John chapter 6. As we go through this book of
John, John 6 especially, we're going to see different
things the Lord has laid out for us, given to us to preach the
whole counsel of God. And you ain't going to do that
in a message. I looked at that last time. The
Lord said, All that the Father giveth me,
all that cometh to me, I will, and know wise, cast out." Boy,
that's easy, isn't it? That's easy. What about man's
responsibility? We'll get that later. We're looking at God's
grace right now. That's what we're going to look at. Tonight,
I want to look at the Lord's going to raise His people. You're
going to leave this world. I'm going to leave this world.
Sometime in the next 60 years, I'll tell you all about it in
about 60 years. Either my Lord's coming here
or I'm going to Him. That's going to happen. That
may be this evening. It may be a long time from now.
We don't know for each one of us. But there's a point in time,
isn't there? The Lord gives us a word on that,
and I want us to hopefully look at it. And this will be good
for you. If the Lord will be with us,
if His Spirit will come to us and speak to us, it will be good.
Kimberly bought some bouillon. You know bouillon cubes? Well,
somebody was making them, and I guess they forgot to boil it
all the way down where it's dry and hard. And they call it better
than bouillon. And it's just taste. And I told
her, I saw her mixing it the other day, and I said, you know
what? That really is better than bouillon. Why? They told me. My pastor started a whole lot
of messages saying this will be good for you if you listen.
I think this will be good for us. I think it will. Here in
John 6, we begin in verse 38, our Lord speaking, He says, For
I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up
at the last day." The Jews murmured to him, because he said, I am
the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is this
not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus
therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up. at the last day. What's it going
to be like when we're raised up at that last day? What's it
going to be like whenever we See our bodies of our loved ones
raised up. Those throughout time, those
saints throughout time, that physical body is going to be
there. What's that going to be like? Our Lord gave us a glimpse
of that. Turn over just a few pages here
in Luke 24. Luke 24. Christ gave His disciples
a glimpse of what that glorified, resurrected body of His was. He shows them. Look here in Luke
24 verse 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus
Himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace
be unto you. Peace be unto you. Verse 37,
For they were terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen
a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why
do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself." Is this really Him? Are we seeing a spirit?
And the Lord spoke to His disciples and said, look at my hands, look
at my feet. Why didn't He show them His head?
Why didn't He say, look in these eyes? You've looked in these
eyes a bunch. Look at my mouth. Some people
can't hear good. I've got to watch your mouth
while you're talking so I can hear you. He said, look at my
hands and look at my feet. They saw him on that cross that
night. They knew what he had done. Behold, my hands and my
feet, it is I myself. It's Him. He says, handle me. Come here. That's what he told
Thomas. Thomas, put your hand here to my side. Come here, feel
my arms, Thomas. Handle me and see. For a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. He said, I'm the
God man. He's a man standing right in
front of them. And when He had thus spoken,
He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet
believed not for joy, they were so happy they couldn't believe
it. This is Him. He rose like He's... Now it's
making sense. He said He'd go on the ground three days. He's
here. He's with us. It's Him. And they wondered. And He said unto them, Have ye
here any meat? And they gave him a piece of
broiled fish and of a honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before
them. Why did he eat? This whole time throughout his
public ministry, all of his disciples said, Lord, you need to eat.
Do you want us to go buy some meat in town? Do you want us
to go buy bread? You need to eat something. You need to sleep.
You need to rest. What's his words? They said, if I was hungry,
I wouldn't ask you. Why is he asking them? That way they knew
he was a man. You know what he was dealing
with? He was dealing with Gnostics here is what he is. It was as if he
was a man. Does that solve it? He said,
we'll go beyond theological seminaries. Give me some honeycomb and give
me a piece of fish. I'm a man. I got flesh and bones.
I ate it. That's who it was. He's got a
body. He's got a body. He never saw corruption though.
