Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We left off verse
19 last Sunday. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians
here, he let them know that the gospel that he preached unto
them was the gospel that he had received. from the Lord. It's
not something he came up with. It's not a man-made gospel. I'll tell you how it would be
if we made it up. Works. It would be by works. We would have people doing something
in order to please God. But Paul said, I gave you that
which I was given, that which was delivered to me. And it's
according to the Scriptures. You can take the Word of God
and check out what I am saying. They were able to take the Old
Testament. They could take the Old Testament,
and Paul would take them, and I'm sure he went back to the
Old Testament there, and that's what he's referring to, according
to the Scripture, the Old Testament. They didn't have the New at that
time. And he's saying, you can check me out. You can check me
out. Just go back there and read Isaiah.
Go back to Genesis and all the way through. You can check me
out because the gospel I have delivered unto you is exactly
what the Word of God is teaching. I remember telling Henry this
after I heard him on television preaching the gospel. I came
down to 13th Street. I said, for the first time, what
you were saying matched what I was reading. It matched what
I was reading. When I heard him preaching, and
I opened the Word of God and went along with him, it matched. It all came together. And that's what Paul's saying
to them. I delivered you what I was given, and what I was given
is according to the Word of God. It's according to the Word of
God. He says there were witnesses
to this. He said he was a witness, the other apostles were witnesses,
and there were over 500 brethren that were witnesses to his resurrection.
And he's dealing with this situation that has come up, that some have
said, he said, I'll say some among you, that there's no resurrection
of the dead. In other words, Christ is not
risen, and this is what he's dealing with. But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And
if Christ be not risen, then our preaching vain, your faith
is vain, you are found false witnesses of God, and we are
found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of
God that He raised up Christ. If so be that the dead rise not,
for if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, because
it all hinges on Him. The resurrection of the dead
all hinges on the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't hinge on anyone
else, right there. If he's not raised, no one's
raised, period. And they also which fall asleep
in Christ, well, they've perished also. They're gone. If in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable
because we have denied ourselves. We've fallen after Christ, we've
denied ourselves, and we've put up with a lot of abuse, a lot
of suffering. And we are of all men most miserable,
and really we are of all men most stupid, if there is no resurrection
of the dead. Christ is not risen. Now after
dealing with that, it's like in verse 20, Paul comes down
to verse 20 and he says, but, I've dealt with this long enough,
but now is Christ risen from the dead? He's alive. He is risen. There's no question about it.
He's risen. And he'd become the firstfruits
of them that slept. He couldn't take it any longer.
He said, but now. It's like saying, but God who's
rich in mercy. But now is Christ risen. Paul
saw him. He said, yeah, you know, he said
here, I saw him. He's alive. He's alive. And he'd
become the firstfruits of them that slept. He's the first to
rise by his own power to immortality. No one ever did that. Abraham
didn't do that, Moses didn't do that. Christ rose by his own
power to immortality. He's the first fruit of them
that slept, and he's the first to ascend to heaven and present
himself to God in the Holy of Holies. He's the first to do
that by his own power. And he's the best. The first
fruit was the best of the crop. He's the first fruit. And listen
here, and as the first fruit, he only represented that fruit. If I go out, if I grow a garden,
if I go out to that garden and I pick a real nice tomato, that
is just real good, juicy, ripe tomato, and I bring it in, it's
the first fruit. It doesn't represent the apples
out there or the or the peaches or the potatoes. It doesn't represent
them. It represents the tomatoes. It's
the first fruit. And Christ is the first fruit
of them that slept. Them that slept in Him. Not the
first fruit of them that died, but them that slept. Scripture
always speaks of believers sleeping in the Lord. And He's the first
fruit of them that slept. He represents them. That's what
it's saying. Christ only represents those
given to him by the Father. He's the first fruit of them
that slept and them that slept in him. Now listen, in verse
21, 4, since by man came death, that's how this all came about,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. Adam's transgression
brought death upon the whole human race. You know, we don't
have to scientifically figure out why we grow old or why our
bodies fall apart. No, it's sin. Look over in Romans
chapter 5. It's sin. By man came death, Adam. In verse 12 of chapter 5 in Romans, As by one man, sin entered into
the world. It did not enter by many. It
did not enter by a committee. It entered by one man, Adam. And death by sin. When death
is conceived, it brings forth sin. And so death passed upon
all men for that all have sinned. Over in my margin it says this,
in whom all have sinned. We all sinned in Adam, representatively. Now, I know, I know there are
many who say that's not right, that's not fair, that I should
have to be guilty of what Adam did. Now, if you can't take any
