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Tonight we'll be in the book
of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 again and we'll continue our study
through the book of 1 Corinthians. Of course, 1 Corinthians 15 is
one of the greatest chapters in the Word of God. It's known
as the resurrection chapter. And where we're at tonight is
going to be in 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to be focusing
in on verses 20 through verse 23. Let me go ahead and read
those for you. We'll have a brief word of prayer
and get into our study for tonight. But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. But every man in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, they that are Christ
at his coming." Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray your
blessings tonight on our study. We pray that perhaps one will
be touched by this message. We pray that perhaps someone
would be strengthened by it, that someone would come to know
you as their Savior. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Now, we're
going to title this message this evening, Christ the Firstfruits. Christ the Firstfruits. And what
he's speaking of is these the firstfruits of them that slept.
He's the first to resurrect from the dead, never to die again. Now let's look back at verse
20. It says, Now is Christ risen from the dead. Now remember,
part of the reason why we have the Resurrect chapter is because
there were some that were saying there was no resurrection. And
he established in verses 1 through verse 19 the different evidence
for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So now he just says, now
is Christ risen from the dead. And he says he's become the firstfruits
of them that slept. The word slept, or sleep, is
a reference to physical death. Jesus is said to be the firstfruits
of them that slept, so that means that is a reference to the death
of the Lord Jesus. When it says Jesus slept, it
means that Jesus died. Of course, we realize that He
died on Calvary. Now, when it says He slept, it
doesn't refer to His spirit. It refers to his body. And the
reason why it uses the term sleep is it's just when you look at
a dead body it appears to be sleeping. So Jesus died on Calvary
and he slept. That means he experienced physical
death. But his spirit didn't sleep.
His body was placed in a tomb. And then he commended his spirit
to the Heavenly Father. Do you remember one of the statements
Jesus made from the cross was, Father, unto thy hands I commend
my spirit. Whenever you think about sleeping,
you need to remember Jesus, because His spirit didn't sleep. His soul didn't sleep. It moved. It went off to be with the Lord.
That's what He told us. He told the thief on the cross,
today you'll be with me in paradise. He also commended His spirit
to the Father. So His spirit left His body,
which is the definition of death. The book of James says the body
without the spirit is dead so Jesus slept that means that he
died where'd his spirit go it went to to be with the Lord so
here it says that Jesus has risen from the dead and he became the
first fruits of them that slept well what's that referring to
well Jesus is the first to resurrect uh never to die again now we
realize there was other people in the Bible that resurrected
you can go back in the Old Testament and there's examples of people
being resurrected Elijah resurrected someone and then in the New Testament
we see different ones that were Lazarus was resurrected the widow
of Nain had a son that was resurrected so Jairus' daughter was resurrected
but they all died again So, Jesus was the first to resurrect from
the dead in a glorified body. That is a body that will never
age, a body that will never get sick, a body that will never
die. He was the first to resurrect in a body that would last forever. We call it, as I said, a glorified
body. So, He was the first to resurrect,
never, never to die again. He was the first. Christ was
the first fruits. Now, it goes on to say, Christ
is the firstfruits. Then it goes on to say, those
that are Christ will resurrect at His coming. And that's down
in the verse 23. It says, Christ the firstfruits
there again, reminding you that Jesus is the first to resurrect,
never to die again. And then at His coming, those
that are Christ, those that have trusted in Christ, they will
be resurrected then. So let's go ahead and go back
to verse 20 and work our way down. Just wanted to give you
a little bit of information concerning this term sleep because many
times it's misunderstood and it's just a reference to a dead
body because it appears to be sleeping. The spirit leaves the
body at death and if the person was saved their spirit goes to
be with the Lord. That's the reason why 2 Corinthians
5 says to be absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. Paul said in Philippians 1, to
depart was to be with Christ, and that state for the Christian
is far better than being here. So, because Jesus resurrected,
one day those that belong to Jesus will also resurrect. When they die, their spirit goes
to be with the Lord immediately, but they don't have their body
yet. They will get their body on the day that Jesus comes again
at the first resurrection. And we'll talk more about that
as we go on in the broadcast. Now, this term, firstfruits,
is used twice in the section that we're looking at. Verse
20, it used the word firstfruits. Also read verse 23, where it
uses the term firstfruits. And the week of Passover was
the week that Jesus died. They would offer the Passover
on the 14th. And then the 15th, this is the
15th of the Jewish month of Nisan. And on the 15th, they would begin
the Feast of Unleavened Bread and that would last for seven
days. But then on the 16th, they would observe the Feast of First
Fruits or the offering of the first fruit sheaf of the barley
harvest. So let me give you those dates
again, the 14th of Passover, the 15th they begin to observe
