Please get your Bibles and turn them to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and we will read verses 22 through or verse 12 through 22 and then verse 58 which is our text for our message. So first of all, let's read 1 Corinthians 15, verses 12-22. Now, if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable or pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ All shall be made alive. And then verse 58, which is our text in this message. 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. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. From our text, we see three exhortations. First, be steadfast Second, be immovable. And third, be always abounding in the work of the Lord. Now, before we expound this verse, let's first look at the context in which it is written. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the apostle Paul is correcting some misconceptions about the doctrine of resurrection. There are some people in the Corinthian church who say that there is no resurrection of the dead. Look at verse 12. Now concerning, sorry, verse 12. Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some, not all, how do some among you, among you Corinthian church, How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Imagine that. Within the Corinthian church, there are some people who deny bodily resurrection. And so, one of the reasons for the writing of this chapter is for the Apostle Paul to correct that misconception. And what Paul does is this. He lists at least eight problems once you deny bodily resurrection. Here's the first problem found in verse 13. If you deny bodily resurrection, then not even Christ has been raised. If there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ remains dead. And then second problem found in verse 14a. Then our preaching is empty or our preaching is in vain because we preach Christ to you. And if he remains dead, then our preaching, the preaching of Christ is pointless. Third problem. found in verse 14b, the second part of that verse. If you deny bodily resurrection, then our Faith, your faith is in vain. Why is it so? Well, because the object of our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. We put our faith in Jesus. Now imagine if there's no bodily resurrection, that means that Jesus remains dead. So you are putting your faith in a dead Savior. Fifth problem. Or fourth problem, we are even found to be misrepresenting God or false witnesses of God. Verse 15. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ. In other words, what Paul is saying is this, if you suggest that there is no bodily resurrection, by implication you are saying that Jesus remains dead. Now we are preaching to you that God the Father raised His Son up from the grave. So now you are telling us that we are liars. Fifth problem, if there is no bodily resurrection, then our faith is futile. You can see that in verse 17a, which is really the point of verse 14. And then sixth problem, If there is no bodily resurrection, you are still in your sins. Imagine that. This is a strong statement by the way, verse 16. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. In short, there is no forgiveness. God cannot forgive us if Jesus remains dead. There is no salvation without the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, Paul goes on to say, seventh problem, verse 18, then also those who have fallen asleep, that is to say those who have died in Christ, have perished. So imagine, even those who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, even those who believed in God, in the coming Messiah, for instance, Abraham, David, the patriarchs in the Old Testament. If Jesus remains dead, then they just perished. And then finally, and I think this is the climax, Paul says, you deny bodily resurrection, then we are the most miserable people in the world, because we put our hope in Jesus Christ. Now, if Jesus remains dead, then there is no hope for us. might as well go home, close our Bibles, and let's just eat, drink, and be merry. But, look at verse 20. Verse 20, Paul says, and he begins his statement with the word, but. But! Now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And Paul argues that on the basis of Christ's resurrection, we believers in Christ will also be resurrected. And you will see that as you keep reading the verses following the passages we just read. And really, the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees our own resurrection. Now, after the Apostle Paul has clarified the doctrine of bodily resurrection, and after he has proven the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he then exhorts his fellow believers in verse 58. Look at verse 58. He says, My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. Now this is interesting because chapter 15 has 58 verses. From verses 1 through verse 57, Paul discusses the doctrine of resurrection and defends it. And when he comes to the last verse of this chapter, he then applies this precious doctrine of bodily resurrection. And that's why he begins his statement in verse 58 with the word Therefore, in short, what he's saying is this, in light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in light of our future resurrection, be steadfast, be immovable, be always abounding in the work of the Lord. And so the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ becomes the basis for Paul's exhortation in verse 58. If you were to ask the Apostle Paul, why do you want us to be