The Day Hope Eclipsed Death, Part 2

On our previous program, Chuck Swindoll started his message with these two words, no hope. And he followed with this pertinent question, are there any two words more desolate than no hope?

Certainly not. Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck concludes his brand new Easter series with his answer to that question and God's solution. If you or someone you love have suffered through a season of hopelessness, you'll find this study in 1 Corinthians 15 most encouraging. Chuck titled his message, The Day Hope Eclipsed Death, and we begin with prayer. Our Father, we give you our praise in song. Hallelujah.

And now in word. We praise your name for keeping your promise that you would raise Christ, your son, from the grave, that you would take away the sting of death and the fear of the grave, that you would give not only to him but to all who believe in him eternal kind of life so that we might give you praise throughout eternity. How grateful we are, Father, for your plan. Thank you that you will ultimately destroy this enemy of us all, death.

And having removed it, you will give us your life forever. We are grateful and we express our gratitude today. In the name of the risen Christ, we give you our praise and we express this prayer. And all God's people said, Amen.

You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the Bible with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insight.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck titled The Day Hope Eclipsed Death. When we turn to 1 Corinthians 15, it is interesting that the writer puts himself in the place of the skeptic. That doesn't happen often in scripture.

Here, Paul does that. Some of you say there in Corinth that there is no resurrection from the dead. Life ends without hope. All right, let's go with that, the writer says.

Let's follow that to its logical conclusions. In verses 13 through 19 of this 15th chapter, he offers seven results. If there is no hope of resurrection from death, first, Christ has not been raised.

A stone was strangely rolled away, but there's no body inside. And what about those appearances? One after another after another after another. One of those appearances was before five hundred people. Some say it's hallucination.

Five hundred hallucinations? It takes more faith to believe that than a resurrection. Second, verse 14. Look, all this preaching stuff is meaningless. Just a ranting of words, cult-like leaders from one Sunday to the next, queer men mouthing empty verbiage.

Nothing to it. Third, look at the end of verse 14. Your faith is also useless.

The term means devoid of content. In other words, your faith doesn't do for you what you thought it would do, which brings us to our fourth in verse 15. Look for yourself. We've been lied to. You've listened to lies. All your Christian life from your earliest days as a child, those were lies. The gospel was a lie. If Jesus wasn't raised, they've lied to us. They told us something that isn't true. They've deceived us into believing a false message. Verse 17 says we're still guilty of our sins.

That one stings. You fought all this time that your past, which has its shameful points, we all have them, the guilt that has wrapped itself around you and your lost estate, you've been told that when you trusted in Christ, your guilt and your shame were both removed. But if there's no resurrection, there's no way it's going to be taken away.

And so Paul puts his finger on it. Your sins have not been washed away. You believed all this time that though they were crimson-like, they'll be washed white as snow.

Nope, no such hope. Still in our sins, still wrapped in guilt. And look at verse 18. This one really hits close to home. All dead believers are lost. Your mentors, your teachers, those who took time to develop the faith that grew you into the maturity you have today, they've died and they're lost. They died lost.

They believed in a hoax. We are, look at verse 19 wraps it up, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. What a grim, heartbreaking list. Two words written over verses 13 to 19, I repeat them to drive them home. No hope.

That's the tack Paul takes in those verses. If there's no hope, then those things are true. All who died of terminal diseases, no hope beyond their death. All who died in auto accidents, no hope. They died, they're gone forever. There'll be no resurrection.

There'll be no homecoming. Those who died as a result of a killer's rage, no hope beyond that death. The skeptic is right. Life boils down to sighing and crying and dying. Job put it this way in chapter 14. How frail is man! How few his days!

How full of trouble! You're right Job. But he also wrote in chapter 19, I know that my redeemer lives and the last day he will stand upon this earth and though skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God. No, no, no, you're wrong Job.

Nope. There's no hope. The redeemer doesn't live. And we won't live. We will perish.

But wait. Aren't you glad the chapter doesn't end in verse 19? I love this 20th verse. Look closely. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, but in fact.

