333 - THE SECRET CONCLUSION OF THIS AGE
December 30, 1973
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
I Corinthians 15: 51 - 58
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is they sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 There, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
This is a marvelous chapter—the resurrection chapter. To start with this morning I want to contrast two verses in this chapter. Verse 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
This would reduce the Christian life to a here and now affair. But this is exactly what the left-wing teachers and preachers are doing. They make Christ a great teacher, a
Way-shower, telling us what needs to be done in our present day and age. Is it any wonder that many of our young people are disillusioned, for the world is no better today than it was ten years ago—as a matter of fact, it is worse, and Paul sets up a principle here that tells us Christianity is not mainly for this world. It has some fringe benefits, but the main thrust is not for here and now.
1/ Now the next verse I’d like you to see is Verse 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word that is important here is the word victory. The Christian life has victory. Many talk about a victorious life, but this victory is not a victory that takes place on earth in this present day and age, but is a future one. Every true child of God is promised victory. And that is what we want to study this morning.
2/ This age will end with a secret—it started with a secret and it ends with a secret. It started with the blinding of Israel. Romans 11: 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
There could be no church, the body of Christ, until Israel was blinded. So the Age of Grace opens with a secret and closes with a secret.
3/ Verse 51 WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, What a lovely word this is to describe the condition of those who have died in Jesus Christ. Let us see it again.
I Thessalonians 4: 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
And here it means, put to sleep by Jesus. And this, of course, refers to the physical body.
4/ But then we are told, but we shall not all sleep. There is going to be one generation that will not die. There will be one generation that will be an exception.
5/ There are three reasons why believers want the Rapture, or this secret to take place.
1. They are unhappy with life here and now. Life is a burden so they want the
Rapture to take place so they can escape their life situation. But this should not be so. The believer should not be longing for the Rapture to escape the problems of life. God has given us the Bible, doctrine in that Bible, and promises so that we can have joy in this life.
2. Then there are those who are afraid to die. Some want to escape the Valley of the Shadow. It is probably true that many of them are afraid of how they will die.
II Corinthians 5: 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
3. They love the Lord and want to be with the Lord. II Timothy 4: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
To love His appearing means they love Him, it means they are overwhelmed by their love for Him. That they want to be with Him. The things on earth have grown strangely dim as they contemplate this meeting.
6/ But it matters not whether we live, or die in Christ, we shall be changed. It makes no difference whether we are dead, or not.
This truth is also taught in I Thessalonians 4: 16 - 18. For the Lord himself shall depend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of god: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and rempinshall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
It could be this present generation that will not die. That we do not know.
7/ There is a terrible gimmick used by some who claim to love the Bible. They try to scare people into living for the Lord Jesus. They say if you are doing anything displeasing to the Lord at the time of the Rapture, you will not go up. You should live for the Lord, but it makes no difference whether in fellowship, or out of fellowship with the Lord, you will go up.
8/ CHANGED In the Greek it is AL - LAS’ – SO and it means to make different. So you see, we are going to be changed. Made different. I am sure this will be a victory for us. For instead of having a human body, we will have a spiritual body.
9/ HOW LONG TO CHANGE OVER? It is the word, moment, which is AT - OM - OS and this means an atom of time. This means 1, 10 millionth of a second. Try to measure that if you can. Do you know of any instrument that is capable of measuring a 10 millionth of a second?
10/ At the last trump. Some say this makes it Jewish—not at all. Why is it called the last trump? The expression was very familiar to people in those days. It was in common use in the Roman army. When a Roman camp was about to be broken up, whether in the middle of the night or day, the trumpet was sounded. The first blast meant, strike tents, and prepare to depart. The second meant, fall into line, and when that which was called the last trump was sounded it meant march away. The Apostle uses that figure of speech and when the last trump is sounded this age is over, and we march away to be with the Lord.
11/ The dead and the living are brought forth here. So we have two groups, the dead and the living.
12/ Verse 53 Corruptible speaks of those who are dead, mortal as those who are living. A mortal can die, but he puts on immortality so he cannot die.
13/ Verse 54 Then is an important key word in this verse. Only when the Rapture takes place will the saying be brought to pass—death is swallowed up in victory. This is a quote from Isaiah 25: 8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from all all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
And the words “swallowed up” means to DRINK DOWN we have a phrase that is similar to it today—BOTTOMS UP we mean that we drain the last bit that is in the glass, so there is nothing left in the glass. So death is completely abolished for us in this event.
14/ Verse 55 O death, where is they sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Here Paul quotes Hosea 13: 14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
When the grave claims the body of the believer it is a victory for the grave. And there is a sting in death. Have you ever lost a loved one? You know the bitter tears that flow. You don’t cry for the one who dies, but you cry for those who are left behind, and there is a sense in which the body is left in the grave.
15/ TRY TO IMAGINE IF YOU CAN, NO MORE PARTING, NO MORE FUNERALS, DEATH IS BANISHED. What a comforting truth this is.
16/ Verse 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
The sting of death is sin and this refers to the old sin nature. That is the sting of death—in having an old sin nature. And the strength of the old sin nature is the law. This is because the law proves we have an old sin nature. But yet there is another reason for saying the strength of sin is the law. But when you personally keep the law, are able for a period of time to keep the Ten Commandments, what have you produced? Human good, which is as filthy rags. This is all self-righteousness, which is completely rejected by God.
17/ Verse 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word, thanks, is the word grace. So it should read, grace to God. Then the word, giveth, is another key. Grace and giving go hand in hand. The victory is given to us because of grace. Not who and what we are, but who and what God is and what He has done. But how the old nature hates the grace of God.
18/ Verse 58 There, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Here He shows that the contemplation of this victory is a motivation to service.
1. Be ye, is literally, become. IT IS PRESENT, ACTIVE IMPERATIVE, and it means keep on continuously becoming stedfast.
2. Beloved brethren, shows they are saved. Carnal but saved I Corinthians 3: 1 - 3 And I, brethren, couldn’t speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for thitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men
3. There are three applications of this victory to the believer’s life.
1. Stability in time. Romans 16: 25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and he preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
2. Production in Time
3. Purpose in Time
19/ We are to be steadfast, unmovable, and the word, steadfast means to be
stabilized, and the word, unmovable, is unshakable. This same thought is given to us
in Ephesians 4: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
20/ Abounding means multiplying the work of the Lord. How many believers are just
plain lazy?
21/ And there should be a purpose in time. Your labor is not in vain. Your work is not in
vain, empty, or useless.
AMEN
Ref: 12/30/1973 / 333 - THE SECRET CONCLUSION OF THIS AGE / 04/11/2020
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