Intro to 1 Corinthians 15 No 2 Paul and the Pharisees

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the All Things Fulfilled broadcast presented to you by the Rains Row Church of Christ, located at 33 East Rains Road in Memphis, Tennessee. Once again, we are delighted to be with you this morning. Looking forward to another interesting study, thought-provoking and intriguing, I'm sure, for some and welcoming for others. But we are grateful that we have the opportunity to share this message with you this morning. We are continuing our study on 1 Corinthians chapter 15 on the resurrection of the dead. And we are going to touch on some highlights that we trust and pray will be beneficial for you. This is the opportunity for you to get a pen and pad to take some notes. And you have some questions, you can jot them down, type them in the chat on Facebook. For those of you who are live on Facebook, you can also call in at 901-260-5926. Again, that's 901-260-5926 and get your question on the air, we'll try to deal with it. Chances are we're going to deal with a lot of them anyway. However, if you do call, and it's one that we want to deal with down the road, we'll just let you know that we'll make a note of it and we'll include it in the lesson. If it's something that we feel we need to address momentarily, or right now, we'll definitely do that. But we certainly don't want to disregard the questions that you have. First of all, before we get involved, let me make a few announcements. We invite you to the Rains Road Church of Christ. We're located at 33 East Rains Road here in Memphis, Tennessee. Our Bible study begins at 10am, the morning worship at 11am. And yes, we are meeting in the building. You do have the opportunity to keep yourself at a safe distance, etc. And we have available masks for you if you choose to use them. In addition, we have our midweek Bible study at 7pm. Now the midweek Bible study is conducted on the Zoom app, which you can download from zoom.us. 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In addition, we have our two guys in a Bible broadcast on block talk radio forward slash fulfill radio where every week with Dr. Don Preston from Ardmore, Oklahoma and the Preterist Research Institute, we are studying the book of Ezekiel and some very good studies that Dr. Don is carrying on at the present time. So we want you to tune into those as well. And as always, he does such a great job of expounding upon the word of God. All right. So here we are to discuss the subject of 1 Corinthians 15. And let's take a look and see what's happening on our Facebook page. Let's see. We have several out there this morning. There's Scott and Amanda. Good morning to you, Amanda. I hope that your studies are continuing to grow and that you are fruitful in your learning. Carol, it's good to see you as well. I know I've missed some of you for quite some time. There's Claudia and that looks like a new name to me, but nevertheless, we are grateful for all the way from Brazil. Wow. That is excellent. So we appreciate your being with us this morning. Ben is here and let's see, he's asking for blessings and prayer requests for his heart and his sister's broken neck. So everyone please express prayer on behalf of Ben and for his sister for their health concerns. Let's be mindful to God in prayer on their behalf. And we have Ron, there's Michael and then Ron. Ron, I hope you get that shipment of books. Ladies and gentlemen, we've been trying to ship run some books and the post office keeps returning them to us. They don't tell us why. And so finally, we sent them again and hopefully they'll get there or either I'll find out on this week, whether they're going to send them back to me again, but they never tell us why, but it's just books in the package. At any rate, we hope that they get delivered. And we have Ibrahim from Africa is with us this morning and also Steve. So good morning. Good morning. Good morning to all of you. Welcome. We thank you so much for tuning in and to all of our listeners in the Memphis, Shelby County area, West Memphis, Forest City, Little Rock, Jonesboro, and those of you who are on the East Coast, we're always delighted to have you with us. Now we started last week discussing the resurrection from first Corinthians chapter 15. And as we began that study, we talked about the importance of having an open mind. This is very, very key. If we're going to study any subject of the Bible. And I listened to a guy for a few minutes last night. One of my good friends sent a couple of videos to me to listen to them. And basically they were just wigging out, if you please pardon that expression for some of you, but they were just having, he was having, you know, a fit talking about the subject of the end time. And he wanted to give credence to almost every view, you know, the premillennial dispensationalist, to classic premillennialism, to historicism, to amillennialism, to partial preterism, but they wanted to dismiss covenant eschatology, fulfilled Bible prophecy, of course, which they refer to it in a very pejorative way, calling it hyper-preterism, but didn't even give very much of a statement other than to just dismiss it while wanting to discuss the others. And then after all of that say, well, you know, my personal opinions are what's predominant in the way I approach the Bible. And of course, none of us are necessarily protected or shielded from that. We all, you know, bring some of our personal views or hangups or former traditions, et cetera, to the table. And that's why we have to be even more careful. But one thing they were void of was really taking the