Welcome back to Knowing the Truth with Pastor Kevin Bowling. Information regarding the resources referenced on today's program can be found at www.knowingthetruth.org. Now, here to continue with today's program is Pastor Kevin Bowling. There was another news story that I wanted to bring to your attention. The news story dealt with the subject of Steve Irwin. Do you remember Steve Irwin? Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. A lot of folks enjoyed that broadcast that he did. They still have some of those old broadcasts are running, and I read a story not that long ago about his daughter actually doing a program. Now, she's very young, but she's really done a great job of doing some sort of a children's program, if I remember right. And she was about taking care of animals and so forth, very similar to what her father was doing. Of course, her father, you know, did a lot more dangerous type activity. Sometimes you can see pictures of him. In fact, we're showing one right now out on sermonaudio.com and the live video feed today of Steve Irwin kind of holding a crocodile or alligator there. You know, he did things like this. Well, there's a new article that's out now talking about the final words of Steve Irwin as the cameraman has finally spoken out. He was with him the day that he was killed, and so this is out of Metro. I don't know exactly what that is, the website, but anyways, the title of it is, I'm Dying. Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin's final words after a deadly stingray attack. And it goes on to say, a cameraman who filmed the shocking death of Steve Irwin has for the first time revealed the conservationist's final words eight years after he was killed by a stingray. Eight years already. I hadn't realized that it had been quite that long. But Irwin, star of the Crocodile Hunter television series, was stabbed hundreds of times by the creature's barb as a pair stood chest deep in the water. Justin Lyon was filming a documentary with Irwin off the coast of northern Queensland when the tragedy struck in 2006. After spotting a giant stingray, the pair left their inflatable boat and got into the water and filmed the eight-foot creature for some time before it suddenly attacked. Mr. Lyons told Channel 10's Studio 10 program, quote, all of a sudden, it popped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Hundreds of strikes in just a few seconds. It wasn't until I panned the camera back and saw that Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood and I realized that something had gone wrong. It was only after Mr. Lyons got Erwin back into the boat that he was able to see the seriousness of his injuries. The stingray's jagged barb went through his chest like hot butter, Mr. Lyons said. He added he had about a two-inch injury over his heart where blood fluid was coming out of it. It was extraordinary. It was an extraordinary pain. The stingrays have, they've got a venom in their barb, and so I'm sure it was excruciatingly painful for him. Even if we had been able to get him to an emergency ward at that moment, we probably would not have been able to save him because of the damage to his heart was massive. As we were motoring back, I'm screaming at one of the crew, he said, in the boat to put their hands over the wound and we're saying to him things like, Think of your kid, Steve. Hang on, hang on. He just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, I'm dying. And that was the last thing that he said, despite the frantic recitation attempts by his colleagues. Irwin was pronounced dead by the medics at the scene. And so there's a little bit of the story behind the story of the death of Steve Irwin. And as I was thinking about that, I don't want to in a way that's not proper, take advantage of a story like that. But I couldn't help thinking, when you're thinking about being stung like that by a stingray, and this stingray was huge. I think it was another story that I read that told the cameraman's story there. I think it was up to eight feet wide. So it was a pretty big stingray. And when Steve Irwin was coming up behind it, they think that these things are attacked by great white sharks a lot of times. And so as a shadow came up over it, the thing apparently thought that a shark was coming in to attack and then launched up into this type of attack. And the cameraman was in the front filming this taking place. But the sting that went in, he talked about in another article where Irwin said that he jumped up out of the water and screamed that the thing had got him in the lung, that it had punctured his lung. But little did he know that it had actually punctured his heart, and so he actually bled out. There was no way to stop that bleeding from taking place, and so he basically bled to death as a result of that. But the idea of the sting of death, the literal sting of death, that took place with Steve Irwin caused me to think about, of course, the verse as it appears in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians and 1 Corinthians chapter 15. You know, as we're approaching the time where we're thinking about the resurrection of Christ and the death burial and resurrection of Christ, all of those things together, we see that the Scriptures speak about this particular issue. And specifically in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse 53, it's a long chapter, but in 53 down to 57 we read this, It says, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death! Where is thy sting? And, O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a great passage of scripture? You know, death, Steve Irwin said there in that story to his friend, he said, I'm dying, just very casually at the end. And that was the last word that he said. But really, that's something that can be said of each and every one of us. when we think about this. Now, he died in this type of graphic and shocking way, you know, being stung by a mammoth stingray that was there, of course, you know, a different death than many of us will probably die, but the basic end is still the same. It is appointed unto man once to die, and so all of us are going to have to face death. Well, the Apostle Paul In this particular chapter, he gives us the saint's song of triumph over death, and I think that that song really, when we look at it, could be entitled Victory in Jesus, a song that we know very well, Victory in Jesus. In these final few verses of this text, you know, the Apostle speaks about death in a couple of ways. First, he does so by taunting the final adversary itself, death itself. He