Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20070916.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Corinthians: Discipling Believers With Very Sinful Backgrounds
VIII. Overcoming Secularisism's Denial Of The Bodily Resurrection
D. Prizing God's Plan For Our Resurrection In His Conquest Of All Evil
(1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Evil saturates our world, infecting every realm of our existence, producing a need today for an encouraging word from the Lord:

(1) This last Tuesday, as the media recalled the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, you could hear them replay that day's desperate calls of trapped people in the world trade center, or the cell phone calls from excited passengers on planes doomed to become bombs for targets on the ground. It recalled again the great depths of human spiritual blindness that can lead people to perform mind-boggling evils in the name of God!

(2) Yet, spiritual blindness and sin affects our own nation! I purchased a nationwide newspaper on Monday and glancing through it, was astounded at its exposure of lewdly dressed women in the entertainment section, and recalled that this was one of the reasons those same Muslim terrorists who staged the 911 attacks six years ago held they were doing God a favor in attacking us! To them, they were helping God judge a nation of deep immorality and decadence!

(3) We can even turn to organized Christendom and find evil permeating all sorts of realms. In the introductory notes of one message in this series of sermons from 1 Corinthians, you have heard me mention that J. Gordon Melton's book, Nelson's Guide to Denominations lists "more than 800 American and Canadian churches" with their associations -- evidence of a tremendous variation in belief and fellowship within North American Christendom where each group is sure it holds the right interpretation and that the others are in error!

(4) Evil afflicts even us believers on the personal level! Dr. John G. Mitchell, longtime godly and beloved Bible teacher at what is now the Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon reported he had known "dry" periods in his life when he admitted: "Yes . . . sometimes you wonder why you are there. Satan will seek to get you occupied with yourself, which oftentimes causes one to be in the dumps." ("His Encouraging Words," Multnomah Message, Fall, 1990, p. 10)



So, in VIEW of the evil that permeates our whole world and afflicts us seemingly at amost every turn, we can ask, "Is there a word from God to ENCOURAGE us regarding victory over evil?"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "As evil saturates our world today, is there an encouraging word from God that gives us a reason to keep going in His will?!"
  1. In supporting belief in the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, Paul explained the THEOLOGICAL reasons that make believers' resurrections so NECESSARY, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 543.
  2. As he did so, Paul revealed that as DEATH is the RESULT of SIN, God's CONQUEST of ALL DEATH for BELIEVERS will be intertwined with His CONQUEST of ALL EVIL, 1 Cor. 15:20-28:
    1. Paul explained that Christ's resurrection from the dead comprises the hope of the resurrection of all other believers in Him as He is the "firstfruits" of believers who physically die, 1 Corinthians 15:20.
    2. Theologically speaking, as in Adam's sin all men physically and spiritually die, so due to Christ's death and resurrection, all who are in Christ will physically and spiritually be resurrected, 1 Cor. 15:21-22.
    3. However, there is an orderly arrangement as to how and when these resurrections occur, and Paul briefly explained this in 1 Corinthians 15:23-28. In doing so, he mentioned God's victory over all of the EVILS that exist that CAUSE such death (as follows):
      1. First, Christ in His bodily resurrection sets the pattern as the "firstfruits" for the resurrection of all believers, 1 Cor. 15:23a,b.
      2. Then, deceased believers since the Day of Pentecost who comprise the Church will be raised at Christ's return at the rapture as He takes us to heaven before the Great Tribulation, 1 Cor. 15:23c with 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 1 Cor. 15:23-24.
      3. [Third, not named in this brief section are the resurrections of Old Testament saints and believers who die in the Great Tribulation; these will occur after Christ's Second Coming to earth as He sets up His Millennial reign, cf. Revelation 20:4; Daniel 12:12-13.]
      4. The final resurrection is implied to occur in 1 Corinthians 15:24, 26 for believers who die during Christ's Millennial reign; Ibid.
      5. All these events will finally terminate all rule and the affects of evil that have produced physical and spiritual death for believers, with the last enemy to be defeated for us being death, 1 Cor. 15:25-27.
      6. Then, when Christ as the Second Adam reigns as God's ruler of the earth in contrast to the first Adam who lost that rulership by man due to his sin, Christ will turn the regained rule of the earth back to God the Father so that He will be all in all in total victory over all that was evil and all of evil's destructive effects, 1 Cor. 15:27-28:
        1. In 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, Paul had contrasted Adam in Genesis with Christ on the themes of sin and death versus righteousness, life and the resurrection of Christ and all believers.
        2. Accordingly, if we go back to Genesis 1:26 (with 2:19-23), we find God created that first Adam to rule the earth under God.
        3. However, when that first Adam sinned, he lost the rule to Satan who became the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) and ruler of the kingdoms of this world (Matthew 4:8-9).
        4. Yet, at His Second Coming at the end of the Great Tribulation, Christ, the Second Adam, will take back that world rule from the forces of evil and Satan (Revelation 11:15), the effects of this conquest being completed after the Millennial reign when death as the last foe for the believer is destroyed, 1 Cor. 15:26.
        5. Hence, what the first Adam lost of the kingdom through sin and death, through Christ's righteous atonement and resurrection as the Second Adam, He will fully recover, cf. Romans 5:15-18!
        6. After recovering what Adam lost, Christ will then turn that rule of the earth back over to God the Father from whence the rule of the earth was robbed by sin, and God will be all in all with death and evil that caused it being finally destroyed, 1 Cor. 15:27-28!
        7. [In Revelation 21-22, we learn God the Father will then cause His heavenly city to descend to His new earth where He will unite His heavenly rule with His earthly rule. Sin and death will never again exist in the believer's experience: he will know only righteousness and divine blessing forever, Rev. 21:27-22:5!]
Application: For VICTORY over ALL EVIL and DEATH, may we (1) BELIEVE in Christ for salvation from sin, John 3:16. (2) Then, may we LIVE for GOD, abounding in His calling for us as we know that our WORKS of righteousness in this evil world are NOT in VAIN in view of the FINAL FUTURE FULL VICTORY of God over SIN and DEATH! (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Lesson: Though evil and its effects, including death, saturate our world, since sin and death are impostors to this universe, God will one day in EVERY WAY FOREVER DESTROY both of them, and we believers will ETERNALLY enjoy SINLESS BLISS under GOD'S ABSOLUTE RULE!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

