Address—C. Hendricks
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Was the Lord. It was the Lord, and he met him.
So here he says last of all he was seen of Maine also.
As of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles.
Let him not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted.
The Church of God, the apostle Paul who authored this epistle, he says I'm not me to be called an apostle. I'm the least.
I persecuted the Christians, I persecuted the Church of God. And he says by the grace of God, I am what I am. He had everything going for him.
He was the leader of the Jewish movement to stamp out this new movement of the Nazarene.
He was their chief.
He was the one that they had such regard for that if anyone could do it, Saul of Tarsus could do it. He had sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He had been instructed by their their greatest Rabbi, and he knew the law and he knew the the the religion of Judaism better than any. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
And he was their man.
And he had everything going for him.
Until in this world.
Until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.
And something happened.
First he became blind for three days.
And as he was going through that darkness.
And he was mulling over in his mind. He had heard that voice from heaven. I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
And he had realized in his soul a revolution was taking place in his soul, as he had realized that all my religious enemy energies had been spent to kill the Christians, to persecute them.
Even unto strange lands he says he hated them.
And he says.
I was fighting against the Lord from heaven.
The true Messiah.
And she had come to know him.
He was changed.
And when he took a stand for Christ, for the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came out and witnessed to him, when he ceased to persecute, when he became the greatest follower.
All those doors of opportunity that had been opened to him closed.
And he became hated by the very nation that had promoted him, that had sponsored him, had championed him as the one to snuff out this new religion.
Now he becomes the greatest exponent of it.
It cost him.
Everything.
It cost him everything.
Costing his family.
Cost him his relatives. It cost him his esteem in the Jewish community. He was cast out.
He was hated, maligned. It is not fit that such in. One should live, they said.
And they would have torn him to shreds at Jerusalem had the Romans not come and rescued him.
This was their champion once.
Now he becomes the champion of Christianity.
And all that would have been to his advantage, he says. What things were gained to me?
These I counted loss for Christ, Jay. Doubtless I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but dung.
That I may win Christ.
That man was changed Thoroughly, completely, absolutely changed.
From darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that was the message that he preached and proclaimed.
Would he do that?
For what he knew was a lie.
Would any of these apostles, everyone of them were martyred except John?
He's the only one that died in natural life, as far as we know from history. All the rest were martyred, persecuted, and martyred.
And we know that Paul was martyred. Would he, Would they have gone through all that?
For what they knew was a lie.
Was a fabricated myth that wasn't true.
They hadn't really seen Christ in resurrection.
That they had.
Would they have done what they did?
No, no.
Absolutely impossible.
The testimony in favor of the resurrection is overwhelming and compelling.
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To anyone that has eyes to see.
He is risen.
He was seen of James. James was his brother after the flesh, and we read in John 7. Neither did his brethren believe in him.
They had said show yourself to the world. They had given him some worldly advice.
But James came to faith after the resurrection.
The Lord appeared to James, he had to work for James to do, and now he realizes that his half brother was the Lord of glory.
The Lord of glory.
And he was changed.
But the most dramatic change was in.
The Apostle Paul Saul of Tarsus.
He says by the grace of God, I am what I am.
And His grace which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. He had just said to the believers, Unless ye have believed in vain.
If they went on with what they were being.
Erroneously exposed to the error they were being exposed to. If they believed that, then their faith would have been in vain. And we'll come to that in just a moment.
But he says it wasn't in vain.
But I labored more abundantly than they all, all the other apostles, all that accompanied with the Lord when He was here, man on earth, He labored more than they all of them.
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. He doesn't take any credit to himself. He doesn't puff himself up. He doesn't build himself up.
He states the truth, but then he gives the credit to God. He says it was the grace of God that was with me, that was laboring.
Therefore, whether it were I or they.
So we preach, I or the other apostles, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Now now he comes to the error that was being.
That was being.
Promoted among them. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Now that was a subtle thing, but he shows that if that doctrine were true, then Christ didn't rise from the dead. Notice how he reasons.
He says, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead, but if there be no resurrection of the dead.
Then is Christ not written? He was dead.
And if there's no resurrection of the dead, then he didn't rise because he was one of the dead. He actually died. He went into death.
If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen?
Then is our preaching vain, And your faith is also vain, And that's why he says.
In verse.
Verse 2 Unless ye have believed in vain.
If they imbibe this false teaching that there's no resurrection of the dead, it amounts to the fact that Christ didn't rise. And if Christ didn't rise, Pauls preaching was vain and their faith was vain, worthless, useless.
If Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. Yeah, 8 verse 15 And we are found false witnesses of God.
Because we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up.
If so, be that the dead rise, not he says we have testified of God that he raised up Christ. Go let's go back to verse 3.
I delivered unto you.
