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00:01 About 15 years ago, I'll change it. Suzanne and I were in Switzerland and we
00:06 had the opportunity, the privilege to get to meet Elizabeth Elliott. Now, we
00:11 had I had heard of her all my life. Ever since I was a boy, I'd heard of how she and her husband had been missionaries in
00:18 Ecuador. And it was interesting to get to meet her in person and to hear her speak in
00:23 person. about 50 years before we met her, she had married Jim Elliott, who
00:29 was a missionary in Ecuador. And after she joined him in Ecuador, about two years later, they had a child. About 10
00:37 months after the child was born, I was going to show pictures. About 10 months after the child was born, then Jim and
00:45 four other men went back into the interior of Ecuador to try to reach a
00:50 very fierce but unreached people group, the AAI Indians.
00:57 They finally were able to make contact with this group of people. Things were going great. At first, they thought,
01:03 "Here's a golden opportunity to be able to share the gospel with unreached people." But two days after they made
01:10 the initial contact, something went tragically wrong. There
01:15 was a terrible misunderstanding and another group from this people group, another group of Indians came and killed
01:22 all five of these men. A tragic situation.
01:28 A man, promising young man, 28 years old, been married only three years,
01:37 father of a 10-month-old daughter. Some would say, "What a waste."
01:46 But I think if we could talk to Jim Elliott, he would disagree. You see, a few years before Jim was
01:53 killed trying to reach this unreached people group, he had written in his journal these words,
01:59 "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
02:08 From Jim Elliot's point of view, he had given something that he wouldn't be able to keep forever anyway, but he had
02:15 gained what he would never lose throughout all eternity. You see, Jim
02:20 Elliott was a firm believer in the resurrection. He believed that Jesus had indeed risen
02:28 from the dead. And by believing in the resurrection of Jesus, he knew that that had major
02:34 implications for the way he lived his life. And he knew because of the resurrection of Jesus, he had hope for
02:41 the future that he too would be resurrected and he would have eternal life with God in heaven forever.
02:49 You see, the resurrection was very central not only to the belief but to
02:55 the life of Jim Elliott. As we continue in our series on First Corinthians here at First Baptist, last
03:02 week we began a three-part series within this series on the resurrection because
03:08 we'll be spending three weeks dealing with chapter 15. Last week the text from the very first
03:16 part of the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 showed us the very importance
03:23 of the gospel message. A first importance of primary significance is
03:28 the proclamation that Christ died for our sins. This was in accordance with the
03:34 scripture according to God's plan. Christ died. He was buried and he was
03:40 raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and he was seen by many witnesses over
03:49 500 as we saw last week. This statement of the gospel, these historical facts
03:56 with a brief explanation of their significance, this is the essence of the gospel
04:02 message. Yes, there are other truths in scripture about God, other important things in
04:08 scripture, but this is the heart, the focus of the entire biblical message.
04:14 This, Paul says, is of primary of first importance from the beginning of the
04:20 Bible to the end. This is the message to be proclaimed. Therefore, it needs to be
04:26 repeated and stressed again and again. We need to be reminded weekly, really
04:32 daily or sometimes several times a day that Christ did die for our sins and he
04:38 was raised on the third day. And when we think about that, if we
04:43 meditate on that, it's going to change the way we look at life. It's going to
04:49 change the way we relate to other people. It will change our life to think
04:54 Christ died for my sins. Christ died for the sins of each one of
05:00 you, for everyone in the world. And Christ was raised from the tomb in
05:06 victory over sin and death, in victory over all the forces of evil. Knowing
05:12 that, I can realize that Christ brings new life for me. He wants to work in my
05:18 life with his resurrection power. And that's true for each person who responds in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ
05:25 as Lord. Yes, if we are frequently reminded of the gospel message, it will change our
05:31 perspective on life and it will change make a big difference in our
05:36 relationships and the way we live. So, we don't want to just lightly skip over the gospel message and assume that well,
05:43 everybody knows that because not everybody does know it. And if they do
05:48 know it, that does not mean they understand it or it definitely does not mean they have received it by faith.
