SPEAKER_00: It's been a little while since I've done this, so it's been a little while since I've done this, so if I can do anything.
SPEAKER_00: Um I guess the main thing that's been on my mind since Brother Mike asked me uh about speaking, um, a little partway through the week, uh my mind kind of got stuck on a particular phrase that pops up in a couple of Apostle Paul's letters, redeeming the time.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's a particular phrase that I've always found somewhat um both a good piece of advice and also encouraging in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: But um I didn't realize, I guess, most of the time when I think of that particular verse, um, there's two particular spots where redeeming the time pops up, and I'll I might be jumping back and forth between them a couple times, but I'll try not to go too quickly between them.
SPEAKER_00: Um the first one, the one that I think of more often, is in uh Ephesians 5.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think I'll start there.
SPEAKER_00: So um, just for context, the the other place is in Colossians, and something that's interesting about both of these places where the verse is used is right before the apostle Paul gives that piece of guidance.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's talking about um.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, let me just let me just start with the verse and then I'll start back from there.
SPEAKER_00: Um in verse 15 of Ephesians 5, uh the apostle writes, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
SPEAKER_00: And when thinking about the phrase redeeming the time, often the main thing that comes to mind for me is just being productive, making use of time that we have because our time is limited and we don't have honestly that much on Earth.
SPEAKER_00: Um but the more I was reading over it and thinking about it, um it occurred to me that the term redeeming is a pretty interesting word to use in this context as well.
SPEAKER_00: Um just because yes, it is telling us to make use of the time we have, but redeeming often comes with the um the connotation of buying back or taking back something.
SPEAKER_00: Um which, when I started thinking about that, uh because the days are evil started to make a decent amount more sense why it's placed right after.
SPEAKER_00: Um as we all know, this world is not exactly a friendly place.
SPEAKER_00: It is full of corruption and evil in it, and um in in the way it's stated and the place it's put in this chapter and in this uh letter, I think it's it's not just telling us to make the most of the time that we have, but to actively take back time and to make use of time that would otherwise be spent doing or in a world full of um evil in it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so leading up to that verse in both the Ephesians and Colossians, the apostle is going over just from starting in about verse 3 of this verse, talking about all the sorts of things that we should not be partaking in, those things that are outside of the kingdom of God and that we should be steering clear of, uh, and then leading up to that verse.
SPEAKER_00: And that same, I guess, structure is echoed in Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: I'll move over there now.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so in Colossians 4, um the apostle writes similarly, walk in wisdom towards them that are without redeeming the time.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this one, the way it's worded is a little differently.
SPEAKER_00: Um but another thing that I found interesting about both of these verses is that in um sorry, I've been bouncing back and forth already.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in Ephesians, the verse directly after uh in verse 17, he says, Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
SPEAKER_00: And then in Colossians, when he uses this, he says right before, walk in wisdom towards them that are without redeeming the time.
SPEAKER_00: So another part of redeeming the time, not only to be making use of the time, but to be using it wisely.
SPEAKER_00: Um but understanding what the will of the Lord is, I think, is a good explanation of how exactly or what exactly being wise and how we redeem the time means.
SPEAKER_00: Um and then I guess just one last kind of thing towards um uh in the verse in Colossians, and this is probably something a lot bigger, so I won't go very deep into it, but um, towards them that are without, I think also is an interesting part of that because like in Ephesians is talking about all the things that would be outside of the kingdom of God, all of those things that we should be avoiding, uh, he's specifically telling us to walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time.
SPEAKER_00: Um so the sense in which that we should be redeeming the time, not only having to do with how we spend our time, but how we should be acting towards those when we are in the world, dealing with those who are outside of perhaps the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Um I just thought this was uh some interesting uh connections between these two verses and some thoughts on um what it means to redeem the time.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have a whole lot more outside of that.
SPEAKER_00: Um anyway, uh thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate Brother Elijah's thoughts and willingness to come before the church and um offer those up.
