Would you take your Bibles this morning and once again return to the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, as we close out our study in that particular chapter, leaving us just one more chapter in our work through Paul's letter to the church, the members that make up the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We'll pick up the reading in verse 50, right toward the end of the chapter, and then read through 58, the end of the chapter. Help your children if they're with you. Would you help them follow along in your Bible or their own? As I read God's word, would you follow, please? Paul writes to the church, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Three times. In verse 54, 55, and 57, Paul uses the word victory as he sums up the whole of chapter 15. The resurrection of believers is our victory. And all Christians, me, you, all of us worldwide, All Christians everywhere should be the most victorious people on this planet that God has created. At my church growing up as a kid, we would sing the gospel song, Victory in Jesus. It seemed like nearly every Sunday. It's ingrained in my brain. I heard an old, old story how a savior came from glory. And then the course concludes with victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. Victory is a great word. Victory is a New Testament word. And the word victory is our Lord's word to us, his people. The word is both a source of hope and it is a source of motivation, brothers and sisters. for how we are to live in the present. V is for victory. In verses 53 to 57, Paul gives to us the final word on death. You'll notice in verse 53 that he gives to us, excuse me, 54, that he gives to us some time words. The word when and the word then. This final word on death is encapsulated in some time. And between the words when and then, there are some familiar words to us as we've been studying chapter 15. The familiar word corruptible. He's writing about those who have already passed away, the already deceased. And in corruption, what's happening to their bodies once they have been put into the tomb or into the ground, it is decaying when it's corruptible. But in corruption, it is without decay. The future status of those who have already died. There is another familiar word in this verse, the word mortal. Paul is writing about those who are alive at Jesus' return, and they will put on another familiar word, immortality. They will be eternal and endless life, and this is their future status. And Paul tells us that these familiar words which are going to come about in the future, incorruptible and immortality, he tells us that this will happen when? So when this happens, then death passes away. I really like how the New King James translators and the King James translators translate that in verse 54. The other translations are good too. I just like it here. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Brought to pass. Passes away. Death passes away. Great way to put it. And how will this happen? Because Paul writes at the end of 54 that death is swallowed up in victory. Swallowed up. What does that mean? It means to drink to the bottom, consume, to drain it. In other words, it's all gone. There is no more death. It's completely consumed. And when is this going to happen? This is going to happen, as Paul has written, at the resurrection, when Christ returns. Then death is fully and finally defeated. Defeated in the victory of Jesus Christ. But it's important that we note, brothers and sisters, the when and the then. When this happens, but not before the then. Unless the Lord in His grace returns and takes us to be with Him before our deaths, we will all experience death. Death is certainly swallowed up in victory, but the then has not yet come. And it is likely that the means by which we will die will be the means by which unbelievers die too. We're not exempt from cancers. We aren't exempt from congestive heart failures. We're not exempt from head-on collisions. We're not exempt from falls from ladders. We're not exempt from violent deeds done against us, which lead to our deaths. We will ask why. We'll say about those who die in young age, why did she have to die so young? Why did he have to die so young? We'll ask why that Christian died in the way that they died. And the answer to all of those questions is because, at present, death still has life in it. And it will be that way until Jesus returns. At the end of verse 54, you see the phrase, death is swallowed up in victory, and maybe like in your Bible, it is in mine, it's in italics. That's what the editors are doing to give you a clue that this part of the verse is a quote from an Old Testament text. And no doubt you have a footnote or a cross-reference somewhere in your Bible that tells you what that quote, where that quote exists. And this comes from Isaiah's prophecy. specifically Isaiah 25 in verse 8. Well, what happens in Isaiah 25 that Paul would be using that here in 1 Corinthians 15 to support his idea that the corruptible must put on incorruption and the immortal must put on mortality? You'll remember that Isaiah is a prophet given to the northern tribes. He is prophesying about the redemption that will culminate in the suffering servant that is in those great chapters in chapter 53 and chapter 54 and chapter 55. And up to that point, Isaiah tells of the work of God that is going to happen to people who have been kicked out of their land and are