[0:00] on who it is we've come to worship. And, of course, Hebrews, particularly chapter 1, leads us into these incredible thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ. Page 1201, if you've got the church Bible.
[0:16] Just listen to these words. I'm going to read the first 13 verses. In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets.
[0:28] At many times and in various ways. But in these last days, he's spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
[0:42] The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.
[0:59] So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son.
[1:11] Today I've become your Father. Or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son. And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him.
[1:24] And speaking of the angels, he says, He makes his angels spirits and his servants flames of fire. But about the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever.
[1:36] A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.
[1:50] He also says, In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment.
[2:02] You will roll them up like a robe. Like a garment, they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. To which of the angels did God ever say, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
[2:21] That's what I said this morning. Wednesday past was Ascension Day, the day we rejoice in the truth that our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, has ascended, returned to the Father's right hand.
[2:32] But more than that, he's returned to that place of majesty, of power, of authority. He is the one who is seated, and he is the one who is at work in this world.
[2:45] So we are people of the risen and ascended King, and our first hymn reminds us of that. It's going to come up on the screen behind me. Come, people of the risen King. Let's stand together as we sing his praise.
[2:57] Let's continue in our worship and our praise.
[3:08] As we come to the Lord in prayer, I'm going to lead, if a few others would like to also, lead us in prayer as we bring our praise, our thanksgiving, our rejoicing to God for all that he is to us in Jesus.
[3:21] So let us pray together. More than any other people on earth, O Lord our God, have we reason to rejoice, not just this evening, but every day, including Mondays and Fridays.
[3:34] For we thank you, our gracious God and Father, that our joy is not that which rests upon our situation or circumstances. It's not a joy that depends upon our health or our riches or our wealth.
[3:48] Not a joy that rests upon anything in and of ourselves or in and of this world. We thank you that we can rejoice in Jesus Christ our Savior.
[3:59] Thank you that Paul himself declares and tells us, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say it. Rejoice. Our rejoicing is you. You are the joy of our hearts, O Lord our God.
[4:11] You are the one who fills us with that delight when we think of your love for us and care for us. When we think of your fatherly interest in every part of our lives, O Lord we cannot help but rejoice.
[4:25] And then when we think of Jesus, O Lord our hearts overflow. Help us now as we bring our praises to you to rejoice in Jesus your Son.
[4:37] Amen. Amen. Yes, we're going to read from verse 1, 1 Corinthians 15 to verse 34.
[4:51] Now brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and on which you've taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.
[5:06] Otherwise, you've believed in vain. For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve.
[5:27] After that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
[5:47] For I am the least of the apostles, and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.
[6:03] No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
[6:20] But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how could some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
[6:33] And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.
[6:49] But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.
[7:02] You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
[7:17] But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
[7:29] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn, Christ the first fruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him.
[7:42] Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
[7:57] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he has put everything under his feet. Now when it says that everything has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.
[8:13] When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him and put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
[8:25] Now if there is no resurrection, what will those who are baptised for the dead, if the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptised for them?
[8:36] And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day, yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[8:48] If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
[9:01] Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Combat your senses as you ought and stop sinning. For there are some who are ignorant of God.
[9:13] I say this to your shame. Amen. Thank you, Barry. So please turn, if you would then, to 1 Corinthians and chapter 15.
[9:25] That's page 1156, page 1156, if you've got the church Bible. A couple of weeks ago we looked at the first 11 verses of this chapter because we've been going through the book, the first letter, the first Corinthians with Paul over the past several months and there's been various things.
[9:44] We've had a break here because of Christmas and a break for Easter and we came back and we looked at those first 11 verses but we're going to look tonight at verses 12 to 34 and I know all of you are really, really, really looking forward to verse 29, aren't you?
[10:02] You're all thinking, what is he going to say about verse 29? That's all you're thinking about. Well, I will answer that question but there's much, much more to it than that. Much, much more to it than that.
[10:13] When we looked at those first verses we saw particularly what leapt out to us verse 3 and following. For what I received I passed on to you of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
[10:26] was buried, was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, appeared and so on. And Paul has been bringing back the church in Corinth back to the gospel, back to the basics, back to the essentials.
