"Put On Immortality"

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Put On Immortality 1 Cor. 15:50-58

Intro: The Problem
Do you ever feel like you are fighting against the inevitable? (laboring in vain)
Do your bodies feel like they are immortal?
Think about how we live our lives. We work so hard to provide a good life for ourselves and our families, but the further we go on in life the more we realize that our life is coming to an end.
Working towards retirement only to try to regain our youth, to hold off death as long as possible.
“Flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (v.50)
Flesh = corruptible, mortal, perishable
Kingdom of God = incorruptible, immortal, imperishable
Illustration: Do you know anyone that was alive at the time of Paul and the Corinthians? They all rotted and are all dust (or mummies).
Brings up the question: how can we mortals have any hope? We all face death
The Solution
People are trying to fight against this.
Searching for the fountain of youth.
Illustration: Indiana Jones & the Holy Grail
Power to grant eternal life
Ex. Currently trying to perform head transplants in China.
Ex. Science? Technology? Medicine? Proper diet & exercise? Transhumanism? Religion? Escape to the spiritual? Personal piety & cleansing your own desires?
A mystery: something from outside that needed to be revealed
PROMISE: We shall all be changed
The Execution of the Solution (Fulfillment)
When? At the last trumpet (other KEY passages)
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29–31, ESV)
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. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, ESV)
What? “The dead shall be raised incorruptible”
a.k.a. the corrupted shall be raised uncorrupted, even incorruptible (this is what he meant by we shall all be changed
Why?
corruptible must put on incorruption”
and
“mortal must put on immortality”
Result? Scripture is fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory!
Death’s victory removed
Death’s sting removed
Sting of death = sin
Power of sin = the Law (God’s righteousness & justice)
The Means (of Victory)
Thanks be to God
who gives (grace alone) us the victory (to the glory of God alone)
…through our Lord Jesus Christ (Christ alone)
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:24, ESV)
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:13–15, ESV)
Application
Be made/begotten/born (literally “Be made immovable, etc.)
“pronouncement imperative”; this is a passive command
cannot be fulfilled by the recipient (Wallace)
Illustration: have you ever heard someone say “Be born”?
Power of God’s Word & Promise
God has the power to work this in and through you
His promise is so strong and sure that it can give you unshakable hope
The Creator recreates you to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord
Your labor is not in vain because God labored to victory! God has delivered you victory over death through Jesus Christ. You don’t need to fear death. Your loved ones who trusted in Christ will also be raised.
Illustration: Seeing the final score of a sporting event before you watch the recording. If it is a loss it is pretty difficult to even watch the game. If it is a win, the worry is gone. If you watch it and things start to go poorly, you don’t need to panic because you know the outcome.
It changes what you look for in the game too because you start to look at who makes it to the end of the game healthy.
Now go about your work, your daily life knowing that nothing can shake you, nothing can take away what you have, you already have immortality when you have put on Jesus Christ. Death cannot even hurt you, the grave cannot hold you. Listen for that trumpet call!
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”” (John 3:3, ESV)
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5–6, ESV)
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:3–11, ESV)
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