SPEAKER_01: Certainly a good um uh admonition in the scriptures for us to redeem the time as Brother Elijah read to us.
SPEAKER_01: Um the apostles said we have uh it's one of the few the most rare resources we have.
SPEAKER_01: There is no more than what what we have.
SPEAKER_01: The you can't save it up.
SPEAKER_01: Um you can't just store up time and use it later.
SPEAKER_01: It ticks away for every one of us, and it seems to go faster the older you get.
SPEAKER_01: Um I used to think that was perception, and I'm starting to think it's reality.
SPEAKER_01: I it really feels as if um you go, where did the time go?
SPEAKER_01: Well, some of that has been on me.
SPEAKER_01: Um, that I've wasted it.
SPEAKER_01: I love how the I mean, I say I love the poet that writes this, but I I love it because it I I feel it so much as a conviction to me, as uh the hymn writer says, Thus far the Lord has led me on, and thus far his power prolongs my days, and every evening shall make known fresh memorials of his grace.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's a beautiful thought.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of every day, we can remember back the memorials of the Lord's grace for us, but then then he writes, then he writes, much of my time has run to waste.
SPEAKER_01: And I perhaps am near my home.
SPEAKER_01: Yet he forgives my follies past and gives me strength for days to come.
SPEAKER_01: That's the one I feel the conviction.
SPEAKER_01: Much of my time has run to waste.
SPEAKER_01: How I have spent time I could have spent in service to the Lord and to his people, and yet I've wasted it on myself and my selfish interest.
SPEAKER_01: Um redeeming the time is certainly a good admonition for us to have.
SPEAKER_01: And I love that Brother Elijah thought second about it and thought um twice about it.
SPEAKER_01: We should spend time in scripture thinking twice, not just a cursory reading, not just the first time you read through, you say, Oh, well, that means this.
SPEAKER_01: What could it mean?
SPEAKER_01: In its context, what more could we glean from it?
SPEAKER_01: Because I promise you that the scriptures are a lifetime of work, of digging out gems and beauties that are deep within.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never search out the beauties of the Lord to its completeness, and you'll always find more and more the further you you dig into his word.
SPEAKER_01: I just happened to be reading in Ephesians yesterday and came across that same chapter just in reading, and noticed how tied to what's on my mind that chapter is.
SPEAKER_01: Interestingly enough, I don't know that I'll get to it because time.
SPEAKER_01: But uh I need to redeem that time right now, and I'm already feel like I'm wasting it.
SPEAKER_01: So let's get into a subject that I started last weekend about Christ as the first fruits.
SPEAKER_01: But again, last weekend I didn't have enough time to continue my thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll try and pray the Lord bless as we move into it again.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where we were reading about Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Um Corinthians 15 and verse 20, and it says, But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
SPEAKER_01: That is an ever-present is.
SPEAKER_01: This is, as we mentioned last weekend, the fact that Christ rose from the dead, he rose to a glorified state, to a life, an unending life.
SPEAKER_01: He has the power of an endless life.
SPEAKER_01: He sits on the throne at the right hand of the majesty on high of God, and he is, it says, henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool, meaning that there is coming a time where he will put down all enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's already conquered all his enemies.
SPEAKER_01: The victory is won, it is achieved, it is finished.
SPEAKER_01: There is no more battling with enemies that Christ needs to do.
SPEAKER_01: The battle is over, the fight is over, the victory is achieved, but the manifestation of it is not yet come to pass.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um, how you can, I guess, visualize this, you find in the Old Testament at one place in particular where the enemies of Israel, Joshua was leading Israel and they were fighting an enemy, and they took the kings of that, of the five kings that they were fighting against, and they were put into a cave, and a stone was placed on the front of the cave, and guards were placed there, and then they went out and they finished fighting the battle until they had conquered the enemy completely.
SPEAKER_01: Then after that, now the victory's won, right?
