Worthless Faith

Transcript

GR 1366
11-18-07
Worthless Faith
I Corinthians 15:12-19
Gil Rugh

What a great God and His greatness is seen by us in every area of life. Creation unfolds the wonder of His person. One of the key areas where God displays His power and greatness is in the transformation that He brings about in out salvation, and the completion of that salvation will come with the resurrection of our bodies from the dead. And that's what I Corinthians 15 is about, the resurrection of the dead, so if you would turn there in your Bible.

This is the only purely doctrinal chapter in all of I Corinthians. I Corinthians is a rather long letter, 16 chapters as we have, and instructions on a variety of areas. But the only chapter that is really just doctrinal and unfolding doctrinal issue is chapter 15, and the issue is the resurrection of the dead. Paul spent the opening verses of this chapter reminding them of the gospel which he preached, and which they had believed. He emphasized four parts to that gospel in verses 3-5—Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried, He was raised from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures, and He appeared to numerous witnesses. The first and third points are the key ones and he reinforces that by saying this is what the Old Testament scriptures said would happen to Him. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and the Old Testament prophesied and spoke of the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. He was raised from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures. He was going to die for our sins, He had to have victory over sin and death, for the wages of sin is death. And He had to be raised from the dead in order to demonstrate that the victory over sin and its penalty which is death had been paid.

Paul is focusing on the resurrection, so he elaborated on the appearances of Christ to certain key witnesses in verses 5-8, who saw Christ after His resurrection from the dead, when He left the tomb and before He ascended to heaven in Acts 1. There is one witness who is outside that boundary, and that is the Apostle Paul himself, who saw Christ in that confrontation on the Damascus Road in Acts 9. When Paul talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he is talking about the bodily resurrection of Christ, the same body that was crucified on the cross, nailed to the cross, pierced with the soldier's spear, placed in that tomb, was raised back to life. That's what we're talking about when we talk about resurrection. Not some kind of spiritual reality, but an actual physical bringing back to life of the body of Christ.

I want to look at two passages with you, first Luke 24. Here we are unfolding some of the appearances of Christ following His resurrection. Verse 36, while they were telling these things He Himself stood in their midst. But they were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit. In other words the spiritual presence of Christ, His spirit had come to them. But they doubted whether it was an actual reappearance of the physical body of Christ. He said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. When He said this He showed them His hands and His feet. Verse 42, they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and He took it and He ate it before them. And in future studies as we move through I Corinthians 15, we'll talk about the characteristics of the resurrection body. What I want you to note here is Christ wants them to understand and know for sure without doubt, this is the same body that was nailed to the cross, has the marks of the nails in the hands. Touch Me, a spirit does not have flesh and bones. His resurrected body has actual flesh, actual bones. It wasn't a spirit, it had material substance to it. He could eat, He took fish and ate in their presence, just as He had done many times during His earthly life and ministry with them. So the point we want to note here is it was the same physical body that was Christ as He lived on earth, that was nailed to the cross, that was buried in the tomb, that was raised from the dead.

Come over to John 20. Here we are on the evening of the day, Christ has risen early on the first day of the week, now we are in the evening of that first day. The disciples have barricaded themselves, if you will, in a room, because they think that perhaps the Jewish leaders will be coming now to arrest them. They've crucified Christ, now it would be natural to think they are going to come and try to do a mop-up operation and arrest us and perhaps execute us as His followers. So we're told in verse 19, so when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. See my hands, the print of the nails is there. My side where the soldier thrust his spear, you can see it's Me, it's the same Me. It's not an apparition, it's not some kind of spirit manifestation of Christ. It is Me in My physical body. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Come down to verse 24, but Thomas, who had a twin, so he is called Didymus which means the twin, he was one of the twelve but he wasn't present on that occasion. So verse 25, the other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord. He said to them, unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the place of the nails, put my hand in His side I won't believe. Your eyewitness testimony is not good enough for me. I really cannot believe that there could be actual bodily resurrection of Christ. I don't believe what you are telling me. Eight days after the initial appearance, verse 26, His disciples were inside, Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut and He stood in their midst and said, peace be with you. Then He said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands. Reach your hand, put it in My side. Do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas said, my Lord and my God. He was overwhelmed, he recognizes this is the One who was crucified. Indeed His body has been raised, He is his Lord and his God. Jesus said to him, because you have seen me and believed. Blessed are they who did not see and believed. None of us have ever seen the resurrected body of Christ, we believe the testimony of those who have. And we have experienced blessing for that.

