Please turn with me in your scriptures to First Corinthians, Chapter 15. This is Easter, and everyone knows that Christians believe that Jesus lived and died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. What a lot of people don't know is that Christians are going to rise also one day. And another thing most people don't know is that non-Christians will be resurrected one day. So everybody's going to be in a resurrection. When a person dies, that's not the end. Every soul is eternal and will live forever, either in heaven or hell. The moment you're conceived, you're an eternal person. And if you go to heaven or if you go to hell, you will have full consciousness of where you are and what is happening to you. Nobody will be annihilated. Nobody will experience soul sleep. You will never cease to exist, as some teach. You will know exactly where you are and what's happening to you when you leave this earth. All souls will live eternally. We thank God that today we can know with absolute certainty that our sins have been forgiven and we will live with Christ forever. You can know that with absolute certainty today. How? How can you know that? Because that's what Jesus said. He said, He who hears My words and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life. and will not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." John 5, 24. That's how you can know with absolute certainty. So if you're on the fence today, and you're not sure about Jesus or faith or salvation or resurrection, you're just not sure about these things, you haven't put it together yet, just listen today to what the Lord says in His Word And then believe what he says. That's what faith is. It's believing God, whatever he says in his word. That's faith, taking him at his word. If you do that, you will have everlasting life today. And you're guaranteed that when you die physically, you'll be raised one day from that physical death. So I want to start by looking at 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 through 4. The Apostle Paul writes in verse one, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also you have received in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast to what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." We'll stop there. So it's important to understand not only what Jesus did, but who Jesus is. Jesus is God. Amen? Jesus is God. He didn't have the name Jesus until he was born. The angel told Joseph that your wife is going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. You call his name Jesus and he will save his people from their sins. He didn't have the name Jesus back in eternity. He was the second person in the Trinity. There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He's called the second person. The Father's the first person. The Holy Spirit's the third person. The second person of the Trinity came down to earth. He was God at all times, never stopped being God, full deity. He took on a human nature. And as a real man, he had everything a real human being has except for sin. Amen? Lived a sinless life, went to the cross, became our substitute, stood in our place. We deserve to be there to take the wrath of God, but he took our place. You know what a substitute is. If you've been watching the NCAA tournament, okay? Somebody can't play anymore, so the coach pulls him, or he's not doing well, and they take a man from the bench and they put him in his place. That's a substitute. We should have been at the cross suffering the punishment we deserved. God said, no, I'm going to take you off the cross and put a substitute in your place. It's my son. He's the only one that can save you from my wrath because I'm angry. You've sinned against me, the holy God, and I'm mad. and I'm going to take out my anger on my son." And that's what God did. And Jesus suffered our punishment on the cross. He led the perfect life, paid the full price for our sin, and at the end of his struggles on the cross, he said, it is finished. Understand that means that he paid in full for the sin debt we had before God. We had cranked up a huge debt. Jesus paid it all. It's finished. The demands of God's holy, stern justice were met at the cross. And right after he said, it is finished, he gave up the spirit. He died. God can't die, but the God-man can die. He was a real man, he died a real death, and he was buried in the grave. And three days later, he came out. Verse 3 says, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Everything's according to the Scriptures. This is God's Word. It's infallible, it's inerrant, there are no mistakes. Everything that you read here is true. You see what Jesus died for? Our sins. He did not die to make you happy. He did not die to fix your broken marriage and your broken home and all your bad relationships and your cheating wife and husband. No, He didn't die. He fixes all those problems too. He died for our sins. He died to deal with the root problem, which is our sin against God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. And Jesus died that death in our place. Verse four says, he was buried, he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He didn't stay in the grave. God raised him on the third day according to the scriptures. And what did that prove? It proved that God was pleased with the sacrifice. Just like in the Old Testament, they put the sacrifice on the altar, and if God was pleased with that sacrifice, if everything was done right, it would be consumed. Everything was done just right. Jesus satisfied all the righteous demands of God. Remember the demands of God on your life and my life. We are required to live perfectly in this life. Yes. You say, well, that's impossible. Exactly. God requires every person that comes into this world to keep