Together for the Gospel (Part 48)

Together for the Gospel Series  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  43:38
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This is our hope in the life to come - We are certain that Christ will raise us from the dead. We are certain that Christ will destroy His enemies. And we are certain that we will live forever in Paradise, in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

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Introduction

Hope is a Christian’s certainty of the future, based on his or her relationship to (standing before) God – Because of my relationship to God; Because of my standing before God, the future is certain. It is why and how the Psalmist was able to preach this to himself in Psalm 42:5
Psalm 42:5 ESV
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation
Hope in God. In other words, “Remember who God is, and what He has promised to do; in this life, and the life to come.”
For example, something big is happening on Tuesday – Many people (today) are worried, anxious, and afraid about what’s going to happen on Tuesday and during the weeks and months to come.
Now, because all that is in the future, the correct play call for the Christian is hope. Not panic, anger, or fretting. But hope. As Christians, we are certain of who God is and what He has promised to do, in this life, and the life to come.
God hasn’t told us who is going to win the election, but He has told us that He knows. More than that; He knows because He has planned it. More than that; He has planned it for the ultimate good of His people and the glory of His name. And He has told us He’ll be with us, and leading us, and providing for us, and on and on and on. So we have hope in this life, between tomorrow and our death, that God is good and will do good to us.
But at some point, I’m not going to lie, it could get really bad. It could get much worse for Christians in this country. It’s much worse for Christians in other countries right now. It could get so bad, as it had for Paul, that hope in this life would not be enough to get us through. In fact, if hope in this life were our only hope, according to Paul in v19, we would be a pitiable people.
A farther reaching hope is needed. It’s the hope that historically gets Christians through persecution, and disease, and great suffering. It’s hope used often by Christians in poor places, and less by Christians in affluent ones. It is hope in the life to come. It is certainty of what happens after you die. It’s the hope that enabled persecuted Martin Luther to write: Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also; [My] body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever.

