1 Corinthians chapter 15. It doesn't have to get mad. I didn't mean
to make anybody mad. Let's begin reading chapter 15
of 1 Corinthians. Let's begin reading in verse
19. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, We are for all men most miserable. But now is
Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them
that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they
that are Christ's at his coming. 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 all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet, the last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. In Adam all die. In Christ shall
all be made alive. You and I have looked at this
passage several times, but I remind myself of it almost on a weekly
basis at least. The resurrection. The resurrection
of the dead. This is our hope. In Adam all
die. One thing you'll notice as you
read the New Testament I never found a first place that had
anything favorable to say about Adam. Everything that's said
about him is negative. In Adam, all die. By one man's
sin entered into this world. By the offense of one, many were
made sinners. By one man's disobedience, nothing
ever good is said about this man in the New Testament. It's
always negative. And the New Testament has nothing
good to say about those who are in Adam. It's always summed up,
and here is the crutch of the whole matter. In Adam, all die. That's what's said about them.
We fell in Adam, and in Adam we can never lift up ourselves.
We can never get out of him by ourselves. We suffered the ultimate,
here's what it is, in Adam. We died. We died spiritually,
didn't we? Romans 5.12 says, By one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. We died in Adam spiritually.
That's why we're born, like Larry said this morning, born in sin
by nature. Born dead in sins. Born at enmity
in our mind. What is death? It's being separated
from God. Separated from righteousness,
from holiness. Being opposite what He is. He's
good. We're bad. He's holy. We're children
of wrath by our very nature. In Adam, all die. Spiritually,
we died in Adam. In Adam, all die physically.
That's what he's speaking about here in our text. Adam lived
to be, what, 930 or 950 years old? And he died, physically. You and I live to be 70, 80,
or 100, and we die. In Adam, all die. I don't know of anybody that's
200 years old, do you? We're all dying. We have been
dying. People all around us are dying
now. And the rest of us are going to die. In Adam, all die. How do we know there was such
a man? I tell you, it's confirmed to us in two ways. Here's the
infallible proof that there was such a man. But look around us. Look at our experience. How do
we know that Adam sinned and died? Well, we're dying. We're
dying just like Adam. In Adam, all die. And you know if it stopped there,
it would be bad enough. If it stopped with a spiritual
death, if it stopped with physical death, if when a man yielded
up the ghost and they put his body back in the ground and his
spirit just was annihilated or ceased to be and that was the
end of it, that may be all right. But I tell you, being in Adam,
you and I are involved in the ultimate death. Look over in
Revelation chapter 20 and see what I'm talking about. Look
in Revelation chapter 20. We all died in Adam spiritually. We're dying in him physically.
And look here, what a death. Revelation chapter 20. I tell
you, if a man can't figure out some way to get out of Adam,
here's going to be his death. This is going to be his death.
Look what he said in Revelation 20, verse 10. This is the day of the judgment.
Revelation 20, verse 10. And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast
and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heavens fled away, And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead." Now here's the dead. They were small, they
were great. Stand before God, and the books
were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book
of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave
up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one,
according to their works." Now notice how he keeps using that
word. Dead. The dead. The dead. How come
they were dead? In Adam. They died in Adam. Spiritually, physically, and
now here the dead stand before God. And they're still in Adam. And they're still dead. All of
them. All of them. In Adam all died. In verse 14,
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That's death. In Adam. In Adam. All died. There's no exceptions. All of us die in Adam. Thank God there's a second Adam.
Thank God there's another Adam. Thank God there's not a third
Adam. The second Adam is the last Adam. In Christ shall all
be made life. The first Adam was made a living
soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. He'll never die. He's a life-giving
spirit. The second Adam. Oh, glorious
wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame. Another Adam to
the fight and to the rescue came. Aren't you thankful for that?
The second Adam. And all who are in Christ What
did Paul say? They shall be made alive. They shall be. That's what you're
doing here this evening, worshipping. You know why you're worshipping
this evening? You've got life in your soul. You know why you
have life in your soul? You're in Christ. In Christ there's
spiritual life. Before there's anything else,
there's spiritual life. I've given to them life. God hath given to us life eternal. And where is this life? In His
Son. They who have the Son have life. The Lord Jesus said, You that
hear My word and believeth on Him that sent Me, you have everlasting
life. And you've passed from death. You've been brought out of Adam.