That is so like Paul. But in fact. Christ has been raised from the dead. The evidence proves it. The witnesses declare it. The changed lives verify it. Your changed life and mine. But from the scriptures, we read it over and over again, promised here, fulfilled there.

One of my mentors used to put it this way. The resurrection of Christ is God's amen to Jesus. It is finished. All seemed lost at the cross. And that's what the disciples believed initially. That's why they hid themselves in the locked room. Even the women came and said the tomb is empty. And they thought, well, an empty tomb means only that the body's gone.

Doesn't mean he was raised. Thomas says, I won't believe unless I can see with my own eyes and touch those scars in his hands and in his side. And Jesus appears to them, having moved through that locked door. And he says, Thomas, my hands, my side. Blessed are those who see and believe. And Thomas says, Oh, my Lord and my God. And then the Lord adds, he adds, blessed are those who have not seen and still believes.

There's a room full of us right now. Not one of us has seen Christ. Well, you may think you have, but that's another story. You haven't.

I haven't. We may have dreamed of seeing him. And interestingly, they always look like some artist's rendering of Jesus. There were no photographs of him, of course.

You don't know what he looks like. How can you believe it? Faith! You believe because deep within your heart, you've had truth declared to you from a trustworthy book. And from that book are lines of scripture. Not one lie appears in that book. And it's timeless.

It's ageless. In fact, that gives a whole new meaning to what we read further. Did you know that you're mentioned in the scriptures?

Not by name, but in a setting. Look at this passage. Look at verse 22.

Paul repeats in verse 23. Here we are. The great harvest. That's us. The order is Christ is raised first and then following him will be the harvest of those who believed in him.

That's us. We're the everyone mentioned in this verse. Everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. That's a promise you can rely on.

Stop and think. Regardless of how tragic a death, regardless of the fact that you cannot bring that person back once death has happened, when you gather for a memorial service for a believer, I assure you the reason there is any sense of joy is knowing you will be joined together. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ.

That's the one in the casket. The dead in Christ shall be raised first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. There's a reunion coming. We're all going to go home.

A home we long for. That brings hope in every memorial service regardless of the kind of death that was endured. Hope follows death when we're all brought back.

In fact, look at that 26th verse. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death itself. Finally.

Finally. You see how it all comes together? Through one man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world and death came with sin. So death passed upon all men and women like pouring sewage into a clear stream, all of its polluted. When sin entered through Adam, sin entered into the bodies, the lives of those in the human race. So we're all contaminated. We're all corrupted with sinfulness. Depravity is alive and well in all of us.

But look further. Death is irreversible, but look at the hope there is. Christ will give new life to those who trust in him. Listen to these hopeful words in case you at times doubt in your weaker moments.

They begin with, I am convinced. Romans 8, 38. I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Death may come and it will for all of us unless we're alive when Christ returns. Let me pause here and explain what happens at death because it's confusing for a lot of people. Death means separation. When someone dies, the soul, the spirit, the invisible part of one's person separates from the body.

The body is lifeless, flat brain wave, no heartbeat, no breath in the lungs. The body has died, but the spirit, the soul instantly and the believer goes immediately to be with the Lord. To be absent from the body, that's death, is to be present with the Lord. And so believers who have died are in the Lord's presence. Your mother, my mother, your father and mine, your loved ones, your mentor, the one who led you to Christ, those who have passed on, they are with the Lord in spirit. When the Lord returns, he will take the bodies and there will be a great harvest, a reunion as we're joined together. One of my favorite lines that I deliver when I'm at the cemetery and I'm conducting a graveside service and people are gathered, I'll remind them, you need to know that you're standing on resurrection ground. It's amazing what happens.

I've seen people move over, step over here. I don't want to. No, you're fine. You're fine. You don't need to move. But it's resurrection ground. It's not death ground.

You're in resurrection ground. The apostle says, I'm convinced none of this that has happened will separate us from the love of God. Every Easter we gather to remind ourselves there is hope, hope for the one we have lost on this earth.

