please the Lord to bless us as
we consider his word together let's turn to the epistle of
Paul to the Corinthians the first epistle chapter 15 and we'll
read verse 20 the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians chapter
15 and reading verse 20 but now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept." How many times, as the Apostle
writes to the various churches, he brings forth the wonder of
the resurrection and the necessity of the resurrection and the blessedness
of the resurrection and as he commences this chapter he says
moreover brethren i declare unto you the gospel which i preached
unto you which also you have received and wherein ye stand
by which also you are saved If ye keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless ye have believed in vain, for I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and how essential it was that the Lord Jesus did rise again
from the dead. What a blessing it is that, more
specifically today, we can remember the risen Saviour. Because if
there was no risen Saviour, then there would be no point in us
gathering to worship today. We might as well stay at home,
because there would be no liberty, there would be no benefit, there
would be no gospel. We are thankful today that we
are able to come and join together to praise and confess the risen
Saviour. And the Apostle, when he addressed
the Corinthians in this chapter, he spoke of a number of negatives
before we come to this 20th verse. He says, verse 14, and if Christ
be not risen, or perhaps Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is
no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain? And
we have found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins. Then they also
which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. So we see there the Apostle sets
before us a list of negatives and how true it is and how sad
it is if people do not believe in the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because our faith is bound up
in the risen Saviour, There's no point in preaching if there's
no risen saviour. And we would remain dead, spiritually
dead, in trespasses and in sins. But then we come to this word,
but. There are many buts in the word
of God which separate various sections of the word of God.
And here we have this but. But, now, is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. Now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that
slept. We may perhaps wonder what is
the relevance of such a statement as this, that he has become the
firstfruits of them that slept. Well, the first fruits were something
which was important to the Church of God and it was really instituted
way back in Moses' day and Moses when he recorded those early
chapters in the Word of God or early books of the Word of God
and especially the book of Leviticus And in the book of Leviticus,
he speaks about these first fruits, which are really very relevant. We read in chapter 23 and verse
9. And the Lord spoke unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them,
When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and that
means when they pass over Jordan and come into the land of Canaan,
when you become into the land which I give unto you, and shall
reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the
firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave
the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow
after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day
when you wave the sheaf and he lambed without blemish of the
first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord." Now here we have
then the picture when Israel were to come into Canaan and
it was to occur on the, after the Passover which they were
to partake of in Gilgal, when they'd come over the River Jordan,
before they actually conquered Jericho and they were to take
of the first fruits of the land, which was barley. It was the
time of barley harvest. Barley harvest occurred at the
time of the Passover and they were therefore to take this corn
and they were to offer it up unto the Lord, this sheath, and
it was to represent the rest It wasn't the whole, it was just
to represent the rest. And here we have then this picture
here of the Lord Jesus Christ who risen from the dead and become
the first fruits of them that slept. The first fruits, he is
our representative of that one who rose from the dead. And what
is also very relevant and important is to realise that when this
was carried out, there was a very important element, and you should
offer that day when you waved the sheaf, and he lamb without
blemish, in the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
There was that blessed combination of the lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. And so we have here in this chapter,
the picture really, of the suffering Saviour and also the risen Saviour. And we're thankful today, as
we realise the truth of these things, that the Lord Jesus Christ
was therefore our representative. Our representative in dying for
us upon that cross at Calvary and also for rising from the
dead. And so we see how important that
it was that these things were recorded for our blessing and
for our encouragement. And it may be instructed to us
to realise that so many things that we read of, especially in
Leviticus, are not particularly easy to understand by themselves. But as we're able to relate them
to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, It is as though then
they become alive. It's as the light shines. And
we see that those things which weren't necessarily carried out
in Old Testament times always pointed to Christ. And so now
today we can look back and we can think of all those centuries
when these things were carried out, they represented the risen
Saviour. And therefore today, Can we then
rejoice in this truth? But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Now, why was that necessary? It was necessary because there
had been that sin, that original sin which had passed on to all
men And as the Apostle says, for since by man came death,
that of course was the sin of Adam. Because of Adam's sin came
death. And that death, that spiritual
death, passed upon all mankind. And we are therefore born in
sin and shaped in iniquity. We are spiritually dead. We do
not possess that life within and therefore we are as in Adam,
all die. And that's our condition by nature. The apostle then goes on to say,
even so, even so, in Christ should all be made alive. It's only
in Christ that you and I possess the blessing and the gift of
eternal life as the light shines into our hearts. And we are given
