Good morning. So who, who here needs Jesus
today? That's why we're here, right?
It's all about him and him feeding us his word and
encouraging us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So we're taking our time going through.
Good to see you. How's your foot?
Not kicking any field goals yet. Right now you know Lydia.
Lydia broke her foot on ice so her and Cindy are boot buddies.
Cindy's got a boot on too still. So keep Cindy in your prayers.
She's still dealing with a lot of pain and she was hoping to be
here today but too too much pain.
So going to get another MRI on February 2nd to see if there
might be some issues in her neck are causing the nerves to be
impeded down through her leg and sciatica.
So thank you for your prayers for her.
You know, I, I'm in this section on the resurrection and I can't
seem to get out of it. Usually I go through a chapter
and I get through it pretty quickly.
But this, the resurrection chapter, there's so much depth,
There's so much life, There's so much hope and, and future for
all of us. And lots of times you don't
think about needing to be raised again from the dead when you're
young. But the older you get, the more
you realize this is an important teaching.
So if you're under 20 today, you might think, what's this have to
do with me? I got my whole life ahead of me.
Well, there's young people that get sick and pass away too.
So it impacts all of us. This before I get started.
The Calvary Chapel magazine is available talking about the
pro-life and saving the unborn. Really good articles in here.
Also wonderful article on here about Charlie Kirk's passing and
how he impacted Calvary Chapel pastors and what's happening on
college campuses as a result of Charlie's life and his legacy.
That continues. A matter of fact tonight, the
Calvary Chapel, Philadelphia, the church that we were planted
out of 30 years ago Sunday night, they're having Rob McCoy,
the number two guy that started the Turning Point with Charlie
back in the beginning. So he's going to speak in the
church tonight about the impact that turning point USA faith has
upon college campuses and high schools and continues to keep
growing and growing and growing. So we're, we're excited to be a
part of that, involved in that as well.
So let's pray, Father, we're thankful this morning, Lord, for
your word. And Lord, I'm so grateful that
we are here for one reason. And that's to hear from you,
Lord, to get truth, to get fed your word, to be encouraged to,
to learn, to have hope and not to spare.
And also, Lord, to be impacted by what you've done for us so
that we can also be used by you to impact others.
So that they can know the good news and how you saved us and
how you've forgiven us. And how you've continually been
with us throughout all the seasons of life.
The ups and downs, the valleys, the mountaintops, the the times
of victory, the times of defeat, the times of health, the times
of sickness. Lord, you've, you've just been
there all the time and you never leave us.
You never forsake us and you're always available for us to talk
to throughout the day 24/7. Lord, you're never too busy to
listen to each of us simultaneously.
That's something that I can't even begin to comprehend, how
you can listen to all the cries, all the heartache, all the
prayers, all the needs of the human race all over the world at
one time because you're God, omniscient on all knowing.
You're all everywhere, present, omnipresent, and you're able to
do the ultimate multitask of being intimately involved with
every human being on the face of the planet.
And we worship you because you're such a great and mighty
and awesome God. And Lord, help us to understand
again this morning the significance of the resurrection
as we review it again and then continually on in this chapter
that we might understand what it is that you want us to know.
And we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
So I want to read the the tremendous verses that encourage
us in regard to the resurrection and why it's really, really
important to grasp this truth. Because if we don't know the
resurrection and we don't believe that, then there's
really no point in actually even coming to church or believing in
Jesus. Because the whole gospel hinges
on the fact that there is life after death.
And we have the guarantee and the assurance and a historical
documentation that Christ literally rose again from the
dead. He's the only one that's ever
done that in human history. And so if you're going to be a
follower of some movement or some person, you want to make
sure that you're following Jesus because he's the true God, the
living God, the one who created us and the one who has good
things in store for all of us. And so when we think about this
truth of the resurrection and all that Christ has done, I want
to read again when I've read the last couple weeks regarding
Lazarus, when he died and Jesus showed up a few days after his
death, verse 17 of Luke chapter or John Chapter 11, it says.
And so when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the
tomb for days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem,
about two miles away, and many of the Jews had joined the women
around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their
brother. So I don't have to tell you all
of you have been around. I'm sure long enough you've been
to funerals, you've been to situations where people have
passed away and your heart's broken, and you know what it's
like to lose someone you love that you won't see again until
heaven if they're believers and you're a believer.