He went to that grave. He was abandoned. God turned
His back on God. He suffered all the shame, all
the guilt, everything for us that we were. He was made His
people. A feminine noun. Sin. That's
me. I'm the bride of sin. And I was
made Him. Made His righteousness. And that
whole time, explain that. I can't. His Holy One did not
see corruption. That body did not decompose because
He was perfect. He was holy. He was without sin.
You and I, we're going to see corruption. What if they just
soak us in alcohol and all these poor things? We're going to rot
from the inside out. This body is going to go away.
But His body came forth from the grave. It was raised. How
do we know it was raised? Because God raised Him from the
dead, the Scriptures say. He was raised from the grave.
And there was no doubt about it for these fellas. They saw
him in that tomb. They saw Nicodemus and Joseph
going up there with all that aloe and that myrrh. They saw
them wrap him up. They saw the stone rolled over
there. And he was raised. He was standing right in front
of them. He said, I myself. And he ate with them. Sat right
there with them and ate. On this earth, the apostles,
they preached two doctrines, and the cause, the result of
those two doctrines being proclaimed publicly was that they were stoned,
they were hated, they were persecuted, and all but John was killed. He died on the Isle of Patmos,
wouldn't he? They hated him for it. What was
the first one? What was the first thing they
came preaching? They preached Christ and Him crucified, didn't
they? But they preach salvations by the sovereign grace of God.
How is man going to be saved? It's going to be by grace. It's
not going to be by works. It's not going to be by doing.
It's not going to be by your learningness, how smart you got
and what knowledge you've come to. It's not going to be by your
natural birth, who your mommy and daddy was. It doesn't matter.
Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, it doesn't make
a difference. It's by God's grace. It's by grace and that is through
the blood and the righteousness and the obedience of one. And
that ain't you, it's God's Son who He sent to this world to
be the propitiation, that mercy seat, that bloody sacrifice,
that accepted sacrifice. He's the Lamb He provided. That's
what they preached. All this is through faith that
God gives. It ain't your faith. You ain't
got no faith. If you've got faith that's of
you, it ain't worth nothing. It's the faith of Christ given
to you. It's God's gift. It's His. It originated with
Him and He gives it to His people. It's through faith that He gives. Does that make you mad or happy?
We love that, don't we? That makes me happy. That's good
news. Kevin Bailey Thacker ain't got
nothing to do with it. Salvation is by God's grace and He did
it on purpose. It wasn't an accident. It's sovereign
grace. Natural man doesn't like that. Our old man doesn't like
that. Saying it's by grace alone. You
ain't got a pinky finger in it. Not a hair of your head is going
to be involved in this. God did it. He purposed it. The Father
purposed to have a people to make them just like His Son before
time was. We read this in Ephesians 1, don't we? The Son came and
He purchased those people. They deserve nothing but condemnation. They're separated from the Holy
God. They offended. Something's got to take place. There must
be blood or there'll be no remission of sins. And He came and shed
His own blood. He willingly laid down His life for His people.
And the Holy Ghost comes. We don't figure this out. What
did them people do when King Josiah was raining. All them
religious folks. They found some old book underneath
the desk somewhere. Blow the dust off. What's this?
I think it's the Holy Scriptures. Give it to the king. See if he
wants it. They didn't figure it out, did they? How are we
going to learn about these things? The Holy Ghost comes to people
and reveals this. Proclaims it in their heart.
Shows us what we are. Shows us who Christ is. What
he accomplished. And it's done. Man, it got nothing to do with
that, does it? Our hand ain't involved. It's all the Lord.
Salvation is by grace. It's all of God's grace. If God
owes a man or woman anything, it's debt, it's not grace. If
we deserve kindness, if we deserve favor in any way, it's not mercy,
it's a wage. You're just giving what's right,
what you earn. It is all of God's grace that
anyone is saved. And it's all of God's grace that
every one of His people are saved. He does it. All this grace is
given because of the living and dying of His Son and Him alone. He said, I walked the winepress
alone. So by Himself, He purged our
sins. He did it. He accomplished the
work. He fulfilled a perfect holiness for His people. Every
jot and till of that law was complete, completely done. By
grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, that's
a gift of God. He gave that. Free gift, free
mercy, free grace is what He gives His people in Christ alone.
