Your Body: Imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42-58)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:04.839 You can remain standing and will turn our attention to first Corinthians, Chapter fifteen 2 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:16.989 versus forty two through fifty eight. First Corinthians fifteen. First Corinthians fifteen versus 3 00:00:17.589 --> 00:00:23.980 forty two through fifty eight. Let's give our attention to God's word now. 4 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:30.219 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, 5 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:35.539 what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor it is raised 6 00:00:35.579 --> 00:00:39.409 in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 7 00:00:40.130 --> 00:00:44.649 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If 8 00:00:44.689 --> 00:00:48.770 there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it 9 00:00:48.890 --> 00:00:53.479 is written the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last 10 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:58.840 atom became a life giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is 11 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.600 first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The man, the for 12 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:06.870 the first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second 13 00:01:06.909 --> 00:01:11.390 man is from heaven and was as was the man of dust, so also 14 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:15.790 are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of Heaven, 15 00:01:15.909 --> 00:01:21.299 so also are those who are of Heaven. Just as we have borne 16 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:25.939 the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of 17 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:30.340 the man of heaven. I tell you this, brother's flesh and blood cannot 18 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:37.090 inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, 19 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:41.010 I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we 20 00:01:41.129 --> 00:01:45.489 shall all be changed in a moment and the twinkling of an eye at the 21 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:49.879 last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound in the dead will be raised imperishable 22 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:55.480 and we shall be changed, for this perishable body must put on the imperishable 23 00:01:55.799 --> 00:02:00.599 and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the 24 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:05.909 imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying 25 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:09.310 that is written death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is 26 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:14.270 your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death 27 00:02:14.430 --> 00:02:17.340 is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to 28 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:23.740 God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my 29 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:30.849 beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the 30 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:35.689 Lord, knowing that in the Lord your Labor is not in vain. A 31 00:02:37.650 --> 00:03:05.270 man, you may be seated. Well, Paul teaches us here what we 32 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:13.180 have to look forward to because of Christ's death. Because of Christ's death he 33 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:19.300 overcame death, he took the sting out of death. His resurrection was, 34 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:23.659 as we heard in Sunday school this morning, the vindication of that. It 35 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:29.289 was the proof of that, of his conquering work that he did on the 36 00:03:29.409 --> 00:03:34.930 cross. And because of that work on the cross, we have been given 37 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:40.129 something, in fact many, many somethings. As we've read from Ephesians, 38 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:46.240 we know that every spiritual blessing comes from Christ, and one of those is 39 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:51.599 this promise that one day we will be resurrected from the dead. It's a 40 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:59.789 promise of God concerning our salvation that touches literally your bodies, your bodies, 41 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:03.789 not someone else's body. So, as I was saying, the salvation of 42 00:04:03.909 --> 00:04:10.060 the Lord is a very concrete thing. It's a very physical thing, and 43 00:04:10.979 --> 00:04:18.740 I mean that literally. Your physical bodies will experience a change. Now, 44 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:24.449 our body is experienced changes throughout our lives. Just this afternoon