I appreciate Greg reading that
chapter for me. It's a lengthy chapter, but it's
a good chapter. I enjoyed the reading and the
hearing of that chapter. My text this morning is found
in verse 19 of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15
and verse 19. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men Most miserable. This life. Well, the Bible teaches
that there is a present life. There's a present world. And
there's a world to come. You and I live in the present
world, don't we? But this is not the end of it. Really, this
is just the beginning of it, isn't it? There's a world to
come. Our Lord Jesus was talking about
sinning against the Holy Ghost, and He said those who commit
that sin will never have forgiveness, neither in this world, neither
in the world to come. Our Lord Jesus Himself taught
that there was a world to come. Paul makes mention here of this
present life. If in this life only, this is
a present life. And our souls and our bodies
are alive now. I trust that your soul is alive
this morning in Christ, that He's given you spiritual life.
But our souls are alive and our bodies are alive now. And there's
a life to come. There's a life in which the body
and the soul will live. The body will die if the Lord
Jesus carries. As in Adam, all die. But there's
coming a world to come in which that body will be raised from
the dead and body and soul shall live in a world to come. The Apostle Paul says it is in
this life only if the Lord Jesus tarries and does not come in
our life. You know what is going to happen
to us. We are going to die aren't we? It is according to man wants
to die. If he tarries we will all die.
But he says here in verse 22, look in verse 22, he tells us
about this, why we die. For as in Adam, all die. Physically they die. But in Christ
Jesus shall all be made alive physically. Physically. This whole chapter is about the
physical aspect. Not talking when he leaves the
gospel in verses 1 through 4. He then gets on the hope of the
resurrection of the body. In Adam, we died physically as
well as spiritually. But in Christ, we will live physically. We will live physically. The
Lord Jesus preached that in His earthly ministry. He told Martha,
I am the resurrection and the life. and the resurrection and
the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. He deals with two things there,
doesn't he? He deals with faith, faith in himself. He that believeth
in me shall never die. And that confused those apostles
to death because they said, we're going to die. Lazarus is dead. What do you mean we'll never
die? He's speaking of the soul, isn't he? The spirit of a man
who is in Christ shall never die. How could he? He's in Christ.
But you know what else he said? I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, physically, yet
shall he live. That has to do with our hope,
doesn't it? We live by faith and we live by hope. Faith has
to do with this present life for the most part. Faith in Christ
in this present life. We live by faith. We walk by
faith. Hope has to do with the life
that's to come. We're saved by hope. Hope in
a world and hope in a life that's to come. The Apostle Paul began
with this in chapter 15 in verses 1 through 4. He began with a
gospel that I preached unto you and he said, you believe this
gospel. And you're saved by this gospel. You're made alive. You at the quicken who were dead
in trespasses and sins. And then he gets on the resurrection
of the body, the hope that we have. And brothers and sisters,
wouldn't your heart break this morning if you didn't have a
good gospel hope? Knowing what you know now, that
there is a present life and there's a life to come. If you didn't
have hope in that life to come, wouldn't your heart break? We're
in a present world, but this world is going to be destroyed.
There's a new world that's to come. Wouldn't your heart break
if you didn't have a good hope in that world that's to come?
Yes, it would. It most certainly would. And
you know something? There's only one thing that gives
a good hope, and that's the Gospel. You won't find it in any other
religion. You can go to the Hindus and
hear them talk about the foolishness of reincarnation. Some of the
other religions that spouts their foolishness. But the only place
you can find a sure hope in a life in a world to come is in the
gospel. It's a gospel hope. A gospel
hope. And this is our text this morning,
verse 19. If in this life only, We have
hope in Christ. We are of all men most miserable.
First, I want to see why the Apostle Paul made this statement.
If in this life only, we have hope in Christ. Why did he make
that statement? Well, you see up here in verse
12 why he made this statement. There were people at Corinth
saying that the dead wasn't going to raise. There wasn't going
to be a physical resurrection. See what they said in verse 12?
