Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Paul's first epistle to the
Corinthians and chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we
read through our text, verse 57. Verse 57. But thanks be to
God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 57. The Apostle has asked in the
last two verses before our text, O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law. And so the Apostle, he is mentioning
death and sin and the law and it is in the context of the victory
over this last enemy which is death and a victory over the
grave And it is a victory that is a personal victory. Our text
says, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory. And yet it is through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And our Lord must deal and must
have dealt with these three things to bring about the victory. He
must deal with the law, He must deal with sin. He must deal with
death. And each one are interwoven closely
together. The Apostle in this chapter is
dealing with an error in the Corinthian church that stated
that there was no resurrection of the dead. And the Apostle
very carefully deals with this error as he shows how vital it
is that there is a resurrection of the dead, and from that then
proves the resurrection of Christ and what has been accomplished
through that, and it is worthy of note. that he first doesn't
prove the resurrection of Christ but he sets forth against the
error that there is no resurrection of the dead and the solemn reality
is that even without a redemption without there being a way of
escape from the wrath to come there is that eternal wrath an
eternal damnation, that death is not the end. There is a resurrection,
there is a second death, and those that are in Christ over
them, the second death, have no power. And so it is because
there is a resurrection of the dead that the Lord Jesus Christ
must die and must rise again. And then it is through Him and
through His resurrection that there is a deliverance from death
itself, including the second death. But in the first part
of this chapter, or from the first part that we read from
verse 12, he gives the six implications. If there was no resurrection
of the dead, In verse 13, the first is that if there's no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. The second is, is that
our preaching is vain if there's no resurrection of the dead and
if Christ is not risen. And then the third is that our
faith is also vain. The fourth is that those that
preach the gospel, as Paul and as we Do tonight, in verse 15,
we would be found false witnesses of God, because in the preaching
we testify that God raised up Christ from the dead, but if
there be this error, then Christ is not raised. And we see that
one error, then, leads to an undermining of another truth. It is not those that are openly
saying first that Christ is not raised from the dead, they're
saying there's no resurrection of the dead, but the apostle
sees that what this actually means is that it is going to
undermine the gospel and undermine that Christ himself has risen
from the dead. We should be very careful when
errors come into the Church of God of what their implication
is. We may not see at first what
it actually means, to embrace that error. 5 Then in the fifth
place we are told that if there is no resurrection of the dead,
then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. And it's a blessed comfort, especially
having attended a funeral and seen those who have passed away
that are sleeping in Christ, to know that this is an error
here, that those that have fallen asleep, they are not perished.
They still live. Why seek ye the living among
the dead? They are absent from the body
and present with the Lord. And the sixth thing he brings
before them is that if in this life only we have hope in Christ
with all men most miserable, there is another life. This is
not the only life. There is a life to come. And
if we've only lived for this life, if this is our only hope,
then we are for all men most miserable. And so he gives these
implications, then answers those objections as to how do the dead
arise, with what body do they come, and he addresses all of
these things. But what is upon my spirit this
evening? is what the Lord needed to deal
with, so that we may have in the words of our text, but thanks
be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Those things that he must deal
with. And when we think of the situation
that we are in now, we are in the presence of death, We have
those of our loved ones and friends and brethren that they are dying,
they are removing from this world. There is death in existence now. The Lord must deal with that
for there to be a victory. There are those that are spiritually
dead. They have no felt need of Christ. They do not look for salvation.
