Today is what everyone recognizes and celebrates. We call it Easter. It is the time in which the Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Everyone asked me this past week, if they knew I was a pastor, if I was going to preach on the resurrection, which is silly because I always preach on the resurrection. It's kind of strange that that's surprising to people. I told a lady I would, I have many messages online and if you find one that I don't preach concerning the resurrection of Christ, I would be astounded and you shouldn't listen to it. It's the resurrection of Christ is vital. It's vital to our hope. It's vital to, The gospel, you can't have a gospel without the resurrection of Christ.

And you know why we meet on Sunday? I mean, this was the reason the disciples met. We can meet anytime we want to. You can meet on Monday. You can meet on Tuesday. The reason for Sunday is not that it's a Sabbath, but it's the first day of the week. The time when Christ rose was the first day of the week. This is why we meet on the first day of the week. Sunday. It's not a one-time thing, is it? We do this every week. We celebrate this time every week we meet together. And this will be no different. I ask for your prayers for me. I say this, and I'm not functioning on all cylinders, but I I guess every time I think I am, I'm just being deceived. I'm not really functioning on all cylinders at any time, but pray for me today.

God give me his spirit to preach to you. I long for that. I long for his word to be declared to your hearts and minds. When he speaks, it's altogether different than hearing me. Don't hear me. Hear Him. Ask Him to speak to you. Pray that He will. Pray that God be gracious to those that are sick, those that are suffering in the body and the mind, that God be gracious to heal. Consider those churches still without pastors. Ask the Lord to be gracious to them. Send men to preach his gospel. Any other requests that I mentioned that I'm forgetting? I need to pray for Marvin. He's doing well. Last time I talked to Marvin, he's doing, I think he had a seizure that time he went into the hospital, but Marvin Stoniker, pray for him.

Also, remember our conference that's coming up. It's going to be the 24th, 25th, and 26th of July. It's the last full weekend. It's not the 31st, which is on a Friday, but we're going to have it the last weekend, the full weekend of July. So pray about that. Ask God's mercies upon that coming conference. Anything else? Yes. Okay, remember Joan in prayer. She's a dear believer.

She's suffering with cancer and they're doing treatments and going through great trial. I'll tell you, it's easy to stand on the shore and be the greatest captain of the sea, isn't it? Tell others how to sail. Once God puts us on the sea and the waves begin to move, we find out we're not such great sailors after all. We're dependent, dependent upon him.

May God bless her and others who are suffering. Continue to pray for our church. Don't forget to pray for this local assembly. May God be gracious to us. Keep us in unity in his spirit, looking, trusting, believing in Christ. Let's go to him in prayer.

Our gracious Father, we come again to you because we have no other recourse. We have no ability in ourselves, Father. We have no... We've come to worship, but Father, in truth, we have no strength in ourselves. We confess that in ourselves we are utter weakness. helpless, absolutely dependent upon the strength that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

I pray that you would give us this strength, that you would give us your spirit, that you would fill my heart and mind with your word. The things that you would have your people to hear, And then bless their hearts, Father, with it. Open their hearts. Refresh their spirits and minds. We are constantly wearied in the body and mind with sickness and trouble, affliction, with the enemy of self constantly dragging us down. We need you, Father, to lift us up by your spirit.

And you do this through your word. You do this through the preaching of your gospel. And I pray that you would do it today. Father, please forgive us our sins. Please cleanse us of our unrighteousness according to the merits of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for us. Bless your word. Bless your churches. I pray that you would Hedge about us, Father, that we should have unity among the brethren, that our hearts would be knit together in full assurance of faith. Pray for those who are struggling in the body, those who have great sickness and pains and sorrows Please be merciful, be gracious.

Heal according to your kindness. Restore our brethren to us, those that are traveling, those that are away. We miss them so much. Pray that you'd bring them home to us. And may all of these things be down to your glory, these things we ask in Jesus' name. And for His holy sake. Amen.

