20260809 1 Corinthians 15.35-49 Sunday Sermon Mike Dickmann

Let's pray once again. Heavenly Father, we are

rejoicing in you and your great love for us this

morning. Love that denied his only begotten son

that we might live. So we ask that you would

continue with us now as we open your word. That

you'd speak to us through it. That it would go

forth in the power of the Holy Spirit. accomplishing

all of your perfect will in the hearts of your

people. Grant unto us the response of faith this

morning that we would put into practice all that

you teach. Have mercy on the lost, Father. Grant

repentance and faith to some who are yet in their

sins. Pray that you would help me as I declare

the word that I would think and speak clearly

all that you've given to me and nothing but what

you've given to me. Glorify yourself there in

this time, Father, and we ask it in Christ's

name. Amen. Continuing then in 1 Corinthians

15 this morning. Turn there with me. Paul's going

to be answering two questions. He anticipates,

or probably has heard, some of the reasoning

of the resurrection deniers. So he's going to

deal with two of their accusations in these verses

that we're going to look at this morning. Remember,

there's no gospel without the resurrection. The

importance of the truth of the resurrection must

always be emphasized. We serve the living Christ.

He's not on the cross. He's not in the grave.

He's risen. He is alive. And he cares for us

day by day, directing our steps, accomplishing

his will through us, and encouraging us through

one another, as well as his word. So the resurrection,

in verse 35, we will begin to read. But some

men will say, how are the dead raised up? And

with what body do they come? In other words,

They're deriding the resurrection. They're treating

it as an impossibility. They believe these questions

to be unanswerable. But obviously they're not,

and Paul demolishes them both in the subsequent

verses. So, in my translation, they have thou

fool. You may have simpleton or something else

in your Bible. So obviously if you deny the resurrection,

you deny the God himself. Therefore you are a

fool. He's not worried about hurting people's

feelings. He's worried about defending the truth.

So he goes on. Thou fool, thou which soweth is

not quickened except it die. And that which thou

sowest. Thou sowest not that body that shall

be, but bare grain. It may be of wheat or of

some other grain, but God giveth it a body as

it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own

body. All flesh is not the same, but there is

one kind of flesh of man, another kind of beast,

another of fishes. and another of birds there

are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial

but the glory of the celestial is one and the

glory of the terrestrial is another there is

one glory of the sun and another glory of the

moon and another glory of the stars for one star

differeth from another star in glory So also

is the resurrection of the dead. Okay, so we'll

pause there and we'll look at these arguments

that are being put forth. Paul doesn't try to

prove that there is a God. And as far as I know,

there is no such effort ever made in the Bible.

It's a presupposition that God exists. There

is a God. The very first verse in the Bible.

God. He's saying here that God is doing all of

these things in nature. He has done, he continues

to do, he will do. And he's created this great

diversity in the world. It's all of God and it's

all according to God's will. So we see here that

in order to be in a natural world, You have to

put a dead seed into the ground. It's just an

old dried up looking seed. In the old days, we

used to plant from seeds. We didn't have all

of these full grown or half grown or quarter

grown plants that we put in the ground. We put

seed in the ground. So we had the fun of seeing

what came out of this seed. Have you ever really

looked at a seed? Do you know how small and insignificant

it is? It's dry. You would never believe there's

a life in the seed. You can't believe it. But

there is. And so you plant the dead seed into

the ground. Cover it up and you wait. God is

going to do something with that seed. Yeah, there's

a natural process and so on and so forth, but

so it has been designed. And so what comes out

of that ground from that seed is nothing like

the seed that you put into the ground. It comes

out a glorious thing. A beautiful thing. And

diversified. All manner of seeds, all manner

of plants. And they come out of a dried up, dead

looking seed. That's what Paul's saying. Don't

you know anything about nature? You have to die

in order to be resurrected. I think it was Bible

that posted something. If you've died already,

you'll never die when you die. In other words,

have you really died to yourself? Have you really

come to God and died, giving yourself up for

God to live his life through you? Well, even

in that, even in our conversion, can you see

a vast difference? What you were and what you

are? God has done a work, hasn't he? First of

all, he did the work of a generation. A new beginning.

Genesis. A generation. A new beginning. And he's

made us something entirely different. We once

were self -centered, serving ourselves, loving

ourselves to the exclusion of everything else.

And now... We love others more than we love ourselves.

We love God more than we love ourselves. We live

for his glory. We live to please him. Well, that

is a type of resurrection. But that's not what

Paul's talking about. He's talking about when

Christ returns. When the graves will be opened

and when we will receive our new bodies. But

he is... telling us here of the great diversity

that exists in nature and the great differences

that there are throughout the nature, including

the celestial bodies, the sun, the moon, and

the stars. They all have different glory. They're

not the same. They're different. The sun is a

glory all alone. There's nothing like the sun.

The moon is a lesser glory. It reflects the light

of the sun. And the stars are all unique in their

glory in that some shine brighter than others.

Some are closer to the earth. We see so little

of the stars here where we live. If you ever

have the opportunity to get out in the dark,

it's amazing what you'll see up there. Millions

of lights filling the sky. And they're all unique.