They do not know that they are sinners. They are not reconciled
to God at all. They are not capable of communion
or fellowship with Him at all. They are spiritually dead. There
is to be a victory. It must be a victory over that
as well. Then there is the second death,
that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
and that those then that are found guilty there must be punished
eternally, and that must be dealt with if there is to be a victory
over death. Then we have the law. We do and
are under the law, and if it were not so, then death would
not be, because Death is the sentence that the law prescribes,
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, and our
first parents ain't of thee. Through the sentence of death
passed upon them, and passed upon all men, in that all have
sinned. And so the law must be dealt
with that we are actually under and that has a power and a curse
upon us, a demand upon us. We are already under that law,
already sentenced. Then we have the problem of sin. We are born in sin and shapen
in iniquity, but every one that is quickened by God's grace,
they know, as the Apostle Paul did, that in them that is in
their flesh dwelleth no good thing, that sin dwelleth in us,
and that it works in us, and it brings forth fruit unto death. And the working of sin in our
members is something that every child of God, looks that there
be a victory over. If there is to be a victory as
spoken of here, the Lord must deal with the matter of sin as
well. So these three things I wanted
to look with the Lord's help at this evening, how the Lord
deals with these things. And as we said, there is a overlapping
of them, they are all intermingled but each one must be seen to
be dealt with and so if we deal really with the last one first
that we deal with death itself and see how the Lord has dealt
with that Death, in the very first place,
as coming into this world, it came evidenced in spiritual death. Man died spiritually. The sentence was that, in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Well,
man didn't die, literally. Adam did not drop dead straight
away. He lived for many hundreds of
years later and bear children. but in dying thou shalt die and
we read these solemn chapters later on in Genesis where there
is the list of all of those that lived many hundreds of years
but we read and he died, and he died and if the Holy Spirit
reinforces and emphasizes to us however long we may live we
must die, we must go the way of all the earth or we must be
laid unto our fathers, laid in the grave, it must happen unless
we are those that when the Lord returns at the last day, when
the world shall be no more, the last trump sounds, the dead in
Christ rise, then those that are alive shall be caught up
with Him in the air. So in fact they will changed
their state like Elijah did, like Enoch did, those that walked
with God and were not. But the first evidence then of
death is spiritual death. Man died in a spiritual way. And so for the victory that is
to be over death, it must be that man is given a life that
he does not have now, that he is quickened into spiritual life. And the Lord does that. He says,
I have given unto them that is his people eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. That life begins
in the new birth. I pass by thee when thou wast
in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood, I bid thee live. And the first part of that victory
is evidenced in us. Our text says that, but thanks
be to God which giveth us the victory. The first knowledge
of that, the first work of the Lord in our hearts to evidence
that is a quickening into divine life, where we then see what
we did not see before, we see spiritually, we see and hear
spiritually, we feel, we have a new heart, a softened heart,
we are brought to cry unto the Lord, to pray unto Him, We have
a life, a spiritual life, a life that is capable of knowing God,
enjoying God, fellowship with Him, and to be with Him forever. And that is the work of God,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in that first giving of that victory,
He gives spiritual life. but thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we have the
death that is due to us each. Man must die because of the sentence
that is upon us and we think of the situation that was in
Queen Esther's day when the sentence of death was upon the Jews. That
could not be reversed. It must be found another way
in which there could be a victory over it without the king saying,
it was a mistake, we're going to erase it, there's not going
to be any death. Death must be followed through
because the law stated that those laws could not be changed. It
was a similar thing in Daniel's day when the king himself couldn't
change his own law about Daniel or anyone who did not call upon
him and no other god for 30 days should be cast into a lion's
den so Daniel had to be cast into the lion's den it must happen
and so with us as well we even if we are born again spiritually
we must die that decree that sentence is not changed and cannot
change that you and I must one day die and be laid in the grave
as we have seen the mortal remains of one this day laid and some
of us have laid in the grave and so how is it then that our
Lord must obtain that victory while still allowing that that
body does go into the grave And we see in this passage here how
the Apostle describes that victory, how it is that in verse 53, this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And so the very corrupt body,
the sins, that are with us, the fallen nature, all that is tainted
died with sin. The Lord has turned that curse
and turned the death into a way whereby that corruptible puts
on incorruptible, and the mortal puts on immortality. Death must
still be there, but death, which is the last enemy, Death is overcome
by our Lord, that it should be through death that this new body,
this release of the soul from the corrupt body, for it is absent
from the body present with the Lord. The Lord has used death
to give the release of the soul up to God. Father, I will that
they whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. And so when we view death, and
we view how the Lord uses it, those that sleep in Jesus, he
will bring with him. We read of the death of Stephen
when he was stoned, and how that he saw the Lord standing to receive
him, and how that he fell asleep. And it is a most precious truth
that the Lord in obtaining this victory and giving this victory
to us it is a victory over death that we behold time and again
with our loved ones that separates and we see them no more and they
no more shall have a part here below but their soul which is
eternal is with the Lord and that very grave has destroyed
this corrupt body and that we shall at the resurrection, the
very last day, have an immortal body again. We shall have a body
that is immortal and not corruptible. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
