Doctrine: Proving the Resurrection of the Dead, part 2

[0:00] All right. Well, let's open with a word of prayer. And then at the end, we'll take some prayer requests. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the power and the beauty of your word and the truths about who you are and what you've done for us.

[0:18] And I just pray you'd help us to understand what's here and that it would encourage us, strengthen us. It would increase our faith. And Father, you would get all the glory. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

[0:30] So we're 1 Corinthians 15 again, and we're gonna be looking specifically at verses 12 through 28. And this is Paul's section, at least this is my understanding of it as I'm reading it, where Paul basically is bringing forth three different arguments to prove the resurrection of the dead because the Corinthians don't believe in the resurrection of the dead.

[0:57] But before we get there, I want to jump out of this context to a couple of verses down below because Paul is gonna, he's gonna go from this section to talking about some implications that if the dead are raised, there's some implications of that.

[1:16] But in the middle of that, he kind of has this moment where he just sort of lets loose in verse 33 and 34. And listen to what he says to the Corinthians. He says, Do not be deceived.

[1:27] Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor as is right and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God, and I say this to your shame.

[1:40] It's a very strong rebuke. He does. He does. It's such a strong rebuke. And I think that as we go through this and you begin to see the importance of believing in the resurrection of the dead, I think you'll understand why he's so adamant here and why he's so strong.

[2:02] They were definitely being influenced to believe wrong things. That's why he says, some have no knowledge of God. That's a strong statement to say about someone who's teaching something false.

[2:15] But he says it. And so we don't want to be like the Corinthians. So we want to believe in the resurrection of the dead. So what proof is there of the resurrection of the dead?

[2:27] So it breaks down into three parts, verses 12 through 19, verses 20 through 22, and then verses 23 through 28. So let's begin with the first one, 12 through 19.

[2:38] Now I'm going to just warn you, you know that when you read Paul, Paul has a tendency to be difficult. He tends to sometimes use way too many pronouns so that you lose track maybe of who he's talking about.

[2:57] Sometimes he's very repetitive because he's doing something specific. So as we read this, let me just give you the lay of the land. And the first verse, verse 12, is like his introduction to what he's going to talk about in these verses.

[3:13] The verse 13 through 15 is his argument spoken the first time. Then he repeats the argument, verse 16 through 19, with slightly different information.

[3:28] So that's how that breaks down. Okay? So now let me read it. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, now I'll just pause there. Remember that comes from last week, that part of the gospel is that Christ has been raised, right?

[3:44] If that's true, how can some of you say that there's no resurrection of the dead? That's their problem. They're saying that, yeah, Jesus has been raised, but the dead have not been raised, or there is going to be no resurrection of the dead.

[4:01] That's their belief. Okay? So now he's going to take the argument. But if there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.

[4:16] We're 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. Just hang on to your hats.

[4:28] 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're still in your sins. Then those who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. And if in Christ we've hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

[4:44] Now, the way his argument goes is that he takes up their position, assuming their position, assuming that they're right.

[4:56] You see that in verse 13, where he says, if there's no resurrection of the dead. Verse 15, if it's true that the dead are not raised. Verse 16, if the dead are not raised.

[5:06] So he assumes their position. Then he takes and shows the implications of their position.

[5:18] In other words, it's a logic. I can't remember the word I want to say. It's reducing something to the absurd, where you take a position and you show its logical conclusion.

[5:33] That's what he's doing. And he's saying, if there's no resurrection of the dead, and then here's his list of implications, right? Then Jesus is not raised.

[5:44] Verse 13, 15, and 16. Our preaching is useless and in vain. Verse 14. Our faith is in vain. Verse 14 and 17. We're misrepresenting God.

[5:55] Verse 15. You're still in your sin. Verse 17. Those who died in Christ, they've perished. They're gone. Now, verse 18. And we are to be pitied above all humanity.

[6:06] Verse 19. So that's a pretty strong way to talk. And what he's doing then is he's proving that the dead have been raised by showing the problems intellectually of believing the opposite.