05:56 And many people might know the facts but not fully understand the implications it
06:01 would have for life. Jim Elliott shortly before he went to the mission field in
06:06 Ecuador preached a sermon highlighting the resurrection of Jesus. And this is
06:11 what he said. He said, "It is possible for one to believe the facts about the gospel but not to believe the truth
06:19 implied by those facts." He went on to explain to really receive
06:25 the gospel is to receive the truth that's implied by the death and resurrection of Christ. That is, they
06:32 which live should henceforth not live anymore unto themselves, but unto him
06:37 that died for them and rose again. So we need to be reminded often of the
06:45 basic facts of the gospel and that will have major implications on our lives.
06:51 The gospel is the power of God to salvation. And everything that we preach and teach is based on this firm
06:58 foundation that we see given here in this text. Everything that we learn from
07:03 scripture has its roots right here in what God has done for us. What God has
07:09 done through Jesus, especially the good news of what God has done to provide
07:14 forgiveness for our sins. So our Bible text today highlights once
07:19 again the importance of the resurrection. And in realizing the centrality of the
07:25 resurrection in our faith and in our life, we will see that the faith and
07:30 lives of all believers are anchored in the truths of the resurrection.
07:36 The faith and lives of all believers are anchored in the truth of the resurrection. both the historical truth
07:44 of Jesus resurrection as well as in the truth of the future resurrection of all
07:50 believers who are in Christ. We'll spend most of our time looking at that. But
07:55 briefly, we'll also see once again that the resurrection of Jesus gives believers hope for the future with
08:02 eternal life after death. And we will also see that our response to the resurrection of Jesus will indeed change
08:10 our lives. So when we look at verse 12 of our text, we see that there was a
08:15 major problem in the church in Corinth. Now, we've already seen there's been lots of major problems in this church,
08:21 but here's another one. Paul says, "Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from
08:27 the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"
08:33 How is it possible to even say that? That's unbelievable. How can you say that? I have proclaimed
08:41 the gospel to you. The crucifixion and resurrection go together as historical
08:47 facts. There is no good news of the gospel if there is no resurrection.
08:54 The cross alone is not a victory. It's a defeat.
08:59 We don't know what the problem was exactly at Corenth. Had some of them begun to entertain doubts about the
09:06 message they had earlier received? Were some beginning to be tempted to go
09:12 away from the faith and deny key elements of the faith? Were some being
09:17 unduly influenced by the cultural and philosophical views of all the people
09:22 with whom they had contact daily? There was obviously some false teaching from somewhere coming into the church at
09:28 Corenth. Now, scholars have tried to guess what might have been some of the root causes of this departure from the
09:36 message of the resurrection. I'll mention three of those. One is the view
09:41 that we heard some from last week that the Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul as opposed to resurrection.
09:49 That basic view was the soul is good, the body is evil, the body is a prison
09:55 that holds the soul captive. So death is good because that releases our soul from
10:01 this terrible prison of the body and the soul can soar to the world of which everything on this earth is only a
10:08 symbol or a shadow anyway. And so no room for a bodily resurrection. That
10:14 would be a horrendous thought to think that the soul would once again be imprisoned by an evil body.
10:22 If you were raised with that view, as many people in Corenth were,
10:27 you can see why it would be difficult to totally leave this philosophy behind.
10:33 It's oftenimes hard to discard things from our past, from our heritage, from our culture, and we continue to allow
10:40 that to influence. A second possibility is just the very simple fact dead people don't rise.
10:49 When life is over, that's it. There was a school of thought in ancient Greece, the Epicurans. They believed that
10:56 everything was matter. Everything was composed of atoms. When you die, that's
11:02 it. There is no more life because there's nothing to live. The matter is now gone. It's dead. It's decomposed.
11:10 When life is over, everything's finished. So even if you were a
11:15 Christian in the church at Corenth and you had heard the truth of the gospel, but yet if you had been raised with this
11:22 view, undoubtedly this view would keep tempting you and you might not totally
11:28 leave your former world view to adopt a biblical worldview. So both of these
11:33 first two possibilities show us the importance of disciplehip training for new
11:40 believers that will specifically address the world view of new believers to help
11:46 the new believers realize what from their former worldview and culture and upbringing is not in keeping with the
11:52 biblical worldview. We need to help new believers develop a more biblical
11:58 worldview. Otherwise, there's a danger that we just keep our former world view and then try
12:04 to fit Jesus into that somehow and we end up with a lot of misunderstandings
12:10 like the church in Corinth was experiencing. A third possibility for their possible
12:17 lack and belief of the resurrection was not understanding the quote already but
12:23 not yet aspect of the kingdom of God. Or as Dr. Peter has said in some of his
12:29 sermons, they might have had an overrealized esquetology. Now, what do we mean by already, but not
12:36 yet? If it sounds like a paradox, it is a paradox. Two statements that seem to
12:43 conflict with each other already, not yet, but yet both are true. You see,
12:50 both Jesus and Paul spoke of the kingdom of God as already having come.