I just want us to be clear, when we talk about the resurrection in I Corinthians 15, whether we're talking about Christ's resurrection or the coming resurrection of our bodies, we are talking about these bodies. There can be no distinction. Sometimes people think, well, the body of Christ, that was unique and His resurrection was unique. There are unique things about His resurrection, but it's the same bodily resurrection that you and I will experience. You say, well He was only in the tomb three days, His body didn't have a change to decay, the fish hadn't eaten it because it was thrown in the sea, or the animals or the worms, or it hadn't returned to dust. It makes no difference. As we talk about the resurrection of the body in I Corinthians 15, keep in mind the connection that is consistently made between the resurrection of Christ's body and our bodily resurrection. And the body in which you are living now, that is the body that will some day be resurrected or transformed. We'll talk about the differences as we move through I Corinthians 15.

Come back to I Corinthians 15:11. Paul says this is the only gospel that I preach or any of the apostles preach. Verse 11, whether, then, it was I or they, whether I was doing the preaching or Peter was doing the preaching, or James was doing the preaching, it doesn't matter. It's the same gospel—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the only gospel, that's the only message the Corinthians claimed to believe.

Now having reminded the Corinthians of these foundational matters, Paul turns to address the situation at Corinth that needs to be corrected. Some at Corinth are denying there is going to be a resurrection of the bodies of believers. So in verses 12-19 Paul will show the consequences. If Christ has not been raised from the dead, what does that mean? If believers are not going to be bodily raised from the dead, what does that mean? And the consequences are disastrous. There is no such thing as Christianity, there is no such thing as salvation if there is no bodily resurrection of believers.

Pick up with verse 12, now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, and He is. That's his whole point of the first eleven verses, that's the gospel which I preached to you which you believed. Verse 1, I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you. The death, burial, resurrection and appearances of Christ, that's what I preached to you. This is what the other apostles preached, and we looked at examples of that. If Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, and that's how He is preached, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Some in the church at Corinth, we don't know how many, we don't know who. Evidently they were in places of influence in the church. It's serious enough Paul takes 58 verses as we have it in this chapter to address the subject and clarify it.

We noted some of the views on bodily resurrection at the time when we started this chapter. Just refer again to the Greeks' view of the body and bodily resurrection. The Greeks, and remember Corinth is a Greek city, so perhaps some of these people were trying to integrate the thinking of the Greeks and the Greek philosophers and so on, and what they had learned in Christianity. The Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul, but they did not believe in the immortality of the body. They thought at death the spirit left the body and returned and was absorbed into deity, so they didn't have a concept of personal, individual immortality. But upon death the spirit left the body and returned and was absorbed back into the god who had given it. And the body was dead and gone, good riddance, because we didn't want it anyway. So the Greeks did not have a concept of bodily resurrection. So it's not unusual that some of these Greeks would be confused in their thinking, and some of these believers in the church at Corinth were getting confused on this. So Paul addresses the matter, and he addressed it in a matter that is not like some of his other corrections and rebukes. His correction to the Corinthians will be more in the form of instruction. Now he is clear, there is no wiggle room here, there is no room for different opinions. But he doesn't deal with them with the severity that he does with some other false teaching.

