Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Inglewood
Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.
Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast.
You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word
about important issues facing your life that can guide you
according to the Bible. So thank you for joining this
session. For those listening online,
thank you so much. This is actually session 3 of
the Heaven, Hell and the Hereafter series.
If you haven't listened to the first two sessions, I encourage
you to go back. We talked about the eternality
of God. How do we wrap our brains around
this concept of eternal, which is hard for our human brains?
And then secondly, last session we talked about some false paths
to eternity, A lot of isms that are out there that do not lead
you to where the Bible would want you to go.
Tonight we're going to talk about an interesting subject.
And it's, it's not without some controversy and some differing
opinion and differing interpretations.
So you may not agree with everything I'm going to say
tonight. That's OK Probably, maybe, could
be, might not be, you might be a heretic, but we'll see.
Some of these are secondary and tertiary doctrinal issues, but
there are some key pieces that you better believe, and so we'll
walk through all that together. You should have a handout for
that, or you can download one online.
The one thing that is certain that we know is that death is
certain. The latest statistic I could
find, and it changes often, probably daily, is that about
120 million people die. Excuse me, 120 people die every
minute. 60 million people die every year in the world.
So every single minute that goes by, that's another 120 people or
more. There's a countdown clock that
you'll find in the missions hall that will off talk about the
lostness of the world. And when you think about that, a
lot of those 120 people who just died in the last minute when I
was kidding about Woodstock, many of them did not know Jesus.
And so we have a job to do, and it's an urgent job.
It's a timed job. And time is running out for
another 120 and another 120 and another 120.
But all of us at some point are going to face this.
Ben Franklin is the guy who gets credit by saying that.
Yeah. And nothing can be certain
except death and taxes. And, and so we recognize that
this is a reality. And so we we want to face this.
And of course, as believers, we face this with a very different
perspective than what a non believer might face it.
A job in Job 1414 asks if a man dies, shall he live again?
And and that's part of what we want to talk about.
Hebrews 927 is a verse that we've already used in this
series, but it's as just as it it is appointed for man to die
once, and after that comes judgement.
And so there there are a lot of questions, stories, opinions,
interpretations about death and what happens after death.
The world obviously has a pluralistic opinion about it
all. We talked about that in the last
session. But from a biblical perspective,
human beings are made-up of two parts.
And this is really important to remember.
In fact, it's vital to understand this because this is
part of how part of the way we deal with eternity.
We have both a material part, that's the physical part that's
decaying. It's a part of a fallen
creation. And, and you know, if those of
you who have not gotten older yet is coming for you and, and
it will finally catch up to you. It's in, it is, it is
inevitable, and so we live in a fallen decay in creation, and
our material body is a part of that.
And so it's a material part. But then there's an immaterial
part of us. And I'm going to use the word
spirit and soul interchangeably for this session.
There are various teachings that might try to differentiate
between the spirit and soul, and down the road, if we need to get
into that, we can for this session.
It would be fine for us to put those two pieces together.
So the immaterial part of us, which is often not recognized by
the secular world, to be honest with you, although even in many
secular belief systems, the idea of a spiritual nature is there.
It may just be a form of energy to some, and but we recognize
that there is that part of us that's very real.
So when a human being physically dies, his or her immaterial part
departs from the material part. So there's a separation that
occurs. In fact, the New Testament Greek
word for death literally means separation.
And so it points this out very clearly, that you are separated
at that point. And at the moment of death, then
man's spirit or soul separates from the body.
And you see this happening in Scripture.
You'll see people talk about this in Acts Chapter 7.
Stephen prayed, Lord, Lord Jesus receive my spirit on the cross.
In Luke chapter 23, while Jesus is on the cross, he prays Father
into your hands. I commit my spirit.
He's not committing his physical body.
His physical body did not leave at that point.
They took it off the cross, put it in a tomb for a couple of
days, and we're going to talk about that in a minute.
But so the body goes to the grave and will decay normally,
except in the case of of Christ, which is absolutely unique.
But for all the rest of us, the body will decay, but the Spirit
lives on. But here's a key.
This is a temporary state. And this is where the varying
opinions start to form. Various interpretations of
Scripture will start coming into play.
So when we die and we're separated body from Spirit,
there's a temporary state of things.
And then there'll be a brand new resurrected reunion later, which
we'll talk about in a moment. So let's talk about this because
not everybody thinks through this or has thought of this.
And so some people wrongly assume that immediately upon the
moment of death that you're going to receive your
resurrected body. And that's not really what the
Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that comes
later and so that sometimes throws people.
