Easter 2020: Victory through Jesus Christ

Good morning again.

My name is Matthew Capone,

and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here.

I'll remind you what I mentioned at the beginning,

which is that we'd love to be able to connect with you,

and the way that you can do that is by going to our website at cmpca.net.

There will be a pop-up as soon as you go to it

that gives you a link to our Connect card,

or if you're already on our website,

under the New Here tab, you can click the link that says Connect,

and that'll give us a chance to have a record of your time with us

and to be able to begin to build a relationship.

With that, we're going to jump into God's word.

We're at the portion of our service where we study the Bible together,

and we study the Bible together because we're convinced

that there's no one so good that they don't need God's grace

and no one so bad that they can't have it,

which means that God has something to say to everyone in his word,

and he promises us that his word is powerful.

It does what he intends for it to accomplish,

and so we come to it knowing that he offers to speak to us.

We are again in the book of 1 Corinthians at chapter 15,

like we were last week, and as we come to this section,

we're starting at verse 50.

I am reminded of when I grew up.

Now, many of you know that I grew up on the East Coast,

right outside Washington, D.C.,

and one of the things that happened many times

when we were growing up there

is that my mom would drive us into the city,

and she would take us to the National Gallery of Art.

My mom was a real lover of art history,

is a real lover of art history,

and so she wanted to pass that on to us as well,

and it was wonderful for us to have access to that.

The museum was free, as many are in D.C.,

and so we spent many days and many hours there,

and I remember one time when we were there

coming across a painting,

and all that the painting had was a skull.

If I remember correctly, it was a skull that was on a table,

and you might find that strange, right?

Why is there just a painting of a skull?

But it's actually part of a broader genre within art history,

and it's a genre known as the memento mori,

a reminder of death.

And I bring this up not to be morbid,

but because it was a theme that people would focus

from time to time on things

that would remind them of their mortality.

It wasn't always a skull.

Sometimes it might be a clock or an hourglass.

But it was a way of remembering,

no matter what's happening in this world,

death is the great equalizer.

It's something that comes for all of us.

And it's something that we're reminded of,

not just by pieces of art,

but also by small tragedies, everyday tragedies.

We're reminded of it as our bodies begin to fail.

We're reminded of it as other people around us experience death.

We are reminded of it when we feel our own weakness.

Of course, it's not something that just small crisis reminds us of,

but that big things remind us of.

The situation that we're in in this world right now with a pandemic

is a reminder to us of what's always been true,

which is that we're fragile and mortal.

No matter how successful we are now or were in the past,

death is as real as it's ever been.

And in fact, that's the backdrop that Easter comes against.

It's what makes our celebration of the resurrection a celebration.

It's that knowledge of death.

It's that reminder of it.

And so that's going to be our simple focus this morning.

What is our hope in the face of death?

What's our hope in the face of death?

Of course, that's a question we should always be asking

and be aware of,

but it's something that for many of us is even more pressing at a time like this

where we're watching many people die

and we're reminded of the frailty of our own bodies.

I had a friend remind me recently

that we read the Bible differently when we need it to be true.

Of course, we always need it to be true,

but it's times like this that underscore that for us,

that bring it to the forefront of our minds,

that we realize more now than at other times our need for comfort and hope.

And so that's why we're going to turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 15,

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

and we're going to be starting at verse 50.

I invite you to read along with me, perhaps on your phone.

You may be able to easily open this passage up on your computer browser.

However you open it up, remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is a lamp to our feet

and a light to our path.

In other words, he has not left us alone to stumble in the dark,

but instead he's given us his word to show us the way to go.

And so that's why we read it now, starting at verse 50.

I tell you this, brothers,

flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,

nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

Verse 52.

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 shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable

and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable

and the mortal puts on immortality,

then shall come to pass the saying that is written,

death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 58.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord,

knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word.

That's both a challenge and a comfort to us.

We praise you that you haven't left us alone,

like orphans,

but that you've spoken to us.

And you've spoken to us in words that we can understand.

And so we ask that you would do that this morning,

that you would send your Holy Spirit

to open our eyes,

to unstop our ears,

to clear our minds and to soften our hearts,

that we would be able to see and hear

and understand and believe

everything that's written about you in your word.

We ask these things,

not because we have earned them or deserve them,

but because we belong to Jesus.