And they're all put there by God. They're all

maintained by God. And they all have their own

glory. What's glory? Do you remember what glory

is? It's what can be seen and known of a thing.

That's what glory is. The more that you know

about God, the more you're able to see his glory.

It's something that is known and seen and felt.

Depending upon what we're talking about. That's

the glory of a thing. And so the celestial bodies,

their glory is their light. We rejoice in all

of the light that God has given us. So there's

that. There's this undeniable truth that this

dead thing, seed, A body, whatever is planted

in the ground, is going to come of a resurrected

body that's not going to be anything like the

body that it was. Now that's what they were saying

about what are we going to have? A bunch of zombies

running around? A bunch of ugly looking people

raised from the dead? These people are decayed.

They're horrible looking. That was the argument.

Well, that's no good. Who wants that? And Paul's

saying, of course it's not it. He's going to

go on then and give us even more information.

It says, beginning again in verse 42, so also

is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in

corruption and it is raised in incorruption.

It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.

It is shown in weakness. It is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual

body. There is a natural body and there is a

spiritual body. And so it is written. The first

man Adam was made a living soul. And the last

Adam was made a quickening spirit. How be it?

That was not first, which is spiritual, but that

which is natural, and afterward that which is

spiritual. The first man, Adam, is of the earth,

earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

As is the earthy, such are they also that are

earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they

also that are heavenly. And as we have borne

the image of the earthly, we shall also bear

the image of the heavenly. Okay, so there's the

complete and full description of what the resurrection

is going to be for all of us. Remember. Christ

was raised from the dead. He was the first fruits.

We've already looked at that. We've seen that.

There can't be any first fruit if there isn't

a continuing harvest. Remember that. It's a surety

that we are going to be raised from the dead

because Christ was raised from the dead. We're

following him. Alright, so here's the description.

First he says, is corruption the dead body is

corrupt it's subject to decay the glorified or

the raised body is incorrupt it's there's no

corruption in this new body it's totally different

in that respect it will never fade away will

never decay it's incorruptible the second description

is said that this sown in dishonor. And the raised

body is a glorious body. It's immortal, it's

redeemed, it's sinless. Okay, so dishonor. Man,

we as men have lost our original honor. Sin is

in the world. Remember, we said death is not

natural. Death is not part of the creation. Remember,

we discussed that. But the reason that there's

death is because there is sin. And we're all

subject to that. We're all subject. We fight

it. We resist it. But eventually we all succumb

and we all die. But we don't really die if we've

already died. Remember? We're not subject to

the second death. But anyway, we're lost. We've

lost everything. I mean, we can't even imagine

what the man was original in his original creation.

Have you ever thought about it? Tried to come

up with an explanation or a reason? How did the

world ever develop? Well, of course, the world's

got all kinds of fairy tales that it tells about

everything. But when Adam was created, he was

a superman. He's nothing like us. He was a superman.

Eve was superwoman. They had brain capacity that

we know nothing about. It was untarnished. That's

how the world was able to function and create

things and have a continuing growth in knowledge

and abilities. Adam and Eve were super people.

Now when they sinned, yes, they did become subject

to sin. They lost their original relationship

with God. But they didn't lose all of their brain

power and capacities when they sinned. They just

started a decay. Well, that's all going to be

restored. God's making a new humanity. He's making

a new man, a new mankind. And we're all part

of it. He's interested in us. He's interested

in us establishing a real culture, a real civilization.

Just as Adam was supposed to be doing. He was

supposed to have dominion. He was supposed to

be creating something that would be pleasing

and honoring and in the image of God. Of course,

he failed. Miserable. And he became subject to

corruption and dishonor. So Christ has now come.

We are now living in this new kingdom. This new

humanity. We have all of these characteristics

in seed form. We have an incorruptible body,

but not fully realized. We do have a glory that

is ours through Christ, but it's not complete.

So we then come to the next, and it's weakness.

The body was sown in weakness. Can we testify?

Have we ever been sick? Have we ever been subject

to any diseases? Yes. We know all about weakness,

or we should, if we're honest with ourselves.

And the older you get, the more familiar you'll

be with weakness. It doesn't get any better.

We get weaker and weaker and weaker the older

that we get. And it's all, again, it's all a

result of sin. It's not the natural order of

things. But the new resurrected body is a body

of power, not subject to any diseases or disabilities,

nothing. There's no more weakness. It's a powerful

body that we will receive at the resurrection.

The body is so unnatural. It's a natural body.

There's nothing supernatural about it. It's all

natural. It's flesh. Flesh, blood, bones. We

already said it. Decays. Whatever it is. It's

totally natural. Totally subject to the natural

world. The new body is spiritual. Now, does that

mean it's not a body? No. It is a body, but it's

a spiritual body. It's not subject to the natural

world. It's totally new. It's totally different.

It's a spiritual body that will never wear out,

that will never be subject to anything again.

It will reign forever. We will reign forever

with Christ. In our spiritual bodies. Now here

is the key. The thing here. In verse 47. Well

we could start in 46. How be it that was not

first. Which is spiritual. But that which is

natural. And afterward that which is spiritual.

