Good morning. It's so good to
be here. Oh my. Probably 35, 37 years
ago. I'm too old to remember. But it's been five years or more
since I've seen most of you. Most of you are probably thinking
what some of you have actually said, which is what happened
to you. And I understand. I understand. We change, don't
we? We change. Both of us. The songwriter, the reason that
we change, the songwriter said was change and decay in all around
I see. And that's true even when we
look in the mirror, isn't it? Change and decay. It's just what's
happening to us. And it's true with regard to
everything natural in this world, but especially to these bodies.
But despite the changes, we remain so fond of these bodies, don't
we? The truth is we love our bodies.
And don't misunderstand me. It's not to say that we are always
pleased with our appearance to others or when we look in the
mirror. And it's not to say that we think our body's perfect,
although we rarely see the flaws in others, I mean in ourselves
that we see in others. We look at the other person and
think, And yet, we don't look in the mirror much and do that.
We see the change, but we still love who and what we are. It's
our nature. But despite our imperfections,
by nature, you know what we don't do? We don't look in that mirror
and think, I hate you. I hate that body. We really don't
do that by nature. And that's scriptural. And I'll
quote it to you now, and remember this because we're going to come
back to it, but in Ephesians 5 it says, For no man, the scripture
says this, no man yet hated his own flesh, but rather he nourisheth
and cherisheth it. We value, that means we value
our body, our flesh. We like it. We adore this body
we have, this flesh. And the world says, even the
religious world says, what's wrong with that? What's wrong
with that? You ever see one of these religious programs where
they say, just turn around and hug that person next to you,
or give yourself a big hug? They don't see the problem with
this. And there's nothing wrong with taking care of the body
God gives us. We ought to nourish it. We ought
to eat right. We ought to give our body what
it needs to be healthy. We ought to nourish our bodies.
No man yet hateth his own flesh, his own body, but yet he nourisheth
it, and we should. And then it says, and we cherish
it. We should cherish the body God's
given us. We ought to take care of it.
We ought not abuse it with anything. And that's all good and wise
counsel. But let me tell you what the height of foolishness
is. And that is not to believe what
God says about these bodies. You know what Paul wrote to the
Philippians? He wrote, our vile body, our
humiliating, abased, and abused bodies. In God's sight, what
we look in the mirror and see, to God is vile. I know we don't,
by nature, want to hear about that, do we? But it's what the
word says. Our bodies are vile. Now, Adam
and Eve, they were created perfect. Their bodies, oh, their bodies,
they were gorgeous. Buddy, Adam was fit. Eve was gorgeous. I'm telling
you, their complexions were like peaches and cream. Their skin was spotless. Their
hair was like silk. Adam and Eve were made perfect.
There was no vileness in them. They were beautiful. But then
they disobeyed God and everything changed. The reason we change
now is because of what they did in the garden. When they disobeyed
God, they changed. You say, what happened? They
became vile. They became abased and disgusting
and humiliating. They became low. And they may
have looked okay for a while, but with the passage of time,
the effects of sin began to tell, as it still does now. When they
ate that fruit, they died spiritually right then. They were dead in
trespasses and sin. The spiritual life, it was gone. And they didn't know what death
was. Nothing had ever died on this earth. But they began to
die. They began to change. And over
time, you know, we don't need, we don't need the world to, the
scriptures teach us this principle and we just don't believe it
by nature. We're all dying. It took Adam and Eve hundreds
of years to die. Why? Because they were perfect
and they began to die. Sin began to change them. And
over time, they eventually changed enough to where they died. Now
it doesn't take so long. We don't need to look at the
news to know we're getting worse and worse and worse. We die faster
now because we sin all the more. We just excuse it. But they began
to die physically. Their bodies began to finally
go where they would all go, and that's they would die. And recall
what Lazarus, if we want to know what God thinks about this change
in us, this vileness, recall what Lazarus' sister said to
our Lord when Lazarus died, and he was in that tomb, and the
Lord came and said, roll away the stone. And his sister went,
oh, oh, oh, he stinketh. He's been dead four days. Don't
move that stone. She knew his body was already
vile. And there's a reason we bury
and rid ourselves of dead bodies, and we do it pretty quickly,
don't we? Let me give you this illustration. It's been over
45 years ago. that I worked at the State Dock
at Lake Cumberland, Kentucky, and it's a very deep lake. And
in the winter, these guys would come down there and fish, because
you could catch really big bass back then. But it was so cold,
they'd put on these bear suits, these big heavy suits and masks
and everything, and they'd go fishing. And we got a call from
somebody saying there's an empty boat out there with a dog in
it. And we went out there, and there's nobody around. We towed
it back. Finally found the guy's license from his boat and called
his wife, said, well, he went fishing down there. Well, he
fell in the lake and drowned and died. And this was in the
winter. Well, they couldn't, the lake
was so deep nobody could find him. But next summer, about July,
some people came in in a boat and said, boy, there's something
around here in a cove. It's bad. And for some reason
I knew what it was. And I went around there with
a boat and another fellow, and we got near, and sure enough,
his body's floating there. I said, well, we better tie it
off for fear it'll sink again. And it was 310 feet deep where
this was. He'd been down there for seven
months, I think. I said, you motor up there, and
I'll tie it off. And we got up there near him. I'm telling you,
I've never been so sick in my life. from this smell. It was like
nothing I'd ever known in my entire life. And I thought, I
never want to smell that again. But you know, about six years
later, we went to visit Walter Gruver in Mexico. And of course,
we went out and had services each night, and then we took
a day off to go visit the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. And you've
seen pictures of those big pyramids they build and on top there's
a stone little building with a chimney and an altar inside.
