Avoid Fear: Live confidently - 1 Corinthians 15:42-58

[0:00] Amen. If you could open up your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we will be starting in verse 35 this morning.

[0:15] I'm going to go ahead and read verses 35 all the way through the end of the chapter. And then we'll get into the rest of the text. So 1 Corinthians 15, 35 says through the end of the chapter.

[0:31] But someone will say, how are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? You fool.

[0:42] That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but it's a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

[0:55] But God gives it a body just as he wished. And to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men and another flesh of beasts and another flesh of birds and another of fish.

[1:10] There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, 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 and another glory of the stars for star differs from star and glory.

[1:25] So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body. It is raised an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor.

[1:35] It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there's also a spiritual body.

[1:48] So also it is written the first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.

[2:00] The first man is from earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so are also those who are earthy. And as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

[2:15] As we have born the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

[2:34] Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed for this perishable must put on the imperishable and this mortal must put on immortality.

[2:54] But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable and this mortal will have put on immortality, then we'll come about the saying that is written.

[3:05] Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

[3:15] The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:28] Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

[3:43] Christ is risen. What do we say on Easter morning? Christ is risen.

[3:56] One more time. Christ is risen. Let's pray. Therefore, we recognize the power of the resurrection today, this morning, and I pray going forward that every day of our lives, every week in the church, that we would remember that you are the God who defeats death and sin through the resurrection of Jesus.

[4:30] As Paul sees the need for the Corinthians to understand more fully the beauty and the ramifications of the resurrection, I pray that we too would open up our hearts this morning to receive the benefits of the resurrection, that we would live in power, that we would live in the Spirit.

[4:56] We'd put to death the deeds of the flesh and recognition that there is no power over us in the name of sin. That we've been given all things through Christ Jesus, but specifically you have given us according to this text a victory, a conquering, and a new identity that is master over sin and death because of you and what you have done.

[5:28] In your name we pray. Amen. 1 Corinthians 15, 35 to 58 is what we're going to be studying in death this morning.

[5:42] This is a section of 1 Corinthians that contains a great deal of typology, a great deal of theology, all of which have incredibly staggered ramifications for the believer.

[6:03] We see themes of body, of death, of life. We see theological terms of glorification, resurrection, empowerment implicit in the text.

[6:18] And we see an implication of justification, the work accomplished by Christ on the cross.

[6:28] All of this in this section leads us to take this section and think to ourselves. What is so important about the resurrection?

[6:44] Well if you look at the text in its fullness from 35 all the way to 58, I want to point out a few key terms because what Paul does is he takes these themes and these ideas that were just expressed and he breaks them down through one big analogy and the analogy is of agriculture.

[7:03] Farming. I know we have some farmers here. My wife grew up in a farm town where almost everyone was farmer, was a farmer. And here's what we see by Paul.

[7:13] We see some key terms. First, body slash bodies is used 12 times. The term death is used seven times and scattered throughout the entire section are the following terms.

[7:30] So, sowing, sown, seed, kernel, wheat, grain, dirt, and raised or harvested.

[7:41] It's clear that Paul is conveying something that is meant to be taken as not just analogous, but the analogy of agriculture, of the seeds, of the planting, of the farming should lead the believers to the Corinth and us today towards a greater understanding of what happens functionally when Jesus rises from the dead.

[8:10] So here's what we're going to do. We're going to read different sections. We're going to break it down. We're going to see Paul's argument build from 35 all the way to 58. There's a big long argument.

[8:20] He's building up to a point, not just in this chapter, but also in the entire book of 1 Corinthians towards the end, which is one of the most beautiful statements in all of Scripture. And we'll get there. But let me first address the question.

[8:32] Let's look at verse 35 to 37. Here's what Paul says, but someone will ask, and when Paul makes the statement, what he's doing is he's drawing upon that which he's stated.

[8:47] And Pastor J over the last two weeks, he's done a good job teaching through the first half of 1 Corinthians 15, which deals with this. The resurrection is fact.

