Sinners Made Saints: At the Last Trumpet’s Sound

In the 1st century world into which Christianity was birthed, every culture of the Mediterranean basin believed in an after-life. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Parthians, and Babylonians all agreed that there was something after death. Equally true, each of these cultures viewed resurrection as patently absurd! Only Judaism believed in the resurrection of the body, but even among them the political group known as the Sadducees rejected it — but then again, they rejected any kind of afterlife whatsoever. Thus, Christianity was born into a world where its core belief was almost universally recognized as false. And yet, without the resurrection the Christian faith is a false faith.

Resurrection is the reversal of death, its cancellation, the destruction of death’s power. In Christ’s resurrection we have the death of death. That is what pagans denied. When Paul preached the Gospel in Athens, the pagan philosophers gathered on Mars Hill were mesmerized by this ‘new religion’ ... until, that is, Paul got to the resurrection, and then they ridiculed him, scorning him with laughter.

We fail to realize how different, how revolutionary Christianity was from its religious competitors. Without the resurrection, Jesus was just a good teacher, a wise Rabbi, or an astute philosopher. But resurrection changes everything. The resurrection fulfills the Scriptures and validates Jesus’ divinity. It sets Him apart from all the other great religious leaders who have ever lived. Gandhi is gone and still in his grave. Buddha is gone and still in his grave. So is Confucius and Mohammed. They’re all dead and still in their graves. But Jesus is alive! And because has been resurrected, we also will be resurrected.

As the Apostle closes out his defense of the resurrection he specifically ties it to another core belief of our faith — the Parousia. It’s a word that means arrival, and in the Latin Bible is translated as advent. Paul associates our resurrection with the Second Coming of Christ to establish his kingdom. This second coming involves ...

• The Believer’s Transformation

• The Believer’s Triumph

• The Believer’s Thanksgiving, and

• The Believer’s Therefore

I. THE BELIEVER’S TRANSFORMATION

1. we shall be changed ... transformed ... metamorphosisized

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:50–53, ESV)

ILLUS. Charles Reynolds Brown, Dean of the Yale University Divinity School at the turn of the 20th century, once said, “There are three things that I could never believe. Number one, that God would create a world like ours and then turn His back on it. Number two, that He could create man and then desert him at the grave. Number three, that he would plant a desire for immortality in the human heart and fail to provide for a realization of that desire.

2. the Bible repeatedly promises us that God will not desert us to the grave

a. man was created by God in His own image — the Imago Dei

1) that means many things, and one of the things it means is that all men were created to live eternally

b. whatever his or her spiritual condition at the time of death, all people will experience immortality and resurrection

1) if they are “of Christ” that immortality is spent with Jesus in His Kingdom

2) if they are “of this world” that immortality is spent away from Jesus in the Lake of Fire spoken of in the Book of Revelation

3) Jesus, himself, spoke clearly about this in John’s Gospel

““Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:25–29, ESV)

4) the Apostle John refers to both of these resurrections in Rev. 20, and tells us they are separated by one-thousands years ... that 1,000 years being Christ’s Millennial Reign

b. but the truth is — everybody will be resurrected

1) some to the resurrection of life

2) some to the resurrection of damnation

c. but everybody will be resurrected

1) this morning I want to tell you about the resurrection of the believer

3. since that first Easter Sunday the desire and expectation of every Christian has been the hope of the resurrection

"It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thessalonians 2:14, NASB95)

a. our resurrection gains us the glory of our Savior, and is our ultimate hope

4. belief in the resurrection is not an addendum to the Christian faith — it is the Christian faith

a. Paul bluntly said the whole of Christianity stands or falls on the truth of the resurrection

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith ... For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-19, NIV)

b. either Christ rose bodily from the dead, or he didn't, and if he didn't, Christianity is a gigantic fraud and a loathsome hoax

c. but with the resurrection, Christianity becomes a faith that redeems sinners who come to Jesus in repentance and faith, and he gives them eternal life!

5. the Apostle Paul writes that “ ... we shall be changed ... and our mortal body will become immortal ... “

a. our transformation is necessary because “ ... flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ... “ (vs. 50)

b. what will that change look like?

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, ESV)

II. THE BELIEVERS TRIUMPH

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:54–56, ESV)

1. what happens to believers at the resurrection?

2. Paul dealt with the subject by answering three basic questions

a. FIRST, Are the dead raised?

b. SECOND, When are the dead raised?

c. THIRD, How are the dead raised?

3. let me give you Paul’s answers

A. ARE BELIEVERS RESURRECTED?

ILLUS. Amazingly, the 21st century church — particularly in the West — is full of resurrection skeptics. In a 2017 BBC survey of British Christians, a quarter (25%) of all Christians in Great Britain said they did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Nor do they believe in their own bodily resurrection. A Rasmussen poll from a decade ago revealed that 19% of professing Christians in America reject the central doctrine of the Christian faith. What we’re discovering is that, every year, fewer and fewer professing Christians in Western culture believe in the bodily resurrection attested to in the Scriptures. What this means is that a growing number of Christians in the West are heretics!

