Let's begin this morning in John
chapter 5. John chapter 5. Several years ago I read a small
book by a preacher up in eastern Kentucky. read it with great delight, just
great delight. And I found out a few months
ago that he had written another and I searched and searched and
got hold of some of the fellow's heirs down in Covington, Virginia
and finally found a copy of the book and ordered it and read
it. And read it with great delight until I came to a portion in
the book that I, as they say, my jaw dropped. I can't believe
this. and thoroughly convinced of all
the doctrines of God's grace and went to considerable lengths
to deny the resurrection of the body. Isn't that unbelievable? You expect it from liberals,
you expect it from infidels, you don't expect it from fellows
who say they believe in God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. but it went to considerable length
to demonstrate that the resurrection is altogether spiritual. Now,
I ask you to turn to John chapter 5 because I want to show you
clearly that while the scriptures speak of the resurrection spiritually,
the scriptures speak of the resurrection in exactly the same context physically
and bodily. John chapter 5, verse 25. Our Lord Jesus speaking. He says,
Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. And he hath given him authority
to execute judgment also. because he's the son of man.
The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the son of God and shall live. That happens every time
God the Holy Spirit takes the word of his grace and causes
the dead sinner to hear the gospel of his salvation, giving him
life and faith in Jesus Christ. He is raised from the dead. That's what the new birth is.
It is resurrection from the dead. John tells us in Revelation chapter
20, verse 6, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection. That's the new birth. It's a
spiritual resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death hath
no power. Those who are born of God need
not fear death. They've already been raised from
the dead spiritually, and they shall be raised from the dead
physically, their bodies raised from the dead. John 8, or John
chapter 5, verse 28. Marvel not at this. That is,
you shouldn't be surprised at this. Marvel not that men are
raised from the dead spiritually by the sovereign power of the
sovereign Christ. for the hour is coming in the
which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come
forth. Both the righteous dead and the
wicked dead. All who are in the graves shall
hear his voice and come forth. They will come forth, he says,
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and
they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. There shall be a resurrection
of these bodies just as our Lord Jesus himself was raised from
the dead. All right, now if you will turn
to Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20. We read earlier
that There were some in the Church of Corinth who said there's no
such thing as a resurrection. There have always been religious
folks who said there's no resurrection. Enoch spoke of it before the
flood. Job spoke of it, who lived probably
at least earlier than Abraham. The resurrection is spoken of
as the hope of God's people throughout the Old Testament and the New.
But in the days of our Lord's earthly ministry and even during
the apostolic age among churches established by the apostles,
there were those who denied the resurrection thinking that this
is a carnal doctrine, thinking that this is something that is
inconsistent with spiritual truth. Among them were the Sadducees.
And the Sadducees came with the Pharisees and the Herodians to
question the Lord Jesus here in Luke 20. They raised questions
hoping to catch him in his words, hoping to find by his answer
to their what they thought impossible questions. They hoped that he
would say something amiss and thereby demonstrate that he was
not truly that prophet, the Christ. Or that he would say something
utterly heretical and thereby they would have reason to justly
crucify him as they found an excuse to do later. The Sadducees
were the very liberal sect of the Jews. And they denied the
resurrection. They said, that's just carnal.
That's for silly, ignorant country folks. That's not for learned,
intellectual folks like us. Now, they just talk about the
resurrection of the body. Why? Why, nobody believes that
who knows anything at all. And so they came and asked our
Lord a ridiculous question. And most questions and debates
become very ridiculous. And that's never more true than
with regard to religious things. Look here in Luke chapter 20,
verse 34. Jesus answering said to these Sadducees, they said,
they asked him, said, if a man marries a woman and he dies,
and he's got six brothers and they all marry the same woman,
they all die, who's she going to be married to in the resurrection?
Boy, that's profound, isn't it? The likelihood of that happening,
That's far stretching itself. That's far stretching itself.
But our Lord answers, the children of this world marry and are given
in marriage. But they which shall be counted,
they which shall be accounted worthy. What a word. There are some people who shall
be accounted worthy to obtain another world. Some folks shall
be counted worthy to obtain that world we speak of as eternity,
as heaven, as the new creation, as the kingdom of God. There
are some who shall be counted worthy of that world, to obtain
that world and the resurrection from the dead. They neither marry
nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die anymore.
