The Doctrine of the Resurrection

I would be pleased if 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I'm just going to read one verse, that's verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Oh, you might want to leave your Bibles open because I'm going to look at the whole chapter. I might look at the whole epistle actually. Interesting, when you read the epistle to the Corinthian assembly that Paul writes, it has many different facets to it, different aspects that are very important in relation to assembly principles, as well as a relation to strengthening and encouraging each of us individually.

You'll notice that Paul really looks at the assembly in the first part of the epistle in relation to a garden, a till field, a place of cultivation, a place of life, a place of growth, a place of order. He says that's the way an assembly ought to be characterized. Then he looks at the assembly as well and its function in chapter 12 like a body, where different members have different functions and yet they function harmoniously, all contributing to the unity of that entire body.

That's the way he said an assembly ought to function as well. There ought to be genuine unity in its function, the different use of gifts and the exercise of it so that each one would exercise whatever ability God has given them for the furtherance of the welfare of the entire body. I hope you and I are doing that in our individual activity in relation to the assembly.

I think as well when you look at chapter 3 and chapters following that he is looking at the assembly as is illustrated by a building or tabernacle. No doubt relating it to the Old Testament tabernacle, but you know when you look at a tabernacle or if you look at a building, I have a little interest in that. I guess some of you know my son is an architect.

He doesn't talk about architecture very much, but I get a little bit now and then. I know this, that you're very concerned about the entire overall structure, the unity of the building, the way it looks, the design of it, the authenticity of it, the harmonious aspect of it, but ultimately you come down to the foundation because that's the most important part. Now if you look at the epistle of Paul to the Corinthian assembly, I think you find that he's looking at the superstructure, the unity of the whole building in the very first part of the book.

Then of course he's looking at the purity of its outward appearance in chapter 5, 6, and 7. How does it look? What is it appearing before those who are looking at it? He says the assembly ought to be marked by purity, nothing deviating, nothing distracting from the beauty of the entire structure. Then of course he is looking at the aspect that it stands solitary in its dignity. It's not associated with other idolatrous practices.

It has a definite identity that is linked with the one who has constructed it and the one who has designed it. So he's looking at the superstructure in the earlier part of it. It has to do with its function, its interaction of the parts down in chapter 12, 13, and 14.

But you know when he comes to chapter 15, he's looking at the foundation because the foundation is the most important thing. He says the foundation really of the assembly, the foundation of all that you and I are, and the foundation of all that we anticipate being is linked with the resurrection. Now doctrine is important.

A lot of people don't like doctrine. They say it's all dry and formal and those of the new age religion or new age movement, they would say well doctrine divides. We just want to show love to everybody and we'll take everybody in regardless of what you feel or what you believe or what your convictions might be.

No problem, we'll just love you anyway and accept you the way you are. Well doctrine, without doctrine you have no foundation. Without doctrine you don't know what you believe.

You don't know where you are. You don't know where you're going. You don't know why you're functioning.

You don't know really anything unless you know doctrine. And I'd like to encourage younger believers to do something I didn't do when I was younger, study doctrine. And don't do it at the expense of practice and a life to live for God, but do it with a realization it will build strength in your life and in testimony.

It will give you the knowledge of what you really believe. I read across a book, I think it's Paul Littleton, it's just a small book. There's two of them aren't there? He says know what you believe in one book and another one says know why you believe and both of those are very important.

I wonder if you and I had to write down what we really believe and why we believe it, how far could we really get? We have to guard ourselves against becoming ignorant Christians and just be willing to drift along because that's the way everybody's always done it. If you were to be asked, for instance, a question about the sinlessness of Christ, just a very simple thing, the character of Christ himself, and you encounter people that would say perhaps, well he didn't sin but he could have sinned, how would you defend against that? Can you give reasons why that is absolutely wrong? I just want to stir your mind a little bit this morning. Our minds are fresh, you know, we're not getting tired of satiated with a good lunch, but we need to think about these things.

How would you prove that the Lord Jesus not only did not sin but he could not sin? Absolutely impeccable. That's an important doctrine. Well, the resurrection is an important one too because I don't want to waste time, but if you look at this chapter, it's a beautiful chapter.

You look at the first section of this chapter, you'll notice that he begins at the very beginning so far as their experience is concerned. He said go back to the gospel that you heard when you're first saved, and then he progresses through the testimony of those who have been speaking to them and bringing the word of God to them, the apostles, and then it comes on to the present experience of believers. Some have died and some are still living.

He said what is your hope if there's no resurrection? So it's a present experience. Then he goes off into the future. He says now let's think about the coming day and what God has plans and his purposes so far as the kingdom is concerned and subduing his foes.

He says we're going to go from the beginning right out to the future, then we'll come back to your present experience. Why should you even be concerned about living for Christ? And then you find as well he goes out to the future again. He says there's going to be a change and if there's no resurrection, there's no reason for a change because there's nothing to be changed into.

