The Death of Death

INTRODUCTION

We all have an enemy this morning.

One that we hate.

One that has stolen from us.

One that threatens us without relent.

The enemy that I am speaking of is death.

Death is an enemy that is definite.

Unless Christ returns first, everyone will die.

When we are younger, it is easier to not think about that.

When we are middle-aged, we are confronted with it a bit more.

When we get older, it draws near.

It is a certain enemy that stands on the horizon of life and waits for us.

Death is an enemy that is unpredictable.

You don’t know when it will come for you.

We know what the first date on our tombstone will read, but we do not know the second date that will come after the hyphen.

God has numbered the days of every man and woman, but it is a mystery to us.

The reality that today could be our last day on earth is one that we cannot deny.

And death is an enemy that is final, in terms of this life.

Everything that people hold dear—whether genius, love, wealth or power—is utterly bankrupt in the presence of death.

Val Grieve

These things cannot hold off death, try as they may.

And apart from God’s grace, these things won’t survive death, much as we may want them to.

But this morning, I want us to examine the Good News of Jesus Christ.

This message is a Gospel of LIFE.

And this morning, we will look at 1 Corinthians 15:14-20 and see that there are FIVE DEVASTATING RESULTS IF THE REDEEMER IS NOT RAISED.

If the Redeemer is not raised, the Gospel is DEFILED. (v. 14)

If the Redeemer is not raised, the Apostles are DECEPTIVE. (v. 15-16)

If the Redeemer is not raised, believers are DOOMED. (v. 17)

If the Redeemer is not raised, deceased saints have DISAPPEARED. (v. 18)

If the Redeemer is not raised, the state of the Church is DISMAL. (v. 19)

And then we will close this morning with a great encouragement for us—We will see that the Redeemer has indeed been raised.

And this spells the DEATH OF DEATH.

That is—if you believe.

CONTEXT

The book of 1 Corinthians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul.

Paul was a church-planting, missionary pastor that was concerned for the Corinthian church he had started just a few years before.

They were a church with a host of problems.

They were divided.

They had issues regarding sexuality and gender roles and marriage.

They struggled with living holy.

And this morning, we see that they had theological issues.

Theology is the study of God and they had come to some wrong conclusions.

They had been duped into believing that there is no resurrection of the dead.

They had come to believe in the resurrection as something figurative—something metaphorical.

They had retreated from believing in resurrection as something real—something literal.

And this was devastating to the very essence of the faith they had been taught—the faith they believed.

For if no one is raised from the dead, then Christ is not raised from the dead.

And if Christ is not raised from the dead—then there is no Good News. There is no Gospel.

And there is no answer to the great enemy of death.

I’m going to read two passages of Scripture as we begin this morning.

Both are from 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

And then, moving down to verse 14, Paul goes on to say:

1 Corinthians 15:14–20 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

THE GOSPEL OF LIFE (v. 1-4)

First, we have Paul reminding the the Corinthians of the Gospel he preached to them and the Gospel they believed.

The word Gospel means “good news,” and the content of this message of Good News is found in verses 3-4.

CHRIST DIED FOR SINS (v. 3)

First of all, we see that Christ died for our sins.

And before we go any further, we must stop to discuss this word “sin.”

The Greek word is hamartia.

It means wrongdoing.

We see sin make its first appearance in the Bible in Genesis 3.

In the first two chapters of the Bible, God makes the world and it is good.

He creates our first parents, Adam and Eve, and it is very good.

But He gives them a commandment—a law.

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

But Satan, God’s enemy, a fallen angel who led a rebellion against Him, slithered into the scene and deceived Eve into questioning God’s good and perfect law.

Did God actually say ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’

‘You will not surely die. God just doesn’t want you to be like Him.’

Adam and Eve listen. They lust. And they law-break.

They commit wrongdoing against God by breaking His law, and thus, sin comes into the world through Adam.

And sin brings death with it.

This is why 1 Corinthians 15:22 says:

1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

In Adam all die.

Adam was the representative for all of humanity and when he sinned against God, his sin plunged all of humanity into a death-filled, sin-soaked future.

The guilt of Adam has been charged to all of mankind.