all his laws all the time without failure. If you've ever shared the gospel with anybody and told them that, they go, well, that's impossible. Well, that's perfect. That's why Jesus had to send his son. He could keep all the laws, and he did. The perfect sinless lamb of God satisfied God by living a perfect life, died in our place, and God said, that's the perfect sacrifice. I'm pleased with it. Therefore, I raise you from the dead. he raised his son from the dead. If Jesus had stayed in the grave, there would be no hope for eternal life, because that would have meant something went wrong with the sacrifice. Either he did something wrong in his life, or he didn't pay for all our sins. God would have left him in the grave. But he did everything perfectly, and God raised him from the dead on that third day, as predicted. proving God was satisfied with Jesus' perfect life and the payment that He made. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20 and following. Paul has assured the people in the Corinthian church that Jesus did resurrect and people who died will resurrect one day. And he says it right here in verse 20, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of them that slept. You know what first fruits are in the Jewish culture? Did a lot of agriculture, a lot of farming, and the first fruits were the first crops that came up. And they would see those crops and say, this is tremendous. And they would take the best of those first fruits and put them on the altar and praise God with that sacrifice. But the first fruits meant that they were looking forward to other parts of the harvest to come in after those first ones came in. That's what he's saying here. Jesus has become the first fruits of them that slept. Slept in this context. means those who have died believing in Jesus, okay? Not falling asleep as you and I do at night, but slept, their physical bodies are sleeping in the grave, but they're still alive in their souls. The first fruits means Jesus died and rose from the dead, and there's a harvest to follow. It's coming after him, but he was the first one to come up and be resurrected from the dead and never die again. And after the first fruits, there'll be a great harvest one day when Jesus returns. The rest of the crop will come up. That's you and me and whoever else believes. In verse 21, he talks here now about how we got into this situation. For since by man came death, By man came also the resurrection of the dead. The first man, Adam, is the one who sinned against God and as our representative brought sin into the world, and death by sin, and death spread to all men because all sinned. We're all guilty in Adam. We're all condemned. Adam brought death into the world. And you say, well, that's not fair. I wouldn't have done that if I was Adam. Oh, yes, you would have. In addition to that, if we don't believe that Adam's sin was put on our record, imputed to us, accounted on our record as something we did, the guilt of Adam's sin was put on our record, If you don't believe that, then you will never be able to comprehend how the righteousness of Jesus Christ could be put on your record, because you didn't do anything to get involved with Jesus either. If you say, I wasn't involved with Adam, it's none of my problem, then you can't be saved, because you have to agree that Adam's sin was put on your record, and what you need now on your record is the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith in Christ. Both of those are totally in absence of what you could do or even try to accomplish before God. You had nothing to do with what Adam did. You weren't there. You had nothing to do with what Christ did for you. The doctrine of God putting on your record Adam's sin, if you believe in Jesus, he will put on your record all the perfect life and death of Jesus. and you'll be accepted. So, verse 21, for since by man, Adam came death, by man, this is to emphasize the humanity of Jesus, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Look at that one word just before Adam's name in verse 22. That little word in, little preposition. You know what that means in this context? You're united to Adam. You had a union, a solidarity with Adam. And because you're united to Adam, you died. You're guilty. You were born dead spiritually. You can't escape it. And because you were born spiritually dead, if you stay that way, you will die physically and you will die eternally as well. All people, this all includes 100%, all in Adam, all who have union with Adam, which is every human being, die. We see death all around us, but we don't see is what happens when that body dies, where those souls go. But here's the good news. Even so, in Christ, again, look at that preposition, if you have union with Christ, you should be made alive. If you're in Christ, and Christ is in you, by his grace through faith, even though your physical body dies, it will be made alive. That's what he's talking about. If you're in Christ, you're already spiritually alive. But he's going to make your body live again. We'll see that as we progress in this message. So the goal for all human beings should be, I don't want to be an Adam anymore, because that leads to death. I want to be in Christ. That leads to life. How do I get in Christ? You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. That's it. A child can understand that and do that by God's grace. Okay, let's look now at the Gospel of John. Please turn there. And we're going to look at Chapter 5, just a few verses in Chapter 5. And I want to emphasize the resurrection of the believers. This is our great hope. This is what Easter is all about. During that Passover month, somewhere between March and April, is when the Lamb of God was slain and He rose from the dead. That's why we make