Death, Resurrection and Eternity

Q: What does the Bible say about death?

The Bible describes three types of death: spiritual death, physical death, and eternal (or second) death, all stemming from Adam's sin. The Scriptures indicate three forms of death that are significant to understand: spiritual death, physical death, and eternal death. Spiritual death refers to the state of being dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1), which all humanity inherits from Adam's disobedience. Physical death is the inevitable end of human life appointed to all (Hebrews 9:27). Lastly, eternal death is the separation from God, which is also called the second death, where those not found in the Book of Life are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). These three forms of death illustrate the comprehensive impact of Adam's fall on humanity.

Q: How do we know the resurrection of the dead is true?

The resurrection of the dead is assured through Christ's resurrection, which is the foundation of our hope and victory over death. The resurrection of the dead is substantiated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20). His resurrection is a historical event that provides certainty for believers. In 1 Corinthians 15:22, we read that just as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. This promise assures us that believers will also experience resurrection and be raised incorruptible. Furthermore, the doctrine emphasizes that physical death is not an end but rather a transition into eternal life for those in Christ, reinforcing the truth of resurrection. Therefore, our hope is rooted in the power of God demonstrated through Jesus' victory over death.

Q: Why is understanding the concept of resurrection important for Christians?

Understanding resurrection provides Christians with hope, assurance of eternal life, and victory over death. For Christians, comprehending the resurrection is vital because it embodies our faith’s core promise of life after death. The Apostle Paul addresses the importance of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, reminding us that our faith hinges upon this truth. Without the resurrection, our preaching is in vain, and our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:14). Additionally, the resurrection assures believers of their future glorification and eternal life with Christ. It transforms the perspective of physical death from a finality to a door leading into eternal communion with God. Thus, the resurrection not only provides hope but also empowers Christians to face mortality with confidence, knowing that death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54).

