What the Resurrection Helps Us to See

This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org.

You can have a scene.

If you've got a Bible, I'll invite you to take it, open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

And we'll drop we'll start reading in verse 19.

Paul has already given these lists of he kind of unpacks in the first part of the chapter.

This is what the gospel is.

This is the gospel that I preached, that I received, that I pass on to you, that you believe you've taken your stand on this.

And then he says, all these, if Christ is not raised, then this.

If Christ is not raised, then this.

And he's kind of just hypothetically presenting all these different arguments that people are saying, but you know, Christ is not raised because of this.

And he's kind of spelling them out.

And then he gets to verse 19 and says, This if in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For as by a man came death, by a man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

But each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, and then in his coming those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end.

It's almost like he's in charge of it.

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for God has put all things in subjection under his feet.

But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is expected who who put all things in subjection under accepted who put all things in subjection under him.

Verse 28, when all things are subjected to him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him, who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all and in all.

Basically, Paul says three things.

I want to talk to you this morning about what the resurrection helps us to see.

What the resurrection helps us to see because if we're not careful, we visit the resurrection on Easter Sunday, and then we just kind of poof and away we go.

And they were being really creative one Sunday, one Easter Sunday, and uh and and they had a Beatles song and everything, and about 10 minutes into it, then no mention of the resurrection or Jesus or anything, and finally a lady in the crowd stood up and yelled out, It's about Jesus and the resurrection.

And they were like, Uh-oh, maybe maybe we've forgotten that.

But but but you need to never forget that.

This is what Paul says.

Hey, here's kind of the three things that the resurrection helps us to see.

Number one is simply this that Christianity is by nature transcendent.

Christianity is by nature transcendent.

Look at verse 19 and and hear it again.

He says, if in this life only we have hoped in Christ.

In other words, if you come to church and all we teach you to do is to have a better marriage and more moral kids and some more money in the bank, then you're to be pitied above all people.

There's a dangerous horizontal pitch to American Christianity that's about me and my life.

If it's it what Paul's saying, it's not just a better way, a better life, and a better you.

And here's what I mean by transcendent.

He says that your salvation is so expansive, so big, so consequential that it can't be fully experienced in this life.

Do you understand that?

That your relationship with God is so let me give you a definition.

I want to say the word transcendent, but I hadn't defined it yet.

This is what I mean when I say transcendence.

Transcendent is beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience.

Let me say that again.

Just transcendent.

When we say that Christianity by nature is by nature transcendent, it's beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience.

It just is.

There ought to be something beyond just normal.

Christianity isn't, well, I just get permission from God to live a normal life, and then I get to go to heaven when I die.

It ought to be more than that.

It ought to be last week when I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, at the conference, and I met some friends for dinner, and we went to the spaghetti factory in downtown Louisville, and our waiter's kind of talking to us, and he's kind of talking.

I just said, You have a girlfriend.

And he said, Well, yeah, da da da da.

And I could just sense there there's a story there, and very clearly I sense the Spirit of God saying his girlfriend cheated on him.

So I just said, She cheated on you, didn't she?

And he went, How'd you know that?

And I said, I could just tell.

I mean, I just sense that's that's what's going on here.

I mean, it's it's not, I'm not mad at you, I'm not making fun of you or anything like that.

And he's like, Man, that's that's just messed up.

No, that's just Christianity.

It's not just normal.

You shouldn't just bump through life, just kind of one plus one equals two.

So after that, he didn't want to walk away.

He was just there talking.

Well, man, I mean, I said, listen, you can't make a bad woman good.

Place is crammed, by the way.

There's about 7,500 people at this conference I'm at.

And they're all trying to get in the spaghetti factory at five o'clock to eat supper because we're gonna be back at seven for a session.

I mean, he's like, well, what I said, you can't make a bad woman good.

If it's in her heart to be unfaithful, you putting up with that's not gonna make her faithful, okay?

You might want to cut your losses and get out and bring us some more tea.

People are walking by, hey man, come on, we need to get winded and he's talking, uh, he's got his mouth open.

And I just said, close your mouth, you're gonna catch a fly, okay?

Now get on over there and get us some more tea.

Seriously, I ain't got time to have this conversation.

You're feeling bad over a woman, you can't change her.

You see, in his definition of it, Christianity is just it's just normal, merely physical human experience.

The Bible says it's transcendent.

Paul says, hey, if only in this life we've hoped in Christ, if in this life only we've hoped in Christ.

