All right, brother. Let's go
to Acts chapter 1. The resurrection. That's my subject
this morning. You know the resurrection is
the Lord Jesus. He is the life. He arose from the grave because
he is the life. He showed himself to many witnesses
after he arose from the grave. Verse 3, Acts 1-3, he says, to
whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible
proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God. He showed himself alive. After he went to the cross, after
he suffered, after he bore the sin of his people and the curse
of God and his visage was marred more than any man, after he fully
accomplished making his people righteous and declaring God just,
after his body was buried in the tomb, he came out of that
grave. He came out of that grave and
he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible
proofs. He was seen of them 40 days.
He showed himself to them at different times for 40 days and
spoke concerning things pertaining to the kingdom of God. All four
Gospels give the account of Christ showing himself those 40 days
between his resurrection and his ascension. Here a fifth time
before recording the acts of the apostle, Luke gives the account
again. He showed himself alive after
his passion by many infallible proofs. Angels bore witness.
The disciples to whom Christ showed himself handled him. They
ate with him. And even those soldiers that
guarded that sepulcher, when they saw that stone rolled away
and felt that earthquake, and they knew Christ had risen, they
ran to the Pharisees and told them, and that's why the Pharisees
paid them to lie and say, you go tell people somebody stole
his body. If somebody had stolen his body, they wouldn't have
had to done that. They knew he rose. They went and they said,
you go tell people somebody stole his body. And then they watched
him ascend. They stood there and watched
him ascend. Look at verse 9. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up. and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why
stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. All of the scriptures declare
God's been declaring it from the beginning throughout all
the scriptures. He'd been declaring what would
take place, that our Lord Jesus Christ would come and lay down
his life for the sheep, that he would accomplish the redemption
of his people, and that he would rise from the grave and ascend
to the right hand of the Father. The scriptures throughout have
told us about this. The first thing is throughout
the scriptures, God declared this in prophecy. He declared
it in prophecy that this was coming to pass. It was by our
risen Redeemer. Everything that took place that
day of Pentecost happened because of the Lord Jesus. Without him,
none of it would have happened. He's the one that gathered his
apostles back together after they fled He's the one that told
them to stay there. He's the one that poured out
the Holy Spirit upon them. And he gave Peter the power to
preach the gospel boldly right there before that mass of people. And he's the one that called
those people. Our Lord Jesus is the prophet, priest, and king
who worked everything that took place on the day of Pentecost.
And he's still working in this world just as truly as he did
when he walked this earth. That's what religion doesn't
believe. That's why they use the methods they use and the
tactics they use. He's really working. He's really
working and he's doing it through the preaching of his gospel.
Now, when Peter stood up to preach, he quoted Old Testament prophecy. All the Old Testament prophecy
declared this was going to happen. He quoted David from the Psalms
and he preached that Christ is risen. Now look here at Acts
chapter 2 and look at verse 25. He said, David speaketh concerning
him. That's why when we look in the
psalm, we're looking to hear Christ, because that's what David
wrote of the Lord Jesus. David spake concerning him. This
is what David wrote. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he's on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover
also, my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, in the grave. Neither will thou suffer than
Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now Peter's gonna give us the
message on that passage from David. He said, Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. He's
both dead and buried. His sepulcher's with us unto
this day. Therefore, David was a prophet, and knowing that God
had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne. David knew that when God told
him a son was gonna be born through his family. He knew it wasn't
Solomon. Solomon building that temple
is just a picture of Christ. David knew that. And he said,
verse 31, he seeing this before, David saw this beforehand and
he spake of the resurrection of Christ. That his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. When that whole passage
we read there from verse 25 down to verse 28, David was talking
about Christ. Christ is the one that was speaking
in that. Verse 32, this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we
all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which you now see
and hear. For David's not ascended into
the heavens, but he said himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand. You see that? The Lord said to
my Lord, The Lord, God the Father, said to Christ the Son, the Lord,
Sit on my right hand, till I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ." You see,
all that was written in prophecy in the Old Covenant, David preached
Christ, he was speaking of Christ. You read those Psalms and you
hear Christ speaking. Well, go to Acts 13. Paul preached
the exact same message that Peter preached. This is what all the
apostles went forth preaching. victorious Lord Jesus Christ
who accomplished redemption and risen, resurrected to the right
hand of the Father. Look here, Paul preached the
same message Peter preached and he preached from the same Old
Testament prophecy. Look here, Acts 1330. He said,
but God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of
them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise, the promise which was made unto
the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written
in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Those are the sure mercies of
Christ. When you read that, the sure
mercies of David, they're the sure mercies of our Lord Jesus.
