WEBVTT 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:17.359 Take your Bibles with me. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:19.519 Let's turn to the book of 1 Corinthians together. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:28.239 As you turn there, I've noticed in recent days something funny about stories. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:29.839 Something strange. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:31.839 It's well attested. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:35.119 Everybody says this that good stories have at least three parts. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:43.200 Some people might use fancy names for the parts of a story, things like exposition or crisis or climax or twist or denois. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:51.359 Those are just fancy ways of saying the beginning and the middle and the end. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:52.560 Right? 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:57.679 But I think that's exactly the thing that's kind of funny about stories. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:09.760 The good ones, we say, are the ones that are most like real life, while still being incredible or fantastic or fascinating, but still believable, right? 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.040 That's a good story. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:13.359 Dramatic, but still realistic. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:21.840 But it I think it's funny, though, that if all stories have a beginning and a middle and an end, they're doomed to being unreal. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:24.640 Like from the beginning. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:26.159 From the jump. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:33.920 Because real life, reality, doesn't have tidy endings, does it? 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:35.599 Did you ever think about that? 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:39.599 Like what happened to the tortoise after he beat the hare? 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:43.280 Did they have a rematch? 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:46.719 I bet that's what the hare wanted to do. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:47.359 Right? 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:48.560 We don't know. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:51.920 The story just stops. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:54.719 Sometimes. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.959 Sometimes, friends, I think that we we begin to treat the gospel that way. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:09.919 We look at the gospel like a story, and Bethlehem is the beginning, and then there's all this rising tension until the crucifixion, and just when all hope seems lost, kaboom! The tomb is empty, and Christ is risen. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.240 He's risen indeed, and then that's it. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:13.439 We close the book. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.199 Tuck the kids in. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.080 See if there's anything else on TV. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:19.680 Right? 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:26.319 But the gospel is so much more than just a story. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.159 So much more than just a story, because it's real, right? 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:37.039 And Christ's resurrection in particular is more than just the end. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:47.439 It's more than just the end because it Christ's resurrection means that death is not the end for us either. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.520 So if you're already in 1 Corinthians, turn with me to chapter 15. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:58.800 The Apostle Paul will show us how Christ's resurrection is more than the end. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:03.199 Christ's resurrection is essential to our faith. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.919 Christ's resurrection necessitates our own resurrection from the dead, that is. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:18.159 And Christ's resurrection and the hope of Christ's resurrection transforms our very lives. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:19.919 Begin in verse 12. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.360 Would you look at that with me? 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:23.039 Where would we be? 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.319 Where would we be without the resurrection? 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:37.919 Paul writes, now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, and he's referring to all that he said in the first 11 verses of the chapter, right? 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.400 That Christ died for our sins, he was buried and raised in the third day according to the scriptures. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.719 And verse 11 says, So we preach and so you believed. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.199 And so verse 12 picks that up. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:04:00.000 Now if Christ is preached that way, if he's proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection from the dead? 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:04.159 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:08.800 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:22.240 We are even found to be misrepresenting or literally bearing false witness, bearing false witness against God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, who he did not raise, if it's true, that the dead are not raised. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:23.839 Verse 16, it keeps going. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:27.120 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.040 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, not just vain, futile. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.319 And you're still in your sins. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:43.199 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:52.480 And if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:54.800 I'll stop there for now. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:02.000 We don't know much, really, about what led Paul to confront this problem in Corinth. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:06.079 We don't know how their denial of the resurrection of the dead worked out. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:12.959 We do know that some of them, some of the Corinthians, were denying the resurrection from the dead. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:16.959 They may not have been denying Christ's resurrection, right? 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:18.720 I think we can see that. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.160 But the force of Paul's first question is sharp. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:30.720 If they're denying the resurrection of the dead, at least for all of us, Paul thinks they're crazy. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:31.920 He thinks they're crazy. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:33.279 How can you say that? 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:35.040 That's the tone of verse 12. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:36.160 How can you say that? 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.319 His disbelief just lays it all out. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:43.920 How he thinks that Christians who deny the resurrection of the dead are crazy. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.079 Are crazy. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:51.040 And that's the logic, I think, that unlocks this whole section. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:53.600 All that we're going to look at hangs on this point. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:06:03.680 If there's no resurrection of the dead, in a general sense, if the dead are not raised to judgment at the end of all time, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:10.720 And the argument goes, all sorts of bad things follow as a result of that. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:18.240 If Christ hasn't been raised, all these things that are essential to our faith fall apart. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:19.199 Right? 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:26.800 The first thing is that our preaching, in verse 14, our preaching is hollow. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:28.319 It's in vain. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.680 It's just a bunch of wasted time, a bunch of hot air. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:35.279 Why spread the good news if Christ has not been raised? 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:35.839 Right? 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:37.839 The ESV says vain. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.000 Our preaching is empty. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:41.759 It's hollow babbling. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:43.920 It's a lot of words about nothing. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:46.240 We should just go home. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:54.160 If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is hollow, and so is your faith. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.000 Your faith is in vain. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:57.360 Verse 14 says. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.480 It's a faith placed in nothing. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:02.079 In nothingness. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:06.240 Have you ever seen somebody go to sit down on a chair that's been pulled out from behind them? 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:07.279 Right? 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:09.680 They go down, right? 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:16.240 Because they they placed, they didn't just place their faith in a bad chair, they placed their faith in no chair. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:17.600 There's no chair there. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:24.000 It's like that feeling when you're climbing stairs in the dark and you get to the top and you think there's one more and there's not one more. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:24.879 Yeah? 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:29.279 And your foot just falls through seven inches of vanity. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:31.040 Nothing. 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:36.879 If Christ has not been raised, your faith, our preaching, it's hollow. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:38.639 It's null and void. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:40.879 It's a check you can't catch. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:43.439 Doesn't mean anything. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:44.560 That's what he's saying. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:45.360 And it gets worse. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:51.759 He says in verse 15, we've borne false witness against God. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:55.279 The ESB translates misrepresented, and that's great. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:57.120 The idea is lying. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.839 Lying either way, saying something about God that is not true. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:05.439 One of like those top ten, thou shalt not, right? 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:06.560 Don't lie. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.079 And even more so, don't lie about God. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:17.600 I've heard it said that a lie is saying yes when you should say no, and a lie is saying no when you should say yes. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:29.680 And so Paul is saying here that if Christ has not been raised, then the apostles, everybody who's ever preached it, is lying about God. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:35.440 Because we bore witness that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise at all, if it's true the dead are not raised. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:37.360 See how he continues in the text? 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.279 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:45.360 And that means your faith is futile. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.159 Your faith is futile or hopeless. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.840 And it leaves you still in your sins. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:56.000 I want to slow down here a little bit. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:57.200 I'm going pretty fast. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:08:59.360 Slow down right there, though. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:04.320 Because Paul is doing something right here that we we would do well to really consider. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:13.759 Notice how he turns the heat up from vain to futile, or how I've done it, from hollow to hopeless. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:20.000 From empty to hypothetically empty. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:26.000 It's not just vain, but your faith is tragic. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:30.000 It's one thing. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:35.039 Think about it this way, it's it's one thing to take ineffective medicines just because. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:37.440 Just because. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.120 Maybe maybe it'll help, probably won't. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:40.320 Why not? 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:41.759 That's that's vain. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.840 That's that's pointless, that's empty. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:48.960 But just imagine how how tragic it would be. 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:59.919 How tragic it would be to learn after an amputation of a of a limb or an organ that there was a speck on the CT scan and you never had cancer in the first place. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:04.720 That's futility. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:07.200 That's the tragedy. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.159 It wasn't just vain, it was futile. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:15.919 A surgery based on a lie like that is tragic. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:22.399 And if Christ hasn't been raised from the dead, that's what our faith is. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:26.320 Believing in him for eternal life is worse. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:28.480 It's worse than a hollow faith. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.720 It's a hopeless faith. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:33.440 Because we're still in our sins. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.039 Do you see the logic there? 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.519 Because we're still in our sins. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:41.600 The wages of sin is death. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:43.039 Amen. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:55.519 And if Jesus is still dead, and there's no real forgiveness of sins, and if Christ hasn't been raised, then we still have to face the wrath of God for our sins. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:03.200 And if Christ hasn't been raised, then believing in a Jesus who can't save is hopelessly foolish. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.240 Hopelessly foolish. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:10.879 If Christ hasn't been raised, we're not going to be raised. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:20.960 And those who have fallen asleep or died, Paul says, those who have died already in Christ, they've perished. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:23.840 They've perished. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:33.279 One commentator says here that Paul has in mind the emptiness and waste of irretrievable loss. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:44.080 If Christ has not been raised, then you and I won't be raised because there's no forgiveness anymore. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:54.399 And so Paul's teaching us that the forgiveness of sins depends also on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:57.039 It's more than just the end of the story, amen? 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:05.440 Without the resurrection of Jesus, Christians die just the same as unbelievers. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:07.200 And it's over. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:11.120 Paul makes it a little more personal, though, doesn't he? 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:22.000 The Corinthians couldn't read this phrase about those who have fallen asleep in Christ without thinking of at least one person they knew who died as a Christian. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:27.120 Maybe they think of Stephen the Martyr or James who was killed by Herod. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:28.960 I'm sure they know more people. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:30.799 I know you do. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:36.240 I'll spare us all the pain of listing names from our funeral services. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:41.279 But if Christ has not been raised, they're just gone. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:43.279 And that's it. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:47.440 Like an amputated limb or a removed organ. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.919 The dead in Christ are not coming back. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:13:03.200 Because if Christ has not been raised, they died still in their sins after giving their life to a hopeless faith that could not save them. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:14.960 And he continues if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:19.200 Our lives are pitiful. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:27.279 I've already tried to lead you to feel the pity that Paul says Christians deserve without the resurrection of Christ. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:29.279 But think about it, guys. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:46.000 Our whole life, our whole existence, is as tragic, as hopeless, is as pitiful as somebody who crippled themselves for no good reason. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:52.639 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is so much more than the end of the story. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.600 That's where we'd be without the resurrection. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:06.480 Christ's resurrection is therefore essential to everything we believe and everything we do here. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:10.399 Our preaching, our faith, our singing, our serving, all of it. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.519 Without the resurrection, it's just vanity. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:18.159 A waste of time. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:37.120 If Christ is not raised and there is no resurrection from the dead, then everybody who passes us by outside would sigh and shake their heads and think it's just so sad to see people waste their lives on a lie. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:41.039 People think about us like that sometimes, don't they? 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:46.240 Without the resurrection of Christ, none of that stuff happens. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:53.120 Because Christ's resurrection is essential to our faith. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:55.039 Look at verse 20. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:56.639 Look at verse 20. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:03.440 But in fact, but but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:04.639 It's true. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.720 And so you can kind of work backwards and see that all that stuff's false, right? 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.279 Christ has been raised from the dead. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:12.080 He's risen. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:13.360 He's risen indeed. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:17.039 He has been raised, Paul says. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:18.879 And that cannot be undone. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:20.720 It's complete, it's perfect. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:23.679 It's an absolute matter of historical fact. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:24.879 That's how Paul says it. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:28.720 Christ wasn't halfway raised or temporarily raised. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:34.320 He has been raised and his kingdom will never end. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:41.919 Paul's already given the first 11 verses of this chapter, the historical testimony to the reality of the resurrection. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:43.200 It happened. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:48.799 At least 501 people saw Jesus alive again. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:58.960 But here in this paragraph from verse 20 to 28, Paul's moving on to demonstrate from the scriptures not just that it did happen, but that it had to happen. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:05.440 And that Christ's resurrection necessitates our own resurrection. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:17.200 The resurrection of the dead is the necessary fulfillment of all that God has planned from the earliest days of creation for all of humanity. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:23.919 Because, back in verse 20, because Christ is the first fruit. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.360 He's the first fruit. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:32.799 This idea of a firstfruit, a firstborn, it's that concept of the author and perfecter of a new creation, of the new life. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:36.559 It's the promise of a full and glorious harvest of the redeemed. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:38.000 That's what a firstfruit says. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:39.679 It says there's more to come. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:41.120 There's more to come. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.120 By Adam came death. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.600 But Christ is the new Adam. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:50.000 The firstborn from the dead, and the promise of all that is to come, the new creation. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:55.759 He's the promise of a well-multiplied humanity, just like Adam was supposed to do. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:06.160 But then from Adam's sin, Adam's sin came the sure expectation of death for all of Adam's children, right? 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:12.960 Because there was enough sin in Adam's transgression to kill us all. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.920 There was enough sin in Adam's transgression to kill all of us. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:22.960 That's the power his sin had because of the greatness of God's holiness. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:27.279 And since then, it's not like we've made it much better, right? 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.400 We've added more to Adam's sin. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:42.640 We all deserve death as Adam's children, but the promise, the promise of a new creation, a new life of resurrected humanity was proclaimed in the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:44.079 Look at verse 21. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:57.920 For as by a man, that is Adam, as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:11.359 And so Christ's resurrection necessitates our resurrection because Christ is the new Adam of a new creation. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:26.160 So I hope you can see right there just just how important how important the full and the true humanity of Jesus Christ is. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.480 It matters that he's a man or human. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:40.240 If Christ is not a man, that he cannot forge a way for a new humanity. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:47.839 If he's not human, we can't be in him like we were in Christ. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:55.599 Verse 22 says, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:03.039 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, deserving death for our sins, the wages of both Adam's sin and our own. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.279 But the free gift of God is eternal life. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:09.839 Eternal life. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:12.880 That's the resurrection, guys. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:17.440 Eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:24.960 And so Paul writes that so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:29.839 Christ the first fruits, and then it is coming those who belong to Christ. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:43.200 The resurrection of the dead, your resurrection from the dead, has to happen because Christ Jesus is the first fruit, the firstborn of a new creation. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:47.119 In Adam, death was extended to all. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:53.599 And in the resurrected Christ, resurrection life extends to all who believe. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:55.119 It's necessary. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.079 It happens, it has to happen. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.279 And it happens at his coming. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:03.279 When he comes, it says. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:08.799 Which is distinct from the end when he delivers the kingdom to God after destroying every authority and power. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.319 So bear with me a little bit of an eschatological aside. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:16.799 Because I know some of you are dying to hear it. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:19.680 And it's there and it's good, and we should. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:25.920 Even though, hear me, even though verse 23 and 24, they're talking about sequence. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:32.720 Those thens are sequential thens, not time, not time thens, they're sequential thens. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.880 It's talking about sequence, not timing. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:41.200 There are still a lot of cool little details to glean about the end of time and how that will all unfold. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:51.119 But while that's true, even more than that, Paul's point is still the necessity of the resurrection for the dead. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:21:02.000 Because Christ has been raised, there must be a resurrection from the dead, whether it's pre-mid or post-trip, and regardless of the possibility of two resurrections on either side of the millennial reign. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:07.279 Either way, Paul makes it super clear that these things don't all happen at once. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:11.440 When Christ comes back, the dead will be raised at his coming, verse 23 says. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:14.160 And that is distinct from the end. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:17.759 When Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:19.279 See all that? 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:25.920 And there's a nice little argument there for premillennialism and its most basic understanding if you look for it. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:31.599 But what Paul is doing in this text is so much more important than that. 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:34.640 That's not his point here. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.960 And his point matters more. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:44.480 He's showing us that the Messiah must reign over all things. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:56.720 After he delivers the kingdom to the Father in verse 24, Paul says he must. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.759 It is necessary that he reign. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.000 Until he has put all enemies under his feet. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:08.319 That's the second reason the resurrection has to happen. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.799 It's because Christ has to rule over all things. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.400 And that includes death in verse 26. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:20.160 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:28.160 And so the resurrection from the dead has to happen because the Messiah must reign. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:32.240 It is necessary, Paul teaches us, that he must reign. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:38.720 And his reign has to be a reign over death itself, where it's not a true reign. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:48.240 As Paul continues with these little quotations, he's quoting from Psalm 110, where it says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.559 Jesus quoted that Psalm and his earthly ministry to tell us that he was the Messiah. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:23:00.640 But Paul is pulling on the until of that verse to show you that something has to happen. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:03.519 Something has to happen. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:11.599 So even though Christ is already reigning, because he has been, ever since the beginning of the world, Christ reigns. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:17.519 Even though he's already reigning, his enemies are not yet under his feet. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:23.039 Because verse 26 says, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:28.799 And Christ must reign over death itself. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.240 He must reign over death itself. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.640 That's why Paul keeps going into verse 27. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:43.279 He's quoting Psalm 8 when he says, For God has put all things in subjection, in subjection under his feet. 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:49.680 But when it says all things are put in subject into subjection, it's plain that he has accepted to put all things in subjection under him. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.599 Psalm 8 is talking about humanity in a general sense. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:02.240 When it says, what is man? 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:05.119 Or maybe who is Adam? 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:08.480 What is man that you are mindful of him? 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:10.640 And the Son of Man. 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:15.039 The Son of Man was Jesus' favorite name for himself, right? 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:18.480 Or the Son of Man that you care for him. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:23.039 That you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:30.160 You've given him dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things under his feet. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:46.559 And so when God subjects everything, when he puts it under his feet, he subjects everything to Christ Jesus, the Son of Man, as the full and proper and true fulfillment of everything that Adam was always supposed to be. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:52.000 Adam was supposed to exercise dominion over all the earth. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:59.119 And in Christ, as the new Adam of the new creation, he must reign over all things. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:01.359 Death beat Adam. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:04.640 It cannot beat Christ. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:19.119 And so Paul is arguing for us that the promises of God necessitate that Jesus must reign over everything, including the last enemy, death. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:27.440 And so in that way, Christ's resurrection cannot be, it's impossible for it to be, the end of the story. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:35.359 Because God has promised that Christ the King will defeat everything, including the death of his own people. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:45.279 And that way, because Christ is our King, and death is his enemy, he has to save us from death. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:48.240 Do you see? 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:57.359 Christ's resurrection from the dead and his victory over death necessitates ours. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:03.200 But maybe it's better to say it, it guarantees our resurrection. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.480 Because Christ loves you. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:11.279 And death cannot separate you from his love. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:14.240 He must reign. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:16.079 He must. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:38.240 And then, once all things are subjected to Jesus as King, after every knee bows and every tongue confesses, then Paul writes that the Son Himself, or in verse 28, the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him, that is God, who put all things in subjection under Him that is Jesus. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:41.680 And now, friends, we this is one of those verses. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.839 Jason just took a deep breath. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:49.759 Here we walk where angels fear to tread. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:56.799 So if you'll bear with me again a little aside, this is a key verse in a massive theological debate. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:59.839 And here's the question. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:10.720 How can Jesus be both God and subject to God? 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:12.559 It's a hard one. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:15.759 How can he be both of those things? 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:27.599 If God the Son is consubstantial, co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father in all power and authority, which is what we confess and have confessed for thousands of years. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:30.559 Hundreds, multiple, many hundreds. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:37.839 If that's who Jesus is, how does it work? 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.440 How does it work for him to submit himself to God the Father? 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:46.640 Wouldn't that make Jesus a lesser God? 