WWUTT 1637 We Will All Be Changed (1 Corinthians 15:50-52)

If you want to inherit the kingdom of God, you have got to stop going after sin and the passions of your flesh.

You must be after the things of heaven, namely Christ, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 1 Corinthians 15, and as with yesterday,

I'm going to begin reading in verse 45, and we'll go to the end of the chapter, verse 58.

This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible, the word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

So also it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul.

The last Adam became a life -giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.

The first man is from the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy.

And as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

Now, I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the corruptible inherit the incorruptible.

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will all be changed.

For this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality.

But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

Now, the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the

Lord. Amen. Now, we're moving on to this final section of 1

Corinthians 15, where Paul is talking about once again the resurrection of the dead that is going to happen on the day of Christ.

This is where we're going to be spending today and tomorrow. But I want to make one more comment about the statements regarding Adam, the first man

Adam and the last Adam, who is Christ, before we move on. So yesterday was verses 45 through 49.

There was a statement I was meaning to make there, and I was kind of building to it, but then I think I rabbit trailed, and I never actually came back to it.

But Paul is talking about these things, where he's saying that the first man Adam became a living soul, the last

Adam became a life -giving spirit. So he comes back to the first and last

Adam, just as he had mentioned earlier in the chapter. Verses 21 and 22, for since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. And I can't remember if I mentioned this back when we were in that section of 1

Corinthians 15, but I'm certainly going to mention it here. So there in verses 21 through 23, and here in verses 45 through 49,

Paul is making a reference to Adam as a real historical person.

He really lived. He really existed. God created him as the first man.

There was no one before him. He did not evolve from some other kind of creature. There were not several humans that existed at one time, and we just kind of focused the story on this one couple,

Adam and Eve. The first man and woman was Adam and Eve. God created man from the man's side.

He took a rib and fashioned that into woman. She was called woman because that means she was taken from man, taken out of man.

Adam saw this woman that God had made for him and said of her, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

A man will leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

And these two committed the first sin. Eve was deceived by the serpent. She ate of the fruit that God told them not to eat.

She handed it to Adam and he ate. And as talked about in Genesis chapter three, all of mankind was cursed as a result of this.

So through Adam all die in Christ, all who are in Christ will be made alive.

This is necessary to have to believe that Adam is a historical real person at the beginning of creation.

Because if you reject that, if you think it's just mytho history and you think like William Lane Craig does, that Adam actually existed a million years ago and he was just a

Neanderthal type figure that evolved from some other creature to get to that particular point.

Then you are, you're running into a massive theological problems and you are contradicting what

Paul is clearly stating here. If Adam is mytho history, then so is Christ. If Adam was not a real person, then why should we believe that Christ was a real person?

What if Christ is just some sort of a metaphor for something else? If that's what Adam was supposed to be,

Paul is referring to Adam as a real person who lived at a particular point in time and because of his sin that he committed against God, all of mankind came into futility, was cursed, has inherited the sin nature of Adam.

And in Adam, we all die. We are all born with the sin nature of Adam, every single one of us.

And it's not that we can look back at Adam and blame him for it. We're all willing participants in Adam's sin.

And if we remain in Adam, when we die, we will be forever separated from God under his judgment for eternity.

But if we are born again in Christ, then we have fellowship with God now and we will have fellowship with him for eternity.

And everything that Christ has received is also what we get. For as it says in Titus chapter three, we are fellow heirs with Christ.

As he has been raised, we will be raised as he received an incorruptible body.

We will receive an incorruptible body as he has been given the kingdom. We receive that too, because all the stuff that the father gives to the son, he's also going to give to us as fellow heirs of Christ.

That's remarkable to think about. Praise be to God that we've gone from being enemies of God, rebellious criminals committing treason against the high king of heaven.

And instead of destroying us in our sin, he raises us up with his son, seats us on his throne with him.

Jesus said as much in revelation three 21 to he who overcomes,

I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne. As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

Praise be to God. And this is by his grace that instead of judgment, we become judges, right?

We reign with him on his throne. As Paul had talked about earlier in first Corinthians, that we will even judge angels.

Talking about that back in chapter six. So anyway, coming back to recognizing that Paul is referring to Adam as a real person, a real historical figure that really exists, really existed.

And if we don't accept that, if we start to listen to the false teaching of mytho -history is the way that Genesis one through 11 is regarded, then we're going to run into all sorts of theological difficulties.

As Adam was a real person and in Adam all die, so Christ was a real person and in Christ all will be made alive.

And so we get to this last section here, beginning in verse 50 with Paul saying, now

I say this brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the corruptible inherit the incorruptible.

In other words, as we remain as Adam, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who continue in the flesh, those who continue with the man of earth, the man of dust, the man who is earthy, verse 48, as is the earthy.