For they are equal to the angels of God, and are the children
of God, being the children of the resurrection. They shall
be raised from the dead, because they are children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised,
even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For all live unto him. Now, the passage to which our
Lord Jesus here refers is found in Exodus chapter 3. You don't
need to turn there. You'll remember it. Moses is
standing at the burning bush, and the Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ,
the pre-incarnate God, is speaking to Moses out of the bush. And
this is what he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Do you remember what the Lord
said? He said, Moses is here talking about the resurrection. Wow. Merle, this book is so big,
so big. I read this verse, and read this
verse, and read this verse, and read this verse for nearly 40
years before I put the two together. And I could have gone on reading
this verse for another 40 years and never have dreamed that Moses
was talking about the resurrection if our Lord Jesus, who spoke
the words out of the bush, hadn't said, this is what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about the resurrection. Now, look what
Moses said. The Lord God spoke out of the bush and he said,
I am the God. There is no other. He who is God is not a God among
many. He is the God. We don't worship a God. We don't
believe in a God. We're not saved by a God. We
know the God, the one true and living God. And there is none
other. We worship him who is the God. He says, I am the God of thy
father. I looked over these words again
very late last night and thinking of these two children and you. Oh, what a privilege, what a
blessing for this man Moses to have been born to a mama and
daddy who believed God. I am the God of your father. I'm the God your father believed
in worship, the God your father told you about all the days you
were growing up. And then he says third, I'm the
God of Abraham. Abraham representing God's covenant. All the way through the Old Testament
scriptures and through the New, Abraham is that one who stands
as the representative of God's covenant grace. So the Lord says
to Moses, I am the God you can count on. I am the God who keeps
the covenant steadfast and sure. I am the God of Abraham, that
God Abraham believed, that God who made a covenant with Abraham,
and that God who shall bring Abraham's children out of Egypt
according to his covenant. So I am the God and the God of
your father the God of the covenant And then it says I'm the God
of Isaac What do you think of when you think about Isaac? I'll
tell you what I think of first thing when I think about Isaac
substitution Isaac is that one who was raised up from the dead
Paul tells us in Romans chapter 4 and He was raised up from the
dead, representatively. He was raised up from the dead,
typically, because he was on the altar, his father slew him,
but there was a ram who died in his stead, and Abraham called
the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. It is a picture of Christ, our
substitute, who died in our room instead, and God is speaking
to Moses out of the bush. He says, I am thee God. I'm thee
God? of your father. I am the God
of the covenant. I am the God who saves his people
by substitution. And then he says, I'm the God
of Jacob. The God of Jacob. Let me tell
you what I think of every time I think of the name Jacob. Very
first thing comes to my mind. Slippery. Cunning. Deceitful. fickle, sinful. He says, I'm the God of Jacob. I am the God, the God of your
father, the God your father trusted, the God of the covenant, the
God who fulfills the covenant, the God who saves by substitution,
the God who saves folks like Jacob. Jacob, the God who saves
sinners because he delighteth in mercy. Oh, will you hear me? Will you hear me this day, you
who are but a breath from eternity without God, without life, without
faith, without Christ? The God we worship saves sinners
like you and me through the merits of his darling son who died in
the place of sinners. I am the God, the God of thy
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. And then he says, I'm not the
God of the dead, but of the living. I am the God of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were
thought by all to have been dead. Dead for a long, long time. As
far as the eyes of man could see, they were dead. You could
go dig up their bones. You could find them and dig them
up. Look at them. Put them in a museum if you wanted
to. They were dead. Everybody knew they were dead.
