John MacArthur stated that forgiveness frees people from the past. It is liberating, exhilarating, and healthy. Forgiveness relieves tension, brings peace and joy, and restores relationships. In addition to its personal and societal benefits, there are at least ten biblical reasons for forgiving others. 

1. Believers are never more like God than when they forgive
   
2. The sixth commandment, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13), does not just forbid murder but also anger, malice, lack of forgiveness, and desire for revenge
3. Whoever offends another person offends God more, because all sin is ultimately against Him
4. Those who have been forgiven of great sin against God must forgive the lesser sin of others against them
   God freely forgives believers’ massive debt to His holiness—a debt they could never repay even if they spent eternity in hell. Therefore they must readily forgive the sins by which others offend them. To refuse to do so is reprehensible, insensitive ingratitude that makes a mockery of God’s forgiveness of them
5. Believers who refuse to forgive forfeit the blessing of fellowship with other Christians
6. Failing to forgive results in divine chastening
7. God will not forgive believers who refuse to forgive others
   The Lord was not, of course, referring to the eternal forgiveness of justification (Acts 10:43; Rom. 3:23–24; Col. 1:14; 2:13; Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Titus 2:14; Heb. 7:25; 1 Peter 2:24) but to the temporal forgiveness of sanctification
8. Failing to forgive others renders believers unfit to worship
9. To refuse to forgive is to usurp God’s authority
10. Offenses against believers must be recognized and embraced as the trials that mature them

Source:  2 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003), Page 50. 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God!"  (II Corinthians 1:3-4)
 
Wow!  What a wonderful verse to begin our lesson last night on II Corinthians 1:3-11!  
 
As we noted last week, the apostle Paul led off his second letter to the church of Corinth with a declaration that his mission as an apostle of Jesus Christ was not a self-appointed one but one of divine appointment, and that the words that he wrote to them didn't reflect his own message and thinking but revealed the very words of God!  In that connection, MacArthur noted that no other book of the Bible better fulfills the claims and promises of II Timothy 3:16-17, that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching doctrinal truth, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, and adequately equipped for every good work!"  And that's why, as men of the Bible (MOBsters!), we're committed, so enthusiastically, to studying it, and sharing what we're learning with each other!
 
Paul describes God not only as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ but, drawing from the liturgical language of the Old Testament, as "the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort"!  David wrote in Psalm 86:15: "But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth!"  Paul, in Ephesians 2:4, added: "But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus!"  And borrowed from the synagogue prayer of Isaiah 40:1 which reads: "Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God..." and of Isaiah 51:3, where it says, "Indeed, God will comfort Zion"!  
 
And so, even today, our God, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, comforts us in our afflictions "so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God!  Wow!  Giving us a whole new understanding of why God allows trials and afflictions to sometimes come into our lives!
 
Paul, speaking for himself, writes, in verses 6-7, "But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort"!  And so we develop an empathy for others who are suffering, and they for us, and when we share our experiences together, it brings the comfort of God for us all, Paul is saying!  Comfort "in abundance"!
 
No preacher in the history of the church has probably faced as much persecution and affliction as the apostle Paul!  He says, in verses 8-10: "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us!  He on whom we have set our hope!  And He will yet deliver us!"  Wow!  Paul doesn't describe here what those afflictions were that he experienced in Asia, but the Corinthians apparently where aware of them!  And it may relate to what he writes in 4:8-11, where he says, "We were afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh!"  But despite it all, he continues, in verses 16-18, "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day!  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not for the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal!  Wow!
 
Paul says, "we don't lose heart"!  He was confident that God is faithful, always ready to comfort, and that He would deliver him!  If not in this life, in the life to come!  Reminds us of the words of Jeremiah, in Lamentations 3:22-23, "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease.  For His compassions never fail!  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!"
 
MacArthur notes that the constancy of God's comfort led Paul to describe Him as "He on whom we have set our hope"!  In Romans 5:3-5, he wrote, "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us!"  (MacArthur notes that "the more believers suffer and experience God's comfort, the stronger their hope in Him grows!)
 
Near the end of his life Paul wrote, in II Timothy 4:16-18, "At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me, but it is not be counted against them.  But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation (of the Gospel!) might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever!  Amen!"
 
What a great example we have in the apostle Paul!  And what a great God we have!  God, "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort"!
 
Have you experienced the comfort of God?  Nearly 2 years ago I suffered a stroke and as I went into surgery and later was recovering in the hospital and at home, I felt the Lord's comfort, as perhaps never before, as I meditated on some key "tough time" verses of Scripture, and another set of verses dealing with "anxieties," as well as the words of some great old (and new) Christians hymns and songs, some of which I passed on to you at the time!  They continue to bring great comfort to me in times of trials and anxieties!   You may want to check them out as you seek relief from "troubles" you may face!  I won't attempt to quote this exhaustive list here, but here are some of the references: Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 4:6-7; Psalm 46:10-11; Psalm 55:22; Psalm 27:13-14; Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 40:1-3; Jeremiah 33:3; John 14:27; Isaiah 27:3; II Corinthians 12:9-10; Romans 8:28; Psalm 118:24; Jude 24-25; Isaiah 43:1-3; II Corinthians 4:16-18!  Of course, there's many more in God's Word!
 
And here are some of the words to some great songs (to sing!):

• "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...I am the Lord your God; do not fear...!"
• "Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart...!"
• "All your anxieties, all your cares; bring to the Mercy Seat, leave them their...!"
• "He giveth more grace when the burdens are greater; He sendeth more strength when the labors increase...!"
• "Like the woman at the well, I was seeking, for things that could not satisfy...Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord, come and quench this thirsting of my soul...!"
• "When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot; it is well, it is well, with my soul...!"
• "Wonderful, merciful Savior, precious Redeemer and friend; who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of me..!"
• "Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side; bear patiently the cross of grief and pain...!"
• "In the morning when I rise...give me Jesus...You can have all this world, but give me Jesus....!"
• "It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus..!"
• "He hath made me glad...I will sing, for He has made me glad...!"

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions...!"
 
Go with God and be a blessing!
 
Lowell  

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!"  (II Corinthians 1:1-2)

The apostle Paul makes it clear right up-front that his mission was not a self-appointed one, or based on his own achievements, but one of divine appointment!  And that his letter reflected not his own message but the very words of God!  No other book of the Bible reflects better the claims and promises of II Timothy 3:16-17--that "all Scripture is breathed out (and given) by inspiration of God and profitable for teaching (doctrine!), for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work!"  And that's why we as "men of the Bible" (or MOBsters) are enthusiastically into studying it and sharing what we're learning with each together!

