Turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. I left off verse 34 last week. I titled this message, The Changing
of the Body. The Changing of the Body. We shall be changed. over in
Revelations, it is written, Behold, I make all things new. The Lord told Nicodemus, you
must be born again. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that's all it ever will be. It does not change. It is not improved. God is not
making improvements on the flesh when he saves a sinner. When
he saves a sinner, there's a new creation. He said you must be
born again. There's a new person, spiritual. That which is born of the Spirit
is what? Spirit. That's more than just
being spiritual. That's being partaker of the
divine nature. That's what that is. That which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. And we are going to have, when this is all over, a new body. A spiritual body. The Scripture says you do not
pour new wine into old bottles. And God's not going to leave
this new creation of His that's born of the Spirit in this old
corrupt flesh. That's not going to happen. There's
a process. I don't know if you caught that
in reading this, but there's a process that's going on. There
is an order in which God is working. He said that which is spiritual
is not first, that which was natural, and then that which
is spiritual. So Paul here is going to deal,
and of course he's been dealing here in this chapter with the
resurrection of the dead, and there is a resurrection of the
dead, and we believe that. We believe that. Those who are
born of God, this congregation, we believe there is a resurrection
of the dead, that sooner or later, in God's time, We shall come
out of the grave, this body, a body, a new body, to be absent
from the, you know, when we die, to be absent from his body, to
be present with the Lord. But there's going to come a time
when the body's going to be a new body. He's going to come out
of the grave. God's going to bring this new,
like a stock of corn comes up in the springtime. That's going
to be a spiritual body. He's called a spiritual body.
So let's look at this. Now, Paul knows there's going
to be an objection here, because he says in verse 35, and then
verse 36, he says, thou fool, because he knows there's going
to be an objection. He said, but some man will say,
somebody's going to say, because there's already been a problem
here in the church of Corinth on the resurrection of the dead,
alright, it's like Paul's saying, okay, someone's going to say,
okay, now let's say there's a resurrection. With what kind of body are they
going to be raised? Because there have been people
in the grave for thousands of years. They've gone back to the
dust. There have been people who've
been cremated, and their ashes spread over the ocean. And there
have been people who've just been buried in the ocean in wars,
and they've died and went to the bottom. Since there's going to be a resurrection
of the dead, how's all that going to happen? You know, we're back
to the dust and all that. How's that going to happen? Well,
look who's bringing them back. God. Who gave us the first body
out of dust? Did he not create Adam out of
the dust of the ground? Over in Ezekiel, there's a valley
of dry bones. And those bones are scattered
throughout that field. There was a battle. There was
a battle that was fought. And it's very evident who lost,
because they're all laying right there. And the buzzards and the
coyotes and the flesh-eating beasts had taken those bodies
and they dissembled them in eating them. They carried one leg off
here and an arm off here. You know, they just dismembered
the bodies, cleaning them up, eating them. But, and Ezekiel
says, bone started coming to his bones. God knows how to bring it back
together. The one doing this, that's, that's, don't question
the one doing it. You're questioning how can it
be done? You find out who's the one doing
it and you won't question how it can be done. It's just going
to be done. It's going to happen. I mean,
look at creation. In the beginning, God said, let
there be light. And there was light. And He started just creating
all this stuff out of nothing. And bringing it to pass and bringing
it to life. And God did it. Find out who
God is and He'll solve a lot of your problems. Actually, He'll
solve all your problems. He'll find out who He is. But
someone's going to ask, How are the dead raised up? Well, here's
first of all how they're raised up. By the power of God. By the power of God. Even though
they've returned to dust, they're going to be raised up, and they're
going to be raised up in a perfect body. And that body is going
to have no blemish. It's going to be holy. And it's
going to be a spiritual body. like the Lord Jesus Christ, his
body. Now, it'll be a solid body. It's not like a spirit where
you can wave your arms through it. He said, touch me, Thomas,
for a spirit has not flesh and bones. It'll be a solid body. It'll be a body just like this.
