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Well, it wasn't that long ago when I was in Zambia, Africa, and I was talking to a group of pastors, about 150 pastors, about preaching. I said, you know, it's interesting, our charismatic friends will raise hands during songs.
And I said, but, you know, as long as I've been preaching for 15 years, during public scripture reading or preaching, I've never looked out and seen somebody raise their hand while I was preaching. Maybe they wanted to ask me a question, but it wasn't a holy hand regarding worship.
So we talked, and then we went and had lunch. And I came back for the next session that afternoon, and I began to preach, and I was reading the Bible, and all of a sudden, I looked up, and there were 150 guys going like this.
I thought, that is awesome. This passage today is going to make you want to do that very thing. Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, victory in Christ Jesus. Victory over death, victory over sin, victory over the law.
When Jesus returns, how will your body be changed so that it is fit for heaven? That's exactly what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 15. Today, verses 50 through, we'll probably get through about 57.
Victory in Christ Jesus. Remember, if you go back to verse 12 of the same chapter, people were asking a question. What were they asking? Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there's no resurrection of the dead?
People were saying, you know, when your body dies, that's it. Maybe you have a spirit that goes into heaven, maybe that continues on, but your body can't go to heaven. The body that you put in a ground and it's corrupting, that body can't go to heaven.
And Paul says, listen, Jesus was raised from the dead. You follow Christ as he raises you from the dead. If you take a look at verse 3 of the same chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 3, for I deliver to you as of first importance.
Everything in the Bible is important. Some things are most important. And this is a particular truth that falls into that category. What I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to many.
So, big picture 1 Corinthians. Paul is writing to this church and he's saying, of course your bodies can be raised from the dead, because Jesus was raised from the dead. And then they begin asking questions.
What will that body look like? How will it function? Will we recognize the body? And so, Paul is working through these issues. The question is, what about people not whose bodies are in the ground, they've already died, their spirits with God, they're waiting for their bodies.
That's not the question anymore. In chapter 15, verses 50 to 58, here's the question. When Jesus comes back, and some people are still alive, what will happen to their bodies? What will happen to those who are alive at Christ's coming?
Will there have to be a change? And that's exactly what we're going to look at today. Your body goes to heaven. The dead bodies are changed, that's what Paul talks about in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. They're not of disadvantage because their bodies in the ground, their spirits in heaven, they'll get their bodies, glorified bodies.
And if some of us make it till the Lord's return, we will have our bodies changed as well. Now, looking at you as a congregation, and I know I'm looking to you, looking at you through my eyes that aren't so good anymore, our bodies, friends, aren't good enough to inherit heaven.
I know some of you think you have, you know, you're fairly attractive, or fairly handsome, or fairly pretty, but the older you get, you realize this body can't make it to heaven. And so today we're going to do this.
In verses 50 through 53, we'll set up the passage, the need for a transformation, this necessity for transformation, and then we're going to hit verses 54 and following, which just end up being a praise unto God.
Paul is so thankful that he just praises God. This is good for you if your body's decaying, if you're older, if you buried a loved one lately, or will in the future. You're going to be happy to see these verses, that Jesus is victorious over death, over sin, over Satan, over the law, and Paul can't stand it.
He is so thankful. By the way, this is good for us because some of us are fairly dour people, fairly sour people, fairly down people. I heard one man said that, you know, if you're a Christian, you've been forgiven all your sins, and you just don't come across as a rejoicing person, maybe you should send a missionary to your face.
These verses serve as the missionary that need to get sent to your face. I'm not after externals only, but the deep abiding joy that Paul has, I think it's pretty contagious. I think he's so happy and so excited that there's victory.
Think about all the places in the world where there's loss, football loss, baseball loss, family loss, financial loss, and the biggest loss of all, death. Paul is going to tell us that praise is the response to the fact that we get our bodies raised from the dead, whether we die, God raises our bodies, or whether we're alive and God changes our bodies.
Verse 50, let's take a look at why we need transformation. Verse 50, I tell you this, brothers, and Paul is introducing this topic. It's an important topic. That's the way he talks when he wants to emphasize something.
