I invite you to turn in the Scriptures tonight to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. As we're close to concluding this chapter, we have one more sermon in chapter 15 and maybe one in 16 to conclude it or two. But I never know. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tonight. And if you're looking for that, that's 12.22 in your pew Bible. We're going to be reading together verses 35 through 49. This is the word of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning at 35. But someone will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish person. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel. perhaps of wheat or of some other grain but God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body for not all flesh is the same but there is one kind for humans another for animals another for birds and another for fish there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind and the glory of the earthly is of another there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars for stars differ from star and glory so it is with the resurrection of the dead what is so imperishable what is raised imperishable it is sown in dishonor 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 is also a spiritual body thus it is written the first man adam became a living being the last adam became a life-giving spirit but it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural and then the spiritual for the natural man was from the earth a man of dust the second man is from heaven as was the man of dust so also are those who are of the dust and as is the man of heaven so also are those who are of heaven just as we have borne the image of the man of dust we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven may the lord bless the hearing of his word tonight well i've come to the conclusion that we have little appreciation or maybe understanding is the right word little understanding of what christ in his life and death and resurrection what he has secured for us what he has done and what that will bring about what he's accomplished and what is the future glory that awaits us uh his coming and his kingdom has made the future a certainty for us a reality for us that the apostle is operating here in the certainty of what is already true what is already true is so driving him jesus christ through the resurrection has brought forward certain blessings into history of the age to come and it's really hard for us to grasp this. It's really hard for us to wrap our minds around this. Namely, that having been united to him, having been joined to him by faith, since he is the man from heaven and has come down from heaven and returned to heaven, he's explaining to us in this great section the implications of what that has brought to us, what that secures for us. But it's hard for us to understand. It's hard for us to accept because we're so earthly. We're often so focused on daily life. It's hard to think about the things that are to come. It's hard to think about what has been secured for us. It's hard to think about the age that is to come. But this chapter is really helping us. This chapter is really helping me as a pastor, it's hopefully helping you as a parishioner to think about yourselves, who you are, what has happened, and what that means for the future when Jesus Christ returns on the clouds to judge the living and the dead. As you know, Paul has been dealing with a very serious problem that took place in Corinth that was among some of the members there of a denial of the resurrection of their bodies. By this point, he's really addressed that. By this point, he's really answered that problem. He really has covered everything that he needs to cover in that vein, in that problem. He really hit hard in chapter 15 saying, listen, if you're going to go around saying that, if you're going to go around saying that, you need to understand you're still in your sins and we're the most pitiable of all people, we're all going to hell. Swung hard with that. We're still in our sins, nothing sure. And he explained for us how this all works. He explained for us the crucial doctrine of union with Christ. We're united to Him. We've been joined to Him. We've been united to Him by faith and we have to look and live and think of ourselves this way. We have to think of ourselves as being united to Him. And then what that means is, is that whatever we say of our bodies, we have to say of Christ's body. And that's why he said, you don't know what you're doing when you deny the resurrection. And then he said, what we say of Christ's body, we say of our bodies. Paul is leaving no stone unturned here and dealing with these problems and all the possible objections to the resurrection of the body. But there was still something else that needed to be explained. And this is what you're all waiting for, I think. Having made the case for the resurrection, having gone through everything that he needs to go through, he now deals with something that he knew was a nagging question among them of some of them were struggling and appreciating and could not or maybe did not even want to understand. He has made the case explaining the theological consequences of the denial, but for many of them, they just couldn't get their heads around how it is even possible that there is going to be a general resurrection of the dead. How do we even begin to comprehend that? How do we even begin to think