First Corinthians | Raised In Glory

Good morning, good to see everybody.

It's a beautiful, beautiful day to be in the House of the Lord.

I'm glad we've gathered together this morning.

If you have a Bible, you can turn to 1st Corinthians 15,

First Corinthians chapter 15. We'll be in verse 35 today on

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

down through 49. The title of the message today

is Raised in glory. And Wells, my oldest said that I

need to encourage you not to be cremated.

All right, so that's a little clue into some of the things

we're talking about this morning, our spiritual bodies

that will receive what an encouraging passage throughout

the chapter in First Corinthians 15.

Throughout this chapter, Paul has been dismantling, if you

will, every argument against the resurrection.

There's been a lot of arguments against the resurrection, and

Paul's been dismantling those. Some, some are denying the

resurrection altogether, this future resurrection of the

Saints. Others misunderstood what it

meant. And so now Paul turns to this

very practical question, what will our resurrection bodies be

like? What will our resurrection

bodies be like? And that's what these verses

answer for us today. As we read the passage, though,

I want you to pay attention. Paul uses a lot of contrast.

I'll try to point those out as we go, but pay attention to

those because he he talks about the contrast between what is

sown and what is raised, What is sown and what is raised.

It's another contrast he reveals between Adam and Christ.

And then the final, the final contrast we'll see is between

the natural and the spiritual. So contrast between what is

sown, what is raised between Adam and Christ and between the

natural and the spiritual. These three contrasts help us to

see that the resurrection is not just about living again.

It's not just about living again.

It's about being gloriously transformed.

Gloriously transformed. So 1st Corinthians 15, if you

would please stand in honor of the reading of God's Word, if

you're able. Again, we're looking at verses

35 through 49 this morning. 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 bear

kernel, perhaps of weed or of some other grain.

But God gives it a body as he is chosen into each kind of seed,

its own body. For not all flesh is the same,

but there's 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 one-of-a-kind,

and the glory of the earthly is of another.

There's one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,

and another glory of the stars. For star differs from for star

differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection

of the dead. What is sown is perishable, and

what is raised as 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 living life, giving spirits.

But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural, and

then the spiritual. The first 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Please be to God. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, as we open this passage in First Corinthians 15,

we have previously looked at just the explicit gospel in the

opening of this chapter. Lord, as we examine that, we saw

that you have graciously redeemed, graciously saved your

people through the life of death and resurrection of your Son and

Father. As we have continued to examine

the passage, we have seen, Lord, that we too will be raised to

life one day, that as Christ has been raised, so too will we

rise. And that should inform the way

that we live here and now. And now we come to this passage

on what our spiritual bodies will be like.

Paul is just further showing that there is a resurrection

that awaits those who are in Christ.

And so, Lord, as we behold this today, would you help us to see

first and foremost more of Your own glory.

Help us to see first and foremost more of how splendid

you are, how gracious you are. Help us to take hold of the

promise of a future resurrection where our imperishable body,

imperishable bodies, where our perishable bodies will become

imperishable, where our natural bodies will become spiritual.

Father, Lord, help us to see these things clearly this

morning, that we might live with a renewed hope, we might live

with a strong foundation, or that we would truly understand

that we should not fear those who can hurt the flesh, but we

should only fear the one who can condemn our spirits.

And so, Lord, may we have a reverence for you as we study

this passage this morning. May our hearts grow deeper in

love with You, more fond of you. May the desires, our affections

grow to be more and more Christ like through the sermon.

It's in the name of Christ I pray.

Amen. Amen.

You may be seated. Have you ever stood at the

graveside of a loved one and felt the sting of weakness?

You feel the finality of death in that moment.

Paul knew that feeling well, but he also knew something stronger.

And so he writes these words in First Corinthians 15.

Paul knew that the same God who raised Jesus will also raise all

who are his. And so here Paul invites us to

look beyond the frailty of our earthly bodies to to the

splendor of our future ones. He takes us from the dust of

Adam to the glory of Christ. If you're taking notes, you can

write this down. Because Christ has risen, we

will be raised in glory, transformed and conformed to his

image. Because Christ has risen, we who

are in Christ will be raised in glory, transformed and conformed

to his image. And Paul in this passage shows

us 3 truths about future our future resurrection bodies.