First of all, that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried.
And that he rose again the third day. According to the scriptures, that's what he had preached to them.
That's what they had received. They stood in the faith of that. They were saved by that.
And now he says if you believe the new doctrine that the resurrection there is no resurrection of the dead, then that's all wrong. The gospel I preached to you is wrong.
There is no salvation. You are lost.
See how serious a little error can be when it's carried to its logical conclusion?
Verse 14 Again, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain? And your faith is also vain, worthless. Yeah. And we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ whom he raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. Ye are yet.
In your sins.
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Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished your loved ones, whom you have expected to meet again.
In a better land, in resurrection, they've perished if there's no resurrection of the dead.
If the dead don't rise, they've perished.
Your faith is vain. Everything is lost. You see, the resurrection is what we call a fundamental truth of the Gospel.
A fundamental truth.
His death is a fundamental truth. You can't be saved if you don't believe in his death. You can't be saved if you don't believe in his resurrection.
That's an impossibility. Those are fundamentals that we do not give an inch in.
There are other truths of scripture that we can bear with someone that holds error as to them, but not this.
This is fundamental.
It misrepresents God. It says that God didn't raise him when he did raise him.
And Paul says we're liars, we're false witnesses of God if it's so.
You are yet in your sins, your faith is vain. Verse 18 says Then they that have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
You'll never see them again.
The whole, the whole truth that we've been proclaiming to you, founded upon his death and resurrection, it's all gone.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
I've heard Christians today quote that verse and apply it to themselves. I can't apply that to myself.
I'm not the most miserable of all men if.
I If this is true, in this life only we have hope in Christ.
We are, of all men, most miserable. I have a pretty nice life. So do all of you in this room.
You have the very nice down here.
You're not persecuted.
We're not persecuted.
Paul could say this.
He was persecuted.
He didn't have it Nice.
He didn't know where his next meal was coming from.
He was.
Fasting often.
He was in constant danger.
He was persecuted mercilessly, especially by his Jewish.
Friends. Enemies.
Yes, he could say, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all miserable men, most miserable.
That was true of him.
It was true of the early apostles.
Because they they received martyrdom.
They were heated and abused.
Mistreated.
Mercilessly by those that didn't want the gospel.
Now. Now he draws his conclusion. But now?
Is Christ risen from the dead?
And become the first fruits of them that slept. That's a beautiful word. The first fruits, the first fruits of them that slept. Those that have died in faith are also going to be raised. He's the first fruits. A farmer goes out in his field in the fall. The field is ripe and he picks out a shock of corn or whatever it is the crop is, brings it home and shows it to his wife and says this is a sample of the crop that we're going to have this year. That's the first fruits. Christ is the first fruits afterward they that are Christ that.
We're going to partake in that same resurrection. If he didn't rise, we won't.
We don't have any hope.
And he didn't rise. All is lost.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept, those that have died in faith. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam, all died.
Even so in Christ.
Shall all be made alive. That verse is sometimes not not properly understood.
As in Adam all died.
The wages of sin is death.
By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned as an Adam all die.
Even so, in Christ shall all be made alive. In the power of Christ's person all will be raised, some to the resurrection of life, some to the resurrection of judgment.
The resurrection of the justice. The resurrection of the unjust.
But Christ is going to raise all.
None will escape the resurrection. But there are two resurrections. There's the resurrection to life and the resurrection to judgment.
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But every man in his own order.
Christ the firstfruits afterward, they that are Christs at his coming. These are those that belong to Him. This is the resurrection of the just, the resurrection to life, those that are Christ at his coming.
Are you his this afternoon? Are you going to take part in this resurrection? This is the only time I believe in this chapter his coming is mentions specifically.
The truth of it and what will take place when He does come is in this chapter. That's the resurrection, but the coming itself is mentioned here. Christ at his coming.
And then he passes over the tribulation period, and he passes over the Millennium.
1000 year reign of Christ and he goes to the end of the Millennium.
And he says in verse 24 Christ did his coming. The end of verse 23 is the rapture.
And then?
Verse 24 starts at the end of the Millennium. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed.
Is death.
When will that be?
His coming will be the resurrection of the Justice.
And at the end of the tribulation, the first resurrection, the those that have been martyred during that tribulation that had faith, they'll be raised and they'll join us.
But this is a resurrection, when death will be destroyed at the end, after the Millennium is over.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Let's look at that in Revelation 20.
Revelation 20.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed.
Is death verse 11 and I saw a great white throne.
And him that sat on it, that's Christ.
From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away?
And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.
And the books were opened.
And another book was opened. I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. That's resurrection.
That's the resurrection of the unsaved dead.
They're going to stand the resurrection of the unjust, the resurrection to judgment.
They stand before God now in resurrection bodies.
