The Resurrection of the Dead

I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians. I'm going to be reading for you
verses 12 through 14. My message today is on the subject,
the resurrection of the dead. This ought to be interesting
to you, it ought to be important to you, and I want you to listen
carefully to the entire message, the resurrection of the dead. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15,
beginning with verse 12, Now, if Christ be preached that he
rose from the dead, I'll say some among you that there is
no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Now, the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ preached a total and full and complete salvation. They began with the sin of men.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." That was
their message. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned
everyone to his own way. John wrote, If we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we have not sinned,
we make God a liar, and his word is not in us. Then Paul wrote
in Romans 3, there is none good, no, not one, there is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, we are
all together become unprofitable, men have sinned and are guilty
before God. Again Paul wrote in Romans 3,
verse 19, what things for ever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty, guilty before God. So the disciples
began with the sins of men. And then they preached the power
and sovereignty of God. They preached what we are by
nature. They preached who God is. They preached the God who
is sovereign in creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And John wrote, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and all things were made by him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. God is sovereign in creation.
He made all things according to his will, according to his
wisdom, and for his glory. They preach that God is sovereign
in providence, that all things work together for good to them
who love God through the call according to his purpose. And
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 that God worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. God is almighty. God is sovereign. He is sovereign in creation,
he is sovereign in providence, and God is sovereign in salvation.
In Romans 8, verse 29, the Apostle Paul said, For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son. And whom he predestinated, he justified, and whom he justified,
he called, and whom he called, he glorified. What shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, if God be for
us in elective If God be for us in redemptive mercy, if God
be for us in substitutionary sacrifice, who can be against
us? The disciples preach who man
is, what man is, what happened in the garden, the results of
the fall, and the disciples preach God's power and God's sovereignty
in all things, in creation, in providence, and salvation. Let
God be God and man be man. And then the disciples preached
the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, summed up
in these words by the Apostle Paul. God was in Christ. God
was in Christ, reconciling the world under himself. The Word,
who was with God and was God, and by whom all things were made,
became flesh. And John said, We beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. Who is this man, Jesus Christ?
He is none other than God Almighty. Who is this man, Jesus Christ?
He is none other than the Son of God. For God the Father said,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And the disciples
preached the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Paul, in
1 Thessalonians 1, verse 4, said, Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not to you
in word only, but it came to you in power, in the Holy and
in much assurance. The Holy Spirit makes the word
of God effectual in convicting men of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. It is the Holy Spirit who takes
the things of God and shows them unto us. It is the Holy Spirit
who not only convinces of sin, but reveals Christ. Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians 2, I have not seen, that is the natural eye,
the eye of ear hath not heard, that is, the ear of natural man,
neither hath the heart of man understood, or looked into, or
been able to grasp, the things that God prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. And I'm fully aware of this,
that it's my voice is the only voice you hear. whether I'm reading
the Word of God, or whether I'm giving the arguments of Scripture,
or whether I'm illustrating as our Lord illustrated with parables
and stories, or whether I'm preaching to you truth, as true as it can
be, it will be, it will not be effectual, it will not bring
forth eternal results unless the Holy Spirit gives you eyes
to see the glory of Christ, the power of Christ, the wisdom of
Christ, the person and work of Christ, unless the Holy Spirit
gives you ears to hear, not just the voice of a man, but the voice
of God who speaks through that man, and the voice of God who
speaks through his work. Unless the Holy Spirit gives
you a heart to understand, the gospel is called throughout the
Word of God a mystery. Great is the mystery of God.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of the angels, preached to the world, believed on, even among
the Gentiles. This is a mystery. And God has
revealed them these truths of his gospel by his Holy Spirit. The disciples preach a full message,
a complete message. Man's need, God's power, Christ's
sacrificial work, substitution and sacrifice, the Holy Spirit's
sanctifying power, and they preach the perseverance of the saved
I know it goes by different names, the security of the believer,
or the security of the saved, or the preservation of the redeemed,
or the perseverance of the saint, but it all means the same thing.
