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My Father's throne, nice passive shame, or thy heart shall grieve, and more, no more, Lord. Now we wait for thee to come and take us to thy Father's home. Or what ecstatic joy it will be to spend the eternity with the 216.
Lord, we rejoice.
I had before us the Lord's coming in some way or another.
Two aspects of it is coming for us and then with us.
And.
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That is the hope that is ours, our blessed hope to quit this scene and things of this world that grow dim when we keep that before us.
I think that would be in our readings. Wonderful subject.
I have a little exercise along that line. I want to read a couple verses before I mention it. First in Ecclesiastes 3/19 and 21/19, 2:21.
Ecclesiastes.
Three I think, Sorry.
19.
For that which follows the sons of men befalleth beasts. Even one thing befalleth them. As one diet so die as the other. Yay, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast. For all is vanity. All go under one place, all are of the dust, all turn the dust again.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Turn to 1St Corinthians 15, First Corinthians 15.
And verse.
17.
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 are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, J&D to be pitied. But now is Christ risen.
From the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Verse 23 but every man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterward they did our Christ at his coming.
My exercise is the 15th chapter of First Corinthians, but not all.
I was thinking it would be nice to handle it if my brethren agree.
That is of the Lord from the 35th verse to the end and if there's time.
1St Thessalonians 4.
13 to the end.
You know, when I was as young as some of our young people here.
And I heard Brother Hey Ho and Brother Paul Wilson, Brother Clarence Lundeen, Brother Brown of the Des Moines. I could go on, occupied with the Lord's coming as though they're not going to die.
And I used to say, well, it's all right for them. They're all.
By this spent, but you know I learned better.
Because the more you're occupied with the fact any moment you may go to glory and see your Maker and your Savior, it helps get your feet off this ground for a godly walk. It's really what we should be occupied with.
And I feel this portion will give something for the young people and children as well as the older. It's a good portion because the first verses do away with evolution. You don't even have to think about it. Paul said. If it's not according to the word of God, it's science, falsely so-called. But that's enough for me. But when you get occupied with what this chapter has.
You realize there's a difference, but I just read one verse that the young people can sink their teeth in. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds.
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Oh, it gets into something better than.
But you know, you know, monkeys did not evolve into men.
That's enough said, isn't it? But the Lord here puts it the best way. I just suggest we take 35 down to the end of First Corinthians 15 and if time 1St Thessalonians 4. I leave it to my brethren.
Would be a nice bathroom exercise soon before us.
We need it together then this Corinthians chapter 15.
Beginning at verse 35.
But some men will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Thou fool? That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it died. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that that body that shall be, but bear grain. It may change of weeks, or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of man, another flush of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, the body and bodies industrial, for the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.
For one star different from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised in spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The 1St man Adam was made a living soul.
The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The 1St man is of the earth earthy, the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And asked is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, the flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corrupt corruption inherit in corruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption.
And this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallow up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore.
My beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable.
Always abounding in the work of the world, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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Might be helpful before we get to this portion that we read to get just a little quick outline of this chapter and other comments that apply to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which is largely corrective, Largely corrective. And there were many things that needed correction there. Paul had spent 18 months at Corinth, and they were established in some measure, but there was still a lot of things that needed to be.
Corrected, he says in verse two. Well, I'll read a couple of verses from the beginning. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein you stand. He refers back to the time when he went to Corinth and he preached the gospel to them. They had received it, and they stood in the faith of it. And then he says, By which also ye are saved, that gospel brings one to salvation. If.
You keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. There was something there that had come in. There was false doctrine that was being spread at Corinth by some and.
He says in the.
In the.
12Th verse.
In verse 11, therefore, whether it were.
Wait a minute.
He's talking about.
Well, that's good. If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how? Here's the error. How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead. Now, what are the consequences of that doctrine, whatever they meant by it, he he develops it, he says, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? He was dead. If there's no resurrection of the dead whatever the the one that preached that.
That false doctrine that was so serious because the gospel that he preached is in verse three. We'll just go back there for a moment. I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received three things, 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. These are three fundamental truths. He was crucified, He was dead, He was buried, and He rose.
He rose and then he brings forth the witnesses that testified to his resurrection of those three things. No one denies that he died. That's a known fact. And that he was buried. That's a known fact. But that he rose, that is challenge that was challenged way back then. And now here's this doctrine that has sprung up at Corinth that says there's no resurrection of the dead. And if that's the case, Paul says then Christ wasn't risen. And that's one of the very foundations which they believe. They had heard it from him, they had received it, they stood in the faith of it. They were saved by it.
Says, If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain, if Christ be not risen as he develops in these first parts of the first half of the chapter, Christ be not risen. Your faith is vain, worthless, of no effect. You're not saved. And those that have died in Christ in faith, you'll never see them again. You have no hope. It's all founded upon the resurrection, founded upon his death and resurrection.
And so this was very serious, he says, if Christ be preached, verse 12.
That He rose from the dead. How, say some among you, there is no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection of the dead, cry then Christ is not risen. And what are the consequences of that? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain? We're preaching a false gospel. What I preach to you, and what you received and wherein you stand, and by which you were saved, isn't true.