That's not the view of Scripture there.
There is an in between state, a state of existence.
But it's really important that you listen carefully to this, a
state of existence in between the time our mortal bodies die
and the time we receive our resurrected bodies in the
future. But but this is never presented
as soul sleep, that that doctrine doesn't exist in
Scripture. This is a very conscious state.
You're very much alive. You're very much aware.
It's hard for us sometimes because we're so attached to
this. We think this is who we are, and
this is not who you are. This is but a body or shell of
clay that will return to the dust.
And so who you really are lives on.
You'll be more alive as a believer.
Let me just talk about believers for a minute.
In your spiritual state with Christ, with God, in a very real
conscious way. So sleep is often a
misinterpretation of some English translations.
They draw a doctrine from it. And I'll talk about that a two
or three times because there's some folks in our church who are
dealing with some people who believe in soul sleep and we've
been having a conversation about that.
There's a specific group of people who might come knocking
on your door or others who believe in soul sleep.
And so because the word sleep is often translated from in from
the Greek into English that way, it's actually a word for death.
And this leads to the confusion. But contextually, it's very
clear that it's referring to dying and not some some state of
sleep or suspended animation or unawareness.
So we're just going to throw so sleep out the window.
That's not what we're going to talk about tonight.
So for the believer, death involves his or her spirit
departing from the physical body and immediately going into the
presence of the Lord. So apart are absent from the
body and present with the Lord, which we'll use that verse again
later and we'll talk more about that in a minute.
Now some people disagree with what I just said and then one of
the reasons they disagree is because time and eternity is so
different. And so even though in our
timeline that we're working on, I die sometime second coming
doesn't happen till later and we know we're going to get a
resurrected body at that point. But from my perspective, in
heaven, time doesn't exist. So it all seems to happen all at
once. And I've heard that idea and,
and maybe that's true. The problem is there's just
nowhere in scripture that would say that.
And so I can't necessarily say that that's the truth.
And there is some evidence for something else, and I'll show
you that. So absent from the body present
with the Lord Ecclesiastes. Solomon put it this way in
Ecclesiastes 12/7. And the dust returns to the
earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
So often at funerals you're you'll hear kind of the, the
dust to dust, ashes to ashes kind of concept.
It's one of those verses that would point to that kind of
thing. In a similar way, then the for
the unbeliever, all right now we're talking about the person
who doesn't trust in Christ. So for the unbeliever, at the
moment of death, the immaterial, the the soul or the spirit also
departs from the material body and immediately goes to a place
of suffering again with complete conscious awareness.
But they are also not in their permanent state yet.
There's a, there's a different place that many would hold to.
So we're going to take a look at this and see where we land.
I want us to look at four different really time periods, 4
different phases of time, 4 different time periods.
That'll help us kind of see the different, what happened to Old
Testament people, what happens to New Testament people, what
happens to us today, those kinds of ideas.
So first we're going to look at in the beginning, before sin
with Adam and Eve, and then what happened in the Old Testament
after the fall, after sin, after Genesis 3, all the way through
the Gospels, but before the cross and the resurrection.
What happened to those people when they died then in the New
Testament, after the cross and before and after the
resurrection. And that's their own purpose
that way, because we got three days to talk about that.
We'll have to talk about specifically what was Jesus
doing during those three days. That's a a matter of a lot of
interpretation and, and, and various opinions.
And then we're going to look at the in eternity in the final
state of things. OK, everybody with me.
All right, so let's break this down.
S 1st in the beginning, before sin with Adam and Eve.
Now you've got to recognize that in the beginning they they had
not sinned. They were in a sinless place at
that point until they've made a wrong choice.
And so they would have lived forever in paradise in the
presence of God. And when you read the book of
Genesis, you'll see that one of the issues of judgement that
needed to come as they needed to separate them them from the tree
of life. So they wouldn't live forever in
the in the state they were in after they sinned.
God actually was redeeming them by kicking them out.
And sometimes it might seem harsh, but He was actually being
gracious by doing that. And so God told them in Genesis
217 that if they disobeyed, they would surely die.
And they did, and they would. God always keeps His promises.
And so sin, you got to think about this.
The wages of sin is what death. And so we recognize that death
is a price that gets paid because of sin.
And so that happens. Romans 512 actually clarifies
this. Therefore, just as sin came into
the world through one man and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men because all sinned, so because of our sinful
nature, because we all sin. And by the way, in the Romans
series this coming Sunday morning, we're going to talk a
lot about this and how we all sin.