part in his representation, you can't take any part in Christ. I did not do anything. Listen,
I did not do one thing to become lost. I was born lost. Born in sin, David said, and
shaven in iniquity. He said they come from the womb
speaking lies. That's how the Word of God presents
us by nature. That's how it presents us. I
came out of the womb with the same nature of my father, Adam. I did not become a sinner at
a certain age. I became a sinner At birth, at
birth, I'll show you that here, look, in verse 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, listen, even over them that had not sinned after
the similitude, the likeness of Adam's transgression. Who
is that? Who is he speaking of here? That
even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's
transgressions? Babies, children. Adam sinned willfully, but their
children are born and they die at birth or they may live a year. And, you know, I've got a great
aunt, had 14 kids. Seven of them died at birth. Seven of those 14. Why? Sin. Now, I do believe, I believe
with all my heart, those children are fully mature in the presence
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ. They need redemption
just like I needed as an adult. Because of sin. You see, sin
is a nature. Sin is what we do because of
what we are. I do things that I ought not to do because of
what I am. And what I am goes back to Adam. in whom all have sinned." Then
he said, listen, that's bad news there. You say, that's bad news
there. But here's the good news. By
man came also the resurrection of the dead. By the man Christ
Jesus came the resurrection of the dead. All those in him are
raised from the dead. All whom Adam represented died.
All whom Christ represents lived. Let me go back to Romans chapter
5 here. And not only so, but also we joyously," verse 12,
"'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and so death
by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.'"
Now, turn over to verse 18. "'Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men.'"
under justification of life. It's all whom they represented.
This chapter right here and these verses deal with representation.
For as by one man's disobedience, many were what? Made sinners. That's how I became a sinner.
I was made one in what Adam did. And I inherited his nature. So
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. It says over in 2 Corinthians
5.21 that he was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Moreover, the
law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Aren't you glad of that? that
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive." Listen, because of my union of
nature to Adam, I'm a sinner. Now, in the new birth, because
of my union of nature to Christ, I'm a son of God. Turn over to
2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Look in verse 4. whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of," what? The divine nature. And that's
more than just fellowship. That is partaker of the divine
nature. So by my union to Adam, I'm a
sinner. But by my union to Christ through
the new birth, I am a son of God. As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive." Not try to make them alive. They
shall be made alive. But every man in his own order.
Christ the first fruit, you see. He's the first fruit. Afterward,
they that are Christ, they that are His. Listen, God is a God
of order. You look out over this world
and you think things are out of order, don't you? That's because
we see things horizontally. We see things at eye level. But
what this world looks at and may call out of order, I'm telling
you, it's under the order of God. It's under the purpose and
order of God Almighty. God is a God of order. And here's
the order. Christ is first. He's first. He has a preeminence in all things. All things. And He's the first
fruit. He rose to immortality. And now
at the end of the world, all that are His, He says, shall
rise from the grave. And that resurrection, that body,
that new body. They will have an immortal body.
They will have a glorified body like His. But He's the first. He has the preeminence. He's
the first. And then when it's time, when it is time, at His
coming, all that are His will rise also and be just like Him. Be just like Him in righteousness,
holiness, We will love God as we ought
to love God. We will follow Him as we ought
to follow Him. Our Lord followed Him perfectly.
Our Lord said, Not my will but Thine be done. Have you ever
really said that? One day we will. I mean, one
day we say that and we do mean it. But we have real hesitations
about it at times. Because I tell you, it hurts
His flesh. It hurts His flesh. But our Lord, in the face of
being made sin, in the face of suffering the divine wrath of
God, said, not my will, that's when He said, if it be possible,
let this pass from me, but not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Thy will be done. We'll be just like Him. That
doesn't mean we'll all look exactly like Him. We're going to look
like we look. I'm going to be me, and you're going to be you.
But we will be like him in nature. We will have, the scripture says,
the mind of Christ. We will have the mind perfectly,
perfectly. Then cometh the end when he,
the Lord Jesus Christ, shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule
and all authority and power. That's what's going on right
now. He's put him down, all rule, all power, and all authority.
Then cometh the end. If only we could keep that before
us in all that we do. This has an end. This has an end. This day has
an end. That's why it is marked with
time. God marked from the beginning. this earth and everything about
it with time because it has an end. But you know on that new
heaven, that new earth, that there's going to be no night.
