If you would, open your Bibles
back to Job chapter 14. We're going through looking at different
questions that have been asked in the scriptures. The question
I want to look at this morning is this. Shall the dead live
again? Shall the dead live again? Now
that title ought to get our attention. That ought to be a good question
for dead and dying people to consider. and shall the dead
live again? And when Job asked this question,
look how he begins it in chapter seven, verse seven, chapter 14,
how it leads up to this question. He says, for there's hope of
a tree. If it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that
the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof
wax old in the earth, and the stalk thereof die in the ground,
yet through the sin of water, it will bud and bring forth boughs
like a plant. But man dieth and wasteth the
way. Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters
fell from the sea, and the flood decayeth and dryeth up, so man
lieth down and riseth not. To the heavens be no more. They
shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep. Now in nature
we see this. A tree's been cut down. The stump
is there, and the stump looks dead. It might look dead for
a good while. But sometimes, if there's enough rain, enough
sunshine, the elements are just right, that dead-looking stump
starts to sprout again. It looks like that tree's come
back from the dead. Now, it really didn't. The tree
really didn't come back from the dead. It just looked dead. It started sprouting again because
there was always life in the root. The root wasn't dead. There
was still some life there. And eventually, it sprouted again,
even though the rest of the tree looked dead. but man's not like
a tree. You and me, we're not like trees.
When we die, we're not gonna sprout again. We're not gonna
sprout new life again. That's what Job says in verse
12, man lieth down and riseth not. When we die, the body's dead. The root, the
life force, whatever you wanna call that, the spirit, it's dead. The spirit's left the body. and
the body is dead. It can't sprout again to new
life. All it's gonna do is go back
to the dust from whence God gave it. And Job is making the statement. You know, he's in the midst of
this awful, awful trial. He's suffering so much. He says,
I wish I'd just died. He says in verse 13, O that thou
wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me until
thy wrath be passed, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time
and remember me. Job said, I just wish I was dead
in the grave. And then he asked the question
in verse 14. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed
time will I wait till my change come. Now I'm just sure that
Job is asking this question. If a man die, shall he live again?
I'm pretty sure it's a hypothetical question. It's got to be. because
Job already knows the answer to the question. He says here,
all my days, all the days of my appointed time will I wait
till my change come. Job knows there's a change coming.
He says, and he knows when it'll happen, when the Lord returns
and calls. That last trump sound, that voice,
he's gonna call the dead from the grave. He says, thou will
call and I'm gonna answer thee. You're gonna call and I'm gonna
come out. There's a change coming. He tells us more about that,
Job chapter 19. I want us just to see this so you know, Job
already knows the answer to this question. He knows there's a
resurrection coming. Job 19, verse 23. Oh, that my words were now written.
Oh, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven
with an iron pen and led in the rock forever. This is what Job's
saying, carve this in my tombstone. Put this in my tombstone so people
can see it. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God, whom I shall see for myself. And mine eyes shall behold,
and not another. He's not gonna be a stranger
to me, though my reins be consumed within me. Job, you know, we
talk about the Old Testament Believers and you know, what
did they know? What did the Lord reveal? Well,
I know this Job knew there's gonna be a resurrection Job knew
he'd rise from the dead when the Lord returns the second time
And Eric he said that for the Lord came the first time He's
already looking forward to the to the Lord's return. He's already
looking forward to that change in his body He knows he's gonna
be raised again in glorified flesh. He knows that. So he knows
there's a resurrection. Maybe he's asking this question
for our comfort. Maybe he's asking this question
and posing this question in a way so that his friends will know
what his hope is, that his hope is in Christ. But either way,
I know this. Job is asking this question in
faith. He knows there's gonna be a resurrection.
And that's his comfort at this time. He's suffering this great,
Great trial. The pain of mind, the pain of
body that he's going through, it's just greater than anyone
that we know of in scripture other than Christ himself. And
when he's in all this suffering, you know what Job's telling us?
