I first heard Brother Tom Harding's
wife, Bridget, sing that years ago, and it was a blessing. 1
Corinthians 15. Read with me again, verses 47
through 49. First Corinthians fifteen forty
seven first man. Is of the earth earthy. Second
man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy such are they
also that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also
that are heaven. And as we have borne the image
of the earth. We shall also. bear the image
of the heaven image of the heaven. That's our subject tonight. This is written to the brethren
says we in verse fifty. Now this I say brethren see that
those in Christ he said over in a previous verse in Adam all
die all who are in Adam die but all in Christ's my faith all
who were given to Christ all who were saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ all who were redeemed by him all who believe in and
on the Lord Jesus Christ all. All. Not one left behind all
shall be made alive eternal life image of the earth thing we're
born with that Adam. And he says, we will have the
image of the heavenly Christ glorified image. Now, how is
this true? Is this true? How do we know
it's so? How do we know all of this is
so? And if it is so, what kind of image is this? What will we
be like? What will we do? Well, this whole chapter is about
the resurrection of the dead or life after death. This whole
chapter. And like everything in this book
from Genesis to Revelation, it all hinges, it all depends upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse fourteen again.
He said, if Christ be not risen in our preaching, this our preaching
is vain. What I'm doing right now is the
most useless thing on earth. Many people believe that is so. You don't, do you? You believe
this is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And he says
there in verse fourteen, your faith is vain. If Jesus Christ
did not rise from the grave. Everything you believe about
him, everything you believe about eternal life is nonsense, useless. Verse 17. He said, if Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins.
If indeed there is a holy God. If there was a fall, if there
is such a thing as sin to be held accountable. It all depends on Christ. being
written verse eighteen. He said those that are falling
asleep in Christ. We have many. Friends and loved
ones don't who have. Who believed Christ and died
in the faith. Well, if Christ be not risen.
They died like a dog. She's a parish. They just are
no more. You'll never see him again. Their
life is over. You see how this all depends
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Down in verse 32, he said, I
fought with beasts, that is, all this persecution. And what
advantage is it if the dead rise not? He said, let us eat and
drink. Tomorrow we die. If this is all there is, let's
grab all the gusto we can. Let's close these books and go
home. We don't have much time left
and let's grab all the world we can. Because tomorrow we die. This is it. But first 20. But now. Christ is risen. He is risen. Paul said verse
five he said that we saw him saying of Cephas then of the
twelve. Oh Peter wrote in his epistle he said we haven't devised. This is no cunningly devised.
We didn't make this up Peter said. He said we were there in
that mountain that day we heard his voice we saw him rise. on
this earth says in verse six that he was seen of over five
hundred brethren at once and when Paul wrote this letter. Most of those people were still
alive and they could attest to the fact we saw him. Yes, we
saw him. Some of them are asleep, he said.
And Paul said in verse eight, last of all you'll see to me,
I saw him. I saw him. He's alive. Now it's a sad fact. We looked
at Sunday, verse twenty-two, and Adam all die. All people,
all animals, all things die. And it's sad. We don't want to
lose them. You're never really ready to
let go, are you? It's a hard thing, if not impossible,
to really prepare for it. Even an old dog. My old dog is
getting up in years, and it's going to be sad to lose it. Scripture
says the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together, waiting
for the manifestation of the sons of God, the redemption to
wit of their bodies. This thing of death. As we know, it's because of one
man's. One man's death. Down in verse
twenty six, he calls it the last enemy. Death seemed to be an
enemy to life, the end of it all. End of life as we know it. But here's the good news. He said in Christ. all will be
made alive and Christ said this life is like more abundant. And he said it have not yet entered
into the heart of man. I hasn't seen here hadn't heard
Paul did, but he said I can't describe it to you. He said I
cannot. It's impossible for me to describe what I heard and
saw. He said It has not entered into
the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them
to love him. God puts the world in the hearts
of men here, and they enjoy this world. Well, as enjoyable as
this poor world is, the next one is infinitely more enjoyable. Joy unspeakable, our Lord said,
and full of glory. Well, how do we know it's up?