Because of that, we're all now facing the wage.
We're all facing the price. There's a price to be paid
because we're all sinners. And so death is part of that
wage. So in the beginning, it was
different for that brief moment of time.
You had a couple of chapters in there.
That's about as long as humanity could wait before, before,
before sin stepped in. Then the second phase, and this
is a little more complicated in the Old Testament after Genesis
chapter 3, all the way through the Gospels, but before the
cross and the resurrection, especially before the
resurrection. Alright, so there's a
distinction that's going to be made between the righteous and
the wicked throughout these passages.
Malachi chapter 3, verse 18 says this.
Then once more you shall see the distinction between the
righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and
one who does not serve him. So there's going to be a
distinct judgment that we see take place here.
The just are going to live by faith.
That's Habakkuk 24. In fact, you've got to recognize
the role of faith in Old Testament salvation and often we
don't do that. We get hung up on the law, we
get hung up on the Tabernacle, on the temple, and we see that
as the only way to redemption and salvation.
But you need to read Hebrews 11 sometime for by faith, this is
how they in fact, Genesis 15-6 says Abraham believed he faith
in God. And so faith is still a way that
we approach God. And in fact it says, and he
believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.
And so we're still in a faith-based system because of
grace. Ephesians 289 has always been
true. It it just Christ Jesus and and
our knowledge of him came later, but we're still seeing salvation
happen this way. So.
So you have to believe in what you're doing, even in the law,
even in your sacrifices along the way.
There's a faith to the animal sacrifice of the Tabernacle or
temple. Anyway, now there's several
opinions about what comes next. You have words like Sheol and
Hades. Now sometimes these get used
interchangeably. So literally, linguistically,
sheol is a Hebrew word and it's the general abode of the dead.
It's the place of the dead. The dead go to Sheol.
Hades is Greek, and in the New New Testament it's always used
for a place for the wicked, which is always kind of
interesting, even though there's going to be different people who
don't use it that way. It gets quite confusing
sometimes when you're reading some, including the rabbis.
Jewish rabbis would say that Hades contains 2 compartments,
and this is a fairly common interpretation and belief that
that the place of the dead in the Old Testament times had two
different sections. And there's a couple reasons why
they believe this. Scripturally 1 is paradise with
us? Use the word paradise or another
word, for it is the bosom of Abraham.
That phrase is only used one time in the Bible.
You have the Abraham's bosom or paradise, and then the other
place is a place of conscious agony and usually it's just
going to be called Hades or Sheol and it's a place of
torment, right? Other interpreters are simply
seeing this as heaven and hell. They don't see this in the same
way. So recognize that there's some
secondary and tertiary interpretations.
The primary points are that believers are going to be
present with the Lord. Unbelievers are not.
That's primary. The in between state, especially
during the Old Testament, really doesn't affect you.
Does it? Say no, you're not alive then.
OK, so this is an interesting conversation and an interesting
study, but it really doesn't have impact on your life today,
right? So don't let this become a
primary issue for you. All right?
Everybody say Amen. We're going to get primary
issues in a minute for today, I promise.
But for those who believe in this, a primary New Testament
story is the rich man and Lazarus.
And so I'm going to read this to you.
I think it's worth it. And so you got to remember, and
I'm not saying that's what this is because it doesn't say that,
but in the context of Luke chapter 16, Jesus is teaching in
parables. So is Jesus simply sharing a
parable or is he actually sharing the reality?
Was there really a person named Lazarus?
Was there really a a rich man or not?
Or is this simply a parable? OK, that doesn't change the
principles that were to learn from it.
But but and and and he doesn't call it a parable.
He he few verses before he it's very clear it's a parable.
He gets to this story doesn't say that, but he's been parable
parabolizing this whole time. So we're not sure.
So here's verse 19. I do think there's some true
principles that we learn from this, and I, I believe in these
principles strongly. There was a rich man who was
clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously
every day. There is a word you ought to
work into your conversation tomorrow sumptuously.
If it rains later tonight, we'll refer to some sumptuous
nourishing of the earth. Right, All right.
And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with
sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich
man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and
licked his sores. The poor man died and was
carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
Here we get this idea of the bosom of Abraham.
Right, a different translation. The rich man also died and was
buried and in Hades being in torment, he lifted up his eyes
and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and
send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my
tongue, for I'm in anguish in this flame.
