Your Resurrection Is at Hand

I invite you to turn to 1 John 3, verse 2. Beloved, now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. A scripture of our destiny, of where we're going, who we will be, and what we will see. The subject here is the afterlife, the eternal life, which is the core of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is the resurrection. The Apostle Paul was obsessed with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It's the central core of the Gospel itself. It's the hope of the Gospel. The Apostle Peter described it as the living hope. What does the word resurrection or resurrect mean? What does resurrect mean? It has three syllables in it, or three parts to it. First is ree, r, ree, which means, again, like review, ree. Sir means from below. It means again from below that you have erect to stand up.

So it means, very simply, again, from below to stand up. That's what resurrection means. A lot of times, and I look at my, throughout the ministry, I've been asked, we have asked, what is the difference between faith and hope? The words sound similar. Could you explain to somebody what is the difference between faith and hope? Well, they both sound kind of alike, but how are they different? And the best explanation that I have ever heard was in the context of the resurrection. We can have faith that there will be a resurrection. It's in the Bible.

We hear about it. We see stories about it. We have faith. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe in the resurrection. Believe means faith. I have faith in the resurrection. But our hope is that I will be in the resurrection. Hope is personalizing that faith.

Yes, there's a resurrection. There's faith. But there is also hope. And that's what the apostle Paul, Peter, John spoke of in their writings, giving hope to you and me that we will be in that resurrection. So today, I want to talk to you about that phase of our life, of our existence. I'm sure that you have given thought to it at times. And as we get older and older, we think more and more about what will it be like? Where will it be?

When will it be? Certainly, we can't continue forever in this life that we live right now, this physical life. The stories and the first-hand stories about the apostle Paul give us a great deal of insight and encouragement. In fact, he suffered far more than any of us have suffered. We live in a country.

We live in a society. We live with a government, in spite of all the things that we are unhappy about and dissatisfied with our government. None of us have been dragged out of our homes and beaten. We haven't been jailed for no purpose at all. We haven't been threatened. Anybody here have been shipwrecked? The apostle Paul was persecuted.

He was stoned. All kinds of things that happened to him. He was constantly threatened with death in his ministry. Suffering and death, the threat of death, I should say, was always a part of the apostolic experience of the apostle Paul. But, whenever he was faced with death, what did he think? He thought, life. In several places he speaks about that with great encouragement and with a lesson to us.

Philippians 1, verse 12. Turn with me to Philippians 1, verse 12. I want you to know, brothers, and I will be reading mostly from the English Standard Version Bible, the ESV. I'll be reading some very well known passages, but I'll read it with a little different translation, one that I admire a great deal of because of its accuracy word for word. And you'll hear words that might be a little bit different, slightly different, in the choice of words of synonym.

But I believe it will greatly enhance what we understand and what we've already heard. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me, and he's writing from prison in Rome. So, already it's a difficult, challenging situation for him, personally. But what has happened to me has served to advance the gospel. He looked at it as a positive experience, the brighter side of his imprisonment.

He said, I even had a chance and opportunity to witness to the palace guard, palace of who? The emperor of Rome. So, the gospel message, and certainly Paul is a leader of the Christian movement.

The story was told to the emperor that this guy is in town and he's in jail. But the Apostle Paul was able to preach the gospel or was able to tell his story and be a witness of the gospel. Yes, and I will rejoice. Verse 19, I know that through your prayers, verse 19, and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, which it did, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. That's the way he looked at his life. Whatever direction it takes, I win both ways. To live is Christ, and doing his ministry, and to die is gain, as he explains. If I am to live in the flesh, verse 22, that means fruitful labor for me, traveling, building churches, establishing congregations, following up and visiting with them, yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. Okay, so which will I take? Which do I prefer? I'm hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ that is far better. I mean, I'd prefer, really, to just quit this world, quit this existence, because I know that I will be with Christ. Next moment, I will be with Christ. No more hassle on this earth. No more beatings. No more chains. No more persecutions.