Because Jesus Christ is risen. Jesus Christ is risen. The Book of Acts. And, yeah,
why don't you turn over there, Book of Acts. Look at the last,
well, Acts 26. In the Book of Acts, I went through
this book. I read the whole book. I went
through and read every recorded public message by the apostles. And do you know that in every
single recorded public message by the apostles, they mentioned
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In every message,
the risen Christ is declared. Peter and John, that's the message
of Pentecost, remember? A risen Christ, seated on a throne,
and at Jerusalem later. And Stephen, that was his message,
he said, I see. He said, I see at the right hand
the Son of Man standing at the right hand. Remember that? And
that's what filled the Pharisees full of anger. And Philip, he
preached a risen Christ to that eunuch Paul when he went to Athens,
when he went to Antioch, when he went to Caesarea, when he
was at Jerusalem, and finally at Rome. And here in his last message,
look at this. In Acts 26, verse 6, he said, I stand and am judged
for the hope of the promise made of God unto our Father. He said
to Agrippa, verse 8, why should it be thought a thing incredible
with you that God should raise the dead? And he went on to say
to old gripper, he said, I thought he said, I hated it, too. And
I thought it, too, until this living Lord met me and put me
in the dirt. I said, Who are you? He said,
I'm Jesus. You thought I was dead, but I'm
not. And over in verse twenty two,
he says, Here he says, I continue unto this day, witnessing to
small and great, none other things than those which the prophet
and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer and
that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and
show light unto the people, unto the Gentiles. And do you remember
over in chapter five or four where it says that with great
power, The Lord gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this proves who he is. That Christ rose from the grave
proves who he is, and everything he said is so. Everything he said is so. That
means all the promises. That means everything he promised,
all that come to him and all that believe him, is so undeniably
irrefutable unchangeably so. And that there is life eternal
and it's in him. Well in our text go back there
in first Corinthians fifteen. He said here in verse twenty
three he said Christ is the first fruit. Christ is the first fruit. first to rise from the grave,
first born from the dead, he said. And our Lord said this
one time. He said over in John's gospel,
he said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it will bring
forth much fruit. And so Christ died. But it says
he arose and he's the first fruit Among many that shall rise with
him and like him. First fruit. First fruit. You know what I thought of? I
thought of those spies who went over into the promised land and
they came back. They picked the first thing that
they saw. Remember that? The grapes of
Esko. In the promised land, the Lord
promised them that there was a land flowing with milk and
honey just full to the brim, fruitful land. Well, these two
spies went over there and they picked the first thing that they
saw, and it was a bunch of grapes, and it took two of them to carry
them. One bunch of grapes. And I thought, what a picture
that is of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the first fruit. firstborn
from the dead, the most glorious one of all. Christ is the firstborn. That's what we've been waiting
on, and we wait for this change to come. Now, Scripture says
because Christ died, our sins are put away. He said, except
the corn of wheat fall in the ground and die, he had to die. Sins must be punished, and they
are. Now, there's the good news. There's
the good news. Our sins are not only forgiven,
they're forgotten. Our sins are on the head of a
scapegoat, and when he died, he went somewhere for three days.
The Scripture says what he did was he separated our sins from
us as far as the east is from the west. This fit man took our
sins in his own body on the tree and took them and deposited them
somewhere, but they'll never be seen again. God said, the
sin and iniquity of Israel shall be solved and it shall not be
found. Because Christ put them away. And that's the good news
of the gospel. He put our sins away. But how
do we know that God that it's so? How do we know that God has
really forgiven our sin? He accepted the sacrifice. Back in the Old Testament, when
the high priest went into the Holy of Holy with the blood,
not without blood, he went into the Holy of Holies and the people
outside would wait anxiously while he went in there to offer
up that blood atonement on the mercy seat before God on behalf
of their sin. And they waited anxiously. And
it said that, you know, on the garment of the high priest were
bells and pomegranate fruit, those bells. And they would listen.
I know they would listen for those bells to ring, don't you?
As long as those bells were ringing, he's living. God hadn't killed
him. But the thing they were waiting
on was him to come out. And say it's been done. The blood's
been put on the mercy seat. God has accepted the sacrifice. And the shekinah glory would
descend upon that holy of holy. God accepted the sacrifice. Well,
we ring the gospel bell concerning the hem of his garment, his robe,
like Brother Greg did. And what we wait on, what we
waited for, was for Christ to come out of that grave. And when
he did, three days later, That means that God accepted the sacrifice
on our behalf. Sins are gone. So there's the
good news. Because Christ lives, he said
down in verse twenty-six, the last enemy that shall be destroyed
is death. Sunday morning we're going to
look at death swallowed up in victory. Death is destroyed. All right.
What will we be like? This new image is our subject
tonight. What will we be like? What will
these bodies be like, our new bodies? What will we do? Well,
Paul says, and we read it down here, he said there's different
flesh, different kinds of flesh. There's flesh of men, another
flesh of beasts, another flesh of fish, another flesh of birds,"
he said, sun, the moon, the stars, and so forth, differ in their
glory. And this new body, he says, that
we will have, believers will have, is far more glorious than
the old. Now, when God Almighty created
Adam, male and female, it says that God Almighty beheld them
and said, it's good. The first man was a glorious
creature. He was created out of the dust,
wasn't he? And he was a beautiful creature. God's greatest creation
up to that point. But God says, the former shall
not even be remembered who come to He said, you're going to rejoice
in that regeneration, that recreation, the new creation. But first, this body has to die. Like a seed. Like a seed. And he said it has to be sown. That tells us clearly that we
have to bury these bodies, doesn't it? That does away with this
thing of cremation, doesn't it? And since Christ is our example
in everything, he was buried, wasn't he? And so must we be. We don't desecrate these bodies
by burning them. God will cremate some bodies. Ours is not to be done so. We're
to bury these bodies. But they must die and they must
be sown. Now look at verse 37. He said,
what you sow, what you plant, that is, is not what shall be. It's not what shall be. It's
like a shriveled seed. When you men go out or women
go out and plant a garden, you plant something that looks all
shriveled up and dead, don't you? Lifeless. Like corn or something. Especially corn. hard, shriveled
up, dead and lifeless thing in it. Boy, that ear of corn that
comes forth later on doesn't hardly even resemble that seed
then. He said in verse 42, he says it's sown in corruption, sickness and disease and decay. Oh, my. You want to see what sin has done to us, go to
a nursing home and see how that we're sown in corruption.
But he says it will be raised in incorruption, no sickness,
no decay, no aging. Christ looked like a young man,
says a dew of youth was on his brow. Perpetual, eternal, thirty
years old. Height of manhood, prime. Said in verse forty-three, we
are sown in dishonor. David said, I was shapen in iniquity.
In sin did my mother conceive me. Come forth from the womb
speaking lies. We spend all our days Our whole
existence in sin and shame and guilt and bringing dishonor upon
our God and upon ourselves. It says we'll be raised, be sown
and raised in glory. Glory, the beauty of holiness,
humbleness, no shame. Can you imagine being without
shame? Says in verse forty-three, it's
sown in weakness. We're born weak. Born weak, like
a little child. So Hefler would die weak. You get old enough, you'll be
so weak that somebody will have to carry you like a child. Weak
and frail with hunger. Weak and frail with thirst, weariness,
disease, injury, prone to injury, slightest little thing, injury.
