Introduction:
What happens to me when I die?
Philippians 1:23 - ...my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
2 Corinthians 5:8 - ...we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
John 5:28-29 - Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
When do these resurrections take place?
Daniel 12:2 - And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Acts 24:15 - ...there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.
What is the resurrection body like? (1 Cor 15:35-49)
- Your body now is like a " Seed" , your resurrected body is like a "plant". (1 Cor 15:36-38)
- Your resurrected body will be Similar but Different but Better . (1 Cor 15:39-42a)
- Your resurrected body will never have earthly Weaknesses . (1 Cor 15:42b-44)
- Perishable vs. Imperishable : Decay
- Dishonor vs. Glory : Sin
- Weakness vs. Power : Strength
- Natural vs. Spiritual : Environmental Suitability
- Your resurrected body is just like Jesus' glorified body. (1 Cor 15:45-49)
Philippians 3:21 - who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body...
In Light of Your Future Makeover: What Do We Do With This Now?
Information
1 Thessalonians 4:13 - But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Consolation
1 Thessalonians 4:18 - Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Purification
1 John 3:2-3 - Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:06
You know who this is? That is an actress. Her name is Heidi Montag.
00:06-00:11
And I heard a story about her several years ago that caught my attention.
00:11-00:19
She was the star of a TV show called The Hills, which I was very disappointed to find out was not about the department store.
00:19-00:27
But at age 23, at age 23, she had 10 plastic surgeries in one day.
00:28-00:52
She had a brow lift, Botox her nose done, she had fat injected into her cheeks and lips, she had her chin done, her neck, liposuction, her ears pinned back, her waist, hips, thighs, and some other things done in this surgery, but it took 10 hours and tens of thousands of dollars of surgery in one day.
00:53-00:58
Now look, I'm not criticizing, like if you get plastic surgery, that's your business.
00:58-00:59
I'm not criticizing that.
01:00-01:05
I'm more impressed than anything that she got all of that done in one day.
01:05-01:14
The question I have though is, when she left the house that day and she came home, did anybody recognize her?
01:15-01:20
After 10 hours of basically head to toe complete makeover.
01:21-01:23
Like, well, why are we talking about her?
01:23-01:24
Because here's the deal.
01:24-01:30
We try a lot of crazy things to keep this body from wearing out.
01:30-01:31
True or false?
01:32-01:40
We do so much to keep this body going as long and strong as possible.
01:40-01:43
So maybe surgery isn't your thing.
01:44-01:46
Maybe exercise is your thing.
01:47-01:51
And if you're like me, maybe you're a sucker for those infomercial items.
01:52-02:01
How many people, show of hands, confession, have bought some exercise equipment of some type off of TV because of an infomercial?
02:01-02:03
A few honest people, thank you.
02:03-02:05
The rest of you, suspect.
02:06-02:26
You know, the Ab Circle, the Bowflex, the Total Gym, the Thighmaster, the Pilates, yoga, Zumba, cardio kickboxing, P90X, Insanity, T25, and I put on Facebook to see who had some of these things laying around I could borrow for the message today.
02:27-02:33
And out of appreciation for you letting me borrow these, I'm not going to say who they belong to.
02:34-02:35
I'll tell you who this belongs to.
02:35-02:36
This belongs to my brother.
02:36-02:36
He's not here.
02:37-02:40
So hopefully he's not watching the stream either, but he probably is.
02:41-02:45
But this is the ab slide, okay?
02:45-02:49
And with the ab slide, you basically, you know, you put it on the ground.
02:50-02:52
And if you think I'm going to demonstrate this,
02:53-02:53
(audience laughing)
02:55-02:56
you're all crazy.
02:57-03:09
But with all of these things, I guess they all fall under the same general category, same general slogan of, get the body you always wanted.
03:10-03:10
All right?
03:10-03:12
Get the body you always wanted.
03:14-03:20
Well, I'm here to rain on your parade today and tell you that you can get the body that you always wanted, but you're not going to keep it.
03:21-03:22
You are not going to keep it.
03:23-03:29
Because 1 Corinthians 15, we're going to be talking about resurrection.
03:29-03:30
That's what our series is.
03:30-03:39
That thanks to Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, you too are going to rise in a new body.
03:40-03:48
So you can spend all of your time getting ripped with these things, but this body that you have right now is wearing out.
03:49-03:52
it's going to decay, and it's going to die.