And what they used to do is they used to offer human sacrifice
in there and then burn up the body. Well, we all walked up
there and what a view, that jungle for miles and the big place where
they played that ball and the loser got his head cut off and
the winner got the princess or something. I don't know. We walked
up there and could see all that and people were walking into
that little room and I walked in that little room and was in
there about five seconds and ran out of there. You know what
I smelled? Death. The same smell I smelled
of that dead body that had been there for months. You say, well,
nobody had been sacrificed in that place for over a thousand
years. The stench and vileness of death never goes away. It's why God's made a place where
he sends it all. Out of his sight, out of his
nostrils, he won't have it. Folks, if somehow we got rid
of all the soap, deodorant, cologne, perfume, toothpaste, and mouthwash
in the world, if it was all taken away, we might begin to get an
inkling of what death smells like. We smell like that because
we're dying. We're vile. It'll be bad, but by nature the
sad thing is we love it. We love the death we live in
by nature. We don't see it as vile. But
now turn over to Hebrews 10 and let me give you some good news.
All right? Let me give you some good news. Let me tell you about another
man's body in Hebrews 10. God, the true and living God,
did something very wonderful. You know what the scripture says
he did? It says God prepared himself a body. God made another
perfect body. Look here in Hebrews 10 verse
1 it says, for the law having a shadow of good things to come
and not the very image of things can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers there
unto perfect. You all have read the Old Testament
where you know that what the Old Testament priest did is they
were in the temple and people would come to the temple and
they would bring an animal with them. They bring them a bull
or a goat or a lamb or a turtle dove. And the priest would sacrifice
it on the altar. And what it says right here is
that it never, even though it happened over and over and over,
millions of sacrifices, it never would make the comers there unto
perfect. It wouldn't put away their sin.
And the reason is because this is a picture of what God would
do. Look down at verse four. It says,
for it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. You know why that is? Goats don't
sin. Cows don't sin. Lambs don't sin. Man sins. To put away the sin
of a man, a man would have to be sacrificed. And all of these
sacrifices were a picture of the man who would be sacrificed,
of the body of a man that would come. And folks, you know what
that man's name is? Jesus Christ. God, the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, made themselves a body, a perfect
body. And they named it Jesus. His
name is Emmanuel. Why? He's God with us. He would take away the sin of
His people. He would be the one sacrifice that God prepared for
Himself. You see verse 5 of Hebrews 10
says, wherefore when he cometh in the world, when this body
God made comes, when Jesus Christ comes into the world, he saith
sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. God won't have this animal
sacrifice, but a body has thou prepared me. You see, look down at verse 10
with me. By the witch will, we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Sanctified means set apart. God made a body and set it apart
to send to earth to live 33 years perfectly. And sanctified means
made perfect. He did this so that our vile
bodies could be made perfect. We'd have a perfect body before
God. Verse 11 says, And every priest
standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices of animals, which can never take away sins. But
this man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Folks, do we see what was happening? Our bodies couldn't, we can't
make them perfect. We can lift weights and we can
dye our hair and we can do all these things and it doesn't change
the vileness. God had to make himself another
body. So turn over to 1 Peter 2 with
me. And what was happening at Calvary
when the man Christ Jesus, when his body was killed, he was taking
care of all the sin that his people ever committed with their
body. You know, we sin with our hands,
we know that. But we sin with our mind and
heart. It's the things that, aren't
we glad we can't read each other's minds and can't see what's in
the heart. Boy, then we'd see more, understand
more of our violence. But all of that sin, Christ took
on himself at Calvary. You see 1 Peter 2. Look at verse
24. Who his own self, this is the
God-man Jesus Christ, who his own self bear our sins in his
own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live
unto righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed. For you were as
sheep gone astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and
bishop of our souls. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
shepherd of our bodies and souls. of His people. And He came to
put away our sin so that it's not, listen to me, sanctification
is not just as if I, and justification is not just as if I never sin.