And you've passed into life. And you'll never come into condemnation.
Never come into judgment. You have life. And upon those who are in Christ,
this second death that we looked at has no power over them. They are not subject to it. It
will never hurt them. And you know why? You know why
those people died the second death? Sin. Sin. Death is the sting of sin. But you know something? In Christ,
there is no death. In Christ, there is no curse.
In Christ, there is no sin. He took our sin, made them His
own. He was made a curse for us. And He tasted death. He tasted death. All of those
things have been done away, have been eliminated in the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Christ shall all be made alive.
Somebody asked this question then, if Christ has gobbled up
death, if He's removed the curse, if He's put away sin, why do
the children of God die? Why do we die physically? That's
a good question. But the only answer I can give,
it's God's way. It's God's order. It's God's
purpose. He comes to us and He gives us
life in Christ And he says, now live by hope. Live by hope. You're in verse 19 of our text.
Chapter 15. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. We're living
by hope, brothers and sisters. Hope has to do with the life
to come. Hope doesn't have to do with this world. If in this
life only we had hope, we would be miserable. Taking up our cross
and following the Lord Jesus would be miserable. Suffering
the temptations and the trials in being a believer in this life
would be a miserable life. Hope has to do with a life to
come, with a world to come. We rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And I tell you, we are sure,
as sure as We died in Adam. That's how sure we are that we'll
be made alive in Christ at the resurrection. Verses 20 and verse
23 that I read to you tells us that. Look at it again in verse
20. Christ is risen from the dead
and become the first fruits of them that slept. In verse 23,
every man in his own order will be raised from the dead, Christ
the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming. The Lord Jesus, we've said this
so often as a public person, what He did, He didn't do for
Himself. He never raised from the dead for Himself, but for
others. He is the firstfruits. I tell you, one of the greatest
sources of assurance of a resurrection is to know the Head has already
been raised, and He is already in heaven. And if the Head is
there, the body must follow. Christ is the firstfruits. And
Glenn, that assures you of a resurrection, a physical resurrection. Look
over in Isaiah chapter 26 in reference to this. Isaiah chapter
26, whole 1 Corinthians 15. And look in Isaiah chapter 26. This is a wonderful source of
joy and assurance of hope that Jesus Christ raised from the
dead, and when He raised from the dead, that was assurative,
that all those who are in Him would be raised. And look how
He says it here in chapter 26 and verse 19. Thy dead men shall live. Ain't that wonderful? Thy dead men. They died. They
died physically. They're in the grave. Their body
has decayed. But there is. Thy dead men shall live. Look
at this. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Ain't that wonderful? Awake and sing. Ye that dwell
in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead." Christ said, because I raised, your
bodies are going to raise too. Together with my dead body shall
you live. What a wonderful source of assurance,
of hope. Let me give you about four or
five things right quickly, and this won't take me just a minute,
concerning the resurrection. The first thing I want to give
you is this. There will be a resurrection. There will be a resurrection
in the last day. Now, I just want to offer you
some scriptural proofs. Acts chapter 17, verse 30, listen
to this. God has appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He has ordained.
Wherefore, He has given assurance to all men. Listen to Acts 24,
15. There shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. Listen to
what the Lord Jesus said in John 5, 28, 29. The hour is coming
in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and
shall come forth. Those who are in the graves.
This has been a doctrine, a teaching, that the children of God have
believed from the very beginning. You go back in the Old Testament,
and they all spoke of it. David spoke of it. Daniel spoke
of the resurrection of the just and the unjust. He said those
that sleep in the dust of the earth, they would awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Mary believed in the resurrection.