For that is better, verse 24, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

So, I'm torn. I really want to be with you, but the better part of it is, the better choice would be to be with Christ. So, when faced with death, Paul thought life. Another instance, I'm just taking a few of those that are recorded, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 7. Verse 8, actually, here, we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair. His despair and his challenges were far more than anything we have. And I think a lesson to us is that no matter how much he was afflicted, crushed, perplexed, but he was not driven to a give up. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.

Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. To me, these are so encouraging, these words.

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

I've gone through a lot of trouble, a lot of persecution, a lot of things Paul says, but Jesus Christ far more in what he took in his three and a half year ministry and with his crucifixion. So death, verse 12, is at work in us, but life in you. Always balanced death and life.

Both had their benefits of not only what you learned, but also in death that you will be with Christ. Paul had a vision of the future. There were a number of times in which God came out of his hidden realm and approached mankind in a very real way. A number of times in visions he appeared to mankind. One was the transfiguration, which was where Jesus brought Peter, John, and James, who were brothers, to the mount of transfiguration, and they were able to see Moses and Elijah, and to be able to see the kingdom, to be able to see what it was like, way to see kind of a glimpse into the future. It's not been done too often, but it was done, and it was done here for Paul, and it was done for a reason. He says in 2 Corinthians now, chapter 12, verse 2. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 2, he writes with humility, I know a man in Christ who, 14 years ago, was caught up to the third heaven.

Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. So he speaks about this man that he knew, and he's trying to cover and not appear proud here, but I guess we can say, hey, Paul, we know who you're talking about. We know exactly who you're talking about. He's talking about himself. 14 years before he wrote this to the Philippians, he had this experience, and he touches upon it. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, into this dimension, or this dimension came to him. He was able to see things that we don't normally see. You know, most of the universe that we have around us, we can't see. They're calculating things, even from the James Webb telescopes. There are certain things, there's lots of things out there that we just don't know. They're there. They could be calculated. They're out there. We don't fully understand, but there is an entire world, an entire different dimension right with us. Do you believe in angels? Yes, I do. Do we believe there are angels around here? Yes. Have you ever been affected by an angel? I feel like I have. I've been protected by angels at different times, some in very direct ways, saving my life. But they don't invade our dimension to where we just talk to them. We could, maybe unknowingly, but they live in a different dimension from us. It's as if we were comparing it. If we lived in a two-dimensional world where we just had length and width, and somebody would say, don't you see how high that is? What do you mean, high? I just liked it in width. Well, it's the same thing with the dimension of God. We have the four dimensions that we live in, but if we were to say, what about God's dimension? Well, we don't admit to it, or don't know it, or feel like we can't calculate it, because we're only limited to four dimensions. But mathematicians and astrophysicists have figured that there may be as many as 10 dimensions, and probably a whole lot more than that, that we can't figure on. We don't know. At least right now we can't. So he was caught up to paradise, or this third heaven. No, and where is this third heaven? Where God abodes, where God lives. Is it in the next constellation someplace? Is it in Andromeda that he's got his throne in his third paradise, or paradise, or third heaven? Or maybe something a little bit further away, five billion light years away? No, actually God is right here, but in a different dimension, that we cannot feel that we can't see unless he appears to us. So he was caught up to this dimension. Whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know, he just all of a sudden something came clear to him.

Verse 4, and he heard things that cannot be told which man may not utter. Doesn't even say what they were, but he said, I saw some... or he, this man who is himself, saw things that I can't even express. They were so awesome. They were so amazing. They were so huge. They were so striking.

And I can't tell you what they were. I can't explain it. Maybe he couldn't explain what he saw. They were just... what did he see? He saw God, saw Jesus, 24 elders, 100 million angels.

Now what did he see? He saw an entirely different world that is just part of the existence that we have, except that in our physical existence and with the physical properties that we are limited to, we can't touch that area unless it touches us and comes into our area.

