20260726 1 Corinthians 15.16-28 Sunday Sermon Mike Dickmann

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful

for this opportunity that you give us week by

week to come together for worship, to praise,

to hear from you, to have fellowship with you

and with each other. We're coming before you

now once again to ask for your help confessing

our great need. that indeed you would own your

word, that you'd open it to us, that you'd accomplish

all of your perfect purposes in the hearts of

your people, that you'd have mercy on the lost

and save them from their sin, that you'd overcome

the messenger and enable me to present the word

in all of its truth and vigor in a manner that

indeed does make you large in our eyes, brings

great glory to your name, humbles the pride of

man. and encourages your saints to walk before

you in love. We're weak, Father. We need your

help. Help us please now during this time. And

we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Well, we're

still in 1 Corinthians 15. I invite you to turn

there with me. We're considering the resurrection

in all of us. aspects and all of its ramifications

perhaps on our lives and how it is indeed an

integral part of the gospel and I mentioned I

think last week that it was not nearly emphasized

enough in our teaching and our living and our

thinking the resurrection plays a or should play

a major part in all of our lives. And I even

went so far as to say that there is no gospel

apart from the resurrection. And Paul is going

to comment on that now in the beginning verses

here this morning when we take a look at verse...

I guess we could start at 16. 1 Corinthians 15,

beginning in verse 16. For if the dead not rise,

then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not

raised, your faith is in vain, or your faith

is empty. You are yet in your sins. Then they

which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ,

we are of all men most miserable. So there's

the importance, stated briefly, succinctly, with

no sugarcoating, just the unvarnished truth that

God has given us. If Christ is not raised, our

faith is in vain. In other words, we're still

in our sin. That's exactly what Paul says. The

resurrection proves that Christ was accepted

by his Father, that his wrath is completely satisfied,

and that we are at peace with the Father through

the Son's finished work on our behalf, all the

way through to the resurrection. And of course,

we would not have the Holy Spirit apart from

Christ's ascension into heaven when the Holy

Spirit was thus poured out. So hopefully by now,

we are all convinced of this very important doctrine,

the truth of which establishes whether we're

Christians or not. And there's so many today

that deny the resurrection that it's impossible

to name them all. But in spite of that, God's

word stands sure and fast, true beyond any doubt,

that the resurrection is a reality. And it's

not a spiritual resurrection. It's not a ghost

that came out of the tomb. It's Christ's bodily

resurrection. That's what is being described

by Paul and declared by all of the witnesses

that saw him after his resurrection. So I just

want to pause briefly here to apply this verse

19. I say this, I guess I could probably say

it every week, but it seems like, you know, the

testimonies, the hymns, the openings, the communion,

it seems like my sermon has already been preached

sometimes. But I'm thankful for the cooperation

of what has already transpired in the meeting.

But verse 19 says, if in this life only we have

hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Now how much emphasis do we put on the hope in

this life? We talk about that a lot, right? We

talk about Christ going to get me through. The

Holy Spirit's going to empower me. I'm going

to please God in this life. I'm going to be faithful.

Really, we spend a lot of time talking about

this life. But that's not our only hope. We have

a much better hope. If Christ only fixes this

life, we're miserable, he says. But Christ doesn't

only fix this temporary, very brief life that

we live. He fixes eternity for us. He brings

us to eternity. He brings us to himself in eternity.

He's got blessings to bestow in eternity that

we have no idea of what we are going to experience

when we leave this life. This life is a preparatory

life. It's God preparing us for heaven. It's

God using us to bring glory to his name. All

those things are true. to share the gospel, to

bring in the other saints that are yet in their

sins. But in all of that doing, it's all in preparation

for the life to come. The Puritans used to call

it our long home. We're all going to our long

home. Eternity is a long time. We can't even

imagine. It's beyond our... deepest thoughts.

Have you ever tried to contemplate eternity?

You can't do it. You might get close. You might

get a little idea of it, perhaps. But you can't

get close to the realization of what eternity

is and what it's going to look like. So again,

as has already been mentioned, I don't even remember

who mentioned it, but we should contemplate these

things. We should think on our great hope. Our

greater hope. We're not only. As I said. Looking

for help and security. And what not in this life.

