Let's read verses twenty-one
and twenty-two again. First Corinthians fifteen verses
twenty-one and twenty-two. For since by man came death. my man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive." There is an old saying,
an old man-made saying, that nothing is certain but death
and taxes which must have been coined by a Republican under
the Democratic administration. It's only half true. Only half
is true. Death is certain. Ironically, the only thing in
this life that is certain which everyone must face and cannot
avoid is the one thing that everyone nearly everyone wants to avoid
thinking about and yet everyone eventually is
forced to do so most only consider it when they're forced to do
so when someone the occasion of someone's death They are forced
to think about it and then quickly they long to forget about it
and go on with their life. And the reason most avoid this
and do not like to think about it is because death to them to
most is the end of life as we know it here. on Earth, the end
of all we know and love and hold dear and enjoy here on Earth. And people want to avoid death
because it's so mysterious, it's unknown. Most do not know anything
about life after death or if there is life after death. But now, God's Word, God's Word
says this in Hebrews 2, it says, as the children, God's children,
are partakers of flesh and blood, he, that is, Jesus Christ, also
himself likewise took part of the same, that through death, By dying, he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver
them, deliver these children of his who, through fear of death,
are all their lifetime subject to this bondage, this fear of
death. Death, you see, is not death
to those in Christ. It's life. Death is not the end of life
for those in Christ, but our Lord said, I am come, he said,
that they might have life. It's not the end of it, it's
the beginning of life he called more abundant. and far from a thing to be avoided
by the believer. It's a thing to be to look forward
to with great anticipation. Now it is sad. Undeniably sad
and grievous heartbreaking to lose someone we love. And have the prospects of not
seeing them again. That's very real and Never to see them again, perhaps,
but that's not so if they're in Christ. Far from not seeing
them again, you will be united with them and never part ever
again. You see how important yet it's
life to be in Christ. It is life it's death to be outside
of. If we know and love and are known
and loved by the Lord Jesus Christ and truly find joy in him. If you enjoy what you're doing
this morning. If you truly find joy in the
worship of Him and being with His people, death is not the
end of all we know and love and enjoy and hold dear. It's just
the beginning of something far better, that far exceeds what
we're doing now. And joy, as Scripture calls it,
joy unspeakable. Because Paul came back and he
said, I just can't describe to you. unspeakable, full of glory. So death is not something to
be feared for those in Christ, and it is not unknown. Why is
death not unknown to the believer? Because our Lord Jesus Christ
himself died. People say if somebody could
just come back and tell us what's out there. He did. He did. It's not unknown, because
Scripture said, over in 2 Timothy, says Christ hath abolished death
and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. People are ignorant. It's a mystery. They're in darkness, but not
if Christ shines. God shines his light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the person of Christ in our heart. He brings
life and immortality to light. Understand what is death? Go
with me to Psalm 104. Psalm 104. Psalm 104. What is
death? Well, Very simply, death is when the
breathing stops. When someone takes their last
breath, right? You're going to find this, I
hope, I believe, very, not only, I hope, very comforting. When
our Lord said to Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, say
unto them, cry unto that her warfare is accomplished this
warfare with sin and hell and death and the enemy. It's over. It's all over but the shouting. Say your iniquities pardon and
oh I'd love to preach on that verse. She hath received of the
Lord's hand. Somebody has paid double price. You're overpaid for something.
