WWUTT 1636 We Will Bear the Image of the Heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:46-49)

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We are all born resembling the likeness of Adam. We must be born again resembling the likeness of Christ, which means we do not walk in sin, but we walk in His righteousness when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast, that we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

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Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. God willing, we are finishing up our study of 1 Corinthians 15 this week.

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I'm going to pick up where we left off, so reading verse 45, that was the last verse we looked at last week, and we'll read through verse 58, out of the

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

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

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

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The first man is from the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven.

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As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy. And as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

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And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

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

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

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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 be changed.

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

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But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written,

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Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory?

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O Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

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

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Lord. Amen. Praise be to God. So, in verse 45, once again, the first man,

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Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life -giving spirit.

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The first Adam is, of course, the Adam we read about in Genesis. The last Adam is

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Christ. So the first Adam, now this is an Old Testament reference here, and you'll have that noted in Scripture.

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The first man, Adam, became a living soul. That's out of Genesis 2 -7. Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

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And so the man became a living being. Now that's translated directly from the

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Hebrew, that we understand the man becoming a living being. What Paul is citing here is translated from Greek, or the

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Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is called the Septuagint. So it comes out slightly different, but still the same passage.

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So the first man, Adam, became a living soul is what Paul cites, which would have been out of the

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Greek Old Testament. Living being, living soul. This is still in reference to Adam having been given life by God.

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And the point that Paul is making here is that all who are alive in their own bodies also are alive in their souls.

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So we have a physical body, we have a spiritual soul. So this was referenced even back to Adam.

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God made his body, made him from the dust of the ground, and then breathed into his nostrils, and then he had life.

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So just the fact that he was made a body did not give life to the man. The man, or even the woman, does not have life without the soul.

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Now just think of this from a natural perspective, because again,

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Paul has been making an argument here from general revelation, remember that? So he's been pointing out how from nature we can even see evidence of the resurrection of the dead.

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We have the metaphor of the seed earlier, that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

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That was back in verse 37. So a seed goes into the ground, but it comes up something else. And so it is with the resurrection of the dead.

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The body that is perishable goes into the ground, but it is raised imperishable.

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So just as we see this, even in nature there's evidence of this, so we can understand this with the human body as well.

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Our physical bodies will go into the ground, they're corruptible, and they will even become of the ground.

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They'll become like the dust of the ground from which man was formed. But the soul goes on and lives forever.

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And God will even make the body that has gone into the ground into something else. It will be raised up imperishable.

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And this is for every single person. Everyone who has a body also has a soul. And the body does not have life unless it has a soul.

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So as I said, think of this in natural terms. Again, come back to general revelation.

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We can even understand this concept from nature. There is no physical difference, no physical difference whatsoever between a body that is in a coma and a body that has just been declared dead, and there's no chance of reviving that body.

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Okay, so I'm using two bodies that are as close in their physical state as they could be, not referring to somebody who's alive and walking around and awake and conscious.

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We're talking about a body that is on a bed in the hospital. The person is unconscious.

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They are in a coma. And compare that person with a body that has just died, been declared dead.

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It's now going to be put on a cart and wheeled down to the morgue. Physically, there are no differences between those two bodies.

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But you have a hope of bringing the person in a coma back awake again.

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And the person that has been declared dead will never, ever, ever be revived.

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They are dead. Even though the physical properties of those two bodies are exactly the same.

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Even the body that has just recently died still has the same physical properties as a body that's still considered alive, but you cannot bring it back to life again.

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No matter what you do to stimulate those cells, you cannot bring the body back to consciousness.

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Why not? What's the difference between those two bodies? The body that is in a coma, that is unconscious, still has the soul.

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But the body that has died no longer has the soul, nor will it ever be given back.

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Because, again, as it says in Ecclesiastes, the body goes into the ground from which it was formed, and the soul goes back to the one who gave it, who is

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God. God has given the soul to every single person who's alive. So we have this statement here of the first man,

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Adam, becoming a living soul, and the last, Adam, became a life -giving spirit. This is true of every single person.

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Every person who has ever lived has been given a soul. That soul does not come into the person through natural reproduction.

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God is the one who is given that soul. He gives the soul to the body. And everyone who has had a body has a soul.

