Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.whitbyec.com/sermons/11314/1-corinthians-chapter-15-v-1-19/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] I just want to thank you that yours is the victory, risen, conquering son. And how we rejoice in that on this Easter Sunday evening, how we thank you that no more we doubt you, risen Prince of life.

[0:18] We thank you that you are here with us, risen and ascended into heaven and with us by your Holy Spirit, leading and guiding us and causing us to worship and to lift our hearts and our voices in praise and adoration for all that you've done, for all the anguish that you suffered, for all the ignominy which was poured upon you and the hatred of men.

[0:46] Oh, we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and you are satisfied. And how wonderful that is, that you are a satisfied Savior, for you have won our salvation.

[1:03] And you are calling many to be righteous. You're calling men and women and boys and girls out of this world, out of its grip of sin and darkness and night, and you are bringing us into the light of the glorious gospel.

[1:20] And we thank you that this is all because you have provided purification for sin. Oh, how we thank you for that, that there is nothing to do.

[1:32] You have nothing more to do, and we certainly don't have anything to do with our salvation. It is all of yours. Yours is the glory, risen, conquering Son.

[1:44] So we pray that you'll help us and bless us as we think about the resurrection and we think about its implications this evening, and that, Lord, you would bless us mightily for the glory of your name.

[1:59] Amen. Luke 23, verse 50. And that's on page 1060, if you've got the New Church Bible. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action.

[2:27] He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body.

[2:39] Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

[2:50] It was preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.

[3:04] Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

[3:22] They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

[3:39] In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen.

[3:52] Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee, The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.

[4:04] Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

[4:22] But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and run to the tomb.

[4:33] Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. I thought we repeated this last line the last time, and the last verse.

[4:52] Yeah, anyway, it doesn't matter. We finished it. It's a good hymn, isn't it? It really is good. Well, I was greeted this morning by John Woolin, and he said, Oh, all right for tonight, Graham.

[5:05] Road to Emmaus, you see. And I said, No. I had thought of preaching on the road to Emmaus, but the last time I heard a sermon on the road to Emmaus was in Montreux on Lake Geneva in an English-speaking Anglican church, and the preacher stood up and said, Well, of course, you need to realize that the road to Emmaus didn't literally happen.

[5:34] It's just a nice collection of things and nice thoughts that were just put together, and it didn't really happen, but we can learn a few things from it.

[5:44] Well, I got an elbow, and come on, we're off, and I said, No, let's give it five minutes because I just won't have something to hit him with afterwards. So, but anyway, I lasted less than five minutes, and we both left the service.

[5:58] So I'm not going to preach on the road to Emmaus, although I would love to have done, but there's no point in getting revenge on somebody who's not here. It's all getting revenge anyway. But what I want to do, I do want to talk about the fact that he is risen, and we read in 1 Corinthians 15, and we heard this morning, didn't we, about how the resurrection is of first importance.

[6:25] It's, you know, Paul brings it out, and then we have the rest of chapter 15, which is all about the resurrection of believers and of the fact that Jesus was risen from the dead.

[6:39] And his logic and his apologetic is absolutely flawless, because in verse 17, he says, Well, if the resurrection didn't happen, then Christianity is a fake.

[6:51] In fact, it's futile. It is totally futile. And to try and live like a Christian is futility itself. In fact, we read it.

[7:02] He said that, really, it's, we're of all men, all people to be pitied if Jesus Christ has not been risen.

[7:14] In fact, he goes on further and says, Well, if Christ has not risen, there's no point in changing your lifestyle, because you may as well eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

[7:25] And that's the philosophy of the world, isn't it? Eat and drink for tomorrow we die, because there is no life after death. There is no resurrection. If there is, I think I'll be all right, because everybody else is doing what I'm doing, and it should be okay.

[7:40] But of course, Christianity is true. And Jesus was raised from the dead. And that is a wonderful distinction of the Christian faith.

[7:53] There is no other religion. There is no other faith. There is nothing on this earth that can speak in such power and conviction as a resurrection of Jesus Christ, as a historical fact.