about that? How is it possible and what in the world is that going to be like? And Paul is explaining this in a very beautiful way, a very profound way tonight. He's explaining what our bodies will be like in the resurrection. He's explaining how all of this is going to be possible. I believe this is very important tonight because it's the kind of future glory that's being emphasized here. The future glory and the focus that Paul showed us last time is driving everything that he did. This was driving how he lived. This was driving his sanctification. We need a lot of teaching on this simply because, as everyone, as we looked at last time, is searching for how to live the Christian life. We live in one of the most worldly generations ever. And it's tied to the problem here that we live in a time when many Christians want to live the Christian life, but the problem that's actually being exposed is that more than ever, we are generations that are tied to, wanting to, as Paul talked about last time, eat, drink, and be merry. Future is not driving us. Thankfulness for all that Jesus has done and secured for us is not driving us. And so tonight I'd like to break this down. I came up with a few points. I had four, which is always wrong to do in a Reformed church. But the first is, he explains the kind of body that we're going to receive. And then he explains what that body is going to be like. And then he explains for us how that's even possible. And then he encourages us by saying, I want you to understand, he's going to explain, who you are going to be made to resemble. So this is a beautiful section of the kind of body we receive, what that body will be like, how this is even possible, and who we will resemble. Let's look first then at the kind of body that we will receive. In verse 35, he raises the final sort of question he has either received from them. We remember there were a series of questions posed to them. Back in chapter 7, he mentioned that. Or something rhetorically, knowing that they are having, he presents rhetorically, knowing that they are having a hard time believing and accepting. And so he raises it there in verse 39. But some will say, how are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? That's the million dollar question. I think we have to get a little bit behind that question and think about what was driving it and why Paul is so strong about this. Did you notice how sharp he is right after? Oh, foolish ones. I don't quite know the tone of that, but he sounds a little irritated to me. One of you said to me, I struggle with that. He calls them foolish for even asking that question. It's almost as if he just assumes they should have this all down. And maybe that's exactly right. Maybe he's explained this over and over and over to them, and they still won't accept it. At face value, that makes sense. But when you come to this kind of frustration, or when you come to this sort of rebuke, you have to really kind of think about the context behind it. We know that the Jews believed and taught that the resurrection body would be absolutely no different and identical with our earthly bodies. in the apocryphal book of Baruch, and I quote, The earth shall then at the resurrection assuredly restore the dead. It shall make no change in form, but as it has received, so it shall restore. The Greeks and the Gnostics thought that was absolutely repulsive and how unexciting they thought that would be, especially with the way that they viewed the body. We've been through that. We've gone through their view of the body. but there's something else I believe that's behind this tonight. I believe Scripture tells us what was behind it in other places. Remember what Paul said to Agrippa in Acts? I bet you don't. I didn't. This is it. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God raises the dead? Why is that so incredible among you? Why do you think that's so out there? Here's the attitude Paul knew that was behind that question, I believe. How are the dead raised? How is that even possible? So what about, this is us, what about all those bodies that have been cremated out there? What about all those bodies that have been burned up in accidents? What about all those bodies in history of people that crashed and were destroyed, Paul? How in the world do you expect us to believe that God is going to reassemble the bodies of everyone that's ever existed? That's crazy. I think that's it. I think that's behind it. Are you serious? Billions and billions and billions and billions of people and he's just going to pop them back up. Okay, well then with what kind of body do they come? Immediately we realize, that's kind of familiar. That's our attitude. It's exactly our attitude. I don't think it's been a very good attitude toward God on this issue. If we're honest, what that question exposes is that we're not very confident in His ability to be able to do it. Nor do we appreciate the value of it. Why do we really need that? We've looked at that. But it almost seems that when I say, and I said this last time, preach and encourage people about future glory in the body. The body. I'll be honest. Most seem a little bit irritated. Most stand back and say, it doesn't seem to provide a lot of comfort for people it almost feels like that's kind of an intrusion maybe we have thought that being in heaven is floating around in a cloud in some kind of eternal bliss soul floating bliss maybe that's it