We're here to celebrate a life
of a very good friend. It was February of 1987 that
I first met Duane and Joe. And it was at a place similar
to this. It was at a funeral in Beaverton, Oregon. And I brought the message, and
afterwards, Brother Duane came up to me. I'd never met him in
my life. Came up to me and said, would you ever consider going
up to the Dalles and speaking for a church there? Well, I didn't
know how to answer him. And finally, I said, well, if
you ask me, I'll come up and share what I can. Dwayne and
Joe, from the very beginning, were great friends. And that
message that I brought there, only Dwayne has heard it. And
he said I could do it again, 37 years later. And it is from a passage of scripture
that is of great comfort to me, found in the book of Revelation,
chapter 20. Revelation in chapter 20, The
scriptures share this, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall
reign with him a thousand years. I brought this message many years
ago. I don't know where my notes were. I don't even know what
I said. But going over it again, I have to be reinvigorated by
those words that come out of the Holy Writ. Blessed and holy
is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such The second death hath
no power. Now that word blessed is used
many times in scripture, but one of the places that I've drawn
to was when the Lord shared the Beatitudes in his great high
priestly message, the Sermon on the Mount. And he uses that
same word, blessed, are they that are poor blessed? Well,
most people think that that's literal things, that's spiritual
things that he's talking about. And the word blessed means to
have really great blessings. It is something that is beyond
our ability to bless somebody with. This is a blessing that
only God can give us. The Sermon on the Mount was a
blessing, this is a blessing, and we find out blessed and holy. Now, I like that word when it
can apply to me. Now, I'm not holy by nature,
by any means, but the Bible tells me that there is someone that
can make me holy. And it tells us in the book of
Ephesians, chapter 1, there in verse 4, the scriptures read
this, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. That's what God's business is
doing with His people, is to make them holy. And we're going
to find out they're without spot or blemish. There is no blemish
in them, nothing that would prevent them from approaching the throne
of grace. My dear sister Jo depended upon
that grace. She was depending upon that grace.
And Lord gave her a blessing of being promoted to see that
in reality. at the throne of grace. Also
in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 we are given these words, chapter
5 and verse 27, and it says here, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church. Now blessed and holy is he, they,
them that have part in something. Now that blessing is something
that we cannot attain ourselves, and that holiness is something
we certainly cannot attain ourselves, but it is a gift of God that
He may 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. That's the work of God. He can
take people and cause them to be that way. He can take people,
they can be holy and without blame. We also find over there,
blessed are they that have part in the first resurrection. Now,
this is not talking about eschatology. This is talking about something
far greater and more serious than that. It is talking about
the absolute necessity of the new birth. Jesus told Nicodemus,
you must be born again. And he uses the terms about that,
that is almost what we find here with regard to this, having part
in the first resurrection. No, God has intended to raise
His people from sin and degradation to His very presence, and He
does it like He does a resurrection. Now, I've never witnessed a resurrection,
have you? No. Now I read about it, and
I have faith that the Lord is able to do that, because it's
written in the Word. But it takes almighty power to do a resurrection. It takes almighty power to bring
a cat back to life. I haven't had that power. I've
never run into anybody yet. And when it comes to a human
being, what power it takes to raise that person to spiritual
life, absolutely dead in trespasses and sin and raised to newness
of life in Christ Jesus, blessed and holy is he that have part
in the first resurrection. This is so important. And he
goes on to tell us there over in the book of of Revelation
chapter. Revelation, chapter 20 and verse
six, he shares this. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection on such The second death hath
no power it is withheld. Now, sometimes
I like to look at things found in Scripture from a metaphorical
standpoint and say, let's just consider the second death as
it's described in the Scriptures. That's the end for those without
Christ. Let's describe that as a person. And here we have someone who
can take control of that person absolutely and say, no, you will
have no power over this one. I have taken all power away from
you. Why? Because I've given them
eternal life. They don't have this second death
hanging over their heads. They are in Christ Jesus. The second death hath no power.
There's no absolute, it's an absolute negative. It's a power,
no power to do whatsoever it was pleased. The second death
were a person, God has said, I have stripped you of that power. And I'm thankful that God does
that for His people. I strip the power of the second
death. How? By His resurrection. He does that. How can this be? In the book
of Hebrews, Hebrews 9, verse 26, the Scriptures share this. If he'd been a normal priest,
an Old Testament priest, then he'd had to suffer many things.
He'd had to suffer from the foundation from the world. For then must
he have often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, because he's God, once in the end of the world, hath
he appeared to put away sin. And the church says, hallelujah,
there's only one that can put away sin, put away my sin, put
away your sin. And that is by the blood of Christ
alone without any help from us. I've asked many people, how much
did you have to do with your first birth? And you know, no
one has ever said, well, I was involved quite a bit. No. we are the product of some outside
forces, and so it is with grace. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such a second death hath no
power, and we shall be priests. You know, the Lord shares with
us in the book of Revelation chapter 1, He says, I will make
them kings and priests of the Most High God. And then there's
that word that so often is stumbled over, and that's, they shall
reign with him a thousand years. Let me just share this with you.
Then you can take it. The same word is used in 2 Peter
3 and verse 8. A thousand years. A day with the Lord is a thousand
years, and a thousand years is a day. Now, is that a definite
number? Absolutely not. And so it is
here. The Lord has always reigned.
He is reigning and he for sure forever shall reign. So we have
blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection
on such the second death hath no power. They shall be priests
of the most high God and rule with him or reign with him with
no time limit forever. without stoppage. This word is
blessed, used in another place, which I'm going to close by reading
one passage in the book of Matthew. The book of Matthew, chapter
25, verse 31. This same verse, or this same
word is used, this blessed. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all his holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon his throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered
all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, with the goats on
the left hand. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father, Inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." This was Joe's hope. This is Dwayne's hope. I trust
and pray that it might be your hope.