Well, did you know that every single day, 150,000 people die in this world? Every day, 150,000 people die. That means that 6,250 people die every single hour. And that means by the time I finish this sermon, close to 6,000 people will have died. And death is inescapable, is it not? Or as one man said, the death rate is still one apiece. And although death is inevitable, most people don't really like to think about it. And if they do think about it, they want to think nice and cheery thoughts about it. That's what they want. Because most aren't really sure what comes after it. They're not. They hope it's good, they keep their fingers crossed that it's good, but they're just not sure. Well, there are many beliefs out there about what comes after death. Some ancient Greeks believed that when people died, they ended up in a place called Hades, which was a gray and misty place where the Lord of the dead reigned and ruled. Other Greeks believed in a paradise-like place called the Olympic Pantheon on Mount Olympus, where gods such as Zeus lived, and they decided the fate of humanity. The Hindus believe that after you die, you go into a sort of recycling or a cycle of reincarnations. And that your karma dictates whether you have a better or a worse reincarnation. The Mormons believe after you die, they become gods and goddesses and will have all power and all glory and all dominion. And they will live with their families and they will have spirit children. And those who do not believe in Mormonism, well, they directly go to hell for a short season where they will have an opportunity to repent and get out of there. Judaism believes that anybody can enter into heaven if they've been faithful in doing good deeds, even atheists. You just do good, you can get there. And some Jews even believe in the resurrection of the body after death. Sikhism believes a person's actions determine whether their soul is destined for great agony and pain in a place called the underworld, or they end up merging with God in a place called the spirit world. Muslims believe in a paradise and a hell, but it is totally up to Allah which one you go to. And if you catch Allah on a good day, that's paradise, and on a bad day, well, that's hell, even if you were a good person. So there really is no one in Islam that can be assured of salvation. Buddhists believe after you die, you will either be reincarnated or you go to Nirvana, which is the ultimate goal for all Buddhists. And there are many other religious beliefs concerning this, and they're all just slant on what happens after death. And the interesting thing is that even in America, believe it or not, 73% of all Americans believe in heaven. And even more amazing than that is supposedly 63% of all Americans believe in a place called hell. But how one gets to heaven and what happens once you're there, well that greatly varies. So people don't know what happens after they die. Or as the track that we hand out when we go out street preaching and evangelizing says, where will you go when you die? Are you sure? Question mark. Well, the Apostle Paul was only in Thessalonica and with the Thessalonian saints for a very short time, probably less than two months. But it is evident that he taught them about the second coming of Jesus Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 1, he thanked God for their steadfastness of hope in Christ, meaning hope of the life to come. And he ended chapter 1 saying how they were waiting for the return of Jesus. Then in chapter two, verse 19, he asked, for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Then he answers it. Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Then in chapter three, he prayed that God would establish their hearts blameless in holiness before God and our Father, here it is, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of his saints. So the Thessalonians believed in the second coming of Christ. And they believed in the bodily resurrection of believers. But where they were confused concerning those saints, who had already died, was would they, who have already died, would they also be resurrected? Or was it only for those who were alive when Jesus came again? Did those who died somehow miss the resurrection? Well, Paul spends verses 13 to 18 answering this question, clarifying what happens to all saints alive or sleeping when Christ returns. And what I'd like to do today is look at verses 13 and 14 in a sermon titled The Dead Rise in Christ, Part One, using a two-point outline. And point number one is the concern for those who sleep in Christ, and secondly, the promise for those who sleep in Christ. The concern, the promise. And let's look at the concern for those who sleep in Christ in verse 13. And I'll read that again. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. As I said, some of the Thessalonians were fearful that the saints who have died would not be bodily resurrected, and maybe they were influenced by the Greek philosophers of their day who said there was no such thing as a bodily resurrection, that the soul went somewhere after death, but the body just went to the ground and that was it. Or perhaps, and probably more likely, they thought only those standing when Jesus returned would be bodily resurrected. And if this is the case, it would indicate that the Thessalonians expected Jesus to return in their lifetime. Or perhaps some thought the resurrection was spiritual and not physical, which seems to be what Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching in 2 Timothy 2, where they were making some stray from their faith. And you need to know that there are some Christians today, and this would be a percentage of a percent, who believe and teach