About 15 years ago, 1969, we had a Bible conference here
in June, had an unusually good conference. And Darcy and I left shortly
after the conference to go to Florida with Becky and Paul,
our daughter and son. Our middle son was living in
Columbus, Ohio at that time. Our oldest son, Robbie, was with
the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. We'd been in Florida, I don't
remember exactly how long, three or four days. We had a little
kitchenette apartment on the beach in Pensacola. And I don't
remember very much about that day except Darce was down on
the beach writing our son Robbie, who was in Vietnam, a letter.
And I was taking a nap or something and two Army representatives,
soldiers, I don't remember their rank, one might have been an
officer and one a non-commissioned officer, knocked on the door. And they said they had very difficult
news to deliver to us, that our son was dead. That is a startling, startling
statement to us. Difficult, very difficult for
a person to carry that news or to receive that news. Your son
is dead. He's dead. And yet, that's the way of all
flesh. I was reading a scripture over
here in Genesis. You needn't turn to it, but it
says all the days of Adam were 930 years, and he died. And all
the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. And all the days of Enos were
905 years, and he died. And Canaan lived 910 years, and
he died. And all the days of Jared were
962 years, and he died. And all the days of Methuselah
were 969 years, and he died. And all the days of Lamech were
777 years, and he died. It just goes on that way. And
he died. These men all had one thing in
common. They all died. And Paul tells us in the book
of Hebrews, it is appointed unto men once to die. And die they
shall. And one thing is quite certain.
Everybody in here is going to die. We'll die at different periods
and different times and under different circumstances, but
we're going to die. And I must confess that when
I think about my death, and I do think more about it now than
I used to, and I ought to, because my days are much shorter and
getting shorter with every breath. But I must confess that when
I think for any length of time on death, my thoughts about this
experience are not always comforting, and they're not always spiritual. You may be confused and think
that preachers just think spiritual thoughts all the time, but this
one doesn't. There are several things that
go through my mind when I think about my death. You may be able
to identify with these. You may not. But one of the first
things that I generally think about when I think about death
is this. I wonder at what age I shall
die. I wonder. Will I be 58? Will I be 68 or 78? But I do wonder at what age I
shall die. And then secondly, not necessarily
in this order, but the next thing that I think about, and as I
said, these thoughts are neither comforting nor spiritual. But the second thing that goes
through my mind is this. I wonder how I shall die. Shall I die suddenly? Or shall I linger in a long and
painful process? And I think about that. I'm not
too fond of pain. Not too fond of it. I told somebody
this morning, I'm standing here today with the aid of two inframs.
It's affected my throat, but at least I'm standing. But I'm
not fond of pain. And I hear us often say, well,
I hope the Lord just takes me with a heart attack or something
like that. That's normal. That would be a very good way
to die. And then thirdly, I think about this. When I think about
death, I get concerned for those that I shall leave behind. And
I sinfully wonder. And I say sinfully because it
is sinful. And I sinfully wonder about their
well-being as if God couldn't take care of them. And then fourthly, I wonder about
leaving a good witness for the gospel and being still loved
and remembered by those who are special to me. I care. Somebody
says, we don't care what people think. Yes, we do. We certainly
do. There are things that we've given
our lives to. We've given our lives to our
children. We've given our lives to our work. We've given our lives to this
church. We've given our lives to a lot
of different things, and we wish to be remembered, because we've
made an investment of an entire lifetime, and we do care about
what happens to these things. And then I wonder about this
church, and I Not that I'm the best pastor in the world, I know
that I'm not, nor by any stretch of the imagination the best preacher.
But I do know that we've stood for these many years firmly and
strongly, uncompromisingly, for the gospel of God's redeeming
grace. And I would prefer for it to continue that way. I'd
like to know that if I died this year, that 85, 86, and 87, and on for years to come,
that the person who stands in this place shall preach the same
gospel that I preach. And some of you have sacrificed
for this work. You've sacrificed in many ways,
and I know you feel the same way. And yet I know when I think
along these lines about what age I shall die and in what fashion
I shall die, and about those that shall be left behind when
I die, I know that all these thoughts and concerns are foolish
and sinful. I really know that they are.