I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood, Jewish idiom for our nature that's frail, that's passing away, it's ephemeral, it's weak, it's sinful. This kind of flesh and blood, he's not talking about blood like platelets, but this flesh and blood here cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Our bodies are not fit for heaven. The best bodybuilder, the prettiest model, their bodies aren't good enough to go to heaven. Paul says we are weak. That's what flesh and blood means. We're aging, we're breaking down.
This is not the body that inherits heaven. What's the thing that you see at the beach, the sign at the beach, at the store? No shirt, no shoes, no what? No service or no admittance. No change of body, no admittance to heaven.
We've got to trade in these bodies and they're going to have to be upgraded. Paul goes on and he says in verse 51, what's going to happen to living believers when Christ returns? What happens to their bodies?
We just looked at, in previous passages, what happens to the dead body in the ground. What about the living body? What about translating bodies? Dead bodies can't make it to heaven without being changed and neither can living bodies either.
Verse 51, behold, or literally, look, listen. Grabbing the reader's attention. I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Right, a nice euphemism for Christians who die, only used of Christians. They're dead but terminology here is just sleep, used many times even in this chapter.
But we will all be changed. So to go to heaven, your body has to be changed and it's a mystery. What is a mystery? Mysterious, kind of spooky truth. No, mystery in the Bible is simply this. Something that God knows that we couldn't know until God tells us.
And so you look at the Old Testament. What about the resurrection of the dead? Not much is told about the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of the dead is not mentioned much in the Old Testament.
Daniel 12, yes, and some other illustrations. But this mystery that was covered in the Old Testament, now Paul says, I'm going to tell you, here's the mystery. I'm going to disclose to you what's going to happen.
We won't all die, the text says, or sleep, but we shall all be changed. Can you think in the Old Testament? Somebody that was just walking along in their body, alive, and then God just beams them straight up to heaven.
Okay, forget the beaming part. I'm a person of my culture that they're translated to heaven. All of a sudden they're in a chariot, and next thing you know, vroop, up to heaven with their body. Elijah, right?
And who's the other person? Just walking along with God, and he walked with God, and then one day God took him. Enoch. So see, there's some vestiges of this kind of thing in the Old Testament, but we really don't know much about it.
One day the guy's just walking with God, the next day he's just in heaven. Two saints were caught up. What about people today? And Paul says, here's the mystery unveiled. Not everybody is going to die.
One day Jesus is going to come back. For Paul, he thought about the imminent return of Christ. He thought this could happen any time, this could be very soon. Paul didn't make it. We might not make it, but there will be Christians sometime, either some of us, or in the future, who will be alive when Jesus comes back.
Now you say, okay, here we go, pre-trib, post-trib, defib, there's all kinds of things going on. Paul isn't stressing here the exact timing when it's right. When the timing is pre-trib, post-trib, second coming.
That's not his point. His point is this, because I don't want you to make that the major point of the passage, and miss the real major point. Some people at the end of the world will be alive. And God will take them up, they won't die.
They're not going to die, they're going to be changed. A transformation at the time of the Lord's return. Pretty fascinating. Not everyone will face death. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, those in the ground, they're not at a disadvantage, the bodies in the ground, and now he's saying those who are alive when the Lord returns, they won't be at a disadvantage, because there's going to be a change.
The word change there is the change of another of the same kind. Not an exchange, not a substitution, but a transformation, a translation. I'm looking at some of you, and some of you could die in the next week, or today, and some of you might not ever die.
What will happen to your bodies, God will change them. Will it happen fast? My body's gradually decaying, will it gradually get better? No, it's going to happen fast. That's what the next verse talks about.
It's going to happen quickly. Whenever I used to go rent horses to ride when I was younger, I always got the horse named Molasses. Or Stubborn, I don't know what they're called. This is exactly the opposite.
If you were going to pick a horse, and it was going to be called Lightning, that's the idea here. Not a process, not gradual, the language here just adds up to fast. Let's take a look. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
So let's parse this out a little bit. In a moment. Here's the Greek word for in a moment. A-T-O-M-O-S. Adam. And Adam, back in those days, something meant that you couldn't split it, couldn't be divided.
