The Resurrection of the Dead | 1 Corinthians 15:20-26

Well, good morning. Good morning. There it is. I just want to tell you so much that I sure missed y 'all over the past couple days.

We were at Atlanta at the G3 conference, and it was awesome, but it wasn't 12 -5. So I just want you to know that I love y 'all so much, and I was really looking forward to get back and just be with my church family.

If you would, please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1

Corinthians 15, a lot of times people refer to this as the great resurrection chapter.

It's a wonderful chapter, and Paul declares these wonderful words, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

Paul declares this. He says, it is fact. And so how can he do this? How can he declare something to be fact of this magnitude that the resurrection of Jesus is so undeniably true?

The secular world looks at Paul and says, how can you say that? Aren't the things that are true and facts, those are the things that are so obvious to those who have common sense.

Those things that are facts are those things that are tangible, testable, repeatable. It's the majority of what the world declares to be true that we can agree upon.

So Paul, how can you say it is fact that Jesus resurrected from the dead?

Well, let's get one thing for certain here. Man does not declare what the truth is.

Man does not declare what facts are, but God is the God of truth, and he is the one that reveals the facts, the truth to us.

And we as man, we understand and discover the facts, the truth, in light of God and his word.

And so I want to stress that this morning, that the truth of the resurrection of Jesus was a certain event to happen in time because the word of God declared it to be so.

And so that is how the Apostle Paul can say, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

God's word in the Old Testament said it would happen, and the fulfillment in the New Testament said it indeed did happen.

And so with that being said, please look with me at our main passage in 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 20.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, we praise you for your word and your truth and your holiness.

God, it is your truth. God, it is your word that sanctifies us. God, we're reminded of the words of Jesus, where he prays that his disciples would be sanctified by the truth.

Your word is truth. Lord, I pray that we would be able to share with the Apostle Paul and declare what facts are, that the fact is that Jesus, you are a risen king.

God, please speak to our hearts through your word this morning by the Spirit. We love you, Jesus, and we pray this in your name, amen.

So back in verse 20, Paul says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

So this morning, we're gonna be talking a lot about not only Jesus's resurrection, but we're also gonna be focusing in on the resurrection of the dead.

Since Jesus resurrected from the dead, there's an inherent promise attached with that to all saints of all time, meaning that we merely fall asleep because we await to rise again at a new day to be with our

Lord Jesus face to face. And so this is really the context that Paul is laying out.

So once again, he establishes the fact of the matter, that Jesus's resurrection, his suffering, his death, his resurrection, these things were not done in a corner.

These were well -known things that were going about in the early first century. And so the context, though, this is written to the believers at Corinth.

Paul reminds them that they were not the only ones that knew about this, but earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, there was more than 500 eyewitnesses of Jesus's resurrection.

And more than 500 eyewitnesses would make even the greatest skeptics begin to sweat because they know the truth of what other people are attesting to with their lives, what they saw, what they experienced.

But I want us to be reminded that these wonderful testimonies did not establish the truth of the resurrection.

And so if you look earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that Jesus was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture.

And so here Paul is talking about the Hebrew scriptures. He is talking about those texts that tell us that the long -awaited prophesied

Messiah would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. If you show a passage out of Isaiah 53 to people today, they think, oh, that's talking about Jesus, because this is well -known.

Jesus fulfilled these wonderful prophecies. And so when Paul says that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, he's talking about those passages that said that this

Messiah would be cut off, that he would be put to death out of the land of the living, and then miraculously he would see his offspring with prolonged days.

Well, I thought the suffering servant was dead. He is, but now he's miraculously alive. That means that he was resurrected.

In the Old Testament scripture, we see that the prophetic life of Jonah was picturing the long -awaited

Son of Man to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This was the

Holy One of God to be delivered from the corruption of death. Why did Jesus' resurrection happen?

It was a guarantee because the Word of God said it would. Okay, and so that's why

Paul is saying, yes, we have all these wonderful and more than 500 eyewitnesses, but they do not establish the truth of the matter.

God does that. And so God's truth tells us what to expect. And so Paul is going back to the basics of Christianity here because many of the

Corinthians were beginning to doubt that resurrection was possible.

