I invite you to turn in the Scriptures tonight to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, as we are continuing our study in this book, and tonight we're coming to verses 29 through 34. To set the context, I want to read verses 12 through 19 and then come down to our text at verse 29. So beginning at verse 12, this is the word of the Lord, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 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. 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 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. And now our text down at verse 29. Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger in every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die every day. What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. 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. I say this to your shame. May the Lord bless tonight the hearing of his word. We live in a time where there has been great interest among Christians. Not that it's not been before, but we've really been obsessed with the question of how should we live the Christian life. You know that. That has been on every single heart and mind for some time. And it seems to me that Christians are driven by that question today. They want answers to that question. They want to know how to live the Christian life. The problem is, for all of the talk about holiness and advancing the Christian in holiness, People seem more frustrated over their progress in the Christian life than ever. There just doesn't seem to be much, does there? If I asked you tonight, do you feel like you're really progressing in the Christian life? Would you all put up your hand and say, we're really doing well? I doubt many would say that. In fact, at least as it goes, we're being called one of the most worldly generations that's ever existed on the face of the earth. Maybe that's why we're asking the question so much, right? There have been numerous debates by theologians in recent times, which is not a new debate, it's an old debate, but there have been numerous debates in recent times about how to properly motivate people to live. We ask, well, what should motivate us as Christians to live the Christian life? And we say gratitude. And I'm used to hearing, well, that's good. Gratitude, it's got to be more than that. Some say, well, threats of God's punishments should motivate us to live a certain way. And they push that. This is an important question because I want an answer. You want an answer. What motivates, what lives, what gives here? Why do we find ourselves in a little holiness? And how do we get to progress in the Christian life? No doubt the best motivation still is gratitude. But I think tonight we can fill that out a little bit further in light of what Paul is saying in this particular text. Paul is saying tonight, it's gratitude that drives us that is driven by a future hope. What do I mean? I studied this this last week and I had one of those aha moments. It was really a great passage to reflect upon and think about this issue. It is an issue and an implication of this text. Do you know what Paul uses here, what Paul uses to drive behavior, holiness, life? It's gratitude for what God has done with an eye to the future. In other words, Paul is properly driven by believing the gospel, all that Jesus has done for him so that everything he does in the present is driven by the certainty and the hope of coming resurrection glory. That's really the thrust of this tonight. The whole story he's looking to have completed. It is the certainty of the resurrection that drove everything that Paul's doing. He so believed it. He had so grasped it. It meant so much to him that it affected his choices in every single day life, everyday life, driven by what is shortly to come to pass. The reason we're not properly motivated to live in the present and to live a sanctified life is simple. We're too much about the present. We're too much about the present. And we're not living in the hope of future glory. Eagerly wanting it, eagerly looking for it, praying for it, asking for it. I mean, be honest. Do we sit down and ever say, Lord Jesus, come quickly. It's a prayer that makes us a little scared at times. Paul is driven by the certainty of what is to come. And he has confidence in it. He has assurance about it. And he knows that if he can bring this church there, he knows that if he can correct what has become a major problem over the doctrine of the resurrection, it's going to fix all the previous problems that have come before. I'll show you that by the end. What we have in front of us tonight, and remember, in chapter one, he emphasized holiness. What we have in front of us tonight is an absolutely fascinating section. Paul is doing something very simple in these verses. He's explaining the consequence of a denial of the resurrection of our bodies in the course of our lives. In other words, he's explaining the inconsistencies of trying to live any part of the Christian life if indeed our bodies are not going to be raised. if we're not resting and trusting in the promises of God. In other words, you can't live the Christian life until you first believed and really come to trust and have assurance in his promises. This drives the Christian life. This propels the Christian life. It's as if he says to them, and they're dumping this, if the resurrection is not a fact, if it doesn't happen, three things tonight. First is this. And he's exposing their inconsistencies. Why even care about death? Why