i don't know maybe it's just because i'm too worldly you're too worldly to appreciate it maybe it's because we just can't even imagine it. Whatever the case, I believe what Paul's dealing with here is a clear challenge to God's power. Do you believe in his creation power? Do you believe that God called things into existence that were not? Do you believe that he spoke all of this into existence by his powerful word? Then I think it would go like this. Are you really questioning that God has the power if he made all these bodies to reassemble them? Really? Most of you are masters of putting together old cars. And you can do them up really nice. And you have instructions. You think it's a problem for God to reassemble the dust He made you out of? You think reassembly is more difficult than the original assembly? Foolish ones. What he does at this point is answer the questions. He starts with an analogy. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies, and what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind a seed, its own body. It's a real simple analogy from nature, isn't it? It's something we all understand. recently I planted garden boxes and Darcy told me you need to go get some seeds. So I went down to Lowe's and I bought some seeds and I haven't done much of this stuff in the course of my life. So I open up the broccoli seeds and I said, are you kidding me? That's it? And I put these tiny little seeds in the dirt and she said, don't put them too far in. Just put them in the dirt and all of a sudden this big stalk comes out. So now I'm planting seeds everywhere. I'm hooked. I think this is amazing stuff. you water it and stuff keeps popping out. Paul uses that illustration. It really is remarkable that we see this all the time. We know this all the time. God lets you see this principle at work in the world that he made and that he wired and that he put together. Planting and harvesting. The Bible uses this all over the place. You take a tiny seed, it germinates, it goes through a death-like process. You bury it. And as it's buried, Jesus used this, remember in John 12, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. It's buried. And then this body comes up that God determined. And we all know they're different bodies. We know the broccoli and we know the carrots. We know all this stuff. the beans, all these different bodies that He's created, if you will. It's a remarkable thing that comes up. And then Paul says, everything has its own kind of body in the world. It's true for animals and it's true for humans too. If you look at verse 39, not every kind of flesh is the same. Humans have bodies, animals have bodies, Birds have bodies and fish have bodies. I was just out in the ocean the other day with a few of you from the church here and we caught these tuna. And I'm sitting there. I just worked through 1 Corinthians 15 and I'm looking at this massive tuna and I am so impressed with that body. It's what pastors think about. Look at the body of that tuna. I'm poking at the body. Think God made that body. Same is true, boys and girls. You look up in the sky. You look up in the sky And sometimes we'll go through a telescope, go up to Palomar Mountain, we'll look at those bodies up there. They're appropriate to where they exist. Notice this there, that there are bodies made for the earth and bodies made for the heavens. You've got the sun up there. You've got the moon up there. You've got the stars up there. Each with its own kind of glory. Here's the point. Verse 42. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. He's drawing all these comparisons from nature to make a point everything has its own body appropriate for the place of its habitation everything has its own body appropriate for the place of its habitation you ask what will that body be like think of a seed that little body is appropriate for what it is but when it dies it comes out as the body that god chose fit for god what god wants it to be translate and explain that your body goes into the ground and it returns to dust and god is going to raise it your body is coming up out of the ground and he will raise it appropriate for the dwelling of it in glory he says sown perishable raised imperishable meaning a glorious transformation will occur he will make you fit for glory so that whatever happened and that whatever was wrong with the body now raised it receives a condition of never being able to suffer loss again Paul immediately his immediate point is we receive a body appropriate for the new age I think it's important to say that the Scriptures talk about this, that everyone's going to get a body. You understand that? Everyone is going to get a body. I had a question the other day about from one of our young people, what happens to unbelievers at the resurrection? They are raised too. They get a body. Jesus said that in John 5. Don't marvel at this. Do not marvel at this. The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth. Those who've done good to the resurrection of life and those who've done evil to the resurrection of condemnation, if one is an unbeliever, they get a body appropriate for the place of separation from God. Eternally. Which the Bible calls hell. In other words, everyone's getting up out of the grave. Everyone. That's what the scriptures are constantly telling us. God is going to give to each one a body appropriate for the glory now for the Christian of the eternal