Transcript

1 Corinthians chapter 15, the long awaited return to our exposition of this wonderful New Testament book. As you come to 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul has begun to talk about the resurrection, a very lengthy discussion, exhortation, he’s making to the church at Corinth, by writing this letter we have as 1 Corinthians and now he’s dealing with the resurrection.

Now down through verse 19, in chapter 15, verses 1-19, Paul chiefly is concerned with defending the doctrine of the resurrection. There were many in this day refuting that doctrine, perverting that doctrine, or just out and out rejecting that doctrine, and the Apostle Paul has laid down a strong and solid defense. Saying that if you throw out the literal bodily resurrection of Christ, and the literal resurrection of the saints of God, you’ve thrown out Christianity. The liberal theologian even of our day that wants to discount, minimize or outright reject the supernatural rejected Christ’s resurrection and reject the notion that we will have a literal bodily resurrection, he is totally out of line with the word of God and is totally gutted and raped Christianity of its substance and its core.

Paul has laid that down. That’s been established. Now beginning in verse 20, we move to a little different emphasis. Beginning in verse 20, Paul gives more of what I’m calling a description of the resurrection. Now I’ll probably have three to five sermons under this broad title of the description of the resurrection. Now today’s message is entitled The Order of the Resurrection. The Order. The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is beginning to lay out the order in which the resurrection will occur in the ends times and he’s also showing us how other end time events fit with the resurrection. So my prophecy boys out there, I want you to pull out your charts, let’s get this thing nailed down, alright. Make sure everything fits just right, I tease those guys a lot and they love me, and its alright, okay.

1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.” Verse 25. “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, ‘All things are put in subjection,’ it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”

The order of the resurrection. Now let’s follow this thing in order. Roman numeral number one, Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s resurrection. Because his resurrection had to become, or rather had to come first, because his resurrection is the source and the provision for all the rest of us being resurrected from the dead. Look at it there in verse 21, the first half of that verse. He says, “For since by a man came death.” Now that man is Adam. You see, Adam is the patriarchal head of the human race. And when Adam, the patriarchal head, or father of the human race, when he sinned, he ushered in sin and death to the human race. So Adam left for mankind the heritage of sin and death. Those born of the lineage of Adam, therefore inherit his physical and spiritual genetics.

Now I’m speaking somewhat metaphorically here, but Adam is our forefather, we all have received of his genetic composition. So we received his physical and his spiritual genes. Now its interesting to me that in recent years archaeologists and anthropologists have they believe discovered that there is one central person from which the entire human race is connected to. They say you can go back in time and there’s one central person studying the genetic code that we all came from, and they have called this hypothetical person mother Eve. Well, isn’t it interesting that often if you give science enough time it catches up with the Bible. We did all come from one head, one place, Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. But we all inherited the physical and spiritual genes of our forefather Adam. So through a man, Adam, mankind became mortal. Because since Adam sinned, he passed on the sin nature, and since the wages of sin is death, now all of mankind faces — or is a sinner — and faces death and judgement. Therefore, we are mortal, we die.

Now the humanist and the secular philosopher is wrong. The humanists and secular philosopher would tell us that death is just a part of being a finite being. That death is just a necessity of fate. Death is just a part of the human experience. But the Bible says that is wrong. Listen, the Bible says death is an event that began in history past. That there was a point in time in history when death began. The Bible says that death is a calamity brought on mankind by a man, Adam.

As a matter of fact, keep your finger in 1 Corinthians 15, and I want you to, to turn to Genesis chapter 5. Adam and Even have sinned as recorded in the early chapters of Genesis, and now when we would come Genesis chapter 5, we see a word that occurs for the first time in the word of God. And that word that occurs for the first time in the word of God in Genesis chapter 5 is the word “died”, or the word “death”. God didn’t mean for that word to be in his world, but sin brought that word into the human race. Genesis 5:5 says, “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.” Verse 8, “So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.” Verse 11, “So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.” Verse 14, “So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.” And on and on and on it goes, all the way up to today obituary column. Death entered the human race through a man, Adam, and it has been there ever since. But also Paul is telling us, though, since death came by man, death is also removed by man. The man Christ Jesus.

