Let's turn in our Bibles, brethren,
to Ephesians chapter 1. The power of God is exceedingly
great power. It's always effectual. The working
of His mighty power is always invincible, always irresistible,
always effectual. Let's read Ephesians 1 verses
19 through 23. I pray the Father would reveal
in our hearts more and more what is the exceeding greatness of
His power to us who believe according to the working of His mighty
power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead
and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, in every name that's named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And
hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. Now when we got to this passage
I told you I had five things I wanted to show you about the
power of God. But I wanted to go through them
one at a time rather than doing all five in one message. So that's
what we've done. And just by way of review we've
seen first of all the power of His resurrection. We looked at
the act itself and we saw that it's more than just the sheer
omnipotence of God's power. It's the power of justice satisfied. The power of cancelled sin by
which Christ finished the work. It's the power of God's faithfulness
to His Son. It's the power of His love and
grace towards His people. That's great power to us because
when He raised Christ, He raised all His people representatively
in Christ. And then we saw the power of
His exaltation. God not only raised His Son from
the dead, but He gave Him great glory when He raised Him from
the dead. We just read there that He set Him at His own right
hand in heaven. That's that place of honor, that
place of dignity, that exalted place. And He raised Him far
above all principality and power and might and dominion. Every
name that's named, not only in this world, That's a lot of power,
not only in this world but in the world to come. And then it
says, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church. And that power of his exaltation
is power to us who believe because we who believe are the church.
And so we're that body, his fullness. And so that's great power to
us because he's governing us, keeping us, hedging us about.
Then thirdly we saw his power to quicken and to convert his
lost child. And that's particularly what
Paul is speaking about here as he says there in Ephesians 2
verse 1, You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
in sin. That same power that raised Christ
from the dead is the power it takes to cause a sinner to have
life and to rest solely upon Christ alone. It takes that much
power to do it. And he will work this power because
it's a must that all for whom Christ died, they must be born
again and they must be given faith to believe on Christ. Christ
said that. Listen to this. Jesus answered
verily, verily. Anytime Christ says verily, verily,
it means this is of utmost importance. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. And then he said, Marvel not
that I said unto thee, you must be born again. You must be. Without
faith it's impossible to please God. And now the scripture says,
It's written in the prophets. This is in the word. They shall be all taught of God. And Christ said, And therefore
every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father cometh unto me. How do they come? They are all
taught of the Father. So they all have to be. And to
be taught without faith is simply impossible to please God. So
they all have to be given faith to believe. whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. So it's a must. It's a must. And so he will get, he has power
to cross their path with the gospel. He has all power in heaven
and earth. He's God. Our Savior is God. So he can cross his people with
the gospel and he has power to quicken and convert them. Then
we saw his power to keep us, to keep us to that day. This
is the Father's will which has sent me, Christ said, of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing but raise it up
again at the last day. He's going to keep his people,
not one for whom Christ died will be lost. If they're lost,
that means God would pour out the wrath and fury of God upon
them again. And that can't be because Christ
satisfied justice for them. And so He'll keep them. If He
loses one that's a part of His body, the fullness of Him, He
loses more than we lose because His glory is attached to the
salvation of His people. So tonight our subject is this
fifth thing I want to show you. His power to resurrect and to
glorify. His power to resurrect and glorify. God will raise us who believe
from the dead, from the grave, and He will glorify us with Christ
by that same power that He raised Christ and glorified Christ.
This is a certainty. Let's be turning to John chapter
5. And while you're turning there,
I'm going to read some scripture to you. If you want to stop on
your way, 2 Corinthians 4.14 says, knowing that he which raised up the Lord
Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us
with you. It's a certainty. Paul said in
Philippians 3, I want to know the power of his resurrection.
And then he said, our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is
able to subdue all things to Himself. You know what that working
is? The working of His mighty power. It's that working we just
read about. Alright, now in John 5 In John
5, Christ had healed the lame man and He told him to take up
his bed and walk and gave him the power to do so. And he was
persecuted by the Jews because he did this on the Sabbath day.