In his salutation Paul makes mention of his cherished son in the faith, Timothy, who was with him during the founding of the church of Corinth, and extends grace (God's unmerited favor) and peace (one of its benefits), which were the normal salutations in all of Paul's letters to the churches!

This is Paul's second letter to the church of Corinth!  First Corinthians, with all its great content, apparently "did not get rid of all the problems in this troubled church," writes Constable.  And so the apostle Paul wrote this letter "with the immediate purpose of combating the influence of Judaizers who promoted legalistic teaching"!  These teachers were evidently Jews, mainly from Judea, who claimed to be Christians but may have been unbelievers or misguided believers!  But God's larger purpose, again according to Constable, was to "make the gospel crystal clear"!

MacArthur writes that II Corinthians is the "most personally revealing of all Paul's epistles"!  (But) "at the same time it is perhaps the least familiar of all his inspired writings, often overlooked by individual believers and preachers alike...an immense loss to the church"!  (John Neal referred to it as "Paul's autobiography," and that in it, Paul "pours out his soul for the Corinthian church"!  Paul's "godly character clearly shows through as he interacts with the most troubled of his congregations...out of humility"!  "If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness," he writes in II Corinthians 11:30; and he says in 3:5-6, "Not that are adequate in ourselves...but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant..."!  His passionate concern for the flock is shown in 4:5 where he declares, "For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus sake"!

MacArthur notes that "no preacher in the history of the church has faced such intense persecution as did Paul, and in this letter he models how to handle suffering in the ministry!  For example, in 4:7-12, Paul writes, "For we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves, even as we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are constantly delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death works in us, but life in you!"  And so much more!

But though it is an intensive look at Paul, nonetheless, MacArthur writes, II Corinthians "contains rich theological truth!  Here the new covenant receives its most complete exposition outside of Hebrews!  In II Corinthians 5:1-11, Paul presents important teaching (especially for us old guys) on what happens to believers when they die!  And what comforting words he gives!  Here's a preview: "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.  For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.  Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.  Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord!  Therefore, we also have as our ambition whether at home or absent, to be pleasing with Him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad!"  Whew!

Here's something else to look forward to!  That same chapter 5 discusses the doctrine of reconciliation, "culminating in the fifteen Greek words of 5:21...providing the most concise yet profound summary of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere in Scripture!"  Wow!  Can't wait to try to figure out those 15 Greek words!

Then, MacArthur notes, "a brief Christological gem of immense valve" in 8:9: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich!"

And lots of practical aspects of living the Christian life, including the principle of separating ourselves from unbelievers; teachings on giving; and distinguishing true servants of God from false teachers, and instructions of how God uses suffering in the lives of His children!

And, last but not least, II Corinthians closes with this great exhortation (and promise) "Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you!"  Followed by the "Trinitarian benediction": "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all!"  And I just want to add, "Amen!"

I hope this overview whets your appetite as we get into--in more detail--the apostle Paul's wonderful, and often neglected, epistle of II Corinthians!  Welcome to MOB!

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! 

Lowell

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works!" (I Corinthians 3:16-17, KJV) The Phillips translation puts it this way: "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in good living!  The Scriptures are the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his work!"
 
"Sola scriptura"!  That was the rallying call for the Protestant Reformation!  Declaring, without any reservation, that the Word of God, not church tradition, is the ultimate and only infallible authority for the Christian faith!  The apostle Paul would, I'm sure, give a hearty "amen" to that declaration, and that's the reason why we, as "men of the Bible," study the Bible and meet together to share what we have learned!  And why we have met together over the past nine months, specifically, to study and share the "epistle" of I Corinthians!
 
And why I Corinthians?  I'll give you the same answer I gave back on September 4, 2024, when we first started our study: "What better book of the Bible to study--for such a time as this--than the book of I Corinthians which was written by the apostle Paul to the church which is at Corinth, specifically to address various questions raised by the Corinthians, and concerns the apostle Paul himself had for believers in the "problem-steeped church" of Corinth, which required 'reproof and correction,' and with "admonitions" that would prove useful for the Corinthians, to train them in how to live--and help them grow in their faith!  Some of the same questions and issues which have confronted and challenged believers, and the Christian church down through the ages, and which are just as relevant, and even more so, for consideration by believers, and the Christian church, in our day"!
 
The apostle Paul says (in I Corinthians 4:14) that he wrote to the Corinthian believers, "not to shame them. but to admonish them as his beloved children"!  He became, in essence, their "spiritual father through the gospel" and (like a good father!) "exhorted them to imitate him, as he imitated Christ"!  He didn't "come down with a hammer," but came "along side them," as a fellow believer, with love, to encourage them, to "beseech" them, to appeal to them, and first to all, he said (in 1:10), that "there would be no divisions among them, but that they would be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment"!  Just as he wrote to the Ephesians (in Ephesians 4:1-3), "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!"  And to the Philippians (in Philippians 1:17) that they "conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ...and stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel"!
 
Interestingly, Paul began and ended his epistle to the Corinthians on a note of "grace"!  In 1:3, he wrote, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!"  And he ended it (in 16:23) with, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all!"  The "unmerited favor" He provided us by sending His Son!  In Ephesians 2:8-9, he wrote, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not the result of works, so that no one may boast"!  God's amazing grace!  "Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin!"
 
Isn't it so amazing how God would use a "Damascus-road experience" to turn around the whole life of a man once named Saul, and make him a "new creation" in Christ--a man who once persecuted Christian, to be totally transformed and truly equipped for every good work"!  II Corinthians 5:17 (also written by the man now called Paul, speaking from experience), "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature!  Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!"  And that the message (or the word) of the cross, "which is foolishness to those who are perishing (as it once was to him!), but to unto us who are saved, it is the power of God!"  And from then on, he "determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (as he wrote in 2:2)!  And he goes on to tell the Corinthians (in chapter 15) that he was "delivering to them," something "of first importance, that he had received (from God!)"--the simple basic "gospel which he said the Corinthians "had received, in which they also stood, and by which they were saved...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures"!  Echoing the words and promises of John 3:16 which is simple (and yet so profound!) for even a child to understand and, by it, to become a "child of God"!  
 
"And now" (he writes (in 3:12-16) "we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God...which the natural man cannot understand, because they are spiritually appraised"!  And, in I Corinthians 6:19-20 that, as new-born believers, our "bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us, whom we have from God, and that we are no longer our own, for we have been bought with a price"!  And we are "therefore to glorify God in our bodies"!  And in that same sense, he says we are to "flee fornication... and that our bodies are not for immorality, but for the Lord!"  But he has more to say, in other writings, about how we should treat our bodies!  In Romans 12:1-2, he urges us "by the mercies of God, to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which (he says) is our reasonable service...and not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may be able to prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect!"  But there's more!  In Romans 8:23 he notes how "all creation groans and suffers the pains of childhood until now...and that even we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies"! Philippians 3:20-23 says, "...eagerly waiting for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself!"  Whew!
 