SPEAKER_01: They have already conquered the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Then they go and Joshua says to bring those kings out of the cave.
SPEAKER_01: They bring them before them.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua tells them to put their foot on the neck of those kings.
SPEAKER_01: This was a symbolic in that day of having your enemy under your heel.
SPEAKER_01: And then after that, they killed the kings that and they were finally put away.
SPEAKER_01: Now, all of that foot on the neck, and then the final executing of those kings did not win the victory that was already done.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: They were put in the cave till everything else was done, then were brought out, and then finally conquered.
SPEAKER_01: They were already conquered.
SPEAKER_01: They were already defeated.
SPEAKER_01: But now there was the final putting away.
SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of the way you can picture this.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: The enemies of Christ, the enemy, death, hell, grave, they are completely defeated.
SPEAKER_01: He's conquered that, he's won the victory.
SPEAKER_01: There is yet a final enemy to be destroyed, and the scripture tells us that is death.
SPEAKER_01: Because while Christ rose from the dead, he rose to die no more.
SPEAKER_01: He'll never die again.
SPEAKER_01: There is no more death for Christ to ever go through.
SPEAKER_01: And in that sense, everyone that he died for, everyone that was in Christ, represented by him on the cross, has also passed.
SPEAKER_01: Death will not touch them.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you say, but Brother Mike, I know that death is still a reality for me and our and people we love.
SPEAKER_01: And that is true in this time world.
SPEAKER_01: There is a death that we have to face as mortal men that are not yet glorified, but in Christ we are seated at the right hand of God, glorified.
SPEAKER_01: In Ephesians, it talks about that in a legal sense that he has quickened us together with Christ and raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He writes it as its past tense, but yet we are still not in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: If we can see that he has conquered it and won the victory, but yet there is a final manifestation of it that hasn't fully come to pass, then we can understand that we're as good as there, but we're not there, right?
SPEAKER_01: There is something coming.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we get that full picture, then we can come back and see that Paul is saying that Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of them that slept.
SPEAKER_01: There were other people who rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: There was a widow's son that Elijah, by the power of God, raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: There was a prophet in the Old Testament who was killed and then was thrown into a pit that had the bones of another prophet that had died before.
SPEAKER_01: And when he got down thrown into the pit, he revived from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: There's stories through the Old Testament of dead coming back.
SPEAKER_01: There's New Testament experiences.
SPEAKER_01: Certainly, Christ himself raised a widow's son from the dead in the middle of his funeral procession.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Christ just happens, you could say that, or I would dare say he knew exactly where that funeral procession was going to be.
SPEAKER_01: But he comes across the funeral as they're carrying the poor widow's son to his grave, and he stops the funeral procession, and it becomes a celebration because he raises that boy from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He goes to Jairus' daughter, a ruler, who comes to him saying, My daughter is sick, she's nigh unto death.
SPEAKER_01: And before they get there, someone says, Your daughter's died.
SPEAKER_01: She was twelve years old.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus keeps on going.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Trouble the master no more.
SPEAKER_01: But he, it was no trouble at all.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, You know, show me where she is.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes to there and he raises that young girl from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And there was, of course, Lazarus.
SPEAKER_01: We all remember the story of the one that uh the brother of Mary and Martha, who Jesus loved so much.
SPEAKER_01: Martha, who was cumbered about with much serving because she desired to serve the Lord, and Mary, who wanted to sit at his feet and listen to him talk.
SPEAKER_01: They had a brother named Lazarus.
SPEAKER_01: And the scriptures tell us that Jesus loved Lazarus, but he was sick, and he died.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus went to his tomb four days after he had been in the tomb.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth.
SPEAKER_01: And Lazarus came forth out of the grave.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus tells them to loose him and let him go.
SPEAKER_01: Then because he was bound up in grave clothes, and they went and they took the grave clothes off him, and Lazarus was seated at the dinner with him the like next day, and everybody saw it, and they knew he had been dead.