And so Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she
went and met him. But Mary was sitting in the
house now. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if
you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God
will give you. So Martha knew that Jesus could
do miracles, and her trust was in him to perhaps do a miracle.
And Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.
And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. So this woman knew about the
resurrection, she believed in it, she knew it was true, she
knew it was going to happen. That wasn't the issue.
The issue was her heartache right now and the fact that she
lost this dear person in her life.
And so Jesus is standing there with her and totally involved in
her emotions and her pain. And he said to her, I am the
resurrection and the life. It isn't of some future thing
that will occur one day. Right now you can experience the
reality of this life eternal. We said I am the resurrection
and the life I am as a present verb tense.
He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this? And that's something that each
of us have to believe individually and personally.
I can't believe for you, and you can't believe for me.
This has to be between you and God and you and God alone.
Do you believe this? And she said to him, yes, Lord,
I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has
come into the world. So that's the right answer that
Martha gave to Jesus. Yes, Lord, I believe that you
are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world.
That's the affirmation that each of us have to make individually
and personally in order to experience this promise of
everlasting life in the resurrection and forgiveness of
sins. I love Gina's prayer in the end
of the worship when she said that if you think that you sin
too much or you've done too many bad things that you could never
be forgiven, that's the ultimate lie from the devil.
Jesus came to die for sinners, which we all are, and he loves
us. And so we come to him by faith,
asking him to forgive us and trust him, and he will forgive
us. And then in John also the 14th
chapter, this is a verse that we as pastors use all the time at
funerals. It says, let not your heart be
troubled the day some of you may be troubled about something or
someone or some circumstance or situation in your life that's
overwhelming. I know a lot of people are
dealing with serious health issues and surgeries and
different relationship issues and financial issues and this on
and on and on. There isn't one person in here
today that isn't dealing with something personally that's
troubling you or something that someone else is dealing with
that you're concerned for because they're troubled with
something. And so he says, don't let your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. And if it were not so, I would
have told you. And I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that
where I am, there you may be also.
And where I go, you know, and the way you know.
So Jesus is telling the disciples and all of us who are
reading this and here today, anybody that reads the
Scriptures, this is for you if you're a follower of Christ,
that the Lord has a plan for you and he specifically prepared a
place for you to be with him whenever you leave this world.
He's already set it up for you. It's already built and ready for
you to experience and to live in for all eternity.
And he promises that we won't be left here alone, that one day he
will come again and receive us to himself, whether it's in our
own personal death or in the rapture or the second coming of
Christ. Christ is coming again.
And he's telling these guys who you, you know about this.
You know where who I am, where I'm going.
And Thomas, the one who doubted said, Lord, we don't know where
you're going and how can we know the way?
And Jesus said I, I am the way people are looking every day for
an answer. They're looking for direction.
They're looking for what's going to happen to me, What's going to
happen to me after I leave this world?
Where am I going to go? What's going to go on in the
next World if there is a next World?
People think that way. He says I am the way I am the
truth. I am the life.
No man comes to the Father, but through Me.
You can hang out on that verse for every circumstance in your
life. When you're confused, when you
become hopeless, when you're in situations where you are
desperate for some type of answer to the dilemma or the
problem you're experiencing, you can go to Jesus and He will
comfort you. He will speak to you through his
word and through the Holy Spirit in your life.
And he will assure you that everything's under control, that
he has it all planned out and that he is the one, the only one
that can give you real life. There.
There is no life apart from Christ.
You might be living and you think, well, I'm living life.
I'm alive. I'm yeah.
But when you get to the end of the day, you say, is this all
there is to life? If this is life, why do I feel
so dead inside? Why do I feel so empty?
Why do I still feel like I'm missing something and I don't
know what it is I'm looking for? It's because you're looking for
life in what can't give you life.
Jesus says man's life does not consist in the abundance of the
things he possesses. It isn't a materialism or wealth
or success or accomplishments or another person.
You may find it very important in your life.
Your life is found only in the person of knowing Jesus Christ.
And he says no one can come to the Father except through him.
What happens to us when we die? This is a mystery for most
people that have ever lived. Scholars, philosophers,
scientists, they all have different types of positions or
opinions on what happens to the soul after death.
Some people think that when you die, that's it, It's the end.
There's nothing else to look forward to.
