Our sermon reading this afternoon, or scripture reading this afternoon is 1 Corinthians 15 verses 50 through 58. Verses 50 through 58. This is Paul putting an end or concluding note to the chapter focused on the resurrection, bodily resurrection, and our connection to Christ as Him being our head, the last Adam. So verses 50 through 58. Before I read, would you please join me in seeking the Lord's blessing and prayer? Lord, we need your word. We need to be able to read it, understand it, to treasure it in our hearts, to be shaped by scripture. And so I pray, Lord, that you would help us to receive your purposes and the benefits you intend for us this afternoon, that we would be able to hear with the ears of faith and to respond well. Lord Jesus, help us as your flock to hear the voice of our shepherd and to follow him. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 1 Corinthians 15, starting at verse 15. Please give your attention to God's Word. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. What would I tell you a mystery? We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 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. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 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. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. when Karina and Elsie were born, Angie and I received a card to celebrate new parents. And on the card was a child screaming and crying its head off, and two very, very sleepy, well-worn parents. And there was a Bible verse attached to this card. And I just read that Bible verse. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. That was the verse attached to it. Well, obviously this isn't Paul's point, is to remind new parents that you will not sleep, but your life will change. In verses 50 through 58, the Apostle Paul calls our attention to a mystery and a trumpet. A trumpet and mystery, if learned and heard, produces victory and faithfulness. But if ignored or rejected, This mystery and trumpet only signifies one's destruction, their defeat, their death. We see that trumpets have varying significance or meaning in the Old Testament. There's places like Numbers 10 where the trumpet is sounded to notify Israel it's time to march or time to fight against her enemies. Then there's also passages like 2 Chronicles 29 where we find the trumpet in what would be Israel's public worship. But the trumpet and the instruments aren't played so as to make the music, the singing sound better, but they are played over the animal sacrifices. If you're unfamiliar with this, I would encourage you to go home and read 2 Chronicles 29, and we see Hezekiah's worship reforms that the trumpets and music or the instruments was played during the sacrifices. And why is that important for us here at the Elkins Park Church? Well, we don't use instruments during our worship. Why? Well, Christ is that final sacrifice. He has given Himself as that Lamb of God, and by His sacrifice, He has once and for all redeemed His people from their sins and from the judgment of God. And so if we don't have any more sacrifices, we do not need instruments to play over them. And so we get trumpets in 2 Chronicles 29, trumpets in Numbers 10, but we also see in the prophets trumpets accompanying what's called the day of the Lord. Places like Joel 2, Zechariah 9, where the trumpet is the sound made for everyone to hear and know that the Lord has come to save his people and destroy his enemies. This is Joel chapter 2. Blow a trumpet in Zion. Sound an alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. It is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Then Zechariah 9, then the Lord will appear over them and his arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. Here, the prophets are using this trumpet to picture God's coming judgment. Where for Numbers 10, the trumpet sounded to prepare Israel to fight for the prophets. They're using this trumpet imagery to let them know that the Lord has come. We see this 18 times in the prophets. This decisive moment where God enters into space-time or into human history. to judge his enemies and save his people. Because of that, we also see that even though it's in that singular day of the Lord, it happens multiple times. So one example could be 2 Kings 19, where the Lord sends his angel to rescue Hezekiah and the southern kingdom from Sennacherib and his army. An angel comes and destroys a huge number of Sennacherib's soldiers. Here is a moment, a decisive day where the Lord acted on behalf of his people to deliver them and judge his enemies. Of course, another example of the day of the Lord would be exile, when he has brought judgment on a hardened Israel, and at the same time set up this exile in a way that preserves a remnant. Christ's first advent was, or his coming, was one of those days of the Lord, in which Jesus came and granted salvation by way of taking on judgment. We read this in Colossians 2 verses 14 through 15. Jesus, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, thus he set it aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. And so in the first advent, the Lord Jesus comes with salvation by taking on the judgment, taking on the wrath of God. But in the second advent, in his return, he will not be bearing judgment, but he will be bringing judgment. And this will happen at the sound of the last trumpet. This is what Paul writes in verse 52. The trumpet will sound, the last trumpet. We also see this in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16. 