Bible and saying, well, this is why I have this view. This is why such and such is the case. Never one time, well, ladies and gentlemen, that is not the approach that we're going to take. Our approach is that we're going to look at the scriptures, reason with them, ask you to reason with us, and hopefully we will come to see eye to eye on the word of God. All right. And we've got, let's see, Kumbalani. I hope I got that right. Who says, let's see the feast here. Well, we hope and pray that it is a feast for you. And of course, anytime we are studying the Bible in its context, rightly dividing it, it should be a feast because the Bible says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is gracious. And we are to desire the sincere milk of the word in order to grow. And those who are full grown are those who can jump on some meat. And we have all on the table this morning. And so if you want milk, if you want meat, we've got it all. And so you should be able to find something that is going to be beneficial for you. So we talked about act 17, 11 and 12, where Paul said, these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness and they searched the scriptures to find out whether these things were so. So if that's the attitude you've brought to the table this morning, then that is going to be very, very helpful for you. And as a result of doing that indiscriminately, you know, really studying to search out whether the things that were being taught to him were true. They didn't come trying to shoot him down. They said, let's hear him. Let's examine him. And this was an apostle. And yet they wouldn't accept his words without doing their own study. And I recommend that you do the very same thing. Stop allowing people to just tell you what the scriptures say without you going back and investigating for yourself. And the Bible says as a result, therefore, many of them believed and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women, as well as men. And so this is the approach that we want to take. As Isaiah said, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Then we talked about where we should begin on the resurrection. We mentioned passages such as John 5 and verse 39, you search the scriptures for them. You think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me. Jesus spoke those words to the Jews who were seeking to kill him because of the things that he taught them. And in acts 24, 14 and 15, our basic premise, ladies and gentlemen, we want to make this very clear and we want you to note it down. We want you to go back and search these scriptures very carefully. And that is that the resurrection taught in the Bible in first Corinthians 15 and in all the other texts is a reiteration of the prophecies that are in the old Testament. It is nothing but the fulfillment of the prophecies in the old Testament. We don't have old Testament prophecy ending at the cross and then the Lord and the apostles taking up a new set of prophecies to talk about fulfilling new Testament eschatology. No, that is not the case. When Paul went into the synagogues, he reasoned with them out of the scriptures. He reasoned with them from the word of God, from the old Testament scriptures, which they had, they didn't have a printed new Testament at the time they were in the process of doing that. And so it wasn't complete. They had the old Testament scriptures to reason from. And that's what Paul says is the basis and foundation of his resurrection doctrine. So in acts 24 and verse 15, 14 and 15, when they accused Paul of teaching things that were contrary to the law, he says, they can't prove it. He says, but this, I confess to you that according to the way which they call a sect. So I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, I have hope in God, which they themselves also allow. And we're going to talk about that a little bit this morning, ladies and gentlemen, I mentioned it somewhat last week, but I want to give you the basis of this congruency between the Pharisees and Paul to show that there was some congruency between their beliefs, but there was also a disconnect between them. And it is that disconnect that is so critical to understanding the distinction between why they want Paul's doctrine and why they wanted to kill him for teaching the hope that they had in the scriptures. That's something that I think is overlooked and is not given enough attention in terms of the teaching of the Pharisees and the teaching of Paul. But the Bible says, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept. And as we pointed out on last week, the word mellow is used that there is about to be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. And if you go and look that term up in Bible hub, you will see that it is the word mellow with the present infinitive about to be, there's about to be. So he was talking about a resurrection that was imminent, one that was soon to occur, not this one that so many people today are waiting to happen. And they've been waiting for almost 2000 years and nothing has happened. So ladies and gentlemen, we want you to understand that that's not the one that Paul was talking about. He was talking about one that was about to occur. And he said, that is the same one that the Jews hope for in their scriptures. So they both were using the same source. Why then did they go in two different directions? We're going to talk a little bit about that this morning. All right. Then he says in acts 26, six through eight, uh, and I, and now I stand and am judged. So he was on trial for his views of the resurrection. Think about it. He was on trial for his views of