And this covenant of grace before time that He reveals in the heart
of His child. He comes to you and says, here
it is. And you say, that new man says, amen. Thank you. Boy,
when we see that, when we see that grace, Christ is our life. Ain't something we do Wednesdays
and Sundays. Well, this is convenient. Well, if I happen to be in town,
He's my life. What else is He? If I have any
wisdom at all, any understanding of these scriptures, any understanding
of what I am, He's my wisdom. He's my sanctification. He's
my righteousness. He's my redemption. He's all.
That's the grace of God to give that to His people. We're saved
by His grace and we're kept by the power of God. He keeps us. Turn over to 1 Peter. It makes
sense to us. 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3. It says,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Two, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth
not away reserved in heaven for you. Who are kept. Who's that? Who's the you that's
reserved for? Who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. He keeps his people. That's what
the most apostles preached. It's sovereign grace. If everybody's
going to be saved, God's going to do it. and you'll be thankful.
You won't have it any other way. You know what else they preached?
It goes hand-in-hand with that. Who Christ is, that's God Almighty. The Godhead in a body. What He
did, He's going to calibrate. He's going to lay down His life
for His people. The work's done. If you do something, there's
a result, ain't there? What was done? What's going to
be done? We ain't seen it. You and I,
we can read about all this. What's coming, God's purpose
that ain't come to pass you, the resurrection of the dead.
That's what the apostles preached. Resurrection of the dead. There's
redemption and there's restoration. Those two have to go together.
The Lord didn't just save some people and then that's it. We're just going to tell you
about this. Do you like that? Yep. And then erase them. No, there's
going to be restoration. There's going to be a resurrection
of His people. He hasn't given them life and
he's going to end it and turn it off. No, no, no, no. This
is the beginning. We think we're living now and
we've finally grown up and we're getting mature. This ain't nothing.
We're fetuses on this earth. We don't know what we are. He
ain't going to leave us like that. He redeems us soul and
body. Now back in our text there, who's
going to be raised? When He raises His people, who's going to be
raised? Me? You? Verse 39 says, And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
Who's going to be raised up at that last day? The ones that
God gave Christ. The ones He purposed to have
life. We remember that in Romans, don't we? For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son. And He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. Whom He called,
He justified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified." Who's going to be the ones the Father's purposed?
Those that He's put in Christ? Verse 40 says, And this is the
will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son
and believeth on Him, cast all their care on Him, completely
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
at the last day." You've got to see Him by faith. You ain't
going to see Him no other way. The Lord has to give that faith
to see His Son, and you're going to see Him in the Word? You're
going to see Him on the cross? You're going to see Him in the
Gospel, and you're going to see Him fulfilling all of your righteousness. What's left for man to do? Nothing. Nothing. You're going to see
Him. You're going to see the Son.
And He's going to raise you up at the last day. Verse 44, John
6, verse 44 says, No man can come to Me except the Father
which has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last
day. The Lord's got to draw us. Have you been drawn by faith
to Christ? Have you been given a new heart
to receive Him and believe on Him? To love this Gospel? Salvation is by free and sovereign
grace. It's not by law, not by doing,
it's by God. And the result of that, the result
of His saving grace, His mercies towards His covenant people, is the restoration and resurrection
of His people. He's going to raise us up when
we're done. Everyone that was given to Christ, that's what
we just read here in these verses, everyone that was given to Christ,
in the eternal, sovereign, free grace of God, He's going to raise
them up to the last day. Everyone that's washed in the
blood, redeemed by the Lamb, He said, I'm going to raise them
up to the last day. You look to Me and Me alone, I'll raise
you up. And He says, everyone that hears this gospel and is
drawn by the Father, it's His workmanship, they're given eyes
to see, ears to hear, and He's going, I'm going to raise them
too. Do you see that order? Those given to Christ, those
that Christ bought by His blood, and the ones that are drawn to
Him. His people be raised at the last
day. That's all His work, isn't it?
