Peter Brandon emphasizes the significance of the resurrection of Christ as the foundation for the belief in a new body, highlighting that Christianity is rooted in historical evidence rather than emotions. He explains the logic behind the necessity of a new body, contrasting our current 'body of humiliation' with the promised 'body of glory' that believers will receive. Brandon illustrates that just as Christ was raised as the firstfruits, believers will also be transformed, and he encourages the congregation to understand the earnest of the Holy Spirit as a foretaste of the glory to come. He concludes by affirming that the resurrection is not just a theological concept but a transformative reality that assures believers of their eternal hope.

Body of glory. Would you please turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Wonderful study this. For those of you who are taking notes, we shall first of all look at the proof of the new body. Why do we believe that we're going to have a new body, the proof of it? We shall see that Christianity is not built upon the foundation of emotions, it's not built upon the foundation of psychic manifestation, that means queer, prophetic kind of dreams. Christianity is built upon the historicity of Christ and especially the resurrection of Christ. Then we shall look at the logic of the new body. Now please do remember this, that the Roman Epistle is the second greatest piece of logic that we have in literature. Aristotle supposedly has given them the first piece of logic, but quite frankly if you read that carefully you will see when it comes to his idea on medicine there are some strange things in it, but you will not find that in the Roman Epistle. And so can you see that first of all the Bible is a book and the Lord Jesus is a man that you can have complete faith in, and also there is this logic of the new body, we shall see that in 1 Corinthians 15. And then he shows to us the characteristics of this new body. Now please do remember this, this is the body that you're going to live in forever. You're only living in that body for a few seconds and then you're out. For instance, I'm in the departure lounge and there are one or two with me here, would you believe it? And we're all praying that that plane might be a little late. But it's lovely to know that we're going to have a completely new body, and we shall look at that, and then we shall look at the great change that will take place in the body when we put off the body of humiliation and we have the body of glory. Now if we can get through that in 40 minutes, that'd be good. Now shall we start reading verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 15. If you have a new translation you will see there's a very little difference between your authorised and the NIV. One dear old lady said, I love my authorised. She says, I can't bear that HIV. So the man said, positive. All right, 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand. By which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So there's the textual evidence that we have already seen. Now here's the historical evidence. And that he was seen of Cephas and then of the twelve, and after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once. Now that shows that that must have been a planned meeting. You don't meet 500 Christians all at once. For instance, if you were walking down into the town, you wouldn't bump into 500 Christians all at once. If you did, it would be a planned meeting. So obviously that was a planned meeting. Of whom the greater part remain unto this present, meaning they were still alive, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James and then all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, I am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preached and so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and our faith is vain. Now in some translation they use the word vain as rubbish, and that's probably a little more dramatic. But I believe probably the right word is vain, but if Christ be not risen then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain. So you can see the apostle was not afraid to look at the negative, and he was basically saying look if what we are preaching is not true it's rubbish, and all your faith is rubbish. You see he was prepared for the resurrection to be put through a sieve so that the whole of the evidence could be sorted out clearly. Yea and we have found false witnesses, that means we're liars, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. And if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins. Then they also which fall asleep in Christ are perished. In other words if there's no resurrection of Christ there's no life after death, and all those who have died believing in heaven they're perished. And that's what he's saying. You see he's not afraid to be negative, he's so certain that what he believes is positive, here look at the negative and look at it realistically. Then he goes on. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable, I say we would be, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And every man in his own order Christ the firstfruits, now note that word firstfruits, after they that are Christ at his coming. Now we'll have more readings from that chapter but that will do for the present. Now the proof. The reason why I spoke so emphatically on the resurrection of Christ is because if there's no resurrection there's no proof that there's life after death. I remember preaching in Hyde Park and a man challenged me and he said this, you have no right to speak of life after death until some reliable person has gone into death and been raised again from the dead. And I said that's perfectly true. You see they used to believe that the world was flat and square but two brilliant seamen didn't believe it. One was Christopher Columbus the other was Vasco de Gama and one went east and one went west and they brought back samples of India and samples of America. Now when they saw the samples then that was evidence that the world was not square but