About this sermon
Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures. Adam became a living being from the dust, and Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit and the Lord from heaven. His resurrection opened a new life in the Spirit that goes beyond all Adam ever knew. Believers already share that resurrection life through faith, and the Spirit of the risen Christ in them makes the Christian life possible.
Sermon transcript
Amen, please be seated. If you would, please take your scriptures and let us turn this morning, if I was to ask you to turn to the definitive chapter on the doctrine of the resurrection, perhaps hopefully you would know what that is, that is 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This will be our reading and part of our preaching this morning, we’ll also have various passages but this will be a partial reading this morning, 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4 and then verses 20 through 22 and then we’ll jump to the end of verses 45 through 49 for our preaching this morning. But once again, before we come to the reading and preaching of God’s word, we seek the Lord’s that he would make his word that means of grace, that overflowing life from the spirit as he uses the word of God to ignite the fire of passion in our lives.
That we would again be creatures of God, that we would be images of God, be in his likeness and that we would be walking, talking revelations of our God in whose image we are made. So let us go to our Lord seeking his help that we may open up our ears and our minds and our hearts to the living word of our God. Let us pray. O gracious and heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word, we do thank you that you have given it to as a light to our path, that you reveal our own hearts to us in this word but you show us that gleaming image that we are to be following and that is the image of your son Jesus Christ who is your walking, talking revelation of who you are as our triune God and so would you conform us into his image this day by your word as it is preached and proclaimed.
May your people hear your words, not merely this vessel that is here that you are speaking through but they would hear as it is in truth the very word of our God. Speak to us now Lord in power we pray in Christ’s holy name, amen. I would ask brothers and sisters that you once again stand for the reading of God’s holy word that comes to us from the first epistle to the Church of Corinth chapter 15. I do remind you, grace, orthodox, presbyterian church, these are the words of the living God. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preach to you unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And then moving down to verse 20, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. And then finally down to verse 45, and so it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first but the natural and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth made of dust, the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As was the man of dust so also are those who are made of dust, and as is the heavenly man and so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God, it stands forever. Please be seated. We all have those in our own lives who to one degree or another have a lasting impact upon us. They are important figures that impress upon us the way we think, the way we live, and so that they influence in such a way that we are never the same again. Well, the Apostle Paul puts forth two primary men that have the most influence and lasting impact upon every single one of us, in fact, upon the whole human race.
And that is Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve already considered this reality from Romans chapter five, last Lord’s day, but we see that Paul picks up this same point in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the church of Corinth. If we were to consider the most powerful men among the human race, those who have had everlasting influence and impact upon our lives, it would boil down to two. When you cut through everything, it comes down to only two. There are only two primary individuals, two primary men, the first man, Adam, and the second man, Jesus Christ. As Paul sets this forth for us in 1 Corinthians 15, there is no others besides them. There are no others. There’s just these two. There is the order of Adam, the first man, and there are none before him.
Then there is the order of Christ, the second man, and there is none between Adam and Christ, but also the order of Christ is the final, is the last, because he is the last Adam. And so there are none after Christ. And so you and I are united to one of these two men. There is no escaping their influence and impact upon our lives. They are the progenitors of all those over whom they represent and are intricately united to. Last time, we considered the first man’s failure. Adam sinned at the beginning in the garden, and the result was that the first sin brought about death and condemnation upon all. But the second man, the second Adam, or the new Adam, Jesus Christ, came to bring the free gift of God’s grace in his going above and beyond in taking our place and bearing our sin and being a willing, substitutional sacrifice for us and thus bringing in eternal salvation for his people, all those who are united to him in faith.
Romans 5 focuses upon Jesus’ excelling work of suffering and dying in our place upon the cross. But now we turn in 1 Corinthians 15 to consider the victory of Jesus over sin and death in his glorious achievement of resurrection from the dead. And in so doing, the apostle once again brings a comparative contrast between these two primary figures, Adam and Christ. And so this brings us to our purpose statement for our message for today, which is once again, Jesus excels way beyond all expectations in his resurrection from the dead. And we’ll consider this truth also under three points this morning. And our first point is going beyond death, going beyond death. Again, if we go all the way back to the garden, we are reminded of the threat that God presented to Adam. For in the day that you eat of the forbidden fruit, you will surely die.
