back in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Among the many problems within
the Corinthian church, and there were many, there were many, Paul
deals with each one in every chapter of this epistle, the
root cause of all of them seems to be pride, a wicked weed that
will grow anywhere. There seems to be No church in
history that had more problems amongst believers than this church
at Corinth. Some in this chapter that we
read of earlier, or a part of it, even doubted, these are believers,
even doubted the resurrection of Christ. And that's the subject
that Paul confronts, or the problem that he deals with, he addresses
here in chapter 15, one of the many problems. But I want you,
before we come to that, to go back to chapter 1 and notice
something, something very encouraging, something very hopeful. I want
you to notice how Paul addresses these believers. Before he begins
dealing with each of these problems, severe things, notice how Paul
addresses them. And some, keep in mind as we
read verse 1 of chapter 1, some even denied Paul's apostleship. Some said, we don't have to listen
to him. He's not really an apostle. So
therefore in verse 1 Paul says, Paul called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God. And then notice what
he says in verse 2. unto the church of God which
is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified." Don't you find that a blessing? To them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus and called to be saints. With all that in every
place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both
theirs and ours. Sanctified in Christ Jesus. divided, prideful, sinful, fallible,
fallen. That describes the church at
Corinth and that describes you and I. We're all subject to those
things while we're still in this world. We're still flesh, and
subject to all the frailties of flesh. But look what Paul
says to them. Knowing what he had to deal with,
knowing what he had to address, he still tells them, you're called
to be saints. That's not changed. And Paul
doesn't even hint that he believes it is. You're sanctified in Christ
Jesus. Now what can we learn from that?
Our sanctification, obviously, our sanctification, as with our
justification, is in Christ. That's what Paul says here. If
it could be forfeited, if it could be lost, if it was dependent
upon how a Christian lives, then the church at Corinth certainly
would have lost it. But Paul says, not so. You're
still the saints of God. You're still in Christ Jesus.
You've not been disowned. Now, the reason I point that
out, as Paul does here, many say we're justified by the grace
of God, but we're kept. We're made more holy. We're sanctified
by our own works. No, no, no. The same thing that
sanctifies or rather justifies us, Jesus Christ, is the same
one that sanctifies us. It rests in Christ Jesus. As Paul said in another place,
it's Christ in you. It's Christ in you. Louis, the
hope of glory. That's our hope. That's our foundation. It's not a matter of touch not. And we've all been confronted
with that. We probably have loved ones that believe that, that
profess that. that so much of their religion
is based on this. Their so-called sanctification
is determined by this. Touch not, and taste not, and
go not, and wear not. Oh, but Paul says, not so. You're
sanctified in Christ Jesus. Look, if you will, at verse 30
of this same chapter, that is chapter 1. of Him, are ye in
Christ, that is, of God. Are ye in Christ, who of God
is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That's why Paul precedes that
statement with the words of verse 29, that no flesh should glory
in His presence. How could it? How could it? How could any redeem sin? How
could any flesh glory in the presence of God considering what
Paul says in verse 30? It's all of God in Christ. We don't have nothing. that we
didn't receive. We don't have anything that's
not a gift of God's grace. And Paul reminds us, it's all
in one place. It's all derived from and proceeds
from and is based on and rest on the person of Jesus Christ. Whether you consider sanctification,
or justification, or wisdom, or righteousness, whether righteousness
imparted, righteousness imputed, it's all in Him. Therefore, even
for these believers, obviously weak and frail as we all are
by nature, Paul says you're called to be saints. And this is why,
following verse 30, he makes this statement, that according
as it is written, in light of what he has said in verse 30,
this is only right. According as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Just as his people
were chosen in him, that is in Christ, they were redeemed in
Christ, justified in Him, called in Him, accepted in Him, we are
sanctified in Him. Is it any wonder that Paul says
in Romans 8, what shall we say to these things? What shall be
our response? Such unmerited favor, such grace,
such mercy as we sang of a moment ago, Mercy there was great and
grace was free. In light of that, what should
be our response? Paul says, what should we say
to these things? Oh, if God be for us. Who can
be against us? He that freely giveth us all
things in Christ. Our response is this. To God
be the glory, Lonnie. Who else gets the glory? To God
be the glory, great things he hath done. Now look back, if
you will, in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Paul deals with or emphasize,
as I should say, the certain. the certain resurrection of Jesus
Christ. There is not a fact in history
more well documented than the resurrection of Jesus Christ
that Paul speaks of in the earlier verses of the chapter. He was
seen at least 12 times after his resurrection and perhaps
more than that, and one time among 500 brethren at once. A
well-documented fact. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
is what we might call a foundational truth. Everything rests upon
this. Without the resurrection of Christ,
we don't have a gospel to preach. There's no good news if Christ
be not risen. And as we said in the reading
of these verses, the book of Acts consists of the apostles
and others chosen and called by God preaching exactly this. As Peter in Acts chapter 2 on
the day of Pentecost, he said that God had made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Another unscriptural,
God-dishonoring religious saying in our day is this, sinners are
exhorted professing Christians, I should say, are exhorted. Christ
is your Savior. You've made him Savior. Now make
him Lord. Oh, no. Oh, thank God, no. No, God made him Lord and demonstrated
it by the raising his son from the dead. That's what the apostles
preached. Brother Henry, when I was a young
man, And that's been a few years, that's been a while. But dear
brother Henry Mahan, I heard make the statement. And I needed
to hear it. I needed to know the difference.