And the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. That's resurrection. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. That's resurrection.
And they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell are Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
Death applies is a term that applies to the body. The body dies, not the soul.
The soul and the spirit don't die. The soul and the spirit are spoken of as being in Hades, That means in the condition of separation from their bodies.
That's what 80s means, the condition of being separate from your body. Death. In Hades, that separate condition of things were cast into the lake of fire. That will be over.
This is the second death.
The lake of fire Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. I remember the story. Go back to First Corinthians 15. I remember the story A man had a dream.
And he dreamed about hell, and he was taken down, and he stood at the portal, the gateway to hell.
And he could hear the screams and the agonies and the moans and the cries of those who were suffering in that awful place.
And he said to the one that was there, he said this was just in his dream. And he said give them some relief.
Just a just a drop of water upon their tongue. And the answer came back. There's no water in hell.
Give them some reason.
There's no alleviation of their sufferings. The most horrible thing conceivable.
And the last enemy, going back to First Corinthians 1526, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
After that, none will be found in the disembodied state where the body is in the grave and the soul and spirit are in hates. But they'll be joined. Now resurrection will have joined them, and man, spirit, soul and body will either spend eternity in heaven with Christ or in hell in the darkness of the pit.
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Which will it be for you? You have to answer that question yourself. I believe everyone here is saved, but I don't know.
God does.
God knows everyone that's here, and I trust each one is the Lord's.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is accepted which did put all things under Him, That's the Father.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, that's Christ, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all. That verse used to puzzle me. Couldn't understand with the meaning. And it simply means that the Lord Jesus the Son will remain a man forever.
And so he'll always be in subjection to his Father in manhood as man, always in subjection, because it's man's place to be subject. He'll always be man, as he'll always be God.
But we'll be there, and we'll be able to gaze upon that blessed man with the marks of Calvary still in his body, his hands and his feet and his side. And we will see.
We will see a man.
In Glory.
Will be like him.
In bodies of glory, just like his.
Never to be separated from him.
And it says in Colossians 29, All the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily.
And we'll realize the power of that verse as we gaze upon that man, and we'll say all the fullness of Godhead is in that man.
He is all He is, very God and very man. I can't understand that. You can't understand that. It's beyond our intellect.
But I like the poet who says just darkness to my intellect is sunshine to my heart.
But I cannot understand. I can believe and enjoy in all my soul.
Then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And yet one of those persons is still a man, and so he's still subject in that capacity, in that.
In that way.
And yet he's God over all, blessed forever. You can't understand that, I can't either. God was manifest in the flesh, that God and man were in one person when He was here on earth. Could you understand that? I can't understand that either.
That God and man is in Him in glory today. Can you understand that? No, it's beyond us that it'll be so for all eternity. Can you understand that? No, but it's declared to us in the Scriptures.
I'm going to Passover a few verses. The first part of First Corinthians 15 is proving that He is risen. It's his resurrection. The last part of First Corinthians 15 is our resurrection.
Verse 35.
But some men will say, how are the dead raised up?
And with what body do they come?
Someone is raising quibbles about the resurrection. Paul is anticipating these objections to the resurrection. You remember when he preached the resurrection? They said, what will this babbler say?
He preaches strange gods.
And he speaks about a resurrection. They hadn't heard this before.
And some mocked when they heard of the resurrection. Others believed it's the way it always is when the gospel is preached. Some mock.
Some believe.
So some will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?
Thou fool.
That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.
Take a grain of wheat.
You sow that, that's lifeless thing. You sow it. You could put it on the table, it would never do a thing.
Put it in the ground, it dies, and then there's fruit and what comes up doesn't look anything like what went in.
What thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be.
That little grain, that little body of grain that you sow that doesn't look anything like the body that's going to come up but there, but there, wheat, bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body.
As it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body and justice as that grain of wheat.
Has that stock of wheat or corn and that stock of corn come up looking so much more grand and glorious than that? So the resurrection body is in comparison with this body. This body is like the grain of wheat that has to fall into the ground and die. I remember brother preaching at a funeral and he pointed to the body and he said that body, this body shall rise again. And that's the truth of Scripture.
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This body shall rise again. He's going to quicken this mortal body.
He's going to.
Infuse it.
With life and he's going to raise the incorruptible, and the incorruptible she'll put on incorruptibility.
God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh.
Here is a verse that disproves evolution.
Shows the utter stupidity of evolution. There's one kind of flesh of men.
Another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. They're all different.
One didn't evolve into the other. Their distinct kinds of flesh.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is 1 and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There's a great difference between the heavenly bodies and the earthly bodies.
The one has heavenly glory, the other has earthly glory. The difference is compared. The comparison is between our glorified body, our resurrection body, and what we're in now, this body of clay, this earthly body.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor.
