The Hypothetical, Theological, and Personal Implications of the Resurrection

Transcript

Good morning. I know you just sat down, but I’m going to make you stand up again this morning. We’ve got to work out that rhythm, Johnny. If you’d be so kind as to open your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we’ll be reading from verse 12 to 34.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

— 1 Corinthians 15

(ESV)

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. And in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

— 1 Corinthians 15

(ESV)

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under His feet. For when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that He is accepted who put all things in subjection under Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him, who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all. Otherwise what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers and sisters, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die every day. What do I gain if humanly speaking I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Family, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, our request is simple but honest. We need help. We need help to understand your word. We recognize that your Holy Spirit is the only one that can help us understand. So we pray that the Holy Spirit would give us the help we need. Open up our eyes and open up our heart to the wonder and mystery of your word. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen. Well, imagine for a moment that archaeologists, while excavating, uncover the gravesite that they’ve never seen. It’s ancient, and from the looks of it, it’s been untouched for centuries.

As they carefully sift through the layers of history, they come across the remains of a human skeleton. This kind of discovery wouldn’t necessarily be uncommon, but what sets this particular find apart is the date and the location. It’s found just outside of modern Jerusalem, and it’s clear from the artifacts and the specific location that this grave dates all the way back to the first century. Now imagine that after weeks of delicate analysis, these archaeologists are able to perform sophisticated DNA tests, carbon dating, and extensive historical research only to make a shocking announcement. They claim with precise scientific certainty that these remains are in fact none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Now just pause here for a second. What would this discovery of the body of Jesus Christ mean for you? What would happen to your faith, your understanding of God, and everything you’ve ever believed

about the Bible? Would you still believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Could you still trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins? Or would this finding completely shatter your faith to its core? Now this is obviously hypothetical because, of course, as Christians, we know that this kind of discovery would be literally impossible. As Greg preached last week, there is overwhelming historical and biblical evidence to confirm the resurrection of Jesus. The testimony of the apostles, the early church, thousands of followers who encountered the risen Jesus offer us overwhelming proof that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead on the third day, just as He promised and just as the scriptures prophesied. But again, hypothetically speaking, what if this weren’t true? What if Jesus had never risen from the grave? What if His body still lay in an ancient tomb? What if there were no eyewitness testimony?

If we’re honest, the implications of this kind of discovery would be absolutely devastating, not just emotionally, but spiritually and theologically. If Christ had not been raised from the dead, then we would be left with nothing when it comes to our faith. Our hope for eternal life would vanish, the belief in the forgiveness of sins would collapse, and the very message of the gospel, the good news that we proclaim, would amount to nothing more than empty words. It would all be meaninglessness. Because everything about our faith hinges on this one truth. Jesus is alive. Every truth about Christianity is built upon this foundation. Now, I know this kind of hypothetical scenario might seem a bit unsettling for some of you to think about, but it’s actually a means that forces us to ask the question, how essential is the bodily resurrection of Jesus to the Christian faith?

If we are to remove the resurrection of Jesus, there would be no faith. At least not a legitimate one. As crazy as this hypothetical question might be, family, we wouldn’t be the first Christians to ask questions like this. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, asks some of the same kinds of hypothetical questions concerning the resurrection. And the reason he asks these questions is because he knew that some in the Corinthian church were doubting the bodily resurrection, which had massive implications both personally and theologically. And so Paul doesn’t shy away from these kinds of hypothetical questions. In fact, he does something very similar to what we’re doing this morning. He invites us to consider the consequences of a world where Christians doubt the reality of a bodily resurrection. In our text this morning, Paul is aiming to correct their thinking by asking these very

Hypothetical Implications

important but unsettling questions, because the questions force us to deal with the significance of the bodily resurrection and the bodily resurrection of the followers of Jesus. And so to help us along this morning, I’ve broken the text into three sections. In verses 12 through 19, we’ll look at the hypothetical implications of the resurrection. In verses 20 through 28, we’ll look at the theological implications of the resurrection. And then finally, in verses 29 through 34, we’ll look at the personal implications of the resurrection. So let’s begin this morning in verse 12. Paul writes, Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Paul begins his argument with this punchy and pithy statement concerning what he’s already proclaimed to them. And you can already see exactly what Paul is doing here. He’s essentially setting up this kind of logical framework.