Samuel lost a 45 00:04:24.490 --> 00:04:28.610 tooth. Write Samuel, and a surprise right, and there are, of 46 00:04:28.689 --> 00:04:33.050 course other things that happen, some quite major, some surprising, some unsurprising, 47 00:04:34.129 --> 00:04:40.639 but nevertheless our bodies remain our bodies, though, they go through various 48 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.839 states, and what the Bible is promising here is that there is a new 49 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:49.920 state that we who are in Christ ought to expect, hope for, trust 50 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:59.629 and wait for, be excited about. Even as Jesus rose from the dead. 51 00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:04.389 This First Corinthians fifteen tells us that we share in that if we share 52 00:05:04.389 --> 00:05:08.540 in his death. If we share in his death, we share in his 53 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:12.180 life. It's as simple as that. How do we come to share in 54 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:16.100 these things? Simply by receiving them. God gives them to us right. 55 00:05:16.139 --> 00:05:20.610 Every spiritual gift, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, is ours in 56 00:05:20.649 --> 00:05:27.649 Christ, Jesus. And how do you receive a gift? By receiving it, 57 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:31.889 accepting it. When it comes to Jesus, that means trusting it, 58 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:39.600 trusting in him. Now, if you want to understand your savior more, 59 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:44.240 if you want to understand your salvation, if you want to understand your future 60 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.040 life and your life here and now, all the big questions, one of 61 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:54.430 the ways that you can do that is by studying the gifts. The gifts 62 00:05:54.589 --> 00:06:00.670 tell you something about the giver, and that's true of this gift of the 63 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:08.100 resurrection. Now, perhaps you know the resurrection already. You know about it. 64 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:12.980 Even as we read, Martha and Mary knew about the resurrection. But 65 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:17.889 what about its details? There's something about studying God's amazing gifts that help us 66 00:06:17.930 --> 00:06:26.089 to understand how amazing he is, to really appreciate and understand even more what 67 00:06:26.089 --> 00:06:30.050 it is he is given to us. And so that's what I want to 68 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:36.079 do with you tonight and this passage from verse forty two through Fifty Eight. 69 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:43.399 I just want to spend some time with you examining this passage and considering with 70 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:49.589 you what this gift is. Paul helps us to understand it in these four 71 00:06:49.709 --> 00:06:55.629 ways. First, he talks about what our bodies will be like, through 72 00:06:55.629 --> 00:07:00.189 a series of contrasts what our bodies will be like. Secondly, he tells 73 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:05.220 us why this will happen. Third he tells us when this will happen. 74 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:11.860 And then, forth, he tells us what now? What implications does this 75 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:16.449 few future event have a hero on the present? So let's look at those. 76 00:07:17.490 --> 00:07:21.250 If you'll permit me, I'll be simple with you tonight. I know 77 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:29.370 preaching pyrotechnics. Will just go through the passage carefully together and examine what the 78 00:07:29.449 --> 00:07:34.720 Lord has said. So first what will we be? The series of contrasts. 79 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:43.920 He begins by saying what is sown is perishable, what is raised is 80 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:49.029 imperishable. He's using an agricultural metaphor that began earlier in the chapter, this 81 00:07:49.189 --> 00:07:54.910 idea of you put a seed in the ground and then something else comes up. 82 00:07:54.949 --> 00:08:00.699 Right, sort of a surprising thing. You might plant a tiny little 83 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:05.899 round thing, maybe it's a little elongated or something, but you put that 84 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.540 in the ground and upcomes a flower or a stock of corn or or any 85 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:15.009 number of other things. Well, that's what he's saying here. He's comparing 86 00:08:15.089 --> 00:08:18.170 our bodies in this way. What is sown, was is put down in 87 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:22.410 the ground at our deaths, is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable. 88 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:26.680 This is the first contrast. Perishable imperishable? Do you mean by this? 