Weak to temptations. We succumb to and fall to temptations,
all manner of temptations. Unable to stand before Satan's
assault. Before the world. Weak toward
fleshly passions. He says we'll be raised in power. Raised in power, a new body no
longer subject to weakness, no longer depended upon food, no
longer depended upon water, no longer depended on breath, not
bound by time, and perhaps not bound by gravity. Raised in power by the power
of God. And he said in verse 44, it's
sown a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body, supernatural. He said there is a spiritual
body. How do we know? How do we know? Because Christ wrote. Christ wrote. The last Adam. You remember when he arose, they
didn't recognize him. Remember? He was in his glorified
body. Mary, whom he had been with for
a long, long time, thought he was the gardener. Remember, a
young man. He is the gardener, he's the
same one that was in the first garden. But she thought he was
just a young man, and she didn't know who he was. Looking right
at him. He was so young and beautiful
and glorious. Mary said, would you tell me
where you've made him? He said, Mary. The disciples on the road to
Emmaus, remember, their eyes were holding that they should
not know him. Until finally he revealed himself to them in the
breaking of bread. It's the Lord. And he appeared to his disciples
while they were meeting together in that upper room again, remember?
Walked right through the door. He didn't need the door, did
he? He is the door. He walked right through and was in their
presence. And he said, it is I. They thought they were frightened. They thought it was a spirit.
He said, it's I. It's me. And look with me over at 2 Corinthians
3. Go over 2 Corinthians chapter
3. Now John wrote, he said, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be. But we know this, when he
shall appear, we'll be like him. Here in 2 Corinthians 3, look
at this verse, I like this. It says in verse 18, we all with
open face behold him as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. And we
are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the
spirit of the law. We shall be. Unrecognizable to
the people of this world. We shall bear that same image,
we shall be like him, the scripture said, the dew of youth on our
brow. And it says, we now, now, right
now, with open face, beholding as in a glass. What is that glass?
Right here. This book of the Lord. This magnifying
glass, if you will. The glory of the Lord. We see
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here it says we are changed
into the same image from glory to glory. Now this is a mystery.
Paul said, I show you a mystery. I'm showing you a mystery. And
the best way that I can describe this is how that. You see a change
come over those whom the Lord puts Christ in them right now,
don't you? I know a man well known many
people who whom who've lived hard lives. And the Lord. Reveal Christ in them and make
them a new creature in Christ and they begin to take on a youthful
look to. This change takes over you see sin Mars the image doesn't. Sin is what Mars this image sin
makes the countenance it puts a frown on our face. It puts
this sadness in our eyes. But when Christ is created. Says
he has doves eyes, softens the eye, softens the countenance,
smile on the face. Isn't there something about God's
people, something about their countenance? Like old Moses when
he came down, the light shone on his face. Isn't there? When
that light of the knowledge of the person of Christ is created
in that person, they begin to wear that image. Well, someday
we'll wear it perfect. Someday we'll be without sin. It doth not yet appear. We see
a little bit, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be.
But when he shall appear, it says in a moment, in a twinkling
of eye, we'll all be changed into his perfect likeness. What's
that like? Well the greatest thing of all
is without sin. No sin holy. Unblameable. Unapprovable. True. Just. Lovely. Altogether lovely. Comely. Holiness. The best I can do with
that face shining like the sun. And so we will be flesh and bones,
our Lord said to the disciples, he said, touch me a spirit. Now, when he says a spiritual
body. It's a body because Christ had
a body, didn't it? But it wasn't subject to the
earth or dependent upon flesh. the things that maintain our
place here as his was. As we say it not subject to time
or anything like that. But he did say touch me to his
disciple did he said touch me a spirit have not flesh and bone. Significantly didn't say blood.
He poured out his blood and the life of the place is in the blood. The life of the new spirit, spiritual
body is not in the blood. It's in the spirit of Christ.
But a spirit, we have a flesh and bone body, flesh and bone,
bone of his bone. And not one bone will be broken.
