WEBVTT 00:00:09.449 --> 00:00:14.289 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.289 --> 00:00:16.589 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.769 --> 00:00:19.789 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.149 --> 00:00:22.989 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:22.989 --> 00:00:27.210 you are through our website ecb .asia or our 00:00:27.210 --> 00:00:31.050 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.050 --> 00:00:34.950 by this week's sermon. In the study above all, 00:00:35.049 --> 00:00:37.609 living in the victory of Jesus, we have been 00:00:37.609 --> 00:00:42.719 studying What Jesus has accomplished for us so 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:47.119 that we can walk in that freedom. And today we're 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:50.420 going to be talking about a topic that is mortality. 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:54.880 We come across mortality in different ways, but 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:59.240 every time that it comes to us, it's just disorienting. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:05.120 The first time I experienced it was when my daughter, 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:09.760 one -year -old daughter, died at home. and it 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.879 was so unexpected, and suddenly you are hit with 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:17.280 the reality that this is what it means to be 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:22.920 mortal. The pain, the grieving, the abruptness 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.260 of it all, the feeling that it was robbed from 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:32.680 you, and all the theological questions that come 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:37.849 to mind in a moment like that. Then later, my 00:01:37.849 --> 00:01:40.849 father -in -law, who was a missionary in Thailand 00:01:40.849 --> 00:01:44.189 for many years, retired. And in his retirement, 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:49.090 as he was now 86, 87 years old, he was diagnosed 00:01:49.090 --> 00:01:53.849 with cancer. And I saw him being consumed by 00:01:53.849 --> 00:01:56.010 this cancer and the treatment that he was following 00:01:56.010 --> 00:01:59.969 to do nothing for it. And I was standing there 00:01:59.969 --> 00:02:07.579 in the bedroom when he breathed his last. And 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:12.199 we were there standing around him grieving for 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:15.460 his passing because we loved him and just missing 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:17.979 him after he was gone for so long, even until 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:22.460 today. And it doesn't matter whether it comes 00:02:22.460 --> 00:02:24.879 abruptly with your one -year -old daughter or 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:30.060 it comes as one that is later in life in his 00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:38.930 80s. Mortality feels wrong all the time. And 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:41.889 depending on what you understand about mortality 00:02:41.889 --> 00:02:44.729 and what you understand what Jesus accomplished 00:02:44.729 --> 00:02:50.930 will determine how you face those seasons in 00:02:50.930 --> 00:02:54.650 your life. But because we are followers of Jesus, 00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:58.789 what God wants us to do is that we experience 00:02:58.789 --> 00:03:04.550 that reality of our lives with truth. Understanding 00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:07.610 what Jesus accomplished for us so that that truth 00:03:08.349 --> 00:03:12.289 shapes the way we experience this reality. Because 00:03:12.289 --> 00:03:15.509 otherwise, we will experience things like anxiety 00:03:15.509 --> 00:03:20.090 and anger and control. Anxiety because the idea 00:03:20.090 --> 00:03:24.689 of mortality makes us have anxiety attacks and 00:03:24.689 --> 00:03:29.250 we start becoming so emotionally engaged with 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:33.729 it that fear rather than peace is what defines 00:03:33.729 --> 00:03:39.330 our experience. Or someone that you love is taken 00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:43.110 from you so abruptly. That instead of realizing 00:03:43.110 --> 00:03:46.550 that death and mortality is actually the enemy 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:50.629 that Jesus came to destroy. You turn to Jesus 00:03:50.629 --> 00:03:54.689 and to God and you turn in anger. Because you 00:03:54.689 --> 00:03:57.490 blame God for not doing something to prevent 00:03:57.490 --> 00:04:02.240 this from happening. And instead of turning to 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.120 God and following him, you turn away from him 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:12.020 in resentfulness. And control. Because we want 00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:15.379 to so avoid it that instead of trusting God with 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:18.379 our fears and the anxieties of the future, we 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:21.720 try to control everything so that this will never 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.819 happen to us and to our children. As if we were 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:27.899 God and as if we could control things beyond 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:33.850 our control. And control can take different shapes. 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:38.949 Even today, I can hire a company called Alcor 00:04:38.949 --> 00:04:41.470 that they are going to take my body the moment 00:04:41.470 --> 00:04:44.970 it dies, and they promise that they are going 00:04:44.970 --> 00:04:47.790 to take it through this entire chemical treatment 00:04:47.790 --> 00:04:51.470 to prevent the biological decay and the cellular 00:04:51.470 --> 00:04:54.589 decay from happening, so that then they can keep 00:04:54.589 --> 00:04:58.550 my body from decaying. And if I pay $220 ,000, 00:04:59.550 --> 00:05:01.889 They are going to keep my body there in these 00:05:01.889 --> 00:05:05.970 big machines with nitrogen with the promise that 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:10.790 the day when scientists figure out how to overcome 00:05:10.790 --> 00:05:14.730 death, then they will take me out of those machines 00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:16.589 and they will do the treatment so that I can 00:05:16.589 --> 00:05:22.350 come alive again. Just $220 ,000. That's all. 00:05:27.209 --> 00:05:31.750 The way we understand mortality shapes our lives, 00:05:32.009 --> 00:05:35.370 how we invest our money, the emotions we engage 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:41.870 with, who do we go to. And Jesus wants you to 00:05:41.870 --> 00:05:47.410 know the truth. Because he came to overcome the 00:05:47.410 --> 00:05:50.870 power of death, and he did. But exactly what 00:05:50.870 --> 00:05:55.490 did he accomplish? Because the Bible does say, 00:05:56.060 --> 00:05:59.420 that actually death is not a biological problem. 