exiles, and who find themselves under the domination of a ruling king that is not their own. And in chapter 25, Isaiah prophesies that these people can look forward to God freeing them. Let me read to you just briefly what he writes in verse 6 of 25. And in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces. Feast of wines on the leaves of fat things full of marrow of well refined wines on the leaves and he will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over the people and the veil that is spread over all nations He will swallow up death forever. Oh, there it is. I and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. The rebuke of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken." The prophecy of Isaiah was this, that God's people will feast with God. Isaiah's prophecy to a people that were dominated by a foreign king is that God's people will be secure with him. The prophecy of Isaiah to a people that had been removed by force from their land and were living as exiles in a foreign land was that God's people will return to their land and God's people will be happy when they are with Him. So Paul, in chapter 15, quotes Isaiah 25, and he applies Isaiah 25 to us. That we, God's people, in the resurrection, will feast with Him. That we will be secure with Him, and God's people will be happy with Him. What does the resurrection affirm? The resurrection affirms that God will fulfill his word to his people, both to his ancient people, and as he says in Isaiah 25, all the people of all the nations who belong to him. This is the victory that God is giving to us, brothers and sisters. And so then Paul does what's next in his final word on death. And in chapter 15, he does what many of the prophets do incredibly well. Probably the most famous is when the prophet is standing on Mount Carmel, right? and he mocks the prophets of Baal? Hey, why don't you ask your God to bring down fire from heaven? And, oh, maybe he's sleeping, or maybe he's just gone away on a trip, and he just forgot about you people for a little while. You remember the mocking? Paul's going to do the exact thing in chapter 15, except he is not mocking an idol. Here, he is mocking death. Christian you too can mock death look at its mocking statements in 55 Oh death where is your sting here he's quoting Hosea 13 14 we all know Death is a venomous creature. We all know this. We can make no mistake about that. Death is toxic. Death is painful. And nearly everyone in the gathering is intimately aware of this. But for the Christian who is experiencing death, what the Bible teaches for that Christian Death has lost its sting on him. In no way is it toxic. In no way is it venomous. In no way can it bring harm to the dying Christian. So we can say, with complete authority of the Word of God, that to the Christian, death is harmless. Have you ever noticed this when you've been around God's people who are terminal? I mentioned to you a few weeks ago my father. I don't think I'll be as emotional this morning as I was on that particular day because the statement is different. My dad was not a trained theologian, but everyone is a theologian. My dad was not a trained theologian like his son and his grandson. My dad came to faith in Christ in his mid-20s following a horrific car accident that happened right outside the entrance to the Baptist Church on the south side of Chicago, where my family would eventually become members. Pastor heard the accident. He went out there. My dad was in the accident. He was unconscious. He was severely injured. Sometime later in the providence of God, my dad happened to be at an occasion where that same pastor was. And that pastor gave my dad the gospel again, and my dad was gloriously saved. It's an incredible story. My dad then never really had the privilege of having an older Christian man disciple him. That didn't happen for him. His discipleship, his growth in Christ really came just in his own sitting under the ministry of the Word of God in my home church. And as my dad was dying, he was very weak, I was there by myself with him on that particular day in the hospital. And I remember my dad, and boy I hope I never forget this, I remember my dad looking to me and saying, I just want to go be with my Lord." To him, there was no toxicity in his death. It held no sting for him. It was harmless. I just want to go be with my Lord. Some of you may remember Denny Frank. Denny was a member of our church. He came to faith in Christ. In his mid-fifties, Denny had trained for the priesthood. He did everything except perform his first Mass, remained a single man the whole of his life, lived in rebellion against God. His brother, Tom, faithfully witnessed to him over the years. He began to attend with Tom here on Lord's Day mornings, and he would hear the gospel preached, and brilliant guy, as intelligent a man as we've ever had in our assembly. And he was a critic and a skeptic. The first two, three months that he came with his brother Tom, he would sit and listen politely because he was kind, but with with no sense that the Word of God was accurate the way that it was being preached from our pulpit. But he kept coming. And I suppose eight, 10 months after hearing the Word of God preached, the Holy Spirit of God opened his blind eyes, unplugged his deaf ears, and some of you will remember, Denny Frank was gloriously saved. And he was a joy to our church. And it was shortly thereafter that Denny