1 Corinthians 15, in each of
these chapters, Corinthians is a great book. It's an amazing
book for every congregation, no matter whether you've just
started meeting or been there for 40 years. It's just a wonderful
book. And in each chapter, he deals
with things that the Corinthian church was going through or having
problems with. In chapter 11, they were not
taking the Lord's table correctly. They made a feast out of it.
And so he reminded them of the instruction that the Lord gave.
And then in chapter 12, he dealt with the different members of
the body. One is not greater than the other. He compared it to a natural body
and he said, do you really think that the eye is going to say
to the hand, because you're not an eye, we don't need you. And
that's how it is in his church. And in chapter 13, He dealt with
the issue of love. He said it's the greatest gift
of all, love. Greater than faith, greater than
hope. Love God and love each other for Christ's sake. Chapter
14, they were all becoming enamored with the gifts. especially of
being able to speak in other languages, so he dealt with speaking
in tongues. Now, in this chapter, chapter
15, he deals with a very serious issue. Many of the Corinthians
started denying the resurrection of man. They were denying the
actual resurrection of man. Look at verse 12, 1 Corinthians
15 verse 12. Paul wrote, now if Christ be
preached that he rose from the dead, how or that means why say
some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
If Christ rose and if we're preaching that Christ rose, why are some
of you going around telling everybody that we're not going to rise?
Look with me at 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2 verse 16 says, But shun profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will
eat as doth a canker of whom is these two men, Hymenaeus and
Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that
the resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some. These two men were going around
telling everybody that there's not an actual resurrection of
the body. It's just a spiritual resurrection
and men get hung up on things like this. For a while men were
going around saying there's no new nature. I know they say that
but there's not one. They meaning God said it and
men get hung up on these things and they say there's no actual
resurrection when the scripture says that it's just an illustration
of your spirit. There's no reality to your physical
body being raised from the dead. Those men could not understand
and neither could the Jews and neither could the Sadducees and
this is why they kept trying to kill Paul. They were always
trying to kill Paul because he preached the resurrection. All right, that's what he preached.
And they could not understand how a body that has died and
returned to the dust. I don't know how far back you
have to go. At some point, there's still bones in there. But then
at some point, it's just dust. How could a body that has returned
to dust, can't recognize anything about it? Scattered out. How could that body come back
together and be resurrected from the dead? And because their minds
couldn't understand it, they went around telling everybody
it's not true. It's just not true. Here's what Paul is saying,
and this was wonderful to me. I just, I thought about this
and thought about this and thought about this. This is what Paul
is saying. If that's not true, then we don't
have a gospel to preach. There is no good news to tell
dead sinners. You see that? There's nothing
good for us. Look right here in 2 Timothy
2 at verse 8. He said, remember that Jesus
Christ Of the seed of David. Of the seed of day of the line
of David. Was raised from the dead. According
to my gospel. Our hope of glory if you want
to know what our hope we have a hope of eternal life. And our
hope of glory that is in Christ. is that God has, everything that
he's done, he did it from the foundation of the world. God
has and God is and God shall raise us from the dead. Us. And I mean us. Each of us, not
just our spirit, our body. When I was a kid, I've told you
this before, but when I was a kid, I used to envision heaven as
a spiritual place. I envisioned everybody being
white and smoky, maybe with some eyes and a mouth. And I could
just see no arms moving and no legs moving, you know, just floating,
passing through each other. That is not heaven. That's not
heaven. God made this earth, and God
said, I've made a brand new earth. And God put souls in bodies,
and God said, I'm going to redeem your soul, and I'm going to change
your body. Us. Us. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
3. Back just a few pages to Philippians
3. Philippians 3 verse 20 says, For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." You see how it
says, our body, that it, our body may be fashioned. Turn with
me to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 22 says, For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption
to wit, that means to know, the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body. We
preach the resurrection of the dead in Christ. That's our gospel. That's our
good news. Our proof and our hope is in
the fact that God raised Christ from the dead. And if God raised
him, God will raise all who are in him. That's what Paul is saying. He's our proof. Our first fruit. Our hope is in him. Now go with
me to Luke 21. Luke 21 verse 17 says. And you shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake, but there shall not an hair of your head
perish." Don't you love that? Oh, don't turn, but in Matthew's
account, Matthew 10, 30, he said, the very hairs of your head are
all numbered. Do you believe that? You believe
God Almighty is literal when he says that? The very hairs
of your head are all numbered. And he said right here in Luke
21, 17 or 18, there shall not a hair of your head perish. My hairs are falling out every
day. I see him in the shower and I
think, man, that's a lot of hair. And those hairs, you know, it's
not just in the shower, the wind is blowing and I'll pick one
off of here. And that hair is going somewhere
in the wind. And it's returning to the dust. You know, they say the dust in
your house are your skin cells. Gross, isn't it? Alright, well,
I am slowly returning to the dust. You see that? My hairs
are going away, my skin cells. I am slowly returning to the
dust. But my Lord is going to resurrect
every single one of my hairs and my cells. Not one hair of
my head and not one hair of your head will perish. Not one hair. Isn't that amazing?