that the Second Coming already happened in 70 A.D., that Jesus came back again, whether it be physically or spiritually, back in 70 A.D. They say after Rome was destroyed, and Rome destroyed Jerusalem, remember they sacked Jerusalem in 70 A.D., that at that time, the believers were resurrected either bodily or spiritually at that point. And what this is called is preterism. And this would be heretical, because it claims the resurrection has already happened, so it's not gonna come anymore, it's done. They would say that all the end time language in the Bible, and you gotta know there's a ton of ink, just in this book alone, on the second coming and what happens in it, that all of that information about the resurrection to come and glorified bodies and new earth, well that's been fulfilled at 70 AD. We now just go to heaven in our spirits and the world just keeps going on as it is and it never changes. So that's what the preterist says. So beware of that, but it's a very small little contingent of people that believe that. And so, Whether the Thessalonians thought, however it was gonna go on, they were ignorant concerning the bodily resurrection of the dead. Which is why Paul says in verse 13, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren. I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren. And ignorant means to err, to be wrong, to be uninformed, to not understand. And Paul used this word in Romans 10, where he said the Jews were ignorant of the righteousness of God. They were ignorant, they didn't understand it. Which is why they sought to gain heaven by doing good deeds. They wanted to get in there on their own right doing. In Acts 17.23, Paul told the philosophers in Athens that they were ignorantly worshiping a statue to the unknown God. And in 1 Corinthians 12.1, he said, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You guys are going half crazy on this stuff. I don't want you to be ignorant what these gifts are about. So then he explains, sadly today many are still ignorant of all these same things. They are ignorant that the only righteousness God accepts is a perfect righteousness. Yet all religions in the world today are trying to make themselves right before God in their own good doing, in their own righteous deeds. by their good works. And people are ignorant of who God is, so they worship anything and everything but God. And so they worship, we're told, the creature or the created instead of the creator. And they are ignorant concerning spiritual gifts and are driven by experience rather than by Christ and the word of Christ. And they are seeking the ecstatic instead of the giver of all good things. And their services become more about miracles and speaking in tongues and healings and getting new revelations from God instead of Christ-centered exaltation. So nobody wants to be ignorant of spiritual things. We don't want to be ignorant about doctrine or how it should be lived out in our lives. And oftentimes, the disciples of Jesus were ignorant and didn't understand what Jesus said or what Jesus taught them. And you can see that over and over again in the Gospels. In Mark 9.31, Jesus told them the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and after He is killed, He will rise the third day. He's priming the pump that He's going to the cross. And He does it three times in Matthew. And then we read in verse 32, but they, the disciples, did not understand this saying, and they were fearful to ask Him. Matthew 16, 16, 16, six, he said to them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And then we read in verse seven, and they, the disciples, reasoned among themselves, saying, is it because we have no bread? Is he saying watch out for them for this leaven we have in the bread? No, he's talking about the hypocrisy. He's being figurative, he's using a figure of speech, he's not being literal. Paul said in Romans 2.4, don't be ignorant or despise the riches of God's goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering. Why? Because the goodness of God leads to repentance. In other words, it would be easy to say, well, gee, nothing ever seems to be happening. Everything just keeps going the way it is. God never does anything about anything. Don't be ignorant. God is patient. God is merciful. Could be about their repentance, or it could be that God is gonna glorify himself in judging them. Don't be ignorant. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2.11 that he was not ignorant of Satan's devices, speaking in the context of forgiving one another. Boy, Satan loves when we just won't forgive each other, or ask for forgiveness. What does that do? Causes a crack, and a crack, and more of a crack, and before you know it, we've got full-blown division in the body, because we won't forgive each other. And listen, ignorance in the word of God is what cripples many churches and many Christians. It just does. Like ignorance of gender roles in the home and in the church. God is crystal clear in his word how the home should operate, how the church should operate, and even how the world should operate. He is crystal clear. But we're very ignorant this day, so it seems. Like ignorance in the meaning of baptism and the Lord's table and giving. And how about this one? The sovereignty of God in salvation. How many believers are ignorant of what God has done and how God is keeping them? Somehow thinking that they figured this thing out themselves, they got themselves saved. That's ignorance. About two months ago, some guy calls me from another church, I don't know where it was or who he was, and he just called me out of the blue, I guess he found us online, and he said to me, I'm afraid that I have committed