But for us as Christians, we have so much to look forward to.
And people will come and ask me at times whenever they lose a
loved one or they're getting ready to lose someone they love.
What's going to happen to my dad or my mom or my brother or my
sister or my wife, my husband, my child, whatever my friend,
What's going to happen to them after they die?
Well, if they don't know the gospel and what we're studying
about the resurrection, that's a rough place to be in, isn't it?
It's a place of despair and a place of hopelessness.
But we're we're told that the Lord has promised us that
whenever we leave this body, and the apostle Paul, the one who's
teaching us and First Corinthians here, is that
there's a plan in all this deterioration of human life in
existence. He says in 2nd Corinthians 5 For
we know that if our earthly house, that's its body, we live
in this tent is destroyed, whether through death, through
accident, through disease, or this old age, we have a building
from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
And that's the place where he said in my Father's house are
many mansions. And if it were not so, I would
have told you. And if I told you I'd go to
prepare a place for you, that where I am you, maybe also
there's another place you're going to be living other than
this, because this is going to deteriorate and go into the
ground. For in this we groan earnestly,
desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from
heaven, if indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found
naked. For we who are in this tent,
grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed,
but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by
life. So the plan of God is to
eventually remove us physically from this place through a lot of
different events. Like I said, it could be
physical death, it could be the rapture for alive when Christ
comes. We'll talk about that a little
bit today, the second coming, the final resurrection.
But there is this impulse and it's not fatalism for us to want
to be with Jesus in heaven. That's the ultimate.
Like, it's good to raise kids, be married, have jobs, enjoy
life and everything that God's allowed us to experience in this
world. But the longer you live and the
more you're around the sorrow and the pain and the heartache
of what the human race goes through, you have a different
vantage point of when you look at life and what is it really
about. It's really all about people
coming to know God and being reconciled to him so they can
spend not 70 or 80 years on this earth, but all eternity with God
one day in heaven. And so Paul the apostle, he had
this encounter, it was like a supernatural revelation where he
was taken up into the 3rd heaven paradise and he saw things and
he heard things and he experienced things that like no
one had ever experienced. And and that's why he was able
to write so deeply about the Kingdom and the things of God
and the, and the plan of God for the days ahead that God had
spoken into his life and told him about these things.
And so he had this desire after he saw that to realize like,
like this place here, it ain't doing it for me anymore.
I mean, I have not seen nor ear heard nor entered into the heart
of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.
He saw all that. And, and so for him to have to
like come back and get to work here and stay busy and do what
he did was a challenge. And, and he did it with all his
heart, his passion for the sake of us, but he could not wait
until he left and was in the presence of the Lord himself.
Now he who has prepared us for this very thing, this eternal
life, this resurrection, is God who has given us the Spirit as a
guarantee. Now the Holy Spirit, if you're a
Christian here today, the Holy Spirit lives within you.
And so when you're hearing these things that I'm teaching the,
the Bible, that what the Bible's teaching, they click, they make
sense. They're they're like stabilizing
factors in, in your daily life, your experience.
If you're not a Christian here today, you must think I am
totally out of my mind because like, it sounds like science
fiction. Some of the stuff I'm going to
get into. Unfortunately, most churches
don't even take the believers into the reality of what is
being taught here today. It's it's like, I don't know.
I mean, we're supposed to be teaching the whole whole council
of God and, and my responsibility as a pastor is to
like, wow, this is like a little bit over overwhelming and deep.
And will the people be able to handle it?
Will they be able to receive it? Will they, you know, would do
anything for them? And should I, should I find some
other section of scripture where everybody's happy, you know, but
no, I mean, this is happiness, this is joy.
If you understand this and believe this, but you got it.
You got to go through all this stuff.
So. So then Paul says, so we are
always confident, knowing that while we were at home in the
body, like right now in the present body, we're confident of
this one thing, that when we are absent from this body, we're
present with the Lord, we go to be with Jesus, we leave this
body, we go to be with Jesus. What's it like when you leave
this body and go to be with Jesus?
Well, they, the physical body will go into the ground.
You've been at funerals, you know, the casket goes into the
ground. The body deteriorates.
And that's not the end of the body though.
