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What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer
Oh, what peace we often forfeit Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer
Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer
Are we weak and heavy laden? Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge Take it to the Lord in prayer
Do thy friends despise forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer
In his arms he'll take and shield thee Thou wilt find us all is there
Amen. Wonderful seeing you at this time. The ushers will come forward to collect the offering
and you can turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Tonight we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and the Bible reads,
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand,
by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, then am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain,
but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.
Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.
And if Christ be not risen, then are preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ,
whom he hath not raised up, if so be that the dead rise not.
But if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which were fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and 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.
But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,
when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him,
it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him.
When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him
that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?
Why are they yet then baptized for the dead?
And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageeth me if the dead rise not?
Let us eat, drink, and for tomorrow we die.
Be not deceived, evil communications, corrupt good manners.
Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God.
I speak this to your shame.
But some man will say, How are the dead raised up?
And with what body do they come? Thou fool.
That which thou sowest is not quickened, excepted die.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain.
But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men,
another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial,
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars, for one star differth from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul,
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural,
and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy.
The second man is of the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed
in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.
But the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you, first and foremost, for salvation, Lord,
for your death, burial, and your resurrection, Lord,
that you conquer death and hell, Lord,
and we thank you for that salvation that you've given us through Jesus Christ, Lord,
and thank you for this church you've given us, and thank you for pastor, Lord,
we pray that you bless him, fill him with your spirit,
and pray we're attentive to the preaching of your word,
and that we come away with truths out of your word, and go away edified, Lord.
Just bless this time and every aspect of it, Lord.
We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in 1 Corinthians 15 this evening,
and I'm going to be preaching an expository sermon on the resurrection.
Just kind of brush ourselves up on the doctrine of the resurrection.
It is a staple doctrine of our faith,
and so this is something that we should know fairly well
and familiarize ourselves with and remind ourselves of,
and it's great, you know, that we celebrate as a country
one day out of the year when we think upon as a nation
regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And so I want to take advantage of that this evening
to go through 1 Corinthians 15,
which is essentially the quintessential chapter on the resurrection.
It's very comprehensive. It's very detailed.
It just kind of goes over the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It goes over our resurrection that we're going to experience one day
and some of the arguments that people pose against the resurrection,
and so we're going to go over that this evening.
Look at verse number 1 of 1 Corinthians 15.
It says here,
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand,
by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless ye have believed in vain.
So the first thing we're going to look at here is that Paul gives a synopsis of the gospel.
He's going to give a synopsis of the gospel from verses 1 through 10,
and he's going to address this matter of believing in vain.
He says in verse 2,
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless ye have believed in vain.
Now the reason he's bringing this up in the first place
is because of the fact we're going to see later on
is that apparently there's Christians, people in the Corinthian church,
who are questioning the resurrection.
Now mind you, the Corinthian church was founded by the Apostle Paul.
He's the one who led them to the Lord.
He got them saved. He preached the gospel unto them.
He is the one who taught them doctrine.
He's writing these two letters to them.
And needless to say, the Corinthian church just had a lot of problems.
They had sin issues. They had doctrinal issues.
They had disputes about spiritual gifts.
I mean there's all types of issues,
but I would say this is probably one of the biggest issues that they had.
Which is this matter of the resurrection.
They didn't really have a good understanding of the resurrection,
and the reason we know this is because they're questioning the resurrection.
Now, he's saying there that they're saved if they keep in memory
that which he has preached unto them.
In context, he's referring to the gospel and more specifically, the resurrection.
So this would mean that if there's a person out there who claims to be saved,
they claim to have eternal life, they're going to go to heaven,
but they're kind of wishy-washy on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ,
we would question that person's salvation.
Because you need to believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ in order to be saved.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
And so part of what we need to believe in order to be saved
is the fact that Jesus Christ not just resurrected,
but he resurrected in the bodily form.
So why is that important to note?
Well because of the fact that there are factions out there,
like the Jehovah's Witnesses for example,
that don't believe that Jesus Christ resurrected physically,
but it was more of a spiritual resurrection.
Well if they believe that he only resurrected spiritually,
they don't get a free pass.
Christians shouldn't be like, well they sort of believe in the resurrection.
No, it's a false resurrection because the resurrection that the Bible highlights
is a transfiguration, also known as a glorification of the body.
And if Jesus Christ did not physically resurrect in a glorified state,
then we're damned.
Which is what we're going to look at in just a bit.
So he says if you keep these things in memory,
if not, they just believed in vain.
So they can pay lip service to being saved,
and that they have eternal life,
and that they're going to go to heaven,
and they believe in Jesus,
they believe in God,
they believe in the Bible.
But hold on a second,
if they don't have this correct regarding the resurrection,
they are what the Bible would say as a person who believed in vain.
They had an empty belief in the resurrection.
So this is why he's bringing this up,
because apparently those people are like,
well how is it that the dead shall rise?
How is this going to even happen?
How do we know that Jesus Christ really rose from the grave,
and all these questions that would cause someone to doubt?
And you know what,
there's people out there who don't like it when you doubt people's salvation,
but the people who don't like it obviously have not read the Bible.