It'll be me. It'll be me and it'll be my personality. But the glory of it will be so
Far beyond what this one is, there's no real comparison. Just
like there's no real comparison of that stock of corn that comes
up and that fruit that's on it. You just put a piece of grain,
you just put a grain in the ground and what came out is far, far
more glorious than what went in. And what's coming out is
far more glorious than what's went in. And Paul says here, he says,
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. Here's the truth. Before it can
be raised up, it has to die. Some of you, I'm sure, some of
you here still raise a garden, a little garden, but you raise
a garden. Do you know this spring, All
that you planted in that garden, you start to see the little corn
come up, that little blade come up, a little tomato or other
plants that you plant in there. Do you know what you're actually
witnessing? A resurrection. Because everything
you just planted died. It literally died. It decayed. And out of that death, and out
of that decay, comes that stalk of corn. Now, I don't know how,
but this body, when it is planted in the ground, it's going to
decay. It's going to rot. It's going
to go back to dust. But out of that, God is going
to bring this glorious spiritual body that we're going to live
in, that we're going to inhabit. I mean, it's just amazing. He
said, thou foolish. He's calling them foolish. He's
not calling them fools as believers because the Scripture says not
to do that over Matthew unless you be in danger of hellfire.
He's saying this. You think you're so wise in the
Scriptures, and yet you miss this. You're being foolish. That's
why he's saying, you're being foolish. That which thou sowest
is not quickened. It is not made alive. It is not
resurrected. until it dies. And that which
thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be. When
you plant a grain of corn, what did you just plant? A grain of
corn. You didn't plant a stalk. You
didn't take a six foot stalk of corn and dig a hole six foot
deep and plant it. You planted a grain. Here's what
he's saying. What's coming out is far greater
than what you just put in. And God is bringing out of the
grave this new body that's so far above this one that was just
put in. It's just like a grain of corn put in. He said what
you put in was bare grain. It may chance if weeds or some
other grass, doesn't mean you don't know what it's going to
be. It's not like you plant a corn and you don't know what's going
to come up. No, it's going to come up what you planted. And what
God's planted is going to come up, just as he purposed it to. And he says in verse 38, but
God giveth it a body. The bodies of God, this creation.
The first creation was all of God. God made everything just as he
purposed and pleased to make it, right? Well, the second creation,
that new creation, that new nature is of God, and that new body
is of God. And God gives it a body as it
has pleased Him, sovereignly. Sovereignly. It's like, no, I
want to come out taller. I want to come out taller and
thinner and more hair. Now, I have no say-so in it. I had no say-so
in the first one. I have no say-so in the second
one. And I'm glad I don't. I'm glad we don't have a say-so
in it. At least that's my sovereign
Lord who does all things well. He gives it a body as it has
pleased Him, and to every seed its own body." Now he's going
to make a comparison here of these bodies and their glory.
All flesh is not the same flesh. There's one kind of flesh of
men, that's us. Then there's another flesh of
beasts. Then there's another flesh, there's another of fish
and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies,
heavenly bodies of stars. that which is up in the heavens,
and terrestrial, the mountains and the lakes and the things
of this earth, they all have their own body, they all have
their own glory, and God has given it to them as it pleased
Him. He's made everything as it pleased Him, and He's given
it its glory. There's more glory than terrestrial.
Let me get back up here. There are also celestial bodies
and bodies terrestrial. But the glory of the celestial
is one, it's one type of glory. And the glory of the terrestrial
is another type of glory that God has made and God has given. There's one glory of the sun
and another glory of the moon. But they all have their purpose.
God has made them as it pleased him and they all serve him. And
there's another glory of the stars. One star differs from
another star in glory. Now listen. He's not saying here that when
we are resurrected that some are more glorious than others.