SPEAKER_01: Four days he had been in the tomb.
SPEAKER_01: They knew he was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: But none of those people that I've just mentioned, or any others you find in Scripture, who had died and the power of God had brought them back to this life, none of them were raised to an endless life.
SPEAKER_01: None of them were raised in the way that Jesus came out of the grave three days after his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: None of them came forth to not die again, but Jesus, but this man, Jesus Christ, when he rose from the dead, he rose to die no more.
SPEAKER_01: In Acts, Peter would preach a sermon to the Jews that would have this certain phrase in it that if I can remember exactly the chapter it's in, I think that it's just really telling.
SPEAKER_01: And I do not know that I will find it quickly enough, but I'll just tell you what it says.
SPEAKER_01: It says that God, Peter tells them that God raised him from the dead, for it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
SPEAKER_01: It was not possible that death would keep Christ in the grave because he had conquered death.
SPEAKER_01: We're told it says that he through death, he through death might destroy him that had the power of death.
SPEAKER_01: That is the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus conquered death and thereby destroyed the power it held over his people.
SPEAKER_01: And so it was not possible that death would hold Christ in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't possible.
SPEAKER_01: He must come forth from it because he had conquered it.
SPEAKER_01: And likewise, it is not possible that death should hold us because we've already legally been raised in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If we're in Christ when he died, we're in him when he rose.
SPEAKER_01: And if we're in him when he rose, we're in him when he's seated at the right hand.
SPEAKER_01: What happened with Christ happened for every one of his people.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the principle found in this idea of first fruits.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That it's the same crop, but the same harvest, but it's the first of it, and it represents all the other.
SPEAKER_01: So when he says, now Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept, even though he wasn't the first one to ever come back to life, he was the first one to ever come back raised to the power of an endless life, to an eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: He came forth glorified and will never die again.
SPEAKER_01: He's the first one to do that, but he's not the last one to do it.
SPEAKER_01: That he comes in representation of the harvest that he is of, that he's the brethren, his family.
SPEAKER_01: That when he came forth, he brought forth a people, his people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, think of the harvest in the field.
SPEAKER_01: And you plant it all at the same time, and it grows up, and then you go out and you harvest all of it.
SPEAKER_01: But the fur, we read this last week, and we'll go back and see this again in Leviticus chapter 23, where it told them what to do when they first get the very first sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Now, sheep was like a bundle.
SPEAKER_01: You couldn't harvest the entire field all at one time.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, they did it by hand.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have combines and tractors.
SPEAKER_01: They'd go out by hand and they would cut some of the stalks of wheat down, I think.
SPEAKER_01: Barley was the first harvest they would do.
SPEAKER_01: But they'd go out and they'd cut down stalks and then bundle it up into a carryable thing called a sheaf.
SPEAKER_01: It was rather big.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a handful.
SPEAKER_01: It was a big amount, but it was still movable.
SPEAKER_01: So they'd bundle up the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first sheep they bundled up was to be brought in.
SPEAKER_01: Don't harvest the rest yet, because you owe something to the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_01: So they'd bring it in.
SPEAKER_01: And out of the first sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Again, this is Leviticus 23.
SPEAKER_01: It's an important thing that we remember everything preachable comes from Scripture, right?
SPEAKER_01: So I'll tell you where it is, but I won't go and read it all here.
SPEAKER_01: But in Leviticus 23, they were told to bring in the first fruits.
SPEAKER_01: And where is it?
SPEAKER_01: I'll find the scripture and then let you go read it yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8 is the beginning of it talks about the offering by fire.
SPEAKER_01: And then verse 9 starts this thing about speak to the children of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: When they reap the harvest, they'll bring a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest, and they'll wave the sheep before the Lord to be accepted for you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So you can see the principle that they would bring in the first sheaf of the f of the harvest, wave it before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They're to take out of that sheep something and offer it to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And that would be to be accepted for them.