And having sinned and eaten the fruit, God pronounces the curse upon Adam. You shall return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. And then we read that God drove out the man from the garden, barring him from the tree of life. And so the apostle not only focuses upon Adam’s offense and sin in Romans 5, but points out that Adam died and that death spread to all those, all his progeny, all of his children, all those that proceed forth from Adam. That death spread to all men because of Adam’s transgression. And so Paul makes the same point here in 1 Corinthians 15, in verses 21 and 22. By man came death. By man came death, for as in Adam all die. In Adam all die.
That is the great enemy of mankind is death, is it not? And it seems to be the end of us. Death is the end of us, it would appear. But as we turn our gaze to Christ, even though Jesus, as we pointed out last time, was absolutely sinless in righteousness, he too died. Jesus too died. Paul emphasized Jesus’ sacrificial death in Romans 5, in due time Christ died. But he did not die because of the guilt of his own sin, did he? He doesn’t die because of his own sin, no. He again died for the ungodly, the apostle tells us. Christ died for the ungodly, Christ died for us, for sinners he died. This is the free gift of God’s grace in Christ to save us from our sin. So this is where the apostle begins in his presentation of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15.
He said, for I delivered to you first of all that which I also received. Again it’s not comes from him, it was something he received from the Lord and then gives to us. And what’s the first thing he said? That Christ died. That’s the first point of the gospel, Christ died. But he died for our sins. There’s the purpose. Why he died, the reason for our sins according to the scriptures. And then he goes on to say, and that he was buried, which confirms and seals again Christ’s death to us. But the glorious reality that we come to every single Lord’s Day is that Jesus is no longer on the cross, is he? Yes, he bore the cross once and for all, but he’s no longer on the cross. He’s no longer in the grave.
Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. But Jesus goes beyond death, doesn’t he? He goes beyond death and in so doing, he defeats death once and for all. So that when he was buried, when he was again put in that grave, in that tomb, it was as if he wrestled death and buried it down in the ground again. For the hope of the gospel does not stop at Jesus’ death and burial, but that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, according to the word of God. This is the good news, is it not? This is the greatest news, is that now Christ is risen from the dead. And so Jesus is the second man, the new man, who continues to surprise. He surprised everyone in his own day, even his own disciples, although he told them that he would rise from the dead.
They were still surprised, were they not, by his resurrection? He surprised, excelling way beyond all expectations, going beyond death, as Paul puts it in verse 21 of our passage, for since by man came death. Now get this, get the emphasis, also by man also came the resurrection of the dead. So this is where the apostle begins in comparing and contrasting the first man and the last man, but of course he goes much further, which brings us to our second point. Not only does Christ go beyond death, but he goes beyond life. Going beyond life, and what we mean here is merely what we understand as life in this world. We are here speaking of a quality or a particular type of life. When the apostle compares and contrasts Adam and Christ, he does so this way.
Verse 47, the first man was of the earth, made of dust. Paul calls Adam the man of dust in verse 48. Adam is the man of dust, which corresponds to Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, describing his creation by God. He creates him from the dust of the earth. But the apostle also calls Adam natural in verse 46. He calls Adam natural. And by these, Paul contrasts Adam’s original condition before the fall, verse 45. So it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. He became a living being, again from Genesis 2, verse 7. But in contrast to Adam’s pre-fall life, which is natural, of the earth, from the dust, Jesus Christ, the second man, Adam goes on to describe, or Paul goes on to describe, is actually the Lord from heaven. He is the Lord from heaven.
Notice Paul does not use the term made when he speaks of Jesus here. And yet, he’s still a man, fully man, truly man. He is the last Adam, the last man. Although he is the Lord of heaven, he is also the second man. And again, he’s revealing this whole idea of the two natures in one person of Christ of the incarnation. And again, we were reminded of Jesus’ favorite title of himself during his earthly ministry was the Son of Man. So the apostle is comparing Christ to Adam with regards to his humanity. And yet, Jesus goes beyond the natural earthly life of Adam, for in contrast to the man of dust, Paul describes Christ as the heavenly man, the heavenly man. But Paul’s point is that although the second man is the Lord from heaven, which speaks of his deity, yet he is also the heavenly man, the heavenly man.
