1 Corinthians 15:1-34 - Part C

Jesus was the prototype, the template. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection, because Jesus said, if you believe in me, you'll never die. If you believe in me, some will be resurrected to damnation, others will be resurrected to life. If you believe in me, you'll be raised to new life. For the believer, death isn't a final ending. It's only the beginning of our eternal life. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Skip shares why Christ's resurrection is the ultimate hope for you.

But before we begin, we want to share about a resource that will nourish your soul with God's amazing truths. Our lives are punctuated by defining moments, pivot points that shape who we are now and who we'll become, such as choice of marriage partner or where we choose to work, as Skip Heitig observes. There's predictable events that happens like in your life, but every now and then, life sort of hits you by surprise. It comes crashing down on you. You are going a direction. Your day is planned out, but you get a phone call from a doctor or a friend. The news is not good.

The prognosis is not good, and you didn't see it coming. God's word has the direction to get you through the planned and unplanned pivot points in your life. The pivot point package speaks to marriage, death, depression, recovery, fear of the future, and moving to a new location or job. Get these teachings that include written personal direction from Skip on each of these topics. You'll receive this package when you give $50 or more today to this Bible teaching ministry. We'll send you Pastor Skip's pivot points collection of six messages plus an encouraging letter from Pastor Skip so you can strengthen your faith in defining moments. A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.

Get these critical pivot point messages today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, let's get into today's teaching. We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 as we begin our study with Skip Heintze. As I read the account, it's like that ever ready bunny. You know, he just keeps going, like Timex watches. They just take a licking and keep on ticking, or that wind up. You get him up in the morning. You wind him up, and he just goes, hits a wall, keeps going, gets beat up, keeps going, gets threatened, keeps going, gets bloodied, and they think he's dead, gets up, keeps going.

Finally, they kill him, chop his head off. If it weren't for that, he'd keep going. The grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, whether it was myself or the other apostles, so we preach, that is the resurrection, and so you believe. So those are the lines of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the foundation before he gets into the rest, and that is our resurrection. Now, if there is no resurrection, like the Sadducees say, like the Romans say, like the Greeks say, if there's no resurrection, then what?

Then what? Well, he answers that. First of all, if there's no resurrection, then Jesus is still dead. Verse 12, if Christ is preached, that he has not been raised, or if Christ is preached that he's been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. So if there's no resurrection, then Jesus didn't get raised, didn't get raised, and that means he's still dead. That means everybody's worshiping a dead, decomposed, historical figure. There's no power in that. There's no gospel in that.

There's no transformation in that. That's number one. Number two, it would mean Jesus is a liar. If there's no resurrection, Jesus is flat out the biggest liar in the world because he predicted his resurrection. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem. They're going to beat me up.

They're going to kill me. And on the third day, I'm going to rise again. And he predicted over and over again that he would die, get buried, and be raised up.

If he didn't get raised up, he's dead, decomposed, and he's a liar. Number three, if there's no resurrection, then our preaching is ridiculous. Verse 14, if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. The reason it would be vain or ridiculous, empty, is because the resurrection is at the heart of the gospel.

It was at the heart of every single message preached in the book of Acts. The resurrection, the resurrection, the resurrection. This is why in Jesus' ministry when he was on the earth three and a half years, his enemies were the Pharisees, not so after Jesus rose again and ascended the enemies of the early church in the book of Acts were the Sadducees, because the apostles and the Christians preach in every message the resurrection, the resurrection, the resurrection. So if there's no resurrection, Jesus is still dead.

He's a big liar, and our preaching is absolutely empty and ridiculous. Number four, if there's no resurrection, the disciples are all liars. If there's no resurrection, the disciples are all liars. Verse 15, yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. You remember the disciples were pretty, they were pretty amped up over the resurrection. At first when they didn't believe it, of course they weren't. The women came from the tomb going, man, the tomb is empty.

I think he's alive. And it says the disciples pay no real attention to that. Oh, these are women. They're emotional. I know they love Jesus. They didn't see.

It was early in the morning. There's tears in their eyes. They didn't get that right. Okay, God bless you. Yeah, pat on the back.

See you later. But they didn't believe. But then Peter and John went to the tomb.

They looked in. They believed. Then Jesus appeared to all of them. Then they believed.

Even Thomas the Doubter believed. And they went everywhere with that message, animated by that message that Jesus is not a dead savior, but he's alive. But if there's no resurrection, then they're liars. Number five, if there's no resurrection from the dead, there's no forgiveness for sin. Four, if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, empty.

You are still in your sins. Because part of the transaction of forgiveness necessitates not just his death, but his conquering of death in the resurrection. We are justified by believing in his death, burial, and resurrection. But if there's no resurrection, then there's no forgiveness. Number six, if there's no resurrection, then death is the end for all of us, for every person.

