Back to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. I've never preached what you
would call an Easter sermon before. I have an aversion to it because
everybody else is. But it is a Bible word. You know, in some Bibles, in
some scriptures, it has something to do with the Passover, which
was approximately at this time. It's actually, you know. At any
rate, we do speak of the resurrection
of Christ all the time. Every time we preach the gospel,
we celebrate, speak of His resurrection. Without it, this is all useless. Well, and since everybody's
thinking about it at this time, we're going to deal with it.
All right, 1 Corinthians fifteen, let's read the beginning of verse
twelve. Read down through twenty, verse twenty. Now, if Christ
be preached that he rose from the dead, I'll say some among you that
there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? If Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching banned, your faith is banned. Today we're
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 bed rise not, then
it's not Christ yet. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, for yet in your sin. And they also which
are died in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are all men most miserable. But now, is Christ risen from the
bed and become the first Now our religion is not based on
opinions, it's on facts. People sometimes
say, people use this term, that's your opinion, that's your view,
that's what you think. But whatever we think, really,
it doesn't matter. doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
What I think. What you think. What anybody
thinks doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Everybody's got an
opinion on it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What are the facts? What are
the facts? Science tries to get to the facts. Paul called it science falsely
so-called, didn't he? Jerry, they begin not with facts,
but against. What a hypothesis, isn't it?
Yeah, let's make a big guess, a big
bang. Well, if we want a firm foundation, though, for what
we believe, you've got to have facts. You've got to have facts. Get
down to the matter of facts. Now, the great facts of the gospel
are this. The facts of the gospel. That's
what Paul, in the first several verses, says. I'm declaring unto
you the gospel." Now, this is it. The great facts of the gospel
are this. God Almighty became a man. And he said that over in 2 Timothy
3, he said, 1 Timothy 3, without controversy. Without controversy, God was
manifest in the flesh. Nobody can deny it, refute it.
They try. I had a man over at my house
not long ago, a painter, painting, and he was a Jehovah's Witness,
and I knew it. And I said, I said, you like good
preaching? Oh yeah, I like good preaching.
And he said, well, while you're painting there, I'll get a tape.
I got a tape of a fellow, my pastor, he's been preaching for
forty years, so he ought to know something. And I went looking
for a tape, and you know, lo and behold, what I grabbed out
of that tape, Rick, was just that. It was 1 Timothy 3, 16.
Great is the mystery of God in us. God was manifest in the flesh. And I stuck it in and started
playing it. Mindy was there, and he began, God, a lot of people
don't believe this, but Jesus Christ is God. And he went on
and on and on and on, hammering that, finally we heard the tape
player click off. And I didn't hear him, Mindy
heard him, but he said something like this, we kind of bleed differently. than that. But I thought, differently,
if you believe differently than God was manifest in the flesh,
you're lost. That's the foundation of everything
they do. This man, named Jesus Christ,
is not some pitiful little pinhead Savior, pitiful poor little Jesus
meek and mounted God. And he said it in John 8, verse
24, didn't he, Henry? We love that verse. He said,
if you believe not that I am, that's the same name that Moses
heard on the mountain. Moses said, who shall I say has
sent me? He said, I am. What? I am. That's good enough. I am that I am. Christ said, if you believe not
that I am, you'll die in your sins. And that man, Jehovah Witness,
falsely so-called, will die in his sins. That's the fact of the matter.
God became man. Jesus Christ was His name. Jesus
was His earthly name. And because He had a body and
looked like every other man, people didn't believe Him. More than they see Him as He
is. That's the fact of the matter,
and he lived here a life of righteousness and holiness, and he did it,
according to the Scriptures. He had to, for God's chosen people,
for God's elect. He had to live that perfect life,
because no man can. And he lived it for a specific
chosen people. He did it for them, and he impugned
it to their account, charged it to them, those people, those
only. And then he went to Calvary's
cross to pay for their sins, every one of which must be paid
for with God's holiness and justice, and will not forget one thing. Christ paid for all the sins
of all his people on Calvary's cross. He died. He said before
he died, he said, I'm going to die. Can't kill God. I'll rise the
third day, destroy this temple. Third day I'll raise it again.
