Victory Through Christ

1:05It's frustrating in sports when your rival seems impossible to beat. But of course, our greatest rival, our greatest enemy, is death. And death, since the Garden of Eden to the resurrection of Christ, was undefeated. And ever since the resurrection of Christ to today, Death has been undefeated. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for everyone who has to face death. And we have been meditating on this glorious gospel the past three weeks as we've looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, a chapter that we'll be finishing up today as we cover verses 50 through 58. And what we're going to learn today is that through Christ, God gives us eternal victory over sin and death. Let's take a look at the text now together.

2:07Verse 50 begins with the attention-grabbing statement: I tell you this, brothers, that's your clue that whatever is coming up next is really important. It's kind of like when I'm preaching and I'll say, listen to me. It's not necessarily that you haven't been listening to me. I certainly hope you have been, but it's my way of saying that what is coming up next is really important. I don't want you to miss it. And Paul doesn't want us to miss what he's about to say here in verse 50. What exactly is it that he feels is so important?

2:44It's this statement. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Not everybody makes notes in their Bible. But if you do, I want you to take a minute and highlight or underline the word cannot. Paul doesn't say that flesh and blood may not inherit the kingdom of God. He doesn't say that flesh and blood probably won't inherit the kingdom of God. No, Paul declares flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It's not possible for that to happen. And as we talked about last week, Paul isn't saying that we're not going to have physical bodies, physical bodies of flesh and blood in the resurrection. He's simply restating what Jesus himself taught, that we must be born again if we're going to inherit the kingdom of God. Now, the phrase born again has become a little bit like the word evangelical in the United States over the past 50 years. It's a phrase that has been drained of its biblical meaning. So today, when you hear certain people talk about Christians, especially when they're doing political polling or demographic research, they act like there's a bunch of different types of Christians. And one type, one subgroup of Christians, are those who identify as born again.

4:23Well, Jesus was very clear that there's only one type of Christian, only one type of person who's going to enter the kingdom of God. And that is the one who has been born again. Take a look at Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, who was a religious leader, in John chapter 3. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

5:24As we can see, as always, Paul is proclaiming the exact same message that Jesus himself proclaimed. And that message is, you must be born again. It's significant that Jesus is talking to Nicodemus alone, and yet in the Greek, the word you in you must be born again is plural. Every person must be born again. To enter God's kingdom, a second birth, a spiritual birth, is necessary. It doesn't matter if our parents are Christians. Christians, we can't enter the kingdom of God through physical birth.

6:06Doesn't matter if we dedicate ourselves to certain religious habits, we cannot enter the kingdom of God by working our way into it. Doesn't matter how much theology that we know, we cannot think our way into the kingdom of God. There is one way and only one way to enter the kingdom of God, and that is by being born again. Because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen to John's summary in the introduction to his gospel.

6:51Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. My friend, have you been born again? Have you experienced the second birth? If you have received Jesus by confessing with your mouth that he is Lord, and by believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead, God's Word says that you have been born again.

7:35But if you haven't received Christ by faith and by faith alone, in his sinless and obedient life, in his death on the cross, and in his resurrection from the dead, then you haven't received the second birth. And it doesn't matter if your parents are Christians, if you're a religious person who practices certain religious habits, or if you know many facts about Jesus and God's Word. Remember how Paul began. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. If you want to inherit the kingdom of God, you can't put your hope in anything or anyone other than the person and work of Jesus Christ.

8:27Let's pick up in verse 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. The great mystery, of course, is that not every believer will be asleep, that is, dead. That's a Christian euphemism. Meaning that when Christ returns, some believers will still be alive, and so they won't need to be resurrected. Only those believers who die prior to Christ's return need to be raised. Everybody else will simply be changed. Our earthly bodies will be transformed into the imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies that we learned about last week. So, a relevant question at this point is: Did Paul expect that Jesus would return in his lifetime? And if so, does the fact that Jesus still hasn't returned mean that he was wrong?