[9:01] People have seen their eyewitnesses, there's logic that would lead us to believe in the resurrection. There's theology that's dependent on the fact that it actually happened.

[9:12] Believers in Corinth, you say there's no one that can be raised. That's what he says. He addresses their doubt. He addresses their misapplication of that which has been told to them, namely that Jesus has risen from literal death.

[9:27] And Pastor J reminded us that the resurrection is fact, it's not to be doubted, it is essential for Christianity to even exist. And so what Paul says now in beginning of verse 35 is, now that I've addressed these things and stated clearly the resurrection is true, there may be some of you in the church that may ask this.

[9:51] In other words, Paul is proactively addressing a question that as his letter would be read right before verse 35, maybe someone would stand up and object and say, wait a minute, wait a minute, Paul is saying he's proactively suggesting that there's going to be some questions.

[10:08] And here's the proactive question that he proposes that they would ask. How were the dead raised and with what kind of body do they come? And the implication of these questions is such that they're looking for a scientific answer.

[10:27] How could a dead body be raised from the ground, Paul? It's decaying, how could that happen? And the second question with what kind of body do they come?

[10:40] Also this implication is how is the science showing that a body can come back to life, but also Paul, how is the body going to look when it comes out of the ground?

[10:52] And Paul is presuming that his readers are listening and they're still missing the point. They're still missing the fact that the resurrection, the bodily resurrection that Jesus gives us through his bodily resurrection is something ethereal or perhaps it's something that doesn't make any sense because the Corinthians can only wrap their minds around the physical nature of Jesus and not the really true spiritual elements of who Christ was and what he came to do.

[11:24] So what Paul says here is perhaps you're wondering, how is this even remotely possible? And here's the primary solution.

[11:35] Verse 36, you foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

[11:48] Paul doesn't give a scientific answer. Well, what happens is the molecules will come back together and begin to start working again and start rehealing the dead body and then it'll crawl out of the grave and I'm back.

[12:03] No, Paul's interested in this. Here's what Paul's interested in. The radical opposite of this assumption, which is this, how is the dead body raised?

[12:14] You ask, oh, thank you for asking. It doesn't come to life unless there is death that means the person is dead, dead, dead, completely dead in the grave.

[12:26] It must die, die, die, die. You are foolish. Death is required. Death is important. And here's where the farming theme comes in.

[12:40] Here's what Paul says in 37. What you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. And what Paul has just done is he's analogized the body with a seed.

[12:56] And he suggests different types of seed here, maybe wheat or another grain, but the point for Paul is this, there is a kernel. I want you to imagine this kernel. If you plant this kernel on the ground, farmer, you plant it on the ground, you water, you cultivate, you put it down, what's going to happen to that seed?

[13:13] Well, hopefully the assumption would be that it would turn into a crop, a beautiful crop that we can now enjoy and harvest. That's Paul's assumption with this analogy. But here's what he says.

[13:24] What you sow, in other words, what you are planting in the ground is not the body that is to be. In other words, the resurrected, glorified, heavenly body.

[13:34] That's not what you're putting in the ground. What you're putting in the ground is literally your dead body. And here's the thing, that dead body that's put in the ground, all of our eventual dead bodies.

[13:45] When they're put in the ground, he compares that dead body to a seed. And when the seed goes into the ground, what must happen in order for the seed to give way to fruit or to give way to a shoot that sprites out of the ground that we can then enjoy and harvest?

[14:03] It must die. It must die. So for Paul, he looks to the Corinthians and he says this, you misunderstand what the resurrection means.

[14:21] It's not just that our physical bodies would be pulled out of the ground and re-put together by God's sovereignty somehow. Instead it's this, your physical body needs to go in the ground and literally die and decay and pass away.

[14:39] That is the point. Because if our bodies do this, they die a natural death in the ground, that gives way to the seed being able to produce fruit. So he's continuing his argument here.

[14:53] He's building his case. And here's the reality. He's trying to get the church to understand that the resurrection of Jesus Christ turns our dead bodies, our dead lives into something fruitful.