Three days later he came walking out of that grave. And myriads
of people saw him. And they tried to hush it up.
Now here we are. Worshipping the facts of the
matter. The facts. Now, very soon, back here, back
in the days of These people, the Corinthian church, very soon
afterward, there were persons who began to dispute the resurrection,
even in the so-called church. And by the stand, that's happening
now. Would you believe that? People who call themselves Christian,
actually, dispute the resurrection, the virgin birth of Christ, the
resurrection of Christ. And all Armenians might as well
anyway, because they don't have a Christ as God anyway, do they
Henry? They might as well. They deny
his sufficient atonement. But they deny this. The resurrection
of the dead has been assailed and is assailed still by those,
even by some who call themselves believers, even by some who call
themselves preachers. And this is what was happening
in the Corinthian church back then. and rose up men professing
to be followers of Christ, and the Apostle Paul was bearing
witness to that. And if you'll notice in his preaching throughout
the book of Acts, this is the one thing he kept sounding forth. Rebekah, nearly
every time he stood, he said, now, this is just Jesus. And that's what Peter said. This
man you think is just Jesus? He's Lord. And he got up out
of the grave one day to prove he is. And he's right now seated
on the throne, and he's coming back. No more the little Jesus that
you thought you had in your hand. No more. But the sovereign Lord. And it all hinds on the fact
that he walked out of that grave. There have been a lot of impostors
down through the years. A lot of so-called messiahs,
haven't there? A lot of Jim Jones, and just you name it. A bunch
of them. claim to be good David what was
his core issue. If he rises from the grave, I
believe. If he walks out of that grave, I'll be a Davidian, a
branch Davidian. But buddy, his bones are in a
grave somewhere. I tell you one man's bones are
not. There's only one. Jesus Christ. This is the foundation
of the truth, and we believe that. We believe this. So many
claim to be celebrating that fact this morning. Well, I told
your brother, Brother Joe said, we have sunrise service every
day. Scripture says, the sun of righteousness
has arisen in our hearts with healing in his wings. I tell
you what I'd like to see a man do is wake up at sunrise on Monday
morning and worship Christ. or goes to work. Tuesday morning.
God's not paying attention to Sunday morning, Easter Sunday.
Sunrise service. Forgive me. I told myself I wasn't
going to do this. Forgive me. Get back to the matter
at hand. We believe Christ arose and we
believe that God's people are going to be part of a resurrection
someday. First Thessalonians says this,
listen, if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with him, with Christ. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the
coming of the Lord, that is those who are still on planet earth
when he comes, shall not prevent them which are asleep, or that
is, go before them. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and these people with him, and with
the voice of an archangel, with the trump of God, and in the
dead in Christ, God's people, all of God's people, all over
the planet, in the oceans, everywhere. This is, Revelation deals with
it. It says, Gather my elect from the four corners of the
earth, dust and ashes they may be, put them together, bones
and sinew of a new body, come out of the grave, And so shall
we meet the Lord in the cloud, in the air, and be ever with
the Lord." Comfort one another with His Word. He's coming. We'll
rise to meet Him. Can you believe that? Fairytale. That's a fairytale.
That's fiction. Science fiction. No, that's evolution. Evolution is science fiction. Got that? Coined a new name for
evolution, science fiction. This is truth. This is fact.
This is the fact. And as I said, they've tried
to disprove it for years. If there be no resurrection.
Now here's the point I want to labor. And this is what Paul
is laboring here. Verse 13. If there be no resurrection
of the dead, Jesus Christ didn't rise from the grave. You will
find some bones over there in Jerusalem somewhere, and they
say, and they have tried to say for years, that they found them.
