Alright, we're reading from 1
Corinthians 15 for those on the tapes, CDs, and websites. We're
beginning at verse 50, 1 Corinthians 15, kind of the conclusion to
the chapter on the resurrection. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
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, at
the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So in this corruptible shall
I put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. 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. But thanks be to God, which gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. Now look again at verse 56. That
principally is our text of the evening. The sting of death is
sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Isn't that a fascinating
statement? Does it cause you to pause and
to wonder and to marvel at such a thing? Now, this whole chapter
is a discussion of the resurrection of the dead. And resurrection,
as we know, presupposes death, for only they that are dead can
be resurrected. And the likely reason why Paul
invests and why Paul denotes so much space to the subject
of the resurrection in this epistle is because there were some there
in the assembly at Corinth that denied the resurrection from
the dead. And in verse 12 and verse 13
you have that. How is it that some among you
say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now the connection
is this. Paul shows them that one-third
of the gospel that we preach concerns the resurrection in
verse 4. Christ arose from the dead according
unto the Scripture. And if you take away the resurrection,
it is at variance, says Paul, with the gospel we preach that
Christ is risen from the dead. This is a fundamental truth of
Christianity and of the gospel that Christ, though He died and
was buried, was raised again from the dead. He died. He lay
in a grave. He lives again, and that forever. In verses 1-11 of the chapter,
Paul reminds them of the credibility of the resurrection of the Lord. That it was not done in a corner.
That it has witnesses that are beyond imputing. And that it
too was according to the Scripture back in verse 4. In verse 5 he
said, He was seen of Peter and the Apostle. In verse 6 he said
he was seen of 500 brethren, most of them still alive at the
time that Paul is writing. Verse 7 he said that the Lord
in His resurrection was seen by James and by all of the Apostle. In verse 8, He says, last of
all, He was seen by me as one born out of due time or aborted,
I think is the word that is there. So the resurrection of Christ
Jesus being undeniably established by many credible witnesses and
the appearances of the Lord Himself, Paul asked them the question,
how is it that some of you say that there is no resurrection
of the dead? But our emphasis is not today
on the resurrection per se, but upon the cause of death which
requires the death of Christ and then the resurrection. Death
precedes the resurrection. Only they that are dead will
ever be resurrected. Now, how come it to hold a universal
sway over the entire human family? That is a question that perplexes
many who do not flee unto their Bible. Death. How did it reign
from Adam unto Moses? How is it that none are exempt
from this last enemy? How is it that only two that
we read about in all of the Scripture, Enoch and Elijah, went up without
dying and leaped over the grave? How is it that even those raised
from the dead by the power of God, working through a prophet
or an apostle, or the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, were then seized
a second time by this enemy of death. So universal is it that
all live in fear and expectation of death, do they not? all confess
their mortality. I've not seen or heard of many
but what confess their own mortality. We have seen that dear friends
and loved ones have fallen again and again before the grim reaper. Over the world, thousands die
every single day. Death marches through the human
family. And it is no respecter of person
as it goes on its way. It takes the wealthy, it takes
the powerful, it takes the famous as well as it does the poor,
the weak, and those that live in virtual anonymity. It is no
respecter of person. Death never met but one that
it could not swallow up all others it takes and holds unless or
until its power is broken by a power greater than itself. So the question is, how death
came to have sway over the whole population? How is it that death
is a universal thing? Paul does deal with the question
inspiringly in this chapter on the resurrection, and he does
so by comparing or by contrasting the effect and relation of Adam
and Christ upon the human family. First of all, in v. 21 and v. 22. He does it again in v. 45 through v. 49. Much like the
comparison that we find in Romans 1 again from Paul. So let's look
for a bit at v. 21 and 22. The far, at the beginning
of v. 21, and again at the beginning of
verse 22, is for the purpose of, A, confirming the connection
between the resurrection of Christ and that of His people, and B,
showing how and why and by what means death came and sin came,
and what connection they have to Adam and also to the wraith. So here's the first half, if
you will, of both verses, v. 21 and v. 22. V. 21 says, For since by man came
death. V. 22 says, For as in Adam all
died. Now we know who that man was
by which death came. Now this is the same truth that