9:44Well, first, we should note that Paul never says that Jesus would certainly return in his lifetime. If he did say that, he would have been wrong, and that would have led many people astray. Not only that, it would have led many to doubt what else that he wrote that might also be untrue. But to answer the question directly, Paul absolutely expected Jesus to return during his lifetime. It was his eager hope, as it was for all the apostles. See, the Bible ends with Jesus saying, Surely I am coming soon. And the Apostle John responding with, Amen, come, Lord Jesus. So if I Were to ask you, do you expect to be alive when Jesus returns? I hope that you would answer without hesitation, yes, I do expect to be alive when Jesus returns. After all, what are the alternatives? No, I won't be alive when Jesus returns? Well, you don't know that. In fact, Jesus said that no one but the Father knows the day or the hour of his return, so you certainly can't say that you know you won't be alive when Jesus returns. What about, I doubt I'll be alive when Jesus returns? Well, that response goes against everything that Jesus taught us to believe about his second coming. What is the point of all the exhortations to be ready, to be prepared, to stay awake, to be watchful?

11:23See, friends, every Christian should live as though Christ is going to return in our lifetimes. And not just in our lifetime, but today, at any moment. Take a look at Matthew 24, verse 44. Jesus said, Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So Christ will return while some believers and perhaps many believers are still alive. And then we will all be changed. But how will this happen? How will our bodies be changed from earthly bodies, the earthly bodies that we have now, into the heavenly bodies that have been promised to us? Well, verse 52 tells us. Paul said, in a moment's time, that Greek word is atmos. It's where we get our word atom.

12:25In the blinking of an eye, in the time it takes to blink, a trumpet is going to sound and Christ will return and then we will all be changed. Now it's important to know that in Judaism, the trumpet signaled celebration, it signaled triumph. It often initiated important feasts in Jewish national life. We get a more complete picture of this from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Take a look. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will all. Always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

13:38So we see that when Jesus returns, His return is going to be announced with a trumpet blast, and those believers who have already died, they will rise first. And then, after Christ has resurrected the dead believers, He tells us that we who are alive, who are left, are going to be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. We ourselves will be changed in an instant. Our perishable bodies will be transformed into imperishable ones. Our mortal bodies will be transformed into immortal ones.

14:21And this, my friends, is where it gets really, really good. Let's pick up in verse 54. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? When Jesus returns, and believers who died are raised, and believers who are still alive are changed. Then finally, the prophecies of Isaiah and Hosea will come to full, complete fulfillment.

15:11First, Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah, who declared that death would be swallowed up in victory. As we saw back in verse 26 of this chapter, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Contrary to the teaching of many Greek and modern philosophers, death is not a friend to be embraced. Death is not a natural part of life in this world. Death is an enemy because death, both spiritual and physical, is a consequence of our sin. Life is found in submission to God and His good commands. Death is the result of our rebellion against Him. Isaiah 25 looked forward to the day when God would judge the world in righteousness, when He would wipe away every tear from every eye, and when He would prepare a feast for His people to enjoy.

16:13Victory over death was won by Christ with His own resurrection from the dead, and the benefits of His victory are applied to all of His people when He returns to raise every believer from the dead. At that time, Death will finally be destroyed. It will be swallowed up in victory. Second, Paul quotes the prophet Hosea, who spoke of the day when death was no longer victorious, because it had lost its sting. Now, this prophecy is harder to interpret in its context than Isaiah's prophecy, but thankfully, Paul helps us to understand Hosea's messianic meaning in verse 56. Take a look there.

17:03Verse 56: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Now, that word translated sting is most often used in connection with the sting of bees and especially of snakes. I want you to think of certain venomous snakes in the Middle East. When they bite another animal or a human being and inject their venom, that sting leads to death. Death doesn't come instantly, but it does come inevitably. It's an appropriate illustration for sin, which is why I believe that God inspired Hosea to write it and Paul to quote it. Every one of us has been stung by sin, and the wages of sin is death.