SPEAKER_01: And it's for their whole harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that principle is what's being used by Paul to say that when Christ rose, he is the first of a harvest that would all come at the same time later than him, but of the same type, the same kind.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about a thing you come out to this time, and then you got next season, another harvest that the point is every season had its own first fruits.
SPEAKER_01: Christ is the first fruits, and those that are his will be the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: There's not going to be a second fruits and a third fruits and a fourth fruit.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing nothing like that in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: There is the first fruits and then the rest of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So when he says that Christ is the first fruits of them that slept, he's representing and his offering ensured the rest of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have to offer to the Lord constantly throughout the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: There was one offering and it ensured the rest of the crop.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Christ is a representation of.
SPEAKER_01: He's the same in this sense as the rest of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: He was accepted for us.
SPEAKER_01: It means we will be raised like him from the dead to an everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: That we will be made like him.
SPEAKER_01: And scripture tells us that we look for Christ who will change our body, our vile bodies, to be made like unto his glorious body.
SPEAKER_01: And in Romans chapter 8, it says that we should be conformed to the image of his son, who was I can't believe I can't quote Romans 8.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe it's because I have to get a running start and start a few verses ahead for my quoting.
SPEAKER_01: But Romans 8.29, it says, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
SPEAKER_01: That's the same connotation, the same meaning as this first fruits of them that slept.
SPEAKER_01: So it's what's coming after Christ, that those that are in Christ, it's been fixed.
SPEAKER_01: It's done.
SPEAKER_01: It is a surety that we will be made like him, that we'll be conformed to the image of the glorified Son of God, that he predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
SPEAKER_01: In 1 Corinthians, it says that he is the first fruits of them that slept.
SPEAKER_01: The rest of the harvest, though, that's going to all happen at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's after the first fruits is offered and accepted of God.
SPEAKER_01: Then they went out and they harvested the whole field one time.
SPEAKER_01: What's important about that is to understand the next verses.
SPEAKER_01: Tells us the requirement that the first fruits be the same kind as the rest of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice this.
SPEAKER_01: They harvested the barley.
SPEAKER_01: They brought the first fruits of the barley harvest and offered it to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Then they harvested the rest of the barley.
SPEAKER_01: But then there was wheat.
SPEAKER_01: When they harvested the wheat, they didn't leave, they had to offer the first fruits of the wheat harvest and then harvest the rest of the wheat.
SPEAKER_01: And if they harvested some other thing, then I don't really know what all harvests they have.
SPEAKER_01: But whatever harvest they had, they had to offer the first fruits of that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Then there's the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's not that many categories of people.
SPEAKER_01: There is those that were all in Adam.
SPEAKER_01: Every human being is from Adam.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other lines of people but Adam.
SPEAKER_01: Adam is the first man.
SPEAKER_01: His name even means man.
SPEAKER_01: God made Adam.
SPEAKER_01: From Adam he made the woman Eve.
SPEAKER_01: There she's the mother of all living.
SPEAKER_01: That's why her name was Eve.
SPEAKER_01: All human beings come from Adam and Eve, except for Jesus Christ, who came from the woman, but not of an earthly father.
SPEAKER_01: So there's no other thing out there.
SPEAKER_01: You got to remember this.
SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about like 18 different harvests here, but the only harvest that he's talking about is those that are like that are Christ's.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: There will be a resurrection from the dead of the unjust, of those that are the wicked, those that are not Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not what 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is talking about.
SPEAKER_01: It is true there will be a resurrection of the wicked, of the of the unjust, but that, and that's a true statement.
SPEAKER_01: It'll happen at the same time, but it's not under consideration here.
SPEAKER_01: The only thing talked about here is the harvest of those that are Christ's.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: There is those that are Christ, those that are in Christ, those that he represented, and then that harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now he tells us it had to be the same kind, because since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Christ had to come into this world, made like unto us.
SPEAKER_01: And in Hebrews it talks about that he was made like unto his brethren, that he through death might have destroy him that had the power of death.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why he had to come.