habitation, eternal in heaven. Now, what he does at this point is he begins to explain what it's going to be like, what that body is going to be like. You'll notice in verses 43, he describes for us the glory of the resurrected bodies. And he does this simply by contrasting how our glorified bodies are going to be different than our earthly bodies. It's a very plain teaching here by way of contrast to help us understand that question that we all want to know about, what that's going to be like. First comparison, notice what he says. What is so imperishable will be raised imperishable. You know this. From the moment of birth, our bodies are in a constant state of decay and breakdown. And this is all because of sin. You're deteriorating. I was reminded last Sunday when I said maybe it gets easier to long for the resurrection when you're older and everything's falling apart. And I was immediately reminded by more than a few of you that is not true. It is way harder when you're older. John Rainbow, in his book, which I've quoted here from Earth to Glory, writes at the beginning, I'm 52, he's died by now, I'm 52, healthy and vigorous 52. I exercise regularly and hard. And I still weigh what I weighed when I was 20. But signs of aging and weakening are appearing. When I was 20, my body was my slave. It did what I commanded and came back for more. My body is now my advisor. When it cautions, I usually obey. I can envision a time when my body will be a tyrant. I think about this a lot. That's what Paul's describing here in this first contrast. When it's raised, none of that will ever happen again. None of that. Isn't that wonderful? It's not a perishable body going through deterioration stages. That's done forever. And so forever in eternity, never again will you know the decaying process. Never again will you know this perishable process that we're going through. It keeps going. It is sown in dishonor and it is raised in glory. that's wonderful when sin came your ability and potential for glorifying and pleasing god was greatly hit wasn't it the body was dramatically lessened in its ability to serve and glorify god i mean you know this sometimes it's just hard because of how the body is and the sins that we struggle with that keep us back. The body was created to glorify God. We were to use our bodies to glorify God and enjoy Him forever with work. What happens? Paul, all over the New Testament, talks about the sins of the body. Not that the body itself is bad, but that there is a body of sin because of the sinful nature and that we struggle with sins in the body that we fight against. Sin has caused this great struggle in our bodies that we constantly are doing things that dishonor God. And you hate it, don't you? You absolutely hate it as one born again. Paul agonized over this in the second book of Corinthians where he said, we know that if this tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for in this tent we groan he talks about the struggle in romans 7 of the body of death the sinful nature that he's still struggling with sins in the body i want to be further clothed that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life it is raised in glory with no more sin it is raised in glory with no more sin never again a thought never again an action never again a word spoken that offends him it's just so wonderful don't you long for it it's just a overwhelming thought so wonderful to think about no more sin lord i long for the day when i just won't sin against you anymore in my body tired of it it keeps going it's sown in weakness it's raised in power i love that how much of the weakness of your bodies holds us back we get hit constantly with sickness we get hit constantly with disease cancer muscular problems we're constantly at risk and many of you being older every morning you get out of bed you're constantly at risk for the fall and breaking something I mean, this just happened to Gertie at the picnic yesterday. So frail. Some of us have become masters with the walkers here. He says weakness raised with power. Explosive, unending power in your body. Think about being able to do what your mind tells you to do, right? When my kids, you know, I look at my kids and they have these little rubbery delectable bodies. They're like cats. They bounce off everything and they hit everything. I can't do that anymore. Already I feel that. Weakness. Gone forever. Gone forever. No more weakness. No more weakness. he keeps going. It's sown a natural body. It's raised a spiritual body. If there's a natural body, there's also a spiritual body. Meaning this, you have a body that was suitable, made for earth. When it's raised, it's going to be a spiritual body, your body, suitable for heavenly glory. I mean, just the thought of that. I don't know how far to go with that. I can't go much further than that. Here are the questions. There were two questions that started this. With what kind of body do we come? He just answered it. He gave you some sense of the body you're going to get. You get some idea of what that body's going to be like. But then he saved the other one for last. How are the dead raised? In other words, how in the world is that even possible? That's a great claim, Paul. That's a great claim, Paul. Yep. And Paul answers it. It's as if Paul says, you've not thought about the implications of your powerful Christ. What he did for you. That's how I started the sermon. You've not grasped what he did, what's