But what about this life?
 
Paul come "back to earth" by addressing the marriage relationship in I Corinthians 7, making it clear that marriage is between a man and a woman only, and that "each man is to have his own wife, and each woman her own husband;" and that "a wife should not leave her husband (but if she does, to remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband")!  And that a husband should not divorce his wife"!  And that it's all about 'til death do us part"!  (Paul would later write in Ephesians 5:22-28, that "wives ought to be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord...and that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, so that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she might be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought also to love their wives as their own bodies...!") 
 
Chapter 8 says we should take care that "the liberty we have in Christ" doesn't become "a stumbling block to a weaker brother"!  In chapter 9, Paul testifies that "he has become all things to all men, so that he might by all means save some"!  And he likens the Christian life to one who competes in the Olympic games, and so encourages us to "run our race in this life in such a way that we may win, "and to exercise self-control," and to "discipline our bodies so that we won't be disqualified"!
 
In chapter 10, he tells us to "take heed so that we don't fall, and assures us that "no temptation will overtake us but such as is common to man, and that God is faithful not to allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but will with the temptation make a way of escape also, that we may be able to endure it!  What a promise!
 
And, in chapter 11, he gives something important "to do in remembrance of Him"!  The Lord's Supper!  Paul writes, in verses 23-26, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was also betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink of it, in remembrance of Me.'  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes!"  (And he warned us "to examine ourselves" before partaking, "so that we won't be judged"!)
 
In chapter 12, Paul notes that, as Christians, "each one of us has been given a manifestation of the Spirit (a spiritual gift!), for the common good...to each one individually just as He wills...and that we all have been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we are all made to drink of one Spirit...and that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it!"  (And so, he seems to be asking, "whether we too have discovered our spiritual gift?")
 
Then, I Corinthians 13!  One of the greatest chapters in the Bible!  All about "love"!  The "agape love" that only can come from God!  And he begins with the bottom line!  "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing!"  Nothing!  Wow!  But he's not done!  And so, in 11, he continues, "Pursue love!"  And Peter adds (in I Peter 4:8), "Above all!  Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins!  Remember how Rod noted how it's a "beautiful softening principle, and MacArthur adds that "it balances everything else we do"!  (We're reminded, again (!) of the love of God, and of the words to that great old hymn, "O love of God, how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong!  It shall forever more endure, the saints and angels song!")
 
I Corinthians 14 goes on to address the controversial topic of "speaking in tongues" (not "known tongues," or other languages, which God gave to the saints, in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost with the start of the church, but to the unknown "gibberish," practiced by the pagans)!  Paul sums it up by saying, in verse 19, that he'd "rather speak five words with his mind so that he might instruct others also, that ten thousand words in a tongue (basically with a bunch of gibberish), which can only drive people away from the church!  His main concern, he says, is that "all things be done decently and in order, and for edification"!  And that if someone wants to speak in an "unknown tongue" in the church (and, particularly, if no one is present to interpret the tongue), it's best for that person to "keep silent"!
 
Then, I Corinthians 15, and another one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, where the apostle Paul gives indisputable evidence of the resurrection of Christ and the assurance that we too will be raised one day to spend eternity in heaven!  "If Christ has not been raised, and if our hope in Christ is in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied"!  But he continues, in 16;1, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are asleep"!  Hallelujah!  He is risen!  This, the "blessed hope" for all believers!  The "centerpiece" of our Christian faith!  We too shall live!  And it makes me want to sing again!  "O the wonder of it all, the wonder of it all; just to think that God loves me!" 
 
But Paul then closes out his great epistle, recognizing that "until that day," the Corinthians, and all of us, need to live in this fallen world!  And so, in I Corinthians 16, he gives them, and us, some final words to live by!  Five imperatives, or "take-aways," which MacArthur calls "principles for powerful living" (and which we discussed last night, in greater detail, in our closing lesson for our study of I Corinthians, and which apply to every believer in the church age--"until He comes"!  And they're worth repeating again, and taking with us!  "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong!  And let all that you do be done in love!"
 
And how about a fitting final song, which I'm sure the apostle Paul would gladly sing along with us!  "Because He lives!"  "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone; because I know, I know, He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives!"
 
May God be with you all, 'til we meet again"!
 
Maranatha!
 
Lowell 

"Be on the alert, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong!  Let all that you do be done in love!"  (I Corinthians 16:1-2)
 
These are the final words of exhortation which the apostle Paul gave to the Corinthian believers at the end of his epistle, following 15 chapters of mostly admonitions and rebukes, to address and correct the many problems that existed in the church!  MacArthur notes that the Corinthian church had more problems and was in worse shape than any of the New Testament churches, but also that what he wrote was all done in real love!  He said in I Corinthians 4:14 that he wrote what he did "not to shame them but to admonish them as his beloved children" (which, MacArthur says, is "the whole key to the book")!  He became, in essence, their "father through the gospel," and he exhorted them to "imitate him" as he imitated Christ"!
 
And so the final four imperatives, as a kind of "take-away," and a good reminder, to help them deal with all the everyday problems they would continue to face, which MacArthur calls, "principles for powerful living," and which apply to us as well, and to every believer through all the ages!  "Be on the alert, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong, and let all that you do be done in love!"  
 
Many of the Corinthians lived not only in a "physical stupor," due to drunkenness (even when gathering to celebrate the Lord's supper, according to what Paul earlier wrote) but, more importantly, in a "spiritual stupor," and thus needed to "awake" and become aware and watchful of what was going on around them, and particularly of what "their adversary, the devil," was up to!  I Peter 5:8 says, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert; your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour!  But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world!"
 
They also needed to be alert to "temptation"!  Jesus told His disciples, while in the garden of Gethsemane (in Mark 1:38), that they needed to "keep watching and praying that they might not come into temptation," and how "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"!  Prayer strengthens us in God's ways just as it protects us against the ways of Satan!  MacArthur calls it "the heartbeat of spiritual life"!  Ephesians 6:18 says, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints!"
 
Watch out too for "apathy and indifference" to the things of God, as was the case with believers in the church of Sardis (in Revelation 3)!  They assumed that they had spiritual life because, verse 1 says, "they had a name that they were alive, but they were dead"!  They were so indifferent to the Lord's ways that they didn't even realize that they were "dead"!  And so the Lord said, "Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God!  So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent!"
 