move over pride double. I got to go on that's not my
thing. But Psalm 104 death is when the breath of life stops. To understand death, you must,
we must understand something of life. Death is the absence
of life. All right, what is life? What
is Live look at someone or four with me and verses twenty seven
through twenty nine. The song was his writing of God
creating the creek creator and the creature waits upon God the
creator someone made everything. There's a creator. Who made everything. We don't. They all wait on him,
that he would give them their meat, their food. They all receive
from him. Verse twenty-eight, that thou
givest them, they gather. Thou openest thine hand, they
are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are
troubled. Thou takest away their breath,
they die and return to the dust, because
they were made out of the dust. Somebody made them out of the
dust. And it says in Genesis chapter two that God Almighty,
the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground. It says
he breathed. Into his nostrils. The breath
of life. And man became a living soul. So in order to understand something
of death, we need to understand that in him. We live. and move and have our being. That God is life. God is life. He says this many times, that
all have one breath, the God in whose hands our breath is. The Lord says, I kill, I make
alive. God is life. In him we live and
move and have our being, all right? But why do we die? We're
alive. We live physically because God
gives this breath of life. Go with me to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5. I believe you're going to learn
something. I did. Romans chapter 5. And every good
message builds to a a climax to a conclusion, as I hope this
one will. OK, stay with me. Why do we die? Why do things have to die? Things
that are alive, why do they have to die? Why do the animals have
to die? Why do things die? That's right. Some of you already know. Man has no answer to these things,
does he? But God's Word clearly tells
us what death is, where it came from, why death came into this
world, very clearly tells us that. Look at Romans chapter
5, look at verse 12. By one man, wherefore, as by
one man, that's Adam, the first man in the garden, sin entered
the world and death by sin. One man, our text says in Adam
all die. In Adam all die. Death is a result
of Adam's sin. Original sin, it's called. Adam
sinned, rebelled against God, his life. But now, wait a minute,
read on. Verse 12 says, Death passed upon
all men, for that all have send and death reigns he goes on to
set over everyone though they didn't see it after the similitude
of Adams transgression little babies and so forth died because
of this thing called. Death is the result of seeing
our Lord said the wages of. In the garden in the garden the
Lord God told Adam and Eve, he told
them this, in the day you eat, the day you rebel against me,
the day that thou eatest of that tree, thou shalt surely die. And some of you know it says
this, dying you shall die. In the day that you rebel against
me, that's sin, dying You should die, though Adam lived nine hundred
and thirty years after that nine hundred and thirty years. You
know, the thought struck me. And, you know, Adam lived after
the fall. Adam lived in a much more primitive
lifestyle than you and I do. He lived the hardships he must
have faced, much like the early, very early, early settlers and
pioneers were extreme hardships, weren't they? You know they were.
He didn't have the comforts. The thought struck me. We long,
we want to live longer. Men, well, the world wants to
live longer, trying to live as long as they can. Adam, I'm sure,
thought that he lived far too long. 930 years. When is it going to be over? At any rate, Adam lived 930 years
and then he died physically. But now God said the day, that
day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. That day that he sinned against
God, he died. He didn't die physically, though,
did he? How did he die? Spiritually. That's right. He
lost the life of God, which is life, more abundant, true life,
the true life of all, spiritual life. He lost righteousness. Life doesn't consist in meat
and drink, but in righteousness. He lost righteousness. He became
dead in trespasses and sin. He was not righteous. The life
of God is in goodness. Adam became a bad man. The life of God is in truth.
Adam believed a lie, and he began to tell them, didn't he? Life of God is in wisdom from
above. True wisdom, not ignorance. Adam
became foolish, and sin darkened his heart, didn't it? Life of
God is in understanding. Adam lost that understanding.
The life of God is in peaceableness. Adam began to hate. Began to
envy, to begin to be mad at God, mad at his wife, mad at everything
and everyone. Dead in trespasses and sin. And
this is something that plagued him. This is why I know Adam
thought, I've lived too long. For nine hundred and thirty years
he had to live with this awful thing called sin. Can you imagine? In Adam all die Scripture says
we're born in sin dead in trespasses and stand. David said I came
forth from the what he said I was conceived in iniquity and in
sin did my mother conceived me and he says I come forth from
the womb speaking lies and all my problem for the rest of my
days are because of this thing called sin. All the grief, all
the heartache, all the trouble, all the trial, all these things.
And then at the end, it's all death. The end of things, people,
and so forth. Man is a sad creature, really,
when you think about him, isn't he? Man is a sad creature. He's
dying, he's dead in sin, and he's waiting to die. Just seventy
or eighty short years even eighty years is short isn't it. Sure I bet Adam when he came
to nine thirty and get it that was just like a vapor. At the
time I thought it would never end here. Man's a sad creature and what
a sad creature what vanity. This is why Solomon wrote vanity
of vanity. After he wrote a whole book of
Ecclesiastes that man works all his life to accumulate this and
that and the other and goes through all of these various turmoil
to try to find out this and find out that and then it's all over
and then what for? Then what? What a sad creature. Dead and waiting to die. Sad
isn't it? You know, you can't preach the
gospel without preaching the bad news. You know what the gospel
is? Total depravity. In Adam, the
ruin by the fire. Dead in sin. What a sad creature. What a great God. But God. Even when we were dead in sin,
but God who's rich in mercy, God who is love, as we heard
the other night, God who is love must show that love God who is
merciful, who must display that merciful God who is gracious.
Scripture says that God ready to pardon. I'm going to show
you just how ready God is to pardon. I'm going to show you
that the day Adam died was the day he began to live forever. I learned something here. Scripture
says, oh my, in Christ shall all be made alive. And Adam all
died. Adam died that day, but in Christ,
if Christ comes, if God puts you in Christ, that's the only
way you're in Christ. Of God are we in Christ. God who has made us accepted
in the beloved, put us in Christ. chosen in him before the foundation
of the world. If God puts us in Christ, all
who die in Adam are made alive and that forever in Christ. Go back to Genesis 2 with me.