was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I'm told, not an oncologist, but I'm told that for all men, if you live long enough, you're probably going to develop prostate cancer. Well, Denny developed it as a man in his 50s. He went through all the procedures that men go through when they have that kind of cancer. Thought it was taken care of, but it was not. The cancer traversed to his... And the word just escaped my mind. Someone help me, please. Thank you, to his pancreas. The cancer traversed to his pancreas, and as you know, pancreatic cancer is normally incurable, and so it was for Denny. He continued to be a part of our gathering even as his cancer increased. He continued to serve as an usher, continued to be faithful to the Lord, but the pain was debilitating. And some of you will remember, despite the reality of the debilitating pain, and the death he was facing. Some of you will recall the joyfulness that God brought to this brother in Christ and through him to the whole of our church as we watched him die. He died Christianly with the joy of the Lord on his lips. Why? Because death is harmless to the Christian. To you, Christian brother, to you, Christian sister, death is harmless to you. It holds no sting. Some of you will remember the names Lattimore and Ridley. They are famous because they are part of the English Reformation. and much of what we know as American Christianity has, at least as part of its roots, what happened in the Reformation of England. October 16, 1555, Lattimore and Ridley, who served in the Church of England as clergy, Lattimore and England were now in opposition to Queen Mary. Queen Mary, you recognize her as Bloody Mary. Queen Mary was on the rampage, executing as many as she could of the Protestant tradition, trying to bring the Church of England back under the rule of the Church of Rome. Lattimore and Ridley were the next on her target list. They were to be burned at the stake. For 18 months, they had been kept in the Tower of London, where they had prayed together and talked together. And now they were marched and paraded toward the spike where they would be tied to the post and burned at the stake. The two Christian brothers, now experiencing death, and in the face of it, The death about which the Apostle quoted the prophet Isaiah said to them For you Ridley and for you lot of more death has no sting. They now are about to face it Ridley Was the first to encourage his friend To lot of more Ridley said this be of good heart brother for God will either assuage the fury of the flame or else strengthen us to abide it. As the accounts go, as the bundles around their feet were lit, it was Lattimore then who said to Ridley this, be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out." And that is true. My Christian brothers and sisters, the Bible teaches us that for Christian women and Christian men, death can do nothing to you. It doesn't have the capacity to do anything to you. It has no sting for you. It's like Paul is mocking and saying to them, not to death, not so tough now, are you? Because of Christ's victory. Henry, commenting on this, writes in the 17th century, death may seize a believer, but cannot sting him. cannot hold him in his power. Oh, death, where is your sting? It's a mocking statement that every Christian can say to death when you face it in the providence of God. It has no sting for you. His final word on death has some time factors. His final word on death has a mocking tone. His final word on death in verse 56 has some concise theology. You'll notice three big words that are in there. The words are death, sin, and law. About sin, he says that this, that sin is the trigger for death. What is death? Death is separation from God. We know this from the earliest pages of our Bibles. In Genesis chapter 3, when God pronounces the judgment on Adam and Eve, whose sin in the early part of chapter 3, you'll remember that the immediate punishment for Adam and Eve is separation. The Bible teaches us that prior to their sin, Adam and Eve walked with God regularly in the garden. There was intimate fellowship with God. But upon their sin, God kicks them out of the garden, never to enter it again. They are separated from God. What happened to Adam and Eve? is the experience of all humanity. All humanity upon death is separated from God for eternity in a real place called hell. This separation from God is the sting of sin. And it is permanent. In Paul's concise theology, what part does God's law play in this? So, sin, law, death. What part does God's law play in this? Well, what is God's law? I can give you a very simple definition for it. God's law is His expectation for us. His expectation for His creation. And what the law does is the law observes our behaviors. And where our behaviors are in conflict with the law, where they are outside the law, the law declares that behavior sin. We have trespassed against the law. But not only does the law observe our sin and declare it to be sin, The law records all of our sin. And then the law pronounces sentence on our sin. The sentence being death. So the law becomes an ally to sin in bringing death. That's Paul's very concise theology. You want to study it further? Read Romans 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and you will have it. But when you see that, that ought to be very troubling to you. It ought to be troubling to anyone who reads it. Because there is none who is