1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-19 YOU MUST BELIEVE IN RESURRECTION2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 You Must Believe In Resurrection

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we begin to consider the subject of the doctrine of resurrection, I've titled the message tonight, You Must Believe in Resurrection.

You must believe in resurrection. This is not an optional doctrine, an optional concept, an optional component of the Christian faith. This is something that is core and central to who we are as believers and what God declares for us as believers in Jesus Christ. You must believe in resurrection.

And Paul is writing here to the Corinthians who are having some doubts about resurrection. There's some bad doctrine creeping in about resurrection. And so there's some conflicts and things that are happening. And so Paul is going to be addressing that, correcting that. And in doing so, he's going to be shoring up our faith.

and shoring up our understanding of resurrection and the need for us to believe in the resurrection of Jesus, but also in the future resurrection of our own bodies as believers in Jesus Christ. And so starting here in verses one through four, we get the first point to consider to help us and remind us to believe in resurrection. Point number one this evening is Jesus's resurrection is part of the gospel.

One reason why you must believe in resurrection is because the resurrection of Jesus is a core part, it's an essential element of the gospel message itself. Paul begins again in verse 1 saying, "...moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain."

Here, Paul makes it clear. He's talking about the gospel message. He says, look, I declare to you, I preach to you the gospel. And I'm declaring to you, I'm retelling you the gospel that I preached to you when I was there. And you received it. You received that gospel message. And you stand in that gospel message. And it's that gospel message by which you are saved. And so Paul makes it clear. This is all about the gospel.

I preached it to you. You believed it. You are saved because you believe the message of the gospel. And it's that message that I want to remind you of, Paul says. He says in verse 3, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received. This gospel message that Paul preached to them, that he's reminding them of right now, he says, this is a message I didn't create myself.

I didn't generate this message. I didn't come up with the message. I didn't invent the message. I didn't, you know, have the idea of the message. This was a message that I received. I received this message. It was given to me by the Lord. This is the message of the gospel, the message of salvation, which was delivered to the Apostle Paul as well as to the other apostles and

But the point is, it wasn't a message that they created or invented. Pastor Charles Spurgeon says about this point, he says, "'Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it's not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors, we are repeaters. We tell the message we have received.'"

This is an important aspect of the gospel, that it's not up to us. We don't get to choose what the gospel is. We don't get to decide what the gospel is. We don't get to choose what's required for salvation or how people are saved. We don't get to decide what truth is. We declare the message that we have received.

It was given by the Lord to the apostles. It was given by the Lord through the scriptures. It's given by the Lord to us. And our commission is not to come up with a new message. Our commission is not to declare something different or unique doctrinally, but to bring forth that message that we received just like the apostle Paul did. Because it's that gospel that he preached. It's that gospel that they had believed. And it's by that gospel that they are saved.

They're forgiven of their sins. They have the promise of eternity with God. They have the hope of heaven because of that gospel. And so we need to understand this is a gospel that cannot be altered. It cannot be changed. We can't tweak it or modify it, you know, take out the parts we don't like and put in parts we want. We're not free to do that. This is a gospel message that is from God that has been entrusted to us.

And so Paul says, I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received. And here he's going to give a quick summary of the gospel message. He says that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So there's three basic components here to the gospel message. Christ died for our sins is the first one. Christ died for our sins.

The fact that he lived, the fact that he died, the fact that his death was for our sins. These are essential truths. That Jesus, when he died, it wasn't just like any other person who had died. Many other people were crucified. But it wasn't just that physical death that he experienced, but he died for our sins, on our behalf. He received the penalty and punishment that we deserve for our sins by being a perfect man,

and dying upon the cross for us. And so Christ died for our sins. And he was buried, which means he really did die. It wasn't a partial death. It wasn't, you know, that he mostly was dead. But he was fully dead. He was laid in the tomb because he was dead. He was buried. And then the third component is he rose again the third day. On the third day, he resurrected. He was resurrected and

In a glorified condition, a glorified state. Now there are other people who came back to life after they had died, right? We see those miracles take place. There's a couple of them in the ministry of Jesus. There's a few of them that we find in the book of Acts. There's a few of them in the Old Testament. Occasions where people had died and the Lord supernaturally using a prophet or some other means resuscitated a person. But resuscitating is different than resurrecting.

