My apologies if you had trouble hearing me earlier and I guess if there's anyone out there streaming our service, apologies, I forgot that the pulpit mic is down right now and we're dependent on the one that I'm wearing over my ear for sound and I forgot about that. So my apologies, but now you should all be able to hear me just fine. And let's, Turn in our Bibles if you would to 1 Corinthians 15 as we continue to look at this portion of the Word of God and to be encouraged from how many wonderful things are here, but also just encouraged in our heart generally about the nature of the resurrection of Christ. That's the subject in 1 Corinthians 15. And we're making our way little by little through it. So many wonderful things for us here The Spirit of God has placed in the text for us as he worked with the Apostle Paul to write these things just as God would have them. So let's take a moment and ask the Lord for help. Some of these things are challenging for us to understand that we want to do our best and we want to have understanding that we can then apply to how we think and live. Let's pray. What a marvel the Word of God is to us, Lord, as you have given it to us. We remember that the scriptures affirm about themselves that, well, the scripture is active and living, that it is God breathed, you've breathed it out. These are your words. We can declare them as the Word of God because you have inspired them. We thank, we're thankful for the faithful servants that you use to bring the Word of God to us. Not only in those whom you superintended that they would write your words, but those faithful men and women that help safeguard the scriptures over the years. And especially we're grateful as English speakers to have had the Word of God so well and faithfully translated into our language. We know it's a stewardship and we pray that we would be increasingly worthy of it. Help us now as we consider the Word together to understand it rightly. To be faithful to apply your truth in a faithful way to our hearts. To live it out, not so that we can be filled up with knowledge only, but that we can become more like Christ. that we can serve you through your word. Give us humility as we understand things, because it doesn't come because of our ability. But spiritual things are spiritually appraised and we're dependent on your spirit to help us. So we pray that you would give us grace. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us our daily bread here in the word of God. Amen. I want to read the whole chapter with you this week, and we've been reading just portions of it, but I want us to be reminded again that the main context of all the things that Paul is saying here and that the Spirit of God is communicating here to the church is related to the issue, the subject of the resurrection. Chapter 15, verse 1. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and which also you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scripture. and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the 12. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles. And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also, for I am the least of the apostles and are not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preached and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. Your faith is also in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are now not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins. Then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, 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 authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is accepted who put all things in subjection to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Why are we also in danger every hour? I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals. Become sober-minded as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. But some will say, how are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? You fool, that which you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And that which you sow, you do not sow the body, which is to be, but a bare grain. perhaps of wheat or of something else, but God gives it a body, just as he wished, and to each of the seed a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for stars differ from star and glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor, 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last, Adam, became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man is from earth, earthly. The second man is from heaven. As is the earthly, so also are those who are earthly. As is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep. But we will 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 must put on imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, 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 brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Wonderful, wonderful description and explanation for us of the reality of the resurrection and what the resurrection means and what it'll do. But you'll see that our discussion so far, we're only about halfway through of all these things that the apostle has said about the resurrection. And sometimes while it's our job and our purpose to take piece by piece and try to understand the flow of what Paul is saying and understand as a whole, let's not forget that there is a whole answer here. The whole chapter he's addressing this, this confusion, this misunderstanding, this wrong thinking that there's no resurrection from the dead. And he's assuring the church that there is resurrection from the dead. And he's explaining about that to us. So as we get into the details then, because we're not going to hit it this time, but I'm sure all of you are waiting, uh, you know, when I return for what's this whole business about being baptized for the dead. Well, you're not going to get that answer this week. That'll be that'll be coming. But, you know, for now, just just let it rest, because he's telling us all these things about the resurrection, because there is the question in minds of the believers about, well, is the resurrection from the dead for real? Because there were some saying in the church there in Corinth that the dead, when you die, you don't really rise bodily from the grave. And Paul is saying not so. And of course, you know much of the argument. He's told them it's not