the unpardonable sin. He believed that he had blasphemed the Holy Spirit because he had some evil thoughts in his mind. And he was terrified that he was hell bound and doomed. and that he had lost his salvation and could never be saved again. And so what I did was I showed him the context of what Jesus said, you know, that you can't be forgiven if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And in the context of that scripture, he is talking about saying that Jesus' miracles were empowered by Satan and not by the Holy Spirit. I said, do you believe that? Do you believe that what Jesus did was by the power of Satan? He goes, not at all. I said, well, you didn't blaspheme the Holy Spirit. I said, you're okay. I said, you know what, look at the context. And he had great peace with that. I just took him to the context of the word. So ignorance can hurt Christians. It can rob them of assurance of salvation. It can steal their joy and plunder their peace. It can diminish their fruitfulness and keep them from flourishing in the faith. It can lead them to unholy living and bring confusion and fear and grief and sin. So it can cost them. Just like being ignorant of where the speed cameras are on Woodhaven Boulevard. You don't know where the speed cameras are on Woodhaven Boulevard? You're gonna go 36 miles an hour, and that's 11 miles over the speed limit, and you're gonna get a ticket. I know, I've gotten a few. You need to know where they are so you can slow down, right? You need to know where they are. If you're ignorant of that, well, you're gonna pay a price. You're gonna pay a price. We need to know where they are. Ignorance, ignorance. And the reason there is so much ignorance in Christianity today is because preachers and teachers are preaching another gospel. They're preaching another gospel, a gospel focused on self, a gospel focused on race, a gospel focused on culture, a gospel focused on gender, but not on the inerrant, immutable, all-sufficient word of God. It is on something about us and not about him. They're not bringing the unadulterated gospel which saves souls and grows up the saints. This is why Paul taught them doctrine, after doctrine, after doctrine, and then told them how to apply those doctrines. Listen, every single epistle Paul writes, I'm telling you, the first two thirds, doctrine. The last third, application. Those are his epistles. Those are his epistles. Read Romans. The greatest doctrinal theses ever written. So many would say. The first 11 chapters are all doctrine. And the last five, how to apply them. how to work them out. Well, in 1 Thessalonians 4.13, Paul doesn't want these saints to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep. And these are those who lived for Christ but then died. And now they're in heaven in their spirit. So falling asleep is just another way of saying died. They just died. Christians die. They fall asleep. And in the New Testament, the word sleep for believers is used often. And the reason is because the believer's body will rise from the grave. The believer's body will rise from the grave. So the body is dead, but it won't stay dead. Therefore, it's asleep. You see, the moment you die, the very moment you die, dear Christian, listen, the very moment you die, your spirit or your soul goes to be with Christ. But your body, which is not yet redeemed, goes to the grave. But not forever. It's as if it's sleeping. It's as if it's sleeping. So it will awaken or be risen from the dead. And we see this word sleep used for the saints all over the place. Like in 1 Corinthians 15, six where it says Paul is speaking of those who saw Jesus after the resurrection. He says this. He said, after that, Jesus was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep. So listen, most of them are still around, but there are some who have passed away. John 11, we read it today, Jesus said, our friend Lazarus sleeps. But I go that I may wake him. Ciples were like, Lord, if he sleeps, he's gonna get well. Why do we gotta make this trip all the way to Bethany if he's just sleeping? Because we all know, if you don't feel good, sleep a lot, and you usually get better, right? Then we read, Jesus said, however, Jesus spoke of his death. But they thought he was speaking about taking a rest in sleep. Lastly, Paul said to the Corinthians who were sinning, who were sinning, abusing the Lord's table in 1 Corinthians 11, he said, listen, because of this, because of your sinning against each other, coming to the Lord's table, he said, for this reason, many are weak and sick, and get this part, and many sleep. God has taken them out. Because they did not repent, God took them home. Shortened their life, so to speak. Shortened their life. Now did you know that our English word for cemetery comes from a Greek word that means the sleeping, the sleeping, which is why early Christians called the burial place the sleeping place for Christians. It was the sleeping place. All right, so when we go, we're going to sleep. Soul's going to Christ, the body's going to ground, waiting to be resurrected when Christ returns. Now let me just spend a moment debunking the erroneous doctrine called soul sleep, which groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists and others hold to and teach, which they find this soul sleeping, so to speak, in these sleep verses. And what they claim is that when a believer dies, their body goes into the ground and their soul sleeps or is dormant or goes nowhere. It's just nothing. It's just waiting around. And when Jesus returns, their souls will be awakened and maybe their bodies as well. Well, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5a, we are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So