In other words, if our Christianity is all about, and I don't want to pile on, but but but but it's it's an indictment, not of an individual or a church, it's an indictment of a culture that some of the best-selling books have titles like your best life now.

And I and I'm not going there.

I'm that that's such an easy target.

Are you kidding me?

But see, well, I'm not mad at him.

I'm frustrated with you that you buy it and you believe it.

There's a reason that's a bestseller.

We're that gullible.

If you can have your best life now, the Bible is a farce.

If only in this life, could it not be more clear?

If only in this life we've hoped in Christ, we are to be pitied above all men.

Why?

Because you don't know God.

You don't, you, you don't, you just kind of embrace this American therapeutic moralistic deism.

And say, this is kind of what happens.

You you just you you you everything's about you.

And by the way, you find a church that tells you you're great, and you find a church that tells you you got a champion in you, and you come to this one, and this guy tells you you should be burning in hell.

I mean, who wants to hear that?

That's crazy.

No, that's the Bible.

We're by nature depraved.

That guy kept coming back to me.

He's like, hey man, I mean, like, are you like with this thing over here?

What?

Hey, man, just get me some more tea and some more Italian sausage because I ran out.

I got more spaghetti than I got Italian sausage.

That makes God angry, okay?

You don't want God to get angry, do you might burn his place down?

Because people don't experience Christians that walk in the spirit.

They just they don't expect us to be transcendent, to be otherworldly, to be in this world and enjoying it and sucking the marrow out of life, but also be headed to another world.

Remember, I was traveling uh and I got on a plane, I was tired, I was worn out, I was going to North Carolina to preach, and I got on the plane and I forgot my book at my house, and I was so frustrated.

I was like, ah.

And then I reached up in that little pocket on the back of the seat and pulled it out.

Have you ever looked at one of those Sky Mall magazines?

No wonder Muslims hate us.

We got more junk in there that we sell.

We got like a warming towel stand, you can put your towel on and plug it in, it warms the towel up while you're in the shower.

I'm just thumbing through there, just kind of just getting narked up on dissatisfaction and hatred.

And I'm like, wow.

And so I uh picked up the, it was on the Continental Fly, picked up the Continental magazine, and there was an article on there about it.

It says the longest flying bird in the world.

It was like, hello.

It's called the Arctic Turn, T-E-R-N.

It's born at the North Pole, and it kind of learns to fly.

And in about 16, 14 to 16 weeks, it begins the longest migratory pattern of any bird in the world, flies all the way to the South Pole.

And here's the article that stood out to me that I want you to hear.

And when it says Christianity is by nature transcendent, it says then at the age, at the ripe old age of 14 to 16 weeks, this bird leaves the only world it's ever known and begins to wing its way to a world it's never seen before.

That's what we're doing here, folks.

And so when you get to the end, it's kind of like if you've got kids, if you've got little children, let me make a reading recommendation.

You should go out today and purchase a box set of the seven books called the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.

Lewis.

Because you kind of read the first book and the second book and the third book and the fourth book.

We read with Madison.

She's like, oh dad, read this.

And so you read, and you get to the last book is called The Last Battle.

And Aslan is this line figure in the book.

And a lot of people say, well, that's kind of some symbolizes Christ.

But the last chapter of the last book called The Last Battle ends like this.

See, this is this is transcendence.

This kind of gives you a picture of not only what is in this world right here, but hey, this sums it up best.

It says, and that is, and as he spoke, he no longer looked to them like a lion.

But things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful I cannot write them.

And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.

But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story.

All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page.

Now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.

See, when you not only embrace but live the transcendent nature of Christianity, when it comes time to die, someone stands up and reads this at your funeral.

That's why my wife, friend Pete, his dad died, and Pete was in college.

And everybody was sad and bummed out, and Pete's dad was a believer, and he stood up and Pete read from this.

My favorite line, but for them it was only the beginning of the real story.

See, if you know Jesus, the real story is not found in this world.

The beginning of the real story.

See, that's that otherworldliness.

The second thing the resurrection tells us is it helps us to see is that the resurrection is a verifiable fact.

Look at verse 20.

See, Paul says, but in fact, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

If you double-clicked on those two little words, in fact, three words would drop down.

First fruits, Adam and Christ.

If you just put your mouse on your computer and you just kind of clicked on in fact, what Paul says in verse 20, in fact, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

Let's start with that right there.

