Girls, for singing for us today. Would you take
your Bible, please, and turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 with me? Today we're going to conclude
in our text this 15th chapter of Corinthians.
Next week we're going to continue with the same
theme, however, though from a different text.
Take a little bit of a break. 1 Corinthians chapter
15, beginning with verse 50, deals with... the
mystery that Paul is going to declare to his
people, his converts. I declare to you, brothers,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all
sleep, but we will all be changed. in a flash,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will
be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the
imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
When the perishable has been clothed with the
imperishable, and the mortal with immortality,
then the saying that is written will come true.
Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where,
O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is
your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God.
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm.
Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord, because you know
that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Let's
pray. Gracious Father, as we come to your word
today, we humble ourselves. We confess that in
our own minds and with our own tongues, we are
incapable of comprehending or explaining this
truth. I pray that today... The Holy Spirit would
be our instructor. In a very wonderful and special
way, our hearts would be open to the word of
God before us. We wait upon you for your teaching.
In Jesus' name, amen. The apostle begins in verse
50 with sort of a summary of what he's been saying
thus far, that flesh and blood... cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. In other words, we in our
natural bodies, these bodies of flesh and blood,
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Because the
kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom and our
bodies are temporal bodies and corruptible. Something,
in other words, has to happen to our bodies.
The Apostle has explained the nature of the resurrection
body in the verses we studied last week. He goes
on to talk about the time when the resurrection
will occur. And then, of course, the question,
what about those that don't die? Will they then
go into the kingdom of God in flesh and blood?
Well, of course, they can't because flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So the
question, what about those who are alive in that
day when the dead will be raised? How will they
then get a new body to inherit the kingdom of
God? And that is his theme here as he talks about
the mystery. This word mystery does not mean
that this is something that is hard to understand
necessarily. The word mysterion here is a Greek
root, is rooted rather in the Greek, which refers
to an ancient idea that there were only a few
who were initiated into and capable... of receiving
the secrets of the pagan gods of ancient Greece.
These secrets could not be communicated to ordinary
mortals. Only a few who were especially initiated
could receive the secrets of the gods. And so
they used that word mysterion, or a root of that,
a form of it, in referring to those elect people.
Now Paul takes that word and applies it... to
some things that God is going to reveal to His
people, to His elect. There are a number of aspects
of the mystery in the New Testament. Generally
speaking, the mystery is the church. And then
there are a number of interrelated facts about
the church that are also called the mystery or
an aspect of the mystery. But the mystery is
something that has not been understood in previous
generations. It was not known. It was not revealed
in the Old Testament. It was revealed through
the pen of the Apostle Paul as the Holy Spirit
inspires him in his writing. Paul is saying here,
I have something I want to give to you that has
not been revealed fully to this point. There
was a hint of it in John chapter 14. But it was
not fully revealed until the time that Paul writes.
And what is that mystery? He says, we will not
all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash,
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.
And so in a very quick sentence, he summarizes
what the mystery is. It is an expectation that
we have as believers. Notice that he says it
is our. mystery or our expectation. He says,
we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.
What he's talking about here is something that
does not relate to the world in general. The
unsaved person cannot enter into this mystery.
It is something for us who have trusted the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have the we explained a little
more in depth in Philippians chapter 3, if you
want to turn over there with me a second. Here
again, the apostle refers to the same future
event, which, by the way, we often call the rapture
of the church, and certainly the word rapture
is not found in the New Testament. It is from
the Latin verb in 1 Thessalonians 4 .17, which
is translated, caught up. From that Latin verb,
we have brought into the English this word rapture
to describe this event. Now in Philippians chapter
3, verse 17, the apostle says, Join with others
in following my example, brothers, and take note
of those who live according to the pattern we
gave you. For as I have often told you before,
and now say again, even with tears, many live
as enemies of the cross of Christ. Of course,
he's referring to the unsaved. He says, their
destiny is destruction. He doesn't mean eternal
annihilation, that they go out of existence,
but eternal ruin, eternal loss, to perish forever
in the flames of the lake of fire. He says their
God is their stomach. In other words, the things
they worship are those things that fulfill their
appetites in their flesh. That's what they live
for. And he says their glory is their shame.
They boast about things of which they should
be ashamed. Isn't that an appropriate summary
of the unsaved world? And he goes on to say their
mind is on earthly things. They have no heavenly
thoughts. To them, this life is all there is.
