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We have.
Been called upon to park with two of our number this week.
They've gone to me with the Lord.
And I was wondering if perhaps the morning reading at least.
We might.
Consider.
The future, that is a brother, one of the brothers that was talking at the funeral said this is not the end of the story.
He said this is not the final resting place.
We often see on the little printed notices.
Final resting place.
Well, you and I know that's not true, so I was wondering.
If it wouldn't refresh our hearts, at least for one reading.
To take up the 15th chapter, First Corinthians.
I.
Perhaps we wouldn't need to read the.
Whole chapter just now but.
Saying the 1St.
19 verses.
1St Corinthians 15 and verse one.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you.
Which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also ye are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How? That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, And that He was buried, And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that He was seen of Cephas. Then of the 12 After that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once.
Of whom the greater part remain unto this present, that some are falling asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and the last of all he was seen of me also as a one born out of you type. For I am the least of the apostles. That I'm not meant to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.
But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
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Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believe. Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, I'll say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain? Yeah. And we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not.
Whereas the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, or perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
You know.
Apostle is very emphatic.
As to the gospel that he had preached unto them.
And he insists.
It's the one by which he himself was blessed.
And I suppose the lesson for you and me is that.
Were not to alter to change it to add to it.
To take from it.
Were just to receive it in all the simplicity that we find it right here in the word.
We're living in a day when everything is being questioned.
And how good to be reminded of the simplicity of the gospel.
Christ died for our sins.
That's where we start.
Nice to see too that the gospel mentioned here is the gospel of God concerning his Son. Isn't it in Romans 1?
How precious that is the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and declared to be the Son of God with power.
So it's the voice of God to us, isn't it the sinners?
And it's the gospel that saves.
By which also you're saved.
It isn't a question of progress.
It's a finished transaction. As to our souls, we are saved. SAVED.
As to our bodies, that's another question.
We haven't received the redemption of the body yet, but the price has been paid and we are guaranteed that.
In God's own time, we'll have that too.
So when we have to part with our loved ones as we have this week.
This isn't the end of the story, as the brother put it.
The Word of God is full of the truth of resurrection.
The oldest book in the Bible.
Joe told us about resurrection.
All right, Brother Brown.
Maybe it might be well to read that verse. Is that 1925?
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Job 1925.
For I know that my Redeemer liveth.
And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.
Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reigns be consumed within me.
As we look into this subject.
It might be well to notice.
That in the chapter that is so much about resurrection, we have no other chapter covering the subject as this one does. But in this chapter there is also made much of death.
Repeatedly, down through the chapter, there's much made of death.
Because it is in contrast to resurrection.
So our Lord Jesus was here as a man.
He lived his life here on the earth.
He went into.
Just the same as.
Others, that is, he was. He experienced death. It's true. He laid down his life. No one took it from him.
But he went into death.
He went into the grave. He was buried.
He was dead.
But of course, he didn't stay there. He couldn't. Death couldn't hold him.
But it was essential that he go through all that experience.
And then?
In the fourth verse he was buried. He rose again.
The third day according to the scriptures.
There was a part of three days.
Friday. Saturday.
And Lord's Day.
That our Lord was there in the grave.
But we can be sure of this.
That he wasn't left there one second longer.
Than it took to fulfill the word of God.
So in his.
Coming forth from the grave, I suppose, actually, if we were to use our terminology.
He came forth.
On what we would call Saturday, it was as it began, as it began to dust toward the first day of the week.
That's Matthew 20.
28.
In the end of the Sabbath.
That would be Saturday, as it began to dusk.
Toward the first day of the week.
That is sundown.
OK, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre, and behold, there was a great earthquake.
Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and they came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Then in the sixth verse.
The Angel says he is not here.
For he is risen.
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As he said.
Come see the place where the Lord lay.
Not come see the place where the Lord lies, but come see the place where the Lord lay.
And the stone was rolled away. That great stone was rolled away.
For what purpose?
Why was the stone rolled away?
Well, that the witness would be fully established.
