[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. Man, I'm excited to be in the house of God with you today. Excited because I'm excited every Sunday.
[0:10] I'm excited every time I get to come. I'm excited that he saved me, died for me, so I'm excited for you. I just had the privilege of speaking in the Spanish church. Good crowd over there.
[0:22] And we did the Lord's Supper together. I had a good time doing that. I think that's the first time I've done that with the Spanish church. I'm not sure. I'm sure proud of that. Proud of a Chinese, Brother Nee.
[0:35] Brother Nee, praise the Lord. Brother Nee getting baptized. Thank God for those that have been doing the ESL classes. Thank God for those that have been sharing the gospel. Thank God for those that are just telling people about Jesus.
[0:48] Read with me, if you would, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, there's no resurrection of the dead?
[1:03] I could say that the way I'd like to. I'd say, how dare you say? There are some of you that would say there's no resurrection of the dead. If there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
[1:17] And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, we are found false witnesses, liars, false witnesses of God, because we have testified that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up.
[1:35] If so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins.
[1:46] Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to be with your people. God, I ask you to encourage them. I ask you to help them understand that we live life in light of eternity.
[2:05] I pray for those in this room that may not be saved. They're not sure they'd go to heaven if they were to die, and they do not have the security of their salvation. I pray that today they would be saved.
[2:15] And then I pray to your God for Christians that they'd be encouraged. And I'll give you praise and honor and glory for all that you do. In Jesus' name, amen. When I was a kid, we had a fellow come to our church.
[2:31] God used them greatly in my life. Jim Shelby and David Busby, and I'll never forget them. God used them to wake me up and realize it was time to quit playing and get serious about loving God.
[2:41] But one day in a class in front of everybody, Jim Shelby said, the Christian life is so good that if there was no eternity, and if there was no heaven, and if there was no hell, and none of it was true, this would be enough.
[3:00] God's given us a good life. I thought, sounds pretty good. I like being a Christian. I like living a Christian life. I got in the car, and on the way home, my mother said, that's crazy.
[3:12] That guy hadn't read the Bible. She said, Paul said, if this is all we got, we're of all creatures most miserable. My mother said, somebody needs to help him.
[3:25] I said, now, Mama, living this life right now is a good life. She said, might be, but ain't heaven. Might be, but there's a lot of stuff goes on here. I remember that to today.
[3:37] And as you look at the resurrection, it's when you might think to yourself, you came to church, and maybe you're not as frequent at coming, and you're here today, and you're like, well, I don't know. What's the big deal about the resurrection?
[3:48] I know churches are about morality. I know churches are about getting people to do right and do good stuff. But the truth of the matter is, a good church isn't about any of that. A good church is about how Jesus died on a cross, paid our sin debt, rescued us from death and hell.
[4:07] 1 Corinthians chapter 15 makes it very clear that the last enemy that will be put down is death. And can we just be honest a second? It scares all of us.
[4:19] We don't like graveyards. We don't particularly like funeral homes. We tend to think that the guy who lives in a funeral home must be a little off. Come on, be honest.
[4:30] Let me just take you riding in my car late at night through some graveyard and see how you feel about it. Or let me take you to a funeral.
[4:41] In America, we've sanitized funerals every way we can. We don't want to think about it. When I was a boy, a long time ago, thank God there's some older people here today, older than me.
[4:53] Praise God, I'm about number 10 in the room. But that helps Betty too. She's number nine, amen. But when I was a kid, you'd be driving down the road and you'd come by a sign and that sign would say, slow down, be quiet, be reverent, death in the family.
[5:14] Different signs would be along the road. You might remember that. Some of you old enough, you'd drive down the road and there'd be those signs and come around the corner. It'd be a little bitty house, honestly, not big enough for all those cars. There'd be more cars out there.
[5:25] There was one person per car that couldn't fit in that house and that house was packed with people and the body was in the house. People were sitting out in the yard and they sat with that body for three days. My goodness, I remember those days.
[5:37] I am so thankful they figured out I get to go home and take a nap, amen. And then they moved it to the funeral home and when they got it to the funeral home, they let you set up with the body all night.
