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[0:00] Take your Bibles this morning and open them to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

[0:19] ! You can find that chapter 1 Corinthians chapter 15.! We'll get started with that here in just a little bit. But it's going to be a bit of a strange sermon in the sense of how it's organized.

[0:35] I'm really going to give you on the front end two sermons and then the main sermon. Okay? You say, wait a minute. What time is it? I promise you we're going to move quite fast.

[0:49] But our subject, of course, is the resurrection this morning. That's a pretty good subject for this day. Since this is Easter. Or I really prefer Resurrection Day.

[1:01] So the subject is resurrection. And there's a lot that could be said about it. But I would begin with this question. After the death of Jesus Christ, what then?

[1:18] What then? Now, you know, most of you, probably all of you, most people even if they're lost, that is, not born-again believers, not Christians, know, most likely, that Jesus Christ was crucified and buried on a Friday.

[1:43] Right? Right? We call that Good Friday. His body laid in that cold, dark tomb Friday night, all day Saturday.

[1:58] And then throughout the night and on into the early hours of Sunday.

[2:10] Sunday morning. And if you know your Bible, particularly those portions of it that we call the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that describe not only the death of Jesus, but also His resurrection, then you'll know, you'll remember that beginning in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, the garden tomb where Jesus' body had been laid, that garden tomb, that area there, became the starting place for a flurry of activity.

[2:47] In fact, so much took place so quickly, and the way the Gospel writers lay it out for us, it's sometimes kind of difficult to get the chronology right.

[3:01] To understand what happened when and who and where and so forth, and to kind of put all that together, I believe, is helpful. But it does more than just simply help us kind of put it straight in our minds.

[3:14] It also helps us understand a very major evidence for the truth of the resurrection. It began with an earthquake, according to the Bible.

[3:29] Not just an earthquake, but also the visitation of a holy angel that rolled away the stone that was there in the front, closing the way to Jesus' tomb.

[3:42] And you also know that Pilate had stationed some guards there to make sure that no one violated the tomb, you know, primarily so that the disciples, supposedly, would not be able to come and steal the body.

[3:55] And so there were guards there, stationed there at the tomb of Jesus. They'd been there since he died. And the Bible says that when this happened, this earthquake, and the angel came and the stone rolled away, that these guards fell down to the ground and became, quote, like dead men.

[4:16] And I think, really, we're just to understand they were out cold. Terrified. Knocked them out. Knocked them out. Now, eventually they revived and they left and they, you know, the Bible tells us that they went to report what had happened and so forth.

[4:32] And that's another part of the story. But then Mary Magdalene and a group of other women, faithful women, women who had followed Jesus throughout his ministry and had ministered to Jesus and to his disciples.

[4:46] These women arrived at the tomb early that Sunday morning. And their desire was to anoint the body of Jesus with some very expensive spices, which was the custom of the day.

[4:59] And because of the Passover and the proximity of Jesus' death in the Passover, there was not time for them to do that then.

[5:09] And so now here they are early Sunday morning coming to the tomb to take care of that. And when they got there, of course, the stone had been rolled away. And not only that, but the tomb was empty to their amazement and to their shock, really.

[5:30] They saw that the tomb was empty. Well, Mary Magdalene, devastated by that revelation, by what she saw, immediately leaves these women there at the tomb, leaves and goes out to seek the apostles.

[5:48] So that she can bring news to them that the body of Jesus is missing. In fact, it's stolen. That is what she believed. And after she leaves, the angels or two angels appear to the women she left behind.

[6:11] And they, the angels, informed them that Jesus has been raised from the dead. He's risen. And so their natural response, just like Mary, though it, you know, took a little longer and immediately now this new revelation, Jesus has been raised.

[6:31] They leave to go find the disciples and so that they can tell not only the disciples, but also Mary about the angel. And about what the angel said.

[6:42] After they leave, Peter and John arrive at the tomb. Mary has already reached them. They immediately run to the tomb.

[6:53] While the ladies are leaving, Mary, or rather Peter and John arrive at the tomb. And they are going there to verify what Mary informed them or reported to them. And indeed, the tomb is empty.

[7:05] And so they return home disturbed by what they saw. Are you seeing how this is just kind of step by step occurring on that day? All of these things kind of happening in rapid succession, or at least it seems very rapidly.

[7:20] In the pre-dawn hours of the day. And so the disciples, at least Peter and John anyway. Mary, because Mary is still uninformed, as are Peter and John.