No, when Christ is done, we didn't sin. We didn't do it. He did it. That's what the perfect
sacrifice and substitute is all about. Turn back a little bit
to Philippians 3. And that's what the religious
world does not understand, is that it's, I mean, we can't do
enough good deeds to compensate for the bad ones, what we've
done with our hands. The other problem is, what about
what we've done in our mind and in our heart? It's gotta be a
total substitution, a total sacrifice. That's why Christ, his whole
body was ruined at Calvary. as what we had coming. Now, what
was Jesus Christ doing at Calvary? He was changing his people, listen
to me, from vile into glorious. Look here at what it says in
Philippians 3, verse 20. For our conversation 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 even to subdue all things unto himself." Do we see what
that says? We were talking, some of us old
geezers out here on the steps about that, and the time's coming,
and it'll be all right. The time's coming, we'll be done
with this world, and that's all right. But the good news is,
this vile body doesn't go with me. It's put in the ground. And we're going to get a glorious
body, like the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, boy, when on that
cross, His body didn't look like that much. What they did to Him,
well, I'll tell you what, we'll see the glory in it one day.
And we'd be glad to have that body because it's perfect. It's
glorious in God's sight. All right, now turn back or over
just a page to Colossians chapter 1. What happened at Calvary? Vile
sinners were being made qualified to inherit the kingdom of God.
You say, is that possible? Well, it's what God's Word says.
In Colossians 1, verse 12, it says, giving thanks unto the
Father, which has made us meet, and that word meet means qualified,
if you look it up. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which has made us qualified to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. You know what the inheritance
of the saints is? Whatever Christ has, it's ours. Really? Yeah, what he has is
ours. You know what he has? He has
a perfect body. He has a righteousness. He's
absolutely glorious. And we get to leave all our vileness,
all our foolishness, all our sin and death behind. You know
where it went? On him at Calvary. He took it and he sent it to
that place where God puts vileness. Lord, do we understand the Lord
Jesus Christ actually went to hell for us? What do you think
he was doing for those three days between when they buried
him and he arose again? He, because he's God, he could
take care of the how many millions of years of punishment do we
deserve for what we've done? All that violence, he put it
away. And when he came out of the grave, he didn't have it
anymore. And when you and I go into the grave, and we come out
to be with him, we get his inheritance, not what we have coming. We get
what he has coming. It's the Son of God. How glorious
is that? And you see verse 21? Well, read
verse 20 again. For our conversation 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 even to subdue all things unto himself. You know, the most
amazing thing is he was able to subdue me. You ever think about that? I
can't subdue me. How hard do we try not to sin?
Not to be vile. Do you ever get up in the morning
and go out? Today, I'm not going to say one rude thing to anybody.
And about eight seconds later, Rebecca says to me, I go, what?
What's wrong with you? I can't stop it. What's wrong
with me? I'm still vile. I'm waiting for
the change. I'm waiting for my inheritance.
But the hope is it's coming. We believe what his word teaches. He's put it away already. We're
just waiting for the change. In the blink of an eye, we'll
go, oh, one minute, the next, we'll go, I get that? I get Him? I get Him? I'm like Christ? No, no, you
are Christ. God views us as Christ. That's how real this is. It's
not theory. It's not doctrine. It's not stuff. It's real. The Word of God is
a living word. And one day, by His grace, we'll
see that. But it says, you know, in Colossians
3, turn over there real quick, Colossians 3, a couple of pages
over, you see what it says in verse 15? Knowing this now, let
the peace of God rule in your heart. Let's quit fretting if
we can. Let's quit, you know, I know
our sin is bad. I know I have some glimpse of
what we are by nature, but it's just let the peace of God rule
in your heart to the which also you're called in one body and
be you thankful. Do we realize, you say, well
how can one body, the Lord Jesus Christ, be enough for us? I mean,
you said he switched bodies? He took ours and he gave us his?
How can that be? Well, he's the head and we're
the body. Do we see that? And it says here,
let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you're
called in one body and be you thankful. How are we thankful?
What's the evidence? that we believe what this word
says. The evidence is this, we worship
him, we thank, that's how we give thanks, we worship, we come
here and we worship him. We come here and we praise him
in song. We come here and we thank him in prayer. We come
here and we thank him by obeying his command to be baptized. And
then, occasionally, we come here and remember Him as He's commanded
us in taking of the bread and wine. That's how we give thanks. Plus, the older we get, we never
get very far away from something happening and going, thank you,
Lord. Thank you. Thank you for saving my soul.