And the question is, how and when does Jesus become the heavenly man? Well, again, what is 1 Corinthians 15 all about? It’s about resurrection. So he becomes the heavenly man in his resurrection. Let’s consider this truth further. The point that the apostle is driving home is not, now get this, is not that Jesus returns to Adam’s pre-fall state. His point, his mission is to come down and take us all the way back so that we’re in the same position, that he’s in the same position as Adam before the fall. Jesus doesn’t merely correct the fall and take us back to the beginning before the fall occurs, but rather he transcends that original life, that old creation life, and brings us to, and here’s this big theological word, eschatological life, eschatological life. There’s one of those big theological words that theologians like to bandy about.
But that word is right from the Greek of this text. It comes from the title of Christ himself that the apostle uses, the last Adam, which in the Greek is ho eschatas adam, the last Adam, the eschatological Adam, the consummation, the one who is all that Adam was meant to be. And that brings us to new creation life in him. It brings about new creation life. Jesus’ body was not only a renewed physical body in his resurrection, but it has become a transformed, heavenly body, imperishable, incorruptible, a gloriously exalted body. It is qualitatively different. The apostle Paul will go on to talk about the difference between terrestrial bodies and celestial bodies and all these things. But Christ’s body is now no longer subject to this old, cursed, death-ridden world. That’s the point that he’s making in the glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus goes beyond the natural life in his resurrection. He becomes what the apostle calls spiritual, as opposed to natural. He becomes spiritual, which according to 1 Corinthians 2 means someone who lives in, out of, and according to the indwelling presence and power of the Spirit of God. Our culture likes to use the word spiritual. They bandy it about. But here the apostle defines specifically and truthfully what spiritual really means. It means to live in, out of, and according to the indwelling presence and power of the Spirit of God. Christ, in his resurrected, exalted, heavenly state, has entered into the new age to come, which is the age of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives this risen, ascended, heavenly life, life from above, everlasting eternal life that we read about, that God declares to us.
It was the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, Paul tells us in Romans 8 verse 11. It is the Holy Spirit again that animates and energizes this resurrection life. It is as if the Spirit is the very breath that is breathed. If man was a fish, now don’t get me wrong, don’t confuse, I’m not saying man is a fish or man came from a fish or anything like that, it’s just an analogy. Think about this for a minute. If man was a fish, the Spirit would be the water in which he lives. Think about the water. A fish cannot live out of water, right? It surrounds him, it resides in him, it flows through him, in and out from him. The Spirit is the very environment, the very existence of the man’s being. That’s what it means to be in the Spirit.
That’s what it means for Christ to be in this resurrection state. This is spiritual life. Fullness of life in and of the Spirit of God is that which goes beyond life in and of and from this old world, this old creation. And it so transcends sin and curse and corruption and death itself that the apostle himself at the end of this all breaks out into praise and doxology saying death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh Hades, where is your victory? Where is your impact? Where is your influence? It’s gone because of the resurrection, the victory that we have, that Christ ascended. He has risen, he has exalted, he has exalted, he has transcended. So clearly in the truth that Christ became man, in his resurrection he has lifted up our humanity so that we proclaim and we hear proclaimed and declared in Psalm 8, what is man that you are mindful of him, that you have exalted him over the rest.
And we’re told that Christ is the fulfillment of those very words. Humanity is exalted far above and gone beyond the natural state of the dust of the earth to the heavens in which the spirit resides and we reside in and of and from the spirit. This is the result. This is the reality made through the resurrection of Jesus Christ our savior. He fulfills all that was meant to be in Daniel chapter 7 when we see the son of man ascending through the heaven of heavens and is seated on a throne and given dominion that will never be taken away. Do you understand what this reality means brothers and sisters that right now even today there is a man on the throne of God. But there’s still more. There’s still more because Jesus excels way beyond all expectations in his resurrection from the dead so that his apostle goes even further which brings us to our third and final point.
