His lesson this morning begins
in verse 45, 1 Corinthians 15. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Now, as we've gone through this,
I've pointed out before that the scriptures clearly teach
federal headship. All the human race is represented
by one of two men, two Adams, the first Adam and the last Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The first Adam was a man made
out of the dirt. God put a lump of dirt together
and he breathed the breath of life into that lump of clay.
And Adam became a living soul. That body of clay was animated
with a living soul. And every human being who would
ever live was represented by that man who was made out of
the dirt. He was our federal head. Everything Adam did, we
did. When Adam sinned, we sinned.
When Adam fell, we fell. And because of his sin, his body
eventually died. Now, we know we're born with
a nature just like Adam, a sinful, depraved nature. And we're born
with a body just like Adam's, too. This body's going to die
and go back to the dust just like Adam's did because we have
a body just like his. Now, the last Adam is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was made of discern. He came
to this earth from glory, and he was the representative, the
federal head of all of God's elect. And what Christ did, those
elected were seen in him. Now, the Lord Jesus was our substitute. He came with a body of flesh
and bones, just like our body, yet without sin. He was truly
a man. And the body that God the Father
made him, that body was capable of dying. And he did die under
the wrath of God when our sins were charged to him. He died. But unlike Adam, the first Adam,
he didn't stay dead. He rose again. And his resurrection
is the seal that one day every one of God's elect, all those
people that he represented are going to be resurrected just
like him. And when Christ arose, he arose in glorified flesh,
in spiritual flesh. That body was not capable of
dying. Life was in that body. You know,
the old writers talk about the difference between an animal
body and a spiritual body. An animal body that they talk
about is the body that we have, supported by things of this earth. A spiritual body is supported
by spiritual things, incapable of dying. And Christ arose in
a body of flesh and blood. He wasn't a spirit. He was flesh
and blood. He said, touch me, handle me.
He's not a spirit. But it was a spiritual body.
It wasn't the same kind of flesh that we have. And Paul calls
him here a quickening spirit. Because he has life in himself. He raised himself from the grave
because he's a quickening spirit. And one day, he'll raise all
of his people from the grave. And he'll raise us in a body
just like his glorious body. We'll be raised a spiritual body.
Look over in John chapter 11. Here's the quickening spirit
here. John chapter 11, he gives Christ had life in himself and
he gives that life to whomsoever he will. That's physical life
and it's in spiritual life. He gives it to whomsoever he
will. And he's going to raise his people in the last day. Look
in John 11, verse 23, this is after Lazarus had died. And Jesus
saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto
him, I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last
day. And Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection. The resurrection isn't just so
much an event. The resurrection is a person. The glory of the resurrection
is a person. The power of the resurrection
is a person. I am the resurrection and I am
the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this?
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, who should come into the world. Yes, Lord, I
believe you're the life. I believe you're the resurrection.
I don't understand that. I believe it because God's word
said it. Now, verse 46. Back in our text,
how be it? That was not first, which is
spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterward, that
which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. Now, physical
life came first, appeared first, then spiritual life appeared.
Adam was given physical life. He was made just out of that
red clay. And that body of physical life
was doomed to return to the dust from which it was made. Christ
came to earth from heaven. He was formed in the womb of
the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. He was born a man. He lived as
a man. But that man was God Almighty
in human flesh, and he revealed, he brought spiritual life A physical
life is revealed first, then spiritual life, both in history
of mankind. And that's true in our experience
too. First comes physical life. Then comes spiritual life. God's
elect are born into this world, given physical life. Born just
like everybody else. No different whatsoever. Depraved,
rotten, stinking. And we live a number of years,
however many years, God's ordained. We live in sin and rebellion. Physically alive, but spiritually
dead. Then God moves in grace. Just
like when He gave physical life, in His time He gives spiritual
life. He gives faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. First came physical
life. Then came spiritual life. You've
got to be a sinner before you can be saved. You've got to be
a natural man before you can be changed to a spiritual man.
That was even true in the life of our Lord. His physical body
came first, the body that he lived and died in. Then he was
raised in a spiritual body. Now, verse 48, As is the earthy,
such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now, everyone who descended from Adam has a nature just like Adam,
and they have a body, a physical body just like Adam's. And unless
Christ returns first, every one of us here this morning is going
to die. And these bodies are going to decay back to the dust
that they came from. And that's going to happen because
of our physical head, Adam. We bear the image of Adam, don't
we? In our nature, our depraved nature,
we bear the image of Adam. And these frail bodies, bear
the image of Adam, and we're going to end up just like him.