My hope is in Christ. Even though I'm going through
this pain and this misery, I'm being crushed by this trial,
I'm looking forward. to when I see my Redeemer face
to face. My Redeemer, even though I'm
going through this trial, He's my Redeemer. He hasn't cast me
off. He's my Redeemer. And when I
get through with His veiled tears, I'm going to see Him face to
face. So I want to look this morning at the subject of the
resurrection, and I want us to have comfort for our souls as
we go through this veiled tears below. like our brother Job did,
and find our comfort, find some comfort in looking forward, I'm
gonna see the Redeemer face to face. Now, the scriptures speak
about two different resurrections. There's a spiritual resurrection,
and there's a physical resurrection. First, look over at John chapter
three. First, I want to look at the spiritual resurrection.
It's what we call the new birth. And that was the subject of our
Lord's conversation with Nicodemus, Brother Gary just read for us.
And this one thing from this conversation I know for sure,
we must be born again. We must be born again. Look what
our Lord told Nicodemus. In verse one, here Nicodemus
comes to him. A man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Now man, think about this man.
This man was a student of the scriptures. I mean, he was a
student of the scriptures. He gave his life over. the study
of scriptures. He was one of the religious rulers
of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. I love how our Lord always ignores
the noise. He gets right to the heart of
the matter. The Lord answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see. the kingdom of God. He can't
see, he can't understand, he can't comprehend, he can't enter
into the kingdom of God. That's why in verse seven, the
Lord told him, you must be born again. You must be. Brent is not optional. We must
be born again. And I tell you why this is true.
We must be born again. It's because we're dead. Now
we're talking about a spiritual resurrection. We are spiritually
dead, and we've been dead a long time. When Adam died, you and
I died in him. When Adam died spiritually, you
and I died in him. When Adam sinned, every last
one of us sinned. We sinned in Adam. And when he
died, we died. And Adam, our representative.
And this nature of our flesh, the spiritual nature, it's not
like a tree. It can't live again. cannot live
again, it's dead. The spiritual root that's in
us is dead. It's dead. I don't care how much
spiritual light is shined around us. I don't care how much spiritual
truth that we might hear preached to us. Our flesh is dead. It's dead. The flesh will never
believe the truth. It'll never believe Christ. It'll
never beg Christ for mercy. It'll never come to Christ because
the flesh is dead and it will never produce life. Never. That's what our Lord says
in verse six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. He's telling Nicodemus the only
thing the flesh ever will be is dead, sinful flesh. All it
ever will be. You can threaten people with
the law, you can beat them with a rod, you can scare them half
to death, but you're not gonna improve the flesh. It's dead. It's dead. The flesh can't be
fixed up. You know, we talk about the new
birth. We talk about salvation. We're
not talking about a change of habits and a change in conduct. The flesh can't be fixed up. In verse four, Nicodemus said
unto him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the
second time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus doesn't
understand. Nicodemus, if you could go back
into your mother's womb and be born again, you'd come out the
same way you came out the first time. You'd come out dead. You'd come out dead in sin. So
you must be born again. Again. Now the new birth. Let me tell you some things about
the New Birth. I'll be like John Gill. First of all, I'll tell
you what the New Birth is not. If you ever read John Gill, he
always starts out always telling you what it's not. And I was
talking to a pastor friend of mine this week. He said, whenever
we're reading Gill, we always just go down until we find, however,
and then you start reading what it is. Let me tell you what it's
not. And we need to know what it's not, because this is what
the world and false religion tells you the New Birth is. The
new birth is not a head knowledge of the right doctrine. The new
birth is not just a head knowledge of what the scriptures say. Now,
if you remember in the lesson I told you, I want you to know
what the scriptures say, so that your head will be protected from
error. You can't be deceived into believing
something's not true. But the new birth is a whole
lot more than just head knowledge of what the scriptures say, or
head knowledge of the right doctrine. The Pharisees, Nicodemus, He
knew what the scripture said, didn't he? He had a head knowledge
of the right doctrine, but he wasn't born again. In verse nine,
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, although a master of Israel, you're a Pharisee, you're an
expert in the scriptures, and you don't know these things?
The Lord told the Pharisees in John chapter five, search the
scriptures. Now he was giving them, saying, you do search the
scriptures. That's what he was saying. For
in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which
testify of me. The Lord was telling them, you
know the words of scripture. You know what the scriptures
say. Just like when the Lord asked him, well, the Messiah,
whose son is he? So I know he's son of David.