[8:09] And so what I want to do this evening is to just look at the message of the resurrection and its relevance to us today. And really, there are four areas, and I want to try and sum it all up with a fifth.

[8:23] And the first one is that Jesus predicted it. He predicted his death and his resurrection. That he proved it. He proved it physically.

[8:34] And he proved it through a multitude of witnesses. So he predicted it. He proved it. And then his witnesses that he produced then testified to the world.

[8:47] So it's very much a court scene that we're looking at. There is a prediction, something that happened, and then men and women who testified.

[8:59] And then we'll fourthly look at the verdict. What happened? What happened? So let's have a look at the first thing is that Jesus predicted it.

[9:10] And none of this will be new. And in fact, some of it was mentioned this morning. But let's just think about what happened before the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[9:23] Three times in Mark's Gospel, we read of Jesus actually predicting his suffering and his death. Mark chapter 8 and verse 31 reads this.

[9:35] Then he began to teach to them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

[9:49] He spoke plainly about this. And Peter took him alongside and began to rebuke him. Because Peter had just said, well, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He just made his great confession of Christ.

[10:01] And Jesus sort of pulls a bit of cold water on that to bring Peter down to earth. He spoke plainly about it.

[10:14] After the transfiguration in Luke chapter 9, the next chapter, it says that they left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples.

[10:27] He said to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him. And after three days, he will rise.

[10:38] But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. So twice now, the disciples have been told by the Lord Jesus Christ, plain speaking, that he was to suffer, he was to be killed, and then he was to rise from the dead after three days.

[11:00] And they didn't understand it. And I think if we were in their place, we wouldn't understand it either. If we didn't have such a familiarity with the fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, we would have wondered a little bit ourselves.

[11:15] But there was perhaps a reason that wouldn't affect us that they had a problem with. And this problem was the fact that their understanding of the resurrection of the dead.

[11:26] In fact, in between those two passages, there is a mount of transfiguration, and Peter and John are just coming down, wondering what rising from the dead meant.

[11:40] Because Jesus, again, sort of mentioned not drinking of the vine. No, Jesus mentioned that he was going to return. And so, their understanding of the resurrection of the dead at that point was that they believed that sometime in the future, there was going to be the whole redemption of the whole world.

[12:05] That there was going to be this day of judgment, and God would come, and that would be the day of resurrection. And Mary and Martha had the same thought, that they could see something in the future.

[12:16] But when Jesus said, I'm going to die, and then three days later, I'm going to rise myself from the dead, I'm going to rise from the grave. That was something that completely threw them, because, well, yeah, we believe in a resurrection, but, you know, this is new, this is three days.

[12:31] Now, is that third day when you rise going to be the day of resurrection? Is that going to be the end of the world? And there's sort of a perplexion here, and one or two of the disciples decide they want to get into the queue.

[12:46] You know, well, can I sit on your right hand, and, you know, let's get our place, because there's not much time left. What about me? If you're going to die and rise, what about me?

[12:57] And so there was a perplexion. They didn't understand what rising from the dead meant, apart from something that was in the far distant future. So they're wondering, and it's life is full of perplexity for them.

[13:13] The third time, in Mark 9, we read that again he took the 12 aside, and he told them what was going to happen to him. We are going up to Jerusalem, he said, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and teachers of the law.

[13:30] They will condemn him to death, will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him, and kill him. Three days later, he will rise.

[13:44] So there we are. Those are the three predictions as recorded in Mark's gospel. Jesus predicted his death and he predicted his resurrection.

[13:56] And in the process, he sought to clarify some fuzzy thinking that the disciples had. But not only did he predict it, when he rose from the dead, he proved it.

[14:09] He proved it physically, that he was physically alive, and he proved it by displaying that resurrection to a multitude of witnesses.

[14:20] Now, we heard this morning, didn't we, and we read it again, that not only did he appear on many occasions, but at one time, he appeared to 500 people at the same time, which is amazing, isn't it, that there is more proof for the resurrection of Jesus Christ than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar.

[14:41] You know, that here is an indisputable history, a factual, a fact of history. And in Luke 24, and the reason why I chose Luke 24, we find that the Lord himself makes it absolutely clear to his disciples.

