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00:00I've been beginning every one of my sermons on heaven
00:03with a little epitaph, so here's my epitaph for today.
00:07This is actually supposedly on a tombstone someplace.
00:11Here lies the body of Mary Ann Brown.
00:15At death, she weighed 400 pounds.
00:19But now, in sweet repose, she rests
00:23in peace and joy on Abram's breast.
00:26The little boy came along and added a couple of extra lines.
00:29Well, it may be sweet for Mary Ann,
00:31but it's awful tough on Abraham.
00:42Benjamin Franklin, in his epitaph,
00:45wrote of this present body, which he said,
00:48lies in the grave like the cover of an old book
00:52with its contents torn out, stripped of its lettering,
00:57but which will appear once again
01:00in a new and more eloquent edition,
01:02revised and corrected by the author.
01:06What a great way to describe what is going to happen to us someday
01:11when our bodies receive the ultimate extreme makeover.
01:19In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 35,
01:24Paul puts before us a question,
01:27which is really the question for today's message.
01:30Here is the question.
01:32But someone will say,
01:36how are the dead raised up,
01:38and with what body do they come?
01:43How are the dead raised up,
01:45and with what body do they come?
01:49And in the next several verses,
01:51Paul gives us some contrasts between our current bodies
01:56and the body that we're going to have someday,
02:00and in doing so,
02:01he literally outlines for us
02:03all of the various aspects
02:05of the ultimate extreme makeover.
02:09Now, you have your Bibles open,
02:12and I want you to notice that, first of all,
02:14the requirement for a resurrected body,
02:18the requirement for being resurrected from the dead,
02:21is you have to be dead.
02:23Right?
02:24The requirement for resurrection
02:25is the death of the body.
02:27There's no resurrection if there's no death.
02:28In fact, Paul, I think,
02:30is having a little fun with the Corinthians
02:32when he writes in verse 36,
02:34foolish one, he says,
02:36foolish one, what you sow
02:37is not made alive unless it dies.
02:40I think Paul's kind of chiding them a little bit
02:43and saying, you know, don't be silly.
02:45You can't have a resurrection if you don't die.
02:48The first observation is so obvious
02:50that he makes a little rebuke for his readers
02:53for not understanding it.
02:55And in essence, he's saying,
02:56don't be ignorant or foolish about this.
02:58There isn't really anything
02:59that you can do about resurrection
03:01until, first of all, you die.
03:04John 12, 24 says this,
03:06most assuredly, I say to you,
03:08unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
03:13it remains alone.
03:14But if it dies, it produces much grain.
03:18Paul's just laying the foundation here for all of us
03:20who have such a hard time even talking about death.
03:23I mean, it's such a terrible word.
03:25We call it the D word.
03:26He says you shouldn't be afraid of death.
03:29You should embrace it because if you don't have death,
03:31you can't have a resurrected body.
03:33If it were somehow possible for anyone in this room
03:36to live forever without dying,
03:39they would have to live forever in the body they now possess.
03:41What a horrible thought that would be.
03:45A man that I have greatly appreciated
03:47for his writings on the spiritual disciplines
03:49is a guy named Dallas Willard.
03:51He tells the story of a woman
03:53who refused to talk about life beyond death.
03:55She absolutely refused to talk about it
03:57because she said she didn't want her children
04:00to be disappointed if it turned out there was no afterlife.
04:04Now, as Willard points out,
04:06if there is no afterlife,
04:09no one will have any consciousness
04:11with which to feel disappointment.
04:13Think about that for a moment.
04:16On the other hand, he said,
04:17if there is an afterlife,
04:18whoever enters that next life unprepared
04:20may experience far more than mere disappointment.
04:25So as much as we don't like to talk about death,
04:27Paul helps us to get a little bit of a positive attitude
04:30about it right up front,
04:31and he says, look,
04:32I want to tell you about this new body
04:35that God's going to give you,
04:36but you have to understand the way to get that new body
04:38is you have to walk through the doorway of death to get it
04:41unless you happen to be alive when Jesus returns,
04:45and we'll talk about that a little bit later.
04:48Well, so much as we dislike talking about death,
04:52Paul reminds us that without it,
04:53there is no resurrection.
04:55Now, the second thing he's going to teach us in this passage
04:57is that the result of resurrection
04:59is a different kind of body.