[6:27] In other words, he's taking their view and he's showing how it cannot be true because of how many things it messes up. Because it messes up the resurrection of Christ.

[6:39] And our hope. That's exactly right. So I might could maybe summarize this view by saying that the resurrection of the dead is real because of the impossibility of the contrary.

[6:53] Because of the impossibility of the contrary. And really, if we want to start talking application, this is kind of how Christians, to some degree, are taught in the scriptures to argue.

[7:09] We're taught to argue in such a way as to take the view that someone brings and then show them how that doesn't comport with reality.

[7:22] How that doesn't match really anything. How when you follow it to its logical conclusion, it becomes absurd. Right? Paul, in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 through 6, talks about how Christians fight and that we don't use weapons of the flesh.

[7:45] But instead, our weapons are divine, therefore destroying arguments because he says, we take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. The idea is that when someone brings forth this idea for the Christian, even if we don't say that to the person, for ourselves, we take that idea, we show how it cannot be true because it doesn't comport with reality.

[8:09] Let me just give you one sort of example. There's a view out there, it's sort of a naturalistic, materialistic worldview. And you say, what is a naturalistic, materialistic worldview?

[8:20] That's a worldview that believes that only that which is material or matter is that which exists. Nothing else is. Everything is just a process of matter and material things.

[8:33] So the idea is that you, as a human being, are nothing more than a biological machine. And everything that happens with you and to you and from you and these kinds of things, they're all just biological processes.

[8:47] So we can understand that when we think about things like digestion, right? Digestion is a biological process. But here's the question. How does that work if I walk up to you and slap you in the face?

[9:00] Was that just a biological process that caused me to slap you in the face? If it was, then is your anger about me slapping you in the face just a biological process?

[9:13] Why in the world do you feel, why in the world do you feel a sense of injustice in that moment? Okay, maybe it's just a biological process.

[9:24] Well, great. Well, then who cares if you feel unjust, right? Who cares if you feel violated, right? Why do we even have laws for that? It's just a biological process. How can that be moral at all?

[9:37] We know that nobody lives that way. You've never seen somebody who's an atheist look at something like that and say, well, that was just a biological process that they slapped me in the face. We don't live that way.

[9:49] They live a different way because being a naturalistic, more materialistic person is no way to live because reality tells us something different.

[10:00] So that's what Paul's doing is he's showing the end of that. And here's the thing. We're not like the Corinthians. We do believe in the resurrection of the dead. And if you were to take the implications that he spoke about, the negative implications of no resurrection of the dead, and flip that around for us who do believe in the resurrection of the dead, then think about the implications.

[10:22] Our preaching is not vain. The preaching is powerful. The preaching is strong because we have something to really talk about.

[10:34] Right? And our hope, our hope is sure. Right? The faith is good and right, and the people who've gone on before us, they're with the Lord, and there's going to be a resurrection of the dead.

[10:46] Now here's the final thing that I'll just say in application of this, and then we'll move to the next one. There's a violation of the gospel in here.

[10:58] And I want you to think about it. Why would Paul say that if there's no resurrection of the dead, then even Jesus hasn't been raised?

[11:11] Why does he say that? How is it that Jesus can't be raised from the dead if the dead are not raised? He doesn't tell us, but can you think of how that might be possible?

[11:26] It could be that they don't believe in the Holy Spirit. Let's think about what we know about the Corinthians, though. What's the belief that they're mixing with the gospel? Gnosticism.

[11:38] The material is evil and bad, and the spirit is good. So they probably don't believe in the resurrection of the dead because they think that when you die, your spirit is set free from the material, so you don't need the material anymore.

[11:55] Right? So how does that impact Jesus? Because he was 100% human. If there's no resurrection of the dead, the material body's not raised, then Jesus can't be raised either because he had 100% human body.

[12:17] Well, we're not told that they didn't. We're not told anything. So I really don't have an answer to that question, but what I think is fascinating is that their lack of belief in the resurrection of the dead, you and I all would agree that if we say, what's the core teaching of the gospel, one of the things we're not necessarily going to say is the resurrection of the dead.