That's the holding period until the final resurrection, when God
will raise every human that has ever died since the beginning of
time and that final resurrection and the and the, and the bodies
will come out of the ground. A matter of fact, when Jesus was
resurrected, and that was a mystery in Matthew, that there
was some people that had actually came out of the graves
and they were alive again walking around town for a while.
And they didn't give you a lot of details about that, but it
was enough to say, wow, you know that that's interesting, right?
And so, so we go to Corinthians. Now back to Corinthians, First
Corinthians 15. Verse 20 But now Christ has
risen from the dead. So we the last couple weeks we
were going through the section of Scripture where the
Corinthian believers knew there was a resurrection and they knew
Jesus rose again from the dead, but they didn't believe they
would raise from the dead. They didn't think that was
important. They thought the body was evil,
was not worth anything. It was better off never being
brought into existence again. And they had heretical
teachings. They didn't understand what it
was that was actually being taught.
The church in Corinth had a lot of false teaching and heretical
ideas, so Paul had to really bring this home and take the
time in great detail. That's why we're going through
it so slow, to make sure that every believer in that church
understood in the literal resurrection from the dead.
That's the gospel. Christ died for our sins
according to scriptures. He was buried the third day.
He rose again from the dead according to the scriptures.
So Christ has become the first fruits of those who have fallen
asleep. Now what's interesting is the
first fruits was a feast in the book of Leviticus.
And when Passover occurred, the Sabbath after Passover, they
would celebrate this first fruit feast.
And the the priest would wave the sheaves of grain
representing that this harvest that was beginning to be
developed now in the springtime was God's harvest and he would
get the best of everything first.
Well, Jesus represents the first fruits because God has given to
you and me the best of everything that we could ever
possibly imagine in the person of Jesus Christ and the promise
that as he's risen, we're also going to rise again from the
dead, all of us. For since by man came death, by
man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as an Adam all die, Even so in Christ all shall be made
alive. So we don't have time to go into
Romans. We were through that book and
many of you understand the fact that it tells us in Romans and
chapter 3 verse 23 for all of sin and fallen short of the
glory of God in Romans 623 says for the wages of sin.
It's death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So we're all born the first time
our first birth were born in Adam.
We're born in Adam's nature where we have a sin nature.
And you know, we can't blame it on Adam.
We make our own decisions how we sin.
But basically Adam was the beginning seed of rebellion
against God. And everybody that's ever been
born has been born with that same tendency to go their own
way and to sin against God. And it's such a powerful force
to sin nature that it controls the whole world and, and we
still have problems with it as Christians because we can be
tempted, we can be weakened, we can fall, we can make mistakes
and regrets and, and then we ask God to forgive us and he always
does. We have the way out of that sin
nature power, so to speak, because of Christ.
We can overcome the power of sin nature because of the Holy
Spirit in US. And, and not sin, but someone
who doesn't know Jesus, all they can do is sin habitually.
It's like a sin machine. They don't have to be taught to
do it. If this is automatic, they're
lost to lie, to be self-centered, to cheat, to lie,
to steal the hate and all these emotions that the human nature
has because they're sinful. And so the only way out of this
dilemma of being born in sin and getting the wage of sin, which
should be death and judgement, was God had to give a make a do
over, basically a do over right? And he sent his Son into the
world to live like we live, but never sin perfect.
So Jesus came to show us the way out of the sin nature.
But there was one step that was necessary in order to be free
from the first birth, the Adamic birth, the Adam's sin nature.
You needed to be born again. Jesus says in John 33, you must
be born again, not is not well, you should consider being born
again. Maybe you should try.
No, you must be born again and enter to enter into the Kingdom
of heaven, you have to have a second birth.
And the second birth is what gives you the power of the Holy
Spirit and the life of Christ in you.
And now you have a new family line.
Now you're, you're not a son of Adam anymore.
You're a son of God, son and daughter of God because what
Jesus Christ has done for you, you get it.
It's critical. It's absolutely necessary.
And so everybody that you talk to and you share the gospel
with, you need to let them know they need to be born again and
they're going to ask you, what's that mean?
Just like Nicodemus asked Jesus, It's a miraculous birth that
occurs by the Spirit of God that makes us and puts us in Christ.
It's, it's, it's awesome. So for an atom, everybody will
die, anybody, everybody's been born since the beginning of time
through that first birth will die.
Even so in Christ also be made a lot.