[5:48] It was a wake. That's what they called it, the wake. And you had to be awake at the wake. And it was a miserable time. And then they moved it now where you, you know, a few hours a day and a few hours tomorrow and now they got it down to a couple hours down and we'll get it over with.
[6:03] It was horrible. They didn't have, they didn't have those vaults back in the day when I started going to funerals as a preacher. I had to do a bunch of them. And they put that wooden casket or that metal casket and they get it in the bottom.
[6:16] And back then they'd go ahead and throw dirt on it right while you're standing there. There's nothing that sounds more empty and more horrible than that dirt falling on that casket and making that noise. And then the wife or the mom or the brother or the sister fainting and it's a horrible time.
[6:33] So 1 Corinthians 15 says, there's more to it than that. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 makes it clear. And I just, if you go home with anything, I need you to understand, here's the bottom line of everything this morning.
[6:47] And if you don't believe in the resurrection, you can't believe anything else in the Bible. If you don't believe in the resurrection, you can't believe in anything else in the Bible. And that here, here's the deal.
[6:58] In the last few days, weeks, our church has lost more people than we have in the 13 years that the church has been here. People that are loved ones have died and been buried.
[7:10] None of that is ever easy. But I want you to remember, we live life in light of eternity. We do not live life now and this is it.
[7:22] And we may have a good life today. We may have a good life. We may live in a nice house and wear nice clothes and eat nice food and have our freedom and have all of that. And we might think, man, I think heaven's on earth.
[7:35] But I promise you, it's a whole lot better than this. Some of us have buried somebody we loved. It hurt. Others have loved ones that are literally on death's door right now.
[7:48] One man's in the hospital right now. Blood transfusion yesterday. Hours maybe from heaven or maybe the Lord will heal him. But death stares us in the face.
[8:01] But here's the promise. He died. He was buried and he rose again. And he has the keys to death and hell. Some people teach soul sleep.
[8:14] And in soul sleep, the body dies. The person dies. And I will show you this tonight. But when Jesus died, when Jesus died, they get into the tomb. They said, that's where the body lay. They said, that's where Jesus lay.
[8:25] I'll tell you about that one tonight. That's pretty good. When they walked in there, they said, that's where his body lay. You see, that's not where they are. That's where his body is. That's where he was. But some people teach soul sleep. And by that, they think that when you die, you are put in the ground and you're just there.
[8:40] And they're throwing dirt on you and you're stuck in a niche somewhere. And that's the way it is. And you wait 2,000 years. And then one day he'll wake us up. That's not what the Bible teaches.
[8:50] But some religion teaches that. Other people teach an annihilation or extinction. It's like the idea that when you die, it's all over. In Spanish, the word morir, to die, is translated literally, to quit existing.
[9:07] To quit existing. In the English dictionary, it doesn't quite come out that clear. But if you read it and understand it, it's at the end of all life. It's not the end of all life. It's not the end of all life.
[9:19] According to the Bible, an eternal God who had no beginning and no ending. A God who said, my name is I Am. Because he never was and he never will be.
[9:31] He's always God. He's always the same. And they say that when you die, you're like a dog or a cat or a goldfish. And it's just over.
[9:43] And go buy a new one and get on with life. But that's not what the Bible teaches at all. Others teach reincarnation. If you were good in this life, maybe you could come back as a richer person in your next life.
[9:57] And if you were bad, maybe you'll come back as a cow or a cockroach. And that's why whole countries won't eat certain meat. They won't eat a cow. Because it could be.
[10:08] Your loved ones. They won't kill a rat that's eating their grain. Because it could be. Their loved one. Some think you're a spark of life that will join the great eternal fire.
[10:20] Or get lost in the big divine mind. But the Bible teaches you will live again. The fact is it teaches more than that. Hang on. Open your Bibles.
[10:31] Job chapter 19 and verse 26. Job in the Old Testament. A book we'll be getting into shortly. And Job said this. Although after my skin, though after my skin, worms destroy the body.
[10:45] And though after my skin, worms destroy the body. Yet in my flesh, I will see God. Now wait a minute. He didn't say I'll see God. Because some of y'all think, well maybe we'll die.
[10:56] And we'll float around without a body. And we'll be like Casper the Ghost. And we'll get to see God. I don't know what he said. He said, In my body. You got your Bible open? You ought to underline that. He said, He said, In my flesh, in this right here, I will see God.
