The Resurrection of the Dead #1

Q: What does the Bible say about the resurrection of the dead?

The Bible teaches that the resurrection of the dead is a fundamental article of the gospel, specifically testified in 1 Corinthians 15. The resurrection of the dead is critical to the Christian faith, as indicated in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul states that if there is no resurrection, then Christ has not risen. This would render our faith in vain and leave us still in our sins. The resurrection is not only a doctrine but the very cornerstone of our hope as believers, as it assures us of life beyond death. The resurrection of Christ signifies that death has been defeated and assures us of our future resurrection and eternal life.

Q: How do we know the resurrection of Christ is true?

The resurrection of Christ is supported by multiple witnesses and Old Testament prophecies, which Paul references in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul affirms the truth of Christ's resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 by detailing how many recognized Him post-resurrection, including Peter and over five hundred people at once. Furthermore, Paul aligns Christ's resurrection with the fulfillment of prophecies in the Old Testament, including the writings of Isaiah and David, which explicitly predict resurrection and immortal life. This connection between the Old and New Testament underscores the assurance we have in the resurrection as part of God's sovereign plan.

Q: Why is the resurrection of the dead important for Christians?

The resurrection is vital as it underpins the Christian hope of eternal life and assures believers of their own future resurrection. The resurrection of the dead serves as a foundation for Christian doctrine and hope. It assures believers that death is not the end; rather, through Christ's resurrection, we have the promise of eternal life. Paul states that if Christ has not been raised, our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins. This emphasizes that the resurrection is not merely a doctrine but a manifestation of God's power and a key aspect of redemption. Consequently, the truth of the resurrection provides profound hope and encourages believers to live in light of eternal realities.

Q: What does 1 Corinthians 15 say about Christ's resurrection?

1 Corinthians 15 details that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day, highlighting the resurrection's centrality to the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul succinctly expresses the gospel message by stating that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day, all according to the Scriptures. This chapter serves as a thorough exposition of the implications of the resurrection, asserting its importance for our faith. Without it, not only is the gospel rendered void, but all those who have died in faith would also remain lost. Jesus' resurrection is thus presented as a pivotal event that confirms His identity as the Messiah and assures believers of their own resurrection in Him.