89 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:31.360 Well, it's pretty simple. A perishable thing, as you know, 90 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:39.519 is something that decays, something that rot, something that is a con tinues 91 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:45.230 in this state, it progresses in this way and it's liable to this, 92 00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:50.629 it's open to this and in fact all things do do this eventually. To 93 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:56.500 be imperishable, though, means to not be able to perish, but it's 94 00:08:56.700 --> 00:09:00.980 something a little bit more, if we take the whole passage together. It's 95 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:03.899 something a little more than just being protected in the state in which we are, 96 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:09.620 as if you would say today I will never die and just as I 97 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:13.009 am right now, I will always be. It's not exactly that. What 98 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.009 he's saying is what is sown is perishable, but the new thing that is 99 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:26.200 raised is imperishable. This new state in which you will enter into at the 100 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:33.720 second coming of our Lord will not change, and in particular, it will 101 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:39.190 not change in this kind of corrupting way. In other words, reincarnation is 102 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:45.590 not our hope. We don't simply be born into a new state and only 103 00:09:45.710 --> 00:09:48.950 to die again and then to be born again and then to die again and 104 00:09:48.990 --> 00:09:52.669 then to deuiliably born again and to die again. Know, we are born 105 00:09:52.860 --> 00:09:58.580 into something that is final, complete, perfect and, as he says, 106 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:03.340 imperishable. The second contrast, he says, is that what is sown in 107 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:09.250 dishonor is is raised in glory. If you were with us this morning, 108 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:13.970 you heard a little bit about what happens to the body after it dies. 109 00:10:16.169 --> 00:10:20.009 It's not something that we lift up an exalt as a as a wonderful thing. 110 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:26.360 Right we bury our bodies, we put them down. In a way, 111 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:33.120 the contrast between dishonor and glory might be thought of an other ways. 112 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:39.950 It's not just the way that the perishing body looks and smells, but it's 113 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:46.190 also the things that are of this world, the shame that comes with death 114 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:54.100 and all of that. It's contrasted with glory, weightiness, heaviness. If 115 00:10:54.100 --> 00:10:58.019 you imagine a criminal, for example, that is a despised and a shame 116 00:10:58.299 --> 00:11:05.289 compared with a glorious king who is high and lifted up and praised. Take 117 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:09.610 the cross, for example, as an example, as an example of this, 118 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:13.809 when Jesus was hung on a cross, he was done so as a 119 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:20.080 way to shame him. Crosses were would be put on open roads. You 120 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.919 might imagine here on speedway, for example, would be a good place if 121 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:30.080 you were going to do this in the Roman world. Put Up crosses there. 122 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:35.710 That way everybody who passes on this big thoroughfare would see and would laugh 123 00:11:37.110 --> 00:11:41.110 and mock, but also have a little bit of fear inside too. I 124 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:48.740 don't want to be that guy. It's an open public humiliation. Often they 125 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:52.860 were these people that were hung on the cross, as was true of Jesus, 126 00:11:52.980 --> 00:12:00.659 where we're naked as well, uncovered. They were beaten and scorned. 