Now of all the doctrines which the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ has revealed unto us, perhaps the most difficult to
human thought is the actual resurrection of a body from corruption and decay. We know what happens to the body
after the spirit leaves the body, after a person dies, the body
rots and decays and goes back to the dust. And the scripture teaches that,
and promises to believers, a perfection of body, body and soul, not only
a perfection of soul, perfection of body. The scripture teaches
that that body, which has been buried and which
has degenerated and gone back to
the dust, that body will be brought forth in perfection from the
great in the image of Christ and enjoy an eternity of glory
and happiness and joy on a new earth and a new heaven. If you'll
turn to Luke 24, I'll show you where our Lord actually demonstrated
the new body, the resurrected body, to his disciples after
our Lord died. Now, he never saw corruption.
He never saw corruption. But our Lord came forth from
the grave. His body was raised. That's what scripture said. God
raised him from the dead. And He's the first fruits of
them that shall be raised from the dead. And the other fruits
are going to be like the first fruits. Our bodies are going
to be like His. And here in Luke 24, verse 36, And as they thus spake, Jesus,
now watch this, Himself, it's the same person, How many times
do the apostles say, this same Jesus, this same Jesus, this
same Jesus whom you crucified, hath God raised up Himself. You know, when Job said, I shall
see the Lord Himself, myself, Himself. Jesus himself stood in the midst
of them and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And they were terrified
and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts
arise in your heart? Behold, my hands and feet, it
is I myself." That's what I'm trying to say to you. When Christ
arose from the grave, it wasn't another person, it was himself.
He said, myself. And then secondly, they thought
it was a spirit, but he says here in verse 9, "...Behold,
my hands and my feet, it is I myself, handle me, and see, for spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Our Lord came
forth from the tomb, myself, flesh and bones. You'll see in
1 Corinthians 15, glorified flesh, but flesh. He said there are
several kinds of flesh. There's the flesh of birds and
the flesh of bees and the flesh of men, and there's glorified
flesh, not the same flesh. But first, it's the same person. Secondly, flesh and bones. Thirdly,
he said, look here, handle me. Reach out and touch me. Why did
he say behold my hands and my feet? Why did he say behold my
head, my face? When he yelled out those hands,
they were undeniable marks. The wounds in his hands and his
feet. That's where the nails were. It's I myself. You see, that's what I'm telling
you. Spirit doesn't handle me. And then look here. See those
nail prints? Look at my feet. I myself. They still didn't believe. They
were still troubled. Verse 40. And when he had thus
spoken, he showed them his hands and feet, and while they yet
believed not. For joy. They were so happy,
they just can't be so. Too wonderful to be true. I just
can't believe it. I can't believe it. He said,
have you here any meat? They gave him a piece of broiled
fish and a honeycomb and he took it and he ate before them. Now is there any, did he leave
any doubt whatsoever? This man died, taken down from
the cross and treated like any other dead carcass. wrapped in
linen and put in a tomb and lay there three days. And the only
reason he didn't see corruption, he's the Son of God. He's the
Lord Jesus. He can't see corruption. There's
no corruption in him. You and I are rocked from the
inside. It's not just the water and the dust that gets us, it's
the corruption within us, flesh. But three days later, he came
forth and he said, it's I myself. I have flesh and bones. Touch
me. Look at my hands and feet. If
there's any doubt in your mind, and they still didn't believe
for joy, and he sat down and ate. You see, the apostles went forth
preaching two doctrines for which they were stoned, hated, imprisoned
and finally put to death. Every one of them was put to
death but one. John was exiled on the Isle of
Patmos and died 90 years old, something like that. But the
rest of them were despised and hated and imprisoned and stoned
and every imaginable thing done to them because of two doctrines. The first one is this, salvation
by the grace of God. Not by works, by grace. Not by
ceremony and tradition, by His grace through the blood of Jesus
Christ. Through the obedience and righteousness
and blood of His dear Son. And that by faith. Now you understand
that and you love it. But the natural man, especially
the natural religious man, doesn't love that gospel. That gospel
of grace alone. God elected a people, chose them
in Christ before the world. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. If God owes a man anything, it's
not grace, it's death. If we deserve his kindness and
favor, it's not mercy, it's death. It's by grace, salvations of
the Lord. in its origination, in its execution,
in its application, in its sustaining power, in its ultimate glory.
It's all of God. He's the author and finisher
of our faith by grace. And it's by the obedience and
death of Christ. He walked the winepress of God's
wrath alone, alone, alone, by Himself, purged our sins. Paid the debt, paid it in full,
satisfied God's justice, enabled God to be just and justified. Fulfilled a perfect holiness,
every jot and tittle. And we were accepted in the Beloved.