Because plenty of times in the Word of God,
where you have men of God, authority figures,
who are questioning other people's salvation,
not based upon just dumb things of,
you know, oh they're just involved in sin,
it's based upon what they believe.
For example, you have the apostle Paul
writing the letter to the Corinthians,
or excuse me, to the churches of Galatia,
which were various churches in that region,
and what had happened to those churches is that
they had some Judaizers infiltrating those congregations
and teaching them that they needed to go back under the law.
So these Gentile believers,
who were never a part of Judaism,
these are Gentile believers,
they're in the region of Galatia,
they heard the preaching of Paul,
now they're starting to believe that they have to come back under the law.
So the apostle Paul hears about this,
and he tells them, I'm afraid of you.
He's not saying like, I'm scared of you now or something,
he's saying, I'm afraid you're not saved.
And you can kind of, you know,
empathize with that because, you know,
maybe you have run into someone who you thought was saved,
and then you run into them like a year later,
and they're just like, Buddha's the greatest thing ever,
you know, I'm a Buddhist now, it's like,
oh man, I'm afraid of you.
You know, it's like, you weren't even safe to begin with.
It's like, I don't even know if you're saved.
If they completely changed their doctrines of Christ,
such as the resurrection, the deity of Jesus Christ,
the word of God, heaven, hell,
these essential teachings of the Bible,
you know, that would cause us to question their salvation
and say, I don't think you're saved.
You obviously believed in vain,
even though they paid lip service to it.
So he gives a synopsis of the gospel
because he's telling them, you know,
in chapter 14, he says, let all things be done decently and in order,
and he's about to bring order to the doctrine of the resurrection,
which is obviously the most important thing that he is discussing with them.
He says there, verse three,
For I delivered unto you, first of all,
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
Now one thing that he's doing here,
he's basically saying, it's not my fault if you didn't believe the right thing,
because I delivered this unto you.
I didn't preach anything wishy-washy.
I was very clear in my gospel presentation
that he died according to the Scriptures for our sins,
that he was buried, and that he rose again according to the Scriptures.
So if these people believed in vain, it's not Paul's fault.
And this is a good principle for us to learn that
if we have done our best to give someone the gospel,
and then we find out later on that they're just carried away with other winds of doctrine,
damned-able heresy, they believe, damned-able heresy,
they believe that Jesus is Michael, the archangel,
or he's the brother of Satan, or whatever,
you don't have to blame yourself,
because if you delivered unto them that which you also received,
that Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected,
you can't control when people believe stupid things.
And so he's telling them, this is what I delivered unto you,
my message did not change, my doctrine did not change,
this is what I delivered unto you.
Now I want you to notice there in verse 3,
he says that what he delivered was that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Now when he says according to the Scriptures,
he's not referring to anything in the New Testament, right?
Like when we think of the Scriptures, for us that's Old Testament,
New Testament, it's the entire Word of God.
Whereas when the apostles are talking about the Scriptures,
they're only referring to the Old Testament,
because their ministry is taking place during a time when the Bible is still being completed.
They're still writing these epistles out,
and in fact I personally believe that a lot of the gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
were not written until after the apostle Paul wrote his epistles,
which obviously took place after the book of Acts.
And the book of Acts is like a follow up to the book of Luke,
which would tell us that the book of Luke was probably the last gospel
that was written after Matthew, Mark, and the book of John.
And obviously John wrote the book of John,
and he wrote the book of Revelation,
so obviously these books were probably written at a later time.
And what I'm trying to say here is that the apostle Paul
is only working with the Old Testament Scriptures.
Now we can point to many Scriptures in the Old Testament
that teaches us that Jesus Christ was going to die for our sins, right?
Isaiah 53, he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities,
the Bible tells us by his stripes were healed,
and over and over again it talks about how
the Messiah, the Christ, was going to atone for the sins of the world
based upon his sacrifice.
A lot of pictures in the Old Testament,
allegorical pictures and events that took place in the Old Testament
that basically was a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ was going to do.
So when he said he died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
he's absolutely right, he's using Old Testament Scriptures to back that up.
And then it says there, excuse me, verse 4,
that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
Now that is an important verse right there.
You say, why is that?
Well because you have this false doctrine called dispensationalism out there.
And dispensationalists, the hyper dispensationalists,
you know you have all these various degrees of dispensationalism,
it's like stupid to full blown retard, you know?
And there's a lot of dispensationalists that go on that,
they're in that spectrum.
Well the hyper dispensationalists are the full blown retard.
Because they're the ones who believe that there are different ways of salvation throughout history.
Which is a stupid doctrine.
Now one of the arguments that they pose is that,
what is the gospel they'll say?
What is the gospel?
And naturally, most Christians, 99% of Christians will say,
well the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And what their argument is, well the Old Testament saints didn't know the name of Jesus.
And not only that, they didn't even know that he was going to resurrect.
This is the argument that they'll pose.
Because you have some of the disciples that didn't really understand,
they didn't really believe that he was going to be delivered,
that he was going to resurrect,
and somehow they used that as proof to say,
see a lot of Old Testament saints didn't believe in the resurrection.
But what the disciples were struggling with was not that Jesus Christ was going to resurrect,
it was the order of events and when they took place.