They know the words, but they missed the message. The Bible
is not written to tell us how to live. The Bible is not written
to tell us what to do and what not to do. The Bible is written
to reveal Christ. To reveal Christ. The message
of the scriptures is Christ. Well, then the new birth is not
going to the right church. Going through the right religious
ceremonies. I'm thinking how I want to say
this just right. I'm very glad, very glad that
you're here this morning instead of someplace else in this town.
I'm glad, I'm glad. I don't think you're going to
hear the truth anywhere else. But the new birth is not attending
the right church. The new birth is not going through all the
right religious ceremonies. The Jews had that, didn't they? That was the place on earth Almighty
God was worshiped. Philistines didn't have it. The
Amorites didn't have it. The Amalekites didn't have it.
The Jews had the right place to go, didn't they? They had
the right religious ceremonies. They had the sacrifices. They
had all the feast days and the different things, you know. They
went through the right religious ceremonies, but they weren't
born again. Nicodemus lived his life for
this. I mean, the scriptures and religion
was not just what to us would be Saturday or Sunday, Wednesday
to him was a Saturday. I mean, this was a seven day
a week thing to Nicodemus. He lived his life for this. But
the first thing the Lord told him is, Nicodemus, you've got
to be born again. The new birth is not starting
to live a moral life. You know, you used to be immoral.
Now you start living a moral life. Saul of Tarsus was outwardly
blameless. Outwardly blameless. But he was
still unrighteous. Need to be born again. You see,
the new birth is supernatural. The Lord, when he says here,
except a man be born again, that word again means from above.
This is it's supernatural. The new birth is the birth of
a brand new nature. A brand new man, a brand new
woman in the hearts of his people, a nature that never existed before. See, it's not like God's given
a little bit of water to the dead root of our flesh and Adam
and that, no, it doesn't spread. It's a brand new man who never
existed before. And it's opposite of the flesh
in every way. Hold your place there in John.
Look up with me over first Peter chapter one. Now this is a supernatural
thing. You can't. Exactly explain it. You just know it's happened,
but there are some things we know about about the new birth.
This new man. And I know this. First of all,
he's conceived a brand new seed. The Word of God. First Peter
1 verse 22. Seeing you purified your souls
and obeying the truth through the spirit and unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure
heart fervently. Why? Because you're born again.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all
flesh is its grass and all the glory of man is the flower of
grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falleth away. but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. This new man is conceived from
the seed of the word of God by hearing the word of God preached,
hearing Christ preached. That's how God, the Holy Spirit
conceives that new man in us. And that new man is sinless. He can't sin. He can't not believe
on Christ. He is sinless and holy. You know
why? Because the seed that conceived
him is sinless and holy. Why are you and I sinners? Because
the seed, we're just like the seed that conceived us. The seed
of our father that conceived us was sinful. That's why we're
sinners. The new man is sinless because
the seed that conceived him is sinless. And this new man, He's
born from above. He's born of God the Holy Spirit.
Now look back at John chapter three. Verse eight. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
Thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit moves where
Christ is preached. And he gives life in the new
birth to whom he will, when he will. And this is something only
God can do. It's so mysterious. You know,
the wind blows in your backyard and we've got a tree, one tree
in our backyard and loses its leaves every year. It's one tree. It's just not worth it for me
to rake up them leaves. I just let them decay, you know.
So there's some leaves in my backyard. I look out in the backyard
and I can tell the wind's blowing because I see the leaves. God the Holy Spirit moves. He moves in the hearts of His
people when the gospel is preached. Now I can't tell what all He's
doing, but when you believe the gospel, when I believe the gospel,
when I trust Christ, I know He's been there. I know he's given
life. Look back at page John chapter
one. The new man is born by the will of God. Just like our first
birth. We weren't born the first time
because we wanted to be. I wasn't born because I decided
to be born. No, I was born by the will of
somebody else. I was conceived by the will of somebody else.
So is the new man. The new man is born by the will
of somebody else. It's not a decision of the flesh.