The first thing he reveals to us is that our resurrection will

demonstrate God's transforming power.

Secondly, we'll see that our resurrection will exchange

weakness for glory. And thirdly, we'll see that our

resurrection will complete our likeness to Christ.

That will complete our likeness to Christ.

So again, the main point, because Christ has risen, we who

are in Christ will be raised in glory, transformed and conformed

to his own image. Let's examine point number one.

Our our resurrection will demonstrate God's transforming

power. Again, we see this in verses 35

through 41. But someone will ask, how are

the dead raised? So Paul's anticipating this

argument that's coming, right? He's he's been arguing for this.

He's been revealing these truths.

He's anticipating this argument. How are the dead raised?

With what kind of body do they come?

And Paul answers very kindly, 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 bear

kernel, perhaps of weed or some other grain.

But God gives it a body as he is chosen into each kind of seed,

its own body. For not all flesh is the same.

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 one-of-a-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 star differs from star in

glory. So Paul begins by responding to

these questions. How are the dead rays?

What kind of body do they come? Now Paul understands these

aren't honest inquiries, all right?

These are the tractors. These are people who are holding

out false truths, teaching them. They're really mocking

questions. And so Paul answers the fool

according to his folly and says bluntly, you foolish person,

right to answer, Paul uses this illustration from nature.

He says a seed must die before it can live again.

A seed must die before it can live again.

So what you sow is not the full grown plant, Paul, say what?

What you're sowing into the ground with your body is not the

full grown plant. It's a bare kernel.

God gives each seed its own body, right?

So the same principle applies to the resurrection.

The body that dies and is buried is not the same body that will

be raised. It will be transformed by God's

creative power. Paul broadens that illustration

in 39 through 41 where he shows that there's a diversity of

bodies in creation. There's humans and animals and

birds and fish. There's heavenly bodies like the

sun and the moon, but they all differ in glory.

And so to the resurrected body will be a different kind or

different in kind from our present one.

This is the oak tree is different from the acorn.

Resurrection is not resuscitation.

Think sometimes we maybe I do have thought of the resurrection

is like a resuscitation, but God's not merely patching up

your old body. He's transforming your body

entirely. And so the constituency remains.

You are still you, right? It's not that you become a

different person, right? We don't believe in a

reincarnation or anything like that.

You are still you, but the quality of your body is

gloriously different. It's a gloriously different

body. You may think of a Caterpillar

and a butterfly, right? The creature that crawls into

the cocoon is not the same that flies out.

Death in this illustration is the cocoon.

Resurrection is the emergence into glory.

So when you look in the mirror, brothers and sisters, and you

see signs of aging, right? You see signs of weakness, you

see signs of pain. I want you to remember, Paul

wants you to remember. God wants you to remember that

this body is a seed. What God will raise will far

exceed what you see right now, the far exceed what you see

today. The grave may be the garden bed,

so to speak, but God is the gardener.

He's going to raise it in a new way.

Now, before we move on, I thought this would be a good

time to address a question that sometimes arises when we talk

about the resurrection. All right, if our bodies are

sown in the ground, what happens to our souls in the meantime?

It's a question that we were forced to answer with our

children a lot sooner than we thought we would be.

Right, if our bodies are sewn on the ground, what happens to our

souls in the meantime? Well, some have taught this view

called soul sleep, which claims that believers remain

unconscious until the resurrection.

But Scripture consistently teaches otherwise, and the Bible

uses the word sleep for believers.

It describes the body's condition, not the soul's

condition. Right.

The body rests in the grave, it awaits the resurrection to come,

but the soul is immediately conscious and present with the

Lord. Paul says in Second Corinthians

58, We would be, We would rather be away from the body and at

home with the Lord, right? There's an implication there

that being away from the body is to be present with the Lord and

Philippians 123 Paul also writes, my desire is to depart

and be with Christ, for that is far better.

So Paul understood that if he were to die, as he's writing

this letter to the Philippians, if he were to die, that he would

depart the body and be present with Christ and that that is far

better. Jesus even told the thief on the

cross who confessed his belief that he was the Son of God.

Jesus turned to the man and said, today you will be with me

in paradise. All this means is that what all

this means is that the moment a believer dies, your soul is not

asleep. It's alive and in the presence

of Christ. It awaits the day when it will

be reunited with a glorified body.