So in other words, because of Christ and his life and what
he's done, we experience eternal life not after we leave this
world, but right now we're living eternal life right now
when Jesus said I am the resurrection present tense.
If you're in Christ, you are experiencing the resurrection
right now, and you'll never die. You'll die physically, but
you're never going to die in the sense of someone that doesn't
know Jesus. You're going to be in his
presence. People who die without Christ or
in a holding pattern until the final judgment called shell.
It's not literal hell yet, but it will be hell eventually.
There's only one time in life and one chance in life to get
saved and get born again. And that's right now.
And maybe today that would be the day for you.
But don't let it pass and you die without getting saved
because there's no second chance after this life.
So this being made alive in Christ, verse 23 of first
Corinthians 15 says, but each one in his own order.
So there's there's this order of resurrection that's going to
occur in regard to how all these things will pass by and come to
come to pass each one in his order.
Christ the first fruits, He's the first one that rose from the
dead afterward those who are Christ at his coming.
Now I'm going to take you to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4.
If you have your Bible, turn there.
If you don't, just listen. First Thessalonians chapter 4,
verses 13 through 18. Now this is the chapter that
believers see as discussing what is called the rapture of the
church when Christ will come not to land on the planet and set up
his Kingdom yet, but come to take us out prior to the
tribulation period occurring. The seven-year tribulation,
which you don't want to definitely be here for it would
be like living in Iran right now, every day of your life for
seven years if you were a Christian persecuting,
persecution, martyrdom like Nigeria.
Some of these served world countries that is this hell to
live in, no gospel freedom, no opportunity to go to church to
worship God. Very, very terrible time.
I don't have time to get into all the details of that great
tribulation, but that will happen after the rapture and
then it will be stopped during the time when Christ comes
second coming and sets up His thousand year reign, which is
called the millennial Kingdom prior to the final battle and
the new heaven and the new earth that will be eventually created
by the Lord. So it tells us in first
Corinthians chapter 4 verse 13 through 18.
I don't want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning those who
have fallen asleep. Know you love the Lord like he
doesn't want us to be like in the dark about this stuff.
He's put it in his words so we can really understand and know
and not be confused or or ignorant concerning those who
have fallen asleep. In other words, those who have
passed away whose bodies are in the grave.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so God
will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.
Now don't get the thought that whenever you die or someone you
love dies and knows Jesus, that they're sleeping and they're not
alive. No, they'd be absent in the
bodies. They'd be present with the Lord.
So you're very alive, but your body is sleeping in the grave.
It's not alive and it's dead. For this we say to you by the
word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the
coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are
asleep. So in other words, say the
rapture happened, like right now we're alive, we're not in the
grave, but we're not going to go up with the Lord before those
who are in the grave. For the Lord himself.
It says that we won't precede those who are asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout
and with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of
God. So there'll be this trumpet
sound and everybody that's in Christ is going to hear that
we're going to know like, OK, this is like, we're out of here,
right? But the people in the grave are
going to be brought back to life and it says, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. So these bodies are going to
come out of the grave. Remember the movie Left Behind?
Anybody ever seen that? You know, it's it's, it's done
as best as it can be done because it's Hollywood,
whatever. But can you visualize like all
over, I ride by these cemeteries all the time in my, and when I'm
driving, I do a lot of driving in my sales business.
And I always look at churches and I look at the cemeteries.
And I just think one of those days they're going to pop open
and people are going to be coming out of there alive.
Not just like the Presbyterian cemetery or the Lutheran and the
Methodist or every cemetery where everybody's been died.
Their bodies, who, who know Jesus, their bodies are going to
be brought out and the Lord himself will descend with
heaven, with a shot, with the voice of the Archangel, the
trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, in other words, say this happened today
and we're alive, or whoever's alive at that time physically
and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. So not only we have these bodies
coming out of the ground, but you'll have people like us, like
this going up and we'll be waving, hey, it's finally here.
Good to see you. I mean it's just going to be
incredible. I I can't even comprehend what
it's going to be like and them and we'll meet them in the with
the Lord in the air and it says and thus we shall always be with
the Lord. Therefore comfort one another
with these words something I I need to be reminded pastor
whenever we do funerals that by the way, they're going to be
popping out of this grave. This isn't the end for your
loved one that knows Jesus these, I hate to tell you, the
$5000 tombstone isn't going to be worth it.