[12:40] But Paul seems to bring that in here because he's basically saying, if you don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, then your belief in the resurrection of Jesus is on thin ice.

[12:53] It's not, there's something, it's affecting the gospel is what I'm saying. Right? And so it's interesting to me that a belief that doesn't seem to be center and core in most of our thinking is something that has to be right so that it doesn't impact negatively the gospel.

[13:13] And so one of the things that we're going to say towards the end of all of this today is that it's necessary for us to believe in the resurrection of the dead. It's necessary for it. Right? Okay. Any other questions on that before I go to the next one?

[13:30] Okay. So the next proof, is there a resurrection of the dead? Yes, there is because there is a covenantal promise. I really am trying hard with this one to not get off into the weeds.

[13:42] If I get into the weeds and you get lost, just stop me and we'll backtrack a little bit. This is verse 20 through 22. He says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

[13:53] So now he's leaving that argument, going to another one. And he's the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. How do I know this, Paul? How do we know this? For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

[14:11] How do you know this? For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. He is, this is like two sides of the same coin.

[14:23] Okay? You got one side that's Adam, one side that's Christ. That's the way his argument is working. Right? And what he's saying is we know that not only Christ will be raised, but then those who have fallen asleep in him, they also are going to be raised.

[14:39] And we know that because by a man came death and by a man has come the resurrection of the dead. Now what does he mean by that? How do we get that? Well we get that because death came through Adam.

[14:52] Right? We all know that. How is it that death came through Adam? Let me ask you that. What did Adam do in order for death to come into this world? Okay, he disobeyed God.

[15:05] He ate from the fruit. Right? Now how did he know, well let me say it this way, why was eating from that fruit wrong? Because God told him to.

[15:18] Now here's the further question. Why would God say that? Is God just being arbitrary? See if he would trust him.

[15:29] So it's interesting because what God is doing is not just randomly picking just anything, but instead he's making a legal arrangement between he and Adam.

[15:40] Okay? That legal arrangement in the Bible is called a covenant. It's called a covenant. And we know that this was a covenant because Hosea chapter 6 verse 7 a different context, kind of a different thing going on here.

[15:57] It says this. It says, like Adam, they, meaning the nation of Israel, transgressed the covenant. Like Adam, Israel transgressed the covenant.

[16:12] So Israel transgressed the covenant. We can understand that and we can get into all the ways that they sinned. But there's, the prophet is comparing the way Israel transgressed the covenant to Adam and how Adam transgressed the covenant.

[16:27] The covenant that Adam transgressed was eating from this tree. God made a covenant and a sworn oath saying to Adam, in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

[16:38] Right? Well, so what we have then in the New Testament is that the New Testament tells us in places like Romans chapter 5 verse 12 through 17 and even following, it tells us that because of Adam's sin we've all inherited that sin and therefore we've also inherited that death.

[16:59] Right? He says in verse 15, the free gift is not like the trespass. And then he says this, for if many died through one man's trespass.

[17:11] Now, that's the middle of the sentence but I just want you to get the import of what he's saying that many died through one man's trespass. That covenant that God made with Adam was with Adam and his offspring and because he fell everybody who's in Adam we have also fallen.

[17:30] We've inherited his guilt and corruption. Now, that's one side of the coin but what Paul's doing is he's saying we know that there's a resurrection of the dead because death is sure and part of a covenantal promise.

[17:47] Now, he's going to say the same thing when he comes to Christ. In other words, because Christ, in Christ we have life, the resurrection of the dead is a sure thing because there are these covenantal promises, one towards death, one towards life, one in Adam, one in Christ.

[18:05] So, think of it this way. In Genesis chapter 15, you know what, now let me go a different direction. Let's think about this. Let's think about the weather for a second and the percentages.

[18:20] It's going to rain. How sure are we that it's going to rain? And we give percentages to it and we talk about, you know, what's 50% chance. It's a 70% chance, right? What we're doing is we're trying to get down to some certainty.

[18:36] What if you could say with 100% accuracy every time it was really, truly going to rain? If you said it's going to rain and it absolutely happened.

