Well good evening.
So good to see you and uh Before I start, let me just give you a word of thanks from Paula and I of the gracious way you've received us. The way uh Yeah. Especially the attention given to the preaching of the Word of God. That's always a wonderful thing for us to see, we who proclaim that word. Thank you for receiving us so and spoiling us so.
We've been winding, well, not wind, but dined, and we've had a great time. Visiting with you and many who we've been able to share a meal with. It's been a great time. Thank you for all you've done. for us.
We will miss seeing you as we go our way. We are now getting to the end of our study. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, you heard our text read. A little while ago, so let us think back for a few moments over where we've come. And you remember in the very first section of this text of chapter 15 that we saw the resurrection of Christ declared.
As being central to the gospel message and then attested by a number of witnesses, including the Apostle Paul himself. We also then in the second session saw that to deny the resurrection is to literally destroy the whole foundation and the framework Of what we would call our gospel hope. You know, it's sort of like tinkering with a car. You can mess with this thing over here, and suddenly this thing over here, you know, unintentional consequences, you've messed up this over here.
Well, you go to messing with this doctrine, and you destroy the whole message of Christianity. But then we saw that, as in verse 20, Paul now strongly affirms the resurrection of Christ, that it has consequences, has cosmological consequences. We saw that he is the last atom he is called and a contrast here between an atom that brought death on all who were in him and another atom who will bring life to all those who are in him. And then, as we saw last evening, Uh we saw That their questions that they were raising to Paul. Uh they've Want to know how this is going to happen.
Inquiring minds want to know how in the world could something like this transpire? And he gives them an illustration from, shall we say, nature, from biology, that you do this all the time. You put something in the ground that appears dead without any possibility of life, and lo and behold, here something sprouts up.
So you're sort of condemning yourself to say, wait a minute, nothing like that could happen. And notice the contrast. It's not now that we're planting a seed in the ground, we're planting a body in the ground. And a body is going to come out of that ground. And then the other thing he points out is that which comes out doesn't look much like the seed that went in.
Right? different. And we're going to see that especially tonight. And then as we went on in that study, he talks about the different bodies that God gives to various creatures depending on the environment in which he places them. And that this is implying that just as we are going to be in the heavenly realm, we are going to be fitted with a body suited to that environment.
And that the contrast is that where we are planting a corruptible body. A decaying body. What is being raised is an incorruptible body. That is astounding. And he describes it, you remember the oxymoron?
He calls it a spiritual body. Again, I don't know what that is, but I sure want to get that. I want to have one. I'm getting tired of this one. I'm about to wear this one out, folks.
I'm ready for that new one.
Well, there's one more question that still arises. We've talked about the what of the resurrection. the why of the resurrection. The how of the resurrection.
Now we're going to come to the Clin. of the resurrection. And I'm sure that's what everybody wants to know, right? That's what inquiring minds want to know.
Well, when is this going to happen?
Well, we're going to sort of answer that. Tonight Notice that it is asserted as we begin our text tonight. That in order to fully inherit the kingdom of God.
Now, I say that fully inherit, there is a sense in which we have already entered the kingdom, correct? I'm thinking of Colossians 1:13, that God has translated us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. In a spiritual sense, we're already in the kingdom. But we're not fully in it. And that's what the theologians talk about this already not yet tension in theology.
We're already there, but we're not that yet there, because there is going to be a Transformation. of the body. He goes, notice in verse 50, he says, flesh and blood. cannot inherit the kingdom.
Now this is talking, I think, a colloquial way of expressing when he says flesh and blood. What he's talking about is the same thing he's been talking about in this section, the natural body. And in thinking about that, it I was thinking about this this afternoon, that There we're We're told that there's going to be a redemption of the body. And you say, well, haven't we already been redeemed? You know, we sing the song redeemed, redeemed.