Open your Bibles first now to
Acts, the book of Acts chapter 18, just for a few moments. I
want you to listen carefully to this message. Acts chapter
18. The Apostle Paul preached and
taught in the city of Corinth for a year and a half. A year
and a half. dedicated and designated that
entire year and a half to these people in Corinth. Acts 18, verse
1, listen. After these things, Paul departed
from Athens and came to Corinth. Now go down to verse 7, Acts
18, 7. And he departed thence and entered
into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God,
whose house was right next to the synagogue. And Crispus, the
chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all
his house. And many of the Corinthians,
hearing, believed and were baptized. Then spake the Lord. Now listen
to this carefully. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by vision, Do not be afraid, but speak, and hold not
your peace. For I am with you, and no man
shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this
city." And he continued there for a year and six months, teaching
the Word of God among them, at Corinth. Now, he left Corinth
after a year and a half. And while he was gone, during
his absence, some false teachers and preachers, some men ambitious
for something besides God's glory, and that has to be the reason.
They came in and they disturbed the church. They upset the people
with all kinds of false doctrine, all kinds of division and strife
and discord. But one of the errors to rise
up in the church during Paul's absence was a denial of the resurrection
of the dead. That was one of the errors that
arose under these false teachers, the resurrection of the dead.
And we see that in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 15. I'll turn to
1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. You immediately see that this
is a problem in the church at Carlet, verse 12. Now, if Christ
be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among
you, among you, writing to the Corinthians? that there is no
resurrection of the dead. Why do you say that? My friends,
the resurrection of the dead is a fundamental article of the
gospel. Please understand this, without
the resurrection from the dead, I mean the actual resurrection
of the body from the grave, Without the resurrection of the dead,
there is no gospel. The gospel means nothing. Now
let me show you that, verse 16 and 17 of 1 Corinthians 15. If the dead rise not, then Christ
is not risen. Do you see what we're up against
here? If you deny the resurrection of the dead, even my resurrection,
or yours, then Christ is not risen. Now what's the effect?
And if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain. All of this is
vain. And you're yet in your sins.
No hope. So the resurrection of the dead,
Tom, is the fundamental article of our gospel. And actually,
if you're familiar with the book of Acts, Do you know that really
much of the, you know the disciples encountered opposition and wrath,
persecution and harassment? Do you know what much of it was
over? The preaching of the resurrection. That's what much of their, much
opposition, they encountered much opposition because they
preached the resurrection of the dead. You find that all the
way through the book of Acts. People fought them because they
preached actually the resurrection of Christ and His people from
the dead. They harassed them, persecuted
them, they mocked them because they said the dead would rise.
And so Paul gives this entire chapter, 58 verses, 1 Corinthians
15, the whole chapter, the entire chapter. is devoted to this subject,
the resurrection of the dead. And it's going to be our subject
both services today, this morning and tonight. Now then, we're
dying people. Old Richard Baxter summed it
up best. He said, I preach as one who
may never preach again. I may never preach again. This
may be it. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. Actually, you may never hear
another sermon. This may be the last time you'll
sit in the house of God and hear the Word of God spoken. We're
dying people. We're dying people. I'm not just
talking about the older people here. I'm talking about everybody.
It's appointed unto men once to die. Death, my friends, death
is in us. Death is about us. And death
is upon us. And the only real, believe me,
the only real comforting hope that we have is that death will
not be the end of us. We're dying men. We have an appointment
to keep. I have an appointment to keep.
And it's one that I'll keep. My days are determined by my
God. He has set my bounds and I cannot pass. I'll meet that
appointment. Death is in me. Death is around
me. Death is upon me. And so the
only real comforting hope that I can possibly have is that I'll
be raised from the dead. The grave will not keep me. Someone
wrote this. I thought it was so good. And
must my body die? Must my mortal frame decay? Must these active limbs of mine
lie moldering in the clay? Corruption, earth, and worms
shall but refine my flesh. till my triumphant spirit returns
to put it on afresh. Because God my Redeemer lives,
risen, seated in the skies, and he bought with his blood this
child of dust, and one day he'll bid him rise. And arrayed in
his glorious grace, shall this vile body shine, for one day
looking on his face, his perfect beauty shall be mine." Isn't
that a good hope? What else is there? If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. miserable,
miserable, dying, decaying, corrupting creatures. But brethren, look
at 1 Corinthians 15. Brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel. If you have any doubts about
the resurrection, let me remind you of the gospel. Let me remind
you of the gospel which I preached unto you. This is the gospel
I preached unto you, and there's only one gospel. There's only
one gospel. It's the gospel of God, separated
to the gospel of God. It's the gospel of his grace.
It's the ancient gospel, being set forth by the apostles and
by the prophets. And it's the gospel concerning
his son. There is but one gospel, and
if any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. I preached
