Death Changes Nothing

Q: What does the Bible say about righteousness?

Righteousness in the Bible refers to being in a right standing with God, imparted through faith in Christ. Righteousness is a key theological concept in Scripture, fundamentally linked to one's standing before God. In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul speaks of a 'crown of righteousness' that the Lord will award to those who love His appearing. This righteousness is not based on human merit but is a divine gift granted through faith in Jesus Christ, as highlighted in 1 Peter 3:18, where Christ, the just, suffers for the unjust. Therefore, righteousness signifies a transformed state, where believers, through Christ’s redemptive work, possess a right relationship with God, characterized by holiness and obedience.

Q: Why is holiness important for Christians?

Holiness is essential for Christians as it reflects their separation from sin and alignment with God's nature. Holiness is not merely a personal virtue but a reflection of God's own nature. In Revelation 22:11, it states, 'He that is holy, let him be holy still,' emphasizing that holiness is a vital aspect of a Christian's identity. It indicates being set apart, in agreement with God’s character and purposes. As believers, sanctification through the Holy Spirit aligns us with God’s holiness, which should be evident in our lives. This personal holiness affects our relationships with others and is crucial for witnessing to the transformative power of the gospel, as seen in 1 Peter 1:16, where we are called to be holy because God is holy.

Q: How do we know that death changes nothing spiritually?

The Bible asserts that one's spiritual condition at death determines their eternal state, meaning death changes nothing. In Revelation 22:11, the scripture reveals a profound truth: 'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.' This illustrates the doctrine that one's state at the moment of death is permanent and unchangeable for eternity. Many theological perspectives suggest a chance for change after death, such as purgatory, but this is absent in Scripture. The warning encapsulated in this passage reinforces that the spiritual condition one possesses in life will carry on unchanged after death. Hence, the urgency of responding to the gospel in this lifetime cannot be overstated, as there is no second chance once one has crossed the threshold of death.

Q: What does it mean to be unjust according to the Bible?

To be unjust means to live in transgression against God, characterized by a lack of grace and righteousness. Biblically, being unjust signifies living in a state of wrongness or sin in relation to God's standards. In 1 Corinthians 6:8, the term unjust is equated with wrongdoing, indicating a person's failure to adhere to God's commandments and moral laws. This state of injustice is rooted in our natural inclination towards sin due to our fallen nature. Without the intervening grace of God, individuals remain unjust throughout their earthly lives and continue in that state into eternity, as expressed in Revelation 22:11. This underscores the necessity of divine grace, which alone can redeem and transform unjust individuals into those who are righteous before God.

Q: Why is the doctrine of eternal security significant?

Eternal security assures believers that once saved, they are always saved, based on God's promise and power. The doctrine of eternal security, or perseverance of the saints, is crucial because it reflects God's unchanging character and faithfulness. Those who are truly righteous, as indicated in Revelation 22:11, will remain righteous for eternity, assuring believers that their salvation is secure in Christ. Romans 8:30 encapsulates the chain of salvation: those whom God predestined, He also called, justified, and glorified. This doctrine is rooted in the belief that salvation is the work of God from start to finish, and while believers may struggle with sin, their relationship with God remains intact through Christ’s righteousness. Thus, eternal security empowers Christians to live boldly in their faith, knowing their eternal destiny is secure.