Go back to that story in Genesis chapter 2. See if we can't see
something wonderful here. Genesis chapter 2. Alright, as
my pastor always says, see if I can make good on this. Over in John chapter 1, John
wrote this. Here's what John wrote. The Lord
led him to write this. He said, In the beginning, before anything was, was the
Word. And the Word was with God. You know
who that is, don't you? Jesus Christ. And the Word was
God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him. Jesus Christ. Without Him was
not anything made that was made. In Him was life. In Him was life. All right, look at Genesis chapter
2 here. Genesis chapter, and that word
was made flesh, and he went on to say, John said, no man hath
seen God at any time but the only begotten Son. No man, Adam,
didn't see God. No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of... he hath
declared him. In Genesis chapter one, it speaks
of God. God said, God spoke, let there
be light, let there be the firmament, let there be God spoke, created
all things by his word. And then he rested verse two
of Genesis two on the seventh day. God ended his work, which
he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all that
he'd made. And God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified and rested from all his work, which God created. What an amazing thing right then
and there. It changes. Verse four. It would get it before they kept
this before this keeps talking about God said God said God said
in verse three the first time it says the Lord God may. Somebody else. Is being mentioned
here. This is Jesus Christ God have
made him Lord and. the Lord God right there is the
first time it says the Lord God. Verse four created all things
heaven and earth got it verse seven the Lord God formed God
the Lord God. Reached down scooped down out
of the dust of the ground and began to make a vessel of clay. An earthen vessel with his hands. God's Spirit, this is Jesus Christ. We marvel at those ancient sculptors
like Michelangelo and others, you know, who sculpted these
dead statues, headless ones and all. Jesus Christ. Without him was not anything
made that was made. He came, the Lord God. And he
is called from there on out. The Lord God, the Lord God, the
Lord God, the Lord God, the Lord God spoke to Adam. The Lord God made him, the Lord
God spoke to him, the Lord God caused his sleep to fall on him,
then took a rib out of his side, did an operation upon him and
made a woman and brought her to him. What a picture that is
of Christ and his church. This is Jesus Christ. With his
own hands, those foolish, blasphemous preachers today say, God has
no hands but your hands. They don't know Jesus Christ,
do they? He is the hands, he says, the
right hand of God, and his right arm hath gotten him. Who? God,
the victory. God has hands, all right. They're
on the ends of the arms of Jesus Christ. formed man out of the
dust of the ground, made him what? God said, let us make man
in our own image. Christ said, okay. And he went
down there and took that dust and formed man in his image. And if you'll hang around about
10 days, we're going to look at the image of the heavenly
that we're going to bear. This mystery, it's not a mystery
to his people. What we shall look like, what
we shall do is not a mystery. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, he says we're going to bear the image of the heavenly.
Christ formed this first man and woman in his image, his image. This is The Lord Jesus Christ,
whom the scripture says, was with God in the beginning and
rejoiced in the habitable parts of his earth. And his delights
were with the sons of men. All right, he came down and he
made man with his own hands. Jesus Christ. And in the day that Adam fell, John, the day Adam failed, just
as soon as he failed, his eyes were open, he was naked in the
shame, started hiding, he says, somebody came walking. God ready to pardon, just as
soon as that man and that woman, oh no, look what we've done,
oh, oh, oh, we're going to die, you know, and they start hiding,
God came walking. He said, I will find my chief. He only had one. This was a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, even the chief. Well, then there was only one.
That made him chief. Didn't it? Adam. Just as soon
as he fell, Christ got him. Look at you. Where are you? What
have you done? Convicted of sin. You didn't
believe me, did you? Because you believe not only
in righteousness. Oh, Adam. Judgment. But God. The mercy of God is in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord God Jesus Christ stood
there and talked to this first man and this woman, these first
sinners, and said, I'm going to the woman's seed
is coming. Someday. There's going to be
a man born of woman, a woman's seed. Adam, you're going to have
children, you and your wife. I want you to multiply and replenish
the earth and you're going to have seed born of you, sinful
seed, fallen seed, dying seed like yourself, but God. is going to send forth his incorruptible
sin. Born of a woman, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem you, Adam, to redeem your prosperity
if they're in me. Made under the law to redeem
them from the curse. Adam, you're going to be cursed.
Cursed is the ground. Cursed is it. Your wife's going
to be miserable. You're going to be miserable.