But the Lord Jesus, when he spoke to Moses out of the bush, said,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, And Moses, your daddy, are alive. I'm the God of the living. And
their bones are coming out of the grave. That's the reason
Joseph commanded that his bones be carried out of Egypt. That's
the reason they buried their dead in hope of the resurrection. Now, there's something personally
sweet and glorious in this. When it appears to all others,
and more so to me than to anyone, that I am dead, Christ is still my life, and
I live in him. I live with him, and I live by
him. When I was spiritually dead,
when I came forth from my mother's womb speaking lies, I was dead
spiritually and under the sentence of death because of sin Condemned
in my conscience a child of wrath just like everybody else by nature. I Was already alive in Christ
Alive with him the Lamb of God Crucified and risen from the
dead before the world began alive with him with whom I died at
Calvary and with whom I arose when he arose from the grave,
I am alive with him. This union we have with Christ,
this wondrous union of God's elect with Christ is not something
that commenced in time. We are one with him eternally. As long as He has been our surety,
as long as He has been our mediator, standing forth before God Almighty
as our representative, we have been one with Him. When He is
that one brought forth from the beginning, ever the earth was,
we were brought forth with Him, living with Him. And now, since
I have been quickened by His Spirit, and I've been given life
and faith in Him, How often I seem dead. I can't tell you how often,
more often than not. You see me sitting here writing
something. I stand up here getting ready
to preach to you, David Coleman, I'm as dead as a stone. And I write often, Lord God,
Awaken my dead heart and let me preach with life To these
who hear your word make it a word of life Well, I'm dead. Oh What I seem to feel within me
most of the time is corruption and death and darkness and Skip, that's just fact. That's
just how I feel. Empty. Void. Oh, but when I seem most dead,
I'm still alive because Christ is my life. I know He is because
I trust Him. I know He is because He declares,
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. In Luke 20,
our Lord declares that His people, God's elect, all who trust Him,
are a people who are counted worthy to obtain the next world,
worthy to obtain heaven and glory. They are they who have done good
and shall come forth unto the resurrection of life. Now, Brother Don, You know no
man does good. You know that. You know it's
impossible for a man to do that which is righteous. I'm glad
you've been listening. You're right. I do know that.
I'm fully aware of that. You don't only, not only is it
true you can't do good, you can't even think good. You can't even have a good aspiration.
It doesn't lie within the realm of possibility. A polluted fountain
cannot put forth sweet water, and our polluted hearts cannot
put forth that which is good. Our corrupt nature cannot bring
forth that which is incorruptible or incorrupt. We must recognize
then that we have done good only in the person who is himself
good, and that is God our Savior, our representative. And because
he has done good for us, And we have done good in him. But I want you to get hold of
this thing about our union with Christ. When the Son of God came
out of his mother's womb in human flesh and said, Lo, I come to
do thy will, O my God. That was Larry Brown. That was
Larry Brown. That wretched, sinful man sitting
right there. And when he walked on this earth
and said to his mom and dad, I must be about my father's business
as Larry Brown. And when he walked on this earth
and could not be tempted of evil because there was no evil in
him as Larry Brown. And when he finished his course,
having done his father's will, fulfilling all righteousness
as a man in every detail of God's holy character and God's holy
law, that was Larry Brown. He did it all. One with Him. One with Him. We obey God in
Him. And so His righteousness is ours. And we are counted worthy of
that world to come. Nobody else is going to enter
in except those who are worthy. All liars shall be cast into
hell. All that deceive and make a lie.
Those who are His, the children of God, are the children of the
resurrection. And he says, this is what I showed
Moses in the bush. If you knew the scriptures, if
you knew the power of God, or as Moses put it later, if you
had known the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush like I
do, you'd understand that the salvation of God's people and
their resurrection glory is a matter of absolute certainty. For the
fact is, the work of redemption is not finished until the redemption
of the body. Oh, blood atonement was finished
at Calvary. When our Savior cried from the cross, it is finished.
Sin was put away and we were made then the righteousness of
God in Jesus Christ. But there's more to redemption
than just blood atonement, more to redemption than just the paying
of a price. Redemption means deliverance. Redemption is the deliverance
of the slave, the deliverance of the captive, the deliverance
of the debtor, the deliverance of one bound by the paying of
a price and by the power of God. And God, the Holy Spirit, is
that one who seals us unto the day of redemption, the redemption
of our bodies. We're told Romans chapter eight.
And then comes the And the Lord Jesus presents us body, soul,
and spirit, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable with exceeding
joy before the presence of his glory. Turn to John chapter 11. This is exactly what the Lord
taught Martha in John chapter 11. Her brother Lazarus was dead,
but he wasn't. Jesus said in verse 21, then
said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. She said, Lord,
I know that if you ask it, God will give it to you. I believe
that. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. And Martha saith unto him, I
know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last
day. And the implication is I want to rise right now. I know he's
going to rise in the last day, but I want it back now. And Jesus
said unto her, I will raise him from the dead.
