Thank you, Brother Marvin. Good
to see everybody. You'll find my text this morning
in First Corinthians chapter 15. If you want to turn there
with me. First Corinthians chapter 15. Upon we've been going through
the book of First Corinthians and I've just been looking at
some statements that suggest some things to my mind and This
is one that we looked at just a few weeks ago and I want just
to read verse 53 to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 53. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. I want you to think with me for
just a few minutes about this corruptible and this mortal. And here in the context of chapter
15, you that read your Bible, you know what this is about.
The Apostle Paul has been teaching about the physical resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result of his resurrection,
the resurrection of all his people. He said, Christ is risen from
the dead and became the first fruits of them that slept. He's the first one to rise from
the dead never to die again, but he's only the first. His
people will follow him someday. In Adam, Paul said, all die. We die physically as well as
spiritually, but in Christ shall all be made alive. He quickens
our soul, gives us life to our soul, but in Christ all that's
in him shall be made alive physically. Look back in the 15th chapter
in verse 23. Paul is saying here in verse
22, as in Adam all die and Christ shall all be made alive, but
every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits and afterwards
they that are Christ at his coming. Our Lord Jesus is coming again. came the first time. I remember
Brother Henry always said that as you read the Old Testament
the prophets said somebody is coming. He's coming. And the
gospel says we found him. He's come. But in the epistles
he's coming again. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
again and he's the first fruit. He's coming again physically.
And he's going to raise from the dead those who are in Him,
a physical resurrection. He said this, the hour is coming
that all that are in the grave shall hear His voice and come
forth, raised by the power, the mere power, if you could say
it that way, the mere voice of the Son of God. The bodies are
going to be raised from the dead. But here in our text, here in
verse 50, The Apostle Paul begins to broaden his subject. He says
here, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. The mystery here is not the resurrection
of the dead. That wasn't a mystery. You can
find out through the Old Testament scripture. David said, I'll be
satisfied when I wake in his likeness. And Job said, I'll
see my Redeemer in my flesh. The mystery seems to be this.
What will happen to those who are alive and remain when the
Lord Jesus Christ comes? And as I've searched the Old
Testament scriptures, I can't find any place where any of the
prophets ever mentioned what's going to happen to those who
are alive when our Lord comes. And that's what the Apostle Paul
is telling us here in verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. And it seemed like Paul mainly
is the one that dealt with this subject. When the Lord Jesus
Christ comes back again, many of his people are going to be
alive. What's going to happen to them? And Paul said this mortal
will put on immortality. I want you to turn to a couple
of familiar scriptures. Look over to your right in 1
Thessalonians chapter four. The apostle Paul mentions this
in different places in the scriptures. In 1 Thessalonians chapter four,
a very familiar passage. Look in chapter four and verse
13, but I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, they died,
they're dead in the Lord, that ye sorrow not, even as others
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them which also, them which also,
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or go ahead of them
which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and
with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, And so shall we ever be with the Lord. So the mystery that Paul reveals
to us is there's going to be believers that are alive when
the Lord comes. And when he comes, he's going
to change them. Look how he says it in Philippians. Back over to your left in Philippians
chapter 3. And look in verse 20. Philippians chapter 3 and in
verse 20. Philippians chapter 3 and verse
20, for our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven, from
which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue all things unto himself. The apostle Paul said, when the
Lord comes again, he is going to change our vile body. If the body is dead, if it's
died in Christ, it's corruptible. It'll be raised incorruptible,
but Paul said, those which are alive and remain, they'll be
changed, and this vile body will be made lack unto the glorious
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. In another place, he said, it's
sown and dishonored. it'll be raised in glory. Now
it's weak, it'll be raised in power. It'll be changed from
a natural body into a spiritual body and fashioned like unto
the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what the
Lord Jesus said about that day? They shall shine as the sun in
the kingdom of their father. The Jews used to have an old
saying that When the dead are raised, they're going to have
the image of Adam before he fell. It's better than that. It's more
glorious than that. They're going to have the image
of the resurrected Lord. Now that's amazing, isn't it?
That's amazing. He shall change our vile body
and fashion it, fashion it like unto His glorious body. I don't, that's beyond us to
grasp. To change somebody like us, one
of us, to change one of us, the power that it's gonna take to
do that, one of us, is beyond the power of man, beyond our
ability to comprehend such power. I was reading just the other
day where the United States Navy has a plane now that will fly
13,000 mile an hour. The technology that we've come
up with is absolutely amazing, isn't it? But one thing we cannot
do and will never be able to do is this, to change of our
body and fashion it like into his body. And Paul said he's
gonna do it in the twinkling of an eye. Kodak Company years
ago, they calculated how much time that is and they said it's
11 hundredth of a second. Eleventh hundredth of a second.