On behalf of this man, I will boast, but not on my own behalf, verse 5, except of my weaknesses. Now it gets to be a little bit more clear that he's talking about himself.

Though I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. I don't want to be boasting. Guess what I saw?

And I can't even explain it. Either be boasting or they'd think he's crazy.

So to keep me from being too elated, you know, him walking away from this experience, and the purpose of this event was to help him through his trials. The Apostle Paul went through a lot the trials that he had. This was 14 years earlier. This was at the beginning of his ministry or the early parts of his ministry where God, he was persecuted, he was stoned, and God says, look, here's where you're going. You've got a job to do, but here's where you're going. Here's what you're going to be. Here's your destiny. And so Paul, every time that he spoke, every time that he traveled, any church that he started, he remembered this event to keep him from being elated, but also showed him where he would end up. By the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. This could be a lesson for us, too. There may be times when we are tried. We are, in a sense, harassed by Satan.

We are kept from thinking too highly of ourselves. And yet God has given us great promises and great future. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. And why wouldn't God answer his prayer? Well, God had a purpose for that trial. We don't know what it is. I cite whatever. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient to you, a verse oft quoted, but not in this particular context. It is my grace, my goodness. That's all you need to know, Paul. I got you covered. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, Paul writes, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with my weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. All these things, I can live with it. I understand. I know I've seen the promised land. I'm seeing where I'm going. I've seen the future.

I can put up with all the stuff that I'm living with here on this earth.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Probably the book that has the most revelations and insight, probably in a greater way, is the book of Revelation, which is an entire book of the future of what's to happen. That book is just amazing with all the things that John saw in vision of the day of the Lord when God will come back to this earth. I'd like to delve into now 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, which is called the resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians itself is an interesting book. It reveals doctrine and practice in a church that we follow, such as the Passover. There's more detail given about conducting the Passover in the book of 1 Corinthians than anywhere else. We know about examining ourselves. We know a lot about what to do, what to eat, what not to eat. All this is covered in a practical way, like a reference volume in the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 11, which we always read at Passover. But also here in 1 Corinthians 15, we learn more about the details of the resurrection than any place else. And we'll look at that right here in the remainder of the sermon. I want to take a look at most of the verses quickly in the chapter, not exactly every single one, because when we speak about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, the chapter has 58 verses. We hardly ever go through verse after verse. We just take what are called the showstoppers, you know, the ones that are in the Messiah, you know, the ones that are sung, the more noted ones. But don't look at the rest of the chapter in the full context. But the resurrection of Christ is the title of this chapter. It addresses the core of our Christian belief. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also, very importantly, segues to the promise of our resurrection. This is important. Let's start with verse one. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and which you stand. So he's talking about the gospel, the good news, okay? What is this good news? And by which you are being saved. This good news is what is our salvation. What is salvation? It is being given eternal life. Salvation isn't just some good feeling. It is being saved from death.

If you hold fast the word that I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. And then he continues on in the book of the chapter of 1 Corinthians 15. It's got five parts that talk about various aspects of the subject of the resurrection. That's the theme of the book. First of all, Paul begins the chapter by reminding the Corinthians of the gospel that he preached to them. Certainly it was the gospel of the kingdom. But the gospel of the kingdom is the gospel of the resurrection. It's also called the gospel of peace. It's also called the gospel of grace. It's the gospel of the kingdom. There are several different ways in which it's described.

The gospel is the foundation of our faith, and Paul succinctly summarizes it here in verse 3. For I deliver it to you as a first importance that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. This is the resurrection of Christ, and that he appeared to Cephas and to the 12th.

Then that is the foundation of the gospel, the first part here, which is the resurrection. The God which is the resurrection and Christ raised up after three days.

The second part is the importance of the gospel that takes us verses 12 through 19.