If you double-clicked on in fact, you just come down.

First of all, first fruits.

He says the first fruits, what is that?

That's like a pledge.

It's a token of good faith that more is to come.

Whenever you see first fruits, like when I write my tile check, I don't call it tile check, I call it the first fruits because before I get paid, I kind of know we have uh auto or direct deposit, whatever it's called, and I kind of know somewhere around the first and 15th.

And so I just kind of make a note on my calendar, somewhere around two days before that.

I just want to write it and I put on the memo line first fruits, and I walk in here and drop it in one of these boxes, and and and somebody saw me one time, they said, What are you doing?

I said, I just it's my first fruits offering.

They said, Well, is that like a special thing we got going on this month?

And I'm like, And you work here, okay.

Uh anyway, but uh I said, no.

I said, I don't wait till I get it to give it, I just give it before because it's kind of like, and I don't have time to go into this today.

That's why you see the hesitancy in me.

But I just say this Jesus was raised on the feast of the first fruits.

If you study, they celebrate first fruits and Passover at the same time.

And so the first fruits was celebrated, the festival, the feast of the first fruits was celebrated after the Sabbath.

Sabbath for Jews was on Saturday, and so on Sunday, when Jesus was raised, that was the first fruits.

That's what Paul's picking up on here in 1 Corinthians 15, 20, when he says, Oh, but in fact, but in fact, it's not a it's not a theory, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Now, here's what ties those two things together.

When people in the agricultural agrarian society, you look in the Old Testament, you see the first fruit offering, people would pick the harvest and they would bring the first fruits to the temple and present it to God in faith, in belief that there was more to come.

So the reason I write my my first fruit offering before I get my check is because I can drop it in the box, is because in faith that there's more to come.

Hello.

Yeah, I don't go, oh well God, you know, here you go.

I don't know what this church does with it, but there you go.

Well, no.

I'm happy.

I drop it in there, I'm like, I just believe God in you.

I don't believe in people.

I don't look to people to meet my knees, but there's more to come where that came from.

So I'm giving this, and just to say, hey, there you go.

Now, this is not a sermon about tithing or first fruit offering.

This is a sermon about get that thought in your mind.

People gave the first fruits because they had faith in God that there was more to come.

When the Bible says that Jesus was the first fruits from among the dead, it's God saying, I got faith that there's more people gonna be raised from the dead.

I got first fruits, think of it this way: first fruits means there's always more fruit.

He's talking about you and I there.

So he says, in fact, first thing you need to hear is first fruit.

Second thing you need to hear is the word Adam.

Adam, that's the other thing that would pop on there.

You gotta read verse 21 and verse 22 together.

Now, can I invite you to think just for a little bit, okay?

Can we do that this morning?

Hello?

Are you out there?

All right, look at verse 21.

Verse 21 says, For as by a man came death, and by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

When he says, For as by a man came death, he's talking about Adam.

And then he says, For by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead, that's a reference to Jesus.

Verse 22, he kind of parallels it and unpacks it even more.

He says, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

You say, No, what do you mean?

For as in Adam all die.

Keep your finger there in 1 Corinthians, if you wouldn't turn to the left to the very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

I want you to see something about Adam, but also about yourself.

Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

I'll start reading in verse uh 16.

You ever read things in the Bible, especially in the book of Genesis, and you wonder, like, how many of you have ever read before the phrase, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

You ever see that in the Garden of Eden?

There were two trees.

There was a tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

You ever wonder what that tree was?

You can't go to Home Depot today and say, Yeah, I'd like a couple of them trees of the knowledge of good and evil.

They were out of them over at Lowe's.

I drove out to Enchanted Garden, all they got out there is a bunch of feral cats, okay?

You ever been out there?

I'm like, there's cats everywhere.

Get these cats off of me because my kids pick them up and want to bring them home.

I'm like, no, no, not doing that.

Look at what the Bible says, Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

You need to understand this because somebody's gonna ask you, what's that thing about them trees in the garden?

Look at verse 16.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

Do you get that?

Very simple.

Very spelled out.

God says, Hey, you can eat of any tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for you shall surely die.

Now, why does God tell Adam and Eve, hey, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Is it he wants them to be ignorant?

Not at all.

They already knew right and wrong.

That wasn't the issue.

He said, Well, then what is the issue?

I'm glad you asked.

When the Bible talks about eating from the tree, he says to have their eyes open.