That's the unsaved. Then in verse 20 he says,
but our citizenship is in heaven. The word citizen
is a term which describes an individual's relation
to the state. I am a citizen of the United States
of America. Why? Well, because I was born here.
I have a relationship that is established. And
the same thought is in this word in the Bible.
I am called a citizen of heaven because I have
a relationship to the God of heaven. I am born
as a member of his family, and therefore I am
a citizen. of heaven. There is a real sense in
which every Christian has a dual citizenship.
The one certainly supersedes the other. And the
Apostle says, and we, that is those who have
this heavenly citizenship, we eagerly await a
Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
by the power that enables Him to bring everything
under His control, will transform our lowly bodies
so that they will be like his glorious body.
The apostle is there referring to the same thing
as he mentions to the Corinthians back here in
the text that we're looking at. So who is to
have this expectation? We, who are citizens of
heaven. Now what are we to expect? Well, he says,
we will not all sleep. Sleep is a metaphor, a
picture. of death. It does not describe what
happens to our souls when death comes. To be
absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. But it is a word that describes what happens
to our body at death. It is laid down in rest
or in repose. What he is saying here is really
we shall not all die before the resurrection
comes. Now, because Paul says we, some have thought
that Paul expected to be alive at the rapture.
And indeed, I think that that may have been his
hope. And yet, by the time he writes in 2 Timothy,
it's clear that he knows he's going to die before
that day comes. You see, even in that day, the
hope of Christ's return was an eminent one. There
was nothing that needed to happen before he should
come back to earth. And so down through the generations,
This rapture of the church, this blessed hope
that is ours as believers, has been an imminent
thing. It could happen at any time, and Paul
includes himself here in that sense. He says
we shall not all sleep or die, but we will all
be changed. We will all be transformed. It means
to make other than we are. The word means to
exchange one thing for another. And the idea
is that we will exchange our present bodies of
flesh and blood for a body that will be fashioned
like Christ's body of glory. All of us will have
that body. Those who have died, as we have seen
in previous verses, will be resurrected in that
body. And we who are alive in that instant will
somehow be changed by the power of God without
going through the process of death and resurrection.
We will be changed by the power of God. It's
difficult for us to understand that, and yet
maybe a caterpillar illustrates this. It probably
illustrates death and resurrection a little better.
But you have there the same insect. All he does
is crawl around on his many, many legs, and he
eats. And then there comes a certain time when
he stops eating and he gets hung up. And he begins
to build around himself this case. And he goes
into a quiet state. And he hides in the darkness.
And there in that darkness, something happens
to him. He changes. And from a lowly caterpillar,
within a few weeks, he emerges as a beautiful
butterfly with a completely different kind of
structure. Before he was limited to crawling.
And suddenly he has wings. Well, not so suddenly,
but within weeks. He has wings with which he
is able to fly and flit about the air. And so
there's a change that takes place over the process
of time. The very same insect, but a change takes
place. He is transformed. And that is the kind
of transformation that's going to take place
with us. Our bodies now are earthbound. They
are heavy. so to speak. Some are heavier than
others, I guess. But they are heavy. They are
weighted down. They are fitted just to be related
to this physical environment in which we live.
But there's a day coming when we will have a
new body, the very same us, but a new body in
which we will be fitted to explore God's universe
and to reign with Christ in His eternal kingdom.
What a great day that's going to be. That is
the mystery that we are to expect. And how is
this going to happen? Well, he says, it's going
to happen in a flash or in a moment. That word
is our word for atom. To the Greeks, it describes
something that could not be divided. When they
wanted to talk about the smallest possible unit
of something, they call it the atomos. It was
the smallest of anything. And so Paul says it
will be the smallest space of time, the smallest
unit of time that's possible in a flash. He further
describes it as the twinkling of an eye. How
you measure that, I don't know, but scientists
have measured it. It says the length of time
that it takes light to travel from the cornea
to the retina. That technically is the twinkling.
of an eye. Now, we can say rather instantly,
I think. In other words, it's not going to be
something that we will observe happening to ourselves,
nor will we be able to look at somebody else
and say, oh, he's changing before my very eyes.
No. In an instant of time, in the smallest division
of time, it will take place suddenly, instantaneously.