He’s basically asking, since we’ve proclaimed with absolute historical certainty that Christ has been raised from the dead, brothers and sisters, why is it so hard to believe in the bodily resurrection of believers? If you remember from last week’s passage, Paul made it explicitly clear that the gospel, which includes the bodily resurrection of Jesus, had been proclaimed to them. Chapter 15, verse 3 and 4. Paul says, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. So they not only heard Paul proclaim it, but they also received it, meaning they believed that Jesus was raised, unless they believed in vain. And the point Paul is driving at here is that if Jesus was raised by God from the dead,

then why is it so hard to grasp that believers will be also raised by God from the dead? Now for the Corinthian Christians, it wouldn’t be too hard to swallow this idea of the resurrection of Jesus, because after all, Jesus is God. So of course he could be resurrected, because God is not like us humans. But for us normal humans, this resurrection for them was incomprehensible. And the reason for this hang-up was because the church in Corinth in the first century, as we’ve mentioned before, was completely steeped in Greek philosophy. And this philosophy was largely shaped by Plato, who kind of held to this idea of what’s called dualism, which taught that the material world, which includes the physical body, was considered bad, evil, or corrupt, while the immaterial, things like the soul and spirit, that was considered good and pure.

So to the Corinthians, they couldn’t conceive of a body, which they perceived as bad, as being raised after death, because death was supposed to liberate the soul from the corruption of the body. Death, according to Plato, was the soul’s escape from the prison of the mortal body, where humans could finally exist as disembodied spirits to reign in an immaterial world. Again, Paul recognized the primary issue in this particular church was that these folks were being more shaped by the culture of Corinth and the philosophy of dualism than by Christ and the scriptures. And this misunderstanding needed to be corrected. So Paul turns to this kind of conditional logic to not only refute, but to reframe their misguided view of the bodily resurrection. Paul builds his argument with a series of hypothetical kinds of if-this-then-that questions to expose the logical inconsistencies in their cultural and philosophical thinking.

And here’s what’s so clever about Paul’s argument here, is that each if builds upon the last, stacking one logical conclusion on top of the others that leads them to an absurd and inescapable conclusion. And his hope is that the sheer ridiculous of these hypothetical questions will force them to confront the flaws in their philosophy, which again, was largely shaped by the culture. So Paul, in a sense, is doing a bit of first century apologetics here. And so he’s laid the foundation, and now he’s ready to go in on the Corinthians’ philosophy of the afterlife. Look at verses 13 and 14. He says, But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. Again, remember last week when Paul made reference to some of the Christians in that church perhaps

maybe believing in vain. Well, Paul reiterates that here, but he takes it deeper. In other words, Paul is saying to suggest there is no bodily resurrection would be to imply that Jesus himself was not raised because Jesus had a physical body. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He isn’t just immaterial or spirit. He’s both humanity and deity. This is what theologians would call the hypostatic union. And just a side note, if you ever confused about this, Jesus still has a physical body. His body didn’t just go away when he was raised. His body was transformed, but it’s still a physical body. So you can see how this could create a lot of confusion among these Corinthians if they held to this platonic view of dualism. If you hold to that kind of logic, it’s impossible for human bodies to be resurrected because of your preconceived ideas about the body being evil or bad.

If you hold to that idea, you must accept that Jesus, God incarnate, God in the flesh born to us in a physical body, could not have been raised either. So you have to be consistent. If you follow this kind of reasoning, then the preaching about Jesus that Paul proclaimed to them as being raised from the dead is in vain. It’s vanity, like what we explored in Ecclesiastes. It’s meaningless. And if the preaching is empty, then the faith that you believe in, which came from that preaching, is also empty. Paul is essentially saying if what we preach to you is bogus and has no weight, then what you believe is bogus and has no weight. But Paul doesn’t stop there. He pushes it even further in verse 15. He says, we are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testify about God that he raised