I can do nothing about them. I can do absolutely nothing about
what takes place after I die. I can't do anything about But
God can, and I know this in my heart, I know this theologically,
I know this by faith, that he will do what's right and he will
do what he will, and what he does will be for our good and
his glory. I know that. Let's read that
in Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Let's begin reading,
if you will, with verse 24. Our Lord speaking here, he says,
No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God in riches,
materialism. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought. Now, our Lord is not saying be
indifferent. and unconcerned about your labor
and life and home and family and job. What he's saying here
is take no anxious thought, overly anxious thought, because you've
got to give some thought and consideration and concern for
your work and family and all these things. But what he's saying
is Take no anxious or overly anxious thought for your life,
what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your
body what you shall put on, because your life is more than meat and
your body is more than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air!
They sow not, neither do they reap, neither do they gather
into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you
not much better than they? Which of you, by taking anxious
thought and overly anxious care, can add one day to your life? That's what he's asking. Which
of you, by taking anxious thought, can add one minute or one hour
or one day to your life? Job said this in Job 14, if you
care to turn there. In Job 14, he says here in verse
5, in Job 14, seeing that man's
days are determined. The number of his months are
with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds
that he cannot pass. So this is determined. My life
span, the number of years, or months or days that I shall live
on this earth and labor in the kingdom of God is already determined
and set by the divine purpose of God down to the second when
my life will stop. So why should I be overly concerned
about it? The instrument of death may already
be in my veins. Who knows? I do know that the
instrument of death is prepared. They may be making the automobile
in Detroit tomorrow morning that I'll be killed in. I don't know.
Maybe the plane's rolling off the assembly line right now in
which I'll be riding when it falls. You never know about these
things. We don't, but God knows. I'm
simply saying that the instrument of death is prepared. The time
and hour of our decease is determined by God Almighty and set by God
Almighty. So all of these cares that I
may have and thoughts that I may have about at what age I shall
die and under what circumstances I shall die and what's going
to happen to those I leave behind and what's going to be done about
this pulpit and this church and these things are not the direction
in which I should think at all. Because it's not comforting,
nor is it glorifying to God. The direction in which I ought
to think is this, turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. I ought to be thinking, I
ought to be thinking in the direction of the resurrection. You know,
Paul said this, while you're turning to 1 Thessalonians 4,
he said, I reckon that all the sufferings and infirmities and
afflictions And all of these discomforts of this life are
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed
in us just the moment that we die. Oh, the glory of His presence. You talk about nothingness, that's
what this is. This is nothingness. He said,
I reckon, He said, I reckon it's not even fit to be compared.
Let's don't even talk in comparative terms. regarding this life and
that life. But here's the comfort in 1 Thessalonians
4 verse 18. This is what he said, Wherefore
comfort one another with these words. What words? Well, go back
to verse 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are dead, them which
sleep, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. If
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, by the word of the Lord. Now
let me tell you something. Let's hold that right there a moment
and turn with me to Matthew 22. Now hold that place. I'm coming
back. But Matthew chapter 22, here's
an important, important thing to remember in Matthew 22. When we're talking about things of this magnitude, when
we're talking about the mysterious things regarding death, regarding
resurrection, regarding eternity, there are two important things
to remember, and here they are in Matthew 22, verse 29. Our Lord answered and said unto
them." Unto whom? The Pharisees and these religious
leaders who were trying to entangle him and trap him in his talk.
They came to him, the Sadducees were these folks that didn't
believe in a resurrection. And they said to the Lord, they
said, now, here's a man, a woman that's married. And her husband
dies, and she marries again. And that husband dies, and she
marries again. And that husband dies, she marries again, and
she has five or six husbands. Now, to whom is she going to
be married in the resurrection? You say there's a resurrection?