Okay, now this is wild because they received the truth about Jesus' resurrection, but they were beginning to doubt the possibility that believers would one day rise again.

And so it's interesting studying the church of Corinth because this was a thriving city in southern

Greece that was being heavily influenced by pagan philosophy. Now, just 50 miles away from Corinth was

Athens, Greece. And so when we look in Paul's second missionary journey in Acts 17, we see that he went to the

Areopagus. This was the place within Athens, Greece, where many of the rulers would come and host trials, debates, and discuss serious matters at the

Areopagus. Or if you have a good old King James Bible, it says Mars Hill. And so this was a very important place where Paul went to proclaim the gospel.

And he talked about the resurrection of the dead, the faith, the only way we can have our sins forgiven and what that looked like.

And so he spoke to the most famous pagan philosophy of that time.

And so in Acts 17, we read that it's heavily dominated by Epicurean and Stoic philosophy.

These are worldly philosophies that hate Christianity. And so this is important to note because Epicurean philosophy fundamentally denied the resurrection of the dead.

And so this all stems from Epicurus, which this gentleman taught that the highest state a person could reach was absolute peace, complete absence from mental and emotional and physical need.

And so he taught that since the gods, lowercase g, right, those that don't exist, but he taught that the gods, since they didn't worry about the affairs of humanity, then we shouldn't either.

The gods were not worried about judgment, so we shouldn't fear. We can do anything we want because there's going to be no judgment, and there's especially going to be no judgment in the life to come after death, okay?

So Epicurean philosophy taught no judgment, no afterlife, and no resurrection of the dead.

And so Epicurean philosophy was famous for saying, well, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

And so when Paul went to the Areopagus and he preached the amazing gospel of grace, you can imagine that these hearers, their consciences were pricked because Paul is telling there is a day of judgment, right?

And even the world we live in now, we experience the judgment of God. They were being pricked to the heart.

Paul said that God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

And of this, he has given us all assurance by raising him from the dead.

And then the text goes on to say, now when many heard this about the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, right, the

Epicureans especially mocked. But others said, Paul, we will hear you about this again.

And so as we go back to 1 Corinthians 15, I want us to have this in mind. The beliefs at Corinth are being heavily dominated and influenced by this

Stoic and Epicurean philosophy. They are doubting that the resurrection of the dead was possible.

So look with me at verse 12 in 1 Corinthians 15 here. Paul says, now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

So you see Paul's emphatic speech here. He's saying, look, you've already received Jesus in faith and he resurrected.

He's the resurrected Lord. He not only proved that resurrection was possible, he proves that it is a reality.

Think about it. If we're so connected with Christ, since he died, we died to the old self. And since he raised, we are raised to be with him.

And so he reverses the curse, right? We're going to get into talking about Adam, right, in the garden.

He plunged all of his posterity, all of humanity into sin and death. And so Jesus reverses that.

He gives us new life. And so we have to understand that it's a package deal. If Jesus resurrected, this is showing us that we too will be resurrected like him.

So look at verse 32 in 1 Corinthians 15, because there Paul says, if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

Paul is saying that if Christ was not raised from the dead, Epicurus was right. If the resurrection of the dead is no more than a fairytale, then why not live our best life now?

Because that's all we have to look forward to. Paul is saying that if Jesus didn't resurrect from the dead, then there's definitely no resurrection of the dead for Christians or anybody else.

And Christianity is a sham. And we are the most pitied. We are the most foolish people because we are living a lie.

However, if Jesus did resurrect from the dead, which he did, by the way, if he resurrected from the dead, then this changes absolutely everything.

You don't get the benefit of saying, well, maybe resurrections happen from time to time, and that's just a crazy thing.

No, if Jesus resurrected from the dead, the word of God told us that it was going to happen.

Amen. Jesus resurrected from the dead, proving that he is Lord over all.

He is the only one that can forgive sin. So no one gets the benefit of saying, well, maybe if Jesus did resurrect from the dead, that that's important for Christians.

No, Jesus is Lord over all, and you must submit to him in faith. Okay, so that's kind of the framework that Paul is painting here.