But we're looking to heaven. We're looking for

that time. When we'll be in a glorified body.

Without sin. Face to face. To God. Serving him.

Not. With no struggle. With no interference.

With no sin. That's our glorious hope. That's

what's awaiting us. And keep in mind, there is

already a man in heaven. Right? Do you contemplate

Christ, the man, Christ Jesus in heaven? He's

there. He's already there. He's not only there

in spirit. He's his body. The man, Christ Jesus,

is there. And this is how Paul describes it in

verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead

and become the first fruits of them that slept.

Christ is the first fruits. Remember the first

fruits offering from the old covenant. This is

Christ fulfilling that prophecy in that feast.

He is the first fruits. What was it? Well, the

first fruits were offered in full confidence

and assurance that the harvest was coming. The

beginning of the harvest. A portion of that beginning,

the first fruits, the first part of the harvest,

was given over unto God. And so, again, Christ

is the first fruits offering. He's only the beginning

of the reward that is His. And that reward, again,

is totally beyond our comprehension, is us. We

are the reward. He has gained for himself a people,

a kingdom. And we'll see later that he's going

to gloriously turn over to God the Father. It

was Jesus' whole mission, his whole work to accomplish,

to bring this kingdom to pass, to bring it into

existence. He is the first fruits. Now, if he

is the first fruits, that guarantees us, To follow

Athens. That's what he's saying there. We are

going to be similarly raised. In our glorified

bodies. At some point. Paul hasn't identified

it yet. But he's going to. And we're going to

get to that also. But for now. We can have a

confidence and assurance. That we are going to

experience. This glorious resurrection. Because

Christ has already been. gloriously raised from

the dead and ascended into heaven as the first

fruits the beginning of the kingdom the beginning

of the reward the beginning only the beginning

there'll be another following following following

following remember why is the world still spinning

because there's still christians to be brought

to god through The work of Jesus Christ. So then

he drops back here. And this section here, admittedly,

there's difficulties here. And I'm going to do

my best to make it as plain as I can. Hopefully

we'll get some benefit out of it, even though

I'm far from any type of a Greek scholar. But

in verse 21 and 22, For since by man came death,

by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so Christ, in Christ,

shall all be made alive. Alright, here, what

is, get the significance of this. Get a hold

of this. Every man as it was in, is, or was in

Adam. Paul has made the same claim in Romans

5, so this isn't unique. But man brought sin

and death into the world. That's how it got here.

Adam, the first man. There was no death before

Adam. The creation was perfect, remember? God

said it's very good, it's perfect. There was

absolutely nothing wrong with the creation. But

man got in there, and by man, sin and death came

upon all. The creation groans under this. Men

groan and toil under this curse of sin in this

life. All because of Adam, the first man. The

first man. There was nothing. There was no life

until God created it all in six days. There was

no sin until Adam fell and threw the whole kit

and caboodle into sin and ruined, ruined the

perfect creation of God. I'm not going to go

so far as to say you can't be a Christian if

you don't believe that. I'm not saying that.

But it's a mystery to me how you can't be. So,

again, and he's tying this into the resurrection.

If none of that's true of Adam, none of that,

the following verse, is true of Christ. See the

significance. He says in the following verse,

far as in Adam all die, Even so, in Christ shall

all be made alive. Do you see the linkage there?

If Adam is not a historical figure, and he didn't

do everything that I just said he did, then Christ

is not a historical figure, and Christ has not

done what Paul claims him to have done. So it's

a little bit bigger than just denying a physical

Adam, or denying that Adam was the first man,

or denying the six -day creation. It's a little

bigger than that. You're on the verge of denying

the reality of Jesus Christ and his finished

work upon us. Because he says it's exactly like

Adam. Adam was the representative that plunged

us all into sin and death. Christ is the representative

that brought us all to life. We've all been made

alive in Christ. All who are in Christ are alive.

Did you ever think about it this way? When you

pray at home, when you get out of your bed, we're

all happy to be alive, aren't we? We made it

through the night. We're alive again. Here we

are again. We're going to experience more of

God in this life. We're going to have an opportunity

for service in this life. We have life. Well,

all the whole world has that life. All of those

who are yet breathing. Right? They're alive.

So we have more than that to be thankful for.

