will land me safe on Canaan's
coast. There I shall sing of sovereign
grace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. How essential is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ to the gospel? What would it be like if we had
people in our assembly here tonight who were saying there is no resurrection
of the dead? Now that came up several times
throughout the New Testament. Remember when Paul warned of
Hymenatus and Philetus who overthrow the faith of some saying the
resurrection is past already? And Paul says it overthrows the
faith of some. Now, what if we had some in this
assembly denying the resurrection? Well, they had that in this assembly.
And Paul asks this question in verse 12. Now, if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection? He says in verse 34, awake to righteousness. The word means sober up, arouse
yourselves out of this drunken stupor. And the word righteous
here is an adverb, literally rightly awake or awake rightly. Some have not the knowledge of
God. I'm speaking this to your shame. He's saying shame on you
that this is going on in your assembly. Now, somebody says,
well, what about the ones that didn't believe it, that believed
in the resurrection? Is he saying shame on them? Evidently he is. That people
could feel comfortable being there and propagating this doctrine. He says, I'm speaking this to
your shame. Now, if Christ be preached, verse
12, that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection? And he goes on in verses 12 through
19 to give seven implications of there being no resurrection.
Here's the first one. If there's no resurrection of
the dead, Christ wasn't raised from the dead. And I want you
to think about all the dreadful implications of that if he was
not raised from the dead. That means our preaching is vain. What's going on right now is
a waste of time. It's vain. Your faith is vain. It won't
save you. It won't do you any good at all
if Christ is not raised from the dead. You're resting in what
he did. And if he did not raise from
the dead, he didn't get anything done. He says in verse, I think it's, we're false witnesses if Christ
is not raised from the dead. I can't see which verse it's
in. It's in there somewhere between verses 12 and 19, 15. We're false
witnesses because we're saying he did rise from the dead. And
we're telling lies on God if he didn't rise from the dead.
And then he says to these people, if Christ is not raised from
the dead, you're yet in your sins. The only way you can not be in
your sins if he was raised from the dead. And if he was not raised
from the dead, you're still in your sins. You're gonna stand
before God and be judged according to your works if Christ is not
raised from the dead. He says, those who died in Christ
have perished. They're in hell. Because the
only hope they had of being in heaven is if Christ was raised
from the dead. And if Christ was not raised
from the dead, they're now in hell. And we are of all men,
most miserable. If Christ was not raised from
the dead, but I love in verse 20, but now is Christ risen from
the dead and became the first fruits of them that slept. Now
he's going on in verse 29 to talk about. his resurrection
from the dead and those people denying it. He says in verse
29, else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If
the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the
dead? Now you can imagine how many strange things have come
out of that verse of scripture. There are people that taught
that what if you die before you're baptized? Well, somebody can
be baptized for you by proxy and that'll work. Is that what
he's saying? Why, you know better than that. What is he saying? If the dead rise not, what does
baptism mean? What we ought to do is hold them
under and not let them come back up if the dead rise not. Baptism represents the life,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. If there's
no resurrection of Christ, don't bring them up out of the water
because there was no resurrection. Keep them under. Now, Paul is
talking about the ludicrousness of denying the resurrection. Verse 30, if there's no resurrection
of the dead, why stand we in jeopardy every hour? Why are
we bothering with this? Paul says, everywhere I go, whatever
city I enter, bonds and afflictions are waiting on me. I know wherever
I go to preach the gospel, I'm going to be tied to a pole, beat
with a cat and nine tails. I'm going to be thrown in jail.
I'm going to be stoned. I'm going to be mistreated. I
don't guess there was a more courageous, tough man than the
Apostle Paul. He was a little man of little
stature, but what a tough man that he would go into every one
of these places knowing what was going to happen to him as
a result of preaching the gospel. He's saying, if there's no resurrection
of the dead, why would I bother with this? I mean, talking about
a waste of time, there's no reason for me to do that. I think it's
interesting. In Acts chapter nine, after the Lord saved him,
we read in that same chapter, after he preached Jesus that
he was the Christ, the Jews took counsel to kill him, right off
the bat. And he experienced that on a
daily basis, everywhere he went. He says, if there's no resurrection
of the dead, why would I confess this? This is gonna put me in
such trouble. It'd be a lot easier not doing that. Why stand we
in jeopardy every hour? I protest, verse 31, by your
rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Verse 31, my marginal reading says, I protest by our rejoicing,
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. Now, what is our rejoicing in
Christ Jesus? It's real simple. Paul said,
God forbid. that I should glory, save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's my glory. I glory in what He accomplished.
