WEBVTT 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:13.939 Girls, for singing for us today. Would you take 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:15.699 your Bible, please, and turn to 1 Corinthians 00:00:15.699 --> 00:00:21.820 chapter 15 with me? Today we're going to conclude 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:25.679 in our text this 15th chapter of Corinthians. 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:28.420 Next week we're going to continue with the same 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:30.980 theme, however, though from a different text. 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:34.340 Take a little bit of a break. 1 Corinthians chapter 00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:38.359 15, beginning with verse 50, deals with... the 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:41.759 mystery that Paul is going to declare to his 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:48.479 people, his converts. I declare to you, brothers, 00:00:48.619 --> 00:00:51.320 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:55.899 of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 00:00:56.780 --> 00:01:01.700 Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:06.319 sleep, but we will all be changed. in a flash, 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:09.299 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. 00:01:10.219 --> 00:01:12.640 For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.640 be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:20.620 For the perishable must clothe itself with the 00:01:20.620 --> 00:01:24.280 imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:29.000 When the perishable has been clothed with the 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.439 imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:34.719 then the saying that is written will come true. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:39.799 Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:43.120 O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:48.540 your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:53.140 power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:56.420 He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus 00:01:56.420 --> 00:02:00.700 Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:04.840 Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:09.080 fully to the work of the Lord, because you know 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:13.340 that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Let's 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:18.500 pray. Gracious Father, as we come to your word 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:22.800 today, we humble ourselves. We confess that in 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.840 our own minds and with our own tongues, we are 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.400 incapable of comprehending or explaining this 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:34.280 truth. I pray that today... The Holy Spirit would 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.080 be our instructor. In a very wonderful and special 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.340 way, our hearts would be open to the word of 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:46.620 God before us. We wait upon you for your teaching. 00:02:46.699 --> 00:02:53.659 In Jesus' name, amen. The apostle begins in verse 00:02:53.659 --> 00:02:56.060 50 with sort of a summary of what he's been saying 00:02:56.060 --> 00:03:00.030 thus far, that flesh and blood... cannot inherit 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:02.629 the kingdom of God. In other words, we in our 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:05.370 natural bodies, these bodies of flesh and blood, 00:03:05.689 --> 00:03:10.569 cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Because the 00:03:10.569 --> 00:03:13.129 kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom and our 00:03:13.129 --> 00:03:17.710 bodies are temporal bodies and corruptible. Something, 00:03:17.729 --> 00:03:19.969 in other words, has to happen to our bodies. 00:03:20.770 --> 00:03:23.710 The Apostle has explained the nature of the resurrection 00:03:23.710 --> 00:03:27.539 body in the verses we studied last week. He goes 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:30.000 on to talk about the time when the resurrection 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.400 will occur. And then, of course, the question, 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:36.560 what about those that don't die? Will they then 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.620 go into the kingdom of God in flesh and blood? 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:41.259 Well, of course, they can't because flesh and 00:03:41.259 --> 00:03:43.439 blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So the 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.500 question, what about those who are alive in that 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:49.819 day when the dead will be raised? How will they 00:03:49.819 --> 00:03:53.180 then get a new body to inherit the kingdom of 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:56.280 God? And that is his theme here as he talks about 00:03:56.280 --> 00:04:01.400 the mystery. This word mystery does not mean 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:05.379 that this is something that is hard to understand 00:04:05.379 --> 00:04:10.120 necessarily. The word mysterion here is a Greek 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:13.099 root, is rooted rather in the Greek, which refers 00:04:13.099 --> 00:04:18.120 to an ancient idea that there were only a few 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:23.220 who were initiated into and capable... of receiving 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:27.060 the secrets of the pagan gods of ancient Greece. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:31.220 These secrets could not be communicated to ordinary 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:35.600 mortals. Only a few who were especially initiated 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.519 could receive the secrets of the gods. And so 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:41.819 they used that word mysterion, or a root of that, 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:45.220 a form of it, in referring to those elect people. 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:49.670 Now Paul takes that word and applies it... to 00:04:49.670 --> 00:04:51.889 some things that God is going to reveal to His 00:04:51.889 --> 00:04:57.170 people, to His elect. There are a number of aspects 00:04:57.170 --> 00:05:00.170 of the mystery in the New Testament. Generally 00:05:00.170 --> 00:05:04.329 speaking, the mystery is the church. And then 00:05:04.329 --> 00:05:06.829 there are a number of interrelated facts about 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:09.209 the church that are also called the mystery or 00:05:09.209 --> 00:05:12.949 an aspect of the mystery. But the mystery is 00:05:12.949 --> 00:05:15.069 something that has not been understood in previous 00:05:15.069 --> 00:05:17.670 generations. It was not known. It was not revealed 00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:20.709 in the Old Testament. It was revealed through 00:05:20.709 --> 00:05:24.430 the pen of the Apostle Paul as the Holy Spirit 00:05:24.430 --> 00:05:28.709 inspires him in his writing. Paul is saying here, 00:05:28.750 --> 00:05:30.689 I have something I want to give to you that has 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:33.589 not been revealed fully to this point. There 00:05:33.589 --> 00:05:38.329 was a hint of it in John chapter 14. But it was 00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:41.050 not fully revealed until the time that Paul writes. 