Okay. That's a natural order of things. The first

man. Is of the earth earthy. That's where we're

at now. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

Adam was the first man. Jesus Christ was the

second man. He was the head of the new humanity.

He was the last Adam, as it says earlier. But

in this verse, he's simply comparing these two

men. The first and the second. And it's also

the last. But there's the... The spiritual body.

And it is from the Lord. As is the earthy. Such

are they that are earthy. And as is the heavenly.

Such as they also that are heavenly. And as we

have borne the image of the earthy. We shall

also bear the image of the heavenly. We don't.

We get these bodies from Christ. That's where

they came from. We're not given the body based

upon what we've done or earned or anything else.

It's the completion of our salvation. And we

receive the same body that Christ received in

his resurrection. He had a physical body, but

it was spiritual. He had a body that could be

felt, touched, handled. He ate. He was known.

But it was a spiritual body. He could walk through

walls. He could get from one place to another

supersonically. Now that's pretty exciting. I've

never been able to move fast. All I can do now

is go super slow. But that's not going to be

the case in the resurrection. And it's all because

of Christ. It's all what he has done and what

he is doing and what he will do. Remember, this

is our preparation period. We're growing in our

preparation for heaven. We'll be spiritually

with Christ when we die. But our body's not coming

out of the grave until he returns. So there's

this intermediate period, it's called, between

our physical death and our physical resurrection.

But it'll be timeless. You ever thought about

timelessness? It'll seem like the twinkling of

an eye. It'll seem like it was no time at all.

And we'll be raised. Time is no more when we

pass from this world. Again, we can talk about

this stuff, we can declare the truth of it, but

we can't really put our minds around it. But

what we exercise is our faith. We know these

things to be true because why? Because we have

been given the gift of faith. That's why. That's

why we have confidence. Because it is Christ's

faith in us that reaches out and embraces Christ

and continues to do so and grows and grows and

grows as we exercise our faith. And eventually

then, we'll be called upon to pass through the

water. We'll be passing over. We'll be called

upon. God is going to call us all one day. And

we don't know that day. And it's got nothing

to do with age. You all think I'm going to go

before you. Right? I think Thelma's going before

me. But that's wrong thinking. This could be

the day when we're called upon. Exercise our

faith, our trust in the Lord Jesus. Leave nothing

undone. Remember, how do you fight death? You

fight death by maintaining your testimony and

your witness all of your days. Regardless, you

can't do everything you used to do, but you can

do something. It may come down to all you'll

be able to do to resist death is to pray. And

that's what we should be doing. But when the

time comes, we won't have to say, oh, I wish

I had spoken to this person. Or, oh, maybe I

should have prayed more. Or, am I really good

enough? That's all wrong thinking. When the time

comes, we simply hold on to Christ. Believe every

word that He's told us. Faced with confidence.

The end of this life. And the beginning of the

next life. Which will be instantaneous and simultaneous.

You close your eyes in death. You open your eyes

in heaven. And then we wait. But we won't really

wait as I've already said. But that follows Christ's

second coming. And when the dead will be raised

and there'll be some shouting and carrying on

like never before. Are you looking forward to

these days? Are you realizing that this is a

preparation? I'm supposed to be learning, growing,

improving even, should we say. Supposed to be

honoring, glorifying God in all that I think,

do, and say. That's what we're going to be doing

for eternity. If you don't want to do it now,

how are you going to stand eternity? You know,

the sinner says, I don't have any interest in

going to heaven. That's going to be the most

boring place in the world. And he's right. He

would be bored. He'd be totally out of place.

He doesn't want to go there. But that's not the

case for us who know him. It's a glorious place

and we should be looking forward to it earnestly.

The more heavenly minded we are, the more earthly

good we will do. It's just the opposite of what

the world says. Oh, he's so heavenly minded he's

useless. No. He's not heavenly minded enough

if he's useless. So never forget these glorious

truths that are ours in Christ Jesus. The glory

of the resurrection. Think of it. A new body.

Think of it. That seed that we planted and that

glorious plant that came up out of that seed.

How much more glorious is our body going to be

when we are resurrected? We can't even think

of it. We can't imagine it. But that's what's

promised us in Christ. Yeah, there's things that

we have to do. There's just, it's a natural world.

We've got responsibility. We have to do it. I

understand that. I did it for years. But we can't

let them crowd out our relationship with the

Lord. Do we know Him? Are we growing in that

relationship? Yeah, fulfill all your earthly

responsibilities. That's first. That's what it

says. We live on this earth. We live in the natural

world. So we have to do those things. But we

can't do them in the exclusion of our relationship

with God. They have to be subservient to our

time with the Lord. So it's a glorious salvation.

It's a glorious God. We have a wonderful Savior.

He's given us all things necessary. He's going

to give us things that are unimaginable to us.

Let's live for Him. Let's remember these blessings

as has been already testified to. But by faith,

we lay hold of these future blessings. We know

they're coming. So we work on. I think it's Peter

says, He that has this hope within him purifies

himself even now. That's not a direct quote,

but it's close. Alright, so next week. We're

going to finish up the 1 Corinthians 15.