Yes, that you are present with Christ.

So the body is sown in weakness. It may be sown in weakness, but

the soul is safe with the Savior.

All right, So here's a simple way you can think about it.

At death the body sleeps. It ceases physical function, all

right. It's buried into the ground.

You came from dust, and so to dust you shall return.

But the soul enters the presence of Christ at death.

And then there's this intermediate state, if you will,

between when the time the time when a believer passes and the

time where Christ will descend from the heavens.

In that intermediate state, the believer enjoys a conscious

fellowship with Christ in heaven, awaiting bodily

resurrection. One of the most clearest places

we see this is Hebrews 12/23, where the writer of Hebrews is

explaining what happens when we come to worship, all right.

And he talks about there you haven't come to that which may

be touched, but you've come to Mount Zion, right?

And and he says there that in in a spiritual sense, when we come

together to worship, we gather with the assembly of the first

born, he writes, who are enrolled in heaven and to God,

the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made

perfect. All right.

So in worship God spiritually, you're enraptured spiritually in

worship in such a way that you are in fellowship.

You've come to the assembly of the first born here enrolled in

heaven to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the

righteous made perfect. In Revelation 69 we read here,

when he opened the 5th seal, John writes, I saw under the

altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God

and for the witness they had borne.

So John sees in his revelation the souls of the martyrs, those

who had been slain for the Word of God.

So that's the intermediate state.

Thirdly, you can think about Resurrection Day.

So you have you can think about it at death, you can think about

it in an intermediate state, you can think about it at the

resurrection day where Christ reunites the glorified body with

the perfected soul. OK, we're going to get to that

in a moment as we look at 42 through 44 in this passage.

But another passage that reveals this for us is First

Thessalonians 414 through 18. So if you'll allow me to to read

this passage. For since we believe that Jesus

died and rose again, Even so through Jesus God will bring

with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by word from the Lord, that we who

are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not

precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry

of command, with the voice of an Archangel, and with the sound of

a of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise

first, then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up

together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord.

And then listen to verse 18 of that passage.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

Encourage one another with these words.

So when Paul describes the body as being sown and later raised,

he's not saying that your soul is asleep in the ground.

She's describing the state of your body.

He's describing God's power to transform what is perishable

into that which is imperishable. The believer's body rests.

And that's the question Paul's really dealing with in First

Corinthians 15, right, is what happens to our bodies in the

resurrection. But the believer himself is

already alive in Christ. He's awaiting the day when the

seed of this body burst forth in glory.

Amen. Second thing, the second truth

we see about our resurrection is that our resurrection will

exchange weakness for glory. Like a 42 through 44.

So it is. So is it with the resurrection

of the dead. What is sown is perishable, and

what is raised is 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 has raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body,

there is also a spiritual body. So Paul literally in the passage

is now turning from illustration to direct description, right?

He's he's building the arguments and in doing so, he outlines 4

glorious contrast between the body that dies and the body that

will be raised. The first contrast we see is

that perishable becomes imperishable in verse 42, right?

Our present bodies are subject to decay.

They're subject to disease, they're subject to death.

All right, We spend much of our lives chasing the wellspring of

youth, doing whatever we can to try to slow down this aging,

decaying, disease ridden, death ridden process.

But have you known anyone to finally slow it down?

No. Not even the wealthiest people

in the world can buy that which is imperishable.

Not even the wealthiest people in the world can buy that which

is eternal, right? It all ends the same way,

returning to dust. And yet Paul shows that the

resurrection body will be free from every trace of corruption.

It'll be free from that. There will be no corruption,

right? There'll be no sickness.

There'll be no aging, no decline, no sin, right?

It will share, it will share in as a Co heir with Christ, it

will share in the imperishable life of the risen Lord.

It'll be like him. The second contrast Paul shows

us is that we go from dishonor to glory.

Sown in dishonor, raised in glory.

You see, death exposes the shame of sin, death exposes the shame

of sin, right? If you think back to the Garden

of Eden in the fall of man, in the day that you eat of the

fruit of the knowledge of tree, the fruit of the knowledge of

the tree of good and evil. Sorry, way said that backwards.

If you eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, of good and

evil, then you will surely die. Sin brought death.