That's not what he said, is it, Bobby? is I am the resurrection. He said, Martha, honey, learn
this. The resurrection is not a doctrine. You're looking at
it. I am the resurrection. I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. I am the God of the living, not
of the dead. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me, shall never die. Never die. Martha's response
to the Savior's words demonstrated her confident faith in him as
the long expected Messiah. But the Lord Jesus said, Martha,
Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. If you live and
believe on me, you'll never die. Do you believe this? And she
saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe thou art the Christ, the Son
of God, which is come into the world. Because we believe that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, we live in hope of
the resurrection. I say with Paul, if in this life
only We have hope in Christ. We are of all men most miserable.
Now, what does that mean? I have heard these things suggested. And even as a boy, just a 17-year-old
boy, when I first heard such things, I can remember him just
cringing. The believer's life in this world
is really and not a very happy life. And if there's no resurrection,
then we live this miserable life for nothing. Of course, the fellow
who made the statement was one of those fellows who taught that
believers must do this, must do that, and can't do this, can't
do that. wear certain kind of clothes.
You can't go to certain places. You can't watch TV. You can't
go to the movies. You can't have anything alcoholic
to drink. If it's something more than Kool-Aid,
it's bad. And you can't smoke, and you
can't chew, and you can't go to the ballgame on Sunday afternoon.
You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't. And he said, this
is what he said, this is really hell, and I don't like it, but
I'm going to do it so I get to heaven. That's not what Paul's
talking about. He doesn't mean that it's really
more delightful and more pleasurable to live in this world without
faith. And it certainly doesn't mean that there's, were it not
for the hope of eternal glory, were it not for the hope of everlasting
life, the people of God would really prefer not to live in
obedience to the master. They'd really prefer not to live
for God's glory in submission to Christ. Nothing could be further
from the truth. We are not mercenaries. We don't
serve God for the hope of gain, not God's people. We serve him
because he has taught us who he is, revealing himself in us,
causing us to love him. We love him because he first
loved us. When Paul says, if in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all being most miserable,
this is what he's saying. If there were no eternal life
in Christ, no eternal bliss of life with Christ in glory, no
resurrection, then the believer would be the most miserably frustrated
person in the world. If there's no resurrection, just
if you can bear it, entertain that thought for a minute. If
there's no resurrection, We will never have that which we most
earnestly desire. Then shall I be satisfied when
I awaken thy likeness. Oh, that I may know him in the
fellowship of his sufferings, in the power of his resurrection,
be made conformable unto his death. When we see him, we shall
be like him. But if there's no resurrection,
never have it. If there's no resurrection, we
will never see the end of that for which we hope. If there's
no resurrection, we will never be embraced of Christ or be embraced
by Christ. If there's no resurrection, we
will never see our Redeemer. Such a thought. The very thought is horrible. Nothing could be more cruel,
more miserable than to live in hope of seeing Christ, being
like Christ, and spending eternity with Christ, only to die like
a dog. What could be more miserable?
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we have all been
most miserable. What a horrible, unbearable thought.
What a tormenting supposition. But bless God, it's not so. I
live in hope of the resurrection. For 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, though my reins be consumed within me. Because
I live in hope of the resurrection. In sickness, I'm calm. In sorrow, even as sorrow breaks
my heart, I'm peaceful. In trial and afflictions, though
they may and do annoy me like they do you, I'm at ease in bereavement. Whether I bury someone I dearly
love as one with me in Christ or bury
one that I dearly love and I've done so many times. Who has no hope? No hope. I'm still confident
because he who loved me, my redeemer, and gave himself for me, my savior,
is God on his throne and he only does what's right. He only does
what's right. I buried both my mother and my
dad, preached both the funerals. and have no hope of ever seeing
them outside hell again. No hope. No hope. Well, you ought to get some cards
and ask somebody to baptize for the dead like the Mormons do
and get them out of hell or pray for the dead like the Papists
do and put some money in the box and get them out of hell.
No, we don't pray for the dead and we don't baptize folks for
the dead. Folks, go to hell, go to hell. And if you go to hell, you're
in hell forever. And I'll bury you. And as I watch
them shovel dirt in your face, I'll say God still does what's
right. He still does what's right. Confident. Why? Because one of these days
I hope to die. in peace, in hope of the resurrection. I hope to leave this world as
I now live, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life. That's called living in the resurrection.
Our assurance of the resurrection is more than belief in a point
of orthodoxy. It's faith and hope in a person. Christ himself is our resurrection. And let me give you three facts.