But Abraham said, child, remember that you and your
lifetime received your good things and Lazarus and like
manner bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in
anguish. And besides all this, between US
and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who
would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross
from there to us. And he said, then I beg you,
Father, to send him to my Father's house, for I have 5
brothers, so that he may warn them lest they also come into
this place of torment. And of course Jesus goes on to
say, basically, if they're not going to pay attention to
scripture and prophets, why would they listen to them?
And so we see this image in this context, but we do see a couple
of things that are really true and seem to be evident, whether
this is an in between state, whether this is heaven or hell,
even though the word Hades is clearly used.
And at this point in time, remember we're pre cross, pre
resurrection. But to think about the idea of
here are a couple of truths, and this gets borne out in other
stories that I promise I'll point out to you later.
Here are a couple of things that I believe are absolutely true.
After we die, there is conscious awareness.
We are very much there. We are very much aware.
We're not in some weird other state.
We know where we are and we are aware that we are there.
The other thing is, is that if you notice, we do not lose
recognizable identity. And this is significant to me,
the fact that they are known. Lazarus is still Lazarus.
Abraham is still Abraham. The rich man is still rich man.
And that's going to be borne out in other passages.
I'll show you later. So I really do believe this is
an obvious truth. We will know each other after
death. We will know who we are.
And we we're going to talk about our resurrected bodies here in a
little bit. So we may not, we're not going
to look exactly the same way. We're going to look better.
Hey, thank you very much. Thank you very much.
But but we're going to know each other and that and that and
again, you got to and you got to come back to this truth.
Who we really are is not this. See, that's not who we are.
And so we're going to, we're going to have a recognizable
identity with who we really are, which is going to be wonderful.
All right. Now, I promise we're not leaving
some of these principles behind. I'm going to come back, I'm
going to circle a little bit later on, but let me just move
on in the timeline just for a couple of minutes.
So the third phase that we would want to take a look at is during
the New Testament, after the cross and before and after the
resurrection. This is where some real
interesting interpretations and differences of opinion come into
play. I actually think this is pretty
cool conversation. Cool.
That's a Hebrew word for sumptuous.
The penalty of sin is paid in full, right?
Jesus pays for us on the cross. God's wrath is justified.
We're going to talk more about that in our Roman study.
John 1930 says when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said
to tell us die. We translated as it is finished.
A better translation would have been the debt is paid
completely, thoroughly, fully. Nope, no more is owed because
that's what the word really means.
And he bowed his head and gave up his what spirit?
Once again we see the separation of the material from the
immaterial, right? Romans 325, whom God put forward
as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.
This was to show God's righteousness because in His
divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.
So Jesus declares victory over sin and his death.
This becomes important because in His death he's actually
victorious over the wage of sin, right?
And thus we're going to see the resurrection in a couple of
days. Death can't hold him.
Jesus is beyond death. Jesus has defeated the wage.
He's paid the price. We can't do that, but he could.
Then there are varying interpretations about what
happened next before the what was Jesus up to for three days?
That's a matter of a lot of discussion and you some of these
will be the well, this is some of you know, oh, this is exactly
what he was doing. And others will say, I've never
heard that in my life. So let's dive into a couple
passages. First, Peter 3 is a common one
for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the
unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in
the flesh. So he's died on the cross,
tracking with me, but made alive in the spirit in which he went,
and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.
Who, where? Why Ephesians chapter 4.
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure
of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when He
ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts
to men. In saying He ascended, what does
it mean but that He also He had also descended into the lower
regions, the earth. He who descended is the one who
also ascended, far above all the heavens, that he might fill all
things. So either Jesus descended into
the earth, into Sheol, into Hades the grave.
I'm going to put all those pieces, all those three together
for this right now and preach victory to those who rebelled.
Some would say this. There are other passages that
suggest this, that he preaches to the fallen angels, He
preaches to the wicked, and then he leads the righteous from
Abraham's bosom out with him. So Paradise is now relocated
into the presence of God and no longer a compartment of Hades.
How many of you have ever heard that before?
Some of you thank you very much. How many of you have never heard
that before? Thank you very much.
Or these verses simply represent His general work of salvation
for those of us who are buried in sin, who are now free and LED
out by His grace. And you'll have scholars on both
sides of that puzzle. What did He really do?
The problem with the second view is, what do you do with these
verses? And so there's some interesting
things to think about. Remember what He said to the
thief on the cross next to him in Luke 2343.
Truly, I say to you, when you'll be with me, where in paradise?
Not later, not some other time, but as soon as you die, He would
be with Jesus. Matthew chapter 27 is also an
interesting passage, and I'm just going to throw this in
because I just find it fascinating.