that faith to believe. So the Apostle says, for every
man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, they
that are Christ's at his coming. You see, there is this afterward,
when we shall rise with Christ, but also when we possess the
evidence that life in our hearts, in our souls, There is the wonderful
blessing of spiritual life. As the Apostle goes on to say,
Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdoms
of God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule
and authority and power. For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy shall be destroyed
is death. For he hath put all things under
his feet. When he saith all things are
put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did
put all things under him. Well, what a blessing it is to
know that the Lord Jesus Christ then died that death upon the
cross at Calvary, when he shed his precious blood to atone for
the church's sins. to atone for our sins, your sin
and my sin, that original sin which passed from us, which we
inherited from Adam, and then all those sins which we committed
since we've been born, all the sins which we will commit until
the day that we die, to realise that they have all been atoned
for through the shed blood of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is now is Christ risen
from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. It is a wonderful picture to
realise that we have such a Saviour who has died and has risen again
from the dead, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave. And the Apostle, when he wrote
to the Romans, He says in the fifth chapter,
wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin
and so death passed upon all men for the all have sinned,
we're all sinners, we're all without excuse for until the
law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there
is no law Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression." What he's saying here is, although they didn't
possess the Ten Commandments, in written form, there was that
consciousness of offending God by that which was in the heart,
who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense,
So also is the free gift, for if through the offence of one,
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many." Well,
we know that was the offence of one, Adam as he sinned, the
offence of one, much more the grace of God, a free and merited
favour, and the gift by grace, that is the gift of eternal life,
by one man, Jesus Christ, sin entered by one man, and so grace
came by one man. Jesus Christ hath abounded unto
many, and not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. for the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace
and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ. Isn't it wonderful to think of
this tremendous gift which the Lord gives, which we never earned,
and it is an abundance of grace, isn't it? If we think of it,
overcome all our sins, all our evil heart of unbelief, an abundance
of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, You see, there
was that sin which was ours, which was imputed to the Saviour,
and then we receive His righteousness which is imputed unto us. The
Apostle goes on, for if by one man's offence death reigned by
one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. And this is the gift of eternal
life, reign in life, by one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the
offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. Well, do we know this condemnation? This condemnation which comes
into our heart by the knowledge of sin and then to be blessed
with that knowledge and free gift of righteousness which comes
upon us for justification for life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offence might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound." Oh, the sovereign grace of God, to think of that.
Sin has abounded in our hearts, hasn't it? Abounded in our lives. We can't deny it, can we? We're
great sinners. The Apostle confessed he was
a great sinner. We're great sinners. But all
to know, to have that assurance, to have that confirmation, that
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that sin was
conquered, that as sinneth reign unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. See, this blessed subject of
the resurrection brings with it this gift of eternal life,
which will never fail, and will never fade, and will be forever
and ever. What a gift it is. But now, is
Christ risen from the dead? Are we blessed today with living
faith to believe in the Risen Saviour? See, we can read about
it, can't we? And we can know about it in our
heads. But how important it is that the Holy Spirit gives us
the evidence of that light and life in our hearts. So today
we do believe in the risen saviour, that he died and that he rose
again, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave. What does it mean to us today?
This resurrection day which we commemorate, what does it mean
to us today? Is it important to you and to
me today? Did we rejoice today? Did we
get up this morning thankful to be able to consider the risen
Saviour? To know that Christ lives forever. To realise that there is our
hope in the Saviour, risen from the dead. I'll be thankful for
it. We bless God for it. You know,
when the Apostle Paul came in his life and gave that testimony
when he came before Agrippa and he said to him, he said, why
should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God
should rise from the dead? He said, I verily thought within
myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. I did many things contrary to
the law of Jesus Christ. Is that true in our lives? Have
we done many things contrary to the law of Jesus Christ? We
turn our back upon the Saviour. We walk the opposite way Instead
of following Him, we walked away from Him. And the effect of that
really is to deny the Lord of life and glory. Well, the Apostle
was able to declare plainly when he gave his speech before a gripper
of these things. And then as he came towards the
end of that testimony, he says, Having therefore obtained help
of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both the small
and great, saying none other things than those which the Prophet
and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and
that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and
should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. Now, these
words are so true, so important. And yet, as he spoke them before
Agrippa and Festus, what was the result? What did Festus say?
