[0:00] Sing down to verse 16.
[0:13] O thou, my soul, do thou return unto thy quiet rest, for largely lo, the Lord to thee his bounty hath expressed. For my distressed soul from death delivered was by thee.
[0:26] Thou didst my mourning eyes from tears, my feet from falling free. I, in the land of those that live, will walk the Lord before. I did believe, therefore I spake, I was afflicted sore.
[0:42] I said, when I was in my haste, that all men liars be. What shall I render to the Lord for all his gifts to me? I'll of salvation take the cup, on God's name will I call.
[0:55] I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before his people all. Dear in God's sight is his saint's death. Thy servant, Lord, am I.
[1:07] Thy servant sure. Thine handmaid's son, my bands thou didst untie. Let us sing these verses to God's praise.
[1:17] O thou, my soul, do thou return unto thy quiet rest. O thou, my soul, do thou return unto thy quiet rest.
[1:39] O thou, my soul, do thou return to thy quiet rest.
[1:56] For my best presence so from the inner earth was by thee, And it's my morning, I can't hear my feet from falling free.
[2:28] I am the land of those who will walk the Lord before.
[2:44] I did believe, therefore I sped, I was a blistered soul.
[3:02] I said, when I was in my head, that all bedliers be.
[3:19] What shall I render to the throne what all has given to me?
[3:37] Thy love shall raise and take the cup, On God's death will I fall.
[3:55] I pray my love's bow to the Lord before us be the Lord.
[4:13] Dear in God's sin is his sin's death. Thy servant, Lord, am I?
[4:30] Thy servant should thine omission. Thy servant, my master, am I?
[4:51] Shall we turn for a short while to the passage? We read together 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and we can read again at verse 45.
[5:06] 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Verse 45. And so it is written, The first man, Adam, was made a living soul.
[5:18] The last, Adam, was made a quickening spirit. How be it that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
[5:31] The first man is of the earth earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
[5:45] And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. And so on.
[5:59] I'm sure that every one of us are familiar enough with this passage to know that one word stands out. And that word is resurrection.
[6:11] This chapter is synonymous with that one word. It is probably the most well-known passage of Scripture that has to do with the teaching of Scripture concerning the resurrection from the dead.
[6:38] It should, however, also remind us of the glorious hope of the gospel. In Paul's day, that was the case for some, but not everyone.
[6:53] And it appears, if I understand what Paul is saying, that even those who professed faith in Christ did not necessarily believe the doctrine of the resurrection.
[7:09] If you read from verse 12, Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?
[7:25] And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. And so on. Now, it would be easy enough for us to simply think that Paul's preaching generally was to everybody who was listening to that gospel being preached.
[7:51] But I think here he also identifies that there are those who profess faith who do not have that belief that the preaching that Paul engages in concerning the resurrection is a genuine gospel message.
[8:16] If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith, he says, is also vain. I could be wrong. Maybe it's just a statement that is a general statement.
[8:32] But it could be that amongst those who were listening to the message of the gospel and some who imbibed to a degree the message of the gospel did not believe this gospel in its full sense.
[8:48] Now, I don't think it can be argued that there are plenty of people in the world who profess the name of Christ, but they don't automatically, upon profession, accept all the teachings of the scripture.
[9:04] Some choose to negate the fully-orbed message of the scripture and choose which passages to believe, which portions to believe.
[9:21] But that is not something that any one of us would encourage in our own lives or in the lives of any others. And particularly here, we have what is a fundamental of the gospel message, that the day will come when the graves will open and the dead will rise and that those who are Christ's will go to be with them.
[9:51] And the basis for that belief is that Jesus Christ is himself risen from the dead and he sits at the right hand of glory. One of the leading reformed teachers of our own day writes the following.
[10:11] Chapter 15, he says, defines the gospel by which we are saved. The historicity of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the certainty of the resurrection of the dead.
[10:24] It gives the fullest explanation in the Bible of the resurrection of the body and the living hope of all believers. While Paul has much to say that is important on that subject, what I want us to do this evening is focus our attention on the fact that we find contained in these verses before us.