05:02Notice in verses 37 and 38,
05:04as you look down at your Bibles here in 1 Corinthians 15.
05:07He says,
05:08What you sow,
05:09you do not sow that body that shall be,
05:12but mere grain,
05:14perhaps wheat or some other grain,
05:15but God gives it a body
05:16as he pleases to each seed its own body.
05:20Now, that's a little bit of a wordy verse or two,
05:23but listen to what he really is saying here.
05:25He is saying that the body that comes out of the grave
05:30is different from the body that went into the grave.
05:35He's saying, using this illustration,
05:37if you put a kernel of corn into the ground
05:40in order for it to grow,
05:42what comes out of the ground is not the kernel.
05:44It's a green stalk that looks very different.
05:47It's a part of the kernel.
05:49It represents the kernel,
05:50but it's not the same.
05:53And Paul is saying to us men and women
05:55that when we die and our bodies are buried
05:58and they go into the ground,
06:00on the day of resurrection,
06:01they're going to come out of the ground
06:02different than when they went in.
06:03We're not going to have the same kind of body
06:07that was buried.
06:08That's the whole purpose of his discussion here
06:11with the Corinthians.
06:12The body that emerges from the seed that dies
06:15is different from the body that was planted.
06:18Now, we're all pretty well acquainted
06:20with the kind of bodies that we now occupy.
06:23One of the most depressing thoughts
06:25that's communicated to me routinely
06:27when I go to work out every day
06:29is the constant reminder from everybody there
06:32that the older you get,
06:34you have to work twice as hard
06:36to maintain the same level of fitness
06:38as you used to get earlier in life.
06:41Does that depress anybody else but me?
06:44I mean, here it is when your life is so busy
06:47and you need more and more time,
06:48you've got to take more and more of that time
06:50just to stay even,
06:52just so you don't fall behind.
06:54And, you know, we're all into that to some degree
06:56and relatively we should be
06:59because this is the temple which God has given us
07:01and we're supposed to take care of it.
07:03But how many will agree
07:04that taking care of this temple
07:06is getting to be a full-time job?
07:07Can I get a witness?
07:10Well, the apostle is going to give us
07:13some encouragement here
07:14in a broad outline in 1 Corinthians
07:16that answers the very question that he poses.
07:19What kind of body shall we have?
07:21He describes four different qualities
07:24of our resurrection body
07:26and he contrasts it with the body we currently have.
07:29So notice letter A,
07:31our new bodies will be indestructible.
07:34Our new bodies will be indestructible.
07:36Verse 42 says it this way,
07:38so is the resurrection of the dead.
07:40The body is sown,
07:42and when you see the word sown here,
07:44it means buried.
07:45The body is buried in corruption.
07:47It is raised in incorruption.
07:51The body is buried in corruption.
07:54It is raised in incorruption.
07:57Now, friends, there's only been one body
07:59in the history of the universe,
08:01in the history of time as we know it.
08:04There's only been one body
08:05that has not been subject to corruption,
08:07and that was the body of the Lord Jesus.
08:10The psalmist in Psalm 1610 said,
08:12You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
08:15nor will you allow your Holy One
08:17to see corruption.
08:18There's only been one body
08:20that did not see corruption.
08:21Jesus was buried,
08:22but on the third day,
08:23he came out of the grave.
08:24His body had not seen corruption.
08:27The first thing that Paul teaches us
08:29about our new bodies,
08:30and this ought to really encourage us all,
08:32the first thing he teaches us
08:34is that it is not like our old body.
08:36Our present bodies wear out.
08:39We get old.
08:40We begin to notice that things don't work
08:43as they once did.
08:44We discover that no matter what we try,
08:47we can't stop the aging process.
08:49I don't care what the infomercials say.
08:52It doesn't work,
08:53because there's nothing you can do
08:56to stop the body from the process,
08:59which we all understand,
09:01and it's the process of aging.
09:03We can do our best to slow it down.
09:07We can do our best to camouflage it,
09:09but we can't stop it.
09:14Our present bodies are buried in corruption,
09:17but our resurrection bodies are incorruptible.
09:20They are not capable of deterioration or decay.
09:24When you get your new body,
09:26it's body for life.
09:27It's body for eternity.
09:29They will never get old.
09:31They will never get tired.
09:33What shall be then shall be forever.
09:39We shall be what we will be forever and ever.
