that I have selected for my text this morning is devoted
mainly to one subject, and that is the resurrection of the dead. Evidently some of the preachers
and teachers and folks down in Corinth were denying
the resurrection. Down in verse 12, Paul raised
that issue. He said, if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, I'll say some among you, there is
no resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of the dead
is fundamental to the gospel which we preach. If there is
no resurrection of the dead, there is no gospel. That's what
he said in verse 16, if the dead rise not, Christ is not raised.
If Christ be not raised, he's an imposter. He said you destroy
this temple, in three days I'll raise it up. Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain and you're yet in your sins. So the resurrection
of the dead is fundamental to our gospel, to our hope. And much of the persecution of
the early apostles was because they preached the resurrection
of the dead. Turn with me to Acts 23. In Acts 23, verse 6, the apostle
Paul is speaking here, and he tells us the main reason why
he's brought to trial, why he's being persecuted. It says in
Acts 23 verse 6, And now I stand, and now I stand, and am judged,
Acts 26 verse 6, Acts 26 verse 6, And now I stand, and I am
judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers,
unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God
day and night hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa,
I'm accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Why is
that incredible? God who created the world out
of nothing, God who controls and holds all things together,
He should raise the dead. Why is that incredible? Let's
go back to Acts 24, verse 21. Here Paul is again defending
himself. He said, except it be for this
one voice, that I cried standing among you, touching the resurrection
of the dead, I am called in question by you this day. Paul the apostle
was called in question because he believed that God would raise
the dead. Look at chapter 23 now, verse
6. Chapter 23, verse 6. But when Paul perceived that
the one part of this group of people who were questioning him,
one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out
in the council, men and brethren, I'm a Pharisee and the son of
a Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I'm called in question. So even back then, after our
Lord had risen from the grave only a short time before, all
the apostles were arrested and tried and judged because they
preached the resurrection of the dead. When our loved ones
died, we buried We buried them in hope of a resurrection, and
God will bring them forth. Now, someone asked me some questions
the other night I couldn't answer. There are a lot of things about
the resurrection and our future I can't answer, but
there are a lot of things I can answer. And I intend to do that
from this chapter this morning, 1 Corinthians 15. divided into
four parts. Number one, the dead shall rise.
The dead shall rise. Secondly, actually in Christ,
our Redeemer, we've already risen. That's true. We've already risen.
God declares those things that are not as though they already
were. God declares the things which are not as though they
already were. We're already risen. I'll show you that. I'll answer
some questions about how the dead are raised, with what body
they come forth. And then fourthly, this is the
end of all that we preach, the goal of all that we preach, the
resurrection. That's the end of salvation,
to be made like Christ, that's the goal of salvation, that's
why we believe, that's why we preach, that's why we worship. Why we call on God? For eternal
life, that's the goal, the resurrection of the dead. All right, let's
look at the first. There is a resurrection. In verse
1, let's read that. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received,
and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. Now watch this, I've delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the Old Testament scriptures, according to every
promise and type, the Passover, Abel's Lamb. He died for our
sins as the Lamb of God according to the Old Testament scriptures.
Watch it, and that he was buried and he rose again according to
the scriptures. The Old Testament scriptures
declare that the dead rise. Turn back to the book of Job.
I'll just read this one text. Job was completely persuaded
of the resurrection of the dead. I want you to listen to what
he says. And Job is perhaps the oldest book in the Bible. The
books of the Bible aren't always chronologically placed. You know,
Job lived before Moses. I believe he lived before Abraham.
And it's perhaps the oldest of all the writings. And Job believed
in the resurrection. He said in Job 19 verse 23, Oh
that my words were now written. Oh that they were printed in
a book. Well they are, Job. We're reading them this morning.
Oh that they were graven with an iron pen and laid in the rock
forever. Write it on my, write it in a
book, write it on my tombstone. That would be a good epitaph
on a tombstone, wouldn't it? In hope of the resurrection.
In hope of the resurrection. Write it on my tombstone. Listen
to what he says. I know that my Redeemer, my Savior,
my Mediator liveth. I know He lives. He died, but
He lives. He died, but He rose again. He
lives. And he shall stand at the latter day on this earth.