127 00:12:01.299 --> 00:12:07.289 This is dishonor, this is death, and it's Nadier, I guess, 128 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:13.730 but it's always this way. There's always dishonor and and shame in it in 129 00:12:13.889 --> 00:12:18.039 some way or another. A not so, however, with the body that 130 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:22.919 will be raised, just as it was with Jesus's body. He was raised 131 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.600 in glory. We confess in our creeds, as it says in the Bible, 132 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:31.309 that he was raised up, he ascended into heaven and is seated with 133 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:35.190 God. The glory of Jesus, as will be the glory of You, 134 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:41.389 is not a pretend glory. It's not a false pride, a kind of 135 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:52.700 parading around each true, recognizable, undeniable. You might think of a natural 136 00:12:52.820 --> 00:12:56.460 example, like the glory of The Sun. You walk out under the Sun's 137 00:12:56.539 --> 00:13:03.370 sunlight there there's no desire or no denying it's it's glory, it's shining, 138 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:09.289 it's power, it's brightness. Can't even look at it without hurting yourself. 139 00:13:09.330 --> 00:13:13.559 Or, as I analogy I like to use a lot, and you go 140 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:18.279 and you look at the Grand Canyon. There's something that is glorious about it. 141 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.039 It can even stop your mouth from speaking. It's it's wady, it's 142 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.990 awesome. Well, all of these things are going to be true of you, 143 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.870 the Bible says. Glorious, awesome, waighty, shining, bright, 144 00:13:33.190 --> 00:13:43.940 powerful, wonderful, sewn in dishonor but raised in glory. The next contrast 145 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:50.019 is sown in weakness, raised in power. You know what a weak thing 146 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:52.899 is? You and you buy, let's say, something cheap at the dollar 147 00:13:54.019 --> 00:13:58.169 store. Right you're going to go to California. When we go to the 148 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:01.169 beach, sometimes we'd stop at the dollar store on the way just to buy 149 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:03.769 some toys that would be used once and then you know, they're done. 150 00:14:05.529 --> 00:14:09.570 You know what plastic is like. That's weak and frail. It handles a 151 00:14:09.649 --> 00:14:15.159 little, but not too much, and then it's basically over. We are 152 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:20.399 like this in many ways, frail, easily broken, unable to accomplish the 153 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.950 things that we often want to accomplish. We want to do things and then 154 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:31.389 we don't do them, and even our desire are our minds, our knowledge, 155 00:14:31.830 --> 00:14:37.309 our hearts, every aspect of it is characterized by this weakness. We 156 00:14:37.389 --> 00:14:41.740 don't love as we ought or as we want to. Our minds aren't as 157 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:46.220 sharp or is true, with knowledge, as we think they ought to be, 158 00:14:46.419 --> 00:14:52.610 indeed as they will be. But what is sown in weakness, Jesus 159 00:14:52.730 --> 00:14:56.929 promises us, will be raised in power. You know what power is? 160 00:14:58.049 --> 00:15:05.690 Is this capacity to act and accomplish. When an army goes forth in power 161 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:11.320 and strength, they do not fail. It does not fail when you go 162 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:18.279 forth in power to accomplish a task. It it is done. We will 163 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.710 be sown in weakness but raised in power. If you've ever been frustrated about 164 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:31.190 your sin, never been frustrated about your distractedness, frustrated about your ability to 165 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:37.940 stay awake in the service, to be dutiful in your job, to whatever 166 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:45.899 it is, no more. In Heaven you will have power to accomplish everything 167 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:48.419 that you put your mind to, and there won't be a thing that you 168 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:54.929 will put your mind to that won't be perfectly in accord with the will of 169 00:15:54.049 --> 00:16:03.370 God. Everything you do will be perfectly accomplished. How wonderful that would be, 170 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:11.240 all according to his will. Finally, the last contrast we here have 171 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:15.759 here is in verse Forty Four. It is sown a natural body, it 172 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:21.549 is raised a spiritual body. Now this is probably the most difficult of these 173 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:26.990 for a contrasts to understand, but not too difficult if you think through it 174 00:16:27.070 --> 00:16:32.070 a little bit a first of all, when he says a spiritual body, 175 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:36.940 he doesn't mean a non physical body, because that would not be a body. 176 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:42.139 That would be a contradiction in terms. What he's saying here is he's 177 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:47.490 