Well, yeah, we have been, but not completely have we. It's already, not yet, that tension. and there's going to be a redemption of the body. And that, I was just. thinking about that, it's sort of interesting that God has made man unique in that sense, that if God simply wanted a being, That was spiritual, that could commune with him, he already had that.
in angels. Right? Well, why did he create man?
Well, it seems that man has a special place in God's purposes that we were originally put here to be the stewards of a physical creation, and therefore we were created with a physical component. Use a little computer language here. We have an interface. We have actually a dual interface. We have a spiritual side of us that can interface with God.
And we have a physical side of us that can interface with creation. And we, that's our constituency. That's how we're made. And God will ultimately save not just our soul. But our body, soul, and spirit, the whole man, will eventually be saved.
But if that's true, if flesh and blood cannot. enter the kingdom. or receive, inherit this kingdom, then something's got to happen, right? And that's what is now being described in verse 51. Paul says, I'm going to tell you about a mystery.
Now, a mystery in biblical language I think I've shared with you in years past, it means something that you cannot. Find out by self-discovery. And perhaps the best illustration is to think of a murder mystery where if it's skillfully done, you know, you know the characters, it's a whodunit, and the author as they're telling the story does not give you enough information to figure out who did it. Brian? But as the story unfolds, you get to the end, and finally the author unfolds.
You know, it's the butler did it.
Okay. You get the picture, you can't figure it out, you don't have enough information, it must be revealed to you. And that's exactly what's happening here. Paul is saying, here's something that you would never be able to figure out on your own. It's a mystery, but I am going to unveil that mystery to you.
And the mystery is this: we shall not all sleep.
Now, sleep here is the sleep of death for a believer sleeping in Jesus, sleeping in Christ. We shall not all sleep. Not all of us will be asleep at this moment I'm about to describe. The sleep of death. But we shall all be Change.
We're going to be something whether you're alive or dead. Everyone will be changed. Elasso in Greek, it's the idea of. Uh a lot of ways it's used.
Sometimes it's used in the sense of a change of clothes. A couple of places in the Septuagint version back in Genesis where there's a change of clothes goes on, and this word is used.
Sometimes it's used in the sense of an exchange. I think it was Jacob that was complaining that his uncle Laban, you remember Jacob finally ran into a bigger crook than he was, and his uncle, and he complained that his uncle had changed his wages. Every time he turned around, well, that's the word, as it's in that Greek version of the Old Testament, Elasso.
So there is a change that is going to be required of us if we are to enter into this kingdom and fully possess it, inherit it, to use the biblical language, because flesh and blood cannot inherit it. We've got to be transformed in one way or another.
Well, how is it Is that going to happen? Is this going to happen over a long period of time? Notice the next verse: it's going to happen in a moment. In the twinkling, of an eye.
Now, I don't know how long the twinkling of an eye is, but it's not very long. Just a little Twinkle. You get the picture? almost instantaneously. This is going to happen.
And here, you wanted to know when. This is going to happen? It's going to happen. What does he say? At the last Trump.
I did I did want to share this with you that Back in 2016, I made one of my few prophecies. That came true. Because in 2016, about summertime, and it's on tape, you can look it up on our. Website. when I was preaching back in Olive Branch.
I predicted Donald Trump would be President of the United States. Um At that point, nobody was predicting he would win the election, but I predicted it. On the basis that the King James says it's going to happen in a moment or twinkling of an eye at the last Trump. And I said, if there's a last Trump, there must be a first Trump.
Okay. I mean, that's unassailable logic. I could have written a book, Brother Greg, and made a fortune if I'd have just put it out there.
Okay, but of course, this is not talking about a person, it's talking about a trumpet, a trumpet blast. And notice the dead shall be raised incorruptible. That's those who sleep in Jesus, and we shall all be changed. There's that word again: a lasso. There's going to be a transformation of us.
Now You say, but I want to know when that turns. You say, well, I'd like to know too, but... We're not told. I I tend to think This is my personal sort of opinion that The trumpet in Israel was always used to sort of summon or signal something. We have the Feast of Trumpets.