Don't spend a lot of money on those stones because they're
going to be left behind. Only the bodies are coming out
of the ground. Hallelujah.
So that is that resurrection and then we have I'll continue here
in First Corinthians 15. I'm glad you gave me more time,
Carrie today because I couldn't get all this in, believe me.
So we're back to First Corinthians 15.
And so all in Christ shall be made alive, but each one in his
own order. So we just read the order, the
dead in Christ 1st, and then we which are alive will be caught
up together with them. Christ the first fruits,
afterwards those who are Christ at His coming.
Then comes the end, when he delivers the Kingdom to God the
Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and
power. For He must reign till he has
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be
destroyed is death, for He has put all things under his feet.
But when He says all things are put under Him, it is evident
that He who put all things under Him is accepted.
Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son
himself will also be subject to him who put all things under
him. That is God, that God may be all
and all. So we have here in Revelation
chapter 20. This is eschatology today in a
short and condensed version. But eschatology is a doctrine of
future things, things that are going to come to pass.
And I, and I had to think about this like before I was even
coming here today working on this.
How many here really actually care about what I'm saying?
And if you don't, that's OK. If you care, you don't care, you
know, but this is God's plan. So when I was 20, I was first
saved. I was so excited about this.
Every day I'm looking up in the sky thinking like this.
Could this be, I actually believe like, like that day I'm
looking in the sky that Jesus could come back and I need to
start thinking like that again because I got caught up and
raising a family and kids and jobs and work and this
everything in life, right? I want this car, I want that
kind of house. I want this kind of vacation.
Nothing wrong with any of that stuff.
But what happens with all that stuff?
Jesus says the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of
riches, and the lusts of other things choke his word out of
your heart and it becomes unfruitful.
And he's so patient with us because he knows we're all going
to go through those days of being unfruitful.
He's going to say, do you guys really care about this?
Like what I did for you? Yeah, I do, Lord, but I'm really
busy because I got these things I got to do.
Where are these things I want to do?
And he's so merciful. He knows how we're wired.
We can get. So ADD, right?
We're all ADD spiritually, ADD right.
We can be like all tuned in, like really connected and really
resonating and really connecting with it all.
And then there can be times where like we're just not and
we're the, we're the ones that lose when we're like that
because there's no life in this life.
The life is in him. And the more you learn to abide
in him and live with him moment by moment, let him be your
priority. Talk to him all day.
You're just tuned into him. Guess what?
Nothing else really matters anymore.
Nothing else is that important. You really don't need anything
when you have Jesus. You have everything when you
have Christ, and Paul understood that.
So in Revelation 20, it talks about the millennial Kingdom and
the final judgment. And I saw an Angel coming down
from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great
chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that
serpent of old, who is a devil. And Satan bound him for 1000
years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shot him
out, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the
nation's no more till the 1000 years were finished.
But after these things, he'll be released for a little while.
Fascinating like so here we are. We're we're raptured, we're
taken up to be with the Lord. The seven-year tribulation is
finally over. The Antichrist is revealed, he's
a liar and all that stuff's like done in Christ comes with us in
the clouds to the earth for the second coming where he'll
establish his thousand year millennial Kingdom and we'll be
with him. We'll roll and reign with him at
that time. There's going to be work to do.
We, we will be in these supernatural bodies.
We won't die anymore. No one can kill us.
It's just like the Matrix, you know, try to kill me.
I keep coming alive again or whatever.
It's just fascinating. And so the Lord will reign in
Jerusalem. With an iron hand, there won't
be China behaving the way they are now and Russia and Venezuela
and all these crazy rogue nations.
They won't be able to do that anymore when Christ is ruling
and reigning right. And the devil won't be deceiving
anybody and and causing the havoc he's having right now
because he's going to be thrown in the the the the abyss for the
1000 years until that period of time is up.
And what a blessing that's going to be.
But this is what's going to happen.
OK, So this will be going on for 1000 years.
After the 1000 years have finished these things, he'll be
released. And I saw Thrones.
This is the vision of the apostle John when he wrote
revelation about the thousand year reign.
