WEBVTT 00:00:02.669 --> 00:00:06.530 Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank 00:00:06.530 --> 00:00:11.710 you for your great goodness, faithfulness, holiness, 00:00:11.929 --> 00:00:17.210 justice, truth, that you have revealed yourself 00:00:17.210 --> 00:00:21.030 to us as your people, that you, through the power 00:00:21.030 --> 00:00:23.250 of your Holy Spirit, have made yourself known 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:27.609 unto us. You have entrusted us with your book, 00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:32.500 the Bible, a full revelation of... who you are 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:36.320 and who we are. So we do thank you and praise 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:38.380 you for all of those things, Father, and for 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:43.000 you yourself most of all. We come to confess 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:46.299 our need and our weakness now before you that 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:50.939 you indeed must help us. Your power, your Holy 00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:56.060 Spirit must quicken our minds and our hearts 00:00:56.060 --> 00:00:59.619 to be able to speak out the word, to be able 00:00:59.619 --> 00:01:03.390 to receive it. Most of all, Father, for all of 00:01:03.390 --> 00:01:06.329 us to apply it to our lives, to hold it dear, 00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:11.930 to put into practice all that you preach. Help 00:01:11.930 --> 00:01:17.469 us, Father, to learn, to grow, to remember, and 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:20.769 mostly to increase our faith and trust and love 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:24.670 for you. We ask for the lost again, Father, that 00:01:24.670 --> 00:01:27.150 you would save some who are yet in their sins. 00:01:28.010 --> 00:01:30.750 We pray not only for those gathered here, but 00:01:30.750 --> 00:01:33.329 for others as well who are gathered in amongst 00:01:33.329 --> 00:01:36.370 your faithful people, and faithfully proclaim 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:39.370 your word, that you indeed would show mercy, 00:01:39.569 --> 00:01:42.489 that this would be the day of salvation for some, 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:46.230 Father, in their sins, for many who are yet in 00:01:46.230 --> 00:01:50.450 their sins. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:56.170 Well, we're going to try to get through the end 00:01:56.170 --> 00:01:59.420 here. 1 Corinthians this morning, so if you'd 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:15.740 like to turn there with me. We've been looking 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:19.319 at the resurrection and how Paul views it, and 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:23.039 he gives us a description of it, how it is going 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.780 to occur, when it's going to occur, so on and 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:30.479 so forth. The importance of Christ's continual 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:33.259 intercession for us. Yes, he interceded on the 00:02:33.259 --> 00:02:37.500 cross. And we couldn't live without it. He was, 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:40.379 though, indeed raised from the dead to continue 00:02:40.379 --> 00:02:43.800 to make intercession for us all of our days. 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:47.479 And all of the days of all of God's people forever 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:51.439 until his return. And we can't live without that 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:56.500 either. It's equally important. There is no gospel 00:02:56.500 --> 00:03:00.000 apart from the resurrection. So Paul's going 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.360 to make some declarations here at the end of 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:04.900 the chapter. He's going to make some assertions. 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:10.419 He's just going to exhort us, plead with us really, 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:16.460 to know of a certainty as to who we are, who 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:21.759 Christ is, and of what awaits us because of those 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.400 things. He's going to assert it. He's going to 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:26.960 lay it out there. That's what Christians do. 00:03:27.979 --> 00:03:32.259 That's what we all should do. We shouldn't be 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:36.919 timid in our proclamation of the truth. It is 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.439 the truth. It's the whole truth. It's nothing 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:43.460 but the truth. Jesus Christ is. It's on our sign 00:03:43.460 --> 00:03:45.680 out there. The way, the truth, and the life. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.259 We need to proclaim those things. Make assertions. 00:03:52.169 --> 00:03:56.530 We have the truth. We have the good news. We 00:03:56.530 --> 00:04:01.250 know the giver of all good things. So we should 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.250 never be shy to proclaim that. Now we've got 00:04:04.250 --> 00:04:07.129 our outreach coming up. Hope you all are praying 00:04:07.129 --> 00:04:09.650 for it. Hope you all are praying for yourselves. 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:13.370 That you get out there with boldness. Share the 00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:16.709 gospel. We're not out there to make friends or 00:04:16.709 --> 00:04:19.730 to have idle chit -chat. We're out there to share 00:04:19.730 --> 00:04:23.449 the truth. We're out there to give some good 00:04:23.449 --> 00:04:29.410 news to those who pass our way. Make assertions, 00:04:29.410 --> 00:04:32.730 just as Paul does, just as all Christians should. 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:37.870 So we read that in the 50th verse. Now this I 00:04:37.870 --> 00:04:42.089 say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit 00:04:42.089 --> 00:04:45.769 the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit 00:04:45.769 --> 00:04:50.149 incorruption. Now there's an assertion, and he's... 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.600 He's repeating it, essentially, because of the 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:58.699 importance of it. We have to die. Flesh and blood 00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:02.480 cannot inherit, it says, the kingdom of God. 00:05:03.019 --> 00:05:06.480 Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:19.160 That's an assertion. In other words, what? God's 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:23.500 got to do something. God's got to do it all. 00:05:25.259 --> 00:05:31.399 We are flesh and blood. We are corruption. He's 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:35.860 telling us we can't inherit. You say well we 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:37.980 have the earnest of our inheritance already. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:42.279 And you'd say right. That's absolutely true. 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:47.990 But yet the far. Greater inheritance, the inheritance 00:05:47.990 --> 00:05:53.029 of the whole, yet awaits. And the only way to 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:58.769 get there is to die. You can't get there any 00:05:58.769 --> 00:06:03.389 other way. You cannot inherit in our present 00:06:03.389 --> 00:06:09.910 condition. Now that should comfort us in our 00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:14.339 dying. We've fought against death all of our 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:17.079 lives. We've strived to maintain our good testimony. 00:06:17.740 --> 00:06:21.339 We want to love and trust God even in our most 00:06:21.339 --> 00:06:26.980 vulnerable time, the time of our death. That's 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:30.660 what we don't want to fail then. We don't want 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:35.160 to go out crying and whimpering and dreading 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.420 it like we're leaving some great thing behind. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:42.730 We don't want to do that. This should help us. 00:06:43.930 --> 00:06:47.990 God's bringing us to the edge of the river. We've 00:06:47.990 --> 00:06:51.550 been decreasing. We all know we're going to die. 00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:58.569 And it's a necessity that we die. Because sin 00:06:58.569 --> 00:07:03.550 has so corrupted the world and corrupted us that 00:07:03.550 --> 00:07:07.670 in order to live everlasting life, we've got 00:07:07.670 --> 00:07:10.069 to pass through the river. We've got to go over. 00:07:11.019 --> 00:07:14.879 We've got to die physically to this world in 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.519 order to get to the next. That's what Paul's 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:23.339 telling us. And it's true. And then he's going 00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:27.420 to go on and he says, Behold, I show you a mystery. 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:31.639 We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:35.259 There you have it. Encouragement for both groups 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:39.769 here. It's a mystery. Nobody could have figured 00:07:39.769 --> 00:07:42.470 this out. That's what the Bible means by mystery. 00:07:44.389 --> 00:07:47.970 It's something that God had to reveal. God had 00:07:47.970 --> 00:07:52.449 to tell us in order for us to know the mystery, 00:07:52.730 --> 00:07:56.290 to solve the riddle, the puzzle, to come to a 00:07:56.290 --> 00:07:59.730 settled opinion. God had to tell us. God told 00:07:59.730 --> 00:08:03.730 Paul. Paul's telling us. He says, I'm revealing 00:08:03.730 --> 00:08:08.740 this mystery. He uses a euphemism for death. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.720 He says, you shall not all sleep. In other words, 00:08:12.779 --> 00:08:16.459 he doesn't want to say that we're going to die. 00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:20.019 But we are going to die, but our spiritual self 00:08:20.019 --> 00:08:24.699 is not. But our bodies are going to go into the 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:30.800 ground. But that's not death to us. The real 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:35.100 us, the inside of our bodies, our spiritual self 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:39.179 is... continuing on. But, he says, we shall all 00:08:39.179 --> 00:08:42.620 be changed. So, if Christ comes when we're alive, 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:47.639 that's not going to eliminate our change, which 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.399 is what you could get from the first verse that 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:53.299 I just read, right? You've got to die, I said, 00:08:53.379 --> 00:08:57.580 right? In order to be changed, in order to inherit 00:08:57.580 --> 00:09:01.000 incorruption, we have to die. Well, if you're 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.779 still alive when Christ is coming, Christ comes, 00:09:04.019 --> 00:09:06.820 Paul says, You're going to be changed anyway. 00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:10.299 You're not going to be excluded because you're 00:09:10.299 --> 00:09:14.860 alive. You will be changed, just as those who 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:17.139 have already gone before us and who are dead 00:09:17.139 --> 00:09:21.120 and in the grave. We will all, all be changed. 00:09:22.659 --> 00:09:26.379 That's what he wants us to know. Then he goes 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:30.460 on, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 00:09:30.580 --> 00:09:34.049 at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound 00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:36.970 and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:41.250 we shall be changed. At the end of the world, 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:45.129 at the end of this age, when the trumpet sounds, 00:09:45.289 --> 00:09:49.850 when Christ returns, we will all be changed. 00:09:50.169 --> 00:09:53.450 We'll be out of the graves. We'll be resurrected. 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:57.409 We'll all have our glorified bodies when the 00:09:57.409 --> 00:10:00.179 trumpet sounds. And is it going to be a gradual 00:10:00.179 --> 00:10:04.759 process? Are we going to grow into it? No. In 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:08.440 the twinkling of an eye, in a split second we 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:12.440 might say, we'll be changed before we even realize 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:17.259 that we were changed. Instantly. We'll have our 00:10:17.259 --> 00:10:21.039 glorified body. And he's telling us that it's 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:23.899 at the end of the age when the trump sounds. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.889 That's it. It's over. Again, we have already 00:10:28.889 --> 00:10:31.429 been through this earlier in this same epistle, 00:10:31.470 --> 00:10:34.649 and he's repeating it to let us know that this 00:10:34.649 --> 00:10:40.590 age is coming to an end, and will end. And the 00:10:40.590 --> 00:10:43.070 new age, the new heavens, and the new earth will 00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:47.730 be ushered in when Christ returns, when the trumpet 00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:54.610 sounds. That's it, it's over. You've had your 00:10:54.610 --> 00:10:59.580 opportunity. You heard the gospel. You refused 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:05.940 it. That's it. Your destiny is sealed. And it's 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:09.360 true either way. We're either going to heaven 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.700 and the new earth and the new heavens or we're 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:15.600 going to hell. When that trump sounds, that's 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:21.559 it. There's nothing else. This age of grace will 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:26.620 come to an end at that point. And all men will 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:34.179 receive their just rewards. But in the idea of 00:11:34.179 --> 00:11:39.899 the resurrection and the glorified body, he's 00:11:39.899 --> 00:11:42.799 telling us here that that's when it will happen. 00:11:42.899 --> 00:11:46.320 It won't happen before. And it won't be late. 00:11:47.019 --> 00:11:50.960 When Christ returns, indeed, we will be raised 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.809 incorruptible. We will be changed in the twinkling 00:11:54.809 --> 00:12:00.289 of an eye. You know, that's something if you 00:12:00.289 --> 00:12:06.009 think about it. We spend all our lives trying 00:12:06.009 --> 00:12:11.269 to get closer to Christ. All of our lives we 00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:15.409 pray and plead that God would sanctify us more 00:12:15.409 --> 00:12:18.169 and more. That indeed we would die to ourselves 00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:22.389 more and more. Every day we ask forgiveness for 00:12:22.389 --> 00:12:26.629 our sins because we failed again. And our best 00:12:26.629 --> 00:12:32.210 efforts include sin. That's why Christ is interceding 00:12:32.210 --> 00:12:35.470 for us continually. Our works are acceptable 00:12:35.470 --> 00:12:37.710 to God, not because they're perfect. Remember, 00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:41.070 God is perfect. Everything has to be perfect 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:46.049 in order to be acceptable with Him. So could 00:12:46.049 --> 00:12:48.710 we ever do anything on earth that would be acceptable 00:12:48.710 --> 00:12:53.169 to Him? No, we're not going to do anything ever 00:12:53.169 --> 00:12:57.789 perfectly. We need Christ's intercession, and 00:12:57.789 --> 00:12:59.870 we have it, and we should have confidence in 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:02.409 that. We should have confidence to go forth and 00:13:02.409 --> 00:13:06.250 continue on in the work that he's given us to 00:13:06.250 --> 00:13:10.970 do, in the devotional, in the believing, in the 00:13:10.970 --> 00:13:13.750 trusting, in the sharing of the... Whatever the 00:13:13.750 --> 00:13:18.710 work is, Christ is there. He's interceding. He's 00:13:18.710 --> 00:13:21.750 pleased. He's pleased with us as his people. 00:13:22.470 --> 00:13:25.789 He desires for us to give glory to his name. 00:13:25.990 --> 00:13:40.070 And that's how we do it. So then, in 54, so when 00:13:40.070 --> 00:13:43.809 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 00:13:43.870 --> 00:13:47.110 and this mortal shall have put on immortality, 00:13:47.629 --> 00:13:50.169 Then shall be brought to pass the saying that 00:13:50.169 --> 00:13:53.409 is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 00:13:53.789 --> 00:13:58.870 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is 00:13:58.870 --> 00:14:02.929 thy victory? So Paul's taunting death, as it 00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:07.889 were. He's throwing it in its face. You don't 00:14:07.889 --> 00:14:11.250 have any victory. Where is it? Where is your 00:14:11.250 --> 00:14:15.269 victory? Where is your sting? Where is all that 00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:18.779 power that you're supposed to have? It's gone. 00:14:18.980 --> 00:14:22.860 Why? Well, because of Jesus Christ. He says that 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:26.159 the saying, and this is a loose quote from the 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:29.120 Old Testament. And I think we should read these. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.159 We should read these two quotes because they 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:37.600 do, or verses because they do shed light. In 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.399 verse 6, it's Isaiah 25. You don't have to turn. 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:46.820 I'll read it. Verse 8. Now this is in the middle 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:54.269 of, That this little verse appears. He's telling 00:14:54.269 --> 00:14:58.529 them how they've blown it. How God is going to 00:14:58.529 --> 00:15:02.009 help them anyway. But here, this is where Paul 00:15:02.009 --> 00:15:05.649 got the quote from, from Isaiah 25 and verse 00:15:05.649 --> 00:15:10.370 8. He will swallow up death in victory, and the 00:15:10.370 --> 00:15:13.909 Lord God will wipe away all tears from all of 00:15:13.909 --> 00:15:17.299 their faces. And the rebuke of his people shall 00:15:17.299 --> 00:15:21.279 he take away from off all the earth. For the 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:27.039 Lord has spoken it. Now, this all began. This 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:31.980 is important. This isn't talking about exclusively 00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:36.679 the last days, the end times. This is an Old 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.960 Testament prophecy in the Old Testament gospel 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:48.769 of Isaiah. Isaiah and all of them are prophesying 00:15:48.769 --> 00:15:53.809 the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what 00:15:53.809 --> 00:15:58.450 they're prophesying. The first coming. We get 00:15:58.450 --> 00:16:01.169 very little information on the second coming 00:16:01.169 --> 00:16:05.789 from the Old Testament. Almost nothing compared 00:16:05.789 --> 00:16:09.029 to what is prophesied in regard to the first 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:11.779 coming of Christ. And that's what he's talking 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:17.019 about here. He's talking about what Christ is 00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:20.179 going to swallow up death. He is going to wipe 00:16:20.179 --> 00:16:23.799 away tears. And he's going to take the rebuke 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.299 of his people away. And that all happened through 00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:28.600 the death of Christ on the cross. That's when 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:35.940 he did it. Now we get these blessings by being 00:16:35.940 --> 00:16:39.139 in Christ. Right? We don't have any problem seeing 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:43.820 that. We didn't die for our own sins. So on and 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:47.700 so forth. We're in Christ. So therefore we died 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:52.019 with him. And we did receive eternal life. We 00:16:52.019 --> 00:16:55.539 did receive the earnest of our inheritance. And 00:16:55.539 --> 00:16:58.860 that's what this is talking about. Now Paul's 00:16:58.860 --> 00:17:04.319 taking this same verse. And now he's saying that 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.500 yes. And that is going to be totally fulfilled. 