Death was not a part of the plan for man in the Garden of Eden,

meaning that it was man's rebellion against God.

Man's desire to be like God became unlike God altogether,

became sinful, and brought death on humanity.

It wasn't just physical death, so that is sure.

And physical death is sure because of sin, but it also

brought spiritual death. You're born with the sin of

Adam. You've inherited it from your

first Father. You will surely die because you

are surely spiritually dead already.

So burial is humbling, or at least it ought to be.

It's a humble admission that we are not God.

It's a humble admission that we are finite rather than infinite.

It's it's a humble admission that God is perfect and

righteous and just and we are sinful.

What was once vibrant, the life of a person, what was once

vibrant becomes lifeless in death.

Paul is showing here that what is sown in dishonor will be

raised in glory. In the resurrection, all of that

dishonor will be reversed. Amen.

The believer who once bore the marks of sin and mortality will

shine, will shine in eternity with the splendor of

righteousness. We see in the book of Daniel in

chapter 12 verse 3, it says those who are wise shall shine

like the brightness of the sky above.

The third contrast that Paul reveals here in verse 43 is

weakness to power. He's showing that human life is

fragile. He's revealing that strength

fades and on our best days we're still weak and those best days

pass so quickly. You can read in James about life

being a vapor. You can read in Ecclesiastes

about life being a vapor. You can see in Psalm 90, Moses's

Psalm, Moses's prayer, that life is a vapor that passes quickly.

But the body. But the body that will be raised

will be marked by power and not weakness.

It'll be raised in power, meaning it'll be vigorous, it'll

be whole. It's complete, right?

And it's capable, finally capable of glorifying God

forever. Isn't this one of the most

frustrating things about your weak flesh today is that you do

not have the capability to glorify God always and forever?

Do you find yourself, as I do, wrestling with your flesh,

wrestling with evil desires of rebellion, wrestling with evil

desires of of of lust, wrestling with evil desires of greed,

wrestling with evil desires of pride?

And yet, because of the great grace of God, what is sown in

weakness will be raised in power.

Ephesians 119 through 20 tells us that the power that raised

Jesus from the dead will pulse through every fiber of our

being. And then the 4th contrast that

Paul shows us is between the natural and the spiritual in

verse 44. And when he talks about the

spiritual, he doesn't mean the immaterial.

Sometimes we reveal that we've been discipled by ghost stories

rather than the Scriptures when we think about the afterlife and

we think that our bodies are, that our spiritual dwelling will

now be some immaterial, purposeless existence.

But what Paul means when he says that the natural becomes

spiritual, he means that it becomes totally, utterly

spiritually empowered or spirit empowered.

It's powered by the spirit of God.

The word natural here is the Greek word psychocus.

Sorry, Psychicus. And it refers to the life that's

animated by the soul, meaning it's subject to sin, it's

subject to the weakness of flesh.

That's the natural existence. But the spiritual existence,

well, that's a different word. It's pneumaticos.

And that spiritual body will be fully animated, fully directed,

and fully sustained by the Holy Spirit himself.

It is still physical, but perfected.

It's free from the conflict between flesh and the Spirit

that now wars within us. And praise God for that

liberating freedom. The resurrection body represents

both continuity and transformation.

That's what Paul is showing us here.

The same body that dies is raised, but raised in an

entirely new mode of existence. It's glorified.

You see, God is not discarding what He's created.

You were created in the image of God, male and female, in the

likeness of Him. He's not going to discard that

in eternity. No, no, no, no.

He's going to glorify it. He's going to raise it in power.

He's going to raise it in glory. He's going to raise it

spiritually. He's redeeming it and glorifying

it. Romans 823 calls this the

redemption of our bodies. Just as creation itself there in

Romans 8 groans for renewal, so too do our mortal bodies grown

for this final act of redemption, where we'll receive

the redemption of our bodies in the new heaven and the new

earth. Christ returns.

Philippians 321 declares that Christ will transform our lowly

body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables

him to subject all things to himself.

Praise God. So you see, it's not merely

restoration. You're not just being restored.

No, it's glorification. You're being made new.

The fall has stripped humanity of honor and strength, and in

the resurrection God restores both in an overflowing measure.

What was once humiliated by sin will be exalted by God's grace.

And so this transformation, this transformation of our bodies is

the spirits climactic work in the believer.