Christ be not risen. You are preaching is vain. Your faith is also vain, worthless.
Yeah. And if we are, we are found false witnesses of God. We've misrepresented things.
Because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not.
And if the dead rise not, then is not Christ risen?
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins, then they also which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
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You'll not see them again. Everything is lost are being gathered here. Every single one of us have been deceived. We believe that a message which isn't true, if Christ isn't risen, the whole foundation truth of Christianity is destroyed.
But then he says in verse, he says, if in this life only they are fallen, as we are of all men, we have hope in Christ. If we only have hope in Christ in this life, we're a most miserable of all men.
Paul had nothing but persecution, trial sufferings in his witness for Christ. We don't know much of that in this nation. But he he said if what I've been preaching and what you've heard and received and believed and were saved by is not true.
Then I, Paul, and those that are preaching this gospel with death facing them every day.
Our most miserable of all men, we have nothing beyond dislike. It's only in dislike that we have hope in Christ. We're the most miserable of all men. But verse 20, now, now is Christ risen. Now that's a statement of fact and that's what the gospel presents. Those that preach the gospel should always emphasize we're preaching the facts that he died, he was buried, and he rose again and he's coming again. Those are facts. But the first three are past, is coming again is still future.
Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept and.
The only time he mentions his coming in this chapter is in verse 23, and I'm going to read those other verses, verse 21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. That's the second man, the last Adam.
For as an Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward they that are Christ in his coming.
Now that's the first time and the only time his coming is mentioned in this chapter. And then it goes from that point in time when he comes for us to take us home and he goes through the through his coming back to establish his ring rights here. It it goes past the tribulation period. It goes past the Millennium, goes to the end of the thousand year reign verse 24, then cometh the end.
When he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father.
When he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. That will be at the great white throne where death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. There'll be no more death. The only thing that death effects is the body. The body is subject to death. I've often said to those that are Christians and they're facing death, and if they can say to their persecutors, The only thing that you can touch of me is my body, you can kill it.
You can't touch me, you can't touch my soul, you can't touch my spirit. And I'm going to receive a new body, and it's going to be just like Christ. And so if you put me to death, that's just the beginning for me. Death is ours and it brings us into the presence of the Lord, and then we'll receive a new body.
Well, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. After the Great White Throne, there will be no more death.
He has put all things under his feet, when he saith, all things are put under him in his manifest, that he is accepted which did put all things under him. That's the Father. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all. That to me is one of the most profound, deepest, precious truths in the Word of God, even after everything has been turned back.
To the Father that put all things under Christ, then he as man will be subject, still subject. He took the place of subjection when He became a man, so that he could say in John 14, My father is greater than I. It's only this man that he could say that as God the Son, he was equal with the Father. I and my Father are one, but in His manhood He was subject to Him. And so He'll still be a man, beloved, still be a man.
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In eternity he'll never cease to be a man, so he's even. Then when he's turned everything back to the Father, then he, the Son as man, is subject to him that put all things under him that Godfather, Son, and Holy Spirit will be. All in all, He'll still be God. He can never be. He'd never give that up. He's still his God, but he is man and he'll never give that up.
He began at a point in time to become a man.
Christendom tomorrow, Saturday, will celebrate that.
Most don't know him.
Don't know him, but he'll always be a man. And that's what that verse tells us, that God may be All in all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How can that be? How can he? How can one of the persons of the Godhead be both God and man? Well, that's the mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit scene of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed down in the world.
Received up into glory, that verse in first Timothy 316 starts with God becoming a man, God coming down into manhood and it ends with man going up into the glory and presence of God. Well, that's that's the that's the beginning of this chapter and it's really so important. It's the resurrection of Christ and the essential of that. And then we come to the end of the chapter. We're going to be just like him. We're going to partake.
In that same resurrection life that He has given to us, even as to our bodies.
Even as to our bodies.
We shouldn't forget verse 29 as long as we're going back before we begin.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead rise not at all? Why are they baptized for the dead that means?
Filling in the ranks, brethren.
Napoleon on the Isle of Elbow. Elbow, wasn't it? Read the New Testament and he was actually asked what did you find? And it's in print.
I found out that Christ was the greatest general of all time.
His ranks never thinned.
That's where Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. He's ranked and thinned too much.
But filling in the ranks when you're baptized and when you take your place as a Christian, you fill in the ranks. And we older ones are so happy it's being done and we're so happy to see young people and children going on.
Because that is the army that will never diminish. That's a wonderful verse too. They're all good. It was important, was it not, that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus be clearly established in the minds of these Corinthian Saints before he take up the coming of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of those who have died in faith. Important because this brother Chuck pointed out.
Christ the first fruit, then those which are Christ that is coming. And I believe, brethren, that we need to taste tenaciously hold on to the truth not only of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but his bodily resurrection. Because there are those down through the ages who have taught that the Lord just rose in spirit but not in body. That's a lie of the devil. It's blasphemy, it's error. And so when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
That's why he remained on earth as long as he did before he ascended back to glory, to give ample and complete testimony beyond a shadow of a doubt to his own that he had bodily risen from the dead, appearing to his own on various occasions, even to about 500 brethren at one time. And so there was an occasion when he ate a piece of a broiled fish in a honeycomb in front of the disciples.