[18:48] Think about other things that are sure, right? You wake up in the morning and the sun rises, right? It's just also just as sure that if you were to, you know, stand on the roof of the building and jump off, you're going to go down, right?

[19:05] Gravity is sure. Paul is saying, we know there's a resurrection of the dead because there's been a promise to Adam and a promise to Christ and that makes the resurrection of the dead absolutely certain.

[19:24] Does that make sense? And now, I could get into all the ways that Christ has been promised this promise about these things, but I feel like that that's going to muddy the issue just a little bit.

[19:37] So, I've given you passages, right? Psalm 110, that's a promise between the Father and the Son, then follow that up with Hebrews 2, 9 through 13, and you end up with the promise that the Father is basically giving the Son a people who become His offspring and because of His death, He's crowned with glory and honor and He also then brings many sons to glory.

[20:00] It's a little convoluted and that's why I'm going to let you read it and if you have questions about it, you can ask me. But here's the thing. What this means then is that when we take a look and we say, okay, I have to believe in the resurrection of the dead because if I don't, it kind of messes up the gospel.

[20:18] how sure am I that this is something that's true and it's more sure than anything in all of creation that we are aware of because God made a promise.

[20:31] It's built upon the promises of God and because of that, it's absolutely sure. I remember my eighth grade teacher, science teacher, used to say that the only thing that we must do, the only thing we have to do in life is to pay taxes and die because those are the only sure things in life and those are not nearly as sure as the promises of God.

[20:54] All right. Any questions about that? Hopefully that was as clear as mud. It is and I actually didn't give you all of it because, so.

[21:09] All right. The last part of this then is that he continues the thought right? He's kind of broken off in the middle of the thought in verse 22 and now he's going to start talking about the end times.

[21:23] Okay. He's going to talk about the end times and that, what this does is it shows us yes, there is a resurrection of the dead because it's connected to all these things that are going to happen in the end times. I'm going to go back to verse 22 and read through verse 28.

[21:38] Again, here's what you need to listen for as I read this. Okay. It's a jumbled mess. There's a lot of timing words in here. Okay. Look for those words that give you a sense of timing and as you look at that, you also need to think about the pronouns.

[21:58] They're going to get a little hairy in here because he's going to go back and forth between the father and the son and not use the names. He's going to just use some pronouns. So, just try to follow it if you can.

[22:11] Verse 22 begins this way. It says, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order, Christ, the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

[22:28] Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of 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.

[22:44] For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he's accepting who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

[23:03] Okay, did you follow that? Yeah. So, Paul gives us three big things in there, right?

[23:13] He gives us the subjects, those who are going to be a part of this resurrection of the dead. And I just need to say at the outset that here in chapter 15, Paul's only concerned with the resurrection of those who are in Christ, the righteous, okay?

[23:30] It's a whole other discussion to talk about those who are not in Christ. But the subjects are those who belong to Christ. That's what he says in verse 23. Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

[23:45] Back in the covenant with Christ, God the Father gave him a people. He gave him an offspring. John the Apostle carries that thought all through his gospel.

[23:59] Like, for example, John 6, 37, he says that all that the Father gives me will come to me. John 10, 29, the Father who's given them, the sheep, to me. Or in his high priestly prayer, I've manifested your name to the people you've given me out of the world.

[24:14] Verse 9, I'm not praying for the world, but I'm praying for those whom you've given to me. Or verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me.

[24:24] So the point is that this resurrection of the dead is about those who belong to Christ, who've been given to Christ by the Father. And it's important to talk about that because listen to verse 22, okay?

[24:38] Verse 22 says something that a lot of people get really confused about. It says this, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

[24:50] Now that last phrase, in Christ shall all be made alive. Does that sound like a problem to you? No. Some people take and use that to teach what's called universalism.

[25:10] Universalism is the idea that everybody's going to heaven. Everybody's going to heaven. Okay? Now, if you're a good old Baptist, because really everybody's a Baptist, they just don't know it yet, then you don't believe that everybody's going to heaven.

