This morning, we're going to be moving right along with the Heidelberg Catechism. Today will be on Lord's Day 17, question and answer 45. And I would like to do a responsive reading. So if you would take out your forms. Today, we're going to be talking about the resurrection of our Lord, of our King of Kings. How does Christ's resurrection benefit us? First, by His resurrection, He has overcome death, so that He might make us share in the righteousness He won for us by His death. Second, by His power, we too are already now resurrected to new life. Third, Christ's resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection. And if you would turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The famous chapter of the resurrection of our Lord and the resurrection of our bodies. We'll be reading from verses 50 to 58. The last section of a great chapter on the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, starting from verse 50. This is God's Word. 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." May the Lord give His blessings on His Word. There was a recent poll stating the percentage of Americans who believe that Jesus rose from the dead. And over the years, recently, it's been decreasing dropping to 64% of the population. Okay, no biggie. But amongst evangelical Christians, same poll, 85% believe in Christ's resurrection. You might be thinking, 85%? Okay, it's only 15% who don't. But it seems like that 15% is a pretty significant amount because that seems to be a pretty important doctrine of the Christian faith that many Christians are just flippantly about it. But as we come to our catechism, we don't see a concern about defending the historical event of the resurrection. Now why is that? Perhaps it wasn't a problem for the church back then in Heidelberg. Maybe if the Catechism was written during our time, there would be more attention given to that issue, to defend the historic event of the Resurrection. I don't think so. I think that the Catechism thinks it's more important to honor for Christians to understand the benefits of Christ rising from the dead than defending whether or not the resurrection happened. Because if you don't believe the resurrection happened, nothing is going to convince you that it has happened other than the work of the Holy Spirit. No, I think Christians, we as Christians struggle over understanding what it means to believe in the resurrection. What implications does it have in our lives? The resurrection is not just another clause in our belief statement in the Apostles' Creed. It's not just one other thing that we need to learn about in our catechism classes so that we can have more biblical knowledge. The resurrection is the undeniable event that changes everything. about how we live our lives and how we view the world. If Christ did not rise from the dead, what does Paul say? Our faith is in vain. The Christian faith stands or falls on whether Christ has risen from the dead. But because Christ has risen, we can have a fearless faith that is able to face death and overcome it by Christ's victory. Because Christ has risen, we can have a fearless faith that is able to face death and overcome it by Christ's victory. the main point of our sermon. So I'm going to break this down into three points. I know it's not in your bulletin, so you can go ahead and write this down if you wish. First, we'll be talking about Christ's resurrection overcoming death. Secondly, Christ's resurrection power. And then thirdly, Christ's resurrection guarantee. People of God, we have a huge problem in the world that we live in. And it goes farther than just corrupt politicians and bad weather. We live in a world that is enslaved, enslaved by the effects of sin. And to illustrate that, there's an old poem that personifies our greatest enemy that we face. And the poem goes like this. There is a preacher of the old school, and he speaks today as loudly and as clearly as ever. He is not a popular preacher, though the world is his parish, and he travels over every part of the globe and speaks in every language under the sun. He visits the poor. He calls upon the rich. You may meet him in the inner cities or find him moving in the highest circles of society. He preaches to people of every religion and of no religion. And whatever text he may have, the substance of the sermon is always the same. He is an eloquent preacher. He often stirs feelings which no other preacher could reach and brings tears into the eyes that are little used to little used to weep. He shatters life with his message. Most people hate him. But in one way or another, he makes everybody listen to him. This preacher's name is death. Every tombstone is his pulpit. Every newspaper prints his text. Every day, more people are part of its message. The inevitability of death. In verse 56, of our passage in 1 Corinthians 15 says that the sting of death is sin. The sting of death is sin. People of God, on this side of glory, death stares at us looking to consume and suck the joy out of our lives. There is no way, nowhere we can turn To get away from this, we deal with all kinds of effects from sin. Dealing with sickness, dealing with pains and aches and life-threatening viruses and life-threatening diseases. But we're not only physically vulnerable to the effects of sin and death, but spiritually as well. We willingly follow our idols, thinking they will satisfy us more than what God has to offer us. When in reality, our idols will only lead us to death. And our culture laughs at death, thinking it can be avoided and defeated by wishful thinking. We create our thousands of views, that come in the form of anti-aging creams, and plastic surgery, and Botox, and sport cars, and iPhones. However, it doesn't matter. You can amuse yourself all you want. Just like a child can think that they can hide from their parents by simply closing their eyes. They're not there because I can't see him or her. The child thinks. But the parent sees this as silliness. The sting of death is sin. And it will continue to claim more lives. When we turn on the evening news, we see countries like the Ukraine on the brink of civil war. where millions of civilians potentially will be killed similar to that of Syria not so long ago. Every year there's more than a million babies who are aborted in our own country. Thousands of men and women and children in the U.S. will die due to car accidents, shootings, murders. Christians are being persecuted all over the world Just this past week, there were 33 Christians who were executed in North Korea for their