There's not going to be any such thing as time. See, day and night
marks time and weeks and months. No such things will exist because
this has an end. That does not have an end. This
has an end. Everything has to do with this
earth, this life, has an end. Our relationships have an end.
Vicki and I have been married for 35 years. Somewhere in there. I went somewhere in there. I
got somewhere. Plus or minus. But it has an end. Our relationship
as a husband and wife have an end. My relationship to my two
sons has an end. If we are sons and daughters
of the King, that will not end. That relationship will not end.
But this earthly relationship, this fleshly relationship will
end. It ends. The ministry has an end here. The preacher has an end here. It has an end. But what is spoken
of here is Christ's mediatorial kingdom. That's what he's talking
about. Then comes the end, when he,
Christ, as the mediator, as the one into whom, into his hands,
all things have been given, when he shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God. It's in his hands, the whole
world in his hands. The whole kingdom of God is in
the hands of this man, Jesus Christ. And one day, you know,
I was thinking last night as I was thinking of this verse,
the end cometh. We were sitting behind the train
the other day. Well, behind it we were, you
know, sitting at a railroad crossing. And that was a long train. I
said, man, this is a long train. Finally, the end of that train
came. God has numbered He's numbered down to the seconds, how long
this thing will be. One day, the last day, the caboose
will come by, and I'm telling you, that'll be the end. But
if it's a thousand years from now, I won't be here. I have
a day. I don't know where it is, but
I have a day that I have an end on this earth. When then comes the end, When
he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even to the Father,
when he shall have put down all rule and all authority, after
he's done that, not before, because he said, My servant shall not
fail. So it's not going to be delivered up most of the rule,
and I've conquered most of it. What was it, Rome had conquered
like a quarter of the world at one time? Well, that's not all
the world. That's not all of it. That was
about a quarter of it. Well, He's conquered all of it. He's
conquered every spirit. He's conquered Satan. He's conquered
every man, every woman, everything that moves, He's conquered it.
It's under His authority. The great design of the Father
from eternity. of all things that exist shall
be accomplished and finished by His Son, Jesus Christ. And He will deliver it up perfectly. Nothing left unaccomplished. Christ shall put down all rule,
all authority, and all power. He shall subdue all to the glory
of God the Father. Look over in Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, verse 36. Then said he unto them,
But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise
his script. And he that hath no sword, let
him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that
this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. And he
was reckoned among the transgressors. For the things concerning me
have an end." And he's speaking here of his mediatorial reign. That's what he's speaking of.
It says in verse 25, "...for he must reign till he hath put
down all enemies under his feet." It was given to him as the mediator. There's only one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. is given him to reign
over all flesh, over all people, over Satan, until that last enemy
is conquered and put under his feet. He must reign until he
has put all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy to be
destroyed is death, and that glorious resurrection day. When
God finally puts an end to all this, he will give death its
final death blow. Death will not happen no more. As Henry said to me one time
walking away from a funeral, from a grave, a funeral site,
grave site, he turned to me and said, I'll be glad when we quit
dying. That's what he's saying, the last enemy's death when we'll
quit dying. That'll be over with. It won't
happen again. Verse 27, For he hath put all
things under his feet. Everything's under the power
and authority. You notice it doesn't say just
under his hand. Or it doesn't say under his control. He's put
everything under his feet. He's standing on top of it. It's
like you see a king has conquered another king and he can put his
foot on his neck. That's conquered. That's conquered. Someone puts their foot on your
neck. He said he's put everything under his feet. That means he's
on top of it all. For he has put all things under
his feet, but when he says all things are put under him, it's
revealed, it's manifested. that he is accepted. He's speaking of the Father.
The Father did not put himself under the mediatorial reign of
Christ. He put everything else under his authority, under his
reign. There's not one thing, there's
not one person, there's not one spirit that's not under the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the man Christ Jesus is seated
at the right hand of power. You see, God the Father is not
under anyone. Now, God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, they're all equal. There's only one God.
But now, there is a man. There is a real man in flesh
and bone seated at God's right hand, right now, ruling and reigning
over all things. But now, God the Father is not
under that man. No, not under his meditatorial reign. That's
what he's talking about. That's what he's talking about. And
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son
himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that
God may be all and in all. When all
enemies are subdued and all his children saved, when they're
all saved. Then shall the son himself, as
the mediator, give up all that was entrusted to him back to
the father." When he gives it back, when he gives it to his
father, here it is. And that office will not be needed
anymore. Now Paul, and I'll wind this
up here in verse 29, Paul's going to return to the resurrection
of the dead. Now he's going to return to that. Now, if there be no resurrection
of the dead, else what shall they do which are baptized for
the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why then are they baptized
for the dead? That sounds like a very complicated
scripture. Here is what I believe he's talking
about. If the dead rise not, then why
are we baptized? Why are we baptized, which is
a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? Then
why are you baptized if the dead rise not? If Christ is not risen,
then why are you doing something that symbolizes his death, burial,
and resurrection? It's meaningless. It's useless.