[15:04] In Luke 24, and verse 36, we read this. While they were still talking about this, this is the day of resurrection, and he appears to his disciples, Jesus stood, himself stood among them, and said to them, peace be with you.

[15:24] And they were startled and frightened, thinking, they saw a ghost. Oh, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? They, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they saw a ghost.

[15:36] He said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds? You've got trouble with your thinking, which I pointed out earlier on.

[15:47] Look at my hands and my feet. It is I, myself. Touch me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.

[16:01] Touch me, I'm physical. So that, so Jesus was not a ghost. He was not some kind of spiritual appearance that looked like Jesus as, as some later heretics would preach.

[16:16] No, he was there physically before them. In fact, he walked through a closed door, actually, has really nothing to do with it.

[16:27] He was living in a glorified body, in a body which knew no boundaries. But he was still physical and still is physical and that's a mystery to us. But, the, the invitation was, touch me.

[16:42] I, a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones as you can see, you see I have. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet and while they said they'll not believe, because of joy and amazement, he asked them, so he is, he's now driving it home.

[17:00] You know, he's going to prove that he's alive. Have you got something to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence.

[17:10] You, you talk to a Jehovah's Witness and point that verse out because they do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and there is no answer to it. Because Jesus said, have you got something to eat?

[17:23] They gave him some broiled fish and he ate it in their presence. After they had touched him and felt him and seen the visible marks on his hands and his feet.

[17:35] And then he said to them, this is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled, what is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.

[17:47] And then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures and he told them, this is what is written. The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

[18:08] You are witnesses of these things. So Jesus proves it and he gathers around him a number, we know hundreds, but some key witnesses in the form of the early disciples and the apostles and he says, you are my witnesses.

[18:28] Now just think of the genius of that. You know, that Jesus is proving his resurrection there and then on the resurrection day and thereafter until he has ascended and then just once after that when Paul is converted and he's demonstrating to him his physical resurrection.

[18:52] He's showing them that he is alive and that is the message that goes out. And so men and women will come along and say, oh well he didn't really rise from the dead and we just saw how ludicrous that was this morning, didn't we?

[19:07] We just saw how a lot of nonsense it is because there is so much in scripture that points to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead and that he did appear to witnesses.

[19:20] He proved it. He predicted it and then he proved it. But moreover, the third point we've got is that Jesus' witnesses then testified and we saw some of that this morning, didn't we?

[19:35] You know, if they were believing a lie, if they were trying to propagate a lie, then they would not have gone through what they did. They would not have changed their whole career as it were for something that was a lie.

[19:48] But these witnesses that Jesus produced testified. Now I don't know if you've ever been to court, I know there's, John is there probably every week, but if you go to court and you stand up, as a witness you swear that you're telling the truth, the whole truth and nodding but the truth.

[20:07] That is what a witness is. This is something I saw. Did you see that man pull the gun and shoot his wife? Yes, I saw it.

[20:18] That's what a witness is. And this is what these witnesses did. Ah, but what does a witness have to be? A witness has to be confident.

[20:31] Can't sort of say, well, yeah, I think I sort of saw him, you know, it's a bit, bit murky. No, a witness has to be confident. To be credible, you have to be confident. You also have to be convincing, haven't you?

[20:44] You've got to be convincing. You've got to say, well, not I think, but I know. And you've also got to be credible. You've also got to have the, you know, the satire, as it were, the background knowledge of what, that you know what you're talking about.

[21:01] That is what these witnesses had to do. They had to be confident, convincing, and they had to be credible. And they were not that, were they? They were locked in a room.

[21:13] They were fearful. Peter had denied the Lord Jesus Christ, so, and saying to a servant girl, oh, sorry, no, no, I don't know him. Hardly confident, was he?

[21:25] and never, ever convincing until, until the Holy Spirit came upon them. And what I want to do now is just look at the confidence and the conviction and the credibility of the, of Peter, in particularly, in Acts.

[21:45] And I'm going to look at Acts 2, Acts 3, and Acts 4. Sorry there's so much quotation from Scripture, but this is, this is, see, this is here for us.