These bodies are constantly dying, and one day they will. They'll
quit living. Now, everyone who's born again, though, is represented
by the second Adam, by Christ. And they're born with a nature
just like Christ. They're born with the nature
of Christ. And one day, They're going to
have a body of Christ, too. They're going to have a body
just like His glorious body. When a believer is resurrected,
they're going to be resurrected in a spiritual body that's incapable
of dying, just like the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
the new man who's born from above, who's in every believer, bears
the image of Christ. Right now, the nature that's
in a believer, that's in you, bears the image of Christ. This
body still bears the image of Adam. We still towed around this
nature that bears the image of Adam. But after the resurrection,
this body is going to be raised in righteousness and holiness. It's going to be raised just
like Christ. And this is so comforting. Just as surely as we have borne
the image of Adam in this life, we will bear the image of Christ
for eternity. That's exciting. What did the
Apostle John say? We know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is and we'll
be like him, just as sure. Is there any doubt you bear the
image of Adam? Well, there's no doubt you'll bear the image
of Christ for eternity. Now, verse 50. Now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Now, when
Paul here is talking about flesh and blood, he's referring to
these natural bodies, these animal bodies like the old writers talk
about. And these bodies cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. Can't do it. In this body, we
would not be happy in glory. We couldn't survive in glory
in these bodies because these bodies are corrupt. They enjoy
corrupt things. They're supported by corrupt
things. The things that we eat to support this body are dead.
That's that's this body is corrupt and it eats corrupt things in
order to survive. There's so much sin left in these
bodies. They can't even appear in glory. These bodies are no more fit
to enter heaven than a 10 year old prince is ready to inherit
his father's throne or assume his father's throne. He's the
heir of his father's throne. He'll be fit someday to inherit
his father's throne, but not right now. First, he's got to
change. He's got to mature. He's got
to learn. He's got to be taught. He's got
to gain wisdom. And right now we are heirs of
glory, but we're not fit to enter it in these bodies. Now, we will
be someday, but first we've got to be changed. We must be changed. You see, Adam was given a body
that was fit for the world he lived in, a physical world. And we're born with a body just
like Adam's because we live in the same world. Christ's body
was raised fit to live in the world he lives in and rules in,
a spiritual world. Now, God's elect have already
been given that nature in the new birth and in the resurrection
will be given the same body, a spiritual body that's fit to
live in a spiritual world for eternity. Now, verse 51, Paul
says, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. And here, remember, there's folks
who come in and told these Corinthian believers there's no resurrection.
Well, to those people, Paul says, you do not believe the resurrection.
He knows that they're going to object and they're going to say,
well, what about believers who are still alive when Christ returns? They're not going to be resurrected
because they haven't died. How could they go be with the
Lord since their bodies haven't been changed? They haven't died
and been resurrected in a new body. Well, Paul says, I'm going
to show you a mystery. I'm going to give you the answer.
I'm going to show you something that could never be figured out
with human reasoning. You know, the purpose of God
has to be revealed in everything. The purpose of God must be revealed
because God cannot be discerned with human logic. It must be
revealed. So Paul says, here's the mystery.
Believers who are alive when Christ returns are going to be
changed. from a natural body to a spiritual
body. They're going to be changed from
corruption to incorruption, from dishonor to honor, from weakness
to power. We're not all asleep. We're not
all going to be changed because we've died and been buried and
resurrected. We should not all sleep. But we shall all be changed. And I've got written in my Bible
there, thank God. I don't want to be like me. I
am sick and tired of being like me. I want to be changed. Oh,
how I long to be changed, to conform to the image of my Savior. Oh, how I long for it. We shall
be changed. And you know, this change from
corruption to incorruption is not even unheard of in human
history. The exact same thing happened
to Enoch and Elijah when they were translated. They didn't
go to glory like they were. They were changed. Translated,
the same way believers will be changed when Christ returns,
those who are still alive at that time. Now, verse 52, here's
how they're going to be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and
the dead should be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. You
know, when Christ returns, we know the dead are going to be
raised, incorruptible, perfect. And the believers who are alive
and remain, they're going to be changed to the exact same
type of body, incorruptible, perfect. And that change is going
to happen just as fast as you can blink your eye. You know,
we don't even realize most of the time we blinked our eye.