Lazarus is a prime example, right? He was in the tomb for four days, but Jesus resurrected him. But perhaps a better term was that he resuscitated him, that he gave him life again, but then he would die again in that body in which he now had life, although he once was dead. But when we're talking about resurrection, we're not talking about that kind of resurrection, right?

We're a body that is given life, but it's going to die again. We're talking about a final resurrection, a permanent resurrection in a glorified condition where we will live for eternity in this resurrected body. And that is the state that Jesus resurrected in. And so as he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures, it was a permanent thing. He didn't rise again to die again. He rose again in that permanent condition again.

Although he is God, he became man, he died upon the cross for our sins, he was buried, and then he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. This is the gospel message. It's simple, it's clear, it's not complicated, it's not convoluted, it's the message of salvation. God has made it accessible to each and every person.

to believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, we have the opportunity to have everlasting life. Pastor David Guzik talking about the gospel message says it's important to notice that this gospel is not insightful teaching or good advice.

At the core of the gospel are things that happened, actual, real, historical events. The gospel isn't a matter of religious opinions, platitudes, or fairy tales, but about real, historical events.

Paul, as he says, okay, here's the gospel. He doesn't then go on to outline some, you know, elaborate philosophy. He doesn't, you know, go on to describe some elaborate doctrine or thing. He's talking about facts. Here's the facts. Here's the actual events that happened. Christ died for our sins. He paid the price for sin at his death. That's an actual event, a factual event, right?

He was buried and then he rose again. It's often been said Jesus's death is the payment for our sin. And so then the resurrection of Jesus is the receipt. These two things are combined and they cannot be separated. They're both elements, core elements of the gospel message. It's the proof that that payment was made. It's the proof. The empty tomb is the proof that Jesus is who he claimed to be.

It's the proof that he can deliver those who believe in him so that we can say you are saved when you believe in Jesus because that receipt proves, it shows that the purchase was paid in full. He rose again on the third day. And so Jesus's resurrection is part of the gospel. And so this is one of the reasons why you must believe in resurrection. There's no getting around it. To be a believer in Jesus Christ, you must believe in resurrection.

Because his resurrection is a part of the gospel message. To be a Christian, you must believe in resurrection. Again, the Corinthians were struggling with that. And so we'll see that. Paul will address that in just a moment. But first, he's just establishing the reality and reminding us of the truth. These are the facts. Jesus rose again on the third day. Well, that brings us now to point number two. As we continue to look at verse four on into verse nine,

Point number two is that Jesus' resurrection is a proven fact. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a proven, it's an established fact. Again, it's not some idea, it's not some general vague concept. These are actual events, factual events that took place.

Again, in verse 4, Paul says, "...and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Let's go on to verse 9. It says, "...and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles."

Then last of all, he was seen by me also as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Here, Paul continues to speak about the resurrection of Jesus. And he wants to make it clear this is established truth, established fact. In verse 4, in verse 3 and 4 really, he says this.

These events happened according to the scriptures. The death of Jesus was not just some random act that happened. The death of Jesus was something that God had known and foretold and planned from the beginning. And so he recorded for us in the scriptures, that is in the Old Testament, there is the record of the death of this promised Savior that God said would come.

And his resurrection also, Paul says, it was according to the scriptures. Now, if you don't believe the scriptures, then there's a separate conversation that needs to happen. We kind of have to back up and start with establishing the credentials of the word of God. But assuming you believe the scriptures, then you can look and see and understand that according to the scriptures, the Messiah, the Savior had to die for the sins of the people.

and that he would be resurrected. Where do we see that? Well, there's a bunch of examples, of course, that we could consider. I'll just give one example here of the prophecy of resurrection. It's found in Psalm chapter 16, verse 10 and 11. In Psalm chapter 16, verse 10, it says, "'For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, or the grave, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.'"

You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Now this is quoted in the book of Acts chapter 2 in reference to the resurrection of Jesus. There the prophet, the psalmist speaking prophetically on behalf of Jesus says, You will not leave my soul in the grave. I will go to the grave, but you won't leave my soul in the grave. You will show me the path of life.

There is this promise, this prophecy of resurrection given here in Psalm chapter 16. You can look at Isaiah chapter 53 as well if you want to continue to consider that. Many other scriptures that we can see. It's according to the scriptures. It's established prophetically that the Messiah would die on behalf of the people for the sins of the people, but that he would rise again.

Now one thing that Paul says in verse 4 though is that he would be raised again on the third day. And so there's some things to consider about the resurrection happening on the third day. And there's not a as clear you know quotation from the Old Testament like Psalm 16 like I just shared to talk about the third day.