the resurrection. He says, and now I stand and I'm judged for the hope of the premise made by God to our fathers to this premise, our 12 tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain. So that's twice. He's told us that these Jews were hoping to attain, just like Jesus told him, search the scriptures were in them. You think you have life, eternal life, but they are, they, which testify of me. He says, well, this hope, say King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God is rousing the dead? Now I use the word rousing, but the Bible says raising. But the reason I use the word rousing is because the concordant, let's see if you can see that the concordant new Testament, which is a translation of the Bible that seeks to give you a more literal rendering of the scripture. And I have the term, I have the, uh, the verse highlighted here. So I don't know if you can see that. I'm going to put it a little bit closer. Uh, you can see it right there and see that I'm giving it to you right from the scripture. But now here's the way they translated it. And again, their aim was to try and translate the scriptures as literally as they possibly could being true to the rendering of the Greek. This is what they said. Why is it being judged unbelievable by you? If God is rousing the dead. And so we pointed out to you that the resurrection that they were talking about in the new Testament is one that had already begun. They were already in process of this resurrection. So it can't be these bodies that people are waiting on to come out of the ground. And therefore, uh, that shows you that their hope is different from the hope of the Pharisees and the hope of Paul. Uh, but we'll show you why the Pharisees were disgruntled with Paul over this. Then let's go to a new scripture that we did not mention on last week. And that was acts 26. It's in acts 26. We're still laying the foundation for the resurrection. So please be patient. We're going to get there. I know that, you know, you probably think that some of this information, uh, is not relevant to the subject, but it is very, very relevant. And it is the reason why people get sidetracked and off track when they talk about the resurrection, because they won't start where the apostles start. They won't begin where Jesus began. And that is in the old Testament scriptures. Now in acts 26, verses 17 and 18, acts chapter 26, verses 17 and 18, Paul said, I will deliver you. And he's, he's quoting Jesus. Actually, Jesus is, is the one who is speaking here. And so Luke therefore is quoting Christ, but let me go ahead and read the, the context. So you see that the Bible says in verse 15. So I said, who are you Lord? Now that's Paul speaking. And he said, that's Christ speaking. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand on your feet where I have appeared to you for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness, both the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Judeans, the translation says Jewish people, but the Judeans as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you to do what? To open their eyes. Now, these people were not blind. All of the Jews and Gentiles were not physically blind, literally blind, but they were blind. They were spiritually blind. They were blind in their sins. You know, Peter referred to that in a second Peter chapter one, when he talked about people who were blind in their sins, because he says in second Peter chapter one and verse nine, for he who lacks these things, in other words, all those virtues is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sin. So to be blind in scripture, spiritually speaking, is to be in your sins. And therefore he says to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light. Now, darkness, as we pointed out is a euphemism for death. Now he's not talking about physical darkness, darkness as a result of sin. So that's what the context is about from darkness to light. Life is a euphemism for resurrection to turn them from darkness to light. That's why the Lord had said already, or at least John wrote in his gospel in John chapter one and verse four, where he said in him was light and the life was, or is the light of men. The life is the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. And so he says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The man came for a witness to bear witness to the light that all through him might believe. Then in verse nine, that was the true light, which gives light to every man who comes into the world. In other words, this light is the life it's resurrection life. Very, very important for us to understand. And so when the Bible says that he came to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan under God and Satan had the power of death, right? Hebrews chapter two and verse 14, that they may receive the forgiveness. Now look at what he's doing. He's going to open their eyes and give them light resurrection life through forgiveness. That's reconciliation to God. That's redemption from sin. This is what Paul taught about resurrection. He says, and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. And therefore Paul says, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Now you got to understand this was Paul who was a Pharisee, right? Who was teaching the same thing that these Jews who are now trying to kill him was teaching before he received this heavenly vision, because he says in Galatians chapter one and verse 23, I believe it is. He says that he persecuted the church and wasted it. He was trying to destroy it because his beliefs about resurrection was different than the