That's how fast it's going to happen. Well, when's this going
to happen? I don't know. I don't know when,
but I know who. I know who is coming. And I know
what's going to happen when he gets here. Even Paul didn't know
when. He hears talking in the first
person, like he says, we shall be changed. Well, he didn't.
Even the Apostle Paul thought, well, Christ could return before
I die. I don't know. Even the Apostle
Paul didn't know when Christ would return. But he knew who. I know whom I have believed.
I know who is coming. And I know what's going to happen
when he gets here. His glory is going to be revealed. We'll
be made like him. Now verse 53, he says, we should be changed
for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal
must put on immortality. If we're going to be in God's
presence, we must be holy. We must be as holy as God himself. Well, it's obvious we have to
be changed. This body of corruption must be changed to a body of
incorruption. How can a corrupt body and a
corrupt person enjoy perfect holiness and perfect righteousness.
You can't do it. You've got to be changed. This
mortal body must be changed to an immortal body. How can a mortal
body live eternally? It can't be done. It has to be
changed. So, verse 54, 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 is swallowed up in Now look over to Isaiah
chapter 25. Here's a quotation from Isaiah
25. Isaiah 25 verse 6. And in this mountain shall the
Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast
of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines
on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all people. and the veil
that is spread over all nations, he will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall
he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken."
He's going to swallow up death in victory. Christ, our substitute,
has made us free from sin. We're free from the penalty of
sin. We're free from the punishment of sin. We're free from the curse
of sin. And we're free from the controlling
power of sin. I still feel the effects of sin
there, don't you? We're not free from the presence
of sin in these bodies. Not yet. But when Christ returns,
we will be. We'll be free from the presence
of sin. Christ has made us free from
the fear of death. He's made us free from the fear
of the grave. The believer doesn't fear death.
There's nothing to be afraid of there because Christ our substitute
died and rose again for us. But these bodies are still dying,
aren't they? They're still dying. Just every day they're getting
weaker and weaker and weaker and dying. And one day they really
will die. You're going to put this body
in the ground. You've got to do it because it's
going to stink and be too offensive to look at. You've got to put
it in the ground. We're not free from the presence of sin yet.
It's not going to be very long and we're going to meet each
other at a funeral because we're not free from the presence of
death yet. But we will be when Christ returns.
Death is going to be swallowed up in the victory of our Lord
Jesus Christ and it will never be seen again. And because our
Lord triumphed over death and over the grave, we're going to
triumph in Him And we're going to sing a victory song. Look
here at verse 55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Death? We've lived in fear of you all
of our lives. We've exercised and we've tried
to eat right and we've lived just to put off death as long
as we can. We've lived in fear of death
all of our lives. Where's your power now? You're swallowed up
in victory. Grave? We've lived in fear of
you all of our lives. Fear of lying in the grave. It
may have looked like the grave had the victory over us for a
while. When those dead bodies lay in that grave, it may have
looked like the grave had the victory. Grave, where's your
victory now? We've been raised up out of the
grave, never to return again. It's like in the first Gulf War.
Iraq invaded Kuwait. Supposedly they had this million
man army, well trained, fierce. They held Kuwait under its power
for a while until a mightier power came in. We're going to
lay in the grave until a mightier power arrives, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when he arrives, it's not
possible that the grave is going to hold us any longer because
death has been swallowed up in victory. And we're going to say,
death, where's your stand? And Paul is referring here like
to a wasp. You know, once a wasp stings
you, it loses its stinger. You know, I remember when being
a kid, getting stung by a wasp, and my mom would say, well, aren't
you glad it's not going to sting anybody else? Well, that really wasn't
much comfort to me because, I mean, it hurt. I was like, I'll just
as soon as it stung somebody else so it couldn't sting me.