Why did he do that? To prove that he had bodily risen from the dead. I'd like to repeat just a little story that I realized most have heard me tell before, but I think it illustrates this truth very well. Where's the missionaries? One time working in one of the busy cities in India, and one day they were on a street and they were startled by a large parade coming down the street. And they made inquiries as to what was taking place, and they were told that supposedly a bone of Buddha had been found.
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And it was being carried in a box down the street, and the followers of Buddha were rejoicing that this bone had been found.
Well, the missionaries, they watched this for a time, and after they retired to their quarters and talked over the matter, they concluded the contrast between that and, as they said in Christianity, if a bone of the Lord Jesus had been found. Because they concluded that if a bone of the Lord Jesus were supposedly found, it would not cause great rejoicing amongst the Christians. It would cause sorrow because it would be the proof that the Lord Jesus hadn't bodily risen from the dead.
But rather than a bone of the Lord, Jesus will never be found in this world, because he said to his disciples on that occasion I alluded to.
Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me. Have again ample testimony that He had risen bodily from the dead. Not only that, but he ascended back to the Father bodily. And as Brother Chuck pointed out, for all eternity he's going to remain a man so that he can share heaven with His bride, so that he can be in the midst of those that He died for. And what a wonderful thing to realize that we are going to have in that day, brother.
Of glory like unto his body of glory. But I hope it is what a springboard for us to motivate our hearts to follow him now. And I just want to make one further comment in that connection. Brethren, if we don't hold on to the truth of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of the Saints and the hope of the Lord's coming for we which are alive and remain and so on. We're not going to be motivated to live for God's glory now.
Why would a person give up present advantage if they don't have something to in the future? A student goes off to college or university, they perhaps live on very little. Their accommodations aren't what they would perhaps like. They perhaps don't eat like they should. They stay up late to study, don't go out with their friends when they want to. Why do they do that? They have something to the future. They say, well, when I get my degree, I'll get a good job or a better job and things will be better. But if we lose sight of what's ahead, brethren.
We're not going to be motivated, as I say, to live for God's glory. It's like that verse in the 29th chapter of Proverbs. I think it's verse 18. It says where there is no vision, the people perish or they cast off restraint. And why is it so often we become careless in our practical life for Christ down here? Well, I suggest that at least one reason is because we're not looking ahead to that time when we're going to be with and like Him in the Father's house.
Why would one why would one want to take the place of a Christian that was baptized and going to suffer the sufferings of death? Why would one want to take the place of one like that? If there was no hope, that would be foolish. It's history tells us that of the 12/11 were martyred John the back, John the disciple.
Of died a natural death, I believe the one that wrote Revelation and John and so on. But why would they be preaching? The book of Acts is the preaching of the resurrection of Christ. Basically that's what it is. Why would they want to do that if he wasn't risen? The they knew he was risen. And if all they had to do to disprove Christianity, all the Romans had to do, all the Jews had to do was produce the body of the dead Christ.
We couldn't do that because he wasn't dead. He rose again the third day. They couldn't produce that body. All they had to do was produce that body. And as you pointed out, a bone, even just any at any part of it, that would destroy our whole faith. And so our faith rests upon the certainty of his resurrection. And that is the foundation for our resurrection. He's the first fruits. A farmer sent his wife out into the fields at the time of the harvest. And he said, bring me in a, a sample of what's out there. We'll see what it looks like.
And she brought it in and he said, oh, it looks beautiful. And that told him the rest of the fields the same way.
The rest of the fields the same way. And so we're going to be body, soul and spirit just like him. What a wonderful hope is ours. Seems to me that this first verse that we started with is more or less of an unbelieving question. How are the dead raised up? You know, those that don't want to believe something, they want to find fault. The reason I say that is that verse 36 has that word fool.
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In it, and sometimes the scripture uses that word, at least King James is translated fool when it should be senseless like oh senseless Galatians.
But here I had it underlined us that made me think of it. It is the word fool because these are unbelievers that are smoking and saying some man will say how are the dead raised up? What body do they come? Well, if they can't understand it, they don't want to believe it because they don't want to believe it in the 1St place. So that's a strong word, isn't it, to call them fools. And I think if you check it out, only the Lord Jesus and here Paul actually uses that word calling somebody either a fool or a hypocrite. Only the Lord Jesus used those terms. We should never use them against whatever.
Verse 35 is satanic. It cannot be a man by the Spirit of course.
Satan always raises the duck. Satan always poses a question and that's it. That's even the apostles in Luke 24. The Lord said, why do thoughts arise in your hearts? What's the matter with you? They didn't believe him even then after all the proof of Luke 24, because Satan put that doubt there. He started with the in in Genesis right at the beginning. Yay hath God said.
That's all he needed with Eve, started her thinking. No, I don't think he meant that we're going to die, surely. Die. No. God knew, he said. He plants the seed that she shall become as God, and you'll know good and evil. You're just like God.
He can't choose the good and observe the evil, though, and that's where man is. But Satan raises a doubt, and the doubt he really raises is.
Hold it, senior moment.