[15:12] And this is why celebrating the resurrection of Christ, Paul's going to build up, means that as a church we have a future hope of a bodily resurrection, but that if we willfully neglect the resurrection, the implications of the resurrection, we willfully neglect the current life-empowering hope that the resurrection gives.

[15:42] According to verse 38 to 41, now Paul's going to move his argument from, of course, of course we must die to this.

[15:52] He says, but God gives it a body as he has chosen each kind of a seed, its own body. In other words, every type of physical body on this earth has a seed.

[16:05] And he starts listing off different types of bodies, if you will, for not all flesh is the same, but there's one kind for humans. There's a kernel of seed, a certain type of crop, and that's the human body, the human seed.

[16:17] And then there's another for animals, there's another seed over here, a different crop, and that's of a certain type of animal. And then he says this, he categorizes the animal as saying birds and another for fish. Then he says there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, there's bodies up in heaven that are different from bodies that are on earth.

[16:34] And then he says this in verse 41, that there's also, he makes a further distinction, there's a glory of the sun, that as you look at the sun and all of its beauty and warmth, that has a certain type of glory that we ascribe to the sun.

[16:46] But as you also look to the moon and to the stars, you see different glory. The sun, the moon, the stars, they're all beautiful, but they all are different.

[16:57] A different type of glory. And what is so integral with this section is the term glory.

[17:12] Paul's point here is to build up, again we're building up towards the climax of the end of this chapter, and here's how he builds this section up. By making distinguishing remarks about different types of physical bodies or celestial literal bodies up in the sky, he makes distinctions between them in order to build a case that there are good and bad.

[17:36] There are greater and less. There are more glorious and less glorious bodies. He's building this case to talk about and elevate the beauty of the glorified body that is given to us through Jesus Christ.

[17:53] But let's not miss another subtle point that Paul is making here in this section. He references the order of creation with this section.

[18:10] He mentions seeds, seed bearing plants on the day of creation. Third day of creation, seed bearing plants are mentioned. In day six of creation, human beings are mentioned and created.

[18:26] Also in day six, immediately preceding the humans are animals. Immediately preceding the animals are birds on day five, and also on day five, preceding the birds are fish.

[18:38] And guess what precedes the fish? In day number four, the heavenly celestial bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars.

[18:48] And Paul literally lists the reverse order of creation. And here's what he does. He implies this, that there is a glorification that is coming not just of us and our bodies, which is the primary focus of Paul, but also all of creation is going to be glorified perfectly through God's power.

[19:15] Romans 8.19-25, Paul illustrates this. He says, for the creation, the humans, the animals, the birds, the fish, the heavenly celestial lights are eagerly longing for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

[19:41] Now listen to this, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together the pains of childbirth until now. You think that your body hurts.

[19:51] You wake up with sores. I'm hurting. I've got pain. We all experience that. Guess what? Creation is also experiencing this.

[20:02] So Paul is saying, we're all groaning the pains of childbirth. When will it be over? When will the relief come? And he says in verse 23 of Romans 8, and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown in relief as we wait eagerly the adoption of the sons, the redemption of our bodies.

[20:25] All of creation will be redeemed. And who receives the first fruits of this glorification? Is it the salmon, the moose, the great oak tree?

[20:41] No. Jesus, our first fruit, gives us the first fruits that we would receive glorified bodies. Now verse 42 to 50 is the biggest section.

[20:54] We'll go through this quickly, but here's what Paul now moves his argument to. He addressed the question that he deals with the different types of potential bodies. Now he deals with the better body, the body itself.

[21:07] He says this, so it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is planted in the ground, that seed that's put down is perishable.

[21:18] It will die. But what is raised from the seed in a spiritual sense is imperishable. It cannot die. It is sown in dishonor. Speaking of our bodies, our bodies are sown in dishonor.

[21:31] They are raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in a natural body. And it is raised a spiritual body. And if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

[21:43] Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Two people here in verse 45, Adam himself. Born of the dust of the ground.