And this really gets into why he had to write the book that he did, write the chapter that he did. He didn't just say, what am I going to write about today? He's just like, well, we got to write a column this week for the Christians, and what do we think of today? No, he was reacting to a real big problem that was occurring in the church in Corinth. In fact, the story about the Passover was also about a big problem. People were showing up drunk at the Passover service. There was chaos as to what order things were to be done. He had to set that straight. And he does the same thing here in 1 Corinthians 15, chapter 15.

Now, verse 12, if Christ proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

I can't believe it. I've heard from some of you that you don't think that Christ, that there's no resurrection from the dead.

If there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

This is not a myth. He gets very direct. In fact, he gets pretty strong in his language here. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is in vain.

Everything we're doing is just a waste of time. Why bother?

We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise. If it is true, the dead are not raised. If you preach there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ isn't even raised. You don't even believe that Christ was a human being. He was God in the flesh. And then some of you, if you say there's no resurrection from the dead, when he came for the purpose of granting life, through his life that we have life, he says, come on. Verse 16, for if the dead are not raised, even Christ has not been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.

Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. I mean, anybody who has died previously in the church, they're gone. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

And if we don't believe in a resurrection, we are still in our sins. We have no hope for the future. What a waste! Just think of all the games, the Purdue games, that we could have gone to on Saturday. We had to give it up because of our beliefs. And all the other commandments, they're just meaningless. And you know, there are people who call themselves Christians who do not believe in an afterlife. I have worked with the Unitarians. In fact, they are some of the most generous people that I have met with. In fact, when life nets began back in 1998-1999, there was a Unitarian church in St. Paul, Minnesota that really helped us a lot with containers.

Their church is very involved with activism, with service, with helping people. You know why? Because this life is the only chance they have for it because there is no afterlife. So let's do it now. Another person that I met that was a Unitarian was a retired city attorney for Long Beach, California. He found that where we worked in Ukraine was right village next to where his father came from. And so he was very interested in that. And he set up a fund, a scholarship fund for children or for students in that city. But he was most generous, most generous.

He actually even wanted to start, and did start, Habitat for Humanity in Ukraine. This was about 25, maybe 30 years ago. And in Christ's time, there were sects. There was a sect of the Jews. I'm not sure if it's the only ones, but the sad you see's that also believe that there was no resurrection. In fact, the high priest, Joseph Caiaphas, did not believe in the resurrection. That's what really galled them so much about the teachings of Jesus Christ. Because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. And that year, from 18 to about 35 A.D., Caiaphas was the high priest in Jerusalem.

And also, this teaching was creeping in to the church. So, section two was the importance of the resurrection, and why he had to write what he did. The third part, which is verses 20 through 28, is the order of the resurrection.

Christ is the firstfruits. When he comes, those who are with him will be raised. We begin to understand, really, some of the nuts and bolts of the whole process of the resurrection, whose first, whose second, how it happens.

The sequence underscores the assurance of our future resurrection, because Christ's resurrection guarantees it. Paul also speaks of the ultimate victory over death and sin.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death, in verse 26. This promise fills us with hope and strength, and strengthens our faith, knowing that death does not have the final say. These are not just nice words. These are words that Paul is using to bolster up a church that was, beginning with us, few to have some doubts and some wavering. Verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. This is no mistake about it. The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Verse 21, for as by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, also in Christ shall all be made alive. He says this to show that there is a progress, there's a process, there's a continuum. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. You belong to Christ? Well, you're next in line. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power, which is made clear from Daniel chapter 7. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. We've got to come a time when everything will be under the control of Christ. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that there is that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, the Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Everything is going to be straightened out. The order, hierarchical order of God the Father, Jesus Christ. That was established when Jesus Christ came to the earth where he said the Father is greater than I. All rule and dominion on the source will be put down. He's making it very, very clear. It's amazing how he could speak about the kingdom of God, connecting it with world governments at that time in this letter. But he did, and it became part of scripture. God's presence and sovereignty will be fully realized in all aspects of creation.

Verse 29. I might spend a few minutes on this controversial verse.

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? Or you might have in your King James or New King James Bible, baptized for the dead. It was a major denomination, Latter-day Saints, that believe in proxy baptisms for people who have died.

