Doctrine of the Future- Resurrection of the Dead

The main ideas from this information are: - The doctrine of Jesus Christ is the main focus of discussion. - The doctrine of Christ includes teachings on repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. - Understanding our condition as sinners is necessary to grasp the hope of eternal judgment. - Jesus Christ's work in the past dealt with sinners, His work in the present deals with saints and sanctification, and His work in the future will result in glorification. - The resurrection of the dead is a central belief in Christianity, and Jesus' resurrection is the cornerstone of the faith. - Resurrection can refer to raising the dead back to life, eschatology and the future resurrection for punishment or reward, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. - Believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is essential to the Gospel message. - If there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen, and our faith and preaching are in vain. - Understanding That's what we've been kind of talking about over Sunday mornings is that doctrine of Jesus Christ, which is what we pledge allegiance to, Jesus Christ. We give Him our heart. We give Him our soul. The author of Hebrews writing says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. And that pledge of allegiance to the Lamb is what it is all about. When we look at the doctrine of Christ, He said leaving these principles, these first teachings, these elementary, when we look at the Old Testament, everything was a shadow or a figure of what was to come in Jesus Christ. And as we study that, we see that there was the doctrine of Christ and His work in the past that deals with us as sinners. And then we see the doctrine of Christ in the present where He deals with saints and our sanctification. But we get to the part this morning, the good part, what we're looking forward to, the hope, the work of Christ in the future where we see our glorification. And to understand that, to really get a grasp of this hope, we have to understand that the Bible says in Hebrews 9 and verse 27, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that, the judgment. In order to understand the resurrection and to really get the hope of eternal judgment, we have to understand our condition. When we look at our condition, we know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death. That's why we're all appointed to death because we are all sinners. But, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And Jesus said in John 3 and verse 18, He says, He that believeth on Him, Jesus Christ, is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And as you go on and you look, it says in 1 Timothy to Paul's writing to young Timothy in chapter 1 verse 15, he said, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 1 Corinthians 5.21, For He had made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God and healed. And so that is our condition. We are dead. We are sinners. And because of that, we deserve to die. We are going to die. But it doesn't have to be the second death. And so as we look, we understand His compassion. The compassion that Jesus Christ has us. When we look into the future, of course, Revelation is written and none of Revelation has been fulfilled yet. It's what's going to come about. And in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 5, it says that from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first forgotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of earth, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. As bad as Revelation is and as terrible as it's going to get and the terrible things when we see God's wrath poured out on this world, before He gets into any of that, He reminds us that guess what? Christ loves us. He has washed us from His sins by His blood. That is His work in the past. If you had pledged your allegiance, if you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior. And now He is sanctifying us. He is changing us to His image. And Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5.18, he said, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That is our goal. That is our purpose. That's what God saved us for. He did not save us to go to heaven. He saved us in order that we might be ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we might share with other people. He's given us this ministry of reconciliation. He says, To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. 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. Therefore, we see the doctrine of baptism. We see the doctrine of the laying on of hands as we are sanctified as ambassadors. That authority that is passed on to those that have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ. To be ministers of the Gospel of reconciliation. The phases deal with this present work of Jesus Christ with the saints. Identifying, authorizing, blessing us for the representation of the Gospel unto the world. He said in John 5 and verse 25, Verily, verily, 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. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. He says in Acts 24 verse 15, And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Today we are talking about the resurrection of the dead. And as we look at this resurrection of the dead, first of all, we need to understand and we need to define what is resurrection. What are we talking about when we mention resurrection? When you study and do a concordance and a check on resurrection in the Bible, you'll find three things. First of all, it refers to the miraculous raisings of the dead back to life. When you study the Bible, the first one that we see was Elisha who raised a little bitty boy. He was dead, but Elisha brought him back to life. And then we saw Elijah as he raised the Shulamite son. We see Jesus who raised Jairus' daughter. And Peter who raised Dorcas. And then we find Paul who raised Eutychus in Acts 20. And there is no hint that these resuscitations would prevent them from future death. Every one of them was resurrected in order that they might die again. Lazarus was brought forth from the grave in order that he might just simply die again. All of these resurrections were dead people that were brought back to the earthly life. It also refers to eschatology, to the future, to things in the future, the end time, when we will be resurrected for either punishment or reward when we stand before Jesus Christ. And finally, resurrection refers frequently to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why you are here this morning. Because Jesus Christ did not stay dead. He rose from the dead and because He has risen, the promise that you and I will be risen is there in effect. That is our hope. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central point of Christianity. They understood that there would be a resurrection in the Old Testament. They understood that Christ would one day resurrect this body. David talked about one of these days being with God and being with his son that he lost. He knew that there would be a resurrection. Mary and Martha, you remember, when Jesus came to resurrect Lazarus, they said what? We know that there's a resurrection in the future. Jesus said I'm here to resurrect Him now. And so they understood a resurrection, but they didn't have a full picture. They didn't have the full understanding until Christ rose from the dead. And then when we get to the epistles in the New Testament, then we find all kinds of information about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The most popular passage of Scripture that really tells us about the resurrection of Jesus Christ is in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when Paul gives us the Gospel. And he said, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, now that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Remember, it is appointed unto man once to die, after that to judgment. The wages of sin is death. And so Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And that He was buried. And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That is there. Paul also hinged the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Gospel. Not only do you have to repent of your sins and believe that Jesus Christ shed His blood for your sins, you also have to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The acceptance of that sacrifice. And so Paul stands and attaches this resurrection to the Gospel message. He goes on in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 12, and he says, Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? In other words, there was many people in this day and time that were saying that the resurrection had already taken place or that there was absolutely no resurrection that was going to happen. And so Paul is fixing to address this. He's fixing to let them know what is going on. And he starts in verse 13 and he says, But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? He asks a series of questions. If Christ is not risen, then there's no resurrection. But the fact that Christ is resurrected there was a resurrection, wasn't it? Because Christ resurrected. So he's asking these if-then questions. Then he says in verse 14, And if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also in vain. Why? If Christ is not risen, then we have no hope of a resurrection. We have no hope in a salvation because that would mean that Jesus Christ is what? A sinner just like you and I, deserving of death. But He wasn't a sinner like you and I. He was the Son of God. And He was perfect and He was sinless. And so then he answers that question. There's no reason to preach if Jesus Christ is not alive. You show up on Sunday morning and I preach every Sunday morning because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If it wasn't for that, we'd have no need to be here. That's why we quit celebrating and worshiping on the Sabbath day, on Saturday, and now we worship on the first day because the tomb is empty. He has been resurrected. Then verse 15, Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God, that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. If there's no resurrection, then I'm a liar. Because I preach every single Sunday that Jesus Christ is alive. He resurrected. And so he says you all of a sudden become a false witness of God if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead. Verse 16, For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. Go back up to 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3. Not only do you have to believe that Jesus died for your sins, but that He was buried for your sins. But what? He was resurrected for your sins. You can't be saved without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so he's telling us here, and then look what he says in verse 18. Then, if all of these things are true, and they are, Jesus Christ has resurrected, He is resurrected, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. We can walk right across the street to the cemetery, and it's full of people that have died. Their bodies have been placed in the ground. Look at what verse 19 says. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. We bury people every single day. We know people that have died, that have gone on, and if there is no resurrection, then what hope do we have? What future? You know, when you go and you stand, can you imagine me having to do a funeral and didn't believe that these people are going to be with Jesus Christ? That they're not there now? I couldn't give the family any hope. I couldn't give them any excitement, any joy in this death. And so when we look at this in Romans 1 and verse 4, Paul said, "...and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead." In other words, what made Jesus Christ Jesus Christ was His holiness. He was God. He was 100% God. God is holy, and therefore God cannot be sinned. He cannot look upon sin. He cannot produce sin. And so therefore, according to the spirit of holiness, what happened? Jesus Christ didn't stay in the grave, but He resurrected unto life. 1 Corinthians 15.35 then goes on in that passage of Scripture and says, "...but some men will say..." Some men will say, ok, you've convinced me there's a resurrection, right? Alright, you've showed me that. How are the dead raised up then? How is this going to take place? How is this resurrection going to happen? And then the second part of that, if the resurrection is going to happen, what body do they come? In other words, we know that after a while, what happens to this body? It returns back to dust and ashes, right? And the longer we stay down in the ground, the longer we stay in that casket, the more our body decomposes. And so the natural question is, if God is going to raise us up, then what kind of body am I going to have? Because this body is eventually, you remember from ashes to ashes and dust to dust? Eventually, this body is going to return back to dust. And so look at how Paul answers this in verse 36. Thou fool... What is a fool? A fool who said in his heart, there is no God. National Atheism Day is fixing to come up. April the 1st. April Fool's Day, right? That is National Atheist Day. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And so Paul looks. When you're talking about the resurrection, he said, Thou fool, thou which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. In other words, it is appointed unto man once to die, but after that, the judgment. And look at what he says in verse 37. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. That it shall be but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. Now how many of you are getting ready and starting already thinking and planning to plant your garden? Right? You go down to the co-op, they're getting seeds in and everything else. When you go down through them seed bins, guess what? A lot of them seeds look alike. A lot of them are very, very similar. And so what has it? When you plant that seed, what is produced when it comes out of the ground is not that same seed. It changes appearance. It puts on a new body. And all of a sudden what? You plant one kernel of corn, one seed, it goes into the ground, and what happens? The stalk comes up. And on that stalk has three to five ears of corn that are there. And so it changes. And so that's what he's telling us. Listen, if God can take that corn seed, when you put it in the ground, it can make a stalk of corn that produces a whole lot of more corn, then guess what? You are a fool if you don't think that God can't take that body that is there with dust and everything else and resurrect it into a new body. See, that's why he calls them a fool. And look what he says in verse 38. But God, see, we're leaving God out of it. That's why we're foolish. But God giveth it a body as it had pleased Him, and to every seed His own body. Every one of them seeds comes out differently. And they produce something differently that is there. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies. There are bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. In other words, he's talking about those that are earth dwellers and those that are angels, those that are heavenly. We have a different type of body. We have a different type of flesh. We don't have the same flesh. We don't look like birds, do we? We don't look like animals. Every one of them has their own type of body. That's what he's saying here. Verse 41, There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon. Which is greater, the sun or the moon? Depends on if it's day or night, right? If you're stuck out in the middle of the woods in complete darkness, that full moon is nice, isn't it? I don't need the sun. The moon does just right. And so what he's saying is, if the sun has its own glory, it's perfect for what it was designed to do, what God placed it there to do. And the moon, guess what? It does exactly what it's supposed to do when it's supposed to do it. And then he says, and another glory of the stars, for one star different from another star in glory. It's amazing when you look up in the sky, that the stars, even with the naked eye, you can see their different shapes, sizes, and colors. But when you put a telescope and you start bringing them in closer, it is amazing at the difference of all of these stars and everything that God put up there. Each one of them serves their own glory to God. Let me just put this in perspective for you for just a minute. Every one of you that are here today, God has given you the body that He has given you to glorify Him. I don't have the same body as you and you don't have the same body as me. If we all looked alike and we all felt alike, then guess what? God's not getting in glory, but look at the diversity that God gave. Look at what God has given us in the diversity of life. And so man, all of us is created for the purpose to glorify God. He gets the glory. Anybody can make the same thing over and over. God has made not two individuals exactly the same. Even twins, there's a difference. Even twins are made different. So look at what he says in verse 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. In other words, we are sown in corruption, but it is raised in corruption. It is sown in dishonor, but it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, but it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. How be it? How be it that was not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward, that which is spiritual? In other words, before God gave Adam a spirit, he had to first of all form a body. And what did he do? He breathed into that body his spirit. That breath of life is mouth to mouth. God put his spirit in Adam. And so he was first of all a fleshly body. And so when we are sown, when we are planted into the ground, when we die, we're dead because of our weakness. Why did we die anyway? Because of sin, right? We have no power. We have no ability. There is nothing good. There is none that doeth righteous. No, not one. So we are all weak