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. Now Paul's concerns with writing to the church in Thessalonica and Corinth are different, but notice as he talks about Jesus's second advent or his return, it's a similar order. There is a trumpet that is sounded, one that everyone can hear, and the Lord Jesus will return to once and for all deliver his people and judge It's almost as if when Christ returns after the last trumpet, the time to switch teams has run out. Everyone will remain in the position that they are at, their place, or their state when Christ returns. His return means that there has been that time to repent and to turn to the Lord Jesus has come to an end. We actually see this earlier in the chapter. If you could just flip the page and look with me at verses 23 through 28. This is verse 23, but each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death for God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain. that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him." Meaning the father will not be placed under the subjection of the son. Notice that order there. What Christ is doing now is bringing his enemies under his feet. And that's either happening through salvation, people turning away from their sins and turning to the Lord Jesus, or by way of judgment. But when the Lord Jesus returns, it's not so much to continue to work and tighten and improve on the kingdom, but to deliver it to the Father. With that last enemy to be put to death would be death itself. The kingdom is delivered over to God the Father, the kingdom is delivered with enemies subdued, and the kingdom is delivered with the saints who bear the image of the man of heaven, Christ Jesus himself. In light of Paul's point here in verses 50 through 58, and also what we just read, there's two things I want to bring to our attention. One is an objection that you probably hear far too often, and one is maybe a prayer that we don't make enough. The objection that we hear far too often is, this sounds like a very long time. So we had to wait a very, very long time for Jesus to get here. And then Jesus goes and he's ascended, and now we have to wait a very long time for him to come back. This just sounds like bunk. God is promising this judgment, but it's never coming. This isn't real. Now, both Peter and Paul would say, friend, you are missing the whole point of God's slowness. He is slow, not because He is tardy or behind or He needs to adjust His plans. He is slow because in Romans 2, He is showing you kindness and forbearance and patience so that you would repent. Right? So if you're talking with someone and they're saying, well, why has this taken so long? Why hasn't God come back? Why hasn't He judged these evil people now? Well, if you're asking me why God hasn't destroyed evil people now, well, He is giving them time to repent. He desires that they would come to him and not perish. Again, this is Romans 2, verses 4 through 5. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. I remember speaking with a man who was running with a group of friends and the decisions and things that they pursued resulted in death and bad health for all of them except this one individual. who is still healthy, able, and well. And I asked him, did you ever think to yourself why my friends have died? People who I was running with, they're not doing well, but the Lord has kept me. Have you ever thought why that is? And he said, no, don't have any clue. And I said, I'll tell you, it's for you to repent. He has been kind to you and he is kind to you for your repentance. So again, if you hear that, objection these are verses Romans 2 and things that you could say now what is the prayer request that we don't often make enough or the prayer that we don't make enough question 102 in the shorter catechism is what do you pray for in the second petition that is thy kingdom come the answer is in the second petition which is thy kingdom come we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened." The church and the Christians that make up the church must be committed to praying daily that God's kingdom would advance. And as his kingdom advances, it will only move forward in one of two ways. Either people will be turned to repent of their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus, or they will face his judgment. The wrath of God will remain on them. And so as we hear about wars and persecutions and places in turmoil, we should be praying, Lord, bring an end to Satan's kingdom and influence. You have been given that seat at the right hand of God to reign. And we pray that you would extend your salvation or bring judgment on those that you have decided will face your wrath. We need to pray for this because this is given to us as something that marks the advance and progress of the gospel. Praying for the conversion or if in the Lord's wisdom he decides defeat of his enemies. But what about those who belong to Christ? Those who will not face judgment but glory? Well Paul writes in verses 50 through 58 that they need to be made into perfect participants of God's kingdom. This is a point that's important not to miss in Paul's line of thinking. All Christians, regardless of