That's who David typified. Christ said the wine of his table
represents the new covenant, the New Testament, the everlasting
covenant of grace in his blood. written, ratified, accomplished
by his blood. Verse 35, because of these sure
mercies of David, he said also in another psalm, thou shalt
not suffer the unholy one to see corruption. That's what Peter
preached. Same passage. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep and
was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God
raised again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him, by him, all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses. God saves by promise. God saves
by covenant promise. God chose who He would save,
and He thrust them to His Son, and His Son entered covenant
with Him to redeem them, to purify them, to perfect them, to make
them righteous and holy, and bring them to God by what He
accomplished for them and in them, and He would give God all
the glory. He entered the covenant to justify
his people and at the same time declare God just in that he would
honor the law and fulfill it and satisfy it. And God promised
the son he would not seek corruption. He promised the son, I will raise
you to my right hand. I will give you the glory of
calling these sheep out. And that's what our Lord did.
Our Lord did. He saves by covenant promise,
by covenant promise. That's how He saves His people
right now. And all the blessings of the covenant of grace, all
the blessings of this promise are sure to all God's elect through
the Lord Jesus Christ. They're the sure mercies of Christ
Jesus our King. That's who David pictured. God
promised in his new covenant that for the sake of the Lord
Jesus Christ, for the sake of his righteousness, his perfection,
all his people shall know him. That's the promise of this new
covenant. All his people shall know him from the least to the
greatest, because he's going to teach them. and he promised
mercies for Christ's sake. He said, I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more. That is God's promise to you,
child of God. That's his promise. That's the
sure mercies of David. The only reason that's sure to
you is because of Christ Jesus being the righteousness and holiness
of his people. Our Lord Jesus entered covenant
with the Father to conquer death for his people. That's the great
enemy is death. Sin entered, strength of sins
the law, and death passed upon all men, and out of all sin we
sin ourselves. And we come forth dead, dead
in our flesh, just dead, and we're gonna face physical death. And after that, the judgment
and a second death, unless God saves us, unless the Lord Jesus
does all the work. But Christ promised to conquer
death for his people. First of all, by dying in the
place of his people. He entered covenant to bear the
sin of his people. He really became us. It behooved
Him in all points to be made like unto His brethren. He was
made of a woman. He really was made of a woman.