That's our good news in Christ. That's our gospel. People want
to know what is the gospel? It's Christ crucified. Christ died, buried, and rose
And what that means for us, what that means in return for sinners
like us. Now that's what Paul's saying
in 1 Corinthians 15. Go with me back to 1 Corinthians
15 and we're going to, I'm going to move quickly now. Verse one, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. He's saying, I've already preached
it to you. I want to preach it to you again. I want to remind
you of this gospel again. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, which I preach unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand. That's what God's people do.
They hear the gospel, they believe it, and they stand in it. That's just what God's people
do. not because of their own glory and they're just resolved
people, strong in the face. God does that for them. He crosses
their path with the gospel. He causes their ear and then
their heart to hear it, believe it, and then He puts His hand
around them and He keeps them right there. They stand in it.
They stand for it and they stay in that stand. Verse 2, He said,
By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain." Before
he reminds them of the gospel, he's going to warn them of the
dangers of leaving it. And we all need to be warned
of it because, but for the grace of God, which he's about to say,
we would all leave it. We would all leave it so we all
need to constantly be reminded of how vital it is to be in Christ. In Colossians 1, let me just
turn over there because I think I'm pushing the time here. In Colossians 1, this is what
verses 21 through 23 say. You that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. And that's all of us, right?
We were at one time aliens to this, enemies to this. He's reconciled in the body of
his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in his sight. If you continue in the faith. grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have
heard and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." He said, you're
saved by this gospel if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled. Now, let me tell you what he's
not saying. He's not saying it all depends on you. He is not
saying that. Hebrews 11 verse 1 says, by faith,
well let me, hold on, I'm about to misquote it. Hebrews 11 verse
1 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. It's the evidence. Paul said
if you continue in the faith, that's your evidence that God
has saved you. That's your evidence. Paul wrote
to the Ephesians, faith is not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. If you continue in the gift that
God gives. Over in 1 John 2, turn with me
over there, look at that with me. 1 John 2 verse 19. They went out
from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. So before
Paul reminds them of the gospel, he warns them of the necessity
of clinging to it and standing in it. He said they went out
because they were not of us. If they were of us, they would
have never gone out from us. So that's our warning, and that
evidence of faith is the gospel applied to us. That's our evidence. All right, verse 1 in the text
says, 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved. If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you've believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received." And that's
what true preachers do. They deliver what they receive. They don't come up with something
new. They just repeat what God told them to say. He said, I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He died for our sins. Do we realize how dishonoring
it is to say that His death was not enough? And we have to add something
to it. to actually accomplish what he was trying to do. Do
we realize how dishonorable? He died for our sins. He died. Paul wrote in Galatians
2, if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. If we have to do something according
to the law to finally clench it, Christ died in vain. because his death didn't accomplish
it. So he died in vain. Verse 3 says, he died for our
sins according to the scriptures. Verse 4, and he was buried. He was buried to prove that he
died. He was buried so he could rise again from the grave. Verse
4, he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. And that he was seen of Cephas,
that's Peter, Peter saw him. He was seen of Cephas, then of
the twelve, all the apostles saw him. Verse six, after that
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the
greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen
asleep. Most believe that those more
than 500 brethren saw him at his ascension. They were gathered
there in Bethany whenever he ascended up. And Paul wrote this
to the Corinthians 26 years after that happened, 26 years later. And he said, most of those 500
are still alive. Go ask them for yourself. You
can go talk to them. That's what he's saying. And
I can imagine many doing that, going and asking them, did he
rise from the grave? Did he rise? Was it his body? I saw the prince in his hands.