12:56 The kingdom of God is here. Therefore, repent and believe the gospel. The kingdom of God is among you. The kingdom
13:02 of God is a matter of peace and righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit. But both Jesus and Paul talked
13:09 about the kingdom of God as not yet being here. That it's coming. The
13:14 kingdom of God will come with power. Pray. May your kingdom come. The second
13:20 coming of Christ will be the coming of the kingdom.
13:25 So the kingdom of God is already here, but yet it's not yet here. The kingdom
13:31 of God is the rule and reign of Christ. Wherever the rule and reign of Christ is acknowledged. So if you have
13:37 acknowledged the rule of Christ in your life and have bowed before him as king, receiving his grace into your life, you
13:44 have entered into the kingdom of God. But yet we have not fully entered into
13:49 the kingdom of God. When Christ's rule will no longer be challenged because
13:54 that time is coming. When Christ returns, then no longer will there be
13:59 any challenges to his authority. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess
14:07 that Jesus is Lord. So it's possible that some people here in Corenth had an
14:13 overrealized esquetology. They thought the kingdom of God has already come.
14:19 There is no more after this life. That means all of the blessings of God are here for you in the here and now. And
14:26 from that we see evidence of that in the prosperity, gospel, health, wealth, no
14:31 problems, no suffering. If you have enough faith, you're already experiencing resurrection life. There's
14:37 nothing else. That's appealing to people that want a comfortable life. But we realize that
14:44 doesn't fit with reality. It's not biblical and it's a false view
14:50 of who God is and what the kingdom is. So any of these three views might have
14:56 affected the church in Corenth or possibly a combination of them. And the first two show the danger of letting the
15:04 outside culture influence our biblical worldview and change it. And the last
15:10 one indicates the danger of false teaching within the church misunderstanding truth and not teaching
15:16 correctly. But whatever the reason, there were some people in Corinth who were denying the resurrection. So then
15:24 Paul goes into a lengthy passage that we'll spend most of our time on where he says, "If there is no resurrection, we
15:32 are in deep trouble." And he mentions several problems we face if there is no
15:38 resurrection. First of all, he says, "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not
15:45 even Christ is raised." Now, in this verse and in several following verses, we need to remember
15:52 that very small but very important word, if. Paul is not seriously entertaining
15:59 the thought that there might not be a resurrection. No, he is not expressing
16:05 doubt in the hor historicity of Christ's resurrection. He does not doubt that he
16:11 and all believers will be resurrected. He does not doubt that Jesus will come
16:16 again and we will have eternal life. We see that when we skip on down to verse 20 because he concludes this section by
16:23 saying emphatically, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
16:30 So in a backhanded way by saying if this then that Paul is pointing out the
16:36 centrality of the resurrection for the faith and practice of all believers. And
16:42 in a roundabout way Paul is going to show us that the faith and lives of all
16:47 believers are anchored in the truths of the resurrection.
16:52 We've already seen that Paul says if there is no resurrection not even Christ has been raised. If you take away the
16:59 resurrection, you have no gospel. Crucifixion without resurrection is not
17:06 victory. It's defeat. There's no good news to share if everything ends with
17:12 death. Now, some have tried to take out the resurrection. One of our founding
17:17 fathers in America, Thomas Jefferson, wrote our Declaration of Independence, third president.
17:23 He didn't have a computer with cut and paste. He just used scissors and he cut out the parts of the gospel he didn't
17:28 approve of. And the most important thing he cut out was the resurrection
17:34 and he had a little gospel which was really no gospel at all.
17:40 A list of ethical teachings, moral teachings, but anybody can put together a list of moral teachings. Some might be
17:47 better than others, but that is no gospel. Without the resurrection of Christ, there is no good news.