He said the apostles didn't preach a doctrine of the resurrection,
but they preached a risen savior. And that's what Paul does here.
Look at verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 15. Paul says in verse 3, For
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which also I received. How? And as you know, the operative
word there is how. How? How that Christ died for
our sins according to the scripture. That is, according to God's purpose. for the sins of his people, how
it was, the reason God sent him, to put away sin. That's what
Christ came to do, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. But that's not all. That's not
all. Look what Paul says in verse
4. And, and, it doesn't end there, and that he was buried. Oh, but
it doesn't stop there. and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. And that resurrection of Christ
from the dead proved his claim to be God. That proved it. Turn, if you will, back to Romans
chapter 1. This is what Paul says in Romans 1 when he defines
what the gospel is. The resurrection of Christ proved
his claim to be God. Destroy this temple, he said,
and in three days I will raise it up. No man takes my life from
me, he said. I'll lay it down of myself. I
have power. Only God has such power. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. And
on the cross, we're told, He's breathed out his last. Father,
into thy hands I command my spirit. He's the only man that ever did
that. He's the God-man. But in chapter 1 of Romans, verse
1, Paul and a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised to
for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, In the Old Testament,
there's never been but one gospel. And this gospel, verse 3, concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh and declared, set forth, and
declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness. How? How was that proven? How was that demonstrated? By
the resurrection from the dead. How that he was buried, but how
that he rose again with power. Turn if you will to Romans chapter
4. Are you still in Romans? Not only did the resurrection
of Christ prove his claim to divinity, It also is the proof
of our justification. It's the evidence. It's the cause. It's the proof of justification
accomplished for all of his people. Romans chapter 4 verse 25. And I know I've pointed this
out before, but good news bears repeating, does it not? And this
is good news concerning our Redeemer, Verse 25, who was delivered for
our offenses, for our transgressions, for our sins. Yes, who was delivered
for or because of. That's the reason he was delivered
up, because of our sins. But look what else it says, and
was raised again for or because of our justification. Because
God was satisfied. He's raised again because of
our justification, delivered because of our sins, delivered
up to God, made sin, answered the demands of God's holy law. Now, did He succeed? Was He successful? Was God satisfied
with the offering of His Son? How do we know? How do we know? And you can't overemphasize the
importance of that. My eternal salvation rests upon
that. Did Christ successfully, completely
put away my sins? And did God accept it? Was God
satisfied? That's the issue. If God wasn't
satisfied, then there's no sacrifice, then there's no salvation, there's
no substitute. How do we know that our sins
were put away by our Redeemer? How did we know that He succeeded? Right here. He was raised again
because of our justification. Because of our justification.