Did you know that recently, that recently they found over
and around, in and around Jerusalem, the remains of a family, and
one was named Joseph, one was named Mary, and one was named
Jesus? Now, does that shake you? Do you believe that? That that
is the Joseph of Scripture and the Mary of Scripture and the
Jesus Christ of the Lord? Do you believe that? You've got
a mighty weak faith, you do. Mighty weak. Well, then if they do, if they
did, then he didn't rise from the grave, did he? He didn't
rise from the grave. Many say he did. Look at verses
3 through 7. Verses 3 through 7, it said,
I delivered unto you that which I received, now that Christ died
for our sins. Paul said, I heard this story
before. And he was a preacher, and he didn't believe it. Joe,
he was a preacher. He wasn't a Pharisee, a Jew. And they said, this Jesus of
Nazareth rose from the grave. And I'll kill everybody who says
they didn't. Didn't I? Paul said, I saw him. I was persecuted to faith, he
said, over in Galatians 1, but now I'm preaching it. I saw him. Now people, this was how strongly
Paul believed. Let me read on. He was buried
and rose from the grave. He was seen of Cephas, then of
the twelve, verse six. After that he was seen of five
hundred men at one time. There was a gathering of people.
I don't know how many people would Franklin County Stadium
hold. It would hold at least five hundred, wouldn't it? To
fill that stadium up with five hundred people, and Jesus Christ
walked in. Five hundred people saw him.
at one time. Now, you know, the National Enquirer
doesn't ever come up with that number. Do they? You know, two people, three people
saw a UFO, or four people saw this elephant, this man that
looked like a rhinoceros. But five hundred? Five hundred? And he said, so many are still
alive today. Ask them. They saw him. They saw him. And last of all,
he said, he's seen of me. I saw him. He says, I used to
kill people for saying they believed me. Then I saw him one day, and
that killed me. That killed me. And now, I say
he's alive. You can say what you want, but
I say he's alive. And if he didn't rise from the
grave, all the prophets are liars. They said he was. They're liars. Isaiah and the rest of it, Jeremiah,
they're liars. All the apostles are liars. Now
listen. And he said, we're false witnesses,
verse fifteen. We're false witnesses. You know, defense, our judicial system. I could
go Jason. You know they get there. They
get there with. You. You think those are. Witnesses you swear to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I swear to tell
what he paid me to tell you. Yeah. Yeah. And I did this has
been going on people from the beginning. The Jews hired witnesses
to testify against Christ. Huh? False witness. Now listen,
when a man is a false witness, he's usually there's something
behind it. He's got an evil motive behind it. And it's usually,
you know what? Money. Money answers all things. A man
will sell his mother for money. Two boys will kill their parents
for money. Money answers all things. Love of money is the
root of all evil. False witnesses especially. Gotta be an evil
motive behind it for a false witness. Money, fame, notoriety,
people, you know, say all kinds of things against notable people,
get their name in the paper, write a book, right? What did
these fellows have to gain by bearing a false witness? And it's got to be in the motive
behind it that they're bearing false witness. They're telling a lie.
They fabricated the story, and all that's given them to put
this up, and we'll be rid of it. We'll be rid of it. They
were rid of it, but it wasn't the one that was rid of it. As
a matter of fact, they lost their job. Lost their job. There was a bounty
on the earth where we'll live to be real wise. We're all wise. We're all wise. Peter was crucified upside down,
and all those who came after him, the martyrs, the early church,
the martyrs, We won't crucify Him, we won't
hang Him, we won't slay His children in front of Him. It just happens. We won't burn His body alive. We cannot help but, Peter said,
we cannot help but speak the things we've seen and heard.
John said, I've handled him. I saw him pierced. I saw him die hanging. I saw
him put his body in a tomb. And three days later, I touched
him. He's alive, I tell you. Kill me. I'll just go be with
him. And in Him I live and move and
have my being. And I live for me to live is
Christ, to tell others that He's alive. They gained nothing from this.
And they insisted on bearing witness over and over again.