even care about the dead? Second, why count the cost? Third, if you're going to deny the resurrection, your denial is irrational. Wake up and stop being influenced by evil. The first two points are what I'm really emphasizing tonight. Why care about the dead? Why count the cost? And then he calls them back. It's really a call at the end of that. It's going to be helpful tonight to help us properly motivate life. The key issue came out, that's why I read it in context, in verse 12 tonight, where he has been preaching the resurrection of Christ. He's been preaching the resurrection of the dead. And he gives the severe indictment to this church. If he is preached as being risen, how can some of you run around and say, there is no resurrection of the dead? Some were saying that. in the church and getting away with it and influencing a great population of people in the church with it. And Paul says, one of the consequences is that's true. You're all still in your sins. You have no hope. And the logic Paul used was to say, you aren't considering what it means, as we looked at last time, that you've been joined to Christ. You're one with Him. You're a member of Him. What you say about your bodies and what you do with your body ties directly to Christ's body because of your union. And whatever we say about Christ's body applies to your body. Your bodies matter a lot. We're all members. So if you run around saying you're not going to be raised, you're forfeiting and you're destroying the message and the reality of what Christ has done for you. You're assaulting it. because you've been joined to him. Now, it's hard for us to appreciate this. I really feel that we don't appreciate or understand the resurrection as we should. It's not emphasized very much. I said last time, when I try to comfort people over it, I get kind of blank looks. We don't even know how to process it. What will that be like? What will our resurrected bodies be like? That's what you want me to answer. That's next time. You have to go somewhere else first. Paul asked that question. I'm going to tell you what your bodies are going to be like. But something else first. Before he does that, I want you to notice where he goes. He basically says, your Christian living is totally inconsistent if there is no resurrection. So that if you can appreciate that there is a resurrection and you can live in light of the hope of that glory to come, it's going to affect what you're doing in the present. It has to. There's a relationship there. You see, they were doing things in life that supported the fact of the resurrection. You understand that? They were doing things in the church that supported the fact of the resurrection. Doesn't mean that they were right, but they were doing something that supported the fact of it. And that's where he begins with the first major inconsistency in a practice they were doing that was completely at odds with a denial of the resurrection. Look at verse 29. Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead do not rise at all and you say, what in the stars is that? I mean, what is that? I had one of you come up last week. I just can't wait to see what you're going to do with that, Pastor. I have bad news. I'm not going to do much. We don't know. I know that disappoints you. We don't know. It's mentioned nowhere else in the New Testament. We don't have much facts about that practice. I think you can kind of put it together. What seems to be happening is that some of the members of the church were being baptized on behalf of the dead. That seems clear. Why would anyone do that? Well, if you looked at erroneous views of baptism that were taking place at the time and in the early centuries of the church, again, why we study baptism. If you look at erroneous views of baptism, there was the belief in some people that you needed to delay baptism in your life to the very end to cover the most sins you could. So if you could hang on to the very end and then get baptized, you'd get them all wiped away. You see why the Belgics saying, it's not the water, it's not the water, it's not the water. Well, this was an erroneous view of baptism that's always been present in the church and that has always been around. So what do I think? Well, it really doesn't matter what I think, but I'm just as curious as you. So here's what I believe was happening. Because of a wrong view of baptism, some of them had died without being baptized. Uh-oh. They died. They waited to the end and it didn't happen. And they believed that there was some kind of spiritual connection with their dead loved ones. We still have this stuff going on today, by the way. So they thought if they were baptized in their place, all of the benefits, whatever benefit you got from baptism could be transferred or conveyed to the dead. So some of them were practicing baptisms for the dead. Now, I have to stop and say, do you see what you could do with this? A good biblical principle of interpretation, you never build a doctrine on one verse, by the way. You just don't do that. Some have. In early history, the Marcionites practiced this. We know today Mormons still practice this based on this verse. They baptize for the dead. Paul is doing one thing here tonight. He's using it as an illustration of their hypocrisy and inconsistency. That's it. No command to do this in the Bible. What Paul is saying is simple. You guys are practicing the baptisms, listen to how powerful this is, for the dead. How ridiculous is that when you're running around saying they're