Alright, let's turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. The lesson this morning out of
1 Corinthians 15 will be between verses 20 and 26 on the subject of Christ's heavenly
reign. We've been talking here in 1
Corinthians 15 about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I want to
move forward just a notch this morning and talk about what happened
after the resurrection. What does that resurrection lead
up to? What was significant about this
resurrection? The resurrection wasn't the end. It was a means to the end. And
we want to talk about some of that. He not just raised from
the dead and then disappeared forever. But He ascended up into
glory. And there it says He was seated
at the right hand of God. So let's look at these verses
one at a time and let me see if I can show you Him who now
reigns in glory. Verse 20. But now is Christ risen. Now Paul has already told us what would happen if Christ hadn't
been risen. We talked about that. He gives
all these things. Our preaching be in vain. Our
faith be in vain. We be yet in our sins. But now,
he says, is Christ risen from the dead and become the first
fruits of them that slept? Now, there's no other way to
look at Jesus Christ. I never could for the life of
me when I was participating in religion. And I don't really
think it matters which religion you're in. If you're in some
type of Armenian religion, some type of false religion, you never
really understand what you're talking about or looking at when
you're looking at Christ Jesus. You never can really get a hold
of the significance of this man, Jesus Christ, who he is. But
Jesus Christ, and there's no other way to look at him except
as our representative and federal head. You've got to enter into
that realization that when the scripture talks about Jesus Christ,
the significance of Jesus Christ is that he came into this world
as a representative for God's elect. He is the covenant surety
for God's elect, and His appearance here on this earth was to resolve
those things from that covenant, that everlasting covenant of
grace. He came here to fulfill those terms of that everlasting
covenant, honor the name of God, glorify God in the salvation
of His elect who were given to Him by the Father before the
foundation of the world. He's the surety of every covenant
promise. He's the guarantor of God's redemptive
will to save a people for the glory of His name. When He rose
from the dead, He become the first fruits of them that slept. Not every man who had passed
on and died, but to those of the faith who'd passed on. And
I have good hope by the grace of God, because Jesus Christ,
my Savior, my representative, was raised from the dead. Now,
if He didn't represent me, then I have to represent myself. If
He didn't represent me before the judgment of God, if He didn't
represent me before the very name and character of God, then
I'm left to myself to represent myself before God. You see what
I'm saying? There's no other way to look
at Jesus Christ except as my representative. Verse 21, For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead. Both Adam and Christ, both representatives
and heads of a people. Adam's the head of all mankind.
The human race would stand or fall depending upon his free
will, and depending upon his decisions. Romans chapter 5 verse
12, it said, and you can read this through the end of the chapter,
it sums up the results of this arrangement in Adam. It says,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
By one man's offense, death rang by one. And by the offense of
one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. By one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. You can go on and on.
This representative man, Adam, the head of this human race,
and we all fell in him because he's our head. The second man. And you can find this back over
in 1 Corinthians 15, moving on down toward the end of the chapter,
down there in verse 47. The second man. That's what our
Lord's referred to. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. He's the Lord from heaven. Before
Adam was ever created, before ever this world was spoken into
existence, God appointed His Son as the head of a people.
which He chose in Him and made one with Him by covenant union.
You can read about this in Ephesians chapter 1. You know, I went to
church every day that the door was open. sometimes four and
five times a week. If there was a revival going
on, if there was an old mission church, if Dad got home early
enough, we'd go over there to the mission church. We went somewhere
and was in church almost every night, every week, until I was
old enough, you know, to begin to make my own decisions about
whether I wanted to go or not. But I was in some type of church
all the time, all the time listening, and not one time in all the times
that I was carried to church, did I ever even hear them read
Ephesians chapter 1. And that's one of the clearest
statements of doctrinal truth, one of the clearest statements
of gospel truth that I know anywhere in the Bible. And not one time
was it ever even read before the people. David, the sweet psalmist of
Israel, The man after God's own heart spoke these words before
he breathed his last breath. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. this everlasting
covenant. You can, I guarantee you, you
can go to almost any Armenian church in this country and go
in and begin to talk to them and you start to, you read this
or quote this, this scripture over in 2 Samuel 23 and I guarantee
you they won't know the first thing about what you're talking
about. The covenant of grace. Verse 21, back in 1 Corinthians
15. Since by man came death, and
that's how it came. It came through Adam by one man.