He cried, he said, Pour thou up beside thyself, much learning
doth make thee mad. These things that the apostle
was declaring on this occasion, they hadn't entered in. to the
heart, and the result was the reverse of the situation. And
Festus, he came and said, thou beside thyself thou art mad. And when the apostle then went
on to say to Agrippa, Believest thou the prophets? I know that
thou believest. And what did Agrippa say? Almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Well, there are many people today
who fall into these two categories. First of all, they say that such
things are madness. It never occurred. Many people
today, no doubt, are speaking in those words. As we celebrate
the rise and the death of Christ, many people today, no doubt,
say, you are mad. to believe such things. You're
mad to think such things. And others may say, almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian. Well, I hope that none of us
fall into those two categories. But I hope that by the grace
of God, and that's what the Apostle is speaking of today, by the
grace of God, we receive the Word of God. We receive those
things which the Apostle speaks as he records the great and important
truths. And we understand that such a
truth as this is true, but now is Christ risen from the dead
and become the first fruits of them that slept. Now as we think
of these first fruits, we must realise that they are always
combined with the death of the Saviour. The resurrection is
always combined with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as we think of the greatness and the glory of the resurrection,
how wonderful it is, let us not lose sight of the shed blood
and the death of the Redeemer as He died upon that cross to
atone for our sins, to realise that there is our redemption,
that there is our hope of eternal life and it must be residing
in what Christ did when He did die to atone for our sins, to
be reminded of it So you think of the resurrection, let us not
forget why the Lord had died, and the cost it was of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and how there was this death which needed to be
atoned for, that death of the sins of His Church, but now is
Christ risen from the dead. And so today, it may be that
we are given that faith to believe. What a blessing it is. We read
together in that chapter in the Gospel of John, how the Lord
Jesus came and appeared to his disciples, and what a blessed
time it was. Remember that there had been
Mary Magdalene who had come and spoken to, how she had been looking
for the Lord. She got up early, she comes to
the sepulchre to see the Saviour. She was mystified in her mind,
couldn't understand what had occurred. The Lord came and spoke
to her with just one word, Mary. Just one word. And how important
that is. In our spiritual life, The Lord
comes, perhaps, and just speaks one word. It's not a tremendous
testimony, is it? But it was that one word which
brought light into our heart, brought rejoicing. And the reaction was, Rabboni,
Master. One word. resulted in worship. One word resulted in belief. And so we see the evidence of
the blessed work of the Spirit applying the word to her heart. She thought he was the gardener.
She didn't realise it was a saviour until the Lord spoke. So it will be, I believe, in
our lives. We will not really recognise, we shall not really
appreciate what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and what it means. But if he comes and just speaks
a word in our heart, perhaps calls us by our name. What an
effect that has. What a blessed effect. What a
glorious effect it had. The Lord then went on to say,
touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go
to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father,
and your Father, and to my God, and your God. And so Mary came
and told the disciples what had done. And in the same day, at
evening, the doors were shut, and the Lord came and appeared
to the disciples, for those great and glorious words, Peace be
unto you. The risen Saviour speaks peace
to his church. Peace through his cross as Jesus
made. Yes, what a blessed peace it
is. And if we are able to say, by
living faith, As Thomas said, my Lord and my
God. Oh, revelation to our souls. That would have been, it would
have been reality. We may have been like, perhaps
like Thomas, perhaps we are like Thomas. Perhaps Thomas said,
very peevishly wasn't it? He wasn't there. If he were,
perhaps he felt he missed out. Well, He wasn't there. And then
he said, he wasn't going to believe, I won't believe. He put down
conditions so that he would believe. Well, those conditions weren't
met. No, they didn't need to be met.
Because the Lord came again. And this time Thomas was with
them. And the Lord directed his words
directly to Thomas. And he spoke, he said, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side. What does he say then? Be not
faithless, but believing. He should have believed that
which he'd been told. But no, He was peevish and he
wanted conditions to be worked out. But when the Lord came and
spoke to him in this way, well, Thomas very humbly then said,
my Lord and my God. He didn't pursue those things
that he had said he would. And then the Lord comes and speaks
to Thomas and speaks to the Church of God in this way. He says,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet have believed. So that's our condition today.