Paul sets forth in Romans 5 and v. 12. By one man sin entered
into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sin." When we put the first halves
of verse 21 and 22 together, we see, by a man came death,
that man being Adam, and the cause of death coming by the
one man was sin. Now, jumping down to our text
in verse 56, Paul speaks again of death. And in verse 51, he
uses the euphemism to sleep. In verse 52, plainly he speaks,
the dead. In verse 56, we have three things,
and let's put them in their order, or let's put them in this order,
if we might, for the sake of our study. The three things that
we have in verse 56 are law, sin and death. All three of them
are set forth there. And then we have two halves of
the verse. Each half of the verse making
a statement. Each half of the verse explaining
a very important thing for our benefit and showing the relationship
of the three things, law, sin, and death, one unto the other. Now, the first half of the verse
says the sting of death is sin." That's a very interesting statement,
is it not? The sting of death is sin. I think that the word sting there
is the word kynthron. And it can refer to a very sharp
pointed instrument, sword, or knife. Some say it can also refer
to a poisonous, venomous beast. a point. The word is five times
in the New Testament, as in Revelation 9 and 10, where it is stings. And in Acts 9, 5 and 26 and verse
14, when the Lord told Saul, Saul, it is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks. And that is that word here. So
the word is twice rendered pricks and three times Sting or stings
in the plural in the New Testament. We notice that Paul used that
word back in verse 55 also. O death, where is thy sting? Or where is thy dart? As some might render that. So
praise, thanksgiving and praise Paul gives that there has been
victory over death by the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse
54, death will be swallowed up in victory. He said the last
enemy that will be destroyed is death, back in verse 26. And
when death itself shall be completely done away, even cast into the
lake of fire, according to Revelation chapter 20 and verse 14. Now, the sting of death is sin. And we might put that another
way. It is sin that is the cause of death. Or it is sin that puts
the sting in death. For death entered not until there
was sin. Sin entered and death entered
in with and by sin. Had there been no sin, there
had been no death. Sin directly is the cause of
death. We learned that from Adam. in
Genesis 3 and Paul in Romans chapter 5. The Scriptures ever
are making the connection between sin and death as cause and effect. Genesis 2 and verse 17, In the
day you eat thereof, that is, the forbidden tree, of the knowledge
of good and of evil, you will surely die, God said unto Adam. Ezekiel 18 and verse 4, the soul
that sinned, it shall die. Also Ezekiel 18 and verse 20. Romans 6 and 23, we know by heart,
the wages of sin is death. Romans 5 and 20, sin has reigned
unto death. Sin has reigned like a mighty
king or sovereign over all the earth. The cause of the universal
reign of death is sin. Thus, all weaknesses and diseases
and afflictions that lead to death also are the result of
sin and the corruption of the human nature. Now, I realize
that there are more people that would reject this idea than would
accept it, even many. And most of them in the churches
would deny that death is a direct consequence only of sin. But Scripture repeatedly affirms
that it is so. Scientists, medical men, seem
to search for and hope for a cure for death. I understand that's
how come Walt Disney was put in cryogenics. wanting to be
frozen until they found a cause or a cure for death. But again,
sin is not only the first cause of death, that is why it occurs,
but sin is also what puts the sting or the dart or the terrors
in death. It is why there is fear in us
in the face of death. It is why it is dreaded by almost
everyone alive. It is that sharp sting. It is
that poisonous venom in the act of dying. And that is put there,
says the apostle, by sin. Death is the final indignity
suffered in this world on account of sin. Don't get me wrong. There is glory in the saint after
death. Christ has freed any from the
wrath coming after death. Thus, no, to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. We do not take that away. But still, there is a bitterness
in drinking the cup of death. There is a bitterness in passing
through the veil of the unknown. And if men were not sinners,
death would not be such a sting And if men were not sinners,
death would be unto them no more than a sleep. If not being sinners,
there would be no darts in their death, if they were not sinners.
And if not for Christ, all would die and open their eyes in the
lake of fire, as did one." We've all heard someone say, some sinner,
some professing Christian who do not live a sanctified life,
pertain or proclaim that they are not afraid to die. Hardly a week goes by that I
don't meet someone like that. Oh, I'm not a bit afraid of death
when the Almighty or the old man upstairs gets ready for you.
He'll come and take you. But the trouble is that a lot
of these people that are saying these things do not live a sanctified
life as if they live in expectancy of the hope of the coming of
our Lord. Some may hate the life they have.
