What Will Your Resurrection Be Like?
Intro:
1. ILL: “When the Trumpet Sounds”.
2. Lord Jesus rose from the grave to pave the way for the rest of us!
3. When you identify with Him, you can eagerly await for the time when you will conquer death & enter triumphantly into heaven.
4. What will your resurrection be like?
I Corinthians 15:35-58
I. What the Non-Christian World Thought
A. The ancient Jewish concept.
1. Sadducees thought death was it. There was no bodily resurrection.
2. Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but the Old Testament was very vague:
a. Ps 6:5 - No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?
b. Ps 30:9 - What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
c. Ps 115:17 - It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence.
d. The strongest Old Testament scripture is Job 19:25-26 - I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
e. Another strong one might be Ps 73:24 - You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
B. The ancient non-Jewish concept.
1. Our souls simply sink back into union with the gods.
2. We lose personal identity & consciousness; like the Hindu Karma & the New Age philosophy.
II. v35-50 - What Will Your Resurrection Really Be Like?
A. The Rapture (a theological title, not a biblical one). I Thess 4:13-17 - Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
B. v35-38 - It’s like having a flower bloom after planting a seed.
1. v37 - The seed is planted & watered - it decays & dies.
2. v38 - The flower looks a lot different than the seed that produced it.
3. v38 - Whatever these spiritual bodies will be, they will be pleasing to God.
C. Whatever these spiritual bodies will be like, they will be superior to what you have now! I Cor 15:40-42 - There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.
III. v51-58 - How Will You Be Changed?
A. v51-52 - Instantaneously.
1. When you die. II Cor 5:6-8 - Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
a. ILL: Dr. Raymond Moody’s clinical death testimonies.
b. ILL: Confirmed by Barbara Merten’s personal experience.
2. If you remain alive until the 2nd Coming & experience the Rapture.
B. Resurrection is possible only because of what Jesus did for you on the cross!
1. The resurrection is for those of you who stand firm in your faith! - v57-58
2. The resurrection is for those who have not moved away from God. Eph 4:14 - Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
3. The resurrection is for those who have given themselves fully to the Lord. ILL: “Wheelbarrow Chris- tians” - going no further than you are pushed!
a. Can you imagine heaven being filled with people like that?
b. Here we are, praising the Lord, & someone complains, “Do we have to sing all the verses?”
Start now & give yourself fully to the Lord!
You never have to fear death!
Just be anxious to stand in God’s holy presence!
https://www.biblelifemessages.org

	Physical Body	Spiritual Body
1. v42	Perishable - corruptible	Imperishable. After 40 these physical bodies begin wearing out!
2. v43a	Dishonor - dull, unattractive	Glory - lit. brilliant. ILL: The Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-6).
3. v43b	Weak	Powerful
4. v44	Natural - material, of the flesh.	Non material - no physical substance.
5. v45-50	You are like Adam now - of the dust.	You will be like Lord Jesus then!