[21:57] You know, we can point people to the Word and say, they are, Jesus predicted it, they are, he proved it, and here are his disciples witnessing about it. So let's have a look at confident Peter on the day of Pentecost.

[22:12] And he's, he's standing up and he's, he's saying, no, we're not drunk. It's only nine o'clock in the morning and he goes and he preaches the gospel.

[22:23] And he says, fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently, don't you like that? He's confident that the patriarch David died. And he's talking about David and, in his relationship with the Messiah and messianic predictions.

[22:40] And he says, I can tell you confidently that patriarch David died and was buried in, and his tomb is here with us to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would one day place one of his descendants on his throne.

[22:56] Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God raised this Jesus to life and we're all witnesses of it.

[23:12] That's Acts 2 verses 29 to 32. God raised this Jesus to life and we're all witnesses of it. He has a confident Peter, isn't it?

[23:23] You're not going to get around Peter by saying, I think you're telling lies because he's telling them as it is. In the next chapter, after healing the lame beggar with John, we read this, Acts 3 verse 13, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.

[23:46] You handed him over to be killed. This is convincing, isn't it? You know, you've seen it on TV, haven't you? You know, you didn't do that or you did that and the points of finger and he says, you handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate though he had decided to let him go and you disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you.

[24:11] You killed the author of life but God raised him from the dead. We are all witnesses of this. Gosh, wouldn't you love to have been there?

[24:23] You know, this is, Peter is his convincing best and then later on when he's arrested for no good reason, he's facing the Sanhedrin in chapter 4, we see his credibility.

[24:37] He says this, know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus of Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed.

[24:52] Jesus is the stone you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone. It's called in scripture. salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

[25:06] And then later on in verses 18 to 20 chapter 4, then they called him in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus but Peter and John replied which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him.

[25:25] You be the judges as for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. That's a credible witness isn't it?

[25:36] You know, he throws scripture back at them and he said well, this is a stone you builders rejected but it's become the chief cornerstone and we cannot help but speak about what we've seen and heard.

[25:51] And of course the Acts of the Apostles just continues with Stephen and Philip and Paul and others. So what was the result? Jesus predicted his resurrection Jesus proved it Jesus produced witnesses to it well, what about the result?

[26:10] What happened? What was the verdict? What was the verdict? Well, the verdict was mixed. It was, you could say it was a split verdict and we'll cover that in a moment but really there was skepticism there was joy and there was rejection to the message of the resurrection of Jesus.

[26:35] Now is that any different to today? I don't think it is is it really? Before you became a Christian did you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, sounds a nice story but I don't really have anything important to say does it really?

[26:50] Well, we'll cover that shortly but Jesus knew there would be a split verdict. Jesus knew that he would divide families. Jesus knew that there'd be a father that would believe and a wife that wouldn't and a daughter that would believe and a brother that wouldn't.

[27:07] He knew that the word the truth was like a sword that it would divide humanity not just families but the whole of humanity into two camps those that believe and those who don't and as we saw this morning those who would say well, I think I'd like to know more about this because I'm finding it really interesting and compelling but let's have a look at those who were the skeptics.

[27:33] In Luke 24 it says that the disciples did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. You see the credibility of the word of God is important here.

[27:51] We've just seen the confidence of the disciples Peter and John and yet initially they thought well this is a lot of rubbish. This is don't believe this for a minute.

[28:03] Sounds like nonsense. Now the women had come hurrying away from the tomb after seeing the angel and they were afraid and yet they were filled with joy and they ran to tell his disciples.

[28:16] So you could say the women were a bit farther advanced in their understanding of the resurrection as they usually are aren't they really? They're much brighter than us men but you know they were filled with joy and yet they were afraid.

[28:33] They'd just seen an angel and said he's risen. But when they took that message to the disciples well it just seems like nonsense doesn't it?

[28:45] Don't believe that. Skepticism. In John chapter 20 we read Thomas also known as Dinnibus one of the twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

[28:58] So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord. Now they've seen Jesus we have seen the Lord let's come tell Thomas he wasn't with us. But he said to them well unless I see the nail marks in his hands well they'd seen it.