This does not mean that they are already ready to die. Some
may be ready to die, but anxious yet at the coming of that grim
reaper. I read of a man named Matthias
Claudius, whom I had not heard of until this week, who was an
old man and was lying upon his bed of death. And he told those
that were gathered with him, friends and neighbors, about
his death. Here is his final remark, quote,
I have studied all my life to be ready for this hour, and yet
I did not think that it would be as serious and severe as this,
unquote. Yes, the psalmist said in Psalms
116 and verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the
death of his saint. Because in their death, they
are gathered home, they pass beyond the trials and troubles
of this life, they join in the praises of the heavenly multitude
in the very presence of the Lord and of the Father God. But the
conclusion is this, every death is traceable unto sin. Then you say, Why did Christ
die seeing He had no sin? As the Scripture said, Paul had
said in 1 Corinthians 15 and 3, He died for our sin. And He being sinless, it was
a bitter cup that our Lord drank. We have that from His very own
words. Matthew 26, 42, Mark chapter
13 and verse 34, My soul is seethingly sorrowful unto death."
Those are the words of our Lord in the garden. In Luke 22 and
verse 44, saying in agony, and listen to this, and His sweat
was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. In the agony of our Lord in facing
the drinking of that bitter cup, His sweat drops were like unto
blood falling upon the ground." Why? The Father is making the
sin of all of the elect to make a hostile assault upon Him. He's surety for the elect. And the righteous God is about
to call in the dead by His death upon the cross. And the surety
can only discharge the dead. and pay off our indebtedness
by His own death. Sin entered. Sin was committed
in human nature. So says Paul, it must be put
away in human nature. It must be punished as well as
put away in human nature. By man came sin, by man came
death, by man came the resurrection. So it must be punished and put
away in human nature. And it is sin that puts the sting
in death. The sting of death is sin, Paul
has written. Now the last type of our text
carries the matter into another relation between sin and the
law. As the first part had tied the
knot between sin and death, sin puts the sting in death and the
strength of sin is the law. This is a startling, fascinating,
attention-getting statement. Who can read such a statement
without pausing to think upon it and contemplate upon what
Paul has written? Like Moses, turn aside to get
a better look and to look closer at this and to hear it again. To seriously consider these words,
that the power of sin is the law, that the law aids sin, that
the law empowers sin, As a Puritan put it, the law gives sin its
being. It is the law that gives it a
being. Let's come at this slow and deliberately. I think it's an amazing statement.
Remember two things as we look upon this. Number one, where
there is no law, there is no sin. Romans 4.15 says it very
clearly. where no law is, there is no
transgression. And Paul in Romans 5 and verse
13 said, sin is not imputed when there is no law. This is what
we mean by saying that it is the law that gives sin its being. And by the way, in Romans 5,
13 and 14, we have the same three things that we have In 1 Corinthians
15 and 56 text, we have law, we have sin, and we have death. Until the law, sin was in the
world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam unto Moses. That is, even in that
period, before and up to the giving of the Mosaic Law at Sinai. Thus, Paul has proved that Adam
transgressed a law. Let's not miss that. What he
says in Romans 5 is to the point that Adam's sin was a transgression
of the law, and that transgression brought death upon or into Him
and His offspring. Paul in Romans 5, 12-19, several
times refers to that. Verse 14, Adam's transgression. Verse 15, the offense. Verse 17, by one offense. Verse 18, by one offense. Verse 19, one man's disobedience. Now the law which Adam transgressed,
what was it? Genesis 2 verse 17, Thou shalt
not eat of it. Thou shalt not eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, for in eating you will
surely die. God therefore gave Paul a law. Thou shalt not eat of it. Thus Paul says, there is both
sin and death in the world, and that prior to the giving of the
law at Mount Sinai. That's very important in Romans
chapter 5. Sin reigned from Adam to Moses. There was sin and there was death
in that period before the giving of the law. In every case, the transgression
of the law. There is no sin, but it is a
transgression of the law of God. 1 John 3 and 4, sin is the transgression
of the law. Sin is missing the mark. Sin is falling short of the mark
or the goal of what the law requires of us. But back to the original
text, And that bold saying of Paul there, that the strength
of sin is the law, and how this is to be understood. Is there
a way that we can illustrate it so that we might be able to
confirm it? Paul will help us by the question
of how the law is the strength of sin, especially in the Roman
epistle, and especially in chapter 7. of the Roman Epistle, where
he speaks of his own personal experience with the law and sin
and death. By the way, where he speaks of
the same three things again, law and sin and death, and in
the first person, or concerning himself. Let's start with his
explaining that the child of God is dead to the law by the
body of Jesus Christ. That's in Romans 7 and verse
4. The child of God, the regenerate
converted and called, are dead to the law by the body of Jesus