Then, to false teachers!  II Peter 2:1-2 says, that "false prophets arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves!  Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned!"
 
But there are also some positive things to be alert to as well!  Most importantly, we should be watching for the Lord's return!  Matthew 24:42 says, "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day the Lord is coming!"  And II Peter 3:10-12 adds, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens and the earth will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up!  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you top be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  But according to His promise we are looking for new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells!"
 
The second great imperative!  "Stand firm in the faith!"  Or, "hold fast to the gospel!"  I Timothy 6:12 says, "Fight the good fight of faith!  The faith revealed by God!   The gospel message!  I Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God!"  MacArthur notes how the Corinthians had allowed human wisdom to infiltrate the church and that they were accepting it on an equal basis with God's revelation!  And so "God's revelation had lost its distinctiveness"!  Some didn't even believe in the resurrection of the dead!  And so, they weren't standing for the faith!  And that needed to change!  Philippians 4:1 says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and my crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved!"  Galatians 4:1 says, " It was for liberty that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of bondage!"  And Ephesians 6:14 adds, "Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness!"
 
Thirdly, "Act like men!"  Be mature!  Not like the Corinthians who were like babies--immature, fighting and squabbling, and "being tossed around in all forms of false doctrine"!  They needed to "put away childish things"!  II Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!"  Ephesians 4:13-14 says we are to keep growing, "until we become a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ...and we are no longer children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming!"
 
And, fourthly, and closely related, "Be strong!"   Here we're reminded of Paul's admonition to Timothy, in II Timothy 2:1, "You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ; the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also!"  And, in I Corinthians 10:12, Paul warned the Corinthians (who thought they were strong), "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall!"  And, finally, in Ephesians 6:10-11, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might!  Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil..."!  And how can we be strong?  Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"  And Paul also writes this (in Ephesians 3:14-19): "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and heights and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God!"  Wow!
 
And so that's how we can be strong in the Lord!  "Strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man"!  It's God who gives us the strength!  (I find myself often talking to the Lord throughout the day, "Lord, give me strength for..." whatever!)  Rod noted in his talk last night that "we only grow in strength as we use our strength," as in daily workouts, and that it's the same for growing in spiritual strength, through the discipline of reading and relying upon His Word!
 
But there's something else that's needed!  And that's "love"!  Strength without love doesn't work!  And that brings us to the fifth and final imperative for powerful living!  Paul writes, "Let all that we do be done in love!"  I Peter 4:8 says, "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins!"  It's the "beautiful softening principle," noted Rod,  and MacArthur says it's so important because "it balances everything else!"  We need to be "rooted and grounded in love"  (I want to sing: "O love of God, how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong!  It shall forever more endure, the saints and angels song!")  Let us love one another!
 
The apostle Paul closes out I Corinthians by showing how the "marks of love" were displayed by Paul and the Corinthian believers, as Rod noted, through evangelism and service, submission, companionship and respect, and hospitality!  Paul writing how Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, "supplied what was lacking...refreshed his spirit and the spirit of others, and should be acknowledged;" by sending greetings from close companions, Aquila and Priscilla, who opened up their home for the church (in Ephesus); by calling for them to greet one another with a "holy kiss," as was their practice!  Then, by citing the common "watchword" used by believers upon departing, "Maranatha!"  "The Lord is coming!"  Followed by Paul's closing words, which he apparently penned by hand, to authenticate his writing, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you!  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen!"
 
And so, the five principles for powerful living that the apostle Paul gave us in this passage?  Working on them, til the Lord comes?
 
Maranatha! 
 
Lowell

"On the first day of every week each of youis to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come!"  (I Corinthians 16:2)
 
The apostle Paul finished off last week's lesson on the great chapter of I Corinthians 15 with what basically amounted to an anthem of praise in response to all the truths that he had received (by inspiration!) from God and passed on to the Corinthians--the glorious gospel message of how Jesus Christ "died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and raised the third day, according to the Scriptures"!  This, the message "of first importance" which he said he delivered to them, "which they received, and in which they stood, and by which they were saved if they held fast to what he preached to them"!  The gospel message of salvation by God's grace and through our faith in Him alone, and the reality of the bodily resurrection of all believers as well one day, at the coming "rapture of the church"!  
 
This portion of Scripture should more appropriately be sung about in a celestial symphony rather preached," notes MacArthur, which in fact is exactly what George Frederic Handel did many years ago when he wrote the beautiful oratorio, the "Messiah"!
 
"But thanks be to God," the apostle Paul wrote, "who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," and then he goes on to conclude I Corinthians 15 with another great "therefore"!  "Therefore, my beloved brethren (because of what Christ has done for us through His work on the cross, and the promise that we too will be raised to live with Him eternally in heavenly bliss)--while we continue to live in this life--"be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord"!  Always "abounding" in the work of the Lord!  Excelling!  Going above and beyond!  And he adds, in Colossians 3:23, that "whatever we do," we're to do it "heartily as unto to the Lord, and not unto men"!
 
That set the tone for Paul's final words in I Corinthians 16, and our lesson Tuesday night, where he addresses a final question raised by the Corinthians, to top off this great epistle--a question about "giving" and, specifically, relating to collections to be taken and offerings to be made for destitute believers in the famine-stricken city of Jerusalem!  Seemingly going from the grandiose things of the heavenly to the mundane things of this life!  From doctrine to practice!  MacArthur notes that "every glimpse we get of future glory is given to encourage us to a deeper sense of our commitment and responsibility for the here and now"!  And what better opportunity to "abound in the work of the Lord" than in our commitment to giving to others in need!  Following the example of how Christ has "abounded" for us, as illustrated in Ephesians 1:3-8, and elsewhere in Scripture!
 
Ephesians 1:3-8 says,"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him!  In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intentions of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved!  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us!  In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth!"
 
Wow!  Is that an example of Chirst's "abounding" for us, or what?  Ephesians 5:7 says (and it's worth stating again!),"...In Him we have redemption thorugh His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which he lavished on us"!  Wow!  I think "lavishing" is even more than "abounding"!  And that sets the standard of how we too should "abound" in helping to meet the needs of others!
 
This is not the first time the apostle Paul touched on "giving"!  In verse 1 he notes that he's "directing" the Corinthians on this subject just as he "directed the churches of Galatia"!  In Galatians 6:9-10, he wrote, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary!  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith!"!
 
And how did he direct believers to give?  Verse 2 says, "On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come!"  On the first day of the week, when Christians gather to worship, in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!"  And it's for "each one of them" to do (and that would include us!), and "every week"!  "As he may prosper"!  Note that he didn't mention tithing, but "as one may prosper," leaving it open! As God would place on one's heart!  Based on how much he's been blessed!  To be "freely given"!  Something between him and the Lord!
 