We have a life in Christ. We have abundant life.

We have the real life in Christ. So let's be

thankful for that. Think of it. Do we have the

real opportunity to experience God? We have the

real opportunity to love and to serve Him, to

be loved. All of the truths, all of the spiritual

realities that are ours in Christ, that's the

true life. That's the life that the world knows

nothing of. All of the dead men walking know

nothing of the spiritual life and love. Of Jesus

Christ. That he's given us. In Christ. We're

in Christ. We should be those who. Long after

the resurrection. Jake Barrett. In his opening.

I mean. Those are. Exactly what Matthew tells

us. that we don't need to do or be in any way

considering and concerned about, the reality

is that this is the stuff that we are concerned

about. Isn't it? If we're honest with ourselves,

don't we spend our time thinking about all of

these things that the Bible clearly tells us

that God is going to take care of? But yet we...

We have to plan. We have to think. We have to

figure it out. Can I afford to have a child?

Can I afford to have another one? That's ridiculous.

I can tell. I don't care how much money you make.

No! There's your answer. Stop fooling with it.

But God's going to take care of it. He's going

to take care of all of our needs. Why do we spend

so much time on those things? Let's think about

the real life that we have in Christ. The real

life that awaits us in the resurrection. What

will that be? It's wonderful. It's glorious.

The truth of God's word. And it's all because

of the resurrection. Our faith is not in vain.

It's not empty. It's real. It's a glorious faith.

It's going to take us all the way to heaven.

It's going to take us all the way to our raised

bodies. What's it going to be like to see our

glorified body coming up out of the ground? We're

going to be looking around. We're coming up.

Here we come. We got our body back. There's no

more aches and pains. There's no more deformities.

There's no more problems. It's perfect. Just

as it was created to be. And we're going to rise

up to meet Christ. In the glorious resurrection.

Wonderful. In verse 23. But every man in his

own order. Christ the first fruits. Afterwards.

They that are Christ's at his coming. Ah, here

it is. At his coming. This resurrected body is

coming out of the grave at his coming. That's

what Paul's telling us here. That's when it happens.

Now, in verses 24 to 28, is Paul's, I don't know,

we can call it a brief summary of the end times.

I mean, if most of our friends and brothers in

Christ are right, then this is a very brief summary.

But if they just might be wrong, it's not so

brief. But anyway, we're not going to argue about

it. We're just going to let the Bible speak for

itself, right? So here's what he's got to say.

He says then, verse 24. Then cometh the end,

when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to

God, even the Father, when he shall have put

down all rule and all authority and all power.

Okay, so here, I mean, this seems pretty clear

to me. He says, then cometh the end. I mean,

the end. Not an interlude. Not a temporary...

Stop. The end. That's it. It's the end. When

you used to have movies and a great big thing,

the end would come up there. Right? You remember?

That's it, right? You don't sit there in your

seat and think, oh, this is just a temporary

interlude. No, it's the end. It's over. It's

finished. That's what Paul's saying. We are all

going to be raised from the dead when it is over,

when it is the end. So then he says that he shall

have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the

Father. So we'll get back to that as he repeats

it. But what we need to emphasize or what we

need to understand is that he shall have put

down all rule and all authority and power. Now

those are spiritual forces. Those are wicked

angels. Of course all the earthly, feeble, nothing

powers are obviously going to be eradicated also.

Paul doesn't even mention that, but he mentions

this, that all these different categories of

demons, all the wickedness, they're all going

to be put down. They're going to come to their

end. At the end. That's what he's saying there.

Now you should be familiar because Timothy just

went over the spiritual warfare and who our warfare

is against. And this is the same categories that

Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. So you can look

it up again and remind yourselves of it if you

want to in Ephesians 6, verse 12, where he talks

Ephesians 6:12

about these wicked angels, these demons that

we're warring against in the spiritual life.