so. We've gone over the fact that if there's no resurrection from the dead, then Christ hasn't been raised. And if Christ hasn't been raised, that creates this big problem for us because we've, well, we've staked our claim on the fact that our King, our Messiah, that the Son of God rose from the dead. We're believing in that and that is giving us hope for our future. So we are Hopeless we are to be pitied if these things are not true, but as he states in verse 20 But Christ has been risen from the dead and this is the section That we find ourselves in Christ has been risen from the dead He is the first fruits of those who are asleep asleep being the metaphor for dying for the Christian We like that, don't we? The early church got that, and so instead of, oh, they died, is they are asleep because of the hope of the resurrection. Here, Paul refers to it in that way. But Jesus in his resurrection is just the first fruit, that is to say, there's more fruit of the crop of resurrection coming, right? That's the meaning of him being the first fruit. And we went over, well, this is why God is doing it like this. There was a man through whom the human race died. For since by a man came death, by a man also came resurrection of the dead. has brought in the remedy to that great fall into sin of of his special creature, the men and women who bore the image of God. He made them in his image. He made them male and female. And so we have the image of God in us. But sin has ruined this. There was disobedience and the promised death that came because of disobeying. And the day that you eat, Adam, you will surely die. And that happened. Death enters, so by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection, and God has sent a man to remedy our situation. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Everyone connected to Adam now goes dead, because that's the only kind of babies Adam could have produced, is ones who would die. But by another man, if you're connected to Christ, if by faith you're united with Christ, then through that man, who we call the last Adam later, Christ, I will be made alive. And then he says, verse 23, look there, but each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits. After that, those who are Christ's at his coming. And so the last time we were in this text, we were talking about, okay, he mentions the coming of Christ here because when can we expect our resurrection? If Christ is the first fruits and we're going to be a part of that fruitfulness, that crop of the resurrection, if I can put it in those terms, when is that happening? Christ was the firstfruits. After that, those who are Christ at His coming. So when He comes, when He returns, we can expect to see the rest of the crop. That's when believers in Christ will be resurrected. That's when believers in the promise of God realize in Christ will be resurrected. And we went over that last time. It says, Christ the first fruits. After that, those who Christ that is coming verse 24. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the God and father. when he has abolished all rule and authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And so we went through, hey, when Christ comes back, those who are Christ's will be resurrected. When Christ comes back, what will happen as he comes back is he'll hand over the kingdom to the father. That's going to happen when he comes. When he comes back, he'll be accomplishing the abolishing of all rule and authority and power. You see, Christ isn't going to hand over the kingdom to the Father until all rule and authority and power has been overcome. Right? That's what he says. We're going to see this resurrect. Remember, the main theme is he's not teaching here principally about the return of Christ. He's teaching principally about, I mean, the first order of his answer here is about the resurrection. And the answer is, when's this going to happen? Well, it's going to happen when he comes. And that time when he comes is going to involve Him giving this over to the father and he's going to be doing that because he's overcome all our rule authority and power and the last Power the last thing that he's going to overcome is what is death When he has Abolished all rule and authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy is going to be death. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. So as he's abolishing all this rule and authority and power, the last one is going to be. Well, we read about that in Revelation 20, didn't we? When does dying stop? Because even when Christ returns with his saints and his army, we see that there is opposition at his return. And the beast and the false prophet are there in opposition. And we saw that when Christ returns, he grabs the beast and the false prophet, and they go alive into the lake of fire. He doesn't even bother killing them. He just sends them right there. And the rest of the army are destroyed. And we expected, OK, so what about then our great enemy? he should go into the lake of fire too, right? Because he's coming to undo all rule and authority. And he does, but there's a thousand years first, right? This is what Revelation, that's why we read it this morning, 19 and 20 is talking about when he, when he sends the uh beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire it says another angel comes and doesn't put the devil in the lake of fire yet he binds him and puts him in the abyss the bottomless pit and he shuts the door and he seals it and that's where the devil stays and it says explicitly that's done to the devil so that he can deceive the nations no more Why is this important? Because Christ has come to establish His kingdom and He's going to make sure that all the people of the earth follow after Him and understand that it's His will. There's no deceiver going around at that time trying to undo or get people not to be in allegiance with Christ. And that will go on and he'll have that role and he'll subdue the earth. He's going to rule the earth with a rod of iron. He's not going to, any rebellion that will happen in the millennial kingdom is going to be immediately stamped out. He's ruling with a rod of iron. His kingdom is not going to tolerate any of that. And so for a thousand years, you're going to have a reign of Christ on the earth until that's been conclusively identified. What other king in the history of the world has ruled