All right. The spirit who now indwells us

as a guarantee of what's to come, will one day finish his

work. He'll breathe eternal life into

these mortal frames of ours. And so the same creative power

that formed the world by his hands and raise Jesus from the

dead will also raise you. Romans 811 says if the spirit of

him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who

raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your

mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

So believer's grave, brothers and sisters, you visit the loved

1A loved believer who's gone on to be with the Lord, you visit

that grave. I want you to know.

Or if one day your children visit yours, I want them to

know, right, that it's not a monument of loss.

It's not a monument of loss at all.

It's a seed bed for glory, right?

The Funeral Home may prepare the body for burial, but God is

preparing the body for transformation.

The coffin might be a field and the body might be a seed, but

the promise is that God will bring forth something glorious

in His own time. Do you understand how this hope

and the promise of God should change the way you face

suffering today? It should change the way you

face aging. It should change the way you

face trials and tribulations. Your outer self is wasting away,

but the truth of Scripture is that your inner self is being

renewed day by day. Every sickness, every

limitation, every Gray hair on your head, every death whispers.

Not forever, not forever. So, believer, I want you to lift

your eyes from the mirror of Decay.

You look into this mirror each day and you see decay.

I want you to lift your eyes from the mirror of decay and

lift it to the promise of transformation.

The body that you inhabits now is perishable, but its future is

imperishable. It's powerful, it's glorious,

It's kept in heaven for you, where it's undefiled forever.

And all of that because of the Risen Christ.

Your weakness is temporary, but glory is coming.

Glory is coming. The third thing that the third

truth that Paul shows about our resurrection.

Our resurrection will complete our likeness to Christ.

Look at these final verses 45 through 49.

Thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living

being. The last Adam became a life

giving spirits. But it is not the spiritual that

is first, but the natural and then the spiritual.

The first 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.

You see, Paul now roots the transformation, that future

transformation that awaits. He roots it in redemptive

history. He's rooting it in the

redemptive story, the story of redemption, if you will.

He's rooting it in the story where Christ, the Man of heaven,

will give himself, as he's shown us earlier in this, in this

chapter, will give his life. He'll be buried.

He'll rise again. And so through that comes the

redemption of all who will believe and confess that he is

the Christ, that he's the Messiah promised long ago.

And so Paul draws the contrast now between two representative

men, Adam and Christ. Each one stands as a head of

humanity. Adam is called the first man.

He was made a living being. Verse 45 is quoting Genesis 27

where it says the first man, Adam, became a living being.

In that passage, God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath

of life, but that life was merely natural, it was earthly

and fragile. Christ however, as the second

head, as the last to Adam, is a life giving spirits.

Then Paul adds the last Adam became a life giving spirit,

meaning Christ the risen Lord does not merely receive life, he

gives life. The first man received life and

could not give it, he gave death.

The second man gives life. So the first Adam transmits

death to his descendants. The last Adam imparts eternal

life to his people, all who will call on the name of the Lord for

salvation. And so in verse 46, Paul

explains the divine order. It is not the spiritual that is

first, but the natural and then the spiritual.

So God's design always moves from creation to new creation.

We are born of the dust, and then by grace we're born of the

Spirit. All right, verse 47 and

intensifies this contrast where Paul writes the first man was

from the earth, a man of dust, the second man is from heaven.

You see the contrast? One is from an earthly glory,

the other is from heavenly glory.

So Adam was shaped from the soil, but Christ came from

glory. Adam returned to the ground in

death. Christ conquered death and

returned to His Father. And then verses 48 through 49

summarize all of this. It shows us that those who

belong to Adam share His nature. And if you're an unbeliever in

here, I need you to hear this. They share his nature and his

fate. What's his nature?

It's frail, sinful. He's mortal, he's going to die.

But those who belong to Christ share his nature and his

destiny. Just righteousness.

Life. And glory, immortality, Paul

writes. Just as we have borne the image

of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man

of heaven. So here Paul gives us one of the

most profound statements of Christian hope.

The goal of salvation is not merely forgiveness.

I'm not saying it doesn't include it's not merely

forgiveness of sins. The goal of salvation is

conformity to Christ. Image that we would be made like

him. Romans 829 says for those whom

he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of

his Son. That process of being conformed

to the image of his Son, that process began the moment you

were born again. Your spirit was made alive in

Christ, but it will be completed.