And so we ask these things in his mighty name.

Amen.

Paul begins at the beginning of this section

by reviewing simply what we saw last week.

In verse 50, he tells us,

Now, you'll remember from our discussion last week,

we talked about the new body

and the fact that the new body is going to be connected

to our current bodies,

but it's going to be different.

It's going to have a different quality to it.

While our old bodies are subject to decay and death,

our new bodies will not be.

Now, you might be confused by this phrase

about flesh and blood.

It might sound like Paul is telling us here

that we won't have physical bodies

in the world that's going to come.

Of course, we spent a lot of time

talking about that last week.

That's not what he means.

What he means here is what he called the difference,

I believe it was in verse 44,

between the natural body and the spiritual body.

And he actually clarifies it here for us in this verse,

verse 50.

Flesh and blood, perishable, imperishable.

In other words, flesh and blood refers

to the perishable body.

It's the body, the natural body that we have now

that's subject to sin and decay.

The spiritual body is the body that we look forward to.

It's the body that's powered by the Holy Spirit

and does not experience sin and decay.

And so it's just a reminder, as he tells us here,

the kingdom of God is coming.

The imperishable are coming.

That's what he's telling us in verse 50.

And so what's happening with our bodies

is what we prayed already this morning

in the Lord's Prayer,

that it would be on earth as it is in heaven.

It's with that reminder that Paul jumps in

and tells us what this is going to look like.

In verse 51, he tells us it's going to be a mystery.

And he outlines what that mystery is going to entail.

First of all, it's going to be instantaneous

and it's going to happen to everyone.

So we shall not all sleep.

Verse 51 is referring to the fact

that some people will still be alive when Jesus returns.

Some people will not.

Everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ

will receive this new body.

We shall not all sleep.

In other words, some of us will be alive,

but we shall all be changed.

There will be this change in our bodies

that we discussed last week

that was like the difference between the seed

and the fully grown grain.

Not only will there be a change as part of this mystery,

but it will happen instantly.

Verse 52, in a moment,

in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

Now you might be wondering

why there's a reference to a trumpet.

This is a image throughout the Old Testament

and the New Testament that accompanies Jesus' return.

In the Old Testament,

the trumpet accompanied what was called the day of the Lord.

And Israel in the Old Testament

understood the day of the Lord

to be a reference to the time when God would come.

He would bring judgment

and He would make everything right.

This is refined for us or clarified for us

in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

We're told that when Jesus returns,

there will be a trumpet sound.

And so this sound of the trumpet

is simply a reminder to His readers

of what they most likely already know,

that He's referring to Jesus' return.

And that return is going to happen immediately.

It's going to happen like the twinkling of an eye.

It's going to be in an instant.

Now Paul is writing this to Christians

and so he means this here as an encouragement to them.

But of course, there's also a warning implicit in it.

When Jesus comes,

as we're told throughout the New Testament,

there will not be a telegraph about it.

We won't know that it's coming.

It will happen instantaneously around the world at one moment.

There won't be a warning

outside of the warnings

that God's already given us in His scriptures.

And so I want you to think about it like this.

We're in a current crisis, right?

Had we known exactly what was going to happen right now,

we would have done things differently.

If we could have seen the future,

if we could have seen March of 2020

in say November of 2019,

we would have prepared in a different way.

Perhaps there's certain things we would have purchased.

Maybe some of us would have purchased masks

that we didn't have.

Maybe some of us would have purchased more toilet paper.

Maybe some of us would have saved more money.

There's all sorts of things that we would do

if we had known.

We had some warning, right?

But we didn't have tons and tons of warning.

What I want to highlight in all of that though

is that had we known,

we would have prepared in a different way.

Jesus' return will be like that even more so.

Jesus is not going to return to one part of the world

and then the rest of the world

have a chance to watch it happen and prepare.

It will happen in such a way

that there will be no preparation.

At that moment,

in the twinkling of the eye,

the sound of the trumpet,

there will be those who have faith in Jesus Christ

and those who do not.

And at that moment,

it will be too late.

And so this passage reminds us

that all of us

need to be prepared for Christ's return.

Jesus walked on this earth

in his first coming as a man.

He ascended into heaven

and he told us that he was going to come back

with his second coming.

And when he comes back,

that's when he's going to make all things right.

That's when he's going to restore and renew

the bodies of those who are believers.