It's the seventh month, first day of the seventh month in Israel, and it sort of signaled the end of the harvest season. And I think that's important that you want to know when Christ is coming back. I think I can tell you it's when the last one of God's elect are brought to salvation. When the harvest is now complete, when all of God's children have been brought to Christ. The trumpet sounds, the harvest is over.
I think that makes perfect sense.
So, whenever the last of God's elect is saved, It's time. For Christ to come. That seems to be what's going on here. Notice that This changing We have it expressed in 2 Corinthians 5. I mentioned that text last night.
And keep in mind, 2 Corinthians is written only about a year after 1 Corinthians, if that long.
So it falls right on the heel of this letter. And in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, Paul is dealing: you know, we have a house not made with hands in the heavens. You're familiar with that? We are in a tabernacle, he says now, but it's going to, we're going to, this house in heaven, and we're going to be clothed. You know, we spent some time last night talking about we don't want to be naked.
And by that he means a naked spirit because to us, made humans, that's not an appealing deal. We want a body of some sort. And what he's saying is that this tent, this fragile, Temporary. dwelling that we're now in. Is going to be replaced by a house not made with hands.
In other words, God made it, and it is a permanent structure. But it's going to clothe us. We're not going to be naked spirits. in this realm to come. We're clothed with a new body.
That is substantial and that is eternal, a permanent dwelling place.
Now I want you to realize that what this is implying is a couple of things. That this new body we receive in the resurrection is both the same and different. It's the same in one respect, but different in another. It's the same body in the sense that it's not somebody else's body. Right, Christ, when he was raised from the dead, When they saw the risen Christ, Did he have a brand new body that he didn't have when he was on earth?
Well, that's not true because notice he's saying, look at the wounds in my hands and the wound in my side. He's inviting them to check him out. That this is the same body that went in the grave. And yet, as we have pointed out through this study, his resurrected body was in a very different form. He would appear and disappear.
He would enter a closed room. And yet, he would sometimes, as we saw in Luke and then again in the last chapter of John, he would sit and eat with his disciples.
So he's material, he's tangible, he has a body. And so in one sense it's the same, in another sense it's different.
Well Try to talk about that a little later. Same In identity. Different. in form. Remember when he does appear.
in the closed room and I'm thinking of Luke's account. The people, the disciples that are there are spooked. Afraid. They thought him a spirit. In other words, a ghost.
And I would think the same thing. If I saw something just materialize in front of me, and yet he tells them to touch him, to handle him, declaring that a spirit doesn't have flesh and bone like he has there. The best way of understanding it, I think, and I know I've shared this illustration with you before, it's from the natural world, and I feel like if Paul can draw some illustrations from the natural world, maybe I can too. It's not an inspired one, but I think it does fit the bill. It's the idea of the metamorphosis of a worm, a caterpillar.
into a butterfly. What happens when that happens? The worm spins a cocoon. Goes in.
Okay. And something happens in there. unseen to us. And then it comes out, not a worm. Butter butterfly.
Now I'd ask you, is that the same insect?
Well, it's yes and no. Again, as we said about this metamorphosis that we undergo in the resurrection. In one sense, it's the same insect. Another insect didn't crawl in there and take its place. The same insect that went in is the one that comes out.
And yet, notice the form is completely different. That's what metamorphos means, a change of form. It doesn't look the same. And notice the difference between an earthbound worm. And a heaven-bound butterfly.
Completely different sphere. In which now to live. And I'm thinking maybe God gave us that as a. illustration of what's happening here in the resurrection from the dead. I've also thought that maybe I'm thinking as a physicist of some of my training.
It's what would explain this idea of disappearing and appearing that we see going on with Christ's body. And it's almost, to use the term physicists use, transdimensional. And that has always caused me to think Could heaven You know, we think of heaven way out yonder somewhere. You know, we were taught to think of heaven as up, right? But you realize the Australian, when he points up, he's pointing in the opposite direction, right?