Remember that? And the Lord didn't rebuke her
for being mistaken about it. She said, I believe that my brother
will rise again at the resurrection at the last day. So there will
be a resurrection. We're told a great deal about
this resurrection of the body of the just. That their bodies
as well as their souls have been purchased, have been redeemed. This is one of the things that
makes the resurrection of the believer essential. Because their
bodies have been purchased. You know the Scripture says that
Christ is the Savior of the body. Paul said this is one of the
reasons why you and I must not allow sin to reign in our members. Because he said your body is
a temple of the Holy Ghost. It's been purchased. And along
this same line he made this statement. If the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, that Spirit that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies."
We are possessed of the Spirit of God. And who does He possess? Those He has purchased. Listen
to this, "...Ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God
in your body and in your spirits, which are God's." Christ is the
Savior of your body. He bought the whole man, soul,
your spirit, and your body. In Ephesians 1.14 when Paul was
speaking about the believer receiving the spirit of adoption, the spirit
of God's Son, he said that spirit is in an earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. We often dwell upon
the soul as well we should. But, brothers and sisters, the
Lord Jesus Christ, when He gave up His life upon Calvary's tree,
He not only purchased our souls, He purchased our bodies. Our
bodies are His, and since they are His, they must be raised
from the ground. As you and I consider the resurrection,
there are two things we must always keep in mind. The Sadducees
erred. They said there would be no resurrection.
And the Lord Jesus said, you've erred about two things. Here's
the cause of your error. One, He says, you don't know
the Scripture. You don't know the Scripture. They leaned to their own understanding.
They tried to reason this out from their carnal minds. But
you know, if we don't have the Word of God, then you could doubt
the resurrection. But the reason we believe the
resurrection is because the Word of God plainly teaches it. If
we want to go outside the Word and try to prove it, we can't.
But boy, when you come here, you can find out everything you
want to know about the resurrection. But we can't lean to our own
understanding. We've got to take the Word of God. You err not
knowing the plain teachings of the Scripture. And he said this,
You err because you don't know the power of God. They kept asking
the question, how can the dead raise? Some people have been
thrown in the sea and the fish have eaten them. Some have decayed
and there's nothing left. The dust is even gone. How can
the dead raise? How can it be possible? The Lord
Jesus said you've left out one thing out of the equation. That's
the power of God. I tell you, you leave Him out
of the equation, and you've got reason to doubt it. Well, maybe
it can't, but when you put God in the equation, with God all
things are possible. Here's what the Lord Jesus said,
He hath raised up the Lord Jesus, and shall raise us up also by
His own power. He shall change our vile bodies
and fashion it like unto His glorious body with a working
whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. The
hour is coming which those who are in the grave shall hear the
voice." There it is. There it is. They shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, the voice of the King. Where
the word of the King is, there is power. Let there be light.
And there was light. Let there be. Let there be. And
when he looks down at that dust that's in the grave, all he has
to say is, Lazarus, and he comes forth. The power of God. The power of the Son of God.
Leave those two things out of the equation. I'm confused because
I don't have any plain teaching. I'm leaning on my own understanding.
And you leave the power of God out of the equation. I say, I
don't think this can happen. I don't think it's possible. Thirdly, think about this. I'm
very dogmatic with myself about this. I've proved this from the
Scripture. And that's this. The same bodies that the saints
live in, in this life, is the very same body that's going to
be raised at the resurrection. Not a different body. Not a different
body. The same body. That's so important. Look here what he says in chapter
15, and look how clear this is. In verse 42. Look in verse 42. Speaking of the resurrection
of the dead. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It. It. What? The body. When you die, what happens? It
begins to corrupt, decay. We put it in the ground. But
in the redirection, it is raised in corruption. The same body. Look in verse 43. It is sown
in dishonor, and it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness,
it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it
is raised a spiritual body. Look over in verse 51. I show you a mystery. We shall
not all sleep. We are not all going to die.
But we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of
an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality." There will be a change, yes. There
will be a change. Absolutely. A glorious change. But it will be the change in
this same body, the very same body. He won't be another body. The body of our Lord Jesus, the
same body that He occupied in this world and that hung on Calvary's
tree and that laid in the tomb, is the very same body He rose
in. He appeared to His disciples and they said, we've seen a ghost.