[10:39] He's been dealing with as we know all the problems in the church, divisions, falling out about who was their favorite preacher, falling out about taking one another to court, falling out about immorality in the church, falling out about what they ate and didn't eat and oh, it was just absolute chaos as we saw when they came to worship.
[11:01] One was shouting here, another shouting there, one was doing this, another doing that. Paul's cleared all that away as much as possible, cleared away all that and he's got back now. Let's get back to what's of first importance.
[11:14] Isn't it a shame, isn't it? He's had to do 14 chapters of clearing up the rubbish before we can get back to the things that really matter. Isn't there a lesson for me, a lesson for us?
[11:25] Don't we find ourselves getting so caught up with the outward things, the external things, the things that really ultimately are not the essentials and how important it is that we get back to and center and focus on Christ.
[11:40] He's the one. He is the center. He is the one that it's all about and we've seen, haven't we, particularly in those verses that what Paul preached concerning Christ was not a matter of mystery or perhaps or fair historical absolute historic fact, absolute certain reality, events that were witnessed by people who saw them.
[12:05] Notice how much time he spends about the resurrection. It's not a fantasy. People saw him hundreds at a time in fact as well and we saw as well that the scriptures, the Old Testament builds up and is a rock-solid foundation too for the person of Jesus.
[12:22] Everything that he came to do was prophesied and declared in the scriptures in the past. That's why I said Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 and so on, Genesis 3 and verse 15.
[12:37] But as well, Paul points out to us that we have certain hope and certain faith in the things of Christ not only because of what people saw, not only what God declared would happen, but because of our experience, because the gospel has affected us, changed us, transformed us.
[12:56] Notice how he speaks, verse 10, but by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace to me was not without effect. Becoming a Christian means that we are affected, we are changed.
[13:08] There's a transformation that takes place. It's impossible for anybody to simply believe a matter of certain doctrines or truths and carry on in their lives as if nothing has happened.
[13:18] The grace of God has effect. We believe in the effectual calling. We believe that God when he sends his grace into the heart of a person, something happens. They are transformed and changed.
[13:30] They are made new creations. Paul says that this gospel, this gospel that's so solid and certain, it's the gospel we can take our stand upon there in verse 1.
[13:44] The gospel by which we're saved, the gospel that we hold to firmly, something we trust in every day, a gospel that indeed is received.
[13:56] But, and this is why he's built up as he has in his first 11 or so verses, he's built up because he says, but, there's some false teaching that's going on.
[14:11] More dangerous than any of the other false teaching that's gone on. More dangerous than the immorality, more dangerous than anything else. And what is it this false teaching is? Some of you are saying there is no resurrection of the dead.
[14:25] we're not told why they taught that. We're not told where that teaching came from or who were they ones who were putting forward that teaching but clearly here in Corinth it had taken hold and people were beginning to think and to believe there's no resurrection.
[14:43] In one sense, a church which when you read about it was so full of supernatural things, supernatural gifts, all about the Spirit, suddenly did away with the supernatural. That there's a resurrection they were like the liberals of the day.
[14:57] They're saying there's no life after death, there's no resurrection. Like the Sadducees. Remember the Sadducees in Jesus' day?
[15:08] The Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees were ultra-religious, legalistic. The Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural for heaven or resurrection or life beyond the grave.
[15:21] That teaching that they were bringing was throwing the Christians into confusion but it was having a profound effect upon the gospel that was being proclaimed.
[15:33] So the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ if I can put it this way is made up of essential links. Those links that we have there. Christ died, buried, raised.
[15:44] If we take one of those things away, if we take away one of those links in the chain of the gospel then the whole thing falls apart. they are each one a cornerstone of the Christian faith, a cornerstone of the life-transforming gospel.
[15:58] And if, as Paul puts it here, there's no resurrection of the dead, then the clear conclusion is that there's no resurrection of Jesus either. You can't have one without the other. They are inseparably linked.
[16:10] They are of first importance. And on that rock of Jesus' resurrection rests several Christian hopes. peace. And these are the things I want us to think about.