Would you join me tonight in
the last book and the last chapter of the last book of the Bible?
The book of Revelation chapter 22, and we'd like to spend a
little time on that verse 11 tonight. It's really the last
warning of the entire Bible. There are warnings from beginning
to end. But by and large, this book, and particularly this chapter,
the last couple of chapters, have really been a blessing to
the church, as we've got to see the church as God sees it, His
defense about it, His walls about it, His praise, His glory about
it. It's just a beautiful sight in
anticipation. And it's not just for the future.
It is ours to enjoy now. We get to enjoy spiritual things
now. They're not just waiting for
the future. We get to enjoy the spiritual
blessings of Christ. We get to enjoy his work and
ministry on our behalf right presently. Not like we'll enjoy
it then because we carry around the flesh. But it's not just
all in the future. We have been given the grace
of God and the rich blessings of Christ Now, in this verse
of scripture, I'd like to read verses 10 and 11, but in verse
11, we have a warning, we have a blessing, and we'd like to
look at that passage of scripture tonight. But verse 10, it says,
he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book, for the time is at hand. Over in the book of Daniel, Daniel
was told to seal up the book. And there was a long period of
time from a human standpoint between Daniel's writing, it
happens to be 490 years, that's what Daniel was told to write,
490 years from the time to go and start rebuilding the walls
to Christ and his ministry on the cross. And at some time after
that, we have this book. But there's been quite a period
of time. During that period of time, it was shut up. There was
no possibility of Christ coming back the second time since he
hadn't been here the first time. But now that he's been here,
all this time has been called the last days. John spoke of
the last days. All of the church fathers from
that point here have spoken of the last days. And we're in the
last days, even at the best. or at the worst one. We're in
the last days. I have, you know, 20, 25 years,
maybe. I'm in my last days and I'm going
to meet my Savior. All right, let's read this. Verse
11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. Now this verse of scripture is
a statement made at the close of this book, a statement of
warning. Whatever your condition when you die, that will be your
condition through eternity. That's it. Whatever your condition
when you die. If you're, as the scriptures
tell us, if you're unjust, you will be unjust still. If you're
filthy, and we're going to talk about these words, if you're
filthy, you'll be filthy still. But, if, as it tells us there,
if you're righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that
is holy, let him be holy still. Death changes nothing. There have been several proposals
made by religious groups over the years to try to help people
when they get to the end and they're not quite right. One
of them is purgatory. One of them is limbo. And I'm
sure there are many others that people have created, but they're
not found in scripture. And the Bible tells us, and it
tells us so succinctly in this verse, If you're unrighteous,
you'll be unrighteous still. Death changes nothing. There
will be no changes in eternity. Whatever your spiritual condition
is at the moment of death, that will be your spiritual condition
throughout eternity. Now, God's people are going to
see a whole lot more than we see right now. But lost people
are going to see a whole lot more than they see right now
too. The judgment bar of God is not to be a trial to determine
guilt or innocence. When we read about the great
white throne judgment, when we read about any judgment of God,
it is not to determine whether someone is guilty or innocent.
That's here. All that will do is that judgment
day will determine nothing but will show the guilt or innocence
of all who stand before him. It's just going to be a determination. It's not going to be a judgment.
Those who are innocent will go out of this world innocent. Those
who are guilty will stand before him guilty, and there will not
be any judgment there. Well, you live down, all that stuff
people make up. He that is guilty will go out
of this world guilty. He that's innocent will go out
of this world innocent. He that goes out of this world
as a sheep will stay a sheep. He that goes out of this world
a goat will stay a goat. That's what it is. He that goes
out friendly with God will continue to be friends with God. And he
that goes out with his fist held high to God will still have his
fist held high to God in judgment, and God will have his work and
way in the matter. The judgment bar of God is not
a trial. It's a statement. Now, we've
got trials going on all the time, trying to discover whether someone
is guilty or innocent. That's not this judgment. He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still. That's what it tells us.