You can't decide to get saved. You can't decide to get born
again. The new birth happens by the
will of God the Holy Spirit. John 1 verse 11. He came into
his own. The Savior, the long promised
Messiah, finally came. 4000 years after God promised
Adam he'd come, he finally came. and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power, he gave
them the right, he gave them the privilege, the blessing to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Now, why did they believe on his name? Because they were born,
which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. They were born of the will of
God. By his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. You see, God's the one who plants
the seed in it. He's the one that plants the
seed in the hearts of his people. He's the one that causes it to
grow to spiritual life. He's the one that gives faith
and he's the one that causes that faith to grow. Life is all
up to the will of God Almighty. Now that doesn't mean there's
nothing you can do. You can't decide to get born
again. You can't will to be born again. You can't decide to get
saved. God's gonna have to save you.
God's gonna have to give you life. God's gonna have to be
the one to cause you to be born again. But you sure can't beg
him to give it to you. You sure can't beg him. And isn't it a blessing when
God gives a dead sinner life? Oh, what a blessing it is. It's
what we pray for all the time. I mean, I pray for it every single
day in my study. That's one thing I always pray
for. What a blessing. Aren't you thankful? Here sits
someone here in the gospel. They've heard it, and they've
heard it, they heard it, and it seems like they leave unaffected. Seems like they're half asleep, and suddenly something's different.
Suddenly they listen differently. Suddenly they're affected differently. Before long they come and say,
I want to confess Christ in baptism. What happened? The spirit blew
through. And he gave life. And oh, we're
thankful. Oh, we're thankful. But now let's deal honestly here
with one another. I'm going to tell you something.
Oh, I beg God he'd give you life. But I'm telling you this, your
troubles aren't gonna start till he does. Your troubles with sin,
your troubles with this world, your trouble with yourself isn't
going to start until you're born again. See, before you're born
again, the old man's got nobody to fight with. When you're born
again, that old man's got somebody to fight with. When God causes
a new man, a new nature to be born in the hearts of his people,
That new holy man, he loves God. He trusts Christ. He believes
the gospel. He feeds on the word of God.
His heart is thrilled and fed with the preaching of the word
of God. But you know where that fella's got to live? In this
sinful flesh. I mean, his close neighbor, just
like two twins in the womb, is the flesh. The nature of the
flesh. And that old man, he is the opposite
of the new man in every way, and the new man's opposite of
the old man in every way. And that new man has got to live
right next to that man of flesh, until the flesh finally dies.
And those two opposites, I'm telling you, they're gonna war.
I mean, they're going to war with one another. And they're
gonna fight with all they've got. Both of them are. They're
gonna fight with everything that they have As long as they're
together, that's a civil war. See, both those natures are me.
I really am that old man. I mean, that man of sin and wretchedness
and vileness, that man is me. That new man born of God, he's
me too. I really do believe Christ. I really, oh, I can say with fear, Lord, you
know I love you. It might not look like it sometimes,
but you know I believe you. You know I trust you. Lord, you
know. Both of those are me. They're fighting with each other.
That's a civil war. I'm fighting with myself all the time. And
that makes the believer the happiest, most miserable person you know.
That old man will never quit trying to get us to trust in
our works. He'll never quit. He'll never quit trying to get
some credit, some glory for something that we've done, something we
brought to God, And the new man will never do it. He'll never
give in. He'll never do it. Because the
only thing that new man can do is trust Christ. And that fight
is never going to be over until the flesh is dead. Now this matter of the new birth
is so important. Oh, it's so important. Here's
how important it is. If there's not a new birth, where
a new, I mean a brand new man, not the flesh reformed, not the
flesh remade, not the flesh fixed up, a brand new man born of God,
brand new, who never existed before, who's holy, who's righteous,
who cannot sin. If there's no such thing as that
new birth, we got no gospel to preach. If there's no new birth,
we've got no good news to tell dead sinners. If God the Holy
Spirit is not gonna give somebody life through the preaching of
his word, we may as well quit. because we got no good news to
tell. But our good news is this, God's gonna give life to his
elect. And he's gonna do it through
the preaching of his word. And I want to stay faithful to
do just that, don't you? To do that. Well, the same thing
is true of the physical resurrection. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
15. If there's no such thing as the
physical resurrection, then we've got no gospel to preach. We've
got no good news to tell sinners unless there is a physical resurrection
of the dead. That's what the Apostle Paul
says here, 1 Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 12. Now if
Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among
you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And
if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your
faith is also vain. It's vain to trust in a dead
Savior, isn't it? Yea, we're found false witnesses of God,
because we've testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom
he raised not up, if it 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're yet and you're
seen. Then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ, they're perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we're of most men most miserable. But now is
Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them
that slept. Now the gospel is good news.