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:11.579 Completely fulfilled. by Christ at the second 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:16.180 coming. He is going to do that again at the second 00:17:16.180 --> 00:17:20.920 coming, we might say. Paul takes that Old Testament 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.599 quote of the first coming and uses it in this 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.900 verse dealing with the second coming of Christ 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:29.859 and the resurrection that will happen. In other 00:17:29.859 --> 00:17:36.220 words, all of our faith is going to be realized. 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:39.960 All of our faith in the promises of God is going 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:43.480 to come to realization completely and finally 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.400 at the resurrection or at the second coming. 00:17:47.779 --> 00:17:54.880 The other quote is from Hosea. It's from Hosea 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:06.420 13, 14. And here we read, this is in an... He's 00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:10.740 encouraging the people to repent. And so in 14, 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:16.119 Hosea says, and this is not him, what he's going 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:17.900 to do. This is what the Lord is going to do. 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:21.079 I will ransom them from the power of the grave. 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:25.440 I will redeem them from death. O death, I will 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:29.440 be thy plagues. O grave, I will be thy destruction. 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:34.490 Repentance shall be hid from off mine eyes. So 00:18:34.490 --> 00:18:40.069 again, it began to happen at the first coming. 00:18:40.650 --> 00:18:47.890 Death was defeated. The grave is defeated. The 00:18:47.890 --> 00:18:52.869 sting of death is gone, but not completely gone. 00:18:53.069 --> 00:18:56.650 It won't happen completely until Christ comes 00:18:56.650 --> 00:18:59.289 at the second coming. And so Paul's taking these 00:18:59.289 --> 00:19:01.869 prophecies of the first coming and applying them. 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:05.640 the completion of them through the second coming 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:13.960 so indeed we have everything in c form we could 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:19.359 say we own everything partially we'll own it 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.960 completely when christ returns and all of these 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:28.559 things are completely fulfilled at his second 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:35.930 coming So now Paul wants to make sure that we 00:19:35.930 --> 00:19:39.009 understand all this information about the sting 00:19:39.009 --> 00:19:44.309 of death and the grave and all of this. So in 00:19:44.309 --> 00:19:53.089 56 he tells us. Now this is a doctrine of sin 00:19:53.089 --> 00:19:59.869 right here. This is, this is, this is, I don't 00:19:59.869 --> 00:20:02.390 know how you can say this any briefer than this. 00:20:03.019 --> 00:20:05.759 Paul deals with this in about three chapters 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.680 in Romans. He devotes three whole chapters to 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:10.859 it. He's only got this one little verse here. 00:20:11.779 --> 00:20:14.180 So if you're not familiar with any of the other 00:20:14.180 --> 00:20:17.359 places where Paul deals with this, you say, what? 00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:22.519 What's going on here? But in 56, it says, the 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:29.440 sting of death is sin. Why do men just are terrified 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:32.329 of death? That's what he's wanting to know. Why 00:20:32.329 --> 00:20:37.049 is it? Because of sin. Because they know they're 00:20:37.049 --> 00:20:41.930 sinners. Christians more than anybody knows about 00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:47.829 sin. We hate sin. We hate that we give in to 00:20:47.829 --> 00:20:51.829 sin. We hate that we sin. We love righteousness. 00:20:51.950 --> 00:20:55.869 We hate sin. But the sting is the sin. The sting 00:20:55.869 --> 00:20:58.869 in death is the fact that there's a problem. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:06.900 Nobody is going out of this world neutral. Everybody 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:09.819 in himself is going out of this world guilty. 00:21:11.980 --> 00:21:16.579 Because of sin. So you either have an advocate, 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.619 you have a mediator, or you die and die again. 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:27.220 That's the sting of death, sin. Well, what makes 00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:32.930 sin powerful? Well, And the strength of sin is 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:42.849 the law. The law is what makes sin, sin. That's 00:21:42.849 --> 00:21:47.450 what he's saying here. The sin and the law exposes 00:21:47.450 --> 00:21:52.170 sin. Paul says he'd never had known sin apart 00:21:52.170 --> 00:21:57.509 from the law. And that's true of all of us. That's 00:21:57.509 --> 00:22:03.119 true of the whole world. Thou shalt not kill. 00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:08.980 Why? Why on earth shouldn't you kill? Huh? We 00:22:08.980 --> 00:22:12.319 know the answer. But just try to envision and 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:17.059 think as though you're not a Christian. And it's 00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:19.880 easier to do now because the people that are 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:22.680 coming up, the young people, they don't have 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:24.940 all this Christian background in their lives. 