1 Corinthians 15, and I don't know
how long ago it's been, but I remember one time you and I went through
this chapter concerning the resurrection
of the body. And I want to go into it maybe
again, a little different, a few more details. But I want to begin
here in verse 12. This is concerning the resurrection
of the body. And I know what you and I often
think. I'm just like you. And I know
what we all think. We think that the resurrection
of the body is something that we don't think much about until
we get sick, until we get old and weak and bowed over. And
then we'll begin to study about the resurrection and think about
the resurrection. But you know, brothers and sisters,
two things about that. We may not get old. There's people
dying our age now. You and I may fall asleep tonight
in our sleep. We need to know something about
the resurrection now. We need to know what's going
to take place at the end of time. And secondly, it doesn't matter
if we're young. It doesn't matter if we're teenagers.
If we're in Christ by living faith, you and I ought to know
and believe and live in the hope of a resurrection. The strength
that we enjoy in this life and the blessings of this life to
live and move and have our being and enjoy in this life is nothing
to be compared with the glory of that life that's to come at
the resurrection. So I'm interested this morning,
and I hope you are too, to understand something about the resurrection
of the saints. And that's what the Apostle Paul
is going to teach us in this chapter, and I want to begin
here in verse 12, and I want to go right on through the chapter
and see about the physical resurrection of our bodies. And here's where
he begins in verse 12. Now, if Christ be preached that
He arose from the dead, and He was preached. Paul began here
in verse 1, and he said, I preach the gospel to you. And what is
the gospel? Now that Christ died for our
sins, He's buried, and He rose again. Paul preached the resurrection. And he tells us here in the first
of this chapter, 500 brethren saw Him, and they were witnesses
of His resurrection. Peter saw Him, and James saw
Him, and all the apostles saw Him. Christ was preached that
He rose from the dead. Well, look here what was happening.
How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? This is that same old heresy
that the Sadducees held to, that there is no resurrection of the
body. People think today that we have
this gospel of Judas and saying that Christ was barned of the
Roman soldier and all this. They think this is something
new. There's no new heresy. It's just all being rehashed.
If you go back hundreds of years ago, what we're hearing today,
all this heresy, it's already been propagated before. And it's
been put down. But it's just been resurrected
today. Men have often helped the lie that there's been no
resurrection. I don't know how it got into
this church. But Paul said, there's people among you that says there's
no resurrection. Boy, I tell you what, the church,
bless her heart, we've got battles in her hearts. We've got battles
in the world. We've got battles right in her midst, haven't we?
Paul told the Ephesian elders, he said, I'm leaving you. You're
not going to see my face anymore. And he said, as soon as I leave,
Brother Larry, what's going to happen? These fellows are going
to raise right up in your midst and speak in perverse things
just to draw away disciples after themselves. We always have to
be careful, don't we? We always have to contend for
the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. Because you
can never tell where the next heresy is going to come from
and who it's going to come from. And what we've got to be careful
about, make sure it's not me. Make sure it's not me. And somebody
was teaching heresy and believed heresy among this church. Paul
said it's among you. And he begins here in verse 13,
and through verse 19 he lists several, several negatives. If
Christ be not raised from the dead. If there is no resurrection
of the dead, that is, if the saints are not going to be raised
from the dead, then is Christ not raised? Now, he hints at
something here that he fully develops in verses 20 and 23,
and we'll see that in just a minute. But what he's saying here, what
he's hinting at, is Christ is not a private person. Christ
is a representative. And if the Lord Jesus Christ
raised from the dead, that means the saints are going to raise
from the dead. And if the saints are not going to raise from the
dead, that means Christ didn't raise from the dead. And that's
what he's going to prove here in just a minute. Some of these
people here were believing that Christ raised from the dead,
but that wasn't what the issue was. Is the saint going to raise
from the dead? And what Paul is saying, if the
saint don't raise, then Christ does not raise. So look at it
in verse 14. Here's the first negative. If
the Lord Jesus Christ is not risen, number one, then is our
preaching vain. Our preaching is vain. Everything
I've told you about redemption, everything I've told you over
the years about the Lord Jesus Christ taking our sins and making
them His own, and suffering for those sins, and atoning for those
sins, paying the price for us. Jesus paid it all. How many times
have we said that? Well, if the Lord Jesus is not
risen from the dead, that does not mean anything. It just does
not mean anything. I heard Brother Donnie Bell not
long ago preach a funeral, and he used this text. Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord. Well, that's not true if Christ
be not raised from the dead. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. That's what we preach. But that's
not so if Christ be not raised from the dead. If the Lord Jesus
did not raise from the dead, everything that I've told you
through the years and everything that you've heard from preachers
is vain. We're just beating the air. It
don't mean anything. Don't even listen to it. And
if my preaching is vain, then what else is vain? If Christ
be not raised from the dead, secondly, he said, and your faith
is also vain. You believed in vain. If my preaching
is a lie, then your faith is vain. It's no better than the
faith of devils. It doesn't matter if you believe
until you die. It isn't going to do you any
good. It's an empty, useless, Faith. You say, my faith is so
confident to me. Don't mean anything if Christ
ain't raised from the dead. And here's another negative.