You say that the dead are going to live, their bodies are going
to come from the grave? Who's going to be her husband? And
our Lord answered them and said, You do err. Not knowing the scriptures
nor the power of God. There's the two areas that cause
most of our erring. Right there, Tom. There's the
two areas right there that get us in most trouble about mysterious
truths from the scripture. Number one, we don't know the
Bible. Number two, we underestimate and know nothing about the power
of God Almighty, the power of God. So if you can get those
two things in the proper perspective, if you can come to some understanding
of the scriptures and know that what God promises, he is able
to fulfill. What God says, he is able and
has the power to bring to pass. All right, let's read on now
in I Thessalonians chapter 4 where I was. Verse 14, if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord. Paul said, that's my foundation
for what I believe, the word of the Lord. That we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
or precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." He
said, there's your comfort. There's your comfort. There's
your comfort. There's your confidence. There's
your assurance. And brethren, I want to be understood
clearly that I'm talking here and Paul's talking here not of
the soul living eternally. But so will he eternally, but
we're talking about the actual and certain resurrection of this
body from the grave, flesh and bones and blood. That's what
we're talking about. This actual resurrection. And
that's what Paul is saying over here in Acts chapter 24, a scripture
I read a moment ago. And you'd be surprised at how
much conflict the disciples had in their ministry over this doctrine
of the resurrection of the dead. They were called to account for
the resurrection of the dead. He says here in Acts 24, verse
15, And I have hope toward God, which these men themselves also
allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead. Christ redeemed my body as well
as my soul, and this body right here shall live again, flesh
and bone. Now, not the same kind of flesh,
because there are different kinds of flesh. I'll read that to you
in a moment. But I believe that this body, if I died today and
I am buried next week, this week, And my body stays in that grave,
I don't care whether it stays there a year, or a hundred years,
or two hundred years, and goes back to the dust from whence
it came. The Word of God says that there will be a resurrection
of a solid, substantial, and real body that will come forth
from that tomb. My body. My body. Turn to the book of Luke, chapter
24, and I'll give you some insight into what this body will be like. In Luke, chapter 24, our Lord
had died on the cross and been buried and rose again. And his
disciples had met together in a room, and our Lord appeared
to them. Luke, chapter 24, verse 36. And
as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and
said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified
and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me, and see. For a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see behalf." And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said to them, And they gave him a piece of
boiled fish and a honeycomb, and he took it and ate it. And
brethren, we're going to be raised in the likeness of our Lord.
And we're going to have flesh and bones. And we're going to
eat and drink. Every mortal man who ever lived
on earth will live eternally, not only by the immortality of
his soul, but by the immortality of his body, for the body shall
rise again." The body in which you walk this
earth right now, if you are a believer, you will walk this earth once
again in a body like that one you're living in right now, except
it'll be perfect, without sin, without flaw. It'll be immortal,
incorruptible, and beautiful. That's exactly right and beautiful. Even the lost, the unbeliever
is going to have a body because Christ said, don't fear them
which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can
do. I tell you whom you shall fear, fear him who is able to
cast you, what? Body and soul into hell. I want you to open your Bibles
now to the book of 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3. I want you to understand what
I'm preaching loud and clear. I'm saying this, that one of these days, we're
all going to be dead. Every one of us will be dead,
buried. We may be buried at sea. We may
be cremated and our ashes cast to the wind. We may be put in
a box into the ground. in a vault or whatever, slide
us into a drawer somewhere, whatever, but we'll be dead. And our souls
go to be with God who gave it, and the body returns to the dust
from whence it came. Now, I don't know a great deal
about our habitation between the time we die and the resurrection. I don't know much about that.
I know that Paul said, if this earthly tent and tabernacle in
which I dwell is dissolved or dies, I have a building eternal
in the heaven, not made with hands. But I'll be in the presence
of God, not in a disembodied state or some kind of spirit
floating around, but a real habitation. I don't know much about that.
