1st Corinthians chapter 15 1st Corinthians 15 I'm going
to pick up where I left off last week, but this this message will
stand on its own title is a mystery revealed a Mystery revealed and
this is where the Apostles inspired by the Holy Spirit when he says
in verse 51, behold, I show you a mystery. Now before we get
started, understand what a mystery is in the Bible. It's not like
a mystery that we talk about today, like a mystery novel or
a mystery movie or something like that where you have a detective
or a policeman gaining clues and trying to find out the truth. A mystery in the Bible is a truth
that is hidden from the natural man until God reveals it. And we'll talk about how God
reveals it here in just a second. But when I say the natural man,
I'm talking about men and women as we are born naturally. And the Bible teaches that we
are all born in sin. We are born spiritually dead
and depraved. Even the best of us, you know,
that applies to the best and the worst and everybody in between.
Even the religious, even those which are in the eyes of human
beings morally good, we're still lost. That's why we have to be
saved. Somebody who doesn't believe
that, then you don't believe we have to be saved. What are we saved
from? We're saved from sin. Sin plagues
us all, for all is sin that comes short of the glory of God. And
we're suffering the consequences of sin. Now, to the unbeliever,
to the one who, let me put it this way, to one who goes through
life in unbelief and dies in unbelief without Christ, without
receiving the gift of God by grace, salvation, the consequences
of sin for that person is eternal damnation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. To those whom God gives the gift
of faith and the revelation of truth that brings that faith,
That person dies in the Lord. And though we suffer the consequences
of sin in this life, sickness, disease, old age, pain, sorrow,
when we die and go to be with the Lord, our spirits are separated
from this vile body, that's what the Bible calls it, and we go
to be with the Lord, the consequences of sin stop. There'll be no more
sorrow. There'll be no more trouble.
And all of that. And we've been reading about
that in 1 Corinthians 15. Now, 1 Corinthians 15, what it's
talking about is the final glory of God's people, which comes
in the second coming of Christ. When He comes back again, we'll
be raised from the dead. Some will be raised unto utter
destruction. That's those who died in unbelief. And again, the best of them,
the worst of them, and everybody in between. Others, God's people,
will be raised unto life everlasting. And we've been looking at that
in 1 Corinthians 15, how glorious it is. A spiritual body, somewhat
like our old bodies, but not corruptible. And this is what
Paul's been describing here in 1 Corinthians 15. And he gets
to this point, look at verse 49. I left off here last week.
It says, as we have borne the image of the earthy. Now he's
talking about Adam there. He talked about Adam and the
last Adam. He talked about the first man
is of the earth, earthy. We bore the image of Adam. Now
what does that mean? That Adam sinned and fell into
a state of sin and death and depravity. That's the way we're
born. We bear the image by nature of
Adam. Adam is our daddy in that sense.
And just like he sinned, we sinned. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And if you ever find anybody
who's got a religion that tells them that they've stopped sinning,
just tell them to go home and look in a mirror and watch the
consequences of sinning take its toll. And it does. But here's
the point, if we're in Christ, by the grace of God, washed in
his blood, that's what this wine represents, the incorruptible
blood of Christ, and clothed in his righteousness, You could
say that's really what the whole thing represents, the righteousness
of God. What does God require for me
to be saved from my sins? He requires perfect righteousness. And I don't have it by nature. And I can't work it no matter
how good I can be. And I've often told y'all, now
listen, that doesn't give us an excuse to sin. We ought to
be the best of the best, people, in every way. But that's not
our salvation, is what I'm saying. Our salvation is not by what
we do, it's not by our works, it's by the work of Christ for
us. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and even that faith's not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. If we're saved,
there's not one person who bore the image of the earthy, that
is born of Adam, there's not one person on this earth that
has ever lived or ever will live up until the second coming, who
bears the image of Adam, who is not a sinner. Not one. And that's what the Bible teaches,
and that's what's so offensive to the world. Wait a minute,
you're talking about me? Yeah, you're here, aren't you? That's the issue. And that's
why we have to be saved by grace. That's why we have to be born
again. Why do you have to be born again? What does that mean?