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:45.689 And what is that mystery? He says, we will not 00:05:45.689 --> 00:05:49.709 all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, 00:05:49.910 --> 00:05:53.230 in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:56.829 And so in a very quick sentence, he summarizes 00:05:56.829 --> 00:06:01.610 what the mystery is. It is an expectation that 00:06:01.610 --> 00:06:04.350 we have as believers. Notice that he says it 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:08.329 is our. mystery or our expectation. He says, 00:06:08.410 --> 00:06:11.250 we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:14.050 What he's talking about here is something that 00:06:14.050 --> 00:06:18.089 does not relate to the world in general. The 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:20.970 unsaved person cannot enter into this mystery. 00:06:21.470 --> 00:06:24.290 It is something for us who have trusted the Lord 00:06:24.290 --> 00:06:30.370 Jesus Christ. We have the we explained a little 00:06:30.370 --> 00:06:33.250 more in depth in Philippians chapter 3, if you 00:06:33.250 --> 00:06:36.920 want to turn over there with me a second. Here 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:39.360 again, the apostle refers to the same future 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:44.939 event, which, by the way, we often call the rapture 00:06:44.939 --> 00:06:46.879 of the church, and certainly the word rapture 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:51.220 is not found in the New Testament. It is from 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:57.240 the Latin verb in 1 Thessalonians 4 .17, which 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:01.959 is translated, caught up. From that Latin verb, 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:04.220 we have brought into the English this word rapture 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:07.790 to describe this event. Now in Philippians chapter 00:07:07.790 --> 00:07:13.129 3, verse 17, the apostle says, Join with others 00:07:13.129 --> 00:07:17.850 in following my example, brothers, and take note 00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:20.089 of those who live according to the pattern we 00:07:20.089 --> 00:07:24.670 gave you. For as I have often told you before, 00:07:24.769 --> 00:07:29.290 and now say again, even with tears, many live 00:07:29.290 --> 00:07:33.009 as enemies of the cross of Christ. Of course, 00:07:33.029 --> 00:07:36.579 he's referring to the unsaved. He says, their 00:07:36.579 --> 00:07:40.819 destiny is destruction. He doesn't mean eternal 00:07:40.819 --> 00:07:43.500 annihilation, that they go out of existence, 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:48.319 but eternal ruin, eternal loss, to perish forever 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:52.660 in the flames of the lake of fire. He says their 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:56.040 God is their stomach. In other words, the things 00:07:56.040 --> 00:07:59.300 they worship are those things that fulfill their 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:02.740 appetites in their flesh. That's what they live 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:06.370 for. And he says their glory is their shame. 00:08:06.529 --> 00:08:08.509 They boast about things of which they should 00:08:08.509 --> 00:08:12.209 be ashamed. Isn't that an appropriate summary 00:08:12.209 --> 00:08:17.269 of the unsaved world? And he goes on to say their 00:08:17.269 --> 00:08:21.829 mind is on earthly things. They have no heavenly 00:08:21.829 --> 00:08:24.430 thoughts. To them, this life is all there is. 00:08:25.470 --> 00:08:28.129 That's the unsaved. Then in verse 20 he says, 00:08:28.250 --> 00:08:34.039 but our citizenship is in heaven. The word citizen 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:37.600 is a term which describes an individual's relation 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:43.639 to the state. I am a citizen of the United States 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:46.179 of America. Why? Well, because I was born here. 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:49.799 I have a relationship that is established. And 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:52.279 the same thought is in this word in the Bible. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.720 I am called a citizen of heaven because I have 00:08:55.720 --> 00:08:58.980 a relationship to the God of heaven. I am born 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:01.779 as a member of his family, and therefore I am 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:05.940 a citizen. of heaven. There is a real sense in 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.220 which every Christian has a dual citizenship. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:13.759 The one certainly supersedes the other. And the 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:17.100 Apostle says, and we, that is those who have 00:09:17.100 --> 00:09:21.580 this heavenly citizenship, we eagerly await a 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:26.259 Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:28.720 by the power that enables Him to bring everything 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:33.110 under His control, will transform our lowly bodies 00:09:33.110 --> 00:09:37.009 so that they will be like his glorious body. 00:09:38.029 --> 00:09:40.690 The apostle is there referring to the same thing 00:09:40.690 --> 00:09:43.169 as he mentions to the Corinthians back here in 00:09:43.169 --> 00:09:46.409 the text that we're looking at. So who is to 00:09:46.409 --> 00:09:50.509 have this expectation? We, who are citizens of 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:53.549 heaven. Now what are we to expect? Well, he says, 00:09:53.710 --> 00:09:58.490 we will not all sleep. Sleep is a metaphor, a 00:09:58.490 --> 00:10:02.480 picture. of death. It does not describe what 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:08.019 happens to our souls when death comes. To be 00:10:08.019 --> 00:10:10.220 absent from the body is to be present with the 00:10:10.220 --> 00:10:14.679 Lord. But it is a word that describes what happens 00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:18.360 to our body at death. It is laid down in rest 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:22.879 or in repose. What he is saying here is really 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:26.659 we shall not all die before the resurrection 00:10:26.659 --> 00:10:30.600 comes. Now, because Paul says we, some have thought 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:33.000 that Paul expected to be alive at the rapture. 