And of course, then science picked up on the term and said, let's pick that word Adam for our word Adam. But originally it meant something that couldn't be divided, something that couldn't be split. The time is so short, whatever that time is, you can't cut it in half, because it just happens fast.
It's language for something that can't be cut. Not going to take a long time when this happens. Furthermore, look at the phrase that comes after that, in the twinkling of an eye. I might say to you, in a second, in a split second, in a nanosecond, that's how fast it happens.
Rapid. You can move your eye faster than you can move any other part of your body, and so Paul uses this terminology. The translation of our body transformation is going to be very, very quick. Something else comes along too, for the trumpet will sound.
The trumpet. To activate this, the trumpet starts. So just imagine if you're at the Olympics, 100 meter dash, and the guy stands by the starting gate, and he's got a gun with blanks, and he pulls the trigger, and once that sound happens, everybody runs.
This trumpet is similar to that. Once the trumpet sounds, everything starts to happen. Now, the Lord's return isn't specifically mentioned in this verse, but everything about it is talking about the Lord's return.
And the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Who's doing the changing? God, of course, but like a good Jew, Paul doesn't always say God does something. Paul says things to guard God's name occasionally and not say the word God.
He does it many times. Sometimes he says it, sometimes he doesn't. Here, he doesn't say it because the focus is on passive voice. Who's the agent? God is. Now, when I was a kid, I played trumpet. I played sousaphone when I got a little bit older.
It seemed easier than the trumpet. My claim to fame was the Jaws solo, right? Tubas don't get solos except for that. Now, let's just think for it like a Jew for a minute. Let's think like an Old Testament Jew.
Trumpet sounding. When you think of a trumpet, if you're Jewish, if you know the Old Testament, what pictures come to mind when you think of trumpet? Paul's writing to these folks, and he said, the trumpet's going to sound.
You think, okay, what's a trumpet? What's the difference? What's a trombone? Is it some kind of, I don't know, what are these other instruments? French horn? Trumpet? What were trumpets used for in the Old Testament?
I'll tell you a few things. One, it was an end time instrument. When you hear the word trumpet in the Bible, often and regularly, things are about over. So when we hear Brian Casey play, we just think all the time, it's almost over.
That's the idea. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24, and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
How about this with the trumpet, the end times instrument? For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, and the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. How about the Old Testament? Joel 2, blow a trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mountain, for the Lord is coming, he is near.
Zephaniah, the great day of the Lord is near, hastening and fast. A day of the trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities, against the lofty battlements. When you hear trumpet, here's what you should be thinking.
This is the end. Well, what also should you be thinking? When there was trumpet sounds in the Old Testament, regularly and often, here's what it meant. Not just it's the end, God is showing up. Now, you put these two together, it makes perfect sense.
It's the end because Jesus is returning. Remember on the mountain when Moses went up to get the commandments? What was going on at the mountain below? What was going on in the mountain above? No hand shall touch him.
He shall be stoned or shot. Whether beast or man, he shall not live, right? If he touched something unholy there, touch something holy rather. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.
On the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in thunder.
When you think trumpet, you should think to yourself, the end is near and God is close. You could also think triumph. You could also think festivity. All those things are true. The trumpet sound should make you say to yourself, the end is near, God is coming back, Jesus is going to be here.
There's a time of triumph, Revelation 19, and there's a time of festivity for the believers. And every person who's alive on earth, who's a Christian, when that trumpet sounds, there will be a radical change.
Why? Verse 53. For this perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Notice the language of clothing, language of putting off clothes and putting on clothes is regular in the Bible.
And here, you need new clothes to enter heaven. The new clothes would be your new body. This must happen. The dead will rise in bodies that aren't subject to corruption at all. You've got to have a body to go to heaven that's compatible with heaven.
We learned last week that it's like Christ's resurrected body. So, what's the response? Now let me give you the five trumpet blasts of praise that result from the new resurrected body. The truth that you get a new body if you make it to the end.