[25:28] You know what the Bible teaches about how wide is the road that leads to destruction, and few are those who find the way to life. But the fact of the matter is that there's a lot of people, and particularly in the South, in the South, there is this sort of bubba way of thinking, kind of a bubba theology, where everybody, when somebody dies, they, without fail, I've heard every single person I've ever been around say, they've gone on to a better place.

[25:59] That stems from a universalistic mindset. But the problem is, is that this, this right here doesn't say that everyone's going to be saved.

[26:11] It says that in Christ, those who are in Christ, shall be made alive. And so, that's why coming back and thinking about those who, the subjects of this resurrection of the dead is important, because it's those who belong to Christ.

[26:32] Right. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, and it is true that if a Christian is in this life and a Christian is suffering and they go on to be with the Lord, they absolutely have gone to a better place.

[26:45] But I've just heard that said about, I mean, any funeral I've ever been to, they say it about everybody. And so, is that really the case? So, all right, now let's talk just briefly about the purpose of this resurrection of the dead.

[26:57] The purpose is found there in verse 28 at the very end, the very last phrase, that God may be all in all. What does it mean that God may be all in all? Yeah.

[27:12] He gets all the praise, He gets all the glory, He gets all the accolades, He's the one that's brought it all to pass. He is above all, He is to be thought of, He is to be magnified, He is to be loved, He is to be adored, He is to be satisfied in, like, He's all in all.

[27:28] And what's interesting is that the way that that sentence or that phrase is written, Paul is writing it in such a way as to say, this is the final outcome. So, what I want to do is I want to kind of put some order to this thing to show the pathway of this passage that gets us to that point.

[27:49] Right? It all starts in verse 23 with the resurrection of Jesus Christ first, which has already happened in our lifetime, right? It's already happened way before any of us existed.

[28:00] The second thing that happened at His resurrection and ascension is that God has placed all things in subjection to Christ. You remember when Jesus said all authority in heaven on earth has been given to Him?

[28:15] Right? That is God subjecting everything under the feet of Jesus. That too has already happened. It's also a fulfillment of Psalm 8 if you make the connection there.

[28:26] And then the other thing that's going on is that it talks about Christ continues to destroy His subjected enemies. That's verse 24 and that's happening between the two comings.

[28:37] Right? Like, He's already come. He's resurrected. Now things are subjected and He continues to destroy them until, right, then He comes. this is the second coming.

[28:49] He comes and at His coming He resurrects those who belong to Him, verse 23. He delivers the kingdom to the Father, verse 24, and He destroys death, verse 26.

[29:04] Well, once that happens then the Son will be subjected to the Father giving the kingdom to the Father so that God may be all in all. Does that make sense? What I'm doing is I'm trying to take all of those timing words that we've already looked at and I'm trying to bring some order to that to kind of put things in the order that those words tell us about.

[29:27] And that gets us into the third thing, thinking about the timing of the resurrection. Obviously, you can see all the timing words. Hopefully, you see them. Things like each in his own order, then, or when, and after, and until, right, those are all these timing words.

[29:45] And if you just look at that flow, let me ask you just to, just take a look, I think I wrote this in your notes, right, this flow, the first, second, third, fourth, fifth. When you look at the passage, does that flow look like it's correct to you?

[30:00] let me, let me, let me, let me read the passage and you watch my flow that I've got, okay?

[30:16] Verse 22, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ, then comes the end.

[30:30] When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he's put all of his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

[30:44] For he has put, for God has put all things in subjection under his feet, but when he says all things, now, if we just stop there, that whole section from that verse down is all of this back and forth talk about being subjected, not being subjected, and God the Father is not, and that kind of a thing.

[31:02] All the timing stuff is before that. And so what we have then is at the second coming of Christ, you have this resurrection of those who belong to him, this then comes the end, the delivering of the kingdom to the Father, and the destroying of death.

[31:20] Now here's why I'm emphasizing and getting after that point. Because the second coming of Christ puts an end to death by resurrecting his people.

[31:42] Now we have to talk about, we got to talk about some people for a second. There are three primary ways that people have viewed the end times.