And if Christ be preached that He raised from the dead, how
say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now, if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not raised Himself. And you know something? There
are some awful consequences if Christ is not raised from the
dead. Awful, awful consequences. And He gives us five of them
here. First one, look at verse 13. Here's why He said, if in
this life only we have hope in Christ. Here's the first awful
consequence. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? Here's the first awful
consequence. If Christ is not risen, then
nobody else will rise. The resurrection of the saints
is utterly dependent upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He tells us that in verses 20
through verse 23, that Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection. And if Jesus Christ hasn't raised
from the dead, the saints will not be raised from the dead.
And that's an awful consequence, isn't it? If Christ Jesus isn't
raised from the dead, you have no hope of being raised from
the dead. Look at the second thing. If
Christ be not raised from the dead, there is no resurrection
of the body, then look at this. If there be no resurrection of
the dead, then is Christ not risen, verse 14. And if Christ
be not risen, our preaching is vain, and your faith is also
vain. Why is our preaching vain? Because
we preach to you that Christ died and atoned for our sins. But if Christ died, for our sins,
and he's still dead, we cannot believe that he accomplished
the task of atoning for sin. And therefore, we're still dead
in sins ourselves, aren't we? Look at the third thing he said.
Not only is our preaching vain, but if you believe our preaching,
your faith is vain. See how essential to the atonement,
the resurrection of Christ is. Look in verse 15. Yea, if Christ
be not raised from the dead, we are found false witnesses
of God. Why? Because we have testified
of God, that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so
be that the dead raised not up. If Jesus Christ did not raise
from the dead, Paul said, our preaching is vain, your faith
is vain, and God is going to charge us with bearing false
witness. Because we've said that God raised
Christ from the dead. And you know something? Those
Pharisees were right. When they said, you're an imposter.
You're not the Son of God. And on the cross they said, let
God have Him now. He said, I'm the Son of God.
They looked upon Him on the cross as being rejected of God. Despised
of God. The judgment of God was upon
Him. Well, that's the truth. That's the way it was. If Christ
did not raise from the dead, we're false witnesses of God. And he says in verse 17, And
if Christ be not raised, not only is your faith vain and futile,
you are yet in your sins. The resurrection of Christ was
the infallible evidence that God had accepted the payment
for sin that He gave. How do we know that sin was really
atoned for? How do we know that all the elect
of God shall be justified from everything? Christ raised. The
Father raised Him from the dead and said, Son, sit on my right
hand. You've accomplished the atonement. It's finished. But
He said, if Christ be not raised, You're yet in your sins because
Christ is yet in the grave. And right here is something awful
to think about. Look what he says in verse 18.
Here's another awful consequence of Christ being not raised from
the dead. And they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished. Imagine that. John the Baptist
who gave his life in the cause of Christ You know where he is
today? He's perishing. Dear old Stephen that was stoned
to death for his testimony of Jesus Christ, he's perished. James that they killed with a
sword, with Herod's sword, he's gone forever. All the Old Testament
saints, we think of the sweet psalmist David, he's perished. We think of Job that professed
a good hope, I know that my Redeemer liveth, but he's perished if
Christ hasn't risen from the dead. And we come to the New
Testament and the Gadarene maniac, that we had hope that he was
with Christ. waiting for the resurrection
of the body. Where is he? He's perished. Dear Mary Magdalene
that loved the Lord Jesus, she's perished. I have several friends. Dear old Jim Wilson, whom I love
dearly, Clarence. I had hope of seeing him around
the throne of Christ. And old Scott Richardson, bless
his heart, that preached the gospel to many others. I had
hopes of being there with him and hugging his neck and saying,
Scott, we're here together. You were right. We're worshiping
our Lord with undimmed eyes and an unsinning heart. But you know
something? They're all perished if Christ
be not raised from the dead. And that's why Paul said, if
in this life only we have hope in Christ. If our hope doesn't
extend beyond this present life, if in this life only we have
hope in Christ, that's some awful consequences when you and I begin
to think about it. The resurrection is essential
to the gospel. It's essential. And if Jesus
Christ be not raised from the dead, then neither will we be,
if in this life only. We have hope in Christ. And you
know something? If Christ didn't raise from the
dead, the only life we have is this life. This is the best life
that you and I will ever know if Jesus Christ did not raise
from the dead. And you know there's people today,
we meet them all the time, they have a hope in Christ and it's
a temporal hope. Everything about their hope pertains
to this present life and this present world. We used to go
down to jail and we'd preach to those folks. And every once
in a while you'd notice somebody getting right up next to the
bars. And boy, they was listening to
you so intently. And you'd think, boy, the Lord
may be doing something for that fellow. He's very interested.