Imagine if the President declared war on a nation and shot a missile at them. Would that nation say, “We are at war with the POTUS?”

No—they would say, “We are at war with America.”

Why? Because the President is our federal head.

Adam was our federal head.

When he ate from the tree, he declared war against God for all of humanity.

And ever since, all of Adam and Eve’s children have been born into sin. We’ve all been born as lawbreakers, cut off from God and at war with God.

In Adam all die.

And as those born in sin, we have lived lives of sin.

It is all around us in this world and it is in the mirror if we are honest.

Just like Adam and Eve, we have not kept God’s perfect law.

We have transgressed the Ten Commandments, God’s moral law.

We have worshipped other things.

We have dishonored our parents at times.

We have misused God’s name.

We have stolen.

We have coveted our neighbor’s things.

We have told lies.

And one day, when we stand before God, if we are honest, He will be right to judge us as guilty.

And He will be right to uphold His law by giving us eternal punishment for breaking the eternal law of an eternal God.

If God judges us, this makes death truly terrifying.

For not only does our life on earth end, but our years of eternity are spent in judgment.

Your physical death is just the first death. In God’s holy judgment, there is a second death that cannot be ignored.

If this were the end of the story, there wouldn’t be much Good News. But thankfully, we have only dealt with one word of verse 3. We’ve only talked about sins.

The Good News is that the Redeemer died for our sins.

And here is what that means:

When God came to us in Jesus, the Son was not born of two human parents...

Because He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, He was not born with a sin nature like you and me.

And this means that He was able to do what you and I could never do—He was able to perfectly keep God’s law.

And He did. In every moment of His life.

We deserve death because we have sinned, but He did not deserve death because He never sinned.

And yet, the perfect Son of God laid down His life by dying on the Cross for us.

And when He did, God’s rightful wrath was poured out on Jesus instead of on us.

Jesus was our Substitute.

The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.

Charles Spurgeon

God is a both a forgiving God and a just judge.

He longs to forgive sinners, but He also has a purpose to perfectly uphold His moral and righteous law.

How can He do both?

The answer is the death of Christ.

Jesus suffered in the place of sinners and took God’s wrath for them.

God upheld His law by punishing His Son for the sins of others and now He can forgive.

But how do we know that the sacrifice Jesus offered in His own life was accepted by God? How do we know Jesus’ death truly provides forgiveness for us?

CHRIST WAS RAISED (v. 4)

This is where the message of Resurrection Sunday must be proclaimed loud and clear. It must be heralded and celebrated.

Paul says that Christ rose again the third day.

Jesus died on a Friday and He resurrected from the grave on a Sunday.

And His resurrection had major implications.

It proves that He is who He said is—The Son. The 2nd Person of the Trinity. God in the flesh.

It proved the identity of Christ.

It proved that His sacrifice on our behalf was accepted by God, otherwise, God would not have resurrected Him from the dead.

It proved the effectiveness of Christ.

And it proved that forgiveness is now available to anyone who believes in Him.

It proved acceptance with God in Christ.

So if anyone agrees with God that their sin, which crucified Christ is evil, and turn from it and places their faith in Christ, they will be saved from their sins and they will be given eternal life.

Adam, who waged war against God, will no longer be their representative before God.

Now it will be Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

In Adam all die—in Christ shall all who believe be made alive.

THIS IS THE GOSPEL

If you are here this morning and you are Christian, this is the Gospel you believed.

It is your only hope.

There is nothing you did to earn your salvation.

Christ earned it for you.

There is no work that has saved you.

You are saved because you have received this Gospel. You stand in this Gospel. You are being saved by this Gospel.

If you are here this morning and you want to be saved from your sins, you must believe this Gospel.

It is your only hope.

There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation.

You must trust in the work of Christ in dying and rising again.

There is no good work you can do or that you have done that will save you.

If you are to be forgiven of your sins, you must receive this Gospel by faith. You must stand in it. You must be saved by Christ—the star of the Gospel.

IF THE REDEEMER IS NOT RAISED (v. 14-20)

But we must understand that all of this hinges on the resurrection of Christ.

In verses 3 and 4, Paul presents to the two hinges that the door of salvation swings on.

The death of Christ.