done this through himself going into death entering into death
though he did not need to die and the rising from the dead
and the apostle here in this chapter is emphatic against this
joining together the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection
of Christ that in Christ rising from the dead he is assured that
his people that death shall not be the curse that it once was,
but it shall be the means of blessing and means of an incorruptible
body, the power of eternal life. And so we see the empty tomb,
the Lord dealing with death itself, and that rising from the dead
is dealt with death in that literal, real way that we've viewed it,
and some of us have viewed it today. And then there is the
second death, that which is after the Judgment Day. And that shall
be where those shall not have any answer to the charges against
them, the sins that are laid to their charge, the sentences
against them, that they shall then be banished for ever and
ever. But the Lord has given to his
people a plea, that it is Christ that died, yea, rather risen
again, that he appears in the presence of God for us. And the
Lord in dealing with the other two matters that we speak of
this evening, the law and sin, has also dealt with that second
death. Indeed, his dealing with the
law and the sin is so bound up with his also dealing with spiritual
death and literal death but i want to make this first point that
if there is victory as we have in our text through the lord
jesus christ our lord must have dealt with these things and these
are things that we see every day we see In our loved ones,
those of us that have read Queen Quickened, we've known that we
were dead in trespasses and in sins. And we see spiritual death
all around us. We see literal death all around
us. And when we read this verse,
but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ, we must know the Lord has dealt with these things
and in dealing with them, He has given to a believer a victory. The second thing I'd consider
is the law, the law of God which man is under. Adam was under the law. Of all
the fruit of the trees of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but the tree the knowledge of good and evil which is in the
midst of thee garden thou mayest not eat thereof for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die and man did
eat and he died the law was given and it was given rehearsed again
at Mount Sinai not as a means of life but a means of the glorifying
of God and of a convincing of sin because by the law is the
knowledge of sin and God must be justified and he must be glorified
and it must be seen that the law of God is honourable, is
right, was able to have been kept by our first parents and
in making the law honourable, in dealing with the law, our
Lord Jesus Christ was made under the law and made of a woman,
made in the same position as our first parents. And he was
tried and tempted, just like our first parents, in a much
more severe way, by Satan as well, and to prove that he could
not fall, he, the Eternal Son of God, stood Satan's fiery dance,
and he obeyed the law of God in every jot and tittle, There
is no stain of sin, which sin is the transgression of the law
of God. So the Lord made that law honorable. He dealt with it in His perfect
life and obedience. And in dealing with it, then
He also wrought out a robe of righteousness. for His people,
to be able to give to His people. So that law that you and I break
every single day, there's not a man that doeth good and sinneth
not. That law must be dealt with. How can that be done? How can
it be changed? We remain as sinners, we remain
under the law. Well, we read that the Lord took
away the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree. And
as the Lord then bore that curse, that curse is taken off a believer
and that it is laid upon the Lord. And the Lord bore that
away and satisfied the justice of God, the wrath of God in the
place of His people. And so then in fulfilling that
law, He was able also to deal with that and give us the victory
through Christ over a broken law. A law we cannot mend, a
law we cannot say it was a mistake, a law we cannot say well up to
our present day we've broken it but from now on we'll do well. The hymn writer says we cannot
promise future good to bring. And yet the Lord Himself has
dealt with it in such a way, that though we still remain breakers
of the Law, He has made that honourable, and put that to our
account. So as far as the Law is concerned,
we are no longer, our believers, no longer under the Law, but
under Christ. It is brought forth from the
curse of the law by Christ. And in that sense, the law has
no more demand upon him. It cannot lay hold upon a believer
at all. So when it comes to death, when
it comes to the second death, the law has nothing to say because
it has been satisfied in Christ. and in all the lives of the people
of God there's nothing that it is able to fix on and say well
yes you sinned in Adam but you've also sinned every day of your
life and so you're doubly under that curse and under the law
but Christ has put away the sin of his people has dealt with
that law as applying to their whole lives not just part of
it. In one sense we could use again
the analogy of the case with Queen Esther where another law
was made that it was to counteract and go against that first law
of death and it was a law of life and so the law of life is
the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ. The last thing that is
to be dealt with then in mentioning it though as we said all are
interwoven together is sin itself. Sin that is abhorrent unto God
and sin that is the transgression of the law sin must be dealt
with without the shedding of blood there is no remission so
in our text says but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory
God himself has as the words of Abraham to Isaac my son God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering all of the sin
offerings they set forth the Lord Jesus Christ that would
come and would make an offering for sin. Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. He saw by faith what was needed,
that it was to be a life that was to be laid down, blood to
be shed, and that it was through that way that sin would be put
away. Sin must be dealt with, and only
one way. and that is through the shedding
of blood. So the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ was obtained at Calvary in that way. He had laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He had borne our sins in his
own body upon the tree, made sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Lord Jesus
Christ dealt with sin as the sins of his people. Right from
the beginning to the end, every sin that they'll ever commit,
he has dealt with them and blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. Remember thy sins and iniquities
no more. The Lord has dealt with them.