Jesus becomes the giver of spiritual life. Jesus becomes the giver of spiritual life. Jesus the man becomes the giver of spiritual life. Not only does Jesus not die for himself so neither does Jesus merely conquer death and rise from the dead for himself but he does so for you and for me. Paul begins in verse 20 of our passage saying that Jesus has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep the first fruits of the resurrection. Now here the apostle has in view the still future resurrection harvest of the body. Jesus is the first to rise from the dead. Now how can Paul make that statement when we read in scripture chronologically there are other people that rise from the dead. Well here’s the difference. Jesus is the first to rise from the dead qualitatively to the point of never succumbing to death again brothers and sisters those that rose from the dead before that they died again Jairus’ daughter died again Lazarus died again but Jesus’ resurrection is qualitatively again it’s the power out of which they rise from the dead but they eventually die again because their bodies are still connected to this old creation but when Christ rises he transforms he transcends this old life to never succumb to this old death dying world again.
He was not merely the first to rise from the dead but he’s the one now through whom all others are resurrected as well. Why do you think he’s judge of the living in the dead because even those that are risen on the last day whether the just or the unjust they are able to rise from the dead because of his resurrection. He becomes the source of all resurrection here. Again listen to what Paul says in verses 21 and 22. He says since by man came death by man this man Jesus also came the resurrection from the dead for as an Adam all die even so now in Christ all shall be made alive. And so this is why Jesus can respond to Martha the way he does as she comes crying out about this reality and Jesus says Martha do you not believe that your brother will live again and she she’s a good Jewish covenantal believer yes I know that he’ll rise on the last day and how does he respond to her.
He brings that which is in the future into the present again and he says Martha I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection life. So again we understand and we believe correctly at Jesus second coming. We are told the dead in Christ will rise and those who still live on the earth when Christ returns will be changed will be transformed given resurrected bodies spiritual heavenly bodies new creation bodies and we are told by John we will see him because we will be like him. But again Jesus doesn’t merely give bodily resurrection life that’s true as glorious that is and that is again part of our blessed hope but he gives spiritual resurrection life now and that’s the point that Paul’s trying to beat into the heads of the body of Christ understand brothers and sisters that when you’re united to Jesus Christ in faith and you have the spirit of Christ in you the spirit Holy Spirit in you you have the same spirit in you that raised Christ from the dead.
You have resurrection life in you now for if we are united right now with the resurrected Christ then we too are raised to life in the inner man. Yes the old man is wearing down we all have daily experience with that we all recognize this old tent is wearing away but in the inner man is being built up. So listen carefully and consider what the apostle says in verse 45 listen to these words. So it is written the first man Adam became a living being the last at get this the last Adam became life giving spirit. Now to be honest this is a controversial passage. What does the apostle Paul mean when he says these words. There’s much debate concerning it but I am persuaded that in the context in the way that Paul uses such language elsewhere spirit here should be capitalized.
This isn’t lower case spirit some other spirit it is the Holy Spirit of God who gives life the scriptures Romans 8 11 2nd Corinthians 3 6 John 6 63 1st Peter 3 18 we confess as much in our Nicene Creed and I believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of life. There is no life apart from the spirit and if Jesus gives life then Jesus again has transcended and that the apostle Paul states unequivocally the last Adam became life giving spirit and know well he became this is not referring to his deity as the God the son from all eternity but to his humanity to his humanity as the last Adam as the second man and when again did Jesus become life giving spirit. Again from the context it was at his resurrection it was at his resurrection.