So they could see he wasn't there and that it brother Gill.
Wasn't rolled away to let him out.
No.
Religion they are dead and so they so they lie, but not so was the delivered and pride.
I know that there's an earthquake on both occasions, at his death and at his resurrection.
Two of the greatest events this world has ever known, the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The very foundation of Christianity, isn't it? The resurrection of Christ.
Christ be not raised, we get in our sins.
So how we should rejoice that not only Christ died for our sins, but he rose again?
According to the scriptures.
Remember, I'm sorry. Go ahead, go ahead, brother. I remember a man on the train talking with a Christian and he said.
I'm going to prove that all the miracles that you read up in the Bible never happened at all.
He said Then you Christians will have nothing to rest upon.
So the Christian said to him, well, it's a gigantic task you're going to undertake to prove that all the miracles recorded in the Bible never happened.
He said I wouldn't go to all that trouble if I were you. He said just prove to me that Christ never rose from the dead and Christianity is gone.
How true it is, if Christ be not raised, we are yet in our sins.
And the man was silent. He couldn't prove that Christ never rose from the dead, but we have the assurance of it in his precious word this morning to cheer and encourage our hearts that the One who died for us rose again. He's living for us, and He's soon coming for us.
How precious a thought.
I wanted to refer to that other earthquake you mentioned, Brother Gladdy, in the 27th chapter of Matthew.
And the 50th verse.
Jesus funny and cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, or dismissed his spirit.
And behold, the veil of the temple is right in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake.
And the rocks rent.
And the greys were open.
Many bodies of the Saints that slapped rose and came out of the graves after his resurrection.
Now I I call attention to a point there that I learned the hard way. I was talking with the 70 Adventist once.
And I had referred to this scripture.
As to the great earthquake.
And the grades opened and the.
And the Saints coming out of the graves.
In connection with our Lord's death.
And he called my attention to the fact that it does not say.
These Saints that slept arose at that time, it says. The graves were opened.
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But it doesn't say the bodies came out of the graves.
The Grays were opened.
And many bodies of the Saints that slept and the roles came out of the grave after his resurrection.
And when entered the holy city, and appeared unto many.
What a tremendous testimony that would be.
Proposing that.
We were to see those two deer ones that.
We have laid away this week.
See them come walking in and sit down and.
In our group here. What a tremendous.
Impression that would make.
Well, evidently these that came out of their graves were such as were known to them, perhaps had died recently.
And it would show that Christ in coming forth from the from the grave.
The assurance, the guarantee that as a result of his work there.
There was resurrection in store for the Saints of God. It was a kind of a pledge.
Of what was involved in that wonderful resurrection.
Christ himself has to be the first fruits of them that slept.
Speaking, brother.
Of the.
Importance of resurrection.
The great English authority.
Greenleaf. I believe it was his name, the great English authority on evidence.
Any lawyer?
Who has been trained in evidence, as they all have been?
Knows about Greenleaf as the author of one of the.
Masterpieces on that subject.
The man was a Christian.
And he makes this remark that from the standpoint of cold evidence, evidence alone, there's no better authenticated fact in all history.
Than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
These things weren't done in a corner. We don't have to apologize for our convictions.
We have a solid foundation.
Be that the case, no wonder the enemy Satan is.
Doing everything possible to take away that fruit, even from the believer. In the days of our Lord, there were the Sadducees. They denied resurrection.
In the days of the apostles, there were those that stated that the resurrection was passed already. We have that in Timothy, and we have it also in our chapter.
The enemy will do anything and everything possible.
To divert our minds and our attentions from that blessed truth of resurrection. No wonder the Apostle Peter.
In the second and third chapters of Acts emphasized that truth, more than perhaps any other truth but this Jesus, whom he had crucified and slain, raised by God.
Important truth, especially for the young people today, and we should lay hold of it.
Large resurrection was spattered in 99.
Well, it's what we call Saturday night. The Jewish day began at sunset.
And the first day of the week began at sunset. That's the way they reckon time.