That's a new birth. As we were born with the image
of the earthy, look at verse 48 again, or verse 49. We shall also bear the image
of the heavenly. That's Christ. And in order to
do that we must be born again by the Spirit and brought to
faith in Christ. We have to have new life, a new
heart, a new mind, new affections, new goals, new motivations, new
will, all of that made new. And so why is that the case. We'll look at verse 50. Now this
I say brethren, now he's talking to believers here now, he's not
talking to everybody without exception. Only those who have
been saved by the grace of God fit into this category. He says,
and this, now this is true of unbelievers because, look what
he says, now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Now the corruption refers to
us in our bodies, this physical body. And it is subject to corruption. This body, like you said, you
young people don't know about this yet, but it's coming. I used to have black hair. I didn't have these wrinkles.
I didn't have this arthritis. All that stuff, I mean, that's
corruption. And it's not that the body in and of itself is
corrupt, it's the effects of sin. Sin is not a substance. Sin is not something you can
pick up in a glass and drink like water. Sin is not something
you can eat. Sin is not something you can
lift up and put over here. Sin is not a substance. It's
not a gas. It's not a liquid. It's not anything
like that. Sin is a matter of the heart. Remember Christ told his disciples,
it's not what goes in you that defiles you, it's what comes
out of the heart. The mind, the affections, the will. And that's
the problem. Now what we're experiencing in
our bodies, our corruption, is the effects of sin. But there's
one thing that's different about a sinner saved by grace. That
separates them from the rest of the unbelieving world. Sin, even though we suffer these
consequences, it cannot condemn us eternally. And it cannot be
charged to our account. Why? Because our sins were charged
to Christ. And that's why the Bible says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. What is it to be justified? It
means I'm forgiven of all my sins. Past sins, present sins,
future sins, original sin, sins of thought, sins of deed. I'm
forgiven. On what basis? The blood of Jesus
Christ. Only. Not anything else. To be justified is to be declared
righteous in God's sight, not guilty. Now I'm a sinner, you
are too. But remember what David said
in Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. He doesn't charge us with sin,
he charges us with the righteousness of Christ. For God made him sin
who knew no sin that we might, for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. I stand before God in the merit
of Jesus Christ, the Lord our glory, the Lord our righteousness.
And that's what it is to be justified. And so even though we sin and
we'll do so until we die and leave this world, our sins cannot
be accounted to us. Now a lot of people say, well
if that's true, I'll just sin as much as I want to. Oh no.
You see, grace is more than just a doctrine. It's a powerful principle
within that gives us a desire to obey and be obedient. Not in order to be saved, but
because we already are. Now that's gospel truth. And
that's a mystery that has to be revealed by God. And that's
what a mystery is in the Bible. It's a truth that's hidden from
the natural man. And if you know it and believe
it, it's been revealed to you by the power of the Holy Spirit
in the preaching of the Word. The Bible says in Romans 1 16,
Paul wrote, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the
power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. to
the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein, verse 17, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, from knowledge
revealed to knowledge received in faith. For as it is written,
the just or the justified shall live by faith. That means if
you're justified by the grace of God, by the blood of Christ,
his righteousness imputed, you live your life looking to, resting
in, depending upon Jesus Christ, the Lord your righteous. I wrote
an article for the Bulletin, I saw this on the internet, where
a fellow asked the question, must believers keep the Sabbath?
Well, the answer to that is yes. We must keep the Sabbath. If
you don't keep the Sabbath, you're not a believer. How about that?
But what is the Sabbath for the New Covenant believer? It's not
a day. Today is not the Sabbath. Now I know the world says it
is, but it's not. Today is the Lord's day. It's
a day that we set aside and thank God we can do that legally as
far as our constitution. It's a day set aside that we're
to gather together and worship the Lord in unison. But it's
not the Sabbath. What is the Sabbath for a believer?
Christ is our Sabbath. He worked. He completed it. He sat down at the right hand
of the Father. And we, by faith, God-given faith,
are brought to rest in Him and His work eternally. Christ is our Sabbath. All the
days and weeks and years in the Old Covenant, they were pictures
and types and foreshadowings and prophecies of the believer's
eternal spiritual rest in Christ. But just like the Old Testament
Jews who didn't believe, people today, they turn it into a day
and make it a legal religious act. God, he told the people
in Isaiah's day, he said, I'm tired of your days. I've had
enough of it. You're not keeping it for the
right reason. You don't see the reality of it. So here Paul says
in verse 51, he says, behold, I show you a mystery. Now what
is he talking about? He's talking about the resurrection
of the dead in the end. He says, we shall not all sleep. That means to die the physical
death. We shall not all die the physical death. as they who have
died and go into the ground, but we shall all be changed.