If we're not preaching the gospel as good news for sinners, we're
not preaching it. The gospel is good news that
tells that the sacrifice of Christ put away all of the sin of all
of his elect. If Christ died for you, my brother,
you have no sin. Your sin's gone. There's nothing
for you to fear. If Christ died for you, and the
proof that we have that the sacrifice of Christ put away all the sin
as laid on him, is he was resurrected from the dead. Now remember,
the only reason for death is sin, right? If there's no sin,
there can't be any death, right? Well, Christ died because he
was made sin. Because the sin of his people
was laid upon him, and he died for that sin. He died to satisfy
God's justice for that sin, and his blood washed away all that
sin. If Christ died for you, his blood
has washed you white as snow. White as snow. If Christ died
for you, you have no sin debt before God. If Christ died for
you, God's not looking to get you. There's no reason for Him
to. Your sin's already been paid
for. He's not sending a bill collector after you. Your debt's
been paid. How do I know that? Christ arose
from the dead. He would never have risen from
the dead if there was still sin on Him, would He? Christ arose
from the dead because the sin of his people was gone, put away
by his blood. Now, if Christ is not raised,
if there's no resurrection of the dead physically, that means
Christ didn't rise. And if he didn't rise from the
dead, that means his sacrifice didn't put away the sin of his
people. And your sin's still on me. My sin's still on me.
And we have no hope. We have no hope. See, Christ
died, If he died, and in his death he did not put away our
sin, we're gonna still be condemned, aren't we? We'll still be condemned.
If Christ is not physically raised from the dead, we may as well
all go home and watch football. Because we don't have any good
news to tell. But, Paul says, Christ is raised from the dead.
And that's the proof. His sacrifice justified his people. Paul said in Romans 4 verse 25
that Christ was delivered for our offenses. He was delivered
to God's justice. He was delivered to death because
of our sin, because of our offenses. And he was raised again for our
justification. He was raised again as proof
his sacrifice put away the sin of his people. Now since Christ
is raised from the dead, his people are gonna be raised too.
They're gonna be raised in a fleshly body, just like his body. Paul calls Christ the firstfruits. The firstfruits. That means there's more to come. If it's firstfruits, there's
gotta be a secondfruits, gotta be third, there's more to come
in there. All of God's elect are gonna
be raised in glorified flesh just like the flesh of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I'm telling you what, that's
good news. That's good news. We're not gonna have to live
in these broken down bodies forever. Ron got here this morning, he
said, Frank, how's your back? And I said, well, it's back to
normal for me. And he said, well, that don't
sound too good. It ain't gonna get any better. Probably get
worse over time. I'm gonna have to live like that
forever. No. When Christ returns and his people are taken to him,
to be with him in heaven, I'm telling you, we don't have
the foggiest idea how glorious that's gonna be. I typically think of Christ's
return, seeing him face to face, thinking of my body dying, and
opening my eyes in glory, being satisfied, like our brother David
said. of seeing. There are no words. But you know what else? Will
be with him in a body. Just like his body. No more with this nature of seeing.
One body. One nature that's sinless. That's
holy. that can look on him, that one
who dwells in a light that no man can approach unto, we're
gonna look at him face to face and live. We'd be incinerated
if we tried to do that in these bodies. But in that body, we'll
see him face to face. We'll worship him. That's good
news. That's the good news of the gospel.
We've got that to look forward to. Now Christ gives his people
life. the same way Adam gave us death.