He that is unjust, without grace, He that's without grace will
continue to be without grace. He that has worked here is going
to have to work there. He that has been at rest here
will be at rest there. It's just there's not going to
be changes made. We'll have more light. We'll
have more understanding. But I'll tell you those on the
left hand side will have a greater understanding about their place
than they do now too. Would you turn with me to the
book of Ecclesiastes? Ecclesiastes. I'd like to read
one verse of scripture over in the 11th chapter of the book
of Ecclesiastes. And that's just right after Psalms
and Proverbs. The book of Ecclesiastes chapter
11. The Holy Spirit used Solomon
as the secretary here and Solomon was wise and God gave him wisdom
and he was able to write wise things because God gave it to
him. Nobody wrote alone when it came to the Word of God. They
wrote as secretaries. God gave them the message. He
allowed personality to enter in in some miraculous way. But
the words were God's. Now read this with me. Ecclesiastes
chapter 11 and verse three. If the clouds be full of rain,
they empty themselves upon the earth. Now this next part is
a logging statement. And if the tree fall towards
the south or towards the north, as long as the tree stands, we
don't know which way it's going to fall. Depends on what way
the wind's blowing when it finally breaks off at the ground. A logger
knows where he's going to put that log, but does just have
a tree standing out in the woods. And after a long period of time,
it's rotting and rotting and rotting. Nobody knows exactly
which way it's going to fall. But God, and he sends the wind
one day, and this is what it says, Ecclesiastes chapter 11
and verse 3, if the tree fall towards the south or toward the
north in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be. It's not going to move itself.
It's down. It's stuck. That's where it is.
And that verse of scripture explains a lot about that passage of scripture
over in the book of Revelation chapter 22 and verse 11. He that is in just will be stuck. The tree has fallen. No changes
will happen now. All right, let's look at some
of the ways this word is used, the word unjust. Would you turn
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6 shares with
us this word as it's used. The translators chose some other
words than we found over there unjust, but it gives us some
insight as to what this word means. 1 Corinthians 6. I like what Brother Marvin said
when he was here. I don't know the meanings of
many of these words, so I have to look it up. I'm just going
to go to a couple other places where this word is used and that
helps me as we find out what this word, he that is unjust,
let him be unjust still. First Corinthians chapter six,
verse eight, nay, ye do wrong and defraud that your brother.
Now in this passage of scriptures, taking a brother to court, And
he says, you do wrong. That's the same word as unjust. You do wrong. Now, by nature,
that's the way we are. We do wrong towards God. We're unjust in that way. We
do wrong towards God. The highest, greatest, most magnificent
love that we could ever even think about is God Almighty and
we are unjust or we do wrong towards Him because we're enmity
against Him. We're enmity. It is just so profound
how far natural man has fallen. But natural man is enmity. Not
at enmity, but enmity. Angry, bitter, harsh, hard. With God, and He is the greatest
demonstration of love and mercy we will ever see. Now someone
may be merciful and gracious to us, but nothing compared to
what God is. And here we have it. You've done
wrong. We, by nature, do wrong towards God. And he that does
wrong through this life without an intervening power of the Holy
Spirit and Almighty God will go out of this world doing wrong,
still hating God, still loving sin, and for eternity will never
be able to do anything else but hate God Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 7. This word here again is used that we found over there,
which is translated unjust. It means to do wrong. It means
to be in the wrong place. It means to be a child of Adam,
what it really means. And if we don't have God intervening
in our life somewhere, When we leave this life, there's not
going to be any change. There's no second chance. That's
what most theology does is give people a second chance. But the
Bible never has ever touched there. It's now or never. It's Christ now or never. He that is unjust will be and
continue to be unjust throughout eternity. All right, 2 Corinthians,
I think, 2 Corinthians chapter seven, 2 Corinthians chapter seven, verse
two. The Apostle Paul in writing to
the saints at Corinth, now I'm just diving into a passage. I'm
looking for this word. So you forgive me. I want this
word. Chapter seven, verse two, Paul
says, receive us. We have wronged no man. Now, when the Apostle Paul came
to Corinth, he wronged nobody. He brought the gospel. He didn't
depend on them for anything. He depended upon God for his
livelihood. But he wronged no man. Now, he