00:05:59.579 --> 00:06:02.899 We may experience it biologically, but it's actually 00:06:02.899 --> 00:06:07.779 a spiritual reality. Read with me what Romans 00:06:07.779 --> 00:06:11.360 5 .12 says. Let's read it together. When Adam 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:15.240 sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:19.079 death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:24.430 sinned. And in one simple verse, It defines exactly 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:28.470 what this is. The Bible says that the first humans, 00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:31.569 Adam and Eve, they were created in God's image 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:35.889 and likeness. And when Adam decided not to love 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:38.930 God, and he disobeyed God instead, and turned 00:06:38.930 --> 00:06:41.750 away from Him in disobedience, at that moment, 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:45.889 two things entered the created order. Sin and 00:06:45.889 --> 00:06:51.029 death. And to how many people did it pass? To 00:06:51.029 --> 00:06:56.389 all of us. That's why to be a human today means 00:06:56.389 --> 00:07:00.250 that you are someone who is a sinner and someone 00:07:00.250 --> 00:07:03.689 who is mortal. Those two things define the human 00:07:03.689 --> 00:07:08.370 experience. Why? Because of this event at the 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:13.850 beginning of creation. From the biblical perspective, 00:07:14.389 --> 00:07:19.170 sin and death are not part of what God created 00:07:19.170 --> 00:07:23.750 for us. This is something that the enemy of God 00:07:23.750 --> 00:07:27.389 and your enemy that wants to kill and destroy 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:37.209 did against us. Death is an enemy. And that's 00:07:37.209 --> 00:07:39.370 why when the Bible talks about what Jesus came 00:07:39.370 --> 00:07:43.290 to do, he came to address these two things, sin 00:07:43.290 --> 00:07:47.689 and death, because that is where the core of 00:07:47.689 --> 00:07:53.199 salvation is about. Last week, we learned how 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.420 the Bible said that when Jesus was on the cross, 00:07:55.720 --> 00:08:01.220 he took care of sin. He took all the sin that 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:04.220 we were guilty of, everything that was against 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:08.060 us, and he crucified it on the cross. He took 00:08:08.060 --> 00:08:12.579 away the power of Satan to accuse. Therefore, 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:17.639 sin is done with. We no longer follow Jesus out 00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:20.800 of guilt or out of shame. Because we have been 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.620 completely forgiven. 100%. But what about death? 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:33.039 What did Jesus do in order to overcome death 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.600 so we can experience life? And this is where 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.220 we engage with truth. And understanding what 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:43.419 Jesus did is what's going to shape the way we 00:08:43.419 --> 00:08:46.179 understand it and we follow Jesus from here into 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:51.200 the future. Because we have to understand what 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:55.120 Jesus accomplished and enter into the scriptures 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:58.259 to really understand what this rescue plan was 00:08:58.259 --> 00:09:03.259 like. And this rescue plan will be like a treatment 00:09:03.259 --> 00:09:06.840 that has three stages. And they are chronological. 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:10.059 And therefore you have to understand that this 00:09:10.059 --> 00:09:15.080 treatment that God brought into us is still ongoing. 00:09:16.029 --> 00:09:18.929 Some parts of it have been done, some parts are 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:21.350 being done, some parts will be experienced in 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:24.710 the future. And all of it is part of the salvation 00:09:24.710 --> 00:09:29.070 that Jesus accomplished on the cross. In fact, 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:35.190 the Bible tells very specifically why Jesus came 00:09:35.190 --> 00:09:39.389 and was born. And in the book of Hebrews it tells 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:42.509 us very specifically, it says, Because God's 00:09:42.509 --> 00:09:45.350 children are human beings made of flesh and blood, 00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:50.509 the Son also became flesh and blood. The reason 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:55.330 why Jesus, the Son of God, became a human being 00:09:55.330 --> 00:10:00.389 and was born in Bethlehem was because we were 00:10:00.389 --> 00:10:02.629 flesh and blood and he had to experience the 00:10:02.629 --> 00:10:06.149 same nature. Why? It tells you in the same verse. 00:10:06.629 --> 00:10:13.460 For only as a human being could he And only by 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:17.480 dying could he break the power of the devil who 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:20.940 had the power of death. There's a reason why 00:10:20.940 --> 00:10:25.080 Jesus was born a human being. Because only after 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:29.039 becoming a human being, he could now die and 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:33.299 enter the realm of the death. And as he entered 00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:37.019 the realm of the death, now from within, he can 00:10:37.019 --> 00:10:41.360 defeat the power that Satan had over death. And 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:45.360 destroy that power and now gain authority over 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:49.980 that realm. That previous to the cross was not 00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:53.840 something that he had authority over. Because 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:59.120 we were, as you would say, taken captive by the 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:05.340 enemy after death. And to really understand this. 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:08.440 We will have to look at what Jesus accomplished 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:11.320 on the cross. And we will look at the three parts 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:15.019 of the treatment. The three strategies. So we're 00:11:15.019 --> 00:11:18.299 going to dig deep into the Bible today. And I 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:20.799 understand that for some of you this is the first 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:23.860 time you hear any of this stuff. So you are in 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:27.220 for a good study. Pay attention and take notes. 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:33.340 Because it is important that you follow Jesus 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.720 with understanding. So that you experience this 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:39.019 dimension of mortality in your life and the life 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:42.899 of others from the right perspective and never 00:11:42.899 --> 00:11:47.940 be moved from that foundation. The first part 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:51.179 of the strategy is that Jesus entered the realm 00:11:51.179 --> 00:11:55.120 of the dead after dying on the cross in order 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:00.039 to open the way to God. And Jesus knew this. 