Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the first book, first letter
of Paul to the Corinthians, and chapter 15. And we'll read for
our text, verse 20. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. and verse 20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse
20. This is a very, very important
chapter in the Word of God. It begins with a very concise
summary of the Gospel of Christ, how that he was delivered up,
how that he died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. And then he's given a list of
those that saw him when he rose from the dead. And this chapter
then goes on to address an error. In the church of Corinth, there
were those that said that there is no resurrection of the dead,
not only that Christ did not rise, but there was no resurrection
of the dead. In other words, we are just like
the beasts that perish. They go down to the earth and
remain in the tomb. And it is then an answer to this
error that the Apostle goes into great detail here on the resurrection. error in the Church does need
to be dealt with. Important doctrines that are
laid aside, they have implications. And here, the Apostle is dealing
with the implications that if there was no resurrection of
the dead, what this actually means to the faith. of God's
people. In the letters that were written
to the churches of Asia, recorded in Revelation chapter 2 and 3,
in chapter 2 we read in verse 15 of the church of Pergamos,
and they held Ereura in that church. There were some in the
church that held it. Now, it was held against them.
that they didn't deal with it. It wasn't just thought, well,
it doesn't matter if there are those in your number that hold
error, as long as they don't cause a commotion, as long as
they don't cause trouble, just let them hold that and we won't
challenge it. But that will undermine a church
where it is held, where those that are holding error needs
to be dealt with. Then there were those in the
Church of Thyatira that were teaching evil in the ways of
Jezebel and seducing the people of God. And again, it appears
that it was not being dealt with. It was just allowed to be gone
on. You know, however much we might
in a positive way preach the gospel and set forth the truths,
If there are those things that are undermining it, then it is
bringing that to naught of what we are doing. If someone is trying
to lose weight and they're diligently exercising to try and lose weight,
but at the same time they're just eating fatty foods and anything
like that, all of the benefit that they've had from their exercise
is lost because of what they're doing in the dine. And so we
might as well gather around the preach word, a sound ministry,
sound teaching in the house of God. But then we go away from
that and we listen to the world, we read, we listen, we see the
world's things and we drink in error and all manner of things.
Then that undermines in the house of God, we are walking in the
spirit. We are attending to spiritual
things. And if then we go out and we
end up, instead of walking in the spirit and having the word
dwelling richly in us, that we're walking after the flesh and seeking
the things of the flesh and the things of this world, then it
is undermining everything that we've heard. It's like the parable
of the sower, the word that was sown into the ground that brought
forth thorns. The ground was alright, the seed
was alright, but the thorns choked that which was then growing up. And this is the effect where
there are errors that are held. However much the truth might
be praised and set forth, while it is not tackling that particular
error, then there's so much damage done. We might think, If someone's
got an illness, we will do everything we can to keep them healthy and
strong, but if that very illness, if that very point is not being
dealt with, then, especially if it is a cancer or something
like that, then that will have its way, that will take down
our bodies and all of the other efforts, because they're not
emphasizing on that very point of affliction, of illness that
is wrong with us, then the whole body will suffer. And the apostle
could see this with the Corinthian church. And so he deals with
this. Often he tackles the questions
that rise in men's hearts and that opposition to the truth.
He defends the truth. And it's a good thing for us
to Remember when we come to such a chapter as this, that as well
as there being error, an error is an opportunity to set forth
the truth. And our Lord often used this. There were those that came accusing
Him, those that were bringing wrong doctrine, wrong teaching,
wrong accusations, and He used it to set forth the truth. those that were following him
over the sea, and just because they knew the worth of what it
was when he could miraculously feed their bodies. He says, labour
not for the bread that perisheth, but that which endureth to eternal
life. And John 6 then is addressing
that need of spiritual food, except ye eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no truth. in you, you
have no life in you. And so arising from that error
comes that real profitable teaching. We think of how the Lord dealt
with the man that had been born blind, and it was us who did
sin, him or his parents that he was born blind. And the Lord
then answers him, it was for the honour and glory of God.