If thou be the Christ.
Prove it right Luke 4 three times. If thou be the Christ and at the cross, what did the.
Pharisees and scribes and religious leaders say, if thou be the Christ, that's the Satanic. And so here anytime a question comes in your mind and I tell the young people, forget it. If you're reading a verse and you don't understand it, don't wrestle with it.
You're wrong every time.
Just ask the Lord to make it clear.
And then go on, He will be like this or your own reading meeting or a help you read or something. He'll do it. Make it clear. Every question I find that really puzzles me. I do not find it in the old writers and I'm not criticizing the old writers, but I have to look to God and the Lord and I'm glad I do. I look up, I always fail and look it up all first, even in J&D.
Synopsis at all. It's not there.
But the Lord reveals it, and then thank you. Don't keep asking Him without thanking him when he reveals it. But don't use this up here at the top. It's wrong every time.
The issue of resurrection we should get we should get a good grasp on because the scripture mentioned it over and over again. And even when it comes to the gospel, we often forget to preach the resurrection. We preach that Jesus died for our sins, but we have to remember that. Let's turn to Romans, the well known verse that we often quote Romans 10:00 and 9:00.
It amazed me one day when I read it carefully and to see how resurrection was important to the Word of God. We all know this verse. We learned it when we were young. He says that thou shall confess with thy mouth of Lord Jesus and and shall believe in thine heart. What? Well, it tells us exactly. That is to believe that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. We have to remember both of that. Death and resurrection go together.
We find in Let's turn to another verse in John's Gospel, chapter 12.
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Why he died?
John's Gospel chapter 12, verse 24 is that's very late, verily, as they do, except for four and a week, fall into the ground and died. It abideth along. But if it died, it bringeth forth much fruit. But we know the reason why the Lord died is to bring forth much fruit. But then is that the only place that we know of death and resurrection? No, we know Scripture speaks of it frequently and even in the Old Testament.
If we were to look at the seven beasts of Jehovah, we'll find out there's a beautiful picture in there of death and resurrection. If you remember, the first feast was that feast of the past of of the Passover and immediately after that with the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. But what do we find the day after the Sabbath? The third feast is called the Feast of the First Fruits. What is that encompass of? Well, we know that the picture of our Lord Jesus Christ and you'll find 2 scriptures use this date consistently, the 17th day of the month that we often don't think of.
Will find that the Passover, you remember the story of the Passover. They would have picked that lamb on the 10th day and they were to keep it between the 10th, between the 10th day, between the evening on the 14th day they shall kill it. Well, the following day, that would be from the 14th to the 15th day, we find our Lord Jesus was crucified on the 15th day. On the 16th day was the Sabbath day.
And what is the day after? It was 17th day, isn't it? And you'll find the 17th day speaks of resurrection. A brother mentioned about Genesis a minute ago. That's what prompted me into thinking about and I'd like to turn to.
A portion in Genesis, just for very brief movement. I think it's in the 10th chapter. What speaks of resurrection. I'm sorry, the 8th chapter of Genesis.
Genesis chapter eight. Well that the 7th chapter speaks of the flood. The flood speaks of death, does it not? Chapter, the water stopped. We find that in the end of the 7th chapter. I'm going to stick for sake of time here, let's go to verse.
Four of our chapter there is just in the ark rested in the seventh month on the 17th day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. Now it's interesting to see that 17th day of the month mentioned here is just the 7th month. Now it's a little bit of things I should explain first in scriptures when you get to Exodus on the first month and the 7th month is reversed.
If you remember the 10th chapter of Exodus is that this shall be the beginning of years to you. Now the Jews supposed to have reversed the date since the year. The first of that month before the Passover should be the first month. The Lord wanted them to change that as if it was the new year. They never did so here in Genesis when they said the 7th month. You'll find that this is equivalent to the first month. The first month, the 17th day is the resurrection day. Here speaks of the first fruit of resurrection.
In fact, we at the topic this morning is not just resurrection. This is just the beginning of it as our hope builds on this, our hope is the Lord's coming. And I like to go down a little bit further as this chapter has an outline of prophecy of what's to come because of death and resurrection. We can go down now to verse 13, verse 13, we sit and it came to pass in the 601St year, in the first month, the first day of the month.
Now if you read all, I made a comment that we interchange the first month and 7th month. So here the first month would be in equivalent to the 7th month in Leviticus chapter 23. And if you remember that Passover, the Passover was the first, the feast of unleavened bread, then the first group, and then after the first brute, it's a feast of weeks. That's fifty days after the resurrection day.
With a Feast of Weeks, which speaks of pentacles. But what's after that? There's a wait, aren't they? There's a long period of waiting until we get to the 7th month, the first day.
Would be the 5th beast which is called the feast. Here's the picture of the Jewish nation being gathered back together. They were set aside. You know that after the death and resurrection, as a nation they are set aside and the Gentiles like us are brought into blessings. That's when we see the feast of weeks. But did the Lord forget His people? You know, he, He, he promised to bring them back. So we find here the Lord opened up this picture of that day when His people shall be gathered together to Him again.