round. But it took a breakthrough in order to do it. Now again when I was at school we used to hear lectures coming over the wireless from Professor Jeans and he was the Astronomer Royal at that time in England and he told us that there was atmosphere on the moon and we believed it. He told us there might be vegetation on the moon and we believed it. He also told us that there was beautiful vegetation on Mars. And we believed it. But there's been a breakthrough and when they got on the moon quite frankly they discovered that there was dust everywhere. There was no atmosphere and there was no vegetation. But you see it took a breakthrough. Now they believe in a few years time they will be able to land a man on the moon. It's going to take them two and a half years to get there. Two and a half years to get back so it's some distance. But I am sure of this when they get on Mars they will find that there's no vegetation there. But it will take a breakthrough in order to do it. Now has there been a breakthrough into death? Yes. The most reliable person that ever lived was the Lord Jesus. Now here's a fact. He spoke more about life after death than any other prophet. In fact he is the only person in scripture that gives us a detail of a man in heaven and a man in hell. Now why? Because he came from eternity and he came into time. Now the Lord Jesus died upon the cross. He was buried and he was raised again from the dead. Now I agree with the Apostle Paul. If the Lord Jesus was not raised from the dead then our faith and our preaching is rubbish. That's what he said. But if the Lord Jesus has been raised from the dead hallelujah there's been a breakthrough. And when God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and I'm quoting now from Romans chapter 1. Because God raised him from the dead because of the spirit of holiness that was within him and because of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit what was God doing? Now note this. He was confirming the worth of the Lord Jesus. He was confirming him as the son of man and the son of God and he was confirming all that the Lord Jesus spoke. Secondly he was confirming the whole work of the Lord Jesus on the cross when he died for our sins we call it the atonement. And then he was confirming all the prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus therefore he was confirming his word. And because the resurrection has confirmed his worth, his work and his word we're absolutely sure there's life after death. There's been a breakthrough. We do not believe that there's life after death because of deathbed evidence. It's lovely when you see a saint dying triumphantly but quite frankly many people have drugs today and they go into unconsciousness and therefore they die in an unconscious state. We do not believe in the resurrection of the saint and we do not believe in life after death because of the tranquil state of the saints just before they die. We believe in it because God has raised him from the dead and that's the evidence. And that is why I gave you roughly there's more evidence than what I've given you that the resurrection has its evidence in the fact that it's textual, it's built on history, it's critical, it's legal and then it's experimental and there's this real evidence that Christ was raised from the dead. So as Christians we can say with a sense of assurance we have not followed cunningly devised fables. We believe in tremendous facts. Now because he was raised from the dead if you look at verse 20 he is called the first fruit. Now what does that mean? Now unfortunately we shall never understand what that means until we understand something about Leviticus 23. Can I go over it with you? The first feast was the Passover and that was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross. Paul calls it Christ our Passover. He was the Lamb of God. The second feast was the Feast of the Firstfruits that they celebrated. Now what was that? An Israelite would go to his harvest and when it was about to be reaped he would look for the best corn or the best wheat. And shall we say it's wheat? And he goes over his field, he says that looks lovely there and he cuts an enormous sheet. He binds it together and he looks at it and says that looks fine. Then he puts on his best garments and he goes to the priest. And the priest comes out and looks at him and he looks at this sheaf of wheat and he says, my Levi you're going to have a great harvest. That's beautiful. Look at the fullness of the ears. And then he takes some and he bites it and it's hard and brittle. That's tremendous. He said you're going to have a great harvest if that's the firstfruits and then he would do something that was wonderful. He would take it and wave it before the Lord. Now what was that a picture of? It was the picture of the Lord Jesus. Here it comes. The first one to be raised from the dead. Never to die again. Raised from the dead in the power, a long word now, an indissoluble life. Now that's the word I want to keep to. It means he was raised from the dead with an eternal body. Never to die again. And when God saw him being raised from the dead, he saw a picture of all God's people being raised like that. You see the Lord was the first and that means there's going to be hundreds that will be raised like that. Now there's another expression, we haven't got time to turn to it and if I turn you to it, I think it would confuse you a little. But in Hebrews, in chapter 6, he is called the forerunner. Now that's different. The firstfruit means he was the first one to be raised from among the dead never to die again. The forerunner means he was the first man to go into heaven. Now let's get the idea of a forerunner. John the Baptist was our Lord's forerunner and what does that mean? When a Roman centurion was going to one of his colonies or empire, he would have forerunners and what they would do was this. They would make a straight path so that when his chariot went along, if there were valleys, they would fill them in. If they were crooked, they would make them straight. Sometimes if there was a