steadfast? Why do you want us to be immovable? Why do you want us to always abound in the work of the Lord? On what basis are you asking us? to do that. And Paul would simply say, well on the basis of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and on the basis of your own resurrection. So this is the application of the doctrine of resurrection. This is what we call the so what of the doctrine of bodily resurrection. And so we will focus on the so what of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You know, as a preacher, I always ask that question. You discuss, you present a doctrine, but you don't want to stop there. You ask the question, so what? How can we apply this? And that's what Paul is doing now here. And we will be studying that. And so with God's help, I have three points in this message. under the theme, in light of Christ's resurrection and our own future resurrection. First, be steadfast. Second, be immovable. Third, be always abounding in the work of the Lord. So, let's look at them one by one. So let's read again, verse 58. So Paul says, Now notice that in this exhortation, Paul is particularly addressing his fellow believers, my beloved brethren. In other words, this exhortation is not for the unbelievers. If this morning you are still an unbeliever, if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, this exhortation is not really for you. You first need to believe in the gospel. And one of the elements of the gospel is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You first need to embrace the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ before you can apply this exhortation found in verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, And then Paul says, be steadfast. Now, what does it mean to be steadfast? Well, in Greek, the word steadfast literally means to sit steadily or to sit firmly. And the idea comes from a rider who sits firmly or steadily on the back of a horse. And here's the point of the Apostle Paul here. He's telling his fellow believers to remain seated where they are. Stay where you are. Sit there still. Don't move. Now the question is this. Stay where? Or stay in what? Well, we have the answer in the first four verses of chapter 15. Look at chapter 15, verses 1 through 4. So, stay where? Stay in what? Verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I declare to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." So, again, let's go back to the exhortation. First exhortation in verse 58. Be steadfast. What does it mean to be steadfast? Literally, it means sit firmly. Stay where you are. Now the question is, where? Well, we have the answer in verses 1 through 4, in the gospel. in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the elements of the gospel, as I mentioned earlier, is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay in that doctrine, in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't deny it. And that would make sense when we understand the context, because Paul says earlier that some of the people in that congregation deny bodily resurrection. And you could imagine these members of that Corinthian church who don't believe in bodily resurrection, they might persuade others, those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so Paul says, my beloved brethren, you, my fellow believers in Christ, be steadfast, stay in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't leave that place, because it is so dangerous to be outside the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so essential to the gospel, that without the resurrection, the gospel is no longer good news. You remove the resurrection, then you don't have the gospel. And I believe with all my heart that you cannot be saved unless you believe in that precious dolphin of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now Paul himself tells us that if Jesus remains dead, we remain in our sins. There is no forgiveness. There is no salvation. This is so critical. That's why Paul wants them to remain seated, as it were, on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, nowadays there are many false teachings going on. For instance, we have this false teaching called universalism, which says that all people will ultimately go to heaven. So it doesn't matter whether you believe in Jesus or not, because at the end of the day, we will all go to heaven. And I tell you, many people are attracted to this doctrine. You can find many churches today where this teaching is alive, is taught, this doctrine. And especially for young people, they like this idea because there is no commitment required. You can attend the church. You don't need to be a member of that church. There is no accountability. After all, you do whatever you want. I do whatever I want. At the end of the day, we will all go to heaven. Universalism. There's no preaching about hell. There's no preaching about sin. Everything is just about prosperity. And then, here comes another false teaching, relativism. That everything is relative. That there's no absolute truth. What is true to you may not be true to me, and what is true to me may not be true to you. Therefore, you cannot say that Jesus is the only way to heaven. You cannot say that Jesus is the truth. There is no such thing as absolute truth. Maybe for you, yes, fine, and I respect your view, but I don't believe that. Well, the Bible is so clear. Jesus claims that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Then here comes another