could have wronged them by not preaching the gospel. He could
have wronged them by not telling them about the sovereignty of
God. He could have wronged them by not talking to them and sharing
with them God's elective grace. He could have talked to them
about everything else and wronged them if he did not talk about
the grace of God that is necessary for the salvation of people.
But when it came to his life and came to his teaching, he
wronged no one. These people that we read about
in Revelation chapter 22, they've wronged. people and they've wronged
God. Lied about God, lied about his
gospel, lied about salvation, lied about everything and have
put their trust in themselves when God has said it isn't enough. wronged God. Paul said, I wronged
none of you. If you read his writings, the
Holy Spirit had him deliver the simplicity of the gospel, and
that is, salvation is only of God, and all our works are accounted
as nothing. Now, that's not wronging anybody.
People may get upset about it, but it's better to be that and
not wrong people than to lie about God and wrong their soul. Paul says, I wronged nobody.
Well, this word is used by about people that are on the left hand
side and says, not only did you wrong your neighbor and your
family, just like Adam did. What did he do? He wronged his
family. He wronged his wife. He wronged
his children. He wronged himself and he wronged
God. And that's just carried on through
the natural process and people will go out of this life. What's
that? That word is unjust but wronging
God and wronging themselves and wronging their fellow men and
wronging their family because they will not come to God. All right, and then Colossians. Would you look at Colossians
with me for a moment, please? He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be
filthy still. It's not going to change. Death
will not change that. We'll just have that same characteristic,
same attitude, and nobody is going to find out where they
stand when they stand before God. That's not the place. It's only going to be, depart
from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. That's
the word. trial is not going to be had
there. All right. Book of Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. I want to go out of this life
saying I wronged no man. The opportunities are ours every
time the doors are open to wrong no man. Declare the gospel, declare
the mercy and grace of God, and declare that natural man left
to himself is going to wrong himself and wrong God. And thank
God he intervenes in us and gives us a new heart so we'll not wrong
God. We'll speak highly of him. We'll
praise him. We'll thank him. We'll be on
good terms with him. We'll come boldly to him. That's
a heart that's changed and no interest in wronging God. We're
going to agree with God on his word. We're going to agree with
God on sin. We're going to agree with God
on heaven. I don't know all I know about
it, but I'm going to agree with him on it. Going to agree with
God on hell. There is one. It was created
for the devil and his angels and all those without Christ
will meet that place because he is unjust, will be unjust
still. All right, Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter
three and verse 25. We read these words. Colossians
chapter three, verse 25. But he that doeth wrong shall
receive for wrong which he hath done. And there is no respect
of persons. Oh, you're related too. That's
not gonna carry any weight with God. You are your grandfather,
your dad. No, sorry. I used to enjoy going into the
stores over there in Lakeview because I could walk in and I
had credit. My dad's credit was good to me. As long as I bought
it with his name, I could just buy anything I wanted. I never
charged it for personal gain. It was always for stuff for him,
but that was good. That was good. Who I knew. Now there's only one thing that
we, one person we need to know. That's Christ. Nobody else will
be of any benefit. Christ alone. That's the only
benefit we'll have. I am the way, he said, I am the
truth, he said, and I am the life, he said. And that's the
only way we'll ever be on good terms with God. We just sang
a song, I never paid any attention to one of those verses, that
through the eyes of God, we see the Godhead. I just, whoa, every
once in a while, the lights come on. Through the eyes of Christ,
we see the Godhead. All right? There it says there
in verse 25, he that doeth wrong shall receive for wrong which
he hath done. That same word, both times, wrong. He that is unjust, he that is
unjust, let him be unjust still. He will still be wrong. Without
God, without peace, without Christ, still be wrong. And the Apostle Paul was quick
to say, I wrong no man. Every person I came to, every
message I preached, every declaration was a declaration we find in
Romans chapter 1. I declare unto you the gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he never put the gospel, never put Christ out here on a block
and said, well, take him or leave him. He declared him. Now, Paul