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his
spirit. And behold, the curtain of the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook,
and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and
many bodies of the Saints who had fallen asleep were raised
and coming out of the tombs. After his resurrection, they
went into the holy city and appeared to many, so there were
some who came back to life. It's interesting to me how
little we seem to make of this passage.
I hear very few sermons or lessons about this incredible
miracle, and yet I imagine that they had quite an impact.
I, I, I don't, I'm not sure what you would do.
Could you imagine grandpa knocking on your door one night?
I would just think that this was a bigger deal than sometimes we
make it. And then later on in the next
verse, verse 54, when the centurion and those who were
with him keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and
what took place, they were filled with all and said truly,
this was the Son of God. And so a lot happened in these
moments of his death prior to his resurrection.
A lot of miraculous things were happening.
There are passages in the Scripture also that talk about
their passages, for example, in Jude and other places to where
there seemed to be certain demons and certain really nasty
unclean spirits that were chained up in an even deeper,
darker places, so to speak, because God would not allow them
to be unleashed upon us. They were, they were too nasty
for us. So you can research some of
this, but again, that's not what affects us today.
So let's talk more about that. So for us today, let me just
start in 2nd Corinthians 5, I mentioned one of these verses
earlier in a different translation.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan,
longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting
it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this
tent we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed,
but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal
may be swallowed up by life. So we are always upset.
No, He, he who has prepared us for this very good thing is God,
who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage.
We know that while we are at home in the body we are away
from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Yes, we are of good courage and would rather be away from the
body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or
away, we make it our aim to please Him.
For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ so
that each one, they receive what is due for what He has done in
the body, whether good or evil. And again, another translation
to verse 8 is that that one you're more familiar with, to be
absent from the body, to be present with the Lord.
So there's this clear evidence that the moment we die, we are
in a conscious state in the presence of the Lord.
Now I don't believe we're in our permanent state yet because I
don't believe we've received our resurrected body yet.
But again, depending upon what you want to view as time and
eternity, you can say, well, all that happens all at the same
time. And as soon as we die, the
second coming has already happened or is happening.
And because time doesn't really exist and so we're on a whole
different wavelength. I can't my brain, they can't do
that. So I'm still running on the line
a little bit. So another passage is
Philippians one for me to live as Christ and to die as gain.
If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for
me. Yet which I shall choose I
cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the
two. My desire is to depart and be
with Christ, for that's far better.
The the word depart here is actually a nautical term.
It it's the ship's mooring to untie the boat, so to speak.
He, he wants to be set loose so he can sail directly to God and
he'd do that immediately. And again, just like Jesus said
to the thief on the cross today you'll be with me.
So those believers who die now go straight into the presence of
God, consciously, identifiably, etcetera.
I'll talk more about that in a minute.
But what about non believers who die now?
At the moment of death, non Christians go as spirits to a
place of suffering, full conscious awareness, and there
they await their future resurrection and judgment at the
great White throne. Now one of the reasons I believe
in this other place is the fact that when I read the Book of
Revelation there seems to be these steps that are taking
place. Second Peter 29 says, then the
Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep
the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement.
So final judgement hasn't happened yet.
And this word keep in that translation.
A different translation of Second Peter 29 would have the
word hold and the word hold its present tense or keep it's
present tense, which means it's continuous.
So God is keeping them there and continuously keeps them there,
which is one of the reasons why I think there's an in between
time between the final state of things and so he's keeping them
there. And this wording is basically
like prisoners guarded non-stop, waiting for judgement, waiting
for the trial, so to speak. And so we see this happening to
those who don't know him. Now, from this, you can imagine,
along with the Book of Maccabees and the Apocrypha, how the
Catholic Church comes up with certain purgatory ideas.
But that idea is not supported in Scripture in the sense that
that's not, you know, that believers are not sent to a
place of suffering or a place of holding.
They're immediately in the presence of the Lord.
They just don't have their final bodies yet, but they're very
much there. Whereas those who don't know him
are being kept. And then finally, let's look at
in eternity. In other words, what's the
final? What's the final look going to
look like? So our glorification is going to
also involve the future redemption of our bodies, so to
speak, not, not just like this one.
This will turn to dust. But in First Thessalonians 4 you
know this passage. But we do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you
may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so,
through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen
asleep. For this we declare to you by a
word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until
the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen
asleep. For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven, and with a cry of command, with the voice
of an Archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will always be with the Lord.
Now some people would actually see this passage as an
interpretation of the Ephesians passage where He descended.