And these were men, like I said, about fishermen. They're men,
though, except when they tell about the fish they caught. There
have usually been men known for their love promises, you know,
a paragon of course, but not his words, you know, a paragon
of what he used to call the faith. They said, well, I'm not going
to say anything about it. And he wasn't. So that's 12 paragons. Well, they told the truth. Peter said, listen, I didn't
believe in you. And I saw him. He spoke to me. And
I prayed him over. I saw him get on a cloud and
go up in the air. And, listen to this, if he did
not rise, Jesus Christ is the biggest liar that ever lived.
I tell you, there's never been an impostor on planet Earth like
Jesus Christ, ever. If he's not who he said he was,
boy, he's fooled millions, ain't he? Countless millions of people. He's a liar. He said he was God. Yeah, he did. He said it was
God. He said it was Lord. He said,
you call me Lord, Master and Lord. You say, well, so I am. He said he came down from above,
didn't he? He said, you're from beneath.
I'm from above. A man now is a man. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. You can't kill me. You can't
kill me. I like that. And they tried several
times. There's scriptures, stories in
the scriptures where the whole angry mob would have grabbed
him and thrown him over a cliff. But Vicki, it says he passed
through. What do you mean passed through? What do you mean? There were a thousand men, a
hundred men. Stay away from them. I'm going
to grab them. One man. I'm going to toss him over. Pass
through them. Pass through them. Pass
through them. That reminds me of that scripture.
It says, By thee I have run through the truth. Right, John? You run through the truth. Leap
over a wall. He said, you can't take my life
from me. He said, I'll lay it down on myself someday, like
a coat. And then, take that body back,
let the man put on a coat, put it on, walk out of that grave. Why is this resurrection important?
Why is it important? Because the truth is here in
this city. Now, if he's God, and he's right now
reigning real, and everything this book says about him is true,
and it is, we'd best be believing it. Huh? If Christ did not rise, verse
fourteen, our preaching is vain. You see that? If Christ be not
risen, our preaching is vain. And most people believe that
my occupation is about the most worthless one on the planet anyway.
preachers are. And I admit, most of them are
the scum of the earth. Money, names of themselves, you
know, big church, counting heads, effeminate little peanuts, and
a kid with a flu. They are. They're the worst.
I hate to be, I hate to be grouped with them. What do you do, preacher?
He used to mean something. Back in old country days, there
were two men that had any respect in town. One was a doctor and
one was a preacher. Now, ain't neither one of them worth a dime.
Ain't neither one of them worth a dime. There's still a few. It's still a few. There's a Maurice
Montgomery out there who's a man's man. And he ain't a little old fella like
me. He's a great big fella. Preaching is vain. And it is. What they're preaching today
is vain. It's useless. God loves you and Christ loves
you. And I want you to please accept it. Jesus loves you so
much. I love that story about that
pitiful little preacher that went to that old farmer's house
and said, Now, Farmer Jones, now, Jesus wants to save you
if you'll let him. And the farmer said, No, I don't
want to. He said, No, please accept Jesus
and he wants to save you if you'll let him. I don't want to. The
farmer said, I don't want to. I don't want you to do that.
And the man said, the little preacher said, well, if you don't
let him save you, then he'll send you to hell. The farmer
said, nope, I don't want to do that either. The young fellow
was shaking his back and said, what do you mean? He said, well,
if he tries to save me, I won't let him. If he tries to send
me to hell, I won't let him do that either. If he's that weak and can't save
me, I'm going to let him. He's going to try to damn me.
I'm going to let him. I'm going to whip this Jesus today. And
I'm a little bellied. Hell yeah. I can whip him. He's
got no hands. There ain't a man on earth with
no hands that I can't whip. He's got no feet. That's what preachers are saying.
That's exactly what preachers say. I can whip anybody in a
wheelchair. I guarantee you. I'm with this
Jesus. I tell you, the Lord of Glory,
the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Bible talks about, says that He's got big hands.