Tithing was the Old Testament way of giving!  Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, who was a type of Christ (in Genesis 14:20) and Jacob set up a ceremonial pillar, which he named Bethel, and vowed to give back to God a tenth of all that God would bless him with!  Some people use that as the basis for teaching tithing in the church age; but under grace our giving, according to Paul, should be "as the Lord has prospered us," and as He places it on our hearts to give!  It's between us and God!  An opportunity to "abound"!
 
Interestingly, Deuteronomy 15 speaks of a "sabbatical year" (every seventh year), when Jews would be granted a remission of their debts!  There was to be "no poor among them"!  And verses 7-8 say that "if there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks"!
 
Jesus also taught about our obligation to the poor!  Remember how He spoke to the rich young ruler who claimed to have kept all the commandments!  "If you wish to be complete," He said, "go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come and follow Me!"  (And it goes on to say that when the young man heard this, "he went away grieving, because he owned much property!")
 
This practice and attitude about giving to those in need was carried over into the church, and Acts 2 says that "they shared all they had together, and there was not a needy person among them"!
 
Verse 3 indicates that the "collections" called for in this passage had to do with contributing funds for destitute believers in the church of Jerusalem, those who were recovering from the famine that had taken place earlier!  Acts 8:1-3 says, that "on that day a great persecution began against the church of Jerusalem, and they were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria...and that some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentations over him.  But (interestingly) it was partly because of Saul who (earlier in his prior life) "began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and woman and putting them in prison"!  (And you wonder if this in some way motivated Paul all the more to somehow make up for all the pain he had helped cause!)  Acts 11:27-30 says, "Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch; one of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world.  And this took place in the reign of Claudius.  And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution to the relief of the brethren living in Judea.  And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders"!
 
In II Corinthians 9:1-9, Paul says he boasted to the Macedonians about the Corinthians' "readiness and zeal to give a 'bountiful gift' for the needy believers in Jerusalem," and he adds this (in verses 6-9, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingl, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully! Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart,not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver!  And God is able to make all grace abound (there it is again!) for every good deed..."!
 
Back to our text, in verses 5-9, where Paul shares more about his plans for ministry!  Trusting God for His leading!  Jeremy last night called this section, "Doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way"!  (Another way of expressing "how to abound" in doing the work of the Lord!)  Note how Paul writes (in verse 7-8) about his plans--with Jeremy describing Paul's way of thinking as, "if the Lord permits," and with "vision and flexibility, conmmitted to thoroughness in service, team-building, acceptance of opposition, and exhibiting sensitivity to the Spirit's leading"!
 
Paul's commitment to service is further illustrated by his commitment to remaining in Ephesus, where he "saw a wide door opened to him," despite the many adversaries that were confronting him!  In II Corinthians 1:8-10, he describes his experience there more graphically: "  "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdered excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raised the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us!  He on whom we have set our hope!  And He will yet deliver us, you also joining us in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many!"  Wow!  (Notice that the "giving" was much more than merely money!)
 
And so, what is it that motivated the apostle Paul and that should motivate us as well to "abound in our work for the Lord," while we still have the opportunity in this life?
 
MacArthur writes, "If we truly believe that we are going to leave this world and that our bodies will one day be transformed and perfectly united with our spirits to live all eternity with God, our concerns should be to lay up treasures in heaven while we are still on earth"!  Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!"
 
Our God is a giving God!  He loves to give!  And so should we!  Our generosity in giving is a demonstration of God's character and also a response to all that He has done for us! Because He is generous, we also are called to be generous!  To "abound" in our giving (whether with money or through other ways of service)!  And, you know what?  We can never even begin to outgive God!
 
I can't believe how much the Bible has to say about "giving"! (And "abounding"!)  Here are just some of the other verses:

• Luke 6:38--"Give, and it will be given unto you!  They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return!"
• Acts 20:35--"It is better to give than to receive!"
• II Corinthians 9:8--"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed!"
• John 10:10--Jesus said, "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly!"
• Psalm 103:8--"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness!" Abounding!
• Luke 12:48--"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more!"

May we, as "men of the Bible" (MOBsters!) resolve to abound more and more in the work of the Lord--and in looking out for, and ministering to, others who God (by His diviine providence!) brings into our lives--"knowing that our labors are not in vain in the Lord"!
 
Lowell 

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!"  (I Corinthians 15:58)
 
Last night, we completed our study of what many consider to be the greatest and most important chapter in the Bible, I Corinthians 15!  Remember how the apostle Paul, in I Corinthians 15:3, claimed that he was delivering to the Corinthians (and by extension to us and everybody in the world) a message "of first importance" that he had received from God, "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures"!  This is the inspired message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he preached to the Corinthians, which (he said) they "received," in which they "stood," and by which they were "saved, if they held fast the word which he preached to them"!  The gospel message of Jesus Christ about which the whole Bible was written, and is based!
 
Paul wrote what he did because some of the Corinthians still didn't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ; and while others believed in the resurrection of Christ they couldn't conceive of the resurrection of their own bodies, or that of other believers in the end day!  And so he wrote I Corinthians, and particularly I Corinthians 15, to set the record straight not only about the gospel message of salvation through Christ alone, but to give explicit and irrefutable evidence that would hold up in any court hearing, and stand the test of time, about the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the reality as well of the bodily resurrection of believers one day, and the consequence for everyone of us if, in fact, Christ had not been raised!  "If the dead are not raised," he said, "not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ hasn't been raised your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished!"  And, he added, "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied"!  But he goes on to declare, with triumphant eloquence and unabashed affirmation (in verse 20), "But now Christ has been raised from the dead and become the first-fruits of those who are asleep!"
 
Hallelujah!  Christ is risen!  And because He lives we too shall live!  And "because He lives (as the song goes) I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone...!"
 
The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our Christian faith, and the basis our firm belief and conviction that we too shall be raised one day!  MacArthur notes that "the ultimate act of salvation is the raising at the last day of those who are in Christ!"
 
But "how are the dead raised, and with what kind of body do they come?" the Corinthians wanted to know!  And so Paul illustrated the resurrection with a lesson from nature, comparing it with a grain of seed that must first be planted into the ground and decompose (die!) before springing forth and producing a life of its own!  A different form but still connected with the seed from which it came!  "God gives it a body just as He wishes, and to each of the seeds a body of its own," Paul writes (in verse 38).  Then goes on to describe the diversity and uniqueness of God's creation!  Just as there are so many vastly different bodies and forms in God's created universe all suited for life in this world, so God can (and will!) design unique and different bodies for resurrection life!
 