00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:35.500 And indeed, I think that that may have been his 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:37.759 hope. And yet, by the time he writes in 2 Timothy, 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.740 it's clear that he knows he's going to die before 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:44.240 that day comes. You see, even in that day, the 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.440 hope of Christ's return was an eminent one. There 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:50.580 was nothing that needed to happen before he should 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:53.120 come back to earth. And so down through the generations, 00:10:53.820 --> 00:10:56.500 This rapture of the church, this blessed hope 00:10:56.500 --> 00:10:59.379 that is ours as believers, has been an imminent 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:02.320 thing. It could happen at any time, and Paul 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:05.620 includes himself here in that sense. He says 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:09.139 we shall not all sleep or die, but we will all 00:11:09.139 --> 00:11:13.799 be changed. We will all be transformed. It means 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:18.679 to make other than we are. The word means to 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:21.690 exchange one thing for another. And the idea 00:11:21.690 --> 00:11:24.350 is that we will exchange our present bodies of 00:11:24.350 --> 00:11:27.830 flesh and blood for a body that will be fashioned 00:11:27.830 --> 00:11:32.610 like Christ's body of glory. All of us will have 00:11:32.610 --> 00:11:36.309 that body. Those who have died, as we have seen 00:11:36.309 --> 00:11:38.750 in previous verses, will be resurrected in that 00:11:38.750 --> 00:11:42.570 body. And we who are alive in that instant will 00:11:42.570 --> 00:11:45.669 somehow be changed by the power of God without 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:48.169 going through the process of death and resurrection. 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:55.860 We will be changed by the power of God. It's 00:11:55.860 --> 00:11:57.840 difficult for us to understand that, and yet 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:03.259 maybe a caterpillar illustrates this. It probably 00:12:03.259 --> 00:12:05.559 illustrates death and resurrection a little better. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:10.519 But you have there the same insect. All he does 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:15.240 is crawl around on his many, many legs, and he 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:18.629 eats. And then there comes a certain time when 00:12:18.629 --> 00:12:22.970 he stops eating and he gets hung up. And he begins 00:12:22.970 --> 00:12:26.789 to build around himself this case. And he goes 00:12:26.789 --> 00:12:31.090 into a quiet state. And he hides in the darkness. 00:12:32.309 --> 00:12:34.429 And there in that darkness, something happens 00:12:34.429 --> 00:12:38.509 to him. He changes. And from a lowly caterpillar, 00:12:38.590 --> 00:12:41.490 within a few weeks, he emerges as a beautiful 00:12:41.490 --> 00:12:44.830 butterfly with a completely different kind of 00:12:44.830 --> 00:12:48.039 structure. Before he was limited to crawling. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:51.519 And suddenly he has wings. Well, not so suddenly, 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:54.320 but within weeks. He has wings with which he 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.179 is able to fly and flit about the air. And so 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:00.779 there's a change that takes place over the process 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:05.019 of time. The very same insect, but a change takes 00:13:05.019 --> 00:13:09.759 place. He is transformed. And that is the kind 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.639 of transformation that's going to take place 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:15.259 with us. Our bodies now are earthbound. They 00:13:15.259 --> 00:13:17.789 are heavy. so to speak. Some are heavier than 00:13:17.789 --> 00:13:20.529 others, I guess. But they are heavy. They are 00:13:20.529 --> 00:13:24.490 weighted down. They are fitted just to be related 00:13:24.490 --> 00:13:27.509 to this physical environment in which we live. 00:13:27.809 --> 00:13:30.129 But there's a day coming when we will have a 00:13:30.129 --> 00:13:35.909 new body, the very same us, but a new body in 00:13:35.909 --> 00:13:38.529 which we will be fitted to explore God's universe 00:13:38.529 --> 00:13:41.309 and to reign with Christ in His eternal kingdom. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:44.419 What a great day that's going to be. That is 00:13:44.419 --> 00:13:47.100 the mystery that we are to expect. And how is 00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:48.779 this going to happen? Well, he says, it's going 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:53.059 to happen in a flash or in a moment. That word 00:13:53.059 --> 00:13:57.000 is our word for atom. To the Greeks, it describes 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:00.379 something that could not be divided. When they 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:02.940 wanted to talk about the smallest possible unit 00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:07.690 of something, they call it the atomos. It was 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:10.450 the smallest of anything. And so Paul says it 00:14:10.450 --> 00:14:13.690 will be the smallest space of time, the smallest 00:14:13.690 --> 00:14:18.289 unit of time that's possible in a flash. He further 00:14:18.289 --> 00:14:21.970 describes it as the twinkling of an eye. How 00:14:21.970 --> 00:14:23.850 you measure that, I don't know, but scientists 00:14:23.850 --> 00:14:28.629 have measured it. It says the length of time 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:32.110 that it takes light to travel from the cornea 00:14:32.110 --> 00:14:36.090 to the retina. That technically is the twinkling. 00:14:36.649 --> 00:14:40.330 of an eye. Now, we can say rather instantly, 00:14:40.490 --> 00:14:43.809 I think. In other words, it's not going to be 00:14:43.809 --> 00:14:46.909 something that we will observe happening to ourselves, 00:14:47.169 --> 00:14:49.269 nor will we be able to look at somebody else 00:14:49.269 --> 00:14:53.610 and say, oh, he's changing before my very eyes. 00:14:53.750 --> 00:14:58.570 No. In an instant of time, in the smallest division 00:14:58.570 --> 00:15:03.730 of time, it will take place suddenly, instantaneously. 00:15:05.549 --> 00:15:09.149 Now, when is this to happen? He describes it 00:15:09.149 --> 00:15:14.090 as the last trumpet. The trumpet throughout the 00:15:14.090 --> 00:15:16.330 Bible is used for a number of purposes. It's 00:15:16.330 --> 00:15:19.629 used for calling God's people together. They 00:15:19.629 --> 00:15:22.129 didn't have telephones in those days or sirens 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:24.049 or something like that, so they used trumpets 00:15:24.049 --> 00:15:28.309 which were blown. These were usually ram's horns 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:32.269 that were hollowed out and fashioned in such 00:15:32.269 --> 00:15:35.019 a way that they emitted a tone. And these were 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:38.740 blown, and the people were called together. In 00:15:38.740 --> 00:15:42.000 the Exodus, the trumpets were blown for the moving 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.139 of the people. There were signals that were transmitted 00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:47.639 to this vast number of people by the trumpets. 