why would Paul be pleased to die and have his soul sleep for a couple of thousand years. I mean, think about that. He said in Philippians 1.23, he's in prison now, he doesn't know whether he'll live or die. He says, for I am hard pressed between the two, getting out or actually going home to be with the Lord. Having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Now, why would he be racing to go be with Christ if there was a couple of thousand years gonna be sitting in between this thing, right? You're not racing to die to be with Christ. You're not racing so his soul could sleep. He's racing because his soul goes immediately to Christ. And do we not see that in Luke 23 with the thief who repents on the cross? He says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. What does Jesus say to that guy when they're both being crucified and will be dead in a couple of hours? He says, assuredly, take this to the bank, assuredly, I say to you, today, not tomorrow, not a thousand years, not until the end of everything, today you will be with me in paradise. Paradise is heaven today. We're going in our spirits together. While Stephen was being stoned, he said in Acts 7.59, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. I said receive my body. My body's going down, I know that. And if the soul sleeps, what on earth was Moses and Elijah doing with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? How did they get there? So your soul doesn't sleep at death. It goes straight to heaven. Straight to heaven to be with Jesus. If not, how could Paul say in verse 14 of chapter four of 1 Thessalonians that when Jesus returns, he is bringing those who sleep with him. He's bringing them with him. They're already in heaven. He's bringing them with him. So the body sleeps, not your soul. Your relationship with Christ is not interrupted. because your body is sleeping. It's in a temporary state, which sleep represents. And like all those who sleep, they will be awakened. Their bodies will rise in the end, just like Jesus' body rose from the dead. You understand that what happened to Jesus in three days happens to us from the time we're born again to the time that Jesus comes again. So all of that time period, that happens to us, but in a long, stretched out time period. Now, of course, we know why our bodies will die. Why our bodies will die, and that's because of sin. Adam was told in Genesis 2, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. The day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Boom, there it is. There will be death if you disobey me. That is the problem with every single one of us because we all inherited Adam's nature and we were born with it, and it's us. Ezekiel says, the soul that sins, it shall die. Boom. Romans 6.23, the wages, the penalty, what we earn for our sin is death. So there is death because there is sin. And Jesus had to die in order to pay for our sins. It was sin that put him on the cross, and it was sin that kept him there until he paid for every single one of the sins of every single one of his people. You understand that? Every single sin that you've ever committed, if you believe, was washed away, was paid for in full by Jesus himself at the cross. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. Well, Paul doesn't want the Thessalonians to be ignorant of what's coming for the saints who have died in Christ. Because he doesn't want them to sorrow, to sorrow as others who have no hope. And sorrow means, you know, to grieve, you know that. And the word is used in Matthew 19 concerning the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and wants to know how to inherit eternal life. And Jesus says, all right, because Jesus sizes them up right away. He sees he's a legalist. He thinks that he's done, completed the law, which he doesn't, of course, and he's also a lover of money. And Jesus says to him, well, you know what? Follow all the commands, which he thinks he's done. Then he says, sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and then follow me. And then we read in verse 22, but when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, that's the word, for he had great possessions. Now, when Paul says, I don't want you to sorrow or grieve, he's not saying that we shouldn't have sorrow or grieve when a loved one in Christ dies. I mean, that's ridiculous. Of course we grieve. Of course there is great sorrow. Of course we have a hole in our heart when we lose someone who is very dear to us. I mean, who doesn't? But we don't sorrow or grieve like unbelievers do because we have a hope for them because they had a hope in Christ. So my wife may grieve me leaving. I'm guessing I'll go first, but we don't know, of course. But it's not because she's sorry for me, it's because she's sorry for her. So we don't sorrow like unbelievers do, because they have no hope in Christ, but we have a hope in Christ. They had Christ in them, the hope of glory. Every single one of us who believes, we have Christ in us, the hope of glory, the hope of eternal life. We have it. Like the saints in Hebrew 11, we are looking for a better resurrection, a better resurrection. Hebrews 9, as Hebrews 6, 19 says, we have a sure and steady anchor of the soul. As 1 Peter 1, 3 says, we have a living hope. You know, how does the world look at hope? It's like this, oh gee, I sure hope that I could get this, right? They hope, I sure hope the Mets keep playing well. We have no clue. Not all hope, it's living hope. It's a living hope, it's an assured hope, it's a guaranteed hope, right? Paul said it's a hope that will not disappoint us. We have a living hope that's based in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because