Look at this. In verse 15. Yea, and we also are found false
witnesses of God. Why? Because we've testified
of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so
be that the dead raise not up. We're lying on God. We're doing
the very same thing that we've accused the Mormons of doing,
and the Jehovah Witnesses of doing, and all these other cults
of doing. They're lying on God. Well, Paul
says, if Christ ain't raised from the dead, we're lying on
Him too. Because that's what our preaching says. God raised
the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. You took Him and you crucified
Him with wicked hands, but God raised Him up from the dead.
And look what else he says in verse 16. He links these three
things together. In verse 16, For if the dead
raise not, then is Christ not raised. Now, what he's saying
here in verse 16, he seems to be saying, and let me reiterate
this, he seems to be saying here, the question was not among these
people, is Christ raised? They believed that. They said,
Paul, we believe that. You preached the gospel to us.
We heard you preach it, that Christ died, He was buried and
rose again, and we believe that. What seemed to be the question
was not that Christ raised, but will the saint raise from the
dead? For if the dead raise not, that's their problem. That's
what they didn't believe. Then is not Christ raised. And he'll answer that in a minute.
And here he links these three things together. Look here in
verse 17. Still on the negative side. And
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet
in your sins. He links these three things together.
The resurrection of Christ, our faith in Christ, and forgiveness
of our sin. Now look over here in Acts. Look at a couple of places in
Acts. Look in Acts chapter 10. The resurrection of Christ, our
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and forgiveness of sin. You know,
brothers and sisters, we don't believe that Jesus Christ is
in a manger. He's just not in a manger. He lay there one time
when He was born, but He's not in a manger. And He's not on
a cross. And He's not in a tomb. Where
is He? Where is He? He's risen from
the dead. He's ascended there on the right
hand of the Father. And saving faith believes in
a living Christ. A Christ who came, a Christ who
walked, a Christ who suffered and died and was buried and risen
and ascended. Faith lays hold of a living Christ,
not a dead Christ. It's only faith in a living Christ
that brings remission of sins to our conscience. Now this is
what Peter says. Look in Acts chapter 10 and look
in verse 40. Peter preaching here and he said
this, Him, the Lord Jesus, hath God raised the third day and
showed Him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him
after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach
unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead, the living
and the dead. To him gave all the prophets witness that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him, in this risen Christ,
shall receive release, freedom, remission of their sins." Our
faith is in a risen Christ. And believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ brings remission of sins. Freedom from sin. There is no
condemnation to them who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Freedom
from the power of it. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Freedom
from its eternal consequences. What are the consequences of
sin? Death. But we have freedom from sin.
It's condemnation, it's power, and it's eternal consequences
by faith in this living Christ. But Paul said, if Christ ain't
raised, our preaching's vain, your faith is vain, and you're
yet in your sins. And what's the result of that?
Look back over at our text. Look in verse 18. Look at chapter
15 and verse 18. Look at this. This is a horrible
thing to think about. If Christ be not raised, our
preaching is vain, our faith is vain, we'll get in our sins,
and they also which are fallen asleep in Jesus, in Christ. Look at this. They perished.
They perished. They're dead and they're suffering
forever. Back there in 1 Samuel chapter
1, that prayed that the Lord give her a son, went before him.