SPEAKER_01: He had to come to die.
SPEAKER_01: So he had to come like us.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't come in like an angel or some other thing.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing else would be suitable.
SPEAKER_01: The transaction that needed to pay the debt had to be of the same kind.
SPEAKER_01: And he came and suffered and bled and died in our place because he was made like us.
SPEAKER_01: He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is he was made actual flesh, but it was like sinful flesh, but it didn't have sin.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let anyone ever deceive you that Christ came not as a man.
SPEAKER_01: He was fully man, but yet he was still fully God.
SPEAKER_01: Can I understand how something could be totally man, completely man, and also completely still God?
SPEAKER_01: No, I can't understand that.
SPEAKER_01: I trust the scripture that tells me that, but I don't understand it.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of things about God we can't fully comprehend and grasp.
SPEAKER_01: And we trust Scripture and God's word about those things.
SPEAKER_01: But he didn't lose any bit of being God.
SPEAKER_01: His divinity, he didn't lose any of that when he took fully on him man.
SPEAKER_01: He also didn't lack anything about being man except sin.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have sin.
SPEAKER_01: But he fully was man.
SPEAKER_01: And so he could fully pay the price.
SPEAKER_01: Since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He's the same type, the same kind as the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: So it says, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's a lot that I could say about this verse.
SPEAKER_01: It's simply, it says it simply, and yet I could spend a whole hour on this.
SPEAKER_01: But this verse is teaching the principle of representation, that it's just as complete as the principle of representation in Adam.
SPEAKER_01: It's federal headship is the big term that's used.
SPEAKER_01: What it means is that it's not that everybody's in Christ, that's certainly not true, but it is saying that just like everyone that was represented in Adam faced the same consequence as he did, when he died, everyone that was in him died with him.
SPEAKER_01: By one man, sin entered the world.
SPEAKER_01: This is in Romans chapter 5, since by one man, for by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, meaning death entered the world by the sin that entered the world by the man.
SPEAKER_01: By one man sin entered the world, that's Adam, and death came in because of the sin, so death passed on all men, for all have sinned.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice that verse doesn't tell us that death will pass on all men because all men will sin.
SPEAKER_01: That is a true statement that we all sin.
SPEAKER_01: We all will sin.
SPEAKER_01: Every single human being that lives long enough will actually actively sin.
SPEAKER_01: There is no way that won't happen if you live long enough.
SPEAKER_01: And you don't have to live that long for the first time to actually happen where you sin.
SPEAKER_01: But even in the womb, a human being is a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: Even in the womb, when they are not yet able to actively sin or even consciously sin.
SPEAKER_01: See, I sin oftentimes, and I know I'm not alone in this.
SPEAKER_01: Every single person is like this, but I'll just say I only know me in my thoughts, I sin and never act on it, right?
SPEAKER_01: Is it still a sin if it never gets done out?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Christ tells us that in principle when he says things like uh the law says don't kill.
SPEAKER_01: But I say unto you, if a man hate his brother without cause, he is murdered, he's a murderer already in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: He might say, like, how do you hate someone without well you you if you've never done it, then good.
SPEAKER_01: You have other sins, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I might have my own problems, but things that happen in the heart is still sin before God.
SPEAKER_01: Things that happen in the mind is still sins before God.
SPEAKER_01: And um, certainly that doesn't mean we should act on that those things, but they're still sins, and every one of us is a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: The baby in the womb even doesn't have the act the thought processes yet, and it's still a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: And ultimately the proof to that is this the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_01: Why do babies die?
SPEAKER_01: They die because it's a consequence of sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's not not to be necessarily thought of as a punishment for sin.
SPEAKER_01: Now, also, certainly, God will punish sin, and one of those punishes might be death, corporal death, and you find that in Scripture where God does deal out a punishment of death for sin.
SPEAKER_01: But just because it is listed as a punishment, that's not the first thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually a consequence of sin.
