This is a message by Pastor Mark Fox of Antioch Community Church in Elan, North Carolina. For other sermons from Antioch, you can visit the church website at antiochchurchnc.org. Now, let's turn our hearts to the word of God. You can be turning in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians 15, 50 through 57. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version. If you don't have that one with you, there are some in the pew. You might want to grab one and turn to 1 Corinthians 15, 50. I tell you this, brothers and sisters. That word can be translated both brothers and brothers and sisters. I tell you this, brothers and sisters, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, 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 a 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. So which one of these is most accurate to real life as we know it? You gotta listen carefully. Which one of these statements is more accurate to real life as we know it? Here's the first one. Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Anybody recognize the source? Shakespeare, the play. Macbeth. Or how about this one? and they lived happily ever after. That's Cinderella and other stories like that. Which one is more true to the life that we know and are experiencing? I know you're tempted to say Macbeth, but it's not. I believe the reason fairy tales often end with, and they lived happily ever after, is because not only is that true for believers, but there's a longing in the heart of every person, believe it or not, every single human being ever created, there's a longing for the eternal that is put into the hearts of men and women. Innate, it's born, it's baked in their DNA. And we know this even from the Bible itself. Solomon figured this out as an old man. And when he wrote his old man book, Ecclesiastes. His young man book, of course, was Proverbs. And Song of Solomon, maybe even younger than that. But he wrote this near the end of his life. He said, He, God, has made everything beautiful in His time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning and the end. Ecclesiastes 3.11. Some of the mystery that was unknown to Solomon in the Old Testament as to how God has done things from the beginning to the end and how we will do things, some of that was unknown to Solomon but has been made known to us. When you see the word mystery in the New Testament, understand that mystery in the New Testament is not some kind of whodunit that we have to figure out and find the clues and look at the crime scene and figure out who did it. No, mystery in the New Testament is something that has been concealed and now has been revealed, the mystery. Now there are still some mysteries we don't understand, but the mystery of the gospel has been made known to us. And listen, saints, there is a prince, the prince of peace, and there is a beautiful bride, the church of Jesus Christ. And we know just enough about that day, the last day when Jesus returns, To know that there will be perfect transformation and there will be eternal celebration. And those are our two points today. There will be perfect transformation and there will be eternal celebration. It's going to be a short sermon, hopefully, because we've got to hear about Moldova as well. First, why do we need to be transformed on the last day? Because very simply, as the text says, we just read, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, saints, we cannot enter heaven in mortal bodies. We cannot enter heaven in natural bodies. The Bible says no flesh can see God and live. It's impossible to be in God's presence, perfect holiness, and we still be in our flesh and blood, our mortal coil, mortal bodies. We can't do that. Heaven was not made for that, and no man in his sinful flesh can see God. But listen, the good news is that we were created for heaven. Though heaven was not created for natural bodies, heaven was created for us in our supernatural bodies. Because heaven is a place where we are already citizens. You may be a citizen of the United States, or you may be a citizen of another country, or you may have dual citizenship, but you know what? Unless you know Jesus Christ, those citizenships one day will end. They will be dust. They will be over. And the only citizenship that matters is the eternal citizenship, and we are citizens of heaven. And one day, we're gonna move there. We're already citizens, but we've never been there. Imagine being a citizen of a country you've never lived in. Well, that's true of every Christian. We are citizens of the country that is being prepared for us, and we just haven't moved yet. Good news for you who are in the middle of moving or a building project or both. Your final move will be so easy. It'll be so easy. You won't have to lift a finger, right? God will do it all for you. We won't need the Antioch moving crew on that day. Our work will finally be over, right? It seems like it never ends. They were always moving somebody somewhere. But on that day, God does it all. We'll have everything covered. On that day, perishable will put on imperishable. Mortality will put on immortality. This is the culmination. And by the way, this is one of the themes of Scripture. You can start from the beginning and go all the way to the end. And one of the themes of Scripture is being clothed. We can trace that thread a line through scripture. God clothes his people. God clothes his people. He doesn't need Belk or Dillard's to do that. He clothes us. In raiment that is much more glorious. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to cover their own flesh, didn't they? They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Very uncomfortable, I would imagine. And God said, no, that's not gonna do. And the first death took place as he killed animals and he took their skins and he clothed his son and his daughter, his creation, to cover them. Remember the story of Joseph. Right? The coat of many colors that Joseph was given set him apart, didn't it? He was clothed in a way that was not like his brothers, and that caused great trouble for him. He ended up being a slave, and then a prisoner, and then the second man in charge of Egypt. That was all part of God's plan. God clothed Joseph in that way so that he could clothe his people and prepare and provide for them. After the Exodus, remember what did God tell His people? Before we go up to Mount Sinai, Moses said what? God said to tell you, wash your clothes. He said, wash your clothes. We're going to be in the presence of God. His presence will be on the mountain. And I'll be up there receiving the law from Him. And He told His people to prepare their garments. And then you look at the clothing of the priests. And if you read through it, and we skip through these, don't we? We skip through these chapters when it's talking about the bells and the colors and all the stuff that the priest garments. We just flip, flip, flip, flip. You know, let's find something interesting. But all of those pages, all of the details about how the priests were to be clothed. was simply a foretaste, a picture of what was going to happen when the final priest made the final sacrifice, the great priest made the final sacrifice of not a lamb, not a dove, not a sheep, not an oxen, but himself. He laid down his own life to take our sins so that we could be what? Clothed in righteousness. So he says, you know what, mortality, not gonna do it. Perishable, not gonna work. We're gonna have to exchange those and God will make that happen. There's nothing we can do to make that happen, God will. And we will be clothed on that final day with a new and perfect body. So that stands to reason then, the corollary to that is if flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, and if all of us who are in Christ are destined by God, promised by God, that we will not be flesh and blood, but we will have a perfect body, Why do we worry so much about transforming ourselves? Now, don't take that to mean what I don't mean, but you know, when Jesus is talking about this, he uses lilies and he uses birds and he says, look, which of you can be, by being anxious, can add a single hour, a single hour to a span of life? How much time do you spend daily worrying about things, being anxious? It is part of our flesh, it's part of our mortality. to be anxious, and to be worried, and to be concerned about many things. And that's a natural response to the fact that we have pressures, we have problems, we have things coming at us, and we don't know how it's going to happen. And what Jesus was teaching his disciples that day, and we need to be reminded of, is that being anxious is not going to help whatever stresses you're put under. First of all, if you're under stress, God has allowed that. In fact, God has orchestrated that stress. Sometimes we bring stresses upon ourselves by our own sinful activities, our sinful debt, et cetera. But God has allowed that, and now He wants us to turn to Him and look to Him. Do we have to work? Yes, we have to be obedient, we have to do things, we have to study, we have to go to work, whatever your job happens to be. But being anxious about those things will not help us. We will be transformed. God will take care of that. I like this quote by Anne Lamott. You could take it too far, but I think it's a good word. She says, perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is, you will die anyway, and a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are gonna do a whole lot better than you, and have a whole lot more fun while they're doing it. Isn't that true? I mean, a lot of the fact that we don't, we lack joy many times is because we're so anxious and we're so worried about getting everything just right. And we got this legal mindset instead of a grace-filled mindset. And God's perfect transformation is going to take place. And in fact, saints, it is taking place in every one of you. Right? Romans 8. Those whom He called, He has predestined. Those whom He has predestined, He has justified. Those whom He has justified, He has sanctified. We're being sanctified right now. Those who have been sanctified will be what? Finally and forever glorified. There it is. The progression is faultless because God's in control of it. Not you and me. Praise God. So, lighten up, people. Lighten up. How will that perfect transformation take place? Paul gives us several clues in unfolding this mystery. Verse 51, it says, we shall not all sleep. I told you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. We will all be changed. By the way, that's a great sign to put on a nursery door, right? Okay. Some of you haven't gotten that yet. You'll get it later. Your wife will explain it to you guys. All believers will taste death. All believers will be transformed. And the verb is passive there. We will be changed. There it is again. Perfect transformation is not up to you. Who's it up to? Right. Can God be trusted? What do you think? I think so. And so we will be changed, and that will happen. That's a promise. And the only hope for glorification is God. The only hope for glorification is God, and God's trustworthy, therefore we know none will be missing. The angels will come back to God and say, there's a few bodies we can't find. And there's some that just turned to ashes, that got burned up or whatever, and we can't find them. What do we do now? And they're all anxious and the angels are sweating, if that's even possible for angels. And they're nervous, they're anxious, right? No, it's not going to happen. No one will be missing. This is good news. We still have people missing in Korea. We have soldiers missing in Vietnam. We have missing soldiers in World War II. And that's a shame and that's a tragedy. But it will not happen on that day. Those guys will be found. And so will you and so will I. Because Jesus is the first fruits of those who sleep, we read that earlier in the passage, there's absolutely no chance that there will be any who are left behind. We'll be transformed, glorified, and this was promised by Jesus. Remember John 14 3. Jesus said to his disciples, and therefore to us who are his disciples, he said, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. Jesus doesn't lie. God's trustworthy. The promise has been made, it will be kept. Every single person. All will be changed to know Jesus. Second, we know it will happen in a moment. Verse 52. In a moment. That word there is atomos. Or atomos. I'm not sure how you pronounce that. I didn't look it up. But what does that remind you of? What word do we get from that word in Greek? Atom, right? What happens when you split the atom? Boom. So Paul is saying it will happen in an indivisible amount of time. We call that a split second. If you could split a second, kind of, a nanosecond. That's what Paul is saying. And look, we can't measure the time it's going to take because it doesn't matter. The point is, it's going to happen, and it's going to happen instantly when Jesus returns. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what we believe. That's the promise. This is great news for all of us. How many are struggling? Raise your hand if you're struggling in the aging process. Okay, my hand's up. Yeah. How many of you have more aches and pains than you had when you were in your 20s? All right, some of you in your 30s raised your hand. That's pretty sad. No, just kidding. Look, here's the good news. We won't struggle then. It will happen instantly. It will not be this long, drawn-out process with being gay and assisted living and all this other stuff that we have to go through. It will be instant. Instant change. It will happen in a moment. Our lowly bodies, Philippians 3.21, will be transformed to be like His glorious body, and that will take no time, no struggle. Third, we know it will happen when the trumpet sounds. Why does this theme keep being repeated in the Scriptures? And by the way, we should change the word in that song we sing. Let's change that from trump to trumpet. I mean, just saying, okay? Anyway, when the trumpet sounds, there will be instantaneous change. Now, we see that here in the Scriptures. You see that, right? Verse 52b, for the trumpet will sound. Look back at Matthew 24 for a second. I want you to see Matthew 24. in verses 30 and 31 where Jesus says the same thing. He's talking about the last days. Matthew 24, 30. Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, first gospel. Matthew 24, 30, then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other. All right, those are Jesus' words. Now look at 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16, go past 1 Corinthians, in 2nd Corinthians, in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And then you get to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 in verse 16. This last one I put on there because remember Jesus said, I did not come to abolish the law, I came to do what? Fulfill it. Complete it. And maybe the whole thing about trumpet is kind of a completion of Leviticus 25.9 where we are told in Leviticus that in the Feast of Trumpets and specifically on the day, the beginning of the time of Jubilee, the year of Jubilee. What happened in Jubilee? Debts were forgiven. Slaves were sent back to their owners. All servants were set free, right? And there was a year of celebration, and we don't plant crops this year, we're celebrating. What started Jubilee was a trumpet. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. That's the perfect transformation and it will be followed by eternal celebration. First, we are told that death is swallowed up in victory. Again, this is in your text, 55B, death is swallowed up in victory. Now we can read over that phrase and we can just kind of gloss over it and go, okay, that sounds cool. This is a celebration that this world has nothing to compare it to, right? We have these little silly things like World Series championships and silly things like Super Bowls and World Cup, whatever, right? But death being swallowed up? The world has not seen the likes of that. No one on that day will turn to his buddy and say, you know, this reminds me of when we thought Ali was out. You know, George Foreman was pounding him, right? In the rumble in the jungle. And then he started floating like a butterfly and stinging. No, none of that. Nobody's gonna be able to poke anybody and say, I remember when the Patriots won their 42nd Super Bowl in a row. Oh, please. No, listen. Victory like this should not be compared to sport at all. Okay, let's go back. Let's be a little more realistic. This is the end of a war, right? When Jesus comes back, first of all, He conquers. We saw this earlier in the text. He conquers all of His enemies. Every enemy Supernatural, and there are those, and real enemies, and there are those, Antichrist, those who reject Jesus, all of the enemies will be destroyed. It's a war. And I remember Winston Churchill, Dick remembers this, he heard it live, but in May 13, 1940, in his famous blood, sweat, and tears speech, listen to this, he said, you ask, he's standing before the House of Parliament, You ask, what is our policy? I will say, it is to wage war by sea, land, and air with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us. To wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can tell, I can answer in one word, victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival. There it is, that's a small taste of what we will experience when we witness with our own eyes what this will be like. This swallowed up death comes from Isaiah 25. It says, He, God, will swallow up death forever and the Lord will wipe away tears from all the faces and the reproach of His people He will take away. Now we can spend the rest of the day just talking about that one verse, that one prophecy from Isaiah about the end of the age. But we won't do that. But it will be the end of sadness for the people of God and the beginning of eternal joy. Now I love what comes next. Look at the text again, verse 55. Paul, in verse 55, is smack talking. Paul's in the end zone. What's that he's breaking over his knee? Oh, it's death. He's pointing his finger at death. He said, death, come on, where's your victory? Hey, death, where is your sting? He's taunting death. because he knows that death's end is near. You know where he got this from? If you did any study this week, by the way, I asked this morning, I asked the elders, I asked the women's leadership team, I said, what percentage of people do you think actually even read the passage this week in preparation? And look, I know Antioch, you guys love Jesus. and you love the Bible, and you love each other, and that's a powerful combination for a church. But honestly, in your heart of hearts, how many did any preparation by reading this text and thinking through it and preparing for today? Don't answer