1 Corinthians 15:30–41
“Why am I in peril every hour? I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”
Death to sin should not be a one-time occurrence. It should happen over and over every single day. For it continues to persecute us, we should continue to limit its strength in our lives, limit its power over us. In fact, it should have no power over us at all, it should be dead, gone, completely forsaken and left out to dry. Let it die of exposure to the elements of the Lord Almighty’s wrath. Sin should be dead to us, wickedness eliminated from our lives, and no longer given even the slightest thought or care. Evil does not care for us, it merely wishes to destroy us, we should wish the same upon it. The Lord despises sin, the Lord hates everything that is wrong, every wickedness, and with the same holy hatred that He holds, so should we. We are in an open war. Evil against us. There is much wickedness in this world, and more still about which we do not know, but we are on the Lord’s side. He is the One with power to overcome wickedness, He is the One with power to defeat the works of the devil, and, in fact, He already has. The back of the devil has been broken through the almighty sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, may we ever strive to obey His commands! “If you love me, you will obey my commands.” And what a pleasure indeed it is to die to sin each and every day! Think, dearly beloved, when was the last time a sin brought you lasting pleasure? Never. Sure, it may feel nice for a few moments, but at the end it is filled with rottenness and everything unclean. There has never been a sin that has benefited anyone in the long run. Sure, one might become rich and powerful here on earth, but where does that money and power go in the hereafter? It rots away. Money is of no use in hell. Sin is of no use anywhere.
For we know that there is a resurrection from the dead, as Christ Himself prophesied it. We know that there is an afterlife; the Lord cannot lie, and He spoke conclusively on the subject. “And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.’” And, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” These are the words of the Almighty Creator of the Universe. He has promised that, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Heaven cannot be filled, there is not a limitation on the number of resurrected souls who can inhabit Paradise. Not 144,000, but an infinite number can be saved by the Lord Almighty. There will be an unending afterlife for everyone who has walked the earth, and there are only two options. Either you accept the Lord, and trust in His Promises to save you from your sins, or you take the condemnation that was handed to Christ upon your own head. Some way, our offenses against the Lord must be atoned, either through Christ or through self. If through Christ, then they have already been paid! The ransom has been fulfilled, and we are free men to live in holiness! If through ourselves, however, we can never repay our own wrongdoing. Not through years in Purgatory, for that nullifies both the cross of Christ and hell, but for all eternity. That is the weight of our sin. No wonder Paul exhorts us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” We must be assured of our salvation in Christ, we must be assured that we are following His commands and not living in sin or hypocrisy. It truly is a blessing to be allowed to live for the Lord; for He is so overarchingly holy, holy, holy, so awesome in all of His deeds that to be called a follower of the Most High God is an incredible privilege. The Lord Himself has called us to be His followers, for without Him, without His Holy Spirit, we would have no knowledge of our sins, no understanding that we have fallen away from the grace of God. Without Him, there would be no life, without Him, there would be no salvation nor would there be a universe. There would be nothing. We would be nothing. He has given us everything, why should we not also give to Him everything? Our very lives are forfeit before the Lord, everything that we have and do is in the power of the Lord. He would be justified in striking us down at this very moment for our sins, but He has patience upon us. He knows we are but men, but flesh. This, however, is no excuse to sin. You cannot approach the Throne of the Lord Almighty, the Bema Seat, and use the “flesh defense.” To approach Him and say, ‘Yes, I sinned, but it was your fault, you made me this way.’ Certainly, that will not do! If anything, it would exacerbate the wrath that already is laid at our doorstep. The only thing keeping the Destroyer from entering is the blood of the Lamb spread upon the doorposts. Christ is the perfect Lamb of God, and He has taken away the sin of the world, in the words of John the Baptist.
Praise the Lord for His incredible mercies to the sons of men! Praise Him for rescuing us from our dire sin, and giving us life! He has done all for His beloved creations, praise His Holy Name! The Lord is God, the Lord is holy, the Lord is God.