Now, when is this to happen? He describes it
as the last trumpet. The trumpet throughout the
Bible is used for a number of purposes. It's
used for calling God's people together. They
didn't have telephones in those days or sirens
or something like that, so they used trumpets
which were blown. These were usually ram's horns
that were hollowed out and fashioned in such
a way that they emitted a tone. And these were
blown, and the people were called together. In
the Exodus, the trumpets were blown for the moving
of the people. There were signals that were transmitted
to this vast number of people by the trumpets.
And then when the people began to observe the
feasts of the Lord, there were some of those
that were initiated by the blowing of trumpets
to indicate that this was a time of gladness.
And I like to put all those together because
I think that that pictures what is meant here
by the blowing of the trumpet. You say, is there
going to be a real trumpet? I have no reason
to think that there won't. For over in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, once again the apostle says it will
be with the sound of the trumpet that we will
be caught up to be with the Lord. I believe that
there will be the literal sound of an instrument
which we will hear and be the signal to call
us together. to this time of gladness when we
will be reunited with those that we've loved
and have gone to be with Christ and will be with
our Lord, and a holy convocation will be called
in the air by the sound of the trumpet. What
does it mean by the last trumpet? There are some
trumpets that sound during the tribulation. In
fact, how many are there in Revelation? There
are seven of them that are heard. As the judgments
are poured out, and there are some people who
identify this last trumpet with the seventh trumpet
that is blown in the tribulation period, thus
making the rapture in the middle time of the
tribulation period, if you take the book of Revelation
in a literal sense. I don't identify it that
way at all. I believe the term here, last trumpet,
refers to the last call of God in this age. It
is the last trumpet for this age. The trumpets
that are blown during the time of Revelation
and the Tribulation are completely different
in their nature than this sound of the trumpet.
This sound of the trumpet is for us who are God's
people to call us home. The sounding of those
trumpets in Revelation is for the pouring out
of God's wrath upon the earth of Christ rejecters.
And so it will be with the... sound of a trumpet
that we will be called out. And why will this
happen? Well, he explains it to us. He says,
when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised
imperishable and we will be changed. And he says,
for, because, the perishable must clothe itself
with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality.
In other words, we cannot enjoy all that God
has purposed for us while we're in our natural
bodies. And so God has arranged for us to get
new bodies someday. There will be an identity.
We'll still be known as ourselves. We'll still
be individuals. We'll have personalities, however
completely sanctified. But we will also have
a new kind, a new form of body like Christ's
glorious body. I don't have a subject in the
Bible that I get... more excited and joyful in
than the subject of the rapture. I love the words
that H .L. Turner wrote in his hymn, Christ Returneth,
especially that verse that says, O joy, O delight,
should we go without dying, no sickness, no sadness,
no dread and no crying, caught up through the
clouds with our Lord into glory when Jesus receives
his own. In one brief sentence here, the apostle
explains to us, our expectation. And then he
begins to shout praise to God himself. He exclaims
to the Lord praise and thanksgiving for the victory
that is ours through Jesus Christ. For although
death may claim our bodies, it cannot hold us
in the grave. There is no way that it can. It
cannot hold us in the grave any more than it
could hold Jesus himself in the grave. In these
following verses, we have in verse 54 the prophecy
of this future time. It says, when the perishable
has been clothed with the imperishable, that's
when the dead are raised, and the mortal with
immortality, that is when the living are changed,
then the saying that is written will come true.
And here he quotes from Isaiah 25, verse 8, and
he says, death has been swallowed up in victory.
thought of being swallowed up means to be completely
vanquished. It means that death will meet its
conqueror. Now already Jesus Christ has proclaimed
victory over death by His own resurrection, but
He has not yet enforced His victory over death.
Death still reigns in the world, but someday
death will meet its conqueror. and death itself
will be swallowed up, as it were. When I see
these terms here, I think of those serpents back
in the court of Pharaoh. You remember that to
show the power of God, Aaron threw down the rod,
and the result was that it became a serpent.
And then the magicians of Pharaoh threw down
their rods, and they too became serpents. Do
you remember that? But what happened? Well, the
rod of Aaron... swallowed up the other rods or
snakes that were on the floor, indicating that
greater, more superior was the power of God than
the power of Satan. And there will be a day when
death, it says, will be swallowed up in victory.
What a great and marvelous day that's going to
be. And when it says this, it doesn't just mean
that death is going to be stopped in its tracks.