03:53-03:59
But because Jesus rose, you too are going to rise in a new body.
04:00-04:02
That's what we're going to be talking about today.
04:03-04:09
The new body, the resurrected, glorified, eternal body that you are going to have someday.
04:11-04:23
Now, if I told you, hey, next week you're getting a new car, But you're keeping that car and you're driving only that car for the next 10 years.
04:24-04:27
You know the first question out of your mouth, right?
04:28-04:29
What kind of a car is it?
04:29-04:35
Don't you want to know what kind of car it is if you're going to be stuck driving that car for 10 years?
04:35-04:37
Well, here's the deal, church.
04:37-04:39
The Bible says you're getting a new body.
04:40-04:42
You are literally physically getting a new body.
04:43-04:44
Don't you want to know what that's like?
04:44-04:47
because you're going to be having this body for all of eternity.
04:48-04:49
So don't you want to know?
04:50-05:11
I'm going to be giving you a lot of information here, and so I would encourage you, check online, you might want to listen again, but also, you probably know people that have questions about these kinds of things, so I would encourage you to pass the link along to them, because we're just going to see what the Bible says about our glorified body in eternity.
05:11-05:12
So let's back up.
05:12-05:15
First of all, in your outline, what happens to me when I die?
05:15-05:17
What happens to me when I die?
05:17-05:32
When you die, your spirit immediately goes either into the presence of God or to a place of torment called Hades, awaiting final judgment, which is the lake of fire.
05:32-05:35
And what determines which way you go?
05:36-05:38
It's who determines which way you go?
05:38-05:39
It's Jesus Christ.
05:40-05:44
What you've done with Jesus determines where you're going to spend eternity.
05:45-05:59
Either you are going to enjoy God's presence and love and people forever, eternally in heaven, or you're going to be separated from the love of God, from the presence of God in hell.
06:00-06:02
And the difference is what you do with Jesus Christ.
06:02-06:10
Do you believe that He died on that cross to take away your sin, and that He rose from the dead to give you eternal life?
06:10-06:15
Have you turned from your sin and embraced Him and received Him?
06:15-06:16
Have you done that?
06:17-06:19
Because that's what determines your eternity.
06:19-06:24
But understand, I want to address primarily Christians here today.
06:25-06:27
People that have received Jesus Christ.
06:27-06:31
If you were to die today, where would you be?
06:32-06:33
Well, you would be in the presence of the Lord.
06:35-06:35
The Bible's clear about that.
06:36-06:41
Philippians 1:23, Paul says, my desire is to depart and be with Christ.
06:42-06:52
See, Paul's idea was not, well, when I die, I'm gonna go to some soul sleep or limbo, or he said, if I die, it's going to be to be with Christ.
06:52-06:59
And 2 Corinthians 5, 8, he said, we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
07:00-07:02
There again, it's one or the other.
07:02-07:07
If you're not alive on the earth, you're in the presence of God if you're a believer.
07:08-07:12
But the Bible promises that eventually everyone will get a new body.
07:13-07:14
And that's the main subject of today.
07:14-07:16
The glorified, resurrected body.
07:16-07:18
We saw this in John 5.
07:19-07:32
Jesus said, "For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." That everyone eventually gets a new, glorified, resurrected, eternal, indestructible body.
07:32-07:36
So, next question is, when do these resurrections take place?
07:37-07:40
Again, Jesus pointed out that there are two resurrections.
07:41-07:43
There's one for believers and there's one for unbelievers.
07:44-07:44
When do these happen?
07:46-08:03
Again, some of this is review, but Daniel 12 says, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall wake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Paul says in Acts 24.15, "There will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust." So when do these happen?
08:03-08:16
Well, at the rapture, when Jesus Christ comes back to take the church, to be where he is in heaven, believers up to that point, dead or alive, are going to get a new resurrected body.
08:16-08:24
Paul talks about that in 1 Thessalonians 4 and in 1 Corinthians 15, which is going to be the subject of our message next week.
08:24-08:26
We're gonna be talking about the rapture.
08:26-08:30
But at the rapture, you are going to get a glorified body.
08:31-08:34
Then after the rapture comes the seven-year tribulation.
08:34-08:43
And after the seven-year tribulation, Jesus comes back and strikes down everyone who's rejected Him, and He sets up His millennial reign on the earth.
08:43-08:45
We covered this stuff when we went through Revelation.