trusted God. He declared him. Now he trusted
God. Didn't need anything else, just
trusted God with that. Now, this is wrong. This part
is wrong. Now, just a little bit further,
there's a tiny little book called Philemon. Philemon is an interesting
book. It's only 25 verses long, but
oh, the gospel message. I've thought several times, if
I only had one book and I couldn't have Romans or Ephesians, give
me Philemon. It has a wonderful account in
here about how God does his business. There's a slave runs off from
his master. and he gets to town. If he could just get to town,
he could get lost and nobody could find him. Well, God had
his purpose and that slave got to town and crossed paths with
that one who will not wrong people. that Saul of Tarsus, that Paul,
the apostle, their paths crossed. And he preached the gospel to
him. Now, it wasn't just a weak gospel. It was the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the gospel of how that
Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. Now, little
saviors are for little sinners. But the Savior is for great sinners. This gospel will save the chiefest
of sinners. And this slave met Saul of Tarsus. Paul, the apostle, heard him
preach, and God saved him by his grace. Now, Paul is going
to write a letter. You need to go home. Take this
letter with you. You need to go back to your master. Take this letter. Philemon, verse
18, in this letter he said, if he wronged thee. Now that's that
same word, if he's unjust, if he wronged thee. Now in the past,
there's no question, he wronged his master. He wronged his position
in life. He wronged his God. He didn't
even know God, but he wronged him. Everything was wrong. But now, after the Lord saved
him, he said, If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put
that on my account. If he took money from you, put
that on my account. If he stole from you, put that
on my account. Because he's a different man
now. God has moved him by his grace. God caught up with him
by his grace. You know, there's one thing about
grace. Grace cannot act where there's ability. You ever thought
about that? Grace cannot act where there's
ability. Now, if you have the ability of doing something, there's
no need for grace. If you have the ability of reaching out towards
God, you don't need grace. If you have the ability of believing
on God, you don't need grace. But if God gives grace, then
we have the ability to believe. We're without ability. Philemon
was without ability. The slave was without ability. There is no ability in man. So it takes grace. We are dependent
upon God's grace, His unmerited favor to make us acquainted with
God. We'll not go on our own. Now
if we have the ability, and religion just teaches that, you've got
the ability to do it, then you don't need grace because it's
not going to work. Grace is dependent upon the lack of ability. Grace. Now, I was telling someone down
there at Central Point, you know, it's difficult for young people
who don't go to church very often to sit still. And what do you
do about it? Well, I was in church one time.
I was in a conference one time, and a little baby started to
squall, and the preacher just stopped immediately and got really
angry and says, I'm not going to compete with your child. Take
it out now. And I thought that that was just
being a horse's rear end myself, for lack of better words. That's
just poor. And I told him about Joshua coming
right out of there and coming right up here. He was dependent upon grace.
I didn't pick him up. I wanted to. But that's the inability. Little babies are dependent upon
that. They're unable, so they depend on someone else's grace
to pick them up. We're unable to turn to God. We're unable to trust God. We're
unable to believe God. We're unable to see God. We're
unable to hear God. We're unable to feel God. We're
unable to do anything spiritual towards God. That's when grace
is gonna work. Grace is to the chiefest of sinners. Unable people. Now, this guy
said, if Paul said, if that guy's done anything wrong, I'll take
care of it. Now that's gracious. Now that's
what God does for us. He knew what we've done wrong. Born in Adam, that was enough.
And our own activities, that's enough. That's more than enough. We're sinners by nature. We're
sinners by practice. And Lord help us, we're sinners
by choice. But grace, grace, grace is there
for the chiefest of sinners. All right, now. There in that
passage of scripture, it says, he that is filthy, let him be
filthy still. It's the only place in all the
Bible that that particular word is used. So we can't go over
there and find out, how is it used in some place else? The
word filthy, or this word filthy, it means to make filthy, or to
defile, or to soil, to be filthy especially morally. Bankrupt. to be defiled with
iniquity. And a sinner that's a sinner
without Christ in this life is gonna go out of this life a sinner
without Christ for eternity, gonna continue to be filthy,
gonna continue to be soiled by the fall, soiled in his own mind,