It does not just mean that. It means that all
that death has done down through the centuries
will be reversed. Every person that death has
ever claimed will come back out of the grave,
not all at the same time as we have seen before,
but as a result of the resurrection that is to
come, of the church first, and then of the Old
Testament and tribulation saints seven years
later, and then finally a thousand years after
that, of the lost who have died. Ultimately,
every person who has ever died will come back
from the grave, and everything that death has
ever done will be undone. And that's why the
apostle goes on to say in verse 55, as sort of
a taunt of death, where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting? And here he quotes
from Hosea 13, 14, where it refers to the regathering
of Israel as a people. But the apostle takes
this, as the Holy Spirit guides him in doing
it, and applies it generally to all men, that
there is a sense in which all of us have victory
over death because of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. And here, death, who is seen as an enemy,
is taunted because he is unable to keep a hold
of the victims he has claimed down through the
centuries. Do you see death as an enemy? There
are some people that really do not think of death
in those terms because they've never experienced
death firsthand. It's difficult, unless you have
lost someone as close to you, to know that death
is a true enemy, that it's a thief. The words
of Spurgeon, I think, are enlightening. When
he says, the tear of the bereaved, the wail of
the widow, and the moan of the orphan. These
have been death's war music, and he has found
therein a song of victory. The greatest conquerors
have only been death's slaughtermen, journeymen
butchers working in his shambles. War is nothing
better than death holding carnival and devouring
his prey a little more in haste than is his common
want. Death has done the work of an enemy. to
those of us who have as yet escaped his arrows.
Those who have lately stood around a new -made
grave and buried half their hearts can tell you
what an enemy death is. It takes the friend from
our side and the child from our bosom, and neither
does it care for our crying. He has fallen who
was the pillar of the household. She has been
snatched away who was the brightness of the hearth.
The little one is torn out of its mother's bosom,
though its loss almost breaks her heartstrings.
And the blooming youth is taken from his father's
side, though the parent's fondest hopes are thereby
crushed. Death has no pity for the young and
no mercy for the old. He pays no regard to the
good or to the beautiful. His scythe cuts down
the sweet flowers and noxious weeds with equal
readiness. He is your enemy indeed, thou fatherless
child, left for the pitiless storm of a cruel
world to beat upon, with none to shelter. He
is thine enemy, O widow, for the light of thy
life is gone, and the desire of thine eyes has
been removed with a stroke. He is thine enemy,
husband, for thy house is desolate, and thy little
children cry for their mother, of whom death
has robbed thee. He is the enemy of us all. For
what head of a family among us has not had to
say to him, Me thou hast bereaved again and again?
Those are powerful words written for another
century, and yet they communicate to us today
as we think of the great enemy that death is.
And I'm sure that we could go down row after
row here this morning, and there would be many
of us who would share firsthand experiences of
how our hearts have been broken because of death.
But the wonderful news that we have, dear people,
in the passage before us is that everything that
death thinks it has accomplished thus far will
one day be reversed. And that's why the apostle
shouts at death and taunts him as a broken enemy.
O death, where is your victory? O death, where
is your sting? That word sting there refers to
the sting of an insect. or of a scorpion. And
what the apostle suggests is that the stinger
has been removed from death. And of course, that
is the truth. Because the stinger of death was
plunged into Jesus Christ on the cross. And it
stayed there. So the death no longer has a stinger
for those of us who trust and love the Lord Jesus
Christ, who bore our death. and then rose from
the dead as the conqueror of death itself. He
goes on to explain that the sting of death is
sin, and the power of sin is the law. What does
he mean here? Well, it's a concise statement
of the relationship between sin and death and
the law. Death and sin are twins. Death is in
the world because of sin. If it were not for
sin, then death would have no sting. It would
not be able to affect us. And so that's why he
says the sting of death is sin. Because of sin,
we die. And he says the power, the strength of
sin is the law. It's not that the law and sin
are partners, for they're not. The law of God
is good. But the law only aggravates our sinful
condition. It only stimulates the sinful nature
in man. It only reveals sin. It only uncovers
the rebellion and the defiance of man against
God. It provokes sin in man and leads man to
death. But, he says, thanks be to God because
he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not that we earn the victory, notice.