18:00Physical death doesn't come instantly for us, but it does come inevitably as the result of our sin. And where does sin's power come from? Paul notes that the power of sin comes from the law. Now that might sound off to you. How could the power of sin come from God's perfect and holy law? Well, thankfully, Paul answers that question very helpfully in Romans chapter 7. Look here. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it, killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

19:30Paul wrote, For apart from the law, sin lies dead. He's not saying that before the law, no one sinned. Rather, he's saying that the law is an expression of God's perfect holy standard, and God promised that if we kept his law, we would live. But of course, in spite of Israel's many promises and our many promises to try harder to do better to keep God's law, none of us kept it. We can't keep it because we are sinners by nature. So, as Paul says, the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. Look at what commentator David Pryor wrote: However holy, just, and good it might be, the law condemns all men by its strict requirements. It even throws the reality and seriousness of sin into sharp relief through its precise definition of sin as transgression of God's commandments. Indeed, man's inner propensity to rebel and disobey actually makes him want to do the opposite of what God's law requires. We see the sign, no trespassing, and its very presence makes us want to trespass. In these ways, sin exerts is its inexorable grip over us. And the law serves only to spell out the seriousness and the strength of that grip.

21:09So the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But what Paul is saying is that death's sting has been removed, its victory is no more. How can that be? Look at verse 57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This victory over sin and death is not our victory, it's Christ's victory, but it's a victory that He shares with us through faith. Christ defeated sin by being tempted in every way, just like we are, and yet never sinning. He succeeded in obeying every single part of God's law. As He Himself said, He didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Then Christ defeated death, and He did this first of all by dying in our place for our sins, for our failure to keep God's law. That might seem counterintuitive, but Christ defeated death by dying, but it's what the scripture said must happen. Look at Galatians chapter 3.

22:34Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And once Jesus died in our place for our sins, he was buried, and on the third day he defeated death by rising from the grave, as Paul reported and explained earlier in the chapter. Listen to Paul explain the victory that Christ won for us more clearly in Romans chapter 5.

23:11Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

23:53By the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. The victory was Christ's and Christ's alone, but he shares the victory with us. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we come to verse 58 and the conclusion to this very long chapter on the resurrection. Take a look at verse 58. It begins with this word, therefore. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.

24:50Paul begins with the word, therefore, because he is saying that this conclusion is the natural result of everything that he has taught up to this point. In light of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, in light of our own future resurrection from the dead, in light of the fact that Jesus is going to return to the blast of the trumpet at a time no one knows and no one can predict, how then should we live?

25:23First, he says, we should be steadfast and immovable. Well, what does he mean? He means that we must remain grounded and rooted in the true gospel that the apostles preached. In Corinth, there were those who doubted the resurrection, and perhaps many more who denied the resurrection altogether. After all, that was the prevailing cultural view: that whatever may happen after death, it certainly did not include anyone being raised from the dead physically. That's true in our context today as well. So many people doubt or deny the idea of a physical resurrection altogether. So we have to remain steadfast and immovable in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We shouldn't allow those who doubt or deny the resurrection to discourage or distract us. Instead, what should we do?

26:28Well, we should always abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, our labor is not in vain. Well, what is the work of the Lord? Jesus defined it first and foremost as believing in Him, the Savior who is sent by the Father. But secondly, it's the great commission that He gave to us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

27:00And teaching them to observe everything that Jesus commanded to us. That labor is not in vain. And that's true no matter what people say. It's true no matter what results we see or don't see. It's true no matter how we feel about it on any given day. We are called to be faithful. And that's because we are stewards of the mystery of the gospel. We are heralds that God has charged to go and declare the good news, the message that He has given to us. It's our responsibility simply to deliver that message without changing it or altering it in any way.