And what follows in that chapter? flows out in a large amount from
those errors that were held there. In relation to the resurrection,
we have the objection, the thought of those that said, well, there
was one amongst us, and according to the law, when the husband
died, the wife should take a near kinsman, his brother, two wife,
and there were seven brethren. And the one woman, she had all
the seven. They said, whose husband, whose
wife would she be in the resurrection? And the Lord said, ye do err,
not knowing the power of God and not knowing the truth. There is no marrying and giving
a marriage in heaven as the angels of God in heaven. And so he addresses
where they were trying to trip him up, he brings forth the balance
in, the truth. May we always think of this.
If we're looking for open doors and opportunity to set forth
the truth, one of those opportunities is when error is brought forth. Not only is it to be seen as
an open door, but a necessary door, because unaddressed, it
perpetuates, it goes on. and it does great damage. So
may we be defenders of the truth. This is the very message that
Jude came with as he opens his epistle. He says, Beloved, when
I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that
you should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered
unto the saints. For there are certain men prepped
in unawares." And so he is dealing with this because of those that
are not without, they come into the church and they are in the
church and that is where they do the damage. So here the apostle
is dealing with the resurrection and this morning I desire to
look at three points. Firstly, the certainty of Christ's
resurrection. Our text says, verse 20, that
now is Christ risen from the dead. And then secondly, the
implication of the error that some held. The apostle deals
with this in verses 13 to 19. I want to just briefly look at
those implications. But then thirdly, what Christ
has become. Our text says, but now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept. So firstly, the certainty of
Christ's resurrection. And of course, this is bound
up with the resurrection of the dead, generally, but the resurrection
of Christ. It is attested in every one of
the four Gospels and also in the first 11 verses in the Acts
of the Apostles. We might say also it is testified
as to Paul himself, that had the Lord appear to him. He refers
to this in verse 8 of our chapter. Last of all, he was seen of me
also as one born out of due time, that is, on the Damascus road.
So a risen and ascended Saviour appeared to him, not dead, but
living. And we can trust those records
that were written those by godly men, by men of reputation and
esteem, and the apostle here in the Corinthians. And we would
remember that that which is written is the inspired, infallible word
of God. But if men at that time could
have disproved it, they would have done, they could have done,
they could have said, well, look, we found his body, we know where
he is. he hasn't risen from the dead,
that none did or could produce his body, they couldn't undermine
the fact of the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared, all
of these witnesses that Paul speaks of. Now we should think
of those occasions where In our lives, we might be told something. We don't doubt what we've been
told. We think especially of the person
that's told it to us, if they are of reputation, of honest
and telling the truth. And especially if there are several
witnesses that give the same account or variations that do
not contradict each other, but emphasize that this is not a
collusion, they are each speaking of how they have viewed the situation,
and we have this in the Word of God. We also notice the great
change in the disciples. When their Lord was taken from
them and crucified and slain, or Peter, he was denying his
Lord, they all forsook him and fled. They were very sad, they
were very cast down. They thought that evil had triumphed,
that they trusted that Christ should have redeemed Israel,
but he'd been taken and slain. But when they understood, when
Christ appeared to them, opened their understanding, that they
might understand the scriptures, they're very different men. It
made a real effect upon them. And the truth of what has been
done, what the Lord has done, whether it is in the lives of
his people, or whether it is in providence, in a spiritual
way, whatever it is, the effect upon his people bears witness
of what has been done, where it has come from. The grace of
God, the teaching of God, doesn't leave man where it found him.
It does have an effect. Where the people of God are cast
down and despondent, the entrance of thy word, it giveth light. Those things that the Lord does
to comfort his people, to strengthen his people, they have the desired
effect. And if the things of God, they
are to be understood. Faith is based upon the word
of God. And where it is understood, Then
there's comfort. The disciples, we read in Acts
when they return to Jerusalem, or at the end of some of the
Gospel accounts as well, they return with great joy. And I
say, how are they of great joy? Their Lord has been taken from
them. He's ascended up into heaven.