We will one day be with them. Several years ago, our Insight for Living ministry received this web testimonial. This parent writes, our 18-year-old son died by suicide on March 19, 2001. So the beginning of spring, every March 20, has become a day of renewed hope.

I want you to hear the many times this parent mentions that four-letter word. It has become a day of renewed hope. We have made it through another year.

We've learned when someone chooses suicide, they feel helpless and hopeless. Your insight for today is titled Hope Revived. It reminded me that God is always near. He cares about me and my family and revives our hope again and again, year after year. Hope is seeing our son again.

Hope for the family to heal. Your last words comforted and also broke my heart, where you wrote, inevitably, spring follows winter every year. Yes, including this one. Did you notice this year again? Spring has come.

Weren't we ready for it? Hasn't it been a nice change? Trees bud. Flowers begin to burst forth. Color returns.

Grass changes from a gray and a straw look to green. The hope of life returns. But far more important than all those things in nature, in life, hope follows death. The winter of life that may be where you find yourself right now. Invariably, when we have a gathering of this size and how wonderful it is to be sitting close together.

I love it. But someone you're sitting near may be without hope. That list I read earlier, that's you. That's you.

I take no pleasure in announcing that, but I'm committed to the truth. Without Christ, you keep reaching for the toys. You keep hoping to find hope in something to get you through another day, which may explain why nothing has worked and why you were strangely led to gather with us at this place.

To hear music you don't normally hear and to sing songs you don't normally sing. But here you are, just as God planned it, to hear about a life of no hope. But I have good news. You may feel hopeless, you may be right now without hope, but you need not leave or spend the rest of your days in a hopeless condition. It may sound too easy to believe, too simple, to trust in, but if I made it complicated, I would be lying to you. I've already read about the possibility of that.

No. You come to terms with the Lord Jesus Christ who died that you might have life. You will know hope like you've never known before. You'll no longer fear dying. You won't. You will no longer run scared of darkness. You will no longer seek happiness in some other tangible source. You'll find your hope in a person and you'll find your love relationship with the living God blossom and grow to the point where you will realize you've become a new creation from the inside out. Bow with me, will you?

Just close your eyes. If there's never been a time in your life when you've trusted in Jesus, please turn to him now. You do that with a simple prayer. Dear Lord, I'm distant from you and we haven't been on speaking terms, but today I trust in you as my God and I believe in your son Jesus who died for my sins. I take him now as my savior. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me the hope of resurrection in Jesus' name. If you've prayed that prayer, we would love to hear from you. Connect with us.

You can do that electronically very easily. Tell us of your faith in Christ, your decision that you made on this day, this year, at this time. Now let's stand together for that great declaration. We began with it.

We close with it. Shall we together? He is risen. He is risen. He is risen.

Shout it out. He is risen. He is risen indeed. You're listening to Insight for Living and a message from Chuck Swindoll titled The Day Hope Eclipsed Death. This is the final sermon in a brand new teaching series called Compelled by the Cross.

It's a study designed to heighten your celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. And to access Chuck's online study notes, go to insightworld.org slash studies. By the way, you're invited to participate in an online worship service made possible by Insight for Living.

That's right. Thousands around the world are taking advantage of this opportunity to enter the worship center where Chuck serves as senior pastor. For instance, we received a note that said, Chuck, I listen every weekday to your message on the radio. And then after I attend my church service on Sunday, I go online to watch your worship service. I don't want to miss a single minute. It's like a refreshing cool drink of water.

Thank you so much. Isn't that great? Through technology, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are finding refreshment by viewing Chuck's messages from their home. And you can too, no matter where you live. You can view the service as it happens or watch the worship service at a time that suits you best. In addition to hearing Chuck's sermon, you'll get to hear majestic performances by the choir and orchestra presenting your favorite Easter anthems. All the details are at insight.org slash Sundays. This daily program is made available through the generous support of friends just like you. So as God leads you to give and support this worthy effort, please follow his prompting. To give today, you can give us a call. If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888, or go online to insight.org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll resumes his brand new study about the pros and cons of ministry. That's next time on Insight for Living.