not even going to be raised? That's the effect. This is craziness. That makes you're baptizing for dead people, you're baptizing for dead people whose bodies, you're saying, aren't even going to be raised anyway. Why would you do that? What good is that? Notice he emphasizes that, you know. If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized? You're baptizing bodies. His point is, you guys are doing nonsense. Now, it really does show how many problems this church has, doesn't it? It really does show how messed up this church was and how patient we need to be with church and churches i haven't always been so patient and it's a good reminder think about this if they're not raised then jesus won't be raised and if that's truth they remain in their sins do you see how ridiculous it is that you are having baptisms for the dead. What in the world does that have to do with us tonight? Come on, this is 2015. We're a Reformed church. We're not doing that stuff. Well, I think a lot. Generally, people have a very low view of the body. I hear over and over and over and it never seems to go away at times of death the body's just a shell. I had one of the young people come up to me the other night and say, well, this young person heard someone say that the deceased loved one is now with Jesus, who's a believer, true enough, but that body is not the person. That body's not the person. We don't think a lot about the bodily resurrection. We don't think a lot about it. And that's why we've moved in different ways with how to handle the body at funerals, to memorials. There's little emphasis given to it, isn't there? Do you realize you're getting your body back? Do you realize you're getting your body back? We are actually kind of what they call de facto silent deniers of the resurrection. We don't think much about resurrection glory of the body. but the apostles teaching us to want it back. But here's the inconsistency and here's where it ties together. When somebody dies, when your loved one dies, do you just throw the body in the trash? Of course not. You spend thousands on a casket. You spend to have it embalmed. We pay big bucks to have the body make, made to be look as beautiful as it possibly can in death. Think about that. We do what we can to make it look as beautiful as we can in death. We put the best suit on that body. We put the best dress on that body. And then we tell everyone, that's not Uncle Johnny. We're just as inconsistent. That is Johnny. And Johnny's getting up one day. That's the glorious truth of how powerful Christ is to raise your bodies, which means you're going to know one another in the resurrection. Of course you're going to know one another. I always get that question. Of course you are. You're getting your body back. Paul's saying, why do you even care about it? Why do you even care about the dead? their bodies aren't going to be raised. But you show in your practices that you actually really do value that body. You show in your practices that you really do value that body, but you're really confused about it. That was the first major inconsistency he's dealing with. Second's this. If the resurrection's not going to happen, why count the cost for anything? Jesus said it over and over, count the cost, count the cost, count the cost. Well, if your bodies are not going to be raised, why are you counting the cost? Look at verse 30. Why do we stand in jeopardy? I really love verse 30. I think it captures something so beautiful. Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die every day. What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus if the dead are not raised? It's a really powerful point. Jesus called us all to constantly count the cost for following Him, didn't He? Jesus came here and He said, I have no place to lay my head. I'm hated. He says, in this life, you all may suffer loss. If anyone wants to build, he needs to first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to build. The first thing Paul is saying here is If the resurrection's not true, why are we doing this? Do you realize we're in jeopardy? We're in danger every hour as apostles? The effect of that shouldn't be underestimated. If none of this were true, why would I choose to suffer? Why would I choose that? Have you thought about that point? That millions of Christians who've gone before you, God's all brought them through and we're all distressed about everything that's going on right now. He's brought them all through. And that they chose a life of taking a stand for things. And in taking a stand for things, they chose a life of suffering that came with it. They never knew what it might be, but they understood if we take a stand and we count the cost, it's going to cost something. They chose that. Paul says that. Let me tell you about what I chose. With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, often near death, five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes lest one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night in the day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of all of my anxiety for the churches. You think we're going through this all, says Paul, for nothing? I haven't got to the total effect of that yet. I hope I'm going to get there. How many martyrs have there been before you? You think they went to the fire for nothing? His point is, it's the resurrection that's driving them. It's the resurrection and the hope of glory that they're willing to take this on for the moment. If there's no future glory for our