And that's when he's going to bring full

and final judgment on the earth.

And so as we're asking this question

about what our hope is,

as we face death,

our hope is that we will be

those who belong to Jesus Christ

when he returns.

And so we need to be prepared,

all of us,

for Jesus' return.

And the way that we are prepared for it

is very simple.

It's what the Bible refers to as faith.

Faith has three parts to it.

The first part,

this is according to a man named Charles Spurgeon,

is knowledge.

It's knowledge of the facts about the gospel.

The fact that we are sinners

and we deserve God's punishment and judgment.

But also the fact that Jesus came,

he lived life in this world,

he lived a perfect life,

the life that we should have lived.

And then he died a death,

the death that we should have died for our sins,

taking God's punishment and wrath onto himself.

And he offers life through that

to anyone who has faith in him.

And so it's knowledge,

but faith is also a belief.

It's actually believing that those things are true,

believing that we are sinners

and we have no hope

outside of God's mercy and Jesus' sacrifice.

It's even more than that belief though,

it's action,

it's trust.

It's living our lives as if those things are true,

revealing through our actions

that that's what we believe.

Brothers and sisters,

Jesus is coming back.

And when he comes back,

it will be like the twinkling of an eye.

It will happen instantaneously.

There will not be a warning.

And so the warning is now,

the call to faith and repentance

is both important and urgent.

Just as most of us did not see this crisis coming,

we didn't know when its timing would occur.

We didn't know it was going to happen.

We don't know the timing of Jesus' return.

However, unlike this crisis,

we know that it's going to happen.

And so Jesus' call to repentance is urgent.

And so if you do not have faith in Jesus Christ,

I encourage you now,

I urge you to repent and believe on him,

knowing that when he returns,

it will be too late.

He is the one who gives us hope.

And he's our only hope in the face of death.

That's what we learn here from knowing

that it's going to happen in a moment

in the twinkling of an eye.

Paul then goes on to outline

what will happen at that return.

He says these words over and over.

We see perishable, imperishable, verse 53.

Perishable, imperishable, verse 54.

Or mortal, immortality, verse 53.

Mortal, immortality, verse 54.

Paul's making a point.

He's repeating these things over and over

to hammer home what it is

that we're looking forward to.

We're looking forward to God's restoration

and his renewal.

We face death now.

If we're in Christ, we won't face it forever.

We experience death now.

We will not experience it forever.

Our hope in the face of death

is that the perishable

will be replaced by the imperishable.

The mortal will be replaced by the immortal.

Paul repeats that here over and over

to drive this home.

That we have a hope.

And it's not in what we can do,

but what Jesus will do

when he returns to the earth.

We have that hope

because of his resurrection from the dead.

And so that's what we celebrate now at Easter.

Paul then tells us

that this is going to happen, right?

This perishable, imperishable,

mortal, immortal.

And at that time,

he gives us a quote here.

There's going to be a saying

that's going to come to pass.

Death will be swallowed up in victory.

And we'll say,

oh, death, where's your victory?

Oh, death, where's your sting?

These are quotations

of Old Testament passages.

And you'll remember

when we were in the letter of 1 Peter,

I told you at one point

about the quote from Martin Luther

where he said that

Jesus, after his resurrection,

went and thumbed his nose

at the devil.

This is similar to that.

It's a acknowledgement of the fact

that when Jesus comes back,

we will thumb our noses at death.

We will thumb our noses

at sickness and disease.

And that is going to mean

that our bodies are restored.

And that's part of the emphasis

of this passage.

And the body's restoration

proves the victory.

You'll know there's a logic to victory,

which is that victory

and territory come together.

If you win a battle,

you receive the territory

that goes with it.

Jesus won the battle against death.

He receives the territory

of our bodies

that were under the reign of death.

And so the restoration

of our bodies emphasizes

how complete and total

Jesus' victory is.

It's in that resurrection,

our resurrection,

that we finally thumb

our noses at death.

That taunt, though,

highlights something else for us.

Remember I pointed out

in our congregational prayer

that it says in verse 54,

then shall come to pass.

In other words,

this is not true yet.

We still experience

the sting of death

in some ways in this world.

It is shown by those

who are dead,

and it's already at work

in those who are alive.

It's shown by those

who are dead.