Pharisees that he had once been a member of. He says who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith, which once he tried to destroy. So we want to know why Paul as a Pharisee was now being put to death, or they were seeking to put him to death. Why he was being hunted like a pack rat by the Judeans, by the Jews to put him to death when he said, I'm a Pharisee. All right. Very, very critical for us to understand. Now let's talk about the belief of the Pharisees so that we can make this distinction in terms of what they're saying. I'm trying to look sideways here and check out to see who's there. And Stephen Cobb, I won't keep wanting to call him Stephen. And also Nikoniso is with us as well from South Africa. That's great. There's a brother in South Africa who is doing a great job and I would just trip all over my tongue to try to call his name. But I wonder if some of the people who are here from South Africa are a result of his messages and he's been doing an outstanding job. We appreciate him very much. And you can see some of his work on Facebook as well as others, Raymond and Solomon from Ghana, et cetera, are all doing a fantastic job now in Acts chapter 26 verses 22 and 23. And this is, we want to get this before we go to the beliefs of the Pharisees. So let me go ahead and get this in because again, it's still a part of that foundation. And the reason I'm laying this foundation is because remember when we approach 1 Corinthians 15, one of the first things that Paul says in the chapter is that, lo, brethren, I declare to you the gospel, which also I preached to you, which also you have received and wherein you stand by which also you're saved. If you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain. Well, I delivered to you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Excuse me for a moment. I got to take a sip. Thank you. Now in Acts 26 verses 22 and 23, Paul said, therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand witnessing both to small and great saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said were about to come. The word mellow is used here again, ladies and gentlemen, get familiar with that word. Stop letting people try to bully you around some of you by telling you it doesn't mean what it means. The reason they don't like it is because it doesn't mean what they want it to be because it destroys their doctrine and they can't stomach it. So they do, uh, you know, they want to take their pen knife and cut it out and say, it doesn't mean what it means. I, you know, I talked about Dr. Kenneth Gentry on last week, you know, saying that mellow doesn't mean imminent. And yet we have term at hand, Romans 13, 11 and 12, Philippians four or five and several others that, you know, speak about the same resurrection being at hand, which is near from the word in goose. So it's a failed argument and it is nothing but a detour from the truth. At any rate, the Bible says, or deviation, I should say, sometimes when you have a detour, at least they tell you how to get back on track. They, they want you off track permanently, but nevertheless, uh, the Bible says these were things that Moses and the prophet said were about to come that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead. And you see when the Bible says Moses said that these were things that were about to come, Moses prophesied of the last days, some 1500 years before it occurred, but he told you in when these things would come to pass, this would be at hand. So he foretold the coming of Christ and the end time many, many years before saying that at the time they were occurring, those things would be at hand. And that's the way to interpret him properly. And so that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead. Now I have one person on Facebook, a good friend of mine, a kind gentleman, even defended me when other people were attacking me for my teaching, et cetera. But he tries to get around this text by saying Christ was the first to proclaim resurrection from the dead because he says, that's the order of the Greek. No, go and look at it again. Uh, go and take a look at it. You know, I, I haven't done this, but I'm going to just flip open, uh, the pages of the, um, concordant new Testament once again, and see, uh, just how they render the text to see if they render it as he's saying, and what the text actually says, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you what I believe about it. And let's see if these literal translators translated the way I'm suggesting to you, when you go back and you look at the Greek and I did do it because I heard his argument. He was trying to say, the Bible doesn't say Jesus was the first to rise from the dead. Now you got to really catch the power of that barring the phrase from Dr. Don Preston. See, they know that physical resurrection did not begin with the Lord Jesus Christ. So what he's trying to do is find a different interpretation. He wants to put a different spin, a twist on the text to make it say something that it doesn't say that way he can get himself out of the difficulty of claiming that Christ was the first one to rise from physical death. No, the Bible says he was the first to rise from the dead. It didn't say he was the first to proclaim the gospel of resurrection. See, that's what they want to say. That's what he wants to say. I won't say everybody else because that's the first time I heard somebody say that he has a doctor behind his name. If he's listening, he knows what I'm talking about. You can look him up on Facebook. I'm not going to blast him out this morning, but that's what he said. He said, the