But Jesus used the example of Jonah. And so using the pictures that God had painted there, he used the example of the prophet Jonah and how Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. He says, even so, the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This is found in Matthew chapter 12, verses 39 and 40.

And so this is one example to consider of the picture that God painted to foretell, to foreshadow the reality of resurrection on the third day. Now, another picture to consider as you think about the third day is Paul will go on in verse 20 here of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to describe Christ as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. He's the first fruits of the resurrection.

And the first fruits was a particular kind of offering that was given. It was a sampling of the harvest that was about to take place. And this offering would be offered. There's some detailed math and calendars and stuff. But basically, because of the way that the feast would fall and then the Sabbath would fall, they would be offered basically on the third day.

And so it's perhaps another reference to that third day as Jesus, the first fruits, just like the offering that would be offered. Another example that you can consider is Genesis chapter 22. There, Abraham is instructed to sacrifice his son. It's a three-day journey. And so for three days, Abraham understood my son is dead. But then there on the mountaintop, the Lord says,

prevented him, stopped him and said, hey, good job, you passed the test. And so his son was restored to him on the third day. And so there is that picture there as well in Genesis chapter 22. Now, other scriptures that we could consider is the gospels themselves.

Because Jesus directly prophesied about the three days many times. Many times he told his disciples. And you can find it all through Matthew, Mark, Luke. These reminders, these prophecies about his resurrection on the third day. One good example of that is Matthew chapter 16 verse 21.

It says, And so he was resurrected according to the scriptures, according to the gospels, according to the prophets of the Old Testament, according to the pictures that God had established there in the Old Testament. God established it clearly for us to know that

that Jesus rose again. But we don't just have to go back to those scriptures and understand those scriptures and leave it at that. Paul goes on now to further establish the fact with eyewitnesses. And so in verse five, he says, he was seen by Cephas. Cephas is another name for Peter. Peter is an eyewitness of Jesus having been resurrected.

After his death and burial and resurrection, Peter had a personal one-on-one meeting with Jesus. Not just one, but there was one in particular that Paul is referring to here. He was seen by Peter. And then he was seen by the 12, the disciples that Jesus had kept close to him during his ministry. He met with them after he rose from the dead. And so you have these eyewitnesses, Peter and

the 12, technically the 11, because Judas had hung himself by that point. But there are these men here who can testify that Jesus rose again. But then Paul goes on to say something interesting in verse six. He says, after that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

So he's seen by Peter. Now, if it's just one person's testimony, it's like, okay, well, you know, maybe he saw what he saw or maybe he just imagined what he saw. Maybe he really wanted to see Jesus alive. And so it just kind of like, you know, pictured it. Maybe he was hallucinating. Oh no, but it was more than Peter. Oh, it was the 12th.

Well, still maybe, you know, like these are the guys that were close to Jesus. Like maybe they just came up with the conspiracy and just, you know, presented it and people just bought it. You know, it's like people believe that there's a flat earth. You know, people believe that Jesus is resurrected. Like, yeah, we can just like make up something and people believe it. It was only those 12, you know, maybe they didn't actually see what they thought they saw or maybe they just wanted to deceive everybody.

But here Paul goes on to say, okay, so then there was this other occasion where 500 people at once were there. They were gathered. They saw Jesus after his death, burial, and resurrection. And he says, look, most of these people are still alive. A few of them have died. But the majority of these 500 people right now, as he's writing to the Corinthians, they're still alive. Paul is saying, look, if you don't believe me, go check it out. Go find, you can find those people. They were there.

You can verify, you can validate. This is not, you know, some weird rumor that can't be verified. It's not some, you know, strange thing that only the select few know, right? It's not some imagination that has been shared and presented. It's the fact. There's 500 eyewitnesses, plus the 12, plus Peter. He goes on in verse 7 to say he was also seen by James, the brother of Jesus.

And then by all the apostles, all of his disciples, those who are with him. And then he says, lastly, he was seen by me as one born out of due time. And it calls us back to Acts chapter 9, where Paul is on the road to Damascus. And the Lord appeared to him, knocked him off his horse. He saw the Lord. He says, I'm not worthy of it because I persecuted the church of God. I'm the least of all the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle. But Jesus appeared to me.

