Well, I'm very thankful for Andy's wonderful exposition of that. Not only was it personally helpful, but it goes a long way towards laying a foundation and giving the context for our passage tonight. Because we'll be looking at 1 Corinthians, or 1 Corinthians, whatever your preference is. 1 Corinthians 15, and picking up right where Andy left off, really. We'll be looking at verse 50. and carrying it through to the end of the chapter, which is verse 58. So if you have your Bibles, I'd encourage you to turn with me and read this wonderful passage, really. As the Triune God speaks to us, the Church in all ages, through the Apostle Paul, he writes this in verse 50. I tell you this, brothers, 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 the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Here's a reading of God's word. This is a wonderful, wonderful text that we have before us tonight. And it really is the climax, the crescendo of this of this wonderful chapter that Paul has been writing here in 1 Corinthians 15. Most of us are familiar with the book of 1 Corinthians, but we're perhaps more inclined to think of it as a book of practical and pastoral wisdom, as Paul deals with a lot of the knotty, complicated issues that the church there was facing. Just to be frank, the church there was very messed up. It had a lot of issues in terms of worship and morality and all sorts of problems that are addressed. And so sometimes that can color our perception of the entire book. And we think that really Paul is just dealing with practical issues. And if you want to get to Paul's theology, you need to go to Romans, or Ephesians, or Galatians, or somewhere like that. What we have in this chapter, as we've seen already just from our looking at the verses that precede this text, what we have in this chapter is one of the richest, fullest, and most robust expressions of Paul's theology. It's a remarkable chapter, and one in which Paul very carefully works his way through a precise argument. And we have the privilege tonight of coming, like I said, to the climax, the conclusion of this argument, as Paul talks about many things. But really the chief of them is what Annie has already mentioned, the resurrection and redemption. But again, what is he talking about when he says resurrection and redemption? We might immediately think of the resurrection of Christ, the redemption that happened in the past, and that is indeed in view, that's the foundation, that's the basis for everything that Paul is going to be saying. But he's speaking primarily, especially in this text, about the resurrection of believers and the redemption that is still to come. We can really summarize, I think, verses 50 to 58, and perhaps even the entire chapter, with those five little words we find at the end of verse 51, where Paul says, we shall all be changed. That's the focus. That's the center. And that's also the title for the sermon this evening. We shall all be changed. Heaven and the glory of God. You'll know, many of you are either ministers or training for the ministry or have grown up in the church, and you'll know that, as Andy demonstrated, pastors love to preach three-point sermons. And the only thing better than a three-point sermon is a three-point sermon with alliterative points, as we saw earlier. Well, as Kevin already said, this is my first sermon, and the best I could manage was two points. And they don't alliterate. But I think it'll be enough to keep us busy and hopefully enough to bless us as well. So we're going to be looking firstly at the nature and necessity of this change. The focus of this passage is the change that Paul talks about. So firstly, the nature and necessity of this change. And we'll spend the bulk of our time there because that's where Paul spends his time. And then just briefly at the end, the result of this change and our response to the promise of this change. So firstly, what is this change that Paul is talking about? He uses the word change numerous times in this text. And to understand that, we can sometimes get at it from the back end, as it were, and ask ourselves, well, what is Paul not talking about? Because when we read this text, we might jump to some false conclusions. We do tend to read the Bible too quickly oftentimes. And we hear a word or a phrase and say, oh, well, this is what Paul's talking about, and we run with it. And we miss the actual thrust of things. So look with me again at verse 50, where Paul says, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Now I hope that after the wonderful exposition we've had of the verses preceding this that you wouldn't think this way. But a Christian might pick up this text and start in verse 50 and think, I tell you this brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And they might think, okay, flesh means the fruit of the flesh, our sinful nature, our sinful actions, our old man. And so the change that Paul is talking about is really something that happens at our conversion. It's where we go from being men of the flesh who are governed and controlled by our sinful nature, by our sinful thoughts and actions and desires. And we have this imperishable, this new life, this new spirit whereby we are regenerated and given life in Christ. And so the change that Paul's talking about in this passage is something that happens at our conversion. There's a couple of problems with that. As we've already seen, the context is not addressing that at all. And what we really need to focus on is not the word flesh, but the phrase flesh and blood. It's actually a phrase that's used numerous times in the New Testament. We'll look at just one example to help us understand what Paul's talking about. Turn with me if you would to Hebrews chapter 2, where we find this phrase flesh and blood mentioned. But it's interesting because it's not used to speak of sinful fallen man, or of our sinful nature, but rather something else. It is used to speak of Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 says, Since therefore the children, that is mankind, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, there is that phrase, he himself, Christ, likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death. that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. There's a lot that that passage says and a lot of it actually overlaps with what we'll look at tonight, but I want to just draw our attention to the use of that phrase, flesh and blood. It says that Christ partook of flesh and blood. Well if we read that as our sinful nature, and Paul is talking about something that happens at our conversion, then that would be saying that Christ partook of our sinful nature. And if we say that, the entire gospel unravels. That can't be what Paul is talking about in this text, because this is something that Christ himself partook of in some way. So this is not talking about a change that happens at our conversion. Well, then you might think, Paul is talking about something that happens at our death. When you or I, as believers, pass away and we die, then there is this change that takes place. You could even think that from reading even the verses that we read beforehand, 42 to 49, that Paul is talking about being sown and being raised as something that happens at the moment when we die. But the truth is actually a little more complex than that. We bump in against this already not yet that Andy mentioned earlier. I think it's helpful for us to think back to the catechism question that Andrew Graham read when we began our time this morning, which is question 37 from the Shorter Catechism, which is asking the question, what happens to believers when they die? All of us have family members, friends, maybe children or siblings or people that we know who were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have now passed into glory. So the question we're asking is, what has happened to them? and what will happen to us when we ourselves face death? And the catechism answers this question very wonderfully, richly, and pastorally. It says, the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and they do immediately pass into glory. And their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. This question deals with both an already and a not yet dimension. And that in and of itself might be a little strange for us. We're used to that language, I think, when we think about our life on this earth. That there is an already, not yet. We know that Christ has already come. We know that the gospel has already been preached. We know that the church has already been established. And yet, when we look at our lives, we know that the implications of the gospel are not all worked out in our lives. We still struggle with sin. We know that the church is established. We do not yet face a situation where every knee will bow and every tongue confesses. There are many who do not. There's an already aspect, but there's a not yet. But this is a dimension to the Christian life that is true in death as well as in life until Christ comes again. We'll come back to that in a moment. But the catechism draws this out helpfully in that it says there are some things that have already happened, certain blessings, certain benefits that believers experience at the moment that they die. But there are also benefits, also blessings, as we've spoken about already, that they still wait for, just as we wait for things. So what, just briefly, have believers already experienced? Well, the first thing the Catechism mentions is that their souls, at their death, are made perfect in holiness. That's one of those phrases, again, that we become very familiar with as Christians, and it just kind of blows past us. But we need to stop for a moment and be encouraged and amazed at the fact that we will be made perfect in holiness. What that means is this. We can sum it up in three words. No more sin. No more sin. Who among us, if we are in Christ, does not live every day of their lives, every hour of their day facing the reality of sin. We see it in the world around us. Look at the news, look at the disruption, look at the chaos that's really rampant throughout the world, in every culture, in every society. Tensions and violence that characterize our life, that's the result of sin. Look at our own immediate context. We have, within relationships between spouses, between siblings, between parents and children, between employers, between friends, within churches, we see sin present in doesn't it? It reaches into our very hearts, our thoughts, our words, our actions. Sin is a constant in this life, even for believers. We can have victory over sin and God grants us grace, but we are never fully free. We are always having to fight against sin. And so the first benefit that is mentioned is that we are made perfect in holiness. And I think there's a helpful thing for us, too, as well. We were talking about the law of God and the role that that plays. And obviously, God's law does many things. It can act as a mirror to show our hearts, to show our need for Christ. It can help to restrain wickedness, even among those who are not Christians. It, of course, maps out for us the pattern and the path for the blessed life as we obey Christ and follow God out of joy and obedience and a desire to serve him. But Edward Donnelly makes a helpful point when he says when we understand the law through the lens of our death as believers, we find that God's law becomes a treasure trove of promises for us as well. Do you think of God's law that way, as a treasure trove of promises? Because when we read God's law, whether it's the Ten Commandments or commands that God has given elsewhere in scripture, what we are seeing is a picture being painted of what holiness looks like, of what perfection looks like. And that picture is something that we will step into at our death. It's the life that we will live when we are dead in Christ. So when God