false teaching, pluralism. Pluralism. All religions are basically the same. And that there are many ways that lead to heaven. And they will say, people who embrace this view, they will say, well, Jesus is just one of the many ways to heaven. There are many roads to Rome. If you want to go there via your Jesus Christ, fine. I have my own way. I have my own savior. Well, Paul says, be steadfast. That is to say, remain in the gospel. Don't leave the gospel. Yes, there are many attractive doctrines around us, so appealing to our flesh. Oh, I don't want to stay here at Eastmanville United Reformed Church because they're too strict. They believe this and that. Well, it's dangerous to be outside the gospel. You know, boys and girls like this boy, the mommy said to the boy, stay where you are. Just stay here. And wait for me, we're going to cross the street together. So hold on to me. Just stay here." And this boy was so stubborn. He did not listen to his parents. He left where he was and he crossed the street and was hit by a car and he died. And see, we're talking about life and death here. Paul says, you leave this place, the place of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you get out of the gospel, then that means you will go to hell. It's so dangerous. That means there's no forgiveness for you. That means you will remain under condemnation. That means you will experience God's eternal wrath. And so be steadfast. like the believers in the book of Acts. We read in Acts 2 verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in breaking of bread and in prayers. Oh, I urge you, my fellow believers, let us cling to the old rugged cross. Let us keep the faith so that when the time comes that God is calling us to be with Him, to be whole with Him, then we can echo what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 7, I have kept the faith. I have stayed in the gospel. I am ready to die. But secondly, secondly, Paul goes on to say, look at verse 58 again, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, then be immovable, immovable. Now in Greek, this word has two parts. So let me read the Greek word for the English word here, immovable. In Greek, it is a-metakinatos. A-metakinatos. A. Now, in Greek, a is a negative particle, usually translated as not. When you have a, before the word, usually the meaning of the word becomes negative. So, a, and then you have another word, metakinetos. Metakinetos literally means moved away. Moved away. And so when you combine the two, not moved away. And so the exhortation is this, don't be moved away. And what Paul is doing here is this. He's telling his fellow believers in Christ, okay, I want you to remain where you are. Remain seated in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep standing there. But at the same time, don't let others to move you away from where you are. Be immovable! Because the truth is, if we want to use the analogy of a horse, a rider, so picture this, you have a rider riding on this horse, sitting on the back of the horse, and we can say that the back of the horse is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul says, remain seated on the back of the horse, on the gospel. And as you ride, as you do your journey, your Christian pilgrimage, don't let others to pull you down from that back of the horse. Don't let others to push you away from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the truth is, There are many people whose agenda is nothing but to pull us away from the back of the horse. There are people whose agenda in life is to move us away from where we are. They will persuade you with their own belief. And of course, Satan is our great enemy. This is what Satan is doing. He did it to Adam and Eve. When he said to Adam and Eve, did God really say? Did God really say, oh young people, you go to college, your professor will say to you, really? You're telling me that Jesus is the only way to God? To heaven? That's ridiculous. Maybe for you, but not for me. Really? They will challenge you. Show me evidence. Really? Jesus rose again from the dead? You believe that silly doctrine? That's nonsense. Oh, Paul says, be immovable. Don't let them shake your faith. Oh, when Satan comes to you, when he says, did God really say? Oh, the Bible says, resist him. Do not even entertain him. Run away from him. And he will flee from you. But of course, there are also people who will do it by force, the persecutors. We may not Feel it here, experience it here because of our religious freedom that we still enjoy, the freedom of religion. But how about our fellow believers who live in the Middle East? Middle East like in Iran, in Syria, in Iraq, even those who live in North Korea. The government itself is forcing them to be away from that place, the place of the gospel. The forces of evil are there. So great. You know, I remember Pauli Karp. He was born in A.D. 70 and he died in A.D. 155, and he was Bishop of Smyrna, a godly man of God. In fact, he had known the Apostle John personally. When he was urged by the Roman proconsul to renounce Christ, Polycarp said, A.D. Six years have I served him and he never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? I have respect for your age, said the official. Simply renounce Christ and be set free, but the aged polycarp did not recant his faith, and so he was burnt at the stake and gave joyful testimony of his faith in Jesus Christ. He did not let his persecutors move him away from where he was. It is in that