Exegesis

Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. If you’re using one of the Bibles in the seat-back in front of you, you can find today’s text on page 904.
Our first verse, 1 Cor 15:20 begins with the word “but” which you students know is a conjunction, which is a kind of word that joins two thoughts together, so we should read v20 with v19. Let’s do that now:
1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Just flip those verses and use the word “therefore” instead of the word “but” and here’s what Paul is saying: Christ has been raised from the dead; therefore, Christians do not have hope in this life only, and should not be pitied.
And so that is Paul’s main point in this text: Because Christ has been raised from the dead, Christians have hope in the life to come. And what Paul does in the rest of our verses is to explain our hope in the life to come by spotlighting three future certainties, and here they are:
1. Hope that Christ will raise us from the dead. (the resurrection of believers)
2. Hope that Christ will destroy His enemies. (the final battle)
3. Hope that Christ will restore the kingdom. (the restoration of paradise)
Let’s turn now to v20 and begin with Paul’s first point. We have this hope in the life to come – we are certain that Christ will raise us from the dead.
Verse 20: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
There are two terms we need to understand here, and the first is firstfruits. The meaning of the word is exactly what you would think – it is the first fruit that appears on a plant. And the significance of the firstfruit is two-fold: One, if you have a first fruit it means there’s going to be more; It guarantees a future harvest. And second, the quality of the first fruit indicates the quality of the rest – the future fruit will be like the first fruit.
So Paul, in saying the resurrection of Christ was a first-fruit, is saying that more resurrections are coming, and they will be like Christ’s.
Okay, the second term to understand is “fallen asleep” – Well remember, “Fallen asleep” describes the death of Christians – it rightly implies that, for Christians, death, like sleep, is only temporary.
So put together what Paul is saying: The resurrection of Christ is proof of the future resurrection of God’s people.
And then next, in vv21-22 Paul explains this theologically. The reason Christ’s resurrection ensures our resurrection is because He, like Adam, was a Covenantal Representative for His people – which means that what He did affected all His people: 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [that is, resurrected].
(“all” = all who belong to Adam/Christ). Who belongs to Adam? The human race. Who belongs to Christ? Those who believe in Him)
Do you belong to Adam only? Or do you also belong to Christ? Have you believed in Him, that He came, lived, suffered, died, and rose from the dead in your place so that your sins could be forgiven and you could be reconciled to God. And now do you trust and live for Him?
If so, then His resurrection is a pledge that you also shall be made alive. You will be raised from the dead, never to die again. I won’t go into too much detail, because v35 will – but we won’t be ghosts or spirts without bodies, we will have our earthly body, made new and perfect.
So that’s our first hope in the life to come: We are certain that Christ will raise us from the dead.
But that’s not all. In the second half of this text, in the next six verses, Paul unfolds the life to come. We will be resurrected, but there is more, and Paul gives an overview in vv23-24:
23 But each in his own order [and here is the sequence of events]: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
Did you hear all the certainties?
Christ the firstfruits. That’s the resurrection of Christ. This has already happened.
then at his coming those who belong to Christ. So next, we’re waiting for this, is the return of Christ, when He will resurrect his people; that was covered in vv20-22.
Verse 24, Then comes the end. This is the final scene, the grand finale, and two things will happen, and these are the last two certainties Paul mentions:
[Jesus will] deliver the kingdom to God the Father and that happens after He destroy[s] every rule and every authority and power.
So that brings us to our second hope, identified in v24 and explained through verse 27: We have this second hope in the life to come – we are certain that Christ will destroy His enemies.
Verse 24: 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. So after the resurrection of His people, and before the restoration of His kingdom, Christ will destroy (defeat) his enemies.
Listen to Paul describer this final battle in vv25-27: For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” [that is quoting Psalm 8:6 and 110:11] But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.
So everything will submit to Jesus. Everything (and this is Paul’s qualification in v27) but God the Father. The imagery is that everything will be under his feet.
And did you see the very last kill in this battle? Verse 26: The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
The power of death was taken on the cross. But in the end, the picture is that death itself will be destroyed. Never again will a soul be separated from a body. Never again will there be a funeral. Death gets the last one.
This is Paul’s second hope in the life to come – we are certain that Christ will destroy all His enemies.
Then, only then, once all enemies are defeated, once everything has submitted to Christ, then the very last scene of human history:
We have this third hope in the life to come – we are certain that Christ will restore the kingdom.
And here is how Paul describes it in v24 and then v28: Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father. And then here’s v28: When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
You’ve heard me say this before. There are some similarities between the first two chapters of your Bible and the last two, Genesis 1 and 2, and Revelation 21 and 22.
In those bookends of your Bible you have creation and restoration. You have God’s perfect rule, which is paradise. And you have God’s perfect rule, which is paradise.
In between, starting in Genesis 3, you have sin, and Satan, and death.
So here’s the picture Paul paints of the end. The Christ has come and has accomplished all he was commissioned to do. He has lived for His people. He has died for His people. He has been raised for His people. He has conquered very last enemy.
And then he returns to God the Father, having secured the eternal kingdom, he bows his knee, and delivers it to Him. And God the Father reigns for all time – that God may be all in all. John Calvin wrote, ‘all things will be brought back to God, as their alone beginning and end, that they may be closely bound to him.’
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
This is our hope in the life to come – We are certain that Christ will raise us from the dead. We are certain that Christ will destroy His enemies. And we are certain that we will live forever in Paradise, in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Conclusion

In conclusion, do you look forward to this day?
Do you look beyond the weekend? Summer vacation? A trip? Graduation? Retirement?
Many Christians today don’t have any of these things to look forward to, and they would abandon their faith if not for the life to come. Are you content if your desires are denied here? Or are you trying to build paradise on earth? Craig Blomberg wrote: Yet incurable diseases, unexpected accidents, and periodic exposure to the horrors of the less affluent parts of our world continue to point out the sheer inadequacy of such preoccupations. Sooner or later we will die, and some of us will suffer quite a bit before we do. We need to recapture the longing for the life to come.
They used to say about Christians that they “were so heavenly minded they were no earthly good.” That wouldn’t be good. But the greater danger for us may be that we become “so earthly minded that are no heavenly good.”
I pray that God will help me, and help you, to look forward to, and hope more in the life to come.
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