using spiritual as he as Paul, often uses spiritual, and that is to 178 00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:52.690 mean of the Holy Spirit. You might think of it this way. We 179 00:16:53.090 --> 00:17:00.490 currently have bodies that are adapted and suited for this age, this time, 180 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.480 but in the age of the spirit to come, the consummation of all things, 181 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:10.240 we will need new bodies. As he says later, flesh and blood 182 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:14.960 cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Another stage needs to happen, and that's 183 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:19.069 why he explains. He says if there is a natural body, there must 184 00:17:19.109 --> 00:17:23.029 also be a spiritual body, because we're talking about a new state, a 185 00:17:23.630 --> 00:17:32.740 new a new way of living. Something means to change in us. It's 186 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:37.819 not just something that will happen, it's something that must happen, and I 187 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:41.859 think this is another way in which the Lord gives us more assurance on this. 188 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:48.289 This isn't just an arbitrary thing. This is something that is required in 189 00:17:48.450 --> 00:17:55.130 order for us to be in the imperishable, unshakable, powerful, Glorious Kingdom 190 00:17:55.170 --> 00:18:00.920 of God. If you use if you are, let's say, building, 191 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.039 building something, and you use a screw that's too weak for the structure that 192 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:12.869 you're building, what happens? Tears apart, it breaks. What would happen 193 00:18:12.950 --> 00:18:19.589 if God brought us up into this Kingdom of power and glory and immortality and 194 00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:27.380 yet we were still perishable? We would surely perish, we would break, 195 00:18:27.460 --> 00:18:30.940 we would be broken, we would be cast out of a kingdom so grand 196 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:38.740 and so wonderful. And so we must be made fit and right and ready 197 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:47.930 so that we may live and dwell in this consummated kingdom of God of forever. 198 00:18:48.609 --> 00:18:55.089 So that's the what. This is what God has promised you. Praise 199 00:18:55.170 --> 00:19:00.519 be to God. Now the why? What is the reason on which these 200 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:06.359 things are based? That comes to us in these next verses is a verse 201 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:10.789 Forty Five. Thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became 202 00:19:10.829 --> 00:19:15.750 a living being. Quoting from Genesis to there the last Adam became a life 203 00:19:15.829 --> 00:19:21.549 giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the 204 00:19:21.630 --> 00:19:26.059 natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the Earth, a 205 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:30.940 man of dusts the second man from heaven. As was the man of dust, 206 00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:36.579 so also are those who are of the dust, as is the man 207 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:41.450 of Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. Just as we 208 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:44.970 have been born of the image of the man of dust, we shall also 209 00:19:45.049 --> 00:19:51.730 bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you, brothers, 210 00:19:51.809 --> 00:19:55.920 flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit 211 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:08.789 the imperishable. This, this thing that Paul says here, is absolutely critical 212 00:20:10.029 --> 00:20:15.230 for you to under understand if you are going to understand not just the reason 213 00:20:15.549 --> 00:20:21.700 for our imperishable immortality to come, but really if you are to understand much 214 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:29.980 of what is in the Bible. This, this linking of Jesus as a 215 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:37.690 second Adam, as the last Adam, is essential. It is biblical, 216 00:20:37.210 --> 00:20:42.609 it is true and it is a lens through which we must understand and can 217 00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:51.359 understand so much of scripture. And it's explained here for us, also in 218 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.000 Romans Five, another important passage on this. And what do we see here? 219 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.880 We see here several things. First, we see that we have been 220 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:06.349 born of Adam. He says this. We, just as we have been 221 00:21:06.710 --> 00:21:11.190 born of the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the 222 00:21:11.349 --> 00:21:18.619 image of the man of heaven. Something is very similar between Adam and Jesus, 223 00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:22.900 in such a way that they call the Bible calls Jesus Adam, the 224 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:26.180 last Adam. Describes him in this way. The Bible says you need to 225 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:33.930 understand Adam or Jesus as another Adam. Well, what's similar in what's different? 