Until after the service, they wanted to talk to you. And they
started this stuff about, you think the Lord would help me
get out of jail? You think if you told my wife that I professed
the Lord, this really happens. This really happens. I'm not
telling you this. This really happens. If you could get in
contact with my wife and tell her that I got religion, you
think she'd take me back. And how many people today, we
hear them all the time, their hope in Christ has to do with
just good health. I hope Christ will give me good
health. Or I hope I will prosper. I hope He'll give me a job and
money and help me along in this world. It pertains to this life
only. And those people, if you confront
them with a scriptural hope and a world to come beyond this world,
it not only would confuse them, but it would scare them to death
because their hope is in this present life and it ends there. But oh thank God our hope is
in a life to come. Our hope is in a world to come
beyond this veil of tear. The Apostle Paul isn't saying
here that our hope in Christ has nothing to do with this present
world. Of course it does. We have the
promise of the life that now is and that life which is to
come. We have all kinds of promises
that we hope in, don't we? Let me give you some promises
that we hope in and show you our hope is indeed in this present
world. But it's not limited to it. It
extends to that world that's to come. Take no thought for
yourself saying, what shall we eat or drink or where? Where
are we going to live at? We just worry ourselves sick.
And the Lord Jesus said, after these things do the nations of
the world seek after them. But seek you first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and here's the promise that you
can live upon. All of these things shall be
added unto you. We have hope of this life, don't
we? Our Father in Heaven cares for us. He will sustain and provide
for us. Listen to this promise. I will
never leave you nor forsake you, so that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper right now. He's my helper. And I don't have
to fear what man can do unto me. I don't care who the man
is. We live by hope, don't we, of that promise. Where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst
of them. That encourages me to death as
the pastor. I want to see this place filled up. I'd love to
see that happen. People singing and worshiping
and listening to the gospel. But if there's only two or three
here, we know the Son of God is here. We know it. How do we know it? He's given
us that promise. There am I in the midst. We've got all of these promises,
haven't we? All things work together for good to them that love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose. And you know
something? We live in this present life
by hoping in Him. That's why David said when he
got really down and the valley got long, he said, Oh my soul,
why are you cast down? Why are you so disturbed and
disquieted? Hope thou in God. hope in him for I shall yet praise
him who is the help of thy countenance. Our hope in Christ our Lord right
now in this present life is real but we have a hope in a life
that's to come. And Paul goes ahead to your father
in verses 20 and verse 23 and he proves how certain the resurrection
of the saints is because Christ is their head and representative.
And He's risen. Look at this. Look what He says
in verse 20. Let me read that to you again. But now, I love
that, don't you? But now is Christ risen from
the dead and became the first fruits of them that slept. The first fruits. That's what
Christ is. He's the first one that raised
from the dead to die no more. But He's only the first one.
Many is going to raise because He raised. For since by man,
Adam, came physical death, by man also came the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam, all die. Somebody want to know why babies
die? Because of Adam's sin. Because of Adam's sin. Everybody
dies physically because one man sinned. He died, and we all die. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made physically alive, but every man in his own order. Christ
the firstfruits, and afterwards they that are Christ's at His
coming. They that are Christ's. If you
belong to Him this morning by electing love, If you belong
to Him by redemption, if you're bought by a price, if you belong
to Him because He's possessed you by His Holy Spirit, then you're His. And when He
comes, you're going to be raised from the dead. And you're going
to be changed into His very likeness. In verses 20 through verse 26,
Paul proves something else here. He proved the surety of Christ
of the saints' resurrection from the very fact that their living
head is ruling and reigning right now to this very end to raise
them from the dead. And when the end comes, brothers
and sisters, there won't be but one standing, and that's Jesus
Christ. All His enemies will be under
His feet. Look at that again in verse 24.
