Resurrection Bodies 2 (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:04.919 Well, please remain standing and let's turn our attention to first Corinthians, Chapter 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.429 Fifteen. I'm going to read again the passage I read this morning and then 3 00:00:10.470 --> 00:00:15.109 a little bit extras. Well, tonight, the passage that I'm focusing on 4 00:00:15.269 --> 00:00:26.500 at the end of First Corinthians fifteen. So I'm going to begin reading it 5 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:34.179 verse thirty six, and the sermon will focus particularly on fifty through fifty eight. 6 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:41.810 Let's hear the word of God, but some will, someone will ask 7 00:00:41.929 --> 00:00:46.170 how are the dead raised with? What kind of body do they come you 8 00:00:46.250 --> 00:00:50.200 foolish person. What you sew does not come to life unless it dies. 9 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:54.399 And what you sew is not the body that is to be but a bear 10 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.479 colonel perhaps, of weed or of some other grain. But God gives it 11 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:02.840 a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own 12 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.989 body, for not all flesh is the same. There is one kind for 13 00:01:07.069 --> 00:01:11.189 humans, another for animals, another for birds and another for fish. They're 14 00:01:11.269 --> 00:01:15.150 heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one 15 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:19.459 kind and the glory of the earthly is of another. There's one glory of 16 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:23.180 The Sun and another glory of the Moon and another glory of the stars, 17 00:01:23.739 --> 00:01:27.540 for Star differs from Star in glory. So it is with the re erection 18 00:01:27.579 --> 00:01:33.609 of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. 19 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:38.290 It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory. It is sown 20 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:42.530 in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, 21 00:01:42.930 --> 00:01:46.730 it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, 22 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:51.159 there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written the first man, 23 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:57.040 Adam, became a living being. The last atom became a life giving spirit. 24 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.040 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and 25 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:05.150 then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of 26 00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:08.590 dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, 27 00:02:08.669 --> 00:02:13.030 so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the 28 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:16.340 man of Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. Just as 29 00:02:16.379 --> 00:02:21.259 we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear 30 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:24.659 the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers. 31 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:31.330 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit 32 00:02:31.449 --> 00:02:37.530 the imperishable. Behold, I tell you, a mystery. We shall not 33 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:43.009 all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the 34 00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:46.319 twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound 35 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:53.960 in the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed, for this 36 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:59.909 perishable body must put on the perishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. 37 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:05.909 When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, 38 00:03:06.550 --> 00:03:10.270 then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in 39 00:03:10.389 --> 00:03:16.099 victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is 40 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:23.419 your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is 41 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:28.810 the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our 42 00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:35.129 Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, 43 00:03:35.129 --> 00:03:38.770 always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord 44 00:03:39.210 --> 00:03:46.039 your Labor is not in vain. Praise be to God, may be seated 45 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:15.379 in this chapter on the Resurrection of Christ, First Corinthians, fifteen. Paul 46 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:20.819 says that if Jesus hadn't been raised from the dead, then everything that we 47 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:27.009 believe, everything we hope for, it's all in vain. There's no point 48 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:30.649 in doing what he says to do in Fair Verse Fifty Eight, and that 49 00:04:30.769 --> 00:04:34.569 the end of the chapter, he says be steadfast, be immovable, always 50 00:04:34.569 --> 00:04:39.639 abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord Your Labor 51 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:44.600 is not in vain. But if the resurrection hadn't