Alright, if you take your Bibles, turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. Our text will be found in verse 6. I've entitled this message, The First Resurrection. The First Resurrection. Get that clearly from the text. 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 thousand years. The resurrection. The resurrection. Now, every believer in Jesus Christ, every one of us, look forward to that day. The day of the resurrection.

There is coming a day. when the Lord Jesus Christ shall return from heaven with the shout, with the voice of the archangel, and he shall raise the dead. And every believer has hope in that resurrection, has confidence in that resurrection, that our bodies, though they may die, yet we have this hope that in a moment when He calls, we shall be raised incorruptible. Paul says this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality.

It is the earnest desire though as we live in this world, we look forward to the resurrection because in that day we will be made like Christ. In every way we will be made like Him. It is our desire to be like Christ. We now by grace have been endowed with the Spirit of God. We have been given a new heart, a new nature, created after God in true holiness.

And as we think this morning of the cause of this, we think the cause of our holy perfections, of our hope in the resurrection is what? It is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the hope of our resurrection. So thoroughly had Jesus Christ removed our sins. This verse is astounding to me because I can only see it by faith. I can only see it as it is the Word of God and believe it.

In Jeremiah chapter 50 in verse 20, it says, In that day shall the iniquity of Israel be sought for, listen to this, and there shall be none. The sins of Judah, and they shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I reserve. The reason is there is no sin is because of God's pardon.

And this was only through the merits of what? The offering of Jesus Christ as he was made sin for us who knew no sin. Why? That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so then we have hope of the resurrection. But yet, we are still troubled. Though we have hope of this resurrection, we are still troubled. We are still afflicted. Our enemy still pursues us, and yet we know this, that he cannot defeat the purpose of God in our resurrection.

You realize that nothing happens in time that's ever going to affect this resurrection? Nothing can hinder it. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can stop the power of the gospel going out into the world. And so then let us, though we have enemies and afflictions, let us be sure of this truth, that none of these things can remove us from Christ. None of these things that can move us from Christ.

You remember what happened to Job? This was a glorious thing. Job, chronologically, is, they said, the oldest written book that we have. And you remember what happened to Job when Satan asked God, he had to ask permission even to touch what he had. God has set a hedge about him. And he said, if you just, you know, he serves God for naught. If you take away his stuff, he won't serve you. God said, okay, take his stuff, but you can't touch it. And then when he allowed him to touch his body, listen, he couldn't take his life.

You see, who's in charge of this thing, of our afflictions, of our trials, is the one that has promised the resurrection from the dead. Therefore, believers, we sojourn in this wilderness. We are brought into desert places, into barren, fruitless, and dark times. We still have this confidence that we shall all be saved. All of the elect of God shall be saved. All who believe in Christ Though even death of this mortal body come to us, we have this hope that we, ourselves, will be raised from the dead.

Now listen to what Job said. Again, this is as far back as we got a written word. And Job says this. He says, For I know my Redeemer liveth. and that he shall stand in the latter days upon the earth. Listen, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my own eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. Job said, though worms eat this body, and that's exactly what happened.

If it were possible to dig up Job's grave, what would you see? You would see dust and bone. That's it. If we dig up the tomb of David, what would we see? Dust and bone. You go to the graveyard here and you dig up those bodies, what will you find? Dust and bone.

And yet every believer has this promise. Job said, because my Redeemer liveth, I shall see Him myself with my own eyes I shall see him. This is the hope of every believer. The promise of an eternal resurrection. When we die, if every believer ascends to the Father, the absent from the body will be present with the Lord. That's what happens. Yet we're not fully complete, are we? Because He didn't just save my soul, He saved my body and my spirit as well.

And though my body rests in the grave, yet this is the promise. One day He will come and He will raise my body and these eyes that you have, you shall see Him with these eyes. You will touch Him with these hands. You will sing His praise with these lips. Why? Because all of this was saved. All of me was saved.