[10:52] the fact that while the resurrection body is an essential part of the believer's hope, but we want to look particularly at this section where he makes a comparison between Christ and Adam, between the one who is the type and the other the anti-type of the scripture.
[11:27] and Paul clearly sees benefit in this kind of teaching. He draws our attention to the fact that the salvation that Christ has purchased, secured for the believer is something that takes us right back to the beginning of the history of the world and that Christ in his death on the cross is dealing with the aftermath of the fall and securing salvation for sinners from the outcome of the fall.
[12:15] And Paul writes his epistle to the Romans. We find him making the same kind of comparison Romans chapter 5 and if you read it for yourself from I think it's from verse 12 onwards you find the apostle there reminding us of how sin entered into the world and the consequences of that.
[12:44] Wherefore he says as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned for until the law sin was in the world but sin was not imputed when there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression who is the figure of him that was to come but not as the offence so also as the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ has abounded unto many you can see what Paul is teaching there he is identifying for us the same truth that he feels the need to remind us of here that when Adam sinned the the impact of his sin was not just something that he felt it affected all his descendants and similarly the death that Christ died and the life that he lived was something that was not just something that was relevant to himself as an individual but of the greatest import for this world for all in it and especially those who came to put their trust in him so the purpose of our service tonight is very simple
[14:31] I want us to consider two people the first Adam and the last Adam and just see a few words about both as this passage brings them to our attention the first Adam and the last Adam now we know that the first Adam we know we identify him from the scripture we know who he was the name whose name is a name that we're all aware of he is the first of God's creation of mankind God created the world and all in it and then he created man in his own image and he gave to man that name that marks him out and in the book of Genesis where we have an account of the creation we read the following words and the
[15:34] Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and clearly I think it can be argued that Paul is referring to that statement in Genesis of the creation of Adam God breathed into him the breath of life and while we may accept that as a statement that that is a simple statement of fact which is what it is a statement of fact God is responsible for the creation of the world and all in it including mankind given the context here that Paul has placed that quotation or that reference from the Old Testament he gives it an import that is worth keeping in mind because he is referring to it as something that has relevance in more than one way clearly he is going on to make this comparison between the first Adam and the last Adam but he is speaking of it in the context of the resurrection from the dead and while it not be the main priority of what he has to say it certainly has relevance to what he says concerning the power that
[17:14] God possesses to bring life where there is no life he created life in the first instance he bestowed life on our first parents he breathed life into Adam he made man a living soul now it may be just simply a contrast between the two the first Adam and the last Adam but it is a contrast that is made in the context of a teaching that God has given to Paul concerning the resurrection and the resurrection is not something that could happen without God's involvement without God's intervention without God's power being an exercise however it is demonstrated and that is something that we are reminded of now should we read that into it or should we read more than that into it well that's entirely up to yourselves but I think that you can at least take that with you from your reading here you cannot
[18:35] I don't think ignore the type you cannot ignore what is being said and while there may be some discussion of discussions amongst theologians as they interpret this passage as to what the primary teaching or the preeminent teaching is I think you can take this with you from it one of the commentators G.B.
