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If you came in in the middle of this, you didn't hear the first three or four verses of this chapter chapter 15. You've heard me say it every single week for six weeks. But last week's verses lead into this week too. So, I wanted to just read exactly. This is what we covered last week and it's up on the internet.
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If you want to listen to it again, if I confuse you. Why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? Those of us who are speaking about the gospel. Why is it that the free Burma Rangers go into this very very dangerous place? Why do they put themselves in peril all the time?
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I affirm by the boasting that I have in you in Christ Jesus our lord that I die daily, Paul says. I'm putting myself out there and I'm dying daily. If in the manner of men, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, then let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived, evil company, or bad company corrupts good habits or good morals.
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Awake to righteousness and do not sin or sin no more. For some do not have the knowledge of God and I've said that some not having the knowledge of God is he saying and you don't even recognize it and this I say to your shame. So, we covered that last week but it leads into this section. Now, this is the longest passage we've done in a while. I broke this down in little pieces so you have to listen fast this morning, okay?
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Everybody's ready to listen fast. I woke up also yesterday with a crick in my neck and my little movement like this is now in my shoulders, not just in my neck but it goes with the sermon. So, we'll we'll see. God has a way of doing that. So, first Corinthians fifteen thirty five to 58.
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Listen fast this morning. There are three sections, but they're all about the resurrection. I don't have different names for them. There are three different sections kind of blocked off with a blank slide between. Fifteen thirty five, and the way that this is written is very very emphatic.
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So, if you go back to, you know, and I speak this to your shame, he's saying, and you're not even recognizing that people, some of the people in the church in Corinth are not really Christians. They don't believe this resurrection. They're trying to talk you out of that how important it is. They don't even know what's going on. You should not be listening to those folks.
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Remember, the bad company, that company right there is conversation too. It's a double entendre. It's double meaning. Bad company and bad conversation corrupts your good habits and good morals. Some folks don't even know Jesus and I say this to your shame.
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Now, we get to this but someone will say, someone among you is going to say, they're going stand up and go, oh, but how are the dead raised? Come on, Paul. How are the dead raised? That's ridiculous and with what body do they come? How is this going to work?
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They raise a couple of questions. Now, we might raise a few more questions. We might say, will we recognize each other again in our heavenly glorified bodies? Because that's what this section is about is our resurrection bodies. Well, it was a little fuzzy at first but the disciples recognized Jesus.
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He said that we would be able to recognize him but in this passage, it doesn't come. This is somebody that's being contrary to Paul and it's really really emphatic. Oh, Paul. So, how exactly are they going to raise up? What about the people who have been cremated, burned?
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Are they going be able to reconstitute? What about the ones who have done this? How exactly are they going to be raised up? And with what body do they come? Really?
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And Paul says, actually, this is more emphatic. You fool. Foolish one. What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. If I still have this in my pocket.
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You know what this is? I went to Smith's last night and you can buy these and they're separated out in little envelopes with the pictures on them of what they're going to be. If someone plants them at the right time, in the right place, and adds everything to it, just right, not me. I'll give these to Blake when this is over but this if you were to look at these, pour em out of my hand and I showed them to you, you probably would not know that this is the sweet salad mix. And you probably would not know that this was a zinnia.
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If I put em together in my hand, you wouldn't know which was which. For most of us probably wouldn't know but Paul starts off with three examples after his rebuke. You fool. He says, foolish one. That's not the question to be asking.
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You can see this all around you and he gives three different analogies right off the bat. He says, an agricultural example or analogy. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be but mere grain. How many zinnias would fit in this? Not many.
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Little pieces but the seeds of a zenith or how much salad would fit in this? Not much. What you sow, what you put into the ground, you do not sow that body that shall be but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain but God gives it a body as he pleases and to each seed its own body. Now, if I plant this sweet salad mix, I'm not going to come up with a zinnia. If I plant this, I'm not going to come up with watermelons.
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I'm just not going to do that. Each according to its own seed and he says that this body that will be planted is not like the one that will be raised. It's related to it and he emphasizes continuity from this body to the next body. Jesus had his scars. Maybe it's just Jesus.
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I'm not sure. He had his scars in his hand, in his side. He had his glorified body. But it still showed the scars of this life. But there's no pain, no sorrow, complete understanding.
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It's related to this body. Each seed, its own body. That's the agricultural analogy. He follows that up with a biological analogy. He says, all flesh is not the same flesh but there's one kind of flesh of men, another the flesh of animals, and another of fish, and another of birds.
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He says, God has made these, each according to its kind is what Genesis says. They're different and the body, this body, whereas, it is going to have continuity into the next glorified body, resurrection bodies. It's going to be different from this one too. So, he's saying it's continue continuity is there but there's a little bit of difference between the two and to further flesh this out, he gives an astronomical analogy like astronomy. He goes into that.