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then on the 16th, that was
the third day, they observe Firstfruits. Now, Firstfruits was a picture
of the resurrection of Jesus. Passover was a picture of the
death, of the sacrificial substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus. But
first fruits was a picture of his resurrection. Let's go ahead
and think just a little bit about the Passover. Because Passover
and first fruits together is a picture of his death and his
resurrection. And we have that in the Old Testament
scriptures. That's part of the Jewish feast
times that they observed and they were foreshadows or pictures. And the Passover and the first
fruits together is a picture of the gospel. Now the Passover
was of course the last plague whenever the children of Israel
was in Egypt. The last plague that he brought, he brought a
total of ten, but the last one that he brought was the death
of the firstborn. But the Lord provided a means
of saving the firstborn of Israel. At midnight a destroyer would
go throughout the land of Egypt And every firstborn son would
die of man and of even beast. Well, the Lord provided the means
of saving the firstborn of Israel and they were to take and they
were to shed the blood of a lamb and they were to take that blood
and put it over top of their door and down both sides. And
whenever destroyer would pass through the land that night at
midnight, when he saw the blood, when he saw the blood, he would
pass over that house and no death would come to that house. Rather
than the first, it's a picture of substitution, rather than
the firstborn of Israel dying, you see the Lamb, the Lamb died
instead. As a matter of fact, and I've
mentioned this to you also, not to get off the subject of Passover,
but every morning and evening in Israel in the Old Covenant,
they offered a lamb every morning. and every evening, and they did
that continually. So there was a constant picture
of this sacrifice of a lamb. And of course, Jesus was called
the Lamb of God. John the Baptist, when he saw
him, said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world, not just of the Jew, but also of the Gentile. 1 Corinthians 5, 7, we mentioned
this when we was there. But it says, "...purge out therefore
the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump." Now notice what
this says, "...for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for
us." So there, that links Jesus with the Passover of the Old
Testament. The Passover pictured the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus. He died for us. He died for His
sheep. He died for His people. Matthew
1 says, I shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sin. In the Gospel of John chapter
10, He said He would lay down His life for His sheep. So He's the Passover. He's the
Passover. They observed that on the 14th. That's our late March. early
April, the 14th of the Hebrew month Nisan. So, the Passover
was a picture of Jesus. Well, on the 16th, of that particular
month, they then observed the firstfruits. And that's where
Jesus comes into play with this statement, firstfruits. Not only
was the Passover a picture of Jesus, but the firstfruits was
also a picture of Jesus. You can't just talk about Jesus'
death without talking about His resurrection, because without
the resurrection, His death wouldn't mean anything. You have to have
the combination of both of those. You can't leave one out. And
that's why with Passover, which was a picture of his death, you
had firstfruits, which was a picture of his resurrection. So, twice
here in the resurrection chapter, it says here that Jesus was the
firstfruits. He's the firstfruits. He's become
the firstfruits of them that slept. and then in verse 23 Christ
the first fruit so twice it uses that and that links them back
to the book of Leviticus chapter 23 which talks about all the
different feast days and there's different places you can get
information about that in the Old Testament scriptures but
the first fruits occurred on the 16th 14th Passover, 15th
again, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 16th, that's the third
day, the first fruits. Now what they would do, since
it was in the springtime, when that particular month took place,
what they would do is bring a sheaf, a bundle, or they may have put
it in some type of basket. We don't know exactly for sure
how they did it, but they would bring a sheaf, a first fruit,
that which was first ripe from the harvest, and they would bring
that to the temple, and they would wave that before the Lord.
And what that was, it was a thanksgiving offering. It was recognizing that that harvest came from the
Lord, and they were being thankful for what God had provided. But that first fruit was also
a picture of the resurrection. You say, well, how in the world
would barley be a picture of Jesus' resurrection? Well, that
barley harvest that had come up had to first be planted. And
that was a seed that had been placed in the ground and buried. And then it come up. Do you see
the picture? They had another, and the Feast
of First Roots was also linked with another Jewish feast day,
which was the Feast of Pentecost. They would begin to count from
the 16th, and they'd count 50 days, and they'd come to the
Feast of Pentecost, to the wheat harvest. And they would also
offer firstfruits of that particular harvest. So that's another message
all together. We're talking about Christ and
we're talking about the feast of firstfruits that occurred
the week of the Passover. Passover pictured His death.
The firstfruits pictured His resurrection. How is that? Because
the barley harvest, that sheaf from the barley harvest, how
did it begin? It was a seed that was buried in the ground and
then it come up. Well, you see the picture of
the resurrection in that. Well, so not only is Christ our
Passover, but here in 1 Corinthians 15 and 20 through 23, Christ
is also our firstfruits. What does firstfruits picture?