People who have died generations before. In the late 1800s, they established quite an amazing way of tracking records, or as many as they could, going back as far as they could, about people who have died, who may have not been, quote, saved. Because they believe that in order to have eternal life, you've got to be baptized. Here's a verse that says that you could be baptized for the dead, a proxy baptism. And so they have developed, even to our time, digital websites, such as FamilySearch. And they were very involved with Ancestry.com, which for the purposes was not that they owned it, it was owned by another group. They developed these websites to search for people in your past. That you could be baptized, you could be baptized for them. It could only be done in the temples. They have pools, they have a special service. It is one of the tenets of their faith of being baptized for the dead. Not knowing that for, the word that's for there, or in the e, the version that we're using, the ESV, English Standard Version, that the word for, or on behalf, is from the Greek word, huper, which could be for the benefit of, or for the hope of the dead. Baptized for the hope of the dead. What is the hope of the dead? Now, the whole theme of this chapter is the resurrection. The hope of the dead is the resurrection, eternal life. Not talking about proxy baptism for them, is talking about the subject at hand. When we baptize someone, we basically are saying that the Holy Spirit is entering you. That Holy Spirit, which is given to us, is a down payment of eternal life.

That's your hope, the Holy Spirit being in you. And so, the LDS Church, wanting to pick up on people that they've missed, which there's quite a few, have these baptisms for the dead. Sometimes, in one evening, people have been baptized for 20 different people, baptized over and over again, for these people, baptized on behalf of the dead. Verse 29. If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why am I in danger every hour? Is it we're being baptized so that we can enjoy and appreciate and have hope after having our faith in the resurrection to be part of it, part of the activity?

Which I have in Christ. See, why am I in danger every hour? I protest, verse 31, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus, our Lord, I die every day. What do I gain, if humanly speaking, I fought with beast's emphasis? If the dead are not raised, what's the point? Why do I have to go through that? I wouldn't have to go through that if there's not going to be any life beyond. There's better jobs. Paul was very well known. He was part of the San Heedran. If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Wake up, verse 34, from your drunken stupor, as it is right, and do not go on sinning, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. So some people, actually, in the church, next step after saying there's no resurrection, they kind of get sloppy about their behavior. They become sinners.

The fourth section of this chapter is the nature of the resurrection.

The nature of the resurrection. Many wonder about the nature of the resurrected body.

And Paul addresses this curiosity by comparing our human bodies, our current bodies, to seeds that are sown. Just as a seed must die to bring forth new life, so our bodies must be transformed. This is covered so interestingly. He gets down to the details of the resurrection about bodies, our physical bodies and spiritual bodies. He compares it very, very well here to an agricultural comparison. Our resurrected bodies will be gloriously different from our current bodies. And that's probably what the Apostle Paul saw when he was brought before God in paradise. Not only did he see the vast kingdom of God, of what it looked like, he also looked at himself. This is me? Wow! No longer arthritic, no longer in pain, no longer not being able to see like I could. He saw himself totally healed. It was a brand new body.

Verse 35. This section is from verse 35 to 49. The nature of the resurrected body. But someone will ask, how are the dead raised? What kind of body do they come? You foolish person, verse 36. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. That's one of the principles of sowing seed. That what is sown to produce something that's bigger has to die. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. We planted cucumbers. I didn't, Beth did this spring. And so she ordered cucumber seed.

Here it comes in the mail, you know, a little tiny package. So I thought maybe it was just a junk mail. No, no, no, it was cucumber seed. And so we opened it up. Of course, she knows I'm not the farmer in the family. And we opened it up and looked at the cucumber seed. It was tiny, tiny, almost nothing. We would pay money for this, you know. And it was all counted out, so many seeds there were. It was so vulnerable, so easy to throw away, so, so nothing. And yet, this seed is what is now vines crawling in their house outside of our home. We have the cucumber plants just outside our window in the back. And so they're trying to grasp anything they can to weave the wood. So, they've run powerful little things. But they started out as being just nothing.