and done. But guess what? God doesn't leave us that way. When He resurrected us, He gives us a spiritual body, a glorified body for Him. So verse 47, The first man is of earth, earthy. The second man is of the Lord, heaven. And it is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And it is the heavenly, such as they also that are heavenly. And we have been born the image of the earthy. We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. And so notice what happened. God is going to change our body. There is going to be a resurrection. Now how did we get into Christ? We go back and we've repented from our dead works, right? We had faith toward God. And then we were sanctified. We are changed into His image. So when is this resurrection? When will it happen? Daniel 12, verse 1, And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time, notice, thy people shall be delivered. Every one that shall be found written in the book. Now who is God's people that Daniel is talking about? He's talking about the Hebrew people, the Israelites, the Jews. That's God's people. That's what we're talking about there. But then notice what he says in verse 2, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Look at what it says. There are two resurrections. There's a first resurrection, and then there's a second resurrection. Daniel was prophesying of the second resurrection. When Daniel wrote, he didn't understand the first resurrection. He didn't understand the first coming of Jesus Christ, because God hid all of this Gentile, this age of the church, He hid them from them. That's why when they washed and they laid on hands, it was a temporary, it was an authoritative deal, it was a representation or a shadow of what would to come. But they didn't understand everything about the church. And so there's the first resurrection. The first resurrection is for believers. When we look at that, we see in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 1 through 4, and Revelation chapter 20 talks about these two resurrections. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on that dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed for a season. And I saw thrones, and they set upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark, upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So when is the first resurrection? The first resurrection happens at the end of the tribulation period going into the millennial reign, right? That's the first. And then it says this is the first. What's he describing? That time between the tribulation period and the millennial reign. Now go back to Daniel chapter 12. He says, and in that time, Michael, stand up, that prince, go down and look. And he said, even in the same time, at that time, at that time, thy people shall be delivered. When is the time of trouble that he's talking about? The tribulation period. It's referred to as Jacob's trouble, the time of trouble, God's wrath. All these terms we see in the Bible that are talking about it, it's talking about the same thing. He says at that time, thy people, the Hebrew people, the Jews, whatever you want to call them, shall be delivered. Look at verse 2. Many of them that sleep, that are dead, where in the dust of the earth, shall awake. They're not sleeping in their bed. They're not dead. But where are they at? They're in the earth. They're dead. Some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Now, back to Revelation 20 and verse 5. You've got to tie these two together to understand, and I'm going to hopefully make it all clear to you here in just a minute. Verse 5 says, But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So we have the first resurrection. The first resurrection was marked by three stages. The first resurrection started with Jesus Christ when He was resurrected in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead and became the firstfruits of them that slept. In other words, Christ has died, but He is the firstfruit. What happens to that seed when you water it and you fertilize it and God gives the sun to it and everything else? What does it do? It sprouts. And it produces fruit. That firstfruit that comes from that dead seed is what? In the Old Testament, it was to be given back to God, right? The first seed, the first ten percent of your crop was to be given back to God. Christ was risen from the dead and became the firstfruits of those of us that died. In other words, because Christ was buried in a grave, but He came forth, He is the firstfruit showing us that our bodies, when we die, we will be resurrected and changed also. So that's why it's three stages. When was the second stage? The second stage is the dead in Christ. When you look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we read this a lot at the cemetery with families. He says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, those that are dead, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which are dead, which sleep, where in Jesus Christ will God bring with Him? What's he talking about? When is Christ coming back? At the second coming. And so He's going to bring these saints, those that have been saved that have died, back with Him at His second coming, which is after the tribulation period before the millennial reign. Look at verse 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Those of us Christians, if Christ would come back right now, then what's happened? Us that are alive is not going to prevent those that are dead from getting out of that grave. You can't stop it. Those that have trusted in Jesus Christ that are over there in Kentucky Cemetery, immediately when Christ comes back, they're going to start up. Look what he says in verse 16. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, the dead in Christ, that means believers, those that are saved, those that have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Christ comes in us and indwells us. We are a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. The dead in Christ shall rise first. So the graves are going to start opening up. Verse 17, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord where? In the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And you know what he says right after that? Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Notice where we're meeting Jesus Christ in the air. We're not talking about His second coming. We're talking about a rapture. We're talking about the time when Jesus Christ comes back before the tribulation period, the time of trouble. There's going to be a rapture. The dead in Christ are going to rise first. We which are alive and remain shall be caught up. That's where the word rapture comes. Rapture is not in the Bible, but it is taught. Just like Jesus Christ. Remember, He was buried, but what happened right before Pentecost? It said He ascended to His Father. And what did He say? Talking to the church, those that were baptized, those that He had laid the hands of authority on, what did He say? He said, I'm fixing to go, but when I go, I shall return back to this same place and take you with me. And so we're talking about this rapture. And so that's there. And so that's what gives us comfort. That's the second phase. Then there's a third phase. During the tribulation, there are going to be those Jews and Gentiles that end up dying during the tribulation period. Those that do not accept the mark of the beast, those that do not accept the antichrist as their God, that realize, you know what? I was wrong in my life, and I realize through the 144,000 witnesses, through the two witnesses that God's going to send that's going to be televised all over the world, there are going to be people that are going to decide, you know what? Everything Brother Donnie told me about Jesus Christ is true. And therefore, I am not going to accept the antichrist. I'm not going to bow down to Satan. And so what's going to happen? That's what Daniel is talking about. At the end of that tribulation, those that were beheaded, those that gave up their life for Jesus Christ, not taking on the mark of the beast and they accept the allegiance to the antichrist, but have their allegiance to God, they died during that tribulation period. He said then they are going to come along with who? All of the Old Testament saints. Those that accepted and looked forward by faith to Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. They will be brought up at the end of the tribulation period. So you have the Christ resurrection, you have the rapture, and then you have the martyrs, and you have the Old Testament saints that are resurrected. Then we come to the second resurrection. This is the deniers, the unbelievers of Jesus Christ. Look, it goes on now. Pick back up in verse 5 of Revelation 20. But the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go 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 sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and came past the camp of the saints about in the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophets are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." Jesus prophesied of this event. He prophesied. Notice what He said. He said, 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. And 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. In order to be saved, you had to what? Repent from dead works, right? What you are doing and what you're trying to get to God, repent from dead works and have faith toward God. If you do that, you're going to come up at the rapture or if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ and you're saved during the tribulation period, then you will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation period. And so, because you have accepted Jesus Christ. But then look what He says. He says, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Here's where Jesus prophesied about this. He said in John 5, verse 24, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, 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. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. So there is a resurrection that is brought to life, eternal life, and there is a second resurrection that's going to bring about the second death. It's not stated in Revelation 20, but if you have a first death and you have a second death, and those that died in the first death with Jesus Christ are resurrected, and then the body stayed in the ground for another thousand years, then guess what? There has to be a second resurrection. It's implied that there's a first resurrection. There has to be a second resurrection. And it's implied in that fact. And so notice the question then becomes, there will be a resurrection. There will be a resurrection of the body. And so the question happens, which resurrection is for you? Which one will you be in? Isaiah 64, verse 6 says, that we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fate as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. See, your future is determined by your past. The future work of Jesus Christ is determined by the past work of Jesus Christ. In other words, none of us are any good. The best that we can do, God says the best act, the best work that we can do, the best righteousness is as a filthy rag to God. It's not good enough. It's not sufficient enough. And so what do we do? We repent from our dead works and we have faith toward God. What is our faith toward God? Believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That He was buried and that He rose again on the third day. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 3. I delivered unto you first that which I also have received. How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. John 3, 17 says, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. You remember 1 Corinthians 15, 1? When you accepted Jesus Christ as your first real Savior, there is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. God didn't come to condemn the world. God came to save the world. He didn't come to put us in eternal destiny in hell. He came to give us life eternal. What determines that? My repentance from dead works and my faith toward God. And so John 3, 18 says, He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He tells us in John 5 and verse 28, Marvel not for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice. You go back in verse 29 and he says, And shall come forth they that have done good unto the righteousness of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. And you have not His word abiding in you for whom He hath sent Him you believe not. He's telling them later there in verse 38 that guess what? You are not those that have believed in Jesus Christ. You have rejected Him. And so therefore, guess what? Because you didn't believe in Him, you have no part in the first resurrection. You're going to happen in the second resurrection. He goes on in verse 39. Look at what he tells them. Search the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me that you might have life. How sad! How sad! And the author of Hebrews is writing in Hebrews 6 in verses 1 and 2 to say guess what? By the Scriptures, you can know of your future. You can know of your future. And he said these are elementary things. We may not know all the details of the rapture. We may not know all the details of the resurrection. And I know there's some even in this congregation that we disagree on. Is the rapture going to happen at the front of the tribulation? Or is it going to happen at the middle? Guess what I can tell you? It's not going to happen at the end because the dead in Christ are coming back with Christ when He comes to the earth and there's going to be the last resurrection of those that died during the tribulation. So we can argue all day long, but we know that there's going to be a resurrection of the dead. And that's what Paul's saying. And guess what? We as Baptists don't like this. But what did he say? We're going to be judged according to our works. You cannot separate works. And that's why the author says, repent from dead works. There are dead works and there are good works. And next week, when we look at the eternal judgment, guess what? We're going to see that the believers in Christ are now going to be judged according to their works. And all of our good works are going to what? Turn into gold, silver, and precious stones. What does gold, silver, and precious stones do? They sparkle, don't they? They shine, don't they? What does wood, hay, and stubble do? It clouds out the sparkle of the other stuff, don't it? I'm fixing to quit because we're out of time. But go back to Daniel 12. And I didn't put a slide here, and I'm not going to go back in my sermon and find it. But go back to Daniel 12 and verse 3. As I was studying this this week, verse 2 says, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Look at verse 3. And they that be wise... What is wise? Read Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom begins with what? A fear of God. A wise person is the opposite of a fool. A fool who said there is no God. And so look what he says in verse 3. And they that be wise, those that have chosen Jesus Christ, those that have chosen God, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. You know what he's saying? And we'll see this when we look at the judgment seat of Christ next week. Have you ever looked up at the stars in the sky? Have you noticed they're all different brightnesses? They're all different shapes. They're all different sizes. See, what happens in my life now is going to determine how bright I shine there. And see, what's going to determine that? The judgment seat of Christ. See, I've repented from my dead works. But you know what? Through this present day, through this process of sanctification, I don't always still do things in the Spirit. Sometimes I do things out of the flesh. Sometimes I react in the flesh. And guess what? God says, you may have repented from dead works, but you're still living in dead works. And He said all of that is going to go up in wood, hay, and stubble. But He says everything that I do for Him, that through the Holy Spirit that has gifted me, that has graced me, through the church that has authorized me, that I have identified with Jesus Christ and have been baptized in the laying on of hands, guess what? I'm going to shine. We're all going to have different levels of brightness when we get there. And guess what? There's going to be some that's going to take this ambassador and minister of reconciliation seriously. And they're going to share the Gospel. They're going to lead people to Christ. And guess what? He says they're going to shine even brighter. They're going to be brighter. When I get to heaven, I want to shine. I want to shine. I want Jesus Christ to be glorified in everything that I do and everything that I say. And so the question becomes as we stand for a verse of invitation, have you believed in Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection for payment for your sins? You have to repent of dead works and have faith toward God. And then you've got to accept His payment. And if you accept His payment, then guess what? The payment that Jesus Christ offered, the Father accepted, didn't He? Jesus Christ, Hebrews, tells us that He ascended and He took His own blood that He offered on that cross for you and I. And He offered it on the altar of God. And God accepted it. And when God accepted it, guess what? Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And He says if I rose from the dead, guess what? You're going to rise too. And when I get there, I want to present my life and hear Him say, well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I am going to make you faithful and ruler over many things. And so just to think that we're saved and we can sit on a pew and we can soak and sour is nowhere found in the Bible. You are not saved just to enjoy life and go to heaven. There's going to be a resurrection, and we'll look at that next week, that there's going to be an eternal judgment. What you do now is going to affect your tomorrow.