Then cometh 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. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. that's going to be standing is
death. And he's going to destroy it. I was listening to a man
preach one time and he said, he said, Jesus Christ desires
to reign. I thought, desires to reign? Brother David Pledger, I may
have put the article in the bulletin one time, David Pledger down
in Houston, Texas, the pastor there, he was going to his study
one day and he saw on the church sign, God is sovereign, let him
have his way. God is sovereign. Let Him have
His way. Brothers and sisters, is Jesus
Christ raining? Is He raining, as Larry said,
over the little grains of sand flying through the air? Is He
raining over the birds? Is He raining over us? Is He
raining to what end? To put the enemies of His church
under His feet. And the last enemy He's going
to destroy is death. He's going to look it right in
the face and He's going to say, O death, where is your sting
now? O grave, where is your victory? He got the success over it in
His own resurrection. And right now He's living and
reigning until He accomplishes that in His Now, if it's true
that some tells us He's desiring to reign, but He really can't
because we won't let Him, then we don't have much hope. Because
what's going to happen between here and then and there? But
He's reigning, isn't He? All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. Nothing rises, nothing wiggles,
nothing flies, nothing moves. apart from Jesus Christ. He's
reigning. Look here in verse 35. Some in the Corinthian church
were asking some questions about the resurrection. And I passed
over verse 29. Else what shall they do which
are baptized for the dead, if the dead raise not at all? Why
then are they baptized from the dead? for the dead. And to me,
there's no great mystery in that at all. When a person is baptized,
in the sense that Paul was talking about here, what do we profess
in baptism? What have these people professed
in water baptism? Death, burial, and what? Resurrection. Paul was telling
them, he said, I baptized some of you, but not many of you,
but he said you were baptized. And he said, why were you baptized
if it wasn't a profession of the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ? Why then are you baptized for
Christ, in your profession of Christ? But he goes on here,
and these smart men, Greg talked about these, this was a messed
up church, wasn't it? It was a messed up church. But
you know something? It was his church. And he had
much people there, didn't he, Greg? And that comforted Paul.
Paul got much afraid. I guess he was ready to leave
Corinth. And the Lord appeared to him in a vision and said,
Paul, don't be afraid. I've got much people in this place. And
he stayed there for quite some time and preached the gospel
to them. But he had some foolish people in this church, too. And
no doubt had some false professors in it. Some tires among the wheat.
Some goats. And Paul got rough with these
guys. They said, well, there's no such way that dead people
can raise them. How in the world? You can just
see them. How in the world? Can you take
a body that's dead and lifeless and now it's rotted in the ground?
My goodness, how's that body going to raise up? How? How?
They said. Ain't that what they said? That's
what he said. Look in verse 35. Some man, some
of you will say, how are the dead raised up? And with what
body do they have? How can it possibly happen? How? How? How? Well, you know something? The Bible tells us how. Let me
give you about three reasons, three ways the Bible says how
and will answer our how. First of all, how are the dead
raised up? By the power of God. By the power
of God. Listen to I Corinthians 6.14. God hath both raised up the Lord
Jesus and will also raise up us by His own power. Some of these Corinthians had
a form of godliness, but were denied the power thereof. Do
you know it? The power of God. Listen to Philippians 3.20, by
the ability of Jesus Christ. Our conversation is in heaven.
from which we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who shall change
our bow bodies, and fashion it like unto His glorious body,
listen, according to the working, whereby He is able to subdue
all things unto Him." He has the ability to raise the body,
to change the body. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief. He was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He
was able to perform. And when Jesus Christ promised
that the dead would raise, He had the ability to fulfill that
promise. His voice. Listen to John 5, 28. The hour
is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His
voice. And what's going to happen when
they hear it? They shall come forth. Some to everlasting life
and others to shame and everlasting contempt. They're going to come
forth. Fourthly, His presence. His presence. You know nobody ever died in
the presence of Jesus Christ. When He was here, do you remember
one time that any of His children ever died in His presence? Nobody
ever did. And nobody ever stayed dead in
His presence. When He showed up, what happened? They came alive, didn't they?