such a big thing of it during this time of year, because this is approximately the time when he rose from the dead, but every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday. We can celebrate it. In fact, I think we should celebrate it this way every Sunday because so many people got dressed up for this Sunday. I would like to see that every Sunday. Okay. You're looking good. John 5, 25. Truly, truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is. when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. So look closely at this. Jesus is saying the hour is coming and now is. In other words, during the time he spoke this, it was this time now when people who were dead will hear his voice, the Son of God, and they'll live. These are not people who were dead in the grave, okay? These are people who are spiritually dead, like you and I started life and everybody else, spiritually dead, Ephesians 2.1, dead in trespasses and sins. He said, the time is coming when they will hear my voice. And those spiritually dead people will be made alive. Verse 26, for as the father has life in himself, so he has given to the son to have life in himself. So whatever the father wants, the son wants. Whatever the son wants, the father wants. They have the same will, the same goals. There's never any disharmony, disunity within the Godhead. They all agree on everything. The plan is perfect. And Jesus has life in himself, therefore he can give life. That's why he says, he who believes on me. shall have life." Everlasting life. Verse 27, And the Father has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Jesus is going to be the judge of the world. When that final judgment comes, He's the judge now. When that final judgment comes, we're going to talk about that a little bit later on. Jesus will be the judge. All of us will stand before Jesus. You say, why Jesus? Why not God the Father? Because Jesus became a man in the incarnation, and as a man, he knows what men go through. He knows what people live through. He knows the difficulties. He knows the problems. He knows the temptations. He knows the stumbling blocks. He never sinned, but he knows what we go through. So there's not going to be one person In all of the world that can stand before Jesus Christ on that last day and say, you don't know what I went through. You don't understand how hard my life was. No defense there. It's not a defense. Jesus went through more than all the lives of the world put together could ever go through. When he was opposed to everywhere he went on his mission for three years, and then underwent the horrible wrath of God and withstood all that, he's going to be the judge. He lived the perfect life. He knows what it's like. Now, verse 28, marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. Notice he didn't say, the hour is coming and now is, because this is a future prediction by Jesus. The hour is coming, it's still coming, which all in the graves shall hear his voice. There's going to be a great cry, a shout. And what's going to happen when Jesus cries out in that day? Verse 29 tells us. that those who are in the grave shall hear his voice and they shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. And no man shall snatch them out of my hand. That's our great hope because Jesus spoke life into us, can never lose that life. So this prediction of Jesus when he says, I will, an hour's coming in the future when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of Jesus, there's gonna be a great resurrection. If you just look at verse 29, it looks like it's just going to be a general resurrection. But I'm going to try to show you that there's a time lapse here in this resurrection. So just follow me. The first resurrection will take place when Jesus returns. And He'll call us out of the graves. All believers will come out of the graves. Then there'll be a 1,000-year period of time when all those who are still dead in sins and are in the grave will stay in their graves. Jesus will not call them at that time. It'll be a later time. And then after that 1,000 years is up, Jesus will call them to stand at the judgment seat. We'll see that. I'll just turn to 1 Thessalonians, and this is the great, great hope of believers, great encouragement. And the scriptures give us a good idea of what we've already seen, that this is going to happen. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, starting at verse 13. But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope." Again, those who are asleep, they're just not sleeping. These are the ones who died in faith in Christ. They're in the grave. And they were upset. They weren't sure. They were a little confused. Are we ever going to see them again? Are they going to come back? comforting them with this. He's going to tell them how this works. Verse 14, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, those also who sleep in Jesus, who believe in Jesus but died, will God bring with Him. So here's how it works. When you die, they bury you, in most cases. Some are being cremated, that's popular today. But a lot of people are still being buried. In any case, you go into the earth or you stand a bottle or something, you're dead physically. Your soul, as soon as you die as a believer, your soul immediately goes into the presence of Jesus Christ. Amen. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. That's the good news. There's no walking through the valley of the shadow of death or devils are coming at you from the sides as you make your way to heaven. No, it's instantaneous. I don't know how God does it, but he's God. It just takes you right to be with Jesus. Well, when Jesus comes back, he's saying, okay, it's time. And all the souls are coming back with him. That's what he says, those who sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. They're coming back. What a trip that's gonna be. Coming back to get our new bodies. Verse 15 says, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who are asleep or in the grave. So the day when Christ returns, which no man knows when that is, the day or the hour, when he returns, there are going to be Christians who have died and their bodies are in the grave. But there are going to be Christians who are still alive on the earth when Jesus returns. What he's saying is those of us who are alive when Jesus returns, we're not gonna go up to heaven with our new bodies until those who have died and are in the grave are resurrected and given their new bodies. Okay, verse 16, this is really amazing. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with what? A shout. Remember what John 5 said. The hour is coming when they shall hear the voice of the Son of God. Those believers in the grave are gonna hear that shout. And there's gonna be also a voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Coming out of the grave. If I was alive during that time, I would go to a cemetery. I'd like to see some action take place at a cemetery. Boom, boom, boom, people popping out of their graves. It's going to be glorious. 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. This idea of being caught up, that Greek word means to seize or catch away or take by force or pluck. You're going to be plucked right out of the grave, boop, snatched away. And remember, the souls, Jesus is bringing the souls from heaven of all believers. He's going to resurrect the old bodies and instantaneously make that old body a new body, a glorified body, so that your soul and your new body are reunited. And you've got a body that is just like the body of who? Jesus. That body that is perfect in every way, never gets sick, never deteriorates, never grows old, can walk through walls, probably fly to different planets and whatever. What a day that's going to be. Would you like to be in that scenario when it takes place? Yeah. Who doesn't want to go to heaven? But there's a resurrection that has to precede this physical resurrection. in order to be able to have confidence that you're going to be raised from the dead when Jesus returns. You have to be spiritually resurrected. Amen? Amen. You can't even have a hope of this happening until you know the Lord personally as your Lord and Savior. Quickly, just turn to Romans 6 with me. Romans chapter 6. Some of the people in the church in Rome were thinking that if they continued to sin, they would bring God more glory, because He would have to use more grace to help them with their sin. Because Paul had just told them where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And they're thinking, well, if I sin more, more grace will abound, and then God will get more glory. And all Paul is trying to tell them is, you people have to realize something. You were saved, and that's the end of the dominance of sin in your life. That's it. Don't think this way. So chapter 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer in it? When you're saved, you are dead to sin. That does not mean that sin has no influence or impact on you. It means that you're dead to the dominance of sin in your life. Sin shall no longer have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. That's what it means to be dead to sin. We all sin every day, omission, commission. But we're not bound to it, we're not enslaved to it. We've been freed by the saving grace of God. We can say no to sin now by God's grace. Now Paul goes into verses three, four, and five, what is Really, it's the regeneration he's talking about here, the new birth. But he uses the word baptism. I don't want you to get thrown off. This is not water baptism that he's talking about. He's talking about spiritual baptism. And they should have known that. So he says in verse three, know you not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? So he's talking about the union that you have with Jesus Christ. And that union started when? Back in eternity. Remember that little preposition, in Christ? You were in Christ before there was a world. You were chosen in Christ. Ephesians 1.4. Chosen in Him, in Him. So God had already united you with Jesus according to His great plan of salvation before there was even a world. You were chosen, you were elected, you were predestinated to be part of the divine family. So wherever Jesus went, when He was on earth, you were with Him. You were already united to Him. And when He went to the cross, You were there, because you were in union with him. When he went into the grave, you were there. When he resurrected, you were there, and you came up with him. So he accomplished everything for you, and you were there, but you weren't in the world yet. That was 2,000 years ago. It was all accomplished. And what Paul is teaching here is, when you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, This was applied to you at that point. So everything that happened to Jesus physically now happened to you spiritually as you believed on His Son and you became alive. So let me just read verses 3, 4, and 5 with that in mind. Verse 3 again, know you not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death. when you believed what Jesus did in his death now became your death. Verse four, therefore, we were buried with him by baptism, okay? You were united to him. When he was buried, you were buried. Now, your old self is buried in the grave, that old you, that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. Jesus was raised from the dead. The day you believed, you were raised from the dead to a new life. The old life's finished. Verse five says, for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. You