Christ whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. Paul takes the Corinthians logic to the next unavoidable conclusion. If they keep this kind of logic, then Paul says that the apostles would be guilty of bearing false witness about God. Essentially to hold this view would be to accuse Paul and the apostles who represent God of intentionally deceiving people. And you can almost get a sense of Paul’s tone here. Why would we do that? What would we possibly gain by deceiving you? But Paul doesn’t stop there. He continues with this apologetic approach in verse 16 and 17. If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. So with this statement here, Paul drops the greatest of logical conclusions in the form

of this hypothetical bomb. If there is no bodily resurrection, then Christ’s body has not been raised. And if Christ’s body has not been raised, then our preaching is empty, your faith is empty and perhaps humanity’s greatest problem still remains. You’re still dead in your sins. You see Paul’s logic and the massive implications that are being explained here? If you dismiss the resurrection of Jesus because you have no room for the bodily resurrection because of your worldly philosophy, then you dismiss the entire work of Jesus on the cross. And as a result, you would still be left condemned in your sins. You see family, the resurrection of a physical body of Jesus serves as the receipt or the proof of payment for our sins. When God raised Jesus’s body from death, that was the proof that the substitute for our sin was satisfied. And so if there was no substitute for sin, then we are all just dead men and women walking,

waiting for judgment to be executed. This is where your cultural logic leads if you deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus. And more than that, it has massive implications for believers who have already died. Paul continues in verse 18 when he said, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If there’s no resurrection, then everyone who trusted in Jesus who has since died is simply gone. They have ceased to exist. Paul says they are lost in the abyss of insignificance and their hope for eternity died along with them. Paul is showing them that their entire way of thinking is built on a house of cards. You remove the resurrection of the body and everything else collapses. And then Paul concludes his hypothetical questions in verse 19, he says, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If our hope and faith is only for this fleeting, temporary life, then it’s not real hope at all. It’s just a delusion. Paul says that if this is true, then those who hope in Christ are the most pitied people on earth because our greatest hope was built on a bag of empty promises. All of our trust, all of the ways in which we sacrifice, all the encouragement we give and receive, all the hope, nothing but disillusionment. Paul says this is the only logical conclusion if there is no bodily resurrection. And he’s pushing them with this apologetic approach because he’s hoping that by laying out these hypothetical questions, these Corinthians will see the foolishness of their logic and the absurdity of following the philosophy of the culture. And family, this is a good word for us. And I ask you this morning, what is primarily shaping your understanding of the afterlife?

Is it shaped by the culture or by modern philosophy? By the songs you listen to? By the books you read or the movies you watch or the podcasts you hear? Or is it shaped exclusively by the scriptures? If it’s not shaped by the scriptures, family, you need to do some realignment because you’re in a very dangerous place. Though Paul has cracked the foundation of their logic and philosophy with this apologetics, he doesn’t stay in that realm. He’s not interested in leading them by worldly wisdom only. Remember Paul already said that he didn’t come to them with lofty speech or worldly wisdom. He wants to give them divine wisdom. And so now he turns to the theological implications of the resurrection, the deep, rich and beautiful truth of God. Paul is essentially saying we’ve followed your logic and your philosophy and we’ve seen where that leaded.

Theological Implications

It’s foolishness and hopelessness. Now let’s look at what God has said and where his divine wisdom takes us or better yet what it accomplishes. So look at verse 20 where he begins. He says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. So Paul moves from philosophy to theology. Notice that Paul does not say if in fact, instead he says, but in fact, he’s done with the hypothetical questions and now he’s delivering truth, theological facts. Paul emphatically declares Christ has been raised just as the scriptures have prophesied. So there’s no dispute. There’s no question. Jesus has been raised from the dead and the logical and theological conclusion follows. We will be raised as well. Paul says that Christ is the first fruits of those who have died. So what does that mean? Well, it means that Christ is the forerunner of all bodily resurrections.

In the agricultural world, when a farmer observed the first of its fruits, it was a sign or better yet a guarantee of what the rest of the crop would produce. So Paul uses this analogy to show that Christ is the first fruit of the resurrection. By looking at him, we have a guarantee of what will happen to us. We can know what to expect after death. Just as Jesus was raised, so we will be raised. And then Paul continues in 21 and 22, he says, for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. So Paul again gives them what we know from the garden account, that death entered through Adam. His sin introduced death to all of humanity. So he is the first fruits of death because of sin.