(1) After typing up the first draft of this sermon on Tuesday, God clearly signaled what to do in view of His final victory over evil!

Tuesday night, we heard our missionaries to Mindanao in the Philippines, Gene and Carol Trudeau, were making a brief visit to our area and wanted to stop by our house early Wednesday to meet us.

This was amazing to me, for, all during their 22 years of missionary work, we have never met so early with the Trudeaus on a regular day! Then, as we met that next morning, and they gave us the latest news from the field, Gene noted that many of the churches they had visited on furlough were not giving the complete Gospel! He remarked that they were being led by the "seeker friendly" thrust that deletes Bible content to avoid offending the lost. I was heartened to hear these missionaries who have given their lives to evangelize Third World pagans claim as do I that God did not set up the local church to minister to the lost, but to edify believers! The church meeting should then go heavy on Bible content opposite the "seeker friendly" idea!

Their remark led me to recall the phone conversation I had with a relative in another state just the previous night. She had expressed dismay over hearing that the man her Church leaders want to call as a pastor affirms the "seeker friendly" format! She also told how a young married woman and mother in the Church had complained to her of the lack of Bible and doctrinal content in the last Sunday morning sermon!

I later remembered that Scripture at John 8:17 tells us that every fact is to be confirmed by two witnesses, so these interactions that came right after I had formed the first draft of this sermon act as God's signal: He affirmed that He wants us to hold to our ministry format that highlights Bible exposition in the pulpit and our worship so that the believers we impact can be nurtured. In eternity, when God has put down all evil and death, we will sure be glad if we had done so!

(2) Time would fail for me to tell of the massive signals God has recently given showing He wants me to hold to my stand favoring Bible exposition versus Calvinistic reconstructionism's promotion of politics in the local church! Indeed, God has even repeatedly made me aware that He has power over my physical life, the same thrust He gave in my 1990 car accident, as a sharp prod for me to heed Him in this!

So, in the hope of God's final victory over sin and death, may we keep doing His will in view of that coming triumph!