And magnify that and multiply that by a countless number. And
when our Lord comes again, He is going to change these foul
bodies. He's going to raise the corruptible
bodies and make them just like Himself. The dead shall hear
His voice. Those that are in the graves
shall hear His voice. And they shall come alive. And we shall be changed. And
how will he do that? With a working whereby he is
able. He is able. And Paul tells us here in our
text in verse 50 of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the necessity of
that change, because he tells us in that verse, this I say
unto you, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. That's the necessity of this
change. We're earthbound, aren't we? I used to say God has made heaven
for humanity, but really He's making humanity for heaven. We can't go there in our present
condition. It's impossible for us to go
there as we are because we're earthbound, we're earthlings.
We can't even get out of this atmosphere and exist. There are
some creatures that have to be in their atmosphere. Fish has
to be in the water, don't they? They'll die if you get them out
in the air. You take us out of the air and put us in water,
we die. And Paul said it's impossible that in our present state that
we can inherit the kingdom of heaven. We can't go there as
we are. So we must be changed to inherit the kingdom of heaven. And you know apart from this
revelation, I show you a mystery. Apart from that revelation, we
would not know how we're going to heaven. in our bodies. I show
you a mystery. We are going to be changed and
caught up with the Lord to meet Him in the air. This corruptible
must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Then the body can go to heaven
but not till then. This change from physical to
spiritual is absolutely necessary if our souls and body are to
be united again and enjoy our Lord for all eternity. For flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, this corruptible must
be changed, and this mortal must be changed. Now, what does this suggest to
our minds? Let me give you a few things this suggests to our minds.
First of all, this. It tells us this, that our salvation
and the consummation of it is not yet complete. We're not fully saved, are we?
We're still waiting, aren't we? For the consummation of our eternal
salvation. And it tells us that you and
I are just as utterly dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ to
finish this work as we were for Him to begin it. We can't a bit
more finish the work than we could begin it. He has come to
us in His Spirit through the Gospel. He's quickened us from
the dead. He's given us His life in our
soul. He's made us new creatures. We
were utterly dependent upon Him to do that for us. You can't
birth yourself. You had nothing to do with your
natural birth, and what did you have to do with your spiritual
birth? He began that work, and we're just as utterly dependent
upon Him, brothers and sisters, to finish this work. That is
to change these vile bodies and fashion them into His glorious
body. We're utterly dependent upon
Him for that. And we truly believe that where
grace is begun, heaven will be won at God predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of His Son. That work has already begun.
You have a new creature within you, down deep inside you, that's
been made in the likeness of the Son of God. You can't see
it. Very seldom you can even detect
it. But He's there, a new creature. created in righteousness and
true holiness. And now we're waiting for the
hope to be conformed to the very image of Jesus Christ physically
as well as spiritually. Our salvation, we're waiting. Now is our salvation year when
we believe. As I thought of this, it suggested
something else to my mind, and it was this. You and I should
not be overly sad, and we certainly should not live hopelessly when
we realize what a low state our poor loved ones are in who has
died and who are now with the Lord. As far as their bodies
are concerned, man, they've decayed, haven't they? They've rotted
away. They're stinking. They aren't
fit for this world, even this evil world. We buried our loved
ones. We put them out of our sight.
We had to because they were ready to start decaying. But we have hope for them. This
verse doesn't hide the awful fact of death from us. It tells
us exactly what's happened to our loved ones who have died.
They are corruptible. They are decaying. They're rotted.
We have to put them out of our sight. I sat here last night,
and boy, bring back some memories when you come into this building. And then Cindy was sitting over
there where Bob and Margaret sat. And I, looking around, and
I thought about Glenn and Gene and Fred and June and just so
many others. Linda and I was talking about
her mom. I used to see Scott sitting over there while I was
trying to preach with his feet propped up on the desk. Boy,
we've lost loved ones, haven't we? We've got their memories
in our hearts. We remember their smiles, the
sparkle in their eyes, their sweet voices and their hugs.