Verse 18, then those who have fallen asleep or died in Christ have perished. Think back, if you know your history, to the early days of Christianity when the number of martyrs was exponentially growing. To be a believer in the Roman Empire, to assert that you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection, and you follow Christ meant you are harassed, meant you are persecuted, meant you lost your job, meant you got beat up, and many of them, many of them killed. Between the second century and fourth century AD, there were 10 waves of persecution by the empire against the Christian church, in which they were beheaded, they were flayed alive, burned alive, they were disemboweled, they were put on poles alive, covered with pitch, used as torches to light up the gardens of the emperor at night.

There were just a litany of things that they suffered. Worthless suffering, worthless, stupid, if there's no resurrection. There's no hope beyond this life.

A physical resurrection, not just being with the Lord, but because it's promised in the scripture, promised by Jesus. If there's no resurrection, then death ends at all, and we have no future. And then verse 19 is the summary verse to all this. Here's the summary. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable.

That's the summary statement. There's no resurrection, and we just are living this little pipe dream. It's a little fool's paradise to believe in Jesus, that he rose, and we're going to rise.

It's a fool's paradise. It's a feel-good religion, but it has no real teeth for transformation for the future. If in this life we have hope in Christ only, we are of all men most pitiable. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, one of the issues he was dealing with is they were so worried about their loved ones who had died before the coming of the Lord, and for some reason they thought, my loved ones who have died, they died before Jesus could return, they're going to miss out on the glorious kingdom age. So Paul writes to them, he says, brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow like those who have no hope. Lest you sorrow like those who have no hope. When I do a funeral, and I look out at the audience, I can tell just by looking at people who believes and who doesn't.

I mean, anybody could. It's not like I have some magical, mystical powers. I know who's saved now. I don't, but you can tell when you're at a funeral, when you are facing the hard, cold reality of death, and you bring up the promises of God, you can see people who are, yes, amen, I believe that, or it resonates, or comforted by it, and others just blank stares. They are sorrowing with a hopeless sorrow. Those who believe in the resurrection, they sorrow, but not like those who have no hope. They're filled with hope. They know they're going to see that loved one again because of the resurrection.

So that's the summary statement. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, so he's affirming it. Christ is risen and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Now he's transitioning to our resurrection.

Jesus was the prototype, the template. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection, because Jesus said, if you believe in me, you'll never die. If you believe in me, some will be resurrected to damnation, others will be resurrected to life. If you believe in me, you'll be raised to new life. He predicted our resurrection. So his resurrection is the template, the prototype, and the guarantee of our resurrection. So Christ is risen from the dead. He has become the first fruits.

What does that mean? In the Old Testament, there was a festival in Judaism called the Festival of First Fruits. It was the end gathering, and they would bring a sheaf from the harvest, and they'd tie it up, and they would wave it before the Lord. Now that sheaf that they waved before the Lord was emblematic that there's a whole harvest. They didn't take everything that they cut from the fields and wave it before the Lord, just one sheaf. But the sheaf is the statement that the whole harvest belongs to the Lord.

That's first fruits. Jesus' resurrection was like waving that sheaf. It's the guarantee that there'll be a harvest of souls who will also be raised up.

So one is the prototype and the guarantee of the other. For since by man came death, who was that man that brought death? Adam. You know your Bible. By man, capital M, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die. You could write in the margin of your Bible, Romans chapter 5. Look at that later.

Not now. As in Adam, all die. Even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. That is, Adam sinned and passed death on to every and the consequences of that fall, that sin to every human being, as we mentioned this last weekend. So Adam then acted as what we call or theologians called the federal head of the human race. What he did, we all suffered the consequences for. I know. You go, well, that's not fair.

Adam blew it. I didn't make that decision. No, you didn't, but you would had you been in that same spot. Well, how do you know that? Well, because all have sinned. It says right after that in Romans 5, all have sinned. Have you sinned?

I know I have. I'll nod, yes. We are sinners by nature and by choice. So you might say, well, that's not fair. I wasn't there when it happened and yet I'm suffering the consequences. Okay, you're right.

I'll give it to you. It's not fair, but neither is it fair because you weren't there at the crucifixion. It's not fair that you should be forgiven all of your sins. That's not fair.

You deserve punishment and so do I. But God isn't giving you what you deserve, what is fair. He's putting all the punishment on Jesus so you can have what's not fair, salvation. So one man blew it for everybody, but one man got it all back and that is Jesus. So you can say it's not fair.

Okay, good. It's not fair. Not fair that Jesus took the blame for you and that you get the benefit of what he did.