Now, other than the conversation I had with the dear
brother in Mississippi, which prompted my thought and study
and preparation of this message, there are several reasons why
I'm interested in this subject. I'm personally and vitally interested
in this subject, death, resurrection, and eternity, because I'm a dying man. Richard Baxter put it this way. He said, I preach as one who may never
preach again. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. And David prayed, Lord, help
me to know how frail I am. And again he said, teach me.
I have to be helped and I have to be taught. I don't know these
things by nature. Teach me, he said, to number
my days, that I may apply my heart to wisdom. I've already reached 63, that's
3 scoring 3. God said 3 scoring 10. So I'm
a dying man. I'm interested in my subject. Secondly, I have a congregation,
a congregation which called me to be their pastor, soon be 39
years ago, a congregation of dear people. faithful, precious
people who look to me to study God's Word while they labor and
work. They look to me to study and
teach them the things of God concerning these important subjects. A preacher needs to have his
ear toward heaven and his mouth toward the congregation. Woe be to the preacher who has
his ear to the congregation. That's what Paul said in the
last days, they'll come having itching ears and turn you away
from the truth. We must have an ear toward God
and a mouth toward the earth. Don't reverse it. And then thirdly, there's no
reason, there's no reason for us to be ignorant concerning
these things. Didn't Paul begin our text with
these words, I would not have you to be ignorant? I would not have you to be ignorant.
The Lord's given us some answers to our questions, if we'll take
the time to read them, to study them, to hear them, to receive
them. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
4, 13, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, concerning them of your congregation who
have died. who are asleep and concerning
what awaits the rest of us. We'll walk the same path, Job
said, in a few years I shall go the way from which I shall
not return. So God's told us, and I'm going
to try to help you to understand some of these things. My first
question is this, what is death? What is death? Well, very simply,
there are three types of death taught in the Word of God, three
types of death. There is spiritual death. You have the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. There's spiritual death. Secondly, there's physical death.
It's appointed unto me and wants to die. There's eternal death. These
shall go away into everlasting punishment. And then he talked
about the resurrection. This is the first resurrection.
And those who have part in the first resurrection, over them
the second death hath no power. So understand that? There's spiritual
death. There's physical death. There's eternal death. And all
of these came as a result of Adam's fall. All right? We had a representative. Now,
whether we can explain it, whether we understand it, whether we
like it, or whether we believe it, it's true that God only created
one man. One man. Even the woman was not
created. She was taken out of the man.
God created one man. dealt with this whole human race
in one man. Everybody, no matter who that
person is, the color of their skin, the place where they were
born, the place where they live, every creature, every human creature
on this earth can trace his roots back to Adam. Now that's just
so. That's the Word of God. And when
God made that man, he made him holy and upright. He created
man in his own image, one man, Adam. He then said, it's not
good for a man to be alone, I'll make a helpmate for him, and
he put the man to sleep and took the woman out of his sight. The
man is the head of the woman like he's the head and the representative
of the whole human race. When she got some ideas about
the Word of God, she had to convince her husband, and he had to fall
for her and the rest of us to fall. We fell in Adam. Let me
show you that now. That's not supposition or theory.
Romans chapter 5, it's what God says. Romans chapter 5. Now turn over that. Romans chapter
5. You remember when God created
Adam and he said to him, of all the trees of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day ye eat thereof ye
shall surely die. That's the first mention of death.
I tell you, you're going to die. You eat that tree, you disobey
me, you sin against me, you're going to die. And when he died,
we all died. See, when he stood, we stood.
When he sinned, we sinned. When he fell, we fell. When he
died, we died. We were all in him. There wasn't
anybody here but Adam. And he's the representative of
the whole human race and as a result of his fall. and of his sin and
of his condition. He gave birth to a son. He gave
birth to a son like himself, a fallen son, a corrupt son,
a sinful son, dead in trespasses and sin. And every son that was
born from that father and the next father was born just like
his father, dead spiritually, with all of the potential to
die physically and Also, the sin to suffer the second death,
Romans 5, 12. Listen. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered this world, and death, what is death? And death by sin,
so death passed upon all men. When? When Adam fell, it passed
on all men, passed through him. For that all have sinned. Now
turn to 1 Corinthians 15. This is what the Word of God
teaches, representation, federal headship, all created in Adam,
all sinned in Adam, all died in Adam. First Corinthians 15,
21, listen, ìFor since my man came death.î My man, Adam, thatís
his name, Adam, man, red earth, taken from the earth. Verse 22,
ìFor as in Adam all die.î Die in Adam. That's where, see, there
are three types of death. There's spiritual death, there's
physical death, there's eternal death, second death. And all
