1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I'm sure it's no surprise that we would turn to 1 Corinthians 15. It is known as the resurrection chapter in the scriptures. Over the years, I've preached several sermons out of this chapter, but over the last few years, I've tried to, you know, pick a different passage, something else. But this year we come back to chapter 15. We're going to pay particular attention this morning to verses 50 through 58. 50 through 58, let me read those verses. We'll go to the Lord, and then we'll look at this passage. So 1 Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 50, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 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 imperishable and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Father, as we come to this passage, we pray that you would speak to us through it. We depend upon the Holy Spirit today to speak your word. And I pray that these words would be encouraging, that they would help us to focus on Christ and his resurrection from the dead. And now we give this time over to you. In the name of Christ, our great high priest, Amen. Chapter 15, as you know, primarily is about the resurrection. Now, Paul doesn't really get into the resurrection immediately, but beginning in verse 12, he really gets to the heart of the resurrection of Christ. But when we come to verses 50 through 58, some commentators have said this is the pinnacle of Paul's thoughts on the resurrection, the climax, as it were. The epicenter of his thoughts on the resurrection are found in these verses. My particular interest, and therefore our particular interest, the reason I came to this text to begin with, was because of verse 55. And so I'm starting off in the middle of the sermon, as it were, okay? But we're gonna start off with verse 55, and we'll see later, this is Paul's celebration of the resurrection. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? And it is of unanimous opinion that Paul is taunting death. He is, as it were, standing on the grave of death, stomping his feet, saying, now, O death, where is your victory? Now, O death, where is your sting? If I could use a common vernacular without being irreverent, Paul is talking trash. to death. I think y'all chuckled, I think y'all know what I mean, talking trash. It's usually, you know, sports language. You talk down, you insult, you criticize your opponent. You're trying to cut him down, trying to rattle him, shake him so that he can't perform at his best. There's even some trash talkers in the Bible. Satan was a trash talker. Goliath talked trash to Israel. David talked trash back at him. I'm gonna cut off your head. I'm gonna feed you to the birds. There are other places like that in the Bible. And so that's what Paul is doing. He's taunting death, talking trash. Ha, you thought you were so strong. Look at you now, you are dead in the grave. and he's dancing a celebration dance on the grave of death itself. That's what he's doing in verse 15. But for us to fully appreciate this, we have to look at it in its context. And so that's what we're doing. We're going to look at its context beginning in verse 50, but the larger context, and this is what we really have to keep in mind, the larger context here is the resurrection of Christ. This doesn't mean anything without the resurrection of Christ. In fact, Paul argues nothing means anything without the resurrection of Christ. Because if there is no resurrection, Paul says, then even Christ was not raised. And if Christ was not raised, then we're all still in our sins, because God lied, Christ lied, the apostles lied, your preachers lied. Everybody's a liar if Christ was not raised from the dead. So everything would be vain, we might as well eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we die and that's the end of it. Judgment follows. That's the context for this. because the resurrection matters. Everything turns on the resurrection of Christ from the dead. And so that's what Paul is talking about here. So let's see his celebration dance in the context of verses 50 through 58. And so this morning, I'm just going to give you a real simple outline and some really simple thoughts. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I preached from Psalm 118. On the Saturday before, Kurt asked me something about my preparation, and I said at that time, at this point, I'm just trying to simplify it. I want to make it as simple as possible. And so someone, I won't say who, someone came up to me after the sermon and said, thank you for preaching a simple sermon. She said, sometimes I need that. Well, this morning is gonna be another simple sermon. Just some simple thoughts, because there are some very deep thoughts here, and we can't dig down deep into any of them. So, let's go through these verses one by one. In verse 59, we have the problem. Verse 59 is a statement of the problem. I tell you this." Now, this is emphatic language. Paul is saying, I, Paul, I'm sorry, verse 50, I, Paul, am telling you this. If he's telling us something, he wants us to listen, right? He wants us to hear this. I'm telling you, brothers, brethren, brothers and sisters, Here's the problem, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood, just a shorthand way of speaking of our physical bodies. Our bodies are made up of more than flesh and blood. We all know that. Paul knows that. But it's just a way of speaking of the physical body. You're here this morning in a physical body. You're sitting in the pew, right? You have clothes on your bodies. There you are, flesh and blood. And Paul is saying to every one of you and to me, we may be here in our bodies, but our bodies cannot go to heaven. You're sitting there with your flesh and blood. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God here is just of heaven. Sometimes it means other things, but here it's speaking of heaven. You cannot go to heaven in your flesh and blood. That's a problem. He goes on to say, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Inheritance, you know, speaks of receiving what is ours, our inheritance, the gift that is given to us. Well, flesh and blood is perishable. It's subject to corruption, basically, subject to corruption, subject to decay. Now, that's a problem because the perishable cannot go to a place where everything is imperishable. Even Peter, remember in 1 Peter 1, says that we have an imperishable inheritance. Because in heaven, everything is imperishable. Nothing is subject to decay. Nothing is subject to corruption. So there you are in your flesh and blood, and your flesh and blood cannot get to heaven, and you are perishable, and the perishable cannot go where things are imperishable. So you have a problem. And this isn't just for believers, this is for everyone. Everyone who is alive is in a body, and that body cannot go to heaven. So that's just a simple explanation of the problem. Verse 51, so that's man's problem. Verse 51 is God's solution. Here's the solution, behold, Now a moment ago, he says, I tell you this. I want you to hear this. Now he says, behold, which means what? Look. You ever say to somebody, look at me. Look, look at my eyes. That's what Paul is saying here. Look, I want you to behold. Look at this. I tell you a mystery. Now in the scripture, a mystery always speaks of something that was hidden in ages past, but has now been revealed. There was something that ages and ages ago in the Old Testament, something that it was dark, it was mysterious, it wasn't fully revealed to them. But now it has been fully revealed. And what is this mystery? I'm gonna tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, and sleep means die. We shall not all die and be dead, but we shall all be changed. You see, the problem is the way we are right now can't get to heaven. So God is going to do something, and this is something that was just recently revealed through the gospel, that we're all going to be changed. We're all going to be transformed. We have to be changed. We have to go through a transformation because we can't go to heaven unless we're changed. That's God's solution right there. A transformation. And like Paul said, it was a mystery, but now it's been revealed to us. Now, you know, Paul's including everyone. He's talking about those who sleep. Sleep here, meaning death. They're asleep in death. But we all, all of us, whether we're dead or alive, and he's gonna address that again, whether dead or alive, we're all gonna be changed. We have to be changed if we would go to heaven. Well, a couple of questions might come up. Well, how and when? How's this gonna happen? And when will it happen? Well, that's what is declared for us in verse 52. How? He begins by saying, in a moment. Now, the Greek word there is atomos, you hear the word atom. It's the smallest particle. In a moment, in the smallest amount of time. Now, I know that the smallest particle A measurement of time is a zeptosecond. You're probably surprised at how much you can learn on the internet. It's a zeptosecond. What's a zeptosecond? It's a trillionth of a billionth of a second. That's how long it takes. It takes 247 zeptoseconds for light to pass through a molecule of hydrogen. But all of the kids here that are in school probably knew all that. It's a zeptosecond. In other words, Paul is saying, in a very, very, very, very short amount of time. How long is that? I don't know. In a moment. An atom worth of time. He goes on to say, in the twinkling of an eye. Now, some understand this to be just the movement of the eye, the fluttering of the eyelashes. Literally, it speaks of a glance. A glance of the eye. That would be a literal understanding of it. The twinkling of the glance. How long does it take for the eye to move to make a glance? You can't measure it. I mean, I could be looking to glance over to Jan, right? I'm looking at Paul. How long does it take for the eye to move? In other words, it's very quick. Well, that's Paul's point. In a moment, the time that it takes just to make a glance of the eye, in other words, suddenly, immediately, quickly, like that, like a flash of lightning, That's how it's going to be done, quickly. Now, he doesn't offer any explanation other than that here. It's just quickly. You know, one moment we're going to be, you know, perishable. One moment we're going to be in flesh and blood. And the next moment we're going to be changed. We're going to go through a transformation that quickly. That's our preparation for heaven. And we must all go through this transformation if we would go to heaven. So when will this happen? He says, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed. The trumpet will sound. Of course, you're familiar with what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, and there he wrote, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. The trumpet here is not trumped the last in sequence, but it's the final call. It's the final trumpet at the end of the age. At the end of time, the trumpet will sound. Christ will appear, and we will all be changed, whether we're dead or whether alive, when that trumpet sounds, announcing the final consummation of all things. And Christ is here. He's coming. At that moment, you'll all be changed. Now that's a glorious thought. But again, we have to remember, this only means something because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. He's even said that here, the dead will be raised. Why? Because of the resurrection of Christ. And because Christ has been raised, we will be raised to be with Christ. So how, I don't know, in the most minute amount of time, when the trumpet sounds, we will all be changed. The body you're sitting with right now, if the Lord will return, would instantaneously be changed. Now, in verse 53, we have an illustration. It's like Paul saying, okay, how can I say this in a way that's a little more understandable? It's metaphorical, but it's an illustration. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. This is the language of putting on garments, putting on clothes. I understand, I've never been to a place like this, but I know there are places that have a dress code, right? You know, you go to the door, you go in, they say, whoops, sorry, here's a coat and here's a tie. There are some places or events, like galas, where the men have to wear tuxedos and the women wear these beautiful gowns. And if you show up in your farm boots, your jeans, your sleeveless t-shirt, you're not getting in. There's a dress code. It's not fitting. Well, in a way, Paul is saying, you know those bodies that you're wearing right now? They're not appropriate. They're not fitting. They won't get you in. You've got to put on some new clothes. So that you're dressed with imperishable clothing. So that that which is mortal, subject to death, can be clothed with what is never subject to death, immortality. That's just an illustration of what he's talking about. That's verse 53. The perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Why? Because flesh and blood cannot get to heaven. And then in verse 54, we have a declaration. A declaration. You remember when World War II ended, it was called V-Day or V-E Day, victory in Europe. It was the end of the war. Well, this is our spiritual V-Day. our victory in Christ. Verse 54, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. And this is a quote from Isaiah 25, verse eight. Death is swallowed up. Swallowed up means gulped up. So you have the kind of an image of this great being, great creature, maybe a giant fish or something that is just gulping up death, swallowing up death. And in this swallowing up, death is put to death. Death is defeated. It's victory day. And he says, death is swallowed up in victory. Victory over death, death of death. It is the death of death. We sang of that this morning in a couple of the songs that we sang. It is the death of death. And where is our victory? It's in Christ. It's in the resurrection of Christ. That is our victory. That's V-Day for us. And so Paul is making this declaration. The victory has been won. Therefore, because victory has been won, now we get to verse 55 again, and here's Paul's celebration. He's dancing on the grave of death, taunting it, talking smack, talking trash. Say, aha, death, where are you now? Where is your victory? There is no victory for death. Where is your sting? Now, sting here, it gives us an image, a mental picture, probably of maybe a scorpion with a stinger. Or a bee, a lot of commentators think, you know, Paul's talking about the stinger of a bee. Without a stinger, what harm is it? Right, nothing. It's not to be feared. There's no danger there. It has no stinger. Well, in his victory over death, Christ removed the stinger. Because he says in verse 56, and in verse 56, we have the root of the problem, and the root of the problem is removed. The problem was stated that we are, we're not fit for heaven in our bodies, right? Because the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. But the root problem is sin. Sin has a stinger. is to be feared. The last enemy to be overcome is death. And believers and unbelievers alike have often feared death because it's unknown. What does actually happen? Well, in verse 56, here's the root problem. It's sin. The sting of death is sin. That's why Death is, you know, so dangerous and so fearful because of its stinger. And the power of sin is the law. It's like sin has an ally. They've joined forces. Because how do we know what sin is? Because of the law. When we transgress the law, we sin. And so sin made us realize, I mean, the law made us realize we're sinners. And so the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin, the power behind sin is the law, telling us you're a sinner, you're a sinner. But verse 57, we have our champion in Christ. our champion in Christ. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of his resurrection, Christ took the sting of death. He took the stinger for us. Where? On the cross. He died. He suffered death. And all of our sins were placed upon him. And because our sins were placed upon him, he bore the wrath of God in our place. He took the stinger. He took the sting of sin, of death, of the law, of the judgment of God. And so thanks be to God. Oh, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection. In verse 58, all of this is followed up with a brief exhortation, an exhortation. Therefore, because all of this is true, because death is dead, we have victory over death in Christ, in his resurrection. We're no longer afraid of death. Taunt it, stamp on its grave, talk trash to it, whatever you want to do. It no longer relates to us. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast. be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." There is a reward waiting, and this world is not the end. This is not the end of it. In just a couple of words, what is the exhortation of verse 58? I would put it in three words. Live the resurrection. Live the resurrection. Live like the resurrection actually happened. Live it out in your lives. There's no death for us. Yes, our bodies have to die and our bodies have to change. It's not as though death is abolished until the Lord comes, people still die. But for the believer, there is no death because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So at the moment of our physical death, we begin our eternal lives. So live like it. Believe it and live like it. So be steadfast. Endure. Be patient. Keep going. This isn't the end. Always abounding in the work—or immovable, unshakeable. Don't let the things that are happening in your bodies or in this life move you from where you are in Christ. Shake your face. Be immovable. and be always abounding in the work of the Lord. Whatever work the Lord has called you to do, just keep doing it, knowing this, that your labor is not in vain because this isn't the end of it. We will all be changed because Christ rose from the dead. That's the exhortation. I mean, that's where Paul brings chapter 15 to this final conclusion. I mean, this is important. This is the application. This is what it means to live like the resurrection of Christ actually happened. Just keep going, because this isn't the end. May that be true of us. May we be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, whatever work the Lord has called us to do, because our labor is not in vain, Christ will reward it on that great day. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? It's swallowed up. It is put to death in the resurrection of Christ. Praise God. Thank God for the victory he gives us over death. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the encouragement we received from it today. We pray that you would sink these truths, plant them deep into our hearts and minds. Throughout this day, with the blessings that we enjoy. May we remember that this day is to remember your resurrection. May our hearts be encouraged. May Christ be praised. May you be thanked for the resurrection of Christ. In his name we pray, amen.