happened, well then, 52 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.959 what would be the point? We'd be believing a lie, we would be 53 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:59.029 here are gathering under pretenses false things. But that, of course, is 54 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:01.910 not the case. Jesus Christ did rise from the dead and as a result 55 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:06.779 of that, we who are united him, are promised that we will share 56 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:12.779 in a resurrection like his. As we consider this morning, from Verse Forty 57 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:15.259 Nine, just as we have borne the image of the man of Dust Adam, 58 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:20.649 the scriptures promised that we shall also bear the image of the man of 59 00:05:20.810 --> 00:05:26.970 heaven. So we begin to see in this first part of the section that 60 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:31.769 I read, why this doctrine about the resurrection is so important, why we 61 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:38.519 must know it and understand it and believe it, that the resurrection, that 62 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.360 when we die that's not all there is and that there are and that what 63 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.000 is to come is not just more of the same. What happens is something 64 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:51.949 different. We considered these four different ways in which Paul described vibes, the 65 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:57.110 difference between what is put in the ground and what comes up out of the 66 00:05:57.189 --> 00:06:01.350 ground on the day of the resurrection. From Verse Forty Two, he says 67 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:05.860 what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. What is sown 68 00:06:05.899 --> 00:06:10.899 in dishonor is raised in glory, but is sown in weakness is raised in 69 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:17.420 power. What is sown as natural is raised spiritual. This new body that 70 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:23.370 we will have is so important because it's the point and the promise of the 71 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:29.730 resurrection. It's the hope to which we are headed. It's a reason we 72 00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:35.319 don't run in vain. And it's not just having these really strong, awesome 73 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:43.279 new bodies, but it's having them in the Lord, as will consider in 74 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:46.629 particular. Paul brings some of this out in verses fifty through fifty eight. 75 00:06:47.230 --> 00:06:51.750 We have to read this hope about the new bodies in context of everything that 76 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:57.629 he's saying. What will see is that this hope to which we're headed is 77 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:01.259 not just having, you know, hips that don't hurt and things like that, 78 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:09.899 but having Christ himself belonging to him as he is the head of his 79 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:15.300 body, as we have our glory and our honor and our power and our 80 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:20.930 victory and our immortality and all these heavenly blessings. In Him, the man 81 00:07:21.050 --> 00:07:29.730 from heaven. Our resurrection, our coming Resurrection, and the new bodies that 82 00:07:29.850 --> 00:07:35.879 God promises to us our reminder and always will be, of who Christ is 83 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:44.000 and what he has done for us. This is one major point of of 84 00:07:45.029 --> 00:07:47.230 Paul and why he is emphasizing this point, why he is saying this is 85 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:53.709 so important to understand, to know, to believe, to hope for an 86 00:07:53.829 --> 00:08:00.939 end. In verses fifty through fifty eight we come to a second and very 87 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:07.660 important implication of this doctrine of the resurrection, and you hear it very clearly 88 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:11.500 in verse fifty, he says, I tell you this, brothers, flesh 89 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:18.730 and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the 90 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:24.850 imperishable. One of the amazing things about God, one of the ways we 91 00:08:24.970 --> 00:08:31.360 see his exercise of his wisdom, is the way in which everything is always 92 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:43.350 so fitting, everything always fits together just perfectly, just right. That's true 93 00:08:43.830 --> 00:08:50.870 not just in terms of reason, but also in terms of things like holiness 94 00:08:50.070 --> 00:08:56.700 and goodness. When you would when I was growing up, my dad also 95 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:03.940 always used to say, exactly how much cockroach do you want in your milkshake? 