text says Christ is the first to proclaim the gospel that that's what the text says. Okay. Now let's read it from the concordant New Testament. And ladies and gentlemen, I suggest that you have more than one Bible reference or tool that you use when you study the scriptures. In verse 22 and 23, the Bible says in the sanctuary tried to lay hands on me happening then. Well, let me read verse 21, because that's like in the middle of a sentence. I don't like to do On this account, the Jews apprehending me as I am in the sanctuary tried to lay hands on me happening then on assistance from God. Until this day, I stand attesting both too small and too great saying nothing outside of what both the prophets and Moses speak in impending occurrences. Notice that language impending occurrences. If it be the suffering of Christ, if he now watch this, the first out of a resurrection of the dead is about to be announcing light both to the people and to the nations. Now, when it refers to Christ, notice that the language says, if it be the suffering of the suffering Christ, if he the first out of resurrection of the dead. So do you see how that phrase, which is at a positive phrase, renames the suffering Christ by saying, if he, he being Christ, and then the first out of resurrection of the dead, didn't say that he was simply the first to proclaim the gospel. It says he being the first to rise out of resurrection was about to announce to be announcing light both to the people and to the nations. Look, the gospel was Christ's message through the apostles to announce the resurrection. What did he tell him to do? He said, wait for the promise of the father, which you have heard from me, wait in Jerusalem until you are clothed or in dude with power from on high, Luke chapter 24, verse 47 through 49, and also acts chapter one, verses four through eight. So Jesus said the gospel being proclaimed was to be proclaimed through the apostles. And that was his word, but trying to misconstrue the text because you have a, an opinion to prove you have an ax to grind. You want to try to uphold that crippled doctrine of a body coming out of the ground. And I'm not denying Christ's resurrection from physical death. That's not what I'm doing here. I'm talking about this future physical resurrection, this resurrection of bodies coming out of the ground at some time in our future, which has not yet occurred and is never going to occur. But anyway, that's why he comes up with that in saying the text doesn't say Christ was the first to rise from the dead. It says he was the first to preach the gospel. Well, if you want to get that technical, the Bible says the gospel was preached to Abraham Galatians chapter three in verse eight. So when God told him to get out of your country, from your kindred, from your father's house to a land that I will show thee, and I will make you great and your name great. You will be a father of many nations and a blessing to those who bless you and a curse to those who curse you for you. All families of the earth should be blessed. Paul said, when that was preached to Abraham, that was the gospel and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith preach before the gospel to Abraham saying in you, all families of the earth should be blessed. Mark that phrase down, mark that down in you, all families of the earth should be blessed. I'm going to come back to it. All right. And I'm going to test you on it. I'm going to quiz you on that phrase, mark that down. I'm just kidding with you a little bit, but it will be a quiz for you. So note that because it's very, very relevant to our message today. And I hope to get to that. I know we're moving along with time and this time goes by so quickly. So there's the point, ladies and gentlemen, that doctrine, that teaching that says Christ was not the first to rise from the dead is false. Now, the reason when I, let me correct that statement. Let me, let me clarify that statement. The teaching that says Christ was the first to preach the gospel as an interpretation of Acts 26, 23 is a false statement. That is not the way the Greek renders of the text. That is not what the translators translated. But here comes this all wise, all knowing human interpreter to tell us it doesn't mean what it means and that we can't read. Well, I trust that you can read. And the Bible says that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. Now he was not the first person to rise from physical death. That should be a huge clue to anyone who wants to make resurrection and particularly the first Corinthians 15, the rising of physical bodies from the ground. It is not taught there, ladies and gentlemen, as far as the resurrection is concerned, as far as the resurrection of the dead ones is concerned. Now let's, let's continue on. So now that we see that text, now we're going to talk about the belief of the Pharisees. Why is it that Paul could say in Acts chapter 23, verses six through nine. And as I talked a little bit on last week, that his doctrine was contrary to that of the Pharisees. And that's why they wanted to put him to death. Now, look, if I believe the same thing that I just finished talking about with this guy who said that acts 26, 23 is a reference to Jesus preaching the gospel. Do you think he would be objecting to what I say? Do you think he would call me a heretic for that? Do you think he would say that I'm teaching falsely if I agreed with him? What about the people who disagree with us? If we taught the same thing they taught, would they be all up in the air about these preterists about these people who advocate for covenant eschatology and