[21:54] And what does it say? He became a living being. He's been given life through the breath of God. But don't miss the second. The last Adam, Jesus Christ.

[22:05] Jesus Christ became a life-giving spirit. Let us not forget the very life that we have right now and will have someday forever in eternal glory is only due to the life-giving spirit, Jesus.

[22:23] We don't give ourselves life. We don't work in and of ourselves to say, I have made it and I will continue on into eternity.

[22:34] Everything we do leads to life. It is Jesus Christ alone, the life-giving spirit that continues our life in eternity.

[22:44] Verse 46, but it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. Jesus, we already talked about this. Verse 48, as was the man of dust, so also are those who are of dust.

[22:58] Here's what Paul just said. Adam comes from the dust and he dies in the dust. Guess what? You're dust. All of you and I, we are all dust.

[23:12] And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And Paul subtly suggests here that as Jesus Christ, a man from heaven, has an eternal body, a glorified body that will never fade.

[23:29] Those also who are of heaven implying us some day. Those of us that will also come into the presence of God in heaven will also have the body of Christ.

[23:43] Verse 49, just as we have born the image of the man of dust, we should also bear the image of the man of heaven. Jesus, verse 50, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

[23:58] Now, this section deals with the better body. What Paul is saying here is he's drawing a contrast between earthly and heavenly bodies. And it's often asked a lot in Christian circles, what does it mean to be glorified?

[24:12] Am I going to have this hand with these exact markings, this exact fingerprint? Am I going to have these feet, this hair, this mess of a face? Am I going to have this in heaven?

[24:23] Is this exactly what it's going to be? It's just, maybe I won't have any pain. Is this my body exactly in heaven? Some people speculate, no, no, no, this body is done away with. We all have a eternal, beautiful spiritual body that is all very similar and we all have the same.

[24:38] We're basically just souls floating around with this cool looking new body. Some people speculate and says, there is no actual body in heaven, no manifestation.

[24:48] It's unable to be seen. We just, our spirit lives with Christ in heaven and there is no body. Here's my answer to all of you. This is truth. This is exactly what it means for us to have a glorified body.

[25:01] I have no idea. Okay? I have no idea. The only hints that we have in Scripture is a reference by Paul in which he suggests that our glorified bodies will be made new with Christ in 1 John 3.2 which John says, when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.

[25:34] So to some degree, the body of Christ, the glory of who He is in some way, shape or form, will be transferred to us as we see Jesus from who He actually is to see the glory and the perfect character that He embodies in heaven.

[25:48] As we look upon Him in that light, we also take on that light. That's all I can say about what our bodies will look like. Paul does list a couple of contrasts here.

[25:58] First, he says, the earthly body is mortal. It dies. It cannot keep on living. Our heavenly body is immortal. It cannot die. Then the next contrast is, the earthly body is dishonorable versus the heavenly body which is glorious.

[26:12] What Paul is not saying here, he's not saying that our earthly bodies are dishonorable because they are just pleasing to God and God has somehow made us incorrectly and we're devoid of glory because God's mistake, it's not what it means to be dishonorable, but instead what he's saying is our earthly bodies are dishonorable because they die.

[26:33] That which dies is dishonorable. How could you say that? Everything dies. Everything that dies is dishonorable in light of a God who never dies.

[26:47] That's what he means there. And then you have weak versus strong. He says the earthly body is weak. We've all experienced this. Fatigue, tiredness, brokenness. Our bodies are weak.

[26:59] Even the strongest man on earth, the most muscular person, the highest endurance athlete is totally broken and weak when compared with the strength of a glorified body.

[27:13] The next contrast he makes is natural versus spiritual. This is a natural body. I can hit it. I can feel it. I can touch it. I can predict what's going to happen with it. If I run a 26 mile marathon, I'm going to be tired.

[27:25] That's what happens with a natural body. If I decide I'm going to light fireworks off and hold them in my hand, I might blow my hands off. That's a natural body predictive manner, right?

[27:36] But what he's saying here is the spiritual body is not natural. It cannot be understood by us, at least now.