As a matter of fact, this whole planet, this whole shooting match,
this whole universe is in one of them. Amen. Amen. Preaching vain, most of us useless
if Christ didn't rise from the grave. Preaching useful. Useful. Verse fourteen, your
faith is vain. What are you doing here? What are you doing here? Finish
your day off. I mean, you've got, you've got, you have a good
twenty-four hours or so before you go back to the grave. What
are you doing? Why are you sitting there? Let's
do something. Huh? Joe, Henry, it's your day
off, Henry. You spend six days a week at
the station. Twelve, fourteen hours a day. Grubbin, this is your day off,
Henry. Huh? Let's go fishing. Huh? What are you doing here? Worshiping this Jesus Christ
is a belief. He said to do this. Didn't he? He said to do this. That's what
you want to do, isn't it? It's not that you don't do it
because you have to do it. You don't do it because you're
supposed to do it. You do it because you want to do it. You
are doing what you want to do. You are doing what you enjoy
doing. Believe it or not, I couldn't believe it years ago either.
Anybody actually enjoy this? He said, if Christ didn't rise from the grave, you're
facing vain. Henry, go fishing. And that's
what Peter said, didn't he? That's what the boys said, didn't
they? When they thought he was laying in that grave, they said,
let's go fishing. It's over. He's dead. What are
we still around for? Let's eat and drink and be merry. And the rest of the world's living
nothing. Let's go! Slim, let's go! That's Augusto. Grab all you can get. This is
all there is. If this is all there is, let's
get it. Well, he got it with the most towards wins. Well,
he did it. He was crossroads runner. The one who dies in Christ wins
eternal life. Verse seventeen said, If Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain, you'll yet in your sin,
if there's a holy God. If God is holy, like the Scripture
says, if this book is true, And it says, God is a consuming fire,
who will by no means clear the guilty. And the punishment for
sin is death, the wages of sin is death, and the soul that sins
must surely die. If that's so, and it's Jesus
who I claim as my Savior, my Righteousness, my Redeemer, if
He didn't come out of that grave, I'd need another one. You'd better be slaying lambs.
That's what I can't get about the Jewish religion today. I
don't understand it, John, do you? They don't believe Jesus
is the Messiah. Why aren't they slaying lambs?
The blood better be flowing. It better be flowing. Why isn't
that high priest going into the Holy of Holies? It's at the right hand of the
mercy seat. Is that the mercy seat there? The blood's on it? Oh, boy. The blood's on it. The priest is there. The lamb's
been slain. Sins are purged. Why? Jesus Christ rose out of the
grave. And verse nineteen says, if in
this life only, if this is all there is and all we've got is
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Like I said,
why sit here when you could be on a creek bank? Or be down at
the lake, Rebecca, with a scotch and water. Sitting in an old,
uncomfortable pew with one of these on. You don't have yours
on. Maybe you're smarter than I am.
Why do this? Because Jesus Christ rose out
of the grave. That's what I do. Respect for
whose presence I'm in. If Bill Clinton, as little as
respect as I have for that man, he's my president, I would endeavor
to conduct myself accordingly in his presence. Jesus Christ,
I've come before, and I stand at attention. I'm a soldier. You see, when
the commander-in-chief walks by, those soldiers salute, and
the psalm says, Why suffer persecution if it
didn't rise from the grave? Why go through all this? Why
fight any fleshly tendencies if it feels good to do it? Why
fight? Why fight the flesh? I didn't
for years. It didn't bother me a bit either. Oh, big time. That was big time. I did grab
that gusto. You're looking at a young Solomon.