he resurrected, we resurrect. And the hope was in those triumphant words of 1 Corinthians 15, 55, where Paul said, oh death, where is your sting? Oh Hades, that's the grave, where is your victory? It's a rhetorical question. There is no sting and there is no victory because Christ has defeated those things for us. So when a loved one who is a believer in Christ passes away, we do have great sorrow. But not for them, for us, for us. Right? We miss them terribly. They're part of our lives. And that part has been changed forever. But guess where they are? In unspeakable glory. They're experiencing perfect peace. They are experiencing full joy. Pure and holy worship, untainted by sin. and they are in the very presence of Christ. That's like the grand finale right there, right? So they're not sorrowful. They're not sorrowful for leaving us, if they could even be that. And listen, nobody who's in heaven wishes they were back here. They've tasted something grand and glorious. They don't want this again. So although we have great sadness, All right? For them, we have great sadness for us is what we have, but we have great gladness for them. Great gladness for them. But this is not the case for the unbeliever. When his or her loved one passes, they have no hope. They have no hope. As Ephesians 2.12 says, they are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. Having no hope and without God in this life. So unbelievers have no real hope for their departed loved ones. They have no promises to hold on to when a loved one dies. So what happens? They have sorrow. Now they may say that they know they're in a better place. Oh, they were grandma and grandpa, and uncle this one and aunt that one, and they're all together having a great time, singing songs wherever they are. They may say those kind of things, but they don't really know any of that at all. And they may say, well, at least they're not suffering anymore. Sometimes I've heard, oh, he's not suffering anymore. But understand, if they died without Christ, then in fact their suffering is a million times worse than stage four cancer ripping through their body here. They're in hell. They're in hell. It's not nice words, but that's scripture. That's scripture. I'm gonna show you in a second. You see, unbelievers are ignorant that at the moment their unsaved loved one dies, their soul goes to a place of conscious punishment. Their bodies go to the grave and sadly their souls go to hell. And they too will be bodily resurrected on the last day, but not for glory, not for glory. but for damnation. Listen to what Jesus said in John 5, 28 and 29. He said, do not marvel. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear the voice, his voice, and come forth. Now, how are they gonna come? Those who have done good, or those who are believers, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, unbelievers, to the resurrection of condemnation. so the unbeliever has no hope beyond the grave. Yet priests and pastors try to give them hope at wakes and funerals, assuring them that their loved ones are in heaven right now. Have you not heard that a million times? Even though the deceased person, whoever it is, they lived a wicked, godless life, wanted nothing to do with God, but yet some pastor is up there or a priest or someone just praising him for being in heaven. even though they absolutely wanted nothing to do with God in their life. And I've been at wakes where the priest actually prays to the dead person to help us. And people say the most ridiculous and blasphemous things to make themselves feel good or feel better at wakes or when someone passes. When Mickey Mantle died a bunch of years ago, Bob Costas, who was a sports announcer, said that God was waiting in line to get Mickey's autograph. That's blasphemous. God ain't waiting for nobody. Nobody. Or that heaven is now a better place that so and so has passed away. Or that God needed your mother more than you did so he took her from you because he needed her up there. He needed her. And a hundred other things that people say, but they're just ridiculous. So people have no hope. They look for something to comfort them. Many years ago, I did a wake and a burial service for a brother whose uncle died, and I'll call him Uncle Eddie. And Uncle Eddie blatantly rejected the gospel. It had nothing to do with God. Wouldn't let his nephew ever share with him. Uncle Eddie was not a believer. And so when I spoke at his wake, I gotta be really careful so as not to say that Uncle Eddie was in heaven, and I didn't say that at all. I just preached the gospel. Then at his burial, the day they buried him, after I spoke, after I prayed, the funeral director, who just so happened to be a Pentecostal pastor, spoke up and assured everyone there that Uncle Eddie was in heaven right now and in the arms of Jesus. You see, he didn't like the fact that I didn't give Uncle Eddie's friends and relatives hope and assurance that Uncle Eddie wasn't having, so he did it for me. It just amazed me. So we see the concern for those who sleep in Christ. Secondly, the promise for those who sleep in Christ, verse 14. Well, Paul goes from saying don't be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep, and now he tells them why. He says, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. And if we believe, is where really kind of where the rubber meets the road for all of us. And here are the two pillars of what everyone who professes Christ must believe in. Must believe that Jesus died and that Jesus rose again. That's it, I mean those are the two pillars of it all. And not to believe in either of them is to not be a Christian. So both of these are non-negotiables. Romans 10, nine