[19:01] Wilson makes this observation and I suppose it is at least very much part of what Paul has to say Paul's point is that apart from the entrance of sin into the world Adam needed to be changed he was immortal in that he was made in the moral image of God but in the probationary state under which he was placed by God his body was not fitted for a immortal existence now that's a comment made by a commentator in the context that we have it here now again you can't really insist that that is something that the apostle is meaning to teach here or wants us to to understand from what he has to say but with the knowledge that you have of what is true gleaned from other scriptures you know that that is the case
[20:07] Adam was created in the image of God but as that divine sets before you he was not created with the capacity to live forever he was well I suppose he was in a sense but not in another there was the potential in his life to yield to sin and while that potential was there death could enter into his experience because as many theologians who are dealing with the topic of covenant theology as far as Adam is concerned Adam was established in the world on probation and he was given the capacity to live as long as he fulfilled perfect obedience to God's revealed will and God's revealed will to
[21:18] Adam was to live in the garden to tend the garden to keep it and to eat of the produce that the garden produced accepting one tree and that tree was forbidden to him and as long as he obeyed God as long as he lived in perfect obedience he would have the potential to live on and some people believe that although there's no scriptural verse that I can think of I think maybe there's one verse that is slightly obscure that some refer to that suggests that the probationary period was was a limited one that there was a time that God had appointed that would be reached at some time at some point and that the probationary period was at an end and once that period was at an end
[22:22] Adam would be established in a permanent state of holiness without the potential to depart from it now the scripture doesn't teach that certainly not in with the clarity that you would want to establish a conviction what we do know is that he didn't retain his created status that he fell from that and Paul is dealing with that situation here he says concerning the first Adam the first man that God created that he was a living soul and that was how he was created but that that was changed and that was changed by the fall and the second thing that arises out of that is that
[23:26] Adam's covenantal status Adam's responsibility was not just to to continue in that created perfection on his own behalf but on behalf of others because he had responsibility for all his descendants remember in Romans 5 again he we read there that if by one man's offense death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ the important point is if by one man's offense death reigned by one that is the important emphasis there as far as
[24:33] Adam is concerned because of his offense death came to reign in this world so we read theologians identify this as proof positive that Adam was the covenant head of his people he was the federal head through his sin death came upon all the people his disobedience resulted in God's promise being realized forbidden fruit once it was eaten brought about his death instantaneously and we read in verse 21 of this chapter for since by man came death it wasn't it wasn't any it doesn't attribute it to disease it doesn't attribute it to to famine it doesn't attribute it to old age it doesn't attribute it to anything other than one thing man by man came death as in
[25:52] Adam all die he says and as far as Paul is concerned there is a clear link between the two now clearly we could say more about Adam the scripture allows us to consider some of the things that are true that have implications for us all but here what we're doing is we're comparing or contrasting the first Adam and the last Adam or to the last Adam and the last Adam we are told was made a quickening spirit a spirit that enlivens a note that he has spoken of us not the second Adam but the last Adam and many draw attention to that fact that it is emphasized because it has to do with the role that the last
[26:52] Adam occupies there won't be any more after him there will not be any need for another Adam after him because the one who bears the name the last Adam here in this context is one that fulfills all righteousness one that keeps the law of God one that obeys rather than disobeys one that brings life rather than death and he deserves the name and his name ensures that we understand we don't need to look elsewhere for any other there won't be another like him no other covenant no other covenant keeper no other federal head as the spirit that quickens he bestows life on those that were without life
[27:57] Leon Morris in his commentary states the following not only is he the pattern of those who are in him but he is the source of that spiritual life which results in the bodies of which Paul speaks the spiritual life that results in the bodies that Paul is here identifying that are going to experience the direction from the dead as Christ fulfilled the law a law that he placed himself under obligation to keep it was because of the role that he occupied principle don't mcleod in his comments states the following our very salvation rests on the obedience of the last Adam and that obedience was compliance with the covenant our covenant of works
[28:59] Christ saved us by finishing the work given him to do John's gospel that's the exact words that he uses that he had come to do the work that the father had given him to do he was obedient unto death and it is still true that the man who does the things contained in the law will live by them now that last statement I suppose is deserving of consideration in the sense that we think that the law is incapable of providing life that's not the case the law didn't change but the capacity of man to fulfill the law did Adam was obliged to keep the law and as long as he kept the law as long as he obeyed life was within his grasp but when he disobeyed the law the law was at that point something that he could no longer keep because you are obliged to keep not just our law but the law every jot and tittle of the law if you break one part of it you break it all and there is this instinct in us as individuals to endeavour to keep the law and we'll think well if I do my best and I keep nine tenths of it or 90% of it or 99% of it surely