96 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:11.210 This is a way of emphasizing to us that sometimes you want it perfect, 97 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:15.370 right, not just a little leg it's not a big deal, or 98 00:09:15.409 --> 00:09:18.730 a little antenna here, not a big deal. When you want your milkshake, 99 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:28.039 you want no bugs, no cockroaches. Right, of course, my 100 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:33.840 father, being a good and wise man, balance this with other proverbs and 101 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:37.799 bits of wisdom that reminds us that life is not always perfect. Sometimes you 102 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:43.230 have to you have to deal, but not so with heaven, right, 103 00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:48.470 heaven is a different story. This the this way in which we anticipate in 104 00:09:48.549 --> 00:09:54.580 our lives perfection, the ways in which we desire perfection and love things that 105 00:09:54.620 --> 00:10:03.659 are perfectly put together, whether that's systems of government or vehicles or bouquets of 106 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:09.690 flowers or anything. We love it when it is exactly right. A word 107 00:10:09.929 --> 00:10:16.409 spoken at the right time, a friendly comment in the right place, even 108 00:10:16.450 --> 00:10:20.960 a harsh word or rebuke from a friend at the right moment. These sort 109 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:28.159 of things we desire and we don't like to see them mixed. If that's 110 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.360 true at even this earthly level, and the way that we experience these things 111 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:37.029 how much more so for the Kingdom of Heaven. A Kingdom of Heaven, 112 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:43.669 notice how it is described. He's Paul doesn't say that death is mostly taken 113 00:10:43.710 --> 00:10:48.509 care of in the victory of Christ. All right, how would you like 114 00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:52.779 that as the the great hope of the Christian faith? Right, that death 115 00:10:52.860 --> 00:11:00.379 will be for the most part dealt with, or that that enemies will be 116 00:11:00.860 --> 00:11:07.409 for the most part destroyed, that the the unjustice and our injustice in the 117 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:11.929 world, that broken relationships, that peace and all of these things will be 118 00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:16.129 mostly taken care of. Well, there have been moments in the world where 119 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:20.360 we've seen examples of that, or at least things approaching that. We think 120 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:24.960 about the kingdom under Solomon's reign or something like that, where things were going 121 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:31.120 really, really well and yet never perfectly, always threat, always danger, 122 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:41.950 always something that might rear its head and begin to swallow us up. But 123 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:45.830 the promise for us, the promise that God, God gives to us, 124 00:11:45.870 --> 00:11:48.299 the promise that it goes all the way back to the very beginnings when God 125 00:11:48.460 --> 00:11:58.580 started making promises of grace to his people, is that victory, complete and 126 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:07.889 total victory, will be given to us. Death is swallowed up in victory. 127 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:15.289 Such that it is no more that the that the power of death, 128 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:22.519 the struggle of death, the sting of death, is gone. That's our 129 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:28.399 hope and that's why we are hoping. Not in a kingdom of mostly rest. 130 00:12:30.149 --> 00:12:35.269 That sometimes doesn't go so well, but the promise of Heaven is perfection. 131 00:12:37.590 --> 00:12:43.750 That, of course, creates a bit of a conundrum in us, 132 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:48.539 because on the one hand we are desiring perfect rest, perfect please peace, 133 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:56.539 a way to finally calm and be calm in our anxiety and sins, not 134 00:12:56.659 --> 00:13:03.850 struggle it over it anymore. And yet we are not perfect. We are 135 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:11.169 part of the problem. How can we come into a kingdom that is this 136 00:13:11.370 --> 00:13:16.759 way? Our very presence in the Kingdom of God, as long as we 137 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.039 have sin, as long as we are under the curse of death, as 138 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:28.350 long as we are unholy, would ruin that kingdom one. So of course 139 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:33.509 God would never let it be. And so he says. The perishable does 140 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:41.580 not inherit the imperishable. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. 141 00:13:43.659 --> 00:13:48.139 Now, when Paul says flesh and blood here he does not mean he does 142 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:54.539 not mean our humanity, our nature as a people with with bodies, and 143 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:58.210 we know that because he's just promised us that we will have bodies to come. 144 00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:05.730 Flesh and blood are not or a material things are not the problem God. 145 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:11.480 If they were a problem, that we'd have a problem with the humanity 146 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:16.080 of Christ, and we don't. materialness is not the problem. The problem 147 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:22.240 is that our flesh and blood are corrupted. The problem is the sin. 148 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:26.350 As he says in Verse Fifty Six, the Sting of death is sin and 149 00:14:26.509 --> 00:14:33.629 the power of sin is the law, a crysostom rights by flesh, Paul 150 00:14:33.750 --> 00:14:39.460 here, means willful evil deeds. The body by itself is not an obstacle. 