I invite you to turn with me
this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I hope this is the
only comfort I have to offer to anybody in any situation,
whatever it is, but especially in times like this. The Apostle
Paul is setting before this church the absolute necessity of the
resurrection of Christ from the dead. and to tell them that this
is at the very core of what he hoped for, this resurrection. Everything was riding on this
resurrection. He said, if Christ be not risen,
we're dead in our sin. We're still dead. Evidently some of the Sadducees
or some cult that didn't believe in the resurrection had gotten
the ears of some of the folks in this church and told them
that there'd be no resurrection of the dead. That wasn't a biblical
doctrine, that's what they told them. Just like they do with
election, and just like they do with predestination, and just
like they do with particular redemption, and anything else
that has to do with the glory of God. They denied it. Some of these men told them that
there'd be no resurrection of the dead. I remember my oldest
brother telling me that very thing. There's no God, there's
no heaven, there's no hell. Why do sinners say such things? They say this to soothe a guilty
conscience. And they say this to justify
life that they knew to be contrary to God. But Paul writes these words of
correction and he gives them several reasons why this resurrection
must be so. First of all, he tells us up
in verse four, because his resurrection was according to the scriptures. He must, he told his disciples,
he said, I must go up to Jerusalem, I must be judged, I must die,
and then on the third day be raised from the dead. I must
be raised from the dead because it's according to the scriptures. Secondly, down in verses five
through seven, he says his resurrection, was witnessed by the apostles
and several hundred witnesses. This resurrection cannot be denied. It's a matter of historical fact. He rose from the dead. He has
witnesses that knew him. And he appeared to him. He stayed
here nearly a month before he ascended into heaven, and he
appeared to first this one, and then that one, and of over 500
people at one time. Thirdly, because all true gospel
preaching would be for naught if there were no resurrection. Fourthly, verse 17, our faith
would be in vain and we'd be yet in our sins. And finally, because all his
beloved sheep that he'd made so many promises to and that
had passed on would have perished with no hope whatsoever. Verse 20, this is where I'm gonna
pick up my text. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death,
By man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam,
all die. How many? All. That what it says? All. As in Adam, all die. Even so,
in Christ shall all, how many? All, be made alive. But every man in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits, he's the first begotten from the dead.
He's the first one resurrected from the dead. And then afterwards, they that
are Christ, that is coming. Then cometh the end when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And my subject this morning is
life and death according to the gospel. Death demands an explanation. Almost immediately, the first
question we ask when somebody calls us and says such and such
died, how did they die? When did they die? Why did they
die? What happened? What happened?
And even if you get the answer to those things, they just give
you a little bit of temporary relief. My question is, why do
men die at all? Why do they die? I went to a church that believed
that you could get up to this plateau in a second definite
works of grace and be sinless in your life in this world. That's
what they taught. Well, I always ask this question
to myself, if you're sinless, why do you die? Why then did they all die who
professed these things? Well, let me begin with this. Death is the result of man's
fall in the garden. In Romans 5, verse 12, it says,
wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death
by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sin. We all, every last one of us,
have a death to die. I don't know when it's going
to be. I don't know how it's going to be. But death is coming. It's coming. Both Adam and Christ
are representative men. That's how Paul looks at these
two and he's telling us about life and death according to the
gospel. And both Adam and Christ are
representative men, they're federal heads by whom all who are represented
by them are rewarded by God. When Adam fell in the garden,
the whole human race fell with him. He is the first one. There's something you'll find
in Genesis chapter one where he's talking about plants and
talking about animals. Their seed was in them to produce
after their kind. You just keep seeing that, after
their kind, after their kind. Adam's seed was in him to produce
after his kind. And Adam failed. Adam fell. So when he fell, all his posterity
fell with him. All Adam could produce is another
sinner. Another sinner. So after several examples, he
says in verse 18 of Romans chapter 5, therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, that is
all who was represented in Adam, Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift come upon all men to justification of life,
that is, all those that were represented in him. Whereas by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. And all this was done, that as
sin hath reigned under death, Even so, might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. The
condemnation and the death which was passed upon all mankind,
it begins in his nature, in his very nature. In Psalm 58.3, David
said, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray
as soon as they be born, speaking lies. When do they do that? When they're born. Why? Because
they're born with their father's nature. That's right. Bible's got a lot to say about
the depravity of man. Romans chapter 8 verse 6, he
tells us that to be carnally minded, having the mind you were
born with and a mind without the intervention of God, to be
carnally minded, he said, is death. It's death. You're dead while you live. It's
death, spiritual death. And then he tells us that the
carnal mind is enmity against God and not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. This is an ungodly power and
an ungodly authority. It will not submit itself to
God. Not His law, not His authority. Our Lord said this. They said,
well, look at your disciples. They ate corn, didn't even wash
their hands. He said, that's not what defiles a man. He said, out of the heart, the
very core of man's nature, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication,
theft, false witness, and blasphemy. These are the things that defile
the man, but to eat with unwashing hands, that never defiled anybody.