[16:22] They are the things I believe come out in verses 12 and following. That phrase hope comes up again and again. He says there verse 19 if only for this life we have hope in Christ we are of all people to be most pitied.
[16:39] Later on he speaks as well about that hope. If I fought verse 32 wild beasts in Ephesus have no more than human hope. what have I gained?
[16:51] Hope. Christian hope goes in line with it. It's part of the one of the tracks of Christian faith. You have Christian faith and Christian hope. They are both essential.
[17:02] They both are necessary. Christian hope is real. It's built upon the foundation of faith in that sense and of the realities of what happened in the life of Jesus.
[17:14] it's something that is invisible to us from our earthly standing but is clearly visible to those in heaven from their heavenly viewpoint. I don't know if you remember or if you ever did watch this film from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
[17:32] It was one of these films from the 80s that I grew up watching. And at the very end of the film Indiana Jones has three challenges to get over and through before he can get to what is supposed to be the Holy Grail.
[17:46] And he stands on this precipice this edge and there's a chasm thousands of feet down and around about 20 feet away is the entrance to the cave. And he's got to make this leap of faith but there's nothing he can't see anything he can't see any bridge.
[18:02] And so eventually he sort of clutches his heart and he makes this big step and just below is a bridge of rock all the way across he can go but he couldn't see it until he was standing on it.
[18:16] Now for us dear friends we do not see the Christian hopes but they're real. We only see them when we have them. We only see them when we enjoy them.
[18:26] That's why Paul writes to the Romans hope that is seen is no hope at all. Hope of the resurrection of the dead to come the hope of heaven that hope is something we do not yet see but we believe and trust in because of the reality of the life death and resurrection of Jesus.
[18:47] So there's some hopes here I want us to bring out these things things that we cannot see but things that we hope in and trust in and are assured by because of the resurrection of Jesus.
[18:59] Primarily because the resurrection of Jesus. First one I've put here is in verse 15 and it's this the gospel gives us hope that God's word is faithful.
[19:11] Paul says something along the lines of this if there is no resurrection of the dead therefore Jesus has not been raised from the dead then everything that we've said about God is false. Everything we've said about God is completely untrue.
[19:24] We're false witnesses about God. We've testified that God has raised Christ from the dead but he hasn't. The message of the resurrection of Jesus is false.
[19:35] Why should we believe anything that God says? Why should we believe anything that God says in his word? He said through the prophets he said through the apostles he said through his word again and again the resurrection.
[19:47] Psalm 16 you shall not let your holy one see decay. Peter preached on that in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. Now this is why people of course mock us as Christians.
[20:01] How can you believe in the Bible? It's just a book written by strange people over thousands of years it contradicts itself blah blah blah blah blah blah. Why can we trust in the Bible?
[20:15] We can trust in the Bible as God's word because we know that God says things he does things. So he said that Christ would be raised from the dead and he has been raised from the dead. We can be certain that the Bible God's word is trustworthy and therefore that God himself is trustworthy.
[20:33] The promises of God that he gives us in his word he faithfully keep even if we don't see them just yet. The commandments of God we know are his will for us to follow and to do.
[20:47] The prophecies that we have in God's word about our Lord Jesus coming again and judgment and all those things the accomplishment and fulfillment that too is promising God's word and we hope in them and trust in them that we do not see them yet.
[21:03] The gospel we have believed in gives us unseen hope that God is trustworthy and everything he says we can trust him with. I'm going through these quickly because as you can see it's a big passage.
[21:16] That's the first thing the hope that God's word is faithful. Secondly the gospel of our Lord Jesus and his resurrection gives us hope that our sins are forgiven. Verse 17 If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile in other words pointless empty you're still in your sins.
[21:33] The gospel hope is that our sins are forgiven. How many of us have got a certificate on the wall that says Peter Michael Robinson your sins are forgiven signed None of us have a certificate that we can pull out of our pocket and say look there's I know my sins are forgiven I've got it written down here on our little license or wallet or whatever it may be of course not.