So then in our sickness, let this calm our souls. In our sorrows, let this be the ease of our heart Let us who are now by faith have confidence that because our Savior lives, even so we shall live. Our life, this is my, this is the sum of it. My message this morning is that our whole life is tied to His. My whole salvation is infinitely tied to the blood, the righteousness, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He was raised from the dead, I have hope of this, that I too shall be raised from the dead. You that believe, because He is risen, because He is risen, this is our hope, that we too shall be raised with Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ told us this. He said, all that the father giveth me shall come to me. And when he comes to me, I will in no wise cast him out for this is the father's will, which has sent me that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing.

And what was he going to do? And we'll raise it up at the last day. At the last day. This is the gospel we preach. Christ is the bread of heaven. Feast on Him and you shall not lack anything. Righteousness. You need righteousness. Do you need holiness? Believe on Him and you shall have His holiness. Do you need an offering? Believe on Him and you shall have a perfect offering. Believe on Him. And he will never cast anyone out that comes to him. Isn't that astounding?

Our Lord Jesus Christ said this in the day of Lazarus. He said, I am the resurrection on the line. Martha said, I know he'll rise again the last day. Jesus said, don't you know this? I'm the resurrection. Resurrection is not just a time, not just a destination, it's a person. He purposed this resurrection. He's the cause and the power of our resurrection. And He is the object of that resurrection.

When we are raised from the dead, what is going to be our eternity? Is it not praising Him? We will praise Him. And so then what is the believer to fear? Seeing that we have this promise of the resurrection. And so this morning I've got three things concerning the resurrection. Concerning our hope of the resurrection.

I don't mean wish. Again, when I say the word hope, I want you to learn this. Hope means confidence. When you're sure something's going to happen, that's hope. It's not a wish. We're not wishing that this is going to happen. No, we are confident this is going to happen. Now, what is the confidence of our attaining to the resurrection?

I've got three things. First of all, our hope is based on a representative resurrection. If you are going to be raised, if you are going to be accepted of God, it must be based on a representative resurrection. The second point is this. Everyone who has hope of the resurrection must experience a spiritual resurrection. And thirdly, everyone who has hope of the resurrection has the promise and revelation of this resurrection. So first of all, representative. What do I mean by that? Representative resurrection.

What I mean by that is that all that God chose, all of the elect, before the foundation of the world, God gave them to Christ. And I can only use our language to understand eternity. When God gave us to Christ, he became our representative. In this scheme of salvation, God loved a people, chose a people, and gave them to Christ, and so put them into union with Him that all their salvation was dependent upon Him.

All of it. Ephesians chapter 1. I go there a lot because this is just the clearest. I can go to multiple scriptures. I don't have to go to this one. I can go to multiple scriptures and show this, but this is, I believe, one of the most concise. It's the most, it's the easiest to follow. Ephesians chapter 1.

He blesses God the Father, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. You got that? That's past tense. He hath blessed us. With what? All spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Where are they? In Christ. That's where He blessed us.

According, how did He do that? How did He do that? According. This is how. According as He had chosen us in Christ. When did He do that? Before the foundation of the world. Why did He do that? That we should be made holy and without blame before Him. What was His motivation? In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. What's the means of this? How could He do this?

By Jesus Christ unto Himself. You see, this matter of election is not a is not a hateful thing. It's a it's a message of love, isn't it? It's a message of grace unto himself. He did it to bring us unto himself. The only way he could do it, bring us. Who knew no righteousness.

By Jesus Christ, that bring us to himself, that we should to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted where? in the beloved. You see, this matter of our resurrection was determined of God from eternity by putting us in Christ. And then what happened? Then Christ came. He came in the flesh. He became a man. Now why was this necessary?

Why must the Son of God become a man? This was a very heated thing in the first years of the church. Many people believed that Jesus came, the Son of God came, but He really wasn't a man. That's why John said, Whosoever believeth that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh is not born of God. Because that was the debate back then, that He wasn't really a man. No, He was really a man.