I don't know nearly as much about that as I do the body in the
resurrection, not nearly as much. I just know God will do that
well. Whatever he does will be fine. Whatever my habitation
in glory awaiting the resurrection is all right with me. But I do
know this, and this is what I'm saying, that God's going to destroy
this old earth and the old heaven because of sin. Sin entered heaven,
and sin entered the earth. And God's going to destroy both
of them. Now look at 2 Peter 3, verse 12. 2 Peter 3, verse 12. "...looking
far and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, And the elements
shall melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for a new heaven, new heavens, and what else? A
new earth. A new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. God's going to make a new heaven.
Our Lord Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also." New heavens
and a new earth. Turn to Romans 8. And what Paul
is teaching here in the 8th chapter of Romans is this very same thing,
a new earth. In Romans 8, it says in verse
18, this is what I quoted a moment ago, Well, he said, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. Manifestation of the sons of
God. That word creature there is creation. Creation. For the creation creature, the
trees, the creation, animals, whatever, the creation was made
subject to vanity. Solomon said all is vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in
hope, because the creation itself also shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption. into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." When Adam
fell, that's when the trees began to turn loose of their leaves. That's when the blight covered
the grass and the fruits and the vegetables. That's when the
thorns and the briars began to grow. When Adam sinned, not only
was Adam permeated with evil and sin and death. But when Adam
sinned, the whole creation was subjected to that vanity and
sin and death. And Almighty God is going to
make a new world and a new earth. And we're going to have access
to the new heaven and new earth. For John said, I saw the holy
city coming down out of heaven. What was it bound for? It was
bound for the earth. That new Jerusalem coming down
out of heaven is going to be a new earth. And don't you be
surprised now if that new earth has fruit trees and beautiful
green grass and lovely streams of water, because there's nothing
wrong with God's world except sin. And when Almighty God moves
all the sin and all the disease and all the death and all the
marks and results of sin out of this world and out of us. And we walk on this earth in
flesh and bone. That's what I'm teaching. Flesh
and bone. We'll live eternally, eternally
in happiness and joy and glory. That's what the Word of God teaches.
Turn with me to John 5. There's going to be a resurrection
of the dead. There's going to be a resurrection
of the dead. Listen to this in John chapter
5. Our Lord says in verse 28, marvel not at this, marvel not
at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice and they shall come forth. All
that are in the graves. There's going to be a resurrection.
And I'm talking about a resurrection of this body. You say, I just,
you know, that just doesn't seem real to me. Here a body goes
back to the dust. Well, why would it be any more
difficult for God to give me a new body out of dust than to
give Adam a body out of dust when he made him? He created
man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath
of life, and he became a living soul. There's no difficulty with
that. You do err not knowing the scriptures
nor the power of God. Abraham believed in the resurrection.
Turn to Hebrews 11. Abraham believed in the resurrection
of the dead. In Hebrews 11, it says here in
verse 17, By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac
And he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten Son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy
seed be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up
even from the dead." Abraham believed that. Job believed it. Turn to Job 19. Job believed
in the resurrection. Listen to what Job said. And
a lot of people believe that Job is the oldest book in the
Bible. A lot of people believe that Job wrote even before Moses
wrote. And listen to what Job said.
Listen to it. In Job 19.25, I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day
upon this earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
and it will, this body starts deteriorating
and decaying just the moment breath leaves it. In fact, if
you don't embalm a body, you've got to get it buried in 24 hours. Yet he said, verse 26, in my
flesh I'm going to see God. In my flesh. That's what I was
talking about this morning. I'm going to see Him. I'm going to see
Him. We shall see Him as He is. And
we're going to see Him in the flesh. Read on. And Job said, Don't misunderstand
me, whom I shall see for myself. And my eyes shall behold, and
not another, although my reins be consumed within me." I'm going
to say, God, in flesh. Daniel believed in the resurrection.
Turn to Daniel, the book of Daniel, chapter 12. Every one of these
men who wrote the Word of God believed in the resurrection
of this body, of this flesh. of this very personality right
here, every one of us individually, are going to rise in. Daniel
12, verse 2, listen to this. And Daniel said, many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. They shall
awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. But they are going to awake,
those that sleep in the dust. Isaiah believed in the resurrection
of the dead. Look at Isaiah 26, verse 19. Isaiah 26, verse 19. Listen to him. The dead shall
live. The dead shall live. Together
with my dead body shall they arise. Awake, and sing ye that
dwell in dust. For thy dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Going to give up
the dead one of these days. Isaiah believed that. Isaiah
believed that. Paul believed in the resurrection.