This isn't a new event to look forward to. This isn't something
new that just, well, 2,000 years ago this came on the scene. Oh,
this has been around for a long time. Our brethren in the Old
Testament, they looked for this. They looked for this. I'll read
these to you. If you want them, they'll be in the notes later. But Abraham
is speaking of that. Sacrificing Isaac, to take his
only son, the seed that the Lord was supposed to come through.
Take him up the mountain. And he said, he accounting that God
was able to raise him up. Believe in God. He's able to
raise him up even from the dead. He believed God. That's the first
thing that happened. He accounted to God. He believed God. And
he believed he would raise him from the dead. Job said, and
though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. I'm going to see Him. Whom I
shall see for myself with mine eyes shall behold Him. And not
another. Nobody's going to see for me.
And I ain't going to see nobody but Him. These eyes are going
to look at Him. Imagine that. Put your name in
there. You're going to look at Him.
Can you imagine that? Your eyes are going to see Him. Oh, that's
His work, isn't it? He's got to do that. Isaiah said,
Thy dead men shall live. that are doing, who's dead? We're
all dead in trespasses and sins, ain't we? But thy dead men, those
are yours. Thy dead men shall live. Together
with my dead body shall they arise. My dead body is going
to rise and yours is too. Daniel told us, he said, and
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall wake,
some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting
content. We have an end. That's what Solomon
told us. It's wise being a house of mourning.
We see our end. That may be today, may be a long
time from now. Well, what's going to raise us to everlasting life
or what's going to raise us to shame and content? He is. He
is. It must be by grace alone. Hosea
said after two days, he will revive us and the third day he
will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. Lord told
him here in John six, I'll raise him up. I'll raise them. Has anything changed? Nothing's
changed. It's the same, isn't it? The
New Testament apostles, they gave the same message. They preached
Christ and Him crucified and what He's done and what's going
to happen. The work's finished and how's that going to translate
for me and you? We're going to be raised from the dead. There's going
to be the resurrection of the body. In Acts, they chose an
apostle to replace Judas. One of the conditions says it
must be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.
Must be. Peter's message at Pentecost,
that's pretty much the whole message if you really looked
at it. But he says in Acts 2, "...he and being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain." But God didn't leave
his son there, did he? Whom God hath raised up. He didn't
leave him in the ground. God raised him. Peter and John,
they were arrested in Acts 4 for what? Those Sadducees, they grieved. It says, being grieved, they
taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection
from the dead. They told these people that.
Those Sadducees got so mad. They didn't believe in that.
Why are you out telling people that Christ finished the work
and here's what's going to happen? You're going to be with Him in
glory, be made like Him. Why are you saying that? Paul's on Mars Hill
and preached the resurrection of the dead. And they said when
they heard this, they heard the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. They
made fun of him. And others said, we will hear
it again of this matter. We'll talk about this later.
We don't want to hear about this. I got some living left to do. Acts 23, Paul called into question
for preaching the resurrection of the dead. There's some problems
if there is no resurrection. Paul told us that plainly. Turn
over to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Paul tells us of the problems.
If this does not occur, if there was nothing to come, as a friend
of mine used to say, we're just worm food. That's it. Lots go
out. There's nothing else for eternity. We're in some serious trouble.
We're in some serious trouble on this earth. Look here in 1
Corinthians 15 verse 13. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ be not risen,
then our preaching vain. And your faith is also vain.
What I'm doing right now ain't worth a nickel. It's all vanity.
You believing in Christ is all vanity if He's not risen and
there's no resurrection. Yay! And we are found false witnesses
of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ.
whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not raised,
your faith in vain, and ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished." All those loved ones you had,
all those brethren that believed the same Christ you did, that
had the same hope of glory that you did, that's all vanity too.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, if the only hope
we have in our Lord is while we're on this earth and that's
it, we are of all men most miserable. Boy, it's a sad shape to be in.