says, be content, be joyful, be thankful, don't be angry, don't be lustful, all these things. And now we struggle, we see some of that already, but it's not yet full. Well, when we recognize that in our death we will be made perfect, we will become like Christ, Our souls will be made perfect in holiness. All of God's laws are pictures and promises of the life we will live in Christ at our death. It's a remarkable truth and something that's worth meditating on. What else happens? Well, we do immediately pass into glory. And there's a lot we could say about that. I think one thing, it might seem like an obvious point, but When we die, there's no process by which we have to somehow atone for sins that weren't paid for, or become more holy, or work off the rough edges, or have some sort of journey of self-exploration before we're fit to come to Christ. Christ has done all that is necessary, and when we die, we immediately pass into glory. The scripture knows nothing of purgatory or any teaching like that. We go immediately to be with Christ. But it's interesting as well to look at the language, not only of the catechism, but the language of the scriptures in this regard. And that there is a distinction really between the way that we often speak about death and the way that the scriptures speak about death. I think if you were to eavesdrop on most churches today you would hear us talking about the death of believers in terms of believers going to heaven. And that's not perhaps always inappropriate, but it's interesting that Paul, and to my knowledge everywhere in the New Testament, doesn't talk about believers going to heaven, it talks about believers going to be with Christ, or going to be to pass into glory. And there's an important point there, because I think whether it's in the church or just in the culture, if people do believe in heaven, which most statistically do, whether they believe in God or not, they believe in heaven, but they believe that heaven is primarily about a change in our circumstance, a change in our setting. So right now we have bad things that happen to us, and when we go to heaven, we'll be in a situation where only good things happen to us, and we don't face hardships. But there's no real change in our own character, and there's definitely not Christ in view. And I fear that that's a view that can seep into the church as well. And sometimes you get these questions about, what will heaven be like? And what people are kind of asking is, will I still be able to play football or watch TV or go on holiday in heaven? They're trying to figure out, what am I giving up? once I go to heaven? Or, you know, what will I get in terms of the change of situation? Will my house be three times as big or four times as big as the one I have now? And that's not the way Paul thinks about things. He frames it in terms of going to be with Christ. To be absent from the body is what? To be present with the Lord. That's the promise that we have, that's the blessing that we enjoy. And so those who have died, and us as we anticipate our death, because death stares each of us in the face, even as I preach to you tonight, I'm dying. But don't be too worried about me because even as you're listening to me tonight, you're dying too. And we don't think about that in our Western culture because life expectancy is so long. I took my parents to see Sheffield Cathedral yesterday and they have a little timeline in there about the history of Sheffield and they mention how in the 1850s the average life expectancy for an adult in Sheffield was 27 years old, which means I've got two years left to go. And when you live in that kind of context, you think about this more. We don't, but we need to. And we need to do it not as those who don't have hope, not as those who are controlled by fear, but as those who have a living hope, Jesus Christ, and the resurrection that is to come. So all of this has happened, and those who have died do experience great benefits and great blessings, but they have not yet fully experienced the benefits and the blessings that are to come. Look at how the catechism frames this. It says, yes, this has already happened, but even still, for believers, their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves. And the larger catechism has this wonderful phrase, do rest in their graves like beds. Do rest in their graves till the resurrection. Johannes mentioned this text earlier, Revelation 6, where John is getting this vision of heaven, really this vision of the intermediate state, heaven as it is now, not heaven as it will be. and he sees the souls of those who have been slain, the martyrs under the altar. And what are they doing? Well obviously heaven is filled with praise and we've seen so many examples in Revelation of the worship and praise that is given to God. But there is also this question A question which is on the lips of the martyrs, a question which should be on our lips as well. Indeed, on the lips of every believer until Christ comes again, and that is this. How long? How long, O Lord? When will the earth be made right? When will justice reign? When will sin be crushed and killed? When will death be swallowed up in victory? That's the question we have to ask ourselves. And it's not just something where we're looking for the defeat of death in our own individual lives. But we have the concern that Christ has, which is a cosmic, universal, all-encompassing concern. Because if all things are put in subjection to Christ, then sin cannot remain. Injustice cannot live. Holiness must be universal. And that's what Paul is looking towards. That's what we should look towards as we ask that question, how long? So in other words, this change that Paul is talking about, it's not conversion, it's not our death, it's something different. Really, it's what theologians talk about as our glorification. And that's more than just the resurrection from the dead, but the resurrection from the dead is central