He stood on this earth in the flesh, born of the virgin to
redeem our souls. And one day he'll stand on a
new earth at the latter day. And though
after my skin, worms destroy this body, when our bodies die,
they begin to decay. Now when our Lord died and was
buried, he lay in the grave three days, but he saw no corruption.
Because he's the son of God, he has no sin. The sins for which
he died were our sins, and they were paid for and put away. He
didn't have a sinful body. And this body came from the dust,
it'll go back to the dust. It has to. Dust thou art, to
dust shalt thou return. And just what Job's saying, my
skin, it'll go back to the dust. Yet, in my flesh, in my flesh, me, Joe, my flesh,
flesh and bones. After I've died, after my skin
has been rotted and gone back to the grave, I'm going to see
God in my flesh, whom I shall see for myself. I'm not talking
about somebody else reincarnated. I'm not talking about another
Savior, I'm talking about Christ my Redeemer, I'm talking about
me. Whom I shall see, whom, Christ, I shall see myself. My eyes shall
behold him, my eyes, and not another, not a stranger, though
my reins be consumed within me. And that's what Job believed,
that's what Isaiah believed, with my Dead bodies shall all
of God's people be raised, Isaiah said. And then Paul gives these men
that saw our Lord after he arose from the grave, look at verse
5, he was seen of Cephas, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 5, he was seen of 500
brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to this day,
and none of them recanted. None of them denied that he arose
from the grave. They saw him. He appeared to
500 brethren. Paul said, most of them are still
alive. The greater part are still alive while I'm writing these
words, he said. They saw him. They heard him.
After that he was seen of James and of all the apostles and then
last of all he was seen of me. He's talking about on the road
to Damascus. When he was smitten by that great
light, and the voice from heaven said, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And he replied, I am Jesus of Nazareth, and thou persecutest
me. I saw him risen. I look down here at verse 12.
Now, and here are some of the consequences of denying the resurrection. You say, well, you know, what
difference does it make? It makes a lot of difference.
It makes a lot of difference. Here are some of the consequences
in denying the resurrection. When we bury our loved ones in
Christ, believing in Christ, I fully, absolutely, on the word
of God, in my heart, believe they'll be raised. We'll all
be raised in his likeness. And the consequences of denying
that are as follows. Listen. Verse 12. Now Christ
be preached that he rose from the dead. How do some of you
say there is no resurrection? If there is no resurrection,
Christ is not risen. Do you know the implications
of that? Is he, are his bones still in Jerusalem? Can you visit
his grave like you visit the grave of other imposters like
Mohammed and Confucius and Buddha and all these so-called messiahs?
The angels say he's not here, he's risen. Don't look for the
living among the dead. He's the living Lord. Verse 14,
if Christ be not risen, our preaching is vain. Our faith is vain. Faith is vain. Believing God
is vain. And verse 15, we're liars too. We're false witnesses because
we've testified that He raised up Christ. Verse 16, if the dead rise not,
Christ is not raised. If Christ is not raised, our
faith is vain. We're yet in our sin. We have
no hope. Those that we've buried, our
dear loved ones, that we've buried, they've perished. You believe that? I don't. I
believe they'll rise. I don't believe that. I'm sure
of it. I'm sure of it. I tell you this, verse 19, if
in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.
There's nobody more miserable than a person who has a hope
in a false Christ, one who is not risen, one who has no power,
a God who cannot save, a God who cannot hear, a God who cannot
give life. That's the most miserable man
on earth. He's God's phony and he's phony. But thank God, verse
20, now is Christ risen from the grave and become the firstfruits
of them that slept. Now listen, spiritually, here's
the second thing I was going to say. Spiritually, in God's
covenant, in Christ our representative, all believers are already risen.
That's what this is saying. Now is Christ risen and become
the firstfruits. What are firstfruits? Well first
fruits, it's like you plant a field of tomatoes or a field of cantaloupe
or a field of corn. The first ripe tomato and the
first ripe cantaloupe and the first ripe ear of corn is the
first fruits. And back in the Old Testament
they were always presented to the Lord. That's what the people
gathered, they went out and gathered their first fruits. And out of
thanksgiving to God for his mercies and thanksgiving to God for supplying
their needs, they brought those first fruits to the temple, to
God. And Jesus Christ has become the
first fruits. He's the first one raised from
the dead to die no more. Now that's the important thing.