She's perished. The sweet psalmist of Israel,
he's perished. Isaiah that gave us his gospel,
he's perished. All the apostles, the thief on
the cross, Mary Magdalene out of whom the Lord cast seven devils,
all our friends and our loved ones that died professing to
be in Christ, All of those that were chosen in Christ and redeemed
by Christ and in Him by faith and died in hope, they've all
perished. If the Lord Jesus Christ has
not raised from the dead, then there's no resurrection of the
dead. If there's no resurrection of the dead, then you and I are
looking at death and it's dark for us. We're looking out at
eternity fearful. If Jesus Christ, brothers and
sisters, is not raised from the dead, the consequences of all
of that is horrifying. You and I are without hope this
morning, and what's going to happen to us without hope? Our
hearts will break. Our hearts will break. It's an
awful consequence to think about that the Lord Jesus Christ has
not raised from the dead. But Paul said, if the saint's
not going to raise, then Christ has not raised. He's not raised. Read on. Look in verse 20. Now
here he begins to do something. He begins to develop what he
began there in verse 13. And look what he said. But now. But now. Thank God, but now.
You know, you think about the negatives. If Christ be not raised,
our preaching is vain. But you think about if Christ
has raised, our preaching is not in vain, is it? If Christ
ain't raised, your faith is vain. But if He is raised, your faith
is not vain. It lays hold upon a living Christ.
If Christ ain't raised, you're yet in your sin. But if He has
raised, you're not in your sins. All your sins are forgiven. If
Christ is not raised, you're hopeless. But if He is raised,
you've got a good hope, a lively hope, a good hope through grace.
And now, Paul said, Is Christ risen from the dead? And these
false teachers in the church, when they read this, they said,
Well, Paul, we told you. We do believe in Christ. We believe
in Christ that He raised up from the dead. Then Paul said, You've
got to believe this too. He's become the firstfruits of
them that slept. See that? We all know what firstfruits
is, don't we? We go out to our garden in the
summertime, the tomatoes, just loaded with big green tomatoes,
and we've got one that's ripening. And we keep an eye on it. And
when it's ripe, we go out and we pick that tomato, take it
in the house and eat it, and boy, it's good. It's the first
one. But that's not the last one, is it? He didn't say He's
the only one. That's the first one that's going
to get right. We can look for a bunch more
to get right. The Lord Jesus Christ is just
the firstfruits, and that means there's going to be a whole bunch
more after Him. That's why David talked there
in that Psalm when the Lord descended to heaven, and the Lord Jesus
got up there to heaven. He said, Be ye lifted up, ye
gates. Open up ye everlasting doors,
and the Lord of glory shall come in. And they said, Who is this
Lord of glory? You know what they said? He's
the Lord of hosts. You know what that host means?
Many. He's the Lord of many. I'm coming
in here first, and many's coming right after me. He's the first
fruit of them that slept. Now, look in verse 21 and 22.
Here's what Paul is going to teach us, that the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a private person. He's a public person. And by
that I simply mean he never came to do anything for himself. He was a representative of his
people. You and I know what a representative
is. We have state representatives. We have senators. We have governors,
presidents. All these people represent our
interest. That's what Jesus Christ is.
Now look what he said in verse 21. For since by man, by Adam,
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." Now watch Paul say it. One man ate of that fruit back
there in the garden. And he died. Physically he died. Now, this is not speaking here
of the spiritual aspect. We know that in Romans 5 and
12. This is speaking of the physical aspect. Adam lived 950 or 965
years or whatever, and he died. And why do you and I die, brothers
and sisters? It's not anything we do or don't
do that we die. You can exercise and you can
eat right. and take care of your health,
we should do that. Feel as good as you can while
you're in this lifetime. But after we've done what we
can, you know something? We're going to die. And why do
we die? Because we're in Adam. We're
in Adam. By virtue of being in Adam, someday
the breath is going to leave this body just like it did his.
You're going to go back to the dust. They're going to bury us
because we're in Adam. And it's the same way with the
resurrection. There's nothing we do or do not
do to be raised from the dead. They take this old body and they
put it in the ground and it decays, and after a while there's nothing
left of it but dust. But it's going to come out of
that grave. Why? By virtue of it being in Christ as a representative. You see, God don't save us. And
don't misunderstand me when I say this. God don't save us as individuals. That is, He don't say, if you
can work and be good enough as an individual, then I'll save
you. If you can work and be good enough, I'll save you. But if
you don't work and be good enough, I won't save you. The way God
saves us is by a representative. We were lost in a representative,
and we're saved in a representative. Lost in Adam and saved in Christ. Aren't you glad it's that way?
