pray together. Indeed, our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gospel.

01:05:44

We thank you for your power in raising Jesus from the dead. Lord Jesus, we adore you.

01:05:53

We worship you. We are so thankful for your ministry there at the right hand of the

01:06:00

Father, interceding for us, the victory that you won on the cross and coming forth from the grave.

01:06:09

And oh, dear Holy Spirit, work in our hearts that we may understand and live in light of the truth that is found in the pages of the very word you've given to us.

01:06:26

Thank you, triune God, for all that you have done in your own self -glorification and our salvation in that process.