And in the same way Adam’s actions brought death to all, Christ’s actions, including the resurrection, guarantees resurrection for all those who believe in him. It’s guaranteed. And not only does Paul affirm the resurrection of believers, but he also tells us when it will happen. We see this in verses 23 through 25. But each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. When Christ returns, he will raise the dead and those who are still alive will be transformed. We saw this when we were going through 1 Thessalonians. But more than that, when Christ returns, which Paul refers to as the end, Christ will restore

all things. This means first he will destroy every rule, authority, and power that opposes God. Christ’s return will bring about the full consummation of history. He will renovate this world and he will restore it to what it was always meant to be, a world free from sin and Satan’s influence. And family, this is something important to understand theologically. Because no human being or human system can fix what’s broken in our world. Politicians can’t do it, though they proclaim all the time that their policies will actually fix what’s broken. Antifa can’t do it. They can try to burn everything down and start over again, but it won’t fix the problem. Christian nationalists can’t do it, no matter how hard they try. Only God can fix this broken world and make it what it was always meant to be. And he will do this when he returns.

Then Paul says in verse 26 that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Think about that for a moment. The very thing that sin brought to our doorsteps, the very thing that brought so much pain, so much sorrow, and so much fear will itself be destroyed. Paul says death will die. It will be completely vanished. Never to return, never to harm us again, and never to take from us again. This is our hope, brothers and sisters. Our Christian hope is not rooted in this life alone. This life is fleeting. This is what the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us. It’s vapor. It will pass quicker than we can imagine, and then comes eternity. And our future inheritance, the hope that we have in Christ and eternity with him, is not some disembodied spiritual utopia where we float around playing harps on clouds. Don’t let that Victorian cartoon view shape your understanding of what awaits us.

Our inheritance family is this world, made new, completely restored. Are you a justice seeker? Are you sick of the evils that exist in this world that perpetuate all kinds of injustices in our world? Family, God will deal with it. He will fix it finally and fully, and we will live in a world without sin, without pain, without injustice, without oppression, without sorrow, without fear, and without the influence of Satan, and without end. This is what awaits us. This is why Paul says that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. The resurrection guarantees that death itself will be eradicated. Heaven, brothers and sisters, in many ways will look like this. Our world, only perfected, which means we will work. We will eat. We will drink. We will laugh. Did you know that? We will sing. We will love. We will enjoy each other’s company, which is precisely why we need physical bodies.

We will be fully human, fully glorified, and fully alive. And that’s not even the greatest part of it. The most glorious aspect of heaven is the God who occupies it, and we will have Him for eternity. Look what else Jesus does when He returns. Verse 27, for God has put all things in subjection under His feet, but when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that He is accepted who put all things in subjection under Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him that God may be all in all. Now I know that sounds a little bit confusing, but this is what it means. When Christ returns, He will not only raise His people from death, He will not only destroy evil and abolish death, He will not only renovate this world, He will also hand supreme

authority back to the Father. Matthew 28, 18, Jesus said this, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. The Father gave it to Jesus. And when Jesus returns and fixes this broken world, He will give that authority back to the Father. He will subject Himself to the Father, not because He is less than the Father, but in perfect unity and submission as the Son. Jesus who is equal with the Father will willfully subject Himself to the Father. And the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will radiate forever with no end. That is what Paul means when he says that God may be all in all. The resurrection family puts on display the full glory of the Trinity, which when we see it will produce in us unending worship and eternal adoration. Brothers and sisters, we will worship the triune God forever, and that worship will

exist without the impediments of sin. We won’t be tired of worship. We won’t be distracted because we’re trying to keep our kids together. We will be preoccupied only with Jesus’ undivided and perfect worship. This is why we must believe in the bodily resurrection of believers. It means so much more than what we imagine. The resurrection carries profound and eternal implications. It shapes our hope, it shapes our future, and most explicitly it shapes our worship. And this is why family theology is so important. It’s not just for knowledge only. The truth of theology should make us buckle in praise and adoration before the bigness of God. The resurrection is not just some doctrine that we study or just kind of anchor truth upon. It is a reality to be marveled at, and it should fuel the greatest of our expectations. Paul makes the theological implications of the resurrection so big because oftentimes