[7:36] These women, they're all wondering, what is this about? Is this some kind of hoax? But then Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb.

[7:47] She's not as fast as Peter and John. They get way out ahead of her, apparently. And so she gets to the tomb. And by the time she arrives, Peter and John have already been there and they're gone.

[7:59] And so she comes to the tomb and is standing there at the opening to the tomb. And I think afraid to look in. Weeping. And she eventually does look in, hoping that Jesus' body is still lying there.

[8:21] Really hoping for that. But she doesn't see Jesus there. Instead, she sees two angels. And one of them says to her, why are you crying?

[8:35] And she said, because they have taken Jesus' body. Taken away my Lord. And I do not know where they have laid him. She's weeping.

[8:47] And so she turns away from the tomb and is headed through the garden. And then she meets Jesus himself.

[9:01] She doesn't think it's him. Doesn't recognize him. I think primarily because she's crying. She's not able to really see clearly. She's weeping.

[9:12] And maybe she didn't even really look up at him. Just knows that there's somebody there. And she thinks he's the gardener. And, of course, she inquires, did you take the body?

[9:22] Or if you took the body? Or if they took the body, where is he? Would you please help me find Jesus? And then Jesus, of course, says, my favorite line.

[9:38] Just one word, actually. He says, Mary. And then she knows it's him. And so, Jesus has not been stolen.

[9:52] His body has not been stolen. He's not even dead. He is alive. And Jesus would then show himself alive from the dead to Mary at the tomb, as I just mentioned, to Peter in some place the Bible does not disclose for us.

[10:14] As a matter of fact, we understand from 1 Corinthians that he appeared to Peter first somewhere privately, then to Mary, and he revealed himself to two disciples traveling on the road to Emmaus, and later to all of the, or rather to ten of the apostles in a closed, locked room.

[10:35] Judas, of course, is dead, and Thomas was not there at that time. And later he appears to all of the apostles, all eleven of them, and then again to seven of the apostles beside the Sea of Galilee.

[10:50] He appears and reveals himself to James, his half-brother, and then to five hundred disciples at one time. All at the same time.

[11:01] And for forty days, the space of forty days after his resurrection, Jesus would show himself alive to many of his disciples.

[11:17] And any honest, thinking, unbiased person would have to admit that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is corroborated, verified by indisputable evidence.

[11:29] Testimonial evidence. Eyewitness accounts. At greater than five hundred people saw this Jesus alive over the space of forty days.

[11:43] Now, the evidential proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is important, but it is not the supreme important thing concerning the resurrection.

[11:57] There is also the doctrinal statements concerning his resurrection. The, or we might say, or I might rephrase it, the theological significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[12:15] Because, you see, the resurrection is a crucial element of the gospel. That is, the good news. That's what the word gospel means, the good news. It's an essential element of the good news.

[12:27] You have no good news without the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the resurrection, there would be no gospel. Without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity. Would there?

[12:39] No, there would not. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what makes Christianity something other than just another religion, one among many others.

[12:50] It makes it unique among all the other religions of the world, past, present, and future. However much future we have left, I don't know. But then I might say to you that Christianity is not a religion.

[13:06] Is it? Not really. Maybe classified as such. But Christianity is not a religion. It's a new life. It is a transformation.

[13:17] It is a new relationship with God, our Creator. And it is that solely because of the fact that the object of its faith, of worship, of service, is not some dead martyr laying in some unmarked tomb over there in the Middle East whose body has long since decayed and rotted and decayed and turned to dust and blown away.

[13:45] The object of our faith and worship as Christians is the living Lord Jesus Christ. He's alive. Not just figuratively, but literally.

[14:00] He is alive. And the resurrection cannot be separated from the cross. It's not some icing on the cake, some added feature, or something that you can take or leave.

[14:15] It is crucial to the gospel. It gives validity to the cross, the claims of the cross. That without it, it becomes null and void.

[14:27] It gives power to the purpose of the cross. That purpose to save. And it gives meaning to the cross. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the great cornerstone of the Christian faith.

[14:41] Dear people, I feel like I'm speaking to the choir. You know that, don't you? Don't you? Jesus spoke of the resurrection.

[14:53] I'm going to just take that premise that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the great cornerstone of the Christian faith. Jesus spoke of the resurrection. He said, Because I live, you will live also.

[15:07] He said in John 11, 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, even though he dies, yet shall live.

[15:18] And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Jesus spoke of the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the core of all we believe as Christians, as followers of Christ.