If He left it up to us as individuals, we'd never make it, wouldn't
we? We'll never make it. The wisdom of God to save us
this way. And the same way He saves our
souls is the same way He's going to save our bodies. By virtue
of who we're in, all that matters, what Paul is saying here in this
chapter, all that matters is to know who you're in. We're
born in Adam, but if we're in Christ by living faith, that
secures our resurrection from the death. Oh, what a blessed,
blessed truth. As in Adam and Eve. Now look
in verse 23, but here's the order. You see, God has an order. He
has a purpose for everything that He's done. Here's the order. But every man in his own order. Christ is the firstfruits. That's just what we said. He's
the first one that raised. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first man that was ever raised from the dead. to die no more. Now there's a lot of people raised
from the dead. We read the Gospels, even the
Old Testament was raised from the dead. But they had to die
again. The Lord raised Lazarus, but
he had to die again. Jairus' daughter, she died again. But the Lord Jesus Christ, when
He was raised, He said, I'm alive forevermore. I'll never die again. He died unto sin once, but in
that he liveth, he liveth unto God, never to die again. And
then, look at this, Christ is the first one, afterward, they
that are Christ's at His coming. They that are Christ's. I tell
you, Paul just puts election in place. Once you see it, you
see election at war. Do you know it? We're Christ's. We're Christ's. We are His by gift of His Father. We belong to Christ. I am the
children whom thou hast given me. I come to give life to who? All those the Father has given
to me. He said they are mine. They are His and He is coming. He is coming after His. They
are His by purchase. You are bought with a price,
with the precious blood of Christ. And I tell you something else,
we are His by faith. And if you'll have this, you may not have this,
but we're His by choice. I choose Him, don't you? Choosing
Him don't make me His, but I tell you I choose Him. I'm still choosing
Him. He's mine. He's mine. I choose
Him every day of my life. And you do too if you're His.
He is at His coming. Gift by Christ, a gift by regeneration,
a gift by faith. And boy, look here in verse 24.
This is very encouraging. When Christ comes, He's coming
after His, those that He represented, in verse 24. Then cometh the
end. Then cometh the end. Boy, this
probably disturbs the lost. And it should. Because things
ain't going to continue as they are now, brothers and sisters.
The end is coming. God's not going to let this go
on like it is now. He has a purpose, and there's
an end coming. But what a great encouragement
this is for the saints. The end. Then cometh the end. There's going to be a resurrection.
And what a blessing this is for this earth. Paul tells us the
earth groans under the burden of the curse. It's waiting to
be cleansed itself and to be made new. What a blessing this
is for each individual believer who groans within himself and
says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? Job said,
I'm waiting. I'm waiting and longing. Well,
Job, there's coming an end. It's going to end. And oh, what
a precious blessing this is for those there in heaven, those
spirits of just men made perfect under the altar who are there
saying, Lord, how long? How long? Don't make us wait
much longer. We're waiting. What are they
waiting for? The end. The end. And for the bodies of those saints
who have decayed, have been thrown into the sea and burned at the
stake, I think God knows where those bodies are. And in the
end, He's going to bring those bodies back together and glorify
them. And notice this in 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 all authority and all power." Christ, He's saying here
in verse 24, will deliver the kingdom up to the Father. Now what is the kingdom? I don't
know what all it includes. But I know this much, it does
include the church. And the Lord Jesus Christ right
now has been given the purpose of His Father into His hands.
And He's fulfilling this purpose, calling all of His elect, saving
them all. And He's going to deliver the
church up to the Father without spot, without wrinkle, or without
any such thing. And then He says, all rules shall
be put down. under His feet. All rule put
down. You know all rule is under Christ
today. It's under His feet. But here's
the difference. It's not put down. Put down,
that means to crush it utterly. To make it powerless. Crush it. Put it down. The devil's still
around today. He's still blind in men's eyes.
