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1 Corinthians 15:34-49 ESV
34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 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. 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
I. LOOK AROUND YOU (34-39)
A. We see from botany that it is possible for 1 body to die and a new, more impressive and glorious body rise in its place.
B. We see from creation that God’s diversity is reflected in the diversity of His creation, and the diversity of our bodies. (Revelation 7:9-10)
C. We see from biology and astronomy that God is able to create and give us the bodies we need to accomplish what He has for us to do.
D. We see in the Gospel that God is able to redeem what sin and Satan and we have broken and corrupted.
II. THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT (40-44)
A. What is buried is corrupt and perishing. What is raised is incorrupt and will live for forever, as a result.
B. The body is buried without honor, while the body that is raised is glorious.
C. The body that is buried was fitting for this life & world. The body raised will be fit for eternal life & God’s kingdom.
III. DEATH AS A MERCY AND FRIEND (45-49)
A. That our bodies die, & decay is a merciful gift of God. (Genesis 3:22-24)
B. Our impending death forces us to make decisions about our eternity.
C. The only way to be raised from the death to eternal life is through the second Adam, Jesus Christ. (Genesis 2:7, Ephesians 2:1-4)
NEXT STEPS
1. God will have His victory over sin and Satan and that means restoring fully what they ruined.
2. Eternal life and resurrected “new” bodies are received as a gift from God to us.
NEXT WEEK:
I Can Only Imagine: Knowing the End Changes the Now
1 Corinthians 15:50-58