17:54 Paul goes on to say, "And if Christ was not raised, then our preaching is in vain." Now, think about it. Paul had
18:01 given up a successful, promising career to share the gospel. He'd given up a
18:07 life that was safe, financially secure for a life of hardship and danger. And
18:13 if the resurrection were not true, he had wasted his entire life. His
18:18 ministry, his time, his money, his energy had been wasted. And not only had his life been wasted, but the life of
18:26 all the apostles had been wasted. And we could say the same is true for all
18:31 believers throughout the ages. The same is true for each of us. If Christ has not been raised, we're wasting our time
18:37 right here, right now in church. If the resurrection were not true,
18:45 our faith, our preaching is in vain. And then he goes on to say, "Not only is our
18:50 preaching in vain. Your faith is in vain. You're just believing a myth of
18:55 believing a lie. Your faith is empty and useless. It will do you no good
19:01 whatsoever if you take out the resurrection. There's nothing left on which you can
19:08 rest your faith except a corpse that is decomposed. Perish the thought."
19:15 Paul goes on to show more difficulties we will face if there is no resurrection. He says in verse 15, "We
19:22 are found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise. If
19:29 it is true that the dead are not raised, if the resurrection is not a reality,
19:36 our entire Christian faith is a total misrepresentation of God.
19:43 Totally false. everything that we believe about who he is and what he has done.
19:49 Paul and all the other apostles have been false witnesses. The Bible cannot be trusted. I'm lying to you right now.
19:57 If the resurrection is not true, if the resurrection is not true, God did not
20:04 love the world so much that he gave his son to die for our sins so that all who
20:09 believe would not perish but have eternal life. If the resurrection were not true, Jesus has not gone to prepare
20:17 a home for us in heaven. Where we go when we die. If there is no
20:23 resurrection, everything we thought we knew and thought we had experienced with God is false.
20:30 Let's continue with our text. Paul has already said, "Your faith is
20:35 feudal. Your faith is vain." And then he adds another aspect. you are still in
20:41 your sins. A very serious problem. Really bad news.
20:47 Because the reality is we all sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all sin in not only our
20:56 actions but in our thoughts, our words, our attitudes.
21:01 And sin brings death. The wages of sin is death. Not only physical death but
21:08 separation from God in this life and for eternity.
21:13 We stand before God guilty. We stand before him covered in shame.
21:19 The only hope we have for forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God is faith
21:25 in Jesus who died for our sins, who was buried, who was raised on the third day,
21:31 and who appeared to many witnesses. But if Jesus has not been raised, the
21:38 results would be devastating for us now and throughout all eternity. We would
21:44 still be separated from God, full of guilt, covered with shame. Which brings
21:50 us to the next point Paul makes. Those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
21:56 perished. Now, no, Paul is not talking about people who fall asleep during the
22:02 Sunday morning sermon. Now that could have negative effects. In Acts chapter 20, there is an interesting
22:09 story where when Paul of all people was preaching, somebody fell asleep.
22:15 And this guy was sitting in the window ledge on the third floor. And when he fell asleep, he fell out
22:22 three stories down. So, good thing we don't have window seats in this church.
22:30 But falling asleep is a euphemism frequently used in the Bible. You say one thing but you mean something else
22:35 and everybody knows what you mean. Means if you've died Paul says those who have
22:41 died because they are still in their sins they perish. There is no hope of
22:48 heaven. There is no hope of eternal life. Judgment
22:54 eternal punishment. total obliteration, whatever the possibilities, but no hope of anything
23:01 better if Christ has not been risen.
23:07 And Paul goes on to say, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of
23:14 all people most to be pied. If there is no hope after this life
23:22 of what value is a false hope in this life, we are to be pied because we are
23:29 indeed delusional if we are believing a lie. If our hope is based on a religious
23:35 teacher who died and was buried and whose tomb can be visited today,
23:40 because if there's no resurrection, Jesus is not Lord. Why entrust your life? stake your faith on a dead man.
23:50 Those poor, misguided Christians, people would truly say if there were no
23:56 resurrection of the dead. But enough of this nonsense. Paul doesn't use those exact words, but
24:02 basically that's what he's saying. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the
24:08 dead. I have seen him with my own eyes. Paul had already testified.