attempts to build church plants. And we all know the painful experience of how death has ripped away those that we love. It's an awful curse, and we live in a world that desperately needs a Savior who has conquered death so that we can be free to have new life. Ephesians 2 reminds us of our hopeless state when we were once dead in our trespasses and sins. We were children of wrath and were unwilling and unable to choose God because of our enslavement to our sin. And then comes verse 4. But God, out of his tender and rich mercies, made us alive in Christ. But how did Christ make us alive? It is true that we needed Christ to live perfectly before the law to gain our righteousness. And it is true that we needed Christ to bear all of our sins on the cross to take away our guilt. But that's not all that we needed from Christ. A lot of times we summarize the Gospel by saying, Jesus died for my sins. Congregation, I submit to you, that's not why you're a Christian. You're not a Christian because Jesus died for your sins. Because if Jesus just died for your sins, we're worshiping a dead Savior. Now, I understand we know better than that, but we have to be careful with how, what emphasis that we put when we talk about the gospel. If we look at our catechism, the first benefit talks about how, notice the language, that He has overcome death that he might make us partakers of the righteousness which he has obtained for us by his death." In other words, Christ dead did not make you alive or righteous before God's sight. It was the resurrection that made you alive in Christ. Everything that Christ did through his suffering and his death would have accomplished absolutely nothing if He did not rise from the dead on the third day. But because Christ willingly jumped into the jaws of death and overcame it by His resurrection, all of His work was vindicated, was effective. As the Apostle Peter says, according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope, a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So at this point, we've seen how the resurrection vindicated Christ's work to make us alive in Him. But because of Christ's resurrection, we also are new creatures, new creations that were created to inherit God's imperishable kingdom that He is preparing for us at this moment. And we'll see this in our second point. In our passage in 1 Corinthians, verse 50, Paul says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This is an interesting phrase because of some of the Old Testament language that's in there. God has always promised his people that they would enter into the promised land. But, even Abraham knew that Canaan was not the promised land. If you read in Hebrews 11 verse 10, you don't have to turn there, but Hebrews 11 verse 10 it says that Abraham looked forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and maker is God. However, we cannot enter this heavenly city with the bodies we have now. Which then creates a dilemma. If Christ's resurrection accomplished for us, If the point of Christ's resurrection was for us to enter into God's imperishable kingdom, how are we going to get there if we still have these broken bodies that reek with sin? Well, Paul talks about it in verse 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Now, what does mystery mean? How does Paul use that word? Well, I'll tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that Paul's telling us a secret that we have to figure out. I used to, I still do from time to time, but I used to especially love reading mystery novels as a kid, reading Agatha Christie. And then there were nuns, the first book that I read. and trying to figure out who is the murderer in that group, if you're familiar with that story. And it's just, you're on pins and needles, you know, you're on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who's the murderer. It's not how Paul uses mystery here. Not at all. No, instead, Paul is saying that there is something hidden that is now revealed. There was a truth, a reality that was hinted and foreshadowed in the Old Testament. But now in Christ, it's been fully revealed. And what was that mystery? What was that hidden object or that hidden truth? It was that we would have new resurrected bodies. That was not even in the frame of mind of Old Testament believers. They didn't think that was possible. But it was hinted at. It was foreshadowed that God would give His people a new promised land. It's almost as if, for illustration's sake, when you're going to your grandma's house for dinner or for lunch, And you smell the cookies. Ooh, those smell good. And you want to eat them. Or you smell the pot roast. Or you smell the baked chicken. And you see the sounds of the people preparing the meal. But you don't see it. You haven't eaten it. All you can do is smell the aromas. That's how it was with the Old Testament. They smelled what God was, so to speak, cooking. Until now, at this point of history, God has revealed in Christ about our new resurrected bodies and a new creation. And all this is going to change in the twinkling of an eye, says Paul. later on. Even though we will die, unless Christ comes back first, but even though we will die, death does not have the final say. Isn't that a comfort? That when we spend eternity with Christ, we will no longer have to deal with this body that's filled with annoyances and pains and aches, susceptible to diseases. We will worship Christ for eternity with new bodies that will be 100% immune to cancer, to the flu, to broken bones, to skin rashes, or to just plain old age. verses 51 to 54 in verses 51 to 54 Paul uses the language of changing clothing figuratively to tell us something important. You notice in verses 51 and 52 as well that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed That word change is used just like you change your clothes every day. Or in verse 54, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the moral puts on immortality, or puts on. There we go. Puts on. Same kind of imagery. That we're putting it on like we're putting on a shirt or sweater. Those are the words that Paul uses and why does he do that? What does that mean? Paul uses this language in other places in his letters to tell us that God is transforming us through Christ. It's the same language when Paul uses to tell us to put on Christ in Galatians 3.27. Or to put on the new self. that expresses compassion and kindness and humility and patience, as Paul says in Colossians 2. But people of God, we can't put on Christ in our own power and strength. We can't love like