to this concept of glorification. Eric Alexander puts it well when he says the Christian hope is not the immortality of the soul, it's the resurrection of the body. We've heard that tonight already. The resurrection of the body is central and that's what Paul is talking about here. So what does he tell us then positively about this glorification, about this resurrection Well, I want to note four things as we look at verses 50 to 53, and I'll just read those again for us. Paul says, I tell you this, brothers, 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 and 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. Well, Paul says a lot about glorification and resurrection in this text, and not everything there is to say. We could go to Romans 8, we could go to Thessalonians, we could go to Revelation and learn more. But even just from this text, I think there are four important features of our glorification, and specifically of our resurrection, that Paul tells us about here. First, is that this glorification, this change, is a future change. Look again at the language of verse 51. Paul says, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. It seems like a minor point. But Paul is not saying we were changed or we are being changed, but we will be changed. This is something that is in the future. And it's in the future at a particular point. Again, we can be tempted to read the scriptures and read passages like this too individualistically. And so I read this and think, well, what this is saying is that, again, when I die, I shall be changed. And then when Song dies, he shall be changed, and so on and so forth. But Paul is saying, no, this is something that is corporate. It's at a particular moment in time. There aren't little dots in the timeline where everyone has their own personal change to look forward to, there is a resurrection that will happen at a particular moment, and that moment is at the last trumpet. Now we'll know that phrase from elsewhere in Paul's writings, particularly his writings to the Thessalonians, where he's touching on many of the same themes, and he speaks of the last trumpet. as the coming again of the king, the second coming of the king of kings, of Christ himself. So it's at that particular time in the future when this change will take place, when Christ comes again. That's what we're looking forward to. Believers on this earth, believers who have already died, all of us are united and looking forward to that second coming of Christ when the dead will be raised. That's the moment when the change happens. But not only is this changed future, it's also universal. And we've got to be careful here, because you could hear that to say, well, Paul or I am saying that there's a sort of universalism where everyone who is ever born will be changed or will be saved. That's not what's in view here. What's in view here, again, is that all of the people of God will be changed. Look again back at verse 50. To whom is Paul writing? I tell you this, brothers. Look at verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brothers. Paul is writing to Christians. Paul is writing to the church. And it is within the church, within the context of those who are already united in Christ, united with Christ, that they will be raised and all of them will be raised. And again, this is an issue that might not strike us in the same way it would have the initial readers. But Paul has this interesting phrase where he says in verse 51, we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. What is he talking about? Well, he's speaking of death, okay? When he says sleep, he means death. We shall not all die, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Because again, if this change is something that's in the future, this resurrection is something that will happen at a particular point, then there might be those who would think, well, what about the believers who are still on the earth when Christ comes again? They haven't died. Will they need to be raised? Will they need to be resurrected? And earthly wisdom would say, oh well, no, you're fine. If you haven't died, you won't need new life. Right? But what Paul is talking about is not just getting our physical bodies back as they are now. or having a few slight improvements. He's talking about a different order of body altogether. Again, this is something we've touched on, and we'll develop a little further. But Paul's making the point that all believers, whether they are dead and in heaven with Christ now, or whether they are still living on the earth when Christ comes again, all of us will be changed. This is a change that is necessary, and it is something that is future. So it's future, it's universal, it's also, thirdly, immediate. Look at verse 52. Paul really couldn't be more clear here. When does this change happen? It happens in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. I've not taken Greek yet, but the commentaries I've read seem to indicate that the word that Paul uses here is of an almost infinitesimally small moment, of sort of an atomic moment of instantaneous, immediate change. There is no process, there is no journey, there is none of this kind of language. It's an immediate change that happens in the twinkling of an eye in a moment. And then finally, This change is a dramatic change. In other words, this is not just us upgrading from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5. There's something much bigger going on here. And again, the roots go back all the way to Genesis and run all the way through to Revelation. This is a piece of the gospel, a piece of the redemptive story that we don't spend enough time on. not struck by the force of this. But this change is a dramatic change. We've already mentioned it tonight, but turn with me again to Philippians chapter 3. It's a wonderful, wonderful text where Paul really does summarize what he's saying in 1 Corinthians 15. Philippians 3 verse 20. Paul writes