Might make you sick, but it won't defile you. In Ephesians chapter
two, verse one, he says, and you had the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. Well, what does that mean? What
does that mean? I wasn't dead, I could be walking
around when God quickened me. So what's he talking about? What
kind of death is he talking about there? Well, he tells us, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our behavior in times past, In the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Now listen.
And were by nature children of wrath, even as others. The natural man is so depraved
that he will not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
Things freely given to you. Things given to you by the grace
of God. Here they are. They're yours
for the taking. Here they are. I don't want. That's how depraved a man is.
Here's forgiveness. It's free. Come and eat without
money and without price. Come and buy it. Why won't you
come? Because you're depraved sinners. That's why. You won't receive the things
of the Spirit of God. Here's a book. Breathe. The Holy Spirit breathed through
men who wrote this book. It's infallible. It's the Word
of God. Why won't a man receive it? Why
won't he bow to it? Why won't he listen to it? Because
he's depraved. A natural man's so depraved that
he will not receive the things of the Spirit of God for their
foolishness to it. Oh, my soul, surely not. Foolishness
to it. I've talked to men about salvation
and had them laugh in my face. You might get upset with me,
but I'll tell you what I did. I closed the book and turned
around and walked away. The foolishness on him, neither
can he know them. Oh, my soul, the inability of
man calls from his depravity. His will not is so great in him
that enmity against God and not being subject to his authority,
that self-will, neither can he know them or they're
spiritually discerned. Here's what our Lord said, here's
condemnation. Condemnation, I know that these
gross errors of men and women, the pornography and the drunkenness
and all of the things, I know that those are sins and they're
great sins. They're forbidden sins in the
scriptures. I know that. But that's not the
condemnation. That's just the fruit of man's
nature is all that is. And I'm talking to you about
the core of it. I'm talking to you about the
nature of it. This walking, this walking, our Lord said, here's
condemnation. Light came into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light. They loved darkness. They loved the darkness of that
old temple, them Jews did. They loved it. The priesthood
and the candles. Oh, they loved it. They loved it. They loved darkness. They loved the holy days and
the feast days and all of those things. They didn't see Christ
in those things, but there was so much pomp and ceremony and
the music and the candle lights and all that. Men loved darkness
rather than light. That's condemnation. That's God
condemnation. That man is under right now the
wrath of God. children of wrath, even as others. The Bible teaches the absolute
and total depravity of man. I have not seen nor heard. Neither has entered into the
heart of man, mankind, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. So much for all the self-taught,
revelations and experientialists and everybody else who claims
to do something apart from an intervention of God. Man, Job said. He said God doesn't put any trust
in his saints. You think about that. He doesn't
put any trust in his saints. He knows what they're made of. He told Peter, he said, Satan
hath desired to shift you like wheat, but I prayed for you that
your faith fail not. Man, Job said, drinks iniquity
like water. Just common. I didn't think anything
about it. I was hot, and I walked inside
and had a little bit of water left in the bottle back there
in the back room, and I just drank it. Man drinks iniquity
like water. Takes no thought about it, not
concerned with the results, not concerned with anything. Man's not gonna change. Not gonna
change. He said, can the leopard change
his spots? Can that leopard out there just
lay down up under a tree one day and say, well, I think I'm
gonna get some stripes instead of spots? Can the leopard change
his spots? Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin? What about you that are accustomed
to do evil? Can you do good? The scripture teaches the absolute,
total depravity of man. How then can such sinners as
we are ever hope to survive our nature? Paul asked that question.
Over in Romans chapter seven, he goes through that chapter
and he talks about the two I's. There's an I born of Adam, there's
an I born of God. And these are contrary to one
another. The good that I would do, I do not. The evil that I
wouldn't do, that's what I do. And finally he gets down to the
end of the chapter and he said, Oh wretched man that I am. Is that how you see yourself? That's how the Spirit of God
testifies of our condition, testifies of what we are by nature. Paul
said, Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? How can I overcome this depravity? How can I overcome this evil
nature? What am I going to do? Sin reigns unto death. And here's the only answer given
to them, especially to one who truthfully asked that question.