Look back with me at verse 20. Paul says, but in fact, Christ has been, in the perfect continual sense, raised from the dead.

Christ has been raised from the dead, meaning that he remains to this day our risen savior and continues to display his lordship, conquering death.

And we read that he is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Now, Paul is being very intentional with using these

Hebrew terms like first fruits. So when you study the Old Testament, the Israelites, their first harvest crop were brought to the priest to honor

God and to serve as a representation for the harvest to come. So their first fruits pictured of the crop that was going to come after it.

And so then Paul uses another important term when he says that these Christians longing to be with Jesus, they have merely fallen asleep.

And I think this can be a little confusing because we might say, does it mean they're taking a siesta?

They're taking a light nap. Now, that's a little funny because that's exactly the same problem that the disciples had with Jesus.

You remember, he said, Lazarus has fallen asleep. And they go, oh, let's go wake him. He's just taking a rest.

And he was like, no, no, you don't understand. He stinketh much. He's going to be dead for four days. That's in the King James, by the way.

He stinketh much. But they were confused. They didn't understand the terminology that saints merely fall asleep.

Now, we're not talking about a soul sleep where you're just merely unconscious. No, Paul later says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the

Lord. But for Christians, when we die, this is not a bad thing. This ushers us into the presence of Jesus.

So for us, unbelievers don't get this benefit. They don't fall asleep. We'll get more into this.

But for us, we merely fall asleep waiting for that new dawning day to be with our Savior.

And so he's combining these two phrases, the first fruits and those who have fallen asleep, because Jesus's resurrection is a representation and picture of the kind of resurrection that saints who have fallen asleep will receive in the future.

And so I don't want us to lose the context of representation and headship here. Look with me at verses 21 and 22.

Now, this is referred to as a double parallelism that compares the kind of ramifications that Adam and Christ have on all of humanity.

So the first two phrases go together. For as by a man came death, for as in Adam all die.

Okay, so I want us to think about this. The sin and disobedience of Adam introduced death into all of his posterity, all of humanity.

And we have to understand what kind of death that Paul is talking about here. Death is so important for the context.

And so when I was looking into the word death, this is the Greek word thanatos. This is the termination of physical life.

This is the natural usage of death as we know it. We're going to see that it's really returning back to dust.

And so the entire flow of Paul's argument from the previous verse is one of physical death. But in fact,

Christ has been raised from the dead. Jesus physically died, and then he resurrected bodily and physically.

And then we read that phrase fallen asleep. This is a reference to physically dead saints.

And so what kind of death is Paul talking about here? Physical death, the termination of physical life.

And that death is a consequence of Adam's sin. And so you don't have to turn there. But in Genesis chapter 2, we read, the

Lord God formed the man, literally in Hebrew, Adam, from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

And the man became a living creature. This is really important.

I was talking about the origins of man in creation. And so this living creature, Adam, was made in God's image and was physically made from the dust of the ground.

And we later read, And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

Don't miss this. For in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.

Adam and Eve transgressed God's command. Scripture tells us that the one man's disobedience led condemnation for all men.

And so Genesis chapter 3, the fall of man. God says to Adam, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and you have eaten of the tree of which

I commanded you, you shall not eat of it by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.

For out of it you were taken, for you are dust. And this is death. To dust you shall return.

Adam's sin led to physical death, returning back to the dust of the earth. A prayer in Psalm of Moses in Psalm chapter 90 says this,

You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of Adam. The years of our life are seventy, or even by some reason of strength eighty, for their lifespan is but toil and trouble, for they are soon gone and we fly away.

Okay. And so I'm wanting us to understand how Paul is utilizing the term death in 1

Corinthians 15. In fact, he plays on this imagery of returning to the dust in 1

Corinthians 15, 48. He says, As was the man of dust, Adam, so also are those who are of the dust.

And as for the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And so even in the midst of Adam's sin in Genesis 3, we get the first gospel promise of the man of heaven, right?

Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Genesis 3, 15. The woman's offspring, the Savior, he will crush the serpent's head.

And since Adam's sin brought physical death, this means that Adam should have died that day.

But Keith, our two favorite words in all scripture, but God, right? But God is merciful.