the gospel unto you, he said. When I first came to you, he's
writing this now sometime later. When I first came to you and
labored those 18 months among you, I preached the gospel to
you. The gospel of Christ. The gospel of God's grace. I
preached that gospel. And not only that, but you received
it. You received this gospel, you
rejoiced in this gospel, and you stand, and wherein, verse
1, you stand. This is a gospel wherein you
stand before God. It's the only way you can stand
before God is in the gospel. Washed in His blood, robed in
His righteousness, rejoicing in His grace. I came down there
for 18 months and preached the gospel to you. And you receive
that gospel. And you stand in that gospel
in verse 2, and by that gospel you are saved. For the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, from one degree of faith
to the other. That is, you are saved if you
keep in memory what I preached unto you, that gospel which I
preached. That is, unless you believed
in vain. For here is the gospel I preached unto you, verse 3,
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I received. Now
this gospel is not of Paul. I want you to hold your hand
right there and turn to Galatians 1. Would you do this? Galatians
1. I received my gospel from the
Lord. Paul said here in chapter 1 of
Galatians, listen to him, verse 11. I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. Galatians
1.11 verse 12, For I neither received it of man, I wasn't
taught it by man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. That
which I delivered unto you is that which I first received. Paul said, this gospel, this
gospel of God and His grace and His glory, I received it from
the Lord. I was taught it by God. This
is God's gospel, not man's gospel. I Corinthians 15, read on, verse
3. And here's that gospel, how that
Christ, who is Christ? Christ the Messiah, Christ the
anointed, Christ the appointed, Jesus the Christ. My friends,
Christ is not his name, it's his office. Would you remember
that? He's Jesus, the Christ. They
came to John the Baptist and said, are you the Christ? And
even he sent word to Jesus, are you the Christ or do we look
for another? What think ye of the Christ?
You see, the Christ is the Old Testament Messiah. He's the Redeemer. And Jesus is the Christ. And
so Paul said, what I received of God, I delivered unto you,
this gospel, how that the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed, the
appointed, died. Now in order to die, he had to
be, he had to live. And in order to die, he had to
take on himself something other than what he was. He's God. God
can't die. So God became a man. And as a man, he died. This is
what I received and this is what I delivered unto you. How that
the Christ, the God-man, died. Why did he die? Not as an example. He didn't die as a martyr. He
didn't die as a helpless reformer. He said, no man takes my life.
I lay it down. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. Jesus Christ is the only human
being who ever chose his mother, chose his own mother. You didn't. He chose his mother. He said
to Mary, you found favor with God. He chose the day you'd be born.
He chose the way he'd be born. He chose the place he'd be born.
His mother had to take a long trip all the way to Bethlehem,
being nine months pregnant, riding on a donkey in order for him
to be born in Bethlehem. But he chose that place. That's
the city of David. He had to be born in Bethlehem.
Out of Bethlehem shall he come whose goings forth is of old. He not only chose his mother,
the place he'd be born, the way he'd be born, the day he'd be
born, but he chose the way he'd die. He's the only man who ever
has. He chose the instrument by which he'd die, crucifixion.
He chose the moment in which he'd die, the purpose for which
he'd die, the way in which he'd die, and the people for whom
he'd die. And then when he died, he had
to give up the ghost. No man could take it from him.
That's our God. And he died. But why did he die? Listen. For our sins. For our sins. In the stead of
us. As a substitute. He died because
our sins were laid on him. That's why he died. He died as
a substitute. He died as a sacrifice. He died
as a sin offering. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. By His stripes we're healed.
He died for our sins. That's what I delivered unto
you. If He died for my sins, then I don't die for my sins.
See what I'm saying? If He paid my debt, I don't owe
it. If he satisfied God's justice, God's justice has no claim on
me. He died for our sins. Now watch this. According to
the Scriptures. There are a lot of people running
around the country saying Jesus died. And Jesus died for sins. They're not designating for whose
sins he died. But they're saying this, but
they're not adding according to the Scriptures. Christ Jesus
had to die on a cross. You preached on that up at Cottageville. Why did Christ have to die on
a cross? He had to die on a cross. He had to take our sins and our
nature and our punishment and our guilt, curse it as every
one that hangeth on a tree. He died to fulfill every promise
and prophecy and type of the Old Testament. It all has its
fulfillment in Christ. He's the Passover. He's the slain
lamb. He's the scapegoat. He's the
atonement. He's the priesthood. He's the
blood on the mercy seat. He's the mercy seat. He's the
priest who offers the blood. He's the one to whom it's offered.
He is the tabernacle. He's all these things. He died
for our sins in this particular way, at this particular time,
in this particular fashion, according to the Scriptures. He had to
fulfill everything that was written of Him. See what I'm saying? According to the Scriptures.
Now read on. And he was buried. He must be buried. The scapegoat
must be buried. And he arose again the third
day according to the Scriptures. All of this is according to the
Scriptures. Whereas the rest... You know
what the Scriptures are? You say, well then you're holding
the Scriptures in your hand. We're holding the Scriptures
in our hand. Well, yes we are. But the scriptures here are the