They came alive. And I Thessalonians chapter 4
tells us that plainly. That the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout. He's coming again, isn't He?
With the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And what's
the very next thing say? and the dead shall be raised. I tell you, where He's present,
you can't die. And if you're dead and His presence
comes, He gives you life. He gives you life. Every man
in his own order, Paul said here, Christ's the firstfruits, afterwards
they that are Christ's at His coming. When He comes, there
the old body is in the ground, and it's dead and rotting. but
he'll raise at his breast. They ask this question, not only
how, but they ask with what bodies do they come? And Paul spends
some verses here answering that question, with what bodies do
they have? There's still some discussion
about this, and I'm not saying you all, me and you know every
detail about the resurrection. But Paul answers their question,
what body does it have? What body could it possibly come
forth with? And he proves here the reality of the resurrection
of the dead from nature itself. He says, look at these old dried
up beans and dried up grains and kernels of corn. And he said,
what happens to those when you put one of them in the ground?
Look how he says it. Look here in verse 36. Thou fool,
that which thou soweth is not made alive, is not quickened,
except it dies. And that which thou sowest, thou
soweth not that body that shall be, but you sow so bare grain. It may chance to be of wheat
or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body, as it hath
pleased Him, and to every seed His body." And Paul is saying,
when God created these things, He made these little seeds, and
every seed has its own glorious body within it. This is one thing,
one of the reasons why I plant a garden every spring. Colleen,
I love to watch those things sprout up. You take an old dried
up seed, been laying on the shelf or in a jar for who knows how
long, and you put it in the ground, let a little moisture get to
it, and that old dried up seed dies to itself, And that old
bean seed springs up into this beautiful bush, disloaded down
with beans. You take a little apple seed,
and you stick it in the ground, and what happens? Lo and behold,
this tree springs up, loaded with fruit. And Paul says, if
God did that in creation, can He not do it with our bodies?
Well, of course He can. Of course He can. Then he goes on here in verses
39 and through verse 41 and he's going to teach them something
else from the very creation that God made that he made all kinds
of bodies. He gives these objects all kinds
of bodies and each one of them had their own glory. And look
here what he says in verse 39. All flesh is not the same flesh.
But there are one kind of flesh of men, there's another of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds. That includes the sea
and dry land and the air, doesn't it? There are also celestial
bodies. That is, there's heavenly bodies
and there's earthly terrestrial bodies. But the glory of the
heavenly is one and the glory of the earthly is another. There's
a glory of the sun and another glory of the moon, another glory
of the stars. For one star differeth from another
star in glory. But who made all of this? Who
made them to distinguish? He made different stars. You
go out of the night and you see stars and not all of them have
the same brightness. And there's the huge moon and
in the day there's the huge sun that's so bright. The heavenly
bodies. God made them and give to each
of them their own glorious body and being. That's the way He does as the
Creator. And now these fellows come here and say, my goodness,
we don't understand what kind of body they're going to have.
Well, man, look what God's been doing from the creation of time,
making all these different bodies. Now he's going to apply that
in verse 32. So also is the resurrection of the dead. Just like that old
dried up seed. Look at it. It is sown in corruption. You think you're not a sinner? They're going to put your body
back in a casket. They're going to have to suck all the blood
out of it and fill it full of embalming fluid or you're going
to start stinking. Real quick. Real quick. And they're going to put you
back in the ground, and when that bombing fluid ceases to affect
the body, you're going to start rotting. And these worms in the
sides are going to start eating you away. It's sown in corruption. And you better hope that you've
got a hope for that body. It is sown in corruption. Look
at this. It is raised in incorruption. Can God do that? Well, we've
seen it in creation, haven't we? Yes, He can do that. Look at this. It is sown in dishonor. Job said, naked came out of my
mother's womb and naked I'm going to return. If you sleep without
any nightclothes on and you have a heart attack and die, they're
going to come the next day and find you naked. And they'll have
to cover you up to keep your shame from showing. Dishonor! A dead body is dishonorable,
isn't it? But look at this. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. Utterly
unable to do anything but lay there and sting. but it is raised
in power. It is sown a natural body. It
is raised a spiritual body. This is why the Lord Jesus not
only had a physical body, but you know He could go through
walls. He could leave this earth and ascend up through all the
universes, right on up into heaven. He had a spiritual body. It wasn't
limited to the physical and the natural. Well, how in the world is this
going to be? Well, look over here in verse 49. Verse 48. Look in verse 48. As
is the earthly, such also that are earthly. As is the heavenly,
such also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, we borne the image of the fallen Adam, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly. Jesus Christ our glorified Lord.