again, writing to believers, but our citizenship is where? It's in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Now reading this again, we might initially read this and think, now wait a minute, Paul, you're getting a little bit confused, okay? We await a Savior? Surely our Savior's already come. Surely Christ has already come and redeemed us. Why is Paul talking about us with a sort of future orientation? Shouldn't we be looking back to Christ's death on the cross or even the resurrection that took place there? But as Andy's brought out so helpfully for us already, the resurrection is a two-part event. And while Christ has been resurrected, Christ is just the first fruits. And his people, his church, is the harvest. And so we, with the saints in heaven, ask this question, how long? We, even though our citizenship is in heaven, await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what will Christ do? Look at verse 21. He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. This is not a minor change, it's a dramatic change. It's a significant change. It's a change in order. It's a change in the way of life itself. And how does he do this? He does this by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. That's something that will be drawn out later. But this is the final application of redemption. This is where all becomes already and nothing is not yet. That's the day we're looking forward to. That's what Paul is talking about. Ted Donnelly has written a very helpful book on heaven and hell, and I have taken a lot from his section on heaven in preparing this sermon. And he does a good job, I think, of summarizing some of what is said here. He says, the dead in Christ have not yet received their full inheritance. they are not yet completely redeemed. Their present condition will change for the better when the final stage of salvation is reached. It is of the utmost importance that we hold on to the reality of raised and glorified human flesh. Paul's analogy is of the sowing of seed, where essential identity is linked with total transformation. This is the glory which will be revealed in us. Our souls will be sinless, perfect. Our bodies will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spirit-filled. We will be like our Savior, conformed to His image. The angels will look at us and glorify God. Is it not thrilling to think of what our father is going to make of us and of what riches of blessing he plans to shower upon us? This change could not be greater. Look back if you would at verses 42 to 49. We saw it before. The language, the words that Paul uses to describe our natural body, our flesh and blood situation and our glorified bodies, our lowly bodies and our glorified bodies. Our lowly bodies, as they are now, are perishable, verse 42. They're sown in dishonor, verse 43. Sown in weakness. 44, it's a natural body. It's a body after the image of the man of dust. It's perishable, it's corruptible, it's mortal. This is a pretty grim picture in many ways, isn't it? But the contrasts are all the more glorious for that. Because what was perishable will be imperishable. What was sown in dishonor will be raised in glory. Weakness becomes power. Natural becomes spiritual. The image of the man of dust becomes the image of the man of heaven. That which is perishable and corruptible becomes imperishable and incorruptible. And mortality is changed for immortality. So then the question is, what is the result of this change? What is the fruit of this change and how should we today respond to this change? Well in some ways we might be listening to this talk of our own glorification and of our receiving glory and having a glorious body like Christ and maybe be a little bit uncomfortable with that. not only for the reasons we've already mentioned, that there can be sometimes unbiblical ideas that make us think the body is bad, but we can sometimes think, and maybe as Reformed people particularly, go, I don't like all this language of us being glorified or of us receiving glory. Are we in some ways robbing God of his glory or detracting from God's glory? Are we, when we talk so much or put such an emphasis on the resurrection, the glory, and the victory that we will have, are we somehow trying to steal the limelight from Christ? Is this really biblical? Is this really right? Well, here's the marvelous thing, brothers, is that in God's economy, as we are glorified, it does not detract from His glory, it adds to His glory. Michael Horton puts it well, he says, the more God glorifies us in His Son, the more He is glorified Himself. Because again, remember Philippians 3, Christ will come again on that last day and he will transform our lowly bodies to have glorious bodies just like him. But why does he do this? What is this a demonstration of? It is a demonstration of his power. Ultimately, even our own glorification serves to glorify Jesus Christ. Look with me, if you would, at verse 54 of our text tonight. Paul says, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality. In other words, when this change happens, when we are glorified, when Christ comes back, and the dead are raised, and the church is resurrected on that day, and redemption is fully accomplished, all is already, nothing is not yet. When that happens, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Where does Paul end with this? Not with the glorification of the church or of believers as an end in and of itself. but rather seeing it, setting it in the context of God's purposes, of God's plans, of God's redemption of his people. We are given the victory, verse 57, but thanks be to God. And that victory comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our glory in no way competes with God's glory. It is rather a reflection of God's glory. We share in the riches of his glory. What we find, especially in the context of Christ's second coming and the new heavens and the new earth, is that there is a closer and more intimate