God says, I will not depart from them, and they will not depart
from me. And I, Lord Jesus, said, My sheep
hear my voice, and I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, and neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hands. My Father which gave them me is greater than all. And no
man is able to pluck him out of my Father's hand." And then
in Philippians 1, verse 6, Paul said, I am confident, I am as
sure and confident as I can be that he who has begun a good
work in you, he that has begun a good work in you shall perform
it, shall complete it until the day of Jesus Christ, until the
day of the revelation of the Son of God in his triumphant
glory. God is going to complete this
work. God's going to finish this work if he started it. Now, salvation
is something you've done for yourself, or something you've
done for God, or something the Church has done for you, or something
that a group of people have given to you, then it shall not be
completed. But is it something God has done? Is it something
God has accomplished? Is it the work God has begun?
And he's called the author and finisher of our faith. And he
which hath begun in you a good work shall perform it. and perfected
unto the day of Jesus Christ." So you see, the Apostles' message
was not unbalanced. They didn't wing just one note.
They preached a balanced message. They preached man's need and
God's power and Christ's sufficiency and the Holy Spirit's sanctifying
power and work and the perseverance of the Saints. And their message
didn't stop here. It didn't stop here. And Paul
said, if it does stop here, we are of all men most miserable.
If this is all we've got to tell you, if in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, because
we're not much now, are we? We're not much at all. There's
much need to be done for us. And we know this, that Christ
not only redeemed our souls, but he redeemed our bodies. That's
right, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he raised us by his power
from a spiritual grave, he will one day raise us from a natural
grave. As he raised us from the grave
of darkness and sin, he shall raise us from the grave of death
and corruption. Paul said he's able to perform
all that he promised. If you can find a promise in
God's word, you can be sure it will be performed. Whatever he
promises, he's able to perform. And he's not only able to perform
all that he promised, but he's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. He's an able Savior, a sufficient
Savior. He's able to save the man who's
gone to the uttermost extent of sin, the uttermost extent
of blasphemy, the uttermost extent of depravity and depression and
despair. Yea, he's able to save to the
uttermost extent of satanic power. Christ is able. His blood can
make the vilest clean. He said, though your sins be
as scarlet, I'll make them as white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, double-dyed, I'll make them like wool." He's
able. And not only that, but he's able to keep us from falling.
I hear so many say, well, I'd like to be a Christian, but I
just don't believe I can hold out. Well, let me promise you,
you can't. You can't. Christianity is not you holding
on to God. Christianity is God holding you unto him who is able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless. That's
right. We do hold to him. We do look to him. We do believe
in him, but he holds to us. We love him because he loved
us. We seek him because he sought us. We look to him because he
looked to us as an object of his mercy. No, it doesn't depend
on me. If it did for five seconds, I'd
spend four, I'd be in hell, and so would you. He keeps me. He's
able to keep me. But not only that, he's able,
Paul wrote in Philippians 3 verse 20, to change our vile bodies. I've heard people say Christ
died on the cross, and that's up to you. You presented me with
a hopeless past. You presented me with an impossible
task. To begin with, I can't put my sins away, and I can't
write my name in the book of life. But more than that, I can't
get my body out of the grave. I can't even put it there. Someone's
going to have to put me there. When I die, they're going to
have to put me in the grave, and I can't do anything about it
then. Somebody's going to have to get me out. And I know the
same one who is able to save me to the uttermost and to keep
me from falling is the one who can lift me out of the grave
someday. and bring this birth back to
life and change my vile body, my corrupt body, that it may
be fashioned like unto his glorious body. Yes, the resurrection of
every believer from the grave with the cross of Christ was
the central theme of the disciples' message. That's right, a complete
salvation from eternity past to eternity future, from the
beginning to the end, the whole work of salvation in its planning
in its execution, in its application, in its sustaining power, in its
ultimate perfection, is of the Lord. And emblazoned in beautiful
letters across the skies in eternity will be these words uttered by
Jonah, Salvation is of the Lord." And that's what the disciples
preach. Let me show you something interesting. In Acts 1, verse
22, when the disciples were going to choose an apostle, a disciple. I don't know whether they were
right in this or not. Nobody has ever been able to figure
it out. I've heard people say, well, Paul was the twelfth apostle. Perhaps
so. But when they took it upon themselves,
or by divine direction or whatever, to select an apostle to take
Judas' place, do you know what they said in Acts 1.22? They
said, he must be one who will be with us a witness of the resurrection
of Christ. That was important. He must be
one who has witnessed and can be a witness of the resurrection
of Christ. In Acts 2.31, Peter's message
on Pentecost. You read it through sometimes.