Personal Implications

our view of the resurrection is so small. But Paul doesn’t stop with theology. He also moves to the personal implications of the resurrection. In other words, what does the resurrection mean for Paul, for the apostles, for the Corinthian Christians, and by extension, what does it mean for us? But before the personal implications, we have verse 29, where Paul writes, Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Now this verse 29, legit, I think is one of the most difficult verses to understand in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Hundreds of commentators have wrestled with it. We really don’t have a lot of solid historical context for this kind of what you might call vicarious baptism, and if I’m just being honest, I don’t know what that means.

And I might not know or fully understand what this means until the Lord returns, and I’m okay with that. But here’s what I do know for sure. Paul is in no way endorsing this practice of baptizing on behalf of the dead. That’s not the point. And we don’t need to fully understand that verse to grasp the larger argument that Paul is making. Paul is essentially saying, if some of you are baptizing people on behalf of the dead, but you don’t even believe in the bodily resurrection, why are you doing that? You shouldn’t be doing it anyway. But even if you’re doing this unbiblical practice, there’s no logic behind it. Why do something for the dead if according to your philosophy, the dead will simply decay? And family, that’s the best that I can make of that verse. Talk to Jan about it—he might be able to help you.

But in verses 30 through 31, Paul shifts to the personal implications of the resurrection. He says, why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers and sisters, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die every day. Paul is saying, do you have any idea what we’ve gone through, speaking about him and the apostles, because of our hope in the bodily resurrection? You have any idea what I’ve personally experienced because of it? He’s constantly in danger. Every day he’s faced the very real possibility of death for the sake of Christ and his hope in the bodily resurrection. In verse 32, he says, what do I gain if humanly speaking, I fought with beasts in Ephesus? Paul refers to fighting with beasts. He’s speaking metaphorically about the ongoing struggles he’s had with the Roman governments and all of their hostility and opposition towards him that he faced in Ephesus.

He’s asking the question, why would I endure all of this if the dead are not raised? Family, do you know what kinds of things that Paul had to endure in his life and ministry? Hunger, thirst, physical and verbal attacks, persecution, imprisonment, floggings, that’s plural, beatings, stonings, again, that’s plural, shipwrecks, plural. Not to mention that Paul probably experienced the worst case of church hurt in human history. He’s faced it all. Why? What’s the point of enduring such hardships if there’s no resurrection? Paul is essentially saying, I’d be a fool to endure all of that for nothing. Why would anyone choose to live such a dangerous life and experience so much suffering if there was no hope in a bodily resurrection? But Paul did endure it, and why does he endure so much? Because his hope is not in this world. He goes on to write in 2 Corinthians 4, 17 through 18, for this light momentary affliction

is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Paul endures all of this because his eyes are fixed on the eternal glories of heaven. He can endure the present suffering and the brokenness of his body because his hope is rooted in the fact that one day his body will be resurrected and he will have eternity with the Lord. And then Paul quotes some of the poets of the day by saying, if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And this is not just a refrain from the first century poets. It’s a sentiment that echoes throughout human history. We hear it in songs.

We see it in memes. The sentiment is the chorus of our culture today. You hear it in statements like, YOLO, treat yourself, indulge, live like there’s no tomorrow, live like it’s your best life now. If there’s no resurrection, why not eat whatever you want to eat? Drink whatever you want to drink? Smoke whatever you want to smoke? Touch whatever you want to touch? Why not live in excess if this life is all you have? Paul is showing us that without the resurrection, the logical conclusion is to indulge in every possible pleasure because nothing matters beyond this life. And what I find to be so interesting is that the same people who live by the YOLO mentality also seem to believe that everyone will end up in heaven when they die. They believe in this kind of afterlife where everyone is reunited in a better place regardless

of what they believed or how they lived. But do you see the inconsistencies of that thinking? Which one is it? Do you only live once? Or do we exist after we die? So many people in our culture, and this I think would include some professing Christians, believe in an afterlife but they imagine it as this kind of universal after-party where everyone is invited no matter their faith or their actions. But what most people fail to grasp is that what comes before the afterlife is judgment. It’s judgment. The great accounting for all the sins that humanity has committed. Most people to some degree understand this. This is why so many people throw around that phase, only God can judge me. They instinctively know. The Bible tells us that how we live now and what we believe about Christ and what He has done for us will determine what kind of afterlife we will experience.