filthy in his own mind, filthy morally in his own mind. Everything
about us by nature is filthy. That's the essence of the blood
of Christ. There is a fountain filled with
blood. Why? Because we're filthy and
cleanses us from all sin and every stain of sin. That's what
it is to be unfilthied, to be washed. I've told this story. But one time my twin brother
and I, we got the garden hose. Now over there where we grew
up around the Goose Lake, you got that dirt wet, it just turns
to, you could get six feet tall. It just builds up on the bottom
of your feet. And we got the garden hose there, and there
was kind of a place right where the smokehouse, where the water
ran off the smokehouse, and it had aided out a little bit, and
we just filled that full and let it soak in, filled it full
again, and we took off all our clothes except our drawers, and
we rolled in that. Oh, we've seen the pigs do that,
and they loved it. So we rolled and rolled and rolled
and rolled, had it in our hair. Mom came out of the house. And she cleaned us up. She took the garden hose to us.
She would not allow us in the house without first of all going
through the cleaning process and she held the hose. And it
was a whole lot colder then than it was when we were playing with
it. But she washed us up. She took the filth off of us.
And I said all that to say this, the blood of Christ removes all
the stain of the fall. And we're given a position with
Christ to be clean. But without that blood, without
that cleansing, without that Christ, without that salvation,
without that grace, we'll go out of this life filthy still.
There will be no cleansing through eternity. It will not be cleansed. There will just not be any wit,
because those that leave this life without Christ will continue
to sin against themselves, their neighbors, and God in hell. They will never be clean. Now,
the other side is He that's righteous. The scriptures tell us here,
and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, or he'll
be righteous still. God saves a person in this life.
My goodness, what lack of faith do people have and confidence
in God if they say, I can lose this, or I can meet God and find
out I didn't get it. This righteousness that God gives,
this quickening power is so fantastic that it changes our mind towards
God. We don't have the same old opinion
about God. We don't have the same opinion
about sin or self. We don't have the same opinion
about the Bible. It's not something that we can
take or leave. God is not somebody that we can
take or leave. Salvation is not something we
can take or leave. It's just not part of life. But it is our
life. He is our life. And he is our
livelihood, spiritually speaking. There is such a dramatic change
made in regeneration that God allows us to know now. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. And
the Holy Spirit is constantly voting for us. That's what he said. And then
we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit knows
how to pray as we ought. And it's not in gibberish. It's
just taking the message to God, because God said, I know what
you have needed before you ask. We're not surprising God with
our prayers. We're not surprising anybody.
And I truly believe more than ever that our real prayers are
by ourselves somewhere and not in public. There's so much said
in the Bible about public prayer, and most of it's not good. Don't
stand on the street corner. Take it to your closet. And we
pray in services, and we pray at the table, but our real prayer,
and it only might be three words long, that sinner, that tax collector,
that publican, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That was an
effectual prayer because God gave it to him. All right, let's
look at this righteousness. It's a right standing with God. It's being just before God. It's being right before God. It's being taken from the fold
of Adam, if you please, and placed in the fold of God. It's being
transported from the kingdom of darkness and translated into
the kingdom of his dear son. 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. I'm not going to ask anybody
in here because I know the answer. How many in here are trusting
the law? All right, very good. 1 Timothy 1 verse 9, look at
this, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous. Now that's that same word we
found over there, righteous. The law is not made, the law
is not made for a righteous man. but for lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murders
of fathers, murders of mothers, and for manslayers, and the list
goes on. The law is not for a righteous
person. You know what? God is big enough to lead His
family. He doesn't have to have a legalistic
line. He's big enough. The Holy Spirit
is God, and the Holy Spirit has the ability of leading His family,
leading us into all truth. Now, it doesn't mean that we
don't sin. That's our nature acting. If we've ever done a
wrong thing, that's us. Now, if we've ever done, okay,
but if we've ever done a good thing, it's because of God. It's