See, the issue is if they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it's not that they'll know good and evil, it's that they wanted the ability to decide good and evil.

Let me read you a quote from a man named Sam Alberry that I was studying a couple weeks ago.

He says, To eat from this tree is to have their eyes open to me like God, knowing good and evil.

To know it in a way that he does.

He knows it as the one who determines and decides it.

To eat from this tree is to claim that privilege, to choose to be the one who determines right and wrong.

It's an act of rebellion against God, for he alone has the right to show us how to live.

And in this great sentence, sin is not deciding to break the rules as much as it is deciding to make the rules.

That's human nature.

All of us in this room, your issue is not breaking the rules.

You want to make the rules.

It's kind of like men when you were little and you played football.

Remember, you'd kind of say the issue is not where the touchdown was.

You're gonna go past that hedge right there or past that street sign right there, and then you've got to go past the pine tree.

The issue was not touchdown, the issue was always out of bounds.

When we played, we had an old clothesline pole down there and one way down there.

And people, that line was always kind of wavy because they were, see, I wasn't out of bounds.

Dude, you were in the next yard.

No, I wasn't.

I was kind of that all got started back in the garden.

Because human nature says, you know what?

I don't want to just break the rules.

I want to make the rules.

And if I can make the rules, either I gotta either be a congressman or I gotta acknowledge.

Hello, are y'all here today?

What did Lance do to y'all last week?

You put y'all to sleep or something?

I got great emails.

Man, Lance was awesome.

Stay indestined.

Okay.

Some guy was selling hot boiled peanuts on the side of the road.

I don't know what that is, but there was a line of people, and he had a help-wanted sign.

I said, Let me go back and check things in my church.

I may be back.

He said, Well, I'll do is hang out on the beach.

I sell peanuts in the morning and hang out on the beach in the afternoon.

Do you have dental insurance?

I'm your guy.

What is Paul saying?

He said the resurrection is a verifiable fact.

See, not just about that the resurrection happened, it verifies some facts about humanity.

Number one, that we all want to be people who make the rules.

That's the point.

Don't miss it in all this.

That's what, when he says, hey, for is in Christ, for is in Adam all died.

He said, for as by man came death, for as in Adam all die by the same token.

You say, Well, how do you know that's what that's about?

It's very simple.

If you've got your Bible and you're in Genesis, look at chapter 3, verse 22.

See, this is human nature.

We want to be in charge.

Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.

Question, who's God talking to?

Say it again.

It's a Trinity.

You got God the Father, God the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is not somebody, like some rabbit that God pulled out of the hat when the world went askew.

He said, Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us.

Look at the next phrase.

Knowing good and evil.

Remember, the issue is not, hey, eat from this tree and you'll know what's right and what's wrong.

No, no, no.

You'll know it in a way that I know it, that you get to determine it.

You get to decide what's right and what's wrong.

See, sin is sin because of who God is.

Sin is wrong.

Things are wrong because God says they're wrong, because God is holy.

It's never when you become the center and the locust of all things, well, for me, well, I think you're on a slippery slope.

He says, and the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.

Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.

Therefore, the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he is taken.

He drove out the man at the east of the Garden of Eden, and he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

And by the way, this is really grace because God has to put Adam out of the garden so he could be restored.

Because for him to stay in there in a fallen state, that's not love, that's hatred.

See, if you when you when you when you read the Bible, when you think about the resurrection, it has ramifications.

It's by nature transcendent.

Secondly, it's a verifiable fact.

Not just that, hey, the first fruits, not just Adam.

Hey, this says something about all of us.

We are born by nature born.

But the third thing under the second point is just Christ.

Look what the Bible says about him.

He says, for it's by one man.

Verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 15, for it's by a man came death.

By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

See, if Christ is not raised from the dead, you have no hope of being made right with God.

There's no one that died on the cross as payment for your sin and it's raised to kind of verify it.

It's kind of like, I don't know, like right now, I'm expecting a package from UPS at my house, and I love getting packages I have to sign for.

And here's why I feel important.

That's all it is.

And sometimes I love when my neighbors are out and they come to the door because our front door is kind of recessed.

I step out into the yard and look around to see if my neighbors are like, hey, white trash.

I got something here, something important I got a sign for.

They don't know it's a belt I left in my hotel in Louisville.

UPS guy's like, I need you to sign for this.

I got you right here.

What's up, Rob?

How you doing over there?

Why don't you get them kids?

Get off my lawn if I have to go walk Kawaski on you over there, Gran Torino.