without sin. In fact, all have sinned, so that death has passed upon all men. Then comes verse 57. But thanks be to God. You see, the experience of loss, sin, and death is not the experience for you. It is not our experience. In fact, the word but, the opposite is true. What should be our experience, in fact, is not going to be our experience. We are not going to experience the death, the separation from God, which is eternal and which is permanent. We are not going to experience that. And somebody says, how is that possible? The first words of verse 57, thanks be to God. And every one of us should respond with, yes, thanks be to God. Separation from God, which is due to me because of my sin, which is articulated by my transgression against the law, does not apply to me because of God, thanks be to Him. When we gather around the table tonight, which I hope all of you will do, when we gather around the table tonight, part of our gathering will be as thanks to God Our Lord's table gathering is certainly more than thanksgiving to God, but it is absolutely nothing less than thanksgiving to God. And you'll note in verse 58, but thanks be to God, not thanks to us. Hey, good job, Mike. You finally figured out how to turn your life around and get yourself on a good path and make right decisions and stop doing the dumb, stupid, youthful things you used to do, and now God will be happy with you. No, there's no thanks to us. Not to us, O Lord, not to us be the glory, but thanks be to God. And this should be the normal practice of us believers every time we gather on a Lord's Day. He's talking to one family on the way in this morning and the conversation went something like this, ask pastor if it's hard to get out of bed sometimes. Maybe you had that conversation at your house this morning with your children. Maybe you had it with your husband. Hey, we got to get out of bed. We need to get going today. Is there motivation for us to gather on a Lord's day? Absolutely. Thanks be to God. Death and sin and the law no longer have mastery over us. And every Lord's Day, every Lord's Day when you are tempted, stay away for whatever reason your mind has come up with. Draw yourself back to the truth of God's Word, that if God had not given you the victory, you would be eternally separated from God, and you need to get with God's people to say thank you to Him. I hope we never get over this. I hope our church is never characterized by a group of people that is unthankful to God for the victory He has given to us. I hope your family never does either. I hope on every day there is someone in the house who is expressing thankfulness to God that what separated us from Him has been conquered by Him. And I hope for all of you who came to faith at a young age like I did. That's probably a good percentage of you. You came to know the Lord as a child or a teenager. You didn't live a life of debauchery. One of the men yesterday morning at our men's breakfast just said to me in passing, yeah, the life that I used to live. Well, for some of us, you know, I came to faith at five. This man was talking yesterday about smoking weed. I wasn't doing weed at five. That wasn't my life. But I was separated from God. I was born speaking lies. I was dead in my trespasses and sins. For some of us who came to faith at a young age, we need to teach ourselves, God did this for you. You didn't do it for yourself. You haven't always been a good girl. You haven't always been a good boy. You haven't always been a Christian. You weren't born gods. You were born of your father, the devil, and the lust of the father you will do. But thanks be to God. And those of us who came to faith at a young age, we need to teach ourselves that with regularity of what God has done for us. Well, what has he done? The verse tells us in verse 57 that He gives the victory. The victory over what? The immediate answer is death. Very good. Yes, he gives us victory over death, but not only does he give us victory over death He gives us victory over the agent that brings death. What is the agent that brings death? How does sin cut? How does death come death comes by? Sin and the same victory that is over death is given over sin beloved and you'll notice in the text in verse 57 That the victory is not in the future. The victory is in the present. Do you see the word gives? Not who will give, not who shall give, but who gives, right now, in the present, in the moment. How is God giving the victory in the moment, right now, to you and to me? Well, I just jotted down in my notes four ways you might jot down some more. Certainly this, He has given us the victory in the moment, and this, that there is no fear of death in us. We've covered that. In the present, how has He given us the victory? We actually are able to make sense of our world, aren't we? I mean, sometimes we say things like, this world makes no sense. But then we actually know it makes complete sense. This is a world in rebellion against God. I see what's happening. Makes sense to me. How is it that we have victory in the present? God's people can live without anxiety in this messed up world. When the scriptures tell us to be anxious for nothing, this isn't an open-ended statement that somehow you have to figure out. The victory for that is present for us. We not need live anxious lives. We're Christians. The God of heaven has conquered all. The God of heaven has promised to be faithful to us as we've sung about