08:46-08:53
Well, after the millennial reign of Christ, after Satan's final revolt, Revelation 20 says this is the second resurrection.
08:54-08:58
The second resurrection is for unbelievers of all time.
08:58-09:03
They're called out of Hades to the great white throne judgment or they're going to be sentenced to the final hell.
09:04-09:07
That's the lake of fire, according to Revelation 20.
09:08-09:18
So, believers will get an eternal body to enjoy in heaven, and unbelievers will get an eternal body that will suffer in hell, according to God's Word.
09:19-09:24
But the main issue specifically we want to tackle today is the next one on your outline, and that's this.
09:24-09:27
What is the resurrection body like?
09:27-09:29
What is the resurrection body like?
09:29-10:00
up 1 Corinthians 15, verse 35, Paul says, "But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?'" Now, the Corinthian church had a lot of resurrection deniers. There were a lot of people in the church that had all kind of kooky ideas about what happens when we die in the afterlife and resurrection, no resurrection, what's the body. There was just a lot of...they were kind of all over the place in some of their A lot of it was influenced by the Greek culture in which they lived.
10:01-10:04
So Paul anticipates the questions that are going to come.
10:05-10:05
Right?
10:06-10:17
And I'm so thankful for that because even today in the church, there's a lot of confusion about the resurrection, about eternal life.
10:17-10:20
And we hear them all the time, the questions.
10:21-10:24
You know, okay, so like, what am I going to look like in heaven?
10:24-10:29
Am I going to look like the old body?
10:29-10:30
Am I going to look like this in heaven?
10:31-10:32
How old am I going to look?
10:32-10:34
Am I going to be able to recognize people?
10:34-10:39
Okay, so what about people that aren't dead and buried in a cemetery?
10:39-10:40
What about people that died at sea?
10:40-10:44
What about, like, what if somebody dies at sea and they get eaten by a shark?
10:45-10:47
And then, like, so they're not in a cemetery.
10:47-10:55
What about somebody that is in a terrorist attack and they're blown up or incinerated or something horrible like that.
10:55-10:58
Like, what do we do with that? Right?
10:59-11:07
Verse 36, Paul says, "You foolish person!" You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, coming in a little hot there, Paul.
11:08-11:09
Like, what's that all about?
11:10-11:11
Why did he say that?
11:12-11:12
Here's why.
11:13-11:23
When Paul was asking the questions in the previous verse, he was basically anticipating the questions that some of the skeptics would have.
11:23-11:30
And if you've ever talked to somebody about your faith, if you ever talked to somebody that was skeptical, you know, this is the kind of stuff that they ask.
11:31-11:39
You know, they might say something like, "Well, can God create a rock that even he can't lift?" Or something stupid like that, you know?
11:39-11:46
And you're just like, "You're being dumb." Well, that's what was going on in the Corinthian church as they were like, "Oh, resurrection, huh?
11:46-11:48
"What's the resurrection body like?
11:48-11:57
"Oh, we're gonna get a new body, what's it like?" And Paul's like, "You think you're so smart, that I'm going to tell you exactly what it's like." That's why he says, "You foolish person" there.
11:57-12:03
All right, he's not, I don't think he's chewing out the church so much as he's calling out the skeptic.
12:05-12:07
But what's the resurrection body like?
12:07-12:09
Number one, jot this down.
12:10-12:12
Your body now is like a seed.
12:13-12:16
And your resurrected body is like a plant.
12:17-12:19
All right, this is the first analogy.
12:19-12:27
So just look down at your body, and this is a seed that gets buried into the ground to become a plant.
12:28-12:28
Got that picture?
12:29-12:30
Look at verse 36.
12:30-12:36
He says, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
12:36-12:42
And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of weed or of some other grain.
12:43-12:50
But God gives it a body as He has chosen, "and to each kind of seed, its own body." Stop there.
12:51-12:55
Like if you had a seed in your hand and it's the time of year, a lot of people are planting things, right?
12:56-13:03
But if you have a seed in your hand and you're just looking at that seed, it seems just like this, it seems like a dead thing, right?
13:03-13:05
It's just like, almost like a little rock or something.
13:05-13:07
There's just a little hard dead thing.
13:08-13:16
But when you put it in the ground and bury it, it comes up, bless you, It comes up as something completely different.
13:17-13:18
That's what he's talking about here.