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But for us, as we deem one, we know that before that happens, something is going to happen to us here. We're going to be called, we're going to be rapture out of this scene. What a beautiful way to look at it. Death and resurrection come first. The Jewish nation gets set aside. We as Gentiles are brought into blessings for just for a moment, and then his people are brought back in the blessings. Now that resurrection day, if you spend time to go through Scripture.
You'll find even in the Old Testament entry, repeatedly, you'll find that resurrect that feast. I'm sorry, the feast of the first root often is the feast is the barley harvest because that was early in the year, around March, April, It wouldn't be a full harvest barley. Maybe the farmers here would speak better than I can. Barley back in the land I believe was put into the ground throughout all winter.
And when spring come, it was the first fruits that comes out. So barley harvest with the fruit they use. Now if you were to look through scriptures again, if you recall Ruth and Naomi, and when Naomi returned back to the land, he said it was in the beginning of Bali, August. Here's the resurrection picture, isn't it? You were to look at the children of Israel as they crossed the Red Sea. You'll find that they've gone over on the 17th day. And you'll find that when they.
Gone over to the land into.
Into the new land that was also the 17th day. So resurrection is a very important things in the scripture and we ought to be able to remember it more and tell forth of the same story more. Not only are we looking forward to soon return but with a little time that is left here we can tell others about the death and resurrection and the soon coming of our blessing Savior.
Verse 36.
That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it died. He spoke to them in words. They understood Every example that the Lord gives, whether it's a parable or not, it's according to what they understand. He doesn't give them things beyond their reach. And they farmed, they sold, they knew what he talked about when the Greeks came and said to the apostles.
We would see Jesus. John 12, I think. And did he show himself to them? No. What did he say to them except a kernel of wheat? Fall in the ground and die. It'll bite alone. You'll never see me. That's it. Unless you see me die for you, you will never see me. That's the answer for those Gentiles, and that's the answer for each one of us. But you know, it's a very wonderful example, isn't it?
You take a kernel of wheat, place it on the shelf, leave it there for a hundred, 1000 years, and it's still a kernel of wheat, but let it fall in the ground and die. That's beautiful, isn't it? Really? It bringeth much fruit. That's his example in verse 36. He's very practical, brethren, you'll see that. And also whenever one comes to him, he takes them on the ground.
He comes, never changes the subject. We ought to practice that ourselves. Take Him on the ground they come. And the seed which is sown in the ground when it comes up, doesn't look anything like the seed that was planted. And that's what the 37th verse tells us. That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but their grain. All you see is their grain, and you can set it on the counter.
And nothing will ever happen to it. It has to be planted, nurtured and watered. And then you'll see a the sprout from it. It says bear grain. It may chance of wheat or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it had pleased him.
00:50:04
And to every seed, his own body, sometimes one you have to wait when you plant the seed is you have to wait to see what comes up, because I'm not sure what this is. And when that body comes up, you know what it is all flesh.
He gives to every seed his own body, and this is so important that.
It says all flesh is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds. Now.
That destroys that nonsense of evolution.
Totally destroys it. The flesh of man is different than the flesh of beasts and birds and fish. Totally.
And all you need is the scriptures to refute these wicked doctrines that are out there. And they even pretend that it's science. It's not scientific at all. It's the lie of Satan to try to attack the word of God. This book is the most attacked book in the world.
Been hated because it tells them that they come from a God to whom they are responsible and they don't come from some lesser creature in the creation, but they were created.
In the very image and likeness of God has not said about any of the other part of God's creation in Genesis, but to man, and the blessed Lord became a man.
Entered His own creation in manhood. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we're going to have the same kind of a body that he has in resurrection. And that's so beautiful. That's so beautiful. The flesh as the evil principle of the old nature will not be with us anymore. That's one of the blessings of the glory is we won't have that flesh anymore, but there will be flesh.
But it'll be a new IT will be like his without sin.
So everything didn't develop from a single cell, as the evolutionists would try to tell us.
But I just want to echo what Chuck alluded to because I think it's very important to get ahold of. And that is if man can convince himself of evolution and that everything came from a single cell and developed and evolved, then he doesn't have any responsibility to his maker.
And so we find that when God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, he gave them at his hand everything to enjoy. But there was one thing that they were not to touch or eat of, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because that tree was the recognition that Adam and Eve were responsible to their Maker, that they had a responsibility toward God. But Adam, in reaching out and eating of the forbidden fruit, failed to recognize his responsibility to God.
And if man can convince himself that he dies like a dog, that there's nothing after this life, again, he has no responsibility to his Maker. But God has established very clearly in his word that man is responsible. Man is made a living soul. He does not die as a beast. He's responsible to his Maker. But man today is going on trying to discredit his responsibility. I just say this too about these verses we're considering.
That God is very gracious when He takes up the truth, to put it in a way that we can understand by drawing from the illustrations of nature. You find when the Lord Jesus was here in this world, in presenting the truth to those in His day, He often drew on the illustrations of nature. He talked about the weather and he knew that fishermen would understand what the signs, the streaks in the sky, and the color of the sky in the morning and at night would would mean. He understood that fishermen knew what it would be to go and cast a net into the sea and have it full of fishes of various kinds.