And it would be meaningless if there was no resurrection. There's
no point in glorying in the cross. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit, rejoice, glory in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in the flesh. This is my glory. It's in Christ
and in Christ alone. Now, I die daily. Now what's he talking about when
he says I die daily? I want to look at a couple of
scriptures. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. You know, in rejoicing in Christ,
you die daily to any hope of self-salvation, don't you? Every
single day, we're made to die daily. But look what he says
in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 8. For we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant to our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were
pressed out of measure Above strength in so much that we despaired
even of life, but we had this sentence of death in ourselves
that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the
dead. Now, I die daily just like that.
The only one I can trust is God who raises the dead. All of our trust is in the resurrection
of Christ Jesus, the Lord. And this is something done daily,
this sentence of death. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter six, verse 11. He says, reckon yourselves to
be dead indeed to sin. Count yourselves that way. Right
now, while you're listening to me, I don't care if you're conscious
of sin in your heart, and you are, you know you're a sinner. I don't have to convince any
believer of that. Maybe an unbeliever might take exception to that,
but every believer knows that they're a sinner. And yet he
says, reckon yourselves, count yourselves right now to be dead
indeed to sin. Sin has nothing to say to you. You stand before God without
guilt. And if he says to reckon yourselves
indeed to sin, there's one reason. You are dead to sin. That's why
you're called upon to reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin.
It's been put away. It's been gone. It's been obliterated. You stand before God without
guilt right now. Believe that. Reckon yourselves
to be that way. Dead. That's part of dying daily. I die daily. Turn to Romans chapter 8. We do die daily, don't we? Look
in verse eight. So then, they that are in the
flesh, someone who has not been born
of God, all they have is sinful flesh. They have no new heart,
no new nature. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God, but you're not in the flesh, but
in the spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin. Now, is he talking about the
body actually lifeless? In the process of decay? No,
he's talking about this body you live in right now. The body
of which Paul said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who should deliver
me from this body of death? The body is sin. You know that it's dead because
of sin. And the spirit, the new man is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body.
That's talking about the resurrection. He shall quicken your mortal
body by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren,
we're debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For
if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, You shall live. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean I'm called upon to put to death the sinful actions
of my body? Yes. I'm called to do that. You
are too. But that's really not what he's
talking about here. We're going to get to that in Colossians
chapter 3 in just a moment. But here, I put to death any
deed in my body that I think has anything to do with salvation.
Put it to death. I die daily. That's what it is to look to
Christ only. It's to put to death every deed
of the body. He's not necessarily talking
about the sinful deeds, although that could be included. And I
think it is included in Colossians chapter 3. But here, I'm to put
to death every deed of the body and look to the deed of the Lord
Jesus Christ as my everything in salvation. Now, turn to Colossians
chapter 3. I die daily. Colossians chapter
three. Verse one, if you then be risen
with Christ, or since you've been risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God, set your affection. Notice that's not in the plural.
Your affection, your mind on things above. not on things on
the earth, for you're dead, and your life is hid with Christ
in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
you also appear with him in glory. Mortify, put to death, therefore,
your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, or desire and covetousness, which
is idolatry, put them to death. You've got an old man that has
all those, and what are you called upon to do? Put him to death. And you know what? After you
put them to death, when you wake up the next morning, they're
gonna be alive again. And that's why this is a daily dying. You're going to be struggling
with sin every day of your life until you And what am I called
upon to do? Sin is such an evil thing in
every respect. I'm not to just say, well, you
can't help it, might as well do it. No, no, you're to put
it to death. Every sin, every sin has got
that evil that Christ had to die for it. That's how bad it
is. So we're not going to be indifferent. This thing, well,
you know, my old nature can't help it. No, you were called
upon to put it to death. And this is something that's
done every day until this old man dies. Mortify your members,
which are upon the earth. Paul says, I died daily. Now
let's go back to our text in verse Corinthians 15. Verse 31, I protest by our rejoicing
which I have in Christ Jesus. I die daily. I hope we have some
understanding of what that means now. He said, if after the manner
of men, verse 32, if after the manner of men I fought with beasts
at Ephesus, what advantage does it be if the dead rise not? Let's
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Now, this is not recorded
where this took place with him in the book of Acts, but I believe
it did take place. He was thrown into an arena,
and this is the way the Romans at this time entertained themselves.