[15:35] Jesus' disciples preached the resurrection. Peter preached the resurrection in Acts chapter 2. And again in Acts chapter 4.

[15:46] Stephen preached the resurrection in Acts chapter 7. Philip preached the resurrection in Acts chapter 8. Paul preached the resurrection in Acts 9 and 13 and all the way up to chapter 28.

[16:00] I tell you, the resurrection was no hoax to them. It was no hood pulled over the eyes of people. It was real.

[16:10] It was true. They believed it. They saw Him. And they died for that truth. The disciples wrote of the resurrection.

[16:22] And aren't you glad they did? All the accounts that we have and all the references to the resurrection and all that we have in Scripture that attaches the eternal, supreme significance to the resurrection.

[16:36] We have written for us in the Bible. In Romans, Christ is raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. In 1 Corinthians, He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

[16:46] In 2 Corinthians, He who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ shall raise us up also. In Galatians, Paul says, He is an apostle of Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.

[17:00] In Ephesians, Paul says that we are what we are. That is, we believers, Christians, we are what we are because of the, quote, exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.

[17:24] In Philippians, Paul's great desire was to do what? To know Jesus and the power of His resurrection. In Colossians, believers are buried with Jesus and raised through faith in God who raised up Jesus from the dead.

[17:42] In 1 Thessalonians, we wait here right now for Jesus to come again whom God, Paul said, raised from the dead.

[17:54] In 1 Peter, we are born again into a living hope by the resurrection of Christ. And in Revelation, the Bible tells us that Jesus alone has the right to sovereign ownership of all creation.

[18:10] Why? Because it is He who was dead and is alive forevermore. And that's just a sampling of what the New Testament tells us.

[18:24] The whole theme of the New Testament is the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You just read through the New Testament.

[18:36] In fact, I could make an argument this morning that the theme appears in the Old Testament as well. Well, that's for another day. But my primary objective this morning, those are the first two sermons, okay?

[18:54] Did you get that? My main sermon or primary objective is not the proving of the resurrection evidentially as important as that is.

[19:08] And really, I've just done that. The eyewitnesses alone prove the resurrection.

[19:19] But proving the resurrection evidentially is not my primary concern. Nor is it the prioritizing of the resurrection doctrinally, which is what I've just done too, by taking us to Scripture.

[19:35] to see the significance of the resurrection in the gospel, that it's inseparable. As one preacher put it, you take the resurrection out of the house of Christianity and it will fall like a house made out of cards.

[19:56] But rather, the focus, my primary focus, is the personalizing of the resurrection spiritually.

[20:09] Personalizing the resurrection spiritually. The proving of the resurrection evidentially is important. We can do that from Scripture. The prioritizing of the resurrection doctrinally is crucial.

[20:22] Without it, we have no gospel. But where the tire really meets the road, for all of us, and this morning for possibly some of you here today, is the personalizing of the resurrection spiritually.

[20:45] The living Jesus Christ is the only hope you have. He is the only one, the living Jesus, is the only one who can completely, fully, satisfy the deepest, most significant yearnings and longings of your heart.

[21:17] That's how important the resurrection is. That's how important a living Jesus is. And so, I want to make this very personal to you.

[21:31] The resurrection. Not just take the resurrection, set it over here and think of it as kind of a diamond and turn it around and look at all of its facets and be awed by it and wondered by it, but to bring it right here to our own hearts and lives and understand that a living Jesus is the one, the only one who can satisfy your needs, your yearnings, the longings of your heart.

[22:03] He is the only one. Now, Paul makes this task fairly easy. That is, if you understand Paul's method of communication here in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians.

[22:22] So, if you haven't already done so, turn, would you, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15? And I'm going to begin reading here in a moment starting with verse 12.

[22:35] Let me give you kind of a heads up here on how to interpret Paul at this point. Now, he's making a case for the resurrection. There's no doubt about that.

[22:46] In fact, that is the primary objective of chapter 15. But he's doing it in a kind of a strange way. He's arguing it, first of all, from the negative.

[23:01] From the negative. Sometimes using this form of argument is very effective and it certainly is here, I think, in chapter 15. What I mean is that what Paul is doing here is he's putting it in the negative.

[23:16] He's putting it in terms of if not, then. That's how he is forming, constructing his argument.

[23:28] If not, that is, if not the resurrection, then this. And that's how he does it. In fact, starting with verse 12, let's see it. Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

[23:50] But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. Here is his approach from the negative. If Christ is not risen, if not, then, then, preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

[24:11] Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise.