09:43Our resurrection body will not be subject
09:45to accident or disease or age.
09:48It will be free from pain and decay and death.
09:53It will never wear out.
09:55It will never die.
09:56It will outlive the stars.
09:59Are you ready for a body like that?
10:01Wow.
10:04My knees won't let me do the pounding I used to give them,
10:07so I ride a bike, which is pretty good exercise.
10:09I have a trail I love to ride,
10:12and I've learned something now
10:13since I've done this for the first time in the winter.
10:17It's a hard lesson to learn.
10:18The other day, I got on my bike,
10:20and I went out that thing.
10:21Man, I'll tell you what,
10:22I wasn't even hardly pedaling.
10:23I was flying.
10:25I was flying to the end.
10:28And then I had to turn around and come back.
10:32The reason I was flying
10:34is because I had the wind at my back.
10:36But when I came back,
10:37I had a 110-mile headwind.
10:39I'm telling you what.
10:41And I prayed my way all the way back.
10:44When I got home, I collapsed.
10:45I mean, it was unbelievable.
10:47And I learned a lesson.
10:49Don't go so far with the wind
10:51when you got to drive back through it on the way home.
10:54But I got to thinking about that this week.
10:57When I get to heaven,
10:59coming back will be just as easy as going out
11:02because I'm going to have a perfect,
11:04indestructible, non-wear-outable body.
11:10Amen?
11:11That's the first thing.
11:12The body we get
11:14when we get our extreme makeover
11:16is indestructible.
11:19Can I get a witness?
11:21Amen.
11:22I notice the older voices
11:24are louder than the younger ones.
11:29Okay, number two, verse 43.
11:33Our new bodies will be identifiable.
11:35Now, watch this.
11:36A careful argument here.
11:38Paul says in verse 43,
11:40our present bodies will be sown
11:43or buried in dishonor,
11:45but our new bodies will be raised in glory.
11:49Paul says that our new bodies
11:51will be raised in glory.
11:52The word really is the word brilliance.
11:54Some people even think
11:56our new bodies may have a little glow to them.
11:58I don't know if that's true or not,
11:59but that's maybe from this word.
12:01It is a glorious body
12:03like the glorious body of the risen Savior.
12:06Now, I want you to notice the key passage
12:08in what our bodies are going to be like
12:10in all of the New Testament.
12:12It's Philippians chapter 3.
12:14I want us to read this out loud together.
12:16Maybe we'll just read it from the screen
12:17so we'll all be in the same translation.
12:19All right?
12:20Here we go.
12:21For our citizenship is in heaven,
12:24from which we also eagerly wait
12:26for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
12:29who will transform our lowly body
12:33that it may be conformed to his glorious body
12:37according to the working by which he is able
12:40even to subdue all things to himself.
12:43Now, what does that verse say to us
12:45about the kind of body that we're going to have?
12:47Our body is going to be transformed
12:50so that it is like the glorious body
12:53of the Lord Jesus Christ.
12:55Now, go back to 1 Corinthians 15
12:57and notice it says,
12:59Our body is sown in dishonor,
13:01but it is raised in what, class?
13:04It's raised in glory.
13:05The glory that the Lord Jesus had
13:08in his glorious body
13:09is the glory we're going to have in our bodies
13:12when we are resurrected from the grave.
13:15Now, when the apostle tells us
13:17that we are raised in glory,
13:19we don't have to doubt what he means.
13:21Glory is the description of the body of Jesus.
13:25Our new bodies will be just like,
13:27just like the resurrected body
13:30of the Lord Jesus Christ.
13:32This is what John is talking about
13:34when he writes to us in his first epistle.
13:37He says,
13:37Beloved, now are we the children of God,
13:40and it is not yet revealed what we shall be,
13:42but we know that when he is revealed,
13:44what does it say?
13:45We shall be like him,
13:48for we shall see him as he is.
13:50And Paul comes back to this powerful thought
13:53at the end of his teaching in 1 Corinthians.
13:56Notice verse 49 of 1 Corinthians 15.
13:59As we have borne the image of the man of dust,
14:02that's our current body,
14:04we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.
14:07That's Jesus.
14:08Just like we now bear the image of our current body,
14:11the old Adam,
14:12one day we're gonna bear the image of Jesus.
14:14We're gonna have a body like Jesus.
