Sermons
Great Expectations Part 7
Great Expectations 7
Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection
Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21-27a, 52b-57
Introduction:
1. These three passages refer to death, immortality and the resurrection.
2. They are interrelated concepts. Scripture indicates that our King came to the earth to die for us, to raise us to life and to grant us immortality.
3. Some believe that our physical death constitutes the end of our existence. According to the Greek philosophers the body is evil. Their perception was that someday the soul would be released from the physical body. In this view a bodily resurrection becomes meaningless. Some view the soul as immortal, as inherently lasting forever. This view also may inadvertently diminish the idea of a bodily resurrection.
4. What does the Bible say? What is the interrelationship of these concepts? What do they mean to us as far as the work of Christ is concerned?
Discussion:
I. The Bible describes man as a created being both body and spirit. Death is the separation of body and spirit.
A. James 2:26 says, “The body without the spirit is dead.”
1. Death is thus described as the separation of the body and the spirit.
2. Life, by contrast, is the body and spirit operating together.
B. This duality of man fits with the language of the Genesis account of creation (Gen.
2:7).
1. “God formed man of the dust from the ground.
2. And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
3. And man became a living being.”
C. Some believe that man is a three-fold being consisting of body, soul, and spirit (cf.
1 Thess. 5:23), but some passages use “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably (ex. Lk.
1:46-47; Isa. 26:7). Other passages seem to speak only of the material and
immaterial parts of man (Matt. 10:28; 1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 7:1; James 2:26),
sometimes referring to the body and spirit (ex. James 2:26), sometimes to the
body and soul (ex. Matt. 10:28).
D. For our purpose we will consider man as composed of both material (body) and
immaterial (soul/spirit) parts. Death is the separation of the material and the
immaterial aspects of man. This separation occurs as a result of sin (Rom.
5:12).
E. Death is regarded in Scripture as our enemy (1 Cor. 15:26).
1. The devil is said to have the power of death (Heb. 2:14).
2. We are subject to the slavery associated with the fear of death (Heb. 2:15).
3. But this text in Hebrews 2 indicates that Jesus came to deliver us from death
(9, 14-17). He did this by making propitiation (satisfaction) for sin. Sin
results in death (Rom. 6:23), but Jesus paid the penalty and so released us
from the condemnation (Col. 2:13-14).
F. “But men are still dying,” someone objects. “How is it that Jesus has delivered
us from the slavery of the fear of death?” Herein is the tension of the “already
and not yet” aspect of the Kingdom of God.
1. Believers are already part of the new creation. They have been born again,
raised from the grave of baptism to walk in newness of life.
2. And yet, 1 Cor. 15:26 acknowledges that the last enemy (death) has not
been abolished.
3. But Scripture creates the Great Expectation of a coming resurrection (1 Cor.
15:52b).
III. The concept of resurrection permeates the message of Scripture.
A. While the Sadducees questioned the resurrection (Matt. 22:23ff) and the
Athenians sneered at the concept (Acts 17:32) Jesus clearly taught it.
B. In John 5:28-29 Jesus said, “An hour is coming, in which all who are in the
tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a
resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of
judgment.”
Dan. 12:2 says, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake,
these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (cf.
Isa. 26:19).
These passages acknowledge a time when all will be raised from the dead.
Acts 24:14-15 says, “I serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is
in accordance with the Law and what is written in the Prophets; having a hope in
God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a
resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.”
Rev. 20:11-15 . . .
C. 1 Thess. 4:16 speaks of the second coming of Christ. “The Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
Phil. 3:20-21: “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state
into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He
has even to subject all things to Himself.”
1 Cor. 15:22b-24: “In Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order:
Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes
the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has
abolished all rule and all authority and power.”
D. While the people of God experience a resurrection of life;the enemies of God
(“seed of the serpent,” Gen. 3:15) experience “the second death” (Rev. 20:14-15).
III. Tying together the concepts of death, resurrection and immortality.
A. Death is the consequence of sin.
1. Whether we are talking about spiritual death or physical death both are the
result of sin.
a. Physical death was introduced by Adam’s sin.
b. I die spiritually as a result of my own sin.
2. But the effect of sin is overcome by Christ. God has delivered us (1 Cor.
15:21-22).
B. God has brought life through His Son (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
1. He raised Him from the dead.
2. Jesus’ resurrection proves God’s power to raise the dead and confirms His
promise to raise us.
C. In our baptism we are joined together with Him (Rom. 6:4-5) and raised up with
Him through faith in the working of God (Col. 2:12). We are already resurrected.
D. But there is more . . . a coming resurrection when the last enemy (death) is
subjected to Him.
E. In that resurrection there will be a union of body and spirit, an imperishable body,
a spiritual body. The people of God will put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:35ff). In
this new state (the new heaven and new earth) there will be no tears, no death,
no mourning or crying or pain (Rev. 21:4).
Conclusion:
1. I realize I am asking you to believe things that are incredible!
2. But this is the nature of the case when God intervenes in the history of man.
3. Incredible things happen!!
4. They stretch our imagination and ask us to believe beyond what we have experienced.
5. They call on us to trust in what God has said and in what He has done.
6. It shows His care and concern for us! And it creates “Great Expectations!”