Why? Why? Because God had determined how salvation should come. Now men have their idea of how salvation should come, but who cares what they think? This is what God determined, that salvation should come the same way sin came. By a representative man. Go to Romans chapter 5. A representative. If we have any hope of salvation, it's got to be by a representative. Look at Romans chapter 5.

Notice this in verse 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God. Now when were you reconciled to God? When you were enemies. He didn't wait for you. He reconciled you while you were an enemy. How? By His death. By the death of His Son. Now much more being reconciled. Already reconciled. Isn't this glorious?

Before you knew you were reconciled, you were reconciled. Man, you didn't even know. You didn't have a clue. God chose you and Christ reconciled you. Even while you hated God, you were reconciled. You didn't know it. Now much more, being reconciled, now you know it. Now you know it by faith, being reconciled, we shall be saved by what? How shall we have been saved? By His life. We were reconciled by His death. But listen, much more, you're going to be saved by His life.

You see, we by nature were made sinners by a representative. And he tells you that in verse 12. Wherefore, by one man sin entered the world, death by sin. So death passed upon all men for all of sin. You got that? You became a sinner by a man. When you were born, you were born a sinner. You didn't become a sinner. You were born one. God determined that you should be saved in the same way by a representative man.

Look at verse 18 here. He said, Therefore, by the offense of one judgment has come upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to what? justification of life, for by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." You see how salvation comes? By a representative man. The free gift, the free gift is by a representative man.

So this morning, this morning You and I are surrounded by trouble. You and I are surrounded by difficulties. We're surrounded by enemies, hated, despised, persecuted. And in the midst of our persecutions and troubles, what is the foundation we lay on? When all of our crutches are kicked out, when all of our hopes are gone, when all of our, all the things we depend upon are gone, What is my hope of attaining to the resurrection of eternal life? What's the grounds?

My grounds are very simple. Jesus Christ alone. I depend on nothing else. I look to nothing else. I desire to do good. I desire to follow Him. I desire to worship Him. I desire to serve Him. But my salvation is not dependent upon any of that. I do that because of His love. Not for my salvation. My salvation is something already accomplished. We depend upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. He established my righteousness by his obedience.

He satisfied God's justice by his offering. Now, how do I know that? How do we know that his righteousness was sufficient? How do we know that his blood satisfied God? He said it. It is finished. It's done. Salvation, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, redemption, wisdom, all of it is done. It's finished. What's the proof that it was finished?

Simply this, God raised him from the dead. God raised him from the dead. Peter said this in Acts chapter 2 in verse 24. He said, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death. Why? Because it's not possible as you beholden of it. Why? Why do men die? Sin. Sin. Christ, in order to save us, must die for our sins. And he did die. But once he died, God raised him up because there was no sin left. There was nothing left to keep him in the tomb. God raised him up. And this is what he said. In verse 32 of Acts 2 he says, Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, which he shed forth this, which you now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Therefore let all The House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When God raised him from the dead, he sat him on the throne, and listen to this, God made him both Lord and Christ. Now listen, we who believe, we acknowledge and bow to him as Lord and Christ. We didn't make him Lord. God did. The moment God raised him from the dead, God declared, that's the Lord, that's Christ. Set him on the throne.

Therefore, all he represented when he rose again were represented in his resurrection. You see, when he lived, I lived. When he obeyed God, you listen, I obeyed God. When he died, I died. And when he rose from the dead, you listen to this, I also rose from the dead in him. Scripture says we are now seated with him in glory. As what? Our representative. Isn't this glorious that I was in him before I ever experienced being in him? I was in him. Why? He was my representative.