He is gracious. He is loving. We see this picture of God's character in the garden. But God was merciful to Adam and Eve and provided a substitute of animal skins to cover their shame.

And so this shows us a substitutionary physical death of innocent animals.

And guess what? That perfectly pictures Jesus Christ. He covers our sin when we put our faith in him.

He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world and removes the sin as far as the east is from the west.

And so we get a glimpse of the gospel in Genesis chapter 3.

But I want you to hang on to is Adam should have died physically that day, but God made a substitutionary sacrifice.

And so when we go back to 1 Corinthians 15, remember this double parallelism? For as by a man came death, for as in Adam all die, that's being contrasted with the better Adam.

By a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. So also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Now this last phrase that we looked at, all be made alive, has been taken out of context to say, see, all are in Christ, meaning all are saved.

That is the heresy of universalism. Scripture is very clear that there is a hell and people are going there.

And so what you have to do is pay attention to context. All heresies abuse context.

They take verses out of its context and basically make it say whatever they want it to. The alls here are similar but not equal.

So remember the context is about representation and headship. You are either in Adam or you are either in Christ.

This means that all humans are in Adam by nature and we share in physical death.

And all who are in Christ by faith alone shall one day be made alive. Yes, we are made alive spiritually here and now, right?

This is eternal life that you know the one true God, but we await that day where we see

Jesus face to face. And so I want you to see the parallelism that's going on here.

And so by this man, the God -man, Jesus Christ, has also come the resurrection of the dead.

And so here in the context, the resurrection of the dead is only referring to dead saints, okay?

But this presupposes a general resurrection for those who are outside of Christ. And so we will look more into that.

But once again, I just want to highlight that it's talking about saints. This is the reality that Job longed for in his suffering.

He said, for I know my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh

I shall see God, okay? So all saints have been looking forward to the resurrection.

One day where they get to be with God with new resurrected bodies. But this also, like I said, says that there's a general resurrection for those who are not saints.

Daniel 12 verse two says, and many of those who sleep, we've talked about sleep here, they're dead.

And the dust of the earth shall wake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Jesus echoes these words in John chapter five, where he says those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

And so for all saints trusting in the Savior, we in a sense have only fallen asleep, amen, right?

We have fallen asleep waiting for that new day. But those who are in Adam, they all die present tense, meaning ongoing death.

Not falling asleep with the expectation of resurrected life but ongoing alienation from God resulting in everlasting judgment.

That's hard to hear, right? Sometimes we get told, well, I don't want that hellfire preaching stuff.

It's like, you got to understand the bad news before you can understand the good news. But that good news is not just a get out of hell free card.

We get to enjoy sweet fellowship with our Savior and his body, amen?

I love G3, but it wasn't 12 .5. I was, me and Nathan were ready to get back home, weren't we?

So let's get back into it. So look with me at verse 23 in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul says, but each in his own order,

Christ the firstfruits, he mentions that term again, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

And so that first phrase I want to put our focus on, each in his own order. This more than likely is a military term.

But each in his own order or rank. This follows the theme of representation.

All of those who are following after Jesus, Christ is captain. And so when he resurrected from the dead, he is first.

Each in his own order. Jesus proved that not only resurrection was possible, but it's a reality.

Each in his own order. Jesus' resurrection was first and all who belong to him, all the saints, we will resurrect next.

And we're getting to when that's going to take place in the future. And so when he says the firstfruits again,

Christ the firstfruits, Paul is repeating this term. Yes, we understand that firstfruits refer to the crop that represents the rest of what is to follow.

But hear me, the firstfruits are the first of its kind. Okay, and so the context with the

Corinthian believers, they're being influenced by Epicurean philosophy. They're doubting that the resurrection of the dead was possible.

And so Jesus' being the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead means that this is what we as believers have to look forward to also.

That we will experience a glorious bodily resurrection like his. And so if you look down at verse 35, this is the exact question in discussion.

Paul says, but some will say, how? How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?

And you may say, Jeremiah, that's a fair question. We wanna know more information about this. And I think that's great. Y 'all should come join the youth

Bible studies. We have a lot of how, who, what, and why questions. And I'm like, look, I don't know. But we're gonna figure this out together.