They, they had sat on them and judgement was committed to them.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the
witness for Jesus and for the word of God, who had not
worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his
mark on their foreheads or on their hand during that
tribulation period. There will be some kind of
identification code and I don't know what it's going to look
like, but I know the technologies there are now,
whether they do implants on our wrists or our foreheads to buy
and sell, whether, whether it's the iPhone that you know, you're
not going to be able to do anything unless you have this
with a special code. And when you go to the store,
you're going to go on a trip or somewhere, you have to have that
code. And if you don't have it,
they're going to say, we're sorry, Sir, you're blocked.
You can't buy anything here. And the identification code is
that I pay homage and allegiance to the Antichrist, the ruler of
the world at that time that says I can't do anything unless I I'm
100% devoted and committed to his ways.
So the judges at this time in Revelation, they can see all the
people that were martyred during the Tribulation.
And then there will be believers in the Tribulation, people who
will come to faith in Christ after we're out of here.
They'll say, boy, I remember what Clark was telling me.
I never believed it. Now I know it's true.
And I'm not taking out Mark. And people will be martyred who
had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received
His mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
And they lived and they reigned with Christ for 1000 years.
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand
years were finished. Now these are all the people
that had died without Christ. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed is the Holy One. Blessed and holy is he who has
part in the first resurrection. That's us over such.
The second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God
and of Christ, and shall reign with Him 1000 years.
Now when the 1000 years have expired, Satan will be released
from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are
in the four corners of the earth.
This is the final battle. Gog and Magog to gather them
together to battle, whose number is the sand of the sea.
And they went up the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the
camp of the Saints and beloved city.
And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are.
The Antichrist, the false prophet, they're already doomed.
Not this for a little while. This is it, This is final done,
and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven had fled away, and there
was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before God. Now we won't be standing at the
great white throne judgment because we were forgiven.
This is for people who have not ever put their faith in Jesus,
and it's a fair judgment. The books were open and another
book was open, which is the Book of life, and the dead were
judged according to their works. Whenever you die as an
unbeliever, you have no standing other than how you lived your
life. And if you haven't lived your
life perfectly, you're it doesn't matter.
You're you're going to go to hell.
You might say, well, I did this, I did this good.
I was like, doesn't matter. The only way you can get into
heaven is through the perfect shed blood of Jesus and his
righteousness. That's what gives you access
into the throne room of God without guilt and without shame.
And the dead are judged according to this book,
according to their works, by the things which were written in the
books. The sea gave up the dead.
These are all the other people that weren't resurrected when we
were, that weren't believers. We're in it and death in Hades.
They were delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were
judged, each one according to his works.
Then death in Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death and this is sobering.
And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire. Aren't you glad your name is
written in the book of life? Jesus has your names written
there and they can't be erased out there there forever.
You're His, you belong to Him, and you have everlasting life.
So wonderful, isn't it? So wonderful.
So as I wind down here in First Corinthians 15, he makes his
comment about people being baptized for the dead.
There was false teaching, Pagan mysticism and calls and people
thought, well, if if my family died and they never got
baptized, I'm going to get baptized for them and my baptism
will be accredited their account to their account so they can be
in heaven. Well, first of all, baptism
doesn't save anybody. The thief on the cross was never
baptized. And Jesus, when he said that
Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when you're in paradise, he said,
sure, surely this day you shall be with me in paradise.
He didn't yell down, hey, get this guy off the cross and dunk
him in water. And then once he's in water and
then I can promise him he'll be with me in paradise.
That didn't happen. He was immediately taken to be
with the Lord. But anyway, Paul's making a
point here. If these people are so desperate
because of understanding the need of resurrection, but
they're they got messed up teaching.
They're they're so focused on trying to do what they can to
get someone who's dead in into heaven and it won't work.
He says, why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?
And this is Paul and the apostles.
I affirm by the boasting to you, which I have in Christ Jesus our
Lord. I die daily.
If in the manner of men I have fought with beast and Ephesus.
What advantage is it to me? In other words, Paul saying, now
look at my life. I've been in prison, I've been
threatened to be martyred. Eventually he was martyred.
He says you think I'd be doing this stuff if this resurrection
wasn't true. You're crazy.
He said if the dead do not rise, if in other words everything
that was written here, if this isn't true, let us eat, drink
and be merry. Why?
For tomorrow we die. Let us eat, drink and be merry,
for tomorrow we die. Now this last verse I'm going to
read is also very sobering. It says don't be deceived.
Evil company corrupts good habits.