It will not be completed before this.

It will be completed when your body is raised in glory.

Adam's image means that we inherit.

We inherit sin, we inherit weakness, we inherit death.

That's Romans 512. Christ's image means that we

will inherit righteousness. We will inherit power and life.

That's Romans 517 through 19. So the resurrection is the final

triumph of grace over the fall. Amen.

The moment when the dust of Adam is clothed with the glory of

Christ Jesus. Philippians 320 through 21 says

our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await A Savior, the

Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be

like His glorious body. Apostle John and 1st John 32

adds this we when we see Him, we shall be like Him, for we shall

see Him as He is. So the resurrected body will not

only resemble Christ in splendor, brothers and sisters,

it will perfectly resemble or reflect His righteousness.

That image which was lost in Eden will be fully restored in

the Kingdom of God. This is what it means when we

talk about union with Christ. And what we're seeing here is

union with Christ brought to its consummation.

We were united with him in his death.

We were raised with him in newness of life, and one day we

will share fully in his glory. Think about Jesus after his

resurrection. He appeared to his disciples.

He was recognizable yet radiant. He was physical yet glorified.

He ate fish. He spoke, He walked among them.

His body was fully real and yet no longer bound by the same

limitations. Our resurrection bodies will

share that glory, reflecting His power and His perfection.

So believer, your identity is not tied to Adam's dust, but to

Christ's glory. The world defines identity by

what we were, frail, fallen, fading, but God defines us but

what we will be in Christ, holy, whole and heavenly.

So I urge you to live now in light of that coming likeness.

If you bear the image of the man of heaven, then reflect his

character today. Live as one who bears the image

of the man of heaven today. Let your speech and your purity

and your humility and your hope points to the one whose image

you will soon mirror perfectly. And when you face the decay of

this body, do not despair. Do not despair.

Your aging, your weakness, the joints that give you fits when

the storm's rolling in, your allergies, all those things,

even your suffering. These are not signs of defeat,

brothers and sisters. They are birth pains of coming

glory. The Spirit who even now conforms

you to Christ inwardly will one day raise you to share His

likeness completely. You've borne the image of the

man of dust, and so you shall bear the image of the man of

heaven. This is not wishful thinking.

Paul doesn't spend all these verses trying to encourage the

Corinthians to have wishful thinking.

He doesn't belabor the point so that you and I can read it and

think, man, I hope that's what it's like one day.

Oh, he writes as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He writes with a pen that's inspired by the Spirit of God to

utter truth for your weary heart, for your weary body.

He writes to encourage you to strengthen your faith, to deepen

your hope, to put still in your spine.

It's not wishful thinking, but Paul writes, is the certain

promise of God secured by the risen Christ.

It's yours in Jesus. So the resurrection is not some

distant doctrine. I hope you've come to see that

in the last couple of weeks, that the resurrection is not

this distant doctrine. It's not something that we just

look forward to know. It changes the way or it ought

to change the way we Live Today. It ought to inform the decisions

we make. It ought to inform the strength

of our spirit. It ought to inform our courage.

It ought to inform our resolve, It ought to inform our

self-control. It ought to inform everything

about our life with Christ, because it's the heartbeat of

Christian hope, not some distant doctrine.

Every ache in your body, every funeral you attend, every

reminder of human frailty. Frailty testifies that this

world is not yet as it should be.

Brothers and sisters, I feel your pain.

I know that this world is not yet as it should be, and yet

it's these doctrines that make us press on.

It's these doctrines that wake us up in the morning that

invigorate our souls and our hearts to love the Lord our God

with all our strength and all our soul and all our heart and

all our mind, and to go and love our neighbor well.

It's these doctrines that give us hope.

But it's a doctrine that should give us, that should make us

want to take that hope to a dying, decaying world.

There is an answer. There is hope.

It might not be immediate relief, but it's final relief.

It brings peace where there's no peace.

It brings joy where there's no joy.

It's Paul reminds us what a sown of weakness will be raised in

power, what a sown and dishonor will be raised in glory.

You see, the gospel did not end with a cross and a tomb.

The gospel ends with glory. Christ raised 1st and you raised

thereafter. It's a glory that begins in

Christ and will one day feel the universe.