Sin. You're going to walk out of this garden. You're going
to see death and all its horrible truth of it. But Adam, that's
not over. It's not the end. No, no, I have
determined the end from the beginning. And the end, the latter end is
good, Adam. Oh, it looks bad, doesn't it,
Adam? No, it's good. And he, as he stood there and
killed the lamb. See, this is death, Adam. This
is death. Killed that lamb. Oh, what's
happening? Killed that lamb and clothed
them with those robes. Adam, somebody's coming. There's going to be a lot of
time to take place. A lot of time. But somebody's coming. There are going to be millions
and billions and trillions of sons of Adam born onto this earth. But somebody's coming to do a great work, to abolish
sin, death, and bring life and immortality to life. Somebody's
coming. And you know what the Scripture
says in the volume of the book? It is written of Him. Somebody's
coming. Somebody's... God said it. Christ
said it. First one to say it's the woman's
seed. Somebody is coming. Somebody's
coming. The Redeemer. God. Somebody's coming. And He did. In the fullness of time. Four
thousand years later. God sent forth his son, same
one. They said, who are you? He said,
even the same that I said to you in the beginning. In the
beginning was the word, who are you? You're just a man, you can't
be God. You weren't reading the scripture,
were you? A man is coming. God was manifest, God manifest
in the flesh. All through the scripture, in
the volume of the book it is written, a child be born, a son
is given, a virgin shall conceive and bear a child. His name, he
who is going forth was from everlasting of old, Immanuel. His name will
be called Immanuel. God's here. And Christ came. He came to live. Why? He came to live under the
laws. Why, said Adam, this do, and
live, didn't it? What happened? He broke the law,
so he had to die. So it came a second Adam, you
see? There's a second Adam. Paul talks
about that in our text, 1 Corinthians 15. The second Adam, who is who? Not just a man. The Lord from
glory. The Lord himself. Adam, this
doer. He did and he couldn't. We can't.
We're still under the law. Yeah. What sort of thing the
law say it to say it then under the law? Why? What's it do? It
tells us we're guilty. We're cursed. Can't keep it.
Die. So Christ came. Made under the
law. And God said, OK, now this is
my man. This is my representative. This is the One, the Holy One
of God. This do, and they will live. This do. Like He said to old
Joshua, He said, if you keep the law for them, Our Joshua
did. In the volume of the book, it
is written of him, Lo, I come to what? Do thy will, O God. Every jot and tittle to keep
it perfect. And after thirty-some years,
God Almighty, beholding, watching him as a lamb, kept to look at,
to be observed without spot and blemish. God Almighty saw his
son, the Lamb of God, and said, I'm well pleased for his righteousness. There's a man, and over in the
Psalms it says in chapter 24, it says, open up the gates. A
man has earned heaven. A man, by the cleanness of his
hands, the pureness of his heart, and his voice He's earned heaven. Come on in the gates of heaven
have to open up because this man is walking in, but. As a train is going to fill that
temple, the bridal train, if you will. The processional, if
you were behind him, is a number that no man can number walk.
They can't come in here. They're not holy. Oh, yes, they
are. He had made them holy. They're covered in his veil,
in his train, in his righteousness. He did this for them. He did
this for them. Christ was made sin, it says. He was made sin. There came a
day, you know, God was well pleased for his righteousness. And there
came a day when God Almighty said to his son, you will have
to die. I'm going to have to forsake
you. I'm going to have to punish you. For the sins of my people, the
wages of sin. They earned it, you're going
to have to pay it. Scripture says he was made
sin for us who knew no sin. Why? that we might be made the
righteousness of God as a substitute. After his satisfaction, a man
approved of God, he had to be a son. God said, Adam, you've
got to die. But God, there's hope, Adam,
the rest of your life. There's hope in the seed coming. What is that hope? Jesus Christ. So when Christ came and he came
through death, Scripture says through death destroyed death. When God put his son on Calvary's
tree. He put all his people on Calvary's
tree. The wages of sin is dead when
God Almighty saw his son, he saw all of the sins of all of
God's people and God Almighty killed us all. crucified. We
live. Nevertheless, we're going to
live, live forever. Why? Not I, but Christ liveth in me. Our Lord said this, and I'm going
to close. The Lord said to his disciples, and this was to Martha
and Mary, who were grief-stricken over their brother Lazarus, you
know what? They they this was at the funeral
of the one that Christ love and he went there is truly a sad
thing when the Lord Jesus Christ knows all things came to that
funeral of one he loved when. And Mary and Martha were grief
stricken over last. one they love now Lazarus knew
the Lord he loved the Lord Lord love last but he who now love
us is sick. I know that the Lord could have
said I made him that way but he said this sickness Nancy this
sickness is not unto death. He said Martha. She said, Lord,
if you've been here, my brother hadn't died. And the Lord wept. You know, somebody said the Lord
may have wept. No, he's got to bring Lazarus
back. He's got to bring him back. His weeping was over. Now he's
got to bring him back to weep a few more years. Oh, he said,
Martha, he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. That's what the Lord said, never
die. And you notice that he never
did. The scriptures doesn't call. Death, death to a believer here
in our Texas said, what about them that fell asleep in Jesus? Does anybody dread going to sleep
tonight? I've said many times, you older
folks, you positively look forward to you hope You really hope that
you can. You don't dread it you look forward
to it actually. We are getting old aren't we
men at times we're in bed at I'm afraid I hate to admit this
but about eight thirty. Can you believe that. Nine o'clock
in bed or at one hoping to get sleep. Sleep. He giveth his beloved slave. This is something to look forward
to. Great. He that liveth and believeth
me shall never die. You believe this? Oh, Lord, I
know that I know he shall live in the resurrection, I know.