[27:47] It's spiritual. And then lastly, he says the body is of earthly origin and the heavenly body is of divine origin.

[27:58] Our first body was created from the earth. Our eternal body was and will be fashioned in heaven. And I have a quick application on this.

[28:09] All right, Eric. Well, Paul's saying that earthly bodies don't matter a whole lot. They're bad. Earthly bodies and heavenly bodies are good. That's what we should be looking for. So forget about this and this body and this life.

[28:22] Just wait and just wait, wait, wait, wait until we get our heavenly body. This body doesn't matter a whole lot. Is that what Paul's really saying? Do you honor God by caring for His creation?

[28:34] Do you care for animals? Do you care for land? Do you care for the environment? Do you try to honor God the best you can by loving His creation and being a good steward of it, the original job of mankind?

[28:45] If so, why do we take care of all other aspects of creation and sometimes neglect our own bodies? There have been times in my life that I go on a binge of about a month of eating junk and then I realize what in the world am I doing?

[29:00] I feel terrible. My body is getting out of shape. I'm not taking care of myself. I have low energy. There are times when I in my pride think, I don't need sleep. I can stay up and go and get four hours of sleep.

[29:12] In the name of productivity, and then I gas myself and I'm an absolute wreck. I don't take care of my body like I should. My diet, my exercise, my hygiene can be improved.

[29:23] All of us can improve in these areas. The reality is our bodies are important and we ought to honor God by taking care of them, which was discussed earlier in 1 Corinthians 15. But it's not the main point.

[29:34] The main point for Paul is this. There is a simultaneous reality that we should take care of. There is a simultaneous reality that we should take care of our earthly bodies, but that this, no matter how much pristinely we take care of our bodies, they will still die in dishonor.

[29:53] The experience of death is in and of itself inevitable and dishonorable. There's no person through a method of grooming, exercise, diet that can possibly escape the dishonor of death.

[30:08] I want us to read verse 50 one more time. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

[30:22] And what Paul has done in this verse is he has made implicit the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice his language. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

[30:47] Our hearts of flesh, our bodies of flesh, cannot inherit God's eternal spiritual kingdom. In the book of Romans, Paul provides a solution to this problem, that our marred self, both physical and eternally worse, our marred spiritual self, our spiritual standing, but for holy God, we were depraved.

[31:26] We miss the mark. And in the book of Romans, Paul uses four terms that are fairly synonymous that lead to what is called atonement.

[31:40] And the term atonement is a catch all umbrella term for what's happening in the sphere of salvation. To be atoned for means that my sin debt has been paid and I've been made right with God.

[31:57] That's what it means to be atoned. And if you'd like to turn to Romans chapter 3, we're going to look at three of those terms, then a fourth term in Romans 5, but Paul uses atonement terms in the book of Romans.

[32:12] Four terms in Romans that paint a holistic picture of what it means to be atoned. And we need to soak this in because the gospel reality of the resurrection can only be found in the light of being atoned.

[32:28] Romans 3, 21 to 26, I'm going to read this first. I'm going to stop at the key atonement terms here. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, all the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

[32:40] The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's the problem.

[32:51] We've fallen short of His glory. Verse 24, and are justified the first term. Justified.

[33:01] Here's what justification is. It's the Greek word, dikaiou, to be declared righteous before. And there's a scene for every one of these terms.

[33:12] And what Paul's doing is he's saying atonement. Let's paint the picture of what it needs to be atoned for sin. And I'm going to put you four different scenarios in order that every single person would relate and understand what atonement is.

[33:24] And the first one is a courtroom scene. This term justification implies that we are on the stand.

[33:34] We've been accused of high treason against the holy God through our sinful natures. And God on high sits on the throne. Holy, righteous, the only true judge.

[33:44] And the term of justification implies that as we stand before the judge, God Himself, He declares us righteous even though we have committed incredible wrongdoing.

[33:59] Even though we have committed every single sin against His holy and perfect law, He looks at us. The worst sinner, the worst lawbreaker of all time.