Number one, here's the basis of our hope
with regard to the resurrection. Number one, We have already been
raised with Christ representatively. I've already touched on that,
I'll say no more. When Jesus Christ stood before God as our
risen savior in eternity, we stood before God with him. And
when the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead as our mediator,
our substitute and our representative at Calvary, and he ascended up
on high and took his seat on the throne of the majesty on
high as our forerunner, he did it as our forerunner and we were
raised from the dead with him representatively. Because he
was raised as the firstfruits the full harvest must surely
follow Because the head was raised the body must be raised because
the representative was raised those represented by him must
be raised Because he who is our surety was raised. We must be
raised from the dead our Savior speaks Hold hold your heads or
just turn over to John chapter 6 John chapter 6 and Look at verse 37. Our Savior
is describing the will of God. Verse 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. No question about that. And him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. Now look at verse 39. And this
is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. This is the Father's will, and
the covenant surety must do the Father's will. Number two, not
only have we been raised with Christ representatively, we have
been raised with Christ experimentally in the new birth. We live in hope of the resurrection
because we've experienced it. We are quickened together with
Christ, raised from the dead. The new birth is no imaginary thing. It's no doctrinal
decision. It's no decision made by men. The new birth is Christ who is
life coming into the being of one who is death. It is Christ
coming into you, Christ entering you, possessing you, giving you
life by His Spirit, making you partaker of the divine nature. Men are dead, dead. Now, you can dress them up and
clean them up and get them in church and make them act religious.
You can give them rules and regulations to live by and convince them
that they're all right. You can get them to say this
or say that and convince other folks they're all right. But
I'm here to tell you who are dead. If the son of God leaves you
to yourself, you're going to hell. My only hope for you is that
he won't leave you to yourself. I pray for you, boys and girls. Rex, Debbie, I pray for your
children like I do my own. And Ron, I pray for your children
like I do my own. Those grandbabies, oh God, have mercy on them. And I had just one hope for them,
that he will have mercy on them. That's all, just that. Because
if he leaves them alone, they're going to hell. How does a sinner
live? When Christ, who is life, comes
to the dead and invades the dead, and the dead hear his voice and
live. You ask me how I know he lives?
He lives within my heart. and his spirit bears witness
from within by his word that I'm born of God. And then we have the revelation
of God. We read it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We live in hope of
the resurrection because we believe the revelation of God concerning
the resurrection of the dead. Our Savior said, whosoever liveth
and believeth on me shall never die. These bodies are going in the
grave and they will moulder and rot in the dust, but we shall
never die. We shall only be elevated to
a higher state of life. And there is a resurrection of
life for these bodies when the Lord Jesus comes again in his
glory. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I'll
wrap this up. Paul says in verse 16, though
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by
day for our light affliction. which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while
we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which
are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
For we know that if our earthly house and this tabernacle were
dissolved, We have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For in this tabernacle, we're burdened.
We grow being burdened not for that we should be unclothed but
clothed upon. That mortality might be swallowed
up of life. Mortality. You know what mortality is? That's
dying. Not mortal, mortality. Mark,
you busted up that leg, it's called a part of the process,
dying. You get a cold, get the flu,
go to bed, get pneumonia, take you to hospital, pump you full
of everything they can and finally, the oxygen mask doesn't work
anymore and you just quit breathing, mortality. That's what we're
doing here, we're dying. Oh, but mortality, mortality
shall soon be swallowed up of life. I think I told you this
story before, several years ago when Audra Grace was just a little
girl. We had a little old boxwood elder
tree sitting right outside the kitchen door, just right off
the edge of the patio. Robin came in the spring and
laid her eggs in there. Audrey Grace could stand on the
patio and look right down in the nest. And every time she'd
come over, she'd go look at the robin's eggs. And she came over
one day, first thing she did before she got in the house,
she stopped up there, looked at that nest, and the eggs were
gone. Blue shells laying in the nest
on the leaves of the trees down on the ground. And she asked
me what happened to the robin's eggs. And I said, honey, those
eggs had little baby robins in them. And mama sat on the nest
until the eggs hatched out. And little birds, since you were
here last time, hatched out and have flown away. Those eggs just
indicate that the birds began to live. Soon, you're going to
lay this body in the ground. And when you do, I have flown
away. So flown away to glory called
mortality has been swallowed up of life. And that's the hope
of the resurrection. Amen.