Thank you for having mercy on me. Thank you for your goodness.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Because there's nothing we've
ever done that deserves any mercy from Him, but Christ has already
done it all, and it's finished. One more scripture, turn over
to Ephesians 5. And here's a very familiar text
of scripture, often quoted on how husbands and wives ought
to treat each other. And within this, I hope will
drive home what I'm trying to say here. You see in Ephesians
5 verse 22, you know the scripture, wives submit yourself unto your
own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he's
the savior of the body. He's the head, we're the body.
Therefore, and the whole institution of marriage is created, it's
good for us, but it's pictured here that Christ is the head,
we're the body, he's the husband, we're the wife. Verse 24, therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in everything. Husband loves your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. How
much does he love it? He died for us. He went to hell for us.
He lived for us. For 33 years he did the right
thing. And he gave that to us. That's how much he loves us.
Verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it. That he might
change us from vile to glorious. That he might cleanse us, put
away our sin and make us righteous. That he might sanctify and cleanse
us, with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself." Now look at this verse. I quoted
it earlier. For no man yet hated his own
flesh, but nourish and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church. Now, stay with me just about
two more minutes. What this is saying, in worldly
sense, is true. No man, is there any man here,
says no man hates his own flesh. Are we honest enough to admit
that all of this, all of this, is we don't hate
our own bodies. Everybody understand that and
agree with it? We don't hate our own bodies, but we nourish
them, we eat. Does anybody have to drag you
to the table? We all nourish our bodies and we cherish our
bodies. We put the lotion on and we do
that, we cherish. That's true in a natural sense,
isn't it? But I never saw before the spiritual
application here, the real application. No man ever hated his own body,
not even the God-man. Do we understand the Lord Jesus
Christ took on a man's body and came to this earth and then he
died for the body of his church. You know why? He doesn't hate
him. Now if there's ever a bunch that
deserve to be hated, it's me. God says, I hate the workers
of iniquity. I hate sin. I'm full of it. But thank God, the God-man doesn't
hate his body. But you know what he does? He
nourishes it. How does he do that? Well, first
of all, he preserved this word as our food, as our nourishment.
and he raises up a man who gives his whole life to nourish God's
body, God's people. He nourishes them. Why? He loves
us. That's the love of God, not this
foolishness on television. It's not some icky thing. This is real, folks. No man yet hated his own body,
but he nourishes it. And what else? He cherishes it.
He loves his body. That's not like us. We love our
bodies and do everything we can for them. Jesus Christ loved
our body. He loved his body, which is us. And how much did he love us?
He died for us. He became the vile things we
are so that we might become the glorious thing He is. And we
don't know. John went to heaven. He said,
I can't describe it, what it's like there. And he talked about
the street of gold and all the other things. I tell you what,
he couldn't tell. He could not tell us about. And
you won't find it in here. You know what that is? I saw
bodies there. They were glorious. Everybody
I met up there and I saw, they looked just like Christ. Can
you imagine? Looking in the mirror and seeing
Him. Now that's loving your body. That's what Christ did. And,
oh my, I, what will happen to these bodies? They'll be changed. The rest of our lives here, they're
going to change. And you remember the songwriter wrote, swift to
its close, ebbs out life's little day. Seems like a little day
now, doesn't it, Rupe? Boat, doesn't it seem like a
little day? It's like yesterday, you were born today. Sally, you,
you know. We, and us gray hairs, we all
know what's coming. Swift to its close, ebbs out
life's little day. Earth joys grow dim, and its
glories pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see, that's where we started. Oh thou who changes not, abide
with me. The Lord Jesus Christ hasn't
changed one bit, ever. And because we're in him, God
doesn't see us as what we are. He's going to change us one day
to be just like Christ. And I know there'd be physical
changes in all of you, but I also know that there can be no spiritual
decay or change in all who abide in Christ. Thank God we're safe
and secure in him. That will never change. Malachi
3 says, for I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Who's a son of Jacob? I'm the
supplanter, I'm the cheat, I'm the thief, I'm the sinner. But
thank God that's who he has mercy on. That's who he came to save. Age and disease may change and
consume our bodies, but it will never consume or change our relationship
with God in Christ. He changes not. So it's okay
if we've changed, isn't it? Yeah, I know I'm a fat old man. And that's all right. I won't
always be in this body Right soon now, we'll have a new body,
we'll be in Christ. Well, I hope the Lord will bless
you this morning.