That's why God raised him. Not in order to justify us, but
because we were already justified. God says, I'm satisfied. It's done. And concerning the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished by that,
what he obtained by that, we can sing, it's done, bless God. This great transaction's done
and God proved the finality of it and His complete everlasting
satisfaction with it when He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places and declared,
every knee's gonna bow to my Son. Every tongue's gonna confess
to my Son. He merited it. Oh yes, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Are you still
in Romans? Look at chapter 5 along this
line and then we'll move on. Romans chapter 5 verse 9, Romans
5 and 9. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For 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. It's a living Savior that we
look to. In Isaiah 53, the evangelical
prophet said, By his knowledge shall my righteous servant, verse
11 of Isaiah 53, he shall justify many. Why? Because He shall bear
their iniquities. Did He bear them? Yes. And He bore them away. And that's
the ground of our justification and His resurrection is the proof
of it. A risen Savior applies the merits
of that redemption that He accomplished for us at Calvary. Now look back, if you will, Chapter
15 of 1 Corinthians. Paul next names the implications
if Christ be not raised. It's as if Paul says, do you
not realize what you're saying? And of course they did. And he
mentions four things that we read that sets forth as being
vain. These four things, Paul says,
are vain. That is, they're useless. If
what you say is true, if Christ be not raised from the dead,
if he does not at this moment sit on the throne of majesty
in glory, then these four things are absolutely useless. They're
empty. They have no value if Christ
be not risen. Look again at verse 14. Paul
says, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching banned. Our preaching is vain. Now, the
word vain doesn't mean prideful. That's one definition of it.
But here it means empty, without purpose, useless. And Paul says,
if Christ be not raised, then is our preaching vain. There's no reason to preach.
What's the point? And then he says, and your faith
is vain. It's meaningless. If the object
of faith is not there, which is Christ alone, then there's
nothing to look to. If I cannot look to Him, if He
be not risen, I cannot behold the Lamb of God, then I cannot
be saved. Paul says, if Christ be not risen,
then your faith is vain. It's useless. And then look,
if you will, at verse 17. Again he says, if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain and ye, look at this, ye are yet
in your sins. You see how important the resurrection
of Christ is? Otherwise, ye are yet in your
sins. Do you hear that? Terrible words. Ye are yet in your sins. He's talking to believers, and
that's the case if Christ be not raised. Could you hear any
worse news than that? Is there any worse news than
that? You're yet in your sins, and
there's nothing I can do about it. I'll live in sin, I'll die
in sin, and I'll stand before God yet in my sins. Nothing worse. Look what he says
in verse 18, the fourth thing. If Christ be not raised, then
they also which are fallen asleep have died in Christ are perished. Perished. They're lost. They're damned. There will be
no hope for living believers or those who have already died
for the same reason. because Christ wasn't raised,
then that's proof that the sacrifice wasn't sufficient. God didn't
accept it. He must not have or Christ would
have been raised from the dead. And that's why Paul says in verse
19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable. Our hope in this life and that
which is to come are dependent on, as Paul states in verse 20. and I'm anxious to get to it.
But our hope in this life and that which is to come are dependent
on Him. It's all up to Him. And believers in Him and because
of Him have a hope, a good hope, a good hope, a living hope. We serve
a living Savior and a sure hope. We are not of all men most miserable,
oh no, because we have hope in Him. Other religions, as you
well know, and there are so many, they can survive and they do,
regretfully. Sadly, they can and do survive
without the need of the resurrection or the living of their founder. They go on anyway. For example,
Joseph Smith. He was the founder, the false
prophet of Mormonism. Joseph Smith supposedly was searching
for truth and couldn't find it anywhere in his day. So he went
up in the mountains, sat down on a stump, contemplating and
meditating and asking God which is the right way. Which is the
right way? And an angel named Macaroni,
no I think it was Moroni, come flapping down from heaven and
gave Joseph a book called the Book of Mormon. and said, none
of these ways are right. None of them's right. There's
not the right way out there. The truth is not in the earth.
But here you go, the Book of Mormon, and hence you have the
beginning of Mormonism. Joseph, Mr. Smith, was put in
jail and a mob raided the jail and drug him out and hung him.
and they made a martyr out of him, but his religion goes on.