But I love genuine questions, right? Especially in Bible study. Wesley calls me all the time and we get into it.

But this is not a sincere question. The Corinthian believers, they're asking in a mocking tone.

They're saying, how are the dead even going to be raised? How do I know that? Look at the next phrase that Paul says, you foolish person.

You know how R .C. Sproul would translate that verse. What's wrong with you people, right? Because Christians, we understand the most basic truth of Christianity.

Jesus is not a dead Lord. Like all the other religions of the world, he is risen.

So Paul is mad here. He's saying, you're foolish. This is crazy talk. Obviously, your minds have been plagued with the philosophies of the world.

Paul goes into giving an analogy that a seed must first die, go into the ground, and then it would spring up out of the ground, totally transformed.

And so believers in this present age, we are like Adam with a natural sin -cursed body and we must physically die.

But at the resurrection, we will be raised bodily in glory like Christ.

And so verse 23, Paul says again. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

So this is very important. Paul says at his coming. This is referring to the second coming of Jesus Christ when he returns to restore all things at the end of history.

And so looking into the word here in the Greek for coming is parousia. This means the presence of an individual's arrival or return.

And so the whole context, Paul is saying that this parousia is referring to the return of King Jesus.

He is the Messiah who is first in rank, who leads the way to represent all of his people.

This is the messianic advent of glory to judge the world in righteousness at the end of the age.

The apostle Paul's eschatology, the study of end times, future things. He talks more about the parousia.

This comes from the Hebrew scriptures that prophesied about the coming of the Son of Man.

I don't know if you're familiar with that term. That comes all the way back in the book of Daniel. So Paul is just extrapolating more on the concept, the eschatology of the coming of the

Son of Man. And the Old Testament talks about the great and awesome day of the

Lord. Jesus is saying this is all going to be one singular event. Jesus, in fact, was asked about this in Matthew 24 in the

Olivet Discourse. The question posed to him was, what will be the sign of your coming, parousia, and of the end of the age?

Jesus' answer is so wonderful. Concerning that day, no one knows the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the

Son, but the Father only. For in those days are like Noah, because that will be like the coming of the

Son of Man. For as in those days, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, until the day when

Noah entered the ark, and when they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so also will be the coming of the

Son of Man. And so in 1 Corinthians 15 here, and even in the whole book,

Paul is laying out his eschatology, his understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.

So he mentions the parousia, the second coming of Jesus, the resurrection of dead Christians, the resurrection of the dead, will all be at the end of the age, the last day, the end of history.

And so look with me at our passage again. But each in his own order. Christ, the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ, verse 24, then comes the end.

The end of what, Paul? What are you talking about? Well, I do this study, so you don't have to,

I'm kidding. But just a few chapters earlier in 1 Corinthians 10, he uses that phrase, the end, again.

And he's referring to the Hebrew Scriptures that have been preserved for our learning. And then he says this, on whom the end of the ages, plural, has come.

And so all throughout the New Testament, Paul talks about two ages, this age and the age to come.

So we see these two ages. And so this age is what mankind has been living in ever since Adam brought death into the world.

This present age is plagued with evil and worldly philosophy that detracts people from the knowledge of God.

In fact, this has been one of the main points that Paul has been warning believers at Corinth about. All the way in chapter one, he warns of the corruption of Second Temple Judaism that have abandoned the wisdom of God and they demand signs.

He also says, beware of Greek philosophy, no doubt Epicurean philosophy, who sought after their own wisdom apart from the

Creator. 1 Corinthians 2, Paul says, And what he's saying is, yes, all the worldly philosophy, the teachers of this age, they are doomed to pass away.

This is only temporal. But in 1 Corinthians 7, he says, not only the false teachers are going to pass away.

He says, the present form of this world will also pass away.

We feel the effects of that every day. Our bodies breaking down. All these things are passing away and are temporal.

And so when Paul says, upon whom the end of the ages, plural, has come, he's talking about Christ's first coming marked the beginning of the ages.

And so this is kind of technical stuff, but you had this age, this temporal age that was interrupted at Jesus's first coming.

The eternal kingdom was inaugurated at Jesus's first coming. This is easy to understand because Christ is king and he has a kingdom, amen.