three of these are traced back to one moment in history, one
time when Adam fell and he died. All right, spiritual death. Let's
go back to Genesis 3. Let's look at this spiritual
death. Genesis chapter 3. Let's see
if I can help you with it. Genesis chapter 3. Genesis 3,
verse 6. Now here's a man God made, created,
holy, perfect, upright, naked, didn't even know he was naked.
He never had any thought of sinning. He never had any knowledge of
sinning. He never had any understanding of sin. He had a perfect, holy
nature. He walked with God. He was a
genius. He named all the animals. He knew no fear, he knew no shame,
he knew no guilt, he knew no depression, he knew no death,
he was made in the image of God. Verse 6, though, but when the
woman saw, Genesis 3, 6, that the tree was good for food, it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise,
lust of the flesh, lust of the mind and the pride of life, she
took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also to her
husband with her, and he did eat, and the eyes of them were
both opened. Something happened. What happened?
They died. God said in the day you eat,
you'll die. They didn't die physically. They started dying physically
then. When sin came in and the ravages of sin and the results
of sin, they started, but something happened to them right then,
right then. Their eyes were open. To what? To sin. To shame. To fear. To guilt. To whatever. The things
that plague you right now. And they knew they were naked.
They got a whole new attitude now. A whole new man. A whole
new understanding. They think differently. You see,
there's several forms of life. There's mineral life, plant life,
animal life, human life, and spiritual life. the life of God,
the life of holiness, the nature of God. And this is what Adam
had until he fell and the light went out. He lost spiritual life. He retained human life and he
began thinking like God started thinking like a human, like a
creature. And they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. There's shame. Holiness, there's
no shame in holiness. There's no guilt, fear. They
heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and Adam and his wife ran from the presence of God.
Holiness seeks God. Holiness is God. He doesn't run
from God. And they hid themselves among
the trees of the garden. They're fools now. They're ignorant. How do you hope to hide from
God behind a tree? They lost all understanding of
God. And the Lord said unto Adam, where are you? And he said, I
heard your voice in the garden. I was afraid. This man never
knew fear. I was naked. I hid myself. Now
watch this. Who told you you were naked?
Had you eaten the tree? Now God never asks a question
for information. Every time God asks a question,
He wants you to express just what you're thinking. King, where's
your brother? Am I my brother's keeper? He
knew where his brother was, but he wanted that man to condemn
himself out of his own mouth. And he asked Adam, he said, Have
you eaten of the tree I commanded you? Now here's what holiness,
here's what spiritual life would do if spiritual life were charged. It would say, Yes sir, I was
wrong, I was guilty, I sinned, I'm sorry, I seek your mercy.
That didn't come out of Adam's mouth. If you eat in the tree, the man
said, the woman. She gave it to me. I didn't do
anything. It's all her self-righteous.
You see, this is, this something happened. And this something
that happened is not physical death. The man was standing there
talking. He wasn't dead physically. He didn't die 800 years later. He died spiritually. And that's
the mess we're in right now. We're just like him. We're ashamed. We go about to cover our own,
we justify ourselves and try to cover our own sins. We blame
somebody else. That's how the psychiatrists
make all their money. Giving you somebody to blame.
Your mama, your daddy, or your environment or something. They were foolish. They tried
to hide from God. They ran from God. There's no
divine life here. That's human. That's human. Carnal. Natural. That's the reason we need to
be born again. All right? Secondly, physical death. Turn
to Genesis 5. While you're over there, let's
look at this. Genesis 5. Got it? Genesis 5. Stay with
me now. Verse 5. And all the days that
Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. He died physically. Verse 8. And all the days of
Seth, his son were 912 years, and he died. Verse 11, and all
the days of Enos, 905 years, and he died. Verse 14, all the
days of Canaan were 910 years, and he died. And it goes on down
in that chapter, and he died. All the days of dear brother
Barnard were 65 years, and he died. And all the days of Brother Mahan
may be sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven, whatever, but he's
going to die. That's physical death. And you're going to die. It's a part of the man who wants
to die. A man that's born of a woman who's a few days and
full of trouble, and he dies. And that's what came from that
episode in the garden. Spiritual death, physical death. Now then, Revelation 20, verse
14. Here's the third death. Revelation
20. Would you go over there with
me for the moment? Revelation 20. Now, I've been truthful and
honest with the Word so far, haven't I? That's what it said.
That's what the Word of God declares. All right, Revelation 20, verse
14. Verse 14. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. second
death. This follows that spiritual death
and that physical death. There's a second death. And whosoever
is not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire. That's eternal. See, the rich man in hell cried,
Father Abraham, send Lazarus down to touch my tongue. I'm tormented in these flames.
And Abraham said, Between us and you there's a great gulf
fixed. No man can come from us to you or from you to us. It's
fixed. It's fixed. It's eternal death. The soul that's sentenced shall
surely die. All right, my second, now that's what death is. It's