For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. No flesh and blood going to heaven,
is there? It's impossible. Neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Now, here's the reality of this. Get this in your heart. Believe
this and live in the hope of this, dear child of God. Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall
not all die. Most of us will. But there's
going to be some people left when Christ comes. We're not
all going to die. But we shall all be changed. Those who are alive are going
to be changed. Those who are in the grave are
going to be raised and changed. How quick, verse 52, 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 which are alive and remain
shall be changed." For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality. And when this corruptible shall
I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory? What a hope! What a hope! And you'll only find that hope
in the Gospel. There's no other hope, only in the Gospel. If in this life only we had hope
in Christ, that Paul proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, our hope
extends into a world and a life to come, doesn't it? If you have
a hope this morning, brothers and sisters, I tell you it has
a profound effect upon you. If He's given you a good hope,
It has a profound effect upon what you think, where you go,
how you live, how you walk, all the motives of your life. If
He's giving you a good hope, you know what it does? It makes
you hold loosely the things of this life. And it puts you looking
for that life that's to come. Now are we the sons of God, and
it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him, but we shall see Him
as He is. Every man that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. It has a profound
effect upon us to have a hope beyond this life. The second part quickly of our
text back in verse 19. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ. Look at this. Paul said, I for
one am more miserable than anybody else. Man alive. That dear man. He
tells us here in this chapter. That he said, I thought with
beasts. Men like beasts at Aethius. They
gathered against him and stoned him to death, hated him because
he preached the gospel of Christ. He said, if my hope is just in
this lifetime after the way I've suffered for the cause of Christ,
he said, I'm of all men most miserable. Look here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Look what he says in verse 23.
Brother Donnie Bell used to say that if there was no life to
come, the Christian life is the best life. Well, I agree with
that wholeheartedly. But you know something? If this
was the only life, I wouldn't be denying myself like I did.
Would you? I'd be seeking to have it a little
bit better in this life if I knew this life was all there is. Some people may say, well, Bruce,
that's some awful motives. We live for the Lord just because
He's the Lord. I know that. I know that. But
I'm telling you what, a life to come motivates you to suffer
for His cause, does it not? And look here at what Paul said,
verse 23 of chapter 11. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors, more abundant. In stripes, above measure. In prisons, more frequent. In
deaths, oft. Of the Jews, five times received
I forty stripes. They've won thirty-nine stripes.
Three times was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck.
A day and a night I have been in the deep. In journeyings often,
in pearls of waters, in pearls of robbers, in pearls by my own
countrymen, in pearls by the heathen, in pearls in the city,
in pearls in the wilderness, in pearls in the sea, pearls
among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, and fastings often, and cold,
and nakedness, besides those things, without those which come
upon me daily, the care of all the churches." Do you think he
would have suffered all of that? No, he would not have suffered
all of that. He said, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ, then let us eat, let us drink, Let
us go ahead and be married and give ourselves over to this life
because this is the best life we'll ever have. Let us join
them and take it easy. But there is a world to come,
isn't there? And if you have a hope in it, bless your heart.
It has a profound effect upon you. David said, I will hope continually. I live in hope. I'll hope continually. When the storms of life are raging,
I'll hope. When the valleys get long and
dark, He said, I'll hope. When the hills get high and difficult,
I'll hope. When friends turn on me, I'll
hope. When it seems like God hides His face, I'll hope. I
will hope continually. And what's the effect of that?
I will yet praise Him more and more. Hope. Hope. Aren't you glad for a good
hope? Oh, thank God for hope. Thank
God for a good hope. The Lord bless His word. Let
us pray.