24:14 So since Christ has most definitely been raised from the dead and since the truth of the resurrection can believe can be
24:22 believed and trusted, the reverse of everything we have said so far is true.
24:29 So let's look back at these verses we've previously looked at and now apply them
24:34 to our lives from the reverse point of view realizing that the resurrection is indeed true.
24:41 Back to verse 14, Paul had said, "Our preaching is in vain if the resurrection's not true." But since the
24:47 resurrection is true, Paul's preaching, the preaching of the
24:53 apostles, our preaching, our ministry, all our service to God is worthwhile.
25:02 Don't we all want to come to the point in life where we stand before God at the
25:08 end of life and we hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant.
25:17 Our ministry, everything we do for Christ is worthwhile because the
25:23 resurrection is true."
25:28 Paul had also said, "If the resurrection is not true, your faith is in vain."
25:34 I'm having trouble with my clicker. Okay.
25:41 But since the resurrection is true, your faith is not in vain. Your faith is
25:47 true. Your faith is valid. It is based.
25:52 Your faith is grounded on someone who is absolutely trustworthy.
25:58 I think we all have a longing in our heart to have someone that we can depend on, someone on whom we can trust,
26:05 someone who won't let us down. Jesus death for our sin proves his love
26:11 for us and his resurrection shows his power over all the enemies of life.
26:17 Jesus is alive. He can be trusted. Your faith is not in vain.
26:25 If the resurrection is not true, Paul said we would be found to be false witnesses.
26:31 But the resurrection is true. So the apostolic witness is true. The
26:37 resurrection is a reality. And it is true that God did give his son to die on
26:43 the cross for us so that all who believe in him would have eternal life, would
26:49 have a restored relationship with God. now and through eternity. It is true
26:54 that Christ arose and he won victory over sin. The power of God triumphs over
27:00 the power of evil. So in this world where it's often hard to hear the truth
27:07 because of so many voices that are not speaking truth, it's comforting to know
27:12 that our faith is based on the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.
27:22 Paul also reminded the Corinthian Christians, you are still in your sins if the resurrection is not true. But the
27:28 reverse is true. All who have responded in repentance towards God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ have forgiveness
27:36 of sin. The gospel message is inextricably linked to our sin.
27:44 You cannot separate our sin from the purpose, the effect of the gospel. You
27:50 see, Christ died for our sins. And the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ have dealt with our sin once and for all
27:58 by forgiving us by removing the guilt, by removing the shame of all who respond
28:04 to God's grace and repentance and faith and acknowledge him as the Lord of their
28:09 lives. All who are in Christ do have reconciliation with God the
28:16 Father. As Romans chapter 10 verse9 reminds us, if you confess with your
28:22 mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Your sins
28:30 are forgiven. You have the hope of eternal life.
28:35 We also saw that if the resurrection were false, those who have died have perished. But the opposite is true.
28:42 Those who have died in Christ will experience resurrection. They have
28:47 eternal life. They have a home in heaven. No need to worry about what
28:53 might happen after death. No need to fear death.
28:59 Those who believe in Jesus will not just cease to exist. They will not be damned. They will not
29:06 be tormented. They will not perish. But they will have everlasting life in
29:11 the joy and presence of our Lord where there are no tears, no pain, no
29:17 suffering, but instead will be in the presence of God.
29:23 Therefore, of all people, Christians are really to be envied.
29:30 In this life, our life is to be envied because we have fellowship with God. We
29:35 can personally experience his grace, his love, his comfort, his strength, his
29:41 peace, his encouragement, his support. This is to be desired. It is enviable.