226 00:21:34.369 --> 00:21:37.650 The main things, if I could put it simply, are this us. 227 00:21:37.210 --> 00:21:41.690 What similar is that they are both are representatives. We are born of 228 00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:45.650 them, as the Scripture says, we come from them, and that also 229 00:21:45.730 --> 00:21:51.839 means a second thing, that there are consequences because of our relationship to them. 230 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:56.599 In Romans five it talks about how, because of Adam, in the 231 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:00.670 sin that came into the world, death spread to all men, but in 232 00:22:00.789 --> 00:22:06.910 Christ we have eternal life. A similar things said here. Just as we 233 00:22:06.990 --> 00:22:08.309 have been born of the image of man, we shall be born of the 234 00:22:08.390 --> 00:22:14.029 image of the man of heaven. He has a we are represented by him, 235 00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:18.900 we have a union with him and also receive things from him. But 236 00:22:18.980 --> 00:22:23.299 there are differences as well. As you read in Verse Forty Five, the 237 00:22:23.500 --> 00:22:32.210 first man became a living being the last Adam became a life giving spirit. 238 00:22:33.529 --> 00:22:37.250 So Jesus is a second Adam, but he is Adam and more. Adam 239 00:22:37.369 --> 00:22:42.250 came into the world and he was living. Jesus came into the world and 240 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:48.759 he wasn't just living, but he gives life. This is something Adam was 241 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:53.680 incapable of doing. Adam had a test book before him. Obey and you 242 00:22:53.799 --> 00:23:03.029 will receive life, but Jesus actually accomplishes that. Adam plunged us into and 243 00:23:03.150 --> 00:23:10.750 in misery. Jesus Raises Up, raises US UP TO GLORY. He makes 244 00:23:10.789 --> 00:23:15.619 us fit for these things. And the difference isn't arbitrary. It's because they 245 00:23:15.619 --> 00:23:21.819 are different people, one being coming, one being made from the dust, 246 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:30.410 the other being eternal and from heaven. So why can we be sure that 247 00:23:30.609 --> 00:23:36.049 these things will happen? Because we have been born of the son of God 248 00:23:37.289 --> 00:23:41.599 and he, unlike the first atom, is capable of giving us life. 249 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:48.759 Indeed, he has been a life giving spirit. The first age is come 250 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:56.670 in Adam, but the second age is now here in Christ. Well, 251 00:23:56.750 --> 00:24:02.470 when will all this happen? This is our next section. Paul writes in 252 00:24:02.549 --> 00:24:06.589 fifty one. Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, 253 00:24:06.630 --> 00:24:10.220 but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of 254 00:24:10.299 --> 00:24:12.500 an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound in the 255 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:18.779 dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. So he says just 256 00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:22.700 a couple things about this. At first he points out that we shall not 257 00:24:22.900 --> 00:24:27.289 all sleep, and by this he means that when the Lord Jesus returns, 258 00:24:27.690 --> 00:24:33.849 not everyone's going to be dead it. When Jesus returns, he's not going 259 00:24:33.970 --> 00:24:38.920 to return to a silent, quiet earth and which maybe animals are roaming around 260 00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:44.400 and all the humans have died. No, many, many, many billions 261 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:48.279 of people will have died before Jesus returns, but when he returns, some 262 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:52.829 will be alive, and Paul deals with this in another place. He says 263 00:24:52.829 --> 00:24:56.750 to those who are alive when Jesus returns, don't worry, you don't need 264 00:24:56.789 --> 00:25:02.109 to die first, or something like that. You'll simply be raised up from 265 00:25:02.109 --> 00:25:04.869 where you are and together, both the living and the dead, all, 266 00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:08.700 he says, will be changed. We shall not all sleep, but we 267 00:25:08.819 --> 00:25:15.259 shall all be changed. Then he says this not to not to the whole 268 00:25:15.299 --> 00:25:22.849 world, but to the brothers word that of course, also includes sisters, 269 00:25:23.130 --> 00:25:27.690 all who are in Christ, male or female, slave or free, Jew 270 00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:36.000 or gentile, will be changed. When will this happen? In a moment. 