00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:28.319 They've probably never been to church. They've 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.769 probably never heard a thing. So what makes it 00:22:32.769 --> 00:22:36.309 wrong to kill somebody? Where'd that come from? 00:22:37.609 --> 00:22:40.750 Well, obviously it came from the Bible. It came 00:22:40.750 --> 00:22:44.990 from the law of God. God, who created all things, 00:22:45.089 --> 00:22:49.589 said it was wrong to kill them. If you kill a 00:22:49.589 --> 00:22:54.630 human being, you're going to die. That's what 00:22:54.630 --> 00:22:58.910 makes it wrong. It's the power of sin is the 00:22:58.910 --> 00:23:14.339 law. I'm going to go ahead and read a couple 00:23:14.339 --> 00:23:36.720 of these passages. Let's see. I'm not going to. 00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:43.200 I'm going to do this. Okay, Romans 6. Romans 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.660 6. This is a big parenthesis in the book of Romans. 00:23:46.779 --> 00:23:48.480 I don't know if you remember all this. 6 and 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.420 7 are a parenthesis. They're a pause in the progressive 00:23:52.420 --> 00:23:57.619 argument. You can leave out 6 and 7 completely, 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:01.160 and it makes total sense to read from the end 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:05.519 of verse 5 to the beginning of chapter 8. So 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:11.359 from 5 to 8, it all makes sense. It's a continuing 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:15.410 argument. 6 and 7 are parentheses to answer two 00:24:15.410 --> 00:24:21.730 questions. And the two questions are, if this 00:24:21.730 --> 00:24:26.089 is all a free grace, if this gospel sets men 00:24:26.089 --> 00:24:30.769 free from the law, and it takes all the restraints, 00:24:30.769 --> 00:24:33.029 all the offenses, everything else, however you 00:24:33.029 --> 00:24:35.609 want to express it away, well then let's just 00:24:35.609 --> 00:24:39.799 sin. Let's just do whatever we want to. Let's 00:24:39.799 --> 00:24:41.980 eat, drink, and be married because tomorrow we 00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:46.700 die and we'll go into heaven. So Paul's answering 00:24:46.700 --> 00:24:50.240 that objection or that question either way in 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:53.980 chapter 6. That's what chapter 6 is all about. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:58.460 It's all about the need or the necessity of dying 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:02.500 to sin and living to righteousness. It's got 00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:06.740 nothing to do with earning your salvation. So 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:19.160 in verse... Okay, verse 10 of chapter 6. And 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:24.980 this is quick. For in that he died, he died unto 00:25:24.980 --> 00:25:28.880 sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:33.180 God. Okay, so he's dead to sin. He died to sin. 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:37.640 Christ did. Jesus Christ did. On the cross. Not 00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:41.470 his own sin, but for our sin. So then Paul tells 00:25:41.470 --> 00:25:45.269 us in the following verse of chapter 11, Likewise, 00:25:45.549 --> 00:25:49.150 reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed 00:25:49.150 --> 00:25:52.670 unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ 00:25:52.670 --> 00:25:56.470 our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your 00:25:56.470 --> 00:25:59.630 mortal body, that you should obey the lust thereof. 00:26:00.730 --> 00:26:04.690 Okay, so now again, this is a frame of mind. 00:26:04.849 --> 00:26:06.930 This is something that you're supposed to believe. 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:09.839 This is something that you're supposed to consider, 00:26:10.059 --> 00:26:17.119 take note of. Hey, I'm dead to sin. Dead indeed 00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:23.359 to sin. Likewise, consider yourself. Know this 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:26.799 truth. You are dead to sin. You have died to 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:30.960 sin with Christ. You are dead to sin. Therefore, 00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:34.200 because you are dead to sin, let not sin, therefore, 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:38.990 reign in your mortal body. Now, is Paul saying 00:26:38.990 --> 00:26:41.930 anything about you're not going to have any sin, 00:26:42.190 --> 00:26:45.549 you're no longer going to have to war against 00:26:45.549 --> 00:26:48.710 sin? No, he's not saying any of that. Is he saying 00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:51.309 it's okay, just forget about it, you don't have 00:26:51.309 --> 00:26:54.250 to worry about the sin, you just go on and live 00:26:54.250 --> 00:26:56.470 because you're all in Christ and you're all going 00:26:56.470 --> 00:26:59.650 to heaven? He's saying nothing like that. Not 00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:03.900 even close to it. He's saying, consider yourself 00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:06.700 dead to sin and don't serve sin. Now, he said 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:08.359 this was going to be quick, and it is. There's 00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:12.440 a lot more there. But that's the juxtaposition 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:17.559 of Romans 6. We don't live righteously to earn 00:27:17.559 --> 00:27:20.700 salvation. We live righteously because we are 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:25.119 saved. And if you're not living righteously, 00:27:25.140 --> 00:27:27.279 then you don't have any reason to think you're 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:31.420 saved. If you're not mortifying sin in your body, 00:27:31.539 --> 00:27:34.740 you're not, you have no assurance of your salvation. 00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:39.420 And nobody around you does or should have. You 00:27:39.420 --> 00:27:42.259 should be admonishing one another to mortify 00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:49.000 your sins. Sin. The strength of sin is the law. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:56.480 As we get it from Romans 7. Romans 7 is the answer 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.650 to the objection or the question, What good is 00:27:59.650 --> 00:28:03.049 the law then? Of what purpose does the law serve 00:28:03.049 --> 00:28:06.569 in all of this theology that you're talking about, 00:28:06.690 --> 00:28:10.529 Paul? We're Jews. We have the law. We have the 00:28:10.529 --> 00:28:13.970 oracles of God. We're right with God. Because 00:28:13.970 --> 00:28:17.170 we do have this law. All the oracles of God. 00:28:17.269 --> 00:28:20.750 All the prophets. Moses. We know we're right 00:28:20.750 --> 00:28:23.849 with God. Those things are not what makes you 00:28:23.849 --> 00:28:30.000 right with God. They didn't know it. So he's 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.079 in chapter 7. Now this is, I don't have, I'm 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.980 not going to even try to go through this whole 00:28:35.980 --> 00:28:38.220 thing and explain it to you, but there's no man 00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:43.259 here in Romans 7. Okay? Romans 7 is all about 00:28:43.259 --> 00:28:48.039 what the law can and cannot do. That's what, 00:28:48.059 --> 00:28:51.980 this is a picture of the law. So don't try to 00:28:51.980 --> 00:28:55.269 get a man in here. Yeah, he's talking about a 00:28:55.269 --> 00:28:57.730 man, and it appears to be a man, but he's using 00:28:57.730 --> 00:29:00.170 this illustration to illustrate what the law 00:29:00.170 --> 00:29:05.450 does. None of these things will fit. None of 00:29:05.450 --> 00:29:08.390 these descriptions will fit an unconverted man 00:29:08.390 --> 00:29:12.450 or a converted man. If Paul would be the most 00:29:12.450 --> 00:29:15.750 confused person if he was talking about a man 00:29:15.750 --> 00:29:20.410 that all of this stuff consisted in. But anyway, 00:29:20.650 --> 00:29:30.670 all right. In Romans 7, 9 to 11, we read this. 00:29:31.390 --> 00:29:35.849 For I was alive without the law once, but when 00:29:35.849 --> 00:29:39.309 the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 00:29:39.950 --> 00:29:43.009 And the commandment which was ordained to life, 00:29:43.170 --> 00:29:48.250 I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion 00:29:48.250 --> 00:29:52.660 by the commandments, deceived me. and by it slew 00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:56.900 me. Wherefore, the law is holy, the commandment 00:29:56.900 --> 00:30:00.220 holy, and just and good. So it's not the fault 00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:04.880 of the law. It's a revelation of a holy God. 00:30:05.059 --> 00:30:08.420 God gave the law. There's always been a moral 00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:15.720 law. But there's no power in the law to help 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:20.250 or to enable a man to keep it. That's the problem. 00:30:20.869 --> 00:30:25.910 The law can only condemn. If you read the law 00:30:25.910 --> 00:30:30.670 and you say, oh good, I've got 8 out of 10 checked 00:30:30.670 --> 00:30:33.670 off and I'm fine with that. You've read the law 00:30:33.670 --> 00:30:39.349 wrong. That's an impossibility. You cannot keep 00:30:39.349 --> 00:30:43.509 the law. And the law does not empower you to 00:30:43.509 --> 00:30:47.880 do so. All it does is show us our sin. And Paul 00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:50.720 says that it stirred up sin in him. And caused 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:54.460 him to sin more. That's what the law was given 00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:57.420 for. And that's what it does. And that's what 00:30:57.420 --> 00:31:07.079 it's going to continue to do. In 13. Yeah. Okay. 00:31:07.140 --> 00:31:10.039 I should have read this also. Was then that which 00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:13.480 is good made death unto me. God forbid. But sin. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:17.539 That it might appear sin. Worketh death in me. 00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:23.119 By that which is good. That sin. By the commandment. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:29.059 Might become exceedingly sinful. That's what 00:31:29.059 --> 00:31:33.440 the law does. It's doing it to this day. You 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:36.740 want to show your kids. An example of sinfulness. 00:31:36.819 --> 00:31:44.059 Show them the law. That's what it's for. To reveal 00:31:44.059 --> 00:31:53.329 sin. To punish sin. That leads to death. The 00:31:53.329 --> 00:31:55.930 curse of the law is death, remember? It's not 00:31:55.930 --> 00:32:03.509 life. It's death. So, is there no hope? Of course 00:32:03.509 --> 00:32:12.470 there is. And Paul gets to that in 24 and 25. 00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:16.140 O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me 00:32:16.140 --> 00:32:19.859 from the body of this death? Now, again, that 00:32:19.859 --> 00:32:22.559 sounds like a man, and you could use it that 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.900 way. But it's saying that the law is absolutely 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:29.640 powerless. I'm without hope. How am I going to 00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:33.359 get out of this mess of a law? That's the purpose 00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:37.079 of the example. And in 25, I thank God through 00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:41.200 Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the outward. He's 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:45.180 the out. If you're in Christ, you're out of the 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:48.599 law. You're dead to the law. The law is dead 00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:53.440 to you. It has no purpose in your life. Other 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:56.299 than, again, if you start feeling proud or something, 00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:59.839 you want to read the law, go read it. And it 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:03.839 should humble you. But you don't need the law 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:06.000 to be humble. There's plenty of other passages 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.299 in the New Testament that do the same thing. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:12.900 But Paul, that's what he's... telling us in Corinthians. 00:33:14.039 --> 00:33:18.359 And maybe I'll take longer on a subsequent Sunday 00:33:18.359 --> 00:33:21.880 to go through the whole thing. But that's the 00:33:21.880 --> 00:33:26.519 doctrine of sin that Paul has reference to here 00:33:26.519 --> 00:33:32.400 in chapter, or in verse 56. The sting of death 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:36.470 is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. And 00:33:36.470 --> 00:33:38.529 he ends it the same way as he did back there 00:33:38.529 --> 00:33:41.690 in Romans 7. But thanks be to God which giveth 00:33:41.690 --> 00:33:44.970 us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:33:47.829 --> 00:33:51.750 We can proclaim victory, but we don't earn a 00:33:51.750 --> 00:33:57.450 victory. We're not awarded victory. We're given 00:33:57.450 --> 00:34:01.029 it through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has the 00:34:01.029 --> 00:34:04.799 victory. He gives it to his people. We share 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:10.440 in this victory over sin, over death. All the 00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:14.039 power of the law is gone. He nailed it to the 00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:18.760 cross, it says in Colossians. He took it out 00:34:18.760 --> 00:34:21.340 of the way. All the ordinances were against us. 