No. Here's the difference, he said,
in me and a ghost. A ghost has not flashing bones. A ghost is a vapor. But I'm a
body. Lord, how do we know that it's
You? Reach through Your hands and put in the prints of these
nails. Thrust Your hand into my side. It's my body. It's a glorious body. It's raised
never to die again. But it's my body. It's my body. It's a mysterious body. He could
conceal himself. He could walk with his brethren
on the road to Emmaus and them not even know him. He could go
through walls without any opening. But it was his body. The same
body. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore. The very same person. was dead. And now the very same person
is alive. And I'm alive, he says, forevermore. And because I live,
I live in this glorious body, this magnificent, eternal body
that will never die again. Because I live, you shall live
also. And you'll be changed and have
a body likened to my glorious body. And you'll never die either. He shall change our thou body. This corruptible must put on
incorruption. And then we shall forever be
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this fantasy? If we didn't find it in the Scriptures,
we may say that. But no, brothers and sisters,
this is reality. Fantasies. You want to see some
fantasy? Here's fantasy. All this stuff
is just fly-by-night stuff. It's a vapor that appeared for
a little while. This is real. This is our hope, and it's sure
and steadfast. As sure as Jesus Christ, raised
from the dead. That's how sure this is. No,
it's not fantasy. It's not fantasy. If I thought
it was fantasy, you know what I'd do? I'd close my Bible, and
I'd go eat, drink, and be merry. And say, when this life is over,
that's it. That's it. When this life is over for the
believer, it's just beginning. It's just beginning. Fourthly, when shall this resurrection
take place? He tells us in verse 23. They
that are Christ's. I love the way he says that.
They that are Christ's at His coming. at His coming. It doeth not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear,
He is coming. We shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is. The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God. The Lord Himself. And the dead
shall be raised incorruptible We which are alive and remain
shall be changed. We're going to be caught up together
to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with
the Lord. When? When He comes again. And
He's coming. He's coming. Fifthly, what's going to take place after
He comes? Look in Luke chapter 20. We shall forever be with the
Lord. How will it be then? Look in chapter 20. Luke chapter 20 and look in verse
34. This is concerning the resurrection.
The Sadducees came to Him and they didn't believe Him. And
He enlightened them concerning the resurrection. Look what He
said in verse 34. Luke chapter 20 verse 34. The
children of this world marry and are given in marriage. That's
you and I. We're of this world. But they which shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead
shall neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they
die anymore. No more death. No more sorrow. No more pain. No more sickness.
No more tears. They'll never die again. For
they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God,
being children of the resurrection. They shall shine as the angels,
with no more need to eat or drink or rest than the angels have.
Through all eternity, they'll be equal to the angels. Ain't
that wonderful? The resurrection of the dead
changed and brought physically into the kingdom of the Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. One last thing in closing. What
about the unbelievers? Well, as best as I can tell from
searching the Scriptures, there's little said about them. There's
hardly anything said about them. There shall be a resurrection,
both of the just and the unjust. But nothing is said of what kind
of bodies they'll have. We know they won't have glorious
bodies. Daniel said they would come forth
to shame and everlasting contempt. So it won't be glorious. The
Lord Jesus said they would raise to the resurrection of damnation.
Eternal damnation. So they won't be justified. They
won't have life. What will they be like? I don't
know. I know some of the ways that they will feel. The Scripture
says that they'll gnash on themselves with their teeth. They'll be cast alive into a
lake of fire. They'll pray to die, and death
will flee from them. They'll be, as it were, crying
for the rocks and mountains to fall on them. They'll have a
body, and He'll endear eternal damnation. I have no idea what
it will look like, what it will be like. But it's the resurrection
of shame and contempt. Ain't that sad? That's heartbreaking,
ain't it? But the fleshly ties that you
and I feel today, we won't feel on that day. Even our own children,
our own dear loved ones here that we pray for and witness
to and live in hope that the Lord may be pleased to save them.
In that day, when the Lord assigns them their eternal home in Tarmac,
all the saints will shout hallelujah. What a just judgment. You're
right. You're right. Oh, brothers and
sisters, for myself and for you, I hope that the Lord counts us
worthy, for Christ's sake, to obtain the resurrection of the
just. Better never to have been born than not to be raised in the
image of Christ. Lord bless His Word.