Is it really you know, where is heaven located?
Well, the thought has hit me, could heaven be actually much closer than we think? It's just in another dimension. That we are not sensible of.
Well, that's my speculation, but I think it at least would explain some of the things that we see going on. in scripture. Notice in 1 Thessalonians 4, let me have you turn over there. I know some of you are already wanting to go there. This is the rapture.
Passage. I want you to realize how similar, if you can flip back and forth here, the description of Christ coming here in 1 Thessalonians 4 is to this same one here in 1 Corinthians 15. Let's read it, starting in verse 13, 1 Thessalonians 4. 13, Paul writes, I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, they've died the sleep of death, they sleep in Jesus, and that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Notice their souls are with him. They are coming back with him, they who sleep in him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, or the word literally means precede, them who are asleep. It seems that in the minds of some of the Christians there, they have the notion that maybe these who have already died are going to be, well, let's coin a phrase, left behind.
Okay, they're going to be left behind. What he's saying is, no, not only will they not be left behind, they're going to be raised first. For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, With the voice of an archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be. with the Lord.
So notice there is a gathering of both of the the living To Christ, and there is a reunion of those who are sleeping in Jesus with the resurrected body. Can you sort of envision that the souls of these who sleep in Jesus are coming with him to be reunited? with their body. Whereas we who are alive, and what Paul is telling us in 1 Corinthians 15. There must be a transformation of us.
Instantaneously. At this moment, the same moment when the dead are being raised, Incorruptible.
Now, when you talk about the voice of the archangel, this shout, this trump of God. I take some issue with the idea of the idea of a secret rapture. I don't know how this could be more public than what is being described here. The shout. The voice of the archangel, the trump.
of God. Um I'll get off of that, but you get the picture. It doesn't seem to add up to me. I'm sorry.
So that is the statement here of what is about to transpire when Christ comes Calms. Notice as we go on that he says in verse 53, again, insisting on this point that he's already really made, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on mortal. immortality. We must clothe this Our sales. with an incorruptible Body.
an immortal body. In which to enjoy heaven forever and ever.
Now, he's not going into all the details. You might say, what about the wicked dead? And I certainly believe what Scripture says elsewhere, that there's going to be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. And the way to think of it is just as the just are being given bodies in which to enjoy heaven forever, the wicked are being raised to life and given a body in which to endure the agonies of hell forever and ever. Both groups are going to be a resurrected.
Remember, Paul, when he's standing before the Jews, says, I believe what we all believe. You know, there's going to be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. And indeed, there will be. Paul, however, here in this text is focusing on the saved, not the lost.
So let's not lose sight of that. This is then the culmination of God's redemptive purpose for man. Not only our soul, but our body. Redeemed. It is that glorification that is described in Romans 8:30, is the final step.
In our salvation and our redemption.
Now, it's interesting that Paul then. To sort of emphasize this point, quotes in the next two verses. From Hosea chapter 13, verse 14. And you can go back, we're not going to do it tonight, but go back at your own time and use, look, take a look at this text. And you might say, I see what the text is saying, and I see that Paul uses the same words here, but what in the world is the connection between what was going on over there?
Over there in Hosea, it's God talking about a judgment that he's bringing upon Ephraim. And that they've turned away from him. He's about to bring the Assyrian army in and destroy them, and all of this. And it's just all of a sudden, right in the middle. God says Basically, these words that Paul is quoting here, let's read them.
When this corruptible, in verse 54, has put on incorruption and the mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death. is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, o over there uh Well, I'll get to that in a minute. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, over there in Hosea's Sheol, the place of the dead.
Often used as the grave, O grave, where is thy victory? Notice that this is I'm trying to say this reverently, okay? This is God's trash talk. You know what trash talk is? You know, these athletes get on the floor and they're or uh You know, today you get a penalty in football anyway, if you stand over your opponent that's laying there and you're gloating and doing all this stuff.