The resurrection of Christ.

If Christ dies and He is not raised, we have no Gospel.

We have no hope.

We are no better off.

And this is what Paul is saying in the second passage we are looking at this morning.

If you scroll down to verse 14, you see just how crucial the resurrection is. You see how everything depends on it.

Paul shows us by explaining the devastating results if He is NOT raised.

There are five. Let’s look at them.

1. If the Redeemer is not raised, the Gospel is defiled (v. 14).

Paul says that if Christ is not raised, the faith of the Corinthians is vain and Paul’s preaching is in vain.

The Greek word for vain literally means “empty.”

If Christ is raised, then He is the Savior of the world.

His death for sinners is powerful and potent.

Those who have faith in Him do not have an empty faith, but a faith of substance.

It has substance because Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, is the object of their faith.

And when Christians like Paul preach the Gospel of Christ, their preaching is not empty because it is filled with witness to the truth of His resurrection and His saving love.

But if Christ is not raised, the Christian faith and Christian preaching is powerless and void.

It is groundless.

Because if Christ is not raised then He is dead, and the dead cannot save the living.

See, Christianity is unique for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it is unique because it is not a religion of works, but a religion of grace.

We do not believe there is any amount of good works that you can do to earn a place with God or favor with God.

Islam says, abide by the five pillars and you can earn salvation.

Buddhism says, nirvana can be found in walking the eight-fold noble path.

Hinduism says, walk one of the four paths of enlightenment.

Paganism says you must appease the gods and spirits in order to gain reward.

It is all work, work, work, work.

But the message of Christ stands alone and says, “You can’t do anything earn salvation from the one true God. You are saved by God’s love through faith—through believing—not working.”

But secondly, Christianity stands alone because it does not just count its founder to be a sage or a guru or a teacher or a prophet.

Christians believe what the Bible says—that in Christ is the fullness of God.

And His divine power was proved in His ability to lay down His life and take it up again—saving His people.

So understanding that—if this is not true and Christ is not raised, then it all falls apart.

If Christ is not raised, He is not God.

If He is not God, our belief and our proclamation is empty-handed. It is vain.

2. If the Redeemer is not raised, the Apostles are deceptive (v. 15).

Apart from Judas, Jesus’ betrayer, the twelve disciples of Christ became Apostles.

Here is a definition of an Apostle from Ligonier.org:

An Apostle enjoyed a special office in the New Testament church. The term apostle means “one who is sent.” Technically, however, an apostle was more than a messenger. He was commissioned with the authority to speak for and represent the One who sent him.

Ligonier Ministries

After Jesus ascended back to heaven, the Apostles were the men who laid the foundation of the church.

Ephesians 2:19–20 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

One of the reasons the Apostles played such a crucial role is that these men were eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ, relaying the event to the rest of the world.

In 1 Corinthians 15:4-5

1 Corinthians 15:4–5 ESV

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

This is talking about Peter and the disciples.

And then you see the title of apostle referred to in v. 7.

1 Corinthians 15:7 ESV

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

If you read through the Gospels, these men did not just have one sight of the resurrected Christ. They saw Him multiple times in between the time of His resurrection and ascension.

More than that, they claimed to have the healed wounds of His crucifixion up close and personal.

John 20:19–20 ESV

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

And their eye-witness testimony was crucial to the credibility of the Christian message in the first-century.

Their testimony and teaching was foundational.

But if Christ is not raised, then we must conclude that these men are either lunatics or liars.

It is hard to imagine they would be be collectively out of their mind, so we would have to say that they are liars.

We would have to accuse them of creating a massive conspiracy in order to keep this offshoot of Judaism alive.

Here is Paul talking about what we must make of the Apostles if Christ is not raised.

The apostles were false witnesses. They were guilty of deliberate falsehood. They testified that they has seen Christ after their resurrection; that they had handled Him, felt that He had flesh and bones; that they had put their hands into his wounds, and knew assuredly it was their Lord.

Charles Hodge

Paul, who was also an Apostle, an eye-witness to Jesus’ resurrection when Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road, says that if Christ is not raised, he and the other apostles are found to be misrepresenting God.

And this is because they testified about God that he raised Christ.