taunts it. And secondly, by thanking God for our faithful advocate, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The words invoked by the inspired Apostle are actually taken from Hosea, the book of Hosea, and the Old Testament, of course, Hosea chapter 13 and verse 14, where Christ himself is speaking prophetically about the ramifications of his death and resurrection. And this is actually what Christ says prophetically about his death and resurrection in Hosea, It says this, I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, where is, I will be thy plague, and O grave, I will be thy destruction. So here it is, in that passage, the Lord Jesus Christ foretells The death of death in the death of Christ. That was the title of a book by John Owen many, many, many years ago. John Owen wrote that, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. But that's what we see here in the book of Hosea, which is then quoted in the book of 1 Corinthians. Up until this point, we could say death had mocked mankind, but now death is mocked by the Messiah himself, who is the only mediator between God and man, as he was about to come into this world, prophetically speaking about what he would do to death. Now, let's look at a couple of the things that are mentioned here in this passage. Number one, and this relates most closely to the story that I was reading, but number one, the idea of the sting of death that is mentioned in Corinthians. The sting of death implies both the strike of death, that's what it's speaking about, you know, it is kind of emphasizing the way that death strikes us, that's included in it, but then also the anguish and the torment that is associated with it. In the story that I read, what stood out to me in that strike was that the cameraman spoke about the poison or the venom that was in the strike, how quickly it struck Steve Irwin, and then the poison and the venom that was included in the strike that brought about such excruciating pain associated with it. The weapon by which death has come upon all men is sin. And as a result of that, sin, now death has power over all mankind as a result of that. When we open up our Bibles and we look in Romans chapter 5, We're told about this by the Apostle Paul in that great treatise of Romans, and in Romans 5.12 specifically we read this, by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin. And when we look at that issue there about how it came in, we see that, of course, it takes us right back into the Garden of Eden, and there, with the eating of the forbidden fruit, there we see that Adam plunged not only himself but all of his posterity into the estate of sin and misery. And death is a punishment that is afflicted upon us as a result of that sin. The covenant being made with Adam, but not only for himself, all of his posterity sinned with him and fell with him in that first transgression. I know a lot of people when they think about that, may say, well, wait a second, I wasn't even there in the garden. Why should what Adam did, why should that result in something happening to me? Well, we see that that in the case with Adam, that what he did was done not only for himself, but it was done for all of his posterity as well. And because of that, the trouble that came upon Adam, all of the sin and misery that came upon Adam, also then passed on to his posterity as well. We were there in a couple of ways. We were there, first of all, in the loins of Adam. Adam was the root and stock of all of the human race. And because he was the root and stock of the human race, the human race begins with Adam. There's really only one race. We only have one set of first parents, Adam and Eve. It goes all the way back to the garden. But as a result of what Adam did then, it has ramifications on all of his posterity that flow from him. Well, the Scripture speaks about this, you know, the sins of the father being passed down to the children as well. Sometimes we see that, say, the sin is of alcoholism in a family. the children bear some of the consequences that are associated with the sins of the father. They don't escape those consequences, and so we see it in that way as well. Hey, in our country, we are familiar with this representative principle. We send representatives to Washington And, you know, the entire country doesn't get to vote on every issue that comes up before Congress. And so we send them there as our representatives, and we say, you know, represent your constituents. Vote as a way that you would see them vote. Now, we wish they would do that. That's what they're supposed to be doing. in Washington. Obviously, oftentimes that is not the case. They don't do what the representatives would like them to do. However, the idea is there. That's what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be doing the bidding of their constituents and voting that way. So we're familiar with this whole idea of a representative principle and that taking place. Also, when we see this in this text, we see then not only the sting of death, but we also see the idea of the strength of sin that is then put here as well. The strength of sin, the sting implies both the, as I mentioned, the strike and the death, but the strength then is then spoken about, and in this strength we see this. we see how we are to understand the strength of sin is related to the law of God. The law is what gives strength to sin by exposing or revealing sin to us. Sin is made manifest to us by the light or the knowledge of God's law. And when sin is revealed, the penalty for that sin is made evident as well. Now, when we think about the law of God, remember the Ten Commandments were given to us, the moral law of God. That has never been repealed. The civil law and the ceremonial law, those have been for a specific group of people at a specific time throughout church history. specifically with Israel in the Old Testament, but those have been repealed. They're no longer valid or imposed upon the people of God. But the moral law of God is not only imposed upon the people of God, but all mankind. All mankind is accountable to God because He is our Creator. And He has created us, so we are accountable to Him. And it shows us what standard God will accept. The only standard that God will accept is perfect obedience to His law. One hundred percent impeccable obedience to the law of God is the only legitimate way that we can have a relationship with Almighty God. And, of course, you and I realized right away that we don't keep the law of God. Not only do we not keep it 100 percent, but in our condition outside