In this world full of corruption (and it is getting worse!) we need full assurance that we can live incorruptible lives! Listen to this sermon

Incorruptible Seed
2006/12/12

Intro
Natural seed is corruptible ( I Peter 1:23): it becomes disfigured and disappears in the process of bringing forth a harvest. Spiritual Seed is incorruptible! When we understand exactly what God planned for all who believe in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, it opens up a whole new dimension of possibilities! If that incorruptible seed is within us, we can break the corruption that is in the world through lust!

On the 12th of the 12th 1971 I made a vow by faith to serve God and humanity for the rest of my life on a snow covered hillside outside Leimbach, a little town in Switzerland. I woke up on the 12th of December 2006 with this word ringing in my mind: ‘Incorruptible”. For 35 years this simple vow has been kept by a fallible person like me, by the great grace of God who kept His side of the bargain to sustain me and preserve me!

God made a promise to Abraham and his Seed, which is Christ, not Isaac or Jacob, because then it would have been many seeds! The promise was made to one seed, a particular seed. This revelation was given to the apostle Paul, who took it and broke it open to our understanding. Abraham received this promise by faith. It was a faith seed. We receive Christ by faith and enter into the same promise as Abraham had. He is the father of our faith in Christ and we are believers with him. We are partakers of that promise by faith in Christ. Therefore the seed of God in us is also indestructible and incorruptible!

Paul handed an adulterous man over to Satan because he wouldn’t repent and change his wicked ways that harmed the body of believers. Paul had apostolic authority to do so. The purpose behind this drastic move was to save the man’s soul even though his body would be destroyed. The seed inside that man’s body remained incorruptible! Fortunately that man repented and Paul commanded the body of believers in Corinth to take him back into their number and to forgive him.

When Mary received the message from Gabriel the Archangel, that she would bear Jesus the Messiah of the world, she was not yet married to Joseph. She asked how this would be possible and the Angel explained, ‘the Holy Spirit will come over you and you will conceive!’ This holy seed would be called the Son of God. Mary’s response was simple: ‘Let it be with me according to your Word!’ She received the seed that became Jesus Christ by faith in the Word of God.

When we receive the Word of God by faith we receive incorruptible seed, indestructible seed! Christ within is the Living Word of God and that seed cannot be corrupted by all the evil influences in the world, nor by our own shortcomings and sins! The seed is incorruptible!

Here are some Greek meanings of the concept of corruptible and incorruptible that will give insights into the purposes of God regarding our preservation in His eternal kingdom.

Kapeleuo – verb to corrupt: to be a retailer, a peddler, an in keeper, a huckster: in other words, to get base gain by dealing in anything; to do anything sordid for personal advantage.
II Corinthians 2:17 – Paul does not preach that way – he does not use preaching to get from people what he wants, he does not handle the word of God deceitfully for private gain. His ambition does not drive him to use people like slaves to reach his own goals that he has set for himself.
11 Corinthians 4:2 – preachers who abuse the word of God that way adulterate the truth and make merchandise of souls through covetousness.

Pitheiro – This Greek verb means to destroy by corrupting, to bring things to a worse state than before. The effect of evil company destroys believers. Associate with those who deny the truth and soon you will become one of them. Spend to much time with people who hold to false doctrines and you will soon forsake the truth. Minds can be affected and corrupted, be drawn away from the simplicity of Christ.

Ephesians 4:22, talks about moral decay in the old sinful nature that leads to eventual ruin. The lusts of the flesh deceive people into believing they are having a good time, but eventually they become corrupted and are destroyed.

Revelation 19: 2 refers to the Babylonian harlot that corrupts the whole earth and men trade with her and become very prosperous dealing in her ways. But when the worldly systems (which are sometimes seen in churches as well, where Mamon, rather than Christ is served) are destroyed those merchants will weep because they can no longer operate in dishonest gain. False religion is the same: it leads people away from the pure doctrine written by the apostles and false teachers design religious rituals that deceive people into thinking they are serving God when all they are doing is serving denominational structures and false teachings!

Diaphtheiro – corrupted in mind: like a moth and rust corruption works until it destroys.
I Timothy 6:5
Luke 12:33

Phthora – noun, to bring to inferior or worse state than before

Seven areas that can be corrupted
1. Physical – Romans 8:21: the whole creation groans under bondage
2. Dead corpses in the earth – decay and turn to dust I Corinthians 15:42
3. Metonymy
4. Gratification of sinful desires – ministering to one’s lusts Galatians 6:6
5. Animal bodies that decay in the earth: 2 Peter 2:12
6. Ethical corruption – moral decay in society 2 Peter 2:14
7. Decomposition of body’s Acts 13:36 David saw corruption but not Christ

Aphtharsia – noun meaning incorruptible: it is associated with glory and honour.
I Corinthians 15:42/ I Corinthians 9:25 – the crown we receive from Christ for being faithful followers of the truth will be incorruptible and will never fade away. It cannot diminish. It speaks of sincerity and life!
Ephesians 6:42

Pthartos – adjective
Romans 1:23 our mortal bodies are liable to decay; we are doomed to die one day. Yet we are given eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life! The power of an endless life has been given to us in seed form! We have that indestructible seed within us! That seed is the life of Christ within every believer!

Aphthartos – adjective: not liable to corruption
There are 6 things that cannot be corrupted:
1. God (Romans 1:23) who is immortal
2. The dead in Christ will be raised to eternal life ( I Corinthians 15:52)
3. The eternal crown given to believers (I Corinthians 9:25)
4. Our eternal inheritance (I Peter 1:4)
5. The Word of God (I Peter 3:4)
6. The spirit of meekness (I Peter 3:4) cannot fade away!

Why preach on incorruptibility? Because without preaching about it there can be no faith for it. How can they believe without a preacher? How can they preach except they are sent? Therefore faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

In this world full of corruption (and it is getting worse!) we need the full assurance that we can live incorruptibly by faith in the Word of God! A daily dose of the incorruptible seed of God is sufficient to stem the tide of corruption and to preserve us blameless until Jesus Christ appears to ann