Either eternal judgment and separation from God or everlasting peace and joy with the God who created us. Friend, if you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian, can I ask you this morning, when was the last time you thought about what happens after you die? Will you be judged by God? Or will you be accepted by God? And if you believe that you will be accepted by God, my question is, on what basis should this good God accept you and let you enter into His heaven? Is it because you think you’re good enough? Is it because you maybe compared yourself with some of the worst kinds of people and you think to yourself, well, at least I’m not that bad. Surely God should accept me. Listen, the Bible says that no one is good. No one is righteous. Not even one. God doesn’t judge on a curve.

He judges on perfection. So comparing yourself to people who are worse than you is not a good look. Listen, there is nothing that you can do to save yourself from the consequences of sin. And the Bible is clear. It says that the consequences of sin is eternal death. Which is precisely why Jesus came, to die for sin. Someone had to pay for your sin and my sin. And that person had to be without sin, if God was to accept him. And so the Father sent His unique Son, His perfect Son, to die on the cross, to pay for the sins that we’ve committed against Him and each other, to rescue all of those who would trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins. He came to save those who could not save themselves. He came to save bad people, unrighteous people. All that He requires is that you turn from your sins and trust in Jesus

as your Savior. And then He will accept you. It doesn’t matter the sins of your past. He will wash you clean and He will secure your future eternity with Him. And if you want to know more about what it means to follow Jesus, ask anyone in this building, ask them if they’re a Christian, and if they say yes, they will help you to follow Jesus. Family, then Paul ends his discourse with this warning. He says in verse 33 and 34, do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor as is right and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Paul is quoting the poets again when he says bad company ruins good morals. He’s reminding them and us that bad influences can corrupt even the strongest of Christians.

So he’s challenging us to think about the company we keep. Family, can I ask you, are the people in your life pushing you to live for more than just this life only? Or do you surround yourself with people who are pulling you away from heaven and holy living? Does your circle of friends encourage you to indulge without limits or conviction? When they talk to you about the life that is to come, the life beyond the grave, is their perspective shaped more by the culture or from the Scriptures? Do they drag you away from the promises of God and move you into the temporal pleasures of this world? If so, wake up, sober up. Think about the implications of the people that you kick it with. Paul uses the phrase drunken stupor and it’s so accurate because intoxicated people can’t make wise decisions. Their judgment is impaired.

This is why we don’t let people drive drunk, because their ability to make life and death choices are significantly hindered. Paul is saying sober up, wake up and stop sinning, stop living as though you have no knowledge of God, as though there is no resurrection. When you live this way, it’s as if you don’t know the gospel. It’s as if you’re living as if there’s no hope in the resurrection. And if that’s the case, maybe you need to examine if you actually do have the hope of heaven. Paul is urging Christians to know God and to remember the gospel. Remember that Jesus died for your sins, that he was buried and remember that he raised him from death, which is the proof and promise of eternal life. Sober up, watch the company you keep and remember the gospel. Paul makes that as sticky as he possibly can.

Living the Resurrection

Sober up, watch the company you keep and remember the gospel. Paul, he’s concerned that a truncated view of the gospel will lead to a truncated view of God, which will ultimately lead to our shame. If your view of God is small, everything else, including the resurrection, shrinks. But when God’s big, everything about him matters, especially the most significant part, the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of all those who belong to him. Now, what does this mean for us this morning as members of Trinity Church? What do all these implications of the resurrection mean for us in the here and now? Well, first, a proper understanding of the resurrection should compel us to live holy and radical lives. If we understand the resurrection, it should shape the way we live each day of our life. Every day should be marked by obedience to God and a willingness to sacrifice for others