died with him on the cross. You were buried with him in the grave. You were raised with him to newness of life. And by the way, this is what is portrayed in water baptism. When that person is standing there getting ready to be immersed. That represents the death of the cross, nailed to the cross. When that person goes down into the water, that's the burial. When that person is brought up out of the water, that's the resurrection. So the person being baptized is saying, I died with Christ. I was buried with Christ and I rose to Christ. The person being baptized is saying, that all actually took place in me, in my heart, before I got to the waters of baptism. I'm just showing you externally what happened internally. Verse six says, knowing this, knowing what he just said, that our old man, that old you, the old unregenerate you, was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed or abolished, that from now on we should not be slaves to sin. Everything changed. Your baptism doesn't change you. It shouldn't mean a lot to you, but it doesn't change your life. The work of God in you is what changes you. And that's what Paul's saying. I have no confidence that my baptism is going to help me be a better Christian, but I have confidence that because God saved me and I was with Christ when he died, buried, and rose, and I did the same thing at the point of my salvation, I have confidence that I can defeat sin and live a godly life for Christ. That's my confidence. Some people think this is a water passage, water baptism. Now, I have no confidence in my water baptism to do anything for me except be a witness to everybody else. God's grace in my life is what gives me confidence. Amen? Amen. So if you want to be in that resurrection when Jesus calls out and brings your soul back from heaven and rise up from the dead, It must start with believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. It must start with confessing your sin, repenting of it, turning away from it, hating it, and living for Jesus. Well, how do you do that? You believe what God said in His Word, that we're all sinners. We only deserve one thing, and that's His wrath in eternal hell. But in his mercy, he grants us forgiveness when we believe what he said about his son, who he is, and what he accomplished. You believe that, and you will be saved. If you ask him today, Lord, save my soul, I believe everything you've said. I believe I'm a sinner, and I'm corrupt, and I'm still corrupt, and I'll be corrupt even after I'm saved to some degree. But your blood was shed for me, I believe it. and you're saved right then and there today. You don't have to wait a week. There's not a lot to think about. You're a sinner doomed and ready to go to hell if you should die today. And you believe in Jesus, and you'll be a sinner saved by grace. And the day you die, you have the right to be with Jesus. Okay, so let's look at the, please turn to Revelation chapter 20. This is the other resurrection I wanted to mention. And at this point in John's vision, he's seen a lot of things. After the believers are resurrected, Jesus comes, brings the souls of the saints with him, resurrection takes place, new bodies, all glorified bodies, and then the rapture, boom, they all go up to heaven. All the believers are in heaven. Right after they get to heaven, the judgment of God starts on the earth. The trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments, you can read about them in chapters eight and nine and 16 of Revelation. They begin to pour out God's wrath on the earth and he destroys everything and everybody pretty much. The wicked will be killed and the Lord Jesus will renovate the earth and set up his kingdom for a thousand years. It'll be a great time, peace, joy, happiness. There will be death. It'll be rare, but there will be death. Unlike the eternal state, there'll be no death. I just want you to see, John has seen so many things, but he saw an angel come down and put Satan in a bottomless pit and seal the pit for a thousand years. Verse three of Revelation 20. cast him, that's the devil or Satan, into the bottomless pit, shut him up, set him a seal upon him, he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed for a little season. So just keep that in mind. And John saw these thrones, he saw people judging, he saw people who came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. I want you to focus on verse 5. But the rest of the dead, these are the unbelievers, the rest of the dead did not come to life again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection, okay. So there's two resurrections. The first one is the one you want to be in. Verse six tells you how great that first resurrection is. Remember Jesus, the firstfruits and those who follow after him, that's the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. If you're wondering what the second death is, Go over to verse 14, and it tells you. It defines it for us. Death in Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The lake of fire is the second death. So Satan's bound for 1,000 years. He can't deceive the nations. We're having a great time. under the reign of Christ during that 1,000 years. But then the 1,000 years is up. Verse 7, 1,000 years end, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. He goes out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sands of the sea. So a lot of people rebel against Jesus. And they attacked the saints, verse 9, and they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed the camp of the saints about the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. That was a short battle. Boom. That's the last revolt. And what happens after that? Verse 10. The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire. and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." The