It's always a little risky when I release the hounds to visit. Sometimes I feel like I need a sheep herding dog to get you back in your seats, but no, that's good. It's good. I think it's a pleasure to the Lord when we visit and get to greet each other. The modern church, I fear, gathers together far less frequently than the early church. And we want to make sure that we're being faithful to encourage each other in the Lord. I encourage you to do this little practice as you know, who you spoke to this morning, jot their names down and remember to pray for them this week. And sometimes we mentioned things to each other and are good to pray about, but then we We lack a little bit in the follow-up, because either we forget or we've prayed, but then we never hear what the answers for that were. So that's a good little practice for us. And we are dependent on each other. I depend on you, you depend on, we all depend on each other, right? Because that's what the body of Christ is for, each of us equipped by God, as we've learned in 1 Corinthians, and gifted for the sake of the body. And we wanna be faithful to that. So, too good with that as we seek to see Christ's church build up and come into maturity. Well, I've been looking forward to this chapter, as I said last week, for a long time. There's some things that are challenging about it for us, but there are some things that are so rewarding if we think about. The resurrection is a must, we understand that, we believe it. and yet maybe we don't speak of it that much or think of it. Really, we sort of almost relegate it to Easter. And while we love to celebrate on Resurrection Sunday, and we try to emphasize that we live in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ every single day. And in fact, our lives would be, as we see today, somewhat pointless if empty, if this wasn't a reality. So today we're going to look at what I call eight necessary deductions, eight necessary conclusions. If there is no resurrection, they're pretty straightforward. They come right out of what the Apostle Paul is saying. But he is, as we've learned in this letter, answering some questions that he's had from the Corinthian believers He's addressing things that they're not sure about. They're trying to work out. He's also correcting them on some of their sin and some of the inappropriate things that they're allowing within the church. And here in our text, as we looked at last time, we understand that there's some questions about the resurrection even in general. As we see in verse 12 now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? And I'm not going to read the whole chapter this week, but I would like to read with you what we looked at last time through verse 19. So let's go to the beginning of the chapter. Look at verse one. Read down through 19, and we'll focus particularly today on verses 12 through 19. Let's ask for God's help and encouragement as we give our attention to his word. Father, we are dependent upon you, not for everything we know, but particularly to understand the truth. Your word is spiritually appraised. And without the help of your Holy Spirit, we would not understand these things. But you have blessed us who believe. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have, by your grace, soft hearts, open ears, our eyes see. And we ask for your help in that because sometimes our failings in our life, our sin, our recklessness can be in the way of the word. We ask you to forgive us for our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We recognize that we are weak and you are strong, but we're happy that your power is perfected in our weakness. We look at mighty things, glorious things, eternal things when we come to your word. And sometimes our dispositions are ill-prepared for it. So help us open up our minds to understand. Where our heart is hard, hope it to be soft to your word. Where we're immature, give us grace that we might become mature. Where we lack faith, increase our faith that we might understand and obey and help us as we know you want to not only be hearers, but to be doers of your word. Give us grace in all this we pray. Amen. First Corinthians chapter 15 starting in verse one. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then I appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also, For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain. But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God within me, whether then it was I or they. So we preached, and so you believed. Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 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, your faith is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ. We did not raise. if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 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. If you have, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, We are all of men most to be pitied. The importance of the resurrection is undeniable, as he lays out here very plainly. These words aren't hard to understand, but they are profound. Maybe they are hard to get deep into us how important this doctrine is. And so we see that from verse 12 that the the question that comes from the Corinthians has to do with some teaching that is out there to extent that they believed it or who is offering it. We don't know. But he does say that there are some among you who say that there is no resurrection of the dead. So wherever this teaching was coming