[34:10] And He says, I declare you righteous because Jesus is righteous. And He takes your place. You can go free now with His righteousness.

[34:22] And now He's going to pay your punishment. Justification to be declared righteous. It's a courtroom scene. Now let's keep reading, verse 24. We are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

[34:36] And His second atonement term is redemption, a polytrosis. And it means this, release from a captive condition or to be bought back from slavery.

[34:51] And here's the second scene that Paul paints. It's a slave market scene. Justification was a courtroom. Excuse me, redemption is a slave market.

[35:05] The picture is this, that every single sinner, history of mankind stands shackled in a line, shoulder to shoulder, in the slave market.

[35:15] And who is the slave market owner? Satan. He has this, we're enslaved, we're in chains to sin and to death.

[35:26] And Jesus comes, what it means to be redeemed, is that He releases us from captive condition. He buys us out of slavery. We're no longer in slavery anymore. I'm buying you out. The shackles are loosed and we become the owner, excuse me, we become property of, to His glory, Jesus Christ.

[35:45] Redemption. The third term, let's keep reading, verse 25. Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

[35:55] Now the third term propitiation, courtroom scene, slave market scene, is a temple scene. And the term propitiation is a sin offering that avert God's wrath.

[36:08] The picture of the temple is this, that in order to be made right with God, in order for my sins to be forgiven and atoned for, I have to offer a right sacrifice that God would see, find acceptable, and avert His wrath.

[36:26] A propitiation means that Jesus becomes our needed sin offering, and He goes on the altar and is sacrificed.

[36:36] But He's different than every other sacrifice in human history. His sacrifice is eternal. Forever. Every sin, past, present, future is atoned for, paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus.

[36:49] So that in the temple, God sees the sacrifice of Jesus, and I get to walk away uncondemned. Propitiation in the last term is Romans 5, 9 to 11.

[36:59] It says this, since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, so much more we shall be saved by Him from the wrath of God, for of wilder enemies we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life, more than that we also rejoice in God, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation.

[37:18] The last atonement term in Romans is reconciliation. And the scene here is a family room. Have you ever had a broken relationship in your family, or with a friend over sin, maybe on both sides?

[37:38] Reconciliation implies that there's a broken relationship between me and God, but God committed no sin. I am the one that has wronged God. And there's a broken relationship because we don't talk, we don't call, we don't text, we just kind of go about our lives and pretend, okay, I'm gonna pretend that this isn't really happening, but God, in His great mercy, reconciliation means to exchange a broken relationship for a friendly one.

[38:07] God intercedes in our brokenness because of awesome what we've done, and Jesus steps in and becomes a way to God by making us righteous.

[38:18] And that family room, we sit across from the room, we now come together and we embrace each other in the middle of the room with restored friendship, reconciliation. The reality of it is this, that as we look at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we need to answer these questions.

[38:42] Have your sins been atoned? I urge you to seriously consider this question. Do you live in constant guilt over your failures and missteps?

[38:54] Do you struggle to believe any power of or act of love could actually remove your sins from you? These atonement terms that Paul uses have instant life-altering implications.

[39:08] That when we believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of our sin, we receive justification, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation in an instant, made right before God forever, amen.

[39:27] God is the one who works, and His people receive Him in faith. Nexus verse 51 to 53.

[39:39] Here's what Paul says here. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, we should all be changed in a moment, the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised in perishable, and we shall be changed.

[39:52] For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. What Paul's saying here is this, there's gonna become an instant in time that we will rise from our slumber, and we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.

[40:08] I mean, in other words, in an instant, just as we were saved in an instant, we shall be glorified in an instant. And there's no body that we could inherit that's better than the glorious body of Jesus Christ.

[40:22] This body's not of this earth. It's unable to be described fully. It will be perfect, however, and it will allow for perpetual worship of God, and that's all we need to know.

[40:36] So to define glorifications, the term that is used a lot, the redemption of our earthly bodies into spiritual bodies through total removal of sin, and secondly, application of Christ's glory.