[11:14] Psalm chapter 17 and verse 15. The psalmist said, As for me, I will behold thy face. God, I will see your face in righteousness. And I shall be satisfied.
[11:26] When I wake. With thy likeness. So when they bury me, they put me in the ground. And you're like, his body's going to rot. Or I'm going to incinerate it. Or the worms are going to eat it.
[11:37] Or the fish got it. Or whatever happened. Or it turned to dust. Job said, Oh no, but I'll be back. I'll see him. And David said, or the psalmist said, When I wake, I will see thy likeness.
[11:48] Daniel chapter 12 and verse 2. The Bible said, Many that sleep in the dust shall awake. Some to everlasting life. And some to shame and everlasting contempt.
[11:59] There's the first time of the verses I'm using it's mentioned. All of us are going to live somewhere. Everybody's going to live somewhere forever. I hate to tell you this, but you're only temporarily here.
[12:11] You're only temporarily here. You remember that first house you lived in right after you got married? Maybe it was a mother-in-law suite. Or maybe it was a little house on the side. Betty and I lived in a little place that wasn't much bigger than her bedroom before she left her mom and daddy's house.
[12:27] And then after that, we moved over to a house that was a little bit bigger, but in a shady part of town. And every now and then I drive by there and those houses, some of them are already gone.
[12:37] I mean, it's only been 45 years. Give me a break. They're temporary places. But let me explain something to you. You're in a temporary body. But Jesus promised life after death.
[12:51] In John chapter six and verse 44, no man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day.
[13:03] Jesus said, I'll get you. I'm not leaving you. You're not getting saved to follow me so you can build a church and give a lot of money and support a pastor and send some missionaries and then die like an animal.
[13:14] Nope. There's life after death. John chapter 11, 11 and verse 25 and 26. Two verses. This is just introduction, but the two verses you ought to really enjoy.
[13:26] Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. Now, by the way, that statement alone, he said, I am, I am, that's his name in the Old Testament.
[13:38] He's always present, always powerful, but when he said, you want to know who I am. Man, in my Sunday's go class, a great friend of all of ours at this church, he said, I like finding God's names and I like praying them back to him.
[13:52] It's one of his favorite things. He even has a Bible college student that says, y'all meet with me and give me more names. I like his names. Here's one. I am the resurrection. So you don't believe in the resurrection? You don't believe in him.
[14:03] He said, I am the resurrection. Then he said, and I am the life. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
[14:17] Oh, hang on. That ain't nothing. It's about to get gooder. Look at what he says in verse 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
[14:30] And then he said, y'all believe that? Believe us how this? Jesus is looking at him and saying, boys, you ain't gonna die. We see death as tragedy because we lose them.
[14:44] But if you believe the verse I just read, in that second, they died if they were born again. They woke up in glory. They just like, boom, it's over. I'm out of here. I'm in heaven. They didn't lay there and moan and groan.
[14:55] They weren't buried underground and dirt thrown on them. They weren't, here's the body of Jesus before the body was laid. He's in heaven. Some sweet people that were born again died this week in Texas.
[15:08] And before anybody knew what happened, they were in heaven. They didn't die. They just changed locations. They didn't die. They just moved out and moved in.
[15:19] To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So go back with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If you believe the Bible, you must believe in a literal bodily resurrection.
[15:37] Bodily resurrection. See, it's not, you don't feel the raindrops and know that your mama's there crying and you don't feel the wind blowing on your skin and think they're there.
[15:49] They're not Casper the ghost. They physically live again. Well, I wish I had time to show you all this. Some beautiful stuff. Look at this, verse 12 again.
[16:00] Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, do y'all believe, how many of you believe that Jesus died and was buried and rose again? Say amen. Now, if you believe that, if you preach that, how does some of you people say that we won't rise again?
[16:17] That's the verse. Look at it. Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how some of y'all saying there's no resurrection of the dead, how y'all doing that? You can't say this and that and change it to that.
[16:28] If Jesus is life and Jesus is resurrection and he rose from the dead, then how could y'all say that we won't rise? Because verse 13, if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ did not rise again.
[16:43] And if Christ be not risen, we're wasting our time preaching. Our preaching is vain and your faith is vain. What a waste of time to believe the Bible if Jesus didn't rise again.