14:17I almost call this message Body by Jesus.
14:21I see all these books out there,
14:23Body by this person.
14:24One day we're gonna have Bodies by Jesus.
14:26Say that out loud.
14:28Bodies by Jesus.
14:29I'll tell you, whatever program you're on,
14:31you can just give it up,
14:32because that's the one.
14:34That's the one.
14:36Now you say, well, Pastor Jeremiah,
14:38that's a great theological thought,
14:39but what is Body by Jesus?
14:41What is the Body by Jesus?
14:43Well, let me tell you how you find that out.
14:47The only time that we can observe as humans
14:51the Body by Jesus
14:53is during the 40-day period
14:55between the resurrection of Jesus
14:57and when he went back to heaven.
14:59And you remember toward the end of the Gospels,
15:01we have a number of situations
15:04where Jesus expressed himself
15:06in his resurrection body
15:08after he was resurrected,
15:10before he went back to heaven.
15:11And so when we look at those passages,
15:13we can learn some things about Jesus' body,
15:17and if our body's gonna be like his body,
15:20then we'll know what our body's gonna be like.
15:22Are you with me?
15:22So let me just give you three or four things
15:24that I've observed about the body of Jesus
15:27during the 40 days
15:28between his resurrection and his ascension.
15:32Number one, Jesus said that his body was real.
15:37He had a real body.
15:38This is really important.
15:40Jesus said he had a real body.
15:42In Luke 24, 39, we read these words,
15:45Behold my hands and my feet,
15:48that it is I myself.
15:52Handle me and see,
15:54for a spirit does not have flesh and bones
15:58as you see I have.
16:00What I want you to know right now
16:02is you're not gonna have some spirit body
16:04that floats around forever.
16:07Jesus said,
16:08you're gonna have a real body.
16:10Did you hear what he said?
16:11He said, handle me.
16:12My body is real.
16:15And a spirit body is an oxymoron.
16:19There isn't such a thing.
16:20If you have a body,
16:22you don't, it's not spirit.
16:24And if you're in the spirit,
16:25you're not in the body.
16:26Jesus' body was real.
16:28And when we get to heaven,
16:29we're gonna have real bodies.
16:33Real transformed bodies
16:35like the body of the Lord Jesus
16:37when he was resurrected from the grave.
16:40Jesus said his body was real.
16:42Notice number two.
16:43This will greatly encourage many of you.
16:45Jesus ate on two occasions.
16:48I don't know if any questions
16:50that have been asked me more
16:51is are we gonna eat in heaven?
16:54And so the thought when you get to heaven,
16:56well, we won't eat.
16:58Eating is not just to keep your body alive,
17:01but it's a pleasurable experience.
17:03Can I get a witness?
17:05Some of you are already,
17:06your mouths are starting to salivate,
17:09thinking about what you're gonna have for dinner.
17:11I mean, I know.
17:13But I want you to notice some things.
17:14Here again, this is Jesus in his resurrection body.
17:18Luke chapter 24, verses 42 and 43.
17:22So they gave Jesus a piece of broiled fish
17:25and some honeycomb,
17:26and he took it,
17:28and he ate it in their presence.
17:34John 21, 12, and 13,
17:35Jesus said to them,
17:36Come and eat breakfast.
17:37Yet none of the disciples dared ask him,
17:39Who are you?
17:40Knowing that it was the Lord,
17:41Jesus then came and took the bread
17:43and gave it to them,
17:43and likewise the fish.
17:45And the assumption is that he ate breakfast
17:46with his disciples.
17:49More than a few have suggested it in heaven.
17:52We will be able to eat
17:53without any of the negative effects.
17:56No acid reflux.
18:00We'll eat without gaining weight.
18:01Oh, my.
18:04And listen, I thought about this this week.
18:06We will be able to taste foods
18:09like we never have before
18:11because in our resurrected body,
18:14there will be nothing to take away
18:16from the perfection of our taste buds.
18:20You think that steak was good?
18:23Oh, my.
18:26Chocolate will have no greater effect
18:28on one's waistline than fruit.
18:32Whoa.
18:35We're going to be able to eat,
18:36but you see,
18:37what seems to be apparent
18:38as you study this is
18:39that you'll be able to eat,
18:40but you won't have to eat.
18:42You will eat for pleasure,
18:43but not in order to sustain
18:46because you won't need to be sustained.