[40:53] Say this one more time, the redemption of our earthly bodies into spiritual bodies through total removal of sin, and application of Christ's glory. That's what it means to be glorified.

[41:03] And every one of us that have believed in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our salvation, that called Jesus as Lord, we will receive that glorification.

[41:13] And I urge you, if you are not confident about your eventual future reception of that glorious body, there's nothing more important you could do than to pray to God and ponder anew His glorious gospel.

[41:28] Last, 54 to 57. Verses 54 to 57 are the climax of the chapter, but not just the chapter of the entire book of 1 Corinthians.

[41:47] This is a book that talks about a church that misunderstands theological concepts, that misunderstands core doctrine, that lives in sin, that is given way to all of the ways of the world that is not truly, actively walking in submission to Christ as they should.

[42:08] They have their strengths, but mostly Paul lists their weaknesses in this book. And the main reason why is because they misunderstand or do not take as they should the implications of the resurrection.

[42:21] Paul says this, when the imperishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that has written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

[42:32] The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The climax of the book, the pinnacle moment, the objective truth that transforms churches, transforms lives, and for the Corinthians, will lead them into submission of a God that they have not followed closely and will lead them towards right living that honors him and glorifies him.

[42:58] This is the truth. Death is swallowed up in victory. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from death reverses the effects of sin forever.

[43:14] Notice this path of Jesus' life. Jesus comes from the Father through his incarnation. He then walks and talks on earth. He then dies.

[43:27] Through the resurrection power, everything is reversed. He undies. He walks and talks again to the disciples and then thousands more.

[43:37] And then what's the last step? He ascends back to the Father. It's a perfect reversal of his entire life on earth. And the point is that the resurrection of Christ is not just something that we worship and we think about on Easter morning, on resurrection Sunday morning, but it's something that transforms the very nature of life itself.

[44:03] And Paul quotes two prophecies concerning the resurrection of Christ here. Isaiah 25.8, he says, He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.

[44:16] The second is Hosea 13.14. Both of these are resurrection prophecies. I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol. I shall redeem them from death.

[44:27] Oh, death wear your plagues. Oh, Sheol, where is your sting? We live in a modern church culture that elevates the cross.

[44:42] And rightfully so. We should elevate the cross. This is good and right. But without a mature view that appreciates the resurrection, the empty tomb, the cross falls apart.

[44:57] I'm going to say this again. Without a right understanding of the resurrection, the cross loses its weight.

[45:13] Paul said, In early 1 Corinthians 15, your faith is in vain and you're still in your sins. The resurrection does not happen. To believe in the cross and to forget the resurrection of Christ like worshiping Jesus for dying on a cross and forgetting that He came to life.

[45:36] It's like watching a space shuttle launch successfully cheering. Look how it exploded up into the sky. It's successful launch. Wow. And walking away, never, never ever inquiring or wondering if the mission was successful.

[45:48] Did they land on the moon? Did they land on ISS? It's like watching your favorite football team get the ball back at the end of the game and tie the game with a touchdown and then turning the game off saying, Wow, that was awesome.

[46:01] They tied the game. Let's, all right, let's move on. Did they make the extra point that would win the game? That puts it over that the game would be finished? Did they make it? I don't know.

[46:12] It's just, whatever. They tied it. That's great. All right. If we glorify the cross as we should, let's follow with the glorifying of Jesus resurrection.

[46:26] That's Paul's heart. He wants the Corinthians to understand the power and the permanence of Jesus leaving an empty grave dead as life.

[46:40] The resurrection validates the atoning work of the cross. And if you look in verse 54, there's a future tense. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, then shall come to pass as what Paul says.

[46:52] Sin and death will not be able to hold the church down in death. We have a future hope of resurrection, a future implication when we believe in the resurrection. But also look at verse 57. And this is critical for the church in Corinth.

[47:04] And it's critical for us today that want to live for God's glory. He says this, Who gives us the victory? And this is the present active verb.