29:49 The hope that we have not only for a meaningful life in this world but also
29:54 for the hope of an assurance of resurrection that is also envy to be envied because think of the many people
30:02 who just refuse to even think about death or when they do it's something that they fear don't don't talk about
30:09 that but a Christian is truly to be envied because there's no need for this
30:14 fear of death so we do see that the faith and lives of all believers are anchored in the truth
30:22 of the resurrection. The next truth I want us to look at
30:28 briefly is the resurrection of Jesus gives believers hope for the future. Now
30:34 Paul has already mentioned this. We've already talked about it, but the text continues to talk about this hope. And
30:40 Paul will give three more reasons why we can firmly believe in the coming
30:46 resurrection of the dead. The first thing Paul mentions, and I'll just be going through these texts more quickly,
30:53 but the first thing Paul mentions is that Christ is the first fruits. Now,
30:59 what does he mean by first fruits? He's referring back to the Old Testament
31:05 harvest festival where farmers would take the first part of their harvest and
31:10 bring it to God as a thanks offering and as a sacrifice to God. So the metaphor
31:16 calling Christ the first fruits shows us that the resurrection is a promise. The
31:22 resurrection of Christ is a promise of the resurrection yet to come. Christ is
31:28 the first of the harvest. All who believe in Jesus will be part of that great harvest in the great resurrection
31:34 at the end of time. It's also pointing to the fact that we
31:41 are consecrated to God. Just like Christ consecrated his life to God in the
31:46 sacrifice, we too are consecrated to God. So Christ being the first fruits is
31:52 a promise of the general resurrection and we belong to the large harvest at
31:58 the coming of Christ. The next thing Paul does in this text to reaffirm the
32:03 future resurrection is he compares Adam to Christ. The first man, the imperfect
32:11 man, the sinful man who disobeyed God compared with Christ. Figuratively
32:17 speaking, the new man or the second type of man, the man who was perfect, who did
32:23 not sin. The first man, Adam, brought death into the world as it says in
32:29 Romans chapter 5. And death then spread to all men because all sin.
32:36 We all like Adam sin. We all experience death. But the contrast is
32:43 Christ brings life. So all who belong to Christ, all who trust him will
32:50 experience life. We're all like Adam. We have the choice.
32:55 We can accept Christ and receive the life and get away from the eternal death
33:01 and damnation that Adam brought into the world that we would all experience otherwise and receive forgiveness and
33:08 new life from Jesus. And then Paul continues to talk, gives a
33:16 third reason. And in these verses, what he is doing, he's quoting from two different psalms, showing that the
33:22 psalms were foretelling the fact that there would be not only the resurrection
33:28 of Jesus, but then resurrection of Jesus would also bring new life for us. He
33:34 quotes from Psalm 110, also Psalm 8 that we read earlier in our text today where
33:41 it said, "God has put all things in subjection under his feet."
33:46 So rather than death being the end of life,
33:52 death is the beginning of life. Jesus is the first fruits. He is the new
33:59 man that brings life instead of death. He fulfills the promises of the Psalms
34:04 that talked about a victory over all the enemies of God including the final
34:12 victory, the victory over death.
34:17 So we see that the resurrection of Jesus is giving believers hope for the future.
34:23 And the final point I want to mention today is our response to the resurrection of Jesus will indeed change
34:31 our lives. Now there's one verse that I did not put up on the screen. Just want to mention
34:37 it very briefly because it sounds a little bit like Mormonism. Paul's talking about being baptized for the
34:43 dead. Paul is not encouraging this practice. He never says go thou and do
34:48 likewise. Jesus never encouraged this practice. Paul is just pointing out the
34:54 inconsistency in what the Corinthians said and what they did. Once again, we
34:60 see a an aberrant practice, an aberrant theology like we've seen so often in this book. The Corinthians are baptizing
35:07 people for the dead even though they say they don't believe in there's a resurrection. And he's saying that's stupid. So why do something like that?
35:16 But just as a clarification, he's not telling us to do it. When you're wanting to interpret a passage of scripture,
35:22 look at what else the Bible says about a passage. Look at the overall context.
35:27 And remember, the context of that verse is the practice of a church that had a
35:33 lot of false doctrine and a lot of false practice. And in the rest of scripture, we never see anything about being
35:40 baptized for the dead. So that's just a brief aside. The final point I want to mention, our response to the
35:47 resurrection of Jesus will change our life. And here Paul uses examples from his own
35:54 life to show that the resurrection will indeed change your life because he's
36:02 pointing out that the encounter he had with Christ has totally changed his
36:08 life. He had given up a comfortable life, a promising career, and now he's facing danger every hour. He says in
36:15 verse 30, he gave up safety and security. But as he says at the end of
36:20 verse 31, now it's as if he's dying daily. He faced so many hardships. He
36:26 knew that death was a reality, a potential reality every day. Why risk
36:33 his life in Ephesus for the cause of Christ facing wild beasts?