He was made under the law. He was really made under the
law. He was made flesh and dwelt among us. He really was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And He was made sin for us. He
really was. And He was made a curse for His
people. God poured out... The being made sin was pictured
in the and the hands laid on the lamb, spotless lamb. Then
that lamb ceremonially typically had the sins laid on it. That
was being made sin. God did that to our Lord Jesus as mysterious as God being made
flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. I can't explain that, but it
happened. Well, the same mysteriously he made him sin, but being made
a curse is a different thing. That's what happened then when
they slit the neck of the lamb and killed him because he was
worthy of death. Christ Jesus not only was made sin for his
people, he was made to bear the second death we deserve. And
he bore it in full. And he satisfied God's justice
to it. And just like the scapegoat,
you know, you had to have a bunch of different lambs to show Christ
because not one could do it. You had that one lamb that was
the lamb of atonement that bore the sin and was slain, and his
blood then was carried by a high priest into the holiest place,
and that blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, that all pictured
Christ. But you had another goat called the scapegoat. It had
sin laid on it, and it was carried away by a fit man into a land
not inhabited. And that's what Christ did for
his people. He not only bore our sins, he bore our sins completely
away. And if God says, I won't remember
your sins, you don't have any to remember. That's all we have
in our flesh, and that's what we see in our flesh. But this
is what makes it such a blessing to us, to hear God speak into
your heart and tell you your sins and iniquities, I remember
no more. Justice is satisfied. That's
what justification is, to be righteous as God is righteous
and have no sin whatsoever before God, before the all-seeing eye
of God. A man has to die one time. A man has to die under judgment
one time. And our Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews
9.26 says, Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed
unto men once to die, and after that one judgment. So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to you that
look for him, just like those two men in white apparel said
to them, why are you standing here gazing into heaven? Just
like you saw him go, in like manner, he's coming again. And
to you that are looking for him, he shall come again. But when
he comes the next time, it says, without sin unto salvation. He's coming again. The work's
finished. And he entered covenant to fulfill
this law for God, to declare God's righteousness by his obedience
alone. If we could stand before God
and boast that it was by our obedience that we contributed
to salvation, Christ would not get all the glory, and God won't
have it. His son's gonna get all the glory.
It's by his obedience on our behalf that he justified his
people and made us the righteousness of God in him. That's why the
grave could not hold him. He's the life. The grave could
not hold him because he put away sin. He put away sin. The strength of sin's the law.
He fulfilled the law. He died unto sin once, he was
judged one time, he satisfied God on behalf of his people,
and therefore death had no claim on him. The only reason we died
is sin. Death had no more claim on him,
he put sin away and honored the law. Knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead doth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. In that he died, he died unto
sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the gospel, the
good news, the glad tidings. He keeps blessing to our heart
from the first hour to the last to keep us living unto God. And our Lord promised that in
all the prophecy. We see the promise between God
the Father and God the Son. Our Savior arising from the grave
declares that all the blessings of that covenant of grace shall
be given to each one for whom he died. Seeing him arisen from
the grave says that all those mercies are sure to his people. They're sure to his people. Boy,
that gives you some comfort when you preach because you trust,
you know he's going to do that. He just said, declare it, preach
it. I'll work it. And that takes
so much pressure off. We know that about one another
because you know he's going to give these sure mercies to his
people. And it takes the pressure off of you to know he's going
to work this in the hearts of my brethren. They're given us
by our risen prophet, priest, and king. It's so important that
he arose. This is our gospel. We have a
risen, living, redeemer working as the prophet, priest, and king
of his people to make us know that he has put away all our
sin and made us righteous in him and accepted in the beloved,
and he's doing it through the Spirit, through the message that
glorifies him. Just like it was Christ Jesus,
the prophet, priest, and king, who poured out his spirit on
his apostles on the day of Pentecost, and made Peter preach that gospel,
and then saved a multitude that heard that message. Just like
it was him who saved a multitude a little bit later. Just like
it was him that kept sending them forth, and kept saving,
and kept saving, and to this day is still sending the gospel
forth and saving. It's the Lord Jesus, our prophet,
priest, and king. Risen, working. Prophecy declared it. And Christ
promised it his people through Isaiah. This is another prophecy.
Listen to this from Isaiah 26, 19. Thy dead men shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. That was prophecy declared concerning
Christ. Thy dead men shall live. Together
with my dead body shall they arise. That's what the Lord Jesus
promised the Father, and that's what the Father promised the
Lord Jesus. All his people were dead. That when we died, we died
in Christ, and when we arose, we arose in Christ. That was
His promise. Listen to this, Ephesians 2,
6, He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, this was His
purpose in doing it, that He might show us the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
You know what that means? Anybody who was in Christ when
he died, your old man died, when he rose, you rose in him, and
he shall send the gospel and make you hear it. He shall keep
making you hear it. He shall keep you rejoicing only
in him, and for all eternity, he's gonna make you rejoice in
his exceeding riches of his grace to you through his kindness in
Christ Jesus. This is what it's all about. He's going to have
His people glory in His Son. And that's glorifying to the
Father. Now by His work for us on the cross and by His work
in the new birth, by the continual power of His grace quickening
us, by Him keeping us, His people declare that our risen Lord Jesus
Christ is the everlasting strength of His people. That's what we
preach. You know why? Because Christ
promised that's what we would do. That's what we would say. We would glory in His everlasting
strength. That's what the Lord promised.