says, if we confess with your mouth, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. All right, but let's stop for a second. We need to ask, what does it mean to believe that he died and rose again? What does it mean? Well. To believe that Jesus died is to believe that he is God who took on humanity, or became a man, took on a second nature, so that he could die, because God can't die. God is eternal. So Jesus, the second person of the divine triune Godhead, took on a second nature, human nature, so he could die for his people, and pay the price that we can't pay for ourselves. It is to believe that as a man, he was sinless. He was the only sinless and holy man that ever walked the earth. He was blameless in his life 100% of the time. And because he was sinless, he didn't deserve to die, nor would he have died except for the fact that he was carrying the sins of all those who would believe in him, for his people upon the cross. And we know that the wages of sin is death, and we've already said to solve that sins, it shall die. And it means you believe that when Jesus was on the cross, he was suffering the penalty of your sins by the hand of God, that God himself, just, holy, true, and righteous, was pouring out divine justice and judgment upon Jesus instead of us. Instead of us Jesus was paying our death penalty at the cross It means you believe What Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, four to six, that he, Jesus, has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we assumed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. That's what it means. You believe, as 1 Peter 2.24 says, that He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, i.e. the cross. It means you believe He was the Lamb of God, the sacrifice of God, who takes away the sins of the world, that God made Him a sacrifice for us. As the Old Testament, you know, Sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice of animals and the shedding of blood was for the forgiveness of sins. But of course, no animal sacrifice could forgive even one sin. But it was pointing to the one that God would send to make a one-time sacrificial offer for all those who would believe. And God would send this sacrifice called the Lamb of God. And Jesus was not only the sacrifice, but the one offering the sacrifice. He's the priest and he's the offering, amen? You believe, as Hebrews 9.28 says, that he was offered once to bear the sins of many. And you believe what the angel told Joseph when Mary was pregnant and he was gonna put her away in Matthew 1.21. Don't do that, Joseph. This is the Messiah. You'll call his name Jesus. Why? Here's what it means. That he will save his people from their sins. Why does he do that? by taking our sins upon himself and suffering the punishment for them. He'll save us from the breath of God. So you believe that Jesus died specifically for you. Not this he died for everybody thing. Listen, Jesus didn't die for the world all inclusive. If you think that, you're wrong. Don't be offended by me. I'm just saying, it's not right. He died for his people from all over the world, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. But if he died for everybody, everybody would go to heaven and we know that's not the case. because the vast majority of people could care less about Jesus or about his death. He died for his people, right? You believe he died specifically for you for the forgiveness of your sins. It is that personal. It is that personal. He died for you. He was on the cross for you. He was washing away your sins. He was suffering your wrath. You believe that? Or is it some group thing? that it doesn't really apply to you, it's you. And that's what rivets you when you realize he's talking about you and it applies to you. You believe that he bore the curse of the law as Galatians says, becoming a curse for you. He bore the curse for you. And there are a multitude of verses which speak of Christ dying for your sins. I mean, it's all over the place in the New Testament and in the Old as well. It was his mission given to him by his father. And 2 Corinthians 5.21, I think, capsulizes this and crystallizes it in one verse better than any verse in the Bible, I believe. And there it says, for he, God, made him Jesus, who knew no sin, that's the perfect life, that he would become sin for us, right? that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He takes our sins away, and we get His righteous standing. We need them both, and we've said this before. We need them both. We need sins forgiven, and we need a right standing, and we can't do either of those, but He did it for us. Christ did it for us. Jesus said in John 6, 40, and this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise them up at the last day. I will raise them up. Now some people don't believe that Jesus actually died on the cross. The Muslims do not believe that and other groups as well. And some have trouble that an innocent man would have to die for guilty people. I've heard that many times actually. And others just excuse the whole crucifixion as a myth. It's a myth, it's a myth. He didn't really die. But the problem is sin. And it's been the problem since the Garden of Eden. And God promised from way back in Genesis 3 to send a sin bearer, a sin sacrifice, a sin substitute. And Jesus was the perfect sin atoning sacrifice before a holy God. We should always be praising God for that. Well, not only must we believe in the death of Christ, but also in his resurrection. It's not enough to believe everything I just said and to discount the resurrection. Because if he stayed in the grave, if he didn't resurrect, well, that proves he wasn't the son of God. Nor was he a sinless