[31:56] They all have a title. You have premillennial, postmillennial, amillennial.

[32:09] Pre, well, they do, they just believe it's not earthly. Premillennial believes in an earthly millennial reign, but they believe the second coming happens before the millennium, that's why it's pre.

[32:23] Postmillennial believe in an earthly reign of Christ, but the second coming happens after the millennial reign. Amillennial believes that the millennial reign is spiritual and not earthly, and is happening now, and at the end of it will be the second coming of Christ.

[32:41] My point is that at least ah and post, once the second coming happens, death is destroyed, no one else can die, but in pre, since the second coming is before the millennial reign, there's also a battle at the end of the millennial reign where people die.

[33:02] In other words, you can't be premillennial, which is what most of us were raised on, because death is already destroyed. I don't think I can.

[33:18] So, premillennial believes that the second coming happens before the millennial reign, and if you keep following their system out, there's also a battle at the end of the millennial reign in which people die.

[33:31] But that can't happen if death is destroyed at the second coming. Now, with that being said, you begin to just see the beauty in the way that God works, because here's the thing.

[33:46] For most of us, as we were taught things about the end times, it came in the form of charts and timelines and lots of things, but let me just give you a very simple version of how things are going to go from here until the end.

[34:01] We're going to keep living, and if we die before Christ comes back, then we go to be with Him. Our body goes into the grave. If we don't die, then we're here, and either way, what we're waiting on is one thing, the coming of Jesus.

[34:21] Not in a secret rapture that freaks everybody out, but we're waiting for the second coming of Christ, at which time He will resurrect the dead.

[34:34] He will destroy death, and everything's going to be over. That's my timeline. We have here, second coming, and the end, and that's it.

[34:47] So is that saying that the rapture is a secret for you? That is saying that what a lot of premillennials have taught is that there's a rapture, one coming of Jesus, and then a second coming of Jesus, the actual second coming of Jesus.

[35:08] And so the rapture has been a separate thing taught, and it has been considered a secret thing because Jesus doesn't actually appear at the rapture. He just takes people off the earth.

[35:19] The problem with that view is that it's not taught anywhere in the Bible. Now, I know that's a big claim, but all the places that people would go to, I'll give you an example.

[35:30] In Matthew's Gospel, it says that there'll be two out in the field, and one will be taken and one left, and there'll be two lying in the bed. One will be taken and one left, right? But the analogy that's used to talk about that is the analogy of Noah, as in the days of Noah.

[35:48] So it will be. And in the days of Noah, what happens? You have eight who are left and the rest of the world taken in judgment.

[36:01] So when two are in the field, one is taken. That's taken in judgment and the other is left. It's not a rapture at all. It's the coming, second coming of Christ in which he takes his enemies off over there and they're done away with and then he has his children.

[36:18] So when Christ comes back, yes, the graves will open up and we will go up to meet the Lord in the air. We'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye, which we'll get to next week, right?

[36:29] Our bodies will be transformed from being mortal to immortal, perishable to imperishable, fat and flabby, old and decrepit, diseased, with knee aches, to perfect, and then we will forever be with the Lord.

[36:44] That word of meeting him in the air, that word meet is a word that says citizens of a city run out to meet the king who's coming to see them and they turn around and come back to the city.

[36:58] So we'll meet the Lord in the air and come right back down here to a new recreated earth. And so all, it just happens, boom, it's just going to be over.

[37:10] Like, will there be some things that may lead up to that? Yeah, that's a whole other discussion. There might be some things that we could see as signs of the time, right? But all we're waiting for is Jesus to come back.

[37:22] It's very simplified, but I think that it helps us because there's not a second chance for the gospel. You see, in so many other views, there's a rapture, then there's a lot more chances for people to have the gospel, and so we kind of think to ourselves, well, maybe it'd just be better if the rapture happens and it scares everybody to death and then they'll trust Jesus.

[37:44] But here's the problem. There's not going to be that. So we've got to be having some urgency about us that says, this is all the chance we get.