Old Testament. That's the scriptures. The Old
Testament. That's the scriptures. Every
time the scriptures, almost every time, almost every time the word
scriptures is used in the New Testament, it's talking about
the Old Testament. That the scriptures might be fulfilled. That the
scriptures might be fulfilled. And he died for our sins according
to the scriptures, according to Abel's sacrifice, the Passover,
the smitten rock, the blazing serpent, the tabernacle. And
he was buried and rose again, all right, according to the scriptures.
Turn to some scriptures now in the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter
26. Isaiah 26. Listen to this. The resurrection, now, according
to the scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the scriptures, Isaiah 26. Verse 19, you got it? Isaiah
26, 19. "'Thy dead men shall live, together
with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead. That's the resurrection of Christ.
All right? Psalm 16. Turn to Psalm 16. This is the Scriptures. This
is what Paul is saying according to the Scriptures. He was buried
and rose again. Psalm 16, verse 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in the place of the dead." In Sheol, the place of the dead.
Thou wilt not leave my soul in the place of the dead. Neither
wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to seek corruption. That was
quoted in the New Testament about Christ. Alright, Psalm 68. Psalm
68, verse 18. Psalm 68, 18. Listen to this. Now, you'll recognize this quoted
in Ephesians. Thou hast ascended on high, thou
hast led captivity captive. He who descended is the same
who ascended, and vice versa. And thou hast received gifts
for men. Yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them. That's Christ. Thou
hast ascended on high. He who is dead is alive. All
right, Psalm 110. Psalm 110, according to the Scriptures. Psalm 110, verse 1, "...the Lord
said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool." And Peter preaching there in the book of
Acts says, we know where David who wrote this is, his bones
are in the grave. His bones are in the grave. David
is talking about his Lord here. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand. Now, Hosea. Turn to Hosea chapter
6. Hosea 6, 1 through 3. And some
believe this is the resurrection of Christ our Lord and all His
people. Come, let us return unto the
Lord. For He has torn and He will heal
us. Hosea 6, 1. He has smitten and
he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
us. In the third day he will raise
us up and we shall live in his sight. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 15.
Now, that's the scriptures. The gospel is that he died for
our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and rose again
the third day, the third day, Hosea. according to the scriptures. Now watch verse, begin with verse
5. And he was seen of Cephas, then
of the twelve. Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses. After that he was
seen of five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present. Some have fallen asleep. Verse
7. After that he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles. In other words, our Lord appeared
to many, many people. I want us to go back and read
Acts 2. I want you to look at the Apostle
Peter's Sermon on Pentecost. Now, remembering that this is
the first message, public message, preached by the disciples to
a large gathering of people, most of whom were at the crucifixion. And I want you to note the theme
of this message. It's the resurrection and exaltation
of Christ Jesus. His resurrection. Now listen,
Acts 2 verse 22. This is Peter preaching. You
men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs whom God
did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know.
Him. Being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God raised up. God raised
him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not
possible that he should be holden of death. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad, moreover also
my flesh shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in the place of the dead, in Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer
thine holy one to see corruption." See, the same way I'm preaching
this morning. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Now, men
and brethren, let me speak freely. unto you about David our father,
that he's dead, and he's buried, and his sepulchre is with us
to this day. Therefore, David, being a prophet,
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, that he would raise
up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, seeing this before, the coming
of the Christ, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in the place of the dead departed, neither his flesh
in the grave to seek corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
while we all are witnesses Therefore, being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he said himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. This is the end of my message.
Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that
same Jesus whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. That's that
gospel. See what Paul is saying to the
Corinthians? This is the gospel I deliver unto you. That Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. That He was buried and rose again
according to the Scriptures. Rose in the flesh. And he was
seen of all these people. Now look at verse 8. And last
of all, he was seen of me. I saw him. I saw him. Go back to 1 Corinthians 9. See,
this was one of the requirements for being an apostle. You had
to see the Lord in the flesh. You had to see the Lord with
your eyes. You had to see the Lord. And that's the reason Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 9, see, some people are accusing him
of not being an apostle. Because he wasn't with the original
twelve. But he says here, am I not an
apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord?
Passing I am too an apostle. I saw the Lord. Now watch back