Farmers, as we've said, would understand what it was to go out and sow seed and have it fall on various types of ground and come up in various ways.
Isn't it precious, brethren, that in taking up the subject of the resurrection here, he draws on nature so that we can very clearly grasp and understand what the resurrection is? And so he talks about seed. He goes on then to talk about the, the, the planets and creation and, and when we see these little pictures in creation, the seeds sown, we understand that God is the not only the creator, but the sustainer of the universe and.
00:55:19
That it says of the Lord Jesus, by him all things subsist and so on. When we see that and by faith understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God and that He's the creator and sustainer of it, that He's giving us the breath we breathe while we sit in these seats, then is it hard to understand how the dead rise? If if we see these little pictures in creation and see God sustaining it, then it's not difficult to understand.
Otherwise we might be overwhelmed by the thought that there's going to be a shout at any moment and the dead in Christ are going to rise 1St and we're going to experience a change of the body and rise with them to meet the Lord in the air. That would be an overwhelming thought. But he goes back to creation and he says, now here it is illustrated in Creation.
It's not an overwhelming thought, it's a tremendous thought, but we can grasp it by faith and accept it as the truth of the Word of God and live in the good of it till it happens.
As it has pleased him. Let's don't forget humble the main thoughts and creation is wonderful, but this is new creation we're in as it has pleased him. Now look at the 12Th chapter.
Of this book, First Corinthians and verse 18.
Every young person better get a hold of this now, God. Now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it has pleased him. Now the word set is very important here. It's purposely done and permanently done.
Your place in the pride, the church, the body of Christ as it pleased him.
And you can please him in every minute of your life until he takes you home. And that's the purpose of it all. As it pleased him, He placed you in the assembly. Each one of you better remember that. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but I don't like to hear him say we're left here. We're not left here. We're sent here. There's purpose in our being here.
You know it, It says I want to get it, but I'll get it in a minute here.
As the Father has sent me, said the Lord, so have I sent you. You're not left. Never get that thought. That would be the worst thing he could do for a believer is leave him here. He sends us as ambassadors with a mission. Well, that's enough of that. But that as it pleased him. Never forget those verses. They're very important. We've had the illustrations from the Old Testament.
Of the resurrection, and we get it through the in the word all the way through.
New Testament is rich with it, founded upon the resurrection of Christ. But even nature itself, Few lived in the area where I live or in the Chicago area. And you looked at the trees, not the evergreens, but the normal trees. You'd say they were dead. Say they were dead. You look at them, there's no signs of life. But every spring God gives us a picture of the resurrection. Every spring that dead, so so-called dead tree springs to light.
Produces branches and leaves and and whatever he's told us in so many ways there is a resurrection, and without it we have no hope.
Verse 40. There are also heavenly bodies and bodies earthly.
One. But the glory of the heavenly is one. The glory of the earthy is another. You know, that's really what celestial and terrestrial mean.
I hope everyone here is not an earth dweller because in Revelation 8, an Angel, 1 Angel flew through heaven after 1/2 hour of absolute silence and the Angel said woe woe woe to earth dwellers. And I say that to everyone now if you're an earth dweller, woe unto you. Why?
01:00:07
For the judgment that was coming.
I walked through this world and I'm not boasting judgment free. Nothing can harm me. No one can harm me. It's a wonderful feeling. And if every young person here doesn't happen, be sure to get it fast. It's the best thing that there is.
Could I just ask a question if the business referring to the celestial and the terrestrial, heavenly and earthly?
Would that not indicate the heavenly people and the earthly people rather than the earth dwellers?
Because it talks about the glory of those two.
God's creation was glorious, man was included in it. That's the glory. But you cannot say one who is earthy is glorious today. I don't believe so I'll leave it. I thinking of a verse in Revelation 21 it I think it helps to us to.
Understand these things God shall wipe away. Verse 4. Revelation 21.
This is the eternal state that He's talking about. God shall wipe away all tears from their 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.
Do you have pain?
Yeah, you. You got pain. This body hasn't been changed yet.
There's sickness, some are dismembered. They don't have complete, not complete as to their body. But in that day we'll have bodies that are bodies of glory, bodies of glory. He goes on to go into that in our chapter. But we'll have a body that is not subject to death.
It's not subject to pain, it's not subject to sickness, it's not subject to the things that we're subject to in this body. The only part of us that has not been redeemed yet is the body.
Soul and spirit has been redeemed, but the redemption of the body is still future for us, and that will take place at the Rapture. And what a wonderful moment that will be when we'll be just.
Like hip, just like him. Go ahead. This verse, Chuck, that you have read to us in Revelation, we usually think of it, as you say, in connection with the heavenly company in a coming day. And it's certainly true. But I believe in its context too, it's going to be true of an earthly company on this earth, those in the eternal state who inherit the new earth, because when God tabernacles with men in that day, whether it's the heavenly company of which we're going to be a part.
And all those who have died in faith up till the rapture, whether it's with that them or with the earthly company, those who inherit the new earth, there's going to be no sorrow man's. The earthly paradise was spoiled by man's sin and sorrow came in in tears. And we see the effects of the curse on every hand today. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain every level of of creation today.