That's what it was.
He said no, they didn't believe in the resurrection.
No, they just didn't know when it was going to take place.
And the proof of that is that they constantly thought that he was going to bring in the kingdom.
Even after his resurrection, prior to his ascension,
they were asking him in Acts chapter 1,
you know, are you going to establish your kingdom now?
It's like whoa, you're like thousands of years too early for that.
So they didn't know the order of events.
That's what they were confused about, you understand?
It wasn't that they didn't believe in the resurrection.
And here's proof that Old Testament saints believe in the resurrection
is that the resurrection was constantly talked about in the Old Testament.
For example, when we quote Acts chapter 2 about Jesus going to hell for three days and three nights,
it's a quotation from the book of Psalm.
That his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption.
This he spake before concerning the resurrection.
So he's talking about the resurrection.
That people believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And in fact, one of the greatest illustrations of the resurrection in the Old Testament is Jonah.
And in fact, Jesus Christ, when he was in the Old Testament,
stated, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the well's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And of course, we know that the byproduct of him being there
was that he was going to resurrect one day.
So the resurrection is a major part of the Old Testament.
And in fact, you think of Abraham and Isaac,
when he was going to sacrifice his son Isaac.
In Hebrews chapter 11, it tells us that he had faith that God was going to resurrect him,
even if he did sacrifice him.
They all believed in the resurrection.
They didn't believe in reincarnation or just like,
oh, we don't know what happens when people die or whatever.
They knew exactly what was going to happen
because they had the scriptures that taught them those things.
The New Testament is building upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, the Bible tells us.
So they're building upon that foundation of doctrine, teachings, nothing different.
The difference is this, is that the New Testament is simply the Old Testament revealed.
And so, you know, sorry, dispensationalists, they did believe in the resurrection.
Now, of course, they'll say, well, you know,
they didn't preach the death, burial, and resurrection in the Old Testament.
And so therefore, the gospel has changed now.
You know, the gospel for us is the death, burial, and resurrection.
But here's the thing is that when we say the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
we're giving a concise definition of what the gospel is, right?
What is the gospel?
Well, a concise definition of that would be the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But gospel simply means good news.
And gospel or that good news, the good tidings of great news was brought forth at his birth, right?
Isn't that what the angel said?
You know, he's bringing forth good tidings of great news that his Savior is going to be born.
So when we look at the gospel from an overall standpoint,
from a concise definition, it's the death, burial, and resurrection.
But overall, it's just referring to the life of Christ, okay?
From his birth, as we see in Bethlehem's manger, all the way to his death and thereafter, okay?
This is the gospel, all right?
So we see that there, he's given the synopsis of the gospel that is the death, burial, and resurrection.
He discusses this matter, addresses this matter of believing in vain.
He defines that.
He says that the gospel is based off of the Old Testament, hasn't changed.
Salvation is no different today than it was back then.
It's always been by faith.
The Bible says, to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him,
shall receive remission of sins.
It's the same thing that we preach today, okay?
And then aside from that, he gives the brethren's witness.
He says in verse number five,
And then he was seen of Cephas, referring to Peter, then of the twelve,
after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles,
and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time,
for I am the least of the apostles, that I am not mean to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace, which was bestowed upon me,
was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all,
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Now, I like how the Apostle Paul basically distributes this, the proof here.
He first says, look, this is what the scriptures say, okay?
But then also, we testify of these things that it's true.
We know that Jesus Christ resurrected because Cephas saw him, the twelve saw him,
he was seen above five hundred brethren at once, and then I saw him too.
He's basically saying the witness, you know, under the mouth of two or three witnesses,
every word shall be established.
So according to God's law, if two or three witnesses have, you know,
testified of something specific, you know, that has substance, that witness has substance.
And obviously we have more than one witness here.
So he's kind of building this up to let them know the resurrection took place.
Jesus Christ did resurrect, number one, because the Bible says it,
but number two, we saw it.
And he said, I saw it.
And he was born out of due time.
He saw Jesus Christ even after his ascension, you understand?
And so he's telling them, put your faith in the authority of God's word.
And you know what? This is a good lesson for us to learn that, you know,
we don't need to prove to a wicked world that the Bible is true based upon
artifacts or science or archaeological discoveries.
Fool you with that.
Because even if you gave them those things, a lot of them still wouldn't believe.
And we're not trying to win people over with intellectual arguments and proof.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Okay, these things are accepted by faith.
And so this is what he is giving here, the synopsis of the gospel.
And the reason he's doing that, number two, is because of the skepticism of the Corinthians.
Okay, look at verse 11.
We're going to look at the bedrock of their faith.
Verse 11 says, Therefore, whether it were I or they, so he preached and so he believed.
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead,
how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Now right off the bat, I would say, oh, that person's not saved.
Because if they're saying that Jesus Christ didn't resurrect, what are you doing here then?
Why are you in church if you don't even believe that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead?
That means you think that he's still in the grave.
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
If Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain.
He said, look, if Jesus Christ didn't resurrect from the grave, that means the scriptures lied.
That means the 500 brethren, the apostles, James, Cephas, Peter, myself also, we all lied.