Turn over to Galatians 1. Remember the Judaizers were infiltrating the churches in the region of Galatia, so Paul wrote the letter to the Galatian churches and concerning those who were preaching a variation of the gospel which Paul says is not a form of his gospel at all. He says to the Galatians who were being influenced by this in verse 6, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of God, for a different gospel, which is not really another. And then he pronounces anathema, a curse upon any who would teach such a thing. He doesn't do that in his letter to the Corinthians, he doesn't express amazement that they would abandon Christ, he doesn't pronounce a curse on those who were doing such teaching. Look at Galatians 3:1, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Christ was portrayed as crucified. I mean, what in the world is wrong with you? Who brought you under their spell that you would allow yourself to be turned away from the gospel? Paul doesn't deal with the Corinthians that way.

Turn over to II Timothy 2. Paul writes to Timothy whose ministry is at Ephesus, a church in Asia Minor, and in verse 16. He has just exhorted Timothy to be careful to handle the Word of God accurately so he can be approved by God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed in verse 15. Verse 16, but avoid world and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. Gangrene destroys the body, kills it, so you end up having to amputate a finger or a hand or an arm or a portion of the leg or whatever because it's been infected with gangrene. And to save the body you must do that radical surgery. So here this teaching is like gangrene, it is destructive and destroys. Among whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place. They upset the faith of some. Paul deals with this rather harshly. He names the false teachers here, he says their teaching is like gangrene.

Turn back to I Timothy 1:20. He referred to some in verse 19 who suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus, the man we just saw in II Timothy 2. Along with Alexander whom I have handed over to satan so they'll be taught not to blaspheme. He puts Alexander and Hymenaeus under discipline, they are put out of the fellowship of the church.

In I Corinthians 15 he deals with it a little differently, come back there. This doesn't mean the issue in Corinth is not serious, this is not a minor matter, it's not just a difference of opinion. But you get the idea Paul thinks that they are just confused. They need further instruction on the matter, and so he is going to deal with that. But make no mistake, there is no room for a differing opinion here. It's black and white, this is right and this wrong. But it doesn't seem that the Corinthians are willingly rebelling against Paul and the teaching of the apostles on this, they are just confused. Like we would sometimes take a person aside and say, I think you're confused, you don't understand what the scripture is saying on this matter. And they are open to that and they say, I was confused. That's different than a person who is willingly rejecting the scripture and rebelling against it.

So if Christ has been preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? Now we're going to develop some of the implications of such teaching. Verse 13, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. Now he goes backwards. You'd think he might start out and say, since Christ has been raised, that means you will be raised. And he'll come to that kind of argument at a later time. But his argument now is if you deny the bodily resurrection of believers, that means Christ could not have been raised. So he goes from the general position, if there's no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. You say, wait a minute, Christ is a unique situation. He was God and He was man. Yes, He was completely God, but He was also completely man.

Turn over to Hebrews 2:14, therefore since the children share in flesh and blood, referring to those He was going to redeem. They were flesh and blood, they are human beings. He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless Him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but to the descendant of Abraham. Christ did not take upon Himself the nature of angels, so there is no salvation for angels. Satan and the angelic host who rebelled against God could never repent, could never be forgiven because they have no Savior. But God determined to provide a Savior for human beings. So He took upon Himself, verse 14, flesh and blood so He could destroy the work of satan, render him powerless, the devil, who has the power of death. Now Christ was not only completely God, He was completely man, completely human. And so what happens to Him in His humanity, what will happen to humanity will happen to Him. It goes together. Everything but sin, as the book of Hebrews goes on. So for Jesus Christ to defeat sin and provide salvation from sin, He had to pay the penalty which is death. All right, so He then provided the penalty, He paid the penalty which is death. He died. Well if the penalty has been paid, what happens? He's no longer under the penalty, is He? He is raised from the dead. He has defeated death because He has conquered sin and satan.

So if there is no resurrection of the body, Christ can't be raised. Everything that's going to happen to another human being in the body will happen to Christ. He was tested and tempted in all points like us, yet sin apart. So He paid the penalty for our sin. But if there is no bodily resurrection, then Christ wouldn't have been raised. You can't separate Him out from humanity. He is unique in that He is deity as well as humanity, but His deity in no way takes away from His humanity. So if humanity is not going to experience resurrection, then Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead. And that's his line of arguing. His resurrection is essential to His being part of humanity, but if there is no resurrection for humanity, Christ was not raised.