They'd take Christians and throw them in an arena, and they would
bring out wild beasts, lions, bears, whatever. They would give
them some weapons, let them fight. Evidently, this happened to the
Apostle Paul. Somebody says, well, it wasn't supposed to happen
to a Roman citizen. It wasn't, but it did. I mean,
Paul had to fight off beasts in Ephesus. Can you imagine how
horrible that would be? Being in an arena with wild animals
and you're given some kind of weapon to try to protect yourself
and they're coming at you. He says, why would I bother doing
that if the dead rise not? If the dead aren't raised, eat,
drink, be merry. This is all you got if the dead
aren't raised. Your life is only in the here
and now. Have the best time you can. Enjoy life all you can. if the dead rise not. But the
fact of the matter is the dead do rise. But he said, if they
don't, why am I going through all this? Let me eat and drink
for tomorrow we die. And then he makes this statement
in verse 33. This is so important. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. Be not deceived. Do you have any idea how easily
you and I can be deceived? And how easily you and I can
even deceive ourselves? Be not deceived. Look back in 1 Corinthians 6,
you're there. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor violators,
nor sorcerers shall inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived,
they won't. And such were some of you, but
you're washed, but you're sanctified, but you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. I love the
verse in Galatians chapter 6 verse 3, if a man thinketh himself
to be something, when he's nothing, he deceiveth himself. How easily you and I can deceive
ourselves. Galatians 6, 7, be not deceived.
God is not mocked, for what a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
First John 1.8, for if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves. I love the simplicity of that.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth
is not in us. We've lost all credibility when
we make a statement like that. Be not deceived, evil communications
corrupt good manners. Now here's something we all need
to learn, whether the communications mean the people who say the words
or the word themselves, they both corrupt good manners. And that word good manners means
good character. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Now, unbelievers, if they are
your companions and your friends, they will bring you down to their
level all the time. These are people who have no
love for Christ. You say, well, you know, that's,
they're people. Yeah, they are people. And they're
people who have no love for Christ. And if they have no love for
Christ, that means in reality, they hate Jesus Christ. Unbelievers,
if you make them your friends and your companions, the persons
that you want to be with and socialize with, they will always
bring you down. You can just write that down. Now, this is not taking away
from the fact that you're gonna have dealings with unbelievers.
Go to work every day and you're around them every day. And you
love those people. You want them to know the Lord,
don't you? You want them to be saved by His grace. It's not
like you're indifferent about these people or you don't love
these people. And this is not talking about some kind of holier-than-thou,
stand-away-from-me attitude. I'm not talking about that at
all. That's abominable. And if unbelievers are around
you and they feel judged and threatened, you're being self-righteous
and you're not giving a good testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ
like that. This is not talking about, oh, you're an unbeliever.
I'm gonna stay away from you. What this is saying is, if we
make them our companions, they will always corrupt good manners. If you seek to socialize and
make these people your friends, he says, don't be deceived. Evil
communications corrupt good manners. Now, he's also talking, I think,
in the context. What I said is true, but I think
what he's talking about more than anything else is the evil
communications of that corrupt doctrine. That's basically what
he's talking about. The evil communications of no
resurrection. You know Paul said a little leaven.
Leaven's the whole lump. Error corrupts good manners. It always does. Evil communications
corrupt good manners. And you put For instance, one
work in salvation. You make the whole thing, all
of works. Any kind of corrupt doctrine, like no resurrection,
is going to corrupt good manners. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead is the gospel message, the very foundation of salvation.
Listen to this scripture. I hope the Lord will enable us
to enter into the glory of this scripture. He was delivered. for our offenses. Now just chew on that for just
a second. He was delivered. God delivered
him over. He was delivered for our offenses. And one of What a name to call
our sins, our offenses. And when we were singing, thank
you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation so rich and free. I thought, how seldom
that truly comes from my heart. How seldom our offenses, that
lack of gratitude even, He bore in His own body on the tree.