Feels the effects of the curse. You go out and look at a tree, as beautiful as it may be, there's going to be some blight on that tree. Every leaf isn't perfect. The animal Kingdom is suffering as they prey on one another. Death has affected every level of creation from man down.
But isn't it tremendous, brethren, to think that there's a day coming when there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, and no sorrow or pain or tear is ever going to enter that that sphere of things. So for us, God is going to wipe away every tear we're going to leave behind rather than the things that we experience. Now, maybe you're sitting in these meetings and you have a headache, maybe some physical malady, and you say, I just can't get what I'd like out of the meetings. I can't concentrate.
We're sometimes we're weary. Some of us have traveled and we we nod and we fall asleep a little bit.
There's a day coming when none of those things that affect us now as the result of sin.
Will affect us. But brethren, this verse, I believe, has a far more reaching effect than that, wonderful as that is.
There's going to be a sphere where God will dwell with men on the new earth as well, and nothing will enter there.
And so there are, but there is a glory connected with that which is heavenly and that which is earthly.
01:05:05
As you alluded to, Brother Tom, I'd like to finish my answer to Tom, and I'll give it briefly. I'm not an earth dweller. That's my answer. There's a difference. I'm a heavenly creature. I don't belong here, and woe to those that are earth dwellers. I repeat, I understand what you're saying. That has to do with revelation, but Abraham's seed would be as the stars of heaven and the sand upon the sea. So God is going to have earthly people.
In the Millennium, Abraham will be in heaven.
Right. Yes.
Now.
That verse that you read, Chuck, is a beautiful verse, but it never satisfied me and I don't think it would satisfy any of us. Two men had a glimpse of glory. Only two were given that privilege. Paul was one and John the Apostle was the other. Paul said, I'm not going to try to tell you what it's like. It's unlawful, meaning it's impossible.
There isn't a word in your vocabulary that could help me tell you what it's like. There is an experience in all mankind that I can use. It's too wonderful. But Paul. But John tried and he had to use negatives. And what he wanted to tell me what it's like, He used superlative, beyond which my mind can't go. Isn't that right? And so there's no way to describe glory.
Negatives never satisfied.
Well, he's the only man that was there and has come back.
That I mean of one like us and he says to depart and be with Christ is far better he knew what he was talking about but to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. So here he'd been there and as you just tell told us Bob he couldn't he couldn't tell you he's I can't tell you I can't tell you what it's like but.
He was sent back and he was willing, having been there, to remain in this body a little while longer for the good of the Saints. That's tremendous. I've never been there. You've never been there. But he was. And yet he came back and served the rest of his time. He said, I know I'm going to be there and we know we're going to be there too. Whether we've seen it or not. Faith sees it. There's some everything that is really ours that has that is eternal.
Is seen by faith. Hebrews two, we see Jesus crimes with glory and honor. Have you ever seen him these eyes? No, no, some of them did. In fact, the apostles, they couldn't be an apostle unless they'd seen the risen Christ glorified Christ. Saul saw him glorified the other saw him risen, but they had to see the resurrection. They had to see the proof of it because that's what our faith is founded upon his death and resurrection. It's interesting, isn't it, that when Paul speaks of that experience.
In 2nd Corinthians 12 That he says that it was the spear, so beyond anything that he was used to on earth.
That he didn't know whether he was in the body or out of the body. But brethren, when we get there, his was only temporary. As Chuck says, he went there, he heard those unspeakable words and he came back to earth. But brethren, when we get there, we'll be there ever with the Lord. It's not a temporary state of things wherever with the Lord. And we will have a body that is completely suited to that sphere of things. We don't now we have physical bodies.
That are governed by physical limitations and hindrances. But in that day, as we've already said, we'll have a body of glory like unto his body of glory. And we won't have to say we don't know if we're in the body or out of the body because we, as I say, will have a body completely suited to that sphere of things and a tremendous to stand at the grave of a loved one. And you place that body that was perhaps very weak in its last days and last moments. I remember standing at the grave of my father. My father went down in health. He was very thin. He had difficulty breathing.
The last months and weeks of his life. But what rejoiced my soul was to stand there and as that body of weakness and humiliation and that body that was subject to death was placed in the grave. To realize that that was not the end of the story. And that when that body is raised at the rapture, the coming of the Lord Jesus, that body is not going to be raised the way it was laid in the grave. It's no longer going to be a body of humiliation.
01:10:11
It's not going to be a body that breaks down or feels physical pain or suffering. That's going to be a body that ages like we do now, but it's going to be a body like his glorious body and a body that's perfectly suited to that sphere of things so that we can enjoy his presence in the Father's house for all eternity. While we get this, we get this in nature. He's developed it here in our chapter, the the seed that you put into the ground.
Develops into a big tree or whatever. It doesn't look anything like what was put into the ground. You just think of every time I think I look at a newborn baby, it just it just fills my soul with awe. The male sperm and the female fertilizes the female egg and the size of a period or even smaller on a piece of paper, resulting in that little child grows up to be a full man and a woman.