[21:58] And there are days of course we don't even feel our sins are forgiven do we? There are days when we feel wretched about ourselves we know the sinfulness and depravity of our hearts yet of course there are times when we have a sense of peace wonderfully when God assures us in some sense by his spirit oh yes we are forgiven we are accepted we are righteous in his sights but ultimately we take our forgiveness on hope the gospel hope that we have through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is that our sins have been fully permanently eternally forever dealt with and removed and that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ though we deserve condemnation though we deserve God's anger and wrath against us yet that's been removed and dealt with because everything has been done by Jesus not just his death but his resurrection that's important see this is what
[23:06] Paul writes in Romans 4 of 25 he Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins but listen was raised to life for our justification the resurrection of Jesus in one sense is the guarantee the confirmation that when Jesus bore my sins and died on the cross God said yes it's done I accept it because I'm going to raise him from the dead again why do we die?
[23:29] because of sin why did Jesus die because of our sin why was he able to be raised again because the sin had been dealt with and finished once and for all there was no longer any sin on him if I can put it that way therefore he could be raised and was raised and is alive take away the resurrection of Jesus we've got no assurance that our sins have been paid for and forgiven with the resurrection we hope don't see it don't feel it necessarily all the time but our hope our certain reality we do not see as our sins are forgiven thirdly here as well we see this in verse 18 the gospel hope which we find in the resurrection of Jesus is that all who die in Christ will live verse 18 then those also if there is no resurrection who've fallen asleep in Christ are lost what is the comfort that the Christian has in the face of the death of someone who we love the hope is that though we do not see them and though they are not there for us to speak to or to hear they live they're not dead that's why
[24:45] I just love the way that Paul again and again when he speaks about death for the Christian he simply says they're having a nap that's what he's saying isn't it they're asleep for the Christian death is as fearful and terrible as sleeping they're asleep until that day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and their body physically raised again the Christian the Christian who loves someone dearly and loses them to death does not lose them and though they mourn and though we mourn does not mourn without hope but mourns with hope or grieves with hope not like the rest of the world as Paul writes to the Thessalonians he picks up on this as well in chapter 4 and he says brothers and sisters there are not to be ignorant of those who've fallen asleep in Jesus so that we do not grieve like the rest of men who have no hope we know that what a what a heartbreaking heartbreaking thing it is that's happened in Manchester
[25:45] I don't know the situation for any of those parents or any of those people who died don't wish to make any judgment but how we often they're there they're standing and there's the flowers and the card and two more angels are in heaven or we'll see you again someday or they're all very vague hopes for the Christian it isn't a vague hope it isn't wishful thinking that those who have died before us are yet living gone from our sight we see them no more but the certain hope that we have in the resurrection of Jesus is that they are with Christ which is better by far that's why Paul writes as he does doesn't he to the Philippians he doesn't he doesn't say oh I'm worried about dying it's a horrible thing no I don't know which to choose should I stay which is going to be a blessing for you should I die which is better for me by far to be with Christ dear friends we need not be overtly please don't think
[26:53] I'm saying we must we can't we're not to weep if we're Christians of course we're to weep of course we're to mourn but not without hope with hope the gospel hope as well is not only that those who have died are alive but we too when we die we too shall live that same hope we have for them is the hope we have for ourselves there it is in verses 21 sorry verse 20 Christ has indeed been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who've fallen asleep in other words if you when Jesus was risen from the dead it was the guarantee that all who are in Christ will rise from the dead the first one he led the way he led the charge so that all those in Christ will be raised for since death came through a man we know that is that's Adam verse 21 the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man for as in Adam all die so in Christ all will be made alive now we need to understand that just a slight divergent because some people will say ha ha everybody in Adam dies everybody will be made alive read what it says clearly everybody in Adam dies in other words every descendant of Adam every person who was born of Adam that means every single one of the 7 billion on this planet and all who've gone before us will die but then it says all those in Christ that's not everybody it's those who put their faith in Christ every single person who's trusted Christ as their saviour will live not one will be missing but those who are not in Christ will die because they're still in Adam and they haven't trusted him for themselves dear friends our hope for our loved ones gives us hope for ourselves that unstoppable destructive machine of death that began that began belching out its poison in the garden as Adam and Eve sinned has swept all before it that weapon of mass destruction has swept every single living person before it into death into the grave but the gospel is this