Well, we we reckon it from sunrise, but that wasn't Jewish reckoning. So according to Matthew here.
You've noticed the reading and Mr. Darby happened, isn't it? Isn't it dusk there, Mr. Darby, as it was at the dusk till the next day after Sabbath came Mary of Magdalene, Yes.
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Pardon.
The first day of the week, very early in the morning, he came under the truck.
That's the king doesn't wait for me. I I had all the thought was to be early on Thursday morning since the Lord. This is this that you're referring to on the 24th of Luke is subsequent to the visitation in the 28th of Matthew. It's a subsequent visitation.
This on the 28th of Luke and the 28th of Matthew was earlier than that.
Well, the Brother Brown, while we're on the subject, how about.
The closing chapter of Mark's Gospel and verse 9.
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week.
Which chapter?
16 verse 9.
Well, I suppose it's the general statement that when Jesus was risen.
Early the first day of the week, he appeared to Mary Magdalene.
Out of whom he had cast 7 demons. And she went and told them that had been with him as they mourned and wept.
That is, it's not punctuated the same way.
When he had risen, yes.
We have comma after rhythm as to the sense of it, yes.
Now, when he had risen very early the first day of the week, he appeared first to marry a Magdala.
That's Mr. Darby's rendering of it, isn't it?
Now, when he had risen very early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdalene.
I suppose if we are back on Jewish chronology we would have no trouble with that, would we? No. The evening and the book of Genesis is said. The evening and the morning were the first day.
Another point that sometimes.
We get in difficulty where there's three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth, connection with our Lord's death and burial.
Well.
The challenge has been made, but he was only there. Just a little over 24 hours actually.
Well, again, we'll have to go back, as our brother has just remarked, to Jewish reckoning. When the Jews spoke of the day, they included the whole 24 hours. That was their way of thinking.
So the three days and three nights.
It amounted to that because our Lord was dead and in the grave, a part of three days and Jewish reckoning that took in the day and the night too.
Your thought on the fact that he had not been left there longer than possible to fulfill the scriptures loving and also as we see those dear ones going to his grave, which was very early in the morning as soon as they could possibly go there. That's hearts affection isn't?
And that's our time, isn't it in John.
In John's gospel, it's a long time. Yes, the first day of the week.
Come with Mary Magdalene early. But these things had transpired before that, had they not? That's it.
Wow, not to be late for the subject, but when we when we say that the in the Jewish reckoning, the Sabbath was passed when the Lord rose. Oh yes indeed was so in their reckoning. It was the first day of the week, certainly.
I think that actions are difficult.
In the evening and the morning where the first day goes all the way back to General.
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Yes, does.
Who asked the question about the hours in Matthew 2745?
6th hour we read there. Now from the 6th hour there was darkness.
Overall, Atlanta the 9th hour.
It is the 6th hour. Would that be 12 noon? Yes.
From noon till 3:00 in the afternoon.
Perhaps we see something of the purposes of God in the reckoning of time. For instance, the statement the evening and the morning where the first day. That sounds unusual to us, man's day begins at midnight and ends at midnight. But God's purpose, I believe, suggests that all will end in a morning. The evening and the morning were the first day. Would there not be something suggestive in that?
God's purpose is that all will end in the morning of blessing with no no end to it.
Without clouds.
Brightness of his Lord.
Well, there are plenty of witnesses.
We have them recorded here.
Now we we have no historical account. Do we have the 500 at once?
But we have the statement of it here.
And that doesn't.
In any way lessen the weight of it.
Scene of about 500 breathing at once.
It doesn't say he was seen by the world, does it? No, there's no record that anyone of the world as far as I remember.
That anyone of the unsaved saw him at all.
He was seen of his own.
After his resurrection.
God does not need the world's witness or testimony.
And that's something that's unusual.
Man would have to go by what man says, but in spite of no witnesses of the unsaved of the world that reject Christ.
God has given us the greatest evidence, as you've said before, of the resurrection of Christ and as our brother.
Said in Acts.