[24:23] For if the dead do not rise, if not, then, Christ is not risen. If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile.

[24:38] It's worthless. You are still in your sins. Then, also, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, gone forever.

[24:50] If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable or most miserable, as the King James puts it.

[25:04] So, they're all kind of negative arguments, negative points. If not, then, if not, then, if not, then, if Christ is not risen, then, this, then, this, then, this.

[25:16] You see, it's very clear. But then, Paul ends this kind of line of reasoning or negative reasoning with a very positive statement in verse 20. Look at verse 20.

[25:27] But now, Christ is risen from the dead. That's very positive. negative. Anything negative about that, the approach here, the change in argument, or he's changing his argument from the negative now to the positive, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

[25:49] That's a very positive statement. Now, that means that we can, very legitimately, we can go back to the verses that precede verse 20.

[26:01] Those verses I just read a moment ago, we can go back there and we can now turn all of those negatives into positives. And so what he said very negatively can now be stated, restated, and a positive way.

[26:19] And by doing that, we can see that the resurrection accomplishes some very, very important things. things. Some very, very eternal things, some very personal things.

[26:31] That is, personal in the sense that it affects me. And you can say the same for you. It's very significant. The things that it accomplishes. In reality, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is what will satisfy the deep, most important needs of your life that you now have.

[26:55] And it's not how to make your car payment or your house note. I'm talking about the deep, spiritual things of your life. He is the one who meets those, satisfies those.

[27:11] And it's because of his resurrection, because he lives. This is Paul's point. Now, what are these longings of the heart? What are these yearnings of the heart?

[27:23] That only the risen Lord Jesus Christ can need, can satisfy. Well, I've already given them to you. But you have to look at the text now turning all those verses into the positive, you see.

[27:38] Here's the first one. And it's going to come in a little different order than we have them in the text. I'm not trying to take liberties here, license here with God's word, but maybe approaching these longings from the perspective of what is the first and foremost in relation to our experience.

[27:58] And the first one is this. You and I yearn long for someone to take care of the sin problem.

[28:14] people. And not just you and I here, because most of us in this room have found that someone. We've discovered who that is. And by his grace, we have entered into that.

[28:30] Our sin problem has been once and for all taken care of. But there are countless millions of people on this planet today. Whether they realize it or not, there is that inner longing for someone to take care of the sin problem.

[28:48] And they're looking everywhere for that someone or something or however they might conceptualize it. Whether or not they even understand that longing and yearning, it's there.

[29:04] And they're yearning and longing for someone to take care of the sin problem. To know that all of their sins are forgiven. All of them. Every last one of them.

[29:17] And not only that, but to know that all the guilt that they sense and feel because of their sin could be taken away, lifted.

[29:28] And though they may not conceptualize it this far, it's out there or it's gnawing out inside of them that that guilt in a judicial sense.

[29:40] Their condemnation because of sin. The judgment that is upon them in coming would be lifted, would be taken away. And there is no one out there, no thing out there, no religion out there other than one that offers that person, that represents that person who takes care of the sin problem.

[30:06] you say, where do you get that here? Well, verse 17, if Christ is not risen, your faith is worthless.

[30:18] I'll just use that word in there. You are still, now pay attention here, you are still in your sins.

[30:30] In them. I mean, you are still immersed in them. And all that that means, and all that you sense it means, and all that you understand that means, and even beyond that, you are immersed in those sins.

[30:45] You are a sinner, and you can't help yourself, and with that sin comes the guilt of sin, and the consequences of sin, and ultimately the guilt and condemnation of sin.

[30:56] You're still in that. Now, that's what he said in the negative, if Christ is not risen, then that's who you are, that's where you are, and it's hopeless. But turning that into the positive, we understand that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, now you can know that all your sins are forgiven, all of them, and all the guilt of sin is removed, and all the condemnation has been lifted, and your judgment has been satisfied.

[31:32] All that in the living Jesus Christ. And this is the first and most basic yearning of the heart because, or I mention that first because it is first, the first conscious longing and yearning of the heart of man.

[31:53] Lost mankind longs for forgiveness. I know it doesn't seem that way. I know it seems that people are, in their thinking and in their way of life, are as far away from that as possible, but it's built in to long, to yearn for forgiveness.

[32:17] And lost mankind longs to be accepted by God. God. Now qualify that whatever God they believe in.