My neighbors, them kids.

Look at that yard.

He don't know Home Depot exists.

He needs some fertilizer on that bad boy.

What's up over there?

What am I doing?

Oh, I'm just signing for a package that someone had to send to me.

Could be like, I don't know, yellow cake radium or something in here.

I just feel important.

You know you feel important when you sign for something?

In the resurrection, Christ was signing for you.

He was sealing the deal.

The resurrection.

That's why he says, hey, it's in Adam.

Don't miss it.

He says, for as by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

See, you're by nature born in Adam.

You're born with that sinful disposition that says, I don't want to just break the rules.

I want to make the rules.

That's why the gospel is your universal need.

Every one of you in this room, by nature, is in Adam, and only by grace can you be in Christ.

See, the emphasis is on the two words in Christ, not all.

It's not like, well, well, see there, we're all gonna get in.

No, you're not, not unless you're in Christ.

So also in Christ shall, see, the possibility exist, shall all be made alive.

The possibility exists for all who are born with this disposition towards saying, I want to be in charge, I want to make the rules.

And so ask yourself this morning, are you in Christ?

Are you in Christ?

Because the Bible's very clear, and the resurrection spells it out.

You're in Adam.

You have that disposition in you.

But the Bible says that you can be in Christ today.

See, in Christ changes everything.

Third thing that the resurrection helps us to see more clearly is simply this: that the resurrection starts the clock.

Look at verse 24.

After he says all this stuff, he says, but each in his own order.

Verse 23, Christ the first fruits, and in his coming, those who belong to Christ.

Look at verse 24.

And then comes the end.

I mean, we read that a minute ago, and none of you gasp.

It's kind of like, okay, then the end comes.

Hey, the end is not some arbitrary thing out there that eventually is going to happen sometime.

Let me just don't turn there for the sake of time, but just jot down Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

It'll come up on the screen.

See, it says, then the end comes.

It's as if somebody's in control of it.

This is what Paul is talking to these Athenian philosophers in the book of Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

He said this.

He says, The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

Why?

Here's why.

Because he's fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

And of this he has given assurance to all by what?

Raising him from the dead.

See, the assurance is a resurrection.

I mean, the resurrection is assurance to everybody that, by the way, there's a point and a place in time that God has fixed, and he said, hey.

So when when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, hey, and then the end will come.

Or then comes the end.

He's referring to a fixed point, a God-determined point.

Not determined by the Mayans, not determined by Tim Laheer, your favorite prophecy person, but determined by God.

Here's what the if you hear anything this morning, hear this.

Here's the simple ramification of this thought.

The world's not out of control.

It's just not.

No, God is sovereignly in charge of it all.

He knows who's going to be the next president.

Do you know that?

Some of you are like, oh, but don't let it be that guy.

You got two options, people, and neither one of them are great.

But God is in charge.

The Bible says that the hearts of kings and rulers is as a river in the hands of God, and he turns it whatever way he wants.

See, when you hear phrases in the Bible like, then comes the end, you should just go, whoa, thank you, that the end is not at the mercy of somebody in this world.

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule, every authority, and every power.

For he must reign until he's put all his enemies under his feet.

Now you should read that and start kind of start thinking, now wait a minute, that I've heard that before.

Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

This is what Paul says.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15.

Ephesians 1:15

This is all one long sentence.

I call this the greatest sentence in the Bible.

Now leave that up there for a second.

Now keep in mind, Paul's telling them over here in 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection.

He says, by the way, then the end comes and God delivers, he delivers the kingdom to God.

Jesus delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule, every authority, and every power.

Look at this.

For this reason, Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1, for this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, I do not 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, and having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is hoped which He's called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints?

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And here's where it heats up right here.

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe?

Now Paul's like, how do I, if this is immeasurable, how do I give them a frame of reference for it?

How do I, how do I help them understand it?

He says, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places.

And notice this far above all rule, all authority, and power.

Sound familiar?

It's the same order and the same thing he says in 1 Corinthians: all rule, all authority, and all power.

See, being a Christian is not just feeling better about yourself, it's aligning yourself and being in a relationship with a God who has authority and power and all dominion above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

So not only should you read things in the Bible, like when it says, then comes the end, you should think, man, God is in control of this world.

When you read that, you should realize it says it put all things under his feet and gave him as the head over all things to the church.

When you are a part of a church, you are a part of something that is led and ruled not by me, but by the Lord Jesus.

