HOPE 1 Corinthians 15:16-20

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

you are still in your sins
Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost
1 Corinthians 15:6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Matthew 9:24 ... he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him.

we are to be pitied more than all men
1 Corinthians 4:9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ...

the firstfruits
1 Corinthians 15:23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him.
Acts 26:23 "... that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles."

of those who have fallen asleep
1 Corinthians 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

NOTES:
Christ has indeed been raised - 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Firstfruits - Leviticus 23:10-11, 17, 20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Read 1 Peter 4

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.