And Christ tells them here, He says, not only am I the Lord
of the Sabbath, He says, I'm the Lord of life and death. I'm
the Lord of life and death. I want you to see this. Look
here in verse 20. Let's begin in verse 21. As the
Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And he that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily,
verily, Now there's those words again, very important. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life. He has it. And he shall
not come into condemnation, but he is passed from death unto
life. Now verily, verily. I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,
and hath given Him authority. to execute judgment also because
he's the son of man. He had the authority as the son
of God but now also as the son of man he's been given this authority. A man in our nature, spotless,
sinless nature, that's different from our nature but a spotless,
sinless human nature, he has power to execute judgment. And
he says, verse 8, marvel not at this, for the hour is coming
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice
and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection
of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of
damnation. I can of my own self do nothing.
That is, not as the servant of God. He came to serve God. As
God, He can do whatsoever He will. But as the servant of God,
He said, I can do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment
is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me. Now, first of all, it's a certain
fact that God shall raise the dead. This is certain. It's just
certain. It's indisputable. God shall
raise the dead. We have many examples in history
that He's done this. In the Old Testament, the son
of the widow in Sarepta in 1 Kings 17.22, her son was raised from
the dead. Then we have the Shunammite son
in 2 Kings 4, he was raised. We have the man that was cast
into the sepulcher of Elisha. In 2 Kings 13, he was raised
from the dead. And then in the New Testament,
Jairus' daughter in Mark 5, she was raised. Dorcas in Acts 9. Then you got the widow's son
in Luke 12. And then you got Lazarus in John 11. These were
all raised from the dead. They died. and were raised again
by God. Now hold your place in John 5.
We're going to come back here. We're going to be back and forth
between here and 1 Corinthians. But go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1
Corinthians 15. Any man who denies the resurrection
of the dead is yet in himself dead. He's dead in trespasses
and in sins because the resurrection of the dead is vital. This is
fundamental. This is vital to the believer.
Our hope that's set before us and the joy that's set before
us is that one day we're going to be raised to be with Christ
for all eternity and in the bliss of heaven with Him for all eternity.
This is the hope, the joy that's set before us. Look here in 1
Corinthians 15, 12. He says, now if Christ be preached
that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there's
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 your faith is also vain?
Yea, yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we've
testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not
up, if so be that the dead raise not. Now, for 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. And then they also
which are fallen asleep in Christ, those that have died in Christ
are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Our faith
is not just for this life. Faith is only for this life. But we are looking for something
to come. We are looking for something
that is coming that we are going to have from Christ. And that
is to be raised from the dead with Him. But if all we have
got is faith in this life, Who cares if this is it? But this
is not it. He says we have hope in Christ. We're of all men most miserable
if we don't have that. But now is Christ risen from
the dead? He is risen from the dead. And
he's become the first fruits 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. Now, look at that line there
in verse 20. Christ is become the first fruits
of them that slept. Christ is risen from the dead
and He's the first fruits of them that slept. In the law,
in Old Testament law, God gave a law and every law God gave
pointed to Christ. Every law God gave had the... it was to shut our mouths and
it was to point us to Christ. and this law of the firstfruits
pointed to Christ. What the Lord commanded was,
He said that the sheaf, you took up the firstfruits that were
ripe and you put a sheaf together of these firstfruits, of this
wheat, a sheaf, you know, of wheat. And He says, and you were
to wave that before the Lord, the high priest was to take it
and wave it before the Lord the morning after the Sabbath after
the Passover. That's what it says in Leviticus
23 11. Now listen to this. Christ suffered on the cross
on the Passover and then his body rested in the grave on the
seventh day Sabbath, on Saturday. And on the morrow after that
Christ rose from the dead. So that that very day that the
first fruits were to be offered to God, that's the very day Christ
rose up to God. It was all appointed to Christ.