And that means that you just literally believed in vain because of the fact that if there is no resurrection,
then what do you claim to believe in then?
If you're saying you're believing, but you don't believe in the resurrection,
you have a vain belief and he's saying our preaching is vain.
So why? Because the resurrection is the bedrock of our faith.
Now obviously we understand that Jesus Christ is the bedrock, but it's synonymous with the resurrection.
Because if Christ didn't resurrect from the grave, then he's not Jesus Christ.
That's the main difference between Jesus Christ and every other person who claimed to be deity
is that every single other person is still in the grave.
Buddha, you know, yeah, he's in hell, exactly.
But his bones are somewhere here. He ain't coming out.
Muhammad is still in the grave.
Whatever Hindu deity or Dalai Lama or whatever, they're all in the grave.
And let me say this, all of them will resurrect one day, but it's called the resurrection of damnation.
It's not the resurrection of the just.
And so he's saying, you know, your belief is in vain.
But then, you know, he gives them the bedrock of their faith and then he says,
look, our preaching is bogus if there is no resurrection.
He says in verse 15,
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
Now this is a very good verse here.
Why is that?
Because he literally says we are found false witnesses of God if we don't believe in the resurrection.
Now what does that tell us for 2022?
That means that every Jehovah's Witness out there, according to verse 15, is a false witness of God.
Paul called it.
Right?
Because they don't believe that he physically resurrected from the grave. Define irony!
They don't believe that he physically resurrected from the grave.
They don't even believe he died on a cross.
They think he died on a stake or something, on a stick.
Just because the Bible says that he was hanged on a tree.
That's the reason they believe that.
But obviously Jehovah's Witnesses, first and foremost, are just historically just inept.
Because anybody knows that during that time, any form of execution in that part of the world was by crucifixion of the Romans.
Romans didn't use a stake.
Just like one pole or something like that.
And the reason the Bible says that cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree is because a cross, get this, is made up of a tree.
It's made of wood.
And so God is simply saying that the person who hangs on a tree on a piece of wood, which is what a cross is made up of, is cursed.
But I find that interesting.
Verse 15, it says we're found false witnesses of God.
Oh, you mean like the Jehovah's Witnesses?
So folks, we can look at this and say Jehovah's Witnesses, you are false Jehovah's Witnesses.
Because you claim to believe in biblical doctrine, but you deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
No, we believe that he resurrected spiritually, then you're a false witness.
You can say spiritually all you want and claim to believe.
It doesn't matter.
You are a false witness because you don't believe in the quintessential doctrine of the resurrection.
Which is not that you just resurrect spiritually.
By the way, if they just said, well I think he resurrected bodily but he wasn't glorified, still false.
Still false.
Because the resurrection is not just a bodily resurrection, it's a glorified bodily resurrection.
The Bible also refers to it as a transfiguration.
They say, well he just came back from the grave.
And here's the thing, there's a lot of examples in the Bible of people who died and were resurrected.
They died, they resurrected, they came back to life.
We see that multiple times in the Old Testament.
We see Jesus Christ resurrected people during his ministry.
But none of them resurrected in a transfigured state.
He says in verse 16, here's the bitter alternative.
For if the dead rise not, then Christ is not raised.
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.
Ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep, in other words those who are dead, physically, in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
What is he saying? He's saying look, the only alternative you have here is the fact that you're just going to go to hell.
Because Jesus Christ is the only one sufficient to pay for our sins and in order for the process of salvation to be complete in Christ is for him to have resurrected.
He can't just die, he has to resurrect also.
But he resurrected.
Now if he only died and did not resurrect as some would claim, then we're all in our sins.
Our faith is vain and those who have passed away in Christ, they've perished, they're in hell.
So that's the bitter alternative that he gives them.
So he's addressing their skepticism of the resurrection.
And he said why is it important to talk about something like this?
Well if we don't emphasize just basic Bible doctrines in church, you'd be surprised how fast false doctrine can just swoop in right away.
And there's plenty of churches out there that mean well or maybe they have a pastor that knows what the Bible says but chooses not to talk about doctrines such as the resurrection in depth, give a comprehensive understanding of the resurrection and that's why they get all kinds of people in their church who just believe a bunch of nonsense.
They're like a Corinthian church.
And so it's important that we talk about this to understand comprehensively what the resurrection is.
So we see a synopsis of the gospel.
We see the skepticism of the Corinthians and then he gives a survey of the resurrection itself.
He says in verse 20,
Now what does that mean, the first fruits of them that slept?
It's basically saying he's the first one to resurrect in a glorified state.
Because he's not the first one to resurrect because many people have resurrected in times past.
He resurrected a bunch of people.
And in fact when he resurrected, there's a ton of people that resurrected with him that came out of the graves.
A lot of saints came out of the graves.
But they did not come out of the graves glorified.
They just came back to life.
When it says he's the first fruits of them that slept, he's referring to the fact that he's the first person to resurrect in a transfigured state, a glorified state.
It says in verse 21,
And you can reference this with Romans chapter number 5 how it kind of gives that antithesis of Adam and Jesus Christ.
He says in verse 22,
Listen to what it says here.
Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Now what is this talking about?