for a thousand years? and had the peace and prosperity and the entire global rule that Christ will have for a thousand years, it's kind of solidified that at that time that he's indeed the king of the world. And so the enemy is released for a brief moment, then at the end of the thousand years. And what does the enemy do? Once he's not restrained from deceiving the nations, he what? He immediately starts to rally whoever will come to him against the Lord. And we read that that's when The devil is cast into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet. And those who would rebel against the Lord at that point are burned up. The enemies, the powers, and the authorities that might try to rival Christ in his rule, he's going to destroy all of them. That's what we see. When does all this happen? When he comes. When do we expect the resurrection? When he comes. And these are the things that were going to be going on. And then we see, at the end of that, we see the resurrection of the wicked. And the books are opened and the book of life. And because their names aren't fit in the book of life, all the things against them, all the sins that they've ever done, all the charges against them from God's standard, they don't have any escape or hope because their name's not written in the book of life. And so they're cast into the lake of fire along with the devil and the false prophet. and the beast. That's what Revelation is talking about. And it says then, and he'll take then at death and Hades, the place of the dead, the place where it goes, it does not to the comfort of the Lord, that place where all of those in the history of the world who haven't believed in the promise of God, who haven't believed in Christ, that's where they are until that resurrection. And then they go to their final judgment place. And so death and Hades, it says, are cast into the lake of fire. When does death get annihilated? When is there no more death? When does that last enemy get defeated? At that moment. Because there's no more death at that point. And Christ is going to rule until that happens. When does this go on? When he comes. This is, and there's some Christians that don't read this this way. I believe this is the right way to read it. One of my favorite Bible teachers, last week, in fact, it was funny, he, and I admire his ministry, but we disagree on this area, and he happened to, in his YouTube channel, go over the exact same passage I preached on last week. I watched it Sunday afternoon, didn't know he was gonna do it. I watched it Sunday afternoon, and basically he said I was all washed up in how I described it, but I believe he's wrong. I don't think it could be more clear. that these things are happening in this way. I still love that brother. I still benefit from his ministry. He's just off on that one point. I'll forgive him, right? But this is the way it says, hey, when is this going to happen? When Christ comes back, you're going to see the demonstration of the resurrection. In fact, that's when he's gonna conquer all rule and authority, and that's when he's gonna do that. That's when he's gonna hand the kingdom over to the Father. And it's a beautiful thing, isn't it? It still kind of alludes our full grasp of this. This is interaction between the person of the Son, God the Son, and the person of the Father, God the Father. This is God's interaction among himself. It doesn't even make sense to put it grammatically, but that's the reality of of our triune God, our God, one God who is three person. I was like, well, how is that possible? I don't know how it's possible. That's just what the Bible describes our God as. Our God, he is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And here you have the person of the Son, after he has fulfilled the will of the Father, bringing then the whole kingdom and bringing it to the Father. That's what it says here. Christ the first fruits, verse 23. After that, the rest of the fruit of the resurrection, those are Christ's at his coming. Then the end comes when he hands over the kingdom to, it says, the God and Father. It sounds strange in English, right? He's handing it over to the God and Father. But in the New Testament language, the inclusion of the article V is identifying, more than specifying, like, hand me the apple. It's this person and all he's entitled to. This happens, my mother-in-law, when she translates Korean in her head to English, and she wants to thank God for something, and she'll say, thanks to the God. That sounds funny to my English ears, but she's translating literally in her head and they get that right. The scripture does that, refers to the God. And here it does that. The son, he hands over the kingdom to the God and father. The person of the father is to whom the son is doing this. The son is fulfilling the will of the father. As the son came and took on flesh and died for the sake of us and rose again for the sake of us what so that the kingdom might be populated by us and he then takes this kingdom that he has come back and he's been victorious and he's defeated all of the enemies even death then he hands the kingdom to the father now you have now now now we have persons of god now now god has before him a redeemed creation, and all sin and death has been eradicated from it. There was sin and death and rebellion against God, and now the second Adam has come, and he's destroyed all the sin and rebellion, and he's able to return the kingdom of redeemed people back to the Father again. It's a beautiful thing. It's mysterious for me. Because we don't want to think in our minds of two different gods, right? That's blasphemy. But we're being there's there's a little bit of light for us to understand hey there's a there's an interaction here before. between the person of God the Son and the person of God the Father, and it's a delight and a glory to God. And that's why he goes on to this description, in fact, when he says, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. That is, the Father has put all things in subjection under the Son's feet. We know that that's the case because of some of the things that the Psalm says. Go back with me and look at Psalm 110. Turn your Bibles to Psalm 110, and there in the very first verse we see where some of this language comes from that Paul is using to describe this event to us. Psalm 110, verse 1. This is a psalm that David has