It showed us Christ That's why verse 20 says, Now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that
sleep. The firstfruits were first. They were the first to come up
out of the earth. They were first that were ripe.
They were the first that were harvested and gathered in. And
those firstfruits, by waving them like that, the high priest
waving them before the Lord, those firstfruits sanctified
the rest of the fruits, sanctify the rest of the harvest that
would be brought in so that from God the people had a right to
harvest the rest of those food and to enjoy them because they
were sanctified by them waving those first fruits. They were
saying this is all of you, this is all for your glory, you've
done this when they waved those first fruits. How does that picture
Christ? Well Christ is first. He was
the first to come up out of the ground and raise from the dead
and go to the Father. Now I just gave that big list
of folks who were raised from the dead, but they all died again. Christ is the first one to raise
who never will see death again. He was raised immortal. He went
to the Father. And He is there, He is the High
Priest and He is the First Fruits. And He is presenting Himself
to the Father and by Him all the rest of the harvest that
will be harvested are sanctified and right, righteous to be harvested. Because Christ is our sanctification
and He is our righteousness. Paul quotes here and he says
he's become the first fruits of them that sleep and it's the
same way of saying our living redeemer before God, our sanctifier
and our sanctification, our righteousness and that one who makes us righteous,
he's our guarantee and our assurance that we shall be raised from
the dead. It's a guarantee. We shall be
raised from the dead. He's the first fruits of them
that sleep. We come into this earth sleeping. We come into
this earth dead in sin. He's the guarantee that all those
for whom he died shall be raised in that first resurrection in
regeneration from the death of being dead in sins and in trespasses. And he's the guarantee that once
our bodies return to the dust, the believer will have our body
raised to be with him. He's the guarantee of this. The
first fruits of them that slept. Look here in 1 Corinthians 15. Somebody will say, well I don't
understand how a body could return to the dust and then rise again.
Listen carefully. Listen carefully. Never judge
that it is impossible for God to do a thing simply because
you do not understand how God can do it. Using our vain reason
is the most ignorant thing you could possibly use to judge how
God does anything. We don't understand an infinite
God and understand what He can do. Christ said to some one time,
you do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. He said
another time, the things that are impossible with men are possible
with God. Now look here in verse 35. Let's
look at verse 34. This is what he said. Paul said,
Awake to righteousness, and sin not. For some have not the knowledge
of God. I speak this to your shame. But
some men will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what
body do they come? Paul uses an everyday example
of planting seed in the ground. Watch this, verse 36. Thou fool,
that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And
that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall
be, but bare grain. It may chance of wheat or of
some other grain. But God giveth it a body, as
it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. Paul is saying,
why should we at all doubt the resurrection of God, where if
you just look out in your garden, you see resurrection happening
every day. That's what's happening there. You see a seed go in the
ground and it dies. And what happens? a plant is
resurrected from that seed that died. We see that every day.
Look at the trees and the plants around us. God didn't make the
seed first. He made the plants first bearing
the seed and the seed go in the ground and they die and from
that comes life. We see resurrection all around
us. So why would we doubt that we would die and go into the
ground and that God would raise us from the dead? Well, that's
enough from that first point. We see there that There shall
be a resurrection from the dead. Now let's look at this second
thing. Go back to John. What would you place in 1 Corinthians
15? Go back to John 5. John 5. Secondly, who's going to be resurrected? Who shall be resurrected? All
shall be resurrected. Look at John 5 verse 28. Marvel not at this. for the hour
is coming into which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto
the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. Now it's certain that all shall
be resurrected no matter where their graves are in this world. Some people are lying in a nice
pretty kept cemetery. Some people are laying in the
bottom of the sea. That's where their grave is. Some people have
been cremated and their ashes thrown to the wind. They're going
to be raised. They're going to be raised. It
doesn't matter where they are, the earth's going to let them
go and they're coming out of the earth. Whether they've been
quickened to spiritual life or whether they're dead in sin,
they're coming forth. And whether they're judged by
Christ's work or they're unjust, they're coming forth. Christ
is the judge of the quick, the quickened, the regenerated, and
he's the judge of the dead. Acts 24, 15 says there should
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
Everybody is going to be raised. Even those elect who died in
their mother's womb, they are going to be raised. They are
going to be raised too. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. All be made alive. There's a great difference between
believers and unbelievers. Right now in this life there's
a great difference between those that cast all their care on Christ
and those that couldn't give two cents about Christ. Well,
there's going to be a great difference in that resurrection too. There'll
be a great difference. Verse 29 says there's a resurrection
of life. Those that have done good. Those
that have done good, they'll be raised to the resurrection
of life. There's none good in Adam. None good in his... Of
all the Adam's seed, there's none good. Who are these then?