That's not what he's saying. But what he's saying here is
that God has given all these things their glory. But let me
ask you this. You go back here. There's one
kind of flesh of men. Is there anything like a man,
a man or woman? that God has created. Look at
the animal kingdom. Is there any animal that has
a soul and a spirit and can think and reason and to feel like we
do? And can praise God like we are
able to by his grace and spirit when you're born of God? There's
nothing to be compared to that. You can't compare anything to
that, I don't think. That new spiritual body and that
new man and that body is so infinitely above this one in glory, in strength,
and in power that it's hard to even make a comparison. It's
hard to make a comparison. He says in verse 42, is the resurrection of the dead.
He's making a comparison here. It is sown in corruption. David
said, in sin did my mother conceive me. Since the fall of Adam, everyone
born into this world is born into this world in sin, in corruption. That's how the word of God puts
it, in corruption. David said he was born in sin
and shaped in iniquity. I've known nothing but sin. This
body has known nothing but sin. And the older it gets, the more
evident the sin is on this body, as it ravishes this body of mine. I get older, I get weaker, I
get more frail. I could get too descriptive here,
but there's no need to get too descriptive about this old body.
It's corruption. Take care of it the best you
can, but it's corrupt. It's corrupted. But now listen,
when God raises it from the grave, he's raising it, listen, in incorruption. Not a stain. not a hint of sin
anywhere on it, in any way, shape, or form. The body that shall
be buried is a corrupt body, but that body that shall be raised
will be raised in holiness, in righteousness, purity." Friends, this ought to excite
us. This really ought to excite us. But you know why it doesn't excite
us as much as it should? Because he said, that which is
of the earth is earthly. We still have too much of it
left. We still have too much of it left in us. That which is coming out of the
grave is far more glorious than that one that went into the grave. You ever hear of something that
just sounds too good to be true? And of course, the old adage
is, most of the time it is. And it is. Most of the time it
is. But not here. This sounds too
good to be true, but it is. It is true. This is going to
happen. It is so in dishonor. This body has known nothing but
sin. Nothing but sorrow. I've known some joy and some
happiness. I know that. People, you know, there are some
things they enjoy and stuff, but it's sown in dishonor. You live long enough, you'll
see. You live long enough, you'll see. I have a weak body. And really, truly, compared to
the mind that I'm going to have, that we will have, that every
believer will have, compared to that, I have a weak mind. If we could honestly get a real
glimpse of that spiritual body and that mind, that the mind
that we have will be the mind of Christ, then we would say, yes, this
body is weak. You know, when I was in my 20s, I thought I
was strong. I thought I was. That was a lot of things I thought. But I'll tell you what. At my
strongest, I was still weak. At the height of our mental strength
and capacity, it's still weak. Really, it's still weak. Doesn't
take much to break it. Doesn't take much to break us. It's sown in dishonor, but it's
raised in glory. What a glory it's going to be
to that new body. It is sown in weakness. It's
going to bury a weak body. You know it, it's dead. It's
dead. And then listen, it is raised
in power. That doesn't just mean that it's
raised by the power of God, it is. But what it's saying is a
powerful body is being raised, a body that is very powerful,
a mind that is so brilliant that it's beyond comprehending. It's
raised in power and glory. That's the body that you're going
to receive. Even though now we can kick and
do everything we can to keep going in this one, if we could
If we could see what that new body is and what
that life is without this life, we'd be in a real hurry to get
out of here. We would. We would. There would be no comparison.
It is sown a natural body. Verse 44, it's sown a natural
body. That's what this body is. When
God created Adam out of the dust of the ground, the body he had,
the body he received was a natural body. This one. This one. But now listen, it's
sown a natural body. We receive a natural body, we
are going to bury a natural body. But when God raises it from the
grave, it is raised a spiritual body. The body that our Lord received when it was created by the Holy
Spirit was a natural body. He ate and he drank like we do. He felt pain like we do. But
when he came out of that grave, It was a spiritual body. Brethren,
this is beyond our understanding. I know that. But his body was
first natural, and then spiritual. And we are going to follow the
same process. Same process. There is a natural body, and
there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made, listen, he was made of the dust of the ground.