And that's not by works, that's by faith. By grace, so you're
saved through faith, and that's not of yourself, it's the gift
of God. It's not of works. We're His
workmanship. It's a free gift of God, the
free grace of God, the free mercy of God. And all through Christ
Jesus alone. Christ, our hope. Christ, our life. Christ, our salvation. Christ,
our sanctification. Christ, our righteousness. Christ,
our redemption. Christ is all in all. It's a
free gift of God. And he keeps us, by his grace,
we're kept by the power of God, to an inheritance eternal, undefiled,
that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith. Not through your works, through
your faith. And the second doctrine that was equally hated and despised
was the resurrection of the dead. Did you know that? The resurrection
of the dead. Rejected and denied. The resurrection
of the dead. These two stand together. Redemption
and restoration. They stand together. He redeemed
us soul and body. Soul and body. That's what I
read to you a little while ago in John 6. Turn over there a
moment. in John chapter 6. We shall be raised. Who's going
to be raised? Whom will He raise? Whom will He raise from the dead?
Are you going to be raised? Am I? He said in verse 39, This is
the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I'll lose nothing but raise it up
again at the last day." That's the person he's going to raise,
the one God gave him. That's right. Whom he foreknew,
he predestinated to be conformed to his image. Whom he predestinated,
he called. Whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he's going to glorify. He said, every one
my father gave me, I'm going to raise him up. I'm going to
raise him up. It goes together. If the Father
gave a person to Him, He's got to raise him. He's got to raise him. He said,
of all that you've given me, I lost nothing. All right, look
at the next verse. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, you got to see Him by
faith, see Him in the Word, see Him on the cross, see Him in
the Gospel, See Him fulfilling all your righteousness? See Him
by faith. I see. I see. He that seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I'm going to raise
Him up. That's who I'm going to raise, the one that sees the
Son and believes on Him. I'm going to raise Him up. I'm going to raise everyone up.
See how these things go? I see how when they went forth
preaching grace, I watched it. I said, The grace of God, the
blood of Christ, and faith. And he said, the grace of God,
everybody he gave me, I'm going to raise him. And everybody who
sees me, crucified, buried, and risen, sees me in redemption,
believes I redeemed them, I redeemed them alone by myself. I'm going
to raise him. And who else is he going to raise?
Well, let's see. Verse 44. No man can come to me, believe
on me, except my Father which sent me draw him, and I'm going
to raise him up at the last day." Has God drawn you by faith? Has God Almighty opened your
heart to receive, to believe, to receive this gospel, to love
it? Do you believe on Christ? Has He drawn you? Look at verse
45. It's written in the prophets, they're going to be taught of
God. Taught of God. Every man that has heard and
learned of the Father, he comes to me, and I'll raise him up
at the last day." But that's not hard to see, is it? The disciples went forth preaching
what I'm trying to preach this morning. Salvation by grace,
not by Jewish law and ceremony and duties and traditions and
sacrifices and holy days and Sabbaths. by grace, the grace
of God, through the blood of Christ, by faith. And Christ
said, everybody who's a recipient of His grace, His sovereign,
eternal, free grace, He gave them to me, I'm going to raise
them up at the last day. And everybody washed in the blood,
redeemed by the Lamb, I'm going to raise him up. And everybody
who hears this gospel, in a supernatural fashion, and my Father enlightens
the mind and the heart and draws him to me. I won't raise him
up. They go together. You see, the
Old Testament believers look forward to the resurrection.
I told you last Sunday, Abraham took his son to the mountaintop
to sacrifice him because, He accounted that God was able to
raise Isaac from the dead. Even, the word says, from the
dead. As a foundation of Abraham's
faith, he believed God and believed God could raise the dead. Job
said this, though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet
in my flesh, when our Lord say to the disciples, a spirit doesn't
have flesh and bone, And Job, the oldest writer, said, in my
flesh, I'm going to see God, I myself, not another, I myself. David, thou wilt not leave my
body in the grave. Daniel, those who sleep in the
dust shall rise. Isaiah, thy dead men shall live. dead men. And with my dead body
shall they all rise." Hosea said, He'll raise us up and we'll live
in His sight. I will raise Him up. That's what
our Lord says here. I will raise Him up. Hosea said
that in the Old Testament. He'll raise us up and we'll live
in His sight. Now, if you check the New Testament,
The apostles' message was the same. They preached Christ and
him crucified and the resurrection of the dead. When they chose
an apostle to take the place of Judas, the scripture said
he must be a witness of the resurrection of our Lord. Peter's message
on Pentecost, what was it? Basically, largely a declaration
of Christ's resurrection. He said, you crucified him. They
knew that. They knew Jesus Christ died on
the cross, didn't they? They put him there. And Peter
followed it up with, God didn't leave him there. You put him
there, God raised him from the dead. The disciples were arrested and
put in jail in Acts 4 for what? Preaching the resurrection. Paul