As a Christian, if you ever hung around some people you know you
shouldn't hang around. Usually they have more of an
influence on you than you do with them, and all of a sudden
your worldview starts changing. Well, they're not too bad.
They're nice people. I don't think transgenderism is
that big of a deal. Yeah, they had an abortion.
That's their right. They can do that.
That. I'm not gonna say anything about
that. That's their business.
Or, you know, immorality, sexual morality, fornication, adultery,
you know, they, they're nice people, they do that stuff.
But I'm not doing that. Well, you better watch out,
because the more you hang around people that act that way, the
more you can begin to become that way.
And Paul's warning people here. Evil company corrupts good
habits. Awake to righteousness.
Wake up everybody and don't sin. Don't be practicing sin.
You know why for some have not the knowledge of God, he says,
and I speak this to your shame. So as a worship team can come
forward, Paul's wanting us to wake up here to this truth of
resurrection. So first of all, we have an
impulse and a desire to tell people about what Christ has
done for us. Share the gospel, right?
That's what we do. We're having gospel training
here next Saturday 9:00. If anybody wants to learn how to
share their faith and conversational way, not
pressure, but this try to get people to be open minded about
the gospel. Paul wants the church in Corinth
and the church in Greensburg to wake up to the fact that there's
a lot of people that don't know who Jesus is, right?
You know, people that don't know Jesus.
I know people don't know Jesus. We need to pray and ask God to
give us the grace to be able to tell them about Jesus.
Let them listen to Grace FM tell them to tune in to 91.7.
They'll hear the pastors on their share of the gospel all
day long. And you, you share the gospel.
So that is a a lot of stuff you guys had to listen to today.
And I hope you're not confused. If you're confused, ask Lewis.
He'll help you out. No, we'll, we'll all help you
out here. All, all that.
Most of us believe what I what I taught today.
So let's take the Lord's Supper. I mentioned the Underwood's had
a baby. Did I mention that?
Oh, OK. Beautiful little baby.
They're probably watching. We rejoice and congratulate you
guys. Everything's good with the baby.
Amen. Lord, we're so grateful for the
truth of your word and Lord God, how you make it accessible to
us, how we can read it for ourselves.
And then Lord, by your grace, be able to understand it and then
believe it and then live it out. I pray for anybody here today
who's heard these things. Maybe they're scared now because
they don't know who you are. They've heard some things that
are going to eventually happen and wonder why or how or how
does that impact me or Lord, I pray that they would just ask
you, Lord, for help. Say, Lord, Jesus, show me the
truth. Show me the way you said you're
the way. You're the truth of the life.
I need to know the way I need to know the truth.
And I definitely want to have the life that's resurrected and
lives forever. And for those of us who
understand these things and have believed them for years and know
them helped us to be stronger in these things and our
convictions. Be more 100% focused upon what
it is You want us to do with all these truths and how we live
them and how we share them. Everything you did for us, Lord,
You gave it all away for us. And You asked so little of us.
Lord. You asked us to simply believe
and to trust You and repent, to turn from our sin.
And Lord, we do that again this morning.
Lord, we ask you to forgive us for anything this past week that
has been not appropriate, hasn't been right.
Attitudes, judgments, criticisms, self centeredness,
Lord, anger, hatred, bitterness, whatever rolls up in our lives
at times, please cleanse us. Give us forgiving hearts of
others. Lord, Lord, you forgive us.
I know as we come to you and say we're sorry, cleanse us as your,
as your children, as believers. And then Lord, if there's anyone
here who isn't a believer today for the first time they can say,
Lord, I'm asking you to forgive me.
I'm asking you to cleanse me. I get it.
And I want to be with you one day in heaven.
I want to sense your presence in my life.
I don't want to be alone anymore in my thoughts.
I don't want to live my life the way I've lived it.
I'm tired of it. It's empty and I see nothing but
ruin broken lives around me every day.
They need you, Jesus, and I need you, Jesus.
Please come into my life and save me.
On the night that Jesus is betrayed.
He took the bread in his hands and he broke it and he gave
thanks and he said, take, eat. This is my body which was given
to you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
The same manner in that evening He took the cup.
He said This cup is a new covenant in my blood which was
shed for the forgiveness of sins of many.
Drink this in remembrance of me. As often as we eat this bread
and we drink this cup, we show forth the Lord's death till he
comes again. God bless you guys.