That actually what that's talking about is the second
coming, not necessarily the three days between the cross and
the resurrection. So you understand, they're
different viewpoints that come into play here.
But what we see here is the return of Jesus and beyond.
And we're going to talk a whole lot more about that later
sessions, I promise. In fact, then very next session,
we're going to talk about what's heaven like and who all's going
to be there. So we're going to, we're going
to really work through what is heaven all about?
What does it look like to the best of our our our language
abilities and our comprehension abilities, as well as who's
going to be there and unfortunately who's not.
So Jesus returns literally and visibly to earth.
That is a primary doctrine you need to believe in a bodily
return of Jesus Christ and those who have fallen asleep.
Again, this simply means those who have already died before his
return. This is not referring to soul
sleep. Go back to original language,
original meanings. It becomes clear and and we're
going to experience these new bodies, we're going to be
raised. In fact, Paul talks about this
more thoroughly in First Corinthians 15.
So in First Corinthians 15, he really does breakdown for us
several things that we need to see.
First of all, he basically gives an explanation of our glorified
bodies, verse 35. But someone will ask, how are
the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come? I mean, it's pretty clear, you
know, I mean, he's getting pretty straightforward.
For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for
humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another
for fish. There are heavenly bodies and
earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind and
the glory of the earthly is of another.
In other words, this is not going to be the same.
This is different. Acts 26, eight says, why is it
thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
So this is not a, this is not an effort, this is nothing.
This is not hard for Him. He's going to restore us.
Then we see in verses 42 through 44 kind of about the excellence
of these glorified bodies, and I'm going to give more
descriptions later, but here it says, so it is with the
resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable.
What is raised is imperishable. We're going to have an
imperishable body. It is sown and dishonored.
It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness.
It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body. If there's a natural body,
there's also a spiritual body. We're going to be different.
We're going to be eternal in this body.
Philippians 3 reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we await A Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the
power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
I mean, he is the Creator. This is no power, no problem to
recreate us in a new way, and we're going to be like Him.
We're going to talk more about what that means specifically in
a minute. Verses 47 through 49, we see an
example as he's comparing the first Adam and Jesus.
Talking about Jesus and Adam, he says the first man was from the
earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven,
as was the man of dust. So also are those are those who
are of the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so
also are those who are of heaven.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall
also bear the image of the man of heaven.
That's that's I like that. We're going to dust off our old
dusty self first. John 32 says, Beloved, we are
God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.
See, we're not there yet, but we know that when he appears, we
shall be like him because we shall see him as He is.
So we're going to be a whole lot more like Jesus after the
resurrection. Verses 51 through 53, we kind of
see, there's this exchange that takes place.
How does this happen? So behold, I tell you a mystery.
This is the theme verse for all church nurseries.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
It's an old joke. I need a rim shot.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and
this mortal body must put on immortality.
So we're going to be completely different.
FF Bruce, who's a famous theologian commentator, he wrote
this, he said the glorifying of believers is their ultimate and
complete conformity to the image of God's Son.
We're we're more back to pre Genesis 3 than we've ever been
before to where we're bearing the very image of God himself.
I'm not saying we're going to be just like that, but I'm just
saying closer. So change from perishable to
imperishable. So let's be a little more
specific. So our body according to these
passages is going to be more like the resurrected Christ.
So all we can do is study him and learn from him and also see
some other passages to say this is this looks like this is what
we're going to be like. We we noticed that that
Philippians passage will transform our lowly body to be
like his glorious body by the power that he that enables him
even to subject all things to himself.
So we're going to be more like in first John 32 again, beloved,
we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet
appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like
him. We also recognize that he had a
visible and recognizable body. This goes back to this other
statement I was making before about the rich man and Lazarus.
We do not lose our identity in eternity.
We will know each other, I believe with all of my heart.
You're going to recognize those who have gone on before you.
Now our relationships will be different.
We're going to talk about that later.
The relationships in heaven are different.
There's no marriage. There's things like that that
are different. Better if you can imagine, but
we're still going to see folks and I think I can prove that not
only with these passages, but also with a couple of others.
So Luke 24 says see my hands and my feet, that is I myself touch
me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see
that I have. There was no question that was
Jesus after the resurrection. They saw him.
Paul writes in First Corinthians 13 For now we see in a mirror
dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part then I shall
know fully even as I have been fully known.
So even as I've been fully known, I'm still going to be
known. But I also think there are a
couple of other stories that people often don't think about.
Who is on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus,
Moses and Elijah. How do you know they were still
Moses? They were still Elijah.