And so we're living in a time that overlaps in this age and the age to come. This is the already, but not yet.

And so we await at the end of this history, this temporal age will be met with the consummation,

Jesus's second return at the end of our temporal history. And so a lot of times we refer to this as our blessed hope.

That's something that we along and wait for. And that will be the time when Jesus restores all things, delivering the kingdom to the father.

So look back with me at 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Paul says, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

And so at the end of this passing age, Christ will deliver up the kingdom, a complete restoration of all things as they were originally designed and created by God to be.

This has been the whole purpose of all of history. Ever thought about that word, history, his story.

All of history is Christ's story of redemption. Christ turns over this restored world to God the father who sent him to recover it.

That's what all of history is about. And a part of delivering up the kingdom to God the father involves judgment.

After destroying, literally putting an end to every rule and authority and power, this is the apocalypse, right?

This is actually a biblical term. You may think about Nazi zombies and the apocalypse and all this crazy stuff.

This is actually a biblical concept. When Christ returns to judge the world in righteousness, the

Greek word is apocalypses. This judgment will be upon all of those who oppose

Christ as king. All the rulers of this passing age, the Greek philosophers, second temple

Judaism that rejected their Mashiach, the governing authorities of Rome, the

God of this age, the arch ruler who hates God, Satan, will be thrown into the lake of fire.

That's what all history is working towards. In verse 25, love this so much.

For he, Christ, must reign until he has put all the enemies, all his enemies under his feet.

This has been said, this is the New Testament's favorite Old Testament verse because it's quoted so many times.

Paul is clearly referencing Psalm 110 verse one. I want you to hear this in its full context.

The Lord, Yahweh, says to my Lord, Adonai, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

And so the way that Paul is applying this in eschatological terms is this. Adonai, our risen

Lord who ascended on high and is seated at the right hand of the Father is reigning right now.

He is a conquering king, ruling and reigning until one day all enemies of God will be judged.

What a glorious gospel of redemption. Who accomplishes all these things by his mighty hand,

King Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. And then there will be people that say, yeah, but Jeremiah, how do you know that the

Parisia, his second coming is in our future? You may say, do you talk to people like that?

Maybe that's the apologetic dog interacting with just all different kinds of people.

They'll even say, how do you know the end that Paul talks about here is referring to the end of history?

Well, the context Paul has been developing is so painfully obvious that this present age is perishing.

That means it's temporal. Therefore, it has an end. And there's no debating that the end is going to take place in our future because of verse 26.

Look with me. Paul says the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Now, what kind of death have we been talking about this whole time? Man, Paul does not let us just say, well, it's merely spiritual death or we don't feel something.

No, he's been talking about physical death. Jesus is the paradigm. Jesus is the example.

And he physically died. And Adam introduced physical death as a consequence for sin.

So I don't like getting into these conversations because they abuse scripture. These people that say, well, all these things have actually taken place in our past.

No, no, no. Not going to let you do that to our blessed hope, right? Because the end is the end of our perishing history when

Jesus will defeat all death, every ruler, every authority that opposes

Christ. Jesus spoke about this also in the Olivet Discourse. He told us that there's going to be wars, persecution, tribulation, trials.

These things will continue to take place. And that's just the beginning. But on the last day, the end of the age will be the coming of the son of man, an hour that no one will expect.

And he will separate the evil and the righteous. Oh, but man, some people will say, but Jeremiah, you're being a little harsh because we're just having a minor disagreement on the timing of Jesus's second coming.

And I'm like, hold up. You're already trying to take away our blessed hope. So is the timing of the resurrection of the dead, really that important?

Well, the apostle Paul made a very strong case that those who believe and teach that the resurrection of the dead already happened when it has not, they have departed from the truth and they are therefore outside the body of Christ.

So where would I be referring to to make that case? I think 1 Corinthians 15 already is painfully clear, but Paul warns

Timothy. Paul warns Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. He warns him of false teachers.

And so if you want to jot this down, 2 Timothy 2, starting in verse 16, Paul says to Timothy, but avoid irreverent babble, pagan philosophy, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness and their talk, their teaching will spread like gangrene, a poisonous cancer.