When we know someone

and they pass,

they're deceased,

they die,

that reveals that death

still has some ability

in this world.

And we also experience

it ourselves,

as I mentioned earlier

in our congregational prayer,

when we experience

a weakness.

I came across a story

recently about a man

named Mr. P in Italy,

and Mr. P was being lauded

for the fact that he had

survived the coronavirus.

Now, there are many people

who have survived,

but Mr. P is special

because he's 101 years old.

He was born in the year 1919,

which means that he was born

during the Spanish flu.

He lived through the Holocaust.

Now he survived the coronavirus.

And he's being celebrated, right?

Here's this man

who's an overcomer.

He's a conqueror.

He's going to be able

to beat death so many times.

Man, look at him.

And I don't mean to devalue that.

There is something encouraging

and something that gives us

hope about that.

On the other hand,

when I heard that,

I thought,

that's wonderful.

And Mr. P is still going

to die one day.

Ultimately and finally,

he's not going to be able

to escape death.

He's not going to be able

to escape that sting.

He will not live forever

and neither will you

unless Jesus returns

in our lifetime.

And so the point is this.

No matter how much kale you eat,

you cannot escape death.

No matter how much you exercise

and take care of your body,

you cannot escape death.

No matter how productive you are

and how much you save

for retirement,

you cannot escape death.

No matter how wonderful

of a job you have,

no matter how much fulfillment

you find in that,

you cannot escape death.

Even if you find

a wonderful man or woman

who's compatible with you

and wants to spend

the rest of their life with you,

you cannot escape death.

It is something

that all of us feel

the sting of.

And Paul goes on

to explain why that's so,

why we can't escape it

in verse 56.

He says,

the sting of death is sin

and the power of sin

is the law.

In other words,

no matter what we do,

we're all going to die

and the reason we're all

going to die

is because none of us

can defeat sin.

None of those things

that I listed

can conquer sin.

Eating kale cannot conquer sin.

Exercising cannot conquer sin.

Marrying the right person

cannot conquer sin.

A wonderful and fulfilling job

cannot conquer sin.

There's nothing

that's in our power

that's able

to conquer sin

because death

and sin

are tied together.

Death

is a result of sin.

Death is a result

of our rebellion

against God.

The emphasis here

in this passage

is on physical death,

but of course,

death affects us

spiritually as well.

It affects us

as we experience

broken relationships

with others.

It affects us

as we worship ourselves

rather than God.

It affects us

as we pursue pleasure

even when it hurts

and violates other people.

Death is at work

when we have frustration

and disappointment

rather than peace

and intimacy.

Death's at work

when we have futility

in our work.

It doesn't always

have purpose

and power.

Death is at work

when we use our power

to push other people down

rather than to lift them up.

Death's at work

when we use our anger

to punish other people

rather than to move

towards reconciliation.

Death is at work.

It has power.

We are not able

to defeat it

because it's the product

of sin.

Only Jesus

can defeat death

because only Jesus

is able to defeat sin.

And so that's the hope

that Paul presents

for us here.

On the one hand,

there's a sting, right?

On the other hand,

we'll be able

to taunt death

about that.

And we'll taunt death

about that

not because of anything

that we can do,

have done,

or will do.

But as Paul tells us here,

we are going to taunt death

because of the victory

of Jesus Christ.

That's what he tells us

in verses 56 and 57.

The sting of death is sin

and the power of sin

is the law.

But thanks be to God

who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the victory

that Jesus showed

when he rose from the dead.

And it's the victory

he gives to anyone

and everyone

who repents of their sins

and has faith in him.

Jesus has defeated death.

Those who are in him

will defeat death as well.

And so that's the victory

that Paul offers us.

It's a victory

that's through Jesus

and his conquering of death.

Our hope

as we face death

is in Jesus.

Paul then goes on

to tell us

that that doesn't just

affect our hope

but it affects

our action.

He tells us in verse 58

that if we need to be

steadfast,

immovable,

always abounding

in the work of the Lord

because we know

that in the Lord

our labor is not in vain.

Why is our labor

in the Lord not in vain?

Well, it's because

God is not demolishing

this world

but renewing it

and restoring it.

And so what we do now

matters for the future.

As it says here,

if we do it in the Lord,

if God is restoring the world,

then the work that we do

towards that end matters.

And so we have hope

in the face of death

as we look to the future

and we have hope

in our work

even now.