bodies, if there's no resurrection, why would we choose this? But Paul says, I need you to know, I choose to die daily. Why? Well, it's not too hard to figure out. I'm letting the life of Christ be manifested in my weak body. We're going through all this because we have the greatest purpose and the greatest motivation for people. We get to show the life of Jesus. We get to show the life of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 1, listen to this. We do not want you to be unaware, brothers. Listen to what drives him. We don't want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. See it? He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we've set our hope that he will deliver us again. What's driving him? resurrection it's his hope he knows that he will be raised up so that if he's put through this for a moment it has a great purpose he's doing this all with a goal in mind that people would be one remember he said that in chapter 9 through this life after he suffered a little while christ shall himself, what does he say, himself, perfect, establish, and strengthen you. Paul would say to the Philippians, after all his hardship, you guys are my crown. I bear all things for the sake of the elect. I just keep going through it because I know there's dogs in the churches that don't like me, but I just keep doing it because I'm laboring for people. That's what he's saying. Paul even gives a personal example. I fought with beasts at Ephesus. He's talking about people. Remember what happened when he went into the temple of Diana and they all spoke against their little idols that they were making for profit and Demetrius the silversmith and everyone got really mad and they rushed them and they dragged some of them into the theater. That's like, listen, that's like doing this. That's like walking outside where the Supreme Court was this week after that decision when everyone's going like this and saying you guys that's wrong that's wrong that's sin you imagine the bum rush you imagine them dragging them down we're not doing this for nothing we're doing it because people are being saved and we have a hope that's before us what advantage to go through this if there's no future resurrection we'll get to this in a second why not just eat and drink and be merry and die if nothing is to come why do we care he quotes Isaiah why not eat and drink for tomorrow we die why not just go party it up you guys why not go out and drink why not go head out to the beach and drink it up why not you're not living for anything anyway if you're living for something you won't do that but if you're living for something then you're not going to want to do that. Why not go get drunk and sleep in to the end of the hour? It doesn't matter about your life. This is it. It's because of the resurrection of Christ that drives and propels our life. We've been raised with Him. We've been taught to set our minds now because we've been raised with Him on things above where Christ is because we're so certain about where we're going. Notice he's so certain about where he's going. He says we have an upward calling in Philippians. An upward calling. We're going there. We're going there. His eye is on the fact that soon this is going to be over and he will share in the glory of his body to be raised with the risen Christ. And since he's called me to suffer a little while, he says I will choose that because my heart is set on what is coming. Can I be open here? I'm nervous about what I'm about to say, but I'm just going to do it. Don't read me wrong. Don't hear me wrong. I love to preach. I love my calling. And I have not had to suffer much. I don't know what the future is in light of our country. I don't know where it'll go. We could face persecution. I'm fully aware of that. I'm willing to go through it to stand on the truth. But I have this little dream of buying a house in the country. I do. I have this little dream of buying a house in the country and I have this little dream of going out there and being alone, having some acreage, a little vineyard. I think a lot about this and at times when the ministry's hard, I want to go do that. And then I think, is it time for me to dwell in my paneled house, even though I know I have it good, while the Lord's house lies in ruins? if those with the gifts that I've been given walk away from it, who will do it? Who will do it? In some ways, I didn't really ask for this. But here I am. I do this believing that my body's going to be raised, and I do this believing that if I preach the gospel to you, it's going to raise your bodies when you believe that. There's something that all of us to some degree, and I'm not saying we can't enjoy the good gifts of God. Please don't take me to saying that. But there's something we set aside for the moment. There's something all of you set aside for the moment. You're not building it all for the here and now. And I think we try to do that. Then that means that when our lives are just about the pursuit of pleasure, when our lives are just about all the here and now, and all the extravagance of eating and drinking, And doing all these things, if that's what's driving our life, doesn't that all expose that we're really not living by faith in what is to come? There's a reason the resurrection is so little talked about. It's pretty hard to dream of it when it's so good here. And maybe that's why we need to be shaken up a little bit in this country, right? We build our dreams and we're not really counting the cost. And I'm as guilty of it as