not us. Sin is ours. Good works are God's. He gives them to us. This law is not for a righteous
person. It's not for a saved person.
It's not for a person that God has taken from darkness and given
him light. It's not for those sheep that
he has called out of darkness. The law is for profane. It's for those on the other side.
The law is to make good citizens out of rotten people. Obey the
laws of the land. Now we obey, I like stop signs,
particularly when other people use them. Getting more and more
where they're not using them like they used to or should,
but there's some things that we go abide by. But the law is
not a rule of faith, not a rule of life, the Lord is. The Lord
is. And that's he that's righteous.
2 Timothy chapter four, look at this with me. 2nd Timothy,
chapter 4, verse 8, talks about the Lord being the
righteous judge. I want that. But as the righteous
judges, so are those he judges righteous. and his children are
righteous. They have the righteousness of
Christ. It's called a robe of righteousness. It means that
God's people have been clothed with Christ. He is the righteous
judge. Tells us here in 2 Timothy chapter
4 and verse 8, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge. Now that's
the righteous. that will be righteous for eternity. Those he has declared righteous. They have a right standing. They
have Christ. He shall give me at that day,
and not only me only, but unto all them that love is appearing.
And only the church is going to love the appearing of God,
of Christ. Only the church will love that.
The world, oh my goodness, it's the end of life. and the beginning of death, eternal
death. And in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter
6, this is a passage that's quoted from the Old Testament. And the
book of Hebrews is just quotes from the Old Testament. If we
didn't have the Old Testament quoted in the book of Hebrews,
we'd just have a hollow shell. There's the Old Testament's the text,
a few comments, that's the preaching, but the Old Testament is the
text. I just have to remember, I don't
need to say we need to remember, I need to remember that the Old
Testament is all they had at this time to preach from. It
was gonna be a long time before the book was completed and people
were preaching from the Old as well as the New Testament. It's
going to be over a hundred years before it's all put together.
So we got a while that all the preachers preached was the Old
Testament. It's just like pulling off the front here. All right,
I'm glad we have it. But we do spend quite a bit of
time over there because it is preaching Christ, right? Hebrews
10, verse 38, look at this. Hebrews 10, verse 38. Now the
just shall live by faith. And that faith is the faith of
the Son of God. That's the faith. Well, you depend
on your faith, you'll fall. Depend on Christ's faith, you'll
be secure. The just shall live by faith,
and if you're just here, you'll be just there. If you're righteous
here, you'll be righteous there. We'll just get to see him in
more of his righteousness. Eyes will be made perfect and
will not be looking through a glass darkly. I wrote to Brother Henry
the other day and I said, oh my goodness, I just am really
realizing how through a glass darkly, there's so little of
this book I comprehend. But oh Lord, give me peace about
what you've shown me. All right, 1 Peter chapter four. 1 Peter 4, verse 18. I think, let me check this. I think this is 2 Peter. Nope,
it's 1 Peter 4. I don't know who invented Roman
numerals and who required it to be used for making notes.
I need to get used to putting twos, threes, and fours in the
Arabic system because I don't make near as many mistakes. But
anyway, 1 Peter 4, verse 18, and if the righteous, now that's
that same word, if the righteous scarcely be saved, if the righteous scarcely be
saved." You know how much blood it took
to save one? All of it. And it doesn't matter the amount,
it's all of it, but it's whose blood it was. If the righteous scarcely be
saved, goes on to tell us there in verse 18, where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear? There's not room. They're not
on the docket. No hope. They're just not an
opening. The righteous, I have room for
the righteous, but those ungodly, there's not room in my room.
And that's the same word. And then over here in the book
of, backing up one chapter, 1 Peter chapter three and verse 18, Now, this is that word, righteous,
for a righteous man. Now, this is where we get it.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just. Now, who's
that? That's Christ. He's the just. That's the same word we found
over there in the book of Revelation, chapter 22, righteous. It means
you got to have him. The Lord Jesus, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death
in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. The just, he's the
just one, he's the righteous one, and he's the only one that
can impart that and give that righteousness. to anyone. He's the only one. That's our