And so we see throughout Scripture that even those who
have died are still known. It was still Moses, it was still
Elijah, and they were recognized.
Again, the rich man of Lazarus story seems to point to the same
thing. I have no other evidence to to
say something else. And so the evidence of Scripture
would say that we will be known. We're also going to be free from
present limitations. Again after the resurrection,
their eyes open, they recognized him and he vanished from their
sight. He also can appear through
locked doors. John 20 says on the evening of
that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked
where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.
Then verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside again
and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.
Now, I'm not saying that one of the things we want to do after
we die in heaven is to go through locked doors, but it's a
testimony that we're just made of different stuff.
We're just different. It's a completely different type
of existence. This is an eternal and glorious
body. Again, in 2nd Corinthians 5, we
know that if our, if the tent that is our earthly home is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. Or again out of first
Corinthians 15, sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown
in weakness, raised in power. And so we recognize that this is
a, a glorious eternal body that will last forever.
I've mentioned this to you before.
Not everybody has thought of this or agrees with me, but this
is also this is also why people will endure punishment forever
in hell, because they too are going to receive a different new
body, and so an incorruptible body forever free from sin,
sickness and sorrow. And this ought to give you hope.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead.
What is sown as perishable? What is raised is imperishable
or revelation, a verse. We often share it.
Certain times of grief. He will wipe away every tear
from their eyes and death shall be no more.
Now don't rush past that. What doesn't exist anymore?
The wage is paid. Sin will not be a part of our
future. We have been saved from the
penalty of sin if we believe in Jesus.
We are constantly being saved from the power of sin and our
daily life and our discipleship one day from the presence of sin
itself. We won't.
We wouldn't in our current state even understand how to do how to
do that. We wouldn't be able to
comprehend perfection. We're going to need a new body.
We're going to need a new ability to be able to live in a
sinless place, in a sinless state.
He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes.
And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning
nor crying nor pain anymore. For the former things have
passed away. Now let me clear up a couple of
things. I found that sometimes even the
the things that might be obvious to some or not learned that
Sunday. I'll leave that alone.
You don't get to become an Angel, sorry.
You don't get to sit on a cloud with little wings strumming on a
harp. You don't get to do that.
Another thing I'm going to say, which is not in your notes, but
I'm going to say it, and I'll say it again in a couple weeks
when we get to hell. Satan also doesn't run Hell.
Get that in your head. Satan and his demons are not
down there stirring up a pot and watching the gates to Hell as as
Dante was wrong. That is not how it works.
Satan himself will be cast into hell.
I like saying that out loud. The Bible actually says that
we'll judge angels. It's always interesting to me
because Paul's writing to the Corinthians when he writes this,
writing to believers from extremely Pagan backgrounds,
most of them in First Corinthians 63.
Do you not know that we are to judge angels?
How much more than matters pertaining to this life.
So we're going to recognize, we're going to talk about angels
and we'll start talking about them next week.
Why are they? Who are they, what are they and
what do they do? And these incredible messenger
servants of God are going to also be there with us.
Again, First Corinthians 15 says this.
It says, But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers,
be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
But whenever I do a study like this, it always makes me want to
ask the question, So what? How should that change?
How should any of this change the way I behave tomorrow, What
I believe, what I think, what I love, and what I fear?
How should this affect my life here and now?
There's got to be more to these studies than simply, oh, that's
interesting to study that I want to know about demons or I want
to know about angels. I find people overtly fascinated
by such things, when in fact we ought to be fascinated by Jesus
and what he's done for us and how that ought to affect what I
do and what I think and what I say and what I believe.
So for me, whenever I review this again and I walk through
these passages again, I, I, I, I'm thankful for a God who even
from the beginning knew this was going to happen and created a
plan of grace anyway and suffers and sacrifices himself for me.
And then in victory goes. And maybe he does go proclaim to
those and takes them out of Hades.
And maybe he'd, he, he, he, he's going to.
But I know this, he's going to get me one day.
I know that part. My prayer is, is that I'd like
to meet him in the air, but if I die first physically, I'll still
be with him. And one day or that day
immediately or later, depending upon how time works in heaven
and eternity, I'm going to be made different and new.
And So what that helps me to think through is the fact that
when my back hurts like it has over the last few days or I have
to get an injection in my eye because of my diabetes and I
can't see out of my right eye and it feels like somebody's
punched me in the face like it has the last few days.
You know what? Big deal, big deal.