Leon Morris says that “testified about God,” would be better translated “testified against God.”

When I was a teenager, there was a phrase that people would use if you told a lie about them.

They would say, “Stop lying on me.”

Paul is saying that if Christ is not raised, the Apostles are “lying on God.”

They are saying He did something that He did not do.

And if this were the case, the foundational teachers of Christianity would be untrustworthy men who tell lies about heaven in order to gain something on earth.

They would be deceptive.

TRANSITION

Verse 16 simply repeats the emphatic statement of v. 13.

Paul wants to make sure the Corinthians understand that if they deny resurrection from the dead, they are denying that Christ has been raised.

Then he continues on with his argument with the third awful result if Christ is not raised.

3. If the Redeemer is not raised, believers are doomed (v. 17).

If v. 14 is true and Christian faith is in vain, then v. 17 is true as well—Christians with vain faith are doomed because they are still in their sins.

In John 8:21, there is a stern warning from Christ about what happens if you do not trust in Him for salvation and you deny Him as Savior:

John 8:21 (ESV)

So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

Paul writes to the Romans and says:

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Gospel we preach says that Christ paid those wages for us by dying on the Cross.

He paid the penalty and atoned for our sins so that we could be forgiven.

He laid down His life as a sacrifice.

And the proof that His sacrifice was accepted by God is found in the empty grave.

But if the grave is not empty, then Christ’s sacrifice was not accepted.

In fact, if He did not rise then He is died like the rest of us die.

And there is no pardon. There is no forgiveness.

We believe that faith in Christ leaves you justified in the eyes of God.

He looks upon you as if you have never sinned. He just sees the perfect life of His Son that you have received by faith.

But if He is not raised, there is no justification.

Romans 4:24–25 (ESV)

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

No resurrection—no justification.

If Christ is not raised, we will die and we will stand before the bar of God and we will all be guilty.

A dying Christ that is not a rising Christ leaves us no better off.

Our faith is rendered futile—worthless—and we are still condemned and doomed before God’s throne of judgment.

TRANSTION

So if the Redeemer is not raised:

The Gospel is defiled

The Apostles are deceptive

Believers are doomed

4. If the Redeemer is not raised, deceased saints have disappeared (v. 18).

This is the fourth disastrous result. And to explain it, I am going to say something that may seem cold and it may upset you and it may cause your kids to side-eye you based on something you said to them in the past with the best of intentions, but I’m going to say it.

I know you are all like, “What in the world is he about to say?!?”

Animals do not have souls.

The Bible teaches that this is one of the distinctions between man and animal.

Humans are created in the image of God.

And the life of our soul comes from God.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Jeremiah 38:16 ESV

Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

If my dog gets terminally sick, I will take him to the vet and they will give him a medicine that will shut down his heart and brain functions in a matter of minutes and then—as a dog with no soul—he will simply cease to exist.

He will not chase squirrels in a doggy heaven.

His race will have been run and once he cross the finish line, he will disappear into the void he came from.

I don’t say this to be cold or callous—this is just reality.

And you know what—in his non-existence, he will no longer be suffering and that is a good thing.

There is still a beauty in it.

But if I get terminally sick, my wife will not take me to the hospital, where they will intentionally end my life.

Why? Because I am a person.

I have a soul.

And the Bible says God has placed eternity into the hearts of men.

So we all know deep down that we are meant to live on beyond this world.

We are different than the animals.

So when we have loved ones who die, we are right to imagine that their existence goes on.

The Scriptures teach us that all souls will live forever—whether it be in glory with God or under His judgment, apart from God.

The Bible is so sure of the believer’s hope in Christ, that the New Testament speaks of death like a nap or a good night’s rest.

Paul refers to deceased believers as those who have “fallen asleep.”

As he speaks of death he speaks of it in a temporary sense because it does not have the final say on the believer’s soul.

Christ does.

Believers have died with Christ and have been raised with Christ, therefore, the believer is but sleeping—awaiting the day when Christ will return and all His people will be resurrected to eternal life.

But if Christ is not raised—and if there is no resurrection of the dead—then those who had faith in Christ, who we believe to be in heaven because Jesus paid for their sins, have actually perished.