[29:06] Jesus Christ rose from the dead and therefore he has destroyed the power of death this is what's going to come out again and again through this chapter those who have faith in Christ shall not die verse 26 the last enemy to be destroyed is death dear friend are you afraid of death I don't think any of us particularly can say well I'm really looking forward to dying we can say I'm looking forward to heaven looking forward to being out of this body but dear friends we don't need to be afraid of death we don't need to be terrified because Christ has risen death now is not the end but the beginning not the closing of the door of life or closing of the chapter of life but the opening of the chapter of eternal life one more thing here there's two more in fact we're getting on quite well
[30:08] I think the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ gives us hope that Christ is on his throne that Christ is ruling over all notice this he's talked about those who die in Christ each in turn Christ first so Christ's resurrection first then he's coming again and all those who belong to him shall be raised as well then the end of the world will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the father after he's destroyed all dominion authority and power for he must reign so what's going on at this very moment in time our Lord Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead is reigning ruling he has the authority of God in his hands he is destroying dominion authority and power he is accomplishing his purposes he is extending his kingdom he is bringing about all that is in his heart and plan and purpose he must reign he does reign the reign of our Lord
[31:14] Jesus Christ is not and I don't want to get into a great argument in that sense but it's not about the millennium or thousand years of reign something going to happen in the future it's now the reign of Christ is now he's ascended and seated at the right hand of the majesty now he is Lord of all now if he isn't goodness me what hope have we got but of course we don't see that do we we look around in the world and we see a world which seems to be in all sorts of trouble there's wars and famines we know that every kind of evil in the ascendancy and it's right for us even as Christians to ask what's going on what is happening but the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ has died and risen again and risen to that place ascended to that place where he must reign gives us incredible comfort doesn't answer all the questions doesn't remove the struggle that we have with sin and evil in the world but it's part of this wonderful gospel this hope that we have that now in this world at this time our Lord
[32:25] Jesus Christ is bringing each and every one of his enemies into submission under his feet we take that in two ways we take it in the first way is that you and I Bible says are enemies of God at enmity in our minds Paul says and he's brought us to submission hasn't he brought us to submit and acknowledge him as the Lord of our lives that's what the gospel does but secondly as well ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ is bringing about that day when all the authorities all the rulers of this world when all powers and dominion must bow before him and declare Jesus Christ is Lord and the plan and purpose of God is that that will happen and he is working through history and working through time to bring that about we can't see that with the natural eyes can we that's why the world mocks and the world ridicules and the world says where's your God yet working in every action of every government every power every authority even even mysteriously and marvelously even by the hands of wicked men none of these things are keeping back the purpose of
[33:37] God to bring about his desire here's what Paul writes in Ephesians in chapter 1 and verse 11 in him that's Christ we also were chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will everything I can't see that can you no but hope hope the reality we see that we do not see we can put our trust in him when the news comes up we don't have to despair and hold our heads and say oh Lord this is despairing this is terrible we don't need our hearts to melt within us he is actively directing and overseeing everything in the world for the good of his church for us for Paul goes on to say later on in Ephesians in chapter 1 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he's called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe listen that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly realms far above all rule and authority power and dominion and every name that is to be named not only in the present age but also in the one to come and God placed all things under Jesus' feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church sometimes people act as if the whole world revolves around them well in a certain way the whole of the world revolves around the church everything
[35:37] God is doing he's doing for his people either to bring them into the gospel and into his kingdom or that they might be strengthened and blessed and caused to grow and be used by him everything our saviour is working in everything we can trust him one more thing one more thing we'll come to it in just a moment because now we come to verse 29 what are we to make of verse 29 well some of you will know the teaching of the Mormons at the moment they actually do this they they're very very keen on genealogy and so what they do is they find out from a person all their genealogy who was their parents grandparents so on and so forth and basically for each one of those people you can be baptised in their stead okay in water and by being baptised in their place they are baptised by proxy and are saved so all your generations of people before you if you baptise and you've got to be baptised individually for every single one as far as I understand you can't just say well I'm going to be baptised for 500 people you've got to do 500 baptisms to do it that you're securing their salvation well I believe that is a load of hokum but what are we to make of this verse well there are over 200 suggested theories as to what this verse means so number one in the church of