And so here we have this established fact, established by the word of God, which is trustworthy and reliable and we can base our lives upon it. But we also have the eyewitness testimony of hundreds of people declaring the truth that Jesus has risen from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is a proven fact. Again, you must believe in resurrection. It's not an optional thing. It's not, you know,

an optional part of the story or the Christian faith. It's the truth. It's a proven fact. Pastor David Guzik says, if we can believe anything in history, we can believe the reliable confirmed testimony of these eyewitnesses, Jesus rose from the dead. I'm really just scratching the surface on how reliable these testimonies are and, you know, how well these truths are established.

If you want to dig deeper, if you want to search further, there's much more meat there to grab hold of and to be encouraged and reminded and established in the reality Jesus rose from the dead. It's not just wishful thinking. It's not just hopeful thinking. It's the fact of what happened. And so you must believe in resurrection. Well, moving on to verses 10 through 15, we get point number three for this evening. And that is without resurrection, the gospel is false.

So first, Paul establishes the part of resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus in the gospel message, the reality there. And so that is the truth. That is the fact. We can believe that. We can base our lives upon those truths.

But now he begins to address those in Corinth who were believing and teaching that there was no such thing as resurrection. Let's read verses 10 through 12. It says, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed."

Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Here, Paul is saying, look, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm less than the least of all the apostles because I persecuted the church of God. And yet God's grace was abundant to me. And Jesus appeared to me and he works through my life by his grace. And so I was there in Corinth and I preach the gospel to you.

Now, as Paul is writing this, there's others in their midst that weren't there when Paul preached. And so he says, whether it was me or someone else, we preached this gospel message to you. This truth, this reality that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. One of us, ministers by the grace of God, preached that to you. Now, if that's our message, if that's the gospel, that's the truth, those are the facts.

Paul says, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? And so he's addressing the situation where there are some people who had come in or maybe people who were there, but then their minds started to go sideways a bit. It's something that can happen to any of us. That's why we need to be faithful in digging into the scriptures and keeping ourselves in line with the truth of God's word.

persevering in true doctrine amongst all the winds of heresy and the waves of philosophies that come at us and try to knock us off course. And so there are people who are off course and they're saying there is no resurrection. And what Paul is establishing here is, look, if there is no resurrection, how could Christ have risen from the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. Now you might start to think, okay, wait a minute.

Isn't it possible to believe that Jesus resurrected, but that he's the only one? Do I have to believe in my resurrection? Can't I just believe that Jesus resurrected and other people don't, but just Jesus, he's the one who resurrected. Can't I believe that? Well, of course, it's possible to believe whatever you want, but it's not the gospel and it's not Christianity. Again, there are those who believe all kinds of things. You can, if you want to, believe that every other person is resurrected.

You know, they're all lined up after they die. And okay, every other person gets to be resurrected, but not the ones in between. Sure, you could believe that if you want to, but that's not the gospel. That's not what the Bible teaches. That's not Christianity. And so here Paul is saying, look, this is the truth. This is the reality of the gospel that if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. You can't try to separate these two things. Now, Paul's going to go on and

as we head in further to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tomorrow, to establish this a little bit more securely. In verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 15, he says, "'For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at his coming.'"

Here Paul is explaining there is this inseparable attachment here. We are identified as descendants of Adam. And as descendants of Adam, we all die. We inherit his sinful nature and we die as a result of sin in this world and this nature that we have inherited. But in Christ, now we're identified in Christ instead of in Adam. We're new creatures in Christ.

And so just as we died in Adam, in Christ, we all shall be made alive. Those who believe in Jesus Christ shall be made alive. Because Jesus was resurrected, those who are identified with Jesus are also resurrected. This is a very similar truth to what Paul was presenting in Romans chapter 5.

In Romans chapter 5 verse 17, he says, You see, there's an exchange that was made. We are identified in Adam, descendants of Adam, and as a result, death reigns over all humanity. But in a similar way, those who are now identified in Christ...

have the gift of righteousness and will reign in life. That is, there is resurrection for those who believe in Jesus. F.B. Meyer, the commentator, puts it this way, "...our resurrection is intimately connected with Christ. There must be such a thing, because he, as the representative of humanity, arose from the dead in a human body which was easily recognizable by those who had known him previously."

Jesus is the model. As we believe in him and are permanently attached to him, what happens to him is what is going to happen to us. And so he died, he was buried, he was resurrected. In a similar way, those who believe in Jesus, we may die. There's the rapture of the church that will also be addressed by Paul here in the later parts of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. But generally speaking, we die, we're buried, and we are resurrected in Christ.