The book of Acts, where the Lord Jesus is on high and has received the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. So the book of Acts gives us the acts of the Holy Spirit. The power of that life was evidenced in many that he was risen.
The mention of the 500 here seems to suggest to a little meditation. We don't know very much. In fact, I suppose we know nothing about them except the mansion given here. But there were 500 who were entitled to the happy name of brethren, but there were only about 120 together on the day of Pentecost.
There were 70 whom the Lord chose to send forth to by two. There were 12 whom the Lord appointed to be with him and whom He might send forth to preach. There were three who had the joy of being with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane. But there was only one who leaned on His bosom and had the joy of considering Himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Well, there's a fair number of us here together today, and I believe perhaps each of us can covet within our hearts the joy of that nearness leading on His bosom and enjoying His love.
Thought too, that at the Cross there was only one that gave witness.
The one who hung beside him, The others had forsaken him and fled. And in Isaiah there's a verse.
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I'll read it in connection with possibly suggesting the thought at the cross of the Lord's.
Own laborers. Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naughty and in vain. Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. Now this is encouraging, because in resurrection there were 500 brethren seen, but at the cross there was no evidence outwardly of any fruit.
Except, of course, this thief.
Who gave witness? But here we see that there was fruit, and it was to be seen in resurrection. Now I think also of a verse in the last of First Corinthians, or the last of this chapter.
That we're reading.
Very encouraging verse chorus.
58th verse And therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, and coupled with that, that verse in Hebrews that says without faith it's impossible to fleeze him.
Some are falling asleep, some of the 500.
That term fallen asleep is reserved for the Lord's people, isn't it?
That term belongs only to his own falling asleep.
Christ died. Could we sleep? Is that correct? Yes. So the first Christian martyr.
In the acts.
Turn to that for just a moment.
Acts 7, verse 60.
I.
I'd read from the 27th verse.
And including the 60th verse. Read it, brother. Growth, please.
57 through 60.
When they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one of course, and cast him out of the city, and told him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Paul, And they stole Stevens, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice.
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
How sweet that expression. He fell asleep.
It doesn't say he died, it says he fell asleep.
But before he fell asleep.
He he looks up, he sees the Lord Jesus.
And he says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. It is not the spirit that sleeps.
It's the body that sleeps.
But the Spirit is with Christ to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Brother Brown, and you give us a thought in connection with the words of the Lord to the thief, that today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
What is the?
Meaning of definition of paradise.
Paradise.
As.
The the the word itself.
It's a garden of delights.
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Paradise.
And.
To be with him, of course, is the greatest thing that could possibly be desired today. Shalt thou be with me in paradise now?
When death comes in.
There are. Well, let's turn to that passage in lieu.
2343.
42nd verse He said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I send thee.
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
We're now in connection with the the rich man.
Let's turn to that in loop. Also, what chapter is that?
Yes.
Now here we have a different term.
In the 19th verse there was a certain rich man.
And 20th verse, a certain beggar named Lazarus.
22nd verse came to pass. The beggar died.
And was carried by Abraham, and carried by angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man.
Also died and was buried and in hell or Hades. In Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torments.
For now, in Hades.
Hades, well, Hades is not a place but a condition.
Now our Lord was in Hades.
During the time that he was.
Dead.
Uh, Hades is a condition that disembodied condition.
But now while in this disembodied condition.
There are two places referred to. One is paradise and the other is as we have here with.
This man and the rich man in the 16th chapter.
He was in torment.
Heaps in misery, torment, torment on the one hand.
Paradise, the presence of the Lord, the place of delight.
So that all go into the disembodied state.
But oh, what a difference between being in torment or being as put in Jewish language here in Abraham's bosom, which was of course.
A very tender place in their thinking.
So with.
Stephen here the first Christian martyr.
Well, he as he died, he fell asleep.
He was in Hades.
The disembodied statement Where was his spirit?
But Spirit was with the Lord. Lord Jesus received my spirit.