18:47You'll be sustained by the power of God
18:49that's resident within you.
18:51So eating will truly be a pleasure
18:53that you will enjoy.
18:54And by the way,
18:58in the garden,
18:59we had a picture of the beauty
19:01of uninterrupted cuisine,
19:04and I believe we'll have a recreation
19:07of that whole scenario
19:09when we get to heaven someday.
19:10All right, so we're going to have a real body.
19:13We're going to be able to eat.
19:14Notice the third thing.
19:15Jesus told Thomas to touch his body.
19:19Notice verse 27 of John 20.
19:22Then he said to Thomas,
19:23reach your finger here
19:26and look at my hands
19:28and reach your hand here
19:29and put it in my side.
19:31Do not be unbelieving, but believing.
19:34Once again, I want to remind you
19:35that our bodies,
19:37after the extreme makeover,
19:39are going to be real bodies,
19:41like our current bodies,
19:42only totally renovated,
19:46resurrected, made over.
19:49We'll be able to eat.
19:50We will have the sense of touch.
19:52We know that from this experience.
19:56Jesus told Mary not to hold on to him.
19:58Do you remember that experience?
19:59That happened in that period of time,
20:01John 20, verse 17.
20:02Jesus said to her,
20:03Do not cling to me,
20:04for I have not yet ascended to my Father.
20:06You can't cling to something
20:08that's not touchable.
20:09Jesus told Mary,
20:10Don't hold on to my body
20:11because I haven't yet ascended to the Father.
20:13So people are always asking me,
20:16In my new body will people know me
20:21and will I know others?
20:23Jesus in his resurrection body was real.
20:26His disciples knew who he was.
20:29Listen to this.
20:30They knew that this Jesus,
20:32who was with them after his death and resurrection,
20:35was the very same Jesus
20:37they had known before his death.
20:40They knew this so deeply in their hearts
20:43that they all went to their death
20:46proclaiming the reality of his resurrection
20:48and that he came out of the grave,
20:50the same Jesus who had gone into the grave,
20:53but in his resurrection body.
20:54He was the real Jesus,
20:56the same Jesus who they knew before
20:58and they knew now.
20:59And that's the way it'll be for you.
21:01When you get to heaven,
21:03you're going to know all the people
21:05that you met down here
21:06and they're going to know you.
21:08It is unthinkable to me
21:09that in heaven we will know less
21:12than we do here.
21:14First Corinthians 13, 12 says this,
21:17For now we see in a mirror dimly,
21:20but then face to face.
21:23Now I know in part,
21:25but then I shall know
21:27even as I am known.
21:29We will have a greater sense of recognition
21:31in heaven than we've ever had
21:34here on this earth.
21:35When Moses and Elijah appeared
21:37out of heaven to stand with Christ
21:39on the Mount of Transfiguration,
21:41the disciples with Christ
21:42recognized Moses and Elijah as real people.
21:45When Jesus describes heaven
21:47in Matthew chapter 8,
21:49he speaks of it as being a real place
21:51with real identifiable people present there.
21:53Matthew 8, 11 says,
21:55And I say to you that many will come
21:57from the east and the west
21:58and sit down with who?
22:00Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
22:02in the kingdom of heaven
22:03and you'll know who they are
22:04and you will be known.
22:07Missionary Amy Carmichael
22:09wrote these words about recognition in heaven.
22:12Listen to what she said.
22:14Shall we know each other in heaven?
22:16Shall we love and remember?
22:18I don't think anyone need wonder about this
22:20or doubt for a single moment.
22:22For if we just think, we know,
22:26would you be yourself if you did not remember?
22:28Remember, we are told that we shall be like our Lord Jesus
22:32and does he not know and love and remember?
22:36He would not be himself if he did not
22:39and we should not be ourselves if we did not.
22:43We shall know and we shall remember
22:46and we shall be recognized.
22:49And we'll learn more about that going forward.
22:52Well, our new bodies will be indestructible.
22:55Our new bodies will be identifiable.
22:58Our new bodies, thirdly, will be incredible.
23:01And I mean that, incredible.
23:03Verse 43b says,
23:05we will be sown in weakness.
23:07We will be raised in power.
23:10We will be buried in weakness.
23:12Isn't that true?
23:12When a body's buried,
23:13it's without any strength, without any power.