These are those that have been born again by God's incorruptible
seed. They've been born of the Word.
They've been born of the Gospel. They've been born of the Spirit
of God. And they have a new man created within them. They've
been given faith and repentance to believe God. And so they've
cast all their care upon Christ. They trust Christ as their scapegoat
who took all their sins and all their iniquities the same as
He took all the sins and all the iniquities of all His elect
throughout all time upon Himself and was cut off. Just as that
scapegoat went into a land not inhabited, He was cut off. And
because He was cut off, He took the sins and put them away. They're
gone. That's what we trust, that He
put our sins away because of Him God remembers our sins no
more. These are those who trust Christ
as our righteousness. He came forth and He perfectly
fulfilled the law in precepts and penalties. We're righteous
and justified thoroughly by Christ completely. These are those who
trust Christ as our sanctification. He's the only reason we differ
from anybody else in this world. Christ has entered in. He's been
formed in the heart of His child and He makes the difference.
He's taken you from the realm of flesh and death and darkness
and put you in to Christ in the realm of the Spirit, in the realm
of light and life and eternal Eternal life, you'll never perish.
That's what He's done for us. And those, the true believers
in Christ, they're going to be raised because they've done good. Not only are they good in Christ,
but Christ gives them the power to do those good works that God
has before ordained that we should walk in. and they do those things. And they'll be raised, and they're
going to be noticed for those works, but they're not going
to be noticed for them as works whereby they gained and earned
entrance into heaven. They're going to be noted because
they're works whereby Christ will say, I did this for them. It'll be works that'll manifest
their trophies of His grace. It'll be works that'll manifest
what the grace of God did for them and in them. Not to draw
attention to them, to draw attention to Christ. See what I'm saying?
They draw attention to Him. But now what about these who
were raised to the resurrection of damnation? Look at verse 29. They that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. Who's done evil? I'll tell you
what they've done. This is how easy it is to be
counted in this group. You just don't believe Christ.
Do I have to do anything else? Nope. You just don't believe
Him. That's it. Well I came into this earth not
doing that. That's all you do. Don't believe
him. That's evil enough. Don't believe
him. Or there are those who sought acceptance some other way than
Christ. They wanted to come some other
way than in Christ. They bowed down to their idol.
They bowed down to their works and to their will and to what
they've done. Or they claim to believe on Christ but what they're
really doing in their heart is adding something to Christ. adding
something to Christ. Are there those who just went
head over heels after their sin and shut up their ears and turned
their back on God, on Christ, on grace, on his people, on everybody
and went away into sin? I've been in the church now for
about 25 years and I've seen mothers and fathers just like
us sitting here. This was when I was a little
little and I saw mothers and fathers teach their children
and watch one by one those children say I'm not going to have it
anymore. Get old enough not to do it and say I'm not doing it
anymore and leave. I've watched a spouse leave the
other spouse and say I'm done with it. I'm tired of it. I'm
sick of it. I'm leaving and just walk away.