The same hands that shaped Adam from the dust will one day raise

your body from the grave, radiant and imperishable, suited

for eternity in the presence of God.

But until that day, brothers and sisters, until that day we live

as citizens of heaven. We reflect now what we will be

fully on that day. Our future glory shapes us to

present obedience because we will bear the image of heaven,

of the man of heaven. We must pursue holiness.

We must pursue Christ's likeness here and now.

Our sanctification is the beginning of of our

glorification. It is God's resurrection work

already taking root in US. So again, when you walk through

suffering, when you walk through sorrow and sickness, lift your

eyes to the risen Christ, when you stand beside the grave of a

loved one who died in Christ, remember this is not the end,

it's the planning of a seed that will rise and splendor.

And when you feel your own weakness, remember, your destiny

is not decay. No, no, no, no.

Your destiny is transformation. Your destiny is not humiliation.

Your destiny is honor. Your destiny is not dust.

Your destiny is glory. Christ's resurrection is not

merely our example, it's our guarantee.

Because he lives, we shall live also.

Because he reigns in glory, we shall reign with Him.

Because he bears the image of heaven, we shall bear it also.

Therefore, live now as those who will be raised in glory later.

Let hope strengthen your endurance.

Let holiness shape your character.

Let worship fill your days until faith becomes sight and

mortality puts on immortality. Because Christ is risen, those

who are in him will be raised in glory, transformed and conformed

to his image. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this doctrine

of the resurrection. We thank you that because Christ

was raised and resides now in glory, so too will we be raised

and reside in glory with him and Father.

It's my prayer for these people from my own hearts, that that

hope and the resurrection, that hope and the promise of the

resurrection would strengthen our endurance.

That because of this truth, we would let holiness shape our

character. Because of this truth, we would

let worship fill our days until our faith becomes sights and our

mortality puts on immortality. God.

We see clearly in this word that because Christ has risen, we too

will be raised in glory, will be transformed and conformed to his

image. And as we read it, we understand

that we don't deserve it. We understand that our hearts

are rebellious. They're sinful to the core.

We're always waging war against the flesh.

And if we're not in Christ, raised by the Spirit, then we're

not even waging a war against the flesh.

We're just following its orders. And so, Lord, I ask that you

would save anyone here who does not yet know Christ as their

Lord, that you would help them to see their own frailty, their

mortality, their sinfulness, their rebellion.

Help them to see it clearly, that they might flee to the

cross of Christ to find their hope of redemption, but they

would call on the name of the Lord today and receive your

salvation from their sins. And Father, would you help us

who do know Christ to keep our eyes fixed on him as we read in

2nd Corinthians 3 and four? Help us to behold the image of

the Son of God, to fix our gaze on Him, that we might be

transformed day by day, and that we carry these truths and jars

of clay. May we know God as we have been

known by Him. May we rest in the

reconciliation that Christ awards to us.

May we walk in it. Lord, may we be transformed from

1° of glory to the next until finally, forever, we are

glorified in heaven with Christ. Heavenly Father, we thank you

for your Amazing Grace, for the mercy and the love that you have

shown us, for the life that you have given us.

May we fix our gaze on it as we live out our days.

It's in the name of Christ, I pray, Amen.

I'm going to give you a moment there in your seat to pray and

seek the Lord. If there's a truth here that

you've not believed before or not seen in this way, thank the

Lord for revealing it to you. Ask Him to bury it deep in your

heart that it might bear fruits. If you don't know Christ as Lord

and today is the day of salvation, the Lord is calling

you to Himself. Do not keep turning away from

Him, but turn to Him today in faith, trusting that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God who gave Himself for you, that you

might be a Co heir with him. Give your life to me.

Make him your Lord today. Repent of your sins.

Follow Him. Heavenly Father, we exalt you

above all. We exalt your Son above all.

We exalt your spirit above all. We thank you for your grace,

Your mercy, your love toward us. We ask that you help us to walk

with Christ each day, to set our minds on future glory.

As we face temptation, as we face suffering, as we face the

decaying of our bodies. May our eyes be fixed on Christ.

And we Father, we love you. We thank you for Christ and his

salvation. We thank you for your Spirit

granting us life in Him. In the name of Christ we pray,

and then.