If it felt good, I did it. So I can tell you from experience,
it does not satisfy. Not enough, never enough. I tell
you who does. I'm satisfied right now. I'm
satisfied right now with Jesus Christ. Right here, Sunday morning,
I'm just real satisfied. Except, I'd rather be sitting
out there and have somebody else doing it. But if all we have
in this life is Christ and don't have anything to come, we're
all men most miserable. I'm telling you people, Like
Donnie Bell would say, this may be the most miserable, yet it's
the happiest, happiest person could be. The most, most miserable,
yet the happiest is his word, the most miserableest. I don't
know if that's good English, but you know what I mean, what
he means. The most miserablest, but the
happiest a man can be. Verse twenty, but now, I'm telling
you, but now, he said, is Christ risen from the dead? Seen by
the apostles? Seen by over five hundred at
once? Seen and heard by countless millions over the years? I've
seen him. You say, wait a minute, freak,
you haven't seen him. No, not with these eyes. No,
he's spirit now. He doesn't live on this earth
anymore. He doesn't appear to people anymore. in a body. He will. And as Scripture says,
every eye shall see. These eyes. He will. But I have seen him with one
eye. Christ said this, If thine eye
be single, thy whole body is full of light. I've seen him with the eye of
faith. I tell you that we go through this book we've been
going through the book of Genesis like this morning the line of
it you see this morning John that line you see where she could
have been here. You see maybe I saw him so clearly
you see so clear didn't he stand right in front of us. I've seen
I've heard it. I've heard you heard it. I've
heard I've heard speak to me and it wasn't some voice wouldn't
dream what bad pizza. It's through this book through
a man preaching through the reading of it. I've heard him speak to
me as just the same as he spoke and not something new but just
what he spoke to the work. If anybody says God spoke to
me last night and this is what he said and it's something other
than this, he's a liar. This is how God speaks. But he
speaks to his people, doesn't he? And I've heard him, Rebecca,
I've heard him speak to me just like he did Mary at the tomb.
Mary. Fear not. I've heard that. Have you heard him? Fear not.
Little children. And he's become, now as Christ's
risen, he's become the firstfruits, and I'll wrap it up here, the
firstfruits of them that slept. What does that mean? Firstfruit. And here's five things, real
quickly, for those of you who take notes. Why is it important
that Christ rose? His deity is proven. Romans 1-4
says that he's declared to be the Son of God by the Spirit
of holiness and the resurrection from the dead. Number two his
sovereignty is proven Romans fourteen nine says to this end
Christ both died and rose and revived you might be Lord over
the dead and the living Romans fourteen nine his sovereignty
is proven. Number three our justification depends on it. Romans four twenty five says
we're justified through his resurrection. Romans 4, 25. Number four, our
regeneration depends on it, 1 Peter 1, 3. And lastly, our resurrection
depends upon it, Romans 8, 11. Our resurrection, because it
says when He comes back, we shall rise with Him. But why is this,
He called the firstfruits, and what is this sleep, verse 20?
And I'll just, a few more minutes, OK? Death is called sleep. Here says he's the first fruits
of them that slept. Slept, and he says that a couple
of times. Death is called sleep for the
believer, for the believer. Well, what is sleep? What do
you do when you sleep? Well, you rest. Number one, that's what sleep
is for. Rest. You need it, don't you? Henry, after one of those twelve,
fourteen-hour, sixteen-hour days, Joe, after a long haul in that
truck beating you to death, boy, you need rest, don't you? Well, Christ says, after this
life is over, this long, weary, toilsome, troublesome, pain-filled,
sorrow-filled, travail, tribulation is over. I'm going to give you
sleep. Rest. Rest. Sleep. Rest. Give us his beloved sleep. Sleep. He gives us his beloved
sleep. As I said, I've never seen a
believer die yet who didn't die peacefully. I've seen several
of them. I've been right in front of them.
And many unbelievers die kicking and screaming, but he gives us
his beloved sleep. Sleep. Rest. Rest from sin, rest
from sorrow. When you go to sleep, you rest
from labor. He gives His beloved rest from
labor. No more labor. Eternal rest. Rest in Christ. Number two, sleep
is forgetfulness. I was going to have you turn
to Isaiah 65, but you can just mark it down. Isaiah 65. Sleep
is forgetfulness. When you go to sleep, you forget
about. And the reason sometimes you
can't go to sleep is because you're still thinking about it. Birgie used to have trouble going
to sleep. Our old folks do. I said, Birgie,
get you a bottle of wine or something and just drink it until you fall
asleep. What would the religious world
think about that? My advice? Well, I know another
Paul that said something similar. Timothy had a bad stomach. Probably
said, drink a little wine for your stomach's sake. And an old person who has insomnia,
you need to go to sleep. So do what's necessary. Why not? Sleep. You forget about your
troubles. Forget about no more trouble, no more responsibilities,
no more fear, no more worry, no more anxiety, and only those
in Christ can receive it. Our Lord talked about those in
hell, that being a place where the worm dieth not. What is a worm that dieth not?