That's not fair, but it's grace and by the grace of God I am what I am. So in Adam I'll die, even so in Christ all will be made alive. But each one in his own order, order is a military word, in rank or in a certain procedural time frame would be a translation of that. Each one in his own order, that is different resurrections for different people. Christ, the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ's at his coming, then comes the end when he delivers, I love Paul's eschatology, it's so concise here, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. There is not a general resurrection as some suppose. Some think that we're all going to die and then at some point in the future there's just everybody stands before God at one time and there's a general resurrection and a general judgment, not the case. Now you might think that's the case if you were to read John chapter 5 and it says the hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear my voice and some will be raised to the resurrection of life, others will be raised to the resurrection of condemnation. It might sound just because Jesus said that, that that's all going to happen at once but it won't. He didn't say it will and if you read the rest of the book we know there's a thousand years between our resurrection and unbelievers or our resurrection and unbelievers resurrection and judgment. So at his coming it says our resurrection. First Thessalonians chapter 4, voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ, the dead in Christ shall rise first, rise first. So those who have died, all your loved ones who have died who are believers at the rapture of the church will be the resurrection of their physical body, their spirit and their bodies will reunite. You say it doesn't sound like a good thing for me to get back in my body.

I kind of like, I'm getting old now and I don't want this, I don't want, don't worry. You're not going to look like that when that happens but that's a whole other discussion. I'm looking at the time. I don't have time to get into that because it's kind of covered here later on in the chapter. So Jesus' resurrection, then he comes back, rapture of the church, he comes for the church in the air, First Thessalonians chapter 4, the dead in Christ rise first, then there's a translation, those who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That's at his coming but then after he comes back and there's a seven-year tribulation and then Jesus comes back with us to the earth, his foot touches the Mount of Olives, that's his second coming. Then there's a thousand years, a thousand years of peace on the earth. We call it the kingdom age, that's the Old Testament idea.

The New Testament idea in Revelation 20 is the millennium or the millennial kingdom, the kingdom age, a thousand years ruling and reigning with Christ upon the earth, a renovated earth. After that comes another resurrection for unbelievers. Revelation 20 it says, after the thousand years, I saw the dead, the dead, those who had died, raised up standing before the great white throne judgment of God and all of those people, their names were not written in the book of life, they were cast into the lake of fire. That is the second death. Now that resurrection for unbelievers happens at the end of the thousand-year period. So some will be raised to life, rapture of the church, others to condemnation a thousand years later.

So that's the order of it. He must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that would be destroyed is death. Again I commend to you, read Revelation chapter 20 it says, and death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. It's the day when death dies because now everyone has been resurrected, everyone will live forever in their resurrected bodies either in heaven or in hell.

Death is no longer an issue, death dies. The last enemy that is destroyed is death, for he has put all things under his feet, verse 27, but when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who puts all things under him is accepted, that is God the father. Now when all things are made subject to him, then the son himself will also be subject to him who will put all things under him that God may be all in all.

Jesus left heaven, came to the earth, was subject unto his father, ascended into heaven at the right hand of the father. He'll deliver the kingdom to his father. The triune God will be at that point once again, not one on earth subservient to the other, but the triune God, father, son and holy spirit, one triune God throughout all of eternity in the eternal state. Let me just finish the verse and I'll explain that and we'll move on.

All things, verse 28, I already read that, that God may be all in all, otherwise I won't even get into verse 29. Rapture of the church, a thousand years later, unbelievers. After that, death dies. After that, heavens and earth are destroyed and John says I saw a new heaven and a new earth and there's a new capital city, new Jerusalem. We call that the eternal state. So after the resurrections comes now the eternal state. So all men, saved or unsaved, living forever in one place or the other in a resurrected body, either one to condemnation or one to life. And the reason I'm not going to get into verse 29, I'll read down to verse 34 and then pick that up because you'll see why. Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead?

What on earth is going on here? Who baptized? Were there Mormons back then? Because that's the only group today who baptizes for the dead and you know why they do it? Because of this verse.

Erroneously and contextually wrong, misinterpreted. Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm by the boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. That is, I face the possibility of death daily.

If in the manner of men I have fought with beasts and Ephesus, if in the manner of men I have fought with beasts and Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat drink for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived.

Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness and do not sin for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. That's Skip Hyten with a message from the series Expound 1st Corinthians. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong, connecting you and many others to God's truths. The early church made evangelism a priority, and it's something we take seriously. Our heart is to see broken lives healed and lost souls saved.

That's why we share the good news of Jesus through these Bible teachings. Did you know you can be a partner in sharing the gospel today? Here's how you can give to see lives transform. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give a gift. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate, or call 800-922-1888.

800-922-1888. Thank you for your generosity, and come back tomorrow as Skip Hyten shares why the resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. You have two worldly systems that were around at the time of Paul the Apostle, neither of which believed in a resurrection espoused it. So for Paul to speak of not only Jesus' resurrection, but our future resurrection flew in the face of prevailing ideology. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.