271 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:40.680 What a beautiful phrase. In the twinkling of an eye. It's such 272 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:45.000 a happy phrase. It's a way to describe the speed at which it happens, 273 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:52.109 but also maybe the joy and the expectation in which it happens in the 274 00:25:52.190 --> 00:25:56.589 twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet, that Great Trump bits sound 275 00:25:56.670 --> 00:26:00.950 in which the judgments of the Lord is announced, you will not stand before 276 00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:07.500 the Lord Jesus to be condemned. You will be raised up, just as 277 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:12.180 he was, vindicated forever for all of the world to see. That is 278 00:26:12.259 --> 00:26:17.579 a holy one of the Lord and that one and that one and all of 279 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:29.369 them, along with the angels, the Lord's Flaming Messengers, in one voice, 280 00:26:30.730 --> 00:26:42.319 singing praises to God with power and glory forever. We don't know exactly 281 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:48.589 when this will happen, but we do know that it will. It will 282 00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:56.910 happen fast and it will happen wonderfully and it will be forever. The other 283 00:26:56.029 --> 00:27:00.619 thing Paul says about the when, if I may put it this way, 284 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:07.980 is that it as at the final defeat of death. This he says in 285 00:27:07.059 --> 00:27:11.579 Verse Fifty Four, when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts 286 00:27:11.660 --> 00:27:17.289 on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is 287 00:27:17.369 --> 00:27:21.490 swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory, oh death, 288 00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:26.650 where is your sting? Now? Perhaps you've heard this applied before, 289 00:27:26.849 --> 00:27:30.440 not to the final resurrection but to Christ. That is not wrong, because 290 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:34.720 they are the one and the same thing. Paul says earlier in this chapter, 291 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:41.400 Christ raising up is just like the first fruits of the harvest. That's 292 00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:44.789 all it is. If you go out in an apple orchard right at the 293 00:27:44.829 --> 00:27:48.430 beginning of a harvest and you see the first apple, maybe there are many 294 00:27:48.509 --> 00:27:51.750 others that have yet to ripen yet, so to speak, but there it 295 00:27:51.910 --> 00:27:56.630 is. The harvest has begun. This is a good reminder for you to 296 00:27:56.869 --> 00:28:03.940 have patience. It's so hard to not have patience, to wait in the 297 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:07.779 midst of suffering and trials and all kinds of difficulties, but know that the 298 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:15.210 Lord knows them and know that the Lord is coming soon. It's already begun. 299 00:28:17.450 --> 00:28:22.130 The Lord Jesus has risen from the dead. He's taken the sting out 300 00:28:22.170 --> 00:28:26.289 of death. And what is the sting? He tells us in Verse Fifty 301 00:28:26.329 --> 00:28:32.000 Six. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is 302 00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:36.720 the law. But we who are in Christ are no longer under the law, 303 00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:41.829 we are under grace, we are no longer under the power and the 304 00:28:41.950 --> 00:28:49.509 enslavement of sin. We are slaves to righteousness, slaves to God. Why? 305 00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:56.059 Because we have been raised with Christ a work that is already begun in 306 00:28:56.220 --> 00:29:03.140 us and will be brought to completion. If you want guarantees of this, 307 00:29:03.460 --> 00:29:08.900 there are many. He said it for one, for another, Christ himself 308 00:29:10.049 --> 00:29:14.690 is raised. For another, your own soul has been brought to the newness 309 00:29:14.730 --> 00:29:18.009 of life, and you walk in that newness of life according to that spirit. 310 00:29:18.849 --> 00:29:22.450 And if you want even another, remember that the spirit, the Holy 311 00:29:22.490 --> 00:29:26.400 Spirit himself, who lives in you and dwells in you, is called a 312 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:34.279 guarantee of that inheritance to come. And there are many more, but we'll 313 00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:40.990 go on finally to the the what now, in light of this resurrection that 314 00:29:41.069 --> 00:29:45.430 has been promised and light of the resurrection that is already begun? What now? 315 00:29:45.390 --> 00:29:49.589 How does this affect our lives? Why? Hope, as we have 316 00:29:49.710 --> 00:29:56.980 been examining this gift? This is an easy question for you. How could 317 00:29:56.980 --> 00:30:00.779 it not influence our lives? How could it not have a dramatic effect on 318 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:07.099 the way we live? When holidays are coming? In the Chalpka household there 319 00:30:07.289 --> 00:30:14.650 often counting downs. Twenty more days left, nineteen more days left, eighteen 320 00:30:14.730 --> 00:30:18.890 more days left. There's any excitement of preparing, a readiness. Did we 321 00:30:19.009 --> 00:30:22.279 get the food? Did we buy the presence, and so on and so 322 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.119 forth. I think the same is probably for you. It affects our lives. 