[29:11] and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side I will not believe. Skeptical Thomas. Skepticism. That's how the news of the resurrection was received.

[29:27] But then of course we know that it was received joyfully. We don't have a miserable Easter hymn do we? You know they always have a rejoicing theme and that's right because because in John 20 verse 20 after Jesus had said this he showed them his hands and his side and the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

[29:49] Well we will be overjoyed when we see the Lord won't we? They were overjoyed and even Thomas doubting Thomas what a label to go to your grave with he said my Lord and my God he worshipped the Lord there was joy there was worship.

[30:08] So there's message received with skepticism message received with joy and then the message is also received negatively. In Acts chapter 5 perhaps you could just turn to Acts chapter 5 and verse 33 what has happened is earlier on in chapter 5 in verse 17 under the heading it says the apostles were persecuted it says then the high priests and all his associates who were members of the party of the Sadducees were filled with jealousy now the Sadducees actually believed in the resurrection of the dead it's the Pharisees who think I've got that is that the right way around yes okay were filled with jealousy and they arrested the apostles and put him into jail and then the angel gets them out and in verse 33 they are in front of the

[31:11] Sadducees and Peter in verse 29 says Peter and the other apostles replied we must obey God rather than men the God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness to the sins of sins to Israel we are witnesses of these things and so is the holy spirit and God has given to those who obey him and when they heard this they were furious and wanted to put them to death so the word the message of the resurrection brought fury and basically death threat and they were filled these were jealous people later on when Paul is on his missionary journey and he's and he reaches Thessalonica we read this is the way he approached the gospel to the

[32:16] Thessalonians he says in Acts 17 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead so that was the message that Paul took out to you know to distant lands and he says this Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah he said and some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas houseed a large number of God fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women so the gospel comes along he's preaching about the raising of the dead we find that there's God fearing Jews and Greeks and prominent women believe but there were other Jews were jealous and so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace formed a mob and started a riot in the city so that's how the word is received as a riot starts in Thessalonica not the first one we read about with the life and ministry of Paul and that's the same today isn't it the message of the resurrection the message of Christ of the gospel of the need for sins to be forgiven of Jesus providing the atonement for that some believe some are curious some receive it joyfully others receive it think about it skeptically and others are furious and negative so we've seen that Jesus predicted his resurrection he proved it produced witnesses there was a split decision so what does it matter what's the point all happened 2000 years ago can't possibly affect us today is that why the media have got nothing really to do with

[34:08] Easter Easter has just disappeared in terms of having any religious significance really it's all Easter eggs and then you obliterate the name Easter and just call them eggs chocolate eggs I mean that's what's happening isn't it you know the secularization of Christian dates and commemorations is just out of the window it can't possibly be relevant to us today but what we need to understand is that the resurrection that we celebrate on an Easter time and other times when we read those passages of scripture that it is not the end but it's a stepping stone of history and that's what I really want to just cover finally that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a stepping stone to what will actually be the end of history and the person who will write that history is not a historian or a press journalist or a

[35:21] TV commentator but Jesus himself will write the final chapter of this world's history and he'll do it in many ways but I just want to bring out three ways in which Jesus will do this and how it is relevant to us today to everyone today and the first thing is that Jesus will once more prove his resurrection he will once more prove his resurrection not just a dozen disciples and a few women maybe 500 at one time but he's going to prove it visibly when he returns and the hope of the resurrection the return of Jesus Christ is all the way through the New Testament in Titus we have this lovely passage verse 11 of chapter 2 for the grace of

[36:23] God has appeared that offers salvation to all people it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in this present age why while we wait for the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness so this is a Christian hope the Christian hope is that there is a this blessed hope is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ and he's going to return and he will be seen by everyone we all know that passage in Philippians don't we Philippians 2 therefore God has exalted him Jesus to the highest place and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of