spiritual, physical, and there's an eternal death awaiting the
unbelievers. My second question, is there
no hope? Can a person be delivered? Can
we escape the condemnation, the sentence, Can we live again spiritually? Can we escape this second death?
Yes. Yes, that's why the Lord Jesus
came into the world. He said, this is what he said,
I am come that they might have life and that they might have
it more abundantly. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world. The world was already condemned,
already under judgment, already under the condemnation, already
under the sentence of death. Christ didn't come to condemn
us. He came that the world through him might be saved. That's why
he came. Now let's go back to Romans again,
Romans chapter 5. That's the chapter that talks
about identification, representation, imputation, impartation, federal
headship. That first man, Adam. You with
me now? Romans chapter 5, verse 17. Now with Romans 5, 17. Listen. For if by one man's offense,
that's Adam, death reigned. Death reigned. Spiritual death,
physical death. It reigns today. From that one
man's offense. Much more. Much more. They which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign not in death, but
in life by one Jesus Christ. By Adam came death, by Christ
came life. By man came death, by man, the
God-man came life. Satan, far as I know, spoke three
times in the Bible. I know he must have spoken a
whole lot of times, a whole lot of times, I know that. As far
as I know, recorded, and I know different representations, but
Satan himself, as far as I know, spoke three times. One time he
spoke in the garden. He spoke to man about God. He said, hath God said you shall
not eat of the tree? The woman said, that's right.
He said, God lied to you. God lied to you. You won't die.
And that's when he spoke to man and accused God. That's what
he did. He said, God's motive is all
wrong. He knows if you eat that tree, you'll be like God. God
doesn't want to share his glory. Second time he spoke was in heaven.
And he spoke to God about man. When the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord, Satan came among them.
You see, he used to inhabit that place when he was Lucifer, the
archangel. Well, he came this time by God's
permission. And God, the Lord said to him,
said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job a righteous and
upright man that hates evil and loves me? Satan spoke again. This time he spoke to God about
man. And he said, I'll tell you why
Job loves you. You've blessed him. You've hedged him about.
Take away what he has, what you've given him, he'll curse you to
your face. Job's a liar. Job's a liar. God said, all right,
do what you want to. And it didn't work. So Satan
came back, and God said, what about Job? Ah, he said, skin
for skin, you took away his outward blessing, but you touch his flesh
and he'll curse you. He's a phony Job is. See, Satan,
he's the accuser of the brethren. Well, he spoke the third time.
I'm glad he did. He met the God-man. He met the
God-man in that garden of temptation, and he spoke to Christ, and therefore
it was all settled right there. Christ said, Satan came to me
and found nothing in me, and I put him to flight. I judged
him and cast him out. And I'll tell you this, that's
where the life is. He met us and cursed God and
met God and cursed man, but when he met Christ, Him who hath the
power of death was conquered. Listen to verse 18. Therefore,
by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men to justification of life. Verse 19, "...by one man's disobedience
the many were made sinners, by the obedience of one shall the
many be made righteous." There you have it, right there. There
you have it. Life in Christ, that's why He
came. That's why He came. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. You
remember I went over there a while ago, by one man, death? 1 Corinthians
15, look at this again. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 21, "...for
since by man came death." 1 Corinthians 15, verse 21, "...by man came
also the resurrection of the dead." Verse 22, "...for as in
Adam all die, so in Christ all who are in Christ shall be made
alive." We are born again of the Spirit of God, life in Christ
Jesus. We have victory over the second
death. Because our Lord said in the
garden when he prayed, he said, Father, you've given me power
over all flesh that I should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me. Eternal life. No second death.
You see that? Spiritual life in Christ, he's
restored us. We're born of the Spirit of God.
You hath equipped them who were dead in trespasses and sin. And
he's restored us the life of God. And watch this. We have
that heavenly nature, that new life. We also have human life.
And there's a conflict and warfare between the two that Adam didn't
know before he fell. We still have the flesh. Understand,
Paul talked about the war between the flesh and the spirit. This
flesh knows shame, but he that believeth on the Son shall never
know shame. You understand what I'm saying?
In other words, we know shame before people, but I have no
shame before God. Christ has put away my sins.
I have peace with God. Understand that? I have guilt
feelings over what I think, what I say, what I do. But I stand
before God in Christ in that spiritual new man without guilt. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ being justified by faith we have peace
with God. You see what I'm saying? And
on this earth, we're defeated and we're depressed so often,
you're just driving your car, you run into enough problems.
On your job, you're defeated and a lot of times, and things
don't turn out like you want them to turn out, and that's
just flesh. That's par for the course, isn't
it? That's flesh. Thanks be to God who giveth us
the victory in Christ our Lord. This spiritual life knows no