But here's the summary. Here's the summary of it. Leave
a marker here in 1 Corinthians 15 and look over in Philippians
3. Just a few pages over, Philippians 3. Philippians 3.20, Paul's writing
to the church at Philippi and he says, for our conversation,
Philippians 3.20, for our conversation, that word citizenship, for 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." There's going
to be a change coming. According to the working whereby
He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. There's
going to be a change happening. This body is going to be changed.
We're going to be conformed to Him. Conformed to the image of the
Son. He's able to subdue all things to Himself. Who's going
to do the work? He is. How? He's going to do
it. People are going to ask, how are the dead raised? How? How? How is that going to happen?
What kind of body are we going to have? We just have to know
these things. Instead of bowing to the Lord,
what's it going to be like? How is this going to come to pass?
We don't want anything to do with the dead body. We want to
know what's next, don't we? What's a dead body do? It rots,
it smells, it decays, and it goes back to the dust. When people
handle a dead body, they've got bags and gloves and masks, and
they don't want nothing to do with them, do they? Can we just
skip that part? Listen to me. It is a necessity
for this old body to be corrupted if there's going to be a resurrection.
This old body's got to be done away with. And it's a necessity. And not to look at it too, Kimberly
brought this up. She said, I shouldn't look at
me having to wash dishes. I get to wash dishes. A believer,
for the heathen, I have no comfort for, those that deny God, but
for the believer, it's not that we necessarily have to die, we
get to. What a precious thing that is
that the Lord does this. We get to do something that is
necessary. His body has to go on the ground.
We ought not to be objecting to it, we ought to be rather
looking forward to it. Not to do anything to expedite
the process, but look forward to it. This isn't something that's
bad. The family will be sad. Enoch
was not found. What's that mean? They looked
for him. Where'd he go? He wasn't found. There's going
to be some sadness, but not for every believer. Well, that's something we ought
to look forward to. The Lord told us plainly. He said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. Can I skip this part? What happened
to Elijah? First thing that came up in my mind. I don't know.
I'll tell you in 60 years. Those that were translated. What
happened that last day? I don't know. Our bodies are
going to be dealt with. This body is going to die. That's
what's going to happen. It abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. The death of that seed is a necessity.
Now whenever our Lord was speaking this, it pictures His death,
doesn't it? He's going to have to go on the ground to bring
forth us. Bring forth much fruit in us. But that's also true for
the believer. That's also true for His people.
Look back there in 1 Corinthians 15. I didn't leave a marker. I hope
you did. 1 Corinthians 15. It ain't far. Verse 35. 1 Corinthians
15, 35. But some man will say, how are
the dead raised up and with what body do they come? What's this
going to be like? Paul writes to them in 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, what's going to be You know, that ain't what's going
in the ground. We're not going to be the same. We're going to
be different. If you plant corn, do you take the whole stalk and
all the ears and say, we're going to have corn next year, and you
dig a six foot long trench and put that? No, you just take a
kernel, right? It's both corn, but it's different. You don't
put the whole stalk. What we will be now, we're that
kernel now. Now which thou sowest, thou sowest
not in the body that shall be, but bare grain." We're just bare
grain right now. There may be a chance of wheat
or some other grain. He's giving an illustration here. He said,
you ain't a whole big old mature corn plant. That ain't what you
are. We're just a grain on this earth. Well, we don't think so,
do we? I don't think I'm just one little piece of wheat. I
think I'm a whole wheat field, don't I? That's not the truth. We're just a little grain right
now. What will we be? Something different. Something
different, won't we? How do we see the resurrection
every day and we take it for granted? Do we do that? Do we
have pictures? Lord, leave us things on this
earth to show us what the resurrection is going to be and we just take
it for granted. You take a kernel of corn and you put it in the
ground and it dies and it rots for days, doesn't it? It stays
down there. It gets wet and cold and the earth works on it. And
then soon a little green shoot emerges. It pops up. And then
it becomes a stalk of corn. And then it gets knee-high by
the 4th of July. Maybe not out here, but that's
the same. Your corn's doing good if it's knee-high by the 4th
of July. And then ears start coming on it. They start budding.