But then there's another aspect. where there is to be a victory,
and a victory over sin. Because sin is in a believer,
and it works in us, and it brings forth fruit unto death. It is bound up with what the
Lord has done in overcoming death, spiritual death, by giving spiritual
life. And He has made it so that there
is a new nature, a new law, a law that fights against the law of
sin that is in our members, that brings forth fruit unto death. And it is that new nature, that
being born again of the Spirit of God, that the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so that ye
cannot do the things that ye would, that sin shall not have
dominion over you. And it is by the Lord Jesus Christ,
that His people then fight against sin. They seek by His grace to
mortify through the Spirit the deeds of the body. They mourn
over their sins. Their very sins lead them again
and again to the Saviour, to the Saviour of sinners, to the
Lord Jesus Christ. They also bring them the remaining
sin in a believer, to have fellowship with the Lord in his sufferings,
and what he endured upon the cross, to put away their sin. So the Lord's victory that he
gives his people over sin is that it doesn't have the mastery
over them, but it does lead them to Christ, and it leads them
not to trust in their own righteousness, but to trust alone in Christ. and it is the grace that he gives
them. My grace, said he to Paul, when
he sought the freedom from the thorn in the flesh, is sufficient
for thee. And this is the victory that
is brought in the lives of the people of God day by day, as
they have trouble with sin, they fight against it, they resist
it, they are made more than conquerors. through Christ who loved us. And we are to remember that and
know that, that the Lord hasn't decreed his people be sinless
here below, but he has given us a victory over sin. And the
victory is not in us, but is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that victory is especially seen when we see that conquest over
death and over hell, over spiritual death, and all that sin brings
into our lives, all the misery and sorrow and grief that it
brings, it brings us to the Lord Jesus Christ and to have fellowship
with Him in His sufferings. And so then, dealing with sin,
when death comes, literal death, thou shalt put an end to sin. We shall not sin, once this life
is past and the Lord in that way has dealt with sin by death
itself and used that means so that in heaven there shall not
only be no more death but no more sin and no more sorrow for
all that the Lord needed to deal with to give the victory is dealt
with And though I may have dealt with it very insufficiently this
evening, yet may it be sufficient for us to view this text, but
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ, to believe and know the Lord has fully dealt
with death and with the law and with sin to give us this victory. And however much we may view
death in all its forms, and view sin in all its sorrows, and all
what it brings, and view the law and the curse often, to know
that the Lord has dealt with all three of these things. And it be our pleasure to look
through the Scriptures, to search the Scriptures, to see how the
Lord has dealt with these things to give us such a victory and
then to view the dead with steady eyes and to view the open tomb
and to view what the Lord has done for his dear people by grace
to obtain that victory and to give them the victory and to
obtain then from the church and from his people this thanks that
is in our text, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. A beautiful picture he has of
this victory and this is looking past death, it is past the resurrection,
it is the soul now clothed with an incorruptible, the mortal
now is immortal, and death is swallowed up in victory. Here is the Church that is risen
from the dead, ascended up, and with Christ, and forever and
forever. And this is the hope, the prospect,
the blessing that is set before us in the Gospel. And this is
the thanks. And may we, with Paul, Give thanks
to God in this way. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.