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:51.580 And then when the people began to observe the 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:53.799 feasts of the Lord, there were some of those 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.940 that were initiated by the blowing of trumpets 00:15:56.940 --> 00:16:00.220 to indicate that this was a time of gladness. 00:16:01.179 --> 00:16:03.120 And I like to put all those together because 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.159 I think that that pictures what is meant here 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:07.559 by the blowing of the trumpet. You say, is there 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.179 going to be a real trumpet? I have no reason 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:13.200 to think that there won't. For over in 1 Thessalonians 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.799 chapter 4, once again the apostle says it will 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:19.320 be with the sound of the trumpet that we will 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:22.039 be caught up to be with the Lord. I believe that 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:24.320 there will be the literal sound of an instrument 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.440 which we will hear and be the signal to call 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:31.029 us together. to this time of gladness when we 00:16:31.029 --> 00:16:34.049 will be reunited with those that we've loved 00:16:34.049 --> 00:16:36.210 and have gone to be with Christ and will be with 00:16:36.210 --> 00:16:40.649 our Lord, and a holy convocation will be called 00:16:40.649 --> 00:16:44.269 in the air by the sound of the trumpet. What 00:16:44.269 --> 00:16:48.129 does it mean by the last trumpet? There are some 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:51.230 trumpets that sound during the tribulation. In 00:16:51.230 --> 00:16:54.929 fact, how many are there in Revelation? There 00:16:54.929 --> 00:16:57.889 are seven of them that are heard. As the judgments 00:16:57.889 --> 00:16:59.490 are poured out, and there are some people who 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:03.409 identify this last trumpet with the seventh trumpet 00:17:03.409 --> 00:17:06.609 that is blown in the tribulation period, thus 00:17:06.609 --> 00:17:08.890 making the rapture in the middle time of the 00:17:08.890 --> 00:17:11.289 tribulation period, if you take the book of Revelation 00:17:11.289 --> 00:17:15.049 in a literal sense. I don't identify it that 00:17:15.049 --> 00:17:17.549 way at all. I believe the term here, last trumpet, 00:17:17.670 --> 00:17:21.950 refers to the last call of God in this age. It 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:25.799 is the last trumpet for this age. The trumpets 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:28.680 that are blown during the time of Revelation 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.460 and the Tribulation are completely different 00:17:31.460 --> 00:17:34.339 in their nature than this sound of the trumpet. 00:17:34.539 --> 00:17:37.160 This sound of the trumpet is for us who are God's 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:39.799 people to call us home. The sounding of those 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.900 trumpets in Revelation is for the pouring out 00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:47.000 of God's wrath upon the earth of Christ rejecters. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.059 And so it will be with the... sound of a trumpet 00:17:52.059 --> 00:17:54.039 that we will be called out. And why will this 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:57.039 happen? Well, he explains it to us. He says, 00:17:57.099 --> 00:17:59.440 when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.859 imperishable and we will be changed. And he says, 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:06.980 for, because, the perishable must clothe itself 00:18:06.980 --> 00:18:10.559 with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.960 In other words, we cannot enjoy all that God 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:17.539 has purposed for us while we're in our natural 00:18:17.539 --> 00:18:21.069 bodies. And so God has arranged for us to get 00:18:21.069 --> 00:18:24.309 new bodies someday. There will be an identity. 00:18:24.309 --> 00:18:27.470 We'll still be known as ourselves. We'll still 00:18:27.470 --> 00:18:31.490 be individuals. We'll have personalities, however 00:18:31.490 --> 00:18:35.069 completely sanctified. But we will also have 00:18:35.069 --> 00:18:39.009 a new kind, a new form of body like Christ's 00:18:39.009 --> 00:18:42.730 glorious body. I don't have a subject in the 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:46.299 Bible that I get... more excited and joyful in 00:18:46.299 --> 00:18:48.500 than the subject of the rapture. I love the words 00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:51.220 that H .L. Turner wrote in his hymn, Christ Returneth, 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:54.880 especially that verse that says, O joy, O delight, 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:00.059 should we go without dying, no sickness, no sadness, 00:19:00.339 --> 00:19:04.079 no dread and no crying, caught up through the 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.539 clouds with our Lord into glory when Jesus receives 00:19:07.539 --> 00:19:11.319 his own. In one brief sentence here, the apostle 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:15.900 explains to us, our expectation. And then he 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:20.680 begins to shout praise to God himself. He exclaims 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:25.279 to the Lord praise and thanksgiving for the victory 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.740 that is ours through Jesus Christ. For although 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:32.180 death may claim our bodies, it cannot hold us 00:19:32.180 --> 00:19:36.440 in the grave. There is no way that it can. It 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:38.460 cannot hold us in the grave any more than it 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:41.299 could hold Jesus himself in the grave. In these 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:44.579 following verses, we have in verse 54 the prophecy 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:49.000 of this future time. It says, when the perishable 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:51.900 has been clothed with the imperishable, that's 00:19:51.900 --> 00:19:54.240 when the dead are raised, and the mortal with 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:56.779 immortality, that is when the living are changed, 00:19:57.099 --> 00:20:00.339 then the saying that is written will come true. 00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:04.380 And here he quotes from Isaiah 25, verse 8, and 00:20:04.380 --> 00:20:08.359 he says, death has been swallowed up in victory. 00:20:10.299 --> 00:20:12.960 thought of being swallowed up means to be completely 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:17.920 vanquished. It means that death will meet its 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:23.880 conqueror. Now already Jesus Christ has proclaimed 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:27.680 victory over death by His own resurrection, but 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.720 He has not yet enforced His victory over death. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:35.700 Death still reigns in the world, but someday 00:20:35.700 --> 00:20:39.019 death will meet its conqueror. and death itself 00:20:39.019 --> 00:20:41.920 will be swallowed up, as it were. When I see 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:44.259 these terms here, I think of those serpents back 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:48.240 in the court of Pharaoh. You remember that to 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.960 show the power of God, Aaron threw down the rod, 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:54.299 and the result was that it became a serpent. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:21:00.279 And then the magicians of Pharaoh threw down 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:02.759 their rods, and they too became serpents. Do 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.660 you remember that? But what happened? Well, the 00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:10.509 rod of Aaron... swallowed up the other rods or 00:21:10.509 --> 00:21:13.470 snakes that were on the floor, indicating that 00:21:13.470 --> 00:21:16.789 greater, more superior was the power of God than 00:21:16.789 --> 00:21:20.670 the power of Satan. And there will be a day when 00:21:20.670 --> 00:21:23.890 death, it says, will be swallowed up in victory. 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:26.549 What a great and marvelous day that's going to 00:21:26.549 --> 00:21:28.670 be. And when it says this, it doesn't just mean 00:21:28.670 --> 00:21:31.170 that death is going to be stopped in its tracks. 00:21:32.369 --> 00:21:35.839 It does not just mean that. It means that all 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:38.980 that death has done down through the centuries 00:21:38.980 --> 00:21:44.140 will be reversed. Every person that death has 00:21:44.140 --> 00:21:47.059 ever claimed will come back out of the grave, 00:21:47.299 --> 00:21:49.980 not all at the same time as we have seen before, 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:53.440 but as a result of the resurrection that is to 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.619 come, of the church first, and then of the Old 00:21:56.619 --> 00:21:58.779 Testament and tribulation saints seven years 00:21:58.779 --> 00:22:01.240 later, and then finally a thousand years after 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:05.549 that, of the lost who have died. Ultimately, 00:22:05.549 --> 00:22:07.910 every person who has ever died will come back 00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:10.490 from the grave, and everything that death has 00:22:10.490 --> 00:22:15.029 ever done will be undone. And that's why the 00:22:15.029 --> 00:22:18.250 apostle goes on to say in verse 55, as sort of 00:22:18.250 --> 00:22:22.230 a taunt of death, where, O death, is your victory? 00:22:22.890 --> 00:22:26.950 Where, O death, is your sting? And here he quotes 00:22:26.950 --> 00:22:31.809 from Hosea 13, 14, where it refers to the regathering 00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:36.589 of Israel as a people. But the apostle takes 00:22:36.589 --> 00:22:39.250 this, as the Holy Spirit guides him in doing 00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:42.069 it, and applies it generally to all men, that 00:22:42.069 --> 00:22:44.970 there is a sense in which all of us have victory 00:22:44.970 --> 00:22:47.529 over death because of the resurrection of Jesus 00:22:47.529 --> 00:22:51.630 Christ. And here, death, who is seen as an enemy, 00:22:51.769 --> 00:22:57.589 is taunted because he is unable to keep a hold 00:22:57.589 --> 00:23:00.369 of the victims he has claimed down through the 00:23:00.369 --> 00:23:06.569 centuries. Do you see death as an enemy? There 00:23:06.569 --> 00:23:08.589 are some people that really do not think of death 00:23:08.589 --> 00:23:10.650 in those terms because they've never experienced 00:23:10.650 --> 00:23:14.630 death firsthand. It's difficult, unless you have 00:23:14.630 --> 00:23:18.789 lost someone as close to you, to know that death 00:23:18.789 --> 00:23:23.789 is a true enemy, that it's a thief. The words 00:23:23.789 --> 00:23:27.589 of Spurgeon, I think, are enlightening. When 00:23:27.589 --> 00:23:30.470 he says, the tear of the bereaved, the wail of 00:23:30.470 --> 00:23:33.779 the widow, and the moan of the orphan. These 00:23:33.779 --> 00:23:37.380 have been death's war music, and he has found 00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:41.220 therein a song of victory. The greatest conquerors 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:44.319 have only been death's slaughtermen, journeymen 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.799 butchers working in his shambles. War is nothing 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.519 better than death holding carnival and devouring 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:56.119 his prey a little more in haste than is his common 00:23:56.119 --> 00:24:00.599 want. Death has done the work of an enemy. to 00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:03.400 those of us who have as yet escaped his arrows. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:06.859 Those who have lately stood around a new -made 00:24:06.859 --> 00:24:10.420 grave and buried half their hearts can tell you 00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:14.039 what an enemy death is. It takes the friend from 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:17.920 our side and the child from our bosom, and neither 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.500 does it care for our crying. He has fallen who 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:25.500 was the pillar of the household. She has been 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:28.160 snatched away who was the brightness of the hearth. 00:24:28.750 --> 00:24:31.750 The little one is torn out of its mother's bosom, 00:24:31.750 --> 00:24:34.630 though its loss almost breaks her heartstrings. 00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:38.210 And the blooming youth is taken from his father's 00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:41.289 side, though the parent's fondest hopes are thereby 00:24:41.289 --> 00:24:45.009 crushed. Death has no pity for the young and 00:24:45.009 --> 00:24:48.829 no mercy for the old. He pays no regard to the 00:24:48.829 --> 00:24:52.069 good or to the beautiful. His scythe cuts down 00:24:52.069 --> 00:24:55.269 the sweet flowers and noxious weeds with equal 00:24:55.269 --> 00:24:59.740 readiness. He is your enemy indeed, thou fatherless 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:02.799 child, left for the pitiless storm of a cruel 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:05.839 world to beat upon, with none to shelter. He 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.980 is thine enemy, O widow, for the light of thy 00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:12.259 life is gone, and the desire of thine eyes has 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:15.180 been removed with a stroke. He is thine enemy, 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:19.059 husband, for thy house is desolate, and thy little 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:21.779 children cry for their mother, of whom death 00:25:21.779 --> 00:25:25.500 has robbed thee. He is the enemy of us all. For 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:28.380 what head of a family among us has not had to 00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:32.140 say to him, Me thou hast bereaved again and again? 