defeat because it's in Christ. Now someday, I'm going to lay
aside this flesh and I won't be anything but holy. No guilt,
no shame, no fear, no despondency, no depression. I'm just nothing
but like God. Understand what I'm saying? Even
a believer Even a believer who has life, spiritual life, restored
because of this, like Paul summed it up in Romans 7, he said, the
things I would do, I do not. The things I would not do, I
do. I love the law of God, but I
find another law in my members, in my flesh, warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me down into captivity to the
law of sin and death. Who's going to deliver me from
this body of death? thanks be unto God in Christ
the Lord. Do you understand what I'm saying? We lost spiritual life in Adam,
but in Christ our Lord it's been restored. But we're carrying
around this same old man, this same old body of flesh that's
in direct conflict. Or I would be, David said, I'll
be satisfied when I wake in your likeness without this body. That's
what he's talking about. All right, now, so spiritual
death is gone. We're alive in God, in Christ. Physical death, the second death
is gone, but physical death is still with me. It's still with
me. Two I've been taken care of.
I'm alive in Christ, and I'll never suffer eternal condemnation. But physical death's still with
me. But now wait a minute. Physical
death has taken on for me a different perspective. It's taken on for
me a different, a different, in a different light altogether.
In other words, it used to be because I was spiritually dead,
when I died physically, then I'm going to hell and eternally
die. But not anymore. Physical death,
instead of the end, it's the beginning. Instead of dreading
it, Paul said, I really, I really, being honest with you, desire
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. He said,
honestly, I'm in a quandary, I'm in a strait betwixt the two.
I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better, but it's expedient for you that I remain, because I'm
important to you and to your well-being. and to your spiritual
welfare and to the care that God's given me over the church.
He said it's expedient for you. Not for me. For me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. But you know something? Death takes on a different light
because I'm never going to attain my goal of being like Christ
and being rid of this flesh until I die. It's just, it's just something
I got to pass through. I've got to, like when I was
overseas in the Navy in World War II, we were in Japan and
I told you this before the points came up and finally came my turn
to go home. But between me and home was a
long journey. And I mean some of you fellas
rode those ships. It was a long journey. I talked
about going to Australia, taking 13 hours. It took a month to
come over there, over here on that slow boat, stopping here
and there and yonder. But I was willing to go. I was
willing to walk up that gangplank, weren't you, and get on, because
y'all flew home in Vietnam War. Y'all didn't have to ride those
planes. But walk up that gangplank, get
on that ship. And someday I've got to walk
the gangplank. and go through the valley to
get home. But it'll be worth it. You see,
turn to 1 Corinthians 15 again. I'm going to answer some questions
here. We've got to die to get our new body. We've got to die
to get our new home. We've got to die to get to be
like Christ. Got to. Want to. It's all right.
My Lord died. He died. I won't have to die
like he died under the wrath of God. I won't have to die like
he died and ignore many a shameful, humiliating death. My death will
be a carnation. My Lord died and laid in a tomb,
just like I will. And because he lives, I'll live.
But some men will say, how are the dead raised and with what
body do they come? That which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die." In other words, Paul is saying here
to the people who ask that question, well, how are we going to live
after we die? He said, you've got a grain of
corn in your hand, a shriveled, wrinkled, old grain of corn that
you got from last year's crop, been around long enough, it's
lost all of its beauty, it's lost all of its Usefulness, it's lost its nourishment,
it's just withered and dried. He said, now, in order for that
corn to realize the victory of a new stalk, you've got to put
it in the ground. It's got to die. So dig your
hole and put it in there and cover it up. And it dies and
rots, and then that full stalk of corn comes forth. Now watch
it. Verse 37. And that which thou sowest, you
don't sow the body that shall be, you sow bare grain. It may be wheat, it may be some
other grain, but God gives it a body as it pleases Him. You
don't take a green stalk, go down to the store and buy a stalk
of corn with the ears all on it, and dig a furrow and lay
that stalk of corn. All you plant is a little old
shriveled, withered, useless seed. And it goes in the ground
and dies, and coming up is a It's beautiful. A stalk of corn with
those green leaves and all that fruit. And you say, man, there's
a lot of difference in that than this. Yes, but it's the same
thing. It's the same thing as corn. And that's what's going
to happen to this body here. It gets old and wrinkled and
shriveled and useless and it dies and you bury it. But when
God calls it out of the tomb, it ain't coming out that way.
It's coming out fresh. and bones. But look at verse
39. But all flesh is not the same
flesh. You say, you mean in our glorified
bodies we're going to be flesh and bone? Yeah. You mean like
this flesh? No. There's several kinds of
flesh. Use the word flesh. Look here
what he said. He said there's flesh of men,
there's flesh of beasts, there's flesh of fish, there's flesh
of birds. My birds ought to have flesh.
It's not like mine. Because animals have flesh, but
not like mine. Mine's infinitely above the flesh
of an animal or a fish. And when I come out of the grave