23:15But when we come out of the grave,
23:16it will be in power.
23:18In our current bodies,
23:19we are limited in our ability
23:21to sustain effort for very long.
23:23Isn't that true?
23:24It gets harder and harder
23:25as we get older and older.
23:27However, we work hard for a few hours
23:29and we're exhausted.
23:30We went to Africa.
23:32I think a lot of folks found out
23:34we have a capacity.
23:38Went out the first day to plant gardens
23:39in all of the sweltering heat of that country.
23:43And I noticed that we went out with a lot of energy
23:46and we came back in
23:48looking like we had just been run over by a Mack truck.
23:51I mean, it was a hard task.
23:55And it got harder as the week went on
23:58because our energy supply began to be less and less.
24:03But in our new bodies,
24:04we will have capacities and abilities
24:06without any limitation.
24:09Nothing will be outside the scope
24:11of the possibility for us in our new body.
24:14On one occasion, listen to this,
24:16on one occasion,
24:17Jesus actually entered a room
24:18without going through the door.
24:21He just appeared in the midst of his disciples.
24:24John 20, verse 19 says,
24:26the same day at evening,
24:27being the first day of the week,
24:28when the doors were shut
24:30where the disciples were assembled
24:32for fear of the Jews,
24:34Jesus came and stood in their midst
24:37and said to them,
24:39peace be with you.
24:41You say, you mean, Pastor,
24:43when I get in my new body,
24:44I'll be able to just show up,
24:47be in a place without walking through the door?
24:49It appears that way.
24:51It appears that we will not have limitations
24:53like we have today,
24:55that through perhaps our thought process,
24:58we'll be able to be places.
25:00And heaven is so vast
25:02and such a tremendous,
25:04you're going to learn more about this later,
25:06just to be able to think
25:07and be where you need to be.
25:09All of us who went to Africa,
25:10we all said it was great going,
25:12it was great being there,
25:13it was just hard going and coming.
25:14It was a killer trip.
25:17But when we get to heaven,
25:18we'll just say,
25:19and we'll be there.
25:20In the midst,
25:22says the scripture.
25:24In Jesus' resurrection body,
25:26he surmounted the limitations of this life.
25:28Earth had no power to stop him,
25:29and our bodies are going to be the same.
25:31Finally,
25:32our bodies will not only be indestructible
25:34and identifiable and incredible,
25:37but notice the fourth thing Paul says in verse 44,
25:40our new bodies will be infinite.
25:41It is buried a natural body.
25:44It is raised a spiritual body.
25:46There is a natural body,
25:48and there is a spiritual body.
25:51Paul goes to great effort
25:53to describe the difference
25:55between our earthly body
25:56and our heavenly body.
25:58He points to Adam
25:59as the image bearer for this body.
26:01He points to Christ
26:02as the image bearer for our new body.
26:05He says that we are going to have
26:08a spiritual body.
26:10Now, let me just talk with you
26:11a moment about that
26:12because this is a matter of great confusion
26:14for a lot of God's people.
26:16What is a spiritual body?
26:20He's not talking about an immaterial body.
26:23We already know that.
26:24Jesus was touched.
26:25He was handled.
26:26Jesus ate.
26:28Jesus did not have a quote-unquote spirit body.
26:31He had a material body,
26:33and we're going to have bodies just like him.
26:35So we're not going to have spirit bodies
26:37in the sense that we're going to be kind of spooky,
26:39if you know what I mean.
26:40We're going to have real bodies.
26:45Paul is talking here about a real body
26:47that is no longer controlled
26:49by the physical appetites,
26:51but a real body
26:52that is now controlled by the spirit.
26:54Our new bodies will exist on a higher plane,
26:58and our new bodies,
26:59instead of being governed by our appetites,
27:01will be governed by the Holy Spirit.
27:03That's what a spiritual body is.
27:05The basic difference between a natural body
27:08and a spiritual body
27:10is that the former body
27:11is suited for life on this earth,
27:14and our spiritual bodies
27:16will be suited for life in heaven
27:18for eternity with God.
27:20The natural body is soul-controlled.
27:23The spiritual body will be spirit-controlled.
27:26And Paul tells us
27:27that in our current bodies,
27:28we could not live in heaven.
27:30Verse 50 of chapter 15 says,
27:32This I say, brethren,
27:34that flesh and blood
27:35cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
27:38nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
27:40He is saying that as we are now
27:42in our current bodies,
27:43we couldn't function in the realm of heaven.