written, and you'll recognize it because it's quoted a couple times in the New Testament. The Lord, that's Yahweh, said to my Lord, that's Adonai. So Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. This is prophetic. David's saying the God of Israel Yahweh has said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And where did Jesus go when he ascended? He went to the right hand of the Father. Until that time, what? When God sends him, when he comes the second time and all his enemies are put under his feet. Right? That's where that language comes from in part. We can also look at Psalm 8. Turn back to Psalm chapter 8. Psalm chapter 8, verse 6. You make him, here we're talking about man, but who is the perfect man that came? Jesus. You make him to rule over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. That's the quotation. When it comes to men, the special place in creation that God has put men, who puts them over all that? Who puts it under his feet? The idea of being under the feet is, That's what you have authority over. That's where you rule. And God has done that for man. And here for the second Adam, God has put all things under the feet of him. That's what God is doing. He's doing this now. He's giving him that opportunity. The Lord said to my Lord, I'm gonna put all your enemies under feet. And we can see it. We don't really have time to do it. Well, maybe we could, but I'm not going to. But we have First Kings chapter five, Solomon's praying to the Lord. And he says, I know my father, David, was not able to be able to build the temple because of his involvement in this war, even though you gave all these people under his feet. You can also find it in Malachi 4.3 is an example of the righteous will have victory because God is putting the wicked under their feet. This is a sign of conquering. And I mentioned last time, I believe that that was a picture for rulers and conquerors when they defeated a another king, another kingdom, they would often put their foot on their neck as a symbol of I've conquered you, you're under my feet. The footstool, the footstool is where you stand and where bears your whole weight and your enemies are, you're standing over them, you've conquered them, that's the picture. But the father does that for the son. So Christ has come, then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to God the father. when He has abolished all rule and authority. It must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy will be abolished in death. So this is happening as God has directed it, and the Son is being faithful to fulfill that mission. He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet." This is what Paul's trying to say. The end comes when you're going to see the resurrection, and this is going to be happening for the Lord. Verse 27 again, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. That's the quote from Psalm 8. But when He says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is accepted who put all things in subjection to Him. So what's it saying? It's saying the Father who put everything in subjection to the Son is not included in all that is subjected to the Son, because it's everything except Him. He's accepted from that. The Father isn't subjected to the Son, but everything else is. And so the Son, having fulfilled that mission, brings that over and hands the kingdom again to the father this is this is what paul is describing here when he says all things are put in subjection it is evident he is accepted who put all things in subjection to him when all things are subjected to him so so when the son has everything when he's been successful in putting down all rule and authority And even the last one, death, is done. Once that's happened, when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him. So the Son subjects Himself to the Father. Here's the kingdom back. I do the will of my Father. I've come to do the will of my Father, Jesus said. And as the Son, in the role of the Son, then He presents that. And this way, then it says what? So that, God may be all in all. So God plans the redemption of us. God sends the Son. God, in the person of the Son, fulfills that. He dies on the cross. He rises again. He'll come the second time, and He'll conquer all that to bring it back to the glory of God. And it says, in this way, God is in all. God receives the glory as the Son. God receives the glory as the Father. God is all in all. And you think, well, that's a lot to take in. Yeah, it is. It is a lot. But this is what he's describing. He, and why does he go here? Now, Paul's kind of famous, or someone say infamous, but Paul's kind of famous for having these little run-on additions that, you know, he kind of gets, this is the theology, this is the things that the Lord has taught me, and this is the place where he brings it in. He's answering a question about the resurrection, and he brings in this glorious picture of what is gonna happen when God is glorified, when Father and Son are glorified together in the redemptive plan of God. And he explains that, but he's like, that's when you're gonna see it. That's his whole point. You're going to see the resurrection when the end comes. And all these things are going on. And we who are going to be resurrected are going to be witnesses to all of this. We're going to see God glorified in all of these ways. And that's why then he goes on to say, whatever baptism of the dead is, and we'll learn about that next time. He says, why are people doing it if Jesus isn't raised from the dead? But because this is a reality, people are being connected to this reality in this way. And he goes on in verse 30, why also are we in danger every hour? If the resurrection isn't true and these things aren't for real, why in my proclamation of it am I being persecuted? Then I just say, I'll leave that crazy guy alone. Don't worry. But but no, they're actively trying to shut him up. The kingdom of darkness that still prevails in the world and doesn't want to be subjugated to Christ is in opposition to if this isn't for real, if the resurrection isn't for real, then why am I why are we in danger? For proclaiming it. And that's what Paul is getting to. But the conclusion of today's message is just about that. It's about making it God is all in all. And our resurrection is part of glorifying God as all in all. Because you and I as believers in Christ represent the victory of God at the present time. And in the future, when we're resurrected, we are going to be a demonstration, a cosmic demonstration for all time of the greatness of God and the goodness of God and the glory of God. And the reality that God's righteousness is righteousness, the wicked are going to be done away with. Wicked souls like ours are redeemed and changed and made righteous, declared righteous in Christ. That's all fixed. And so we are a testimony of the Lord, glorifying the Lord forever and ever by our very existence. You are raised from the dead for the glory of God. so that God may be all in all. At every end point, who's the one that deserves the praise? At every end point, who's the one that gets the glory? That God may be all in all, that God will be glorified in all of these things. How do you say that there's no resurrection for the dead? Don't you understand that it's God's plan to glorify himself one day through a resurrected mob of people that are glorifying and praising him forever and ever. You sure about that? Well, I just want to go back to go to Ephesians with me. You know, I love Ephesians 2. I go there a lot. There's just so much here. I can't avoid it. But listen to what it says. Verse 1, chapter 2. you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Sons of disobedience have been people that aren't saved yet. Among them, the sons of disobedience, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh. Indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And were, we were, by nature children of wrath even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ." Now we've talked about that before. You know I've mentioned that many times, that it's glorious for us in Christ. We're made alive and we're raised up with Him, and we're seated with Him in the right hand of the heavenlies. Now, I'm not there yet, you're not there yet, but God looks at us by faith in Christ as being with Him. Our salvation is so firm and secure, God thinks of us as already with Christ. We've been made alive, we've been raised up with Christ, we're seated with Him in the right heaven. Why? Verse 7, so that in the ages to come, when Christ has delivered the kingdom to God, when Christ has overcome all the enemies, when death is finished and the kingdom is handed over and God is all in all in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. We will be forever and ever receiving the kindness of the riches of His grace because we're in Christ. We are on display for Him. Chapter 3 of Ephesians. Verse 8. To me, Paul says, the very least of the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles. So the Jews were those who believe were expecting it. The Gentiles were, as Paul says, you're lost without God in the world. You weren't even close to the promise of God. but God has brought you in. To me, the very least of the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God, verse 10, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. What's that talking about? Now, the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places are going to have something made known to them. What is it? The wisdom of God. Verse 10, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The church, the redeemed saints, all of us who have trusted in Christ, we are a testimony to the powers of heaven of God's what? manifold wisdom, how God in his wisdom saved a people that were at once sinners and rebels, but now have been transformed by faith in Christ and are a part of this company that now continually brings glory to God for their redemption forever and ever. We are, we're like God's trophy case. When you wanna see how great a school's team is or a school's band or something, you go to that area of the school where they teach the students and you see what, you see all the awards and all the accolades and all the, look what we've done. That's what we are for God in eternity. You wanna look at the great glory of God's love and kindness and grace? Look at the church. Because there are a bunch of stinking rebels whose sins should have condemned them. But God, with the great love with which He's loved us, has transformed us and made us new and brought us to be of His kingdom forever, ever, as a testimony to His grace and His kindness and His power and His might forever and ever. So that whatever authorities there are in heaven, will be making known to them the manifold wisdom of God. There was a people that were dead in their sins. The enemy seemed like he had won, but they had been transformed. and made new, and the enemy is no more, and sin and death have been destroyed, and all we have now is the righteous kingdom of God, filled with the saints of God, purchased by the Son of God, to the glory of the Father, so that God might be all in all. This is what Paul's talking about. I get it why he gets a little distracted from the resurrection. Because he got caught up in the excitement of, hey, the resurrection means that we're going to be a part of all of that. How can you say there's no resurrection of the dead? God's planned it for His glory. And this is what we celebrate when we remember the resurrection. Listen, the gospel, Paul said, we preach the gospel and you have to have the resurrection. And it's real because look at all the ones he appeared to afterward. He even appeared to me, even though I shouldn't even be an apostle. He appealed to me. So if it's not true, then just pity us. But it is true. He has indeed raised from the dead and he's the first fruits of it. The rest of the fruit come later at the end when all these things take place. So God might be all in all. Of course it's real. Of course the resurrection is real. Of course it's to be believed and of course it's to be rejoiced in. Because it's God's very plan. to bring glory to himself. Why else would we be suffering like that? Why are those who want to be connected to it, why are they doing what they're doing? If this isn't real, of course it's real. It's how God is going to glorify his name. And so more next time to describe that. We're only halfway through the discussion, right? On the resurrection. And he's already brought us here, you know, to glory. But this is why If you don't believe in the resurrection, you have no Christian faith. When you believe in the resurrection, you're getting to the heart of what God is doing through His kingdom of redemption. Let's pray.