He gives it as a free gift. Romans 6 .23 is a
verse I think that all of us can quote, and let's
try to do that. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God who gives us
the victory, eternal life, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. those of us who trusted the Lord Jesus
Christ, death doesn't have a stinger any longer
because our sins, you see, are forgiven. Sin
has no power over us any longer because the righteous
demands of the law have already been fulfilled
for us by Jesus Christ. By His life, He satisfied
the law. By His death, He paid the price for
our transgressions and our sin. By His resurrection,
He conquered sin and death and the grave. And
that's why the victory is ours through Jesus
Christ our Lord. As one poet put it, He hell
in hell laid low. Made sin, He sin o 'erthrew.
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so. and death
by dying slew. That's what Jesus Christ has done
for us. And that's why the apostle exclaims praise
to God in victory here. I certainly hope today
that's your victory too. He concludes in verse
58 by an exhortation. In the light of all that
he said in this chapter about the resurrection,
he says that there are some things that we should
be doing. He says, therefore, my dear brothers,
and you notice that Paul writes these people
with a heart of compassion and concern. Paul
is not ordering them around as a disgusted, impatient,
or brash parent, but as a loving father who tenderly
cares for his children. As a brother in Christ
who embraces his brothers, he says to them in
love, Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always
give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.
It seems to me that Paul balances beautifully
here commands that affect our attitudes and our
actions. He says first, Stand firm. Be fixed.
Be settled. Be firm. He says, Be unmovable, or
let nothing move you. Don't move away from this.
From what? From true doctrine. Hear the doctrine
of the resurrection. You remember the Corinthians
were tempted to disbelieve in the resurrection,
and that's why he wrote this whole chapter. So
now after going through all of this material,
He says to them, don't be moved away from doctrine
that has been delivered to you. Be fixed and
be settled in it. Folks, that's what we need
today. We need young people, young couples, and
men and women, or grandfathers and grandmothers,
to be fixed and settled in true doctrine. We
live in a day when there is so much wavering.
back and forth, unsettledness. The day when one
person says, well, it means this to me. What
does it mean to you? And the other person says,
well, it means this to me. And there seems to
be so much flexibility and instability in lives.
What is needed is firmness, people who are grounded
in the truth. So when you sit in that Bible class
or that theology class, examine what is being
taught to you. Come to an understanding of the
truth and fix your whole life upon it. When you
sit under a teacher in your small church or your
class, in your growth group, and you come to
understand what the true doctrine is, be fixed
and settled on it and don't move from it. There
are many new doctrines that are creeping out
from somewhere these days, and I think that we
will see much more of it. as we come into the
apostasy of the last days, which must precede
the tribulation. I believe that we will see doctrines
that will cause some of God's people who right
now are firmly grounded to begin to think, well,
I wonder if I'm right. It can almost be deceiving
when someone comes to you and says, well, you
have half of it, but you don't have the whole
thing. You need something more than what you've
got. There are people who are using terms that
we use, and yet by those terms they do not mean
the same thing that we mean, in which we understand
the Bible to teach. And so that's why doctrine
is so important. I'm committed in my own ministry
to preaching doctrine. The Word of God is profitable
for doctrine, reproof for correction, instruction,
and righteousness, and so on. We need to understand
what the Word of God says, and when we understand
what it says, then to fix everything that we
have on it. Let that be the root, the anchor
for our very lives, and not to be moved from
that. The apostle had priests to the churches
in Galatia, and later he writes them a letter,
and he says, you have been bewitched. He said,
I am amazed that you are so quickly and so easily
removed from the doctrine I have committed to
you. I have known friends like that, and I have
been amazed too at how easily they were moved
from the truth of the Word of God into some sideline
teaching, some new thing that has crept up, and
they've gotten caught up in a fad, and they've
jumped on the bus, the bandwagon. They've gone
with the crowd and have left behind the solid
doctrine they've been taught. Now, if you don't
know what the Bible teaches, then you can't very
well fix your hope on it. That's why you have
to learn doctrine, learn theology, not just as
dry, dusty stuff, but as a means to know God
Himself. It's possible to learn all the outlines
a theology teacher will give you and never to
know God. It just becomes a grocery list kind
of thing. Our need is to learn that, but to know
the God that those thoughts and those phrases
and those words describe, to know Him. And the
apostle then goes on to say, always give yourself
fully to the work of the Lord. And here he gets
into the action of the life. You've got our attitude
fixed and firm, unmovable. And then in our actions,
giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
abounding in it, keeping busy profitably for
the Lord. The original language here has the
idea even of overdoing it in the work of the
Lord. If there's any tendency these days, I think
it's the tendency to back off from the work of
the Lord, to say, well, I just can't make that
commitment. And yet God has called us to commitment.