[37:56] It's the only chance I get to share the gospel. It's the only chance that they get to believe the gospel. So I want to take every moment and capture it and use it.

[38:11] This kind of ends with, I guess I'll pull back and end here. I think from this passage, because here's the thing, there's a lot of pre-millennial people. I love them dearly.

[38:22] John MacArthur is a pre-millennial guy, and it was a book that was written by John MacArthur that God used to save me. So, you know, he is in his 80s, his health is bad, and he's going to go on to be with the Lord, and finally his theology is going to get corrected.

[38:40] That is awful. But so is mine, right? So is mine. And so I'm not saying that people are bad if they believe this. I just think they're wrong.

[38:51] And here's the thing. A pre, an ah, a post, all, all believe three things in common. And these are the three things that every Christian must believe.

[39:05] Okay? So this is the bottom line. If you're kind of going like, man, I'm just not sure about timing and all this sort of stuff, that's fine. Don't worry about the timing, but let me give you three things that every Christian ought to believe about these things.

[39:17] Number one, the second coming of Christ. This passage teaches us very clearly that Christ is coming back. And if you look at the rest of the New Testament, we come to find out that what?

[39:27] He's coming back visibly and bodily. He will be seen. We will see him with our eyes. We will see his body.

[39:38] He's coming back. Second thing, resurrection of the dead. When he comes, resurrection of the dead. Now, again, Paul has been talking about the resurrection of the righteous, but I also believe that the unrighteous are going to be resurrected at the same time.

[39:55] They're going to be resurrected to judgment and damnation, and Christians, the righteous, will be resurrected to life. Let me give you a passage. John chapter 5, verse 28 and 29.

[40:10] Jesus says this, Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, talking about the Son of Man, and they will come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

[40:23] Okay? Now, Paul's point has been talking about the resurrection of the righteous because he wants to get into what kind of body we have because that's the problem of the Corinthians is that they have an issue with bodies and, you know, matter and material things.

[40:38] So, that's why he's focused there. But we need to believe in the second coming, visibly bodily. We need to believe in the resurrection of the dead that it is also bodily. Our bodies will get raised. And listen, it's not going to be a diseased body.

[40:51] It's going to be a body. It's going to be this body glorified and perfected. I'm not getting a new body, right? Are any of you all Star Trek fans?

[41:05] Okay, never mind then. I won't use that analogy. Have you watched Deep Space Nine? Oh, then never mind. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Okay, here's the third thing we need to believe.

[41:17] I think that this is hinted at in the passage. Second coming, resurrection of the dead, and the third thing is judgment. Judgment.

[41:29] When it talks about how Christ is going to be destroying every rule and authority and power, that's any kind of governing system.

[41:40] That's a system of justice. So, there's a hint at judgment. Now, there's other passages that will tell us very clearly judgment is coming. And it's something we need to believe in. And all three views believe in these three things, the second coming and the resurrection of the dead and judgment.

[41:58] Every premillennial, every postmillennial, every amillennial, we all believe these things. And these are the things that are, if you don't believe these things, then what is taught in the church as whole is that that would be an unorthodox position to hold.

[42:14] If you don't believe in judgment, if you don't believe in the second coming, if you don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, that would be a non-Christian view to hold. Because Christians throughout the ages, these are the things we've held to.

[42:25] The difference in opinion between the three views is the timing and when these things will happen. And honestly, if you just stick to what you know God has told you to do, the timing is not going to make that big of a difference.

[42:38] Right? I mean, there are some things and we can get into that, but just know that it's important to believe these things. So I just encourage you that if I'm right, that at the end we're waiting on the second coming and that's going to be it, then the question is, are you ready?

[43:03] Right? Are you ready for that? And here's what Paul does. He's proving the resurrection of the dead by showing how when Jesus comes back it's going to happen.

[43:16] Again, another proof of the resurrection of the dead. So anyway, any questions, thoughts? Yes. Yes.

[43:27] Yeah. Everyone will stand before. And I think there's a lot of passages that help give us as Christians some hope in that, in the sense that someone who's not in Christ, their judgment and their doom is sealed.