Sure, he told who Christ was and that his death was foreordained
and predetermined in the counsels of God, and these wicked men
with their wicked hands and their wicked plans had only carried
out what God determined before it could be done. And he said,
this same Jesus that you crucified, God hath made him both Lord and
Christ, but this was the theme of his message, this was the
theme of his sermon, this Jesus hath God raised up, of whom we
are all witnesses. We saw him come forth. We saw
him after he arose. This was his message. And it
was then that the people cried, men and brethren, what shall
we do? Christ is risen. Then in Acts 4, verses 1 and
2, the disciples were arrested and put in jail. Do you know
what the charge was? They were preaching the resurrection
of the dead. That was the charge. Read Acts
4, verses 1 and 2. They were arrested and thrown
in jail, and the charge against them, they preached the resurrection
of the dead. Then in Acts 4, verse 31, when
the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, it says, when
they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they preached the resurrection
of the dead, the triumphant, glorious resurrection of the
dead. And then in Acts 17, 18, Paul was accused of preaching
strange gods because he preached the resurrection of the dead.
And then in Acts 23, verse 6, Paul was called in question by
the highest religious rulers of his day, the religious authorities,
the religious leaders, and he was charged with preaching the
resurrection of the dead. You say, is it all that important,
Preacher? Is it important? The resurrection of Christ from
the dead is of equal importance with the crucifixion of Christ
on the cross. That's right. He justified us by his death,
but his death means nothing if he didn't come forth out of that
tomb. Let me show you that. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. If
Jesus Christ is still in the grave, as is Buddha, Confucius,
Mohammed, or any other self-proclaimed Messiah. He's a liar, and the
truth's not in him, and his soul's in hell, and we have no hope,
and he was an imposter. He must come forth from the tomb.
That's the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity. That's the distinguishing
attribute of what we believe. Our Lord is risen. He is risen. All right, watch this, 1 Corinthians
15, 12. If Christ be not risen," now listen to this, here are
six tremendous statements. If Christ be not risen from the
grave, our preaching, Paul said, is in vain. It's all in vain. And secondly, if Christ be not
risen from the dead, your faith in God is in vain. All in vain. And thirdly, if Christ be not
risen from the grave, here's a serious charge, we lied on
God. We are false witnesses of God.
And then listen to this. If Christ be not risen from the
grave, you are yet in your sin. You don't have a Savior. You
don't have a mediator. You don't have a substitute.
You don't have a prayer. And then listen to this. If Christ
be not risen, those who die, all of your children and infants
and all of your loved ones and friends, those who are dead,
who have believed in Christ, are perished. Totally perished. Forget them. You'll never see
them. There's no hope. They'll never be raised. If all
Jesus Christ is, is a good man, a good teacher, a great healer,
a prophet, we're in trouble. Listen to this. If Christ be
not risen, we are of all men the most miserable. But blessed
God, according to the Apostle John, in 1 John 3, verses 2 and
3, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be, but when he shall appear. And he will appear,
because he arose. when he shall appear, we're going
to see him as he is, and we're going to be just like him. And
he that hath this hope of seeing Christ, and being perfectly conformed
to his image, purifies himself." Now, I want to give you four
things for you to remember about the resurrection, the resurrection
of the dead. First of all, Christ died, and
so will you, and so will you. Now, I know there may be some
who are alive and remain when he comes. And they shall be changed
in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, for this old flesh must
put on incorruption and mortality. But if Christ doesn't come by
the time you reach the end of your life, you're going to die.
Christ died and will die. You'll die. I'll die. Some of
these days. It's a point unto men who want to die. His death
delivered us from the curse of sin, the curse of the law. His
death delivered us from condemnation and judgment. His death delivered
us from the penalty of sin and the law. But his death did not
deliver us from the results of sin. When Adam's sin, death,
condemnation passed upon all men. And physical death still
awaits us. Physical death is still in our
future. Life is like a flower. It's blooming today in its beauty
and fragrance, but tomorrow it's gone and the place where it is
will know it no more. Life is like a vapor. What is your life?