36:40 Why go to so much effort? Why devote so much of your time, your finances? Why
36:45 give your life to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ? If the resurrection of Christ is not
36:52 true, just live according to the philosophers, the philosophy of the day. Eat, drink,
37:00 tomorrow you'll die. Live for yourself. Live for pleasure. Live for power. Live
37:07 for money. Try to squeeze as much out of life as you can. Don't worry about the
37:13 consequences. Don't worry about the effects on other people. Just live for yourself.
37:19 If the resurrection is not true, it would be foolish to risk so much, to
37:25 sacrifice so much, to face so many hardships if the resurrection were not true. So Paul is using his own example
37:33 to say the resurrection is true and look how it has changed my life. The
37:38 sacrifice is worth it. The suffering, the hardships are worth it.
37:45 And he continues and just warns the people, don't be deceived. Don't let the bad company around you
37:52 influence your thinking because if it does, that's going to influence the way you live. It will influence your morals.
37:58 What you think, what you believe has an effect on how you live. So if you're denying the resurrection, eat, drink,
38:04 live for yourself. Who cares about tomorrow. Don't let that influence you. Don't let
38:10 that corrupt you. Jesus has risen.
38:16 There is life after death. There is judgment. Don't let the bad company ruin your
38:22 life, ruin your morals. And he goes on to point out that it's like you're
38:27 drunk. Wake up. Come to your senses.
38:32 Understand the truth and live according to the truth. Stop sinning.
38:40 He says it's a shameful thing to have a willful ignorance of God. If the
38:45 Corinthian Christians are ignorant of the truth of God, it's their own fault. It's because they wanted to be ignorant.
38:52 It's because they wanted to ignore truths that had been clearly presented to them.
38:59 And I think we can all identify with that as we also sometimes want to
39:04 exclude truths that we know so that they don't affect our lives.
39:09 But Paul says, "Wake up. The resurrection is true. Let that affect
39:15 your life. Don't let ignorance and bad company change the direction of your life." That's shameful.
39:23 But if you do truly believe in the resurrection, your faith and your lifestyle will match. They will be in
39:30 harmony because the gospel of Jesus will change your life just like it changed
39:37 Paul's life. We'll receive new values, new goals, new ambitions, new
39:42 perspectives, new priorities. There will even be the willingness to
39:50 take risks, to make sacrifices, even to face the possibility of
39:56 suffering for the cause of Christ in order that other people might have the
40:02 opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel message. will be willing to make risks so that
40:09 other people can have the same hope that we have. The hope of salvation and
40:15 resurrection. Remember the story of Jim Elliott,
40:20 his four friends, their life was not in vain.
40:28 Their lives were well spent with meaning and significance because the
40:33 resurrection is true. And you see, after their initial contact
40:39 with the AA Indians, Elizabeth, Jim's wife, and several other family members
40:45 from these five men who were killed went back and made contact with these same people who had murdered their husbands,
40:51 their fathers. And thousands of people from this tribe
40:57 came to faith in Jesus Christ. Remember,
41:03 he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
41:12 Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for this
41:18 wonderful gospel message. We thank you that Christ did die for our sins so that
41:25 we can receive forgiveness. We thank you that he was raised on the third day. This was all according to
41:32 your plan so that we can receive new life here on earth, new values, new purposes,
41:40 new meaning. And we thank you that we have the promise of the future resurrection, a
41:48 home with our Lord in heaven. We thank you for the power of resurrection that
41:53 can impact our lives daily in a positive way. Father God, I pray today for those here
42:01 among us who may not have yet clearly heard the gospel message before today or
42:07 maybe have heard it but have not yet realized the implications for their life. I pray that as they ponder your
42:15 grace, your love for them, that they will open your hearts to your leading,
42:20 to your Holy Spirit, and that today in response to your love, to your mercy, to what you have done for us, that there
42:27 would be repentance, that there would be faith, there would be acknowledging Jesus as Lord.
42:33 And father our God, I pray for all of us who have accepted Christ, who are in Christ, that we would meditate on the
42:42 truths of the cross and resurrection, not just at Easter,
42:48 but on a regular basis. And when we think of your death for our sin,
42:54 let that affect how we live. When we think of the power of your resurrection that you want to give to us
43:02 in our daily life, I pray we'll let that impact and change our life.
43:09 In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
43:15 We're coming now