to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 8. And last of all, he was seen
of me also as one born out of a due time. I was born, I was
an apostle differently from those men. They talk about an abortive
birth is not a natural birth. It's not the way it ordinarily
is. It's not the way it ordinarily comes. And that's the way Paul
said, I saw the Lord. I wasn't with Peter, James, and
John the way they saw Him, the way they stayed with Him. But
I saw the Lord as one born differently, chosen differently, set apart
differently. Verse 9, he says, for I am the
least of the apostles. I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle. I wasn't with them during the
persecution. I wasn't with them during the
harassment. I wasn't with them during those
times. I even persecuted the church of God. But, by the grace
of God, I am what I am. Whatever I am is by the grace
of God. God chose me in this fashion and sent me in this fashion.
And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but
I labored more abundantly than all the apostles. Yet it wasn't
I, it was the grace of God with me. Therefore, whether you heard
Peter, James, or John, or heard me, so we preach and so you believe."
Now then, watch this. Now if Christ be preached, my
friends, if the Old Testament declares his resurrection, and
we've read And Peter solidified it on Pentecost. If the New Testament
declares his resurrection, if the Gospel declares his resurrection,
if the Apostle declared his resurrection, how in the world do some of you
say, claiming to believe the Bible, claiming to believe God,
that there's no resurrection of the dead? How in the world
can a person say that? Now here are the serious consequences
of such an idea. Verse 13. If there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. Christ is still in the
grave, if there be no resurrection of the dead. And Christ is an
imposter, because of the Christ, it's said in the Old Testament,
he'll be raised. Verse 14, and if Christ be not
risen, then our preaching is vain and useless, and your faith
is vain and useless. And verse 15, and we've lied
on God because we said of God that He raised up Christ. We've
told a lie, whom He raised not up if the dead rise not. And
if the dead rise not, Christ is not raised. I repeat that,
he said, for emphasis. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, and you're yet in your sins, and not only
that, but everybody whom you've buried, believing this Bible
and gospel, is perished. And if in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable. There's nothing
here. There's nothing here. But oh,
here's the good news. Now watch this, and we'll bring
it to, here's the good news. But now, my friends, is Christ
risen from the dead? He is risen. Christ is risen. And He has become the firstfruits
of them that slept. What are the firstfruits? Well,
in the Old Testament, they had what they called the Feast of
the Firstfruits. And they had the firstfruits.
And what that was and what that is, the first fruits are the
first wheat or barley or whatever that's ripe, the very first.
The farmer, like some of you, plant your gardens and that first
ear corn or that first tomato, that first batch of beans, you
go out there and pick that first batch of beans and bring them
in and cook them. Well, in the Old Testament, the
first fruits, the first wheat brought in, were given to the
Lord. They were sanctified to the Lord. The firstfruits, the
offering of the firstfruits was the Lord. And that's what this
is saying here. Christ is the firstborn, firstfruit
from the dead. He's the first one. Watch it
now. He died as a man. His body was taken down from
the tree and placed in the grave. He was the first one to rise.
You say, Lazarus arose. He's the first one to rise to
die no more. He's the first one, you say,
Jairus' daughter was raised, the young man who's the son of
the widow, several rose, but they died again. They rose to
this flesh. That's what they rose to, and
this flesh died again. Christ is the first to rise to
die no more, to rise to immortality. to rise to a glorified body.
Now watch this, and he's the first fruits. What does that
mean? There's more to follow. There's more to follow. He's
just the first tomato, the first corn, the first... There's more
to follow in God's garden. That's right. Verse 21, "...since
by man came death, by Adam came the finality." The helplessness,
the hopelessness. Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one year to your life? One week to your life? One moment?
By man came death. I'll tell you this, by man came
also the resurrection. For as in Adam we die, in Christ
we are made alive. My friends, I've said over and
over again, if you want to learn the gospel, you learn something
about substitution and satisfaction. Substitution and satisfaction.
But you also learn something about representation and federal
headship. And Adam, when Adam was in the
Garden of Eden, this is what the Bible teaches. When Adam
was in the Garden of Eden, he's the only man God ever created.
He's the first man and the last man God ever created. Every man
born in this world came from Adam. Even the woman came from
Adam. God put Adam to sleep and took
the woman out of her. Man's not of woman, woman's of
man. And that man, Adam, is the representative and the federal
head of everybody that came out of his loins. I don't care you
take from Adam, as this saying extends out into tribes, kindred,
nations, tongues, peoples, colors, races, whatever, everybody came
from Adam, and everybody is plagued with Adam's death. By Adam came
death, and everyone dies. We're spiritually dead, and we'll
die physically, and we're eternally dead, and we're corrupt sinners. That's Adam. That's how death
came. But God sent a second Adam. The
Bible talks about a second Adam. The first Adam is of the earth,
earthy. The second Adam is the Lord from heaven. I'll talk about
that tonight. And as in Adam, all die. All
die. In Adam, yeah, everybody that's
in Adam dies. Everybody that came from Adam
dies. Everybody that's polluted by Adam dies. Even so, all who
are in Christ. Well, who's in Christ? How does