[37:20] Corinth there were some who believed a bit like the Mormons that if somebody had died they put their faith in Christ and they died but they hadn't been able to be baptised that if you were baptised in their place it was sort of accounted to them you were baptised for them that's how I can understand it I think the only way to understand is to see it as it simply states it sometimes we try to twist it I think we've just got to accept that's what it says that they did this Paul doesn't say they're right to do it doesn't say they're wrong to do it he just says that if you're doing that then actually you can't deny the resurrection because you're being baptised for them believing that they have life in the resurrection he's just saying you're being a hypocrite so he's not saying it's right or wrong he's just recognising it's what happened and using their actions to bolster his own teaching on the vitality and reality of the resurrection now whether that helps you or not I don't know but certainly it's not something that we're going to practice or that the church as far as we know has ever practised we are to be baptised for ourselves in our own faith in
[38:32] Christ one last thing as we close dear friends and we've been very patient and really it is the whole message of this portion of scripture the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the very purpose to live for him today the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ gives us purpose to live for him today notice what Paul says and as for us why do we endanger ourselves every hour Paul had never had an easy time following Christ it always been hard it always been persecuted always been up against it he was always in danger read 2 Corinthians 11 danger in the fields and danger in the city danger in the sea danger on the land always in danger he even mentioned something which we don't we don't know anything about it's just mentioned here how he fought wild beasts in Ephesus goodness knows that's not even inacts something else that he adds that happened to him in other words he was a man who was prepared for death every single day it was no surprise to him when he faced these things he expected to die every single day but he argues this why would
[39:46] I live that way why would I preach the gospel and live for Christ with the thought that I could die every single day except that I have this wonderful hope of the resurrection and that Jesus' resurrection assures me and convinces me that living this life for Christ is not pointless but full of purpose she goes on to say if we're not raised from the dead if this life is the only life we've got then why don't we eat and drink today and tomorrow die there's no point seeking after holiness there's no point seeking after pleasing God and keeping his commandments there's no point in being faithful in prayer and reading the scriptures we might as well live like everybody else and perhaps this is again one of the mottos that some of the Christians in Corinth had entered into it seems that way because he says don't be misled bad company corrupts good character some of them because this possibly could get is no resurrection of the dead therefore what is the point in following
[40:59] Jesus today what is the point in living for Christ what's the point in being faithful to him you just might as well indulge the flesh and then just die and go into nothingness but that's not true you're not going to die and go into nothingness rather we're going to be raised raised from the dead raised to life raised with Christ gospel hope of the resurrection of Jesus and therefore our own resurrection controls the way we live today it gives us a way of living with hope and a way of directing our lives because we know that we have an unseen inheritance in heaven we have something of a great reward a heavenly home a life in the presence of God with this hope we find ourselves motivated and moved and pressed on we haven't got time to spend on the frivolities and the foolishness and the emptiness of the world around about us why is it that in our present society in our present generation men and women are doing everything they can to fill their lives with as much experience and feelings and adventures and possessions what are they showing they're showing they have no hope for any other life than this but dear
[42:36] Christians we have hope for a life which is rich and full and everlasting no matter what the difficulties no matter what the sorrows no matter what the hardships may be this is not the end Christ is risen and we are risen with him and so I'll close with these words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 4 he's been talking about the challenges and difficulties of life therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what is seen is temporary what is unseen is eternal let's sing together our final hymn it's a hymn which celebrates the resurrection of our Lord
[43:43] Jesus Christ see what a morning gloriously bright with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem reminding us of Christ's resurrection salvation now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his presence in glory without fault and with exceeding joy to the only wise God our saviour be glory majesty power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages now and forever more amen may of you your future and