You see, he raised Lazarus. Rasmus rose from the grave before
Christ, but he died later. He raised Jairus' daughter, but
I guarantee you she died later. He raised the widow's son, touched
his coffin, he got up, but he died later. Christ arose never
to die. And that's the resurrection,
the hope of the resurrection. We're looking forward to this.
We arise never to die. He's the firstfruits. Firstfruits,
see, when you gather those first four or five tomatoes, that's
the firstfruits. But there's more to come. Hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds. You gather the first cantaloupe.
That's right. Smells so good, so fresh. But there's more to come. And
when Christ our Lord walked out of that grave, triumphant over
sin, over death, over hell, over the grave, to die no more. One
day we'll walk out, just like he did, to die no more. That's
right, never to die again. You see, verse 21, by man, by
Adam came death. By Christ came the resurrection.
Adam represented all of us. When God made that one man, he's
the only man God made. God created one man, the head
of the whole human race. Everybody came from that one
man. Somebody said, what about Eve? She did too. God created
Adam from the dust to the ground, made him holy in his own image,
breathed into him the breath of life, he became a living soul.
And God saw it was not good for that man to be alone, so he made
a helpmeet for him. And he caused a deep sleep to
fall on Adam. And while he slept, God took
the rib out of Adam and made Eve. She came out of Adam, he
was her head, her representative, mine and yours. And when he sinned,
she took the fruit first, nothing happened. Adam took it, and their
eyes were opened. They died. Sin, by one man, sin
entered the world. And death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. And then all of us have been,
we've been taken out of Adam. Adam knew Eve, his wife, and
had a son, named him Cain. Had a son, named him Abel. Had
a daughter, named her this, that, and had another daughter, another
son, another. All of them came from Adam. And all the way down,
he's our roots. He's our root. You don't know
roots. Every human being in this world, black, red, white, yellow,
came from Adam. And the root is bad. The root
is evil. The root is sin. The root is
death. By man came death. By that one man. Well see, then
God made another man. Made him of a woman. He had no
human father. Made him of a woman. Made him
under the law. Made him to be sin for us. Made
him our covenant head. Made him our surety. The Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world. Not from Adam. Not the seed of
Adam like we did. If he had, he'd have been fallen
like us. He'd have been a sinner like us. But he came from a woman. The seed of woman. And it says
here, By man came death, by man also came the resurrection. He
took that man, he made him a body. And that man was the head of
another race. A people out of every kindred,
tribe, tongue, and nation under heaven. He came representing
them. Adam came breaking the law, Christ came obeying it.
Adam came rebelling against God, Christ came believing, trusting,
submissive. Adam came hating, Christ came
loving. Adam came breaking the law, Christ
came obeying the law. That's right. And by Him, by
Christ, we live. He died for our sins, was buried,
and we're in Him. For as in Adam all died, you
see that verse 22, even so in Christ shall we be made alive. But every man in his own order,
here's what I said, Christ is the first prince. He's the first
begotten from the dead. He's the first resurrected. Afterward,
they that are his at his coming will be resurrected at his coming.
Every grave will be opened and the dead in Christ shall rise
at his coming. I turn to Ephesians chapter 2. In promise, in promise, in God's
purpose, In God's mind, in God's kingdom, we are already risen.
In fact, everything is already done in God's kingdom. God declares the end from the
beginning. Now let me read this in Ephesians 2 verse 1. You have
to quicken who were dead in trespasses and sins. wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of the 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
conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh and fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature,
by birth, by sin the children of wrath, just like others, but
God, who is rich in mercy, It was great love. He loved us.
We didn't love him. He loved us. We love him because
he loved us. And even when we were dead in
sin, he hath quickened us together. What's quickened mean? Made alive. The dead in sin are made alive. We're quickened. How? With Christ. By grace, you say. He has already raised us up together. Together with whom? with Christ.
That's what the togetherness, yeah all of us together, but
together with Him. In this thing of spiritual resurrection
and life, we love each other and we want each other to be
saved and to know God, but primarily Christ is the issue. We're raised
together with Him. He has quickened us together
and raised us together with Him and made us sit together. Together with whom? With Him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We're already there. We're already there in God's
purpose, in God's will, in Christ's blood and death and resurrection,
in Christ our mediator. Christ is our forerunner. We're
in Him. All thine are mine, and mine
are thine. And we're in Christ. And we're
already risen, seated with him in the heavenlies. Already. Now then, down here in verse
35, I want you to look at this. You know, when we say we're already
risen, Here's an example that might help you. Christ was a
lamb slain before the foundation of the world in the mind of God.