Romans chapter seven, verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, with the mind, that
is with the mind of Christ, The mind of faith and the mind of
grace, I myself serve the law of God. Believers serve the law
by looking to Christ who honored and exalted that law by his own
obedience and debt. That's their righteousness. They
serve that law by looking to him who obeyed it in every jot
and tittle, fulfilled it to the very last letter. Believers serve
the law by walking in faith and seeing themselves in union with
Christ. And then he tells us in Romans
8 verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit. Serving the law in Christ, walking
by faith. You know, I tell you this every
time I get up here and I'm going to keep on telling you. I hope
one day maybe the Lord will break your head open and pour it in
there where you can see it and rejoice in it. God chose a people
in Christ before the foundation of the world and he did this
that they might be holy and without blame before him being loved. And I'm gonna tell you something,
God loves every man in Christ. In spite of what he is, in spite
of what he says, and in spite of what he does, he loves him.
He loves him. And he tells you at the end of
Romans chapter eight, nothing's gonna be able to separate you
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not
height nor depth, not things present or things to come. Not
life nor death nor any other creature shall be able to separate
you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's to the praise of the glory
of His grace that He made us accepted in the blood. In Him,
He says, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's all of God and it's all
of grace. And there's only one way that
a fallen, depraved sinner can be saved, and that is that he
or she be born of God. You must be born again. John
1, verse 12. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name, which were born. Nobody's gonna believe on His
name who wasn't born. Born of God. even to them that believe on
his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And then he
tells us this, except a man be born of water and of the spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, because that which is
flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is spirit. He must
be born again. Well, how does this new birth
come about? How does it come about? Well, first of all, by
the sovereign, unchangeable, and eternal purpose of God. Spirit's sovereign. He goes where he wants to. I
don't have a thing to do about it. I can't explain it. I don't know where it's gonna
happen next. I don't know to whom this power is gonna be given. I don't know. I don't know. Just
like the wind, we can't tell where it comes from or where
it's going, but we feel the effects of it. But I do know this. It's by the
sovereign, unchangeable, and eternal purpose of God Paul said,
in Christ we obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Well, how does this new birth
come about? It comes about by a divine act of intervention.
God intervenes. Your mama tried and that didn't
work, and your daddy tried and that didn't work. But I tell
you, when God intervenes, it works. Well, God tried to save me. A
man told me that one time and I wouldn't let him. God didn't
try to save anybody. He saves whom he will. Yes, he
does. He don't ever fail. That's how, in the book of Isaiah,
that's how God portrayed himself. He said those ungodly, those
idol worshippers out there, they pray to a God who can't save.
Everything he does is dependent on men. The God of glory saves
whom he will, when he will, how he will. Peter said, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again. Who did? God did. He hath begotten us again unto
a lively hope. How do I know when a man's born
again? Everybody born of God has a hope, and that hope's in
Christ. A man says, I've been born again,
and then he goes off preaching law and preaching this and that.
Well, he wasn't born of God. Everybody born of God has a hope
in Christ. That's what that new birth is
all about. He hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. They know what
that resurrection was all about. He was delivered for their offenses
and raised again for their justification. And Paul said he gave thanks
to the Father which hath made us meet, made us able to be partakers
of the inheritance of enlightened saints. Man can't just be a partaker
because he wants to. God has to enable him. And when
he does, he becomes a partaker. Thirdly, how does this new birth
come about? Through the preaching of the
gospel. He said, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel. What gospel is that? That is
the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. What does this gospel tell
us? It tells of his eternal appointments
of God. I've conversed with relatives
that I've always thought I was very close to. And I started
talking to them about the things of God and they'd say some of
the wildest, most unbelievable things I ever heard in my life
about God. Things that are not in the scriptures,
things that had nothing to do with the scriptures. The gospel tales of Christ's
eternal appointments of God, of his federal headship. You know, if we just believe
in a universal salvation, if we believe in that anti-Christ
religion, their favorite gospel is universal atonement and universal
redemption. If I believe in that, then what
makes me any different than Esau? Huh? If God loves everybody, he loved
Esau even though he said he didn't. He said he hated Esau. And if I believe in a universal
atonement, then how do I expect to be saved
when others perish and go to hell? If that blood atonement
made no difference, if that imputed righteousness made no difference
to me, you see what I'm saying? This
new birth begats us to a lively hope. It gives us some understanding. And all of that understanding
is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Tales of his eternal appointments,
his federal headship. He is the head of the body of
the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. The
gospel tells of his incarnation and the fullness of time God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
God with us. The gospel tells of his accomplishments