Now look back at 1 Corinthians 15:21, the second half of that verse. I’ll just read all of it, but we’re not looking specifically at the second half. “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.” As those born of Adam inherit his physical and spiritual genes, those born of Jesus receive his physical and spiritual genes. That’s why when Jesus was confronted by the wise teacher Nicodemus, Nicodemus was trying to intellectually figure out the new teaching of Jesus, and Jesus said, you don’t understand me and my truth with the intellect. The only way you can comprehend, grasp and receive what I’m talking about is if you are born again. Nicodemus, you were born once of your physical mother. But then there has to be a point in time when there’s a spiritual birthing in the innermost part of you, and when there’s that spiritual birthing, then you begin to comprehend and understand spiritual truth and spiritual realities. And when you’re spiritually born again, that’s when you receive Christ and his nature and his genes. So in other words, Jesus has rescued the family from ruin.

He’s rescued the family from ruins. You see, those in Christ inherit his genes of righteousness and life. Before we just had the inherited genes of Adam, which was sin and death. And may I say to you, Jesus’ genes are superior to Adam’s genes. He is the dominant gene, His is the dominant gene that we receive. So through the man Adam, mankind became mortal. But through the man Jesus, believers receive immortality. We are in Adam by nature, we are in Christ by faith. You see, a literal Adam, committed literal sin, and he brought literal death into the human race. And then there was a literal man, Christ, who lived a literally righteous life, who died a literal death, and took the literal judgement that we deserve, tasted death literally for us at our place, and how he provides victory over death, the resurrection of the dead. And look at verse 22. Still talking about Christ’s resurrection, its the first that happens in the order of everything, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” But that’s just a summary in different words of the truth he’s already pointed out to us in verse 21.

Now let’s jump back up to verse 20. Back up to verse 20. He says, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” Now when the Apostle Paul was writing this letter to the church at Corinth, they understood well what this concept of first fruits meant. The Jewish religion of the day was filled with this truth, and I believe the pagan religions of the day had an understanding of this truth, so his audience understood well what it meant. You see, for the Jews, the Levitical law required for farmers to bring the first of their annual harvest to the priests at the temple. When they go out there and farm and let’s say they had a 1000 acres of corn for the sake of illustration, the first hundred acres that came in, the best first hundred acres of corn, they put in their carts, they put in their basket, they put on their wagons, and they would bring it annually to the priests at the temple, and give it over to them as their first fruits offering. And once again, among other things, what did this do, it taught the farmers and reminded the farmers we trust in God, not the harvest. We trust in the Lord of the harvest, not the harvest.

Now, Leviticus chapter 23 tells us something very specific. Leviticus chapter 23 said the Jews were to bring the first fruits offering, now listen, on the day following the Sabbath, after Passover week. The Levitical law said look, every year, you’ll have your passover week, that was the big event of the nation of Israel. Then after passover week, you’ll have your Saturday Sabbath, remember the Jews met and worshipped and observed their religion on Saturday. So the passover week is to come, he says, then you have the Sabbath on Saturday, then on Sunday morning, bring your first fruits offering for that year. Passover week, Sabbath on Saturday, then you bring in your annual first fruits offering on that Sunday morning.

Now the first fruits that were brought in by these farmers and about everybody was connected to agriculture in this day, when they brought that harvest in, it gave them confidence about what was to come in the full harvest yet to be brought in. So Paul says, Christ’s resurrection is our first fruits. He’s the first of all the full harvest resurrection, that is going to be coming in. And what a confidence his resurrection gives us. What a confidence it is to know that Jesus Christ, as a historical fact, has been raised from the dead.