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:04.419 So when he talked about... what he came to accomplish, 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.179 there's a moment in which he tells the apostles 00:12:07.179 --> 00:12:11.299 these words. He says, For as Jonah was three 00:12:11.299 --> 00:12:13.799 days and three nights in the belly of a huge 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:18.120 fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.480 three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.019 knew that he was going to die on the cross. And 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:28.399 he had told the apostles in other moments, Hey, 00:12:28.419 --> 00:12:31.200 we're going to Jerusalem. We're going to face 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:35.100 opposition. I'm going to be trialed and I'm going 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:37.259 to die. But don't worry, I'm going to resurrect 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:40.100 after that. And even though he said all of these 00:12:40.100 --> 00:12:44.000 things, it went like, the apostles didn't understand 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.080 what he was talking about. It didn't match the 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:49.679 expectations they had about what Jesus was going 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:54.059 to do. But this is the very only time in which 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:57.159 Jesus tells them what was going to be happening. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:02.879 In between dying and resurrecting. He says, after 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:05.960 I die and before I resurrect, I have a mission 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:11.940 to accomplish. I have to go where? Into the heart 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:14.899 of the earth. What for? What is he going to accomplish? 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:19.000 Well, he didn't say it. He just told us that. 00:13:19.019 --> 00:13:23.039 That's all. But in order to understand this, 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:26.340 you have to understand what death is. And how 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:29.460 it was experienced before Jesus came and how 00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:31.960 that changed after Jesus died on the cross and 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:35.139 defeated Satan. Well, let's take a moment to 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:40.039 explain that. When God created the first humans, 00:13:40.179 --> 00:13:42.679 the Bible says that he created them in his image 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:46.299 and likeness. And all human beings are descendants 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:51.580 of these first humans called Adam and Eve. And 00:13:51.580 --> 00:13:54.500 the very first human that God creates is Adam. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:00.299 And the Bible says that as he creates Adam, he 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:04.240 shapes them from the ground of the earth, and 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:07.700 then he breathes into him, and then he becomes 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:12.720 a living being. That's why humans have a human 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:17.200 body that is physical, but they have a spirit, 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:22.000 it's a spiritual reality, that is distinct from 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:30.240 the body. are part of what makes us human. I 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:32.879 remember that many years ago I was watching a 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:36.340 documentary from National Geographic on the human 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:41.700 body. And I was so amazed that even though these 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:44.700 guys are not Christians and they don't believe 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:48.019 the Bible is true, the beginning of the documentary 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:51.799 starts, the opening words, says something like, 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:56.600 Stardust. That's what we are. Mixed with water. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.440 We are just a bunch of minerals that you can 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:05.299 buy at the store. And I thought, dust, water, 00:15:05.460 --> 00:15:10.879 that's mud. And that's exactly what the Bible 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:16.679 says God did. He shaped us from the ground of 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:20.600 the earth and breathed into us and we became 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:28.720 a living being. Amazing. Truth is truth. But 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.759 what happened? As we read earlier, when Adam 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:37.120 sinned, what entered the world? Sin and death. 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:42.120 Previous to this point, death was not part of 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:45.539 the human experience. It became a dysfunction. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:49.539 It became almost like a virus to your body. It's 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:54.029 a foreign agent. Death. Into humanity. Death 00:15:54.029 --> 00:15:58.049 into the created order. Was a foreign agent. 00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:03.649 Introduced by Satan. That's why as you will see 00:16:03.649 --> 00:16:06.649 later. The Bible describes death as an enemy. 00:16:10.250 --> 00:16:12.830 And what happens therefore is that from that 00:16:12.830 --> 00:16:16.990 point on. This integration of the body and the 00:16:16.990 --> 00:16:22.960 spirit. Becomes disjointed. A death. The body 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:27.720 becomes dust. And it becomes separated from the 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:32.879 spirit. The spirit still alive. The spirit still 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:36.539 is conscious. The spirit still a thinking being. 00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:40.500 But no longer connected to the body. And at that 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:45.740 moment. Even though the body becomes dust. The 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:50.419 spirit goes to be in this place. That is the 00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:56.039 realm of the dead. And before the time that Jesus 00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:59.980 comes. And defeats Satan on the cross. The human 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:04.059 experience of death. Was that the spirit went 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:07.059 to be into this place. That the Bible calls in 00:17:07.059 --> 00:17:13.920 Hebrew Sheol. In Greek Hades. And this place 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:22.130 of the dead. Is where the spirit went. And there's 00:17:22.130 --> 00:17:24.890 a moment in which Jesus is talking about this 00:17:24.890 --> 00:17:28.230 place in one of his parables. And he describes 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:31.289 it as a place where the godly and the ungodly, 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:34.369 those that follow God and those that didn't, 00:17:34.369 --> 00:17:37.130 are there but they are separated almost like 00:17:37.130 --> 00:17:39.130 in two different groups with this separation 00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:44.650 in between. But either one of them completely 00:17:44.650 --> 00:17:50.539 separated from God. And what Jesus does when 00:17:50.539 --> 00:17:54.160 he comes to die on the cross and he enters that 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:57.940 realm of Sheol or Hades, the realm of the dead, 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:02.140 is that he enters that space and now he defeats 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:08.900 the power of Satan. And he opens a way for those 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:12.420 that were God followers to now have access to 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:18.769 God, where now they can be with him. That's why 00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:22.329 when you read passages in the Old Testament like 00:18:22.329 --> 00:18:26.190 Job, for instance, chapter 7, verse 9, it describes 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:28.789 the human experience at that time in these terms. 