[37:26] Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Jesus will visibly return and every eye will see him miraculously and every knee shall bow and he will prove his resurrection he will be there physically to the whole world that's the first way in which he will write the final chapter of world history the next way he will fulfill his promise of the resurrection to his people so Jesus is not just a one off man come God who was raised on the third day Jesus is described as the first fruits he is the first one garnered in as it were risen from the dead and he will fulfill when he returns a promise to his people that we shall be with him 1

[38:39] Thessalonians verse 4 that's why I read that passage in Acts about Paul preaching to the Thessalonians and some believing some rejecting this is what he writes in his first letter chapter 4 brothers and sisters we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death there was a question over what happened to the people who died so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope for we believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him according to the Lord's word we tell you that we who are still alive who are left at the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command with a voice of the archangel and with a trumpet call of God and the dead in

[39:42] Christ will rise first so here's the resurrection of the dead those who have died in Christ who are perhaps just atoms just floating somewhere they will rise first and after that we who are still alive when Jesus returns and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will be with the Lord forever therefore encourage one another with these words the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior is going to bring with it the resurrection of the dead all of us who have loved ones who have died in the Lord have that assurance that they will be raised and when we pass away and the Lord hasn't been by the time that happens we shall be part of that great company and those who are dead in Christ have their advantage to those who are living because they're first in the air with the

[40:46] Lord and then those who are walking about on the earth will be with him forever he's going to demonstrate and write the final chapter first of all by visibly appearing and then fulfilling his promise of resurrection to his people and the third thing he's going to do is he's going to make all things new everything will be changed the shackles as it were of our bodies which restrict us and which to which we just dislike ourselves at times because of our sin and the things that we think and say and do all these things are going to disappear and the effects of the curse and the effects of sin will be removed and Satan will be bound and we will be in a place that is holy and pure in chapter 21 of Revelation this is how John tells us what it's going to be like because we're going to have a new home and we're going to have a new husband well

[41:53] I think some of our wives probably need a new husband but we all get a new husband even the men then I saw a new heaven and earth a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying look God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with him so God is going to make a new home and he's going to dwell amongst us his people they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God he will wipe every tear from their eyes there will be no more death no more mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away and it says he who was seated on the throne said I am making everything new and then he said write these this down for these words are trustworthy and true

[42:59] Jesus had predicted his death his suffering and his rising and they were trustworthy and told us that one day he will return and these words too are trustworthy and true they're just as sure and certain as the first resurrection that we witness in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and then in Revelation 22 it says there will no longer be any curse the throne of God and of the lamb will be in the city and his servants will serve them they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads there will be no more night they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun for the

[44:00] Lord will give them light and they will reign forever and ever and the angel said to me these words are trustworthy and true twice it says in the last chapters of Revelation the wonderful thing about heaven itself about the new heaven and the new earth about our resurrected bodies is there be no curse have you ever thought about that no curse if you're a gardener there's no aphids you know if you're a young person there's no acne there's nothing there's no curse the effect of sin is just wiped away the earth that was cursed and is subject to decay the world in which we live which is groaning and waiting for the redemption of Jesus Christ that curse is going to be obliterated and God will create a new heaven and a new earth so no curse only glory isn't that a wonderful thing to think about that the glory that the

[45:02] Lord Jesus Christ received on when he ascended into heaven is as a glory that will be given to us and Jesus in his prayer in John 17 says glorify your son and then he says about his disciples I have glorified them he wants us to be full of glory he wants us to be free from the curse of sin and the curse of death he wants to give us resurrected bodies new bodies which are pure and holy and capable of worshipping our great God and saviour as he deserves so may we encourage ourselves in these things it does matter it does matter that Jesus predicted his death and resurrection it does matter that he proved it and it does matter that witnesses testified and it does matter that there's a split verdict because it says there is the capacity to know and understand and love the Lord

[46:03] Jesus Christ and say yes I receive this word joyfully and it does matter because Jesus is going to come again and every eye will see him and he will fulfill his promise to his people he will give us a resurrection body and then he will make all things new and heaven will be heaven because of Jesus behold I tell you a mystery we will not all sleep but we will all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the

[47:15]  Lord let's say the grace together may the grace of our Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit believe us all evermore amen