But much trash talking goes trust me, I played football. I know a lot of trash talking goes on that the referee never hears and never sees. You know, you know. This is God's trash talk. Towards death and the grave.
And it's almost like this: you're not so big. You're not so bad. Where's your power now? It's got God gloating. Over the defeat of death, mocking the grave.
That you cannot hold your captives. You had them for a while, but you're not going to be able to contain them.
So, I don't know how else to describe it. I like to hear it. Old grave. Where's your victory now? Oh death Where's your sting?
And we admit there is a sting to death. Brian? You've been there? You know what I mean. But where is it now?
Death to the natural man seems to be an unconquerable enemy. You know, when the Grand Reaper calls, You're a goner, right? There's no Holding him off. There is no power in us to withstand this thing called death. And yet, here we find God mocking, mocking it.
Why? Look. At verse 65 again, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is sin.
is the law. Notice the chain here between Daff Sin And Lol. What we see is that three things must be overcome for a resurrection to take place. For cause death came from sin, Since strength is derived from the law, And Christ has delivered us from all three. Christ, for us, His people, He has fulfilled the law.
Its claims on us have been filled. fulfilled. He has fully paid for our sin. And he has, to use scriptural language, abolish death. He has been the undoing.
He's jerked the rug. out from under the devil and all that the devil has tried to do. In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, we read of him. Talking about that he has destroyed, he came to destroy him that had the power of death, even the devil. That's interesting language.
He's going to. undo and that's sort of the language of 1 John 3.8. that in this was the Son of Man manifested, that he might destroy The works of the devil. It's like the. You know, word processors are pretty neat these days because you can always hit that undo button.
Usually, on mine, it's the escape key. Hit the, you know, make a mistake, hit the escape key, you're right back where you started. What's going to happen is that Christ has come to undo. All the destruction. Remember, the thief comes to steal and to kill and to destroy.
And Christ has come to undo all the works of the devil for his people. to reclaim us. for himself. And so he ends this discussion in verse 57 with this wonderful verse: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That that's such a marvelous statement because What it's saying is there's absolutely nothing that can thwart this.
He didn't say that if you'll be faithful, that just maybe you'll be able to win the victory, or that maybe between you and God, if you cooperate. You do your part, he does his part, that maybe you can overcome this thing. But instead, notice the victory is that which is given us. As a free gift. In Jesus Christ our Lord.
What an amazing statement. That all of this that needed to be done was done by our Adam. As in the first Adam, we fell into sin, fell under the condemnation of death, now in the second Adam, we're redeemed and brought back. into life. The simplest.
And I realize what I'm saying tonight is not going to satisfy everybody that wants to know everything there is to know about the second coming of Christ. I used to be an eschatological expert. Today, I characterize myself more as an eschatological agnostic. Because the more I studied, the less I knew. In fact, I'm not alone in that.
You may be aware that John Calvin, all the commentaries he wrote, he never wrote a commentary on Revelation. Basically because he See, I don't get it. I don't understand. I'm sort of in the same way. I thought I had it at one time.
I got all the books, I got all the charts, and I could recite to you what I had been told. And then the more I got into scripture, Yeah. the more uneasy I got. It just didn't fit. There's problems.
And I have never found an eschatological system that I am completely in agreement with. I I call myself an unhappy all-male. I mean the all-mill position is probably closest to where I am, but I'm not really happy about it. I know there's problems with it. I hadn't found one that doesn't have problems.
I'm just trying to be honest with you. I'm sort of like the late John Riesinger. He said, I know I've been right at least one. Once, because I've been pre-post and awe at different stages of my theological development, that's where I am. I mean, I've been all over the map, and I'm still struggling.
to get it. And the more that you think you've got it, just let me remind you: I ran into a guy, our friend Earl Blackburn. was out in Utah years ago doing missionary work in Provo, Utah. We g became very close friends because Provo was only about 100 miles from where I was living in Evanston, Wyoming. That's hop, skip, and jump out there.