hill, they would bring it down. So that these forerunners would make a straight path for the emperor. Think of the fuss of all that and the money that would cause. That's why if you see a Roman road and it's still existing today and many there are be it in England, you will see all Roman roads went straight to them. Now the Lord Jesus was our forerunner. He was raised from the dead. He went through principalities and powers. That's the power of Satan and what a shock they got. Satan and all his hosts saw the one that defeated them at the cross. Then he went right into heaven and just when he was about to go into heaven, he sang the song of ascension. Lift up your head so you gate, be ye lifted up the everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in. What a moment of glory that was. And when he went right into heaven, he went higher than all the heavens to the very throne of God and he paved the way right into the presence of the Lord. Now because the Lord is the first fruit, you're going to be raised and because he was the forerunner, he's made a path for all God's people to be in heaven just like him. Just like him and because he is there, we're going to be there. Then there's another expression and this always puzzles me. It's called the firstborn from among the dead. I couldn't puzzle that out without a fear. Firstborn, he was born in Bethlehem. Well, what does the firstborn mean? If you belong to a Jewish family, especially in the days of the patriarch, if you were the first son, you would be called the firstborn and there would be great grace given to you. What does it mean? You had the best of the inheritance so that when the inheritance was cleared out, you got the most. Secondly, if you were the firstborn, you were the priestly member of the family that led all the prayers and those two things mark the firstborn. Now when it talks about the Lord Jesus being the firstborn, it means he was the first one to be raised again from the dead, never to die again. Right? And because he is in heaven, he is God's great risen son. Now when we come to Hebrews 10, there's something there that's breathtaking. It says that the Christians today are a member, not of the general assembly, that refers to all the redeemed, but the church of the... Can you say it? The church of the... Say it loud. The church of... Now write out loud. The church of the firstborn. Now what does that mean? The church of Jesus Christ is the heir and will be the heir of all eternity. And he has conferred upon us special blessings, the like that he hasn't given even to other believers in the past generation. Now just imagine. You are among the firstfruits. You are among the firstborn. Christ is our forerunner. And because he is there, we don't be there. One illustration that will help you to understand. When the Russians, I'm not talking about the Americans, but when the Russians got their man on the moon, they said a very stupid thing. Boastfully, they said, because we have got two men on the moon, we can get millions. Now I want to ask the question. Would you like to have a holiday on the moon? Floating about in a bed chair? In a mechanical suit? Right? Just to the right. Just to the left. Just to the north. Just to the south. And dust all over you. After you had been there for at least two days, you would long to come back to this green earth. Ah, but I've got another question. God's got a man in heaven. The firstfruits. The forerunner. One who is the head of the church of the firstborn. And because he's there, there's going to be millions there just like him. Now isn't that wonderful? And therefore, that's the great proof. But there's another proof. I want you to turn to Ephesians, because this is very precious indeed. Just turn to Ephesians, and it's verse 13. Ephesians 1, 13. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of proof, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after ye believed, ye were filled with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possessions, unto the praise of his glory. Now the redemption of the purchased possessions means the fact that one day he will complete that salvation when we have a new body, so that we can dwell in the glory. But in the meanwhile, he has filled us with the Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance. Now would that young man come out, because this needs a demonstration. Come here, so that we. Right, just about this. Now when a person becomes a real Christian, there is a threefold process that goes on. First of all, the preacher must inform him all the facts about salvation. And he must learn that he has been born in sin. He must learn that he has broken the commandments. He must learn that he is guilty before God, and he desperately needs to be forgiven. That's all that the preacher can do. Secondly, he reveals to him through the Scriptures that Christ loved him, died for him, and bore his sin, and rose again, and he wants to be his Savior. Then thirdly, he must show him the way in which he gets saved. And that simply means he must repent. That means turn to God from his sins and be finished with that selfish life. And secondly, he must put his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. And then he must inform him that when he does that, God cleanses him from all sin, and the Holy Spirit comes in, so that he is born of God, and that body becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost. That's all a preacher can do. But then God must work. Now if God doesn't work, the preacher cannot do the work of God. So the preacher must wait, and the Christians must wait, until God brings conviction. Now what is conviction? Conviction makes sin personal. Conviction makes sin painful. Conviction shows us that it's an awful problem. Why? All sin is against God. Am I, he says, I never knew I was in such a state. But he's worried and troubled. Now that's conviction. You can't be saved until you have that. Then there comes this iron enlightenment. What's that? The click of the mind. The click of God. God says, let there be light. And God commands the light to shine out of darkness. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And he sees Christ dying for his sins, and he says something like this. Dear me, my sins caused the death of the Lord Jesus. How terrible. And then he gets a surprise. God loves me, even after death. What now? And he's broken. Now he can reject that revelation. He can reject that conviction. And then there comes a moment when he turns from sin, and puts his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. And then he is forgiven. The Holy Spirit comes in. And then this happens. Inwardly, God puts his seal on him. No one can see it by God. So all those in the tent who have been truly born again, have the seal of God. Now can I tell you something now? That I'm apprehensive to say. That in the last days, the devil is going to imitate conversion. And do you know what that means? A conversion without conviction. A conversion without divine revelation. Mechanical. Now don't we deceive. That's what he's doing all over the western world. Before you can be saved, there must be conviction. There must be divine enlightenment. There must be real repentance. And then God fills you with the Spirit. And then, deep in that life, deep in that mind. He gives you a foretaste of heaven now. You know when we really are filled with the Spirit. Sunday morning, around the Lord's table, comes his heaven upon us. Now you know we had a little time of prayer last night. And a couple of you said it's great. That really touched my heart. What a blessing. To hear young people quietly say. And you know when we are really filled with the Spirit. And we come together, we can hear this tonight. God will take away all fear. And we'll just talk to the Lord in faith and worship. And we can have a foretaste of heaven now. That's what the earnest means. And then when we go into prayer. And we really touch God in faith. It's wonderful. Two or three people all praying for the same person. And before they're saved, we claim them for the Lord. And we see God doing things in answer to faith. You see. Now we want that. It's an earnest. Good, lovely. My mother used to make her own Christmas puddings. And there were eight of us in the family. And we used to love it. She used to make it in a great galvanized style. And I wouldn't like to tell you what mother put in those puddings. All good stuff. Some a little stronger than the other. And she would stir it, stir it. And then we would stir it. Five big puddings. And the sixpences. I used to put a sixpence in. Oh no, a fruit me bit. I'm sorry. And although it could be very dangerous. Many of them were swallowed. We used to love the fruit me bit. And then mother would put them all in these basins. And then she would strap them up tight. And we had a big copper where we put the wood underneath. And she used to boil them for hours. Five beautiful, lovely Christmas puddings. And then she said, right, now you can have a taster. Five of us. Three girls. Or only two. One died. And we would all go round like that with our things. And do you know, we could hardly wait for Christmas. The foretaste of life. It was glorious. Now that's the meaning of the word earnest. It's a foretaste of heaven now. And may I say this to you young people. Once you're laid on that altar. And you're given to the Lord Jesus. I'm not going to say that the conflict will cease. It will go on until you die. It's not the cessation of the conflict. It's victorious. It's victory in the conflict. But when your heart is really filled with the Lord Jesus. That is a foretaste of heaven now. So that's the proof that we're going to get of the new body. The earnest is there within us. Now let's look at the logic of the new body. Would you turn please to the 1 Corinthians 15 again. I think you've got that open. Verse 38. And God gives it a body as he has pleased him. Every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men. Another the flesh of beasts. Another of fishes. Another of birds. Note this. There are celestial bodies. There are bodies terrestrial. The celestial means a heavenly body. The terrestrial means an earthly body. Coming from the word or the Latin word terra firma. That means the earthly body. But the glory of the celestial is one. And the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun. There is another glory of the moon. Another glory of the stars. As one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. Now, fishes have a body that's specially made for the water. No one can deny that. If human beings want to live under the water for a long time. They have to have a mechanical body around them. In order to allow them to breathe. Now that's clear. We all understand that. Again a bird has the body for the air. And if we want to fly in the air. We have to have a machine that's specially made. So that we can still breathe in high altitude. Sometimes it brings on a thrombus. As we're finding now. But you see we're not made like a fish for the water. We're not made like a bird for the air. And then there are those bodies that relate to the earth. There are the beasts of the field that we see all around us. And we have a body that's not celestial. That is for heaven. We have a body that's terrestrial. That means it's made for the earth. So it's logical to believe that if we're going to heaven. We can't go to heaven with this body. So we've got to have a completely new body. Now isn't that sensible? So when the Lord Jesus comes. He will give us a completely new body like unto his body. Now grip this. Your spirit will always be the same. Your personality will always be the same. But your body will be different. You will have a body of glory. In this body as we shall see in a few moments time. It's the body of humiliation. We're living it just for a few seconds. The Lord hasn't really redeemed the body. If you want another word save the body. But he has saved our soul. So a Christian is a paradox. The inward man is being renewed day by day. Your soul, your inner personality, your redeemed self never gets old. Never. There's no wrinkles there. But it's the body. It's the outward man what Paul