He's still blaspheming in heaven. Still spreading his heresy, going
about as a roared lion, seeking whom he may devour. But there's
coming a day when the Lord's going to put him down. He's got
him under his feet now, but he's going to crush him someday. Sinful
flesh, rebellious flesh has not yet been put down. Look how it's
boasting all around us today. Bragging, lusting, sinning. But there's coming a day when
the Lord Jesus is going to say, bring my enemies to me. They
would not that I should reign over them. I let them have their
way. I let them have their own will. Now you bring them, and
I'm going to crush them under my feet. I'm going to put them
down under my feet. You know something? You and I
are either going to be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, or
we're going to be damned by Him. Ain't that amazing? Jesus of
Nazareth, the Lamb of God, He's the rock and we're going to fall
on Him here and be broken? Or He's going to fall on us there
and crush us? Jesus Christ! He shall put down all rule and
all authority. Well, that's what He's going
to do when the end comes. What's He doing now? What's He
doing now? What's happening right now as
you and I sit here this morning in Sovereign Grace Church in
Hunter Avenue? What's happening? You know, we live in an exciting
time, really, but you know we live in somewhat of a fearful
time. I've got a little list of some of the things, sometimes
clippings I save, news articles, and if you believe everything
that's reported and that's documented, I tell you, there's some scary
things going on. I just saw, I just heard the other night,
they said this bird flu, was killing people
now in Asia. And they was trying to keep it
from the public because they just know it's a matter of time
that it spreads. It's double mutated or whatever
they call it. Used to be it spread from birds
to human. Now it spreads from humans to human. Has like an
80-something percent death rate. If you get it, you're probably
going to die with it. And it's ready, they say, just
to spread. And once it starts, They look
for millions and millions and millions of people. Twenty-five
million people died of AIDS in Africa. We're in a war. Terrorism's spread. There's doubts
and fear and uncertainty every direction that we look in. And
the world is afraid. Those people that's considering
these things are scared to death. And that's what the Lord said,
wasn't it? Men's hearts are going to be fearful and failing because
of the things that's coming on this world. But when I ask you
what's happening right now, I'm not talking about these things.
I know these things are happening. And they're dangerous things
and sad and fearful things. But I'm not talking about when
we look around us. I'm talking about when we look up what's
happening. What's really happening? Well, He tells us in verse 25,
look at this, "...for He must reign until He hath put all enemies
under His What's happening right now? Jesus of Nazareth is reigning. He's ruling. He's ruling over
this earth. All power is given to me in heaven,
yes, but in earth, He said. I have power over all flesh,
He said. Ain't that so competent? The
Lord Jesus who has saved you, that you believe in and that
you love, The friend that sticks closer to you than a brother,
he is ruling over all the circumstances, over all the diseases, over all
principalities and powers in this world. He must reign. The devil is not reigning. Man
is not reigning. Jesus is reigning. You say, oh,
what a terrible circumstances I'm in. Who reigns over that? You say, well, I'm afraid I'm
going to get this awful disease and suffer. Who reigns over that?
Oh, sometimes I'm so scared of man. I'm so afraid what man can...
Who reigns in the hearts of men and over men? Even the King's
heart is in the hands of the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful, encouraging
truth this is. Christ reigns. Oh, I'm afraid
I'm going to lose my job. I'm afraid for my children. I'm
afraid for my grandchildren. My family's in a mess. But who
is raining, brothers and sisters? Look above our troubles. Look
above our fears and doubts. And Jesus is raining. Oh, what
a wonderful blessing that is. And how long is He going to rain?
Until He hath put all His enemies under His feet. Aren't you so
glad He's already put you there in a saving way? There was a
time when you and I were His enemies. Larry, you were His
enemy. Enemies in our mind by wicked works. But what did He
do? He came to us and conquered us, didn't He? And left us saying,
Lord, what will you have me to do? Lord, be merciful to me a
sinner. And He was. And He conquered
us and subdued us. But you know something? He's
going to conquer everybody else. They're coming under His reign
too. They won't come now willingly, but someday they'll come unwillingly.
But they will come. They will come. And look at this
in verse 26. Look at this, verse 26. The last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Death's going to be
destroyed. Boy, that's a curse and a blessing.
It's a curse. Can you imagine what a curse
it is to pray to die and not be able to die? Those in the
lake of fire that's been cast there to be punished for all
eternity, soul and body, they're going to seek death. They're
going to seek to die. Oh, if I could just find death
and die! What a blessing to die! But they
can't! You know why? There is no death. Christ destroyed it. It's gone. You can't die. And what a blessing to those
in heaven. They never have to be worried about dying again.
Why? There is no death. Christ is
going to destroy it. He's going to destroy it. He
can't touch His people. The last enemy that shall be destroyed.
Now in verse 27 and verse 28. These verses are just a little
bit hard to stand, but here's what I can tell you about it.