It's lost its stinger. But it's not going to sting you
again. Well, death has sunk its stinger into our substitute. It can't sting you again. Not
eternally it can't. You will never die eternally
because death sunk its stinger into our substitute. Where's
your stinger now? It's gone. I thought as I read that this
week, it's like it's like a little child kind of doing a little
victory dance, a little victory song over death. We've gotten
the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 56. Paul tells
us about the stinger. The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. The sting of death is sin. It's
sin that causes death. Sin is a deadly, poisonous stinger
that's always fatal. But if it weren't for sin, death
would have no power over us. That's the reason people die
is because of sin. And the law comes in to give
sin its strength. If there were no law, there'd
be no sin. Because sin is a transgression of the law. And God's law demands
death for sin. That's its power. Now, if you
can solve this sin problem, you can solve every problem we have.
Every single problem we ever have will be solved if you can
solve this sin problem. How are we going to do that?
How are we going to solve this sin problem? How are we going
to be set free from sin from the law? Well, look at verse
57. Paul gives us the answer. But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. We have the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ, and that should make us a thankful people. Paul
says, thanks be to God. We ought to be a thankful people
because Christ has given us this victory as a free gift of his
grace. He's given it to us. We didn't
earn a victory. We didn't go fight for it. We
weren't part of the army that won the battle. Christ fought
this battle by Himself, won the victory by Himself, and as a
free gift of His grace, gives it to His people. Every gift
we have is a gift of God's grace. Christ gave us the victory over
sin by taking our sin and His body on the tree, making our
sin His own. He called them My sin, My transgressions. And he put that sin away through
the sacrifice of himself. He bore God's justice in his
body and washed our sin away under his precious blood. He
gave us a victory over the law by keeping the law for us perfectly
as our substitute, as our representative, and freely imputing his righteousness
to us. Now, the law has nothing against
us because in the eyes of the law, and Christ were perfect. He gave us the victory over the
law. He gave us the victory over death by dying for us, by dying
in our place as our substitute. And God's law will never demand
two deaths for one sin. Never do it. If your sin was
charged to Christ and He died for you, you'll never die. God's
law won't allow it. Christ gave us the victory over
the grave by rising for us the third day. And He's got the keys. He's got the keys to the whole
shooting match. He's got the keys to the grave. It's not possible
for the grave to keep you locked in there because Christ our Lord
has the keys. He gave us the victory. So, because
all this is true, verse 58, therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
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. My
beloved brethren, we have a good hope. A good hope through grace. A sure hope through grace. We
have sure hope of the resurrection of these bodies. A sure hope
of victory over sin, death, and hell. We have a sure hope of
being made just like Christ. Therefore, be steadfast. Be steadfast in the Gospel. Fix your faith on the Lord Jesus
Christ and refuse to be moved away from Him. Look steadfastly
to Christ and never for a moment take your eyes off Him. What
happened to Peter when he was walking on the water and took
his eyes off Christ? He sunk. He wasn't steadfast.
He could walk on water steadfast when he was looking to Christ.
Look steadfastly to Him and never take your eyes off of Him, because
I'm telling you this, you can't be deceived when you're looking
at Christ. Be steadfast in the doctrines
of the gospel that you've been taught. Be steadfast in public
worship. It's good for you. Be steadfast
in encouraging your brethren. Be steadfast in these things.
Unmovable and abounding in the work of the Lord. You know, someone
asked me, What do you all hope to accomplish out there on Hurricane
Road? I don't know what will be accomplished
by preaching the gospel here. I honestly don't. I don't know
what kind of results that we may see by continuing to teach
God's Word here. I don't know. I don't know if
we'll see results like men count results, seeing God's sheep called
out, called to faith in Christ, whether we'll see it here or
whether He'll call them someplace else. I do not know. But I know, I mean, I know that
the labor of preaching the gospel, the labor of worshiping Him,
committing to Him will not be in vain. I know it. Just as sure, well, I was going
to say as sure as I'm standing here, but much more sure than
that because I'd fall over in a moment. As sure as Christ is,
that's how sure I am. This will not be wasted time.
It will not be wasted effort. God's Word will not return unto
him void. So be steadfast in it. Be steadfast
in His Word. And whatever else happens between
now and this day that Paul's talking about, 1 Corinthians
15, whatever else happens, I know the end of the story. I don't
know much about the middle of the story, but I know the end. Here's the end. Every child of
God is going to be changed. Perfectly conformed to the image
of Christ. What a day. What a day that's
going to be. I can't wait. I simply cannot
wait. All right. Lord bless you.