We have hope

as we have jobs

that we're pushing for

what the Old Testament

calls shalom,

this full-bodied flourishing

of the world.

As we do work

that's towards that end,

that's in the Lord

and his purposes

for this world

that we know

that it matters.

as we're parents

and we raise children

who have a vision

for God in this world

that they have faith

in him

and they're looking

for God's goodness

and his love

to be made known

in this universe,

we know that our work

in that is not in vain.

As we enjoy

the creation

that God has given us,

we give tremendous glory

and honor to him

that points to

an even greater glory

and honor

that we'll be able

to give him

once he returns.

And so we work

and we live

and we play

knowing that those things

are not in vain

as and when

they give glory

and honor to God.

Paul then

gives us tremendous

encouragement

for the future

and for now.

We are not just people

who are looking

to escape this world

but we're people

who love this world

and love it so much

that we long for God

to renew it

and restore it

and we work now

towards that hope,

in that hope.

That victory then,

Jesus' victory

is something

that gives us

hope for the future

and it gives us

encouragement

and energy now.

It's what allows us

to be steadfast

and immovable.

What is our hope

in the face of death?

It's our hope

in Jesus

that he's coming back,

that he's making

all things right

and that we can look

and work towards that

and for that

even now.

It's a hope

that we have

because Jesus

rose from the dead.

And so that's the hope

that we celebrate

at Easter.

It's not a pie

in the sky hope.

hope.

It's not a sweet,

sentimental hope,

but it's a real

time and space hope

because we believe

what we're celebrating

now

is that Jesus

actually died

and he actually

rose from the dead.

And when he did

those things,

he defeated death

and he defeated it

for us.

and so no matter

what happens,

we can have joy

in Christ

knowing that,

moving forward

together,

knowing that his death

has accomplished

that for us

and we can have

faith and trust

in it because

of his resurrection.

In his book,

The Lion,

The Witch,

and the Wardrobe,

I mentioned the Narnia

series last week,

C.S. Lewis,

tells the story

of four children

who are sent

to a professor's house

during World War II

and they find

a wardrobe

that serves

as an entrance

into another world.

It's a world

called Narnia.

But Edmund,

one of the brothers,

betrays his siblings

and so it's determined

that because of that,

because of his sin,

he needs to die.

However,

there's a great lion

and this great lion

is named Aslan

and Aslan decides

that instead of allowing

Edmund to die,

he's going to die

in Edmund's place

and the great lion

kills him.

Susan and Lucy,

Edmund's sisters,

visit the place

where Aslan was killed.

But they don't find

Aslan's dead body.

Instead,

they find Aslan himself,

not dead,

but alive.

And confused,

Susan asks Aslan,

she says,

what does all this mean?

Aslan responds

and says,

it means

that though the witch

knew the deep magic,

there is a magic deeper still

which she did not know.

Her knowledge goes back

only to the dawn of time.

But if she could have looked

a little further back

into the stillness

and darkness

before time dawned,

she would have read there

a different incantation.

She would have known

that when a willing victim

who had committed

no treachery

was killed

in a traitor's stead,

the table would crack

and death itself

would start working backwards.

Brothers and sisters,

Jesus was a willing victim

who had committed

no treachery

and he died

in our stead.

And so at that moment

and even now,

for everyone

who has trust

and faith in him,

death itself

is working backwards.

What is our hope

in the face of death?

Our hope is in Jesus.

And if we are in Jesus,

then we are able

to say this

as we face death

in this world

in the present

and as we look forward

to it in the future.

O death,

where is your victory?

O death,

where is your sting?

Please pray with me.

Our Father in heaven,

we confess to you

that we face

many difficult

and challenging things

in this world

and perhaps nothing

more difficult

and challenging

than death itself.

And so we thank you

that you have given us

a hope beyond death.

You've given us

a hope in Jesus

who has defeated death

for us

and so promises

that it will not sting us.

We pray that you would work

that confidence

and that hope

deep into our hearts

and we pray for those

who do not have faith in you

that you would use

this passage now

to draw them

even at this moment

to confess

that they are sinners

in need of your mercy

and that you are their Lord

and their Savior.

It's because Jesus

is our Lord

and our Savior

that we ask these things.

We don't ask them

in our own merit

or behavior

but we ask them

in his mighty name,

the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.