“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.” (1 Corinthians 15:12–13, ESV)

1. is the resurrection Christians are promised a real, bodily resurrection?

a. Yes! Absolutely!

2. Paul presents three proofs to assure his readers that Jesus Christ indeed had been raised from the dead

a. FIRST, there is the proof of their own salvation – 1 Cor. 15:1-2

1) the gospel that Paul had preached to them had transformed their lives

2) the gospel that Paul preached had transformed his life

3) the gospel that the Paul preached had transformed the lives of the Apostles

ILLUS. Think about Christ’s Apostles. After the crucifixion, but before the resurrection, the disciples are a bunch of cowards who have gone into hiding. None of them, save John, had been at their Master’s crucifixion. After the resurrection, they become confident and bold in their faith. What made the difference in their lives? It was a living Savior that turned eleven fearful doubters into courageous evangelists. Most men are not willing to die for a corpse.

4) the gospel will transform your life if you’ll come to Christ

b. SECOND, there is the proof of Old Testament promises 1 Cor. 15:3-4

1) Paul tells them that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures

a) go home are read Isaiah 53

2) Paul also tells them that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

a) go home and read Psalm 2:7; Psalm 16:8-11; Psalm 22:22; and Isaiah 53:10-12; — all of which predict the resurrection

c. THIRD, there is the proof of many witnesses 1 Cor. 15: 5-11

1) the Gospels record many post-resurrection appearances of Christ to His disciples

2) in this chapter Paul says that Christ appeared to over 500 believers at the same time implying that his appearances could not have been merely a hallucination

3) but the most important post-resurrection appearance of Christ was to the Apostle Paul himself

a) as an unbeliever, Paul was soundly convinced that Jesus was a fraud

b) the radical change in his life — a change which brought him persecution and suffering — is certainly evidence that the Lord had indeed been raised from the dead, and confronted Paul on the Road to Damascus

3. the conclusion is obvious: Why be a Christian if we have only suffering in this life and no future glory to anticipate?

a. the Resurrection is not just important; it is of first importance, because all that we believe hinges on it

B. HOW ARE BELIEVERS RESURRECTED?

1. the key words in this morning’s text are imperishable and immortality

a. four times Paul writes that, at the resurrection, our bodies — that are not perishable — will become imperishable

b. in vs. 53 he writes that our mortal bodies will become immortal bodies

1) it’s really a difference without a difference

2) Christians, whose bodies have perished due to death, will be raised imperishable at the Second Coming

3) Christians, whose bodies are mortal because they are sill alive at the Second Coming, will become immortal

2. in trying to describe our resurrection bodies, Paul uses three analogies

a. FIRST, he compares them to seeds that fall into the ground and sprout v. 37-38

1) when you sow seed, you do not expect that seed to stay the same

2) it changes into something different that is glorious compared to what you buried

b. SECOND, he compares them to different kinds of flesh v. 39

1) there is human flesh

2) there is animal flesh

3) there is fish flesh

4) there is bird flesh

5) and there is resurrection flesh

ILLUS. Paul’s point is that God, as Creator, is the authority on “flesh” and He has created a special flesh for resurrected believers — a glorious flesh.

6) just because our finite minds cannot fathom a flesh that does not die or decay, doesn’t mean such a flesh does not exist

c. THIRD, he compares them to the difference in celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies v. 40

1) planets — which are terrestrial bodies—have a different and significantly less glory than celestial bodies — which are stars

2) and even the stars differ in magnitude of brightness one from another

3) his point is that celestial bodies are far more glorious than terrestrial bodies

3. Paul concludes his use of analogies by saying, So also is the resurrection of the dead

“It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:43–45, KJV)

a. these analogies are Paul’s way of saying that resurrection bodies are not anything like our bodies are now (praise the Lord)

4. these illustrations may not answer every question that we have about the resurrection body, but they do give us the assurance that God will provide a resurrection body exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can think or imagine

a. God will give to us a glorified body suited to life in His eternal kingdom

b. it will be as unlike our present body in quality as the glory of the sun is unlike a 40-watt desk lamp bulb

c. we will use this new body to serve and glorify God for all eternity

C. WHEN ARE BELIEVERS RESURRECTED?

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 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. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:20–23, ESV)

“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52, ESV)

1. Paul paints an interesting picture in v. 20

a. he writes that Christ was the firstfruits of all believers who have died

ILLUS. This is a reference to the Jewish Festival of Firstfruits. On the Day of Firstfruits, the High Priest waved a shock of wheat before the Lord as a sign that the entire harvest belonged to God. Paul’s picture is clear. Jesus was the firstfruit of the resurrection and is a sign that a future resurrection harvest is coming. When Jesus was raised from the dead, it was God’s assurance to us that we shall also be raised one day as part of that future harvest.