Come back to I Corinthians 15. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. So he's back into this. That's why he spent so much time establishing the foundation. We're preaching that Christ has been raised from the dead, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ hasn't been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, empty, hollow, has no substance. It's worthless, it has no value, it's empty, it's hollow, it's a lie. Right? I mean, we've been preaching that Christ has been raised from the dead, but if He hasn't been raised from the dead, then our preaching has no substance and your faith is also vain. And that word vain means empty, hollow, vain. In both of those expressions, our preaching is vain and your faith is vain, in the Greek text it's placed in the position of emphasis. So the first word in the phrase, vain is our preaching, vain also is your faith, empty is our preaching, empty is your faith. I mean, it has no value. You understand that faith has no value, accomplishes nothing if it's believing a lie.

A couple times a month I still get letters from overseas on the e-mail. Some of you probably get them, too, but they seem to focus on religious organizations they pick up. Mrs. So-and-so who was the wife of Colonel so-and-so who was the second in command in such-and-such a country and before her husband suddenly died he transferred so many million dollars to a bank account in the United States. And now she's been diagnosed with terminal cancer and they had no children, but her husband's desire was that that money be given to an organization that believed in Christ. So they want to transfer that money to me if I will do the following things. I guess there are still people who believe that and respond. But the point is, that's a lie, it's not true. Couldn't be true, there can't be this many people who were that high in this many governments, who have this many witnesses, who didn't have children, who transferred this money. They're telling a lie, they're saying something that is not true. But you know there are people that believe that so much. They had a whole program on in the news a while back of people who had lost money, some of them significant sums of money because they believed that so much, they sent their money. But you know what? No matter how strong their faith was, it was empty, it was hollow, because it was believing in something that was empty and hollow. Right?

You understand faith in a lie is worthless, it's empty, it's meaningless. That's Paul's point. You see where we've come to. People say, I have my faith, I believe it strongly. We're not talking about the strength of your faith, because no matter how strong your faith is, if it's faith in a lie, if it's faith in something that's not true. We see people take a drug and then they believe they can jump off tall buildings and fly. Well they are only half true. They can jump off tall buildings, but the down side is they can't fly. No matter how much they believe they can. They believe it so much, they'll jump. That doesn't change reality.

So you see the line of Paul's reasoning here is very clear. If there is no resurrection of the dead, verse 13, not even Christ has been raised. If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty, your faith is empty. Verse 15, moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God. We are false witnesses, pseudo witnesses, we're telling a lie about God because we testified against God that He raised Christ whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. There is no leeway here, there is no room for difference. Good intentions don't come into the picture, meaning well doesn't help. We apostles, if we're saying that Christ was never raised from the dead, then we are false witnesses, we are telling a lie, telling something that is false and not true. It's pseudo, the word false witness here, we are pseudo witnesses, our testimony is not true.

And then he puts it almost in a courtroom scene. We testify against God. We are witnessing against God, we are witnesses, now, against God. In what sense? Well, we're saying He did something that He did not do. That would be like if I would say, God sinned yesterday. I would be witnessing against God, I would be testifying something about God that is not true. Almost the same thing if you're saying that God raised Christ from the dead but He didn't really raise Christ from the dead. Then you're telling a lie about God, you're serving as a witness against God, opposed to God, by telling things that are not true about God, if the dead are not raised. So you see how serious this matter is. Now we've come down to there is not just a difference of opinion here, there's no room for difference of opinion. God has spoken, God has acted, the word is done. There is only one opinion. It's truth and lies, that's the difference.