Look at 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. And I want
to be understood for what I'm saying. I do not, I do not, I do not
believe in a mystical, unreal, spiritual existence,
I believe in a real, physical, material eternity, where we're
going to be. When God created Adam, He made
Adam in His own image. He made him holy and upright,
and Adam stood on a real earth with real flesh and bones. And
if he hadn't of sinned, he'd have lived forever. He'll live
forever. And one of these days, our Lord
Jesus Christ came and redeemed the people that are going to
live forever. And God's going to make a new earth just like
He made that first earth, but He's going to make this one without
any potential probability or possibility of sin, ever touching
it, wherein dwelleth righteousness. There's not going to be any It's
not going to mean a temptation, it's not going to mean a trial,
because we're never going to be like Christ without the possibility
of falling. Actually, when God brings me
forth from the grave in flesh and bones, I'm going to be so
much better off than Adam was because he had the potential
of falling, and I shall not have that potential. because he's going to destroy
all enemies. The last one will be death. Now
look at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 15. Now if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, I'll say some among you, there's no
resurrection of the dead. If there's no resurrection of
the dead, then Christ is not risen. That's how serious this
business is. If you don't believe that Well,
out there at Rose Hill, I've got a son out there and a mother
and a father. You've got your friends and loved
ones. Every one of them are coming
out of the grave. If they knew Christ, they're coming out of
the grave blessed to everlasting joy and glory and happiness.
If they didn't know Christ, they're coming out of the grave in the
body and they'll know everlasting contempt and shame. That's exactly
right. But they're coming out of the
grave. The earth is going to give up the dead. And they that
sleep in the dust are going to live. Now he goes on in verse
13. He says there's no resurrection
of the dead. Christ is not risen. And if Christ be not risen, our
preaching is vain and your faith is vain. And we're false witnesses
of God because we've testified of God that he raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up if the dead rise not. But verse 20 says,
Now is Christ risen from the dead, and he has become the firstfruits
of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Well, all
right, verse 35, now listen to this. But some man will say, all right,
then the dead rise, but how are they raised up? And with what
body do they come? Thy fool. That which thou sowest
is not quick, and except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou
sowest not the body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance
be of wheat, or some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it
pleaseth him, and to every seed his own body." Now, here's what
he's saying. These people said, Well, Paul,
we take an old, crippled, withered man, ninety years old, snow-white
hair and wrinkled face and withered hands, and diseased body, and
that body dies, and we pick it up and put it in a box. It's
obnoxious, it's corruptible, polluted, and we put that box
in the ground. Now then, what kind of body is
he going to have when he comes out of that grave? And Paul says,
that which is sown, that which we sow is not quickened except
it dies. We take a little wrinkled grain
of corn, it's been up in the cabinet for a year, came off
last year's crop. It's just a little old withered,
wrinkled piece of corn, and we go out and plow the field, fertilize
it, put that little wrinkled, seemingly dead seed in the ground
and cover it up. God sends rain on it, sunshine
on it, you go out there in a few days or weeks and here's a green,
plush, stalk of corn with all the juice and life and just a
whole bunch of ears with a whole bunch of those grains. It's good
to eat! That's not what you sold. You didn't take a long a long
stalk of corn and lay it in the ground, just took one little
withered seed. But yet the image of what you
buried came up but ten thousand times better, ten thousand times
more beautiful, ten thousand times more to be desired. And
that's about that little withered man, that little wrinkled old
man. But the life of God's in him
because he'd been saved by the grace of God. And you put him
in that box. One of these days, he comes out,
but he comes out in the image of Christ. He says over here
in verse 42, so also is the resurrection of the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's
raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. Don't you worry about getting
old and feeble and maybe forgotten. God hasn't forgotten you, and
He's all that matters. Your name may not be on somebody's
list of friends, but your name's on His list of sons and daughters.