And he said, just as he said, it is I. It will be us. You will be you. I will be me. as they recognize Moses and Elijah. How they knew it was Moses and
Elijah, except the scripture says that we'll know even as
we've been known. We'll know everybody. Because
we'll know. We'll have perfect knowledge
then. But we will be us, just as Christ
was himself. But somehow we're all going to
resemble him. And that's the way it is with
children now. And your children, they all have their different,
a certain different look to them, but they all resemble the parent. And that's the way we'll be.
Flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone, but different. Go with
me to Isaiah 65. We'll close with it. Isaiah 65. Brother Gabe read this in a study,
and I had it written down to Comment on Isaiah 65. It says here that we will eat and
drink and build and work. I don't think this is merely
symbolic. When the Lord, again, when the Lord revealed himself,
when it appeared to him, he said, it's me. He said, do you have
any meat? They gave him a piece of fish,
a royal fish and a honeycomb, and he ate one of them. He ate
food. I'm not a spirit. And, you know, the marriage supper
of the lamb is just that Christ himself said, I will not partake
any more of the fruit of the vine until I partake of it with
you in glory. And it says that many will come
in that day and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to
do what? Eat that supper. Married supper. And I believe old Solomon's table
over there. First Kings is it? Here's a picture
of that vast table that the Lord sets for that numberless people. Well, look at verse 17. Behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come
to mind. He says in verse 18, Be glad
and rejoice forever in that which I create. I create Jerusalem. There's going to be a city. That's
written over in the Revelation. And the people coming and going
in and out, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy my people.
The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her. No crying.
Just God himself shall wipe away all tears. Eating and drinking, building
and planting, it says. Verse 21, build houses and inhabit
them, plant vineyards. The Lord was the one Told Adam
to plant that vineyard when he was sinless, didn't he? There's
nothing wrong with work when it's... What would work? Work wouldn't be work if there
weren't any thorns and thistles and sweat and blood with it. They'll plant, they'll build,
verse 22, and another won't inhabit, they will. They'll plant and
not another eat. No, my people, it's a long and
joy. But labor won't be in vain. Verse
25, the wolf will lie down with the lamb. And they'll be as the angels
in heaven, our Lord said. No marriage, no relationships
like that. They're all equal by the grace
of God. They're all like the angels of
God in that they're equal. And the one thing that they will
be doing, which they began doing here and began enjoying here,
is worship. And throughout eternity there
will be blessing and glorifying. The Lord God says in Revelation
that I saw a number, a great multitude, which no man could
number, cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God,
which sitteth upon the throne and under the Lamb. And they
sit before his throne day and night, serving him in the temple.
And they'll hunger no more, thirst no more, the sun will not light
on them, the lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
lead them like under living waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly. And
Paul said, to comfort one another with these words. It's something
to greatly look forward to. Okay, stand with me. Our Father, thank you for
the blessed promises, blessed hope of eternal life that you
promised you who cannot lie. Through the Lord Jesus Christ,
through his death we have forgiveness of sin, and through his resurrection,
we have hope of eternal life. And Lord, as we said before,
we wait for his coming. We ask and we pray, we hope that
you will deliver us from this present evil world, that you
would come and receive us to yourself. You said you would.
You go to prepare a place for us, and if you go away, you will
come again and receive us unto yourself. And you said if it
were not so, you would have told us. We take you at your word.
We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ in whom we
live and move and have our being. Christ our life. And when you
shall appear, we shall appear with you in glory. Lord, hasten
the day, we pray. But until then, pray that you
might stamp your image upon someone else, our young people, our friends,
our family, our spouses, our parents, our children. Lord,
I pray that you might Reveal Christ in them. Terry, as you do not come, as
we wait for your coming, Lord, pray that there might be more
sheep out there. Cause us to continue to preach this gospel
and bring your sheep in. For the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, in his name we've met here tonight, we pray and ask
these things. Amen. You're dismissed. So, I'm going to go ahead and get started. I'm going to go ahead and get started. Thank you.