[30:44] I'll achieve or claim kudos enough before God but that's not the way the law stands the law is either whole or it isn't and if it is broken the penalty for a broken law is death and man cannot keep the law but the son of man can the last Adam can if we go to Paul's epistle to the Galatians in chapter 3 we find Paul there describing to us what Christ was doing when he came into the world and what it meant for those who are his this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before God in Christ the law which was 430 years after cannot is annulled that it should make the promise of none effect for if the inheritance of the law it be no more of promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise and so on you read that chapter for yourself and you'll find there the implications of what
[32:10] Christ has done on the cross regarding the law means for you perhaps it explains to us our instinct to endeavour to keep the law and justify ourselves before God but the futility is writ large over it but there is life we are told that is spiritual and it flows from the Lord from heaven the believer as the context insists on and Paul states elsewhere is to have a body fashioned like unto his and it's in Philippians Paul makes that statement fashioned like unto his glorious body many ask questions about the stages in you know when Christ died he was buried his body was put in a grave the resurrection took place he rose from the dead and then he lived for 40 days in the world and he he ascended into glory but there seems to be differences in the way that he was perceived by those who saw him after death when
[33:41] Mary encountered him she reached out to him and he told her touch me not for I have not yet gone to my father he spoke to Thomas and he invited Thomas to touch him he met the disciples and they didn't recognize him their eyes were kept or some would maintain that there was some change in his physical body because of the resurrection there's a mystery that surrounds it but not withstanding that the truth that we have here in this passage is this that well we read in verse 46 that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual the first man is of the earth earthly the second man is of the Lord from heaven as is the earth such are they also that are earth as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly as we have born the image of the earth we shall also bear the image of the heavenly what is he saying what is he teaching us here is he emphasizing the change that will be initiated in the resurrection body of the believer we will all have glorious bodies reflecting the glory of
[35:16] God whose image we bear possession of a spiritual body there is a mystery concerning that if you think just for a moment think about John John was somebody who glimpsed into glory he saw through the very doors of heaven or so it seems whether it was asleep or in a vision or how he would describe what he saw and yet when it comes to describing what the resurrection body is going to be like he doesn't advance us very far forward in our understanding his people will be like him we are told not the first Adam but the last Adam and John says it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is
[36:20] I haven't really ever been able to understand that sort of leap we shall be like him far we shall see him as he is I know his people will be like him but the conclusion there or the understanding is there is that by seeing him we become like him I am not really sure but what we do understand from this passage here that Paul is referring to he is making this distinction between the first Adam and the last Adam he is making a distinction that is seen in the consequences of the fall and the consequences of Christ's intervention in the fulfillment of the law so that those who have life in
[37:27] Christ have the fullness of life just as surely as those who are suffering the consequences of the disobedience of their first parents will have death but the step beyond that is what will be manifested you know there's a difference between the natural man and what is true of him and the spiritual man and what is true of him and that is something for you to reflect on something for you to meditate on as much as you can and you will not lose out on doing that well may God enable us to remember that the scripture brings to our attention the place that Christ has in our life and why it is the way it is and why it should be the way it is and while we sometimes think of the resurrection while we sometimes think of death as it inevitably brings the resurrection to our attention what lies beyond sometimes something that is a greater mystery to us than we can ever explain away may
[38:55] God bless these thoughts to us let us pray Lord help us to understand that even in the blink of an eye when you people have gone into the experience of death as they pass through the portal of glory there is a change wrought in them which is beyond description we give thanks for all who possess that hope and for the way your people are encouraged and thinking of what the eye of those that were often seeking further sight deeper insights into the glory of Christ in this world are so filled with a vision that cannot be fully comprehended with natural faculties we pray that you would encourage us to be amongst those who would long for such a day and to do so with understanding forgive us every sin in
[40:01] Jesus precious name we ask it amen for finally that God for you whom is the mercy to so that you may in our attack Thank you.
[41:15] Thank you.
[41:45] Thank you.
[42:15] Thank you.
[42:45] Thank you.
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[43:45] Thank you.