So this resurrection of Jesus Christ is so vital that without it we couldn't be saved. Do you understand the necessity of the resurrection? This is what Paul said. Go to 1 Corinthians. Look at what he said about the resurrection. And I want you to see that the resurrection of Christ, we're tied to it. My hope and salvation is tied to his resurrection. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

In verse 12 he said, Now if Christ be preached, that he rose not from the dead, I say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead. For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen, And if Christ is not risen, our preaching is in vain, as your faith is in vain. Yea, we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified that God 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 is vain, and you are yet in your sins. And they which are fallen asleep are perished. Do you see the necessity of this? If Christ was not risen from the dead, why do you think this world spends so much time trying to prove he wasn't raised? Why do you think they spend so much energy?

God did not leave this up for debate. The resurrection of Christ is not up for debate. Anybody tell me, anybody come to me, I don't care who he is, and he said Christ is not raised. I don't have any interest in listening to that man. He's dishonest with himself and with history. It's just dishonest.

There's more record of Jesus Christ being raised from the dead than the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Something happened 2,000 years ago has more evidence of it than the signing of a document 250 years ago. There were more witnesses that saw Christ alive after his death than there were men in that building signing that piece of paper 250 years ago. Paul said at his time there were over 500. All this thing wasn't done in a corner, friends. This was done in public. so that no man could deny it.

This man, Jesus Christ, who was crucified, who died for our sin, was also raised again for our justification. So then, no matter what takes place, listen, no matter what takes place, my hope is in a representative. What's your hope for the resurrection? The lost have a hope. They say they have a hope. They're half on Christ and half on themselves. You know what that means? They aren't on Christ at all! But we who believe, we trust in Him.

This is the hope of the resurrection. Now secondly, everyone who was chosen of God and redeemed of Christ will experience a resurrection. Go back to your text. Let's talk about the resurrection. We proved there is a resurrection. And the grounds for the resurrection is the election of God and the redemption of Christ. That's our grounds and His resurrection. Now, what's my hope of this? Look what he said.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. If any of us are to have hope in the resurrection of the dead, as Christ being our representative, we must first experience this first resurrection. Now this first resurrection is not, as men say, there are some religions that believe that there are two resurrections of the body. There's going to take place two resurrections. Jesus is going to come down and He's going to raise up a certain group of people and they're going to live on this earth with Him a thousand years, literally. Then, He's going to go away. Then, He's going to come back and get the rest. That's their belief. So when they hear first resurrection, they're talking about a bodily resurrection. That's not what this is talking about. This resurrection is simply the new birth. That's just it. It is the first resurrection.

All of God's elect, though united with Christ, redeemed by Christ, reconciled to God by Christ, yet when we are born, we are born dead. This is plain in scripture. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.

All the elect are just like everybody else. They're born just like everybody else. They're lost just like everyone else. They have no righteousness. They have no understanding. They have no ability or will to seek after God. We're just like everyone else.

But at the appointed time of grace, the Holy Spirit will come invincibly, irresistibly, and give us life. Scripture never speaks of the new birth or the quickening as a product of man's will. Never. This first resurrection is solely by the power and the grace of God.

Listen to what Jesus said in John chapter 3. He said, The wind bloweth where it listeth. He's using an illustration. We all can understand it, right? You go outside, you feel the wind. You feel which direction it's coming from, but really you don't know where it came from. You don't know where its origin started, do you? You just feel it. And when it goes by you, you don't know where it's going, do you?

I mean, just listen to the weatherman. Listen to him try to figure out where it's going. He's the most educated about it. He's just making a guess, isn't he? He don't know where it's really going or how it's going to... Why do you think we have percentages of chances of rain? Because we don't know. We really don't. So, that's exactly how it is.

The Spirit of God, He goes about as the wind, wherever He pleases. Even so, the Spirit of God, like the wind, you can't tell where He's coming, you can't tell where He's going. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. I don't know about you, I've seen people come in, I've seen them so excited, and I'm thinking, man, Lord's really dealing with that person, and then what? Poof, they're gone. I didn't know what was happening. Maybe they had a You know, bad dream or something, maybe. I don't know where the Spirit's going. I can only see His effects. And what's the effect of the Spirit? How does one know they are represented by Christ? Everyone that is born of the Spirit of God, they know that all their salvation is in Him.