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There are also celestial bodies, heavenly bodies, and there are terrestrial bodies. Terrestrial being Earth here but the glory of the celestial is one thing. The glory of the terrestrial is another. There's one glory of the sun. Glory means fame, renown.
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It also means brightness. There's one brightness that is of the sun and another glory of the moon, and what is the moon's? It's reflected glory. It doesn't shine forth. It's not a big gas.
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You know, the sun is a massive incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace. Do you all know that song? Not many of you. They might be giants. I'm dating myself.
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Anyway, the sun is a mass of incandescent gas, but the moon is just reflecting the sun's glory, and another glory for the stars. They're further away but bright. They have different levels of brilliance or glory. For one star differs from another star and glory. He's saying there are differences in the way that things are and he gives agricultural, biological, and astronomical.
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So also is the resurrection of the dead. So he points back of that and he says, the body is sown in corruption and it is raised in incorruption. Now, the way we think of corruption, the way I think of corruption as a Mexican and Costa Rican missionary, and having been to various places around the world. When I think of corruption, I think of I think of a little bite that they take out of you. When a just something for refreshments, Just a little something for refreshments.
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You have wasted my time by me stopping you for doing nothing, and so I think you should pay for my meal. That's what I think of when I think of corruption. If you look at the King James or the I'm sorry, the New American Standard Version, you'll see it, and I think this is probably a better description for most of us. So, also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body.
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It is raised an imperishable body. When I got up this morning after less sleep, then, I need it probably and I stood up and I had the crick in my neck still. I was like, great. Perishable body. I feel it and I'm 43.
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Some of y'all are a lot older than me and you feel it a lot more than I do. The this body is a perishable body. It has a shelf life. It will wear out. Three score and ten.
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Seventy years is a biblical kind of a standard for human life. Some of us are approaching that pretty quickly here. It's a perishable body but what will be raised is imperishable. What goes into the ground is perishable. If you don't use seeds for long enough, they eventually die, right?
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Tanya says they do anyway. I know nothing about agriculture. So also is the resurrection of the dead. He's pointing back to those examples. He's pointing back to their questions and he's saying, this body is sown in corruption.
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It's raised in incorruption, perishable, imperishable, sown in dishonor but it's raised in glory. There's a brilliance about it. The fading of life, I'm not saying grandma is dishonorable when she passes but there is something that is just not filled with glory about the receding slowly into the grave on this side. Do y'all all agree with that? Everybody agree with me.
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Yes. Sown in dishonor, put in the ground in dishonor but raised in glory. It's sown in weakness but it's raised in power. It's sown a natural body. It's raised a spiritual body and then he reiterates that.
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There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. Now, for us, a lot of us like to disconnect spirit from body completely. So, to say there's a spiritual body might just sound like a complete oxymoron. That doesn't make any sense. He's saying, there is a natural body on this side which we are all experiencing.
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He'll flesh this out later, flesh this out, sorry and there is a spiritual body. He's saying, there is a glorified or a resurrection body that is different from this one. So, I just want to look at this again because this can sound kind of like gobbledygook. It's sown in corruption or perishable, raised incorruptible, or imperishable. It's sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power, sown in natural body, raised a spiritual body.
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There is a natural body and there's a spiritual body. He reiterates and this is what they look like. Our natural bodies, how many of you can say, you know what it feels like to be perishable? Yes. You know what it feels like to experience a corruption in your body.
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Has anybody ever had the croup? Have you ever had the flu like I had a couple weeks ago? I chased a couple of you around this week going to hospitals trying to catch up with you. Have you experienced the dishonor? Paul will get to why this is in a few minutes, but have you experienced the weakness?
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My goodness, it doesn't take much. Just your back being off that much, and you can't move your neck and you have to turn around like this. It doesn't take much to realize your own weakness and frailty. That's your natural body. That is not anything like your resurrected, glorified body.
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So that's the first section. He explains it a little further right here and there are lot of words on that screen but I'm gonna read through them really quickly and so it is written, the first Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first but the natural and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth made of dust.
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The second man is the Lord of heaven. That's Jesus. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly and as we have born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. Now, we went to church in South Carolina at First Pres, big old church, huge huge organ. The guy wore a robe.
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Sinclair Ferguson was the pastor there and I remember him saying this, when he was a young minister, he was attempting to comfort a family. He's an older guy now and after the death of a loved one, he's attempting to comfort them and so he went into this passage and he's talking about the first Adam and the last Adam and the man of dust and the man, the heavenly man and these things and then he decided after it was over that that was completely meaningless to most of the people in that room starting to fuzz up here a little bit, Rinsey. He decided that it was perfect and true but he would never use it again in a funeral. He might use it with the family. He might use it with Christians to comfort Christians but if you haven't experienced this, it's really really hard to get.