Now, I make this explanation of that because you'll see in
just a moment. No one's going to get out of this world alive. So when he says we shall not
all sleep, he's talking about as those who die and are buried
We will all die. If I'm alive when Christ comes
back again, I'm going to die. The equivalent of that is what
he says, we shall all be changed. Look at it. In verse 52, in a
moment, in other words, this is going to happen just in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, that's
when Christ comes back, the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall
be raised up incorruptible and we shall be changed and he says
in verse 53 for this corruptible this this dying body must put
on incorruption and this mortal Subject to death must put on
immortality now that describes death even for those who are
alive when Christ comes back even though we won't be embalmed
and buried in the ground, but this body has got to die and
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9 it is appointed unto men once
to die and after that the judgment So yes, we will die there. There'll
be a death the death of this body So that we can put on this
immortality What does it mean, immortality? It means living
forever. What a prospect. And it's not
just pie-in-the-sky religion. You know, people have been arguing
about that on the internet a little bit. You know, what's it going
to be like? What's going to happen to unbelievers? There's a lot
we don't know for sure. We have ideas. But here's what
I can tell you. that if you die in the Lord,
if you're here when Christ comes back again, if you haven't died
yet up to that point, you'll shed this vile body and it'll
be changed. Now how all that's gonna happen,
I'm not sure, but I know it's a work of God. It's not your
work. It's not gonna be like the Egyptians,
they embalm you and think you're gonna live forever like that.
I hope not. That's not the way it is. But
we'll all be changed and the change is glorious. What a glory
it is. Verse 53, for this corruptible
must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Living forever in the glory of
God, the blessings of His grace with Christ, with God in Christ.
People speculate. They write books and they talk
about, well, what are we going to be doing? Are we going to
have jobs or all this stuff? I don't know. I'd say we ought,
we'll do something. I don't think we're all going
to be laying around in hammocks with harps and things like that. That's just false religion. But
we'll be in the business of worshiping God with perfect minds, perfect
eyes. There'll be no falling asleep
while the preacher's preaching. You'll be awake. Not that you
all would do that. But anyway, this is a glorious
thing. See, that's what he's talking
about. Our new glorified bodies will be incapable of death. And
the reason this must be the case is because corruption and mortality
are the consequences of sin, and sin will be gone. Even the
influence. Just like when we're born again,
We're given new life, a new heart. What is the heart in the Bible?
That's the mind, the affection, and the will. We're brought to
faith in Christ, believing truth. Why didn't the Pharisees, for
example, the Sadducees and the lawyers back then, not lawyers
like you, Robert, but those who studied the scriptures, why didn't
they believe? They didn't want. They didn't
want to confess Christ and renounce what they saw were their good
works. But what did Paul say? Turn over
to Philippians with me. Philippians chapter three. Here's
a great evidence of a sinner who was in unbelief, who is brought
to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. And you know that's
what repentance is about. It's not about just feeling sorry
for your sins. Even unbelievers can feel sorry
for their sins. And we as believers should feel
sorry for our sins, sorrier than we are. But that's not what repentance
is. Let me show you what repentance
is. Look at Philippians chapter three and verse three. Paul writes
here, he said, for we are the circumcision. Now what he's talking
about there is spiritual circumcision, heart circumcision. He described
it over in Romans chapter two when he said, he is not a Jew
which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is not that of the flesh, but of the spirit. In other words, you're given
a new heart. And he says, he describes it this way, we are
the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. That means
we worship God in truth, not as we think he is, but as he
says he is in the Bible. You see, that's a problem with
people today, most people. They're worshiping a God as they
think him to be, they make him likened to themselves, and not
as he says he is in the Scripture. In fact, you can read portions
of Scripture to them, and I've even had preachers tell me, say,
I don't want a God like that. You don't? Well, that's the God
you're gonna have to deal with. How do I know that? What the
Bible says. People are worshiping a counterfeit
Christ. How do you know? They worship
Christ not as he has identified and distinguished in the word
of God, but as they think him to be. And that's key. So he says, we worship God in
the spirit and rejoice, or boast, that word rejoice means to boast.