was accused on Mars Hill of preaching strange gods because he preached
Christ and the resurrection. In Acts 17.32, when Paul finished
his message on Mars Hill, it says, they, when they heard of
the resurrection of the dead, they mocked. Paul was called in question in
chapter 23 of the book of Acts for preaching the resurrection
of the dead. And I'll tell you, if you'll
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul tells us the problems
if there is no resurrection. If there's no resurrection, if
what we're preaching this morning is not true, we are faced with
great problems. Great problems. 1 Corinthians
15, 13, listen. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
our preaching is vain and your faith is vain. Verse 15, and
we've found false witnesses of God. We've lied on God. Because
we've testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised
not up, if so be that the dead rise not. If the dead rise not,
then is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised,
listen, your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins, Those which
have fallen asleep in Christ are perished, all of your loved
ones. And what's this? If in this life only, we have
hope in Christ. If this all, that's what he said,
is there no resurrection? Is this all we have? Even in
Christ, is this all we have? Then we are all men, most merciful. If this is life, if this, then
if this is life, And it ends, and no resurrection. Want to take the same train I'm
taking out? I tried. There's no resurrection. But here's the summary, Philippians
chapter 3. Here's the summary. Oh, I love
this scripture here. Here's the summary. Philippians 3, verse 20. Philippians 3 verse 20, for our
conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. It's in heaven. Our citizenship,
my home, my family. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change, who shall change
our bowed body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself." Our citizenship's in heaven from
whence we look for our Savior, who shall change this vile body
into what? That it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, glorified body. Now then, here's the big
problem. Here's the big question, and
some of you sitting there asking this question, well, how are
the dead raised? And with what body do they come?
How are the dead raised? We know this body, you don't
want anything to do with dead bodies. The body's dead and it's
buried, it rots, it decays, it goes back to the dust. When they
find a body that's been dead for a while, they put it in a
plastic zipper bag and close it up, and people wear rubber
gloves and masks and all these things. The deterioration of
the body is terrible. Terrible. Terrible. And that presents a problem.
But let me say this to you. Now listen to this. Listen right
here very carefully. the deterioration of the body
presents a problem to us as far as the resurrection is concerned.
But rather than presenting a problem, the corruption of the body is
a necessity if there's to be a resurrection. It's not an objection,
it's a necessity. Christ said, if a corn of wheat
abides alone. Nothing happens. But if it dies,
it brings forth many, many grains. So the death of that seed and
the corruption and germination of that seed, rather than being
an objection, it's a necessity. In other words, you've got a
corn of wheat. It'll be just like that from
now. unless it dies, unless it's buried. And then it springs forth life. Let me show you that here in
1 Corinthians 15. Turn there just a moment. Paul gives us
that same picture. He says in 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 35, But some man will say, Hire the dead raised up. Now listen real carefully to
me now. How the dead raised up, and with what body do they come,
thy fool? That which thou plantest, sowest,
is not quickened, except it die." In other words, your seed that
you plant in your garden, they don't live unless they die, unless
you plant them. And that which you sow is not
the body that shall be, it's just bare grain, maybe of wheat
or some other grain. But God gives you the body as
it pleased Him to ever seed His own body. Let me show you how
that we see the resurrection every day and take it for granted.
Every day. Resurrection. Now listen to me.
Here's a seed. A seed of corn. You put it in
the ground and it dies. It rots. It decays by water and
dirt for days. It's left in the ground for days.
Soon, as a little green blade appears, which grows and grows
until it becomes a tall stalk of corn and a full ear of corn. Now I ask you, is this the same
corn you planted? Yes, sir. Of course, it came
right up where you put it in the ground. You put it in the
ground, didn't you? You took the corn and put it
in the ground. And in the same way, out of that corn came the
full stalk. And everyone takes that for granted.
Why don't we stand over that stalk and say, how can this be? No, we take it for granted. We
plant seeds every year. You ladies plant flowers. That
beautiful flower comes up. Is that the same thing you planted?
Yeah. Different form, but the same
thing. Right where you planted it. We do that every year. These beautiful vegetables come
up and they fill our tables. And we don't marvel. We take
it for granted. Here's a stalk of corn, five
or six feet high, with all those plush, delicious grains of corn.
A few days ago, it lay in my hand as a shriveled, wrinkled
seed, and it rotted in the ground. And nobody doubts that. Nobody
in this world doubts that it's the same corn that I put in the
ground. It's the same corn. Is it not
the same corn I put in the ground is standing over my head now,
luscious and beautiful? And nobody argues. Take it for
granted. No one doubts it's the same.