You get a new body if you don't as well. Five trumpet blasts of praise. Important today for those of you who are weaker, older, sick, breaking down. Important for you when you go to a funeral. You go to a funeral.
You plan a funeral. Number one, first trumpet blast of praise. Praise God because he keeps his word. In other words, the new body was promised in the Old Testament. God keeps his word. He prophesied that you would get a new resurrected body in the Old Testament.
And God's faithful. Let's take a look. Verse 54. When the perishable puts on imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, there shall come to pass the saying that is written. Chapter and verse. This is in Old Testament.
Verse Isaiah 25 .8. Death is swallowed up in victory. Imagine that. Prophesied in the Old Testament, you get a new body. Death swallowed up in victory. Imagine that. These truths aren't just intellectual truths.
These truths help you live well. These truths help you die well. These are the truths that I needed when I was standing there in 1989 in Nebraska, outside as they buried my father, and I'm crying. The only thing I really remember is I couldn't see well because my tears are freezing in my eyes.
I have no idea what's going on. I don't understand anything. I don't know anything about the Bible. I'm not a Christian. At the time when you're the saddest, Paul says, listen, death is swallowed up in victory for the Christian.
Death is dead. I always like to give a little something for the kids, so this is the kids' moment. All right? So if you're young, this is for you. Ding-dong, death is dead. Ding-dong, death is dead.
The death of death. God keeps His promises. The promise was in Isaiah 25 .8. Let me read it to you. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, including maybe frozen tears, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
And if the Lord speaks, He's going to do what He says, and He has said in Isaiah 25, I'm going to swallow death whole. Death is done. You get new resurrected bodies, and if you die on this earth and you get a resurrected body, death is over because you're alive.
The language of Isaiah in Isaiah 25 .7, just before this, it's like you take a death shroud when somebody dies, and you finally just have to take that shroud, that sheet, and you pull it up all the way over their face.
Paul could be saying, you know, when it comes to death, the death shroud is put over death itself. Now if you look at the passage there, swallowed up in victory, why would he use language like that? Swallowed up.
Well, when you swallow something, if there's a predator that swallows an animal, with overwhelming power, nothing is left behind. So you've got the big anaconda, the 10-foot anaconda, and it comes and it swallows a rabbit.
When that rabbit is halfway through the anaconda, weeks later, just like a big bulge in there, what percent of victory do you grant the anaconda versus the rabbit? Hamas, we won, England, Israel's England, did you know that?
In Bible prophecy. Gog and Magog. Excuse me. Hamas says, we win this latest skirmish. Israel said, no, we win. Who wins? If something's swallowed, you all say, the thing that swallowed the other thing, obviously, is the victor.
No wonder cannibals not only kill people in their tribe warfare, but to make sure everyone knows that they're completely destroyed, they eat their flesh. Have a nice lunch. See, you're all paying attention.
Isn't this good? Overwhelming power, overwhelming victory, overwhelming defeat. Death is swallowed. That's the language. How glorious is it going to be? Some of you are old enough to know what a newspaper is, and some of you are old enough to know that you used to read newspapers, and you'd start with what section?
The obituary, to see if you're still alive. How about the death of obituaries? Obituaries swallowed whole. No trace left. Jesus triumphs over death. He triumphs over death at the cross, and He triumphs over our death by giving us a new body, whether our body's in the ground and it's raised, or whether we're still alive at the return of Christ.
It's all in the Bible. We should trust God with His promises. Secondly, the second trumpet blast of praise should praise God, number one, because He keeps His promises. Forget promise-keepers movement.
We break our promises, but every promise is yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Secondly, praise God because there's victory over death. Yeah, we just said this earlier, I know, but this is like a victory lap.
I wanted to emphasize Scripture being fulfilled in verse 54. Now I want to emphasize the death of death here in verse 55. We already won over death, verse 54, but here comes the extra victory lap for emphasis.
And by the way, this language right here is taunting language. It's ha! You ever heard a preacher say that from the pulpit? Okay, I'll do it again. Ha! See, you're laughing, but that's exactly what it is.
Death! Ha, ha, ha! Now, how many of you do that now when you go to a funeral? Right? You walk in, I tell my kids, look, and there's an open casket over there. Let me remind you of what our death protocol is.