And then that silk starts growing. And then that silk turns and
it's ready. Isn't it? Is that the same corn that you
planted? Well, of course it is. You put
it in there. You didn't put a radish seed
and then a big ol' stalk of corn come out. Well, Kevin, you're
foolish. Oh, it just ain't such a thing. Of course not. It was
a corn that went in the ground, wasn't it? Do we understand that? Out
of the life that was inside of that kernel. It was a husk, that's
all it was. Just a dried up, shriveled prune
of a seed, but there's life inside of there. That went in the ground
and died and that life come up. Inside of the believer, we're
in this husk of a shale, dried up, hard. There's life in you. The Lord put a new creation in
you. And when this old shale goes in the ground, now it'll
start living. Now it'll start living. Do we
look at that stalk of corn when it grows up, and we say, how
could this be? No, you get here and eat it,
don't you? It's corn. You take a piece of
corn, put it in the ground, it comes up. We get that. We understand that.
Do we look at it and say, what kind of seed did this corn come
from? Did it come from a walnut? Of course not. It came from a
corn seed, didn't it? Paul says, oh, you fool. So it is with the
new creation and the believer. That life that you have right
now, it's going to be the same life. Now it's going to be in
a different form. It's going to be in a different form. But
that life that's in you, that new creation, that new birth
that's in you, it's going to be the same life. It's going
to be the same. One day the Lord will return
and we'll be given a new body. And what will that look like?
What's that new body going to look like? Look in verse 38. 1 Corinthians 15, 38. But God giveth it a body as it
hath pleased Him, and to every seed His own body. You're going
to have a body. I'm going to have a body. Our
brethren are always going to have a body, but it's going to
be made as it pleases the Lord. Someday I'll shrivel up and die
by putting it in the ground, and there's no sense in leaving me
in this seat alone. Don't put me in a shrine. Put
me in the ground. Put me in the ground. That's
where our Lord was put whenever He died. Put me in the same way.
Put me in the ground. But my spirit will be with the
Lord right then. Right then my spirit will be. We know that.
Paul wrote to us that we are confident and willing, rather,
to be absent from the body. and be present with the Lord.
Be absent from His bodies, be with Him if you're His. And when
Christ returns, He's going to give us a glorious body. Well,
I look like me. I'll tell you what this body
is going to look like. It's going to be made by Him and He'll be
worthy to be in the presence of the One that made it. Do you
think I'll be disappointed? What if I look just like me but
without wrinkles and scars and corruption? What if I'm just
as tall as I am and just as ugly? I won't think so, will I? He
made me. Look here. I got chicken legs. I don't like them. Never have.
I said, look at these wonderful legs. God made these. They'll
be perfect, won't they? They'll be made by Him and worthy
to be in His presence. When the Lord made Adam and Eve, He said,
that's good. Did He? When He makes my new
body and your new body, He's going to look on and say, right,
that's good. That's good. He made it. John told us, said,
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Right now we're His.
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see
Him as He is. We'll be able to look Him in
the eye, talk to Him, hear Him laugh. He's going to preach to
us. We'll eat with Him. Big tables laid out. We will be like our Lord. What
will our Lord be like? What's that going to look like?
But as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him. This new body is going to be
very different than now, but it's going to be the same body
the Lord planted, just like corn. Look down at verse 42. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 42. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. What's that mean? That life He's
given, it's sown right now in this corrupted body. This body
is going to go and incorruption is going to come out. His incorruptible
seed. It's sown in dishonor. And it's
raised in glory. Am I going to go over to the
ground and just... People are going to talk about me for a
long time. What did King David say? Though my house be not so
with the Lord, He's made with me an everlasting covenant. His
promises are sure in it. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. It's sown a natural body. It's raised a spiritual body.