The new corn came out of the old corn. That's the resurrection of this
body. This body, one day, who made
that corn if? God did. Who gave it the body? God did. And He's going to raise
us up. Listen, the same body, this body,
one day, is going to be buried. And when that time comes, it's
going to be a wrinkle, shriveled, old, worthless, no beauty about
it. It'll be fit for nothing but
burying. Like Abraham said over there in Genesis 23, he said,
would you give me some land to bury my dead out of my sight.
They're not pretty. They're not pretty. But when the trumpet of God sounds
and the Lord Jesus descends from heaven, that body that you planted
shall come forth in the full flower of beautiful womanhood
or manhood in a body worthy of him who made it. The resurrection depends on how
big your God is. That's right. Faith in the resurrection
depends on how big your God is. What kind of body are we going
to have after the resurrection? It will be worthy of Him who
made it. He made Adam and Eve and stood back and said, it's
good. And when He remakes your body and my body, He's going
to say, it's good. And while these bodies, resurrected
bodies, will be oh so different, they'll be the same body you
planted. Like that corn. I planted that
corn. I looked at it. There it is.
I put it there. And right there from it came... And I take it for granted. Take it for granted. Let me show
you one other thing. Turn one page. 1 Corinthians
15. Now listen to me. 1 Corinthians 15.42. Now listen
to this. So is the resurrection of the
dead. It's sown in corruption. What is corruption? Well, these
bodies are frail bodies. They're subject to disease, to
decay and death. This body is a vessel of clay.
It has the principle of decay and of corruption. Nature, it's
sown, it's planted, it's buried in corruption. Look, it will
be raised in incorruption. My new body is going to be raised
without the possibility of wear, without the possibility of sickness,
without the possibility of pain. without the possibility of any
suffering, mental, emotional, or physical, without the possibility
of any violence or death in any form, indestructible, incorruptible. You remember for 40 years that
Israel's shoes and clothes didn't wear out? They wore the same
clothes and the same shoes for 40 years. God mentions that twice. He said, you remember that? My
new body will never wear out. It's hard to even visualize it.
You get so tired at the end of the day and never grow tired
again. It won't wear out. You listen, it's sown, verse
43, it's sown in dishonor. What is dishonor? Well, this
body is subject to deformity that makes it ugly. It's subject
to losses which make it useless. They're people that can't even
use their arms. They've had strokes. They drag
a foot. It's subject to bruises and wounds
and sores which cause pain. It's subject to age and weariness
and sin. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. That new body will have unblemished
holiness. That new body will be in the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, likened to His glorious
body. You know what it says? It will
be without mark, without spot, without wrinkle,
a beauty and delight to the eyes, naked and not ashamed. It's buried, look at the next
line, it's buried in weakness. What is the weakness? Well, I'll
tell you, this body is weak in ability to work without growing
tired. This body is weak in the ability
to think without thinking foolishness. This body is weak, too weak to
live without sin. This body is too weak to continue
without dying. It's weak. But he said, I'm going
to raise it in power. No emotional, physical, or mental
burden will ever present itself to my new body. God will wipe
away all tears from their eyes, no more death, no more sorrow,
no more crying, no more pain. And our eyes shall see unlimited
distances. And our ears will hear with perfection. And our memory will never fail. You talk about a computer. They
haven't invented one yet like this mind. The new mind. Never forget. The mind will never
forget. And it shall know as it has been
known. all things. Won't that be something? And this heart shall love perfectly. He said it's buried a natural
body. The natural body in mind is the
source of all fleshly lust, and the flesh lusteth against the
spirit. The natural body shall be no
more. It will be raised a spiritual body, holy in its desires, in
its thoughts, in its feelings, in its wants. It's going to be like Christ. There is a very old woman who lives in a very old house
and she's lived there all of her life. The house is now old and broken
down. She was born in that house and
she's been there all these ninety some odd years and it's cold
in the winter and it's hot in the summer and the windows are
small and dark And the roof leaks. And the foundation is crumbling.
And she often feels like a prisoner in that old house. And she often
cries at night, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this house of death? One day her landlord comes by. And he calls to her. And he says,
come with me. I'm going to build a new house
for you. I'm going to tear down your old house that you've lived
in all your life. Old broken down house, I'm going
to destroy every remembrance of it and build you a new one. Now you come and live in my house
while I'm tearing down your old house." So he does so. Every board is ripped up. Every
stone falls to the ground. The foundation is dug up. Scarcely
anything remains except where it was. The memory of where it
was. Soon the new house is finished.
The foundations are of eternal stone that will never crumble.
The walls are of precious stones and jasper. The gates are of
pure gold and the windows are pure and beautiful and clean,
looking out over the river of life. And the landlord says to
her, now my friend, move back into your new house and never
leave it. It will be home forever and forever.
And that's what our Lord is doing. This old house, some fellas sang
about it one time. Well, it's true. If our earthly
house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, eternal
in the heaven, not made with hands. It'll soon be ours. Resurrection, I'll raise Him
up.