SPEAKER_01: It is the thing that comes from wages of sin means the thing that is duly earned.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a wage is.
SPEAKER_01: It's right and follows.
SPEAKER_01: It is what sin owes.
SPEAKER_01: When Adam sinned, we all owe death.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't matter if we actually do a sin, death is there.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the proof of that is the fact that young babies die.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't commit a sin to be punished.
SPEAKER_01: They just have sin that has a consequence of death.
SPEAKER_01: As in Adam, all die.
SPEAKER_01: But just like that, as in Christ, all shall be made alive.
SPEAKER_01: Or in other words, say that is all that are in Christ shall be made alive.
SPEAKER_01: It is just as sure as all the death that happens for those in Adam.
SPEAKER_01: There's none that'll escape death if they can't, if they're in Adam.
SPEAKER_01: There's none that will, I don't want to say the word escape life.
SPEAKER_01: That seems weird.
SPEAKER_01: There's none that shall not get life.
SPEAKER_01: There is none in Christ who will not see eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: It is just as sure.
SPEAKER_01: That's the point of that.
SPEAKER_01: Because Christ is the same harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the next verse says, but every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: That's the end of the of the two of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: The first fruits and then the rest of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Then it says, Then cometh the end.
SPEAKER_01: So there is no progression.
SPEAKER_01: There is no Christ coming, raising some, spending some time, coming back, raising more.
SPEAKER_01: There is one harvest.
SPEAKER_01: It is yet to come, but it's as sure as the first fruits in Christ raising.
SPEAKER_01: There is the thought out there that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and then a time period of trials and tribulations and sufferings or testings.
SPEAKER_01: There's different ways people look at this, but they'll say there's some people who will say that there will be a resurrection of those that are already righteous, and then a time period for everyone else to get right.
SPEAKER_01: And then another resurrection at the end.
SPEAKER_01: Then this verse puts that out.
SPEAKER_01: This verse tells us that can't be.
SPEAKER_01: There is Christ, the first fruits, and afterward those that are his at his cometh, then cometh the end.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: There is going to be one more time that the Lord will come in his bodily presence, his glorified body that is already raised up to heaven and seated right now at the right hand of God will come again.
SPEAKER_01: When he comes the second time, it says in Hebrews, without sin, not there's no sin for him to come and deal with because he's already put it away.
SPEAKER_01: Unto salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It says, um, exactly where is it?
SPEAKER_01: Um it's in Hebrews.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say it, get it right.
SPEAKER_01: So, especially if it's in Hebrews, I want to get it right.
SPEAKER_01: Um I can't stop finding Hebrews chapter 9, and this is um verse 27 to 28, and there's another comparison being made here.
SPEAKER_01: Um it says, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So what he's told us there is this comparison is to the very fact that we were appointed unto death once.
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't, that verse doesn't mean that each one of us has an appointed time to die.
SPEAKER_01: It says it was appointed unto men once to die.
SPEAKER_01: When did that happen?
SPEAKER_01: By man came death, by Adam came death.
SPEAKER_01: That appointment with death was made sure for all Adam's represented people, everyone that comes from Adam was appointed death.
SPEAKER_01: After that appointment came the actual execution of death.
SPEAKER_01: Because we didn't all actually physically die when Adam died.
SPEAKER_01: Even Adam didn't physically die when he died in trespasses and in sins.
SPEAKER_01: When he ate of the fruit, appointment was made.
SPEAKER_01: It was sure he would die.
SPEAKER_01: He died right then in trespasses and in sins, and natural death would follow as a consequence, it was going to come.
SPEAKER_01: And that judgment, that execution of the sentence, comes to each one of those that come from Adam.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just as sure as the appointment.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, in that same way, Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
SPEAKER_01: How many?
SPEAKER_01: Everyone in him.
SPEAKER_01: It says, unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time.
SPEAKER_01: There's no third time.