Now, you may not know much. I think, oh, Jake the Huckster, remember him, Spurgeon spoke of him, that man who heard that hymn, he said, I'm a sinner and nothing at all, and Jesus Christ my right, Jesus Christ my all in all. That's all he knew, that's all. He believed, he trusted, and when they started asking him questions in the church, they said, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? He said, I don't know. I know I'm a sinner and nothing at all and Jesus Christ is my all in all.

That's a man who has been born of the Spirit. We believe on Christ alone. He has quickened us. This is the first resurrection. 1 John 1 and verse 12, as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God. Listen, even to them that believe on his name. Do you understand that you have a right to be called the sons of God who believe on His name? You have a birthright.

It's not arrogancy. It's not pride. But they that believe Him have a birthright. Now how did we get this? Which were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." So this thing is all of God. You didn't believe. You believe because God chose you. You believe because Christ redeemed you. You believe because God raised you from Don't think little of faith. Faith in Christ is a miraculous thing.

It's not a product of will. What believer does not will to believe? Who among us that believe desire not to believe? Man, I sure wish I didn't have faith. Who said that? You say that, you go down the street and say, man, that's faith business. I just wish I had less. No believer says that. Why? Because we know faith is a precious gift of God and not of works.

If you believe, it is a gift of God. It's a power of God. It's a resurrection. And blessed and holy is he that hath part in this first resurrection. I got a picture of that Lazarus. What a beautiful picture Lazarus was, right? The Lord allowed that man he loved to die. And you know what he said? He said, this is for the glory of God. Now, how was the death of this man the glory of God?

Because it was a picture of our salvation. Just like Lazarus, we were dead. Sealed in a tomb with no hope of giving life to ourselves. And then who came? The Lord Jesus, as He came to that tomb, He said, take away the stone. What did our Lord Jesus Christ come into this world to do? He came to take away our sin. And He did it. He took away our sin. He died for us. He rose again for us. And then He commands.

Was He asking Lazarus anything? That'd be a foolish thing to do, wouldn't it? Lazarus, if you're just pretty please, come on out. Man, my heart's so broken for you and I want you to come out, but I ain't got no power unless you just give me some will. That's a foolish thing to think. Our Lord Jesus Christ came and he said, Lazarus, come forth.

It was not a question. That's what he said to me. When he came to you and gave you life, it was not a question, was it? It was a command. Come to me was no longer an invitation. He was not inviting me. He was commanding me. Oh, what a sweet command it was to the ears of this dead man who heard and believed And as Lazarus came out of that tomb, it was a miracle. Not only his life was a miracle, but how did he come out? You don't understand. He was wrapped like a mummy. That's how they buried him. They buried him in all this wrap and garb. He couldn't walk out.

And yet he came out. It was impossible for me to believe, and yet here I am. I believed. And I came out bound. Isn't that how you came out? Bound in your sin? Wrapped in the darkness of your grave clothes. You couldn't walk, you couldn't come, you couldn't do anything. You know what he said? He said, loosen and let him go.

Everyone he raises from the dead experiences this resurrection He does not bind us with the law. He frees us from it. Don't you suppose it'd be silly, once Lazarus shed those grave clothes, that he'd go back and start trying to put them on. That's what people do with the law, isn't it? They come out of the tomb saying, well, I'm saved now. Guess what? Well, I've got to go back in the tomb. No. Loose him and let him go. And that's what our Lord does. He sets us free. The Son, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. You are free. Free from the guilt of your sin. Free from the power of your sin. And this is the promise, isn't it? One day we'll be free from the very presence of I don't know what a world looks like without sin, but it's coming. It's coming. I don't know what a body feels like without sin, but it's coming. It's coming. Why?

Because He raised us from the dead. He who represented us in His resurrection gives us a resurrection. Have you been raised? Have you been raised from the dead? Listen, this is the third thing. Listen to this, you that have been raised. Go back to your text and look at this with me. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. Listen to this. On such the second death hath no power. You've been born again. Don't you understand this, that the second death doesn't have any power over you at all? You'll never taste it. You'll never experience it.