from, some of the church are beginning to buy it. And there's questions and there's concern. And it's not the only church that would have concerns about the nature of this resurrection, but certainly they had it. And as we looked at last week, we learned that, well, this resurrection of the dead business, this resurrection of Christ is, well, key to the gospel. There is no gospel without the resurrection. And that's his point in the first few verses. And I delivered to you that what I received, right, he says, I delivered to you as first importance what I also received, and he received these things directly from Christ, as we looked at last time, that Christ, this is what I received, this is the gospel, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised according to the scriptures, and we looked at that, how the scriptures spoke those things about Christ, taught that about Christ and then the reality of verse 5 and that he appeared to Cephas that's Peter and then to the 12 after that he appeared to the 500 most of whom remain until now so they were still witnesses most of them at that time and then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles and last of all as to one untimely born he appeared to me also Paul says. What an astounding thing for the Apostle Paul, who was, as he says, a persecutor of the church, who was one who went around trying to, well, at least put Christians into custody, if not to see them executed. You remember when Stephen was executed, it said that they laid their garments at the feet of a man named Saul, who was in approval of him being put to death. And so he had gone to Damascus on his way to Damascus with letters so he could arrest Christians and the Lord appeared to him. You'll remember we read that text last time. And so here was this apostle who was a persecutor of the church and made an apostle from killing Christ's followers to being sent out by Jesus to make more followers of Jesus. What an amazing thing. But Paul himself was a witness to this. He appeared to me also. So we see that this is what they taught. This is what they preached that Christ died for our sins. It's clear that he died because they buried him and he was indeed dead and all seemed to be lost even as some of the disciples thought but as Jesus had told them on the third day I will rise and this too was taught in the Old Testament Psalm 16 for example that the Lord will not allow his holy one to go to undergo decay and both Peter and Paul when they preach sermons in the book of Acts reference that psalm as a testimony this is how The beloved one didn't undergo decay. He was raised. He didn't decay in death. He was raised. And as Paul says, they are witnesses to these things. Verse 11, whether then it was I, Paul, or the other apostles or the others to whom Christ appeared. So we preached. And so you believed, he says at the end of verse 11. Which then for Paul, I think is rather than an astounding question that they have or an astounding occurrence in their church where he says in verse 12. So now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? How can you guys be buying into that when the thing that you've really come to believe, the whole basis of your faith, depends on someone rising from the dead? And that's what he's going to go over. And so, as I said, eight deductions, eight conclusions. If there's no resurrection of the dead, then this is where we are. This is what we're left with. if there's no resurrection from the dead. And he's going to go through this, I think, to to teach us, to teach the church that, well, you know, if if there's no resurrection, then don't worry about any of this. What's the point? We've we've preached it and you believed it and you're going to turn away on this. It's it's fundamental. It's foundational for Christianity, which is why we've talked about we talked about it Resurrection Week and we talked about it last week, we need to have the message of the resurrection, a part of what we're communicating to people, because we serve a resurrected Lord, right? This is what, you know, if we preach that, did they preach it? Of course they preach it. Go back here, even in our letter, go back a bit to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and we'll look at verse 18. Remember when he was talking to them early on in the letter and it's been weeks ago well into last year sometime and I forget when we started Corinthians but verse 18 in chapter 1 the word of the cross this is as he's come as he's preaching the word of the cross Jesus dying for sin is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God There wouldn't be any power to it if he just died, right? And that was the end of it. He just died, but the resurrection and understanding of it needs to be follow up with that, of course. But the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever. I will set aside. God doesn't need man's wisdom. He's got his gospel. We might think it's foolish, but he knows it is the wisdom of God. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." So the world's lost in sin and God says, you know what? I'm going to send them a message that's hard to believe. Jesus rose from the dead. But those who I'm drawing to myself, those who I'm saying, those who I'm rescuing from sin and death are going to believe this foolish message because it's actually the wisdom of God. And then verse 22, he says, for indeed, this is how terrible it is for mankind. Mankind here is divided up between Jews and non-Jews, Jews and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles. We're all one of those two groups. For indeed, Jews ask for signs. The Jews want to say, hey, show us a sign that you're Messiah. So show us a sign that this is truly of the kingdom of God. The Jews ask for signs, and Greeks, the Gentiles, search for wisdom. They want to, they're enamored with man's wisdom, and all these clever things that we can think, and the gospel seems kind of foolish. That God's going to become a man? He's going to become like his creatures, and then he's going to let them kill him? And a man rises from the dead? That sounds pretty foolish. So the Jews ask for signs, the Greeks search for wisdom. Verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness. And the Jews say, wait a minute, Messiah means anointed king. He's the one God is sending. Our king is not going to die. He's going to rule. So it didn't make sense. and a normal understanding of how could our king, the king of God's kingdom, die? We're not going to accept a dead Messiah. We're not going to accept a crucified Messiah. They stumbled over that, right? We preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to Gentiles, foolishness. What God in the mind of the Gentiles and the gods that they worship. What God? The gods are there and we're here. What God is going to come and take on the constraints of being like us? Why would you give up Godhood to live in our condition and to know our weaknesses and to die? It's foolishness. That's what he's talking about here. We preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block and the Gentiles foolishness, but verse 24, To those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. So yes, he's preached chapter two. Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. And when I came to you, brethren, Paul says, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. He didn't wow them with what he said. Oh, isn't Paul clever? He didn't come that way. Proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I came proclaiming the testimony of God, but not like that. How did I come doing it? For I determined, verse 2, to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus died for sin according to the scriptures which of course would be useless if he never rose what good would his dying for us do if he could bring no power to us if he remained dead and this is what the death of the crucifixion immediately causes people to ask wait a minute if Messiah died if he was crucified what's our hope and the hope is that he rose from the dead But yes, that's what they've been preaching. Go back to the beginning of chapter one. And listen to what he says as he introduces the letter. Paul called us an apostle of Jesus Christ. I'm not coming out in the name of a dead man. The dead man didn't send me, but the living Jesus Christ sent me, right? Called us an apostle of Jesus Christ because he called me when he rose to the dead. I was persecuting the church and he called me. He lives. Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Susilinus our brother, Paul's companion, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. We've been made holy in Christ. We're not made holy by just having him die. He died and rose again. We die with him to our sin and come alive with him in his resurrection. were sanctified in Christ. Those in the church, those believers in Corinth, who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. We don't serve a dead Lord, we serve a live Lord. He rose. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, not the former Lord, but the current Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you, he says to the Corinthian believers. for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him. You're enriched in Christ, not a dead Christ Jesus, but alive Christ Jesus. In all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed. What testimony? That He died and that He rose. Even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, So that you are not lacking in any gift awaiting eagerly what the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is it that he will be revealed to us because he lives and he's coming right? This is the gospel that was preached by Paul and the others to the people at Corinth. Awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse eight, who will also, who will Christ this Lord, this Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end. He's helping you to get to the end. He lives. blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. There'll be a day when everybody recognizes the Lord Jesus Christ. There'll be a day when he executes judgment. There'll be a day when he gives reward to the people. He lives. This is the gospel. You see, there's no thought in Paul's mind that, yeah, you know what, maybe there's no resurrection from the dead. There clearly is resurrection from the dead, and Jesus Christ is the foundation of the gospel we believe has that as a fundamental component. Verse nine, God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. He lives, right? This is the gospel that he preached to them. So this is why I think he's so astounded by verse 12 in chapter 15. If Christ is preached, if this is the Christ we preach to you, that he's been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? You see his consternation, right? You see how surprised he is. How can this be that you'd question the resurrection from the dead