And here was another sovereign grace guy, you know, reform guy. in the area, 100 miles away, but man, that's like next door. And he would invite me down to some of his meetings when he'd have a special meeting, just a small little group. But some of his buddies from back here in Greenville. Would come out there and speak at his meeting.
So, anyway, they were having this meeting. And in fact, it was Paula's late husband who went with me down to one of these meetings. And I'll never forget this. I'm just trying to, I'm not trying to make fun or mock anybody, but just show you the inconsistencies. Um this guy comes up to me.
And he's asking me about my eschatology, and I'm just trying to be honest. I say, well, I really don't know where I'm at. I'm having problems separating what we call the rapture from the actual second coming of Christ. It seems to me I don't find any biblical reason, necessity to separate those two events. And he said, oh, well, we understand the prophecy literally.
And we find the rapture over here in Revelation chapter 4, where John says, I heard the voice like a trumpet saying, Come up here. You remember that? And he said, that's the rapture of the church. And I said, wait a minute, you just got through telling me you take scripture literally. That verse says nothing.
about the church. Nothing but it's John being caught up. To heaven. Yeah. You see the problem?
We've got to be careful how we look at this stuff. And the more I've studied, the more difficult it's become. But I tend, oh, by the way, I wanted to share with you just a little aside. that about the time I went to Olive Branch, that would be 18, 19, not 18, 1989. Uh this little booklet came out, a preacher over in Arkansas.
Sent out this booklet. How many copies he made, I don't know, and sent them to anybody that was anybody. I didn't get one, so apparently I wasn't anybody. But one of the elders in the church there got one. And it's a classic.
I searched for it, by the way, when I was getting ready to come here, because I just wanted to show you I'm not making this up. But it was entitled What to Do If You Miss the Rapture? You know what number one is? Don't Panic. No.
I'm thinking, fella, if there's any a time you got you have the right to panic, if you miss the rapture, you just go ahead and panic, okay? Don't panic. And then he goes down this list of things. You better start doing good works because you could have been saved by grace, but now you've got to be saved by good works. You never say anything bad about Israel.
He has all of these lists of works. That you've now got to start doing because you can't be saved by grace anymore. You've got to be saved by works. And so, this idea that wait a minute, we don't really teach that baloney. This guy, that's what he thought was being taught.
So we've got, you notice how our theology tends to shape our understanding of everything, including last. things. I tend to go by the principle, it's called Occam's razor. Occam's razor. Here's a Philosophical principle that says the best explanation usually is the simplest explanation.
That's a pretty good principle. I mean, moms, if you've got a cookie jar on the counter and you come in and All of a sudden, some cookies are missing out of the cookie jar, and you've only got one boy. He's at home. And he comes in: Did you eat those cookies? No, nuh.
Well, what happened to him? Oh, this fine saucer landed out in the yard, and alien came in and got him, and so forth. That's. Possible, okay. Uh but the Best explanation.
is the simplest explanation. In Luke. Jesus tells the story of a guy who goes away into a far country. To receive a kingdom. And it's important that we understand the context of him telling this story.
It's because he says that they who were with him were expecting, they're on their way to Jerusalem. They're expecting the kingdom of heaven to immediately appear.
Okay, they think this is it. We're going into Jerusalem, the king's going to be crowned, and the kingdom's coming. They're expecting it immediately, and he's saying. Listen to this story. And by the way, he's in Jericho.
When he tells this, And something like this happened in Jericho in 4 BC, interestingly enough. He said, this king went away into a far country to receive a kingdom. And while he's there, his citizens of that place sent word to the Big King. We will not have this man to reign over us. But having received the kingdom, then he returned.
Oh, and I left out the important part. Before he left, he gives his servants some money. Minas, they're called. Minas about Roughly a pound of silver and at today's prices they're probably worth about a thousand bucks. He gave his servants, a mina apiece, ten of 'em.