He's saying this is the order of sequence.
Jesus Christ had to be the first one to resurrect in a glorified state, then they that are his at his coming is referring to the rapture.
And of course you can compare this with 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where the Bible talks about the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
So the order is that Jesus Christ had to be the first fruit and then those who were dead in Christ at the end of those 75 days of great tribulation.
And then after that we which are alive and remain.
So if you can put yourself in that time frame, if you're alive during the tribulation all the way to the end, if you're enduring to the end,
you're going to get a great show.
Because aside from the fact that you see Jesus Christ descending in the clouds and you see him with your own eyes and he's there,
I mean he's rending the heavens, rolled away as a scroll, just all types of supernatural things are taking place.
One of the craziest things you're going to be able to view is these dead bodies just flying out of the cemeteries and everywhere else meeting their transfigured body in the air.
And it would explain why the Bible says in Luke 21 men's hearts failing them for fear.
It's called a heart attack.
You understand?
Why would they have a heart attack?
Well when you're seeing a bunch of bodies, and it's not like fire or something like that, I mean the sky shall be filled with saints who have died in times past.
I mean we're talking about every saint from the beginning of time until the rapture.
Billions, right?
It's going to be just clusters of saints flying through the air.
I mean that's a crazy sight.
And it kind of makes you think, okay maybe that's why people dress nice.
They dress them nice, the corpse is nice when they're in the coffin because they want to come out looking, you know.
But you're viewing this and you're just like, it's almost our turn.
As soon as that last person comes out of the grave and meets the Lord in the air, then it's our turn.
And so this is the order, but look what it says in verse 24, then cometh the end.
Now let me explain something is that when the Bible talks about the end, you really have to look at the context of what it's referring to because multiple times throughout the word of God it talks about the end.
Like when it talks about the tribulation in Matthew 24, it talks about it as the end.
But when we look at it from an end times prophecy perspective, that's not necessarily the end, the end, the end.
Because there's a lot of other stuff that has to take place, right?
And here it says, then cometh the end when he shall have, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
So what end is this referring to? It's actually referring to the completion of the millennial reign.
Because remember we're talking about in context of the resurrection.
So what's the first fruit? Jesus Christ.
We which are his that is coming, that is the rapture.
But then you have three and a half years thereafter and then you have Armageddon and then you have the beginning of the millennial reign and then a thousand years thereafter you have the second resurrection.
Because you got to keep in mind is that during that three and a half year period of time of God's wrath being poured out, there's people getting saved.
A lot of people getting saved and you say, well how do you know that people are getting saved during the wrath of God?
Well because you have the 144,000 preaching the gospel during that time, you have, you know, sorry, that was pretty good young lady, you actually got me that time.
She apparently does not like that preaching. She's like no.
144,000, then you have the two witnesses preaching, you know, they have more of the public ministry and they're preaching God's word.
So a ton of people are getting saved.
But the Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 20, it says blessed are those who basically partake in the first resurrection.
So if the Bible talks about a first resurrection, by process of elimination, we basically see that there's a second resurrection.
Now why would there be a second resurrection? Because there's people getting saved during the wrath of God but they don't get to be a part of the millennial reign.
That is a privilege that's given to those who are raptured, who are saved, you know, prior to the wrath of God being poured out.
We get to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. So if you're saved, you're already in. You're good to go. You don't have to worry about that.
If you're saved already and every believer from the beginning of time until now will be a part of that thousand year reign where we rule and reign with Christ, rewards are distributed to you, authorities given unto you for the works that you've done.
And that's why it says that you're blessed because you get to be a part of the earthly government of God.
For a thousand years. We get to get it out of our system. All the times that we were just upset with the government, the laws, we get to fulfill our spiritual desire to implement the laws of God during that time.
But then thereafter you do have a second resurrection. Now Revelation 20, I know this is really exciting but I love talking about this stuff here.
Revelation 20 doesn't even talk about that second resurrection, but it is insinuated and I'll explain why.
Because the first resurrection is emphasized in Revelation chapter 7, which is our resurrection, right? Resurrection is synonymous with the rapture.
The resurrection that is emphasized in Revelation 20 is what? The resurrection of the damned.
Because after the battle of Gog and Magog, you have the great white throne judgment and the Bible says that the sea gives up their dead.
Hell gives up their dead and he sees the dead both small and great stand before the throne of God and the books are open and the book of life is open.
They're judged out of the things that are written in those books and whosoever's name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
So the gospels talk about that resurrection unto damnation. This is when those who are damned are bodily resurrected.
Their souls are reunited with their physical bodies to be cast into the lake of fire.
Well the Bible says that simultaneously with that resurrection of damnation is a resurrection of the just as well.
The difference being is that Revelation 20's emphasis of the resurrection is on the damned.
And so this is what this is referring to because when, look at verse number 24 says,
When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
The culmination of putting everything under his feet is at the end of the millennial reign.
Because we obviously see that at the beginning of the millennial reign the Bible says that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
But then at the end of the millennial reign he delivers it up to his Father.
And he says in verse 25 he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Now when is death destroyed? In Revelation 20.
Because it says death and hell are cast into the lake of fire.