They have died and are not just sleeping--they continue to die as their souls are in judgment under God’s wrath.

They are lost forever.

We won’t see them again.

We won’t be reunited to them.

They are destined to wrath.

Or, if Christ is not raised, we would then question if any of the Bible is true.

After all, our whole faith would be in vain.

And then maybe we would conclude that the Atheists and naturalists are right and our loved ones have just passed away into non-existence like dogs and goldfish.

These are dark things to consider, but this is the grim reality without the resurrected Christ.

5. If the Redeemer is not raised, the state of the church is dismal (v. 19).

Paul says that if Christ is not raised, we have hope in this life only.

The Christian life is a life of hope.

And the Bible promises our hope will not leave us shameful and embarrassed.

Romans 5:5 ESV

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Christians are “hopers.” It is what we do.

It is who we are.

But if Christ is not raised, our hope will be found to be shameful indeed.

Paul says that we should be pitied among anyone else on earth.

Why have Christians, including the Apostles themselves, been so willing to suffer and even die for the Christian faith?

Because we have hope in the risen Christ.

Why have Christians, denied their flesh and refused to indulge in the sinful pleasures of the world?

Because have have hope in the risen Christ.

If Jesus is not raised, our hope of eternal life in Him is as unfounded as a man with no mouth hoping to give a speech...

...A man with no wood or stone hoping to build a house.

It’s a pitiful sight.

They do not enjoy the world, as unbelievers do, but go forward with anxiety, constantly groaning, partly from a consciousness of their weakness, and partly from an eager longing for the future life. Unbelievers, on the other hand, are wholly intent on intoxicating themselves with present delights.

John Calvin

Without a resurrected Savior, we should be pitied for even being here today.

We could be home watching the Premier League or preparing to have an Elite Eight Party.

We could be having Sunday Funday with some friends at a brunch, drinking mimosas and making plans for the week ahead.

We could be out fishing or taking a hike.

Without a risen Redeemer, this whole thing is a parade of foolishness and we are in a dismal state.

BUT IN FACT! (v. 20)

If He is not raised:

The Gospel is defiled

The Apostles are deceptive

Believers are doomed

Deceased saints have disappeared

The state of the church is dismal

But let’s look at our final verse this morning and receive the good news of the Gospel once again:

BUT IN FACT CHRIST HAS BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD!

Martin Lloyd Jones said, “Praise God for the BUTS of the Bible.”

We do not need to spend our time dreading the devastating results if Christ is not raised because in fact, He IS raised.

Paul says He has been raised from the dead—the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

If you wanted to plant some strawberries this Spring and after a number of days, you went out to the garden and you saw a big, plump, juicy strawberry waiting for you, that first strawberry would be the firstfruit.

You would have reason to expect that more would follow.

Keeping with that line of thinking, Christ is the firstfruits in a long line of those who will die and rise again.

Romans 6:5 ESV

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

He is indeed resurrected, overcoming our sin and defeating death.

And now, those who are united to Him by faith have not just seen their sins paid for in His death, but they will be raised like Him in victory over sin and the enemy of death.

The fact that Christ is the firstfruits, and His resurrection guarantees that His people will be raised like Him, and there is more fruit to come, demonstrates just how death has been defeated.

He was raised and if you are His follower, you will be raised to. You are a part of the fruit to come.

Now, you might ask—when will this happen?

Consider Paul’s words a bit later in 1 Corinthians 15:24-26

1 Corinthians 15:24–26 ESV

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

When Christ returns, death will be destroyed.

Revelation depicts death itself being tossed into the Hell—the Lake of Fire:

Revelation 20:14 ESV

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

This is the death of death.

And this is the victory that belongs to Christ and all those who trust in Him—the resurrected Savior.

DO YOU BELIEVE?

And so a simple question for you as we close this morning:

Do you believe?

Have you seen your sin and hated it and turned away from it, and turned to Christ in faith?

Have you trusted in His death to pay for your sins?

Have you trusted in His resurrection to destroy death?

Do you believe He will return and raise you to life, just as He was raised to life?

This is not a question of whether you go to church. This is not a question of whether or not you are “spiritual.” This is not a question of the religion you were raised in.

Right now—do you believe?

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