Now we have to keep perspective and balance in
our lives, and yet part of that balance is to
give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
to abound in it. There was a guy named Epaphroditus.
Remember him? In Philippians chapter 2, Paul
writes about some of his co -workers, and I tell
you, right at the top of the list in his heart
is Epaphroditus. He calls him a faithful brother
and a... soldier in Jesus Christ. And then he
says about Epaphroditus that he had given himself
to the work of the Lord, so much so that he was
even physically sick, and yet he would not stop.
I think there's a sense in which Epaphroditus
is a good example to all of us in giving ourselves
fully to the work of the Lord. And why should
we do this? Because we know something. Because
we know that our labor is not in vain. That is,
it's not empty or fruitless. What we are doing
for the Lord, folks, counts for eternity. What
we do for ourselves amounts to hay, wood, and
stubble. And it's not going to make it into eternity.
And that's why we should give ourselves to the
work of the Lord. What we do for Him has eternal
ramifications and reward. It affects eternity.
And so we should give ourselves fully. to His
work. Because the tomb is empty, our works for
Christ are never empty. Because He rose from
the dead and lives victoriously, there is a day
coming when we will stand before Him and we will
bring to Him the works of our lives for examination,
whether they be good or bad. And there we will
be examined at the judgment seat of Christ and
rewarded. And the encouraging word in 2 Corinthians,
as a matter of fact, is that then shall every
man have his due praise of God. There are some
times when we do work for the Lord and no one
ever sees it. You don't get a certificate for
it. Nobody gives you a trophy. There's no applause.
It's all done quietly, almost in the dark. But
there is one who takes note. He doesn't miss
it. And then shall every man have his due praise
of God. Those prayers during the night that no
one knows about but you and God when you wake
up and you can't go back to sleep and you spend
minutes, sometimes even hours in prayer. That
work of kindness in ministering to your neighbor
or to a friend in a time of need. That extra
gift you gave so that somebody else would have
enough to eat or could pay a bill that was pressing
on them. No one else may know about that, but
God knows. And then shall every man have his
due praise of God. There's nothing that we do
for the Lord that he does not take count of.
And someday he will bring the accounts before
him and will settle up. And that's going to be
a great day of joy and victory for us. The judgment
seat of Christ. Now folks, because that day is
coming. We're not talking fairy tales. We're
not talking about fantasy. We're talking about
reality that we shall stand before Christ. Because
that day is coming. And right now, let's give
ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. And
put away the excuses that we use so often for
not giving ourselves to the work of Christ. Too
busy. Don't have enough time. We have enough
time to do other things. Don't have enough money,
but we have enough money for other things. All
the many excuses that we use will mean nothing
in that day. The important thing is that now
we make ourselves busy in the work of the Lord,
and not just being busy for busy's sake, but
investing our lives for the glory of God. Doing
the work not in the energy of the flesh, but
in the energy of the Holy Spirit as God lives
His life through us. May that be our experience
the remainder of this Lord's Day and throughout
this week to come. Let's pray. Father, I pray
that the work of the Lord will be impressed upon
every heart today. Help us to know that that
work is the work of the local church, but not
just that work. That it's the work that we do
in the neighborhood. It's the classes that you've
called us to be in, to study in. It's that office
where we labor 40 hours or more a week. It's
that person we meet at the gas station. It's
that person in the store who waits on us. Help
us to see the work of the Lord as it really is,
that it's a way that we live. And then I pray
that each of us will give ourselves fully to
that work. God, I fear that there are some of
us today who are wasting our lives, living for
ourselves, spinning our wheels, frustrated and
empty. And someday we shall have to give account.
for our lives. I pray that today there will be
a turnaround for some of us right here in this
room. That we'll repent of the way we've been
living selfishly. That we will turn to you and
live for Jesus Christ. I pray that the work that
you've been doing in our hearts in recent days
will now come to fruition, and if there are decisions
that some of us need to make today to settle
the issue, give us the grace and courage to do
it right now, and not to put it off any longer.
In Jesus' name, amen. I'm going to ask you to
take a hymnal and turn to 453 with me as we sing
together. A hymn that rather summarizes what
we've been talking about here in verse 58. All
for Jesus. All for Jesus. All my being's ransomed
powers.