all morning today. What reason do I have to be anxious about anything? There is victory in the present for that. And there is victory in the present for temptation day after day. Paul writes that there is no temptation in you, but such as common to man. And there is victory for temptation. There is victory in Christ. When we are obedient to Christ, and the Holy Spirit leads us away from temptation toward righteousness, we do not have to sin. There is victory over that. The victories in the present, you probably could write a whole bunch more. The point that Paul makes is this, the Christian life is characteristically a life of victory. And someone says, yeah, well, I got to tell you, my life doesn't feel very victorious. And I must ask the question, why not? If the Bible says, thanks be to God who gives us in the present the victory, and you are a Christian who does not feel victorious, why not? Did you notice how Paul identifies Jesus in this verse? He gives him the full title. Did you see that? Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Why might it be that a Christian does not feel victorious? Might it be that that Christian lives unfaithfully to the Lordship of Christ? That Christian lives as if he is master to himself, and he lives outside of obedience to Christ? The result of that being consequences in his life? which bring about defeat at so many turns? Might it be that a reason that a Christian would say, I don't feel very victorious, is that Christian woman is living outside of the Lordship of Christ? Might it be that that Christian is living in negligence of his work? Jesus Christ. There is no embrace of His forgiveness. There is no recognition that Christ receives sinful men. But instead there is a capacity of, I just don't know if Christ will love me. Oh well. I'll just toss it all. Might those be reasons that your Christian life doesn't feel victorious? Paul writes, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you were with us at the beginning and you still remember everything that we've studied, I don't, but maybe you do, We go right back to where we started. Verse 57 is exactly what Paul wrote in the first four verses of chapter 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, the gospel in which you stand, the gospel by which you are saved. I deliver to you first of all that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. What Paul is writing in verse 57, what he wrote first in verses 1 to 4, conveys to us that the gospel is for every day. Victorious Christians bring to mind the gospel every day. We live victoriously by the gospel. And this victory has come by our Lord Jesus Christ. All of that now to lead us to verse 58. And we can cover this rather quickly. Therefore, now that you know all that you know about the resurrection, therefore, do this. You'll remember they asked two questions, right? Is there a resurrection? And if there is a bodily resurrection, what kind of bodies will we have in the resurrection? Hopefully by now, if you've been with us in the study, you can answer those two questions. to his beloved brethren in verse 58, Paul gives to them immediately applications to the resurrection at the present. Be steadfast and immovable. Maybe you've had somebody say to you, you know, you just refuse to change. Well, there are a few things, maybe not many, But there are a few things we would use the word immovable for. Steadfast, unchangeable. What might those things be? Well, if we just look in chapter 15, it would be this. We will not move from the fact that our sins are forgiven or that death has been conquered. or the bodily resurrection of all the saints. We're not going to move as we studied in the middle part of the chapter of the heroic work of Jesus Christ and that God is all in all. We're not going to move from these things. And the specific application that Paul is making to the church at Corinth is don't move away from the truth of the bodily resurrection. Do not do that. Be immovable on that point. With this being the result. always abounding. So here we are, we are a people about whom the Bible says that our citizenship is not here. The Bible calls us pilgrims. We're just passing through. Maybe in youth group you remember singing a song like that, just a pilgrim passing through. And the temptation might be to say, well, hey listen, nothing in this life is of any significance. It's all about the life to come. And Paul teaches that the resurrection does not prompt us to disconnect from this life. But instead, the resurrection should prompt us to engage it all the more. We are to, verse 58, abound in the work. What is the work? The work of the Lord. What is the work of the Lord? Do you remember from our first study in the study of 1 Corinthians? that Paul has three themes that he's addressing with the church. Unity, holiness, and edification. What is the abounding work of the Christians in Corinth? Be about the unity, the holiness, and the edification of the church. Abound in the work. Abound. How would you define the word abound? Does this definition work for you? More than seems normal. Abounding. So we are Christians. We do the work our Lord has assigned to us, using the gifts He has given to us. And I think verse 58 should prompt a question in every one of us. The question is this, as I embrace the resurrection, Am I abounding in the work of the Lord? Is that me? It's been a while since I've quoted to you from