with that new flesh, there ain't going to be these brown spots
on it. There won't be any contamination
in it. It's still going to be flesh. But oh, you've never seen
anything like it. You can read about it over here
in Luke. You can read about it over here
in Luke 24. Listen, Luke 24, verse 36, Luke 24, verse 36,
listen. This is the disciples there in
the upper room when the Lord appeared to them, Luke 24, verse
36, and as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of
them. This is after he rose from the grave. And he said to them,
peace be still, and they were scared and afraid, and suppose
they'd seen a spirit, and he said, why are you troubled? Why
do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands, my feet, it's
I, touch me, handle me. A spirit doesn't have flesh and
bones like you see me have, touch me. And when he had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and feet. And while they yet believed
not for joy and wondered, he said, Have you got any meat?
And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb,
and he took it and stood there and ate it." That's flesh and bones. And that's what you're going
to be when you rise from the tomb, like him. That's right. There it is. I just read it to
you. Don't dread death. Our Lord calls
the death of a believer, sleep. He doesn't say death except when
you force him to. He said, Lazarus is asleep. The
disciples said, well, let's go sleep with him then. If he's
sleeping, he's all right. And our Lord had to say, well,
he's dead. For you fellas that don't understand anything, he's
dead, dead. And that's where Paul said, I
would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep. We will not precede them which
are asleep. It's always sleep. You don't mind tonight. I'm getting
to where I used to be a late night person. I'd watch the late
news and sit up 12, 1. No more, believe me. You get
old, you get sleepy. 10 o'clock, I'm ready to go to
bed. And I, you know, I used to hate
to go to bed. I used to hate to go to bed. I wanted to stay
up. Afraid I'd miss something, I guess. But I love to go to
bed now and go to sleep. And that's the way death's going
to be. I'm going to go to sleep. Don't be afraid. He giveth his
beloved sleep. And you say, well, I'm worried
about the ones I leave. He'll handle them. They'll be all right. He can take a lot better care
of them than you can. That's exactly right. You just go on
to sleep and wake up in the morning and you're going to have a new
body. You say, well, what about between the resurrection? What
about I die today now? Right now and go, what if the
body goes to the ground? Am I going to be a disembodied
spirit? No. I can't answer the question,
but I do know this, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heaven, and we'll be clothed upon with
his beauty. But someday he's going to raise
this body. Some day he's going to raise
this body. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 again. You've still got it
there in your lap. Verse 42. So is the resurrection of the
dead. It's sown in corruption. Corrupt flesh is raised incorruptible
flesh. It's sown in dishonor. And our
flesh is dishonorable. But it's going to be raised glorified
flesh. It's sown in weakness. It's going to be raised in power.
I know some of you men here, you used to be so strong. And
this is one of the things that bothers you. You get old, you
get weak. You're going to be strong again. You're going to
be strong. Oh, strong in mind. What did
that old preacher say that time? He said, I can see through my
bifocals and my hearing aid works just fine and I can live with
my dentures, but I sure do miss my mind. We're going to have a new mind.
Oh boy, genius. Mentally, spiritually, emotionally,
physically, it's going to be like Christ. That's right. And
we're going to walk on a new earth. You say, we're just going
to flit around and hit them on clouds and play harps. That's
ignorance. Our Lord said it's going to be
a new heaven and a new earth. And now John saw the holy city
descending out of heaven and coming down here. There's not
a thing wrong with this earth that couldn't be cured by taking
sin out of it. This is a beautiful world. Those
streams and trees and flowers and vegetables and things that
God, mountains and valleys and rivers and even the deserts are
pretty. My God made them. And when He takes this old earth
and burns it up and creates a new one, it's going to be beyond
description. And I'm going to live on this
new earth in flesh and bones. That's right. That's what this
book says. We've allowed these foolish spiritualists
and mediums and so forth, they're fools is what they are. When
a man dies, the spirit goes to God who gave it and the body
goes to the ground, so don't expect them to come knocking
on the door. They're not wandering around in here looking for a
place to stay either. No such thing as a haunted house,
that's stupid. Absolutely stupid. They'd be
demon possessed now. Those of our loved ones who've
gone there with our Lord in glory, clothed upon with our house from
heaven. And one day God's going to raise
that body. And you say, well, brother man, will we retain our
identity? Why, certainly. Moses was Moses. When he came down here to earth
and talked to the Lord, he was Moses. That's how he left and
that's how he came back. Elijah was Elijah. Our Lord came back after He rose
from the grave, and the disciples, though He was so glorified and
so beautiful and so unexpected, they didn't know Him. After He
appeared to them, He said, Touch me, it's I Myself, He said. And boy, when we rise from the
grave, we're going to be Richard, I Myself. I know we've got a lot to be
ashamed of ourselves now, but that's going to be all in Him.
And we're going to say, unto him who loved us and washed us
from our sin in his own blood. You're going to retain any memory