Two things I want to mention about this confidence that it gives us. Number one, his resurrection gives us hope of victory over the fear of death. It gives us victory over the fear of death. I remember about eight months or so ago, my wife called me and she called me on her cell phone and she said, Jeff, you’ve got to come home. Well, its only about a block and a half for me, so that’s not that big of a deal. She said, I just pulled up in the driveway, the garage door is up, some lights are on in the house, and I don’t remember leaving the garage door up and I don’t remember leaving those lights on, I am afraid to go in there, you’ve got to come home and go in there first. Where is women’s liberation when you really need them. Now you know I like to hunt, I like sportsman stuff, I have some guns, but they’re in the back corner of the house. But anyway, I went home, acted like it was no big deal, no sweat, marched through that door, looked under beds, looked behind the couch, looked in closets, looked in the office, went back out and said, its safe, you can all come in. And you know what, its amazing, they had no fear, just marched right on in. That’s what our elder brother Jesus has done for us. He’s already gone on ahead, he’s faced death, he entered death, he burst the back door down, open, now there’s a gaping hole in the back of death and when a saint of God enters death, he knows he has victory because he’s going to go right on through death into the Shekinah glory of God. We have confident hope that there’s victory over the fear of death.

Secondly, we have encouragement concerning the benefit of death. Encouragement concerning the benefit of death. The Bible said its precious one of God’s loved ones dies. Its precious. There are benefits to us leaving this life to enter the next one. Think about Christ. After his death there was the resurrection, and what happened? He got a glorified body. Now by his own purpose and will, he, he confined himself to the limitations of human body for his earthly ministry, because a man had to come and cure the sin problem, because a man brought the sin problem. But after he did all of that, he was raised from the dead, and the Bible said he had a glorified body, a superior body, a better body. And secondly not only that, but when he had risen from the dead, he had completed the purchase of his glorified bride. I want to tell you, it was a better day after I got my bride.

Hey, that’s the same thing it is for you and I, we have the same benefit of death, you have a limited, mortal, finite, feeble, sickly, terminal, uglying body. I don’t know if that’s a word, but you know what I mean. Our bodies decay and corrupt and they rot, but after death I get a glorified body, perfect body, a whole body, never to be affected by fatigue or disease or age, no sags, no bags. In that body. Hey listen, but after that I also inherit a glorified family. You say, now brother Jeff, I love my family down here, you hadn’t seen your other one yet. I love mine down here, I don’t want to leave mine, but listen my friend, when you get up to heaven, when you get on the other side of this old temporal, rotten, falling, decaying, corrupted, waiting for the judgement world, you’re going to inherit your glorified family, you’re going to say, “Whoo, glory to God, what I’ve got now, I thought my other family was good, but this one is infinitely better”. And you know everybody in heaven will be like your closest brother or sister, everybody in heaven will be like your dearest mom and dad, just millions of them, no envy, no hatred, no strife, no jealousy, no pride, no using other people, none of that stuff. You have a glorified, won’t that be good. Baptists won’t know how to fit into that, will they. What are Baptists going to do when they can’t fuss and fight and squabble and form committees and take sides. Now we don’t’ have that here, but that’s typical in most churches.

Well, when we think about Christ’s resurrection, its just like that farmer when he brought his first fruits. He’s got confident hope about what’s to come. Jesus is our first fruits, he gives us confident hope. About what’s to come for us in the resurrection. Now I mentioned earlier, that the Levitical law taught that once a year the Jews were to observe Passover week. At the end of Passover week, they had a Saturday Sabbath, and then on Sunday, they were to bring their first fruits offering. Now, let me ask you something. About 2000 years ago, on the Sunday morning after Saturday Sabbath of the Passover week, what significant event took place. On Sunday morning, the day after Saturday Sabbath, of the week of Passover, what significant even took place. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Year after year, decade after decade, century after century, those Jews brought in those first fruits on Sunday morning after Passover week. Never knowing every time they brought that first fruits offering that was a foreshadowing in picture of Jesus, the first fruit of the resurrection. Because he would be raised on that Sunday morning, after the Saturday Sabbath, on Passover week.

Now look also with me to that word that we see there in verse 20, he talks about those who are “asleep”. Christ is first fruits of those who are asleep. That just means our body rests in the grave, until there’s that final harvest time. The saints of God are finally harvested and resurrected and brought back to God. Our soul goes to be with the Lord immediately, but our bodies rest in the grave.