27:46But God is going to give us new, real bodies,
27:49like the ones we have,
27:50we have only completely made over,
27:52transformed,
27:53and no longer governed
27:55by our appetites of the flesh,
27:58but governed now
27:59by the appetites of the Spirit.
28:02Give me just a moment here, would you?
28:06Have you ever had one hour
28:10or one 30-minute period
28:12or maybe even one 10 minutes
28:14when you sensed
28:16that the Holy Spirit
28:17was totally in control
28:19of who you were
28:20and what you did?
28:22It is the most glorious thing
28:26if you even can have consciousness
28:28of that being true
28:29when it happens.
28:31The Bible says
28:32that when we are transformed
28:34and our resurrection bodies
28:36come out of the grave,
28:38we are going to be totally in the Spirit.
28:42And we're going to do only those things
28:44that please the Lord
28:45and our physical appetites
28:46will be marginalized
28:47by the appetite we have
28:50for the Lord God and His glory.
28:53If you are walking with the Lord today,
28:55that whets your appetite
28:59to know what it's like
29:00even for a moment
29:01to live in the Spirit.
29:03Well, one day,
29:05and I believe it's soon,
29:06Jesus Christ is going to come back
29:09and He's going to take everyone
29:10who has trusted with Him to heaven.
29:12And for those who are alive
29:14at that time
29:15who haven't died yet,
29:171 Corinthians teaches us
29:18that they're going to experience
29:20the effects of the resurrection
29:22on their way up.
29:23Now, that's the way
29:24I want to be experiencing resurrection.
29:26How many would vote for that?
29:28We'd like to be here
29:29when Jesus comes back.
29:30So watch this.
29:31Listen, this is what it says
29:32in 1 Corinthians 15, 51, and 52.
29:36Behold, I tell you a mystery.
29:38We shall not all sleep.
29:39Isn't that, what is sleep, class?
29:41That's dying for a Christian.
29:43But while we're not all going to sleep,
29:45we're all going to be changed.
29:47In a moment,
29:49in the twinkling of an eye,
29:51at the last trump,
29:52the trumpet will sound
29:53and the dead will be raised incorruptible
29:56and we shall all be changed.
29:59And so the pattern,
30:01according to Paul in 1 Corinthians
30:02and again in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,
30:04is like this.
30:05Jesus is going to come back.
30:07He's not going to come all the way
30:08to the earth in the rapture.
30:09He's going to come in the air.
30:10The trumpet's going to sound
30:12and those who have died in Christ
30:13are going to be raised up
30:15and in the process of the resurrection,
30:16they will immediately get
30:18their transformed body.
30:19And those of us who are Christians
30:21and are still alive on this earth
30:23will be caught up together
30:24with them in the air, says Paul.
30:26We'll get our transformation in a moment,
30:28in the twinkling of an eye,
30:30at the last trump as we're caught up.
30:31And then together,
30:33all of us will be ushered into heaven
30:36by the Lord himself.
30:39All of us having transformed bodies
30:43like the Lord Jesus.
30:45Wow.
30:47I have often said,
30:48I believe I'm going to be alive
30:49when that happens.
30:51I think all of us as Christians
30:52ought to have that hope in our heart.
30:55It's going to be something to see.
30:57I know that many of you have friends
30:58who have bodies that have been injured,
31:03perhaps friends who were born into this world
31:05and their bodies didn't function properly.
31:10Johnny Erickson Tata,
31:12she's such a powerful ambassador.
31:15In one of her books, she says this,
31:18I still can hardly believe it.
31:20I, with shriveled, bent fingers,
31:23atrophied muscles, gnarled knees,
31:25and no feeling from the shoulders down,
31:28will one day have a new body,
31:30light, bright, and clothed in righteousness,
31:33powerful and dazzling.
31:35Can you imagine the hope
31:37this gives someone spinal cord injured like me
31:40or someone who is cerebral palsied,
31:43brain injured,
31:44or who has multiple sclerosis?
31:46Imagine the hope this gives someone
31:48who is manic depressive.
31:50No other religion,
31:52no other philosophy promises new bodies,
31:54new hearts, and new minds.
31:56Only in the gospel of Christ
31:58do hurting people find such incredible hope.
32:02End of quote.