It pictured Jesus' resurrection from the dead. And that's the
reason why the Lord designed it as such. You have the picture
of it, picture of His substitutionary death in Passover, picture of
His resurrection in first fruit. So Jesus was the first to resurrect,
never to die again. He conquered by his resurrection
sin and death and hell. And when you trust Him as your
Savior, When you trust Him as your Savior, you trust that Gospel
message. Now, again, I say this all the
time on the radio broadcasts, it's more than believing that
there's a God. There's many people who think they're okay because
they believe in a Supreme Being, or they believe in God, or they
believe in the Creator. But it's more than that. You
have to trust Jesus. You have to trust the Gospel
message. The power of God unto salvation is the gospel. You've
got to trust that He died on Calvary for you and that He rose
again on the third day. You have to trust that message.
If I ask somebody, are they saved? And they say, yes. And then I
ask them, why do they say that? What I want to hear is the gospel. Of course, that's the power of
God to salvation to everyone that believes it. Alright, I
hope you've seen the picture in that and you can see why Jesus
is called the firstfruits of them that slept. He was the first
to resurrect, never to die again. Let's move on now in our text.
Verse 21 says, For since by man came death, and by man came also
the resurrection, of the dead. By man came death.
Now, of course, that refers us back to Adam in the book of Genesis
chapter 3. Adam sinned. He was man's representative
there. And when Adam sinned, it damned
the whole race. He was our representative. Everybody
since Adam was born with a sinful nature. Romans chapter 3 says
we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. So it says,
as in Adam, Through his sin came physical death, but also spiritual
death, which is the second death. That's what you need to be very
concerned about. Death has a sting in it, and
we're going to see that on over here in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, where it says, 1 Corinthians 15, 55 and 56, it says, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting, as mentioned twice, the sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So there you see
that death has a sting in it. And not only did physical death
come into being because of the sin of Adam, but also spiritual
death. The Lord said the day that you
eat of this tree, you will surely die. And of course, he died spiritually
that day and began to hide from the Lord, if you'll remember.
If you go back and look at it, man hides from Him ever since. And the Lord in salvation has
to seek you out. Scripture says in John, Jesus
said that He came to seek and save. In the book of Luke 19,
He came to seek and save that which is lost. John 6.44 says,
No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
to do what? He doth draw him. The Lord is
the one who has to do the work. Ever since sin entered, man has
been hiding from the Lord ever since. And the result of that
sin is physical death. That's why we have physical death.
Physical death happens and aging and all sickness happens because
of sin. God has provided something better
in Christ for His people. One of these days that we're
going to get a new body, it's never going to sin, it's never
going to age, it's never going to get sick, and it's never going
to die. And Jesus was the first fruits. He was the first one
to have this. Well, of course, Jesus was perfect
in His physical body. He's the only one that ever did.
But when He resurrected from the dead, He conquered sin, death,
and hell by His resurrection. When Jesus comes again, we will
get a body like His. Scripture says, when we see Him,
we will be like Him. The Philippians says that He
will change our vile body. This is a vile body that we live
in, that it might be fashioned like unto His glorious body. So, since by man came death,
we understand what that means. It came through Adam. And of
course, every man born other than the Master, if he was virgin
born, was born with a sin nature, and sin by nature, born in sin. And the thing that you need to
be concerned, you don't want to die in your sin. You don't
want to die that way. And in order not to die that
way, you have to have victory over your sin, victory over death,
and victory over hell, which comes by trusting the gospel
of Jesus Christ. I want you to know something,
folks. If you haven't got that, you don't have anything. Not
anything that's going to last other than your soul. Other than
your soul. So, since by man came death,
by man came the resurrection of the dead. And the man that
that resurrection came through, the resurrection of the just,
it's also called the first resurrection in Revelation chapter 20. In
John 5, it's called the resurrection of life. That's what it's referred
to as there. So, if it hadn't been for Jesus
resurrecting, there would only be one resurrection, and that
would be the resurrection of the damned. Well, because Jesus
resurrected, there's a resurrection of the just, which will happen
the day that Jesus comes, and then there will be a resurrection
of the unjust. Now, which resurrection do you
want to go in? You want to go in the first one. You want to
go in the first one. In the book of Revelation chapter
20 it talks about that resurrection and it describes a blessedness
here. Let me read it to you. It says,
Blessed and holy, this is Revelation 26, Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection. Why does it put a number there?