Walk away. The only thing that's going to
keep us from doing that is Him. That's the only thing. We would
do it right now today except for His grace. That's the only
thing. We ought to be always applying
ourselves to Him and seeking His mercy and His grace because
we need Him constantly. We need Him to keep us every
minute constantly, constantly. Behold, the Lord cometh with
ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard
speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. That
day that He's going to bring those wicked before Him, they're
going to be dragged before Christ in the judgment, kicking and
screaming probably, but they're coming. And they're going to
be coming there with unspeakable horror. Can you imagine, just
think about every sin that you have ever thought, along with all your deeds, everything,
known and unknown, being opened up and counted out before everybody. Can you just imagine that? I
mean, just think about that. That ought to make us tremble
to think about that. He's going to do that and He's
going to bring forth every sin, known and unknown. He's going
to bring it all forth. And then the judge shall execute
vengeance on them. Look at Isaiah chapter 2. What's
that day going to be like for folks who don't have Christ?
Look at Isaiah chapter 2. This is what it's going to be
like. Verse 17. The loftiness of man
shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made
low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the
idols he shall utterly abolish, and they shall go into the holes
of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the
Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake
terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast
his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each
one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to
go into the clefts of the rocks and at the tops of the ragged
rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty
when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. What should I do then? Look at verse 22. Cease ye from
man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted
of. All take heed to this word. Each and every one of us will
be raised. And we're going to be raised
even if you're screaming in your heart saying no God. You're going
to be raised. Try to picture that mountain
of fire, Mount Sinai, when the Lord came down and He gave the
law and it was like a volcano. It was on fire and it quaked
and it trembled and smoke covered it. And the people were exceedingly
fearful and they trembled, every one of them. And they ran back
and they said, represent us Moses, we can't go before that God,
He's going to kill us. Well in that day, There won't
be a representative for those who've shaken their fist at God
and been haughty and arrogant and said, I don't need a God.
There won't be one then. There won't be a representative.
There won't be a go-between. Don't meet God in your righteousness,
in any righteousness of your own. Don't meet God in your,
well I tried to do this and I did that for a little old lady and
I've tried to do this and that. I'm not so bad. Don't come to
God in that. Don't come to God being anti-God. Don't meet God being anti-Christ,
anti-Gospel. Don't meet Him that way. Let
go of you and the very best deeds you've ever done and kiss the
Son. Bow down to Him and kiss Him
and confess Him and believe Him and trust Him because He's the
Judge. He's the Judge. That's right. He's the one we're going to meet.
Alright, here's this third thing. the power and the authority of
the resurrection will be Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the
Son of Man. Look at verse 25, John 5, 25.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is,
look down here, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.
Verse 27 says, and hath given him authority execute judgment
also because He is the Son of Man. because he's the son of
man. That same voice of Jesus Christ,
that one who, Jesus of Nazareth, that one that was born in a manger,
that one who was the carpenter's son, that one who walked around
on this earth and spoke, that same one with that same voice,
that same power that can speak right now and he could speak
this word and you could be sitting there just not paying any attention
whatsoever. He could speak this word and
all of a sudden you'll start believing God. That same one
who can do that, give you life and faith and repentance just
in one word like that. That same God is going to speak.
That same Savior, He is going to speak. The Son of Man who
is the Son of God, He is going to speak. And when He does, the
graves are going to come open and they are coming out of them.
All that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come
forth. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 15. Now those of us who are alive,
what happens then? Well, we're going to be raised
too, we're going to be resurrected too. Look at 1 Thessalonians
4.15, For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep. Sleep means those believers who
have died, their bodies are asleep in the grave. The soul goes to
be with the Lord immediately, the body is what's sleeping.
opposite to us believers who are alive right now in this earth. Look at verse 16. For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. and with the voice
of the archangel. And who the archangel is? That's
Christ. That's why it says He's going
to descend with the voice of the archangel. He's the voice
of the archangel, the Lord Himself. And with the trump of God. And
the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Let me read this to you from Romans 8. The godly are
going to be raised out of their graves and raised up with Him.