[16:58] And Paul said, not only that, I'm a liar, a false witness because I testify to you that God raised up Christ. Verse 16, if the dead rise not, then Christ is not raised.
[17:11] If Christ be not raised, then your faith is vain. And you need to underline this in your Bible and you're still in your sin. A lot of people die.
[17:24] The fact is, only a few people haven't died. I mean, if you believe the Bible, which I do, a couple of guys didn't die. One got taken out on a chariot and one walked to God and wasn't and that's about it.
[17:38] People die. I have spent my life knowing people die. I've gotten a phone call in the middle of the night. I've gotten a phone. I sat beside my daddy as I heard him and he sounded like he was underwater trying to breathe and I sat there with him over a week and all of a sudden it quit.
[18:00] But if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, you're not saved. Your sins aren't forgiven. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, verse 18, then also they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
[18:16] If Jesus didn't come back and everybody we know that's already died, they're gone. There's gone as gold to the goldfish. There is gone as any other thing that's ever died.
[18:31] There is gone as a tree that dies in the woods and falls down and rots. That's all there is if Jesus doesn't rise. Look at verse 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
[18:48] That's the verse my mama remembered that day. When Jim Shelby who loved Jesus and was trying to help young people to realize living for Jesus was a worthwhile life, I think his intentions were good.
[18:59] I think he was right. In his heart, he was trying to say something good but my mama said, well if that's all there is, we're of all men most miserable. We believe Jesus died on a cross.
[19:10] We believe he was buried. We believe he rose again and if we didn't believe that, we'd be of all people most miserable. You know Jesus told us he was going to die.
[19:24] Did you know that? Death didn't surprise Jesus. The fact is no one took his life. He laid down his life. When Jesus died, Jews didn't kill him. Romans didn't kill him.
[19:36] Sinners didn't kill him. But he loved us enough that he gave his life for us. The Bible says in John chapter 10 and verse 15, as the Father knows me even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.
[19:52] He said, I'm about to die. In a little bit some wild stuff's going to start happening. By the way, I already know it. I could duck town and run the other direction but I'm not doing that. I could get out of this but I won't do that.
[20:04] I came here to die. And I'm about to die. Nobody's going to take my life. I'm going to lay it down. Say verse 18. Look at it. John chapter 10 and verse 18.
[20:16] I skipped 17. Therefore, does my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. Jesus said, watch this. I'm about to die on purpose and get up on purpose.
[20:28] I'm God. I love what Tony Howitz said. I think it was Friday night. He said, there wasn't one second Jesus wasn't in control. There wasn't one second when Jesus was like, oh, they're killing me. I don't know what's going to happen here.
[20:39] Jesus is like, I'm laying it down. I like that. Look at verse 18. No man takes it, my life, from me. I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again.
[20:55] This commandment have I received of my Father. He told us He was going to die. Some of you almost have this philosophy that Jesus was a wee little good man walking around doing a lot of really good stuff and the big bad bullies beat Him up and killed a poor guy and it's so sad how mean life is.
[21:14] That is totally not the Bible truth. The Bible truth is everybody on this earth deserve to go to hell and Jesus said, I'll go lay my life down. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, to looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
[21:30] Do you know who had the plan for Jesus to die? He's the author. He did something in heaven and God go, I'm going to kill you so I can save them. I don't know what happened. He's the author. Can I get an amen right there?
[21:42] Jesus loved you enough that Jesus said, I'll die. But He didn't just die. In Hebrews 12, in verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
[21:52] He didn't just write the plan. He sealed the plan. He just didn't say, I'll go part of the way. He finished it. Nobody in this room needs to do 1% to go to heaven. Nobody in this room needs to do a half a percent to go to heaven.
[22:05] Jesus did it all. Now, Paul said, if He didn't rise again, then we're false witnesses. I'm sure you saw it, but somebody put on Facebook that Chuck Colson used to work for President Nixon.
[22:17] He said, yeah, I believe the resurrection. He said, all those powerful people that lived in Washington, D.C., they couldn't keep alive for three days. And these apostles kept it and sealed their lives with it.