He knows where they're all lying. He knows where they're all buried.
He'll come back for them, too. He ain't forgot you for a second.
He said it's sown in dishonor, raised in glory, it's sown in
weakness. Oh, how weak we do get. But it'll
be raised in power. It's sown a natural body. It's
raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there's
a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first
man, Adam, was made a living soul. And the last Adam's Christ,
he's a quickening spirit. That which is first is not spiritual,
but that which is natural. Afterwards Christ was revealed.
But the first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the
Lord from heaven, and as is the earthy, so are they that are
earthy. But as is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly.
And as we born the image of the earthy, and I shall bear his
image too. He was a fallen creature, and
I am too. He was a sinful creature, and
I am too. He was a decaying, dying man,
and so am I. But I also shall bear the image
of the heavenly." And you know something? Right now, there's
a man in glory. There's a man. There's a man
in flesh and bones. That same Christ Jesus who said
to his disciples, handle me, touch me, you feel that flesh?
A spirit, a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones. Give me here.
I'll drink your liquid and I'll eat your fish." And in that body,
he's in glory right now. But I'll tell you something else
that shows that too. Listen, turn, if you will, to
Genesis chapter 5. And Enoch lived 65 years and
begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah 300 years. and beget sons and daughters,
and all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five
years, and Enoch walked with God. And one day he was not,
but God took him straight to glory in the flesh. God took him straight to glory.
That's right. Enoch never decayed and rotted.
He went straight to glory. Now that change took place, we
shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. Enoch is a preview
of what's going to happen when Christ comes. We're going to
be taken right on up to glory. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall be changed. And Enoch is a sneak preview
of what's going to happen if Christ came right now. Every
one of us would go straight to glory in the flesh. There'd be
a change. It has to be changed to incorruptible,
immortal, But that's not the only illustration. Turn to the
book of 2 Kings. Let me show you another story
here in 2 Kings 2. There was a young disciple, a
young preacher by the name of Elisha. And his father in the
ministry was an old gentleman by the name of Elijah, 2 Kings
2. And the two of them Two of them were walking along
one day in 2 Kings 2 and verse 9. And listen to what happened. And Elijah was in the flesh. And it came to pass in verse
9 of 2 Kings 2, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to
Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you. before I am taken from you. And Elijah said, I pray thee,
let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou
shalt ask a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when
I am taken from thee, it will be so unto thee, but if not,
it will not be so. And it came to pass, as they
still walked along and talked, that behold, God sent the heavenly
limousine to pick up Elijah. There appeared a chariot of fire,
and horses of fire, and parted the two of them asunder. And
Elijah went up, and whirlwind into heaven." Do you believe
that? Do you now? Come on. I believe
that. I believe that. Well, then why should it be difficult
for us to believe that these be bodies? when they go to sleep,
when they die, and we lay them to rest, that one day God will
send the limousine, Tommy's coming to get you. And he's coming to
get you, John. And you can't go there till you
die. So why are we afraid of death? Why are we dread it? Why do we keep talking about having the good
fortune of staying here on this dung hill? And then not only that, but Acts
1, turn over there a moment, in Acts 1. And I'll tell you this, I'm not
going to deny either the scriptures nor the power of God. The scriptures
teach there'll be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness, and his people are going to inhabit this new
heaven and new earth in glorified flesh. And God will take care
of all the things that we don't understand. You say, well, what
about we going to recognize one another? Why, certainly. Why,
certainly. You know that. You know that. You know that we'll know each
other. Well, what about husbands and wives and children and these
things? God's going to take care of that.