man, nor is there a shred of evidence that he paid for your sin. How do we know that? How do we know that he paid for your sins if he's still dead? And if you want more on that, listen to the Easter Sunday sermon. It dealt heavily with that. All right. So how do we know we paid our debt in full? Then, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, then he says, listen, our preaching is in vain, your faith is in vain, we're a bunch of false witnesses, you're still in your sins, and then all those who have already died in Christ, well, they've perished, and by the way, we, you and me, are the most pitiable of all people. It's a very sad state if Christ didn't rise from the dead. So if Christ didn't rise, basically, Christianity is a sham. but the New Testament is chock full of verse after verse declaring the resurrection of Christ, chock full of it. I'm just gonna give you two just to sort of whet the appetite and set the table, and they're all over the place. In Romans 1-4 it says that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, how? By the resurrection from the dead, boom. Romans 8-34, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Not only did he rise, he ascended into glory, was given all power and authority, sits at the right hand of God, and he's interceding for us in the very throne room of heaven, amen? And because he died and rose again, that declares that your sins were indeed paid in full. You see, the resurrection is like God taking a big stamp that says satisfied and going, boom, satisfied with the work my son has done. When my son just said it was finished, how do we know it was finished? How are your sins forgiven? How do we know he didn't miss one or two? How do we know you're still not going to hell? How do we know any of those things? I'm satisfied. The resurrection is, boom, satisfied, appeased. I'm appeased. I'm happy with what my son has done. And now I accept you in him. Now we are forgiven. Because the tomb is empty, we have full assurance of everlasting life in glory. And it's the resurrection of Christ that turned the apostles from absolute cowards into champions to preach the gospel. And they all, except for one, were martyred for that faith. These are guys that were shaking, biting their nails behind locked doors. And all of a sudden, they're preaching and teaching out in the open to the Jewish leaders who are the most spiritually powerful men in the world, so to speak, or in the Jewish world. Proclaim the gospel, flawlessly and relentlessly. And they preached it to all. And God used it to save tremendous multitudes. And that same gospel that the apostles preached, same gospel we preach. The same power to save souls then, same power to save souls now. So we can't futz with the gospel, right? We can't futz with the gospel. So the question is, do you really believe in your heart of hearts by the definitions and explanations I just gave you? that Christ died and rose again. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? You gotta believe that, otherwise you're not really a believer. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God so loved you, He so loved you, that He sent His Son to die for you? We're not talking religion here. We're talking a person, Jesus Christ. We're talking, are you rightly related to the very Son of God which would make you related to the Father God and to the Spirit? Are you related to God? Are you related? Do you believe that He so loved you that He sent His Son to die for you? And that the Son so loved you that He willingly, He willingly died for you to free you from the bondage of your sin. Do you believe that? And do you believe that he rose victoriously from the grave, proving that you have been justified, made right, declared not guilty before his Father in heaven? That's what justified means. It means just, innocent, not guilty. And the divine courtroom of heaven, now that's gone. The charges are gone, right? The wages of your sin paid. God's not gonna want a second payment on something that's been paid already, right? Do you believe? Now, if you don't believe those things, I gotta tell you, you're not a Christian. You're not a Christian. You're not living, you're not in Christ. You don't know him, right? If loving him is something that is foreign to you, well, I don't know, I like what he says. I like what the Bible says, but I don't love him. I'm not moved by him. I don't have passion for him at all. If you don't love him, then you don't know him. If His death and resurrection are just events that you acknowledge to be true, then the Bible says you're not His. You're not a Christian to this day. And you are ignorant of what it means to have eternal life and a relationship with God. And the thing is, you will have sorrow upon sorrow if you die apart from Christ. Praise God you're not dead. Praise God you're here listening to something that maybe you never thought you'd hear. But praise God because there are no accident. God orchestrates all the elements and pieces behind the scenes to put us where he puts us, to hear what we hear, to do what we do when we do it. And I need to tell you that today, today I would urge you to consider the glorious truths of Christ's life and death and resurrection for sinners like you. and cry out to him for forgiveness of your sins and seek him with all your heart. And here's the thing, if you do, he will save you and you will become a new creation in Christ. Listen, eternal life is a gift. Salvation is a gift. You don't earn this, you don't buy this, you don't do enough stuff to get it. God gives it freely. That's what grace is, gift, right? But he only gives it to those who really want it. You gotta really want it. You gotta be