[22:30] They believed Jesus died and was buried and rose again and no one ever got them to change their story. They'll give you one in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 5. He was seen of Cephas, that's Peter, and then of the 12, that's the apostles.
[22:45] And after that, he was seen of 500 brethren at one time. So, you see, Jesus died. He said He was going to die. Then He died and then there were witnesses. It wasn't like one person said, yeah, I think He's alive.
[22:56] I think I saw Him. I'm not sure, but I think I saw Him. Peter said, I saw Him. And then of the 12 said, we saw Him. In fact, as they touched Him, He actually walked over and said, hey, just stick your hand in there and feel it.
[23:08] See if I'm alive or not. See if I'm here or not. He didn't even get mean to the guy. He just said, touch me, believe, and quit being faithless. I'm here. The 12 saw Him. The 500 saw Him.
[23:21] In verse 7, James saw Him. And then the apostles saw Him again. And Paul said, many saw me, that I saw Him. There's one born out of season in verse 8. In Luke chapter 24, verse 39, they handled Him.
[23:34] They touched Him. They touched Him. And He ate with them. This isn't cast for the ghost that floated in. He sat down with them and said, y'all got any fish? Slap some fish over here.
[23:46] I need a fish sandwich. Pull out the mayonnaise. Let's eat. I'm alive. He didn't die and stay dead. He didn't die and arise kind of spiritually like spooky.
[23:57] He arose in a body they could touch. And they preached it strongly. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 22, old Peter sent up here and preaches in chapter 2, verse 22.
[24:10] He said, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus, the guy from Nazareth, who God approved by giving Him miracles and wonders and signs, was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
[24:25] It was God who gave Him over and your wicked hands, you crucified Him and you slew Him. In verse 24, but God raised Him up.
[24:38] He is alive. He is alive. He is alive. And there were witnesses. He is alive. And there are witnesses. If He didn't rise, then I've been wasting my life.
[24:50] I've given the last almost 50 years of my life to teaching and preaching and sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ. You've given your life. How much money have you given?
[25:01] How many hours have you sat in a church? How many times have you read a Bible through? And if He didn't rise from the dead, you've been wasting your time. But He's alive. And this is what Paul was saying.
[25:12] You ain't wasting nothing. You're not wasting anything. You're not wasting anything. Now, you know why this is important? He died to give us life. He died to give us life.
[25:26] 1 Corinthians 15, verse 21. A man brought death, that was Adam. By man came also, that's Jesus. By man came the resurrection of the dead.
[25:39] It took a human being to mess it up and took God and human flesh to fix it up. Adam messed it up and all the rest of us said, we'll do just like Daddy did. Daddy likes to sin and Daddy likes to rebel against God. And Adam brought death on the human race and everybody's on their way to die.
[25:53] We're all getting ready to die. I'm 64 years old. I've outlived a lot of people. I preach funerals for younger people. I was in Peru. And a guy won the lottery.
[26:07] He was in Hunter where I worked. And all his friends, they found out and he was so excited. They were allowed. I didn't know him personally. I just knew friends of his. And it was in the paper. It was on the news. And he got through winning the lottery.
[26:18] And everything in his life was going right. And he jumped in his car after they'd had a few beers. And he started driving towards town to collect his money. And a truck in front of him with big old rods of steel sticking out of it slammed on his brake.
[26:32] And he ran into the back of the car and impaled himself. And he was dead. And I'm sure in hell. Man brought that on.
[26:45] But God, Jesus, brought life for all of us. In verse 22, In Adam all die. In Christ all shall be made alive. In verse 23, you need to underline this.
[26:57] Christ is the first fruits. You know what he is? He's the proof. The rest of the fruit's on his way. He's like, I beat death. I beat death. And I beat hell. Y'all are in me. Come on. We got her licked.
[27:08] I have the keys of death and hell. In verse 25, He will put down all enemies. And the last enemy he'll destroy will be death. Amen. First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 20.
[27:21] Here's a Bible term for you. I don't know if you ever noticed this, but we always say rest in peace. Where'd that come from? Word of God. You know, you don't say that to your dog.
[27:34] Well, rest in peace. We'll be back to get you tomorrow when you resurrect. We don't do that. The fact is, if you resurrected, we'd be starting a new movie called Dog Zombies. That ain't happening. But you know what the Bible term for dying is for believers?