Every sin you've ever committed, every sin I've ever committed,
He was delivered for our offenses. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. I couldn't possibly explain what
that means other than just believe what God's Word says about it.
He bore our sins. in his own body on the tree. He was delivered
for our offenses, and he was raised again for our justification. Now, I want you to think about
this. Yes, he was delivered for our offenses, but when he died,
all my sin was put away. I don't have any sin. It's gone. I stand before God's holy law
as one who has never sinned. That's what justification is.
He was delivered for our offenses and he was raised again for our
justification. Now, where's their gospel without
this glorious truth with regard to the resurrection of Christ? in some weird way, whatever it
might be, while we lose every grand of assurance. It's a horrible
thing. It's an evil communication that
corrupts good manners. It's utterly defiling. Be not deceived, evil communications
corrupt good manners. Now verse 34, awake to righteousness. Now that word awake is sober
up. You've been intoxicated by letting
this take place. Now obviously he's not talking
about alcoholic intoxication, but you've been intoxicated by
allowing this to go on in your assembly. You know, if you look
in Revelation chapter two about the church of Pergamos, What
did the Lord rebuke them for? They had them there that held
the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And they permitted it. They allowed
it. Christ said the thing which I
hate. And so what is it about you folks, he says to the Corinthians,
that makes these people feel comfortable that they can be
in your midst spreading such a corrupt doctrine? Wake up! Awake to righteousness. And like
I said, that word righteousness is an adverb. It's talking about
the way you should wake up, wake up rightly. Don't tolerate this. Wake up rightly. Some have not the knowledge of
God and you do. He says, I speak this to your
shame. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves that this could
be going on in your assembly and they feel comfortable being
here. Awake to righteousness and sin
not for some have not the knowledge of God. Turn with me for a moment
to second Timothy chapter two. Verse 16, but shun profane and
vain babblings. That's a good way to describe
most preaching, isn't it? Profane and vain babblings, for
they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will
eat as doth a canker, gangrene that eats away. of whom is, Paul
names these two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus. He names them.
Somebody says you ought not name people. Well, Paul did here.
And what was it they were saying? Who concerning the truth have
erred, saying that the resurrection is past already. I don't know
what all their implications were, but Paul tells us what it did.
it overthrew the faith of some. Now, if they had real faith,
it would have continued. We know that. But whatever, it
overthrew these people's faith. And they left the gospel, they
left the assembly of the saints because of this. And so this
is why at all times I want Anything that's contrary to the
gospel will eat like a gangrene, a cancer, a canker. And he says
to the Corinthians, this is very strong language he's using with
him. And he said, you ought to be ashamed of yourself that these
people can come into your assembly and find a platform of spreading
their corrupt doctrine. Shame on you for letting that
take place. And I hope if somebody comes
into this assembly Spreading corrupt doctrine like that. They're
not going to find any kind of platform and they're going to
get out quick because they're going to know they're not wanted
here. That is a, I want to be gracious. I want to be loving. But if someone
comes with any other doctrine other than that, well, what did
Paul say to the Galatians? If any man preach any other gospel
to you than that which was preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him be damned. And when Paul
ends up this epistle in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22, he says, if any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, cursed. upon the returning of the Lord."
Now, was Paul being unloving? Was Paul being ungracious? No. He knew that this would be a
cancer. And that's what he's dealing
with, with these people. And the Church of Corinth, there
were a lot of issues in that church, wasn't there? but they were still saved by
the grace of God, and they still needed to be warned about these
things, just like you and I need to be warned against these things. Take the warning and rejoice
that Christ is indeed risen from the dead, and your salvation
is wholly accomplished by that. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that if we're in
a stupor, we ask that we might awake to righteousness and sin
not. Lord, deliver us from anything
other than the glory of your son and the salvation that's
in him. Lord, we ask for your grace.
We ask for wisdom. We ask for a right attitude.
We ask for a lowly attitude, but Lord, deliver us from ever
being tolerant of that which is contrary to your glory and
contrary to your truth. Bless us, keep us, preserve us. Lord, how we need your mercy
and your grace. Keep us looking to your son and
cause us to die daily to anything other than him in every respect. In Christ's name we pray, amen.