We have not seen physically the Lord Jesus Christ. We have not
seen physically the risen Saviour. But have we received faith to
believe? Mary Magdalene received faith
to believe when the Lord spoke. Thomas received faith to believe
when the Lord spoke. And we receive today faith to
believe when the Holy Spirit has spoken to our heart. Perhaps
very simply, perhaps has overcome our unbelief and we've stood
as it were meekly before our God and been able to say, my
Lord and my God. That's a wonderful blessing.
It's a wonderful favour if we are brought to that place. Very
simple statement, isn't it? Not a great long testimony in
either of those cases, but there was the blessing of living faith
and there was the revelation to their hearts that it was the
Lord. And so may we today be blessed
in light manner to realise that the Lord speaks to our soul and
that we are able to come and realise the truth of these things.
But now, but now, is Christ risen from the dead? Now if Christ
is risen from the dead, Where is he today? Where is he? He's in heaven. What is he doing
there? He's interceding for the prayers
of his people. I'll be thankful today that we
have a glorious high priest who has ascended into the heavens. Jesus Christ the righteous. And if we can therefore come
unto our Father, and His Father, through His merits, we can indeed
pray to our God, and we can bless God for this wonderful favour
that we have, that we have a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Well, the Apostle goes on to
Tell us, he says, there is one glory of the sun and another
glory of the moon and another glory of the stars. For one star
differs from another in glory. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption. It
is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour. It is
raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is
raised in power. It is not a natural body, it
is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first
Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Adam was blessed with a living
soul. The Lord Jesus Christ gives that life within, that quickening
spirit, as the Apostle tells us when he wrote to the Ephesians,
and knew hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in
sins, made alive. What a blessing then today, as
we rejoice in the risen Saviour. But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and we are possessors of this spiritual life. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. And as is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly,
such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, that image of Adam, we should also bear the
image of the heavenly, the image of the Saviour. Now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of
God. You and I naturally cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit
incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, the last trump for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. And
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So, when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the same that is risen, is swallowed
up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. Strength
of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh this morning, can
we come and say, oh thanks be to God. Thanks be to God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that
victory is over our sin. Yes, it is a victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Well then today, to think of
Christ. Is He precious? Is He the one
to be needful? Is He the one we want to serve? We want to follow, we desire
to know, we want to love. So the Apostle says, Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is
not in vain in the Lord. Encouraging words, aren't they?
immovable, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. The evidence we have today of
this risen Saviour. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Our representative to look forward
then to that day when we shall be with the Saviour in glory
No resurrection, no glory. No resurrection, no salvation. But I'll be thankful today as
we come to worship that we have a risen Saviour and to believe
therefore that He is in heaven and lies forevermore. He does
hear. He does receive our prayers,
receive our cries. And they may seem to us very
inadequate, very poor, but my friends, the Lord Jesus takes
them, yes, and presents them to his Father. He takes away
all that is sinful and presents them to his Father. Just think
of that. We are sinners of the earth who
find and prove that sin is mixed with all we do, sin is mixed
with our prayers, and we may think, however, can my prayers
ever be accepted? However, can my prayer ever come
into the Father? There seems no hope. Well, we
have a risen Saviour. We have a glorious High Priest. We have one who is our gracious
advocate, who pleads for us in heaven's high courts above. Oh,
think today then of the glory of the resurrection. Think who
we come to. We come to the Father through
the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ's sake, and
the Lord is alive forevermore. We can never pray in vain. If we pray in faith, and that
faith we receive in the Lord. It is all of grace. It must be
from first to last. We can never claim any glory
ourselves. We have to always come and give
glory to our God for all his love and all his mercy and all
his faithfulness for such unworthy sinners and to come today and
to truly, by faith, Behold the Lamb of God, not only as a suffering
Saviour, but also as one who rose from the dead, a conqueror,
and today is seated in glory. And there will be that time when
He'll rise from that throne and He'll come again and return to
this world where in time shall be no more. Well, may we be looking
forward to that day. when we shall then be forever
with the Lord. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Amen.