They won't see him anymore. But they understood what had
been done. They understood the Lord would
come again in like manner with power and great glory. And that
gave them then joy. When we cannot understand things,
our joy is restrained. But where faith is brought to
trust in the Word of God and trust in what He has done, then
we can rejoice and be glad. And so the statement here, that
now is Christ risen from the dead. An empty tomb is what marks
out true Christianity from every other religion. It is that which
marks out the fulfilment of the Scriptures. It is not something
that just happened as a surprising thing. It was that which was
prophesied and known by the people of God, right through the Word
of God. Job, he says, I know that my
Redeemer liveth, he shall stand the latter day upon the earth,
and he knew regarding his own resurrection, that which is bound
up with Christ, though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God for myself and not for another. So may we be certain of this,
this which these Corinthians, they were saying that there is
no resurrection of the dead. The apostle testifies that there
is and that our Lord has risen from the dead and ascended up
on high. And especially this season of
the year, may we be strengthened in this truth, this reality. Our whole hope is resting upon
this. If our Lord just died and never
rose again, then there'd be no proof that He is any more than
you and I as a sinner, that death had dominion over Him. But death
did not have dominion over Him. That which He said before He
died, that He had power to lay down His life and power to take
it again, would have been proved false if He did not take it again,
but he did, and he did appear. And so may our faith be strengthened
in this. I want to look now at the implication
of the error in the second place. If it is that the dead do not
rise, if Christ has not risen, if there is no resurrection of
the dead, What are the implications of this? The Apostle begins this in verse
13. He says that if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? So he joins the two together. The resurrection of the dead
and the resurrection of Christ. We know there shall be a resurrection
of the just and of the unjust, not just of the saved, but also
of those that are damned, some to eternal life and bliss and
happiness and some to eternal contempt and in hell forever
and ever, not just in spirit, but in a risen body. And so he joins the two together. Then he says, if Christ be not
risen, then is our preaching vain. It is empty. It is no worth
for us to preach the gospel. It is no worth for us to preach
at all, because we are setting forth the reality of a risen
saviour. How does that then put into the
scale all other religions or of testifying of what they hold
or any hope that is set before them? The great matter when we
come into this world as we come to die, we're under the sentence
of death. And any religion, any teaching,
any hope that doesn't address that, that comes short, far short. It doesn't give hope at all. It must be beyond this world.
Again and again that is emphasized. In Hebrews 11, the evidence of
faith, they confess that they were strangers and pilgrims in
the earth. They're looking for a heavenly
country, a city above, and how would that be so if it was just
in a disembodied spirit and not in flesh, in a body? Paul says when he writes to the
Romans that the whole creation groaneth together with pain unto
now. All the creation feels the effect
of sin. and effect of death, that the
Lord will bring a new creation and make all things new, a new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And those
that are the inhabitants of that place have been the inhabitants
here. Those souls, they're not created
anew, as it were a different people, Job says, it shall be
for himself and not another. And so The preaching, the word
that is set before us is vain and empty and our faith, what
we are trusting on, leaning on, that is also vain. And he says
regarding the ministers themselves in verse 15, we have found false
witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised
up Christ Whom he raise not up, if so be that the dead rise not. And how often we think of this,
that when a minister preaches, we are like the Bereans to test
his preaching with the word of God. And if that word is not
according to that word, it cannot profit. It means that that minister
is a false witness and who is going to be trusting their soul's
eternal destiny and all their hopes upon a false witness. The people of God that preach,
the ministers of the gospel, must be faithful witnesses. They're
witnesses of the truth of God's word and of how they have experienced
that truth themselves. So it affects the minister himself,
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. If Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain, yet in your sins. And then he brings it to the
case of those who have already died, already fallen asleep,
and says that they are perished then. They are perished. You
might say, well, they're souls. Their souls are in heaven. But
redemption is always set forth as a redemption of soul and body. And that's why it's so vital,
and an error that has been plaguing our churches over the years,
that error that Christ did not have a soul, but his soul's place
was taken by his divinity. It is absolutely essential that
we know that the redemption in Christ was body and soul. Thou shalt see the travail of
his soul shall be satisfied. At death the soul returns to
God. This day, our Lord said to the
dying thief, shalt thou be with me in paradise. His body was
still upon the cross. But what is set before us here
is that bodily resurrection, the joining of soul and body
together. addresses this as well in the
first epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter four. At the end of that
chapter, he says that Christ will come with all his saints,