Among them are these false teachers, Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved or gone astray from the truth, saying this, don't, please hear me, please don't miss this, saying that the resurrection has already happened.

And then what happens? They are upsetting the faith of some. Why is it such a big deal? Because we are so united together with Christ by faith when he resurrected, that was a promise to us.

And so when you attack the resurrection of the saints saying that we're not going to resurrect in the future, that is destroying the gospel itself.

So the reality is, is that when Jesus returns at the end, he will resurrect all who belong to him and vanquish the presence of death once and for all.

If you look down in 1 Corinthians 15 at verse 52, Paul declares, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will all be changed.

He goes on to say, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?

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

Lord Jesus Christ. Such a wonderful exposition by the apostle

Paul that gives us hope to look forward to these things. So we have to ask the question, how then shall we live?

How then should we live our days out in light of knowing that it is fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead, that he will resurrect all who belong to him when he returns at the end of history.

As we begin to close, I actually want you to turn with me, don't be mad, to 1 Corinthians chapter one.

Paul starts the whole letter off telling us the expectation of the great parrhesia at the end, the last day, how then shall we live?

So look with me, 1 Corinthians chapter one, starting in verse four. Paul says, I give thanks.

Okay, he gives thanks. He has a heart of thankfulness. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you so that you were not lacking in any gift.

Please make special note of this. As you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Why? God is faithful. By whom you were called into the fellowship of his son,

Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. So how then shall we live? Just kind of three points to hang your hat on.

Number one, Paul says we live with thanksgiving. Verse four, I give thanks to my

God always because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. This means day by day, right?

We rest in the grace of God who pours out his love over and over to us when we don't deserve it, right?

We are reminded that he's called us into the fellowship of his son and he is the one sustaining us by his spirit while we live in this broken and fallen world.

And he promises to do this to the very last day, bringing us home to glory. So number one, we live with thanksgiving, a heart of thankfulness.

And number two, we live by waiting. And you may say, okay, I can just go wait over there and just do my own thing.

No, no, that's not how a Christian waits. We wait with eager anticipation. Verse seven,

Paul says, as for you, wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That Greek word for wait means to expect eagerly or patiently wait for.

Why, Paul? Why are we waiting with this eager anticipation? He says for the revealing, the apocalypses, the great unveiling of Jesus Christ return in that glorious day to judge the world in righteousness.

How we view eschatology affects how we live day by day.

And if we're resting in the promises that he will return and he will resurrect us, that should give us great joy, right?

That should allow us to live with a heart of thankfulness. That means that we can wait with eager anticipation.

And number three, lastly, we live boldly, trusting in the promises of God.

Verse eight here, Paul says that he will sustain you to the end. We already talked about that.

It's the end of history, right? Guiltless in the day, the last day of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And that last day will be a great and awesome final day.

And I believe that changes everything for us. No matter what happens, Christ will secure us through all circumstances to the end, the final day, because he cannot fail, amen?

He is a perfect Savior. All that the Father has given him will come to him.

Jesus is a perfect Savior. His atoning sacrifice was not potentially for no one in particular.

All that the Father gives to him, if you love Jesus, not with the perfect love, not with the perfect faith.

Jesus says, oh, you of little faith. That was a gracious gift by the

Holy Spirit. Nothing that could be manufactured by man, right? So when you do look internal, when you see all the sin, but there's a little love in the biblical, sovereign

Jesus, you know that he will preserve you to the very end. This changes everything.

This allows us to live boldly as beloved brothers, to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that in the Lord, our labor is never in vain. We live boldly.

We live with great joy, awaiting our blessed hope at the appearing of the glory of our great

God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, let's pray. Oh, Father, these are so wonderful truths,

God, that I pray that we wouldn't just goss over, God, that we would just meditate, allowing your truth to just penetrate to our inner being.

And God, we would not live passively. God, it kills me. I fall short of the standard so much.

God, I waste my time doing things that don't matter. I'm so focused on wealth and all these other things.

And God, you provide perfectly. God, you tell us to seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness, and you will provide perfectly.

God, please help us to live out our days with eager anticipation and loving fellowship with the saints as we long for your return.