00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:36.640 Those are powerful words written for another 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:38.740 century, and yet they communicate to us today 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:41.759 as we think of the great enemy that death is. 00:25:42.660 --> 00:25:44.740 And I'm sure that we could go down row after 00:25:44.740 --> 00:25:46.660 row here this morning, and there would be many 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:50.059 of us who would share firsthand experiences of 00:25:50.059 --> 00:25:53.960 how our hearts have been broken because of death. 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:58.700 But the wonderful news that we have, dear people, 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:02.200 in the passage before us is that everything that 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:04.460 death thinks it has accomplished thus far will 00:26:04.460 --> 00:26:08.299 one day be reversed. And that's why the apostle 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:11.839 shouts at death and taunts him as a broken enemy. 00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:16.220 O death, where is your victory? O death, where 00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:21.759 is your sting? That word sting there refers to 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:27.589 the sting of an insect. or of a scorpion. And 00:26:27.589 --> 00:26:29.789 what the apostle suggests is that the stinger 00:26:29.789 --> 00:26:33.569 has been removed from death. And of course, that 00:26:33.569 --> 00:26:36.670 is the truth. Because the stinger of death was 00:26:36.670 --> 00:26:41.470 plunged into Jesus Christ on the cross. And it 00:26:41.470 --> 00:26:47.170 stayed there. So the death no longer has a stinger 00:26:47.170 --> 00:26:50.890 for those of us who trust and love the Lord Jesus 00:26:50.890 --> 00:26:55.619 Christ, who bore our death. and then rose from 00:26:55.619 --> 00:27:00.779 the dead as the conqueror of death itself. He 00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:03.599 goes on to explain that the sting of death is 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:07.980 sin, and the power of sin is the law. What does 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:10.900 he mean here? Well, it's a concise statement 00:27:10.900 --> 00:27:15.079 of the relationship between sin and death and 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:20.259 the law. Death and sin are twins. Death is in 00:27:20.259 --> 00:27:23.609 the world because of sin. If it were not for 00:27:23.609 --> 00:27:27.690 sin, then death would have no sting. It would 00:27:27.690 --> 00:27:30.069 not be able to affect us. And so that's why he 00:27:30.069 --> 00:27:33.789 says the sting of death is sin. Because of sin, 00:27:33.990 --> 00:27:38.650 we die. And he says the power, the strength of 00:27:38.650 --> 00:27:42.309 sin is the law. It's not that the law and sin 00:27:42.309 --> 00:27:44.490 are partners, for they're not. The law of God 00:27:44.490 --> 00:27:48.970 is good. But the law only aggravates our sinful 00:27:48.970 --> 00:27:53.140 condition. It only stimulates the sinful nature 00:27:53.140 --> 00:27:59.299 in man. It only reveals sin. It only uncovers 00:27:59.299 --> 00:28:02.160 the rebellion and the defiance of man against 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:07.519 God. It provokes sin in man and leads man to 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:13.579 death. But, he says, thanks be to God because 00:28:13.579 --> 00:28:16.200 he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:19.420 Christ. It's not that we earn the victory, notice. 00:28:20.170 --> 00:28:24.890 He gives it as a free gift. Romans 6 .23 is a 00:28:24.890 --> 00:28:27.269 verse I think that all of us can quote, and let's 00:28:27.269 --> 00:28:30.970 try to do that. For the wages of sin is death, 00:28:31.130 --> 00:28:36.349 but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 00:28:36.349 --> 00:28:41.109 Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God who gives us 00:28:41.109 --> 00:28:45.170 the victory, eternal life, through Jesus Christ 00:28:45.170 --> 00:28:49.410 our Lord. those of us who trusted the Lord Jesus 00:28:49.410 --> 00:28:54.650 Christ, death doesn't have a stinger any longer 00:28:54.650 --> 00:28:59.690 because our sins, you see, are forgiven. Sin 00:28:59.690 --> 00:29:03.930 has no power over us any longer because the righteous 00:29:03.930 --> 00:29:06.750 demands of the law have already been fulfilled 00:29:06.750 --> 00:29:11.930 for us by Jesus Christ. By His life, He satisfied 00:29:11.930 --> 00:29:16.069 the law. By His death, He paid the price for 00:29:16.069 --> 00:29:19.490 our transgressions and our sin. By His resurrection, 00:29:19.789 --> 00:29:23.750 He conquered sin and death and the grave. And 00:29:23.750 --> 00:29:27.029 that's why the victory is ours through Jesus 00:29:27.029 --> 00:29:32.910 Christ our Lord. As one poet put it, He hell 00:29:32.910 --> 00:29:38.250 in hell laid low. Made sin, He sin o 'erthrew. 00:29:39.190 --> 00:29:43.349 Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so. and death 00:29:43.349 --> 00:29:48.829 by dying slew. That's what Jesus Christ has done 00:29:48.829 --> 00:29:53.430 for us. And that's why the apostle exclaims praise 00:29:53.430 --> 00:29:56.890 to God in victory here. I certainly hope today 00:29:56.890 --> 00:30:01.509 that's your victory too. He concludes in verse 00:30:01.509 --> 00:30:04.869 58 by an exhortation. In the light of all that 00:30:04.869 --> 00:30:07.230 he said in this chapter about the resurrection, 00:30:07.670 --> 00:30:11.150 he says that there are some things that we should 00:30:11.150 --> 00:30:15.970 be doing. He says, therefore, my dear brothers, 00:30:16.089 --> 00:30:18.109 and you notice that Paul writes these people 00:30:18.109 --> 00:30:23.210 with a heart of compassion and concern. Paul 00:30:23.210 --> 00:30:27.710 is not ordering them around as a disgusted, impatient, 00:30:28.089 --> 00:30:34.089 or brash parent, but as a loving father who tenderly 00:30:34.089 --> 00:30:38.269 cares for his children. As a brother in Christ 00:30:38.269 --> 00:30:41.049 who embraces his brothers, he says to them in 00:30:41.049 --> 00:30:46.779 love, Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always 00:30:46.779 --> 00:30:50.380 give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. 00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:53.839 It seems to me that Paul balances beautifully 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:58.839 here commands that affect our attitudes and our 00:30:58.839 --> 00:31:03.660 actions. He says first, Stand firm. Be fixed. 