Paul describes how the resurrection of believers is not simply a resuscitation of dead bodies but a powerful, supernatural re- creation of new glorified bodies!  Constable writes that "these verses help us understand that it's not the same body that goes into the grave that is raised but an entirely new type of body, and so it doesn't matter what its condition it is at the time of death--whether lying peacefully in a coffin, buried at sea, torn in pieces as a result of a tragic accident, or cremated!  The Lord will raise it up into a new glorified body"  Just like the resurrected body of Christ!
 
And so the apostle Paul concludes that "the first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit"!  Through the first Adam we received our natural bodies, but through the last Adam (Christ) we will receive our spiritual bodies at resurrection; and we will bear the image of His body, fit for heaven, just as we have borne the image of Adam's body fit for here on earth!
 
And all that set the scene for our lesson last night on the final section of I Corinthians 15, which is literally an anthem of praise in response to all the truths that Paul has already shared!  A portion of Scripture which MacArthur writes should more appropriately be sung about in a celestial symphony rather than preached!  Which is exactly what George Frederic Handel did so many years ago when he wrote his beautiful oratorio, "Messiah"!
 
"Now I say this, brethren," Paul writes in verse 50, "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable"!  There first must be a great transformation of our bodies!  We've got to be changed!  And different in order to dwell in that domain!  We'll no longer be earthly, like Adam, but heavenly, like Christ!  As we have "borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly"!  A new body fit for the new creation!  And Paul calls it "a mystery"!
 
"Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed!  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality...!"
 
A parallel passage is given in I Thessalonians 4:12-18 (also written by the apostle Paul): "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. and so we shall always be with the Lord!  Therefore comfort one another with these words!"  (And what a comfort it is for us to have the "blessed hope" of a believer!  Knowing that this life is not the end, and that "the best is yet to come"!
 
We shall all be changed!  "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye!"  One-sixth of a nanosecond!  That's pretty quick!  It's not a process!  "At the last trumpet!"  (Trumpets are used for many things in the Bible; to announce a great triumph in battle; assemble people for festivities; to summon people to hear from God!  Exodus 19 tells how with the sound of a trumpet God came down on Mount Sinai to confer with Moses and to give the ten commandments!  In I Corinthians 15 (MacArthur notes) "to herald the end of the church age and the rapture of believers"!
 
"Caught up together with them (the "dead" who will be raised first) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air!  Wow!  What a reunion!
 
"Then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory!  O death, where is your victory?  Where is your sting?"  Paul quoting from Isaiah 25:8 where the prophet Isaiah prophesied, "He (speaking of Christ) will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of HIs people from all the earth"!  The prophet Hoses wrote (in Hosea 13:14), "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?  Shall I redeem them from death?  O death, where are your thorns?  O Sheol, where is your sting?"
 
"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law," Paul continues!  (Phillips says, "It is sin which gives death its sting, and it is the Law which gives sin its strength!")
 
Death is still the enemy, and it "stings"!  Grief is the normal, natural reaction when a loved one dies!  Paul cried out in Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am!  Who will free me from this body of death?"  Even Jesus was "troubled in spirit and wept" (John 11 says) when he saw the pain associated with the death of HIs friend Lazarus, even though He had the power to raise him, which He did after crying out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  In that same passage Jesus proclaimed, in verses 25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die!"
 
And though the sting of death is still real in this life, we "don't have to grieve as others who have no hope" (as Paul wrote), because Jesus took the sting for us!
 
And so the apostle Paul "exudes" (as Kirk noted) with gratitude as he writes, in verse 57, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"  He also wrote, in Romans 7:24, after anguishing about death (and questioning about how he could be delivered), "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  And John wrote, in I John 5:4, "And this is the victory that overcomes the wordl--even our faith!"  (I want to sing, "Faith is the victory, all glorious victory that overcomes the world...!")
 
Paul closes out this great chapter of I Corinthians with yet another great "therefore"--a verse to always remember, to live out!  I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding (to the extreme, Kirk noted!) in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord!"  What more could we say?
 
Thank you, Lord, for I Corinthians 15!
 
May God be with you all!
 
Lowell

"So also, it is written, 'the first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit"! (I Corinthians 15:45)
 
Last week, we continued our study on what many consider the most important chapter in all the Bible (I Corinthians 15), because it sums up, simply and clearly, the "good news" of the gospel of Jesus Christ, by which one might (and must!) believe and be saved--and answers the most important question everyone at some point in his or her life asks: "What happens when I die?"
 
The apostle Paul claimed in I Corinthians 15:3 that he was "delivering to the Corinthians (and thereby to the whole world) a message 'of first importance, that He had received from God,' that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"!  This is the message of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that he preached to the Corinthians, which they "received, in which they stood, and by which they were saved, if (he said) they held fast to what he preached"!  The same message he would later declare (in II Corinthians 5:21), "that God (the Father) had made Him (Jesus Christ, the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!"  And later to the Romans (in Romans 10:9) that if one "confesses with the mouth and believes in his heart that God has raised Him from the dead, he would be saved"!  The same basic message that John wrote about (in John 3:16) that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life"!  This, the inspired message revealed by God to the writers of the Bible upon which, and about which, and for which all the sacred Scripture, the entire Bible, was written!
 
And yet some of the Corinthians still apparently didn't believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ!  And while others believed in the resurrection of Christ, they didn't believe in the coming resurrection of their own bodies, or of other believers one day!  And so Paul wrote the book of I Cornthians, and specifically I Corinthians 15, not only to set the record straight about the gospel message of salvation through Christ alone, but to give explicit and convincing evidence that would stand up in any civil court hearing, and through the test of time, about the bodily resurrection of Christ, the reality as well of the bodily resurrection of believers one day--and the consequences for everyone of us if Christ didn't in fact rise from the dead!  And here's what he wrote: "If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ hasn't been raised, your faith is worthless, and you are still in your sins!  And those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished!  And if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied!"  Wow!
 
But he goes on to declare, with triumphant eloquence and unabashed affirmation (in verse 20): "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are asleep!  For since by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Christ) also came the resurrection of the dead!  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive!  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming"!
 
And so Paul declared that He's coming again!  In I Thessalonians 4:16-17, he wrote that there's coming a day "when Christ will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first!  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord!  Therefore comfort one another with these words!"  Paul also goes on to write about the coming millennial reign of Christ upon the earth!  "For He must reign," he writes in verse 25, until He has put all His enemies under His feet!  And he declares that the last enemy to be destroyed is death itself!"  Wow!
 
Hallelujah!  Christ is risen!  And because He lives we too shall live!  It's the foundation of our Christian faith and the basis for our hope and conviction that we too will rise bodily some day!  MacArthur writes that "the ultimate act of salvation is the raising of those at the last day who are in Christ"!
 