Look at verse 21 there in 1 Corinthians 15. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they
that are Christ's at his coming. Now we're made spiritually dead
in Adam. So I said a minute ago, when
Adam sinned, we sinned. When Adam died, we died. And
God's elect are made spiritually alive in Christ. When Christ
obeyed the law, so did you. If you're in Him. Our bodies,
you know why they die? They die because of what Adam
did. Because Adam sinned. But the bodies of believers are
gonna be raised because of what Christ did. Because of what Christ
did. Raised just like Him. And when
God's purpose But this earth is done. The only reason God
created this earth is to make it so that fallen man would be
in it and his son would get the glory in saving his people out
of it. And when that purpose is done, when it's accomplished,
God's gonna wrap this thing up. And Christ is gonna come back
again. And there will be a resurrection of the dead. Every dead body,
every person who ever died, those bodies are gonna be raised to
come back to life. The dead have to rise. I have to, they can't
stay dead, because our Savior reigns over death. Look at verse
24. Then come at the end, when he
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
for he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet,
and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. When Christ
returns, death is destroyed. There'll be no more dying. No
more dying. Now, the natural man scoffs at
the resurrection of the dead. Because we've never seen a dead
person come back to life, have we? I mean, certainly we've never
seen a person whose body's decayed back to dust. We've never seen
them come back to life. So our pea brain thinks, well,
that can't happen. I mean, I'm so self-important,
I think, well, if I've never seen it, it can't happen. But
you know what, we have pictures of this all throughout nature. Look at verse 35. Job talked
about that, right? A tree stump could start sprouting
again. Paul does the same thing in verse
35. He said, but some man will say,
how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?
Will thou fool? That which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, Thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance of wheat or of
some other grain, but God giveth of the body as it pleased him,
to every seed his own body. You know what Paul's saying there,
he's talking about a farmer planting his crops. When a farmer plants
his crops, he just plants an old dried up, I mean hard as
a rock, dead looking shriveled up seed. He digs a hole in the
dirt and puts it in the dirt and covers it up. He buried it. Just like we dig a hole in the
ground and bury these bodies covered up with dirt. There that
dead seed is under the dirt. But for long, you know what happens?
A tender plant grows up. And for long, that tender plant
is gonna bear juicy, sweet fruit. It's not going to be that bunch
of hard kernels like you planted. It's going to be something that's
changed. Juicy, sweet fruit. See, what the farmer planted
is not the same thing as what comes up. He planted a dry, hard
piece of corn, and before you know it, up grows a plant, and
it's got hundreds of juicy, sweet kernels on it. When that farmer
said, I want to grow some corn, He dug a hole, I mean just a
little teeny tiny hole, put that seed in it, covered it up with
dirt. He didn't dig a long trench and put a whole stalk of corn
in there, did he? No, he just put one little dry
seed, and what came up was a whole lot more glorious than what he
planted. That's gonna be the resurrection of these bodies.
We're gonna bury a dried, dead corpse. It don't look like much. Take
it down there at a funeral home, they pump it full of whatever
chemicals, you know, that they put it through and they try to
make a person's face look like it, you know, did when they were
living. Seems to me it never works. Seems to me it never works.
There's something about the spirit leaving the body, the body just
don't look the same. I mean, they just can't make it look
the same. It just, in my goodness, we gotta bury that thing out
of sight. Because even with all those chemicals, I mean that
thing is going to turn ugly and offensive. Oh, you've got to
bury it. Boy, you wait to see what comes
up. You wait to see what comes up. We're going to be raised
in flesh. Job's head with these eyes. But
it's going to be different flesh. It's going to be a different
kind of flesh. It's going to be glorified flesh. Verse 39. For in all flesh
is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of
men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of
birds. There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial. But the
glory of the celestial is one, the glory of the terrestrial
is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of
the moon, another glory of the stars. For one star differeth
from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption, it
is raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. It's sown a natural body. It's
raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and
there is a spiritual body. They're two different things.