righteousness, not ours. Self-righteousness will condemn. Everybody on the left hand side,
have we not done many mighty works in thy name? And those
on the right hand said, when did we do that? We didn't keep
track. The others did. They had their
boxes, their books, all the notes, everything else, how much they'd
done for Jesus. And he said, no, never knew you. Now, the last part of that, It
says, he that is holy shall be holy still. That word holy, not
only is it translated saint and holy spirit and other places,
it's many, many places in the New Testament is this word brought
in, the word, the holy spirit. Every time we hear the word holy
spirit, it's that same word. And it's saint, same word. There's something about the Holy
Spirit of God. There's one thing that covers
a multitude of things about this, about the Holy Son of God, the
Holy God, the Holy Spirit. They are in total and complete
agreement, and that's what that word means. There is no dissension
whatsoever in their purpose. They're at oneness about everything. They haven't even thought about
having a disagreement. They're just, no, it is absolute oneness. Now the word saint comes from
the same word, and a saint, God's child, is at oneness with God. There is no No problem with God
being king. No problem about the gospel.
No problem about grace. No problem about the Bible. No
problem about God's word. We may say, I don't understand
it, but I don't have a problem with it. I don't disagree with
it. I just don't understand it. He hasn't imparted it to me.
He hasn't revealed it to me. Anything about it, anything about
the word has to be revealed. So to be holy, one will not be
in disagreement with God. Disagreement about grace. There
will not be any disagreement about grace. There will not be
any disagreement about faith and where it comes from. There
will not be any disagreement about the Bible. This is God's
Word. He spoke it, he gave it, it's
his word, and it is in perfect unity and unison and timing. I remember my older brother one
time, graduated from college at OIT, got a job with Weyerhaeuser,
was taken way out in the woods, and there was a piece of equipment
that wasn't working quite right, and his job, his interview was
to find out what was wrong with that piece of equipment. And
he went around it and went around it, and then he took one of these
extension bars and put it up to his ear and held it up against
the casing. He says, I know what's wrong with this. He says, what
is? He says, the timing is two or three teeth off. And they
tore it apart and fixed that. When it got in timing, it worked.
Now I said that to say this, God's people are at perfect timing
with God. We're not off. God has a purpose and His people
are at perfect timing with it. Now, Lord only knows we don't
understand it, but we're not at conflict with it, and that's
what it is to be holy. at one with God. He makes us
at one with God. He gives us His nature. He gives
us His nature. We're born from above, from God.
We have that and we're at perfect timing. We're at one with Him
about grace. I went to visit the man. I told
25 years ago. I have to thank Tim.
I heard the gospel about three or four months after Tim was
saved. Tim was born, excuse me. And I went out there to talk
to the man that I had told that many years ago, I know more about
grace than I've ever known in my life. I don't know anything,
but I know more about grace. I knew what it was to be a sinner
now. And I knew what grace it was to get me cleaned up. Faith, found out it was his faith. I've been working hard to get
in my own faith, but it's his faith. Then it came easy. The
Bible, salvation, sin, all the rest, at oneness with God. So
the Bible says, here it is, he that's unjust, you fall out of
this life, wind blows you over, death comes, wherever you are,
what stage of life you are without Christ, you're without him yet.
You'll never get him. If you're filthy, you're gonna
go out of this life filthy. If you've never been to the blood
pool, if you've never been to the pool of Christ's blood, you'll
go out of this life without cleanliness. On the other side, if he's made
you righteous, you'll go out righteous. If he's made you holy,
you'll go out holy. You'll meet him that way. And
we could say blessed be the name of the Lord. We'll stop there.

Death Changes Nothing

What does the Bible say about righteousness?

Why is holiness important for Christians?

How do we know that death changes nothing spiritually?

What does it mean to be unjust according to the Bible?

Why is the doctrine of eternal security significant?

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Death Changes Nothing

What does the Bible say about righteousness?

Why is holiness important for Christians?

How do we know that death changes nothing spiritually?

What does it mean to be unjust according to the Bible?

Why is the doctrine of eternal security significant?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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