I saw them. I touched them. I saw his side. It was him. I mean, it was him. Verse 7, after that he was seen
of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen
of me also as one born out of due time." Paul said, I've seen
him with my own two eyes. I've seen him with my own two
eyes. That was a requirement to be an apostle. You had to
be an eyewitness of his resurrection. Verse 9, Paul said, for I am
the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle. because I persecuted the church
of God. He said, while they, all the
other apostles were standing with him, I was trying to kill
him. I was trying to kill everybody
who was standing with him. Verse nine, I'm the least of
the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle because
I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me." God is going to convince every child of His
of that right there. He is going to. I am what I am
by the grace of God. I stayed out of trouble for the
most part growing up. You realize how much
pride that brings to a man? You know the number one thing
that God said he hates? Not murder. Not lies. Not stealing. Not covetousness. Not adultery. Not fornication. Pride. You know how proud religion makes
a man? You know how proud all those
good deeds make a man? God, if a soul belongs to Jesus
Christ, he is going to prove to that soul, you are what you
are by the grace of God. You are what you are by the grace
of God. He's not just going to cause
that soul to know right here, yes, okay, I'm a sinner, I got
that. Christ died for sinners, got that. The only way it was
possible, got that, okay, got it. He's going to cause that
sinner to know Christ had to die for me because that's what
I deserved. I had to die, so if he was going
to save me, he had to die. He had to do what God required of me. He had
to. I am what I am by the grace of
God. He says in verse 11, it does
not matter who's preaching this to you. Therefore, whether it
were I or they, so we preach. And so you believe this is the
only gospel that God's preachers preach. I'm going to say that three more
times. No, I'm not going to say it two more times. One more time.
This is the only gospel that God's preachers preach. God's preachers preach God's
Word. God's preachers show you God's
Word in God's Word. You know God's preachers are
telling you, just repeating to you, what God has said. And if it is not in here, and
they are telling you something, it's not God's preacher. This is what God's preachers
preach and this is what God's people believe. God's people
do not believe I had a hand in salvation. A soul who believes
that does not belong to him yet, has not seen him yet. Paul said in verse 11, whether
it were I or they, so we preach and so you believe. This is what
we preach and this is what you believe. Verse 12, 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? He's
saying he was a man. He was a man. And if there's
no resurrection for man, then he is not risen. He was a man. He just died and that's it. Verse
14, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain. Yea, and we are 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. If
there's no resurrection, we're just preaching lies, and you
believe lies. Verse 16, 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. Just dead. No hope, just dead. Yet in your
sins. Verse 18, Then they also which
are fallen asleep in Christ, They're just perished. That's
it. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If all of
our hope is in something that did not happen, we are wasting
our life. We get 70 years, give or take
a little bit. Why are we wasting it right now? We could be fishing. We could be making money right
now, buying stuff. If in this life we have hope
only, we're the suckers. We're the ones who are most miserable. Verse 20 says, but now is Christ
risen from the dead. If he didn't rise, Buddy, we
have missed it. Paul said, but he did. But he
did. I'm telling you as an eyewitness,
among eyewitnesses, he's alive. He is alive. Christ has risen
from the dead. And that right there is going
to lead us into next week's Bible study. All right. Paul proved Christ's resurrection. And then if it is next week,
the next time we're in this, he's going to then prove our
resurrection. He said in verse 3 and 4, he
closed those two verses by saying it was all according to the scriptures.
And everything that the scriptures said would happen concerning
Christ happened. We saw that last Sunday night. It was always about Christ. Everything
that the Old Testament said, It happened. It was always about
Christ. And he's saying, just as not one word failed concerning
him, Not one word will fail concerning us. This word right here says,
and I'm closing with this, but this word right here says that
the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
the same way that he ascended up. That's what his people are
going to do. And we're going to be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That is going to happen
in this body. That is going to happen. The
end of this chapter says that we're going to change in the
twinkling of an eye. Mortality is going to put on
immortality. That is going to happen. It's going to happen. It's too
amazing to get your mind around. I tell you this, it's unbelievable
without God's Holy Spirit bringing faith, causing a sinner to believe
it. A grown man, an educated grown man couldn't believe it,
not without God's Holy Spirit. But it's going to happen. It's
all going to happen according to the scripture. All right,
you're dismissed.