We're glowing at that from his throne, by his good pleasure,
he sent the gospel and worked his good pleasure in us, bringing
us to believe him. We preach that by his strength
from his risen throne and glory, he sends the gospel to us and
he keeps preserving us. He keeps growing us to see him
more and more and see ourselves more sinful. And he keeps making
us trust him more and trust ourselves less and cease from man and trust
him only. and He's going to raise us at
the last day. And it's just like it was the
first hour was His strength, just like it would be the last,
it will be His strength that brings your body out of the grave.
Every single step of the way, it's been our everlasting strength,
Christ Jesus that did it. It's so subtle, brethren. It's
so subtle when we start trying to attribute some aspect of it
to you and me. That's subtle. because what happens
is you stop glorying only in Christ and you start glorying
in your contribution. God won't have that. That's the
difference between grace and free will religion. God's going
to keep you glorying in Him as your everlasting strength because
it's written. It's written. Listen to this
from Isaiah 26.4. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the
Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And He brings His people to say,
the desire of our soul is to Thy name and to the remembrance
of Thee. He brings you to say, Lord, Thou
will ordain peace for us, for Thou also wrought all our works
in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside
Thee have had dominion over us, but by Thee only will we make
mention of Thy name. See, you're going to glorify
in His name, and the only way you're going to do that is by
Him. That's how fully this thing's all of him. Otherwise, we'd be
like that rich young ruler. We can't make ourselves fall
down and give up our riches, but he'll make you give up your
riches. Secondly, not only did God... I only have two points this morning,
so I'm... I'm not going very long. But only, secondly, not
only did God declare the Lord's resurrection in prophecy, God
showed it in type throughout the scriptures, declaring this
was coming to pass. You remember, we looked at this
not long ago, in order to make Adam's bride, God put Adam in
a deep sleep, and he took a rib from Adam's wounded side, and
he formed Eve, and he brought her and presented her to Adam.
And then what happened? Before he presented it, what
happened after he formed out of his side? Then Adam awaked
out of a deep sleep. That's what happened on Calvary's
cross. The Lord Jesus died under the justice of God in our place,
and sleep is what he refers to as death and being buried, and
he went in the grave, his body went in the grave, but he awaked
out of that sleep. And right now, he's sending this
gospel, he's washing us. in the washing of regeneration
by the Spirit of God, He's cleansing us with His blood in our conscience,
and He's going to, in the last, He's going to present His church
to Himself, holy, righteous, sanctified, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and
without blemish. And it will entirely be the work
of Christ only. And He will be the unblameableness
and the unapprovableness and the perfection of His people.
It will not be by our hand. It will not be. There's so many
types of our Lord's resurrection. Isaac. Abraham received Isaac
in a figure, scripture says. It was a picture of him receiving
Isaac from the dead when he went up there and he offered up Isaac.
And God told us what all that was picturing. He said, my son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So he laid
Isaac on that altar and at Abraham's heart, he slew Isaac. And so
when Isaac arose off that altar, it was a type of Christ arising
from the dead. He received him in a figure from
the dead. You take that burning bush. Moses saw that burning
bush. It was burning, but it was not consumed. You look to
Christ on Calvary. You see Christ bearing the fierce
fire of God's justice, but it didn't consume him. He came out
of the grave. Remember the living bird? There
was one offering they had where they would come and they would
slay a bird and they would drain its blood and then they would
take a living bird and they would dip that bird into that blood,
covered in that blood, and let him go. And he'd fly off. That's
a picture of Christ crucified and then risen again from the
grave. the deliverance of Jonah from the whale's belly after
three days, our Lord declared that's Him. That's Him. But one of my favorites, one
of my favorites is the sheaf of firstfruits waved before the
Lord. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 20 Paul says,
but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first
fruits of them that slept of them that the saints that have
died in the Lord and are buried. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
who he represented died, even so in Christ shall all who he
represented be made alive. But every man in his own order
Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming. Now let me tell you a little
bit about this. this ceremony concerning the sheaf of firstfruits.