00:18:29.650 --> 00:18:33.650 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes 00:18:33.650 --> 00:18:38.109 down to Sheol and does not return. Where did 00:18:38.109 --> 00:18:41.650 the spirit go after dying? To Sheol. When did 00:18:41.650 --> 00:18:46.940 it come out of there? Never. Captive. Into the 00:18:46.940 --> 00:18:50.900 realm of the dead. That is. Until Jesus comes. 00:18:52.619 --> 00:18:56.299 Because. The Bible says. As we read in Hebrews. 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:00.359 That the son of God. Had to come from heaven. 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:04.119 Into the earth. Become a human being. Flesh and 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:08.299 blood. And as he is born. Now he has a second 00:19:08.299 --> 00:19:10.450 part of the mission. And that is that he has 00:19:10.450 --> 00:19:13.589 to access the realm of the dead. So he dies on 00:19:13.589 --> 00:19:16.650 the cross. And now that he access the realm of 00:19:16.650 --> 00:19:20.109 the dead. He is going to be able to now open 00:19:20.109 --> 00:19:28.450 access to God. Now heaven is accessible to human 00:19:28.450 --> 00:19:35.150 beings for the first time in human history. That's 00:19:35.150 --> 00:19:38.279 why as we read last week in the study. We noticed 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:41.859 two things. One, that the veil of the temple 00:19:41.859 --> 00:19:44.799 was torn in two. Because now that separation 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.779 between God and man was broken. Now there was 00:19:48.779 --> 00:19:52.539 direct access to heaven. And the second thing 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:57.119 we noticed is that after Jesus resurrects, there 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.700 are other people that are resurrected that he 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:02.900 mentioned in the passage. The graves were opened. 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:05.759 There's something massive that happened that 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.740 we don't really understand. But what we know 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:12.619 is simply this, that Jesus entered the realm 00:20:12.619 --> 00:20:16.319 of the dead before his resurrection to break 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.240 the power of Satan, open the way to God, and 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.680 now for the first time, heaven has become directly 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:26.759 accessible to humans. At that time, those that 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:29.539 were in Sheol that were God's followers, and 00:20:29.539 --> 00:20:31.960 from that point on, any follower of Jesus that 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:37.549 dies goes straight to heaven, not to Sheol. Those 00:20:37.549 --> 00:20:41.109 that die before knowing Jesus, those that do 00:20:41.109 --> 00:20:44.230 not know Jesus as their Savior, and they die 00:20:44.230 --> 00:20:48.190 in their sins, they will still have to go to 00:20:48.190 --> 00:20:51.250 Sheol, to this place of the dead, awaiting the 00:20:51.250 --> 00:20:54.930 final judgment. But those that have been saved 00:20:54.930 --> 00:20:58.390 by the power of Jesus, their sins have been forgiven, 00:20:58.609 --> 00:21:01.829 and now they have been given access to heaven 00:21:01.829 --> 00:21:08.500 directly. This is what Jesus accomplished. That's 00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:10.980 why when the apostle Peter talks about this, 00:21:11.180 --> 00:21:15.740 summarizing what Jesus did on the cross before 00:21:15.740 --> 00:21:19.599 his resurrection, it puts it in these words. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.400 And pay attention because this is one of those 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:26.140 passages that you go like, what? I never noticed 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:32.799 that. For Christ died for sins. How many times? 00:21:34.250 --> 00:21:38.569 Once for all, that is all it took. Our sins paid. 00:21:39.069 --> 00:21:45.069 The record, gone. Satan no longer has power to 00:21:45.069 --> 00:21:48.869 accuse because Jesus is the one that paid our 00:21:48.869 --> 00:21:54.190 sins. So Christ died for sins once for all. The 00:21:54.190 --> 00:21:58.069 righteous for the unrighteous. With what goal? 00:21:59.849 --> 00:22:05.650 What goal? To bring us? To God. Because before. 00:22:06.029 --> 00:22:09.069 We were separated. We couldn't. We die go to 00:22:09.069 --> 00:22:13.490 shield. But because he died for us. Now he dies 00:22:13.490 --> 00:22:16.930 to bring us. To God. He accomplished that on 00:22:16.930 --> 00:22:19.930 the cross. But not only that. Look at the following 00:22:19.930 --> 00:22:25.789 verse. He was put to death. In the body. Dies. 00:22:25.930 --> 00:22:29.430 Enters the realm of the dead. But made alive 00:22:29.430 --> 00:22:34.119 by the spirit. Through whom. Also, he went and 00:22:34.119 --> 00:22:37.440 preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.779 long ago when God waited patiently the days of 00:22:40.779 --> 00:22:45.059 Noah while the ark was being built. It's like, 00:22:45.099 --> 00:22:51.299 what did we just read? That Jesus went into this 00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:55.059 place that he described, like Jonah, I had to 00:22:55.059 --> 00:23:00.069 go into the depths of the earth. And I had a 00:23:00.069 --> 00:23:02.210 mission to accomplish. And part of that, Peter 00:23:02.210 --> 00:23:04.430 says, was preaching to the spirits that were 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:07.869 there since the time of Noah. And it's like, 00:23:07.910 --> 00:23:11.009 I wish he would have written a footnote to give 00:23:11.009 --> 00:23:13.349 us more information about this. But he doesn't. 00:23:13.349 --> 00:23:19.450 He just moves on. And it's like, wow. That is 00:23:19.450 --> 00:23:22.950 why once you go all the way to the book of Revelation 00:23:22.950 --> 00:23:24.869 and at the beginning of the book of Revelation, 00:23:24.910 --> 00:23:30.210 Jesus starts speaking. Jesus says this. Do not 00:23:30.210 --> 00:23:35.170 be afraid. Do not be afraid. If you are a follower 00:23:35.170 --> 00:23:39.809 of Jesus. Do not be afraid of death. Do not be 00:23:39.809 --> 00:23:44.369 afraid of mortality. Do not let anxiety take 00:23:44.369 --> 00:23:50.420 over you. Do not be afraid. Why? Because I am 00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:53.240 the first and the last. I am the living one. 00:23:53.299 --> 00:23:56.900 I was dead and now look. I am alive forever and 00:23:56.900 --> 00:24:02.319 ever. And I hold the keys to death of death and 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:07.259 Hades. Not Satan anymore, but me. I have overcome 00:24:07.259 --> 00:24:11.819 the power of Satan. No longer he has no power. 00:24:12.509 --> 00:24:15.910 To accuse you because now I have forgiven your 00:24:15.910 --> 00:24:19.250 sins. But he has no power to hold you captive 00:24:19.250 --> 00:24:22.809 in the realm of the death. Because I have opened 00:24:22.809 --> 00:24:30.029 the gates for heaven. That is the first strategy. 00:24:30.769 --> 00:24:35.829 Can you say amen? Can you say glory to God for 00:24:35.829 --> 00:24:41.769 what he did? That is what was happening. When 00:24:41.769 --> 00:24:44.250 the apostles saw him die on the cross and took 00:24:44.250 --> 00:24:48.769 his body, crying, disoriented for everything 00:24:48.769 --> 00:24:51.549 that was going on, and they had no idea that 00:24:51.549 --> 00:24:54.869 the King of kings, Lord of lords, was still alive, 00:24:55.170 --> 00:25:03.990 battling for us. That's why you can read the 00:25:03.990 --> 00:25:07.509 apostle Paul saying, you know, I may die any 00:25:07.509 --> 00:25:10.670 time now because the Romans have me in prison. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:14.259 And I can smell it. You know my time for dying 00:25:14.259 --> 00:25:18.019 is soon. But you know that's no problem. Because 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:21.859 actually as I think about it. Dying is better 00:25:21.859 --> 00:25:25.180 by far. Because to die is to be with Christ. 00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:28.220 To be absent from the body is to be present with 00:25:28.220 --> 00:25:32.619 Christ. For me to live is Christ. And to die 00:25:32.619 --> 00:25:39.420 is gain. Only a follower of Jesus can say that. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:45.160 Because if we die, our spirit goes to be with 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:52.700 Christ in heaven straight. Why? Because Jesus 00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:56.140 died the righteous for the unrighteous to bring 00:25:56.140 --> 00:26:00.920 us to God. So, if you come from a background 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:05.460 where you were taught that after you die you 00:26:05.460 --> 00:26:09.420 have to go to a place called purgatory. And in 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:12.400 purgatory, you will finish paying for your sins. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:17.640 I'm here to tell you that is not biblical. You 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:20.440 have to pay for no sins. Jesus paid them for 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:24.559 all. And Jesus opened the way to heaven. You 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:27.259 don't have to go to a purgatory place in between. 00:26:28.700 --> 00:26:34.460 Jesus defeated Satan. The accuser, silence. The 00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:36.799 one that was holding the keys of Hades and death 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:43.029 no longer holds them. Jesus has won. And it gets 00:26:43.029 --> 00:26:47.109 even better. The second strategy, the second 00:26:47.109 --> 00:26:50.490 part of the treatment to bring salvation against 00:26:50.490 --> 00:26:55.490 this aspect of death is that God has the goal 00:26:55.490 --> 00:26:59.509 of eradicating mortality completely from the 00:26:59.509 --> 00:27:03.210 human experience because mortality is not meant 00:27:03.210 --> 00:27:10.440 to be part of who we are. And that's why the 00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:13.359 Bible says that what Jesus accomplished on the 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:18.640 cross has a second stage. And that stage is going 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:27.519 to be future. How does this work? Now, I remember 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:31.259 that after I moved to Thailand and I started 00:27:31.259 --> 00:27:33.680 working here at ECB, we got the phone call from 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:36.759 my mother saying, I just have been diagnosed 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:44.210 with stomach cancer. Stage four. And you know, 00:27:44.329 --> 00:27:47.289 once you hear cancer and stage four, the first 00:27:47.289 --> 00:27:51.029 question that comes to mind is, is this it? Is 00:27:51.029 --> 00:27:54.250 this like the death sentence? Are we going to 00:27:54.250 --> 00:27:57.089 see you again? All these questions come to mind. 00:27:59.190 --> 00:28:02.430 So she scheduled the surgery. They removed the 00:28:02.430 --> 00:28:08.470 tumor. It was the size of a tennis ball. So great. 00:28:08.970 --> 00:28:14.450 Two more gone. So she is under no more risk, 00:28:14.630 --> 00:28:17.970 right? They said, no, no. Now we have to have 00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:20.609 second surgery. We have to remove the stomach 00:28:20.609 --> 00:28:24.710 altogether. It's like, what? Can you live without 00:28:24.710 --> 00:28:28.390 a stomach? Did you know that? You can? They connect 00:28:28.390 --> 00:28:31.069 the stomach to the esophagus. I mean, the esophagus 00:28:31.069 --> 00:28:37.319 to the intestines directly. Now your diet has 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.079 to change, your metabolism changes, but you can 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.980 live and have digestion without the stomach. 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:46.180 Okay, so she has no stomach. Is that done? It's 00:28:46.180 --> 00:28:52.720 like, nope. Now she has to go chemo. Oh, so the 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.900 treatment was like very intricate and different 00:28:55.900 --> 00:28:59.599 stages of it. Yep. And until she finished the 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.160 chemo and there was no longer... Any cancer cell 00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.900 in her body, now she was declared cancer free. 00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:10.980 The same thing is going to happen with us on 00:29:10.980 --> 00:29:14.819 death. The first treatment, the first part was 00:29:14.819 --> 00:29:17.240 opening access to God. Now you don't have to 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:20.619 worry about going to Hades or Sheol. Go straight 00:29:20.619 --> 00:29:24.000 to God. Great. But the second part of the treatment 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.920 is going to be experiencing death in your body. 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:34.250 What's going to happen with it? There's a chapter 00:29:34.250 --> 00:29:37.130 in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 00:29:37.430 --> 00:29:40.190 It's a long chapter. But it's in this chapter 00:29:40.190 --> 00:29:43.490 that the Apostle Paul speaks in detail about 00:29:43.490 --> 00:29:45.930 these things. If you never read that, go back 00:29:45.930 --> 00:29:48.069 home and read the whole chapter. And read it 00:29:48.069 --> 00:29:52.609 five times. Because lots of details. But this 00:29:52.609 --> 00:29:57.809 is what it says. You see? Just as death came 00:29:57.809 --> 00:30:03.009 into the world through a man. Who was that? Adam. 00:30:04.950 --> 00:30:09.109 Now the resurrection from the dead has begun 00:30:09.109 --> 00:30:12.849 through another man. Who was that other man? 00:30:13.410 --> 00:30:19.250 Jesus. Just as everyone dies because we all belong 00:30:19.250 --> 00:30:24.049 to Adam, we all have his DNA, descendants of 00:30:24.049 --> 00:30:29.029 him, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given 00:30:29.029 --> 00:30:33.769 new life. Just as you have inherited this sinful 00:30:33.769 --> 00:30:37.150 nature and this mortality from Adam. If Jesus 00:30:37.150 --> 00:30:41.990 is your savior. Now you are inheriting the resurrection. 00:30:43.009 --> 00:30:45.769 The same resurrection that Jesus experienced. 00:30:46.069 --> 00:30:54.529 Now is going to be part of your experience. And 00:30:54.529 --> 00:30:58.269 then he says. But there is an order to the resurrection. 00:30:59.190 --> 00:31:02.509 Christ was raised. As the first of the harvest. 00:31:03.029 --> 00:31:07.710 And then all who belong to Christ. Will be raised. 00:31:08.369 --> 00:31:15.369 When? When he comes back. So it gives us a chronology. 00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:19.250 We know the appointment that we have. For the 00:31:19.250 --> 00:31:22.190 next part of the treatment against death. Is 00:31:22.190 --> 00:31:27.049 going to be the day Jesus comes back. When he 00:31:27.049 --> 00:31:31.660 comes back. The Bible says that. We are going 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:34.279 to experience the same resurrection that Jesus 00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:37.920 experienced. So think for a moment about this. 00:31:38.420 --> 00:31:41.420 The apostle Paul talks about this in Thessalonians 00:31:41.420 --> 00:31:45.380 as well. But it's like this. If I were to die 00:31:45.380 --> 00:31:49.000 today. My body becomes dust. My spirit goes to 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:52.380 be with Christ in heaven. And now I am there. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:55.140 And when Jesus comes back. I'm going to come 00:31:55.140 --> 00:31:59.740 back with him. But at that moment. My spirit. 00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:04.559 Is going to experience the resurrection. Is going 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:09.420 to be united now to a body. But is going to be 00:32:09.420 --> 00:32:13.200 what we call the glorified body. No longer mortal. 00:32:13.259 --> 00:32:20.660 No longer sinful. Just as Jesus. We will be like 00:32:20.660 --> 00:32:27.920 he is. Says John. And this will happen when Jesus 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:34.420 comes back. But do we have a little bit more 00:32:34.420 --> 00:32:36.759 information about this? I would like to know 00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:39.880 a little bit more. Yes, we do have more. The 00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:43.039 whole chapter, chapter 15. That's where the Apostle 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:45.859 Paul continues. And he says, look, this is a 00:32:45.859 --> 00:32:48.680 mystery, but I'm going to tell you. It will happen 00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:52.740 in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the 00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:56.099 last trumpet is blown. When Jesus comes back, 00:32:56.339 --> 00:32:59.579 that resurrection, that glorification, that transformation 00:32:59.579 --> 00:33:04.190 of your body is going to happen. How fast? In 00:33:04.190 --> 00:33:08.730 the blinking of an eye. So please blink. Okay, 00:33:08.789 --> 00:33:14.970 that is how fast it will be. And you say, Pastor 00:33:14.970 --> 00:33:18.789 Pablo, that sounds like fantasy, you know. How 00:33:18.789 --> 00:33:22.430 can transformation, life happen in the blinking 00:33:22.430 --> 00:33:26.650 of an eye like that? It's like, don't be so surprised. 00:33:27.289 --> 00:33:31.279 That's how your life began. That's how you started 00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:34.039 becoming what you are today. The moment the sperm 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:37.599 fertilized that egg, in the blinking of an eye, 00:33:37.720 --> 00:33:41.660 you became you. Your cells started multiplying 00:33:41.660 --> 00:33:44.140 and your body started shaping and before you 00:33:44.140 --> 00:33:47.480 knew it, you were born. And when did your life 00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:50.480 begin? When did your human body begin to shape? 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:56.140 In the blinking of an eye. And now God says when 00:33:56.140 --> 00:34:00.039 Jesus comes back, the next stage of your treatment 00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:03.420 is going to be experienced. At that moment, you 00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:06.819 will have no single mortal cell in your body. 00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:15.519 You will be declared mortality free. But just 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.920 like my mother had to wait for the next appointment 00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:21.400 to go to the next part of the treatment, Saul 00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.440 will have to wait and suck it up until that time. 00:34:25.550 --> 00:34:29.429 Because until that time, we are still mortal. 00:34:30.630 --> 00:34:33.489 But the day comes when we will no longer be mortal. 00:34:35.130 --> 00:34:40.670 And that is what Jesus accomplished. That's why 00:34:40.670 --> 00:34:44.010 the Apostle Paul continues, and he says, For 00:34:44.010 --> 00:34:47.449 when the trumpet sounds, those who have died 00:34:47.449 --> 00:34:51.929 will be raised to live forever, never to die 00:34:51.929 --> 00:34:57.809 again. And we who are living will also be transformed. 00:34:58.130 --> 00:35:02.610 For our dying bodies must be transformed into 00:35:02.610 --> 00:35:05.329 bodies that will never die. That has to happen. 00:35:06.190 --> 00:35:09.789 And our mortal bodies must be transformed into 00:35:09.789 --> 00:35:15.070 immortal bodies. That has to happen. Because 00:35:15.070 --> 00:35:19.500 in the future. God is going to create a new heaven 00:35:19.500 --> 00:35:21.840 and a new earth that we'll discover later in 00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:24.159 the study. A place where death will be no more. 00:35:24.460 --> 00:35:27.139 And the only way that we can be in that place 00:35:27.139 --> 00:35:33.380 is that if we are death and sin free. Our mortal 00:35:33.380 --> 00:35:38.219 bodies have to become immortal. Our sinful bodies 00:35:38.219 --> 00:35:42.059 have to become sinless. And that is going to 00:35:42.059 --> 00:35:46.000 happen on that day. And only then, and only then. 00:35:47.050 --> 00:35:49.869 When our dying bodies have been transformed into 00:35:49.869 --> 00:35:52.869 bodies that will never die, this scripture will 00:35:52.869 --> 00:35:56.989 be fulfilled. Death is swallowed up in victory. 00:35:58.389 --> 00:36:04.250 Finally. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh 00:36:04.250 --> 00:36:12.030 death, where is your sting? No longer power over 00:36:12.030 --> 00:36:17.219 us. And that is going to happen in the future. 00:36:17.659 --> 00:36:22.119 And therefore, as we await the resurrection of 00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:25.559 our bodies, you have to remember that the body 00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:30.739 that you have today is destined at this point 00:36:30.739 --> 00:36:34.719 to be mortal. And mortality will hit your body 00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:41.159 unless Jesus comes back first. And when that 00:36:41.159 --> 00:36:46.440 happens, oh, we know, the rest of the story? 00:36:47.780 --> 00:36:49.880 It's the difference between watching a movie 00:36:49.880 --> 00:36:52.719 when you have watched it already and where you 00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:54.980 are watching it for the first time. See, when 00:36:54.980 --> 00:36:56.639 you're watching it for the first time, you do 00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:59.619 not know the end. And when the danger happens 00:36:59.619 --> 00:37:01.559 and you think the person is going to die and 00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:03.860 something bad is going to happen, you go, what's 00:37:03.860 --> 00:37:05.300 going to happen? Oh, I don't want to see it. 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:07.460 And you start experiencing all these emotions 00:37:07.460 --> 00:37:09.500 because you do not know the hero is going to 00:37:09.500 --> 00:37:13.559 show up and save everything. But if you know 00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:16.650 the ending, And you're watching the same movie, 00:37:16.769 --> 00:37:20.050 you go through the same scenes, but you're all 00:37:20.050 --> 00:37:23.250 cool. Because you know, it seems like it's going 00:37:23.250 --> 00:37:25.630 to be the end, but it's not the end. They survive, 00:37:25.849 --> 00:37:29.809 just wait for the hero. Very different experience, 00:37:29.969 --> 00:37:34.449 isn't it? The same thing happens the way we live 00:37:34.449 --> 00:37:37.989 our lives. If you do not know the end of the 00:37:37.989 --> 00:37:42.130 story, you're going to go through mortality with 00:37:42.130 --> 00:37:44.730 resenting God, Thinking that he is the enemy. 00:37:45.190 --> 00:37:48.070 You are going to go through mortality. Questioning 00:37:48.070 --> 00:37:50.730 why God hasn't done anything. As if he has not 00:37:50.730 --> 00:37:57.570 done anything. There is going to be the difference. 