their state, whether they are alive at Christ's return or asleep or dead, need to be made or enabled to enjoy the fullness of God's kingdom. This is the mystery that Paul is referring to. And mystery in the New Testament is not the idea of mystery religions. It's like, oh, you want to know about this, Peter? How much money can you give me? And then I'll reveal the mystery. What Paul means as he uses mystery here in 1 Corinthians, in Romans, Ephesians, is the fullness of what Christ has accomplished in the gospel now revealed by God to the apostles and proclaimed through the Spirit. And so he'll say the mystery is Christ in you, our union with Christ. Not that we just believe in him and he is distant from us, but we are united to him. Or that the Gentiles are not just saved as righteous Gentiles, but they are brought in to be true members of the people of God. They become part of that temple. Paul will use the term mystery to say, essentially, the wonders of the gospel that we would only know if it wasn't for, that we would not know unless the Lord had preached and taught this to us through his apostles. And so here is the mystery. We must all be changed. that the Lord must bring about a change in all of us. This is verses 50 through 51. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Again, we shall not all die. We shall not all be dead when Christ returns, but everyone will be changed. We see this again in 1 Thessalonians 4, 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. Again, note that because there's some unfortunate teaching that's very popular in America that distorts a lot of that. Paul says that when the Lord returns, that those who are alive at His return and those who are asleep, dead, they will both go to be with the Lord at the same time. There will not be this... however many year period between just some Christians to get in to be with Jesus and everybody else has to wait around. All of his believers, whether they are asleep or they are alive at his return, will be changed. Now with Christians who would be dead at Christ's return, that seems kind of obvious. Like yes, he was a beloved saint, but he's dead and in the grave. Surely he needs to be changed. If he's a dead body, how is he going to, enjoy time with the Lord. But what about me? I'm alive. If I'm healthy, why do I need the resurrection power? And the answer is, even if you were alive at Christ's return, you were still subject to mortality. Remember, he says that you cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The kingdom is an eternal kingdom. It is one that lasts forever. And you can't enjoy and delight in a kingdom that lasts forever if you can't. If you will die, if you at one point will a suffered death, there is no way for you to enjoy the fullness of the kingdom. And so whether a brother or sister is dead when Christ returned or alive, they must all be made able to enjoy the eternality of the kingdom of God. They must be changed in order to enjoy the fullness of God, which is a striking thought. Beloved, our God is so immense and glorious. You must be made able to enjoy him. There is no other person in this world that deserves such a change in magnitude to love and enjoy. But the Lord is so grand and glorious that for us to enjoy him as we should, we must be changed. We must be made into the image of the man from heaven, the Lord Jesus, to enjoy him. But there's actually an opposite to that concerning death in our passage, where those who are alive or dead in Christ will be made able to continue to enjoy the goodness of the kingdom, that those outside of Christ at his return will be made able to suffer eternal punishment. Christ's return enhances or heightens the state that men and women are in when he returns. Believers will put on immortality to enjoy the Lord forever. Unbelievers will put on immortality as well in order to suffer the punishment that their sins deserve. This eternal delight and joy in a kingdom is then contrasted with eternal grief and pain as one would suffer God's punishment. There is a season of death for all, but for the unbelievers, there is a death for an eternity or a second death, to use the language from the book of Revelation. This is from chapter 20. Then I saw the great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, this would be all dead, whether Christian or non-Christian, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. and they were judged, each one of them according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. For the Christian, death can only advance our interest. Isn't that incredible? Death can only advance your interest as a Christian. This is why Paul can say, I know it would be more beneficial for you guys for me to stick around, but I know that to be with Christ is far better. That for Paul to live as Christ and die, to die is gain. And this is one of the reasons why. The stinger of death has been removed. Death can only further your delight and conformity to the Lord Jesus. This is what Hosea and Isaiah promised would be the case, and the Apostle Paul quotes from these two prophets as it being accomplished in Christ Jesus. Listen as I read these and see if you can see the connection from verses 50 to 58. Isaiah 25, 6 through 8, this is also quoted in the book of Revelation. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow and of aged wine, well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. This is Hosea 13 verses 14. I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol. I shall redeem them from death. O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Christ has removed the sting and power of death. Death is only a tool in our master's hand to conform us to the image of the man of heaven, the Lord Jesus. Verses 50 through 58 guarantees Christ's return and the Christians' victory. And it seems then that there are two imperatives. Three imperatives. Got two, but I think this is wrong. Three imperatives. Here's the first imperative. If you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, turn from your sins and trust in him because it is the only way that you will be ready for his return. If Christ Jesus returns and you are outside of Christ, if you have not believed in Him and confessed that He is Lord of lords, you have destruction awaiting you, and I would spare you from that, friend. Trust in the Lord Jesus. Now, the two imperatives that I did write down that I think are helpful. The second, follow the clothing metaphor. Notice in verses 50 through 58, as he's talking about the last enemy to be defeated is death, and then Christians will put on immortality. They will put on the imperishable. But when we read through the New Testament, we see that there's a whole bunch of other things that Christians need to already have placed on, have already clothed themselves with. This is Colossians 3. This is just one verse of many I could have pulled. Put on them. as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against one another, against another, forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven you. So you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." How do we prepare ourselves How do we eagerly look towards that day where we will put on immortality? We make sure by the spirit of Christ, we are putting on the right things now. And so brothers and sisters, clothe yourselves in holiness, in compassion, in kindness, in humility, in meekness, grant forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it. Because you were granted forgiveness and you did not deserve it. We are told that in the end, when Christ returns, we will put on that final garment of immortality. But there are still many things that belong to the Lord Jesus that we should be putting on now. Kindness, meekness, bearing with one another. Put this on now. The second is abound, abound. You would think, well, maybe you wouldn't think this, but I was kind of thinking if here, if Paul's focus is on what's going to happen at the end of the world, I was kind of waiting for Paul to give like an apostolic, now wait, right? Here's something that's going to happen in the future. It's not happening now, so wait around. But this isn't what he says. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast. That's being dogged, committed to something, not easily shaken. Immovable. I'm not distracted. I am locked in. Always abounding. Which means I'm not just giving a half-hearted effort. I'm not doing this leisurely or trying to give the minimalist approach to it. I'm abounding in the work of the Lord. Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Paul knows how to address elders and office holders. Paul knows how to point out people specifically by name. We see that in the letter to the church at Philippi. But when he's talking about the work of the Lord here, he doesn't say elders. He says to you, the church, all of those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, as he says earlier in the letter, as you wait for that last trumpet Abound in the work of the Lord. Be steadfast and be immovable, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. I remember I had a coach, and this is a sports analogy. I had a coach who would always say, play to the whistle. Has anybody ever heard that before? Play to the whistle? All right, just a few other people who've played sports. All right, let me tell you what play to the whistle means. In football, at the end of a play, the way it stops or when it's officially over is when you hear the ref blow that whistle. And there could be times where it might appear to you that the play's over, I'm not going to catch that guy, so why should I chase him? And I had a coach that would say, play to the whistle, keep running, keep trying, go as hard as you can until it is officially over. I was thinking about that as I was reading verse 58. We are waiting for that trumpet, that whistle. And we are not to sit around and determine whether we think the play is over, whether we think we should keep running or keep pursuing something. We are told until we hear the trumpet, until the Lord returns to come and get his people, we are to abound in the work of the Lord. If I could, say to you, it has been very, very hard to know that my time at Elkins Park is coming to an end. But I'm not worried at all about you, brothers and sisters. There's obviously the care and burden of love, but I'm not worried about how the church is going to do, because one of the things you do well, and I urge you to get even better at it, is you view yourselves as a crew. We're not just here as passengers or consumers. We are in this together at Elkins Park. We work together. We eat together. We worship together. We care for one another. Continue to do that. Abound in this work.