Christ has loved us and show compassion as Christ has shown compassion to us and patience and all those attributes and fruits of the Spirit. Rather, it is through the work of the Holy Spirit that we can put on Christ so that we can fulfill that. It's that transforming, that renewing of our mind, a renewing of our souls and being to become more and more like Christ. And it's the same way we cannot earn our new bodies, our new resurrected bodies by our own willpower or by our own merits. No, instead God will transform us by His grace to attain these new bodies because of what Christ has done in the resurrection. And Paul uses imagery of a flash of lightning, blinking of an eye, meaning that it will come unexpectedly. But it is a sure fact that it's coming. The trumpet sound that Paul uses, Paul talks about is meant, trumpets are usually meant for an alarm for battle or alarm for victory. And because Christ is our living Savior or living hope, as Peter says, we already have this victory over death. And this is why we have more than enough reason to taunt death straight in its face. It has been swallowed up. And for the first time in creation, death has been trampled by a man. The word swallowed up in the original language has connotations of a predator capturing its prey. I recently watched a news video, purely for entertainment, a news video on a python wrestling an alligator. And the news report was saying that the python was, well, the two animals were wrestling for hours and hours and hours. And I thought the alligator would come out, but I guess the alligator gave up and python had a huge meal. and eventually would swallow up the entire alligator. Christ has once and for all swallowed up, has swallowed up death. We no longer have to fear death. As one theologian puts it, for those who believe in Christ, death is no longer death. It is but the shadow of death. And a shadow can only frighten, but can do no harm. That's the reality that we live in now. Death no longer has dominion, no longer has a final say in where we go. Because Christ has broken the shackles of that curse by His victorious resurrection. Being fearless does not mean that you never become fearful at all. No, death is still an awful curse that can be painful and quite frankly scary. But that's when we look to Christ as a resurrected God-man who put death to death, who engraved His tombstone When we embrace this truth, our fear turns into rest. The resurrection of Christ is the greatest history-changing event that cannot be altered, regardless of unbelief. The reality does not change whether or not I choose to believe in the resurrection. It is reality. Christian or not, Christ has resurrected from the dead. As Christ unfolds the benefits, we remember that we have received a new body and a new kingdom to worship Christ for eternity. In the light of these sure promises, The resurrection also promises that nothing that we do is in vain, which is what we're going to see in our final point. Paul calls to our attention in verse 58, how we are to live in light of this reality of Christ's resurrection. Christ's resurrection is not only meant to comfort us and to make us long for our resurrected bodies, But it changes how we view everything we do. How we view the world. How we view our work. The Corinthian church struggled a lot with the pagan teaching that the spirit matters more than the body. Body is evil. Spirit is good. Therefore, we can act and do whatever we want with this body because our spirit is pure. People of God, let's not fall into this mindset that we can be lazy because we know God's going to do His work anyways, whether or not we participate, whether or not we work hard enough. We can fall in that same mindset. our work matters to the Lord and wherever He calls us. Paul tells us to be immovable and abounding, which are very strong adjectives to not do anything half-hearted to the Lord. Whether it's in our day-to-day job or in our calling as students or for a mom who works at home, or whether you're going through a difficult trial that adds a lot of challenges to your life. Whatever you're able to do, do it for the Lord and for His glory. Everything that we do has meaning. Everything that we do has purpose and that God will use for His kingdom. Even when God calls us to follow a difficult path, nothing, congregation, nothing is done in vain. We live in the last moments of history. When everything we see, everything we know, will change in the blink of an eye. In one moment, you're going about your day and everything seems normal. The next second, you will be alarmed by the trumpet sounds. And you will look up to see your resurrected King. And that's when your labor is done on this earth. But until then, congregation, remember that one day we're all going to bear the image of Christ perfectly when we receive our new bodies. But let us now encourage one another to keep focused on working hard for God's Kingdom. Let us remind each other to put on Christ and to put our sin to death. Let's live as if we were living our last day here on earth, which we are, in a sense. We're always in the last moments of history. Tell the story of Christ's love to your neighbor. Tell them the hope that they have when they place their trust in Him. We don't desire anybody to go to hell. But once that trumpet sounds, time's up. The King has arrived and will make all things new. All sacrifices made for Christ and His Kingdom are not done in vain. And by His grace, not because you earned it, but by His grace, God will richly reward you when He brings in His Kingdom. It's going to be your new home. with your new resurrected body. Amen. Heavenly Father, we ask that The Spirit will work in our hearts to produce an urgency in our hearts, in our minds, to live our lives for Your honor, Your glory, and not just go through the motions of everything. Father, I pray that You put a burden in our hearts to be a light in wherever we are. Father, You would give us the strength to be who we're called to be. To be image bearers of Christ. To testify to His love and to this reality that He has resurrected from the dead. And there is hope for all who are in bondage still. And Father, You also comfort us. Knowing that no matter what we go through, no matter what trials that You allow us to go through, however hard they may be, Father, we have a living hope. We have Christ, who has resurrected, who has conquered over our greatest enemies. And we are already in victory. Father, help us to be faithful. in this coming week. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.