He says verse 27, For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith, All things are put under him, it is expected that he is accepted,
which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
So Christ is the first transfigured resurrection and then you have the three main resurrections.
And then we see here the resurrection, the resurrection of that which is referring to the second resurrection.
Now you think to yourself why is this being mentioned particularly about things being put under him, under his authority?
Like what context is that in regards to people resurrecting? Why is that chapter there or passage there?
So this is why it's there and pay close attention to this.
We view the resurrection as we're going to get a brand new body.
I might get a six pack one day.
I shall finally get the body I've always wanted or something.
We view it as a transfiguration where we're just completely changed and we're not going to be the same.
But really what the resurrection is, is God subduing you.
Because right now we're not completely subdued unto the Lord because we have the flesh still.
You see with the spirit we serve the Lord but we have these members of our body that war against our spirit.
The spirit lusts against the flesh, the flesh lusts against the spirit.
These are contrary the ones to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.
So we have to serve the Lord kind of in tandem with our flesh and so we're not completely subdued unto God as of yet.
And the Bible says that we are the purchased possession unto the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.
Referring to the fact that when we are resurrected at that point we will be completely subdued unto him.
Right now we want to serve God but there's times when we sin, we make mistakes, we don't please him because we're not completely subdued unto him.
But the resurrection is a complete subjection of us.
That's when it's just like the old man is completely removed and now we can 100% serve God without distraction, without the sin nature, he has subdued us.
You say well I don't know, how does that make sense?
Well that's what the Bible tells us, let not sin therefore reign in your immortal body.
He should obey in the lustre of neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
See right now he has to command us to make the choice to be in subjection unto God.
We have to make that choice today.
We have to die, you know something has to die?
We have to die today in order to serve the Lord.
But there's going to come a time when we don't really have to make that choice.
Because once we get our resurrected bodies it'll just be a natural, or should I say a supernatural thing to just serve the Lord, you understand?
So what he's referring to here is that the millennial reign period is a transitional period where Jesus Christ is subduing the world under his own authority.
And the culmination of that subjection is at the conclusion of the millennial reign when death is swallowed up in victory.
When it's cast into the lake of fire.
So again the resurrection is simply God subduing us.
And the last person who is subdued, the last believer will be at the end of the millennial reign.
Because at the end of the millennial reign when you have the great white throne judgment and then you have the transfiguration of the world, you have the new heaven and the new earth.
There's no more unsafe people in the world.
No more death, no more sin, no more devil.
It will literally be a perfect world absent of iniquity and sin.
That's what he says in verse 26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
So really the survey of the resurrection is basically saying the resurrection is just God subduing this world unto himself.
And look, the way he subdues the physical world is by transfiguring the world. That's why there's a new heaven and a new earth.
So that is the survey of the resurrection and then he gives some sensible arguments for the resurrection.
He says in verse 29, else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?
If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?
Now this is a very controversial verse because a lot of people have different interpretations of what this specifically means.
And at the end of the day, I'm not against really any interpretation of this because it's not 100% clear.
Now I'll give you what I believe what it means and I'll first tell you what others say it is and then I'll tell you what I believe it means.
A lot of people would interpret this as saying, else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?
Referring to the fact that if Jesus Christ wasn't raised from the dead, then what about the people that were baptized for him?
Why would they be baptized for Jesus Christ if Jesus Christ never rose from the grave?
We bury him in the likeness of his death, raise him again in the likeness of his resurrection.
If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?
They interpret dead as referring to Jesus Christ. Now you can see where they would get that from.
The problem with that is that if you were to look at the originals, the Texas Receptus, the Greek manuscript, dead there is plural.
Now when we say that person is dead, it could be referring to one person, but if we say the dead, it could be referring to many or one.
Well in Greek it's referring to many. Like for example in Spanish you have the word muerto, referring to one, but then you can say muertos, referring to many.
Well in Greek it's like muertos, referring to many.
So I'm not against people taking that interpretation because it really doesn't change anything at all.
In regards to the doctrine, I believe what this is referring to is literally that there are people in those days that were actually getting baptized for the dead.
You say what? Do people do that? The Mormons do that.
And look, there's nothing new under the sun. If the Mormons do it, they got it from somewhere.
Every false doctrine that you have today, it's not new, it's been around since the beginning of time.
And so I believe that that's what it's referring to and my belief on that is based upon the dead there.
But if you differ on that interpretation, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't change anything in the text.
He's still making this sensible argument here. Look at verse 30.
Look at verse 30.
He's saying look, if the dead rise now, why am I putting myself in danger?
Why am I allowing my building to get blown up?
Why am I putting up with people threading my life and stealing my vehicle and camping outside of my house to try to kill me and doxy me and putting my address out there?
Why would I live in jeopardy if the dead rise not? It would be a stupid thing to do.
He's basically saying obviously this is true because all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
It's proof that God is real.
It's proof that Jesus Christ is real. It's proof that he resurrected because this is what they're attacking me on, he's saying.
He says in verse 32, when he says the beast at Ephesus, he's referring to false prophets.
Verse 33.
He's saying look, if you have this attitude of let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die, those are evil communications.
They will corrupt your good manners and your manners should be to preach the gospel and make known the knowledge of God.