anyone. I am not browbeating here. And I believe that really learning to think about our bodies in terms of being united to Christ and being one with Him, knowing that I've been raised, He's raised, I'll be raised, that's going to have some kind of effect on how I care for my body and what I do with it in the present. And Paul is saying here we're all being inconsistent. We value dead bodies. You'll value the dead and their bodies, but you've taken a position that they will not be raised. Do we really live believing we're going to be raised? So what Paul does to close this out is he gives a very strong rebuke. He says, wake up and stop being influenced by evil. Look at verse 33. Don't be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness. Don't sin. For some have no knowledge of God. I speak that to your shame. What's he saying? He's saying this. He's looking at the church and saying, you guys are accepting bad teaching from false teachers. And do you know that bad company always pulls you down? Well, it's true for everything, isn't it? It's true in all facets of life. Who you date, who your friends are, who you admire, Paul's saying, you're admiring false teachers and lo and behold, it's corrupting you. You're being deceived. You have no discernment. Wake up. It's time to wake up. This bad company is corrupting the whole church. They're denying the resurrection and the Corinthian church was turning into, and listen to the consequence of this bad company denying the resurrection and putting all the focus on the glory now. Do you know what was the consequence? the church became a hedonistic club of let's eat, drink, and be merry now. That's what happened. That's what he's been dealing with. Worldliness of the church. In other words, the logical outcome, that's why I said this is the greatest issue he saved for last. The logical outcome of a denial of the resurrection of the body was leading them into party life. In the same vein of let's eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. The worldliness filled them. Because they didn't live any longer for the future. They didn't have their eyes set on the future. It's no different today. When ministries are all about the glory now and telling you how to live your best life now, when it's all about reaching your fullest potential now, we hear this just endlessly today, it's not the way of the cross. Luther called it a theology of the cross, not a theology of glory. We are in a path of suffering for the moment, bearing Christ's shame. So Paul is saying, don't be deceived. There are many who have no knowledge of God, and I say it to your shame because you're accepting their ideas. I conclude tonight with this. Do you see how important the resurrection is? Why are we maybe not finding any progress in the Christian life? It's because you're too much about the present. you're not thinking much at all about the future. It's easy when you're old and everything's falling apart. I get that. It's easy when you're old and you're feeling like your body is just worn out and you have no more energy. I'm not there yet. I see signs of it. But it's a lot harder when you're younger. The glory of pride of a young man is his strength. The Lord is telling us tonight, set your minds on things above. You've got to be driven by my promises. My gospel. What I did for you. But remember, because Christ did this in A.D. 30, he's got to complete the story. And therefore, it is a future glory. We have our heart set on. Keep your eyes fixed on the hope, Paul says, that's set before you. And you're not going to need to run around asking, how do we live in the present? God did something in history. God raised his son from the dead. And believing that fact gives me a lot of purpose and meaning. I got a lot to work on. You've got a lot to work on. We've got a lot and a long way to go. I understand that. But it's a great start tonight to say, Lord, as I go out into another week, keep my heart set on, believing your gospel promises and looking forward as I'm driven in the way that I live of the future resurrection of the body as I eagerly await your return from heaven to complete the work and give life to my mortal body. Let's pray to him tonight. Gracious Heavenly Father, we bow the head tonight with such a powerful text that's a surprising text of how much it says to us. But from pastor all the way here to all the people, we confess our sins. You give us many good things to enjoy, many good gifts to enjoy and they're not evil. But oftentimes we take those good gifts and worship them. Or we have a conception of life that everything needs to be so perfect and so we create our paneled houses to look so perfect and yet we're not really living in the hope of the glory to come. We confess that. We're all guilty of it. And we ask that you would work in our hearts that we would understand the calling that You've given to us to count the cost, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and in whatever position we're in, me as a pastor, or whatever gifts You've given to Your people, that they would use that and realize it's not running off to a vineyard to create the perfect life now, but to use our gifts upon the sacrifice and service of each other's faith. Because one day the glory will be so wonderful nothing you say of this present life can compare with it set our hearts aright tonight and give us faith in your promises thank you jesus for dying for us for rising the third day that tonight we might have hope of resurrection glory jesus name we pray amen