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:26.079 The law was against us. It kept beating us over 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:31.000 the head. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Remember the 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:35.210 pilgrim's progress. A worldly wise man told him 00:34:35.210 --> 00:34:39.190 to go up to see Moses. And he was trying to climb 00:34:39.190 --> 00:34:42.769 up the fiery hill. And the closer he got to Moses 00:34:42.769 --> 00:34:45.030 and the law, the hotter and the more dangerous 00:34:45.030 --> 00:34:49.250 it was. And finally he had to give up. Because 00:34:49.250 --> 00:34:51.670 he could never do it. He could never get out. 00:34:52.650 --> 00:34:55.610 It's also portrayed as a big ditch, a big hole. 00:34:56.429 --> 00:34:58.949 That you can climb up with a ladder and you think 00:34:58.949 --> 00:35:01.070 you're almost to the top when conviction comes 00:35:01.070 --> 00:35:04.610 again and smacks you down to the bottom. There's 00:35:04.610 --> 00:35:10.429 no escaping it other than Jesus Christ. And he 00:35:10.429 --> 00:35:14.769 just lifts us out through his power, through 00:35:14.769 --> 00:35:18.510 his grace. He lifts us out of the miry clay. 00:35:19.550 --> 00:35:23.750 He puts a big shield against all the fiery darts 00:35:23.750 --> 00:35:31.309 of the law. the victory is ours in Christ Jesus 00:35:31.309 --> 00:35:38.130 we will be resurrected we have nothing to fear 00:35:38.130 --> 00:35:42.670 we live in victory and we live in the partial 00:35:42.670 --> 00:35:49.710 victory of what all Jesus has done for us all 00:35:49.710 --> 00:35:53.889 waiting for the complete fulfillment at the second 00:35:53.889 --> 00:35:57.090 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but it's all 00:35:57.579 --> 00:36:01.599 All through Jesus Christ. He's all that we have. 00:36:01.820 --> 00:36:04.940 He's all that we need. He's all that we should 00:36:04.940 --> 00:36:11.420 want. Jesus Christ. The Savior for sinners. The 00:36:11.420 --> 00:36:17.360 mediator. Between God. And his people. And he's 00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:22.539 going to close it up here. In 58. Therefore my 00:36:22.539 --> 00:36:25.960 beloved brethren. Be ye steadfast. Unmovable. 00:36:26.409 --> 00:36:29.230 Always abounding in the work of the Lord. For 00:36:29.230 --> 00:36:31.969 as much as you know that your labor is not in 00:36:31.969 --> 00:36:36.489 vain in the Lord. So what does this all lead 00:36:36.489 --> 00:36:42.730 to? It leads to continued perseverance. Continued 00:36:42.730 --> 00:36:45.570 perseverance in faith and love to the Lord Jesus 00:36:45.570 --> 00:36:51.210 Christ. He says, my beloved. Remember this is 00:36:51.210 --> 00:36:55.420 Corinthians. They're full of problems. They've 00:36:55.420 --> 00:36:59.019 got all sorts of issues. We should be very thankful 00:36:59.019 --> 00:37:01.420 for the Corinthian church because we get answers 00:37:01.420 --> 00:37:03.840 to all kinds of problems here in Corinthians. 00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:09.980 They were messed up. But evidently there was 00:37:09.980 --> 00:37:12.059 still a whole bunch of people that were trying 00:37:12.059 --> 00:37:15.599 to get it right. Struggling to get it right. 00:37:15.659 --> 00:37:20.500 And he says, my beloved. It's an expression of 00:37:20.500 --> 00:37:24.019 dearest intimacy and love. To these people that 00:37:24.019 --> 00:37:29.480 he was writing to. And if. If you want to have 00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:33.320 any effect on anybody else. You have got to have 00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:37.880 that same love. Not pretended. Not a pretend 00:37:37.880 --> 00:37:41.940 relationship. But a love. For the person that 00:37:41.940 --> 00:37:46.139 you're dealing with. That's especially true for 00:37:46.139 --> 00:37:49.800 all pastors. If they don't know their people. 00:37:49.860 --> 00:37:54.090 Enough to say that. I know they know I love them. 00:37:54.150 --> 00:38:02.349 Then there's a problem there. It's all love, 00:38:02.429 --> 00:38:06.210 folks. Remember sweet words when we looked at 00:38:06.210 --> 00:38:10.889 that? Anyway, Paul expresses his love for the 00:38:10.889 --> 00:38:14.530 brethren. And then he exhorts them, be steadfast, 00:38:14.769 --> 00:38:25.079 unmovable. Be steadfast and unmovable. Do you 00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:30.360 know the truth? Do you love the truth? Is all 00:38:30.360 --> 00:38:33.639 of your truth wrapped up in Jesus Christ? Remember 00:38:33.639 --> 00:38:37.380 the saying, or the verse, Jesus Christ, the way, 00:38:37.500 --> 00:38:43.079 the truth, and the life. Be steadfast, unmovable. 00:38:43.619 --> 00:38:48.099 Let nobody move you away from the truth. I don't 00:38:48.099 --> 00:38:51.900 care how sweet they are, how loving they are. 00:38:52.500 --> 00:38:56.579 What a great, Whatever. It's nothing if they 00:38:56.579 --> 00:39:00.920 don't have the truth. It's nothing. It's worthless. 00:39:01.699 --> 00:39:04.760 That's all it is. It's worthless. It's just fill 00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:07.920 in the air with worthless words. That's all. 00:39:09.159 --> 00:39:14.000 The truth is what matters. Be steadfast. Unmovable. 00:39:16.539 --> 00:39:22.559 Has anybody ever called you stubborn? I hope 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:24.340 they have when you're talking about the Lord. 00:39:26.300 --> 00:39:28.380 Because that's a good thing. That's what he's 00:39:28.380 --> 00:39:33.460 telling us. Don't move. Don't be persuaded. Don't 00:39:33.460 --> 00:39:36.760 be influenced. Remember, bad company corrupts 00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:42.400 good manners. He's telling us again. Be steadfast. 00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:49.480 Unmovable in the truth and what you know. In 00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:53.639 your faith. Don't get sidetracked in your faith. 00:39:55.579 --> 00:40:00.019 It's not Christ plus something. If it's Christ, 00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:03.880 here's it is. Christ plus anything equals nothing. 00:40:04.519 --> 00:40:10.280 Zero. Christ alone. That's all that we have. 00:40:10.360 --> 00:40:14.840 It's all that we need. He is totally, completely 00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:20.539 sufficient. Step out in faith. Grow in your faith. 