communion and union between us and the triune God than anything we have experienced now or even that believers experience at their death at this moment. When Christ comes again, we will be as closely and fully united with him as we ever will. And that's something that's missing not only from our own thinking, but from our own talk about heaven itself. We do tend to think of heaven as just a better version of earth, as a change of situation, a change of circumstance. But we often divorce it from the wonderful blessings and benefits that we will have. We don't take seriously enough the language of scripture when it says things like Peter says, that we will be participants in the divine nature in some sense. Not that we become God, not that we become co-equal with God or part of the Trinity in some way, or that we lose our identity. Again, what is the focus of Paul's point here? It's that our bodies themselves will be resurrected. We don't just become spirits and then get absorbed into some sort of vague Godhead. No, we are still, as individuals, raised and united to Christ as the church. This is a mystery. All of this, what we've been talking about today, is very much the deep end of the pool. We're pushing beyond our limits of understanding, but it's important for us to grapple with, because it produces, it should produce, I should say, what we see Paul doing here, which is verse 57 and verse 58, him giving praise, and giving a call to obedience as well. This perspective allows us to have a different view not only of life but also of death. And that is something that we are to praise God for. Right now, death mocks each and every one of us as fallen people. We are perishable. We are mortal. We wake up and we have aches and pains and sickness and disease. And unless Christ comes again, each of us will die. Some sooner, some later. But this perspective, this promise of the coming again of Christ and of the resurrection from the dead allows Paul in verse 55 to mock death, though death tries to mock us. And Paul is able to say, death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Death does not get the final word, because as Hebrews 2 said, Christ became flesh and blood, so that he might remove the power of him who has the power over death, which is the devil himself. And so Paul gives thanks to God. And we should give thanks to God. Not because everything is given to us now, but because there is a promise yet to come. Because our citizenship is in heaven, and we await a savior. And so this perspective should promote worship in our lives. Do you notice that theme? Everything we've talked about today, we've said, this should promote worship. This should promote holiness. That's a central goal that God has for his people. He wants us to share in his holiness. 12 says and this doctrine of glorification is no different. God wants us to share in his holiness and he wants us to worship him. And so I end the way that Paul ends in verse 58 by saying therefore He's spoken for 58 verses. This is a long chapter. It's a complicated chapter. It's a very precise chapter. But at least part of what he's been driving at is to lay this doctrine before us, teaching, to reprove certain false doctrines and ideas that they had, and to provide correction and right doctrine. And finally, he ends with training in righteousness. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast. Immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Paul's addressing certain temptations that we feel, and perhaps especially as we go on in our lives or in our ministries, where we get older, you get weary, you get tired, maybe begin to doubt or to question. It's interesting, again, Kevin's made this point numerous times, how Paul and others will enjoin Christians to finish their race well. You have many who start off and things look good, but then by the end of the story, things have gone off the tracks. You listen to Christ's parable where he talks about the sowing of the seed. And it's amazing how many of the different soils seem to be working really well at certain points. But then you get to the end of the story, and there's really only one soil that has produced true fruit, true godliness. It can be the same way for us. But Paul tells us these things, these truths about the resurrection, about our glorification, about heaven, about the glory of God, so that we can be steadfast, so that we are encouraged, so that we are built up. So brothers, I encourage you, I join you, allow the full force of the gospel, the gospel of God's glorious grace, which is not just something that has happened in the past. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. The gospel is multidimensional. The gospel affects every area, not only of life, but also of death. And I hope that as we look at this text and think about this theme of the order of salvation, that we'll be struck again with the richness and the variety, the texture and the maturity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That that would drive us to worship and encourage us in obedience as well. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for your word and we thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we thank you for inspiring by your spirit at the direction of the Father and through Jesus Christ, our Lord, that there would be the apostles and the prophets to write down and pass on and deliver this gospel message to us from Genesis to Revelation. And we pray that we would be devoted to this message. We pray that we would grapple with everything that you reveal, knowing that there are many things that we don't know. But what has been revealed is more than enough to occupy our time, our attention, our lives, and our affections. And we ask God that as we continue to think about these questions and these issues, that we would do so with an attitude of humility, and that it would drive us always, always to worship, and to obedience. We pray this in your name. Amen.