I quoted that to you out of Romans chapter 5, verse 12. Since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam, verse 22, all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now Paul establishes
here two great principles upon which God's ambassadors must
convey to their hearers. I've got to somehow get this
across to my hearers in Adam, all die. All die. See, men are not, there's no
urgency today among men. I look at men and they talk about
these things as though they were in a vacuum. They talk about
these things as though they didn't exist. They talk about these
things as though they weren't active. As though this was something
written in a fictional book and we can look at it and study it
and it's fine to look at these things and talk about them, but
there's no urgency there because it's not active. They don't understand
these things are moving, these things are coming to pass. These
principles are active. As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. And he establishes two great
principles here. First of all, in Adam all die. They're not so much as a glimmer
of hope. for any man, any son of Adam,
but not even a glimmer of hope for any child of Adam who is
left to himself. None. I want you to just sit and think
about that for a minute. There is no hope. None. You have the gospel in your heart
and you tell that man the gospel, but he does not want to hear
it. He does not want to hear it. And he tells you, I do not want
to hear it. There is no hope for him. There's no hope for him. His mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can it be. He has no understanding. He has no interest. He has no
ability, no fear of God before his eyes. And religious or heathen,
obedient or disobedient, reformed or unreformed, he's bound in
a fallen nature. And with man, it's impossible. That's what our Lord says. It's
impossible. And he is now and shall ever
be dead in trespasses and sins if God pleases to leave him to
himself. And Adam, all die. Now watch this, 1 Corinthians
15, 22. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive. As all those represented in their
father Adam, reap the results of His person and works, even
so shall all those represented in Christ reap the benefits of
His person and works. In Christ shall all be made alive.
In Christ I inherit a predestinated adoption in Him." Isn't that
what that says over there? He chose us and put us in Christ. And all His heavenly blessings
that He blessed us with were all in Christ, and it's according
that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Isn't that something?
By Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. We've obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. And then John
tells us, as many as received him, to them gave he power. He
gave them the power to believe. He gave them the ability to receive
him. He gave to them the right and
privilege, the ability to become sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name, being born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, and not of the will of man, but of God. And
then Paul tells us this over in the book of Galatians, because
ye are sons, predestinated to that adoption of sons. Because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. In Christ, I am righteous. I am not trying to be righteous.
I am righteous. I am not working on it. I am
righteous. I am righteous. I'm accepted. I'll tell you, how many days
have you went through sorrow and confusion and guilt and sadness
and wondered because of your attitude and spirit, am I accepted
of God? Brethren, we're accepted in the
beloved. David was just as accepted when
he committed adultery and murder as he was before. Just as accepted
with God. His acceptance didn't depend
on what he did or what he didn't do. His acceptance was in Christ. In Christ, you're accepted in
the beloved. In Christ, I'm justified. I'm justified. Now, I may yet
be a natural man. I may not be born of God. But
I was justified when Christ was raised from the dead. Isn't that
what the Scripture said? He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. What faith does is let you in
on it and justifies that guilty conscience. He takes that justification
and anoints that guilty conscience And you can see and know in your
heart how God can be just and justified. In Christ, I'm justified. In Christ, I have eternal life. Eternal life. And no man can
pluck me out of his hand. I had an Arminian preacher tell
me one time, yeah, but you can pluck yourself. Really? Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive." Verse 23, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 23. But every man in
his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward
they that are Christ that is coming. The salvation of God's
elect is through a person. As their fall was the result
of a man, so is their salvation. And so then there is an order
to the work. Christ who is the firstfruits,
and afterward they that are His at His coming. Verse 24, Then
cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule
and authority and power, for He must reign. Does that really say that? He must reign. It doesn't say he's trying to
reign. It doesn't say he's doing the best
he can to reign. It says he reigns. He must reign till he hath put
down all enemies under his feet. My friend, Jesus Christ sits
upon the throne, the heavenly throne, reigning over all things,
ruling over all things in the ease of absolute sovereignty. Did I use that word, ease out
of place? Not at all. Not at all. He reigns in the ease of absolute
sovereignty. Religion would portray a different
picture because religion believes that man is his own savior. He
believes that salvation is in his hands. He believes that the
power to change men is in his hands. Religion pictures the
world in chaos. They picture God in the heaven
with his son, Jesus Christ, anxiously hoping that all they have done
is sufficient. pacing back and forth looking
down, Brother Henry used to say, over the banisters of glory and
suffering deep disappointment as many of whom they loved and
did all they could do for were swallowed up in spite of everything
that they willed to do. Will you listen to the Word of
God? He must reign. till he hath put all enemies
under his feet." God our Savior is the King of glory. What He
purposes to do, He does. When evil men would have thrown
Him off a cliff, they couldn't lay a hand on Him because His
time wasn't yet come. Why couldn't they lay a hand
on Him? Because He reigned even in His humility. His time had
not yet come. When Pilate in his royal pride
spoke down to him in his humility and said, don't you know that
I have power to release you or power to crucify you? He said,
you didn't have any power over me at all except it were given
to you of my father. And it was given to you to fulfill
my purpose. And that's the only reason you
have any power over me at all. And that's why I'm not answering
your question. As the multitude came together to crucify Him,
they did, the Scripture said, what God's hand and God's counsel
determined before to be done. He reigns. He must reign. He
reigns in providence. Do you believe that? He reigns
in providence. That is the everyday Circumstances. The everyday things that you
face and I face and everybody here faces. Providence. Life and death and birth and
marriage and all these. He rules over providence. And he rules over creation. Creation
is not just out here in a vacuum waiting on Mother Nature to do
something or man to preserve it or to kill it or destroy it
He reigns over creation. This is His creation. And He
reigns over the salvation of men's souls. And He'll reign
in the judgment of ungodly men. He must reign. Beaten and weak and hardly able
to bear His cross, almost unrecognizable. And He was dragging that cross
along Some of the women looked at this bloody thorn-crowned
man and they wept for him and they were weeping for him and
feeling sorry for him. And he looked up with the blood
pouring down over his eyes. He looked up at him and he said,
don't weep for me. I sound like he rains, don't I?
Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves. And weep
for your children. Don't weep for me. He must reign
till He put down all enemies under His feet. And I tell you
something, nothing less than an all-sufficient, almighty,
all-wise Savior can do you any good. This poor little defeated
Jesus that this world talks about can't do your soul any good at
all. The Scripture said mankind as
a whole have gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. Religion looks to the multitude.
They cater to the multitudes. They take comfort in the multitude.
But every man, all of them put together, can't save a single
soul. The reign of Christ as the God-man
is the reign of the King of Peace. His reign is to effect the salvation
of God's elect. His reign is to effect the salvation
of their souls. His reign is to establish the
kingdom of God and to mediate the peace between God and men.
His reign is to glorify the name of God in the salvation of His
elect. And He must reign until every
enemy of those things be put under His feet. If there is an
enemy out there anywhere, I want you to listen to me. Right now,
going through heavy trials and things, if there's an enemy out
there anywhere who could even pose a risk to defeating King
Jesus, then you can never have any risk for your soul. But the
truth of it is, he must reign. God Himself. I want you to listen
to me. God Himself first trusted in
Christ. Isn't that what He says over
in Ephesians chapter 1? And then He adds this, "...in
whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth." What
word did you hear? Well, you heard that God trusted
in Him from all eternity. Trusted everything to Him. Trusted
the salvation of your soul to Him. Trusted creation to Him.
Trusted providence to Him. Trusted the fallen angels to
Him. Trusted it all to Him. Gave it all over into His hands.
And God rested who first trusted in Christ. And you'll rest too
when you hear that word. Then cometh the end, verse 24,
1 Corinthians 15, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father. Make no mistake about it, Christ
will, by the power of God, deliver up the kingdom. Nothing iffy
about it. All the promises of God in Him
are yea and amen, and He shall deliver up this kingdom. It never
talks about He might do this and He might do this. It always
says He shall. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from His sins. And here He tells
us He shall deliver up the kingdom. And all examples, I'm talking
about men and women, all examples that suggest otherwise are not
of His kingdom. They're not of His kingdom. He
said every plant which might have... See, this is the thing
the disciples were wrestling with back then. They wanted to
attribute some kind of salvation to those Jewish leaders. They'd
been taught that from the time they were born. They didn't know
exactly how they fit into the kingdom, but they knew that they
were part of it. And finally, our Lord looked
at them and He said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath
not planted is going to be rooted up. It's going to be rooted up. That's Matthew 15, verse 13. But all that the Father giveth
Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no
wise cast out. God's elect. Under the cruel
reign of Pharaoh and their captivity there in the iron furnace of
Egypt, under his oppression, were seemingly in a bad way,
seemingly defeated. But God was in no way hindered
to free them from their captivity and bring them into the possession
of His covenant promises to them. He wasn't even hindered. If you
go back and read that account, we studied it verse by verse
all the way through the book of Exodus. If you go back and
read that account, you'll see that God didn't raise a weapon. Not one man there raised a weapon
against Egypt. Not one man. God destroyed Pharaoh
and all his army, caused him to turn loose all those people,
Gave them every supply that they are going to need. Gave them
money and treasures and jewelry and everything and not so much
as a dog bark in resistance when they left Egypt. Not even a dog
bark. And they left and God destroyed
that whole outfit and not one man in Israel ever raised a weapon. God did all the work, didn't
He? Every bit of it. And my friend,
Christ must reign till all enemies be put under His feet. The salvation
of God's elect is right on schedule, and the reign of Christ, though
attempted to be overthrown, is not even hindered. He must reign. He must reign because His reign
is by virtue of His person and work. This is the God-man. How could He do anything else?
For even one of God's elect to perish would be a total denial
of who He is. Verse 26, the last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. As death was cheated of its victory
over Christ, it shall be defeated by His resurrected reign. Paul
said in Romans 5.10, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. What is that talking about? That
is talking about His resurrected life. His resurrected life. His accepted presence in glory,
His presence seated upon the throne, His position there as
our High Priest, whoever liveth to make intercession for us.
If we were reconciled in His humility, Surely we shall be
saved completely by His resurrected reign in glory. Now that's what
Paul is telling us about this resurrection of Christ. It wasn't
just that He was raised from the dead and then disappeared
forever. He was raised from the dead, ascended up into glory,
and was seated at the right hand of God. And as our guarantor, His presence
and glory guarantees those promises of God to all His elect. He reigns. He reigns.