The firstfruits are just what it sounds like. They're the first
of the crop in the field. They're the firstfruits to come
out of the earth first. They're the first ones to come
out of the earth. God commanded that they make a sheaf. You know
a sheaf. Make a sheaf of those firstfruits.
bind it, make a sheaf, and they had to come and wave it before
the Lord. Now they couldn't do that. The
children of Israel couldn't do it. They brought the sheaf to
the priest. And the priest, he couldn't even
go in just and wave it. They had to also bring a he-lamb
without blemish of the first year and burn him for an offering. Now brethren, all of that typifies
Christ and him crucified, risen as our great high priest. He
is the firstborn from the dead. I know he raised Lazarus, but
not like he came out of the grave. Nobody else. I know he raised
Elijah not like what Christ did. Christ is the firstborn that
way. He's the first one who put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself and satisfied justice by himself
and is the prophet, priest, and king of his people by himself
and is born again from the grave by himself. He's the firstborn
from the dead. And when they brought that offering
to that priest, here's why they had to wave that sheaf. God said,
the priest shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted
for you. The whole crop, the whole crop,
everything else that was going to come out in the harvest after
that, those first fruits, the whole crop, was made holy and
consecrated to God by that wave sheaf right there. The whole
rest was made holy by that one sheaf. And they, the children
that did it, were accepted of God. And that is showing you,
brethren, Christ Jesus, by His death, sanctified His people. He made us holy and perfect before
a holy God. And when he came out as the first
fruit and he went and sat down at the right hand of the Father,
everybody he died for is holy and perfect in him. He sanctified
the whole crop. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he's not
ashamed to call them brethren. By Christ fulfilling the will
of God, we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ one time. By one offering, he's perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Christ ascended as the first
fruits to God. And he made the whole crop of
God's elect holy in him. Accepted of God. It's the same
thing Paul said in Romans 11 when he said, if the root be
holy, the lumps also holy. We don't bear the root, the root
bears us. And if the root's holy, that's Christ, all the branches
are holy. He's the firstfruits in whom
we've been sanctified unto God. Go with me to Colossians chapter
1. Well, don't we have to be sanctified personally? Don't
we have to be made holy? We sure do. Because until we
are, We think we made ourselves holy. We think that we're like
that rich young ruler. We think we've kept everything
from our youth up. We made ourselves holy and sanctified
ourselves until we're truly sanctified. But when he makes you sanctified,
you remember what Christ said. He said, I came to bind up the
broken hearted. The broken hearted aren't like
you weeping over your boyfriend or you weeping over your loved
one, whatever. Broken heart is a heart that don't work. It's
a heart that is so corrupted it's ruined. And he came to give
you a new one. Creating me a right spirit, oh
Lord. He came to create a new spirit.
All of his making, he does it by the Holy Spirit. entering
in, Christ, God's own Son, the Spirit of His Son enters in,
and when He does, He has created a new Holy Spirit, and He makes
you, by teaching you Christ, He makes you rest entirely in
Christ. That's a man that's been sanctified.