For He hath put all things under His feet. God has put all things
under Christ's feet. But when He saith all things
are put under Him, It's evident, it's accepted, manifested that
God is accepted, which did put all things under Him. And when
all things shall be subdued unto Christ, then shall the Son also
Himself be subject unto Him that did put all things under His
feet, that God may be all in all. Now here's what He's saying
to me. He's saying this. that God has this eternal purpose
in this human race, and He's turned this purpose over to His
Son, who is the Mediator. And He's fulfilling this purpose.
He's ruling and reigning today. And when the Son, as the Mediator,
has accomplished this purpose, then what's He going to do? He's
going to say, Father, it's done. And then His office as a Mediator
will not be needed anymore. Now that scares us to make a
statement like that right now, don't it? Christ as a mediator
won't be needed because brothers and sisters, we'll be like Him.
We need a mediator now because we're poor sinners. We need somebody
to plead and maintain our cause with our Father in heaven because
we're poor sinners. If any man sin, we have an advocate,
but in that day, The saints will be as the angels of God. They
cannot sin. They will not sin. They will
be perfect, and they won't need a mediator between them and God. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ will
be there, and He'll be God. The only God we'll see. But His
office as a mediator will not be needed. God will be all in
all. Now look here in verse 29. He goes back now to verse 19,
speaking of the resurrection. And you already know what this
verse means, but let me just comment before we go on. Here
in verse 29. Paul likens baptism to the resurrection. Else, what shall they do? If
there is no resurrection of the dead, What shall they do when
you're baptized for the dead? If the dead raise not, why are
they then baptized for the dead? And you and I know what he's
saying to that. He's just simply saying that you believe in the
death, birth, and resurrection of Christ. That's why you're
baptized. You're baptized unto His death.
But baptism shows more than just the death, does it? If you've
been planted together in the likeness of His death, you shall
be also in the likeness of His resurrection. I told somebody
one time about baptism. You know, if you don't believe
in the resurrection, then you shouldn't even be baptized. Because
when you're put down in the water, that shows a death and a burial.
But what does coming up out of the water show? Resurrection. And I told somebody one time,
I said, if you don't believe in resurrection, what you're done
is have them put you down in the water and left you down.
You buried and you died, but that was it. Why did they raise
you back up? You were professing you believed
in a resurrection. Then Paul goes on and gives his
own personal sufferings in verse 31, 32, and 33. And then he goes
back to his subject, and that's where I want to pick up, in verse
35, and I want to hurry. Two questions asked here. But
some man will say, how are the dead raised up and with what
body do they have? There's two questions. How are
the dead raised up? The Lord Jesus told the Sadducees,
He said, oh, how you err. You don't know the Scriptures
and you don't believe in the power of God. How are the dead
raised up? The power of God. He raised up
Christ by His own power and He'll raise us up by His power. The
Lord Jesus said, the dead shall hear my voice. Those who are
in the grave, and they shall come forth. The power of this
triune God. The second question was this,
and with what body do they have? What kind of body are they going
to have? Paul? Well, he begins here now in verse 37. Verse 36. And he begins to relate
to us some bodies. And he's going to show us something. That which thou soweth is not
quickened, it's not made alive, except it die. We know that when
we plant a garden, we put a little grain of corn in the ground,
and it's all dried up. It's severed from its source
of life. It's dry, we put it back in the
ground, and what happens to it? It just dries up more and more.
But then what happens? Well, it sprouts. And out of
those dried up seeds, A big stalk of corn comes up with one or
two or three or four big ears on it, disloaded with kernels?
What happened? Well, read on in verse 37. That which thou sowest, thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but just bare, dried-up grain,
whether it's wheat or corn or some other grain. But look in
verse 38, how did it come out of the ground then? With a different
body than you buried it in. God gave it a body as it pleased
Him. Where do we get our tomato seeds
and our carrot seeds and our onion sets? Where do we get all
that stuff? God gave it to us. We have different varieties that
man come up with. God gave us all of these seeds
back in the garden. And they're still around today.
God gives these seeds. In verse 39, look here, it says
something else. All flesh is not the same flesh.
There's one kind of flesh of men, and a flesh of beasts, and
fishes, and of birds. Paul says, look around you, brother. Not only down in the dirt that's
coming out of it, but he said, look around you. Look at the
horses and the cows and look at the worms crawling on the
ground. Look at the birds flying. Look at all the bodies. Where
did all these bodies come from? And then he goes farther in verse
40. There are also heavenly bodies and bodies that are earthly.
But the glory of the heavenly is one and the glory of the earthly
is another. There is one glory of the sun
and another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. One
star differs from another star in glory. And what's he telling
us? He said, look at all these bodies
around you. God is a Creator. He's a wise
and mighty Creator. And look at what all He's done.