It is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness.
Raised in power, we're going to be in a body of incorruption, a body of glory, a body of power.
Now we're in a corruptible body. Now we're in a body of dishonor and weakness.
Now we're in a natural body. It is so in a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body.
And there is a spiritual body we have not yet put on our house, which is from heaven.
Our spiritual body we will. It might be before I'm through speaking.
Will be closed upon with our house, which is from heaven. It's that near. And so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam, Christ was made or became a quickening spirit.
You remember in John 20 when He appeared to his disciples and he breathed into them the breath of His resurrection life. Here He was there as a quickening spirit, and they were infused with His own resurrection life.
That's going to happen as to these bodies one day.
This mortal, if he would come right now, this mortal would put on immortality.
Mortality would be swallowed up of life, it says.
The life that has reached our souls would reach our bodies, resurrection, life and power.
And we would rise to meet the Lord in the air. It's going to be someday.
Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the Earth, or thief. That's what Adam means, made of Earth.
The meaning of the word.
2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy. Such are they also that are earthy? We're just like Adam. We're in that kind of a body right now.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
We're going to have that kind of a body shortly. But we are heavenly now, even though we're still in earthly bodies. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we bear it now.
We shall also bear the image of the heavenly, even as to our bodies.
Now this I say, brethren.
That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. We can't get to glory in these bodies.
Neither doth corruption inheriting corruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep.
But we shall all be changed in a moment.
In the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump.
Well, the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption.
And this mortal must put on immortality. When he talks about this corruptible, he's talking about one who's died.
And one whose body has gone into corruption in the grave, when he talks about this mortal, he talks about you and me that is still living.
We're living in a mortal body, a body that is capable of dying.
But the bodies of the dead Saints.
I described as corruptible.
They've gone into corruption, they're going to put on bodies that are incapable of corrupting, and the living are going to put on bodies that are incapable of dying.
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It's the same resurrection body, but just described in two different terms. The one describing the dead in Christ, the other is the living.
In a moment.
Verse 52 In the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump.
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we the living shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on in corruption.
And this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory.
O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Death will have to give up its prey.
Death will be destroyed.
There will be no more death. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
The sting of death is sin.
What makes dying so horrible is sin. That's what leads to it, and that's what makes it so terrible.
The strength of sin is the law.
The law was never given to promote holiness. To produce holiness it only.
Makes man sin more. You tell man not to do something, and he wants to do the very thing.
That he's forbidden doing. Remember this story? You probably heard it. Children were playing.
Around the table.
And mother says I'm going next door, I'll only be gone 5 minutes.
But while I'm gone, there was an inverted bowl in the center of the table.
It was placed upon a little bit of an elevation raised dish and it was inverted.
And she said don't lift that bone, don't look in, don't see what's underneath.
The only thing you have to do is you can play but don't look.
Under the dish that inverted bowl.
Well, what was under there? There was a fan going in the room, something like these, and there was a bunch of feathers under there.
And when she came back from the visit next door, she found feathers all over the room.
Because what she had told him not to do, they had done. Of course they wanted to see what was there, and as soon as they lifted the bowl, the feathers went everywhere.
And it was that law, that prohibition, that telling them don't do it, that brought that to their attention. And so the law is the strength of sin. Has she not mentioned that they would maybe not have even noticed it.
But when God says, don't you know what that's like? You children, your parents say, don't right away. There's something in you that says, Huh?
Like that?
I want to do what I'm told not to do.
That's the sin nature that we have within.
And we all have it, and so we all know what I'm talking about.
Because we've all experienced it. Before a child can say a word, it can arch its back in rebellion against its mother.
And it does.
That's the sin nature that's in it.
They often say when a child is born that lovely innocent little thing. It would be more scriptural to say that sinful little thing.
Because that's what it is. Born in sin, shaping in iniquity. Innocence has passed. There's no innocence today.
You're either sinful or you're holy in Christ. One of the two. That's all there is today, Sinfulness. If you're outside of Christ. And if you're in Christ, you have a holy nature.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, in this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
What's the power of holiness? Law isn't Man thinks you have to put someone under law in order to produce obedience. It doesn't produce obedience it.
Simply stirs him up to be disobedient. What does produce obedience? Grace.
Grace taught us.
How to live Grace taught us how to live a holy life. That's the power of holiness, not law.
But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That victory will be fully displayed at the Resurrection Morn.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, here's the grand conclusion to all that he set before them in this chapter. The steadfast, unmovable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain.
In the Lord not in vain.
Yes, Christ is risen first part of 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to join him. He's just the first fruits afterward. They that are Christ at his coming, and he's coming very soon to take us home. We're going to join him. We're going to be around him and be just like him in glory. Praise his name.