00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:25.980 Do something you've never done before. Prove 00:40:25.980 --> 00:40:30.940 God. That's what he says. Prove me. I'll show 00:40:30.940 --> 00:40:34.400 you. I'll enable you. I'll carry you through. 00:40:35.500 --> 00:40:38.519 Just show. I'll be glad to carry you through. 00:40:38.800 --> 00:40:42.559 But again, if you're just sitting there and nothing 00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:46.639 ever changes, nothing ever occurs to you. Well, 00:40:46.780 --> 00:40:49.500 what is there to be? You're not going to be carried. 00:40:50.349 --> 00:40:54.889 You're not going to be helped in that. You're 00:40:54.889 --> 00:40:58.130 just going to be left on the shelf. You might 00:40:58.130 --> 00:41:01.030 even get some discipline from the Lord for it. 00:41:01.050 --> 00:41:06.530 I don't know. It's up to Him. He wants us to 00:41:06.530 --> 00:41:10.289 go forward. He wants us to exercise our faith. 00:41:10.469 --> 00:41:12.650 That's what He's talking about next. In the work, 00:41:12.710 --> 00:41:17.269 always abounding in the work of the Lord. Abounding, 00:41:17.269 --> 00:41:21.730 He says. Not a little bit. I do a little thing 00:41:21.730 --> 00:41:27.789 here and there. Abounding in the work. Well, 00:41:27.789 --> 00:41:30.090 you say, I got all kinds of things I gotta do. 00:41:30.289 --> 00:41:34.590 Well, that's true. We all do. We all got a lot 00:41:34.590 --> 00:41:38.289 of things we gotta do. But do we even consider 00:41:38.289 --> 00:41:40.829 this work of the Lord as something we gotta do? 00:41:42.489 --> 00:41:44.949 In other words, is there any importance to the 00:41:44.949 --> 00:41:50.230 work of the Lord? Well, I ask the question. You 00:41:50.230 --> 00:41:53.690 supply the answer. And you supply the answer. 00:41:53.769 --> 00:41:56.449 Remember we looked at it already. By what you 00:41:56.449 --> 00:41:59.449 do. That's how you supply the answer. Not what 00:41:59.449 --> 00:42:05.110 you think. It's what you do. Do you deny the 00:42:05.110 --> 00:42:07.789 resurrection by your life? Or do you affirm it? 00:42:10.090 --> 00:42:13.989 Anyway. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. 00:42:17.710 --> 00:42:20.670 I mean, I feel bad about preaching it this way, 00:42:20.730 --> 00:42:24.769 but that should be the most joyous and fun and 00:42:24.769 --> 00:42:26.809 everything else thing that we ever do in this 00:42:26.809 --> 00:42:31.329 life. What we do for the Lord. That should be 00:42:31.329 --> 00:42:37.389 a joy. That should make us laugh. But God is 00:42:37.389 --> 00:42:42.369 using me. He's carrying me along. He's entrusting 00:42:42.369 --> 00:42:44.809 me with all these kids. Don't get this wrong. 00:42:45.769 --> 00:42:48.610 If you got kids, it's because God gave them to 00:42:48.610 --> 00:42:53.710 you. He's entrusting you with them. You are going 00:42:53.710 --> 00:42:58.690 to be responsible for an immortal soul. And that's 00:42:58.690 --> 00:43:02.329 the truth. And what you do should be a joyous 00:43:02.329 --> 00:43:05.849 thing with your children. You have the awesome 00:43:05.849 --> 00:43:09.449 responsibility to shepherd this immortal soul. 00:43:09.769 --> 00:43:14.500 This was entrusted to you. What does that say? 00:43:14.659 --> 00:43:18.719 God trusts you. God trusts you to do the right 00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:24.159 thing. Think of it. Using folks such as we are 00:43:24.159 --> 00:43:30.159 in that manner. That's a blessing beyond degree. 00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:35.159 I never had so much fun as I did when we were 00:43:35.159 --> 00:43:41.019 raising our kids. There wasn't any burden. That 00:43:41.019 --> 00:43:43.139 just irritates the stew out of me when people 00:43:43.139 --> 00:43:46.000 talk about what a job and a burden it is to have 00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:50.119 kids. Especially you hear it in commercials this 00:43:50.119 --> 00:43:53.739 time. Oh, school's back in. Yay, I'm getting 00:43:53.739 --> 00:44:03.639 rid of my kids. It's terrible. And then you know, 00:44:03.820 --> 00:44:08.360 and this is the end. I've come to the end. For 00:44:08.360 --> 00:44:11.280 as much as you know that your labor is not in 00:44:11.280 --> 00:44:15.940 vain in the Lord. It's not empty. It's not useless. 00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:19.900 It's going to accomplish what the Lord has meant 00:44:19.900 --> 00:44:22.920 it to accomplish. Does that mean that you're 00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:25.619 always going to see the great result from your 00:44:25.619 --> 00:44:30.000 work? No. The results are not up to us. We don't 00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:33.219 have to worry about the results. We don't have 00:44:33.219 --> 00:44:35.380 to think, boy, I guess I didn't do that good 00:44:35.380 --> 00:44:40.150 enough because nothing happened. No. Whatever 00:44:40.150 --> 00:44:44.949 the result is, is up to God. We don't count numbers. 00:44:45.150 --> 00:44:47.289 In other words, we don't count how many people 00:44:47.289 --> 00:44:54.090 supposedly we saved. That's up to God. What our 00:44:54.090 --> 00:44:57.889 responsibility is to be faithful. And we leave 00:44:57.889 --> 00:45:01.170 the results to God. But we know that everything 00:45:01.170 --> 00:45:05.050 that we do in the Lord, He will make what He 00:45:05.050 --> 00:45:08.400 will make of it. It's never vain. It's never 00:45:08.400 --> 00:45:11.019 empty. It's never useless. It's never wasted 00:45:11.019 --> 00:45:16.659 time. Think about it. Is there anything else 00:45:16.659 --> 00:45:19.599 on this earth that you can say, I can do this 00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:24.940 and I have no worry about wasting my time? That's 00:45:24.940 --> 00:45:29.239 a blessing, folks. It's a blessing to know that 00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:33.099 what we do in the Lord is not in vain. It will. 00:45:33.970 --> 00:45:36.769 Accomplish what God has meant for it to accomplish. 00:45:37.030 --> 00:45:40.170 And whatever it accomplishes, we have glorified 00:45:40.170 --> 00:45:47.090 God in whatever we did. It's a beautiful life 00:45:47.090 --> 00:45:51.809 in Christ. It should be an exciting life. It 00:45:51.809 --> 00:45:56.269 should be a romantic life. It's a life of purpose 00:45:56.269 --> 00:45:59.349 and usefulness and growing in our faith and love 00:45:59.349 --> 00:46:03.679 in the Lord. And we're only getting started in 00:46:03.679 --> 00:46:08.239 this life. We've got the whole next life and 00:46:08.239 --> 00:46:13.199 into eternity to really enjoy God and His Word. 00:46:13.579 --> 00:46:18.440 Then it gets perfect. It's no more imperfectness. 00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:22.099 It's no more sin. It's no more struggle. It's 00:46:22.099 --> 00:46:25.039 no more, I've got to decide. It's all done. It's 00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:30.260 finished. And we serve Him perfectly in the next 00:46:30.260 --> 00:46:32.260 life. Amen.