And he comes back from having received the kingdom. And he calls the servants. One took the one Mina and earned him 10 minas.
Now remember, this is not his money, it's his master's money. In other words, I want you to invest this. While I'm gone, I want you to do business with this. These are his servants, okay? His stewards.
and this servant invests it and makes ten minas, And remember, the man then says, you've been faithful with this, be thou ruler over 10 cities. In other words, made five minutes from his one meeting. Be thou ruler over five cities. And then there was the one that. wrapped it up in a blanket and did ab absolutely nothing with it.
And then he says, and those who would not have me reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me. You see, in 4 BC, Herod the Great died. And the guy, the son that he had designated as his successor, he killed about a week earlier. You didn't want to be one of Herod's sons. I think it who was it said they'd rather be one of Herod's pigs than one of his sons.
So you've murdered your son that you had designated as your successor.
So it was sort of up for grabs. And this guy, one of his sons, Archelaus, you remember his. name in the count of the birth of Christ. Archelaesque comes to the conclusion: well, you know, no telling, no matter what, my father. Said, I need to go to Rome and talk to Caesar.
I mean, he's the kingmaker. No matter what my father has designated.
So Archelaus makes a beeline to Rome to have a sit-down with Caesar. And while he's there, sure enough, the citizens of Jericho send a message to Caesar, We don't want this guy reigning over us. Do you see how this parable that Jesus is telling is paralleling that same story.
Well, what I'm driving at is to me it's very simple. Christ has gone away into a far country. What do we call that far country? Heavens. He has received a kingdom.
And now he's coming back, and what's going to happen? Two things: he's going to reward his servants. And he's going to judge his enemies. And it's over. That to me is the simplest.
Explanation. You say, Well, Brother Mark. What about? All this other stuff. Do you realize the next thing On the redemptive.
calendar of events is this. that we've been talking about today. That we, if you're a Christian, whether you're dead or alive, will be caught up. To be with Christ. Forever, right?
You say, well, wait a minute, what about the millennium? What about a temple in Jerusalem? Why don't you just let Jesus handle that? I mean, you're going to be with him, right? If he says, let's go down and live on the earth for a thousand years, put me down.
I'm in I'm with you. If he says, let's go build a temple down there in Jerusalem, I'll go get my hammer. In other words, the one thing we need to know, this doesn't tell us everything we want to know, but it tells us what we need to know. Here's the next event on the horizon. And from that moment on, we are forever with the Lord, right?
So let him worry about the details. How to make all this stuff fit? Just do what he says. We'll be with him. forever and ever.
That's what we need to know. And notice how this text ends in verse fifty eight. Therefore, Always, when you see therefore, look back and see what it's there for.
Okay. What's it there for? He is summing up. What does this mean to you and me? What's the bottom line here where the rubber meets the road?
What am I supposed to do? Am I, if I've been left to tend to the Lord's business. Am I to go buy up all the prophecy books and all the charts and get me a pair of binoculars and go sit out on the front gate? And look down the road and see if I can see Jesus coming. Is that being ready for his coming?
Or is it to be out in the field doing exactly what he told me to do? You see, the servant who is busy doing the master's will is ready. for the master whenever He comes. That's the point. And so here's the conclusion.
What is our marching orders in view of all that we have just studied in this conference? Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Do what the Master has told you to do. Be immovable. Don't let anything move you away.
There is a little mollusk. little muscle actually that has these sticky hairs And it can attach to a rock, and it does so in the edge of the ocean. it will attach to a rock.
Now the muscle itself is very, very fragile. But it attaches to the rock, and the waves come and dash over it. But it's steadfast, it's unmovable, it can't be moved because it's attached to this immovable rock. You get the picture, and so it is that how will we be immovable? That by faith we are cleaving to Christ.