We boast in Christ Jesus. I've got something to brag about
today. But it's not me, it's Christ. And you know what, I
can't brag about him enough. He's so far surpassing anything
we can imagine. And then have no confidence in
the flesh. Rejoicing in Christ Jesus, that's God-given faith.
Having no confidence in the flesh, that's God-given repentance.
And so Paul, he defines what he means here. Look at verse
four. He says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I am more." Paul's saying this, if you could trust
in your flesh, your works, I could exceed you. You say, well, Paul,
that sounds like bragging. Well, look at it. He says, I've
circumcised the eighth day, that's according to the law, from the
stock of Israel. They were God's people in the
Old Testament. of the tribe of Benjamin, that's an honored and
choice tribe. A Hebrew of Hebrews, Paul's saying
I'm full-blooded Hebrew, I'm not a half-breed. As touching
the law of Pharisee, that's one who goes above and beyond the
law. Verse six, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. When Paul was an unbeliever,
he looked at Christianity as being heresy. And he persecuted
them. touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. That means nobody could accuse
him rightly of breaking the law, even though he was a sinner,
he said it himself. But here's faith and repentance.
This is the evidence of the new birth. Look at verse seven. But
what things were gained to me, those things that I thought gained
me a right relationship with God, gained blessings and benefits
in heaven, those I counted loss for Christ. When I saw my sinfulness
in Christ's glory, everything that I thought was making me
right with God that profited me, now I see it as loss. He
says, yea, doubtless, verse eight, I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, that
knowledge that was revealed to him, that mystery that was revealed,
for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do count them
but dumb that I may win Christ. You can't get any worse than
that. The things that I thought recommended me to God, I count
them dumb now. In what light do you compare
to Christ and His righteousness? Verse 9, I want to be found in
Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith or the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. There it is. Now, all whom God
has brought to see that mystery can honestly be a partaker of
this mystery back in 1 Corinthians 15. This corruptible must put
on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. Look at verse 54. So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written." And this is a saying that's probably,
it's back in 2 Corinthians 5, actually, or up in 2 Corinthians
5, it's mentioned. But it said, here it is, death
is swallowed up in victory. Christ comes again. We're raised
under glory, His people, believers, sinners saved by grace. Death
is swallowed up in victory. There's victory over death. Well
now, how did we get this victory over death? It wasn't by taking
vitamins. It wasn't by exercise. You know,
if you go on the internet, you'll find every cure to every disease. Well, here's the victory, verse
55. O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death? O grave,
where is thy victory? Now, what does he mean? Well,
the sting of death is sin. Why do we die? The wages of sin
is death. And that's why even believers
have to die physically. Now, we're made spiritually alive.
What brought that about? Righteousness. Where do we find
that? In Christ. The perfection of
righteousness that can only be found in Christ by the grace
of God. So the sting of death is sin
and the strength of sin is the law. Now, go back to what I was
talking about. If you stand before a judge here
on earth and you're accused of a crime and you're found guilty,
Why is it you'll have to be punished? Because the law says you must
be punished. And that's the problem. If I
stand before God having sins charged to me, imputed to me,
the law says guilty and he must die, must be condemned. But what happened? Look at verse
57. but thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory, look at it, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ gained for his people
a victory. And how did he do it? He obeyed
the law perfectly, every jot and tittle, never sinned, and
he went to the cross and died for the sins of his sheep. And
he satisfied the justice, the law of God. That's called in
the Bible propitiation. That word's used four times literally
in the New Testament. That means a sin-bearing sacrifice
who brought satisfaction. The law satisfied in the case
of God's people. On what ground? The righteousness
of Christ. The law has no matter against
you. Again, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again. You see, this whole situation
of eternal life and salvation and glory is by grace. God's righteousness in Christ. It's freely given. And it's fully
given. And look at verse 58. He says,
therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, firm. Be ye immovable, don't sway to
the left or the right, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. For as much as you know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. The labor of a believer
is not what saves you. But that labor in the Lord, persevering
in the faith, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, that certainly gives evidence that he or she is saved by the
grace of God. Now isn't that a glorious thing?
That's the mystery revealed. Christ and His glory and all
that He accomplished on our behalf, and we certainly do praise God
for it. Amen.