Okay, so in verse 25 then he says, For he must

reign, that is, Christ must reign, till he hath

put all enemies under his feet. Now, he must

reign. That's what it said. In other words, remember,

all authority has been given unto me in heaven

and earth. When? Way back there. Has he lost

some authority? Has he lost his power? Has he

lost his position? No, he must reign. In other

words, he's reigning right now over all of the

earth, over every power, every authority. He's

completely sovereign in his reign. He's undisputed

king. There's nobody that can take his power

and authority. He must reign because he must

finish his course. He must bring the kingdom

to God. He must. It's commissioned by God the

Father that Christ would carry out the work of

the gospel and establish the kingdom, keep the

kingdom, finish the kingdom, and present the

kingdom to God his Father at the end. That's

what it says. This is... The millennium, in other

words. The thousand year reign of Christ. We're

in it. The thousand years is simply a symbolic,

symbolic number. It signifies a long time, but

to men. That's what we're in. We're living in

it. Christ is reigning. How is your faith? You

believe that? The condition of all the world

around us. You think if Christ was reigning that

it would be like it is? Do you? Well, I hope

the answer is yes. Because he is reigning and

it is like it is. And it's exactly how Christ

wants it. That should be the most encouraging

and comforting thing that could ever be said

in Christ's reign. We don't know the mind of

God. We don't know what's going on. We know nothing,

essentially. But all we do know is God is accomplishing

his purposes in this world at this very time

because Christ is reigning at this very time.

That's beautiful. I mean, how can we have any

hope if that were not the case? Would you rather

that some devil was reigning, controlling everything?

Would you rather that the leaders of this world

actually control this world? Would you feel safe

and secure and comfortable and think everything

is great because we have such a wonderful earthly

leader? I hope not. There's no greater comfort

to the believer than Christ. reigning power.

He is in charge. He's accomplishing all of the

work that God has given him to do. He is still

the mediator, you know. The work's not over.

He's still doing the gospel work. He's the mediator.

He's bringing men to God. He's keeping men to

the end. Not losing any. In verse 26, the last

enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Okay?

The last enemy to be destroyed. Now, again, in

our day, death is nothing. It's just a slipping

out. It's just a natural part of life. Don't

be afraid of death. Death's just part of living.

It happens to us all. Death is an enemy. Death

is to be resisted. We don't give in to death.

Death is a result of sin. Adam brought death

in the world, remember? It's not natural. It's

not part of the original creation. It's totally

unnatural for a man to die. Man should never

have died apart from the fall. Man should have

lived forever. Because the creation was perfect.

Man was perfect. But sin came into the world.

We are to fight against death. And recognize

it as our enemy. That's what the Bible calls

it. I just read it to you. The last enemy to

be destroyed is death. It is our enemy. So there's

nothing wrong with seeking help, seeking medication,

doing whatever you can to maintain your health,

to stay involved, active, be a part of this world.

God will not allow you to go out of this world

until your time here is up. Do you believe that?

If you're still alive, you've got something to

do. It may just be to pray. You may not be able

to do anything but pray. And I feel horrible

saying that because what better thing could you

be doing? Have a whole list of people to pray

for. That's wonderful. That's definitely a minister.

That's definitely something that you should fight

death over. Death's not going to silence my voice

without a struggle. I am going to serve God with

all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength until

the very end when God calls me home, when he

takes me home. I'm not longing for death. I'm

not longing for that. It's far better for me

to stay here than it is to go there. Because

why? Because God has left me here and given me

things to do. Think on these things. Think on

these realities. Forget all that physical junk.

This is a spiritual life. We have the true life.

We're not just breathing. We have the spirit.

We're serving God. We're in the kingdom. We're

being kept. Sign every letter. Kept by the power

of God. That's a beautiful way to end a letter,

or a text, or an email, or whatever it is these

days. Kept by the power of God. But death will

be defeated, along with all the powers of hell,

at the last time. Now remember, this is all happening

at the end. And then he says in 27, For he hath

put all things under his feet. But when he saith

all things are put under him, it is manifest

or obvious that he is accepted, which did put

all things under him. In other words, God the

Father is accepted. All things in the whole universe,

heaven and earth, are put under Christ, save

the Father. Christ is on the Father's mission.