Because there's two. Resurrection of the saved which takes place
on the day that Jesus comes. And there will be a resurrection
of the lost and that will be after this old world has been
destroyed. They'll get a new body. They'll
get a body. They'll stand before the Lord.
They'll be judged for their sin. And they'll be cast into hell,
which is the second death. And you need to have victory
over that. Now listen to this now. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. If you've trusted Jesus, you'll
have a part in it. Because on such, the second death
doesn't have any power. And what the second death is,
is hell. Being cast into the lake of fire,
is the second death. Revelation chapter 20 and verse
14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death. So you want to go in the first
resurrection. Those that go in the first resurrection, the second
death doesn't have any power. Why is that? Because Jesus took
the sting out of death for those who trust Jesus. Death has no
sting in it for me now. I may die before this broadcast
airs, or I may die after this broadcast. Sometime eventually,
if the Lord doesn't come in my life, I'm going to die, but my
death won't have no sting in it. There's nothing in there
to harm me. You think about a bee. If it doesn't have a stinger,
it can't do anything to harm you. Well, death doesn't have
a sting for those who have trusted Jesus. When you trust Him as
your Savior, He pays your sin debt. He gives you everlasting
life. He in charges to your account
His righteousness. He makes you His child. And my
friend, he takes all, there's no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. So he takes all this thing and
I'm dead. All death is for the child of God is the portal that
transfers you from this old earth to ushering you right into heaven
itself. Jesus told the people on the
cross that day, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Today, today. So that's a glorious
thing. And have the sting of death taken
away. Because death is sure if the
Lord doesn't come. And you want to have a stingless
death. One where the sting. In order
to give us that, Jesus had to take the sting for us. And that's
what he did. By dying for us and rising again. Let's get back to our text. We're
looking at Christ's first fruits in this radio broadcast. And
he says, by man, when this is told by
Jesus, came the resurrection from the dead. It says, for in
an atom all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now,
all that are in Christ will be made alive. You've got to be
in Him. Book of 2 Corinthians 5 says,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things pass
away. old things become new. Romans
chapter 8 verse 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation
to those that are in Christ. How in the world do you get in
Christ? Romans 5, 1 and 2 says that access into Christ is by
faith. That's how you get in. That's
how you get in. Access is by faith. We're being justified by faith.
We have peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus is our access. To get in Him, you have to trust
and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. Okay? So does Adam all
die? Even so, in Christ, those that
are in Christ will all be made alive. They will receive a new
body, a new glorified body. Verse 23, But every man in his
own order, every man in his own order, Christ was the first fruits. Then he says, afterward, they
that are Christ at his coming. Now that tells you the time when
Jesus is going to have this resurrection. He was the first. It happened
2,000 years ago. Afterwards, we're still in that
time of afterwards right now. Afterwards, they that are Christ
will resurrect at His coming. That's a glorious thing. Now,
I'll tell you what. One of the saddest times in this old world
is when you go to a graveside and you put the body of someone
you love down in the ground. That's a sad time. But when that
person was saved, you know that that which gave that body life
has departed, it has left, and it's with the Lord. And you rejoice
in that. But you also know that ground
or that entombment, however, I mean, whether they're buried
or put in a tomb, you know from the place where that body was
put at, one of these days, out of there, is going to come a
new body, one like Christ. And one that will never get sick,
age, or die, as we talked about earlier in the broadcast. Jesus
was the first, afterwards, they that are Christ at His coming.
1 Thessalonians 4 says this, and we'll close with this tonight.
But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope. See, if you die without Jesus,
there is no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, see that? That's Passover and firstfruits.
That's the Gospel message. Even so, them which sleep in
Jesus, God's going to bring them with Him. When the trumpet of
God sounds, He's going to bring our loved ones with Him. It says,
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that they which
are alive and remain shall not precede them which are asleep.
The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout in the
voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. And we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up. That's the rapture. It comes
from the Latin word. It means to be caught up with
them. That's the happy reunion day.
We'll be with them. You'll see them again, either
by death or by rapture. We'll be gathering in the clouds
of heaven together. That's why we sing the song,
Victory in Jesus. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Well, our broadcast this evening,
Our First Corinthians 15, was Christ, Our Firstfruits, And
it pictured his resurrection. And it's a victory over death
is what it means. And that's what we have in Christ.
This has been Pastor Jeff Arthur, Sr. of the Elizabeth Baptist
Church. Thank you so much for tuning
in. Tune in again next week for our next study out of 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Thanks for listening.
The First Fruits Of The Dead
Series 1 Corinthians Series
| Sermon ID | 123142012348 |
| Duration | 29:25 |
| Date | |
| Category | Radio Broadcast |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 |
| Language | English |
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