One scholar says it this way at his resurrection the personal mode of Jesus existence as the last Adam was decisively transformed by the Holy Spirit the spirit who raised Jesus up as firstfruits and dwells him so completely and in such a fashion that in their functioning he is the spirit who will be instrumental in the resurrection of the full harvest and again Paul’s point is that by virtue of resurrection or his glorification Christ as the last Adam has come into such complete and permanent possession of the Holy Spirit as he himself has been so thoroughly and climatically transformed by the spirit that consequently the two are equated in their working. They are to be seen as one as they have been made one specifically in the activity of giving life that is eschatological life that is resurrection life the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead now Jesus himself joins in this work of raising us from the dead and more than just the resurrection of the body in the last day at his return Christ is presently bestowing granting giving eschatological life to you as people because of who he now is and has become life-giving spirit.
Another way to see Paul’s point here is that first Corinthians 1545 is in effect his one sentence commentary on Pentecost with Christ’s death but especially his resurrection ascension as Peter indicates in Acts chapter 2 verses 32 and 33 Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit Christ pours out this which you now see and hear life-giving spirit. So in Jesus as the last Adam as the life-giving spirit as he baptizes you his people into the spirit he’s baptizing you into himself as he gives us the Holy Spirit he gives us the gift of the spirit is the gift of Christ himself the resurrected glorified Christ if we are in Christ then we are in the spirit if we are in the spirit then we are in Christ and this is why Paul has no problem of referring to the Holy Spirit as the spirit of Christ.
This is also why Paul can say in 2nd Corinthians 317 now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty liberty from sin liberty again from the ravages of sin of this world of the curse of death of all these things Paul says in another place the spirit of the life of Jesus Christ has set me free the exaltation experienced by Christ results in a working relationship between him in the Holy Spirit of a new and unprecedented intimacy and oneness with God and brothers and sisters the good news is that Christ has come to bring us into this same relationship we hear of his high priestly prayer in John 17 that they may be one as I am one with you father that doesn’t mean again what’s Peter mean when he says that we partake of the divine nature and we’re not becoming God but we are intimately connected with our God through the spirit the spirit of Christ because of what Christ has done he now pours out his spirit into us that we might have this oneness that we might have this intimacy with our Lord with our Savior with our God and when again Paul speaking of all these things of the spirit that’s a not lowercase spirit brothers and sisters it is capital it is the Holy Spirit the giver of life it is the life of the resurrected risen Christ who is the Spirit so this is a means to celebrate this is a means to take joy in the reality of what has happened in the Jesus Christ the full work of Christ in his life in his suffering in his death in his burial but in his resurrection from the dead in his exaltation so let us all celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and consider in this deeper and fuller way how he excels way beyond all expectations in his resurrection from the dead he does not merely return to Adams pre fall condition but rather goes way beyond it but also enables you and I also to go way beyond it as well as we are raised up by him and in him this is the new resurrection life again as we focus upon Christ think about Christ in heaven that’s where we are seated in him so we don’t have to succumb to these temptations of sin and of this world it’s as we’re battling with the flesh but we must to give the credence to the spirit that’s alive within us it is the spirit of resurrection it’s a spirit of the age to come that we are being given this guarantee this seal of our everlasting life brothers and sisters it’s a life in the spirit that Christ has opened up in his victory not only is Jesus the man become one with the spirit of life but he has become and is the life-giving spirit as we see he has given himself in giving you the spirit of life resurrection life now today this then is how you are called and enabled to live the Christian life now if you’re trying to do this by your own physical strength your own fleshly means you can’t do it you will not do it you need the spirit of Christ you need the resurrected Christ in you that’s why Paul says for me to live is Christ it is Christ in me the hope of glory this then is how you are called and enabled to Chris live the Christian life today how you can and do live victorious resurrection life he is risen brothers and sisters and because he is risen from the dead so are you through faith in him so believe and live to his everlasting glory amen amen let us pray a gracious and heavenly father we thank you for the excellence of your beloved son that he has gone way above and beyond all that we could imagine or think in the work of salvation that he has so loved us loved you and wanted to please you that you have given him a people and you’ve called us in him we don’t deserve it father but we give you praise and thanks and we’ll bask in the reality of it for all eternity so receive now our praises and our thanks and that we may lay down our lives as living sacrifices for what he has done for us and that we might go forth living in the power of his resurrection and by way of his spirit your spirit father that you pour out through him we pray it in Jesus precious name amen
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