00:37:57.650 --> 00:38:01.070 Between anxiety and resentment. Or peace and 00:38:01.070 --> 00:38:07.469 hope. So do not forget. That that second stage 00:38:07.469 --> 00:38:13.690 of the treatment. Is coming. But then. there's 00:38:13.690 --> 00:38:17.409 a third part of the treatment. And that is that 00:38:17.409 --> 00:38:23.550 God is going to kill death. The day will come 00:38:23.550 --> 00:38:27.489 in which death will be completely destroyed. 00:38:27.550 --> 00:38:33.909 Not just eradicated from us, but destroyed. No 00:38:33.909 --> 00:38:39.849 longer in existence ever again. But in order 00:38:39.849 --> 00:38:42.969 to understand that, You have to go back to 1 00:38:42.969 --> 00:38:46.650 Corinthians 15. And the apostle Paul tells us 00:38:46.650 --> 00:38:51.110 these words. After that. After Jesus returns. 00:38:51.289 --> 00:38:53.210 We experience the resurrection. We are with him. 00:38:53.309 --> 00:38:56.269 We have glorified bodies. Until all of that happens. 00:38:58.510 --> 00:39:03.989 The end will come. When he will turn the kingdom 00:39:03.989 --> 00:39:08.369 over to God the father. Having destroyed. Every 00:39:08.369 --> 00:39:12.550 ruler and authority and power. Starting with 00:39:12.550 --> 00:39:18.449 Satan himself. The ruler of this world. Destroyed. 00:39:19.670 --> 00:39:23.329 After he has destroyed every ruler and authority 00:39:23.329 --> 00:39:28.289 and power. For Christ must reign. Until he humbles 00:39:28.289 --> 00:39:33.369 all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last 00:39:33.369 --> 00:39:38.139 enemy to be destroyed is. Death. In case you 00:39:38.139 --> 00:39:40.539 missed it, let me highlight it there for you. 00:39:41.739 --> 00:39:49.699 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Two 00:39:49.699 --> 00:39:54.400 important things. Who is the enemy? Death is, 00:39:54.539 --> 00:40:03.480 not God. God doesn't want us to experience death. 00:40:07.050 --> 00:40:10.489 He doesn't want my daughter to have to experience 00:40:10.489 --> 00:40:15.989 death at one year old. That's the curse of sin 00:40:15.989 --> 00:40:21.050 and death that we're under. But he came and became 00:40:21.050 --> 00:40:24.949 a human being so he could be on the cross. Because 00:40:24.949 --> 00:40:27.730 only by being a human being he could die. And 00:40:27.730 --> 00:40:31.570 only by dying he could break the power of Satan 00:40:31.570 --> 00:40:38.489 over death. Because death is the enemy. And it's 00:40:38.489 --> 00:40:49.070 going to be the last enemy to be destroyed. Death 00:40:49.070 --> 00:40:54.329 is the enemy. And God did something about it. 00:40:54.710 --> 00:41:00.650 So it will not be the end of your story. And 00:41:00.650 --> 00:41:02.849 it's going to happen. But it's going to happen 00:41:02.849 --> 00:41:07.050 at the end of the movie. And therefore you have 00:41:07.050 --> 00:41:10.849 to wait till the movie ends before you can experience 00:41:10.849 --> 00:41:14.849 this joy and this excitement. And actually you 00:41:14.849 --> 00:41:17.070 read it right there in Revelation chapter 20. 00:41:17.170 --> 00:41:22.329 It tells you exactly at the end of history, before 00:41:22.329 --> 00:41:25.190 God establishes the new heaven and the new earth, 00:41:25.349 --> 00:41:28.809 it says, and the devil who deceived them was 00:41:28.809 --> 00:41:31.269 thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. That 00:41:31.269 --> 00:41:36.670 is the end of Satan. And then it says, then death 00:41:36.670 --> 00:41:39.869 and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, 00:41:39.969 --> 00:41:43.190 and the lake of fire is the second death. So 00:41:43.190 --> 00:41:46.289 if the lake of fire is the second death, and 00:41:46.289 --> 00:41:49.789 Hades and death are thrown into there, then death 00:41:49.789 --> 00:41:56.750 is dying. And that will be the end of mortality. 00:41:57.769 --> 00:42:00.150 And actually, that's a pretty cool title for 00:42:00.150 --> 00:42:08.900 a book. The day death... Isn't salvation amazing? 00:42:10.099 --> 00:42:12.840 But it gets better. Let me read the next verse 00:42:12.840 --> 00:42:18.300 of chapter 21. God will be with his people. We 00:42:18.300 --> 00:42:21.760 will be with him. And he will wipe every tear 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:27.099 from their eyes. There will be no more death. 00:42:30.360 --> 00:42:39.059 We will be. Death free. Death survivors. The 00:42:39.059 --> 00:42:43.639 treatment completed. There will be no more death 00:42:43.639 --> 00:42:47.320 or mourning or crying or pain for the old order 00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:50.960 of things has passed away. It's nothing but history. 00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:59.949 That is the end. So here you have Jesus. He becomes 00:42:59.949 --> 00:43:02.869 a human so he can die. And the first thing he 00:43:02.869 --> 00:43:05.829 does is that he opens the way to heaven. The 00:43:05.829 --> 00:43:08.530 second thing he will do is that he will resurrect 00:43:08.530 --> 00:43:11.110 our bodies with the same resurrection he experienced 00:43:11.110 --> 00:43:14.449 the day he returns. And then, after he had put 00:43:14.449 --> 00:43:17.269 all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy 00:43:17.269 --> 00:43:21.389 to be destroyed is death. And finally, after 00:43:21.389 --> 00:43:24.050 all of that is done, the new heaven, the new 00:43:24.050 --> 00:43:27.139 earth. Where death will be no more and sin will 00:43:27.139 --> 00:43:30.460 be no more. Will be established and we will be 00:43:30.460 --> 00:43:35.039 with the Lord forever. That is what Jesus has 00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:39.280 accomplished. On your behalf and on my behalf. 00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:42.699 That is what it means to be saved. That is what 00:43:42.699 --> 00:43:47.000 it means to follow Jesus. That's why when the 00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:50.280 Apostle Paul finishes this whole section of 1 00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:53.500 Corinthians 15. He finishes with these words. 00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:57.300 Let's read it together. So my dear brothers and 00:43:57.300 --> 00:44:02.980 sisters, be strong, unmovable, always work enthusiastically 00:44:02.980 --> 00:44:07.519 for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do 00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:12.500 for the Lord is ever useless. Now that you know 00:44:12.500 --> 00:44:16.199 the end of the movie, that you know what's going 00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:20.920 to happen, you face life completely differently. 00:44:23.860 --> 00:44:29.139 Jesus is the Savior. He did overcome the power 00:44:29.139 --> 00:44:32.659 of Satan, not only to accuse, but also to separate 00:44:32.659 --> 00:44:38.619 us from him. Now Jesus holds the keys of death 00:44:38.619 --> 00:44:45.159 and Hades. This is who Jesus is. If you want 00:44:45.159 --> 00:44:47.980 to learn more about these topics, and now you 00:44:47.980 --> 00:44:51.179 have more questions than I tried to answer in 00:44:51.179 --> 00:44:55.809 this study, I recommend a couple of books. One 00:44:55.809 --> 00:44:59.590 of them is called Heaven by Andy Alcorn. Alcorn 00:44:59.590 --> 00:45:05.110 experienced this inspiration to write this book 00:45:05.110 --> 00:45:08.449 because his mother was dying and he spent all 00:45:08.449 --> 00:45:11.329 this time with her reading the Bible to her. 00:45:11.469 --> 00:45:14.190 And he remembers reading Revelation 20 and 21 00:45:14.190 --> 00:45:17.840 many times to her. And as he did that, even though 00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:20.860 he had gone to seminary, he says, the only involvement 00:45:20.860 --> 00:45:25.820 I had with eschatology was about pre -trib, post 00:45:25.820 --> 00:45:28.739 -trib, when will Jesus come back, is the millennium 00:45:28.739 --> 00:45:30.960 literal or not? All these things were the only 00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:34.659 things that he had done. But he had never studied 00:45:34.659 --> 00:45:38.860 what heaven was going to be like. And when he 00:45:38.860 --> 00:45:41.380 discovered, it's like, oh wait, it's a new creation, 00:45:41.619 --> 00:45:45.590 a new heaven and a new earth. So he got inspired 00:45:45.590 --> 00:45:48.210 to write this book and became a bestseller because 00:45:48.210 --> 00:45:51.010 it's thick and every possible question you may 00:45:51.010 --> 00:45:54.510 have, he answered. He also wrote another book 00:45:54.510 --> 00:46:00.349 about the way you manage your finances with eternal 00:46:00.349 --> 00:46:03.289 perspective. So those two books, The Treasure 00:46:03.289 --> 00:46:06.329 Principle is important as well. And then there 00:46:06.329 --> 00:46:09.250 is Lee Strobel who wrote these other two books 00:46:09.250 --> 00:46:11.369 from a different perspective, from the aspect 00:46:11.369 --> 00:46:14.489 of apologetics in the sense of If you are the 00:46:14.489 --> 00:46:16.610 person that says, how do I know that actually 00:46:16.610 --> 00:46:20.130 the spirit survives the body and that that's 00:46:20.130 --> 00:46:22.449 real and that we're not just matter? Especially 00:46:22.449 --> 00:46:24.570 if you come from an evolutionary perspective. 