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He said it sounds like nothing more than mumbo jumbo or gobbledygook but I want to make the same list like I did the comparison there. In the first Adam, who is Adam, the first man created by God, conscious, sentient being. In the first Adam, that's where sin entered in. He became a living being. God formed him out of the dust of the earth and breathed life into him.
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He became a living being. The last Adam, Christ, became a life giving spirit. In his resurrection from the dead, he became that life giving spirit. By his sacrifice, your sins penalty has been paid by his resurrection. He can give life.
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That first Adam was natural. The last Christ, last Adam or Christ was spiritual. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and he walked in the power of the spirit his whole life. Never sinning, given his life, a ransom for many. That first Adam was earthy.
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The last was heavenly. First, relates to those who are of the dust, which is who? All of us, everybody. The second, gives opportunity to be one of those who are the Lord. The first, every single human being that was born was born to die.
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Everyone. But those who put their faith in the last Adam are born again to live. This relates to all who have ever lived and this relates to all who have ever believed in Christ. This is primarily based in the past tense and this is primarily based in the future tense. We're not in that place where we're looking at things from the rear view mirror.
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In fact, Paul goes on to say, now this I say brethren that flesh and blood and that's a common typical expression, Jewish expression for this, this body that we have right now. Cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This body just flat can't stand it. Jesus ascended. Y'all remember that?
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Ascended. Couldn't you ascend? No. The only prototype that we have of our resurrection bodies is what we saw in Jesus. Now, could pass through a locked door but also eat broiled fish.
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Figure that out. There's a lot about that resurrection body that we don't understand but Paul saying, we're this. We're seed. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery.
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We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed and when he says we, he's talking to Christians. He's talking about Christians. He's saying, we shall not all sleep, not all Christians shall actually experience physical death but we shall all be changed because of this. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God and corruption does not inherit incorruption. It has to be changed.
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So, we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, common Jewish expression for the day of the Lord. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we, whoever, we are, who are still here, Christians, we shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Incorruptible. Where are we?
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And we should be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. You mentioned sanctification this morning, Carl and God is in the process as we yield our lives to him. God is in the process of making us more and more and more like Jesus but on that great and mighty day of the Lord, it will be a quantum leap. Quantum leap forward.
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It's not gonna be like, yeah, I did better today. No. You will be better. For having believed in Jesus as the Christ and this mortal must put on immortality. So, I mentioned this slide the other, I showed this slide the other day, the you are here.
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Paul has written all of this but the end where all in Christ rise has not yet come to be. You're here. You're contemplating what Paul has said. You have the same kind of questions perhaps as some of the ones that were antagonistic towards him. You have this.
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Come on now. I've got this idea that when you're absent from the body, you're present with the Lord. That's absolutely true. In spirit, it's absolutely true but Paul says, that's not the final and ultimate hope. The final and ultimate hope is for your resurrected, glorified body that will live forever with Christ.
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So, so when this corruptible has put on incorruption and when this mortal has put on immortality, then shall it be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Right over there at the end when Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first and we will be caught up to meet them in the air is what first I don't know for what second Thessalonians says. Death has been swallowed up in victory right there, and that time has not yet come. We still feel death.
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We still feel the death of our loved ones, and it stings. The poison though is not forever. It does not go unto actual death. For those who believe in Christ, death will be swallowed up in victory. Now, it's still future.
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The work has already been done though right here at the crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and that's what Paul keeps pointing back to. So, when this corruptible is put on incorruption and when this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh hell, where is your victory? Now, that saying right there, Paul is drawing back.
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He's marrying together the two testaments right here and he's, this is from Isaiah twenty five eight. Death is swallowed up in victory and he will swallow up death for all time and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces. No pain, no sorrow there and he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. That's Isaiah 25 and then this is from Hosea which says this, oh death, where is your sting? Where are your barbs?
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Where are your thorns? Where is the pain in death? And where is your victory? Oh hell, oh shield, oh Hades. That's from Hosea.
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Now, the next section, Paul says, the sting of death is sin and this is one of those that if you look at it for too long, it gets really really confusing. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. That's confusing to me. The sting of death is sin. We all know this, right?
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Most of us have been in church our whole life. This is the Roman road. This is one of those things we learn pretty early. That the wages of sin is death. That's the bad news.
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The wages of sin is death. Sin is what brought on death in the first place from the day that Adam sinned, that is when death entered into this world. The wages of sin is death. The worst news is this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So, all of us deserve death.
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God would be righteous if he gave us death, hell. For everyone of us, we all deserve that. That's what we deserve. So Romans six twenty three and three twenty three, wages of sin is death, and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So the sting of death is sin, and we see that.