of Christ, we've broken every single one of the Ten Commandments in their fuller meaning that are given to us in a greater version of the greater meaning of those commandments, especially in the New Testament Scriptures. things like where Christ said that if you have anger in your heart, you've committed murder, you have hatred towards your brother, or if you look on a woman to lust after her, you have already committed adultery in your heart. And so there is this idea that, in a sense, we have broken each of the Ten Commandments that are there. So we find this, this gives the law of God makes the law of God useful in giving strength to sin, because we have broken the law of God, we have sinned against Him, and in this way we now have... sin has a tremendous amount of strength over us, and then that is the sting that's associated with death. Now, when we see this, we look and say, how can man escape this downward spiral? Well, the very next verse in Corinthians gives us the answer to it. Here we find the apostle offering his gratitude to God for the victory that is given to the people of God. He says this, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the song of the saints. Victory in Jesus. In order for Christ to obtain victory, he must overcome three enemies that are arrayed against us in this text. First of all, he must overcome sin. He must overcome death. He must overcome the law. As long as the law has power, sin will have strength. And as long as sin has strength, death will be a horrible thing to us. The good news is that the apostle offers gratitude to God in this verse that Christ has foiled death by taking away the guilt of our sins. That's where the joy comes in as we think about the words that are found here in this text. Christ overcame sin by having the penalty for that sin poured out upon him at Calvary. You know, remember when he was in the Garden, and by the way, isn't it interesting that we lost our relationship with God in the Garden of Eden, but then our relationship with God is restored once again in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ is pleading with the Father, and he speaks about the wrath of God being in a cup, the grapes of wrath, and he asks the Father to remove this cup, if there's any other way, remove this cup from me, so that he doesn't have to go through this. But thanks be to God that God conveyed to Christ, his Son, that there was no other way, even with his silence there. And Christ then took that cup of the wrath of God and he drank it dry, meaning that there's nothing less for us to pay. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow. By the shedding of his blood, Christ drank every drop of the wrath of God upon Calvary. And Christ also overcame the law by satisfying all of the law's demands. in every thought, every word, every deed, throughout the 33 years of his life here upon the face of the earth, that earned righteousness of Christ, he kept the law absolutely perfectly. Now, those things have been imputed to us by faith. so that now it is as if, just as if, I have never sinned, and it is just as if I have always obeyed because of the glorious person and work of Christ. That is certainly good news, but it gets even better. Paul goes on thanking God for the application of that victory to the people of God, and that's that imputed part. He says, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory in Christ. The penalty for our sin was put upon Christ, but the benefits of his victory have been put upon us. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says this, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And Paul says in Romans chapter 8, he says that because of these things, we are now more than conquerors through him that loved us, meaning not only that Christ conquered the law and sin and death, but because we are united to Christ by faith, We have conquered these things as well. So how did this relate to us? Well, death is, for the wicked, it is a punishment for sin. But for the believers who are trusting in Christ by faith, Christ has paid the penalty for them. And God won't exact the penalty twice. That would be double jeopardy. By Christ's death, God's wrath and justice have been appeased. The law has been fulfilled, sin has been pardoned, and the sting of death has been removed. For those outside of Christ, death is a prison. It's Satan's dungeon. But for the believer, death is a chamber of rest. Speaking of the believers at the time of death or the death of the faithful, the prophet says this, prophet Isaiah, he says, they shall rest in their beds. For God's people, death is no longer a penalty, but a privilege. It's a resting place in that there's no condemnation. When we die, we may die and leave this earth, but we'll never be damned. Now it's not associated with destruction for us, but it is viewed as a deliverance from this mortal body and all of the infirmities that afflict it. While it was in the devil's hands, death was an enemy, but now death has become a friend. It's a place of blessing in the hands of Christ. Now it's but a corridor into the kingdom of God. It's the end of this mortal life and it's the beginning of life eternal. Now it's not something to be feared, but for the believer, it's actually something to be looked forward to. Somebody once said this, it was a Puritan writer, but he said, a godly man may sooner die than he thought, but he will never sooner die than he would. Paul said, I'm in a strappy twix too. For me to die and depart is to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide with you in the flesh is more needful for you. So the funeral for the godly are really just funerals for their sins. They're just funerals for this mortal body. But it's the beginning of life everlasting. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And who would be afraid of being totally happy in the things of God? Remember this, my friend. You're not locked into the sting of death any longer. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. We'll see you next time. You've been listening to Knowing the Truth with Pastor Kevin Bowling. Knowing the Truth is the outreach ministry of the Mountain Bridge Bible Fellowship located on Highway 25 in Traveler's Rest. For more information about the church and radio ministry, visit us on the web at knowingthetruth.org. The opinions expressed on today's program are those of the announcers, their guests and callers and do not necessarily represent those of the staff and management of his radio network, the Radio Training Network or Clear Channel Communications.