[43:41] We know what's going to happen for them. Those of us who are in Christ, as we face the judgment, we know we're in Christ. So that judgment as it comes to us won't impact us because we're in Christ.

[43:54] Right? What will be displayed to God is going to be the righteousness of Christ that covers us and that we've grown in. And so, while there may be, and I do believe this is true, a detailing maybe of things in our lives that we should not have done, it's all going to be couched in being covered in the blood and the righteousness of Christ.

[44:22] There's one judgment. I really like to simplify things, right? My professor in seminary, Dr. Sam Waldron, he's written two books called The End Times Made Simple.

[44:35] And the reason he says simple is not because it's easy to read his book, but because the scheme just takes out a lot of these extra things that people have put in over the years.

[44:46] And it's just Jesus is coming back, resurrection of the dead, judgment, new heavens, new earth, all over. Very uncomplicated. And, you know, if you like a challenge in reading, I would recommend those books to you.

[45:01] They are difficult to follow. Not difficult to follow, but they're difficult to read because they're technical. But they're a good read. So if you like technical, good reads, you can read that.

[45:16] End Times Made Simple. Any other thoughts or questions? questions? You probably answered the biggest question in my life. I've always wondered about people who don't read.

[45:34] Yeah. It's... It's... We've done a lot to numb ourselves to the dangers that people face from not hearing the gospel.

[45:57] And... A person cannot be saved without believing in Jesus. And I think it's Romans 10.

[46:07] Help me with our memory verse. Romans 10, verse 13 says, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then it goes on to say, how can they call on him whom they've not believed?

[46:19] And how can they believe on him whom they've never heard? And how can they hear unless someone preaches to them? And then it talks about how can they preach unless they're sent? So the missionary endeavor of sending people to go preach the gospel for people to hear so they can believe is a very high, important task for us to take on.

[46:40] And oftentimes we numb ourselves because we've got them over there and we're sending money but we don't hear or we don't connect or whatever. And then also sometimes we don't get engaged here and now.

[46:53] And it's easy when you... It's easy to become numb when you have all of the things that our modern life has and you have just our own sinful natures that don't like to be inconvenienced, troubled.

[47:08] and honestly when you think about lostness, Paul says in Romans chapter 9 he says, I wish myself accursed for my brethren. Right?

[47:19] There's an emotional cost that we have to pay for being able to take the gospel to others and oftentimes we're worn out. We don't really want to pay that cost.

[47:30] you know? And so I think your question just emphasizes and reinforces we've got to be telling people.

[47:44] I guess. Well, you don't really want to ask a hard question, do you?

[48:02] You know... Yeah, a simple answer is that I believe strongly in the goodness and the compassion of God and in the sovereignty of God and there's no direct information that God gives us about that and so I just lean and rest upon His goodness and His grace and His mercy to do what is just and right.

[48:38] So... And you know that goes for all kinds of situations you know. So... Yeah. Mm-hmm.

[48:53] Right. All right. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know and that's...

[49:06] I desperately want to believe that. Right? The problem is that biblically, textually, I just can't say that because where is that taught?

[49:18] Where's the verse for that? So, I just want to lean on the kindness and goodness of God because there's so much I don't know. I'll give you one example. John Piper says this.

[49:30] He says that he believes that infants that die in infancy that God actually Himself gives them the gospel and they believe. Now, I don't know that he's right and that's a weird thing to say but I'm just saying that there's so much that happens in this life and outside of this world that we don't understand.

[49:47] No, and God has not told us and the things in which He is silent. John Calvin used to say this that we will major on the majors, minor on the minors and where God is silent so shall we be.

[49:57] That's right. That's right.

[50:16] Yes, ma'am. I believe so. I believe so. Absolutely. You know, I just trust in the goodness and kindness of God to be compassionate, merciful, sovereign, good in His dealings with them.

[50:33] And He doesn't owe me an explanation. Yeah.

[50:51] Okay. Well, good food for thought. Next week we'll jump after some of the implications of that. We want to take some prayer requests and I have a prayer request first.

[51:05] You