You know why? Because it was founded by a spiritually
dead man, and it's carried on because it's a lifeless, dead
religion anyway. That's why it goes on, like all
the others. But the faith of the child of
God rests upon and depended on the life that he lives in the
flesh. He lives by the faith of the
Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. Our faith
rests upon a living Savior. And that's the difference. That's
the difference. Our salvation, a real salvation. Not religion. Not religion. But real salvation from real
sins requires a real living, ruling, reigning, as Paul says
here, he must reign. It requires such a savior as
he is. Now verse 20. Paul comes to verse
20 and he writes, but now, but now, Right now. That's an eternal now, child
of God. That's an eternal now. That's
always so. Right now, think about it, right
now is Christ risen from the dead. What a soul-reviving, heart-cheering
news this is. But now is Christ risen from
the dead. Our faith looks to Him who said,
I am He that liveth. John is on the Isle of Patmos
when these words are spoken. He is cast out on that island
by himself. in his elder years for preaching
the gospel, he said, for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He's
thrown out there, and the enemies of the gospel thought, we'll
hear no more about him. But as the children of Israel,
by God's divine favor, being slaves in Egypt, we're told,
the more they afflicted him, the more they multiplied. God
works all things after the counsel of His own will. And while John
was there, we're told he received the revelation of Jesus Christ. People said, oh, revelation,
deep, mysterious, and talk about all these things. Well, it's
the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's about Him, like all the
other books are about Him. But he said to John, I am he
that liveth and was dead. That's true. And behold, I'm
alive forevermore. Isn't that glorious? But now
is Christ risen. And that risen Savior says to
each of his own, because I live, ye shall live also. What a statement. Because I live, Ye shall live
also. You'll live as long as I live.
The same life, immortal, everlasting, eternal life that flows through
me, flows through the head, flows to every member of my body, which
is His church. Because I live, ye shall live
also, my soul. Now is Christ risen from the
dead. How the apostles... I thought
of this this morning. I wonder how the apostles must
have felt remembering that they watched him die. They watched
him die. They saw him die. It wasn't no
hoax. It wasn't no pretense. They heard
him cry, it's finished. And into thy hands I commend
my spirit. They saw his body laid in the
tomb. And all their hopes, true, their
ideas were wrong in many ways, expecting him to set up an earthly
kingdom and deliver them out from the authority of Rome, but
all their hopes died with him. Those two disciples on the road
to Emmaus speaking to Christ before they recognized who they
were talking to said, we had hoped, we had hoped that he was
the one that should redeem Israel. But now, doesn't seem so, he's
died. But then, but now is Christ risen. And
he appears to them in that upper room, the risen Savior. My soul, no wonder he said that
night, the world should rejoice, but you're going to be sorrowful.
But your sorrow is going to be turned into joy. Joy that the
world can't give and the world can't take away. You know why?
Because I will see you again. Glory to His name. We serve a
living Savior. It's true, redemption was obtained
at Calvary. Yes, His Word. As our substitute
for sin, being our sin-bearer is finished. It's done. But now,
once in the end of the world, we read, hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And he did. But his
work as our mediator is not finished. It's not finished. I've heard
men say, and I wouldn't want to nitpick, but I was saved at
Calvary, I just didn't know it. Well, I was redeemed at Calvary. My redemption was obtained at
Calvary. My sins were put away at Calvary.
But God, by His grace, The great shepherd must live to apply the
merits of that redemption. I must in time be called out
of darkness. I must be born again. I must
be kept. I must be brought to glory. And
that's why he lives now. By that everlasting life, by
the merits of that sacrifice, he pleads our cause before the
throne of God. As our mediator, his work is
being carried on. And it won't be finished. It
won't be finished. It will be finished. Just as
his work of redemption was finished, just as he said concerning his
work on earth, I'll finish the work. It'll be finished. His work of complete, eternal
salvation for all His people. It won't be finished until He
brings all His sheep to Himself. In time, He said, they shall
hear His voice. And they'll follow Him. They'll
follow Him. And they'll follow Him to glory.
They'll follow Him to glory. We sometimes sing all the way. all the way my Savior leads me. They'll follow Him to glory where
they'll be presented without a spot, without wrinkle, without
blemish, without any such thing. This is what the writer speaks
of in Hebrews 7 when he said, we don't have a high priest.