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The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last, Adam, Christ, became a life -giving spirit.

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So Adam has a soul, but he does not give life. Christ comes back from the dead.

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He's got a new body, incorruptible, imperishable, immortal.

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And he is not only changed and made new, but has the power to give life as well.

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For as we've read earlier about Christ, that he is the firstfruits. This was back in verse 23.

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Each his own order. Well, let's look at verse 22. As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

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But each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, and after that, those who are

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Christ's at his coming. So we're keeping that argument in mind here, even as we come back to 45, because Paul has made reference already to Adam and Christ.

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Now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by a man came death, that's

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Adam, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive.

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Even though Adam became a living soul, it is through him death came into the world.

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And all who are born in Adam die. But all who are born again in Christ will be made alive.

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And the last Adam became a life -giving spirit. He himself has come back to life, and he gives life to those who believe in him.

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All of this, a part of Paul's apologetic that he is giving for the resurrection of the dead, that we may know with confidence that in Christ Jesus, though the body will die, the soul will be raised imperishable to live with him.

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And then even our bodies will come back from the dead by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

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Verse 46, however, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.

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The first man is from the earth, earthy, the second man is from heaven.

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So Adam is formed of the earth. Christ came down from heaven. So why does

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Adam not have the power to give life? Well, because he's not the life giver. He was given life.

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Jesus is the life giver. The one who came down from heaven and gave life is the one who comes down from heaven and takes on human flesh.

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So he who came from heaven in the flesh dies and rises again has the power to give life.

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But he who was made of the earth and goes back into the earth does not have the power to give life.

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So everybody who was born in Adam has a body and has a soul, but Adam cannot give to the

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Adam cannot give life to the one who was born in his name. Christ gives life to the one who is born again in his name.

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The spiritual is not first, but the natural and then the spiritual. We're all born first and then we're born again and life is given to us by Christ.

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The first man is from the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven. Now that's not a common word that we use.

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You might expect that to be earthly, right? Different adverb there. Where's the L? The first man is from the earth, earthy.

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The second man is from heaven. Well, earthy means of the dirt. If you read this in the

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English Standard Version, it's a man of dust. So it would say the first man is from the earth, a man of dust.

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The second man is from heaven, but the word would literally be translated earthy, not earthly, because that would be more of the world, not necessarily of the ground.

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So earthy is being made of dirt, made of soil. The second man is from heaven.

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He's not made from the ground because he came from heaven. Now this is important.

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It's important for the Corinthians to understand this because they have been taught a doctrine of Christ's human nature.

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So they know that Jesus is not just some kind of being that existed in the form of a human but was actually a spirit.

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No, they know that he had a human nature. Not a nature of Adam, though. He did not inherit

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Adam's nature because he was virgin born. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Adam was not his federal head, so he does not inherit the sin nature of Adam, but he does have a human nature.

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He is very God and he is very man. Not being conceived in sin, he was perfect, spotless, holy, even from his very conception.

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And only in that way is he not like us, that he is the God man. He is not like any other man.

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But as it says in Hebrews, he was tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin.

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So he is able to sympathize with us in all of our weaknesses. Jesus has two natures, a human nature and a divine nature.

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And it's because he is divine, that he is from heaven, that he is able to give us life.

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He was not from the ground. He is the man of heaven. Adam became a life -giving spirit.

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However, the spiritual is not first but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy.

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

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And as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. So Christ has his own glory.

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Remember that we had been reading about a specific glory given to one and a glory given to another.

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You have the heavenly bodies and you have the earthly bodies, the argument that Paul was making earlier. So just as we can observe this in nature, so we can know it even of Christ.

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There is something about Christ that is supernatural because he is God in human form, yet we can recognize even from what we observe in nature.

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There are heavenly bodies, that which is in space above, sun and moon and stars, and there are earthly bodies.

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And that which exists in the heavenly even differs from one another in glory. There's one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another of the stars, for star differs from star in glory, as we had in verse 41.

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So even in what we can observe in nature, we can perceive these things of Christ.

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We human beings are of the dust. Jesus Christ is the man from heaven. He took on a body, a human body, born in the likeness of sinful man, really in the flesh.