That is, Jesus can go to that body like He did Lazarus and says, get up. Number two, son, daughters, you're going to be in that casket one day unless the Lord returns. Number three, I want you to go up to that body and just take a good look at it, and you'll realize there's no soul in it, and then you go comfort the family.
You don't have to say anything. You just say, I love you, sorry. But when I watch people go up to the casket, I don't see too many taunting. They're usually crying. They're usually afraid to look at the body.
They're usually kneeling down and crossing themselves. When I went to Blake Shepard's funeral at the open casket viewing, Blake was a special needs kid here at the church, died a couple years ago, and he had Special Olympics kids that he did things with.
And so the Special Olympic kids were brought in to the funeral home. And so the one young man didn't know how to process death, and so he stood there in front of Blake's casket, and he just put his hands on his head and on his ears.
He didn't want to process it. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want this in my mind. I can't do this. By the way, a really neat story. Another kid came over to Nancy Shepard and took off his gold medal that he won in Special Olympics and put it on Nancy's head.
Very sweet. Not much taunting going on in a funeral home. But here, Paul taunts. Take a look. Verse 55. Oh, death, where's your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Earlier he quotes Isaiah 25, verse 8.
Now he quotes Hosea 13, 14. Loosely quoting, I admit, but very reminiscent of, at minimum, a rough translation at a maximum, Hosea 13, 14. You can probably notice in your Bibles if it's NAS, it's all capitals to let you know that it was an Old Testament quote.
So first Isaiah 25, 8, now Hosea 13, 14. Let me read to you Hosea 13, 14. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? Oh, death, where are your plagues? Oh, Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes. Hosea 13, 14. Where's the sting of death? Because Jesus has absorbed the sting of death at Calvary. The law that we broke, God's holy and righteous law, Jesus absorbs the wrath we deserve.
He stands in our place. He intercepts it. He becomes our advocate and our mediator. And he is not only the high priest, but he's also the sacrifice. And Jesus is sacrificed not for his own sins, but for our sins.
And he absorbs the sting. So when you get stung by a bee, how many times can it sting you? That's why when I'm biking and a bee flies into my jersey, into my biking jersey, I'm always hopeful that it's a bee.
I don't want anything to fly in, but I'd rather have a bee than a wasp. Why? Because the bee stings one time and it can't sting anymore. The wasp just stings you right on down the side of your side. Where's the stinger in the bee of death if Jesus has already absorbed it?
That's the point. Jesus absorbs the sting by his life culminated in Calvary confirmed by the resurrection. And so Paul quotes freely with a sneer. He quotes Hosea 13, 14. Here's defiance. It's the taunt.
Ha! Death, where is your sting? Cancerous, malignant death, killer, where's the sting? He's calling death to judgment is what he's doing. Now 1 Corinthians 15 starts off with Jesus paying for our sins.
And if Jesus has paid for our sins, the plan of God secured by the death of Christ is going to happen. The plan of God is to raise every Christian's body, whether they're dead in the ground or whether they're alive.
Number three, praise God because there's victory over sin and the law. Christians should be praising people. They should be thanking God for what he's done. They should be joyful, certainly sorrowful in trials and tears.
We're not robotic, but we should have lots of joy. Praise God because there's victory over sin and law, verse 56. Number one, because he's kept his word. Number two, because there's victory over death.
Number three, what should the trumpet blast of praise be? Victory over sin and law, verse 56. Look at these two verities, these two maxims. The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. So the grim reaper stands with a huge sickle.
The grim reaper is death, and at the end of the sickle is sin. That's the idea here for the language. He's got the sickle of sin at the end to cut. And here it says the sting of death is sin. The weapon of death is sin.
So when sin has been dealt with, the power of death has been overcome. If there were no sin to deal with, death would just be an entrance into eternity. It still is, but there's sin to be dealt with, and Jesus dealt with it.
John Calvin said death has no other weapon except sin. And it is the law of God that gives that sting its deadly power. Sin pardoned, death has no sting. Law, which is holy, good, and righteous, Romans 7 says, just exacerbates our sin because it shows us our sin.