when you have clearly believed that Jesus rose from the dead? And that's where it begins, then, our necessary deductions, our conclusions. The first one is this. Now, we're gonna go through and you go, of course, Pastor, these are obvious. These come directly out of the text. Well, where else do you want them to come from? Yes, they're gonna come right from the text. Number one, Christ has not been raised. If there's no resurrection, Christ has not been raised. And that's, of course, what he says. Verse 13, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. Christ can't be raised if there's no resurrection from the dead. Verse 16, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. You can't have it both ways. You can't say, well, I doubt there's a resurrection from the dead. When you're believing in Jesus, the God-man was raised from the dead. So of course there's resurrection from the dead. Maybe the question is, well, are we also gonna be raised like Christ was? But you can't flat out say there's no resurrection from the dead. Because if you do, number one, Christ has not been raised. Number two, Our preaching, Paul says, is in vain. If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, verse 14, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. It's vain, meaning it's empty. Meaning it's void of anything useful, helpful. It's empty. It's bullish. To put your faith in a gospel that is vain, that has nothing to it, is just foolishness. You're being stupid to believe that gospel if there's no resurrection from the dead. Christ has not been raised. If there's no resurrection from the dead, Christ hasn't been raised. Our preaching is in vain. Why bother doing all this apostle business? And number three, We'll go a little bit out of order here, because the next one, as you read in the text, is their faith is also in vain. I'm going to hold off on that a minute. Let's go down just one. Our preaching is in vain, and Hebrews says, actually, we're false witnesses. If there's no resurrection of the dead, number three, we are false witnesses. Verse 15, moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God, apparently, if there's no resurrection, and God never said it, but we're saying it. So we're false witnesses of God because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if, in fact, the dead are not raised. You see, it's a little convoluted in the way he writes it, maybe, but he's trying to say if there's no resurrection from the dead, And we've declared to you that Christ is raised from the dead and have represented that as God's truth, then we're false witnesses to what God has done. Not only is our preaching empty, but we're false. We're not to be believed. Remember in the Old Testament, the prophets, those who said, thus says the Lord, and it wasn't true, were to be killed. And if these apostles are saying, thus did the Lord raise him from the dead and there's no resurrection from the dead, then they're false. They're not to be trusted. They can't be trusted on the resurrection. Why should you believe the followers of Jesus about anything? Especially the apostles. And that's his point. If that's true, that there's no resurrection, then we have a false witness. In addition to the fact that our gospel is empty. So if there's no resurrection, and Christ hasn't been raised, then our preaching of Christ is in vain, and we're actually being false witnesses to God. Number four, and here's going back to the one we skipped, your faith is in vain. If there's no resurrection from the dead, then Corinthians and believers, your faith is empty, is pointless, is stupid, is foolish. If there's no resurrection from the dead. Verse 14, if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain and your faith is vain. That's all. It's all no good. It's all empty. There's not anything of it. You have faith. You're trusting in a salvation. and hope of eternity that isn't real if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead. If there's no resurrection of the dead, then it's all empty. Those things that we have believed. Not only is your faith vain, but number five, if there's no resurrection of the dead, number five, your faith is worthless. Isn't that kind of the same thing? Well, that comes from verse 17. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. And what's the difference between vain and worthless? Well, vain, they're similar, but vain is just kind of empty. There's nothing to it. It would be foolish to put your trust in that. But worthless means it's useless in the sense of it's fruitless. It produces no outcome. It's futile. It doesn't do anything. It doesn't cause anything and in this case it doesn't bring to us eternal life. So not only is it foolish, but it doesn't do anything that it claims. How could we be excited about the Lord Jesus Christ coming, the Messiah coming, if he didn't raise from the dead? Because he can't do anything. If he didn't overcome sin and death, which the resurrection proves, if he doesn't be proven as the Son of God, which the resurrection proves, then it doesn't accomplish anything. Our preaching is pointless in the sense of nothing's going to happen for the people that hear it. But we know that's not true. What does God say? What does Paul say in Romans? I am not ashamed of the gospel for what it is the power of God, the salvation for those who believe the Jew first and also the Greek. I like I like that. Paul seems to have that in mind, doesn't he? You know, when we