[27:48] Sleeping. First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.
[28:02] You need to hear something. Death is not eternal. And death is not the end. We die here and we wake up there.
[28:16] I just want you to have some Bible verses to take home with you. Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 6. I just love this. You got to look at it. Jesus is alive. Can you say amen right there?
[28:27] There is power over death in the grave. You ought to say amen right there. Second Corinthians 5, 5. The Bible says, we are always confident. You ought to underline it. I love that. Paul's like, I ain't got the slightest bit of doubt.
[28:38] I'm always confident of this. Watch this. We're always confident knowing that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. We're always confident.
[28:52] Right now, I am not in his presence. Now he's in me and he's real and he's even here, but this ain't heaven. And one day, I will be in his literal presence.
[29:04] There'll be no sun. There'll be no moon. There'll be no day and there'll be no night. Jesus will be the light of the whole place. In verse 8, he said, we are confident. I just said always. I'll say it again.
[29:15] We're confident. And what are we confident of? I say and willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Absent from the body, present with the Lord.
[29:29] I'm telling you, just keep on crying at the funeral. Jesus did. John 11, 35, Lazarus had died and Jesus wept at the funeral. Nothing wrong with you crying at the funeral, but I'll give you a hint.
[29:40] You're a Christian, loved ones, ones that have died and cried, they ain't crying. They ain't even thinking about you or the funeral. Their eyes on the Savior. Their eyes on the God of heaven.
[29:51] They are out of this body and present in his place. It was so good that the Apostle Paul, who God uses right over a third of the New Testament, look what he says in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 23. He said, I'm in a straight.
[30:03] I don't think we understand that, but I'm between a rock and a hard place. That's modern days. In Spanish, you'd be, I'm between the wall and the sword. You got the sword in my belly and I got a wall behind me. I ain't no way to escape out of this.
[30:14] He said, I'm trying to figure out what I ought to do. I'm in a straight betwixt two. It's hard for me to figure out what I ought to do because I have a desire to depart and go lay in the ground under dirt and rot.
[30:26] I know what he says. To sleep for 2,000 years and maybe one day wake up. That's not what he says. He said, I'd like to, just be honest with you. I'd just like to leave here and be with Christ.
[30:40] And be with Christ. He said, man, if I depart, y'all don't need to worry about it. I'm with him. I'm with him. And he said this, are you ready?
[30:52] And that's far better. The apostle Paul didn't say, man, I'd hate to leave my nice house in ball ground. I'd hate to leave my beautiful wife and all my children and all this.
[31:03] Paul said, I'll just be honest with you. Knowing what I know, going to him is great. The fact is, it's not just great. Wow, it's far better. And I'll be honest with you, as much as I know I need to be here for my family and as much as I know I need to be here for ministry, man, if I could, I'd just go ahead and be with him.
[31:23] That's not the talk of a guy who didn't believe Jesus rose from the dead. Your body will remain in a grave waiting on him to return.
[31:34] But we only live in our bodies. This isn't me. I'd like to tell you I'm a lot better looking than this body I happen to carry right now. You see, I just live in here.
[31:46] I could show you pictures of me when I was two. I was good looking. But 63 years, on top of that kind of messed that whole scene up. And it's the same body.
[31:58] But then again, they tell you every seven years you get all new sales, you're a whole new body. This is not me. This is not me. This is where I live. This is not me.
[32:09] The fact is, if I could, if I could, I'd look like I did maybe when I was 20. Not 60 something. I know I'd like to feel like I did when I was 20.
[32:20] This is just where I live. It's not me. I live in this body. Go with me, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians 4, and verse 16.
[32:37] 1 Thessalonians 4, and verse 16. Do you know, do you know where your loved ones are? Jeff's brother died the other day.
[32:52] We went to his funeral. He was a preacher. There wasn't enough room and I didn't get to go in. We had to sit outside. Too many people. You want to know where he's at? They buried his body.
[33:04] I watched. But I ain't where he's at. That's not where he is. Get that grammar right. Listen to this verse. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God.
[33:19] The dead in Christ shall rise first. And then will he bring with him. That's what's going to happen in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 6.