13:19-13:33
Now I'm no farming expert, so correct me if I'm wrong on this, but if you're wanting to grow a plant, you don't take an existing plant and bury that whole thing to get another one.
13:33-13:36
You take the seed and bury the seed.
13:36-13:37
That's what Paul's talking about here.
13:38-13:40
Now, we have the picture.
13:41-13:43
This is sort of the analogy here.
13:44-13:49
You know, on the left, obviously, those are watermelon seeds, and on the right is a watermelon.
13:51-14:03
Now, if we were to interview one of these watermelon seeds, which would be weird, but if we were to interview one of these and say, "What do you think happens to you when you die?" What do you think it would say?
14:04-14:09
Like, "When you die, you're going to become something." Well, it's not going to become a big brown seed.
14:10-14:18
If it had any sense of theology, whatsoever, it would say, "When I am buried and I die, I'm going to come back and look like this." You see that?
14:19-14:25
Because with these two things, here's what Paul wants you to see from the agricultural illustration.
14:26-14:31
With the seed and with the watermelon, there's difference, but there's continuity.
14:32-14:32
Do you get that?
14:33-14:35
Difference, but continuity.
14:36-14:39
So for these skeptics that are like, "How'd you get your resurrection body?
14:39-14:43
What's it like?" Paul's like, "Hey guys, you're being dumb.
14:43-14:45
"We see this in agriculture all the time.
14:45-14:48
"You plant a seed and it comes back as something else.
14:48-14:59
"And that's exactly what God's going to do with you "when you're buried into the ground." So God has, he says, chosen the kind of body that everything gets.
15:00-15:03
He designed seed to become just one thing.
15:03-15:10
Like if I had a handful of different seeds, flowers, fruits, vegetables, whatever, I couldn't tell them apart.
15:10-15:13
Some in here probably could, but I couldn't.
15:13-15:20
I wouldn't be able to tell, but each one of them, by God's sovereign choice, is going to get a certain type of body when it's buried.
15:21-15:24
But each one is only going to get one certain type.
15:24-15:31
Meaning, if I plant an apple seed, I'm not going to get a zucchini from that.
15:31-15:36
It will never, ever, ever happen because God has designed apple seeds to produce what?
15:37-15:38
Just seeing if you're listening, yes.
15:39-15:41
And it's the same way with your glorified body.
15:41-15:43
When you die, you can only become one thing.
15:43-15:52
When you sprout out of the ground, so to speak, in God's sovereign choice, you can only become one thing, and that's a glorified, resurrected body.
15:52-16:04
So just as these seeds become more of what they are, so to speak, so it is with your new body, you are going to retain individuality and personality.
16:05-16:06
Is everybody with me?
16:07-16:07
'Cause I can start over.
16:08-16:10
I hate them on tag, 10 plastic surgeries.
16:10-16:12
Do you want me to show you how to use these things?
16:12-16:13
I can start over.
16:13-16:16
So your body now is like a seed, your resurrected body is like a plant.
16:17-16:26
One of the questions, this is just bonus content here, but one of the questions that I get asked a lot is this one, am I going to be able to recognize people in heaven?
16:27-16:29
Am I going to be able to recognize people in heaven?
16:30-16:33
And my answer is, it's even better than you think.
16:33-16:39
Because I believe in something that I call Supernatural recognition.
16:40-16:45
I believe that when you get to heaven, you're going to know everyone perfectly.
16:45-16:47
Like, where did you come up with that?
16:47-16:49
Do you remember when Jesus was transfigured?
16:50-16:52
Matthew chapter 17, you remember that story?
16:53-17:02
Jesus took a few of his select disciples and basically he said, "Hey, I'm gonna show you who I really am." It was like, he showed them the glory of God.
17:03-17:04
And do you remember who showed up?
17:05-17:06
Shout it out if you know.
17:06-17:08
Moses and Elijah showed up, right?
17:09-17:13
And you remember Peter was like, "Hey, this is great.
17:13-17:18
Why don't we just like build a tent for everybody?" And Peter was like, "Let's never leave here.
17:19-17:24
This is awesome, let's never leave." Here's my question from that whole thing.
17:24-17:26
How did Peter know who Moses and Elijah were?
17:27-17:28
Did they have little name tags?
17:28-17:29
Hello, my name is Moses.
17:30-17:32
Or Peter's like, "Oh yeah, I have the yearbook.