We know that. He was made for this earth. He was made a living soul. But
the last man, or the last Adam, which is the Lord Jesus Christ,
was made a quickening spirit, a life-giving spirit. The one, listen, the one received
life. The first one, the last one is
life. The last Adam is life. How then, however, that was not
first, which is spiritual. The first Adam was, his body
was made, it was made of the dust of the ground. But that
which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual The order
here is of God. In our first birth, when I came
into this world, when you came into this world, we came into
this world naturally. Natural men and women, natural
bodies. There was nothing, I'll tell
you, there was nothing spiritual about us. Dead, spiritually dead to God, that's
what this Word of God teaches us. We came into this world and
it was natural. But in that second birth, the
reason I read to you John chapter 3, Christ says you must be born
again. That's not natural. That's born of the Spirit, and
that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And then that body, that body
that we are going to receive is going to be a spiritual body. And that will be complete. The
process will be complete. It'll be complete. Our first
body is of this earth, natural. The second body is spiritual,
created by God. And the first man is of the earth,
and he's earthy. He's talking about Adam. The
first man, he's earthy, made out of the dust of the ground.
Made out of the dust of the ground. But the second man, he wasn't
made out of the dust of the ground. He's the Lord from heaven. He's
the Lord from heaven. And his body wasn't made out
of the dust of the ground. It's created by the Holy Spirit
in the womb of Mary. Listen, the first man is totally
dependent on this earth. Now, I know we're dependent on
God, God gives life, sustains life. But I tell you this, don't
eat. See how long your body lives.
Don't drink. See how long you live. We are
dependent, this body is dependent on the things of this earth.
I've got to drink. I've got to eat. I've got to
do these things to keep this body rolling. That's the way
God made it. But the second one does not need
these things. That spiritual body that would
be raised out of the grave does not need this natural water and
food that we eat on this earth. It doesn't need that, listen,
to live. Christ is the life of it. He's the water of life. He's
the bread of life. He's the life of us. You're not
going to have the sun in that new heaven and new earth. You
won't need the sun. He's the light of it. Everything that we need, we'll
have in Christ. We have in Him. Provided by Him,
through Him, in Him. It's Him. But this first man,
he's earthly. He's got to have his biscuit
and potatoes. He's got to have that stuff.
But I tell you what, that new man doesn't live on those things. That new man lives on the bread
of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. My spiritual life is totally dependent on Jesus
Christ. Not the things of this earth.
Not the things of this earth. And as is, he says here, as is
the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
In other words, we're earthbound. We are earthbound by these bodies. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. You know, the Scripture says, As He is, so are we in this world. As He is. One time we were earthly
minded, cared nothing for Him at all, nothing about the things
of God at all, nothing but earthly minded. What are we going to
eat, drink, and wear? That's what consumes the natural man,
isn't it? What am I going to eat? What am I going to drink?
What am I going to wear? That is what consumes the natural
man. But that new man, that new man,
he's heavenly minded. That's why Paul says, set your
affection, your mind on things above where Christ sits at God's
right hand. Set your mind, your heart, you
set them on those things. And if we grow properly, like
a stalk of corn, if it grows properly, it'll grow toward heaven.
It'll grow straight up, it'll open up, and it'll receive the
rain that God sends and the sunshine that God sends, and God will
receive the glory. And if we grow properly, the
things of this world will become less and less. They really will. These things will become less
and less, and our minds and our hearts will be on Him, looking
for Him, waiting for Him, hoping to be with Him, longing to be
with Him. And you'll actually start to
long to go home. Heaven will be home. It won't
be just the opposite of hell. It'll be home. Most people see heaven as just
a place Of course, they see it like an eternal vacation. That's
the way most of them look at it. Then it's the opposite of
having to go to hell. But to the children of God, it's
home. This is a journey. This is a pilgrimage. We're headed
home to our Father's house. But we still have this old body
and still have these old earthly desires because we still have
part of this old earth in us. It's still part of us. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, boy, have we ever done that? Have we not borne
the image of Adam? Well, we shall bear the image
of Christ also. We shall bear his image. We shall
be just like him. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. There's no
way in the world that flesh and blood, this corrupt nature, is
going to inherit heaven, the kingdom of God. You wouldn't
be happy there. I'm telling you, you wouldn't. If you took a natural man as
he is, that man would not be happy in heaven. Because the things he loves are
not there. You can only be happy, listen, you can only be happy
when you're surrounded by what you love. And the natural man would not
be happy. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither
does corruption inherit incorruption. That's not going to happen. Behold, I show you a mystery.