He's the head of the church.

And by the way, all rule, all authority, and all power, he's above all that.

Now, when Paul writes about it in Ephesians, he writes about it in the past tense.

Back that slide up if you could, Marcus.

Or whoever that is.

Back up one more.

That he worked when he raised and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

It's already taking place.

Go to the next part.

Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

Here's my point, and I'm done today.

What Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 15, it's a done deal.

What is news to you and I, God already has planned out.

It's history to him.

When he says in 1 Corinthians 15, then comes the end, and he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and every power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

How can you destroy the enemy of death if you don't rise from the dead?

For God has put all things in subjection under his feet.

But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted, he is excluded who put all things in subjection under him.

When all things are subjected to him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under him.

Here's why.

And here's what I wanted you to hear, and we're done.

That God may be all and in all.

See, the resurrection starts the clock.

Now, you say, Well, I don't know what you mean.

Without a resurrected Jesus, there can be no end.

There can be no end.

But, in the resurrection, help us to see this clearly.

As we get closer to the end, I get asked all the time.

I got asked last week by some college kid, you think we're living in the end times?

Oh, absolutely.

And I got a question for you.

How long are the end times?

I don't know.

Pace yourself.

What does that mean?

You may be here a while.

And to answer the question you're thinking about, you probably get to get married before Jesus comes back.

Well, I hope so.

Good luck.

Don't marry a bad woman.

There's a waiter in Louisville that's having a bad week.

What's that supposed to mean?

There's good women out there and there's bad women out there.

If a woman's bad, putting up with her ain't gonna make her good.

It's gonna empower her to keep taking advantage of you.

And he was like, Okay, that's awkward.

It was for that kid too.

See, the resurrection helps you to see clearly, very clearly, that not only does it start the clock, not only is it a verifiable fact that, hey, Christ is the first fruits.

We're all born into Adam.

We have this nature, not just to break the rules, but to make the rules.

I'm the king of the world.

Nobody tells me what to do.

It's my life.

I do what I want with it.

That's your adamic nature.

That's your your your sinful nature that is under the curse.

By the way, one of the consequences of this of the fall, people say we live in a fallen world, and you roll your eyes and go, what does that mean?

That means that the world is not the way God intended it to be.

It's under the curse.

So when you look at this big field of wildflowers, you think, oh, that's beautiful out there.

You see those big things sticking up, those weeds out there, they're not supposed to be there.

Not supposed to be there.

Watch the most beautiful sunset as I did last week in Destin.

Watch the sun go down.

By the way, the sand in Florida is white.

It's not brackish green, it's not earthy brown, it's white, and the water's blue.

How'd they get that deal?

Howard, don't start packing just yet.

And I watched the sun go down at the Destined Golf Resort where they put me up in my condo with my king-sized bed, in my full kitchen, in my living room, in my back porch, overlooking the water.

I watched the sun go down.

And I just thought this cursed.

And it was beautiful.

And here's here's here's why you should watch the sun go down today and think this is all under the curse.

Romans 8 tells us the creation is groaning in travail as a woman in the pangs of childbirth.

Childbirth is not as antiseptic as they show it on TV.

Your wife will call you names.

But it ought to cause you to think this see, since the resurrection, it's kind of started the clock.

How beautiful is it gonna be?

How beautiful is it gonna be?

And it wasn't bad.

I'm not one of those people, if you're visiting today, you know this about me.

I'm not one of those people who hates life.

I love life.

I love life.

Ly was out the door with a donut hole.

You can't get in there to eat breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday.

This ain't my first rodeo.

They're all waiting to eat.

I'm like, hey, uh, I'm just getting donuts.

They make a devil's food donut covered in chocolate.

Shaka Khan.

And I kid you, it's it's like a paperweight.

Like, I don't know, I want to know what's in here because I'm gonna eat a couple of these, and y'all don't tell my wife.

Like, good to see you again.

Thank you.

Walked through the line, got up in there, got mine, walked out.

Enjoy that, enjoy this world.

But here's what you ought to realize in the resurrection tells us this nothing in this world is as good as it's gonna be in the next.

Stand to your feet.

Let me speak a blessing or we'll be dismissed.

Hold your hands out.

In the resurrection, your father has signed for you.

Taking ownership.

Acknowledge that he has received you.

Therefore, you are signed sealed, and you will one day be delivered.

Depart now and live as if you believe this.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you're dismissed.