Hey, first of all, many of you are suffering far more than I
ever would, but I don't want to make light of your suffering or
what you're going through, but also just put it into
perspective. Put it into perspective because
one day it's all going to end. One day it's all going to end.
And I guess what bothers me is I want everybody to enjoy that.
And we're surrounded by people. I was hearing about people
today, specific people today, who do not believe.
I don't want them to miss out. Martyn Lloyd Jones, the preacher
theologian, said a man who has his eye on his future state of
glorification will spend his time in preparing himself for
it. So the more we think about home,
real home, the more I really do think about what that's going to
be like. And next week, we're going to
hit it hard. I've been reading in the Book of
Revelation, just trying to wrap my head around what John was
trying to wrap his head around, frankly.
And the words that he had to put into language to describe the
undescribable to to, to, to compare them to gems and to
compare them to metals and to compare them to earthly things.
Because that was the only thing he could do.
That was the best he could do. And yet it's more just recognize
this is not you and this is not home.
And one day, one day we'll go there if you believe.
And I believe that beyond any shadow of a doubt.
And I look forward to seeing others there.
I look forward to reuniting and learning from them if I need to.
Maybe we know it all already, you know, Maybe there is no
question to ask in heaven. But I wouldn't mind strolling
along with Moses. I wouldn't mind walking along
the the sea of glass before the throne with Paul.
But I really want to see Jesus. And I guess sometimes it bothers
me because I think to myself, when that happens, I want to run
and I want to thank him. And that's what I'll do because
that's what I think we're all going to do.
I mean, the 24 elders are doing it.
The heavenly beasts are doing it.
That's what we're going to do. But here's what makes me pause.
Now, hear me before we go. Why am I not doing that right
now? Why am I not more appreciative
right now? Because I can run to him right
now and thank him and appreciate him and honor him and glorify
him for what he's done. I don't have to wait.
You don't have to wait. We can do that here.
And part of what? Part of what I think sometimes
we miss because we misrepresent what this is, this stuff up on
the stage in this thing that we call a worship service.
Sometimes I think we miss it. And I was reminded of this the
other day when I was, I was listening to someone talking
about the Tabernacle and they were describing it as, as, as
God gave this to Moses. Now, this wasn't Scripture.
This is just somebody talking about it.
God gave this a Moses and, and, and in a small way, this is,
this is a symbol, this is a representation of heaven on
earth. Here's God presence.
God's presence is going to dwell in this holy of holies, this
place. And see, I, I just believe.
And maybe I have too high a view of the church.
I don't know, maybe, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like that's
what we're supposed to do every time we're in here.
This isn't about whether he's saying OK.
This isn't about whether that was too loud.
This isn't about whether that was too bright.
This ought to be about did I come to say thank you?
Did I come to praise and to bring glory to a king who gave
me life? And who's going to give me a
better life? I mean, what if?
What if I have to fear? What can mere man do to me?
Imperishable, glorious, known. Hmm.
Forever and ever and ever. Father, thank you for forever.
Lord, we're people of the dust, and sometimes we act like it.
Father, sometimes we forget and we act dirty.
We act dusty. And Father, sometimes we're just
out for what we want for ourselves.
Lord, I want that fruit off that tree.
I know you told me I couldn't. That's the only one I want.
That's what I want. That's what I want.
So I should have it. I deserve it.
It's what I want. We forget.
So Father, I pray that we don't just study about heaven.
I pray that we don't just study about eternity.
I pray that we don't just study about you.
But Father, I pray that you move in our hearts changes make us
more like you. Even now.
Even now, I know one day we're going to be, we're going to get
bodies that are more like the resurrected Christ.
But why not right now? In our spirits, Father, in our
souls, in our hearts and our minds.
Make us more like you now. And Father, when we come to this
place, this is just a building. This is just a place.
But Father, it becomes more because you're already here and
we don't have to invite you to join us here.
That's so dumb. You're already here.
You're inviting us to join you. What a privilege.
You didn't have to do that. And Father, there was a time
when the veil separated and we, we couldn't, Lord, man couldn't
just come. But the veil was torn.
Access was given, commanded, expected.
And so, Father, forgive us. Forgive us, Father, when we
forget. Help us to remember forever and
ever and ever. And we saw you high and lifted
up, and even the seraphim bowed and worshipped you.
Who are we not to do the same? Thank you Father, in Christ's
name, Amen. God bless you all.
Thank you all. It's a little bit early, so be
nice to the children. Thank you so much for listening
today, and I also hope that you'll go to
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com as well as our app and find many
other resources that will bless you and your families.
Thank you once again.