Martha. I am the resurrection, he said. I am life. In our text, look there in closing,
1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. In Christ, Scripture says, put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Put it away. You know
why the believer need not fear death? There will be no sting. There will be no sting. The sting of death is sin. Every
single son of Adam dreads death because their conscience bothers
them. Conscience bothers them over
sin. There will be no rest to the wicked, our God said. There's
no rest to the wicked. When they come to their death,
it's going to be horrible. But not my people, he said. They're
going to die with a smile on their face. Why? Sin's gone. The sting of death is sin. Their
conscience is being purged by what? Good. Tell them, don't fear. Christ
came and said, fear not. Death has no more. Thanks be
unto God which giveth us the victory. through Christ our Lord. In our text, verse forty-five,
it says, The last Adam, so it is written. The first man, Adam,
was made a living soul. The last Adam, that's Christ.
The man, Christ Jesus, was a quickening spirit. I am come, he said, that
they might have life. They're not going to die. They're
not going to die. Christ said you're not going
to die. How do we know that? How do we know it's so? Ron,
he died. But three days later, he came
back and said, I told you, didn't I? Didn't I tell you? 500, Paul
writes. 500. Paul said, Peter said, we
haven't made some cunningly devised favor. We saw him. John wrote,
we saw him. What? Life. Life. The word of life. Christ, who
is our life, said, You're not going to die. How do we know?
He died, but yet he lived. He said, Behold, to all his people. And he said, Behold, it's me. It's I. That's what he said to
his disciples. It is I. Touch me. Handle me.
He had a body. He ate and so forth. It is I. It's me, myself. It's I. And
in Revelation, he says to all his people, to their comfort,
Behold, I am he. that was dead, but behold, I'm
alive forevermore. So comfort one another. Comfort one another. In Adam,
all die. Yes, we're going to die. We're going to die. It's appointed
unto man, wants to die. Who appoints it? The one who
gave the life, the one in whom we live, the one in whose breath
in whose hands our breath is, who giveth all their breath. He's in the time appointed, and
you can't pass it. And the means are appointed,
be it a war, be it a disease, be it whatever it may be. No
matter what it may be, God is the one who appoints those means,
but it is God who takes them. And then the soul goes back to
the one who gave it. And those are in Christ, fall
asleep and wake up in glory. As if they just lived a bad dream. And now it's too good to be,
no it's not too good to be true. It's not, it is true. As I said
that Lord will in about ten days we're going to, I'm going to
show you a mystery. Paul said, behold I show you a mystery. We're going to have revealed
us a mystery, how we'll bear the image of the son of God himself. And this body of death. This
body of death, there'll be no more death. No more sorrow, no
more tears, no more crying, no more, no more anything that gives
us hurt and pain and so no more ever again. Why? Sin's gone. In Adam all died, but in Christ,
anyone in Christ is made alive, eternal life. Now that's something
to be desired, isn't it? Well, young
people, you think this is a wonderful life, and I know you're going
to pursue it, and I did. And one of these people did pursued
it. And the Ecclesiastes does talk about that, too, about.
Things and relationships and things like that, and he says,
do it, but now keep this in mind. It's going to end. It's hard
to. Hard to understand it, but it's going to end. It's going
to be over. But then what? Oh, that they were wise and would
consider their latter end. Because for those in Christ,
it's not the end. It's not the end. It's just the
beginning, an eternal beginning. Eternality. Okay. I tried. Come on. together. We'll sing the first
and last verse of 218. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal die of
him and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal die of
him and crown him Lord of all. Last verse. Oh, that with yonder
sacred throng we at His feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting
song and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all