So he gives those sensible arguments and then he simplifies the bodily transformation in verse 35.
He says, but some man will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except to die.
Now I like verse 35 and 36 because the person's not even real.
He's just assuming that someone's going to say it.
He's like some man will say and then he responds, he's like you idiot.
It's not even like a real person but he's just assuming that someone's going to say that and look people do say that.
And he's like you fool and you know I like verses where the apostles call people fools.
Because when we call people fools people like are just like really offended at that and you know oh you shouldn't call anybody a fool and how dare you say it but they call them fools all the time.
Because people who do foolish things are fools.
People who say foolish things are fools.
Now we don't necessarily call people fools except for those in East LA.
But even then they leave out the L.
We use the term stupid more often than not.
And they're like you shouldn't call people stupid but if they do stupid things and they believe stupid stuff and they say stupid things they're stupid people.
He says thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except to die.
What is he saying? Something has to die.
Right?
He says and now which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain and may chance of wheat or of some other grain.
But God giveth it a body as it had pleased him and to every seed his own body.
This is why you know we shouldn't necessarily explain the resurrection our bodily resurrection to some unsafe person because they can't get it they don't understand it.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Neither can he know them for they're spiritually discerned.
I mean some Christians can't even understand how we're going to be resurrected right?
They're just like how is this?
And what the Apostle Paul is saying here is you know we don't sow like a big tree into the ground.
Right?
He's saying we sow perchance wheat, grain, something and then something completely different comes out.
He says God giveth it a body as it had pleased him and to every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh but there's one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes and another of birds.
He's saying why would you not understand this if God created you know different beings and creations with different flesh?
How could he not do the same thing with the resurrected body?
He says in verse 40 there are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial. This isn't referring to E.T.E.
Terrestrial means like earthly.
Okay celestial means heavenly, terrestrial means earthly.
He says but the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars for one star differth from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
Now don't get this confused because some people think spiritual means like it's inanimate or not inanimate.
It has no substance. It's like a floating ghost or something.
You know I remember being a kid thinking if and when I go to heaven when I was a kid.
You know I would think that there is a bunch of just like caspers in like heaven.
Like it would only be like for my torso up and everything else is just like floating. You know what I mean?
Am I the only one? I am the only one. Mark, okay thank you Mark. I see that hand.
I used to think that everyone was just like white and like clear. You know what I mean?
We all kind of floated around just because I saw a lot of movies when I was a kid. I don't know.
But when it says spiritual it doesn't mean that it's just like some transparent figure or something like that.
Spiritual body is just referring to the fact that it's a celestial body that's completely different from that which is physical.
And the main difference between the spiritual body and the terrestrial body is what?
Sin. Sin is not present with the spiritual body. So the spiritual body is Bruce Mejia 2.0 with the virus removed.
Sin is no longer present. Iniquity is gone. It's not there. Now we have a hard time understanding that because we've always lived with sin.
That's all we've ever known. To be absent of sin for us is as foreign to us as what eternity would feel like to us.
Because we were born within the realm of time. We don't know what it's like to be in an eternal realm where there is no time.
That's something that we can only understand from a celestial perspective.
So what he's saying here is that you can't really compare the resurrection to this.
That's why a lot of people think, you know, that's why when they think of Samson, they think of him from a terrestrial perspective.
He must have been buff and had traps and biceps and triceps and man he must have had some big quads.
They always picture him in movies like The Rock or something.
I mean wasn't he Samson in some movie or something? Some Samoan was probably Samson. I'm just going to be honest.
Right? Because to them it's like well that's the only way he was able to do the things that he did.
It's because he was just a very large person. But the biblical truth is that Samson was probably a small guy.
He's probably, I'm just going to gather, he's probably thin. He probably didn't look like much.
You know what I mean? Because the source of his strength was not his ability to squat or deadlift or bench press a whole lot of weight.
It was that he was strong in the Lord and the power of his might. That's why they were like, where did he get his strength from?
Well if he was like huge, you know, you can turn to that guy and say, thou fool.
Can't you see where his strength lies? It lies in his quads, in his hamstrings, in his back.
It's very evident, right? But the fact that he was probably a small guy, that's why they said that.
Because they didn't know where it came from, where his strength came from the Spirit.
And so the Spirit is what basically is going to empower this new body that we're going to get.
It's not powered by the blood, it's powered by the Spirit.
And the greatest part of the resurrection is not that you're going to lose weight or have a full set of hair or no longer have wrinkles or grey hair or whatever it may be.
That stuff is nonsensical, it doesn't even matter. The greatest part is the absence of sin.
The greatest part is that it's incorruptible. The reason we have wrinkles and grey hair and we're just spiraling downward as the years go by is because we are corruptible, we are corrupting.
Because that's what our bodies are. Whereas the spiritual, celestial body will never corrupt. It's just eternally perfect. It's awesome.
So then he gives us the summit of the resurrection. He says in verse 45,
So it is written that the first Adam was made a living soul, referring to a living man. Soul is often used synonymously with a physical man.
He says the last Adam was made a quickening spirit, albeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
Just reiterating what we just talked about. Look at verse 50.