And so he says just remember that but coming down right back to their present experience. He says therefore brethren be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So you notice how he's blending in that which is the beginning of their experience and taking them out of the future.

Then he brings them down to their present experience again and then he takes them to the future. He says it's all intertwined together. You can't separate present reality from what is going to take place in the future.

You know doctrine really is important and I want to give you just a brief moment here because I'll have 15 minutes left. We'll look at seven reasons or seven things that he says that if you don't believe in the resurrection, there are a number of things that are very strongly impacted by it. There's evidently some that had come into Corinth.

They might have been materialistic like some people are in the world today. They said you know who cares about the resurrection because we're just living for the present. We don't really care about the future.

Besides we all know that the resurrection is impossible anyway. So there were those who were introducing that kind of a philosophy and they're undermining the confidence of the believers. Some say there's no resurrection.

I mean there are other ones who were saying well we don't want to be concerned with the material body because this old body is corrupt and sinful and prone to all the different things that are contrary to God. We're only emphasizing the things that are spiritual. Don't worry about the material.

Oh he says it's all wrong. Totally wrong. So he says I want to show you that you haven't really thought the subject through first of all.

If you believe in the resurrection of Christ and don't believe in the resurrection of believers, you've got a real problem. You notice that in the first eight or ten verses he talks about the reasons why the resurrection is genuine. The resurrection of Christ is genuine I should say.

He says look at all these witnesses there are 515 or more witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. What else do you need? So he says this is why the resurrection is true. He asserts the reality of it first and then it comes into a number of if statements.

If, if, if, if. Just think about the opposite possibility. And so he's taking them at that assumption and he's saying now if that's true then you have some real difficulties.

And then of course he brings on into the future as he does in the first section he's going to show them the reality of the resurrection. Down to verse 34, 38 or so and then he takes up from there what kind of change is going to take place. It's a wonderful chapter.

You could spend weeks studying this one chapter. But let me just give you seven things that I've enjoyed that I trust will help us to appreciate the fact that the resurrection is so vital. My brother's ended on that subject.

I'm just picking up on that. And I hope you and I live in absolute certainty not only of the resurrection of Christ but the resurrection that you and I anticipate because we live in view of the resurrection. We live in view of eternity and we're to live in view of the coming day when we will stand before the resurrected man in all of his glory.

We're not living just for day to day living in this world. That's more, life is more than that. First thing he says is this if there's no resurrection then it has a real impact upon the gospel you believed.

You believed a message that was preached to you about the fact that Christ died for our sins. You can't stop there. He was buried.

The reality of his death was proven in the fact that he was buried. But he rose again a third day according to the scriptures. So the message you believed, the message that brought you peace, the message that gave you assurance of life, the message that brought you in a relationship with a divine person is a message that emphasizes the resurrection.

You remember in the book of Acts that the apostles beginning with Peter on the day of Pentecost, what did they preach? They preached that Jesus Christ is a messiah that was promised in the old testament. That the messiah has come. That the real person that was promised from the very beginning in Genesis 3 and 15, he actually has come, the seed of the woman.

They proved that from the old testament scriptures. And they preached the fact that he had risen after he'd been crucified. That was the essence of the gospel.

It needs to still be the essence that the one that we preach is the one who is the eternal son of God, who has stepped into time to fulfill the father's will and to accomplish the great work that God had in his mind before time began to redeem lost guilty sinners like you and me and himself. And it required the resurrection. There's no savior without a resurrection.

A dead savior in the tomb cannot save anyone. A savior hanging on a cross like the Catholics have can never save anybody. He must be alive.

A living savior. The proof of his vanquish, his power over sin, over death, over every enemy and every foe. The assertive fact that God raised him triumphantly from the dead.

He says that's the gospel and that's what you believe and that's what you have received such blessing to your souls from. He said don't deny the resurrection because it affects the gospel. The second thing he tells them is if there's no resurrection that you're you're calling the apostles and all those witnesses liars.

I mean think of the number he says that attested to the reality that Christ had risen from the dead. And if you don't believe the resurrection then you're saying that they can't be dependent upon their testimony is false. And then if that's the case how can you believe anything that they teach you? If they're teaching you falsehood concerning the resurrection of Christ then anything else they teach you is not worth believing either.

So he says that that is so essential as well because it proves the veracity of all that you have in your new testament. Because it's all circled around and based upon the reality there's a real living man that was once dead and he rose again triumphantly from the dead. So he says that doctrine of the resurrection first of all is centered upon the person of Christ and all that has been testified concerning him and the body of doctrine that is built upon it.

It's all centered it's all it's all linked you can't divide it. But then he says as well going beyond that he says you've laid away the bodies of believers. Some that have died they've died in hope they've died in expectation.