And the preachers we've lost. Man, look at the preachers we've
lost that we remember sitting under them when the Holy Spirit
would come upon those men. Boy, they'd speak to our hearts. And they're gone. They're corruptible. They're in their graves. We wouldn't
want to go look upon them. It would be repulsive. But we
have hope for them, don't we? This is the hope that we have
for them. This corruptible must put on
incorruption. We don't despair of our loved
ones who have died in the Lord. One day the Lord Jesus is going
to raise them and we have hope for them. And you won't find a hope like
that anyplace else. This is a gospel hope. You'll
only find this hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And outside Jesus
Christ, we'd have to say, those who have fallen asleep, they've
perished, but not in Christ. Our loved ones here that you
knew and all the dear preachers that preach the gospel to us,
we have hope for them. Scott's coming out of that grave,
isn't he? Made just like the Lord Jesus Christ. This corruptible
shall put on incorruption. Don't live despairing for our
loved ones who have died in Christ. Envy them. When I read this scripture, I
thought of this. You and I who are still alive
should not be despondent or doubtful. of our hope in Christ as we realize
what a sad and humiliating state that we are in ourselves. A vile body? Who's he talking
to? Us who are alive. A vile body? Job said, man that's born of
woman is a few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like
a flower and he's cut down, he withers. All the goodliness of
man is like the flower of the field, the grass withers, and
the flower just fades away. What are we? We're just fading,
aren't we? Fading things. Yeah, just a few
years ago, I was a teenager. Now I'm a fading, dried up flower. James said it's just like that
steam that comes off the water. The boiling water, it's gone. It's gone. It's worse than that,
isn't it? This vile body. That's what the Bible says about
us, this vile body. Let me give you some synonyms
for this word vile. I'll lift this word up and here's
some synonyms for the word vile. See if you can get a hold of
this. See if you can say, yeah, that's it. Odious, repulsive,
revolting, disgusting, extremely unpleasant, foul, nasty, bad,
disagreeable, horrid, dreadful, sickening, nauseated, obnoxious,
abominable, loathsome, hateful, our vile body. Next time you have a bad bowel
movement, that's vile. That's what I am. And yet, the scripture says here,
he shall change this vile body. This vile, dying mortal shall
put on that which is holy and pure and undefiled and unchanging,
where there's no pain, no sorrow, no dying, no tears. This mortal
must put on immortality. And Peter said, hope to the end
for that. Hope to the end for that grace
that's to be brought unto you. Brothers and sisters, when we
look at ourselves, when God really shows us ourselves, it's not
pretty. The scriptures never hide. Our
Lord will not lie to us. We're vile. Our bodies are vile. Everything connected with our
bodies are vile. This suggests something else
to our mind in this present life, right now. This flesh cannot
be improved. You can dress it up. You can
do everything you can to keep it healthy. You can abstain from
everything and anything negative that might have some negative
results upon the body. Even from outward sin, forbidden
of God and man. You can live a separated life
that would bring a monk to shame. and yet in the end this body
is mortal and it's vile and you cannot make it better. It's utterly
impossible. Some years ago, I think they
about give this up now, but years ago they used to talk about getting
a second work of grace and having the old sinful root blown out
and you're not a sinner anymore. Some have dreamed of some sort
of a progressive sanctification that you keep laying aside sin
and the sin of the heart and the sin of the flesh and afterwards
you can reach this state of perfection. What a dream! What a silly dream! You and I come into this world in
vile bodies. We live in vile bodies and when
we die our bodies will be vile. That's what we are. And if our
hope is not outside of ourselves, we'll die for all eternity. The
best thing that you and I can hope for and expect, brothers
and sisters, in this life is just to keep this old body in
check. Everything about it is foul,
isn't it? I mean, it's foul, the limbs are foul. It houses
a vile nature that cannot be comprehended and can never be
made better. Our hope is not being better.
My hope is, I'm getting worse. I'm getting worse. I asked Brother
Scott one time, I said, Scott, I'm having a terrible time. I
said, does it get any better as you get old? He said, it hasn't
for me. Getting worse, isn't it? Our hope is not it's going
to get better. Our hope is not I'm getting better.
I'm not on some higher plane. That's not my hope. My hope is
Jesus Christ lives and he's coming again and he's going to change
this vile body and fashion that likened to his glorious body.
That's our hope, isn't it? That which is flesh is flesh. That's all it's ever going to
be. We must apply this text in a
very personal way, bring it right down home to ourselves as the
Apostle Paul did, and say, this corruptible and this mortal. We go to the cemetery and see
a loved one there who has died in Christ. We lay our hands on
their cold, hard chest, and when we do, say this, this, this,
Lord, this corruptible shall put on incorruption. That'll
take the sting out of it, the heartbreak out of it. This, this
corruptible that I'm looking at that's lifeless and hard and
cold, this corruptible must put on incorruption. When we look at ourselves and
all our vileness, we must say this, this mortal, this vile
mortal that I am, and I'll never be any better, this mortal that
seems so hopeless and heaven seems so out of reach, this mortal
must put on immortality. And this mortal shall put on
immortality when Jesus Christ comes again. Apply this to yourself. Are you in Christ? Dear child of God, your hope
is real. It's not going to always be like it is now. These old
die and bow frames. There's a change coming. Everything's
going to change and you're going to change. You're going to change. Look how this great hope is connected
to our present stability of mind. Look what Paul says back over
in our text, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Boy, this, if anything in
this world is gonna help you keep a steady mind, keeping your
right mind, it's gonna be this hope, this living, lively hope. Wouldn't your heart break if
you didn't have hope this morning? Knowing what you know now, just
looking around us and seeing how bad things got. What's it
going to be in eternity? Oh, our hearts would break, but
to live in the reality and the faith of this hope, boy, it'd
give you peace, it'd give you confidence, it'll help stable
your poor wandering brain. Paul says it like this in verse
58. Therefore, in the light of all
of this, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable. This hope is grounded in heaven
and it's a sure and steadfast hope. Live in the reality of
that hope. Then he says this, always abound
in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that
your labor is not of vain in the Lord, always be abounded
You've got this wonderful hope in a coming Christ. Always be
abounding in love, in giving, forgiving, having compassion,
showing mercy. Always be abounding in the work
of the Lord. For just as sure as there's a
coming world, your labor won't be in vain in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord bless you. God, the Lord bless you.