For not all flesh, verse 39, is the same, but there is one kind of humans, another for animals, another for birds, another for fish. He talks about life itself, how it begins very, very small, and there's just different kinds. Verse 42, and so it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. Same thing here with our bodies. Old, decrepit, breaking down.

It's perishable. It's perishing. We are perishing more and more every day by day. It is sown in dishonor. This is our bodies. But it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. Verse 44, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there's also a spiritual body. As it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit, talking about, even from the very beginning, that Adam was vulnerable, perishable. And the last Adam, who is Christ, is a life-giving spirit, who gave that life. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. That is the nature of the resurrection and the order. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven.

As it is written, verse 48, the man of dust, so also are those who are of dust, and as a man of heaven, so are also those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, which we are now, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. The grand finale comes verses 50 through 58. Paul concludes this chapter with a triumphant declaration of victory. Death is followed up in victory. Death, where is your sting?

Verse 50. And this is what we read when we conduct a funeral. We read these, what I call, showstopper scriptures, the scriptures that songs are written about. And usually the things that I've talked about here today, we don't go into that detail, but I think it's important to understand the entire concept of life, the kind of life that we have, the progression that we have, from physical to spiritual, and how it compares.

I tell you this, brothers. Verse 50. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable, or the King James' corruptible inherit the incorruptible. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. I can hear these words from the messiah oratorio written by Handel. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body put on immortality. These words are so powerful. These are words to live by.

These are words that encourage a church that was beginning to falter. Well, maybe there is no resurrection. Oh, no. There is a big resurrection coming. It's still there. And the apostle Paul saw it. I had that vision. That's what Peter, James, and John saw. And later, what the apostle Paul saw, the whole book of Revelation, is that vision of the day of the Lord, ending up with chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation, which talk about the new heavens and the new earth. This is 54. For when the perishable puts on the imperishable, the mortal puts on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass a saying that is written. And here he quotes from Isaiah 25, verse 8, Death is swallowed up in victory. No more death. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Verse 56, the same is the same. The same is the same. The same is the same. Verse 56, 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. What a finish! Fantastic! But there's one more thing. One more thing. One more thing. I feel it's one of the most important words in the Bible. It's the word, the first word in verse 58. Therefore, therefore, in other words, everything before this is wherefore. You know, just like a resolution that you write for a board meeting. Wherefore this, wherefore this, wherefore everything has so far been wherefore.

Now we get to therefore, after all these wherefores, here's our responsibility. He concludes with Be steadfast. Don't waver. Plant your feet. Plant your feet in the knowledge of the gospel, where you stand, which he mentioned in the first verses of this chapter. Be immovable. Don't let anybody knock you off this. If you have some of the trials that you do, and whatever you're going through, health, finance, relationships, whatever it be, be able to don't move. Wait for the salvation of God. Be there like God was for the apostle Paul. Perhaps there's lessons to learn so that we don't get too inflated. But do we see the vision of the kingdom of God? We don't have it here. I've never had God come to me. And if I told you that I saw the same things Paul did, you'd think it would be crazy. But the apostle Paul did see the kingdom. You see, he saw the kingdom and he saw himself in that kingdom. Probably wondering, what kind of a body do I have? But I had just a seed.

Now look what's grown from that seed. Be immovable. And then always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Do the work of God. Not talking about everybody being a preacher, evangelist, whatever. But you're being caring for people. You're being helpful. You're making your life meaningful to other people. The way a Christian should, that's the work of the Lord. That's the Matthew 25 work.

Being helpful, being uplifting, encouraging, and not just into yourself and pitying yourself.

1 Corinthians reminds us of the cornerstone of our faith. The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of our own resurrection.

This truth fills us with hope and compels us to live righteously and assures us of eternal life.

Do we understand this? So let us hold fast to this truth.

Let's encourage one another with these words and live in the power of your resurrection. Every day.