a person get in Christ? God put us in Christ. He chose
us in Christ. We're in Christ by the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit. We're in Christ by faith. That's
how we're in Christ, by God's decree. By the Holy Spirit's
regeneration and by faith, we're in Christ. And as in Adam all
die, in Christ we're made alive. By that man came death, by this
man came life. Eternal life, that's what it
says. Since by man came death, by man came resurrection. In
Adam we die, in Christ we'll be made alive. Verse 23, But
every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, they
that are His, they that are His, Christ at His coming. You see,
here's the story of my life and yours too, if we're believers.
In Adam, we identify Adam imputed to us guilt. Adam imparted to
us sin. And Adam imparted to us death. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God. Thus thou art, to thus thou shalt
return. But God gave the new, the second
Adam, the Lord from heaven. He came down in the flesh. And
you see in the next few verses that he had a kingdom in him,
he had a people in him. Our Lord said, except the corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die, the bydeth alone. So
he had to come down here and die, die for our sins. But like
that corn of wheat, that one little corn of wheat you put
in a corn of whatever you put in the ground. It's just a single
one, but in it is a lot of wheat. And when it germinates and dies
and goes back to the dust, that whole stalk comes from it. And
there's hundreds of grains like that. Hundreds of seeds like
that. Hundreds came from that one grain. And our Lord came and died. crucified
and buried, and everybody in Him got life from Him and came
forth from Him in His image. You say, well, we're not in His
image now. Every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits,
and then they that are His that is coming. That's when we're
going to be made like Him, for we shall see Him and be made
like Him. Wait! He has already died. The corn's
already planted. It's already germinated. Why
come I don't see any grains? Take your time. Wait. In His God's harvest, at
the end of the world, He'll gather together His elect. He'll gather
them together. Christ is... You have this promise. One man's already risen to immortality. And here's the glorious part.
That man is our man. He's the man. He's the perfect
man. He's the man Christ Jesus, and
we're in Him. That's your promise. Far, look
at this next. Then comes the end. At His coming,
you see, verse 23 says that every man's in his own order. Christ's
the firstfruits after the day that he is at His coming. Then
comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom.
What's this kingdom? It's the Messianic kingdom. It's
the covenant kingdom. It's what God decreed before
this thing ever started. No one undergoes all His works
from the beginning. He'll deliver up this kingdom.
All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. I came down
to do not my will, but His will, and this is His will, that of
all which He's given me I'll lose nothing. I'm going to deliver
up this kingdom, this covenant, to God, even the Father. when
he shall have put down all rule, all authority, and all power.
For Jesus Christ must reign till he puts all enemies under his
feet." Does that sound like this little helpless, impotent Jesus
you're hearing preached today? That's another Jesus. This Christ
is a victorious Christ who sees the travail of his soul and is
satisfied, who is triumphant. And the last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death. When this is all over and Christ
comes, all the graves are going to open, and they're going to
rise, and there's going to be no more death. No more death. And if any of his sheep or his
elect or his people are lying in the grave, then death reigns. Death's won the victory. But
there's not going to be any more death. They're all going to be
raised. For he's put all things under
his feet. Alright, verse 29, I know you want me to get to
this before I quit. It's, what shall we do? What
shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise
again? In other words, Paul comes down
to this. Your gospel says that Christ died, was buried and rose
again. He didn't rise, there's no gospel.
And he said another thing. You go into the baptistry, and
if there's no resurrection, when you put the man down, leave him
down. don't bring him up. That's what
he's saying. Why do we baptize as dead with
Christ, buried with Christ? What's the rest of it? That's
just two-thirds of it. Risen with Christ. When you stand
in the baptistery and you say, this is my testimony. Christ
died, was buried, Christ rose again. Right. I'm dead with Christ, I'm buried,
buried. This is not Baptism. You don't
sprinkle sand on a dead body. You bury it out of sight. And
we're buried with Him. And this is not resurrection.
This is resurrection. When the whole body comes out
of the grave. That's right. And that's what
he's saying in verse 29. Why are they then baptized? That's
not proxy baptism. Out yonder. This is why we're
baptized as dead people and symbolizing a resurrection if you don't rise. Baptism is a mockery. The gospel
is a farce and baptism is a mockery and Jesus Christ is an imposter
if there's no resurrection. Well, there is a resurrection.
All right, let's sing a closing hymn. I'll preach the rest of
that sermon tonight. Let's sing 340. 340.

The Resurrection of the Dead #1

What does the Bible say about the resurrection of the dead?

How do we know the resurrection of Christ is true?

Why is the resurrection of the dead important for Christians?

What does 1 Corinthians 15 say about Christ's resurrection?

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The Resurrection of the Dead #1

What does the Bible say about the resurrection of the dead?

How do we know the resurrection of Christ is true?

Why is the resurrection of the dead important for Christians?

What does 1 Corinthians 15 say about Christ's resurrection?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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