[32:31] Or their sense of God, or concept of God, or whatever God it might be. I mean, mankind, I mean, it's just proven in history that mankind naturally longs to be accepted by their God, whomever that God might be.

[32:45] Do you see? It's in there, it's built in there. God has made man that way. And lost mankind fears alienation, fears separation from a benevolent God, even if he's not thinking about it all the time, and even if he or she calls it something else, or explains it away, or tries to satisfy it in some other way, which is what a lot of people are doing.

[33:19] the longing is still there. And if that's you, you know what I'm talking about. And it is the living Jesus who makes it possible for you to have all your sins forgiven, all your guilt lifted, and washed away.

[33:48] It's the living Jesus. that was that that was Now, might be thinking, I thought the cross accomplished that.

[34:01] I thought it was the cross that did that. Let me just add this here, and we'll move on. The sacrifice Jesus offered there at the cross, that was acceptable to a holy God, by the way, all of that sacrifice, that blood letting there would have been null and void if Jesus had not been raised from the dead.

[34:29] verse 17 makes that clear. If Christ is not raised, then you are still in your sins.

[34:44] But in the positive, identifying the yearning of your heart, your sins, all of them, can be forgiven and washed away.

[34:59] And all the guilt and condemnation can be taken totally out of the way because Jesus lives. Let me move on.

[35:14] Number two, a second thing that our heart yearns for. It yearns for someone we can trust with everything in life.

[35:35] Someone we can trust with everything in life. Verse 14, and if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and our faith is empty.

[35:52] It's vain. if Christ is not raised, then you're trusting of this Jesus. Trusting Him not only for your eternity, but trusting Him for now and everything pertaining to now.

[36:12] All of that is what? It's foolish. It's God will need to pray. I mean, every day we, you know, you might get up in the morning and pray and pray to the Lord and trust Him for the day and ask Him for guidance or ask Him for provision or asking Him for this and that and the other and trusting Him with your very life each day.

[36:37] but if Jesus is dead and that's it, then all that's worthless.

[36:49] Now, turning that around, the fact that He is living means that your faith is vital and that you have actually trusted someone you can trust, someone who will not let you down, someone who will not abandon you, someone who will never break His promises.

[37:14] And I tell you, it is built in to the heart of man to trust someone, to have someone, to know someone, to cling to someone they can trust with everything, without any doubt, you know, absent of all doubt that someone would let them down.

[37:38] That's what lost mankind are looking for. Now, they're looking in the wrong places, grant you, and clinging to the wrong people, and get disappointed, and become bitter, and so forth.

[37:53] But deep in the heart, in fact, it was placed there way back there in the Garden of Eden, when God placed Adam and Eve in that garden, and they trusted God for every single thing, everything.

[38:10] Trusted Him. Started back there. And that need to trust, that yearning, to trust someone with everything, has not changed, really has not changed, regardless of how sin entered into that equation and wrecked everything.

[38:27] The yearning is still there. And the satisfaction for that is the living Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, that is here in the nasty now and now, here on this planet, the life I live here, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

[39:05] He's someone, Jesus someone, you can trust. Trust him with everything, everything. Do you yearn for that?

[39:20] Then third, and though it may not seem this way in our culture, everyone yearns for an unchanging truth, for an unchanging, unchangeable, absolute truth.

[39:42] You say, I just don't think people want that these days. Seems that way, doesn't it? I mean, because on every hand we're being told that there are no absolute truths. what does Paul say here in verse 15?

[39:59] Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God. That is, everything we've been saying is false. It's a lie. Because we've testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise.

[40:16] he's saying that this so-called truth is a sham. It's, it is actually error and not truth.

[40:30] And here are these disciples, you know, they're yearning and longing for a truth that is sure, that is unchanging. Not anything will violate it, no matter what it is, not circumstances, not other people, not anything.

[40:48] This truth is sure. They're longing for that and they thought they found it. But if Jesus is dead and his body is now consumed and gone by the processes of decay and time and he's not living, then that truth is not sure.

[41:06] It's, it's worthless. It's worse than worthless. But, since Jesus is alive, then that truth, this truth, is sure, unchanging, absolute.

[41:28] You can hold on to it. You can count on it. It's not going to change. And it will work every time because Jesus lives.

[41:42] Do you understand? man? These are just natural basic yearnings of the human heart. Yearning for someone or something or whatever it might be to take care of my sin problem because I know it's there.

[41:57] I feel guilty about it and I seem powerless against it. It's a basic yearning of the heart. Every human heart. and the basic yearning of the human heart to know the truth.