I show you a secret. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. Even those who are alive, Paul's
telling us there's going to be some alive when the Lord comes
back. But they are not going to go to be with Him as they
are in this flesh. That's going to be changed. They
are going to receive the same spiritual body that those receive
whom He raises from the grave. And it's a spiritual body without
sin, perfect mind, perfect strength. You think you were strong when
you were young? That's no comparison to what it's going to be like.
But it's going to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump. For the trump shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised, and here is how the dead in Christ
shall be raised incorruptible. All the effects of sin gone. Absolutely gone. And we shall
be changed. This corruptible must put on
incorruption. And this mortal, this person
who, this one who's subject to death, that's out in front of
every one of us, right? Everyone here knows, somewhere
down the road, we have to die. We have to die. Well, at some
time or another, this mortal who has to die is going to put
on immortality and will never die. There will be no graveyards
in the kingdom of God. On that new earth, there will
not be one grave. Not one single die. 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,
Death, that last enemy called Death, it is finally swallowed
up in the victory of God's saints in Christ. It's gone. It's gone. Death will not even be mentioned again.
Death will never even be thought of again. Won't have to bury it again.
Never have to do that again. Because there's nothing about
that new man, that new body, that new man that's dying. There's nothing about him that's
dying. O death, where is thy sting?
Where is it now? Grave, where is your victory?
Where is it now? It's gone. Christ took the sting
out of death. If we could only see. Boy, if
the Lord would just enable us to grow up, enable us to grow
up and mature and see what's coming, and what we have
in Him, we wouldn't fear these things. We would not fear them. No sting in death, no victory
in the grave. The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law, and He satisfied the law. The
law has no claim on me. It has no claim on the children
of God. But thanks be to God which gives us the victory. How
did he give us the victory? We straightened up? Started living
right? What we call living right? None
of us live right. Nobody can live right by God's standards.
That's why Christ had to come and die. Thanks be to God which gives
us the victory. Here's how he gave it to us.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. He lived right. Everything he
did was right, and his rightness is my righteousness. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
seeing you have such hope, seeing what you have coming, oh, be steadfast. Don't let these
men come in without a doubt. You know, some false prophets
had come in and started this stuff. There's no resurrection
of the dead. And, you know, it just started
casting a dark light on the gospel. He said, you'd be steadfast,
unmovable. And the only way you could be
unmovable is to be grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ. To be
grounded in Him. Settled. Scripture says settled
in Him. Unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord, it's not in vain. Everything
else is in vain if men do. Everything that men do is vanity. That's what Solomon said, vanity
of vanity. Solomon got upset one day. He said, he looked out
over all he had. He said, now, who's to say I'm
not going to leave this to a fool? I'm going to leave this to a
fool. I've worked hard, I've done this, and it's been a blessing
to a lot of people, and who knows, but one day some fool is going
to get a hold of this and mess it all up. Well, no fool is going to get
a hold of what we have in Christ. We have that in Christ, and it's
not going to get messed up. We can't even mess it up. Oh, I said, be steadfast, unmovable. Look what we have coming. Look
what we have coming. Born of God. Sons of God. Sons and daughters of God. A
new creation. A new man. A new nature. He said, I'll give
you a new heart, a new spirit. That's what he said on Ezekiel
36. And last of all, he's going to give us a new body. A spiritual
body. And it is so far above this,
there's no way to make a comparison. But it'll still be us. It'll
still be me. But it'll be a spiritual body.
Okay, Mike.