151 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:43.580 Rather, it is because as of our wickedness, that we cannot inherit 152 00:14:43.659 --> 00:14:48.419 the Kingdom of God. This is the great obstacle, but it also is 153 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:56.009 the great hope that we have that when the Lord overcomes our sin, that 154 00:14:56.169 --> 00:15:01.169 our flesh will no longer be an obstacle, that we will no longer be 155 00:15:01.409 --> 00:15:05.210 obstacles and problems in the Kingdom of God and in ourselves. Not only will 156 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:09.960 there no longer be conflict between us and God and US and his kingdom, 157 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:16.159 but even within ourselves, Augustine rights, there will be no further conflict within 158 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:20.710 ourselves and just as there will be no more external enemies to bear with, 159 00:15:22.389 --> 00:15:31.429 so neither shall we have to bear with ourselves as enemies within all of this. 160 00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:37.659 Happens, Paul says, in the twinkling of an eye, in a 161 00:15:37.860 --> 00:15:43.899 moment, we will all be changed. It's a mystery. We're revealing part. 162 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:46.940 He is revealing part of us to us we won't understand at all, 163 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:54.490 but he tells us this. And nevertheless, Verse Fifty One, he says 164 00:15:54.529 --> 00:15:58.769 we shall not all sleep. By this he means that when the Lord comes, 165 00:15:58.330 --> 00:16:02.889 the Lord's not going to come to a world full of only dead people. 166 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:07.159 The Lord will come and there will be some who have died, as 167 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.919 many have already died, and there will be some who are still alive. 168 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.320 Not all are asleep. Even this word sleep that Paul uses here as a 169 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:19.669 way of reminding us how we ought to think of our deaths, even though 170 00:16:19.669 --> 00:16:23.909 we die and do truly die. The when the Lord comes, it will 171 00:16:23.950 --> 00:16:29.470 be as waking us up, as simple as that. In a twinkling of 172 00:16:29.549 --> 00:16:33.340 an eye we will rise from the dead. We will not sort of struggle 173 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:37.059 out of our bodies, you know, like a like a chicken coming out 174 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:41.580 of an egg or a caterpillar or butterfly working its way out of a cocoon. 175 00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:47.649 We simply will rise from the dead. When the Great Day of judgment 176 00:16:47.809 --> 00:16:52.330 comes, the sheep and the goats will be separated. Will no longer be 177 00:16:52.690 --> 00:16:56.330 this mixed body that you can't always tell who is and who is it. 178 00:16:56.450 --> 00:17:02.279 It will be obvious. There will be those with imperishable, glorified bodies who 179 00:17:02.279 --> 00:17:06.200 are being welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven, who are being caught up by 180 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:11.799 the Lord's angels, into the into on that great day, and into the 181 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.910 heavenly places, the new heavens and the new earth. And then there will 182 00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:22.509 be those that are sent to judgment for their deeds and their refusal, let's 183 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:26.670 to submit themselves to the Lord. Death is swallowed up and Dickreh in a 184 00:17:26.710 --> 00:17:30.740 twinkling in of an eye at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound and 185 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:37.619 the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall be chained. This 186 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:41.779 trumpet, of course, is a signal of the last judgment. We know 187 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:47.009 this from revelation, we know this from the way a trumpets are used and 188 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:51.930 the Old Testament as well. You might think of the sound of the trumpet 189 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:57.329 on Mount Sinai, when God's great judgment was announced in the law. This 190 00:17:57.569 --> 00:18:03.880 means Christians with that, when the Day of judgment comes, this is not 191 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.119 a day that you need to be afraid of. You don't need to wonder 192 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:11.200 every day what will happen. What will happen? Will the Lord judge me 193 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:15.069 as a sheep or a goat, as good or bad? How will I 194 00:18:15.230 --> 00:18:19.869 stack up? If you are thinking that, then you may not be a 195 00:18:19.910 --> 00:18:25.630 Christian, because if you are judging yourself on the works of the law, 196 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:30.299 if you are judging yourself on the things on which you have done or not 197 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:36.859 done, then you