This new body will be raised with and in corruption. It ain't
going to wear out. Just like those shoes and the
clothes of the children of Israel for 40 years in the desert. It
ain't going to wear out. It won't be possible for there to be pain.
It will be absolutely impossible for there to be sickness. Sin
won't be there. Why do we get sick? Ever. Sin. Why is my tooth bad? Why do you have to get your teeth
worked on? Sin. Well, you ate sugar. You ever
hit sin. That's what boils down to. This thing ain't going to
get sick. There won't be no dentist. We'll never have to worry about
it. It's impossible for it to suffer physically or emotionally. That body pain sounds good to
some to get rid of. Well, emotionally. Everybody's
affected by that. You'd be the healthiest person
ever to walk the face of this earth. There won't be no heartache. The heart
ain't gonna hurt. He said, I'll wipe away your
tears. Ain't gonna be none. No possibility of death. No possibility
of violence. And we'll never get tired. for the child of God that will
be made that way. Why is that such good news? Why
is that such good news of what will be made? I'm going to give
you two reasons. First off, I can see my Savior face to face. I'll
be made holy, unreprovable, before Him in love. I'll be able to
look at Him, see Him, talk to Him, hear of Him, sing His praises.
We'll be in the presence of a holy Lord. No possibility of being removed
ever for eternity. Ain't going to happen. Secondly,
while we're in His presence, there'll be absolutely, this
will be sweet to me, absolutely no hindrance in the worship of
the One that saved us. How many times has my back hurt?
A sciatic pain or something. God, what did He say? I can't,
where are we turning? I'm hurting. That ain't never going to happen
again. There will be no physical or mental distractions to forget
our Lord, to not pay attention to Him. All of our thoughts,
our desires, every physical movement that we make, every word that
we speak, every word that we sing to Him, it will honor Him.
I'm interested in that. People say, Kevin, you're a fool. I'm His fool. I'm a dog. I'm His dog. I want to be with
Him. I want to worship Him as He deserves
to be worshipped. I have that desire. A friend
texted me this morning, 2 Peter 3. We'll close with this. A friend texted me. He just sent
me this verse. And I said, how did you know
what I was preaching on tonight? He said, really? I said, no, but we'll end there.
2 Peter 3, verse 10. But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to
be in all holy conversation and godliness? looking for and hasting
unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being
on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat? Nevertheless, for I don't haste
the day like I ought to do it." Do I look for His coming like
I ought? I don't. Nevertheless, verse 13, according
to His promise, what have I promised? My promises don't matter. According
to His promise, Look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness." Is that going to be a crime-free zone?
There's where Christ dwells. Christ our righteousness. I look
for Him. His coming, His kingdom, His
presence. That's what I look forward to. To do that, I've
got to die. I've got to go in the ground.
They come up with something new found. Now it's by water. Well,
it's a base that they soak in and flush down the drain or whatever.
I don't know what that is. Does it matter? It don't matter. I
don't care. I've got to be with Him. What I thought that would
be. But for us to do that, we've got to die. This body's got to
be put in the ground. There's a 90-year-old woman. She lived
in the same house her whole life. She was born there and she was
90. And that house was breaking down. Cold came in in the winter. In
the summer it was hot. It's an old house. Roofs leaking.
Foundations cracked. It's falling apart. Insulation
is coming out of the walls. And she cries out at night so
often. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who's going to deliver
me from this house of death? Who's going to deliver me out
of this body of death? And her landlord comes by. And he says,
from now on, you live with me. And while you're living with
me, I'm going to tear this house down. And I'm going to build you a
new house. I'm going to put in new foundations. Put in new walls
and new roofs. You're not going to remember
this old house anymore. You're going to have a brand new one.
And you come live in my house while I build you a new one.
That old one's got to be destroyed first. That's what our Lord does
to His people. He'll take us home in spirit
and give us a new dwelling to be within. Amen.