I like the picture of Israel going through the Red Sea, don't you? What a beautiful picture. God, they're being pursued. They're trapped. What a picture of us. And yet the Lord, he parts the Red Sea. That's by the blood of Jesus Christ. He parts the justice of God. The wrath of God is parted. And so now we journey through this life on what? On dry ground, solid rock. You know, I don't believe that one drop of water fell on their heads. You know why? Because not one drop of God's justice will fall on me. Because it fell on him. All of the weight, all of the sorrow, all of the pain, all of the The damnation fell on the crucified Christ. And when he satisfied God's justice, it was satisfied. It's just satisfied forever.

God is holy and he cannot demand twice payment. Isn't that wonderful? He cannot demand payment at Christ's hand and then demand it of me. He won't! Wasn't this his purpose in eternity? To make me holy? Wasn't this the will of Christ in his life to make me holy?

Listen to this. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection and the second death will never touch us. Never touch us. Listen to what he said. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. This thousand years is not literal. Don't buy into that. It's the dispensation of grace.

Every one of you that have experienced the first resurrection, listen, you are blessed. You are holy. And when the second death comes, it won't have any power over you. But instead, you that have the first resurrection, you shall live and reign with Him, what? All the dispensation of grace. Isn't this so? You right now are reigning with Him. What happens to you that's not of Him? Of His reign? He controls all things, doesn't He? Moving all things in your life. Everything. He's moving everything according to His own will and purpose. What? To bring you to himself. That's what he's doing.

And so right now we're reigning as kings and priests. And even when you die, you reign with him. Those that have already gone home to be with the Lord, those that have died, listen to me. They are right now in this dispensation of grace. They are living and reigning with the Lord Jesus Christ right now. All of God's saints that are dead, that died in the body, they're doing the same, they're the same as we are!

John said this, it did not yet appear what we shall be. Isn't that right? You look in the mirror. Does it appear what you're going to be? No. But when he shall appear, we shall all be like him. We shall see him as he is. And so then this is the revelation of God to us. You are blessed and holy. The second death shall not come over you.

Why? because Christ represented you. When he died, he represented you, and when he rose again, he represented you, and you are risen with him, right? Before you were born, you were risen with him, represented him. Then, in the grace of God, you experienced it in the first resurrection. You believe you were born of God, born again. And what's your hope? Is this, because we are born of God, because we've experienced the first resurrection.

Listen, blessed and holy are you. I don't feel holy. Again, what does that have to do with it? Nothing. No, it doesn't say blessed and holy if you feel like it. If you've experienced the first resurrection, you are blessed. You are holy and the second death has no power over you. And you're going to reign with him a thousand years when this body falls into the ground and then at the end of that time, what's going to happen?

Then comes the full resurrection of all believers. I like the way Paul puts it. He said, this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. When the Lord of heaven shall descend with the shout, the voice of the archangel, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and ready shall be caught up in the air with them. Listen to this, the end. So shall we ever be with the Lord. The end. Oh, there's not this multiple resurrection, multiple kingdom, multiple ruling on the earth. Don't buy that. When Christ comes, it's over. He's not coming to save it. He's not coming in humiliation. He's already saved us. He's come to get us.

Isn't that what he promised? He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and what? Receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also. I'm so thankful God has given us this grace, the first resurrection, and the blessings that go with it through Christ our Lord.

Let us praise him. Let us magnify him. Let us set our eyes on him. Our representative and Savior. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Holy and gracious Father, dismiss us with your own blessings. Pour out on our hearts those wonderful truths of our representative Savior. The power of thy Spirit to give us life and faith and keep us even until the time you bring us to yourself. Forgive us our sins. Help us in our trials and infirmities to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, and not on ourselves or the world, but on Christ. And I pray this in his holy name. Amen.