preach Christ and Him crucified, the Jews have issues with it, and the Gentiles have issues. But I am not ashamed of this gospel, because when this gospel that is Jesus died for our sins, He was buried and raised again according to the Scriptures, when this gospel is proclaimed, it is the power of God to save the Jew and the Gentile. Right? It's good news. And so he's saying, listen, Corinthians, what are you thinking? If somebody is suckering you in with the idea that there's really no resurrection for the dead for us. People just don't raise from the dead. And yes, it's, you know, when you step back and you think about it, how many of us know someone who rose from the dead? Obviously none. If you think so, let me talk to you afterward. You know, we're not encountering that in reality. So what in the world would cause us to believe in a reality of something that doesn't seem to be a reality? Well, exactly what he said. The scriptures foretold it, and it happened, and we witnesses tell you we saw him resurrected. That's our proof. Now, you can say that to unbelievers, right? And they might just chuckle and laugh at how foolish or gullible or silly we are. But the reality is that God has said, I'm going to take a foolish message, a message that seems empty. A message that seems useless. And it's with this message as I come to sinful men and women and I extend my grace, my favor, my kindness to them, and I give them faith to believe it's this gospel that is going to raise them from the dead and give them eternal life. It's foolishness to men. There's no doubt about that. But it's the wisdom of God. It is the wisdom of God to save. It is the only hope for men and women. And we have put our faith in a Christ who came and died for our sins and rose again from the dead. We don't believe that. We're not Christian. We're not followers of this Lord. But if we do it, we are consistent with all the things that the scripture told about Christ. so that those who are anticipating him wouldn't believe. And so those to whom God is reaching out in his grace and giving the gift of faith will have, that's the message that we have believed. It is frankly miraculous that sinners like me and you have put our faith in a seemingly impossible, silly, foolish, unlikely, Impossible if I say that already. Message that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet, that's what we believe and that's what we proclaim and that was the message preached to the Corinthians. It's kind of amazing to me that God says, I'm pleased to save through a foolish message. Why is God pleased to do that? You see, when God saves a hard sinner through a foolish message that they really shouldn't believe, based on their condition, and He saves them through it, He gets all the glory. He gets all the glory. because he opens up the eyes and he gives faith and he extends his kindness and the poor wretched sinners eyes are open to the reality of their condition and the greatness of their Savior and say, yes, I'll take that lifeline from eternal destruction. For Christians, it seems like a no-brainer, right? You know, how many of us when we come to faith in Christ go, yeah, but I'm really not sure about that resurrection thing. Now, this is what we're confident in because we believe the gospel and God has given us faith to believe. It is miraculous. I shouldn't have believed it. You shouldn't have believed it. But God was at work so that you believe the one message that can save your soul. That is the grace of God come to us. And that's the message we preach. Yeah, you may get some hostility when you preach it, when you proclaim it, when you tell people about it. You may get some, I'm not sure about, Paul did that when he was in Athens, right? Paul did that in Athens, and he said, let me tell you about this God that you don't know, this unknown God. And he began to talk to them about it, and then he said, the resurrection of the dead. As soon as he mentions the resurrection, some were like, oh, come on. I was with you for a while, Paul, but not the resurrection. And then some said, you know what? I need to hear a little bit more about this, which is like some of us. and said, maybe there's something to this Jesus who died and rose again. And some believed and followed with Paul like we have done with the gospel who believe, right? That's how God is at work. But he has these things that, look, if you're going to be deceived out of the truth by the fact that there's no resurrection, then Well, when Christ hasn't been raised, then our preaching is vain, and we're false witnesses, and you're believing is vain, and your faith is worthless. And number six, if the resurrection is not true, number six, you're still in your sins, right? If Christ has not been raised, verse 17, your faith is worthless. It does nothing for you. you are still in your sins. Oh, what a terrible thing. Imagine believing And this is a reality, sadly. Imagine believing in a gospel that you think makes you right with God, that gets you into heaven, that you believed in something that says, this will take care of my sin problem so I can have peace with God and be welcomed into his heaven. And you believed in the wrong thing and it's worthless and you're still in your sins. When you stand before God and he says, why are you acceptable? And you offer something that doesn't make you acceptable. And he looks, he says, you're for judgment, you're for condemnation, you are for the hellfire because of your sinful