Alright, chronologically speaking, or looking at the order, Paul says first of all, there was Christ’s resurrection. That’s in the past, that happened 2000 years ago. Now let’s go on to the Roman numeral number two. And that is the full resurrection harvest. Now Paul’s going to talk about here’s the next event. As far as the resurrection is concerned and how it fits into things chronologically, concerning the end times. There’s next going to be the full resurrection harvest. Not look at this beginning in verse, excuse me, verse 23. He says, “But each in his own order.” Paul says, there’s going to be a resurrection of all believers, but he says, God’s got an order to the way this thing is going to come about. Now the word order is an old military term. You see, the military is known for doing things in proper order. So Paul simply says, God has an orderly way, to bring in the full resurrection harvest. Just as a farmer has a sequence of events and an orderly way that he brings in his grain harvest or whatever he’s harvesting, that fall.

Now look at what else he says in verse 23. “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.” Now the word coming is Parousia (παρουσία), or paracia, its a Greek word that was used to signify the arrival of a king or an emperor. So Paul says, you know, you come to the sequence of events, you know you come to the time when God’s going to reap the full harvest of all his departed saints, when he comes in his second coming. He said, that’s when you know its about to take place. Now let’s talk about the chronology or the order of the resurrection harvest itself. This end time resurrection chronology or the order that it comes in, number one, first of all, the resurrection of Christ. We’ve already seen that, Paul’s already talked about, the gospels have recorded that, he’s the first fruits, he’s already been raised. And he had to come first, because he is the source of the whole process for all of the rest of us. But the Bible teaches, though he’s the first fruits, the rest of his people have to wait until his second coming.

Alright, now let’s get to that, number two. Secondly in chronological order, will be the resurrection of the church age saints. Now that means all the saints that have died from Pentecost when the church was birthed, through the rapture, when the church will be resurrected and brought to the Lord, the Lord will not come always the way to the earth at that time, the rapture is yet to come, that means the Lord will come in the air. And everybody’s whose in the grave, everybody in the grave that loved Jesus, was truly saved, from Pentecost through the rapture will be resurrected at that time to be with the Lord. And all of us who are alive and remain will meet them in the air. We won’t beat them, we’ll meet them. Now, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is a good verse reference for that.

Now number three. In chronological order, there will be the resurrection of the tribulation and Old Testament saints. So, let’s follow this thing all the way through and I’ll explain this third one a little more at that point. First of all, Christ resurrected, he was the first fruits, that guaranteed the rest of the harvest was coming. Then there’s been at least 2000 years who know how many more years, there’s going to be the rapture. And all the church age saints, from Pentecost to the rapture, will be resurrected, glorified, receive their bodies, be with the Lord. Then there are going to be seven awful, unbelievable years of God’s wrath and judgement on planet earth. Unbelievable time on planet earth.

There’s going to be seven years of awful tribulation. At the end of that seven years of tribulation, then God will resurrect all the saints that died, most of them martyred, during the tribulation seven years, and he’ll resurrect all the Old Testament saints. Then at the end of that seven years, when that resurrection takes place, I believe all of us along with all the tribulation saints that have been raised, and all the Old Testament saints that have been raised will reign with Christ for a thousand years on planet earth. And that’s what’s called the millennial kingdom, the reign of Christ on earth. Let me give you some verses references: Revelation 20:4, Daniel 12:2, Isaiah 26:19-20. You can look at those verses, check all that out, alright. So now, in the broad stroke of things, number one, there’s Christ the first fruits. Then there’s coming a series of events in the end time from the rapture through the end of the tribulation, when the full resurrection harvest will be gathered in.

And then Paul wants to continue and show that the resurrection fits into other significant end time events, and that’s why we have Roman numeral number three, as we continue in chronological sequence, all the way through this. We have the restoration of the universe back to God. The restoration of the universe back to God. Now look at verse 24 with me 1 Corinthians 15. He says in verse 24, “then comes the end.” The word “then” simply means the next thing that’s happening in this sequence of events. What has happened? Christ, the first fruits, well, we know that’s happened, that happened 2000 years ago. Then those who are Christ’s at his coming, we just talked about all of that. All that will be raised when he comes again. Then comes the final events that mark the end of the age as we know it. Now, I love that phrase, “then comes the end”. Then comes, by the way. The end’s not going to come until He comes. Don’t you fret it, don’t you worry about it, don’t get upset about it, I don’t care how many dictatorial despite in the desert get atomic or nuclear bombs or biological warfare capabilities, the end will not come until He comes. The Bible says, “then comes the end,” when he comes. Now look at verse 24, the last part, “when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father.” In other words, he’s going to deliver up his kingdom to the Father God after the full resurrection harvest has taken place.