Christ. Remember, he illustrates this
by showing that a woman is free from the law of her husband if
the husband should die, so that she might go contract another
marriage without being called an adulteress. But then in verse
5 of Romans 7, he contrasts the time when we were in the flesh,
which Murray calls or says he uses in its fully depreciatorial,
ethical sense. Unquote. Flesh here being human
nature under the power of sin. in our unregenerate and unconverted
state. That's what we were at that time. Verse 5, the motions of sin. Look at Romans 7, 5. Look what
it says. The motions of sin. The Margin in the King James
has it as passions. The motions of sin did work in
our members to bring forth the fruit of death. This is neither
surprising nor startling until we read that this was by the
law. This came by the law. The passion,
the emotions, the emotion, the influence, this word patheia
being some 16 times scattered throughout the New Testament,
that's in Romans 7.5, is the only time, at least in the King
James Version, that that word is translated motions, that the
motions of sin. All other times except one, it
is translated either suffering or afflictions, and in Galatians
5.24 as affection, sixteen times in all. The ASV has inserted
the word arouse. The passions of sin that were
aroused by the law. The sinful passions or feelings
which were aroused by the law. The law's content said, thou
shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt not. Now the holy law of God,
therefore, brought to bear upon an unregenerate person or one
who is simply religious, evoked or aroused feelings of contempt
and feelings of resentment against the restriction of the law. Consider this illustration. I
leave you to judge whether it is worthy or not. But the criminal
who spends all of his time living outside of the law, who violates
it constantly and perpetually, when he sees the police in uniform,
and he sees the judge in his robe on the bench, and the prosecutor
at his table with a list of charges that are brought against him
has a contempt in his heart for the whole process because he
is lawless. He does not like the law or abide
by it. Then in Romans 7, in verse 8,
verse 11, and verse 13, Paul explains what he means when he
says the motions of sin which were by the law, but also showing
us how the law is the strength of sin, or sin receives its strength
from the law. While Paul was a self-righteous
Pharisee, he never had been convinced of the spirituality of the law
that he was a great sinner. He saw himself in great compliance
Only now says the fact that the law stirs up motions of sin in
one does not mean that the law is sin or that it is sinful. No. On the contrary, he says,
I would not have known sin but by the law. As for example, I
would not have known lust or desire of covetousness, he said,
except the law had said Thou shalt not covet." And for the
first time, Paul learned perhaps that the law not only pertains
to outward acts indeed, but also to the thoughts and inward part
of the heart and of the mind. And Paul said in verse 9, the
commandment came and revived sin, and he said, I died. Now, verse 8, sin taking occasion
by the commandment wrought in me every lust, for until the
law came, sin was dead. Verse 11, for sin taking occasion
by the commandment, using the commandment, finding strength
through the law, slew me, put me to death. It revived or awakened
sin. Sin was stirred by the coming
of the law. And when that occurred, Paul
said he was killed by the law. He became dead under the transgression
of the law. The law by which he expected
life, he found then to be unto death. Then look at verse 13. Sin worked in me death by that
which is good. Yes, the good law, just, holy,
and righteous. but it worked death in me." Sin
worked in me death by that which is good. Yes, the strength of
sin is the law. And because of that, sin has,
as it were, an ally in the law. So that any that would put themselves
under the law for salvation are playing right into the hands
of sin and death. For sin gets at us by the law. So that to be dead to either,
we must be dead to others also. Be dead to sin and dead unto
the law. And that's the only thing that
will spare us the wrath of the law and the condemnation of sin. So this conclusion, please. Sin
can never be conquered through the law. There are a lot of people
who've tried it and they've all failed. Sin can never be conquered
through the law. Sin can have no part in our justification. Nor can it work sanctification
in our lives and heart. Nor can it give us any aid in
the mortification of sin, as Paul speaks to us about. For
rather than weaken sin, the law is accidentally giving strength
unto sin. For the law says, thou shalt
not. And the law therefore in this
sense is the strength of sin. Isn't that an amazing statement?
The strength of sin is the law. Does that mean the law then is
sinful? That it's on sin's side? No,
not at all. But what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh."
Now, Paul is not all down here. He triumphantly exalts, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? You have lost it to Jesus Christ. Verse 57, Thanks be to God who
gives us the victory through our Lord. and Savior Jesus Christ. Victory over sin, victory over
death, yes, through our Lord Jesus Christ. But they that abide
in the flesh and under the law, it is the strength of sin to
do them hurt and to do them harm. Therefore, we are delivered from
the law. We are dead to sin. And that's
our standing according to the gospel of Christ. Our blessed
Lord. Thank you for your kind attention. Strange statement. The strength
of sin is the law. All right, let's bow for a word
of prayer, please.