We will reign with him in life. Paul's point here is that the resurrections are inseparable. You can't make a distinction and a separation. Jesus's resurrection and the resurrection of believers of Jesus, they're united. They're tied together. If one is true, both are true. And if one is false, then both are false. You cannot separate these two.

In verse 14, Paul says, if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. If Christ is not risen, if there is no resurrection, then our preaching is empty. We have no power in our preaching. We have no power in the gospel message. We have no power. There's nothing there. It's empty. It's just ideas and philosophies. He says, your faith is also empty. If Christ is not risen, your faith is empty.

There's nothing to trust in. There's nothing of value there if Christ is not risen. You can't separate resurrection from the Christian life, from the gospel message. Not the resurrection of Jesus and not the resurrection of believers in Jesus. If there's no resurrection, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then we have no real message and we have nothing to trust in. He goes on in verse 15 to say, yes,

And we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise. Paul says, look, I preach to you that Jesus rose from the dead. But if the dead don't rise, then what I preach to you is false. If the dead don't rise, then the gospel message is false. But the dead do rise. Again, it's the fact, it's the truth. Jesus rose again on the third day.

And so the message, the preaching has power, is meaningful. The faith that we have is substantial. We do have something to trust in because we preach Jesus Christ. Paul says in Colossians chapter 1,

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the promise of the resurrection. He says, him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. It's always looking forward to that eternity. It's Jesus that we preach, his death, his burial, his resurrection,

through which we have the hope of glory, through which we have the hope of resurrection and perfection in the presence of God for all eternity. You must believe in resurrection. It's an essential part of the gospel message. Without resurrection, the gospel is false. It has no meaning. It has no value. It has no power. There's nothing there to trust in.

But with resurrection, there's great meaning. There's great power. There's great hope in the promises of God. Well, Paul continues to drive home this point in verses 16 through 19. Gives us point number four, our final point this evening. Point number four, without resurrection, every soul is lost. You must believe in resurrection. To deny resurrection is to declare that every soul is lost. In verse 16 says,

He says, Paul here reiterates the statements that he's been making. If the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. You can't separate dead

The resurrection of his followers from his resurrection. Believers in Jesus Christ are identified with Christ. And so we're included with him in his death and burial and resurrection. That's a whole picture of baptism. That new life is not just life on this earth. That's pictured as you come up out of the water. That's not just for the next, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, whatever you have here on this earth. That's not the limit of what that's picturing.

There is an aspect of that where there's a new life in Christ and we can have this transformed life that is led by the Holy Spirit for sure. But the real picture is not the temporary life. It's that resurrected life, that everlasting life, that glorified life that is promised and yet to come. If the dead do not rise, he says, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile.

Your faith, again, it's empty. To believe in Jesus, if he didn't rise from the dead, it's like to believe in any other person who is still in the grave. Like what good does it do you to believe in someone who no longer exists, who no longer has life? But Christ did rise from the dead. But some are teaching that there is no resurrection. And Paul's saying, look, that makes faith futile. And if that's true, you're still in your sins.

Without resurrection, there's no forgiveness. Again, Jesus dying upon the cross, that's the payment for sin. The empty tomb, the resurrection of Jesus, that's the receipt. That's the proof of purchase. The payment is paid in full. As Christ paid the penalty for our sins, we, by believing in Jesus, have the opportunity to be forgiven and completely washed and cleansed from our sins. But if Christ is not risen...

that none of his teachings are true, none of his promises were true, none of his prophecies were true. He's not the savior. He doesn't have the power to forgive. And so Paul is saying, you must believe in resurrection. You can't separate these things. It destroys the gospel message that we received from the Lord. Going on in verse 18, he says, if that's true, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. Those who have died, if there's no resurrection, they've perished. They're gone. Their soul is lost.

Here, Paul is saying, look, you can't try to believe like some kind of hybrid thing. Like, okay, well, there's no resurrection, but we still live for eternity. You know, like Paul's saying, no. If there's no resurrection, there is no eternity. If there is no resurrection, there is no life after death. If there's no resurrection, there's no hope of heaven. And those who died have perished if there's no resurrection. But there is resurrection. Christ did rise from the dead.