Perhaps there are four places in Scripture we can think of Indiana which that brought to our attention, and in each case the preeminent thought seems to be there being with Christ. There is a thief which has just been referred to. Verily, I sent thee today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Then there is Stephen, which also has been referred to. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Then in Philippians one we have the breeding of the Apostle Paul.
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Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better than in 2nd Corinthians 5, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. The description of that place, I suppose couldn't be understand by it, understood by us, if it were possible to to describe it.
Brother Hijo, isn't that carried out?
Just what you've said in 2nd Corinthians 12.
The apostle says in 2nd Corinthians 12 It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory.
First verse I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I knew, or preferably I know a man in Christ above 14 years ago.
All right, Sir, just put in this side remark. It's rather interesting that that 14 years ago would pretty well fit in with the time that Paul was supposed to be stoned to death.
I know a man in Christ about 14 years ago.
Whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth such and one caught up to the 3rd heaven.
Well, that's paradise, the 3rd heaven.
And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body. I cannot tell how he was caught up into paradise.
And heard unspeakable words.
Now the point there is this I believe.
Paul saw and heard things when he had that excursion into paradise, into heaven.
He found himself.
And new circumstances and condition place surroundings.
And he thought, well, now there are no words that I know to express this. It'll take a different language to describe this.
So when he came back.
He said I heard unspeakable words.
Which is not possible for a man to utter. It cannot be put in words.
It's a different language. I've used this illustration.
If I had gone to.
A lecture by Einstein on relativity and sat there and listened. It wouldn't have meant a thing to me because I have no background to know what he's talking about.
So we haven't the background yet.
To understand what Paul saw, and he never attempted to tell us a thing that he saw, except that he was caught up into paradise and saw these wonderful, wonderful things.
So that we know from this scripture that paradise is the 3rd heaven, the place of delights.
Is that the reference of our?
Our present chapter that we're reading the eighth verse.
Where Paul says last of all he was seen of me also.
Was he not referring there to what he records in Acts?
My.
Tax 9.
What verse do you have in mind, brother?
Well, they saw this. You mean the Stoney?
Yes.
That's that's.
Paul rehearses it in one of his dresses.
What about October 917?
Read it, brother.
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Ananias speaking, brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way, as thou came, as have sent me.
I was thinking of Acts 22.
Acts 22, verse 17.
And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the Temple, I was in the trance and I saw him.
Saying unto me.
Make haste and get the quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I've imprisoned and beaten every synagogue them that believed on me. 21St Verse. And he said unto me to part, I will send thee far hence under the Gentiles. He was in a trance in the temple, and he saw him he saw.
Brother Haywell gave us 4 scriptures as to.
The spirit being absent from the body and present to the Lord, might we add a fifth one, and probably the first one?
And that is in Luke 2346.
Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
He is the one that has gone in in that way first.
And.
It's important to see that truth, that it was actually his spirit going into the glory, into the hands of the Father. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, the pattern for all others.
Another expression I'd like to add to yours, Brother Brown, you spoke about.
In Luke 16 where?
It is. I forget how you put it, but I wanted to add the term the intermediate state.
In that it is the state of the soul.
After its departure until the resurrection.
Body, yes.
I like the expression the 3rd heaven. I wonder sometimes if it's taken to be simply a poetical expression without very much meaning. But the way in which you've brought it out is, I believe, very important and wonderful. We read in Genesis one verse one of the ordering of the at least one heaven, shall I say. Perhaps we could say in the 14th verse of Genesis one we read of the ordering of another heaven making two.
But where do we read of the creation or the ordering of the 3rd heaven? Never. It was uncreated. And when Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven, he was caught up beyond those two heavens which are described in Genesis 1, into a heaven that never had a beginning, into a home of uncreated glory. Is it any wonder that it couldn't be described in any attempt to visualize?
Or to describe heaven is sure to be far, far short of the reality, and we should thank God for that.
He's able to do exceeding abundant above all that we ask or think. That's lovely if you and I were asked to describe what we would like heaven to be, and we all got together and expressed the fullest fondest wishes of our hearts.
How long would it satisfy us all? We should be glad that we're going into a home of uncreated glory, primarily into his own presence.