It is like a vapor. Here today and tomorrow it's
gone. What is life? It's like a shadow. of fleeting
suffering. And all men have died since Adam,
except Enoch and Elijah. All men have died, and you and
I are going to die. One of these days we are going
to die, and the breast is going back to the breast from which
it came and the soul to God who gave it. But secondly, now remember
this, Christ arose from the grave. Our representative, our substitute,
our Lord, he died and socialized, but he arose and socialized. He said this, because I live,
ye shall live, if my hope is in Christ, if my life is healed
with God in Christ, if I am one with Christ, then he didn't stay
in the grave and I'm not going to stay in the grave, because
what he is, I am. And where he is, I am, and what
he has, I have. I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ,
and I must be raised to enter into my inheritance. I must die,
but I shall be raised. Our inbred sins require our flesh
to return to dust. But as the Lord our Savior arose,
so all his people must. And as you stand next time at
the open grave of a loved one, and you watch that body lowered
into the grave, and you watch them throw the dirt in on that
vault or that casket, remember the words of our Lord, Thy brother
shall rise again. Thy brother shall rise again.
He says, Because I am the resurrection and the life, and he that believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Here's the third
thing, and I want you to listen carefully to this. Here's the
third thing. How are the dead raised up? How are they raised
up, and with what body do they come? That question is asked
right here in 1 Corinthians 15, 35 and 36. You turn to it and
look at it carefully. This will be interesting to you.
How are the dead raised, and with what body do they come?
The next verse says, Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest is
not the body which shall be, but bare grain. It may be wheat,
it may be corn, it may be some other grain, but God giveth it
a body as it is pleased him. Here is what they are asking,
here is what these people are asking in the Church of They
watch the old people, they're gray-headed and wrinkled and
stooped, and their bodies are weak, and they look like death
itself, and they take that little withered, stooped, broken, corruptible,
weakened body and put it in a grave, and they watch it go back to
the dust, and they say, well, how is this going to be raised?
And Paul said, don't be foolish. When you go out to sow a grain
of wheat or a grain of corn, You don't put in the ground what
shall be. You don't put in the ground a
stalk of corn with ears and with leaves and with a tassel on the
top. You just put in one little wrinkle
grain of corn. That's all you sow. Just one
little wrinkle grain of corn. And you put it in the ground
and it's not going to come up. You leave it on the shelf over
here and it won't come up. You got to put it in the ground. It's
got to germinate. It's got to die. It's got to rot. When it
rots, it gives life. And after a while the soil breaks
open and up comes a beautiful green tall six foot stalk of
corn with many ears of corn on it and beautiful leaves. Now
you didn't sow that stalk, you sowed bare grain. And when this
body gets old and wrinkled and tired and weary and corruptible
and you put it in the ground, what's coming out is a glorified,
that which is sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption
That which is sown in mortality shall be raised in immortality. That which is sown in weakness
shall be raised in power and strength. And that which is sown
in shame shall be raised in glory. God giveth it a body, just like
planting corn. You don't plant what's going
to be. You just plant bare grain. And when we put people in the
ground, believers, dead people, we don't sow what's going to
be. We sow a terrible likeness of what's going to be, a withered
likeness. And God gives it a body as it pleases him. Now, here
is the fourth thing. Who is going to be raised in
his likeness? That's a good question, isn't it? Well, if you want the
answer, you turn to John 6, and you'll find the answer, who is
going to be raised with this glorified body, with this new
body, with this immortal body, with this body likened to the
glorified Christ. In John 6, verse 39, now listen
to the Master. He said, I didn't come down from
heaven to do my own will, but the will of him that sent And
this is my Father's will, which hath sent me, of all which he
hath given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day." Our Lord is going to raise up at the last day every
child given him by the Father, every believer given him by the
Father, every one of his elect, he's going to raise them in his
image. That's what it says in John 6, verse 39. Now listen
to verse 40. have everlasting life, I'll raise
him up at the last day. Everybody out there listening
to me who has, with eyes of faith, seen Christ in his glory, in
his redemptive work, in his substitutionary sacrifice, and has believed on
him and trusted him and received him, he said, I'm going to raise
you. And then listen to John 6, 44. No man can come to me
except my Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. Everybody listening to my voice. who by the seed of God's word
is drawn to repentance toward God and faith in Christ, our
Lord is going to raise him up at the last day. There is the
answer. Whom will Christ raise? He tells you in John 6.39, all
that my Father giveth me, I raise him up. Everyone who seeth the
Son and believeth on him, I raise him up. And every man supernaturally,
spiritually drawn to the Father, by the Father will be raised.

The Resurrection of the Dead

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Resurrection of the Dead

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book