Just don't worry your head about it. Like one woman said one time
to me just recently, she said, my little baby died when she
was four years old. I want to see her just like she
was. Well, now, mama, God will take care of that, but your little
baby is not going to be an infant in glory. There's not going to
be any unfinished work up there. That baby is going to be... Do
you want to be a baby in glory? I don't. I want to be like Christ,
and that little girl wants to be like Christ, too. And it's
nothing but our selfishness that would make us want them to be
little. But that's not going to be the
relationship in glory. We're going to be one family
in Christ. We're not going to carry these
little old foolish relationships to glory. That's going to be
so infinitely beyond the way we think now that we'll just
have to leave all that with God. And he'll take care of it. But
here he says in Acts 1, our Lord, verse 8, he was speaking to his
disciples, and he said, You shall receive power after the Holy
Ghost has come upon you, and you'll be witnesses unto me,
both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, to the uttermost parts
of the earth. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up. And a cloud received
him out of their sight, and while they looked steadfastly toward
heaven, As he went up, behold, two men in white apparel stood
by and said, Ye men of Galilee, while ye stand ye gazing up into
heaven, this same Jesus will come again." What am I saying? I'm saying that our Lord stood
there in the flesh, having eaten with them, drank with them, talked
with them, and while they looked at him, he went right up to glory. And you know, really and truly,
when we take our loved ones out to the cemetery and we stand
around that open grave, and you know how many times I've stood
there, and we're all weeping. Why are we weeping? Are we weeping
for their souls? Oh, no, no, Brother Maynard,
I'm not weeping. Their souls are with God. I wouldn't
dare bring them back, but this body, Those are the hands I held
and the lips I kissed. And that's the body I knew. And
it just distresses me to think about that body being put in
the ground. It distresses me and hurts me
and troubles me when I lay that body in the grave. Well, I've
got comfort for you. That body will live again, infinitely
more beautiful than the one you laid in the ground. Our inbred
sins require our flesh to return to the dust, but as the Lord
our Savior rose, all of his children must be coming out. And some of you sitting out there
right now are suffering in the body, all sorts of afflictions. I've seen people with arthritis
that just draws their hands and their feet, and they're crippled
all of these things. Let me ask you, do you want a
new body? I do. I want a new body. Well,
here's comfort for you. You're going to have one. You're
going to have one. John, we're going to run down
the street together someday. I believe that with all my heart.
We're going to run down the street, God's street. We're going to
stand and And our blind friends are going to see, and our deaf
friends are going to hear, and we're going to be just like Christ.
There's going to be a resurrection. All right, let me show you one
thing, and I'll quit. I've preached too long, but let's go back to
Acts 24, back where I was reading a while ago. There's going to
be a resurrection. I'm kind of anxious. I'm a little
bit anxious. A little bit anxious. You know,
really, some of these young folks sitting
out here, 25, 26, 27, 30, it's a long, hard road, isn't it?
Out there in front of you. Hard to say what this world is
going to be like and the things you might have to endure. And
maybe you look at Some of us older folks up there, and you
say, boy, you're not five years away from seeing the Lord. Isn't
that something? I bet you envy me more than I
envy you. I'll bet that. You envy me more
than I envy you. I wouldn't want to make that
trip again. Wouldn't want to make that trip again. Like the
fellow said, he's in the service, that I wouldn't take a million
dollars for the time I spent in the service, but I wouldn't
do it again for 10 million. Wouldn't do it again. It says
here in Acts 24, verse 15, there's going to be a resurrection. Did
you see that? Paul said there's going to be a resurrection, both
of the just and the unjust. Well, I thought everybody was
unjust. They are by nature, by birth, by choice, by practice,
but you see in Christ we are justified. And the just he's
talking about here that will have a part in the first resurrection
are those who have seen the Just One, and by his righteousness
and by his blood, they have in him become just and accepted
in the Beloved. And I wouldn't give you any kind
of hint or thought that I'm expecting all this glory that shall be
revealed in us on the basis of anything but Christ's righteousness. That's where it all is. Somebody says, he's gone to his
reward. Oh, no, I'm going to Christ's reward. He shall come
in his rewards with him. He's my reward, my great re-reward
is Christ. And everything God has given
me And everything God will ever give me and everything God's
blessed me with and He'll ever bless me with is because of what
Christ did and not what I'm doing or did or ever shall do. We're
just in Him. And you can have it by faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.