323 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:30.880 The future affects our lives here and now, not to mention that the 324 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:37.829 future has already begun breaking into the present through the giving of the spirit, 325 00:30:37.990 --> 00:30:42.950 the resurrection of Christ and many other things. The Kingdom is at hand. 326 00:30:44.230 --> 00:30:48.750 Of Jesus, says at the beginning of Mark. Repent and believe the Gospel. 327 00:30:48.430 --> 00:30:53.420 These are the ways in which it affects us. But let's look e 328 00:30:53.539 --> 00:30:57.380 specifically at our text here. What does he say? First, it affects 329 00:30:57.420 --> 00:31:03.410 us in that we are to praise God. Let that never be a throwaway 330 00:31:03.569 --> 00:31:10.930 application for you, Verse Fifty Seven. But thanks be to God who gives 331 00:31:10.970 --> 00:31:15.769 us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It comes no other way, 332 00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:23.839 beloved, only through our Savior, only through the king, and it is 333 00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:32.160 ours, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord 334 00:31:32.200 --> 00:31:37.109 Jesus Christ. And second, we are at first, we are to pray. 335 00:31:37.269 --> 00:31:41.750 Second, we are to persevere. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be 336 00:31:42.069 --> 00:31:49.740 steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. How knowing 337 00:31:51.259 --> 00:31:56.539 that in the Lord, your Labor is not in vain. That makes the 338 00:31:56.980 --> 00:32:04.009 biggest difference. Take it just on an earthly, everyday level. If you 339 00:32:04.369 --> 00:32:07.890 are if you are build. I'll speak to the children. If you are 340 00:32:08.009 --> 00:32:13.210 building something, okay, you're building a Lego set that you know your little 341 00:32:13.250 --> 00:32:15.319 brother is sister's going to come in and knock down in just a minute, 342 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:20.599 you're probably not going to want to build that Lego set, not until you're 343 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:23.400 ready, not until it's time. Why? Because you don't want your Labor 344 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:28.359 to be in vain. You don't want it destroyed, you don't want it 345 00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:31.390 messed up. And the same is true for adults. If you, perhaps 346 00:32:31.470 --> 00:32:35.950 some of you, have been assigned to particular projects at work, but you 347 00:32:36.109 --> 00:32:40.150 know our vanity of vanities. You are called to pursue them and work on 348 00:32:40.269 --> 00:32:45.140 them and you know that it's not going anywhere, you know that there aren't 349 00:32:45.140 --> 00:32:49.740 the resources to get the work done, you know that the leadership is not 350 00:32:49.940 --> 00:32:52.339 really on your side, you know that there are people trying to undermine it, 351 00:32:52.460 --> 00:32:58.569 and yet you're required to do it. That's terrible, it's frustrating and 352 00:32:58.690 --> 00:33:06.809 it's awful. But the life that we live in Christ is not in vain. 353 00:33:08.170 --> 00:33:14.880 We he can act in a way that is steadfast and immovable and abounding 354 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:21.839 in the work of the Lord because we have certainty about what he has done 355 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:28.190 and what he is doing and what he has promised to do. The world 356 00:33:28.230 --> 00:33:31.190 will scoff at it, of course, and we'll say this is ridiculous and 357 00:33:31.230 --> 00:33:35.269 you're wasting your time and how will come? The Lord hasn't come yet. 358 00:33:36.630 --> 00:33:44.059 But we will remain steadfast because he is steadfast, because he is doing this 359 00:33:44.420 --> 00:33:50.380 work in us, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, 360 00:33:52.140 --> 00:33:59.769 since says in Hebrews. So that's our passage for this evening. We have 361 00:33:59.890 --> 00:34:07.809 been given a promise of eternal life with a certain wonderful amount of specificity, 362 00:34:07.929 --> 00:34:15.559 to be imperishable, to be glorious, to be powerful, to be spiritual, 363 00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:22.880 all on the basis of Christ's work for us. Let us live accordingly, 364 00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:27.829 let us walk in the newness of life and according to the power of 365 00:34:27.989 --> 00:34:30.949 His grace. Let us now seek the Lord and ask that he would help 366 00:34:30.989 --> 00:34:35.869 us to do that are heavenly