like the beggar begging for bread, begging for him to save you. And if that's you, I'm telling you he's gonna save you. He's gonna save you. Well, Paul says, if you believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. And even so means that just as Jesus died and rose again, so too will your loved ones who are sleeping in Jesus. They will rise again. For when Jesus returns, he will bring with him every single saint who was in heaven at that point, which will be all of them who have not physically died. And they will come with him in their spirit, and he will call up their bodies out of the grave, and their spirits will be united with their bodies forevermore in one resurrected, glorified person forevermore in Jesus, amen? Well, let me close by giving you three let us nots. Three let us nots. I know that's not good English. Three let us nots. And the first one is this. Let us not fear death like so many others. We shouldn't fear death. I mean, we shouldn't be looking forward to it, quite honestly, but we shouldn't fear it. We shouldn't fear having to leave here because we have such a great hope. in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let us not fear things like viruses or cancers that could possibly kill us, and so live apart from the body of Christ, and so disengage from the family of God. How sad is it that so many professing Christians have abandoned the assembling of ourselves together, which you are commanded to do, for fear of dying from something that has a less than 1% chance of killing them. Let us not look at death with fear and dread, for our death is our entranceway into everlasting life. And remember, death for us is bodily sleep. That's what it is. And Christ's resurrection proves that one day our body will rise again. You got his word on it. Your body will rise. Now my second let us not is this. Let us not let unsaved loved ones and friends leave this life without ever hearing the gospel from us. Let us not let them leave without ever hearing the gospel. We can't save their souls, but we can tell them they need to be saved, and we can tell them how they could be saved, right? Let us not do that. Keep in mind, their death is not sleep, but doom. Their death is not sleep, but doom. And keep in mind, the day they breathe their last, they are ushered into hell. And in the end, their body will be raised up only to be judged by Christ and then cast into body and soul, the lake of fire. That's what they're looking at. And their only hope, their only hope of that not going that way is to hear and believe the gospel. Hear and believe the gospel. The gospel which you know and the gospel which has saved you. Well, I'm not an evangelist. You don't gotta be. Well, I don't know a lot of theology. You don't need to know. You need to know you're a sinner, and Christ saves sinners. I honestly think, in the simplest way, that's enough to start. It really is, right? You need to know. They need to know. So let us love them enough to share with them the only message that can make them heaven bound. Well, you know, they might not like me. Well, they might not like you. Well, I don't wanna not get invited to family functions anymore. Who needs them? Right? You know? I mean, seriously. You know what I mean? You love them enough to tell them the truth or are you afraid, oh, they're not gonna like me, I'm not gonna get invited to so-and-so's wedding. You save 100 bucks. My last let us not is this. Let us not cease to give God thanks for taking us out of blindness and ignorance and opening our eyes to his truth. Our hearts have been opened to the truth of the gospel. Let us praise Him for Christ living and dying and rising again for us with the promise He is coming back for us to perfect us forever. So in light of all of this, let us diligently labor to advance his kingdom before we sleep. Listen, I don't know when I'm going to sleep, so to speak, and I don't know when you're going to sleep, but I know I am going unless he returns before all of that, and I know you're going, brother. Let us labor before we rest, so to speak, on our bodies. Let us labor. Let us be diligent to advance his kingdom before we can't do it anymore. Let us use everything the Lord has given us to promote his gospel and to make disciples of the nation, because that pleases God. That pleases God. So when it is our time for our bodies to sleep, we would have done all that we could to glorify him in this life, amen? Let's pray. Father, we praise you for the unbelievable glorious gospel, which not only saved our souls, which not only gives us new life now, but Lord, the promise of eternal life, the promise of total glorification, body and soul, a new body, a body that will never die again, nor can sin, with a resurrected glorified soul. Father, how amazing that you would have such love and mercy upon sinners such as us to save us and to bless us with communion with Christ forevermore in glory. Father, if we do not understand these things well in our own souls, please teach us, please correct us. Lord, I pray that we not foolishly have sorrow when we don't need to be. Father, I pray that we not be ignorant of all the truth of Scripture that so encourages our souls, oh Lord, to help us live a life that glorifies you. And Father, for those sitting here this day or watching it on Facebook Live, Lord, who are not truly saved, who cannot say they truly believe that Christ died and rose again for them, Lord, would you save their souls? Lord, would you show them they have a desperate need, a tremendous need which they could never meet. but if they trust in Christ, He's met it for them. Drive them to the cross and then raise them up, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.