because we know this life is not all there is. So spend it, family, for the glory of God and for the good of his people. The resurrection teaches us that our time here is just the beginning and that reality should influence every aspect of our life. Our daily decisions, our work, our family, our friendships, and even how we spend our free time. Now, family, a good question to ask yourself this morning is, what are you willing to risk for the sake of the gospel? What are you willing to endure knowing that the resurrection guarantees eternal life? Here’s the truth. One of the greatest obstacles to holy living and radical lives in our culture is comfort. Comfort is one of the greatest killers of Christian flourishing, but family, God has not called us to live comfortable lives. Following Jesus, he said, would be costly. This is why Jesus said to follow him requires picking up your cross.

We are called to live in light of that even when it costs us everything. But the resurrection should be a reminder that it’s all worth it. Jesus says to the one who is faithful, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. Family, that is the glories of heaven. Number two, the resurrection challenges the culture’s assumptions and conclusions about death. What does death mean in our culture today? For many people, it’s something they don’t even want to think about, let alone talk about. They are so scared of death that they won’t even use the word death or die. Instead, they use words to kind of soften the blow. They say things like they passed away or they’re in a better place now, or they pretend as if death doesn’t exist. They don’t even think about it. And if they do, they cling to these empty sentiments like all people go to heaven without

really understanding what that means. This family should motivate us as believers. The resurrection should compel us to lovingly and boldly share the gospel with those who are lost and afraid of death. Because we know what comes after death. We have the truth of eternal life and it’s our responsibility and our privilege to help others see the inconsistencies in their worldview concerning the afterlife. We are called to point them to Jesus with gentleness, with love, and with care, showing them the folly of trusting in anything else other than Christ. Okay? Number three, the resurrection is our greatest hope. For those of you who are suffering, for those of you who are sick, for those of you who wrestle with everyday pain or depression, for those of you who are grieving the very hard circumstances of life, for those of you who have lost the ones that you love, the

resurrection of the body offers comfort like nothing else that this world can offer. It is the only source of hope that truly sustains believers through the darkest and most difficult days. The resurrection reminds us that this life is just the very beginning and it will be done with in a fleeting moment. And because of that, brothers and sisters, we can endure all things, even the hard and seemingly unbearable things, because we know that one day all things will be subjected to the Father and be made right. Family, I preach this to myself all the time. So much of my life is shaped by suffering. I had to preach this to myself this very week. You don’t need to be afraid of suffering or question God’s goodness because suffering in this life exists, because the resurrection promises a future where every wrong will be made right, where all suffering will be eradicated and all sin will cease, and that God is working

all things for our good, including the suffering. Family, have you ever thought about the fact that one day the very sin you fight will be no more? How many times have you thought about that? This is one of the greatest realities of the resurrection. We won’t have to fight sin anymore. We will rest from that internal struggle of putting our sin to death because sin will be eternally dead. And if you don’t feel that tension as a Christian, then brothers and sisters, you’re probably not fighting your sin the way you should. It’s hard work. As a church, we should be encouraging one another of this reality, reminding each other of the weightiness and the hope that we have in the bodily resurrection through Jesus Christ, the first to be raised. Family, the resurrection isn’t just a doctrine to be believed. It’s a truth that we need to cling to in the darkest of days, and it should change the

way we live. It should change the way we hope, and it should propel the way we engage our world. Let us live with the power of the resurrection in our hearts, knowing that because Christ has been raised, family, we will all be raised as well. Amen? Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we do thank you for your word and how it declares to us the truth that just as you have been raised, we will also one day be raised, and we will be with you forever. So nothing in this life should cause us fear. Nothing in this life should cause a threat. You have paid for everything to secure our eternal hope. And Father, we pray that you would help us to rest in that when we don’t believe it. We pray, God, that you would give us eyes that look to the glories of heaven when everything

around us in our world seems so dark and falling apart. Help us in our moments of depression and anxiety and fear and distrust. Help us to know that you are working all things together for our good, that you reign, that you will make all things new, and that we will be with you forever. We need that constant reminder. Burn it into our hearts, we pray. In Christ’s name, amen.