So also are those who are earthy as is the heavenly. So also are those who are heavenly. If we continue in the ways of Adam, if we continue in the ways of this world, if we continue in sin, even trying to find a way, can

I still have the passions of my flesh and I can still call myself a Christian do. Do you really love

Christ or do you love the stuff of this world? We cannot continue to look like Adam who gave into the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life when he ate from that tree that God told him not to eat from.

We can't continue in that and expect that we will inherit the kingdom of God. Paul is already given this warning with, uh, with specificity back in chapter six, that these who commit these sins will not inherit the kingdom of God, right?

That was first Corinthian six, nine and 10 and listing those sins, sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, thievery, the greedy drunkards, revilers, swindlers.

These will not inherit the kingdom of God. We cannot continue in those ways looking for ways we can still kind of find those ways.

Can I just even entertain it in my mind? No, we must put off the old self and put on the new, which is being renewed in Christ.

There are so many of us who just love latching onto those little sins. Even if we don't give into it, even if we don't do it, we love the idea of it.

We love to fantasize about it. We love to think about it as though the sin were a tic tac and you put it in your mouth and you suck on it under your tongue like nobody can see it.

Nobody knows I'm even doing this. I can still kind of enjoy the flavor of it and it rather than comparing it to a tic tac, it might be more comparable to like an arsenic tablet, something so teeny tiny, but you put that under your tongue and you start sucking on it, it'll kill you.

And there are many of us who are still, we just love the idea of the sin. We long for the sin and we would be as a lot's wife as we are being rescued from the, the, the world that is burning, that is coming into destruction.

And as we are being whisked away to heavenly safety and eternal life with God, would we stop and look back at the cities that are being destroyed, actually longing for what they, what they offered that they're being judged for?

We would want that. Do you, do you really want that? Do you really want the world and all that is in it that is coming to destruction?

Or do you want Christ that you would turn from these sins and desire

Christ? And I hope your heart is convicted when I say that mine is,

Oh God, if there is any wicked way in me, search it out that I would not be longing for the things of this place that are coming to an end that will burn up with the fire of God's judgment.

But I desire something greater, something better, the, the eternal, which is in Christ and in him alone.

If I were to continue to go after the stuff that is in this world, I'm not going to inherit the kingdom of God.

I'm still going after Adam. I'm going after the earthy, that which is worldly.

God, give me a mind and a heart that desires Christ, that longs for the heavenly, that wants the immortal.

There are a lot of people out there that want immortality. In fact, I would say just about everybody wants immortality and there may be some that wish that they could just poof out of existence, but everybody wants to live forever, right?

I can just gain that immortality, but they don't want to give up the stuff of this world.

As I've heard, I think it's Paul Washer say, everybody wants to go to heaven, but not everybody wants

God to be there when they get there. So there's plenty of people that long for the immortality, but they don't really want

God not recognizing that the only way that we gain, we gain immortality, that we have eternal life is to die to ourselves is to no longer be an

Adam, but to be in Christ. If we continue in the flesh, we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I say this brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the corruptible inherit the incorruptible.

Now to a more direct correlation here, Paul is stating that our physical bodies become something else for he's been making this argument, even from a general revelation from what we can observe in nature, that we can know there is a resurrection of the dead just as a seed goes into the ground and comes out something else.

So it is with us. Our bodies go into the ground and they will come out something else.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. Our bodies must be changed in order to enter the kingdom of God.

But in stating that our bodies are corruptible, they are part of this world that has been cursed by sin and our bodies are coming into decay and we are dying because that's the wages of sin.

Roman 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. The free gift of God is eternal life through what?

Through whom? Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who raises our corruptible bodies up to be like his incorruptible body.

So we must be putting off the works of the flesh. Now we must be, we must be renewed in Christ.

We are being sanctified. We are being made holy. We cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

If we continue in the ways of the flesh, we must be made incorruptible. And it is

Christ who does that for us. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

The ways of the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The corruptible, the corruptible -ness of this world, which is sin, evil, everything else, the corruptible cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

We must become incorruptible. And again, that only happens in Christ. You can continue in your sin.

You continue in corruption. You put off the old self. You put on Christ.

You walk in his righteousness. You desire that which is incorruptible. Paul said to the

Ephesians, do not be filled with wine, for that leads to debauchery, but be filled with the spirit.

The contrast there is that you fill yourself with wine and drunkenness. Well, you're going to feel some pleasure, certainly, but it's not going to last.

And eventually it even kills you. Eventually it destroys your body. So it can't sustain you.

You're filling yourself up with worldly things and worldly treasures, or worldly pleasures,

I should say. Instead, you should be filled up with that which is permanent, that which is eternal, that which is pleasurable now and will be forever.