Certain and sure. But it wasn't until he died on
the cross that he was actually slain. But in the purpose and
mind of God, he was already the lamb slain. And you and I are
already, we're given to Christ, we're chosen in Christ, we're
redeemed in Christ, we're buried in Christ, we're risen in Christ,
and we've ascended in Christ, and already every believer, those who are not even born yet,
every believer, every child of God is seated together with Christ
in heaven. See what I'm saying? And then
when the time comes for his resurrection, it will be fulfilled. But it
shall be fulfilled. God's purpose. All right, verse
35 now. Some will say, how are the dead
raised? And with what body do they come?
Someone asked me the other night about a person whom God has called
home and died. We say to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. Paul said, I have a desire
to be absent and to be present with the Lord. And this person
said, well, what kind of body? The body's in the grave. What
kind of body do we have? I can't answer that, but I can
give you some scripture. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. You know, when the apostle Paul,
the scripture says that Paul was taken into heaven, into the
third heaven, into paradise. He said, whether in the body
or out of the body, I don't know. Isn't that what he said? So he
must have had some kind of body, because he didn't know whether
he was in his natural body or in a spiritual body. He said,
whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. But
he went to paradise, the third heaven, into the presence of
God. And he said, I heard things. It's not possible for me to utter,
not possible for me to recount or to describe. It's another language, it's another
kingdom, it's another glory that this natural mind and faculties just can't enter
into until we do. And that's what he's saying here
in 2 Corinthians 5, he says, I know, if our earthly house
of this tabernacle, now you're looking at my earthly house,
standing here before you, and it's called a tent or a tabernacle
because it's so frail, it's so temporary, fragile. I know if it's dissolved, if
God calls me home right now in a few moments, And if it's dissolved,
I have a building of God. Not made with hands, a house
not made with hands, a dwelling not made with hands. You know,
our Lord said to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many dwelling places. He's not talking about bricks and ivory. and constructed houses, he's
talking about dwelling places, dwelling places, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In this body we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven, clothed upon. If being clothed we shall not
be found naked For in this tabernacle we do groan being burdened, not
for that we would be unclothed. We don't want to be just a naked
spirit. We want to be clothed upon with mortality. That mortality
might be swallowed up in life. Now, here's what I can give you.
If God calls me right now and I go home, I'm going to have
a dwelling place, a house, clothed upon with mortality. And I'm content to leave that.
where it is, until I do that, until that happens, because I
cannot, I don't even have the slightest thing to base anything
upon. But we're not unclothed, I know
that, he said that didn't he? We're not naked, we're clothed
upon with immortality, we're clothed upon with glory. Second
question, when our Lord Jesus Christ, the man, died and was
buried for three days, What kind of, where was he? He wasn't in
that body. What kind of, what kind of clothing,
what kind of house did he have? Same one you're going to have.
Did he came back and got that body? That's right. Isn't that
right Cecil? As he is, so are we. And I'll
leave it there. I know it's alright because the
master came that road. He died. His body did, and they put it
in the grave. And for three days, where was he? How was he? It's alright, isn't it? Because
that's the way we're going to be. But now wait a minute, there's
a promise of a body. Alright, let's read verse 36.
We're talking about the resurrection now, we're talking about the
day when Christ shall come and the dead in Christ shall rise.
What body shall they come? With what body? Thou fool, that
which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. We're talking
about, we'll read verse 37, that which thou sowest, you sow not
the body that shall be, you sow bare grain. It may be wheat,
it may be some other grain, it may be corn, barley, rye. What
he's saying is this, when a farmer goes out and plants seed, That
little shriveled grain of corn, or wheat, or whatever, it's a
pitiful sight. It's just, you wouldn't even
eat it. It's a pitiful sight. Doesn't even look like food.