If he's dead, if he's still in the grave, And why stand we in jeopardy
every hour? Why do we expose ourselves to
danger and death if there's no resurrection of the dead? Why
do we give all this up? Why are we doing what we're doing?
Do you see how foolish? This is why I say to the Corinthians,
do you see how foolish it is if there's no resurrection of
the dead? And what we're doing in religion and all this is meaningless.
It's absolutely meaningless. I protest by your rejoicing which
I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. What do we have
to rejoice in? What are you rejoicing in this
morning if Christ is not risen, if the dead rise not, if there's
no new heaven, new earth? There's nothing to rejoice in
at all. Well, I face death every day.
He said, I die daily. Why do I deal with that every
day? Why do I put myself in jeopardy every day? Why do I put myself
in a situation where my life is always on the line every day?
I die daily. If after the manner of men I
have fought with a beast of Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If
the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
What advantage do we have over the heathens If the dead rise
up, we might as well live just like them. There's no difference. Here's the problem. Here's the
problem. Verse 33. Be not deceived now,
brethren. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. You're hanging around with some
people that's causing this problem. You're allowing this to go on
in the church. and you're not dealing with it,
you're allowing these people to come in and disrupt and cast
a big question mark over really the foundation of the gospel.
If he's not risen, we don't have a gospel. We don't have any good
news. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. That's just wisdom, isn't it?
You go hang around a bad apple, you can become a bad apple, because
you've got the same seed Bad and use that apple ass. You become just like the birds
of a feather flock together, you know. He says you're putting
up with some false teachers and you don't need to be doing that. Put them out. Put them out. It will only make you worse.
Don't think you're going to make people better by just Just hang
around and say, they're going to see Jesus in me. Who hasn't
said that? They didn't see Jesus in Jesus.
I heard somebody say that in a sermon once. They didn't see
Him in Him. They'll see it. I'll tell you
where they'll see it. Come ye out and be ye separate, saith
the Lord. When you follow Christ, you're not trying to put on a
show. You're just following the Lord. You're following after
Him. And you're standing for the gospel.
You're contending for the faith, and that's when it's seen. Awake to righteousness. Here's
the last verse. Awake to righteousness and sin
not, for some have not the knowledge of God. And here he's saying
it's evident some among you have not the knowledge of God, and
we wouldn't be having this problem. Our Lord said this, there'll
always be tares among the weak. Always. Always. He said, you follow after righteousness.
Wake up from your carelessness and your spiritual stupor that
you're in and follow him and get rid of this corrupt communication,
these evil companions. Not everyone who says, Lord,
Lord, will enter in. Not everyone who professes, possesses. Someone I read one time, I don't
know if I can say it verbatim, but one of the commentators,
I think it was Matthew Henry, The name of a Christian does
not mean you have the nature of one. You know, there's a lot of people
who call themselves Christians, but there's a few who have the
nature that's born of God, that is Christ, that is of Christ,
and they are His, and they follow Him, and they are risen in Him. And
they look for Him. And you rejoice to be here. It's
like that article I have put in here by Paul Mahan. You rejoice
to be here. You rejoice to hear of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're in love with Him. You're
in love with Him. You know, love is, you know,
Christiana, who can explain that? It's not something you can just
work up. It's something that happens. You fall in love with
your wife or your husband. You didn't just say, I've got
to fall in love with her. I don't know how I'm going to
do it, but I'm going to somehow. No, you just do. And one day
you fell in love with Christ. And that's because the love of
God was shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. The same
love that he's of, that he's made of, God is love, was shed
abroad in your heart, and you fell in love with Christ. You
fell in love with him. He's risen. Paul said, but now,
verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead. He's become the
firstfruits of them that slept. And he's reigning, he's ruling
right now over all things, and sooner or later, And he's going
to deliver everything up to the Father, that God may be all in
all and he'll get all the glory. And you know what? We'll be those
who believe him, those who love him, those who trust him. We'll
be there to enjoy it. We'll get to enjoy it. All right.