SPEAKER_01: He came the first time to deal with sin, he put it away, it's conquered, it's defeated.
SPEAKER_01: He'll come the second time without sin.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean that he didn't have sin.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have sin the first time.
SPEAKER_01: It means when he comes again the second time, it's apart from sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's not dealing with sin.
SPEAKER_01: It has nothing to do with sin.
SPEAKER_01: When he comes the second time, it's to harvest and bring us home.
SPEAKER_01: It's to reap that which he has already, that's already fully ripened and ready to go.
SPEAKER_01: He's coming to bring us home.
SPEAKER_01: And he's going to come not to deal with sin, but unto salvation, to redeem and bring home his people.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what's being talked about about the first uh first Christ and afterward they that are his at his coming.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone, when it says those that look for him, to those that look for him, shall he appear the second time?
SPEAKER_01: I promise you, he's not excluding those that aren't looking for him.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he when he comes the second time, it's going to get all that he bought.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone that is his.
SPEAKER_01: Because it says, Then cometh the end.
SPEAKER_01: There is no more after that.
SPEAKER_01: When he comes the second time, everyone he died for will go with him to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Those that are in the graves will come forth first.
SPEAKER_01: Those that are alive and remain will be caught up together with him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Thessalonians tells us.
SPEAKER_01: It says that we that are alive and remain will not pre-vent them that are asleep.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we won't go before them.
SPEAKER_01: That's what pre-vent means in this English.
SPEAKER_01: Pre before vent, like a ventilation to go through.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to go before them.
SPEAKER_01: No one's going before anyone else here.
SPEAKER_01: Those that are alive and remain, see what's going to happen first is the dead will rise first.
SPEAKER_01: And they'll be changed, they'll be raised already glorified.
SPEAKER_01: Like they're not going to be raised, then changed.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to be raised already, glorified.
SPEAKER_01: We that are alive and remain, we're going to be changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it says.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: But see, it says we'll be caught up together with them.
SPEAKER_01: That together, when it says that we'll be caught up together, there's no first.
SPEAKER_01: And second goings here.
SPEAKER_01: It's one harvest all at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 25, Jesus says this way.
SPEAKER_01: He says, He'll come and he'll separate all nations will be gathered before him.
SPEAKER_01: He'll separate them as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, right?
SPEAKER_01: And it says, He'll take those on his right hand, they'll put his people, his sheep, and on the left hand his goats.
SPEAKER_01: And he's going to say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Then it says he turns to those on his left and says, Depart from me.
SPEAKER_01: But again, that's after, that's afterward.
SPEAKER_01: What's going to happen first is we're going to be caught up together with those that have been raised from the grave in all one harvest, one time.
SPEAKER_01: Because it says, Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all realize we're not going to be here when this world is burned up.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to be here when this world is no more.
SPEAKER_01: The end comes after we've been taken home.
SPEAKER_01: No one that is in Christ will still be here.
SPEAKER_01: This whole idea of the rocks will, the people will cry out, rocks fall on me, and like this whole fearful thought about the end of time.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be in heaven, glorified forevermore, praising God before any fearful things happen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's like, I'm not saying there are some people who think like I'm going to be gone, and then all the fearful things happen.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone of Christ will be gone.
SPEAKER_01: We'll all be with him in heaven forevermore.
SPEAKER_01: This is something to rejoice in, to understand that the first fruits was already accepted.
SPEAKER_01: Afterward, all that are his will go to heaven with him.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even come close to getting to where Brother Elijah was in Ephesians that made that.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, how that ties together with.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe Lord wanna will talk about some aspects of the first fruits that we are even here in this world.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't have time to even think about doing that now.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe I did not redeem the time as well as I should have.
SPEAKER_01: But we will close with this and just say if there's anyone that wishes to join the church right now, you have that opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: We'll stand and sing a hymn.
SPEAKER_01: Do we have a number?
SPEAKER_01: One one five.
SPEAKER_01: Number one one five.