Now we have a repetition, verse 12 made the statement, then verses 13-14 support it, verse 15 repeats somewhat the content of verse 12, and then verses 16-17 will basically repeat verses 13-14. It reiterates the statement of verse 15. In verse 16 he says, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. That really repeats what was said in verse 13. If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. Verse 16, if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. You understand you cannot separate the resurrection of the body for us, limit it to believers right now, that's where Paul's concern is. We'll talk about the resurrections generally at a future study. You cannot separate our resurrection from the resurrection of Christ. If you are not going to be bodily raised from the dead, if I am not going to be bodily raised from the dead, Jesus Christ was not bodily raised from the dead. And the fact of the matter is everybody who says that He was is a liar. And worse than that, they've taken their stand against God to say things about God that are not true. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. Paul wants to keep the argument on that edge because some may be saying, I don't believe in the bodily resurrection. Jesus Christ was a unique case, He was the Son of God. I accept that He was raised from the dead, but He stands as a unique case in time and history. No one else. Wait a minute, Paul says that cannot be. I want to go the other way. If the rest of believers are not going to be raised, if humanity is not to be raised, Jesus Christ was not raised.

If Christ has not been raised, continuing the logical development, your faith is worthless. He uses a different word but it's a synonym for the word translated vain in verse 14. And verse 17 basically repeats what was said in verse 14. It was vain in verse 14, empty, hollow, had no substance. It's worthless. The synonym, it's a little different in meaning in that it means it has no results, it accomplishes nothing. You are still in your sins. In other words, that kind of faith can't save you. You are still in your sins, your faith is worthless.

Sadly people are confused on this, you have people say, I have my faith, you have your faith. My faith will see me through, and so faith has some kind of independent ability and power in and of itself. You understand faith in and of itself cannot save you. I have faith, therefore I am saved. No. You can have faith that is absolutely worthless, that accomplishes nothing, that just leaves you in your sin. It is the gospel which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes that gospel. The power of salvation is in the gospel, our faith is simply the means that God uses in applying that saving gospel to our hearts and lives. But people get the idea, as long as you have faith, you're saved. Faith in a lie is worthless, it accomplishes nothing. You are still in your sins. We need to be careful as believers that we understand and are clear that it is not our faith, but it is faith in the gospel.

Back up to Romans 10. Paul is talking about the gospel here and bears testimony that the Jews of his day were zealous for God. They had a faith that produced a zeal. Verse 2, I testify about them, Israel, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. There's the problem. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The Jews are going about with a zeal and they are paying a price—persecution and rejection and so on. But the problem is their faith and the zeal that comes from that faith can't save them.

Down in verse 8, but what does it say? The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the Word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You see it's believing the truth concerning Christ, and that alone, for your salvation that brings cleansing. That's where people get confused, they believe in Christ, they believe in their church, they believe in the sacraments, they believe in their baptism. I mean, and sometimes we think, as long as they say they believe in the facts of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and that that was verified, they're saved. Everything else is irrelevant. But Paul is saying just the opposite. He's saying if you're denying the bodily resurrection.

Look, I don't get into future things, there is too much disagreement on that. I'll leave the future in God's hands, whatever He does will be all right with me. Well that sounds maybe pious, but it's not biblical. It ought to matter to you because Paul says if there is no bodily resurrection for believers, Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead and you are in your sins and on your way to hell. So it is a big issue, couldn't be any bigger. But you see our faith has to be in the truth, and only the truth.

Look down Romans 10:14, how then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach unless they are sent? Verse 17, so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. The only saving faith is the faith that responds to the message of the gospel that has been presented to that person. Crucial, crucial. The church is confused on this. They're running out doing good works because people are going to be saved because they see our good works and they're going to want to be like us. Where did you ever get that? Not saying that a godly life is not used sometimes by God to impact people. You understand, nobody gets saved until they hear the gospel, and place their faith in that message of Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. That's the kind of faith we're talking about.