may not be in Christ. Because for those who believe 198 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:41.210 in Christ, they trust him and his righteousness that has been given to them. 199 00:18:42.690 --> 00:18:47.890 We stand in his justification. That's why, Paul says in Romans, 200 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:52.650 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus, 201 00:18:53.450 --> 00:18:56.960 if you are a Christian, if you have put your faith in your trust, 202 00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:02.480 not in your works, not or anything else, but in him and 203 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:08.400 in him alone, no condemnation, which means that now and in this life, 204 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:14.789 you can persevere immovable, strong, steadfast, knowing that you labor not 205 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:18.789 in vain, you're not going to get to the end and go, Oh 206 00:19:18.950 --> 00:19:25.259 no, no, resurrection body. If you are in Christ, you're safe 207 00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:30.859 and you can press forward, not in vain but in confidence because of what 208 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:42.250 the Lord has done for you. Fifty three, for this perishable body must 209 00:19:42.490 --> 00:19:49.690 put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. And when 210 00:19:49.849 --> 00:19:56.839 this happens, when when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts 211 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.519 on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying death is swallowed up in 212 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:07.829 victory. Why? Because you're immortal. There's no dying when you're immortal, 213 00:20:08.029 --> 00:20:17.390 there's no perishing when you're imperishable. How? Because sin has been removed. 214 00:20:18.109 --> 00:20:22.539 This is why all of this, this hope that we have, is is 215 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:33.099 grounded in Jesus we and this is why we strive for these things, strive 216 00:20:33.299 --> 00:20:38.529 for godliness, working out our salvation and fear and trembling because of him, 217 00:20:40.569 --> 00:20:45.250 because of what he has done and what he is doing. Paul writes in 218 00:20:45.250 --> 00:20:48.769 verse fifty six the sting of death is sin and the power of the sin 219 00:20:48.049 --> 00:20:53.240 is the law. But the law has passed from us. We no longer 220 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:57.119 stand in fear of the law. We no longer stand. I'm trembling, 221 00:20:57.319 --> 00:21:02.519 wondering what will happen, because we know what will happen. How do we 222 00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:07.029 know what will happen? Because Jesus Christ is already raised from the dead and 223 00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:11.789 US in him. Paul says, in Roman six you were baptized with him, 224 00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:18.349 died in him, your death, your judgment. It's already happened. 225 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:29.420 Now we persevere in faith in the resurrection to come. All, I want 226 00:21:29.460 --> 00:21:36.569 to end tonight by reading some more from Augustine. This is actually from one 227 00:21:36.609 --> 00:21:44.210 of his Easter Sermons, commenting on these last few verses of the book. 228 00:21:45.089 --> 00:21:49.240 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the 229 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:53.160 work of the Lord, knowing that the Lord, knowing in the Lord Your 230 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:57.880 Labor is not in vain. Thinking about this call to move forward, thinking 231 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:02.710 about this promise that is to come, about the new bodies that we will 232 00:22:02.710 --> 00:22:07.190 receive because of who we are in Christ, because of WHO, because of 233 00:22:07.670 --> 00:22:11.549 his body, because of him who is our head. When we think about 234 00:22:11.589 --> 00:22:15.579 death being swallowed up in victory, when we think about steath losing its staying 235 00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:22.859 because of the death of Christ, Augustine says this is why we have these 236 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:29.339 words, he says. These are words given to those who triumph, that 237 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:33.650 you may have something to think about, something to sing about in your heart, 238 00:22:33.450 --> 00:22:37.650 something to hope for in your heart, something to seek with faith and 239 00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:44.920 good works. This is why this is important, because this hope that we 240 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.720 have set before us in Christ is not a vanity of vanities, it's not 241 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:56.039 something that is there and just wisps away. It is imperishable, it is 242 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:00.269 glorious, it is powerful. So if you were looking for hope in the 243 00:23:00.349 --> 00:23:04.549 midst of a dark world, if you're looking for hope in the midst of 244 00:23:04.630 --> 00:23:10.069 your own struggles with sin, if you're looking for hope in the midst of 245 00:23:10.349 --> 00:23:18.940 conflict and disagreement and persecution, then put your hope in Christ, who rose 246 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:22.779 from the dead and whose promises that all who are in him will also rise 247 00:23:22.859 --> 00:23:29.490 from the dead and have a body like his. Let's pray