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:49.039 Do you see? 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:51.759 It's a hard question. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:56.640 And this verse gets us so close to thinking that way. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:02.000 The great 20th century exegete A.T. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:02.799 Robertson. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:06.000 If you don't know him, you should be grateful for him anyway. 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:06.720 A.T. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:21.839 Robertson writes this passage is a summary of the mysteries which our present knowledge does not enable us to explain, and which our present faculties perhaps do not enable us to understand. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:23.119 And A.T. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:25.359 Robertson is a lot smarter than me. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:33.359 I think it's okay sometimes when we hit these verses in our Bibles to say, I don't know. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:35.440 I don't know. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.880 These thoughts are too wondrous for us. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:41.839 God hasn't revealed the answer. 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:50.160 And so we should be really careful to make too much of applying this idea to all kinds of other stuff. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.759 There's no example for us here of how human authorities work. 00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:55.200 We shouldn't do that. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:02.240 We should be very careful not to go beyond how Paul uses that truth. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:03.920 It's scripture, it's true. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:05.519 We have to believe it. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:10.640 How we use it, what it means, we have to be so careful. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:14.960 And we have to stick to how Scripture uses it. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:24.319 Because if we stick to the text and we don't go beyond it, there is one thing that's super clear in this text that that means. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:27.519 That verse means something, and it's in this text. 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:39.599 And if you look at the end of verse 28, there's a little phrase that all of that happens in order that God may be all in all. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:55.279 So if the son's subjection to the father means anything at all, if it means anything, it does mean that God is all in all. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:01.839 It means he's the fullness, the completion, the perfection, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:28.880 If there is some way that we can't understand how Jesus, who is very God of very God, is somehow subjected to God the Father, such that God is subjected to God, then surely everything else in all of creation, on earth and under the earth, in heaven and everywhere else, you, me, and this pulpit, everything is subjected to God too. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.359 Everything is under God's feet. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:35.440 Enhroned on high. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.440 That's what this means. 00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:41.839 That's what we should do with this verse. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:43.680 And little else. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:56.720 And that, that is the is my third reason and final reason why the resurrection of Christ necessitates our own resurrection. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:04.240 It's this God would not be God if death could defeat him. 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:09.759 So in Christ, God conquered the grave. 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:12.160 And of course he did. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:15.200 Because he's God Almighty. 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:16.160 Right? 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:21.759 The resurrection of the dead has to happen because God must be all in all. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:26.480 And if death can separate God's people from him, then death is stronger than God. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:30.720 And if death is stronger than God, then God is not really God Almighty. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:33.759 And so you see how those three things all fit together, right? 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:46.079 Because Christ has been raised from the dead, the resurrection has to happen, for Christ is the new Adam of a new creation, and he must reign over all things like Adam was supposed to, including death. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:54.799 And in that way, as God the Son hands the kingdom which has conquered death over to God the Father, death itself is defeated, and God is all in all. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:56.319 Amen. 00:31:57.359 --> 00:31:57.920 Right? 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:03.039 The resurrection of the dead has to happen because God is God. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:05.200 That's the point. 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:07.119 That's the point. 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:14.960 And so now Paul turns and he takes that and he applies these truths about the resurrection to how we live. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:16.079 To how we live. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:21.759 And he shows us that Christ's resurrection is so much more than the end of the story. 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:26.960 Because Christ's resurrection transforms our lives. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:32.079 By giving us the hope of the resurrection from the dead. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:37.839 That promise, that reality, that hope that our bodies will be raised from dead to eternal life. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:42.640 That truth, if it's true, and it is, changes everything. 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:47.440 Changes everything about our lives. 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:49.359 Look at verse 29 with me. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.279 For our third tough verse. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:59.359 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? 00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:04.559 If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:08.720 The basic logic of this verse isn't that complicated, right? 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:10.400 It's really pretty simple. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:16.000 Paul's saying if there's no resurrection from the dead, then being baptized on behalf of the dead is just plain silly. 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:17.680