27:53So, Christian, let me ask you: are you standing firm, steadfast, and immovable in the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you're not, you can't be surprised if you're not abounding in the work of the Lord. There are some of you who used to be on fire for Christ. Studying God's Word was a privilege, prayer was a delight. Discipleship was a labor of love. Evangelism was a joy. But something changed. And now reading God's Word seems boring to you. Prayer seems like a chore.

28:52Discipleship is draining. Evangelism is extinct from your life. Is it possible that you have drifted away from the gospel of Jesus Christ so slowly that it was imperceptible to you as it was happening? But you look at yourself now, and after many months, many years of drifting slowly away, you see just how far you are from where you began. I don't want you to be defensive. I want you to be honest. Friends, the key to abounding in the work of the Lord is to remain firmly rooted and grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to be steadfast and immovable.

29:53Some of you need to return to your first love, Jesus Christ, as the Apostle John wrote. In Revelation, some of you need to do that today. You need to return to your first love because Jesus loved you and loves you and He gave Himself for you. But I know there are others who might say, Pastor Alan, that's just not me. As far as I know, I am grounded in the gospel. I am abounding in the work of the Lord.

30:33Well, that is wonderful if that's the case. But let me remind you also of Paul's warning to the Galatians to keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. You see, nobody finds themselves far from Christ overnight. What happens is we drift away slowly at a glacial pace until one day we finally wake up and realize just how far we've drifted away from him. So don't take it for granted that just because you're standing firm in the gospel today, that you'll always be steadfast and immovable in the gospel of Jesus Christ later in your life. Keep watch on yourself so that you aren't tempted. Work each day to ground yourself in the gospel. Read God's Word. Remind yourself of its truths. Pray to Him. Ask Him for help. Ask Him for perseverance to endure to the end.

31:44And friends, if you're watching and you're not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, let me ask you: Do you have the kind of confident hope that Paul describes in this chapter? Can you honestly say that you can face your own death and whatever may come next without fear? Tim Keller wrote this: It is not the fact of death per se, but the gnawing uncertainty of what lies beyond it that cannot but disturb us. You might say to me, Alan, you can't prove that there's anything more after death.

32:43Well, you're quite right, but you also can't prove that there isn't. And so, in the end, both of us are exercising faith. So, here's my appeal to you. Instead of hoping that there's nothing beyond the grave, instead of hoping that you're right or the people who have told you there's nothing beyond the grave are right, why not look to the one who claimed to be God, who reportedly lived a sinless and perfectly obedient life to God, who claimed that he would be killed and on the third day rise from the grave, and whose followers and other witnesses claimed that indeed he did rise from the dead.

33:39Why not trust that man to tell us what this life is really all about and what it takes to inherit eternal life in the life that is to come? Friends, I hope that you will trust him because it is only through Christ that God gives us eternal victory over sin and death. Let's pray. God, we thank you for the wonderful truths that we have been able to explore the last month in 1 Corinthians 15. So many doubts, so many questions that the Corinthians had about the resurrection are legitimate questions that so many of us have had or still have today.

34:45So we see your infinite wisdom in inspiring the Apostle Paul to write these words, knowing that they would not just be helpful for a group of people in a large city in the first century over in Asia, but that they would also be helpful for millions of people living thousands of years later, scattered all across the world. God, we pray that you would help us to see Jesus for who he is, who he claimed to be, and who he proved to be. I pray for every Christian that you would help us to remain steadfast and immovable, grounded and rooted in the gospel, so that we can abound in every good work, not just sort of skate by, not just sort of occasionally devote ourselves to you and to your work in the world, but to give our lives for it.

35:50And Father, I certainly pray for those who have not yet believed in Jesus Christ. I pray that you would grant them repentance and faith. I pray that they would confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that you raised him from the dead, so that they would have the same confident hope that we have. And so they could face death with the hope and the peace and the joy that the Apostle Paul says we can.

36:27In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.