And so there is that hope. There is that promise. Those who have died in Christ have not perished, but they are in the presence of the Lord. And Paul will teach that as we head into 2 Corinthians chapter 5. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, right? That we'll be in the presence of the Lord because there is resurrection, because he rose from the dead, and because that promise is given to us as well. And so here Paul is knocking out all of the opportunities for this promise.

bad idea, this false doctrine that there is no resurrection. There's no way around it. There's no like, you know, hybrid type of thing that could be taught or believed and be consistent with the gospel message, with the Christian life. The only option is for there to be the resurrection from the dead that took place in the life of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead that is promised to every one of his followers.

Paul goes on to finish up our passage for tonight in verse 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. This verse always stands out to me every time I read it. The hope of eternity, the promise of eternity is so substantial. It's such a huge part of the Christian life and the gospel message. It's so big and so important. It's that if we didn't have that component,

then then we are we're the most pitiable of all people i mean i mean you can look at you know people caught up in a lot of different things right a lot of people caught up in things in this life that hurt themselves destroy themselves hurt their families people get caught up in you know weird doctrines people get caught up in you know things that just really bring hurt and pain to their lives and you can look at a person caught up in something like that and have great pity

But Paul says, look, if it's only in this life that we have hope in Christ, beyond all those other circumstances, we are most pitiable because we have all of the struggles and the battles of the Christian life without the real reward that comes in eternity. This is such an important truth and it's one that we need to grasp hold of because we are so easily caught up in the temporary and

And we're looking for fulfillment and satisfaction. We're looking for reward. We're looking for resolution in this life, in our own lifetime. We're looking for justice. We're looking for righteousness. We're looking for, you know, things to be made right in our lifetime here on this earth, in the temporary. And there's a lot of so-called Bible teachers that promise all kinds of great things for this life. And there are things that God wants to do in this life.

And there is great joy that he wants to provide. But we must never lose sight of the reality that there is so much more to what God has for us than this life. And if all we have in Christ is what we obtain and experience in this life, we are the most pitiable of all people because it's in eternity that all things will be made right. It's in eternity that all things will be shown to have worked out for good.

We love that verse in Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good. We don't see that in this life. We might see some things work out together for good, but we don't see all things work out together for good. In eternity, we'll see the fulfillment of that, the completion of that. If it's only in this life, we're most pitiable above all others because the reality, the truth of all that God has for us is fulfilled in eternity, in the resurrection of these bodies.

And Paul's going to go on to get into more details as we head into 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and continue to read through this letter to the Corinthians. And so I encourage you to stick with it. And if you haven't been, you can jump in with us and continue on in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tomorrow. And Paul's going to be looking at it from a few different sides and just establishing the truth. Look, this is the reality. You as a believer in Jesus Christ will be resurrected.

When we talk about resurrection, we're not just talking about your soul entering into eternity. We're talking about your body being resurrected. It's a great mystery, a great promise, a great supernatural event that we can count on because Jesus himself rose from the dead. You must believe in resurrection. It's an essential part of the gospel. It's an essential part of the Christian life. Jesus' resurrection is significant.

It's a core piece of the gospel message. It's a proven fact written in the scriptures, prophesied, foretold, established with eyewitness testimony. It is the reality. He rose from the dead. And so we have a gospel message that is true. And those who believe in Jesus are not lost. If there was no resurrection, every soul would be lost. There would be no eternity, but there is resurrection. Jesus rose again. And so we have the hope and the promise, the guarantee that

of all these things that God has given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. And so as we believe in Jesus, we also believe in resurrection. Let's fix our eyes on eternity and remember what God has in store for us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and the great exhortation and reminder. Lord, the truth of resurrection.

It's hard for us to understand because we're so limited by these eyes that can only see the physical, that can only see and experience the temporary. And yet there is so much more, so much more to life than this life. I pray, God, that you would help us. Lord, would you open our eyes to look beyond the temporary and to understand the eternal. Lord, that we would be focused on things that have eternal value.

Lord, that we would be invested in the things of eternity because that is real life. That's what we're looking forward to. That's where everything will be made right and every promise will be fulfilled. Lord, keep our eyes fixed on you. Help us to believe. And if anyone is struggling in that, wrestling with that, I pray, Lord, that you would allow your word to take root, to develop and grow. Lord, that our faith would be established and solid.

believing the gospel, Lord, that you died upon the cross for our sins. You were buried and you rose again on the third day. It's the truth. You did that on our behalf so that we might have life in you and not just life here temporarily, but everlasting life with a resurrected body just as you experienced. Strengthen our faith, God. Help us to trust in you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.