Let me read to you Romans 7 and see if you listen to the language of sin and death and law. What shall we say? That the law is sin by no means. Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.
For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
So the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. But that which is good then brings death to me by no means. It was sin producing death in me through what is good in order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is from the law. Paul says those things are done away with. Number four, and finally for this morning, trumpet blast of praise for those who need to be reminded about Christ's work and its implications, His implications.
Praise God because this is all God's victory. Praise God because it's all God's victory, verse 57. I mean, how miserable would we actually be if we had to make this victory happen? You just hear all the proverbial clichés that the coaches give to people before the big game.
They put on their cleats just like we do. Got to play full 60 minutes. Anything can happen. I mean, I don't know what the clichés are, but there are a lot. How about the clichés that you could hear when you have to try to save yourself and earn your salvation through self-victory, through works, through merits, through sacraments, through being good?
How are we going to overcome death? Everything would be lost. But, verse 57, thanks. Actually, where do we get the word? Grace. Chorus. Be to God. Present tense. Who keeps on giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Friends, it isn't even your faith that gives you victory. We sing the song, faith is the victory. That's not how it goes, obviously, with my tone of voice. Faith is a victory that overcame the world? Really?
Did faith die on the cross? Did faith live a perfect life? Was faith raised from the dead? Know what the texts say, but thanks be to God. And it's kind of a song, almost. The Corinthians knew songs of victory that were played at the Isthmus Games.
Maybe they knew about songs at the Olympic Games. And now Paul kind of makes up his own song. I did some study this week. Fight songs. Now, I graduated from the University of Nebraska. We have the dopiest fight song.
Where the girls are the fairest, the boys are the squarest. Raw. Win. Victory. Notre Dame's is fairly impressive with the tune. But the school name and the words both drive me insane, so I can't say that's a good one.
But Michigan. Anybody here from Michigan? The tune I won't sing, but the song is called The Victors. Paul is picking up on a song like this that someone would sing. Obviously not this one. Actually, The Victors, University of Michigan song, was written in 1898 by Louis Hebel.
As they beat the University of Chicago in the last minute to win the Western Conference Championship. John Phillips Sousa said of The Victors song, it was the greatest college fight song ever written.
It was so popular that when Gerald Ford, University of Michigan grad, walked in as president, they said, forget Hail to the Chief, play The Victors. But you know what? Compared to this victory song of Jesus, something just kind of loses its flavor.
Hail to the Victors, valiant. So far, so good. Hail to the conquering heroes. Hail, hail to Michigan, the leaders and the best. Hail to the Victors, valiant. Hail to the conquering heroes. Hail, hail to Michigan, the champions of the West.
Try singing that to a corpse, even with the brass. But look at the text. The God who keeps on giving victory. Jesus, the God who redeemed us from our sins. Jesus, the life-giving Spirit. Forget being the most pitiful of all men.
Here, it's the God who keeps on giving victory. When you see that Nike swoosh, here's what I want you to think. Victory. Nakao. Greek for what? Victory. Next time you see a swoosh, I want you to think 1 Corinthians 15, 57.
Victory. Conquering death. Jesus has victory. And now He grants victory to all of His children. Christ is victorious over death. 2 Timothy 1. Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Christ satisfied the law's claims, becoming a curse for us. Galatians 3. I wonder if you could say that today. I know some of you are struggling. Health, money, jobs, issues, relationships. I wonder if you could still say, though, if you're a Christian, but thanks be to God.
All these other things are going on, but, you know, I'm going to get a new body one day. Jesus has accomplished victory for me. And even here, if you look at the text, full title of our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ.
He's God the sovereign one. He's Jesus the man. And He's Christ the God's Messiah. Gloom and doom. The world's coming to an end. I think maybe this would have been a good fight song for some of you the day after the presidential elections.
I think the universe is still being held up by the powerful right hand of God. What's our response to death's death and the assurance that we get a new body, whether we die today or whether we are alive when Jesus comes back?