Now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Verse 51, Behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.
So it gives us the rapidity of this transfiguration. This is not like you know we are resurrected and then it's just you see the resurrection taking place as in like you know you got to put it in the microwave for five minutes or something until it becomes what it needs to become.
This is in the twinkling of an eye. The rapidity of that transfiguration is just fast.
It's just like in a blink of an eye you're just completely changed. It's great.
He says in verse 53, for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
See today we have this thing of death so to speak.
Because we have to live with the fact that you know one day we will die.
There's going to be a day that we have to transition and actually like die.
And we don't know when that is.
That's the thing about death that can come upon us at any moment.
Now we shouldn't live like oh man is it today you know.
Live in fear. Obviously live unto the Lord.
You know enjoy your life. Enjoy the life that God has given to you. Enjoy your family. Serve God. Win souls. Live for eternity.
But the truth is is that we still have to face that last enemy.
A lot of enemies that we have in this world that we're going to face throughout the years but your greatest enemy is death.
And no one can evade that.
The only exception to that rule my friends is if you're in the great tribulation you make it all the way to the end.
That's the exception to the rule.
And I don't understand people. Some people are just like they don't like exceptions to the rule in the Bible.
When the Bible clearly lays out exceptions.
You know they're just like like for example I put out this video about Moses and Elijah being the two witnesses.
And I get hundreds of comments of people saying it's Moses and Enoch.
It's Elijah and Enoch. Because Elijah and Enoch didn't die.
And isn't appointed for a man once to die.
But after this the judgment.
And it's just like you know people died all the time and came back to life.
Throughout the Bible. Lazarus.
But not only that how about the fact that there's going to be a ton of people at the end of the great tribulation that are not going to die.
They will actually evade death.
They will not be a part of that because you know it's one of those things where Jesus Christ comes in the clouds and it's just like well you know you made it to the end so you don't even have to face death.
But the vast majority of us are just going to die.
All of you are probably going to die.
I'm probably going to die.
If it doesn't happen in our lifetime we're all just going to face death.
Sorry to put a wet blanket on it but that might happen.
If the tribulation happens you know next 10-20 years or something like that.
Okay then at that point we might have a chance.
But you know a lot of people are going to die during the tribulation.
And so you know.
Just count on dying.
Probably going to die.
Death is swallowed up in victory. Verse 55, O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So he tells us this is the summit of our resurrection.
He's saying based upon the fact that we're going to resurrect.
We're going to get a glorified body.
We will no longer have corruption.
You know Jesus Christ resurrected.
We're going to have this glorified, transfigured body that is no longer the presence of sin.
It says in verse 58, Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding on the work of the Lord.
For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
I love the practicality of the Bible my friends.
Because he just got done teaching some really deep doctrine.
But then he gives an application to it.
Because we're going to resurrect, this is why you should just serve the Lord.
This is why you shouldn't quit.
You should be steadfast.
Don't be a movable person.
Make sure you're just planted in the house of your God.
Make sure you're always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Keep serving God. Keep winning souls to Christ.
Keep serving your husband.
Keep serving your wife.
Keep raising your children.
Keep being a Christian.
Just keep abounding in the work of the Lord because your labor is not in vain in the Lord because you're going to get a resurrected body.
Now the reason he says that is because not everyone is going to get a great resurrected, or not a great resurrected body,
but not everyone is going to get a glorious body as others would get.
Because the level of glorification on that body is based upon your work.
Now I'm not going to go through all the scriptures that we see there in the book of Daniel,
but there are some who are going to shine brighter than others.
Why? Well because they were steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
So how can I make sure that my body is just shining brightly?
Well you just have to make sure you do everything the Bible says.
You mean like win souls? Yeah.
What else? Everything else.
So you get 10 fishing poles and you put them in every single pond of God's service.
And you say I'm going to catch fish in all of these ponds.
I want to be a great husband, a great wife, a great son, a great daughter.
I want to win souls. I want to be a disciple of souls. I want to be faithful in church. I want to read my Bible.
I want to know Bible doctrine. I want to be able to do this.
I want to do everything to maximize my potential to have a great glorified body at the resurrection.
And that's what he says. He says look, serve God because of this promise that we have that we will resurrect one day. Amen?
Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for the book of 1 Corinthians and we're specifically of course thankful for chapter 15, the resurrection chapter.
I pray God that you'd help us to think upon those things and sometimes we can live our day to day lives
and not even think upon the fact that the millennial reign will be a reality one day.
I pray Father God that you'd help us to remember those things, to think upon them and that it may determine how we behave in this life.
That we would not only think upon the resurrection and heaven and eternity but may we serve you in light of it.
And I pray Father God that you'd help us to do so. We love you Lord and we thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please turn your songbooks to song number 248.
There is our last song, song number 248, Now I Belong to Jesus.
Song number 248, all together on that first verse.
Jesus my Lord will love me forever
From Him the power of people can sever
He gave His life to ransom my soul
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
But for eternity
Once I was lost in sin's degradation
Jesus came down to bring me salvation
Lifting me up from sorrow and shame
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
But for eternity
Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me
Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me
His precious blood He gave to me He
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
But for eternity
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.
Thank you.