Order of service slides: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hTx1mooyY0EiOQ4fo46eecvb6rx7cd_YqkIBqzHZm9w/edit?slide=id.g38a9d65e1e3_0_0#slide=id.g38a9d65e1e3_0_0

Sunday, April 5th, 2026

'The Last Enemy' - 1 Corinthians 15:20-28


20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.




‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead’ v20a 


Paul is certain of this historical event and states the grounds of his certainty in the empty tomb and Jesus’ resurrection appearances 

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 


Death is a hostile enemy, that not only robs us of our lives but also robs us of the presence of our loved ones!


Jeremiah 9:21, ‘Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares.’ 


We look back - we look forward - we look up


1. Look back, v21-22


Adam had ignored God’s specific warning about eating the forbidden fruit ….. 

‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’ - Genesis 2:17


The death penalty was the result of this fires sinful act of disobedience,

‘For you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ - Genesis 3v19


Paul looks back and sees the entry of our enemy, death, to our world 

‘For as by a man came death’ - ‘For as in Adam all die’ v21-22 


We have hope, as Paul calls us to look back in time to Christmas,  ‘By a man’ v21

The Son of God who took upon himself a human nature and came to deliver us from spiritual death 


‘By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead’ v21

Paul’s parallel thought - ‘In Christ shall all be made alive’ v22 


As we place our trust in His death and resurrection we’re made alive and guaranteed the fullness of life after death

Romans 5:17-18, ‘For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.’


Many struggle today with the question of ‘identity’ 

This first song from Disney’s Moana locates that identify for many, ‘Remember you may hear a voice inside and if that voice starts to whisper to follow the furthest star, Moana that voice inside is who you are’  


We are in Adam by our human nature ….. we are in Christ by faith 

Believers live in Christ the way a fish lives in water or the way a bird lives in the air ….. we have no life apart from being in Him 


2. Look forward, v23-24 

 

Paul talks about a very real sequence of events for those who have been made alive in Christ, ‘But each in his own order’v23

‘Christ the firstfruits’ v23

‘The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep’ v20


When Jesus walked out of that tomb on that Easter morning, He did so as the guarantee of ‘later fruits’ 

Of a full harvest of all who are his followers and who will one day share in His resurrection  

To die as a follower of Christ is to, ‘fall asleep’ v20


‘Then at his coming those who belong to Christ’ v23

If we are in Christ, then we too will be raised from the dead and will enjoy a new glorious resurrection body, v35-49

‘At his coming’ v23 - ‘Parousia’


1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, ‘For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.’ 


Randy Alcorn, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing my mother and father unstiffened again - and to being completely unstiffened myself’


‘Then comes the end’ v24

The climax and end point of human history 


3. Look up, v25-28


‘Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power’ v24

We see Christ rendering ineffective and neutralizing all spiritual forces in opposition to Him


‘For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet’ v25

‘For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet’ v27


Psalm 110:1, ‘The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’


‘The last enemy to be destroyed is death’ v26 

Death likened to a, ‘Schoolyard bully’


‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ v54b


Romans 8:38-39, ‘For I am sure that neither death nor life …..can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ 

Because Christ is risen from the dead, death will be incapacitated


Revelation 21:4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying


‘Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father’ v24


‘That God may be all in all’ v28

A picture of God’s power and complete supremacy as He reigns supreme over all things!


Christ's resurrection from the dead guarantees ours!

We have to love his certainty and to be excited about our new resurrection bodies


‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead’ v20

A fact ……you can stake your life and future upon!