that we which are alive, that we shall be caught up with them
in the air. But those that have already died,
the graves shall be opened, the dead in Christ shall rise first. They shall be united with their
soul, soul and body. He says in another part, writing
to the Corinthians, that we groan, not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon. That is, we might have not just
death that separates and unclothes us from our body and the soul
returns to God, but that we have a body as well, clothed with
that body. And that is what we desire. And
this is what he is setting forth here, not a partial, Redemption
just of soul, but a redemption of soul and of body. The rising again and the prospect
of eternally in heaven. It's not just a spiritual thing,
but as we see each other here, as we feel, as we have all our
senses, it is that and more. in heaven. There's not anything
less of reality. We are told by Paul that then
we shall know even as we are known. At the moment we see through
a glass dark way. There's a veil between. But God
sees us exactly as we are. But beyond the grave we shall
see exactly as things are. And when resurrected, we shall
be part of that new creation. So may we really understand that
where there is an error, whatever that error is, there are implications
with it. It ripples right through the
whole teaching, the Word of God. We think of the Arminian error,
the error that teaches that Christ died for all men. and that all
we need to do is to exercise our supposed free will and accept
Christ and exercise our faith. That error goes right through
in so many aspects. It gives no security for the
people of God. It assumes that we are not utterly
dead. There is something in us that
has got life and ability to respond. Also, takes away all of the particular
love that God had to his people and Christ to his people in laying
down his life for them because they would say, well, he laid
down his life for Judas and Saul and for Esau and for those who
have perished. And they just didn't avail themselves
of him. And you get one error and it
then affects everything. The five points of Calvinism,
Really, you take away one of those points and it affects them
all. They all fail. And so we would
hold fast to those doctrines, the doctrine of the total depravity
of man, totally dead, and of the election of God, the choice
of his people, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Unconditional election,
not based on any works or anything like that. Limited atonement
for Christ's people only, laying down his life for the sheep,
not those that are not his sheep. Irresistible grace, that the
Lord will give that grace which will convey the benefits and
blessings of Christ's death to a sinner, In a way, it's irresistible. They must be saved. They must
be brought to heaven. And so the last point, perseverance
of the saints, all that are chosen in Christ, all for whom he died,
they shall persevere unto the end, and they shall be saved. The doctrines set forth like
that are certain. They're comforting. They are
doctrines of blessing. for those who feel and know that
they are dead by nature in trespasses and sins. It was the Lord that
passed by them and bid them live and quickened them into life. So on to look then at our last
point, which is what Christ has become. The first fruits. And this goes back to Exodus. It goes back to the teaching
in Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 23, where we
have the feast of the first fruits. It's begun to be taught in verse
nine of Leviticus 23, where the Lord bids Moses to speak to the
children of Israel, that when they come into the land, then
they reap their harvest, that then you shall bring a sheaf
of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall
wave the sheaf before the Lord." In other words, testifying, this
is the harvest, this was first coming in, this is all of thee,
thou hast given us this harvest, thou hast given us this fruit
that is beginning to be reaped. and he shall waive it then to
be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Sabbath
the priest shall waive it." And so it is the firstfruits and
it was an indication that that would not just be on its own,
but the rest of the harvest would follow. The rest of the blessing
would follow. And this is the teaching that
is here, that Christ, he has then become the first fruits
of those that rise from the dead, of those that slept. Now, throughout
the Word of God, there's other references to the first fruits. We think of the following chapter
in 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 15, and he speaks of those, I
beseech you, brethren, you know the house of Cephanus, that it
is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints. So in other words, they were
the first believers of Achaia. But in 1 Corinthians 15, in our
text, it's speaking of Christ as being the first roots of all
believers, all that slant. And it implies there will be
those that follow afterwards. Now there's two ways, and I want
to Just think, although this is
speaking of the body, through our Lord Jesus Christ, there
is another resurrection, a spiritual resurrection that comes first,
quickened together with Christ. It's the new birth, it's what
our Lord spoke of in John 3, and the new birth is that which
is the giving of eternal life. I give unto them eternal life,
They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of mine hand." And we are, by nature, dead in trespasses and
sins. And that first resurrection is
a spiritual resurrection to spiritual life here below, to be quickened
and made alive. And it is absolutely vital that
we be partakers of that. It's being partakers of that
that is the earnest and the assurance that we shall be partakers of
the resurrection of the body. There must be grace and glory. There must be spiritual life
before then there will be the resurrection of the body, of