17:32-17:35
I have the yearbook." Yes, that's Moses.
17:36-17:43
you know, voted most likely to talk to a burning bush that year in high school, but that, no, obviously not.
17:44-17:47
And see, that was even before they had the glorified bodies, right?
17:47-17:52
So I believe that somehow in glory, you'll know everyone perfectly.
17:52-17:55
I can talk more about that, but we're gonna get back to the text here.
17:55-17:56
But anyway, just look at your body.
17:56-17:57
Look at your body right now.
17:57-17:58
It's a seed.
17:59-17:59
It's a seed.
18:00-18:06
And it's going to grow into something glorious, like the watermelon seed turning into the mighty watermelon.
18:06-18:10
All right, number two, what's the resurrection body like?
18:11-18:14
Number two, your resurrected body will be similar, but different, but better.
18:15-18:16
Similar, but different, but better.
18:16-18:17
Pick up in verse 39.
18:18-18:28
He says, "For not all flesh is the same, but there's one kind for humans, and another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
18:28-18:35
There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, "One glory of the earthlies of another.
18:36-18:47
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory.
18:48-19:05
So it is with the resurrection of the dead." So Paul here, he's taking us from one very obvious earthly illustration with the seeds and the plants, he goes, "Let's talk about another obvious illustration that everyone's is gonna get, let's talk about animals.
19:05-19:07
Do we have those animal pictures up here?
19:07-19:14
Okay, so he talks about, he picks four types of animals, so to speak.
19:14-19:21
First of all, humans, and I put, here's a picture of a couple of my favorite humans, that's Barnabas and Martha, our missionaries in Thailand.
19:21-19:26
But he goes, okay, there's, he goes, there's all kinds of flesh, there's human flesh.
19:26-19:36
And then if you look underneath them, that is a Wanda warrior princess, that is our dog, when she was a puppy.
19:36-19:40
Notice how she's just radiating beauty.
19:41-19:42
Take that in for a second.
19:43-19:43
Love her so much.
19:44-19:45
She's much bigger now.
19:45-19:48
But then we have birds.
19:48-19:52
I think this is some kind of, what's that called, a diamond dove, I think that's called.
19:52-19:56
And then underneath the dove, we have a fish, right?
19:57-19:58
And I think that's a goldfish.
19:59-20:05
But Paul's point here is, just consider all of these different animals, right?
20:05-20:08
He goes, they all have flesh, so they're the same.
20:09-20:13
He goes, but it's different, right?
20:14-20:15
Same but different, do you get that?
20:15-20:16
Same but different.
20:17-20:24
We all have flesh, but each one of these categories has flesh that is perfectly suited for their environment, right?
20:25-20:27
That's why fish aren't flying in the sky.
20:28-20:30
Their flesh isn't suited for that environment.
20:30-20:34
And that's why a bird like this one, you're not going to see swimming underwater.
20:34-20:37
His flesh is suited for his environment.
20:38-20:44
And he also not only talks about animal bodies, he talks about heavenly bodies.
20:44-20:48
He goes, "Go from the earth, look to the sky." Look to the sky.
20:48-20:52
He goes, "What do you see in the sky?" We got the moon, we got the sun, we got the stars.
20:52-20:55
And even with the stars, they're not like all exactly the same.
20:55-21:08
They're different one from another, but they're all perfectly suited to their environment and they're given a body which will perfectly fulfill the purpose that God has for them, right?
21:09-21:22
The sun for the light and the warmth, the moon, you know, helps with the tides of the earth and each star, all placed there, all designed, all for a purpose by God.
21:23-21:29
So Paul's like, think of the animals, Think of the stuff in the heavens, because that's how it is with your glorified body.
21:30-21:37
Same, but different, but way better, because it's going to be suited for heaven.
21:38-21:41
We're gonna talk more about that here in a moment.
21:42-21:44
But number three, jot this down.
21:44-21:49
Your resurrected body will never have earthly weaknesses.
21:50-21:52
Your resurrected body will never have earthly weaknesses.
21:52-21:54
Pick up again in verse 42.
21:54-22:02
He says, "What is sown," okay, so he's going back to the whole seed gardening analogy, right, we're with him on that, right?
22:02-22:03
"What is sown is perishable.
22:04-22:06
"What is raised is imperishable.
22:06-22:09
"It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
22:10-22:13
"It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
22:13-22:22
"It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." If there's a natural body, there's also a spiritual body.