And you start following Him, and He starts teaching you from
then on. And when your heart's truly established, when your
heart's established, it's when you are made to know that in
Christ you are unblamable. Until your heart's established
to know that, every time you sin, you'll think you're lost,
you'll think you're going to fall away, you'll think, oh,
it's changed everything. He's more and more, through those
falls and that mercy and that grace, he's teaching you, he's
establishing your heart more and more to know, I am really
unblameable and perfect in Christ. That's growth in grace. And that's
a man who's been sanctified, been sanctified. And this is
what he did when he did that work. I'm talking about the moment
he did that work in the new birth, Colossians 1.12. This is what
the witness bears witness to in our hearts, right here. We
give thanks to the Father, look at that next word, which hath
made. Past tense, that happened when
he was born of God. He hath made us meet, fit. to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. That means in glory. Fit, perfect,
meet. Who hath delivered us, past tense,
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son, in whom we have That's right. We have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin. Who is this one? Look
at verse 18. He's the head of the body. He's the first. He's the head
of the body of the church. He's the beginning. He's the
first. He's the firstborn from the dead. He's the firstfruits.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. It's all in Christ. All in Christ. Look at chapter 2. He said, Don't
let any man trick you with deceit. Don't let him turn you back to
the rudiments of the world, to the touch-not-taste-not handle
of the world, rather than Christ alone. Look at verse 9. For in
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in him. That's how God's going to establish
us in faith. He's establishing you on Christ
only. He's just going to keep making
you see. He's the first fruits that when He arose, He made the
whole crop holy. He had already accomplished it
and we arose in Him. And He's going to keep you who
are His. There's no doubt about that.
You're going to go through some storms and maybe times that you
go seasons and don't think you know Him. He will keep his own. He'll keep his own. But one thing
he's gonna make you know is your acceptance is not in you. It's
not something you did. It's him. It's him. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him? freely give us all things. And all the things he's talking
about is all those things we saw last time that was according
to his purpose. Whom he did foreknow, he did
predestinate, be conformed to the image of his son, he called
you, he justified you, he's going to give us all those things.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Oh, rather, Paul said, that's
risen again. He's risen again. He's even at
the right hand of God and he's making intercession for us. And therefore, who will separate
us from the love of Christ? Nobody. Nobody. Well, but preacher,
we're going to die. Is that going to separate us?
If your holiness wasn't in the firstfruits, it would. If your
holiness is not in the firstfruits, it'll separate you. If your righteousness
is not in the firstfruit, Christ Jesus, it'll separate you. But
if He's all you hope, your death is not going to separate you.
Our Lord Jesus told Martha, I am the resurrection and the life.
He said, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
never die. Cyril, is he all your hope? You'll never die. You'll never
die. You're going to draw your last
breath and he's going to open up the door to heaven and say,
come on. And right then, you'll be like a thief on the cross.
Today, you'll enter into paradise with me. What about these bodies? Go back to 1 Corinthians 15.
Here's why Paul's declaring that Christ is the first fruit. Here's
what it means for us, brethren. 1 Corinthians 15, 51. He's going to make your vile
body. That's all it is. It was vile
when it came forth. It's going to be vile when he
put it in the grave. It's been vile the whole way through. And
it's gotta be incorrupt and perfect, just like he's already made you
in spirit. And he's gonna do that. Verse
51, behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, we won't
all die and be in the grave, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump,
for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. Those that are already dead before
us, they're going to be raised incorruptible, and you that are
still here when he comes, we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. You see, that's what he created
when he put a new spirit into you. Immortality. You and me,
we can't make that. We can't create that. We can't
keep that or add to that. He did that. He's going to do
the same for your body. And with this corruptible shall
I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on immortality.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that's written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is our staying?
O grave, where is our victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what he
does with that message? If you came in here this morning,
and you're his, and you came in here thinking something about
yourself, that, you know, boy, all these I've kept for my youth,
or I've done this so well all this week. When you heard this
message today, and he blessed it to your heart, It made you
sad for even thinking like that, and it mortified that in you,
and it made you glad that He's your only acceptance with God.
That's what He's doing in everything He works in our lives, and through
this gospel, He keeps doing it. We got a good hope. We got a
risen Redeemer, brethren. Amen. All right, Brother Abbott.