Remember, that's the redemptive covenant. It's

all been planned and purposed and set out in

stone. It cannot fail. So all things will at

some time be put under him. Now, that's, again,

that's got to be comforting. That's got to be

a beautiful thought. That all of this wickedness,

all this stuff that we're constantly confronted

with is all going to go away. It's going to go

under Christ's authority, under his power. Now,

and again, that should be a great stir to our

prayer. We don't want our loved ones to suffer

that fate. We want our loved ones to submit themselves

willingly unto Christ and be saved. But either

way, either way, it's going to happen. It's going

to be life, life everlasting, or death. But they

will be under Christ. They will be submitted

to him. And at the end, there's not a second

chance. There's not, when Christ returns, we're

going to have another thousand years to get right

with God. All of that foolishness, I don't see

it here. It's the end. That's all it is. This

is the probationary period. This is when your

destiny is determined. Right here in this life.

What we do in this life determines what happens

in eternity. No second chances. And in verse

28. And when all things shall be subdued unto

him. Then shall the Son also himself be subject

unto him that put all things under him, that

God may be all in all. So this, again, this is

mysterious, I admit it. I can't explain it. I

can't explain all of this to where it makes perfect

logical sense to a human mind, at least my human

mind. Christ is co -equal with God. They're the

same in essence. Yet there's this willing submission,

subjection between them. But there's only one.

But that one exists in a trinity. How do we explain

this? Well, we don't really explain it. I don't

believe you can totally explain this. It's something

that we believe. The Bible tells us, it's very

clear, that in some manner, all of the kingdom

is going to be presented to God the Father who

designed the whole plan. The whole gospel plan

is the wisdom of God the Father. Christ carried

it out perfectly. And at the end, he's going

to present this gospel kingdom to God. and in

all things will be under God the Father. He will

be in charge. Now, does that mean that the Holy

Spirit, that the Son, what happens to them? Well,

they're in the Father, the same way they were

before the creation. During the creation, we

had the Trinity. After the end of all things,

we'll still have the Trinity. And then we will

absolutely be able to comprehend exactly what

Paul is stating here. Until then, we believe

it because the Bible tells us so. Somehow it

all works out. Somehow it's true. Everything

is true. Maybe you don't have any problem understanding

it, grasping it. That's good. It's fine. I mean,

I don't have a problem in that I'm caused to

doubt. I have no doubt that this is true. I just

have a problem explaining it all. You don't have

to explain it. All you have to do is believe

it. There's coming a time, and it's the end,

when Christ is going to turn the kingdom over

to his Father. And God the Father is going to

be reigning over all. In all. Through all. And

that's other places in scripture as well. It's

not just here. But anyway. So that's the end.

That's the end times. There's not. This is the

kingdom. This is the millennial. The kingdom

is going to come to a conclusion. All things

are going to be put under Christ. He's going

to present those all things to the father. And

the father is going to be ruling over all. And

that's it. It's eternity. It's eternity for us

all. So that's pretty straightforward and it's

pretty simple. So it should again be a great

encouragement and comfort to all of God's people

to understand that this is not chaos. We're not

living in chaos. We're not living in uncertain

times. We're living because Christ is reigning.

And he's sustaining and keeping and caring for

us through this life as a preparatory time for

the wonderful, astounding, terrific life in eternity

that waits for all of his people. So I'm going

to read a couple of verses here and be finished.

In Romans 8. Beginning at verse 36. As it is

written, for thy sake we are killed all the day

long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors

through him that loved us. For I am persuaded

that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor

principalities, nor powers, nor things present,

nor things to come. There they are. Not height,

depth, or any other creature. Shall be able to

separate us from the love of God which is in

Christ Jesus our Lord. Wonderful. Beautiful.

One more then. In whom, chapter 1, verse 14,

in whom we have redemption through his blood,

even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image

of the invisible God, the firstborn of every

creature, for by him were all things created

that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible

and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions,

principalities, powers, there they are. All things

were created by him and for him, and he is before

all things, and by him all things consist or

are maintained. And he is head of the body, the

church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from

the dead, that in all things he might have the

preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in

him should all fullness dwell. And having made

peace, Through the blood of his cross. By him

to reconcile all things unto himself. By him

I say. Whether they be things in earth or things

in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated

and enemies. In your mind by wicked works. Yet

now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh

through death. To present you holy. and unblameable

and unreprovable in his sight. If ye continue

in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not

moved away from the hope of the gospel, which

ye have heard and which was preached to every

creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul,

am made a minister. The glorious resurrection.

We'll pick it up there next week.