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That's what that's where death gets its sting. It's not sad or upsetting otherwise. If you think of the stinger having been removed and not having any victory, then there's no sting in death whatsoever. If that person is truly with Jesus and in a better place and Jesus has been resurrected and made that way and one day, this glorified body will be with him then there's no sting and death but then he goes on to say and the strength of sin is the law. I like this.
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John Piper said of this verse, this punishment death, hell, the grave, whatever. This punishment, this legal sentence of misery has force and validity and authority and binding power because the law of God tells us what to do. Does it? Does the law of God tell us what to do? Yes.
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Do we live up to it? No. None of us do. All of sin fall short of the glory of God. So, it has binding power because the law of God tells us what to do and it renders God's curse if we rebel.
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Not only does it tell us what to do but it tells us what the punishment is if we don't do it. So, what makes death terrifying is sin and what gives that terror such force is that the entire law of God stands behind it. That's heavy. It's somewhere like this. Romans seven twenty four and that great treaties on why do I do the things I don't want to do and why don't I do the do things that I do want to do from Paul?
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He cries out, oh wretched man that I am. He's not fussing at anybody else in Romans seven. He's fussing about himself. Oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?
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Because I have transgressed the law and I deserve it. The sting of death is sin. Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And it goes right into 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our lord.
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This is where things jump back up. Just as it's about to nosedive, things come back up. I thank God. I thank God through Jesus Christ our lord and this is where he ends this same idea but thanks be to God. The sting of death is sin.
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The power of sin is the law. The power of the law is of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the victory has happened already and he's given it to us if we would just accept it. Just take that on. Take on Jesus's salvation that he offers.
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Be thank but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Piper also said this, he said, there will be no death and and death and he said, this is a paradox because yeah, we do die physically and yet, all of us have experienced the death of a loved one where it is overwhelming for us that that person is gone from this side. We do not know where they are and we sometimes feel like we have inadequate description of how things are going for them but to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord in some spiritual way that is true but in a very very real way, Paul says, their bodies will be resurrected with their spirit, incorruptible, heavenly, eternal, lasting forever with no pain, no sorrow. There will be no death and death, and he I wanna look back to Jesus. This is where we can stand on this bedrock.
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Remember when Lazarus has died and he goes to be with Mary and Martha and Jesus wept at the grave. He knows what it feels like to experience the death of somebody close to him, and he's not faking his way through it. He feels it just like we feel it. But Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me, though he may die on this side, this mortal coil is gonna die, yet he shall live.
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And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. It is not death, ultimate death, this end in this life. And then he follows it up with the question, do you believe this? Now, that is the question because if you don't believe this, you're stuck on that first Adam. You don't have a part in the second Adam.
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You're stuck with the dust and you're not, you don't have anything to look forward to. Do you believe this makes all the difference? But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, after 57 verses of about the resurrection, therefore, my brother, this is he's looking back and goes, therefore, based on everything I've just told you, all of that stuff, be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now, Paul loves the takeaway slide and I like it too and in this one, we got six weeks to take away from.
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So, taken away from the last six weeks. First of all, is his first three points that started this whole thing off and Paul's first three points. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried because he was dead. He died for our sins and he was dead, really.
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He didn't just swoon and then he was raised from the dead on the third day just as the scripture said. This is the way that God has made. So, based upon that, be steadfast. Don't let anybody shake this. Don't let anybody say, oh, self help is more important.
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Self actualization, more important. Whatever people are trying to feed you, this is the most important. This is the message of the cross. It's foolishness for those who are not believing it and who are perishing, but it is the power of God to sanctify and change those of us who believe it, and ultimately, what will raise us up. Be steadfast in that.
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Don't let anybody shake you from that. Keep on rolling with that, and be immovable. Don't let them sway you to one side or the other. Stick with it. He's saying the same thing again, basically.
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Be immovable. Don't let them knock you off of this, and then always be abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord and I think that's it. Paul made a pretty good takeaway at the end. Can I get the band back up here? And if you believe this, I said a few weeks ago, tell somebody.
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There's nothing worse than wondering. Nothing worse than wondering. If you don't believe this and you know you don't believe it or you think that I've been going to church my whole life and I'm still not really sure about that. Would you come tell me about it? Or one of the elders or somebody else in the church.
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I'd really like to hear it myself though and then be able to talk to you about it. If you would stand with us and we're going to sing, Christ is risen from the dead. This is where the hope is. Usually, I'm scrambling around for a Bible verse for the closing benediction. Believe it or not, I want to use ABC News and I need to find it.
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So, the reason for this, they said yesterday, I was looking up trying to figure out whether my phone was going to really change time or not on me last night at 02:00 in the morning or did I need to stay up? No. And I I took a quote from this news service. It says, the best cure for darkness in the morning is to get up and focus on the rising sun. Amen.
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I just changed the spelling. The best cure for darkness and morning is to get up and focus on the risen sun. In Jesus name, let's do that this week. Amen.