You know what, we go out there to the cemetery and bury, that's
not like, that's not what's coming up. It's gonna, just like the
crops at harvest time, what comes up is a whole lot better than
what the farmer planted, isn't it? Now again, that's the good
news of the gospel. Believers are not gonna spend
eternity in sinful, decaying flesh. It's not gonna be natural
flesh. It's spiritual. It's a spiritual
body. Now right now, our bodies and
our nature, they bear the image of Adam. Don't they bear the
image of Adam? But when we're resurrected, All
traces of Adam are gonna be gone. There's not gonna be a trace
of him in our nature, and there's not gonna be a trace of him in
our flesh. We're gonna be raised just like
Christ. Verse 45. So it's written, the
first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam, the second
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, was made a quickening spirit.
How be it? That was not first, which is
spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterwards, that
which is spiritual. The first man, he's of the earth,
earthy. He's just like the earth from
which he was made. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
And as is the earthy, such are they that are earthy. And as
is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly. And as we
bore the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom Neither doth corruption
inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Either
we're gonna be changed in the resurrection or in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that's written, death is swallowed up in victory. Now,
you know, death is a sad time for a family. For the family
left behind is a sad time, isn't it? I mean, it's very emotional. It's very emotional to go out
there and they set that casket on that grate, you know, over
top of the grave that they've dug. And some people do, some
people don't. But see that grave lower down
there into the ground? Folks might throw a handful of
dirt on top of it and go home. And we think, I've left my loved
one out there alone. Now, they're not there. But that's
the body we do. I mean, that's the body we love. We think, I've left him alone.
I've left him alone. And it's sad. It's sad. It seems
so final. I'm never going to see him again.
I'm never going to talk to him again. I'm never going to come
in in the evening and watch a show with him again. Say, let's watch
our show and have some popcorn. I'm never going to do that. I
miss that. But you listen to me. It's not final. That's not
final. That body is just resting in
the grave until Job said, by time changes come. When the Lord
calls me up out of that grave, death is swallowed up in victory.
Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?
You don't have any victory, this thing's just temporary. The sting
of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law. But thanks
be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. That body just rested in the
grave. God's gonna call it out. Now this teaching of the resurrection,
these bodies are going to be resurrected. The fact of scripture,
that's not just dry dead doctrine, not at all. Hearing about the
resurrection, that motivates the believer to keep trusting
Christ. I see him through a glass darkly,
but I'm gonna see him face to face. I'm gonna see him clearly.
It keeps us looking to Christ. It keeps us looking for him.
Boy, knowing there's a resurrection of the dead, knowing that He's
going to come, and if you're still living in the twinkling
of an eye, you're going to be chained to being just like Him, that
keeps you looking for Him, doesn't it? Brother Fortner used to say,
you're staying on the tiptoe of faith, looking for Him. He's
coming all along for that day. Knowing that Christ is going
to return, there's going to be a resurrection of the dead, He's
going to gather His people to be with Him. where he is for
eternity. That motivates me to keep preaching
Christ to my generation. I sure would like to see him
save you. I sure would like for him to save me. I'd like to see
God save his people. He's coming back. I'd like to
see him gather you. So, verse 58, therefore, My beloved brother, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as
much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Look
over 1 Thessalonians. We'll quit here. I had no idea
I preached this long. I'm sorry, but I hope it'll be
beneficial to you. Hearing of the resurrection of
the dead is comfort for God's people. While we trudge through
this veil of tears, this is our comfort. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse
13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that your
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. 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 should not prevent, we won't
perceive them which are asleep, but the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Now that's good doctrine. That's
true doctrine. That's what the Word says. But
look what Paul tells us to do with this doctrine. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words. Isn't it comforting to know this is not all that there is? You wait to see what's coming.
You wait to see. Hope God will comfort your hearts
with that. Let's bow together. Our Father,
how we thank you for this blessed teaching in your word, that you
give life to dead sinners, that you do it through the preaching
of your word. Father, I beg of you that you'd
be pleased this morning to take your words that's been preached
and give life to your people. To take one who, as of now, has
not yet believed on you, Father, that you give him faith. and
life to see Christ and believe on Him. And Father, we're thankful
for the teaching of the resurrection of the dead. Oh, what we have
to look forward to because of Christ our Savior. Father, cause
it to thrill our hearts and comfort us as we go through the journey
that you've called us to here below. It's in Christ's name,
for His sake and His glory, we pray. Amen. Shawn, come lead
us in the closing hymn.