Now look at the last part of verse 24, “when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.” Now these are the final events that will take place at the end times, that will be the conquer and remove all the powers that are against God and to conquer and remove everything that has been brought into the world by sin. Did you hear me. That end time event, when Christ takes the throne on planet earth, reigns for a thousand years, and that ending conquering at the end of that 1000 years all of that event, is so Christ as he rules can abolish all rule, all power, all authority, and all sin, everything rather that sin has brought into the world.

The word abolish there is a strong word in the Greek, it means to be brought to nothing. Let the heathen rage when our Lord returns, they and all that is of them will be brought to nothing. You can go out there and invest in it and work in it and live your life for it, but you’ll be the fool on judgement day. It will be brought to nothing. Now look at verse 25. “For He must reign,” that’s him reigning in the millennial kingdom that 1000 years on the earth, “He must reign, until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” So over a process of time, and Revelation marks these out and describes them in quite significant detail. But over a process of time, he’ll abolish all the enemies of God.

Now listen very closely to what I’m about to tell you. Christ’s kingdom is a kingdom that is in the process of subjecting one enemy after another, until the last enemy death is conquered. Now we know he won the victory on the cross, but the actually conquering and abolishing is going to happen in the end times. And the last one he’ll get to will be death, that’s what verse 26 says, “The last enemy” of all those Christ is going to conquer will be death. All of God’s redeemed at this point you see, are already resurrected, they are glorified, they have their glorified bodies, their bodies will never know death, and I want to tell you, death is contrary to the nature of the God of life. Death has no place in Christ’s kingdom. Death is a pillar in the kingdom of this world and of satan, but it has no place in Christ’s kingdom, it will be the last enemy Christ will get rid of, and that one will be gone.

Now look at verse 27, the first part. “For He,” God the Father, “has put all things in subjection under His,” Jesus’, “feet.” Now that’s a direct fulfillment of the prophecy given way before Jesus’ birth in Psalm 8:6. Psalm 8:6 says, “You have made him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” Now look at verse 27, the last part. “But when He says, ‘All things are put in subjection,’ it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.” Now here’s what he means. Christ is going to come again. Christ is going to have the full harvest of his redeemed saints brought in. To be glorified and with him. With all his resurrected glorified saints. He’ll rule on planet earth for a thousand years. Through the period of that thousand years and particularly toward the end of that thousand years, he will conquer every single ruler, every power, every authority, and everything that was brought into the world by sin will be conquered and abolished and eliminated, everything will be in subjection to Christ, but, last part of verse 27 says, God the Father will not be in subjection to Christ. Paul says, I want you to understand that, Christ was not going to make God the Father bow down at his feet, but everything else will. That’s just the point he’s making so far.

Now look at verse 28. “and when all things are subjected to Him,” that means Christ is going to take everything and yield it to God the Father, and say “Father, since I came and was born of the virgin Mary, I’ve been on a conquest to restore and redeem and bring everything back to you. Now all that’s done, Father, now I submit it all to you.” And that’s what it means in verse 28, “When all things are subjected to Him,” God, “then the Son Himself also,” that’s Jesus, “will be subjected to the One,” that’s God the Father, “who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.” Now listen, in the Godhead, Jesus, God the Son, is the valued prince carrying out the conquesting mission of the monarch Father. And he does it successfully.

Now back up in verse 24, it says Jesus, God the Son, is going to deliver up the kingdom to God the Father. The text has already told us that the last enemy against God that Christ will defeat, will be death, and after the last enemy is defeated, everything is restored back to God, there are no more enemies of God, no more rulers against God, no more powers on earth against God, no more authorities against God, in heaven or in the earth, that means the demonic world, everything that came into the world that’s sinful and against God, all that’s gone.