What is that? What's he talking about? Remember. Remember that rich man? Abraham
said, Son, remember. The worm, it's a memory. It's
a perfect memory. Perfect memory of all the gospel
rejected. All the gospel messages rejected.
All the worship services rejected. All the opportunities forsaken
for some man. Perfect memory. You ever had anything that you
just can't get out of your memory? It won't die. It won't leave
you. You're plagued by it. It's full of shame and guilt
and you just can't seem to get rid of it. That's what it is. Unveiling memory. Lusts just
beyond the grasp. Well, rests forgetfulness. He said there in Isaiah 65, he
said, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall
not be remembered. Don't come to mind. Sure was
a rough life, wasn't it, Joe? What? I don't remember. Oh, a lot of pain and suffering,
wasn't it, Stan? I can't recall. Too happy now. Oh, the tears
we shed. What's that? All I seem to be able to do is
laugh. That's sleep. He giveth his beloved sleep. Sleep is rejuvenating. You know,
no matter how old you are and how feeble, you need rest and
a little sleep will refresh you. You take an old man like him,
oh boy, he's going down fast. He can't do what he used to do.
And, but, I tell you what, Rick, I tell you what, at 6 a.m., I
bet you we couldn't keep up with him. You think so? I bet not. You know him. You've
seen him. I've seen him run around that station. Sometimes with
his little shorts on, sometimes. I wouldn't be caught dead like
that, though. At any rate, it's 6 a.m., 5 a.m.,
isn't it, Roberta? He's running around. He's got,
he's rejuvenated. Sleep. He's a young man again.
Buddy, when you lay this body down, Scripture says the dew
of youth is going to be on your brow. Brand new. Youth. Strength. Never failing. Never failing. Especially when it comes to this
thing of worship. Y'all can't last ten minutes under my preaching.
Some of you. And I know I'm in there, but
we will then. You'll preach a hundred years
and you'll say, keep going on, go on. We'll sing a thousand verses,
Joe, and so the next verse it seems to hurt. Oh yeah. Rejuvenated. Only those in Christ,
huh? Those who don't like to sing
now, they sure won't like it then. Healing. Sleep is for healing. You know,
if you get sick and fevers, fever usually accompanies sickness.
Somehow, why is it that somehow, if you just get some rest and
a little chicken soup, that's magical too isn't it mama? Chicken
soup. Get a little sleep though. Somehow,
Roberta, the fever breaks, doesn't it? He wakes up in the morning,
he's gone. Healing. Oh my, he arose with healing
in his wings, and I ought to rise healed, perfectly healed. Those people who slept in Christ,
who died with an emaciated body, ninety pounds, your mother, believed Christ. Christ said,
He that believeth in me shall never die. I tell you, if you saw Virgie
right now, you wouldn't know her. You wouldn't know her. You wouldn't know her. They didn't
know Christ. They ate and drank and slept with Him for three
years, side by side, bosom buddies, with Jesus Christ. He arose from
the grave and said, Who are you? They didn't know Him. We wouldn't
know Virgie. We'd say, Who are you, young lady? You're beautiful. You're gorgeous. And so quiet. Forgive me. He's going to be
like the rest of us, though. Injured. He didn't have much
to say except praise Him. Well, we wouldn't know her. We've
known her. for years. So, you've known her
for years, but you wouldn't know her. She's new, she's brand new. He makes all things new. That's the way. Oh, boy. Christ is the first fruits of
being a slave. That's what I say. He rose from
the grave in this brand new body, and they didn't recognize him.