of this earth? Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin?
Sounds like it, doesn't it? But there'll be pleasant memories,
because he washed us. Oh, I know in part, I prophesy
in part, I see through a glass dimly, but then face to face.
I'm going to know as I have been known. Yeah, we're going to retain
our identity. We're going to know each other.
You say, what about earthly relationships? What about husband and wife?
Turn to Matthew 22. What about son and daughter? Now, I've got a precious son
in glory that I'll be honest with you, I think a lot of times
about seeing him again. I think like a human, I think
like a daddy, like you think like a wife, or think like a
husband, or think like a mama. But Matthew 22, there's a fellow
asked our Lord about this, verse 28. There was a woman that had
two or three husbands, and this fellow asked him, Matthew 22,
28. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven?
They all were married to her. And Jesus said, you do err. You're
making a mistake here now, because you don't know the scriptures
and you don't know the power of God. There's a clue there
now, the scriptures and the power of God. For in the resurrection,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage. In other words,
what I'm saying to you is this. I believe I'll see my son. I
believe you'll see your husbands. But no woman is going to be in
subjection to a man in heaven. She's in subjection to Christ.
No woman is going to wear a man's name in heaven. We're going to
wear his name. He's our husband. He's our brother, sister. And other believers are our brothers
and sisters. And that relationship, you say,
well, if I saw that person, If I saw that person, you know that
I'd think, like, this is my husband, or this is my wife, or this is
my son. You err not knowing the power of God. The power of God
to give you a new perspective, a new understanding, a new laying
hold of this thing. And you'll see that person, and
love that person, and know that person. But that relationship
that will be retained by the power of God is the relationship
in Christ. See that? The relationship went
far. One day our Lord was preaching.
And so a crowd of people. And somebody came in and said,
your mother and brothers and sisters are out here wanting
to see you. And he said, who's my mother? Who's my brothers? Who's my sisters? These who do
the will of God the same are my mother, my brother, my sister,
my father, and so on. I can't explain that, I just
know that's what the Lord said. That in heaven they're not, and
these babies that have died, they're in glory. But you're
not going to hold a baby in heaven, would you? You wouldn't want
to be a baby in glory, would you? No, you want to be like
Christ. You want to be full mature and
full grown and spiritually strong. You want to be like Christ. Well,
I want that baby to be like Christ too. And you'll accept it that
way because of the power of God. See, this is where we err. Where
we've got to start is with the scriptures. We start with what
God says about any of these things. Death, or representation, or
imputation, or life, or resurrect. We start with what God says.
It's just like flesh. How can flesh be glorified? This
flesh, when I prick it, it hurts. It won't hurt then. This flesh
gets sick. I have to stay out of the cold.
But those things won't matter. Scripture says that, and God
in His power is able to do that. And you say, well, how can I
meet my Son in glory and Him not be my Son? He'll be your
mother, brother, sister, son, and everything in Christ. How
can that thinking be changed? That thinking is going to be
so elevated by the power of God and the knowledge of God and
think like God. You'll even be able to say, hallelujah
to the condemnation of the wicked. I can't do that now. I can't do that now. That's the
reason Paul said, I could wish myself a curse from Christ for
my brethren. I hate to see them go to hell.
But one day, if God sends a man to hell, Paul's going to say
hallelujah. Do you believe that? That's the power, not me, that's
the power of God. That's the power of God. You
see, there's a man in glory right now. And that's a glorified man
at the right hand of majesty and glory. Perfect man. Mary's not his mother. Joseph
and Judy are not his brothers. I'm his brother. You're his brother. See that? The same are my mother's
brothers and sisters. And when we get to glory, and
I know a lot of you sitting out there thinking right now about
precious ones, same ones I'm thinking about, but that relationship
is going to be so infinitely beyond this human relationship
by the power of God that you wouldn't have it any other way.
So infinitely beyond anything. That's what Paul said when he
came back. He said, I went to the third heaven and I heard
things I can't tell you about because you couldn't understand
it. But I do know this. It'll be
better than your wildest imagination. I'm kind of anxious, aren't you?
I know we're bogged down, we're held down, we've got all these
things and all, but I tell you, I believe as we get a little
older, the Lord kind of lets us let these things go, don't
you think? A man said to Spurgeon one time,
I don't have dying grace. Spurgeon said, are you dying?
He said, no. He said, well, you don't need it. It'll come when you need it.
It'll come when you need it. And I'll tell you this, the grace
to let us go will come when you need it.

Death, Resurrection and Eternity

What does the Bible say about death?

How do we know the resurrection of the dead is true?

Why is understanding the concept of resurrection important for Christians?

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Death, Resurrection and Eternity

What does the Bible say about death?

How do we know the resurrection of the dead is true?

Why is understanding the concept of resurrection important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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