MacArthur. MacArthur, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, on this text, writes this. What a word Paul gives to the countless Christians who work and pray and give and suffer as little as they can. How can we be satisfied with the trivial, insignificant, short-lived things of the world? How can we take it easy when so many around us are dead spiritually, and so many fellow believers are in need of edification, encouragement, and help of every sort? When can a Christian say, I've served my time. I've done my part. Let others do the work now. Reasonable rest is important and necessary. But if we err, Paul is saying it should be on the side of doing more work for the Lord, not less. leisure and amusement and relaxation are three great modern idols to which many Christians seem quite willing to bow down. In proper proportion, recreation and diversions can help restore our energy and increase our effectiveness, but they also can can easily become ends in themselves, demanding more and more of our attention, concern, time, money, and energy. More than one believer has relaxed and hobbied and amused himself completely out of the work of the Lord. That's a good word. I think it's interesting that at the very end of Paul's Teaching chapter 16. He's wrapping up loose ends. He's gonna give some goodbye statements but chapter 15 and verse 58 really wraps up all of the Teaching that Paul is going to do for the Church of Corinth. This brings it to a close. I Find it really interesting. Do you? That Paul says that the weaknesses in the church at Corinth are could be overcome if the believers in that church would abound in work for the Lord. That's of interest to me. Remember all the stuff that Paul's covered to the church of Corinth? And he concludes it this way, abound in the work of the Lord, brothers and sisters. And I would say about our church the same. Whatever weaknesses appear in our church, weaknesses in unity, weaknesses in holiness, weaknesses in edification, could actually be overcome rather easily if the members of our church worked in an abounding way for the Lord. In your evaluation of your abounding work for the Lord, would the Lord have ample reason to say to you when you see Him, well done, good and faithful servant. He writes at the end that this labor is not in vain in the Lord. Not all work is useful. I mean, how many of us have done a project only to find at the end that we could get it completely wrong, and now we have to do it all over again? We've said, well, that was a waste of my time and money. There is no labor for the Lord that is a waste of time and money. The Lord gives a guarantee in His work. It is not in vain. Your labor in the Lord's work is not in vain in the church. Your labor in the Lord's work that you do in your family and in your home is not in vain in the Lord. Your labor in the Lord's work on the mission field is not in vain. The only kind of labor that is in vain in the work of the Lord is labor that is not done. And it's not vain in the present, and it also isn't in vain in the future. Henry is so good on this. The labor of Christians will not be lost labor. They may lose for God, but they will lose nothing by Him. Nay, there is more implied than is expressed in this phrase. It means that they shall be abundantly rewarded. He will never be found unjust to forget their labor of love. Nay, he will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Neither the services they do for him nor the sufferings they endure for him are worthy to be compared with the joy hereafter to be revealed in him. A pastor's favorite song as a kid, Bill Schroeder, who is now with the Lord. The song is so well known to me growing up in the church that I can tell you the page number. Because he would say, often at the end of a Sunday preaching, he would say, OK, let's turn to page 46 and sing, we'll work till Jesus comes. And then the song goes, we'll work till Jesus comes, then we'll be gathered home. The when and the then. The then is we will be gathered to be with Christ. Between now and then, no sting of death. Thanks to God for the victory. Abound in the work of the Lord. but we've arrived at the conclusion of chapter 15. That means we've made our way to the exit of the forest. You remember the forest's name? The name of the forest is resurrection. And in our walk through the forest, it has been our desire to study in this beautiful forest every feature of every leaf on every branch on every tree. I don't know that we accomplished that. But I'm hopeful that you have a better understanding of the forest, and I'm hopeful that your heart has been encouraged, and I'm hopeful that 1 Corinthians 15 has become, in your mind, a text to which you can go. like the way that you run to Psalm 23 or the way that you run to Romans chapter 8 or Philippians chapter 2. My hope for our church is that 1 Corinthians 15 becomes a text to which you run. One that you run for your own maturing in Christ. One to which you run as you are teaching your children. one to which you find yourself turning regularly as you are engaging with brothers and sisters who are dealing with the junk of this world. I hope it has become that for you. And I hope, brothers and sisters, that as much as anything, that the promise of a bodily resurrection for you and for all Christians has become a source of great joy to you, motivating you to be faithful to the Lord. May God grant His grace on our study. Let's pray together.