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:13.910 Be settled. Be firm. He says, Be unmovable, or 00:31:13.910 --> 00:31:20.349 let nothing move you. Don't move away from this. 00:31:20.369 --> 00:31:25.009 From what? From true doctrine. Hear the doctrine 00:31:25.009 --> 00:31:27.769 of the resurrection. You remember the Corinthians 00:31:27.769 --> 00:31:31.390 were tempted to disbelieve in the resurrection, 00:31:31.730 --> 00:31:35.309 and that's why he wrote this whole chapter. So 00:31:35.309 --> 00:31:37.369 now after going through all of this material, 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:41.759 He says to them, don't be moved away from doctrine 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.779 that has been delivered to you. Be fixed and 00:31:45.779 --> 00:31:49.720 be settled in it. Folks, that's what we need 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:54.579 today. We need young people, young couples, and 00:31:54.579 --> 00:31:58.079 men and women, or grandfathers and grandmothers, 00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:03.759 to be fixed and settled in true doctrine. We 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:06.740 live in a day when there is so much wavering. 00:32:07.479 --> 00:32:12.359 back and forth, unsettledness. The day when one 00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:14.480 person says, well, it means this to me. What 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:15.960 does it mean to you? And the other person says, 00:32:15.980 --> 00:32:18.180 well, it means this to me. And there seems to 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:21.920 be so much flexibility and instability in lives. 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:26.880 What is needed is firmness, people who are grounded 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:29.619 in the truth. So when you sit in that Bible class 00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:33.460 or that theology class, examine what is being 00:32:33.460 --> 00:32:36.680 taught to you. Come to an understanding of the 00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:41.400 truth and fix your whole life upon it. When you 00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:43.740 sit under a teacher in your small church or your 00:32:43.740 --> 00:32:47.279 class, in your growth group, and you come to 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:50.779 understand what the true doctrine is, be fixed 00:32:50.779 --> 00:32:55.440 and settled on it and don't move from it. There 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:58.759 are many new doctrines that are creeping out 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:00.980 from somewhere these days, and I think that we 00:33:00.980 --> 00:33:04.069 will see much more of it. as we come into the 00:33:04.069 --> 00:33:07.549 apostasy of the last days, which must precede 00:33:07.549 --> 00:33:13.190 the tribulation. I believe that we will see doctrines 00:33:13.190 --> 00:33:15.349 that will cause some of God's people who right 00:33:15.349 --> 00:33:17.829 now are firmly grounded to begin to think, well, 00:33:17.910 --> 00:33:25.349 I wonder if I'm right. It can almost be deceiving 00:33:25.349 --> 00:33:27.650 when someone comes to you and says, well, you 00:33:27.650 --> 00:33:29.670 have half of it, but you don't have the whole 00:33:29.670 --> 00:33:34.690 thing. You need something more than what you've 00:33:34.690 --> 00:33:41.829 got. There are people who are using terms that 00:33:41.829 --> 00:33:44.309 we use, and yet by those terms they do not mean 00:33:44.309 --> 00:33:46.490 the same thing that we mean, in which we understand 00:33:46.490 --> 00:33:50.029 the Bible to teach. And so that's why doctrine 00:33:50.029 --> 00:33:53.369 is so important. I'm committed in my own ministry 00:33:53.369 --> 00:33:57.670 to preaching doctrine. The Word of God is profitable 00:33:57.670 --> 00:34:00.289 for doctrine, reproof for correction, instruction, 00:34:00.470 --> 00:34:04.509 and righteousness, and so on. We need to understand 00:34:04.509 --> 00:34:07.349 what the Word of God says, and when we understand 00:34:07.349 --> 00:34:09.610 what it says, then to fix everything that we 00:34:09.610 --> 00:34:15.010 have on it. Let that be the root, the anchor 00:34:15.010 --> 00:34:18.690 for our very lives, and not to be moved from 00:34:18.690 --> 00:34:22.250 that. The apostle had priests to the churches 00:34:22.250 --> 00:34:24.190 in Galatia, and later he writes them a letter, 00:34:24.269 --> 00:34:29.769 and he says, you have been bewitched. He said, 00:34:29.789 --> 00:34:32.590 I am amazed that you are so quickly and so easily 00:34:32.590 --> 00:34:35.170 removed from the doctrine I have committed to 00:34:35.170 --> 00:34:41.489 you. I have known friends like that, and I have 00:34:41.489 --> 00:34:45.250 been amazed too at how easily they were moved 00:34:45.250 --> 00:34:48.010 from the truth of the Word of God into some sideline 00:34:48.010 --> 00:34:51.869 teaching, some new thing that has crept up, and 00:34:51.869 --> 00:34:54.670 they've gotten caught up in a fad, and they've 00:34:54.670 --> 00:34:58.010 jumped on the bus, the bandwagon. They've gone 00:34:58.010 --> 00:35:01.710 with the crowd and have left behind the solid 00:35:01.710 --> 00:35:05.210 doctrine they've been taught. Now, if you don't 00:35:05.210 --> 00:35:06.969 know what the Bible teaches, then you can't very 00:35:06.969 --> 00:35:09.630 well fix your hope on it. That's why you have 00:35:09.630 --> 00:35:13.110 to learn doctrine, learn theology, not just as 00:35:13.110 --> 00:35:16.849 dry, dusty stuff, but as a means to know God 00:35:16.849 --> 00:35:20.250 Himself. It's possible to learn all the outlines 00:35:20.250 --> 00:35:22.449 a theology teacher will give you and never to 00:35:22.449 --> 00:35:26.619 know God. It just becomes a grocery list kind 00:35:26.619 --> 00:35:31.480 of thing. Our need is to learn that, but to know 00:35:31.480 --> 00:35:35.099 the God that those thoughts and those phrases 00:35:35.099 --> 00:35:39.400 and those words describe, to know Him. And the 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:43.219 apostle then goes on to say, always give yourself 00:35:43.219 --> 00:35:45.719 fully to the work of the Lord. And here he gets 00:35:45.719 --> 00:35:48.900 into the action of the life. You've got our attitude 00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:54.920 fixed and firm, unmovable. And then in our actions, 00:35:54.980 --> 00:35:58.719 giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:03.179 abounding in it, keeping busy profitably for 00:36:03.179 --> 00:36:07.280 the Lord. The original language here has the 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:10.440 idea even of overdoing it in the work of the 00:36:10.440 --> 00:36:14.460 Lord. If there's any tendency these days, I think 00:36:14.460 --> 00:36:16.440 it's the tendency to back off from the work of 00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:19.260 the Lord, to say, well, I just can't make that 00:36:19.260 --> 00:36:22.929 commitment. And yet God has called us to commitment. 00:36:23.789 --> 00:36:26.150 Now we have to keep perspective and balance in 00:36:26.150 --> 00:36:29.590 our lives, and yet part of that balance is to 00:36:29.590 --> 00:36:31.869 give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, 00:36:31.989 --> 00:36:36.449 to abound in it. There was a guy named Epaphroditus. 00:36:36.510 --> 00:36:39.869 Remember him? In Philippians chapter 2, Paul 00:36:39.869 --> 00:36:42.889 writes about some of his co -workers, and I tell 00:36:42.889 --> 00:36:44.530 you, right at the top of the list in his heart 00:36:44.530 --> 00:36:48.210 is Epaphroditus. He calls him a faithful brother 00:36:48.210 --> 00:36:52.369 and a... soldier in Jesus Christ. And then he 00:36:52.369 --> 00:36:55.530 says about Epaphroditus that he had given himself 00:36:55.530 --> 00:36:58.409 to the work of the Lord, so much so that he was 00:36:58.409 --> 00:37:02.269 even physically sick, and yet he would not stop. 00:37:03.690 --> 00:37:05.849 I think there's a sense in which Epaphroditus 00:37:05.849 --> 00:37:08.630 is a good example to all of us in giving ourselves 00:37:08.630 --> 00:37:11.349 fully to the work of the Lord. And why should 00:37:11.349 --> 00:37:14.949 we do this? Because we know something. Because 00:37:14.949 --> 00:37:20.960 we know that our labor is not in vain. That is, 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:24.579 it's not empty or fruitless. What we are doing 00:37:24.579 --> 00:37:29.960 for the Lord, folks, counts for eternity. What 00:37:29.960 --> 00:37:33.539 we do for ourselves amounts to hay, wood, and 00:37:33.539 --> 00:37:36.739 stubble. And it's not going to make it into eternity. 