Where do all these bodies come from? Out of the ground, crawling
on the ground, flying through the air, and the sun, the moon,
and the stars, they all differ. Some of them are bright, and
some are dim. Some are colorful, and some are
just plain. But all of these different bodies,
God has created. And He says, you're doubting
now? God can bring a body up out of the earth and change it
and make it new? Why, He's a Creator! He's a mighty,
wise Creator! Just look what He's already done! You and I can't make anything
but a bunch of trouble, can we? But God can make all things new.
And He's given us evidence all around us, hasn't He? He's a
great and wise and mighty Creator. That's what He's going to tell
us now in verse 42. Look at this. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It's just like that. It's just
God bringing it out of the ground and giving it a body as it pleases
Him. And you know, the way He seems
to indicate here, just like one star differs from another star
in glory, all of them have their own shape and personalities.
When the Lord raises His saint from the dead, they're not going
to lose their personalities. They're going to all be different.
Isn't this not going to be a carbon copy that you stamped? It's going
to be you. You're going to have a personality.
People are going to know you in that. You're going to be individuals
there. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. Now, I've got to hurry. Look
what he says. It is sown in corruption. As soon as it dies, what happens?
It begins to decay and smell. Lord, he stinks, Martha said.
He stinks. Worms is eating it. But look
here, it's raised in incorruption. Incapable. Incapable of decay. Incapable of being corrupted.
It is sown in dishonor. I remember my dad, and I never
will forget this. He was such a proud man, even
when he was very, very sick. They had the nurses to come and
wash him and things. He never would have let a female
nurse touch him. Boy, if they come, he'd just
tell them, no, you can shave me. Once or twice he'd let them
shave him. That was it. But when he died, when he died,
there was a female nurse there, and she stripped his clothes
off of him, and she washed his body, his naked body. If he had
known that, he would have surely died. You see what happens to us when
we die. People do with us just what they want to do with us. I don't know what happened to
John the Baptist's head, but they sure dishonored him, didn't
they? Chopped his head off. Took his
body and buried it in one place. We don't know whatever happened
to his head. They may have stuck it up there in Herod's palace
somewhere. and just looked at it and mocked
it. I don't know what they did with it. But the body is sown
in dishonor. But look here, it's raised in
glory. It has a glorious body with dignity
and honor. It'll never be dishonored again.
It's sown, verse 43, in weakness, utter weakness. There it lays,
lifeless and breathless, but it's raised in power the power
of an endless life. I heard a man say one time, instead
of having blood and water in these bodies, they'll be filled
with the Holy Spirit. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Bodies filled with the Holy Spirit.
Oh, my. That would be power, wouldn't
it? In verse 44, it is sown, a natural body, an animal body,
dependent upon the elements. You'll go home today and you'll
eat. If you don't, you'll get hungry. If you don't eat in three
or four days, you'll really get hungry. If you don't eat, you'll
die. If you don't drink water, you'll dry up and die. We're
dependent upon the elements. That's why we're a natural body.
And there is a spiritual body, he says in verse 44. There's
a natural body and there's a spiritual body. One is a supernatural body, like
the Lord's. You know, we see this spiritual
body in verse 45. So it is written, the first man
Adam was made a living soul. That means he was just a natural
man with a natural body. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Howbeit that was not first that
which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward
that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth
earthy. And what Paul is saying here
is that there's a natural body and there's a spiritual body,
and this is one of, to me, one of the great mysteries of the
resurrection. It's going to be a body, but
it's going to be a spiritual body. Adam has a physical body,
but so does Christ. He said, Hand on me and see,
a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. Put your
fingers here and put your hand to my side. He raised him that
body in which he suffered. But Paul said it's a spiritual
body. It can go through walls. It can disguise itself. It doesn't
have to eat. It's not dependent upon the elements
to exist. It can leave this world and suddenly
be in the heaven. It's a spiritual body. But it's
a physical body. That's a mystery, ain't it? That's
a mystery. First man Adam, he's of the earth. The Lord made him out of the
dust of the ground. But who's this second Adam? Look
in verse 47. The second man, he's the Lord
from heaven. He's our representative, but
who is he? He's our Lord, and he came down from heaven to redeem
us. He's in a body. He's in our humanity. But he's the Lord from heaven. Verse 45 through verse 48, this
is God's purpose and God's order. God purposed there would be a
first Adam, a natural man who was subject through sin to die
and corrupt and be dishonored and lay in the grave weak. God
purposed there would be a second Adam conceived in the womb of
a virgin by the Holy Spirit Born of our bone, capable of temptation,
but not capable of guilt. Not subject to death, but able
to lay down his life. With no sin of his own, but loaded
with ours. A man so holy and full of merit
and worth and power, that though he died, death could not hold
him. And he put away sin, swallowed up death in victory, and rose
from the dead, and is there on the right hand of the Father
right now. And who is he? He's the Lord
from heaven. And he's not there as a private
person. He never done anything for himself, and he's still not
doing one thing for himself. Everything he does is a representative. He suffered for us. He died for
us. He arose for our justification.