[33:32] Let me tell you what's going to happen. You read it later and get all this straight. God's up in heaven. Jesus is up in heaven. He doesn't even know the day nor the hour he's coming back according to Scripture. So y'all ought not be trying to figure it out.
[33:43] But anyway, so the father will turn to the son and say, hey bud, go get your bride. That's us. And he will bring with him all those people up there with him. He's going to say to Jeff's brother, come on, let's go get your body.
[33:55] I've got to pick all the rest of my people up. And he will descend from heaven in a cloud and he'll be in that cloud and the trump of God will sound and the dead will rise first. He'll fix all those rotted bodies and everything else messed up with him.
[34:08] They'll come busting up by the ground in a new body and a flash and a twinkling of the eye and opening and shutting of the eye quicker than we can even understand. His body will be changed and they'll ever be with the Lord.
[34:19] You know where he's at right now? He's with the Lord. So he can come with the Lord when he comes. He's with the Lord. So how does that affect me? Last thing. How does it affect me?
[34:32] 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 30. The apostle Paul says this. Good night guys. If there's no resurrection what a waste of my life.
[34:43] Verse 30. Why stand we in jeopardy every day? Why do you think I preach this and let people beat me up and leave me shipwrecked and mistreat me?
[34:55] Why do you think in verse 31 I die daily? People try to kill me all the time because Jesus rose. I got to tell people. Verse 32. I have fought with beasts at Ephesus.
[35:06] What advantages me if the dead rise not? Why in the world am I using my life this way if it's not true? Be not deceived. Some of y'all have been hanging around the wrong people.
[35:18] Look if you would at verse 33. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. You know what that meant? Some of y'all have been hanging around people who don't believe the Bible. You've been hanging around people who don't believe Jesus died, buried, and rose again and they've been telling you it's not true and they've been telling you this isn't true and he says it's been messing up your manners.
[35:34] Been messing up the way you think. You've been talking nasty talking about how God isn't real. And he said verse 34 awake to righteousness. There's still some that don't know.
[35:45] Awake to righteousness sin not. Some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. What's that have to do with you?
[35:57] If you've got somebody died, they're going to heaven. They're already in heaven. My sister and my dad's body are buried in the same place up in Gordon County, Calhoun.
[36:11] Pretty close together there. His uncle that was born on my birthday, I think he was a believer. He's buried up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee area. I've been to plenty of funerals.
[36:23] But here's what's going to happen. They're not there. We parked their body there while we wait on him to come fix their body. John chapter 5 verse 28.
[36:36] Marvel not at this. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And they will come out. They shall come forth. They that have done good to resurrection of life, they've done evil to the resurrection of damnation.
[36:50] That doing good is trusting Jesus. That doing bad is not trusting Jesus. So here's what I would say to you. We have hope. We live knowing Jesus died and was buried and rose again.
[37:07] We know that he is victorious. If you're not saved, you will not end life at your death. this week, an ex-president of Peru was the president when we first got there in the 80s.
[37:22] They were coming to catch him because they said he was corrupt and said he let a crime ring even while he was president and so they were coming to arrest him. And he thought, I can't deal with the shame.
[37:35] I can't deal with the pain. And he went in the back room and took a gun and blew his head off. Little did he know, he didn't end his pain. He started his pain because what would have happened here was nothing.
[37:49] He still would have had a chance to be saved. And here's what you need to know. If you're not saved, there is life after death. Everybody's going to live somewhere forever.
[38:01] You're either going to live in heaven and know God and all the beautiful things he has for us. You're going to live with Jesus as the center of everything or you're going to spend eternity in agonizing pain. And no matter how many preachers want to deny that hell is real, you can't read the Bible and not believe that.
[38:15] If you're not saved today, today you ought to get saved. And if you are saved, boy, thank God. You got somebody who died? Can I just tell you that while you're still mourning, they're rejoicing.
[38:30] They're rejoicing. they don't have time to even think about you.
[38:41] They're focused on the one who died for them, the one who rescued them, the one that gave them life. What a God. If you don't know him, today's your day.
[38:53] If you do know him, why don't you say thank you? Why don't you say thank you to him? And why don't you awake to righteousness and stop sinning and tell those that don't know about this good news about Jesus dying for them.
[39:06] God bless you.