00:37:37.860 --> 00:37:40.099 And that's why we should give ourselves to the 00:37:40.099 --> 00:37:42.420 work of the Lord. What we do for Him has eternal 00:37:42.420 --> 00:37:46.300 ramifications and reward. It affects eternity. 00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:50.760 And so we should give ourselves fully. to His 00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:54.840 work. Because the tomb is empty, our works for 00:37:54.840 --> 00:37:58.579 Christ are never empty. Because He rose from 00:37:58.579 --> 00:38:00.920 the dead and lives victoriously, there is a day 00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:03.900 coming when we will stand before Him and we will 00:38:03.900 --> 00:38:06.719 bring to Him the works of our lives for examination, 00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:11.739 whether they be good or bad. And there we will 00:38:11.739 --> 00:38:15.019 be examined at the judgment seat of Christ and 00:38:15.019 --> 00:38:19.119 rewarded. And the encouraging word in 2 Corinthians, 00:38:19.320 --> 00:38:22.179 as a matter of fact, is that then shall every 00:38:22.179 --> 00:38:28.079 man have his due praise of God. There are some 00:38:28.079 --> 00:38:29.840 times when we do work for the Lord and no one 00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:32.219 ever sees it. You don't get a certificate for 00:38:32.219 --> 00:38:35.059 it. Nobody gives you a trophy. There's no applause. 00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:39.780 It's all done quietly, almost in the dark. But 00:38:39.780 --> 00:38:42.980 there is one who takes note. He doesn't miss 00:38:42.980 --> 00:38:46.940 it. And then shall every man have his due praise 00:38:46.940 --> 00:38:51.400 of God. Those prayers during the night that no 00:38:51.400 --> 00:38:53.219 one knows about but you and God when you wake 00:38:53.219 --> 00:38:55.500 up and you can't go back to sleep and you spend 00:38:55.500 --> 00:38:59.400 minutes, sometimes even hours in prayer. That 00:38:59.400 --> 00:39:03.139 work of kindness in ministering to your neighbor 00:39:03.139 --> 00:39:05.559 or to a friend in a time of need. That extra 00:39:05.559 --> 00:39:07.900 gift you gave so that somebody else would have 00:39:07.900 --> 00:39:11.159 enough to eat or could pay a bill that was pressing 00:39:11.159 --> 00:39:13.730 on them. No one else may know about that, but 00:39:13.730 --> 00:39:16.409 God knows. And then shall every man have his 00:39:16.409 --> 00:39:19.269 due praise of God. There's nothing that we do 00:39:19.269 --> 00:39:21.230 for the Lord that he does not take count of. 00:39:23.670 --> 00:39:26.650 And someday he will bring the accounts before 00:39:26.650 --> 00:39:30.110 him and will settle up. And that's going to be 00:39:30.110 --> 00:39:33.190 a great day of joy and victory for us. The judgment 00:39:33.190 --> 00:39:36.250 seat of Christ. Now folks, because that day is 00:39:36.250 --> 00:39:39.829 coming. We're not talking fairy tales. We're 00:39:39.829 --> 00:39:41.909 not talking about fantasy. We're talking about 00:39:41.909 --> 00:39:44.690 reality that we shall stand before Christ. Because 00:39:44.690 --> 00:39:48.690 that day is coming. And right now, let's give 00:39:48.690 --> 00:39:51.409 ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. And 00:39:51.409 --> 00:39:54.670 put away the excuses that we use so often for 00:39:54.670 --> 00:39:56.929 not giving ourselves to the work of Christ. Too 00:39:56.929 --> 00:40:02.289 busy. Don't have enough time. We have enough 00:40:02.289 --> 00:40:06.849 time to do other things. Don't have enough money, 00:40:06.869 --> 00:40:10.699 but we have enough money for other things. All 00:40:10.699 --> 00:40:12.800 the many excuses that we use will mean nothing 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:15.820 in that day. The important thing is that now 00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:18.239 we make ourselves busy in the work of the Lord, 00:40:18.340 --> 00:40:21.599 and not just being busy for busy's sake, but 00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:26.559 investing our lives for the glory of God. Doing 00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:28.639 the work not in the energy of the flesh, but 00:40:28.639 --> 00:40:31.219 in the energy of the Holy Spirit as God lives 00:40:31.219 --> 00:40:34.679 His life through us. May that be our experience 00:40:34.679 --> 00:40:36.440 the remainder of this Lord's Day and throughout 00:40:36.440 --> 00:40:46.070 this week to come. Let's pray. Father, I pray 00:40:46.070 --> 00:40:49.250 that the work of the Lord will be impressed upon 00:40:49.250 --> 00:40:52.769 every heart today. Help us to know that that 00:40:52.769 --> 00:40:55.210 work is the work of the local church, but not 00:40:55.210 --> 00:40:58.150 just that work. That it's the work that we do 00:40:58.150 --> 00:41:01.530 in the neighborhood. It's the classes that you've 00:41:01.530 --> 00:41:05.610 called us to be in, to study in. It's that office 00:41:05.610 --> 00:41:09.730 where we labor 40 hours or more a week. It's 00:41:09.730 --> 00:41:13.889 that person we meet at the gas station. It's 00:41:13.889 --> 00:41:17.969 that person in the store who waits on us. Help 00:41:17.969 --> 00:41:20.110 us to see the work of the Lord as it really is, 00:41:20.269 --> 00:41:24.210 that it's a way that we live. And then I pray 00:41:24.210 --> 00:41:26.329 that each of us will give ourselves fully to 00:41:26.329 --> 00:41:30.829 that work. God, I fear that there are some of 00:41:30.829 --> 00:41:35.050 us today who are wasting our lives, living for 00:41:35.050 --> 00:41:38.190 ourselves, spinning our wheels, frustrated and 00:41:38.190 --> 00:41:42.090 empty. And someday we shall have to give account. 00:41:42.570 --> 00:41:47.230 for our lives. I pray that today there will be 00:41:47.230 --> 00:41:49.150 a turnaround for some of us right here in this 00:41:49.150 --> 00:41:52.989 room. That we'll repent of the way we've been 00:41:52.989 --> 00:42:01.269 living selfishly. That we will turn to you and 00:42:01.269 --> 00:42:07.949 live for Jesus Christ. I pray that the work that 00:42:07.949 --> 00:42:10.010 you've been doing in our hearts in recent days 00:42:12.429 --> 00:42:15.090 will now come to fruition, and if there are decisions 00:42:15.090 --> 00:42:17.489 that some of us need to make today to settle 00:42:17.489 --> 00:42:21.570 the issue, give us the grace and courage to do 00:42:21.570 --> 00:42:24.190 it right now, and not to put it off any longer. 00:42:25.349 --> 00:42:33.349 In Jesus' name, amen. I'm going to ask you to 00:42:33.349 --> 00:42:37.889 take a hymnal and turn to 453 with me as we sing 00:42:37.889 --> 00:42:42.219 together. A hymn that rather summarizes what 00:42:42.219 --> 00:42:46.059 we've been talking about here in verse 58. All 00:42:46.059 --> 00:42:53.840 for Jesus. All for Jesus. All my being's ransomed 00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:54.619 powers.