The 1St heaven, the atmospheric heavens.
And then we get the starry heavens, which is the immense reach of creation. And then his brother Aho has just brought before us the 3rd heaven, which is really the presence of God Himself.
It's Small wonder that the communists can't see God when they're up in their missiles.
00:55:06
Pass through the heavens in Hebrews. But in the 6th chapter the forerunner is entered for us, is it not?
Guaranteeing our being there.
Yes, the Scripture speaks of Him passing into the heavens, passing through the heavens, and far above all heavens.
We have been talking of the joy, the glory before us. And it would.
Seeing that there should be no thought of sorrow in death, especially for the one going there. But would someone care to comment about the dear ones left behind?
The departed one has gone to be with Christ, and we rejoice in it, but we who are left behind, we sorrow. Are we wrong in expressing this sorrow? Are we wrong in weeping?
1St Thessalonians 4.
1St 13.
Yes, read it brother.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Then the last verse.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words, we sorrow, but we don't sorrow as those that have no hope.
And so, our Lord, at the grave of Lazarus, he wept.
Well, we.
We know that that weeping had a double meaning.
There was his beloved Lazarus in death.
And as a man, he felt it keenly.
He wept.
But I believe it went much farther than that.
He saw in that grave of Lazarus, and we remember what the Scripture says. Lord, by this time He stinketh.
There was not only death there, but there was corruption.
He saw in that a picture of the awful havoc that sin had wrought in this world.
Jesus wept.
So there's nothing wrong about weeping, but we're not to sorrow as those that have no hope for we know that for those who departed to be with Christ, it's far better and we know that we're going to be with them and perhaps today.
Didn't the question of waiting for 50 years, but perhaps today we'll be with them.
The groanings in the spirit there were deeper than the weeping. Were they not yet?
The most delightful example in the Old Testament of the child of God confronted with death of the dear one. And that's in the case of Abraham.
When Sarah, his wife, died in the 23rd chapter of Genesis, we read that Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her, and this surely was appropriate.
For one who had for so many years.
Walk closely with a loved one.
But the morning and the weeping don't persist, and in the next verse we read the third verse. Abraham stood up.
Stood up from before his death, but one has found.
A very happy thought in connection with that, that this is the appropriate attitude of the child of God of whatever dispensation.
We would be callous indeed to.
Have no sorrow at the loss of a loved one, but it doesn't behoove us to weep as others, as we've already remarked. And so figuratively, we stand up and displace the world as Abraham did, that we have something that is a real hope for those of the department. They had a a nurse who ruled with us, stayed at our home for several years.
And she made a remark about being with those that die, she said.
01:00:00
That never.
Two kinds of folks that she hated to be around when they died.
One were Jews.
When there was death in the home.
One was Jews and the other I'll not name, but it was a certain denomination. Tremendous big affair.
She said there was always such hopelessness.
And these two cases that she hated to be there when her patient died because of the hopeless mourning.
Well, how different it is, and we've seen it over and over again among Saints of God that know and love the Lord and know the truth, how the Lord sustains them in these hours, and how they rise above the sorrow and rejoice in the consolations of Christ.
Have a very precious words in the 21St Revelation, the first few verses among those things, Paul was not unable to tell us much about heaven. He couldn't explain it to you in a different language. We wouldn't understand it. But in the 21St chapter, the first few verses of Revelation gives us some things that we do understand that we might understand more about them. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the 1St heaven and the first earth were passed away.
And there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bright adorn for her husband. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. That's very precious. And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from her eyes.
There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Oh, thank God, These are some of the things that we experienced down here, and we know what they are. We felt the pain and the sorrow of them. But in that glory hole that we're going to be with Christ, where God will reign, will be like Christ with them and like him, there'll be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more death. We can understand those things, can we not?
And at a more fully into the joys of that home that were soon going to enter the Father's house.
There's been a remark made often warning us of those who speak about soul sleep.
Something like we said to warn all of us as to something that sounds like this, which we enjoy. That is not right.