been secured, how he's brought the future to you. How this is possible, Paul says something very simply. He says, it's possible because of who Jesus is. That's why. You say, what do you mean by that? Paul does the classic contrast between the first Adam and the last Adam. There's an order to all of this, says Paul. There are two key figures in history. There's the first Adam. That was a pattern for us. We were in the first Adam. We all died in the first Adam. And we're of the earth in the first Adam. But the last Adam, you see, he was from heaven. He was eternal. And he became one of us. having his origin from heaven when he came down here and he paid for sin and he conquered death and he rose triumphant from the grave, we've entered into that pattern, if you will. We've entered into his heavenly life. You've entered into that state, that Adam, so that whatever the first one lost, The last Adam came to give you the heavenly life that he had and that he is. Verse 45, thus it is written, goes back to Genesis 2.7. The first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. I believe we've made that way more complex than we should. It means that Jesus in his work and resurrection is the source of that power to raise us. Right now, by the Spirit, we have His life, and by His power, we will be raised to glory with Him. Ephesians said that. I don't cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and here it is, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great power, might, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him. The same power. That raised Christ is the same power. We have the same power. So that the conclusion is, he says we bore the image of the man of dust. We had a body that was natural and because of sin, everything fell apart just as we had everything that belonged to that first Adam accounted to us. All the sorrow and sin and suffering. Now, because of the resurrection of the man from heaven, his life is given to you. And His power reigns in you. This has to happen. Because God got off the throne. And in the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity took on our flesh and blood. And He overturned everything that the first Adam lost. That's what He did. It's possible because Christ is our life. How exciting that John said, Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we're going to be just like Him because we're going to see Him just as He is. I think about sometimes the day when I get to walk up to Christ and talk to Him. To fix my resurrected eyes on Him and talk to Him. Do you? Amazing that we hold pretty tight here, huh? Amazing that we don't talk about this very much. I understand the struggle of trying to think about these things. They seem so far off when you're young, you just can't even imagine it. But the reality is, you've already tasted, says Paul, the power of the age to come, being born again by the Spirit. And you're called now to set your minds on things above so that this would drive your life. Christianity is, we've looked at it, the positive truth to be believed and this, as B.B. Warfield called, cardinal doctrine of our system, the resurrection. is the certainty that He has risen guarantees our glorious resurrection. We should live in that confidence of what He promised to us. We should live in the hope of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. And we should take comfort in all of life's afflictions and in all of life's hardships and in all of life's trials that come upon us. Remembering that the Lord told us our citizenship is not here, but it's in heaven. Remembering that he told us that as we have a citizenship in heaven, we are eagerly awaiting the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's going to do something when he comes. You know what Paul said he's going to do? He's going to transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. By the power, this is what he says in Philippians, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Same power. I hope that's encouraged you tonight. I feel like I didn't do justice to this at all. It's just so glorious, but I hope it's encouraged you. And that the next time you say the creed, that you say, with absolute assurance in your hearts, I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life eternal. Say that with meaning, believing it, Because soon, this resurrection body is yours. Let's pray together. Gracious Heavenly Father, we are so shallow, we confess, in our understanding of these things. We could be here all night looking at this glorious text. And it's deep. But I pray that Your saints would be encouraged tonight to keep their eyes fixed on what is set in front of them because Christ is raised. and that whatever afflictions and hardships they go through in their body, that they would take comfort in the fact these bodies are getting up one day and raised to glory. I pray if there's any here who don't believe or have turned from you or are playing fast and loose, that they would also hear the warning that there will be another resurrection. For those who turn away from Jesus, there will be a resurrection of a body to go down into hell. And so I pray that everyone here would turn in true faith to Jesus Christ and live by faith in His gospel promises and take great joy and pleasure in Christ that we have everything we need by His great power. And in that gospel, we stand tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.