Now faith in a lie, if the truth is not the truth, then you are believing a lie. I believe Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. I don't think the resurrection, whether it was a bodily resurrection or not, that's not the important thing. Neo-orthodox theology, and it's not whether Christ was bodily, not whether we're bodily raised, it's whether you have a resurrection experience with Christ. And if you have a resurrection experience, that's what brings salvation. Well, it's true when you believe in Christ you die with Him, you are buried with Him, you are raised with Him. So maybe the bodily resurrection is not the issue, let's not get tangled up in that. Whether He was raised bodily or not doesn't matter, as long as you have a resurrection experience. That's nonsense talk. Paul says there is no bodily resurrection of believers, there's no bodily resurrection of Christ. If there is no bodily resurrection of Christ, faith in Christ is worthless, it can accomplish nothing, you are still in your sins.

Come back to I Corinthians 15. You're not done, it's not only you. What about those Christ says have been dead and raised from the dead some 25 years earlier. What about the people who heard the gospel and believed and believed in Christ and have died since then? Verse 18, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. We're not talking about soul sleep here as some of the unbiblical cults would promote. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, Paul will write in II Corinthians 5, Philippians 1. He had a desire to depart and leave this body and be with Christ which is far better. The body without the spirit is dead. All those elements there. We talk about believers having died, the have fallen asleep, they have moved out of their bodies, their bodies are temporarily inactive, unused. And just like sleep there is a time when you wake up and then you go about your activities. But for us as believers, when death occurs, really our bodies have fallen asleep, we're no longer using them, we've moved out of them. Paul uses the analogy of a tent that is folded up when the people leave it in II Corinthians 5. And for a believer, we leave that body and go into the presence of the Lord to await the time when the bodies will be raised out of the grave, and we will move back in. We'll have much more to say about that in coming studies.

What about those who have fallen asleep in Christ? Well if Christ was not raised from the dead, they have perished. This is a terrible concept, the word perish here, atholual. They are doomed to destruction in hell. Back up to I Corinthians 1:18, note the contrast Paul draws. For the word of the cross is foolishness, it makes no sense, to those who are perishing. There is our word. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. You see the contrast—those who have God's salvation and those who do not. Those who do not have God's salvation are perishing. They have no hope. Those who have died but are not in Christ have perished. They haven't ceased to exist, but they are doomed to eternal destruction, the smoke of their torment will rise up forever and ever as Revelation 14 says. They will suffer for all eternity.

Turn over to II Corinthians 2:15. In the context he's talking about he gives off the knowledge of Christ, everywhere he goes he talks about Jesus Christ, the gospel of Christ—His death, His resurrection. Verse 15, we are a fragrance of Christ, we give off the knowledge of Christ that's like a pleasing fragrance ascending to God. Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Only two kinds of people on the face of the earth—those who are being saved and those who are perishing. Same contrast. Over in II Corinthians 4:3, if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, that can't see the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They've been blinded by satan, they are perishing. II Thessalonians 2:10, the same thing.