Forgotten what that strong doctrine was about Souls.
Well, there are many.
False brands of Christianity.
That teach soul sleep, which is the individual is completely.
Unconscious.
There's no heaven, there's no hell. It's just.
They're put to sleep and they don't know anything. That's a common doctrine among the the sects that have given up the truth of the word soul sleep.
The subject as to sleeping.
Refers only to the body.
In the end of James chapter 2, perhaps verse 26.
It says that.
The body without the Spirit is dead.
That's the physical body without the Spirit is dead, and to that only does that expression apply.
To sleep or put to sleep in Jesus.
Another thought is that.
It is the very opposite of the thought of Haiti.
Hades is the state of the Spirit without the body, Death is.
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The body without the spirit, they're just the opposite.
Are the two brought together in Revelation 20 verse 14?
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. Is that the body and the spirit being reunited and cast into the lake of fire?
Brother Brown.
Doesn't refer to the end of both. That's it.
Yeah, the end of both.
This is for the dead. This is the resurrection of the dead. But the resurrection of life would always be out from among the dead, would it not?
I was, of course referring to the unbeliever. I just wondered if it referred to the body of the unbeliever and the spirit of the unbeliever. Is that right to be united?
And.
It speaks not of the person, but of the thing.
Death and hades, it's absolute cessation. There's no more such thing from then on.
They have been emptied. It's all over with.
Corruption was only spoken of the body too, is it not?
That's wonderful, the way the apostle.
Speaks of himself in this eighth verse. Last of all, he was seen in me also.
As one born out of due time.
An abortive.
In other words, I had no right to this place of favor. I had no right to be.
To be born into.
Such a wonderful privileged position.
God had taken him at his word.
Over and over again. He certainly never would.
But God had mercy on him.
And so he calls himself the least of the apostles.
Not need to be called an apostle.
Because I persecuted the Church of God.
The apostle never forgave himself.
For his horrid conduct.
In his opposition to the Lord Jesus and to the truth of the Church.
The truth of the Gospel.
He never forgave himself and the older he got, the lower he got.
So he takes the little place here.
The least of the apostles, not meat to be called an apostle.
Because I persecuted the Church of God.
Is the thought here the same as in Ephesians where he speaks of pre trusting that is the church being gentile and character. The apostle was among those that were called out before the nation comes into blessing. Is that the thought or is it simply in in Ephesians he got there ahead of time.
That is.
He's a sample of those that are afterwards going to be brought into blessing, only he got there ahead of time.
The 12Th verse of the first chapter of Ephesians.
Might read the 11 to get the connection in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
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Being predestinated according to the purpose of him, that worketh all things after the council of his own will.
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted or pre trusted in the Christ. Well, when he says we there, he's referring to the Jewish believers and classing himself among them.
And they are to be brought into blessing in the coming day.
So in the 13th verse he speaks of the Gentiles, in whom ye also trusted after you heard the word of truth.
But Paul was a sample.
Of what would finally come by and by to the Jewish nation. But he got in ahead of time. He pre trusted in Christ.
That's first Timothy One. This is my brother Brad.
Verse 16.
Albeit for this 'cause I obtain mercy, that in me the first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.
Yes, in this verse that you just quote brother.
It is for the Christian of this age. I was wondering if our brother Lundeen's.
Question and our brother Brown's answer if they don't really match.
So I was wondering if it connected with with the apostle here in our chapter as one born out of due time when there's any connection in the thought.
The margin says an abortive.
Which is one born ahead of time.
But Paul in sovereign grace was given to, though he were the chief of sinners, to be brought into the blessedness of what it is to be found in the Church of God, before Israel comes into their blessings as a nation. Soccer and grace in both cases. In the Apostle who was a Jew, and then afterwards the nation. Sovereign grace in both cases.
But in Ephesians he couples, does he not, the portion of the Jews who pre trusted with the Gentiles, whereas in the Colossians he more or less takes them up on the Gentile ground that is brought into blessings Gentiles.