like the earthly that dies, oh no, he ever liveth. Our high
priest, the Lord Jesus, ever liveth to make intercession for
us. Therefore, we're told in the next verse, he is able to
save to the uttermost from the penalty of sin, from the power
of sin, and bless his name one day from the very presence of
sin. to the very uttermost. Yes, he has redeemed all his
sheep, but they must be called to experience that redemption
and they will be brought to glory. Every one of them. Friday evening,
as we sat in the waiting room of the hospital, myself and Robin
and Pete, we were talking along this line about the frailty sinfulness
and disfallen nature. And Pete looked over at me and
she said, one day I'm going to be perfect. And I looked back and I said,
absolutely. That's right. One day we're going
to be perfect. That can only be realized, that
can only take place if now Christ be risen from the dead. Therefore,
therefore, our preaching is not in vain. Not in vain. A risen Savior said these words. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. And lo, I am with you always. Always, Lester. Even until the
end of the world. I'll never let you go. I'll never
leave you. And our faith is not vain. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that every one that
seeth the sun and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day, up to be with him forever. This robe of flesh I'll drop
and rise to seize the everlasting prize. And thank God we are not
yet in our sins." Oh no. Oh no, God proved His satisfaction
with the work of His Son when He raised Him from the dead.
Therefore, believer, we are yet not still in our sins. With the psalmist we can sing
blessing. The word is happy, happy. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not, He will not impute iniquity. Why would He? Why would He? He imputed the
sins of all His people to Christ and Christ bore them away. Oh yes, we are not in our sins. Blessed, happy is that man. The
very opposite of miserable. No matter what, we are not yet
in our sins. You remember Lot? We referred
to him last Lord's Day morning. Peter says in 2 Peter chapter
2 that Lot was a righteous man. A righteous man. He was greedy. He took his eyes off Christ. He took his family to Sodom.
And yet, Peter says he's a righteous man. He puts the focus not on
Lot and his sin, but on God and his grace. And just as we couldn't
release ourselves, free ourselves from sin, even so we can't be
reclaimed by sin. Once we've been made free by
God's mighty grace, this sentence is passed eternally. Lose him
and let him go. He's free. He's mine. He's redeemed. Oh, thank God for a living Savior. Like Lot and like this church
at Corinth, Believers stumble, and they fall, and they sin,
but they'll never perish. They may be burdened. There's
no maybe about it. Right now, you may be burdened,
heavy-hearted, worn down, worn out. Oh, but listen. What shall
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation, shall persecution,
Shall sorrow? Shall death? Shall anything present
or past or future? Paul says, I'm convinced that
nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. Christ is risen from the dead,
and those fallen asleep in Christ have not perished. They shall
never perish. As Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, Believers there were wondering about those who had
died in Christ. And Paul says, even they also
who sleep in Christ shall God bring with Him. Bring with Him. They're already there with Him.
But now is Christ risen from the dead. And let me close with
just a few thoughts. Looking again at that verse,
verse 20. But now as Christ risen from
the dead, all those other sweet buts that we read of in scripture
concerning God's people are all dependent on and all rest on
this one. We are in bondage under the elements
of the world, but when the fullness of the time has come, God sent
forth His Son. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, and by nature children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who was rich in grace, with his great love wherewith he loved
us, hath quickened us together with Christ." And then notice
that word, that sweet word, now, in our text. But now, now, this
very moment, heavy hearted brother and sister, burdened, troubled
brother and sister in Christ. Now is Christ risen from the
dead and makes intercession for us. Come now to the throne of
grace that you may find help in time of need and find grace.
Because right now, right now, that one who died for us lives
for us at this very moment, right now. and all the merits and all
the worth and all the satisfaction that He gave to the Father by
His life and death upon the cross are just as valuable and just
as worth and just as meritorious as they were that very moment
and that very morning that He first rose from the dead. There's
not been one drop lost. It's just as real as it was then. It is now. He lives! Bless God, He lives. Now is Christ
risen. Risen. That's the next sweet
word. He arose with healing in His
wings. Sufficient healing for all my
sins, all my scars, all my tears, and all my regrets, and I've
got them. but he's been everlastingly exalted
as a prince and a savior with everlasting merit. He's risen. Take this with you. Now is Christ
risen and now he watches over his own. Now he promises each
of his children, I will never leave you nor forsake you, not
today, not tomorrow, not ever. Never. Look at verse 57 and 58
of 1 Corinthians 15, and we'll close with these words. The apostle
sums up the chapter, the blessed truth of Christ now being risen. He says, but thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, he's talking to you, child of God. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you know, you know that your labor is not
in vain in the Lord. God bless you.