He ascended and beyond the veil, a forerunner for us. He's in
the presence of God for us. And who is He? He's the Lord
of Glory. I tell you, brothers and sisters, you've got a good
representative if the Lord of Glory is representing you. The
Lord from heaven. But all of this, what the Apostle
Paul has been saying, is still not answering this question.
With what body do they have? What are they going to look like,
Paul? He said God's able to do it.
He's a Creator. But He's still not explained
with what body, what they're going to look like. Well, He
tells us here in verse 49, "...as we have borne the image of the
earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Who is
that? That's Christ. That's Christ. Oh, in verse 50, He said, "...but
it can't happen while you look like you are now, while you're
in the state you are now. This I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood Cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption." Okay then. Okay then. Is He going
to leave us in the dark? We know we're going to be raised
from the dead. We know we're going to look like Christ. We're
going to burn His image. When He shall come, we'll see
Him as He is, because we'll be like Him. Whatever He looks like,
that's the way we're going to appear. But here we are, Clarence. Look at us. We're in this immortal
flash with blood. Is this going to be a process
of evolution? You know, over a period of a
few years, are we going to look at ourselves and say, man, we're
glorified. It's sort of slipped up on us.
Look at us. We're just like Him. We're immortal. We're incorruptible.
Is that the way it's going to happen? No. But something's going
to happen because we're flashing blood. Well, look in verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all die. We shall not all sleep. But we
shall all be changed. How are we going to be made like
Christ? There's got to be a change. There's got to be a change. Job
said, all my appointed days I wait. For what, Job, till my change
comes? How quick is this? In a moment,
verse 52, in the twinkling of an eye, Kodak Camera Company
told us years ago, that's 11 one-hundredth of a second. When,
at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound, the Lord Jesus Christ
shall send from heaven with a shout, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
that's in the grave, he must put on incorruption. And this
mortal must put on immortality. And so when this corruptible
shall I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on
immortality. Now you notice this word that
he keeps using, this, this, this, this. And what he's telling us
is that it's going to be your same body turn. Jesus Christ
is the Savior of your body. It's going to be a new body.
It's going to be changed, but it's going to be yours. Paul said
in Philippians 3, He shall change our vile bodies. We sometimes sing that song,
This old flesh I'll drop and rise. No, no, no. It's not going to drop. It's
going to be changed. He shall change this foul body.
And that uncorruptible body that's gone and went to the dust, the
Lord can bring it all back together and give it a new body. But it's
that body. I love my body, don't you? I
love my body. I love the way God made me with
fingers and toes and eyes and ears. I don't want to lose it. I just want to be glorified.
And Paul said this same body shall be glorified. And then shall come to pass,
then shall be brought to pass the sin that is written. Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death! And here, look at him. He just turns now and starts
boasting. And here's what the saints are going to do. Now we
tremble in doubt and fear, but someday, someday, oh, when the
Lord comes and He glorifies us, here's what we're going to say.
O death, where's your sting now? You burdened me, scared me to
death when I was in my flesh and weak and frail. Where is
your sting at now, O death? O grave, they put me in you and
you consumed me. Where is your victory now? The
sting of death is sin, but Christ tasted sin for us. The strength
of sin is the law, but He fulfilled the law, and bore its penalty
on our behalf. So thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a wonderful truth. And
what are the effects of all this upon us? Verse 58, Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, be unmovable, Always abound in
the work of the Lord, for as much as you know your labor is
not in vain in the Lord. May God bless you.