We're sort of like. The ship that's out here in the harbor, and the storm comes, and it's blowing it this way, and that way, and up and down. But there's an unseen line. running down to the bottom of the sea to an anchor that is wedged and large into a huge rock. and no matter the ship being blown this way and that way.
It cannot be dislodged. It's steadfast, it's immovable. And so it is with us: that faith is that which makes our connection. to the rock of our salvation. That keeps us from being blown to and fro by all the winds of this present life.
Be fruitful and abounding. Notice that we are told in these parables leading up to Christ's coming. is that there's amazing reward. for faithful service. And that seems so strange.
Because if we serve him, it's because God first called us. gave us grace. And notice, remember what Paul said earlier in this same chapter? By the grace of God I am what I am, and that grace which you give me wasn't in vain. I labeled more than they all.
Yet not I but the grace that was given me. It's like God looks at his servant and says, You see that? You see that? I think I'm going to give him some grace, some more grace, irrespective of the fact it was grace in the first place that made him do it. In football, I'm talking about big-time football, eight-man football in high school.
Texas. Big stuff. That's what I played. And we didn't have a penalty for unnecessary roughness. We call it back then Piling on.
Pile and on. And that's exactly what God is doing. He's giving us. Grace after grace. after grace.
Just piling it on. Notice those servants that had the guy that had the one Mina made ten more. It wasn't his money in the first place. It was his master's money. It was a gift of grace, you see.
And now, faithfully using that grace, he's given more grace, and grace that is all out of proportion to his service. I mean, he was ma just Being a steward, a a good Manager of his master's money, and he winds up ruling over ten cities. all out of proportion. To his service. That's how rewards work in the kingdom of heaven.
That whatever we do here, whatever we suffer now, Our labor, he says, is not in vain. We've seen some vain things here in this chapter. If Christ didn't raise from the dead, Your faith is vain. You're still in your sins. But notice your labor in the Lord will not be in vain because God's going to keep piling.
Own. The Graves. I it's strange, isn't it? It's like God, irrespective of the fact that He gave grace in the first place, just keeps. Giving us more.
Grace. Yeah. So my friend, as I leave you tonight, as we've made this Quick trip. In this study, Yeah. Do you see every reason?
to keep going. To be faithful no matter what the cost, no matter what the danger. You say, but it might cost me my life. Paul says, I die daily. He will write in Philippians chapter 2 that For me to live is Christ.
And to die is gain. In fact, he goes on to say: if you gave me my preference, I'd probably wish to just go on and be with Christ in glory. That's far better than staying here. It's probably more necessary for me to be here for your sake. And so, for that reason, I think that's probably what's going to happen.
But you just, all things being equal, I'm ready to go. Because to be with Christ is far, far better. How do you defeat a guy like that? For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Either way, I say, hallelujah, praise the Lord.
whatever the cost. It will be worth it all. And I leave you with this verse again that I've quoted several times in this study, where Jesus in John 14, as you think about these things, and I too, my mind is just staggered. By the information contained in this one chapter, just staggered, and yet, if it were not so. He would have told us.
These are the promises of Christ. to his people.
So f Friends, brothers and sisters, be not weary. in well doing. Because you're gonna we you're gonna reap someday. an eternal reward for your faithfulness even though your faithfulness in the first place is all by his grace. Mm.
or the savior. Thank you again for your attention. Let's pray. Father, keep us. cleaving to your son, unless that mullah stuck to that rock.
May we cleave. and be unmovable and steadfast and because your son is the rock. that is now laid in Zion. Immovable. the one that we can rest assured that What he says is true and his promises will prevail.
Thank you for these wonderful things. Father, if you hadn't said it, we couldn't possibly have imagined this. We wouldn't believe it. But we have heard these things from the word of a God who cannot lie. And so let us not let the words of a devil who can't tell the truth.
discourage us. May we keep pressing on. May we be faithful to the end. May this give us hope not only for this life. but for that which is to come.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Yeah.
