First & Last Adam, I Cor, 15:45-49
1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Isaiah 53:1-3 · Mike Doyle · Dec 25, 2005
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Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262340124138

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're going to be reading from 1 Corinthians this morning, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and we'll be reading verses 45 through 49. that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthly. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earth, such are they also that are earthly. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Merry Christmas, everybody. Nice to see you. My thoughts today are that the Creator God made man with all of the attributes and all of the qualities that God desired of a man.

And when man failed under all his trials, Christ is born into the world. And Christ doesn't begin like Adam began. He begins at the lowest point. He begins at infancy. Adam began at a mature level. When he was made, he was already mature. But Christ comes into the world as a baby, and he's in a manger, and he's presented to the shepherds in swaddling clothes. So he's in a position where he is subject to all of the trials and tribulations, all of the difficulties that would affect a man in his weakness and his humanity. But he who made man has now become a man himself.

A few Sundays ago, Vern began to teach us in Isaiah, and he read Isaiah 53. And as he read it, I was struck by the verse that described the physical appearance of the Lord Jesus, and the comparisons of that image with the image that you and I might have of what the baby Jesus looked like. And I'm going to read a few of those verses.

For he grew up before men as a tender plant and a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor calmliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, and as one for whom men hide their face. And he was despised, and we esteemed him not. He didn't have any form, which means that there wasn't anything physical about him that would attract anybody to him. He didn't have any comeliness, which means he wasn't beautiful.

We think of a baby as being beautiful. In my mind, I got to thinking, it didn't seem to me to be very consistent with who the Lord Jesus is, why so many of us as believers desire Him and seek after Him every day. if this is really what he looks like. So the question in my mind was, what would make him so attractive? What would make him such a person that men would seek him out and that they would follow him at all costs to themselves?

So it appears that, at least to me, that anything desirable about him from an earthly standpoint and from a worldly standpoint is missing in his countenance. There's nothing about his physical makeup that would cause anyone to take a second notice of him, even as a baby. So physical attraction was out. That couldn't be what drew men to him.

Then I thought, well, it's common for human beings to be attracted to others for whom they can acquire a great benefit from a relationship with them. Is that what attracts us to him? After all, he did pay the price for our sins. He did die. and our faith in him and in his work, we acquire tremendous benefit from. But is that enough for us to be daily attracted to him all the time? Our thankfulness for his procuring our salvation is not a great enough motive, in my mind, for us to be so attracted to him that we would want to spend more and more time with him and be in his company. So I got to thinking, well, where did he come from? And as we read this morning in 1 Corinthians 15, that the first man, Adam, was of the earth. He was earthy.

The second man is of heaven. As the earthy, such are also they that are earthy. And as the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul, and the last, Adam, is a life-giving spirit.

Well, that, to me, begins to open up my understanding a little bit about there is a difference, at least in the value system, by which a heavenly man would be judged, or why he would be attractive, rather than an earthly man. Because if the Lord Jesus is from heaven, then it would make sense to me that there wouldn't be anything especially earthly, that would attract men to Him. And as I look further in the Scriptures, I begin to find that there are clues which would help attach me more to Him, but only from a heavenly perspective. And I begin to discover that all the thoughts and all the intentions of God my Father are centered in Him. So, I began to look at some Scriptures.

And I began to discover that in John 1.37, there's two disciples that heard him speak and they followed him.

And Jesus turned and beheld them following and said, what do you seek? And they said, teacher or rabbi, where do you abide? Where do you live? And he said, come and you shall see. So he just speaks and two men follow him. He calls other men, and they come to Him.

In Matthew 3.17, I discover that out of the heavens comes a voice that says, this is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased.

In Romans 5.8, I find that God commended His love towards me personally, in that while I was yet a sinner, this man, Christ, died for me.

In John 17.3, I find out that what eternal life is, and eternal life is that I would know Him and the Father. And if I knew the Lord Jesus Christ, I would have eternal life. That's attractive.

In Romans 5.17, I discovered that much more they, meaning me, that receive the abundance of His grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life.

Philippians 3.20, I find out that I'm a citizen of heaven. I discover that I'm now from where He's from.

In 1 Corinthians 1.30, I find out that in Him, but of Him I am in Christ Jesus, and I am where He is, who is made unto us, or to me, wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

In John 17.21, I discover When the Lord Jesus is praying to His Father, and I get to listen in, He says to His Father, that they may all be one, even as you and I are one, I in them, that they also may be in us, that the world may know that you sent me.

That God has determined that I would be able to share in this oneness of who they are. And then he says, in the glory which you gave me, I've given them. Or, if I'm thinking about myself, I'm thinking he's given it to me. And that they may be one even as we are one. In John 17, 26, the Lord Jesus continues in his prayer and he says, I made known unto them thy name.

And will make it known for this reason, that the love wherewith you love me may be in them, and I in them." 2 Corinthians 4, 6, seeing it is God who said, light shall shine out of the darkness who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What a contrast that is between Isaiah 53 And now the glory of God, I'm finding out, is in the face of Jesus Christ.

And then in the final scripture I looked up was Philippians 2.10, which is Paul the Apostle, towards the end of his ministry, says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed unto his death. And in 12 he says, not that I've already obtained, and I'm already made perfect, but I press on. if so be that I may lay hold of that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."

So what I've discovered is that it's very profitable for me and very profitable for you to be occupied with Christ in any measure that you can. And you discover that He is attractive. So my prayer for you today is this. that the Lord may lead you into an increasing acquaintance with himself. And through that intimacy, all of us may minister to each other according to his heart." I'd like to quote a couple of things, one from a writer I really admire, J.B. Stoney. He says, I find that the Lord Jesus loved me and he gave himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state. but he makes me suitable to himself, and I am assured of the permanency of his love and of my association with him, so that my heart is free to study him. The more I am in his company, the more I acquire the taste and the characteristics which answer to his heart and mind. And I'd like to close with a man's poem, a man named Gerhardt Der Stegen, who lived from 1697 to 1769. I think it maybe exemplifies what I'm trying to say. He says, draw me to thee till far within thy rest, in stillness of thy peace, thy voice I hear. Forever quieted upon thy breast, so loved, so near.

For me, O Lord, the world is too small, for I have seen thy face, where thine eternal love irradiates all within thy secret place. And therefore, from all others and from all else, draw thou my soul to thee. Thou hast broken the enchanter's spell, and I am free. Now in the haven of untroubled rest, I land at last. the hunger and the thirst and the weary quest forever past. There, Lord, to lose in bliss of thine embrace the recrant will, there in the radiance of thy blessed faith, be hushed and still. There, speechless at thy pierced feet, see none or naught besides, and know but this, that thou art sweet, and I am satisfied. Merry Christmas.