rebellion, because you bring nothing that will rescue from that right judgment of mine against your sin. What a travesty. What a tragedy. And friends, every person that you know that has bought into a false gospel or is a part of a false church or a false religion that is not represented in this gospel message of Christ, that we are saved by believing in this Jesus who died for our sins, was buried and rose again. If our faith is in Christ plus something else, it's not faith in Him. If our faith is in something other than Christ and Him crucified and resurrected, then we don't have the gospel message that saves. And if you don't have a saving message, you stand before God and your sin. And He's saying, listen, church, if you go with this crazy idea that there's no resurrection of the dead, you are still in your sins. It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. A living God who is the judge of his creatures. Let thanks be to God that in Jesus Christ we stand in Him believing that He died for our sins and that He rose again to give eternal life. We stand on solid ground. We stand on the hope, the good news message. And that must be it. But if there's no resurrection from the dead, then you're still in your sins. Second Thessalonians. speaks to us of those who are still in their sins. Second Thessalonians chapter one verse eight. Paul writes, oh that's, I'm sorry, Timothy, not, there we go. About to read the wrong verse. Not chapter, not verse eight, sorry. Verse three, 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verse three. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as it is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you towards one another grows even greater. Therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you, among the churches of God for your perseverance and the faith in the midst of your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This, your afflictions and persecutions, is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom. You're being proved as faithful through your persecutions. The plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is just, it is right, for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, who are those who afflict us, those who don't believe. To give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day. That's not a Pleasant picture of what the unbeliever those who don't believe in the resurrected Christ will face. Revelation. Chapter 20. Verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne. And him who sat on it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. And no place was found for them, for heaven and earth. I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. These are the dead who weren't believing, didn't come with the resurrection and Jesus coming. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. And the books were opened, and another book was opened. which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to the deeds. And the sea gave up its dead. You see, there's a resurrection for those who will come to judgment too. We're resurrected to life, eternal life. They're resurrected to eternal death. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, that's those who have believed in Christ. Your name's not there. He was thrown into the lake of fire. Awful. This isn't written just to scare people. This is written because of the reality of God's righteous judgment against the wicked, who have not cried out to Him for mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have not put their faith in the one and only Savior that is there. That's their destiny. And Paul says, come on, guys, if you're going to not believe in the resurrection of the dead, then you are still in your sins. You don't believe that's your destiny because you trusted in Christ? Don't question the resurrection from the dead. Number seven, if there's no resurrection, our brothers and sisters who've passed away before us have perished. That's what he says in 1 Corinthians 15. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep, that means they've died in Christ, have perished. We're waiting for the kingdom to come. We're waiting for the return of Christ. And Christ hasn't come back yet, and yet Christians are dying. And if there's no resurrection from the dead, then, well, they just perished. They don't get to the kingdom. They don't make it. Well, that's not true. In fact, we know from what Paul, Yes, what Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, right? The first Thessalonians this time, first Thessalonians. Chapter four, verse 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, brothers, about those who are fallen asleep, those who've died, waiting for the return of the Lord, so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope. We grieve our dead, but we don't grieve like those who have no hope. Because why? We know there's a resurrection. So that you will not grieve as the rest do who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. You see, the Thessalonian church had a similar concern about the resurrection. What happens to all the brothers and sisters who trusted Christ but died before he returned? Are they out? No, they're not out, because they'll rise from the dead, right? That's what he says. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, if you're still breathing when Christ comes back, as he's talking about, you will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Those who are alive when Christ comes back aren't going to meet the Lord before the ones who died believing in Christ. Why? For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. They might die. We might die without the Lord coming back but we're going to be raised to meet him first. Right? Sorry those of you who are still alive you'll have to wait because we see him first. Then verse 17 we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall all always be with the Lord we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore he says Thessalonians and believers comfort one another with these words. Yeah you might die You might die, but you're going to be resurrected and you get to see Christ first, right? So if there's no resurrection from the dead, all the people who died believing in the Lord, I guess they dismissed it. What a horrible thing to be worried about. Well, what if I, if I'm going to die, I got to stay alive until Christ comes, right? But we don't have to worry about that because there is a resurrection from the dead. Last one. If there's no resurrection of the dead, number eight, we are most to be pitied. That's what he says. First Corinthians 15 verse 19. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men Most to be pitied. If it's just a hope, if it's just a comfort right now, we die and never get resurrected, then why have you spent your life orienting yourself to a savior that's going to give you eternal life? If you perish and that's it. No, we believe in a resurrected Lord who has promised resurrection for us and we will be resurrected and be with him forever. Let me comfort you brothers with those words. As Paul tells us in Thessalonians, we're not pitied. We're envied by those who don't know Christ. We will be. They'll look in horror at the fact that they rejected the Messiah. But we who have believed will be embracing our Messiah. We will be celebrating. It will be good. We are comforted. in that. And so then Paul says in the verse we didn't read this morning, verse 20, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. How is it that some of you say he's not raised from the dead? If he's not, then this, this, this, this, but he has been raised from the dead, Corinthian believers. and all believers be assured that our Lord lives. Christ has raised from the dead and it says then the first fruits of those who are asleep. He's just the first fruit. What are the first fruits? The first fruit is that that crop that comes along that gives you an indication what the rest of the crop is going to look like. That's why the first fruits were given to the Lord. Hey, we thank you for what you're going to be giving us Lord. Christ is the first fruit of the resurrection. He's an indication of what it's going to be like for the rest of us when we get resurrected. Christ went up to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. And Paul says in Ephesians 2, You have been made alive in Christ, and you've been raised up with Christ, and you are seated with Christ in the right hand of the heavenlies. The assurance of our ascension is, well, sure. Because we put our faith in Christ, who raised from the dead and ascended to the Father. Is there no resurrection? Ridiculous. Of course there's a resurrection. For if there's no resurrection, our faith is empty and worthless, and there's no hope. We're still in our sins. But Paul says, let me assure you believers, he has raised from the dead, and he's just the first fruit. You, believer, are the fruit to come later. You are what God's gonna do in that day. In the day of the Lord Jesus, when he returns back and takes care of the wicked, there will be a massive resurrection of those of us who will believe. And we're going to meet him in the air. And we're always then going to be with the Lord. This is the hope of the Christian life. Don't ever think about it. Don't worry about those who mock the resurrection. We are going to preach that to them. We're going to proclaim that to them. We're going to assure them and leave it. We're going to tell them if you don't believe it, you have no part in Christ because it is the gospel. This Jesus who died and was resurrected. but may no believer ever doubt that the resurrection from the dead is real. And there are those in church history who have said, well, it's just a spiritual resurrection. It's not a physical resurrection. It's just a spiritual newness of life. No, we're coming back from the dead. I don't know how. But if you die and the earth goes on another 5,000 years, your particles will be rematerialized by the power of God and you'll be physically raised from the dead. We don't have to worry about those who were burned at the stake. Or we don't need to worry about those who were eaten by wild animals. And we have no remains from it. God's gonna raise them up because He's Almighty God. Just as He raised Christ. He's the first fruit. We're coming later. One of the great truths of us is the resurrection from the dead. Now, he's going to go on and give some more arguments, but those are the initial things. Pretty straightforward, really. He just says, listen, if there's no resurrection from the dead, well, then Christ didn't raise either. And if Christ didn't raise, then where does that leave us? No, that's not the gospel you believe, Christians. You believed in Jesus, who was crucified and died for sin and was buried, but rose the third day. that He might give eternal life to you and I who believe. Amen. Amen. Let's pray.