The assurance is Jesus has been victorious over death. So how does this play into the next time you go to somebody's hospital bed and they're laying there and they're kind of gray and they're dying? What do you do?
What if you're that person? Well, if they're not a Christian, of course you preach the gospel of grace to them, of sovereign grace and who Christ is and what He's accomplished and call them to repent and to believe.
But if it's a Christian, what do you do? Friends, here is your new chapter. Here is your new death taunt. Here is your new assurance based on Scripture, old and new. There's victory over the grave. We need people to know how to die well.
No wonder Wesley said Christians die well. We don't die well because you don't know anything and say, my creed is the Bible. I don't want to get into doctrine. I just listened to a guy yesterday online and he said, doctrine basically is for people who just want to know a bunch of head knowledge.
Well, doctrine in this particular case is how do I die well? My mother was dying. I've probably referenced that a lot lately, but I've just been thinking about her for some time. So I wanted to talk to her about the Scriptures.
That's what you should do. And then I also pulled out Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan. And at the end, Bunyan's character, Christian, has to cross the river death. He's got to drown first basically to get to heaven.
And all these things coalesce. And I think you'll see a review of the sermon in Bunyan's words for Christian. If you haven't read it, you ought to. And if not, these would be good to pick up at somebody's deathbed after you've preached the gospel to them or read them 1 Corinthians.
Christian then and his companion asked the men to go along with them, so they told them that they would. But they said, you must obtain it by your own faith. So I saw in my dream that they went on till they came inside of the gate, heaven.
Now I further saw that betwixt them and the gate was a river, death. There was no bridge to go over, and the river was very deep. At the sight, therefore, of this river, the pilgrims were very much stunned.
But the men that went with them said, you must go through or you cannot come to the gate. The pilgrims then began to inquire if there was no other way to the gate. To which they answered, yes, but there hath not any save two.
Enoch and Elijah have been permitted to tread that path since the foundation of the world, nor shall until the last trumpet shall sound. The pilgrims then, especially Christian, began to despond in their mind and look this way and that, but no other way could be found by them by which they might escape the river.
They asked the men if the waters were of all depth. They said no, yet they could not help them in that case, for said they, you shall find it deeper or shallower as you believe in the king of the place.
They addressed themselves to the water. And entering, Christian began to sink and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said, I sink in deep waters, the billows go over my head, all his waves go over me.
Hopeful said, be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom and it is good. Then Christian said, ah, my friend, the sorrows of death have compassed me about. I shall not see the land that flows with milk and honey.
And with that, a great distress and horror fell upon Christian so that he could not see before him. In a measure, he lost his senses. He could not remember any of the talk of the sweet refreshments that had met with him in the way of his Christian pilgrimage.
Hopeful, therefore, here had much ado to keep his brother's head above water. Yes, sometimes he would quite have gone down. Until then, ere a while, he would raise him up again half dead. Hopeful added these words, be of good cheer, Christian.
Jesus maketh thee whole. And with that, Christian broke out with a loud voice, oh, I see him again. And he tells me, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. They will not overflow thee.
Then they both took courage and the enemy was after that as still as a stone until they were gone over the river. Christian, therefore, presently found ground to stand upon. And so it followed that the rest of the river was but shallow.
Thus they got over. The two men went into the gate, and lo, as they entered, they were transfigured, and they put on raiment that shone like gold. There were also they that met them with harps and crowns and gave them crowns and token of honor.
Enter ye into the joy of your Lord. Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto thee that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Now just as the gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them, and behold, the city shone like the sun.
The streets were paved with gold, and in them walked many men with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden harps to sing praises. They were also of them that had wings, and they answered one another without intermission, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise you today that there is victory in Christ Jesus. Help us to sing without intermission, on this earth even, as a precursor to heaven, that you are powerful, that you are worthy, that you are praiseworthy, and help us to be like Job.
Even though you might slay us, Father, we want to trust in you. We want to praise you. We want to speak well of you. I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church. Father, would you encourage her through the times of physical hardship, spiritual attack, financial difficulties.
I pray, Father, that we would be a church that says, Victory in Christ Jesus, who is victorious over death, sin, hell, Satan, and the law. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.