fulfill Bible prophecy? Would they be going around calling us hyper preterists, et cetera? No, they would be singing our praises. Would they be disfellowshipping us? No. Would they be trying to shut down our platform and say, we're not going to let you teach in our congregation? No. They would be welcoming us every time you see them. They're talking about repent, repent, repent. My question is to what, to your false doctrine? If you're not able to prove it, why should we change? Bring us a solid sound argument and we will consider it. No, they don't want to do that. They want to say, let's keep them quiet. Let's put them under the rug. Let's hush them up and act as though they don't exist. And let's call them every name, but a child of God. And that way people will be poisoned in their mind before they ever hear them. Same thing they did to Christ. Same thing they did to the apostles. You got to decide, do you have a backbone? Do you have some courage? Do you really want to serve God or do you want to serve man? Paul said, if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Now here's what the Pharisees believed. And I'm going to give it to you both from the Bible and from a historical source from a person who should know who documented it and who is considered a very reliable witness of what they believe. Acts 23. Now, you know, I had a debate, I don't know, somewhere around 2016, maybe, or 17. I can't remember. I think it was 2017. I'm not sure. With a fellow by the name of Josh, they call him brother Josh. And in the debate, he argued that the Pharisees believed in a physical bodily resurrection. And he tried and pressed me over and over again to get me to admit that in discussion. Well, at the time I had not really studied precisely what the Pharisees believed, but I knew they did not believe what Paul believed. And I knew what Paul believed. I knew what he taught. And so I never would agree with him. And he thought he was so strange that I wouldn't acknowledge what he was saying about the belief of the Pharisees because he read this text in Acts chapter 26 verses two and three, no, Acts 23, excuse me, verses six through nine. So let's go there. The Bible says, but when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am being judged. So there he is on trial with Pharisees hating him and Sadducees hating on both of them. And he says, and when he said this verse seven says, when he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So now we got these two groups who are fighting against Paul. See, they were unified in opposing him. And it's a, it's really, really strange. Ladies and gentlemen, it's absolutely entertaining sometimes to see how many people disagree with each other, but they all get together to disagree with us. It is something to watch almost hilarious at times, but anyway, back to the text, the Bible says, and I haven't seen very many comments, but nevertheless, he says, and when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the assembly was divided just like they did with Christ when they were speaking with Christ. All right. The, for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection. Now look, we are not Sadducees. A lot of people believe that because we don't believe in a future physical resurrection of bodies from the ground that we don't believe in resurrection. That's the first thing they'll tell you. Sometimes that is absolutely ridiculous. We affirm wholeheartedly the resurrection, but the Sadducees did not. We are not Sadducees in case you didn't know. The Sadducees say there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit and all the preterists I know and hang out with believe in all three. So did the Pharisees. The Bible says, but the Pharisees confess both. So the Pharisees believe in angels who are spirits and they believe in resurrection. Why then? Problems with Paul. Now watch what Paul does in this text. The scripture says, then there arose a loud outcry and the scribes of the Pharisees party arose and protested saying, wait, wait, wait. You just got to really, really enjoy this statement. We find no evil in this man. Wait a minute. Didn't they have him on trial? Didn't he tell Agrippa when he went before Agrippa, I am being judged for the hope of the promise made to the fathers with which they also confess the 12 tribes earnestly seeking God night and day hope to attain. And now here, these Pharisees, when the question of resurrection comes up and the belief about spirits and angels comes up, Paul says, or rather they say, the Pharisees say, we find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Now, what was the statement that Paul made in verse six? He said, when he perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Paul was a second generation Pharisee and who knows before that, but can't go too far because that party didn't, you know, hadn't been around for too, too long. But nevertheless, he says, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am being judged. Now who was judging Pharisees and Sadducees. But when they heard him make that statement, they backed off and said, we find no evil in this man. Now they still wanted to put him to death because when he talked to them about the Gentiles coming in and all those things, and you can see in verse 12, it says, and when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And so there was a conspiracy against him. And they came to the chief priest and elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Now you, therefore, together with the council suggested the commander that he'd be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him, but we