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He became flesh and dwelt among us, but he is still the one from heaven. Even in the gospel of John, which begins by saying that the word became flesh and dwelt among us, we have

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Jesus saying later on in John 6 that he is the bread who was sent down from heaven.

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So he has this earthly body, but he is God from heaven who took on flesh to dwell among us.

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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.

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So if we are in Adam, we are of the earth. We will go back to the earth. We will die.

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We will perish. But if we are in Christ, we are made a new creation.

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The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. And that's something Paul is going to share with the

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Corinthians in the next letter. In 2 Corinthians 5, all who are in Christ have been made a new creation.

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So we also now are from heaven. Colossians 3, we are seated above with Christ where Christ is.

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Ephesians 1, we are seated in the heavenly places with Christ. So we are now of the one who is heavenly.

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We are not going to perish with those who are of earth, but we will reign forever with the one who is from heaven.

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And just as we have born the image of the earthy, it says in verse 49, we are all born with the likeness of Adam, and we were born with his sin nature.

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We will also bear the image of the heavenly. And that has to be true for us even now.

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So the promise that Paul is giving to us here regarding the resurrection of the dead is that we who are in Christ will be raised from the dead.

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The argument is just continuing to climb as he continues this apologetic for the resurrection of the dead.

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We are going to be given a body that is like his. We will be made incorruptible just as he is.

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We will bear the likeness of Christ himself. As Paul said to the Philippians, in Philippians 1, 6,

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I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

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And that completion is our glorification. We are being sanctified.

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We are ultimately to receive this glorification when we are united with Christ forever in glory.

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And that's how this argument continues to climb as we go through 1 Corinthians 15.

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This is not just Paul saying there is a resurrection of the dead and Christ is the one who's been raised, but even presenting to us that we who are in Christ will receive the heavenly just as he is heavenly.

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And like I said a couple of minutes ago, this has to be the case for us now even, that we bear the image of Christ.

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So it's more than just believing that one day we will be risen again to join with him in glory.

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We must be living as new creations even now. As those who bear the image of Christ, we no longer live in the dead, dirty works of the man of dust.

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We are living in the good, heavenly works of the man of heaven. So in your life even now, you are showing the righteousness that you have been given in Christ Jesus, the man of righteousness himself, who clothes us in his righteousness, that before God we would not be standing in our dead, dirty deeds.

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We are standing in the good, righteous work of Christ. So then, how do we know how we are to live?

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We live according to his word. And we've been seeing this over the course of 1 Corinthians, Paul telling the

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Corinthians how they are to live as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ.

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Not looking like the world, but looking like citizens of the kingdom of God. Consider the fruit of the spirit that we have in Galatians 5.

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The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self -control.

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These are the kinds of things that we should be showing in our lives. For they are not of earth.

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They have been given to us by he who is from heaven. So understand that as we read that fruit of the spirit there, we must be exercising those things as God defines them, not as the world calls them.

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There are plenty of people who will say in the world that they have love, they have joy, peace, patience, kindness, and all those other kinds of things, but it doesn't look like God defines them.

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It looks like the world calls them. The world wants to be loving. The LGBTQ movement claims to be a love movement, but it is not.

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It's an abomination before God. And he will burn it up with fire on the day of judgment. We must be loving as God says to be loving.

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Jesus says to love one another as I have loved you. And if you love me, you will obey my commandments,

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John 14, 15. Obeying the commandments of God, the world is going to hate, and they're going to call you unloving for that.

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But to truly be loving, we must stand before the world and say, repent of your wicked works and turn to Jesus Christ.

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You will come into judgment when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.

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You will perish with the dust of the ground. That's whose likeness you have if you continue in the dirty sinful works that you are walking in.

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We must put these things away, put off the old man with its evil practices, it says in Colossians 3, 9, and 10, and put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the one who created him, being made in the image of Christ.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for these words. May they convict our hearts. Hearing the news about the

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Savior who died for us, who rose again from the dead, so that in him we also have the promise of the resurrection of the dead.

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When we hear this, it's not just something that informs us, but something that compels us to be as Christ, to live as the one who was risen from the dead, who died on our behalf.

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May we be image bearers of Christ, even as we live in this world. We follow the example of the one who made us, that we may be remade in his image and receive his kingdom on the day of glory.

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It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the

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Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.