For by the grace of God, I am what I am.
Well, I believe every St. of God here in this room can say that.
Whatever there is in US.
That's pleasing to God.
It's by the grace of God, I am what I am. We haven't anything to offer of ourselves. It's all of grace, sovereign grace from start to finish.
Otherwise we would be out on the highway of sin, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another, serving divers lusts and pleasures.
Oh, where may we not have been apart from sovereign grace?
All things cometh thee, and of thine own do we give thee.
The impossible doesn't say I will be what I hope to be, but I am what I am. That's a present possession, isn't it?
And His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain.
Well, we can praise Him for for in whatever measure that grace is wrought in us.
And transformed us. And it's a process that goes on as long as we're here.
It's a daily process. It was very, very special though, in his case.
Special grace bestowed upon him that wrote that, but he also writes a word for the rest of us in two Corinthians 6 verse one.
The same thought.
Are we there?
As well.
Well, fellow workmen, is the thought.
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Together with you, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
Is that not a word for my conscience?
When I think of the wonderful grace of God that has been bestowed upon me.
How can I live in appreciation for this grace?
If every Christian took this truth to heart, it would surely have an awakening effect that we receive not the grace of God in vain to our lives.
In any measure.
Rise to that wonderful grace.
He was not mixed with faith in the fourth of Hebrews. That was the difficulty with the Jew. And the exhortation there is to those who now have received further truth, the light now of what those types meant. And so the warning goes out today of the very same thing. And if the truth is not mixed with faith, and I take that to mean that if we hear truth this morning and we don't act on it.
It means that we haven't received it by faith.
Because faith manifests itself in that way. Does it knife in a light down here and it has that property that it can manifest itself. It's faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, and that's being mixed with faith and not receiving it in vain.
The result was the apostle says is Iguan in verse ten of our chapter in the middle of the verse.
But I labored more abundantly.
Go ahead.
But the grace of God which was with me, showed it all with the grace of God.
I've enjoyed the three scriptures that Paul uses in connection with the grace of God as he contemplated the grace of God is still upon himself. We have this scripture in First Corinthians 15.
As he contemplated that grace, he could say, I am the least of the apostles.
First hand, by the grace of God, I am what I am. As to his laborers, not himself, but the grace of God which was with me.
In First Timothy chapter one, as he contemplates some grace, he could take the 1St place the Chief of Senators and that when we come over to the third chapter of the seasons, he goes lower still.
Unto me, verse 8.
Verse seven rather for the connection whereof I was made a minister that's in connection with gospel according to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me by the effects of working of his heart unto me, who are less than the least of All Saints.
Less than the least of All Saints.
Is this great, given that I should preach under the among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ?
Grace that keeps us humble. You can't go lower than that. Less than the least of all. Saints can't go any lower than that. What would you say about being the chief of sinners like the hire?
You say that's higher, brother, you cannot go higher.
He's #1.
That's very striking that in each case where the grace of God is spoken of, he is spoken of in such low and humble terms. What a lovely thought that is. If we become occupied with humility in itself, it will only result in a very subtle form of pride, will it not? But if we are conscious of the matchless grace of God in that measure, humility will be seen in its in its true way.
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And I suppose that in glory will we not always be conscious of the fact that we owe it all to His matchless grace? What a day that will be when all that which we lack so much now, which we've been considering here as displayed in the apostle. Someday we're going to be fully and completely and eternally conscious of the fact that it's all the result of His wondrous grace. I'd like to think of Jonah and the whale's belly on the bottom of the sea.
Salvation is of the Lord.
He had to go way down there to learn it, but he learned it. And so, as you say, Brother Hayhoe.
When we get there, it'll be all of grace.
Salvation is of the Lord.
And we can't say thanks be to the Lord for saving my soul, and thanks be to me for having the good judgment to accept the salvation when it was offered. There'll be no discordant note like that in the glory above.
Jonah went down to the bottom.
Also, it may be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ in the low.
Lowest place that he took.
#70.
Well.
Sovereign grace for Jesus.
Me.