Just a grain or two of corn and wheat. But he puts it in the
ground, covers it over, and it germinates, it dies, it goes
back to the dust. And then it comes out of the
ground, a beautiful stalk of corn or whatever, with thousands
of grains of corn, beautiful, moist, edible. Well, you didn't
sow that. You sowed that bare grain, but
look what came out. And that's what he's saying about
us. We're going to be buried. These bodies are in such bad
shape. When they die, they're corruptible,
mortal, sinful, frail, decaying. And that which thou sowest, you
don't sow what shall be, you sow bare grain. Verse 38, God
gives you the body that pleases him, and to every seed his own
body. Now you hold that, look at that,
and just leave that right there. So I'm talking about when we're
raised. When Christ comes, the dead in
Christ, he'll bring with him. They're coming, and their bodies
are going to rise out of the grave. And they'll sin with the
Lord. Now what kind of body will that
be? I do know what that will be.
I can answer that. Our Lord arose from the grave.
You can read this in Luke 24. And he appeared to his disciples.
And they were afraid. They saw him dying. They buried
him. And he appeared to his disciples. And he said to them, don't be
afraid. It is I, myself. A spirit doesn't
have flesh and bones as you see me have. And then he asked him
to reach and touch his hands. Flesh and bones. Touch his side. Our Lord was buried and had risen. And he came forth in flesh. Glorified
flesh and bones. Then he said, do you have something
to eat? Further instructing them. in
this new body, glorified body. And they had some honeycomb and
fish and they gave it to him and he ate before them. Now when
he comes and we're raised, we're going to have flesh and bones. He is I myself. Touch me. We'll eat, we'll know each other,
we'll be ourselves, they'll be themselves. That's right. Well, now wait a minute. Doesn't
the Bible say flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of
God? The kind of flesh we've got now can't. The kind of blood
we've got can't. But glorified flesh can. Read
the next verse. Verse 39. Verse 38 says, God
giveth a body as it pleases Him. Won't that be wonderful? God
gives us a body that pleases Him. Pleases Him. Oh my goodness. To have received
His own body. All flesh is not the same flesh. Here's the difference. We're
going to rise with flesh, but it will be glorified flesh. It
won't be this diseased flesh, this mortal flesh, this sinful
flesh. There's one kind of flesh of
men. That's what we have. And there's a flesh of beasts,
and a flesh of fish, and a flesh of birds. And there are celestial
bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial
is one. The glory of the terrestrial is another. The glory of our
new body is one. The glory of this physical body
is another. Not worthy to be compared. There's one glory of the sun,
another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, one star
different from another in glory, so is the resurrection of the
dead. It's sown in corruption, it's raised in incorruption,
incorruptible flesh. It's sown in dishonor, it's raised
in glorified flesh. It's sown in weakness, it's raised
in powerful flesh. It's sown a natural body, it's
raised a spiritual body, no sin. No death, no tears, no crying. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. The first Adam was made a living
soul, the last Adam Christ was made a quickening spirit. Alright,
let's go down to verse 50. Now I say unto you brethren,
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God like we are
now. We've got to die. You've got to be buried. This
old nature, old flesh, got to go to the ground from which it
came. And God raises a new flesh, new body. But what about when
Christ comes? Say He came this morning. Say
He came right now. Here we are sitting here in this flesh. Are
we going to go to heaven like this? No. We don't. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all die, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the batting of
the eye, break your eye, just that quick. At the last trumpet,
for the trumpet will sound, the dead in Christ shall be raised
incorruptible and will be changed, just that quickly. Changed from
this mortal to immoral, corruptible to incorruptible, weakness to
power. Over all the years in the grave,
you see, their body went back to the dust. They receive a glorified
body just as quickly. God transforms those that are
living into the image of Christ. So verse 54, when this corruptible
shall put on incorruption, this mortal put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your sting?
Grave, where is your victory? Sting of death is sin. Strength
of sin is the law. Christ took care of that, didn't
he? He took that stinger in himself on the cross and there's no venom
left for me. None whatsoever for those who
believe in him. The sting of death is gone. Strength of the
law is gone. Thanks be to God, verse 57, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So beloved
brethren, be steadfast. Believe God. Unmovable. Don't let anybody move you from
the word of God, from the truth, from the promise. Always abounding
in the work of the Lord. Your labor is not in vain in
Christ. Your faith is not in vain in
Christ. Your hope is not in vain in Christ. All right, I hope that that's
a blessing. It is to me. I just, to reexamine the word
and the promise of Christ and the hope of eternal life, that's
our comfort. That's our comfort. That's our
encouragement.