[42:13] A truth that's real, that's not standing. I know our culture has shifted over the years, but there's a real indicator in our day that young people are returning back and longing and grasping and looking for something that is real, that's absolute, that's not willy-nilly and changeable.

[42:33] Something count on. And I say there's an indicator that our culture is moving back that way. I don't think they ever really left it. It's the basic yearning of the heart and that can only be met satisfied in not a dead Savior, as important as His death was, but a living Jesus.

[43:02] who lives today. Then, there's a fourth longing that finds satisfaction in the living Jesus.

[43:19] And it is the natural yearning for a meaningful life. Understand what I'm talking about?

[43:30] I mean, even in the secular mindset, though the conclusions, many of them, their conclusions are wrong, and their affections related to having a meaningful life are wrong many times, and the way to that meaningful life, and even the definition of a meaningful life, are all skewed by sin in our world.

[43:57] there is still that yearning in the heart of every human being to live a life that means something, that's worth something. Verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable, or miserable.

[44:21] I really prefer that word. Though pity is the idea. In fact, the reason why it's translated here pitiable, I think is to reinforce the point, to better reinforce the point that Paul is making.

[44:40] The word to be pitied, the opposite of that word would be to be envied. Now remember, we're looking at these verses, Paul gives them in the negative to make his point, and he's going to bring all that home in verse 20, but now Christ is risen from the dead.

[45:02] But if we turn all those around, we have every right to do, turn them into the positive, then the believer who has trusted Jesus Christ, who died and was raised from the dead, that believer ought to be envied.

[45:24] Well, to be envied not pitied. Envied, because our life means something. You see, if Christ is not raised, if he's still dead and gone, dissolved, he's over, then living for him and obeying him and following him and trusting him and serving him and worshiping him like we've been doing here this morning, all that is a delusion.

[45:52] It may make us feel good when we leave here, but it's worthless, it's empty, it's of no real value at the end of the day. And that kind of life is to be pitied, right?

[46:07] I mean, I think about myself, I mean, I have devoted the better part of my life and efforts and energies to the preaching of the gospel and the ministry of the word.

[46:18] And if Jesus is dead, I ought to be pitied above all people, all others in this room, except for a couple of our other pastors here. They know what I'm talking about.

[46:31] Because I have claimed that my life has meaning. There's some great meaning to it, and not just for those who have been called to the ministry, but every born-again believer, living life out every day under this notion, this conviction that my life means something.

[46:52] It's meaningful, and not because I have made it meaningful, but because of Jesus who lives in me. So everyone is looking for that.

[47:04] countless thousands think they have found it, only to discover at some point in life, and with some afterlife, that it was indeed meaning, worthless, all for naught, because they have found the meaning of life in the wrong place.

[47:34] because only meaning, a meaningful life can be found in Jesus, and in a relationship with Him, the living Lord Jesus.

[47:51] Then one more, the longing that, this goes along with the fourth one, kind of a continuation of that longing, not only that we would have a meaningful life, but also the yearning that death is not the end of it.

[48:16] The yearning, the longing, that death is not the end. There's a longing that exists in every heart for a life that is eternal, and a life that is followed up by something great, something of purpose, something of reward, something of joy after this life.

[49:02] life. And various religions have their concepts of that, and their teachings about that. But all of that can be found only in Jesus.

[49:20] Verse 18, he says, then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. that means if Jesus did not, was not raised from the dead, then your dead mama, daddy, godly mama, godly mother, Christian family member, friend, then they've just perished.

[49:56] They're just gone. but turn that to the positive, and it meets the yearning of the heart, that after this life, there's something, something more, something that we do not really know anything about yet.

[50:25] Something grand and great, something meaningful. Death is not the end. That longing that every human heart has can only be satisfied in the living Jesus, only in Him.

[50:48] so after the death of Jesus, what then? What then? Well, I would say in a very guarded way that the answer to that in one sense is up to you right now.

[51:13] for some of you right now, Are you going to trust Him? The living Jesus?

[51:26] are you going to trust Him? And know that your sins are forgiven and the condemnation of a holy God is lifted forever.

[51:43] you're going to know that there's someone now in your life that will never ever let you down.

[51:58] Never. And to have a truth that can never change and to have a meaningful life.

[52:15] A life with more meaning than you could begin to realize and to know that after death something more eternal glorious filled with a joy Peter said is indescribable.

[52:43]  trust in Jesus the living Jesus.