We get the picture of it over and over again every time I see a newborn child. That's a miracle. Only God could do that. How could anyone with a common bit of sense believe in evolution? It's ridiculous, it's impossible, it's nonsense. Don't ever be taken in the intellect of man. It just shows how evil he can allow his thoughts to go when he gets away from God. This book will keep our thoughts in the right train. Won't won't want it. I had a client.
Who had no need of my help in court. He was an ideal client. He was a churchgoer. This weekend he would have been really active. But when I told him what we've just discussed about the shout and spending eternity with the Lord of glory, he asked me this question. Just what are you going to do when you get there? That's the real brilliant, good, righteous man in this earth.
What are you going to do when you get there? What would you tell it? Well, I said, I'm going to look upon the face of the one that died for me and saved me from my sins for about 5000 years. Then I may take a quick glance and see if you're there, but I'll turn right back to my Lord. I left it there. He won't be there. Maybe now I don't know.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest be thou like unto him.
When God made Adam, he did it differently than all the other creation. When he created the beast, he spoke and it was commanded. But when he made Adam, he took the dust to the ground. He took that which was earth, earthly, and he formed atom out of the dust of the ground. And so as we borne the image of the earthy, so we'll bear the image of the heavenly. And that's why I said earlier, brethren, that when the body is raised, those who've died in faith, it's not going to be raised in the same way.
You remember when the Lord Jesus came forth in resurrection, He had a body that wasn't subject to physical hindrances. When the doors were shut for fear of the Jews where the disciples were gathered, the Lord Jesus came and stood in the midst of his own. And those closed doors and those four walls were not a hindrance to the Lord Jesus. Now, brethren, we're going to be like not only with Christ, but we're going to be like him, and we're going to have that glorious body.
And so we've been created. We're from the earth that that is Adam. These dust was taken. The dust was taken from the earth. We're creatures of atoms, race. But isn't it wonderful to think that we're going to have a completely different body in that day when we see his face?
Most of us don't realize it, but according to the the scientific findings, most of us is our space. Space. You've got the molecule which has atoms, which has a nucleus and electrons going around it, but most of it is space. Can we fathom that? We fathom that, you know, if I meet you in heaven with a new body, we might just pass right through one another. I can't get hurt by you and you can't. I can't hurt you and you can't hurt me.
I mean, it's, it's a mode of existence that is so beyond us today.
That we as Paul, Paul, when he came back, he said I can't tell you.
Dust we were, and dust shall we return. Never forget that this body is only good for the graveyard. I got that from Brother Jackson down in Florida. I like to hear him say that, but do you know that?
01:15:16
I had something here. Hold it. While you're thinking of that, let me add we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, this body. So we should never treat it as though it is worthless or that it is evil. The evil is not part of the body. The evil is in the nature of the old nature called the flesh. But this body is the the place where the Spirit of God has taken up his habitation. So we should.
We should keep it holy, keep it holy because he's there. And that's there are those that just treat the body as though it's bad, you know, evil and bad. And that's, that's wrong doctrine, totally wrong doctrine. This body is, is, is the indwelling, the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirits, which are gods. I wasn't getting to that at all. I was getting to this the same 14 elements that make the dust of the ground.
Make your body add water. That's all. That's what I was getting at. We are dust. Don't pretend we're any different. We have a This is just our Tabernacle, brethren. Don't deify it.
And he is deemed he's been pleased to dwell in this Tabernacle. Well, that's wonderful. I think so. That's grace on grace. Doesn't make the Tabernacle any better, 202.
202.
01:20:42
For us in the resurrection and I'd like to read 2 verses or several verses in 2nd Corinthians 11.
This is in regards to if Christ has not been raised, then we have all men.
Most miserable verse four of Second Corinthians 11.
For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which ye have not received.
Or another gospel which ye have not accepted, you might well bear with him, and also in Galatians 1.
Verse Start at the beginning of verse six. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another. But there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Whether we or an Angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, and that which we have preached unto you, let him be a curse.
I don't want to teach, but I would like to exhort that the truths that we have had before us in this past meeting, though many of us would think them to be elemental, are utterly the key, especially in this generation Satan has.
Throughout the centuries of man's existence sought to attack, first by force and then by infiltration, or as I would like to call it, the subversive gospel. And at the beginning of this century we've seen the evolution come out through Darwinian philosophy and from Germany, higher criticism and humanism.
And but I would be very hesitant to say that it is merely coincidence that the number one bestseller right now.
In the New York Times is The Da Vinci Code and a book which blasphemously.
Attacks this very truth that we've had before us in this meeting, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Everyone is reading it in this generation. It's everyone. I've met my father when he travels abroad, even in the Caribbeans, and accosted by different ones that have read this book.
And I believe that we must be very wary. Satan has attacked us from without, but we must look within.
Have seen his infiltrating and at this time last conference I believe it was my brother Dave Spence that quoted that verse that said brethren know we not the time that is high time to awake out of sleep and so I would exhort us to be exceedingly.
Desirous of learning these truths that Christ Jesus was was dead but is now risen on high and we need to grasp hold of this, especially in this last day of doubt.
Satan is desiring to Pierce us with doubts and to render our testimony.
Fruitless and I would exhort us that though there is our tax from without as evolution higher criticism, there is an attack that is coming from within.
And we need to be guarding against that.