Antichrist and the false prophet were thrown into the Lake of Fire back after the Battle of Armageddon. So they've already been there. Now the devil goes into the Lake of Fire. I said all that so I could get to verse 11. It just seemed I had to get more background in there. Okay, what happens after that? The battle's over. Verse 11, I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it. And death and Hades delivered up the dead that were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. So all the dead. When a person dies in unbelief, right now, They have a ceremony for him. They put him in the ground. They say a lot of nice things about him, most likely, at the funeral. And they're all untrue, probably. His soul goes to hell immediately. And he stays in hell for all that time until he's brought before the great white throne judgment. So he knows he's in trouble already before he gets there. He doesn't know exactly how many stripes he's going to receive, but he knows. He's in trouble. His soul's in hell. Everybody that is in hell, all the unbelievers, will hear the voice of the Son of God. This is the second call from John 5. And all those souls will come up and they will get new bodies. Their old bodies will be reunited with their tormented souls. And yet it won't just be the old body, because the old body could not withstand the awful scenario they're going to face in the Lake of Fire. So the bodies are going to be equipped to withstand that. Everybody, whoever they are, throughout history, great, great men, great names, small men, nobody knows them, people who were blown up in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nobody even knows where the remains are. They just evaporated. God will bring them back together because God can do that. Every molecule of their body. And give them a body that can withstand the rigors of hell. All those people will come up and they will stand before Jesus Christ on that great judgment day. The great white throne judgment. And it's interesting because the books are opened. And the Bible tells us those books are the books that have recorded in them everything that the unbeliever said and thought and did. Those are your works, by the way. This is for believers, too. Everything that you think and say and do as a Christian, it's recorded. And we will come before Jesus Christ one day, too. Not there, not at the white throne judgment, but at the behemoth seat. And so those who say, well, I'm not that bad, I know God will get me to heaven. That's a horrible way to approach eternity. You should say right now, my thoughts are perverse, my words are not always good, my actions are foul sometimes, I deserve to die. You admit that right now, confess it and repent of it and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you won't end up with a great white throne judgment. But if you say, I'm not that bad, you know, God doesn't grade on a curve like teachers do. He doesn't compare you to other people. He compares you to Jesus Christ. He says, if you live perfect like Jesus, I'll accept you into heaven. And nobody can do that. But if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll accept you as being perfect as Jesus. And those books are open. The unbelievers will find out all the things they forgot that they did to make God angry, to bring wrath upon themselves, to deserve what they're going to get. Every man will be judged according to his works. In verse 14, Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Who's in the book of life? Those who are in Christ, chosen by God before the foundation of the world. You say, well, how do I know if I'm one of the chosen ones? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and you will know that your name is in the book of life. Everyone will die. It's appointed unto man once to die, and then comes the judgment. Hebrews 9.27. Everyone will be resurrected, either to life or to damnation. Which resurrection will you be in? If you already know that you're saved and you're going to heaven, praise God today. Praise God. Listen, compared to all the people who will never believe, you are a tiny remnant in an unusual and unique person that God has given you faith to believe in him. That's rare, dear brethren. Praise him today if you are one of those that truly believes. If you're not sure, Just listen to Jesus, take him at his word. This is what he said in John 11, 25 to 26. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be saved, not only saved, but you'll never be lost, and when he comes, He'll resurrect you, give you a beautiful, new, glorified body, just like His. You'll live with Him forever, and all your memories of all your loved ones that didn't make it, all the problems on earth that you had, they'll be erased from your memory, because there'll be no tears, no pain, no sorrow, no death, because there's no sin when we go to be with Jesus. Are you looking forward to it? Amen. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your compassion and your mercy and your love on those who don't deserve even a tiny favor from you. You've given us the greatest favor of all. You punished Jesus instead of us. We thank you for that, Lord. We thank you that he didn't stay in the grave, that he accomplished. Your perfect will, you raised him for our justification. We now have the righteousness of Christ on our record. I pray, Lord, that you would save those who still struggle, still are in opposition to you, still refuse to believe. Lord, make them willing in the day of your power, I pray, to see Christ, to see their awful condition and see that Christ came to save the worst of sinners because he is able. Thank you for your goodness and your mercy, Lord. Bless the rest of our time to your glory.