32:04No wonder Paul said that
32:05if in this life only we have hope,
32:08we are most miserable.
32:10But we have hope beyond this life, do we not?
32:12And that hope is in Jesus.
32:14And one day,
32:15all of the pains and the aches
32:16and the deformities
32:17and the deficiencies
32:18that we sense in our earth bodies
32:21are going to all be taken away
32:23when we get our heavenly bodies.
32:25And we're going to know
32:27the joy of full capacity
32:28with the Lord forever and ever.
32:30Do you understand why
32:32I'm so passionate
32:33about trying to take people to heaven with me?
32:36You know what?
32:37I don't want anyone to miss
32:38what God has planned for his children.
32:43Jack Welch,
32:44for all the businessmen here know,
32:47he was an icon
32:49as the CEO of General Electric.
32:52Wrote a book several years ago
32:54with the title on it.
32:55Tells you a little bit about his ego.
32:56The book was titled Jack.
32:58And it was all about Jack.
33:01And it was about Jack's
33:03great administrative ability.
33:05And I didn't buy into a lot
33:07that I read in the book,
33:08but I always learned something
33:09from every book that I read.
33:11And I learned some lessons from him
33:12about administration that were good.
33:15Well, you can imagine my surprise
33:18as I skimmed through the book
33:19and discovered that someone
33:21had actually asked Jack Welch
33:23this question.
33:25Do you think you will go to heaven
33:27when you die?
33:30I couldn't believe that.
33:32It was in a business book.
33:33So, I have to honestly tell you,
33:35I never do this.
33:35I skipped to the last chapter.
33:38I wanted to hear
33:39what this man was going to say.
33:40And I'll tell you,
33:41here's what I read.
33:42After rambling about
33:43how he has made some mistakes
33:44in his business,
33:46how he is discouraged
33:48over his two failed marriages,
33:51Welch finally gets around
33:52to answering the question
33:53he was asked about heaven.
33:55And here's what he said.
33:56So, as far as heaven,
33:58who knows?
33:59I'm sure not perfect,
34:01but if there are any points
34:02given out for caring about people
34:04with every fiber of your being
34:06and giving life
34:08all you've got every day,
34:09then I suppose
34:11I might have a shot.
34:13End of quote.
34:15But Jack,
34:16heaven's not about having a shot.
34:19It's not even about
34:20caring for people
34:21or giving your life
34:23everything you've got every day.
34:26Heaven is about putting your trust
34:28in Jesus Christ
34:30and in him alone.
34:31And I need to tell you guys something.
34:34It's harder for a successful businessman
34:36to get to that point
34:37than it is for anybody else
34:39on this earth
34:40because we have gotten
34:42where we have gotten
34:43through the effort
34:44of our own energy
34:46and drive and vision.
34:48But when it comes to heaven,
34:50all those rules are thrown out.
34:51And heaven is not something you earn.
34:54Heaven's something that's a gift.
34:56And God says,
34:57until you are humbled enough
34:59to say,
35:00I can't earn heaven
35:01by my own works,
35:02you will never see
35:04the inside of heaven.
35:05You will spend eternity
35:06in hell without Christ.
35:08The way you get to heaven
35:10is you humble yourself
35:11as a little child
35:12and you acknowledge
35:13that you cannot
35:14do enough good things
35:16to get to heaven,
35:17that you could never
35:18make it to heaven
35:18on your own.
35:19And you put your trust
35:21in Jesus Christ
35:22and in him alone,
35:24plus or minus nothing.
35:26You literally bet eternity
35:28on Jesus
35:30until you're willing to do that,
35:31until Jack Welch
35:33is willing to do that.
35:34He can never go to heaven.
35:35There won't be any,
35:36I think I've got a shot
35:38when he stands before the Lord.
35:39He doesn't have a hope
35:41unless he puts his trust
35:43in Jesus Christ.
35:44He doesn't,
35:45I don't,
35:46and you don't.
35:47So I'm going to ask you today,
35:49is there any reason
35:50you can think of
35:51why you wouldn't want
35:53to put your trust
35:54in Jesus Christ?
35:55Ask him to forgive your sin
35:57and make a reservation
35:58in heaven
35:59that is absolutely
36:00as certain as it can be.
36:02you next week,
36:03Jesus and I you
36:04for success
36:04in lit
36:05and willing