are ready to kill him before he comes near. And so they were doing that and somebody tipped him off. And of course he was able to escape that through, of course, God's providence now, but let's get into this a little bit more deeply. All right. So what was it precisely that the Pharisees believed? And man, am I way past the time, but let's talk about it. If we look in the history of Josephus' account in antiquities chapter 18 or book 18 chapter one and section three. Now here's what the Pharisees believe. So let's pay very careful attention to it. And you tell me if it says anything about their belief that a body would rise from the ground. All right. The Bible, excuse me, Josephus writes now for the Pharisees, they live meanly and despise delicacies and diet, and they follow the conduct of reason and what that prescribes to them as good for them. They do. And they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reasons dictate for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years, nor are they so bold as to contradict them in anything which they have introduced. And when they determined that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they think fit. Since their notion is that it had pleased God to make a temperament whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them and that under the earth. Oh, wait a minute, please. Note that they believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them and that under the earth, there will be rewards or punishments. Now, did you get that? Under the earth, there will be rewards or punishments according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life. So they make a distinction between in this life and under the earth and the latter are to be detained into an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people and whatsoever they do about divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction. In so much that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also. So what the Pharisees believed was that they would live again, not by coming back to this life, but in a manner that they call under the earth. They said there would be rewards and punishments under the earth. And that was their doctrine that those who were wicked would not live again, but those who were righteous would, but under the earth, so not by coming back into these physical bodies again. Now let's look at second Maccabees seven. This is another text that introduced from the Apocrypha. It says, but he answered in his own language and said, no, wherefore he also received the seven sons who were put to death. And it says as the former did. And when he was at the last gasp, he said, thou like a fury, take us out of this present life, but the king of the world shall raise us up who have died for his laws unto everlasting life. And we're going to talk about everlasting life. I thought I was going to get to it today, but time is just absolutely evaporated. Now, when this man was dead, also, they tormented and mangled the fourth in like manner. So when he was ready to die, he said, thus, it is good being put to death by men to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him for thee. Thou shall have, and as for thee rather, thou shall have no resurrection to life. So they didn't even believe the wicked were going to be raised to based on this tech from Maccabees book seven. Then in second Maccabees 12, it says, and when he had made a gathering out, these were people who had murdered some other folks and had obviously died in sin. And now someone is advocating that he's going to pray for them after they're dead in order to have their sins forgiven. And so the text says, this is second Maccabees 12 verse 43. And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of 2000 drachmas of silver, he sent to, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering doing there in very well. And honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection for if he had not hoped that they were, that they, that were slain should have risen again. It had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And also in that he perceived that there was great favor laid up for those that died godly. It was an holy and good thought whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin. Now look, if they died in sin, remember Jesus said in John eight, that if you die in your sins, where I am, you cannot come. Now here's a man way before Christ, trying to pray people out of their simple state after they have died. Absolutely impossible to do, but they didn't even believe that the wicked would come back. And because these men had murdered, he was trying to pray for them because he thought they died honorably because they had put their enemy to death. At any rate, ladies and gentlemen, we're out of time. I didn't get to the point that I'm, I wanted to make regarding the difference in the Pharisees, but you got enough. I'm going to continue it next week. And you're going to see absolutely why there was a distinction between what the Pharisees believe and what Paul believed. And it will be as clear as day when I pointed out to you, and then you will know a little bit of why the Bible says Paul or rather Christ was the first to rise from the dead. It is not because he was the first to rise from physical death. I'm William Bell with the Rainsborough Church of Christ saying, have a very pleasant, good morning. I hope you will search the scriptures to study them. Tune in next week at the same time for another edition of the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. May God bless you and keep you. And we'll see you on next week.