as our Federal head, our representative, he obeyed the law on our behalf
and thereby covered us in a perfect righteousness. The gospel declares the death
of Christ to be the propitiation for our sins, that which enables
God to be just and justified. That which declares his righteousness
in the remission of our sins. The gospel tells us that God
will not compromise his character to save anybody. How do I know
that? Because God spared not his own
son. Let me tell you something, if
I was gonna spare somebody, it'd be my son. I know I've got an
evil nature and a clouded mind, but I'm just telling you from
a natural aspect, if I was gonna spare anybody, it'd be my son. And God's perfect Son, who did
no sin, He said, I spared him not. But I delivered him up for you
all. God's not gonna compromise His
nature to save anybody. In order to save chosen sinners,
the law must be honored in every jot and tittle, and God's holy
justice must be completely satisfied. And the gospel declares a risen
Savior. Our hope, Peter said, is a living
hope. It's not a hope, a hope, a hope. My hope is seated at
the right hand of God. Now He's my guarantor. My Savior
has become my guarantor, and there He sits. Our victorious Savior rose from
the dead and ascended into glory where He sits. is our guarantor. And not only that, but he tells
us there in Ephesians 2, he said, but God, but God, oh my soul,
he quickened us together with his Son, with that great love
wherewith he loved us. He quickened us together with
Christ, raised us up from the dead, and seated us together
at his own right hand. And then Paul said this, if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, that
is his resurrected life. The gospel is that which declares
everything from Christ's eternal appointments to his second coming
and the judgment of this present evil world. And it tells us these
things, that we might surrender to him, Trust in Him, obey Him,
and put all our hopes upon Him. In Him, Paul said, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. Now turn with me to Colossians
chapter 3. What does all this mean to us? Colossians chapter three, verse
one. If this is your hope, I don't
know what your hope is. I'm trying to tell you the hope
which is set before us. That's what I'm trying to declare
to you this morning, because there is no other hope. Colossians chapter three, verse
one. If you then be risen with Christ, are you? Do you have hope of that? Do you know him? They shall all
know me from the least to the greatest. To know God is eternal
life. Do you know it? Do you believe
on it? Have you confessed him in baptism?
Have you entered into his rest? If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right
hand of God. Set your affection, your love,
your interest, your heart, set your affection on things above,
not on things of the earth. For, here's the reason, you're
dead. You're dead. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. We died in him. We were buried
in him. We were risen with him. And that's
why we set our fiction on things above. Ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Brethren, believers have a living
hope. One who is raised from the dead
and raised us up with him. May the Lord be pleased to quicken
his word in our hearts and cause us to look to his son as he has
so graciously set him before us. And I'm gonna tell you something. We're all gonna die. Every last
one of us, you're gonna die. And don't you sit in here this
morning and say, well, I'm 18 years old and I'm in good health.
I have no guarantee of anything. I have no guarantee of anything.
We got to call one Christmas. My 16-year-old nephew run his
car up over 100 mile an hour and run off the road and killed
himself on purpose. drowned in the car upside down
in the water. You don't know what tomorrow
holds. I had an 18-year-old boy down
in Ball, Louisiana years ago, joined the Navy, went through
boot camp, got stationed on this ship in a port down in New Orleans
and was getting ready to ship out. This was his last liberty
to come home and see his folks before they shipped out. log truck dropped off the edge
of the road, and when he tried to pull the truck back up, he
overcorrected, run over in that lane, just as he come around
the corner, hit him head on. Had another young man there in
the church that was on his way to the lake fishing, had a boat
behind him, or this woman did, on her way to the lake fishing,
and this member of our church was going down the road, and
he was going to work. And this lady's boat come off
of the truck, Went across the water, 50, 60 miles an hour,
hit the bank on the other side and went up in the air and that
tongue of that trailer hit him right in the chest. Killed him
instantly. Being 18 don't mean you're gonna
live forever. I can tell you that right now.
God take you out so fast he'll make your heads bend. Why do we put off these things
of God? Why do we just set them aside
We've got this ignorant, vain expectation that we're going
to live forever. Well, you're not. Believers know
that. They know that they're dead.
They're going to die, but they were dead. Thank God they were
dead in Christ. When they put Christ to death,
they put them to death. And they've already been buried,
and they've already been resurrected. And that's the guarantee that
those things shall be when they do die in this world. Nothing
iffy about it. Paul said to be absent from this
body is to be present with the Lord. What about John? I don't know. What about you? What about you? That's what counts right now.
What about you? Where's your hope? What do you hope in? Brother Mahan said years ago,
and I'll quit. He said this at a funeral. He
said funerals reminded him of cattle out in the field. And
he said the truck comes along. The butcher sends out a truck
to take some steers off to the marketplace. And all the cattle
look up and hear that steer bawling and being prodded and they load
him up into that truck and he drives away and they all stand
there and look till he goes out of sight and then they go back
to eating. That's true of every funeral
I've ever been to. Folks look up for a minute and
then they go back to eating. Oh, may that not be so with you.
I want so much for you to hear and believe. Thank you.