a body joined for eternal glory to be with the Lord. And when
the Lord begins that work and He works in a sinner, then it
is a new life. We show forth the praises of
Him who hath called us out of nature's darkness and into His
marvellous light. Behold, all things are passed
away, all things become new. You hath He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. It is this work that The Lord
does, and does through His Holy Spirit in quickening a soul into
life. And where that is so, we may
then look forward to this raising of the body and what is to come. Now the Apostle again deals with
possible objections. What will the resurrection of
the body look like? How will we be raised? He deals
with these. We have it in this chapter from
verse 35 through to 49. And he's very methodical in how
he deals with this objection. In verse 35 to 39, he teaches us that it is each according
to his own body. And we have that illustration
that is around us even in nature. And so he's saying about the
seed that we sow in the ground. We sow a grain of wheat and we
expect that wheat will come up. But that which comes up, it is
wheat, but it doesn't look like the grain that has been put in
the ground, but it doesn't come up barley, it doesn't come up
a wildflower, something like that. When we put in the ground
a daffodil, it's a gnarled bulb with no green, no sign of life
in it at all, but when it comes up, it doesn't come up a bluebell,
it comes up a daffodil. But how different, beautiful,
green, beautiful flowers. Always love this time of year
that coincides really with the time that our Lord rose from
the dead in this hemisphere, the springtime. And when we have
life from the dead happening all around us in spring, that
which was dead is coming to life as if the whole creation would
say, Christ is risen, there is a resurrection, There is a resurrected
body. It's not like the dry, dead body
that was sown in the earth. It is new and it needs to die
before it brings forth that fruit. And if you have a look at perhaps
potatoes or wherever seed has been sown, and you can identify
the actual seed that was sown, That seed has died, it's disintegrated,
but it's brought forth, it's brought forth roots and life
that is springing up from that. And then from that, instead of
just one grain, there's 30, 60, 100-fold grain from it. So the first thing he emphasizes
is that each body has its own body in the resurrection, even
in nature it teaches us that. It doesn't come up something
different. That answers exactly to what
Job says, that I shall see the Lord for myself. It will be Job
that rises. Some have said, and it's not
an objection that is put here, well what age will people be? You have those that have died
from the womb, those that have died hundreds of years old, how
shall they appear? What age? Of course, our Lord
was 33 in the prime of life when he suffered, when he rose again. And we can have told that in
that new creation, there's no more infant of days nor old man. And we can only picture that
it will be in the prime and like our Lord. but it shall be that
same person that is risen again, the body given. Then we have
another illustration from verse 40 to 41, where the apostle highlights
the differences in glory, glory of the sun, glory of the moon,
glory of the stars, but they differ in glory. And he says
this is the same in the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is
raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is
raised in power. And he applies that illustration
of the different glory of the sun and moon in a spiritual way,
in a contrast between how it is laid in the grave and how
it is raised again. And then we have from verse 45
to 49, the bearing of the image. Firstly, of the first man Adam,
which was made a living soul. The last Adam, that is the Lord
Jesus Christ, was made a quickening spirit. And then he says that
is not that which is spiritual, that was not first, but that
which is natural. The natural man is of the earth,
earthly. The second man, our Lord, is
the Lord from heaven. And so then there's the bearing
the image. While here below, we bear the
image of Adam. In the fall, in our bodies here
below, but in the resurrection, Firstly, in spirit, we're bearing
the image of Christ, spirit, to dwell in us. And then in the
resurrection, like unto Christ, that resurrected body, a heavenly
body. And so in verse 49, he says,
as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither corruption in corruption." And then he shows
this great mystery of the dead, raised incorruptible and all
changed, and we that remain on the earth shall be changed. And this is the whole culmination,
the victory, the deliverance over death, is to be fully restored,
risen, given a glorious body, eternal body, one with the soul,
must be a wonderful thing. Here below every quickened soul
has a conflict between that newborn soul and the old nature, the
body, the flesh. Paul says in Romans 7 in this,
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. When
I would do good, evil is present with me. But that won't be in
the new creation. We'll have with our souls a body
that is not in any conflict with the soul, completely at one. And we can't even think of our
entrant here below. But this is our expectation,
our promise, our faith. It is that which is set before
us in our text. And if there's firstfruits, there's
that which follow. And may that be our desire, Lord,
that I might be amongst those that follow, that I might be
amongst those that has the firstfruit, so I shall be gathered with Thee,
I shall be raised again. And what is the evidence of it? Part of the first resurrection,
spiritually made alive, given hearing ears, given spiritual
life here below, and yet here groaning in the body of death,
but there in a body glorified and at complete oneness with
the soul. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.