22:22-22:22
Stop there.
22:23-22:30
Again, your body's a seed, you buried, died, become a plant in the resurrection, but he gives four contrasts.
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I'm gonna go through these very quickly.
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Four contrasts between the earthly body and the glorified body.
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Letter A, first of all, he says it's the difference between perishable and imperishable.
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Perishable versus imperishable, that speaks to decay.
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Think of all of the physical and mental health issues that we experience on this earth because we live in this fallen body.
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Paul says with the glorified body, those things are going to be gone forever.
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That there's no sickness in the glorified body.
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There's no cancer, there's no cerebral palsy, there's no multiple sclerosis, there's no muscular dystrophy, there's no diabetes, asthma, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, arthritis, organ failure.
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Not a thing anymore for all of eternity.
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No pain, no pain.
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What's the worst pain you've ever been in?
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Think about that for a second.
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What's the worst pain you've ever been in?
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Men, have you ever had a cold?
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Well, it's all gonna be a memory someday.
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There's no growing old and tired, and never again, wrap your brain around this, never again for all of eternity will you even face the concept of death.
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Letter B, dishonor versus glory.
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Dishonor versus glory speaks to sin.
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The fall of man has saturated this earth with the corruption of sin, and these bodies are so thoroughly affected by sin, it's hard to imagine life without everything being so corrupt and ungodly.
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But that's what's coming.
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Thirdly, letter C, poor contrast between the earthly and glorified body.
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Paul says it's weakness versus power.
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Weakness versus power, and that speaks to strength.
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We are all so weak.
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So weak.
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You know, a virus that you can't even see can put you down for a few days.
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And you know, you don't even need to be sick to feel worn out.
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You know, people say, "Well, Jeff, do you get tired?" I don't get tired.
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I do not get tired.
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I do not get tired.
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I stay tired.
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And I'm embarrassed to have to confess to you that sometimes when I wake up in the morning, the first thought in my head is, when can I get a nap?
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Anybody else there?
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Okay, thank you.
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Alex has two hands up.
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Alex, do you need a nap right now?
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I'll be finished soon.
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Thanks for not doing it right now.
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I appreciate that.
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But your new body will be powerful.
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There will be no weakness or weariness.
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You're like, oh, is it going to be like Superman?
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Oh no, it's going to be way better than Superman.
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We'll get to that in a second.
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Letter D - natural versus spiritual.
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That speaks to environmental suitability.
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We already kind of talked about that a little bit.
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Environmental suitability.
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Yes, your new glorified body is going to be visible and it's going to be tangible, but it won't be subject to the laws of nature.
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Because our bodies right now, this body that we're in, these bodies are limited.
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Because these bodies are sort of restricted and hemmed in to the creation.
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We're hemmed in by pesky little things like gravity and time and air.
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Things like that limit us.
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But our new bodies are going to rise above the laws of nature, and the laws of time, and the laws of space, and you're like, "Like what? Like what?" Not, "Ahhhh!" Not, "Like what?" "Like who?" "Like who?" And that gets to our last point.
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4. Your resurrected body is just like Jesus' glorified body.
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Ok, so now Paul's comparisons get ultra-specific.
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As he moves from like metaphors talking about the seeds to literal talking about your actual body.
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So what is your actual body compared to the resurrected body?
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It's comparing Adam from the Garden of Eden, Adam.
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It's comparing his body to Jesus' glorified body.
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Look at verse 45.
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He says, "Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being.
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The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
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But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural.
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And in the spiritual, the first man was from the earth, a man of dust.
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The second man is from heaven.
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As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust.
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And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
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Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
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So right now, we bear the image of the man of dust.
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In other words, your body that you're in right now is in every way, shape, form, function, it's just like Adam and Eve's.
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But someday, you're going to bear the image of the man of heaven, that's Jesus Christ.
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You get that?
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This body like Adam's, our glorified body like the resurrected body of Jesus.
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And this is something taught repeatedly in the New Testament.
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One key verse, Philippians 3.21 says, "Jesus will transform our lowly body," this one, "to be like his glorious body." You're like, "Well, what was Jesus' resurrected body like?" I would say, "Well, just look at everything Jesus did after resurrecting." I mean, the disciples recognized Him by sight and by voice and by wounds, Luke 24, 39.