He was the first to rise from the grave. You say, what about
Enoch? What about Elijah? They didn't
die. They were translated. Number
one. What about the young man that Elijah restored? What about
Tabitha? What about Lazarus? They didn't
rise from the grave. They were raised from the grave. And another thing, they died
again. They died. They suffered corruption. Christ was the first to come
out of that grave with his brand new body. A glorified body. First to rise, first fruits,
that's the fruit of this death. You sow a grain of corn, a little
corn, it doesn't hardly bear any resemblance, a little bit
resemblance to what it's going to be. One little grain of corn,
you throw it in the ground, and Henry, after a little while,
if you dug it back up, oh, it'd just be swollen and the husk
coming off of it, and you'd say, nothing to do that. If you dig
up these old bones after they've been dead a while, and all, you
know my hair's going to grow then, Stan. It does. It happens. The hair, that's
about all that's left. Hair grows out of the fingernail,
but this body just shrivels away to nothing. There's a skull with
a little hair on it. If you dig me up in a few years,
that's what I'll look like. It's right. It's right. God's going to bring it all back
together again, but brand new. Brand new. Brand new. He's the first to be to rise
with that glorified body. He's the first to rise up and
be accepted by God Almighty to walk into heaven. The first man
to walk into heaven in the flesh, John. The first man. That's what
Psalm 24 says. Who is this coming in? Open the
gates. It's a man coming in. Who is
it? It's King of glory. Who's that
behind? Bringing in the sheaves. First
fruit. This is all a picture of the
feast of the harvest. How that when they were making
the harvest and gathering up the wheat and the shocks and
the stalks and all, they got the first bundle. First crop. And they'd bring it all together
and they'd take it and raise it before the Lord and said,
this is thanks be unto thee and this is a promise of things to
come. And they'd wave it before the Lord. Thank you, Lord. The
promise of things to come, and that's Christ walked into heaven,
a glorified man. The promise of things to come. Look behind him. Who are these
arrayed in white robes? That's the fruits of the first
bread. It's a latter harvest, he said.
And there are two resurrections. The resurrection of the believer,
John 5, our Lord said that When he comes, let me read it to you
quickly. It says that the time shall come
when the day that are in the grave shall hear his voice and
shall come forth. The day that have done good under
the resurrection of life, the day that have done evil under
the resurrection of damnation. Scripture talks about two resurrections. To the believer, Christ says, I am the resurrection. I am. We stand in Him, Joe, and we're
going to receive the things done by Him. Good things accepted
in Him. We're complete in Him. See? The
reason there's no judgment for believers, they're not going
to stand... Believers aren't going to stand before God judged
for their works. That's the denial of the gospel.
We're going to stand before God, judge for his work. And we're
going to be found not perfect, holy. But there's a
judgment for believers, or unbelievers, I mean. It's called the second
death. We will stand before Christ, before Christ who is the judge,
to be judged for things that don't. Things that don't. I don't want
to be found in Him having my own righteousness, do you? Not at all. But I do want to
be found in Him in that great day, covered in His blood. All right. He lives. He lives. And He ever lives to make intercession
for us who come unto God by Him. By Him. All right. Was it number
sixty-two? Number sixty-two, and this is a good hymn to sing.
Crown him with many crowns, and verse three says, Crown him the
Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave, who rose victorious
to the strife for those he came to save. His glory is now we
sing, who died and rose on high. who died eternal life to bring
and live, that death may die. All right, let's be sure and
sing that. Well, you may press the lamp
upon his throne, Mark out the heavenly anthem, tremble, music for his soul.
Awake, my soul, and sing for him who died for thee. Then hail Him as the man to speak
through all eternity. Crown Him Lord of life, who triumphed
o'er the grave. Who was victorious to the strike,
for those He came to save. His glory now we sing, who died
and rose on high. Who died, eternal life, to bring
them His hand that they might. Thank you and your discipline. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.