If we're alive, we'll be raised up with Him because of the Spirit
that dwells in us now. Romans 8.10 says, If Christ be
in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. If Christ is in you now,
that same Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead
will quicken. Your bodies are dead and they're
going to go back, but He's going to quicken and raise them as
well. Brethren, you and I who have
the Spirit of Christ don't owe a thing to the flesh. We don't
owe anything to the flesh. All we did in the flesh was be
conceived in sin and come forth from our mother's womb speaking
lies. That's all we've done. All we've done. God the Father
chose us, Christ redeemed us, the Spirit quickened us and gave
us all things that pertain to godliness. And that's how we
got to Christ. That's how we came into Christ.
And we're kept by Him and we're going to be resurrected by Him.
And He says, therefore, brethren, we're debtors not to the flesh,
to live after the flesh. If you live after the flesh,
you're going to die. How do you live after the flesh? You eat,
sleep and breathe the world. You get up in the morning, with
your attention set on the world, you go through the day with your
attention set on the world, you come home, turn on the TV, tune
in and tune out, and feed your flesh. That's it. That's it.
That's enough right there. And eventually, God says, you
don't have nothing to do with me, I'm not going to have nothing
to do with you. I never had from the beginning anyway. That's
all we'll prove by that. If you through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Alright,
look back at 1 Corinthians 15. And I'll finish this up. He tells
us that we're going to awake in Christlikeness. This is what
He's going to do for us. Now look at this, verse 39. All
flesh is not the same flesh. Giving us an example. There's
one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh
of fish, another of birds. And then He says, and there's
different kinds of glory. In verse 41, there's one glory
of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the
stars. One star differeth from another star in glory. Then He
says, verse 42, so also is the resurrection of the dead. Now
here's what He means. We're sown one way, we're going
to be raised another way. We're sown in corruption, we're
going to be raised in incorruption. And you think about these bodies.
Think about these bodies. We come forth and we are sweet-smelling
little infants. Just love to pick them up and
they're just so tender and little and then before long, it doesn't
take very long, 10, 11 years, something like that, 12 years,
we start having body odor. And we got to take perfume and
cologne and cover up ourselves. You know what we're covering
up? Our death, our stink, our corruption. That's what we're
covering up. And then in a little while, you know what's going
to happen? We're going to start, we're going to be so obnoxious
to our loved ones, they're going to put us in a box and put us
in a hole about six foot in the ground and cover us up with dirt
to get our bodies out of their presence. And then we're going
to keep on rotting until we've just turned back into dust. That's
what the body is. That's what the body starts doing
the moment it's born. That's what we start doing. dying.
But not in that day. At the resurrection our bodies
are going to rise incorruptible, incapable of sickness, no more
to die whatsoever. No more of these bodily pains
that we have. We're going to be everlastingly
healthy. Everlasting. 1 Corinthians 15.43. It says it's
sown in dishonor, it's raised in glory. You remember when Moses
came down from Mount Sinai and his face was just all lit up
because he had been there talking with Christ face to face? Well
the scripture says, it says when He shall appear we shall be like
Him because for this reason we're going to see Him as He is. That means our whole body is
going to be full of the brightness of Christ's glory. Our whole
body is going to be fashioned like unto His glorious body and
conformed to His glorious image. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun. We go into that ground in dishonor,
we're going to come out of there in glory. raised in glory. And then look here in verse 43,
it says it's sown in weakness, it's raised in power. It's succeeding
great power we're talking about. We go forth because we're weak
to death. We're weak under the dominion
of death and we're going to die. But we're coming out by the power
of God, by the succeeding greatness of justice satisfied, of the
faithfulness of God, of the grace and love of God, of the power
of Christ to raise us again. We're coming out of that grave
and He's going to give us power. He's going to give us power in
ourselves so that we're going to be able to give the highest
service to God and to the Lamb with no hindrance whatsoever,
no weariness, no weakness of any kind, no infirmity whatsoever. Here's why, verse 44. It's sown
a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. Right now, do you ever
find this to be the case when the Lord said the spirit's willing
but the flesh is weak? You'll sit down and in your spirit
you're willing to read this word. And you'll sit down and you'll
say, I'm going to read the gospel. And it doesn't take very long
sitting here reading the word and your eyes are so heavy you
cannot pick them up. You come to this place and you
say, I'm coming here to worship God. And you come and your spirit
is willing to worship Him. But you've worked hard all week,
you've had a hard day and you sit here and you're trying to
stay awake and you're listening but your eyes are just, your
body is just failing you. And that day our body is going
to be raised a spiritual body. So that our body is the same
as our spirit. And so that we can worship God
with nothing to hinder us. We can serve Him and praise Him.