00:46:25.550 --> 00:46:28.530 How do I know that these things are real? Well, 00:46:28.710 --> 00:46:32.210 Lee Strobel writes it for you. He says in the 00:46:32.210 --> 00:46:35.349 book Heaven and in Seeing the Supernatural, he 00:46:35.349 --> 00:46:38.230 tells you, look, this is the evidence. This stuff 00:46:38.230 --> 00:46:39.989 is real. Not only real, but it's scientific. 00:46:40.190 --> 00:46:43.949 We have proof. So those two other books are also 00:46:43.949 --> 00:46:49.409 helpful for this study. But by the way, it is 00:46:49.409 --> 00:46:52.670 this topic of understanding what death is, how 00:46:52.670 --> 00:46:56.250 it's the enemy, and what Jesus came to do, and 00:46:56.250 --> 00:46:58.349 that we inherited death from Adam, the first 00:46:58.349 --> 00:47:02.190 human. And because the first Adam and the second 00:47:02.190 --> 00:47:04.449 Adam is this contrast in the book of Romans, 00:47:04.489 --> 00:47:07.909 all of this aspect of soteriology, death is the 00:47:07.909 --> 00:47:11.400 enemy, the last enemy to be destroyed. That is 00:47:11.400 --> 00:47:15.360 one of the strongest reasons why I do not believe 00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:20.039 in Darwinian evolution. It's because the idea 00:47:20.039 --> 00:47:24.059 of death as being designed by God as an instrument 00:47:24.059 --> 00:47:28.900 to create life is completely incompatible with 00:47:28.900 --> 00:47:31.059 the doctrine of soteriology as we just read. 00:47:32.980 --> 00:47:36.179 They don't mix. Death is either the enemy by 00:47:36.179 --> 00:47:39.039 Satan and to be destroyed or it's an instrument 00:47:39.039 --> 00:47:44.920 created by God. That separates. Now you can talk 00:47:44.920 --> 00:47:49.219 to me after. But. Let's conclude this study. 00:47:49.980 --> 00:48:00.760 With this. First. Jesus. Came. To save you. Save 00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:03.460 you. From the power of Satan. Over your life. 00:48:04.780 --> 00:48:10.789 Death. And guilt. And on the cross. He solved 00:48:10.789 --> 00:48:14.710 both. But just like my mother when she was diagnosed 00:48:14.710 --> 00:48:17.650 with stomach cancer, just having the diagnosis 00:48:17.650 --> 00:48:21.090 didn't cure her. She had to be willing to trust 00:48:21.090 --> 00:48:24.889 the doctors and go through the treatment. And 00:48:24.889 --> 00:48:27.949 if Jesus is not yet your savior, you will have 00:48:27.949 --> 00:48:31.289 to take the step of trusting Jesus as your savior 00:48:31.289 --> 00:48:35.469 and ask him to save you from your sin and from 00:48:35.469 --> 00:48:40.369 your mortality. Follow Jesus. Give your life 00:48:40.369 --> 00:48:43.670 to him today. And that is something that you 00:48:43.670 --> 00:48:46.550 want to do today. I invite you to come forward 00:48:46.550 --> 00:48:49.909 to the front. He will pray with you. And you 00:48:49.909 --> 00:48:54.170 can tell the Lord in your own words. But Jesus 00:48:54.170 --> 00:48:57.530 wants to be your savior. And he's inviting you 00:48:57.530 --> 00:49:02.989 to follow him. Secondly, we are mortal. And the 00:49:02.989 --> 00:49:07.039 day will come. But we will come face to face 00:49:07.039 --> 00:49:09.760 with our mortality. You will get a diagnosis. 00:49:10.340 --> 00:49:12.739 You will get the news of the accident and you 00:49:12.739 --> 00:49:20.420 are gone. We experience mortality with hope because 00:49:20.420 --> 00:49:24.119 we know who Jesus is and what he has accomplished. 00:49:25.019 --> 00:49:29.099 So if you are in the midst of the suffering and 00:49:29.099 --> 00:49:31.480 the grieving that comes from facing mortality, 00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:36.380 your own or the loved one, Turn to Jesus for 00:49:36.380 --> 00:49:39.599 strength rather than blame him and walk away 00:49:39.599 --> 00:49:44.019 from him. Jesus is not the enemy. He is the savior. 00:49:44.099 --> 00:49:52.739 Death is the enemy. And thirdly, Jesus came for 00:49:52.739 --> 00:49:56.320 us to experience life and life we will experience. 00:49:56.659 --> 00:50:02.309 Heaven is a real place. And as my daughter went 00:50:02.309 --> 00:50:04.889 to be there, as my father -in -law went to be 00:50:04.889 --> 00:50:08.630 there, ever since that happened, I think of heaven 00:50:08.630 --> 00:50:11.989 now, not as a concept anymore, but as a real 00:50:11.989 --> 00:50:15.230 location where they are, and one day we will 00:50:15.230 --> 00:50:20.510 be together again. And there was a guy that said, 00:50:20.610 --> 00:50:22.230 you know, yeah, but I'm sad that I will never 00:50:22.230 --> 00:50:25.789 be able to hug my daughter in heaven. I was like, 00:50:25.849 --> 00:50:28.440 why? Yeah, because, you know, we will be spirits, 00:50:28.460 --> 00:50:31.239 and how can a spirit hug? You know, he was thinking 00:50:31.239 --> 00:50:35.460 like, you know, the matter, and it's like, did 00:50:35.460 --> 00:50:42.019 you miss the resurrection part? You are not only 00:50:42.019 --> 00:50:45.280 going to hug your daughter, but Jesus. Remember 00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:47.420 that Jesus, after the resurrection, he ate fish 00:50:47.420 --> 00:50:53.480 with the apostles? Listen, heaven is going to 00:50:53.480 --> 00:50:56.710 be awesome. The new heaven, the new earth, where 00:50:56.710 --> 00:50:58.570 we are with the Lord forever and death no more. 00:50:59.449 --> 00:51:04.510 That is where we are going. And a loved one will 00:51:04.510 --> 00:51:09.030 be there if Jesus is their savior. So our goodbye 00:51:09.030 --> 00:51:15.690 is not forever. It's only temporary. And I ask 00:51:15.690 --> 00:51:18.369 you this question. Are you living with eternal 00:51:18.369 --> 00:51:22.070 perspective? Are you facing the reality of mortality 00:51:22.070 --> 00:51:28.210 with truth? With hope, don't lose your perspective. 00:51:29.690 --> 00:51:33.989 Don't lose your perspective. First, Satan attacked 00:51:33.989 --> 00:51:36.510 us with mortality, and now he's going to attack 00:51:36.510 --> 00:51:39.550 you with wanting to lose your perspective. Don't 00:51:39.550 --> 00:51:45.269 let him. Turn to Jesus. Lord, we stand in your 00:51:45.269 --> 00:51:50.610 presence in awe. In awe of what you have done. 00:51:53.070 --> 00:51:58.630 This is complex stuff. This is intricate rescue 00:51:58.630 --> 00:52:03.590 operations. This is strategies that you had to 00:52:03.590 --> 00:52:09.349 plan and implement with precision. Our salvation 00:52:09.349 --> 00:52:15.329 is just amazing. So we are here to say thank 00:52:15.329 --> 00:52:20.690 you. Thank you. Thank you for what you have done. 00:52:23.019 --> 00:52:27.460 We love you, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:52:50.719 --> 00:52:53.519 If God is calling you to support our ministries, 00:52:53.559 --> 00:52:56.239 you will find giving options on our website. 00:52:57.079 --> 00:53:00.480 And remember to join us next week. God bless 00:53:00.480 --> 00:53:00.719 you.