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Jesus could eat, Luke 24, verses 42 through 43, as we will eat according to Revelation 22, 2.
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Jesus wasn't bound by the laws of nature.
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We see Jesus could disappear.
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He could move from place to place suddenly, Luke 24, verses 31 and 36.
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Jesus could pass through walls, John 20, 26, and Jesus could fly.
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Yeah.
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Acts 1, 9, you're like, "Come on, Pastor Jeff, "are you seriously saying that my new glorified body "is going to be able to fly?" Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, because that's what God said, that your body is going to be exactly like Jesus' body.
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If you don't believe that and you don't wanna fly, then you can stand around heaven watching me fly 'cause I'm flying.
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But finally, in light of your future makeover, right now somebody's like, okay, so what?
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Thank you for the theology lesson, Jeff, on what might happen to me possibly someday, believing in Jesus.
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Not possibly, it's going to happen, first of all.
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Second of all, don't make it some detached thing.
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What do we do with this now?
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I'm gonna give you three words, all right?
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Then I'm gonna give you other words to explain those three words, so don't get too excited.
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Okay, three words.
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What do we do with this now?
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The first word is information.
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This is information.
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I realize a sermon like this is a lot of information.
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1 Thessalonians 4.13, Paul says, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, "about those who are asleep, "that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." So that's why we do a sermon like this, because I wanna give you information so that you're not uninformed.
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You know, a lot of Christians don't really think about what happens when we die.
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Like you just grab random Christians, "Hey, what happens when we die?" I guarantee you most of the answers are gonna sound something like, we like go to heaven and then something?
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I would say, well, now you know.
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It's information.
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Secondly, second word for you in light of your future makeover is consolation.
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Again, Rapture chapter 1 Thessalonians 4.18, he says, "Therefore, encourage one another with these words." So this isn't just information, like thanks for the head knowledge.
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We're to encourage each other.
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The church, we face death constantly.
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Do you realize that?
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We had, our church was affected by a death this past week, and then I think we had like three deaths the week before, and it's constant.
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And as followers of Jesus Christ, we're called to encourage each other.
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And what in the world are we encouraging each other with?
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If not this, to say, look, yeah, I'm going to grieve with you, I'm going to cry with you.
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And you know, it's just times like this that the gospel is just so real.
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And we so anticipate the fulfillment of every promise of Jesus Christ.
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And death just brings it home.
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In church, we need to be encouraging each other.
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Not trite little Sunday school answers in the face of tragedy, but to say, "Praise the Lord, we have a real hope." So information, consolation, and then finally, a purification.
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Purification.
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1 John 3 says, "Beloved, we are God's children now, "and what we will be has not yet appeared, "but we know that when He appears," Here it is again, "We shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is." See John's application, he says, "And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure." Someday, someday you are finally going to be just like Jesus Christ in that you're going to have a perfect, glorified, eternal body like His.
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And church, that should motivate us.
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That should motivate us because God wants to conform us into the image of his son, Romans 8, 29, and for any true born again believer, that's your number one desire is to become more and more and more like Jesus Christ.
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That should be the thing that drives you, becoming like him now because we're going to be just like him then.
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That's why we're doing this series called Knowing Jesus, so that we can become more like him now.
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We're going to get back to that in a couple weeks, but until then, you be working on them abs.
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All right?
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, I realize that I don't have any words in my vocabulary that could possibly communicate how awesome these concepts are that we talked about today.
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There are no human words to fully encapsulate and communicate how awesome it is, God, that You loved us and saved us from our sin and our rebellion.
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And not only that, but you've given us this promise of a body like this, this glorified eternal body that's gonna be just like Jesus.
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It's, I don't know what to say, God, but you are awesome and thank you.
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And we worship you.
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And Father, let these truths from your word motivate us to stop living as if this is all there is here and now, but let us live, God, in light of eternity and what you have for us.
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By your grace, Father, by your spirit, by your power, because of Jesus, for Jesus, Father, let us live in light of eternity.
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Thank you, Father, for your promises.
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We believe every one of them.
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We praise you in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Cor 15:35-49
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Describe the 4 contrasts between your earthly body and your glorified body from 1 Cor 15:42-44.
What was Jesus’ glorified body able to do that you are excited to think about your glorified body being able to do?
Read 1 John 3:2-3. How does the knowledge of our future glorified bodies motivate us to purify ourselves today?
Breakout
Pray for one another.