And that's the Holy Spirit of God. And everybody who is in Christ Jesus, he has given his

Holy Spirit to. Who is working in us or working out of us, maybe I should put it that way, working out of us the corruptible and working into us the incorruptible, that we may put off the deadness and be alive in Christ.

Behold, Paul says, verse 51, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

Now what Paul is talking about here is the return of Christ. And when he says we will not all sleep, he's saying some of us won't die.

We won't have to die because when Christ returns, remember as he says in 1

Thessalonians 4, we who are left will be caught up with him in the air. The dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are left will be caught up with them in the air and so we will always be with the

Lord. So we will not all sleep. He's made a reference to those sleeping previously here in 1

Corinthians 15. Those who have fallen asleep, those who have died before us, but eventually their bodies will be raised.

Now some of us won't sleep. We will just be raised up and join with Christ and we'll be in his kingdom forever.

But we will all be changed, right? So notice that part of verse 51, I tell you a mystery.

Now how this is all going to work and what it's all going to look like is mysterious.

That's why there are so many differing views of the end times because we don't see the end picture quite clearly.

We have different opinions about how this is going to take place. You're going to have your end times view and I have mine.

Let us not divide over this brothers and sisters, but let it be an iron sharpening iron sort of a thing that we can build one another up in our understanding of scripture and our longing for that day, right?

So it's mysterious. Paul says, I tell you a mystery. Barely the half of it has been told.

We've probably not even gotten 1 % of the picture of what the end is going to look like, but we've been told enough to make us long for it.

Amen. To know the promises for us and to desire that day when we will be with Christ forever.

I tell you a mystery, he says, we will not all sleep. Some of us won't die.

We'll just be caught up with the Lord in the air. But Paul says, we will all be changed.

Everybody will be changed now. Now this kind of answers a question that I've heard some ask with regards to Enoch and Elijah.

There's only two people in the Bible who did not die. They just got to go be with the Lord in the air.

And that was Enoch in Genesis and Elijah in second Kings.

Now, how is it that they got to go into heaven if the corruptible cannot inherit the kingdom of God?

We must become incorruptible. They didn't die. So they didn't get to be changed. Now, actually, this verse says that they were.

So even though they were lifted up out of our sights, well, Enoch, it doesn't say there was anybody who witnessed it, although we have to assume that there were

Elijah was with Elisha and there were 50 other prophets with them. So there were, you know, dozens that saw

Elijah lifted up and taken out of their sight, Enoch and Elijah were changed. So when we see them in heaven, they're going to have glorified bodies, just like we're going to have a glorified body.

Elijah appeared with Christ at the Mount of Transfiguration before the disciples eyes. Remember that Jesus was transfigured before them,

Moses and Elijah appear there next to him. Elijah's changed. He's different. So as Paul says here,

I tell you a mystery. We won't all sleep. Enoch and Elijah didn't sleep, but we will all be changed just as those men were changed and just as Christ was raised immortal, so will we.

And Paul says, how will this happen? When will this happen? This verse 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, it's going to happen so fast.

Like we have our pictures and our, you know, imaginations of what the return of Christ is going to look like.

And you can find some interesting videos. There's one cartoon I can think of, in fact, where it shows like Jesus returns and angels are grabbing people and they're kind of snatching them into the air.

You can still find this cartoon on YouTube. It's actually not going to happen like that. It's going to happen in a moment.

It's going to be in the twinkling of an eye. The Bible actually tells us there's not going to be this chain of events that's going to suddenly occur.

It's just boom. We're gone. We're done. We're with Christ. It's the end in a moment, the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

Now I do believe we will certainly hear that trumpet. The whole world will hear that trumpet, but it will be the instant transformation of living in the physical to suddenly we're seeing what's happening in the spiritual realm.

It's like the veil that separates the physical and the spiritual will be lifted. And that's how we'll hear that trumpet.

Those trumpets are already blowing, but the last one hasn't sounded yet. And then we'll hear that.

And we will all be forever with the Lord at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

And we will live forever with God in his perfect and incorruptible kingdom.

Let's stop there. I really want to keep going, but we'll finish this out tomorrow. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your goodness and your grace.

Judgment is what we deserve. Heaven is what we've been given because of your immeasurable kindness to us through our savior

Jesus Christ. I pray that our desire in our hearts would be for Christ so much that we're praying with John right now,

Lord Jesus come quickly. Those same words John prays there at the end of the book of Revelation.

We desire for Christ to come. We want to put off this world. We want to be in heaven finally with our savior and God work in us more and more every day that we should be like our savior

Christ. So we are ready when that day comes to put on the incorruptible.

Forgive us our sins and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.