And when all that’s gone, then there is no further need for Christ’s kingdom. Christ’s kingdom was for conquest. Christ’s kingdom was a process of restoration. And with that conquest completed, then the permanent state of the kingdom of God is established in that new heavens and in that new earth. That’s what Paul means when he said the Son himself will submit to the Father. Doesn’t mean he’s lesser than God the Father. Doesn’t mean he loses any of his deity, it means his sovereign purpose of God, God the Son had a different mission than God the Father. And he carried it all out to perfection.

Verse 28 again says, “When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him.” Now, this shows that Christ will surrender his mediatorial kingship to God from whom he received it.

There was a point in time when God the Father said to Jesus, God the Son, I want you to go to planet earth and I want you to be the intercessor, I want you to be the mediator, I want you to be the priest for man and for mankind, because they are separate from me and somebody needs to be the mediator, to connect me God, with fallen man. And Christ, what did he say. Matthew 28, John and in other passages, said “I didn’t come to do” what? “my own will, but my Father’s”. I’m equal to my Father, I’m co-equal God with him, but I came to carry out his will as his valued prince, restoring the kingdom back to him. And so that’s what Jesus has been about. This mediatorial kingdom was a process of restoring it all back to God the Father. Now he’ll always be head of the church for all eternity. He’ll always be sovereign Lord, but listen, he’ll no longer be mediator. He’ll no longer be intercessor. He’ll no longer be priest, because we’re there, we’re connected, we’re restored, we’re glorified, we’re one. So Christ will lay down his mediatorial kingdom, and he will have his temporal assignment as the mediator, the Christ, the priest, set aside.

Look at what verse 28 says, the last phrase, for this purpose “that God may be all in all.” So the termination of his office of mediator, and the submitting of his kingdom to the Father, actually ends Christ’s submission to the Father. There’s no longer for him to function submissively, because the purpose for his submission was to carry out the restoration process. That has been completed, so now that is over. And now the one triune, true God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit will rule and reign in all their triune glory. They will be surrounded by a glorified humanity in a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, and he shall reign forever and ever and ever.

Now that’s what the Apostle Paul says about the order of the resurrection. Now let’s review it right quick. Paul said first of all, Christ is the first fruits. When he was raised from the dead, he gives us confident hope that we are going to be also be raised from the dead. We’re going to have the same resurrection. But he says, now wait a minute, you’re not going to come immediately after his resurrection, everything is going to happen in God’s perfect order. At his coming, Parousia (παρουσία), at the arrival of the emperor king, then that full harvest is going to be gathered in and we described the sequence of events in that full harvest event. Then after that full harvest event, is the, the end, we’re going to rule and reign with him for a thousand years on planet earth. That ruling and reigning for a thousand years is so that Christ can conquer every ruler, every power, every authority, and everything brought into the world by sin, every single bit of it will be conquered and abolished, the Bible says.

After its all conquered and abolished, Christ is going to say “Father, I’ve brought it all back to you. You sent me on a mission and sent me on a task, I have perfectly executed it. And Father, its all—the entire universe cleansed, righteous, glorified, is now brought back under your headship, Father, I resign my position as mediator, intercessor and priest, I take my rightful place beside as you co-equal God, and now God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit reign in triune glory over the kingdom of God in a brand new heaven and in a brand new earth where righteousness dwells and they will reign forever and ever and ever.”

That’s what Paul is teaching us. But I want to tell you this morning, he hasn’t laid down his office of mediator yet. Cause there’s some to still be reached.

He hasn’t laid down the office of intercessor yet, because some still need to be interceded for.

He hasn’t laid down the office of priest yet, because some need a priest to get them to God, and Jesus is the only priest that will get you to God.

If you’re here this morning, before that end time judgement you can come to Jesus Christ and say “I need you as my mediator, I need you as my intercessor, I need you as my priest, I’m a sinner undone and unclean, doomed, damned, condemned, ought to go to hell, I deserve hell, but I believe you died for me, you made the provision, and I want you to save me, be my Lord, take me in your kingdom”, and one day we’ll all be part of the kingdom of God forever and ever and ever.