2. Paul also lists the order of the resurrection

a. FIRST, Christ has already been made alive

“But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” (Matthew 28:5–6, ESV)

b. SECOND, the dead in Christ shall rise first

1) Paul is clear — those believers who have already died in Christ will be the very first to be resurrected and receive their glorified bodies

2) wherever their bodies are, in whatever condition they are in, no matter how scattered their members may be, their bodies will instantaneously come together, be energized with resurrection life, and come out of their grave

ILLUS. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was one of the South’s most important generals during the American Civil War. He was a born again Christian and a faithful Presbyterian. His contemporaries said that theology was the only subject he genuinely enjoyed discussing. He so believed in the providence of God — that God was in control of his life even on the battlefield — that he was absolutely fearless when shot and shell were whizzing all around him.

At the battle of Chancellorsville he was accidentally shot by his own troops, and his left arm was amputated. It was buried in a private cemetery near the Chancellorsville battle ground. There is even a grave marker for it.

General Jackson went home to Lexington, VA to convalesce, but he died of pneumonia eight days later. His body is buried in Lexington, Virginia, but his left arm remains buried more than 100 miles away in Chancellorsville.

3) I don’t know how God is going to do it, but I know that when the Christian, Thomas Jackson, is resurrected, he’ll have both arms in the kingdom!

c. THIRD, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, KJV)

ILLUS. The word moment in vs. 52 is the word atomos from which we get our word atom. It’s a word that means the shortest possible time, a time so short that it cannot be divided. But then Paul illustrates how rapid that moment is by comparing it to the twinkling of an eye. How fast is that? Scientists say that a twinkle of the eye is the amount of time it takes for light hitting your cornea to travel to the retina at the back of your eye. How long does that take? It takes one-sixth of a nano-second. How fast is a nano-second? It is one-billionth of a second. A twinkling of the eye takes one-sixth of one-billionth of a second. This is fast. So fast that that’ll it be impossible for you to get a selfie of the event.

3. this resurrection of believers at the Second Coming of Christ is called the resurrection of life in John 5:29, and is virtually instantaneous

III. THE BELIEVER’S THANKSGIVING

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57, ESV)

1. the Apostle Paul gives thanks to the One who will give us the great transformation of our bodies and who has made the great triumph over sin and death

a. that which we could never do for ourselves God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ

b. on our behalf Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, fulfilling the law; removing our sin though his substitutionary death on the cross, satisfying God’s wrath with a perfect sacrifice, and conquering death by being raised from the dead

2. God the Father, who did this for His only begotten Son, will also do this for all His adopted sons and daughters — the victory is ours

a. Jesus accomplished all this for us and gives it to us by grace and mercy

b. we didn’t earn it or deserve it or contribute to it

3. how can we do anything but thank and praise God for what He has done for us

a. He has promised us an imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual body for one that is perishable, dishonorable, weak and natural

1) He promises us the heavenly in exchange for the earthly

2) the immortal in exchange for the mortal

4. for Christians death has nor more power over us ... we don’t have to fear it

“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.” (Hebrews 2:14–15, ESV)

a. in vs. 55 we find Paul actually mocking death — he’s daring it to “do its worst” — because the Apostle knows, But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

5. the wonderful good news is that in the death of Christ we experience the death of death

ILLUS. Shortly before the Nazis executed him, German Pastor and Nazi resister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Death is the supreme festival on the road to freedom”

IV. THE BELIEVER’S THEREFORE (and application)

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, ESV)

1. how does a knowledge of our future resurrection affect our daily walk in this world?

A. GROUNDED IN OUR FAITH

1. Christians are to be steadfast in their faith as we await our resurrection

a. the word means to be settled and firmly situated

2. amid the onslaught of diverse teaching in a pagan culture, he urges them to remain firm in the Lord and not to waver

a. America may not yet be a pagan culture, but it is a thoroughly secular culture which offers many of the same temptations and opposing world views as did the pagan culture of Corinth

3. to be grounded in the faith means to be grounded in the Scriptures

B. ANCHORED IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST

1. not only are we to be steadfast in the faith, we are to be immovable

a. this word means essentially the same as steadfast, but with more intensity

ILLUS. It’s the difference between large and humongous. It means to be immobile and motionless.

2. as believers we should never be easily moved away from our spiritual moorings

a. our lives need to be anchored in the person of Christ

C. OVERFLOWING IN GOOD WORKS

1. finally, as we await our resurrections, we need to be ... always abounding in the work of the Lord

a. abounding means overdoing — believers ought to be exceeding the expectations of what we think it means to be a Christian

b. because God has so abundantly overdone Himself for us who deserve nothing from Him, we should determine to overdo ourselves in service to Him, to whom we owe everything

c. until the Lord comes and we are resurrected, there are souls to reach and ministries of every sort to be accomplished

2. we abound in the work of the Lord, because we know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain

Con. We are to be grounded in our faith, anchored in the person of Christ, and overflowing in good works as we wait for these lowly bodies to be transformed into something we can’t even begin to comprehend.

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