It's no wonder that the apostle Paul closed this portion of his text, in verse 34, by "casting shame" on the Corinthians, and by extension, on us too, for not sharing more deliberately, and more freely, with those who have no knowledge of God, and His Word, the glorious message of the gospel of Christ, and of the reality of the bodily resurrection of both believers and unbelievers on that day to come--with believers destined for eternal bliss in heaven and unbelievers for damnation and eternal separation from God!  Jesus Himself said, in John 5:28, "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment"!  
 
Erich Sauer was quoted as saying that "the graveyards of man will become seed plots of the resurrection; and the cemeteries of the people of God become, through the heavenly dew, the resurrection fields of the promised perfcction!  Spurgeon called it "God's acres"!
 
Romans 8:22-23 says, "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body"!
 
And that sets the scene and the tone, for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 15:34-49, where the apostle Paul begins by addressing two follow-on questions raised by the Corinthians, and a likely mystery for us as well: "How are the dead raised?  And with what kind of body do they come?"
 
MacArthur notes that these questions might have been raised in sarcasm and with a great deal of skepticism by the Corinthians who found it hard to imagine how "a rotted, decayed, corrupted bunch of whatever could ever all come together again from the grave, and be re-assempled"!  And so they asked, in effect, "You mean God is going to go through all the debris scattered all over the earth and sort out what goes where?"  When someone dies, his or her body decomposes and no one could possibly put it back together again, one would naturally think!  The Corinthians  were living in the midst of the Hellenistic culture which didn't have a good view of the body to begin with.  "Hellenistic dualism," notes Constable, taught that the body was "only husk of the real person that dwelled in it, and that the more a person could live without it the better"!  And that kind of thinking must have influenced the thinking of the Corinthians!
 
So how did the apostle Paul respond (in verse 36)?  "You fool!  That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies, and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else!"  And so he goes on to illustrate the reality of the resurrection with a lesson from nature, comparing a grain of seed that must first be planted into the ground and decompose and die before producing a unique life of its own  (a tree or a stalk of grain)!  A diferent form and yet, in some sense, still connected to the seed!  "God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own," Paul says in verse 38! (MacArthur reasons that the Corinthians "shouldn't have any more of a problem with the resurrection concept than they had with the concept of a harvest!")
 
Paul goes on, in verses 39-41, to describe the diversity and uniqueness of God's awesome creation!  "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds and another of fish.  There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differ from star in glory!"  Wow!  
 
And so, just as there are vastly different bodies and forms in God's created universe which are suited for all kinds of existence in this life, so God can (and will!) design a unique and different body perfect for resurrection life! And the "glory" of the resurrected body will be infinitely beyond anything we can conceive of in the earthly body!   Paul writes, in verses 42-44, that "it is sown a perishable body (but) raised an imperishable body; sown in dishonor (but) raised in glory; sown in weakness (but raised in power; sown a natural body (but) raised a spiritual body; and so if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body"!
 
And so Paul shows how the resurrection of believers is not simply a resuscitation of dead bodies but a powerful, supernatural re-creation of new glorified bodies!  Constable writes that "these verses help us understand that it is not the body that goes into the ground that is raised from the dead but an entirely new type of body," and so he concludes that "it doesn't matter what condition the body is in at death--whether lying peacefully in a coffin, or buried at sea, torn to pieces as a result of a tragic accident, or cremated!  The Lord will raise it up as a new body!  Just as every seed having it own body!  Unique and different, but recognizable!  Just like the resurrected body of Christ!
 
Jesus, in fact, used the same analogy of the harvest when He told His disciples (in John 12:23-24) that "the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified"!  "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit"!  Some kind of transformation took place when Jesus died and was resurrected, giving us some insight into what our own resurrected bodies will be like on that "great day coming bye and bye"!  In His resurrected body, Jesus could appear and disappear!  He could walk through walls; transport Himself from one place to another just by a thought!  Eat fish and honeycomb; sit down with His diciples and show them the scars in His hand; speak and be understood!  He was who He was, and yet in a glorified state!  And Acts 1 tells of how He "presented Himself alive after His suffering to the apostles He had chosen by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, speaking of things concerning the kingdom of God...and then being lifted up and recieved by a cloud and out of their sight"!  Then, having "two men in white clothing" standing by them and saying, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?  This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven"!
 
And finally, in verses 45-49, the apostle Paul answers the question raised by the Corinthians more specifically about "what kind of body" by noting that the resurrection body of Jesus is the prototype for the believer!  Beginning with a quote from Genesis 2:7, ""The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit!"  Through the first Adam we received our natural bodies, but through the last Adam (Christ) we will receive our spiritual bodies in resurrection!  Adam's body was the prototype of the natural, Christ the body of the resurrection.  We will bear the image of His body fit for heaven as we have born the image of Adam's body on earth!  
 
I Peter 1:3-5 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again for a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you!"  Wow!
 
Paul writes in Philippians 3:8-11 and 20-21, "...I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead!...For our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humbe state into conformity with the body of His glosry, by the exeretion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself!"
 
I John 3:2-3 says, "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be, but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is!  Everyone who hgas this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure!"
 
And Matthew 13:43 adds: "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
 
D.L. Moody wrote this: "Thank God, we are to gain by death!  We are to have something that death canot touch; when this earthly body is raised, all the imperfections will ve gone; Jacob will leave his lameness; Paul will have no thorn in the flesh; we shall enter a life that deserves the name of life, happy, glorious, incorruptible, "fashioned like unto His glorious body," everything that hinders the spiritual life left behind!  We are exiles now, but then we who are faithful shall stand before the throne of God, joint heirs with Christ, kings and priests, citizens of that heavenly country!"  Wow!
 
Christ is risen!  Hallelujah!  And "we shall behold Him, we shall behold Him, face to face, in all of His glory...!"
 
Lowell 

"For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead!" (I Corinthians 15:21)
 
Last week we embarked on what many people consider to be the most important chapter in the Bible (I Corinthians 15), because it sums up the "good news" of the "gospel of Jesus Christ," by which sinners like you and me might believe and trust in Christ, and be "saved," and further answers the proverbial question which everyone at some point in their lives asks: "what happens to me when I die"?
 
The apostle Paul claimed that he was "delivering to the Corinthians (and therefore to us as well) 'of first importance' what he had received from God, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," and goes on to declare that because He lives, we too will live"!
 