Come back to I Corinthians 15. Paul wants them to understand the implications of a theology that denies the bodily resurrection of the believer. That denies the bodily resurrection of Christ. No matter how you try to phrase it, no matter the difference you try to make, that's not an option. And if we don't have a resurrected Christ, we have nothing. So verse 19, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. No, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not presented as a way to make your life better, happier, more satisfying, easier, to solve all your marriage problems, to solve all your money problems, to solve all your health problems. And we say, we don't believe in that health and wealth gospel. But we need to be careful, we sometimes want to present the gospel as though this is the solution to this problem. I don't know if you become a believe whether your family life will get better or worse. I mean, Jesus said He didn't come to bring peace but a sword. He said He came to divide families. If you become a believer and your husband or wife doesn't, chances are there is going to be more turmoil in your family than there has ever been. Does this mean the Lord will help you do better with your finances? I don't know. You become a believer and your boss may find out about it and he may find a sneaky reason to fire you because he is antagonized, he doesn't like Christians. I don't know. I mean, let's face it, Paul was on the top of his game humanly speaking in Judaism. He was bypassing everyone his own age, going to the top. He had influence and power and all that would go with that and then in the testimony in Philippians 3 he said it all had to go on the dung heap. Spends the rest of his life going hand to mouth, living off contributions, spending a lot of time in jail and ended up being executed as a common criminal. If you're going to compare his life before Christ and after Christ and you're just going to compare it on the human level, the physical level, things went from bad to worse to worser to the worstest. We want to be careful we present Christ as the solution. He is the solution, but I want to be honest. I've had to tell people, I don't know whether your marriage will be better or worse, I don't know whether your finances will be better or worse, I don't know ............ I can tell you there is no hope for you apart from Jesus Christ. The real issue that needs to be dealt with is your own sin and guilt before a holy God. Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, and the penalty for your sin is death, including eternal separation from God, the worst of all possible options. And if you're going to trust Christ, count the cost. It may cost you everything. Salvation is free, no charge, but it will cost you everything. Your life will no longer be your own, you will now belong to the one who purchased you. These things, we need to be careful in the presenting of the gospel we don't present a corrupted gospel. The issue is your sin, that's the issue. The issue is your sin. We're not talking about how you have a better life, a happier life, an easier life, a more enjoyable life. We're talking about how you can have forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of Almighty God credited to your account. That's the issue. Well I want to come to Christ and have a better life. I'm sorry, He does not offer salvation on those terms. You must first come under the conviction of your sin and know that only in Him there is salvation, and I am letting go of everything to place my faith in Him. It's my sin that has to be dealt with. And I'm not saying that there won't be implications and ramifications as the Word works itself out in your life. But we want to be careful, we come to associate Christianity with we ought to have a happy life and then we as Christians get discouraged because we say, why would God let this come into my life? Why would He let this painful thing happen to me? Why would this unpleasant thing occur? Why would ......... We have our own form of the health and wealth gospel, even though we oppose it we think, we'll just take this little sliver of it and then it's okay.

Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. Doesn't say He died for our unhappinesses, He died for our difficulties in this life. In this world you have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The ultimate victory is ours. Through many tribulations we will enter the kingdom, Paul taught. This is the issue. Some people have made a decision for Christ on the basis of I know now I'll have a marriage like I need and God will give me the partner I need and life is going to be great. I'm sorry. You made a decision but it was worthless. We're talking about a Savior who died for our sins.

If we only have hope for Christ in this life, we are a pitiful lot of people. We gave up everything, we have placed our hope for time and eternity in a lie. Well it's all right if it helps you live better, if it works for you it's okay. Paul says that is pitiful. Give your life to a lie, place all your hopes for eternity in a lie. Christians are a miserable, pitiful lot if it is not true that Christ was raised from the dead.

But verse 20, we'll have to stop at verse 19, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. Verses 12-19 have just shown the awful implications and ramifications if he wasn't. But that's not even a possible option open for consideration and discussion, because we have a risen Savior. Christianity is true because Christ is raised, death has been defeated. We are no longer in our sins because we have been cleansed from oursins. He is the victor over sin, and thus the penalty for sin, and He has overcome that penalty and we will see how that provision has been provided for us as well.

What did you trust when you thought you got saved? Did you understand you were a sinner, knowing you were guilty before God, condemned before Him and on your way to hell? That Jesus Christ has died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin, to act as your substitute? There was no hope for you in your wretched, miserable, lost condition, but to cast yourself on God's mercy, believing that His Son died for you? You knew He was true because He was alive, He was raised from the dead. Is that what you believed? No, that's part of what I think I might have believed. No, that's not it. Is that what you were trusting, and that alone? That's what bring salvation, that's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the truth of the gospel. Lord, we are thankful that Jesus Christ is alive. He was raised the same body that was hung on the cross, was raised alive out of the tomb. That is your testimony, He was delivered up to the cross because of our offenses, but He was raised because of our justification. He had provided His righteousness for us. Lord, I pray for any who are in this auditorium who are hearing this message, who have placed their faith in a message that is worthless. We praise you that the message of Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection is true. Our desire is that they might believe in Him and Him alone, even today. We praise you for that wonderful privilege. In His name, amen.