that. Here we go. You know where you got this from? Hosea chapter 13 verse 14, where God, listen, in Hosea, God is calling to death and Sheol to bring punishment to Israel. God's calling to death and saying, come and do what I want you to do to my people who are disobedient. And Paul takes that text and he turns it around and he says, no, no, no, this time it's gonna be death who is going to be punished. Paul takes those verses and he turns them on their head. He says, death is not being called on here to do its worst, it's being destroyed. There's no comparison in sports like that surprise victory. Appalachian State beat Michigan a few years ago in football, whatever. Evansville last week beat Kentucky. That was pretty cool. You take the Turrentine, now listen Josh, you're a Packers fan, you take the Turrentine middle school cheerleaders, you send them to Lambeau Field, try to put a helmet on them and some pads or whatever, and they trounce the Packers 72 to nothing. This victory compared to that, the world yawns at the victory because the Packers probably would anyway. They shrug in comparison that every dead follower of Christ, the victory that every dead follower of Christ will have over death. This is certainly not a surprise for God. It's not a surprise for people of God who know their Bible, but it will come as a complete surprise to everyone else on the planet. How many will see Jesus return on that day? Everybody. It's gonna be a worldwide event. How's that gonna happen? We don't know. How do people on the bottom side of the earth see him if he appears? See, we're trying to think of it in terms of time and space. Jesus will appear. He will split the heavens and every And those who don't know him will begin to tremble. And they'll stand in amazement and horror when death is swallowed up for believers. What's happened to the unbelievers? Well, the unbelievers are judged by God. They stand before the great white throne of God. They're judged. And then in Revelations 20, verse 14, it says, they are sent to the second death. You see, death does not triumph over them. Death joins with them. They are sent to the second death, the lake of fire. I should say they don't triumph over death. Death joins them in the lake. How is this possible, this great victory over death? Paul explains it in verse 56. He says, the sting of sin is death, and the power of sin is the law. I like what Simon Kistemacher says about that verse. He said, this one verse explains the doctrines of sin, the law, and death. Let me try to break it down for you very quickly, very simply. The law was given to us as a mirror. The law is a mirror. When we look into the law, when we look into the mirror, what do we see? We see our sin, right? The law was given so that we would see our sinfulness. And the power of sin is the law. The sting of sin is death. Paul explained all this in Romans 7. Let me just give you one verse. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, that's the law, Deceived me and through it killed me so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good is the law Bad pauses no of course not the law is good. It was given by God to show us our sinfulness What does the law do it drives us to? Christ The only hope for us is Christ. The law doesn't drive us to good works or to systems of religion that tell us if you go to church and you give money and you burn a candle and you whatever, that you'll be forgiven. No, that's nonsense, that's the law, that's man, that's works. And the Bible says that's filthy rags. No, it drives us to Christ who did the perfect work on the cross to pay for our sins. The sting of sin is death. The law could not save us, but only drive us to Christ. And although death has continued to reign on the earth, because God has ordained death to reign on the earth, on that day, on that day, death will meet its inevitable end. You know, death started feeling sick when Jesus breathed his last on the cross. And then death caught a deadly disease when Jesus rose from the dead three days later. And when Jesus splits the sky with a shout and the trumpet sounds, death will be swallowed up forever. For whom? For us. And so Paul closes with, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The victory is ours already. Guys, why do we continue to struggle with this whole idea that we are victorious, that we are, as Paul said in Romans 8, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. That's not future tense, that's present tense. We are more than conquerors. Doesn't mean life is easy because if you're more than a conqueror, it means you have to do what? You have to battle, you're in a battle, we're in a battle, and we'll be in a battle, but we have already won, we're already victorious. And on that day, there's nothing left but the shouting. And that, children of God, is how we are, who are in Christ, will live happily ever after. Let's pray. I wanna ask you to do something as your head's bowed, your eyes are closed, and you're just thinking about what you have heard. First of all, do you belong to Christ? Have you trusted Christ who died for you on the cross to take away your sins? Have you trusted Him and said yes to Him and given your life to Him who gave His life for you? If not, you can do that even now right in your own heart. Secondly, for those of you who are born again, are you still living as if you haven't been victorious? that death will not be swallowed up for you, that there will not be perfect transformation, that you will not be finally and forever in the presence of God. Are you living like an orphan instead of like a son or daughter of the king? Lord, help us this morning to trust you, to walk with you, to find joy in the daily struggles, knowing that we are more than conquerors through you, to praise you for the victory that you have won for us over sin and death and the grave. And we look forward to that day when you come back. Lord, come quickly, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Mark Fox of Antioch Community Church in Elon, North Carolina. Antioch meets every Sunday for worship at 10 o'clock a.m. at 1600 Powerline Road in Elon. You can download other messages by Pastor Fox at antiochchurch.cc. You can also learn how to order his books or subscribe to his blog at jmarkfox.com. you