This is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ which Paul writes that he "preached to them, which they received, in which they stand, and by which they were saved, if they hold fast to what he preached"!  The message of the gospel, about which he would later write (in II Corinthians 5:21) that "God (the Father) has made Him (Jesus Christ the Son) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him"!  The same message the apostle John wrote about, in John 3:16, that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life"!  That Paul wrote about, in Romans 10:9, where he says, that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"!  And, in Philippians 3:7-10, that "whatever things were gain to him, those things he counted as loss for the sake of Christ, and that he counted all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus His Lord, for whom he suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish so that he might gain Christ, and now be found in Him, not having a righteousness of his own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that he might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death, in order that he might attain to the righteousness of the dead"!  
 
And so, in I Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul goes on to give infallible evidence, and proof, that would stand up in any civil court hearing, that Christ was truly raised from the dead, with a supernaturally resurrected body that key witnesses saw up close and personal, one they touched and heard speak, and ate with, and eventually saw, on the day of Pentecost, "taken up in a cloud to heaven"!
 
And yet some of the Corinthians, we learned, still didn't believe in the resurrection of Christ!  And while others believed in His resurrection, they didn't believe in the bodily resurrection of believers!  And so the apostle Paul wrote I Corinthians 15 to set the record straight about the message of the gospel, and of the reality of the bodily resurrection of believers!  And he also wrote, in verse 12-19, of the awesome consequences for them, and for us, if Christ wasn't in fact resurrected!  And here's what he wrote!  The words speak for themselves: "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?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain!  Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact 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 worthless; you are still in your sins!  Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished!  If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied!"  Wow!
 
And that set the scene, and the tone, for our lesson last night, on I Corinthians 15:20-35, where Paul responds: "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-born of those who are asleep!"  Again, wow!  Philips puts it this way: "But the glorious fact is that Christ did rise from the dead; He has become the very first to rise of all who sleep the sleep of death!" Could anyone imagine more glorious and wonderful words? He is risen!!  He is risen indeed!  Gloria in excelsis deo!
 
Colossians 1:18 says, "He (Christ) is also head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead!"
 
I Thessalonians 4:14 says, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus!"
 
"First fruits"?
 
Constable explains that Paul uses the metaphor "first fruits" to describe the resurrection of believers some day!  He notes that "the Jews (according to Leviticus 23) celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month of their sacred calendar; and it just so happened that Jesus would die on the day that the Jewish fathers killed the Passover lamb, which was a Friday!  The Jews offered a sacrifice of "first fruits" the day after the Sabbath, the day that Christ arose!  The first fruits that the Jews offered following the Passover were only the first fruits of the crops that they offered later.  Paul saw in this comparison the fact that other believers would rise from the dead just as Jesus did!  And so He used the metaphor to assert that the resurrection of believers (those who are asleep) is absolutely inevitable!  God Himself guaranteed it!"
 
Paul writes in verses 21-23, "For since by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Christ) also came the resurrection of the dead!  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive!  But each in his own order; Christ the firstborn, after that those who are Christ's at His coming!"
 
"And then comes the end, Paul writes (in verses 24-28)...when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power!  For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet!  The last enemy that will be abolished is death!  For He has put all things in subjection under His feet.  But when He says 'all things are put in subjection,' it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.  When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all!"  Whew!  Confused?
 
The "end"? Immanuel's Constitution and By-Laws describes in more detail "the future," and the order, of the "end times"!  Beginning with the Rapture, when "we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds (speaking of the "dead in Christ, who will rise first,"! according to I Thessalonians 5:16-17) to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord!  Christ will then bring a 7-year period of wrath upon the earth, known as the Tribulation, and at the end of this period of judgment He will bodily return with the church to set up a kingdom to rule in righteousness for a thousand years, in what will be known as the Millennium (described in Revelation 19:1-20:6, and in Matthew 13:41-43).  The kingdom will end in rebellion against Christ and His people (according to Revelation 20:7-9, after Satan is released), but the rebellion will fail in the face of Christ's victory over Satan and all who oppose Him (Revelation 20:9-10).  The unbelieving dead of all time will then be raised and given eternal bodies to face God at the Great White Throne Judgment, after which they will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternal judgment!  Believers, on the other hand, will enter a new heaven and new earth prepared for them to enjoy perfect, everlasting fellowship with God!"  Whew!
 
And so that describes "the end" (which Paul talks about in verse 24-28), "when Christ hands over the kingdom to the God and Father...when all things are subjected to Hims, so that He may be all in all"!
 
Finally, "in the end," Constable writes, "God will be the head of everything!  Romans 11:36 says, "For from Him and through Him, and to Him are all things!  To Him be the glory forever, Amen!"  MacArthur writes, "Christ will continue to rule because His reign is eternal, but He will reign in His former, full, and glorious place within the Trinity, subject to God the Father in the way eternally designed for Him in full Trinitarian glory"!
 
In verse 29, the apostle Paul returns to writing about the resurrection of the dead, noting first that some of the Corinthians--even those who claimed not to believe in the resurrection--were apparently involved in "baptizing for the dead"! This was a practice common among some of the pagan religions of that day which had somehow infiltrated the church of Corinth as well!  And so Paul here exposed the illogic of some of the Corinthians who claimed not to believe in the bodily resurrection of believers but who still participated in "baptism for the dead"!  And especially since no one can be saved by baptism to begin with!  And so not even a living person can be saved by baptism, much less a dead person!
 
Paul then shared how he was willing himself to "die daily" and face and endure suffering and danger every hour because he believed that Christ would raise him and that his resurrected body would continue beyond the grave.  And if there was no resurrection (quoting Isaiah 22:13), he reasoned, one might just as well "eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die"!
 
And so Paul is clear in pointing out that how one believes about the resurrection affects the way one lives!  "Become sober-minded, as you ought and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God (or therefore of salvation through Christ, and the hope for life after dead with a resurrected body), and he says that he "speaks this to their shame," implying that they need not only to have a hope for the future themselves but to share it with others, who have no hope!
 
The resurrection of the dead also gives us hope for being reunited with our loved ones someday as well! Just as David demonstrated after losing the son he had with Bathsheba. II Samuel 12:15-23 records how he fasted and wept while his son was sick but still alive, but once dead returned to normal living because he believed he would be resurrected and see him again some day!  "I will go to him, but he will not return to me," he told those who questioned his response!
 
And David later prayed (in Psalm 17:15), "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake!"
 
"What tremendous power the resurrection has, and what wonderful hope it gives," MacArthur writes!  Jesus rose from the dead; He is alive; and we also shall live because one day He will raise us up to be with Him eternally! What greater incentive; what greater motive could we have for coming to Him, serving Him, and for living for Him!"
 
He is risen!
 
"And because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives my fears are gone; for I know, I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, because He lives...!"
 
Happy Easter, fellow MOBsters!
 
Lowell