They didn't die to be left in the grave that's not the end of life and that's all that salvation brings that's a wonderful thing to be delivered from eternal judgment but God has greater things for them than that. He says those that have fallen asleep in Christ if there's no resurrection they just perish. What a futile existence.

I said those also that put laid those bodies away in the grave they did so in the expectation that we'll see them again and with a certainty that they are with the Lord. He says there's a future that lies before for them because salvation won't be complete because until they're raised from the dead. God's salvation not only involves a salvation of a soul and spirit but God wants to save that body.

The redemption of the body Romans chapter 8 is so much a part of the gospel. So he says those who have died like that you've taken away their hope you've taken away the certainty there's no resurrection. He said how safe some among you that there's no resurrection of the dead.

And he goes beyond that he says just like man brought death into the world and brought judgment of the world and condemnation and ruin all came out on his heels. He says by a man a man who's come a man who moved the glories of heaven but made in the likeness of sinful flesh likeness a man that came to embrace the humanity that was under such a condition of death it came that he might give them life. He says one thing about it for sure that is that the doctrine the truth of the resurrection and what God is so intrinsically joined with what God has in his mind and what he purposes to do for eternity.

Now he says think of the future think of what God is going to do. You think he's going to let this old world continue under the domination of sin and Satan and ruin in his condition. No he says there's one that's going to put down all rule and all authority and all power every form of opposition to God it's all going to be vanquished has to be a living man only he can accomplish that.

And if Christ hasn't been raised he says who's going to accomplish it. It's the seed of the woman that's going to crush the serpent's head he has to be living and he's going to have a kingdom that kingdom is going to compose to be composed of resurrected believers as well as others in that day. But what a glorious day that's going to be but you rob you rob in a sense you're dishonoring God.

I've thought that the resurrection not only honors God it dignifies man as well because it brings man into association with the living man that's in glory now. It also robs the hope it gives hope rather it stimulates faithfulness. That's a wonderful truth I'm thankful for that.

I'm sure that anyone that's like in my situation who has laid away a wife or a husband has a great appreciation for the resurrection. And if you ever pass through that scene you'll understand. He says one thing that's even more glorious is that that man that suffered bled and died at Calvary he has a kingdom and he's going to rule he's going to reign he's going to vanquish his foes he's going to subjugate everything under his control and bring it all into absolute yieldedness and under control that all might be yielded up to God.

So there's going to be a coming day where he's going to turn everything back unto God and then God will be all in all. Wonderful day he says it depends on the resurrection. It has to be a man.

God's judgment of the world has to depend on a man. That's what Paul preaches in Acts chapter 17. He says he's appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man who he hath ordained or by the given assurance and they raised him from the dead.

My brother says we have a living man we're going to see him. He's on the throne. Well very quickly to close this just a few more.

He goes down beyond that and he says if there's no resurrection why are we suffering so much? Why should I go through all the trouble having fought with beasts at Ephesus whatever that might mean it's a literal aspect whatever it was he says why should I endure all this kind of difficulty? Why should I be afflicted? Why should I experience all the things that I'm going through for the service of Christ? You list them all you know in second Corinthians chapter 10. Amazing. So why don't we just eat and drink tomorrow we're going to die anyway there's no resurrection just live for yourself and enjoy your life and go at life the way that everybody else does.

They have no hope they have no assurance. I spoke to a man the other day he asked me he said what do you know for sure? Yeah I love that question. I said I know for sure I'm going to heaven.

He said well if you keep on living a good life you'll probably make it sometime. I said I got something better than that. Then he kept on going didn't give me a chance but anyway I can tell you I wouldn't trade places with him for anything.

Thank God we're people that are looking forward to a living savior and we're going to be with him we're going to be like him. That takes me to my next point not only the life we live presently in terms of not living just for the day and living for eternity he says just remember this there's a day coming when these bodies that are bodies of humiliation bodies that causes so much distress and so much difficulty says they're going to be changed and we're going to be changed to be like what a real man. We're going to be like him for we shall see him as he is.

Brother what's that's that's going to be a wonderful moment that's going to be tremendous. I think when you and I look upon the one who gave himself for us that endured the bruising and the buffeting and the afflictions of Calvary and to think that in that glorified state we're going to be like him. He says not only is there a resurrection but there's a transformation.

This corruptible is going to put on incorruption those that have died all that will be changed mortal mortal put on immortality. I said we shall be changed in a moment quickly of an eye at the last drop what a hope you and I have what a blessing we enjoy may God stir our hearts and encourage us in these days and help us just to look forward to the future don't get bogged down in the present and Paul says therefore brethren because of all this be steadfast inwardly steadfast and firm in your own convictions your certainty and unmovable so far as outward influences are concerned he says be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord because he says because of the resurrection your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Brethren there's a day of reward there's a day of change a transformation and you know why is because we have a living man who is now in the glory of God's right hand may God help us to live for him and to go away from this conference encouraged in him.