sense that he was immovable. Of course, in this life too, there are trials, sufferings, afflictions. It will hit you so hard. When a big trial comes to you, hitting you, hitting your family, your children, it's like a blow. You feel shaken. And maybe there are times that you say to yourself, I don't want to serve God anymore. Look, I tried to be faithful to God, but look what He's doing to me. He took my spouse from me. He took the life of my child. He took my job from me. I don't want to serve God anymore. Paul says, be immovable. You know, Paul says in Acts 20 verse 24, after talking about his great sufferings and afflictions, he said, none of these things move me. None of these things moved me. His afflictions did not shake his faith, nor change his purpose in life. He was still determined to serve the Lord, like Job. Like Job in the Bible. Imagine what Job went through. And yet by the grace of God, he was able to say, though he slay me, Yet will I trust in him. He was immovable. His own wife was trying to move him away from his faith. Job, do you still want to serve God? You're foolish. Look what he did to you. Imagine having a wife like that. Your own wife trying to shake your faith, to pull you away from the gospel. But Job said, even if God slay me, I will keep trusting Him. I will keep serving Him. Like what one song says, I have decided to follow Jesus, not turning back, not turning back. The world behind me, the cross before me, not turning back, not turning back. Though no one join me or go with me, I still will follow, not turning back, not turning back. You're riding on that horse. seated firmly on the back of that horse on the gospel. And Paul says, as you run the race, don't let others move you away from the cross. Keep running. Keep running. Keep running. Though no one wants to join you. Maybe you are the only Christian in your family. That can be challenging. Maybe your parents are still unbelievers. Or maybe your wife or your husband, still a non-believer, it can be a challenge. Oh, Paul says, stay where you are, be immovable, and you do it in light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the basis for this exhortation. Keep that in mind. This is the application of the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But you know, here's our comfort. And we have this assurance. We believe in the perseverance of the saints, or better yet, the preservation of the saints. That is to say, we know that God is going to preserve us until the end. Therefore, we can be immovable because God is holding us. You know, boys and girls, I have small children. And they love to play with me, obviously. And they love horses. So what I do, I would pretend to be a horse. So I would act like this, and then let them sit on my back. And yeah, I'll pretend to be a horse. But I'll tell them, I said, OK, please sit. Steadily. Don't move. And I want you to hold on to me tight. Okay? Because you don't want to fall. You will have an owie if you fall. But you see, whenever I sense that, let's say, my son is about to fall, what I do is I catch him. I catch him with my hand. I don't want him to be hurt. I don't want him to get hurt. And so, whenever I sense that he's about to fall, Everything in my power, I will use that to make sure that He will be safe. Now, of course, I am not perfect. There are times that He falls. But our Heavenly Father is perfect, so powerful that He will not let you fall down. You see, that's what the Bible says. You know, I remember Asaph in Psalm 73, verse 23. He says, nevertheless I am continually with you. Why? Because you hold my right hand. Who holds Asaph's right hand? God does. And you know what's amazing is that it is not us holding God, it is God holding us. Because if our salvation depends on us holding God, there are times that we're going to lose our salvation. That's why even Jesus Christ, he says, no one can pluck you out of my hand. You are in my hand and also in the hand of the Father. No one, even Satan, cannot move you away from your faith. You are firmly established there. No one can take you away from there. And so we are immovable. Oh, fear not, Isaiah says, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. This is our comfort. This is our assurance of salvation. I'm not going to be moved away from my faith in Christ, from the gospel, because God is sustaining me. God is preserving my life. God is upholding me. He is holding me. Like, imagine that horse. It can be shaky sometimes, but God is there. You're not alone. That's your ride. He's with you all the way, all the way until the end. And then finally, final exhortation. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, Third exhortation, always abounding in the work of the Lord. So be always abounding in the work of the Lord. Again, what is the basis for this exhortation? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is risen. And you too, though you die, you will be raised from the dead also. And in light of that precious dolphin, Paul says, let's abound. Always abound in the work of the Lord. To abound is to overflow. You want to be overflowing as you serve the Lord, as you worship Him this morning. And note, Paul says, in the work of the Lord, not in the work of Satan. Because at the end of the day, there are two kinds of work. You either work for Satan, or you work for God, for the Lord. You either worship Satan or God. You know, sometimes when we think of the ministry, when we think of the work of the Lord, right away we think of the pastor, elders, maybe deacons, office bearers, as if you members are not part of that. Now, remember the context. In this verse, Paul is not just addressing the pastors or the elders or the deacons, the office bearers. He is addressing all the believers in the church. My beloved brethren, my fellow believers in the Lord. And so if you are a believer in Christ, you are a worker of the Lord. You are a worker of the Lord. You labor in the Lord, in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, maybe you are a farmer. Maybe you are an engineer, or a medical doctor, or an artist. Whatever you do, maybe a stay-at-home mom. Whatever you do, whatever your profession is, You are a worker of the Lord if you are a believer in Christ. And as such, Paul wants you to abound, to overflow in the work of the Lord. That's why, you know, we pastors, we don't work for you. We don't work for the elders. I work for my boss. The Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I will give account. He is the one who has called me to serve Him. And so whatever we do, Paul says, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to do everything in the name of Jesus Christ. And when you do that, you have this comfort. Look at your comfort here. Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Let me tell you something. The reason why you get disappointed, you get discouraged serving God is because perhaps you are not doing it in the name of the Lord. Maybe you want to do it in the name of that person or that person. You want to please that person or the person over there. And so when that person did not recognize or notice what you did, you get discouraged and you say, I don't want to serve God anymore in this church because they don't see it. then maybe your motive is wrong. Paul says, you do it in the Lord. And when you do that, your labor is not in vain. Even if he does not see it, I don't care. You don't see everything that I do. When you spend two hours praying to the Lord on behalf of your congregation, on behalf of that family, or that person, maybe no one sees that. But that is not in vain. That's not in vain. You preach the gospel. You share the gospel. Maybe that person may not appreciate it, but so be it. You're doing it in the name of the Lord. Keep serving. You know, William Carey, the father of modern missions, he labored for seven years in India before baptizing his first convert. Imagine, after seven, it took him seven years before he saw his first convert. Adoniram Hudson, America's first missionary to, I think, Burma. For seven years in Burma, he labored for seven years before seeing his first convert also. Robert Morrison, the founder of Protestant missions in China, he labored for seven years before his first convert was one to Christ. Sometimes you don't see the result right away. And I think we parents too, right? We teach our children, we may not see the fruit of that, but let's keep serving the Lord, keep ministering to them, keep sharing the gospel. We bring them up in the Lord. It's not in vain when we do it in the name of the Lord. And so as I close this message, may I encourage all of us, in light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore, Therefore, because Jesus rose from the dead, and because we too will someday rise from the dead, let us be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Let's stay in the gospel, and wherever we are, Go with the gospel, don't leave the gospel, live by the gospel, bring it with you always. And we know that someday when Jesus comes again, we may hear this commendation, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master, of your master. You know, I would like to share this quickly with you. So my wife just gave birth Friday morning. She's still in the hospital and will be discharged in a few minutes, actually, at 11. And as I said, I need to be there. But anyway, so yesterday I was inside the elevator with another person, and I don't know the person. I greeted him, I said, Happy Easter, and then he said to me, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right, I forgot about that, yeah. You know, because of what's been happening to me and my family, I forgot about the date now, he lost his son. He lost his son. And he said to me, thank you for reminding me. Happy Easter. Thank you for reminding me that Jesus is alive. I need to hear that. I need to hear that. He found comfort in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I think for us, too, believers, this is our comfort. Now, remember, Gloria Gaither and Bill Gaither They wrote this precious hymn, Because He Lives. They wrote it in 1970. And around that time, when they composed this song, they were going through a lot of sufferings. But they found comfort in the glorious doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so they say in that precious song, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. because he lives, all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. Let us pray. Oh Lord, we thank you so much for this doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and for its implication too to us, that indeed, since Jesus is alive, We are to be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, because we know that our labor, whatever we do in the name of Jesus, is not in vain. in the Lord. Lord, use this verse to encourage us to keep serving you, even in the midst of our great trials and sufferings. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.