calls. That constantly perishes. Now if ever you get to the age of 94. And you're in an old people's home. And someone says to you. Do you want to live another 84 years? You will say emphatically no. Everyone that I've met that's over 90. Does not want to go on living a long time. Because the body wears out. I'm beginning to discover that and you will. So a Christian is a paradox. The inward man is being renewed day by day. The outward man, the physical body is actually dying. And you only live in your body for approximately five seconds. Now this is the trick of the devil. The trick of Satan is to come to the Lord's people. Especially young people. And say this. Well your sins are forgiven. Your soul is saved. But you need to have a good time. And you know life really is the material. It's not the spirit. You're just a bundle of bones. Your blood. Your flesh. That's all you are. You can live for God. But live for the world too. And have a good time. And God's people in the West are listening to that life. But God says no. No. You have a body and it's fearfully and wonderfully made. But it's a body of humiliation. And you're going to leave the body. Because the Lord Jesus came from heaven and went to heaven. He says look lay up treasure in heaven. And a rich man is someone that's constantly laying up treasure in heaven. So that when he leaves the body. He leaves the body not in poverty and bankruptcy. But he leaves the body with spiritual riches. Like the Apostle Paul when he said. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. So can you see you live in that body approximately five seconds. And then you're out. The new body you're going to live in it forever. Now this is what will happen. And we shall see this tomorrow. When you stand before the Beamer. God will show you at that particular day. All that he has formed in you concerning Christ. And that will be put completely into your new body. And in heaven some people will be more like the Lord Jesus than others. We'll all have the same body. But some of our personalities will be more beautiful than others. Because Christ has been formed in them. Now we shall search the scripture and see the reality of that. Now what about this great change that's going to take place. Now first of all go back with me to Philippians 3. And just see what he says about the change of the body. Philippians 3 verse 21. Or for the sake of connection verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall change our vile body. That means the body of humiliation. That it may be fashion like under his glorious body. According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things under himself. So can you see he's going to change what he calls this vile body. Now these are the expressions in the Bible of our present body. First of all the psalmist says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. So we must not speak disparagingly of this body. The word vile there is a wrong translation. It doesn't mean to say it's vulgar. It means a body that's humiliated. So you can see that we have a body. It's a beautiful body. It's fearfully and wonderfully made. I mean quite frankly your brain is a wonderful computer. And it's far greater than a computer. Little do we understand about the mechanism of the brain. But the body is called the body of humiliation. Now what does that mean? If you could see Adam standing here before he sinned all of us would have a shot. Because he had a perfect body. And quite frankly if you read carefully a body that was radiant. The moment he sinned he lost his radiancy. And if you could see Adam before he fell and you looked at your own body you would say oh I can see why God calls it a body of humiliation. Our mental powers, our physical powers and of course our spiritual powers and our emotional powers have all been reduced because of sin. We're only half the people we should be. So it's a fearful body but it's called the body of humiliation. Now if you come with me to Romans chapter 8 you'll see something else. You will see it's called a groaning body. Now this is very interesting. Look at verse 21. Because the creature that refers to creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Now then, immediately man sinned God subjected the whole of creation. So we have never seen a flower as God intended it to be. We have never seen a tree as God intended it to be. We have never seen grass verge as God has intended it to be. Because the whole of creation has been brought into vanity. That means it was brought down because of man's sins. So verse 22 says, For we know that the whole of creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they but ourselves also which have the fast fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. Now what does that mean? There are two words in scripture for the word groan. There's a groan which is the groan of death. Do you remember when the Lord Jesus was about to raise up Lazarus? He groaned in his spirit and that means not the groan of birth but the groan of death. This groan is the groan of birth. How can I illustrate it? Now I must be careful now. Supposing we were walking along the road and we heard a groan and we stopped. What's that? And it was intense. Oh dear. What's that? Someone's house. It's in that house. And supposing we came along that road again two or three weeks later we saw a mother coming out with a prayer. It was the groan that produced death. Got it? A travailing groan that produced death. Supposing we were walking down the road that same road and we heard another groan. What's that? And we walked along a few days later and there was a hearse and there was a coughing carried out. That was the groan of death. Now all the groans in Romans 8 are not groans of death but groans of birth pangs that produce life. That means right now all of us if we are Christians we're groaning. What are we groaning for? To have a completely new body. And the whole of creation is groaning and if we could hear it speaking and if we could hear the articulate voice of creation it will be saying this. Sons of God hurry up and get away.