[47:15] In other words, you could translate this. Who is now giving us victory? The resurrection of Jesus Christ assures for us a hope that we will resurrect with Him someday and not fall privy to eternal death.

[47:30] But also the present active who gives us the victory, He is giving us the victory in the moment. In the moment that Paul writes it and we have it now forever. Right now in this moment, today, tomorrow and forever.

[47:46] The resurrection implications for life are both now and not yet. When you run short on hope and your family, career, relationships or even life itself, the motivation to keep going in all those aspects and all others that you will one day be resurrected into perfection.

[48:03] When sin causes all sort of guilt and paralysis in your spiritual walk, when there's something that you can't seem to get a hold of in your life, the present reality of Christ's victory over sin should propel you to a view of sin as just as it is, which is this.

[48:17] Defeated. It's defeated when Paul talks about the victory of Jesus over death. What he's pointing to is this. That we worship a God who is a battle warlord that has just conquered his enemy.

[48:34] And as Jesus walks the grounds of the conquered field, the conquered battlefield, all of us walk behind him and see what he's done on the battlefield. And we say, the enemy is done.

[48:46] They've been conquered. They're dead. Look at this. The battle's over and there's Jesus. He's the one that did all of this. And I'm on his team. I'm in his army. That's what Paul is pointing to.

[49:01] The battle's over. It's won. Sin and death is dead in relation to the law of grace. Jesus Christ, he's given us. Battle victors walk confidently.

[49:17] They walk the Skyward battlefield. They follow the glorious king and they live confidently wherever they go. But not because of my strength, because of Jesus' resurrection strength.

[49:28] So the charge, verse 58 says how he finishes, therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that the Lord, in the Lord, your labor's not in vain.

[49:38] What are characteristics of those who have confidence through the resurrection? First, the confidence of the resurrection allows for strength to firmly believe in the message of the gospel.

[49:54] Be steadfast, immovable. We're about to sing a song called, All I Have is Christ and here's the lyrics. I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way.

[50:06] The sin that had promised joy in life led me to the grave. Sin leads us to death and I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place.

[50:16] You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all I know is grace, atonement on the cross. And then lastly, now Lord, I would be yours alone and live so all might see. And here's the key of the resurrection.

[50:29] The strength to follow your commands can never come from me. Where does that strength come from? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Secondly, confidence of the resurrection makes faith proactive towards spreading the gospel.

[50:43] What is it that compels missionaries to go in the far reaches of the world and sacrifice their lives to see people come to Christ? What is it that causes believers all throughout the church to give, to sacrifice, to love, to serve?

[50:54] That requires time and energy so that the gospel will be made known. What is it that propels people to live for Christ? Is steaming in His character not mine in our workplaces?

[51:05] What is it that causes believers to do all bold things in the name of Jesus Christ? It should and is the resurrection power of Jesus Christ that is within us through the power of the Spirit.

[51:18] And lastly, we get confidence in the resurrection that assures us of the cause of the gospel. My prayer today is a direct application for all of us is that we would sing to God like its resurrection Sunday.

[51:38] That we would smile at one another like its resurrection Sunday. That we would stole the name of Jesus together in word and indeed like its resurrection Sunday.

[51:50] I love Easter. It's my favorite Sunday, most pastor's favorite Sunday. But I want the church to live every Sunday like its resurrection Sunday.

[52:03] That is the heart that Paul is conveying in the climax of this book. God, we are so grateful that you have chosen to redeem us, to sanctify us through the work of the gospel.

[52:24] I pray that the victory that we have over sin and death through by proxying out of ourselves, but in the name and the power of Jesus would be made manifest in our churches and our lives for the way we live.

[52:42] Help us not be like the gospel. Help us not be like the Corinthians who forget the power that they have.

[52:53] I pray that your resurrection power would fill us all, would give us hope, and that we would remember the fact that we are victors through your victory.

[53:07] Lord, thank you for the gospel. I pray that we would glorify you in all the aspects of the gospel, namely this morning in light of your glorious resurrection from death.

[53:18] In your name we pray, amen.