Listen to this. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. That stops us. I could be studying
and studying this word and at some point I'll have to stop
and eat. I can go a long time without eating or drinking but
at some point I have to stop and eat. Not then, not then.
In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.
How many times do we have to stop because of our spouse? We've
got to do something for our spouse. That won't be a hindrance there.
No. They'll be as the angels of God
in heaven. The angels need no sleep because
the scripture says they serve Him day and night. That's what
we, I get tired talking about it. I was looking at this this
week and I thought it makes me tired thinking of serving him
day and night. But see that's flesh. But then
we won't have flesh. We'll be spirit. We have a spiritual
body so that we will want to and be able to serve him day
and night. Wouldn't that be something? Ah, but look how different that
description is from the description of you sitting here. This is
a sad thought. There will be somebody sitting
here, probably more than one, that will meet God without the
Savior and you'll go to hell. And listen to the description
of those. It says, the smoke of their torment
ascends up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night. That's a big difference here.
A big difference. Here's why, let's read it out,
verse 44. The natural body, there's a natural
body and there's a spiritual body, verse 45. And so it's written,
the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam, Christ,
was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that
which is spiritual. We're born natural first and
we're born of God. Well, we go into the earth a
natural man, but we're born of God. Our bodies will be born
of spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second
man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. As we've born the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this
I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Well, what's
going to happen to our bodies? What if we're still alive? Verse
51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, we're
not going to all die, but we shall all be changed. In a moment. He's talking to the believer.
This is so of the believer. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal
must put on immortality. And then the victory. Look at
verse 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, the end shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. Christ has satisfied the law
and he's put away our sin. So he's conquered death. The
last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Thanks be to God which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's
Paul's application right here in verse 58. To us who believe. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord. We're going to be raised, brethren.
That's true. Look at Isaiah 55. Somebody told
Brother Henry one time, I heard this a few weeks ago in a sermon. Somebody told Brother Henry,
they said, you know, we've got it backwards. They said, we rejoice
and we're all excited about that infant when he's born into the
world and we weep and we're so sorrowful for that saint when
he dies. And he said, that's backwards. He said, we ought
to weep for that infant that's just coming into this world of
sin and we ought to rejoice for that saint that's leaving it.
He's going to the... He, that saint that he is the
one that's... His life's just beginning. Look
here now. Now for you without Christ, whether
you've never professed Christ or whether you've professed Christ
and you're trusting in a profession, no man knows the day or the hour
when Christ is coming. He might come tonight. It may
be tonight. So redeem the time. Redeem the
time. Now set your heart and your soul
to seek the Lord your God. Remember now thy creator in the
days of your youth before the evil days draw nigh when you
say I have no pleasure in them. Look at Isaiah 55, 6. Listen
to me now. If you don't have Christ do this
right here. Verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. He may be found right now. Seek
ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is
near. He's near right now. Look at
this now. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. And He will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither your ways my ways, saith the Lord. That's
the Lord speaking. That's the Lord speaking. That's
what he says. Brethren, there's an eternal
day just around the corner. We got a few more miles to go
and then we'll be there. Be steadfast. Cling to Christ. Look nowhere else. Whatever you
know to be right in the Lord, do it. Do it. And cling to Christ. Amen.